No True Pair

Title: Nature Break
Fandom: B.A.P, Oneus
Pairing/Characters: Yoo YoungJae, Yeo Hwanwoong
Content Notes: N/A
Prompt: 3 September “just what I needed”


Youngjae rounded the corner of the trail, and hesitated a moment before speeding up. Ahead of him, someone sat at the side on a convenient log, elbows on his knees, head braced in his hands. He didn't look like he rested, but rather was in the middle of a crisis of some sort. Youngjae stopped in front of him. "Are you okay?"

Startled, the man jumped, looking up in surprise. Youngjae hadn't expected to know him, although not personally. "Sorry?" Hwanwoong asked. His confusion cleared, and he smiled. "Oh. Hi."

Youngjae bowed quickly. "Hi. Are you okay?"

Hwanwoong shrugged. "I don't know."

"Heading up or down?"

Hwanwoong scuffed his hiking boots. "I'm not actually sure."

Youngjae barked a laugh. "Does that mean you might be as high up as you want?"

Hwanwoong gave him a wry smile. "I don't know that, either. I wanted to go for a hike, not expecting an existential crisis."

Youngjae half-grimaced in understanding. "Well, I'm heading up to the waterfall. Want to come with? Have a bit of distraction from your crisis?"

Hwanwoong blinked at him. "I... you know, I think that sounds amazing. You really don't mind?"

"I really don't mind," Youngjae said.

They were both pretty well prepared for the hike, with water and snacks to keep their energy up. The conversation flowed well as they talked about work, home, hobbies, everything like that. Youngjae watched as Hwanwoong's face cleared, his smile becoming freer, less constrained.

"Wow," Hwanwoong said, interrupting his own sentence as they came upon the waterfall.

"Yeah," Youngjae said. They stood there, looking at it, stunned at the beauty. "I forget this sort of thing is here," he added after a moment.

"Yeah," Hwanwoong said. "It feels like too much effort to keep going, and I just... This is just what I needed."

"Me, too," Youngjae said, and urged him over toward a convenient rock that looked big enough for both of them. Even better, it was in the shade, and they got comfortable and sat watching the waterfall, sipping warm water and relaxing.

Youngjae didn't know how long they sat there when he turned to look at Hwanwoong. "Are you feeling better?"

Hwanwoong looked at him and smiled. "A lot better," he said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Youngjae regarded the waterfall silently. "Want to do this regularly?"

Hwanwoong perked up. "What do you have in mind?"

Youngjae shrugged. "Finding other close places to hike, meet like once a month or something? At least to start?"

Hwanwoong let out his breath in a sigh. "That sounds amazing," he said. "yeah." He pulled out his phone, opened it, and passed it over. "Add your number?"

Youngjae grinned, took it, and did so, and sent himself a text. "Great," he said, taking his phone out to make sure he added the number into his own contacts. "Thank you."

Hwanwoong grinned back.