(no subject)
Just North of Canis Minor
SHINee - Onkey
6143 words; PG-13
In which Kibum is a Siren and Jinki is a sailor.
For noelliex , with love. ♥ Happy belated birthday, and I’m sorry this took so long!
Jinki wakes up hurting all over. “Ow,” he tries to say, except it comes out more like a strangled groan. His mouth and throat feel completely parched, like he’s swallowed an entire barrel of salt in one sitting. He squints one eye open, just barely making out the blue sky and a blurry figure leaning over him before the sunlight becomes too painful and forces him to close it again.
“W-” He forms his lips around the syllable, but no words come out. He licks his lips and swallows, trying to gather some saliva in his mouth. It doesn’t really work. “Water,” he manages to croak, and hopes that the figure understands. Then he passes out again.
Jinki wakes up a second time when a lot of really cold water is dumped over his face. He jerks up, coughing and sputtering and wheezing for air.
“You said you wanted water,” a voice says. Jinki lifts his head to see a boy around his age kneeling at his side, holding a pail and looking annoyed, and, oh- Jinki averts his gaze, feeling his cheeks go hot.
“Um, I. Sorry. Who are you?” And why are you naked, Jinki thinks, but he doesn’t ask that. He looks around at their surroundings, taking in the sunny mid-afternoon sky and the lush flowers all around them. Anything to avoid staring at the naked boy in front of him, really. “Where are we?”
“I’m a Siren,” the other boy says, his tone matter-of-fact. “You crashed your boat after hearing my Song. And this is my home. You should be honored. No human’s ever stepped foot on this island before.”
Jinki’s brain had stopped working somewhere around the first sentence. “You’re. You’re a-”
“A Siren.” The boy sounds impatient. “See the wings?”
Jinki sneaks a peek at the boy and blinks, because, oh, he does see them, gray and large and feathered like a griffin’s, growing out of the boy’s back. He wonders how he could have possibly missed them.
And then it finally hits him, oh Zeus, he’s with a Siren, a sailor’s worst nightmare. He’s been warned about the dangers of Sirens from the very first time he set sail, been taught to plug beeswax into his ears if he ever sailed too far away from shore. He’s heard too many stories about the fate of sailors who hear the Song.
“Are you. Are you going to eat me?” Jinki can’t keep the tremor out of his voice. But he’s shipwrecked on an island with the very immortal creature who got him shipwrecked, one who kills sailors on a regular basis, so. It’s probably okay for him to be a little worried.
The Siren blinks, then stares at Jinki like he’s the stupidest thing he’s ever seen. “What in Hades- Is that really what humans think? No, I don’t eat people. I’m not a sphinx, okay.”
“Oh, um.” Jinki wonders if he should apologize. “I’m sorry.”
“Besides,” the Siren adds, “Humans probably don’t taste very good.” He eyes Jinki contemplatively.
“We don’t. We taste terrible,” Jinki replies immediately-his voice goes a little squeaky with fear-even though he has no idea and doesn’t plan on ever finding out. “Are you going to kill me?”
The Siren snorts. “And have your rotting carcass stinking up the place? No.”
“Torture me? Hurt me?”
“No! Poseidon’s trident, I wouldn’t have rescued you if I’d known you were going to freak out like this.”
This completely derails Jinki’s thoughts about death or severe mauling by immortal creature. “What?” he asks, wondering if he’d heard right. The Siren almost looks… embarrassed. “Why did you-”
“I don’t know, okay?” the Siren snaps, turning redder by the second, “I mean, it was like. I saw you fall overboard before the ship even completely sank, how did you even do that? Then you were flailing around in the water, and, like. You looked so stupid that I just grabbed you without even thinking about it, and I didn’t know where else to go, so I brought you here. I don’t even- Ugh.” He suddenly spreads his wings and launches off the ground, taking flight.
“Hey. Hey, wait!” Jinki calls out, panicked, but the Siren ignores him, soaring upward and away.
Jinki takes the time alone to explore the perimeter of the island. It’s not very big; it takes him less than half an hour to walk all the way around. There isn’t much to see, mostly flowers of all types and colors and shapes-seriously, he thinks he’s seen more flowers in the past hour than he has his entire life-and some trees. Aside from the occasional seagull flying overhead, Jinki doesn’t run into any animal wildlife at all. And, of course, there’s absolutely no way off the island, at least not as far as he can tell.
There’s a tiny beach on the far end of the island, one with soft white sand and frothy waves. Jinki goes there after he makes a full lap around and sits down on the sand, wrapping his arms around his knees. He stares into the ocean, thinking about how he might be stuck on this island forever, might never be able to go home, might never see his friends or family again. Before he knows it, he’s pretty much bawling his eyes out. He’s never felt so small and helpless and alone his entire life.
Jinki cries until he’s all cried out, until he eventually realizes that tears aren’t productive at all. At least, they aren’t going to bring him home, which is the one thing he wants more than anything else in the world right now. So he switches tactics and tries to come up with a plan to get home instead. It’s not much, but he feels better doing something.
An hour-or what feels like an hour, but Jinki has no way to really tell-passes and the sun is setting when he hears rustling behind him. He turns around to see the Siren stepping out of the flowers onto the sand.
“I was wondering where you wandered off to,” the Siren says, frowning. “And here I was thinking you’d managed to fall into the water. Again.”
Jinki flushes. “Sorry. I just, um,”-he gestures at their surroundings-“I liked this place, so I decided to stay here. I hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah, whatever,” the Siren says dismissively, folding in his wings. He lies down in the sand a short distance away from Jinki, pillows his head on his arms, and closes his eyes. He is completely ignoring Jinki.
“Um, excuse me,”-Jinki has no idea what he’s supposed to call him-“Mr. Siren?”
“My name is Kibum, okay?” He doesn’t even open his eyes.
“I’m Jinki,” Jinki says by reflex, and then feels like an idiot. The Siren-Kibum-cracks one eye open to gives him a look. “Okay, then. Um, Kibum. You’re not going to hurt me?” Jinki really, really needs that affirmation.
Kibum sighs and sits up, running a hand through his hair to shake the sand out. “No.”
“Am I free to leave this place?” Jinki crosses his fingers behind his back.
Kibum scowls. “Look, I don’t care what you do.”
“I, um. Okay. I don’t suppose you could… fly me back home?”
Kibum gives him the most incredulous look ever, and Jinki hastily backtracks. “Totally just kidding. I actually, um, want to build a raft, and I’m not asking you to help or anything, but. I was wondering if it would be okay to use the wood from the trees and stuff. Because it’s your island.” He holds his breath, prepared for the Siren to say no and bring him right back to square one, but Kibum just shrugs.
“Knock yourself out.”
Jinki exhales, unable to stop the smile spreading over his face. If he ignores the wings and the nakedness, he can almost pretend that he’s talking with another normal person and not, well. Not an immortal creature who’d almost killed him and then subsequently saved him. “Thank you.”
Kibum waves it off. “Whatever, it’s not a big deal.”
“No, I meant.” Jinki clears his throat. “Thank you both for this, and for saving my life. I. I never thanked you for that.”
Kibum blinks. “Yeah, well.” He shrugs again, a little slower this time. Jinki imagines that he’s probably not used to being thanked for anything.
Kibum guides Jinki across the island until they reach what looks like an orchard; Jinki sees ripe pears and apples and peaches dangling from branches, along with other fruits he’s never seen before. Kibum stops at a large apple tree near the center, where two objects are resting at its base. One is a huge wooden chest, the kind Jinki’s always pictured pirates kept their treasure in. The other is much smaller, a gleaming metal box. Jinki looks at Kibum uncertainly.
“Go on,” Kibum says, “Take whatever you want from that one.” He gestures at the wooden chest.
Jinki kneels down next to the chest and hesitates for a second, then carefully pushes the lid back. And stares. Because there isn’t any pirate booty inside, it’s even better-it’s full of objects, human objects. He lifts out the things at the very top to examine them more closely-a coil of rope, a steel fork, and a small ax.
“It’s just stuff I’ve collected over the years from wreckages,” Kibum continues, “It’s not like I use any of it anyway. You said you wanted to make a raft, right? I figured there’s probably some useful stuff in there.”
It takes Jinki a while to finally find his voice. “Thank you,” he says, looking up at the Siren, “Thank you so much.”
“Whatever. It’s not like I was using that stuff anyway,” Kibum repeats.
There is an awkward silence, and Jinki finds his gaze drifting over to the second box, the metal one. He wonders what-
“Do you want to see what’s inside?” Kibum blurts out. He sounds strangely eager, so Jinki figures it’s probably safer to say yes.
“Um, sure. I mean, yes. Of course I do!”
Kibum kneels down next to him, unlatches the lid and pushes it open, moving back to let Jinki peer inside. “This is my collection,” he says. The note of pride in his voice is obvious. “I decorated the inside of the box myself.”
There is a red and gold phoenix painted on the underside of the lid in surprising detail, and the inside of the box is lined with deep red velvet and divided into small squares or rectangles. Jinki can tell there are probably at least two more shelves underneath. Each partition contains a single item; Jinki sees a large broach, a fan, a porcelain ballerina figurine, a small jewelry box with a stained glass lid, a tiny jar of-
“Is that glitter?” Jinki asks.
Kibum reaches into the box and pulls the small jar out, and yes, that’s definitely glitter. “Is that what it’s called?” he asks, inspecting it in the light. “It looks like millions of tiny stars. What is it for?”
“I- I don’t know, really,” Jinki says. “I think you can put it on your face. It’s used to decorate stuff, I guess.” He stares at the jar in Kibum’s hand, and suddenly has a mental image of Kibum painstakingly gluing velvet to the inside of the box and filling it with his treasures one at a time. He pictures Kibum finding the jar of glitter and being fascinated by the way it caught the light. It makes the Siren seem a lot less scary and a lot more, well, human. “Your collection is beautiful.”
“Of course it is,” Kibum says, but he sounds pleased.
“Um, Kibum?”
They’re eating dinner; Kibum had decided to share some of the fish he’d caught with Jinki, along with a couple of peaches from one of his trees. It’d taken Jinki forever to start a small fire, and the fish hadn’t cooked properly, so some of it is burnt and some of it is raw. But it’s still food, and Jinki hasn’t eaten all day, so he isn’t going to complain.
“Hm?”
Jinki doesn’t know why this is only occurring to him now. “Did you say that I crashed my boat after hearing you sing?”
“That’s how it usually works, yes.”
Jinki ignores the sarcasm in the Siren’s voice. “I. I don’t think that’s what happened, though.” His memories of the incident are still a little hazy, but-
“What?” Kibum snaps. “What are you talking about. You definitely crashed your boat.”
“No, no, of course I did, but.” Jinki frowns, trying to remember. “I… was trying to navigate when I heard you singing, and then. I saw you on that rock, and I thought you were a stranded sailor or something. I kind of panicked and got distracted trying to figure out how to rescue you, and I crashed the boat into this big rock by accident.”
Kibum doesn’t answer and just gapes at him.
“I, I guess I didn’t notice your wings that time, either,” Jinki adds. Kibum still isn’t responding. “Um-”
“Shut up,” Kibum snaps. “I want to try something.” Then he closes his eyes and opens his mouth. The song that pours out is… heavy, somehow, each note like a physical weight pressing down on Jinki’s chest. The melody is beautiful and melancholic and frenetic and terrible at the same time, and makes the air around them thrum with its power. Jinki can’t look away.
Kibum opens his eyes when the song finishes and glances at Jinki. “That… That didn’t drive you into a lustful frenzy? That didn’t make you want to fling yourself at me and ravish my body?” He peers at Jinki’s face, like he’s trying to tell whether Jinki is lying.
“Um,” Jinki says, “No.” He wonders if he’s being impolite, and quickly adds, “I mean, not that your voice isn’t very nice and all. That high last note was a little shaky, but-” He stops at the look on the Siren’s face.
“You’re immune to my Song,” Kibum says, with something like awe or utter disbelief in his voice. “You’re actually immune to my Song.”
“I… guess that’s a good thing?” Jinki says meekly.
Kibum just stares at him for a second, and then-to Jinki’s surprise-actually laughs. It’s the first time Jinki’s seen him look something close to happy; he’s kind of amazed by how much less intimidating the Siren looks. When Kibum finally stops, he gives Jinki a half-smile. “You’re weird. Are all humans like you?”
“I don’t think so,” Jinki says, “My friends think I’m weird all the time.”
Kibum laughs again, pressing a hand to his mouth.
“This is where you sleep?” Jinki asks, staring down at it.
“Yeah,” Kibum says, “What about it?”
“Oh, there’s no problem, it’s just.” Jinki wonders how to word it in the most tactful way possible. “It’s a nest.”
“So?” Kibum looks defiant.
“It’s a very nice nest,” Jinki says quickly, “And it looks very comfortable.” It does, actually. The inside of the nest is completely lined with fresh flower petals, and it looks really cushy and inviting. He even has a pillow; Jinki isn’t sure how he got hold of one.
Kibum snorts, stepping into the nest. “Yeah, well. You’re not sleeping here! Go… over there or something.” He sweeps an arm vaguely to one side, indicating any other spot in the field except where they currently are.
Jinki ends up settling down on a patch of flowers a respectable distance away from the nest, close enough so that he can reach the Siren if necessary, far enough so that Kibum doesn’t get angry.
“Blow the lantern out!” he hears Kibum call.
Jinki complies, and sets the lantern-another useful thing he found in the wooden chest-down next to him. He folds his arms under his head and closes his eyes. He tries not to picture the look on his parents’ faces when they learn that his ship is missing. “Good night,” he says into the darkness.
After a short pause, he hears Kibum reply, “Good night.”
“You sing,” Kibum says while he’s watching Jinki tie two pieces of driftwood together. This is first day he’s actually around-he usually disappears when Jinki wakes up in the morning and doesn’t return until dusk. He never says where he’s been, but Jinki assumes he’s off luring more sailors to their deaths. Knowing that Kibum is going out and killing all these people makes Jinki uncomfortable-and it reminds him that he’s only alive by sheer chance and one of Kibum’s whims-but he’s accepted by now that there’s nothing he can do about it.
“Hm?” Jinki looks up from his work and blinks at the Siren.
“You were saying something about my voice the other day. And you keep singing and humming to yourself when you’re working.”
“Oh.” Jinki really hadn’t noticed; it’s completely second nature to him by now. “I sang at home sometimes, but I’m not really any-”
“Sing something,” Kibum says it more like a command than a request.
“Oh, um. Uh.” Jinki wracks his brain for something to sing, and settles for his favorite ballad. He starts off slowly at first, because it’s kind of awkward, the way Kibum watches him, head tilted slightly to the side. The Siren’s gaze is unwavering, like a hawk’s, and Jinki closes his eyes to block it out. He finishes the first verse and the chorus, and peeks one eye open.
Kibum is still watching him, an odd look on his face. “That’s… You have a nice voice.”
Jinki had found several changes of clothes in the chest over a week ago-nine days ago, to be exact, and eleven days since he arrived on the island; Jinki keeps track by making a tally mark on a tree every morning-and it’d taken all this time to gather up the courage to ask Kibum about it. He flails his arms, trying to explain. “It’s just that, humans aren’t really used to seeing each other naked, unless they’re, um.” He stops, feeling a blush creep up his cheeks. “You know what, just forget it, it’s not really-”
Kibum sighs and grabs the boxers and jeans out of his hands. Jinki quickly turns around, fixing his eyes on the flowers at his feet as he hears the rustling of cloth.
“Okay, I put them on.”
Jinki turns around at this, air whooshing out of his lungs in relief at what he sees. The pants are too loose so they dip kind of low, but at least Kibum is finally decent. Semi-decent. No shirt is going to be able to accommodate Kibum’s wings, though, so Jinki isn’t going to worry about that.
Kibum looks down at himself, then back up at Jinki. “I look ridiculous,” he says flatly, yanking upward on the waistband of his jeans. “Why would anyone even bother with these things? I swear, humans are so weird. My thighs look huge in these.”
“Your thighs look fine,” Jinki says without thinking, then blushes. Kibum gives him a weird look.
“How long have you… you know, been here?” Jinki asks one time during dinner.
Kibum glances up at him, then looks back down at his food. “A while. Why?” He takes a delicate bite of his fish.
“I mean, I just. Don’t you ever get lonely here?”
Kibum snorts. “Don’t be stupid. Of course not. I’m not a human, it’s not like I need company or whatever.” He takes another bite of his fish, more viciously this time.
Jinki leaves it at that, but he remembers something he’d heard about Sirens once, about why their Songs are so deadly. They’re songs about loneliness, an old man he’d worked with on the docks had said, so intense that they call out to you, make you want to go to them. He sneaks a glance at Kibum, watching the shadows flit across his face in the glow of the fire, and wonders if it’s true.
“This is… for me?” Kibum asks, turning the object over in his hands.
“It’s called a syrinx. You blow into each tube,” Jinki points at the top of the instrument, “They’re different lengths so different notes come out. The shortest pipe makes the highest note and the longest makes the lowest.”
“Did you make this yourself?” Kibum runs his thumb over a small knot on the longest pipe.
“It’s not that hard to make. I just carved the pipes and cut them to the right size and tied them together. I know it’s not that pretty, but I didn’t have any sandpaper. The notes should still be pretty accurate, though.” Jinki rubs the back of his neck. “It’s kind of stupid, I know. I just thought you might like it because you’re sort of into music, and-”
“I’ve never received a gift before,” Kibum cuts in, looking up at Jinki. There is a tiny, pleased smile on his face. “Will you teach me to play after dinner?”
“Yeah,” Jinki says, slumping with a relief he doesn’t fully understand. “Of course.”
Kibum shoves something into Jinki’s hands a week later. “For you,” he says. When Jinki just blinks, he sighs and elaborates. “Because you gave me something. I’m giving you something now.”
“Oh! But, I mean, presents don’t really work that way, you don’t need to give something in re-” Jinki stops at the look on Kibum’s face, and glances down at the object, squishing it between his hands. “Is this a… pillow?”
Kibum shifts his weight back and forth between his feet. If Jinki hadn’t known any better, he would say that Kibum was being self-conscious. “I figured it’s probably not that comfortable when you sleep at night and stuff, so I made you one.”
“How did you even make-” The realization hits him, and he stares at the way Kibum is avoiding his eyes. “Did you stuff this with your own feathers?”
Kibum sniffs, staring fixedly at some point on the ground. “And there are a couple of sprigs of lavender in there. The scent of lavender is helps you go to sleep, did you know that?”
Jinki is probably smiling like an idiot right now, but Kibum can’t see that. “No, I didn’t. Thank you, Kibummie.” The nickname slips out naturally; it’s the first time he’s ever used it, but Kibum doesn’t object.
Jinki uses his new pillow that night, and it’s the best sleep he’s gotten since he arrived on the island.
“Do you have a lover back at home?” Kibum asks. He is sitting cross-legged on the sand next to Jinki, chin propped on his hands.
Jinki stops in the middle of trying to cut a plank down to the right size, blinking. “What? Um, why do you ask?”
Kibum shrugs, scowling. “You want to go home so badly. There must be someone you want to see again.”
“No, I don’t have a, a lover.” The word feels weird on his tongue. “I mean, I do have loved ones I want to see again. Friends and family.”
“Tell me about them,” Kibum orders. Jinki’s realized by now that Kibum is just kind of like this all the time, bossy and demanding without realizing it. He figures it stems from years-decades, maybe even centuries, Jinki has no idea-of living in solitude, of not having anyone around to tell the Siren “no”.
“Um, let’s see. Well, my best friends’ names are Jonghyun, Minho, and Taemin. Jonghyun is the type who, like. When he gets wound up, he gets really wound up. When he’s in one of his hyperactive moods, he just doesn’t stop talking, doesn’t stop moving around. That one time we won a talent show together, he couldn’t stop crying. We all made fun of him about it later.” Jinki smiles at the memory.
“And your other friends?” Kibum asks, leaning forward. “Mino? Taem?”
“Minho and Taemin,” Jinki corrects. “Minho likes looking all cool and manly, but he’s actually just as weird as the rest of us. And he’s insanely competitive, he gets all sulky when he loses at anything. He really likes sports, so he always makes us play soccer with him. I don’t know why we even bother, since whichever team he’s on wins anyway. And Taemin is the youngest out of us four. He’s really, really cute, so everyone loves him and treats him really well. He can kind of be a cheeky brat, but he’s so cute that no one really gets mad at him about it.”
“They sound like interesting people.”
“They are,” Jinki replies. “They’re. They’re all really good people, really good friends-” He doesn’t even realize he’s crying until he feels a hand awkwardly pat his back. “Sorry,” he says, wiping frantically at his eyes with the back of his hands, “Sorry.”
“I would’ve flown you back if I could,” Kibum says suddenly.
Jinki is thrown by the non sequitur. “What?”
“You said. You asked me that first day if I could fly you home.”
“I wasn’t really serious about-”
“I can’t carry you all the way back to the mainland,” Kibum cuts in. “There’s no way I could support your weight the entire way.” His hand on Jinki’s back is hesitant and a little fumbling, but warm.
“Yeah,” Jinki says, drawing in a shuddering breath. “Yeah.”
Jinki really, really regrets teaching Kibum to play human games. Kibum can’t get enough of them, which makes sense, since he’s never played games before. Jinki doesn’t really mind that. It’s just that, he thinks mournfully, Kibum has inhuman endurance and can run around for hours and hours without getting tired, and he expects Jinki to keep up with him the whole way.
Jinki tiptoes through the grass, trying to make as little noise as possible. He can’t let Kibum catch him, because Kibum is just going to-
“Tag, you’re It!” a voice shrieks, and a pair of hands pushes Jinki from behind. The force sends him stumbling into a tree. Jinki rubs his shoulder-Kibum really doesn’t realize his own strength-and turns around just in time to see Kibum taking flight. The Siren lands on the highest branch and looks down at Jinki.
“Kibum,” Jinki says, and maybe his voice sounds a little whiny, “That’s cheating.”
Kibum wrinkles his nose. “Rules are boring,” he calls. “I like my version better. You’re still It, you have to catch me!”
There’s really never any point in arguing with Kibum. “You know I can’t fly.” He’s definitely whining now, but he’s tired, and they’ve been playing Tag for three hours.
Kibum tosses his hair out of his eyes, smirking. “I guess that just means you’re going to have to climb, huh?”
It’s the biggest rainstorm Jinki’s ever seen since he arrived on the island two and a half or three months ago-he hasn’t been as good at keeping track of the days lately-and it doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. Jinki ducks under the nearest tree, but it doesn’t really provide any cover at all. He wishes Kibum owned an umbrella or something.
“Kibum,” he calls. The Siren had wandered away from the beach half an hour ago, and Jinki has no idea where he is. “Kibum?”
“Why are you screaming,” Kibum says, ducking out from behind a nearby tree. He walks to Jinki, looking utterly indifferent to the way the sky is pouring buckets on them.
Jinki feels kind of stupid now. He squints, pushing his soaked bangs away from his face. “I, I was kind of worried, I guess.”
Kibum snorts. “Worried about what, exactly? That I was going to drown?” He sits down underneath the tree, tugging Jinki down with him.
“I was just. What are you doing, we’re going to get all muddy-” Kibum gives him an impatient look, the way he always does when he thinks Jinki is being slow, and yanks him a little closer. Jinki suddenly doesn’t feel the rain beating down on his head anymore. He looks up, blinking at the gray, feathery canopy directly above their heads-and surrounding them on all sides, actually-and realizes Kibum is shielding them with his wings. They’re both already wet and the ground is muddy, but not getting rained on anymore is a huge improvement.
“We can stay here until it stops, if you want,” Kibum says, and yawns, leaning forward. They’re sitting closely enough that he can drop his head down onto Jinki’s shoulder. “I’m tired.”
“You can nap. I’ll wake you up when it stops raining,” Jinki says, like he actually has any say in it. Kibum’s hair is tickly and cold and wet against his neck.
The sound of the rain outside their tiny shelter is kind of soothing, actually, and Jinki ends up falling asleep too.
When Jinki heads down to the beach one morning, he stops dead in his tracks as soon as he reaches the sand. There’s a female figure standing waist-deep in the ocean, the first person he’s seen since he arrived on the island.
She’s naked, as far as he can tell, but her long, wavy hair hides all of the necessary areas. And maybe Jinki is just seeing things, but her skin almost looks a little… green. Her eyes widen; for a second, she looks just as surprised to see him as he is to see her, but then her lips curve into a slow smile, and suddenly, oh, she’s the most beautiful thing Jinki’s ever seen.
All of his thoughts dissipate like smoke, replaced by something more important: he wants to, needs to go to her. Jinki walks toward her in a daze across the sand and splashes into the water, unable to tear his eyes away from her face. Her smile grows wider, and she beckons to him to come closer, closer. He wades in deeper, undeterred by the waves around him.
“Jinki? Jinki!”
Jinki faintly registers someone calling his name, but he can’t tell who it is, doesn’t care. They sound so far away, and nothing matters except reaching her. She is smiling up at him, and now that he’s this close, he can see that her skin really does have a green hue. She wraps her arms around his neck, and her smile becomes something savage.
Jinki snaps out of it, and he has a split second to think Shit shit shit before she pulls him into the water. He struggles to get away, but her arms clamp tight around him like an iron vise. His feet can’t find the ground and he can’t breathe, can’t see, and he’s starting to go lightheaded-
A second pair of arms wraps around his waist, trying to yank him upward, but the sea nymph’s hold on him tightens. Jinki feels like a rag doll, being pulled in opposite directions by forces too strong to be human, and he’s positive he’s going to snap in half any second.
Finally, his head breaks above the water and he immediately draws in a long breath, letting the air flood his lungs. The nymph’s grip is weakening; Kibum pulls him out of the water and into the air, his arms secure around Jinki’s waist, and tries to kick her away.
Her face looks different now-angry and twisted into a snarl, baring fangs that definitely had not been there a few minutes ago. She still has one hand wrapped around Jinki’s ankle, her claws digging into his flesh, the other one swiping at Kibum, but Kibum tugs one last time, yanking Jinki free.
Kibum flies them a little higher, out of the nymph’s reach, and brings them back to shore. He stumbles when he lands and releases his hold on Jinki, and they both tumble down into the sand. Jinki pants, trying to catch his breath. He spots the nymph-she continues to watch them, her eyes dark and beady, but doesn’t come any closer.
“Who, what was that?” Jinki asks, holding a hand to his throbbing head.
“A Nereid,” Kibum says, his voice sounding oddly strained. “She was probably trying to bring you back to her underwater lair. To have her way with you. Forgot humans can’t breathe underwater. Stupid bitch.”
Jinki struggles to sit up, and finally notices the problem-there are three long, jagged gashes across Kibum’s torso, leaking silvery blood everywhere.
“Kibum!” Jinki crawls over to the Siren’s side.
Kibum winces. “I’m fine, it’s really not a big-” Jinki slides one arm under Kibum’s neck and one under his knees and stands, lifting the Siren. Kibum is surprisingly light; Jinki wonders if he has hollow bones, the way birds do. “What, what are you doing? Put me down!”
Jinki ignores him and glances over his shoulder at the ocean. The nymph is gone. Jinki turns around and carries Kibum further inland.
“I don’t see why you’re even bothering,” Kibum says as Jinki presses a wet strip of cloth-torn from his shirt-to his torso, right below his ribcage. “I’m immortal, it’s not like I’m going to die from this. It’s not even that bad.”
Jinki ignores him and focuses on cleaning the wounds. The bleeding’s almost stopped now. Kibum’s right; the injuries aren’t as bad as they’d initially looked. “You know, you’ve saved my life twice now.”
Kibum snorts. “Way to state the obvious.” He avoids Jinki’s gaze and opts to stare straight up into the sky instead.
“Thank you,” Jinki says quietly.
Kibum doesn’t respond, and there is a beat of silence between them. Then, “You’re almost done with your raft, right?”
Jinki’s hand stills. “I- Yeah. Yeah, it’s almost done.”
“Are you excited about seeing your family and friends again?” Kibum is still staring up at the sky.
Jinki thinks about his mother’s soft hands stroking his hair, his father’s laugh. He thinks about Taemin’s smile, Jonghyun’s exuberant hugs, Minho’s deep chuckle. He and Kibum never really talk about how he’s eventually going to leave the island. “Yeah. Yeah, of course I am, but. Why-”
“I’m. I’m happy for you. I want you to be happy. You’re not bad, even if you are a human.” Kibum doesn’t even seem to be listening to Jinki anymore.
Jinki doesn’t understand. “Kibum, what-”
“My Song doesn’t work anymore.”
Jinki is used to the way Kibum rapidly switches conversation topics by now, but he’s still caught off guard. “What?”
Kibum gives a long-suffering sigh and slowly sits up, wincing a little. He meets Jinki’s gaze dead on. “Do you know why my Song works the way it does?”
Jinki nods dumbly; he remembers. The power in the Song comes from the Siren’s- Oh.
“It hasn’t worked in a while,” Kibum says. His eyes are quiet and sad, and now Jinki knows why Kibum never mentions his eventual departure. Knows what he’s been ignoring all along, why he never brings it up either, why progress on his raft is so much slower nowadays than it had been when he’d first started working on it.
“I. I can’t go home.” Jinki says, and the truth in that statement surprises him.
Kibum stares at him. “What,” he says, “What are you-”
Jinki leans in before Kibum can continue, pressing their lips awkwardly together. Kibum makes a tiny sound, his eyes wide and startled. After a couple of seconds, they flutter closed, and his mouth opens against Jinki’s. His hand curls around the back of Jinki’s neck, fingers sliding into his hair.
Kibum pulls away first, his expression pained. “You can’t do this. You can’t-”
“I love you,” Jinki says.
Kibum turns red at that. “Regardless!” he snaps. “You can’t just decide not to go home. You. You miss your family and friends so much-”
“I’d miss you just as much.” And it’s true. Jinki can’t imagine not hearing Kibum’s laugh every time Jinki tries to climb a tree and fails, not seeing Kibum’s smile across the fire at night, not feeling Kibum’s feathers under his palm every time the Siren lets Jinki groom his wings. Kibum looks stunned. “Besides,” he hurries on, “if I go home, you’ll just get lonely again, right? And then your Song will start working again, and. By staying here, I’ll be saving a lot of sailors from untimely demises, so.”
A lot of expressions are flitting across Kibum’s face, but then he starts to smile, a tiny curve of the lips that somehow makes his entire face glow. He reaches out to touch the side of Jinki’s face, his fingers careful and tender. “You’re so stupid, you know that?” He leans in to kiss Jinki again before Jinki can respond.
*****
In case anyone was curious, in the end, Jinki eventually dies of old age. Kibum mourns his death so much that the gods take pity on him and turn the pair into constellations. Kicking it in true Greek myth fashion.
... I totally butchered Greek mythology here. :\
SHINee - Onkey
6143 words; PG-13
In which Kibum is a Siren and Jinki is a sailor.
For noelliex , with love. ♥ Happy belated birthday, and I’m sorry this took so long!
Jinki wakes up hurting all over. “Ow,” he tries to say, except it comes out more like a strangled groan. His mouth and throat feel completely parched, like he’s swallowed an entire barrel of salt in one sitting. He squints one eye open, just barely making out the blue sky and a blurry figure leaning over him before the sunlight becomes too painful and forces him to close it again.
“W-” He forms his lips around the syllable, but no words come out. He licks his lips and swallows, trying to gather some saliva in his mouth. It doesn’t really work. “Water,” he manages to croak, and hopes that the figure understands. Then he passes out again.
Jinki wakes up a second time when a lot of really cold water is dumped over his face. He jerks up, coughing and sputtering and wheezing for air.
“You said you wanted water,” a voice says. Jinki lifts his head to see a boy around his age kneeling at his side, holding a pail and looking annoyed, and, oh- Jinki averts his gaze, feeling his cheeks go hot.
“Um, I. Sorry. Who are you?” And why are you naked, Jinki thinks, but he doesn’t ask that. He looks around at their surroundings, taking in the sunny mid-afternoon sky and the lush flowers all around them. Anything to avoid staring at the naked boy in front of him, really. “Where are we?”
“I’m a Siren,” the other boy says, his tone matter-of-fact. “You crashed your boat after hearing my Song. And this is my home. You should be honored. No human’s ever stepped foot on this island before.”
Jinki’s brain had stopped working somewhere around the first sentence. “You’re. You’re a-”
“A Siren.” The boy sounds impatient. “See the wings?”
Jinki sneaks a peek at the boy and blinks, because, oh, he does see them, gray and large and feathered like a griffin’s, growing out of the boy’s back. He wonders how he could have possibly missed them.
And then it finally hits him, oh Zeus, he’s with a Siren, a sailor’s worst nightmare. He’s been warned about the dangers of Sirens from the very first time he set sail, been taught to plug beeswax into his ears if he ever sailed too far away from shore. He’s heard too many stories about the fate of sailors who hear the Song.
“Are you. Are you going to eat me?” Jinki can’t keep the tremor out of his voice. But he’s shipwrecked on an island with the very immortal creature who got him shipwrecked, one who kills sailors on a regular basis, so. It’s probably okay for him to be a little worried.
The Siren blinks, then stares at Jinki like he’s the stupidest thing he’s ever seen. “What in Hades- Is that really what humans think? No, I don’t eat people. I’m not a sphinx, okay.”
“Oh, um.” Jinki wonders if he should apologize. “I’m sorry.”
“Besides,” the Siren adds, “Humans probably don’t taste very good.” He eyes Jinki contemplatively.
“We don’t. We taste terrible,” Jinki replies immediately-his voice goes a little squeaky with fear-even though he has no idea and doesn’t plan on ever finding out. “Are you going to kill me?”
The Siren snorts. “And have your rotting carcass stinking up the place? No.”
“Torture me? Hurt me?”
“No! Poseidon’s trident, I wouldn’t have rescued you if I’d known you were going to freak out like this.”
This completely derails Jinki’s thoughts about death or severe mauling by immortal creature. “What?” he asks, wondering if he’d heard right. The Siren almost looks… embarrassed. “Why did you-”
“I don’t know, okay?” the Siren snaps, turning redder by the second, “I mean, it was like. I saw you fall overboard before the ship even completely sank, how did you even do that? Then you were flailing around in the water, and, like. You looked so stupid that I just grabbed you without even thinking about it, and I didn’t know where else to go, so I brought you here. I don’t even- Ugh.” He suddenly spreads his wings and launches off the ground, taking flight.
“Hey. Hey, wait!” Jinki calls out, panicked, but the Siren ignores him, soaring upward and away.
Jinki takes the time alone to explore the perimeter of the island. It’s not very big; it takes him less than half an hour to walk all the way around. There isn’t much to see, mostly flowers of all types and colors and shapes-seriously, he thinks he’s seen more flowers in the past hour than he has his entire life-and some trees. Aside from the occasional seagull flying overhead, Jinki doesn’t run into any animal wildlife at all. And, of course, there’s absolutely no way off the island, at least not as far as he can tell.
There’s a tiny beach on the far end of the island, one with soft white sand and frothy waves. Jinki goes there after he makes a full lap around and sits down on the sand, wrapping his arms around his knees. He stares into the ocean, thinking about how he might be stuck on this island forever, might never be able to go home, might never see his friends or family again. Before he knows it, he’s pretty much bawling his eyes out. He’s never felt so small and helpless and alone his entire life.
Jinki cries until he’s all cried out, until he eventually realizes that tears aren’t productive at all. At least, they aren’t going to bring him home, which is the one thing he wants more than anything else in the world right now. So he switches tactics and tries to come up with a plan to get home instead. It’s not much, but he feels better doing something.
An hour-or what feels like an hour, but Jinki has no way to really tell-passes and the sun is setting when he hears rustling behind him. He turns around to see the Siren stepping out of the flowers onto the sand.
“I was wondering where you wandered off to,” the Siren says, frowning. “And here I was thinking you’d managed to fall into the water. Again.”
Jinki flushes. “Sorry. I just, um,”-he gestures at their surroundings-“I liked this place, so I decided to stay here. I hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah, whatever,” the Siren says dismissively, folding in his wings. He lies down in the sand a short distance away from Jinki, pillows his head on his arms, and closes his eyes. He is completely ignoring Jinki.
“Um, excuse me,”-Jinki has no idea what he’s supposed to call him-“Mr. Siren?”
“My name is Kibum, okay?” He doesn’t even open his eyes.
“I’m Jinki,” Jinki says by reflex, and then feels like an idiot. The Siren-Kibum-cracks one eye open to gives him a look. “Okay, then. Um, Kibum. You’re not going to hurt me?” Jinki really, really needs that affirmation.
Kibum sighs and sits up, running a hand through his hair to shake the sand out. “No.”
“Am I free to leave this place?” Jinki crosses his fingers behind his back.
Kibum scowls. “Look, I don’t care what you do.”
“I, um. Okay. I don’t suppose you could… fly me back home?”
Kibum gives him the most incredulous look ever, and Jinki hastily backtracks. “Totally just kidding. I actually, um, want to build a raft, and I’m not asking you to help or anything, but. I was wondering if it would be okay to use the wood from the trees and stuff. Because it’s your island.” He holds his breath, prepared for the Siren to say no and bring him right back to square one, but Kibum just shrugs.
“Knock yourself out.”
Jinki exhales, unable to stop the smile spreading over his face. If he ignores the wings and the nakedness, he can almost pretend that he’s talking with another normal person and not, well. Not an immortal creature who’d almost killed him and then subsequently saved him. “Thank you.”
Kibum waves it off. “Whatever, it’s not a big deal.”
“No, I meant.” Jinki clears his throat. “Thank you both for this, and for saving my life. I. I never thanked you for that.”
Kibum blinks. “Yeah, well.” He shrugs again, a little slower this time. Jinki imagines that he’s probably not used to being thanked for anything.
Kibum guides Jinki across the island until they reach what looks like an orchard; Jinki sees ripe pears and apples and peaches dangling from branches, along with other fruits he’s never seen before. Kibum stops at a large apple tree near the center, where two objects are resting at its base. One is a huge wooden chest, the kind Jinki’s always pictured pirates kept their treasure in. The other is much smaller, a gleaming metal box. Jinki looks at Kibum uncertainly.
“Go on,” Kibum says, “Take whatever you want from that one.” He gestures at the wooden chest.
Jinki kneels down next to the chest and hesitates for a second, then carefully pushes the lid back. And stares. Because there isn’t any pirate booty inside, it’s even better-it’s full of objects, human objects. He lifts out the things at the very top to examine them more closely-a coil of rope, a steel fork, and a small ax.
“It’s just stuff I’ve collected over the years from wreckages,” Kibum continues, “It’s not like I use any of it anyway. You said you wanted to make a raft, right? I figured there’s probably some useful stuff in there.”
It takes Jinki a while to finally find his voice. “Thank you,” he says, looking up at the Siren, “Thank you so much.”
“Whatever. It’s not like I was using that stuff anyway,” Kibum repeats.
There is an awkward silence, and Jinki finds his gaze drifting over to the second box, the metal one. He wonders what-
“Do you want to see what’s inside?” Kibum blurts out. He sounds strangely eager, so Jinki figures it’s probably safer to say yes.
“Um, sure. I mean, yes. Of course I do!”
Kibum kneels down next to him, unlatches the lid and pushes it open, moving back to let Jinki peer inside. “This is my collection,” he says. The note of pride in his voice is obvious. “I decorated the inside of the box myself.”
There is a red and gold phoenix painted on the underside of the lid in surprising detail, and the inside of the box is lined with deep red velvet and divided into small squares or rectangles. Jinki can tell there are probably at least two more shelves underneath. Each partition contains a single item; Jinki sees a large broach, a fan, a porcelain ballerina figurine, a small jewelry box with a stained glass lid, a tiny jar of-
“Is that glitter?” Jinki asks.
Kibum reaches into the box and pulls the small jar out, and yes, that’s definitely glitter. “Is that what it’s called?” he asks, inspecting it in the light. “It looks like millions of tiny stars. What is it for?”
“I- I don’t know, really,” Jinki says. “I think you can put it on your face. It’s used to decorate stuff, I guess.” He stares at the jar in Kibum’s hand, and suddenly has a mental image of Kibum painstakingly gluing velvet to the inside of the box and filling it with his treasures one at a time. He pictures Kibum finding the jar of glitter and being fascinated by the way it caught the light. It makes the Siren seem a lot less scary and a lot more, well, human. “Your collection is beautiful.”
“Of course it is,” Kibum says, but he sounds pleased.
“Um, Kibum?”
They’re eating dinner; Kibum had decided to share some of the fish he’d caught with Jinki, along with a couple of peaches from one of his trees. It’d taken Jinki forever to start a small fire, and the fish hadn’t cooked properly, so some of it is burnt and some of it is raw. But it’s still food, and Jinki hasn’t eaten all day, so he isn’t going to complain.
“Hm?”
Jinki doesn’t know why this is only occurring to him now. “Did you say that I crashed my boat after hearing you sing?”
“That’s how it usually works, yes.”
Jinki ignores the sarcasm in the Siren’s voice. “I. I don’t think that’s what happened, though.” His memories of the incident are still a little hazy, but-
“What?” Kibum snaps. “What are you talking about. You definitely crashed your boat.”
“No, no, of course I did, but.” Jinki frowns, trying to remember. “I… was trying to navigate when I heard you singing, and then. I saw you on that rock, and I thought you were a stranded sailor or something. I kind of panicked and got distracted trying to figure out how to rescue you, and I crashed the boat into this big rock by accident.”
Kibum doesn’t answer and just gapes at him.
“I, I guess I didn’t notice your wings that time, either,” Jinki adds. Kibum still isn’t responding. “Um-”
“Shut up,” Kibum snaps. “I want to try something.” Then he closes his eyes and opens his mouth. The song that pours out is… heavy, somehow, each note like a physical weight pressing down on Jinki’s chest. The melody is beautiful and melancholic and frenetic and terrible at the same time, and makes the air around them thrum with its power. Jinki can’t look away.
Kibum opens his eyes when the song finishes and glances at Jinki. “That… That didn’t drive you into a lustful frenzy? That didn’t make you want to fling yourself at me and ravish my body?” He peers at Jinki’s face, like he’s trying to tell whether Jinki is lying.
“Um,” Jinki says, “No.” He wonders if he’s being impolite, and quickly adds, “I mean, not that your voice isn’t very nice and all. That high last note was a little shaky, but-” He stops at the look on the Siren’s face.
“You’re immune to my Song,” Kibum says, with something like awe or utter disbelief in his voice. “You’re actually immune to my Song.”
“I… guess that’s a good thing?” Jinki says meekly.
Kibum just stares at him for a second, and then-to Jinki’s surprise-actually laughs. It’s the first time Jinki’s seen him look something close to happy; he’s kind of amazed by how much less intimidating the Siren looks. When Kibum finally stops, he gives Jinki a half-smile. “You’re weird. Are all humans like you?”
“I don’t think so,” Jinki says, “My friends think I’m weird all the time.”
Kibum laughs again, pressing a hand to his mouth.
“This is where you sleep?” Jinki asks, staring down at it.
“Yeah,” Kibum says, “What about it?”
“Oh, there’s no problem, it’s just.” Jinki wonders how to word it in the most tactful way possible. “It’s a nest.”
“So?” Kibum looks defiant.
“It’s a very nice nest,” Jinki says quickly, “And it looks very comfortable.” It does, actually. The inside of the nest is completely lined with fresh flower petals, and it looks really cushy and inviting. He even has a pillow; Jinki isn’t sure how he got hold of one.
Kibum snorts, stepping into the nest. “Yeah, well. You’re not sleeping here! Go… over there or something.” He sweeps an arm vaguely to one side, indicating any other spot in the field except where they currently are.
Jinki ends up settling down on a patch of flowers a respectable distance away from the nest, close enough so that he can reach the Siren if necessary, far enough so that Kibum doesn’t get angry.
“Blow the lantern out!” he hears Kibum call.
Jinki complies, and sets the lantern-another useful thing he found in the wooden chest-down next to him. He folds his arms under his head and closes his eyes. He tries not to picture the look on his parents’ faces when they learn that his ship is missing. “Good night,” he says into the darkness.
After a short pause, he hears Kibum reply, “Good night.”
“You sing,” Kibum says while he’s watching Jinki tie two pieces of driftwood together. This is first day he’s actually around-he usually disappears when Jinki wakes up in the morning and doesn’t return until dusk. He never says where he’s been, but Jinki assumes he’s off luring more sailors to their deaths. Knowing that Kibum is going out and killing all these people makes Jinki uncomfortable-and it reminds him that he’s only alive by sheer chance and one of Kibum’s whims-but he’s accepted by now that there’s nothing he can do about it.
“Hm?” Jinki looks up from his work and blinks at the Siren.
“You were saying something about my voice the other day. And you keep singing and humming to yourself when you’re working.”
“Oh.” Jinki really hadn’t noticed; it’s completely second nature to him by now. “I sang at home sometimes, but I’m not really any-”
“Sing something,” Kibum says it more like a command than a request.
“Oh, um. Uh.” Jinki wracks his brain for something to sing, and settles for his favorite ballad. He starts off slowly at first, because it’s kind of awkward, the way Kibum watches him, head tilted slightly to the side. The Siren’s gaze is unwavering, like a hawk’s, and Jinki closes his eyes to block it out. He finishes the first verse and the chorus, and peeks one eye open.
Kibum is still watching him, an odd look on his face. “That’s… You have a nice voice.”
Jinki had found several changes of clothes in the chest over a week ago-nine days ago, to be exact, and eleven days since he arrived on the island; Jinki keeps track by making a tally mark on a tree every morning-and it’d taken all this time to gather up the courage to ask Kibum about it. He flails his arms, trying to explain. “It’s just that, humans aren’t really used to seeing each other naked, unless they’re, um.” He stops, feeling a blush creep up his cheeks. “You know what, just forget it, it’s not really-”
Kibum sighs and grabs the boxers and jeans out of his hands. Jinki quickly turns around, fixing his eyes on the flowers at his feet as he hears the rustling of cloth.
“Okay, I put them on.”
Jinki turns around at this, air whooshing out of his lungs in relief at what he sees. The pants are too loose so they dip kind of low, but at least Kibum is finally decent. Semi-decent. No shirt is going to be able to accommodate Kibum’s wings, though, so Jinki isn’t going to worry about that.
Kibum looks down at himself, then back up at Jinki. “I look ridiculous,” he says flatly, yanking upward on the waistband of his jeans. “Why would anyone even bother with these things? I swear, humans are so weird. My thighs look huge in these.”
“Your thighs look fine,” Jinki says without thinking, then blushes. Kibum gives him a weird look.
“How long have you… you know, been here?” Jinki asks one time during dinner.
Kibum glances up at him, then looks back down at his food. “A while. Why?” He takes a delicate bite of his fish.
“I mean, I just. Don’t you ever get lonely here?”
Kibum snorts. “Don’t be stupid. Of course not. I’m not a human, it’s not like I need company or whatever.” He takes another bite of his fish, more viciously this time.
Jinki leaves it at that, but he remembers something he’d heard about Sirens once, about why their Songs are so deadly. They’re songs about loneliness, an old man he’d worked with on the docks had said, so intense that they call out to you, make you want to go to them. He sneaks a glance at Kibum, watching the shadows flit across his face in the glow of the fire, and wonders if it’s true.
“This is… for me?” Kibum asks, turning the object over in his hands.
“It’s called a syrinx. You blow into each tube,” Jinki points at the top of the instrument, “They’re different lengths so different notes come out. The shortest pipe makes the highest note and the longest makes the lowest.”
“Did you make this yourself?” Kibum runs his thumb over a small knot on the longest pipe.
“It’s not that hard to make. I just carved the pipes and cut them to the right size and tied them together. I know it’s not that pretty, but I didn’t have any sandpaper. The notes should still be pretty accurate, though.” Jinki rubs the back of his neck. “It’s kind of stupid, I know. I just thought you might like it because you’re sort of into music, and-”
“I’ve never received a gift before,” Kibum cuts in, looking up at Jinki. There is a tiny, pleased smile on his face. “Will you teach me to play after dinner?”
“Yeah,” Jinki says, slumping with a relief he doesn’t fully understand. “Of course.”
Kibum shoves something into Jinki’s hands a week later. “For you,” he says. When Jinki just blinks, he sighs and elaborates. “Because you gave me something. I’m giving you something now.”
“Oh! But, I mean, presents don’t really work that way, you don’t need to give something in re-” Jinki stops at the look on Kibum’s face, and glances down at the object, squishing it between his hands. “Is this a… pillow?”
Kibum shifts his weight back and forth between his feet. If Jinki hadn’t known any better, he would say that Kibum was being self-conscious. “I figured it’s probably not that comfortable when you sleep at night and stuff, so I made you one.”
“How did you even make-” The realization hits him, and he stares at the way Kibum is avoiding his eyes. “Did you stuff this with your own feathers?”
Kibum sniffs, staring fixedly at some point on the ground. “And there are a couple of sprigs of lavender in there. The scent of lavender is helps you go to sleep, did you know that?”
Jinki is probably smiling like an idiot right now, but Kibum can’t see that. “No, I didn’t. Thank you, Kibummie.” The nickname slips out naturally; it’s the first time he’s ever used it, but Kibum doesn’t object.
Jinki uses his new pillow that night, and it’s the best sleep he’s gotten since he arrived on the island.
“Do you have a lover back at home?” Kibum asks. He is sitting cross-legged on the sand next to Jinki, chin propped on his hands.
Jinki stops in the middle of trying to cut a plank down to the right size, blinking. “What? Um, why do you ask?”
Kibum shrugs, scowling. “You want to go home so badly. There must be someone you want to see again.”
“No, I don’t have a, a lover.” The word feels weird on his tongue. “I mean, I do have loved ones I want to see again. Friends and family.”
“Tell me about them,” Kibum orders. Jinki’s realized by now that Kibum is just kind of like this all the time, bossy and demanding without realizing it. He figures it stems from years-decades, maybe even centuries, Jinki has no idea-of living in solitude, of not having anyone around to tell the Siren “no”.
“Um, let’s see. Well, my best friends’ names are Jonghyun, Minho, and Taemin. Jonghyun is the type who, like. When he gets wound up, he gets really wound up. When he’s in one of his hyperactive moods, he just doesn’t stop talking, doesn’t stop moving around. That one time we won a talent show together, he couldn’t stop crying. We all made fun of him about it later.” Jinki smiles at the memory.
“And your other friends?” Kibum asks, leaning forward. “Mino? Taem?”
“Minho and Taemin,” Jinki corrects. “Minho likes looking all cool and manly, but he’s actually just as weird as the rest of us. And he’s insanely competitive, he gets all sulky when he loses at anything. He really likes sports, so he always makes us play soccer with him. I don’t know why we even bother, since whichever team he’s on wins anyway. And Taemin is the youngest out of us four. He’s really, really cute, so everyone loves him and treats him really well. He can kind of be a cheeky brat, but he’s so cute that no one really gets mad at him about it.”
“They sound like interesting people.”
“They are,” Jinki replies. “They’re. They’re all really good people, really good friends-” He doesn’t even realize he’s crying until he feels a hand awkwardly pat his back. “Sorry,” he says, wiping frantically at his eyes with the back of his hands, “Sorry.”
“I would’ve flown you back if I could,” Kibum says suddenly.
Jinki is thrown by the non sequitur. “What?”
“You said. You asked me that first day if I could fly you home.”
“I wasn’t really serious about-”
“I can’t carry you all the way back to the mainland,” Kibum cuts in. “There’s no way I could support your weight the entire way.” His hand on Jinki’s back is hesitant and a little fumbling, but warm.
“Yeah,” Jinki says, drawing in a shuddering breath. “Yeah.”
Jinki really, really regrets teaching Kibum to play human games. Kibum can’t get enough of them, which makes sense, since he’s never played games before. Jinki doesn’t really mind that. It’s just that, he thinks mournfully, Kibum has inhuman endurance and can run around for hours and hours without getting tired, and he expects Jinki to keep up with him the whole way.
Jinki tiptoes through the grass, trying to make as little noise as possible. He can’t let Kibum catch him, because Kibum is just going to-
“Tag, you’re It!” a voice shrieks, and a pair of hands pushes Jinki from behind. The force sends him stumbling into a tree. Jinki rubs his shoulder-Kibum really doesn’t realize his own strength-and turns around just in time to see Kibum taking flight. The Siren lands on the highest branch and looks down at Jinki.
“Kibum,” Jinki says, and maybe his voice sounds a little whiny, “That’s cheating.”
Kibum wrinkles his nose. “Rules are boring,” he calls. “I like my version better. You’re still It, you have to catch me!”
There’s really never any point in arguing with Kibum. “You know I can’t fly.” He’s definitely whining now, but he’s tired, and they’ve been playing Tag for three hours.
Kibum tosses his hair out of his eyes, smirking. “I guess that just means you’re going to have to climb, huh?”
It’s the biggest rainstorm Jinki’s ever seen since he arrived on the island two and a half or three months ago-he hasn’t been as good at keeping track of the days lately-and it doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon. Jinki ducks under the nearest tree, but it doesn’t really provide any cover at all. He wishes Kibum owned an umbrella or something.
“Kibum,” he calls. The Siren had wandered away from the beach half an hour ago, and Jinki has no idea where he is. “Kibum?”
“Why are you screaming,” Kibum says, ducking out from behind a nearby tree. He walks to Jinki, looking utterly indifferent to the way the sky is pouring buckets on them.
Jinki feels kind of stupid now. He squints, pushing his soaked bangs away from his face. “I, I was kind of worried, I guess.”
Kibum snorts. “Worried about what, exactly? That I was going to drown?” He sits down underneath the tree, tugging Jinki down with him.
“I was just. What are you doing, we’re going to get all muddy-” Kibum gives him an impatient look, the way he always does when he thinks Jinki is being slow, and yanks him a little closer. Jinki suddenly doesn’t feel the rain beating down on his head anymore. He looks up, blinking at the gray, feathery canopy directly above their heads-and surrounding them on all sides, actually-and realizes Kibum is shielding them with his wings. They’re both already wet and the ground is muddy, but not getting rained on anymore is a huge improvement.
“We can stay here until it stops, if you want,” Kibum says, and yawns, leaning forward. They’re sitting closely enough that he can drop his head down onto Jinki’s shoulder. “I’m tired.”
“You can nap. I’ll wake you up when it stops raining,” Jinki says, like he actually has any say in it. Kibum’s hair is tickly and cold and wet against his neck.
The sound of the rain outside their tiny shelter is kind of soothing, actually, and Jinki ends up falling asleep too.
When Jinki heads down to the beach one morning, he stops dead in his tracks as soon as he reaches the sand. There’s a female figure standing waist-deep in the ocean, the first person he’s seen since he arrived on the island.
She’s naked, as far as he can tell, but her long, wavy hair hides all of the necessary areas. And maybe Jinki is just seeing things, but her skin almost looks a little… green. Her eyes widen; for a second, she looks just as surprised to see him as he is to see her, but then her lips curve into a slow smile, and suddenly, oh, she’s the most beautiful thing Jinki’s ever seen.
All of his thoughts dissipate like smoke, replaced by something more important: he wants to, needs to go to her. Jinki walks toward her in a daze across the sand and splashes into the water, unable to tear his eyes away from her face. Her smile grows wider, and she beckons to him to come closer, closer. He wades in deeper, undeterred by the waves around him.
“Jinki? Jinki!”
Jinki faintly registers someone calling his name, but he can’t tell who it is, doesn’t care. They sound so far away, and nothing matters except reaching her. She is smiling up at him, and now that he’s this close, he can see that her skin really does have a green hue. She wraps her arms around his neck, and her smile becomes something savage.
Jinki snaps out of it, and he has a split second to think Shit shit shit before she pulls him into the water. He struggles to get away, but her arms clamp tight around him like an iron vise. His feet can’t find the ground and he can’t breathe, can’t see, and he’s starting to go lightheaded-
A second pair of arms wraps around his waist, trying to yank him upward, but the sea nymph’s hold on him tightens. Jinki feels like a rag doll, being pulled in opposite directions by forces too strong to be human, and he’s positive he’s going to snap in half any second.
Finally, his head breaks above the water and he immediately draws in a long breath, letting the air flood his lungs. The nymph’s grip is weakening; Kibum pulls him out of the water and into the air, his arms secure around Jinki’s waist, and tries to kick her away.
Her face looks different now-angry and twisted into a snarl, baring fangs that definitely had not been there a few minutes ago. She still has one hand wrapped around Jinki’s ankle, her claws digging into his flesh, the other one swiping at Kibum, but Kibum tugs one last time, yanking Jinki free.
Kibum flies them a little higher, out of the nymph’s reach, and brings them back to shore. He stumbles when he lands and releases his hold on Jinki, and they both tumble down into the sand. Jinki pants, trying to catch his breath. He spots the nymph-she continues to watch them, her eyes dark and beady, but doesn’t come any closer.
“Who, what was that?” Jinki asks, holding a hand to his throbbing head.
“A Nereid,” Kibum says, his voice sounding oddly strained. “She was probably trying to bring you back to her underwater lair. To have her way with you. Forgot humans can’t breathe underwater. Stupid bitch.”
Jinki struggles to sit up, and finally notices the problem-there are three long, jagged gashes across Kibum’s torso, leaking silvery blood everywhere.
“Kibum!” Jinki crawls over to the Siren’s side.
Kibum winces. “I’m fine, it’s really not a big-” Jinki slides one arm under Kibum’s neck and one under his knees and stands, lifting the Siren. Kibum is surprisingly light; Jinki wonders if he has hollow bones, the way birds do. “What, what are you doing? Put me down!”
Jinki ignores him and glances over his shoulder at the ocean. The nymph is gone. Jinki turns around and carries Kibum further inland.
“I don’t see why you’re even bothering,” Kibum says as Jinki presses a wet strip of cloth-torn from his shirt-to his torso, right below his ribcage. “I’m immortal, it’s not like I’m going to die from this. It’s not even that bad.”
Jinki ignores him and focuses on cleaning the wounds. The bleeding’s almost stopped now. Kibum’s right; the injuries aren’t as bad as they’d initially looked. “You know, you’ve saved my life twice now.”
Kibum snorts. “Way to state the obvious.” He avoids Jinki’s gaze and opts to stare straight up into the sky instead.
“Thank you,” Jinki says quietly.
Kibum doesn’t respond, and there is a beat of silence between them. Then, “You’re almost done with your raft, right?”
Jinki’s hand stills. “I- Yeah. Yeah, it’s almost done.”
“Are you excited about seeing your family and friends again?” Kibum is still staring up at the sky.
Jinki thinks about his mother’s soft hands stroking his hair, his father’s laugh. He thinks about Taemin’s smile, Jonghyun’s exuberant hugs, Minho’s deep chuckle. He and Kibum never really talk about how he’s eventually going to leave the island. “Yeah. Yeah, of course I am, but. Why-”
“I’m. I’m happy for you. I want you to be happy. You’re not bad, even if you are a human.” Kibum doesn’t even seem to be listening to Jinki anymore.
Jinki doesn’t understand. “Kibum, what-”
“My Song doesn’t work anymore.”
Jinki is used to the way Kibum rapidly switches conversation topics by now, but he’s still caught off guard. “What?”
Kibum gives a long-suffering sigh and slowly sits up, wincing a little. He meets Jinki’s gaze dead on. “Do you know why my Song works the way it does?”
Jinki nods dumbly; he remembers. The power in the Song comes from the Siren’s- Oh.
“It hasn’t worked in a while,” Kibum says. His eyes are quiet and sad, and now Jinki knows why Kibum never mentions his eventual departure. Knows what he’s been ignoring all along, why he never brings it up either, why progress on his raft is so much slower nowadays than it had been when he’d first started working on it.
“I. I can’t go home.” Jinki says, and the truth in that statement surprises him.
Kibum stares at him. “What,” he says, “What are you-”
Jinki leans in before Kibum can continue, pressing their lips awkwardly together. Kibum makes a tiny sound, his eyes wide and startled. After a couple of seconds, they flutter closed, and his mouth opens against Jinki’s. His hand curls around the back of Jinki’s neck, fingers sliding into his hair.
Kibum pulls away first, his expression pained. “You can’t do this. You can’t-”
“I love you,” Jinki says.
Kibum turns red at that. “Regardless!” he snaps. “You can’t just decide not to go home. You. You miss your family and friends so much-”
“I’d miss you just as much.” And it’s true. Jinki can’t imagine not hearing Kibum’s laugh every time Jinki tries to climb a tree and fails, not seeing Kibum’s smile across the fire at night, not feeling Kibum’s feathers under his palm every time the Siren lets Jinki groom his wings. Kibum looks stunned. “Besides,” he hurries on, “if I go home, you’ll just get lonely again, right? And then your Song will start working again, and. By staying here, I’ll be saving a lot of sailors from untimely demises, so.”
A lot of expressions are flitting across Kibum’s face, but then he starts to smile, a tiny curve of the lips that somehow makes his entire face glow. He reaches out to touch the side of Jinki’s face, his fingers careful and tender. “You’re so stupid, you know that?” He leans in to kiss Jinki again before Jinki can respond.
*****
In case anyone was curious, in the end, Jinki eventually dies of old age. Kibum mourns his death so much that the gods take pity on him and turn the pair into constellations. Kicking it in true Greek myth fashion.
... I totally butchered Greek mythology here. :\