Morning on the beach felt like spring and tasted like salt. The salt was in the air and it burned Junmyeon's eyes. Jongdae, who hadn't put on a shirt since he had gone to bed the night before, ran straight into the water. Suho relaxed once he saw Baekhyun, who was at the water's edge. The boy who he assumed was Xiumin was trying to coax him into the sea. 

"Come on! It's not that cold," Xiumin was saying, "Haven't you ever been to the beach before?"

"Baekhyun!" Suho called out, distracting his friend from the oncoming wave that washed up to his shins. Baekhyun yelled and tiptoed quickly back to the safety of the sand. 

"What are you scared of?" Suho asked to Baekhyun, who started beaming at the sight of his friend. 

Xiumin disappeared into the water with Jongdae. When Suho looked back out into the horizon, he could only see two heads bobbing up and down. Although he was in the comfort of Baekhyun's company, he wanted to swim out to them. He wanted to feel weightlessness in the cold depths of the ocean, he wanted to float with them on its surface. From the balcony, the water had looked so inviting and mysterious, but face to face, Junmyeon remembered that it was the mysteriousness that scared him.

"Are you scared to go in?" he asked Baekhyun. Maybe it would make him feel better if he knew he wasn't the only one.

"Not really, it's just cold."  

Baekhyun took a seat on the beach and layed back onto the sand. "It really is too wonderful here," he sighed.

The sun was warming up, bringing things back to life. Years of never venturing into the water returned to Suho in that moment. He couldn't exactly place what he was afraid of. Fear of drowning, fear of being swept out too far and having no strength to swim back, fear of what lied await in the darkness. The sun touched him, and he felt that bubbling feeling again rising up from his chest. He focused on the two heads in the distance, letting the waves foam around his ankles, then his knees, then he was in at his waist, moving forward and getting deeper and deeper still. His feet couldn't touch the bottom anymore, so he began kicking his legs the way he did in the pool at home. The ocean was more powerful than he imagined though, and he was getting tossed around and weighed down by his clothes. He was still wearing the layered suit he had on the day before, and he could feel the legs of his coat pulling his down. The coat was heavy on his shoulders, and the farther away he got from shore, the more his head began to dip under the water. 

He didn't mean to panic, and he was smiling incessently, but once his arms began to flail, he couldn't help it. His bare teeth went under again and he had a harder time getting back up. He thought about shouting help, but was determined to solve this on his own. He did the only think he could think of. In a few quick motions, he kicked his pants off and stripped off his coat. He was still too heavy, and the more thrashing he did the more energy was depleted. All around him, his clothes were floating. Not only his pants and outer layer, but his dress shirt, a compression shirt, his boxers. He decided that all of it had to go. The slowly warming-up water completely engulfed him, chilling him in every part of his body. 

"Wait for me!" he cried out to Xiumin and Jongdae, who were still pushing onward tirelessly. They didn't turn around, but they stopped and leaned in closer to each other, whispering. 

"Should we wait for him." Xiumin asked.

"No."

"I don't know how he made it out this far. I didn't expect him to be strong in the water." 

"He's not," Jongdae said with confidence, "I don't know how he's doing it. But he won't be able to make it back on his own."

"Then we have to wait for him."

"If he drowns we can just say that we didn't see him come out."

"Then you'll have killed him."

"Thanks for waiting!" Suho said, who had caught up much faster than either Xiumin or Jongdae thought. 

At the same time, Xiumin and Chen began to swim again, leaving Suho behind. Thought Xiumin felt bad for excluding him so blatantly, he knew that Jongdae wouldn't really let him die. So toying with him wasn't so much of a crime. 

"The water is nice," Suho said, refusing to give up. Jongdae saw some of his own perseverance in the city boy and admired him for it. Its his only redeeming quality, Jongdae thought, and it's a pain. 

But Suho couldn't swim on positivity alone. Even though he was no longer being pulled by the extra weight of clothes, the water itself was heavy. Instead of feeling light, he felt like he was swimming in thick syrup. 

"Please slow down," he said. "I can't keep up with you."

His head dipped. His pleading ceased. Jongdae turned and saw the untamed ocean advancing and retreating, but no Suho. He swore under his breath. 

"Xiumin, look out for me." Xiumin nodded. 

Jongdae dove under the water. Even he wasn't immune to the sea, so he couldn't open his eyes under water, and it was too dark to see beneath the surface. He felt around blindly, holding his breath, feeling the temperature dropping at he descended. If he shouted, Suho probably wouldn't hear him, and it was much less likely that he would be able to respond even if he did. He couldn't live with the idea that he killed Suho on his island. He forced his eyes open, the salt setting them aflame. Suho's stark body stood out in the murky water. His mouth was open and he was out of oxygen. His eyes closed, his arms and legs drifting apart, white hair lapping at his pale face. Suho was ethereal. He seemed so at peace drifting in the water that Jongdae hesitated on removing him from it. He stared a bit longer, enduring the searing pain in his eyes that had spread through his head. Jongdae grabbed onto his arm before he got too far away and wrapped it around his own shoulder. He kicked upwards, desperately needing air and Xiumin's help, because it felt like the ocean had turned against him and was trying to drown them both. 

He surfaced, gasping for air and gulping down sea water instead. Xiumin was ready, and took hold of Jongdae so he could rest for a moment and catch his breath. 

"You were always stronger than me," Jongdae said, crying out the salt that his eyes had soaked up. 

Suho wasn't breathing. 

"Can you make it back?" Xiumin asked Jongdae, who was still recovering. He nodded and coughed up water, passing Suho to Xiumin. Xiumin tied his arms around his neck and paddled swiftly back to the beach, Jongdae following close behind. They washed up and Baekhyun, who had fallen asleep during the situation, rushed over to the scene. Jongdae threw up some more and without waiting, got on top of Suho and began pumping his chest. After some time, he felt for a pulse. Nothing. Baekhyun began to scream and Xiumin had to calm him down so that they wouldn't alarm the locals trying to enjoy a nice morning. 

Jongdae pushed on Suho's chest with all of his strength, feeling like his own life relied on reviving him. 

"Please," he cried, "Please!"

Jongae leaned down, putting his lips to Suho's agape mouth and filling the boy's lungs with air from his own. It was an urgent, forceful gesture. Jongdae breathed again and again, until Suho's chest rose on its own. He rolled over suddenly, coughing and throwing up water that burned his throat. He was unaware that his body was on display, that Jongdae was on top of him and that Jongdae had breathed life into him. That Jongdae's lips had been on his. 

Jongdae rolled over the other direction, back on the sand, arms sprawled out. Xiumin was at his side, asking if he was okay over and over, telling him that he was going to get fresh water and something for them to eat to get the taste of salt out of their mouths. Xiumin asked Baekhyun to help him carry it all and they left Suho and Jongdae lying side by side. 

As soon as they were gone, Jongdae began to laugh. Laugh so hard that hot tears ran down his cheeks. So hard that he had to clutch his stomach. It was loud and thankful and it woke Suho up. Surprised, Suho looked over at Jongdae, his lips curled up at the corners, his eyes becoming cresent moons as he laughed. Suho began to laugh too. Not from relief or because he was on the beach, but because he was alive and Jongdae was beside him, laughing. 

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(Sorry I will check for errors later because I have to study for exams now :-( Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for subscribing, voting, and leaving comments <3 )