Unnecessary Enchantment || 2ho

7. The Masks Which Bind

Not much change marked the passing days. At least, not much that Jongho noticed.

Yet nature, in its miniature way, moves every moment toward something new. Even the seasons, which, from human view, consist of four fine quarters of the year, are always new to the world, never quite the same.

But, of course, human view of the natural world lacks appreciation. For where they see four seasons, nature continues with her two, or five, or seven.

Up in the recesses of Yunho's mountains, they slowly crawl towards fall.

But Yunho does not look up to notice the red and orange peeking through leaves; he is instead occupied making sure the people playing in the sides of that massive waterfall don't drown.

"Oppa look!" Jiwoo is pulling earthen castles from the rock. "Can you put some little vines up the side please?"

So Yunho hums and with a twirl of his heart, miniscule ivy grows across the castle gates.

"Thank you!" And Jiwoo starts to pull out a moat.

"Yunho!" So he looks over to the waterfall. "Come on!" Jongho calls.

The way Jongho plays was a surprise to Yunho at first, the way he switches completely from his reserved personality into one quite childlike. But what catches Yunho even more off guard is that smile. That beautiful, open, giggling smile which comes out in a splendor of gums and pearls.

That smile beckons Yunho into the spring.

These springs are cold; only swimmable for a few more weeks into September. Well, for most, at least. Jiyoung and the other fluvius will immerse themselves even after the surface turns to ice.

Yunho is only knee-deep as he wades toward Jongho; he holds his breath in anticipation for that drop-off carved by beating water.

"Is Jiyoung still under the fall?" Yunho asks as he begins to swim against the flow.

"Yes, for like ten minutes or something." Jongho rolls his eyes, annoyed by his lack of playmate. "Wait, can he hear me?" Jongho meets Yunho's eyes.

"No, he's so far into his element he won't hear anything." Yunho feels a longing in his chest, a tug of desire. "Nothing else will matter."

Both boys have dark eyes. Pupil to pupil, they are locked onto each other. Jongho's eyes... they are perhaps mesmerized, perhaps scared; he blames the constant treading of water for why his breaths come out uneven.

"OPPA-." The splash of Jiwoo's cannonball breaks both boys from their trance.

Yunho laughs. Jongho is confused.

Even in his state of flow, Jiyoung feels the vibrations of his twin enter the spring; he quickly comes to the surface to play, head still in a pocket of air.

As Yunho is jumped by the children, only his shoulders are visible to Jongho. His memories drift back to the first time Yunho took him here, to the times he held those shoulders as Yunho taught him to swim.

"Do you think oppa is done with work yet?" Jiwoo asks as they all dry off on the shore.

"Not yet, but maybe by the time we arrive back."

For a brief moment, the twins request piggyback rides, but soon they jump off to run ahead, leaving Jongho and Yunho to walk alone.

"Do you..." Jongho starts, but he can't word the question; he doesn't mean for it to be offensive.

"Yunho," he tries again, "isn't the way you live here, the way the community lives, too... passive?"

"What do you mean?" Yunho loves being asked questions, but this is one he hasn't heard.