Work Text:
Gyuvin would stay. Ricky will leave him behind.
The weather forecast predicted sunny, almost blazingly hot skies with wispy thin clouds and a vast expanse of blue. Just as the crew had set up the place for shooting—a private lodge just outside of a small rural mountain town and the village center where the group currently is, clouds began closing in and an overcast settled into the outskirts of the village. What started out as a drizzle that could be easily managed during filming slowly intensified into a raging storm.
When the first jolt of lightning crackled above the mountain and rainfall slowly drummed along rooftops, the filming crew quickly started packing all equipment up. Without thinking to make a headcount, the members were quickly ushered into the van and sped back off to the private lodge. Even if they didn't intend to, Ricky and Gyuvin were left behind. The duo’s quick stroll during break time was interrupted once they received a call to hurry back to their filming spot. Despite using all their energy to sprint back, all hope seemed abandoned as the traces of the van’s tires were the only thing to be seen, shining on the wet ground as if to mock them.
Both boys stood in the village center. Their phones were either dead or without reception. The center was no help either, it was an open shed with no surface for protection against the rain. Wind came from all directions with only the leaking roof keeping their styled hair dry.
Ricky turned to Gyuvin with a sullen expression. Thick, straight eyebrows furrowed, his lips downturned. However the other boy, jovial as ever, let out a grin. Eyes crinkled and lips cheekily pointed upwards. Ricky should be ticked, livid even. Why would this dumbass smile at such a completely avoidable situation? Had they not gone too far in their walk, they would've reached the van in time.
Thunder boomed from the distance and the wind howled, picking up leaves from the ground. Ricky shuffled closer to him.
It was almost romantic. Him and another boy he’d known for years—hopefully for more—stuck together stranded in a thunderstorm. Ricky almost expected the soft notes of the piano from the cheesy romance drama he finished last week. They were close indeed, in a physical sense. Arms beside each other covered in thick cotton jackets and the coldness of the air let their exhales mingle, dancing upwards into the gray clouds.
Like the sky, it’s virtually impossible to connect with the ground. The cold pavement, the soggy ground, and everything else on it stayed. It’s a curse that perpendicular lines would meet and never again. Ricky knows this. His sureness unwavering yet the biting cold does nothing to stop blood rushing to his face when Gyuvin links their hands together and starts running into the downpour.
Time travel must be real, because the world slows to a crawling pace when they speed along the empty roads. Mirth from their laughter echoing against the rain—clinging onto their hair and the fabric of their clothes. Wet leather shoes spattered with mud creating ripples in puddles as they ran through closed shops and empty houses where small, fast droplets landed harshly on the surface. They ran towards the outskirts of the village to a road where a forest began on the hard edge of the concrete.
Maybe they could’ve gotten lost here together, slipped down a cliff away from this world. At least they’d be together forever when the stars dot the sky once more.
A small shed they passed by during filming offered some semblance of a safe haven for them. Small and dark but dry enough to keep them from frigidness outside. It was close to their lodge, not enough for walking distance, but close enough to reunite with everyone else again. The rain continued to hammer down on the windows, deafening the silence between them. Only their breaths from the tiredness of running bounced around the walls. Ricky took off his jacket and haphazardly placed it on the dusty floor. Out of character for him, but who cares? The world could’ve been flooding right now but it wouldn’t matter because Gyuvin is here. The other followed and they huddled together to wait the storm out. Ricky leaned on Gyuvin’s shoulder. His heartbeat thrummed and his eyes grew heavier each second.
Gyuvin wraps himself tighter around the sleeping boy and holds his hand. He hums a tune only he and the turbulent world around him could hear.
Ricky stayed and Gyuvin held his hand tighter.