Chapter 2

Chan looked up at the bright white moon in the sky, casting down a glimmering light across the water. The beach’s sand was white, feeling cold as Chan picked some up in his hand and let it run down and fall between his fingers. He took a deep breath.

The sounds around him were like a gentle melody in his ear. He could hear the splashing of water against the rocks, the steady rhythm of the waves, and the occasional splashes coming from the water that abruptly hit the edge of the beach.

Chan drew closer to the water, laptop held snugly against his side. The dark night sky was clear, full of stars and constellations of all types. A gentle breeze carried a whiff of the salty air to Chan’s nose.

Once he found a good spot that was a comfortable distance away from the water, he sat down on the soft sand, not caring about his black ripped jeans getting dirty.

He hummed a melody as he started up his laptop, finding this place the perfect environment to work on a song. He knew coming out here for inspiration would be good for him. Why he worked best at such ungodly hours was something that always puzzled a part of him, but it’s not like he could ever sleep anyway.

Hyunjin could hear faint humming coming from the beach. He panicked. He had gone to an area closer to the beach because never before had he ever seen or heard anyone else at this late of an hour. Is that a human? What would a human be doing out in the middle of the night?

He peeked out from behind a rock and saw someone sitting down in front of the sea. He had a head full of light blonde curls. His black headphones that were connected to his laptop blocked his hearing from the rest of the world, completely immersed in whatever he was listening to. Hyunjin could make out a slight smile on the man’s face, one of content. How Hyunjin was curious about that smile.

Despite Chan looking like any other human Hyunjin has seen before, there was something odd about him. Through his connection with the sea and the man’s close proximity with the water, Hyunjin couldn’t sense such an energy coming from him. His energy was peculiar, almost familiar to Hyunjin’s senses.

The sea witch furrowed his eyebrows, already hearing the warnings his hyungs would give him about approaching such a person sitting on the beach. His head was filled with worst case scenarios, his body wanting to go back into the water, back to safety. But in that moment, he did something for the first time in his life. He took a chance.

Chan was about to play with the different pitch settings of a music sample when he heard footsteps. His ears immediately focused on the person approaching him, but he didn’t look up from his screen just yet. Instead he just sat there, listening to the gradual crescendo coming from the other’s steps across the white sand.

Chan took off his headphones and set them to the side, eyes moving from the black shadow on the ground up to the figure. His skin was slightly sun-kissed and his eyes lit up in the moonlight. He had a delicate mole placed near his eye, plump lips, and a confused look on his ethereal-seeming face.

“What are you doing?” The other finally asked after a moment of peaceful silence.

Instead of replying right away, Chan just did what he always did when he encountered another being that interested him, he listened to their sound. Everything had a sound, and it didn’t have to be musical. Like some people can see auras, Chan’s abilities were similar in the way that he could hear how a person would carry themself.

This man was not human, he could pick up on that. This tall male sounded nearly identical to the waves of the sea behind him. He must have some deep spiritual connection with the body of water, otherwise Chan would have detected maybe some other sound.

The music witch titled his head slightly. “What are you doing?” He questioned back.

Hyunjin was immediately taken back. Okay this man is kinda weird. Maybe I should just go away-

“Just walking,” Hyunjin said nonchalantly. He must have been getting bolder by the minute, because he just answered without thinking about the words spilling out of his mouth.

The curled blonde let out a soft hum, sounding like he wasn’t too convinced by Hyunjin’s answer. But it seemed he chose to not press forward.

“Are you... working on something?” Hyunjin asked him while pointing to his laptop.

Chan nodded, looking at the sea witch in front of him. “I work best at night. And being here is good inspiration for my latest song.”

“So you’re a music producer?”

“Something like that,” Chan shrugged. He reached out a hand, holding it out in Hyunjin’s direction.

“I’m Bang Chan by the way. What’s your name?” He asked.

Hyunjin awkwardly shook hands with him, the custom being too human for him. “I’m Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin,” He answered.

Chan patted a spot next to him on the sand and grinned at the sea witch. “Wanna sit down? I could really use a second opinion on this track.”

Hyunjin ran a hand through his long blonde locks and debated on whether or not he should stay with the stranger. He could be dangerous for all he knew.

“Please Hyunjin?” Chan asked again, this time having a more playful tone in his voice.

The sea witch snickered a little, he almost sounded like his brother BamBam. “Sure, why not?” Hyunjin gave in.

The two witches had been meeting up with each other every other night. Usually after midnight so Chan could sneak out of the house without his younger siblings questioning him. Hyunjin would ask Chan lots of questions about being a witch and what things were like on the surface, while Chan would ask Hyunjin what he thought about his music. To Chan’s surprise, Hyunjin had a pretty good ear for it. The sea witch had explained that people in his family would sing and rap all the time around him, but Hyunjin himself had never studied or practiced music.

“Why’d you bring a microphone hyung?” Hyunjin asked one day while they sat on the beach. Learning from the first time he came, Chan brought a blanket to lay on the beach as well as some snacks and beverages from the surface for Hyunjin to try for the first time. Hyunjin was currently sipping an americano and eating some jelly candies.

“I brought a microphone because we’re going to be recording ourselves singing and rapping the lyrics,” Chan grinned.

“Us?” Hyunjin questioned. Hyunjin helped Chan in the creative process a few times, but this was nothing like that at all. Hyunjin was worried. He’d never tried anything like this before.

“Yeah, us,” Chan chuckled while bumping shoulders with Hyunjin, “I really feel like your voice will compliment the song. The beach is not my preferred location to record, but we’ll make it work.”

Before Hyunjin could express his doubts and concerns out loud, Chan already put his headphones over Hyunjin’s ears, pulled up the lyrics, and instructed Hyunjin on what to do. At first Hyunjin was frozen and Chan had to give him reassurance and let him try again. But after gathering a little bit of courage, Hyunjin sang. And his voice was extraordinary.

A few days after Chan finally finished the song, they listened to it together. Hyunjin did the vocal parts while Chan did the rapping and some background vocals. He was proud of himself, but especially proud of Hyunjin.

The sea witch smiled when they listened to the finished song once more, and he started to get up on his feet. “Well now that you’re finished, I guess you won’t really need me anymore.”

Chan’s smile slowly started to drop. “Won’t be needing you anymore? What makes you think that?”

“Well I helped you with your song, and even though you’re really nice to me, I’m not sure what else I could help you with,” The sea witch shrugged.

Chan got up on his feet too and looked the taller in the eyes. “Now hold on there. I’m not spending time with you just because I need your help. I spend time with you because I want to be your friend. I like talking with you and seeing you.”

Hyunjin pursed his lips and his gaze quickly went over to the sea. Although he and his seven brothers got along, he had never really had any friends or close relationships outside of them. The other merpeople usually avoided Hyunjin, sea witches in general having a not so nice stigma around them. But he was used to it, and his brothers made sure to treat Hyunjin like they would treat any other merperson. But never in his life did Hyunjin have such a person like Chan. A person that reached out and wanted to be his friend.

“Oh my god, are you tearing up? Hyunjinnie, I’m so sorry,” Chan apologized when he saw how glassy the other’s eyes were. He went in for a hug, wrapping the younger’s torso in his arms. Hyunjin didn’t look down at Chan, instead he just stared off at the sea. Through his tears, Hyunjin smiled. There was a warmth inside his body that felt new, but comforting to him.

Hyunjin let out a weak laugh. “It’s okay hyung. I’m just happy.”

Notes:

Idk why but in my opinion, I feel like Chan and Hyunjin’s friendship is grossly underrated in real life. So I decided to make it more of the main focus in this chapter :)

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