Paper Boats // xiaodery

eight

merry christmas eve

—

Hendery was in the process of unpacking the final box for his room. It was mainly full of the rest of his comic books and some random junk.

But his fingers curled around a picture, and he took his hand out of the box, curious to what it might be.

Oh.

It was a photo of him and his ex girlfriend, smiles plastered across their faces, the colorful lights of the fair sprinkled in the background.

Hendery narrowed his eyes. The emotions stirred within him, his fingers unconsciously curving around the tiny photo, bending the previous creases he'd made from crumbling it before.

He felt his heart break all over again.

But he still couldn't get himself to throw it away, so he tossed it into a drawer of his desk carelessly.

He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling a deep breath before going through the rest of the items in the box.

—

Him and Xiao Jun were back at the ice cream place again, enjoying the sweet treats. The weather was still unbearable, but the two really wanted ice cream, so they endured the seven minute walk to this place.

Honestly, they were being so dramatic about this heat wave.

"Have you finished unpacking?" Xiao Jun asked, breaking Hendery out of his gaze.

"Yeah." he replied, eyes downcast, the ice cream from the cone beginning to melt and run down to his fingers.

"You seem out of it today. Something bothering you?"

"It's nothing." Hendery weakly smiled, looking up to meet his friend's eyes. He was glad to see Xiao Jun cared, but he didn't want to talk about it.

"Do you wanna go take a walk on the beach? I bet it'll clear your head."

Hendery's weak smile formed into a genuine one. "I would love that." he smiled, his sappy mood immediately disappearing in a split second.

After they finished eating, the boys walked down to the beach. Of course it was busy, children running and screaming in the ocean, adults sunbathing on towels.

Hendery and Xiao Jun slipped off their shoes since they decided to walk along the shore. With his toes in the sand, Hendery danced with each step, the waves lapping over his feet as they came up the shore.

"It's a really nice day." he commented, meeting Xiao Jun's eyes, continuing his dancing.

"I agree." the other replied, closing his eyes and spreading his arms out like a bird, the light breeze tousling with his hair.

Hendery kicked some water up, splashing Xiao Jun in the face.

"What?" he opened his eyes, wiping the water off his cheek.

Hendery only laughed, running a bit further into the sea (to where the water was up to his knees) to splash more water into his friend's face with his hands.

"You wanna go?" Xiao Jun asked, standing in front of Hendery, the rest of the beach towards his back.

"Try me bitch." he snickered, wafting his hand through the water.

The boys engaged in a splash war and trudged through the water.

"Stop!" Xiao Jun laughed, raising his hand as an attempt to block Hendery's splash.
The boy did not back down, sending a huge amount of water towards Xiao Jun.

Giving up, Xiao Jun stumbled down into the sea, the water level at his stomach.

Hendery couldn't hold back his laugh, completely dying over how the other male fell onto his ass in the water.

"Shut up Hendery!" Xiao Jun pouted, shooing water at the other.

"Ew!" Hendery spat, the salty taste on his tongue from the water that landed on him.

"Come on, it's just salt."

"Salt that was in very dirty water, for all I know a child's pee could be in here!"

"That's just downright gross." Xiao Jun grimaced.

Despite the disgusting comment, Hendery sat down in the water next to the other boy. They stared out into the horizon, the ocean sparkling under the sunlight.

Hendery closed his eyes. He was happy, in fact super happy, all the thoughts from earlier today were now squished into the back of his mind. And he wouldn't have achieved this level of content without Xiao Jun.