Chapter Text
Shotaro didn't know how he had gotten into this.
He and his mother had just moved here. A new start, his mother had promised him. She had finally found a permanent job at the hospital in town. Shotaro was happy for her. They had moved around a lot because of her unstable jobs - his mother was still very young, so the trust in her skills was generally low, and people hesitated to gave her a real job when hearing of her background.
Shotaro hoped this would be the last move for them. Although they were now on friendly terms with the moving company, he'd rather stay at one place long enough to find some actual friends his age.
Maybe that was how he had gotten into this.
His mother had been busy with paper work all morning, so Shotaro had decided to stroll around their new hometown for a while. It was the last day of summer vacation, the sun burning down on his scalp with no mercy.
Heat was simmering in the air, making glistening sweat run down his back and face. Time seemed to stand still as Shotaro wandered through the streets, not seeing another soul beside him outside in this heat. It was like the entire time had decided to take a nap.
Shotaro decided to take a break from his walk, falling down on a bench that stood beyond a tree. But even in the shade of it, he felt hot.
He hoped it was a good thing. Moving here.
His gaze drifted to the port, where a few small fisher boats were docked.
First impression - he liked this town. They were near the beach and the ocean. It seemed...peaceful?
As if to prove him wrong just then a red Zodiac boat passed by, taking a sharp turn right in front of him and making little drops of water splash him.
Shotaro couldn't even really be mad because it felt so refreshing.
"You wanna go for a ride?", the boy in the boat yelled.
Ah, yes, that’s how he got here.
The boy had introduced himself as Donghyuck, he had lived in town since he was born and was the same age as him. Oh, and he had just casually stolen a boat.
"I didn't steal it," Donghyuck assured him. "I borrowed it. Of course I'm gonna bring it back."
Well, Shotaro couldn't argue with that logic. Not like he could escape as soon as Donghyuck turned up the engine and made them speed down the warp.
He certainly hadn't expected for his walk to turn out like this, but cruising over the water, little drops gently splattering around him and wind hitting his face, he felt more carefree than ever before. All his worries about moving, about being the new kid again forgotten – even just for a moment.
"Hey!" A loud voice called after them and Donghyuck smoothly turned the boat around to see who it was. Another boy their age walked towards the pier with determined steps. "Don’t you know that speeding around on Sunday afternoon is strictly prohibited?!" The boy asked, stemming his hands in his hips as he looked at Donghyuck disapprovingly.
"You're so lame, Huang," Donghyuck said, rolling his eyes as he brought the boat to the docks.
Not fazed by the insult, the other boy held his chin up high, "Whose boat is this anyways? I don't remember you owning one."
"The coast guard’s, duh," Donghyuck shrugged. Shotaro shuffled awkwardly on his seat. Technically, he probably was a compliance in stealing a boat now.
"I have to report that, Donghyuck! As a member of the swim club it is my responsibility, no, it is my duty- argh!" - Donghyuck had interrupted the boy's monologue by pulling him into the boat with one strong tuck.
Before the boy could stand up straight, Donghyuck had sped up again, steering them towards the open sea.
"What are you doing? This is kidnapping! I'm gonna call the police!" The boy said angrily, scrambling to get back on his feet.
Donghyuck did not seem impressed in the slightest by the threat. "And tell them what? That you're now on a stolen boat? You're in this now, Huang."
Huang(?) huffed. "You're not getting away with this!" He said but Donghyuck didn't really seem to care as he took a sharp turn, splashing water all around them.
The boy looked angry, but he didn't pull out his phone to call anyone. Seemed like Donghyuck would get away with this. Only then the boy noticed that Donghyuck wasn't the only one on this boat with him.
He patted his clothes before giving Shotaro a polite smile.
"Hello, my name is Huang Renjun. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, holding out his hand for him. Shotaro shook it a bit warily, he had never seen someone his age introduce himself so formally like this.
"I'm Shotaro," he said shortly.
"Are you a friend of Donghyuck?" Renjun asked him, still the same polite smile on his face.
"Nah, just picked him up at the docks," Donghyuck replied for him. "He's new in town."
Renjun narrowed his gaze on Shotaro."So you went with him voluntarily?"
Shotaro shrugged. He didn't really know why he went with Donghyuck in the first place. "Yeah, I guess."
"Shotaro's not gonna be the witness for your kidnapping. He's on my side," Donghyuck cut in. "Right, Shotaro?"
"Err…" Shotaro wasn't really on anyone's side. But he didn't want to get caught in a stolen boat, so maybe he was a little more on Donghyuck with this.
Renjun sighed in frustration.
"Where are you even going? You're leaving the docks!" Renjun asked.
"I'm going towards the sea. Gotta give Shotaro a nice view of the town," Donghyuck answered, speeding up again.
"That's dangerous," Renjun retorted, pointing back to the shore. "You should turn around and let us off."
"Are pooping your pants now? Just relax. You're always so uptight, no wonder no one likes to hang with you," Donghyuck scuffed, ignoring Renjun's concerns and speeding up onto the ocean, leaving the docks far behind them.
Shotaro couldn't help his smile as they left the narrow space. The ocean was so wide and the wind was rushing past them. Donghyuck was laughing out loud as he took them further out and away from land. Even Renjun had problems maintaining his annoyed expression as the water splashed around them, cooling on this hottest of days. The adventure spirit had caught them and sailing away over the water made every concern feel minimal.
But like everything in his life, things took a different turn.
The boat let out a weird noise all of a sudden and then they lost their speed gradually.
"What is happening?" Renjun asked, voice rising in pitch and panic in his eyes.
"The motor probably overheated," Donghyuck explained in a calm tone. "We just need to wait for it to cool off. Don't freak out."
However, Donghyuck struggled to keep his coolness when twenty minutes later they were still floating on the open sea.
"Okay, I think this is not working anymore," Donghyuck told them, sitting back down after trying to start the motor for the seventh time.
Renjun gave Donghyuck a death glare. "Great. Of course you screwed it up."
Donghyuck snorted, clearly offended. "Well, if you're so smart, why don't you safe us, hmm?"
While Shotaro didn't know either of them very well, he knew that fighting would not help them get out of this situation.
"Why don't we call somebody? The coast guard?" He suggested cautiously.
Renjun scoffed. "And how would you describe to them where we are? On the ocean? Not to mention that we’re on a stolen boat!" Renjun asked sarcastically. "We need to get to land. Neo Island should be near here. And then we can call help."
"Wow, so smart! But, oh wait, the boat is not working anymore! Do you want to swim to Neo Island?" Donghyuck mocked him but Renjun didn't spare him a glance. Instead, he ducked down, pulling something from the side of the boat.
"Coast guard boats always have paddles, you idiot," Renjun told him, handing it over to Donghyuck.
"Hey, why me?" He asked petulantly.
"Because you got us in this mess in the first place. Now paddle, I think Neo Island is in that direction," Renjun replied snarkily. Donghyuck gave him a glare but stared paddling.
Renjun had been right - a small island appeared on the horizon soon after. But Donghyuck was no machine, so even when they started taking turns paddling, it took them hours to get to land.
All completely exhausted they got off the boat with sore muscles, pulling it onto the dry sand after them.
Donghyuck dropped on the ground with a load groan. Shotaro felt like doing the same, his arms were burning in pain. He was about to sit down when Renjun let out a scream.
"There's no signal here. We have to go up the hill," he told them.
"Five minute break first," Donghyuck muttered, but Renjun was forcefully pulling him onto his feet.
"It's getting dark already, Donghyuck. I don't want to spend the night here. What about you, Shotaro?" Renjun said with a stern glance.
No, Shotaro certainly didn't want to spend the night here. His mother was probably wondering where he was already. If it was getting dark it must be getting quite late. He went out for his walk in the afternoon. Hours must've passed by now.
He slowly shook his head to Renjun's question, but that was all the approval Renjun needed.
"See, two against one. Stand up or we're leaving you here," Renjun said, walking straight into the tropical forest that grew on Neo Island.
Shotaro's never been here before but the island sure seemed fascinating. Completely untouched by humans, nature blossoming all around them in its wildest forms.
Donghyuck groaned but followed Renjun and Shotaro, not keen to be let alone on a tropical island.
"Are you getting signal yet?" Donghyuck asked. They had all walking up the hill for a few minutes now, phones in the air on the search for service.
"Do I look like I'm calling someone?" Renjun replied ironically.
"I was talking to Shotaro," Donghyuck bit back.
Shotaro was no longer concerned with their bickering. What worried him more was the sky turning black as the sun set around them.
"I think we should go back to the shore. It's getting dark. Maybe we could start a fire? Someone probably has noticed that a boat and three people are missing," Shotaro suggested after walking for a while longer. To be honest, the forest creeped him out a bit and in the darkness he could hardly see the steps he took.
Luckily he wasn't the only one, as Donghyuck was fast to agree with him. "I'm with Shotaro. This is useless, there's probably no signal on this whole damn island."
Renjun seemed torn, not wanting to give up yet. But he had to admit that his plan wasn't working out. The moon was their only source of light by now apart from their phone screens and walking through a strange forest wasn't safe.
"Fine. Let's go back," Renjun grumbled, taking a few fast strides past them and taking over the lead again. Donghyuck rolled his eyes as he went after him and Shotaro took a relieved breath.
Surely, his mother had noticed by now that his walk was taking longer than usual? He glanced down at his phone. It was already 11pm. Just when he was not concentrated on his path for a short second, Shotaro took a wrong step.
He lost his balance, not noticing how the ground underneath him had turned to slippery mud. He screamed as he fell face forward down a small cliff, around three meters deep. Pain shot through his leg as his skin was abraded by the cold stone of the cliff.
He could feather the sudden fall with his hands, but hissed when he saw the deep cut on his leg.
"Shotaro!" Donghyuck yelled, running a few meters back where Shotaro had walked with them mere seconds ago.
"Watch out, the ground is slippery," Shotaro shouted back.
"Urgh, why is this mud so wet?" Donghyuck asked and soon his head appeared over him.
It didn't take long for Renjun to join, looking down on him with concern. "Shotaro! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Shotaro said, trying to remain composed. "I fell down and cut my leg," he added.
"Can you stand up?" Renjun asked him. Shotaro winced as pain shot through his leg, but he managed to pull himself upright.
"Give us your hands, we'll pull you up," Donghyuck said, stretching down his hand. Shotaro tried to grab it, but the cliff was a bit too deep.
"Can you jump?" Renjun asked him, also letting his hands down to him, but not being able to properly reach either.
Shotaro shook his head, not daring to even try, "I don't think so." Standing up was already giving him trouble.
"I'll go down. I'll push him up and you pull him from up here. Then you two pull me up," Donghyuck said, ready to dangle himself down the cliff.
"No, don't!" Renjun said, quickly grabbing Donghyuck by his shirt, but his rapid movement made both of them slip in the wet mud, falling down the cliff about as smoothly as Shotaro had.
They groaned, a messy bundle of limbs on the ground. Donghyuck was the first one who gather himself, pushing Renjun off of him.
"Great plan. Now we're all down here," Donghyuck said angrily, patting his clothes as he stood up, butt hurting from the fall, but otherwise fine.
"Well, your plan wasn't great either. I'm not strong enough to pull Shotaro up all by myself," Renjun said, also not hurt as he landed mostly on top of Donghyuck who had feathered his fall.
"At least in my plan it wasn't all three of us down here," Donghyuck countered.
Renjun turned around in anger. "There has to be another way out of here," he said, studying the walls.
Donghyuck huffed, "How did we even all fall down here? It's ridiculous. Why was the mud even wet? It hasn't rained in weeks."
"Water!" Renjun suddenly exclaimed. There was wet mud down the cliff as well and through it ran a small drain. "There must be a drain from the top of the mountain that goes back into the ocean. We just have to follow the water," he explained.
They both helped Shotaro up to his feet again, who had sat down as soon as they had given up on pulling him out of the cliff. He threw an arm around their shoulders as he hopped down the narrow cliff.
The gap got smaller and smaller the longer they followed the water, they had to walk one after another at some point, Shotaro having to limb on his own.
"The water ends here," Renjun suddenly said, who was walking at the front again. "It goes into the stone."
"Into the stone?" Donghyuck asked in disbelief, squeezing beside Renjun.
"There has to be something behind it," Renjun concluded. "You can still hear the water pouring. We're not at the ocean yet."
"Guys, here!" Donghyuck yelled, pointing to a small hole in the cliff right at their feet. Donghyuck was already getting on his knees to crawl through when Renjun stopped him.
"You don't know what's in there," he warned him.
"Only one way to find out," Donghyuck said, shrugging Renjun's hands off and crawling through the hole.
The mud turned into sand as he crawled along a small path that was going deeper into the ground. He turned a corner and what he discovered made his mouth drop open.
"It's safe! You have to see this! It's amazing!" Donghyuck called out to them. He was standing in a beautiful stone grotto, the moonlight falling into it as it opened up at the top. There was a small pool of water right in the middle, shimmering mysteriously.
"Wow," Shotaro gasped, who had gone next, Renjun following only shortly after.
"See! That’s where the water was going!" Renjun pointed to one of the stone walls where a stream of water was running down, ultimately running into the water in the grotto.
Donghyuck spun around, stretching his arms out as he marveled at this untouched piece of nature. "This place is astounding. Look, the moon is gonna be right above us in a few minutes," he said, looking straight up. "There's even a full moon tonight."
"Okay, yeah, it's beautiful and all that. But we still have to get out of here," Renjun said, trying to focus on their main task, although he had to admit that this place was breathtaking. "I bet this water is connected to the ocean. We can swim outside and then start a fire at the shore," he stated.
Shotaro watched the two of them, sitting back down to not strain his leg too much. "What if it's not connected?"
Renjun pouted in consideration. "You're right. I'll check it first. I'm in the swim club, after all," he said, taking off his shoes and his bag, dipping his feet into the water pool.
To his surprise it was warm, not cold like the ocean usually was.
"Are you sure you can hold your breath this long?" Donghyuck asked. He wouldn't say it out loud but he certainly didn't want anyone to die because of him.
Renjun puffed out his chest with pride. "Of course! I can hold my breath for almost fifty second!"
And gone was Donghyuck's concern for him.
He watched silently as Renjun fully got into the water.
"I'll be right back," Renjun said, taking a deep breath before diving in. Fortunately, the water was very clear, so he could easily spot the passage towards the sea. The pool wasn't that deep either and he quickly got down to the ground, swimming smoothly through the exit. When he emerged on the other side he found himself in front of Neo Island, the waves beating his face.
"I was right. It goes straight into the ocean. It's not even a long dive," Renjun told them when he came back into the grotto. "I think we can do it."
"What about our stuff? We can't just leave it here," Donghyuck said, holding up his phone. If he ruined it his parents weren't gonna get him a new one for sure.
Renjun had a solution for that, too. "Everything that should not get wet inside this," he said. He hat gotten out of the water and waddled to his bag, where he had stored a sealable plastic bag.
"Why do you even carry this around with you, weirdo?" Donghyuck asked surprised.
"My lunch was in there," Renjun told him, collecting all of their phones and Shotaro's and his wallets inside. He put his shoes back on and strapped his bag pack tightly around him, plastic bag stored safely inside.
Donghyuck turned to Shotaro. "Do you think you can swim, Shotaro?"
"Yeah, I'll be okay," Shotaro replied. Not that he had much of a choice if he wanted to get home any time soon.
"I can guide you through it. It's really easy," Renjun reassured him, already getting back into the water.
Shotaro crawled over to the pool as well, slowly going into the water. It was a weird feeling, going swimming fully clothed, shoes on and everything.
"Make way!" Donghyuck yelled as he ran and jumped into the water, creating a big splash.
Renjun shook his head in disapproval.
"Good, now that we're all in the water, let's go together on three. One, two-" but before he could say three, something strange happened.
Bubbles started to rise in the pool, the water turning even warmer, almost like a whirlpool. The full moon was standing straight above them now and small particles of light were rising from the water towards it.
The three of them looked at each other in confusion.
Renjun was the first to remember that they probably should leave. Weird things happening was not a good sign and they still needed to get home.
"Three!" He said loudly, diving under the water. Donghyuck and Shotaro snapped out of it as well, quickly following Renjun.
Wet, tired and cold they all made it to the other side, swimming the last few meters to the shore.
They didn't even have time to celebrate their successful escape when loud sirens started playing. A life boat was cruising around the shore of Neo Island.
"Here!" Donghyuck screamed as loud as he could, waving his hands and jumping around.
"We're here!" Renjun joined him.
"Stay where you are, we're coming for you,” a deep male voice said through a speaker and soon after the boat pulled up to the shore close to them.
All wrapped in towels, they arrived back in town. Renjun could see his parents waiting for him from afar.
"Renjun! Where have you been?" His mother asked with a worried expression, pulling her son into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. Donghyuck kidnapped me," Renjun began talking, throwing the other boy a nasty glance.
"Donghyuck!" Donghyuck winced at the cold tone of his own parents.
"I didn't kidnap him. He had fun," Donghyuck defended himself.
"We're going home, right now," His mother said, turning around harshly, Donghyuck trotting after her with his father.
Shotaro could only wonder how he had gotten caught up with this odd combination of odd people.
His thoughts were interrupted when his own mother approached him. "Seems like you had an exciting first day here," she smiled, putting an arm around her son's shoulders. As a nurse she noticed his limb right away, giving him a questioning look.
"I scratched my leg," Shotaro explained and his mother sighed.
"I'll treat you at home. Let's go," she said, supporting the boy as they started walking.
Shotaro had moved around a lot in his life. But he never quite had a first day like this.