#oooohoooohooo

Confusion. It’s not the emotion that’s snapping at Taehyung’s heels while he sprints all the way from the driveway into their apartment, it’s not the emotion that angsty anticipation is brewing in his gut, and it’s certainly not the emotion he expected he’d feel when he sees you.

But it’s definitely you, even if he has to look twice and the main door falls shut right when your eyes lock with his, but it is you. Taehyung expected a torn body submerged in water but here you are, alive, in the foyer of their house. The scent of blood in the air and the spotty trail of water staining the carpet from the bathroom to the foyer are all indicators of what has happened here but Taehyung still can’t see the connection. 

Your whole body is wet, water mixed with blood in your clothes, fear in your eyes. And then he hears wailing from the bathroom and honestly, the situation could not be more contrary to the images his mind has conjured up to accredit Jimin with. And to be even more honest, Taehyung feels overwhelmed by how much he doesn’t know what’s happening, why Jimin is crying and you are alive. He feels control slipping out of his reach when he has to make a decision.

He tests the air once again, opens his mouth to let all scents flow through his taste buds and tell him more about the moon-induced insanity he’s missed. The reaction is involuntary - Taehyung scrunches up his face in disgust - when a whole load of bitter sadness hits him along with the iron tinge of blood and the faint, sour trails of a failed illusion. Yikes.

The decision at hand is simple, he goes after the girl destined to be dead that is still alive, telling himself that he’s not hungry himself as he follows the blood. Blood is worse than sadness and curiosity is stronger than empathy, although he genuinely wants to make sure you’re alright. He feels Namjoon’s hand on his shoulder right when he wants to kneel down for you. His hyung frowns, his eyes locked on the bathroom.

“Don’t go in there,” Taehyung pleads, “I don’t know what happened and what Jimin is doing but we need to take care of our sweetheart. She’s injured.”

Namjoon nods and together the two guys kneel next to you. You’re currently slumping down against one of the sofas, visibly exhausted and drained of life as your breaths are heavy and your eyes look dull. What else is plainly visible is the way your hair looks messy, hanging down in wet strands like you’ve showered but never dried or brushed it. Also, there’s a trail of blood running down your neck and dissolving into your clothes in big, semi-washed out red stains.

Taehyung makes a tutting noise in his throat and to you, it sounds like an invitation to be comforted. You don’t hesitate and throw your arms around him, which has him stiffen completely. There’s a tiny growl.

“Darling, you shouldn’t- I’m not safe- I- Hyung, please-“

Taehyung stammers something as you are given into Namjoon’s firm hug that promises safety and protection so tightly that you don’t have time to be confused or disappointed in Taehyung for refusing to help you. You want to object, to tell Namjoon to let go so his shirt won’t be drenched. He doesn’t seem to care.

“What happened to you, sweetie?” he asks calmly as his fingers stroke your head gently. He turns you, sits down and pulls you into his lap and finally, a feeling of rest crawls into your mind, making your limbs sag in his hold. He allows it, eyes tender while he waits for an answer.

“I d-don’t kn-know,” you mumble and Namjoon pulls your head against his chest, where his heart beats calmly for you. He carefully investigates your neck, fingers running over a couple of spots that only start aching now. Taehyung hums something in the background that you don’t manage to pay attention to, but your thoughts seem to finally calm down more and more, enabling you to think more clearly, to realize you need to remember.

But it’s difficult, so… fatiguing to remember, like you’ve been drunk and every memory is contorted and blurry. It’s like a riddle, like you’re not really sure your memories are accurate or even trustworthy.

“I don’t- it’s all blurry,” you say, head low, “uh, I brought Seokjin the sauce he asked for but he wasn’t… there, I think.”

“And after that?”

“I talked to Jimin… I don’t- he was bathing, I- he was so nice, asking about my day and- I don’t remember what we said, I - we-“, you almost burst out in tears when you can’t remember, when a terrible creeping feeling of helplessness bares its teeth at your soul.

“It’s okay, hun, you don’t have to remember now,” Taehyung’s deep voice sounds soothing but you find that it’s a treacherous depth, that he isn’t good at covering up his deeper, raw emotions underneath this time. You bury your face in Namjoon’s chest, hoping he’ll shield you even from Taehyung.

“Did you see anything that was strange? Or do you feel any kind of pain?”

You’re not sure. You’re really not sure. It’s like you know you should have a specific image in front of your eyes right now, like a word that burns on your tongue but you can’t seem to figure out which one it is. Like your gut knows but the information doesn’t make it to your brain. It’s an itch sitting underneath your skin and you shiver angrily.

“Why can’t I remember! Argh, it’s so annoying, why is there nothing at all!?”

Namjoon gently takes your fists in his hands and opens up your clenched fingers.

“Don’t worry,” he says. “We’ll tell you what happened as soon as we’ve talked to Jimin, okay?”

“No!” your answer is lightning fast and surprises you as much as them. “Jimin…” you trail off, unsure why your body has goosebumps all over.

“We’ll be careful, okay? Maybe you should get some rest now, sweetheart. Maybe your memories will come back when you wake up.”

It actually sounds really good in your ears. The idea of rest, of possibly sleeping in your own bed where it’s warm and safe, makes your mind flutter in a good way. Your posture sags, as if the entire tension and stress of the day come by to say hello to your body at once, urging you to finally get some peace and quiet and some sleep, and you think that’s exactly what you’re gonna do.

Namjoon sends you home with Hoseok, who is incredibly gentle and kind with you, even if you complain at first, seeking the familiar closeness of Namjoon. The elder shows you love until you fall asleep right there on his passenger’s seat, overwhelmed by the hole in your memories and the landscape of confusion the fading adrenaline leaves behind in your body.

Taehyung and Namjoon reenter the house and follow the wailing. They don’t expect a semi-wet Jimin curled up on his bed, with a jagged tail and crying hysterically. The siren doesn’t even acknowledge the others’ arrival, just wipes his eyes furiously, weeping into the white sheets that have caught on his barbed side fin. The sharp parts of his tail have torn through them with ease. Actually, it’s not just the sheets, the entire bed looks torn and overall unhappy to carry Jimin’s whole weight.

No matter how much Taehyung and Namjoon call for Jimin, the siren doesn’t stir in response, only cries, cries, cries, his whole body shaking with the heavy emotions.

Namjoon is worried. He’s never seen Jimin a) crying so intensely and b) with his tail. The younger looks dangerous but so, so broken, so vulnerable that Namjoon’s mind isn’t sure what to think even though his heart is overflowing with sadness too. Silently, he wonders whether that’s what Taehyung told them, about sirens luring humans in all sorts of ways, or if the deep empathy is just his normal sense of caring for his precious dongsaeng.

Finally, Taehyung sighs. With a frown and a hand slowly caressing Jimin’s tail, he says, “Fine. Either you stop crying or I’ll make you stop, Jiminie. I can’t help you if you keep crying.”

It’s a small sound that rises from the covers but Jimin misses a bawl and says, “Your song doesn’t work on me” before drawing himself in his wallowing depression once more.

Taehyung doesn’t seem deterred at all, softly mumbling, “I can try for my best friend.”

Namjoon has no idea what’s going on, no one can blame him either, but he knows that he feels immense warmth when Taehyung opens his mouth, sending a simple song out like a blanket to cover the entire room. He feels tied to Taehyung’s lips, awaiting the next sound with all his body and soul as the younger sings. The language is foreign, different from Korean or English, different from anything Namjoon’s heard before, but even if his mind doesn’t, his body understands the ups and downs of the syllables perfectly. It answers every note with a rush of relaxation and calmness. Serendipity, it feels like, a deep reassurance that he’s always sought and never found. The song almost washes him into a soft sleep, like a lullaby.

Taehyung seems to notice and sings Jimin’s name over and over again. A tingling sensation rushes through Namjoon’s limbs like they’ve been pulled out of their daze, out of thick water, and when the song keeps going, he doesn’t feel anything at all anymore. He shakes his head and his thoughts are clear. So that’s the pull of a siren’s song.

The song is for Jimin only and while Namjoon’s mind still stumbles over the strange sensation of how a few notes out of Taehyung’s mouth can control his mind and body so easily, he’s glad to notice that this is a song full of love and comfort that only a dedicated, pure-hearted best friend can give.

The siren on the bed stops crying and blinks through wet eyelashes, eyes red and puffy, face swollen, making him look exactly zero percent dangerous and one hundred percent mochi. Except he still has long fangs and there’s some blood on his chin and his throat and his eyes are a wild storm of blue and gray hues, matching perfectly with his silver hair. He sits up as well as he can with the tail weighing his torso down, but he buries his face in his slightly webbed hands. Namjoon swallows. There’s no denying that Jimin looks unearthly pretty like this, with his skin shimmering softly as soon as light touches it, with his hair sort of wet-looking and his facial features even a little more handsome than usual.

When Taehyung sits down next to his best friend, Jimin leans into the touch without hesitation or shame. It actually reminds Namjoon of a cat, the way Jimin chases the softness of Taehyung’s caress and the feeling of Taehyung’s lips on his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, his lips.

“Sirens are very affectionate,” Namjoon remembers Taehyung saying out of the blue during one breakfast when it had been just the two of them. “More than humans. It’s different, less shame, less awkward, but only with people they trust. Sirens aren’t overly trusting, we usually don’t let humans touch us at all.” Back then, it had been a cute way of confessing his love for the other members, seeing how affectionate both Taehyung and Jimin are with the other boys. Now, it is a piece of background information that helps Namjoon understand the depth of Jimin and Taehyung’s bond.

When Jimin nuzzles Taehyung’s neck and his tail gently rubs against Namjoon’s leg, quietly beckoning him closer, the hyung follows the request. He figures Jimin is seeking touch. Touch is what will make him feel better, so he carefully rubs Jimin’s arm, noticing the thin layer of moisture that seems to cling to the younger’s skin. The siren hums melodically with all the attention given to him. It sounds like a purr. Namjoon makes a mental note. Jimin purrs.

“Jimin-ah, are you better now?”

“Mhm.”

“Can you please tell us what happened?”

Right that moment, Jungkook bursts into the room. “Hyung, did you see the bathroom-“

He stops, eyes fixed on Jimin’s tail like the appendage is hypnotizing his mind. Namjoon sees Jimin halt in his movements. Still, Jungkook’s eyes are doe wide and don’t move until Jimin giggles at the youngest. Namjoon waves his hand in front of the maknae’s eyes. He definitely knows the feeling. That tail is huge. And it glitters mysteriously, almost velvety like a snake’s body but different and probably still different as to when it’s underwater but there’s no denying the incredible beauty of the thing even if it looks nothing like mermaid’s tails in films. It’s more masculine if that makes sense, looks darker and sharper in a way that serves a predator, not a pretty mermaid. Even so, it’s elegant.

What happens next is incredible. In a blink, Jimin’s entire tail changes. The barbs and sharp edges disappear and are replaced by thin, almost frilly looking veil. The tail and fins look like they are made out of fine satin, transparent enough to let light shimmer through them. Jimin’s fangs disappear and there’s jewelry on his neck and his arms. His hair seems flowy, as if he’d been just styled, in a pretty rose color. Now he looks like a mermaid.

“Uh,” Jungkook stumbles out of his daze, eyes flitting to Jimin, then the ground. He blushes profusely and mumbles, “b-bathroom.” And with that, he sprints off, head red and body tense.

Namjoon looks at Taehyung, who just shrugs before turning back to Jimin.

“What happened in the bathroom, Jimin-hyung? Why was noona even there? We made sure she’d be far away from you today, with the moon changing and all.”

Jimin looks at his hands in his lap like he feels super uncomfortable talking about the whole incident. But he knows he should get it out, be honest with his brothers and do this like a responsible man. Namjoon can see the pain on Jimin’s face when he starts explaining. “I used hyung’s phone to make her come over. But it didn’t feel wrong, Tae. It was like I had to do it or I’d die in my own skin. The urge was so intense I would have done anything.”

He’s ashamed, it’s obvious and Namjoon thinks that speaks for how pure Jimin really is, despite the violent side of his nature, how much humanity the boy has that he himself can’t even see. He pats the younger on the back only to be met with broken, desperate eyes.

“I lured her like the damn catcher-siren I’ve been trained to be. I know I’m good at spinning the illusion. There wasn’t much resistance left, I almost had her, almost got to- feed a-and- and,” his whole posture slumps and once again, streams of tears roll down his cheeks like small waterfalls.

“What happened then?”

It’s the billion-dollar question, the one missing piece that will have everything else make sense. Why you survived and made it to the living room. Why there’s blood but not death. At first, Jimin mumbles the words so they’re under his breath and pretty much inaudible except Taehyung seems to catch them because his eyes go wide. Namjoon doesn’t get it.

“Do you mind repeating that for me, Jimin-ah?”

Namjoon listens closely this time, hoping to catch the logical explanation for this whole drama. Except when Jimin speaks again, it still doesn’t make sense to Namjoon at all.

“She broke the illusion. And then she took one of my scales.”

Jimin whimpers like the pain hits him anew and Namjoon doesn’t know what to say. Does it hurt to lose a scale? Don’t fish lose scales all the time? I know Jin always complains about them sticking to everything when he cooks fish. He sends a helpless look to Taehyung, who also looks like a bomb has hit and crushed his world. It must mean something. Something big. Please explain?

“You don’t know what that means, do you?”

“How would I? You guys never talk about these things with us, and it’s not like there are books I could read, so no. How would I know?”

“We only give scales to our mates. It’s like a marriage gift. Our scales are magical, sort of. They bind us together.”

“What,” Namjoon deadpans and he hates how dumb it sounds. “So… you’re… married? To my yeodongsaeng?”

Taehyung grins softly at the exasperated look on Namjoon’s face but his face turns grim quickly. “Not quite. But the scale-giving has to be reciprocated to complete the opened bond. Otherwise, the siren will be in pain until it happens.” 

“In pain?

“In pain,” Jimin nods, becoming smaller under Namjoon’s gaze. Admittedly, that’s not a good message.

“Can’t she just give it back?”

“Can you just take your heart back after loving someone?”

Namjoon is silent. At least with his mind, he understands now why Jimin was trembling before, why he’d been so heartbroken. Heart-broken. Literally.

“And now she hates you because you tried to eat her?”

“I don’t think she’ll remember, I accidentally scratched her,” Jimin mumbles.

“And… that makes it better how…?”

“It will make her forget. Probably.”

Namjoon huffs. It makes sense. His mind goes back to a few minutes ago when he found the crying girl in the lobby. She really didn’t remember much at all.

“Even if she forgets, it kind of serves you right.”

“Hyung!” Jimin protests, “It’s not like I could help it. I feel horrible about it. I wish I could just erase this whole day. I don’t even want to blame the moon changing on it-”

“It’s not just this day, Jimin-ah,” Namjoon says softly, letting his hand card through Jimin’s soft hair, through the thick strands that look so pretty right now. He hopes the others won’t notice that he’s speaking out of experience. “You’re too seductive for your own good. I don’t think you realize how attractive you are to people.”

“I’m not that good-looking, hyung.”

Namjoon knows Jimin is serious, that he doesn’t try to make people fall for him. If anything, the dancer acts silly or cute most of the time (except when they perform). But still, it’s true.

“Your looks are just one small part of it. You have this air about you, Jimin. When you sing and dance… your voice is like a song even when you speak sometimes-“

“I don’t even use my song on you guys-“

Taehyung coughs.

“-unless Jin-hyung doesn’t want to buy us fish.”

“Jiminie, I’m still convinced you could sing anywhere and make people drop to their knees and pledge their lives to you within seconds. Lure or not.”

“How am I- what about Taehyung then? He’s a siren too.”

Namjoon realizes only now that he’s ridden himself into an impasse, having both sirens observe him with curious eyes. While Taehyung is impossibly handsome as well, he’s more like an excited puppy, is what Namjoon thinks.

“But with Taehyung it’s all play. He’s not half as seductive as you, Jimin-ah.”

“I never thought you’d say things like that to me. Do you really mean that, hyung?”

Namjoon nods. “If Taehyung lured someone in, he would probably take them to a dog cafe or something. But you - how else do you explain how drawn everyone is to you?”

Jimin stares him dead in the eye. “I’m an idol in one of the biggest boybands on the planet - I’ve worked so hard for this. Of course everyone is drawn to me.”

“No, Jiminie, you practiced hard to dance and sing with us, but your aura is all natural.”

“So,” Taehyung intervenes with a serious tone in his voice, “what are you going to do? What if she feels the pull towards you? Or what if she doesn’t? I mean, we only know these things from stories, so we don’t know what is going to happen exactly.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have left the ocean so early back then-“

“That’s not what matters right now. Look forward, Jiminie. You have to make a decision. What are you going to do?”

There’s a new tear rolling over Jimin’s cheek, and where the first one makes its way down, a couple more follow. His chest trembles with the quiet sobs. Namjoon wonders whether fate could be any more cruel, forcing a young boy to decide such meaningful things in such a drastic manner. He isn’t sure if there are any good decisions that can come out of this. Even the way Jimin takes a deep breath, hands in fists, makes him feel trapped in this dilemma.

“I… I won’t tell her. The bond is still fresh, so she won’t feel me. If we don’t see each other, she won’t be affected.”

“But,” Namjoon thinks aloud, “you said that it’s a bond, that you would need to complete it to be okay. You’ll get sick if you keep her away from you, right?”

“Maybe. But I won’t force her to be with me just because of the bond. That’s selfish and egocentric. She was terrified of me, as she should be. So I won’t tell her and give her the chance of meeting someone she can truly fall in love with.”

“Are you sure that’s the way to go? Don’t you deserve happiness too?”

“I couldn’t even withstand the moon’s sway, so this consequence is my reward. If she remembers, I’ll apologize. If she can even bear to be around me again. I’ll make sure that she’s safe. I’ll take care of her secretly. Don’t look at me like that, hyung. I’ll be fine and if I stay away from her, she will be too.”

Namjoon nods. It’s not the best way to go about this but the look in Jimin’s eyes tells him that the decision is made. Taehyung is oddly quiet, never even looking at Jimin while he speaks, only staring out of the window, to a faraway place, probably thinking about the ocean. Namjoon wishes the other siren would say something to help his soulmate, to give him a chance at fixing the situation but he only looks miserable in his own way, as if he feels the depth of Jimin’s pain in his own body. But he doesn’t, so Namjoon nods again.

“Okay, Jiminie. I hope this is a good decision.”

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