lost in the fire./ yangdery

05 | la luna

"there's something in our yard." renjun says, panic evident in his voice as he (once again) shakes yangyang awake.

"w-what?" yangyang sputters, rolling over and covering his head with a pillow. renjun pummels his head in response. 

"there's something in our yard and i need you to check it out. come on." renjun says, clinging on to his wrist and dragging him out of his bed. yangyang just shuts his eyes to avoid looking at the bright lights.

"is this really necessary?" yangyang groans as his hipbones are ungraciously dropped on the floor. renjun grumbles.

"yes. i don't want to get eaten." renjun replies.

"do you want to get dragged down the stairs? because i will if you don't walk yourself down now."

yangyang springs into action, ripping his arms out of renjun's hands and surrendering.

"fine. what is it? an animal?" he asks, following renjun down the stairs and stepping into his slippers.

"no, it's like... a mound. like you know in true crime documentaries when they mention people burying bodies in their yard? this is what i imagine." he replies, and yangyang sighs.

"niche reference. you're lucky i get it. should i call the police?"he asks, heart rate raising just a tiny bit.

"not yet! you should just go double check in case!" renjun says, shoving him out of their backdoor and shutting it behind him. 

before yangyang realises what is going on, he is locked out of their house, shovel in hand, being made to investigate a strange mound in their garden. he creeps over to it, slicing a bit of dirt off the top with the end of his shovel and inspecting. it seems fine? he glances back over his shoulder and sees renjun egging him on with thumbs up, mouthing 'keep going'. he groans. 

but as he starts to dig, his anxiety and worry drains away. he uncovers a shoebox, insulated with foil, paper (it looks like it's paper mache as well, that will be gross) and plastic bags. it is soaking and gross, but yangyang immediately knows what it is.

his gift has arrived.

he digs it out of the ground excitedly, holding it up at showing renjun. the older of the two just squints and looks very confused, so he bounds over to their door. renjun is waiting with a suspicious frown on his face.

"it's my capsule, let me in." he reasons. renjun gives it a good thought (somehow the thought of locking yangyang out is appealing to him in some way). eventually he lets him in.

"what the fuck is that." renjun says, almost offended as he points at the gross thing  in yangyang's hands.

"it's my capsule. as i said." he replies, and renjun rolls his eyes, grabbing an old towel form their pile and chucking it on the ground at yangyang's feet.

"if you're going to open it in here, at least do it over that." yangyang grins, and gingerly sets it down.

"what have they even wrapped it with? why?" he says as he watches yangyang with beady eyes. he starts to peel back  layers of gross, muddy paper and silver and reveals a slightly damp shoe box reading 'palizzio'. he looks up at renjun with a disappointed stare.

"to last like, fifty years in the ground? duh?" renjun shoves him, walking to drag a chair over so he can sit and watch yangyang in a bit more comfort than the cold tile floor. yangyang lifts the lid off, and out falls about a million polaroid photos that he's going to have to sift through before he can get to whatever is underneath. renjun's mouth is hanging open again - yangyang could probably bet money that neither of them has ever seen this many in one place. 

"oh boy. hope they're good looking." yangyang jokes.

-

they are good looking. 

yangyang delights in sorting through the numerous photos, ranging from simple photos of three or four boys together to close ups of eyes, guitars and vinyls. there is a running theme throughout, with ugly wallpaper and grandma curtains in the background, but the boys are dressed incredibly out of place. a couple of the photos are dated, some scribbled on, and some aren't even fully developed. 

one of them, on the left of the photo with his arm around the boy in the middle, is wearing a bold floral button up. yangyang surprisingly doesn't hate it. however, the boy has left it entirely unbuttoned as they are photographed in bright, yellow sunlight. he has paired the noisy shirt with simple brown trousers, slightly flared (didn't those only come into trend in the seventies???). he has thick, bold eyebrows and a v shaped chin, and his dark hair is falling in his eyes as he smiles at the camera. 

the boy in the middle, presumably (hopefully) kunhang, is wearing a simple black hoodie with 'yale' scrawled across the front, paired with skinny black jeans. he's also holding up a peace sign (???). he looks like he's been taken out of the twenty-first century to be honest. and also? yale was making brand hoodies in the sixties? kunhang went to yale? so many questions have been created. he casts his thoughts aside, admiring kunhang's dark hair that has grown to be tickling his neck, while his bangs lay flatteringly across his cheekbones (it's definitely longer than convenient, he expects kunhang is overdue a haircut). 

the boy stood on the right of kunhang has a huge and bright smile, and by how kunhang looks mildly annoyed with him, yangyang can assume that it's donghyuck. he also uses the fact that he's dressed like someone who listens to noise music to guess. while he is wearing an average white t shirt and blue jeans held up by an obnoxious belt, he is also wearing an awesome leather jacket covered in pins. his skin is glowing in the sun, and his bleached hair is teased in a way that yangyang can't stomach having to brush out and wash.

finally, the boy who is practically hanging off of donghyuck's arm has a charming smile and looks like all he does is giggle. he is dressed similarly to donghyuck, tipping him off to the fact that this is mark, and the first boy is xiaojun. 

look at him, figuring stuff out.

but anyway, mark is dressed in black jeans that are way too long for him, tucked into some doc marten boots. okay, cool. he's also got some mesh shirt going on instead of a regular one, but it's mostly hidden by the denim jacket he's got on top (also covered in random patches and pins). he also has black hair, cropped short in the back but letting his bangs dangle in his face. 

the four of them are all dressed for different occasions, yet yangyang can definitely see how close they are. he hears renjun snort over his shoulder.

"can i see that one? you've been staring at it for like ten minutes." he says, holding a hand out. yangyang glares at him as he passes it over. he decides to look at whatever is underneath the photos, so he gently scoops them out and puts them in a plastic bag that renjun fetched as soon as he saw how many there were. he is smart sometimes. 

there are a couple different newspaper pages, a packet of gross gum (smells funny), a few random vhs and cassette tapes (at least that's what he thinks they are), and at the bottom, a small journal wrapped tightly with clingfilm. when yangyang peels the layers back and opens the book, renjun whistles.

"no wonder he took so long." he says, looking at the beautiful dried and pressed flowers sealed inside the book. despite being well... dead... they are still vibrant in colour. yangyang can't believe it. 

"wow." yangyang breathes, gently closing the book and rewrapping the clingfilm. he's going to have to keep that one safe.

"and you say he's not your imaginary boyfriend." renjun jokes, but yangyang kind of sees his point. he's just been sent a preserved bouquet of flowers through time. oh. 

"yeah, yeah. do you know anywhere we can get a cassette player? i don't think i've ever seen one." yangyang says, and renjun shakes his head.

"i can ask my mom, but that's our best shot other than like, ebay." but yangyang has a brainwave.

"maybe i can get him to bury one." he says quietly, and renjun grins. 

"you should ask him."