can i walk with you - heejay

chapter twenty

"okay guys, stay together!"

jay was sure that mr. cheon was yelling, but from where he was in the back he could barely here a word the teacher said.

a groan fell from the boy's lips as he swatted the many bugs that had tried to bite him away. unfortunately a few bugs had achieved the task jay tried his best to make difficult, causing the brunette to have a few bites on his hand.

jay had been scratching his hand when someone tugged on his arm, pulling it away from his raw hand.

"stop scratching," heeseung lightly scolded, lacing his fingers through the younger's.

jay playfully rolled his eyes in return, swinging his and heeseung's arm back and forth, briefly scanning the small scabs on the older's fist, "how long is this hike?"

heeseung turned to the shorter, shrugging, causing the bag on his shoulders to move, the faint rattle of pills could be heard, "not sure."

the younger let out a small sigh, continuing to walk on the dirt trail, shivering as the wind picked up. it's a good thing he listened to heeseung otherwise he'd be freezing his off in a thin shirt.

"all right," mr, cheon's voice rang though the air after a couple more minutes, causing jay to look up, they had reached a small field that was surrounded by trees, "split into groups of two and come take a compass and paper."

heeseung and jay wordlessly made their way to mr. cheon, it was quite obvious that they would pair up.

mr. cheon greeted them with a polite smile, handing heeseung the compass and jay the paper, "on the paper you'll find your instructions, the treasure you're looking for, and how to use a compass, good luck boys."

the two boys left hand in hand, walking to the edge of the group. jay shuffled toward the older, holding the paper in between them.

"so we have to find binoculars," jay looked up at heeseung, brows raised at the odd object they had to find as he glanced at the compass in the taller's hand, "do you know how to use a compass?"

"it can't be that hard," heeseung shrugged his shoulders, looking over at the paper in jay's hand, brows pulled together.

"okay," jay said warily, walking to the indicated starting point as he read the first instruction off the paper, "we have to go ten steps north."

heeseung held out the compass on his flat palm, turning in his spot as he kept a keen eye on the needle.

~

"it can't be that hard you said," jay mocked as he watched heeseung look at the compass in complete confusion.

"okay, maybe it's not as easy as i thought," heeseung frowned, running a hand through his hair, "how many directions do we have left?"

"uh," jay paused looking down at the sheet in his hand, "three more."

heeseung quietly groaned, "this is harder than it should be."

jay hummed in agreement, uttering the next direction on the list as he inched toward heeseung, eyes squinted as he focused on the compass.

heeseung and jay spent the next thirty minutes struggling to find the binoculars which hung off one of the taller branches. this was the only time jay was thankful for heeseung's height, otherwise he loathed it.

the two delivered the binoculars to mr. cheon before sitting down on one of the logs, watching pairs of clueless students walk by.

jay had been people watching, wrapping his arms around his body when his eyes stopped on a particular pair of boys.

"look," jay rapidly tapped heeseung's arm in excitement a wide smile on his face as he nodded toward the duo, "sunghoon and jake paired up."

heeseung eyed the two boys who seemed to be lost, "well that's expected."

jay emitted a soft laugh, one that was like music to heeseung's ears. the older's heart raced as he watched the smiling boy before him. if it wasn't obvious enough, heeseung loved jay with his entire being, he would do anything for him.

"i told you it was going to be cold," heeseung muttered, wrapping his arm around the younger's shivering frame, pulling him flush against his side.

jay rolled his eyes, fighting back the pink hue that arose on his cheeks, clamping his lips as he watched more people start turning in their treasure to mr. cheon, "how long do you think this is gonna take?" jay cleared his throat, turning to heeseung, tilting his head up to look at the older.

"not that long, there's only a few groups left," heeseung responded, lightly rubbing jay's shoulders as he watched more people make their way to mr. cheon.

"are we doing anything after this?" jay questioned, leaning into the older's soft touch.

"i think jake said he wanted to go canoeing," heeseung tilted his head, looking down at jay with a tender smile. what did he do in his past life to meet someone as special as park jonseong?

"canoeing? does he even know how to?" jay furrowed his brow in question, missing the way heeseung looked at him.

"i don't know," heeseung shrugged, moving his hand from jay's shoulder to his waist, "let's ask him." the older diverted his gaze from jay to the pair of boys who were walking towards them.

"oh, they finally finished," jay sent jake a small wave, noticing how relieved the boy looked to be done.

"what's up," jake called out, taking the spot next to heeseung, seemingly unbothered by heeseung and jay's public display of affection. in all honesty, he's probably used to it by now.

"hey," heeseung replied, sending a small wave to sunghoon who sat beside jake, "are we still going canoeing later?"

jake appeared to perk up at the mention of canoeing, "yup, y'all are going right? i still have to ask sunoo."

heeseung turned away from jake, raising his brows at jay, only responding when the younger sent him a small nod, "yeah, we're going."

before jake could turn away from the two, jay leaned forward so that heeseung didn't block him, getting the boy's attention, "oh, by the way, have you ever been canoeing?"

"nope," jake said, popping the p, he had the same foolish, puppy-like grin on his face.

"oh boy," jay whispered, leaning back into heeseung's embrace, a faint grimace on his lips.