Work Text:
1/6/2024.
The sky was heavy with clouds, swirling in strange patterns above the small, secluded beach.
" This is... weird. " Max thinks, holding the usual red and navy blue cap that he wears on his head tight, not wanting it to fly away.
Max had found this place by accident one day — a forgotten stretch of sand, skillfully tucked away from the modern world by the hands of nature, hidden by cliffs and reachable only after a long, winding walk through a forest. He’d been coming here every day since 5 years ago, and he had bought a small house near here for some summer rest.
It was peaceful. He could think, escape, and dream. Escape from the bustling life of the city, escape the stress that clouded him and his dad every time they argued, escape everything.
But today...something was different. Normally this part is very peaceful, not even a shower rain. But now, the air buzzed with an electric charge, and the sea churned as if stirred by an unseen force. His blond hair tousled by the wind and his blue eyes scanning the horizon, felt a pull, something beyond explanation. The storm that gathered in the sky above wasn't just weather; it was something more.
As the wind picked up and the sky darkened, a flash of lightning tore through the air, ripping the sky. The thunder sound ring his eardrums. He whence, and tries to look up where the lightning striked.
And there, through the mist and rain, he saw a figure — someone unfamiliar yet hauntingly captured his eyes - standing on the shore as if he had walked out of a time rift, somewhere not belong to here. His clothes were not from today, with the white ruffle blouse and trousers. His brown hair was damp with rain, his beautiful green eyes wide with the same confusion Max felt when their eyes met.
Max approached cautiously, and so did Charles, both unsure of what had just happened but drawn together by something neither could explain. As if fate just drawn their string together and made a knot.
They spoke, hesitantly at first, piecing together the impossible. Charles was the son of a businessman from 1924, nearly 100 years apart from Max's 2024. He had been taking a stroll along the same beach in his time when the storm hit his time, and somehow, the world had bent and twisted, pulling him into Max's present.
Every day after that, the two returned to the beach each day, hoping to understand the phenomenon, but more than that, simply to be together, out of curiosity. They talked about everything under the sun, sharing stories, dreams, and fears. Max introduced Charles to the wonders of the modern world, and laughed with all his heart when seeing Charles' eyes sparkling with pure amusement, while Charles shared tales of a simpler time. They're slowly but surely, enjoying the gift that fate has gifted them.
The connection between them grew quickly—an understanding, a shared curiosity, and soon, a deeper bond. It was as though time itself had orchestrated their meeting, weaving them together despite the century that should have separated them.
For three months, they met on that same beach, no longer concerned with how or why it had happened. They had found each other, and that was enough. Max fell in love with Charles, the way he smiled, the gentle way he spoke of a time long gone to the waves of time, and how his presence made the modern world seem less overwhelming. Charles, in turn, found himself drawn to Max’s energy, kindness, enthusiasm, and love for the world, even after all that he had been through, and the way he made the future — something Charles would never live to see — feel like a place he would belong.
As summer drew to a close, their love deepened. They knew that their time together was limited, but they cherished every moment. They know all good things must come to an end. They now miss each time their fingers lingered on each other's hair and skin, the brilliant blue they saw in each other's eyes, in the sky, and the waves that lapped at their feet every night, the hearty laughter they shared every day.
They smiled at each other as if forgetting that the time they had left together was very little.
And then, the time comes. On the last day of August, the storm returned. The wind howled, and the sky split open once more. They both knew what was happening.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Charles whispered, his heart breaks and his voice cracked through the tears as the storm surged around them. The sea roared around them, the usually gentle waves now crashing against the sandy shore like hungry beasts.
Max shakingly held him close, his desperate blue eyes filled with sorrow. “I’ll find you,” he promised, pressing a kiss to Charles’s forehead. “In this life or the next, i promise.”
The reply had not yet left Charles's mouth, it was swept away by the storm in its turmoil, the raging waves rushing in, swept Charles away back to the past, leaving Max stood on the shore, devastated and alone.
The days that followed were filled with pain, but Max couldn’t let go. He began researching Charles, desperate to learn more about the man he had fallen in love with. Hours of drowning himself in vintage books, resources, and the internet. And what he found shattered him.
Charles had lived the rest of his life in his time. Was he feeling lonely, sad, happy, and fulfilling? Max never knows. But he know he had married a beautiful woman, perhaps a rich lady fitting his status, out of duty or expectation, and then he had gone to war. He had died a soldier, sacrificing himself for his country. His life had been brief and tragic, a life that was a century behind Max’s own.
His tears silently fall, drops of salty tears fall onto the old yellow hue pages of the book he's reading. It has just been a few months passed in this world, but for Charles Leclerc, for the love of his life, a whole lifetime had passed, with all the sadness, with all the loneliness, with all the tears and sleepless nights.
He wondered if, in those nights, Charles remembered the kiss they shared in the storm that separated them that night.
After some time researching, Max visited Charles’ grave, a small, forgotten site in a cemetery up the green hill near the old beach that hadn’t seen visitors in decades.
He walked through the deserted cemetery, his eyes darting around as if searching for something. And then, he found it. A stone tombstone with an elegant cross covered in moss, with engraved words that had faded over time. But he knew for sure what those words said - the name of the unfortunate boy he had fallen in love with.
Standing before the gravestone, Max knelt and whispered, his fingertips trembly running through the now faded name on the stone tombstone.
“I love you, Charles. I always will.”
"If possible, I wish
I could find us.
In another reality.
Perhaps then, we can be together
without any obstacles.
Maybe then the world would look at us
with gentler eyes."