The pale water appeared thick under the bridge’s shadow. The shopping district Reoni and Rei agreed on was two blocks wide and were separated by a river, making the spot ideal for importers and fun boat rides. 

Reoni was told to wait at the bridge near the entrance. He came still pondering on if he dressed appropriately for the occasion, choosing a casual and inoffensive denim pullover, or if he should have worn something more formal, but regardless, Rei’s idea of clothes didn’t seem to have quite crossed his. He popped into Reoni’s view of the water and framed his jaw with his open hands, wearing a glowing white dress shirt and formal black pants for the event. A small bleached gold chain laid on top of his collarbone and wrist. 

“Which one’s prettier?” he asked, shooting a wink with a literal tongue-in-cheek grin.

Reoni got flustered with the single question, raising his sleeve to conceal his face. “Stop, I don’t wanna hurt the ocean’s feelings.”

He scoffed, dropping his hands just to pull in closer to Reoni. “It’s rude to be so humble sometimes,” he said.

Though half of his face was blocked off, in contrast to the sun faded denim he sported, he was washed over with blush at the unexpected compliment. World record on getting Reoni flustered on sight. “That’s not what I meant!”

His outburst put a smirk on him. “You’re giving nature an unfair advantage by blushing,” he warned, stepping off the ledge he leaned on with his foot. “Come on, let’s get you a new camera.”

Reoni looked over to see that he was already walking away. His cheeks puffed out and his eyelids lowered—he hated it when people avoided compliments. He ran over and curled his finger over Rei’s sleeve to brake. “You’re pretty too.”

His eyes widened, tilting his chin to look over his shoulder, and experienced his heart melting and internally screaming at the pouting Reoni. And he called him pretty? He was already on his deathbed. As much as he fanboyed, his face continued the cocky persona. “You’re so sweet.” He slowed his pace for Reoni. “What kind of videos are you planning to make?”

“Mm.. I wanna do weekly vlogs. Maybe another channel to record my journey running, but I want to make lifestyle videos so people feel like they’re my friend,” he explained, scraping his sneakers against the pavement.

“I remember you did track in high school. You’re still doing it?”

“Yeah. I like it because it feels liberating whenever I run. That and… Well…” he twiddled his thumbs and shifted his gaze to the side, “I get a lot of compliments on my legs.”

He laughed. “They’re well deserved. We’ll need a sturdy camera to keep up with your speeds, then,” he said half-jokingly.

They came up to the entrance of the camera shop before Reoni ran to one of the windows and tapped to a bulky Banon camera with a fully extended lens. “Like this?” He looked to Rei for assurance.

Rei squinted, cocking his head at the other varieties. “That’s too heavy. Can your hands even fit around that?”

“Probably not. My hands are tiny compared to anything.”

“Are they? Can I compare?”

Reoni stretched his fingers out and hovered his hand in front of Rei, leading him to do the same to compare their sizes in hand. His fingers were nearly twice as lengthy and boxy, even his rings wouldn’t fit Reoni’s thumb without it being too loose. And just as he was about to comment, Reoni clasped his fingers around his palm and took off to the door. It was all so smooth, he hadn’t realized Reoni had tricked him.

“Did you lead me to doing that?!” Rei said.

“No,” Reoni replied with a coy smile. “This is a date, right? I wanna hold your hand, it’s very important to me.”

“Hands are important to you?” Was he into palm reading or something? He was never self-conscious about his hands up until now.

He put his finger up to his own lips with his other hand and told him, “Shh. I need to work my magic.”

“Oh, okay.”

Rei scanned the store to mentally count the amount of cameras they had to look at, some popping out to his eye immediately. He now had a list of what to look for: A sturdy, slim camera for running; a built-in mic that worked in an outside environment; and a Reoni-friendly size for his hands…

What did Reoni say just now?

This is a date, right?

“Were you talking about a platonic date, Reoni?”

“Huh?” Reoni set down a camera he was eyeing to turn to Rei. “It sounded like you were inviting me on a date at the park, right..?” he prolonged, as if he just got in trouble.

Rei huffed with a bit of relief stored in his grin. That wasn’t his intention… or at least not explicitly. Yet Reoni still agreed to it thinking it was a date. Was he actually dreaming?