STRAY KIDS ONESHOTS/IMAGINES || OT8

loving you (1) . chan

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genre: fantasy, mythology au 
word count: 5,877 words 
part: 1/? 
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I emerge from the cliff of onyx-coloured rocks, casting a furtive glance behind my shoulder. Good. No one followed me out here. The water droplets on my body slip away, almost like shedding a skin, and I push my chestnut-brown hair behind my ear. From a distance, I spot a mini beach party commencing on the Eastern side of the beach, sort of like a gala, with cocktails and hot boys. So where I want to be on a Friday evening. So where my father would not.

The tide is high, and the sea spray showers me as I make my way to the gala. Not like I mind, but I want to escape the ocean for a bit, to walk on dry sand. Several rows of fairy lights are suspended by poles, enveloping the whole section of the beach in a warm amber.

The usual crowd of young adults are gathered by a foldable table, passing around cheap alcohol and canned soda. They look so at ease, the girls in their spaghetti straps and the boys in their beachwear, some wearing tanks, some shirtless.

Compared to the lightly made-up girls, I am beautiful. Flawless pearly skin, big hazel eyes, sharp nose and full lips. They stare in envy as I position myself by the drinks, hiding my fear of getting caught out on the land, late out, with other boys.

Not like you haven't done this before.

"Y/n! Over here," A tall tan boy calls out, and I recognise him as Cameron, one of the many guys who had tried to hit me up, and failed. Now we are good buddies, and he introduces me to a few of his new friends time after time hoping to find me a suitor.

I smile coyly and obediently walk to where he and his friends are gathered, earning a chuckle and a playful pat on the shoulder from my friend.

"This is the y/n you talk about? The mysterious beauty that has no taste in guys?" One of his friends, a buff, toned lad smirks. He scans me up and down, and Cameron kicks him lightly in the calf.

"Jokes, jokes! But seriously where have you been all this time?" I shake my head at his response, shrugging my shoulders. I don't speak much, much less to guys like him. But the human race always did intrigue me with their flirtatious ways and grand gestures. Much unlike the simple yet elegant city of Atlantis, where I live with my father and other mermaids. Cameron once showed me an artist impression of Atlantis, which made me laugh until I cried. Humans and their crazy ideas that mermaids all had shiny tails, blue skin and pink hair, floating around like some deranged fish. Really, mermaids looked exactly like humans, with different ethnicities and skin colours, just prettier, and could breathe both under and above water.

The thing is, we aren't allowed to go up to the surface much, unless absolutely necessary. My father forbade it, and scared the other merpeople into compliance with his drunken tales, his fiery passion as he gripped his trident until his knuckles turned white.

But you see, I have always loved the thrill of being under the boundless sky, interacting with people I never met before. The gift of being half-human is rare, and it can only be inherited. Many half-mermaids like me have been driven into hiding after the Tragedy.

The Tragedy, during the time merpeople went to the surface to find a life partner, to marry and to give their lives to humans. It was supposed to be a harmonious era between Earth and Atlantis, but as the story goes humans had turned on our race, forcing us under the sea.

They were scared the half-bloods had been born with the same evil that tore our haven apart, and swore to cleanse Atlantis of the human children. But I was lucky, I was safe, for my father hid my identity from every last sea creature, retreating to raise me as a pure-blood when I was just born. Because of this lie, he swore an oath to Atlantis, to never let a human back into our ocean city, like what he did.