fell in love at the seaside

[jecca-o9.livejournal.com]

fell in love at the seaside
onew/jessica
1,465 words | pg-13 | romance
summary where jessica is a mermaid banished from their kingdom, and jinki is the fisherman that finds her.
note this was an edit i made on tumblr [x]. title is a lyric from the kooks, beta'd by the lovely stacey. comments are much appreciated.

zero. it's sundown, the air carrying the salt from the sea, and jinki is on his way back home from the market. there's someone passed out on the docks, and while it isn't a normal occurrence, it is not uncommon either. it's almost high tide and jinki just does what anyone would do for him, if he was in that situation--try to wake that person up and get them out of the way of the waves. this is how jinki finds her. one. her long brown hair sticks to her back in wet curls, scales over her legs. when jinki touches her shoulder to wake her, she shifts and the scales slide off. "oh," he says. she has wide eyes and she trembles when she wakes up. she takes one look around her, at her body, at the scales on the dock, at jinki and starts crying, hands over her face, hair over her body. jinki hands over his jacket without a word. it's long enough on her to cover her modesty. the sun sets slowly behind them. two. somehow, jinki manages to convince her to walk (her name is jessica and she falls, many times, and jinki ends up holding her, his arm around her waist, her arm clutching his side) to the the village medic. and that's how this is supposed to end, really, because jinki, as kind as he is, doesn't have any plans to bring her home and let her stay with him. but she refuses to stay at the medics after he declares her ‘healthy, but in shock’ and says she has no family any more. (jinki is surprised that she can talk in a language they can understand) she leaves with jinki, her hand curled around his elbow. jinki's hut isn't tiny, just enough for someone to live in comfortably. it reeks of fish and salt, and she smiles when she inhales. jinki manages to rustle up an old t-shirt of his and a pair of shorts an ex-girlfriend left behind. she looks at them in puzzlement and jinki haltingly explains that up here, they need to wear clothes. jinki helps her into them, as much as he can, with his face red and his eyes averted. three. jessica recoils when dinner is served, grilled fish, tomatoes and a bit of rice. this is going to be more of a problem than jinki thought. he’s a fisherman; eating seafood for him is the norm. jessica.... well, up until a few hours ago, she was a mermaid. jinki wonders if these are her friends, and it startles him when she answers--he didn’t realize he said it out loud. “not friends, exactly. more like pets--but they are still part of the kingdom.” she says, pushing her plate away. she has a coldness about her and jinki doesn’t know if it’s innate or a defense mechanism at getting thrown into the human world. jinki serves her rice and soup instead. looks like he’ll need to shop for more vegetables in the coming days. four. jessica sleeps on the couch. as a human, she’s a vegetarian and is useless at any kind of household chore. she’s useless at everything really; she doesn’t know what things are, much less how they work. she spends her days practicing how to walk, gazing at the sea, and finally exploring the village. jinki teaches her about household items, clothes, how to use a broom and how to cook. (sometimes, jessica tells him bits about her life in their kingdom under the sea; the riches and the pearls that adorned their palace, the intricate weeds they used as beds. she looks wistful, her eyes far away, the corners of her mouth turned down) it’s more than a week before jinki discovers that she can sing. five. sometimes jinki sees her, wading out to the sea, her dress clutched between her hands. the wind would blow her hair, tresses getting tangled, seaweed curling around her toes. still, the sea never takes her back. six. jessica sings whenever there are village events and gets paid a decent sum for it. most of the time, she sings three nights a week at the local tavern. she does not move out of jinki’s hut (which only adds fuel to the fire of the town gossips), but helps with the bills instead--and she’s bought herself clothes with the money she makes from singing, clothes that are infinitely more fashionable and make the other village girls envy her figure and fashion sense. jinki doesn’t really care about those things, as long as he’s got a roof over his head and food on the table every day. but she’s smiling and sure of herself for the first time since she washed up ashore, and jinki can’t help but feel happy too, his heart expanding with every one of her smiles. (and when she buys him a new cap because his old one was tattered--she noticed--he smiles like never before and promises to treasure it). seven. the first time they kiss is under the stars, on the beach. it’s a thing jinki does, watch the stars at night, and over the months that have passed, jessica sometimes joins him, their legs against the rough sand, the cool breeze against their skin. jinki teaches her about constellations and planets, and jessica draws plant and animal life found deep under the sea for him. jessica is laughing at something jinki just said, and jinki thinks she’s the most beautiful thing in this world, with her eyes sparkling and her hair as smooth as silk. he’s drawn to her like he’s never been drawn to anybody before, and he kisses her in the middle of a story about a pearl thief under the sea. she gasps and jinki starts to back away, already regretting upsetting their precarious balance--she’ll not want to live with him now--when jessica’s fingers clutch at his shirt and he’s being pulled forward. and it’s jessica who’s kissing him this time, her soft lips under his own, coaxing, his bottom lip in between hers as she pulls. jinki holds her close and kisses back, heart flying out of his chest. eight. jessica moves into jinki’s bedroom eight months after they officially start dating, almost a year and a half since jinki found her. she sleeps with her head pillowed on jinki’s chest, hand curled over his heart. one of her legs is usually trapped between jinki’s, skin against skin. jinki sleeps with his arm around her and his face buried in her hair. their hearts beat in rhythm. nine. sometimes jinki sees her, wading out to the sea, her dress clutched between her hands. the wind would blow her hair, tresses getting tangled, seaweed curling around her toes. still, the sea never takes her back. (it hurts jinki when she does this because--because he’s happy when she’s around, and when she sees her like this, lonely and knowing that something is missing, that jinki is not enough-- but jinki learns to accept it, to live with it, because something that matters always leaves its mark, will always be missed.) “hey,” jinki says, walking towards her, water lapping at his ankles. jessica turns and sees him, a smile breaking out on her face like sunshine on a cloudy day. “i wish,” jessica starts, looking out towards the sea, one hand clutched over her chest--and looking at her, just looking at her makes jinki’s heart clench, “that they could meet you. my family. my friends. they would love you, i know.” jinki blinks, thrown. jessica smiles at him and links her hand with this. “but not as much as i do.” and she leans closer and kisses him. jinki feels the sea everywhere. ten. they walk out to the docks after a simple picnic dinner on the beach, under the twinkling stars. the docks, where jinki found her, seems like an appropriate place to do this--near enough her family, should they be listening, and the place where it all started. jinki gets down on one knee. “will you marry me?” jessica laughs, like the beautiful music she makes. she pulls jinki to stand up. “yes. yes!” and she throws herself at him, and jinki catches her (always), and spins her around, laughing. this is how jessica keeps him. zero. it's sundown, the air is carrying the salt from the sea, and jinki is on his way back home from the market. there's someone sitting at the docks, hair getting blown by the wind. jinki approaches and she turns, smiling when she sees him. the sun makes her hair glow. “come,” jessica says, reaching for his hand. he settles next to her, and she places his hand on the bump on her stomach. her eyes are sparkling. “she’s kicking.”