nytis
eyes...
piercing...
shivering, jihoon turned around and darted his eyes around the deserted streets of nytis. there was truly no one around, or at least so he thought. at first glance nobody would've noticed it.
the dull grey and black of the person blended in perfectly with the shadows casted by the street stalls. a person with jet black hair was standing back facing jihoon with arms down at their sides.
you would think that their shoulders would be moving up and down from breathing or maybe their fingers would be tapping on the side of their leg but no. this person was standing eerily still. it looked so regular yet irregular at the same time.
"hey. who are you?" jihoon called out from across the street, not wanting to get near the person. "you've been watching me, haven't you?"
no response. no movement. not even a twitch.
gathering up courage, jihoon slowly inches closer and closer to the person until they were a mere arms width apart. "who are you?" the boy said stiffly. "why are you doing this?"
his question was met with silence.
"answer my question! talk to m-
jihoon didn't even see the person turn around. one second it all he was was a still back and the next he saw a face. the face was a very familiar face, his own face. jihoon stumbled back a few steps and looked at the person in front of him.
the person was a spitting image of him. jihoon would've thought he was looking into a mirror if the person had his eyes open. "h-how is this possible, who are yo-
an icy hand gripped his wrist and fort the first time, the boy spoke. it sounded like jihoon's voice but different.. more sinister. "i'm you jihoon, but-
the boy's eyes blinked open and jihoon gasped. that colour was too all familiar.
an intense blue.
his eyes flying open, jihoon pushed himself up from the ground knocking his forehead against something hard. hissing, he fell back to the grass rubbing his forehead. "what the fuck..." he groaned.
"sorry jihoonie..." a pained voice called out from beside him. "but do you always wake up so suddenly.." the voice belonged to no one other than soonyoung. the silver haired boy was also sprawled on the grass cradling his throbbing forehead.
"what the fuck were you doing with your head over mine.." jihoon scowled.
"i don't know," he pouted, "you had this uncomfortable face on and i had no idea you were going to suddenly sit up like that... why is your forehead so hard?" jihoon finally remembered that he fell asleep in the forest and when he looked down, he realized that it was soonyoung's jacket he was holding.
"why is your forehead so hard?" he muttered back, throwing soonyoung's jacket back at the boy. as the pain resided, jihoon stretched his arms and stood up.
"where are you going?" asked soonyoung who was still sprawled on the ground.
"back to the bakery of course," jihoon said like it was the most obvious thing. he had no idea how many hours he wasted from sleeping. however many it was, he was determined to work the same amount to make up for it.
soonyoung leaped up from the ground, "what?! no way. jeonghan told both of us that you couldn't return to the bakery today. there's no way i'm allowing it." jihoon looked at the boy. was he serious? it's soonyoung of course he's serious.
"good luck trying to stop me." jihoon stated bluntly. "oh yeah, if you try to carry me again, i will smack you. and this time i won't miss."
"wait!" soonyoung tugged on jihoon's arm. "um.. if you leave me here in the forest, i'm gonna get lost and eaten by a bear for sure."
jihoon let out a short laugh. "okay, that's nice."
"but aren't you worried for me?" soonyoung hoped that he hit one of jihoon's weak points.
pausing, the boy looked at soonyoung. it was easy to say that he wouldn't give a shit if soonyoung got eaten by a bear but in reality... would he worry if he left soonyoung alone in the forest with the sun no longer so high in the sky? jihoon didn't want to answer that question.
the boy knew how to hunt so he could probably survive? but he doesn't know the forest well and he doesn't have any weapons..
seeing that jihoon was answering, soonyoung grinned widely and pulled away from him. "come and get me jihoonie!" soonyoung laughed happily and danced off into the trees.
"this idiot thinks i'm going to follow him," jihoon scoffed quietly, "there's no way i will." he turned his back but then paused as he heard soonyoung laughter getting further and further away. that's when his brain started play clips of soonyoung getting mauled by a bear and soonyoung starving and cold in the woods and soonyoung... soonyoung.
"fuck you soonyoung."
jihoon ruffled his hair and ran after the sounds of laughter.
"soonyoung! i'm here you big dummy! now show yourself!" jihoon cupped his mouth and wandered around wondering where soonyoung could have gone. he saw the sun reflect off his silver hair just a few seconds ago..
"show yourself and that old man hair of yours!" the branches above his head rustled and a few seconds later, hanging upside down, soonyoung appeared.
"what did you just call my hair?" he asked accusingly with no real bite. jihoon watched as his face got progressively redder and redder.
"get down from that tree." he said, smiling. "you're starting to look like a tomato."
"tomato?" soonyoung dropped down and clung onto jihoon. "first you call my hair 'old man hair' and now you're calling me a tomato. not nice jihoonie, not nice."
"then what do you think your hair is like?"
soonyoung sniffed, "easy. my hair is a beautiful, shiny, silver. nothing like old man hair. it's like the hair of a unicorn!"
jihoon choked on air. "nice one but no. where are we going anyways?" they've been walking for some time now and jihoon was wondering when they were going to head back.
"if you listen closely you can hear the sound of water." soonyoung said, with excitement bubbling in him. "can you hear it jihoonie?" jihoon looked at soonyoung unamused. he couldn't tell if he was being serious or not because jihoon really couldn't hear anything. "don't worry," he chuckled, "you will soon."
half expecting to hear nothing, jihoon was surprised when he indeed did hear the quiet sound of running water. a few minutes later, the two boys found themselves at a shallow river. the water was crystal clear and made all the smooth rocks and little green plants at the bottom visible.
"water!" soonyoung tugged jihoon over and crouched by the river. he had to admit that soonyoung's reaction was just a little adorable. kicking off his shoes soonyoung placed his feet in the liquid and sat down motioning jihoon to do the same.
jihoon, who didn't like water, ended up rolling up his pants and joined soonyoung as well. "isn't this nice?" soonyoung hummed out.
"it's cold.. but decent i guess.."
soonyoung laughed quietly. "what a jihoon answer."
a comfortable silence settled between the two. the boys kicked their feet lightly in the water each thinking their own thoughts.
this was nice, really nice.
