Title of Gift: A Miracle by the Sea

Pairing: Neo

Number of words: 2,992

Genre: Mermaid AU, Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Angst (like very little of it)

Warning(if any): Kinda added a bit of angst out of nowhere but it’s very little, don’t worry it has a happy ending haha, also is a open ending so what happens after that I will leave it to your imagination!

Note to my Giftee: Hello! I hope you enjoy your gift. It was really fun to write a Mermaid AU. It’s my first time writing something like it so I really hope you like it! I tried to add comedy but I don’t know if it worked out but yeah, Merry Christmas

 

A Miracle by the Sea

Cha Hakyeon, 6 years old, prince of Aqua, a kingdom that is near the coast. The sun is always shining, the ocean water is always blue, sparkling by the rays of the sun shining on it. A kingdom that is fill with generous and lovely people. Its citizens are always helping each other out, crime on the streets is almost non existent. Aqua is almost paradise.

Except for its king, who is completely the opposite of what people from the outside of the kingdom itself call its people. He is cold, arrogant and rude, sometimes, also he is very strict with his only son, Hakyeon.

For being the only heir to the throne, and even for a six year old, is a lot of responsibility on someone.

His father rarely lets him leave the castle. He needs to wake up at 6am every morning, be down to eat breakfast by 7am, at 8 he needs to go to his tutor where he learns everything a 6 year old needs to learn then at noon he needs to eat his lunch. To then go to his royal studies at 1pm, dancing class at 3pm, dinner at 5pm, do the homework his tutor left him after his dinner then take his usual bath and go to sleep by 9pm.

And the schedule repeats every day.

For a six year old, he doesn’t have time to play. He watches the local kids playing from his window. He sighs, it is obvious he gets bored from doing the same thing over and over again every day but he can’t really say anything. He has to obey his father.

The king’s orders cannot be disobeyed.






—






Hakyeon is now 15 years old and not much has changed. Well, he physically has changed a lot. He is a lot taller now. His dancing classes has helped a lot on blessing him with a slim yet muscular body. His skin has gotten tanner as his father has let him go to the beach as he continue to grow. The down side is that he had to be accompanied by someone.

But other than those things, not much has changed. He has made a few friends with the locals. They have named him the child of the sun because of his vibrant personality and that he also resembles a lot to the queen.

The queen, Hakyeon’s mother.

His father was not always so harsh on him but that was before his mother died. She died while giving birth to him so he never met her but he has seen pictures and he couldn’t deny of what the locals told him. He does resemble his mother a lot. To the eyes, nose and lips, to the tan skin and slim figure.

He is almost the exact copy of his mother.

Right now, he is sitting on a rock. A guard way behind him where the gate leading back to the castle is. This is the only beach he is allow to step in. The private beach that is only for royalty. The locals cannot step into this beach so he is all alone with the ocean breeze hitting slowly against his face and the sound of waves crashing against the walls of the castle.

He doesn’t mind being alone. He uses this time to think about things. To think about how he is going to do his homework once he gets back into the castle, if he will be a good king once he turns 18, will he be able to take the pressure of responsibility that holds having the crown. So many questions that will be answered as time passes by.






—







16 years old now and he still go to same beach (can’t really go any other beach), sits on the same rock and wears the same clothes. A baby blue button-up shirt and some khaki shorts. His shoes are long forgotten next to the guard who is always there watching him. The only thing that has changed is that he is one year older.

He moves a bit to be a little by the edge of the rock. He lets his feet be submerge with the ocean water. He sighs content, a smile vivid on his face. “Your highness, be careful please,” the guard says as he carefully watches Hakyeon’s every move.

Hakyeon chuckles, “Relax Jaehwanie, nothing bad will happen okay?” He moves his feet, splashing water around him. He adds, “Don’t get your pants in a twist.”

“Aish! Your highness, you know your father will cut my and hang it on top of the fire at night and watch it every night while he drinks his wine as he remembers my screams if anything happens to you,” he sighs dramatically, kicking the sand underneath him.

Hakyeon laughs, “You are so melodramatic, Jaehwan-ah!”

Jaehwan pouts and it makes Hakyeon laugh even harder that he forgets to hold himself on the rock’s edge and falls into the water. The cold, salty water of the ocean surrounds him. His father never let him bathed in the ocean, never let him take swimming class since he dimmed them useless. Well, there were surely useful in this kind of situation. Hakyeon moves his arms and legs around trying to get to the surface but it is useless. He is growing tired, the current was pulling him deeper and deeper into the ocean, he is slowly running out of air.

He suddenly hears a beautiful melody then sees a fish tail, which is very damn big for the normal fish he has seen. It’s white and gold? He frowns, his eyes are getting drowsy, he can’t hold his breath for so long. When he’s about to close his eyes, a man suddenly is in front of him. That action alone makes Hakyeon’s eyes widen in surprise. Before he could react, the man kisses him. If Hakyeon’s eyes were very big from being surprised earlier, you can just imagine how he looks now. Yeah, he looks like those type of fish.

The man pulls away and looks at him. Hakyeon opens his mouth but suddenly closes it, afraid to drown but he can, surprisingly, feel like he is breathing right now. Yes, like a fish.

“W-What did you do?” He asks, his hands goes to his neck and he can feel gill slits just like a shark.

“Saved your life,” the mysterious man says and now that he can see him clearly; he has a tail. Yep, he is a mermaid or merman, whatever you want to call it. He has long black hair and his eyes are of the color blue, his gaze piercing through Hakyeon’s core.

“Wait wow, you are a mermaid? I thought they didn’t exist.”

“Well, you are clearly wrong,” the mysterious man says.

Hakyeon rolls his eyes, “What is your name?” He asks but the mermaid just keeps looking at him. “Stop staring!”

The mermaid chuckles, “Lets get you back to the surface,” he takes Hakyeon’s hand and he starts swimming. Hakyeon pouts as he literally gets drag in the water since he does not know how to swim. They get closer to the shore when someone yells, “Prince Taekwoon!” The mermaid stops for a second then hurriedly swims closer to the shore.

They stick their heads out of the water, “Okay, this is where I leave you. Hold on to the rock,” the mermaid tells him and he does what he is told.

The mermaid starts moving away, but stops when Hakyeon calls for him, “Hey! Will I see you again, Taekwoon?” He smiles when he sees Taekwoon chuckle.

“Maybe,” that is all he says before swimming away. Hakyeon continues to watch where he swam away that he did not notice Jaehwan calling out for him.

“Seriously Prince Hakyeon, your father is going to skin me alive,” Jaehwan says as he pulls Hakyeon out of the water.

Hakyeon laughs, “Sorry, sorry I will talk with my father. I will just tell him I wanted to bathe in the ocean water.”

And he did tell his father. He clearly had to explain why he came back to the castle looking like a wet poddle. Which had him stay inside of the castle for a week because his father was not having it that his son suddenly felt like a 5 year old and got into the ocean water completely dressed. Which made him think about the mermaid’s lips against his all the time he was locked up in his room.






—






He did came back a week after the accident to the beach. He clearly could not stop thinking about the kiss. It was more like a peck and it was to save him but still. It was his first kiss so he clearly couldn’t forget it.

Another thing that he couldn’t forget was the mermaid’s name. He didn’t really told him but by telling his reaction when someone called him “Prince Taekwoon”, Taekwoon has got to be his name. Weird that a royal mermaid was swimming so close to the shore.

He shrugs, all his questions have to wait to be answered because first he needs to find Taekwoon to ask him and that won’t be an easy job.

“Would you look at that; still comes back after almost drowning.”

Hakyeon jumps, almost falling off the rock again. Thank god he remembered to hold on tight and not sit on the edge of it. “Yah! You scared the out of me!”

Taekwoon chuckles, “My bad, Prince Hakyeon. I couldn’t help it but take the chance.” He says and Hakyeon pouts.

“Still, not very nice of you. I could have fell into the water again, mister mermaid Prince Taekwoon,” he says still pouting.

“16 years old and still acts like a child,” Taekwoon says, leaning on the rock so he could have a better view of Hakyeon.

“Why are you here?”

“Because I can.”

Hakyeon glares at him, “We finally having a normal conversation where I’m not drowning and you’re being a , great.”

Taekwoon laughs, “Relax, I’m just messing with you.”

And that’s how the spend the entire day, getting to know each other, goofing around. When Hakyeon’s head hit the pillow at the end of the day, he couldn’t stop thinking of all the fun he had that day. It’s the most fun he has had in his entire life.






—



2 years have passed and there wasn’t a day that Hakyeon missed going to the beach. It was already part of his routine. He would wake up, eat, get dressed, do whatever he had to do that day and when he finished, he will be walking straight to the beach.

Luckily, his father never questioned him why he always needed to go to the beach. His son does all the work he needs to do so giving him so alone time was the right thing to do, for now. Because soon, it will be difficult. Because soon, Hakyeon will be 18 and he will be crowned king. Because he will no longer have that free time he is used to.

But Hakyeon didn’t let it affect him. Not now. Not when he is going to meet Taekwoon. He isn’t going to let their last normal day be sad, not even if his birthday is tomorrow and after that it will be hard to see each other.

“Hakyeon,” he jumps slightly. He looks at Taekwoon now sitting on their normal rock. Half of his tail is still in the water. Hakyeon still can’t comprehend how long his tail is. He shakes his head and walks closer to him. He sits beside him and looks at the horizon.

It feels like it’s noon when it’s clearly a lot late into the day. The sun keeps shining bright, warming his skin. “I know this is our last time we will be able to see each other for a long time.”

Hakyeon looks at him and before he could say something, Taekwoon speaks, “You know, how royalty works here on the land and down in the ocean isn’t very different. I will be crowned too once I turn 18.”

“So like, we won’t be able to see each other for a long time right?” Hakyeon asks.

Taekwoon smiles, he takes Hakyeon’s hand and intertwines it with his. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

With that, they spend the rest of their last day together as free beings. Enjoy their own presence.






—









The day has come. The day that Hakyeon will finally be king of Aqua. He doesn’t feel ready. He doesn’t feel like himself. He feels empty but that doesn’t matter. Today’s coronation will happen whether he thinks he’s ready or not.

He also wasn’t ready for all the hassle. Servants rushed into his room very early in the morning already waking up, taking his coronation clothes out and rushing him out of bed. He had his bath made, they washed his hair, luckily they let him wash his body alone, and they were already rushing him into a towel and into his bedroom again. Makeup and hair were done as fast as a lighting. They helped him dress and all he could think is that he is hungry and that they a rushing way too fast for him to comprehend everything that was happening.

Finally, he could eat, alone. But hay didn’t even lasted a second before they were hurrying him out of the dinning room to do finishing touches.

Yeah, he already wants this to end.

And that was only the start of it because the whole ceremony lasted about 3 hours. He mostly repeat the same words over and over again. He read part of the sacred book then had to sing their anthem to then have his father and the priest blessing.

“And now I declare you, Cha Hakyeon, King of Aqua,” the priest says, everyone stands up and applaud as the priest puts him his father's, now his, crown. He looks at everyone and he thought he would at least be happy when it he would finally have the crown on his head but he isn’t. He just feels empty, like something is missing.


And that something is Taekwoon.







The party starts right after the ceremony of the coronation ends. The ballroom is filled with different people he doesn’t know. This was the first time he has seen so many people of other kingdoms right in the ballroom of the castle. He walks around and greets every single one of the people that are in the room.

By the end of it, he’s exhausted. Will it look weird if the king is sitting next to the food table while he picks food from every plate on the table? If it does, he doesn’t care. He is tired and hungry. He’s the king so if he wants to sit beside the food table and eat then he ing will.

He sit down on a chair next to the food table and picks up a plate. He starts to eat and oh my god how he forgotten he basically haven’t had anything since he couldn’t finished his breakfast earlier. While he eats, he sees someone from the corner of his eyes put a chair beside him and sit down.

Oh , this might be those old people that lecture about everything, he thinks. He puts the plate down and takes a napkin to wipe his mouth. He looks to his right, “Oh hello I— Taekwoon?” He says, his eyes widen in surprise as he sees Taekwoon sitting right next to him.

“W-What are you doing here? Where’s your tail? What the ?” Hakyeon asks all these questions as he stands as if that will help him look at Taekwoon better.

Taekwoon is in a very elegant black velvet suit. His long black hair is styled perfectly to go with his suit. He stands as he chuckles, “I believe the new king shouldn’t curse so freely, not when he is surrounded by people,” Taekwoon says.

Hakyeon opens his mouth to say something but then looks around him. Most people are already looking at the exchange of the two while other are busy either eating or dancing. He nervously chuckles, “Sorry!” With that he takes Taekwoon’s hand and pulls him towards a corner, further from the crowd where almost no one can see them.

“Okay, you are about to explain yourself. Why are you here? How the do you have legs? Where’s the is your tail? What the is going on?”

“First of all, language. You’re a king now, you should moderate your language.” Taekwoon says.

“Oh stop with the bull and explain this,” Hakyeon says signaling Taekwoon’s body with both hands because he can comprehend how a mermaid suddenly have legs.

“It’s called magic, dummy.”

Well, of course. He did kissed him when he was drowning and suddenly he could breath underwater. Now he feels dumb. His face heats up as he looks down in embarrassment. He suddenly feels Taekwoon’s finger under his chin pulling his head up.

“Be careful, love. Don’t want your crown to fall, do you?”

Hakyeon chuckles and he sweetly smiles, “Why are you here?” He has an idea of why but better know than to live a fantasy.

“Because I knew I couldn’t missed this big step into your life,” he gets closer, “Also, I realize, I never want to be away from you,” with that Taekwoon closes distance between them and their lips meet in a sweet yet delicate embrace. Hakyeon never forgot how those lips felt against his that first time but oh how he missed them.

He realized why he was feeling so empty earlier. He felt empty because Taekwoon wasn’t with him. Because now he realizes what Taekwoon means to him and what he feels towards Taekwoon is none other than love.