On the day that Park Jungsoo leaves, the entire town comes out to bid him goodbye. No one has dared to seafare for ten long years, so Jungsoo is hailed by some for his bravery, and yet frowned upon by others for his stupidity.

A pretty girl with long hair and big eyes embraces Jungsoo tightly, tears falling into his shirt, scalding his pale skin.

Kang Sora bids farewell to her fiancé as he leaves her to work for money. Seafaring is a job that pays well, considerably enough for its danger.

The ocean calls, sparkling sapphire blue, and the waves lap gently at the shore. Jungsoo's small ship takes off, and he continues waving goodbye to his family, his friends, all he has ever known.

Finally, as the horizon swallows up the land, Jungsoo turns toward the sea. Its vast impossibilities, its open mystery, attracts him to no end. It calls to him, dark and alluring.

Jungsoo sits in the sunlight, basking in its warmth. The salty sea breeze feels fresh and cool on his skin, and Jungsoo thinks that he may have fallen more in love with the ocean than his beloved Sora.

He laughs a bit bitterly. He only came out to make money to marry her. Otherwise, Jungsoo wouldn't have ventured out to sea to save his life.

Ten years ago, someone with his exact predicament went out to sea, planning to marry his girl, Sooyeon. Unfortunately, Kim Heechul never made it back.

Jungsoo wonders if he will meet Heechul's fate, or perhaps change it.

Unfolding road for me...

A year passes, and Jungsoo has not made nearly enough yet. He is tanned now, and his muscles show. He never thought that it would be so hard being a seafarer.

Nonetheless, he loves the ocean, damn, so much. If he could spend his entire life on the sea, that would mean the entire world to him.

Exhausted, lulled by the gentle waves, Jungsoo falls asleep quickly.

When he next wakes up, Jungsoo finds his ship lodged between sharp rocks jutting out of the water.

He just thanks the heavens that there is a beach, and the land looks habitable.

Jungsoo supposes that there are no people living there, considering that forests cover the majority of what little land he can see.

He hauls his food and water on land. Thankfully, most of his equipment is also intact. The rocks smashed up part of his hull, but that is easily fixed.

Jungsoo looks through his tools, finding with dismay that his ax is missing. What a coincidence. On his second look, he sees that if he doesn't stop the water going into the boat, the entire thing will sink.

Jungsoo could slap himself. Instead, he sits down on the beach and cries.

He cries for his incompetence, for his boat, for his girl, for this wild island. Park Jungsoo cries his tears dry, until he is only left with anger.

He screams to the ocean; there is no one to hear him anyway.

Unfortunately, he was a bit wrong about that. When Jungsoo turns back to the land, there is a figure standing at edge of the sand.

Jungsoo's heart chills. He is going to die at the hands of a savage. But wait, savages don't wear clothes, or shave beards, or cut hair.

The figure makes its way across the beach, and Jungsoo can see silky hair blowing in the salty sea breeze.

It's a man, skin milky despite the sun, hair chestnut brown, and he is wearing sailor's clothes.

Jungsoo is frozen as the man - the infamous Kim Heechul - stops in front of him.

"Welcome," Heechul greets coldly. "Fix your ship and get out."

Then he turns and heads away. Jungsoo blinks, then runs after him, sand flying in his wake.

"W-wait!" he calls, struggling to keep up. "Can I borrow some equipment or something?"

Heechul turns around and gives him an exasperated look. "Then you're going to ask if you can live with me."

Jungsoo's cheeks flare red. "I have a reason," he argues. "My boat is waterlogged. Nothing is spared. Look at it!"

Heechul follows Jungsoo's finger to see his tiny ship all but sunk in the shallows.

Heechul closes his eyes and lets out a breath. "," he mutters. "Fine, but you better leave within a month."

Jungsoo perks up and grabs Heechul's hand to shake. "Thank you so much!"

Heechul jerks his hand away and heads toward the forest. "I'm Heechul."

"I know," Jungsoo says excitedly. "You're from my village."

Heechul stops, and Jungsoo bumps into him. "You're from SM Town?"

Jungsoo nods, but Heechul hasn't turned his head around. "Yeah, people still talk about you a lot."

Heechul snorts and starts walking again. "Probably about how stupid I was."

Jungsoo can't say anything to that, but Heechul continues, "They said the same of you, I bet. Who's your girl?"

Jungsoo starts. "How did you know that?"

Heechul chuckles, leading the way into a small clearing. "Love makes us do stupid things. What's your name? Who's your girl? How's Jessica?"

"Jessica?" Jungsoo follows Heechul into a small hut raised on sticks.

They spend the rest of the day talking over coconut milk. Turns out that Jessica was Sooyeon's nickname. Turns out that Heechul knew Sora's elder sister. Turns out that Heechul and Jungsoo played together as children.

"You're actually a little older than I am," Heechul laughs, pouring Jungsoo another bowl of coconut water. "I just headed out when I was young and stupid. Besides, we ended up moving to the other side of town, so you wouldn't remember me."

Jungsoo stays silent, searching in his memory for someone called Kim Heechul in his childhood.

"Ah, you were the one who pushed me into the tide pool," he says with a smile. "I remember that because my clothes were new, and I hated you for a while."

Heechul cackles, falling backwards in his laughter. Jungsoo springs up, but Heechul is still laughing.

"YOU STILL REMEMBER," he gasps, struggling up. "Oh my ing God, yes, I was the one."

Then, without a word, he jumps up, grabs Jungsoo's wrist, and sprints outside.

The sun is setting, splashing deep orange onto the waving ocean, staining the water beautiful shades of gold. The color bleeds to the sky, which fades from pink to lilac to pale blue.

Heechul and Jungsoo stay standing on the beach until the sun dips below the horizon, and the sky becomes a velvet black.

Finally, Heechul lets out a breath, and the spell is broken. Jungsoo looks up to the sky, and Heechul flops down on the sand.

"Lie down," he says softly. Jungsoo follows suit, and together, they watch the stars appear. Heechul points out the constellations, names the stars, and Jungsoo falls into a trance.

He feels his eyelids growing heavy, and just a second later, Heechul is shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up, Jungsoo," he whispers. "You'll get eaten out here."

Blearily, hazily, Jungsoo follows Heechul and collapses on the bed. Heechul squeezes in beside him, and Jungsoo curls up into his heat. He doesn't see Heechul roll his eyes, but he does feel Heechul's arm against his soft stomach.

Jungsoo thinks that he could get used to this.

The next morning, however, Heechul is gone by the time Jungsoo wakes up. There is an ax and saw on the floor, along with a note.

"I've gone to get food. Wash up or whatever, then you can work on your boat. Don't wait for me, but if you want food, it'd be best to."

Jungsoo laughs, wondering where Heechul got these writing utensils from. He circles around the hut, finding a small container of water. Carefully tasting it, Jungsoo is not surprised to find that it's salty. He follows Heechul's instructions and washes up. Then, he heads back into the hut, sitting in the doorway, waiting for Heechul.

By and by he comes, arms full of a woven bag. His eyebrows disappear into his forehead as he spots Jungsoo.

"So food is more important than getting home, yeah?" he asks, passing Jungsoo a banana. Jungsoo sticks his tongue out and accepts the gourd of water that follows.

"Yes, because I am a realistic person," he jokes. Heechul rolls his eyes, and no more is said. The food is seriously a bit disgusting, but Jungsoo chokes it down anyway.

Heechul smirks. "What, are the bananas too stiff and bitter?" Jungsoo manages a shake of his head.

"Okay, go work now." Heechul picks up the fruit peels and tosses them into the mess of trees. Jungsoo pouts, feeling the harsh dismissal.

"What do you have to do?" he asks. Heechul raises his eyebrows again.

"I have to make sure that no wild animal is going to attack us."

Jungsoo goes to work on his ship. After judging about how much wood he'll need, he goes to chop down some trees.

"Hey, hey," Heechul's annoyed voice calls. "Stop killing my trees. Here's more than enough."

A few thick branches find themselves in front of Jungsoo's face. He shoots Heechul an apologetic look and hauls the branches away.

It's a little hard fixing his ship while it's in the water, though. Jungsoo nearly cries again. Instead, he kicks the sand, sits down, and buries his face in his knees.

A warm hand places itself on Jungsoo's shoulder. "What, given up already?"

Heechul's voice is soft, and Jungsoo lifts his head, eyes rimmed red.

"The wood is all waterlogged, and I can't pull it onto shore," he whimpers, sniffling. Heechul laughs softly.

"Idiot, just build another ship. Have you never read Island of the Blue Dolphins?"

Jungsoo furiously rubs his eyes. "Yes, but, but, I don't know..."

Heechul slaps his back, hard. "Look at you," he reminds. "All brawn, just no brain."

Jungsoo scowls at him. "I'm smart," he retorts. "I could have gone to school..."

Heechul crosses his arms and sits down beside him. "Yeah, me too."

They sit in silence for a while, looking out at the sparkling ocean. The sun beats down upon them, and finally, Heechul drags Jungsoo up.

"Heat ," he mutters. "Get out of the sun."

Jungsoo obeys, and he spends the rest of the day listening to Heechul rant about different types of boats and what types of materials they can use.

Finding road for me...

Life passes like this, and Jungsoo, with Heechul's help, starts to build his own canoe.

Heechul reluctantly allows Jungsoo to chop down a tree, clutching his chest the entire time. Jungsoo bows to the tree about ninety times, until Heechul gets so tired he forgets his pain.

Then, Jungsoo starts to carve out a hollow to sit in. Heechul nags at him to not make the sides too thick, but also not too thin. Jungsoo doesn't think that the boat will float anyway, but he listens to Heechul.

When that is finally done, Heechul shaves some planks, anchoring them into the canoe to make a seat. Jungsoo, at the same time, starts making oars.

Heechul runs into the forest, bringing out an entire hunk of something translucent and yellow.

Beeswax, he explains, to makes the entire thing waterproof. Jungsoo wonders where the he got such a huge piece of it.

Finally, finally, one day, the boat is finished. Heechul brings out his own fermented coconut water, and he and Jungsoo get drunk.

In his drunken state, Jungsoo cries. "I don't want to leave you," he blubbers, clutching onto Heechul's arm. "I want to stay here..."

"Then don't leave," Heechul manages, trying to pat Jungsoo's face. He was a bit off and ended up sticking his fingers into Jungsoo's nose.

Heechul gets so much more drunk than Jungsoo, and he pulls Jungsoo onto the bed to hover above him.

Jungsoo kisses him, softly, slowly, and everything falls into place from there.

The next morning, Jungsoo runs a finger down Heechul's cheek.

"I'm not leaving you," he whispers. Heechul sits up, and Jungsoo's arms fall from his waist.

"Try out your boat anyway," Heechul tells him. "I want to know if it works."

"Ah, so we didn't waste our time on it," Jungsoo chuckles. Heechul hits him.

"No, you idiot," he reprimands. "I can't catch fish in the shallows, can I?"

Life goes on and falls into a repetitive pattern. Heechul looks for breakfast, Jungsoo fishes, then they keep the hut tidy and animal-free. Then, the sun sets, and they watch the sunset.

One day, lying in bed, Heechul asks about Sora.

"Don't you regret leaving her?"

Jungsoo only kisses him. "No, because I have you."

Our bridges forever.

Finally an update!! Pls don't hate me ;;; but I haven't had wifi and my days ran out. Anyway, I meant for this to be a Kyuwook but uh I haven't updated this in a while so I just made it a Teukchul lmao