Drabbles

Taehyung's head pops up over the side of the boat. He tosses a fish in and beams up at Jin.

"Beautiful," Jin says. He eyeballs the pile and begins to reel in his line. "Actually, I think that's enough for today."

Since he met Taehyung, Jin hasn't stopped working, but the fact is, Taehyung catches three fish for each one Jin does, and so Jin is getting twice as much done in half the time. He actually can't bring any more than this into the market each day… he's not interested in explaining Taehyung to the people on shore.

Taehyung's human arms are resting easily on the edge of the boat, not what is holding him ten feet above the water. The blunt, curious tip of a rosy octopus arm peeks up, and then Taehyung is hauling himself over. 

Yoongi goes into the cabin without a single word as he has been ordered to on several previous occasions, and Taehyung is sliding across the deck in a complex eight-armed shuffle like a dance. He stops an inch from Jin's face. "Hi, hyung."

Jin produces a handkerchief and dabs away some of the water around Taehyung's hairline that the sun hasn't evaporated yet. Taehyung accepts the attention graciously, smiling into Jin's eyes. When he's in the air, the gills on his sides seal closed, and he breathes with deep, happy sighs. 

"All right," Jin says, putting his wet handkerchief away, and then he has two armsful of beaming octopus-man. 

"Will you fry the croaker for lunch?" Taehyung never had cooked fish before he started sneaking onto the boat; it's possible he thinks Jin and Yoongi invented frying.

"Yoongi's already starting it," Jin says. "We brought some beer, too."

Taehyung wrinkles his nose, but there are undeterred octopus arms creeping around Jin's waist and legs, one limb slipping under his shirt and testing his skin with tiny points of suction.

Jin remembers thinking this was gross—he remembers screaming like the boat's whistle when he first saw Taehyung—but he can't remember why. Taehyung's arms are so subtle and clever, and there are so many of them, and nobody else on the bay has someone so strange and special climbing into their boats to bring them gifts.

Still, when Taehyung taps his lips to ask for a kiss, Jin hesitates. 

"Hyung," Taehyung whines. "I like you so much. I know you like me, too."

Jin looks down between their bodies, his long, straight limbs and Taehyung's winding around them.

"I'm not very adventurous," Jin says slowly.

"Oh, that's okay," Taehyung says brightly. "I am! But hyung, is it that big of an adventure, one little, tiny kiss?"

There's a spot on Taehyung's waist, the natural place to hold, where his skin changes, growing smoother as it slides down. Jin likes how it feels against his palms, how touching Taehyung there makes his upper body go goosebumps all over.

"You do like me, right, hyung?" Taehyung asks softly.

And, well. It's just one little kiss.