Published: February 17, 2021
Rewritten: May 20, 2023
Word count: 4,228
DO NOT read or interact if you're under 14
The sound of your front door opening grabbed your attention, pulling it away from the setup before you.
"I'm here and I brought the snacks you asked for. What do you need?" Jongho's voice called out from the front entrance.
He had received a text from you and hour prior telling him to meet you at your place, the request accompanied by a list of snacks.
You came barreling around the corner towards him, clearly startling him as you grabbed hold of his hand.
"Follow me." You instructed.
"For what?"
"Jongho, just come on." You pulled him forward... or tried to at least. Him and his stupid muscles were too strong for you. He was resisting, holding himself in place.
"Quit that." You scolded.
"What is it that's got you so excited?" He huffed, his feet dragging along the wooden floors of your small home as he finally allowed you to tug him forward.
"You'll see in just a second."
Though Jongho rolled his eyes, he admitted there was a tinge of curiosity as to what it was that was fueling your enthusiasm.
"Ta-da!" You held your arms out, gesturing to the fort you had spent so long setting up in your bedroom floor.
He chuckled. "What is this?"
"It's exactly what you think it is."
"We haven't made a fort since we were in middle school." He commented.
"Exactly! I thought it would be fun if we did something we hadn't done in a while. You know, for old times' sake."
"Ah. That's why you requested I get specific snacks."
"It is. This'll be fun, don't you think?"
"Yeah." A grin pulled at his soft lips. "Where should we start?"
"We could play some board games or card games." You suggested.
"Fine with me. I hope you're ready to get your butt kicked."
"You wish." You scoffed.
Minutes later, the two of you were sitting inside the fort going head-to-head in an intense game of Uno.
"Your turn." Jongho looked at you expectantly.
You quirked a brow, glancing down at your arsenal of cards, index finger hovering over them for a few seconds before pulling one out.
"Draw four." You announced, setting the card onto the stack. "Also I change the color to green."
"Are you kidding me?" He groaned, pushing his red hair back with a sigh.
"Face it, Choi, you won't win this one."
He let out a huff begrudgingly drawing four cards, a sour look plastered on his face. He glanced down at the stack and placed a green card with the number two on it on top.
In turn, you set down a number two card on the stack, but this time it was a red card. Jongho chewed his lip as he peered at the cards in his hand. Grabbing one of them, he tossed it on the unruly stack. You went back and forth for a while until you had one card left.
"Uno!" You exclaimed.
"Nooo." Jongho groaned. "I don't want you to win."
"Too bad because I'm about to." You teased, unable to stop the triumphant grin that tugged at the edges of your lips. Victory was so close you could almost taste it.
He dropped his head, letting out a sigh as he placed a card onto the stack, looking deflated. It was only when he pulled his hand back that you saw what he had put down.
"Draw four." He announced, looking up at you with a sly smirk.
"You're sneaky." You shook your head, reluctantly drawing four cards.
After a few more tense minutes, Jongho had managed to get the upper hand and win the game, flipping the tables completely.
"Yes! I am the Uno champion!" He cheered, his fists held high in victory, well, as high as the blanket ceiling would allow.
You watched him with a straight face waiting for him to finish. Just when you thought he was done, he stepped out of the blanket fort and started doing a celebratory dance, wiggling his butt and sticking his tongue out at you.
"Real mature." You rolled your eyes, suppressing a grin.
This only egged him on and made him rub his win in your face even more.
"I'll beat you next time. That's a promise." You pointed.
"Yeah, yeah." He waved his hand dismissively, crawling back into the fort before grabbing a few potato chips from the open bag of snacks and popping them into his mouth.
"Let's play another game." You suggested.
"Like what?"
"How about Clue?"
"Oh, Y/n." He frowned. "You know your deductive skills suck."
"They do not!" You defended, lightly smacking his arm.
"Last time we played Clue you lost." He pointed out.
"Fine. No Clue."
Jongho turned to the convenience store bag that had been discarded on a pile of pillows scattered about the floor of the blanket fort.
"You want some snacks?" He asked reaching for the bag.
"Sure. I was so caught up in that intense Uno game, I forgot all about the snacks. Hand me the (favorite snack)."
"Think fast." Jongho tossed it over to you.
"Thank you." You sang happily, ripping the package open. "So, any ideas on what activity to do next?"
"We could play video games? Or maybe we can play spin the bottle?"
"Spin the bottle?" You echoed with a snort.
"Yeah." He shrugged. "Why not?"
"I have a better idea. Let's look up a truth or dare generator. It's gotta have really really good dares on it."
"Alright." Jongho grinned, accepting the challenge. "Let's hope you don't chicken out when you get a dare that's too intense."
"Please." You rolled your eyes. "That won't be happening."
After some searching, you were successfully able to find a decent truth or dare generator and kicked off the game.
"Alright." You rubbed your hands together in anticipation. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Wuss." You coughed.
"Hey. I'm just starting off slow." He spoke defensively.
"Okay, fine." You tapped the truth icon on your phone screen, a randomly generated question popping up after.
"If there was one thing you could redo, what would it be?"
"Hm." He chewed his lip. "I would be more honest I think."
"Is there something you're hiding, Jongho?" You teased.
"That's not part of the game, Y/n. I already answered my question."
"Alright fine." You handed the phone to him.
"Y/n. Truth or dare?" He questioned.
You raised a brow. "Dare."
Jongho grinned mischievously, tapping the dare button only for his shoulders to slump immediately upon reading the screen.
"Aw. This one is lame." He frowned.
"What is it?"
"It says smell the shoes of the person sitting beside you."
"You're right. That one is lame, but I'll do it."
"Have fun." Jongho grabbed his shoe, tossing it over. "I want you to take a big whiff."
You did as he said, surprised to find that his shoes didn't smell too bad.
The both of took a few more turns asking the questions back and forth. You ended up picking truth for some of them, to which you earned a few snide remarks from Jongho but you didn't care.
"Alright, Y/n. You've been choosing truth these past few rounds. Truth or dare?"
"Dare." You answered confidently, deciding it was time to switch things up.
He pressed the button on your phone and a random dare popped up on the screen.
"Let the person beside you make you as uncomfortable as they can."
Your face dropped after he read it. "That's not a dare, that's a punishment." You huffed.
"Are you trying to say you can't handle it?" Jongho challenged.
"No. I can handle it."
"We'll see about that." He moved close to you with an arrogant smirk plastered on his face.
You watched him while he slowly inched forward, his face nearing yours. The closer he got the more you could feel yourself beginning to get nervous. If you didn't have a fat crush on him this would be a piece of cake.
Jongho's eyes wandered over your features as his face neared your own, getting so dangerously close it made your heart jump into your throat. The musky scent of his cologne reached your senses, putting you in a sort of fog that partially clouded your mind. You could now feel the warmth radiating off his body as his lips neared your cheek. You weren't sure what exactly he was going do. Part of you thought he might actually try and kiss you, the thought alone sent butterflies into my stomach. Just when you thought his lips were about to touch your cheek, you felt them brush your ear. You shivered a bit in response, earning a breathy chuckle from Jongho which only made things worse.
"You ready to give up?" He whispered, his voice low, sending a chill down your spine.
You could feel yourself starting to slip, your resolve slowly crumbling. You turned your head without thinking, your lips just barely brushing past each other, this causing you both to pull away in surprise.
You clamped your hand over your mouth, your cheeks set ablaze almost instantly. Jongho seemed just as flustered, seeing as his ears were the same color as his hair. You pulled your hand away, your mouth opening to say something. Jongho quickly cleared his throat before you could speak.
"Let's watch a movie. I'll go pick one." He blurted quickly, standing up and hurrying out of the room.
You let out a sigh, falling back onto the pillows and blankets scattered along the floor of the fort, your face feeling hotter than ever.
Stupid. Stupid. You scolded yourself. Why did I have to move my head? That made the whole situation even more awkward.
It took a while for Jongho to return to your room and you honestly can't blame him.
"I wasn't sure what to choose so I brought back three movies." He stated.
"Oh. That's a good idea."
He laid the movies out on the floor, allowing you to look over them.
"How about this one?" You pointed to the romance movie.
"I figured." Jongho teased, the awkward tension looming in the air had now seemingly disappeared.
"What? You don't wanna watch it?"
"No, we'll watch it."
You sat on the edge of the couch, leaning towards the TV with anticipation. The movie was almost over and the two love interests were finally about to kiss. The man reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair behind the girl's ear, his face moving closer to hers. The anticipation was killing you, so much so that you were ready to exclaim, "Kiss already!" When their lips finally touched, an excited squeal escaped your mouth as you clapped gleefully, gushing about how adorable the two were. Jongho let out a short chuckle, a smirk tugging at his soft lips.
"What?"
"You've always been a sap for that kinda stuff." He commented.
"So?" You shot back.
"Nothing." He shook his head, holding back a grin.
The rest of the night went fairly smoothly and was free of any more embarrassing moments. Jongho hung out for a while after the movie was over and ended up leaving your place around midnight. You thought it would be awkward since you had almost kissed earlier, but he seemed to brush it off rather quickly, which you were extremely thankful for.
As you laid in bed that night trying to go to sleep, you couldn't stop imagining what happened earlier between you and your best friend.
What if we really did kiss? You wondered.
Just the thought made your cheeks get hot. You hurriedly shook your head in an attempt to shoo away any thoughts of Jongho, but it didn't really do much good. You just couldn't seem to tear your mind away from him.
•
It had been a week since you last saw Jongho. The lack of contact from him was making you wonder if he was avoiding you. You reached over, retrieving your phone from the nightstand and opened your messaging app. You tapped on Jongho's name, your previous texts still saved in the chat. Your fingers hovered over the keypad before you hesitantly typed out a new message.
You
Hey, it's been a while
What have you been up to?
"No." You murmured, quickly backspacing, deleting the whole message and typing it again.
You
Wanna hang out?
Too forward. Once again, you pressed backspace.
You
Are you busy?
You pressed the send button before you could overthink anything, your heart jumping anxiously in your chest as you did so. You found yourself staring at the screen, waiting for that little delivered to change to read. It never did.
Maybe he's wasn't near his phone at the moment or maybe he had his phone on silent. Or maybe he really was avoiding you.
You sighed in frustration, dropping your head onto your pillow while releasing a groan.
Suddenly, an idea popped into you head. You pushed yourself up off the bed and started getting ready, eager to put your plan into motion.
Within an hour, you were standing in front of Jongho's house, pizza in hand. You decided that instead of waiting for him to answer your text, you would just surprise him at his place. Yes, maybe it was a little impatient on your part, but in case he was avoiding you because of what happened, you wanted to show him that things were all good between the both of you. Plus, pizza was one of his favorite foods, so there's no way he would say no to it. You pulled out the spare key Jongho had given to you a couple years back and wiggled it into the lock, opening the front door and shuffling inside. You kept the key on its own key ring with a red gummy bear keychain on it so you knew whose house key it was. You remember the day you showed it to Jongho. He had laughed, asking why a gummy bear keychain. You responded and told him when you spotted the keychain it made you think of him. You smiled fondly at the memory, making sure to put his key back into your bag as you kicked the door closed with your foot.
"Jongho?" You called out.
No answer.
"I hope you don't mind my stopping by so suddenly. I wanted to surprise you." You announced, stepping through his house.
It was rather quiet. You wondered if maybe he wasn't home. Just as the thought crossed your mind, you spotted his phone sitting idly on the coffee table in the living room. Your brows pulled together in mild concern.
"Hello?"
Still no response.
"I brought pizza."
Again, nothing.
As you neared the kitchen area you heard splashing, your face relaxed, a faint smile spreading across your lips. He was just swimming.
You set the pizza down on the kitchen counter as you neared the back door, grabbing the handle and pulling it open.
"I didn't know you were back here. Sorry for barging in. I brought-" The sight before you made both your feet and your sentence come to an abrupt halt.
Jongho was in the pool alright, but trailing behind him where his legs should be was a deep, maroon-colored tail.
"Jongho?" You spoke out, your throat suddenly dry as you took slow steps towards the pool, hoping your knees wouldn't give out before you made it over there.
"Y/n!" He jumped. "It's not what it looks like." He swam over to the edge of the pool with a panicked look on his face.
"I think it's exactly what it looks like." You muttered, sitting down at the pool's edge.
He had a tail.
You could have just dismissed it as a slip-on mermaid tail, but it looked too real to be one of those silicone ones—way too real.
"Please don't tell anyone." He blurted, a look of worry etched onto his handsome features, his brown eyes wide with panic.
You frowned. "Who says I'm gonna tell anyone?"
"I just... don't want anyone to know."
"I would never." You assured him, your eyes staying glued to his tail as it flicked back and forth in the water.
"Are you not weirded out?"
"No, but I'm a bit surprised... very surprised, actually." You blinked, still unable to believe what you were seeing.
He let out a sigh. "I know."
"How long have you been like this?" You questioned.
"My whole life."
You took in a deep breath, turning your head away from him before muttering, "You never said anything to me."
"I know." He muttered. "I was scared. I didn't know how you would react."
Now that the truth was out, it all started to make sense. When the two of you were younger, in middle school, your family took a trip to the beach one day. When you invited Jongho, his parents said they had plans already. Come to think of it, they did that every time you invited Jongho to any event that had water involved.
"We've always lived pretty far from the beach. How have you managed to make it all this time? Do you not need to be in water?"
"Not necessarily. I do get withdrawals sometimes but swimming in the pool usually helps." He smiled softly.
"I really wish you would have told me sooner."
"I know. I'm sor-"
"This is so cool!" You blurted excitedly.
Jongho's eyes widened. "Cool? You think so?"
"Yes! My best friend is a merman. How is that not cool?"
An adorable giggle escaped his lips, that endearing and heartwarming gummy smile plastered on his face.
"How did your parents get here? On land I mean. Tell me everything."
"They lived in the ocean, but they wanted a life on land, so that's what they did."
"So you've lived out of the water your whole life?"
He nodded. "We would take yearly trips to the ocean, though. I got to visit my grandparents and other family members. It was so cool. It's different down there than it is here on land."
You smiled softly while you listened to him tell you about his childhood and it was like below the surface.
At some point, he pushed himself out of the water and took a seat beside you. Your gaze immediately turned to his merman tail that seemed to sparkle even more up close, the sunlight making the color stand out more. Your eyes then drifted to Jongho's exposed abdomen, the rare sight making your cheeks warm.
"When I met you in middle school and we got closer, I wanted to tell you about everything but I was scared. I heard so many stories from my parents about how humans can't always be trusted." He spoke.
You nodded as you processed his words, trying to imagine yourself in his situation. You could understand why he was hesitant to let you in on his big secret and also why he seemed so scared when you caught him out here.
"Again, Y/n, I'm really really sorry you had to find out like this."
"No." You shook your head. "It's fine. I completely understand."
"You do?"
"Of course. You were just being careful." You smiled warmly. "And since we're telling secrets, I have one of my own."
Jongho's sharp brows raised in both surprise and interest. "You do?"
"I do." You discreetly clasped your hands together to stop them from shaking.
You didn't know what it was that gave you the confidence to confess, maybe it's because Jongho being a merman seemed to be a much bigger deal than your crush on him. You couldn't be too sure, but one thing you knew for certain is if you started thinking about it too much, you'll find reasons to back out and that couldn't happen.
"I've had a crush on you since we were in middle school." You blurted quickly, afraid that if you waited a moment longer you would have lost your courage and chickened out.
Jongho's eyes widened. "Since middle school?"
You nodded in affirmation.
"Even now? Even after you found out what I really am?"
You nodded again.
His hand moved to yours, which were still clasped together. Pulling one of your hands away, he grabbed hold of it, his fingers curling around yours and giving them a light squeeze.
"I feel the same way about you." He spoke, his cheeks dusted with pink.
Your jaw nearly dropped to the ground. "So you weren't avoiding me this past week?"
"Avoiding you?"
"Yeah. Because of... you know." Your voice got quiet. "The truth or dare game and how that ended."
Jongho's eyes widened slightly, the pink in his cheeks getting deeper as the image of the both of you almost kissing flashed in his mind.
"Not at all. Truth is, I was texting while swimming earlier this week and I dropped my phone in the pool." He sighed, lowering his head in embarrassment. "It's totally broken. I tired the rice trick and everything."
You let out a soft laugh. Of course he wasn't avoiding you. How could you ever think that?
"You know, you should try getting a waterproof phone next time."
"Don't worry, I will." He assured you with a small grin. "I've learned my lesson."
The air between the both of you went silent for a few moments until you spoke up, bringing your conversation back on track.
"I can't believe you feel the same as I do. You did a good job of hiding it." You chuckled.
"So did you." He shot back, nudging you softly. "Up until now, I was under the impression that you only saw me as a friend."
"Really? Either I'm much better at hiding my feelings than I thought, or you're really dense."
Jongho's mouth dropped open, an offended expression on his face. You burst out into hysterical laughter, dropping your head onto Jongho's shoulder to keep yourself from falling over.
"It's not funny." Jongho whined, shoving you off him.
He pushed you away a bit too hard causing you to fall backwards. Jongho reached out to grab your arm in an attempt to stop your back from hitting the concrete. It all happened so fast. Instead of bringing you back into a sitting position, Jongho got pulled down with you, landing partially on top of you with a grunt.
"Sorry." You squeaked, looking up at him with wide eyes, hoping he couldn't feel the way your heart was beating like crazy.
Jongho's gaze softened, his dark brown irises drifting towards your lips moments before he started closing the space between your faces. Your eyelids fluttered closed just as his soft lips touched yours. You welcomed the feeling and immediately moved your hands to the back of his neck, pulling him closer to you. Your heart was racing like crazy, but you didn't want to stop. This was a dream come true, something that you never thought would be happening and now that it was, you wanted to savor the moment and take all you could get.
Jongho's soft, plush lips encased yours as he softly tugged on your bottom lip, pulling away for a moment only to go right back in with more force. You felt dizzy as Jongho continued his assault on your lips, his kisses getting heated, more desperate. It felt like he was letting out everything he had been holding back and you loved it. Your arms slowly made their way around his shoulders as you tilted your head to the side so your mouths fit closer together, deepening the kiss. He hummed lowly against your lips, one of his hands coming up to cup your cheek, his thumb stroking your jaw.
Jongho kept his lips attached to yours for a few more seconds until he pulled away, his cheeks flushed and eyes clouded with passion.
"That was... insane." You huffed, trying to catch your breath.
"Sorry."
"No, no. It was really good." You let out a breathy chuckle.
"Maybe we can do it again later." He smirked, his thumb running over your bottom lip.
"Is that an invitation to stay?"
"Only if you want to." He grinned.
"I brought pizza, you know?"
"You did?" He sat up, his eyes wide.
"Yeah. I didn't get to finish what I was saying earlier. I brought pizza for us."
"What are we waiting for? Let's go eat. I'm starving." Jongho tried to get up only to realize he couldn't.
You got to your feel, glancing down at Jongho whose tail was still partially in the pool. You couldn't help but let out a string of chuckles.
"Don't laugh." He frowned. "Help me."
You reached out, grabbing hold of his arms and pulling him further away from the pool's edge until his tail was out out of the water, shifting back to a pair of legs right before your eyes.
"Woah." You murmured. "I'm gonna have to get used to that."
"Cool, right? I only sprout fins when I'm in water that goes to my knees." He explained as he got to his feet.
"Nice swimming trunks." You teased, referring to his bright, highlighter yellow bottoms.
"Shut up." He muttered, a smile playing at his lips. "Let's just go inside and eat that pizza before it gets cold."
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