Days pass with Jimin being cooped up in his tiny pond. 

And he thinks he is slowly going insane.

It doesn't help much that true to his words Jeongguk added a whole lot of seaweed and mussels, even put in so much sand that it had taken almost an hour for the sand cloud to settle.

All of this doesn't change the fact that his pond is still, well, tiny. And as often as Jimin's been called small himself and made fun of his size, he needs his fair share of space. Needs to feel the shift in the tides, the soft caress of the waves lulling him to sleep and the sound of all the other living beings to be found deep down under the sea. His new home just can't compare to the freedom he is used to.

But at least, he thinks, Jeongguk is doing his best to entertain him. They still play chess for hours everyday. And since Jimin has been so engrossed by the bag of chips Jeongguk bought, the human now brings him any possible kind of food. Each day something else, calling it foreign and weird names like Spaghetti, Steak, Pommes, Pancakes, Japchae, some Benedict egg or whatever, caesar salad and whatnot. Jimin kinda wants to have a chat with caesar because this dude is a genius. He doesn't quite believe Jeongguk when he says that caesar himself is dead long since because seriously, a human's life can't be that short.

The biggest struggle is eating soup so far.

No matter how often the young human shows him, Jimin still doesn't quite get the concept of cutlery. After a few tries he outright refuses to take some werid metal in his hands and continues to shovel food into his mouth barehanded, the way he knows. With some kinds of soup that doesn't go well, when there are too many pieces of stuff floating in the brew to drink it, but it's still too liquid to eat it. Nevertheless the mer continues his hopeless ministration in that regared, and if it's just to see Jeongguk's pained expression and hear his deep-suffering sighs bounce off the basement walls.

Once Jeongguk is gone again for the day however, the mer finds himself being bored out of his mind. There is just nothing to do here. Like, absolutely nothing. His pond is too small to even start thinking of growing a seaweed garden, there is nothing to patrol for, no other sea creatures he could hang out with, no chance of even dreaming about racing the dolphins or playing Crack the crab or collecting human trash and throwing it in the maelstrom.

The only thing Jimin can do when he is alone for the night or thourough the day is to strain his ears and listen to the sound of the human city above him. It is unsettling, to say the least. Because there are so many noises, so loud and so foreign and Jimin doesn't even know the origin and meaning of half of them.

When Jimin finally mans up and tells Jeongguk how goddamn bored he is whenever the latter is gone, Jeongguk does three things.

One, he brings a whole load of these things with flimsy leaves inside which he tells Jimin are books. Most of them have big, big letters and lots of pictures in them. Jimin finds himself engrossed in no time, leafing through them and looking at the colorful drawings until it dawns him that he can very well use the free time and teach himself reading human properly.

It takes him a week to get the basics down and two more to become fluid. At the end of the month he reads at least one book everyday.

And after one too many books dropped into the pool without hope for salvation because 'What?! Dumbledore is dead, what, no, no no no no no there is no way- oh, oh no, please, not again, I need to know what happens next', Jeongguk brings some kind of plastic thingy to put onto the books and prevent Jimin from wailing loudly at 3am with soaked remnants of his current book in both hands, no more than a sorry blob of grey mush. 

Personally, Jimin thinks that this is the best thing Jeongguk could do for him, giving him the chance to learn reading and opening whole new worlds. But he will never admit it out loud. Ever.

Two, Jeongguk spreads out an old blanket next to the pond and drops a pile of other games. The chess board always rests in the middle, waiting for its time to shine in the evening but around that, the human spreads out quizzes, a deck of cards, games of skill, some paper and crayons, marbles (each single marble somehow gets lost in the big room within a day but it's absolutely not Jimin's fault), a ball, jackstraws and some more. Everything comes together with an instruction and Jimin learns every single one by heart, making it his goal to beat Jeongguk in every game possible at least once.

And three, Jeongguk would, albeit ocassionally, bring a whole bunch of random foods to let Jimin experiment and combine flavors to his heart's content. Because the human may be dense, but even he picked up on Jimin's curiosity and love for food pretty fast. This kind of thing usually happens on what the human calls 'saturday'.

They are just in the middle of experimenting again when Jimin makes his first encounter with another human since Jeongguk.

"Look Jimin, you can't do that, it's just plain wrong!"

"Oh yeah? Watch me," the mer shoots back and squirts some more ketchup on the pancake.

"Okay I think we need to have a serious chat about what's right and what's wrong in the world, I don't know how to live with the knowledge that you have the audacity to put fricken ketchup on something as holy and sweet as a pancake, I am not sure if our friendship is important enough for me to ignore that fact about you, hell, this is even worse than putting ananas on pizza-"

"What is pizza?," Jimin asks around a mouthful of ketchup pancake, munching happily and adding some curry seasoning on top.

Jeongguk watches silently, then makes to get up. "I think I need to leave, I can't take this misery any longer."

Jimin thinks it's a joke at first but the human is already up and taking his own stack of pancakes with him, heading for the door with big strides while still mumbling curses under his breath. The mer snickers.

"Hey, let's try pizza tomorrow!"

Minutes pass in which he waits for the young man to return but for a long while nothing happens. So he busies himself with adding more and more of that curry seasoning until the pancake is oversalted beyond rescue. He eats it anyway, albeit wincing, because wasting food is not an option.

That's when things get strange- and very loud. Odd, Jimin thinks, straining his ears to hear what Jeongguk is shouting. Jeongguk never talks with anyone except him, never utters a word once he leaves. This is a first. And Jimin is getting slightly uncomfortable because if Jeongguk shouts then it must mean that they are no longer alone.

His eyes dart to the cave at the ground of his small pond, then back to the door. There are only so many places for him to hide. He has nowhere to go here. Mother of whales, he is trapped. This is a trap!

The thundering heartbeat drowns out everything else as Jimin feels himself slipping into panic mode. His head whips from left to right and back. He needs to get out, he needs to get out...

Footsteps boom down the stairs together with Jeongguk's shouting, coming closer and closer but still muffled, still overpowered by the numbing sound of Jimin's heartbeat. With a loud splash he plunges down into his cave, rolling his tail around himself and tuckin in the traitorous cream-white fins. Not a second too late, as the door to the basement gets thrown open a mere heartbeat later, collision with the wall seeming to rattle the whole ground.

The thing with being underwater is, that you don't hear the things going on above the surface clearly. So he is not prepared, not at all, when there is a shift in the water body as something big and heavy falls into his pool. Jimin realizes he is screwed as he feels the telltale ripple of a human swimming, the motion coming closer. Full-body shivers start to wrack through him and he closes his eyes, burying his head into his night-black tail and hopes, prays that whoever it is will not notice him.

Jimin has no such luck.

The human swims straight into his mass of black tail blocking the cave entrance. The mer's eyes snap open at the impact, staring right in equally wide eyes of some man he's never seen before and he is screaming, loud and high-pitched from the top of his lungs and now the stranger is screaming too, a stream of bubbles escaping his mouth and then he is choking, limbs flayling as he hurries back up, Jimin still screaming like one of those scandalized women he read about.

Another shift in the water and finally, the stranger leaves his pond. Jimin stops screaming and rests his throbbing head against the cold stone. What a mess. His tattoo is burning more than ever, like searing him from inside-out and the mer bitterly thinks that no, this is not what he signed up for. He never agreed to meet other humans. Especially if he is as incredibly defenseless as he is in that puddle of his.

He doesn't know how much time passes as he tries his very best to collect himself, but it takes Jeongguk four times to do their knocking sign against the pond's walls for Jimin to muster the courage for coming up. They established the sign within the first week as a way to call Jimin out of his cave when he ever was holed up down there rather than killing time above water. Jimin is wary, of course he is, sticking only half of his head out.

"Jimin, I want you to meet my best friend who also excels in being a pest, Kim Taehyung."

Jeongguk sounds so incredibly tired when he says it that Jimin can't even think of going back down just out of spite. Instead, he follows the motion of Jeongguk's arm to a dripping man with bright blue hair.

Jimin instantly likes Taehyung. He's never seen anyone with such vibrant blue hair, not even among the tropical mers. He thinks the human looks very beautiful with that hair color, despite the fact that Taehyung has been gaping at him for a solid five minutes by now. And the mer can't help imagining how Taehyung's tail would look like, wondering if it would be of a striking blue like his hair too, maybe with specks of soft pink, or maybe it would be striped blue and yellow, or maybe something else entirely.

"Holy ," are Taehyung's first words to the mer and Jimin can't even remember why he had felt threatened by him. He is not sure yet if he should feel dumb for freaking out on him earlier. Taehyung's voice is deep and so at odds at how young he looks - maybe around the same age as Jeongguk - that Jimin gets a feeling Taehyung might be a person full of contradictions, but definitely not threatening.

"Holy , is this a tail?! Can I touch it? "

"Jesus Christ, Taehyung," Jeongguk mutters somewhere in the background, "you can't just go and ask people if you can touch their tail, hyung, oh my god!"

The mer blinks, words processing slowly. He is older, then. And oh, he wants to touch his tail. Jimin blinks again, hesitates. Because Jeongguk  - the official baby of the group it seems - is actually right. You don't touch a mer's tail without permission. But Taehyung has already an arm outstretched, threatening to fall back into the pond and looking so incredibly excited that Jimin doesn't really feel like lecturing him about merfolk manners. Slowly, he lifts his tail, flicking the fins a bit for good measure.

Taehyung's hand on his scales is warm, tentative at first as fingers poke into his tail before going for small and pets. All the while his mouth is hanging open in awe and he makes those tiny sounds that have Jimin snickering.

And just because he can, he lets his tail woosh back down into the water, un-tensing without warning and sending water spraying everywhere, drenching Taehyung's face.

The human splutters, wiping the water away before gaping some more and then grinning from one ear to the other.

"This is so cool!"

 

They spend an hour or so with Taehyung marvelling at Jimin's tail, Jeongguk sulking somewhere in a corner at the lack of attention. By the time Taehyung had to leave, both human and mer are newly-sworn best friends. Jimin is still grinning when the entrance door clicks shut. He just knows that this bubbly man and him are going to have lots of fun. 

Jeongguk on the meanwhile stays quiet and distant. After a while the mer begins to wonder if he did anything wrong. But when he asks, there is no answer.
It takes a good amount of coercing until the younger finally scoots closer, eyes still not meeting Jimin's as he fiddles with the hem of his shirt.
"Hyung, can I- I mean ist it okay if- can I touch your tail too?"

Oh. Oh!

Once too often within a single day Jimin finds himself dumbfounded. Because somehow, with Jeongguk asking it's different. And he isn't quite sure yet, how or why.
"Move," he mumbles, waiting for the human to do so and then hoisting himself up on the pond's edge, wiggling and heaving until almost his whole body is off water, splayed out on the floor for Jeongguk to touch.

The human's touch is featherlight at first. A soft brush against his sensitive scales, barely there, as Jeongguk traces the silver-white outlining of some individual scales, index finger jumping from scale rim to scale rim and making his way down the tail, the scales getting gradually smaller. It's like a fiery kiss on Jimin's scales, little sparks enlightening wherever the human's burning touch goes. 

When his hand reaches the big, veil-like fins at the tail's end, Jimin buckles and flinches away, startling both of them. 

"Sorry," the mer murmurs, blushing. "I'm... really sensitive there."

It's true. The tidal shifts, the movement of living beings in the sea, the slightest changes in the water, he registers it all with his sensitive fins, just like he uses them for navigating through the water with either big movements or the subtlest flicks. All of this is common knowledge, but right now Jimin could barely be more embarassed. 

And Jeongguk, that little , notices of course.

"Is that so?" The human quirks an eyebrow and Jimin internally groans. It's clear Jeongguk won't let him off easily.

Jimin gets proven right immediately when a warm hand comes up on his fin, broad searing him in an almost possessive manner. The mer buries the face in his arms as shivers make their way down his spine.

"Jeongguk," he breathes, still not looking up. "You asked about my tail, not fins."

Another over his fin has him gasping, the human smirking at him.

"Jeonguk, really," he tries again. "It's honestly very rude to touch a mer's fin like that."

At that, the younger finally lets go, eyes widening a bit. "Wait, really?"

The mer takes a deep breath, then flicks his fins out of reach.  Sighs.

"Yes, really. For the tail it's alright with close friends or family. It can also happen accidentally or it can be you ask if it's okay in certain situations so yeah, touching tail is kinda okay although you still don't do it without permission or without being close. The fins however, well they are a different matter."

He flicks his tail fins back up pointedly. "A mer's fin is one of their most sensitive parts, and the most vulnerable. A small wound on your fin can happen fast in a moment of carelessness, do big damage and is highly painful."

He takes a deep breath, shy at what he is about to say. But Jeongguk doesn't know, and there is nobody else to teach him. Jimin's cheeks burn hot when he continues.

"Our fins are also, uhm, an incredibly erogenous zone. Mers can find pleasure in just touching their fins. That's why it's part of our mating dance. So, yeah, nobody touches a mer's fin except the mer themself or their lover. Not even family members do, and we are taught as early as possible that it is rude to touch fins. Alongside that, we get taught how to take care of our fins as no one will ever help a mer if there is a matter with their fin."

When he notices Jeongguk reaching out again, Jimin is fast to put half of his fin back into the pond, water splashing high and soaking Jeongguk's jeans. The human sheepishly retracts his hand.

"Hey!," the mer chides, leaning forward and flicking Jeonguk's forehead. "Merfolk lesson is not over yet."

The human pouts but leans back. "Okay okay, I am listening, prof."

"Good. Because I want to make sure I have sensibilized you properly."

He puffs his chest out, ignoring the still apparent burn in his face as best as possible.

"You see, with the common knowledge about the delicate matter of a mer's fins, there are differences between some of our peoples. For example, in the northern seas most mers are very strict. There are a ton of rules to follow and life is strict. Mers who touch their own fins in public are getting called and other bad things. If it happens a second time, they get shunned.

In other regions however, it is custom to celebrate touching your partner's fins for the first time. Families of high status often celebrate a whole week, days of the couple dancing around each other until they finally touch each other on the last day. Lavish feasts like that are common custom in the mediterranean sea. But while in some places touching fins unallowed is understood as a very blunt and daring romantical approach that shows the mer's wits, in other places it can be a death insult."

Jimin gives the younger a long look before finishing: "So Jeonggukkie, if you ever meet a mer and get interested in them, first thing you have to do is check where they are from, where you stand in regards like that if you don't want to be greatly misunderstood. I am sure it's the same with you humans, right?"

The human nods meekly and looks away. Jimin grins, brings up his fins once more and flicks the tip in Jeongguk's face. 

"You know, I've read a great line recently to sum it up. 'Don't touch what you can't afford'," he singsongs.

And with that, jumps back into the pond.

 

---

Jeongguk is slowly starting to worry.

Despite his effort to take off Jimin's restless mind, the mer seems to get bored soon again.

His next solution: he invites over Taehyung as often as possible.

Which is a great decision, it seems. There never is a dull moment with the blue-haired man. Ever. It has taken exactly two days for the older to warm up to Jimin and confess his love to rap. Taehyung ended up rapping every song he knew and Jeongguk's ears were bleeding while Jimin was laughing so hard he accidentally slid back underwater all the time.

They also banter a lot. Mostly about food and those banters have been some of the weirdest conversations Jeongguk witnessed in his whole life so far, especially when Jimin tried to convince Taehyung that a peanut butter and grilled bacon sandwich is obviously superior to a peanut butter and sliced onion one.

Needless to say they tried both, just to prove a point, and ended up whining about destroyed taste buds for the rest of the day. Jeongguk got incredibly much blackmail material thanks to the hilarious expression they made. 

He however is not so sure anymore if bringing all these books for Jimin was a really good idea because since four days the mer is talking in quotes and if by the end of the day they can't guess the right book - how Jeongguk ended up in this, he doesn't know - then Jimin decides what they will all have for dinner and good god, having a mer exploring the vast possibilities of flavour-combination in the human realms is not funny.

Jeongguk wants to quit so badly as he watches the mer decorating pizza dough with bits of salmon, strawberries and mozzarella, grinning mischievously as he pushes the baking sheet in his direction. Taehyung gives him puppy eyes but Jeongguk knows by now to do as the mer says so he dutifully picks up the baking sheet and carries that absolutely horrible idea up into the kitchen where his pre-heated oven is waiting.

When he comes back, forbidden pizza in his hands, he finds the basement in absolute mayhem and is not suprised. Taehyung is rolling on the floor laughing, pointing at Jimin while wheezing something that sounds like "ing tiny" and the mer keeps chucking remnants of the pizza ingredients at the man.

Jeongguk hurries to prick the opened ketchup bottle out of Jimin's dangerously raised hand and puts it in a safe distance, together with all the knives he can see. Once he's done, he sets down the baking sheet full of disgusting pizza and gives his best friend The Look.

"I didn't- don't look at me like that," Taehyung splutters. "I have every reason to- I mean did you ever look at his hands?! They are a joke! They are so tiny it's unbelievable, look-" He dives for one of Jimin's hands and lifts it up, pressing his own hand flat against it.

"Okay. Okay, sure hyung..."

"No, no, look!"

And it's not that he's wrong exactly, the mer's hand does indeed look like a kid's hand next to Taehyung's but.

"You realize your hands don't count because you have ing bear paws, do you?"

"But his hands are TINY!"

The mer splashes wildly with his tail. "Yah! You little sh*t, I can still throttle you with these tiny hands!" He manages to flick another piece of fish leftover in Taehyung's blue hair.

Jeongguk can't decide if he wants to laugh or die.

"Okay, can we just. Get this over with?" He points at the forgotten excuse of a pizza, bracing himself.

Jimin is all full-teeth smile when he sees it. "Sure, sure! Alright, enjoy your meal, losers~"

"You forget that you have to eat that sh*t too," Taehyung points out while struggling to get the fish out of his hair.

"Oh, but I might like it~"

One bite later, and Jeongguk knows the answer. He definitely wants to die now.

Two bites later, and Taehyung is on his knees, begging for forgiveness.

"You know I am a , I am an idiot, a class A idiot sandwich, I am the most illiterate human to ever walk the earth, I admit it. Please don't make me eat this anymore, Jiminie! Please, please, I will never ever be mean to you, I promise, but please spare me from this, I can't take it any longer!"

The mer taps his chin, as if contemplating. "Hm, I might let you off the hook, but you have been nothing but mean to me all day, I don't know why I should reward you for this..."

"I didn't mean it," Taehyung splutters. "I promise I didn't, I just said that because I'm jealous of you, you have the most badass tail in the world, and your tat looks so cool ohmygod I want to get a tattoo too but I am too much of a coward, and I bet you can swim so damn fast and dive to the bottom of the sea, I've never been there, and it's so cool that you can breathe underwater and on air and-" he gives his trademark puppy eyes. "Jiminie, pleeeeeease..."

Jeongguk stops recording before the two can notice and stores the video in his 'Drama Queen' folder. By the time he's done, Jimin is a giggling, blushing mess and Taehyung looks still so damn desparate that he wants to laugh.

"Alright, alright," the mer relents, "let's bin this. I didn't really like it either."

Taehyung is so relieved he lets out a sob and Jeongguk is tempted to join him because this was the most horrible meal in human history. "Who needs food anyway," he mumbles and jets away with the pizza before a certain merman can change his mind.

Things calm down after that and there is almost something like a normal conversation going on until Taehyung opens his mouth again.

"Hey, Jimine..."

The mer squints at him suspiciously and Jeongguk kind of wants to hide under a rock because that's the whiny voice Taehyung gets when he wants something and knows it's ridicculous.

"Can I bring my goldfish tomorrow?"

"...Sure?" They are both still on guard.

"Because, you see, I'm worried about him, he hasn't been eating all week and just floats in his glass, and I think he might have depression so maybe you could talk to him and ask what's wrong? Because, I mean you are a merman and all that stuff."

Jeongguk faceplams. Jimin looks like he wants to do the same.

"...Taehyung... I am a mer. I can't talk with fish."

"But you have a tail too!"

"So? Just because i have one, doesn't mean I can talk with everything that has a tail. Can you talk with everything that's walking on two legs?"

"I mean, if you put it that way..."

And at that he looks so sad that Jeongguk finds himself immediately scrambling for something to cheer his friend up. No matter how stupid the reason, he hates his friends being sad - but Jimin beats him to it.

"Look," the mer starts tentatively. "The chances are slim that it helps anything but... I can try, okay? To see if I can do anything for your buddy. Just don't get your hopes up but it won't hurt if I have a look at him, right? With the little knowledge poor Jeonggukkie has about everything living in the ocean, I wouldn't be surprised if this is a solvable problem."

"Jiminie, you are the best!," Taehyung shouts. Flings his arms out- and falls into the pool.

Jeongguk doesn't know why he is surprised.

 

Long after Taehyung is gone and silence fell, with Jeongguk cleaning up and Jimin laying sprawled on a soaked blanket with yet another book in his hands, Jeongguk pauses what he is doing and just stares at the mer. He can't quite help it, barely registers it anymore as it's so easy for him to get in by the ethereal beauty that is Jimin.

"Taehyung was right, y'know," he finds himself mumbling.

Jimin looks up from his book and just locks eyes in silence, silver hair falling in soft strands in his face and tail sparkling where the water drops didn't dry yet. 

"You really have the most beautiful tail."

The softest smile tugs at the mer's lips but he still says nothing, only holds his gaze for a while longer before looking back down to his book, ghost of a smile still there. He looks so serene Jeongguk doesn't know what to do with himself, all the other words he had wanted to say getting stuck in his throat.

He goes to bed thinking of small wandering hands, secretive smiles, sparkling eyes and plush lips and he thinks he might have a problem.

 

---

The next day, Jimin can't meet Jeongguk's eyes.

Complimenting a mer's tail can, depending on the wording, mean just as much as an outright love declaration. Sometimes even more. And yesterday, Jeongguk was really damn close so now Jimin doesn't know how to react. Being flustered seems like a good place to start. The more interesting part is, that whenever Jimin dares to properly look at the human, it seems he has a similar problem, eyes darting everywhere except Jimin's and cheeks flushing in the most adorable way. Now Jimin really wants to know what's going on in the human's head.

His thoughts get interrupted when there is a loud bang upstairs, announcing Taehyung's arrival. He sees Jeongguk subtly roll his eyes and giggles.

"GOOD MORNING MOTHERF*CKERS," Taehyung yells from the bottom of his lungs while throwing open the basement door.

Jimin snorts. "If you are here, I bet it must be high noon by now. Morning, my ."

This seems to catch him off-guard. "Wait, you don't know the time?" He looks positively bewildered now, eyes darting from Jimin to Jeongguk and back.

The mer tilts his head. "I mean, no? There are no windows here so I can't see the sun and daylight, can I?"

He feels a familiar sting at the words. Jimin loves the sun, loves to bask in warm rays of sunlight and float right under the water surface where it's warm and bright and where the waves twinkle. He hopes he can see the sun soon again but somehow he doubts it.

"But don't you have a watch? Or, I don't know, some other kind of clock?"

Jimin blinks, frowns. He hates when he doesn't know human words yet. "I, well, I don't think so?" He turns to Jeongguk and is just about to swallow down his pride and ask, as Taehyung seems to connect some dots and comes at Jeongguk with long strides, smacking the back of his head.

"You fool ,don't tell me you didn't give poor Jiminie a clock! How is he supposed to organize his day when he doesn't know what time it is, huh? You better get that fixed right now!"

Jimin watches in amusement as Taehyung keeps hitting the youngest with one hand but Jeongguk stays absolutely unfazed and doesn't budge.

"What's there to organize anyway? All he does is floating and chilling, I don't see your point."

But Taehyung is fuming now. "And that's your fault too, isn't it?! Picking him up and putting him in this absurdly small puddle like a trophy you can watch, with nothing familiar, nothing he likes anywhere closeby?"

"It's not like that!"

"Oh, isn't it?"

And the next words are almost too soft, even with his advanced hearing Jimin struggles to catch everything with the two men still standing at the far entrance of the room. 

"Then tell me Jeon Jeongguk, do you think he is happy here? Do you think he deserves to be treated like this? Because I surely don't. He is sleeping in his own poop, for god's sake, wasting away day by day and putting up a brave front while you do what exactly? Play cards with him? Stop sh*tting all of us and do something about it because I won't tolerate this much longer. If I have to, I'm going to throw him back int the sea myself. Open your goddamn eyes and stop being an idiot already!"

There is so much bile in the blue-heads usually cheery voice that Jimin recoils, shifting back from the pond's edge, not sure what Taehyung will do next. His worries evaporate as the human's whole demeanor changes within a split-second and then he is skipping towards Jimin, holding up a huge bag and retrieving a glass cubicle that's filled with water, sand, plants and- a fish.

"Hey Chim-Chim~" he sing-songs.

Jimin still needs to work out how to react to that 180 degree turn so he just gapes for the moment.

"Alright, meet my pet goldfish Hector!"

He tentatively gets closer, squinting at the thing Taehyung holds up so proudly. "Tae-Tae, that's not a goldfish... it's not even remotely close to  being golden..."

Something seems off with that fish but he can't put a finger on it yet. A chill runs down his spine and suddenly, he really doesn't want to look again.

"Yes it does!" Taehyung pouts. "Maybe it's the lighting, please can you have a closer look again?"

Jimin sighs. "Tae, I'm not even sure this is a fish..."

"Well, what the else is it supposed to be? Jeongguk, give me your phone, your lights are useless down here."

"I really don't think-," Jimin tries again but is cut off immediately.

"No, no, just have another look, come on, you promised."

And wow, Taehyung really sounds desparate, looks desparate in the way he is pushing that glass thing right in Jimin's face. That fish must mean a lot to him. So Jimin sighs, takes a deep breath, and looks again.

A cloud of orange fins floats around the tiny creature, sparkling scales changing to a much lighter hue for the front part of the body and there between a bunch of pectoral fins int almost looks like an arm... Jimin has a very, very bad feeling about this yet he keeps staring, waiting for the seaweed giving way to look at the head. He is met with a pair of cunning eyes, sitting in a face that's absolutely nothing fish. A mop of orange hair at the size of Jimin's thumb nail resting atop of the head. For a moment, Jimin's mind is frozen.

And then it clicks.

He shrieks, as loud as he can, and jerks away from a dumbfounded Taehyung.

"Get this away from me!"

! He hasn't seen one in decades, and never this small but there is no doubt anymore. His heart picks up speed as Taehyung still keeps the glass thing extended towards him.

"Jimin, what's-"

"For the sake of everything good in this world, get this away from me, and from you and everyone else as fast as possible, Taehyung!"

He feels the tips of his fins growing cold. This is bad. Frantic looks to the left and right just confirm what he already knows. He is trapped in here, and there is nowhere to escape. Not when Taehyung decides to be stupid enough and dunk that creature in his pond.

"I don't get what's your problem, man!"

Jimin is not quite done yet hyperventilating so his voice comes out high and shrill. "You caught a water pixie, Taehyung! Believe me if I tell you that you don't want to touch a pixie. Or just meet one. Ever. You better get this little guy to a water as far away as possible and pray that nothing more bad happens on your way." He takes a deep breath, gathering himself. "And take this thing out of my face!"

The pixie, it seems, has other plans. 

Before Taehyung can comprehend what he just heard, it throws its body against the glass and there are some sparkles and in the next second, the whole thing capsizes and falls into the pond, pixie still inside.

Jimin thinks he is having a heart attack.

He is pretty sure he out when the whole pond begins to glow. To his utter horror, Jimin finds he can't move a muscle.

An unfamiliar groan cuts the blaring silence, followed by a sigh.

"Ah, daaaamn... about time."

The glow fades, revealing a water pixie now in almost the same size as Jimin. It looks straight back at him and grins.

Jimin is not ashamed to admit that he pees himself right there and then.

 

---

Jimin does't care what the others say, he is not going to leave his cave as long as the pixie is still in his pond. He just wants it to be gone.

Fate however seems to disagree, because the pixie stopped charming the humans into dancing quite a while ago in favour of going underwater and chewing Jimin's ears off.

"...and I swear, this was the best kelpie ride in my whole life, the girl was so wild and joyous and we crossed oceans in no time and damn this was so much fun! But at some point every kelpie turns rampant, you know, and somehow I missed the signs so it went off right into a maelstrom with me and honestly, I made it outta there last second, no kidding."

Jimin turns away and presses both hands against his ears.

"But that damn maelstrom messed with my orientation it seems because next thing I know I find myself in the coast line of one of the slit-eye human seas, on top of that the green sea or yellow sea or however they call it, which is just disgusting because it's so damn polluted and I just want to get away on the spot but then something heavy hits me on the head and everything goes numb and I get stuck in one of these algae slicks that stretch for miles and it's just ewww and then some chubby kid fishes me out of the mess and I am too damn weak to cast a single charm so it brings me to some grandpa and sells me?!"

Jimin takes deep shuddering breaths and recites all kinds of mussels with their special traits he knows in a vain attempt to drown out the obnoxious chatter.

"And maybe that grandpa would have been nice for all the food he gave me and for how he treated my wounds but he put in me a water prison and that's not funny, it really isn't, and then this baboon bought me and started to call me Hector and some other weird stuff and I swear I am just so done with him, please help a fella out!"

Jimin snaps.

"Just leave me the alone!" he yells against the stone wall infront of him. "I don't want to have anything to do with a water pixie! I've been good, I helped out in my village whenever I could, and never harmed anyone, why do I have to bear with water pixies twice in this life? That's not fair! I've had enough misfortune happening to me and the people around me this year to last me for the rest of my life, now meeting a pixie on top of all that is just too much. Go away!"

"Wow, rude."

The voice is much closer now and Jimin coils himself in a tight ball, tucking his tail even closer and making himself as small as possible.

"I bet you are scowling. Are you scowling?"

The pixie pokes his back with a cold finger. Jimin's whole body jerks at that, limbs knocking against stone. Oh god, he got touched by a pixie. What will happen next? Does a simple touch do anything yet? Is he under a spell already? He can't tell, can't think straight. Slowly, a strong shiver begins to spread in his whole body, starting at his chest and going down all the way to the tips of his fins. The worst part is, that there is nowhere to escape. He is at a dead end.

"You are so damn sure scowling."

The voice has gotten even closer, and now Jimin can feel two hands landing on his arm, can feel the looming presence of the pixie right behind him.

"But you know what?," the pixie whispers in his ear. Jimin wants to punch him in the face and just get away but he can't, he can't, he can't-

"You would look way more friendly with a smile. Come on blackie, smileeee~"

There is nothing he can do as the corners of his mouth stretch upwards. Jimin is sure he is counting his last heartbeats now, with how fast his poor heart is pumping, hammering against his ribcage until he sees stars. Yet he keeps smiling through the pain.

"Alright, and now turn around so we can have a proper chat..."

A foreign warmth engulfs him, like a cloud, and Jimin finds himself obliguing. The pixie is stil far too much in his personal space when he settles, laying on his other side now.

" you," Jimin bites through his teeth, still smiling.

"Language," the pixie tuts, slapping his arm. He jerks away violently again. The pixie frowns at him.

"Huh, you really are skittish, aren't you. They taught you well, hm? Anyway, as there is no way I am going back in that tiny pot, we are stuck in here together for a while so introductions are at order."

He stretches out a hand, long fingers connected by a thin membran in the same color as his orange fins that seem to be everywhere. "Name's Hoseok. But my friends call me Hope, cuz that's my favourite charm."

At a total loss of other options, Jimin reciprocates and shakes the pixie's hand. "Jimin. Just Jimin."

The smile he gets in response is almost blinding and the mer notices that weirdly enough, Hoseok's mouth shape resembles a heart when he smiles like that. What really gets him though, is the fact that the pixie starts glowing faintly.

"Alright, just-Jimin. How the hell did you end up in this moray hole?"

Instantly, Jimin's defense walls slam down. "Don't- don't ask me that. And don't try to charm me into spilling. I won't talk about it."

"Okay, okay, chill buddy." Hoseok holds his hands up and Jimin can't help but think that the things between his fingers look really strange. "I won't dig if you don't want me to, alright?"

The mer watches him warily as Hoseok seems to ponder about his next question.  With a flick of his wrist, tiny glowing bubbles appear and begin to dance around the both of them but the pixie doesn't even seem to notice, still staring into nothingness with furrowed brows while Jimin is busy gawking at the random display of magic. He wonders if it's a bad idea to touch one of the bubbles.

Hoseok snaps his fingers in Jimin's face. "Yah! You still with me? I have another question."

"Uh, sure, shoot..."

"This-" he makes a sweeping motion with both arms- "is only temporary, right? Because I don't really fancy being caged for much longer. I mean, I'm sure you are a nice guy but I really want to get back home, y'know?"

At that, Jimin looks down and finally, finally the annoying smile washes off his face. "I don't know. How things are looking right now, I think I'm going to stay here for the rest of my life. I don't really have anywhere else to go."

It seems to hit a nerve, as Hoseok's whole demeanor changes and the pixie starts cursing in the worst way. Jimin just lets him, there is not much he could do anyway.

Once he is done, the pixie turns back to him, fire burning in his glowing eyes. "And you are fine with that? Do you want to stay imprisoned? Aren't you going to do something about it?"

Jimin laughs bitterly. "What am I supposed to do? I'm just a simple mer, there is nothing I could do to change anything."

"What do you mean, nothing, did you never think about using your powers to escape that human?"

His what.

Jimin blinks. The he scowls and makes to turn back around.

"That's a really bad joke, you know? Everybody knows that mers don't have special powers. Stop spouting bullsh*t. I really don't like you right now"

Hoseok gives him a very long look, the glowing bubbles popping with a slight 'ping' one after another. The uncomfortable silence stretches and Jimin is increasingly getting antsy again.

"Jimin... you have a black tail. Do you really want to tell me you don't know what that means?"

"Uhm, that I loose every single round of hide-and-seek thanks to my opposite fin and tail colors?"

"Are you being serious."

"I, well, yes?"

Hoseok opens his mouth again but gets interrupted by a shift in the water as someone jumps into the pond. "This talk is not over," the pixie hisses and Jimin is not quite sure why but he still seems very agitated. Seconds later, Jeongguk's head pops up behind Hoseok, eyes blown wide as he takes in the scene. Dark eyes dart from Jimin to Hoseok and back, then he points upwards and swims back.

Jimin sighs and pushes past the pixie and out of his cave to follow Jeongguk. 

"Are you his pet?" Hoseok chides from behind. Jimin ignores him and keeps swimming until his head breaches the water surface.

Immediately, Jeongguk is in his space, worry written all over his face.

"Are you alright? Did it do something to you? Are you hurt?" He clutches Jimin's head and turns it from side to side, then looks at his torso and what he can see of his tail.

"I'm okay," Jimin mumbles. Isn't sure what to make out of the sudden skinship.

It seems Jeongguk notices his slip in that moment too, for he withdraws both hands as if being burned and looks away quickly. "Uhm, okay then."

Then Hoseok's head pops up somewhere to his left, orange hair hanging in his eyes. "What's going on?"

And ohr right, Taehyung is still there too.

The human all but screams, pointing fingers at the pixie while scrambling back until his back hits the wall. "You-you are not a goldfish anymore!"

Hoseok snorts. "I never was a goldfish to begin with, stupid."

"I think I'm going to faint. My pet fish is speaking!"

The pixie shrugs, unfazed. "Please do, I'm not planning on returning into your nasty pot."

"Yah! Don't talk down on my aquarium, I made it with much love and-and ohmygod, I am having an argument with my goldfish-"

Hoseok's eyes start to glow again and Taehyung wisely shuts up.

To his credit - or maybe he is just too clueless to grasp the danger that is a pixie, Jimin doesn't know which one is it - Jeongguk seems to be much less bothered by the whole event, eyening the pixie with a mixture of wary and curiousity.

"How did you fit in that small aquarium if you are that big?"

As a mer Jimin knows the answer too, but casually leans back to give the pixie more space for drifting clower to the edge. He figured by now that Hoseok likes to talk.

"You humans don't know much about pixies it seems," the orange-head quips. "Pixies - both water and forest pixies - can change their size at will. Though it doesn't happen often because it's extremely exhausting."

"Then why did you-"

He cuts Jeongguk off, huffing. "Because being tiny for so long ! Do you know how long that kept me in that thing? Three months!" He glares at Taehyung who cowers away even more.

"But why were you so small in the first place?"

The grin Jeongguk gets in answer is nothing short of patronizing. "You never tried to ride a kelpie, did you, human?"

That has Jeongguk blinking. Jimin snorts, already knowing what has to come now. 

"What's a kelpie?"

Jimin thuds his head against the nearest rock. "I can't believe you, Jeon Jeongguk. There are no limits to your ignorance." 

One of the glowing bubbles makes a reappearance and hits Jeongguk straight on his nose, the human yelling out in shock. Jimin makes a mental note not to get close to any of these, it seems to hurt. Then the pixie turns around to him, looking incredulous.

"Is he always that dumb?"

Jimin nods solemny. "All the damn time."

"Oh god, for how long did you have to put up with his stupidity?"

"It's been a while."

"Hey, I'm right here, I can still here you, you know?"

Both mers turn around, staring at him unimpressed. "So?"

Hoseok summons a few more glow bubbles and the human clamps his mouth shut.

Jimin watches in slight amusement. Thinks that he should try to stay in the pixie's graces nonetheless but watching Jeongguk squirm is just funny. 

"You are being a bit of a tyrant right now, don't you think?" He hopes the comment doesn't go too far and already braces for a glow bubble to come at him but the pixie just grins.

"Well, I'm a pixie afterall, what else did you expect from me? I have to keep a reputation."

He flicks his fin at Jimin's chest, the mer trying and failing to swat it away before it happens a second time, and giggles.

Just then Jeongguk seems to have bested himself as he scoots closer to the two mers again.

"Alright guys, but what's the plan now? Nevermind I still don't really get what's going on, what happens next now? Do you plan on just staying here too, or what?"

"No, what?" Hoseok laughs the human straight in the face. "Why would anybody want to stay in this hole? I'm going to go back home of course. Now that I have Jiminie it should be no problem."

Jimin watches the human closely, wondering which part of that statement sunk in first. But Jeongguk still seems nothing else than confused. Taehyung however, has taken to glowering at his friend again and for once seems to be the more quick-witted of the two. It remembers Jimin of the blue-head's outburst earlier and he quickly looks away. He hates being pitied.

Why would anybody want to stay in this hole? 

A cold hand clamps down at his arm and he turns around to a pouting Hoseok.

"Jiminie, we should hurry to get back, I don't really feel like putting up with these two idiots for long."

Finally, Taehyung finds his voice again. "What do you mean with going back? It's not like you can just walk out here."

And Jimin wonders too, what the pixie can possibly mean because the next equinox is still nowhere near. The last one just passed a few weeks or so ago. Just how does Hoseok expect them to leave? And even more important - does he want to? With nothing and no one waiting for him at home? On the other side it's not like he likes his current accomodation. In any case it seems to be a lost cause. He sighs.

"I don't talk to people who don't even know what a kelpie is," Hoseok sniffs.

The offended human seems to forget who and what he is talking to, as he snaps back, "Fine, have it your way, princess. I'm leaving, I didn't like fish that much anyway."

Hoseok's eyes glow dangerously and indeed, on his way to the basement door Taehyung trips four times, cursing like a sailor.

Jeongguk watches him, then turns back to the mers, staring at Jimin for a long while and glancing occassionally at Hoseok next to him.

It seems like he wants to say something but Jimin is not too sure.

After a while the human meekly asks, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, leaving us alone would be a good start, you know," the pixie is fast to quip.

Jeongguk furrows his eyebrows, gives Jimin a final long look and then get up, biding them a good night and shutting the door behind him.

"Huh", Hoseok huffs, stretching and fanning out all of his fins, taking over almost the whole pond, "for a human he is pretty chill with the fact there are two mers in his basement..."

Jimin hoists himself up onto the blanket in an attempt to get some space, leaving only a little part of his fin dangling into the water. He shrugs. "Sure, I mean, there is not much we could - or I could at least - do to him, so why should he be worried? And so far you have been behaving yourself despite being a pixie, so."

"Aish, Jiminie, about that..." he flocks closer again, until he is almost eye-level with Jimin. "I don't know why you keep saying that. You, with a tail that has so richly black scales, really. Are you trying to impress me with being timid, or what?"

The mer has still no clue what the hell he is talking about, and says as much.

Hoseok rolls his eyes. "Oh please, everybody knows that mers with black tail are by far the most powerful. Don't tell me you didn't know."

Jimin gradually feels like he is missing out on something rather crucial, and he is not amused. "Who says that, that's nonsense. I'm as defenseless as every other mer. Why are you going on and on about my tail the whole time?"

"Okay, what the ?" An irritated laugh bubbles out of Hoseok, skin lighting up in a soft glow again. "What, do you really don't know? But how? It's common knowledge all over the world, everbody knows it!"

"I still don't know what you mean, you are not making much sense here."

"Okay," the pixie sighs. "Okay. But you know the legend about how your folk came to be, yeah?"

Jimin snorts. "Sure, who doesn't."

"Yeah, right, but do you also know that the first merman's tail was the darkest black? That the sea gifted him tremendous powers when it noticed its mistake with the first mermaid who was pretty much defenseless? The original merman was almost as powerful as a god himself, so he could protect his significant other with all of his might. And a kernel of this power is still passed down, even nowadays. But only to male mers with a black tail, it says. The more pure and dark the tail, the stronger the magical powers or whatever it is exactly. And you my friend, have a damn rich black tail. If not for the silver lining in your scales you might even pass off as heir of the orininal mer. Did you really not know?"

The mer slowly shakes his head, dumbfounded. "No one ever told me." His mind is reeling. He refuses to believe what he just heard, it makes no sense. Why would everybody keep that from him all this time? What's going on?

Hoseok huffs again and sets off, swimming tight circles in the pond. Jimin watches him pacing. He is still not sure what to make out of this.

"That explains quite a few things. I wondered why you kept yelling at me to go away but didn't do anything. Honestly, when I saw your tail I got so excited to see what you could do. When nothing happened, it was a real bummer to be honest. But of course, if you didn't know then you couldn't cast any spells or, whatever your lot does. Actually," he stops at the other end of the pond, glaring in the direction both humans vanished to earlier. "That Jeongguk guy got reall lucky, you know? You could have him dead within a heartbeat if you only knew how to use your powers. You could be free long since."

"I don't want him dead!"

"Why not? He keeps you prisoner here. If I were you, I would want him dead yesterday. Hell, I want that Taehyung idiot dead, I think. Maybe. Well, not really, but you know what I mean."

"No, it's not- it's not like that." Jimin curls around a stack of unread books and snuggles into the blanket. It smells like seaweed, fish and Jeongguk. "He didn't imprison me, he helped me. He is everything I've got left."

Hoseok hoists himself up too and flops down on Jimin, sprawled all over the blanket and knocking off books in his wake. 

"Why do you say that," he whines into Jimin's back. "I don't get you. How can you say you've got nothing left except for a loosy human? With that tail of yours you could make yourself king in a nice territory far away in no time. And especially with that tattoo of yours."

"Leave my soul inking out of this, it has nothing to do with it," Jimin splutters and bucks, tries to throw off the heavy pixie.

"It has everything to do with it! Don't you know what a soul inking does to you?"

"Of course I know, stop questioning my basic knowledge every five minutes, it's driving me nuts! Also get off me, I can't breathe."

The pixie, to his surprise, relents and jumps back into the pool. The water glows again and Jimin watches in awe how the whole body of Hoseok shrinks until it's not much bigger than a grown mackerel.

"Why did you change sizes again? Didn't you say it's exhausting and you don't like to be small?"

"Yeah sure, but there is barely enough space for you in here, let alone two of your size. But that's not the point. You!" He points at Jimin, "I'm going to educate you what it really means to be a mer. But not today. It's late, we should get some sleep, come on."

When Jimin doesn't react, the pixie looks up at him with glowing eyes and he hurries to jump back into the pond. Hoseok is already waiting for him and as he gets settled into the cave, the pixie curls up against his side and falls asleep in no time.

This, Jimin thinks, this is rather nice. He can't remember the last time he didn't sleep alone. Must've been in another life.

 

---

Hoseok stays true to his word and keeps chatting off Jimin's ear nonstop, telling him about how a soul inking is supposed to channel a mer's latent power and how it only hurts so much because Jimin never used his power and needs an outlet soon. Telling him every minute details he knows about the story of merfolk origin too, and about what it means to have a black tail. Only when it comes to activating Jimin's apparently immense powers, he falters.

"You see, my powers and yours are completely different by nature, and I always had access to mine from the very beginning so I don't really know how to teach you. But we can figure this out, okay?" And he would cast one of his huge trademark smiles at Jimin, glowing bright like a little sun while doing so.

It's not lost to Jimin that he's the only one who gets smiled at by Hoseok. It's also not lost on Taehyung, who decided he maybe wants his pet fish back afterall and tries to get into Hoseok's good graces by gifting him pretty flowers. To his dismay - and Jeongguk's amusement - however, it's not Hoseok but Jimin who cherishes the flowers, ogling them all day, inhaling their heavy sweet scent, counting petals and making cute flower crowns for everybody out of them.

Taehyung decides to give up on wooing the pixie  after three days, but strangely enough there is always a new flower sitting in a vase at the edge of the pond whenever Jimin wakes up. It takes two more days for Hoseok to crack and spill the beans to the mer, admitting how he saw Jeongguk creeping into the basement in the middle of the night and placing the flower there before running back up. Jimin can't fight the heavy blush upon hearing that, Hoseok cackling right into his ear.

The days are filled with laughter and good-hearted banter, even more so than when it was just Taehyung and Jeongguk spending time with him.

Hoseok ever so often casts little spells on both humans, sending them tripping or making them say stupid things but his all-time favourite are the glow bubbles. And between all that banter, the impromptu merfolk history lessons, countless games they play - it turns out Hoseok at human games but he makes up for it with cheating to no end - and more terrible food experiments Jimin finds he doesn't feel that much alone anymore, not when he has Hoseok snuggling against him at night and talking about random stuff until they both fall asleep, who understands him like only a fellow mer could.

"I am sorry there is not much more I can do for you," Hoseok whispers in the silence of the night once, voice a high pitch in his small form.

"But my charms are only contained to me. I can probably get Taehyung charmed into carrying me back to the sea and letting me out at a convenient place so I can go home once I rested up enough for such a powerful charm, but I can't do the same for you. It wouldn't work. But I promise we're getting you out of here too. You can't stay perched up like this for much longer."

Jimin says nothing and pretends to be asleep.

"And who knows? Maybe once we are both free I'm going to help you become king. That would be something, wouldn't it?"

Yeah, Jimin thinks, that would be something indeed. He just isn't sure what Jeongguk would say to that.

"I really can't wait to see what you can do, Jiminie. I have only met two other mers with black tail, both incredibly powerful, but their tails weren't as black as yours. Combined with the soul inking you might be one of the most powerful mers of all time since the original one."

Jimin snorts. Sure, most powerful mer, alright.

"Yah!" Hoseok swats him in the side. 

"So you have been awake afterall!"

---

---

I already feel stupid for ever thinking this story would be a oneshot. I have no clue how many more chapters it's going to have and it's a difficult task with each chapter growing that long.

Hope you enjoy the read so far though. Let me know what you think, comments are always very much appreciated ^^