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The summer air is thick and blows warm on their skin despite the late hour.
Changmin is stumbling in small little steps as he walks, and his legs cross as tangle and his feet catch under the soft grass. He’s not nearly as drunk as he usually is, and Yunho counts it as a blessing. Changmin stops just before a small hill with an oak tree atop that’s shedding bark and dropping leaves and little red flowers where it hangs. Changmin drops onto his knees and runs his hands through the grass, flowers, and dirt, squishing them between his fingers. He looks like a child discovering something for the first time. Changmin drops his bottom onto his heels and start picking the longest of the grass blades and weaving them together in a small circlet.
Yunho ambles over to him, hands in pockets, and peers at the creation with interest. “What are you making?”
Changmin doesn’t answer, just pats the grass next to him exaggeratedly, and Yunho sits facing Changmin. He bends his legs in front of him and rests his hands on his knees.
Changmin picks up a flower and tears it with his teeth, spitting at the taste and rubbing his tongue over his teeth. “Blegh,” he complains, and Yunho chuckles.
He rolls the flower into a little strip and winds it around the top of the circlet, tying it loosely. He admires his work and turns to Yunho with a big, childish grin. “I made us couple rings.” His eyes shine as Yunho takes it from his grip and slips it onto his left ringer finger.
“You need a ring, too. It doesn’t count as a couple ring if only I’ve got one.”
Changmin smiles at the ground and picks at the grass. “You can buy me a real one. With a diamond.”
Yunho grins. “Greedy. It should come from the heart, no? Not the wallet.”
Changmin giggles, and it’s so sweet that Yunho has to lean forward and brush the hair behind his ear. “Thank you,” he says, and the words ring so pure through the muggy heat.
Yunho can smell the coming rain and feel the static electricity crackle through the air.
Changmin beams and catches Yunho’s hand, lacing their fingers loosely and holding the hand near his lips. He kisses Yunho’s knuckle, just above the grass ring. “I love you.”
“You’re so sappy when you’re drunk,” he giggles. “And I love you too.”
Changmin kisses his knuckle again and a flash of lightening sparks through the sky, blinding them momentarily. The roar of thunder comes a few seconds later, and Yunho can feel tiny droplets of rain pattering at his bare skin, so feather light it tickles. The rumbling rolls to a stop and Changmin looks at Yunho with earnest, wide eyes. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
The rain pours a little harder, and even the droplets are warm from the heat. The sky groans and cracks, flashing and pulsing with life that bubbles through the air.
Yunho bursts. “I’ll buy you that ring. I’ll even get you two diamonds if you want.”
“Three, and we’ve got a deal. And I want you to deliver it on a white horse with a bouquet of roses.”
Yunho bows with his hand covering his waist. “Yes, your majesty.”
Another splash of lightening whites out his vision, and Yunho frowns. “I hate to ruin the moment, but I don’t think siting under a tree is a good idea during a lightning storm.”
Changmin holds up his finger and waits for the next bolt, nodding his head in second intervals until the thunder sounds. “Six seconds. That means it’s six kilometres away. I read it in a book when I was a kid, so I think we’re fine—for now.”
He gets up and dusts the dirt off his knees and stumbles uphill towards the tree. Yunho springs up behind him and holds a hand near his waist, just in case the takes a tumble. Changmin somehow makes it up to the base of the oak tree unharmed. The bark is white, smooth, and soft, peeling in spots. Changmin runs his hand over it, then starts fiddling with his ear, pulling the back off a silver stud and dropping the earrings in his hand. He grips the jewel between his fingers and pokes the end into the tree, carving a line into the tree.
He takes his time, and white sap bleeds from the tree from the force he’s carving the letters in. He carves the date, and below it J.Y.H, Yunho’s initials. Changmin’s hands are sticky and he pinches his fingers together and apart, the sap stringing between his fingers.
He holds out the earring and says, “do mine.”
Yunho’s carving is far messier than Changmin’s, and he cuts an accidental line when he get startled but the lightening, but when he finishes Changmin doesn’t look anything less than happy.
“I haven’t done this since I was in high school,” Yunho muses.
“No, neither have I.” Changmin runs his fingers over the carving. “Forever is a long time,” he says, casting a look at Yunho, trying to gauge his expression.
Yunho merely smiles and says, “yes, it is.”
The rain falls heavy between them, and Yunho’s anything but cold as he pulls Changmin in for a long kiss.