A Moment In Time | Stray Kids x Reader | Oneshots

❔Lee Felix - A Siren's Sandcastle (1)

A light breeze fluttered in from the open window of your rented beach house. The draught was chilling, carrying the scent of saltwater into your lungs. Thundering winds were barely kept at bay by the clouds, threatening to leak tears into the roaring ocean.

In and out, the waves rolled in like clock-work, lulling you into a waking sleep. Mesmerizing. This was what you had searched for when you stormed out, a suitcase of disarrayed clothes in hand, out of their apartment. It wasn't until you sat shock-still and breathless on the night train did you realize where your frenzied fingers found solace in.

Strange how just days ago you'd jump into the ocean with no hesitation from the very person who now made you want to wash yourself clean of them. And yet, although the sight of their face sent an icicle through your chest, you would give almost anything to be transported into their arms.

Was the price of freedom worth exchanging for this inevitable loneliness?

You sighed, only then registering with the sudden splash on your arms that tears had begun to rain down. A rumble overhead, and another surge of the water. At least it was comforting to know you were in a place where its temperament matched the pace of your breathing.

But as you were about to resign for the night and shut the windows, a moving blur by the shore caught your eye. You squinted into the distance, gasping.

It wasn't a mirage. There was someone out there struggling to escape the raging sea. Not another heartbeat passed before you sent yourself shooting across the sand.

The wind blew stray strands of seaweed and saltwater into your face with every pound of your feet. Soon, the hazed figure grew more defined, and you made out the shape of his beach blond hair soaked and matted against his forehead, before another wave crashed down on him.

He was going under.

With a deep breath, you plunged in after him. The sudden cold made your body ice all over momentarily until you resurfaced, gasping. There, shooting out of the surface was a flailing hand, and then you dived in.

Your hands reached ahead until they met skin and then felt around to get a hold of his chest. You adjusted your position to ensure his head was above the water and kicked harder. Harder, faster, but the waves were stronger still.

Just as you thought you would run out of strength, you gained purchase on the slippery sand beneath you. As you hauled the both of you onto shaking legs, you could feel his chest shake with every cough and sputter of seawater.

By the time you threw the door open and lay him on the couch, his shoulders and chest were heaving violently. The draught flowing through the window reminded you to shut it once and for all and then you moved to light the fireplace.

It was a difficult task with your wet hands, which you tried to dry unsuccessfully on your drenched jeans. Not until then did you remember how ill-fitted to the location you were dressed on such a whim. Finally, sparks flew and the new flames comforted your freezing fingertips.

The unshakable feeling of a pair of eyes boring into your back prompted you to turn around. Sitting upright on the couch, soaking the wooden floors beneath him, he gazed absent-mindedly at you, shivering still.

You moved to your feet and said, "I'll get some blankets. You must b-" His grip on your wrist stopped you in your tracks.

"What day is it? Where- where am I?" His voice was iron-cold, deeper than you expected, and his eyes were startlingly hollow.

You lay a hand on his. "It's Sunday, the 23rd of March. You're at the beach, and you..." you caught the way his pulse quickened, "you almost drowned."

Quiet, he went quiet, breath hitched in his throat. The incessant tik tok of the clock hung in the air between you two.
It seemed an eternity passed before he whispered shakingly, "I... I almost..." His eyes rolled back, his head dropping and the rest of his body followed straight onto the hard, wooden floors.