Was last night a dream? For a good 5 minutes Jonghyun genuinely didn’t know. Surely last night was too good to be true, from the coffee shop to the wine bar to the kiss. Not only was it really happening to him at last, but with the most perfect man he could have imagined. Jonghyun never expected to find someone so soon, he always felt that being gay narrowed his choices a lot and it would take a long time to find a man who was right for him and interested in men. He thought that he’d have to resort to online dating and phone apps, he imagined himself browsing those dodgy websites dishearteningly searching the gay men section and being dissatisfied with all of them, until he likes one but meets him and finds he wasn’t all he seemed. These were the kind of scenarios that Jonghyun imagined, especially with his lack of confidence, but look what had happened to him. Luck, such slim luck, that a man like Key would walk into his life and take him on two dates completely out of the blue. If Key hadn’t visited the library on behalf of his housemate that day; this wouldn’t be happening, but it had, and it happened for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. 

Jonghyun perked up at his door bell ringing, pulling him out of his reverie and towards the door. Who could possibly be at the door at 9 o’clock in the morning? Who ever visited? Letters go through the letter box and he hadn’t ordered a parcel. 

“Key?” 

“Hello, Mr Librarian. Care to join me on a road trip?” 

Jonghyun stood bewildered, his brain not quite registering what was happening. Coffee shop; not what he’d usually do, wine bar; very unlike him, sudden road trip; what?!

“I- uh, what?” he stumbled, earning a giggle from Key. 

“Go on, go and get what you need! I have everything prepared but if you want to bring anything else then go and get it now,” Key ordered, pointing into Jonghyun’s home. 

“W-wait where are we even going?” Jonghyun stuttered, his mind going frantic trying to consider what he would need to take. His phone, his- what else? 

Key shrugged. 

Just shrugged.

“You have no idea where we’re going?” 

“I had no where in particular in mind, I mean I have a rough idea of some places but I didn’t plan anything,” Key admitted, not exactly surprising Jonghyun who looked a strong 50/50 mix of nervous and excited. 

“Okay, well I’ll just get my phone and come then,” he declared bravely, jogging to his bedroom and grabbing his phone from the bedside table before straightening out his bed sheet habitually and rejoining Key. 

“Ready?” Key asked.

“I guess I have to be.”
The two got in Key’s car and drove off. They didn’t know where or why, but it was random and fun, and Jonghyun was excited, and not to mention happy to be spending a whole day with Key. The journey consisted of small talk and laughing, mainly Key laughing at Jonghyun’s dry humour and Jonghyun chuckling fondly at Key’s outgoing nature. The pair put on music of all kinds, regularly switching between the music on Key’s phone, Jonghyun’s phone, and multiple radio channels, both singing along to plenty of songs, surprising each other at each others amazing voices. 

“We’re nearly here,” Key pointed out. Jonghyun looked out of the window at his surroundings. 

“How do you know?” he asked, not sure why here was the location. Where even was “here”?

“I don’t, it just feels right, so lets stop here,” Key stated. He drove a little further before pulling up on a patch of grass and getting out of the car, Jonghyun following suit. Key opened up the trunk of the car and fumbled around, gathering the things he brought with him.

Jonghyun waddled around the area outside of the car, happy to stretch his legs and be in the fresh air rather than just sitting with the car window open. 

“Be funny if there was a parking metre,” he remarked, hearing Key laugh from behind the car. 

“Let’s go!” he said as he emerged from the car, a picnic basket in one hand, and a blanket in the other. 

“You prepared a picnic,” Jonghyun smiled. 

“Yeah, so cheesy and generic right? But hey, I want to live that unrealistic, “only happens in movies” life for a little bit. I want that cheesy romance, and who better than with Mr Librarian?” Key smiled back at him, receiving a disapproving look regarding the ‘Mr Librarian’ title again. 

“You love it really,” Key teased. 

“Yeah keep telling yourself that. So where are we going?” Jonghyun teased back. Key confidently walked ahead, beckoning Jonghyun to follow him. 

“Come on Kim Jonghyun!” he called, not even slowing down for him as Jonghyun scurried to catch up. There was grass everywhere, grass and fields, meadows and flowers, it was such a countryside like area that Jonghyun had never seen anything like before. How far had they even ventured? They were driving for a long time. It was so calm and quiet, there was nothing around them but in a good way. All those tall buildings and many people, just gone. It felt like a new world, one that only consisted of Jonghyun and Key. It felt like they had a little world to themselves and no one could ruin it or even judge them. 

The pair walked side by side slowly, Key carrying the picnic basket in his right hand, and Jonghyun on his left carrying the picket blanket under his left arm, leaving their free hands dangling next to each others, opening up a new opportunity.
Key looked down curiously at Jonghyun’s hand, not quite sure whether to link his own. He wanted to. Badly. How would Jonghyun react? At that moment as if Jonghyun had read his mind, he grabbed Key’s hand and linked their fingers. Key smiled to himself and walked comfortably with Jonghyun, hand in hand until they reached some sort of cave. 

“Shall we go through?” Key asked, Jonghyun shook his head quickly in response. 

“Lets go over that way, the meadow is pretty over there. We could sit there with the picnic. This cave looks scary.”

“But you never know what’s on the other side,” Key pointed out, letting Jonghyun stick his head in the tunnel and look around a little. 

“I don’t know. What if there is no other end?” he suggested. 

“Then we turn back around. You can't not go through because you think it’ll be bad or not even end, in life sometimes you just have to pass through the metaphorical dark tunnel and see what’s on the other end. Usually there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Key preached the words of wisdom, still not getting through to Jonghyun. 

“What if the other end is the same as this end?” he asked. 

“Is the glass half empty or half full? Let’s go and have a look and see for ourselves.” Key started walking into the tunnel. Jonghyun gingerly followed him in and held onto his arm. 

“It’s fine.”

“It’s dark,” he retorted. Key didn’t respond and kept going, pulling Jonghyun along with him. 

“See, there’s the other end, can you hear water?” Key pointed out, noting the light showing; indicating that the other end was just around the corner and listening to the sound of flowing water. The pair turned the corner and Jonghyun quickly let go of Key, running ahead at the sight that they were greeted with. 

“Is this a dream?” he asked, spinning back around to face Key as he approached him. 

“Wow,” Key exclaimed, looking around in the same amount of awe. A waterfall fell down tall rocks, it wasn’t a huge waterfall, but it wasn’t small either. 

“How did you know this would be here?” Jonghyun asked. 

“I didn’t know, I took a chance. Doesn’t that just prove my point?” Key responded.

“I guess so.” Jonghyun walked to the lake with the water fall and stopped dead in his tracks at the new sight. 

“No way,” he gaped. 

“What?”

“You want a cheesy movie plot life? There’s stepping stones get behind the waterfall,” Jonghyun laughed, actually humoured by the turnout. Key squealed and ran to Jonghyun’s location. 

“Let’s go let’s go,” he jumped about, already stepping across the quite sturdy stones. 

“Okay…” Jonghyun apprehensively remarked, stepping 10x more carefully than Key. 

“Is this actually happening? Are we actually having a picnic behind a waterfall? I’m almost overwhelmed from the cheesy-ness, Key,” Jonghyun commented, eventually joining Key and laying down the blanket neatly. The pair sat down on it and Key retrieved all the various snacks he had brought along with him and sprawled them across the blanket. 

“Yes, yes it is. See what happens when you take a chance?” 

“Yeah yeah you were right,” Jonghyun admitted. 

“Glad to hear you admit that, Mr Librarian.”