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"Wonwoo," Junhui says, staring up at the pink and orange Tuscan sky. "The pool is really nice."
Seungkwan is jogging lapses around them. Wonwoo can see him glancing at Junhui one corner of his lips up. He thinks he spots a small headshake. And Wonwoo doesn't move, doesn't say anything.
"Mhm,” he lets out eventually, unable to let Junhui go unnoticed. He adjusts himself on the terrace chair welcoming the first cool breeze after the usual scorching day.
He knows the teasing will come anyway. If not for this, for something else. After all, they all have first-row seats to their very own version of Cats. But he still doesn't want to give them this one. Especially, when he can tell that Seungkwan is long done with the roughly half an hour he usually takes for a run. He's just there because they are.
But moving in circles is more tiring than sitting down and so it doesn't take much longer until he gives up and disappears inside.
And Wonwoo doesn't waste a minute. "I'm gonna jump in the pool," he says, standing up and looking back at Junhui. "What about you?"
Junhui's eyes widen like the open ends of two tea cups just to be squeezed smaller as his boxy smile spreads his mouth so wide Wonwoo could count all of his teeth if he wanted. He watches it unfold like in slow motion. He's become an expert at stretching time solely for the pastime of perceiving Junhui.
The first plunge is certainly refreshing but Wonwoo would lie if he said he liked it. Not the sea, not a lake, not a river. There's some fun to be had in the water. He knows. But he'd never initiate it. He only goes when they all go.
But this is a pool. And it's Junhui. A once-in-a-lifetime experience he's not in the habit of denying himself.
So, Wonwoo lets himself be carried on a pizza slice-shaped float in almost perfect silence were it not for the ever-present crickets and the occasional whooshing sound Junhui's feet make on the water as they dangle off the flamingo.
Junhui is on his back. He's so bent Wonwoo knows it would be uncomfortable for anyone else but Junhui has always been a sucker for a weird pose. There is a smile on his face and the last bits of sunset reflect off every droplet on his skin. The physical manifestation of peace.
And Wonwoo knows he grins. He can feel the muscles in his cheeks ache so he straightens it out. Mingyu would often point this look out to him. He calls it Wonwoo's ‘fool smile'. Whatever that's supposed to mean.
He knows he would be teased for that too. But who cares? They're not here right now.
Only Wonwoo, an angel on a pink float and the crescendo in his heart.
Maybe it's not easy living in these moments of bliss with Junhui. Moments removed from space and time. Moments stolen. Moments created out of words unspoken.
Their life is like a galloping piano leading into a string orchestra. Their love is like the shortest violin highlight.
But he'll play this song for as long as he can. Because he chose him for life. And he can wait.
He can wait.
He can wait.