First day of summer turned into second week of summer and before they knew it, July was around with warm nights and warmer days.

The forest offered shelter from the sun and when days were warm enough, they disobeyed Baekhyun’s mother and ran to the dark pond on the other side of the soggy swamp.

Chanyeol jumped in from time to time, Baekhyun always only watched. The usually so brave boy was afraid of water, had never been thought how to swim. It didn’t stop Chanyeol from splashing water on his friend, soaking his clothes until they were sticking to his body. Like that, he cooled down to and Chanyeol secretly loved watching his friend trying to avoid it.

When done swimming they lay in the grass waiting for the sun to dry them up, talked about nothing and everything. The smallest was the best at coming up with crazy stories to tell. It ran in the family, Chanyeol assumed.

Baekhyun’s grandmother always told the wildest stories, about white horses that ran away with young girls and jumped into a lake or a river, about the fiddler that thought you how to play the most wonderful music, but took your soul in return. There were stories about forest floors drizzled with stars and fairies painted with gold. All of them told with an enthusiasm leaving young boys spellbound in front of the fireplace on stormy winter nights.

Baekhyun’s speciality was clouds. In white, featherlike clouds, the big cotton candy ones and even in the threatening dark grey, he saw stories. Chanyeol only had to look in the direction his friend pointed and he could see the story occur on the blue sky. As the clouds changed form, the story did too, like a shape shifter in his grandmother’s stories. You knew what you saw, but only for a very short moment. A blink of the eye, and everything changed. It was fascinating.

It might still be July and autumn was far away, like an eternity. In September, they would have to start their education in Church, start preparing for their Christian confirmation next spring. It was a big happening in the village. After they were seen as young adults, parts of their freedom reduced, more work, more studies, less time to act carefree and run around barefoot. Even if eternity is a long time, they knew autumn would come eventually, and they knew that then, everything would change.

Parents didn’t wait around for him to turn 16 to make him help out. Both Chanyeol and his brother worked long days at the farm. Always stuff to do, like painting the fences. Today had not been the warmest of days, a bit cloudy, or as Mr. Park’s was wording it: ‘A perfect day for painting’.

Chanyeol had not bothered changing his clothes when a familiar blond boy shouted for him, told him to hurry up. He had simply let everything behind with a promise of covering up for Sehun the next time he was out meeting girls late at night, if Sehun cleaned up for both today.

He followed his friend, running through knee high grass, balancing on rocks and jumping over water streams. It felt like freedom, as time stood still and they could act as childish as they wanted. It was the contrast they both needed to balance out the serious talking sometimes going on in their tree or in the grass by the pond.

As Chanyeol stripped next to the refreshing water, clothes dropped in a big piele of smelling items, he noticed Baekhyun following his every move with a pleased smile and a teasing spark in his eyes.

“What?”

“Hm? Nothing!”

The smaller shook his head and quickly stretched his body with closed eyes.

“You stared at me while I undressed. Don’t you have a of your own? You have to watch mine?”

Chanyeol held his hands in front of his crotch, covered up some. He always skinny-dipped. This was the first time he felt in front of his friend though.

“It’s just... “

“What is it?”  An unsure laughter followed Chanyeol’s question.

“You’ve grown a lot lately. That’s all. You sort of look like a man already”

Okay, that was a bit more than expected. Chanyeol’s ears turned red and hot and water felt like a way out of it. Blushing or not, he wasn’t going to give his friend the victory that easy.

“Well, at least I have a !”

He turned around and carefully stepped into the quiet water, creating tiny waves in the surface while he waited for a comeback.

“Are you asking me to show you my own ? Is that it?”

Oh God! He was never winning against his friend’s quick tongue. Chanyeol felt tongue-tied. Instead of trying to come up with anything that wasn’t going to make this more awkward, he threw his long body backwards in the water and kicked his legs the best he could. In the grass sat a soaked blonde boy, still fully dressed. That much he deserved for such behaviour.

So far this summer they had done a lot of nothing. It had mostly been just the two of them. Of course, Sehun followed suit from time to time. The boys from the Kim’s farm too. Picnic with girls had yet to happen. Because when it was just the two of them, Baekhyun and Chanyeol, nothing else mattered. They had their own secret places, their own humour and stories, what else could you need?

Chanyeol was done swimming for today, had dried up enough to put back on his underwear and shirt. Clothes smelled of a long day of working in the sun, but he wasn’t going to run around in the forest. Lazily chewing on a straw, he focused on the clouds and the story Baekhyun tried to put together next to him. It was a bit too cloudy though and the story ended up as a barn filled with hay, no patterns, nothing to get a hold of, a mess, allowing Chanyeol’s thoughts to drift away.

“Baek! Did you hear Sehun kissed that Lisa-girl?”

“Yeah, I think he told everyone” Baekhyun chuckled. Sehun really had been running around bragging about it.

“He’s only 13!”

“Yes, and?”

“Well, he’s too young. She’s too young!”

“Come on! What’s the big deal? It’s not like he proposed to her”

Baekhyun was on his back in the grass, arms and legs spread out like a starfish, eyes focused on the sky above. Chanyeol had sat himself up, watched his too relaxed friend. Didn’t he get how it was affecting him, how he constantly had to cover up for his brother when he was out running at nights?

“You’re just jealous” The boy in the grass sat up too and stuck out his tongue to tease.

“Idiot”

Chanyeol let his back hit the soft moss and grass. If he wanted to, he could get kisses too! Jealous of Sehun? Not happening!

With a slight pout on his face and closed eyes, he tried to force the darkness that followed jealousy away. He was not going to be jealous just because his stupid brother kissed someone before he had.

Suddenly Baekhyun leaned down and left a quick kiss on his mouth. It was over before it started. Nevertheless, enough to make Chanyeol jolt up from the ground.

“What was that?” His eyes big and confused.

“A kiss” Baekhyun sounded proud and happy.

“You kissed me? Why?”

“Then you had your first kiss too!” Baekhyun’s eyes were shining and if his tone was a bit cocky, his red cheeks told him he wasn’t all confident about it.

“It doesn’t count”

“Why?”

“You’re my friend, and a boy” the last part barely a whisper.

Chanyeol chewed nervously on a freshly plucked straw. He knew he was judging right now, but he also knew it was what mattered at school. Boys kissed girls, period. His friend was raised differently and Chanyeol knew. Like many things on the Byun farm, the stories were different too. The nøkk could lure away a pretty boy just as easily as he could want a girl. Humans fell in love with all kind of creatures. Love simply wasn’t restricted to man and woman.

“It’s still a kiss” His friend wasn’t done arguing.

“My mother kisses me good night every day”

“Now you’re being stupid! A mother’s kiss on your forehead is its own category. I’m talking about romantic kisses. I thought better of you! Gender doesn’t matter when you kiss!”
 

Baekhyun watched him. Even with his eyes closed, he felt the others gaze.
 

“Sorry. I know that’s true, but you cannot call what you did a ‘romantic’ kiss. Your lips were barely touching” Chanyeol shook his head and chuckled lightly.

He should have seen it coming. He should have known his friend well enough.
 

“Then show me how it’s done Mr. I know how to kiss!”

Baekhyun leaned over him, pushed the taller into the grass with one hand resting on each side of his head. When Chanyeol opened his eyes, he saw straight into a pair of challenging blue ones.

“Show me! Have your first proper kiss”

The weight of the body on top of him made him stay where he was, actually taking some time to considering it.

“For science? And no one will know?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who wanted your first kiss”

“No it wasn’t! You gave me a kiss without asking”

“I never took you for a wimpy kid”

Chanyeol snorted and turned his face to the side. He knew he was right. It had been Baekhyun that kissed him without warning.

“Oh come on! Waterlilies won’t tell. It’s no one but us out here.” Baekhyun’s words gave off just how much he enjoyed the teasing. He used his hands to turn Chanyeol sulky face and slightly shook his head in amusement.

As Baekhyun pushed his soft lips down on Chanyeol mouth, Chanyeol closed his eyes and gave up. Baekhyun always got it the way he wanted, besides, no one ever called him a wimp.

Baekhyun’s lips softly brushed his and when his friend head tilted a bit, Chanyeol copied. It felt warm and strange and sort of crazy. He couldn’t word it, had no explanation for why he parted his lips to let the other take control, his brain had turned to mush the very first second he felt a tongue slide over his lower lip.

It took a moment to register how the weight on him had lifted. Another to remember how to open his eyes.

Baekhyun was laying on his stomach in the grass next to him, a soft smile on his face but eyes a little worried.

“Hey, you okay?”

Chanyeol shook the rest of the fog away and pushed his upper body up from the ground.

“Yes, I was just... you know...” He used the strictest face he knew of, needed to show the other he meant it. “No one will ever get to know about this. Never!”

He quickly stood up and pulled on his paint stained jeans and sweater, waved his hand for Baekhyun to follow before he started marching away from the pond. “Come on, it’s late”