~~~~~~~

Jimin started running.

This was it. He was finally going back home. Back to his kingdom, back to his family, back to his duties.

He loved the land, and maybe he'd come back one day, but he was just ready to go. He was ready to freely embrace who he truly is and what he hasn't felt like for years.

A merman.

3 long bus rides later, Jimin arrived at his former house with Jin, ready to meet the guards who will escort him back to his parents. He stood at the door taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves before he walked in.

"Jin hyung?" He called out, hearing some voices in the kitchen. The voices stopped immediately once they heard his and Jimin couldn't bring himself to enter the room so he just stood outside of the arched door.

Jin was the first to emerge from the kitchen, pulling Jimin into a tight hug.

"Is it true, hyung?" Jimin asked, holding on tight. "Is it really time?"

"Yes, Jimin, it is."

The two guards stood next to eachother as Jin pulled away from the hug, keeping his arm around Jimin though as he turned to introduce the guys.

But before he could speak, they dropped to one knee and held their right arms at a 90° angle in front of their bent heads.

"Prince Park Jimin of Azharei, we are honored to make your acquaintance," Taehyung spoke up.

"Oh please don't bow," Jimin smiled, grabbing Taehyung's arm and pulling him up to stand. When he saw the confused look on the taller's face, he chuckled to himself before also making Jungkook stand. "I'm not really used to it," he shrugged.

"I'm Kim Taehyung, Rank 4 Guard in Training."

"Nice to meet you, Taehyung-ssi," Jimin said with another smile. He really is excited, so excited that he didn't even put together why the second guard looked so familiar and so sad.

"J-Jeon Jungkook," the youngest spoke up.

"Nice to meet you, Jungkoo- *GASP* JUNGKOOK?!" He yelled, grabbing into the boy and hugging him real tight. Jungkook almost lost the air in his poor lungs.

"Wait. Oh! You're General Jeon's son! I knew you seemed familiar!" Jin remembered.

"You all know eachother?!" Taehyung questioned, really confused.

"Jungkookie and I were best friends before I was forced to leave," Jimin began, pulling away from Jungkook due to the younger frantically tapping on his shoulder for release. "We were the only guppies in the castle. We only had eachother. Oh! I'm so sorry I left without a message! I wanted to talk to you but there was no time-"

"I know, hyung." Jungkook spoke up once he regulated his breathing.

"We have so much to catch up on! You're a guard now? Look at my Kookie, he has muscles! You must be getting all the ladies!" Jimin poked Jungkook's arm with a cheeky smile, embarrassing him.

"He's actually never dated before! Can you believe that?!"

"TAEHYUNG?!" Jungkook interrupted, not liking how he's being picked on by both of his hyungs.

"Jungkook is right," Jin barged in. "We don't have time for this, you guys need to leave tomorrow and I must cook Jimin a farewell dinner."

"Farewell?" Jimin questioned. "You're not coming with us?"

Jin sadly shook his head. "I've thought about it, and I'm willing to stay here for Namjoon. We have such a great thing going on, I don't think I could find someone like him in Azharei. I wanna see where it goes, you know?"

Jimin couldn't deny how perfect he thought Namjoon and Jin were together. A tear slid down his face as he hugged his hyung.

"Ok. I love you Jimin, but I need to start cooking now if I want to make all the seafood dishes I know," Jin said with a chuckle.

~~~~~~~

*ding dong*

Jin opened the door to see Namjoon standing there with the beautiful smile he gets when he sees the elder's face. He also brought flowers.

"Joonie? What are you doing here?" He said as they kissed each other's cheek as a greeting.

"I just wanted to drop by. I saw these flowers and thought of you."

Seokjin smiled before looking at the flowers.

"Orchids? That's new for me," he chuckled.

"I don't know much about flowers, but they were pretty so I hoped the meaning wasn't bad," he smiled. "What's going on?" He wondered as he heard a noise from the living room.

"Oh! Uh... Jimin brought home friends because he's actually going with our parents to study marine biology. It's his last day."

"What? So soon?"

"Yeah, its abrupt but... our parents barely get good cell service. Once they call, we kinda jump for an opportunity to talk and be with them."

"Why aren't you going?" Namjoon asked sincerely.

Jin lightly blushed, turning his head to the side. "Maybe I found a reason to stay..."

Namjoon smiled a little less before handing Jin the flowers and walking to the kitchen to see what Jin was cooking.

The elder smiled at the flowers as he placed the white orchids into a vase set it on the cadenza in the foyer.

~~~

"This is Jungkook and Taehyung, my friends from middle school." Jimin lied and watched as Namjoon shook both of their hands with a friendly gaze.

"Kim Namjoon, marine biologist and college professor."

*ding dong*

"Wow we have a lot of guests today," Jimin excused himself from the group, hoping that the guards wouldn't say anything weird while he went to check the door.

When he opened it, his heart sank.

"Jimin."

"Yoongi?" Jimin stepped out of the house and onto the porch, closing the door behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"I know I shouldn't have come okay? But you weren't answering your phone and I feel like I need to explain-"

"Explain why you kissed my best friend?" Jimin interrupted with his arms crossed.

"Yes." Yoongi said in a soft voice. He was obviously beating himself up over this.

"No," Jimin refused as he turned around.

"Wait," Yoongi grabbed his wrist. "Please?"

Jimin sighed before giving in.

"Fine. 2 minutes."

"Look, I don't know what got into me. I like you I really do. These past few months have been great. But I've been confused. I like you both, okay? I don't know how or why, but I don't wanna let you go, but I also want him."

"Yoongi-"

"Let me finish. I never meant to hurt you. Or Hoseok. He was just as surprised as you were."

"That's not what it looked like," Jimin mumbled.

"I don't wanna lose you, Jimin."

"Hyung, can I speak now?"

The elder nodded.

"I saw you. I saw you kiss him. You've never kissed me like that hyung. Never. Not with that much feeling... love...care. I shouldn't stand in between you and your shot. If he makes you happy, go to him."

"Go?"

"Yeah, go."

"He won't even talk to me. I ruined your friendship."

"No you didn't," Jimin denied. "Hobi will always be my best friend."

Jimin took a second to think. "Listen, I'll talk to him. Just don't hurt him or I'll hurt you."

"But Jimin...why are you doing this?"

"Because...I'm leaving. I'm going to be with my parents."

"You're leaving because of me?" Yoongi gasped, worried.

"No! I'm leaving because they called me to come. I don't know when I'll be back, so you go be happy with Hobi. I'll make sure he talks to you."

"Jimin..." The said boy just pulled the elder into a hug. He doesn't know when he'll see him again.

"Thank you hyung. You were a great boyfriend."

~~~

Dinner is finally ready as Jin sets the last bowl of seaweed soup on the dining table.

"Wow. You really love seafood," Namjoon commented, taking notice of the lobster meat, crab meat, mussels, clams, oysters, and more that Jin has incorporated into every dish he's made.

"Jimin's going to the sea so it's only right that he eats like this first."

The dinner went normally, everybody was enjoying themselves, joking around and eating Jin's delicious food.

While the group was laughing, Namjoon checked his watch and gasped.

"Oh! Please excuse me guys, I forgot that I had to call my boss to talk about a very important research trip. This could take some time." He stood up and walked away, holding the phone up to his ear as he exited the house to sit in his car.

Jin found it weird that he went outside to take a call but he didn't think anything of it.

"Hyung, do you have any more straws? I dropped mine."

"Sure, I'll get you one-"

"No, you've done enough. You made all this food for us, just tell me where it is."

Jin gave Taehyung instructions and the younger went ahead to the kitchen to retrieve his straw.

"Hey Seokjin-ssi? What's in the oven?" He asked from the kitchen, raising his voice for Jin to hear.

"Jellyfish cake! My own recipe!" Jin beamed, proud of himself.

"Wow, I haven't had that in so long!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"Granted it's not the same as it is underwater. Cake up here is something slightly different," Jimin pouted. He didn't remember what regular jellyfish cake tasted like.

"At least you guys can eat it!" Taehyung exclaimed as he made his way back into the dining room. "I'm allergic to jellyfish," he pouted with his head on his right hand. He plopped his straw in his drink and began to sip.

*DING*

"Its done!" Jin squealed getting up to retrieve the cake.

"I didn't know that Taehyung," Jungkook replied.

"Have you ever seen me eat a jellyfish?" Taehyung asked, sarcastically.

"No."

"Exactly." The boy shrugged, not understanding why it was a big deal.

"Look at it in its glory."

Jin brought out the cake and Taehyung couldn't lie, it looked delicious, but he couldn't eat it.

It was springy, it was moist, it was everything a cake should be if you're a land person.

Jin had a talent for culinary arts.

Jin cut each of them a piece and Taehyung sadly watched from the side, wallowing in self-pity.

It didn't take long for the party to take a turn.

Jin passed out after 5 bites of his cake. Jimin passed out after 4. And Jungkook only ate 2 bites, so it was working him slowly.

He felt woozy and his eyes were getting hard to hold up.

Taehyung stood up and looked at the people around him.

"Hyuuuung," Jungkook called. "W-What's happening?"

"Sorry, Kook," Taehyung's personality turned stone cold. "You're a really good guy,

"But unfortunately, I'm not."

~~~~~~~

1783 words

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surprise?...😅

FINALLY THE PLOT IS UNFOLDING

I'm so excited for the next 2 chapters which will be a double update so you don't have to wait for so long

I wanna hear your thoughts...

What do you think about the break up? I personally don't think I used the right words but it's enough for now I suppose.

How do you feel about Taehyung?

I hope you were surprised by the ending lmao

Taehyung's role in this story will be further revealed in the next chapter :)

Any other things you want to tell me please do :)

I love you guys and I cant wait for you to read the next chapter EEEEK

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡