#nostalgiaau

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“congratulations and welcome to the team!”
the overly peppy voice that comes out of the body of the middle-aged man somehow doesn’t match the soulless look in his eyes
he hands you a whistle and a t-shirt, which when you unfold greets you with the name of the water park you’ve been cursed to work at all summer
the font is big and bubbly and very, very, veryyellow - it’s almost nauseating
you turn the shirt around and on the back, in that same childish font, is the word staff
“jungwoo, glad to see you here again!”
you turn your head to see the man, who is your shift manager, patting a rather thin and tall looking boy on the back
he makes a gagging noise which the manager just laughs heartily at before dropping the same shirt and whistle in jungwoo’s palm
“hey wait - which ride am i on this year?”
“um let me see - you’re on …….. ah, the log flume with the new employee.”
you motion to yourself because it seems like you’re the only new face at the orientation
everyone else has cliqued up and is already mumbling about how much this is going to suck with each other
jungwoo slinks over and throws the shirt over his shoulder
“log flume kinda sucks, just so you know.”
“really? i can’t imagine getting sprayed by residual dirty water isn’t a thrilling experience - especially when it happens a hundred times a day.”
there’s a pause and then a large grin forms of jungwoo’s features
“oh - i like you.”
you affirm the notion with a little bit of a prideful shrug and smile yourself
good, i think i like you too.
of course - when you and jungwoo first exchange these sentiments, it’s nothing more than an employee-to-employee relationship
jungwoo has a sense of humor that either tends to fly over peoples heads or offend them (sometimes both)
but you catch on quickly and sometimes even beat him in a game of his own wits
during an opening shift where you two are testing the ride and cleaning up the waiting area, jungwoo confides that when he was in middle school someone had pointed out that he’s “eccentric”
you scrunch your nose up as you tie a knot around the garbage bag in your hand
“eccentric is a polite way of saying fucking weird, you know that right jungwoo?”
“do you think im ‘fucking weird’ then?”
he does a pose and you shake your head with a little laugh
“no i think you’re just….you.”
he relaxes his limbs and tilts his head to the side, without a verbal answer you somehow sense that that was the one thing jungwoo really wanted to hear
working the log flume though - is as hellish as expected
most of your days are spent standing in those hot, cheap plastic ponchos and waving at families with screaming children or rowdy teenagers who barely fit in the ride with their bony knees
despite your efforts to keep dry, you and jungwoo always end up soaked
he’s forgetful and clumsy so half the time you have to share the towel you bring with him, not to mention your lunch gets gobbled up by him too
you ask at some point why jungwoo just doesn’t bring his own stuff - you are not a one-stop 7/11 shop
he laughs and takes a bite into the huge soft pretzel sold in the water park
“why should i bring anything, you’ve always got everything we need!”
a pang like the toll of a bell vibrates through the cavity of your chest
we - what about “we”, there’s no “we”, there’s just…….“friends”
a sour taste in your mouth accompanies the thought and so you push it to the back of your mind
“still - at least start bringing your own change of clothes, you’re too tall for any of my shirts.”
“crop-tops are in though!”
you stare down at the switchboard that operates the log flume - the buttons with scraping labels, the emergency stop button, the little cubbies below where people leave their phones
the park is closing in thirty minutes and jungwoo has scampered off to hand in your ticket collection to the manager
the summer evening is hovering between the last beams of light and suddenly - alone at the top of the ride - something shifts
you unfile the thought you had before, the idea of what 'we’ means to you and jungwoo
and you come to a daunting realization that, after only a couple of weeks of laughter and grueling minimum wage work, the statement “i think i like you too” is starting to take a new shape in your heart
“hey - did you drown up there?”
you lean over the side and see jungwoo below waving
even with the distance the essence of his warm shine floats up and tickles at your cheeks.
you swat it away, but it doesn’t work.
“no - the log flume ghost caught me, i can’t come down.”
you joke back and he salutes
“wait there, i will come save you - i have fought that ghost once before!”
he’s joking, but something flutters its wings when you hear him rush up the steps with all the seriousness of coming to get you. to save you.
when he reaches you - you mask the weird flush climbing up your spine - and pretend to be flailing
jungwoo gives you a kindergarten laugh as he joins in on the fun - a fake punch to the face of a fake ghost
he grabs you around the waist and tugs you toward him, and inches from his face, you see something behind the childish glint in the brown of his eyes.
he’s so handsome.
“saved you! let’s get out of here or the manager will accuse us of trying to sneak in overtime.”
the weight of his hands on you is only described as comforting, easy. so very easy.
so even when he lets go and you are trailing behind him and the rest of the park employees after closing you miss it, you miss the touch of a friend who is becoming a lot more than just that.
“jungwoo’s being switched to the lazy river starting today, that place is such a cease pool of idiocy that i need more coverage on it.”
a groan escapes jungwoo before you can even process what the manager is saying
“what? but i hate that place most of all - do you know how many random dads get into fights on that thing?”
“am i going to be on log flume alone?”
your voice is way calmer than you expect it to be and the manager makes a passive motion with his hand, “yep - and i trust you’ll handle it fine.”
jungwoo’s look is apologetic and slightly bitter, you reach out to give him a pat on the shoulder, but your palm hovers above the fabric of his shirt before pulling embarrassingly back to your side
either he doesn’t notice or he chooses not to say anything because jungwoo turns and trudges over to the other three people assigned to the river
without jungwoo, the weird gnawing feeling of a summer crush only gets stronger, because now that he’s not glued to your side
you miss him so terribly it almost makes you feel sick
coupled with the boredom of being alone the entire day with strangers seems to just worsen the symptoms
a week into the switch, you make the choice to visit jungwoo on your lunch break
you arrive just in time to see the aftermath of one of those dad fights he had mentioned
jungwoo is waist-deep in the water with two of those inflatable tubes on either side. he looks like he’s negotiating a war truce between two disgruntled generals and he hands the tubes back as the men disperse to their respective families with scowls on their faces
jungwoo is also not wearing a shirt
“lazy river is much more hands-on then log flume”
the line of his back is lean and there are some healing bruises under his ribs which you can only assume are from his rather clumsy nature, the other thought of what could have caused them makes your head spin
“hey - i see you’re literally in the trenches”
jungwoo turns and runs a hand through his wet bangs to get a better look at you. the action shouldn’t make your knees feel like jelly.
“i hate this place, come over here and dunk my head underwater please.”
you squat down near the edge and jungwoo wades closer to you
you place a brown paper bag beside you and motion to it
“im assuming you still aren’t bringing your own lunches and are surviving off scraps from everyone else?”
he grins, “you know me so well”
i know i do - you think to say, but keep the words in your throat - i know i do, which is weird because we’ve been friends for a little over a month.
“hows log flume?”
“boring without you.”
jungwoo whistles and you catch the way the sun makes every little drop of water on him glisten
“ill stop by on my break since you stopped by on yours”
a second of comfortable silence passes and jungwoo jumps up and out of the river with an ease
he grabs the lunch you’ve brought and is about to say something when a whistle from the other side of the river catches your attentions
“ugh this place is supposed to be lazy.”
he complains and before he turns to the direction of the sound, he touches your cheek with the slightly wet palm of his hand
“thanks for lunch, see you later.”
the gesture haunts you.
you even ask someone in the line for log flume what it means and she gives you a side glare that can only be conjured by a specific breed of mom.
you try to google it, but nearly drop your phone into the water.
jungwoo doesn’t come by that day - he actually only manages to visit you the next day.
he shows up in his trunks, no shirt, and the towel he never gave back to you after he borrowed it over his shoulder
“sorry, do you know how many kids get food poisoning and decide the riv-”
you put up a hand to stop him from divulging details and jungwoo leans against the post that controls the ride as you wave off the next bunch of people
you feel him watch you before he joins you and helps start lowering the bar for the next log that splashes its way into the starting point
as you two go through the rows with practiced repetition
you meet in the middle
your hands both reach out to touch the bar, bringing it down over the laps of two young-looking middle schoolers who are pretending not to be holding hands
one of them giggles as you and jungwoo’s fingers brush
the slight pass of skin on skin feels like a burst of electricity
stepping back to wave the group off - jungwoo slips in beside you and asks with a kind of strained sarcasm
“who takes their date on the log flume?”
“i think it’s cute.”
jungwoo doesn’t miss a beat and that’s what nearly knocks you backwards
“wanna go with me on our day off?”
jungwoo asks you on a date.
that you’re sure off. but why - that’s the part that does not click for you.
so is it a friend thing - are the 'we’ on this 'date’ just two friends running around the water park they work at with the freedom of having to not do their jobs? are the 'we’ on this 'date’ something completely different?
the nervousness makes you jump when jungwoo meets up with you at the bust stop and he doesn’t look or feel any different than usual
you start to accept that your first thought is correct - this is a platonic date - nothing more
until you get to the waterpark and put your things away and jungwoo pulls a small container from his bag
“what’s that?”
“you’re always taking care of me, i want to take care of you for once too.”
he opens it and inside are some lopsided looking cookies
“did you- jungwoo did you bake this?”
he poke his tongue out, but nods
“well, a friend who is a better cook than me helped.”
they taste better than you could have imagined, you take a bite and understand that no something is definitely
different
friends don’t hold their other friends hand the entire day
friends don’t lean into their other friends shoulder while waiting in the line for one of the rides and then biting softly down on the skin, kissing it after like an apologetic kitten
and friends don’t kiss their other friends in the dark, shady corner where a line of vending machines have been abandoned behind the pretzel stand
the infamous makeout spot that every water park employee buzzes about
when your date comes to an end and you and jungwoo are waiting for the bus back, you keep touching your lips.
jungwoo tastes like citrus when he kisses
there are some things i don’t know about him
you smile to yourself when his pinkie brushes yours and hooks up with it as the bus approaches
i can’t wait to learn all of them
it takes the manager exactly forty-eight hours to figure out you and jungwoo are dating.
everyone else in the park gets the memo the minute you two step into the staff room.
there’s a little pushback against it, just because there is some stupid company policy, but the manager claps you both on your backs and whispers that whatever - it is summer - kids should have fun during the summer.
maybe the fun means sneaking kisses on lunch breaks, visiting each other on your off days, swapping shifts so you two can arrive and leave together
the fun of having jungwoo nuzzle his wet face into the back of your neck as he complains about work
the fun of having you trace patterns on his arm as you two wait for the bus home
the fun of seeing each other outside of work, sprawling across his bedroom floor and talking about nonsense
the fun of jungwoo’s features shifting from languid and sleepy to acute as you shift your weight ontop of him and let your hands flirt with the hem of his shirt
“cover those up jungwoo, we are a family-friendly establishment”
the manager mumbles, motioning to jungwoo’s neck with his pen
you thin your lips and jungwoo huffs, slapping a bandage or two on the slightly puffed skin
when the days get a little colder and the droves of families dwindle slowly, you know that your summer job is coming to an end
on your last days, you have back your uniforms and whistles and the manager makes a speech about how much good work has been done and how he’s holding back his tears, but he’s sure he’ll see you next year
jungwoo mutters that you two can’t come back here next year - you two should look into summer jobs at the mall or something
your last walk from the park gates to the bus stop home is calm, even a little chilly. jungwoo drapes a hand around your shoulder and pulls you into him for the warmth.
“we never got to go on the log flume together”
you suddenly muse and jungwoo coaxes his mouth into a frown
“you really want to go together on that contraption? it’s not even fun.”
“it’s sentimental to us.”
“that’s a weird thing to say.”
he looks at you and you poke his cheek
“it’s an eccentric thing to say.”
a number of summers pass until you and jungwoo ever follow up on the notion
actually, the one summer you two end up sitting together on the log flume, is not even at the water park from your memories
it’s somewhere abroad
you’re on vacation together and jungwoo claims you dragged him onto this thing
but you see the little smile he tries to hide when the bar comes down
the two teenagers working the ride brush their fingers as they do so, catching the look of shyness that passes from one to the other you giggle and take jungwoo’s hand in your own
“what’s funny?”
he asks and you tell him oh, nothing.
the ride starts and just as the log reaches the end of the dip - you let out a small shout of excitement
jungwoo joins you, but he doesn’t just make a sound. he says something.
“i love you!”
oh, i think i like you too - the sweet taste comes back.
“i thin- i know i love you too!”

#shoutout to onf - sukhumvit swimming #nct scenarios #jungwoo scenarios #nct au #jungwoo au #nct imagines #jungwoo imagines #nct 127 scenarios #nct 127 au #jungwoo #nostalgiaau

@warmau

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 17:43:05