Chapter Text
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The strain of swimming for days on end had long since made itself known in Taehyung’s aching muscles. After the first night, it was a light ache that only disturbed his sleep rather than slowed his pace. But now, four days into traveling to a new reef, he felt dark searing pain throughout his limbs and exhaustion behind his eyes.
It came in the sudden bursts that made his tail falter and the slowness of thought growing in his mind, something he knew could be dangerous in open oceans. Especially considering his own mer kind, a den mer, was a more docile one, no sharp claws or teeth to fight back like the hunting mers had. At least the coolness of the deeper waters numbed the pain and the darkness soothed his head.
Luckily, the pain wasn’t enough to stop his travels, not even close, having predicted a fate worse than the discomfort of travel by staying. But still, Taehyung lamented the feeling of resting in a pod. Each new reef he passed seemed to be occupied with a pod already and with each length, his hope dwindled as fast as his energy.
With no one to watch while he slept in open ocean within the shelter of seaweed forests rather than his usual rocky dens, he slept less, more fretfully. Any predators made him push himself more to avoid confrontation. Every reef blinded him in false hope and had him turning back to the azure depths to go farther.
Just seeing blue in any direction most of the time wasn’t helping the hopeless feeling, either. An endless cloudy blue and no clear prospects for anything like the safety he once knew. Wherever stress hadn’t rotted his scales, his tail blended into the shade and he lost himself in it.
About a week along, he took a turn closer to a human village, where he knew other mers would avoid. Through blurry vision he looked for signs of other mers; tools, nests, or territory marks and found none. With that bit of hope, he pushed his tired body along to a hole in the rocks that made something close enough to a den and curled in on himself. Finally, he slept.
Sometime later, Taehyung awoke to the sound of high tide slamming into the rocks above him and he stretched his body. His mind was much clearer from the rest, but his muscles ached too much to venture out, so he bit back his hunger and fell back into rest.
The next time he awoke, the sun was high in the sky and his muscles didn’t protest as much when he pushed himself up from the soft sand corner he was tucked into. The newfound awareness gave him the opportunity to scope out his surroundings.
The rocks curved in with a narrow opening creating a hollow space perfect for living inside. A little cramped, but not bad if it was just himself. The divots in the rocks made good places to hold possible resources and the sand bed wasn’t not comfortable.
With a determined push, he decided to venture out of the cave, making sure to remember its position and swam towards the large reef that started about ten meters of plain sand away. The reef - at a glance - was stunning. It was one of the most lively reefs he’d seen even considering his travels in the past week. Maybe it was because there was no obvious pod in the area, but the coral structures were teeming with every variety of fish, eel, and plantlife.
He even watched a few black-tip reef sharks swimming through, giving him hope that it was a healthy reef able to support a good density of predators. Swimming further in, he realized just how untouched it was compared to his last one, which was strange considering the presence of a human settlement close-by. A surface-look of the reef revealed it was surrounded by a large semi-circle of rocky cliffs spanning nearly 3 kilometers. Some of the larger reef rocks offered above-water perches for birds and barnacles.
The human settlement was only really a spec in the distance compared to what his tired brain had perceived the other day and from what he could tell all the boats stayed closer to the village and went opposite the direction of the reef. Taehyung couldn’t help but also find the avoidance strange considering the abundance of fish here.
From all perspectives he looked, this was the perfect reef to live in, so why was it unoccupied? Sure, some pods didn’t like coming this close to people over concerns for resource competition, but abundance didn’t seem to be a problem. As excited as he was to have found a safe place for himself, it felt off.
However, Taehyung was never one to question good fortune, so he made quick work of marking a pod mark into some of the obvious rocks in order to keep anyone away - he picked one at random, engraving a spotted manta ray into the stone.
An entire pod could easily kick him out if they wanted, but he hoped the mark might fool them into thinking there were more mers here that would fight for territory. Along with that, he searched for places to gather food and supplies, setting out seaweed to dry on some surface rocks and making quick work of some abalone just so his stomach wouldn’t consume itself.
Any attempts at hunting with some makeshift tools in the next few days proved to be fruitless, as his speed was still dwindling. Not that he was ever any good at hunting before. Abalones would have to be his protein source until he could figure something else out.
Soon enough, the area began to feel something like home to Taehyung. He was feeding himself enough and slowly collecting lost things like beads and fabrics for his nest and making tools and supplies. At the very least, his collection made him feel more comfortable in a new reef. Taehyung was content.
Finally, he could rest.
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The first time Taehyung became genuinely worried for his safety in his new home was about fourteen suns after arriving there when he woke up to the sound of a boat propeller. For the most part, all of the boats had avoided the reef religiously and Taehyung hadn’t questioned it, so one coming closer almost made him worry more.
It wasn’t unheard of for humans to trap mers, thinking they could make a pretty show piece. The majority left mers alone aside from competing for fishing spots, but one could never know. Having just moved here, it struck him that maybe someone had seen him from afar when he was sunbathing on the rocks and was coming to collect him. Could that be why there were no other mers here? People hunted them?
A cold shiver ran through Taehyung’s body as he slowly pressed himself to the wall of his den, swimming slowly towards the entrance to look out. The reef shark that had taken to visiting him recently stuck closely to his side as he clung to the wall away from the light. With his body pressed flat against the rocks, he leaned his head out to look out towards the reef. Indeed there was a boat, a medium sized, meaning it could have any purpose really.
“Damn,” he cursed quietly to himself, as his built up security crumbled away. Before the people in the boat could descend into the water, Taehyung rushed to pull up loose rocks from around his den and pile them high at the entrance. He made a sort of makeshift wall of the sharp black rocks, having to nudge the playful reef shark out of the way more than a few times.
As it grew more dark for his diurnal eyes, he reached out blindly for one particular rock, scraping his hand and drawing blood in the process. He could only hope the blood wouldn’t lead any other curious sharks towards the cove. They were harmless, but if they came en masse the people might, too.
When the makeshift wall is high enough to block any view of the contents of his cave, Taehyung watches through the remaining sliver of light as a human in a wetsuit descends into the water. At the initial splash, Taehyung ducks back down into the darkness, pushing away the now anxious shark. “We’ll play later,” he tells it softly, running his hand along its back.
Biting his lip, Taehyung turns back to the sliver of light peeking through the wall and sighs in relief. At least the human isn’t carrying any weapons, all he can see is a camera in the human’s hands and a small satchel of scraps for drawing fish closer.
Taehyung thinks he’d seen these types before: possibly a ‘nature photographer’ or so they usually were called. Though, a few minutes of watching isn’t enough to confirm this or let his guard down, but at least he isn’t in any immediate danger.
For the next hour or so, he watches the human swim around, taking pictures of the reef and various fish species that are cooperative enough to have their photo taken. Eventually, a few more hands reach into the water to help the other up and the boat is heading off back towards the human village. Only when it’s sufficiently out of sight does Taehyung start to pull away at the piled rocks, letting them fall quickly down into the den again.
Once he feels it’s safe, he ventures out again into the reef for his daily collection activities, having been a scavenger and crafter in his old pod. Usually, he prepared sea grasses and plants for consumption during the daytime. Then in the night, he weaved baskets and made tools for the larger use of the pod. Today, he needs to find a few shells he can make into a weapon for defense.
Taehyung finds some halved clam shells lying along the ground that he collects in his waist pouch before heading up to the rock where he dried his seaweed for today. The bunch only makes a quick meal that he’ll have to add onto with some oysters (he hates oysters) or something else easily found. But seeing as he can’t catch fish well, it’ll do.
When he brings all the shells together and attaches them to a piece of sunken metal, they form something like a sword with jagged edges. Enough to hurt anything that attack him, which he resolves to bring with him the next day.
Unfortunately, the next day, he forgets the sword in favor of bringing a few reeds for playing with the spunky ribbon eel he met when exploring. It’s out near the middle of the reef that he hears the familiar thunder of a boat approaching and with a sudden spike of helplessness, he hides behind one of the taller coral colonies.
If he were in his pod, the hunters with sharp claws and trained bodies would scope out the threat first. Here, it’s just Taehyung - a softer mer meant for weaving and gathering. And as much as he’s glad he left, the sudden feeling that he’s completely alone hits him again, harder now that he’s vulnerable in the open. Even if he calls for help, no one would be there.
The ribbon eel dashes off much to his growing distress and he’s left with the few fish floating around his head to wait for the people to do whatever it is they came to do. A loud splash had him peeking his head past the rocks again to observe.
Taehyung relaxes a little, it was just the photographer again, soon joined by another person with a camera. It was always a little funny watching humans flail awkwardly in the water while wearing those full body suits. For as much damage as humans could do, they were always a little helpless underwater.
So when the original human turns to see Taehyung lifting his whole upper body from behind the bright coral and rock, he doesn’t feel the same terror. The human, however, shrinks back in fear, an explosion of bubbles being released from his mask. The other human follows his gaze and reacts much the same way, pulling on the smaller one’s arm to bring him closer to the boat.
Oh, they must think he’s a siren. Luckily, having scoped out most of the reef in his few days here, he found no evidence of sirens, no predators bigger than the harmless reef sharks. If there had been a siren, Taehyung would have likely been long dead or fleeing to another reef.
Feeling a little guilty for scaring them, Taehyung holds up his hands in a placating manner, making sure to show them the blunt tip of his nails and his more human teeth. He hopes it conveys peace, as if announcing “I’m a den mer, I can’t hurt you much if I try.”
The fear in the humans’ body language slowly morphs into something akin to curiosity at seeing a mer in a place they must have considered podless. They, too, lift their hands up in peace, prompting Taehyung to swim out from behind the rocks towards them. They meet him halfway, where Taehyung can now see the wonderment in their eyes as they look at him.
The larger of the two points to the surface and Taehyung takes the hint that they want to talk to him and lifts his head above water. Both humans pull off their masks and Taehyung sees their faces - about his age and very handsome. A little farther off, he spots one more human gawking at the scene in worry from the boat.
“You guys okay?” the third human yells after them.
“Yeah, we’ve just met a mer,” the first human, one with doe eyes and a soft smile, yells back before turning to watch Taehyung’s head poking out of the water, making sure to keep his neck gills submerged. Mers can breathe air, it’s just more comfortable to use his gills.
“Hi,” the human beams at him. “I’m Jeon Jungkook and this is Kim Namjoon hyung and that’s Kim Seokjin hyung on the boat over there.” Taehyung nods at the words, knowing some human language by sound after having to learn some when he was young like most mers. Although, he was never able to speak much, his natural language being too different. The others seem to pick up on his silence, probably knowing most mers can’t speak human tongue.
“I hope we aren’t bothering you or encroaching on your space,” Namjoon says in a gentle tone. Taehyung blinks at him. “We’re with a research team taking pictures and samples of the reef. Our goal is to catalog the health of the reef and identify any problems.”
“Do you mind if we stick around to take some photos? We won’t take any of you if you don’t want us to.” Jungkook adds, showing Taehyung his camera above the water.
Some words slip through his knowledge, but with the few words he knows and the genuine tone, Taehyung quickly decides they are here to do good things. He decides to nod again at the two, which makes their faces break out into identical smiles, dimples coming out on Namjoon’s face.
“Awesome, thank you,” Jungkook says genuinely. “We’ll try to help the reef the best we can and I’m sure you’ve done your part to keep it healthy, as well. It looks very clean and lovely.”
Taehyung beams himself at that, feeling a surge of pride. In the short time he’s been here, he has dedicated a portion of his time to collecting human trash and helping injured fish and corals. Taehyung takes care of his home.
“Do you mind if we ask you a question?” Namjoon continues, hesitantly. “A lot of the townspeople were telling us that they don’t come to this side of the reef because a siren lives here. Is that true? Are there any sirens here?”
Taehyung ducks his head lower into the water at the question, until just his eyes and the top of his head are above the surface. It hides his concerned expression only a little, but suddenly a lot makes sense - the reef had been so untouched by people because they all believed a siren was living here. Sirens are, after all, known primarily for luring humans with song and killing them in the depths. While they eat fish and other things, he doubts one would turn down the chance at a larger meal like that, so the humans probably avoid it for good reason.
But, that poses a larger question - how had they come to believe there was a siren here? Possibly a few people had gone missing or sailors had heard the song and somehow escaped, but in that case shouldn’t Taehyung also have been lured by now? Never has he heard of a siren taking kindly to a mer encroaching on its space.
He still shudders at night when he’s alone in his den thinking about the childhood tales the elders told naughty kids about sirens. They wove tales of how viscously they’d attack mers that came too close. When he’d gotten a little older and questioned the stories, he was quickly set straight by a hunting party that came back two members short after a run-in with one. The whole hunting party was against one and they’d lost. Knowing that was enough to solidify his terror for the true apex predators of the sea.
So no, Taehyung would have already known if there was a siren. The most likely answer was that there was a siren in this reef who attacked people, but it had moved along some time ago.
He shakes his head at the two in the human gesture for no and watches as relief floods over their features for the second time today. Jungkook throws his head back, “Thank goodness, we were worried when everyone kept warning us against coming here, but we had to collect data somehow, you know?”
Namjoon quickly agrees, “And I guess you would know better than anyone considering you live in the reef.”
At this, Taehyung allows his mouth to breach the surface again to show the others a happy smile. Yes, he would know. No sirens.
“Well, we’ll let you get back to your day. We’re just going to be hanging around for another hour or so, feel free to tell us off if you’re bothered by anything , okay?” Jungkook asks, reaching up to defog his goggles before slipping them over his face.
Taehyung lifts a hand out of the water and makes it into a fist before lifting up his thumb, as he’s seen a few fishermen do before. The other two giggle and repeat the action, so Taehyung figures he’d guessed correctly what it means. Then he slips back into the reef and swims away from the two to get to work on setting out more seaweed to dry. Collecting and cutting it always takes over a good part of his day.
By the time he’s done, he hears the researchers’ boat speed off towards the township, glad that they’d collected what they needed. Maybe they can help collect some trash next time they come back. There have been so many stretchy band circles littering the sand floor and he’s had to cringe while watching a few unsuspecting fish eat them.
That night, Taehyung sleeps more sporadically with the knowledge that there had been a siren in the area sometime in the past. He’s unsettled to think that it may come back, so he takes to building up the rock wall at the cave entrance while he sleeps as a meager defense. Not that it would stop a siren, but at least it's something.
And when the next day comes and the researchers come back, he gets distracted with his new task of teaching them what to clean up. When he swims up to them quickly, they give him confused, but friendly looks. Jungkook waves and smiles behind that silly mask they have to wear. Seriously, humans are not equipped for diving.
Picking up one of the band things from the ground, he brings it up to both of the divers and points to them. They tilt their heads, bubbles escaping at the motion, until Taehyung dives down to grab another hidden well next to a rock.
After that, they seem to get what he’s asking and Taehyung watches as they begin searching for rubber bands more readily in between photos. He hangs around, helping them amass a small collection from farther out that he hopes they’ll take to the surface where the human trash items belong.
While he’s overturning a few rocks and having a small fight with a crab that just won’t let go of a plastic scrap, he feels something brush his shoulder. In surprise, he darts forward and turns ready to flee, but upon seeing the guilty face of Namjoon, he relaxes. The other man seems to be pointing up to the boat as if to follow them, so Taehyung humors them and breaches the surface by the boat where he gets a better look at the third human (had they said Seokjin?).
It’s rather ridiculous to watch Jungkook and Namjoon flop up to the surface and remove their masks, tanks, and the fake fins they attach to their feet. Silly humans.
“Hi,” Seokjin calls quietly, as he crouches to the edge of the boat where Taehyung is wading in the water. “I’m Seokjin, it’s nice to finally meet you. These two have been talking about you quite a bit.” He glances over at the band pile between the two. “And I see you put them to work today, good job,” he jokes.
Taehyung grins. Yes, if they want to enjoy the reef, they should also help clean.
“We called you up here to offer you some of the fish Seokjin hyung cooked,” Jungkook explains, his wet hair falling all over his face. “Hyung is very good at cooking.”
Taehyung is immediately intrigued by the offer - it’s been so long since he’s had any fish, having been unsuccessful in all his hunts until he decided protein that couldn’t move was more worth his energy. And he trusts them enough to know they didn’t do anything weird to the fish they’re trying to give him like the sleeping substance he’s heard of through word-of-mouth.
He’s glad for his choice when he bites into the fish and feels reinvigorated. It really has been too long. While he eats, the other three all begin eating some of their own food and chatting, but Taehyung doesn’t pay a whole lot of attention to their conversation. He becomes more interested in taking photos with the camera Jungkook showed him how to use.
The pictures look nice when Namjoon shows him how to see what he took, making him wonder how humans build the strange things they do. Sadly, many of their cool things have worse consequences: they are consequences that Taehyung sees every day under the surface. It’s part of the reason that mers keep a distance from people despite communication methods.
Regardless, he knows none of that is the fault of these three in particular. Even mers do some evil, so he can’t judge them harshly like some he knows might. And, well, he could use some company. With that, he slips away back towards his den for the night, leaving them to head back to the human village. As he swims away he hears the faintness of their conversation grow.
“And you’re sure he doesn’t have a pod?” Seokjin’s water-garbled voice carries. “But they’re social creatures like us.”
“Yeah, we looked everywhere and there were no signs of any other mers. I think it’s just him alone here.”
“I’m worried, I can’t imagine that’s -” the voice becomes too faint to make out as he swims off further towards the rocks he calls home.
Taehyung clenches his hand until his nails pierce skin and looks down at the ever drifting, but unchanged sand floor. He sighs to himself. Humans really are silly. So, so silly.
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The next few days pass in a similar way, with the researchers coming and Taehyung stopping by to greet them or give them tasks before going along his way. They give him a few things in the process, mostly fresh food that he takes with him to store in his newly woven storage container.
It’s nice to have the company when he wants it, although he can tell the group is almost ready to move on from this reef, as they’ve almost finished working their way across the span of it. It brings a hint of bitterness to his mood that he never thought he would associate with people leaving. It’s similar to the feeling of leaving his mer friends from his pod: Yoongi and Hoseok.
Like taking out a piece of himself and leaving it with someone else, then just losing it. Even if he knows their still friends, he misses being able to see them everyday. It might be the one thing he misses most about living in a pod, over even the security and comfort of pod life.
But even his dejection at the humans leaving couldn’t prepare him for what happens one night they stay out a little longer. The group had finished much of their work late, then stayed in the boat past the time they usually leave, so Taehyung gave them a passing wave as he swam past to his den for the night.
Later, halfway into building up his rock wall, Taehyung hears the most beautifully deadly sound he’s only ever heard in nightmares. Only, he knows he’s not dreaming because the shudder that wracks his body and has him gasping for breath feels dangerously real.
The only relief he feels from the blinding fear that everything he’s built up is about to come crashing down for a second time, is the fact that the siren call isn’t directed at him. If it was, he would be well on his drunk happy way to doom - swimming to a voice hidden behind sharp jaws.
Then, Taehyung realizes with another jolt that the only others that the call might be directed at are the very bunch of humans he’s just gotten to know. And without thinking, he bursts through the rock wall, scraping his shoulders hard in the process, and swims as fast as his tail can take him towards the oval shadow of the boat.
He pushes himself to the brink of exhaustion, speeding up more when he sees the lured body of Jungkook crash into the water and start swimming towards the sound. In desperation, Taehyung raises his own head above the water and sings loud enough for Jungkook to hear, willing the boy desperately to hear him over the siren call.
The more logical part of Taehyung knows that a mers voice can’t win over a siren’s in terms of luring despite having some power, but he’s panicking and his tail can only take him so fast. The darkness shades his eyes, making everything hard to see at the time of night he’s most vulnerable. Though, it’s just enough that he can see the other two forms of Namjoon and Seokjin drop into the water in an attempt to swim towards the haunting sound.
Taehyung practically sobs, he does, when he sees the razor fin of what must be the siren streak through the water 100 meters away from them. Taehyung dives and races to them, he’s closer but he knows the siren is faster. In his haste, he splits his skin on the tops of coral, unfeeling to the pain. Faster. Just need to reach them.
Then what? He thinks desperately. He can’t fight a siren. Three good people will die because he told them there wasn’t a siren here. It’s his fault, again. Again. No, this can’t happen. Faster, please.
Thankfully for Taehyung, the human’s bodies are still unequiped to swim and they aren’t able to get much farther from him before he reaches them and puts himself bodily in front of them, trying to push them back.
“Go back,” he hisses to them in a tongue they would never know. “Get on the boat, it’s a siren song,” he urges, but they can’t hear him over the luring song, their bodies flailing frantically to get to the siren. Taehyung pushes them significantly, considering humans are much weaker in water, but with three of them actively fighting him it’s hard to gain any ground. One glance behind him at the encroaching fin tells him it’s a losing battle. But, he counts his blessings that the siren song hasn’t affected him, too, yet, and keeps pushing and trying to get their attention.
Then, the song stops as terrifying as it started, with an ominous, knowing silence. In front of him, the three humans pause in the water, still entranced, but with no clear direction now. Jungkook’s eyes are glazed over blue and unseeing, so Taehyung takes his hands off their soaked clothed shoulders. His blood runs colder than the nighttime ocean surrounding him.
Everything in him tells him not to turn behind him, to ignore this and escape off to the relative safety of his den, but he stays wading in place. With one last longing glance at the three in front of him, Taehyung wills himself to turn around. The ocean is dark and uncannily calm, just gentle waves and the silver reflection of moonlight over navy blue.
The one thing missing from the view is the presence of a fin and Taehyung knows what that means all too well. Holding back a terrified sob, he closes his eyes and ducks wholly under the water. The cool wet covers him in all he’s known and everything he fears, chilling his shut eyes. When Taehyung opens them, his body jolts at the new face inches from his own and bathed in warped moonlight.
Saying it’s the most beautiful face he’s ever seen would be a gross understatement. The sultry hooded blue eyes stare at him like he’s an appetizer, gaze searching and knowing, while the plush lips quirk into something like a smirk. His breath catches in his lungs at the cruel look the seemingly soft features morph into. Taehyung can’t take his eyes off the other until the siren breaks into a wicked grin, his pointed teeth gleaming unnaturally bright in the moonlight.
“Well hello there little mer,” the siren calls in a voice no less entrancing when he’s talking rather than singing. It’s the lovely hum of death, the calming splash of a riptide. “I do wonder what you’re doing out here so far from your den and blocking me from my meal no less.”
A webbed hand with sharp pointed nails comes up to grasp just under Taehyung’s chin and he whimpers at the gentle touch, losing all hope to fight. The siren’s eyes gleam. His hand is so warm. “Care to tell me why?”
For all Taehyung has missed hearing and speaking mer language after weeks, saying anything right now feels so wrong. The words won’t come out of his mouth no matter how much he tries, he can’t like there is a film in his mouth, blocking all sound. And he feels even more defenseless without his voice, focusing on the red tips of nails digging into his skin.
At the silence, the siren appraises him again, searching his face for a long moment. When he speaks, his voice comes out soft. “How about you give me your name instead, mer.”
He coos the word like Taehyung is a reckless kid who won’t go to sleep.
Taehyung swallows. “It’s T-Taehyung, P-please,” he tries and pauses to collect himself. “Please don’t hurt these people.”
The siren tilts his head in thought, black hair floating with the motion. It distracts Taehyung from his eyes for long enough that he can notice the rest of the siren. And he realizes he’s never really seen one outside of rock carvings. The siren’s features only differ slightly from most other mers, with pointed and finned ears different from mers’ human ones.
Similarly, his tail is a little shorter and resembles something like a lionfish with the spiny ridges and bright red and white pattern. It screams deadly to anything in the vicinity easily enough. Other than that and the talons and fangs, Taehyung thinks he could appear just like any other mer, especially with the casual, curious tone of voice.
“Why not?” he asks Taehyung, shifting his eyes back from the three wading humans to Taehyung. His face scrunches a tad and Taehyung takes that to mean he may have some genuine curiosity. Good.
“They’re good people,” Taehyung tries, encouraged by the fact that the siren seems willing to have an actual conversation, much unlike any of the stories he’s heard of them. “They’re trying to help the reef not destroy it like others may, they do research.”
The siren raises an unconvinced eyebrow. “Humans only ever hurt the environment, I’m sure you’ve seen it, too.”
“I-,” Taehyung starts, unsure what to say because in most ways the other is right, but not in every one. “But they aren’t. I know they’re trying to help; they even helped me clean those stretchy circles -”
“Rubber bands and hair ties.”
“Thank you, yes those from the ground so fish can’t eat them.” Taehyung thinks back to the many warm interactions he never thought he’d have with people. “And they were respectful - more than that, nice even - to me even when they didn’t have to be.”
“Of course they had to be this is our home not theirs,” the siren responds, sounding a little bored by the thought. His grip on Taehyung’s chin tightens for just a moment before he loosens it to the gentle hold again. “And I’ve left them alone this long because you’ve seemed so interested in making them clean, but now they’ve overstayed their welcome.”
Taehyung falters at the passing confession that the siren had seen what he’s been doing. That he knew about Taehyung and had seen him. How long?
“You’ve known about me being here?” Taehyung whispers, now distracted from arguing by the thought that he’s never really been safe here. There was a chance he was stalked by a predator for however long without knowing and it has him reaching his hand up to push against the siren’s wrist under his chin that doesn’t budge.
“I knew the moment you got here,” the siren smirks before sighing at the look on his face. “Calm down, I’m not going to harm you. I don’t mind you being here since you’re not with a pod or anything. If you were, that would be an issue. Besides, you’ve been good for the reef; it’s been healthier since you’ve gotten here.”
“So, you don’t mind me being here?” Taehyung asks, not letting go of the hand on his wrist, but not actively trying to push it off anymore. None of this has gone the way he expected and he’s not sure if that's better or worse.
The siren smiles. “Stay as long as you want, I’ll leave you alone,” he hums before the smile turns colder. “So long as you don’t get in the way of my feeding, like you’re doing currently.”
Taehyung frowns, feeling a foreign confidence. “I won’t for anyone else who comes to the reef. Just please not them.”
The siren appraises him for a moment, as Taehyung feels the pad of his thumb slide along his jaw before releasing him completely. The siren moves back until they’re more than an arms length apart.
“Fine, but if they come back tomorrow, then I will hunt them again,” he says, as all the subtle mirth he’s held melts into something more serious like what the tides whisper before a tsunami. “And if you stop me again, I won’t be so understanding.”
Taehyung only nods, knowing well enough not to push the other, having been lucky enough to get away without a scratch. “I understand.”
“Good,” he praises. The siren begins moving back further and Taehyung can feel the water around him become cooler without the presence of a warm body. Vaguely, he thinks the humans must be freezing.
“I’m Jimin, by the way,” the siren, Jimin, says with a smile curving his lips up again. Taehyung notices now that his eyes become deceptively cute crescents. He begins turning around and it gives Taehyung a full view of the lionfish patterned tail, the deadly spines pressing down against it as he begins swimming. “See you around, Taehyung.”
Then, just as quickly and silently as he came, Jimin disappears into the dark past what Taehyung can see. His tail recedes in a quick blur of red and the sound of singing resumes, prompting the three humans to make their way back to the safety of the boat behind them. Taehyung feels them swim away, but remains still in the same place as before. The strong current he leaves in his wake is hardly enough to nudge Taehyung out of his shock.
He doesn’t know how long passes staring at the space the siren occupied before he, too, turns around to make sure the humans get back to the boat safely. Fortunately, they aren’t far from the boat and the siren song cuts off as they all clamor up onto the deck shivering and looking like wet seals but alive.
Taehyung keeps his upper body propped up on the lower deck of the boat waiting as they blink the bleary compulsion out of their eyes. When they wake up more fully, they all exchange confused glances, then look over at Taehyung.
“What happened? Why are w-we all wet?” Jungkook asks, wrapping his arms around himself and curling in on himself for warmth. “D-did you splash us, Taehyung?”
They forgot, of course they can’t remember the siren compulsion; it's designed to protect the siren after all. The biggest problem he has now is making sure the people don’t come back tomorrow despite still having one more day of work on the reef.
He shakes his head frantically, but they all look skeptical. Namjoon continues, “It’s okay if you did, it's just not a great idea to splash us at night - the air is too cold and we can’t dry off well.”
Once again, he shakes his head, this time lifting his fingers to his mouth like teeth to convey no, it was a siren with sharp teeth - teeth that tried to maul you. The concern on their faces shows they are no closer to understanding him, so he tries something else.
“Siren,” he says in his best attempt at human speech while waving his arms towards the rocks. Only, the sound comes out inaudible, his vocal cords being too adjusted to speaking underwater.
“Do you want us to go over there?” Jungkook asks and Taehyung blanches. Humans aren’t just silly, they are also clueless, he notes.
Once they finally understand that no, he just wants them to leave right now, they apologize for having bothered him (if they did) and take off. Taehyung watches them dutifully all the way until their boat reaches safety beyond the reef and he dives under again.
Taehyung pushes his hair back and takes in his surroundings, he’s once again alone in the reef, although this time he knows he’s not really alone there. The unsettling knowledge that he’s sharing his supposed safety - his one found home - with the creature of his childhood nightmares sends an unmoving chill into his bones. It’s the kind of cold fear that he can’t shake with his sprint back to his den, nor by stacking an additional layer of rocks in front of his entry way. It stays through the night as he tries to fitfully sleep and fails.
He tosses around in anxious energy, cold fear buzzing. While he lies awake, he thinks mostly of the three divers and how to help them. When exhaustion creeps in more, he mourns his home and the little safety he might have had. The woven seaweed blanket feels stupid and flimsy all of a sudden, as does everything here. None of it was safe. How could he ever think he would be? Stupid, how stupid.
He wishes to himself to feel safe, to feel like he’s his own. To have a place, a space, that’s his own and feels all the more dumb for it. It’s just like everyone had warned - how could he survive on his own. Where would he go if not in the pod? What’s worse between the two?
Taehyung hugs his blanket close, squeezing himself until it hurts. The siren’s assurance to not bother him flashes in his mind and he finds the deadly hum is still the better one.
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Taehyung spends much of the rest of the morning holed up in his den making weapons he’s sure he would never be able to use (if he ever worked up the courage to). It gives his hands something to do while he tries to make some semblance of a plan, shaving away at the sharpened shells he plans to carry around his waist from now on.
The best plan of action seems to be just making sure the human trio just never make it into the reef either by convincing them not to come or scaring them off himself. The thought of scaring them leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. That might be the way he loses the first few friends he’s made in his new solitary home.
No matter how Taehyung tries to convince himself, he’s truly not ready to be alone in the way he has been. Without someone to talk to he just feels detached and empty regardless of how he occupies himself in making the reef his own. Or not actually his own.
Now it may be a waste anyway since the siren could decide any day he’s had enough of a mer in his reef and send Taehyung swimming for the deeps a second time. The thought gives him pause from his whittling, Taehyung raising his hands to press against his eyelids. He then pets his hair in the way he remembers his mother doing as a child to ground him in a moment.
There’s no chance he’d survive a trip like that a second time. Nor does he want to. His vision loses the gray pressure. He’ll try to prevent them from coming and if that fails he’ll fight.
Pulling the rocks away from the entrance, Taehyung peeks his head out of the hole and tests the waters with his dulled scavenger senses. When there doesn’t seem to be a large presence close by, he leaves and makes a break for the edge of the reef. Along the way, he hurriedly collects a few shellfish and seaweed for energy.
Every moment he feels hyper aware that the siren may be close, even patrolling or watching. The unease has him waiting just outside the view of the reef for the better part of an hour. He passes it scouring the far off dock for the research boat just to keep his gaze from turning back to the reef.
When it does come out of the dock ready for its final day, all Taehyung feels is dread replacing the joyful promise of company. Briefly, he imagines a curse was placed on him as a child; one that would never let him be near others. At least some curses can be broken.
First plan: waving arms frantically in front of the boat to divert them. As the boat approaches, Taehyung swims out further than he’s really comfortable with to intercept them. He hovers about fifty meters from the edge with half his body above water when they come close enough to make out their figures.
The three of them are talking together in the steering deck distractedly when Taehyung begins flailing his arm, reaching them high out of the water with violent splashes. When they don’t look his way, he yells the best he can with his sea lungs and makes some weak chirps.
The boat gets closer and they still don’t notice. Taehyung makes a quick dive and surfaces with a much larger splash this time, looking over at the three humans all laughing together on the speeding boat. Still, it doesn’t slow. As it gets closer, Taehyung realizes they aren’t going to see him and dives once again in time for the boat to pass over him.
Watching the sharp rutters, he recalls every scar the passing seals and dolphins carry from getting too comfortable with boats. The distaste passes soon enough for him to go chasing after the boat. Now for the second plan: getting them out of the reef as soon as possible.
He struggles to keep up with the boat to the point that when he reaches them, the group has already stopped and are mostly prepared for a dive. He breaches the surface panting, watching the three men strap those plastic tubes over their heads.
Using his tail, he splashes them hard. The water stream nails Namjoon in the face, making him sputter loudly as the other two pat his back and look over at Taehyung shocked. He hopes they can tell it wasn’t playful by the dire look on his face.
“Why’d you do that?” Seokjin asks, brows furrowed in confusion. Taehyung swivels under the surface to send another strong kick of water at them, this time soaking all three rather successfully.
“Hey!” Namjoon exclaims, rubbing his eyes, at the same time Jungkook gets up to approach Taehyung. Taehyung kicks again, but the rest are ready to block their faces.
Taehyung lowers his head halfway instinctively and moves away causing Jungkook to hold his hands up. “We’re not angry,” he soothes. “But why are you splashing us?”
“Not cool man,” Seokjin calls from behind.
Taehyung forces himself to scowl harder, pointing an arm back towards the dock. Leave, he hopes it conveys. Jungkook crouches down and blocks the next splash sent towards his face.
“You want us to leave?” He says lightly, but there's no missing the undertone of hurt in his voice. It hurts Taehyung just as much to hear it. “Why?”
Keeping the scowl on, he points again.
“Have we done something wrong?” Namjoon calls from behind Jungkook, the cool blue loss in his voice, too. They must feel like a friend is betraying them. Taehyung knows the feeling too well from when most everyone in his pod did nothing to stand up for him. He remembers how the anger was strangely mostly towards himself. How lost he felt.
Taehyung simply nods his head once and shakes the pointing arm more dramatically towards the dock. Please, he thinks. It’s when Namjoon gets up as well to come talk with him that Taehyung finally picks up on the presence of another in the water. And its close, curse his dull senses.
Taehyung glares at the men again, hoping to convey at least something before he frantically sucks himself under the water. He blinks the difference from his vision and scans the area around the boat. It’s clear until he turns and is met with the sharp figure of the siren - Jimin - lounging his back against some reef rocks. His arms are crossed in a way that reveals the razor claws standing out among the duller reef.
In the moment of waiting, a primal part of his mind tells him to forget the humans and protect his place in the one reef he has. Just leave, it pleads, don’t try to stop the siren or we’ll die. A shudder racks his body with the pure want before he bites his lip hard enough to draw blood. No, these are my friends.
Taehyung doesn’t move beyond the switch of his tail to remain hovering until the siren tilts his head, making eye contact with Taehyung. A victorious smirk makes its way over his face.
Behind Taehyung, a splash sounds signifying one of the three has entered the water, likely to look for him and make amends. His stomach sinks when the smirk becomes a grin. But stupidly, Taehyung holds his arms out like he could ever become a wall strong enough to stop a siren.
“Cute,” the tinkling tone sounds through the water. Behind him, the human gasps, finally, finally understanding a little too late. “I thought I told you not to stop me next time.”
“And I thought I told you these were my friends,” Taehyung answers without thinking, a sudden reckless bravery taking over him. He feels hands latch onto his shoulders like they’re trying to save him from the siren. He shoulders them off, turning to give them a look.
It’s Jungkook, looking at him with so much fear in his eyes that Taehyung falters. Go, he mouths, pushing the boy away from himself and closer to the surface a little rougher than he would otherwise. Another set of arms reach for him and pull him out. Good, the others must have realized he was warning them of danger.
Taehyung hears Jimin laugh quietly, when he turns back the other is much closer - just over an arms length away. His head is tilted rather sweetly for the deceptive tone. “So you do have teeth, little mer. I like to see it.”
“Just let them leave,” Taehyung says, unwaveringly, surprising himself.
A hand shoots out to wrap around Taehyung’s neck before he ever registers the motion, claws digging into his skin in warning. Briefly, he thinks he might get to see the true power of a siren in action before he dies at least. The boat starts moving away and he relaxes a tad. Though, another part of him knows the siren could kill him in an instant and still lure in the others for miles.
“That’s not how this works, little one.” Jimin coos, sharp eyes laced with amusement. “You’re trying to stop me from both eating and protecting my reef. You don’t get to just interrupt that because some stupid humans were ‘nice’.”
Jimin spits the word ‘humans’ like an insult and with the way his teeth and eyes gleam, Taehyung thinks it might be. Taehyung keeps his tone flat despite his shivering. He wants to defend his friends the way so few people did for him. “They’re leaving, they won’t come back.”
“Sure,” the siren concedes. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I haven’t eaten.” His face comes closer to Taehyung’s neck and he gulps. Jimin flashes his razor tooth smile and looks up at Taehyung through hooded eyes. “And I’ve been feeling rather hungry, little mer.”
“I’ll bring you food,” Taehyung offers, remaining still as the siren lifts his head to face him straight on. “Until I’ve caught the same amount that they would be.”
“You hunt?” A confused head tilt. He must have never seen Taehyung hunt this entire time at the reef.
“I can,” Taehyung lies as he waits for the boat to get farther away. Truthfully, he’s rarely hunted successfully and relies on the sea plants a carnivorous siren could not. Though, he has weapons, it’s not impossible.
Jimin appraises him and glances back at the boat still close enough to lure. “I don’t believe you, Taehyung.”
Taehyung shivers hearing his name from the other, as Jimin pulls away towards the boat. Without thinking, Taehyung latches onto the siren’s wrist to keep him there. “Please, give me some time and I will hunt for you.”
The siren glances at the place Taehyung clutches his arm. “Until tomorrow night. Just bring a days worth.”
Taehyung nods quickly, dropping his hold on the other now that they have something of a deal. “ I will.”
“Very well,” Jimin sighs. He moves back a few lengths and Taehyung watches as he goes. Before he recedes fully, he gives Taehyung a meaningful look. “But Taehyung, remember well that this mercy is a favor that comes with a cost.”
Only after the siren has turned fully, Taehyung whispers out “I will.” The sound doesn’t make it far enough to reach the other, but it’s understood anyway. If the siren comes to collect a favor, he won’t have a choice. But for now, he doesn’t want to worry about what favor a siren might ask of him, he needs to fulfill the first end of the deal.
As he waits for the boat to dock safely far from the reef, Taehyung makes a plan for collecting fish that won’t involve physically catching them. Even a net would require some level of dexterity that he’s never been taught to hone - kept a soft, pretty den mer.
The one thing the hunting mers didn’t learn that he did was crafting. And now is probably the best time to play to his strengths because even if he loses time making a trap of sorts, it won’t be as much time lost as he would spend attempting to spear fish.
It takes some time of thought and a few etched designs on rocks to come up with, but Taehyung eventually plans a trap that would allow fish to swim into, but not out of. Gathering the materials, he estimates that if he has five or so finished by the end of the day, he can set them out at dawn and have enough. The first tester he’ll set up immediately to make sure the traps will work and allow time for another design or plan.
Using surface reeds and fronds, he weaves together the first cylindrical design with a small area that opens in the center and has inward facing fronds, where fish can pass through the reeds. However, the sharp points of the reeds blocking the exit will make it so they can’t escape back out the small hole. It seems foolproof to Taehyung assuming the fish he catches are big enough.
Sacrificing a few unshelled mollusks of his own for bait, Taehyung sets out the first trap and sets himself to making the rest. After a few hours, he checks the first trap and finds two yellow corvina stuck inside. He lets himself feel proud for once, knowing despite his lack of skills, he was still a good crafter.
The next morning goes much the same way, with Taehyung setting out the traps and bait and weaving himself a net to collect the fish into. By the afternoon, he he’s succeeded in collecting around twelve fish; mostly mackerels and corvinas, but he did manage to get one small grouper. He hoped it would be enough to satisfy the siren, especially as he added some unshelled mollusks he’d collected throughout the day.
Without knowing where to find Jimin, Taehyung just made his way out of the den and towards the center of the reef with his net of food. He keeps his eyes scanning all around him for another presence and finds nothing beside the occasional curious reef shark. Taehyung tosses the one he’s befriended a mollusk and gives it a quick pat as he hears a song from the opposite side of the reef. Not a luring song, just a song for Taehyung to follow.
Hesitantly, he swims towards the sound and ends up at one of the surrounding rock walls of the reef. A large cave sits in front of him, much larger than his own and the beautiful siren sits resting on one of jutting rocks.
“There you are,” he sing-songs in the same tempting voice as his call. Taehyung hadn’t even noticed that the song had faded out. “I see you really did manage to hunt.”
“I brought more than enough for a few days,” Taehyung comes forward and tosses the bag into the siren’s waiting hands. Jimin’s face looks comically shocked when he notices the amount.
He turns the bag over in his hands, “How did you get this many. I thought your type of mer wasn’t taught hunting.”
Taehyung frowns. “How are you so sure I wasn’t a hunter?”
“I don’t know much about mers, but I do know hunters don’t learn crafting. I saw the weapons you’ve made and carried around near me and I know this net was the product of experience.”
Taehyung doesn’t say anything at that, just bites the inside of his lip and studies the other. The look of satisfaction that passes over the siren’s face has him relaxing a little. “How did you catch these?”
“Traps,” Taehyung concedes.
“Traps?” Jimin prompts with a tilt of the head. It’s strange to see the creature Taehyung has been taught to fear his whole life looking at him curiously, but Taehyung finds himself dropping his guard a little.
“Reed traps with an inverted entrance so fish can swim in, but can’t escape.” He finds himself explaining. “I wove them together and used some bait to attract fish.”
Jimin appraises him with a smile. “You’re very clever, Taehyung. I’ve never seen anyone do something like that.”
“Thank you,” Taehyung replies, hoping the heat from the praise leaves his face. He thinks Jimin interprets Taehyung’s quiet voice to be fear because his face falls a little suddenly.
“Taehyung,” he starts. “I really won’t bother you if you want to live here, okay? And as much as I hate humans, I’ll keep my word and won’t bother your friends should they come back.”
Taehyung smiles genuinely, despite still feeling some trepidation, he’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Okay, I hope we can be friends, Jimin-ssi.”
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