renjun was dressed warmly for the night as he cautiously strolled through the park. though he wanted badly to plug in his headphones and listen to music, it was dark and he wanted to be careful, making sure he was safe.

   he walked towards the water's ledge as he'd seen in his dream. as he was there, he realized there was a bar blocking him from the water which also told him that the dream he had was truly nothing but a thought and sensation that came over him in his sleep. after all, in his dream they'd been right up to the water, with nothing restricting them from jumping right in.

   he shook his head wanting to clear his mind until he noticed the presence of another person. he looked to his left, noticing that the stranger was seemingly also alone. who else would come here at this hour? he thought.

   observing the other person's figure, his blood turned cold, recognition flooding his senses. of course it was jaemin.

   though it was against pretty much everything he stood for, he had the urge to go over and talk to him. he didn't know why, but he did.

   for a moment, he inwardly debated with himself over it, before deciding that the worse that could happen was them getting into a fight or argument. taking a deep breath, he walked over to jaemin. 

   "hi," he said, surprising himself that he went through with it all the way. "renjun?" jaemin turned. his face proved that he was even more surprised than renjun was.

   "why are you here at this time?" renjun asked, turning toward the water as he made casual conversation. it was funny pretending that they didn't have a long history behind them. almost relieving, actually. silence settled, and for a moment, renjun thought jaemin wouldn't reply—but he did. "i couldn't sleep," he admitted. "now why are you here?"

   "i...," he trailed off, not wanting to go into detail, "i couldn't sleep either." jaemin only hummed in response. 

   renjun strictly kept his gaze on the water and the reflection of the moon on it. he could feel the stare of jaemin next to him but he chose to ignore it.

   "do you know how to skip rocks?" renjun found himself saying. the question caught jaemin off guard and he needed a moment to recover before replying, "yeah, why?" renjun placed his elbows on the bar in front of him, leaning his weight onto it. "i've just never been any good at it. i guess i was curious."

   "i could teach you?" jaemin offered. "now it was renjun's turn to be caught off guard. "what? now?" he asked. 

   "there's no better time that the present," the taller announced, climbing over the rail and dropping down on the other side. renjun stared at him blankly. he could follow behind him or he could turn away and leave. the first option was far more tempting than the second. 

   "how do i even get over this thing?" he muttered, managing to sit on top of it. "here," jaemin placed his hands on his waist and helped him down carefully. his touch lingered, but not for long.

   "now what?" renjun asked, brushing off the imaginary dirt from his pants. 

   jaemin looked towards the ground, crouching down and coming back up shortly after. "find a rock like this," he instructed, holding up a pale and smooth rock.

   renjun knew he wouldn't hesitate to do exactly as he'd said.

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word count: 582

very weird chapter ending

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾