a work of art [meanie]

Chapter 36

1223 words  

  

Few days later Wonwoo and Mingyu are walking down the street side by side. There's nothing except the boys and the silence and peacefulness of the night. There's nothing but happiness radiating from Wonwoo as he takes a brief look at the boy walking next to him. There's nothing but affection reflecting on Mingyu's face as he smiles at Wonwoo when he catches the latter stealing glances at him. 

Wonwoo sighs - and for once it's a sigh of relief and not distress - and looks up at the sky above them. It's beautiful. Everything looks beautiful at the moment. 

The warm breeze of air feels good on his skin, the sight of empty streets is more reassuring than scary and the sound of their light footsteps on the asphalt is comfortable. Wonwoo feels happy. 

It's way past midnight already, but the boys don't mind. They enjoy the quiet of the night just as much as they love the lively and vivid days.

They had been at the cinema, watching a new action film, and at the diner near the cinema, eating and sharing their thoughts about the movie. After eating, the boys didn't want to go home just yet and decided to just wonder around, enjoying the warm summer night. 

Wonwoo had loved the film and enjoyed the food highly, but the evening would've been nothing without Mingyu. They had a lot of fun and Wonwoo doesn't want it to end just yet. He's feeling quite sentimental to be honest. But who could blame him; he has the man of his dreams right next to him humming a song, twinkling stars above him and nothing else but calmness surrounding him. 

Wonwoo feels lightheaded. 

"I had so much fun today," he finally voices his thoughts, keeping his eyes on the road, and Mingyu stops humming momentarily. 

Wonwoo can see from the corner of his eye, without moving his gaze from the road, that Mingyu is looking at him "Me too."

It's silent again, but the silence isn't awkward, vice versa. The boys keep walking without any specific destination in mind. 

As they keep going, sometimes stopping to look at a flower beside the walkway or a funny-shaped rock, they talk about random things. Everything and anything. They tell funny things that have happened to them or their friends and families and soon they are both clutching their stomachs as they laugh so hard. They even have to stop at one point so that Mingyu can gather himself as he laughs so much for something Wonwoo said.

Fifteen minutes later they find themselves at a beach that's not too far from their homes. 

"Hey! I know what we should do!" Mingyu suddenly says, eyes glinting excitedly and the other turns to look at him questioningly. 

"We should go swimming!" Mingyu practically shakes with excitement.

"Right now?" Wonwoo's eyes are round in confusion, looking just as confused and puzzled as he feels. 

"Duh, of course right now," Mingyu answers immediately, "I haven't swum at night yet this summer! We have to!"

"But... We got no swimming suits with us."

"Who cares? Here's no one else beside us!" Mingyu insists. 

"Uh..." Wonwoo hesitates. 

"Oh my god, where's the wild Wonu? You only live once, carpe diem and all that jazz!" Mingyu teases, tickling and poking Wonwoo playfully, causing the latter squirm.

Wonwoo rolls his eyes at Mingyu's desperate persuading, but he has to admit to himself that the thought of night swim sounds tempting. 

"Okay, okay! Let's swim," Wonwoo gives in, and Mingyu jumps in victory.

In few seconds, Mingyu is already stripping down of his clothes, dropping them to the sand. 

"Wait, are you going to take everything off?" 

Mingyu glances at him, "Yeah," yanking his shirt off, "of course."

Right. Of course. Wonwoo turns his head bashfully, as Mingyu takes his pants off as well.

It's not like Wonwoo hasn't seen Mingyu's bare body before. He's seen Mingyu naked once when they were swimming. And well, half-naked Mingyu isn't unfamiliar sight to Wonwoo after countless sleepovers.

But there's still something that makes Wonwoo's cheeks burn as he sees Mingyu with barely nothing on. 

"You're falling behind. Better hurry, grandpa!" Mingyu yells, making a run to the water, shrieking as the chilly water hits his body. 

Wonwoo tears his eyes away from Mingyu's retreating back, and pulls his own shirt over his head, letting the slight breeze hit his bare torso.

Soon Wonwoo stands fully naked on the beach. He feels vulnerable with nothing covering his body, and it feels extremely weird to be naked where anyone could see him. But he also feels the rush of excitement at the strange situation, and he makes his way to the water as well, laugh escaping his mouth. 

The water is chillier at night, but it's not too cold. It's actually sort of refreshing after a hot summer day. 

Wonwoo reaches Mingyu. The water reaches their belly buttons. 

"Last one to dive is a loser!" Mingyu shouts, and dives immediately, Wonwoo following. 

The water feels surprisingly cold as Wonwoo dives, and so he's up soon again, gasping. 

"You lost," Mingyu laughs, starting to make his way further from the coast. 

Wonwoo just splashes some water in Mingyu's way, and follows him. Mingyu of course returns the motion, splashing water on Wonwoo. 

They swim back and forth for a while, but it soon gets a little too chilly, despite all the moving.

"Should we go now?" Mingyu asks, gesturing to the coast where their clothes are.

Wonwoo nods, and they start making their way to their clothes. 

When they are out of water - both completely naked - they're shivering as their wet bodies are met with the cold air. 

"Man, right now I would give anything to get a towel," Mingyu mutters, grabbing his shirt. 

They're both soaking wet with no towels, and they would catch a cold if they waited for themselves to dry, so they just start putting their clothes on.

After a lot of struggling - jeans are really hard to put on if your skin is wet - they have their clothes on, and they decide to leave the beach and head straight home. 

"I'm cold," Mingyu whines, teeth clattering, as they start walking home.

"Well, it was your idea to go swimming even though we had no towels or swimsuits," Wonwoo marks, but there's no hatred in his voice. 

"C'mon admit it, you liked it too," Mingyu insists, raising his eyebrows. 

Wonwoo laughs, "Yeah, yeah. I admit, I enjoyed it. I just wanted to tease you," and takes Mingyu's hand in his, swinging their arms back and forth. 

It's only a few seconds later that he realizes what he's doing and quickly takes his hand away, glancing at Mingyu worriedly. He doesn't want to make Mingyu uncomfortable again. He really needs to learn to control his feelings and himself.

But Mingyu whines when Wonwoo lets go of his hand and grabs Wonwoo's hand, intertwining their fingers. Wonwoo glances confusedly at their intertwined fingers and then at Mingyu who just smiles at the confused boy. Wonwoo manages to return the smile after few seconds of confusion. 

Mingyu just squeezes Wonwoo's hand, and starts humming the same song he has had stuck in his head for the whole day, keeping Wonwoo close to him.