Minho closed his eyes for a moment feeling the cool breeze wash over his face. The sun was setting, fading and giving way to the moon and stars that began to dot the sky.

The day had been so tiring physically, yet Minho couldn’t sleep. It was one of those days where he just could not relax enough to actually get any shut eye. He knew if he tried to lay down he would just wind up staring at the ceiling of his bedroom until the sun reemerged.

Sitting there on the small pier with his feet in the water, Minho simply breathed deeply, feeling the fresh air fill his lungs. That is until a sound caught his ear, causing him to open his eyes again and look around with a furrowed brow. What was that?

The sound grew louder and Minho could tell with certainty that it was someone singing, but who?

Minho lived in a small town, within a small house built by his late father. It was near the sea, the pier at the back of the house led to crystalline waters the rocks that were on the coast. There were not many people around his home and Minho had to admit that sometimes he was a little lonely. Given the rarity of people around the home, plus the currently late hour of the day, made him even more intrigued when he continued to hear the melodic singing.

Getting up from where he was sitting and jumping down from the pier, Minho cautiously walked along the rocks until his feet stepped on sand that was illuminated from the reflection of the moon.

The voice grew louder with every step Minho took, and his heart beat sped up inside his chest. The voice was really beautiful, a voice he had never heard before.

A man was in the calm waters, his lower half covered by the soft lapping waves while his torso, that was leaning on a large rock, glowed in the moonlight. The droplets of water on his skin and hair looking like diamonds against the light of the stars. Minho stood frozen there, as if hypnotized by the man, mesmerized by the soft voice that sang in a different language, something he had never heard before.

He does not know how long he stood there listening to the man sing, but at some point the man stopped singing and looked up. He did not appear to see Minho, but instead focused on the moon with a smile on his lips and finally the trance seemed to be broken. He should not have just stood there when he knew there was a strange, unknown man swimming just off the shore.

"Hey," Minho said drawing the man's attention. "Who are you?"

The man looked back, his eyes wide with fear and without saying anything else, he dove, disappearing from the surface.

Minho began to worry when after a few minutes the man did not return to the surface. Even if this man could hold his breath for long enough, it was reaching a dangerous point. Without thinking twice, he took off his shoes and ran into the sea, diving and searching for the man.

Minutes later Minho sat on the sand, wet and panting. The man had simply disappeared and Minho had no clue how or what to do. Maybe he should call the police and report that a man had disappeared into the sea.

Frowning, Minho rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. This whole evening seemed crazy even to him. Maybe he was just too tired and imagined it all...after all, there was no way anyone could stay so long underwater and there was no way that someone would just disappear like that.

"I'm going crazy." he murmured to himself, standing up and heading toward his house.

 

 

It was still dark out when Minho sat at the table for breakfast, his bowls of rice and soup totally forgotten as he stared out the window, staring out at the sea. The waters that were calm last night, were now agitated and choppy, which was almost never a good sign for fishermen.

The worst part was that Minho had not managed to sleep at all last night, worried about the strange man who had disappeared into the sea. He tossed and turned all night think about every possible option. Could he really have imagined all of that? Was it all in his head? Could he have dreamed such a magical voice as the one he heard by the water’s edge?

"What's going on?" Jonghyun asked entering the kitchen, startling Minho, who almost threw his rice bowl at the intruder.

"Jesus Christ! Don't you know how to knock before entering?"

Jonghyun snorted, taking a mug from the cupboard and filling it with fresh coffee. "I did knock, twice, and you didn’t even blink when I first walked in here. You seemed to be too busy looking out the window... thoughtful."

Minho sighed. "There's nothing going on, I just didn’t sleep much last night and I'm tired."

The older man nodded, leaning his hip against the counter and sipping his coffee. "You should go to the doctor, maybe get a prescription to help you sleep. This is dangerous, especially for those who work on a boat."

"I'm fine," he said shaking his head and standing up. "I'm worried about the weather. It looks like it's going to rain, or worse."

"Yeah, that's why I think we'd better..."

"No," Minho said cutting him off. "We have to go, most of the town depends on the fish we catch. They need this..."

"Minho-ah, if anything happens..."

"Nothing will happen, hyung. How many years have we been doing this? We know very well what to do if a storm blows up on us."

Jonghyun sighed but said nothing more, knowing that he would not be able to convince Minho of anything, the younger man was just stubborn like that.

 

 

The wind was strong, swaying the boat, the waves crashing against the hull. Everything seemed to be trying to knock the men on deck down. To their credit, they were doing their best to collect the last net from it’s drop location.

"," Jonghyun said through his teeth, trying to help Minho. "We're going to die here."

"Don't be dramatic, we're fine and we just have to pull up this last net. Then we can leave." he said, feeling sweat trickling down his temples, putting more force than normal into pulling.

"Something is wrong, the net must be stuck somewhere."

Grinding his teeth and placing one of his feet against the side of the boat, Minho tried to pull the net again, but it wouldn’t budge. The boat shook again as the waves hit it and began tilting at an angle from the men pulling at the stuck gear. Before anyone had even knew what happened, before Minho or Jonghyun could react to the situation, Minho felt his body fly forward, out of the boat, falling into the icy water.

This was not the first time that Minho fell into the sea, this was not the first time he felt the salt water enter through his nose and mouth, filling his lungs. It was not the first time he felt the despair of drowning and thinking he was going to die. Not after what happened a few year ago and how he had lost his own father to the same fate as the older man worked to save him. However, this time he was going to fight, he was already an adult and was not going to indulge easily. His father had given his own life to keep Minho alive and he was not about to waste his sacrifice.

Trying to calm down, Minho closed his mouth and concentrated on swimming, pushing his body up with all the strength he had. The waders and boots he wore for work were heavy and swimming with all that gear on was even more difficult. The lack of air was beginning to make his head spin and why in hell hadn’t Jonghyun come to help yet?

Opening his mouth unintentionally, Minho gasped as the water rushed in and everything went black.

 

 

Minho felt a sudden pain in his chest, it was as if someone was punching him and he gasped, coughing water, feeling his throat, nose and entire body burn. Opening his eyes, he blinked away the blurry sights a few times, still coughing up more water. He took a deep breathe and stared up at the sky that was dark, heavy gray clouds rolling across the sky.

"Oh! Thank God you're alive!" the voice to his side sounded choked up and rough as if it had been crying.

Trying to clear the last of his haze away, Minho blinked a few more times and looked to the side. A man was kneeling beside him, cheeks red and face a bit puffy from emotion. Frowning Minho first realized that the man had a strange hair color...it looked pink, like what a k-pop idol would do to their hair.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. "You swallowed a lot of water."

Looking up again, Minho took a deep breath a few times, his whole body was aching and even breathing hurt. "I think I'm fine." he said hoarsely.

"What a relief," the man said with a small smile on his lips. "For a moment I thought you weren’t going to wake up."

With some difficulty, Minho sat up and looked around, not recognizing where they were. "What is this pla..." as his eyes settled on the man beside him, Minho felt his face burn before he looked away. “Better question, why are you ?”

"Oh," he looked down and blushed, his face becoming darker than his hair. "I... I don't..." he stuttered, standing up, trying to cover himself with his hands.

Minho looked down and started to pulling off the t-shirt he was wearing. Since it was still a bit wet and his arms were still weak from the previous exertion, it was hard to remove, but after a few moments he finally managed to pull the fabric over his head and offered it to the cherry red faced stranger.

"W-what?" he asked with wide eyes, looking at the t-shirt as if it was going to eat him or something.

"Just put it on," he said, still holding the shirt out. "So you don't have to stay ."

The man hesitated for a moment but eventually took the t-shirt, still trying to hide himself from Minho by using his hands "T-thank you."

The strange man was kind of y, Minho had to admit.

When he looked at the man again, he was pulling the t-shirt down, which was a little short, showing off his thighs, but still hiding his privates. "I'm the one who should thank you, for saving me."

"You don't have to thank me," he said, shaking his hands. "I couldn’t leave you there, it was too dangerous."

He snorted, coughing from the ache in his throat and lungs once more. “You don’t have to convince me of that. I almost died and that's why I'm thanking you, you saved my life."

The man smiled happily, a slight blush on his face. "I'm glad I could save you, you seem to be a nice guy and... and despite your work, you're kind to the fish and the sea, just fishing what you need and not wasting like other fishermen."

Minho frowned. "You know me?"

"Oh... I... who doesn't, right?!" he said laughing, his fingers picking at invisible dirt on the wet t-shirt he now wore.

Well, in a way that was true, the town where they lived was small and everyone knew each other, but Minho had never seen the man before him.

"You're right about that, but I've never seen you here, are you new to town?"

"I live close by, but not in the actual town..." he said, biting his lower lip. "That's why you’ve never seen me."

He smiled and nodded. "Anyway, where are we?" he asked, looking around.

"Close to the port," he said, pointing to his right side. "Very close."

"Maybe we should go now," Minho said looking up, for the way the heavy, dark clouds were beginning to loom again, it was going to rain soon. "Before it rains."

The man looked up and bit his lip. "Yes, seems like it. You should go then."

"You're not coming?"

"I need to go that way." he said, pointing the opposite way of port.

"But..."

"I'll be fine and..." he said looking down. "I'll return your t-shirt later, if you don't mind."

"No, no. Of course, you take it."

It was better than the man walking around . Minho had not even been able to understand why the man was in the first place.

"Okay." he said, smiling lightly.

Minho stood up, standing there for a few seconds, hypnotized by the strange man's smile.

"Your voice is familiar," he murmured, still looking at the man without even blinking. "I just can’t remember from where..."

The man's eyes widened, fear crossing his face. "I-I don't think we've met before." he said, shaking his head.

Frowning, Minho found the other man's reaction a little strange. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely. I... I need to go." he said, turning his back to Minho and hurrying along the sand.

"Hey," Minho called, causing the other man to turn around and walk backwards. "Can I at least know your name?"

"Oh, I'm... I'm Jinki." he said smiling.

He smiled back. "Thank you for saving me Jinki-ssi. I'm Choi Minho." he called, this time getting louder as Jinki wasn’t next to him anymore.

Jinki ce again and smiled broadly, showing his shiny teeth. He looked happy. "I know." he said before turning around and practically running across the sand once again, body eventually fading behind a rock.

"How does he know my name?" he asked with a frown, half-worried and half-happy, for some reason.

After another few minutes of standing there, Minho shook his head and turned in the direction Jinki had pointed out. The port really was close by and soon he noticed Jonghyun, whose eyes were puffy and red and he could tell was very emotional. The shorter man came running towards him, his eyes full of tears once again and voice shaking from emotion.

"Where were you? I... I could not find you and I thought... I thought..." he couldn’t bring himself to say the word.

Minho let Jonghyun hug him, basically sobbing against his chest like a frightened child. "I'm fine," he said patting his back. "Someone saved me."

"Who?" Jonghyun asked pulling away from his chest.

"I don't know him, but he said his name was Jinki."

"Jinki? What's his last name?"

"He didn’t say," Minho said with a shrug. "But he's cute."

"Cute? How..." Minho felt his cheeks warm slightly as his once emotional friend was quick yo interrogate him.

"Hyung, I really want to go home to change these clothes, I'm tired."

Jonghyun looked at Minho and raised an eyebrow. "Where's your t-shirt?"

Shrugging, Minho smiled. "Bye, hyung."

 

 

"Can you stop?"

Kibum crossed his arms and snorted. "You need to eat and..."

"And I already ate, I'm full and yet you keep pushing more food on me. I can't eat anything else or I'm going to pop."

"You are exaggerating."

"No, I'm not." Minho said, crossing his arms. Sometimes Kibum and his motherly instinct could be more stubborn than both him and Jonghyun put together.

"I'm just worried, okay?"

"I'm fine and as much as I love your cooking, I definitely don't need to eat anymore."

"You... you almost died," Kibum said with a sigh and emotion evident in his voice. He sat in the chair next to Minho. "I do not know what else to do."

"Kibum-ah," he said taking Kibum's hand in his. "Thank you for bringing me food, thank you for caring about me, but I'm really fine, just a little tired."

Kibum nodded, sighing once more. "Then promise me one thing. Promise me you will not go out on the open sea tomorrow. You need to rest Choi... rest. "

"Kibum-ah..."

"No, listen to me. In the news, they said that there would be another storm tomorrow. You almost drowned and the storm hadn’t even fully hit at that time. I don't even want to think what can happen not only with you but with Jonghyun too, if you go out in that tomorrow."

Seeing how Kibum was worried and the obvious emotion on the boy’s face and in his voice, Minho nodded.

"Okay, we'll stay at home tomorrow. I need to fix some things, anyway."

"Good," he said, smiling contentedly. "Tomorrow I'll cook for you, come to the restaurant at lunchtime."

"Can I bring Jonghyun with me?"

"Even if I say no, you’re going to just bring him anyway... or he’ll follow you there like a puppy." he said, snorting dramatically and making Minho laugh. "Just don't be late."

"Yes sir," he said, saluting and making Kibum laugh again.

Lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, Minho let himself think about what had happened, let himself think of Jinki who had saved him from drowning, who had saved his life.

He had never seen anyone like Jinki before, not someone so beautiful. He looked like a manhwa character, someone drawn by an artist with perfect characteristics, proportions and hair.

A smile formed on Minho's lips, who closed his eyes, trying to remember the details of Jinki's face, how the blush rose over his face as Minho mentioned that he was .

Minho certainly wanted to see Jinki again.

 

 

It had been a few weeks, Minho had not seen Jinki anywhere, and he had actually worked to search for the man. He tried to find him in the small crowds as he walked the streets of town, or trying to find him inside a shop or restaurant when he would go out. Everything had been in vain.

No one he talked to about Jinki had seen or knew about him and Minho started to worry and second guess himself. Thinking he had hallucinated the whole thing and that Minho had somehow escaped from drowning by himself.

Although there was Minho's missing t-shirt, the one he left home wearing and returned home without. The t-shirt he had given Jinki.

Determined, Minho decided that he would go to the beach, the place where he had woken up after the drowning, in the exact place where he saw Jinki that day. Maybe he could find some answers or at least a helpful clue.

The place was as Minho remembered, the sand seemed to be whiter, the flowing water quieter and the shells glittering in the sunlight. Looking around, Minho saw that place was like a refuge, a hidden place nobody else knew about.

Closing his eyes, Minho felt the breeze pass around him, until he heard that voice, the same voice he had heard that night near his house. Opening his eyes, Minho began walking along the beach, trying to discover where that voice was coming from, who owned such a beautiful and smooth sound.

Then Minho saw Jinki walking along the beach distracted, wearing the t-shirt he had borrowed that day and very short shorts, showing his fleshy thighs that Minho had had the pleasure of noticing the day Jinki had saved him.

"Jinki!" he called, smiling relieved to have finally found him.

Jinki smiled happily and then blushed when he looked down, seeing that he was wearing Minho’s t-shirt. "Hello," he murmured. "I'm... I'm sorry for wearing your shirt again, I should have returned it, but..."

"It's okay, the t-shirt looks good and you. You can keep it."

Jinki's eyes sparkled. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, it's a gift."

"Thank you, Choi Minho-ssi."

He nodded, still smiling at Jinki. "I was looking for you."

"W-were you?" Jinki asked looking at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, but no one knew about you, no one had ever seen you, and I began to think I had dreamt everything that happened." he said, laughing uneasily.

"Oh, I..."

"It's weird, isn't it? There's no way someone wouldn’t have remembered meeting you."

It made Jinki blush even more and Minho chuckled. "Do you think?"

"Of course," Minho said, nodding. "After that day I could not stop thinking about you and how I wanted to meet you again."

"W-why?"

Minho blinked, realizing that he was speaking without thinking again. If Kibum were there, he would be rolling on the floor laughing at him.

"Hmm... because... I wanted to thank you properly for saving me. My friend owns a Korean food restaurant, the best we have around, and I wanted to take you there."

"Oh, okay," he said, nodding, smiling sheepishly. “I would like that.”

"Great," Minho said excitedly. "We could meet..."

"Can we go now?" Jinki asked looking back over his shoulder, seemingly stepping out of the way of each incoming wave and biting his lower lip.

Minho hadn’t planned on taking Jinki to the restaurant today, but he wouldn’t say no. The tone of the other man's voice had made him a bit worried. Was Jinki running away or hiding from the water? Or was it that he was looking out for someone?

"Yeah, we can go now. I still don't know if..."

A yelp made Minho stop talking and he felt Jinki's fingers brush against his arm, somehow trying to catch himself as he fell on his face with a grunt, taking Minho down with him.

"Are you okay?" he asked turning to Jinki who looked at him the same moment a small wave washed up on to the shore, covering his lower halve in water.

He watched as Jinki's eyes widened, shock and terror shining there as something shone and enveloped his body, making Minho blind for a few seconds.

Blinking to clear the vision, Minho looked down and gasped, taking a step back unconsciously.

Laying there in front of him was Jinki, wet and coughing a bit on the salty water, but what was making Minho's heart beat faster was that instead of the legs, Jinki had a tail, a fish tail like a mermaid... or merman?

Jinki whimpered, taking Minho out of his own thoughts and he realized that the other man, merman, was scared and simply lying in the sand after rolling away from him. The tail that was covered with green, pearly scales that glistened with the sun, flapping lightly, literally like a fish out of water.

"A-are you a merman?" he asked stupidly, not knowing what to do or talk.

"Yes," Jinki murmured, looking down, pulling his tail closer as if trying to hide from Minho's eyes.

Frowning, Minho realized that Jinki was scared of his reaction. "You don't need to be afraid of me," he said with a sigh. "I... I'm just shocked, I'm sorry."

Lowering himself to the side of Jinki, who cringed even more in worry, he made himself look at the merman more closely. He could see that Jinki's skin was different in this form, brighter and clearer, also that his tail was beautiful, fascinating, hypnotizing even.

"You're so beautiful." he murmured, looking into Jinki's eyes, and reaching out to caress his cheek. Jinki could only blink, blushing at the youngers words.

"Yes, we all are," he said head down. "All mer-people are considered beautiful by human standards."

"I don't know about the others," Minho said with a shrug. "But I'm sure none of them are more breathtaking than you."

"Y-you... you've never seen another mer-person before, so you can’t possibly know..."

He laughed, getting up. "You're right, but even though they must all be beautiful, I'm sure you're the most exquisite."

Jinki looked down and Minho tried to calm down, calm his head that was full of questions, full of things he didn’t know how to ask, or if it was rude of him to ask.

"So," he said, startling Jinki who looked at him. "When you get wet, it makes your tail appear?"

"Yes. When I am wet or in water, my tail appears. Likewise when I am dry, my human legs appear. We can all do that after a mermaid called Ligeia made a deal with a god so she could stay with her lover, many generations ago."

Minho nodded, choosing to understand this later and keep asking. "So you can live among humans?"

"Not quite," Jinki said with a sigh. "I... I promise to explain everything to you later."

Jinki looked distressed and Minho realized that he was only making the merman uncomfortable with those questions.

"Of course, of course. We can talk anytime you want."

"Tonight, at your house?"

"Do you know where I..." he stopped talking, realizing that yes, Jinki knew very well where he lived. "I will wait for you."

 

 

When Jinki appeared at Minho's door later that night, still wearing the clothes that he was wearing earlier today, he had to admit he was surprised. But it's not as if Jinki were to appear as a merman, Minho had seen how Jinki had become uncomfortable and scared to appear in his true form in front of him.

After the shock and fascination with having discovered that mer-people really existed and that the lovely man who had saved Minho from drowning was indeed a merman had settled, Minho didn’t know what to do. All the questions that had been in his head earlier had disappeared, and he found himself standing there in his living room, not knowing what to say.

Jinki was sitting on the couch, looking with curious eyes at everything, as if he was a child and Minho realized that maybe he was. That maybe this was the first time the merman had entered someone's house, a human's house.

"I'm sorry I came here," Jinki said suddenly. "But I couldn't talk to you there, actually I shouldn't even be here."

"Why not?"

"One of our rules, one of the most important rule, is that in order to be able to stay in the human world, we can't tell the truth about ourselves, we can't show our true form, and I have broken that. There is fear among the mer-people of what would happen to us should humans know of our existence."

"You didn’t do it on purpose." Minho said finally sitting facing Jinki.

"I didn't, but I can't say that I regret it. I mean... it's been a long time since I... I wanted to talk to you."

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"It's been months since I've started following you, watching you whenever I could." he murmured, looking down to his own hands.

Minho blinked. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I really didn’t want to scare you or weird you out... and I know how I look now, saying this, but I just wanted to look at you from afar and came to the shore to see you at night, that's all, I swear!" he said desperately.

Not really knowing what to say, or how to act after hearing Jinki's confession, Minho sat silent. It was kind of weird to know that someone was lurking around his house, but at the same time, Minho realized he didn’t care that much, it was Jinki, and Jinki did not seem like a bad person... bad merman, that would do any harm.

"I believe you," he said after some time in silence. "But why?"

"I... I don't know," he murmured. "I think I fell in love with you." he said, biting his lower lip.

Sure enough, it was pretty bold of Jinki to have confessed that, but Minho could see that despite everything, the merman was blushing red and staring at the wooden floor of his house.

"Okay..." he said slowly, trying to think of what to say. Minho was a bit shocked by the confession.

"I'm sorry," Jinki said getting up suddenly. "I... I'm leaving now."

"Wait..."

Quickly Jinki walked to the door, the tips of his ears red. "I'm sorry."

"Come back another day," Minho said getting up from the couch. "Don't just look from afar."

Jinki turned to him slowly, his face red with embarrassment, but a hopeful look in his eyes. "Okay." he whispered before opening the door and sliding out, closing it right behind him.

Minho sat down again on the couch and let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. A lot had happened in less than twelve hours. He still was not sure if he believed in everything he had seen and heard, it was too much to comprehend and then there was Jinki's confession...

It's not that Minho had never dated other men before, he really did not care much about gender, all that mattered to him is if they were attractive in his eyes and compatible together.

Then again, Jinki was not human, though Minho still had trouble believing everything.

He had heard his father tell stories about mermaids when he was a little kid, about creatures who lived in the depths of the sea together with all types of fish and other underwater species. Beautiful creatures who deceived and bewitched humans with beauty and elegant voices that would make any singer jealous, so that they could kill the human later. Minho remembered asking his father why they did such a thing, why the mermaids were so evil and his father said it was simply their nature. Kill or be killed, they needed to protect themselves.

Was this what Jinki wanted from the beginning? Did the merman want to lure Minho to kill him later?

Although that didn’t make sense, since Jinki had saved his life. So there was only one option he could figure out. That Jinki really was really in love with Minho.

 

 

Three days later, as Minho had asked, Jinki came to his house again. He appeared a little uncertain and looking a bit ashamed, but Minho was actually happy that the merman was back, that they could talk and then he would get answers to the questions that had not been answered the first night.

Even though Minho could see that he was still a little embarrassed, Jinki did not say anything about his confession and slowly they began to know each other better, talking every night about their lives and answering each others’ questions. Minho was able to know more about Jinki, learning more about the merman and his people.

Jinki said that all the mer-people had different colored hair, so his hair was pink like a cherry blossom, just as Taemin, his younger brother, had purple hair. All mer-people had characteristics that set them apart from humans, but not many actually lived among humans on land, so it was easier to stay hidden.

Most mer-people were still afraid of humans and had many examples of why they should stay that way, far away from the other species. Humans could not handle the differences and thought they had the right to capture, study, mistreat and even kill the mer-people they didn’t understand about. Thus, there are very few who ventured to try and have a human life. In the end, mer-people, even those unafraid of humans, still had to return to the water. To live in their natural environment, just as humans did.

Jinki would show up every night now, dry off and wear Minho's clothes. He had to admit, they were big on the merman and Jinki look even cuter. They talked about random things or just sat there on the pier at the back of Minho's house, watching the waves crash into the rocks in silence, enjoying the peace.

"I like it here," Jinki said with his eyes closed, feeling the breeze hit his face. "It's so calm."

Minho looked around and then turned back to Jinki. "Yes, it's my favorite place. My father built the house and this pier. My mother kept watch for him here everyday." he let out a small sigh, thinking back to his youth.

"Can I ask what happened to your mother?"

"To be honest, I don't know either. She died when I was still a baby. All my father ever mentioned is she had become very sick. He never told me what exactly happened. Every time I brought up the subject, he became extremely sad. So one day I just stopped asking."

"So when your father died..."

"Yes, I was alone. It was alright though, I was already fourteen and knew how to live by myself since my father was out fishing often. After I recuperated from the boat accident and left the hospital, Jonghyun's family took care of me and then Kibum showed up. He likes to act like my mother sometimes." he said snorting.

Jinki chuckled. "I'm relieved to know that you have them in your life."

"Yes, it was difficult when I woke up alone in the hospital and discovered that my father had died... and left me behind. He drowned trying to save me from drowning...he couldn’t save himself. He gave his life to save me." Minho said looking down into the water.

"I'm so sorry." Jinki place his hand on the other’s bicep and unconsciously began rubbing it in support and comfort.

Minho shook his head, smiling a little. "It's okay, it happened over ten years ago. I’ve kind of learned to accept what happened and come to peace with it all."

"I don't know how you feel, but I'm getting ready to live away from my family. To be without them too."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I like my life, I love my family, but I need to go after my happiness."

"Where is your happiness?"

"I still don't know," he said looking at Minho and then looking away. "...but I know it's not down there."

"You mean your happiness is here, with the human world?"

"Actually I think my happiness may be right here." he said looking back at Minho.

Minho looked at Jinki and he understood very well what the merman was saying, the remembrance of the first confession still fresh in his memory. Minho just couldn’t tell if what he felt every time he saw Jinki was because he was bewitched by the merman or not. It was still a bit confusing.

"Maybe it is." he said, nodding, looking briefly at Jinki who smiled, coming a little closer to him.

It was still a little confusing, but maybe Minho shouldn’t resist Jinki or the feelings he knew were inside him.

"Are you sure?"

"Not yet," Minho said moving closer to Jinki who blinked. "But I'll never know what's right or wrong if I don't try."

"I... can I kiss you then? I've been waiting for so long." Jinki whispered, shaking a little when Minho cupped his cheek, sliding his thumb over his soft skin, glowing softly from the reflection of the moonlight.

"Yeah, you can." he said, pulling Jinki lightly forward and waiting for the merman to take the initiative.

Shyly Jinki leaned forward and Minho smiled a little when he felt Jinki's trembling lips against his. Deciding he should take the reins since Jinki was afraid, he slid his fingers into Jinki's soft hair bringing the merman closer, pressing their lips together again and sliding the other hand down his back. Jinki whimpered against Minho's lips, wrapping his arms around his neck, pressing their chests together and creating a tight squeeze between the two of them.

Jinki's whimper made Minho's head spin and he got greedy, the bottom lip of the merman and biting lightly. Jinki shuddered and let out an airy gasp. Those noises were all he needed to be even bolder, slipping his tongue into the merman's mouth. Jinki sank his nails into the skin of Minho’s neck, kissing him desperately.

When they pulled away, they were both panting and Minho leaned over, brushing Jinki's chin and quickly pecking his lips.

"Yeah," he whispered against Jinki's lips. "I think we can definitely try this."

The merman then smiled happily, his eyes almost disappearing. Minho felt his chest fill with a strong warmth that made him happy, a warmth and sensation like he’d never felt before.

This had been their first kiss and all Minho could think of was that he wanted more, he wanted everything, but he held himself back.

Sighing happily, he brought Jinki into his arms, feeling the warm of the merman's skin against his. It was still too soon for anything major, especially since he still was not sure what he was feeling, but Minho certainly felt he could get used to this.

 

 

Without even realizing it, the days went by quickly and the relationship between Minho and Jinki grew in such a way that when he finally realized how far they had come, they were sitting on the sofa in the living room, cuddling.

"There's something I'm curious about." Minho said playing with Jinki's hair, still a little amazed by the pink color, amazed of how well it matched with the warm tone of the merman's skin.

"What is it?" Jinki asked, a little sleepy and cuddling even more against Minho’s side.

"You once told me about the mermaid who made a deal so she could stay with her beloved who was a human."

"Yes, Ligeia. What about her?"

"Were they able to stay together in the end?"

Jinki pulled away from Minho and sighed. "No, she couldn't stay away from the sea for too long but was stubborn to go back... I think she was afraid of go back... so she died.”

Minho frowned. "So you..."

"No, I'm different and now we know our limits and how we can't stay away from the sea for long. I also don’t have to be afraid. It's not like my family would lock me up if I went back and forth."

"It's still dangerous. You told me it was against the rules to show the true form to a human, so how could a relationship like this work?"

"You've already seen my true form, Minho-ah." he said with a sigh.

"Yes, and you were terrified when I did."

"I know, but you also showed acceptance and didn’t judge me at that time. You showed me it was alright. I don't want to let anything push me away from you or keep me from what I want to do. Don't push me away because of your worry for me, please."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to push you away, but I am worried."

"Don't be, I know how to take care of myself and I'll do everything I can to live in my happiness."

There was that feeling again, the warmth spreading through his body and Minho realized that it was indeed happiness, not momentary happiness either. It was like a fulfilling happiness that told him this was where he needed to be and with whom he needed to be with. He really was worrying for nothing.

"Come here," he said, pulling Jinki closer and kissing the merman, wrapping his arms around him and twisting their bodies until he was pressing Jinki against the couch.

Jinki whimpered against Minho's lips, something he always did when they were kissing, making Minho go crazy.

"Minho-ah…” he said breathlessly as the younger pulled away enough to catch his breath, and then he grabbed Minho by the back of the neck and proceeded to kiss him again.

"Who do you think you are?" Kibum shouted slamming the door closed and stormed over. "How can you just disap..." his words left him, suddenly speechless as his eyes landed on the two men tangled up together.

The merman squealed, pushing Minho off of him, who snorted as if in sarcastic thanks, and sat on the couch looking at Kibum who was staring at them both, jaw on the floor.

"What the hell, Kibum-ah!"

Kibum looked at Minho and then at Jinki who was curled up on the couch, his face red with embarrassment. Kibum posed the only question he could think of at the moment, "Who is he?"

Minho wanted more than anything to kick Kibum out of there and continue what he was doing, but he knew he was being unfair. In the last few weeks, as he began spending more and more time with Jinki, he had neglected his friends. He simply wanted to have the merman for himself in every way and perhaps deep down he was afraid to introduce Jinki to them and they find out who Jinki really was.

"This is Jinki, you know, the guy who saved me that time."

Kibum's eyes flashed with understanding and he smiled. "So you really did find him, huh?"

"Yes, a few weeks ago."

"That's good, but you did not have to disappear. He's cute and all but we won’t steal him from you." Kibum said with his hands on his hips.

Jinki got even redder and Minho laughed, pulling the merman up from the couch with him. "This is Kibum, my friend."

"N-nice to meet you."

Kibum smiled, taking Jinki's hand. "It's my pleasure and I need to thank you for saving this stupid giant here."

"Yah!"

Jinki chuckled. "No need to thank me, I'm glad I could actually save him."

Kibum could see the happiness between them as Jinki looked up at Minho after making his comment, eyes shining and his entire being thrumming with positive energy.

"I can see that." Kibum said with a smirk, looking at the two still holding their hands together.

Minho interlaced their fingers together even more and pulled Jinki a little closer. The older man now completely on his lap. "Sorry to be so absent, we were taking some time to get to know each other better."

He did not even feel ashamed when he said this. He was proud of himself for having Jinki by his side.

"Oh I bet you were... so when I asked about you and Jonghyun said you were too busy these days, he meant it seriously. Wait a minute... he already knew about this and didn’t tell me anything?!"

Minho shrugged. "We worked together, of course he knew."

"I’m going to beat that guy.... and you! You could have told me, okay?" Kibum said in annoyance and Minho sighed.

"You're exaggerating and don't act like my mother." he said in a warning tone.

Sometimes, alright, a lot of times Kibum exaggerated and occasionally it irritated Minho.

"It would be nice if we had dinner together," Jinki said, trying to smile. "I can cook."

"Let's go to my restaurant," Kibum said excitedly. "I bet you anything Jonghyun is already there, and we can all eat together."

"Yes, we could do that.”

"Are you sure? Don’t you have to head home?" Minho asked a little worriedly, knowing that Jinki could not stay too long from the water and the merman had already spent all day at his house.

"I can stay here a little longer." Jinki said with a smile, kissing the side of Minho’s mouth.

"So let's go!" Kibum said pulling Jinki by the arm, causing him to let go of Minho's hand, who snorted.

"You're already stealing him from me!" Minho whined, making both of them to laugh.

 

 

They returned late to Minho's house, the small dinner they had turned out much better than Minho had imagined it would. Jinki was happy and that made Minho happy.

They may have had a bit too much alcohol and Jinki was a bit tipsy, stumbling on his own feet and giggling all the way home.

Minho pinned Jinki against the wall as soon as they entered the house, kissing the merman deeply. His cute giggles and adorable clumsiness was simply the final straw for Minho.

"I wish you did not have to leave." he said breathlessly against Jinki's lips.

Jinki looked at him through his lashes, his lips red from the kiss. "I don't need to, I can stay."

"Are you sure?" he asked already sliding a hand down his back, bringing Jinki's body flush against his and rubbing their crotches together lightly.

"Yes," he whispered in a small moan, pushing to wedge his hand beneath Minho's t-shirt. "I'm sure."

Minho kissed him deep, nibbling on Jinki's soft lips, feeling the merman's trembling body in his hands, feeling the warm of Jinki's skin against his.

Jinki whimpered, pulling Minho's t-shirt out of the way, lightly scratching at his skin as Minho at his neck, and nibbling at his skin, his hands began kneading Jinki's . They both craved nothing more than to be together, to feel the skin on skin only the other could supply.

"Let's go to the bedroom." Minho panted out in a whisper against his ear, lightly biting the lobe.

"Okay." Jinki whispered back, his face bright red and his little pants ghosting out over Minho’s skin. Looking at the elder below him, panting, flushed and half , only made Minho more aroused.

He wanted to devour Jinki and tonight, nothing was going to stop him.

 

 

The next morning Minho woke up to an empty bed, the side where Jinki had slept last night curled up against him, was cold. Only the crumpled sheet told of someone being there the night before.

A splashing noise from the bathroom caught his attention as he stood up quickly, grabbing his underwear from the floor and putting them on. When Minho managed to make it through the bathroom door, Jinki was inside the tub with his eyes closed. He seemed quite content. Then Minho noticed the scales of his tail glowing with the sunlight streaming through the window.

Minho stood there looking at the beauty of Jinki, his beauty Jinki. Sometimes he wondered if this was all real, if he was indeed dating a merman, a creature as mystical, as beautiful, and as perfect as Jinki could be.

Jinki opened his eyes and smiled at Minho who felt his heart beat quicken. "Did I wake you up?"

"No," he said shaking his head and going to the sink to wash his face, his facial hair was beginning to sprout again. He made a mental note to shave sometime today. "Have you been awake for long?" he asked looking at Jinki through the mirror reflection.

"I don't know," he said with a light laugh, making Minho’s heart swell. "I sort of lost track of time. Sorry if I'm using your tub without asking, I just needed to get wet."

He turned to Jinki, concern evident on his face. "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I won’t die if I stay out of the sea for a while. Just as long as I get wet at least once a day.”

Releasing the air he didn’t even realize he was holding and feeling immediately relieved, Minho nodded. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Help me out then." Jinki said, holding out his arms.

Minho pondered for a moment how he would do that, could he hold a merman in his arms?

"How?"

"Just hold my arms, I swear it's not that difficult. I'm not that heavy." Jinki said laughing.

Well, it really wasn’t difficult but it was not easy either. Minho managed to get Jinki out of the water and put him on the edge of the tub.

Handing him a towel, Jinki began to dry his body and Minho stood there watching the magic happen.

After a few minutes of Jinki drying himself, the scales began to become transparent and to disappear giving place to the white and milky skin of the legs Minho knew. The tail disappeared and legs that Minho loved, especially around his waist... as he discovered last night... appeared fully.

"That still surprises me." he murmured, staring at Jinki's legs, who laughed.

"You'll get used to it, I guess." he said with a shrug. "It will depend on how long you want keep me around."

At that moment Minho thought to himself that if it were up to him, he would have Jinki next to him forever and that it would be great if they could live together in his family home. He wanted them to sleep and wake up together, spending as many minutes, hours and days together as they did in the past forty-eight hours. Minho knew it was not that easy though and that it was too soon to dream and wish for all of those things.

He could wait. He could be patient.

"If it’s up to me I’ll be happy to keep you around forever." he said smiling, pleased with the reaction that Jinki had with his words as he saw the older man blush and smile brighter than the sunshine sneaking in the window behind them.

"Help me into bed? It takes a little while after my change for my legs to be ready to stand on." Jinki said, his face still red.

Grinning, Minho took Jinki in his arms, carrying him to the bed. As soon as he put Jinki down, he pecked his lips one, two, three times, pressing his lips against the soft ones of the merman who smiled against Minho's mouth.

 

 

Minho smiled as the cool breeze hit his face. The sun was rising on the horizon, brightening the sky, swallowing the last remaining stars. As he watched it became a beautiful shade of orange and yellow that blended with the emerging blue.

He felt that he would never grow tired of the sunrise views, the colors and its magnificence.

"One more day till we break, huh?" Jonghyun said beside him, squinting against the brightening sunlight.

"Yeah, let's get to work." he said patting Jonghyun's shoulder, who nodded at him.

Before turning around, he saw a flash of green and white in the water, and Minho smiled. "See you at home, baby." he whispered.

"Come on Minho-ah!" Jonghyun called and he chuckled.

Looking one last time to the water, Minho felt his heart full of happiness and he knew it was because later, after he finished work and had docked the ship for the night, he would be able to have Jinki in his arms once again. That was definitely the best part of his day.

 

 

While they were gathering their gear and heading back to the pier, Minho saw a flash of blue and white in the water. It was too bright to be the water itself and quickly caught his attention. He frowned slightly and thought to himself, another mermaid?

"What is it?" Jonghyun asked, peering into the water, trying to see what had caught the younger’s attention.

"It's nothing," he said shaking his head. "I was just reminding myself that I have to fix some of the gear at home this weekend.”

"Need help? I'm free all weekend."

"I'm sure you are, but you don't have to. I'll take care of it." Minho said laughing and dodging when Jonghyun threatened to throw the net they had just collected, on him.

 

 

Minho was cleaning and organizing the fishing equipment while Jinki was in the kitchen, cooking something for dinner. Then again by the smell of it, Minho wasn’t sure if it was cooking so much as Jinki seemed to be burning their next meal.

"You know," Minho said, catching Jinki's attention, who turned to him. "I think I saw another mermaid or merman today."

"Did you?” Jinki asked frowning. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it was blue, I guess... too blue to be the water or a rock."

Jinki snorted and almost fell over laughing. "So Taemin is watching over you..."

"Taemin? Your little brother?"

"Yeah, he's suspicious of something from what I can see. It looks like he found out why I have been disappearing every night."

"You didn't tell your family about us?"

"Not yet," Jinki said as he walked over to Minho who was watching him. "It's not that I don’t want them to know or that I'm afraid or ashamed of dating a human, I'm just waiting for the right moment."

He sighed. "You should tell them, baby. You can't hide it forever. It's been four months since we started dating, it's time to come out and say it."

"I know, I'll do it, I promise. " he said pecking Minho's lips. "Now let's eat."

Looking at the kitchen, Minho wrinkled his nose. "You burned the food again, don't you?"

"Did I?" he asked, tilting his head in a lovely way.

Laughing, Minho rose from his chair and went into the kitchen. Today’s dinner was burnt so bad, Minho wasn’t even sure what it was supposed to have been. Sighing, he opened the refrigerator and looked in. Thank goodness there was still food that Kibum had brought earlier in the week.

"I'm not good at cooking," Jinki said pouting. "I’m sorry."

"Don't worry about it," he said, wrapping his arms around Jinki and bringing him closer. "You'll learn someday."

"That's so romantic, but kind of disgusting." Jonghyun said walking into the kitchen, beaming at them, but also making a face at the two.

Minho made a mental not to himself. He really should start locking the door when Jinki’s over.

"What is it now?" he asked moving away from Jinki who smiled at Jonghyun.

"Let's go drink. Kibum is closing the restaurant and will meet us at the bar when he’s done."

"We haven't even had dinner yet," Minho said gruffly. "We'll go later."

"Oh come on, don't be a pain in the , you can eat something there."

"You're a pain in the ." Minho said annoyed and made Jonghyun laugh.

"Minho-ah," Jinki said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just drink and eat with our friends."

Listening to Jinki refer to them as his friends too made Minho ecstatic. He realized there was no turning back, he was done.

"Okay, okay, let's go."

"Great." Jonghyun said with a smile.

The night was cooler and the four of them were having fun, sitting in a small bar, eating chicken and drinking soju. Jonghyun was telling Jinki stories about when they were little and how Minho Jonghyun and Kibum used to play together after they left school, running around the neighborhood.

Kibum reminisced about how they always got fresh breads when they passed by the bakery and that he was simply addicted to the egg bread. Even now Kibum went there to buy some on occasion, but not many or often because he was on a diet.

"Oh man, I remember the hodugwaja bread, was so good," Jonghyun said dreamily. "Do they still sell it?"

"Of course they do." Kibum snorted.

"What was your favorite, Minho-ah?" Jinki asked curiously.

"Hm, I think sora bread, I've always been addicted to coffee." Minho smiled.

"I want to try these breads, too..." Jinki muttered.

"Haven't you ever eaten bakery breads?" Jonghyun asked in surprise.

Jinki shook his head. "No but..."

"Hyung!"

The four of them lifted their heads and Jinki froze in place. Standing next to their table was a man with white and purple hair, like an onion, and as soon as Minho looked at him, he realized he was a merman. He was gorgeous, almost as pretty as Jinki. Thank goodness he was at least wearing clothes.

"T-Taemin-ah?"

"There you are," Taemin said placing his hand on his hips. "Do you know how long I've been looking for you?"

Kibum leaned across the table, kicking Minho lightly to get his attention. "Who is he?" he asked, just moving his mouth.

Minho looked at Jinki and sighed. "Maybe you should talk outside?" he said quietly, but apparently not quietly enough, because Taemin snorted.

Jinki nodded and stood up, taking his brother's arm. "Let's go outside, Taemin-ah."

"What's going on?" Kibum asked as the other two left the bar.

"Taemin is Jinki's younger brother, I don't know why he's here or why he's mad, though."

"He's beautiful..." Jonghyun murmured as if in a daze, still looking at Taemin through the bar window.

"Well, he really is beautiful." Kibum nodded and Minho frowned.

He was not in a position to tell Jonghyun to not mess with Taemin, but Minho didn’t think it was a good idea.

Jinki came in a few minutes later, his face red and his expression angry. "Can we go?"

"You can go." Kibum said nodding and Minho murmured a thank-you.

As they left the bar, Minho saw that Taemin was standing with his arms crossed against his chest, waiting for them.

"What's going on, Jinki-ah?"

"Can we talk at home?" he asked and Minho nodded. "Can Taemin come too?"

"Of course he can."

"Do I need authorization from a human now?" Taemin asked irritably.

"It's his house," when Taemin opened his mouth to answer, Jinki snorted. "Just let's go."

It was extremely awkward and Minho could see that Jinki was angry. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was sure the two were fighting.

"Are you okay?" Minho asked entwining their fingers together and Jinki took a deep breath.

"Yeah, he's just being annoying."

"I'm not being annoying, you're being irresponsible!" Taemin barked at the two who were walking a little further in front of him.

"This is about you dating me, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Jinki said looking at Taemin with a small glare. "That's exactly why."

"Human, hyung, a human!" Taemin said throwing his hands up and waving them around.

Minho decided to walk faster, it was better to have that conversation at home and not where other people could overhear them.

Even though Minho was trying to ignore the conversation of the two in the living room, it was a bit difficult since Taemin and Jinki were talking very loudly, upset and irritated with each other.

Taemin was not happy at all that Jinki was dating a human, a human who at one time or other would betray Jinki's trust and reveal their people’s secrets to everyone. Jinki would suffer the consequences of dating Minho.

This was unfair because Minho would never do that, but he also knew that Taemin was just scared and trying to care for his older brother's safety.

He just sat there on the porch of his house, staring at the starry sky as the other two talked. He could still hear both mermen, even from outside the home.

Jinki defended Minho, saying that Minho wouldn’t reveal anything because they loved each other, and that stopped Taemin all together.

Minho smiled pleased and happy to know that Jinki trusted him so much, that he could rely on the love he felt for the merman. No matter what others would say about them, the important thing was that Jinki trusted Minho and Minho trusted Jinki. In a relationship, trust was everything.

After a few minutes in silence, Minho decided to go back inside and found Jinki and Taemin sitting on the couch, the two looked mentally exhausted.

"Is everything okay in here?"

Taemin got up first, looking directly into Minho's eyes. "Do you really love my hyung?"

Minho looked briefly at Jinki who was biting his lower lip and then looked at Taemin. "Yes, I love him and I will never do anything to hurt him."

Looking at Jinki who had a happy smile on his lips, Taemin sighed. "Alright, so... I guess this is all okay, but that doesn't mean I accept this situation! It's still dangerous!”

"I know," Minho said nodding. "I know what we have seems like a mistake, but when it comes to love, there is no right or wrong. We feel what we feel and when love is true, nothing else seems as important. We'll deal with whatever comes up when and if it happens."

"Minho-ah..." Jinki said almost crying, practically running into his arms, burying his face against his chest. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said, chuckling and wrapping his arms around Jinki. "We're going to make it work. I promise."

Taemin sighed. "I think you're right about love and if you feel that way, nothing and no one can stop you both."

"Thank you, Taemin-ah," Jinki said smiling to his brother, pulling away from Minho's arms and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know you're just worried and I really do love you." Jinki pulled the youngest into a small hug to show his thanks.

Taemin wrapped his arms tightly around his brother. "Hyung, I just want you to be safe and happy."

Jinki laughed. "Does it look like I'm going to run away or something? I'm coming home later."

"Yeah," Taemin laughed embarrassed and kicking at the edge of the living room carpet now. "I guess so. I’ll be leaving then."

"You can come back whenever you want," Minho said. "You are always welcome."

Taemin nodded and smiled. "Goodbye."

As the door closed, Jinki let out a long sigh, all but falling into Minho’s body. "That was intense."

"Indeed." Minho laughed lightly, wrapping his arms around the shorter man.

"Sorry for all this. I didn't think Taemin would react the way he did."

"It's okay," Minho said as he sat on the couch and pulled Jinki into his lap, who curling up against his chest. "He's your family, it's normal to worry."

"I really love you." he said, pecking Minho's lips.

"Great, because if not this whole fight would have been pointless." Minho dramatically threw his hands up and smiled when Jinki started laughing.

Once his laughter had calmed down, Jinki began running his fingers through Minho's hair. "Silly."

As Minho had told Taemin, the only thing he was sure of was the love he felt for Jinki. Of course, love was not everything, but when the difficult things in life appear, and he knows they will, they will be ready to protect what they have.

Deep down, inside the deepest part of his heart, Minho knew they would stay together as long as they both existed, no matter what.