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“Yeah, sure, this is a great plan, Jisung,” he muttered to himself sarcastically, forehead pressed against one of many stone pillars that sectioned off this massive metal fence. “Nothing will go wrong, how could anything go wrong? You totally haven’t been sticking to the inside of your hoodie pocket intermittently all day.”
This really was probably in the top five of worst ideas he’s ever had. Maybe top three. He considered making brownies with sprite pretty bad, honestly. It really sounded like a legit idea when you consider you can make cake with coke, not that he had ever made that successfully either.
He tried again to remove his right hand, which was awkwardly stretched far above his head, from the pillar with a strong tug. Nope, still firmly attached. He mentally crossed off ‘distracting himself with unrelated thoughts’ from the list of ideas on how to unstick. Why did this wall have to be so tall? Couldn’t it have been at least a little shorter, so he could just jump up and reach the top without relying on scaling the flat smooth surface with his finicky stickiness?
Lifting his head, he sighed deeply. He’d already smiled nervously and acted casual at a handful of passerbyers with their dogs, leaning against this like some kind of tall, suspicious garden gnome. At least the houses were far apart from each other. He was glad for once that he didn’t have any money to live in the rich part of town. He’d never be able to look any of his neighbours in the eye ever again. This way, he would stay as the giant lawn ornament, fading into the background of their memories, and no one would remember him.
Wait. Wait, hold on. Wasn’t Renjun friends with Chenle? How close were they, Jisung couldn’t remember.
He looked around cautiously as if just thinking of him would cause Renjun to appear. Speak of the devil and all. Or, angel in this case? Oh my god, Jisung, focus please.
He hauled himself up onto the wall without pause, and his hand peeled away cleanly. So, he thought to himself as he perched on the balls of his feet and tugged his thick winter glove back on, thinking about his cr— uhh, thinking about... Renjun... works somewhat, which was not practical at all, but he’ll take what he can get.
The first thought he had as soon as he dropped down onto the lawn: are guard dogs a real thing or just a rich people stereotype from media? He really wished his brain would bring these things up beforehand. Fortunately, this time, no rabid and vicious dogs came to rip him apart, and he would not go looking for them, thank you very much.
Safely at the side of the house, he stared at the large windows, pondering the chances of one of them being open, when he felt something, like a scratch to the back of his head and a tug of dread in his stomach.
He dove to the side, narrowly missing a heavy flower pot shattering on the ground where he’d been standing.
“What the f—” Jisung squinted up, then ducked back down realizing his mistake, tugging his hood back over his orange hair in vain.
“Ooh, nice dodge.” Chenle, all smiles, leaned out from the second storey window with a cellphone in his hand. “But, I still saw you~ also we have cameras, you’re a pretty bad robber.”
“I’m not robbing!”
“Uh huh, why are you skulking around and breaking into my house then?” Chenle leisurely punched 911 into his phone. “It’s Jisung, right? The kid that fell into the lake a few days ago?”
Jisung put his hands together in front of his face, begging. “Chenle, hear me out. You saw me on the cameras, right? Normal people can’t climb those walls.”
Chenle paused, finger hovering over the call button. Yes! Please be curious! Jisung had no other angle to sell.
“How is this relevant? What did you need if you weren’t planning on stealing?”
“Oh, see, I wanted to use your swimming pool...”
**
“Um,” Jisung glanced up at Chenle sitting cross legged diagonally across from him, eyes shining, “are you really going to watch?”
“This is my house,” he answered simply.
“... Okay.” He kind of really did not want Chenle to change his mind and call the police for the attempted breaking and entering earlier after all, so he figured this was a pretty good trade off. He had no idea Chenle would be so easy going about this, but he was glad that the only person he knew who had a private indoor pool was.
This should be fine, nothing to worry about! Unlike scaling walls, this happened automatically... at least based off the, uh, three or so times he had sort of done it before.
Suddenly, he was a lot more nervous.
Before he could change his mind and lose this chance, he placed his forearms against the pool’s surface, and it dipped where he slowly applied more pressure. The water cooled his skin, but it was like he felt it through a plastic bag. It didn’t stick to him, nor did he break through the surface like he usually would have a week ago. So far, so good. The tension in the water trembled as he leaned forward on his elbows, so he gave up on that, gliding forwards flat on his belly, a metre or two from the edge with all limbs splayed instead. The water soaked into his shirt and shorts, yet he did not feel wet.
Okay, I’m a starfish. Now what?
There was a loud gasp, and Jisung turned his head to see Chenle gaping at him.
“No waaay,” he pointed at Jisung. “This shouldn’t be possible.”
“I know.” He was surprised too, honestly.
“You’re not doing illusions or magic, are you? Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Chenle tapped the water with one hand as if to check Jisung hadn’t mixed an absurd amount of gelatin into his pool or something. His hand splashed into it like it normally would, leaving ripples that Jisung could feel vibrate through every inch of his body. He shivered involuntarily.
“S-stop that, it feels weird.”
“What feels weird?”
“The splashing!”
“Dude, how? You’re so far away and I’m barely touching the water.”
“I don’t know, just stop.” Jisung tried to sway his arms to get closer and stop him himself, but he didn’t get very far; it was just slippery and hard to get purchase to propel himself forward. When he got his legs involved, Chenle started laughing.
“Are you a frog?”
“Shut up.” He ceased his flailing with a sigh. “...I’m stuck.”
Chenle was positively cackling now. “Why don’t you stand up or crawl?”
“I can’t!” Every time he tried to put his weight on smaller points to push himself up, the water’s surface would shake violently, threatening to break. “Please just help me?”
Through his snickers, Chenle finally reached to the side and threw him a life saver. Again, Jisung felt the impact of it against the water in his bones.
“Grab on.” Chenle waved the end of the rope he held on to. “I’ll reel you in.”
Was that a fish joke? Jisung frowned thoughtfully, wrapping his fingers around one of the handles jutting out from the ring.
“How tall are you?” Chenle asked as he pulled in Jisung who glided along smoothly.
“ 173 cm?”
“I think this is a new record.” It was definitely a fish joke.
“I’m not a fish!” Jisung reached the edge of the pool and slid his upper body onto land like a penguin. His hands didn’t leave any wet prints against the floor.
“What are you then?” Chenle drummed his fingers on the abandoned life ring, floating in the water. It vibrated Jisung’s legs, but he gritted his teeth and completely left the water.
“A spider.” He wrung the water out of the front of his shirt, standing now. He was drier than not, actually, but he felt compelled. “A spider bit me. At the lake I fell into.”
“You know, I did think you looked kind of dry in the news photos, thought I was just seeing things.” Chenle placed his hands on Jisung’s shoulders. “Why were there spiders at a lake in the winter?”
“Hell if I know... uh, what are you doing?” He nervously held onto Chenle’s wrists.
“Nothing,” Chenle answered with wide eyes that filled the younger with profound distrust. He stepped forward, and Jisung stepped back to compensate, foot meeting water again. “I just want to see you walk on water.”
There was a drawn out second where time seemed to still, and Jisung’s chest squeezed with panic as he stared into Chenle’s sparkling eyes. It felt like he was stepping on a balloon, stretching the rubber thin. God, he seriously hated balloons. He already said he can’t! What the hell, Chenle!
Then, the surface broke from the pressure, and Jisung inadvertently clung to Chenle as he fell, sending them both tumbling into the pool.
He doesn’t remember his ‘mad scramble’ (as Chenle told him later) to get to the ledge, but he did remember clinging to it for a good five seconds in terror before realizing his feet touch the bottom. He also noticed his eyes didn’t sting from the chlorine like it used to, and he made a mental note to make a bet with Jeno or maybe even Chenle now for food over a staring contest.
“Can you not swim?” Chenle floated on his back, relaxed and half submerged into the surface of the water like a normal person, not like Jisung.
“... Maybe.”
Chenle laughed again, and Jisung couldn’t decide if he liked the sound of it or not. Maybe when he wasn’t being made fun of. He got out of the pool quickly out of embarrassment. Water sluiced off of him, trickling into rivulets that ran quickly down his arms and legs until disappearing completely, leaving only his clothes and hair wet.
“Wow, water just runs right off of you, huh? You’re like a duck!”
“Spider,” Jisung insisted. “I didn’t get bitten by a radioactive duck.”
Chenle hummed, then turned over and swam to the edge, placing his elbows over it to cushion his head. Similarly to how he felt with his laugh, Jisung wasn’t sure if he liked Chenle’s shining eyes.
“Hey, let me in on all this power stuff. I’ll teach you how to swim... I’ll even make a suit for you.”
Jisung squeezed water out of his bangs thoughtfully. It wasn’t a bad idea to have one confidant. Plus, Chenle already knew part of the story. “A swimsuit?”
“No— what?” Chenle snorted like that was more ridiculous than Jisung suddenly developing hydrophobic skin. “A super suit.”