The sunset had been beautiful that night, the vibrant oranges merging to pinks and purples before the sky lit up with the millions of stars that you watched, laying on your back on the surface of the sea.
It was your favourite time, the silence only broken by the occasional white tipped wave or obnoxious squawk of a seabird. You were breaking the rules but as long as you stayed away from any boats you knew you'd be fine, especially since you did this almost every night.
But tonight was different, the night lit up with colours like you had never seen with loud banging noises. Quickly you ducked your head into the water, watching as a huge boat appeared on the horizon and without thinking, you began to swim closer to it, just to see what they were up to.
The noise got louder as you sped towards the boat and upon reaching the hull, you quietly pulled yourself up to peak at the deck. A small gasp of disbelief left your mouth as you watched Jimin dance to the loud music; he was wearing tight trousers that served as a brutal reminder of just how different you were to him.
However, it wasn't with sadness that you watched him dance, feet moving with ease to the clapped out the rhythm of the song as everyone laughed and sang along. Instead, it was as if his happiness was contagious, his hips moving to the beat as if it were ingrained in his very being.
The surface truly was a magical place and you stayed a bit longer to watch all the fae dance and laugh together. It soon became clear it was a birthday party for Jimin due to their constant slapping him on the shoulder and impromptu singing of their traditional birthday song.
Jimin towards where you were peeking and you shrunk into the showers as he leant on the wooden sides laughing, "I'm not getting married to any girl!"
"You'd prefer one of the mer?" your eyes widened as you watched a boy point accusingly at Jimin with a huge grin, "or do you just read books about them for fun?" It was curious to see him so close, hear his voice as if he were speaking next to you and when Jimin stomped his foot and tackled his friend, rubbing his hand onto the smaller one's head, you grinned. Humans were weird.
"I don't care if she's fae, human or mer but I know when I see her the knowledge that she's the one will hit me like-" he paused as if trying to find the right word before throwing his hands in the air, "lightning!"
As the word left his mouth, there was a crack of thunder and within seconds the rain began to bounce off the wooden deck of the boat. With a gasp at the feeling of ice-cold water running down your back, you pushed yourself back into the water, head sticking out as you waited for the boat to turn and return to the bay, but it didn't. The men were all laughing, cheeks rosy as they tilted their heads back to feel the rain against their face.
You didn't understand, heart beginning to race as the boat rocked unsteadily in the water, waves growing larger as the rain turned to hail, colder and more painful as it bounced off the top of your head. None of them would survive if they didn't return to the safety of the bay quickly, you had seen many ships capsize and you couldn't bare for it to happen this time.
There was no way to help them though, the waves were getting bigger with every second and you dove deeper to avoid being swept up and thrown against the boat as you tried to think of a plan. But there was nothing and glancing up you noticed they had dropped their anchor, and it was true that they would be unable to steer that boat back in their current state.
You wondered if they were going to stay on the ship and wait the storm out, but a few seconds when half a dozen rowboats landed onto the waves, you realised they intended to row home. For a few seconds, you stayed still, watching the hulls of their boats head towards the shore, waiting for your racing heart to slow down so that you'd be able to swim back without revealing that you had watched the humans.
And it was just as you sent a final glance at the surface that you saw the body, sinking into the waves slowly and it was as if you'd been transported back to being that small fry who had broken all of the rules to save Jimin. Because there he was again, sinking into the waves, no attempt to swim up to the surface and he yet he looked so peaceful, even if he was going to die soon.
Your tail swished from side to side in hesitation before you darted down for Jimin, the water rushed past your figure, arms outstretched to grab him, just like you did as a young, determined fry. "You won't die," you whispered, an arm wrapping around his waist as you began to push up to the surface, his body so much heavier than it had been back then.
Although he hadn't been under the water for long, you knew one thing about humans and that was that they couldn't breathe underwater. And now, as your heads resurfaced, he still wasn't breathing or even coughing. A rush of panic ran down your body and you began to tug him through the storm that had already quietened to a soft drizzle back to the shore.
Up close, Jimin looked more handsome than you'd first thought, full plump lips that had a rosy colour to them and a warm glow to his cheeks that you assumed was the product of his previous festivities.
Gently, you pulled him up and onto the sandy beach noticing that he still wasn't breathing with a start. Slowly you placed your hand over his chest, feeling for his heartbeat that was slower than you had expected from a human. You wondered if his lungs had filled with water and you grabbed his arms using them to pull him into a sitting position.
With your tail laying flat behind you, the sand felt course against your stomach as you reached up and tapped Jimin's back as you waited for a cough or any sign of life from the boy. Without thinking you began to hum, erasing the feeling of anxiety of whether the boy would survive or not with the sound of music, it was your favourite song and you would always sing it when you weren't happy to soothe your fluttering heart. With a start, you realised it was the same song you had sung to him all those years ago when he had been a child and almost died then.
Soon enough Jimin rolled onto his side, coughing seawater onto the beach before heaving a huge breath of air. Then he fell onto his back, eyes cracking open and seemingly locked onto you before they rolled into the back of his head and as the feelings of interest
Someone coughed from behind you causing you to yelp in surprise.
"I told you not to break the rules," Yoongi sounded disappointed, but not surprised as he lay in the shallows shaking his head. It was hard to focus on him, when the boy you had been pining after for years was in front of you, his warm skin under your hands and you watched as he smiled before shifting in his sleep.
Finally, with one heavy sigh, you pushed yourself back into the water, turning to look at Jimin's face one last time before another voice stopped you, "Mer girl!" Yoongi's eyes widened as he shook his head, trying to get you not to turn around and talk with a human, but you couldn't help it, slowly turning to find Taehyung standing above Jimin, panting as he held out a finger signalling for you to wait.
"Did you save him?" Taehyung asked, and you nodded slowly, trying to keep it together because you were talking to Jimin's best friend. He nodded slowly before his face morphed into one of recognition, "you're the princess!" Taehyung bowed and then glanced up with a grin, "you swim around here a lot, dont'cha."
Yoongi groaned, grabbing a hold of your tail and yanking you away from the human, but not before you managed to reply to Taehyung's question, "This is the prettiest bay to swim in!"
With that you turned and swam away with a flick of your tail, not meeting Yoongi's eyes as he began to rant about how you had risked everything for the same boy, again. "You're just this constant thorn in my mind Y/N, I worry one day I'll leave you alone for long enough and come back to find you've grown legs."
"I wish," you grumbled, continuing to swim back to the castle, watching the sandy beach transition to colourful corals and fish as you waited for Yoongi to reply. But he didn't for a while, forcing you to begin regretting your love of the surface.
When you finally reached the outskirts of the castle Yoongi stopped and grabbed your wrist, using it so he could grasp both of your hands in his own, "don't get any ideas. This crush will pass and you'll marry a handsome mer, not a silly fae boy that would be dead if you hadn't saved him, twice!"
"So you acknowledge that he needs me!" You suppressed a laugh as Yoongi dropped your hands to smooth the crease of his forehead because you were only teasing, well partly. And with Yoongi's idea to find yourself some legs, you couldn't hide the excitement that bubbled up in your chest.
