"So, graduation," Sora says, her hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "My baby brother is graduating from university, how do you feel?"

Hyukjae frowns—he doesn't feel much: he wrote his last exam back in April and has been finishing up his last few months at his job since. If anything, he's trapped in between finishing school and not yet finishing working, but when he says as much Sora slaps the back of the head.

"What was that for, noona?" Hyukjae whines, rubbing the sore spot where her hand had made contact.

"You should be excited. It's a big time for you. And besides," she says, clearly trying to appear casual but failing. "I know mom and dad have a present for you."

Hyukjae raises an eyebrow. 

“Present?” he echoes.

“Ah ah,” she says, wagging her finger at him. “I’ve said too much already. But act surprised when they give it to you okay? Shouldn’t be too hard, even given how tragic of an actor you are.”

Hyukjae rolls his eyes, quickly ducking away before Sora can smack him again. Thankfully, he spots Heechul and Yesung loitering just outside the building of the graduation hall, so he jogs over.

“Hey,” he greets, and his friends wave in return. They’re already in their graduation gowns and caps, which Hyukjae had left in the car because it was too hot to be wearing all black in the blaring sun. There was still at least half an hour before they were even going to be allowed into the building, so he’s not in a rush anyway.

“Why are you still wearing that?” Heechul says, frowning. 

“You’re not boiling in that?” Hyukjae counters. Heechul heaves a sigh, as if Hyukjae is the most annoying person on the planet. Hyukjae snorts at their dramatics. “Relax, I have time. I’ll change before we can go inside. Where it’s not like a hundred degrees.”

“You know, you might have a point,” Yesung says, tugging at the collar of the gown. “I’m starting to sweat and I got my hair done for this.” Hyukjae squints at both of his friends—he can definitely tell they’ve both gone to the salon.

“Why are you taking this so seriously?” he groans. “We’re getting a piece of paper and that’s it.”

“But, my dear friend, there are pictures to be taken, and that means I must look my best,” Heechul says, throwing an arm over his shoulder. Hyukjae shrugs the arm off, giving Heechul the stink eye.

“‘My dear friend’ my , you’d drop me for the promise of ten dollars,” Hyukjae says.

“Eh, a dollar is enough for me to do that,” Heechul says. 

“Just for a stick of gum, really,” Yesung says and Hyukjae lets out an offended noise.

“You’re all terrible, I can’t wait to get rid of all of you after this,” he says. He’s about to turn around and leave to make a point, only for Heechul to yank him back by the hair.

“And yet you’re never getting rid of us,” Heechul says. Hyukjae makes an annoyed noise, but ducks his head to hide his smile. His friends are annoying and made of nothing but sarcasm and cynicism (granted, so is he) but he loves them all the same. 

“Unfortunately,” Hyukjae says when he’s composed himself, the smile disappeared from his face. “I don't know how I’ll deal.”

Yesung looks like he’s about to say something scathing, when they’re interrupted by the sound of Heechul’s mom calling for them.

“Boys! Let’s take some pictures before you go in,” she says. Hyukjae barely suppresses a groan, because pictures have always been the bane of his existence, but he musters up a smile for his friend’s mother. She coos at them before her gaze lands on him.

“Hyukjae! Why aren’t you dressed yet?” she asks, not quite scolding, but close enough to it. Hyukjae scratches the back of his head sheepishly.

“Sorry auntie,” he says. “I’ll go and get dressed now.” 

Over his mom’s shoulder, Heechul raises an eyebrow and Hyukjae wrinkles his nose back before he jogs off to the car. His parents are still there, so he’s thankful he doesn’t have to search for them to unlock the door. His gown and cap are in the bag in the back seat, and he makes quick work of draping it on, fixing his hair in the side mirror and running back to his friends.

They’re already taking pictures, and Hyukjae can’t help but snort at the slightly pained look on Yesung’s face.

“Hyukjae, oh you look so good,” Heechul’s mom says, as she puts her camera down. “Come, I can take a few pictures of you alone for your parents.”

“Oh no, that’s—” Hyukjae starts, only to be cut off by Yesung shoving him forward.

“Have fun,” he says, his smile wide but ever so evil. 

“I hate you,” he hisses.

“Love you too,” Yesung whispers back. 

He hates his friends so much. 

He gives Heechul’s mom a nice, demure smile and does what he's told, posing for the pictures. It's always been like this for every event and milestone they've been through, with Heechul’s mom being the designated photographer. There are a great many number of framed photos in his home from these types of impromptu photoshoots.

He smiles his way through the pictures, hoping his smiles look genuine rather than forced. A good thing about getting his pictures taken last is he doesn’t have to bear it for long, because soon enough, the doors are open for them to head inside.

Hyukjae is quickly swept up in the chaos of people getting to the proper seats in the auditorium. He loses Heechul and Yesung in the crowd, but they wouldn’t have been seated together anyway, given that seating is organised alphabetically by name. Hyukjae settles into his seat, and shortly after, the ceremony starts.

And so began the most boring three hours of Hyukjae’s entire existence. 

He dozes off not long after the ceremony starts, and is nudged awake by the person sitting next to him when it's his row's turn to go up on stage. He ambles up the stairs to get his diploma, still feeling groggy as he shakes the person’s hand, faces the audience for a few seconds before heading back down the stairs. When he sits down in his seat again, it only takes him a minute or so to fall asleep again.

Given that nothing exciting at all happens, he doesn’t feel too bad about sleeping through everything. It doesn’t matter anyway, he’s gotten his diploma.

When the ceremony is finally over, Hyukjae startles awake to the waves of people starting to leave, so he gets up and is swept up into the crowd out of the building. He finds his family and friends already waiting outside.

“Hyukjae!” his mom calls. “Come, we were waiting for you to give you boys your graduation present.”

Hyukjae nods, heading over to stand next to Yesung as their parents hand them each a large bouquet. There’s an envelope tucked at the top of the bouquet and Hyukjae plucks it free, sliding his finger under the flap to open it and pulls out… four plane tickets to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Hyukjae looks up sharply to see Sora smiling at him.

“Told you you’d still be surprised,” she says. Hyukjae glances over at Yesung and Heechul, who are holding their own tickets.

“We thought a family vacation would be a great way to celebrate your graduation,” Heechul’s mom says. “You can have some fun together before you start finding jobs.”

Hyukjae looks back down at the ticket—it’s for early August, after his current job term finishes. 

“Two weeks?” Heechul says.

“Yes, plenty of time to relax,” Heechul’s dad says. Hyukjae continues to stare at the tickets.

“Hyukjae?” his dad says. He looks up. “Do you like it?” 

Hyukjae grins, nodding. It’s really just what he needs, he can’t believe his parents and his friends’ parents had done this for them.

“I can’t wait,” he says.

⸺

With the promise of a dream trip to Hawaii, the rest of his work term flies by rather than dragging on and on. Before he knows it, he’s finished his last day and packing up for the plane ride that night. Their flight is at four in the morning, which is certainly not something Hyukjae’s particularly enthused about, but given they’re going to Hawaii, he can’t complain too much.

“Excited?” Sora asks from the doorframe. Hyukjae raises an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” he says and she rolls her eyes.

“Stop pretending to be cool,” she says. “I know you’re excited.”

“Then why’d you ask? Don’t you have your own packing to do?” he counters.

“Psh, I finished packing hours ago,” she says. “We’re really waiting on you.” Hyukjae resists the urge to throw something at her. Luckily, she gets the hint and leaves him alone. Sometimes, he wishes he had a brother. An older brother wouldn’t be nearly as annoying as an older sister, right?

He zips up his luggage and drags it to the door where his parents are already getting ready to load the taxi. He wordlessly helps move some of the largest luggage pieces, and when everything is packed and ready, puts on his neck pillow.

Hyukjae is the master at sleeping on planes and he’s definitely going to live up to that reputation if he’s going on a four am flight.

An hour later, they’re arriving at the airport, grouping at one of the benches with the rest of their party. Heechul’s sister has work, so she’d opted to pass on the trip. Yesung’s younger brother, according to Yesung, had taken one look at them and told them he was going to have more fun staying over at a friend’s house for the next two weeks. 

Hyukjae doesn’t mind, to be honest, it means fewer people to think about when planning activities with his friends. Knowing their parents, they’d want all of them together as much as possible, which is… not ideal. Of course, Sora’s always been a free spirit and Hyukjae is ready to bet money she’ll ditch them at the first possible opportunity.

Not that Hyukjae’s complaining at all.

“Ugh,” Heechul says from beside him as he rolls his suitcase next to him. “They couldn’t have booked a more ideal flight time?”

Yesung chuckles.

“Life is pain,” he says in a very typical Yesung fashion. 

“It’s a seven-hour flight, I’m just going to sleep through it,” Hyukjae mutters.

“Says you,” Heechul counters. “You can sleep through anything. I can’t sleep on planes.”

“Welp, it to be you. Can’t relate,” Hyukjae says before heading through the security check. The benefit of this time of night is there’s almost nobody in line and they’re through to their gate in no time. This time of night also means there are fewer people flying too, which affirms Hyukjae’s thoughts that no sane person would choose to fly at this time.

“Were flights at this time cheaper?” he muses aloud.

“Hm? No,” his mom says. He groans.

“Then why at this time?” he says. His mom smacks him lightly.

“Be quiet,” she says and Hyukjae wisely shuts up, pulling out his phone to read some manga to pass the time. He spends a bit downloading some Netflix shows and manga chapters for the long flight as well, and before long, it’s time to line up for boarding. 

He settles in the window seat, with Heechul beside him, and the person who has to pee the most in the aisle seat: Yesung. They’d made the mistake of letting Yesung sit in the window seat once before.

Never again.

They of course take great pleasure to mention it at every opportunity, so much so that at this point all Yesung does is roll his eyes. Which is a bummer.

“Yeah, yeah,” Yesung mutters as he unbuckles his seatbelt to go to the bathroom shortly after the plane takes off. Heechul exchanges a glance with him and they break into helpless giggles.

“Ah, as predicted,” Heechul says as he puts his headphones on. Hyukjae follows suit, putting his headphones on and resting his head against the plane window. Yesung hasn’t even returned from the bathroom before Hyukjae’s dead asleep.

⸺

They land in Honolulu in the early evening, with Hyukjae rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and trying to work the kink out of his neck. He rolls his neck around, trying desperately to get the kink out as they wait in the luggage claim, finally pain-free as they step out the doors of the airport into the fresh breezes of Honolulu. 

Hyukjae takes a deep breath, savouring the comfortable warmth after hours spent in the stale, cold environment of the airplane.

“Come on, you can enjoy this in a minute,” Sora says, dragging him to the shuttle. Hyukjae groans—he doesn’t understand why his sister is always in such a rush. Especially since the shuttle doesn’t take off for several minutes.

Hyukjae stares out the window at the small coastal town on the way to the hotel, noting some of the places he might want to explore. By the time they pull up at the hotel, Hyukjae’s starting to vibrate with excitement at different activities and desserts he might want to try.

Getting out of the shuttle, they grab their luggage and head to the hotel. The path that leads up to the hotel trails along the beach, and Hyukjae gapes at the crystal blue waters and fine sand—it looks exactly like the pictures on the website, and that's never the case when he travels. He'd kept his expectations realistic, but it seems that for once, he's wrong. Everything looks like a postcard come to life, from the picturesque placement of green palm trees, the sun starting to dip and colour the sky in reds and purples, to the way the water is clear enough to see the marine life within. 

His eyes travel over the coastline, settling on a young man jogging down the beach towards them, surfboard tucked under his arm. He's immediately enraptured, first by the wind blowing through medium length hair, then by the beautiful smile that seems to shine brighter than the sun. Hyukjae can't look away as the man removes his shirt, eyes drifting down to the expanse of sun-kissed skin and well-defined muscles. It's as if the man is a magnet, and Hyukjae is pulled helplessly by him.

Hyukjae has never seen a more beautiful person in his life.

The man's smile somehow seems to brighten further as he drops the surfboard and begins to paddle into the water. Hyukjae waits with bated breath to see him surf, only to be suddenly yanked to the side by the collar of his shirt. 

Hyukjae lets out a startled yelp, whirling around to find Yesung still holding onto his collar.

"What was that for?"

"I'm sorry, did you want to brain yourself on a palm tree?" 

Hyukjae frowns, realizing that if he'd continued in the trajectory he had been walking, he would have run right into a very large palm tree.

"Oh," he mutters.

"What were you even staring at—oh, a cute boy, huh?" Sora says. Hyukjae sputters, torn between denying that he was staring in the first place and being offended that she's describing the man as just "cute." 

Cute doesn't even begin to describe him.

What word would be sufficient? Hyukjae has never been a poet, but he thinks this man can make him one. He considers his vocabulary for something suitable: ethereal? Angelic? None of those seem right. Maybe he's beyond words. 

He blinks back to attention when Sora snaps her fingers in front of his face.

"Earth to Hyukjae," she says as everyone else laughs. Hyukjae scowls.

"Okay let's go," he says and stalks off to join his parents, leaving his friends (and the cute boy) behind him. It's only a short walk to get to the hotel and by then, his friends have rejoined him.

"Why don't you guys go over to the activities building and book the activities you guys want to do," Yesung's mom suggests. "We can book for the week, and then at the end of the week decide what else you want to try or repeat." Hyukjae leaps on the opportunity and his friends echo his sentiments, excited to learn more about the activities rather than wait around for their parents to check-in. They head next door, stepping into the small hut. It's cozy, with reed walls, grass dome ceilings, and wooden columns, with one wall covered in paintings and the other with shelves of pamphlets. He sits down on the bench to wait for a service agent to be available to them.

There are Korean pamphlets available on the shelves, so Hyukjae grabs some of interest to him: snorkelling, ziplining, and some sightseeing. He's partway through reading about the volcanoes in Hawaii's different islands when he hears the door swing open. He looks up to be greeted with the sight of the cute boy from earlier walking inside, a surfboard tucked under his arm.

Up close, the cute boy is somehow even more stunning than from a distance—up close he can see the finger details of his cute, pointed nose, his defined jaw, and eyes that seem like Hyukjae can see the very depths of the ocean and the stars all at once. He gulps, his eyes wandering down the cute boy's sharp jaw, the lines of his neck, and then down his arms to his hands.

He realizes what he's doing after a few seconds and forces his eyes back up, only to meet the cute boy's (ever so beautiful) eyes.

Crap. He's been caught staring. 

But before Hyukjae can turn away in complete embarrassment, the cute boy grins at him. Somehow, his smile is even more devastating up close and if Hyukjae were to die right now, he'd die a happy man. He smiles back, hoping he doesn't look nearly as caught off guard as he feels.

The cute boy approaches him and says something to him in English, which is completely lost on Hyukjae. His understanding of English is less than rudimentary and he's left floundering.

"Uh. No… English," he stutters out. The cute boy's face falls for a second before he glances down at the pamphlets and brightens again. God, at this rate Hyukjae's going to need sunglasses just to look at him, because he's just so bright.

"Korean?" he asks. Hyukjae almost drops the pamphlets in shock. 

"Uh, y-yes," he says.

"Great! I was just asking if you were interested in surfing? I saw you looking," the cute boy says. He has an interesting accent, Hyukjae notes. There's a hint of a dialect that Hyukjae can't quite place, but also an accent of someone whose native language is English.

Interesting.

Then it dawns on Hyukjae that the cute boy had thought he'd been staring at the surfboard and not staring at him. Okay. He can work with that, because god forbid Hyukjae correct him.

"Y-Yes," Hyukjae says. "It's a very nice… board." He's quite possibly the lamest person on earth and it seems Sora agrees because she fails to suppress a snort from beside him. 

Somehow, the cute boy lights up, looking absolutely delighted and Hyukjae almost has to squint. That and take deep breaths to calm his heart palpitations. 

"Isn't it? It's a custom board made from one of the local board makers here in Honolulu," he says. Hyukjae nods, hopelessly endeared by the cute boy's clear passion as he holds the board out to Hyukjae to give him a closer look. 

The cute boy's eyes are sparkling. They're a deep brown and seem to hold so much emotion in them, it's breathtaking. Hyukjae can barely bring himself to look away and pretend to be interested in the surfboard.

"Have you been surfing before?" the cute boy asks. Hyukjae debates lying, but decides that he does not know nearly enough about surfing to bull to someone who's clearly so passionate about it.

The most he knows about surfing is that South Korea had won gold in the surfing event at the Olympics, which was unexpected. He only knew that because Sora had told him. He hadn't even known surfing was in the Olympics before that. He hadn't really cared and still doesn't, really. 

But for the cute boy, he can definitely pretend.

"No, but I've always wanted to try," Hyukjae says. 

"You can now!" the cute boy says. He grabs a pamphlet from the shelf and hands it to Hyukjae, who takes it, staring at the cute boy's delicate-looking wrists, adorned with a multitude of colourful weave bracelets.

Delicate looking wrists? What is this cute boy turning Hyukjae into? 

"The hotel offers beginner surfing lessons. I'm one of the instructors," he says and Hyukjae suddenly knows his plans for every day of the next two weeks. Forget family time. 

"Oh, that definitely sounds fun," Hyukjae says quickly. "I'd love to sign up."

"Great!" the cute boy says, grinning. "I'm Donghae, by the way." He holds out a hand, and because Hyukjae's brain feels as though it's treading through molasses it takes him several seconds longer than what is socially acceptable to actually move to shake Donghae's hand. It fits perfectly in his, Hyukjae can’t help but note.

He should tell Donghae his name.

What's his name again?

"Uh. Hyukjae," he says. Donghae nods and opens his mouth to speak when the staff door slams open and a tall, stern-looking man about their age stalks out.

"Donghae, what did I say about bringing your board inside?" he says, surprisingly in Korean. Donghae blinks down at his board and then back up at the other man before scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. 

"Sorry, I forgot," he says, offering the man a small grin.

It's distressingly adorable. 

Apparently, the other man seems to think so as well because he visibly melts, his face softening.

"Come on, you can put it in my office," he says. Donghae nods.

"I'll be right there," he says before turning back to Hyukjae. "I'll see you around if you're going to take lessons!"

Hyukjae gapes, nodding dumbly. It seems to be enough for Donghae though, because he beams as he heads over to the counter, waving at him. Hyukjae can do nothing but wave back as his gaze drifts involuntarily down to Donghae’s backside until he disappears into the backroom. In his defence, it's an amazing backside.

He's snapped out of his stupor when Sora forcibly closes his mouth with a finger under his chin.

"God you're so embarrassing," she says, rolling her eyes when he turns to her.

"What just happened?" 

"Did you really just forget your own name?" Sora says rather than answering him. Hyukjae scowls.

"I didn't," he says. She looks like she wants to push it when Heechul and Yesung sit down next to them.

"I want to go horseback riding, but Yesung refuses," Heechul says. "What are your votes?"

"I'm down for that, how long is it?" Hyukjae says, leaping for the opportunity to change the subject. Over Sora's shoulder, Yesung raises an eyebrow at him and mouths: You owe us big time.

Hyukjae tries not to visibly gulp—he thinks he'd much rather deal with Sora's bullying. 

"It's only an hour," Heechul says. "And you get to see some of the sights in the meantime."

"Mhm," Sora says. "Yeah, let's do it. I was thinking we could also book a riverside cruise tour and lunch for one day." She holds up a page of the pamphlet that shows a small boat as well as a few meal previews. They all nod in agreement and Yesung writes it down on a pad of paper that Hyukjae assumes is from the hotel, given the logo in the corner. 

Hyukjae looks down at the pamphlet in his own hands, shuffling through the ones he had grabbed to look at the pamphlet Donghae had handed him.

“I want to sign up for surfing lessons,” he says quietly. Sora laughs.

“Of course you do,” Sora says. “That’s something you can sign up for on your own. Anything else, though?”

Hyukjae sighs.

“Visiting the volcanoes?” he offers instead. "And snorkelling, of course. Ziplining too."

They all nod in agreement. Yesung adds in paragliding, as well as an all-day tour on the weekend. Heechul plucks the pen from Yesung’s hand, writing down whale watching and swimming with the dolphins. All good options and Hyukjae finds himself excited for most of them. 

"Okay, do we have everything we want to try for the week?" Sora asks. 

"It looks good," Hyukjae says, getting noises of agreement. "So… who's going to go and book for us."

They all turn to Sora.

"What? Why me?" she protests. 

"You're the only one who speaks fluent English," Hyukjae says. Sora gives them all a narrow-eyed glare before she huffs.

“Fine,” she says. “You all owe me.”

They trail after her as she heads to the service desk and Heechul offers him a fist, which Hyukjae quickly bumps. They linger behind her as she talks to the service agent, booking their activities.

“Surfing?” Hyukjae asks as it seems like her conversation is drawing to a close. She nods and turns back to the agent, speaking with him for a few seconds before turning back to him.

"He said there's only an opening tomorrow at eight am," Sora translates. Hyukjae's knee-jerk reaction is to say absolutely not, but he quickly bites his lip, because he wants to go so badly. Or maybe he shouldn't delude himself, he wants to see Donghae again so badly.

"Yeah, that's fine," he says. His sister and his friends all raise an eyebrow so high it threatens to fly off their foreheads. "Yeah, yeah, shut up, I can wake up early if I want to."

"...Okay," Yesung says, and Hyukjae marvels at how he manages to make doubt drip from every letter of that word.

"If you say so," Sora says, turning back to the man at the counter.

"Ten bucks," Heechul says to Yesung as soon as Sora turns.

"Mm, fifteen," Yesung says. Hyukjae scowls.

"Twenty bucks from each of you if I get there with time to spare," he declares. Heechul and Yesung exchange glances. 

"Deal," they say. They shake hands and then Sora turns back to them giving them all a narrow-eyed stare.

"Boys," she says, rolling her eyes. "Always so terrified to put in the big bucks. Fifty."

Hyukjae's eyes widen.

"Deal," he says. "I think you all underestimate how much I want to see the 'cute boy' again. His name is Donghae by the way." It'll be an easy ninety bucks. 

"Okay," Heechul says. "Well I guess we'll have to see how it goes with Donghae, then we'll talk."

Hyukjae rolls his eyes.

“Yeah,” he says. “We’ll see.”

⸺

They rejoin their parents in the lobby, grabbing their luggage to go to their accommodations. They'd booked three cabins by the beachside, one for each family. Hyukjae gapes at the three buildings, clustered together to make a miniature villa, with a pool shadowed by palm trees in the middle of the three cabins. The biggest of the cabins in the centre is theirs, given they have one extra person. Hyukjae suspects that most of the time, they'll be gathered in their cabin.

"I call the bedroom with the best view," Sora announces as soon as she steps inside. She kicks off her shoes, leaving them behind as she checks all the rooms. Hyukjae rolls his eyes. He's pretty sure all the bedrooms have good views.

Even if not, Hyukjae’s not too particular about views. He'll see plenty over this trip, he's sure.

Sora claims her room, so Hyukjae takes the other one. The view is slightly obscured on one side by one of the other cabins, but no less breathtaking, with the expanse of white sand and crystal clear waters. 

Hyukjae drops his luggage on the floor and drops down on the bed, taking a second to just admire it. It's a stark difference from his daily life, the cities and skylines.

There's something very calming about it all. 

He falls onto the bed, spread out like a starfish. It's nice, being here, settling in. Having the time to just… breath. 

He'll have to start thinking about what he wants to do with his life after this, and the very thought is terrifying for him. He's still unsure what he'd like to do, but for now, he's content to just stash it in the back of his mind and not think about it for the next two weeks.

"Hyukjae!" he hears Sora yell outside his room. "We're heading out for dinner, get your out here!" 

"Yeah, coming!" Hyukjae yells back and heaves a sigh, rolling out of bed. He takes a second to fix his hair, only to realize it's been quite a mess, with dark circles maring under his eyes and his face puffy from the long plane ride. Donghae had seen him like this and smiled at him like he was amazing.

Perhaps Donghae's just good at customer service. Or he's just nice. 

Hyukjae sighs, scrubbing his hand over his face and then running his hands through his hair a few times. When he looks at least passable, he heads out, finding the rest of the group already outside.

"We're going to the buffet at the hotel for dinner," his mom says. After the two in-flight meals, Hyukjae would have eaten just about anything warm, but a buffet sounds amazing. 

It's only a short walk to the main building of the hotel, and the buffet is right next to the grand entrance. They're surprisingly quick to be seated, given how many people are around, but it quickly becomes clear why as they walk in: the restaurant is quite possibly the biggest Hyukjae has ever seen. 

They walk past the lines of food on display (most of which is seafood, which Hyukjae had expected but is still a little miffed by) to get to their seat. As soon as they drop off their stuff, they're off to explore the obscene amounts of food.

Hyukjae makes a beeline for the pizza and other fast food, loading his plate with a slice as well as some fried chicken and fries. When he gets back to the table, Sora stares at his plate for a few long seconds before she smacks the back of his head. She moves too quickly for Hyukjae to properly dodge and he yelps when she makes contact.

"Ugh, why is my brother such an uncultured swine," she grumbles.

"Okay, mind your own business," Hyukjae says. "You can eat your… seafood and I'll eat what I want."

"Uncultured," Sora repeats.

“Shut up,” Hyukjae says, glancing around to make sure there are no adults around yet. He might be twenty-two, but it doesn't mean he’s above being scolded like a little child. When he makes sure there’s no one around, he sticks out his tongue at her for good measure.

“Not just uncultured, but a child too,” Sora says. “Ugh, how are we even related?”

Hyukjae decides to just ignore her, hunkering down with his food as everyone begins to return to the table. The chatter of the table grows as everyone gets settled, and Hyukjae fields a few questions from the adults before his mind starts to drift. He can’t help but think of Donghae, his ever-so bright smile and his sun-kissed skin. Those eyes seemed to be ingrained in his mind, flashing up at him at random times—the deep, vulnerable brown, and the curve of it as Donghae smiles at him.

He’s really got it bad.

"Hyukjae, honey?" his mom says, interrupting his thoughts. He looks up at her.

"Yes mom?" he replies.

"Are you okay? You've been very quiet," she asks. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see his friends and his sister lift their heads, looking as if they're about to speak. He shuts them up with the most scathing glare he can muster.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says. "I signed up for surfing lessons tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about it."

"Oh?" his dad says. "Didn't expect you to want to try that. Given how much you… dislike all sports."

"Dad!" Hyukjae protests as his friends and sister cackle. At least his friends' parents only look amused rather than actually laughing at him.

"I'm sorry honey, it's just a surprise," his mom says. "Be careful though, okay? It wouldn't be good for you to get hurt on the first day."

"Okay mom," Hyukjae says, nodding. "I will."

That seems enough to satisfy his parents, because they nod, turning their attention to their food again, and Hyukjae is content to daydream the rest of the dinner.

⸺

A few hours later, after they’re all full to the brim, everyone is already yawning (Hyukjae included) as the jetlag begins to catch up to all of them. 

“I wanted to go and walk around town,” Sora bemoans, but the end of her sentence is cut off by a wide yawn.

“We have plenty of time in the next two weeks,” their mom says. Yesung from beside him yawns as well and Hyukjae fights the yawning contagion spreading through the group.

“Yeah,” Heechul says. “Because all I want to do is sleep. in an actual bed.” Hyukjae snorts—his usually polished and well-groomed friend is certainly rocking some lovely dark circles and greasy hair.

“Don’t snort,” Heechul mutters. “We’ll see how happy you are waking up tomorrow.”

Hyukjae scowls, but he’s glad Heechul had mentioned it, because it reminds him he needs to set a whole bunch of alarms. When he gets back to the cabin, he wastes no time showering, changing, unpacking a few things, and then getting ready for bed.

He crawls into bed half an hour later and picks up his phone, opening the alarm app. He creates a new alarm before pausing, considering what time he should wake up. 

He'll need at least an hour to get ready. He'll have to eat, too. So if he's going to prepare half an hour to get to the beach where the lessons are with a little time to spare, he will have to wake up at… five-thirty.

He grimaces, but at this point, he's committed. And he's doing this because… well because he wants to see the cute boy, Donghae, again. Really badly. More than he'd thought possible. 

So he sets fifteen alarms, each a minute apart and hopes and prays he doesn't sleep through all of them and miss his lesson.