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Can I request 36 with Joshua please?

a mermaid’s kiss

pairing: mermaid!joshua x gn!reader

word count: ~1.0k

warnings: death tw (reader dies but comes back to life). mentions of shua dying the same way (and implications his friends did, too).

daisy’s notes: mermaid shua........ i love he. admittedly i wanted to play w this concept more hehe i like fantasy stuff >:3

by all means, falling into the ocean was not the way you thought you’d die.

the sea was not a kind lover in any capacity, in your opinion. but with one of your friends getting married across the sea, you had decided to make the journey to see them. if you didn’t, you’d never hear the end of it from seungcheol--who you knew would write you letter after letter until your gave him a real reason (in which you didn’t: your seasickness could be tamed, and the journey certainly wasn’t as long as others could be). a few weeks at sea wouldn’t kill you.

the storm would instead.

the others had managed to get below deck while you had scooped up a child who’d been separated from his parents, passing him off to a deckhand to rush off with him. all it took was uneasy waters to throw you overboard, your screams lost to the wind as you broke underneath the waves with a painful splash that sent every part of your body aching. despite not being one for water, you had managed to break the surface and take in as much air as you could before being pulled back under.

others might fear sharks. you, on the other hand, were acutely aware of merfolk. you’d heard the stories from sailors time and time again--that they were vicious, that their teeth were sharp as needles and could tear through human flesh within seconds if they found you. that their eyes could enchant you into coming closer, too--a sign that you were doomed when you saw that glimmer. it was kill or be killed when you came in contact with merfolk, and if they were starving...? you knew you couldn’t stand a chance, especially when you were weaponless.

you tried to breach the surface once more, the dark ocean hard to navigate as the wind whipped around you. you scrambled to untie any part of your outfit that could weigh you down too much. yet the waves pulled you under nonetheless, your body already swallowing too much water. your consciousness started to fade, and you knew that this was it.

and then you were met with the pale glow of death awaiting you.

a mermaid had found you in your final moments. he stared at you curiously, eyes glimmering as he tilted his head. he opened his mouth, saying something that you wouldn’t understand--too garbled from the water. you wished you had the strength to fight, to die on your own terms.

he rushed toward you, fingers curling around the back of your neck as he pressed his lips against yours. a warmth washed over you, almost numbing for a moment--and you called the feeling the welcome embrace of an awaiting death. yet he drew away as you breathed in, water like oxygen to you, his hands holding your face. you could feel how slick his touch was, the webbing between his fingers pressed against your skin as you struggled to move your body. despite the way you were weightlessly floating in the water now, your limbs felt as heavy as lead as that warmth made its way through you.

“are you... okay?” he said slowly. he was still looking you over for wounds. you weren’t sure if he was doing it to to lower your guard, or if maybe the stories you had heard were wrong.

you found the strength to speak. “please don’t kill me.”

the merman said nothing in response to that, his body curling around you as he continued to look you over. “your ship is gone,” he said quietly. he looked past you. "you were gone, too.”

“thank you,” you croaked out after a moment. you could feel your fingers again, too. they’d felt so stiff... but you managed to turn yourself around, “what about my ship?”

“you don’t understand, do you?” he turned you to face him. “you were gone. i saved you. you can’t go back now,” he took your hands into his own. “you’ll change soon,” he pressed his palms against your own. you could see how different he looked compared to you: scales and webbing and gills on his neck... “you belong to the ocean now.”

you jerked away. “you shouldn’t have--”

“it’s what happened to many of us,” he said. “if you don’t want a second chance...”

your family. seungcheol’s wedding. the life you had lived before... all of that was gone, wasn’t it? if your family believed you were dead, then wouldn’t it be cruel to return to them just to say you couldn’t stay? or would it be relief if they knew you were alive, even if you were cursed to become merfolk in the end?

“i’ll take care of you,” the mermaid said to you. “you can see them again one last time. that’s what the sea witch grants us,” he said. “i saw my family again, too. they know that i’m alive. you can tell yours, too.” he turned you to face him. “is that what you wanted to hear? that you could see them?”

it had been. how did he--

“i went through this, too,” he told you. “i’ll help you. just... be more careful,” he smiled. “my friend and i will protect you, but you still have to learn.”

you told him your name. he repeated it, sounding it out slowly.

“joshua,” he told you. joshua kept your hand securely in his own as he turned, swimming away so fluidly you were amazed. would you be like this, too, once you grew accustomed to it? once you changed?

“just hold on tight to my hand,” he told you after a moment. “i’ll keep you safe.”

you’d hold him to it.