Work Text:
"maybe love is there for every firework, every birthday party, every hospital visit."
***
Sanha is five years old, his hand tightly entwined with Minhyuk's and the cowlicks at the ends of his hair bouncing as the two excitedly lead their parents around the fair. His head is moving in every direction, trying to take in as much as possible of the bright lights and colourful booths and rides scattered around the field, listening closely to the sound of people's laughter and the whir of machines coming from everywhere around him.
"Look at the ferris wheel," Minhyuk mutters then, head tilted back and eyes wide as he looks up at the large wheel, metal painted the colours of the rainbow and lights flashing from various places around it.
Sanha turns around to his and Minhyuk's parents, hand still holding tightly to his friends, "Can we ride the ferris wheel?"
Their parents look at one another, attempting to discern which adult would be willing to ride with the two children, still too young to ride on their own.
Finally, Minhyuk's dad nods his head, grasping Minhyuk's empty hand as he leads them in the direction of the ride not too far from them.
"Be quick," Sanha's mom says as they leave, "The fireworks start soon."
Sanha and Minhyuk nod and giggle to themselves excitedly, thrilled to be riding the ferris wheel for the first time and at the premise of fireworks later too. They stand next to one another in line, talking with Minhyuk's dad about anything and everything, leaving the poor man to helplessly try and keep up with the quick pace at which their brains move from one thing to the next.
They finally make it to the front of the line, Sanha and Minhyuk eagerly squishing next to one another on one side of the small pod with Minhyuk's dad sitting opposite them.
Sanha peers over the edge curiously as the ride begins moving, quickly backing up as far as he can into Minhyuk's chest as he realizes how high they're going. Minhyuk stops his movements, moving to grasp Sanha's hand tightly as a reminder; I'm here, it'll be okay, you're not alone. Sanha smiles at his friend, turning his gaze back onto the fair around them, taking in the now small booths and more distant sound of rides.
"This is nice, isn't it?" Minhyuk announces, looking to Sanha to see if he agrees, too young to care about their closeness in any way, body pushing impossibly nearer to that of the younger boy's.
"I think it's too high." Sanha's heart is racing, his hands shaking just slightly and he thinks to himself that maybe he's afraid of being up high. He voices this to which Minhyuk's dad chuckles, "It's called being afraid of heights, Sanha. It's very common."
Sanha nods, eyes wide as he looks over the edge once more, again pushing himself into Minhyuk's side as he draws back.
When their ride finally comes to an end, Sanha rushes to get off as quickly as he can, making his way to his parents at the exit with Minhyuk's mother; immediately voicing his newly discovered fear, "I'm afraid of highs."
Minhyuk's dad laughs as he catches up, "Heights, Sanha," he corrects gently, "You're afraid of heights."
Sanha's mom and dad laugh lightly at the boy's slight mistake, listening as Sanha rambles on about how he'd been afraid on the ferris wheel but also brave because Minhyuk was holding his hand. They smile down at him, everyone noticing the tight grip their fingers still had around one another.
"We should find a seat for the fireworks," Minhyuk's mom suggests, checking the time on her watch with a quick glance at her wrist.
Sanha and Minhyuk excitedly agree, following closely around their parents to find a spot on the grass, giggling amongst themselves as they ramble about the ferris wheel and their day.
They lay side by side in the grass, Sanha's head resting against Minhyuk's shoulder as they wait for the promised fireworks to begin. The field around them begins filling up with families and groups of teenagers awaiting the fireworks just as eagerly.
They start somewhat unexpectedly, neither boy realizing that they've begun until the sky lights up red and the loud noise booms over the expanse of grass. Sanha's eyes widen in surprise, hand quickly finding it's way back to Minhyuk's as he lays next to him and watches the colours take over the night sky.
"This is so cool," Minhyuk mentions then, turning to look Sanha in the eyes as he says it.
Sanha gazes back at him, nodding slightly in reply, "So cool."
They turn their attention back to the air above them, taking in the various colours and shapes of the fireworks continuing to shoot up above them. Sanha's hand is in Minhyuk's, his head resting on his shoulder, his best friend next to him as he experiences fireworks for the first time in his life; or rather, the first time he remembers them.
***
Sanha is 11 years old, Minhyuk sitting next to him at the table in his kitchen with a wide smile on his face, singing happy birthday horribly off-key directly into Sanha's ear.
"Happy birthday dear loser," he supplies himself, Sanha's nose scrunching at his best friend's version of the lyrics, "Happy birthday to you." Minhyuk drags out the ending much too long, causing Sanha's and his parents to laugh and a smile to cross Sanha's face despite his attempts not to encourage him.
Sanha's father finally places the cake down on the table in front of him, blue icing adorns the edges of the cake, the words Happy Birthday Sanha written in the middle in neat cursive which matches. There are a few candles just above and around the writing, two number 1's intended to make an 11 surrounded by a few scattered candles in various colours.
"Make a wish," his mother encourages, grasping their family's camera between her fingers and waiting for him to blow them out to begin taking photos.
Sanha closes his eyes, thinking for a moment before blowing out the candles. He can hear his father and Minhyuk clapping and through his eyelids just barely sees the flash of the camera in the dark room. He opens them then, rapidly blinking to adjust to the lights his dad just flicked on.
His mom puts down the camera, cutting the cake into pieces and handing one to Sanha, "Birthday boy first." He smiles, waiting patiently for everyone to get a piece before picking up his fork to begin eating. "This is really good," Minhyuk mentions after his first bite, "You're really talented Mrs. Yoon."
Sanha watches his mother beam across the table from him, cheeks turning slightly red, "Oh stop it Minhyuk, you're too sweet." Minhyuk just shakes his head, repeating his words about how good the cake is. His mother pats his head, causing Minhyuk to shake her off with a huff about his hair being ruined.
Hours later, when the cake is finished and Minhyuk's parents have left for the night, Sanha and Minhyuk sit upstairs in his bedroom. "I have a gift for you!"
Minhyuk has a small smile on his face and Sanha furrows his eyebrows, fully aware of the fact that Minhyuk's parents had already given him a gift that was from their family. He reaches into the backpack he brought with him containing his clothes and other necessities for staying overnight at Sanha's house.
"Here." He hands him a small box, haphazardly wrapped in the same blue wrapping paper as his gifts earlier had been neatly covered with. It's obvious that Minhyuk wrapped this himself, possibly even paid for it using some of the money he'd received for his own birthday a few months earlier.
Sanha is careful to unwrap it, removing the individual pieces of tape and attempting not to rip the paper which demonstrates his best friend's effort into the gift. Removing the paper reveals the brown box Sanha had guessed would be underneath, no bigger than the length of Minhyuk's hand and small enough for Sanha to wrap his fingers around the bottom.
He takes the lid off slowly, aware of the fact that Minhyuk is watching him carefully. Sitting in the box is a keychain; a white cartoon cat with blue eyes along with a pink heart hanging off a metal ring. Sanha picks it up by the ring, nose scrunching as a smile forms on his face, “This is so cute!”
Minhyuk mumbles something in reply that Sanha doesn’t exactly hear (though years later he would claim he said that it wasn’t nearly as cute as Sanha). “I love it Hyuk, thank you.” He wraps his arms tightly around his best friend’s neck, the keychain still around the fingers of his right hand and pressing into Minhyuk’s back.
Sanha’s head is resting on his shoulder, an I love you falling from each of their lips in the silence of his bedroom, his best friend next to him as Sanha celebrates yet another birthday with Minhyuk by his side.
***
Sanha is 18 years old, hands shaking and stomach twisting as he sits next to Minhyuk in the ER. He’s not the one that’s hurt, but somehow he feels even more worried than if it had been himself who was sitting with what they both thought was a broken ankle.
“Hyuk,” he mumbles out, stopping the movement of his hand on Minhyuk’s thigh in what had been an attempt to help his friend relax.
“Hmm?” Minhyuk hums in reply, head resting against Sanha’s shoulder, his forehead scrunched and hands clenched into fists as he tries to ignore the pain coming from his ankle.
“Are you scared?” Minhyuk opens his eyes to look at Sanha then, trying to discern how his best friend is feeling only by his expression; not that it was hard to do, Sanha and Minhyuk had been friends for so long that Minhyuk knew exactly what he was thinking before Sanha even thought it himself sometimes.
The look on his face just then told Minhyuk that Sanha was scared for him, even if he wasn’t feeling anything other than the fact that he was in pain. “No, I’m not scared… I just want them to x-ray this already so I can know what’s wrong.”
Sanha nods in reply, left hand finding its way to Minhyuk’s right and prying his fingers open; linking them with his own instead, “You shouldn’t clench your fists like that, it isn’t good.” Minhyuk doesn’t think there’s anything bad about clenching your fists, and he doesn’t think that Sanha does either but he allows his best friend to hold his hand anyways; knowing it’s more for his own benefit than for Minhyuk’s.
“Park Minhyuk.” Sanha quickly helps Minhyuk to his feet when his name is called, arm wrapping around him in order to hold him up and help him to walk without putting any weight onto his ankle. He’s led to a room with a bed in it which Sanha helps him to lay down in before taking the chair next to it.
The nurse asks him a bunch of standard questions. “What happened?”
“I was dancing and working on a move where I had to jump and I landed on my ankle awkwardly and then to make matters worse, fell onto it in my fall.”
“How long ago did it happen?”
“About an hour.”
“Can you rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10?”
“About a 6 or 7?” Sanha still has Minhyuk’s hand in his as he talks to the nurse, grip tightening a little when Minhyuk talks about how much pain he’s in.
“Has your pain gotten worse over the last hour?” Minhyuk shakes his head before answering aloud, “Uhh not specifically, it’s more of a pulsing, dull hurting rather than just general pain anymore.”
The nurse writes that down in the clipboard they’re holding before continuing with their questions, “I’m assuming this is a no but can you move it at all? Can you wiggle your toes?”
Minhyuk tries moving his foot only to immediately tense in pain, “I can wiggle my toes but definitely not my ankle.”
The nurse nods again, continuing to write Minhyuk’s answers, “You don’t mind if I touch it, right? I’m just going to feel for a few things.”
Minhyuk just shrugs his shoulders, gesturing to his leg with his open hand, “Go for it.”
The nurse wraps his fingers around Minhyuk’s ankle carefully, feeling around the bone in what Sanha guesses is an attempt to determine if it’s broken. He compares something by feeling one ankle and then the other before writing a few more things down and speaking once more, “The doctor will be in soon but before he comes we’re going to have to get this x-rayed,” he glances down at their linked hands, Minhyuk’s grip much tighter now that the nurse has been touching the injured limb, “I’m sure your boyfriend can help you to the x-ray room, however, if you’d like a wheelchair let any of the other nurses or myself know. Take this piece of paper and the room is down the hall and in the fourth door on your left.” The nurse smiles, handing Minhyuk a paper for his x-ray before making his way out of the room before either of them can clarify that they aren’t dating.
Sanha’s cheeks are stained pink, heart beating rapidly in his chest at being referred to as Minhyuk’s boyfriend. Not that he thought it would be bad, he actually thought quite the opposite, hence his hammering heart, slightly uneven breaths, and inability to speak clearly. “Do you, umm, do you want a, uhh, do you want a wheelchair?”
Minhyuk shakes his head, smiling slightly at Sanha despite the blush covering his own cheeks, “No I think we can manage.”
Sanha nods, helping him down the hall and waiting outside the room filled with people getting their own x-rays. When the x-ray is taken he helps him back to the room he’d been given, allowing him to flop back down onto the bed.
They sit in the room waiting so long Sanha’s phone begins to die (not that it hadn’t been close to dying since they’d gotten there, but Sanha enjoyed being dramatic when retelling the story) and he slumps in his seat, beginning to fall asleep with his elbow rested on the arm rest and head in his hand now that it’s so late at night.
“Sanha.” Minhyuk’s voice breaks the silence between them, causing Sanha to open his eyes and look at his best friend, “Hmm?”
“Climb up here.” He scoots over in the already very small bed, offering the space next to him to a very tired Sanha who tries to protest before being shushed by Minhyuk, “Just come sit beside me so you can properly sleep… That looks really painful.”
Sanha nods finally in acceptance, sliding as carefully as he can into the bed next to Minhyuk and resting his head on Minhyuk’s shoulder, “Thanks Hyuk.”
Minhyuk just hums in reply, resting his own head against Sanha’s as they wait for the doctor to appear with a diagnosis. After what Sanha deems to be way too short a nap (mainly because it was only about 30 minutes), Sanha is being shaken awake to move out of the doctor’s way so that she can properly examine Minhyuk’s injury and discuss with him.
He quickly shuffles back to his chair with a blush covering his cheeks, barely paying attention as the doctor explains Minhyuk's injury and the steps they would take to help heal it. All he manages to catch are the words fracture, cast, crutches, and the repeated phrase, "stay off your ankle for at least a few months." He nearly laughs aloud at that, just catches himself before he does because he knows his best friend too well; knows he'll probably continue dancing in some way despite the injury because Minhyuk is stubborn, and also can't live without dance.
They wait another hour for Minhyuk to receive a cast and set of crutches, then Sanha waits 15 minutes for the hospital to gather all of the additional information from Minhyuk they need. By the time they end up in the taxi they ordered, Sanha is ready to fall asleep again; eyes barely able to stay open and yawns falling from his mouth much more often than usual.
On the way back to their shared apartment, Minhyuk allows Sanha to lean against his shoulder again, mumbling something about going to sleep. Sanha gratefully accepts his offer, falling asleep rather easily leaned up against the older boy. Sanha's body is leaning against Minhyuk's, mouth slightly open as he sleeps, his best friend next to him as Sanha tiredly makes it through another visit to the ER with Minhyuk by his side.
***
Sanha is 22 years old, eyes attempting to adjust to the light of his bedroom and small smile crossing his face as he admires the boy laying next to him. He's memorized nearly every part of Minhyuk's face and the rest of his body, 22 years of experience giving him a great edge in doing so, but still finds himself admiring the soft curves and sharp edges most present as he rests.
As if he can sense Sanha's gaze, Minhyuk's eyes flutter open, the skin on his forehead creasing as he tries to cope with the sunlight shining into his newly opened eyes. "Morning," he says gruffly, voice hoarse from just waking up and arms reaching to pull Sanha closer to him.
"Good morning," Sanha mumbles back as he shifts closer in response, allowing Minhyuk to pull him into his chest; resting his head against it in a way which allows him to listen to the sound of Minhyuk's heartbeat directly against his ear, also feeling the steady movement of Minhyuk's chest as he breathes in and out.
"How did you sleep?" Minhyuk's hands are splayed against Sanha's back, fingers moving absentmindedly against it as he speaks.
"Alright... Better once you got back, though. How did it go with Bin?" Sanha tilts his head in order to see his boyfriend's face as he answers.
"It went well, really well; I'm happy with how everything is turning out, I think the dance is probably the best one we've choreographed yet."
Sanha nods, leaning up to press a quick kiss to Minhyuk's cheek, "That's really good, Hyuk. I'm happy for you."
"Give me a proper kiss," he whines in reply, nose scrunching as he complains sarcastically about Sanha's choice of affection.
"As soon as we brush our teeth you can have a proper kiss."
Minhyuk groans, "You're insufferable." He pauses for a moment to think of his next words, "It's just a kiss, I'm not trying to makeout with you or somethin-" Sanha cuts him off by pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Are you done now?'
Minhyuk smiles happily to himself, nodding his head before pulling Sanha back into his chest with a mumbled I love you.
Sanha's legs are entwined with Minhyuk's, eyes beginning to close as he repeats Minhyuk's words, his best friend next to him as Sanha spends another day of forever with Minhyuk by his side.