Closed starter for @kaisuzukii Down by the lake... sometime at night when the hermits come out for their silly little walks.
Jin didn't particularly like going for walks, but he did recognise that maybe he should do it more. Being cooped up in the music studio in his basement couldn't be good for him, yet that's where he spent the majority of his time. Either there or the art studio right next to it. However, tonight, the quiet of the night and fresh air down by the lake was preferred over the dark studio and paint fumes.
He walked along the path near the waterbed. He could vaguely make out a person coming towards him. Clearly walking by the lake at night wasn't exclusive to Jin's hobbies. As the other person approached, he thought they looked familiar, but it was hard to place them.
In all honesty, it looked like someone he hadn't seen in the longest time. But that someone was from another life, one he had left behind when he left Seoul. Right? There was no way Kai was in Blackstone Ridge of all places. That would be… Life didn't play those kinds of cruel tricks on him, right?
But the closer the person came, the more clearly he saw his features.
Fuck.
Jin's steps faltered slightly, his hands automatically shoving deeper into his jacket pockets. For a split second, he considered turning around and heading back the way he came. Pretend he hadn't seen anything. But it was too late now, they were close enough that avoiding eye contact would be obviously deliberate. Running away again wasn't really on the table right now.
His heart was doing something uncomfortable in his chest, a rhythm that had nothing to do with the walk. Six years. It had been six years since he'd sent that text and disappeared like a coward. Six years since he'd convinced himself it was better this way, cleaner. No messy goodbyes, no drawn-out conversations about feelings he couldn't articulate anyway.
"Kai?" The name slipped out before he could stop it, barely above a whisper but loud enough to carry in the quiet night air.