Gwangju is a disaster zone. The air stinks of mulch and clings muggy over his head, and the clouds hang low and foreboding, fresh with rain. The buildings look like they’re one mild earthquake away from crumbling to the ground, and the only thing in his sight are trees, trees, and more goddamn trees.

Unfastidious, is the word that comes to mind

Changmin descends the ‘stairs’ (which in actuality are just a collection of dangerously shaped rocks) to the cabin and his hand touches something sticky on the railing. He suddenly misses Seoul.

Changmin pulls a bottle of hand sanitizer from his coat and shudders, applying a generous amount and counting to three before moving on. He makes sure to keep his hands in his Burberry fur coat and cries a little inside when his boots make sticking noises as he steps.

Changmin looks at the wooden door lined with moss disdainfully, taking a deep breath before knocking the door with his shoe three times. There’s no way he’s letting his hands get that dirty.

There’s a clamour from inside and a muffled “just a minute!” and Changmin just really, really wants to go home. The contractor, after what seems an eternity, swings the door open and greets Changmin with a grin so bright it blinds him. The man’s shirtless and tanned, and Changmin really thinks he ought to have put a shirt on before greeting him, seeing as the flannel is tied around his waist anyway.

“Shim Changmin, right?” he says, cattish eyes wide and welcoming. He’s got a strong accent that makes Changmin blink hearing his name pronounced so roughly.

Changmin inches a small smile onto his face with colossal effort. “You must be Jung Yunho.” He’s the boss of the operation, and Changmin knows he has to be nice.

“That’s the one!” he says with far too much enthusiasm for Changmin to feel okay about it, and he practically shoves his dirt encrusted hand in Changmin’s face. “Nice to meet you.”

Changmin eyes the hand and very slowly clasps it, keeping his grip weak. Yunho shakes his hand with so much vigour Changmin’s shoulder feels like it’s about to dislocate from its socket. Changmin wonders if it would be too rude to bring out the Dettol and clean his hands right there and then. He doesn’t really want to offend his client, seeing as his company are paying him a very reasonable amount of money just to supervise the logging expedition, so he decides yes, it’s definitely too rude.

“Come in, come in! Sorry it’s a bit of a mess, I didn’t expect you around so early—thought you’d be here after dinner. It’s kind of my thing to leave things right to the last second,” he laughs, rubbing the back of his neck and retreating into the poorly lit cabin. Changmin discreetly wipes his palm on his jacket and follows. Yunho walks with this easy confidence and his back muscles ripple in a way that make Changmin feel stupidly self-conscious in his slight frame.

The cabin is, as Yunho said, a mess. Clothes and household appliances are strung all over the floor, and the wood that’s supposed to be near the fireplace is scattered all throughout the room. A massive trip hazard, he thinks. Changmin looks to the roof to ask the sky for guidance, but a drop of rain falls from the leaking roof and smacks him right in the forehead.

“So you’ll be sleeping there. The window rattles a bit when it’s windy and it can get kind of cold in the nights, but I’ve got an extra blanket in the cupboard and we can light the fire if you’d like.” Yunho’s pointing to a shack of a bed that looks more like it should belong to an animal than a person.

Changmin pauses. “Wait. Wait, aren’t I housing at the lodge?”

Yunho scratches his neck. “Oh, they didn’t tell you? There was this weird flash flood thing down at the lodge so they’re still getting it cleaned up, and they said you could just bunk with me until your room’s ready since I have an extra bed and all.”

Changmin’s going to have a panic attack.

It’s terrible enough that he’s had to spend even a moment in this hell hole, but now he has to bunk here for god knows how long?

“No—no it’s fine, I don’t want to intrude. I’ll just find a hotel to stay at until the lodge is back in order.”

Yunho waves his hand. “Honestly, it’s fine.”

“No, really. I’ll find somewhere else.”

“It’s because it’s messy, isn’t it?” Yunho asks, shoulders slumping, looking like a kicked puppy.

Well, Changmin feels like a total now. “No, of course not, it’s just this is obviously your, uh…” he gestures to the mess on the floor, “spot. So I just thought, that, it’d be rude to intrude when you haven’t been given much um, preparation.”

Yunho still looks terribly put off. “Well, it’s not like you’ve got much choice, anyway. The nearest hotel is a two hour drive away, and we start at four in the morning.”

“No!” Changmin shouts in despair. “No—I mean as in, I wasn’t trying to offend you, I just didn’t know if you’d be okay with it and—“

“So you’re staying?”

Changmin forces a big smile and drops himself on the bed that will now be his for however long to come. “Of course. Ha. Ha. I love the forest. Getting down with nature. Trees.”

Yunho gives him a strange smile like he’s not quite sure what to think. “O-kay. Well we usually go down to the campsite to eat with the workers ‘cause it’s the only place with a barbeque, so if you wanna change, I’d do it quick so I can show you where it is. You can get lost pretty easy with all the trees, and it’s getting dark, so.”

Changmin look down at his shiny leather shoes, black jeans, and expensive blue coat. “Is there something wrong with what I’m wearing?” He spent almost a thousand dollars in total for this outfit and he’s sure it looks stunning.

Yunho’s lips quirk up, amused. “Nothing’s wrong it’s just a little more uh, fancy then what we’re used to down here. Guess you Seoul guys are a little different, huh?”

Changmin really isn’t sure what to make of that, but there’s no way he’s changing from his stunningly expensive outfit.

Five minutes after leaving the cabin Changmin definitely now understands why Yunho looked so amused. His shoes and bottoms of his jeans are caked in mud and when they finally reach the campsite, a layer of mud has caked itself on and he can’t shake it off no matter how much he scrapes his shoes on the gravel floor. Changmin catches Yunho hiding a smile behind his hand as he watches and he turns bright red with frustration and embarrassment. He gives up, not wanting to be snickered at any more than he already has, and introduces himself to the group of lumberjacks at large. A few of them grunt back responses and Changmin feels like his IQ is decaying at an alarming rate. He’s used to clean offices, distinctions and diplomas hanging off walls, not labouring men who probably didn’t even finish high school.

He takes a seat on the metal bench next to Yunho when he’s waved over, careful not to touch the damp wooden tabletop. A raccoon eyed man who introduces himself as Kyungsoo slaps a metal plate with a mush of beans, sausages, and something unidentifiable and green in front of him. He pokes the sausage dispassionately and sighs. Yunho leans over with a playful smile and nudges him. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

Changmin sends him a smile that’s really more of a grimace and plops a piece of suspicious green substance into his mouth. He coughs and splutters, and Yunho passes him a glass of water.

“Not as bad as it looks?” Changmin mocks, eyes wide and betrayed. “It’s worse.”

“Better get used to it, city boy,” Yunho teases. He steals a bite of green stuff of his plate, and Changmin’s just about ready to smack him. “Mm, mm, mm. The fresh taste of green sludge on a Sunday night.”

Changmin gags dramatically.

Yunho laughs and looks him up and down. “You married?” he says, gesturing to Changmin’s wedding ring.

Changmin holds the gold ring to his chest and fiddles with it. “Yeah, we’re going on two years now.”

“Huh,” Yunho says. “Got kids?”

“Not yet. We got married when we were both twenty-three and I was too busy with work, and Victoria thought we were too young. But maybe soon, I think. After I finish this job I won’t really be busy for a while since my contract runs out for this company, then I’m just going to work under my father for a few years. See where it goes.” Changmin points at Yunho’s hand. “You’re not married yet? How old are you?”

“Older than you. And I guess marriage just isn’t really for me,” Yunho says with a wry smile.

Changmin shrugs. “It’s hard work, really. It’s not what they crack it up to be.” Changmin laughs and covers his mouth shyly. “Not that I don’t love Vic, she’s honestly everything I could ask for, it’s just more work than you’d imagine trying to keep things good.”

Yunho listens with a kind smile, head resting on his palm. “Sounds like you really love her.”

“Yeah, I really do. We’re high school sweethearts, going on nine years now.”

Yunho whistles and leans back in his chair. “Long time, hey. Won’t your missus be mad that you’re down here all the time after being glued to each other for so long?”

Changmin forces down bites of his food with an expression as polite as he can muster, trying not to offend the chef whose gaze he can feel bored into him. “It’s only a year. And besides, I’ll be going home for weekends to see her. It’s not really different to before since my work days were so late I usually got back when she was already asleep.”

Yunho makes a sympathetic noise through a mouthful of sausage. “Sounds rough.”

“It’s a good thing I like my job,” Changmin laughs politely. Despite his earlier reservations, Changmin thinks that Yunho is actually a pretty cool guy. He’s friendly and easy to talk to, and Changmin thinks he actually wouldn’t mind rooming with him if it wasn’t for that god forsaken cabin they had to sleep in.

They wander back to the cabin and share pleasant conversation after Changmin has forcefully stuffed the rest of his food down his throat. Yunho laughs at him the whole way back, imitating Changmin’s expressions every time he put food in his mouth. Yunho fetches him the extra blanket and makes him a cup of tea before he goes to sleep, and Changmin’s in a markedly better mood than he was on the way down here. He’s still not a fan of the mud and dirt and dampness, but he thinks maybe it won’t be quite as bad as he imagined. He goes to bed with a warmth in his chest that makes him smile as he snuggles under the covers.