Thalassophile ✔️

chapter two: forgotten encounter

the truth of seungmin and hyunjin's meeting wasn't passing each other on the beach. in reality, hyunjin pulled a prince eric (as felix would put it) in practically every aspect.

———about a year ago———

it had been a week since hyunjin had moved into his dream home. living by the coast had always been one of those things that he'd wanted to do. though, he couldn't really swim. hyunjin had been telling himself he would learn for years, but could never find the time to do so because of all of his modelling jobs, plus school work. so, that was the first priority, after unpacking everything. as he sat on his balcony, which was also a porch over the sea, the boy thought about the possibilities for the future and smiled, knowing there were many.

unfortunately this train of thought was rudely interrupted by the sound of a plank snapping beneath him. the blissful expression was wiped off of the teen's face as he plummeted into the turquoise depth below him, droplets flying from the impact. the sound of the impact attracted the attention of a merman calmly having a swim. curious about the sound, seungmin swam to the source, only to find an extremely distressed human boy trying to get back to the surface.

knowing that his identity could be compromised, seungmin hesitated for a second. his morals overcame that fear and he launched into action, swiftly moving towards the drowning individual. hyunjin at this point couldn't hold his breath any longer and swallowed water, his eyes stung, and his vision was blurred. however, he could see someone swimming towards him, and with a final effort, he attempted to swim towards them. he felt a firm grip latch around his waist, and pull him towards the light, which seemed so far away now. somehow, his ears managed to make out a soft voice begging him to just hold on a little longer. as his head pierced the water, hyunjin coughed out the remaining water in his lungs, and as he realised they were approaching the shore, he looked behind him to try and catch a glimpse of his saviour's face.

only then did he realise that the person had a tail instead of legs. so, an internal freak out begun. after another minute of swimming, they reached the shore, and hyunjin had a chance to admire the merman. felix had always said that merfolk were gorgeous, but he was still awestruck. this guy was the definition of adorable, with his dark eyes and silver hair. trying to get him to stay a little longer, he initiated a coughing fit, trying to get the mysterious boy to stay longer, so he could admire him in more detail. seungmin, concerned that he might still have water in his lungs, dragged himself back over to the other, helping him sit up and patting his back to prevent him from choking. the teen took this opportunity to look at his tail- a pastel blue, with koi-like markings running through it, the patches ranging from an even lighter blue, to bright electric blue, and the fin was slightly sheer, and a light silver, shimmering in the sun, and as hyunjin's eyes moved back to the stranger's face, he noticed a shimmering golden locket, in the shape of a shell.

"thanks for savi-" was all the boy got out before collapsing. "you're welcome?" the other replied, before giggling a little and transforming back into his human form. picking the other up (and realising he was not light in the slightest), seungmin managed to carry the unconscious model to his house. after a few minutes of struggling, he brought hyunjin in and laid him on his bed. knowing the knockout powder he used lasted an hour, the merman dove into the sea, grabbed a few shells, plucked out a scale and found paper on the side.

using this, he left a note for the unconscious boy. with that, he dove back into the sea, and returned home.

hyunjin woke up ten minutes later. he remembered what happened, fairly vividly too, and smiled to himself knowing that it couldn't of been a dream. as he sat up, the teen noticed a note on the table, the handwriting swirling like ink across the page. it read: