Chapter Text
The water glistens like droplets of sweat from his back as the boat splashes uncaringly across the sea. The sun beats down on him with contempt and Minho has to raise his hand to his eyes and squint just to look across the vast expanse of water. But as he closes his eyes and inhales deeply, taking in the salty sea air and the familiar scent of giddy anticipation, Minho can’t seem to muster the energy to care.
He was there to relax, to enjoy himself. As his manager claims, he needs a break from rehearsals and music performances and variety shows and interviews and just everything that comes along with being a famous Korean entertainer. So here he is, set out on an enormous lake that, from where he cruised, has no beginning and no end. It’s just him and the boat and the water. It feels good, this unfamiliar solitude.
He spends nearly two hours leisurely floating, not bothering to sail the boat any farther across the lake. He’s perfectly happy to lay on the boat deck in nothing but a pair of short swimming trunks, soaking up the sunlight and letting his already tan skin turn an even richer gold in color. He isn’t there to be productive, that much is for certain.
As he lays there, eyes closed and hanging somewhere between sleep and dim awareness, he suddenly hears a low thud against the side of the boat. There aren’t any rocks and he definitely didn’t just hit the shore…
He has no idea what it is, but before he can choose to ignore it, he hears it again, only this time the thump is followed by a high pitched squeal.
Unable to curb his curiosity, Minho sits up gingerly and looks around for a moment in all directions to see if he can gauge what could possibly be hitting the side of his boat. When he still sees nothing, he stands and slowly, almost cautiously, makes his way to the edge of the boat.
He looks over the side and, failing to see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, turns around again. He’s about to walk back to his towel laid out on the deck when he hears the sound again. This time he spins around and quickly makes his way to peer over the edge of the boat, looking down. He knows he heard something, now he just has to find it.
He sees a shape in the water, dark and murky, and wonders for a second if maybe something fell off over the side. He doesn’t expect the dark shape to suddenly pop out of the water, so when it does, revealing a boy’s brightly grinning head, he jumps back and—well, later he’ll completely deny it—cries out in shock.
“What the fuck?!”
He takes four steps back and stops, breathing hard. Cautiously, he walks back to the railing, almost hoping he’d imagined the smiling face. Unfortunately, he sees that he hadn’t.
“Chyaaaah! ”
Minho stands shell shocked, staring down at a boy in the water. He looks no older than 16, strands of shining brown hair plastered to his head from the salty water. He stares back at Minho, releasing unusually high squeals every now and then, his face frowning.
Minho has no idea what’s going on, but he realizes he can’t just leave the kid in the water.
“Hey!” he interrupts the boy during one his squeals. The boy immediately silences, staring up at Minho with curiosity in his eyes. For a second Minho can’t help but think how adorable the boy looks, but quickly shakes his head and pushes the thought away. “Are you okay? Where’s your boat?”
The boy stares at him and from the glazed look on his face, it’s clear he has no idea what Minho is saying. Minho sighs, feeling awkward. “Where you…b-boat? ” he asks. He winces at his horrendous attempt at English, thinking the boy to possibly be foreign.
But the boy clearly doesn’t speak English either, because his face still looks just as puzzled. Shit, now what? he thinks to himself.
One thing is for certain—he can’t just leave the kid in the water. Even if he does look comfortable enough. He crouches down and slowly, so as not to startle the boy, reaches his hand out toward the water. He holds onto the edge of the boat, making sure he doesn’t accidentally fall into the lake.
He’s surprised when the boy immediately latches onto his hand, no indication of hesitation in his grip. He’d almost expected him to be weary of a complete stranger reaching out to him, but Minho’s glad nonetheless that the boy isn’t showing any fear.
Minho tightens his hand and locks his knees, shifting his weight to his heels and leaning back as he tries to haul the boy up. The other isn’t expecting such a move and lets out another shrill screech, trying to free his hand from Minho’s grip. Minho’s too strong for him though, quickly adding his other hand to give him more leverage.
The boat isn’t very big to begin with and so it rocks precariously in the water as Minho works to bring the boy aboard. Suddenly, he falls back, instinctually grabbing the boy around the shoulders as he slips aboard unresistingly.
Minho lies on his back for a second with his eyes closed and breathing hard, a warm—and wet—weight on his chest. When he opens his eyes and looks down, the first thing he notices is how close his face is to the other boy’s; close enough for him to see the sparkling droplets of moisture on his eyelashes. The boy, who had his eyes closed too, slowly opens them and for a split second they both lay there unmoving, looking into each other’s eyes.
And that’s when something catches Minho’s eye. It’s long, sparkling, and…red?
“Holy—what the fuck?!” Minho shouts for a second time. He drops the boy abruptly and scoots backward as quickly as he can. The boy’s slim body collides with the hard deck of the boat and Minho watches as his face scrunches up before breaking out into a cry.
Minho panics; he’s never had to deal with crying children before. He realizes he should go back over to the boy and try to comfort him but Minho is still stuck on the fact that the boy has a tail. And not just a long, thin tail like a cat or dog’s; it’s a fish tail.
I must be going crazy, that’s the only explanation. There is no way I’m staring at a merboy crying on my boat.
Five seconds later and Minho can’t bear the boy’s heart-wrenching crying any longer. He crawls cautiously back, almost afraid to touch him.
“Hey,” he says, his voice deep and soothing. The boy’s only response is to continue his cries. He has no shirt on, his skin not as dark as Minho’s but still slightly tan. Minho realizes how awkward this is about to get but pushes aside his feelings of discomfort. He slowly leans forward and reaches out, wrapping his arm around the boy’s thin, bony shoulders. He gathers him close, trying to hide his shock as the boy immediately latches onto him like a leech. His arms sling around Minho’s back and he buries his face into Minho’s neck.
Minho can’t help but notice how warm the boy is in his arms. His eyes travel down the curve of the boy’s back, down to his…tail.
It’s a deep, shiny rustic color. It looks almost exactly like the tail of a fish, small scales covering its entire length until the forked end, which looks more like supple velvet and is a lighter pink in color. The scales glisten in the sunlight like a thousand tiny pieces of broken scarlet glass. It looks so soft, and as the boy’s crying dies down to mere hiccups, Minho can’t resist the urge to reach out and touch the scales, to feel them beneath his finger tips.
The moment he runs his quivering hand along the tail, his touch as soft as a sigh upon his lips, the boy immediately stiffens but makes no move to pull away. Suddenly emboldened, Minho lays his entire hand on the boys tail, where his rear end would have been had he been a normal human boy. His touch turns from a light brush to a gentle caress. When the boy suddenly moans, Minho jerks his hand back, as though burned. He feels his face flush, realizing what he’s done.
I just felt up a fishboy…dear lord, I must be going out of my mind.
He pulls back and stares at the boy. His eyes are red from crying but he still looks so angelic, so innocent. Being in the business he’s in, Minho hasn’t seen such innocence in so long he’s almost forgotten what it looks like. The boy’s eyes are wide, questioning, the gentle sweep of his nose leaning over full lips, his cheeks tinged slightly pink.
He’s mesmerized by the boy’s cherubic face, but Minho shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. He has no idea what just came over him, but he won’t dwell on it just yet.
With the hand not holding onto the boy, Minho points to himself. “Minho,” he says carefully. The boy looks confused again for a second. He looks down at Minho’s hand and suddenly his face clears, breaking into another smile. He grabs the hand that Minho had been using to point to himself and presses it against his own chest.
“Tae-min,” he announces, voice clear, smiling brightly. Minho can’t help but smile back, entranced. He removes his hand from Taemin’s hold and points behind him, at his tail.
“Fish?” Taemin’s face scrunches up adorably in confusion, and Minho chuckles. He uses his hand and makes a motion like a fish swimming, repeating again questioningly, “Fish?”
Taemin evidently understands, shaking his head no. He takes Minho’s hand again and holds it to Minho’s chest, right above where his heart is. With his other hand, he mimics Minho’s previous motion. “Taemin,” he repeats.
Minho isn’t sure what exactly he means by it, but for someone reason Taemin’s gesture warms something in his chest. It’s like Taemin is showing him he’s like Minho and like how Minho sees him—as part fish. The poetry behind his motions leaves Minho almost breathless.
Taemin is unaware of the effect he’s having on the larger boy. He’s already distracted by the gold necklace dangling around Minho’s neck, taking it between his thin fingers and rolling the chain almost lovingly through his hand. So focused on the the jewelry, he doesn’t notice Minho’s soft gaze on him.
When the necklace loses its appeal, Taemin, without a care in the world, folds himself against Minho once more, ear pressed against the larger boy’s chest right above his heart. The soft thumping of his heartbeat relaxes him, and when Minho’s hand finds its way into Taemin’s wet locks and he cards his fingers through the hair, he closes his eyes and relaxes into the embrace.
Minho doesn’t care anymore about how ridiculous this is. With Taemin snuggled up to him, he decides carelessly that he’ll worry about what the hell is going on later. For right now, he enjoys the unbelievable company of his little merboy.