it's hot. may has yet to come to an end but the air feels suffocating, and it's hard to just sit there and breathe.
it's as if his clothes have glued themselves to his skin, football shorts damp and molded into the shape of his thighs.
he shifts tentatively in his seat, just to see if he would be stuck there or be able to move, and - much to his surprise - he manages to slide a little bit to the left.
it's so silent up there, all the noises from football practice down in the field coming out dulled, like they’re being heard through earmuffs.
that’s why jaehwan likes sitting outside the old science building - no noise, a great view (trees and birds and some cute passerbys every now and then), like being in your own room with your favorite pair of headphones and white noise on.
and sometimes - sometimes hakyeon comes sit with him.
“hey,” hakyeon says, patting jaehwan’s shoulder from behind, and to jaehwan it feels like a hard-earned shower in the middle of the hottest august.
he sits down next to him, and he’s so radiant yet so refreshing, eyes shining like drops of dew. jaehwan can’t help but sneak a look at him whenever hakyeon is too lost in his thoughts to notice, and his heart starts beating a little bit faster every time.
they spend their free time like that almost every day, sometimes talking so much that they can barely take a breath, others just sitting there and letting the breeze run through their hair, caressing their faces.
it’s the latter today, chins resting on folded knees and little droplets of sweat lazily rolling on their cheeks.
it feels like it’s been hours - or maybe just five minutes - when hakyeon scoots a little bit closer, cold fingers barely grazing jaehwan’s sweaty hands.
he sighs, then bites his lower lip. “you know,” he says, voice low and tentative, so different from the way he usually speaks, “i see you watching me.”
jaehwan can feel his ears burn up to the very tip.
“i mean,” he lowers his eyes, like looking at his dirty running shoes. “i see you watching me because,” he bites his lips again, voice cracking.
“because i’m looking at you too.”
jaehwan’s pretty sure his heart must’ve stopped beating or exploded because there’s no way it could handle something like that, no way that loud drumming in his ears isn’t a sign of his impending death.
hakyeon takes jaehwan’s hands in his, threading their fingers together, and jaehwan is sure he’s gonna die.
“the reason i sit here, talking to you. skipping lunch and class meetings.” he smiles, a smile so warm and shy, and all jaehwan wants is to kiss him, just perk up and kiss him.
“it’s because i like you.”
they sit a few seconds like that, in silence, just the sound of their breaths and accellerated hearbeats.
“you like me too, right?”

when hakyeon’s face comes dangerously close to his, jaehwan doesn’t really know what to do.
he hasn’t kissed, not since a long time ago, never seriously, but he’s too shy to say something like that. to tell something like that to the beautiful, cool senior that he’s liked for a long time.
to the boy that likes him back, whose soft lips he’s kissing right now - woah, when did that happen? - the boy whose eyes are closed as he angles his face to kiss him better.
he smells like fruity perfume and aftershave, and his hands are cool on his, soft yet firm.
he kisses like he means it, tongue timidly brushing against jaehwan’s upper lip until he lets his mouth part.
it’s sweet and dreamy and everything jaehwan ever wanted - even though their noses bumped together more than once, even though he’s sure that it on his part.
and if it did, hakyeon doesn’t say it - he lets his head fall on jaehwan’s chest and giggles, softly but genuinely.
“i think my break time is over,” he says, laughing.
“we should catch up later.”
“let’s do that!” jaehwan says, louder than he had intended.
he bites his lips, then decides to be a little braver.
“see you later,” he says, placing a little kiss to hakyeon’s cheek. “and i like you.”
a little chuckle.
“i like you too.”

it’s hot. may has yet to come to an end and jaehwan doesn’t want it to, hakyeon’s hand in his and a smile on his lips.
they always say that the first spring of your twenties is the sweetest, and jaehwan knows now that it wasn’t a lie.