Chapter 36

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"You have to dive down here." Taehyung pointed at the water surface. They had stopped in front of an area of the beach that looked just like every other.

"No offense, but first off I can't see and neither can I breathe underwater." Jungkook shook his head. He had kind of worried that whatever Taehyung wanted to show him had to do with diving. He really didn't want to dive into nothingness without seeing a thing. Especially given all his past experiences with being under the water surface.

"Your human lungs should be enough. And I could lead you through?" Taehyung's tail flicked out of the water a little and Jungkook realized that the whole time they had been in the water Taehyung had seemed a lot more energetic than Jungkook was used to. Taehyung seemed to have a hard time holding still.

Just like he had been talking more. Maybe this was what Jimin had meant when he had said Taehyung needed to go back to the ocean. Taehyung quite literally ran out of energy when he was walking on solid ground.

"Lead me through?" Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows.

"Hold you when I dive down."

"Hell nah." Jungkook quickly brought his hands up as if to stop Taehyung. He could hear Taehyung chuckling even if he didn't see it because the moon was right behind him.

"That's just terrifying. What if I do run out of air, or you just let me go in some tunnel or something and then I have to try to get out, but I'm running out of air?"

"Jungkook. I could just pull you down, now."

Jungkook shook his head. "You're just toying with me. Isn't that a typical siren thing? Mind gaming your victim till it practically drowns itself."

"Want to go back?" This time Taehyung wasn't laughing. Jungkook was a little surprised, admittedly. He had expected Taehyung to continue trying to convince him. Was he doing this because he wasn't trying to force Jungkook into this?

"No...uhm. I don't think so." Jungkook hesitated a little. He did want to see whatever Taehyung had been trying to show him, but at the same time he really was anxious. Even if Taehyung had made it sound like Jungkook trusted him now because he'd decided to swim with him... it wasn't quite that.

As sad as it sounded it was probably more that Jungkook was so exhausted from being scared that he had just stopped caring, even if just for a second. But that didn't mean that he felt comfortable diving like this. Especially not if he couldn't communicate with Taehyung under water... since the siren probably knew how long a human could survive and keep kicking under water but very likely not how long humans actually felt comfortable not breathing.

"I-" Jungkook hesitated. He'd been doing so many risky things today, but at least he knew that if he survived this he could truly trust Taehyung. "I swear, if you drown me I'll come back as a ghost to haunt you. I don't care if ghosts don't exist. I will be the one ghost that does exist." He warned and Taehyung chuckled. "I'll dive down with you under one condition. We can't be down there longer than thirty seconds... do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah." Taehyung nodded and his silver gray hair moved in an almost unnaturally beautiful way in the moonlight.

"And if I pinch you, that means you need to hurry the fuck up because I'm running out of air." Jungkook continued.

"Pinch?"

"Like this." Jungkook reached out and softly pinched the skin of Taehyung's upper arm. Taehyung watched him do it before nodding slowly. Jungkook probably could have done it ten times harder and Taehyung couldn't have cared less, but he didn't exactly have to provoke a reaction.

"If I do that under water that means I'm really uncomfortable." For a second Jungkook couldn't help but picture Taehyung pulling him under again and intentionally not resurfacing and Jungkook just panicking and pinching. God, he had to stop imaging these worst-case scenarios.

"Okay." Taehyung nodded. "Turn around."

"Ah, wait." Jungkook panicked. He was not mentally prepared at all. Taehyung chuckled, moving closer.

"Don't worry, I don't bite."

Jungkook let out an overly dramatic gasp. "You totally do. I'm not trusting a word you say ever again. This is the proof that you lie too."

"You talk an awful lot, you know that?"

"Oh fuck off. I was trying to entertain you in order not to die. If you don't like it I'll gladly start using that time for other stuff that I actually want to do." Jungkook was joking. Mostly... maybe to some extent his pride was hurt, but he really was mostly joking.

"I like listening to you talk and now shut up and turn around. It will be over soon." Jungkook yelped when Taehyung forcefully turned him around. Jungkook could feel Taehyung's claws against his skin, but the siren was so careful not to hurt him that they tickled more than cause any pain.

"Breathe in." Jungkook didn't waste his breath on complaining and instead focused on taking an especially deep breath, and then he suddenly was under water. Taehyung certainly didn't waste any time, just like he had promised. It took him around a second to maneuver them in a way that he could properly use his tail to speed up without it touching Jungkook... which, now that he thought about it, Jungkook was glad Taehyung had taken the time to do.

Jungkook was surprisingly relaxed with what was happening. Maybe because he could tell that Taehyung very clearly seemed to have the goal of swimming somewhere and not just pulling Jungkook deeper. Or maybe, to some extent, feeling Taehyung hold onto his body, clawed hands wrapped around his waist, being decidedly careful with the way he held Jungkook, was reassuring too.

On the other hand it was terrifying not to see. The water around him felt icy cold. Colder than it had been farther out in the ocean, actually. Maybe he was just imagining it because he couldn't focus on anything else, but he really felt like it had gotten quite a lot colder.

He had no idea if they were still in the open ocean or swimming through a tunnel... that was kind of what he had imagined, given that Taehyung seemed to want to take him somewhere. Maybe Jungkook should have asked more questions too. Such as where and why... and what type of place even.

He flinched a little when something hard hit his toes, followed right away by the familiar sting of salt water on something like a cut. He was pretty sure they were in a narrow tunnel now. That must have been some rock... or maybe it could have been Taehyung's tail, but he really doubted it with how careful he was being.

Water kept rushing past him at a speed that Jungkook was certain he could have never reached no matter how hard he tried, and just when Jungkook started worrying about his air he could see some light through his closed eyelids. It was dim at first but within seconds it grew brighter until Jungkook felt like they were in a lit up room. From there it only took another two seconds until he felt his head breach the surface.

Taehyung pulled his hands away from his body, then Jungkook took a deep breath and brought his hands up to wipe his eyes. The moment he opened them the breath got stuck in his throat. They were in a cave. One of those underground like types that Jungkook had visited maybe once as a child but barely had any memory of. But that wasn't what was taking Jungkook's breath away. It was the fact that there were crystals covering the walls of the cave. The little lake itself was illuminated from within the water.

Jungkook was pretty sure this cave was a tourist attraction of some kind and he and Taehyung could have come here in a more convenient way, just because of the light. But then again, who got the chance to visit this kind of place in the middle of the night and alone... and actually swim in the cave's lake.

Jungkook looked over to Taehyung, who was a whole different piece of art. The light that was coming from beneath illuminated his long tail and beautiful body... as well as giving his whole being an unnatural glow that seemed very natural on Taehyung.

"Fuck... that's seriously beautiful." Jungkook turned around to take in the rest of the cave. More colorful crystals and the beautiful light patterns the water threw onto the walls.

Taehyung smiled in satisfaction, swimming over to the edge of the water and heaving his body plus his tail on land. Jungkook watched him in awe. As scary as it was, Taehyung's tail was stunning. His scales seemed to glow in all kinds of different colors when the light got caught in them the right way.

Jungkook forgot all about how he was freezing as he climbed out of the water to take a closer look at the walls. He'd have to remember this place... maybe he could come back at some point.

Taehyung on the other hand seemed a lot cooler with the beauty of the cave. Instead of focusing on it he stretched his arms out over his head as he laid down on his back. Well, it probably wasn't his first time here.

"How did you find this place?" He ended up asking curiously as he climbed over some rocks to take a closer look at one of the crystal structures.

"Boredom." Taehyung chuckled. "When I go swimming but don't hunt I usually just search the area."

The area. Taehyung had said that like this was anywhere close to the beach that Taehyung usually started at. Did that mean Taehyung could just swim from that beach until here in a relatively short amount of time? Jungkook really had a hard time wrapping his head around how quickly Taehyung could actually move underwater.

He had no idea what to say to that so he decided to just go for what felt the most natural. "Thank you for taking me here. It's really cool." The crystal cave itself was beautiful and something Jungkook certainly didn't see every day. But the thing that was probably worth the most was the fact that Jungkook now knew that, at least if Taehyung told him so, he could trust him.

Maybe that was stupid of him to accept after just one day... but Jungkook needed some faith right now. He'd been way too negative for way too long. He wanted to believe that Taehyung's motives towards him weren't ones of malice and he was going to believe that until Taehyung proved him otherwise.

This whole thing... if Jungkook wanted their relationship to get better in any way they both had to work with each other and that was exactly what he was going to do.

A/N

Man normal length chapters almost feel short now skdhsndn

Well you guys got two updates in a row so no complaining sjdbznns