“These are terrible,” Dahlia muttered, flipping through the notecards that Suho had provided her.

“What are you talking about?” Suho scoffed lightly. “He’ll love them.”

“I might die of embarrassment before I even say one of them.”

“Dahlia, you okay?” Luhan asked, walking up to the pair. “You look a little sick.”

“I’m helping her plan out her confession to Kris,” Suho answered.

“Confession?” Luhan repeated. “Did you do something?”

“No, it’s not that kind of confession,” Dahlia answered. “I’m telling him I love him. Don’t worry or anything, I love you too I just – OH GODDAMMIT!”

Dahlia groaned dramatically, flinging the notecards to the ground as threw her head back in despair.

“You see!” She turned her frustration towards Suho. “I just keep blurting it out! Ugh, this is not how I want to keep doing this.”

Luhan picked up the notecards from the ground, a smile on his face that faltered when he noticed what was written on them.

“Wait, this is how Suho was helping you confess to Kris?” Luhan wondered. “‘I didn't know that angels could fly so low!’ ‘Can I have your picture so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas?’ ‘There isn't a word in the dictionary for how good you look’? Cheesy stuff like this is bet reserved for Baekhyun, not Kris. Kris hates this stuff.”

With wide, angry eyes Dahlia turned a fiery gaze from Luhan to Suho, who wore an expression that was torn between distress and trying desperately not to laugh.

“I’m sorry,” Suho apologize, small bursts of laughter punctuating his words. “I just had to see how purple he’d turn trying not to cringe while you confessing. He’s a er for you, but he’s way to stoic sometimes, and that’s coming from me.”

“You’re a jerkwad!” Dahlia huffed, smacking him across the shoulder as he laughed, her hits ineffectual against his shoulders. “I told you I wanted it to be perfect!”

“I know, I know,” Suho laughed. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help it! The look on his face would be amazing.”

“As ridiculous as Suho is acting,” Luhan interjected, “he and I both know Kris wouldn’t have held anything against you. In fact, he may have even found it endearing.”

Dahlia groaned, burying her face in her palms. Luhan took pity on her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, steering her away from Suho, whose face was torn between the giggles stuck in his throat and remorse for teasing her the way he did.

“Come on,” he urged her. “I’ll take you to Kris and tell you the right way to confess to him.”

***

Kris was by the entertainment tents watching Manfred’s show from one of the breaks in the tent’s canvas walls.

Dahlia cast a look over her shoulder to Luhan, who was half-hiding behind one of the nearby tents, only for him to shoo her on. She puffed up her cheeks, a habit she’d picked up from Sehun unknowingly, and resumed walking towards the guardian of flight.

Luhan slipped off as soon as she had caught Kris’ attention. He had work to do.

“Are you alright?” Kris asked her, noticing the way she was biting her bottom lip.

Dahlia nodded slowly and stepped closer to him, her arms reaching out to wrap around his shoulders, her chin tucked into the junction between his shoulder and his neck. He was a little taken aback – Dahlia wasn’t one to initiate skinship with any of the boys; normally, they were the ones wrapping her in back hugs or pulling her into a group huddle. But he responded nonetheless, circling his arms around her waist.

Luhan had told her the kind of confession Kris would want – close, quiet, and something shared just between the two of him.

“I love you,” she whispered, afraid that her words would get lost in the noise of the motorcycles revving in the background.

However, judging from the way his shoulders tensed momentarily before melting into her hold, she knew he had heard her.

He pressed a kiss onto her temple, and she could feel his lips upturned into a smile. “I love you too,” he whispered into her skin.

She leaned up and brushed her lips over Kris’ cheek, feeling him tremble underneath them. Kris drew in a light breath, unconsciously pressing himself closer to her as she moved her hand to the back of his neck, her fingers dancing across the tender skin.

She pulled back slightly to look at his face as saw that he was overcome with an emotion that she couldn’t quite place. She opened to ask him what he was feeling, rather than invading his privacy and finding out for herself.

Instead, she was distracted as he tucked a finger under her chin, inclining her face up as he leant down and pressed his lips against hers. It was a small kiss, simple and quick; but it soon became a series of kisses that melted into each other.

She wasn’t quite sure how long they h