Work Text:
"i'm so happy you offered to go christmas shopping with me, seok." joshua beams, walking down the street holding shopping bags in both hands.
it was december first, and joshua had wanted to get an early headstart in christmas shopping before the stores get crowded with people rushing to buy christmas gifts. seokmin offered to go wtih him, deciding to go buy gifts the usual way instead of his usual online shopping sprees.
"no problem, hyung." seokmin replies, "i'm happy to help. it's the first time you're spending christmas in korea, right? since you always go home to la every year."
"yeah. i'll miss them this year, but atleast i get to spend it with you guys." joshua replies, smiling a bit flatly at seokmin. he couldn't come home this year since his brother had contracted an infectious virus and his mother had advised him not to come home until his brother was cured in fear of joshua getting sick himself.
seokmin frowns, he understands how hard it is being away from his family and he doesn't like seeing his joshua hyung feel down. "you can still video call them, hyung. i know it won't be the same but atleast there's that."
"yeah, i know. thanks seok-" joshua suddenly stops in his tracks, going cross-eyed trying to stare at his nose. "hyung?" seokmin walks back to joshua worriedly, wondering if anything had happened to him.
"uh, seok?" joshua slowly points to his nose. "what's this?" small patches of white were resting on his nose, and on his shoulders, and clothes, and so on and so forth. "there's also on your hair!"
seokmin curiously peers in closer then looks up, where more of the white stuff were floating downwards. "oh, hyung!" he suddenly exclaims happily, giggling at joshua. "hyung, it's the first snow!"
"snow?" joshua's eyes widen in amazement, cupping his hands and letting the snow rest on his palms. "this is snow?"
"you've..." seokmin pauses and turns to look at joshua in surprise. "you've never seen snow before?"
"seokmin, the last snow in la was in 1962. i was born in 1995. so no, i've never seen snow in my entire life unless you count the internet."
seokmin looked so scandalized, joshua had to suppress his laughter. "you mean, in all your 24 years of life, you haven't experienced snow ever?"
"yes." joshua kept laughing, and bending over at seokmin's surprised reactions. not to mention the steady growing small pile of snow of the younger's head made joshua laugh even more.
they decided to move to the park since joshua wanted to admire more of the snow. he kept on tapping small tree branches and leaves just so he could watch the snow brush off them and he had pulled seokmin down to lay with him on the ground and watch the snow float down.
"tell me about how you play with snow." joshua requests, trying to blow a snowflake away from his lips. "in my childhood or now?" seokmin brushes snow away from his eyes, turning to face the sky again.
"i'd be happy to hear about both."
"well," seokmin sits up properly, but joshua tugs him back down again. "fine, okay hyung. with my mother, i'd make snowmen. weird, weird snowmen with carrots as their hair and rocks as their noses. sometimes, i'd even give them mohawks and stick random toys everywhere."
joshua tries imagining those and tries not to laugh again. "and with my father, i'd climb down trees and throw snow at him then it would escalate to a snowball fight. it was fun."
"ooh. i should try that on you sometime." joshua teases, poking seokmin in the side. seokmin promptly smacks a tiny handful of snow on the other's cheek in retaliation.
"what about our friends? how do you guys spend time in the snow?" joshua brushes off the cold snow from his hair, wiping his cheek with his scarf.
"well, me, soonyoung-hyung and seungkwannie would start snowball fights and make our own forts and then we rope the others into joining. last year, seungcheol-hyung tried to control us because we were getting too rowdy." seokmin pauses to laugh at the memory. "we ended ganging up on him and pelting him with snow."
"and-- and also, jeonghan-hyung fell asleep in the snow so we buried him neck down in snow and built a santa body on top of him. he looked ridiculous with his small head and an oversized, fat santa body made out of snow." seokmin keeps on laughing, raising his arms to make gestures to emphasize points in his stories. "oh, do you want to see pictures?"
joshua immediately sits up, nodding. "yes, please."
they get off the snow, brushing themselves off and moves to sit properly on a park bench as seokmin scrolls through his gallery and showcases old pictures during wintertimes, telling the stories behind each set.
joshua smiles wistfully, watching seokmin happily recall his memories, wishing that he was there then. maybe he did miss out on too much.
"hyung, it's okay." seokmin's looking at him, kind of pitifully but still smiling comfortingly. "it's actually better that you spend time with your family. and we still have many more chances to make more memories with you. in the snow. right, hyung?"
joshua's cheeks warm up and he ends up chuckling awkwardly. "did i say that out loud?" seokmin just replies with a cheeky grin and an unsure nod.
they just pass the time on the bench getting snowed on, as seokmin shares memories and they try playing a game of who can catch the most snowflakes.
"hyung!" seokmin yells, trying to frantically catch a snowflake in his cupped hand while trying to push joshua away. the elder boy kept leaning in and blowing snowflakes away from seokmin.
"hyung, that's cheating!"
"you didn't set any rules, min!" joshua just laughs, his eyes crinkling as he ignores seokmin's whines and continues to press up against the taller boy.
seokmin gives up on the snowflake and just proceeds to shove joshua off the bench as an act of revenge. joshua just laughs, pure and clear, leaning back on his palms down on the grass.
"you boys look so happy." they both turn to see an old lady that had stopped walking to talk to them. "i hope you spend the rest of your lives just as happy together like my husband and i once did." she smiles at them before continuing her walk.
joshua looks at seokmin in confusion, smiling unsurely. "what was that all about?"
"oh, uh." seokmin pulls joshua off the ground and brushes him off. "well, you see, here in korea, we hold the first snowfall to be special." he sticks his hands into his pockets and starts walking down the park trail, joshua following behind.
"oh really?" joshua walks faster, catching up beside seokmin. "how?"
"well, first of all, they say that all your lies will be forgiven. even the worst ones."
"so, every year you get forgiven for everything you say?" seokmin nods. "yeah, you could put it that way. and um, well, maybe i should have told this to you earlier but yeah. if you make a wish during the first snow, it comes true."
joshua's eyes widen in surprise and he promptly smacks seokmin on the arm. "yeah, you should've said earlier!" he immediately claps his hands together and closes his eyes, focusing on his wish.
i... joshua's mind falters and he realizes that he doesn't know what to wish for on his first snowfall ever. he peeks open one eye to look at seokmin who was in the same position as he was, also focusing on making a wish.
i wish that i could spend many more first snows with you.
joshua's mind says, loud and clear before he could even process his wish. he quickly closes his eyes before seokmin could catch him staring. his heart was beating fast, as though he'd suddenly realized something big, surprising, somewhat scandalous.
after a few seconds, joshua drops his hands and opens his eyes to see seokmin looking at him, smiling fondly. "you sure took time with that wish, hyung."
"sorry." joshua mumbles. "don't be. you looked adorable anyway." seokmin replies smoothly, continues walking down the trail, and leaves joshua to let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
he matches his pace with seokmin, walking just behind him. "any more superstitions or meanings korea has for the first snowfall?"
"the most famous one is romantic. they say that if you're with someone you like, true love will blossom between you two." seokmin ducks down his head, hiding his face from joshua's view. "either that or you get to spend your lives with each other for a long time, presumably forever."
"oh." joshua ears turn hot. "that is romantic. uhm well, have you ever spent the first snow with someone you like?"
seokmin looks at joshua quietly, eyes mapping out every inch of joshua's face. "well, i guess you could say that now."
oh.
"what about you, hyung?"
there was a short silence as they just stared at each other, joshua's cheeks tinged pink at seokmin's sudden confession.
"oh, wait." the younger snorts, suddenly realizing the stupidity of his question. "this is your first snow–"
"yes." joshua replies quickly, cutting off seokmin before he could finish his sentence. seokmin looks up at joshua in surprise, starting to blush as well and bites down on his lip to keep himself from full-on grinning.
"so, i guess we'll be spending our lives together for a long time, huh hyung? is that okay with you?" seokmin asks half-jokingly, trying to will away his blush. that doesn't work since joshua pulls seokmin closer to him and kisses him on the cheek.
"more than okay."
joshua grins happily, moving his hand down to hold seokmin's. by then, seokmin's cheeks was very red, unable to keep himself from smiling anymore. "so, uh..." he starts to speak again, but was distracted by joshua blowing on him gently and giggling afterwards.
yeah, joshua thinks, looking at seokmin blushing beside him, snow scattered on his hair and cheeks, looking like the most beautiful sight joshua has ever seen. i want to spend all my snowfalls with you.
"you had a snowflake on your nose, min."