poems by the shore

o6

his phone buzzes every so often beside him, his blanket pulled to his chin, body curled in.

hyunjin fixes himself to lay on his stomach, looking up at jisung in bed.

"have you ever had a sleepover before?" the boy asks. jisung nods, answering that his friend has slept over so many nights he'd might as well live with him.

hyunjin smiles. "you guys must be pretty close, huh?"

why did he sound a bit let down?

"yeah. we've been friends since like elementary school. his mom works pretty late, so he likes staying over a lot."

hyunjin nods. curious, his brow raises. "what about his dad?" jisung bites the inside of his bottom lip, unsure whether felix would let him tell hyunjin or not.

he shakes his head. "it's not my place to tell." to which the boy simply nods and looks off to the book shelf just beside his desk.

his eyes graze the spines of nearly a dozen. "how far are you in your book?" hyunjin asks.

"a couple chapters in. how about you? how're you liking fahrenheit 451?"

the boy shuffles and gets closer to the edge of jisung's bed. "it's actually pretty good. i used to hear a lot of people say it was boring or confusing, but it's not bad."

the corner's of jisung's lips turn up. he's happy the boy seems to enjoy what he does. he hums with a soft smile, snuggling further into his pillow as if that were possible.

they lay in silence for a few minutes, jisung asking softly, "you want me to turn off the lights?"

"i could turn them, if you want?"

jisung declines. "no, it's okay. i got it." he tosses his blanket aside and stands from his bed. hyunjin mimics him. "no," he repeats. "it's okay."

he raises his foot to make it to the light switch, but hyunjin's blanket holds on tight to his ankle. slipping back, he catches himself on his bed. the boy's brows raise. "are you okay?" he asks.

jisung nods, chuckling lightly. "yeah, i'm good."

he stands but hyunjin's already turning the lights off and crawling back under the sheet jisung laid out for him.

sitting on the edge of the bed, he sighs, and slips back under his blanket. he tucks it just under his chin, again curled up.

they lay in silence, the waves crashing just down the street. jisung hesitates, "have you ever made your own song?"

hyunjin smiles in the room dimly light by a small cat lamp. "no. not with lyrics or anything, just the," he trails off forgetting the word 'melody' but repeats it happily when jisung suggests it.

the boy twiddles his fingers under his blanket, furthering his question. "have you ever thought about writing one?" hyunjin nods, his hair spreading along the pillow in separate strands. "what kind of song?"

he turns his head to look over at jisung whose knee nearly rests over the edge of his bed and gives his full attention. he hesitates. "a love song, maybe." jisung's brows raise, curious to who the love song would be for.

"just.. someone," hyunjin hums, turning back to the ceiling. his heart thumps. why is jisung curious about who a stupid love song would be for? he didn't look like someone who would enjoy the romance genre.

they lay in silence again, the ac buzzing softly as white noise. jisung lets the stillness stay and hugs a lump of his blanket close to his chest, closing his eyes.

no one mumbles a word or shuffles in their sheets until hyunjin turns to see jisung fast asleep. he fixes himself, his chin on his palm and eyes gazing at the quiet boy whose hair covers half his face.

hyunjin wriggles forward and reaches over to move jisung's hair from his eyes, for no reason other than to see how sweet he looks as he sleeps. it's something he sees in many films, it's a normal thing to do.

he clears his throat quietly and rests on the sheets, still watching but himself slowly growing tired. his eyelids begin to fall heavily and he sighs as he falls asleep just below the boy he'd met a few days ago at the shore.