let's begin again, let's begin again, we had a lot of time

live, laugh, love life (❁'◡'❁)

stopping at a random bench at the park, youngtaek and joochan plop unceremoniously down onto it. sighing, they each start to take out their own bread selections - secured at the bakery right outside the park a while ago - and munch on their supper snack wordlessly.

then, in the quiet of the night, youngtaek breaks the silence.
"say, i've always been curious but...how do you do it?"

joochan immediately stops chewing the chunk of sausage in his mouth, turning to face the older with a perplexed look etched onto his features.

"do what, hyung?"

"well, you're always so optimistic. always hopeful, always smiling. you always encourage others to look at the bright side, even in the darkest situations. how are you so positive? so happy?"

it is then that joochan swallows his bite, dusting his hands from the bread crumbs. he chuckles, smile lines beautifully emphasised under the soft lighting of the lamp towering over their seats. youngtaek can't help marvelling at just how attractive joochan really is. joochan speaks up again.

"hyung, you're wrong. i mean, not entirely. i'm not "always happy". i have my sad moments too, you've seen them! it's just...it's easier to live life when you're not always focused on the bad things, you know? like, there's already so much negativity around us every day, why burden yourself further? i'm sure you can relate, hyung. when you live long enough, you start to see that there are so many things to be grateful for, no? let me tell you something. i actually live by two principles. one, appreciating everything that i have."

lifting his right hand and leaning right into his hyung's face, joochan starts listing a number of things down.

"my health,"
his thumb sticks out.

"my five senses,"
his pointer finger comes next.

"and most importantly, my life."
his middle finger shoots out rigidly, as if on cue. he clears his throat.

"not everyone is as privileged as we are. i'm definitely luckier than most. secondly, for every bad person that i meet, and for every bad day that i go through, there are ten other good people in the world. ten other good days in the month. ten other good opportunities awaiting me. it's true what they say...good things come to those who wait. yes, life isn't easy. life is tough, but so are we. if i can help lighten everyone's burdens then we all win. life is easier when you laugh through it. i just want everyone else to know that too."

and there goes joochan again, with his ridiculously enamoring and obnoxiously cheeky grin, with searching eyes glassy from emotion. youngtaek is baffled at the amount of earnestness radiating from his dongsaeng. for someone younger than him, joochan is far wiser than him, far wiser than most people, in fact. his dongsaeng's teary eyes - boring right into his wide ones - evoke an innate sense of protectiveness in him as he laughs softly at the ironic innocence of it all. look at joochan, getting rid of all of nature's problems, simply by brushing them off. 'cause what is life if you're not happy, right? joochan is right. of course he is. life is tough, but so are we. we don't have to make it tougher by scrutinising all of the ways we're lacking in it.

and if they spend the rest of the night reminiscing about the times that they used to hate each other's guts at first, all the way to the times that they used to get in trouble with sungyoon when they skipped dance practice together as trainees...then neither of them bring it up when they arrive back to the safety and warmth of their shared dorm.