Archive of Our Own

“For your next project, we will begin our section on realism. This will be an extensive unit, but to see where you are, currently, I am going to assign a project that we will develop over the course of the unit, and then once we reach the end of the unit, we will showcase our growth with a timeline of your work.”

Hyunjin sat up from where he had been distractedly doodling on the side of his journal. The string of flowers seemed to leap off of the page as he turned his attention fully to his teacher, but he paid them no mind. 

“We will begin the project with rough sketches of what you know about the human body. Then, you will find someone to observe. They could be your friend, someone you pay to let you draw them. I do not care how you get a model, but you will need this person for the duration of the unit. You will take what we discuss in class and draw key parts of your model’s body as we grow more in-depth. 

“Eventually we will incorporate a mythical form into our sketches. If you want to use the same model, I suggest looking for a fairy or a merman outright.” Hyunjin hummed, already thinking of who he could ask. As he began jotting down rough ideas, he felt his hand brush against the petals from his sketch, and he sighed to himself, of course, they would pick during class to grow. He knew his professor didn’t tolerate magic in the classroom, but whenever he would sketch or doodle something not meant for an assignment, it would spring to life. He didn’t know if it was his magic’s way of rebelling against him, or what, but he did know that he had stuffed one too many silent birds into his backpack before leaving the classroom.

“And finally, for your showcase piece, you will be doing a realistic portrayal of your model using their abilities in some form or fashion. You are allowed to use whatever medium you want, but it has to be real. If I see any pieces that weren’t accurately portrayed, you will be docked a letter grade for the entire project.” Wincing, Hyunjin thought of what that would do for his grade. He already knew that he hadn’t done too hot on the last project he had turned in (for some reason, half of his sketchbook was blank, which Hyunjin knew the reason for, but he didn’t have time to refill the book before it was time to turn it in. 

While he could have easily explained that half of his work had just gotten up and walked off the page, he would have no actual proof of that. Whenever Hyunjin’s pieces came to life, they left no remnant on the paper, which was something that his family found incredibly odd considering he wasn’t the first one with the ability, but the only one to completely remove the marks from the page. 

His professor was not one for half-assed excuses, and while Hyunjin knew his was completely valid, it didn’t stop him for only getting half credit on the assignment which counted for a third of his grade. 

I need to do well on this, he thought. The professor began rambling along about something probably related to realism, but Hyunjin stopped paying attention and turned his focus to the page in front of him. 

His mind was swimming with ideas, and he knew exactly who he was going to get for this project. He began mapping out his project, thinking of what details he would focus on for the specific body parts, and at the top of the page he began doing rough sketches (based totally off of memory), he scrawled one word: Changbin. 

~~~

“So basically what I’m asking is will you let me draw you and Innie for my project.” Changbin hummed from where he was sprawled on the bed, and Hyunjin felt a momentary spike of regret run through his body, thinking maybe the older wouldn’t want to do it for him and he would have to find someone new. After all, we’ve only known each other for a semester. It’s completely within his rights to say no, but then what am I going to do to find someone? 

“You won’t have to do anything explicit, will you? I don’t know if Jeonginnie would be very happy knowing my body was exposed to the whole world like that.” He chuckled darkly, “I know I wouldn’t be.” 

Hyunjin stood up, frantically waving his hands and denying the question as quickly as he could. “No, no definitely not! The only nudity I would even consider doing would be your torso!” Hyunjin paused, and carefully lowered his hands as he remembered the final elements of his assignment. 

“Actually,” he hesitated, but went on, knowing it would come up eventually, and it was better to lay everything out in the open so he didn’t have to scrap his project halfway through. “I… I would need to draw your mer-form too. Preferably you and Innie, because I have this idea of the two of you playing on the ocean floor that I want to do for the last canvas, but if you don’t feel comfortable revealing your form to everyone, I completely understand.” 

Changbin paused, glancing at Hyunjin and raising a single eyebrow. “Our mer-forms?”

“...Yeah, that’s the other part of the assignment. We have to do a realistic interpretation of mythical creatures. The professor said we could choose between merfolk or fairies, and well… You’re the only merfolk I know.” 

Changbin looked at Hyunjin again, and he felt like he was missing something obvious. “Hyunjin,” he began. “Innie and I literally go for swims in the community pool. Do you really think we care that much about people knowing we’re mermen?”

… Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense. 

“I’ll have to ask Innie if he’s okay with being drawn, but it shouldn’t be an issue for me, at least.” Hyunjin felt his face light up at the older boy’s words. 

“Really? Thank you so much hyung!” Hyunjin sprang forward, wrapping his arms around Changbin, despite the other’s protests. 

Eventually, Changbin accepted the fact that Hyunjin wasn’t going to let go, and he sank further into his bed. Hyunjin felt a small smile creep across his face as he curled closer to the merman. He didn’t allow cuddling all that often, and so Hyunjin took full advantage of Changbin’s cuddles whenever he could. While Hyunjin normally didn’t appreciate conversation or… really any human interaction, there were a few people who he would eagerly accept affection from, and he would eat up anything he could get from those few with open arms. 

Contrary to popular belief, mermen were surprisingly warm. They could significantly cool their body temperature when they entered the water so they didn’t send their bodies into shock, but they easily maintain standard body heat when they are in human form. That meant Changbin was an amazing cuddler. 

Hyunjin wished he could have stayed in that embrace forever, but just as he was starting to drift off, lulled by Changbin’s steady heartbeat, the door clicked open and Jeongin bounced into the room with an excited grin on his face. Changbin was quick to shift Hyunjin off of him, and he embraced his younger boyfriend over a thoroughly startled Hyunjin.

“Hey Jeonginnnie,” Changbin greeted warmly.  

“Hi, hyung,” Jeongin responded, pressing a short kiss to Changbin’s cheek. “And hi, Jinnie,” Hyunjin would like to say that he greeted the younger with as much enthusiasm as he had been given, but he knew his grumbled: “Hi Innie,” wouldn’t make anyone feel welcome any time soon.

“I saw you were making moves on my boyfriend again,” the younger boy teased, and Hyunjin was shocked when he was suddenly pushed closer to Changbin as Jeongin crawled into the (way too small) bed next to him. 

“It’s not my fault he’s warm,” Hyunjin whined, trying to bury himself in the small pocket between the mermen.

“I can’t argue with that,” Jeongin agreed, wrapping his arms around Hyunjin’s waist and pulling him closer to his chest. “But I’m warmer, right?” 

Before Hyunjin could respond, Changbin’s dry, “Making moves on my best friend, huh,” did enough to make Hyunjin feel more flustered than he had any right to be. Don’t get him wrong, he loved both of these boys, but he knew they were happily together and that Hyunjin stood no chance in winning either boy away from the other. Nor did he really want to try. He just wanted someone to cuddle with, was that too much to ask? 

“Hush,” Jeongin scolded. “Look how red you made him, Binnie.” 

“He’ll be more red when he explains why he was here in the first place.”

“What, not a social visit?”

Hyunjin wished he could say he enjoyed the teasing back and forth, but knowing it was about him made him more nervous, for some reason. 

“Not at all,” Changbin said, and Hyunjin could practically feel the satisfaction oozing off of him. 

“What would our Hyunjnnie be visiting us for?” Jeongin teased, shoving his (incredibly cold) nose into Hyunjin’s neck. 

“He wants to draw us naked.” Changbin helpfully supplied, and Hyunjin’s panicked squawking was quickly drowned out by the couple’s laughter. 

“That’s not it at all!” 

~~~

“Thank you again for doing this,” Hyunjin said as he set up on the edge of the pool, his pencils carefully spread beside him so he could sketch whatever caught his eye. 

“We already told you we don’t mind,” Jeongin replied. He stood next to Hyunjin, watching the other boy set up his supplies, and humming when he decided to dip his feet into the water. 

“Besides,” he continued, “this gives us plenty of leverage the next time we need something.” 

I knew it, Hyunjin thought bitterly. Just in it for the bribery. Still, he couldn’t find it in himself to be mad. 

Deciding to ignore Jeongin’s teasing for now, he turned to Changbin and he felt his lips part (unconsciously) when he noticed the older boy was topless as well. Changbin had an amazing body, anyone could tell you that by looking at him even when he had clothes on, but with his torso bared, Hyunjin was blown away by the older’s physique. 

Hyunjin’s pencil started moving without him even really comprehending what he was doing. He watched as Changbin and Jeongin joked about something (whatever it was, it was delaying them into the pool, which was a blessing) and tried to capture every detail he could. 

Starting from Changbin’s broad shoulders, he quickly traced the large biceps and Changbin’s narrow waist. A small belly poked out over Changbin’s waistline. Nothing that could ever be considered unhealthy, but such a beautiful contrast to the hard lines and sharp angles that was every other part of the boy.

He looked down and quickly began shading the image to match the shadows of the room as best he could. When he glanced back up to make sure he had the right angle for the way the light hit Changbin’s shoulder, he was met with the teasing grins of both mermen. 

“Are you done ogling me yet?” Hyunjin flushes (again) at the snarky quip. 

“You signed up for this,” he responded, doing his best to appear the calm, cool, and collected artist he was. 

Before Changbin could reply, Jeongin shoved his boyfriend into the pool, laughing at Changbin’s surprised squawk. Apparently, he’s had enough of our banter, Hyunjin thought, watching Jeongin quickly strip out of his shorts before joining Changbin. 

While he had only seen it once, the transformation the boys underwent was something Hyunjin would remember forever. It was quick, but it was beautiful watching it happen. 

The first thing to change was their chest. When the boys were submerged in water, their gills expanded immediately starting to filter water for them to breathe as the rest of their body shifted. The next change happened to their legs, and it happened seconds after their gills expanded. Both legs snap together and the skin fused together, connecting them and creating one appendage. In retrospect, that might be something disturbing to watch, but Hyunjin loved how seamless it was. 

After their legs fused, Scales begin to sprout out of their skin. It was much more gruesome than what most people imagined when they thought of a mer transformation, but, contrary to popular belief, the skin didn’t just melt into scales, they burst out of their pores, and it wasn’t just on their legs. Scales sprout sporadically over Changbin and Jeongin’s bodies, thinning out slightly at their chests and stomachs. There was, obviously, full coverage over their tails and their wrists, and the scales scattered up the sides of their bodies, blooming around the fragile gills to give them more stability. Once the scales grew, the final touches followed soon after. Sharp talons, that could grow longer if needed, extended from the boys’ nail beds, and giant fins blossomed along the back of their tale and toward the base. Their softer human features hardened, their hair becoming slick from the water and giving way to small decorative fins that would help them to sense things in the water. Their entire face became more angular: their noses sharpened and any extra fat they carried melted into their body… somehow. 

When the transformation was done, Hyunjin was left staring at two ruthless predators who would be able to rip him to pieces in seconds if they wanted to. 

“Is that what you needed?” Jeongin asked, his thin lips pulling back to reveal jagged teeth in what Hyunjin knew was supposed to be a smile, but failed miserably. 

“That… yeah, that will work.” Hyunjin muttered, running his pencil across the paper as quickly as he could before the memory of the scales blooming out of the boys’ legs left him. 

“So what do you want us to do now?” Changbin called from where he was floating on his back in the water, his soft underbelly exposed. 

Hyunjin didn’t respond at first, but when Jeongin sent a small jet of water towards the artist, he tucked his journal to his chest and glared at the others. 

“What do you want us to do, Jinnie-hyung?” Jeongin asked, “Do you want us to frolic and play in the water to our heart’s content? Do you want us to mime hunting something? Do you want to get in the water yourself and see how quickly we could subdue you?” Hyunjin’s eyes got marginally wider at the threat, and Jeongin drifted closer to the edge of the pool, running his nails along Hyunjin’s shin. “The possibilities are endless,” he whispered, and Hyunjin shivered before bringing his legs out of the water to tuck his feet underneath him. 

“If you would just do what you normally do when you come to transform,” Hyunjin replied. “I want to get an idea of how exactly you two move in the water so I can portray that in my piece well. 

“Works for me!” Changbin called. During Jeongin’s harassment of Hyunjin, he had somehow managed to drift to the other side of the pool, but when he heard what the artist needed him to do, he quickly ducked under the water and clasped his arms around Jeongin’s waist only a few seconds later. 

The younger merman laughed as he was pulled into the center of the pool and Hyunjin marveled at the difference in their scale patterns for a second before he went back to sketching. It was a beautiful thing--their scales. Changbin was a reef mer, and Jeongin was a deep sea mer. Logically they should have never met each other, but because of the new treaty that the supernatural communities signed, every species was required to attend a university on land for at least a year. The merfolk were the ones most opposed to the treaty, considering several of their elders went their entire life without having to use their human form, but the head honchos at the capitol thought it would be a good way to boost morale and give the creatures a sense of unity within their campuses. 

Jeongin and Changbin met about a year before Hyunjin joined their university, and they had fallen for each other almost immediately. They hadn’t realized they were both mers until after orientation, but when they did, they went swimming almost immediately. At least, that’s what Changbin told him happened. Jeongin told a slightly more explicit version of the same events, but either way, they fell in love (or into bed) and they had stayed that way ever since Hyunjin had known them. 

As Hyunjin focussed back in on the two boys in the water, making sure to take note of the paler blues and greens of Changbin’s tail compared to Jeongin’s deeper blues and blacks, he realized someone else had stepped into the pool room without him noticing. 

“Wow, what’s going on here?” a deep voice asked, and Hyunjin turned around to address them. Before he could scold the person for stepping into the pool room despite the reserved sign that was plastered on the door, he felt his breath catch when he saw them. The person was absolutely beautiful. He stood with his hands tucked into a light blue hoodie, his cheeks slightly flushed (Hyunjin assumed it was from the wind outside) and a wide smile on his face. Surrounding him--almost like a halo--the boy had muted red hair. It wasn’t quite pink, but it wasn’t the vibrant red he had seen from the fire fairies or humans looking to experiment with their hair color. 

“I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered. The boy tilted his head down to look at Hyunjin, and the artist quickly stood, noticing that the boy was slightly shorter than him. “This is a closed session right now,” Hyunjin continued, getting some of his confidence back. “I’m going to have to ask you to--”

“Lixie!” Before Hyunjin could ask the boy to leave, Jeongin called from the pool, excitedly splashing over to the ledge to talk to the newcomer. “I didn't think you’d come today!”

“Hi Innie,” the boy replied, moving towards the ledge. “I didn’t think I’d have the time, but Sungie canceled plans on me suddenly, so I decided I might as well stop by to see my favorite mer.”

“Yah!” Changbin called from where he had begun drifting on his back again (apparently, sunbathing was his preferred activity when Jeongin wasn’t harassing him). “Why are you lying to my boyfriend about who your favorite is?” 

“C’mon, Binnie-hyung, we all know the truth,” Jeongin called back to him. “Felix-hyung can’t stand you. Ever since you pushed him into that pond he’s had it in for you.” 

Hyunjin stood in miffed silence, watching the three talk with unabashed curiosity. Logically, he knew he wasn’t the couple’s only friend, but it was odd to see them in a completely different dynamic than the one they had with him. Jeongin was never as excited to see Hyunjin as he was with this… Felix character. It, honestly, made him a bit jealous. 

“Are you going to join us today, Lix?” Changbin asked, interrupting Hyunjin’s stream of thought.

“No, not today.” The boy replied, and Hyunjin started to gather his supplies, not really wanting to be around the trio anymore. 

“Ah wait,” Jeongin called to Hyunjin, who had almost made it to the door without being noticed. “Jinnie, you’ve never met Lix, right?” 

Hyunjin winced, before turning with a fake smile plastered across his face. “I don’t think we have!”

Felix’s eyes lit up when he seemed to notice Hyunjin for the first time (as if Hyunjin hadn’t already tried talking to the shorter boy). “Hi! Sorry I kind of interrupted what you were saying to me earlier,” Felix ducked his head down, bashfully running a hand across the back of his neck. “I got kind of excited to see Innie and Bin-hyung in the water. They haven’t really had a chance to shift lately, and I know how tiring that can be.” 

“No no, I understand,” Hyunjin replied, immediately picturing Felix swimming with the couple. He was probably a reef or coral mer, based on his hair. Hyunjin could almost see the fiery vibrant scales reflecting off of the sunlight in the ocean and it was, honestly, a beautiful image. 

“I’m Hyunjin, by the way,” He said, his smile slipping into something slightly more genuine as he shuffled his supplies to reach a hand out to shake the other boy’s. 

“Ah, I’m Felix!” The other said, happily grasping Hyunjin’s hand. Hyunjin almost startled at the contact--Felix’s hands were a lot smaller than he had been expecting the other mer to have. 

Hyunjin pulled his hand back after a few seconds, shifting his journal to his empty hand. “Well, I think I have enough to get a concept sketch going for now.” He directed the comment to everyone in the room, noting the confusion in Felix’s eyes, but figuring Changbin or Jeongin could explain it for him. He desperately needed coffee and quiet space to brainstorm his sketches and staying to socialize would get him nowhere near those goals. 

“Thank you for your help, guys. And Felix,” he turned back to the redhead, giving him a small smile, “it was nice to meet you.”

“It was nice to meet you too, Hyunjinnie,” Felix replied, his eyes curling as he smiled at Hyunjin, and Hyunjin ignored the odd dance his heart did at the sight. There was no time to be getting nonsense crushes this late into the semester.

Calling goodbye to the boys still in the pool, Hyunjin finally slipped away from the group and leaned against the door once it had closed behind him. 

If Felix was going to join the mers for every session, Hyunjin could already tell how long this project would end up going. 

~~~

“The most important thing about drawing fairies is the difference in their wings.” Hyunjin shifted in his seat, glancing at the professor pacing at the front of the lecture hall. He had been sketching small tails, trying to figure out how to shade the fins on the mer tails in order to make them as realistic as possible. So far he had ended up just frustrating himself.

As he turned back into the lecture, he noticed four different pairs of wings displayed on the PowerPoint--more like something he would see in biology. 

“Fire wings--” his professor continued-- “tend to be what most humans think of when they think of fairy wings. They have the traditional upward wing shape with the smaller lower wing. Their wings tend to be in warmer tones and, unlike air fairies, their wings can not support their full human size for flight. 

“Opposite to fire fairies, we have earth fairies. Their wings extend downward--in fact, the easiest way to imagine it would be to take fire fairy wings and flip them upside down. An earth fairy’s wings tend to trail the ground when they are out, and they have the second-largest wingspan among the fairies. Once again, second to the air fairies. 

“While earth fairies don’t leave the ground that much, they can shrink to a smaller size for flight whenever they wish. The main use for their wings, though, is typically to channel the fairy’s power into the ground and to stabilize the fairies.” Hyunjin hummed, and he began to chew on his eraser (despite how much he knew future-Hyunjin would hate him for it) as he considered sketching the fairies his professor was describing. 

In all honesty, he had never met a fairy. His circle of friends really extended to the few mers he knew and the mage acquaintances he had back home. Of course, he had seen fairies around his campus, but they didn’t just walk around with their wings bared for the whole world to see. Despite the safety their campus preached and provided for the students, they couldn’t stop every charge of harassment that came from a shifter showing their true form. It was more of a self-defense thing than anything else. 

“Now for those of you focusing on mers, this portion might be good for you,” his professor said, clicking to the next slide. “Water fairies have wings that are really more like fins. That’s because they’ve evolved over time to not really need to fly. Instead, their wings help them to maneuver in the water better. Their wings tend to be cooler colors, and they don’t expand well like the other fairies’ wings will when they’re not in the water. However, their wings will reflect the sun best.”

Hyunjin’s eyes widened at the long, flowing wings on the screen. They were almost identical to the structure of Changbin’s tail fins. While they may have been slightly larger and a bit more frilly, the lighting was perfect for how the sun would bounce off the wings in the water compared to on land. He quickly slipped his phone from his pocket and snapped a picture of the slide, knowing he wouldn’t have enough time to sketch it to a satisfactory level. 

“Finally we have the most distinctive wings in the fairy community: Air fairies. Their wings are more like bird wings than the other fairies, and they have been mistaken as angels by humans before. They are the only fairies with feathers on their wings and they are also the only fairies who can support their full human form in flight. The most important thing to focus on with these wings is making sure you get the coloring on their wings correct. Each fairy will have slightly different coloring based on their age. Fairies with darker wings are typically in the prime of their life and those who have lighter coloring will typically be older or younger.” 

Hyunjin let his professor fade into the background as he focused back on his sketchbook. He began running his pencil over the edges of the tails on the page, and he began absentmindedly doodling water fairy wings.

When he realized what he had done, he took the flowy pattern from the fairy wings and tried to connect it to the solid tail he had already drawn. Logically, he knew that his tail was going to have to be a very fluid image, but he didn’t realize quite how stiff the tail was until the fins wouldn’t lay right against it. 

As he tried to connect the points one more time, he thought about the lack of body the tail had. While he could watch Changbin and Jeongin swim all day, he knew he wouldn't be able to mirror the movements they had without first becoming familiar with their torsos. 

Well, this would be an interesting request. 

~~~

“Our torsos?” Changbin asked. He was sprawled on his bed again, but this time Jeongin was curled against his side. “Didn’t you get enough when we had to shift?” 

“I can’t connect your bodies to your tails well,” Hyunjin explained. “I can’t get the fluidity that I need to make it look realistic.” 

Before Changbin could protest again, Jeogin shifted and groaned. “Just say yes and let him do it, hyung. I’m sleepy and you two arguing is doing nothing to help me nap.” 

Changbin turned to look at his boyfriend, and Hyunjin felt an unexplainable rush of jealousy at the fond look he fixed the younger with.

“You heard him,” he said. “We’ll do the torso work with you later this week. But Innie wants to nap right now.” 

“I understand,” Hyunjin said, standing and going over to run a careful hand through Jeongin’s hair before making his way to the door. When he pulled it open, he was shocked to see Felix standing with his fist raised, about to knock on the door. 

“Oh,” Felix said, dropping his hand. “I didn’t realize they had company right now.” Hyunjin felt a small smile crawl across his face when he saw how flustered the other boy was. 

“Yeah, I was just stopping by to make sure it was okay for me to draw their torsos to make sure I can get the movement right for the piece I'm working on right now.” Hyunjin stepped out into the hallway, easing the door shut behind him. When Felix made a confused sound from beside him, he realized the boy had probably wanted into the room. 

“Sorry,” Hyunjin said with a small smile. “Jeonginnie is napping right now, and I don’t think Binnie will want to get up any time soon to let you in.” 

Felix nodded, and Hyunjin was about to turn away and move down the hallway to his own dorm (which was a floor up) when he noticed the way the mer’s shoulders drooped. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, not liking the dejected attitude the boy adopted. 

“Ah, this is the one day we really have to hang out together. I don’t get much free time, and I really don’t… like being alone.” Felix paused, chuckling a bit to himself, “But it’s not like you’re going to care about that. Sorry,” he said, turning to move down the hallway. “I’ll just leave you alone now. You probably aren’t interested in my sob story.”

Hyunjin found himself reaching out, grabbing Felix’s wrist and startling a bit at how thin it was. “Well now, wait a second.” When Felix turned to look at him, Hyunjin did his best to look inviting and proposed: “Since my only plans for today were to spend time with Jeongin and Changbin, and yours were, too, why don’t we just hang out with each other instead?” 

Felix blinked at Hyunjin, then looked down to where Hyunjin still hadn’t let go of his wrist. Hyunjin quickly released the mer, and tried to look as inviting and non-threatening as he could. For some reason (probably the kicked puppy look Felix had taken when he learned he wouldn’t get to see his friends) he had decided he wanted to hang out with Felix, and he wasn’t going to scare the boy away when he could very well become a part of his project. That is… if he played his cards right and could get into the redhead’s good graces. 

“Why not,” Felix sighed, then turned to match Hyunjin’s excited look. “So where are we going to go?”

Hyunjin hesitated, then he realized they couldn’t very well spend their time outside of Jeongin and Changbin’s dorm. He thought for a few seconds, then he shuffled the things in his arms again. “Well if we could go back to my dorm real fast, I could drop these things off and then we could go out for coffee or something?” He suggested.

Felix curled his lip at the thought of coffee, “Do you think we could go to the cafe on the other side of campus that offered teas and coffees? I’m not a big fan of coffee.” 

Hyunjin nodded easily, and Felix brightened again. As they turned to move up the hallway, they drifted into silence. It wasn’t necessarily awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable silence either. Hyunjin thought of trying to break it, but he couldn’t really think of anything to ask the other. 

Thankfully, he was saved from trying to figure out what to talk about when they reached the stairs that led to his dorm. Felix let out a small noise and asked, “You live on the mage and witch levels?” 

Hyunjin tilted his head and saw the way Felix’s eyes lit up at the thought of seeing the other floor, and he felt a smile crawl across his face again. (Unconscious smiles seemed to be something Felix caused a lot of.) 

“Yeah,” he replied. “I’m technically a mage, but I can’t figure out what I channel my powers through.” 

“What do you mean?” Felix asked again, and Hyunjin hummed at the question, trying to figure out the best way to word it. 

“Well you know how mages have one item that they push their powers through to perform spells and stuff? I don’t have one exact item to push my powers through.” Hyunjin could see the questions welling up in Felix’s eyes, and he chuckled, knowing that Felix probably had a lot of the same questions he still had. 

“You’re not a witch, though, right? Because they don’t need to channel their power through any one thing.” 

“No, because I can’t perform any magic without something to channel the power through. The only issue is I never imprinted on something. So when I draw, sometimes my art will come to life. I can’t control which pen it will happen with, or whether it comes off of the page or not, and no one has really found a solution to it.” They reached the door to Hyunjin’s dorm, and he eased it open (he had never kept it locked. He didn’t have a roommate and no one wanted to spend time with the kid who couldn’t control his powers, so he had no real risks for finding someone in the room). 

Hyunjin stepped inside and then let Felix follow him. He could almost feel the excitement that rose from the mer when he saw Hyunjin’s desk and easel. Currently, there was a small cat rolling around with yarn on his canvas. The cat was only half painted, but that didn’t stop her from rolling around with the vibrant red yarn. 

“Hyunjin, that’s beautiful,” Felix breathed, and Hyunjin felt his cheeks flush. 

“It’s not done yet,” he muttered, quickly throwing his book bag on his bed and grabbing his smaller journal in case he ended up wanting to sketch something while he was out. 

“Still, the fact that the cat has so much life to it--”

“Her.”

Felix paused and turned to look at Hyunjin. “What?”

“She’s a girl,” Hyunjin explained, then realized how weird it probably sounded that he was assigning a gender to a painting. “I mean… I based that cat off of one I saw running around the campus a while ago. She had so much life in her and thought it would be a good way for me to practice drawing animals. 

“She came to life once I finished the pencil sketch, and she looked lonely so I decided to draw her some yarn to play with.” Hyunjin smiled when the cat seemed to notice that he was there, and she opened her mouth in a silent meow, as if asking if he was going to paint her again. 

“The only time she will sit still is when I set out to paint her. I think it feels like I’m petting her, but she’s absolutely adorable.”

“I agree,” Hyunjin looked over at Felix, and the shorter boy was sitting and watching the painting with a fond expression. “But even so, I think that the fact that you feel something for your painting, even if you don’t know what controls your power… I think that’s amazing.” Felix turned back to Hyunjin, and he felt his breath catch at the excited glimmer in Felix’s eyes. It was something he had never seen before and he was absolutely blown away by how beautiful he was.

“Well,” he said, “Thanks, I guess.” He awkwardly shuffled toward the door, and held it open for Felix to step through. 

“Shall we?” He asked, and Felix easily moved through the doorway. When Hyunjin closed the door behind him, he felt a gentle touch on his elbow. He looked down to see Felix’s small hand, and when he looked at the other boy to see what he wanted, Felix’s eyes were still bright with that amazing light. 

“What’s her name?”

Hyunjin stared at Felix for a second, processing what he had asked, then he ducked his head in embarrassment. “I never named her,” he murmured. 

“Oh,” Felix said, letting go of his elbow. “Well, that’s a shame.” They started down the hallway, keeping in step with each other. 

“What do you think I should name her?” Hyunjin asked after their conversation lulled. 

“Well, I don’t know,” Felix responded. “She’s your creation.” He drifted into silence again, and Hyunjin figured the conversation was done, so he turned forward and watched the ground as he walked. 

“Whatever you decide to name her--” Felix said after a few moments of silence-- “or if you decide not to name her, I hope you’ll at least finish the piece. It’s too pretty to leave incomplete.”

“I’ll finish it,” Hyunjin replied. “I couldn’t just leave her with half of her life, now could I?” 

Felix smiled at Hyunjin, and they drifted into amicable conversation after that. If Hyunjin had paid attention to the time, he would have realized over three hours had passed since he and Felix began talking, but that thought never even crossed his mind. 

~~~

“So should I do like… a Hercules pose?” Changbin asked. He was awkwardly standing on the podium in the art room. Hyunjin wouldn’t have made them come to the room, but his professor announced a surprise quiz grade for workshop attendance.

Apparently everyone else in his class had been logging hours throughout the entire project, but Hyunjin, first having to deal with the fact that he couldn’t draw his models without having them submerged, then having to deal with the possibility of his art coming to life, hadn’t been logging his hours like the rest of the students. So what did he do to correct that? He dragged the mer couple to the studio at 7 in the morning before anyone else could get there in case he accidentally made a dismembered arm pop off of the page. 

“I don’t think Hercules is the right pose for you, hyung,” Jeoning called from the desks he had dragged together to make a bench of sorts to lie across. “I think you should do something more like Flynn Rider!” 

“Yah!” Changbin called, hopping off of the podium, but when Hyunjin cleared his throat from where he was still setting out supplies, Changbin got back onto the stand quickly, crossing his arms across his bare chest. 

“I just don’t understand why I’m the only one who has to be half-naked,” Changbin grumbled. 

“Jeongin will have to strip too, I just don’t see the point in having two men with their shirts off when I’ll only be drawing one at a time,” Hyunjin answered, finally getting everything set up. He turned to Changbin and gestured for him to uncross his arms. 

As Changbin did as instructed, Jeongin hummed in appreciation. “I don’t know, Jinnie,” he said, not taking his eyes off of his boyfriend. “I don’t think any self-respecting gay man would refuse seeing two shirtless men at once.”

“Lucky for you,” Hyunjin hummed as he quickly drew an outline of Changbin’s arms, “that I’m not a horny bastard like you.”

Jeongin laughed, and they drifted into silence again as Hyunjin focussed on his sketches. Jeongin eventually gave up on trying to distract Changbin and started scrolling through his phone. Changbin tried his best to stay still for Hyunjin, but he could tell that the other felt uncomfortable being on display in the middle of the room. 

Hyunjin finished the sketch of Changbin’s arms and chest quickly, then he told the older boy that he could go ahead and put his clothes back on. There was no point in Hyunjin having him stand for a part of his body that he had already sketched enough to complete. As Hyunjin put the last details on the sketch's stomach, he called for Jeongin, and Changbin whooped when the younger threw his shirt off. 

“Ya, Mr. Dramatic!” Hyunjin called, not quite able to stop laughing at the couple as they danced around each other. 

“What?” Jeongin called back, and when he turned to see what Hyunjin wanted, Changbin was quick to wrap his arms around the younger boy, nuzzling into his neck and making him laugh. 

“I’m ready when you are,” Hyunjin said, smiling at the couple. As Jeongin tried to untangle himself from his boyfriend, Hyunjin heard someone awkwardly clear their throat. He turned to see who was interrupting his studio time (not that the studio was entirely his, he just wasn’t expecting it) and felt himself involuntarily smile when he realized it was Felix at the door. 

“Hi Lixie!” He called, allowing the couple to do whatever they wanted to while he went over to greet the shorter boy. 

“Hi Jinnie,” Felix replied, and Hyunjin felt his entire body warm a bit when he smiled at him. “Innie told me that you were working on them again for your project, and he suggested I should come to watch you work a bit.”

Hyunjin chuckled a bit at that, turning to catch Jeongin eyeing the two boys eagerly as he clung to his boyfriend. I shouldn’t have told him about that crush, should I? He thought to himself, before turning back to Felix and fixing him with another bright smile.  “I don’t mind if you join us, but--” he raised a finger and waggled it in warning-- “you’ll probably get bored.” 

“And why do you think that?” Felix asked, brushing past Hyunjin and setting himself up in a desk close to where Hyunjin had already sprawled his stuff. 

“There’s nothing really interesting about someone drawing,” Hyunjin tried to explain, trying to keep his cheeks from flushing too much from the simple touch. 

“Yet I still loved watching you paint Whisper,” Felix responded quickly, and he turned to Hyunjin with a triumphant grin. 

“He’s got you there!” Changbin chimed, and Felix finally seemed to notice the couple in the room. 

As Felix went to talk to Changbin for a few seconds, Jeongin snuck over to Hyunjin (as much as someone in a room with only four people could sneak) and leaned in to whisper, “You’re so whipped it’s obvious, hyung.”

“Shut up!” Hyunjin hissed, and he quickly pushed Jeongin to the pedestal, making the younger climb onto it. 

“So why do you need to draw Innie and Binnie-hyung?” Felix moved over to where Hyunjin situated himself, leaning into his side a bit, before Hyunjin brushed him off so he could reach for his pencils. 

“Remember how I told you about the anatomy course I was doing, and how realism was a major part of the unit?” Felix hummed in agreement, resting his chin on Hyunjin’s shoulder to watch the small strokes Hyunjin made across the page as he was talking. Regardless of how much Hyunjin’s shoulders moved, Felix would simply readjust his head. 

“Well, since I’m doing a piece with Jeongin and Changbin-hyung--two very different body types--I need their human proportions along with their mythical forms. It makes my project look more realistic to see how they move in two different ways to see if any muscles work differently based on their form.” Felix hummed along in understanding, and his small hand came around Hyunjin’s side to run against his ribcage as he drew. Hyunjin never quite figured out why Felix was so cuddly, but he wouldn’t protest against it. 

“So you need different body types to get the most accurate results?” Hyunjin glanced over to the redhead, before humming in affirmation and redirecting his attention to Jeongin, who was jokingly fluttering his eyes at Hyunjin as he shifted his position. 

“Preferably,” Hyunjin replied, then started another sketch from a different angle, trying to make sure to get the definition of Jeongin’s side. 

“Well, why don’t you draw me? I’m different from both of their body types,” Felix suggested, and Hyunjin wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t had Felix’s mouth right next to his ear. 

“Are you sure about that?” Hyunjin asked, lowering his voice, realizing Felix didn’t want the other mers to hear him. 

“Well, yeah,” Felix replied bashfully. “You’re an amazing artist, and I’d love to see how I was shown under your pencil.” 

Hyunjin turned to look at Felix, seeing a slight blush on his face. He knew that he was likely as pink as the other boy, but that didn’t stop him from whispering, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Felix replied, and Hyunjin realized that… maybe… Felix felt the same as he did. 

~~~

Hyunjin was terrified. Another month had passed, and his project was done. After the day in the studio, Hyunjin had practically squirreled himself away in his room, not letting Changbin, Jeongin, or Felix in to see the main piece he was working on. 

Sometimes, he would find the boys eating or lounging around in the park (that was normally Felix. The mer had an odd obsession with sunbathing and running his fingers through the grass.) and he would sketch small parts of their body to incorporate into the project. If Hyunjin happened to make a small postcard of Felix with a constellation on his face surrounded by the night sky in a fit of inspiration, then that was nobody’s concern but his. 

But it was finally here: the showcase. What he and every other student in his class had been building toward since their professor announced the project. Today, his three models would finally see how Hyunjin saw them. They would hopefully see the care that he put into each brushstroke. Sure, watercolor for a mer-inspired project might seem a bit cliched, but he was incredibly proud of the way the piece turned out. 

The three boys had promised that they would drop by during the showcase, but they never said when. Considering they were supposed to stay open for three hours making rounds and answering questions about their pieces, that left a lot of time for Hyunjin to stress over what they would think of him. 

Hyunjin nervously paced over to his display, smiling slightly at the way he had built the project. He had pencil sketches of each of the boys’ full bodies in smaller pages roughly pulled from his sketchbook. As the project grew, the pieces became larger and more detailed. An image of Felix’s hand in the grass, Jeongin’s arms tucked securely around Changbin’s shoulders, Changbin grinning from behind a book as he hid his face from Hyunjin. Each image added more life to the project… the story he went on creating everything. 

As each image grew more detailed, small bits of color incorporated themselves into the images. Red for Changbin’s shirt, brown freckles scattered across Felix’s cheeks, the blue from Jeongin’s baseball cap. Eventually, they reached the end of the journey: Hyunjin’s final piece. A giant canvas with Changbin, Jeongin, and Felix swimming around a reef while the sun shone through the water.  

Changbin’s blue and green tail reflected against the sun, and Jeongin’s darker colors from the deep sea scales contrasted beautifully against the vibrant greens and reds that were around the reef. Hyunjin, while he had never seen Felix’s tail during his sketch, had taken a bit of artistic liberty and assumed that his tail would have the same pale red of his hair. Felix’s tail was the one that reflected easiest against the light, and it easily blended with the background, easily establishing that he belonged in the water with a happy smile as his fins swirled around his face. 

It was perfect. He smiled at the piece, the way everything had turned out, then turned to greet people as they passed by his portion of the hall. An hour and a half passed like this: Hyunjin would greet a random stranger, discuss something about his piece, receive a handshake for his work, and the cycle would repeat itself. 

About an hour into the exhibit’s opening, Changbin and Jeongin made their appearance. They were both dressed in the nicest clothes they had (read: jeans without holes in them and button-downs) and they had giant grins plastered across their faces when they saw Hyunjin dressed to the nines in front of his project. 

“Hey Hyung,” Jeongin greeted, reaching out a hand to swat at Hyunjin’s side. Changbin laughed when Hyunjin flinched away, and he patted the younger’s shoulder in greeting. 

“Hey guys,” Hyunjin replied, and he stepped aside so they could finally look at what he had pestered them over for so long. Hyunjin watched as their eyes widened as they followed the story Hyunjin tried to show in the images. Saw the way he connected each limb and sketch into a giant collage to show how he felt about the people in the pieces. The pure and innocent love that still seemed slightly different based on who he drew. He heard the sharp gasp Jeongin released when he saw him and Changbin in the water. It must be the first time he’s seen the two of them together in their natural forms, Hyunjin realized. 

“Hyunjin,” Changbin whispered, and it seemed to be the only thing the older boy could say as he ran his eyes over the pieces. 

“I guess you… like it?” He asked, and the couple turned to him with wide, tear-filled eyes. 

“This is the best thing I’ve ever seen you do,” Jeongin replied. He wiped at his eyes, almost harshly, like he hadn’t expected to cry tonight. 

“Jinnie, you’ve outdone yourself in every way possible today,” Changbin said, his eyes not leaving the piece where Jeongin was wrapped around Changbin. “I can’t… this is really how you see us?” 

As he turned to look at Hyunjin, the artist felt his own eyes well up at the timid tone both boys had. He wanted to show them how much they meant to him. How much love he saw between the two of them. He hadn’t meant to make them cry of all things. 

“You’re my two best friends. My two closest friends.” Hyunjin replied, choking out the words as best he could. “How could I see you any differently?”

Hyunjin hadn’t expected the hug, but when the two boys wrapped themselves around Hyunjin, muffling their small sobs the best they could, Hyunjin realized he had given the boys a gift--and a confession tonight. While he would never care about them the way they cared for each other, the fact that he put so much effort into their relationship--that obviously meant a lot to the boys. 

They stayed that way for a few more minutes, just basking in each other before the couple eventually pulled away. They gave Hyunjin a watery smile and drifted away to look at the other pieces in the exhibit hall. 

Hyunjin did his best to neaten himself again, and he turned back to start greeting more people. The crowd slowly died out as the clock chimed a new hour, and Hyunjin was left waiting… hoping… that Felix would end up showing. 

Five minutes before the hall was expected to close, just as the last stragglers were making their way out of the doors, Hyunjin had given up on his hopes and turned to start helping take down the exhibit. As he bent down to pick up a few napkins that had fallen from the snack table, he felt a small tap on his shoulder and turned to see who it was. 

“I’m not too late, am I?” Felix asked in a timid voice, and Hyunjin felt his eyes visibly widen as he realized who was standing in front of him. He straightened and looked down at Felix, feeling an overwhelming sweep of fondness when he realized Felix had dressed in the only suit he knew the younger owned to come to see Hyunjin’s exhibit. 

Hyunjin pretended to check his watch, before giggling and replying, “You’re just in time.” Hyunjin led Felix over to his project, watching carefully as Felix ran his eyes over each piece. His small smile widened with each sketch, but when he reached the watercolor piece, it dropped from his face entirely. 

Hyunjin felt a strike of fear, wondering if he had done something wrong by putting the younger in the image, but when Felix turned to him, his eyes weren’t angry, they were sad. 

“This is all beautiful, Jinnie,” Felix said, reaching his hand out like he wanted to run his fingers along one of the sketches before changing his mind. “But I think you got something wrong.”

“Wrong?” Hyunjin asked, moving to stand beside Felix. “Where?” 

“Come with me,” Felix replied in a soft voice. “I’ll show you.” 

Hyunjin trailed behind Felix, feeling his fear mount with each step they took away from his hall. They walked outside, completely silent, and Felix led Hyunjin to the park directly across from the exhibition hall. 

“Why- why are we out here?” Hyunjin asked, confusing seeping through each word as Felix turned to give him a sad smile. 

“Watch.” 

That was all Felix told him before he closed his eyes and light began to emanate from him. Hyunjin’s eyes widened as he watched a transformation that was completely different from Changbin and Jeongin’s. 

The light came from Felix’s chest and expanded outward. His fingertips had small beams that shot from them, and his head flew back with a welcoming smile as the light continued to grow around him. Felix’s feet lifted off of the ground slightly, and the glow seemed to intensify. While Felix was facing him, Hyunjin saw the light grow more intense behind the boy, and it spread, seeming to take the light coming from his limbs and drawing it to his back. 

Wings. 

Hyunjin could see it now. Felix wasn’t a mer at all. As the light shifted, the rich gold becoming green and extending downward, Hyunjin’s thoughts flashed back to the lecture he had gotten at the start of the project: “Opposite to fire fairies, we have earth fairies. Their wings extend downward--in fact, the easiest way to imagine it would be to take fire fairy wings and flip them upside down. An earth fairy’s wings tend to trail the ground when they are out, and they have the second-largest wingspan among the fairies.” 

Felix’s wings easily trailed the ground, and his feet weren’t even touching it yet. The green light receded, but that didn’t stop the subtle glow that ran through the spine of his wings. The fine details--the small swirls that extended from the base and slowly faded out as they got further away from his back they made Hyunjin itch to grab his sketch pad and draw Felix that very second. The way the plants seemed to lean into him, the way Felix seemed infinitely more at ease in the garden, Hyunjin wasn’t sure how he hadn't seen it before. 

“You’re a nature fairy,” Hyunjin whispered, finally seeming to find his voice. “How… how did I--”

“You didn’t know because I always just assumed you did know,” Felix cut him off, reaching out to run his fingers across the branch trying to wrap itself around his waist. “After all,’ he continued with a smile, “You would always draw me when I was in a garden, or involved with nature in some form.

“I thought it was a bit weird that you never asked to see my wings, but then I figured you just got a picture of them from Jeongin and Changbin.” Felix chuckled lightly and stepped closer to Hyunjin, and the mage was overwhelmed with the scent of honeysuckle and lavender. He had always been able to smell it when Felix was near, but he figured it was just a perfume the younger used. Now, he realized it was how the boy naturally smelled. 

“You may not have wanted to use my wings… I could see how it wouldn’t quite fit with Binnie and Innie’s natural form, but I guess I was always just… hoping I would make it. That you would find a way to include me.” 

Hyunjin stood there, still speechless as he took in Felix. While his face hadn’t changed much, he seemed daintier now. He didn’t have the same rough look to him that Hyunjin had always connected with Jeongin and Changbin. He was absolutely beautiful in a way that wasn’t like the mers at all. He was completely unique and…

“I think I love you,” Hyunjin whispered. He hadn’t meant to say it, the confession had just slipped out. And from the way Felix’s eyes widened, and his own mirrored, he realized that Felix hadn’t been expecting it either. 

“I--I’m sorry,” Hyunjin stuttered out, reaching a hand out to try to steady Felix before he tripped over his wings. “I didn’t mean to say it so suddenly, please just forget that ever happened I--”

But Hyunjin couldn’t choke out the rest of his apology. Felix reached a gentle hand up and placed it on Hyunjin’s shoulder, effectively silencing the mage. 

Hyunjin looked up, feeling a sliver of hope shine through the mounting dread that was coursing through him, but when he saw the apologetic gleam in Felix’s eyes, he felt that hope die almost immediately.

“I’m sorry, Jinnie,” Felix whispered like he could barely get the words out. “But I don’t feel the same way.” 

Oh. Hyunjin thought as the dread took over, weighing him down more than he ever thought it could. I… didn’t see this coming. 

“I wish I could, I really do!” Felix tried to reassure him, and if Hyunjin had been able to look the shorter boy in the eyes, he would have seen the desperation to want to feel the same, “but I’m--I already love someone else.” Felix admitted. 

There it is. Hyunjin thought with a sad smile, looking up at Felix for the first time since the younger had spoken to him. “I understand,” he whispered, and he wanted to do everything he could to wipe that pained look off of Felix’s face. 

“I just… I need to go right now,” Hyunjin said, shaking Felix’s hand off of his shoulder and turning. 

“Don’t do this!” Felix called, trying to reach for Hyunjin again, but he brushed him off.

“Please,” Felix begged, and Hyunjin wanted to turn. He wanted to pull Felix into his arms and get rid of the pain that was in the other’s voice. But he couldn’t. Not when he was trying to choke down his own sobs. 

“Just leave me alone for now,” Hyunjin said, one last time. Not allowing himself to look at the shorter boy, knowing that would make him want to stay.

“I’ll see you around,” he said, then took the first step away from the garden. He was running before his mind even registered it, tears streaming down his face as he did everything he could to just get away. Away from that garden, away from the confession, and away from Felix.

He left the fairy in the garden, his own tears streaming down his face in small threads of light. The plants tried to sweep them away, tried to soothe him, but nothing would be able to soothe their hearts any time soon.  

Hyunjin just hoped that one day he would be able to look Felix in the eyes again and not feel what he felt right now. But he wasn’t sure if that day would ever come. Goodbye, Felix. He thought, right as he hit the sidewalk for the town. He turned into the first bar he found and placed himself at the first stool available. 

Goodbye.