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"Careful, June…"
"Woah…!"
"Don't joke around!"
"Hehe. Were you worried~?"
Henri let out a soft sigh, holding onto the other's hand as he helped him over the windowsill and out onto the ledge outside.
"Of course. You're nowhere near coordinated enough to be doing this. The only reason I'm letting you is because I'm here to make sure you don't fall." Henri nagged the other while keeping a close eye on him.
June slowly took a seat beside him before gazing out at the view.
"Wow…" the blond exclaimed, seeming to completely ignore Henri's comment on his coordination.
"We aren't even up on the roof."
June gave his friend a small nudge before looking out at the view. "I know that. It isn't much different from being inside. But still, it feels exciting to be out here in the fresh air like this…I've never done anything like it before."
Henri smiled faintly, feeling at ease to see June's smile. "Welcome to the world of a rebel. It's a shame that that adorably innocent side of yours is being tainted as we speak…"
"I'm not as innocent as you think, you know!" June retorted, eliciting a soft laugh from Henri.
"Sure," the dark-haired male replied with a touch of amusement to his tone.
"So, have you really been doing this since you were a kid?" June asked, prompting Henri to look over at the other.
"You think I was lying about that?"
"Wouldn't be the first time."
"Haha. Touché."
Henri leaned back slightly, his navy blues hues gazing up at the full moon. He hadn't told June too much about his 'roofing habit' the first time he asked - only that it was something he had done when he felt suffocated. At the time, June had focused more on the fact he had been a rebel than the reasoning behind why he did it in the first place.
Now, Henri faced an internal dilemma over whether or not he should open himself up to June in that way. It was incredibly rare for him to open up to anyone, in general. June, however, felt like someone he could afford to be more vulnerable than usual around. And so…
"...I was around 9 years old when I first started going up on the roof."
"That young? On your own?" June exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise. "And you're making a fuss over me being out here??"
Henri smiled faintly. "It felt a lot safer than being inside at the time."
The gravity of that comment made a slightly uncomfortable silence fill the air. Henri fought the urge to glance over to see June's expression, wondering if he should have shared a more fabricated and much less depressing response.
"...Your mom does seem like a lot…" the blond eventually replied. "I mean, I get it." He added after a momentary pause.
At that, Henri brought his navy blue gaze onto the other. June was looking at him with sympathy in his eyes.
"It's no surprise they're friends, right?" Henri replied as he brought a hand up to adjust his glasses. "...If they can even be called that."
"Haha, yeah. I wouldn't compare their level of friendship to ours," June replied with a small smile before looking out at the cherry fields at the center. "Even if it started out like that."
"Like what?" Henri questioned, keeping his gaze on the other.
"Fake."
It was true, as much as that comment pierced him. Henri's initial interactions with June were fake, considering he was lying about being a patient at the center. But still, there was a nugget of truth to each interaction he shared with the other. Not that June seemed to pick up on that.
"Haha. Yeah,” Henri replied. Even if he had slowly opened up a bit more to June, there was only so far he could go without crossing the line.
"I like you a lot more now."
June's sudden words caught Henri off guard, his heart skipping a beat in his chest by the way he could hear the other’s smile in his tone.
"Oh, yeah?" Henri questioned, sitting up a little so he could get a better view of his friend's expression. "How much more?"
He couldn't help replying in such a way. It was in his nature to tease June, even if it was technically just as much of a tease for himself.
The blond looked over at his friend, his sage green hues looking him up and down for a moment as if forming a rating for him then and there. That action alone made Henri feel tingly - more than he ever had for any of the people who had shown interest in him in the past.
"Mmm...40."
A laugh escaped Henri.
"40? What is this, a tennis match?" He questioned, finding the response ridiculous.
June smirked before shaking his head. "No. You used to play tennis with Jumin though, didn't you? I saw a picture from your school days, once."
Hearing the other bring up his past like that was a bit surprising. He held back a sigh at the mention of Jumin Han, though. What a way to ruin an otherwise perfectly nice moment.
"We were on the same team, yes," Henri replied. "That's all."
"Who was better at it? You or Jumin?" June asked, either not picking up on Henri's mood shift or simply not willing to move on from the subject so easily.
"We both had different strategies. I'd rather not talk about the past, though."
"Why not? You had a way better time in school than I did," June replied as he looked up at the moon. "I couldn't join any sports teams. Or any after-school clubs, really."
Henri felt bad for June in that regard. "Well, we'll just have to play tennis together sometime, then."
"Really??" June's excitement about that suggestion was clear as day. "Hey, we should invite Jumin, too!"
Henri felt his eyebrow twitch.
"...He hardly has time for anything like that nowadays - and even then, it's usually golf to network with some new connection for work," Henri replied since that is what he heard from his father. However, the disappointment that flashed across June's face made him quickly alter that statement. "...But we can always ask. Though it would be more fun for me to give you a lesson or two first."
June raised an eyebrow at that. "You want to teach me how to play?"
"Why not?" Henri replied, a mischievous smirk appearing on his face. "That way, Jumin and that photographer friend of his won't see what's coming when we kick their butts in doubles."
"Doubles?"
"...You really are starting from square one, huh?"
"I didn't even get your reference about the points…"
Henri chuckled at the other's honesty. "For starters, players need to get four points in order to win. The points start with love, otherwise known as zero. The first point after that is 15, the second is 30, and the third is 40. The fourth point calls the game. Are you following?"
"...You lost me at calling zero 'love' - is that a real thing?" June questioned, tilting his head slightly in disbelief.
At times, Henri couldn't tell if June was being serious or not. Though, with how sheltered the other's upbringing was, it was possible he had never learned the rules of tennis.
"Yes, it's real. But I won't go into it right now. I'll arrange to change your exercise schedule so we can get some time out on the courts together. How does that sound?"
The grin that lit up June's face was enough of an answer. "I can't wait! Can we go tomorrow?"
"We'll see how your numbers look in the morning. Which means you should get to bed. Come on, I'll help you back inside…" Henri said, shifting to move back in through the window so he could offer assistance to the other.
June was too excited about the prospect of playing tennis to complain about having to go back in, accepting Henri's help as he moved through the open window. The dark-haired male guided him down from the windowsill before closing and securing the window once he was safely back inside.
"Now make sure you get plenty of rest. I'll stop by in the morning to take your vitals," Henri said, making sure the other was settled in bed.
June nodded. "I will. Make sure you bring all of your tennis stuff. Will you have enough for both of us?" He questioned, already planning ahead to make sure nothing went wrong. It was clear this was going to be the only thing on June's mind for the night.
"Yes, don't worry. Just get some sleep," The doctor said as he walked over to the door. Before leaving, he looked over to see the other checking his phone. He wondered for a brief moment if he was talking to that lover of his, but brushed it off with a smile. "Good night, June."
The blond glanced up from his phone. "Night. Thanks for staying late to do this," June replied with a smile of his own. "And for tomorrow, too! You better not forget!"
"Haha, we'll see."
"Hey-! No joking around!"
Henri left his friend's room with a chuckle and a warm smile on his face. Seeing June so excited to spend time with him felt good, even if he knew there was nothing special about it. At the end of the day, June had someone else in his life - but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the apparent excitement from the other or the way it made him feel.
Just like how the roof became a spot for him to escape to when things got too overwhelming in his life, Henri had come to realize that June had a similar effect on him.
No matter where he was, as long as June was by his side it felt like he was in a safe space.
He hoped June's health would be stable enough in the morning to go through with this tennis lesson.
He also hoped he would be able to sleep with all of the potential scenarios he had going through his head at the thought.
Either way, Henri was determined to make June smile…and if that also led to beating Jumin Han at a tennis match or two, it would be a win/win situation in his book.