Heeseung never told anyone else about Ocean Girl besides Sunghoon, who already knew. Almost every morning, he snuck out at least an hour before sunrise to meet her. She brought him a kind of strange happiness; one he couldn't really describe.

Maybe because she listened. That wasn't to say his friends didn't listen; it's just that they were usually so tired with training and school that it was just hard for him to open up to them. He didn't want to burden with more than they already had, not when they did already struggle hard enough, especially Sunghoon, with his skating career.

He did wonder, though. What would Sunghoon choose, in the end? The career he's spent almost ten years refining, or the idol life he dreams of?

On the morning of New Year's 2019, he woke up earlier than usual and got dressed in clothes appropriate for swimming since the girl had a habit of randomly pulling him in the water and soaking him from head to toe. His brother was fast asleep in the room nearby his one and his parents' room's door was still closed and locked, so that meant they were asleep. Good. No one to ask why he was awake so early on a holiday.

He slipped out of the house and headed towards the beach. To his surprise, he found Ocean Girl already swimming about in the waves, as she usually did early in the day, but it wasn't even five a.m. yet. What was she doing awake so early?

"Hey!" she called out, seeing him first. "You're up early!"

"Says you," he replied, sitting just out of the reach of the waves, as usual. "Didn't you tell me you usually sleep like a rock until five a.m. or so?"

"I do," she said, "but I woke up to the sound of the fireworks and I couldn't go back to sleep after that. What about you?"

"I intended on beating you to it for once," he admitted. "My family wake up kind of early on New Year's since we visit family across the city, so I need to get back earlier. I thought maybe coming here before the time I usually do might give us more time."

"You certainly enjoy spending time with me," she noted.

"You don't?"

"I do, I really do," she said, smiling at him. Heeseung felt compelled to smile back. It was just too hard not to, not when such a pretty, sincere girl was—okay, brain, you can shut up now.

The reason he was trying not to smile too hard was that he was pretty sure he had a crush on this mystery mermaid girl from who-knows-where in old-time Korea. For one, he found her very, very pretty, and for another, he found it hard to remember the last time someone other than his friends had listened to him vent about his problems and given solid advice that didn't make him feel worse.

"Hey, Ocean Girl," he said in the middle of a conversation about their favorite things to do when they were bored (he liked to doze off listening to his favorite song, she was fond swimming along the ocean floor and looking at the many species of sea life). "We need to give you a proper name."

"Like what?" she asked. She didn't seem too concerned about the fact she was literally nameless. "What would you call me?"

"I don't know," he responded, shifting on the sand. "What did they call you back then? I mean, when you were, you know, human?"

"I can't remember," she said slowly, turning to look at him like she was just thinking of this all of a sudden. As if it hadn't occurred to her before. "I don't know...Heeseung, I can't remember much of my human life at all. I remember random bits and pieces, like moments with my sisters and parents—" her voice caught, "—and even some of my friends in the palace, but other than that, it's a blank. So many years of life...it'll do that to you."

"I'm sorry I asked," Heeseung apologized, seeing the pain flicker in her eyes. "I didn't mean to bring up a painful subject."

"It's not your fault," she sighed. "You couldn't have known. Anyway, come with me."

"Where?"

"For a swim," she said, as if it were obvious. "Like we always do? This time, we're going a lot farther out into the sea—or, to the actual ocean, just the edge of it."

Heeseung didn't like the idea of swimming in open ocean, but he figured that she was about the best swim buddy he could have, since she was, well, a mermaid. And she had proven to be a good one at that during their once or twice weekly moments in the water.

He stood up and left his shoes a few feet from the surf before he walked into the waves.

As usual, she grabbed him by the arms and put her hands on either side of his neck to trace small patterns. He felt a ticklish sensation, and when it was over, he gave her a thumbs up to indicate he was good. With a grin, she took him by the arm and swam off with powerful strokes of her tail with him in tow.

The water became colder and colder as they neared the actual open sea. She gave him a look like, don't freak out, and dove underneath the surface, dragging him along. He gave a startled shriek as they swam straight into the depths of the ocean.

He was perfectly fine, though, so he let her guide him onwards. Another couple of feet, and his eyes began to make out that the water in the distance seemed—different, in a weird way. He couldn't tell what it was, but when they got there, he gasped, realizing in an instant what it was.

The ocean floor dropped away steeply below them, not in a straight cut, but like a jagged cliff of sand and rocks. Fish swam along the floor, some going straight down the cliff and disappearing into the darkness. There was even a form that looked vaguely like an octopus, but he figured it was just a rock. He didn't think octopi lived this close to land...did they?

"Wow, oh my god, wow," he said, eyes wide, taking in the fish swimming around below him. "This...this is what the ocean..."

"Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?" Ocean Girl beamed. "With a curse like this, my home isn't so bad, is it?"

"I'm just kind of disoriented by that cliff thing."

"Happens to a lot of people who don't know it exists," she said, releasing his forearm and instead clasping his right hand in her left gently. He squeezed, feeling grateful for the firm anchor she seemed to be acting as in this vast space that seemed to be on the verge of sucking him down, down, down, into the dark, murky depths.

But it was beautiful, he decided. She held his hand tightly as they kicked downwards, closer to the floor. Heeseung's eyeballs felt tighter in their sockets than usual—that would be the change in pressure, he knew from years of swimming. Just...not in the wide-open sea.

For the next half an hour or so, the two of them explored the ocean. Well, more like she showed him the wonders to be seen. The multicolored fish darting around, some of them nibbling at their arms and legs. Heeseung nearly had a fit when one somehow managed to remove a scab on his forearm, one he got from messing around with the ice skates Sunghoon once brought to training, without hurting him.

"He just did you a favor," Ocean Girl said through her giggles directed at his panic. "Come on, you're not even hurt."

They saw fishes as small as their pinky fingers, and bigger than their hands clasped as one. At one point, Heeseung spotted something that looked like a shark farther out in the ocean and pointed it out to her, and she decided that they had enough of their sea adventure. She helped him swim back towards the surface, though they stuck under the water until they got closer to land.

As soon as they emerged into fresh air, Heeseung started giggling like a little kid. "That was awesome," he gasped. "I never knew the sea held so many wonders!"

"I know, it's beautiful," she agreed. Heeseung shivered when the wind blew in their direction—or was that because she took both his hands in hers? "That's why I haven't gone insane yet. Every day, there's something new for me to discover. I'm not restricted to any one place. It's like moving somewhere new."

"Thank you for that," he told her sincerely. "I genuinely think I feel better."

"See?" she said, smiling. "I knew all you needed was some lightening up. But the sun is almost rising. You should go."

Heeseung deflated. He didn't really want to go, but he knew he had to. "Alright. I'll try to visit soon, okay? Things are kind of getting more hectic these days, especially with school. I'll oversleep a lot."

"It's fine, don't worry," she said as he rose to his feet and waded back to the shore. He found his shoes where he left them. "See you soon, Heeseung."

"See you soon," he waved at her, watching as she dove beneath the waves, disappearing like she was never there. He wished he had more time with her. He honestly liked her a lot—not only did she make him feel like he had less on his shoulders, she was also a lot of fun to be around.

He sighed at these thoughts. If this is how she's making me feel in just six months, then I'm well and truly doomed.

✧✧✧

WORD COUNT: 1648

A/N: before we move onto the next chapter, reminder that yes, i am aware txt was formed before heeseung joined big hit, but in this au, he was there.

A/N from BEACH:

A/N: STOP CHAN WAS LITERALLY CLOWNING THE HATERS THIS MAN CONTINUES TO AMAZE AND IMPRESS ME TIME AND TIME AGAIN 👏

The MOAs who directed those comments at Stray Kids do not deserve to be called MOAs, fans of a group who radiate nothing but sweetness, kindness and hard work, just like Stray Kids. 

In Chan's words: construction music? Sure, they constructed it after all, didn't they? From start to finish, they constructed it, all right. Thanks for reminding us, though. Very much appreciated for reminding us how hard our boys work 🥰