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“Shit.”
Yangyang knew he should’ve reapplied sunscreen after swimming in the sea, but it slipped his mind as soon as he saw the volleyball. It’ll be fine , he told himself twenty minutes ago. Now, he is walking back towards the place they rented for the week-long getaway, skin turned red and intense pain waiting for him. The others offer to walk him back, but he tells them he’s fine. The house they got from AirBnB isn’t far off from the beach (as correctly advertised), so it won’t be a problem to him.
He hopes no one is around to see him suffer for the next few hours, but he forgot Jaemin only came out to the beach to take pictures then walked back because it was too hot outside for his liking. As soon as he enters, he finds Jaemin lying down on the couch, eyes glued to his phone in hand.
“You’re back? Where are the others?”
Yangyang is surprised that Jaemin noticed him - his attention seemed to be 100% on his phone, and he didn’t spare him a glance - but he replies that the others are still having fun outside. He hopes Jaemin doesn’t look at him - he doesn’t need his crush to see him like this - but alas, Jaemin puts his phone down on his chest and glances over at him. Shock spreads on his face at the sight of his friend, then concern. He stands up.
“Oh no, what happened?”
“I’m an idiot.”
“Need anything? Want me to dump ice in the bathtub? Though, I’m not sure if we have that much ice…”
“I think I just need to dip myself in cool water for now. Adding ice would be good though.”
“Then, I’ll go run to the nearest grocery and get a bag. Maybe they also have something good for sunburn.”
“Yes, please.” Yangyang expected that Jaemin would leave immediately, but the boy headed towards the bathroom first. He then hears the sound of water gushing out of a faucet. Oh, he readied the bathtub already. Jaemin comes back, then stares at Yangyang. “Yes…?”
“Do you want me to lift you up and bring you to the bathtub? Walking might be painful for you.”
Yangyang isn’t sure if he should thank his sunburnt skin for covering up the fact that his cheeks blushed over Jaemin’s offer. Walking isn’t that painful, and their friends will tease him nonstop if they ever find out, but fuck it. I’m taking this opportunity.
“...If it’s alright with you.”
Jaemin’s touch is so gentle that Yangyang swears it isn’t because he has a stupid crush on Jaemin that it felt like he was melting in his touch. Jaemin carefully carries him in his arms, mumbling an apology if it ever hurts him anywhere. Yangyang holds back the wince. He doesn’t want Jaemin feeling bad over something he couldn’t control.
The bathtub is nowhere filled when they get there, considering Jaemin just turned the faucet on a few seconds ago, so Jaemin places Yangyang carefully so landing on the cool surface wouldn’t hurt. Yangyang still winces though, but he immediately assures Jaemin it isn’t his fault.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Yangyang closes his eyes, thinking Jaemin left right after he said that, but he feels something cool on his cheek and it’s a glass of cold water. “Just place it somewhere safe after. I’ll be right back.”
Yangyang doesn’t have a phone with him or a clock to check nearby, but he’s sure Jaemin didn’t take more than ten minutes to get back. He seemed to be a little out of breath and Yangyang scolds himself for blushing at the thought of Jaemin rushing for him. Now is not the time, Liu Yangyang!
Jaemin rips the bag of ice open and puts an ice cube in the tub one by one. Yangyang looks at him curiously.
“Why don’t you just put them all at once?”
Yangyang doesn’t notice the faint blush on Jaemin’s cheeks.
“I don’t want the water to be too cold for you.”
God, if it ain’t him for me, can we PLEASE do something about it?
“O-Oh. Thanks.”
Yangyang feels the water getting cooler with more ice cubes being added and he feels some relief. He relaxes and closes his eyes. He hears Jaemin mumble something along the lines of “drinking water” and a minute later, he feels the same glass from earlier on his cheek. He drinks up and returns the glass to Jaemin.
“I’ll add more ice, then some menthol. The lady at the grocery said a little would be good. Later, let’s put some soothing gel on your skin. Also...” Jaemin pauses, contemplating over what he was going to say. He pours a little bit of peppermint oil into the cold water. “Call me if you need me.”
Yangyang nods, thanking him with a shy smile. He moves his arms around in the cold water to feel more relief. The additional ice and cooling effect of the mint did wonders. It still stings like hell and it still would later on, but it’s a lot better compared to earlier. Yangyang gently leans on the side to relax, noticing Jaemin decided to sit on the floor and lean his back on the tub.
“You don’t want to leave?”
Yangyang doesn’t see it, but Jaemin’s cheeks blush again.
“It’ll be easier for you if I just stay here. You wouldn’t mind, right?”
“No, no.”
They sat there in comfortable silence, Yangyang’s skin feeling better as time passed. Their peace gets disturbed when they hear the others coming back. He hears Hendery loudly asking where Yangyang is. He enters the bathroom and immediately grins at the sight. He gives a knowing look at Yangyang.
“I see you’re in good hands. Thanks for taking care of him, Nana.”
“It’s nothing.”
Yangyang doesn’t see the shy smile on Jaemin’s face, but Hendery does. Oh. I see. This is interesting.
“I’ll leave you two alone, I guess.”
Yangyang ignores the teasing tone in Hendery’s voice and simply focuses on relaxing in the cool water. Jaemin dumps more ice into the tub every now and then.
“Jaem?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna have a quick shower.”
“Oh, sure.” Jaemin gets up. “I’ll be in the living room.”
It’s still painful to move around, but way better than before. He takes longer in the shower than he expected as he cleaned himself up as carefully as he could to not bring any more pain. Drying up was even more difficult, but he managed to at least keep himself from dripping endlessly.
“Fuck. I don’t have any underwear with me…”
Yangyang wraps a towel around his hips before heading towards the bedroom he’s sharing with four other people. Only Xiaojun was there, lying down and fresh from the shower. He grabs some clothes and carefully wears them. Bending his limbs brings a lot of pain, but it’s not like he had any other choice. He leaves to go to the living room where Jaemin was lying down again, the bottle of soothing gel resting on his stomach. As soon as he sees Yangyang, he gets up, the bottle rolling down to his lap. He pats the space next to him and Yangyang sits there.
“Do your legs hurt as well?”
“Not as much as my arms and back, but yeah, they still do.”
Jaemin nods, opening the bottle of soothing gel.
“Take your shirt off. I’ll rub it on your back first.” A pause. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to be as careful as I can.”
Yangyang takes his shirt off with the help of Jaemin, who notices him wincing at every movement. Jaemin pours some gel on his hands and rubs them before lightly touching Yangyang’s back. Yangyang’s breath hitches at the cool feeling, his shoulders tensing up.
“Does it hurt?”
“No, no. Just surprised… It feels cold.”
“Ah, I placed it in the freezer earlier. Do you hate it?”
“No, it’s fine, Jaem. It feels nice. Thank you.”
“Okay…”
Yangyang feels Jaemin’s hands gently spread the gel on his back. He could feel his fingers circling over some areas, lightly massaging them. Jaemin later instructs him to face front so he could rub it on his left arm.
“Jaemin-ah, where’s my… Oh. Sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“Shut up.” Jaemin gives Jeno a look. “I placed it in the right side pocket.”
“Gotcha. Enjoy.”
Jeno left with a knowing grin.
“How did you know what he was looking for?”
“We have telepathy.” Jaemin chuckles at Yangyang’s amazed look. “I borrowed his earphones earlier. That’s most likely what he’s looking for, probably to listen to songs with Dejun again.”
Jaemin gets up to work on Yangyang’s other arm. He feels some relief on his back already. He was too focused on the cooling feeling that he didn’t notice Jaemin sitting down on the floor in front of him to rub on his legs too.
“Ah, I can do that on my own.”
Yangyang feels his cheeks burning up and Jaemin looks away, embarrassed for not asking Yangyang beforehand. Jaemin gets up to sit next to him again.
“Your face. Let me apply some on it too.”
If someone walks in on them, they’re about to see the most romantic moment ever to happen to Yangyang. Jaemin has one hand cupping Yangyang’s cheek while the other hand’s fingers gently glide the gel on his face. The entire time, Yangyang wasn’t sure where to look. He is quite thankful that he has an excuse to close his eyes when Jaemin was working on the areas near his eyes. When he opens his eyes, he finds Jaemin staring at him, one hand still holding his cheek.
“Your face is pretty. I hope sunburns don’t leave scars.”
Jaemin whispers, a sweet smile on his lips. Yangyang hopes the sunburn is still evident to cover his blushing cheeks. Jaemin applies another layer, eyes glancing at Yangyang’s pink lips every now and then. Yangyang wonders if Jaemin will lean forward to kiss them, but he doesn’t. He feels a little disappointed but doesn’t blame Jaemin. Maybe next time, when there’s no aloe vera on his face.
“Whew, I think it’s finally safe to enter the room.” Donghyuck lets out a dramatic sigh of relief. Jaemin whips his head towards his direction and gives him a look. Don’t say anything funny. Except, Donghyuck doesn’t have telepathy with Jaemin unlike Jeno. “Get a room, you two. This isn’t a place for you to flirt.”
“I’m just helping him.”
“Sure. You really had to be that close to his face. You really had to put on his face too.” He rolls his eyes, dramatically again. “Well, don’t worry. I’m sure Yangyang enjoyed it as much as you did, Nana.”
“I-”
“Okay, just here to get this actually.” Donghyuck grabs his wallet on the coffee table. “Have fun staring at each other’s lips. May you kiss them soon.”
Donghyuck puts his hands together and wears a pleading look on his face before running off to leave. Jaemin continues looking away from Yangyang, hiding his embarrassed smile.
“...Were you?”
“...I couldn’t help it.” Jaemin closes his eyes, unsure if he should return the question. He decides to go for it. “Were you?”
“I mean, who wouldn’t?” Yangyang lets out a chuckle, gently leaning his back on the couch. “This is not the way I envisioned my confession would be.”
“You… like me?”
“For a long time.”
“...I’ve liked you for a long time too.”
Their eyes finally meet again. Yangyang was glad to see that he and Jaemin are feeling the same way - for each other and right now. The two of them couldn’t hide the big (stupidly in love) smiles on their faces.
“Well,” Jaemin’s eyes glance at Yangyangs lips again. He wonders if Yangyang is thinking the same thing. He moves closer, leaving no gap on the couch. He cups Yangyang’s cheeks again. “...May I?”
“Please.”
Jaemin chuckles before pressing his lips softly on Yangyang’s. Finally , is all Jaemin could think of. He couldn’t help but smile. This is it. He is kissing his crush of two years, who apparently likes him back. He feels like he’s on cloud nine, or maybe even higher. He pulls away, worrying that any movement may hurt Yangyang.
“That was… nice.”
“It was.” Jaemin licks his lips. “Let’s do it again, next time. I could taste some aloe vera…”
“Oops.” Yangyang chuckles. “Sorry. Thank you for helping me, Jaem.”
“It’s all self-indulgent, really.”
“Still, thank you.” Yangyang leans over to kiss his cheek. He wears a grin after. “Just checking if you have aloe vera on your face too.”
Jaemin shakes his head, but smiles cheekily.
“Wanna check the other side?”