“Are you ready?” asked Junmyeon, already shoved in his old tuxedo from when he used to go at private shows with his parents.

Wearing it again brought a soft feeling of melancholy, but the fact that this time he was going with Yixing made it bearable. The past was beside him, like his partner had taught him first-hand, and now he had a future ahead of him ready to be shaped.

“Yes, just… I don’t know. It is weird on me. I’ve never wore one in my entire life”

Junmyeon finally entered the changing room and was left with his mouth hanging so low it could have brushed the floor: Yixing was not only handsome, was drop dead gorgeous.  Damned the human who never let him wear a formal dress.

“See, don’t you think it looks odd?” asked the writer, full of doubts.

It has been such a long time since he had really watched himself in the mirror, so long he barely recognized himself: had his eyes really been that dark, had his face really been that shape? He couldn’t remember, he was so heartbroken that he couldn’t remember, because he knew it had been entirely his fault to let him rotten trapped in his imaginary cage.

Junmyeon, however, had other plans as he pulled the young man toward himself, making him kneel to get to his height and kissed him deeply, messing up his hair.

“You are spectacular. I’ll have to be careful someone won’t try to steal you from me”

Yixing looked at him for a moment, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“Wait what... oh, now I get it” he muttered to himself blushing, making the actor laugh out loud.

He had the cutest human being on earth to his side and he surely didn’t want to let him go at all costs.

“Alright, shall we go?”

So. Bored.

Why did he had to come to school early with Luhan if he couldn’t stay with him during the concert’s practice? It wasn’t fair, now he was stuck with all the early bird parents and had to pretend that he knew a whole bunch of kids he actually barely recognized in the hallways.

Yes Miss I-don’t-care-about-your-name, your son really is the best artist we have.

Of course Mister leave-me-alone, your daughter is simply the prettiest girl in school.

God, he hated this. Peasants, they were all so boring he couldn’t bear to stay one more second with them. He tried to scan the school and find someone he could stand but nobody was there.

“Damn you all” he muttered as he stepped into the courtyard and sat himself under the big oak tree. He looked up and started counting the leaves, as they surely were more interesting than all those people; each one of them had a different shade of color, a different gradation of autumn coming. The passage of the season meant returning to school, starting anew with people he had to remember for that period, trying to survive another year to arrive to summer break, but everything was now different. 

Luhan. He could actually look forward to spend time with his Luhan, in real life. This all still sounded to him like a dream: the internet ghost was a real person, a real interesting person, he might add. He was sure he had dried up all his life’s stocks of luck to get to meet him.

Could he afford to think about the future with him in it? Could he really?

It was a scary thought, to reckon someone, to value him so much he could imagine the years to come with his figure always in them. All the trips they could do together, all the new places they could explore… he wanted that, he wanted it so much he knew he was being greedy but he could stop dreaming.

Yeah… dreaming was the right word, a powerful yet ephemeral word. He could use that one without the risk of getting burned but later disappointments and still wishing that vision to become reality with all his might.

The school bell rang.

It was time for the show to begin.

Chanyeol couldn’t stop laughing.

He and Baekhyun had decided to meet directly at the school entrance because he had a surprise to prepare for him. Well, actually the latter had kicked him out of the house early in the morning saying with murderous eyes:

“Don’t you dare enter. See you at school”

And now he knew why: it wasn’t exactly a gift Baekhyun had brought, more of someone he could have never expected. That person being his own mother, and Baekhyun being trapped in an old traditional Hanbok, looking as if someone had kicked him in the stomach.

“Chanyeol, may I present you my mother. Mother, this is my boyfriend, Park Chanyeol” he said out loud, placing himself beside his lover and adding in a whisper “She said no Hanbok, no meeting so… she actually doesn’t mind if you are a boy or a girl, as long as she can still make fun of me”

Chanyeol gently took his hand, gently interlacing his fingers with him, turning to flash the austere, but still sly looking woman with one of his famous smiles.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Byun. I think you and I will find ourselves on the same wavelength”

The stage was ready, all the lights had been transported up on the edges of it so they could flash the singers and make them shine in their own solos, all the props had been taken to their respective places… they were ready.

Kyungsoo took his microphone in his hand, weighing it with his eyes. That day was the end of so many things: the end of summer, the end of his stress-free lectures and lunches with his friends under the tree, the end of his old life as the lonely dream boy… but it was also the first day of so many beautiful things: the first day of him as just a young men, the start of a new life with all his loved ones, the start of the path of acceptance…

His heart had so many thing to process he felt stuck in the motion. His eyes were oddly fixated on the floor, his mind flooded will all the memories he had made that summer, god and bad, bright and sorrowful… everything as worth remembering, as it was the only thing that could prevent him from turning his back again and running away.

His family was there, he had seen them. He felt… he felt not ready, but he finally knew it was okay like that. What could make him braver though, was going out there anyway and singing, spilling each and every emotion into his song, trying to make them understand.

Mom, dad, I love you to the moon and back. Try to be happy for me too.

He waited another moment, then lifted his head to the sky, his oldest friend. How is it going up there? Are you watching me? Please, pray for me. Please, let the sun shine on me, let the last summer breeze blow through my hair, let the leaves and the grass dance for me…

“And now, the last performance of this night. Do Kyungsoo, singing “Dear my family” ”

It was his moment, he had to take it in his slender hands and step in it. It was just him, with a microphone on a stage. He just had to sing.

His words were like a thin ribbon everyone grabbed into their hands, bonding one another over the beautiful song. It was about family, about love, about cherishing the ones close to you… every person in the hall could feel tiny tears braking free from their eyes and their heart mending all the scars accumulated over the years. So powerful was the song that even the old man sat next to Jongin had to place a hand over his face to not make it public that he was crying like a little kid he once had been.

Without realizing who was really near him, he grabbed Jongin’s arm and proudly said:

“That is my son”

The dancer could not do anything else than smile, trying not to laugh and took the Kyungsoo’s father hand.

“I know. He’s also my boyfriend”

Yixing had to dry his face with both the backs of his hands, careful not to ruin his new bought dress. He now knew why that short kid with such deep dark eyes was Jongin’s boyfriend: how could anyone move such a big crowd with only his singing.

Junmyeon couldn’t look any more like a proud father than in that moment, with his arm around his lover’s shoulder.

“We” he said, his voice imperceptibly trembling, not noticeable by anyone other than Yixing “We really should go congratulate with that kid. How did you call him? Ah, yes, the Dream boy” he finished chuckling.

“Don’t you dare make a lame joke on this or I’ll severely punish you. And yes, we should”

That moment, they wanted to store it in their memories, carve it in their heads so deep down they couldn’t possibly forget. Because they were together and impossibly in love, outside in the summer air, tasting the freedom that only happiness can bring you.

They could finally release all the sadness that had been gathering inside their hearts for so long and cry it all away, because it was okay to do so, it was what everybody was doing and it just felt so… light.

“Luhan! Are you okay?” asked Sehun, shaking lightly the singer’s shoulder, trying to decipher his lost expression.

“Yeah, I’m… I was listening to Kyungsoo from here and something just…”

Luhan didn’t quite know how to express what he was feeling. Words were piling up in his mouth, against his lips, but he wasn’t sure how to let them out. It had been such a long time since he had really talked about himself and even though he knew Sehun would listen to him openheartedly, but it was still terrifying.

“Sehun I… I am just so grateful to have had the chance to meet you. I know that if I had never written to you that day, I would be here alone, drowning I my own tears, as pathetic as it sounds, but the fact that you are here… I really appreciate it. I love you Oh Sehun”

He had never said those words in his entire life because he knew how much they were could weight on a person’s back, how much meaning was hiding behind those simple letters, but he also knew he had done the right thing by spilling his heart out to him, the only person who really knew him.

Sehun, on the other side, was in complete shock. How much time had he spent trying to convince himself he could not fall in love with Luhan? So many hours sent upon thinking, so many time he had to bite hard his lips to suppress his desires and his dreams. All worthless time, with so little meaning that it only took the singer three words to nullify it.

He lowered his forehead to meet his lover’s one and closed his eyes.

“I love you too. You’ll always be my number one peasant”

And then they kissed, messily under their laugh, but tenderly. And who could blame them? They had been in love for so much time it seemed ridiculous not to laugh. They both knew their relationship wasn’t going to be a peaceful one, but they liked it that way, because they were Sehun and Luhan and life for them was only beginning. Like autumn, they were ready to change their colors and begin to dream together.

He had finished, the song was over, then why was he still there on stage? They were cheering for him, they were crying and shouting like there was anything they could do beside that.

He was just crying, but his heart was not heavy, it was light. Light as a feather from the tiniest bird, light as a cloud, light as the fabric of dreams.

More, sing us more, shouted the crowd, but he knew he was done, so he bowed deeply, making the tears drop on the floor and then returned back stage.

Jongin had been a lighting, running into the singers’ room before him and surprising him with a bear hug. Kyungsoo could tell he also had been crying a little, making his eyes red and puffy.

“Jongin, you are heavy” he murmured, trying to break free from the dancer, but he didn’t want to let go.

“You were incredible” whispered the dancer “I’ve never seen so many people balling their eyes out like tonight. You know, someone was sitting right next to me and we were able to talk a little so…”

Kyungsoo stuck his head out from behind the young man and saw his parents, hand in hand like they hadn’t done since their marriage.

“Son, do you think we could talk?” said his dad, looking at him with nothing other than pride and remorse.

“Sure father”

If you could have been in the school’s garden that day at sunset, you could have had the privilege of observing eight young peculiar men sitting on the aging grass. They had such peaceful expression on their faces, because they knew they were in front of a new beginning, different for each one of them, but they weren’t scared.

They were just looking at the beautiful sky, all shades of orange and red and blue. Nothing else, just looking at the sky, without a worry in the world. Tomorrow was something they did not feared anymore, because now their lives were filled with love, sadness, happiness… every emotion was there to shape their new life, but they also knew that they wouldn’t be alone throughout the journey, and that was enough.

It was the end of a beautiful summer day, a plump sun the color of mature oranges was stuck in the sky, soaking everything in his light, the grass, the bloomed flowers, even the eight men sitting in the garden, day dreaming about tomorrow.

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*Wipes sweat* well, that's all folks. It really has been a journey and I just wanted to thank everybody who has read this story and all the lovely people who took their time to leave a comment. I will start the other fic inspired by Lotto as soon as I will find an inspiration to write it. Untill then...