peach starbursts ━━ h.hj + k.sm

1.1

first person pov 2 - Hyunjin

By six o'clock my dad and I have finished dinner. My dad always eats early because he has to leave early for work so his schedule is always a couple of hours off of most people's. After dinner he goes up to his room, whether to sleep or not I don't know. As I'm clearing the table I hear a quiet knock on the front door, and I make my way downstairs. Seungmin is standing outside with a tupperware.

"Hey!" he says brightly, and I stand in the doorway for a minute, shocked.

"Oh! Hi," I miss a beat, and then say "come in!"

"Oh, no don't worry about it I'm just here to return this," he says, handing over the tupperware. I reach out to grab it, and almost drop it. It's definitely heavier than an empty tupperware should be.

"Open it," he says quietly, his eyes glinting slightly, and I take off the top.

Inside are an array of different Starburst flavors, arranged in rainbow order and creating a sort of ombre from red to blue. I've never had any starburst except the ones that come in the regular packaging, and the colors look almost fake.

Before I can say anything he jumps in.

"I'm not very good at reading social cues, and I tend to miss important things. I'm sorry I didn't let you know that I wasn't walking to the bus stop at the same time yesterday morning. These are my apology gift. Like the cookies."

The monologue is careful and memorized, and he looks up at me to gauge my reaction.

I smile widely, and it's genuine. He's so unknowingly thoughtful.

"This is ... wonderful," I say, searching for a better word to describe how much this means to me.

"I love it."

He smiles, and it lights up his entire face.

"I'm glad," he says quietly, and then says, "thank you again for the cookies."

Looking up, I start to say "no problem," but he's already halfway to his house.

I find myself smiling at his little social faults. His brain is too busy working on other, more important things to worry about social interaction nuances. And it's incredibly endearing.

-------

The sunset tonight was beautiful, bright pink with only a streak of orange running through it. It was the kind of sunset that made me wish I knew how to photograph sunsets.

As the thought goes through my mind, another little worm of a thought joins it. I wonder if he had the same thought.

I look outside my window to see him standing in his backyard with a gorgeous, expensive camera and a plastic picnic table. He's already taking pictures. Of course.

I grab a sweatshirt and my phone and turn off the light in my room.

There's a gate that leads to his side yard, and I knock lightly on the fence before opening it. He glances over at me, and then quickly looks back at his camera, waving me over.

I stand behind him, enraptured, as he sets up the shots. His process is at the same time meticulous and ever changing. He watches the light of the sun through his camera while adjusting a cardboard cutout of two people sitting next to each other in chairs, and the adjustments are so precise. He must not move then even a half of a centimeter but he knows exactly what he's doing.

I'm silent, which even I register is strange, but the moment feels so quiet. He's completely focused on what he's doing, and he's so good at it.

I stand for what must be a half an hour, watching him take pictures at every fluctuation of the light. It absolutely fascinating. I feel like I could study him for hours.

When it finally gets completely dark outside he quietly packs up his camera, folds down the cardboard cutouts and grabs my arm. He leads me through the back door of his house and up what must be four flights of stairs until we reach what I deduce to be his room.

He drops the camera bag on his bed, turning towards me.

"Hey," he huffs out, and I'm silent, still processing everything that just happened.

He smirks.

"Can you tell me what I did to make you stop talking because I have a feeling it'll be useful in the future."

I feel myself start to smile.

"That was incredible. Can I see the pictures?"

He smiles wickedly, tilting his head back.

"Well you know my Instagram. You'll see them soon enough."

He's being coy with me. On purpose.

Maybe we are friends.

I cock my eyebrow, trying to find the best way to persuade him.

He exaggerates his smirk, trying hard to hold it, until he breaks.

"Okay fine, I'll show you. But not until after I post one. Then I'll show you the rest. Okay?"

I pretend to consider his offer, and then shake my head. He laughs, a soft giggling sound.

"Oh whatever. Come over tomorrow night and I'll show you."

"Okay fine. But you'd better keep that promise," I laugh, and move towards the door.

"Hyunjin -"

I look around to see him pointing towards a window looking out over a large oak tree.

"You may be better off getting out this way," he smiles, and helps me open the window.

I climb out, finding easy footing on the large branches.

"See you tomorrow morning?" I ask, hoping not to push anything.

"Of course," he smiles.

He closes the window behind me ask I climb down the tree. I hurry back to my house, getting ready to sleep, trying to restrain myself from checking Instagram.

My phone beeps and a notification pops up, a message from Seungmin.

posted ;)

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not as long as I would like it to be but whatever

thank you so much for the support on this book! hope you enjoy

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