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When Jisung woke up from a light night’s sleep his naked arms were covered in mosquito bites. From just one glance he could probably spot six or seven on his right arm and ever more on his left. The yellow tent was humid and the sun outside illuminated it. When he glanced to his right and left and saw that both Seungmin and Changbin slept soundly he silently wished for their blessing of being able too sleep so deep.
Most of the night he had spent tossing and turning in the uncomfortable sleeping bag, either sweating profuse amounts or feeling like he would freeze to death. When he didn’t do that he was kept up by Changbin’s loud snores. And of course, the mosquitos. Buzzing next to his ears and biting every single bit of exposed skin they got ahold of. Besides all of this he swore he heard something outside their tent and was awake and dead afraid for almost a whole hour that the devil himself was sneaking around.
Outside the tent he saw, what he guessed what was Chan’s father’s silhouette. He was walking around and mumbling to himself, and seeing how Jisung was already awake he thought he might as well go out and help him with whatever.
Chan had asked Jisung a week prior if he would be up for camping with his father, he, Changbin and some other friends. Though the idea wasn’t exactly a dream of his, the summer vacation had grown boring, and when Jisung’s mother found out she was more than excited for him. “Of course you need to go Jisung! Imagine how fun it would be!” So, he agreed, besides it was only 3 nights and 4 days.
And when Chan’s dad arrived in front of his house with a van full of kids, he was full of ecstasy, from his porch he could spot both Felix and Seungmin from his grade and ran up to the car and loaded his stuff in the trunk. Jisung seated himself next to Changbin in the very back. After a few minutes Jisung asked Chan’s dad how long it would be to the camping site, to which he responded;
“Once we pick up the last kid it’s about 2 or 3 hours. Chan should be right behind us with the rest of the camping stuff, but he is stopping to shop at a convenience store too so he will arrive a bit later.”
Jisung had proceeded to look at Changbin with a face full of questions. The older friend looked guilty and answered, without looking Jisung in the eyes. “By the way, Hyunjin-ah is coming too.”
If he could have done so, he would have jumped out of the moving vehicle and rolled away. He wasn’t sure there was a guy he hated more in his grade more than Hwang Hyunjin. Smug, insufferable, arrogant, stubborn, and ill-tempered Hyunjin. Of course everyone else thought of him as tall, handsome, considerate, nice, and sweet Hyunjin. Jisung refused to believe he was any of that, and Jisung’s friends would roll their eyes to the back of their head whenever he brought up Hyunjin in conversation.
Hyunjun wasn’t very fond of Jisung either, so when the van pulled up outside his house and he found out the only free seat was next to Jisung in the back it looked like he wanted to turn right around and leave. The car ride remained silent for the three boys in the back, and the three in front of them laughed the entire time. About an hour in Hyunjin had pulled his headphones over his ears and fallen asleep.
They made it through the first two days without much problems, bickering now and again, especially when left alone. If they could, they would throw snarky comments at each other. Overall, they could bear it though, they didn’t have to share a tent and if they tried hard enough they could completely pretend the other wasn’t there.
Now Jisung crawled out of the tent and met Chan’s dad, who was doing his best at drying a soaked t-shirt.
“Are you alright sir?”
“Ah Jisung you are already awake, yes yes, but I was down by the water earlier and clumsy as I am fell in. Got soaked.”
“Oh-” Jisung didn’t get out another word before the both of them saw another boy crawl out of a tent. It was Hyunjin, his hair was disheveled and eyes still not entirely open. He wasn't wearing a shirt and Jisung stared for a second too long at the muscles on his abdomen before he turned away, ears a striking red color.
The two had fought the night before, or fight wasn't exactly what it was. Both had been put on “pick up the trash around their tents” duty, and soon enough they started bickering about the best way to gather the trash.
“You take this side and I’ll take this side” Hyunjin sneered.
“We only have one bag you dimwit we might as well walk together. Unless you want to carry the trash with your own hands.” Jisung hissed back.
And when they didn’t come to a conclusion, Jisung, in a fit of irritation, threw an empty bottle at Hyunjin.
“Are you fucking serious?” In which Hyunjin threw it back at him, with more force.
They went with Hyunjin’s idea, they separated and took one side of the camp each. Jisung was a petty person and was still mad. Hyunjin said a groggy good morning to Chan’s dad and ignored Jisung, showing that he was still just as mad before walking into the dense forest to presumably go to the bathroom. Jisung made a mental note to add petty onto things he hated about Hyunjin.
Smug, insufferable, arrogant, stubborn, ill-tempered, and petty was what he was in Jisung’s eyes.
Chan’s dad begun cooking breakfast and soon everyone came out of their tents newly awake, following the scent of food. Chan’s dad was an amazing cook and he knew his way around the wilderness. Felix had called him “Korea's own Bear Grylls” after he successfully started a fire without any tools the night before when they were roasting marshmallows. And even if the two weren’t that comparable, everyone was equally as impressed by his vast knowledge of nature.
After everyone was done eating, Seungmin patted his stomach in content and Jeongin looked like he was about to fall back asleep, Chan’s dad begun clearing off their various paper plates.
“I was thinking we could walk down to the river today and swim, and if anyone wants we could try to catch some fish.”
Everyone cheered, and the group of 10 made their way down the water after spending a few more hours up by the tent waiting for the weather to get warmer and sunnier, and of course after they had changed into swimwear. Jisung brought his backpack, bringing clothes for change and two bags of chips. He walked next to Seungmin and Minho the entire way there, mostly staring at the ground and listening to what they had to say. Down by the water, Chan’s dad began preparing barbeque for dinner and despite eating less than a few hours ago they all longed for his food again.
Chan and Felix sat seated far away from everyone else, Jisung gazed at them probably sharing secrets and love confessions from the deck. Seungmin sat next to him and shared a disgusting glance at them.
“Who thought it would be a good idea to let the turtledoves come here.” Seungmin mumbled and Jisung laughed out loud at that. But he couldn’t disagree, the two days, not including this one everyone had to watch the two painfully flirt with each other the entire time.
Jeongin came swimming in the water below them and grabbed Seungmin by the ankle. “Why are you staring so much at them? Come swim instead.”
“It’s cold.” Seungmin swatted his hand away from his foot like a mosquito.
“Come oooon. You already have your feet in the water, can’t you feel it’s nice.”
Seungmin hadn’t noticed that Jisung had stood up next to him, with promptly pushed him into the water after Seungmin told Jeongin no again. Jisung laughed at him, even slapping himself on his thigh until it was red. It was cut short when he himself accidentally leaned too much forward. Giving Seungmin a perfect chance to grab his arm and drag him down into the water. Jisung shrieked when his skin came in contact with the water.
From the beach Hyunjin tried to capture the moment with his camera.
“Come on Minho-hyung, can’t you run into the water so I could take a picture of it.”
Minho had been avoiding the water for the entire time, rather helping Chan’s dad with the food or sitting on the deck and sunbathing. The older chuckled and shook his head with a stern no, Hyunjin huffed and tried to snap another picture of the boys playing in the water. Looking through the lens of his camera, he caught Jisung. smiling. And during the split second it took for Jisung to understand what was going on Hyunjin snapped a photo. Hyunjin gazed at the picture for a few seconds, Jisung’s blue hair was slicked back from the water and his skin tanned. The tip of his nose was sunburned and the smile in the shape of a heart. When Hyunjin directed the camera back to him he noticed how he flipped the camera off, whatever emotions or thoughts Hyunjin previously had were immediately ruined. The blush had already reached his ears though and Minho elbowed his ribs.
“Jisung-ah getting you redder than a cherry.”
“Shut the fuck up hyung I’ll throw you into the water.” Hyunjin crouched down and put his camera away, he did feel his cheeks heat up despite standing in the shadows beneath a tree.
The two didn’t notice Changbin stumbling out of the water drenched. Just as Hyunjun stood up again a pair of arms hugged him tight. Changbin’s skin was ice cold from the water and Hyunjin screamed when he began carrying him to the water. Changbin was perhaps the shortest of them all, but he had no problem carrying any of them, and with an effortless throw Hyunjin was neck-deep in water.
He splashed around for a while before doing his best at throwing water at the older. Changbin was already on his way out of the water again and started walking towards Minho, but one glance from him was enough, if Changbin were to throw him in the water, it might be the last thing he was going to do in his life.
Everyone but Minho and Chan was after a while in the water. Jisung and Felix played a game of wrestling on the shoulders of Jeongin and Changbin. Seungmin had swum away towards the shore and was sitting on the just slightly rocky bottom, only half paying attention to them. Though soon, it escalated into some sort of mutual water fight between the six still in the water. Aggressive pushing and loud laughing.
Jisung and Hyunjin actually managed to lock eyes during the excessive playing. Like the world slowed down, it felt like they stared at each other for minutes, when it was probably closer to barely five seconds. Jisung got a good look at Hyunjin’s dark eyes and the mole underneath one of them. His sharp eyebrows and the soaked black hair. For a second, Jisung forgot how he was supposed to hate him. He could feel his ears heating up, and if he had a mirror he was sure he would see the blush move along his face and neck.
In a fit of confusion, Jisung splashed a handful of water directly in Hyunjin’s face. And if it was anyone but just, them, they would laugh. Instead the tension between them turned sour and they decided on swimming as far away from each other they could.
After they had all been in the water so long their fingers had turned into prunes and their lips were all shades of purple they got up, resting on various places around the small river. Minho was laying on the deck like starfishes drying in the sun. Jeongin and Seungmin was playing rounds of Halli Galli by a picnic table up by the grass, Changbin sitting by their side acting as a judge.
Jisung was standing by the fire next to Chan’s dad drying himself with a towel, along with Hyunjin. Chan’s father was messing around inside the different bags they had brought with them. After a while, he let out a series of curses.
“Sir?” Hyunjin asked.
“Ah. Hyunjin-ah, Jisung-ah, can you maybe go back to the tent? It seems I forgot to bring one of the bags of food, I think both our water and the matches are there along with the fire starters. Without it I can neither boil the noodles or light the fire.”
The two boys looked at each other, but as it seemed they were the only two doing absolutely nothing, they had no choice but to agree. The walk back to the tents should be around 15 minutes, so Jisung grabbed his things and decided he might as well could change his clothes once they got back. The two set off, Hyunjin had thrown on a hoodie but kept the flip flops on.
They walked in absolute silence, and after a while Jisung fished up his phone but seeing that he had close to no reception he put it back into his pocket and sighed. They kept on walking.
“Hyunjin. Are you sure we are walking the right way?” Jisung was annoyed, the path they walked on turned almost nonexistent (and had been for a while), besides they had walked for far longer than 15 minutes. It was obvious they must have taken the wrong turn somewhere. Hyunjin stared at his feet and pondered for a minute.
“I don’t know. How could we walk away from the path? Are you sure this isn’t right?”
“Are we really fucking lost?”
“I don’t know?” Hyunjin threw his hands in the air.
“Good fucking job Hyunjin, real good.” Jisung fished up his phone and reached it up towards the sky, presumably trying to get a signal.
“Uhm excuse you? Why are you blaming me?”
“You were literally walking in front of me, I was following you!”
“Well! If you noticed we walked off the path why didn’t you say anything, how could I be sure of the way?”
They continued shouting at each other back and forth until their throats felt dry. Jisung then twirled around on the spot and begun walking in the direction they came from. Hyunjin shouted after him before running up to him and grabbing his arm.
“What are you doing? If we are really lost we should stay put and wait for the other’s to find us. Otherwise we’ll get even more lost.”
“Don’t be stupid, we came from here, let’s just go back.”
“Are YOU stupid? Did you not listen to Mr. Bang? He said to us just last night if one were to ever get lost they should stay where they are?”
This only caused another long argument to ensue, if the other’s hadn’t noticed they were gone at this point they would surely hear all this screaming and come running because of that instead.
Jisung and Hyunjin were almost playing a childish game of Jisung walking a few steps in the direction he thought they came from, and Hyunjin stopping him every few seconds to scream at him not to do so. In the end they ended up in an aggressive staring competition seeing what the other would do next. Jisung ended up squinting his eyes, staring right into Hyunjin’s before averting them elsewhere.
“Fucking fine! We will stay here, but if the other’s doesn’t show up soon I will begin to walk in that direction!”
Hyunjin looked relived that Jisung agreed, then he followed his hand and looked in the direction he was pointing.
“Good. By the way, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t even the direction we came from.”
He walked a few steps around and then decided to sit down on the moss underneath a tree. Jisung eventually followed suit and sat down by another tree, as far as he could from Hyunjin.
Here they sat for almost 45 minutes, Jisung was watching the clock attentively. From time to time he would play a game on his phone, but stopping just a few minutes later afraid his battery would run out. He was fidgety, and every passing minute was making him nervous. Hyunjin on the other side was sitting in the exact position as he did when he sat down, sometimes he would close his eyes, and when they were open they would often fall on Jisung. Watching him.
After they had been sitting for an hour, and had been gone for close to one and a half Jisung suddenly shot up to his feet. “Fuck where are they? Have they not noticed we have been gone for this long?”
He began pacing around. Hands on his hips. Then he climbed up on a small rock, it seemed like he tried to see the lake from here. Suddenly they were engulfed in absolute silence, they couldn’t even hear birds singing or crickets hiding in the grass. Jisung burst.
“HELLO? CHAN! MR. BANG! PLEASE!” He was shouting from the top of his lungs, soon it faded out from actual words to simple screaming. Hyunjin couldn’t take it anymore.
“Please, Jisung, you will scream your vocal cords bloody.”
“Well it’s better than doing fucking nothing!”
“Can you check if your phone has a signal again?”
Jisung agreed, and when he stood on top of the rock his face lit up for a second. “I have a signal” he mumbled before frantically calling someone. Hyunjin now stood up and walked up to him, eyes big. After just a few moments someone answered.
“Chan! Oh my god! Hyunjun and I got lost, we were following the path and suddenly we were in the middle of nowhere. Please!”
But all Jisung got as an answer was. “Jisung I can’t hear you properly, all I heard was lost and path? Are you not on the path? If not stay where you are.”
“Yes we accidentally walked off the path, we don’t know where we are! Hello?”
The call cut, and he no longer had a signal.
Tears began welling up in Jisung’s eyes. He was not a person who dealt with situations like this well.
“Jisung, it’s okay. They will find us, we are probably not far of the path anyways,” Hyunjin did his best at calming the other down, but he didn’t even dare to touch him. “Look let’s just sit down, and wait.” he continued.
“I can’t believe I’m going to die in the middle of nowhere alone and no one will ever find us, besides isn’t it getting cold? And dark. What if there are demons in here, we don’t know. Did you watch that horror movie where they walked off the path and fucking died or something? I mean I didn’t but I’m sure that was what happened it’s a horror movie so. Also I can’t really breathe so I might die. And if my phone dies that’s our last resource of getting saved. Hello? Food? Water? We are going to starve.”
He was spiraling and Hyunjin barely understood him. He grabbed Jisung by the shoulders and forced him down on the ground, sitting him in a lotus position.
“We won’t die I promise.”
Jisung shut up for a few moments, and Hyunjin wasn’t sure if it was because Jisung was afraid or if he was just building everything up and readied himself to explode soon. But when ten minutes passed and Jisung was still quiet, Hyunjin moved away from him and sat back down by the tree he had been occupying earlier. Jisung was right when he said it was getting cold, the sun had started setting and the damp swimming shorts weren’t far enough to keep him warm. Hyunjin closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, for he was afraid he would be the one exploding soon.
After a few minutes he heard something, that was close to aggressive scratching, then mumbling. It wasn’t loud enough for Hyunjin to pick up but when he opened his eyes he observed Jisung scratch his arms red, and following his mouth he could differentiate the word “mosquito” from the rest. And soon the mumbling became louder and he heard Jisung clearly.
“All these fucking mosquito bites, they are every-fucking-where and it’s so itchy how come Hyunjin doesn’t have a single one.” Followed by so many curses Hyunjin felt like he needed to visit a church.
Soundlessly he walked over to Jisung, grabbed his arms and drew a deep “X” over every single bug bite visible to the eye with his fingernails. He ignored Jisung trying to wiggle out of his hold and his complaints, “ouch, what are you doing?”. When Hyunjin was done manhandling Jisung both of them stared at the multiple X’s scattered on Jisung's arms like stars. It took Jisung a few seconds to understand what the other had done.
“It doesn’t itch anymore…”
“I know, it’s my home remedy, I was going fucking crazy by your complaining.”
Jisung fell silent, except for the tiny “thank you” he let out when Hyunjin wasn’t within earshot anymore. He wondered how Hyunjin could stay so calm, and down to earth. Again, Hyunjin sat down by the tree and hugged his legs close to his body. Jisung observed the goosebumps travel up his legs, and he was hit with a sudden realization. He rummaged through his backpack, relieved to find both bags of chips untouched, a jacket and a pair of extra sweatpants. After a moment of consideration, he decided on throwing the sweatpants on Hyunjin.
“Here, they are probably too short for your giant ass but whatever.”
Then, to maybe, both their surprise, Jisung sat down by the same tree on Hyunjin’s left.
Hyunjin walked behind a rock and slipped on the sweatpants before coming back to sit back down, then, they sat in silence until the sun was gone and they were engulfed in darkness. Sheepishly Jisung whispered;
“Do you think they will ever find us?”
“Of course, don’t be stupid.”
“I’m afraid of the dark.”
“...okay..”
Jisung sighed mentally and curled up to a ball while resting against the tree. “Of all people I could get lost in the forest with, it was Hyunjin. This must be a punishment from god.”
“Do you want some?” Jisung threw one of the bags of chips at the other.
“Chips?” Hyunjin asked, something judgemental was hidden in his voice.
“Well I’m sorry, give them back if you don’t want them. Starve.”
“No! Geez you are so sensitive.” He carefully opened the bag.
“Oh so mature of you, we are lost and you still find time to nag on me. Nice.”
“Bold coming from you.”
Both turned around, backs facing each other, and the only sound came from their mouths chewing on the crunchy snacks. It was rather awkward listening to it. And owl hooted from somewhere in the woods, and Jisung being deathly afraid of both monsters and the dark dropped his own bag and reached for the nearest form of contact he could find.
Hyunjin’s hand.
The other’s hand was burning, while Jisung’s were near frozen. The difference in temperature made both gasp and look at each other in shock. Even in the dusk Hyunjin could see how big Jisung’s eyes got, and Jisung could spot the blush on Hyunjin’s cheeks. Then they pulled away, like something had bitten them. Jisung held his own hand in his, silently he missed the warmth of the other’s hands.
“Are you cold?” Hyunjin asked with caution in his voice, but he turned his head away.
“Obviously.”
Hyunjin reached out, and finally his two hands met the others. None of them pulled away this time, but rather they sat a bit uncomfortably away from each other, both holding their arms out and grasping each other’s hands.
“How can they be so warm?” Jisung asked, forcing himself to look away from Hyunjin.
“I don’t know, good blood circulation I guess. Why are yours so gold?”
“They always are, I hate it.”
“Hm.”
After a while they moved closer so that they could sit comfortably, absolutely no other reason. Jisung blushed at the way Hyunjin's hands covered both of his with ease, and the warmth spread around his body. He wanted to express his thanks, but didn’t know how. Even if he only had to say a simple “thank you.”
Jisung would prefer not to think about it, but when he sat like this his mind had a hard time staying away from it. Hyunjin wasn’t that bad maybe, he was nice enough to hold Jisung’s hands, he made the mosquito bites stop itching. And if all of his friends liked him, maybe he wasn’t the devil Jisung liked to imagine him as. “No way, hell, if Felix likes him he can’t be that bad.” And despite their few fights this evening, Jisung felt that it was tolerable at the moment. Jisung glanced down at the four hands, tangled together. He smiled to himself, and immediately Hyunjin’s face popped up in his head. When he had seen Hyunjin in school and his hair was a slight mess underneath the black beanie, and the glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. The black eyes and the mole, his lips.
“What the fuck?”
Hyunjin shivered next to him. Jisung felt it in his own body. “Are you cold?” he asked.
“...Obviously.”
He looked around him, it was not like he could just climb onto Hyunjin and hug him. Instead, he remembered the jacket still stuffed in his backpack. He let go of Hyunjin’s hands for a second and reached for it, hands feeling empty. He shook the jacket once or twice, afraid bugs would’ve gotten in the bag. Then he laid the jacket carefully over the two of them, like it was a small blanket. Underneath it, their hands eventually found each other again, and intertwined without much thought.
Both rested their back against the tree and closed their eyes, almost as if both pretended this was a dream, or rather a nightmare.
“Hyunjin…”
“Mm?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Being an asshole. I mean, there are a lot of things you do...did..that made me annoyed. But, you are not so bad. You are ver- you are alright.”
The other scoffed, but it was somewhat endearing too.
“Mm, I’m sorry too. I guess I could have given you a chance, instead of immediately labeling you as annoying just ‘cause some dude in our class said you were. You aren’t that bad yourself.”
“Someone called me annoying?”
“Sangyo.”
“That motherfucker,” Jisung tightened his grip around Hyunjin’s hand. “Always hated him, how can he call me annoying?”
“He’s a real pain in the ass.”
Both looked at each other and laughed, what followed was probably 20 or so minutes if bonding over classmates they found insufferable, interests they didn’t even know they had in common and whatever came to their mind. Hyunjin had never seen Jisung laugh as much. Both agreed silently that this wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The more they talked the more they crept closer to each other, hiding from the cold. Hyunjin was the bigger one of the two, which is why he just had to be the one whose hand slipped around Jisung’s waist to pull him close.
Though they were both so red one would think they were painted with a layer of paint, the more time passed, the closer they got. Sooner than later, Jisung rested his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder and sighed in exhaustion, accidentally inhaling the faint perfume that was left on him. It was sweet, like peaches. Without thinking, he breathed it in deep.
“I smell good or what?”
“Shut up,” Jisung considered it for a second. “yes.”
“You too.”
“What?”
They looked at each other. Hyunjin mumbled “you said it first” before averting his gaze elsewhere, Hyunjin was right. But Jisung was nevertheless shocked that Hyunjin thought he smelled good. If he remembered correctly he slapped on a layer of axe body spray after getting out of the water, and that smelled good?
“I’m tired.” Jisung broke the silence.
“Okay.”
“Can I hug you?”
“...”
Jisung waited with patience for Hyunjin to answer, he felt Hyunjin move around underneath the jacket, but ultimately he felt the other open his arms and look away, perhaps a bit embarrassed. Jisung, on the other hand, embraced him in a tight hug, clasping his arms around him and getting as close as possible. He was determined to neither freeze to death, or die alone. He rested his head in the crook of the other’s neck and a part of him was in disbelief how soon their mutual hatred could change, after just being lost for a few hours. For almost two years the two had been in a constant state of hatred, thinking back, Jisung thought how they even fought with their fists once. Making him laugh. He raised his head with the goal to say something, words stuck on the tip of his tongue.
When his eyes met with Hyunjin’s he wondered if they always looked like that. So dark Jisung saw his own reflection in them, so close to his own. It wasn’t their eyes that were close, or not just their eyes, in fact, Jisung realized how the tips of their noses almost touched. Hyunjin’s mouth formed a firm straight line, seemingly as he thought hard on what to do next.
Naturally their faces attracted each other like magnets, without noticing they were suddenly no more than a centimeter apart when Hyunjin finally gave in and kissed Jisung's lips. It was soft, like their lips were molded against each other. When they parted Hyunjin hitched his breath and then;
“You taste like chips.”
Jisung’s face pulled into a grimace. “Seriously that was the first thing you had to say?”
“Well that’s what I thought about.”
“Couldn’t you have said I was a good kisser at least? I’m much better than you.”
“Uh? No? I’m better.”
“Really?” Jisung cocked his brows upwards and looked at Hyunjin with his head slightly tilted.
The jacket slid off them both and Jisung grabbed Hyunjin by the collar of his hoodie and pulled him forward until their lips met again. This time Jisung did his best to deepen the kiss, even threading his hand through the other’s black hair in the heat of the moment. They weren’t sure if Jisung was trying to prove he was the better kisser or if it was a simple excuse for them to kiss again. Their cheeks were painted the same shade of red and were burning with fire.
Safe to say they weren’t freezing anymore.
While in the middle of the kiss, both of their ears perked up. Someone was shouting in the distance. “Jisung! Hyunjin!”
They pulled away and wiped any traces of each other off their mouths. Both were on their feet in mere seconds, scrambling to find where the shout came from. Even when their knees buckled slightly from sitting so long. Jisung shouted back.
“Hello!? We are here!”
He fished up his phone and turned on the flashlight, happy he saved some battery. He started waving it around in the air until he finally spotted someone walking with a flashlight in the distance. Then he grabbed everything from the ground and grabbed Hyunjin’s hand and started booking it. Even Hyunjin began shouting.
“Here we are, we are alive!!”
“Dad I found them, they are right here!”
When Jisung saw Chan up close he basically threw himself onto him, hugging him tight while he cried out thanks. Soon everyone else came running in their direction, relief on all of their faces.
Chan’s dad was on the phone at an instant telling both Jisung’s and Hyunjin’s parents that they were completely fine, that they didn’t even have a scratch. “No no, I told you we didn’t have to call the police.” and when he was done he looked straight at the two boys. His face wasn’t easy to decipher and no one was really sure if he was angry, relieved, confused, or all of them at the same time. Beginning to walk back Chan’s father almost started scolding them.
“How did you manage to walk almost 4 kilometers in the completely wrong direction? I know there is another path you could turn on but there is a sign with an arrow that should point you in the right direction. Besides!” He pointed at the ground, “this isn’t even a path! Hyunjin you are wearing thongs, how could you walk like that?”
Both boys apologized and looked at each other with shameful grins.
“But I’m glad you are okay. Your parents were dead worried but I assured them we would call the police if we didn’t find you before midnight.”
Chan’s dad gave them both a somewhat comforting side hug, and kept an eye on them the entire way back to the tents. Surely enough both Jisung and Hyunjin noticed the sign they had missed hours prior, and in silence they wondered how in the hell none of them noticed or mentioned the change from the actual path and overgrown barely walkable path.
Their friends asked hundreds of questions about what they had done to pass time. Jisung could only mention how he probably passed half of the time going insane. “I really thought I was gonna die, if not for Hyunjin I probably would have marched into one direction and ended up being eaten by a monster.” He did shoot Hyunjin a smile, silently thanking him. And with the small praise, Hyunjin followed up, “Yeah I was just trying to stay calm and this dude was scrambling around on the rocks screaming until he was hoarse, crying and eating chips. Besides he was complaining like the entire time about the cold, being hungry, and the mosquito bites.”
“You ate my chips too! And! I was only complaining about that because it seemed you weren’t even affected, do you even have one mosquito bite? I have at least 50!”
And they bickered all the way back, pointing fingers, scoffing and accusing each other of being the fault at getting lost.
Though none of their friends probably caught in on it, it was obvious to the two of them that the fighting was much friendlier, if that was what you could call it. There was an easiness in both of their voices only they could pick up, the change much more obvious to them. And back at the tent Hyunjin even gave a smug smile to Jisung before both retreated into their respective tents.
Jisung threw himself back onto the thin sleeping mat and made himself cozy inside the sleeping bag, it was far more comfortable now than what it was the morning when he woke up. Still, as Changbin and Seungmin fell asleep in minutes he laid awake and stared at the roof of the tent. Unable to stop himself from thinking. After a long while, he felt around outside the sleeping bag in the dark, searching for his phone. Once he found it he scrolled through the messages trying to find the group chat Chan added him to, containing the seven other boys they were camping with. When he found the chat, he hesitantly sent a text to Hyunjin, telling him to go outside. Hyunjin answered barely a minute later with an “ok”, causing Jisung to hurry out his own tent without waking the other two sleeping beside him. Outside he heard Hyunjin’s voice from inside his tent whisper “I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be back soon.” and Minho grunting a low “don’t get lost again” as an answer.
Soon he saw the boy emerge from the tent while still putting his shirt on, Jisung followed his movements. Hyunjin walked up to him and nodded as a “what’s up?”
Jisung took hold of Hyunjin’s wrist and dragged him behind the tents, hiding behind a small shrubbery. They stared at each other for a while, Jisung thinking of ways to word his next sentence, carefully he let both of his palms to find Hyunjin’s shoulders, he grabbed them lightly and released a breath.
“We left something unanswered before…” he managed to peep out, leaving Hyunjin slightly flabbergasted.
“What?”
“Who the best kisser is.”
Hyunjin had to cover his mouth to stop himself from waking the whole party of people sleeping from his laughing. At first the faint smile on Jisung’s face faded, thinking he had embarrassed himself and officially couldn’t show himself in public anymore.
When the taller one of the two had stopped snickering he cupped Jisung’s cheeks, pulled his own face into a confident smile, like he thought himself of number one in the world. He leaned in close, so close Jisung could smell his minty breath from newly brushed teeth, he leaned in so close Jisung was afraid Hyunjin’s eyelashes would tickle him and the dark eyes disappear in his own.
Before Hyunjin closed the space between them he whispered: “obviously, without a doubt, I’m the best.”
The day afterward when the whole group (with an exception of Chan and Felix who rudely had a car of their own)(Especially Felix for abandoning everyone else on their way home) was smushed close together in Chan’s father's car, Jisung and Hyunjin sat in the same place they did when driving to the camping site and both eyes had dark circles underneath them. Despite it only being just past noon Hyunjin was falling in and out of sleep with his head leaning against the car window. If it weren’t for the other three people sitting in the car Jisung would likely rest his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder and fall into slumber himself.
It seemed like Minho was talking to Hyunjin, but the boy only reacted after he heard his name being called for the third time.
“Sorry, what did you say? I’m a bit tired.”
“Yeah I notice, when did you fall asleep yesterday? I swear it must have taken you over an hour to get back in the tent when you went to the bathroom. What happened? You got lost again?”
Hyunjin glanced at Jisung next to him, who also listened to their conversation. Both shared a look of “we shouldn’t tell them quite yet, right?”. It was quite embarrassing for both of them to having to admit to their six friends that the almost two-year-old hate that had been brewing inside them had turned into something much more, in just a night. When Hyunjin thought of what the two did last night his face reddened a bit, wondering how they even found it comfortable making out against the rough trunk of the tree for almost an hour straight. Even more so when he understood earlier in the morning why Jisung was wearing his shirt hiked up covering his neck completely.
At last, he covered as much of his face with his hand when he felt his ears getting red and mumbled.
“Nothing. You are delirious, I was back after like 5 minutes, you must have dreamt of me being gone.”
Minho ignored Hyunjin and turned back around, still not entirely convinced Hyunjin had only been gone for a mere 5 minutes. Nevertheless, he dropped the topic and let Hyunjin be. Jisung slightly nudged at Hyunjin’s side, careful not to gain the attention of Changbin on his other side. When Hyunjin looked at Jisung, the blue-haired boy fluttered his eyelashes and then winked at him, making him flush red again at an instant.
After a minute or two of Hyunjin staring out the window in an attempt to get rid of the blush, his phone pinged and he looked down, expecting a message from his mother or father.
Instead;
Han Jisung
u wanna meet in the skate park tonight
I don’t think I convinced u that I’m the better kisser
Hyunjin laughed, wondered if he should just ignore him or not, then he stared out the window and observed the sky, with giant clouds in all different shapes. For some reason, every single one reminded him of the boy next to him.
In the end, he did find himself walking to the skate park at 10 pm that night. When he arrived he saw the boy with blue hair sticking out a grey beanie, trashed loose jeans, and a black sweater way to big on his body resting against the picnic table. When he noticed Hyunjin he stomped on the skateboard and caught it in his hand.
“Here for round 3?” He cocked a smile.
Hyunjin stretched his arms behind his back and yawned.
“Only if you are ready to lose again.”