The first time Jonghyun had gone to the beach he was a five-year-old. The first whiff of the sea had put him off, but the feel of the soft and warm sand under his feet made him excited. He ran around in the sand, built a lot of castles, swam in the sea with his floaties but the best thing about the sea were the waves for him. He loved the feel of the sand washing away from underneath his feet whenever a wave came in and more than that he loved watching the sea, the way it sparkled under the sun, the sound the waves made whenever they crashed into the rocks nearby, the foam that would form whenever they crashed; he was mesmerized.

Over the next 20 years or so Jonghyun visited the beach many times. As the years went by, the running and playing around on the beach reduced and was replaced by drawing and painting his favourite waves. He would spend hours or sometimes the whole day just painting the sea or the sky or the waves that crashed into the rocks. He would set up camp in a corner away from all the commotion and paint as he hummed along to the song playing over his small portable speakers. There would be an occasional child or two who would come along his way and admire his work, ask him all sorts of questions about his sketches and paintings, he found it endearing.

One time a small girl had come up to him as he sketched. Jonghyun was expecting the exclamations and the questions but they never came. Instead the girl sat beside him, humming a nursery rhyme softly as she watched Jonghyun complete his sketch.

“Can I have the drawing?” she asked sweetly, her eyes hopefully gazing at the sketch of the glistening sea under the setting sun.

“Yes of course,” Jonghyun smiled as he tore out the page from his sketchbook. “Will you hang it up?” he asked softly.

The girl nodded, “But, before that I will show it to the sea, so that the sea knows she is so pretty.”

Jonghyun chuckled as he watched the girl skip to the shore line, sketch in hand. “Look you are so pretty. He drew you so prettily.”

-

The beach had been closed because of the storm that had raged over the sea and now which had passed through his town bringing in with it chaos. Once everything had settled down he found himself packing up his sketching and painting supplies to spend a day just painting the beauty a sea would be after a storm.

The beach was deserted, not a single soul in sight, the first time ever he saw the beach so quiet. The deserted beach made him happy; gave him the opportunity to do what he had always wanted to do; paint the waves and the sea from atop of the cliff. He had always wanted to watch the sea from the cliff but someone would always be there before him.

The trail up the cliff was serene, light filtering through the freshly washed leaves casted beautiful shadows around him. He smiled as he neared the top, he could hear the waves crash against the rocks below.

As he had expected, the sky and the sea right after a storm were the prettiest and the view from the cliff was the best.

Without him realizing he had spent the whole afternoon submerged in his thoughts and his painting. He started packing up his belongings after he had finished. As he had sat quite a distance away from the edge to paint he moved a bit closer to get a proper and closer look before he left.

The rain the previous night had made the ground loose and slippery. Jonghyun lost his footing as he turned to go back to a safer distance. His voice escaped him and his vision out before he even hit the rocks below.

-

When Jonghyun came to he panicked; the sun had almost set, casting a faint pink glow around him. He felt himself for any injuries, but there were none, his damp hair and clothes the only evidence for his fall.

He looked around his surroundings; he was in cave, a cave he had never seen before and sitting near the mouth of the cave was a man he had never seen before. The physique and the aura the man gave off did not remind him of any of the life guards that the beach had. A tanned and muscular back, shoulder length light brown hair, nope he never saw anyone like that before.

“Did you save me? Thank you so much!” Jonghyun said as he got up from where he sat and headed towards the man.

He saw the man turn around, twisting his torso in Jonghyun's direction, a smile on his very beautiful and very handsome face. “Oh you're awake! Are you alright?” the man asked his smile turning into a small frown.

“I am perfectly fine all thanks to-" Jonghyun froze as he stood behind the man. The man had a tail, a fish tail. A huge rust colored tail, glistening and faintly moving along the current of the water it was submerged in. A mermaid. A merman.

This is not real. This is not happening. I might have hit my head too hard. Jonghyun thought as he took a step back.

The man chuckled. “I am real.” he said. “And I caught you before you hit the rocks but sorry about your clothes. They got wet when I carried you underwater to reach this cavern.”

And that's when Jonghyun realized that the man had not uttered a single word, had not moved his lips except for smiling or frowning or laughing.

“Yes, we merfolk speak through our minds.” the merman informed Jonghyun. “Sit down,” he said pointing to one of the rocks littered beside him. “You look so pale.”

Jonghyun nodded, as he sat down, his mind too busy processing everything that was in front of him.

“I have always watched you, ever since I was a child, ever since you were a child. The happiest being I had ever seen.” the merman spoke, a small smile on his lips. “The kid grew up and so did his affection for the sea.” he turned towards Jonghyun, “I’d always see you sitting in a corner and I wondered what was in that pages that had you so mesmerized. And thanks to that little girl I learned that you painted the sea very prettily.” the merman chuckled.

“Ahh I should introduce myself, you still seem very confused,” the merman commented. “I am called Jinki.” he smiled brightly.

Jonghyun swallowed thickly, that man and his smile was definitely having an effect on him. His mind was overwhelmed, it had a lot to process and understand. “I am Jonghyun,” he said quietly after sometime. “Thank you for saving me,” he worried on his lips.

“You're welcome, Jonghyun. I could never let someone who loves the sea so beautifully get hurt.” Jinki said with a faint smile as he ran his fingers through his hair, and this time instead of speaking through his mind, Jinki spoke up loud and clear.

Jonghyun blushed, hearing his name being spoken through that sweet voice, warmed him up, all his senses tingling. “You can speak?” Jonghyun asked cutely.

Jinki chuckled, “Yes I can.” he answered but this time going back to speaking through his mind. “But we merfolk prefer speaking through our minds, you see our voices can be dangerous.”  

Jonghyun nodded, he had read about that in a book before. Jonghyun couldn't resist staring at the merman in front of him, Jinki was very beautiful and very handsome but eventually his gaze would land on his magnificent tail.

Jinki chuckled, Jonghyun's cute and amazed gaze was interesting. “You can touch if you want.” he said watching Jonghyun.

“I can?” Jonghyun asked excitedly, he sat down beside Jinki, his heart pounding wildly in its cage. Jinki's tail was just as beautiful as the man himself, the rust color of the tail complimented Jinki so much. He felt the smooth scales under his fingers, even though Jinki's tail was somewhat covered in water his tail was warm. Oh my god! This is so real! Wow!

Jinki chuckled at Jonghyun's thoughts. “Told you I am very real.”

“Does anyone else know about you?” Jonghyun asked softly as he sat back looking at Jinki.

“No, you are the first human I have ever made myself known to.” Jinki answered. He could hear all the questions Jonghyun was thinking about. He knew he owed the man an explanation for all his questions for turning up in front of him out of nowhere.

“Are there more like you here?”

“Yes, there are more like me but not here. It's forbidden for us to be this close to the shore. We live in the deep waters where man does not venture.” Jinki informed. “Anything that humans do not understand, they consider a threat and try to obliterate it.” Jinki added.

“What are you doing here then?” Jonghyun asked, he had a vague feeling as to what the answer might be.

“I like watching you.” Jinki smiled.

Jonghyun blushed, he had expected that. “How is it?” he asked gesturing towards the sea, “Living in the sea?”

Jinki looked at the vast sea in front of, he turned towards Jonghyun after a few seconds. “It is beautiful.” Jinki said. “The sun does not shine that brightly down there as it does here, but the moon lights up the deep waters much better than the sun.” Jinki said gesturing towards the moon.

“Oh no.” Jonghyun panicked, he hadn't realized how fast time went by. “I should go back home, my mom would be worried,” he said as he got up. He could see the shoreline from above the big rocks that covered the mouth of the cave, it would be a short swim.

Jinki nodded, looking intently at Jonghyun's face, “Are you sure you are alright? I could carry you back to the shore if you want.” Jinki offered.

“I am perfectly fine and I don't want to risk anyone seeing you.” Jonghyun blushed, he added softly, biting his lower lip, “Can I meet you again tomorrow?”

Jinki looked at Jonghyun for a few seconds, “I'll be waiting here for you tomorrow,” he said smiling.

Jonghyun couldn't help the smile that grew on his face. He had found someone more beautiful and mesmerising than his favourite sea.

A/N:
It's been a while since I wrote, a year tbh, so please excuse any mistakes you see (and do tell me about them I'll correct them!)
I am trying to ease myself back into writing, because I missed writing so much and I miss him more ;;;
The reason I started writing was because when I got into SHINee and fanfinctions, jongyu wasn't a popular ship (it isn't relatively that popular now too, but the ships popularity is much better than before) and the reason why I will continue writing is for him, to continue loving my cute little oppa through these stories ;;;

Please love and support our boys, they are so strong and they have worked so hard!
I hope you all are doing well ^^