a drop in the ocean • JUNG HOSEOK

Part 3.

I know not alot of people havent been discovering and reading this as I hoped, but please leave a comment telling me if you want me to continue! :) Otherwise, thank you for reading!

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You return back a couple days later with a smaller bag of sour patch kids then what you had previously with Jin, and you even brought along your pink polaroid camera. Hoseok wasn't expecting you, well, that's what he wants you to believe as he stays hidden in the reeds while you pace the bank and call his name out.

He drifts out leisurely to the cove, floating on his back so his face is lifted up to the cloudy sky, slipping under the water and up again, grinning at You when he catches your eyes.

"You got here at your own pace." You noted, from where you lie on the edge of the shore, opening the sour patches.

"Mind you, you were gone for three days." Hoseok states, flipping up onto his back again so he can stay afloat.

You shoot him a passive stare. "We can't all spend time in a pond." Hoseok frowns at that.

"Not like I have a choice really." He replies tensely, sinking under the water and breathing procacious bubbles up at the surface so you knows he's upset. When he resurfaces, you maintain your eyes intently on him. You bite the inside of your cheek, apprehensively.

"Me too. Need money to live, make my parents proud I even have a job." You groan, throwing a sour patch to him. "But, I'm here, right?"

Hoseok catches the candy, letting a bit of it hang out of his lips before he chews it all. "True."

"I brought along my camera." You show him, making sure your pink polaroid was secured around your neck.

"You want to take pictures of me?" Hoseok asks, smiling over him from his place in the water. "Gonna sell them to all the fancy science magazines?"

"I won't show them to anyone. Even if I did, they wouldn't think you exist." You explain, dropping your shoulders. "I want to keep them with me, you know if one day you poof and vanish."

"I'm here. I exist, you got nothing to worry about. You're literally looking at me." Hoseok says, swimming up closer to you "You should come in. Swim with me."

You shakes your head, popping the lens cap off and revealing a big fish eye lens. "Still not convinced you won't drown me."

Hoseok rolls his eyes, then does another backflip. "Is there any reason for me to drown you? I wouldn't see you, or eat candy."

You shrug, taking a quick shot of the sky, like the low hanging gray clouds interest you more than a remarkable mermen ever would. "You know, I don't make a habit of putting trust in pretty fairy tale mermans."

Hoseok perks up, swimming closer. His hands nervously scraping the sandy floor, but the sand digging in deep into his nails for him to care. "You think I'm pretty?"

"You have a blue tail, what's not pretty about that?" You justify, looking at him through the periscope of the polaroid, sending a bright flash as you took a picture. The camera developes the picture of his tail and you blow on it. You stuff it into a plastic bag and into your breast pocket.

"I don't have a mirror, and this water isn't the best one." Hoseok explains. He knows what he looks like, in a way. He can picture the dark brown of his eyes and the color of his black hair, but he can't quite tell the exact angle of his nose or the curve of his mouth. Little things. He feels less bodily, reaching farther away from being a human in his mind.

You offer a proposal, walking up shore to get the best view. "Do you want me to take a picture of you?"

Hoseok nods swiftly, his chest clenching ardently. "I'd love that."

"Smile." You aim the camera at him, taking another picture as Hoseok smiles, teeth and all. You watch the picture develop and you fan it out. "Okay, come see."

Hoseok shoots straight down underwater and swims towards the shore. Nervous, he was hesitant to know what he looks like after all this time. And, this beating in his heart - all thanks to you - makes him want to be a human again.

He perches himself up neatly next to you, his tail in the water as his elbows rest in the sand. He's careful not to touch you even though he yearns to, his wet hair dripping onto his face as he gives all his attention to the screen. He recognizes the person there, although hardly.

"Is that me?" He asks, lifting his hand to his face to feel the forms and indents of his face that he saw in the picture.

"Yeah." You answered, staring at Hoseok hands and shoulders and breathes rhythmically in and out, watching his gills open and close.

"I look scary. No wonder you didn't trust me." He hummed, quickly dipping himself back into the water before he'd drown on land.

"Not really. I was nervous was all." You assure with a shy perk of your lip, absentmindedly adjusting and poking at your camera.

Hoseok nods his head, resting his chin on his hands at the place where the water meets the beach. "I understand."

Slowly, you ask, "Give me your hand." Letting the camera fall against your chest with the lanyard.

"Why?"

You hold your hand out, warm fingers and wide palms that Hoseok wants to touch more than anything right now. It's all he really fantasies about. There's pink nail polish only on your left hand finger and Hoseok wants to press small kisses against each knuckles. He needs to control these thoughts, they aren't something he typically thinks about. "Come on."

Hoseok pulls a hand out from under his chin and reaches up, letting his fingers brush against yours. You fold Hoseok hand between your warm, dry skin against Hoseok pond slick hands. Hoseok almost forgot how all of this felt, how human and warm hands are, the way he can feel your pulse through the wrist of flesh.

"Cold." Was all you told him.

"Same temperature as the water." Hoseok informs you. However, his hands were now warm because of you. There was a lot of things lately that involved you. He even started to believe that you weren't real and maybe you were a figment of his imagination, a mythical siren who lured him in.

"Human temperature." You responded, then laughed aloud, clutching Hoseok hands harder subconsciously. "Hope you don't think I'm scary."

"You are." Hoseok teases. "Scary human. Cutting mermaids tails and selling them to the black market."

You laugh again, Hoseok noticed the curves and wrinkles around your eyes. "I wouldn't do that."

Hoseok smiles. "I know."

Hoseok just smiles and lets his hand be held, You sat on the sand as he drifts in the water.