Chapter Text
A week later
9:27
“We’re here. You can wake up now.”
Minho’s eyes fly open just as the car engine gets shut off. In front of him is the entrance of the aquapark, with staff going in and out in preparation for the first visitors at 10 a.m.
“I fell asleep?” Minho asks, lifting his arms to massage his temples. His right elbow accidentally grazes something in the process, which prompts him to look down in his lap and utter a quiet, “Shit.”
He hastily lifts the lid of the box resting on his thighs, checking whether the cheesecake inside of it has undergone any damage during the (possibly) bumpy ride. When Minho sees that the dessert has mostly survived, he lets out a relieved sigh.
“What’s inside this anyway?” Chan leans over from the driver’s seat, his hands resting on Minho’s left shoulder. Minho closes the box as quickly as he’d opened it, and Chan practically whines in protest: “You didn’t even tell me in your hurry to get ready for work!” Minho only shrugs and proceeds to give no explanation - the irritation in Chan’s voice had been unmistakable, but so was his resignation.
Actually, last night Jisung had randomly updated Minho that he’s coming back to work today. His test results had all ended up being normal, and he’d already spent the minimum recommended time resting at home. Therefore, he’d decided to return to the aquapark early, seeing no point in lazing around anymore (which, in Minho’s opinion, had been a quite laughable justification, considering all selfies Jisung had sent him throughout the last week had been in a lying position).
Don’t get him wrong - Minho had been happy about the news of Jisung’s return. In fact, he’d been so happy that he’d decided to prepare Jisung’s favourite dessert, a cheesecake as a ‘welcome back, please don’t get hurt again’ gift. But he’d started learning the recipe at nearly 11 p.m., gotten around to baking at midnight, and finally shoved the dessert into the fridge at 3 a.m., after many trials and significantly more errors. That’s how he’d eventually dozed off on the couch instead of his bed, slept through his alarm and had Chan stirring him awake the next morning, offering to drive him to work so that he isn’t late.
“Why’d you fall asleep on the couch?” Chan tries again, his voice teetering between a genuine and a teasing tone.
Minho finally responds: “I just baked something for this colleague of mine.” He scrunches his nose saying that, because he can already feel what follows. He knows Chan very well, after all.
“You baked?!” Chan exclaims in surprise, failing to refute Minho’s suspicions. Minho turns to give him his deadliest glare, but Chan’s pretty much immune to it at that point, because the grin on his face doesn’t even falter. “I’m going to make a guess…” Chan says mockingly slowly, only to get under Minho’s skin. “This colleague must be really special to you, no?”
Usually, Minho has no problem remaining expressionless, especially in front of Chan. But the implications of this question heat up his cheeks and ears, so much so that he fears his embarrassment will become noticeable.
“What the hell do you mean?” Minho attempts to sound nonchalant. “I spend all my free time in the kitchen.” This statement isn’t technically wrong - Minho sometimes feels like he is there more regularly than in his own room. Sure, he doesn’t bake as often as he cooks, but there’s no way Chan knows-
“Yes, but you rarely bake,” Chan opposes, much to Minho’s annoyance. However, Chan continues to act oblivious: “Is this why you stayed up so late last night?”
It is. It is, but Minho doesn’t want to confess that to Chan. Especially when he himself isn’t sure why he’d decided to do this grand gesture in the wee hours of the morning. For someone he’d sworn he found obnoxious just a week ago, no less.
So Minho does the second best thing after responding truthfully, and just remains quiet. He tries to look occupied by unbuckling his seatbelt, but the sound it makes when retracting only seems to amplify the newly settled silence between him and Chan.
“Is it the same person you’ve been talking to this whole past week?” Chan asks after a couple of seconds, or maybe minutes, now using his gentle voice only.
It is the same person. But before Minho has a conversation with Chan about what this means, he needs to have it with himself first.
“Bye, hyung!” Minho says cheerfully and completely out of place as he opens the car door to step out. Once he’s outside and securely hugging the cheesecake box between his stomach and his left arm, he splutters a “Thanks for the ride!” and shuts the door, finally remaining alone with his shame.
Chan gives him a curious look from the inside of the car, but quickly shakes his head and averts his gaze. He is smirking at least, which probably means he hasn't taken Minho's reticence to heart. Minho shoots him one last look before he sighs and starts walking towards the entrance of the aquapark, suddenly feeling all nervous at the prospect of meeting Jisung again.
You see, Minho hadn't wanted to reply to Chan's questions, because then he would've only given Chan even more reasons to poke fun at him. Minho has indeed been talking to Jisung. Overwhelmingly much.
When Minho had woken up next to Jisung last week, he'd expected to feel weird. Uncomfortable even. Jisung had been pretty much huddled into him, violating his personal space, and Minho usually isn’t all that keen on physical touch, especially with strangers. However, he could only sense a feeling of warmth, a desire to put his arm over Jisung and hug him closer. He couldn't tell whether this was influenced by the distant memory of Jisung telling him he’s a good person last night. He couldn't even tell whether this memory had actually been a wishful dream, brought to him by his subconscious desire to do better and have his efforts acknowledged by others. All he knew at that moment was that he definitely didn't want to get up.
That's why when Minho had pretended to wake up with Jisung (even though he'd been sleepily observing him for at least an hour), he'd directly asked for Jisung's number, determined not to lose whatever had sparked between them last night.
In hindsight, it had probably been a mistake, because not even ten minutes after they’d separated, Minho had received his first message from Jisung. (“Did Hyunjin say anything weird while you were together yesterday?”, to which Minho had replied with a stream of question marks). Ever since then, they’ve been texting incessantly. To the point where Minho can’t leave his phone for more than thirty minutes if he doesn’t want to come back to a wall of incoherent messages from Jisung. It had definitely taken some time to get used to, considering Minho had never been that big of a texter.
But there are certain pros to Jisung’s nagging. For starters, it keeps Minho entertained at work, especially now that Jisung isn’t there so almost no one dares to come to Minho’s slide. Jisung’s random messages also lead to many memorable conversations - about things as trivial as food preferences and as profound as insecurities and fears about the future. Minho gets to learn so much about Jisung - he finds out that he got dragged to work here by his friends, but ended up enjoying it more than them. That his biggest aspiration is to become a songwriter, no matter how cheesy it might sound. That he’d taken a semester out of uni because he’d lost all motivation for his literature degree, and isn’t quite sure whether he wants to complete it.
Minho had shared a lot in return, too. He had told Jisung about his three cats and their distinctive personalities. About his degree in dance performance that he’s now building upon with a Masters in child psychology, because he wants to one day found a dance studio for kids in his hometown. He even opens up about his desire to be more genuine and helpful to those around him; to simply become a better person. And there is something truly freeing in being vulnerable in front of someone new. Minho realises it’s yet another form of bravery, because it requires laying yourself open to someone and trusting them to keep your inner self, all parts the world rarely gets to see, a secret between you two.
Minho finds out he trusts Jisung with this secret.
Every day he gets more and more amazed at how much he’s willing to confide in Jisung. Talking to him becomes an addiction - he is the first person who pops up in Minho’s mind whenever he needs to share either completely random or rather serious observations. He is the one Minho turns to with his daily dilemmas, a position previously reserved for Chan. In no time, Jisung becomes the person Minho remembers everything about (which is also how he got into that cheesecake situation in the first place).
Minho hasn’t made a new friend this quickly in a while. He hasn’t taken this much interest in someone else recently. He doesn’t know what this all means.
(He knows exactly what it means).
“Minho-hyung!” A familiar voice calls from the bar by the pools. Minho looks up from the cheesecake box he’s cradling, expecting for it to be Jisung, but definitely not to see him running in his direction. Minho’s stomach flips with nerves at the ill-timing. He hadn’t even had the chance to hide the dessert.
Jisung stops in his tracks a mere second before crashing into Minho, struggling to catch his breath. Minho somehow manages to wrap his free arm around the box just in time to protectively hold it away from Jisung. The cheesecake might be for him, but that doesn’t mean Minho would allow one careless motion on Jisung’s side to ruin his hard work.
“Minho-hyung!” Jisung repeats from close-up, still very much breathless. “Hi!”
“Hi,” Minho responds way less enthusiastically. He's yet to recover from his initial shock. “Why are you running?”
“To see you sooner, of course,” Jisung says as if it’s obvious. “Our shifts start in like half an hour and I want to spend some time with you before we’re separated by work again.” He is definitely dramatizing, but Minho can’t lie that his heart doesn’t skip a beat at these words.
Jisung had turned out to be way more straightforward and flirty than anticipated. Minho isn't able to determine whether this means Jisung reciprocates his own blooming feelings or if it’s just the way he talks to his friends. (It's probably the second. After all, Minho had seen Jisung interact with Hyunjin. If Jisung hadn’t denied it himself in one of their conversations, Minho would’ve probably still pondered whether he and Hyunjin are actually a couple).
“Oh my god, what is this?” Jisung points at the box, ignoring the fact Minho still hasn’t responded to his previous statement.
Minho takes a step back and extends his hands towards Jisung, offering him to check for himself. Jisung lifts the lid of the box, peeking inside curiously. The moment he sees the dessert, his mouth drops. “You got this for me!?” He gasps, his eyes twinkling when he sends Minho a thankful look.
“I actually baked it myself,” Minho corrects, feeling himself smirk with pride.
Jisung’s expression morphs from touched to completely awestruck. “You made this for me!?” He paraphrases, his eyes even bigger and shinier now.
“Yes?” Minho replies with a rising intonation. For some reason, he doesn’t want to give the impression he’s put a lot of thought into baking the cheesecake, so he adds: “I told you I like preparing food, I just figured-”
“But cheesecakes are hard to make, bro,” Jisung interrupts Minho, his voice not giving away whether he’s being sarcastic or about to burst into tears. What’s for sure, though, is that Minho just got bro-zoned. He should definitely stop panicking whenever Jisung says anything remotely suggestive in the future.
“They are, indeed, hard to make,” Minho agrees, “and this was my first-ever attempt at one, so don’t have high expectations.”
He hopes he’s eliminated all possibility of Jisung overplaying the significance of the gesture, but Jisung’s hand finds his mouth once again. “You attempted making a cheesecake... for me?!” Minho isn’t sure whether he’s imagining the tears in Jisung’s eyes as he takes the box from Minho’s hands at last and simply stares at the dessert. “I could kiss you right now,” Jisung utters as if in a trance, his eyes never leaving the dessert.
… Okay. Maybe Minho’s not in the bro-zone yet. That, or Jisung had been joking around again, which is perfectly fine too. Minho can learn how to live with it.
“Do you think Hyunjin would mind using the bar’s fridge for the cheesecake?” Minho asks, choosing to ignore whatever Jisung was on about when telling him he'd kiss him. If Minho thinks about it for any longer, he might quite literally combust.
Jisung's head jerks up, as if he's finally comprehended his own words. Blush starts crawling up his neck. “He wouldn’t,” Jisung utters, biting at his lower lip. Minho smiles at the sight - at least they both seem to be in this together. “But I’m pretty sure he’d confiscate one piece,” Jisung adds, looking down at the box once again and tightening his grip on it, as if he doesn't want to share the dessert at any cost.
Minho lets out a chuckle. “That’s fine by me,” he reassures Jisung. Then decides to also disregard what his brain-to-mouth filter is telling him, so that Jisung's cheekiness is matched: “I made this for you either way.”
Jisung sends Minho a flustered glance, but then unexpectedly swats his upper arm. Minho rubs the place of contact, noticing how the skin there is already reddening. “What was that for?” he yells jokingly, showing Jisung (what he hopes is) one of his angrier scowls (because truthfully, he could probably never get angry at Jisung).
Jisung moves closer to inspect the impact of the hit for himself. “Does it hurt?” he coos, patting Minho’s skin a couple of times. Before Minho even has the chance to reply, Jisung loops his hand around Minho’s arm and urges, “Let’s go to the bar. I can see some of my friends there, let me introduce you.”
Minho allows himself to get dragged, briefly wondering why Jisung doesn’t untangle his arm after making his intentions clear (not that Minho’s opposed to it). They stride across the paths between the pools on their way to the bar, which are somehow already slippery. This makes Jisung almost drop the cheesecake on two occasions, now that he’s carrying it in one hand only.
When they arrive, they’re almost immediately noticed by Hyunjin, currently wiping glasses behind the counter. There are two other people with him, occupying the stools in front of the bar and lazily conversing with each other. Two people who really resemble-
“I see you’re bringing… company,” Hyunjin remarks while staring piercingly at Jisung and Minho’s intertwined arms.
This prompts the others to turn around and face them as well. Minho’s eyes widen in recognition when he realises that these people are none other than Felix and Changbin, two of the lifeguards he has the pleasure to talk to more frequently. The exact same ones he’d spoken with on the phone in his rush to rescue Jisung.
“Minho-ssi?” Felix utters in shock, gaze landing onto Minho and Jisung's arms as well. Minho feels self-conscious all of a sudden and carefully slips away from Jisung, hoping that the other doesn’t question it.
“I’m bringing company and cheesecake prepared by said company,” Jisung announces, turning to grin at Minho. Minho responds with a tight-lipped smile of his own, still very much aware of everyone’s attention on him.
“ Minho-ssi prepared you a cheesecake?” Changbin asks with a scandalized expression, as if Minho doing anything remotely sweet for somebody else is unimaginable. Which is probably a valid thought to have, considering Minho had never been particularly warm to Changbin. “Did we miss a couple of episodes?” Changbin turns to Felix, who seems to not have moved ever since he first spotted Minho next to Jisung.
Hyunjin suddenly places the glass he’d been wiping onto the counter, catching both Changbin and Felix’s attention. He then props himself onto his forearms and leans between the two, donning a mischievous, but also somewhat innocent expression as he whispers, “Didn’t you know they’ve gotten close ?”
Next to Minho, Jisung looks embarrassed, as if he’s about to punch the air solely because of Hyunjin's comment. Minho doesn’t know what’s stopping Jisung from punching not the air, but Hyunjin himself, but he also doesn’t want to meddle in their personal relations by asking.
Minho feels rather indifferent to the whole scene playing out. He finds the implications of Hyunjin's comments funny, reassuring even, because they give him the slightest hope his feelings for Jisung might be mutual. Minho only figures that it's kind of weird that Jisung has never once brought up Felix and Changbin in their unending conversations. However, maybe that's because Minho himself has also never asked about Jisung's friends at work to begin with.
“I mean, we obviously found out Jisung had been the one stuck in the slide,” Felix replies truthfully to Hyunjin's semi-serious question. “But we would’ve never guessed he and Minho became friends after… everything.” Felix seeks confirmation from Changbin who immediately supplies it by nodding repeatedly.
Minho's mouth falls agape at the knowledge that Felix and Changbin also don't know about him. Had the events after the incident simply never come up when the two had been checking up on Jisung? Was Minho delusional and selfish for expecting Jisung to have told all of his friends about him, just because they've been texting non-stop for a week?
“No wonder Jisung hasn’t bothered to update you…” Hyunjin ponders more to himself than to Felix and Changbin as he pushes himself off the counter and returns to wiping the same glass from before. “Jisung’s been extremely busy this past week,” he elaborates, putting all of his focus onto the small task at hand. “He's been texting his new friend ,” Hyunjin offers at last, putting a weird emphasis on the word ‘friend’ and then looking at Changbin and Felix from under his brows. “Even I felt disregarded,” he confesses with a sigh, saving his last glare for Jisung himself.
Minho steals a glance at Jisung - he still appears embarrassed, but in an uncomfortable way now. He's started to absentmindedly chip at one of the edges of the cheesecake box, his gaze distant, unfocused. Minho realises that there probably is a reason to whatever Jisung's hiding, whatever's making him act this closed-off.
Jisung had kept Minho's vulnerabilities a secret, so now it's only fair that Minho returns the favour. He might have an inclination to friendly banter, a tendency to be affectionately mean, but he's promised himself not to limit his expression to that - especially when the people around him seem to not be in the mood for it.
“Who wants cheesecake?” Minho chirps abruptly, successfully taking Hyunjin, Felix and Changbin out of their gossip circle. The three of them forget the conversation they were having in an instant and start urging Jisung to go behind the counter and distribute the pieces of the dessert sooner.
Before Jisung proceeds, however, his eyes find Minho's and he mouths a quiet ‘thank you’. Minho winks at him and then hurries over to the counter to help cut the cheesecake, because he doesn’t trust anyone present with not ruining the shape of the dessert (spoiler: he does that himself).
While everyone is having deformed cheesecake for breakfast (occasionally taking a break from chewing to compliment Minho's baking skills) Minho watches more than he partakes in the conversation, his mind entirely elsewhere. He observes Jisung excitedly chatting with his friends, enjoying the last minutes before his shift. His hair is beautifully ruffled by the everpresent wind in the aquapark. His skin tone perfectly contrasts the light blue colour of the pools. And his smile… his smile is so bright, so captivating, that it rivals the sun itself, continuing to shine on everyone even after it disappears from his face.
Minho still regrets what he’d done last week, but a part of him is glad that everything played out that way. Had it not been for this day, Minho would've still had a false perception of Jisung, not even assuming how much in common he actually has with him. He would've still avoided talking to his other colleagues, who'd turned out to be a lot more fun than he'd anticipated. Minho would've probably still not known about the bravery he possesses, and just how amazing being true to himself and those around him can make him feel.
Something deep within himself also tells him that with just a little bit more bravery, he could have more with Jisung.
So, so much more.
9:51
“I guess I never asked you which friends made you work here…” Minho trails off as he and Jisung walk out of the dressing room in complementary uniforms, headed off to the water slide. “... But why did it sound like you didn’t tell Felix and Changbin about me on purpose?”
Ah, here it comes. Jisung’s most dreaded question.
A truthful answer would be: it sounded like that because it actually was like that. When Jisung had first developed a crush on Minho, he’d only told Hyunjin. Not only because he’d thought his attraction would be fleeting, but also because Felix and Changbin happened to be lifeguards, just like Minho. Jisung hadn’t wanted to risk his little secret accidentally getting revealed in a casual conversation between Minho and his colleagues. Not that Jisung doesn’t trust his friends - it’s just that their joking sometimes comes pretty close to crossing a line. (So in order to avoid that, Jisung had gone as far as sneaking past them when going to Minho’s slide, in case they noticed how frequent his visits are and put two and two together).
Of course, Jisung had later found out that Minho only speaks to Felix and Changbin when necessary, not even taking part in typical coworker small-talk with them during his lunch breaks. So Jisung could’ve easily updated his friends on everything that happened on the day of the injury, as well as his unfurling feelings for Minho. Still, he had chosen not to.
Old habits die hard, supposedly.
That’s why Jisung doesn’t give Minho a truthful answer: “The kids liked going on your slide the best. I didn’t want Felix and Changbin to feel neglected because I went to your slide instead of theirs.” Jisung fights the urge to grimace, his white lies not sounding convincing even to himself. “As for last week…” he adds, unsure what to come up with and hyper-aware of his prolonged pause. “I forgot to tell them about you, I guess?”
Jisung sends an apologetic look to Minho, worried whether his statement implies Minho isn’t important enough to him to tell his friends about.
Minho, thankfully, seems to be far from this conclusion. He only raises an eyebrow and scoffs, but there’s no malice in his response: “Changbin isn’t even a water slide lifeguard,” he reminds Jisung, who barely resists the urge to facepalm. “He supervises the pool my slide leads to.”
“Right…” Jisung mumbles, realising the major plothole in his justification. Looking into the distance, he sees they’re nearing the staircase to the mentioned slide way faster than he would’ve liked. Since their conversation had just started picking up, it appears that Jisung will end up accompanying Minho to his station at the top.
“Now what’s the real reason?” Minho prompts, his fingers lightly grazing Jisung’s shoulder to get his attention back. And Jisung is a simple man - he immediately faces Minho, catching himself just in time before he jerks away, surprised at how close they are. “No one else is around, you can tell me,” Minho half-whispers, his smile comforting and somehow… intimate. Perfectly conveying the underlying ‘trust me’ in his words.
Jisung feels himself blushing, but can’t avert his gaze from Minho. “I promise it’s not… not that serious…” he stutters out, exhaling at last when Minho stops staring at him. Jisung finds out, however, that this is only because they’ve reached the staircase. He gulps. “I mean, you saw how Hyunjin acted earlier, right?” Jisung asks, taking a hesitant step upwards and firmly grasping the railing with his right hand. Other than that, he remains as casual as possible (or so he would like to think). “I just don’t want two other people doing that !”
Minho doesn’t take Jisung’s left side as expected, instead choosing to climb the stairs right behind him. Is that his way of ensuring I don’t fall back? Jisung wonders, but decides it’s way too delusional to be voiced out.
“Doing what? Teasing ?” Minho questions. Jisung can’t see his expression anymore, but he’s pretty sure the curl of his lips is no longer genuine, but rather smug. “You can’t endure some light-hearted teasing, Jisung-ah?”
Oh, so Minho’s mocking him. Then so be it. Two can play that game.
“Last week showed that I apparently can’t,” Jisung deadpans, stopping in his place. Minho almost bumps into him.
A loud silence follows. Jisung’s sure Minho knows what he’s referring to. Maybe he’s being a little brat for utilizing Minho’s guilt like that, but as he already said… he's done with being the only object of people’s teasing.
“I’m sorry,” Minho blurts out defeatedly.
Jisung tries refraining from laughing, but he fails to hold his serious expression for even a second before dissolving into giggles. “Shut up and come hold my free hand,” he urges, catching Minho off-guard once again. Honestly, he has no clue where this boldness came from. There is probably a correlation between the height he’s at and his ability to think before he speaks. “I- Because… latching onto the railing doesn’t feel secure enough,” Jisung poorly attempts to save the situation.
It’s Minho’s turn to catch him off-guard: “I can’t.”
He… can’t ?
Jisung would’ve understood a reply like “I won’t”, “I don’t want to”, even a simple “No”. But what does Minho’s ability to hold his hand have to do with Jisung’s bad flirting?
“Why?” Jisung ends up asking genuinely. He even allows himself to slowly turn around and take a look at Minho, disregarding the fact they’re somewhere between the second and third platform now, or in other words - probably able to observe most of the aquapark laid out beneath them.
What Jisung sees is definitely worth his trembling knees. He’s never going to let Minho live after this.
“Because then I would stop latching onto the railing,” Minho yells, his eyes filling with panic as soon as Jisung’s own land on them. “And I’m sure latching onto your hand wouldn’t feel as secure,” Minho tries holding his own, but it sounds rather comical, considering he’s currently gripping the railing with both of his hands as if his life depends on it.
Jisung isn’t sure whether to coo or laugh. The second option is probably safer.
“Lee Minho,” he locks eyes with Minho, fully taking advantage of being a couple of steps above him. “Are you, by any chance, afraid of heights as well?”
Jisung’s never seen Minho look smaller, more ashamed than now. “And what if I am?” Minho says defensively.
“I… nothing,” Jisung shakes his head, turning his back to Minho to continue climbing the stairs. “That would actually explain a lot.”
That would explain why Minho had felt fed-up hearing the same conversation occur over and over again between Jisung and the kids. Why he'd felt so strongly about the possibility of Jisung faking his fear. It makes so much sense now that Jisung thinks closer about it - he feels like he's suddenly come to understand Minho's thought patterns. Both the ones that had led him to proposing what he had (and sending Jisung to his death, sort of) and the ones that had made him behave so self-conscious during their heart-to-heart last week.
Minho had misjudged Jisung. He had made his own conclusions and then based his actions towards Jisung off of them.
Jisung isn't mad, really. They have talked it out, and it was all forgotten as soon as Jisung had woken up pressed against Minho a couple of days ago. What Jisung is, however, is petty .
He’ll give Minho a taste of the verbal treatment he’d put him through.
As soon as they both step on the last platform, Minho moves to set up his lifeguard station, leaving his phone on the mini-table. Its screen briefly lights up and Jisung manages to see that it’s only 9:55. They have just enough time before the visitors start queuing at the entrance. If only the slides were also-
As if on demand, water starts pouring simultaneously from all of the aquapark’s attractions. It happens every morning so Jisung should be used to it, but he still rubs his ears in an attempt to get used to the noise.
“Minho-hyung,” Jisung whines, gaining only an affirmative sound from Minho who is now checking whether the tubes are properly inflated. Seeing that Minho won’t pay him any more mind, Jisung splutters: “Do you want to go down the slide before the shift starts?”
Minho furrows his eyebrows, turning slowly to Jisung and saying nothing. His expression does the talking for him, screaming ‘where the hell did that come from?’.
“See it as your sentence for making me suffer just because you were petty,” Jisung elaborates, feeling a grin spread across his face.
“I n-never said yes?” Minho offers, but it sounds unsure. He is blinking rapidly like Jisung’s noticed he does when shocked, but thankfully, he doesn’t actually look scared. More so… defensive. “I... didn’t you say we were going to leave this behind us?” Minho asks after a pause, scratching the back of his neck.
“No, let’s bring it back!” Jisung cheers, hoping that he doesn’t need to verbally clarify that he’s only joking around. “Seeing you in such a defensive position is so much fun,” he adds in a cute voice, “you have so many sides to you, Lee Minho.”
Minho nears Jisung again, making a point to roll his eyes. “I was nothing but kind to you this past whole week, and now you’re betraying me like that…”
Jisung giggles, happy that Minho has decided to play along. “Oh come on…” he nags and tugs on Minho’s sleeve, devilishly smirking because he knows his next question is bound to make Minho speechless. “You mean to tell me you can’t endure some light-hearted teasing?”
To Jisung’s surprise, Minho laughs loudly instead, letting out a small ‘ah’ in the end.
Cute .
“Touché,” Minho concedes, sounding much more genuine all of a sudden. “I’ve just never gone down the slide alone. Or with anyone else.” He stops to think. “Actually, I’ve never gone down the slide at all.”
Here’s the moment where Jisung puts an end to his games. Says ‘I’m not serious, man’, like any normal human who’d just found out their friend is afraid of heights (and anything related to them) would. But Jisung gets yet another idea. A bad one at that.
“Who said you’d be going down the slide alone?”
The more Jisung thinks about this proposition, the better it sounds. First, he gets to go down and start preparing for his own shift faster (the kids and his superiors shouldn’t mind his wet T-shirt, right?). He also gets to overcome the unavoidable fear of another incident before it starts having a grip on him. All while helping Minho realize that even if one can’t change the way they react to certain situations, they could at least gain control over their mindsets.
Minho doesn’t look like he’s seeing the same benefits. In fact, he doesn’t look like he’s seeing any benefits at all. “Are you fucking nuts?” he says. “Only a week after your incident?”
Jisung doesn’t miss the way Minho doesn’t use his own fear as a way out.
“I’ve done it a hundred times before the incident and I was just fine,” Jisung argues, lightly pushing Minho’s shoulder. “C'mon, it’s going to be fun!”
“Weren’t you also scared of heights?” Minho asks, still not making this about himself. “Was I right to think you were faking it all along?”
“I am scared of heights, not of falling,” Jisung says in a surge of inwardness.
Minho scoffs. “Aren’t these practically the same thing? And what does falling have to do with sliding?”
“Don’t ruin my metaphor!” Jisung exclaims, not willing to have Minho catch him in the wrong for the second time in this conversation. “Sometimes…” he wonders how to convey to Minho that going down the slide can be, unexpectedly, exhilarating in a good sense. “Sometimes one step is all that separates you from things you never knew you needed. And you’re going to not take it just because of a stupid little fear?”
Minho shakes his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “If taking that step comes at the expense of a heart attack, I’d rather not do it.”
“C’mon Minho-hyuuung,” Jisung whines, pouting his lips and even giving Minho a couple of scratches under his chin, as if he’s a cat. “Don’t you wanna try and be brave once? Ever wondered why I actually laugh on the way down, even if I’m scared shi-”
“Fine,” Minho blurts out, his expression determined all of a sudden and therefore, completely unrecognizable. Jisung hadn’t even gotten to the convincing part of his argument.
“You didn’t even let me finish,” he protests before realising Minho could be agreeing simply because Jisung’s lowkey forcing him to. “I am just playing around, by the way. I don’t want you to actually-”
Minho interrupts him again: “Let’s do it.” And then, he leans to Jisung’s ear and whispers, probably to reassure him that he’s saying ‘yes’ on his own accord: “I want to try and be brave once.”
All Jisung can do is squeak out an “Okay”, overwhelmed by the tingles Minho’s hushed words send down his spine. Minho doesn’t help when he squeezes his upper arm and winks, but thankfully, he leaves to pick out a tube and set it up before he can see Jisung’s frozen expression.
“You first,” Minho says and Jisung walks over to climb onto the tube, pretty much able to do it on his own after hundreds of trips down (last time had been an exception, really). “Hold tight onto the slide’s edges while I get on. Keep in mind the water flow is strong,” Minho instructs and Jisung complies, gripping the slide with his right hand and extending his left one to help Minho. Minho accepts it with no hesitation.
“Imagine if some random child has followed us and is now patiently waiting to pull the lever,” Jisung voices out spontaneously. He laughs wholeheartedly when Minho actually does a double-check prompted by his random thought.
“Do you really want to get stuck again this much?” Minho barks out at Jisung, but it’s all for show. In reality, he seems surprisingly calm considering what is about to follow.
“No!” Jisung denies as Minho takes over his task of holding the tube in place and wordlessly guides Jisung’s hand to one of the grips. “But even if we do get stuck, at least we’ll be together this time,” Jisung says with a smirk, not able to resist the urge to make a suggestive comment.
“How romantic,” Minho deadpans. Jisung huffs out a laugh, briefly debating whether to accept that as Minho flirting back or rather him expressing annoyance at Jisung’s unsubtle advances.
Time is ticking, and Jisung can’t come up with a good comeback, so he simply goes: “Won’t you push us off already?”
Minho barely manages to stifle his giggles. “Then stop holding my hand so we can both hold onto the grips.”
It’s only now that Jisung realises he hasn’t dropped Minho’s hand since assisting him onto the tube. Jisung doesn’t know how he failed to register that when just a couple minutes ago he was basically blushing for making eye contact with Minho. Hand holding involves way more contact, and yet-
Minho pushes the tube off, his hand quickly finding one of the grips before the water carries him and Jisung into the darkness.
Jisung has no time to realize what’s happening before they’re sliding at a speed so fast, it makes them both scream in horror. They’re nearing the first and most unpleasant drop much quicker than they would like, and Jisung can’t help but worry about how the tube is going to land this time around. When they fly over the slope, Minho’s cries become even louder and Jisung finally allows his nervousness and adrenaline to translate into laughter, just like it always happens when he takes the kids down the slide with him.
They get past the first drop with no accidents, and the rest of the ride is just as “uneventful”. Jisung finds himself cheering for the drops (but also screaming when some of them take him off-guard), yelling to Minho to shut up in order to not swallow water (but then ending up doing it himself). It’s a 20-second attraction, 25 at most, and the trip is over before Jisung even realises it. Soon enough, he sees the pool underneath approaching, takes a deep breath and closes his eyes before crashing into the water, momentarily submerging under the surface due to impact.
When Jisung swims up, carefully going around the tube that had apparently flipped, he feels… happy. That’s probably the happiest he’s ever been after going down the slide. “See hyung?” He exclaims, looking around for Minho in the water. “It wasn’t all that bad, right?”
His question remains unanswered, but the more his ears get used to the sound of pouring water, the more he can distinguish a sporadic splashing coming from around the tube, as if someone under it is desperately trying to swim up to the surface.
“Minho-hyung?” Jisung utters once again. He doesn’t even wait for a response before diving into the water, this time with his eyes opened.
His suspicions get confirmed - Minho is indeed struggling to flip the tube over. Even though his moves are slowed down by the water, there is some sort of panic visible in them, one that makes Jisung’s heart pound in fear.
Jisung doesn’t waste any time - he swims closer to the tube, putting all of his strength into flipping the tube (those things are so much heavier than they appear to be). He succeeds, and Minho immediately shows on the surface, taking in a deep, but also somewhat shaky breath. Jisung expects him to start swimming on his own then, maybe move over to the edges of the pool to get out and back to work. However, Minho’s arms are still sporadically splashing water in every direction, and Jisung realises that maybe he currently isn’t in the right mind to do this on his own.
Jisung must rescue him, just like Minho had rescued him last week.
That’s why he dives under the water once again, swimming to Minho and holding him in a way that has his head over the surface (Jisung’s seen this in movies). He himself stays submerged and starts kicking his feet as fast as he can, going over to the shallow parts of the pool where he knows both of them would be able to reach the bottom with their feet. He only lets Minho off his back, though, when they’re close enough to one of the pool ladders, just in case Minho still needs it.
When Jisung finally shows his head from under the water, Minho is already staring at him, his mouth agape. Jisung decides to write it off as the panic’s aftermath.
“I’m so sorry,” he hurries over to Minho, placing his hands on his shoulders. Minho is still looking at him with big, unblinking eyes, but it’s as if his thoughts are everywhere but here. “Did you get shocked?” Jisung tries to make him talk. “You literally forgot how to swim there?!”
That seems to do the trick, because Minho shakes his head and chuckles. “I honestly couldn’t swim that well in the first place.”
Jisung lifts an eyebrow. “How did you even become a lifegua-”
“You said you could kiss me earlier,” Minho brings up completely out of the blue.
He’s returned to his previous state, except this time it’s not like he’s looking at Jisung without seeing him. Instead, he is concentrated, so much so that his eyes could burn holes in Jisung’s own.
Jisung is so taken aback that all he can muster is, “Yes?”
“You also said that sometimes one step is all that separates us from stuff we don’t know we need, or something like that,” Minho adds, his growing smile contrasting Jisung’s ‘o’-shaped mouth.
“Yes?” Jisung repeats himself, racking his brains to understand what Minho could possibly be hinting at. Had he found out about Jisung’s crush? If so, why would he be bringing it up now of all times? Not only had he just been rescued from a dangerous situation, but his shift had probably already started. Why would Minho choose now of all times to tackle Jisung’s feelings for hi-
“Can I kiss you right now?” Minho quietly asks.
And everything suddenly snaps into place. “Oh,” Jisung lets out.
Minho raises an eyebrow, subtly demanding a concrete answer.
Jisung knows he wants it. In fact, he wants it too much. But he’d never imagined it happening like that, or seen it coming up this soon, either. He wants to say ‘yes’, but the idea of Minho being willing to kiss him is so new, so unexpected, that it overwhelms him.
“But we’d taste like chlorine?” Jisung splutters, trying to win himself some time.
Minho catches one of his hands under the water and rubs his thumb over it. “Is that a ‘no’? Please, don’t feel pressured to agree.”
Minho looks quite regretful, as if he’d like to take his words back. Watching him, Jisung realises he could also use some of his own advice. Instead of standing here, feeling puzzled because he never thought Minho would fall for him this quickly, he could take that one step he was talking about earlier and grant them something they both want. Sure, things seem scarier when you’ve least expected them, but there is beauty in the unknown, and bravery rarely gets unrewarded.
So Jisung takes the step.
He places his hand on Minho’s neck and brings his head down to his, closing the gap between their lips instead of replying. Their first kiss is chaste and they smile into it more than they pucker their lips, but it still manages to ignite something in Jisung, something that makes him feel warm on the inside despite the fact he’s submerged in cold water.
When Jisung pulls away, Minho is already grinning, his eyes resemblant of crescents. “Was that all?” he complains through giggles, putting his hand on the back of Jisung’s head to run fingers through his hair. Jisung trembles, goosebumps appearing all over his skin.
“I don’t make out before the first date,” he tries playing hard-to-get, but can’t hide the fact he’s melting into Minho’s touch. If Minho wasn’t as captivating (which is impossible to begin with), Jisung would have probably closed his eyes and sighed blissfully.
But shockingly enough, he can’t look away from Minho. Minho, who moves both of his hands to cup Jisung’s cheeks (not before squishing them, though). Minho, who rests his forehead against Jisung’s, making him flush all over again. Minho, who has resorted to pouting because he’s that desperate for a kiss.
“I brought you cheesecake,” Minho says. He’s so close that Jisung feels his breath on his lips. “I am sure you can make an exception for me.”
“Hm…” Jisung trails off, stifling a laugh upon noticing Minho’s irritation. “It only seems fair,” he concludes, lips spreading into a beam that he has no idea how to erase from his face, considering he just agreed to kiss Minho again.
Thankfully, when Minho leans in, Jisung’s mind goes blank. All that he sees, hears, feels, longs for becomes Minho, and that's what he tries to convey when their lips connect at last, this time with more passion, more want . Jisung’s arms find Minho’s back and start drawing patterns onto it, moves slowed down because of the water’s resistance. Minho, whose hands haven’t left Jisung’s face, somehow pulls Jisung even closer, caressing his cheekbones with his thumbs all the while.
And Jisung has imagined kissing Minho before - he’s imagined the breathlessness, excitement and pure happiness that all come with making out with someone you really like. But even the idealized scenarios in his mind are nowhere close to how kissing Minho actually is.
Sure, they both taste like chlorine just like Jisung had expected. There is also something unpleasant about being submerged in water while your clothes are still on. But Minho kisses with so much dedication, so much care , that Jisung can easily ignore everything else. He would gladly ignore everything else.
Jisung’s (second) first kiss with Minho is unexpected, unusual, but that’s what makes it even more special. It perfectly encapsulates their relationship so far, signifying the beginning of something just as unpredictable.
Jisung is so glad that he took the step.
“What the fuck?” Hyunjin shouts in the distance, as if intentionally trying to interrupt Jisung and Minho. Jisung huffs a laugh, breaking the kiss for a brief second before making the decision not to pay him any attention. Minho seems to be on board.
“Seori-yah, look away!” Hyunjin screams again, this time more desperately. Jisung can recognize the panic in his voice, even if he’s currently preoccupied with… other things.
Wait a minute.
Seori?
Jisung and Minho pull away in an instant, sparing a moment to look at each other in shock before turning in the direction of Hyunjin’s voice. And there they are - Seori and Hyunjin, hand in hand, approaching the slide in a brisk step, Hyunjin actively trying to cover her eyes with his free hand.
“I already saw everything!” Seori exclaims in protest, laughing while swatting away Hyunjin’s palm everytime it ends up before her eyes.
Jisung burrows his head in Minho’s shoulder in shame, a memory from earlier today coming to the forefront of his mind. “That’s what I was running to tell you earlier,” he mumbles, the words getting muffled in Minho’s shirt.
“What?”
Jisung realises he had made no sense, so he leans even further into Minho. “Seori’s parents texted me last night that they’d be taking her here today,” he elaborates, “but I forgot to tell you and now she saw us.”
Out of all the ways Minho could’ve responded, he chooses to chuckle. He wraps his arms around Jisung, his fingers beginning to move in a circular motion on top of his shoulder. “Excited to see me?” he asks in an innocent voice.
Jisung immediately lifts his head up, giving Minho a death glare. “Shut up.”
“Make me,” Minho says, fluttering his lashes. Jisung smiles unbelievingly.
“No need for that!” Hyunjin supplies from afar. “Keep it PG from now on. I beg you.”
Minho sighs (but not in an unhappy way) before he untangles himself from Jisung to swim over to the pool ladder. Jisung joins him shortly after, taking the hand Minho extends towards him to help him out of the water.
“Guess that means your shift starts now,” Minho observes once Jisung is standing next to him, both of them dripping wet. Jisung hums affirmatively, his teeth chattering due to the cold wind outside of the pool. He looks at Seori, then at Hyunjin, who is still fooling around with her even though he also has work to tend to. Jisung has to thank him for giving him a chance to spend a bit more time with Minho (despite also being the reason they were interrupted in the first place).
“However,” Minho continues his previous thought, making Jisung face him again. There is an evil smirk playing on his lips. “You’re legally obliged to accompany me up the stairs again. Holding my hand this time. Because you’re the reason I got down, and my shift also happens to start now.”
Jisung blinks, not understanding his logic. “Me? I have to go play with Seori, possibly other kids too, like, immediately?” He pauses for dramatic effect. “And I’m just as scared as you?!”
Minho shoves Jisung, opening his mouth to continue nagging him, but a tiny voice pipes up between them before he can do so.
“Don’t worry,” Seori says, making Jisung’s eyes widen with surprise. Apparently, Hyunjin hadn’t been able to distract her any longer. “I’ll hold both of you’s hands,” she kindly offers, “because you’re both scared and also because Hyunjin said not to leave you alone on the slide.”
Jisung and Minho simultaneously turn in Hyunjin’s direction upon hearing that. He’s waving at them, his devilish grin visible even from a distance. Jisung wants to flip him off, but realises that would be inappropriate to do in front of a child.
Seori catches their attention again, putting her pointer finger in front of her mouth to signal that she wants to tell them a secret. Jisung almost coos before squatting to give her better access to his ear. “Don’t tell Hyunjin-oppa,” she half-whispers conspiringly, “but I’ll leave you all alone during lunch.”
Jisung hurries to object. “No Seori-yah, you came all the way here to see us! You should spend as much time with us as you like!”
Seori only smiles like she knows something more than she’s letting on. “But mom and dad told me couples like to spend time alone with each other!”
Jisung almost chokes on his spit. He looks up at Minho, searching for confirmation that Seori actually said that. Minho nods briefly, his eyes crinkling in a smile.
“We’re not a couple, Seori-yah,” Minho clarifies, booping her nose. He spares a quick glance at Jisung, mouthing the word ‘yet’ and winking. Thankfully, his eyes return to Seori before he can see Jisung flushing.
“You’re definitely a couple,” Seori objects, “just look at your clothes!”
“These are uniforms. We wear them because we’re colleagues.”
“Oh, so colleagues also kiss.”
“No. I mean, some of them?” Minho seeks help from Jisung, who only shrugs. “But it’s also kinda forbidden...”
Jisung giggles watching him struggle to defend them in front of Seori. And he’s honestly happy that he currently isn’t in Minho’s place, because Seori is way more perceptive than one would expect. Therefore, she will get to the truth - regardless of whether Jisung and Minho themselves have figured it out.
“C’mon you two,” Jisung intervenes, getting up and taking Seori’s little hand in his. “Let’s all go to Minho’s platform.”
“Can we slide on our way down, oppa?” Seori asks Jisung, blindly trying to grasp Minho’s palm in the meantime.
“Of course we can,” Jisung responds, squeezing her hand reassuringly. “Don’t you remember I’m brave?”
Seori replies with an excited squeak and starts skipping to the stairs, hand in hand with Jisung and Minho. While walking, Jisung spares a glance at Minho, surprised to see him looking back with an endeared, but also somewhat thoughtful expression. Minho’s smile only grows upon meeting Jisung’s eyes, and Jisung is sure his own face is a perfect reflection of that.
There are so many things still unclear between them. Jisung doesn’t know how Minho would describe his feelings, define his boundaries or label their relationship at its current stage. But he’s also in no hurry to find out - he and Minho have proven to each other that they can talk things out, that they are willing to listen to each other. They have all the time in the world for that.
Right now, Seori is the one who should be getting their undivided attention. Seori, and the damn steps leading to the slide.