It was summer and Jinki’s sprawled, back flat against the grassy land still fresh of dew and crawling ladybugs. He bore his half-lidded eyes, up, up, the bright sky and he squints and shuts his eyes thinking that it isn’t a good idea to make eye contact with the sun.

 

He hovers his right arm just above his eyes, shielding the luminous white and probably the ultraviolet rays that could hurt someone’s eyes.

 

He sighs, breath hot on his arm, a drop of perspiration crawls down his forehead and he swiftly feels the heat of his body. Dropping his arm back to his side, he breathes, taking in the smell of grass and the fresh summer wind. Suddenly, he hears a flock of birds passing by and wonders if he could hear the earthworms crackling through the soil under the ground.

 

He’d rather stay in his room, to be honest. But someone told him that staying under a tolerable heat of the sun is a good cure for the common cold. He feels dizzy 5 seconds later and he wonders why the grass is growing fast.

 

Just then, Jinki feels the vibration on the ground, the crumbling of scattered pebbles, and the sound of grass being stepped on.

 

A shadow of circle peers over his face and he asked himself what’s a roulette doing floating in the air. And he blinks, taking in the image of the spinning round above him.

 

“Is the world being invaded by canine creatures?” Jinki asked and the person above him his head in return.

 

“You know, you look so dumb like that”

 

“Yea, yea,” And Jinki sits up, propping his elbows down to support him. He smiles. “Good morning, Jonghyunnie!”

 

The latter smiles back and he hands the hook of his umbrella to Jinki, who blinks and smiles wider, slightly stretching his arm to grab hold of it.

 

“It’s hot out here,” Jonghyun sits next to Jinki, resting his arms just above his knees as he held his legs up. “Are you feeling okay?”

 

The latter squints, eyes into crescents, and he really can’t do anything about it since they were sort of swelling. “I feel hot.”

 

And Jonghyun reaches for his forehead, “You are.” He concludes. “What are you doing nursing a cold on such a hot weather anyway?”

 

Jinki just smiles back at him and Jonghuyn feels lightheaded. He thinks it sparkles—his smile—and he wonders if he’s also sick to see such a pretty hallucination. But when Jinki poked his cheek, fingertip warm against his skin, he realizes he’s not.

 

And they both stayed in silence for a while. Jinki kept himself occupied by spinning and swaying the umbrella, pretty much playing with it. Jonghyun observes the former and ponders on why he’s stabbing the end of umbrella down the ground right now. He’s probably digging a hole for all he knows.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Isn’t it pretty convenient this way? I’m tired of holding it.” He smiles.

 

Jonghyun’s suddenly immersed on the activity that the other was doing. And then he sees the sweat forming on Jinki’s forehead so he spoons for his handkerchief just under his pocket and smacks it lightly to his face. Jinki squeaks.

 

“Give me that,” The younger snatches the umbrella away from him. “I’ll hold it in place, okay? Why don’t you go wipe your sweat off?”

 

Jinki stared at the handkerchief and then his mind went blank, abruptly forgetting how one should use these things. Jonghyun sighs and places the umbrella down close to them before he steals it back to him.

 

Cupping the older’s face, he gently dabs the clothing to his forehead, eyebrows creased in full concentration. Jinki stares at Jonghyun and he lightly brushes his finger down the younger’s cheek. Jonghyun tries not to lean on the other’s touch but when Jinki started petting his head; he can’t help but pinch the older on the cheek. Hard.

 

“Ow, ow, ow, Jjooong!” Jinki flails and rolls back down. Jonghyun snickers malevolently, finally releasing his grip on the other’s cheek.

 

Jinki sits back in all fours, constantly curling like a snail as he rubs his hand to his cheek, worried that he may not ever feel it. Jonghyun has half a mind to make him wear bunny ears and stick a white puff of ball just above his , the other half just wanted to cuddle him.

 

In any case, he thinks that his hyung is in his drunken state when he’s sick. He doesn’t act much like himself, just most of the time delirious. But, really, the older can hold his liquor up to 8 bottles while Jonghyun—much to his dismay—reciprocates the other’s capacity.

 

Jinki feels his head receding to vertigo as he gives in and lies his weak body back down. “It’s really hot,” he breathes thru his mouth.

 

“Why are you even out here in the first place?”

 

“Kibum says getting exposed under the sun is good for you.” He smiles.

 

Jonghyun snorts. “You believe everything that punk says?”

 

“Well…” He moves his eyes to Jonghyun’s direction, “He does think and uhh, act like an umma.”

 

“But he’s not,” The younger deadpans.

 

“His mom’s a nurse.” Jinki retorts.

 

“And my mom’s a pre-school teacher.” Jonghyun quips.

 

“But your knowledge about all sorts of remedies isn’t as wide as theirs.” The older whines and waves his hands up in the air, wishing that he could squish the fluffy cotton clouds.

 

“Yea? But my mom deals with children 5 days a week, I do learn from that. At least we have an idea how to take care of kids, even the naughty, naughty ones.” He said, poking Jinki’s belly twice.

 

“I’m not a kid,” Jinki pouts. “I’m hyung.”

 

“Yea, yea, whatever you say, Jinki hyung.”Jonghyun smiles while the other brightens up, suddenly tugging the hem of the younger’s shirt.

 

“By the way, my mom’s a butcher.”

 

* * *

 

When his head feels steady and he thinks he can hear the birds clearly, Jinki sits back up next to Jonghyun, eyes fixed on the ground and he double takes.

 

“Jjong!” He looks up, meeting eyes with the other, “Your leg hairs have grown!”

 

“Heh, too lazy to shave it—”

 

“And why are you here anyway? You might catch my cold.” Jonghyun gawps at Jinki, wondering why he only thought about this now.

 

“When have I not been here?” Jonghyun asked, raising his brow. “And besides, Jinki hyung’s cold can’t hurt me.” He grins.

 

Jinki blinks back and ponders on that last sentence for a moment. “Really?” He asked, staring at a certain spot on Jonghyun’s face.

 

“Really.”

 

“Then,” Jinki fiddles with the grass, “Can I kiss you?”

 

Jonghyun blinks back at him, finding the other doing the same. He sees anticipation and curiosity beyond those crescents and Jonghyun relents, shoving his body to face Jinki’s direction.

 

"That, I shall gladly comply," Jonghyun can’t help but beam at the image in front of him, whose cheeks and ears are flushed in pink. His nose was red but Jonghyun isn’t dumb enough to think that it wasn’t caused by the cold.

 

Jonghyun’s smile turns into a predative look as he crawls and tackles the other to the ground.

 

“Jjong, do you know how many ladybugs I might’ve squished from tumbling back down here?”

 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Jonghyun shook his head in disapproval, “I think you deserve a punishment for killing the innocent little crawling creatures.” And he nosed Jinki from the collarbone ghosting up to his neck, smelling a mixed scent of dew and sugary honey.

 

“You’re not going to squish me too, right?” Jinki smiled when Jonghyun hovered just above his head. The sun shone just above him in different directions and he thinks that this is the best cotton cloud he had ever caught.

 

 Jonghyun’s face was an inch near and he feels the other’s breath tickling hot against his skin. And when they finally kissed, it felt like all sorts of tingly emotions, so clumsy and sweet in the early part of the day.

 

 They part 10 seconds later because Jinki needed to sneeze (not allowing himself to spray a goo of virus all over the face of his lover). Jonghyun checks the other’s temperature right after, leaning his forehead down against the other.

 

“Jonghyun~” Jinki coos. “I still feel hot.” He says and Jonghyun hums in reply.

 

“But better. I feel better.” And Jonghyun thinks that his childhood has long been complete because Jinki’s smile, for as long as he remembers, could be a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

 

None of them really cared for the umbrella that rolled out… who knows where.

 

* * *

 

Jonghyun catches Jinki’s cold the next day.

 

Jinki brought a basket of oranges and 2 glasses of lemonade because Kibum says citrus fruits are a good cure. And they stayed on that same spot in the former’s lawn despite the impending afternoon heat. Jonghyun thinks nothing can ever be sweeter and sappier than sharing the same cold (“Hyung! Hyung! Let’s blow our noses together, ready?” “3, 2, 1…”) and having picnic under a now larger umbrella.