─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
it was finally the day of jeongguk's departure, the boy had woken up really early since he was excited to leave and go back home.
he packed neatly all of stuff, putting the shell and taehyung's gift in the safest place. he told the reception he was done packing so they could come take his luggages and put them in the cab.
he was driven to the airport pretty quickly, it was 30 minutes long ride so even if it was still way too much as he was really impatient he couldn't complain.
he registered at the airport and moved to the boarding space, waiting until first class passengers were called.
he tried to sleep but he was way too excited to land and rush to meet taehyung, that was until he actually landed, in the middle of the night.
his face dropped, he knew taehyung wouldn't be there, he always left when the sun was down. he walked slowly out of the airport to meet with namjoon who was waiting for him outside.
the black haired male hugged his hyung tightly, nuzzling his face in his chest, his cheek all squished against it.
"what's wrong bunny?" the older male asked.
i wanted to see my merman but it's late. no, he couldn't say that. so he just replied he was happy to see him again.
namjoon drove him back to his office where he had left his car a week ago, so he could obviously take it back to drive to his house but also let his cameras and work there.
the two males hugged each other before leaving to go back to their home. jeongguk was pouring the whole ride, he had put taehyung's gift on the passenger seat and eventually glanced at it.
he parked his car in his basement and carried his luggages upstairs in his room. he went to his balcony which was facing the see, he looked at the beach and obviously only saw sand and waves.
he sighed and put a warm hoodie on before trotting down the cliff to go to the beach. he walked on the cold sand slowly, looking at his feet.
he sat on his usual rock crisscrossed and looked at the moon reflecting on the calm water. this spot had always been the perfect place to watch the stars, it was so relaxing and calm and he was lonely, it was his place.
he sighed in content and looked down at taehyung's little rock. he felt tears pool at the corner of his eyes when he saw seven shells hardly fitting on the rock, all pressed against each other, it was sure an eighth one couldn't fit.
he dried his tears before they could fall and laid on his stomach to reach for the seven shells. they were all made of pretty colors, a pink and a purple one were placed in the middle of the others which were blue, red and orange, some white too.
he picked them up and placed them carefully in his hoodie pocket, he also had to hold a few in his hands so they wouldn't get damaged by hitting against each other while he was walking.
he stayed for a small while just to close his eyes and listen to the soothing sound of the waves while he was rubbing the shell with his thumb inside of his warm pocket.
he really hoped taehyung would come back the next day. what if he didn't? there wasn't enough space for an other shell on the rock? what if he doesn't come back because he waited for too long? jeongguk couldn't stop those thoughts but at the same time it was like he knew he would come back.
he walked back to his house, he was starting to be tired. it was almost the morning because of the jet lag, so he decided he would just sleep until he wakes up and then go to the beach to wait for taehyung.
that was his plans, but he obviously slept in and it was really late when he woke up the next day. he stirred and opened his eyes slowly, only to see the sun was starting to disappear.
he shot out of bed and wore a large hoodie with sweatpants. he grabbed the gift quickly and ran down the stairs, to ran down the cliff too.
he rushed to his rock and didn't see taehyung anywhere. he was breathing fast and loud, he needed to see him and explain him.
he looked everywhere but he didn't see the merman nor he heard him. he looked down at the small rock and didn't see anything either.
he sighed, he sat on the rock and said lowly "taehyung..". he called just in case the pink haired beauty would hear him.
he heard the familiar flapping once, he had no idea if he just imagined it or not, but he still screamed 'taehyung' louder than the first time.
everything went way too fast for jeongguk to register it, but he was splashed with water and his eyes met two sparkling ones in the dark.
taehyung was just centimeters away from his face, he was cupping jeongguk's face with his wet hands and examined his features carefully.
jeongguk was at a loss of words, he was too mesmerized by how pretty taehyung looked from that close, he smiled unconsciously and placed his cold hands on taehyung's delicate wrist.
the merman came back to his senses and moved away from him. he frowned at the boy and said "i was worried jeongguk.. where did you go.."
the boy held taehyung's soft hands in his and explained to him he had to leave for paris because of his job.
"p-paris?" taehyung asked and tilted his head on the side. jeongguk chuckled lightly before replying.
"it's a really beautiful city in europe, its really far away from here." he said with a sweet voice. he was still playing with taehyung's long finger while starting into his eyes.
"did you go there swimming?" he asked with a wide smile. the boy laughed again and replied.
"taehyungie! we can't go there swimming we go there by plane!" he laughed and intertwined their fingers without thinking. taehyung didn't back away at all, he actually had missed the boy a lot so he was really glad to talk with him.
"oh!" jeongguk said and shot up to run towards the sand. taehyung had a confused expression on his face when he saw him leave, he thought he was just going back to his house but he came back with a small bag in his hand.
"that's for you, someone told me pretty mermen have to wear jewelry." jeongguk said sweetly and laid back down on his stomach.
the merman looked at his hands confusedly, jeongguk quickly understood he couldn't grab the paper bag because his hands were wet.
"wait, i-i can open it for you?" jeongguk asked and taehyung nodded, showing his boxy smile.
the boy opened the gift and grabbed taehyung's hand to attach the chain around his middle finger and his thin wrist.
he rubbed his long fingers before letting his hand go and let him see the thin chain. taehyung's mouth formed an 'o' shape. he looked at the pink chain for a while before going back into the water, only to reappear and throw his arms around jeongguk's neck.
"thank you thank you thank you so much!" he said and pulled away. he had the biggest smile jeongguk had ever seen on his face, even if it was dark, it was truly shining.
"i love the moon so much! i really love to look at it at night when i can stay in the human world." taehyung explained while looking at the shining moon on his hand.
"c-can't you see it where you're from?" jeongguk asked confusedly.
"no, we don't have anything in our sky, just the sun, not even stars. that's why i love to stay there at night." he explained while looking up at the sky full of stars.
"i'm really glad you like it. i love your hands so much, they're so pretty." jeongguk said with a wide smile.
the blushed, he sinked in the sea to hide his blushy cheeks even if it was dark and jeongguk couldn't see it.
"i should go back home jeongguk, i- w-will you be there tomorrow?" the merman asked quietly.
"i will, thank you so much for not getting mad, you're already really important to me you know."
"you're really important to me too. i'm so glad i met you. and thank you again for the jewel it's... wonderful." taehyung said and shot a smile at jeongguk.
"good night beauty."
"good night pretty human."
longer chapter than usual cause y'all need to be fed