Chapter 52

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„I can't believe it's been half a year since I joined you in the water." Jungkook muttered, once again in his underwear, letting his legs dangle into the cool water. It felt good after the long, hot day. Especially since, unlike last time, the sun was still out.

"Sorry that you won't be able to shift though. I know you like it more than just swimming as a human." Jungkook watched Taehyung slip out of his pants. The pants Jungkook had gotten him. Part of him was proud of his choice because they looked incredible on Taehyung but at the same time did he kind of regret the thirst trap he had created along the way.

"It's okay. Jimin said he likes swimming like this so I want to try it." Just like Jungkook he sat down on the edge of the rock and put his feet into the cool water. "You're keeping on your underwear?"

Jungkook nodded. "You should too." Partly for his own sanity. "People might actually see us here and that would be anything but ideal. It's not a place where you're supposed to swim nude."

"Okay." Taehyung pushed himself off the rocks into the water. Jungkook watched as his body disappeared before his head resurfaced again. He was looking up at Jungkook. Once again he wondered how Taehyung could look this perfect when his hair was wet. No one looked even better like that, but with Taehyung that seemed to be the case. His bright grey eyes bore into Jungkook's.

"Are you coming?"

Jungkook was about to move into the water as well when he remembered that he wasn't dumb. Well, mostly.

"Do you promise you have no intention of hurting me?" Jungkook doubted he did but trust was something he really wasn't sure if he could afford with Taehyung. He still wasn't human and Jungkook had no idea what exactly was going on in his head. The only thing he did somewhat trust was that Taehyung wouldn't lie.

Taehyung rolled his eyes but nodded. "I promise I have no intention of hurting you. Are you coming?"

This time Jungkook allowed himself to drop down into the water. It was fucking cold, but in a good way. The way that froze his butt off but made him say thank you. At least he wasn't out in the heat anymore.

"So where do you want to go? Do you know the area?" Jungkook asked, moving towards Taehyung. It was interesting to see Taehyung move his hands to stay afloat for once. Jungkook was pretty sure he could have used his water powers, but he didn't. He wasn't sure why, but it was weirdly relieving. Whenever Taehyung did something like that it made him feel more human.

"There aren't really places in the ocean I don't know. So yeah, I know these parts..." Taehyung seemed to be thinking, swimming a little closer to Jungkook. Too close. Jungkook really couldn't deal with the way Taehyung had completely stopped acknowledging Jungkook's personal space. He was treating Jungkook a little like Jimin. He just got closer and closer as if the fact that their faces were only like three centimeters apart was not the most distracting thing.

Jungkook had been family zoned, just like Jimin had said. And while Jungkook enjoyed the idea of not having to die because Taehyung liked him, that didn't mean he was comfortable with everything that came with it.

"I have an idea." Taehyung's face lit up in something akin to excitement. For a second his eyes flickered back to their more natural form. Seemingly a little slip of focus. Was it weird that at this point Jungkook was somewhat endeared that Taehyung had such a hard time staying in his human form? That he clearly tried but sometimes he would just slip up?

He was probably just fucked up from his crush, actually.

"You'll have to trust me tho."

Yeah, no. Not fucked enough to blindly trust Taehyung at least.

"How so?" Jungkook backed up a little. He didn't want to keep getting distracted by Taehyung's lips. They were too fucking close.

"There is a ship nearby. One that sank a few years back." Taehyung was right back in his face again. Jungkook just gave up. Apparently he and Taehyung were one now. "If you want I could take you there."

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows. "Take me there? You know I can't see underwater, nor dive that deep? Unless the shipwreck is right by the beach?" He asked, somewhat hopeful that it was and that he could actually see it. After all, Taehyung had seen a few animals he had never seen before today and maybe Jungkook would get to see something new thanks to Taehyung too.

"It's not by the beach, but as I said, I could take you there."

That sounded a little ominous. "I really don't exactly like the idea of being taken somewhere under water by you. The last time that happened I almost died."

"Because I was trying to kill you." Taehyung stated matter of factly. Jungkook really had no idea what to say to that but luckily he didn't have to because Taehyung continued for him.

"But I'm not trying to do that today."

Jungkook clicked his tongue. "How reassuring."

This time Taehyung smiled and Jungkook realized he must have been joking. At least if you wanted to call that humor.

"I could take you with me like this... can I?" Taehyung put his hand on Jungkook's shoulder and Jungkook couldn't help but laugh, a little disbelieving. Taehyung was asking for consent for once. How new and exciting.

He had to say yes simply for the sake of positive reinforcement. Even if it felt a little dangerous to let Taehyung show him something instead of telling him. But he was pretty sure Taehyung had learned that Jungkook didn't like drowning from the swimming pool incident.

"Yeah."

Once again Taehyung smiled and then he pushed at Jungkook's shoulder, down under the water. Which was terrifying for about three seconds before Jungkook realized he had gone under the surface but he could still feel air around him. Hesitantly he opened his eyes to realize there was a bubble of air around his head that slowly grew in size until it encased his whole body. Jungkook was breathing normal air, standing on water in a giant air bubble that had formed all around him.

He felt like the whole situation was ignoring something like fifty laws of physics but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he could see the space around him a little like if he was wearing diving goggles. Maybe a little more distorted, but it was fucking amazing. He could see shells and fish and the rocks beneath them.

And there, right in front of him, was Taehyung, looking too godly to be a human, floating in the water watching him with wary eyes. Was he... being careful not to scare Jungkook?

Jungkook certainly appreciated that he was trying. It meant more to him than he was willing to admit. Especially since maybe it was considered basic human decency not to push people around and to hurt them, but Taehyung wasn't human. He couldn't be held to the same standards and yet he was trying his best for Jungkook.

And he appreciated that. Especially with all their previous history.

He gave Taehyung a thumbs up before signalling him to let him back out of the water, since he himself couldn't do that. When he touched the walls of water they felt more like they were made of solid stone than from liquid.

The water slowly closed in around him, gradually covering his body until Jungkook could resurface again.

The first thing he asked when he did was: "Is that safe? Like, can you actually keep that in a stable condition so it won't break and I won't drown?" Maybe it was stupid to trust Taehyung like this, but god, he wanted to see that shipwreck Taehyung had talked about earlier.

"It won't break." Taehyung reassured him. "It's easy to hold... it was harder to stop you from bleeding when I hurt you." He looked a little guilty at that. Although guilty wasn't the right word. Rather a bit sad and apologetic. Jungkook wasn't one to hold grudges. Especially not when Taehyung hadn't meant to hurt him in the first place.

"How... do you get air in there? Is it from the oxygen in the water or from outside?"

"I get it from here." Taehyung gestured at their surroundings.

So there was only a limited amount of air. "Did you know that humans can't breathe the same oxygen forever? We die if we do?"

Taehyung seemed confused. "You do?"

Jungkook nodded before swimming towards the rocks and climbing out of the water. "Wait, just let me google how long the air in there will last because I really don't want to run out of air at the bottom of the ocean." He wiped his hands off on his clothes before picking up his phone.

He quickly researched a couple of keywords while Taehyung was watching him, clearly a little skeptical. As he scrolled through articles looking for information on how long he could breathe in an air bubble of around two meters in diameter he stumbled across something else.

"Did you know some guy once survived being locked in on a sunken ship for multiple days? He survived just by sitting on a floating mattress and because he was brave enough to search for a new air bubble." He was pretty sure that hadn't been a perfect summary but it would do to keep Taehyung entertained.

Although he did not look the most impressed. Right. For a siren staying alive under water wasn't exactly the most impressive thing.

"Usually, people tend to die pretty easily when they are in the water for too long. So that guy, by surviving, did something really incredible." Jungkook continued scrolling for other articles. Eighty hours of survival for a two times two air pocket. This could actually work, as long as Taehyung didn't decide to just let go of that air bubble for some reason.

He placed the phone down again. "Okay, I think I will trust you with this... but seriously, be careful, okay? This is still really dangerous. I'm sure Jimin would be mad at you if you killed me." He chuckled. Maybe mentioning Taehyung's brother would heighten his chances of survival. He sat down on the edge of the rocks again.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and moved closer until his head was on the same height as Jungkook's knees.

"Jungkook." His voice was clear. Serious, but not exactly because he was bored for once. "I have no intention of killing you."

Why was this so reassuring when in theory Taehyung could still be lying to him? It would be so easy and yet Jungkook trusted him. Maybe that faith was misplaced and maybe he was just being blind because of his crush, but he actually felt like he could trust Taehyung.

"I believe you." Jungkook slowly let himself slip down into the water. "And I trust you, as dumb as it might be. I just hope you also keep in mind that us humans are quite killable even if it's not intentional."

Taehyung chuckled. "I'm aware." He took Jungkook's hand and pulled at it. "But I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Jungkook stared at Taehyung's face as he pulled him further out into the ocean. Those grey eyes that had seemed so scary at first but now seemed trustworthy. Why was Jungkook's crush getting worse and worse?

They were swimming for a while, Taehyung showing Jungkook the way to wherever the ship had sunken probably years ago. It was oddly meditative, swimming next to Taehyung in silence, just the sound of seagulls and water around them.

At some point Jungkook had asked about sharks just to be sure. Even if he had experienced first hand how bigger fish reacted to Taehyung, that didn't mean he could be entirely sure. But Taehyung reassured him that no shark was going to come near him as long as he stayed close enough to Taehyung.

Funny how being closer to the more dangerous creature was safer this time.

They had to be a few hundred meters out when Taehyung told him to stop. A distance Jungkook would have been more than uncomfortable with if he had been with anyone else. But Taehyung had promised that he had no intentions of killing Jungkook.

"The ship is right beneath us."

"So... we're going down there... how deep is it?" Jungkook asked, feeling a little nervous now that they were here. If anything went wrong they would probably be in way too deep for Jungkook to survive.

"A few hundred meters." Taehyung estimated. "If you want to go up, point up with your finger like this." He demonstrated by holding his finger up. "In case you get scared."

Jungkook realized. "Did..." He hesitated, not sure if this was going to sound rude. "Did Jimin tell you how to act with me? Like, to be careful when you're swimming with me and so on?"

Based on Taehyung's expression, he had hit the bull's eye. Taehyung definitely looked like he had gotten caught red-handed. That was absolutely precious.

"I asked him." He finally admitted. "I told him about what happened at the pool. Because I don't want to scare you by accident like I did then."

That was even sweeter than Jungkook had expected. He had appreciated that Taehyung was willing to learn, but the fact that he was the one to have initiated that conversation... That was way too sweet. Taehyung really seemed to be trying to make Jungkook feel comfortable.

"Thank you. Seriously, thank you for trying to do that." Jungkook didn't even think about it when he moved forward to hug Taehyung. Hesitantly Taehyung returned the hug. "It really means a lot to me that you're trying to... you know. Not be terrifying." He chuckled, shaking his head.

Then he started feeling awkward about the hug so he quickly pulled away. "Uhm... anyways. We wanted to dive down. How am I supposed to see down there? It will probably be dark."

"I'll take care of that, don't worry." Taehyung looked a little awkward too. Probably because Jungkook was being awkward. "Are you ready?"

"Not really, but I doubt I'll feel more ready anytime soon, so I'll just have to trust you." Jungkook chuckled. Before Taehyung could say anything else and they could have even more awkward interactions Jungkook dove down. That way he had a good excuse not to continue talking.

Almost instantly air gathered around him again and just seconds later he found himself sitting at the bottom of an air bubble that was at least two meters wide. When he looked down to check for the ground he found darkness. No ground in view. Just rays of light until they no longer reached further down.

He looked up to find Taehyung changing right in front of him. His body turning so fluently that it felt like his tail was being molded out of his legs. If Taehyung had looked ethereal above water he certainly did in his element. His hair was flowing softly, his eyes were practically glowing and his body was just so fucking perfect. He looked stunning and intimidating at the same time.

But acknowledging that Taehyung was absolutely mesmerizing was nothing new to Jungkook. He wasn't blind. What was new though was the fact that Jungkook's heart rate sped up when he looked at Taehyung in this form. And it was neither fear nor some sort of siren magic. Jungkook had gotten himself into this all on his own.

"Are you okay?" Jungkook was glad he was relatively decent at reading lips. If not he was pretty sure he would have been pretty confused at Taehyung's moving mouth.

He nodded, giving Taehyung a thumbs up. He was alright. Just crushing quite hard. But alright. God, he was glad that Taehyung had probably never seen anyone have a boner before because Jungkook was pretty sure that he was showing just a little bit. Not much. But a little.

Taehyung started swimming and Jungkook watched him in awe. Mermaids in movies had nothing on Taehyung in elegance as he swam. He was pretty sure no kind of medium ever could have captured this... how naturally Taehyung seemed to be moving in the water. It was his terrain. Something he had spent centuries in. Of course, some actor wearing an oversized tail sock couldn't properly recreate that elegance.

Jungkook barely registered that the bubble he was in was moving. Instead he was too focused on watching Taehyung dive deeper and deeper. He wasn't sparing Jungkook a glance but honestly... that was kinda hot too.

Okay, what the hell was wrong with Jungkook now? Was the Stockholm syndrome getting to him?

It probably was because Jungkook didn't feel terrified even though, when he looked up, he realized that he was so deep under water that, if Taehyung were to release him, he probably wouldn't have made it to the surface in time.

And they just kept going deeper and deeper. And their surroundings grew darker and darker.

At some point Jungkook could barely make out Taehyung's silhouette. And even that only because what he had imagined in the past had actually had a bit of truth to it. Taehyung did seem to glow just a little. At least his skin and eyes.

And then they reached the bottom of the ocean and Jungkook forgot to breathe for a second. Taehyung had promised that he didn't have to worry about light and he had been right. The ocean floor was glowing all on its own. It was like the sand itself was shining but Jungkook knew that that wasn't the case. It had to be plankton. Glowing plankton that was tinting the ocean floor in the most beautiful light.

And in the middle of it was a shipwreck. What had Taehyung told him again, sunken a few years back? That ship looked old. Really old. Part of it had become one with the ocean floor while some parts were still reaching towards the sky. Like they were hoping to go for one last cruise.

Jungkook stared in awe, barely noticing when Taehyung climbed into the air bubble next to him. Jungkook really hadn't expected that to be possible given that the outside of the bubble was rock hard, but for Tae it just gave in like water. Which made sense given he was the one controlling it, but still.

It was still unexpected when Taehyung was suddenly sitting next to him, back in his human form, shoulder to shoulder in the small space.

"What do you think?"

Jungkook smiled, shaking his head. This was just hard to grasp. Too beautiful to be real. And yet it was. Jungkook's heart jumped a little when Taehyung took his hand. "You okay?"

Jungkook nodded quickly to reassure Taehyung that yes, he was okay. He was just a little speechless.

"Yeah... it's so pretty. It doesn't look real."

Taehyung chuckled and Jungkook was awfully aware that he was still holding his hand. Why did he keep doing that? Did that really not mean anything with sirens?

"I'm happy you like it. Do you want to go closer?"

For a second Jungkook hesitated. "Are there bodies inside? Like, from the crew?"

"Possibly."

"Then I don't want to... let's stay out here and look at the view. Mayb-" Struggling with not clumsily tripping over his own tongue Jungkook swallowed before speaking again. "Maybe we could stay like this? Because then we can talk?"

Taehyung seemed surprised at Jungkook's request but then he nodded, leaning back against the bubble's wall. "Okay. Let's stay like this."

They were still holding hands. Maybe Taehyung should have left after all. This was a little much for Jungkook's poor heart to handle.

A/N

I don't usually do this but today's chapter is dedicated to a writer friend of mine that I feel like I need to share with more people. lemonetae

Because she is an amazing writer, with realistic characters and slowburn that reminds me a lot of predator. Even though our stories are quite different plot wise her story pink lemonade really has a weirdly similar vibe. Seriously go check her out if you haven't yet.

She's also part of the reason I've been able to keep myself motivated to write recently because seeing her write makes me want to write too. Send her some love and appreciation because she is more than underappreciated 🥺