Sunggyu adjusted the weight of his backpack. He walked lazily on the sand in the direction of the lifeguard building as he had a mental debate on why again he took this job if he didn’t like to wake up early. The answer was very simple: the marines messed up his sleep pattern for two years and, once he was out, he needed a job in this city so he could offer some help to his widow sister. In the end, he ended up accepting Sungyeol tip and just applied for it, then discovered he was quite good at it.

Once he arrived at the main building and yawned to announce his grumpy presence, he moved for his lockers to gather all his equipment.

“Tough night?” Hoya asked as he passed by him. 

“Any problem yesterday, Sunggyu ssi?” Bora, his partner, asked a second later.

“Nope, the kids are fine, I just hate to wake up early,” He replied and tried to wake himself up again. “...wake up Sunggyu.” 

He returned, applying sunblock (a must for someone with fair skin in this field), and took a good look around the building. Dongwoo and his partner Amy were checking the radios, Hoya and Bora were outside with other lifeguards and Sungyeol had forgotten his morning coffee in order to look through his binoculars with Mijoo and Soyu.

“Look, there are some in the water already.” Soyu pointed.

“I thought they’d be taller,” Mijoo added.

“I haven't seen this amount of fit people since I left the marines.” Sungyeol offered his two cents then noticed Sunggyu in his corner, almost done with sunblock. “Hey mister, are you ready for the tournament?”

Well, this day didn’t need readiness - not from any of the lifeguards, they were as trained as they could be - but this question had a reason to be asked because it was an atypical day in the lifeguards routine. Sunggyu didn’t know how, why or by whom, but it was decided this particular beach had good waves and voilá, suddenly Korea was being part of the Asian Surf Championship. At first, he hadn’t thought it would be a big deal (because he didn’t know much about surfing) but it turns out he had been into meetings, training, and had seen some massive structure be built on the sand. Not to mention there was a series of extra safety strategies the lifeguards had to ensue (even rehearse for the love of God!). Honestly, Sunggyu just wanted this to be over.

“I’m not the one competing.” He shrugged as he grabbed a bunch of keys and was out of the door. 

“But you’ll be in the water too!” Sungyeol yelled and Sunggyu rolled his eyes.

They were a big team that knew how to take care of each other’s back in the water, but today there would be more people involved and the lifeguards had been assigned positions. At first, he aimed to stay out of the sun, voicing warnings and information through the day but ended up being assigned to the drones to ensure no shark decided to appear. He was quite satisfied until the geek staff kid ruled him out. In his defense, it didn’t happen because he completely controlling the drones, but mostly because the guy (what was his name? Myungsoo?) developed a crush on Sungyeol and needed an excuse to approach. Sunggyu shook his head as he thought about it. He watched this happen over and over. Sungyeol often didn’t get some because he was oblivious so Sunggyu believed the geek kid was bound to suffer.

It took some time but, once the jet skis were anchored and cars were taken back to their place, all Sunggyu needed to do was to stay in position and wait for the championship to begin. Unfortunately, once he was back, he saw a skinny blonde brat posing on his ski while a male friend took pictures of her.

“Can you take another picture oppa?” He heard the brat saying and Sunggyu thought it was better to interrupt now before they started some photoshoot on his equipment.

“Excuse me? This is lifeguard equipment that will soon be put into use, what are you doing?” He tried not to sound annoyed.

“Sorry.” The younger apologized and promptly climbed down the ski to grab her phone with her friend and disappear.

“Sorry for that.” The other guy said with a chuckle as his shoulders moved up and down and then offered a handshake. “I’m Nam Woohyun, that was my cousin Sungjong.”
Sunggyu didn’t say anything but took a moment to take in the guy's appearance. Sunglasses, check. Tanned skin with a chill smile, check. Wetsuit half off with sleeves dangling beside his legs, check. Torso covered in lean muscles (which Sunggyu would pretend he didn’t like), check. Board not far away, check. It was not difficult to figure out this guy was a surfer.

The discovery didn’t bother him. It also didn’t bother him that those two were taking pics with his equipment (ok, just a tiny bit) or the fact Woohyun was quite handsome. What bothered him (and the thing he couldn’t move his eyes from) was the Kinesio tape in the surfer left shoulder. It meant injury and that would make things difficult during a rescue.

“What’s that?” He asked and Woohyun moved his eyes to where the lifeguard was looking.

“This?” Sunggyu saw Woohyun stall the answer. “Nothing big, old injury, the tape is here just in case.” He tried to smile.

“You shouldn’t compete with an injury.” He pointed.

“Can’t really lose my number one position now.” The guy said with a cocky smile and Sunggyu blinked quickly. So this wet gremlin was the current champion? Kind of small if compared with other surfers he saw around… perhaps he was in the sub 21 category? Well, it didn’t matter, the title didn’t impress him and, champion or not, Woohyun was dumb to push through with competitions when he wasn’t in 100% condition. “But it’s fine, really, thank you for asking.”

If the guy said so Sunggyu wouldn’t say otherwise. “Then wear your wetsuit properly, put your sunblock and sunglasses on your baby face then wait for the championship to start on your assigned area.” He ended up instructing but not really aware that he let out a compliment.

Woohyun chuckled. “I’m actually 28 but thank you for the compliment, you also have great skin for someone that spends so many hours under the sun.” The surfer made sure to compliment back.

Sunggyu didn't know much about the surf world but so far it seemed pretty straight male-dominated, therefore he didn't know if the surfer was just exchanging pleasantries or if he was straightforwardly trying to flirt. In the end it didn't matter, because both of them had work to do in the water soon. 

He decided to move and get reacquainted with his jet ski, the championship was about to start and both would forget this exchange. But, before he could climb on it, Woohyun appeared beside him.

“Will I know the name of the one who will help me keep my life?” The surfer tried to make his intentions clear by his tone but the lifeguard didn’t take it seriously and offered an unexpected answer.

"Well, there's at least twenty lifeguards here today, do you want me to go alphabetically?" Sunggyu said as he climbed the ski but Woohyun placed his hand on top of his and tried to step up his game with his best smile.

"I'm glad to hear that but I'll be more specific. What's your name?"

The lifeguard bit his lips and, as if entranced, Woohyun moved his focus on them as he waited for his desired answer. On the other hand, Sunggyu internally debated if he should show some kind of interest, after all, once the championship was over, he would stay on this beach and this surfer would keep competing on bigger waves elsewhere. Before he decided anything, the surfer’s cousin appeared to remind them both they had to focus on something else: the championship.

"Oppa, come! It's starting!" Sunggyu pulled his hand out from Woohyun's to turn the engine while the surfer made a disappointed face but moved to grab his board and follow his cousin.

The lifeguard moved forward with the ski to join the others in their designated area while trying to forget about what just happened, at least for the time being. It was not like he deeply regretted anything but personal issues needed to be kept out of the sea or it might cost someone's life. Or worse, his own, and he wasn’t allowed that.

After everybody was on the water and Myungsoo and Sungyeol’s drones were flying around, the championship finally started. It turns out a championship had ‘heats’ of 20~35 minutes where four surfers would take turns to ride as many waves as they could. Their best two scores would make two surfers advance to the next round. 

Sunggyu watched everything with hawk eyes, his job here was not to interfere unless someone fell off their board and asked for/needed a rescue. By the end of the day, the lifeguards helped someone that had a heat onshore and Dongwoo ended up rescuing Sungjong, who somehow broke her board.

The next two days weren’t deemed fit for competition because there was a storm approaching. To halt a championship was a bit new for Sunggyu but somehow it made sense, they all had to wait to ensure safety. The beach was closed for aquatic activities and not many lifeguards were needed over there, which made Sunggyu have a 2-days-break in which he helped his sister with her kids while she shopped for them.

Once the championship resumed, a few things had changed. The waves were bigger and the current was kinda strong. The lifeguards still couldn’t interfere but, now, aside from rescuing people, they needed to carefully take the surfers to where the waves happened. 

Sunggyu had seen Woohyun briefly by the water but they didn’t talk, in fact, the surfer seemed a bit embarrassed and that confused the lifeguard a little. He hadn’t reciprocated or rejected anything so he didn’t know what exactly was the source of that embarrassment towards him.

“This is not the time to think about your worries hyung.” Sungyeol had told him. Today he was on the ski to reinforce the water team, much to Myungsoo annoyment. 

“It’s not exactly worry, more like confusion.” Sunggyu conceded and the taller one followed the elder’s eyes. It wasn’t hard to discover Sunggyu had his small eyes fixed on the Korean representative Dongwoo was bringing last. “But don’t worry, it will stay out of the water.”

“I doubt that. ”Sungyeol mumbled to himself and Sunggyu turned to him with a confused face. The other lifeguard decided to tease but at the same time give his friend a warning. “We are here to ensure water safety not to root for our country.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Anyway, how’s your drone friend?” Sunggyu lied and hoped that his question would make Sungyeol awkward or at least defensive but no, it didn’t happen.

“Handsome enough for a date after my shift.” Sungyeol replied without deviating his focus from the sea as Dongwoo passed in front of them. Sunggyu wanted to gasp - Sungyeol, once in his lifetime, noticed the obvious and was taking some advantage - but now the surfers were by themselves and he needed to be extra attentive. 

One after the other, the surfers caught their big waves, some more elegantly and chill, some more obstinate and full of passion. Paddling, getting up, sliding and falling, everything happened too quickly and Sunggyu kept his eyes attentive on all of them but especially on Woohyun. Of course today's behavior had intrigued him but, right now, he didn't have a good feeling about that Kinesio tape in the surfer's shoulder. 

Most of the male pro surfers were taking extra tries on the growing angrier waves when Woohyun tried again. He stood up smoothly and slid down the wave while maneuvering his board for extra points but everything happened in a blink of the eye: one second he was maneuvering inside a tube, the other he was falling and being swallowed by the water.

Everyone waited because that's what they did first: assessment. Once Woohyun's head was above the water, his movements were chaotic and that’s when Sunggyu knew he wouldn’t be able to swim. !

In the millisecond the others debated with themselves, the small-eyed lifeguard left for the rescue first and he hadn’t gone too far when he saw Woohyun lifting his right arm to ask for help. Sungyeol and Dongwoo followed right after but everyone lost sight of the surfer when another wave came over him.

Sunggyu came as close as he could from the surfer board because Woohyun was surely near it and once the guy pulled his head above water, he leaned his body and offered a helping hand. “You ok?” It’s not like he needed a verbal answer because his question had been rhetoric, but the painful face the surfer did while trying to grab his hand told him everything. 

Dongwoo and Sungyeol moved away while Sunggyu pushed Woohyun in the direction of the rescue board, and the moment he felt an extra weight being added he didn’t lose any second to leave. He tried to go as fast as the ski allowed but the extra weight, and especially the board attached to Woohyun’s foot (that was already engulfed), prevented him from going faster.

Meanwhile, the surfer gritted his teeth as he tried to hold himself but it was hard to stay in place in a situation like this. He tried his best to hold his body and board weight with his right arm - since his left shoulder was killing him with pain - but the moment the water started to fall angrily on his injured shoulder, he took a deep breath and let go.

Sunggyu speed picked up and he knew immediately something was wrong. He risked a glance back only to be sure Woohyun had fallen but it wasn’t like he could blame the guy. Woohyun was injured and couldn’t swim, but had done a good job keeping his head above the water and holding himself for a few seconds despite the pain. Sunggyu hissed, not only was Woohyun back in a risky situation, but the continuous flow of angry water was also about to fall on him. 

He didn’t have the time to think. Before the waves engulfed the jetski, he jumped.

The water had pushed them both further but they were still close enough to be hit by another wave and far enough to still need rescue. Sunggyu knew he could rely on the other lifeguards, but Sungyeol and Dongwoo would need some seconds to arrive and he needed to find Woohyun. He spotted the surfer struggling in panic and started to swim there. It was hard, the water movement prevented him from being faster. Two or three later and Sunggyu tried to put his head underwater to escape a wave hitting his head.

Head above the water for a second time and now he couldn’t see Woohyun trying to get to his board. The surfer was above the water because his wetsuit had an inflating mechanism, but he wasn’t moving much. Sunggyu wondered if he had passed out and tried to swim as fast as his body and the water allowed him to.

“Hyung!” Sungyeol yelled as he announced his presence and Sunggyu felt a bit relieved.

He raised his hand and Sungyeol grabbed and pulled him as Dongwoo tried to position his jetski the closest from Woohyun as he could.

“Quickly!” Dongwoo urged as Sungyeol let Sunggyu go then tried to reposition himself.

Sunggyu didn’t have time to do an overall check - because the waves were still coming for them - but he was able to notice Woohyun's consciousness was leaving him. It wasn't like he expected full cooperation because he knew the surfer was injured, but that would make things harder, he would need to forego Sungyeol's help in order to hold the surfer.

With some difficulties, Sunggyu pulled Woohyun back over the board and then climbed above him. The lifeguard positioned his legs on the surfer sides as he held the handles and that’s the last thing Woohyun saw.

When Woohyun opened his eyes the image was blurry, the sound was distant and he couldn’t understand much. He felt pain all over his lungs and an excruciating desire to breathe and puke at the same time. He couldn’t do both so he panicked.

“Let’s put him over his right side,” He heard someone instructing softly once the sound became clear despite his desperation. “He has an injury on his left shoulder, I guess this is why he couldn’t swim and ended up panicking.”

Woohyun wanted to ask what was going on and how they knew that, but he felt his body rotating to his right side and that was enough for him to spill a mix of salty water and body fluids. As he coughed that strange liquid out, he heard some people clapping, why? Why would anyone clap when he was in this sort of situation? If he had any strength he wanted to complain about their lack of sense, but aside the pain spreading to his shoulders, he became aware he had a tube on his throat. He panicked again.

“Hey champs, calm down.” The guy said softly as someone else took the tube out of Woohyun’s throat so he had some difficulties. “I’m Kim Sunggyu and I got you ok? Just focus on spilling this water and breathing, ok?”

“You’re gonna be fine, ok? I promise.” The surfer heard someone else and moved his eyes only to find Sungjong with desperation all over her face as she tried to grab his right hand. 

Woohyun wanted to hold her hand, but the little strength he had was used to spill more water and try to breathe. That process made his lungs burn but it was the excruciating pain on his left shoulder that made the world start to fade again. A mask to help with oxygen was immediately over his face and he couldn’t hear anybody else speaking, so it was the lifeguard’s calming voice that rang on his head before he passed out.

Woohyun drifted in and out of reality a few times during the next hours but, by the time he managed to stay awake, Sungjong and her mother told him what had happened. He didn’t care about losing his title when his life had been at risk - and after he heard about his ligament completely tearing he wasn’t sure he would try championships ever again - but he felt incredibly guilty and thankful towards the one that saved him. A few days before Woohyun wanted to take that lifeguard out for dinner but now, if possible, he just wanted to swallow his embarrassment to apologize and thank him. Thankfully that opportunity came at night when Sunggyu dropped by  to check on him.
“You saved me... thank you.” Woohyun slurred, his oxygen levels were close to normal but he was instructed to not talk and rest before he was transferred to a bigger hospital for a shoulder surgery. Aside from that, Sunggyu was sure that IV had some morphine to control the shoulder pain too.

“Nah, it was my duty.” The lifeguard replied as he approached the bed and watched Woohyun take a couple of breaths before he asked something. “I told you not to compete with an injury, why did you lie to me?”

He watched Woohyun move his eyes to his left shoulder then take his time to reply slowly. “Didn’t lie...” Sunggyu raised a doubtful brow. “It tore now ...” The lifeguard winced, that had to be painful, it was no wonder the guy couldn’t swim. “And…” Oh, there was more? “Cramps… leg… after you...” So Woohyun had his shoulder nullified and one of the legs too? He should be the unlucky bastards champion. 

Sunggyu didn’t know if his expression showed disbelief but suddenly Woohyun looked desperate to use more words than his current condition allowed. “Easy tiger, I believe, you don’t need to convince me otherwise.” He said but it wasn’t like that relaxed the patient.

“Don’t… blame and… leave.” Woohyun pleaded.

“I don’t blame you, though I’d advise you to not do that again.” Sunggyu assured him with a smile and got close so he could sit on the chair next to the bed. This pleased Woohyun but he fell into an awkwardness of those who misunderstand, so Sunggyu took upon himself to do some talking. “I have to warn you though, someone from the staff released drone images and this is a small town, everyone knows what happened now. You’re going to get even more famous, some journalists came all the way from Seoul.” 

“Not famous…” Woohyun protested but that didn’t hinder Sunggyu's playful mood so he leaned towards the bed and pretended to whisper.

“Don’t tell anyone but I’m hiding from interviews, they freak me out.”

Woohyun opened an amused smile. The lifeguard was almost giving himself a pat on the back for that when the surfer got serious. “Hero… your kids... proud...” He wanted to compliment but the bitterness of these words made even harder for them to come out.

“Kids?” Sunggyu made a confused expression at first but realization came fast and now he discovered why Woohyun seemed so embarrassed this morning. He wanted to laugh but ultimately didn’t. It was plausible to be embarrassed if Woohyun thought he tried to flirt with a straight man father of two. But, he wasn’t one thing or another.  

“I don’t think my niece will remember this and my nephew might, but for a week only.” Sunggyu ended up saying with amusement and, despite still being a bit blue, the red color invaded the surfer’s cheeks. He smiled. “It’s ok, people misunderstand often because Yonhoo does look like me, but small eyes run in the family… I just help my sister around… she recently became a widow.” 

If Woohyun were in his right state of mind he would grow deeply red and probably curse himself for jumping to conclusions. But, despite red invading his cheeks, morphine took away half of his inhibitions and he just had to ask what he wanted since they first met. “Can we… dinner?”

“You can’t be serious...” Sunggyu chuckled at the surfer's guts to flirt from a hospital bed. But Woohyun waited for an answer seriously so he thought for a bit before replying. “It would be great but after you leave for your surgery, I wonder if I'll ever see you again.”

“You will...” The patient tried to show his seriousness, but Sunggyu didn’t believe it.

“Nah, you’ll end up surfing bigger waves on other shores…” Woohyun wanted to say he would probably retire but Sunggyu didn’t let him. “And I’ll just stay here, helping my sister around.” He said with a sad resignation of those that went through some disappointment before.

Woohyun didn’t take that , he was truly interested and he was extra motivated after today’s events. He furrowed his brows and tried to look as deep into the other eyes as he could. “Dinner?”

“You just need to focus on recovering this arm…” Sunggyu pretended to not hear.

“Dinner?” The patient insisted. 

Sunggyu sighed, he wouldn’t win this one right? Woohyun was way too stubborn for some person with morphine all over his body.

It was ok for him to entertain thoughts of what could have been, and he trusted the morphine would erase this promise, so he said yes. “Sure then, dinner once you have the strength to hold a glass of wine with your left hand.”

Woohyun opened a weak but amused smile and took the challenge. “Deal.”

BONUS

“Noona, come here, Yoonho is giving me trouble to eat!” Sunggyu complained as soon as he heard the door open.

“Coming!” She yelled back and took more time than usual to get rid of her shoes and purse. Once she appeared, she had news. “I found a babysitter to help me last minute!” She said happily then moved to scold her son.

Sunggyu stopped what he was doing just to helplessly watch as a girl took things out of his hands and shooed him out of his chair. She winked at him and he felt like he had seen her before, maybe with another hair color? He tried to think from where he knew her, but he noticed another presence and that made him get up so fast that the chair fell behind him.

“Woohyun?” He gasped.

“Hey.” Woohyun tried to smile but ultimately couldn’t hide his slightly nervous state. Even so, he made sure to wave with his left hand to show that everything was fine now. “I told you I’d be back...”

Sunggyu bit his lips to hold a smile but grabbed his jacket. He completely forgot to say goodbye before he left, very happy and dutifully accompanied, for dinner.

A/N: One more story, one step closer to the truth! Any thoughts to spare? Let us know! We'd love to hear some early speculation and the reasoning behind it.