Can't Believe it's a Human | HEEHOON

Boyfriend.

After helping Sunghoon out with his conflict, Heeseung did not have a great day. He’d long since accepted he liked the merman a little more than he should, and being reminded that he was essentially engaged didn’t mesh well with that. It made him feel incredibly jealous and he hated that; he hated that he couldn’t control it and that he couldn’t be all that happy for Sunghoon. Even if it was something arranged by Sunghoon’s parents, he hadn’t called it off, so he was implicitly accepting it. 

Or so he thought, until short of a month later when Sunghoon had told him that he’d actually called it off. 

“What? Why?” Internally, he was ecstatic, this was possibly the best news he could have heard. But at the same time, he was struggling to comprehend how that had come to be. “I thought it was like, tradition? I thought you liked tradition?”

“It is,” Sunghoon nodded. “And I do like tradition, it makes things easier, but… I like you more,” he said and had Heeseung’s brain short-circuiting. It took him a total of ten seconds to register the words and twenty more to pair them up with the way Sunghoon’s pale cheeks tinted red all the way to the tip of his ears. Sunghoon actually meant that how Heeseung wanted him to, and suddenly this was the best news he could have heard. 

“I like you too,” Heeseung spoke before he could finish wrapping his head around this new information. “Just to clarify, you mean this like… like in the mate sense?”

“In the boyfriend sense… I think,” Sunghoon clarified, which made nothing clearer. “I mean— I mean, I don’t know if… if mating with a human is possible, but I think I get what boyfriends are now and I want that… with you.”

“Oh… Okay, yes, I want that,” Heeseung agreed, unsure of what he should do next. He kind of really wanted to kiss Sunghoon, but he didn’t know if that was something merpeople even did. Jay and Jungwon limited themselves to holding hands and sitting within the space of one person, though Heeseung couldn’t be certain that was the only thing they did when alone. Either way, he may not want to know the answer to that.

“Heeseung,” Sunghoon called him, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Can I do something?” He asked and Heeseung didn’t have to think about his answer.

“Anything,” he should feel a little embarrassed of how willing he was, yet he couldn’t bring himself to regret his sincerity when he saw how happy Sunghoon got.

And then Sunghoon was kissing him, so he really was not about to regret his answer. The press of lips against his own was salty, and it stung a little because his lips were cracked, but the slight pain was worth it. Sunghoon’s lips felt so incredibly soft on top of his, that Heeseung bowed to apply lip balm more often, it’d be good for him anyway. The state of Heeseung’s lips didn’t seem to bother Sunghoon, so Heeseung took his chance and kissed him too. They shared a couple more kisses, Heeseung felt like he could drown against Sunghoon’s lips, before Sunghoon squirmed away.

“I don’t know if humans…” he had a hard time voicing his thoughts, as if thinking had suddenly become really difficult. “I don’t know if you kiss, but I just needed to—”

“Humans kiss, we definitely kiss,” Heeseung reassured him. “We can kiss as much as you want,” he added, because he honestly couldn’t see himself not kissing Sunghoon at any chance he got. 

“Okay,” Sunghoon blushed again, looking down at Heeseung’s lips. “Okay, maybe we could… just a little more?” Heeseung didn’t waste a second, leaning forward and capturing Sunghoon’s lips again.

Kiss after kiss, Heeseung felt like he couldn’t be happier. With each kiss, the feeling of despair that had slowly grown in him disappeared little by little. He couldn’t even fear or worry about the repercussions this could have, how much more he’d have to hide from everyone else. He was so damn happy, nothing else really mattered. Besides, if Jungwon could maintain a relationship with a merman, so could he. They’d just have to be more careful, and maybe Heeseung would have to have a serious conversation with Jungwon. One that he would rather avoid, but he doubted anyone else would know the answers to the questions he had.