The silence between them wasn't as uncomfortable as it had previously been. As they were walking along the rocky shore, only the wind, the waves and the occasional caws of seagulls were filling the gap of their nonverbal communication. Days were coming and going and the two men were finding it was progressively becoming easier for them to be close - both their problems and weights taken into silent account with every glance they'd exchange.

It would be a blunt lie for Donghae to say he was familiar with such a company of another person. He had spent his whole life socializing with the village's people. And even though he had grown up with many of them, they never were too close. Playing and later working together, yes. Trusting their deepest thoughts at each other, no.

Never.

At first it hadn't crossed his mind that Hyukjae would be able to offer him what he had been searching for. But look now, the city boy had managed to sneak into their lives - into his life! - and disturb everything. That disturbance seemed to be for the best - according to Donghae's brain wheels turning anyway...

Without realising it, they had slowed down, now merely dragging their feet on smooth pebbles. The younger craned his neck and looked at the sky. The weather had changed once again and heavy clouds were rapidly gathering. His eyes scanning the horizon, Donghae spotted the natural shelter a steep cliff was offering.

“I've spent countless hours under here as a child,” he admitted as him and Hyukjae sat on a log washed up by the violent waves. Its twisted, bone-white branches reminded hands to the older – the clutches of some evil witch, lurking deep in an always dark forest.

“You're still a child.”

They didn't say anything else. Only gazing far at the rising waves, watching the water forming thick, transparent walls and crushing down seconds later. Holding their breath at those barely worth mentioning bits of a second that the sea was hanging still after the quick accenting to the sky. It was as if they were silently betting which would fall faster. Would it be Hyukjae's the unlucky one? Or perhaps Donghae's wave?

The younger sighed just as the mass of salty water his eyes had been following crushed back in its original place. He picked a small piece of wood from the ground and turned it in his hands.

“I almost drowned one time. Somewhere around this side of the village.”

He had spoken quietly, maybe hoping for the older not to listen over the sounds of nature around them. But Hyukjae did and his head turned immediately towards the other man.

“How?”

Donghae kept staring at the upside-down sea, the fairly long locks of his hair thrashing about.

“It's not that interesting of a story. It just happened.

I must have been about six or seven years old. It was early April, the weather close to today's, and my brother had the genius idea to go out in the sea. I think they had made a bet, him and his friends. Something about cutting a few blades of a particular type of seaweed growing only in one islet, not even two miles off the shore.”

The brunet smiled at the memory of the past years' silly games.

“We took dad's boat secretly, late one afternoon while he was taking his nap. We set off to complete the quest. And failed miserably, of course.”

He winced and glanced at Hyukjae. The older was listening with interest, the corners of his mouth curled upwards as the image of young Donghae popped in his mind: a short, squishable kid trying to govern a boat, fist pumping angrily at the raging water and his yells urging his imaginary crew forward.

“It was a disaster; the wind picked up just as we left the safety of the harbour behind and there were waves hitting us from every side. Donghwa was trying to steady her while I was looking for that accursed rock! To cut a long story short, a wave hit me while I was standing on the bow and dad had gone searching for us along with some other fishermen.”

He shook his head miserably.

“He gave us a good beating afterwards...”