Sea Me - BTS mermaid

Chapter 2

Taehyung was later than usual that day, arriving barely minutes before the distressed human. He had gotten side tracked that morning thinking about the best way to approach the boy without being noticed.

Tae had decided to gradually swim nearer to the young man over a long stretch of hours, hopefully keeping his scales underwater and out of sight. However, Taehyung noticed something different about the boy today: he wasn't crying. He was just depressedly staring off into the water, something obviously gnawing at his attention.

Seeing no hands covering tears on the human's face, Taehyung excitedly advanced faster than he should have. The mystery and newness of the occurrence drew his head above water to see the boy in closer detail.

The mer practically fainted when he saw the angelic face of a boy not much younger than himself. Handsome dark eyes reflected innocence and melancholy. A smooth, rounded jawline (it must have been crafted by Poseidon himself) was held in stone cold stillness. Plush, pouty pink lips quivered like a heart experiencing its first crush.

Taehyung loudly gasped, taken aback by the beauty of his mystery boy. His cheeks burned with embarrassment and fear as the young man became aware of his presence.

The human's spine shot straight up, and his eyes widened but did not look to Taehyung. The boy's hands were pressing into the ground at his sides, preparing him to jump onto his legs and run if need be.

"Who's there?" The question was demanding and defensive. Taehyung shied away a bit. "I can hear you in the water. Explain yourself!"

The boy's hands began searching around him as he moved to reach Taehyung. It reminded Taehyung of the way an old man had searched for his glasses one day after meditating  on Taehyung's beach.

His mind stopped wandering as Tae felt hands find and latch onto his wrists. In the open ocean, Taehyung would've simply jerked his hands free and swam away at this point, but the shallow waters (and mesmerizing boy) held him captive.

The boy pulled, practically dragging the merman onto the sand. Escape was no use now; the water was so shallow he'd have to scoot backward with his hands just to find enough room to slowly wriggle away.

"How long have you been watching me," demanded the human, still looking blankly at the water. It was a hard question to answer, as the truth was not something Taehyung wanted to admit. The boy squeezed his pinned down wrists harder when the merman didn't answer, making him mumble, "awhile."

Taehyung's captor glared at the water. "Why?" Taehyung faltered again. He didn't have an answer for that question.

"I-I don't know," he stammered. His human's expression seemed to grow confused once he heard Taehyung's deep, silky, intimidating voice quiver in fear. His gripped slightly loosened on Taehyung's wrists.

"You thought you could just watch me cause I can't see you? I can still hear, dumbass!"

"I do-don't understand," Taehyung uttered. Why could the boy not see? His eyes were open. "Is it bec-cause you're hurt? D-do you need help?" Taehyung's wrists felt tightened again.

"No, I don't need help. I'm fine on my own." Although his words were harsh, the boy's eyes began to well up with tears. Taehyung felt sorry for the hurting boy, even as the pain in his wrists increased.

Eventually, the boy's hands left the merman's to cover his face, crying once again. With much difficulty, Taehyung dragged his tail up to a sitting position next to the boy, careful to leave enough space between them so that the landboy wouldn't feel scales pressing against his legs. If there was any hope of Taehyung protecting his identity from the blind, clueless boy, he would make sure to secure it.

The merman wrapped his arms around this new acquaintance, caressing his back the way Jimin did whenever Taehyung was sad. The two boys stayed like that for a solid half hour before the land boy started to calm down.

"So, what's your name?" the human mumbled, sniffling. His red, puffy eyes were still distant and unfocused. It confuddled the merman, as impairments were not something merpeople ever faced.

"Taehyung," he replied. The boy smiled, shifting his face toward Taehyung. "Tae for short."

"I'm Jungkook. I'm sorry we had to meet this way. I just panicked, thinking you had been spying on me or something creepy. I can see that's not true." But it was, and the truth showed on Tae's face as he blushed. He had been watching him, for 3 weeks, even.

Tae giggled slightly, hoping Jungkook wouldn't catch the guilt hidden in his voice. The boy joined in, and Taehyung noticed how much more beauty graced Jungkook's face when he was smiling. Something made the tips of his tail tingle, and it wasn't just the brush of the waves.

The two started to converse about small things: why they both loved the feeling of the beach, how they both had coincidentally been coming here but hadn't noticed each other, if it was okay to call Jungkook "Kookie" (it was), where they were from (Tae struggled with this one), their interests, etc.

The day quickly drew to nightfall around Tae and Kookie, but neither of them seemed to notice. Taehyung couldn't help but stare at the human's perfection. He noted the teardrop shape of his nose, the slight tan of his smooth, glowing skin, the emotions that shone brightly in charcoal black eyes which could not see. Jungkook spoke with a songlike tone as he chatted about everything under the sun.

Out of nowhere, a loud beeping sound started to fill the air, its pitch similar to that of a tiny forest bird. It made Tae jump, but Jungkook simply raised his wrist and tapped a piece of shiny black glass, magically stopping the sound.

Taehyung's eyes grew large as he stared at the glass tied to Kookie's wrist. "How did you do that?" Awe was clear in his voice.

Kookie furrowed his brows in confusion and laughed. "Do what?" His smile was bright, amused by the dumbfounded Taehyung.

"You stopped the sound." Jungkook laughed even harder.

"It's called a smart watch. Have you really never seen one of these before?"

"Nope," the mer replied. "What does it do?"

"It tells me when I need to start heading back home," the boy said, standing up. He held a hand out to Taehyung. "Walk with me?"

Taehyung shook his head. "I'm gonna go swimming. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Isn't it a little dark for swimming right now?" Kookie chuckled as he spoke. "And yes, I hope to find you again tomorrow." The human's choice of words caught Tae's attention.

"How can you tell that the sky is dark if you can't see it?"

Jungkook looked confused. "I have a watch? It tells me the time of day?" This didn't make sense to Tae either, "But I didn't hear it speak to you." Jungkookie paused for a few moments, his smile expanding to show a beautiful, bunny rabbit grin.

"You're quite an interesting friend, hyung... I'll explain tomorrow, but for now we should probably both head home. Bye." The boy held up two fingers to form a little V.

Tae took it to be some sort of hand signal, so he did it back as the boy started excitedly heading up the beach in the opposite direction of the path's beginning. He realized his mistake a few seconds later and turned around, Taehyung watching as the golden-brown haired angel practically skipped back to his home.

Taehyung sighed, still a bit dazed from the day's turn of events. His gaze met the horizon, inspiring thoughts of Jimin and how he must be worriedly awaiting his friend's return at the moment. He thought of how far away the open water seemed and how tired he was. Then, he thought of Jungkook: the angelic young boy who had promised him the most important thing in his world right now. Jungkook had promised him tomorrow.

Taehyung giggled and threw himself onto the sand. He gazed at the stars and fell asleep full of questions about the mystifying Jungkookie.

As Taehyung slept, baby blue started to creep more up the tip of his tail. It wagged up and down in the shallow water like the tail of an excited puppy would do. His smile was greater and brighter than the crescent moon that night.

Hey y'all! Sorry this chapter is kinda short. I plan on having them be about 1600-1700 words each, but this one is like 1400 I think :P