Chanyeol knew that the currents were going to be cold around the base of Mountain Peak, but he was surprised to find that the water was quite bearable as he entered the channel leading towards the opening of the cave beneath the mountain. He knew from the countless times that his father had shown him around the island that there were strong sharp rocks by the entrance, which meant that if he wasn't careful a single mistake would have him bleeding out in the channel far away from anyone that could have helped him. However, even though Chanyeol had never been by the base of the peak by himself he actually found himself allowing the current to take him to safety. He half-expected the current to slam him against the rocks but none of that happened, to Chanyeol the water was guiding him safely through the passage. He couldn't allow himself to question it, having seen enough the past two days to last him a life-time. Chanyeol knew that if he kept his mind and mouth empty then maybe something wouldn't come to prove him wrong, he was already second guessing himself when he realised that his best friend's boyfriend had a fish-tail.

He blew out a breath of air from his lungs as he allowed the small channel to carry him straight into the opening of the cave, the walls slick with seawater and the moisture from the grass on top of the mountain. What shocked Chanyeol the most about this cave wasn't the structure of nature's own free will, as far as he could tell it was like any other average cave. However, what made it different wasn't anything related to nature. The photographer let out a shaky breath when he realised that the song that had been playing in the back of his mind ever since he heard it at the harbour was being played within the cave, the sweet melody being accompanied by the echo of the cave's walls. He recognised the voice as the same one he had heard that night of the party, the soft and delicate tone magnified by the echo, giving him the full surround-sound experience. Chanyeol couldn't move his legs after he pulled himself up onto the sand, his entire body freezing when he heard the sound again.

It was lower in pitch to the time he heard his mother singing it in the kitchen that morning he left to meet Baekhyun by the fountain, and yet it was just as beautiful. Chanyeol couldn't stop the grin creeping onto his lips, it was rare that a vocal session made him feel such comfort. Being a music major he had to listen to numerous pieces of music, he had gotten so used to it that most songs sounded the same to him. And yet this voice sounded brand new, original, untainted by the music of today. It brought goosebumps to his skin. The emotion gave the simple verse so much more meaning, telling a story that wasn't even remotely related to the lyrics themselves.

His mind's inner eye crafted the scene, a gentle ocean kissing the sand with a full moon directly above shining its white glow onto the water. A man walked along the shoreline, dressed in a pristine white outfit like he himself was the moon's human form. He was singing this song as he continued on along the water's edge, his bare feet being met with the ocean every time it came in to share an intimate moment with the land. The man's gaze stared longingly out into the horizon, his hands resting delicately by his sides as he sang with his entire heart. He was telling the story of his life within the waters, he missed it but he had a new home now. A life on land.

Now that he had given it some thought Chanyeol couldn't help but wonder if his mind was telling him the story of Suho and how he had come from a world below the sea to having a life on land with his best friend. When he thought about it properly it made him chuckle slightly in disbelief, his best friend was dating a merman. Apparently he could handle twenty foot monsters with tentacles and one single eye, but he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the island's legend could be true. The whole idea of mermaids being real and not some bedtime story that he had grown up with, was weird. He knew that he wouldn't look at Suho any differently, he had gotten to know the male for just over a year. It didn't matter to him that he had a tail, but it would definitely take some time for him to fully wrap his head around it.

Chanyeol took a deep breath, his eyes clueing back into the music that was still bouncing off the walls of the cave. The song was repetitive, the voice repeating the same verse over and over again but the photographer couldn't deny that the song was even more beautiful with every reply. The voice kept getting better and better with each time the song ended, almost as if whoever was singing got better and better as time went on. He was able to get control of his limbs, allowing him to pull himself upwards so that he was now standing rather than laying back first on the sand. Not that he didn't enjoy the warmth the sand gave off, but since he was wet from swimming he didn't want his clothing to be covered in it any longer. Everyone knew how nasty sand could be once it got into the 'private' places, Chanyeol wasn't going to allow that to happen.. again.

Speaking of the things Chanyeol wasn't going to allow to happen again, he couldn't imagine what he would do if he wasn't able to locate the source of the voice. He had tried before that night at the harbour and it landed with him getting nowhere, his sudden shout had made the beautiful voice disappear and he couldn't allow that to happen again. So that would explain why he was moving silently through the sand, his body dripping with salt-water making the golden grains of sand darken in colour with every step that he took. Eventually he found himself stepping out of the small beach inside the cave and onto the cave's ground, he expected his shoes to clatter but he remembered that he was wearing sneakers. It didn't stop the fact that one wrong move could send a squeak to the walls where it would bounce and echo through the cave, freaking out the person who was the one singing.

For a moment the thought crossed his mind, he was in the cave that the famous Yuki Yeon had been drawn to by the mysterious voice of a mermaid. Clearly there were no connections with what he was doing right now, Chanyeol brushed the thought aside as he continued on deeper into the cave. He could hear the faint sound of dripping, most likely coming from one of the walls to his left. The voice however, was getting louder with every step he took completely dulling his other senses. The salt he could taste on his tongue was no longer strong, his wet clothing didn't even faze him and his vision was slightly hazy from his swimming earlier. He knew that he should probably turn away and forget that this ever happened, but Chanyeol wasn't one to turn down his curiosity. Maybe this time he should have. The singing stopped and a familiar voice took its place.

"It's rude to sneak up on people you know." Baekhyun sighed, turning around to face Chanyeol but his eyes were closed.The photographer wanted to ask him why he couldn't look him in the eye, but his voice ran dry before the words passed his lips. "I don't exactly know how you got here or better yet why you came but I need to ask you to leave.."

"Why?" It hurt to say but at least something was better than nothing, he supposes that the salt water he unknowingly drank while swimming was making his throat run dry. He cleared his throat, blinking over at Baekhyun who was slowly beginning to open his eyes. "I don't want to leave."

"Chanyeol, you don't want to get involved with me." Baekhyun muttered, shaking his head. The photographer swallowed, the action feeling like razor blades against the walls of his esophagus. He stared into Baekhyun's waterlogged eyes, that would explain why the boy couldn't look him in the eye earlier. "I'm complicated."

"You're complicated?" Chanyeol scoffed, his eyes narrowing as he took a step closer to the stranger. "Have you not seen what I've had to go through for the past two days? A giant squid and a monster with one eyeball, not to mention that fact that I'm living in the Truman show-"

"The what?" Baekhyun questioned, blinking through his tears to question Chanyeol about his words.

The photographer just shook his head, he took another step forward before another and then another moving until he was directly in front of the smaller. He offered him a small smile, his eyes raking up and down the boy's body. Baekhyun's clothing was bone dry, his arms were wrapped around his chest and his eyes shaking as he tried to hold back his tears. "Everyone on the island knows something but they are keeping me out of it and have been for most of my life, everything that I thought I knew was over within the snap of my fingers. You appeared a day before all this happened and yet here I am allowing myself to be by your side because out of everyone in my life right now the only one I can trust is you, so I don't think that you can use that excuse with me right now Baekhyun."

Baekhyun heaved out a tired sigh, his hands finding their place on either side of his head. Chanyeol watched as he massaged his temples, his lower lip being taken in between his teeth. His gaze had fallen to the ground, unable to turn to hold Chanyeol's gaze no matter how much the islander wanted him to.

"I have done nothing to earn your trust," Baekhyun whispered out into the space between them, his gaze slowly returning back to Chaneyol's face. The photographer felt his cheeks heat underneath his gaze, Baekhyun's eyes drinking in every single detail of his face. Beauty marks, the small patch of hair he had forgotten to shave along the left side of his face, his naturally wide brown eyes that really did seem like they had been through a lot and of course his deliciously attractive lips that Baekhyun had to turn away from countless times. "in fact you should be hating me right now!"

Chanyeol's brows furrowed, meeting in the centre of his forehead. Baekhyun's eyes traced the lines on the latter's forehead, his teeth biting his lower lip yet again. "Why would I hate you?"

"Because I've been toying with you this entire time," Baekhyun laughed, his eyes finally releasing the tears that he had been trying so desperately to keep at bay. "or at least I've been trying! You were never meant to hear me that night at the harbour, you weren't even supposed to be there when I came out of the water."

"I know that you're the voice, I figured that out just now but that doesn't give you a proper reason to demand that I hate you." Chanyeol reached out to touch Baekhyun's cheek but the latter took a step back, the tears cascading down his cheeks before dripping down and joining Chanyeol's ocean water on the ground. "Wait a second.." Baekhyun's lips formed a thin line, his eyes turning upwards towards the roof of the cave. "A mermaid lured Yuki Yeon to this cave with a song, it was said that it drove him crazy... are you meaning to tell me that you're the reason that your song has been stuck in my head ever since I've heard it? You're the reason that I came here right now?"

"Chanyeol I tried to get you to leave me alone, I the water out of your body hoping that it would be enough to get you to stay away from me."

"Why would you do that?" Chanyeol cried, looking down at the boy who was sobbing quietly in front of him. "You the water out of my body because you didn't want me around you? You could have just told me that!"

"Do you honestly think that I would have done that if I knew it worked?!" Baekhyun shouted right back at him, hands forming fists by his sides. "I didn't ask for this to happen but it did! Mortals aren't supposed to hear our song but if they do it drives them crazy, they want to be by us regardless of the consequences-"

"I fought two monsters with you miles away from me, if I didn't have a choice because I wanted to be by your side regardless of the consequences then the island would be destroyed by now." Chanyeol hissed, getting closer into Baekhyun's personal space. The boy's breath hitched as their breaths fanned against one another's face. "I'm a music major and you have a nice voice that's the only thing that attracted me to your song, that and the fact that my mother sang it that morning I went to you at the fountain. That excuse isn't going to work either!"

"I'm not making excuses!" Baekhyun screamed, body shaking as his eyes still leaked his tears. "I'm telling you that if you were a normal human being then you should have acted like that, you should have been by my side through this whole thing!" his voice broke making his words run out before he was done. Chanyeol didn't know why but he felt tears well up in his own eyes, his throat like sandpaper as he tried to swallow another lump. "You're freaked out about the monsters I get that, but I'm freaking out because everything I felt with you wasn't some illusion thanks to the song. You were in your own mind, you weren't under my spell and no matter how often I tried to believe that you were I can't keep denying it.This wasn't even supposed to happen, I was supposed to come here and visit Suho before I went back home not allow myself to get tangled up with you.."

Chanyeol watched as the boy stepped away, turning his back to him and facing one of the cave's walls. He was shivering, cold after all the tears that he had spilt and was still spilling. Chanyeol wanted to go closer to him, embrace him and comfort him but he would have been no better with his soaking wet clothes. He knew that his mind was within his control, Baekhyun didn't have a claim on it.

"Wait does that mean that Sehun and Suho-"

"Suho never sang to him, he only came to the island to find love and settle down. If he did sing to Sehun your friend would never be okay without him near, which we both know to be true because we've seen them separated. You're different..." Baekhyun sent him a glance from over his shoulder. "Our songs don't work on those who were born like us."

"My mum has been born and breed on this island-"

"But your father?" Baekhyun whispered, turning around to face the taller. Chanyeol looked helpless, tears of his own falling down his cheeks. His hands were lifeless by his sides, his eyes sullen in their sockets. "You told me that he wasn't from the island, he came and fell in love with your mother and settled down to have you before he died. Come on Chanyeol you know that there is something weird about that, you knew that before I even had to tell you."

"I really don't want to talk about this right now," Chanyeol blew out a breath of air, his chest collapsing as he took another step closer to the smaller. Baekhyun didn't move, instead he allowed his legs to bring him to Chanyeol meeting him in the middle. "can you just distract me?"

"Is your ADHD head not working right now?" Baekhyun teased, his lips curling upwards as Chanyeol glared back down at him.

"I have a mild dose." Chanyeol rolled his eyes, wiping against his cheeks to get rid of his frustration influenced tears. He pushed his hands into his jean pockets, shivering slightly when the wind blew through the cave. "Besides, I can concentrate on the things I think are important, others can't. Fidgeting and daydreaming is common for me too, I get lost in my thoughts which never actually follow a set plan."

"You kept yourself interested in our conversation just fine." Baekhyun mumbled, his breath fanning against Chanyeol's cheeks yet again. "You sound like you've found a way to control it."

"The daydreams come and go quite easily," Chanyeol admitted, his eyes drifting to Baekhyun's lips. "it's a good thing that you can't read my mind. But I can focus on conversations by focusing on the people when they're talking, their hair, eyes, nose, ears.." he gulped, thankful that he was beginning to feel his throat return back to normal again. "their lips."

"Our may be off the charts right now but you are dripping wet and I can't afford to get wet right now.." Baekhyun whispered, tracing Chanyeol's cheek with his forefinger before pulling it away to wipe it against his shirt. "We're a little bit too far from the water and if I was to-"

"You would grow a tail too?" Chanyeol wondered, taking a couple steps back. He noticed the deflated look in Baekhyun's eye and it caused a dull pain to settle in his chest. "I just figured since you and Suho came from the same-"

"Yeah, I would grow a tail." Baekhyun nodded his head, watching as Chanyeol focused his attention on his eyes. "Every time I touch the water, it's a constant reminder that I don't belong here and that my life will forever be linked to the sea." At Chanyeol's lack of response, Baekhyun shuffled around on his feet. "If you're uncomfortable or scared I can lea-"

"I think you're about two monsters behind scaring me Baekhyun." Chanyeol chuckled, shaking his head from side to side. "I don't care if you can grow a tail or if you can sprout wings all I care about right now is spending whatever time I have left with you." Baekhyun blinked in surprise at the words, obviously not expecting them. "When I woke up this morning I knew that you had left and then when Sehun confirmed it I got angry because I thought that we would never get to see each other again, I didn't think that you would want to come back."

"Why do you think I'm in this cave and not out in the middle of the ocean right now?" Baekhyun whispered, looking up at Chanyeol who stood only an arm length away. "I wanted to see you and have a chance of saying a proper goodbye, I planned it all out. Suho said goodbye to me in the channel but then I came here where I would hide out until tonight.. I was going to come to you and say goodbye, we started this with a night together. Why not end it with one?"

"Because I don't want you to go," Chanyeol admitted, not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. Especially when he knew that Baekhyun was feeling similar in regards to the obvious ual attraction between them. "at least not yet. I know that I can't demand you but I would like you to stay with me for at least another couple days."

"I have my responsibilities back home, Chanyeol.." Baekhyun actually sounded really upset about it, his fingers wrapping around his own shirt hoping to ground him in the moment. "I told you that I was never supposed to meet you and as much as I want to indulge in whatever this is right now I can't-"

"I'm not asking you to, I know that you have responsibilities but all I ask is just another couple of days, until I can finally understand what's going on here. You can call me selfish or call me every name under the sun but please, I'm begging you to stay with me."

Baekhyun stared into the eyes of the man before him, his lower lip being taken in between his teeth. He knew the consequences of staying away from home, but he couldn't deny that he wanted to spend more time with the islander. Baekhyun had his own curiosity and it was rooted in Chanyeol and his ability to hear his song and not become effected by it, it was one of the many interesting qualities of Park Chanyeol and Baekhyun would be damned if he allowed himself to leave right now.

"I'm going to get into so much trouble.." he huffed out air through his nose, his lips curling upwards when he saw Chanyeol jump up and down in excitement. He looked like an overgrown puppy who had just gotten adopted, he knew that his father was going to give him hell but with a face like Chanyeol's who could deny it?