poems by the shore

i3

the sun beams harsh outside, luckily the two boys are in the cool ac of the bus, holding hands. jisung shuffles in his seat, going closer to hyunjin and cautiously laying his head on the other's shoulder.

once his head rests there, hyunjin lets go of jisung's hand to pet the boy's hair down in soft strokes till their stop comes next. he taps jisung's cheek and mumbles, "come on. we're here."

they get their bag and step off, thanking the bus driver, before crossing the street and making their way to jisung's complex. he's hesitant but when they're just around the corner, hyunjin slips his hand in jisung's.

butterflies awaken in both their stomachs and bees nip at both of them. they go up and into the apartment and rest in jisung's room. hyunjin lays on his back, an arm spread out with jisung's head lazing on it.

"today was," jisung stutters. "nice." he's not sure how to talk after their date. hyunjin picks his hand up and plays with jisung's hair, strand by strand. he hums in agreement with a sweet and loving smile.

he knows hyunjin likes him, but that never calms his heart when the boy does anything remotely romantic. playing with his hair isn't romantic. is it? it's jisung's first crush, excluding the third year he'd liked last year.

the third year doesn't count considering he's likely now attending university. jisung probably won't stumble upon him as time passes. but hyunjin, jisung wants to stumble upon him every day. rather, he wants to wake up to him every morning.

after a few minutes of just resting, hyunjin's hand falls limp under jisung and the boy snores beside him. jisung looks over and he's fast asleep. he can't stop himself.

he leans in and plants a soft kiss on hyunjin's temple. jisung fixes himself into the crook of his neck, planting another soft kiss on hyunjin's neck.

slowly, they fall asleep until the sound of beeping wakes them up.

◌

jisung jumps when he hears his dad typing in the passcode. he rolls out of bed and rushes out to the kitchen to greet his dad before he could see the two boys cuddling closely.

"hey, dad," he smiles.

"hey. how's your day?"

he tells him what he and hyunjin had done that morning, leaving out the hand holding, kisses, and butterflies. "that's nice. i'm happy you guys had fun," his dad hums happily as he sets his things down.

"i hope you guys didn't eat too much, though. you guys ready to go eat?"

his dad goes to his room to change, assuming hyunjin and jisung are ready, which they're getting to be now. jisung goes back to his room to hyunjin rubbing the last bit of sleep from his eyes. "come on. we're going to go eat," he says, holding out a hand.

hyunjin takes it and shuffles out of the bed, reluctantly letting go of jisung's hand before the boy's dad sees. he's not even sure if jisung's dad would do or say anything, but he wasn't planning on risking to not seeing jisung again.

the three of them walk to a restaurant close by and make small talk of their days before their meals come to the table. they thank their waitress and dig in.

jisung and his dad talk about the littlest things, but hyunjin doesn't pay any mind. he's too busy paying attention to the way jisung blows on his food even when it's already been cooling for a minute, how he seems to stuff food into his cheeks till they look like they could pop any minute, the way his eyes go wide when he's listening attentively, how if he could he'd sit closer to hyunjin until closer was impossible.

hyunjin peeks down to see jisung's foot and knee pressed against his own. he tries to stop himself from smiling, biting at the inside of his cheek.

they finish their dishes and jisung's dad pays their bill. "thank you," hyunjin says, bowing slightly at the table. his dad shakes his head. "don't worry about it. you keeping jisung company's enough."

the boys exchange a glance and smile.

they leave and upon returning home, jisung's dad clocks out for the night, leaving them alone. jisung looks over at hyunjin who sits on the edge of the bed.

"so, what do you want to do?" jisung stutters awkwardly.

hyunjin chuckles and suggests they watch a movie. "what movie?" jisung asks.

"what's your favorite?"

"genre?"

"no. favorite movie."

jisung thinks for a moment, remembering the one film he can never get enough of. "howl's moving castle. i love that movie," he says, his eyes shining at the thought of watching it with hyunjin.

the boy nods and agrees they'll watch that one. jisung happily goes about his room, setting his laptop he brought with him up on his lap, angling for hyunjin to see too. he goes on netflix and types the movie title in, playing it right away.

he mimics the motions and hyunjin can't help but smile at how cute the boy looks while watching his favorite film.

considering jisung's watched the movie seven times through already, he lets himself slowly fall asleep beside hyunjin. when the boy notices, he takes the laptop into his own lap and fixes himself for jisung to rest his head on his shoulder to sleep.

hyunjin pets jisung's hair down until the movie finishes. he turns the laptop off and puts it on the bedside table, careful to not wake the sleeping sweetheart.

he leans over to turn the lamp they left on off and shuffles them to lay down. taking jisung into his arms, hyunjin kisses his forehead and rests his head against jisung's.

"good night, jisung."

he hesitates.

"i'm sorry.."

slowly, they fall asleep in each other's arms, the other's skin keeping them warm throughout the night until the sun rises and heats jisung's leg that peeks from under his cover.

he tucks his leg underneath and searches for hyunjin's leg to rest his over. he can't find it.

jisung picks his head up and finds himself laying in bed alone.