a drop in the ocean • JUNG HOSEOK

Part 17

Not me coming back after THREE YEARS.

Hope you like the new cover I painted and edited. I didn't have to go out of my way to change the cover, but I wanted to. Updates won't be often btw, so soak in this new chapter as much as possible. Thanks for sticking around this long.

This is for all you lovely folk who held onto hope that I would one-day update.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Jin gets him slowly into the backseat of his car as the sun is higher into the sky. Jin has to carry him because his legs falter and won't bear with him for a while. He makes sure the jacket doesn't fall off and expose him. Hoseok wants to brush off the consuming feeling of being vulnerable, as if he was fine china and Jin was trying not to drop and shatter him.

Jin orders Hoseok to hold tightly to it until they get to the car where he has a quilt.

"I feel like an idiot." Hoseok says as he takes the quilt from Jin's hands and cloaks himself in its folds and lets the jacket lay at his legs. His legs are odd, they move strangely and he can't seem to get used to this new body. He wants to wrap himself in a cocoon and come back out a merman.

"Why?" Jin asks gently, Hoseok could barely hear him through the gust of wind that blew past.

"Because I have stupid legs and a stupid cock. I just want my tail back." Hoseok says bitterly, staring firmly at Jin as he in return blushes at Hoseok's unpredictable words. Jin has never heard him utter the word cock before or anything vulgar, it was nearly comical. Jin knew when to make light of a situation, but he couldn't quite brine himself to entertain Hoseok's words.

Jin doesn't answer.

He opens the passenger door for Hoseok who looks interested. Hoseok uses his new legs and climbs in carefully and sits down. Jin watches him, making sure there wasn't any discomfort. When he was good and ready, Jin reached over to him and muttered an apology as he scooted over to grab the seat belt and secure it across Hoseok's chest. The clicking noise sounded and Hoseok gave it a curious glance and immediately looked at his hands that were on his lap. They trembled only slightly as Jin laid your jacket at Hoseok's feet.

Jin closes the door and climbs into the front seat of his car and turns it on with a low rumble. He bites his lips before mumbling, "For the record, your body parts looked alright to me."

"Thanks." Hoseok replies, sourly. He pulled the long blanket over his messy hair, the pleasant smell of the pond now felt stale in his nostrils. He traces a finger over his necklace, the metal was cold on his skin. Hoseok missed the feel of his pruney fingers.

Jin rubs a palm over his neck, then he hums under his breath.

"You can take a shower when we get back to ___ place, maybe it'll make you feel better." He hopes that would calm Hoseok. What was a person to do when their mythical creature friend turned human overnight? He was trying to plan out what to say to you. Hoseok was going to be in your place - with legs. 

This isn't something he can explain in a text.

"Probably won't." Hoseok says just to be a little difficult, his emotions were rampant and stuck within his throat. Desperately, he wanted to scream. He's not sure anything can make him feel better - not when his whole body feels so incredibly wrong. He has new limbs imposed over a phantom one and he wants to crawl out of his fucking skin. He wants to get away. The sunlight beamed, danced over his arm and he didn't feel the same greeting of an old friend. It felt like it was burning him on purpose. The sun was just as mad as he was.

After some time passed, Jin asked at a stoplight, "Is there anything I can do?"

Hoseok almost feels guilty he wants to cry because it was in no way Jin's fault - he didn't go and fuck everything up. He gathered your jacket from his feet, careful not to brush his knuckles against the skin of his calves bristled with light hairs. He clung it to his chest with a rustling noise of the softshell material.