Riverside

In hindsight, maybe grabbing Song Hei and jumping off a cliff wasn’t the best idea. Anyway, a one-on-one walk down a riverside was definitely not romantic. 

Set: Chapter 27 of Cutlass, ‘unwritten’ scene where Baekhyun and Hei take a slight walk down the river with the black sand banks.

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To Baekhyun’s relief, Hei didn’t hold the fact that he’d jumped off a cliff with her without her permission against him for too long, because after a little while, they were walking down the bank in comfortable silence.

Hei chose to walk where the sand was damp so it didn’t stick to her shoes. Baekhyun watched in amusement as she picked her way around.

“Isn’t it nice without Luhan?” he asked after a little while of silence. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the rushing river. “We never get to spend quality time together, Hei.”

She looked up and wrinkled her nose at him. “Perhaps that’s a good thing.”

“Wow, I’m hurt.”

“Serves you right for pulling that stunt.”

“Are you still mad about that?”

he corner of her lips twitched, and Baekhyun found himself grinning too. Hei didn’t reply to him but continued down, and Baekhyun matched his pace with hers, happy to watch her in his periphery.

They were ahead of schedule—not by a lot, but ahead—and though part of him protested that this was a waste of time, Baekhyun found that he didn’t mind as much. It was only an hour, after all, and he rarely had much time alone with Hei back on the ship. There was never really any reason to be, and the last time they had been he’d started talking about Park Jaekyung in a desperate attempt to keep the conversation going, and Baekhyun was pretty sure he’d scared Hei with all that he blabbered about Jaekyung.

At least she didn’t seem to suspect anything. Jongdae wasn’t helping his cause, even if he hadn’t said anything downright obvious to Hei. He had promised he wouldn't. 

A little while later, Hei stopped walking. Gathering her skirts, she bent down and picked something up from the sand. Baekhyun could see her cupping a seashell in her palm, surprisingly undamaged.

“It’s pretty,” Baekhyun told her.

Hei brushed her fingers over it. “There’s sand on it. I’m going to wash it off.”

She inched closer to the river and Baekhyun hovered behind her. For a little while, Hei bent over the water where it was the shallowest, carefully rinsing the shell clean.

Baekhyun hadn’t meant to think of Heejin, but the shell looked a little too similar to the necklace that she’d given him. Unconsciously, he wrapped his hand around the pendant. Home, she’d called it, because it sounded like the ocean, and to the awed sixteen year old boy who’d never seen the ocean until with her, the ocean sounded like home.

Hei finished washing the shell. She stood up, stumbled, and Baekhyun forgot all about what he was thinking of and reached out to steady her.

For a moment, she stood at arms’ length, his hand still on her shoulder. Then, like she’d been shocked, Hei took a step away from him. “Thanks,” she said, blinking quickly. Then she held up her shell to show him. “Look.”

At closer glance, it was different from his necklace. For one, it was much larger. The colour was slightly lighter as well, blemished in different areas than his. Baekhyun tilted his head at her. “You do hit me as someone who’d collect these things,” he started slowly. “Didn’t think it’d be seashells, though. You seem more like someone who’d hoard sharp objects.”

She stared at him for a couple moments like the words hadn’t sunk in. “Me?”

“I didn’t realize it in the beginning, but you actually have quite a violent disposition—”

She swatted at him. “I don’t!”

“See, you did it again,” Baekhyun grinned. “What did I say?”

She glared at him, more adorable than threatening, and Baekhyun was promptly reminded of Jongdae’s suggestion that he ought to stop flirting with Hei every time he talked to her.

But then again, this wasn’t flirting, not really. Flirting was… well, flirting was reserved for taverns and other similar circles, but this was Hei. So, Baekhyun reasoned, it was less flirting than it was teasing. This was how it usually was between them, and that meant it wasn’t flirting. Clearly.

Baekhyun held out his hand to Hei. “Let me see.”

She pressed the shell into his palm. He inspected it for a couple moments more. “If you hold these types of shells to your ear, you can hear the ocean.”

“Really?”

Baekhyun held it out to her ear. “Want to try?”

She leaned towards his hand, seemed to think better of the decision, and took the shell out of his fingers before lifting it up herself to listen. For a couple moments, Hei stood absolutely still in obvious concentration, and Baekhyun once again forgot about everything else and watched her. Her eyes widened after a couple of seconds. “You’re right. I can hear something, and it does actually kind of sound like waves.”

He grinned at her. “It’s actually because the shape of the shell amplifies noise. You’re just hearing the sound of air inside the shell.”

Hei put her hand down from her ear. “