Ardour | The Boyz

Picnic [SunRic]

"You picked a nice day for a study date." Sunwoo hummed happily.

"Well you wanted to go on a date, and I have a music theory final coming up. I compromised." Eric smiled up at Sunwoo.

They'd laid out a blanket under a tree at a park that was close to their apartment. Sunwoo had brought fruits and snacks for them to share while Eric worked on his project.

The sun was shining brightly and there were no clouds in sight. It was a pretty warm day.

"So what's the project you have to work on?" Sunwoo asked, leaning forward.

Eric had laid down in front of Sunwoo who sat up against the tree.

"Well I have to write and record a song, then I have to pick a partner that majors in dance to perform it. They will be graded on the choreography, and I will be graded for the song." Eric replied. "I guess some teachers in the music and performance department collaborated so there wouldn't be too many test days."

"Ou, that sounds fun." Sunwoo said in response. "Have you picked who you want to perform it?"

Eric pouted and shook his head. "No. And that's the thing, most of my classmates already have. But I don't want to pick someone until I'm done with the song, I want to pick somebody that fits the concept."

Sunwoo hummed in understanding. Then he sighed.

"My boyfriend the perfectionist." He swooned.

"Please, you're just as much of a perfectionist as I am." Eric snickered. "Remember when you almost ripped Juyeon's head off for not putting his shoes on the shoe rack?"

Sunwoo ignored the comment and dug into the bag he'd brought and pulled out a box of strawberries.

Sunwoo ate his strawberries in peace, occasionally sticking one into Erics mouth. He listened to Eric hum melody ideas to himself every now and then, and the constant scraping of led against paper as Eric wrote down lyrics and such.

Sunwoo loved watching Eric work, it was for some reason very calming for him. Eric had such big dreams for himself, and Sunwoo was just happy seeing him work towards them.

One thing he would change though was how hard Eric was on himself. Everything had to be perfect, all the time. Even the littlest mistakes had Eric stressing himself out for days until it was fixed.

Sunwoo just wished Eric could see how amazing he already was, everything he touched turned precious.

"Ughh." Eric groaned loudly. He rolled onto his back, scooting up so his head was in Sunwoo's lap. "I need a break."

Sunwoo smiled down at his boyfriend, moving the fringe away from his face. "You've been working really hard, baby. I'm proud of you."

Eric immediately smiled at the comment.

"You mean that?" He asked, giving Sunwoo the cutest puppy eyes after being praised.

"Of course I do, I'm always proud of you, jaejae." Sunwoo confirmed.

Eric bit his lip and smiled widely. Sunwoo knew just how much Eric loved the nickname, a nickname only his boyfriend called him.

"Sometimes I think you really underestimate how much I love you and want to see you chase your dreams. You've been working nonstop towards what you want and you don't let anything get in the way of that. How can I not be proud of you?" Sunwoo chuckled, gently tracing Erics features with his finger.

"I always thought you'd get tired of how much I work on my school stuff instead of spending time with you. You deserve someone who will give you all of their time, and I'm sorry I haven't given you that." Eric frowned.

"Are you kidding? Yeah I may not like how much you're working yourself, but it's because I hate seeing you so stressed out all the time. Not because you're not spending that time with me. The only reason I never say anything is because I love seeing how happy you are at the end of the day with the results. I could never ask you to stop working for your dreams for me." Sunwoo ranted. "You're living your life and going after what you want, when we got together you just included me into your routine. That's more than I could ever ask for."

Eric's smile was back after hearing Sunwoo say all of that.

"You know what accomplishment I'm most proud of though?" Eric asked, sitting up to face Sunwoo.

Sunwoo hummed with curiosity.

"Getting you to fall in love with me." Eric answered.

Sunwoo looked a bit taken aback by what Eric just said.

"Why?" Sunwoo asked.

"Because you're the reason I get up every morning and go to school. Everything I do is because I know how much you want me to succeed and I just want to make you proud of me." Eric elaborated. "And the fact that out of anyone you could've had, you chose me. A guy with a dream that nobody believed in. But the way you believe in me is one of the many reasons I love you, Sunwoo. Being loved by you is the thing I'm most proud of."

Sunwoo felt his heart melt in his chest as he listened to every word Eric said.

Eric picked up his notebook, scanning it over once more before handing it to Sunwoo.

"The song I'm writing is called Chasing Stars. It's about how even when the world is fading behind you, the only thing you have to focus on is how close you are to reaching your shooting star." Eric explained, giving the backstory to Sunwoo who was reading over the song. "It's not finished and there's still a lot I need to fix but this is the general idea."

Sunwoo's smile grew with every lyric he read.

"Baby, this song is incredible. If this is your first draft, I can only imagine how the final product is going to turn out." Sunwoo said, still swooned.

Eric smiled giddily.

"I'll let you be the first to hear it." He said.

Sunwoo handed Eric back his notebook, the younger stuffed it in his bag and tossed it to the side.

"Now it's Sunwoo time." He clapped.

Sunwoo laughed at his boyfriend's cute behavior.

"Come here." Sunwoo opened his arms, coaxing Eric into them.

Eric laid his head on his boyfriend's chest, intently listening to the rhythm of his heart beat.

"You're my shooting star, Sunwoo. I love you." Eric said quietly, drumming his fingers gently on Sunwoo's stomach.

"I love you too, Jaejae." Sunwoo said back just as quietly.

In that moment, for both of them, everything was perfect.

Everything.