ＭＥＴ ＹＯＵ ＢＹ ＴＨＥ ＰＩＬＥ ＯＦ ＳＴＲＡＷ

the bucket is now my best friend

"so, how is school? you must be in high school already right?!"
grandma said, sitting down by the table, giving Minho a cup with tea.

"yeah. I will be graduating next year."
minho said with a small smile.

"oh wow! you're all grown up now! so you have a part time job?"
she asked, taking a sip out of her cup.

"well, sort of? my friend's parents own a restaurant, and I sometimes go there and help when they are busy. it's not something I do regularly tho."
minho said.

"well, at least you're doing something to earn money. I'm proud of you."
grandma said, before getting up.
"so, you're going to be here the entire summer?"

"well, I guess. mom said we will talk it out tho, so it could be just a month."
minho said.

"well, at least I will have some help here for a while."
grandma smiled, excited.
"you should go into the stables. you might meet some of the people who help me here! there are some young ones too, around your age, so you could maybe make some friends, that would be exciting!"

"oh...okay. like, right now?"
minho asked a little confused.

"yeah! they should be just cleaning the horses now."
grandma said, taking the empty cup from minho.
"go now, I will prepare your room in the meantime."

"okay. is mae still..."

"of course she is! she's a good old lady horse. she is in the stables as well."

"oh my god! okay then, I will go."
minho said, before bowing and making his way to the stables.

walking there, he was getting a huge feeling of dejavú.
suddenly, he was a ten year old kid, happily skipping to the stables to ride his favorite horse.
mae.
he wondered how much she had change over the four years.

the stables still looked the same.
the only thing that was different were the horses.
where could mae be at?

just as he walked behind the corner, he saw someone.
a boy.
brown haired boy, who looked something around his age.
and he was caressing a head of a horse.
a horse that was....mae.
minho could recognize her from anywhere.

but the strange thing was that his attention wasn't on the horse he spend his childhood with.
it was on the brown haired boy.
his beautiful features caught his attention so hard that he wasn't able to look away.

"you're such a good girl mae. I'm gonna take you out tomorrow as well, okay?"
the boy said, a small smile on his face.

minho could feel the corners of his mouth turn up.
his smile was...truly contagious.

minho was so caught up in the admiring of this stranger, that he didn't even realize that...he stepped in a bucket.
so as he stepped forward, he slipped and fell backwards, landing in a pile of straw.
oh my god, could this be even more embarrassing?

minho looked up, seeing that the boy was now standing over him.

"uhm...hello?"
the boy chuckled, making minho feel even more embarrassed.

"this was my true intention you know? just...lay in a pile of straw...yeah...very comfortable, you should try it someday."
minho said, nodding, trying to look not as dumb.

the boy chuckled, while playfully rolling his eyes.
"need some help?"

"that would be very nice actually."
minho said, giving the beautiful boy a small smile.

the boy kneeled, taking the bucket and getting it off of minhos foot and getting up, offering his hand to minho, who took it, and got up.

"I'm minho."
he said, giving him a small smile.

"jisung."
the boy said, returning the smile.
"you're lucky it's a fresh straw."

"I think I would actually kill myself if it wasn't."

"or you would just take a shower dude."
jisung chuckled, before walking towards the horse.
"you're a new worker here?"

"well...sorta? The owner is my grandma, I'm just here for the summer."

"I thought that there was some resemblance."
jisung chuckled, leading the horse into it's cage.
"well, welcome."

"thank...you?"
minho said, a little confused.
"and you? why are you here?"

"well I work here of course."
jisung said, closing the door of the cage.
"but I'm not here just over the summer. I'm here the whole year."

"really?"
minho was a little shocked.
"what about school?"

"distance art school. I gotta pay for it somehow, and grandma is so nice that I can adjust the hours."
Jisung explained.
"I have to 'work' here for at least fifteen hours a week, so if I have some things I have to do for school, I can just not show up a day, and then be here for longer the next one. I don't think this is work, I just take care of horses."

"wow. how long have you been here?"
minho asked.

"hmm, I'm not sure. like...close to a year? I don't know."
jisung shrugged, before he started walking outside of the stables, minho following him.

"so you live near by?"

"yeah, like five, ten minutes from here."
jisung said, before checking the time.
"well, it was nice meeting you Minho, but I gotta go help prepare the food for the horses."

"oh, yeah. it was nice meeting you too."
minho smiled.

jisung returned the smile, before he started walking away....

and minho would be lying if he said he didn't check him out.