cold | junhao

二十六

The subtle whir followed by a shutter clicking begins as the only sound that dominates the forest clearing that the two boys currently stand in. Jun loiters with his back leant against a tree trunk, hand gripping Teddy's lead and watching Minghao with warm eyes as the younger wanders around, angling his camera for photos.

After a few more minutes, Minghao walks back to Jun, sliding down the bark and resting on the floor, waiting for Jun to do the same. "How's your anxiety been since China?"

Jun crosses his legs infront of him. "Why have you left your project until two days before it's due? You had a month."

A laugh leaves Minghao's lips. "Answer my question first."

Huffing, Jun shuffles and readjusts his legs, trying to evade sharp prickles of twigs on his thighs. He strokes behind teddy's fluffy white ears, smiling briefly as he nuzzles into the palm of Jun's hand.

"The past couple of weeks?" 

Minghao nods. 

"It's gotten better," he lies. 

A shiver runs through him that he just hopes Minghao doesn't pick up, with their shoulders being pressed together as they are. Thankfully, Minghao doesn't seem to notice. He stretches his arms out in front of him, both bare, and holds them under the sunlight, basking in the warmth of the sun. "That's good," he grins when Teddy barks and climbs onto his lap, stretching to lick his face. 

Jun laughs, threading his hand through Minghao's and tugging him to his feet.

They leave the clearing, emerging back into the public park where there are countless families with young children surrounding the swing sets, yelling in pure joy as they're swung high into the sky. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Jun catches Minghao watching them, with an almost longing expression on his face. "You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah," Minghao nods, but his eyes still don't leave the swing sets.

Jun turns his whole body to face him and grips gently at his wrist. "What's up?"

"I've never been on a swing before. I always wanted to when I was little but my parents never gave me the chance."

"Really?" Jun gasps. "Come with me." 

With an added eager spring in his step, Jun tugs Minghao forward, gradually closing the distance between them and the last empty swing seat. As Minghao utters out a small noise of confusion, Jun pushes him to sit down, ties teddy's lead to the frame, and stands directly behind him.

"What are you doing? What about all the parents-" Jun places his hands on Minghao's shoulders when the younger starts to stand up. 

He rolls his eyes, "How can I let myself believe I've been a good boyfriend if you've never played on a swing set." His tone is so determined that Minghao doesn't even try to argue. "Just hold on." He grabs the chains on either side and walks backwards, already laughing as he notices Minghao's grip tightening and his shoulders hunching together, but the way he kicks his feet back and forth thankfully shows that he's up for it.

When Jun has walked back as far as he can and pulled Minghao as far from the ground as his height will allow him, Jun lets go with a powerful shove and a glorifying whoop. Minghao yells as well, unable to stop the bright grin from exploding across his face, immediately kicking himself as high as he can go. There's that one moment, when the chains go slack and it's like he's floating in mid air like a bird, and there's nothing tethering him to the ground. 

Jun continues to push Minghao from behind as they both laugh, resembling the little children only a few metres away. The parents of said kids throw the pair odd looks and mutter under their breaths, scorning their immaturity but Minghao and Jun don't even notice, too caught up in having fun to care.

"Damn, we wondered who was screaming."

Jun peeks out from behind from behind Minghao's back and scoffs. "Stop exaggerating."

Soonyoung and Jihoon both snicker and walk closer to them, leaning against the frame of the swing. Jihoon sinks the floor, only grimacing as Teddy attempts to jump on his lap. "Your dog likes me too much."

"He likes everyone too much. He'd run off and adopt a new family by himself if I didn't keep him on a lead." Minghao jumps from the swing, a bright smile still lingering on his face as he greets the newcomers and collapses beside them, leaning back on his hands and closing his eyes.

Before Jun can even sit down, they fly open again.

"Shit!" he yells, pulling out his phone to stare at the time. He lets out a breath and groans. "You've got to be kidding me."

Everyone stops what they're doing and stares at him. "What happened?" Soonyoung asks slowly, taken aback by the sudden outburst.

Minghao's head drops into his hands. "I wanted to go in to class today, a professional photographer was supposed to come in and give us a talk. But never mind," he sighs. "It started an hour ago already." Discarding his phone, he flops backwards onto the grassy verge with on arm tucked behind his head. 

"Is that what you want to do? Photography?" Jihoon asks. 

He nods. "Not sure how I'm gonna get there though."

Soonyoung's back straightens up and he glances between the couple a few times before speaking. "Jun, what about your company? Do they hire photographers?"

Finally sitting down, Jun hums in thought. "Now that I think of it," he wonders, "There are a few people who are at most of the shoots. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they do." He smiles to his boyfriend, "We could work together," he suggests, linking their hands together.

After a few second, Minghao smiles and nods. "Okay," he says. "I'll have a look later."

Jun shrugs, "I could ask them for you, if you want."

He shakes his head, "I'd rather be employed because they want to employ me, not because you told them to." Jun nods in understanding, swinging his arm over Minghao's shoulder and lightly kissing his temple, pulling back quickly and glancing around them. He tugs his mask a little higher over his face.

Ever since coming home from China - even when he's not out with Minghao - Jun's been finding himself checking over his shoulder constantly, and covering his face more frequently in an attempt to deter any lurking cameras. In a way, it's made him frightened to leave his or Minghao's homes. 

Because if he gets caught in the wrong line of eyes again, Jun's not so sure he'll get away with it as easily.