Xiumin’s favourite place to be was easily the pine tree in the clearing of the forest, but there was another place that he treasured almost as much. Not far from Xiumin’s house, just outside of the forest, was a large hill. It was a beautiful place with an abundance of hilltop creatures and plants that Xiumin had never seen anywhere else. Despite the fact that it received few visitors, it was easy to walk up and there was a simple, steady path to the top that revealed the spectacular view of the forest below. There was also a small waterfall halfway up, plenty of tall trees to climb and endless untouched forest to explore. Xiumin nicknamed it “Haven Hill” because, to him, it was a little piece of paradise.

Xiumin told Luhan all about it and they planned to walk to the top. Snow was still lightly covering the ground so they wrapped up warm, packed a light picnic and set off just before lunch.

‘Is it far to the bottom of the hill?’ Luhan asked as they set off from Xiumin’s house and began to trudge through the snowy forest.

‘No, not far at all – five minutes I think.’

‘Oh, good, I don’t want to trek for hours.’ Luhan whined.

‘Don’t be such a baby,’ Xiumin scolded, ‘a long walk is good for you, and also this walk is very easy.’

Luhan kicked a stone through the snow as he walked, ‘Xiumin?’

‘Yes.’

‘If you could have one superpower, what would it be?’

‘Oh, good question!’ Xiumin grinned, ‘Hmmm. Either the power to fly or the power to read minds. What would you have?’

‘Teleportation.’

‘Why would have that?’ Xiumin asked.

‘If I could teleport, I wouldn’t have to walk up this hill.’

Xiumin lightly punched Luhan’s arm and laughed, ‘you are very annoying, did you know that?’

‘I did,’ Luhan grinned, ‘but I don’t think you find my annoyingness that annoying.’

‘What makes you think that?’

‘A silly Baozi bun like you loves to be teased and annoyed.’

‘Oh, really?’

‘Yep. You especially love this,’ Luhan poked Xiumin in the ribs, three times.

Xiumin flinched and they both laughed again before engaging in a poking war.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They gained progress quickly and reached the waterfall which was their halfway point. Luhan did not want to admit it, but he was beginning to tire. He was not used to long hikes, even though they had not been walking for a particularly long time or a very long way. As they came round the corner of the pathway, looming above them was an enormous sculpture of ice. There was no rush of water, nor a splash or trickle, not a single sound to be heard. The whole waterfall was frozen solid to produce an incredible masterpiece of thousands of icicles all falling from each other into the frozen stream below. And despite the fact it was only a small waterfall, it seemed massive as they peered up at.

Luhan gasped, and they both ran towards it to get a closer look. Some icicles reached lengths taller than their heights whilst others were short in clusters.

‘This is amazing,’ Luhan said his eyes wide in awe.

‘I have never seen the waterfall frozen like this before,’ Xiumin replied without blinking.

Luhan looked away and onto the path ahead, realising that the frozen stream running across the path blocked their way. Xiumin walked over and was the first to take a clumsy step onto the ice. He immediately lost his footing and slipped. Just before he hit the ice, Luhan placed his arms around him, and pulled him up. They stood completely still in shock realising how dangerous it could have been. If Xiumin had hit his head, they were very far away from anyone to receive help.

Luhan’s arms were still around Xiumin a minute later, his hands resting on his abs. The shock wore off and he realised where his hands were, quickly moving them away in embarrassment. His cheeks flared red and he walked slowly across the stream to the other side. He turned around to see the rosy cheeks and wide eyes of Xiumin.

‘Baozi,’ he gasped, ‘ don’t you ever scare me like that again.’

Xiumin walked over and stood beside him, taking his hand, ‘I won’t,’ he promised, ‘I will be more careful from now on.’

They carried on walking up the path, hand in hand, in silence. Luhan was still taken aback by the fact that Xiumin could have hit his head on the ice and injured himself so he gripped his hand tightly as if letting go would kill him. He didn’t think that he would feel so scared over something that didn’t even happen but the very thought of Xiumin being hurt made him want to cry and throw up at the same time. His whole body was filled with a strong ache that wouldn't go away. He was so lost in depths of his own thoughts that he forgot to moan about the remaining distance of the walk and whine about the aching of his legs and suddenly they rounded a corner to a place were the path could be followed no more.