Sungyeol glances around questioningly when they stagger off the bus and are greeted by a seemingly endless stretch of snow and hill- but with no chair lift. He's about the raise the question that is most probably on everyone's minds (he swears he overhears some girl choke out don't tell me we have to walk up that thing) when Jongkook moves to stand in front of their group and gets them all to shove their skis back on. 

Sungyeol tips over a little to the right when Suji accidentally loses her balance and hits him, and he almost flinches away when he feels an arm wind around his waist to steady him when he stumbles because it's Woohyun's arm. Sungyeol doesn't know why, but he feels his face flush a little and he swears he feels his skin burn where Woohyun's hand rests so casually at his waist, even through the gloves and the many layers of clothes. But when he takes a step to the side to pull away, Woohyun's fingers press harder against his waist and Sungyeol can't move, can only stay in place. 

Woohyun doesn't look at him when Jongkook explains to them that the chair lift they're riding here is different from the typical ones (Sungyeol chuckles when the girl from before breathes out a sigh of relief), in the sense that it's just a small circular plate that's supposed to fit in between their legs while they rest their weight on it gently as it pulls them up the hill, skis gliding against the snow.

Before Sungyeol can utter out a slightly confused um, Jongkook's herding them over to the queue for the chair lift and sending them up the gentle slope one by one. Woohyun glances over at him and laughs.

"Don't worry princess, I'll make sure you don't fall." 

Sungyeol does not think Nam Woohyun is funny. 

He fixes Woohyun with the most unimpressed look he can muster but Woohyun just continues laughing, unconsciously pulling Sungyeol tighter against his side as he chuckles about Sungyeol's unattractive face and how making stupid expressions only makes him look uglier. Sungyeol rolls his eyes and looks away as Howon and Boohyun get on the chair lift with ease, but he can't help the hint of a smile that pulls at his lips as he feels Woohyun's body still moving in time with his laughter against his. It's nice. Woohyun's laughter and Woohyun's arm around his waist and the press of Woohyun's body against his are all warm and nice.

Sungyeol winces when his brother lets out a surprised yelp as he nearly tumbles forward and off the chair lift before it even moves him forward, but Jongkook rights him quickly and pats him on the back reassuringly, chuckling to himself. Suji gets on the chair lift with ease, looking back with tinkling laughter and long brown hair blowing in the wind as Wooyoung's skis nearly get tangled with each other when he settles his on the small circular plate. 

"Suji's pretty," Sungyeol states with a laugh. 

Sungyeol feels more than sees Woohyun's laughter come to an abrupt halt, and he doesn't know why Woohyun's body tenses ever so slightly from where his side is pressed against his. "You think she's pretty," Woohyun replies, and it's not exactly a question. 

Sungyeol looks at Woohyun strangely for a moment before shrugging it off and deciding to snicker under his breath. "Her friend, Wooyoung, is totally in love with her though." 

"Yeah. He's so whipped it's actually kind of gross." 

Sungyeol shoves Woohyun away and he's glad to see that familiar teasing smile worm its way onto Woohyun's lips. He prefers Woohyun like this. "You . I think it's sweet."

"I never pegged you for a romantic."

"I'm not, exactly. Wooyoung's just endearing in his eagerness. It's nice. It's refreshing, I suppose." 

Woohyun looks up at Sungyeol as he speaks with his gaze directed at the chair lifts up ahead as they move forward in line, taking in Sungyeol's long brown bangs flattened behind his beanie, fluttering lashes as he blinks against the biting winter chill and pale, porcelain skin that's dusted pink at the cheeks because of the cold. His throat runs dry and he looks away, angry at himself because he doesn't understand why he keeps looking at Sungyeol and I really should stop, someone stop me. 

Sungyeol's next in line, but before he gets on Woohyun tugs on his arm and Sungyeol looks over at him quizzically. 

"Let's mess around with Wooyoung?" The words are leaving Woohyun's mouth before he can even process them. 

Thankfully, though, Sungyeol's lips curl in the beginnings of a devious grin as his gaze move towards the top of the hill, Wooyoung getting ready to alight soon. Woohyun takes this is a yes and smirks before purposefully crooking his knee into the back of Sungyeol's kneecap, causing the taller boy to almost go falling to the ground. Sungyeol whips around and shoots Woohyun a glare.

"What are you, five?" He snaps. 

Woohyun just wiggles his eyebrows teasingly. "Doesn't mean I'm forgetting what I said about about making your life a little living hell on the mountains just because we're going to fool around with Wooyoung, Sungyeol-ah." 

Sungyeol lets Jongkook help him onto a chair lift and mentally collapses in relief when nothing disastrous happens to him as the chair lift starts taking him up the hill. He turns his head slightly to see Woohyun getting ready to sit on the next plate, winking at Sungyeol as he does so. 

Sungyeol has not suffered all these years of his life with a devious little brother for nothing. He's going to make Woohyun regret ever raising that pseudo-proposition with him if it's the last thing he does on these goddamned mountains. 

In the meantime, though, he focuses on looking ahead, keeping his skis parallel and gripping onto the vertical pole of the chair lift and his ski poles all at the same time. Balance, he reminds himself, the key is not Nam Woohyun. The key is not to fall anymore. That is the key.

(So Sungyeol almost cries a little in relief when he manages to disembark at the top without tripping over his skis or ski poles or the chair lift, but not without Daeyeol taking his poles for him and Howon and Boohyun helping him to get off and slide to a steady stop. But baby steps, Sungyeol thinks. Baby steps.)

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