Chapter Text
The morning forecast said the weather looked so dreary that the sun probably fell from the sky.
It was the perfect day to go out. Minho had a favorite campsite just a few miles from the bustling of the city and deep into the mountainside. Changbin had always made it a point to share how stupid it is that Minho only goes camping when the clouds shut out any form of sunlight.
“Hyung, no normal person would go and set up a tent outside with shit weather!” Changbin swatted his hand to defend himself from Minho’s wrath that took the form of a throw pillow midair.
“Is the mud and guck seriously worth it? I can’t imagine willingly putting myself through that.” Changbin visibly shuddered at the thought, Minho scoffed.
“Stop shitting on my hobbies just because you don’t want to get your oh so soft and delicate skin dirty.” He leaned across the coffee table to get another slice of pizza. He folds the slice in half and takes a hearty bite of what now looks more like a sandwich than a known Italian delicacy.
”Plus,” He said with a mouthful of pizza, “My name and the word normal should never coincide.”
That was merely a fact. Minho has never been normal because he never tried to nor does he intend to in the future. Normal just isn’t him.
His parents said that immediately after he was born, right out of the womb, he had said his first word, which was “dumb” in Korean. No one knew how but his parents recalled how clear he had enunciated the word despite being only a minute old.
When he was three he brought home a feral cat. It wasn’t even a kitten that he could carry in his tiny toddler hands, it was a fully grown adult cat that probably weighed double his weight.
The cat died when he was five, he felt it was appropriate to hold a funeral outside of their house. He printed a picture of the cat, made it a coffin out of an old box, and made his parents participate in the eulogy. Which he then required that he had to proofread before the actual program to make sure it was no less than two paragraphs each.
The weather was gloomy then too, like the sky was taking part in the odd festivity.
Maybe that was why he always had an affinity for the cold gray weather.
Minho turns the TV off, gets up from the sofa and goes to his room to pick up his already packed bag and a few of his supplies and leaves his apartment. After a few flights of stairs, he is met by a cold brush of air as he exits the building. He breathes it in before walking to the parking lot. The cooler was already in the trunk from his previous trip, along with the few water bottles he packed, and the tent he always used. He spent almost 150 dollars on it, he’d be damned if he didn’t get his money’s worth.
He looked at the sky right before he got in his car, staring at the silver coated heavens. He let out a contented hum before getting in his midsize sedan. It was truly a perfect day to go out.
The drive lasted about two hours before he arrived at the entrance of the campsite. By then it was probably around 10 AM, which puts him right on time. He proceeded to mindlessly follow his routine.
He parked where he usually does, the rangers around the area already knew him so they didn’t bother to try telling him what to do. Which was another thing he liked about this place. He was able to just enjoy his peace.
He loved being with his friends, but more often than not he uses most of his energy to keep up with them. Being a dance coach part-time while managing a convenience store didn’t allow for much solitude either since he usually had to work with all kinds of people. But here, he could just sit in silence for hours and listen to the sound of nature and rain around him.
Soon enough, he was at his usual spot not too far into the forest but enough to silence the loud echo of city life. He set up his tent, fixed his things for the day and started on preparing and grilling his lunch.
It was past 1 PM when he decided to take a hike around the area with a few cat treats. This was also one of the many reasons he liked this specific spot in the campsite. He usually found himself with feline company whenever he was here, so he made sure to take a few of Soonie and Doongie’s treats with him to share with the strays.
He took his padded jacket and journeyed into the deeper part of the woods, where he knew the cats would probably be.
He walked around for a while before he found one of the three black cats he had befriended from his many trips here.
“Hi.” His voice raised just above a whisper, he crouched down to offer the cat the treat. The soft meow the kitty gave him in return melted his defenses, a small smile brightening his features.
The cat snuggled into his palm after devouring the cat treat stick, “Where are your friends, hm?” Minho hummed in return to the gentle purring. He then felt a particularly hard nibble on his thumb which made him pull his hand away.
“Ow, that was mean.” He hissed as he looked at the damaged skin. “What’s your deal?”
The cat only vocalized his distress even more, running in circles amidst the constant meowing. It then decided to run into a bush and then dash further into the forest.
He didn’t know what came over him, but he decided to follow the black feline deeper into the woods. He probably shouldn’t since it was well into the afternoon and because the sky was still gray it started to get darker out. Nevertheless, he had been there enough times to be sure to know his way back to where his tent was set up.
He could still hear the loud calling of the cat as he wandered through the tall trees. The ground was a bit damp which made his shoes a bit muddy but he didn’t really mind. If Changbin were here though he’d probably go insane. He giggles to himself at the thought.
He nearly tripped over the cat after failing to notice that it stopped just before a spot in the forest that he had never seen before.
The trees around the circular patch of tall grass seemed to stop too. “That’s weird.” He looked back at the cat with questioning eyes. “Where’d you take me?”
The cat meows one more time before walking to the middle of the grass.
“Wait!” He rushes to follow it into the humid part of the forest. Odd. He heard the cat meow again somewhere in the grass. He moved the grass away to look for it. For a remote part of the forest, it was odd that there was such a tall patch of grass there. The fact that the trees perfectly formed a circle around it was also odd.
Everything about this spot was so oddly placed.
Since the growth was knee high, it took him a while to find the cat. When he did find it, he was surprised to see that the cat wasn’t the only thing hiding in the grass.
“Oh.” The black kitten was snuggled up to a person. This person also happened to be naked. Okay, now this was just plain weird.
“You’re not a cat?” He tilted his head at the sleeping figure. It was a guy, he had bright blonde hair and tanned skin. Minho tried not to stare but he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of the naked stranger. He was curled into a ball, much like the cat that was snuggled into his side. He was covered enough that Minho didn’t see anything besides his back and his folded limbs.
Minho noticed the way the person’s form shook from the breeze that swept by, sighing before taking his jacket off. He covered the stranger with it and carried him into his arms. All the hours he spent at the gym with Chan and Changbin proved to be of use as he didn’t have much trouble carrying the stranger back to his tent.
He gently tucked the stranger into his inflatable bed, wrapping a blanket around his petite form. He then looked for spare clothes that he could lend, placing the white shirt and jeans on the foot of the bed before getting dinner ready. Whoever this was was probably hungry after sleeping through the whole day naked in the middle of the forest.
He decided to call Changbin while he was finishing up the ramen he made. It was 8 PM and it started to get colder, he started missing both his padded jacket that he wrapped around the mystery idiot and his heater at home. He shivered as another cold breeze brushed by.
“What kind of idiot would wander into the middle of the forest naked?!” He pulls the phone away from his ear as Changbin shouts his concern. “I don’t know, maybe he was shitfaced.” He could hear Changbin hum in thought. “Oh, true. Still a pretty dumb move though.”
“Don’t be so mean to the guy, he looked like he was damn near death out there.”
“Ohhh, what is this tone I’m hearing from you, Lee Minho?” Changbin’s voice turned high and Minho could practically hear the way his eyebrows wiggled. He rolled his eyes at Changbin’s childishness.
“Stop being stupid, you’re not hearing anything in my tone.” He deflected.
He was curious about the stranger in his bed, but that’s as far as his thoughts went. It’s not everyday that you see a guy butt naked in an oddly misplaced circular patch of oddly tall grass in the middle of the forest.
“Sure, Hyung.” He scoffed at Changbin’s insistence. “Is he cute though?”
“What?”
“I mean, you’ve seen the guy naked. Is he hot?”
“Are you seriously asking me if I find a guy I found in the woods, who could probably be some homeless junkie, hot?”
“Yup.”
“No. I didn’t notice.”
“You’re crazy. There’s no way you didn’t stare at him at least a bit!”
“I didn’t!” He lied.
“Sure, Hyung!”
“I think he’s an idiot, if anything.”
He hears rustling behind him, making him snap his head around. Sure enough, the earlier naked stranger was now fully clothed and standing right there. “Oh.”
“Hyung? Minho? What is it? Is the homeless junkie awake?!”
Minho winced when he realized Changbin was still on speaker. “Minho, what’s going on—”
He hangs up before Changbin could say something stupid again.
He watched as the stranger tipped from heel to toe from where he was standing, noticing how big Minho’s clothes looked on his petite frame. He tries to give the latter an apologetic smile.
“Sorry about him. Are you hungry? Do you want something to drink?”
The man, which now looked visibly younger than Minho, scanned his face for something. He turned away, starting to feel a little self conscious. Which was weird since he often prided himself in not being bothered by judging stares, plus the fact that he wasn’t the one naked in a patch of grass in the forest a few hours ago.
“Water.” He heard the stranger say. Minho turned to face him again, startled by the warm voice of the blonde man. It was odd. His voice felt like honey on his skin in the middle of a summer day. He liked it? That was definitely odd.
He nodded his head, pulling the cooler aside from where he was sitting on a bench in front of the small campfire he had set up to get a bottle of water and the metal cup he used. Minho lets the chill of the freshly poured ice cold water relax the tension that was heating the tips of his fingers.
“Here.” With an extended hand, he offers the blonde the water.
He sits next to Minho, right next to him. There was little to no space between them, Minho’s body heats up even more. This was not how he planned his night of solitude to go.
The stranger took the cup with both hands, cradling it closely to his chest. Minho watched him swirl the water around in the cup while staring at it like he had never seen anything as amazing. This person was odd.
If he had a dollar for every time he had used the word odd today, he’d be rich.
He coughed to break the silence between them. “Are you okay?” Minho only got a tilt of his head as an answer so he continued, “You were kinda laying naked deep into the woods a while ago, do you remember how you even got there?”
The stranger continued to stare at him without a single word. Minho couldn’t read him, couldn’t understand what was going on in his head. He often puts people under a microscope, easily studying their traits and behavior.
This one seemed like he was too big of a specimen for Minho to study under his ocular lens.
He still didn’t answer Minho.
“Fine.” He sighed, letting the stranger reel in the situation. Maybe he was still disoriented? Minho would be too if he was in this guy’s situation.
But what situation was he in? Did someone chase him into the woods while he was naked? Was he in some kind of trouble? Or did he voluntarily run into the forest with practically nothing to cover himself? He couldn’t help his mind from seeking every possible answer.
“Can you at least tell me your name?”
Minho looked at him one more time, finally letting his eyes wander around the stranger’s features.
He noticed how prominent the person’s cheeks were, they looked plump and red from the light of the campfire. He could also see a few moles scattered all over his face like constellations. There was one on his cheek, and Minho tried to restrain himself from poking it and seeing if the skin was as soft as it looked.
He looked away before his mind could conjure up even more images that could make him look like a madman.
“Idiot.” The stranger answered out of nowhere.
“Huh?” Minho turned to look at the man next to him. “What was that?”
“I’m Idiot?”
Minho fights the laughter bubbling near the surface. “Excuse me?”
“You said earlier I was Anne Idiot. I’m called Anne Idiot?”
He couldn’t hold in the hearty giggle that he bursted into at the stranger’s genuine confusion. Who was this guy?
“Are you laughing? What does it mean?”
“You have to be shitting me right now. You’re hilarious.” He allowed himself to let his chuckles die down before explaining himself. “Sorry about that, my friend was being stupid.”
He wiped the tears that gathered in the corners of his eyes. How shitfaced did this guy get?
“Stupid.” He repeated, removing his gaze from Minho to the cup in his hands.
“Yeah,” Minho laughed to himself, “Don’t tell him I said that though, he’ll kill me.”
The stranger nodded silently.
They sit in silence for the next few minutes, both of them watching the crackle of the fire. Minho can’t help but be enraptured by the wonder that seemed to fill the person next to him. He was like a baby deer, seeing the world for the first time.
“What do you want me to call you?”
“Anne.” The stranger answered confidently, not missing a beat. Minho shook his head with a light breath, the smile from earlier not leaving his lips.
“That name doesn’t really fit you, but if you say so.”
“What would you call me?”
Minho thought for a second, taken aback.
“Oh, I can’t really tell you what your name is.” He shrugged, taking the long rod he usually used for smores to move some of the charred pieces of wood around.
“But I want you to.”
Minho couldn’t help but look at the stranger again. It was like his eyes were permanently drawn to him. It was odd.
He hummed in thought once again, thinking of a name.
“Han.”
“Han?”
He nodded with a thin lipped smile. “Yeah.”
“What does it mean?” Han asked, swirling the water in the cup again. He wasn’t even looking at Minho but somehow he could feel his burning presence next to him which made Minho shy away.
“It’s a river where I’m from, one of the longest rivers there I think.”
“Oh.”
Han stayed quiet after that. Minho grew worried that maybe he offended him in some way. But soon it was like he could feel the way Han’s smile warmed next to him.
“I think I like rivers.”
Minho smiled, “I think I like rivers too.”