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“There’s one more place I want to visit,” he said.
“I’m in. You name it and I’m there.”
“Anywhere?”
“Yep.”
“If I said I wanted to fly to the moon.”
“I’d say, we’re already halfway there.”
“Well, lucky for you, my destination is a lot closer.”
):):):)
Pat sat on the creaky swing, his long legs stretched in front of him; his shoes toed the ground.
"Everything looks–"
"Smaller." Pran finished for him.
"Yeah."
"Or we got bigger."
"That too."
"Over there is where I scraped my elbow and got this scar," Pat said, pointing to the scar on his arm.
"I remember."
"You do not."
"You were on the monkey bars, showing off as usual–" Pran waited for Pat to interrupt with his denial, but it didn't come.
Instead, Pat shrugged and said, "Fair. I probably was. For you."
Pran rolled his eyes.
Pat laughed and said, "You were always swinging, but I never understood why you faced the opposite direction from everyone else."
To demonstrate, Pat turned around in his swing and faced out to the playground rather than towards the school. Facing the school would have given the swinger more room to reach maximum altitude. Every kid knew this.
Pran chuckled, "You never figured it out? I thought I was pretty obvious."
"Obvious? How?"
Rather than answer him, Pran stood and walked over to another part of the playground and started swinging from the monkey bars. He bent his long legs and swung, skipping every other bar. From where he sat, Pat had the perfect vantage point.
Oh. Oh.
Reaching the end, Pran swung backward to where he started. Pat got up to meet him. Pran's back was facing Pat, so he felt his arms around his waist before he heard him.
"I was an idiot." He whispered into the side of Pran's neck.
Pran released a sharp exhale at the tickle of Pat's breath and said, "so was I."
"I was the bigger idiot."
"It wasn't a contest."
"Well, if it was, then I won."
Pran spun around, still hanging from the monkey bars, and caught Pat's waist between his thighs. He crossed his ankles behind Pat and locked him in place.
"I'd say we both won."
Pat smirked. "We both certainly did last night."
"Annnnd you ruined it. "
Pran moved to let go of Pat's waist, but Pat stopped him by wrapping his arms around Pran's lower half, bearing his weight.
Like this, Pat had a few inches on him and peered at Pran's face. The desire in his eyes still startled Pran, even after all this time. It was a mirror reflection of how Pran felt. He tilted his face up and Pat met him halfway. Pat smiled into the kiss, his teeth nipping playfully on Pran's bottom lip.
Pat walked back to the swings with his arms still full of Pran. Setting him down, Pat stood behind him and gave him a push. Pran let out a full-bodied laugh, the sound warmed Pat's chest. The difference between hearing Pran's laughter in person instead of through a phone was beyond comparison. Pat wanted to swallow this sound, to have it sink deep into the marrow of his bones.
"I've always wanted to do this," Pat confessed.
"What? Sneak into our old playground after hours?"
"No," he chuckled, "Pushing you on the swing. I never got to do this."
Pat again surprised him.
Swinging higher, Pran could make out the roofs of the nearby houses through the trees. The weightlessness of his feet beneath him propelled Pran higher. He thought of the bet they made years ago and laughed. True to his word, Pat had indeed swept him off his feet.
Then he thought of Pat's confession and considered what else they never got to do. Something as simple as pushing each other on the swings, how could anyone deny them this? He slowed to a stop and stared off into the distance. The weightlessness from moments earlier disappeared. In its place was profound sadness for a younger Pat and Pran. All the moments from their adolescence stolen and gone.
Noting Pran's shift in mood, Pat nudged Pran's foot, "a baht for your thoughts?"
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. Tell me."
"It's nothing, really."
"Tell meeeeee or I vill not stahp talkin' like dis."
Pran rolled his eyes.
"I was thinking of all that we've missed out on."
Pat studied him. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not talking about the past year; I’m talking about Me. You. Us. Growing up. What it could have been like if–"
Pat knelt down and faced him. He wrapped his hands gently over Pran's on the chain-linked swing, intertwining their fingers.
"Babe, we didn't miss out on anything."
"Uh, yeah we did. I was there. You're misremembering things."
"Okay, but you forgot I was there, too. I never had to look because I already knew. You were always right here. Next to me. Through all of it. Racing home after school. The class projects. All the sports games that I let you win–"
Pran scoffed and Pat laughed. He grazed his thumb across Pran's cheek. "It was always you and me."
Pran opened his mouth to speak, but Pat's fingers on his lips stopped him.
"But more importantly, what's the first sixteen years of our lives compared to the next sixty or seventy?" Pat asked. His eyes never left Pran's.
Pran stared at Pat and swallowed the words stuck in his throat. He determined then that Pat would never cease to surprise him.
He cleared his throat. "Who said I'd let you stick around for seventy years? Maybe I'll get bored and trade you in for a younger model."
"Ha, as if you would."
"You seem confident." Pran's eyes narrowed.
"Of course," Pat said.
"Should I even ask?"
Pat smirked and moved in closer.
"A younger model wouldn't–" Pat leaned in to whisper a string of obscenity in Pran's ear. Before he pulled away, he darted his wet tongue around the curve of Pran's earlobe like he did last night knowing that it made Pran shiver.
"Ai'Pat! You asshole!" A tomato-red Pran yelled, hand cupped around his burning ear.
Pat gleefully ran off as Pran chased after him, around the swing set, past the monkey bars, across the football field—all over the playground of their youth.
):):):):)
Updated on Feb 14, 2023: I asked hereforlou for artwork based on this tiny fic and they delivered. Look at how adorable these two are! Please check out their other masterpieces on tumblr!