molten silver ─ hyunjeong ✓

eight

jeongin understood what hyunjin meant now, when he said that dancing helped him release what he had been bottling up.

he felt as though every raw emotion was seeping from his pores, intertwining with hyunjin's the same way in which their fingers were intertwined. the press of hyunjin's warmth against him was the only thing keeping jeongin tethered to the present, to keep him from drifting off into the depths of his mind, where he wasn't sure he would be able to return from.

it felt like something out of the fairytales he had read, better even. the easing of the suffocating pressure that had been pushing against his head.

jeongin, ever the charmer, stumbled multiple times — more times than he wanted to count — in which he nearly brought hyunjin down with him. however, hyunjin held him throughout, somehow pulling jeongin along and keeping them both balanced. 

he could feel the cool wind against the teardrops drying on his cheeks as hyunjin smiled at him.

hyunjin still looked beautiful after crying, damn him.

jeongin glanced away from the taller, knowing he probably looked like some pufferfish hybrid, face red and eyes slightly swollen from crying. but hyunjin, apparently, was having none of his avoidance tactics, placing his finger under jeongin's chin and tilting his head up to look at him.

"the moon is shining on you," he said, his voice barely a whisper, "you're very beautiful."

jeongin almost laughed, at the fact that this man with godlike visuals thought that he was beautiful. when hyunjin continue to watch him with rapt attention, jeongin raised a brow, "you're staring."

"i dance here a lot," hyunjin pulled them to a slow stop, and despite jeongin's opposition to dancing, he suddenly missed the lull of moving with the nymph in front of him. hyunjin continued, "i do this a lot. this isn't anything new, just a means to feel less suffocated for a little. but this... dancing with you feels different, somehow. something healing... and special in a way it wasn't before."

jeongin didn't know what to say. reaching up, he instead wiped gently at a stray tear that slipped from hyunjin's eye, his thumb brushing over a mole there.

jeongin realized that he really liked hyunjin's eyes.

as he pulled back, hyunjin caught hold of his wrist, and moved away, taking his calming warmth with him. "i want to show you something."

jeongin tilted his head curiously, and hyunjin continued. "i want to... show you my world. i don't know how long we'll have together. so i want to show you... before you go."

jeongin blinked. glancing at his bag, sprawled by the edge of the lake, his throat closed up. he had forgotten that he would have to go back eventually, he couldn't keep running forever. he had nowhere to go, nowhere he belonged.

but he pushed that thought to the dark cesspools of his mind, where he didn't dare look further. he would worry about that later.

because right now, he belonged here. he belonged here, holding hyunjin's hand and letting himself unfurl like a timid flower, opening up to this nymph he had just met and yet understood so intimately.

"i thought you said your world was suffocating. that there was a world out here for you to experience?"

hyunjin watched him thoughtfully, his other hand coming up to tuck a strand of jeongin's hair behind his ear. "i'm starting to think that the world i want to experience isn't somewhere out there," he paused, "maybe it's a person. a person that could change the way i experience my world."

jeongin stared. he just... stared.

hyunjin trusted him this much. to show him a world that had felt so suffocating to him, trust him enough to go back to that place because he wanted to show jeongin, this clumsy human whose first impression was ungracefully falling on his ass in front of him.

hyunjin waved a slender hand in front of jeongin's face, "hello? earth to jeongin?"

"okay."

"pardon?"

"okay," jeongin breathed, "show me."

hyunjin's hand fell from where it had lingered near jeongin's ear, the brush of his fingers against jeongin's cheek sending goosebumps skittering up his skin. with an excited smile, hyunjin yanked jeongin back to the edge of the lake.

as he stepped onto the ground once more, jeongin's knees nearly buckled at the relief of being on solid ground once more, and hyunjin held onto him in alarm, "please don't fall. i'm not very good at consoling people when they get hurt."

jeongin's eyes glittered, "i wouldn't say that. for what it's worth, you being here is calming in itself."

hyunjin fell silent for a second before grinning, "yes, but i'm afraid my presence isn't enough to miraculously cure your lack of hand-eye coordination."

"hey, that was uncalled for!" 

hyunjin squeezed jeongin's hand in a teasing manner, before letting go to hand him his bag. although, shoving it into his arms would be a better description. his eagerness was showing, and jeongin couldn't help but think it seemed so innocent, so childlike, and he couldn't help the fondness that crept into his heart.

jeongin watched as hyunjin stood next to the lake and a small ripple eddied through the silver water. he gestured for jeongin to to stand next to him and the younger did so, only for hyunjin to flash him a grin that could only mean trouble, and suddenly that childlike eagerness seemed more mischievous than innocent.

"so jeongin," hyunjin raised a delicate brow, "remember when you asked me whether i was going to push you into the water?"

jeongin's eyes widened, and hyunjin gripped his arm with a wink, and if jeongin thought that that was incredibly attractive, that would be nobody's business but his own.

"you might want to hold your breath."