sickly sweet, it hurts (renjun x lucas)

the only chapter needed

it's definitely too hot to be out here, even if it was already evening and one would expect it to be cooler at this hour. but, alas, even if summer had just started, temperatures were far above average even before noon.

so it was too hot to be out and everything felt like it was melting but renjun still found himself blindly following yukhei everywhere he wanted to go, because that was how hopelessly in love he was.

they're at their local skate park again, at this point it's become a second home for the both of them after yukhei found every possible excuse to come here, and renjun just couldn't say no. he'd sit in a corner, under the shade, and read, or use the excuse of reading as a cover for blatantly staring at yukhei as he skated.

and if yukhei occasionally caught him staring back to the point where they'd make eye contact and then he'd end up falling off his board after being distracted, no one needs to know. because at the end of the day, they were just friends, and either way, yukhei would never think of him as anything more.

it's hot, he's sweaty and uncomfortable sitting there on that hard wooden bench, but all he can think about at that moment is the unidentifiable look in yukhie's eyes and the quote he read in one of those astrology books in the public library - something along the lines 'all living things on earth are made of stardust.' and at that moment, on a hot nondescript hot summer day after junior year, renjun thinks to himself, yukhei shines bigger and brighter than any moon even in the darkest nights. even as he stands there on the skate ramp in the blaring sunlight covered in sticky sweat that makes his shirt cling to his back

he looks attractive even like that and renjun has to look back down at his book to keep from staring.

now he was tackling emma by jane austen, again. yukhei has long since stopped bugging him for rereading her books so often, but every summer since the first time he walked into a small corner bookstore and picked up his first copy of a jane austen novel and fell into that rabbit hole, he's made certain that he reread this one in specific. at the start of every summer, he'd hole himself up in his room, aircon blasting and lights dimmed (the soft glow of the fairy lights draped in every possible corner being the only source of light), and read. every now and then his parents would try to coak him out or yukhei would come to bug him (spread out on the bed like a star, messing up the sheets) but to no avail.

this year, however, is different. yukhei, with the help of his parents (all in on some plan he was never informed of), had barged into his room earlier that very day and had literally picked him up and hauled him out into the light.

no amount of pleading, yelling, or thrashing from renjun could appease him. and the next thing he knew, they were in the car on their way to the local skate park. the entire ride there, renjun stood still and sulked but no amount of pouting could get yukhei to stop the car and it wasn't until he started cracking stupid jokes, that renjun loosed up a bit.

'come on we're almost seniors, why don't you live a little' yukhei drawls out

'i am living, through this' renjun replies, waving the book he's been clutching waveringly since the moment yukhei walked into his room, in the air.

yukhei scoffs at this, 'that's all you do these days, head buried in books at any chance you get, you should look up every now and again, you know, to get a better look at my beautiful face.'

'oh shut up and stop being so egotistical all the time. and why'd you have to drag me here of all places, you know i hate this park.' he does but he really just wants a reaction out of him after dragging him out of the safety of his room.

but that was hours later and renjun had the chance to leave a while ago, he could have made an excuse of helping out with dinner, but time still found its way to slip between his fingertips.