“Faster! Almost there!” Hyukjae screamed while the two of them were running for their life, trying to reach the bus that was about to get departed.

The impossibility to foresee some things happened to be one of the flaws of spontaneous trips. It didn’t take Hyukjae and Donghae long to find a right route and choose a bus that could drive them right to the town the raven head mentioned. But there was no online schedule, and the unexpected thing that happened to wait for them once they reached the place where they could buy tickets at was that they either had to rush as the bus was going to depart in less than five minutes or they had to wait for around three hours until the next one.

It wasn’t hard to get what they chose the moment those two ran as fast as they only could, getting confused in all the directions because of course the bus wasn’t clearly visible from the place they bought tickets at.

The luck seemed to be on their side as Hyukjae spotted it on the other side of road, so, yelling Donghae to follow him, he sprinted there, hoping to get in time. The photographer was running behind him and trying his best to both be fast and not fall as he absolutely didn’t want to crash that camera of his. The driver started the bus engine when they still were running towards it, and Hyukjae – being too scared they’ll be late – grabbed Donghae’s hand in the least polite way one could only imagine and literally dragged the poor man just for them to get in there.

Just like in a movie, they managed to get inside the moment the bus doors started closing, and the two had no chance to move further into the cabin when the vehicle moved with at least two poor souls standing on its small ladder and panting as they weren’t ready for such activity. Hyukjae’s palm was squeezing Donghae’s one rather tightly when the man leaned on the door that just got closed – he pushed the photographer inside first for at least one of them to be able to go there in case the driver won’t wait – and let a sigh of relief, feeling like he could collapse any time.

“Wild,” he spoke and looked at Donghae who grabbed the handrail and was trying to catch his breath.

Their eyes met. It was hard to tell how much time passed with them just looking at each other without uttering a word – observing each other’s eyes, the drops of sweat that appeared on their foreheads unavoidably. They kept silent and then, both laughed simultaneously.

“That was like a movie!” Donghae let out a thought both had. “You know those movies with the characters running after the train? If only the bus was moving…”

“We’d have to jump on its roof if it was moving,” Hyukjae remarked.

“Not with our height!”

Both laughed again, and the raven head looked down only to see their intertwined fingers. The smile didn’t leave his face, yet his behavior caused Donghae to look down as well only to notice the fact they were holding hands. Still.

“Oh, sorry,” he said and let the man’s hand go, yet the photographer didn’t know what to do with his own one now.

Every move, every gesture seemed so awkward, so he just let it be. He never travelled while holding someone’s hand, but now the ginger head felt like… Like he wasn’t used to not being able to not hold Hyukjae’s hand.

That feeling was so funny and ridiculous – it was the first time they happened to do it. Okay, the second one – Hyukjae grabbed the man’s hand to help him out of the forest on the first day they met, but that memory has almost faded. Donghae struggled to say why. Maybe because it looked like a sudden and absolutely meaningless encounter that day. None of them expected to start hanging out like that when they first met each other, so it was only natural the feelings were different. The photographer felt nothing special when they held hands for the first time.

This time, he… Felt too many things. Hyukjae’s hands were the same temperature, right? However, this time it felt like they were much warmer. To the extent it caused shivers. To the point that warmth reached his body, his heart even. It was rare, yet sometimes such a simple gesture as holding hands made you feel warm… deep inside.

Donghae didn’t even realize how cold inside he was until Hyukjae’s palm warmed him up.

“It’s okay,” the said man spoke. “I was the first to grab your hand.”

It felt awkward. For both of them. Whenever your relationship is progressing, you need some time to adjust to the changes. Now, their progress was a bit too rapid, too hard for them to catch up with. There were no bitter feelings, no second thoughts. It’s just that they had to get used to the fact that no one felt bad about holding hands.

Because Hyukjae liked it as well. He gave his palm a quick glance, noticing how empty it felt now. Who knows, maybe he’d stare at it for a while, yet Donghae’s voice made the man look at him when the photographer spoke, “I didn’t mind.”

It was peculiar how things and the feelings they caused could change in the blink of an eye. Just like the feelings of the second time them holding their hands, the feelings caused by them looking into each other’s eyes changed as well. The mood changed. It was a carefree exchange of glances the first time. A rare moment of pure happiness and them acting without thinking much.

It was tension this time. Yet not that awkward tension enemies feel, that was that kind of tension one feels when there are too many things to grasp. Hyukjae’s eyes locked with Donghae’s eyes. The stare so attentive, so intense; the photographer felt like that person could see through him, to read what was on his mind and look at his exposed soul. His lips felt dry and he them, yet it caused even more misunderstanding because he looked at the raven head’s lips at the same time.

Just because he wanted to see whether Hyukjae’s lips were dry as well. Because he wanted to check whether he was the only one who felt nervous.

He made things even more awkward instead.

The model’s eyes widened, yet before he managed to find something to say, Donghae spoke, “I meant… You don’t have to be worried about touching me randomly. My hands, I mean… And whatever you please, I guess? Ah, not like there are many areas you’d like to touch… That sounds so wrong!”

The guy lowered his head and stared at his own shoes, thinking he definitely was the weirdest person ever and the worst to express his feelings. Hyukjae’s eyes kept getting wider the more the ginger head spoke, and the latter felt like an absolute misery when adding, “I just meant I’m okay with physical contact. I can be quite clingy even, so… I won’t… feel unpleasant if you touch me. Especially in situations like this. When you had no choice.”

The raven head opened his mouth, yet managed to stop himself from speaking before he said something ambiguous.

What was he going to say anyway? That he didn’t do that just because he had no other choice? That’d mean he wanted to hold Donghae’s hand and wasn’t against holding it one more time.

He wasn’t against it, in fact.

And sometimes, just sometimes, fate was generous enough to grant our wishes. Even if we haven’t realized them as wishes yet and were a little terrified they could come true.

Donghae lost his balance on a sharp turn; despite him holding onto the handrail, the guy staggered and moved forward. He wouldn’t have fallen, but Hyukjae, acting instinctively, steadied him immediately to prevent all kinds of the unfortunate events from happening. Grabbing his shoulder and, once again, the man’s palm, he asked, “You’re fine?”

“Yeah, sorry, I just…” Donghae was at a loss of words once he noticed they happened to be holding hands again. He shivered.

Weird. He kept making this situation weird, and it just felt wrong, terribly wrong. It could lead to something horrible, to something he definitely didn’t want to happen. Hyukjae could think of stopping talking to him, could grow sick of the man’s clumsiness.

That’s why there was an attempt to free his hand again, however, this time the raven head squeezed it tighter, preventing the photographer from doing so. Fighting his shyness, Donghae met Hyukjae’s eyes only to see the man smiling – a little bit of tease in that smile, a little bit of confidence, and a full spoon of genuine joy the model was getting from this situation.

“I’m not against holding hands as well,” he spoke. “Even when we don’t have to.”

Although he was smiling, Hyukjae wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing. Seeing how the ginger head’s eyes grew wider out of surprise, how they sparkled with a tint of hope, he felt like a horrible person. Especially after getting to know Donghae becoming interested in him… was not so impossible.

He failed to ask whether the man had a boyfriend as well since his family seemed to be supportive, so he didn’t need to hide it. Failed to ask whether he had a crush on someone. Failed to understand whether he was planting a seed of hopes in the man’s heart, just like he himself failed to understand whether those hopes were false or they weren’t.

He failed to think about so many things. He didn’t even want to think about them.

“Should we sit?” the model asked instead, still smiley, and nodded towards the empty seats that were available for them to use. “So you won’t fall.”

Squeezing the man’s hand tighter, Donghae felt all giddy. Yeah, that was a wise decision to make; there will be more sharp turns on this road for sure. It’d be safe as well. It’d be smart to do. But, as irrational as it sounded, the man didn’t want to let go of the raven head’s hand.

It felt both wrong and right to do. It was right because the two of them seemed to like it, that was not a one-sided action. It was wrong because Hyukjae had a boyfriend. They weren’t good, yet Donghae didn’t want to take an advantage of it, didn’t want to look better compared to someone who had a complicated past they shared with Hyukjae. He just wanted to be him. And he knew the man wouldn’t have noticed him if his relationship with his boyfriend was good.

But… those were just hands, right? Was it bad if Donghae knew he was unwanted? Was it bad if the man genuinely didn’t think of Hyukjae in… that way? Whether because he was afraid or because of something else. Was what he was doing… horrible?

“I’m afraid I feel a little nauseous,” he let out instead of a proper answer, speaking his mind as those thoughts made him feel like that for real.

Hyukjae’s eyes widened a little.

“Then we should stand for a while,” he said. “I heard it gets better if you’re standing and looking on the road. Try it.”

Donghae looked at the window behind the man, mouthing a soft and barely audible, “Okay.”

He felt how the model squeezed his palm tighter, “Tell me if you feel worse, I’ll ask the driver to stop.”

The other man could only nod. He couldn’t think of an appropriate answer.

He was only focused on their hands that didn’t let go of one another until the end of that ride.

***

“Are you okay now?” Hyukjae asked in a concerned voice once they arrived – yes, they were standing the whole time – and looked around. “Should we find a bench to rest for a while?”

“I…”

Donghae was okay for long time already. Well, if his unsteady heartbeat and weird feeling in his stomach that was far from nausea, more like tickling, could mean he was okay. He looked around as well, seeing nothing but trees and a few houses further down the road, and that newborn excitement that appeared in his chest helped him to overcome the other feelings and smile.

“I think it’ll be a waste to just sit down when there are so many streets to discover.”

Hyukjae looked back at him and offered a smile, saying, “I doubt this town has much more streets than the one we stopped at.”

“But those are totally different streets, right?”

“We need to see to know that.”

“What are we waiting for, then?”

The raven head’s smile grew bigger as he gestured Donghae could go first and show him the way. It was their first time in that town, yet Hyukjae had literally nothing planned apart from that waterfall, that’s why he didn’t mind the man choosing where to go.

Spontaneity… it could be the best thing from time to time. There were a lot of mistakes made after people taking spontaneous decisions, yet there was a beauty in that as well. Spontaneous decisions could lead to something great, magnificent even. Spontaneity could open the doors that were open only to those people who were brave enough to follow their heart without giving it much of a thought.

Hyukjae approaching Donghae on the very first day was spontaneous. Donghae rebooking his flight was spontaneous.

And this spontaneity led to them being here. The raven head’s spontaneous decision to come to this town. The photographer’s spontaneous choice of places.

It was a lovely town – small, yet full of colors on every corner. Everything was bright, starting from the small houses mainly of yellow and orange colors, continuing with numerous arts on them – all in light brown colors, yet depicting joyful moments – and ending with people on the streets. It was sunny, even the mountains surround