"Let's not..." Hyojin's voice is soft, wafting languidly over to Seungjun like one of the clouds hanging low in the sky, almost close enough to touch.

"It won't go away if we don't talk about it, you know."

Hyojin leans over, eyeing a particularly smooth rock at his toes. He considers it a moment in his hand before straightening up. Seungjun is in the lead so far with five skips, and Hyojin is determined to beat him. But even more so, Hyojin is determined to not think about the future, to ignore the fact that he and Seungjun will be attending different schools this spring. Hyojin is shy, self-conscious, and prone to loneliness, he knows this. But Seungjun has always seen him through all the awkwardness, through his prickly exterior. Seungjun has always been a reprieve for him when things at home boil into something he can't stomach. Like the North Star in the sky is a source of solace for travelers and sailors, so too is Seungjun his cornerstone, the light to which he looks in even his darkest hours.

Hyojin drops the rock he is holding and under the guise of looking for a better one, hiding the tears springing to life behind his eyes. The ground is littered in oblong stones of white and grey, and they clatter with each movement, each footfall. The music they create harmonizes with the soft splashing of the water against the shore, with the cawing of birds overhead. Moments like this mean the most to Hyojin, moments when it's just the two of them, when nature sprawls around them in all her glory. He may often feign indifference, pretend like Seungjun's smile has no effect on him, but in truth, he worships these moments like the sky worships the sun, beyond grateful to have Seungjun in his life.

"Are you going to go, or can I just take another turn?" Seungjun asks, a smirk pulling at the side of his mouth. He's tossing a stone of his own up in the air before catching it in his palm, again and again. A metronome keeping time for nature's strain.

"I'm going!" Hyojin grumbles, choosing a rock at random and hobbling over to Seungjun's side at the water's edge, doing his best not to disturb too many of the stones sleeping beneath his feet. Curling his arm in, he releases his choice rock across the surface, and it skips once, twice, three times, four times, and then plunges down, out of sight. Hyojin's stomach sinks with it.

"Ha!" Seungjun cheers with glee. "I win!" He's being petulant, and Hyojin glowers at him, resisting the urge to hurl a stone at him.

Seungjun sobers up at the look on Hyojin's face, and silence falls between them.

"We'll still see each other over breaks," Seungjun says quietly, reaching for Hyojin's hand. For once, he lets him take it, and he can tell Seungjun is taken aback slightly, feeling his fingers tighten around his infinitesimally.

Hyojin bites his tongue. His secret presses against the inside of his lips, desperate for release. He's held onto it for so long, for years, ever since he first met Seungjun. What started as a small seed has grown into floral vines and woven itself between his ribs, blossomed clean through his heart, becoming just as much a part of him as his organs or bones. He doesn't know who he is without this secret, and he's terrified of it ever one day breaking free, of choking the life out of not only himself but Seungjun too.

"You can still come over any time," Seungjun ventures, eyes boring holes into the side of Hyojin's face. But Hyojin refuses to return his gaze, knowing how much harder it will be if he does.

What starts as a sprinkling, easily tolerated, erupts into a deluge within moments, uprooting the two boys and displacing them, sending them scrambling for cover. They find safe haven under a tree a ways down the bank, and they fall into each other, laughter breaking the tension inside them and bubbling to the surface. Once they start, they can't stop, infectious in its pleasantness. Seungjun is giggling into Hyojin's neck, gasping for air, hand coming to rest at Hyojin's waist. Finally, Hyojin meets his gaze, and bites back a gasp at what he sees reflected in the depths of Seungjun's eyes. Surely he is only projecting, surely the excitement from the sudden storm stirred some unknown emotion within Seungjun, drunk off the moment.

But then Seungjun leans closer, and although the gale itself brings with it no lightning, electricity is sparking from the corners of Seungjun's eyes, from the tips of his fingers, from the curve of his lips…

Their eyes pore unblinkingly at each other, and Hyojin has forgotten how to breathe. His lungs suddenly feel deflated and weak, the fragments of a popped balloon left on the pavement for others to tread on. He closes his eyes instinctively when Seungjun leans even closer, closing the gap between them. His hands snake tentatively around Hyojin as their mouths meet. Fireworks erupt inside Hyojin's brain, elation expands in his chest, and Hyojin feels like he's home.

When they pull apart it's in millimeters.

"Every day," Hyojin gasps.

"What?" Seungjun asks, clearly bewildered, eyes fluttering open.

"I want to come over every day."

Seungjun looks at him blankly for a moment before the brightest smile Hyojin has ever seen adorns his face, the sun itself gracing his features.

"Every day," Seungjun agrees, smiling into their next kiss, and the next and the next….