DPGR 175

“Hyung! Hurry, come this way!”

“Jiho-ya, don’t run! You’ll fall!”

The next day, Dojin kept his promise and went to the amusement park with Jiho. The weather was good, and since it was a weekday there weren’t as many people as he had expected.

“Let’s wear headbands. Yeah?”

“Sure. Do everything you want.”

“Really? Then I’ll pick one for you! You pick mine too.”

If he had known Jiho would like it this much, he would have brought him earlier.

Dojin calmed the bouncing Jiho and went into the prop shop. While choosing headbands, he felt people’s eyes on them.

Luckily, unlike at the movie theater, no one came up to talk. But he could hear cameras clicking here and there, so Dojin stood close by Jiho and covered him subtly.

“Hyung, try this on.”

Not knowing what Dojin was thinking, Jiho grinned brightly and held out a black rabbit-ear headband. Dojin’s eyebrow twitched up.

“…A rabbit?”

“Cute, right?”

“It’s cute, but wouldn’t it suit you more?”

“I want to see you wear it.”

Jiho looked up at him with sparkling eyes, like the cat in boots from the movie. Lately Jiho had learned to control Dojin this way.

Dojin smiled awkwardly, but he couldn’t refuse. He put the rabbit-ear headband on his head.

“Pfft, h-hyung, you’re really, hic… cute….”

Jiho’s face twisted as he stifled a sob-like laugh. Dojin’s face turned bright red at his reaction, unsure if he was laughing or crying.

“I don’t want to wear this….”

“No! You said we’d wear what we picked for each other!”

“Ugh….”

After he put on the headband, the shutter sounds grew more frequent. Dojin rubbed his face roughly and gritted his teeth.

“Fine, then I’ll pick yours, okay?”

“What? Uh, no…”

“Let’s see….”

A few minutes later.

“Thank you, come again~”

Dojin left the shop with the black rabbit headband on, Jiho with a giant red ribbon headband. Both of them blushed.

Jiho’s lips jutted out as he fiddled with the oversized ribbon and grumbled.

“I don’t want to wear this….”

“No. We agreed to wear what we picked for each other.”

“But this is too….”

“Why? It’s pretty.”

Dojin’s eyes curved as he smiled slyly, and Jiho’s face went red like the ribbon. Dojin laughed.

“Ah, really. You’re too cute.”

“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”

“No. Why would I tease my pretty one?”

“You are teasing me!”

“Ah. Let’s go ride that. Hurry.”

“H-hyung!”

Just as Jiho had learned how to handle Dojin, Dojin had also learned how to handle Jiho.

As Dojin intended, Jiho forgot about the headband after riding a couple of rides.

“Hyung! Let’s ride that one again!”

“Wait….”

“Ah! We have to ride the one next to it too…! Should we go there first? We should line up before it gets longer!”

“Wait, Jiho-ya….”

“Hyung, come on, quick!”

With the red ribbon headband on, Jiho laughed brightly, looking truly cute and beautiful. His sparkling eyes, his flushed cheeks, his lips chattering endlessly. Everything about him was so lovable that Dojin wanted to give him anything he wanted.

But Dojin overlooked one thing. His stamina.

‘Am I… losing in stamina to Jiho…?’

If it were physical combat, maybe not. But in an amusement park, being even one year younger made a difference. After a few rides, Dojin felt drained, while Jiho was just getting warmed up and even more energetic.

He knew it was age, but it still stung his pride to be outmatched in stamina by Jiho.

“Hyung, are you already tired?”

“…No. Not at all.”

“Good! Then let’s go line up over there.”

Ah, I should’ve just admitted it.

Dojin regretted his answer, but seeing Jiho smile so brightly, he ended up moving as Jiho wanted.

After a few hours, as the sun began to set.

“Phew…! We rode almost everything! Should we go watch the parade now?”

Finally, Jiho, satisfied, tugged on Dojin’s hand. Dojin checked his watch and stopped him.

“Wait. There’s something I want to ride.”

“What? You?”

Dojin, who had only gone along with Jiho until now, suddenly voiced his own wish. Jiho’s eyes widened. Dojin grinned.

“That one.”

He pointed to the Ferris wheel towering in the distance.

“I wanted to ride it with you. Will you ride it with me?”

“Yes, okay.”

Still looking a little dazed, Jiho nodded. Dojin clasped his hand tighter and walked toward the Ferris wheel.

***

“Careful as you get on.”

Even though the parade was about to start, the line for the Ferris wheel was long. Dojin kept checking the time impatiently but finally managed to get on.

“Wow! It doesn’t shake as much as I thought.”

Unlike nervous Dojin, Jiho, who had never ridden a Ferris wheel before, looked around with curiosity.

As the Ferris wheel rose slowly, Dojin enjoyed, for the first time that day, a small moment of calm.

“Hyung, you’re tired today, right?”

At that moment, Jiho, sitting across from him, asked with worry and guilt. Dojin snapped to attention and looked at him.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Liar.”

Jiho rolled his eyes playfully. Dojin finally chuckled and corrected himself.

“Actually, a little… Ha, I think I’ll need to start working out again if I want to keep up with your stamina.”

“Ahaha!”

His joke and Jiho’s clear laughter led them into conversation.

“How was today?”

“It was fun. You?”

“Me too. I felt bad we missed each other’s birthdays, but when I think about it, birthdays aren’t that special.”

Dojin shrugged and reached out to smooth Jiho’s messy hair as he continued.

“Every moment of daily life, eating together, watching TV, chatting, holding each other when we sleep, it all feels special and shining. So I wanted to say thank you to you.”

“…Me too, I’m thankful for you. I like every day.”

Jiho moved his lips, wanting to say more, but he wasn’t good with words and could only echo Dojin’s. His cheeks flushed. Dojin chuckled knowingly and patted his knees. Jiho scurried over and sat on his lap like it was the most natural thing.

Dojin held his waist tight, bent his large body, and rubbed his forehead into Jiho’s neck.

“That tickles.”

Jiho laughed and stroked his hair. Sometimes he saw a big, playful dog in Dojin. Right now was exactly like that.

Just as Dojin found Jiho lovable, Jiho found Dojin lovable too.

“…It feels like a dream.”

After fiddling with Dojin’s hair for a while, Jiho spoke.

“What does?”

“When you were lying unconscious. I was terrified you might never wake up.”

Back then, every night he prayed to any god he could think of. When he closed his eyes, he hoped Dojin would wake the next day. Each morning, he checked his phone immediately to see if the hospital had called.

Every day felt like a rollercoaster. His heart jumped and dropped dozens of times each day.

But Jiho never showed how hard it was. Especially not in front of Dojin.

“…I thought even if you had no consciousness, you could still hear me. So I acted normal in front of you.”

He was afraid that if he showed his suffering, Dojin would feel worse. That was how much Jiho put Dojin’s well-being before his own.

“Now I’m so happy you woke up. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wonder if I’m dreaming. Because I’m too happy.”

Today he felt that way too. Jiho burrowed into Dojin’s chest. He heard the steady thump of Dojin’s heartbeat against his cheek.

Tears welled in his eyes again. Jiho rubbed them into Dojin’s chest to wipe the tears away. Dojin hugged his trembling shoulders tight and pressed his lips to Jiho’s temple.

“Sorry. I woke up too late.”

“Yeah… way too late….”

“I won’t do it again. If you tell me not to leave, I won’t go anywhere.”

Dojin’s voice was low. He whispered sorry again and again and kissed Jiho’s hair.

Just as the Ferris wheel reached the top.

Boom–!

A loud sound came from outside and the sky lit up. Dojin steadied Jiho, who flinched in his arms, and lifted his chin.

“Look, Jiho-ya.”

He pointed out the window.

The black night sky bloomed with fireworks. Each time one died and another burst, Jiho’s caramel eyes shimmered purple, red, blue.

Jiho gazed at the fireworks as if entranced. He had never seen something so beautiful in his life.

From his wide-open eyes, tears that hadn’t yet fallen finally slid down.

Dojin couldn’t take his eyes off him.