Kyungsoo is putting the dishes away from their late breakfast when Luhan picks up his camera.

Yixing rubs his hands together in anticipation. “Let’s see those amazing pictures.”

“They’re not amazing,” Luhan laughs a little sheepishly and modestly as he powers on his camera.

Yixing snorts. “Yeah, not amazing,” he says, voice laced with sarcasm as he turns to Kyungsoo, who’s drying his hands with a towel before seating himself down at the kitchen table. “You should’ve seen the faces of those firefighters who were looking at his camera after they saved him from his raining hotel room.”

“Oh really?” Kyungsoo asks, and he’s entirely intrigued. His chair is soon scooted over, and Luhan’s chair is wedged tightly between Yixing’s and Kyungsoo’s, who are eager for a look.

“Ugh,” Luhan groans, “Don’t remind me. That was a terrible fiasco,” he mutters, face still flushing just at the thought of his idiotic mistake. “I just sometimes happen to be a little bit of a…clutz.” He admits rather regretfully.

Luhan starts from the middle of his photo library, and it’s mostly shots of New York.

“This is home,” he introduces as he clicks through the photos.

Luhan’s too modest because the photos are simply breathtaking. In some photos, he portrays the energy and life of New York City by capturing the hustle and bustle of pedestrians, and the smiles of street performers playing. And yet, in others, Luhan captures the sorrow of the city once the lights are out. There are photographs of dark alleyways that lead into orphanages or beggars on the street who don’t know where there next meal will come from.

As Luhan clicks through, he finds himself entranced in his own images because that’s how amazing his shots are.

“Luhan,” Yixing breathes, and it’s like he’s in a trance too, “These are…”

“Perfect,” Kyungsoo finishes, “Amazing, flawless.”

Luhan blushes. “Th-thanks,” he murmurs, because he’s never gotten such praise. It’s a tough life in New York City because everyone’s in a constant state of hurry and competition. There’s no time to appreciate too much art, and even amongst the artists, there’s too much competition to even enjoy the beauty in every masterpiece.

And then he clicks to a few that are a little more familiar.

“And here’s some I’ve taken here in Cali, though I haven’t had a chance to go out to the parks or anything yet.”

To Yixing and Kyungsoo, the views in each picture are extremely familiar, and yet they’re still entranced.

“And here’s some of a fire and firefighters after I got caught behind one of their trucks for hours,” Luhan murmurs, and he pinks a little seeing the tall and lean fire fighter that had caught his eye since the beginning.

Kyungsoo gasps. “Stop! Wait, go back!”

Bothe Luhan and Yixing are puzzled, but Luhan complies, clicking back. Kyungsoo nearly wrenches the camera screen closer to his face.

“What is it?” Yixing asks, because he can read the surprised expression on Kyungsoo’s face, though Luhan would probably also be able to read it based on the size the other’s eyes have become.

“I…I know him.” Kyungsoo says, pointing to the slightly tanner fire fighter with the bright smile.

“Oh. Cool.” Yixing simply says, trying to hint to Kyungsoo to return the camera to Luhan, wanting to see more photos.

“No, no, I mean,” Kyungsoo tries to explain, but it kind of sounds like he’s babbling with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. “He,” he emphasizes again, “He’s my boyfriend.”

Yixing’s completely silent from surprise.

Luhan, on the other hand, is mildly surprised. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo says, pinking a little.

And then it hits Luhan.

“Wait. So do you know them too?” He asks, pointing to the figures standing around Kyungsoo’s boyfriend.

“Mhm,” Kyungsoo nods, and Luhan wants to groan and squeal at the same time. “My boyfriend is Jongin,” he points, “And this is Sehun, and Chanyeol. They’ve been friends since high school.”

Luhan already knew the names of the firefighters, but he’s caught staring because, well, Kyungsoo is Jongin’s boyfriend. And he knows that he’s definitely going to bump into those firefighters one day.

“Yixing…?” Kyungsoo asks, finally noticing the blank gaze on their friend’s facial features.

“Oh. My. God.”

The sound of the whistle cuts through the air, signaling an end to the harsh conditioning.

“Good work, everybody!” Chanyeol calls through his mega phone.

All the trainees and even the seasoned professionals drop to the ground. The sun is scalding against their skin, and the cement is hot too, but nobody cares as the groan.

Minseok is panting, and Jongdae feels like he can’t even move because everything hurts and burns.

“Time for lunch. Head inside and get a little cleaned up. We allow an hour for lunch and break.” Jongin says to all the squadrons of teams. Both he and Sehun are sweaty and tired, but they’re not nearly as fatigued as everyone else. Their white t-shirts are sticking to their toned chests from sweat.

The trainees and other fire fighters groan as they try to push themselves off the ground because as much as they are tired, they’re also extremely hungry.

“Minseok,” Jongdae groans, looking over from his spot on the ground, “I’m sorry.”

At first, Minseok doesn’t even know what his friend is apologizing for, before he remembers the fight they had earlier. He smiles weakly, shaking his head.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I know you didn’t mean it.”

“Thanks.”

They share a brief silence together, though it’s punctuated by their heavy breathing and the groans and shuffles of people around them.

“Why don’t we get up?” Minseok suggests, struggling to even sit up.

“Agreed.” Jongdae says, but his smile is mischievous as he also struggles to get up. He feigns a lack of coordination, purposely stumbling and falling to pull Minseok down to the ground.

“Hey!” Minseok nearly squeals as he falls to the ground, chuckling. “Get off me!”

They roll around a little in a playful fight before getting up. They walk together towards the fire station, arms over shoulders.

“They really do remind me of us,” Jongin remarks, arms crossed over his chest. “Well, except for the fact that there’s two of them and we had three, plus Chanyeol.”

Sehun hums in agreement, lifting the hem of his shirt to wipe away some sweat from his forehead.

“How was the workout?” Chanyeol grins as he comes up to his friends, swinging an arm around each of their shoulders.

“Tiring, but maybe you were too hard on the first day,” Jongin chuckles, and Sehun rolls his eyes.

“They’d have to get used to it anyways,” Sehun remarks with a smile, “It’s only going to get harder.”

Jongin, Chanyeol, and Sehun run rotations on who runs conditioning and who participates. It changes daily, and the next day was to be Jongin.

“You’re going to get it tomorrow, Chanyeol,” Jongin threatens, and the giant just laughs, pushing his friends in the direction of the station.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” he mutters, shaking his head with a grin, “Just head inside, alright? Get some food.”

“You have a boyfriend?!?!” Yixing asks incredulously. “How many years have I known you, and I’ve never known you’ve had a boyfriend?!”

“Oh. Um.” Kyungsoo says, a little speechless because it’s true, he’s never really talked about any of his personal relationships with Yixing. “I met him by chance…when I was out with an emergency dispatch team to treat burns, and he was fighting the house fire.”

Kyungsoo pinks softly, and Yixing’s still amazed.

“I have to meet him!” Yixing gasps, and Kyungsoo chuckles, nodding.

“Okay, okay. One day, when we’re all not busy, I’ll introduce all of you.”

“Wait!” Yixing exclaims, looking at the picture again, “I’ve seen him before. That’s right! At the hotel where Luhan had his—er, incident, he was there with the other two in the picture.”

“Yeah,” Luhan peeps in, “I kind of know them too…when they…saved me from my drenched hotel room…”

“Even better!” Kyungsoo exclaims, ignorant of Luhan’s embarrassment, “Then we won’t even need really formal introductions! Actually, why don’t we go now?” Kyungsoo suggests, checking the time.

“Now?” Luhan asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah! They’re on lunch break now anyways. Go!” Kyungsoo exclaims, and he’s suddenly very eager, probably a mixture of excitement to see his boyfriend, but also to finally introduce his friends.

He’s already grabbing the car keys and rushing out the door, so Luhan and Yixing follow in a daze. And of course, Luhan grabs his camera.

Luhan already feels like swooning just thinking of Sehun, but he can only hope that he won’t actually faint when he gets there.