Sunggyu couldn’t remember what happened. He was standing on the ledge, his ankles surrounded by water. He was holding a bucket – a bucket of fish. He remembered slipping. He didn’t remember what he slipped on, but his foot slipped on something. He was probably distracted by something and just fell. He would have called out for Woohyun, but by the time that thought crossed his mind he was already far beneath the surface. So now here he was, floating in the depths of a dolphin tank. He didn’t know much, but he knew at least one thing.

He was terrified.

He felt his lungs starting to burn from lack of oxygen, and he felt lightheaded. He tried to reach out to grab onto something, anything, but there was nothing to grab on to. He forced his eyes open and his heart hammered as he saw that he was floating in nothing but water. It burned his eyes and he wanted to close them. He clawed at the water around him, trying to move but he couldn’t. He was just floating there, thrashing without any success. And then it hit him that he didn’t even know which way was which anymore. He didn’t know what was up, or down, or sideways. He was lost. He felt like crying. He didn’t want to die like this. This wasn’t how he wanted to die.

But the whole ordeal felt familiar. Too familiar, almost – as if he had been in this same situation before. He could feel himself start to choke on his own throat as he brought his hands to his nose to try and stop water from entering his nostrils.

All of a sudden, he felt something bang into his backside and he rushed forward. The force made him cough and release whatever air was left in his mouth. He slammed his hands over his mouth; afraid he would start swallowing water.

Then he felt the water around him begin to move faster and he panicked. He kicked his legs around, not knowing what he was doing. Suddenly he felt more than one object brush around him and a high-pitched noise enter his ears. They sounded like long squeaks, but he wasn’t sure; his ears were waterlogged.  

Suddenly, a gray face and a pair of black eyes appeared in front of him. He froze, every sense of panic multiplying by sevenfold. It stared him straight in the eyes and without thinking he let out a scream. He choked as water rushed into his mouth and he slammed his palms over it again. Whatever oxygen he had left was gone.

More swimming bodies pushed against his stomach, urging him the other direction. He would swim if he only knew how. He hands clawed at the water again, hoping to find some kind of escape before his throat gave out on him.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and pulled him in what he assumed to be upward. He felt his ears pop as the strong arms dragged him further. The surface grew lighter and lighter until it was an almost blinding white.

Within seconds he and Woohyun burst out of the surface with a large gasp of air. Sunggyu coughed and coughed, salt water burning his lungs.

“Hoya!” Woohyun called as he held a firm grip on Sunggyu. “Help me out!” Woohyun swam them both over to the edge of the platform, where Hoya, Bora and Gongchan helped to pull them out.

Sunggyu rolled onto the platform where he retched and choked up water from the depths of his trachea. He shook and he sputtered and he could feel himself shaking violently. His vision was beginning to fuzz at the corners and his own breathing became harsh.

“Sunggyu?” Woohyun called, starting to worry. “Sunggyu, can you hear me?”

He felt those uncontrollable tears start falling and he choked back his crying. He didn’t want to cry now but the salty streams kept flowing. He shivered and let out a whimper.

“Sunggyu!” Woohyun exclaimed in worry. He rushed to his side and took a hold of his shoulders. “Sunggyu look at me – look at me, it’s me Woohyun! You’re absolutely okay. You’re fine. You’re above water, you’re breathing air – Sunggyu, you’re fine!”

He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out were harsh whimpers and raspy coughs. He choked as a sob shook his body and Woohyun pulled him closer. He brought Sunggyu’s face to his shoulder, shielding his face from the view of the tank and water.

“Hyung, is he okay?” Gongchan asked from the side.

Woohyun merely shook his head. “He’s not. We need to get him out of here. It doesn’t help that we’re still sitting in water.”

Hoya nodded, vaguely understanding the situation. He helped Woohyun lift Sunggyu to his on feet. Woohyun held him tightly, the elder’s face still in his shoulder.

“Come on, Sunggyu-hyung,” Woohyun whispered, holding him as he took baby steps to the metal staircase. “We’re going away now, okay? You’re fine, you’re fine.”

Hoya spoke, “I’ll let you take care of him. I’ll return to go check on the sea lions.” Woohyun nodded in response.

After getting him down the steps, Woohyun immediately took him to the trainer locker rooms. By the time Woohyun sat Sunggyu down on a bench, his tears had stopped and were just reduced to sniffles. Woohyun disappeared for a moment and when he reappeared he wore his hoodie and held a towel and water bottle in his hands. He draped the towel over Sunggyu’s head and handed him the bottle of water.

“Here,” he said, putting a straw in it. “You should drink some water… calm your nerves.”

Sunggyu took it with a grateful nod. He brought it to his lips with shaking fingers and drank it. He thought it was ironic. Here he was, drinking water when it was water that had gotten him in this state in the first place. He hated himself for it. He hated that something like water could bring him down to his knees. He didn’t like that it made him so vulnerable.

He felt Woohyun sit down next to him. The younger’s eyes were focused on the floor as he crossed his legs and twiddled his thumbs. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “This is all my fault. I-I shouldn’t have left you alone near the ledge,” he whispered.

Sunggyu shifted the towel over his hair to glance at Woohyun. The boy looked so guilty that it even made Sunggyu feel bad. He looked like he wanted to cry as he bit his bottom lip and gripped his fingers tighter.

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu began.

“No – it’s really all my fault,” Woohyun cut in. “I just assumed you would’ve been okay but I shouldn’t have! I should have brought you with me, or something. I feel so bad,” he said regretfully, hugging his arms. “Oh man, Sungyeol and Myungsoo will never forgive me for this. You’ll never forgive me for this. Why do I always go and ruin everything?” he said bitterly. “I shouldn’t have–”

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu interrupted gently. Woohyun looked up at him with eyes that reminded Sunggyu of a kicked puppy. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “I shouldn’t have stood so close to the edge. I don’t hate you or anything, okay? I forgive you for this.”

“How could you–”

“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Sunggyu said. “I hate being disabled by something I shouldn’t be afraid of. Maybe it’s the fear of drowning like just now… maybe it’s something I don’t remember.” His voice shook and he didn’t like how weak it made him sound. “I just hate it all.”

Woohyun paused for a moment before saying, “What I was hoping would happen is that… you would spend a lot of time with me and the animals. Then it would turn into accidental therapy. But now I know that’s not going to work so well.”

Sunggyu sighed and gripped the ends of the towel. “I wish it could. I really hoped that this park would be a breakthrough for me. I want to get rid of this phobia so badly. I just get angry thinking of how embarrassing I looked just now.” He shook his head.

They sat in a silence, the only sound being a lonely drip of a leaky showerhead somewhere in the locker room.

“I need to learn how to swim,” Sunggyu said, breaking the silence.

Woohyun nodded lightly. “Yeah… I think that would help you a lot. It would give you more confidence, knowing that you could save yourself from water.” He looked to Sunggyu. “But learning to swim in extremely deep waters would not be a good idea for you.”

Sunggyu shook his head. “Maybe I should try in my apartment building’s pool.”

“Your apartment building has a pool?”

“Yeah, on the roof. People barely use it though.”

Woohyun thought to himself for a moment. Then he smiled. “I should teach you how to swim,” he said.

Sunggyu raised his eyebrows. “You would do that? You would teach me how to swim?”

Woohyun nodded. “Of course I would.” He flushed slightly at how quickly he had answered. “I-I mean I want to help you get over your phobia too, you know? It would be a lot safer cause you have to work here too.”

Sunggyu agreed. “It’s not good if the place I work is practically made of my biggest fear.” He nodded to himself then turned to Woohyun and smiled. “Yeah. I’d love it if you could teach me how to swim.”

Woohyun grinned that ethereal grin of his and Sunggyu was happy to see him smile instead of frown like he was. He ran a hand through his chocolate colored hair. “Uh, are you free any time this weekend? Cause on Saturdays I don’t have to arrive until one. And then on Sundays I get to leave at two. I can show up Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons and evenings to help you out.”

Sunggyu nodded. “I would like that. A lot, actually. Do you want to start this weekend?”

Woohyun nodded eagerly, smiling broadly. “It’ll be so much fun! I can bring floaties and pool noodles and inner tubes!” He laughed out loud. “When I was in high school I had a part time job as a children’s swim instructor, so this is going to be so much fun!”

Sunggyu shot him a look. “If you treat me like a seven year old that can’t swim…” he began.

“O-Oh, right! I won’t do that!” Woohyun said immediately, waving his hands and flushing pink. “I’ll just… maybe bring a life jacket then.”

Sunggyu just rolled his eyes with a fond smile. It was surprising how close Woohyun could make them feel just by talking. “Bring all the weird pool toys you want,” he said.

Woohyun looked at him in excitement. “Really?! This will be so much fun! Oh, but your pool is on the roof?” He snapped his fingers. “Darn. Then I’ll bring fewer things so I’ll only have to make one trip with the floaties.”

Sunggyu smiled. Woohyun was cute when he was excited over something so little. He mentally smacked himself and shook his head rapidly. No, he didn’t think Woohyun was cute. They barely even knew each other.

“I’m so excited for this! Aren’t you excited?” Woohyun asked him.

Sunggyu stared at him for a brief second before breaking into a smile. “Yeah. I’m excited.” He chuckled lightly. “But until then, I don’t think I’ll be coming to the park for a little bit,” he said.

Woohyun pressed his lips into a smile. “That’s probably for the best. But this is good thing! I can teach you to swim so that you can start working directly at the park when you feel ready.”

Sunggyu nodded, fiddling with the towel on his head. “That sounds like a good idea to me.” He took the towel off his head. “This is yours; you need it back, right?”

“Oh thanks,” Woohyun replied, taking the fluffy towel back into his hands. He looked back up at Sunggyu and giggled. “Your hair.”

Sunggyu chuckled. “I know. When my hair air dries it dries fluffy.” Sunggyu touched the edges of his poofed up hair. “I must look ridiculous.”

Woohyun pet his caramel hair, laughing at the how ridiculously soft and fluffy it was under his fingertips. “It feels like petting a hamster,” he laughed.

Sunggyu ran his fingers in the mess of fluff on his head. “I guess it does.”

“Get out of here.”

It was a bright Saturday morning when Myungsoo had head a knock at the door. He was not happy to open it and find Woohyun standing there, asking for Sunggyu. Once he had found out about the whole falling-into-a-dolphin-tank incident, he had been purposely keeping Sunggyu’s connection with Woohyun limited. He completely blamed Woohyun for the entire thing, and he didn’t care if he was friend of Sungyeol – he did not want Woohyun near Sunggyu again.

Woohyun stared back at Myungsoo with a sheepish smile. “Look, Myungsoo, I know what happened last time makes everything look a little bad–”

“It doesn’t look bad! It is bad! How could you leave him unattended at a dolphin tank?!” Myungsoo cried.

Woohyun winced at his harsh tone and wrung his hands. “I’m really sorry for what happened! I didn’t mean for him to fall–”

“He almost died! I don’t see why you still try to talk to him!”

“He’s not mad at me,” Woohyun tried to reason. “We still text and everything.”

Myungsoo narrowed his eyes, ready to just slam the door in Woohyun’s face when Sunggyu appeared behind him. “Who’s here?” he asked. He peeked over Myungsoo’s shoulder. “Oh, hi, Woohyun. Are we ready to get started today?”

Myungsoo gave him a look. “Get started on what?”

Sunggyu pushed past him, saying, “Woohyun told me he was going to teach me how to swim.”

His roommate’s eyes widened as he grabbed his arm and almost threw him back inside the apartment. “No!” he exclaimed. “You are going absolutely nowhere with this heathen!”

Woohyun looked slightly surprised at the choice of words and stared at the floor. “…Heathen…” he muttered.

“Myungsoo, don’t make this difficult,” Sunggyu chided.

“But hyung! I don’t want you to–”

“I know you’re looking out for me, but I can make my own decisions too. I’m older than you, you know.” Myungsoo looked like he was about to retort again, so Sunggyu whispered to him, “Besides, Sungyeol told me that he left you a surprise somewhere in your room.”

Myungsoo froze. “Really?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know where, so I guess you have to clean your room to find it.”

Myungsoo shot off, running to his room as Sunggyu joined Woohyun in the hall. He closed the door as he slipped his shoes on. He looked up at Woohyun and smiled. “Shall we get going now?”

Woohyun looked at the door. “Sungyeol left something in his room?”

Sunggyu laughed out loud. “Oh, no! I just said that so he would go away and maybe even get him to clean his room.”

Woohyun laughed. “Oh, okay.”

Sunggyu smiled down at him. “Let’s go. I’m ready for our first swimming lesson.”

“It’s going to be so much fun!” Woohyun exclaimed. He held up his big tote bag, shaking it in excitement. “I brought a life jacket and little arm floaties! But...” He poked Sunggyu’s arm. “I’m not sure if they’ll fit your arms.”

Sunggyu scoffed. “Did you just call me fat? Because I will have you know right now that it is muscle.”

Woohyun held his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say a thing!” He smiled at his hyung. “But let’s go. I’m sure that learning how to swim can help you get over your water phobia.”

Sunggyu nodded as they headed down the hall and to the nearest elevator. “I sure hope so.” They entered and Sunggyu pressed the button that would lead them to the roof. Woohyun could barely control himself and was nearly jumping up and down in the elevator. “You’re really excited about this, aren’t you?” Sunggyu chuckled.

Woohyun nodded. “It’ll be fun! It’s like teaching a baby whale how to swim!”

Sunggyu poked his head. “Did you just call me fat again?”

Woohyun rolled his eyes. “You’re so weird. I did not call you fat. Baby whales are adorable.”

“Then did you just call me adorable?”

Woohyun’s face burned as he tried to talk his way out of it. “No! You’re not adorable! I mean, you’re cute and all, but – no! I didn’t mean that! I-I guess you’re cute in general terms, but it’s not like I’m attracted to you! Not that you’re not attractive, it’s just – oh look! It’s our floor!”

Sunggyu laughed to himself as Woohyun scurried out the elevator impatiently, and opened the door to the roof. On the roof was a clean and well-kept pool. The deepest side was seven feet and although it still made Sunggyu uncomfortable it was much more comforting than forty-five feet.

Woohyun set his tote bag next to the pool then proceeded to take off his sweater and shirt, leaving him in his swim trunks.

Sunggyu didn’t really want to stare, but he couldn’t help himself. Woohyun’s body was firm and defined in all the right places. With his toned biceps and impressive abs, it was a surprise that he was single. Sunggyu felt that he shouldn’t have been so surprised, considering that the wetsuit that Woohyun always wore stuck to his skin and defined all of his muscles; but seeing him in nothing but his skin and his swim trunks was almost refreshing.

Woohyun caught his eyes and waved him over as he stepped onto the small steps at the shallow end of the pool. “Come on,” he called. “Let’s get started.

Sunggyu approached the edge, glancing warily at the water. “How deep is it?”

“The shallow end is only two feet, Sunggyu-hyung. You couldn’t drown in this if you tried.”

Sunggyu slipped his shoes off and walked towards him. “Alright, but I’m not taking my shirt off."

( A/N ) ;

otl otl otl forgive me for such a crappy update lol. it seems so short. i promise they'll be longer,  but they've been a bit short since the woogyu is only developing atm haha

but yes woohyun has saved gyu from drowning. and so did dolphins. aka the 'gray face'. why does this omfg.

but woogyu will be getting closer from now ooooonnnnnnnnn haha and otl hyun is going to teach gyu how to swim. that can only go so many ways. 

anyways dont forget to leave a comment if you liked and subscribe and upvote if you please :]

~Quinnie