Under the Sea | Minsung

ψThirty-Threeψ

When he entered the maintenance area, hoping beyond all else that it was the last time he should ever be there, the merman was sitting on the catwalk. He was there, for the first time since the incident, willingly showcasing himself to whoever chose to enter this room. His hands were folded warily in his lap, a general aloofness to his features that made him seem more innocent in that moment than ever before. Protected, guarded, hidden away from the prying eyes of the masses and yet, never wanting their praise or acknowledgement. He seemed small.

Jisung pressed his hands farther into the scaled lap of his tail, the only admission he knew the other was with him being in the form of hurried glance. By the door, Minho waited. Not wanting to press, and not even knowing if he deserved to approach the merman, he stood quietly.

Not knowing what else to say, Minho breathed, "I guess kissing a merman doesn't let you breathe underwater."

Jisung blinked at him

A slow smile peeled up as a soft laughter bubbled from his chest.

The older bit back a slight quirk of a grin, choking it back with the guilt of the situation.

"Thank you for the treat, and the note. I wanted to keep it but..." The merman spoke softly when his chuckles died out, a muted tone to his words and a rounded balance to his stature that closed him to any interaction. As if he would be shattered as soon as anyone tried to talk to him, or he would simply be left to pick up ruined pieces of his trusting self. Jisung's knuckles turned white as his grip around his fingers tightened impossibility. Mildly, he note into the older, a meager look about him as he complimented, "You- You look good, by the way."

"Thank you," Minho murmured. Before he could catch himself, he managed to summon enough courage to meet Jisung's eye, "I'm sorry."

"You have the face of someone who is," The merman commented quietly. He directed his gaze to his hands, fingers beginning to spin around one another as he began to blabber on, each word and every syllable he had been locking behind his eyes finally laying themselves to the older, "I mean, I kind of already knew too. I kept thinking that was why you started talking to me. That was why you acted so interested in me. That was why you kept coming back. There wouldn't have been much other reason. I guess, maybe it was stupid of me to keep thinking that it wasn't like that but, I don't know it really hurt to know that was true."

Slowly, Minho willed himself to move. Despite the ache in his heart telling him he didn't deserve to comfort Jisung, to be close to him again, to have things return to how they were before, he stepped towards the catwalk. Calmly, bit by bit, he encroached on the younger's space and joined him on the metal grates. He didn't chose to sit down, or even try to connect to Jisung, simply crouched down next to him. The merman finally turned to stare at Minho as he tried to reassure, "If you saw my note then you know why I'm here. You don't need to trust me, and you don't need to forgive me, but please tolerate me long enough to help you get out of here."

"Tolerate you?" The merman repeated, a disgusted frown overcoming his features. Minho braced himself for the worse; Any degrading words, any sharp scowls, any harsh realities, and consoling himself in the fact he probably deserved that, and everything else that could be thrown at him. He sealed himself against it, readied his nerves, built as many walls and blockades in order to not be hurt. And to his surprise, Jisung's face softened from the harsh frown he wore. He proffered, "Mr. Handsome, I could have gotten over you but, I don't know. I'm an idiot not to. Please trust me when I say this though, I have more than a few feelings for you."

"Why? I hurt you, I-"

"You lied to me," Jisung interjected. Although the sharp words, he owned the sweetest smile, and the sweetest eyes. He gently lifted his hand, allowing it press against Minho's chest as it found his heartbeat, fingertips ghosting over the remorse pumping under his skin with every breath. The older could feel the way that touch burned him, scalding where ever the contact was with the boiling tank water dripping from the younger. As much as he wished to pull away, knock that hand off him, tell the merman that he shouldn't be showing him even that bit of kindness, Jisung interrupted every one of his thoughts, "But your heart is beating fast. I could feel it, and I could hear it whenever you were near me. I kept thinking whenever I touched you that you would pass out, or you would suddenly cough up your heart with how hard it was pounding. You may have hid the truth, but your heart doesn't lie."

"I'm sorry."

"Again, I know you're sorry," The merman carefully brought the hand that rested his chest to run the pads of his fingers along Minho's tightened jaw, the strained feeling begining to ease under his tender embrace. Jisung let the edge of his lips grow up, a fond tint flowing through his features, "You don't need to be some supernatural being to tell how guilty you feel."

Minho opted not to answer, instead offering the heaviest shrug as his gaze fell to the water sloshing quietly under the catwalk. Why are you so kind to me?

"Shrugging," Jisung tapped against Minho's cheekbone to draw his attention back. His eyes flickered around the older's face. He explored his eyes, his nose, his lips, memorizing the layout of the features he so frequently called 'perfect', 'handsome', though Minho was sure he would never be able to understand why. The merman mimicked his shrug before lilting a playful jeer, "It's always a shrug with you."

"I'm sorry."

"This is the third time you've apologized."

"I need to," Minho grabbed the merman's hand, letting his fingers surround the chilled hand as his eyes found themselves landing on Jisung.

He was a lot closer than he remembered being.

Is he leaning in to me? Minho attempted to wiggle away, or at the very least put a bit of distance between them but the younger was merciless. No matter how hard he tried, Jisung was unrelenting in just how damn forgiving he was.

The merman brought him closer.

And-

"Can you two skip the mushy-mushy, romantic, chick-flick apologies and couple kissing? We're on a time limit with the downed security cameras," Jeongin glared at them. He lifted his hand, showcasing the obnoxiously lit screen of his phone which presented a familiar caller ID to all those that wished to see it. With a noticeable annoyance, he waggled the phone in their direction, his eyes narrowing at them as he explained, "Felix called. Our ride is here."

"Jeongin, don't glare."

"What are you? My Dad?"

Minho teased gently, "You'll understand one day."

"Just hurry up, would you? I told Seungmin we shouldn't have let you two be alone together."

The youngest rolled his eyes as he turned on his heel and bounded down the stairs once again. Beside Minho, Jisung hid silent snickers behind the protective cover of his closed fist. Subtle, but not subtle enough to hide it from the one a bit too close to him. It was enough to not have Jeongin turn around and rail into him for laughing, enough to skip the usual lecture of how he never wanted to date someone because as he said so many months ago, 'The thought of being romantic with someone makes my skin crawl'.

Minho watched Jisung for a brief moment. He drunk in the sight of his joy, a certain happiness radiating from his body. It seemed so much lighter, so much clearer, than anything else he had seen from the merman before this. Smoothly, he slid his hand out to Jisung, the younger immediately grabbing it without hearing what the next prompt from him would be. He closed his fingers around the merman's wet hands.

"Let's get you out of here."

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