Jimin likes humans.

They are fun to watch, they drop the strangest and funniest stuff in the water, keeping him busy for days when he tries to figure out how this and that works. And they are so dumb it's hilarious.

Yes, Jimin likes humans. When humans are around it never gets boring. Afterall, more than eighty years spent on earth is quite a bit so it's easy for him to get bored.

He swears, he really likes humans. But why do they have to make things so complicated?!

With a frustrated huff, he throws the stupid wooden board against the nearest rock in his cave. There is a nasty dull sound, something cracks and splinters and already he is scurrying over, apologies tumbling from his lips as he picks up the board to examine it. A piece of the board's edge has sprung off, revealing a few centimetres of much lighter wood.

When Jimin runs a finger over the strange spot, something gets stuck in his skin, pricking it like a needle. He swears some more, picking at the splin-something (was it splinter? he is not too sure) and shoves the pad of his finger in his mouth, now back to glaring at the offending board.

It had fallen off a huge ship, one of those that contain whole schools of humans, in the late afternoon a few days ago. Together with some tiny figures raining down onto the water aswell it had sunken to the ground slowly, one of the figures hitting Jimin on the head as he'd been busy looking for some new shells to take into his cave.

Dutifully he had picked up all of them and put them into a conch (a proper merman always carries an empty conch with him because you never know), tucking the squarish board under his arm and went off to his cave to examine his new treasure in peace.

But so far he has no idea what that whole thing is supposed to be. In all honesty, he is not even sure the figures and the board belong together. Maybe it was just a coincidence they dropped into the water at the same time.

Who knows? Who understands humans anyway?

The board is as long as it's wide, covered in light and dark squares with numbers and letters at the side. Maybe it's a strategy thing. Or... well, maybe it's not, really.

The bleeding finger in his mouth has gone numb by now from all the unconscious , reminding Jimin of his mishap earlier. He pouts. That's it. Enough is enough. He refuses to go insane over something stupid as a human game. He decides he needs answers. Luckily there is an obvious solution at hand: he needs to find himself a human.

 

---

By the time Jimin actually does make up his mind - because no matter how interesting humans are from afar, it's a whole other thing to deal with them up close - it's already dark. The moss he cultivates on his cave walls slowly begins to glow now as the daylight that usually filters through a few holes is gone, casting a dim blue light over the upper part of the cave.

When Jimin grabs the weird board to dive under and retrieve his conch of figures that he stored on the bottom level - because his cave is a very fine cave, with bottom level completely underwater and top level a pond amidst nice roundish stones, the best cave around to be honest, thank you very much - and leaves his cave, it's dark out there too. Not pitch black but some greenish darkness that barely allowes shapes to form. The salty tang of seaweed hangs heavy in the water.

Jimin jerks slightly at the first contact of seaweed when he makes his way through the meadow. He always does when it's dark. It's not like he is affraid of the dark or anything but he just prefers to live safely and you never know what lingers hidden between strands of swaying green weed. But nothing happens and soon enough Jimin is out of the clear. No traitorous ripple in the water, no rustle, no snap of fins. All he can hear is the breaking of waves against his cave. It officially, very much, is night now.

He has half a mind to turn around, go back to get some sleep and wait for the hours of usual human wakeness. However, if you should know one thing about Jimin then it's that he is stubborn. So it is not really a surprise when instead of going back he just pouts and makes his way up, up, up, closer to the surface.

The first breath of air when he breaches the water surface tastes a bit like salt and a lot like liberation. It had always amazed Jimin how the air above sea feels so much different to the stale air inside his cave. For a few minutes the taste of fresh air has him giddy until he remembers what he came for.

Jimin squints his eyes and slowly turns around, tail flicking nervously. And it seems luck is on his side this night. At the horizon he spots a small light moving from left to right. With one last gulp of the really nice and light air he dives back under, tail beating in a fast and strong rhythm to catapult him towards the light.

For once he is thankful for all the race-games he played with some of the nicer sharks, keeping him strong and fit over the years. Because for whatever reason he can't get to the light fast enough. Energy rushes hot through his veins, making him even faster, tail beating in big and mighty movements as he cuts through the water. He can already feel the boat, feel the ripple its movements cause disrupting the waves' natural momentum. Jimin grins like an excited child. It's been so long since he last spoke to a human.

Just before he reaches the boat for real, he dives down again, collecting handfulls of shells and whatnot from the ground. Because one thing is for sure, humans are dense as . They don't see or hear or feel anything for dear life. So when Jimin wants to get a human to help him with his frustrating little problem, he needs to come prepared.

When he comes back up he is greeted by the sight of a nice but small boat. One of the kinds that rich people buy for fun. It still has a decent size, he assumes. Not 'I'm so rich I can buy myself a boat that fits a whole small human school'-size but more like 'yes I know I have money and I need my space'-size. Everything on the boat is quiet so Jimin assumes it's a one-person thing.

He is already pretty much bouncing up and down on the spot when he hurtles the first shell towards one of the glass-covered holes and the light behind.

Fate however - or his own ignorance and stupidity - has it that instead of shells Jimin has grabbed a stone and thrown it right through the glass. 

The loud noise of glass shattering has him flinching back violently, but the "Umpf" followed by a dull thud has him hurrying towards the boat in no time.

With three powerful beats of his tail he flings himself out of the water and onto the boat. The incredibly smooth and sleek surface of the whole boat-thing is greatly irritating on his scales. Jimin does his best to ingore the sensation that makes his skin crawl. Using both arms he pulls himself forward to the small house in the middle of the boat, his tail an annoying dead weight dragging behind. Jimin silently thanks all the great gods and whale mothers when he spots various boxes next to the entrance hole. He isn't sure if he would've reached the - what was it, door, handle, something? - without them. With loud huffs he pushes himself up on the boxes until he can reach the handle and press it down. The next second he tumbles through the door and into the tiny house, landing smack dab onto a human already lying on the floor.

The fact that he has a seemingly young man laying beneath him barely registers together with the other unimportant informations like the fact that his hair is dark or that his arms look just as buff as Jimin's own - because all Jimin can focus on is the blood. He can't even tell where exactly it comes from but he needs to get that human safe soon. When Jimin hesitantly pokes him in the side and there is no reaction at all it sets off a whole bunch of alarms in his head.

He is halfway through dragging the human back into the water so he doesn't dehydrate and can heal properly when Jimin remembers that there is a reason for the human being on a boat in the first place and that's that humans usually can't breathe underwater that well. With a groan Jimin drops the human back onto the boat. Wow, he feels stupid.

Almost drowning a human by accident. Way to go, Jimin, way to go.

Condemned to doing nothing he slides down onto the ground next to the human, watching his every breath and waiting for him to wake up.

After a while the human stirs and opens his eyes, blinking directly in Jimin's face. Dark eyes stare into ink blue ones, brows furrowing, then looking down and taking in as much as possible from Jimin's sprawled form.

"I am too sober for this ," the human declares with scratchy voice and knocks out a second later.

Leaving a very confused Jimin behind. It's only when the human's head thuds onto the floor does he realize that not only he didn't get to apologize - for hitting the human unconscious with a stone, which in all honesty is not a great way to make an entrance - but also he lost his wood board game.

Jimin sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. At least the human doesn't seem to be on the verge of death. Somewhat reassured, Jimin makes his way to the boat's rim and ungracefully flops down into the water, going down with a loud splash. 

The next hours he spends searching for the board and all the figures that got lost when his conch - his favorite conch out of all things - shattered on the groud. When Jimin finally is sure he recollected everything and swims back up, it's already day again and the boat miles away, a mere shadow on the horizon.

 

---

Jimin sees the human again as he is leaning against that vertical stick thingy surrounding the whole boat. Jimin frowns when he notices that he really has not the slightest idea how to call that protection metal stick thingy. Yoongi would be disappointed in him.

"Park Jimin, I can't believe you, how do you not know stuff that trivial? How did you survive for so long?" - "Excuse you, it's normal for us to not know each vocabulary humans use and you are very well aware of that. How do you even know all these words when you literally never leave your pond anyway?" - "I'm a dryad, I know stuff."  -"You do realize that's not even close to an explanation, do you?".

The human has his back turned towards him, talking with one of those small rectangular things that have glowing pictures inside.

Jimin once had a phase where he collected them, regularily visiting places where they litter the ground of the sea. Water doesn't seem to do them any good but some kept glowing and doing funny stuff for days once he put them into his cave's upper level, showing glowing pictures with some of them even moving. Twice, he even got the small boxes to play music which was both fascinating and frightening. After a while it turned into an obsession, those thingies filling up the whole top level of his cave, most of them having lost their glow and being very much useless. So he'd spent a whole week to collect all of his rescued devices and throw them into the nearest maelstrom until nothing was left anymore, his cave finally being actually spacious again.

Still unbothered by his presence, the human keeps talking to his glow box thingy and Jimin once again wonders what it's good for. Maybe he feels lonely and talking to a glow box is a socially accepted thing for coping with loneliness as a human. Well if that's the case, then it's no problem anymore because Jimin is now here to be his new lovely company. At least until he understands the board game.

This time Jimin double-checks before flinging a small shell against the human. It hits him on the bare neck before falling back into the water.

"Ouch, what the ?!"

The human whirls around, rubbing his neck and glaring into the water where Jimin still has his hand stretched out to throw another shell. And it's comical, really, how he stares at Jimin and continues staring, hand on his neck frozen while his mouth slowly drops open. A strangled gurgling sound escapes him and Jimin slowly begins to worry.

"Uhm, are you okay up there?"

Jimin is aware that most humans don't believe merfolk really exists and he knew the first initial moments would be awkward but now as it's really happening, the human looking at him like some kind of alien, he just doesn't know what to do.

He scratches his head sheepishly, averting his gaze from the now outright gawping human as he feels a hot blush creeping up his cheeks. Gods, this is awkward.

"Uh."

Jimin clears his throat and tries again. He can do this, he is a grown man. "I'm sorry to bother you but I kind of need help, if you got a minute? Sorry, I'm, hm. Oh, and my name is Jimin, by the way. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, where are my manners? So, yeah."

For god's sake, he is rambling, wh is he rambling? This is so stupid. When the human still doesnt say anything, he holds up the wooden board and his new conch.

"Can you teach me how this works?"

 

---

"...Okay, just let me get this straight," the man, Jeon Jeongguk apparently, sighs. "You want me to teach you how to play chess. And you are a merman."

Jimin frowns at that.

"I don't know how one thing is connected to the other, but yes."

Jeongguk rubs his head some more, where, sure enough, some white fabric is wrapped around. Immediately Jimin feels another string of apologies bubbling up in his throat but before he can open his mouth, Jeongguk turns his conch upside-down and the tiny figures clatter to the boat's ground. He starts arranging them on two opposing sides of the board, one figure on each square. Jimin watches with keen eyes, tries to memorize the order in which the figures are set down in case it is important.

When Jeongguk is done, there are four incomplete rows set up on the chess board. The merman's eyes flit back and forth as he compares both sides but the gaps don't match up. Maybe that's already part of a strategie?

"We are missing nine figures."

Well. Or apparently not.

"There is not a single black rook here and more importantly, the white king is missing." Jeongguk points to a gap on Jimin's side, in the middle of all the white figures. "I'm sorry, but we can't play chess like that."

Jimin lays heavy on the ground and pouts.

"I'm sorry, mister merman."

"It's Jimin to you, I already said that. Why can't we play? Why are there not enough kings and so on? Does it really matter?"

The young man huffs and shaokes his head. "Yes, it does. But maybe... I mean chances are slim but I can probably see if..."

He gets up and vanishes into his small boat house, rummaging around for a while.

Jimin busies himself with blowing dried strands of silver hair out of his face. It's funny, he thinks how his hair settles in a calm position, only moved when a breeze plays with the dried, fluffy strands while under water he is constantly surrounded by a swaying cloud of silver around his head, moving with the tides like being its own creature. He is still busy blowing his bangs up with an unquestionably not very flattering expression when Jeongguk emerges out of his house with something that looks suspiciously like a second chess board.

"Look what I found here~" He grins.

Jimin, for whatever reason gets irritated by that.

"So you had one inside your house all the time? Why couldn't we use that one to begin with?"

"It's a cabin, not a house," Jeongguk corrects him while snapping the board open and unfolding it, revealing a neat set of chess pieces stored inside. He begins to take the figures out and place them on the board, all the while doing a rather impressive job of staying calm in the presence of Jimin. "And I didn't even know I had a chess board here. It was just a lucky guess. But I am not the one restocking my yacht so I don't even know what's inside of all the cupboards."

The merman huffs and decides to not ask about cupboards. He doesn't want to sound stupid so soon again. 

Jeongguk's hands move calmly as he sets all pieces in their respective places and not after long there are four complete rows on the board, two black and two white ones. "Alright," he declares, slapping his legs. "Done."

Huh.

Jimin blinks. Looks up to Jeongguk. Back at the board. Up again.

"Wait. Wait, that's it?"

To his utter relief, the human snorts. "Pfft, no! That's just been the preparation."

"Oh thank the gods! I was already getting affraid chess would be that lame. That would've been such a waste of time."

Jeongguk laughs and Jimin immediately decides it sounds adorable. "No, no, I just needed to set up the game properly. Though I guess some people think it is lame but, yeah. Anyway, this has just been the start. One game session can actually last for hours." 

He frowns, peering down at Jimin.

"Wait, do you, like, do I need to splash you with water every full hour or something so you don't dry out or something?"

Jimin giggles. Yes, he is adorable alright. "Don't worry, I'm fine. See, my tail fin is still in the water. As long as that's the case I can stay up here quite a while. I mean you can still splash me with water if you really want but it's not necessary."

At that, the human turns bright red and Jimin has to supress a coo.

"Oh, okay, uhm. I'm going to get you pillows though."

"...What's pillows?"

 

---

Pillows, apparently, are a really nice thing. 

Playing chess however, not so much.

Jimin is comfortably laying on a heap of pillows and blankets while cussing out the stupid game.

"That's not fair! You literally just said that pawns have to move diagonally to beat a piece. You can't do that, my pawn was right next to yours!"

"It's en passant, it's a special move. So yes, I can. See?" Jeongguk shoves his glow box - phone, as he calls it - right into Jimin's face. And yeah, no, he doesn't see up that close.

"Hold it a little closer, will you, I think my eyeballs did't get quite stuck in it yet."

"Oh. Sorry."

Jeongguk does take his device out of the merman's face, thankfully and truth be told it takes Jimin a few moments until he can make out words that look remotely close to what Jeongguk just said. He is barely fluent in reading human languages but he'll never admit that little fact in a thousand years. Least of all to a human.

"Okay, yeah, whatever. It's still unfair. This game is dumb and you . Whatever you say, I am right and you are wrong!"

The human scoffs. "You are such a brat, I swear."

What. Did he just call him a brat?

"YAH! I am eighty-three years old, you little shrimp! You better show some respect to your elder, you hear me?"

At that, Jeongguk's mouth drops way past the floor.

"Holy - wait, you are actually a grandp-"

"Jeon Jeongguk, I dare you end that sentence! I just live longer than you humans do, thank you very much."

The younger takes his time processing the new information, sitting frozen on his and staring into nothingness. When a sly smirk tugs up the corner of his mouth, Jimin is certain that the brat out of them is not himself.

"When you are that old, then how come you never won against me so far, huh?"

"...You are not being very nice right now."

The younger just grins. "Come on, hyung. It's your turn. And you just lost your second-last pawn, what are you going to do, hm?"

With his chin nonchalantly propped up in one hand like that, Jimin thinks the young human looks unfairly attractive. He huffs and turns away.

"Whatever. Next time I am bored Imma just go to the Blue Hole again and make some bets there. Chess is dumb."

The younger actually has the audacity to roll his eyes. "You didn't even try for that long. What did you expect, that you would become a chess master overnight?"

Jimin just shrugs. Because maybe that's exactly what he thought.

"Anyway, why go to the Blue Hole?"

At that the merman perks up. "Oh, because it's fun! It's like the ultimate place for dumb humans to go. They all try to dive through the archway without proper training or equipment. Barely anybody succeeds though because it's so deep. And honestly, it boggles my mind why there are still humans coming when it's obviously dangerous and there have been som many who failed at their trip already. But yeah, whenever someone gets down more than five metres, everybody starts to bet how far they will make it. And the rewards if you've bet right are good. I won a couple of times over the years, it was nice..."

Jeongguk looks positively sick now, chess board forgotten.

"Your lot watches people drown for sports and makes bets on how long it will take them to die?!?"

Jimin shrugs, confused by the outburst and only a little bit offended.

"Yeah? I mean, it's their choice to be stupid. And besides, it's much better than throwing huge nets into the ocean for fishing, just to throw half of the catch back into the water, severely wounded and damned to die a painful death. And that's what you do for money as a regular job. Isn't that like killing for sports? Isn't watching someone killing themself better than killing multiple lifes yourself for no purpose whatsoever and even wanting to be paid for that?"

The human can't really say anything to that. So he just silently waits for Jimin to make his next move, looking everywhere but at the merman.

Jimin makes his next move and loses his last pawn. He makes another move and is checkmate.

"This is stupid. I quit!"

He takes the offending black king and throws it into the water.

Jeongguk gapes at him as if he lost his mind and it almost makes Jimin laugh. Almost.

"What, you can't just throw it overboard! Do you really want to give up after just one day? Come on, you are not a quitter, man."

Eventually, Jimin caves and remorsefully hoists himself up - the pillows were really comfy - to fall back into the water. It's like a little shock when the cold water closes in on him from one moment to the next, stinging and burning after so long out in the dry. Jimin shudders, his whole body twitching, and goes down to pick up the black king.

After who-knows how long he emerges, holding up the piece for Jeongguk to take.

"Do you want to try again tomorrow?"

Jimin contemplates, then nods.

"Thank you. For being so nice and patient." He means it.

Jeongguk just laughs it off. "Oh, don't mind it. I figured that I probably got -face drunk last night without remembering and now I am having the most bizarre dream. So might as well try to help someone for once, even if it's not real, huh? Anyway. Goodnight, Jimin. I'll see you tomorrow then, if I don't wake up before."

Jimin wonders what the hell the human is talking about.

 

---

The next day when Jimin pops his head out of the water, Jeongguk is significantly less chill than last time. With a loud shriek he stumbles backwards until his back hits the wall of his house-cabin, pointing at Jimin, eyes wide and mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish. His hands feel around until he finds a glass bottle, grabs it and holds it up high.

"YOU ARE REAL?!?"

Jimin tail flicks and he flinches before furrowing his brows, a little bit annoyed.

"Wow, good morning to you too. What a way to greet someone, thank you."

"No no no, I mean, you are real?!"

The merman sighs. "Well, aren't you eloquent today."

"But-but you are a, you're a, you know, a merman!"

"Indeed. Congratulations."

This is slowly getting quite irritating.

"And you are real!"

Jimin rolls his eyes. "Seriously, Jeongguk? How about you try another sentence? Or I can just go and find myself a new chess teacher who doesn't bubble bull the whole day I guess."

That seems to finally get Jeongguk out of his little crisis.

"No, I'm sorry, we can play, you can come, I'm just, uh. A little, yeah, I mean, well. You are you. That came a bit sudden."

The merman sighs. "Alright, move away," he mumbles.

He waits until Jeongguk scurried back to the left before diving back down, then rushing upwards with strong flaps of his fins, using the momentum to catapult himself out of water and onto the boat. The landing hurts a bit as he crushes onto the hard surface of the boat's floor and he has to press his teeth together to supress a wince. After a few moments of gathering himself he hoists his body up into an almost sitting position. He turns around to roll his eyes at the stupid human.

"I am me," Jimin repeats the younger with a huff. "Well, aren't you flattering today."

Jeongguk turns away, face flaring bright red. "I, uhm, well. Yeah, errm. ...nice. Nice tail," he mumbles, looking more awkward than ever.

At that, Jimin giggles. "Now that's what I call flattering, why thank you," he singsongs before looking down at his tail. It is a nice tail, alright. His scales are a shiny black, shimmering a little green, blue or purple when he shifts around and the tips are rimmed with a thin silver line. He likes to think that his tail looks as if it's holding the galaxy, especially in moments like now where millions of water droplets are glistening and sparkling like diamonds. Like stars. He also prides himself in having a strong tail, its movements mighty and powerful yet fluid when he crosses the sea.

Night incarnate, wouldn't it be for his fins. His beautiful cream-white fins with a black rim, the kind that looks like big, floaty, semi-transparent veils. Both his enormous tail fins and pectoral fins are stunning to look at when they shift slightly in the tide but whenever it comes to being sneaky they are a pain in the . Jimin always lost hide-and-seek no matter how hard he tried because his almost white fins are a blaring obvious dead giveaway. Yoongi mocks him about his fins each single time they meet, and how they are the complete opposite to his black sparkly tail, so no matter what he can never hide anywhere. Either it's his fins being too light or his tail being too dark. Not that he likes hiding very much anyway. 

He slowly drags a hand down his tail, watches how the water drops follow its movement in small streams. When he looks back up, Jeongguk has turned back to him, staring. Jimin grins.

"Like what you see?"

The human splutters and stumbles into the cabin-thing, Jimin laughing happily. He does not know much about human taste but he somehow is happy for Jeongguk to notice and appreciate his tail. A mer's tail is their biggest pride, afterall.

After a moment, Jeongguk comes back, holding up a familiar wooden box.

"Chess?"

And Jimin nods, still grinning, and only maybe shifting around a bit so the drops on his tail keep sparkling in the rising sun.

"Chess," he agrees.

 

---

The hours fly by and Jimin's head is swimming.

Not only he keeps learning rules and rules and more rules of chess, tries to think not only two but ten steps ahead for beating Jeongguk but he is also assaulted by a multitude of new words. "Deck", "door", "toe nail", "electricity", "pineapple", "rap". It's way too much and he can't ever hope to remember all of it but it's also fun.

At the end of the day Jimin has managed to win a couple of times against Jeongguk. Because no matter the human being familiar with the game, he is not a really good player. Blaming it on chess being an 'old people sport' and not suited for his age, making Jimin giggle.

They are at their nineth round, Jeongguk offering him some more of his 'pocky' - which Jimin immediately decided he has to have more often - when they decide to wrap it up after this round. Five moves later the human wins, knocking over Jimin's white king with his bishop.

"CHECKMATE," Jeongguk howls, pumping his fists in the air and getting up to skip around.

Jimin groans and buries the head in his hands.

When he looks up, the human is still not done mocking him. 

"Yoooo, I won again, that's three wins in a row, you sea grandpa!" More skipping and -wiggling follows. Jeongguk only stops when his stomach growls in exactly that moment.

"Oh. Sorry."

Jimin snorts. "Don't tell me you are hungry already, you big baby."

"Yah! I'm not a baby, I'm a grown- man! But yeah I am always hungry. My tummy is a black hole, I swear."

Before Jimin can ask what a black hole is supposed to be again and if it's in any way similar to the Blue hole, he is met with a question himself.

"What do you eat, though?"

He shrugs. "Anything, really. Whatever I can get. Just... no fish. I can't get myself to eat anything with fins although I know people who do. But it always felt like, how do you call it, cannibalism? Yeah."

Jeongguk frowns. And somehow the merman knows that there is a dumb question to come even before he opens his mouth.

"But what do you eat if not fish? I mean there is not much else down there, is it? Water means fish."

"You are so dumb, I swear," Jimin groans. Over the past few hours he learnt that no matter how little he knows about the human world, Jeongguk knows way less about the sea and Jimin's realm. "I'll have you know that there are plenty other things than fish down there. Fish only covers a part of sea life and, oh my god, I can't believe you are so ignorant."

"Well thank you, you too."

Oh, and at that Jimin smirks. "I didn't yet, did I?"

The way Jeongguk splutters and falls on his before doing a remarkably bad job at putting the chess pieces back in the box is totally worth it.

They part ways not long after, Jimin falling backwards into the awaiting wetness beneath him with all the grace of a fat seagull and Jeongguk looking after him with a still bright red head.

It continues like that for several days and soon they develop a routine. Jimin would get up soon after the first light filters into his cave and after searching for some breakfast make his way to search Jeongguk's boat. He made it a habit to throw pebbles onto the deck, just to mock the young man and remember him of their first encounter. And Jeongguk never disappoints, cursing loudly and claiming a pebble hit some part of his body each time. The big fluffy pillows never leave the deck so when Jimin makes it onto the boat he can get comfortable in no time.

And then they play chess.

Hours tick away while they are sprawled out under the warm summer sun, moving piece after piece, carefully, calculating. Jeongguk gets up from time to time to bring some snacks and Jimin soon learns that humans have a weird habit of putting chemical stuff in their food to make it taste better. He also realizes that no matter how tasty chips can be, they always make a mess. Always. And the sheen of fat coating his fingers is very confusing. He nearly has a heart attack when Jeongguk tries to clean his hands with soap, because no, artifical bubbles in the water are no good, they can't mean anything good for the environment and 'Get that away from me, I don't want to get it on my skin or into the water ever, Jeongguk, let go of me right about now!'

Sometimes Jeongguk maneuvers them closer to the coast and at first Jimin is affraid of the proximity to human realms but Jeongguk insists that the internet connection there is better - whatever that is supposed to mean again - which makes it easier to watch videos on Youtube. Turns out, the moving pictures Jimin already knew are called videos and there are tons. Of. Them. Jimin especially likes the ones with baby animals, 'Jeongguk, what's that fluffy furry thing with four legs again?' - '...A cat?' - 'Yes, that one! Cat. I think I need one.' - 'But??? They can't swim? You know that, right?' - 'Aw dammit!'. Also turns out there are some incredible masterminds out there. They watch a fair ammount of chess competitions and Jimin is impressed to no end. He vows to himself to become a real chess master one day. Jeongguk just laughs at that, so naturally, he smacks him off the boat with his tail. Funnily enough, Jeongguk never complains whenever he does that.

The days fly by like that, filled with chess, laziness, sunlight and laughter and while Jimin's skin slowly turns a nice golden hue and he gets more and more use to being out of water for a long time, he somehow manages to forget asking Jeongguk about his plans and how long he will stay on the boat with him everyday the meet. It seems to not be a priority to both of them. And because Jimin always has been bold, he spends much time ogling the young man sprawled on deck half- instead of asking questions they both don't want to think about. And between all the teasing and failed attempts to become a true chess master he sometimes can't help but think that maybe the interest in each other is mutual. Because no matter how grown-up Jeongguk likes to act, he at flirting. It's almost comical.

Just like now.

Jimin is laying on deck, lazily flicking flies off his fins and nibbling on some nori while watching the sun setting on the far horizon, when Jeongguk clears his throat obnoxiously loud.

"Do you- I mean, do you use lipgloss or something?"

The merman takes his sweet time turning his head around. He knows what the young human is talking about, but decides to be a little tease. "No? What's a lipgloss?"

Watching Jeongguk fidget is way too much fun and Jimin has to try hard to not giggle out loud when the human helplessly wrings his hands. "You, uh, well it's, basically you put it on your lips to make them more nice, I guess? Because, to, you know, and yeah, so. Some are shiny and some have a flavor and well- you know what, forget I asked."

Jimin pouts a little, nori forgotten and whole attention on Jeongguk now. "Well no, my lips are fine just the way they are, thank you very much," he quips.

Jeongguk mutters something under his breath, far too low to understand but Jimin catches it anways with his exceptional hearing. It sounds a lot like 'Well ain't that true.' He smirks.

"Why, wanna have a taste? Or are you affraid I will only taste like old fish anyway?"

The human continues to blankly stare at his mouth before he jerks, words finally registering in his brain and he turns into the most adorable spluttering mess. Jimin is still snickering when Jeongguk has long since vanished, relishing in the effect he has on the younger.

 

---

The next day is a big disappointment. First it takes Jimin hours to find Jeongguk's boat and catch up with him and then Jeongguk basically straight off sends him away.

"What do you mean, you have to go?!" Jimin's voice is almost shrill but he can't help it. As much of an adventurer he tends to be, he doesn't like changes. Especially when they come out of literally nowhere and he had no time to prepare. Jimin likes his life to be a routine with some flings every now and then and by now Jeongguk has gotten an official part of the routine he calls daily life. And now the young human wants to up and go and he is not okay with that. Not one bit.

"Jimin, stop being dramatic, I will be gone for only a few days, okay?" Jeongguk sounds equal parts apologetic and annoyed and Jimin has to supress the strong urge to throw pebbles at the human. "I need to restock and refuel, I can't just stay on the open sea forever like this. And I have to check on a few things back home. But I will be back in a week or so, okay? I promise."

"But." Jimin suddenly feels incredibly small and lost in the wide deep blue. "But isn't this your home?" Isn't your home here, on your boat? With me?

The smile he gets in return is bittersweet. Jimin didn't expect it to hurt the way it does when Jeongguk slowly shakes his head. "No, Jimin. This is not my home. My home isn't here. This, this is just... you know." He trails off, then waves goodbye to a perplexed Jimin and disappears in the cabin, starting the engine.

Jimin does, actually, not know. Not a single bit.

At a loss what to do, he desparately clings to the promise, counting the hours until Jeongguk will be back.

 

---

Three days later Jimin had enough of sulking and being alone. He misses Jeongguk but more importantly he misses company in general. Jimin is a talkatice social being who needs interaction just as much as the water around him. So after some contemplating he decides to pay his old friend a visit.

It takes a full day's travel but when the sky just starts to turn a light pink hue Jimin finally enters the swamps and follows a murky river, deeper and deeper into the forest, diving deep down into green darkness where the river goes underground for a while. When he sees the light at the end of the passage, Jimin takes two deep breaths. He knows what is much likely to come now.

Yet when he emerges into the hidden pond and immediately gets strangled by seaweed he can't help the inhuman shriek.

"What the -ah, stop, stop it, it's just me, for s sake, urgh-" 

The seaweed lets go just as fast as it came and Jimin drops into the pond like a heavy boulder. Still wheezing, he rubs his neck and arms. He will never get used to this. The young merman says as much and starts off a string of curses and complaints. From between some mangrove roots comes a faint scoff. It ticks Jimin off just the more. 

"YAH! Min Yoongi, if you could try to not kill me at first sight for once it would be very much appreciated, you jerk!"

The dryad merely sticks his head out of the woods, strands of seaweed and whatnot sticking to his head and floating on an invisible breeze. The mer rolls his eyes and then, without a word, retracts to his favorite spot underneath that huge mangrove tree.

Jimin huffs, incredibly offended at being ignored. "Yah, is that all you've got? No 'Hello Jimin, nice seing you again after nine years, how have you been, do you want to drink something, do you want to grab a cookie, what brings me the pleasure of your visit'?

After a long silence and an even longer sigh, the other finally emerges from his hiding spot, casually floating out of his cave with belly up and eyes closed. Sand-colored hair shifts around him like the skirt of a jellyfish and his long brown tail almost makes no movement in the calm water, long fins and seaweed appendages shifting and curling around his body in an eerie way. The strange pattern all over his body made of moss green spots and ancient symbols is in constant change, splotches reforming to new patterns all the time, never still, crawling all over the dryad's skin. The picture of Yoongi floating on the water surface of his pond like that looks both serene and sickeningly disgusting in some way.

If Jimin didn't know the two of them are friends he would definitely himself right now. Because dryad mers are as rare as they are ing scary. Leave them alone and you will never know they even exist. But enter their pond, threaten their home, their realm and they will tear you to shreds, the whole pond turning alive and dragging you down, drowning you, ripping you apart and then the dryads will feast.

In fact, it is a wonder that Jimin is still alive, that he survived their first encounter, and every one after that so far. He hopes it stays that way.

When Jimin is done complaining, the dryad cracks open an eye and squints at him. "Is there a reason you came or do you just like to hear yourself talk?" Yoongi's voice is gruff and scratchy from not talking for many years. It makes Jimin's whole body tingle. He always wondered if that's some kind of dryad magic but so far didn't have the guts to ask.

The younger mer huffs some more and then pulls out Jeongguk's chessboard from his seaweed net. The human had to give it to him as kind of pledge for coming back. "Why yes, I do have a reason, thank you very much."

He swims towards a rock that's half underwater and plops down onto it, getting comfortable. With his free hand he motions for the dryad to build some kind of table. Yoongi raises an eyebrow but silently complies, roots and seaweed weaving together and forming a solid surface in the middle of the pond. Content with the result, Jimin opens the folded box and takes out the chess pieces, laying down the chess board and arraging everything on the makeshift table.

"My dear Yoongi, I hereby declare you my first and only chess student."

 

---

Two days later, Jimin officially gives up.

"It's hopeless, I am hopeless, you are hopeless, the world is hopeless!," he declares dramatically and swims off, leaving an indifferent Yoongi behind who just shrugs. 

Jimin had known that the dryad doesn't alway let on what's on his mind but he had no idea what an incredibly strategist he actually is. He feels betrayed. Within the almost three days of playing chess without a break, he didn't manage to win a single time. Turns out Yoongi is ruthless when it comes to games. Well fine, Jimin will never play with the older again. He has better things to do than entertain a grumpy dryad anyway. He is also still pissed at the latest comment about his conflicting tail and fin color. The drad is just jealous of his shiny tail, he decides.

By the time he gets back home the sun has set completely and above him an endless sea of stars blinks down, eternal and distant and breathtaking. Jimin arches up with a flick of his fin until he floats belly-up on the surface, facing the night sky calmly. He's always loved the beauty of nature. With the chess board securely resting on his stomach he begins to hum, remembering an old lullaby about the stars. His aunt has used to sing it to him when he was still little. The humming gets louder and soon enough he opens his mouth, singing the familiar text as a slow and lilting melody, forming each word crystal clear because why not. He is all alone out here anyway.

Or so he thinks.

After no long the vibrations of a boat nearby cut through the tides. But Jimin stays in place and just continues singing different lullabies. He knows the rhythm of that motor, the slight stutter of the machine by heart now. The moon stands high and white with a sheen of yellow and Jimin stares in wonder. He keeps singing while bits and pieces of night clouds drift over the sky and cover the moon for a few moments just to vanish again and he stares and stares at the beautiful night sky.

The other mers are stupid for never coming up and purposefully missing out on the night sky. It's the most wonderful thing to watch.

Stories come to his mind, ugly and brutal tales about the reasons why they have to hide and about what happened ages ago but Jimin pushes them all away and continues singing, continues staring.

He is still singing when the machine of a boat right behind him cuts blaringly loud through the otherwise silent night. A familiar head pops up when Jeongguk leans over the railing, effectively blocking out the moon and looking as if he has some kind of halo.

"Still up that late?," the human greets him.

Jimin just grins.

They end up doing what Jeongguk calls 'stargazing' together, laying on deck side by side on a heap of pillows. At the dim moonlight none of them wanted to try and play chess. But this, just laying next to each other and telling ancient tales in hushed voice is nice too. Jeongguk tries to explain different constellations but the dots simply refuse to connect in Jimin's head.

They are just thousands of twinkling stars, where are there supposed to be lines and why are there supposed to be lines at the first place? But Jeongguk tries, and his voice sounds nice so Jimin lets him. In exchange he tells him the old tales, about how in the old days there were the stunning star jellyfish that glowed in the dark and how they all left the water and went up to the sky as they had to flee from a monster older than the sea itself. About how the mother of whales became the dark blue of the night sky. And everything else he remembers.

They talk the night away. And it's just when the first orange hue peeks over the horizon that Jeongguk asks about why Jimin has been singing.

"What I'm trying to say is, are you actually a siren?"

Jimin scoffs and turns away. Wow. Being called a siren of all things!

"I am no such thing, thank you very much," he snaps. "And I would highly appreciate if you never compare me with those evil monsters ever again."

With that being said he then does get back into the water, not giving the human time to reply. A siren. He shakes his head, tail beating furiously to get him to his cave fast. What a dumb and offending thing to say. Wow, it stings. A siren!

It takes about half an hour for Jimin to calm down and then feel guilty for leaving without an explanation. Shame sitting cold in his bones he pops his head out of the water and glances up to Jeongguk leaning against the railing with his back and typing on his phone furiously.

"I am sorry," the mer mumbles.

Jeongguk flinches slightly and turns around, eyes wide.

Jimin is still hesitant and feels kind of dumb now because of course Jeongguk doesn't know he did anything wrong, the boy doesn't know anything. So he asks, just to be sure. "Ma I get up?"

The human nods and hurries out of the way, Jimin propelling himself down to shoot back up and out of the water, landing on deck harshly. He winces. By now his whole body must be covered in bruises. Jeongguk is fast to push the heap of pillows over and the mer gratefully flops down onto it.

"I am sorry for getting angry at you. You didn't know."

The early morning air is chilly, making him shiver uncontrollably. Summer sure is coming to an end. And Jeongguk seems to notice as he practically dives for the pillows, stretching out to maybe cuddle Jimin just to retract his arms last second and settling right next to the mer in an awkward 'I am trying my best not to touch you' manner. Jimin giggles and pulls him closer himself, making the human go stiff like a board. He can't help it, he's always been a cuddler.

"Okay, time for some merfolk trivia," he quips in his lightest voice. "Do you know the difference of a mermaid and a siren?"

Jeongguk, still kind of frozen, jerks his head in denial.

Jimin sighs. He isn't surprised. "Well, okay. So you see, a mermaid or - to be more general - merfolk is born as a mer. We meet up for mating during solstices and equinoxes, when our bodies transform. You see where my scales reach now?" He points at the area right beneath his navel where black scales irrergularily morph into smooth skin. Grabs Jeongguk's hand and leads it there to touch the area himself. It tingles and Jimin bites his tongue to not jerk away in laughter. Jeongguk's hand starts to wander, fingertips grazing over single scales and tracing their shapes.

God, Jimin is incredibly sensitive there. He takes a deep breath to calm his quickening heartbeat and grabs the human's hand again, guiding it lower.

"This is where my scales end during solstice." He peaks up into Jeongguk's blaring red face. The younger's hand basically rests on Jimin's crotch - if it were there now. The mer smirks and lets go of the hand. "It's enough to get things done but admittedly a little bit difficult. Mating during solstice is like a really complex and dance, you know? However, during equinox my scales almost vanish completely. Maybe it's in remembrance of how merfolk came to be, I don't know."

Jeongguk seems to have found his speech again as he jumps at the hint. "What do you mean with that?" His hand is still resting heavy on Jimin's lower region. The mer doesn't know what to make of it.

"Well." He clears his throat, shifts around until the younger's hand falls off. "Legend has it that once there was a woman who loved the sea so much that each second she was trapped on land hurt her soul. She loved the sea with her entire being, more than anything else, than her own life. So one day when she couldn't bear the pain of being apart from the sea anymore, she jumped off a cliff and into deep, deep water. Her heart and mind were at peace. And because the sea knew how much she loved it, worshipped it, it granted her her biggest wish, to become one with the sea. A part of the ocean's wild soul merged with the drowning woman and voilá, the first mermaid was born.

However, once she had become a mermaid, molded into a new being by the thing she loved most, there was new space for loving other things in her heart. And like in every cheesy fairytale, of course she fell in love. But she could only meet up with her lover four times a year, during solstice and equinox. It took several years but eventually, the man jumped into the sea too, to always be close to her. And guess what, he turned into a merman. And then they got many many little mers and lived happily ever after. Well almost, but that's another story.

So maybe during equinox we turn back to almost-human because that's what we originally were. At least this is what the elders say. Any questions so far?"

When there was no answer, Jimin turns around to the almost sleeping Jeongguk.  "Yah!" Jimin swatts the younger's chest. "Don't you dare fall asleep on me!"

Jeongguk grunts but opens his eyes again. Somewhat satisfied, Jimin continues.

"So that's what we are. What I am. And what sirens are definitely not being." He scrunches his nose. "Sirens are actually pretty much the opposite of merfolk. While the first mers have been born through a serene and willing death and their endless love for the ocean, sirens are victims to violent deaths at sea. They are often drowned in horrendous ways and most of them are female. Something about humans believing that a woman on board brings bad luck or something like that. Very rarely a male siren gets born. But you don't want to meet either of them.

Sirens are vicious. They are driven by a single goal, and that is revenge. Revenge on their murderers and once they got their hands on them, revenge on humans in general. They are also incredibly ugly. A siren looks how they looked like the moment they died and from then on their bodies start to rot away. Because their tails and fins and gills are not a gift from the sea - they took them themselves, stole them, made that part of the sea their own by force. And the sea doesn't like thieves. So it's eating away on them until somewhen nothing is left anymore and they die for a second time.

But until then, they kill as many humans as possible. Sirens speak a different language, a language that's filled with power and allows them to appear to their victims in whatever form they want. Which, in my opinion, is really unfair.

And it's common knowledge that nobody likes sirens. They make terrible neighbors, stinking to no end, being ugly as hell and leaving chunks of themselves behind wherever they go. Also they are terribly full of themselves. You can't have a real conversation with them, it's impossible. And they are mean and annoying and- well, I could go on forever. To make it short, they are everything that we are not. So when you call someone a siren, you basically call them an ugly heartless serialkiller. A monster. Do you understand now?"

Jeongguk is quiet for a while before he asks hesitantly. "So... you can't do some magical stuff when you sing?"

Jimin sighs. "No Jeongguk, I am pretty much harmless in that regard. As long as I don't speak the siren's language I am nothing more than a man with a tail and a knack for luminiscent sea creatures who likes it to sing from time to time. Sorry to disappoint."

"I am not disappointed!"

Jimin raises an eyebrow at him but already the human has turned away, avoiding his gaze.

After another moment of silence, the human opens his mouth again. "So that means you can't take me with you from time to time?"

The mer snorts. "I mean, sure, I could show you my home I suppose but you do realize you can't like, breathe underwater and will pretty much drown, yeah?"

"Because you can't magically kiss me or share your ethereal breath with me or something, right?"

"What even- what?! The you think I am?" This is getting kind of idiotic. 

And Jeongguk for once seems to notice as he raises his hands in surrender. "Okay okay, calm down, I didn't mean to- see, I am just trying to understand you better, alright?"

A few long, deep breaths later Jimin feels calm enough to reply. "Alright. But no, I can't magically kiss you. I can just normally kiss you but you won't grow some gills and fins or stuff like that. That's not how it works. One does not simply turn into a mer. Either you are born this way - or you are not. Well, granted, or you love the sea enough to get turned into one but I wouldn't bet at that if I were you, really."

When he finishes his rant, Jimin finds the younger weirdly staring at him. He furrows his eyebrows. "I, what? Do I have something in my face?"

"Would you really?"

"Would I what?"

"Kiss me?"

Jimin blinks. his lips unconsciously. And looks at Jeongguk, really looks. At the strong and broad chest, the chiseled abdomen, the toned limbs. At the twitching hands, so close to Jimin's. His ink-black hair that perfectly frames his face, his lips - bitten red already. And these eyes. So dark and intense, burning holes into Jimin's soul. The mer wonders how he managed to overlook the signs for so long.

Jeongguk practically screams lust and hesistance at him. It should be a contradiction but somehow it works for the young man. And for all the bravado he usually flaunts, Jimin finds himself mesmerized. In all these years he's never been with a human before. Rightly so, a voice snides in his head. Look at him, look at you. This can never work out. - But... his lips look really kissable like this. - Don't be a fool! - I always am.

"Well." Jimin sinks back into the pillows, never breaking eye contact. A tiny smirk tugs at his mouth. "If you want me to?"

For a moment nobody moves. Then, slowly, Jeongguk leans over until he is hovering right above Jimin, a dark sheme in front of the pastel colored sky. One hand propped up next to  Jimin's head, the other cupping his cheek. Carefully, tenderly. As if he could break any moment. Jimin closes his eyes, lips falling open with a silent gasp as he waits.

But the sensation of Jeongguk's lips pressing against his stays away.

"How do I know this is true?"

"Excuse me?"

The human's face is still hovering above him at a fair distance, doubt and regret written all over. "How do I know what you said is true? That I'm not already under a spell? That you won't do funny things to me, no matter what you said earlier? How can I know you have been honest to me?"

A familiar bitterweet sensation trickles through Jimin's entire body. He can already see where this is going.

"You can't." It's true. There is nothing he can do to convince Jeongguk that he hasn't been lying. He can't show Jeongguk the things he is not, he can only show him what he is. And it's not enough.

Jeonguk has his eyes closed, something akin to pain drawing a deep line between his brows. Jimin reaches up to smooth a thumb over the crease, watches how the younger's eyes flutter open.

"I guess the only way to find out is to trust me."

Jeongguk's always so expressive eyes brim with insecurity as they lock eyes, his hand still resting on Jimin's cheek, fingers caressing him as if in wonder.

"Can I trust you, though?"

Jimin's smile is sad this time. He knows exactly what's going to come now. Yet he can't help but hope. Stubborn like a child he clings to the thought that maybe he's wrong, maybe things will take a turn to the better. But deep down he knows this hope is an illusion. Readying himself for the final blow, he says the only thing he can say now.

"I can't answer you that question, Jeongguk."

The hand next to his head balls to a fist. Slowly, agonizingly, Jeongguk pushes himself up and away, retracting his hand from Jimin's face.

"I'm sorry."

And Jimin gets it, he really does. Understands the fear of being caught in a web without knowing it, the doubts, the insecurities. It's what he felt when he saw a siren enchanting their prey for the first time. He can't hold it against the human to feel that way about him when there is nothing he can use to prove himself.

That doesn't mean it hurts any less.

Supressing the strong urge to reach out and comfort the younger, Jimin rolls off the pillows, pushes through the railing and falls back down into the water. His world. His realm. He doesn't bother saying goodbye, just plunges down, deeper and deeper, tail whipping up and down and pushing him forward until he can't feel anything anymore.

Jimin doesn't cry. He stays quiet and just swims, swims  on and on until he reaches his cave and breaks down there. His heart bleeds out in the rhythm of its own beating and Jimin hates himself for his stupidity, for being so naive, for falling for Jeongguk this easily. He is better off without humans, without heartbreak. The mer vows to himself to never get up to the human realms again before gathering his last strength and hoisting himself onto the rock in the cave's upper level, wrapping both arms around his torso and curling into a tight ball.

Whoever told him that humans are a bad idea was ing right.

 

 

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As you can tell by the description this is not the whole story yet but I wanted to post this first part now anyway.

Hope you had a bit fun reading so far. What do you think about it?

 

Cheers, Lena