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The water of the bay is quiet tonight, almost as still as a sheet of glass, stretching as far as Jungkook’s eyes can see, reflecting the stars and the moon.
So peaceful and serene.
Everything that Jungkook’s crew isn’t.
They are loud, their feet trampling on the wood as they dance and stumble to the music across the deck with their jugs full of beer and wine and rum, they’re laughing and shouting, singing and swaying.
Jungkook sighs and leans on the railing with his elbows, rubbing his face.
He’s sweaty, wrung out and covered in dirt from the last weeks on sea without thoroughly washing and he can’t wait to get off-board by morning and rent a room in the village – for a bath, a good nap and to get something in his belly that’s not dry bread and alcohol. He would’ve actually preferred to do so tonight but he didn’t want to refuse his crew this party. They deserve it.
A jug of beer is thrust into his hand, some of the liquid sloshing over his lower arm from the force.
“Drink with us, captain!”
Jungkook stifles a groan but manages to throw his crew member a smile. Apparently not a very convincing one because the guy frowns and takes a step closer.
“Ya thinking about the raid?”
“Hm?” Jungkook looks at him, then back into the night. “No, just tired.”
A heavy hand slaps his back. ”It’ll be worth it, after we come back we’ll be rich men!”
Jungkook chuckles. “Or dead.”
The crew member barks out a laugh. “Or dead. But that’s what a pirate’s life is about, aye? Wealth or death.”
Jungkook snorts and takes a sip from his beer.
He supposes it is.
Less than 50 miles southwest of the village where they anchored the Rose, Jungkook’s beloved ship, lies a small group of islands that’s not charted on any map.
Most people think the islands and the stories surrounding one particular island are nothing but myths and fairytales, but after spending his whole life on sea and among pirates and people who love telling stories, Jungkook has long learned to tell rumors from the truth. There is this kind of tingling he gets.
Some stories just feel… real.
The stories about one of those uncharted islands and its treasure of other-worldly worth, he’s sure, are true.
The closer they got to the island, the wilder the stories turned.
The most interesting story Jungkook hears a night later, during his visit to one of the local bars in the village after finally indulging in a long bath and an even longer nap.
Late into the night, right when the atmosphere is at its peak, the music loud and the people dancing around him, a guy with withered skin and a beard that reaches all the way down to his round belly approaches Jungkook.
“I heard you and your crew are searching for the treasure of Bellua.”
Bellua, that’s how they say beast here.
Jungkook has heard the tales about the beast, the sea monster that guards the treasure they are looking for.
He isn’t too worried though. Of course, there is always a risk, but he’s more worried about the frequent storms in that part of the sea than he is about any monster. He and his crew have fought all kinds of beasts before, on sea and on land. His men are smart and strong, they have fire power and the Rose is fast. If shit turns out to be too dangerous, they could always abort.
“Yep,” he just says, taking a swig of his rum, relishing the familiar burn of alcohol in his throat and the way the warmth spreads in his chest. He’s used to people being curious and nosy whenever strangers come to their town.
“Why?”
Jungkook isn’t prepared for that question.
Why? Of course, because they want wealth. They want fame and glory. They want to be legends.
“Why not?” He asks with a grin.
The man chuckles, emptying his jug of beer loudly before slamming it down on the table with a burp behind closed lips.
“Son, I suggest you and your men turn around while you still can. I don’t know what kind of stories you’ve heard about the treasure or the monster, but I know you’re not prepared. If you knew the whole truth, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now. You’d long be on your way back home.”
Jungkook raises an eyebrow and motions for him to go on. He loves himself a good story.
“You’re not up against any ordinary monster.” The guy leans closer, looking at him intently, his voice grave and low. “This one is the worst of them all.”
Jungkook laughs at that. “All the monsters we were up against were supposed to be the worst of them all. And we slaughtered them anyway.”
“Ah,” the man smiles at that and leans back. “But they were all wild animals, no?”
“Hm?” Jungkook frowns. “Well, of course… they were beasts.”
“With an appearance like one I suppose?”
“Obviously. Deformed, slimy, disgusting…”
“This one is none of that.”
Jungkook blinks. “What do you mean?”
“It’s the most beautiful creature humans have ever laid eyes upon. More beautiful than any mermaid or siren.”
The guy gestures for the barmaid to bring him another beer.
“It’s more beautiful than the sea itself. But just as dangerous. Just as quick-tempered. And just as deadly.”
Jungkook stares at him. This is the first time he’s hearing that. He can’t imagine a monster being beautiful but even if it was…
“How does that make it more dangerous? All beasts are quick-tempered, all of them are deadly.”
The man hums. “Don’t underestimate the weapon that is otherworldly beauty paired with ruthlessness and intelligence, son. Do you know how it came about protecting that treasure?”
“How?”
“People take their valuables to that island out of their own free will. As payment.”
Jungkook’s eyebrows shoot up.
“Payment for what? For safety? So it leaves them alone?”
The guy chuckles, taking a sip from a freshly drawn beer that’s been placed in front of him.
“None of the like. They pay it for its company.”
“Company?”
“Company.”
The confusion must be written all over Jungkook’s face because the guy snorts and wiggles his eyebrows. And that’s when it clicks.
“I— You mean--” Jungkook sputters and shakes his head. “Company as in—?”
“As in exactly what you’re thinking of.”
“There are people who want to fuck sea monsters?”
There are some heads whipping around at his voice raising over the music, but ultimately nobody cares enough, or maybe they’re not sober enough to keep listening to their conversation.
“Apparently so.” The guy grins, taking another swig. “The tentacles seem… intriguing to some.”
Tentacles?!
Jungkook stares at him, blinking, at a loss for words. Tentacles… He shudders uncomfortably as he imagines cold, wet and slimy appendixes slithering across his skin and to specific… places. He clears his throat.
“I thought you said it’s beautiful?”
“It is.”
“With tentacles?”
The guy just shrugs. “I’m only telling you what I’ve heard.”
“Up North they tell different stories, you know,” Jungkook says and sits up on the bar stool. “There are the ones that say they’ve been to that island and haven’t found anything. That neither the monster nor the treasure exist. And then there are stories about the ones who never came back, who disappeared. Ships never found.”
“Those stories are just as true as mine.”
Jungkook frowns. “How so?”
The guy chuckles. “When I said it is quick-tempered and deadly like the sea, I meant it. If it's in a mood, it hides. You won’t find it nor the treasure. It won’t let you. If it’s in a different mood it will drown you. If it’s in yet another mood it will – you know – lure you in.”
There is a moment of silence before Jungkook speaks up.
“All that sounds very— unbelievable.”
It’s what he says, but deep inside him, there is a tingle. The same familiar tingle in his chest that he always gets whenever he feels like a particular story is true.
Nonetheless, he shakes his head and goes on.
“It’s interesting and all, but it doesn’t make me want to turn back. We’re going to get that treasure, no matter what.”
The guy laughs. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The overall mood aboard the Rose is a mix of palpable tension, nervous excitement and giddiness when they head out.
It’s late in the evening and even though crossing the sea during the night isn’t Jungkook’s preferred way of traveling, it means they will reach the island by morning and have a whole day of sunlight to search for the treasure, while having a clear view of their surroundings.
Their plan works out perfectly.
The moment the words “land ahoy!” are shouted from the lookout, the dark of the night sky makes way for the cool blue of the day, mixed with yellow hints of the rising sun, while the moon slowly disappears.
The tension has risen to a high now and everyone remains silent, save for the necessary commands here and there to anchor the Rose safely and board the two of the ship’s boats to cover the remaining distance to the mysterious island. Only a few stay back to guard the Rose.
The waves rock their small boats side to side as they continue rowing along, while the wind makes Jungkook’s thin linen shirt flutter, his eyes examining the piece of land ahead intently.
It is surrounded by large rocks jutting out from the water, glistening wetly in the morning sun and forcing them to navigate very carefully. The narrow coastline is rough and uneven, reaching so far inland that Jungkook is sure the tide must be extremely high here, maybe even covering half the island at its highest. They have to be careful and monitor the movement of the sea at all times.
It takes for them to get even closer until Jungkook can pinpoint where the rough rock structure changes and transitions into a sandy beach area, only a narrow strip, before vegetation covers everything that lies further inland, the trees and plants dense like a curtain.
Once they set foot on land, Jungkook stretches his back out, fixes the strap of his cutlass, and makes sure his knife is secure in the holster on his thigh and his two pistols secure on his hips.
From then, they set on their real journey.
He and his crew make their way through the climbing and hanging vegetation of the forests, cutting down huge ferns that are in their way, squeezing between trees, and tripping over roots.
The island is small and when they reach the other side the sun has barely moved.
Jungkook wipes the sweat from his brows, relishing the breeze where he’s standing on top of the cliff on the other side of the island.
All the better, he thinks. At the rate they’re going, they have more than enough time before the dark to search every inch of this piece of earth.
They find nothing.
No monster, no treasure. Nothing. Just a boring-ass island.
When they return to the Rose in the early afternoon, sweaty and dirty, their muscles exhausted and their stomachs growling, they’re pissed.
“You made us do all this shit for fucking nothing,” someone spits at Jungkook.
Jungkook whips his head around and narrows his eyes, throwing the guy a look that has him jerk back, scrambling for words immediately.
“I-I mean—We still have some hours of sunlight—umm— maybe after some food we can go for one final round around the island, captain?”
Jungkook stares at him a while longer, annoyance nagging at him.
He’s just as pissed as them.
The stories… they felt so real. The whole time he was so fucking sure they would find something. The disappointment over the fact that it seems to be a dead end almost hurts.
He turns to look at the island, the way it lies peacefully in the glaring sunlight. Quiet. Weirdly quiet. They haven’t come across a single animal during their search. He thinks of the old guy at the bar.
If it’s in a mood, it hides. You won’t find it nor the treasure.
He huffs. What a joke.
“Yeah, let’s have some food first, take a break, rest a little. After that, whoever is up for one last round can join me. No punishment if you’d rather stay back and sleep.” He runs his hand through his hair “Someone take the lookout, just in case.”
He walks across the planks with heavy steps, retreating into his quarters at the stern of the Rose.
His quarters are a bit farther from where the crew is sleeping. A roomy, calm, comfortable cabin, equipped with a chair and a desk that’s scattered with papers and maps, a narrow bed and a small basin in the corner.
He fills the bottom of the basin with a little bit of water and uses a cloth and a small piece of soap to wipe some of the sweat from his skin. When he’s done, he puts his shirt back on and steps up to the large window located on the side of the ship to let some air inside.
From here, he has a good look at the island, at the rocks surrounding it, and at the view a bitter mix of anger and annoyance bubbles up inside him, merging into the bitter feeling of disappointment.
He hates letting his crew down but most of all, he’s pissed that his intuition was so wrong this time.
The old man’s words come to his mind once more.
If it’s in a mood, it hides. If it’s in a different mood it will drown you. If it’s in yet another mood it will lure you in.
Jungkook scoffs and crosses his arms, leaning with his shoulder against the window frame, the breeze tousling his hair.
If what the guy said is true, he should probably be glad that they got away lightly. Maybe they dodged a bullet here. On the other hand… If what he said is true, it kind of annoys him that the monster hasn’t shown itself.
“Are we not interesting enough for you, beast?” He mumbles under his breath, his eyes scanning the island. “Come on, show yourself.”
The island just keeps lying quietly before him. Plain, unimpressive.
If it’s in yet another mood it will lure you in.
Jungkook worries his lower lip. Maybe…
What if it works the other way around too? What if he can lure the sea monster in?
What if it does exist and he manages to make it show itself? Then they could kill it and nothing would keep them from finding the treasure anymore.
For a long moment, Jungkook just stands there, staring out the window.
Then he slowly brings his hands to the hem of his shirt.
He feels incredibly stupid because surely this isn’t going to work, that monster is most likely a myth anyway, but he takes his shirt off nonetheless, letting it slide to the floor.
Then he stands there. Shirtless. Feeling even more stupid.
He chuckles to himself. What should he even do to get its attention? Strip? Dance naked? He almost laughs out loud at the thought. Get himself off?
The last thought has him pause, his eyes wandering to the door on the other side of the room. He’s locked it upon entering, nobody would disturb him. Even if he would do it right in front of the open window… with where his quarters are located, nobody aboard the ship could see him. Not from above, not from below, not from the side. One of the biggest perks of the captain’s quarters, aside from the fact that it’s more spacious than the crew’s shared quarters below deck, is the privacy. Only if someone would take one of the ship’s boats and row towards the islands, would they see him.
Something stirs in Jungkook’s belly and he groans inwardly.
He’s either seriously fucked up or seriously underfucked that this is doing something for him. The thought of jacking off in front of an open window, to get the attention of a nonexistent mystical creature, with the chance of being caught in the act by his crew. A slim chance. Very slim. No one can see him here.
There is no one to watch him open his pants and step out of them, no one to watch him sit down sideways on the windowsill completely naked, no one to watch him throw one of his legs over so it’s hanging out of the window while the other is firmly planted against the floor inside.
The windowsill is digging uncomfortably against his ass and Jungkook scoots around a bit.
His heart is beating faster now.
Is he really going to do this?
Maybe a quick orgasm would at least ease some of the tension that has had him on edge the whole day and his body does seem in the mood, he’s already half hard.
He leans back against the window frame, bringing his fingers up to trail them softly over his throat, his collarbone, his chest…
A quick one won’t hurt, he decides.
He skims his hands down his flat stomach, over his abs, and spreads his legs slightly, feeling the breeze between his thighs and on his cock. He feels exposed like this, tickled by the soft wind, and it makes him shudder in excitement.
He wraps his hand around himself and gives his cock a gentle tug, then another, and lets his head fall back, eyes fluttering shut. A sigh escapes him as the fire in his lower belly starts burning hotter with each stroke of his fist.
The breeze grazes his nipples, making goosebumps erupt all over his body, and he brings his free hand up to roll one of the nubs between two fingers, small jolts of pleasure trailing down his spine at the touch.
It takes shockingly little time for him to be fully hard, his belly clenching, precum making his hand glide more easily over his cock. His breathing grows louder, more labored, mixing with the soft wet sound of the waves below him, lapping against the ship. He rubs his palm over the head of his cock, his back arching slightly as he gasps, his leg twitching.
Suddenly, a loud splash breaks the silence.
Jungkook startles and jolts up, his heart racing, the blood in his veins freezing just like his body.
He stays completely still, except for his eyes that wander over the water below, then towards the island, over the rocks in the sea, his pulse going quickly inside his throat.
The first thing he catches sight of between the rocks is a flash of silver and first, he thinks it’s the reflection of the sun on the water but then the silver moves again, not at all like the waves, but quicker, more precise.
Jungkook’s muscles tense as he thinks of the sea monster and he’s just about to scramble back inside, when something appears from behind the rocks slowly, almost shyly.
Jungkook relaxes when he realizes what it is.
A merman.
His fishtail, flicking behind him in the clear water as he swims closer, is of a soft lavender color, each individual scale shimmering and glittering in all shades of the rainbow when hit by the sun. His long hair is pooling in the water around him, floating softly, shimmering silver with a purple hue. One of the silver strands is falling into his face wetly and he brushes it behind his ear with delicate hands, bracelets made of white pearls clinking around his wrist, a silver cuff adorning its upper arm.
Jungkook’s heartbeat slowly calms as his muscles relax.
The merfolk isn’t necessarily harmless, but from this distance the merman wouldn’t be able to grab him and drag him underwater, so Jungkook feels safe up here. Thankfully, Merpeople aren’t as dangerous as sirens who can lure sailors in with just their singing.
With a flick of his tail, the merman moves closer and closer and only when he comes to a halt next to the final large rock separating the ship from the island, Jungkook catches the sly smile on his face and the way his gaze flickers to Jungkook’s hand around his cock.
His cheeks heat up immediately and he’s just about to scoot back inside his cabin when the merman pulls himself up on the rock, settling on it with his upper body, resting his chin on his palms and tilting his head to the side with a curious expression, as if he wants to say please, continue, while his tail flicks behind him in the water.
Jungkook isn’t surprised. Merpeople are sexual creatures, interested in anything lewd, so of course this one was attracted by Jungkook doing this out in the open.
When the merman licks his lips, full and plump and the color of coral, something hot stirs in Jungkook’s belly again. He gives his cock a careful tug, watching as the merman’s tail curls a little in excitement.
Jungkook takes a deep shuddering breath when his cock twitches in his hand and makes sure to hold eye contact with the other as he starts moving his fingers up and down again, a bit more determined this time.
All of a sudden, he feels restless inside, overly aware of eyes on him, making his skin prickle while his hips start doing their own thing, rolling into his palm. A moan slips past his lips and he bites them to keep it from happening again. The merman’s smile widens at the noise, his ears probably working a lot better than any human’s, picking up all the little noises Jungkook makes – the slick sound of his hand on his cock, the low moans, the soft creaking of the wood when he leans back against the window frame, everything.
Through half-lidded eyes he watches the merman lean in closer in interest when Jungkook’s hand speeds up. He feels pale eyes burning into him and watches as the merman brings his pinky to his full lips, giving it a tiny lick and gentle bite as he keeps grinning.
Jungkook wishes he could feel those lips on his cock and the sudden pictures popping up inside his head sends intense heat rippling through his stomach.
“Holy shit,” Jungkook mumbles breathlessly, his other hand reaching down to cup his balls, massaging them. The heat burns hotter and hotter as he speeds up, fucking into his hand. He digs his thumb into the slit and throws his head back, feeling dizzy with pleasure.
The grin has slipped from the merman’s face by now. Instead, he watches intently with his lips parted, his tail flicking in anticipation.
Jungkook keeps working himself, the slide of his fingers feeling like heaven, wet with precum, his legs twitching on either side of the windowsill. The feeling is so intense, so good, that he can’t swallow down the moans anymore.
His eyes fall shut, his chest rising and falling. He’s almost there, the hot pleasure centering, tightening, his cock throbbing, his toes curling.
And then the pleasure explodes.
Hot cum hits his lower stomach, some of it running over his fingers, making the last couple of strokes smooth as silk as he shakes through his orgasm, throbbing, pulsing…
He’s still panting when he slumps back into the window frame, trembling, the last waves of his orgasm simmering away slowly and it takes him a moment to blink his eyes open.
He flinches when a sudden shout reaches his ears.
“Mer-Mermaid! Mermaid—starboard quarter!”
He shoots into an upright position, searching for the merman below, but all there is in the spot where he was resting on the rock are ripples in the water from where he must’ve dived under.
Jungkook curses and springs to his feet, legs still trembling when he quickly wipes himself down with his underwear, before throwing it in the corner and grabbing his pants from the floor, pulling them on in a hurry, throwing his shirt on just in time for someone to violently bang on his door.
“Captain! Mermaid sighting!”
He opens his door with a growl.
“I told you to fucking rest.”
“B-But captain,” his crew is looking at him with big eyes. “A mermaid! Can we catch it?”
Jungkook huffs. “Where is it now?”
“Well—” One of his men points out towards the island. “It disappeared somewhere over there.”
“And you want to do what now? Dive into the sea and go after it? You know what mermaids do right? They will pull you down into the deepest depths and drown you.”
His crew just stares at him, mouths opening and closing, but nobody speaks up to disagree with him.
“If you want to die, feel free to go after it,” Jungkook shrugs his shoulders. “But let me take a nap, goddammit!”
He steps back into his cabin and slams the door shut.
Unsurprisingly, none of his crew end up going after the merman.
By now he must’ve disappeared far into the distance, deep into the ocean, startled by their shouting.
No matter how hard Jungkook looks out of his window during their break – instead of taking the nap he said he needed – no matter how much he secretly wishes for the pretty creature to show itself once more, he doesn’t catch sight of him again. The water below his window stays still, no merman to be found.
He’s a bit disappointed but not surprised.
Neither is he surprised that after their final search around the island, they don’t find anything. No treasure, no monster, not even a clue.
They get the Rose ready to head back with an overall atmosphere of frustration hanging over them.
The storm doesn’t start gradually, it crashes upon them within the blink of an eye.
The dark clouds gather so rapidly, the wind picking up so quickly, not long after they set sail back to the mainland, that they just about have time to get the ship ready and secure the cargo before the wind starts howling loudly around them. The sea turns into a wild field of violent waves, which grow bigger and bigger until they’re towering all the way up to the railing, then rising even higher.
As sheets of rain and waves of salt water whip across the Rose, Jungkook stands on deck soaked to the bone, trying to keep them on course. His hands are slipping on the wet wood of the helm while he shouts orders to his crew over the thunder.
He can tell the exact moment he loses control of the ship and he knows immediately that there is no turning back.
He knows the Rose will sink.
A violent tremor, then a jerk when the storm throws them against a cliff.
“Get to the boats!” He shouts.
Everything is a blur of shouting, running, and slipping.
And then the Rose breaks apart.
Jungkook loses his footing and suddenly he’s falling, cold water closing over his head.
Someone tries grabbing his arm but then he’s ripped away by the waves, sucked deeper, head over heels, as his body is tossed around by the currents helplessly. Saltwater burns in his eyes and throat, a loud roaring blaring in his ears.
He flails against the ruthless tide, rolling and twisting, murky water blinding him, his lungs burning.
His temple cracks against something hard and sharp pain flares up behind his eyes. A heartbeat later blackness sweeps across his vision, and then his body feels heavier and heavier, his limbs relaxing, as he slowly loses consciousness.
He’s too weak to flinch when he feels something touching his leg, slithering over it and winding its way up to his waist, pulling him even deeper.
He opens his mouth to scream, but his lungs are empty and his last bits of consciousness drift into nothingness.
Then everything goes black.
Jungkook comes to with a jolt, turning on his side just in time to vomit up a stomach of salty water. It burns in his throat and nose, so much that tears spring from his eyes. He gasps for air, his head pounding, his limbs shaking.
“Shhh,” someone says from beside him and then there is a warm hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles into his skin. “Calm down. Breathe.”
Jungkook focuses on breathing, and tries to regain control over his body.
Inhale, exhale.
His sight is blurry, black spots dancing in front of his eyes, only slowly clearing up.
Inhale, exhale.
The throbbing in his skull slowly fades.
Inhale, exhale.
He almost drowned. But somehow, he’s alive.
Jungkook rolls on his back, his wet clothes clinging to him, his body jittering from the cold and the shock, the rough surface of rocks digging coldly into his skin. He looks around.
He’s in a cave of some sort, cold water lapping at his legs. The rough rock structure far above him – which slowly appears in front of his eyes when he blinks away the blurriness – reflects the setting sun that hits the water around his legs from the open mouth of the cave, where it’s standing low in the distance, glowing a deep red-orange.
There is a person sitting next to him.
A man. A man that seems somehow familiar. Sharp jaw and high cheekbones, his skin pale, luminescent spots scattered over his nose and cheeks like glittering freckles, silky hair framing his face, silver of color, droplets of water rolling off of it. His lips are full and the color of coral and his eyes a pale greyish lavender, framed by silver lashes. There is something intensely striking about him, he’s beautiful, almost ethereal.
It takes Jungkook’s muddled brain a while to recognize him.
It’s the merman. The one who was watching him.
The world spins when Jungkook attempts to sit up and the merman’s arms are there right away, steadying him. Jungkook clutches them, his grip so weak it’s slipping.
When he’s finally sitting upright and the arms leave him, except for a supportive hand on his back, he looks at the merman again, eyes traveling down the naked torso to where the pale skin transitions into a different texture and a different color, lavender, and then further to where he believes the fishtail is.
Only that there isn’t a tail.
Instead, there are several… things.
Some thick, some thinner, wriggling and curling where they are resting on the ground, glistening wetly.
Tentacles.
Jungkook scrambles back with a startled shout, his hand slipping on the wet rock, scraping his palm.
“Y-You— you’re—"
The man tilts his head to the side, a strand of long silver hair falling in his face.
“I’m what?” His voice is calm, almost pleasant, but it does nothing to calm Jungkook’s racing heart.
“The sea monster,” Jungkook breathes. “The—The beast.”
The other’s lips curl into something that’s not really a smile.
“Such ugly names, I always thought they were cruel. You can call me Jimin.”
Jungkook stares at the wiggling limbs that seem to get closer, reaching out to him.
Suddenly he feels dizzy, the black spots in front of his eyes are back.
“G-Get away from me—" He gasps. Then his arms give out under him and he’s swallowed again by darkness.
When he wakes up a second time, he’s not wet and cold anymore.
Instead, he’s dry and warm, and very much naked, wrapped in a blanket.
He’s not in a cave anymore either. Instead, thousands of stars are twinkling in the night sky above him. The smell of burning wood and the crackling sound of fire next to him makes him sit up slowly, clutching the blanket tightly around his naked body.
There is still a dull pressure pulsing through his head and he has to blink several times against the brightness when he turns and his eyes land on the flickering flames.
Movement on the other side of the campfire makes him look up.
The guy from earlier, the merman, the– the monster, is kneeling on the ground, his hands busy with something that Jungkook can’t see but it smells of cooked fish and roasted seaweed.
A violent jolt goes through Jungkook’s body and he flinches back when the other suddenly stands up, heart leaping into his throat. The guy freezes at Jungkook’s movement, looking at him with a surprised expression. When their eyes meet, Jungkook is momentarily taken aback by their beautiful color and the way his silver eyelashes seem to glow in the light of the fire, just like his silver hair, which he has swept to one side, falling silkily over his shoulder down to his naked chest.
All of that distracts Jungkook only temporarily from what has really caught his attention right away without him even realizing it.
The legs.
He lets his eyes travel over the fabric of the shorts the guy is wearing, then over the exposed thighs and knees, all the way down to two feet that are standing solid and firm on the ground, toes curling in the damp sand, as if self-conscious under Jungkook’s gaze.
Legs and feet. No fishtail. No tentacles.
Jungkook blinks. Was it all a dream?
His eyes snap up to the other’s face, who’s looking at him with a curious expression, still and quiet like a rock, as if he’s scared to startle Jungkook if he moves.
Jungkook frowns. Was his mind making things up earlier?
“I thought you—” Jungkook’s voice is hoarse, his throat burning. “You’re— The tentacles—"
“You seemed spooked by them earlier, so I hid them.”
Jungkook stares at him and his human legs, the smooth skin, and it takes him a while to understand. Fishtail, tentacles, legs…
Shit.
“You’re a shapeshifter,” he whispers, cold dread spreading in his chest.
Shapeshifters are said to be able to defy all physics by mere will. They can shift themselves and they can shift their surroundings.
If it’s in a mood, it hides. You won’t find it nor the treasure. It won’t let you.
It all makes sense now. Shapeshifters can manipulate everything around them, they are powerful creatures, intelligent, vicious and deadly.
And they are a myth.
Or so Jungkook thought.
“Kind of,” the other answers, while taking a couple of steps towards Jungkook, the movement making Jungkook’s muscles tense. In his hand, there is a bowl with what appears to be food.
Food for Jungkook, apparently, because before he can even react the shapeshifter is stepping up to him, offering him the bowl. It happens so quickly, that he doesn’t even have time to contemplate running or at least bracing himself for a possible attack… either his brain is still too slow after what happened or the other is just insanely fast. He does have time to lean back though, clutching the blanket around himself tightly.
“It’s edible for you,” the guy explains, nodding towards the bowl. “I made sure it’s human food.”
Jungkook stares at him, his silver hair and pretty eyes, soft-looking skin, the high cheekbones and full lips, and he thinks back to the old guy’s words.
It’s said to be the most beautiful creature humans have ever laid eyes upon.
Yeah, that’s about accurate. The creature's beauty is astounding. But even though – or maybe because of that – Jungkook’s heart is hammering wildly in his throat, his gut continues screaming at him to run, to escape, telling him that this is not safe.
His eyes flicker to the bowl with food and suddenly everything seems so obvious.
“You’re trying to poison me,” he whispers.
When he looks up again, the other’s eyebrows are raised, but then they furrow slowly and an angry look crosses his face.
More beautiful than the sea itself. But just as dangerous. Just as quick-tempered. Just as deadly.
“If I wanted to kill you, I'd have done that a long time ago.” The shapeshifter’s voice is hard and sharp like glass. Then he places the bowl on the ground in front of Jungkook with a huff and reaches inside the pocket of his pants, pulling out a small waterskin.
Jungkook just about catches it with one hand, when it's thrown his way, still clutching the blanket tightly with the other.
“I saved your life, you should be thankful, Captain Jeon.”
Jungkook doesn’t know how he knows his name. Probably from spying on him and his men when they were scavenging the island.
His men.
Jungkook perks up, his grip around the rough leather of the filled flask tightening.
“My crew,” he says, his chest tight. “What happened to them?”
The shapeshift shrugs, strolling back to the spot on the other side of the crackling fire, sitting down gracefully, his long hair shimmering in the warm light.
“I think all of them made it to the boats.”
“You think?”
The other’s look is hard. “I can’t pay full attention to every human in my waters, captain. But rest assured that the dead floating around in the area have all died a long time ago, and none of them are your friends.”
Jungkook shivers at the thought of swollen bodies of drowned people.
But the good thing is, his crew is still alive. Surely, they are looking for him. They’re loyal men, he’s their captain, surely they won’t rest until they at least made sure to have found his dead body, and-
“No need to get your hopes up, captain. They aren’t anywhere near the island.” The shapeshifter’s voice is amused, as if crushing Jungkook’s hopes of being saved is nothing but entertaining to him. “They all left without turning back.”
Anger makes Jungkook’s blood boil.
Those fucking traitors. Disgraceful good-for-nothing shitheads. Dumb fucking morons.
Jungkook balls his fist in the blanket he's still holding around his very naked body.
Why is he even naked?
He looks around the area, searching for his clothes, but can’t find anything in the illumination of the fire. Then he tries to make out what lies in the darkness behind but he can’t see much, even though it’s a clear night. He sees the shadows of trees and bushes, and behind that just darkness. He can’t even hear anything, except for the crackling of fire and the crashing of waves in the distance. There don’t seem to be any animals around, thankfully. But also no other humans. Obviously. It’s just them.
Him and the sea monster.
“Take me back to civilization, beast,” Jungkook demands.
The other raises an eyebrow.
“That ugly name again. Quite frankly, it angers me when people call me that. My name is Jimin. Use it.” He crosses his arms. “And I’m not going to take you anywhere. I’m not exactly welcome among humans, Captain Jeon. Now eat your food. And drink.” He nods towards the waterskin in Jungkook’s hand. “I went all the way to the lake to get some fresh water for you, since you humans can’t stomach sea water.”
“Do it when it’s dark,” Jungkook keeps going, ignoring the twinge of thirst in his throat at the mention of drinking water. “Nobody would see you.”
“And risk being captured?” The beast – Jimin – laughs. “No thank you.”
“I—I would protect you!”
Jimin snorts. “Sure.”
Jungkook bristles, anger boiling inside him.
“Why rescue me then?!” He slams the waterskin into the sand in front of him. “When you’re just going to leave me to die on this island anyway!”
Jimin just shrugs, seeming almost bored, his demeanor so infuriating to Jungkook that he can hear the grinding of his own teeth.
“I was curious about you. You intrigued me. I thought it would be a shame if you died.”
“A shame,” Jungkook snorts. “Why?”
Jimin smiles lazily, flicking a strand of silvery hair from his forehead, the fire making his pale skin glow like honey.
“It’s not every day that a beautiful man brings himself pleasure on my shores.”
Jungkook’s face grows so hot, he’s sure he turns bright red. The heat of the fire is not helping.
“So, you saved me to—to do what with me?” He hisses, his heart racing. “Where are my clothes?! I—I heard the stories about you!”
Jimin’s smile morphs into a grin, the expression turning his beautiful face into something disturbingly intimidating, sinister almost.
“And what kind of stories would that be, Captain?”
Jungkook presses his lips together in anger and when he doesn’t answer, Jimin leans back on his hands, looking him up and down.
“Tell me. I’m curious.”
Jungkook huffs. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Jimin chuckles and Jungkook flinches back when he rises to his feet again.
“No need to be so scared, captain,” Jimin says and turns to collect more of the firewood from the ground. “You have nothing to worry about. Your clothes are drying on a line not far from here. I simply thought you were too beautiful to die, so I saved your life on a whim. You’re welcome.”
Jungkook huffs. On a whim.
“Take me back to the mainland,” he demands again.
“I’m not going anywhere near the mainland. You’re more than welcome to swim back once you feel better.”
“Swim?” Jungkook gawks at him. “No way in hell would I be able to swim that far!”
“Then build yourself a boat.”
“With what? I don’t have any tools!”
“Well,” Jimin turns back and throws a couple of dry branches into the fire, the sparks flying up into the night air. “Then I guess you have to hope for someone to come by and save you.”
Jungkook stares at him so hard, his eyes start watering.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” He hisses and Jimin looks at him with a frown. “That storm was yours. You tried to drown us!”
Jimin looks somewhat dumbfounded at first. Then he throws his head back and laughs.
“That’s what you think happened? Why would I do that?”
“B-Because that’s what they say— the stories–”
Jimin sits down in his spot again, crossing his legs.
“I still don’t know what kind of stories you’re talking about,” he says with a shrug.
“That you sink ships! That you either drown people or—or lure them in to—to—” He scoffs when Jimin raises his eyebrows in fake interest. “To fuck them,” he continues and ignores the grin that’s again spreading on Jimin’s face. “They say people come to you and pay you to do it.”
Jimin snickers.
“Well,” he leans back with a sigh, looking up into the night sky. “First of all, I don’t sink ships. The storms do. They are frequent here.”
Jungkook scoffs. “You expect me to believe that?”
Jimin rolls his eyes and Jungkook doesn’t know how even that can look beautiful.
“Believe whatever you want, Captain Jeon. You’ll experience their frequency soon enough while staying here. That story of me sinking ships is a lie.” He pauses and a moment later the grin is back on his lips.
“The other thing, however, is very much true. The tentacles that you are so scared of—” His grin widens and the fire casts a flickering shadow over his face that turns his expression into something almost unhinged. “Other humans seem to quite enjoy them.”
Jungkook watches in horror, as the skin on Jimin’s waist and hips starts moving in some places, pulling and pulsing in an unnatural way, before it bulges and lengthens, and then they appear, growing slowly like soft branches from his body, soon surrounding his crossed legs, pooling on the ground. They grow longer and longer… They vary in thickness. Some of them are nimbly thin, maybe about the width of three fingers, others as thick as Jungkook’s upper thigh. They are shimmering in different shades of purple, from pale lavender, like Jimin’s eyes, around the suckers to almost black at the top. They wriggle and move closer and closer to Jungkook.
Jungkook’s heart is racing, his chest feeling cold with panic when some of them make their way towards him, right through the fire between them. There is a hissing noise at first but then the flames part, not burning the tentacles in the slightest, letting them pass easily. Most likely a shapeshifter ability.
Jungkook’s throat is so tight he can’t breathe and he thinks he might throw up any second, frozen in place as he watches the tentacles move closer, his muscles locked in place, heavy, numb.
Then one of them curls around the waterskin on the ground, picks it up, and drops it in Jungkook’s lap. He flinches violently at the impact.
“At least drink some water,” Jimin’s voice says over the rush in Jungkook’s ears. He can only watch when the tentacles draw back, further and further, until they’ve disappeared into Jimin’s body again.
Jimin stands up with a sigh.
“That is where I sleep,” he gestures towards something behind Jungkook and when he slowly turns, squinting his eyes against the darkness, Jungkook can see the outline of a cliff a bit further in the distance and the deep black shape of the entrance to a cave.
“You’re welcome there when the storms come.”
Jungkook whips his head around.
“No way in hell,” he croaks.
Jimin just chuckles. “Fine with me. It’s the only shelter on the island though and much more comfortable.”
Jungkook just stares at him, not moving an inch. Only over his dead body would he follow Jimin into that cave.
When he doesn’t show any signs of moving, Jimin shrugs.
“Fine with me,” the shapeshifter says again before strolling towards the cave, his long hair flowing in the light breeze. “Goodnight, Captain Jeon.”
And then he disappears into the darkness as if he’s never been there in the first place.
Jungkook sits in his spot, frozen and not moving, staring after the other into the dark unblinkingly until his eyes are watering. He doesn’t know how long it takes for his muscles to relax, for him to slowly turn back towards the fire.
He shuffles around where he’s sitting, legs getting tangled in the blanket, positioning himself in a way that the cave is not in his back anymore, so that he can observe what’s going on in that direction, be ready in case of an attack.
Then he opens the flask with jittering fingers.
He smells the opening, then dribbles some of the content into the palm of his hand and smells it again. It looks like water, smells like water… He dips his tongue into the puddle in his palm carefully. Tastes like water.
Even though he knows it’s careless, the thirst in his throat and the hunger in his gut get the better of him, and soon he’s drinking and eating everything that Jimin has left for him. All the while listening to any noise, his gaze traveling over his surroundings non-stop.
Jungkook doesn’t sleep that night. And when the sky shifts from black to dark blue, a color which gets lighter and lighter by the minute, and he can finally see his surroundings, he stands up in his spot, his bones cracking, muscles aching, his blanket hanging over his shoulder, protecting him against the cool morning air.
The fire hasn’t completely died down, still smoldering under the ashes as he takes a look around.
He’s not far from the shore, right where the beach transitions into the forest, in a bay surrounded by two cliffs. In one of those cliffs lies the entrance to the cave that the monster – Jimin – has disappeared into, like a dark mouth that doesn’t give anything away about what’s going on inside.
Jungkook lets his eyes wander further.
Sure enough, just like Jimin said, between two trees, on a line, his clothes are fluttering in the wind, his shoes neatly placed next to each other on the ground.
When he takes his clothes off the line and pulls them on, glad to finally have something to really cover his naked body with, he’s surprised to find them actually quite soft. Not at all stiff from dried salty sea water, more as if they’ve been thoroughly washed.
That’s when he remembers what the shapeshifter said the night before. That he got the water for Jungkook to drink from a lake.
Jungkook remembers that lake, they saw it when they were searching the island. It was small and even though it was completely clear, some crew members stepped into it, wading through the water, which was reaching only up to their chests at the deepest spot, to make sure they didn't miss anything.
Only now he realizes how thirsty he is and he decides to try and locate that lake again to fill up his waterskin, maybe even take a short bath there.
While making his way through the rain forest, up and down small hills, he stumbles across familiar roots on still somewhat unsteady legs, passing trees he recognizes from the day before. The island isn’t big and it takes no time for him to reach the lake, which lies still and calm at the bottom of a hill, framed by tall cliffs in the back. A small waterfall — if you could even call it that, as it’s more a dribble than anything — splashes softly down on one side, making its way over rounded rocks and through unfamiliar plants that overgrow the cliff’s surface.
Jungkook looks around. He doesn’t know if Jimin is watching him, but he knows the shapeshifter easily could if he wanted to, without Jungkook ever knowing. He’s not sure how Jimin’s powers and the magic of the island work exactly, but he knows Jimin can stay completely undetected, and could probably even make Jungkook see things that aren’t really there.
Jungkook shudders at the thought and wishes he had at least his knife with him, or any kind of weapon, just to feel a bit safer. He swallows down the nerves and the embarrassment when he gets rid of his clothes and steps into the lake carefully, for a short bath.
After cleaning himself thoroughly and quenching his thirst at the small waterfall — filling his flask up too while he’s at it — he puts his clothes back on, which are warm from the morning sun that has long made its way over the horizon and is burning down unforgivingly by now, its intensity making Jungkook sweat a little. Especially so when he makes his way back to the beach.
He’s not even sure why he’s going back to the beach in the first place. He should stay far away from that spot since it’s so close to the shapeshifter’s quarters, but he has a fire there – which is hopefully still burning – and he left his blanket there too.
By the time he arrives at the beach, he’s already tired again, the sleepless night and what happened before wearing on him. He shuffles across the sandy ground, stepping over the last patches of coarse grass when something makes him halt in his steps.
The fire is burning high again, the bowl that Jungkook ate from the night before, the one the shapeshifter gave him, is sitting on the ground next to it, freshly filled. When Jungkook steps closer he sees that what’s inside is the same as he ate last time: fish and seaweed, some nuts, grains and berries he has never seen before but that didn’t taste all too bad. It’s still steaming.
He looks around, his muscles tensing, knowing fully well who must’ve done this.
There is no sign of the shapeshifter anywhere.
Even when Jungkook’s gaze wanders towards the cave in the distance, the entrance is still so dark that he can’t make out anyone or anything. He tries swallowing his nerves and walks up to the crackling fire slowly and carefully, his eyes never stopping to take in his surroundings. When he reaches for the bowl and takes it in his hands, the surface is warm against his palm, the delicious smell of food making his mouth water and his stomach growl.
He reluctantly decides to eat it. Jimin didn’t poison him the day before and Jungkook didn’t see anything edible on his way to the lake and back, at least nothing he could say is edible for certain.
He needs to eat, needs to stay alive until someone comes and finds him.
He looks out over the endless body of water, pushing the first bite of food into his mouth with the wooden spoon, chewing slowly. He really hopes it won’t take much longer.
The days go by slowly, so slowly that Jungkook has trouble keeping track of how many nights have exactly passed. He’s bored, so bored that everything feels like goo. The only thing that keeps him on his tiptoes is the fact that he’s sharing the island with a powerful shapeshifter. One that he hasn’t seen since the day he was rescued but knows is around somewhere.
Every day, a bowl of fresh food appears in his spot on the beach. Usually in the morning, after Jungkook has had his bath in the lake up the hill, and late in the evening after he’s been roaming around the island almost all day.
That’s what he usually does. He’s climbing trees and cliffs to look out for potential ships – ships that never come – and searches the island for something, even though he doesn’t even know what exactly he’s searching for. Something useful, he supposes, something that could be of help, something edible at least.
Because it annoys him, honestly, how the shapeshifter keeps feeding him, how dependent he is on the guy’s help. Why the guy is even helping him is beyond Jungkook but that’s something he’s stopped thinking about at some point because frankly, he really needs the help, as annoying as it is.
He tried to find the berries and grains Jimin used in the meals he gave Jungkook but couldn’t locate them anywhere. Every plant and every fruit he found was foreign to him and he didn’t want to take the risk of accidentally poisoning himself.
Catching fish turned out to be almost impossible too. Only twice Jungkook managed to catch something, thigh-deep into the waves, feet slipping on the algae-covered rocks that scraped the underside of his feet painfully each time he lost his footing. Both times it took him hours, his eyes burning from the reflection of the water, his legs hurting from leaning against the waves, and his skin red from the hot sun.
It is, quite frankly, a lot easier to just eat the food the shapeshifter gives him. But still, it annoys Jungkook to no end. Especially, since the shapeshifter seems to make it his mission to stay hidden from Jungkook.
In the beginning, Jungkook was glad of course, but after a while boredom started tearing his brain apart and he started having all these questions about the island, about what’s edible first and foremost and all kinds of other things - all those being questions the shapeshifter could surely answer.
Obviously, Jungkook isn’t stupid enough to actually step into the cave the guy apparently sleeps in. He doesn’t know what’s in there, how dangerous it is, doesn’t know if he could even protect himself. He’s imagining narrow spaces, alcoves, rough walls and dead ends. Out here, at least, the surroundings are now somewhat familiar to him, here, in this open space, he could at least run if he had to.
Since he has lost count of the days, he doesn’t know what day it is exactly when he finally sees him again.
He didn’t sleep well the night before – it’s not that he sleeps well on the beach in general but this time it was exceptionally bad – and he went for his morning bath in the lake a lot earlier than usual. When he comes back, he freezes in his tracks behind the last row of trees, when he spots the shapeshifter on the beach.
He’s squatting down in front of the fireplace, his silver hair bunched up in a messy bun on top of his head, while he’s getting a fresh fire started. Several ingredients are laid out on a large green leaf next to him. Obviously, stuff he’s about to cook on the fire for Jungkook’s breakfast.
Jungkook grumbles under his breath, still somewhat hurt in his pride that the guy is tending to him in this weird kind of way. He wonders if he has already noticed that he’s here and watching him from a distance. He probably has, with his shapeshifting abilities and his connection to his surroundings and whatnot.
Still, Jungkook tries to be as quiet as possible when he approaches him. Again, he wishes he at least had a knife or something to defend himself with if the guy lashes out.
“There’s no need to feed me like this, you know.” Junkook hates that the shapeshifter doesn’t even flinch when he speaks up. “I’m not some kind of dog.”
The guy rises to his feet and turns around with a small smile.
Jungkook has forgotten how beautiful he is. His long lashes frame his beautiful eyes in the most ethereal way, the luminescent freckles making his skin glow.
“No need? A dog would be more capable of feeding itself, actually.”
Jungkook grinds his teeth but he doesn’t really know what to retort to that, because, unfortunately, it’s kind of true. On this island, he's helpless like an infant.
“You’re expecting me to thank you now or what, shapeshifter?”
“I already told you twice to call me Jimin, Captain Jeon.” He looks at him with a saccharine smile. “Or would you prefer me calling you Jungkook?”
The sound of his name out of the monster's pretty mouth has Jungkook’s fingers twitch.
“I don’t want you to call me anything,” he huffs and Jimin chuckles, before turning around and crouching down again, delicate hands starting to prepare the fish that’s laid out on the leaf.
Jungkook steps up next to him.
“What plants and fruits can I eat here?”
Jimin looks up, his expression still one of amusement.
“I knew you might have questions.”
“Well,” Jungkook shrugs. “Unfortunately, I’m stuck here for a while. I need to learn as much as possible about this place.”
It’s kind of hard to hold Jimin’s gaze, those pale eyes of grayish lavender color almost glowing in the fresh light of the morning.
“Let’s make a deal,” Jimin suddenly says. “I’ll tell you more about the island, if you tell me more about yourself.”
Jungkook frowns down at the other. “What do you want to know about me?”
“About your adventures.”
“Adventures?”
“You're a pirate, aren’t you? You must have been on all kinds of voyages.”
“Well… yes.”
“Tell me about them. Tell me about the most interesting places you’ve been to. About the most interesting people you’ve met.” His smile is wide. “I love stories.”
Jungkook huffs. He supposes he can do that.
“Fine.” He pauses. “But— I want to brush my teeth.”
Jimin stares at him with a somewhat puzzled look.
“What?”
“I can’t keep washing my mouth with just water.” Jungkook lifts his chin.
Jimin barks out a laugh. “Of all the questions you could ask, you ask about dental hygiene?”
“Yes.”
“Alright,” Jimin chuckles. “I can point you into the direction of plants that will help.”
That’s how Jungkook started talking to Jimin.
Talking to him a lot, actually.
And he doesn’t even hate it, weirdly enough.
He tells him the story of how he came to his crew and his ship, the latter now unfortunately lost in the depths of the sea — the thought almost unbearable for Jungkook’s heart — and some of the adventures they went on. He tells him about some of the treasures he hunted, about kings and noblemen he swindled, about maidens he saved, about fights with other pirates, about funny encounters in taverns…
Jimin listens intently, always wide-eyed, always curious. Sometimes he tells stories himself. Stories that have Jungkook tingle all over with excitement. Stories about realms and kingdoms deep in the ocean, about wars between different merfolk and treasure hidden in the deepest and darkest depths of the sea, so far down that not even Jungkook would attempt to try and collect it. He tells stories in the most interesting way – calm and quiet, but still filling his words with so much life that Jungkook doesn’t want to stop listening.
The days go by and every single day, usually shortly before the sun goes down, they sit together and talk until the stars and the moon are shining bright.
One evening, Jimin brings a couple of berries and twigs from plants, showing him how the shape of the fruits and leaves indicate what’s edible for Jungkook and what isn’t. With some of the plants, Jimin isn’t sure himself if a human could eat them or not, so he advises Jungkook not to.
It’s that exact night that Jungkook experiences his first storm on the island.
He must admit, for a while he thought Jimin had lied and the storms aren’t as frequent as he claimed they were. Then he completely forgot about them. That night though, he’s reminded of them painfully.
“There is a storm coming,” Jimin says when they part ways. The stars are twinkling above them in the night sky, which is clear and does not at all look like a storm is coming. “You should seek shelter in my cave.”
Jungkook chews on his bottom lip.
Weirdly enough he trusts Jimin. Kind of.
The shapeshifter hasn’t done anything to harm him, has even helped him. More than once. If it wasn’t for Jimin pulling him out of the sea when he was drowning, cooking food for him when he didn’t know what to eat and then keeping him company when boredom ate him up from the inside, Jungkook would probably be dead. Or insane. Or both, but not in that order.
But, frankly, Jungkook is scared of that cave. Of its darkness and the feeling he gets only from looking at it. Deep inside his gut, he doesn’t trust it. And his gut is always right.
So he declines.
Later he regrets declining when the palm trees on the beach are bending dangerously in the howling storm, creaking in a spine-chilling way, rain and grains of sand whipping his face painfully with each blast of wind, some of it even getting into his mouth. The sea is wild too, Jungkook can hear it more than he can see it in the dark. Huge waves slamming violently into the shore, the noise making Jungkook’s heart beat violently.
It gets so bad that he doesn’t really have any other choice. He needs to seek shelter.
His heart beats even faster, the closer he gets to the entrance of the cave. It’s hard to see, too dark, his sight blurry from wind and tears and sand and rainwater. The last couple of steps he stumbles more than he walks, with his arms extended in front of him until his palms make contact with the rough and rain-covered surface of the cliff.
He feels his way along the wall of rocks, step by step, further and further, until his hand reaches into a void. The entrance to the cave.
He swallows hard, his heartbeat quickening, but the howling wind behind him drives him forward. He walks carefully, following the narrow passageway, still putting his hand on the wall as he sets one foot in front of the other, fingers sliding over the damp rock.
One step, two steps, three… The darkness closes in on him more and more the further he goes, but it’s not the darkness that startles him. It’s the sudden silence. All noise from the storm outside is completely swallowed by something that Jungkook knows isn’t entirely natural.
He thinks he can even taste the magic in the air but that’s probably just his imagination, with him being only human.
When he reaches the end of the passage, he can see it though. The magic. With his eyes.
Right behind the narrow passage lies a big cavern, which expands wide in front of Jungkook. The walls are rough, consisting of dark rocks, which are black in color but somehow… they are shimmering, glowing almost. The rocky surface, the stalactites and stalagmites, are scattered with thousands of tiny luminous specks that glow in swirls of blue and green.
It’s almost as if Jungkook stepped right into a clear night sky, as if he’s surrounded by thousands of little stars.
But one specific corner seems to shine the brightest.
When Jungkook’s eyes land on it he gasps, taking an involuntary step forward.
The corner is spilling over with gold, silver, gems and pearls. There are goblets, tiaras, heavy-looking necklaces and amulets. Some pieces are neatly placed on the little ledges and nooks formed by the rough cave structure, almost as if to showcase them, others are on the ground, coins over coins piling up and even from where he’s standing Jungkook can see that none of them is like the other, all of them unique, all of them insanely pretty.
His fingers itch. He’s a pirate after all, of course he wants nothing more than to bury his hands in the gold and the coins and the pearls, close his fist around them and let some of the valuables disappear in the pocket of his pants.
This is the treasure they were looking for.
Jungkook swallows thickly when he remembers the old dude’s words.
‘Do you know how it came about protecting that treasure? People take their valuables to that island out of their own free will. As payment.’
This stuff was all brought by humans who wanted Jimin’s— company.
Jimin.
Where is he even?
Jungkook lets his eyes wander around, searching for the other.
Only now he hears the water that’s slowly dripping from some of the bigger stalactites, making the softest sound upon landing on the ground. So soft that, if Jungkook wouldn’t focus on it so intently, he wouldn’t hear it.
It’s pleasantly cool and dry in here and it smells a bit of the ocean, of a fresh breeze, and of something florally sweet that Jungkook’s brain has started associating with Jimin.
He jerks a step back, when his gaze lands on whom he’s looking for.
Right at the other end of the cave lies a pool of water. It’s huge and extends further and further until it meets the water of the sea, which seems to be accessible through the big opening in the wall.
Only now Jungkook realizes that this is not really a cave in the cliff, it’s more like a passage between the beach on one side and the open water on the other.
Outside in the dark, the storm is roaring, the sea wild, untamed. But the pool of water inside, though visibly connected to the sea, is still, as if the exit is covered by some kind of magical barrier.
The still water is the color of clear turquoise, glowing and glittering, but not because it’s hit by an external source of light. It’s glowing from within, as if the moon itself is resting down there on its bottom.
And in that clear turquoise water is Jimin.
He’s lying on a shallow end, his upper body out of the water and resting on the edge with his head on his arms, his face in the crook of his elbow. He’s not resting on a naked rock however, he’s resting on his tentacles, which are curling around him, some below the water, some outside, almost as if they are cocooning him, protecting him.
They shimmer beautifully in the turquoise light, in all kinds of lilac tones. Pretty, even prettier than the treasure in the corner.
Jimin’s silver hair falls smoothly over his shoulders, the ends of it wet from where it’s pooling in the water, and the arm cuff he’s always wearing around his upper arm is shimmering beautifully in the light.
Just as beautiful as his eyes.
Eyes that are most definitely open and most definitely looking right at Jungkook from behind strands of silver hair.
Jungkook tries to swallow down the sudden nerves when their gaze meets.
Suddenly, he doesn’t dare to move.
Suddenly, there is fear spiking inside him, those last remnants of the tiny voice in his head that Jimin might be dangerous after all, getting louder, that deeply buried feeling that Jimin might want to kill him, flaring up. His heart is back hammering wildly in his throat.
But then Jimin’s eyes flutter shut, those long pale lashes resting gently against soft cheeks, and he turns around, facing away from Jungkook, his tentacles moving with him, getting comfortable, before his body stills again, except for shoulders rising and falling with his steady breathing.
Jungkook lets out a shuddering breath, the tension slowly leaving his body. He makes his way to one side of the cave carefully, the one opposite to the treasure wall, trying to make as little noise as possible. When he reaches it, he sinks down ungracefully on his butt, leaning against the rough rock behind him. Slowly his heartbeat calms down.
He can’t seem to tear his gaze away from Jimin. Keeps staring and staring, at the otherworldly beauty of that whole scene. Jimin in the glowing water, glowing himself, glowing and shimmering and sparkling…
Jungkook doesn’t even realize he’s falling asleep.
When he wakes up, he feels better rested than he’s ever felt after his nights sleeping on the beach, even though his neck is a bit stiff from sleeping on hard rock instead of sand.
He sits up and stretches his back and neck out, his joints cracking here and there.
He blinks and looks around.
Jimin is nowhere to be seen. Instead, daylight is streaming into the cave through the opening that’s leading to the water. Even though the sun is not visible from this side, it’s so bright that it takes a moment for Jungkook’s eyes to see.
The inside of the cave, even though less magical in the daylight, is still beautiful. The smooth black rock is glistening, the treasure in the corner across from Jungkook shining.
It still smells of the ocean breeze and something softly sweet, but it also smells of food and when he looks down Jungkook notices the bowl with grains and fish that's placed by his feet. It’s still steaming, so Jimin must’ve brought it for him not too long ago.
After eating his food, he steps out of the cave and into the midday light.
Only now, seeing the position of the sun, he realizes how long he has slept.
The storm has left the air cool and clear, the sun burning not even half as bad as the day before. The waves have calmed down too, the sea quiet and steady.
When he lets his eyes wander over the beach, Jungkook is surprised that it’s less of a mess than he thought it would be. Driftwood and seaweed litter the coastline, but it hasn’t been washed up too far.
Jungkook notices his fire is burning again, the flames flickering in the wind.
He also notices movement in the water.
A flash of silver and purple plunge through the waves and then Jimin emerges from between them.
For a short moment Jungkook catches sight of his purple fishtail before it shifts and then Jimin steps out of the water on two strong legs. Their eyes meet.
“Did you sleep well?” Jimin asks while approaching Jungkook with a smile, running his hand through his wet hair. “It’s quite late already. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Yeah– I– yeah,” Jungkook stammers, while trying to stop his eyes from wandering. He hasn’t seen Jimin’s lower body naked before. Like, naked in human form.
He clears his throat. “Thank you for letting me stay.”
“Of course,” Jimin shrugs. “I told you several times that the cave is the better place for the night.”
And that’s how Jungkook ends up sleeping in Jimin’s cave every night.
The ground is kind of hard, even covered with his blanket, but it’s quiet and somehow serene and he feels weirdly safe in there.
Each night before falling asleep, he stares at Jimin’s sleeping form in the glowing pool of water, night after night amazed by the beauty of it all.
Sometimes, he wishes he could be there with him, in the water.
He doesn’t really know why. Maybe because Jimin looks so comfortable and Jungkook catches himself wondering every now and then if resting on Jimin’s tentacles would be more comfortable than sleeping on the hard cave floor.
It probably would be.
With Jungkook sleeping in the cave at night and taking a bath in the lake up the hill each morning, before having breakfast that Jimin cooked for him, and telling Jimin stories and listening to Jimin’s in turn, he’s found a kind of comfortable routine that makes the days fly by.
Only sometimes he remembers to watch for ships in the distance.
Each time Jimin smiles at him and says “Tell me a story, Jungkook.”, Jungkook feels giddy inside and forgets everything else.
Although Jungkook’s stories aren’t even close to being as interesting as Jimin’s, Jimin listens to Jungkook’s words as if they’re golden. It makes Jungkook somewhat nervous in the beginning. Nobody has ever listened to him so intently, with such curious eyes, humming and nodding and asking all the right questions at all the right times.
He often finds himself sitting on a rock at the opening at the back of Jimin’s cavern, right where the turquoise pool of water merges into the sea, with Jimin in the water next to him, stretching out his tentacles, leaning with his lower arm on the rock Jungkook is sat upon. Jungkook is always hyper-aware of the heat of Jimin’s skin right next to his leg, not touching him, but almost.
They usually talk and talk until the sun is setting over the water, turning the sky and the sea orange, and then even longer, still talking even when the last sliver of soft orange and pink has disappeared and the stars start illuminating the sky, Jimin’s tentacles shimmering even more beautiful in the moonlight than they do in the sun.
It’s weird and Jungkook doesn’t know how to explain it but they just connect and it feels wonderful.
Maybe it’s because they’re both at home at sea, or because they share a similar sense of humor, or maybe because they both love listening to stories and telling stories.
Whatever it is, soon enough Jungkook can’t keep his chest from fluttering each time Jimin tells him something with this kind of excitement that makes his eyes sparkle and his hands move while talking, or when he laughs really hard at one of Jungkook’s stories.
When Jimin smiles, really smiles, it’s radiant like the sun. It turns his incredibly intimidating beauty into something so approachable and comfortable that Jungkook can’t stop staring and staring and staring. One night he even dreams about it, waking up feeling all fluttery.
He learns a lot about Jimin. About how much he loves the sea, how much he loves the beauty of all kinds of things, and how curious he is about the world.
And Jungkook learns how lonely Jimin is.
His heart breaks a little when he imagines that the boredom he felt in his first days here, without having someone to talk to, is someone’s whole life. Is Jimin’s life. Jimin, whose eyes always light up whenever they’re talking and interacting, who is always so eager to learn new things.
Jimin seems eager to learn about Jungkook too. Not just his voyages but about his life, his childhood, his everything. And Jungkook tells him everything, because Jimin is so easy to talk to, because he’s such a good listener and gives actually great advice, and Jungkook soon realizes, while Jimin is undoubtedly physically beautiful, he carries incredible inner beauty as well.
It’s an incredibly hot day when Jungkook notices Jimin’s glances for the first time. Really notices them. Somehow, he knew they were there before but that day they become more obvious.
That day Jungkook is not wearing his shirt because he’s all sweaty and, even though he keeps mostly in the shades when the sun is at its highest, hanging his legs into the water every now and then, he knows his skin is glistening wetly.
That day, Jimin looks at him a lot. That day, his tone shifts every now and then when he’s talking to Jungkook. That day, Jimin touches Jungkook’s arm or his shoulder when he’s laughing, the skin-to-skin contact burning into Jungkook like an electrifying sensation that makes his heart speed up and cheeks grow hot.
Jimin is very clearly flirting with him.
And Jungkook doesn’t know what to do with himself.
He thinks of the treasure in Jimin’s cave and about the fact that people sometimes come here and pay Jimin with beautiful things for his company. A kind of company so different from the kind he shares with Jungkook.
There is a twinge of jealousy flaring up in his stomach and he wonders, if he would be able to pay Jimin, would he keep him company in that other way as well?
He stares at the other from where he’s sitting in the shade of a palm tree, watching him walk about the beach, getting the fire ready for their dinner. His skin is glowing beautifully in the sun and Jungkook knows it won’t get burnt by it, his silver hair moving softly in the wind, his lean muscles flexing.
They decide to have their dinner at the beach-side entrance of their cave that day. Jungkook hops from shade to shade on his way there, since the sand is still way too hot for his naked feet. He discarded his shoes somewhere this morning after realizing how much he’s sweating in them.
He notices Jimin’s gaze on him once again when they sit down, notices his eyes traveling over Jungkook’s abs tensing as he lowers himself to the ground, crossing his legs.
They eat in comfortable silence. Or at least Jungkook hopes Jimin thinks it’s comfortable silence because Jungkook suddenly isn’t comfortable at all anymore.
Suddenly, he can’t stop thinking about it. About Jimin having sex with people, about the jealousy that he doesn’t want to make sense of and the hot way in which something tightens in his lower belly when he thinks about Jimin’s head thrown back, eyes closed, lips open, about the sounds he would probably make… About the tentacles and how they would feel on his own skin, how they would wrap around him, warm and strong, forcing him into any position Jimin would want, restraining him, teasing him, trailing all over his body, making-
“What’s wrong?”
Jungkook jolts, his mind slamming back into his body when he’s yanked out of his thoughts by Jimin’s voice. He looks up and into Jimin’s curious eyes that wander to the untouched bowl with food in Jungkook’s lap, while chewing on his own food slowly. Jungkook knows Jimin doesn’t have to eat what Jungkook eats, he could eat all kinds of stuff on this island and in the water, but apparently, he likes to share meals with him.
“What is it?” Jimin asks again.
Even though Jungkook's throat is so tight that it seems impossible to swallow, he takes his spoon and forces a huge portion of the tender-cooked fish into his mouth to avoid answering.
Good question. What the hell is it? What the hell is he thinking about?
His cheeks grow hot and he shifts around a little, overly aware of the heat that’s been pooling between his legs, thankfully simmering down now from the shock of being called out.
Jimin is still looking at him curiously, swallowing down his food, a slightly worried look crossing his eyes.
“Are you alright?”
Jungkook stares at him, absolutely sure that he’s, in fact, not alright. But still, he nods, swallowing his own food, which feels kind of dry in his mouth.
“Yeah,” he rasps. “I was just– umm– thinking.”
“Thinking about what?”
“I was just thinking that— you know—” Jungkook’s face is on fire. “I thought about—” He clears his throat.
“About your tentacles,” he eventually whispers. It’s only a half lie, he was thinking about his tentacles after all.
Even though he doesn’t specify what exactly he was thinking about, saying it out loud feels weirdly intimate, his heart beating heavily inside his chest.
“Oh?” Jimin seems surprised. “What about them?”
Jungkook’s brain scrambles to come up with something, he’s scrambling for words too, but eventually he asks.
“When do you usually— use them?”
Jimin looks amused at that, placing his bowl on the ground.
“Use them?”
“Yeah, well, sometimes I see you with legs, sometimes with a fishtail and sometimes with tentacles. I just wondered which you prefer when.”
God, he’s such a liar.
Jimin hums, thinking for a moment.
“I think I prefer human legs on the beach. Not that I spent much time on the beach before….” He looks at Jungkook, a soft smile crossing his features. “Before you came here.”
“Oh.”
“On solid ground, walking is a lot easier than anything else. I prefer the fishtail when I have to move fast in the water without taking up too much space. But when I just want to be comfortable, I prefer my lower half in kraken form. You know, when I’m just relaxing or sleeping...”
Jungkook nods. He noticed this a while ago and he suspects that the kraken might be Jimin’s true form because he seems most comfortable like that, but Jungkook doesn’t ask him about it, since the question might be a bit too much.
Instead, his brain comes up with an entirely different question.
“And when you’re having sex, right?” He blurts.
And then freezes. Stupid brain.
Jimin freezes too, but only for a moment, until his expression morphs into something amused again.
“Where does that suddenly come from?”
Jungkook’s face is on fire.
“I mean, I just— umm— I don’t know—” He trails off, not meeting Jimin’s eyes. And even though he’s not looking at Jimin, he can hear in his voice that he must be grinning at what he says next.
“Are you interested in trying it out? Is that why you’re asking?”
Jungkook’s breath catches, his brain stumbling to a halt, while his stomach lurches with something hot and needy.
God yes.
“Umm… maybe? I mean… no.” He rubs one of his sweaty palms on his pants. “No.”
When he looks at Jimin, the other’s eyes are wide, clearly surprised by his reaction. Then his expression shifts into curiosity and when he lets his gaze travel down Jungkook’s body it makes Jungkook’s skin prickle. He shifts nervously on the ground.
Jimin laughs softly.
“Alright.”
To Jungkook’s absolute horror, he leans forward until he’s on his hands and knees, crawling all the way up to Jungkook, putting his mouth right next to Jungkook’s ear. Jungkook is frozen in place, heart thundering rapidly in his throat, heat spreading all the way from his neck down to his chest.
“If you change your mind, just ask.” Jimin whispers.
Which is stupid, because nobody can hear them here. But Jimin does it anyway, and Jungkook knows why. Knows that he does it because this way Jungkook can hear the grin in his voice, this way his breath is hot against his ear, this way he can feel his long silvery hair tickling his shoulders and cheeks.
“Don’t be shy, Jungkook. I would love fucking you.”
The crude words punch all air out of Jungkook’s lungs and he chokes on his spit, the bowl slipping from his sweaty fingers and spilling its contents all over the sand in front of him.
Jimin leans back and takes in the mess with a smile.
“Oh no,” he says innocently, before reaching out for his own bowl, placing it carefully in Jungkook’s empty hands, which he’s still holding up in front of him like a fool. “Here, you can have mine.”
Jungkook can’t even utter a word of thanks. He just starts eating silently, without meeting Jimin’s eyes, secretly wanting to bury his head in the sand and scream at the top of his lungs, out of embarrassment, frustration and – most of all – arousal.
That night, when they watch the sunset from their spot at the seaside of the cave, Jimin’s arm yet again resting right next to Jungkook’s leg on the rock, they are quiet. Nobody is saying a word.
And Jungkook can’t stop staring at Jimin’s tentacles moving in the water, shining beautifully in the light of the setting sun, the soft splashing of them moving above and under the surface being the only sound breaking the silence every now and then.
He really wants to touch them, wants to know what they feel like under his palm, what kind of texture they have, wants to trace his fingers over those suction cups, the big ones and the tiny ones…
He tears his gaze away at some point, trying to will the heat in his cheeks down.
He’s again hyper aware of Jimin’s arm right next to his leg and in a weak moment – or maybe a strong moment, because he’s sure as hell shitting himself while doing it – he spreads his legs a bit, pressing his thigh against Jimin’s lower arm.
The warm touch has every nerve ending in his skin buzz, his toes curling a bit.
From the corner of his eye, he sees Jimin turning to look at him, but Jungkook refuses to look back. Instead, he keeps his eyes fixated on the setting sun, his fingertips buried in the surface of the rock, where he’s leaning back to support himself.
He almost chokes on his spit again when, suddenly, Jimin’s arm moves and only a heartbeat later it’s settling down on the inside of his thigh instead of the outside, pressing against the sensitive flesh, heat pooling between Jungkook’s legs right away.
He doesn’t dare to move, just keeps staring ahead.
And Jimin apparently doesn’t dare to move either, his hand resting softly right below Jungkook’s knee, completely still.
Jungkook looks at him, at his soft-looking silver hair, and he reaches out before he can stop himself.
Jimin doesn’t flinch when Jungkook runs his fingers through the silky strands and instead, he closes his eyes, and slowly, almost carefully, comes closer and rests his cheek on top of Jungkook’s thigh.
Jungkook swallows thickly, his heart racing. Jimin has his face turned the other way towards the open water, but when Jungkook reaches out to brush the long silver hair from the side of his face, he sees that Jimin’s eyes are still closed.
Something flutters in his chest and something flutters in his stomach too when Jimin’s fingers start drawing circles on the skin below his knee.
He feels warm and tense and wants nothing more than to reach out further and stroke his finger over Jimin’s cheek and trace his nose and touch his lips, instead of just running them through his hair. But he’s not brave enough to do so. Instead, he relishes the feeling of silky hair between his fingers, while watching the setting sun and trying to calm his racing heart.
From that day on the little touches here and there keep happening.
Jimin holding on to his arm or touching his shoulder when he’s laughing, Jimin’s hand randomly resting on his knee, Jimin brushing hair out of his face every now and then, just like Jungkook uses every opportunity to touch Jimin’s hair as well.
The air is so heavy and loaded between them sometimes that Jungkook finds it hard to breathe.
It’s like they’re in their own little world, focusing on each other, being drawn to each other… It feels weirdly perfect.
Until the day Jungkook catches sight of a ship on the horizon.
It’s late afternoon when it appears.
Jungkook is sitting by the freshwater lake behind the hills, trying to weave a little basket out of palm leaves just like Jimin showed him the other day, needing the freshwater to wet the leaves every now and then since seawater would ruin them.
Jimin disappeared a while ago but Jungkook doesn’t think much of it. The other tends to do that sometimes, swimming out into the open water, diving into the deepest depths, sometimes being gone for almost a whole day. What exactly he does there, Jungkook doesn’t know, but sometimes Jimin brings him back white shimmering pearls or stories about mermaids and the like.
It doesn’t take long for Jungkook to give up on the basket weaving with a frustrated grumble, throwing the ruined palm leaves into the bushes. It seems Jimin has to guide him through yet another one before Jungkook can attempt it all by himself.
He makes his way back to the beach with a heavy sigh and heavy feet, his thighs numb from sitting cross-legged the whole time.
When he finally steps around the last couple of trees before the forest merges into the beach, his eyes land on something in the distance.
A ship sailing on the horizon.
It takes a few heartbeats for Jungkook’s brain to click.
He has seen so many ships on so many horizons in his lifetime, that, for a very short moment, his head stores it as a regular occurrence. Until it remembers where they are and that a ship is definitely not a regular occurrence here.
Jungkook’s heart sinks. And then it starts racing instantly, quickening so overwhelmingly fast that he feels dizzy for a moment.
He stares at the ship approaching steadily, becoming clearer and clearer with each blink of his eyes.
It doesn’t take long for Jungkook to realize that it’s not actually a ship. It’s a boat, a rather small one, and it’s only when Jungkook can make out the outline of a person that he understands what’s going on and why he’s feeling the way he’s feeling.
He should be happy. He should run up to the shore and wave and scream his lungs out. He could be saved any minute now.
But that’s not why his heart is racing.
His heart is racing because, more than safety, that person feels like a threat to him.
Especially because he knows why that person is here.
They want to meet Jimin.
Jungkook feels sick all of a sudden, his hands clammy when he makes his way towards Jimin’s cave.
He freezes though, when he realizes that person on the boat will most definitely see him if he crosses the beach like this. They will see him going into the cave and probably follow him. And a stranger doesn’t belong in that cave.
Jungkook clenches his teeth and turns around, disappearing into the woods with quick steps and a hammering heart.
If it's in a mood, it hides. You won’t find it. It won’t let you.
Will Jimin let that person find him?
For all Jungkook knows he isn’t even back from his swim yet. But when he comes back… will he do it?
Jungkook breaks into a jog, fern leaves swatting his face as he hurries through the thicket, further and further away from the beach, breaking out in sweat under the hot sun.
When he reaches the lake, he flops down on his butt in the same spot he was sitting before, between the last remnants of his failed attempt at basket-weaving, hidden behind a huge palm tree and a couple of bushes. He huffs and wipes the sweat from his face, pulling his shoes off and shuffling forward to put his feet into the water for some cooling.
He doesn’t know how long he sits there but his head goes over the same images over and over again. Jimin letting a stranger into his cave, Jimin accepting the stranger’s gifts, Jimin and a stranger entangled and kissing and… fucking.
The thought has Jungkook itching all over and he hates everything about it. He doesn’t even want to think about it, but his brain just doesn't stop. He doesn’t want to know what Jimin and the stranger are doing, if they are doing anything, but at the same time, he never wanted to know anything this badly in his life.
The longer he sits there, the more the itchy feeling inside him increases until he’s at a point where he’s absolute sure:
He has to know if Jimin is doing it.
He pulls his feet out of the water, doesn’t even wait for his skin to dry before putting his shoes back on, and makes his way up the small waterfall that’s running down the cliff. He knows the cliff slopes down steeply on the other side and that it’ll be a great ordeal to attempt climbing down, but that’s the only way to get to the cave from here: climbing along and down the cliff and entering it from the seaside. It would be much easier to walk back to the beach and enter from there, but the stranger, if not already in the cave, would probably see him. Jungkook wants to stay hidden, doesn’t want to encounter anyone on this weird quest of trying to find out something that he doesn’t want to know but absolutely needs to know at the same time, all fueled by this strange jealousy.
It’s ridiculously stupid. Jimin, with his abilities, could literally make Jungkook see things that aren’t there, if he wanted. Or could make him not see things that are there. Whatever Jungkook encounters in the cave, he couldn’t say for sure if it’s real. And to risk climbing down this cliff for that is on an entirely different level of stupid, he really doesn’t know why he’s doing it, but before he knows it, he’s already clinging to the rough rock, his feet searching for leverage, shuffling along carefully. Below him, the waves are washing loudly against the rocks jutting out of the water, rocks that would definitely kill him if he fell and landed on one of them.
God, he really is stupid.
It’s probably more luck than anything else, that he makes it down alive. That he manages to somehow get low enough to jump into the water safely, and then swim into the open pool of turquoise water in the cave.
Once he’s inside, out of the scorching sun and surrounded by the calmness of the place, he feels like he can breathe again. It’s quiet and he’s alone.
Nobody is here. No Jimin, no stranger.
Jungkook heaves himself out of the water, feeling stupid for dripping all over the floor, looking around, trying to catch sight of something that tells him if this is real or not.
He yelps and stumbles a couple of steps back when his eyes land on Jimin.
He’s leaning against the rock wall not far from Jungkook, completely naked, standing on his legs. He’s wet, his long hair sticking to his shoulders, as if he’s just came out of the water himself.
“Jimin,” Jungkook breathes. “I– you’re back— I mean— I thought maybe— uh–”
“I saw you,” the other says with a soft smile and a curious look in his eyes. “You were hiding from him. Why?”
Jungkook’s shoulders tense.
“I—I don’t know—” He admits.
Jimin tilts his head.
“Don’t you want to go home?”
“I–”
Jungkook startles, panic flaring up in his chest when he hears a noise outside on the beach.
Before he knows what he’s doing, he’s suddenly in front of Jimin, grabbing him by his upper arms, pushing him against the wall.
“Don’t meet with him,” Jungkook rasps, his fingers tightening on Jimin’s shoulders, who looks at him in surprise. “Please, don’t let him find you.”
The surprised look slowly disappears from Jimin’s eyes.
“I was not going to,” he says softly.
Jungkook’s heart beats fast in his chest, pulse racing in the same rhythm in his throat, as he turns his head towards the entrance of the cave at yet another noise, his eyes fixating on the section of the beach that’s visible from here.
There is the sound of footsteps and it comes closer and closer. Jungkook’s whole body tenses when a person comes into sight right in front of the entrance, a guy that must be about Jungkook’s age, with both arms holding what looks like several golden goblets, studded with glittering gems, pressed against his chest.
Treasure. Treasure that he wants to pay Jimin with.
Jungkook’s jaw clenches.
The guy looks around, looks directly into the cave and Jungkook is sure he’s locking eyes with him.
But then he turns and walks away, further inland, disappearing from their sight. As if he didn’t see them.
Jungkook swallows thickly when he understands.
Because he didn’t really see them. Because Jimin hid them, made even the entrance to the cave disappear for the stranger’s eyes.
When Jungkook turns his head to look at the other, he’s a bit startled at how close their faces are.
“Jungkook… I was not going to,” Jimin repeats, more a whisper this time, and Jungkook knows he’s not talking about letting the guy see him anymore. He’s talking about something else that he was not going to do with the stranger.
Suddenly, Jungkook is overly aware of Jimin’s hands on his hips and his own on Jimin’s naked shoulders. Of Jimin’s gaze that’s flickering down towards Jungkook’s lips.
Suddenly, the air between them seems kind of loaded, an invisible sensation that tickles Jungkook’s skin.
Suddenly he’s nervous. He doesn’t dare to move, but can only stand there and stare into Jimin’s eyes, relishing his hold on him.
Jimin’s lashes are beaded with droplets of seawater, and they are pretty like that, all wet and stuck together. His lips are wet too, now slightly parted and suddenly, they are even closer. So close now, that Jungkook feels hot breath against his lips.
It’s even hotter when their lips slide together.
Jungkook’s chest is heaving with a deep shuddering breath at the first touch of Jimin’s mouth against his own. His lips are wet and warm and soft, so soft. Jungkook’s pulse trembles when those soft lips part and then push against him harder, starting to move slowly.
Something sparks inside Jungkook and he shuffles closer, a cool sensation spreading on his skin where Jimin’s naked body presses against his wet clothes.
When their tongues meet softly it’s a bit clumsy at first, but it breaks something open inside Jungkook’s chest in the best way, and then they find their rhythm, they pull on each other, arms encircling each other, as their lips move carefully, softly and then greedily, their kiss turning more and more intense.
Jimin tastes of seawater and something sweet. The gentle smacks of their mouths are echoing through the cave, as well as their breathing, which grows more and more labored by the second.
Jungkook’s heart is racing and he feels Jimin’s heartbeat thrumming just as rapidly against his chest. He reaches up to push a strand of long silver hair behind Jimin’s ear, cupping his soft cheek, feeling his jaw move as their kiss grows even deeper, their bodies rhythmically moving against one another as well now.
Jungkook feels hot and cool all at once when Jimin’s hips grind into his, when Jimin yanks him even closer, their chests and thighs touching, their hips rutting. His entire body is tingling, heavy heat pooling between his legs and he pushes Jimin even further into the wall, digging his fingers into his hair. Their kiss turns rougher and messier, tongues sliding together, teeth gracing lips.
Jimin gasps into his mouth and hot desire surges through Jungkook’s veins when he notices that Jimin is growing hard just as fast as him. The revelation makes an incredible need burn inside him and he pushes against Jimin harder, needing more contact, more friction, more Jimin.
More.
“Jungkook–” Jimin suddenly breathes against his lips. “Jungkook, do you-”
“I want to.”
Jungkook’s face is hot when Jimin draws back to look at him.
“I want to do it–” He rasps. “With you” He adds and leans in again to capture Jimin’s lips with his once more, mainly because he’s too embarrassed to look him in the eyes, but also because kissing Jimin is addicting and he wants to do it over and over again and never stop.
“I want you,” he mumbles and groans lowly when Jimin rolls his hips again, his cock thick and hard against Jungkook’s crotch.
“If we do this,” Jimin whispers. “I need to know– what you’re okay with—”
“I’m okay with everything you give me.”
“Really? Everything?” Jimin draws back to look at him intently, his lips slightly swollen and red.
Jungkook nods. “Everything.”
“I need you to understand Jungkook— I’ll fill you up. Completely. I’ll be everywhere. On your body and inside your body—” He grabs him by his nape, pulling him in. “I literally want to crawl inside you.”
Jungkook’s cheeks seem to catch fire at the mental image of all that, an excited shudder running through his body, and he nods vigorously.
“I know. I want that.”
“It will be a lot.”
“I want a lot. And even more.”
Jimin groans and leans in again, whispering against his lips:
“I’ll make you feel so so good. I promise.”
“Please—” Is all Jungkook can manage before he finds himself captured in another mind-blowing kiss.
This time, they kiss with such an underlying urge that it takes Jungkook’s breath away, making him tingle all over and leaving his toes curling in anticipation. When a soft hand sneaks between his legs he gasps against Jimin’s lips and blazing heat surges through him when the palm of said hand starts rubbing over his crotch, right where his bulge is straining against the fabric of his pants. Pants which he needs off.
He brings his own hands down as well, fumbling to get his pants open, stepping out of them ungracefully, almost tripping while doing so, holding on to Jimin.
The other chuckles and their kiss turns a bit clumsy as he tugs on the hem of Jungkook’s shirt.
Somehow, they manage to pull all of Jungkook’s clothes off without breaking their kiss even once and they both sigh in union when their naked bodies press together for the first time, skin against skin, both of them wet from just coming out of the water but warm from the heat that’s blazing inside them. Jungkook can’t get enough of the friction of Jimin’s hot length against his, is so overwhelmed that this is really happening that he hasn’t even realized that at some point his hands have wandered to Jimin’s waist, where he’s grabbing him tightly now and pulling him in.
Jimin makes a sound, an airy moan that has something inside Jungkook tense, a tingling sensation flooding his body and his mind, and suddenly he’s so overwhelmed with desire that he can’t seem to stop rutting his hips.
He must’ve blacked out for a moment because suddenly his naked feet touch cool water, without him having realized that he’s been pushed back.
Their kiss turns wet and messy when they clumsily sink down in the shallow end of the turquoise pool, still kissing when Jungkook’s back makes contact with rough rock, still kissing when Jimin slides on top of him.
Jungkook’s throat goes dry at the feeling of Jimin in his lap, naked, and before he realizes what he’s doing, his hands have found their way to Jimin’s butt, fingers digging into the well-formed cheeks, guiding the other’s hips that are already rolling into him again.
Their kiss slows down but is by no means any less intense. Jungkook gets lost in it, only faintly noticing the soft touch of Jimin’s fingers wandering all over his skin and trailing over his chest. When his thumbs rub lazy circles over Jungkook’s nipples, the tingling sensation makes Jungkook’s gut clench hard.
Their lips part with a smack and when Jimin draws back to look down at him his cheeks are just as flushed as Jungkook's feels, his lips red from kissing and shimmering wetly in the turquoise light.
He’s beautiful, even more so than usual, so beautiful it almost hurts. Amazement at being able to see Jimin like this, to have him like this, soars through Jungkook, turning into nervous excitement. He wants to lean in and capture Jimin’s red lips with his own again, but before he gets the chance to do so, one of Jimin’s hands cups his cheek and holds him back.
Jungkook blinks up at him, his lips parting with a question at the tip of his tongue, but no sound comes out when they lock eyes. He feels pinned down by that gaze, his mind suddenly empty as a gentle thumb starts stroking his cheekbone.
Only when he feels something press firmly against his waist – something that is definitely not Jimin’s hands because one of them is still on Jungkook’s chest, rubbing his nipple, and the other cupping his cheek – does a sharp gasp leave his mouth.
The touch is silky and smooth, almost careful and pleasantly warm.
Jungkook looks down between them and he catches sight of one purple tentacle under the surface of the clear water. It traces patterns over his abs, which clench at the feeling, before it wanders higher, emerging from the water, ghosting over Jungkook’s nipple and then over the side of his neck.
Jungkook’s eyelids flutter shut for a moment and he tilts his head to the side at the soft tickling sensation.
Then the tentacle moves back down again, lower and lower, grazing his skin in a way that has every nerve ending in Jungkook’s body on alert, goosebumps spreading across his arm when the silky smooth length wraps around it gently, the feeling of the suckers reminding him of featherlight kisses on his skin.
His other arm is caught by a second tentacle in the very same way and an embarrassing yelp escapes him when, with a splashing sound, both of his arms are yanked out of the water and up above his head, bound together by strong appendages.
Jimin is still looking at him, caressing his cheek, which must be deeply red by now.
“Is this okay?” He whispers, before leaning in and gracing Jungkook’s lips with his own. “Do you still want this, Jungkook?”
Jungkook cranes his neck, pressing his lips against the other.
“Yes,” he mumbles.
Jimin draws back, his eyes narrow, pupils dilated, almost predatory.
“Good.”
Jungkook’s stomach swoops.
Jimin doesn’t take his eyes off him, the corners of his mouth twitching into a little smile when Jungkook’s eyelids flutter at the touch of yet another tentacle. This one wraps around his ankle, circling it softly before trailing upwards, over his knee and dragging over the insides of Jungkook’s thigh, his legs immediately quivering at the tingling feeling.
Heat pulses straight to his cock, which is standing rock hard by now.
“Fuck,” he swears, his teeth digging into his lower lip when the tip of the tentacle graces his balls.
The touch is gone too quickly. Instead, the appendage wraps tightly around his thigh, pulling it to the side.
Jungkook gasps and doesn’t even have time to adjust before another tentacle does the same to his other thigh, effectively forcing him to spread his legs, bent at the knees.
A startled sound escapes him when he’s pulled out of the water by his arms until he’s hovering in the air right above the surface, legs spread wide, everything on display for Jimin who stays below in the pool, holding Jungkook up in front of him by just the strength of his tentacles. Cold air hits Jungkook’s wet skin, making his cock jump and hit his lower abs with a wet slap.
“Such a pretty human.”
Jungkook’s legs quiver once again at the whispered words and he opens his eyes. Jimin is looking up at him through his long lashes with a smile, as if he’s relishing having Jungkook all spread out like this. He lifts him up even higher and Jungkook can pinpoint the exact moment Jimin’s eyes fixate on his ass, thinks he can even see him licking his lips.
He yelps when yet another set of tentacles shoots out of the water, the suckers fastening on his butt cheeks and spreading them apart. Jungkook whimpers helplessly, screwing his eyes shut as he feels his hole clenching upon being hit by cool air.
“So pretty,” Jimin whispers again and Jungkook doesn’t want to think about what exactly Jimin is calling pretty right now. He’s embarrassed and he’s overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the insane heat traveling through his body and centering like hot liquid between his legs. Heat stemming from Jimin’s gaze, from the feeling of hanging in the air over the water, from being so exposed, from the thought of what’s to come.
He swallows hard and tries to move, but the tentacles hold him tight and firm, keeping his arms pinned together and his legs spread apart. No way to escape.
When he opens his eyes, he can tell from the way Jimin is studying him intently, pausing for a moment, that this is usually the point where people get nervous, where things probably end prematurely sometimes.
But Jungkook doesn’t get nervous. At least not in that way. If anything, he feels secure. Safe. Excited.
When Jimin reaches up, smoothing his palms over Jungkook’s thighs, Jungkook shudders. He feels the muscles in his arms relax, then in his thighs. He closes his eyes again and sighs.
“Good boy,” he hears Jimin say, his hot breath hitting Jungkook’s inner thigh, and Jungkook’s brain crashes. He has just enough time to prepare himself before Jimin bites softly into the sensitive flesh, his fingers trailing patterns across Jungkook’s abs.
Jungkook’s cock jerks once more, the first drop of precum forming and when he blinks his eyes back open to look down on himself, he sees the liquid glistening in the low light.
He wants nothing more than for Jimin to touch his dick, get him off, but all thoughts stumble to a halt, his toes curling and his head dipping back when he feels Jimin’s hot breath between his butt cheeks. The tentacles pull his legs apart even wider until he’s feeling the stretch in his inner thighs.
“Jimin,” he whispers and then arches in his binds when a hot tongue licks a hard stripe between his cheeks. “Oh– Fu–”
His mouth snaps shut, a whimper escaping through clenched teeth when Jimin’s tongue presses against his rim. He’s not prepared in any way for the feeling that surges through his body, that makes him shudder violently, when Jimin starts licking him, devouring him, as if he was just waiting for the opportunity to taste him.
Jungkook’s jaw clenches and he buries his nails in the skin of his palms where his hands are bound together above his head. His face is on fire, his sight blurring, every muscle in his body contracting at the hot and slick feeling between his cheeks, the sensation of Jimin’s tongue circling his rim mixing delicious with the tingling feeling of a tentacle caressing his nipples teasingly.
Then Jimin’s tongue really pushes inside.
“Oh my—”
It's surprisingly strong, reaches so very far, and Jungkook wants nothing more than to bury his hands in Jimin’s hair, to force Jimin’s face even further between his legs, wants his tongue even deeper inside.
But he can’t. Not being suspended like this, with every limb bound tightly. He feels helpless, restricted… and he loves it.
He gasps, his head swimming at the sensation of yet another tentacle at his navel. It circles it, dips inside, before slipping lower, tingling and warm, and then it nudges his cock. Jungkook groans, loud and desperate, rolling his hips forward, a fluttering feeling spreading through his entire body and all the way to his fingertips and toes that are flexing helplessly.
His eyes fall shut again when Jimin’s tongue starts moving, pumping in and out of him in a calm and steady rhythm. It’s a lot. It’s intense.
When the tentacle on his cock starts teasing the tip, circling around it gently, Jungkook squirms in his binds, whimpering breathlessly and rutting against Jimin’s face in a desperate need for more.
Jimin moans lowly at the display of Jungkook’s pleasure, the sound vibrating through his tongue and Jungkook can feel it all the way inside him. He arches in delight, sobs and rolls his hips harder, the heat in his stomach centering dangerously fast.
He wants more. More of Jimin, more of this. He wants Jimin deeper inside, he wants it harder, faster—
At every flick of Jimin’s tongue, his body seems to light up anew, a flash of energy zapping through him, burning, hot and sweet, flooding his body and brain. The wet nasty sounds of Jimin eating him out echo loudly around them and Jungkook burns all over with embarrassment and the intoxicating thrill that comes with it.
His steady gasps turn into a long high-pitched moan when suddenly something presses into him alongside Jimin’s tongue.
First, he thinks it’s his finger, but at the realization that Jimin’s fingers are still trailing over his abs, massaging the firm muscles, and that this must be one of his tentacles, Jungkook goes rigid.
He throws his head back as it slides into him gradually, firm and warm, stretching him, further and further, the uneven surface rubbing his insides deliciously, making his toes curl.
It’s a weird mix of warm and wet. The tentacle is wet, lubed with some substance that runs over Jungkook’s butt, leaving a pleasantly tingling feeling behind. He feels full, so fucking full and it feels fucking amazing, especially when Jimin’s mouth moves a bit further up, a hot tongue licking his balls.
He moans loudly when the tentacle touches that spot inside him. The one that has spikes of pleasure surge through his veins, that has his thighs shaking in the air. His cock jumps violently, the wetness collecting at the tip drooling slowly down in a long stream of precum, gathering in puddles between his ab lines. He shudders and rolls his hips to get more of the feeling, more of the thick tentacle inside. He feels the stretch but it’s not unpleasant, rather he wants more of that too.
He realizes too late that he’s embarrassingly loud, his needy voice echoing around them, but only a heartbeat later the embarrassment is forgotten when Jimin’s fingers wrap around his cock, jerking the length slowly, too slowly, while one of his tentacles keeps circling the tip teasingly.
Something hot pulls rapidly inside Jungkook’s stomach and his mouth falls open without any sound coming out, the heat increasing more and more until it’s almost too much.
“You’re close, aren’t you?”
Jungkook jerks at the words and a desperate moan leaves him.
Fuck, yes, he’s about to come.
“Yes— I— Jimin– J-Jimin—”
Jimin just hums, apparently pleased with how good he’s making Jungkook feel. His hand continues jerking Jungkook off and his tentacle slips even further inside, massaging his prostate with skilled movements, while the other is still rubbing the tip of his cock.
It’s too much, too good. Jungkook’s eyes roll back and he clenches violently around the girth inside him, his arms shaking above his head, the tension between his legs building and building, so close to exploding.
“Gonna come—” He whines, his hips rolling. “M’gonna–”
Suddenly Jimin’s hand is gone, instead the tentacle on his cock forms a ring around the base, staving off his orgasm.
Jungkook’s whole body jitters and he squirms, moaning loudly in protest.
Jimin’s mouth and tongue leave him, the tentacle slipping out too.
Jungkook clenches around nothing.
“Shhh,” he hears Jimin say and then he’s lowered down slowly until his butt is touching the water. The cool sensation on his heated skin makes him shudder in needy delight. Everything, every touch, every sound, every move… everything is too much and yet simply not enough.
The world spins when he’s turned around until his back is pressed against Jimin’s front. His hands are still bound above his head, in a way now that forces his wrist together behind Jimin’s neck, Jimin’s lips trailing hotly over his ear.
The sensation of Jimin’s firm abs in his back, his heated skin, plush lips, the way his fingers suddenly trace all the way down between Jungkook’s legs, a fleeting touch gracing his hole, everything has Jungkook’s mouth go dry. And yet, he’s drooling.
He’s fucking drooling.
Jimin apparently realizes it too.
“Is your mouth lonely?” He asks, his tone soft, gentle and caring. Jungkook whimpers and tries to turn his head, hoping for a kiss, but instead he’s forced to look forward, fingers digging into his jaw, not so gentle anymore as they force his mouth open.
“Let’s keep it occupied, hm?”
And then a tentacle slides inside.
It’s big and long and warm, filling his mouth, stretching his lips until the corners of his mouth can’t stretch any further.
Jungkook sobs, hot euphoria flooding him at the feeling of being completely owned, his mouth filled, his legs forced apart, his hands bound.
A sweet taste spreads in his mouth. The moist substance that he noticed the tentacles emitting earlier collects at the back of his throat. He swallows it down before he runs his tongue over the suckers.
Jimin shudders behind him, his hands coming around Jungkook’s waist, pulling him back further.
“Yes,” he gasps hotly against Jungkook’s cheek, his hard cock pressing against Jungkook’s butt with a roll of hips. Jungkook likes that reaction, so he keeps doing it, keeps running his tongue over the suckers. His thighs are still spread by tentacles and he arches further back, wiggling, wanting nothing more than for Jimin’s cock to slip inside.
Jimin groans, then chuckles breathlessly.
“You’re so impatient, Jungkook.”
He trails his fingers down, curling them around Jungkook’s hard cock, his thumb pressing into his slit.
“So needy. Just how I imagined.”
Jungkook doesn’t know if it’s the words – the confession that Jimin has thought about this, about Jungkook like this before – or the pressure on his cock, but suddenly he’s close to coming again. His thighs strain, his lower belly tightens, and a high-pitched gasp leaves his throat, muffled by the girth of the tentacle in his mouth.
Jimin circles the tip of his cock with his finger relentlessly and Jungkook’s back arches further and further at the sensation, his orgasm comes closer and closer. Almost there—
Jimin tuts, his fingers sliding down and gripping hard around the base of Jungkook’s cock like his tentacles did earlier, stifling his orgasm once more.
“Not yet, beautiful.”
Jungkook almost goes cross-eyed at the nickname, breathing heavily through his nose to try and calm down, but he whines loudly before he can stop himself, mourning the loss of his orgasm yet again.
He stops complaining though when the tentacles around his legs shift, bending his knees further, spreading his thighs wider, suckers fastening on the skin of his butt cheek, pulling them apart once more. His hole flexes and flutters when it’s hit with cool water, Jungkook’s fingers taking hold of the tentacles that bind his wrists and hands as anticipation floods through him.
His stretched lips tighten around the girth in his mouth when he feels the hot tip of Jimin’s cock nudging his rim, a shudder running down his spine.
“Ph-mmh-”
Jimin’s tentacle slips from his mouth wetly.
“Want to say something, pretty human?” Jimin asks and Jungkook turns his head in a desperate attempt to catch the other's lips with his own. When their mouths finally slide together, he moans happily, relishing the way their tongues meet hotly and he shudders when Jimin’s cock nudges his rim once more, rubbing over it, again and again, guided by Jimin’s hand.
“Please,” Jungkook gasps into the kiss. “Pl-Please—”
“Anything you want,” Jimin whispers against his lips.
Jungkook knows exactly what he wants and Jimin gives it to him only a heartbeat later.
He almost wails when the other presses inside. Slowly, gradually…
His back arches at the stretch, his lips leaving Jimin’s when his head falls back and onto Jimin’s shoulder, his mouth wide open at the intense feeling of Jimin inside him, finally inside, finally fucking him.
His open mouth doesn’t stay unoccupied for long. Soon the tentacle from before slips back into it as if it belongs there, sliding deeper at the same very pace Jimin’s cock is sliding into his ass.
Jungkook is being stretched wider and wider from both sides and he wills his body to loosen up, to take more, relishing the way Jimin’s moan vibrates against his neck, his breath hot against his ear as he slides deeper and deeper and deeper until he’s finally all the way inside.
Jungkook’s eyes flutter shut at the sensation of fullness, searing heat rippling through his body when Jimin’s cock pulses inside him, the suckers of the tentacle in Jungkook’s mouth gracing over his tongue.
Jimin’s breathing is labored against Jungkook’s skin, his fingers digging into Jungkook’s waist.
“So good for me, so perfect,” he whispers, another one of his tentacles coming up to trail over Jungkook’s nipples again. Jungkook’s legs twitch in their binds when one of the suckers suckles on his sensitive bud, his entire body coming alight, heating up more and more. He feels so hot and it feels so fucking good and he wants more – needs more.
His head lolls to the side on Jimin’s shoulder when another tentacle starts pumping his cock with slow movements. It’s enough for his body to start shaking, his thighs jittering, his hole clenching violently, desperately.
Jimin hisses at the sensation, his arms snaking around Jungkook’s waist, digging into his abs when he pulls him back until Jungkook’s back is pressed so closely against Jimin’s front that he’s not sure where his body ends and Jimin’s begins and he doesn’t care — all he wants is for Jimin to move, to fuck him, to fill him.
Jungkook rolls his hips in a desperate attempt for some friction, the tentacles around his legs and arms tightening, keeping him immobilized.
“Don’t be impatient, baby,” Jimin mutters and Jungkook sobs when a tongue licks a hot stripe over his neck, teeth nibbling on his earlobe.
“I’ll give you what you want.”
A moan is ripped from his throat when Jimin pulls out slowly, before burying himself back inside, his cock dragging over Jungkook’s prostate. He repeats the motion. Then again, and again, before settling for a steady rhythm, fucking Jungkook with long hard thrusts.
Moans and gasps, both of theirs, echo around them, as well as the splashing sound of water each time Jimin’s hip slams against Jungkook’s spread ass. Jungkook’s vision blurs when a tentacle teases the tip of his cock, when Jimin’s cock keeps driving into that sweet spot inside him, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he sucks air through his nose, his mouth still being filled, the hot tension in his lower belly spreading through his entire body rapidly.
Jimin moans loudly when Jungkook’s hole contracts around his length and the sound of pleasure has Jungkook’s stomach clench violently, a whimper leaving him.
His eyes fly open and the whimpers get louder when something else prods at his rim, where Jimin’s cock is already fucking in and out of him.
“You wanted a lot, right?” Jimin gasps breathlessly. “A lot and even more,” he repeats Jungkook’s own words to him as the tentacle increases its pressure. “Do you really want even more, Jungkook? I can give you more—” Jimin’s voice is hoarse.
Jungkook nods, his heart racing.
When the tentacle slips from his mouth and he gasps loudly.
“Yes– More– M-More—”
Jimin shudders behind him, his cock throbbing.
“Okay,” he whispers.
When the tentacle sinks into him slowly, slick yet firm, right alongside Jimin’s cock, Jungkook can feel every single pulse, every throb inside him. He whimpers as he’s being stretched further and further apart, filled up more and more, his whole body shaking. The tentacle is shifting and rubbing inside him, sliding deeper and reaching further than anything ever had.
It’s so fucking hot.
Jungkook’s fingers strain above his head.
“Oh— Oh m-my God—”
Jimin’s cock and the tentacle start thrusting in and out of him in tandem, dragging over his prostate relentlessly and soon Jungkook is a babbling whimpering mess, precum oozing from his cock in streams, his feet and hands shaking helplessly in the air.
He shudders when one nimble tentacle weaves around his cock, teasing the tip, while another trails softly over the underside of his foot. Jungkook arches into his binds, his foot trying to shy away, but it’s firmly held in place in the air. His leg twitches at another soft trail over his foot which then moves further and over his calf and then all the way to the sensitive backside of his knee.
Jungkook sobs, the burning sensation inside him increasing, multiplying. He tenses, his arms, his legs, everything, his whole body tightening at a sudden explosive rush of pleasure. He shudders, the heat between his legs growing unbearable, a feeling so intense that it breaks his mind and he feels it slip.
His mind, his consciousness, everything slips.
It has happened to him before, but never like this.
He’s almost gone within only a heartbeat.
He can’t differentiate anymore between Jimin’s hands, Jimin’s tentacles and Jimin’s cock. All he knows is that he’s being filled, fucked, caressed and held in place. Every muscle in his body is quivering, throbbing, and his mind slips further and further away as he starts feeling all fuzzy around the edges.
“Are you going under for me?” He hears Jimin’s voice and Jungkook gasps, then whines, pressing his face into Jimin’s warm neck, his legs jerking in their binds with each thrust.
“You are, aren’t you?” The voice asks.
Jungkook groans, unable to form any words, his head falling back against Jimin’s shoulder again.
Yes, he’s going under, feels heavy but feather-light and floaty as if he’s underwater and he loves it.
“So pretty.”
Something smooth and warm weaves its way around his throat, tightening, restricting his airflow just right. The tingling sensation of suckers on his sensitive skin makes Jungkook shudder. He faintly feels tears streaming down his face, sliding down his temples and into his hair.
The thrusts inside him remain strong, dragging over his prostate again and again and again, pushing him closer and closer to the edge, the tight feeling in his core increasing, getting so intense that he fears he might lose consciousness completely.
He gives a loud whine when his nipples are being pinched, the tentacle on his cock – or is it a hand? – twisting at each upstroke, squeezing and releasing, squeezing and releasing…
Jungkook’s mouth falls open and a desperate, almost demanding sound leaves him, his tongue lolling out and Jimin understands it's finally stuffed again.
He thinks he can hear Jimin breathe in excitement, thinks he hears the words “Perfect, you’re perfect–” being whispered, thinks it’s definitely Jimin’s hand stroking his cock now.
Jungkook wails at a particularly good thrust against his prostate. Suddenly he’s overly aware of all the suckers pulsing on his sensitive skin and inside him, sucking like tiny little mouths, heating his nerves until he’s completely on fire.
Something hot white bleeds into his mind so quickly he can’t breathe.
And then one of the suckers fastens itself over the tip of his cock and sucks and everything tightens.
He mewls, his eyes rolling, unseeing, as the pleasure swells inside of him more and more. His toes are curling, his thighs straining, his lower stomach clenching, and at a second suckle at the tip of his cock he finally explodes.
He arches his back when his orgasm takes him harshly, hot ecstasy flooding his mind, blinding white and loud, the wetness of his cum coating his front.
He clenches hard around Jimin, can hear his airy moan right next to his ear, hot against his skin, just as hot as the lips that latch themselves to his jaw only a heartbeat later, teeth biting him softly when Jimin comes too, filling him up with hot spurts of cum, a feeling that has yet another wave of orgasm roll over Jungkook.
He comes and comes until there is nothing left and then he collapses in Jimin’s hold, hanging limp and exhausted in the tentacles’ grip, literally dripping with cum, the last aftershocks of his orgasm simmering away underneath his skin.
He doesn’t remember much after that, his mind fuzzy and somewhere far away.
He remembers being lowered carefully into the water, remembers pressing his face into Jimin’s neck when Jimin cleans him gently, holding him close the whole time.
“My pretty human,” he hears Jimin whisper. “My pretty lovely human. Lovel, so lovely. Mine.”
And even though the slumber he falls into is deep, the whole night, Jungkook feels Jimin’s arms around him.
When Jungkook wakes up, his limbs are heavy. But in a weirdly good way. He’s exhausted, his butt hurts, the feeling of Jimin inside him still lingering, the fullness still kind of there, but it’s more inside his chest than anywhere else.
He blinks his eyes open slowly and the shimmering view of their cave comes into view around him.
The memories come back, slowly but surely.
He’s not naked anymore. Jimin must’ve dressed him and the thought makes something flutter lightly in Jungkook’s chest with fondness.
He can still feel the sensation of Jimin’s arms around him, where he faintly remembers being held the entire night, hugged, protected…
He lets his eyes wander over the familiar shimmering walls, the corner with the glittering treasure and —
Jungkook pauses.
Something is off.
He knows Jimin rearranges his pretty collection every now and then but he hasn’t seen him do it in a while. Yet, some of the things are placed differently.
It takes Jungkook a whole while to figure out why it feels so off.
There is stuff missing.
There are not just things rearranged, some things are gone.
That’s definitely weird. Why would Jimin remove them completely?
Jungkook groans when he sits up carefully, his heavy limbs not really cooperating.
The heaviness is forgotten in the blink of an eye, when he’s met with the face of a stranger, who’s squatting down in front of him, looking at him curiously.
Jungkook yelps and scrambles away.
“What the- who are you?!”
It takes only another second for him to recognize him.
It’s the stranger from yesterday.
Jungkook looks around, eyes searching the cave frantically.
Where is Jimin?
“Where is he?” He gasps, scrambling to his feet.
Only when he’s standing, he notices the linen bag on the ground next to the guy. It’s slightly open, revealing glimpses at what Jungkook recognizes as some of Jimin’s goblets and medallions.
“What—” Jungkook meets the guy’s eyes when the other stands up as well, coming to the same height as Jungkook, his hair long and black.
“That’s not yours!” Jungkook hisses and tries to grab for the bag, but the other is quicker and snatches it from the floor.
“Now that you’re awake,” the other speaks up, his voice sounding all unfamiliar and wrong in the serene silence of the cave. “Let’s go.”
Go?
Jungkook frowns in confusion, before looking around again. Where the fuck is Jimin?
Suddenly, an uneasy feeling creeps up inside him, spreading ice cold inside his chest, so cold that his hand wanders up to clutch his shirt.
“What have you done to him?” He whispers. “Where is he?”
Was it because Jimin was distracted during their night together that the guy made it inside the cave after all? Made it all the way to the treasure?
The stranger blinks, clearly thrown off.
“Who the hell are you talking about? The sea monster?”
Jungkook grits his teeth, his heart racing uncomfortably.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t fucking know,” the guy shrugs and gestures to the bag in his hand. “He told me to take you with me off the island, gave me all this stuff and left.”
Jungkook feels all color drain from his face, his body going numb, his throat dry.
“What?” He croaks. He stumbles a couple of steps back.
Jimin did what?
“You heard me, he gave me all this and told me to take you with me. So, hurry up, we— hey!”
Jungkook turns around on his heels and makes his way to the exit with hurried steps.
“Where are you going?” The stranger shouts after him, his voice echoing around Jungkook. “When the tide comes, I’m going to leave, with or without you!”
Jungkook doesn’t pay him any mind. He rushes out of the cave, the hot midday air hitting his face, his eyes blinded by the brightness of the sun. Still, he keeps going, breaking into a jog, forgotten are his tired limbs.
He goes to the first place he can think of: The lake.
He didn’t expect to actually find Jimin there. Jimin has a whole ocean to hide. But indeed, when he’s approaching the lake that lies still and wide in front of the cliff, he spots Jimin on the shore of the clear water. He’s sitting on the edge with his knees drawn to his chest, toes in the water, his back to Jungkook. He looks somehow small like this.
“Jimin!”
The other turns around with a jolt at Jungkook calling his name, his eyes big, surprise written all over his face. And then his expression merges into something painful, then into something like dread.
“Jungkook.”
Why does he look like that?
Jungkook’s breathing is labored when he reaches the other, heart beating all the way up in his throat, not just from running but from that cold feeling that’s clinging to him like icy shackles.
When Jimin rises to his feet, Jungkook takes a step forward, but freezes when Jimin takes one back, as if trying to escape him.
“Why–” Jungkook trails off.
“What are you doing here?” Jimin asks, his voice soft, almost shy. “Why are you not on your way home already?”
“On my way–” Jungkook swallows thickly, his throat dry. “What do you—” He tries to search for something in Jimin’s face, he’s not sure for what exactly but for something. Something that isn’t there.
“That guy told the truth?” Jungkook whispers, his fingers clutching the fabric of his pants. “That you— paid him to take me with him?”
Jimin grimaces and averts his eyes.
Suddenly, Jungkook’s face feels hot, his throat tight, his eyes stinging.
“You paid him?” It feels like he’s suffocating, his heart racing. “You—You want me to leave that badly?”
He’s not able to take his eyes off Jimin. Off his face, off the expression that’s twisting his beautiful features. An expression that speaks of guilt.
And Jimin doesn’t deny it. He just keeps standing there, hanging his shoulders, gaze still on the ground.
A hollow laugh leaves Jungkook’s throat.
“You want me to leave,” he repeats and slowly but surely the words sink into his consciousness, making his fingers tremble. Jimin wants him gone. Jimin doesn’t want him here.
At the very first opportunity, Jimin tries to get rid of him. Right after—
Jungkook grits his teeth, anger simmering in the pit of his stomach, bubbling up into a blazing sensation when seconds go by and Jimin is still not looking at him, his long hair falling into his face and covering his eyes.
“Say something,” Jungkook demands, his voice hard with an underlying tremor.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Jimin whispers.
Fucking liar.
“Liar,” Jungkook hisses. “You– Were you just waiting for an opportunity to get rid of me?!” His voice is getting louder, higher, his throat constricting. “Are you happy that someone finally turned up to take me away?” There is a bitter taste in his mouth at his next words. “At least you got to fuck me before, right?”
Jimin looks up at him with a jolt, his lips parting but Jungkook doesn’t give him the opportunity to speak up.
“Are you bored of me now?” He goes on, his chest squeezing. “Is that it? You finally got to fuck me and now you’re bored of me?”
“No,” Jimin says, reaching out. “No, Jungkook, I—”
Jungkook scoffs and takes a step back.
“You want me to leave.”
Suddenly, he can’t look at Jimin anymore, his sight blurring with stinging tears. He is just about to turn around, doesn’t want Jimin to see him like this, when something warm touches his arm, curling around his torso in a way that keeps his arms pinned against his body.
“Let me go,” he says and wriggles in the hold of the tentacle wrapped around him.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Jimin says, his voice trembling.
“Liar!”
“I don’t want you to leave!” Jimin sounds almost desperate. “Please believe me, I-”
“Get off me,” Jungkook hisses, wriggling in the hold of the tentacles once more. He’s almost disappointed when they loosen their grip and he can actually wiggle his way out. Before he can turn around and leave, however, Jimin is right in front of him, his hands finding their way to his shoulders.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Jimin repeats, bringing his hands up to Jungkook’s cheeks, cupping them. “Listen to me.”
When Jungkook tries to pull away again, the grip on his cheeks tightens.
“Jungkook,” Jimin pleads. “I need you to understand—”
He pauses.
“I’m part kraken.”
Jungkook frowns. He knows that, obviously.
“Kraken—” Jimin goes on. “We’re incredibly greedy creatures. Self-indulgent, insatiable, possessive.”
He looks at him intently.
“Do you understand?”
Jungkook shakes his head, then he nods, then he shakes his head again.
Jimin’s smile is sad.
“I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay here with me forever.”
His thumbs stroke over Jungkook’s cheekbones.
“Forever. I want to keep you here forever. So much.” He takes a step closer with a wild glint in his eyes that makes Jungkook’s heart race. “I want to keep you all for myself, I want to look at you all day. I want to hide you away like I do with all those other pretty things in my cavern.” He takes in a shuddering breath. “I want to add you to my collection. I want you to be only mine.”
His forehead is touching Jungkook’s now.
“My prettiest treasure, the most precious thing I own,” he whispers. “I want to own you. I want you-– I want you to stay but—”
His palms cupping Jungkook’s cheeks squeeze tighter. And then he takes a step back, his hands sliding down to his shoulders.
“But you’re human. I cannot do that. I cannot keep you here. I cannot own you.”
He closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, there is something so raw and real in his expression that it takes Jungkook’s breath away.
“I can only hope— despite the fulfilled life you will lead far away from here without me—” He averts his eyes. “I can only hope that you’ll never forget our time together.”
Jungkook swallows around the sudden tightness in his throat.
He looks at Jimin. Really looks at him. Into his eyes and at the emotions swimming in them. And he believes him. He believes that Jimin doesn’t want him to leave.
Unfortunately, he can see the determination in his expression too. Jimin will make him leave. Jimin will make him leave because he genuinely thinks it’s the right thing to do, because he thinks Jungkook is better off somewhere else.
“But I—I want to stay,” Jungkook says, his voice trembling.
“You can’t.”
“But I want to!”
“Why?” Jimin whispers. “Why would you want that?”
“I—” Jungkook trails off. “I don’t know. I just—”
I just don’t want to leave you, he thinks but suddenly his throat is too tight to form words.
“You can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Jungkook balls his hands to fists, his own nails cutting into his palms painfully. “Why not? Who says that I can’t? Of course I can. I’ve been staying here for— for—”
How long has it even been since he arrived on Jimin’s island? A couple of weeks? Months? Years?
At his sudden silence, Jimin smiles weakly.
“See? You don’t belong here, Jungkook. This island will slowly drain you, kill you. It’s not made for any other living being. Only for me. And you have a life outside of this. You don’t belong here.”
Jungkook feels offended. Because somehow it sounds like Jimin is saying ‘You don’t belong with me’. But deep down he knows that that isn’t what he meant.
Jimin’s smile is sad when he continues.
“Don’t you have family? Friends? People you want to return to?”
Jungkook drops his gaze.
Yes. Yes, he has people he wants to return to. He hasn’t thought about them at all after arriving here, but indeed, thinking about them now, he kind of misses them. He knows they probably miss him too. He also misses sleeping in an actual bed and eating actual meals, he misses not being wet all the time, he misses talking to people, he misses dancing to music, he misses being on a ship… He misses his world.
But he knows that once he has stepped back into it, he’ll miss Jimin’s world. And Jimin. So much, it might tear his heart to shreds.
He feels his shoulders drop with sudden heaviness.
A heaviness that comes from the understanding that Jimin is right.
He doesn’t belong here. He needs to go home.
His heart breaks.
He needs to go home.
He takes a step forward, hanging his head, pressing his forehead against Jimin’s shoulder. Warm arms encircle him.
“I hate this,” he whispers, his arms finding their way around Jimin’s body too.
“I know,” Jimin’s breath is warm in his hair. “I hate it too. That’s why I selfishly hoped you would just take the opportunity and leave with that human, because— actually having to let you go like— like this— I didn’t know if I could do it—”
Jungkook tightens his hold and his throat tightens too, his eyes burning.
“Why are you here then?” He whispers. “You could’ve hidden somewhere else, in a place where I never would’ve found you. But instead, you’re here. You were waiting for me, weren’t you?”
Jimin is silent for a while.
“Maybe—,” his voice is tender. “Deep inside, maybe I hoped for this to happen. For you to find me like this and for you to— for you to choose to stay with me, but—” His embrace around Jungkook tightens. “But you need to leave. Please Jungkook—” Jimin’s lips press into his hair. “Please leave.”
Jungkook hates the way those words sound, so much that he starts trembling. He hates his own words too, which he says next. They feel wrong but also right.
“I—I will leave but– but I will come back—” His voice breaks and he presses his wet eyes against Jimin’s neck.
Yes. He’s admitting that he doesn’t belong here. He’s admitting that he needs to leave. But he will see Jimin again. He will come back for him.
But Jimin shakes his head.
“The sea is dangerous here. The storms–”
“I will come back.”
“It’s too dangerous, Jungkook.”
“I will come back,” Jungkook repeats and pulls back to look at Jimin. “You can’t stop me.”
For a moment, Jimin doesn’t say anything, his expression mirroring exactly what Jungkook is feeling. His eyes hold the same type of sadness and helplessness, maybe a bit of frustration too.
“Jungkook— If you come back, I might never let you leave again. I can’t— I might not be able to let you go again and I can’t do that to you.”
“You’re letting me go right now.”
“Yes, but—” Jimin inhales deeply, Jungkook can feel his chest rising against his own. Then he presses his forehead to Jungkook’s again. “But it’s so so hard—”
“We can do it,” Jungkook whispers. “We can make it work. I want to come back. I will come back.” He tightens his embrace. “Please— don’t hide from me. Please let me find you again.”
There is a gentle stroke of fingertips in his nape and it’s silent for a while, except for the soft rustle of the wind around them and the sound of the waves in the far distance.
Finally, Jimin answers.
“Always.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Even though their goodbye is a rushed painful blur to Jungkook, one thing sticks vividly in his mind. It’s the softness of Jimin’s voice and the softness of his words when he asks:
“Everything will be okay. Right?”
“Yes,” Jungkook says immediately.
When the island disappears in the distance, something tight squeezes in Jungkook’s chest.
He’s exhausted, feels sick already from the waves shaking the boat, swaying him from side to side.
He stares at the island getting tinier and tinier until it’s only a dot on the horizon.
And then it’s gone.
His sight blurs.
Everything will be okay.
Everything will be okay.
Everything will be okay.
Jungkook is dreaming.
In his dream he can’t move, his body heavy, his muscles numb, but he’s not scared. He’s relaxed, comfortable, lying on his stomach.
Something presses against his leg. The touch is silky and smooth, pleasantly warm and it's light, non-threatening, careful almost. It caresses his ankle, then up his calf and the back of his knee.
Jungkook shifts and lets his legs fall open slightly, letting the touch move further up, over the inside of his thigh. He sighs as pleasure starts simmering in his stomach.
“Jimin,” he whispers into the pillow, drowning in and out of consciousness.
When he blinks his eyes open, he’s alone in his room, the morning sun shining through the window.
The touch is gone.
He rolls on his back, ignoring his half-hard cock, and puts his arm over his eyes to shield them from the sun, cursing himself and the world that his dream has ended the way it did.
“Fuck,” he whispers.
It’s only been seven days, and he already misses him so much that it hurts.
The sun burns so hot on Jungkook’s skin that he’s sure it’ll have him burnt down to the bones in no time, if he’s not more careful.
He steps into the shadow of the sails quickly, his boat swaying dangerously while doing so.
It took him a while to get together the money for it. A boat small enough to be handled by only one person but big enough to withstand the winds on the open sea, to cover at least a certain amount of distance within a day.
He’s named it Rose II and he doesn’t like it very much if he’s being honest. It’s uncomfortable, he gets wet when it rains and he can’t store much cargo here, has to stick rather close to the coastlines so he can take breaks on land and stock up on his supplies every couple of days.
But it keeps him moving, brings him closer and closer to his destination, even if only very very slowly.
And by now it’s already in sight. His destination.
A nervous flutter spreads in Jungkook’s chest at the sight of the island on the horizon which he hasn’t seen in over a year.
Over a year of traveling as an ordinary crew member under several pirate captains, saving up all the money and treasure to be finally able to buy the Rose II and get it ready for such a big journey.
Jungkook's fingers are a little clammy when he tautens the rope of the sail, trying to get it to catch more wind. The water around him is already glowing in a deep orange color from the setting sun and he knows he’ll just about make it before it’s dark.
He's just reaching out to tauten the top sail as well when something flashes in the water.
He freezes in his movements and lets his gaze wander over the sea, searching, his heart speeding up with nervous excitement.
At another flash of silver between the waves, his breath catches and then another movement right beside his boat makes him scramble forward to lean over the edge, risking a look into the depths of the water below.
His heart skips a beat when he catches sight of a silvery purple shadow below the surface, rising up, quickly assuming shape, and then Jimin emerges from the waves, his fishtail flicking under him, his hands reaching out.
His shimmering eyes are big when he cups Jungkook’s cheeks, his palms soft, his grip firm. And then he pulls Jungkook forward by his face and Jungkook leans in, until their lips are pressing together, and then even further. Jungkook breathes a strangled sound against Jimin’s soft mouth when he loses his balance as the boat tips over and he’s pulled face first into the cool waves, Jimin’s lips never leaving him.
The water closes over his head and he’s pulled deeper and deeper, and he wouldn’t even mind if Jimin would drown him like this, pulling him down into the deepest depths of the sea, while kissing him.
But then Jimin’s arms are around his waist, his fins tickling Jungkook’s feet when his fishtail moves, bringing them up to the surface.
Jungkook gasps as air fills his lungs, but only for a heartbeat, and then he presses his lips against Jimin’s again, kissing him fervently. It’s as if he doesn’t need air to survive, he only needs Jimin.
“You really came back,” Jimin whispers against his mouth, his fingers tangling in Jungkook’s hair.
“I'll always come back.”
Jungkook keeps his promise.
He always comes back.
And he never comes back empty-handed. While he doesn’t bring Jimin beautiful treasure as anybody else would, each time he brings him stories.
The main reason why he’s still traveling the world, still going on voyages on different ships with different crews, is not the yearning for wealth and power anymore, but the yearning for stories. He wants to collect as many of them as possible, wants to see Jimin’s eyes shine when he tells him a new one.
Until one day, Jimin doesn’t even let him finish his newest story he’s telling, about a kingdom far away from here, where they ride on giant animals called elephants. Jimin has been fidgeting during the whole story in his spot next to Jungkook, on a huge rock overlooking the sunrise over the ocean, the tips of his tentacles swishing in the water below. They’ve been talking the whole night.
“I want to see it too,” he suddenly whispers.
“Hm?” Jungkook looks at him.
“The… elephants,” Jimin continues and stares into the distance, the morning sun shimmering in his eyes. “That kingdom. Everything— all those things you’re talking about— I want to see them too. With my own eyes.”
He turns to look at Jungkook, his expression determined.
“Take me with you.”
Jungkook blinks. “What?”
“Take me with you,” Jimin repeats and suddenly he grabs Jungkook’s hands with his own, squeezing them tightly. “I want to come with you, I want to see the world.”
“I–” Jungkook falters when he understands the meaning of Jimin’s words, his heart suddenly beating quicker. “Are you— Are you serious?”
Jimin nods, bringing their joined hands to his chest.
“Yes,” he breathes.
“But, would— how—” Jungkook stumbles over his words. “Would that even be possible?”
“I will make it possible,” Jimin sounds determined but his next words are careful. “We— we will make it possible?” It sounds more like a question. “You once said you would protect me,” Jimin looks at him carefully. “If anyone finds out what I am— you would protect me, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course! Of course, I would.”
Jungkook pulls his hands from Jimin’s hold only to curl his fingers around Jimin’s wrist.
“I—I’d love— I’d really love to do it, to take you with me, but— would you really want to leave all this behind?” Jungkook motions behind them, where Jimin’s cave lies. “Your pretty things? Your home? Someone will find it, everything will be gone in no time.”
“I’ll have the prettiest thing with me,” Jimin smiles and it makes Jungkook’s cheeks heat up. “And this is just a place. Home is more than just a place. Home is—home is safety, home is where— Home is where the heart is comfortable.”
He looks at Jungkook.
“My heart is comfortable with you.”
Butterflies erupt in Jungkook’s stomach and chest. He thinks about how vulnerable but calm he feels with Jimin, how real everything feels with him, how familiar, how beautiful, how safe, how new, how exciting…
“My heart is comfortable with you too,” he whispers.
Jimin smiles gently, trailing his thumb over the back of Jungkook’s hand, his fingers small and soft between Jungkook’s rough and calloused ones.
“Then let’s do it,” he says and pulls Jungkook closer. “Let’s travel the world together.”
“Okay,” Jungkook whispers.
Their lips meet and they kiss, Jimin tastes of the ocean and he tastes sweet and he tastes of something else, something exhilarating.
Maybe this is what a new beginning tastes like, Jungkook thinks.
He remembers the words they’ve been repeating to each other every time they part ways with heavy hearts after spending a couple of days together.
Everything will be okay.
Jungkook knows, even though it won’t be easy, it will be okay. He will protect Jimin and Jimin will protect him. They will protect each other and instead of telling each other stories, now they will experience them together, they will share them as they happen, they will live them.
There is a kind of tingling spreading in Jungkook’s chest. The same he always gets when he listens to a story that just feels… real.
This story is real.
It’s his story.
Their story.