Chapter Text
It was the hot summer day that brought Mingyu and his group of friends, Minghao and Seokmin to the biggest waterpark that opened on the edge of their city. It was filled with friends and family wearing swimsuits, bringing their own swimming tubes, all with a smile on their faces despite the sun trying to melt them down.
It wasn't Mingyu's idea to come to the waterpark since Mingyu himself wasn't that fond of overcrowded place. Seokmin practically begged Minghao and Mingyu, even willingly volunteered to bring them lunch for a week. As two broke college kids who eats instant ramen almost daily, Mingyu and Minghao accepted. So that's why they're now standing in a very long line to buy a ticket to the waterpark.
"You could've reserved the tickets online!" Minghao protested at Seokmin, waving his dark sunglasses around.
"I forgot and fell asleep last night......" Seokmin stated weakly, looking really sorry that he got his friends stuck in this situation with him.
"Guys. It wouldn't really help," Mingyu then pointed at the two lines next to them, which says 'Online Ticket Redemption.' "The line for the ticket redemption is also that long, so we'll still be stuck like this. I mean it's summer. Everyone is gonna go here."
Minghao sighed and put his palm on his forehead. "If you weren't my friend, Seokmin, I would get the fuck out of here and go straight home to start that book I just bought."
Seokmin smiled his signature gummy smile at that. "Don't worry. I'm gonna make today the best waterpark experience you'll ever get!"
Mingyu knows that both him and Minghao are weak towards the other guy's smile so he just sighed and patted his friend on his back and moved along with the line.
When they finally arrived at the ticket booth, the lady inside was greeting a guy that went inside the booth. Mingyu only saw him for a bit since he just went inside to pick up what looks like a whistle, but the guy had the most perfect smile and laugh. It's been awhile since Mingyu found someone this attractive after a guy he met at a party while drunk two weeks ago. Said guy brought him water and sobered him up after he puked on the bathroom floor. The guy was attractive, but Mingyu was embarassed as hell, he would rather not see the guy again.
The guy inside the ticket booth adorned a similar smile and sparkle. As if nothing in the world can stop them from being happy. It put a little smile on Mingyu's face as he imagined talking with the guy and going on dates.
"Gyu! Are you even listening to me?" Minghao snapped his fingers in front of his face. Apparently dream guy just made him enter a daze so Mingyu snapped out of it and gave Minghao a wide-eye.
"Yeah? Sorry I didn't hear you. What did you say?" Mingyu asked Minghao. But the other guy just sighed loudly and turned to finalize the tickets.
"He was just asking about the lockers. No big deal," Seokmin shrugged. "I guess you were just distracted by that guy at the booth right?"
"W-what guy? I don't know what you're talking about," Mingyu said. He didn't realize that Seokmin saw that he was staring. Slowly his ears turned red and he look away. Seeing his reddening ears, Seokmin laughed, gaining attention from Minghao who was accepting the tickets they bought.
"We're in a public place. Don't draw attention on us, please," Minghao said while slapping the tickets onto their shoulders.
"Hey I didn't do anything wrong!" Mingyu protested, holding his ears that are turning back to its usual color. He also grabbed one of the tickets on Minghao's hand as the guy handed them their ticket.
"Let's go!!" Seokmin practically screamed, waving his tickets in the air and started skipping to the entrance line.
"I swear to god, he's gonna be the death of me," Minghao put his palm on his forehead again while following Seokmin to the entrance line.
Mingyu slung his arms around his shoulders and shrugged. "Let's just enjoy today. I mean, how bad can a waterpark be?"
****
It was a mess.
After putting down their bags and changing into their swimsuits, Seokmin immediately ran to the most crowded area of the park that day, the wave pool. It was probably one of the nicest place to relax, but it's the opening day so a lot of middle school kids are probably excited to try and ride on the artificial waves. Most failing miserably since there are like ten life guards around and from the moment Mingyu set foot in the area, two of them already saved five kids. The pool looks dangerous but who can stop those kids. They decided it for themselves.
Minghao set down his towel blanket under the only empty umbrella to shade himself from the sun. He already told both Mingyu and Seokmin that he will only ride the slides and the lazy river pool so he would just watch them on the makeshift beach facing the wave pool. This leaves Mingyu with the duty of watching Seokmin and making sure he wouldn't drown while swimming in the pool.
"Are you sure you don't wanna join?" Mingyu asked to Minghao once the other guy sat down on his towel, sunglasses covering his face from the summer sun.
Minghao shook his head. "Swimming with hundreds of strangers on an artificial wave pool that's gonna throw me off and make me bump to said strangers? No thanks," he said as he lay his head back and probably closed his eyes.
Well, that was Mingyu's cue to leave.
****
Mingyu tried to find Seokmin between the hundreds of heads swimming on the wave pool. The task itself was a challenge since almost everyone is wearing their swimsuits which means no shirts for the male. If only Seokmin still had his hair dyed a dark blue which he dyed to brown like a week ago, it would ease Mingyu's task.
Ha.... Why am I doing this again, Mingyu thought as he let out a big sigh.
Since the pool was humongous, he started by entering it. Maybe Seokmin swam near the place where the artificial waves comes out. He sincerely hoped that Seokmin still has a sense to not worry his friends by not drowning, but Seokmin was always full of surprises.
After two waves, Mingyu felt heavy because of the large amount of water splashing to him. He couldn't understand how Seokmin or even anyone could enjoy it. So he decided to slowly swim back to the shore.
Before he even managed to stand up straight, a whistle was blown as someone screamed from the pool. A big splash followed it and Mingyu instantly whipped his head to see who was screaming. He found himself looking at a tanned hand flapping near the right edge of the pool and noticed the yellow rubber wristband that Seokmin wore this morning. So he immediately ran to that spot.
When he arrived, he was too late. He could see the lifeguard that blew the whistle holding a passed out Seokmin in his arms then laying him down on the makeshift beach. People started to crowd around them but Mingyu pushed through the crowd to get closer to them muttering some excuses as his mind kept running a thousand miles, worrying for his friend.
The sight that beholds him the moment he arrived was Seokmin finally coughing and throwing up some of the water he swallowed. Mingyu ran and hugged him, feeling like a big chunk of rock is being removed from his shoulders.
"Please. Please don't do that again," Mingyu muttered as he ruffled Seokmin's hair. Seokmin just chuckled, seemingly regained a bit of his energy.
Then he heard a cough.
"If you guys are done with the reunion, I need to should take the guy to the infirmary," the lifeguard said. "We need to check if he's okay for the day."
"Oh. Right. Sorry," Mingyu apologized as he hoisted Seokmin up to stand.
Mingyu didn't expect the person who talked to him was the guy he saw this morning. Unlike at the ticket booth, he looked more serious with a grim smile, indicatin that he doesn't take his job for granted. The guy's hair was slicked back because of the pool water and said water was dripping down his whole chest.
"Alright. Let's go," the lifeguard said as he put his left arm around Seokmin's waist and lift his arm to sling it on his shoulder. Which necesarily means that he is putting his hand above Mingyu's who also still has his hand around Seokmin's waist.
Mingyu snapped out of it as the lifeguard told the people around the circle to move and started moving with him.
Even though his legs are moving, his mind couldn't stop thinking about the other man.
***
"Do you even count how many idiots drowned themselves on the wave pool today?" The nurse said as he searched for his stethoscope. He found it quickly on the side of his table which was adjacent to the window that are shut with blinds looking out to the wave pool. "Five."
"Well now, six," the lifeguard added as he laid down Seokmin on the bed. The nurse only shook his head at that and started checking his patient.
The nurse's office was quaint and simple like ones at his high school. It has a few cupboards on the sides with files and books, and the equipment cupboard on the other consisting of various simple medical instruments.
The nurse himself looked quite distraught since he said himself that he already treated 'five idiots who tried to drown themselves on the wave pool.' Despite that, he still checked Seokmin accordingly and spoke words of advice such as 'don't try to drown yourself' and 'you need to be more careful.'
"Is he okay now, Wonwoo?" the lifeguard asked the nurse, whose name is apparently Wonwoo.
"He's okay, Junhui. Thanks for the fast response," the nurse nodded and went back to his desk. Probably to write a report about Seokmin's condition.
Mingyu finally found out about the lifeguard's name. Junhui. For some reason he has heard of that name. Maybe a celebrity or an idol he saw on the entertainment section of the news? But Mingyu decided to put it aside after Junhui sat down on the chair beside him, slicking his wet hair back.
"I guess your friend is okay now," Junhui started, leaning back to his seat. "But I suggest not going back to the wave pool today. You wouldn't want this to happen to him again, or even to yourself."
"After what happened to Seokmin? Nah I wouldn't go there," Mingyu said, clasping his hand together as he looked at Seokmin who is talking to the nurse. For some reason, the air feels hot and suffocating for him. "We'll just go and chill on the lazy pool."
"Yeah. You should do that," Junhui muttered. "It's way safer and more relaxing."
"Aren't you tired of saving those people?" Mingyu asked him curiously. It must be tiring to jump and go save the people who miserably drowned at the artificial wave pool.
"Sometimes. But it's my job and I love my job!" Junhui answered while smiling at Mingyu. It was that smile he saw this morning at the ticket booth. The one that made his stomach churn and his ears red.
"Oh.... You're turning red," Junhui pointed out, holding his cheeks gently. "Do you have a fever?"
"A fever?" Wonwoo's ear perked up at that and stopped his conversation with Seokmin. Grabbing his stethoscope, Wonwoo approached their seats and put the stethoscope on top of his left chest which felt cold since he wasn't wearing any top. "Huh. Your heartbeat is going really fast."
Mingyu widened his eyes at that. He didn't mean for his heartbeat to go this fast! "It's just hot in here. Whew," he said, quickly fanning his face with his hand and then accidentally slapping his face with it.
Junhui laughed at that and Mingyu's pretty sure his face now looked like a boiled crab. "You're cute!" Junhui exclaimed while pinching Mingyu's cheeks softly. It didn't really stop his face from getting red, he's already feeling like his whole body could explode.
Wonwoo shook his head at that. "Apparently it's obvious that you're not sick," he said as he walked back to his desk and he immediately went back to his computer where he is most definitely playing a game, not entering files or such. "You can go back now. Just be careful."
"Well I'd better go back. Who knows what kind of 'idiot' would try to fight the wave pool?" Junhui stood up and started walking to the door. The way the life guard emphasized on the 'idiot' made Seokmin chuckled nervously. "Be careful out there."
Before Junhui stepped outside, he stopped at the door and looked back, "Oh and Mingyu, it was nice seeing you again!" He smiled cheekly at Mingyu and closed the door.
Wait what?