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It’s July, and winter comes in strong in Río Negro, Argentina. On the third day of their vacation, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo decide to rest from the hectic mountain climbing, skiing and trekking. Bariloche City welcomes them with cold arms, underpacked suitcases and undiscovered traditional stews. Tourist buses flood the streets with various logos, some with loud music and even louder teenagers, and others with puffy faced teenagers that just want to sleep before they go clubbing again. The melodies of the wind brushing through the tree branches make a beautiful song that could only be heard in the moment you stand there.
Unfamiliar faces smile at them, wishing them a good day, offering directions, or pointing at good places to visit. Yesterday they had gone to Cerro Bayo on an awfully freezing day after a two and a half hour ride to get out of the province and to Neuquén.
After remembering the discomfort of having to drive with sore feet, wet hair, hunger and sleepiness, a nice, calm evening seems like the best option for the couple.
“Hey,” Kyungsoo chirps, “mind if we eat something?”
With a soft chuckle, Chanyeol answers “I’ve been waiting for you to ask,”
And truth be told, he had been. Chanyeol spent the entire walk from the hotel (which was very conveniently placed in the city centre) to the shops looking at his boyfriend, who admired the homey atmosphere of the restaurants at his sides, that seemed to invite him in with mouth-watering aromas, smiling staff and gold colored letters. Even though Kyungsoo doesn’t realize in the moment, he observes and studies the scenery just a little too fixated.
The artisan markets, the slumping streets, the cold breeze with the smell of cool water that you only get when you’re at a lake in winter, everything was beautiful for Kyungsoo.
“It’s crazy, y’know,” Kyungsoo says, looking upfront, “to think these people live here and just get to see all of this on the daily. Have you ever imagined going grocery shopping and being blocks away from a beautiful crystal lake?” He ponders, eyes still firm on the way.
Chanyeol turns slightly and tilts his head down, just to see the shorter one clearly. “No, I haven’t,” he answers, with a cheery tone. He raises his head again, “You have a good point, though. There’s always something mesmerizing to look at,”
Kyungsoo hums in agreement. The taller man has fixed his eyes on a regional goodies shop in the corner of the block, and the other notices. As they get closer, his eyes sparkle, and Chanyeol raises his voice in a yell-like whisper; “It’s a penguin! With a little chef hat and sweater! Oh my God Soo, that penguin’s you!” Turning his head so fast he could have snapped his neck, Chanyeol beams at his boyfriend. Kyungsoo lets out a genuine laugh. It is evident their food-hunt has come to a (necessary) halt.
“It looks a little bit like me, yeah,”
Having stopped in front of the shop, they decide to go in. (Chanyeol would not leave the country without at least seven of those little plushies)
Lo and behold, it was stuffed animal galore. Sheep, sharks, whales, otters, you name it - Chanyeol was about to squeal like a twelve year old fangirl. The other walks around, looks at the kitchen appliances and jams made with traditional Barilochense fruits; Calafate, Rosa Mosqueta, Boysenberry - all those names sounded great to plate with a nice cup of hot cocoa and toast. Licquor and wine bottles adorned the walls as Kyungsoo analyzed what he could get.
In those approximately five minutes that he spent looking at the first part of the store, Chanyeol had already paid for the stuffed chef penguin and given it a peck. He also bought something he found by pure chance: a Saint Bernard dog plushie with the classic barrel hanging from its neck, with his little fabric tongue hanging out of his mouth. “Look, babe! He looks like such a nice boy!”
“He does, Yeol,” Kyungsoo answers lovingly, “he kinda looks like you. Big, smiley, ready to serve,”
Chanyeol blushes. He smiles at the younger. “Should we leave now? It’s five PM already. Maybe we should get going,” Kyungsoo nods.
It’s a fifteen minute walk from that shop to the hotel. The path was easy, since they had only turned once in San Martín Avenue, and they could use the downturning street as a guide.
The mountains stood tall on the horizon. It didn’t look like they were that far.
The streets were still busy with people laughing, chatting and coming out of stores with arms full of bags. Sunlight was shining a bright white and a cold grey, making Kyungsoo’s pink cheeks pop. Soft reflections of the glass windows coming from the warmly lit shops rest upon his eyes and his eyelashes bat at the cold air, trying to protect his eyes.
It is then, when it starts snowing. In July, the first snow in Bariloche falls, right where they are.
Teenagers on their end-of-the-year trips rush out their hotel lobbies to stand outside. In excited but unintelligible worlds, they express their excitement. Kids point at the sky and stretch out their hands to catch a snowflake, or open their mouths and stick out their tongues to eat one as quickly as possible. Happiness flooded the streets.
Maybe it was good Chanyeol spent a few seconds taking in his surroundings because when he moves his head a little bit to the right, he sees Kyungsoo standing on the sidewalk with a smile that made his eyes close delicately. His ears were red and his hair slowly became dotted with white stars. Kyungsoo slowly raises his hands to his chest and opens one palm in hopes to catch one of the icy pieces. Grabbing his sweater with the other, he shifts his head back to look at the older.
A cold red paints Chanyeol’s cheeks. The cold would not stop his face from becoming warm.
The man standing farther away stretches his arm, offering his hand. “Come,” he says, “let’s go. You’ve been staring at me more than I have the snow,”
They walk again, hand in hand. The mountains stand tall. The lake welcomes a cool breeze. Skies are gray and the cold hugs them. Kyungsoo admires. Chanyeol’s brain clicks.
“You know,” he starts, exhaling, “maybe I have already thought about what you said before we went to the shop,”
“What did I say?” Kyungsoo says, looking up.
“About people being able to see the scenery every day, while going grocery shopping.”
“Really? And what did you get to?”
“I have that too. Sometimes I – no, every day I think about how lucky I am to go grocery shopping, look to the side and see beauty walking beside me. I really feel like I’m a man in a movie. Your hands, your cheeks and moles, the sparkle of your eyes that I see when you get an idea for a new dish, everything about it is perfect to me. There’s always something mesmerizing to look at. Maybe we had to come to the other side of the Earth so you could look at amazingly beautiful things, Soo. But I don’t have to go that far.”