Chapter 9

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When Jungkook woke up the next morning the boy once again wasn't there. Maybe he should have taken this chance and called the police, but the main issue still remained. No one was going to believe him and the boy was dangerous.

Also, the last day he had seemed decent and Jungkook didn't want to ruin that. Maybe with the ways things were he wouldn't die... he really hoped at least.

So he got up instead, feeling a bit better once again. It was probably because his fever always was the worst in the evening and at night. During the day it usually wasn't too much of an issue. When he looked at his phone he realized that it was a lot later than he had expected. He'd assumed his screen would show something like nine, maybe ten am, but it actually was about to be noon.

He got up only to realize that the glass on his nightstand was full again. That was actually quite sweet, he had to admit. He wasn't going to forget everything the boy had done, but he was thankful for that.

He grabbed the glass and emptied it within seconds. Since he was still thirsty he walked down to the kitchen. To his surprise the boy wasn't there, and neither was he in the living room. After drinking some more water Jungkook quickly checked the toilet, but he wasn't there either, which only left the bathroom. Or the guy was just gone and all of Jungkook's problems would be gone with him... though he doubted that was the case. Nothing in his life was ever that easy.

Especially not things involving weird, scary deep sea creatures.

When he opened the door to the bathroom and actually found the boy he really wasn't that surprised... or at least not because he was in the bathroom. What he hadn't been expecting though was to find him lying in the bathtub, his fingers back to the claws he had whenever he threatened him. His hands and lower arms black and his eyes gray and without pupils as he looked at him. But that wasn't what really caught Jungkook's attention.

The thing that did was the long, black tail that started roughly at his waist, just a couple of centimeters underneath his belly button, and was thrown over the end of the bathtub. The big fin that wouldn't even have fit in the bathtub anyways just resting on the floor. The whole thing had to be at least twice as long as the boy's legs.

And as weird as it sounded... the main thought going through his head was that this position looked really fucking uncomfortable and cramped. He didn't like his bathtub, but at least he somewhat fit inside. Something he really couldn't say about that boy.

"That's..." Then it hit him. How could something be this obvious and he still hadn't realised? "You're a mermaid."

Fishboy did look anything but impressed. To Jungkook's surprise he shook his head.

"But... you're part fish part human. Isn't that the definition of a mermaid?" Jungkook asked, but the only answer he received was a glare. "Okay, so not a mermaid. Alright..." If the boy said he wasn't a mermaid, he wasn't a mermaid. It wasn't like it was a typical mermaid thing to drown people and have claws. Aside from the ones in Pirates of the Caribbean maybe.

He took in the tail once more. Something about the mixture of gray and black scales had something ridiculously beautiful to it. Jungkook had the urge to reach out and touch them but he knew better. He really hadn't liked being drowned the first time and they were dangerously close to water.

"The tail looks beautiful." Jungkook stated. Maybe the thing would be less likely to hate him if he made him a compliment. It wasn't like he was lying.

Still, he couldn't help but feel like that tail's position had to be really, really uncomfortable. Especially the fin that was simply squashed against the tiles of the bathroom. He racked his brain for some way to solve the issue when he remembered the plastic tub his aunt had given him back when his cousin had stayed over at his place more often.

She was about five and loved taking baths, so his aunt had made sure he'd have a suitable tub. Maybe he could use that. It certainly wasn't any less cramped, but at least it could be filled with water too... maybe it could take some pressure off the fin.

"I'll go get something."

It took quite some time for him to find the thing. After all he hadn't used it in over a year now and there were a lot of random things thrown into the small storage room that really didn't belong there, but he had been too lazy to clean up.

After placing the tub down next to the bathtub, he started filling it by using the showerhead. The not mermaid was watching him with curious eyes and for the first time the staring didn't feel that uncomfortable. Maybe because for once Jungkook knew that he wasn't in danger of becoming a fish snack. The creature was actually curious about what he was doing.

Once it was full he carefully pushed it towards the end of the bathtub, where the creature's tail was still resting on the cold floor. When the plastic tub was in place next to it he got up.

"Uhm... don't worry. I'll just put your tail in here." He pointed at the tub before leaning down to grab the long tail. He could feel the creature's muscles tense when it sat up in alarm, but he hadn't received any death threats yet so he took that as a good sign.

The tail was a whole lot heavier than Jungkook had expected. It felt like he was lifting a whole person, not just the lower third of the tail. Somehow he managed to heave the thing above the mini bathtub, but when he put it down he felt something sharp scrape over his finger. With a hiss he let go of the tail, which only made it fall about five centimeters into the water, splashing some of it at him.

Clenching his teeth he inspected his middle finger. Right at the middle section he found and about two centimeters long cut. It was quite deep actually, but not bad enough for him to have to see a doctor.

He brought the finger up to his mouth to clean the wound while using his foot to push the tub properly in place at the end of the bathtub. When he made eye contact with the creature, he could tell that the thing was trying to get a look at his fingers from how straight his back was and how much he was leaning forward.

Jungkook moved to the cupboard instead of showing his injury to the creature to grab a band-aid. No touching the tail. Noted. He hadn't realized before, but it seemed like those scales were a lot sharper than they looked. Those were probably exactly what had cut his legs open when they had first met.

Once he had properly patched up his finger he turned back to the boy, who was still watching him with those intense eyes. Jungkook really couldn't get a read on him.

Since he knew that if he left the bathroom the boy would probably follow him, giving up his precious bath time, Jungkook decided to stay a bit. It wasn't like he had anything to do and the boy's body was pretty fascinating if he was being honest.

When he came to an halt next to the bathtub, the creature looked up at him and if Jungkook hadn't known already what he was capable of he would have thought that he looked innocent. He seemed so sweet and pretty with his gray eyes, pale skin and soft hair framing his face. But then Jungkook looked down and saw those claws and he knew it was all just part of the catch.

He got a folded towel and put it on the floor to have a comfortable spot to sit on, though he quickly realized that sitting lower than the boy did not make him feel comfortable at all. So he got up again and this time went to grab a chair from the kitchen.

The boy seemed amused when Jungkook came back while carrying that thing and put it down in front of him. Jungkook didn't care. He just sat down and leaned back. He realized that maybe he was being a bit annoying, watching the thing bathe... but if it felt uncomfortable... it was fine that way because Jungkook had been uncomfortable for days and the boy still just didn't seem to stop. Call him petty or whatever.

For a while they just sat there in silence. Jungkook's thoughts wandering, as the creatured moved around in the tub. The water created soothing sounds as drops fell from the faucet. Overall Jungkook was weirdly relaxed, even in that thing's presence.

After a while he finally seemed to grow more comfortable as well and didn't stare at Jungkook the whole time, though he kept moving around, probably because there were always parts of him that weren't properly covered in water. Jungkook knew that feeling too well.

When he suddenly felt something touch his hand he got startled out of his thoughts. There, right next to his fingers, were the creature's clawed ones. It seemed like he had reached out while Jungkook hadn't been looking. Probably reacting to the way Jungkook had flinched he had pulled his clawed hand back, but when they made eye contact, he moved again wrapping his hand around Jungkook's and pulling it towards the bathtub.

Though he moved his hand with utmost care, doing his best not to hurt Jungkook with his claws - which Jungkook really appreciated - Jungkook certainly didn't feel too happy at the prospect of that thing pulling him closer to water.

Again he felt oddly reminded of the soft touches of the mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean just before they had pulled the sailors down into the water to their certain deaths. Nevertheless Jungkook allowed his hand to be pulled. As long as the creature was careful with those claws... and the scales... and the teeth... actually, just everything about him, Jungkook was going to let him.

He watched as it played with his hand for a bit, which was actually quite amusing to see. It was like he was testing the way his joints worked and tried to find out if they were any different from his own. But then he slid one of those long claws under the band aid and just cut it clean off. Jungkook really didn't want to know how sharp those claws actually were.

They were fucking scary and he was really glad that, aside from the small cuts on his neck, he had been spared the experience of them piercing right through his skin.

The boy looked at his wound, that had by now stopped bleeding. Carefully he ran his finger over it and Jungkook had to hold back a hiss. Even the small touch hurt.

Out of nowhere the boy brought his middle finger to his lips and Jungkook remembered how he had bitten right through the chicken bone. For a second his life was flashing before his eyes, but then the creature just closed his lips around his finger. If Jungkook hadn't been aware of the sharp teeth inside its mouth maybe it would have felt somewhat sexual, but with the way things were the only thing he felt was scared.

But then the pain in his finger just stopped and when the creature pulled back again the cut was gone. As if he was aware that Jungkook wasn't going to want his saliva on him he dipped Jungkook's hand into the bathwater, actually careful not to get it too close to the scales, and then he let Jungkook go again.

Confused he inspected his finger. The injury really was gone. The first time he had done that had happened so fast and had felt so unreal that afterwards he hadn't been too sure whether it had been his imagination or not, but now he actually knew that the creature was indeed capable of healing wounds.

"Thanks."

He actually got a small smile in return. So the guy actually could smile. In a way that made Jungkook feel a bit better about the situation. At least the creature wasn't completely devoid of any emotions.

They continued sitting there, but Jungkook quickly grew antsy when he saw how much the boy was moving around. Constantly slipping lower so his shoulders were covered in water, but then realizing more of his tail was exposed to the air now and moving back up, just to repeat the process a few seconds later.

So he got up, startling the boy with his sudden movement. It didn't take him long to find what he was searching for. A small bowl that he also used whenever his little cousin Yuna came over. The boy was watching him cautiously as Jungkook moved closer.

"I'll do something and if you like it you nod and if you don't you shake your head. Okay?" He suggested and for a second the boy hesitated, but then agreed by nodding.

Wow, Jungkook really was doing a lot for him considering that he was kind of being held hostage here. Though it was probably a good idea to get on the guy's good side. Also, Jungkook wasn't one to be capable of staying mad at someone when they were acting like everything was normal.

So being nice seemed like an overall good decision. He carefully scooped up some water from the bathtub before moving to pour it over the boy's tail. When he was done he turned to the boy, expecting his answer.

The boy quickly nodded and let his upper body sink deeper into the bathtub. Jungkook couldn't help but smile because it looked really cute. He continued pouring water over his the creature's tail, kind of happy that he seemed to like it so much.

For the first time since they had met the creature seemed content as he closed his eyes. Jungkook wondered whether he was always like this when he was in the water. After all Jungkook only knew him on land. Maybe he was actually a really sweet guy when he wasn't in the middle of drowning someone. Jungkook snorted and the boy looked at him, seemingly confused.

Jungkook just shook his head and continued pouring water. He could feel himself slowly grow weaker again. He was probably going to go to bed after this. He was way too tired, his cough was still there too sadly, but at least he wasn't freezing and sweating to death at the same time anymore.

After sitting there for a bit longer he got up, stretching his whole body to the point where he could feel his joints crack. Then he turned to the boy, who was looking at him, disappointment that he was no longer being serviced clearly evident on his face.

"I'm feeling a bit worse again. I'll go sleep a bit more. Take as long to bathe as you want." With that he left. For some reason that small interaction they had had in there, in that bathroom, had kind of helped. Somehow Jungkook was feeling a bit more optimistic about still being alive after this whole ordeal.

A/N

So far this is probably one of my favorite scenes. Not sure why😂 it simply is💕

Also a little visual through a commission I got for this scene💜 You can check out the artist on twitter under @/blankton_bt

What do you guys think so far?