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mikaelaa4 · 2 months ago

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Losing My Breath For You.

Part 1 | Part 2 | total parts TBD

pairing: mermen!hyunlix x fem!reader

chapter content: it’s time to get some more questions answered by the beautiful mermen living on your property, and what’s revealed leaves you floundering—mentally, emotionally, and physically, in your bed.

series quote inspiration: “the moment I gave my breath away, just to gain a new life—perhaps, there may be no going back.” - felix in the lose my breath m/v teaser 1

word count: 15.5k (LOOK, okay, in my defense, there was a lot of lore that needed explaining, and, well, i’m a whore for hyunlix🤷‍♀️)

chapter warnings: lore!, fantasy (merman!au), elements of mystery, cursing, angst, mentions of familial death/loss/grieving, crying, fucked up mer-family dynamics/abandonment/kidnapping if you squint, nicknames (probable overuse of angel and sweetheart, but IDGAF IT’S HOT), fluff, mention of merman!Seonghwa, run in with a shark at one point…anddd SMUT. gosh, just absolutely filthy, messy smut, so MDNI 18+!!!, smut warnings include: mxm w/ fem!reader, marking/hickies, fingering (f. & m. receiving), dirty talk, messy kissing (so much spit, y’all), p in v, unprotected sex (as always, only sexy in stories with no consequences, DON’T DO IT), brief mention of birth control, cunnilingus (f. receiving), cum eating, lil bit of nipple play (f. receiving) cream pie, ass eating (m. receiving), anal (m. receiving), light spanking (m. receiving), slight overstim, and maybe a teeny tiny hyung kink🙂

author’s note: WOW. okay. i’m still such a baby to writing, so this was a challenge. but it’s here, chapter 2 is here!! i know it’s long, but i hope you give it a chance and read it anyway. if you have been craving some merman!au like i have, and enjoy a filthy hyunlix moment, i think you’ll like it💕 and as always, please leave me comments and messages with feedback! they encourage me greatly and help me improve my writing🫶🤍 also, side-note, shoutout to @jehhskz for the inspo behind the ~rain~ scene at the end! thank you for suggesting i include that moment from the m/v, it really was the perfect touch😘

enjoy!

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When you wake up the next morning, you stare at the ceiling for an undisclosed amount of time, motionless. Your body was as still as a plank of wood, but your mind was running through everything that occurred last night so fast that you wouldn’t have been surprised if smoke was escaping through your ears.

Mermen. Felix. Hyunjin. Secrets. Safety. Auntie’s pearl necklace. Seonghwa? Mermen.

So many things were revealed to you last night, yet they only caused more questions. More curiosity. Curiosity that could only be satiated through asking said questions. Questions that could only be answered by…the mermen living on your property.

You let out a giggle, that then turns into insane cackling. You can’t believe this is your life. Yet, even with the ridiculous amount of arm pinching you’ve put yourself through, it’s still holding true this is, in fact, your life. What have you gotten me into Auntie…

You catch your breath, sigh, and throw your legs over the side of the bed. Time to get some more answers.

You find yourself feeling uncharacteristically self-conscious as you get ready to go out back to find Felix and Hyunjin. They’re just so damn pretty. And you are not. At least, not in comparison to their otherworldly beauty.

After taking way too long figuring out what to wear and fussing over your hair, you finally head downstairs. You stop yourself at the back doors, taking a minute to look through the windows. It’s bright yet cloudy outside, the harshest of the sun’s rays being hidden away. The water looks choppier than usual, higher winds pushing around the waves. Your eyes keep searching, but no mythical creatures can be seen from here. Sigh.

You open the door and step out, not bothering to put on shoes. You slowly trail down the beach, all the way until the waves just barely reach your toes. You take a deep breath, closing your eyes, relishing in the ocean breeze like always.

“Good morning, angel.”

Startled doesn’t quite accurately describe the way you react to Hyunjin’s sudden appearance. Embarrassingly caught off guard feels like a better way to put it. You let out a yelp as your eyes shoot open, stumbling back and losing your balance, ultimately falling on your ass in the sand.

Hyunjin giggles as he teases, “You really have a habit of falling, don’t you?”

”You really have a habit of scaring people, don’t you?” you scoff back. You were not expecting one of them to just pop up out of nowhere like this, especially being out in the open, rather than being shielded by the cove. Though, now that you’ve promised to keep their secret, you suppose there’s no reason for them to hide any more.

Felix then pops his head up from the water next to Hyunjin, rolling his eyes at his companion. “I told you to wait a few minutes, pabo. Are you trying to give her a heart attack?”

Hyunjin pouts at Felix, his plump lips turning into a small frown. “I was just excited to see her,” he mumbles, then turns back to you, “Sorry, Y/N, I didn’t mean to make you feel scared.”

His regretful expression reminded you of a puppy, or some other cute little creature with big eyes, and your heart felt like it could burst. This man would have you wrapped around his finger in no time.

“It’s okay, Hyunjin. I did come out here looking for you,” you breathily laugh, and with a shy smile, you continue, “I have…questions I’d like to ask you both. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around all of this.” You gesture your hands in their direction to explain the “this” you were referring to.

“We knew you would. Actually, I think it’d be concerning if you didn’t,” Felix responds, smiling his stupidly perfect smile at you. “What do you want to know?”

As soon as the question left his lips, it was like everything that had been swirling around in your mind disappeared. You couldn’t think of anything. Why couldn’t you think of anything? It was like being under their mesmerizing gaze made you truly go dumb.

“Uhh,” you mumbled, trying to will something, anything to come back to your brain. You nervously reach for your necklace, playing with the pearl cage between your fingertips without thinking. You realized what you were doing then, and it felt like a light bulb went off in your head.

You stumble through your sudden question, “Um, so like, what’s so special about this necklace? I mean, how does this have anything to do with, uh, mer…people?”

They look at each other, with Hyunjin expectantly raising his eyebrows at Felix, a light grin resting on his face. Felix responds with a single nod and a mirroring grin, and looks back at you. “Y/N, what do you know about mer?”

“Um…you have…tails?” you reply, with a deep crinkle between your brows. You really had no other understanding of what they were, other than maybe some varying myths from movies and storybooks.

“Well, yes, you’d be right about that,” Felix laughs, with Hyunjin lightly giggling as well. “But there’s a bit more. You see, pearls are very significant to us. They are…a part of us.”

You blink, patiently waiting for him to go on, because what the hell does that mean?

Taking in your lost expression, Felix swims up to you, ultimately swimming onto the shore. He supports his torso on his forearms, with his large tail laid out behind him. The waves still cover a majority of it, but you could see it all, especially with the bright of the day causing the scales to cast iridescent sparkles all over the colorful appendage. Felix shifts his weight onto one forearm and lifts the other, motioning his fingers in a ”come here” gesture, the fin on the same forearm fanning open along with the movements.

You gulp, and scoot yourself down the sand to get closer to him, stopping a couple feet away. Apparently, that wasn’t close enough, because he then reaches out and grabs your upper calf, right underneath your knee, and you let out a small squeak as he swiftly pulls you in front of him, your legs now framing his upper body. You can feel your face start to burn from the sudden proximity, not to mention the compromising position.

“This pearl,” he begins, reaching up and holding the pearl cage between his fingers, “is not just any pearl. This is a mer-pearl. Normal pearls come from clams; these pearls come from us. Without them, we can’t breathe out of water.”

The crease between your brows might end up becoming permanent at this point. Amused by your expression, Felix lets go of the necklace to slowly bring his hand to your face. Using his thumb to gently smooth out said crease, he then trails it along one eyebrow, caressing it down the side of your face, and stopping at your chin, lightly holding it between his thumb and pointer finger.

“Gwiyeopda,” he breathes out, eyes scanning your face. Your lips part slightly in surprise, and your heart starts pounding, threatening to break through your chest.

”Lix-yah, can we show her already?” Hyunjin interrupts, a whiny lilt in his voice.

Felix chuckles as he withdraws his hand from your face, with a slight roll of his eyes, “You have no patience, seriously. But sure, Hyune. I have a feeling she’s going to need to see to believe it.”

Hyunjin lets out an excited laugh, and then dives below the water. The fin of his tail breaches the surface, so large and elegant, and slaps against the surface once before continuing his descent. Water droplets land all over, causing you to flinch, while Felix giggles at his companion’s flair for dramatics.

“I…am so confused,” you reply with an exasperated sigh, dropping your face into your hands.

You feel Felix’s hand run up the side of your leg in a comforting motion, causing goosebumps to appear on your skin. If Felix notices, he doesn’t comment.

“It’s okay sweetheart, it’ll all make sense. I promise. You’re not expected to have an immediate understanding of these things,” he coos, continuing to run his hand along your leg, giving your thigh a light squeeze.

You feel flustered. Not just from what he’s explaining to you, because you’ll come to grips with that at some point. But from him touching you, so effortlessly confident and gentle—that is what your mind would be keeping you up at night with.

With your head still in your hands, you suddenly hear footsteps approaching from your right. You lift your head out of fear, wondering who was trespassing on your property now.

“Don’t be scared angel, it’s just me.”

Your eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets. Indeed, it was Hyunjin standing above you. Standing. On two legs. Two beautiful, lean, muscular legs.

You can’t help but gawk at the gorgeous man, no longer a merman, but a man. For the most part, he appeared the same, except his eyes no longer shimmered that odd glow like they normally do, the iridescent floral marks that decorated his pale skin now appeared more like faint, silvery scars, and obviously, no more arm fins or large tail. Your eyes dragged over his body, taking in the musculature of his shoulders, arms, and torso. Your eyes linger a bit longer over his lower abdomen, where a faint “happy trail” led down into the waistband of the black pair of swim trunks he was wearing, which clung to every line and curve. Clung to the other appendage he now prominently seemed to have. Fuck.

You realize you’re staring, and avert your eyes quickly. You look over to Felix, who is also staring at Hyunjin with an adoring gaze, a kind of twinkle in his eyes that was not caused by his normal shimmer.

“So…I’m assuming this is what you meant by ‘breathing out of water’?” you question, a miracle you were even able to find the words to do so. You couldn’t help your eyes flicking back and forth between them.

“Yes,” Hyunjin answers, walking a few more steps forward and taking a seat next to you. “Without a mer-pearl within us, we cannot breathe in this form. It’s a curse in a way. If something happened where we’re without it, and can’t get back into the water quickly enough, we’ll suffocate. It’s…not a nice way to go, to say the least.” Hyunjin cringes, shaking his shoulders slightly as if to rid himself of the thought.

“What do you mean by ‘within you’? I mean…if you don’t mind answering that,” you ask, feeling a little embarrassed by the possible answers. You feel your cheeks start to warm again.

Hyunjin snickers, eyes forming crescents along with his smile. “It’s nothing bad. Maybe a little freaky,” Hyunjin turns to Felix, “Show her, Lixie.”

Felix nods, and tilts his head back towards the sky. He opens his mouth, and you see him press his tongue to the roof of his mouth, and curl it as he closes his mouth again. He looks you in the eye as he raises his hand to his mouth, and pushes a golden, iridescent pearl between his lips. He takes the pearl into his fingers, and holds it out to you.

You hesitantly hold your hand out, and he places the pearl onto your palm. Bringing the pearl closer to your face, you inspect it. It looks just like the pearl in your necklace, except the iridescent colors were slightly different, more teal and green than silver and blue, just like Felix’s tail.

You carefully hold the pearl back out to him, not wanting to drop it. He takes it from you, and places it back between his lips and into his mouth. Then he opens his mouth and sticks his tongue out, showing you the inside of his mouth and that there was no pearl. As he closes his mouth, he sends you a wink and a cheeky smile.

It takes you a second for your brain to function again. “So, uh, okay. Do you, like, produce them? Or…?” You’re not even sure what you’re trying to ask at this point.

Hyunjin answers again, “Yes. On average, once we fully develop around 13, we’ll produce a pearl about once a year. The old one will be pushed out by the new one in this cavity,” Hyunjin opens his mouth and taps the roof of his mouth with his tongue, “and then we add the old one to something like this.” He points to his left ankle, where a silver chain is wrapped a few times around it, with about 30 or so pearls either threaded or dangling from it. “We keep them on us, not only as part of our culture, but for emergency purposes. If we ever lose the pearl in our mouth, we just take one from something like this to replace it with. Though, it’s kind of cruel too if you ask me. If the pearls are kept submerged for too long of a period, they’ll wear away and dissolve; when they are out of water, they’ll last for centuries, probably longer. Their existence forces us to leave the water, while their absence forces us to stay in the water, keeping us at their mercy one way or another.” Hyunjin’s face falls ever so slightly as he finishes his thought.

This was definitely nothing you’ve ever heard of in mermaid stories. Weird. But interesting.

You look down at his anklet again, observing the pearls. They’re beautiful. His held a dark blue and purple iridescence against the gold, just like his tail. A mer’s pearl must reflect the colors of their tails. You then think of the pearl inside your necklace, which did not reflect those colors. This mer-pearl was neither Felix or Hyunjin’s. Whose is it?

“Whose pearl is in this necklace? I have a working theory it’s neither of yours,” you ask, looking between the two of them. They share a look, once again speaking without words.

Felix decides to answer, “It’s Seonghwa’s.”

Seonghwa. Your aunt’s “partner”, apparently. Your aunt’s partner who is…a merman. Hm. That maybe explains the interior design choices…

”Seonghwa is a merman?” you blurt out. They both nod.

“Why would he give my aunt one of his pearls if these are so important to you? Or, many pearls I should say. I found this in a box with about 30 others.”

“Allowing us to breathe outside of water is not all they can do,” Felix says, a hint of mischief in his deep voice. “Do you want to see?”

The crinkle in your brows is back, but you can’t help but nod. Curiosity would always get the best of you.

Hyunjin gently places his fingers on your chin, and turns your head until you’re facing him, so close his breath ghosts across your face.

“Do you trust us?” He asks, eyes searching your face for any sign of a “no.” You were confused, sure, but you probably trust them more than most people you’ve encountered in your life. They just shared the details of what could be considered their biggest weakness, and chose to entrust that information with you. The least you could do would be to trust them with whatever this is.

“Yes, I trust you both,” you answer, with an unexpected air of confidence in your voice.

Hyunjin pulls half of his lips up into a smile as he says, “Then open.” He takes the thumb resting on your chin and pulls down your bottom lip, wanting you to open your mouth. Well, what the hell, why not?

You do as he wants, and open up your mouth slightly. He uses his other hand to bring the pearl cage of your necklace up to your lips, and places it inside your mouth. He closes your mouth by pushing up your chin, and then places the same hand over your mouth.

“Keep your mouth closed. And angel?” he pauses, a question for you. All you can do is nod with his hand covering your mouth.

A smirk creeps up onto his face when he continues, “Don’t be scared.”

He looks over to Felix, and before you can do the same, you feel strong hands wrap around your ankles, and suddenly drag you into the water. It all happens so fast your brain can barely keep up with what’s happening. You’re being rapidly pulled out to sea, descending further and further as you go, Felix’s hand still wrapped around one of your ankles with his tail fin fluttering near your head.

“Don’t be scared?” Haha. HAHAHA. Nice one, Hyunjin. BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK?!

Before you can officially begin your panic attack as you fucking drown, you come to a stop. There is nothing to see other than blue everywhere, and a giddy Felix in front of you, now holding both of your hands in his.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t panic. Look, you’re breathing,” Felix says, voice being distorted due to the water, bubbles escaping from the corners of his lips. You could feel the vibrations of his deep timbre traveling through the current.

Before you can tell him to shut the fuck up, you realize he’s right. You’re breathing. Under water.

“Look at our angel! So pretty under the water with us like this,” Hyunjin praises, appearing from behind, his colorful tail now a part of him again.

You just stare at them. This isn’t physically possible! How??

With your face being as readable as a book, just like always, Felix speaks up, “Mer-pearls give humans the ability to breathe underwater when kept in their mouth. That’s why the necklace is designed like this,” he reaches up to your face, lightly tugging at the chain hanging from your mouth, still attached to the base of the necklace around your neck, “It keeps the pearl from getting lost, and prevents one from, ya know, choking.”

Hyunjin continues, “You can talk too, as long as you keep the pearl tucked in your lips.”

Willing to test that, you use your tongue to push the pearl cage between your gums and your lower lip. Carefully, you try to speak.

“This is…so weird,” you attempt to say, bubbles escaping your mouth, not as graceful as Felix and Hyunjin make it look.

“I know! Isn’t it great?” Hyunjin giggles, noiselessly bringing his hands together in an underwater clap.

You can’t help but giggle back. He’s so cute.

“I suppose it’s pretty cool. I’ve never been in deeper water than the deep end of a swimming pool,” you admit.

“C’mon, let us show you around,” Felix says, letting go of one hand as he interlocks his fingers with your left. Hyunjin swims up to your right side, interlocking fingers with your right hand. You sheepishly smile at them, and nod twice. They share a quick smile between each other, excited you’re letting them do this. Then, they pull you forward, and all three of you swim together, exploring the depths of the ocean like you’ve never dreamed of seeing.

After a couple hours, you eventually surface inside the cove where this all began, laughing from pure joy of the time spent together. What a stark difference this was from less than 24 hours ago, where you were screaming in their faces, to now laughing as they help you up onto the rock ledge.

“I’ll admit, that was amazing you guys. It’s a beautiful world down there. I don’t know why you’d ever want to leave it,” you gush, recalling all of the gorgeously vibrant reefs and ocean life you just witnessed.

“The human world has many beautiful things too, things that can’t be found in the ocean,” Hyunjin responds, pulling himself up to sit next to you, just like last night. Felix follows suit and does the same.

You let out a puff of air, certain that can’t be true in comparison to all you just saw.

“Like what?” you ask, genuinely curious as to what he means. Though it’s Felix who pipes up instead.

“Aside from the obvious plant and animal life you have that we don’t, you guys have…life. Like, hobbies and jobs, things to do. Homes, and families, and…and…,” Felix struggles to find the word he’s looking for.

“Love,” Hyunjin is the one who finds the word, staring into the water, but not really looking at anything.

Felix sighs. “Yes, love. Probably the most beautiful thing you humans have.”

“You don’t have families, or…love?” you question, not at all expecting this kind of answer.

“No,” Hyunjin says, a cold tone in his voice, a jarring difference from his usual sweet and giggly disposition, “Mer are quite heartless creatures. Love is not something our kind believes in.”

That can’t be right. “But, you’re not heartless. You can’t tell me you guys don’t have love,” you argue.

Hyunjin lets out a breathy laugh, ”Love is something our generation wants, something we want to find. That alone changes the way we view things, and the way we treat each other. And we find pieces of it, in the rare moments when we find another with a similar mindset,” Hyunjin pauses to look at Felix. Another glance shared, this time with a palpable energy of intimacy. An unspoken kind of devotion. You suddenly feel like you’re intruding, but he continues, “But the problem lies within a belief passed down from our ancestors. We don’t believe that we have souls. Once we die, we just deteriorate into sea foam, while humans will live on in one form or another, because they have love. We do not. Humans are the only ones who really know how.”

You feel your heart breaking, their sorrow-filled expressions overtaking their pretty faces. You feel a rush of anger run through your veins. How could anyone say this about beings as lovely as them?

“Hyunjin,” you speak, but he is still staring off into the water, mind somewhere else. You gently grab his arm, and firmly squeeze, “Hyunjin, look at me.”

He looks up at you, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Listen to me when I say this little piece of human wisdom: Fuck that. Seriously. I would say no offense to your ancestors, but no, fuck that and fuck them for making you ever believe that about yourselves. I’ve encountered humans who are disgusting, heartless people, and you want me to believe they have souls, and beings as kind as you do not? No way. I may not know you well yet, but I know you both well enough. You have souls, and you are capable and deserving of love. Your ancestors antiquated belief system is not an excuse to believe anything less. Your decision to love is yours, and yours alone. I know I may not appear super intimidating, but believe me when I say, I will slap you both silly if you try arguing this. As your mer-guardian, or whatever the hell I am to you now, I won’t have it. Got it?” You sternly point your finger at him, and turn and do the same to Felix, whose own tears have overflowed onto his freckled cheeks.

The sudden emotion in the enclosed space has you feeling tears of your own start to form. If you drop your stern persona now, you will break down worse than them.

“I said, got it?” you repeat, trying to keep your voice firm and steady.

“Yes,” they say in unison, and can’t help but quietly laugh as they sniffle and wipe at the tears that had fallen onto their faces.

“Great, glad we got that cleared up,” you chirp, and lightly slap their tails as if they were their thighs.

Your eyes absentmindedly trail down their tails as they take a moment to collect themselves, and you stop at the juncture of where their tails meet their fins. You notice the pearl chain wrapped around Hyunjin’s, and remember the anklet he had on earlier. This was the same one. You look at Felix’s, and he has one in the same spot, except his was a gold chain instead of silver. The number of pearls appeared to be the same—around 30 or so. But, something was off about it. You recall Hyunjin saying that once they reach the age of 13, they’ll produce a pearl about once a year. So, why did they have so many? If that’s all true, then that would mean 30 years has passed since they were 13. You were no math genius, but something wasn’t adding up here.

“What’re you thinking about, sweetheart?” Felix asks, noticing your state of confusion.

“How’d you get so many pearls?” you reply, pointing at his anklet, or fin-let in this case, “I mean, Hyunjin said you guys produce one every year once you reach 13, and there’s like 30 threaded onto that, so that’d make you guys like, 40 years old.”

You snicker at the ridiculous thought, but your laugh fades away once you look over to Hyunjin and see his lips pulled back from his teeth in a “yikes” expression.

“Uh,” Felix starts, and you whip your head back to him, “Technically, that’s correct. But, physically we stop aging in our mid-twenties, if that makes you feel better.”

Once again, you’re rendered speechless, dumbly blinking at him.

“We also live a lot longer than humans. Our lifespan is about 300 years,” Hyunjin adds, nonchalant.

“So you’re telling me you not only get to live hundreds of years, but you get to do so looking this gorgeous?!” you exclaim, utterly astounded.

“Technically,” Hyunjin responds, a teasing grin on his infuriatingly beautiful and forever young face. The audacity.

Before you’re able to think of another thing to say, your stomach growls. Embarrassingly loud too, to the point both Hyunjin and Felix look at your abdomen with wide eyes.

“Um, I guess I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast this morning,” you shyly mumble. Your stomach growls again, and you clutch your stomach, begging it to shut up, not in front of the beautifully hot mermen, for crying out loud!

“You definitely need to eat after all that swimming, don’t let us keep you from doing that,” Felix says, genuinely concerned about your well-being.

You didn’t want to leave them, but your stomach was going to keep throwing a tantrum if you didn’t eat something soon. Then, a compromise comes to mind.

“Are you guys hungry? I can make food for all of us. Unless of course, you also have the magical ability of not needing to eat,” you dramatically sigh, half-joking, half-trying to brace yourself for that to be true. You wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

They laugh, and Felix smiles, “We’d like that a lot, actually. We haven’t eaten yet either.”

You smile, and continue on with some dramatics. “Great! Can you both handle eating some eggs and toast, or do I need to blend it up for you, since you can basically be classified as elderly at this point, with you and your 30-some pearls?”

Hyunjin throws his head back in laughter, while Felix narrows his eyes at you, tongue poking at his cheek.

“Elderly, huh?” Felix challenges, and you think you might’ve gone a step too far.

You’d be right. Because the next thing you know, Felix shoves you off the ledge and into the water, then drops into the water himself. You squeal when he grabs your waist, and begins tickling you. You haven’t been tickled since you were a child, but the feeling is just as you remember: pure torture. Even while begging for mercy, you couldn’t resist choking out a few “Forgive me, Harabeoji! I didn’t mean it!”s , causing Hyunjin to almost double over in laughter.

You eventually concede, gasping for breath as you promise to never call him that again.

“Good girl. Now, instead of toast, how about pancakes?”

•••

From then on, not a day went by without spending time with your two mermen. And how couldn’t you, as their chosen “mer-guardian”, as you liked to call yourself (though every time you referred to yourself that way, Felix would correct you, a little smile unable to be erased from his stern face, saying “No, you’re just our Y/N”, or Hyunjin would whine with his lower lip puffed out in a pout, “Aniyaaa, you’re our angel!”).

A lot of that time was spent exercising your freaky pearl-underwater breathing ability, with them taking you hand in hand around the ocean depths, teaching you about the all the bustling ocean life. One unforgettable moment being a little too-close-for-your-comfort run in with a bull shark. You had been leisurely making your way back to shore, hand in hand between Felix and Hyunjin, when a large shape caught your peripheral vision. You turned your head, peering over Felix’s shoulder, seeing the blurry shape get closer. You then metaphorically shit your pants when you finally made out what it was—a shark, heading right for you three. Your fingernails dug into the backs of their hands, gripping them in fear as you froze, helplessly staring at the approaching danger. They both look at you, confused. Then their eyes followed where yours were glued, and instead of fear taking hold of them as well, they calmly moved into action. They swiftly started pulling you downwards, swimming deeper to avoid the path the shark was taking. At a certain point, they stop, turn, and look up. You do the same, and you all watch as an approximately 8-foot-long bull shark swims overhead, paying no mind to the strange human-like beings lingering beneath it. After what felt like hours, even though it was only a few minutes, the shark disappeared from sight. While Felix and Hyunjin wore expressions that reflected a sort of awe, yours was stuck in a state of pale, trembling horror. Realizing the extent of the fear still affecting you, Felix let go of your hand to swim in front of you and take your face into his hands, forcing you to look at him instead of the direction where the shark had disappeared.

”Darling, you have nothing to be afraid of. Sharks tend to avoid messing with us. They view us as fellow predators, even more so than other species of sharks. And we would never let anything harm you. Okay? C’mere,” Felix pulls you to his chest, wrapping his arms around your shoulders, holding you tightly. You hold him back, fingers clinging to his shoulders, trying to allow his words of comfort to sink in. You bury your face in his neck in an attempt to stave off the sobs threatening to escape your chest. You feel Hyunjin’s large hand on your hip, moving across the small of your back, soothing you as well. You all stayed like that for a while, the moment turning from one of soothing, to one of savoring. Feeling their hands on you like that, affectionate and comforting, made you want to sob for a different reason. But you pushed that thought to the back of your mind to unpack later.

Needless to say, after that startling experience, you needed a little break from your ocean adventures. Felix and Hyunjin didn’t mind it at all, considering they already spent so much time with you indoors. When it wasn’t being curled up on your couches and watching a drama, keeping themselves entertained with books or your laptop as you worked, drinking so much of your water that your bill increased by 10%, or cooking setting off the fire alarm meals for you all to share, your house was quickly becoming a home to them just as much as the ocean, if not more. You made them feel normal, even with all your jokes and teasing of their beautifully supernatural existence.

And to say you loved having them around would be an understatement. Yes, they were beautiful to look at, and yes, they were interesting to learn about, but you loved having them around for so much more than that. It had been a long and painfully lonely time since you had any real connections with others, building up walls as the loss and grief isolated you in attempt to protect yourself from more pain.

But Hyunjin and Felix, in all their beauty and mystery, made you feel safe to let those walls down. When you spoke, they listened. They wanted to hear you talk about your life—everything from your job and where you’ve lived, to the little hobbies and interests you enjoyed. They loved asking you questions too, trying to understand all you would describe to them.

You treated them the same, asking them questions and getting to know more about not just what they were, but who they were. They shared with you many stories about their lives, going into detail of all the different places they’ve been to around the world and the things they’ve gotten to see. Hyunjin gushed about the times they visited places that had art museums, going on and on about the talent, techniques, and history, and you couldn’t stop the smile stretching across your face as you listened to his passionate ramblings. Felix loved sharing with you about his love for more digital art, such as video games and the technology that created them; though, Hyunjin teased him about his ability to actually play well at such games, resulting in your couch pillows being chucked at Hyunjin’s face by Felix, fits of laughter filling the living room. Both of them also loved music and singing, often breaking out into little hums and songs that would prove one mer-related myth true: a siren’s song is one of the most beautiful things one could ever hear.

As you listened and indulged them, you made mental notes to make room in your house and use some of your extra savings to buy them things that would allow them a place to take part in the interests they so clearly enjoyed, such as a gaming set-up for Felix, and a camera and art supplies for Hyunjin. It was priceless to see their faces light up whenever you prompted them to continue talking about their niche human hobbies, and you felt like you’d do almost anything to see it.

You were impressed at how much they knew about human life too, and how they were good at it (maybe a little too good, you thought, when they went into depth one day explaining their very creative illegal means of acquiring and stashing away pockets of funds for the seasons they ventured onto land more than usual…but hey, you suppose there’s only so many ways one could operate financially when your average lifespan is 300 years…). In a lot of ways, how they regarded human life was filled with more respect and appreciation than most humans even have. Their perspectives made you find beauty in your life you never would have thought of otherwise.

Sharing moments like that with them eventually made you feel safe to open up about the more painful parts of your life—the things you’ve never spoken to another about, as there had been no one in your life you could trust with your pain. But on one abnormally chilly evening, the gas fireplace crackling across from the three of you huddled together on the large couch, dozing off and on after the dinner you just ate, the cozy environment took lighthearted chit-chat down a more serious path. You unthinkingly made a comment of how you used to have bonfires at your parents’ house, which naturally led them to ask more questions about your family. You had already told them of your parents’ passing, but never spoke about it beyond that. Hearing you volunteer a memory involving your family made them curious to know more about the people who helped make you the person you were today, and what having a family was like.

You could feel the emotion clawing up your throat as you answered their questions, the tears starting to fill your eyes as you recalled the sweet memories you had with your parents. You never let yourself think on these things for this exact reason. As if he could see the struggle within you, trying to stuff it down and hide it from them and from yourself, Hyunjin drapes a comforting arm across your back, rubbing his hand up and down your arm as he gently said, “Y/N-ah, it’s okay to miss them. And it’s okay to cry over them, too. What better way to honor their lives than by remembering?”

A puff of air escaped your lips as you laughed once, looking down. He was right. You felt something within you crack, and you lost all semblance of control over your sorrow. Your face contorted as the first sob left your body, and you lifted your hands to your face to hide the ugly cries that were now taking over you. Hyunjin immediately used the arm wrapped around you to bring your body to his chest, taking his other arm to wrap around the front of you to softly tuck your head under his chin as he pet the back of your hair. The unhinged sobbing caused your whole body to convulse, and he tightened his hold around you in an attempt to ground you. Your hands had left your face, fisting at his shirt while you cried into his neck, tears running down and soaking the fabric.

You felt another hand rubbing up and down your back as Felix coos, “We’re here Y/N, we’re right here. Just let it all out. You don’t have to hold this in anymore.” You could hear the emotion in his own voice, and wouldn’t have been surprised if you turned around and saw tears of his own running down his face. That thought alone caused you to unintentionally let out a strangled cry, and Hyunjin somehow held you even tighter, shh-ing you in an effort to soothe you.

You’re not sure how much time passes until you manage to stop crying, weakly still clinging onto Hyunjin as he hummed a lullaby in your ear. You feel yourself drift off into a light sleep, eventually feeling yourself being carried up the stairs with another set of footsteps following. You’re set in your bed, and your eyes shoot open when the feeling of their touches leaves you completely.

“Don’t leave me, please don’t,” you rasp out, blindly reaching out in the darkness for them.

“You really want us to stay?” you hear Hyunjin whisper, and you reach out in the direction of his voice and find his wrist to hold.

“P-please,” you choke out, hoping they could hear the desperation in your voice.

“We’ll stay, sweetheart. It’s going to be okay,” Felix says, and you feel the mattress on either side of you dip from the added weight.

They both wrap their arms around you, sandwiching you in between them. With you entrusting them to hold you through your pain, that night marked the first night they shared a bed with you.

After that night, it was like something shifted in you. You felt a weight lifted off your shoulders, a new sense of freedom when it came to thinking of your family. It still wasn’t easy, but Felix and Hyunjin were always there helping you through the overwhelming emotions.

As you opened up with them about these things, they went into more depth about their own families, or the lack thereof.

“Wait, so…you don’t have parents? Like at all?” you questioned, trying to understand what they were telling you as you all picked at the remaining food on your dinner plates.

“It’s…complicated. Mer-fathers aren’t really fathers. More like guardians. They keep an eye out for us and keep us alive, basically, until we reach the age of 13. Then, we part ways. To call it a family is a serious stretch. I don’t have many memories of my father. It’s hard to even picture his face anymore…” Felix explained, staring at the table with furrowed eyebrows, mind trying to recall anything of his youth.

”But what about your moms?” you ask, setting your fork down to give them more of your attention.

“We never knew them. After we’re born, our fathers take possession of us,” Hyunjin answers, head leaning on one of his hands as he poked at a vegetable on his plate with the other.

“But, why?? That’s so…” you have hard time finding the right word.

”Heartless?” Hyunjin finishes, looking up at you with a little smirk, recalling the last conversation you had when he said mer where heartless, eventually resulting in a threatening lecture from you.

“Uh, yeah,” was all you could manage to respond.

”The main issue lies in the fact that there are no women of our kind. Regardless of any fairytales you’ve heard, there are no mermaids. For us to reproduce, our kind has to, uh, mate with human women. It’s not an easy thing, as our kind as newborns have to spend a majority of the time in water, which tends to create a lot of questions in the human world, and our risk of exposure drastically increases. There are rare stories of the woman being able to stay involved in the child’s life, but most of the time the merman will simply take the child, one way or another. It’s what makes our kind so rare…it’s a dangerous situation, and yes, heartless,” Felix explains further, a disgusted tone coloring his voice as he thinks on what had to happen to create him.

You blink in shock, digesting this new information. The mood had shifted, and Felix and Hyunjin were silently reflecting with almost bitter expressions on their faces. You desperately wanted to lighten things up, and as a new train of thought entered your mind, you couldn’t help but blurt it out.

“So, no mermaids, huh? You’re just, like, 40-year-old virgins then?”

Hyunjin spit out the water he had started to drink, and Felix just stared at you with wide eyes and his lips slightly agape in shock.

Upon hearing the words you spoke out loud, your face started to burn as you realized that probably was one of those “inside thoughts” that should’ve stayed that way.

Felix somehow manages to collect himself enough to answer, while Hyunjin continued to sputter from his accidental spit take.

”Well, um,” he starts, a low giggle starting to rumble in his chest, “Guess that depends on your definition of virgin. You’re right in we’ve never, uh, done anything with a human woman, but…we’ve…done things.”

Hyunjin’s ears were turning deep scarlet, matching the color blooming across your cheeks. Even though Felix and Hyunjin never put a label on what they were to each other, it had been obvious to you they were more than just friends. You could see the love and intimacy they had for each other in the stolen glances and gentle touches they shared, whether in your presence or not. But to hear Felix confirm they’ve definitely done more, had you feeling…things. Things that were making tingles travel down your lower body.

“Ah, that’s…nice for you two,” you manage to reply, reaching for your water to take a sip, trying to soothe the fire licking up your neck and face. Ugh, WHY did I have to change topics to this of all things?!

They both chuckle at your clear embarrassment, finding it cute rather than cringey.

“What about you, angel? Have you had any special guys in your life?” Hyunjin teasingly prods, tilting his head to try to meet your eyes across the table.

You’re the one who almost chokes next as you set your glass back down. You did ask them, so it’s only fair to answer the question in return.

“Um, I had a brief relationship in college, but I can’t say anything was particularly memorable with him. He just wasn’t for me, I guess. Then all the stuff with my parents happened, and I just…never put myself out there again,” you quietly answer, tilting your water glass in your hand, watching the water swish as you bit your lip from the embarrassment. They’ve had each other for who knows how long, and you’ve had absolutely no one for years.

You could feel their eyes on you, and you couldn’t handle it. You change topics again before they can dare pity you for your pathetic love life.

“How did you guys find each other, anyway?”

You look up at them, and it appeared you had caught them off guard with your question. They both blink at you for a second, processing the change of conversation. They share one of those glances that made your heart ache, and Felix smiles, looking at Hyunjin as he answered, “We were in our early twenties, passing through an area at the same time. I was swimming past a huge fishing rig off the coast late at night, and noticed movement along one of the large nets, too large to be any fish. I swam closer to inspect, and saw Hyunjin, all tangled up in the lines. He was just so pretty, and I knew I couldn’t just leave him. Our kind tend to be very territorial, so it took some convincing for him to let me get any closer to help him. It might be hard to imagine, but Hyune can be very scary when he wants to be,” Felix gives Hyunjin a teasing smirk, causing Hyunjin to giggle and lightly push him in return as Felix continued, “and the rest is pretty much history. We’ve been with each other ever since.”

You pondered that for a moment, letting the fact that they’ve been together for almost two decades sink in. You felt like you could cry. You were so happy that despite the nature of their kind’s treatment of one another, that they were able to find a kind of family, a love in each other. But, you also felt like you could cry from knowing there was no way you could ever have the kind of connection that had with each other—that there was no way they could ever view you as more than a close friend, because how could they? They already had each other, so stupidly gorgeous and sexy, with a history you could not compete with if you tried.

You excused yourself not long after, lying about how tired you were and how you needed to go to bed. In reality, after shutting and locking your bedroom door, you collapsed face first into the pillows on your bed, muffling the crying you couldn’t hold back any longer. You weren’t sure where all this emotion came from. However, you supposed that it was inevitable you’d grow feelings for them like this. You already had crushes on them from being literally the most beautiful men you’d ever seen in your life, but all the time and vulnerability shared between all three of you over the past couple months turned those crushes into actually liking them, both of them, equally and intensely. You could even be bold enough to say that you loved them. Not even in a romantic way, but in a way where if you suddenly didn’t have them in your life anymore, the devastation would completely wreck you. And that made it all hurt so much worse, because there was no way to deny that your mermen could go on without you just fine, in love with each other just like how it’s been for decades, whereas you would never even come close to having something like that. Not ever, and not without them.

You’re not sure how much time passed, but you ultimately cried yourself to sleep that night, in your cold, empty bed.

•••

Storm clouds rolled overhead, darkening the sky above. You, Felix, and Hyunjin were taking a walk, exploring the couple miles of beach that made up your property. Along the way, you’d stop to pick up any pretty seashells or shards of sea glass you found and stuffed them in your hoodie pocket. Your aunt had a collection of things like these all over the house, and you wanted to start your own. Whenever Hyunjin or Felix found one they thought was pretty, they’d give it to you, or come up next to you to place it in your hoodie pocket themselves. Your heart rate would automatically increase as their hands reached inside, smiling at you and being proud of themselves for finding something worthy for you to collect. Fuck, why did they have to be so damn cute…

But then the winds started to pick up as a rain storm could be seen approaching from the east, so you all decided to start heading back to the house. However, the rain came faster than you could walk, and suddenly you were caught in a downpour. You squealed as you started to run, feeling your hoodie become drenched from the rain, your soaked hair sticking to your face from the wind whipping it in front of you. Felix and Hyunjin were flanking you, trying to keep up. When you looked over each shoulder at them, the rain and wind were affecting them too. However, while you probably looked similar to a sad wet cat, they looked like they had walked right out of a movie scene—long tousled wet hair perfectly framing their faces, rain droplets looking more like diamonds than water against their glowing skin, and their long sleeve t-shirts clinging to their lean, flawless sculpted bodies. Fucking mermen.

As you near the house, you almost trip over your own feet, and right before you can properly stumble face first into the damp sand, a strong hand grips your bicep and pulls you back, thudding you against his chest. You look up, and are met with Felix’s precious freckled face inches from yours, big beautiful eyes staring into yours with amusement.

“Easy now, sweetheart. No hurting yourself,” he tsks, his lips turning up in a small smile.

Your eyes linger on his lips, for some reason not being able to look away from them. So heart-shaped, so pink, so pretty, and right there. Every iota of desire you’ve had for this man came rushing to the forefront of your mind, overtaking your self-control, and before you can stop yourself, you’re pressing your lips to his.

Your eyes closed as you relished in the softness of them, even softer than you could’ve imagined. Though, almost as fast as you acted, you pull away, eyes wide with the realization of what you had done.

You kissed Felix. You. Kissed. Felix. Right in front of Hyunjin. His other half. What is wrong with you?!

“I’m sorry, I—I shouldn’t have done that,” you stammer, covering your own mouth in shock, tears of embarrassment blurring your vision to the point you couldn’t make out their faces. You turn to run away, pulling your arm from Felix’s frozen grip, but then another large hand grabs your other arm to stop you.

You blink away your tears, trying to see what you knew was Hyunjin’s face. You knew he had to hate you right now, and you were bracing yourself for the inevitable expression of said hatred and disgust.

But when your vision cleared to see his face, you were met with an expression of…sadness? No. More like…longing?

“Don’t I get one too, angel?” he practically pouts, searching your face for an answer with his big puppy eyes.

“Wha—what? Aren’t—don’t you hate me right now?” you stutter, looking between him and Felix, who you could now see wore a soft smile on his face, but was currently turning into a pout of confusion as he heard your question.

“Hate you? Why on earth would I hate you?” Hyunjin questions, thick brows furrowing in bewilderment.

“I just kissed your…your…partner in front of you, and you…want me to kiss you, too?” you reply, utterly confused by his reaction.

“Yes? Do…do you not want to kiss me?” Hyunjin quietly asks, genuine doubt and sadness shadowing his features as his eyes dart to look at his feet, no longer able to hold eye contact with you.

“Wh—n—yo—are you crazy?! Of course I want to kiss you! I want to kiss you, and I want to kiss Felix, and I want you to hold me, and love me, and I want to be yours, both of yours. But you can’t love me like that, you can’t love me like I love you. I know you can’t, not when you have what you do with each other. I—I’m not—I can’t ever be what you both deserve. And…and it’s just fucking killing me inside,” you choke on a sob, tears of embarrassment morphing into tears of heartbreak. Your hand shoots up to your mouth to cover the sound, but it’s too late. Your eyes squeeze shut, and you wish you could just disappear.

You hear footsteps approach, and a gentle hand touching your face, trying to tuck the wet tangled hair off of your face and behind your ears.

“How could you say such things? Y/N, look at me,” Felix’s deep voice softly commands, his hand cupping the side of your face, the other tugging your hand away from your mouth.

You do as he asks, and you open your eyes to see both men looking at you with the most tender expressions you’ve ever seen.

“Do you really think we don’t feel the same way as you? Both of us? Y/N, we were captivated by you the moment we laid eyes on you, before you ever even saw us. I meant it when I told you we were watching you to know if we were still safe being here, but we also couldn’t help but watch you because you already had us hooked on your presence. You were so cute, so lovely, so beautifully human. And now having spent all this time together? Learning how kind, funny, and considerate you are? How incredibly strong and resilient you are? Sweetheart, how could we not have fallen in love with you?” Felix gushes, his thumb caressing your cheek.

“What do you think we mean when we call you ‘our Y/N’ or ‘our angel’? You’ve been ours since day one, it’s just been a matter of whether or not you could ever feel the same for us,” Hyunjin adds, running his hand up and down your arm.

“You—you love me? You really love me?” you sniffle, looking between the two of them, letting their confessions sink in.

“Of course we do, silly girl. Remember, you’re the one who lectured us about our decision to love being our own. Now, kiss me before I get jealous,” Hyunjin giggles as he pulls you close to him, Felix letting go of your face so Hyunjin can hold your face with both hands instead. He looks into your eyes, sparkling with nothing but pure love. Love for you.

He slowly brings his face down to yours, giving you the time to say no if you didn’t want this. But, oh, how you wanted this.

His lips meet yours, and you feel yourself melting in his hands. His lips, so soft and pillowy, moved gently against your own. Your hands moved up to his chest, making fists in the soaked material of his shirt, pulling him right up against you. He tips your head back, deepening the kiss.

Kissing him felt like a breath of fresh air, like every nerve in your body was being awakened with new life.

You whimper slightly when he pulls away, needing to catch his own breath, his chest expanding and contracting under your hands. He’s looking into your eyes again, but now the sparkling love appeared to be replaced by something more…burning.

Then, you feel Felix behind you, brushing your hair off of one of your shoulders. He lightly tugs at the neckline of your hoodie, allowing the space for him to gently press kisses up your neck, kissing and kissing until he reaches just below your ear, a low whisper leaving his lingering lips.

“Let us show you how much we love you, Y/N. Will you let us?” He kisses your earlobe once, waiting for your answer, sending a shiver down your spine. You knew he was talking about more than just kissing.

“Please, please let us angel,” Hyunjin whispers against your lips, nose lightly touching yours, water still dripping from your faces and chins even though the rain had slowed to a trickle.

You should be begging them, not the other way around. But you weren’t going to start an argument at a time like this. You wanted them. You needed them. Equally, and intensely. Right now.

“Show me,” you breathe out, and that’s all it took for you to be swept off your feet. Literally.

You squeak out a yelp as Felix scoops you up into his arms, all of you giggling at the noise. Felix turns to start heading into the house, Hyunjin quickening his pace in order to grab the door.

But right before he turns the knob, you look at your feet dangling in the air, and shout out, “Wait!”

They both immediately stop, hearts dropping to their stomachs, wondering what was wrong. Before they could panic, you continue your thought, “Our feet! The sand! I know this is like, totally not sexy, but the thought of wet sand all over the floor and my sheets will ruin this for me, I swear.”

They both let out fits of laughter, and you can’t help but do the same. Even in the throes of passion, sand in your house still remained your worst enemy. Especially wet sand. Yuck.

“I’ll get the hose,” Felix chuckles as he sets you down on your feet. While Felix walks over to the hose you installed for things like this, Hyunjin pulls you up to him and presses a chaste kiss to your lips.

“How could you ever think we couldn’t love you?” He smiles, a giggle still lingering in his voice. You can’t help the shy smile that breaks out across your face.

Felix comes back with the hose, kneeling down to wash the sand off of everyone’s feet. Hyunjin yelps and cringes at the icy water, throwing his head back, biting his bottom lip to try to hid the sound. How does he manage to look so hot even doing things like that?

With the three of you sand-free, you all step inside the house, quickly grabbing for the beach towels you keep by the door to haphazardly dry off yourselves from the rain and hosed-off feet. Before you’re even done, Felix bends down in front of you to grab one of your arms and hike you over his shoulder, causing you to let out another yelp, his arms now hugging the backs of your thighs.

Hyunjin can’t help but giggle at the sight of you draped over Felix’s shoulder as you all head up the stairs.

“Not funny, Hyune,” you mumble, playfully scowling at him in return.

“Oh, it is though,” he snickers, and you stick your tongue out at him. All he does is laugh, eyes forming pretty half-crescents.

Upon entering your bedroom though, the energy noticeably shifts. The laughter ceases when Felix sets you down again, immediately grabbing your face with his hands. He crashes his lips into yours, passionate and needy.

You quietly moan into the kiss, the taste of his lips warm and addicting. You feel Hyunjin come up behind you, his large hands finding your waist as he attaches his plump lips to your neck, lightly sucking at the delicate skin. They pressed in on you, in front and behind, and you could feel the pressure of their hardening bulges against your pelvis and the curve of your ass.

You felt dizzy with want, and started to paw at Felix’s still soaking shirt that clung to his body, trying to move it up his slim frame. Understanding what you were wanting, Felix reluctantly parts from your lips, him equally addicted to yours as you were to his, and peels off the wet shirt from his body.

At that point, it was like all of you became painfully aware of how uncomfortable you were in your cold, heavy, rain-soaked clothing, as well as having lost all patience to wait to remove the barriers keeping your hands from freely exploring each other. Urgent hands grab and pull and lob every remaining article of clothing onto the floor, leaving you three completely bare to the gaze of one another. They were still pressing close to you, holding you, which allowed them the freedom to look over your body, but you couldn’t see anything of their bodies you hadn’t already seen before. For a fraction of a second, you felt like quite the pervert.

“Shit, she’s so gorgeous Lixie, look at her,” Hyunjin breathes out across your shoulder, fingertips tracing from the back of your neck to the base of your spine, admiring.

“I know Hyun, how did we get so fucking lucky?” Felix replies, a similar breathiness to his voice, eyes raking over your exposed chest.

A whine escapes your lips, and you bite your bottom lip, hard. Where the fuck did that come from?

“You like the way we talk about you, sweetheart?” Felix teases, copying Hyunjin in using his fingertips to trace your form, from collarbone to collarbone, back to the center of your neck, slowly using the gentlest touch to trace down your chest and sternum, right between your breasts. You couldn’t stop the goosebumps from rising across your skin, also causing your nipples to harden under his touch.

You nod your head yes, still holding your bottom lip between your teeth.

“Yeah? You should hear how we talk about you when we’re not with you. You might think we’re a little obsessed with you,” Felix says under his breath, the low sound sending butterflies straight to your core.

You feel Hyunjin sucking more marks into your neck and the backs of your shoulders, grazing his teeth over one of the tender spots once Felix finished his sentence, as if in agreement with the statement. His hands and fingertips grip your waist, traveling in front, finally sinking into the flesh of your lower belly, almost as if you were going to disappear if he didn’t have a firm hold on the softest parts of your body.

“Can we play with your pretty little pussy? Been a long time since someone’s treated this pussy right, yeah?” Felix rumbles in the ear Hyunjin wasn’t blocking with his head as he devoured your neck.

You feel your throat tighten from his suddenly filthy words, swallowing thickly as you attempt to answer. All you can manage is a quiet “Yes”, feeling like you were about to disintegrate into a pile of mush at their feet.

“We’re going to fix that, angel,” Hyunjin breathes into your ear, and your breath catches at the sensation accompanying the promise.

Probably sensing your threatening lack of stability, they both maneuver you onto your back in the center of your bed, reassuring you with light kisses and feathery touches. You kept your legs closed and bent at the knee, not confident to bare everything to them just yet.

Your new position allowed you to finally see them, all of them, as they stood at the end of the bed. It takes all you have not to let your jaw drop in awe.

It wasn’t their usual deliciously toned figures that had you drooling (though honestly, that alone probably would’ve been enough to cause the same reaction), but their shockingly pretty, fully hard cocks hanging between their legs.

Not that you were very experienced with the male appendage, not even close, but you’d be willing to bet these were some of the nicest ones in existence. Not too small, not too big, the prettiest shades of red and pink, and the bases lined with pubic hair that complimented their skin tone. More faint, scar-like floral markings were visible on the skin of their hip bones and upper thighs, catching the light of the post-rain sun peeking into your room, the warm glow evident that it was setting.

What a sight.

Noticing your lingering gaze, they both lightly chuckle. Even though they knew they were pretty, knowing it was you captivated by their appearance caused a light blush to creep up their ears.

Felix crawls up onto the bed, laying on his side on your right, as Hyunjin sits near your feet, not being able to prevent himself from running his hand up and down your left calf and shin. Felix’s hand traces down your chest, lightly brushing each of your nipples as he does, caressing down your belly until his fingers start to dance around the tops of your thighs

“I know it’s been a while since someone touched you, but did you ever play with yourself?” Felix asks, looking at you with such genuine care and curiosity that you couldn’t hold his gaze, looking to the ceiling as you felt a fire burn at your cheeks.

“Um, yeah, sometimes,” you answer honestly. You may not have had many experiences with another person, but you were experienced enough to know how to get yourself off when your hormones got the best of you.

“Tell me what you do. How do you like it, hm?” he continues, gently yet firmly gripping the flesh of your inner thighs, parting your legs just enough to give him access to the area in question.

The fire across your cheeks burned hotter. You’d consider it a miracle if you didn’t spontaneously combust from how he talked to you.

“Uh,” you started, having to clear your throat a little in order to speak clearly, “I usually just use my fingers on…on my clit.”

“Like this?” He ponders out loud, fingers lightly caressing your folds, where he could already feel the wetness seeping from within you. His fingers reach the top of your trimmed pussy lips, his middle and ring finger parting them enough to find your bundle of nerves, circling it ever so slightly.

“Or more like this?” he questions huskily, suddenly adding firm pressure in a rhythmic circular pattern. The sensation made you gasp, your back arching off the bed, enough for him to know that, yes, more like that would be correct. He continues doing just that, watching you as you close your eyes in pleasure, quietly gasping and clawing at the sheets at your sides.

“Ya know,” he says, breath hot in your ear, “Hyune has really nice fingers. They’re so long, able to reach deep inside. Feels so fuckin’ good. Can Hyune do that for you?”

“Please,” you whine, the thought making your pussy throb and your heart rate pick up even more.

You open your eyes when you feel the bed shift by your feet, Hyunjin getting on his knees as he crawls up closer to you, gliding both hands up the sides of your legs, then sliding them down your inner thighs, gently pushing your legs apart, and finally fully opening you to their hungry eyes.

Hyunjin sighs out a “Fuck” under his breath, situating himself between your legs, sitting back on his calves as his fingertips traced the outside of your cunt, catching the slick already drooling from your eager hole. Slowly, like you’d break under his touch, he ran his fingers through your folds, exploring you. Then, he turns his hand palm-up, and gradually begins to insert his middle finger inside of you.

“Oh relax, my love. You’re so tight. Focus on taking some deep breaths for me, okay angel?” Hyunjin coos, his free hand massaging the soft skin of your inner thigh.

You nod, closing your eyes as you inhale deeply. You exhale, and repeat a few times. Felix slowed his ministrations on your clit, whispering sweet nothings into your neck as his lips explored the marks left by Hyunjin earlier, tongue gently laving over the tender spots. You let yourself get lost in the pleasure, letting your body sink into the mattress.

“Good job, just like that,” Hyunjin praises, his finger now all the way inside, slightly curving upwards as he pulls back and pushes back in, the glide easy with how wet they’ve gotten you.

Your hips start to lift off the bed, your body wanting more of the delicious sensations they were giving you. Both Hyunjin and Felix take note, and Felix picks up the pace on your clit again, now altering directions every so often, while Hyunjin inserts his ring finger along with his middle, moving a little faster as his fingers searched more deliberately inside of you.

And boy, was Felix right about Hyunjin’s fingers. As they both picked up their rhythm on your neglected pussy, you could feel Hyunjin hit a spot within you that made you suddenly moan, loud. You would be embarrassed, but the sensations were too intense for you to find the mental awareness to let it affect you.

A knot was tightening in the pit of your core, and you couldn’t stop the flow of sensual noises from leaving your mouth.

“Look at that, sweetheart, you’re doing so good for us. Sound so pretty. You’re going to cum, okay? All over our hands. Make us all nice ‘n wet, just how we like,” Felix filthily encouraged. He then fully laid down next to you, the hand that was propping his head up now sliding under your neck, turning your head to face him, holding you there so you couldn’t look away, even as your sultry moans and whines kept pouring out of you.

You felt so vulnerable, so exposed under the intensity of his eye contact, but you couldn’t look away. His eyes burned with lust, love, and wonder. The woman he loved was coming undone due to him and the man he loved, and he wanted to watch as it happened, to remember the first time for the remainder of his 300 years.

The knot within you tightened until it couldn’t any more, and then snapped, making you orgasm so hard all of your noises went silent, though your mouth still hung open, and eyes rolling into the back of your head. For a brief second, all you could hear were the sloppy wet noises of Hyunjin and Felix working you through the best orgasm you’d ever experienced.

“There it is. Fuck,” Hyunjin moaned, only stopping his movements and pulling out once your legs began shaking from overstimulation. Felix did the same, letting your clit rest from his magical fingers, and releasing the back of your neck from his firm grasp.

You look back up to the ceiling, trying to catch your breath and needing a moment for your brain to function again, when you hear Felix groan one of the hottest phrases you think you’ve ever heard—

“Give me a taste, hyung.”

You look over, and see Felix prop himself up as Hyunjin leans down over him, and brings the fingers that were just inside of you into Felix’s open mouth. Felix closes his mouth around Hyunjin’s messy fingers, and moans so deep it felt like it reverberated off the walls. He sucks on Hyunjin’s fingers while Hyunjin starts slowly fucking them into Felix’s mouth, pushing in deeper and deeper, causing drool to start running down the corner of Felix’s pretty lips as he lightly gags.

Hyunjin pulls his fingers out of Felix’s mouth, using that hand to now grab the front of Felix’s neck, pulling him up to his lips.

“Be nice and share with your hyung,” Hyunjin mutters, lips barely touching Felix’s, before he proceeds to crash his mouth onto his, resulting in the filthiest, messiest kiss you’ve ever witnessed. Open-mouthed, tongues sliding over one another, the drool and spit dribbling down their chins and onto their bare chests. Hyunjin pulls back just enough to dip his head down to lick a long stripe up Felix’s neck and chin, gathering all the mess back into his mouth, and you see his adam’s apple bob as he swallows. He then hums in satisfaction, eyes looking back down to you.

“Angel needs a taste,” he states, slightly breathless from all the kissing. He moves to position himself above you, eyes dark with desire. He leans down, bringing a hand up to your face to firmly grasp your chin, and kisses you with the same messy passion he shared with Felix. You match his energy, and open your mouth for him to lick inside of. You can taste a sweet, slightly salty essence on his tongue, and you moan at the realization that it’s the taste of you. You involuntarily buck your hips into the air, and accidentally catch Hyunjin’s painfully hard cock against your gushing cunt.

He gasps into your mouth at the sensation, and the sound is so pretty that you do it again. This time, his gasp has a whiny lilt to it.

“You want more, my love?” He coos, leaving open mouth kisses along your jaw line.

In response, you lift your legs up and wrap them around Hyunjin’s hips, pulling his pelvis into yours. You grind up against his hard cock, and he lets out a heady groan at the feeling.

“Give her your pretty cock Hyun, don’t make our Y/N wait any longer,” Felix instructs, laying back down next to you like he was earlier, but now instead of the wet sounds of him playing with you being heard, the subtle slick sounds of him touching his own cock meet your ears.

Listening to Felix and your body encouraging him, Hyunjin reaches down between your bodies, sliding his hot length between your folds, gathering up as much wetness as possible before aligning his tip at your entrance. He hesitates for a moment, looking into your eyes, wanting permission.

You nod, a little smile pulling at the corner of your lips, and you bring your arms up to wrap around his shoulders, pulling him into you. He still holds himself up with one forearm, and proceeds to guide the swollen tip of his cock into your hole, little by little.

You do your best to mask the wince of pain wanting to leave your mouth, not wanting Hyunjin to stop. The pain was minimal, more like an uncomfortable stretching than true pain. He was going slow, and that’s all you needed.

Once bottoming out, Hyunjin uses both forearms to support himself above you, framing your head between them. He looked down at you, studying your face for any sign of this being uncomfortable for you.

Luckily, the discomfort you had felt was already turning into pleasure, the feeling of being full making your pussy clench around him already. Hyunjin moans on an exhale, and slowly starts to thrust into your wet heat.

You spend time just enjoying each other, relishing in the sensations you were creating for the other even from such gentle movements. Felix slowed his own pace down to match Hyunjin’s, wanting to replicate what you two were feeling. It was all so sensual, your heart felt like it could burst from the affection.

Then, your greedy body started to thrust up to meet Hyunjin’s, and Hyunjin’s pace picked up. He took one of his hands to again reach down, this time to grip the flesh of your outer thigh, hiking up your leg so he could angle himself into you deeper. The new angle made you let out another one of those embarrassingly loud moans, and your fingernails dug into his shoulder blades. He moaned deeply at the feeling, the sound rumbling in his chest. His thrusts got faster, and sloppier, moans and whines flooding out of his mouth, becoming louder than your own.

“Hnng, ‘m gonna cum, you’re gonna make me cum,” Hyunjin sputters, pounding into you at a pace you’d never experienced. Your pussy started to clench, and it suddenly became too much for him. For once, you were thankful for the heavy periods that required you to take birth control to manage them, because now you could cage Hyunjin against you, pushing him into your cunt as deep as possible while he unloaded his cum, filling you up to the brim.

He collapses into your arms, hiding his face in your neck. You ran your fingernails up and down his back while he came down, leaving goosebumps in their wake. When he finds the strength to move again, he lifts his head up to your face, and kisses you with a tenderness that could make you cry. He then gives a sweet kiss to the tip of your nose, before gently removing himself from you, his release slowly dripping onto the sheets, and rolls over onto his back next to you.

“How’d that feel, Hyune?” Felix asks, deep voice fracturing the fuzzy silence floating in the air. He was currently gripping the base of his cock, an effort to not cum himself from the show you and Hyunjin gave him.

Hyunjin lets out an airy chuckle, “Hmm Lix-yah, you have to try for yourself. Her pussy’s so wet and warm, it’s perfect.”

A compliment you never expected to receive, but a compliment nonetheless. You tucked your bottom lip between your teeth, trying to hide your smile.

“You up for another, sweetheart?” Felix questions, genuinely concerned if this was something you were comfortable with.

“Lix, if you don’t fuck me right now, ‘m gonna lose my mind,” you respond, letting your neediness color your tone.

“Can’t have that now, can we?” Felix smirks, moving to position himself above you, stroking his cock a few times. He brings your legs back further, knees closer to your chest, giving him the perfect view of your seemingly never-ending trickle of arousal mixed with Hyunjin’s cum seeping from your cunt. He bites his lip at the sight, turned on like never before.

He leans over you, gliding his throbbing cock all over the mess you and Hyunjin made, tapping the head against your swollen clit a few times, little wet smacking sounds ringing out. You mewled at the stimulation, whimpering a “pleaseplease”, begging him to give you more.

He doesn’t make you wait any longer, and pushes his cock into you, bottoming out at once. The easy slide of his cock filling you up so quickly made you cry out in unexpected pleasure.

“This fucking cunt, holy shit,” Felix moans, caught off guard himself.

“Told you,” Hyunjin lazily giggles, turning himself over on his side to be able to watch better.

Felix wastes no time in setting a rapid pace, the skin of this thighs smacking into the backs of yours, over and over and over again. Your fingernails claw at his chest, raking down his abdomen, running along his chiseled six-pack. Having your hands on him like that made his brain-short circuit, a growl erupting from his slack jaw. Determined to make you cum before him, he leans back on his haunches, wrapping his arm around your thigh for balance, fucking up into you at an angle that seemed to perfectly hit that soft spot that Hyunjin found with his fingers earlier.

“Oh fuck!” you gasp out, reaching out for something to hold onto. The sheets were not gonna cut it this time, so you reach overhead for the rungs of your headboard, white-knuckling the wood posts as Felix ruins your pussy.

“Right there, Lixie, our angel’s gonna cum again,” Hyunjin instructs as he grips the back of the thigh Felix wasn’t holding, pulling it back to prevent your legs from closing.

“Such a good fucking girl, taking two cocks in one night. C’mon, cream my cock lovely, give it to us,” Felix grunts, voice shaky as his own orgasm was right on the edge. He was drilling his cock up into your pussy, making you moan out sounds so loud and so pornographic that if you did have neighbors, they would’ve 100% heard you screaming in pleasure at this point. Your body started to tremble, arching your back off the bed and spreading your legs as wide as you could manage for the few seconds leading up to the blinding sensation of another orgasm overtaking you.

As soon as your cunt started to spasm around Felix, his hot cum shot up into you, his own body trembling at the overwhelming stimulation, moaning out so roughly you felt the vibration through your body. He looked down at where your bodies met, and saw the creamy, white ring of everyone’s cum gathering around his cock, and he moaned again, more airy this time. He gradually rode out your highs, finally pulling out when he couldn’t handle the sensitivity any longer.

Hyunjin, dying to see the aftermath, extended his hand down to your messy little pussy, and pushed his fingers apart in a V shape to spread your lips, allowing them both to clearly see all their cum still filling your used cunt.

“That’s so fucking pretty, Lixie. I want my mouth on her,” Hyunjin whines in amazement, still so needy for you.

“Then go on, clean up our messes like a good hyung,” Felix rasps, moving out from between your legs to allow Hyunjin to crawl back between them.

“I promise to be careful, love,” Hyunjin mumbles above your spread pussy, his eyes meeting yours beneath his long lashes.

You let out a puff of air as a laugh, humored by his eagerness and tender care.

“I trust you Hyune, take what you want,” you hum, basking in the lingering high from your orgasm. He hums back with an excited smile, then diving tongue first into your sloppy hole. He eats you out like it’s the last meal he’ll have for a while, licking and sucking and tasting, swallowing down as much of his lovers’ cum as he could, while doing his best to avoid overstimulating you in any way that would cause pain.

You lace your fingers into his hair, now mostly dry after being soaked from the rainstorm, raking your fingernails through his scalp and lightly tugging on the long strands, making him moan into your pussy, which sent tingles up your body.

“Hyung, you’re making me hard again, eating our Y/N so well,” Felix quietly groans, a whiny but teasing complaint.

“Yeah?” Hyunjin hums, pulling away from you just enough so his voice would be heard,“Want to fix that? Show our angel how we play?” He ends his question by bringing his knees under himself and arching his back to stick his ass in the air, but goes back to enjoying your pussy, sucking your labia into his mouth and letting go, making you whine.

Felix groans, clearly tempted by the offer.

“Would you wanna see that, sweetheart? Wanna see me play with our Hyune?” Felix asks you, horny but wanting your honest answer.

“Yeah, yeah I wanna see it,” you answer, fucked out, but a whore for anything involving your mermen.

And that’s all Felix needed in order to get off the bed and get behind Hyunjin, who was now wiggling his ass in Felix’s face. Felix retaliates with a playful smack, then another in the same spot, the skin turning red on Hyunjin’s perfect ass cheek. Hyunjin moans into you again, making you grip his hair harder.

Then Felix places a knee at the edge of the bed, leaning down until Hyunjin’s ass was literally in Felix’s face. Felix spreads him open enough so he could flatten his tongue over Hyunjin’s tight little hole, then swirls it around the rim.

Holy fucking shit.

And while Hyunjin kept eating you out, Felix ate Hyunjin out, a symphony of pleasured moans filling your room. Felix gathered as much spit into his mouth as possible, and let it drip onto Hyunjin’s hole, spitting more forcefully for good measure. Then, he took his fingers and rubbed the wetness around the opening, and started working his fingers inside, stretching Hyunjin out for Felix’s cock.

Hyunjin let out a sharp gasp at the feeling, making you think briefly he didn’t like it, but when he spread his legs further apart and presented himself to Felix even more, you knew you were mistaken.

“You think you’re ready for this, Hyun?” Felix questions, scissoring his fingers inside Hyunjin as much as he could, wet squelching sounds accompanying his actions.

Hyunjin lifts his head to look back at Felix over his shoulder, giving him a sultry smirk. “Yeah, fuck me real nice Lix-yah, I wan’ Y/N to see all the ways we’re good at fucking,” Hyunjin says on a whiny, fucked out breath.

“Then be good and make her cum again with that mouth, while I stuff this little hole of yours, ‘kay?” Felix breathily commands, sounding fucked out himself, though forcefully pushing Hyunjin’s head back into your cunt.

As Hyunjin returned to burying himself in your heat, Felix positioned himself, the tip of his dripping cock starting to push inside Hyunjin. It was like everyone moaned at the same time, setting off chain reactions of pleasure for another. Hyunjin couldn’t stop the noises leaving his mouth as Felix fully sunk into him, sending vibrations of moans against your clit, which he started to play with to finally work you back up to another orgasm. Both of your hands now threaded into his hair, biting back the pathetic whine and pants bubbling up your throat from the feeling and seeing Felix’s face twisted up in pleasure, slowly rutting himself into his lover—now your lover too. He felt like he could cum already, the sight of his lover of 20 years, whom he never got tired of, pleasuring his new lover, one he wants just as much for just as long, made his brain go all fuzzy and warm.

Hyunjin lifted your legs to drape over his shoulders, allowing his arms to reach up and around your outer thighs, fingertips stretching to play with your nipples as he alternated from sucking the pudge of your clit into his mouth and sloppily flicking at his with his tongue. His eyelids were heavy, completely pussydrunk, while Felix now pounded into him, hitting his prostate just right, making him hard and leaky.

All of his senses overwhelmed with the two people he loved more than he could ever comprehend, Hyunjin couldn’t hold off any longer. His hands wrapped around your thighs, sucking you into his mouth as deep, loud moans ripped through his chest, his whole body trembling as he released onto the already ruined sheets beneath him.

You gasped, toes curling as your back lifted off the bed at such a harsh angle that all you could see was the headboard and tears blurring your vision, cumming all over Hyunjin’s face, still holding onto him with his hair tangled in your hands. Waves of pleasure made your body convulse, and your thighs close around Hyunjin’s head. He happily let you ride out your high, weakly grinding yourself against his mouth; he loved the way you used him to do so.

The sight of both of you cumming underneath him was enough to push Felix over the edge. A few more quick thrusts, and he buried himself to hilt, letting out the prettiest mix of breathy whines and rattling moans as he filled Hyunjin with his hot load, the muscles in his abdomen contracting.

Felix gently pulled out his softening cock from Hyunjin, droplets of cum dripping out at the movement. He flopped himself on his back next to you, and Hyunjin did the same on the other side as he removed his mouth from you after what felt like ages, leaving all three of you on your backs, panting, trying to find your breath and the ability to function.

You all were filthy messes—dripping sweat, covered in spit, leaking cum, gasping for air, with bodies still slightly spasming from the aftershocks of your intense orgasms.

It was beautiful.

“Did that feel good, angel?” Hyunjin manages to ask, his voice shaky with giddiness over all that just happened.

“That would be the understatement of the century,” you answer, still slightly out of breath, “How were you both so good at that, but you’ve never been with a woman?”

“The internet is a wonderful place for curious minds,” Felix mumbles, a little giggle in his shot voice.

“And you know how much I love a good book. There are some pretty interesting ones out there. A lot of fairy porn,” Hyunjin adds with a light chuckle, making you let out an airy laugh.

You’re not sure how long you all stay like that for, nearly drifting off into a comatose state of fucked-out sleep. That is, until Hyunjin clears his throat and raises a fist over your chest in Felix’s direction.

“Rock, paper, scissors to see who has to change the sheets? Winner draws a bath for Y/N-ah,” Hyunjin proposes.

A giggle bubbles in Felix’s chest as he answers, “Sure,” humoring Hyunjin.

You roll your eyes as they throw their hands above you. Felix throws “rock” as Hyunjin throws “scissors”, resulting in a dramatic cry from Hyunjin.

“Yah, don’t complain, most of it’s your cum on the sheets, anyway,” Felix laughs out.

“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing, when you really should be thanking me,” Hyunjin teasingly argues, theatrically fluttering his eyelashes at Felix.

“Thank you,” Felix starts, propping himself up to lean over you and playfully slap the side of Hyunjin’s ass, “now get up.”

“Finneeee,” Hyunjin groans, but leans over to press a tender kiss to your cheek before forcing himself to swing his legs over the edge of the bed.

Felix gets up too, scooping your heavy body into his arms. How he had the strength to do so after all you guys had gotten up to, you have no idea.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?” he quietly says as he presses a peck to your forehead, taking you into your bathroom.

He sets you on the toilet as he starts running a bath. The feeling of cum dripping out of you was…odd, to say the least.

After filling the bath with warm water, Felix helps you up and into the bath, making sure you weren’t going to slip, and slides into the tub behind you. You help wash each other off, soapy bubbles floating into the air.

Hyunjin struts in after a bit, still fucking gorgeous even while being in desperate need of a shower. He sheepishly smiles at you and Felix as he says, ”Sheets are clean. You have room for one more?”

“You see how big this tub is, get your cute ass in here,” you tease, reaching out to him. He laughs, and makes his way into the tub, nestling between your and Felix’s legs, leaning back against your chest.

As you start helping him wash off, hands massaging his shoulders and upper arms, a thought pops into your head, and you grimace.

“Speaking of ass though, maybe it should’ve been Felix to change the sheets, because if you walked around dripping cum onto my floors, I’m going to be pissed.”

Both Felix and Hyunjin crack up at your comment, but you were somewhat serious.

“Don’t worry angel, if I did, I’ll lick it up,” Hyunjin comments with a sly smile, trying to turn to face you.

“Eww Hyunjin,” you whine, lightly hitting his arm, “but kind of hot…” you murmur under your breath, and then you all were giggling.

Once being thoroughly cleaned, they help you out of the tub, and you all start toweling off. You can’t help but smile like an idiot as they run towels through their clean, fluffy hair, causing it to stick up in all directions. What did you ever do to deserve them?

The three of you venture back into the bedroom, and Felix pads over to the dresser for clean boxers, tossing a couple pairs at you and Hyunjin, and grabbing a thin white sleep shirt for you.

Crawling back into bed under the soft covers, Felix and Hyunjin snuggle up next to you, sandwiching you between them, peppering your face with sweet kisses while also stealing a few pecks on the lips between the two of them. You giggled like a little school girl at the tickling affection, squinting and trying to kiss them back, making them giggle too. It was so silly, but so full of a love you never dreamed you’d ever be able to have.

You all start to drift off to sleep, mumbling sleepy “I love you”s, a big fluffy bundle of tangled limbs—content, satisfied, and full of love (and maybe still a little bit of cum). And little did you know, this was only the beginning.

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series taglist: @lilyuwon @chanssmiles @chartrucewhore @hopefulrascalstatesmantoad @thoughtsmeander2tumblingblindly @jehhskz @palindrome969 @thecutiepieme @iambangchanswife @warren-thedarkangel @sky00ung @himenaayo-blog @lions-wolves-and-dragons-oh-my @jisunglyricist @bangchansgirlsblog @reignessance @selinia86 @fr34k4c1dr41n @nicoleparadas @b-chansbbygirl @cheynalexilaiho

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mikaelaa4 · 2 months ago

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Losing My Breath For You.

Part 1 | Part 2 | total parts TBD

pairing: mermen!hyunlix x fem!reader

chapter / series content: when a sudden inherited piece of property falls into your lap, who are you to pass up the opportunity for a fresh start? upon arrival to your new life, things get…fishy. family secrets, a pearl necklace, and the feeling you’re being watched…by two curious sets of shimmering eyes—is this new chapter that of a fairytale, or your worst nightmare?

series quote inspiration: “the moment I gave my breath away, just to gain a new life—perhaps, there may be no going back.” - felix in the lose my breath m/v teaser 1

word count: 9.2k (had to set the scene y’all)

chapter / series warnings: eventual smut (mxm w/ reader) and eventual MDNI 18+ content, mentions of familial death/tragedy, brief mention of suicidal thoughts, casual alcohol use, cursing, mystery, fantasy (mermen!) , angst, suggestive themes, eventual happy ending (oh, and Seonghwa from ateez will briefly be a part of this story as well! i was trying to think of idols with faces that fit a very ethereal vibe and Seonghwa has one of those faces imo)

author’s note: chapter 1 is finally here!! ahhh! oh how fun it was to get this done (even while being painfully time consuming for me at the same time). i do have to say a quick apology for the lack of smut in this chapter, but i HAD to give enough background for us to be able to appreciate🤌 the utterly filthy shenanigans these 3 are gonna get up to. i have a few scenes planned already, and wow i’m already drooling (from where, i’ll let you decide😉). the first scene will go down in chapter 2! so sit patiently my fellow horny friends🫶 in the meantime, please message me any feedback! it helps me improve my writing as i continue my journey✨

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“You can set it to the left over there,” you say as you point to an empty space next to the couch. The mover lugged a large box over to the spot, and dropped it with a thud. You flinched at the noise, and hoped you didn’t have anything breakable in that one. You already had to make peace with some broken vases from an earlier mishap. Oh well, you thought, those were kinda ugly anyway.

The last few boxes of your belongings had been placed inside, and you kindly thanked the movers for all their help, waving goodbye as the moving truck drove away from the house. Your house. Your new house. Well, new to you, that is.

You never expected to be able to own your own home any time soon, especially with the current cruel state of the real estate market, as well as the humbling state of your checking account. So, when you got an email informing you that you were being given a house, you nearly spit out your coffee. You thought it was a scam of some sort, sounding way too good to be true; but after checking out the validity of the information a few different ways, and making several phone calls to various professionals, what the email said was, in fact, true.

Your great aunt on your dad’s side had recently passed away, and she had made the wild decision to leave you what remained of her assets. You never even met the woman, only ever hearing that she lived on the coast across the country, and had become disconnected from the family around a year after relocating there, about 30 years prior. This happened before you were born, so you never really heard or thought much about her. But now, you so wish you had gotten to at least speak with her, because she had to have been someone interesting. Because, who the hell leaves their assets to a freaking 20-some-year-old with a knack for poor financial decisions? The only logical answer you could come up with was that she simply didn’t have anyone else. She never married, never had kids of her own, and had removed herself from the little family she did have. Your heart hurt when you learned that, for many reasons. How much had she been hurting in order to move so far away, and distance herself from everyone? How could someone willingly make a decision like that?

You were alone as well, but not for some decision you made. What wouldn’t you give to have some semblance of family in your own life again? You lost your parents years ago, another tragic tale of a late night and a drunk driver. You never expected to experience such a great loss at such a young age, facing it on your own as your extended family either had also passed or were never close to begin with.

You got through it by drowning yourself in your job, and setting up routines to get lost in to avoid the pain. You were getting through life, but you weren’t living it. You’d been having one too many thoughts recently of figuring out how to end this, end the pain, and be with family again one way or another. But you knew you couldn’t do it. You knew that even if your parents were no longer in this world, to somehow know you made the decision to take yourself out of it as well, would devastate them. You couldn’t do that. Not to them. But something needed to change, and soon. You needed a fresh start.

And a fresh start you were given, by a family member nevertheless. It took you less than an hour to make the decision to move across the country and start putting plans for it in motion once confirming the information was true. You knew this is what you needed. A shred of hope for something different than the sad excuse of a life you’ve been living. The life your aunt found there must be something worthwhile, something worth leaving the past behind for her to do what she did. Maybe you would find that something too.

The only thing you were trying to find now though, were the boxes that had your pajamas in it. It had been a long day, and all you wanted to do was take a hot shower and to unwind as you settle into your new home. After silently cursing yourself for not labeling the boxes better, you finally found some pajamas and toiletries, and lugged your tired body up the 2 small flights of the open riser staircase that stood in the center of the house. Making your way into the master ensuite bathroom, you stop in your tracks upon switching on the light. Holy shit.

At the far end of the bathroom was an absolutely massive clawfoot tub, the kind you only figured existed in movies. Yet, here it was, the focal point of your bathroom—pristine white, with ornate gold feet, and faucet and showerhead fixtures to match. Auntie must’ve been one to indulge herself with a nice bath from time to time. You made a mental note you’d have to try it out, maybe even order some bath bombs for a particularly heightened experience. But tonight was not the night.

You spent almost an hour in the shower, letting the just barely scolding water run over you as you try to process everything. There was a part of you that felt like this was all just a dream, and that you would wake up with the hope for this new life fading into a memory. You pinch yourself, once, twice to be sure, and let out a relieved sigh that this apparently wasn’t just your imagination.

After stepping out of the shower, thoroughly out of breath and relaxed from the hot water, you throw on your pajamas and head back downstairs. You pad into the kitchen, stomach growling as if it was aware of the space you just entered. You’d have to make a trip to the grocery store before the weekend was over, as all you had in the house for food was a bag of beef jerky and some sour candies you picked up from the last gas station you stopped at on your trip here. The knowledge of the lack of food ironically caused your stomach to growl even louder. Dramatic ass.

Then you remembered something. The realtor you dealt with during the process of making all of the arrangements for the house official was kind enough to give you a “welcome” goodie bag after handing you the keys to the house this morning. You lightly jog over to where you left the purple gift bag, and start pulling out everything inside—a linen scented 3-wick candle, a coffee mug with the printing “Home Sweet Home” in pretty calligraphy, a bottle of white wine, and a bundle of gift cards to local restaurants and their respective take-out menus. Perfect. You flip through the menus and picked a place that sounded the most appealing that also offered delivery (you’re in your pajamas—ain’t no damn way you’re leaving this house again today).

After placing your order, you decide to break into the bottle of wine you were gifted. Today was a day worth celebrating, after all. You start opening the cabinets on the hunt for a glass, and you’re pleased to find a set of blue-tinted stemless wine glasses. Pouring yourself a generous glass, you then lightly sip on the fruity drink and start to meander around. This morning had been so hectic, and the pictures you received of the property weren’t the best, so you hadn’t had the time yet to truly take in the place you now get to call home.

Your aunt clearly liked a certain theme, and decided to run with it. From what you’ve seen so far, every corner of the almost 1,100 square foot beach cottage carried the same tones of teal, deep blues, cool purples, and touches of emerald greens. Everything from the furniture upholstery to the wall décor bleeded these colors. It would’ve been…a bit much, if it wasn’t for the white paneled walls and the light bleached wood colors of the floors and furnishings breaking up the rich colors. Maybe it was the vintage gold accents of the furniture hardware and lighting fixtures, or the multiple sea glass windchimes hanging from the rafters, or maybe even the few mermaid figurines and art pieces placed about, you weren’t sure, but when all combined, it made the place feel…what’s the word?...magical? ethereal? Yeah, something like that.

Part of you had been concerned about taking possession of the house, because while owning a paid-off house on the coast is pretty much an insane blessing, there was a catch—you would take possession of the house, and everything with it. This meant all of your aunt’s remaining belongings would be your sole responsibility to take care of. What if she was one of those crazy cat lady hoarders with walls of newspapers stacked to the ceiling? Still, the pros outweighed the cons, because who are you to pass up a paid-off house? In this economy?? Bring on the cats.

Thankfully, your concerns weren’t necessary, as the craziest thing about your aunt seemed to be her interior design choices. The house was very clean, organized, and clearly well taken care of. Though that made you wonder…how? From what little you had come to know about your aunt through this process, she hadn’t been doing well for the past year or so, which isn’t necessarily surprising considering the fact that she was in her late 80’s when she finally passed. So, with that understanding, how did she keep up with all of this? She had to have had a housekeeper, you decided. Otherwise, there is no way this house would be in this borderline sparkling condition.

So while the color scheme of it all wouldn’t have been your initial choice, you could tell it was already growing on you (and you were like 98% sure that had nothing to do with the wine you were still sipping on). You were in no rush to change anything, and the thought of doing so made you feel somewhat uneasy. It all felt really personal. Intentional. Your aunt obviously had reflected the things she enjoyed in the way she decorated her home, and to start changing it seemed almost disrespectful to her memory. You didn’t know her, but you felt like you could have, just by simply observing the space she spent most of her time in.

And honestly, you were grateful, as being able to use her belongings meant you didn’t have to worry about furnishing a whole house with what little you owned from the shoebox of an apartment you moved from. The only furniture you had to bring with you was your bed (sorry Auntie, but no way on this planet were you going to sleep in a dead relative’s bed, because, well, ew).

You eventually wander over to the glass patio doors, and look out into the back of the property. Woah. You knew you were on a private beach, but to see it with your own eyes was something else. The sun was nearly completely set, the dark sky tinged with the slightest shade of orange, creating a stunning reflection on the waves, which almost appeared black due to the impending nighttime.

You step outside onto the stone patio, and begin following the small path leading into the sand. You’re surprised once your bare feet touch the pale sand, as it is incredibly soft, almost the texture of fine sugar. You wiggle your toes in it, and can’t help but smile at the sensation. Your turn around a few times as you continue to walk, absorbing your surroundings. You had never considered yourself a “beach person”, only visiting a couple in your life. But this was breathtaking. It was secluded, as it was a little less than a half mile drive to reach the nearest street, and therefore peacefully quiet; the only noise you could hear were the waves lapping at the shore. You had no neighbors next to you, just thick patches of native vegetation surrounding the parts of the property that weren’t stretches of sandy beach or clifface. Off to right, a large portion of clifface jutted out into the ocean, creating a small cove of some sort. That might be fun to explore. That adventure would need to wait for another time though, as what little remained of the sun was now being replaced by moonlight, and your two left feet would need as much light as possible in order to avoid a literal trip into the ocean.

You let out a sigh, and close your eyes. You take a deep breath, inhaling the cool, refreshingly salty air. You were starting to understand what led your aunt to stay so isolated. She had her own little piece of paradise in her backyard. You couldn’t help but feel at peace in the midst of it. But…there’s something…off.

Your eyebrows pull together in confusion. You know you are alone out here, and that’s part of why you feel so at ease. Yet, why are you suddenly feeling the hair on the back of your neck prick up? Almost like the sixth sense that you’re being watched.

Your eyes shoot open and begin scanning your surroundings, some unexplainable feeling setting you on edge. You look out into the water, and see something shimmery coming from the direction of the cove you noticed prior. It’s faint, barely perceptible from this distance, but it’s something. Your brain is reminded of reflective irises of nocturnal animals, and you then blink a few times, willing the image before you to somehow become clearer. Are they the irises of some kind of sea animal? Your eyes continue adjusting, and it would be a likely possibility, as it appeared to be not only one set of shimmering orbs against the blackened water, but two.

Suddenly, you hear a car engine speeding down the driveway towards your house, and whip your head in that direction. As you turned your head, you hear a splash behind you. Whipping your head back to the direction of the cove, you see large ripples of water spreading out from what must have been the splash you heard. The shimmering orbs were gone. Whatever was watching you was gone.

A light shiver runs down your spine, and you shake your head to snap out of it. It was just an animal. Or two. You’d have to spend some time doing research on the local fauna, figuring out if there are any creatures that you might need to be concerned about in your little piece of paradise. But yeah, probably just a seal. Something of that nature.

You remember the sound of the car, and then hear the doorbell ringing, and some light knocking. Oh right! The take-out you ordered. You turn and run inside, trailing sand through the house as you head for the front door. Now that is going to get annoying.

You greet the delivery driver with the best I totally wasn’t just being stalked by ocean creatures smile you can manage, thank them with a nice tip, and bring the food inside. The smell was mouth-watering, and you and your stomach finally remember how hungry you had been. You dig into the food, and the eerie beach incident fades into the back of your mind to deal with at a later time.

With a full stomach, the feeling of exhaustion begins to take over your body, and it’s officially time for bed. You trudge up the stairs and into your bedroom, ready to flop on your bed and call it a night. But as you enter the room, you are greeted with the sight of your bare mattress. Shit. You forgot to unpack the sheets and blankets. Ughh, where the fuck is that box??

• • •

You wake up to the feeling of sunlight shining in from the balcony doors, baking into the heap of blankets that encapsulated you, which caused you feel uncomfortably hot all of a sudden. You huff, kicking and struggling against the fuzzy fabric, trying to free yourself from your unintentional cocoon. Once free, you squint as you slap around your mattress to find your phone. You eventually find it underneath your pillow, and check the time. 10:13 AM. Well shit. You forgot to set an alarm last night, resulting in you sleeping in later than intended.

Regardless, you’re awake now, somehow well rested in spite of the thoughts about those animals you spotted last night that were trying to claw their way to the forefront of your mind. Thankfully, the tiredness you were feeling won, and you passed out into a dreamless sleep.

Seizing the benefits of a good night’s sleep, you immediately start working on the tasks you knew you wanted to accomplish before the weekend was over. You prioritize finding all your work supplies, knowing your brief time off was ending at the start of the new week. You were relieved the company you worked for was agreeable to the idea of you working remote, as you somewhat enjoyed your job and didn’t want to have to worry about finding a new one once you moved.

Though, you really wouldn’t have had to panic if it didn’t work out, as part of your aunt’s remaining assets that were left to you included a decent chunk of change in your bank account. It certainly wasn’t enough to responsibly live on forever, but it was enough that life would be comfortable—very comfortable if you included the fact that you still had your job AND didn’t have to pay a mortgage. The more you considered these unexpected perks, the more excited you became about this new life you were beginning.

You found a beautiful sandy colored writing desk in a spare room downstairs, and decided it would be a perfect desk to use for work. It appeared well-loved, with scuffs and old pen marks speckling the surface, as well as pretty stationary and an assortment of all kinds of pens and pencils scattered within the drawers. It made you smile. I wonder what she would write about, you pondered. Or who she wrote to…

You let that thought fade away as you started to move the desk out into the living room. There was a large window there, sharing the same wall as the patio doors. You knew you wanted to be able to look out into the ocean while you worked, the view simply too addicting to stay away from for any length of time. Carefully, you shifted the desk into the empty space underneath the window (though even with your thoughtful movements, you still managed to set a desk leg on your big toe, letting some phrases almost as colorful as this house escape your lips).

Conveniently, there was a sparce bookshelf to the right of your desk on the adjoining wall, as well as a velvet armchair, which you now moved to be used as a desk chair. The set up was cute, and you were looking forward to being able to use it.

After spending a few hours unpacking, setting up your desk, and finding places for some random items along the way, you could feel yourself getting hungry. You still only had your gas station snacks in the house, and you knew a couple pieces of jerky wouldn’t hold you over for long. Therefore, adventure time! The time has come for you to venture into town to do some grocery shopping.

You threw on the clothes you wore yesterday, annoyed you still had only found the box of clothes that contained your pajamas, and headed out to your car. Beginning your drive into town, you couldn’t help but notice how different everything was from where you used to live. You were used to wide, bustling city streets, claustrophobic skylines, and the only vegetation being the small trees and shrubs scattered along the sidewalks. This place seemed to be the exact opposite of that. The roads were narrow and winding, with all kinds of colors of plants and trees lining the edges of the street. You passed a few beach front communities, but even those still allowed for decent space and privacy from each other, something nearly nonexistent in your old neighborhood. Some small shops and restaurants began appearing, and you could tell you were close to downtown.

You finally make it to the grocery mart, and head inside to continue your mission of finding proper food to stock your house, instead of just a sad lonely bag of beef jerky. You’re pleased to find everything you need, from house supplies to plenty of food, including some fresh cuts of locally caught fish you were excited to try out.

Once back home, now with your load of groceries stored away in the fridge and pantry, you put together a late lunch to scarf down, and begin unpacking more of your belongings. You decide it’s best to focus on finding all your clothes, so you have more wearable options to choose from instead of just pajamas and dirty clothes.

You start with the closet, placing what clothes you found so far on hangers. Your aunt didn’t seem to have had an extensive wardrobe, even with the spacious walk-in closet you were currently standing in. While putting up your clothes, you go through the clothes your aunt did leave behind. She was someone who clearly embraced the “beach” style—linen blouses and button-ups, thin cotton t-shirts, and variations of bohemian maxi skirts and pants. You had to acknowledge that the woman had style, given that most women her age usually gravitate towards questionable graphic sweatshirts and khaki pants. It seemed as well that you and her were a similar size, and since your beachy summer wardrobe was severely lacking, you decide to keep some of your favorite pieces, and fold up the things you probably wouldn’t wear into empty boxes that you would donate at a later time.

With the closet mostly taken care of, the exception being some small boxes of your aunt’s on the upper shelves you need to find a step stool to reach, you start going through the aged light oak dresser in the bedroom. You pull open a few drawers, and what you find has your eyebrows quirking in confusion. Are these…men’s clothes? You pull out a few items, and your question was definitely answered upon holding up a pair of boxer briefs. So unless your auntie liked rocking some men’s undies (which honestly, you wouldn’t blame her for, these seemed comfy), there was a man living here at some point. This explained some of the shirts you found in the closet, but you thought they were for an oversized-for-fashion kind of look. But with this discovery, it would appear those weren’t all your aunt’s clothes, but someone else’s as well. So, auntie had a boyfriend, huh? That makes one of us. Good for her.

You laugh, and let out a small sigh. Your 80-some year-old auntie was getting some, yet the last time you kissed a man was probably early college, which would’ve been a few months before your parent’s accident. Your thoughts suddenly turned grim, and you shifted your thoughts away from your sad love life, and life in general, to a bit more of a pressing question—if your aunt did have a boyfriend, where the hell is he? Nowhere in the process of acquiring the house did the mention of someone in your aunt’s life come up, nor did anyone come forward. If she had a boyfriend, wouldn’t she have left this all for him?

Then, you felt kind of stupid, because whoever she was sharing a life with here most likely had passed as well at some point, given he probably wasn’t far off in age from her. Sadness looms in your mind again. You sincerely hoped that whatever this person was to her, that she was able to experience genuine happiness with them in her life. Maybe the paradise she found here had to do with more than just the beautiful location? Maybe she found something even more beautiful.

A wave of emotion comes over you, and you need a break. While closing the dresser drawers, your eyes catch something. Your aunt’s dresser was adorned with the same kinds of colorful décor featured throughout the rest of the house—a few sea and carnival glass vases, sea shell jewelry trays, a gold mermaid statue that was draped with bracelets, and some other vintage trinkets. What caught your eye though, was a small mother-of-pearl inlayed box in the back center of the dresser. The sunlight still shining into your room made the iridescent box reflect a kind of glow, and you knew you wouldn’t be able to resist opening it. You lift the lid, and take a peek at whatever treasure this little box held.

Inside, you find pearls. Many pearls. Like, almost 30? These pearls weren’t like any pearls you’ve ever seen (not that you’ve encountered many though, to be fair). The pearls were breathtaking. Though they were varied in size and shape, they all had a unique iridescence. Similar to the box they were kept in, but more. You picked up a larger one, and held it up to the light. The pearl had an almost golden color, rather than traditional white, and as you rolled the pearl between your fingers, a silver and blue shade of iridescence swirled over the pearl, almost as if it had been rolled in a thin layer of tinted glass. Strange.

You set the pearl back in the box, and as you did so, you noticed a gold chain inside. You pick it up, and it turns out to be a necklace. The chain was thin and appeared delicate, gold and slightly varnished, giving it an antique look. The necklace was small, and looked like it would sit close to the base of the neck. Attached perpendicular to the center of the chain was another single strand of chain hanging down. At the end of that piece of chain was a pearl cage, gold and varnished like the rest. Inside of the pearl cage was a pearl of the same appearance as the rest in the box. The design was odd, but beautiful nonetheless.

You try the necklace on, seeing if it’d be something you’d enjoy wearing. Looking into the mirror above the dresser, you see you were right about the placement, as the necklace hugs the base of your neck. The strand of chain with the pearl hangs down to the top of your chest, resting in the center of your sternum. Again, it was odd, but you liked it. After admiring the way it looked on you, you tuck it inside your shirt, take a deep breath, and get back to unpacking more of your belongings.

• • •

The weekend ends, and the first week in your new house passes by surprisingly quick. You’ve been able to get a lot of unpacking completed, only a few untouched boxes left scattered around the house, along with a few boxes ready to be donated. You were settling into routines, such as getting back into the swing of things with your job. Everything was going pretty well, you’d have to say. Though, there was one thing that kept nagging at you all week.

Those stupid, reflective, shimmering sets of orbs.

You’ve started forming the habit of taking small strolls along the beach, trying to fully appreciate it every time your feet hit the sand. However, you can’t help scanning the waves for the eerie appearance every time you do. You never could see anything in the day time, and rarely at night while outside, except for a couple instances where you looked over your shoulder before walking inside the house and could swear you saw them, over by the cove, just like the first time. But when you were inside? You saw them. Whether it was through the living room window or from your bedroom balcony, the mysterious shimmering orbs would be there, by the cove, watching. You could never make anything out other than that, no matter how much you squinted and squinted, trying to confirm whatever the hell they were. They’re just seals, Y/N, they’re common in this area, you’re fine, stop being such a baby, you’d tell yourself. But another part of you knew that was just a bunch of bullshit.

As you formed routines, it was as if these strange orbs would too. Every night before bed, you’d step onto the balcony to breath in some fresh air, and almost as if on cue, the orbs would appear. You felt fucking crazy. What are they?! And yet, even with the crippling curiosity, you were always too chicken to investigate any closer.

Until tonight.

You were out on the balcony as usual, wearing your favorite pair of sleep shorts and a ribbed tank top. The evening breeze blowing in from the ocean caused goosebumps and the hair on your arms to stand up. You lean against the railing, closing your eyes and savoring the refreshing air. Then, you get that damn feeling again. Your hair stood up, but this time for a different reason.

You immediately open your eyes, and sure enough, they’re here. The mysterious shimmering orbs were in their usual spot by the cove. You huff out an annoyed breath of air. How long is this going to go on for?!

Creeped out, frustrated, and slightly overtired, you shout over the railing, “What the hell do you want from me?!”

After your outburst, you felt embarrassed. You were really losing your fucking mind. No one can hear you out here, and these objects of your frustration certainly didn’t.

Or so you thought.

Suddenly, water began splashing near the opening of the cove. Loud, quick thrashes against the waves. You couldn’t see the orbs any more.

Something about this made you feel deeply unsettled. A pang of fear shot through you. This feeling should make you run inside, lock the doors, and throw the covers over your head as sleep ends this night.

So did you do that? Of course not. While you do run back inside, you’re not running for your bed, but to the stairs and straight to the back doors. You didn’t understand what you were doing. What fucking IDIOT does this? C’mon, this is how people die in horror movies! Rule #1—NEVER go investigate; you stay inside and keep your ass sat in safety.

But you couldn’t take it anymore. You HAD to find out what the source of your sanity cracking was. And when it turned out to be some little ocean creature, you’d have a good laugh, and move on.

You jam your feet into some sneakers, grab the flashlight you keep by the doors to use for your evening walks, and rush out into the chilly night. You quickly walk towards the rocky cove, determination in every step. You will end this mystery once and for all.

You approach the large rocks near the mouth of the cove, your heart pounding rapidly against your ribcage. You shine the light into the blackened waters, searching for the source of the splashing. But you saw nothing, and the waters were still, only light waves lapping at the rock formations.

Then, you hear that same splashing from earlier coming from inside the cove.

You were going to have to go inside if you were going to figure out the source. You felt like you were going to throw up, the nausea creeping up your throat. You should just turn back and leave whatever it was alone. But you came this far, and you needed this answered, for the sake of your mental health.

Taking careful steps up onto the rocks leading into the cove opening, you make your way inside, your flashlight shakingly illuminating your path. You safely make it onto the inner landing, and shine the light around, trying to get your bearings.

The inside of the cove was smaller than you imagined, maybe about the size of one of your spare rooms. Ledges of rock ran parallel to each other, with a narrow opening at the entrance to the cove, gradually widening into an irregular sphere shape in the center of the cavern. About a foot or so down from the sharp rock ledge were the ocean waters, relatively still in comparison to the usual waves outside. Holes and fractures in the rock above let in small streams of moonlight into the darkness, but still kept it mostly shrouded from the outside world.

The still, quiet inside should’ve given you some peace, but your heart was violently hammering in your chest, worse than before. You walk further in, heading to the center, eyes scanning back and forth for movement. Slowly approaching the edge, you—

WHOOSH-SPLASH!

Black, icy water swallows you. You had been so focused on what could be in the water that you did not see the spots near the ledge that slanted down, making the perfect slick ramp for you to slip right into the watery abyss.

You’re panicking, trying to swim to find the surface. Your flashlight had fallen out of your hand, and was now slowly sinking to the ocean floor. As it made its descent, you saw something move at the very edge of the flashlight’s field of light. Something big. Something with scales.

You finally reach the surface, coughing and gasping for air. The knowledge that there is indeed something in this water with you had you vibrating with fear, splashing and trying to find the strength to get back to the ledge, as you were fighting the paralyzing sensation of utter terror. Then, right before reaching for the ledge, you feel something cold slide across the back of your calf. You whip your body around, and are met with a human face staring at you.

The most shrieking, blood-curdling scream rips from your mouth, echoing against the walls of rock surrounding you.

Your body is overcome with the need to flee, desperately aware of the danger before you. You turn away, swimming for the opposite ledge, and abruptly halt your efforts as another human face blocks your path. A second scream escapes your chest, this time coming out rough and gargled.

You sputter diagonally, clawing at the waters to reach any part of a ledge, making a last-ditch effort to escape. You do manage to reach a ledge, but as you grip and try to lift yourself up, you feel the rock rip into your palm. You yelp in pain and flinch your hand back, but grabbed at the ledge again regardless, knowing the pain meant nothing in comparison to this confusing horror you were almost quite literally surrounded by.

A deep accented voice cut through the air behind you.

“Easy, easy, sweetheart, before you hurt yourself even more. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Yes, you’re safe, it’s okay,” another voice cooed, higher pitched and honey sweet in tone.

You’re still holding onto the rock ledge as you slowly turn yourself in the direction of the voices. You try to steady your breathing as you take in the faces that had spoken, failing miserably.

You were expecting to see the vision of gruesome beings from a scary movie, but staring back at you were two of the most beautiful men you think you’ve ever seen in your life. The one floating closest to you had a face that would be best described as precious—small, pale, and sprinkled with tiny freckles that almost mimicked constellations. His hair was a snowy blonde, half-tied back with a few twists and braids, a couple tiny seashells threaded into them, and the rest of his hair fell flat against his neck, the ends slightly reaching his collarbone. Your eyes met his, and you felt as if you could’ve melted, dissipating into the water surrounding you. His eyes were dark, yet unnaturally shimmered against the blackness of night; they were enchantingly beautiful. Your eyes lingered further down, following the paths of the freckles decorating his porcelain skin, down his cute button nose, and reaching his pink, heart shaped lips, which were now slowly curling up into a smirk as he watched you take in his appearance.

A quiet giggle reached your ears from a little further behind and to the left of this shockingly beautiful man. Your eyes flipped to the source, and you made eye contact with another set of dark, shimmering, disturbingly beautiful eyes. His face was similarly shaped to the other man, but his features more pronounced—slanted and deeply hooded eyes, thicker brows, larger nose, and pillowy lips, the bottom one currently being tugged between his teeth, mirroring a smirk just like his counterpart. He didn’t have freckles, his skin almost glowing in clarity, all except for a single small freckle underneath one of his eyes. His hair was pitch black, a little longer than chin length, and slicked back away from his face, though a few strands couldn’t help but frame his features. He was somehow extremely similar yet at the same time strikingly different from the other man, the defined shared trait being how achingly stunning they were.

You on the other hand most assuredly couldn’t be any more different from them in your current state. You had to have appeared as the very embodiment of petrified, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape, quietly gasping in panicked breaths. You could feel your hair tangling across your forehead and against your neck, and adrenaline-fueled trembles caused you to shake like an anxious chihuahua.

Though these men were nothing short of gorgeous, they were still complete strangers, hiding away on your property, cornering you against a rocky wall of a dark cavern. Despite your obvious state, you make a pathetic attempt at sounding intimidating.

”W-who are you? What are you doing here? This is private p-property and you are trespassing!”

“We were given permission to be here,” the blonde one replies, making it clear he was the owner of the deep voice. This surprised you almost as much as his answer, as the voice couldn’t be more contradictory from his seemingly innocent appearance.

“By who?” you questioned, a crinkle forming between your brows.

The man with the black hair and silky sweet voice answered with your aunt’s name.

You dumbly blink a few times, trying to process what he just said.

“I—you—you knew my aunt?”

They both nod their heads, a sudden wave of sadness washing over their expressions.

“We only spoke with her a few times, her illness not making it easy to leave the house, but she was a kind woman. Quite witty too,” the blonde says, starting to smile as he must be recalling a memory, “She said we were allowed around so long as we let her stare as long as she wanted when she came by.”

“Hm, yeah Seonghwa didn’t find that quite as funny,” the other man snickered, his laugh light and chirpy.

Instead of clarifying things, this only made you feel more confused.

“Seonghwa? Who’s Seonghwa?” You had never heard that name before in your life.

The men exchange a look, almost as if saying that name was something they shouldn’t have done. However, the blonde continues, “He was your aunt’s…partner. He spoke with us more often, relaying anything your aunt wanted to tell us when she wasn’t well enough to come out.”

So your aunt did have a partner. And his name was Seonghwa.

“Where is he? Why isn’t he around?” you press further, trying to get an answer to one of the million questions you’ve had about your aunt’s life.

This time the black-haired man answers, “He informed us when your aunt finally passed, and left shortly after. He didn’t say where he was going, but he hasn’t been back since.” Another wave of sadness washed over his face.

You slowly nod as you try to digest what they just told you. Your aunt had a partner. His name was Seonghwa. He was alive. And nowhere to be found. That answers some questions, but leaves you with so many more. However, there were some more pressing questions you needed answers for.

“Alright, but, who are you then? Are you like, divers or something?”

The men exchange another glance, this time one filled with amusement and mischievous smirks.

“Yeah, you could say that,” the blonde replies, the air of some kind of joke tinting the response.

The black-haired man then disappears below the surface, a few bubbles taking his place in the water. Suddenly, he appears a couple feet away from you. You jump back against the wall of rock, not expecting him to do such a thing. He holds his hands up out of the water in a surrendered gesture, an attempt to get you not to be scared. You notice one of his hands is holding your flashlight. He slowly extends it towards you, wanting you to take it. You hesitantly oblige. He swims backwards, now directly next to the blonde.

You flip the flashlight back on, thankful you invested in one that was waterproof. Carefully, you shine the light in their direction, trying to get a better look at them without rudely blinding them with the light. You’re shining it more at the water near them, and the once black water was now a clear blue. So clear, in fact, that you could now see into the water. So clear, that you were able to see the two, huge, colorful tails attached to their bodies.

Whatever expression took over your face must have given away the scream about to leave your mouth again, and the blonde was now the one suddenly appearing in front of you, this time to quickly cover your mouth with his hand.

“Hey, hey, none of that. You’re still okay. Okay? I’ll let go if you promise not to scream. Alright, sweetheart?” he says in a tone attempting to soothe your panic.

You search his expression, trying to find the lie you were sure would be there. But you…didn’t see one. His face was open, concerned, as if he really was trying to get you to understand their harmless intentions.

You nod at him, willing to obey his request. Sort of.

He slowly removes his hand. Everything is dead silent for approximately one second. Then you’re shouting—

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOUUU?!”

They both flinch back, clearly not expecting the volume of your response. Then, the black-haired whatever slowly swims sideways in your direction, stopping next to the blonde whatever.

“C’mon, angel,” he teases, “I know we just met, but I’m willing to bet you’re smart enough to figure out what we are.”

You just blink at him. You stare into the water again, and clear as day, swishing near your legs, were what you could only label as mermaid tails. Or you guess, merman tails?

There’s no way. This isn’t actually happening.

Your mind is trying to process too many things at once, and amidst the mental struggle, your legs were physically struggling, screaming in fatigue from treading water, and your arm was aching from grasping the rock ledge and holding up some of your weight.

“If you really won’t hurt me, h-help me get out of the water,” you say, the quiet volume a stark contrast from the last phrase that left your lips.

They nod, and gently approach even closer. They each take hold of a leg and your waist, and lift you up onto the rock ledge to sit. You’re now looking down at them, your ankles still submerged in the water. They are floating on either side of you, calmly gliding their arms through the water, patiently waiting for your next move.

You shine the light on them again, and notice attached to their forearms are small fins, resembling the spine of a fish. You keep studying them, and even with the distorting effect of the water, it was evident their faces weren’t the only stunning thing about them. They were slim, yet very toned, touting extremely attractive musculature. You could also see, ever so faintly, iridescent floral-like patterns decorating their skin in various spots over their bodies—chest, abdomen, arms, and even on their neck. Further below was then, of course, their tails. The blonde on your left had a tail prominently muted teal in color, with a deep green and dusky gold iridescence reflecting off the light and his movement. The other to your right had a tail a deeper blue in color, almost a shade of navy, with a dark purple and silver iridescence shining off of his. The matching scales blended up from their lower waists onto the flesh of their abdomens, making it clear that these were very much attached to their bodies and not some trick. Beautiful. Hauntingly beautiful.

A huff of air puffs out from your lips. There’s no fucking way. Y/N, this is just some wild ass fever dream. WAKE UP.

You pinch your arm. Once, then twice to be sure. Nope. This is real.

Realization sinks in, and as you come to your conclusion, they both grasp onto the rock ledge on either side of you, and lift their bodies out of the water to sit by you. Their massive tails, still mostly submerged, are literally right next to you now.

There’s no denying it. These men are mermen.

”What the fuck…” you whisper, barely audible, eyes flicking back and forth between their tails. They still must’ve made it out though, as they both laugh under their breaths.

”My name is Felix, by the way,” the blonde says, drawing your attention up to his pretty face.

“And I’m Hyunjin,” the black-haired one says, and you turn your head to him, his piercing eyes looking over your face.

They both stare at you, waiting for a response, which was not going to come on its own. You’re truly dumbfounded.

“Hmph,” Felix awkwardly coughs, “What’s your name?”

“Oh, uh, it’s Y/N…my name is Y/N,” you mumble out.

“Oooh, that’s pretty. ‘Y/N’,” Hyunjin, responds, saying your name in almost a sing-song voice. Hearing someone as beautiful as him saying your name made your stomach flip.

You look into his eyes, and back at Felix’s. Another realization dawns on you.

Their eyes. Unnatural, shimmering sets of orbs.

They were what has been watching you since you moved in.

Before you can stop yourself, you blurt out, “You’ve been watching me. I’ve seen you. Your eyes. Why? Why have you been watching me??”

Not seeming surprised nor affected by your accusation, Felix answers, “Yes, we have. We saw that someone moved in, and we needed to determine if this was still a safe place for us.” Something about the way he said it made you feel like he was leaving something out, but you were already blurting out a question relating to another thought.

“Safe? Safe?” you laugh, “I’m the one wedged between two mythical creatures, who according to some stories, eat humans, and you’re the ones worried about whether I’m safe?”

Both of them let out loud, genuine belly laughs. You just stare.

“W-we won’t eat you. I can promise you that,” Felix chuckles out, trying to catch his breath from laughter.

You swear you hear Hyunjin mumble something like at least not that way as he also attempts to catch his breath, but you’re not really present enough to know for sure what you heard. Though, Felix leans behind you to reach over and smack Hyunjin upside the head. Hyunjin lets out a “Hey!” in response, rubbing the back of his head, while Felix gives him a pointed look, yet his tongue was playfully poking at the corner of his lip.

”What do you mean by ‘safe’, then?” you ask again, trying to understand what the hell has been going on.

“Well,” Felix starts, “There’s a reason why we’re a myth. There aren’t many of us, largely due to the history we have with humans. Neither are normally very…kind to the other. Lots of death has been left in the wake of those incidents. For the sake of protection, mer only make themselves known to humans they can trust. Out of that rare occurrence of trust, mer are able to live more freely in certain areas. That is what your aunt did for us. She protected our secret, and allowed us to live in this area with freedom we wouldn’t normally be able to take advantage of otherwise.”

You take a moment to process this.

“Then, what made you deem me trustworthy?” you follow-up with.

This time, it’s Hyunjin answering.

“We may not have known your aunt long, but we knew her character well enough to know she wouldn’t have left this place to just anyone, especially since it’s not Seonghwa. She must have felt you were somebody that could be entrusted with our secret as well.”

“But,” you object, “I never even spoke to the woman. I only briefly heard about her from when I was younger. How would she think that of me?”

Hyunjin ponders your words. He studies your face, and then his eyes start to drag down your body, settling on your chest. You suddenly feel extremely self-conscious, becoming aware of your skimpy pajamas that are now soaked and clinging to every curve of your body.

“This,” he says, as his hand reaches up to your chest, slightly brushing his fingertips against your skin. Your stomach flips again, stronger this time. You swallow, and hope they didn’t hear.

Hyunjin had picked up the pearl cage from the necklace you forgot you still had on, holding it between his fingers as he continued to speak, “This. She would not have left this for you to find if she did not trust you in some way. Between that fact, and simply our intuition, we believe you can be trusted with us.”

You blink at them again, like an idiot. “What does this necklace have to do with anything?”

Hyunjin looks over to Felix, and they exchange another one of those looks where they appear to be having a conversation without words.

“That’s quite the loaded question, for another time,” Felix answers. He reaches his hand up, gently taking the pearl cage from between Hyunjin’s fingers to hold it between his own instead. He leans over to inspect it closer, droplets of water from his hair now dripping onto your leg.

You feel his breath over your skin as he continues, “Just know it’s extremely rare, and something to be kept with care.” He finishes that thought, and instead of letting go of the necklace, he brings the pearl cage back to your chest, fingers lightly grazing against the skin as he drops his hand away.

Fuck. Your stomach could try out for the Olympics with the way it was flipping over these men. These mermen.

Felix searches your face for something. A little smirk appears on his lips again.

“So, you wanted to know ‘what the hell we wanted from you’,” he says, lifting his hands up and curling his fingers in air quotations, “and now you know. We wanted you. Y/N, we want you to keep our secret. Will you do that for us?”

Felix is still leaning close to you, searching your face for your honest answer.

And what would your answer be? Yeah, sorry, no, go fuck yourselves, and stop stalking me you gorgeous sea demons. That didn’t quite feel right.

This was crazy. Absolutely and completely unhinged. Were you really about to make some kind of agreement with fucking mermen?!

Yeah. Yeah, you were.

“Yes, I will,” you agree, taking a deep breath to settle your nervous system that was currently losing its shit.

Having determined your answer must be genuine, a heart-stopping smile breaks out across Felix’s face.

“Our Y/N,” he quietly says, almost as if to himself. Hyunjin claps his hands twice in excitement, the sound of his giggle making you feel fuzzy inside. You can’t help the smile appearing on your face as well.

Then, a cold breeze whistles into the cavern. Your body trembled, no longer with fear, but due to the bone-chilling cold against your soaked body.

“Go back inside, sweetheart, and get warm before you get sick,” Felix instructs.

As painfully cold as you were, you still had so many questions. You didn’t want to leave them (only for the sake of questions, of course…).

As if he could read your mind, he responds, “We’ll be here tomorrow. Just come out whenever. We’ll find you.”

That answer should leave you unsettled, but instead it gives you a small sense of comfort. He then slips down into the water, Hyunjin following his lead. You slowly stand up on the ledge, legs slightly shaking.

“Sleep well, angel. See you tomorrowww,” Hyunjin sing-songs, wiggling his fingers in a good-bye wave, and disappears under the water.

”Goodnight, Y/N. Sweet dreams.” Felix says in that deep voice that almost sounds like it’s reverberating off the walls, and sends you a quick wink, diving under the surface as well.

You stare for a moment, as everything becomes still, just like when you first walked in. You take a steadying breath, and begin your way out, trying not to fall in the water again. The worry wasn’t for fear now, but for being utterly embarrassing.

You do make it back to the beach, and head back into your house, puddles of water being left in your trek up the stairs and into the bathroom. You were practically convulsing from the cold, so you immediately strip and jump into a hot shower, erasing every last touch of cold from your skin.

You opt for a light sweatshirt and thicker sleep shorts for your new set of pajamas, but keep the pearl necklace on, remembering what Felix said. You tuck it inside your sweatshirt.

Curious, you decide to go out onto the balcony one last time before bed. At first, you see nothing in the waters. Only the gentle waves dancing across the ocean surface. But then, just like always, you see the two shimmering sets of what you now know, without a doubt, to be eyes. Watching.

A shiver runs down your back, and you’re not entirely sure if it’s one of fear, or one of excitement. You may have discovered what was driving you crazy, but you still have lost your mind.

What is this fairytale you’ve stumbled upon exactly? Is it still the one of paradise like you’ve been believing so far? Or is it one of those fairytales of old, the ones where they eventually turn into a nightmare?

You didn’t know. You couldn’t know, as of yet.

But you were going to find out, whether you wanted to or not.

Even so, you smile to yourself as you turn around, and head back into your bedroom, shutting the doors behind you.

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