Luhan’s stomach churns rather nervously. He’s sitting in the back seat, and Kyungsoo’s just pulled into the fire station. His camera is hung around his neck, and he blushes faintly because he realizes that he hadn’t really cleaned up.

His clothes are a bit wrinkled because of the way all three of them happened to fall asleep, and he hadn’t even looked in a mirror. He’s trying to pat down his slightly unruly hair in the faint reflection he sees in the car window.

“I don’t see anyone,” Yixing hums, and he’s probably even more excited than Kyungsoo to meet the latter’s boyfriend.

Luhan’s hopeful for a moment that maybe the firefighters are gone somewhere for training, or they’re simply not there, and the butterflies in his stomach stop fluttering.

“They’re just inside,” Kyungsoo says, following suit as Yixing steps out of the car.

Luhan internally groans because his heart has started to pound in his chest, and he takes a breath before getting out as well.

Kyungsoo leads the way, and he walks with a confidence and familiarity that shows he’s been here many times before. He leads them through the open garages rather than the front entrance, and Luhan can hear voices talking and some clanking of utensils.

“It’s still lunch. If you’re hungry, we can get something really quick too.” Kyungsoo says.

Luhan wonders if Kyungsoo’s just used to it, but he and Yixing both nearly stop short because the smell of sweat and hormones in the air is thick, though it’s not unpleasant.

Jongin is laughing with Chanyeol, Sehun, and Joonmyeon at lunch when the giant notices his boyfriend.

“Hey, isn’t that Kyungsoo?”

Jongin lifts his head from his food immediately. There’s a crumb on the corner of his lip from the sandwich he’s eating, but he’s far too distracted. “Where?” He turns his head around for a few times before Kyungsoo finally comes into his line of sight, and the smile is automatic on his lips.

“Here!” Jongin calls, and when he makes eye contact, he waves the latter over. “Hey, isn’t that…?”

“Luhan?” Chanyeol finishes, his tone questioning out of a little bit of confusion. And then he chuckles, shaking his head. “Look. It’s the hotel manager from that day too.”

Sehun raises an eyebrow as the three walk over and sit down next to them. The tables are like cafeteria tables with long benches on either side of the table surface. By some sort of coincidence, Luhan’s stuck sitting next to Sehun, and Chanyeol’s on his other side while the opposite side of the table has Kyungsoo, Jongin, Yixing, and Joonmyeon.

“So, this is Yixing,” Kyungsoo introduces, and Yixing smiles bright. Kyungsoo then names everyone else off. “Jongin, Chanyeol, Sehun, and Joonmyeon.”

Yixing smiles bright, and Luhan notices that Joonmyeon’s pretty much staring, and it’s rather obvious. Chanyeol snickers, but Yixing is just a little too oblivious.

“He’s my apartment mate. We’ve known each other since highschool.” Kyungsoo says, and everyone exchanges a few short greetings out of courtesy.

Joonmyeon says a rather breathy, “Hey,” and this time even Sehun can’t help but hide a grin behind a fist because he can’t believe how whipped Joonmyeon is. It’s his first time seeing the guy, let alone looking like he’s just met the one.

“And, this is Luhan,” Kyungsoo introduces, and Luhan feels all eyes on him. His face is slightly flushing because Sehun is literally just inches away from him. If he were to slide his thigh one and a half inches to the right, his thigh would be right up against the other’s.

Luhan can still smell the sweat and the hormones exuding off all the men in the cafeteria, probably because they were just conditioning, but he thinks there’s one kind of feeling that stands out, and he knows for a fact that it belongs to Sehun. The feeling makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter even faster, and Luhan bites his lip, rather uncomfortable under all the inquisitive gazes. He doesn’t know if it’s because he knows that Sehun’s looking at him, though he’s not sure because he doesn’t dare turn his head to check, or if it’s because three of the men looking at him witnessed his idiotic mistake just days ago that set off the sprinklers in his hotel room and caused the complete evacuation of the hotel.

“He’s our new roommate. He’s also a photographer, if you didn’t know that.”

“Yeah! You should really check out his work. It’s amazing,” Yixing comments with a rather excited grin, and Joonmyeon just hums, his chin rested on his palm, both his elbows up onto the table.

“Ah, yeah,” Jongin chuckles, and Chanyeol finishes for him.

“We kind of already saw them a little while ago.”

“You have?” Yixing thinks, and then he remembers the firemen surrounded around something a few days ago at the hotel. “Oh, right. I guess you have.”

“Small world, huh?” Jongin chuckles and murmurs, and Kyungsoo grins and nods.

Sehun notices how nervous Luhan always seems to be around him, and he thinks it’s amusing, if anything.

“Well, we’re all in agreement that they’re amazing, right?” Sehun says casually, and he sees Luhan fidget, because he has yet to take his eyes off the other male, who refuses to meet his own gaze.

“Well yeah,” Chanyeol chuckles, reaching across Luhan to shove Sehun lightly, “They were pretty much all of you.”

Luhan feels smaller and smaller by the minute, probably because he’s gradually getting squeezed by the two much taller males around him, but also because everyone’s gaze is still somehow on him.

Luckily for Luhan, an alarm rings.

“That’s the end of lunch, I guess.” Jongin murmurs, and they all stand. “You’re all welcome to stay, if you want.”

“Actually,” Joonmyeon pipes in just as all most everyone is filing out of the cafeteria, “If Luhan could stay and take some shots for us, that’d be great.” It’s surprising that his attention is off Yixing for even a moment, but Chanyeol suspects that it’s because he wants the latter to stay even longer. “Of course, we’d be hiring you for your services.”

Kyungsoo and Yixing look rather expectant in staying, and Luhan figures he owes the firefighters some sort of thanks for saving his equipment from the water of the hotel emergency sprinkler system.

“O-okay,” Luhan agrees, and he stammers because it just means he’ll see more of the fire fighters, and it’s sure to include how attractive they are, and the thought makes him blush.

When they all head outside, Luhan’s been briefed on the way out on what kinds of shots to take. He’s really just taking photographs for a brochure or advertisement to attract men to become trainees. Especially in California, there are never really enough fire fighters to fill the staff in the summer.

Kyungsoo and Yixing settle themselves on one of the hills next to the pavement, and Joonmyeon joins because he doesn’t need to take part in condition. After all, all he does is drive the vehicle, though he does join in time to time. A man’s got to stay fit, and he’s definitely considering it now that Yixing’s here.

“Actually, I’m going to join in,” Joonmyeon says, and Yixing and Kyungsoo watch his backside as he runs off.

“Oh. Um. Okay!” Yixing calls, and he doesn’t really understand why the other seems to be acting rather strangely.

Kyungsoo just laughs because Yixing can be so naïve sometimes.

When Joonmyeon runs in and files into rank, Chanyeol watches with a raised eyebrow. He’s just about to begin the endurance training, and it’s a hard set. But then he looks over from the direction Joonmyeon ran in from, and he laughs so hard that he’s gasping for breath.

When Sehun and Jongin realize what he’s talking about, they both laugh behind fists and hands because Joonmyeon is reddening at an amazingly fast speed.

“Sh-shut up! Can we just start?” He huffs, trying to look cool. Little does he know that it’s about to be a very, very poor decision.

Luhan’s taking pictures, and everyone who’s conditioning look like they’re going through hell. Well, everyone but Jongin and Sehun. Because he’s supposed to be taking pictures to help the publicity of the fire station, he decides not to take close ups of the firemen and trainees who look like they’re about to die.

Though, there are two who actually don’t look like they’re about to pass out. In fact, it’s amazing because although everyone is gasping, panting, groaning, , and practically dripping in sweat, these two trainees in particular seem to be having a good time despite the struggle.

So, Luhan snaps a bunch of shots of them, and he thinks they must be really close because they joke with one another in between sets of burpees, push ups, planks, and mountain climbers. One of them shove the other, and then the other shoves back, and somehow, they both end up on the ground wrestling, and they don’t even seem to care about the ache that runs through their limbs, or the feeling of one another’s sweaty skin.

Luhan pans through the shots briefly, and once he’s deemed he’s had enough of just these two, he moves on.

He really can’t find any others who don’t look like they’re going to die, and he notes that Joonmyeon is one of them. Luhan can’t help but chuckle slightly, because Joonmyeon didn’t look like he was in bad shape, but, looks can be deceiving.

Because he can’t find anyone else, Luhan finally settles on capturing images of Jongin and Sehun, and when he’s looking through the eye piece of his camera, his breath nearly stops right in his lungs because how is it possible for a human being to look so flawless?

Eventually, Luhan finally snaps out of his reverie, and he manages to get a lot of great shots. It’s just in time too, because the conditioning has finally ended, and everybody’s rolling on the hot cement in their own sweat.

Luhan flips through his images, and he realizes that they don’t even need to be edited because the men, especially Sehun, though he wouldn’t admit it, are perfect and he can’t help but marvel.

“How are they?” Chanyeol’s deep voice rings from Luhan’s left, and the latter nearly jumps in surprise. He fumbles a little with the camera, but luckily he catches it before it hits the floor. “Oh! Sorry,” Chanyeol chuckles, but he doesn’t sound apologetic.

“Pretty good,” Luhan replies, and he’s holding on as tight as possible, “pretty good. Though, they’re really only of the four people who didn’t look like they were about to keel over and die.”

Chanyeol just chuckles, and Luhan feels a big hand pat his back. “That’s good enough.”

“You know, I can make a brochure for you guys too. It’s really not a hassle or anything. Besides, I have…um…” Luhan trails off, because he began his sentence without thinking, “…er…the pictures from uh, before.” His voice is really quiet at the end, but Chanyeol catches it and he just laughs again.

“Got it.”

“Come on, Joonmyeon,” Jongin grunts, and he’s trying to drag the latter up off the ground, “Get up. You can’t just lay there. You have to go home.”

“Cant. Move.” The figure groans, and he’s limp in Jongin’s arms.

Sehun smirks. “You’re not looking very good,” Joonmyeon’s about to groan in agreement, but Sehun keeps talking. “Probably doesn’t look good to Yixing.”

And then Joonmyeon shoots up off the ground that he’s dizzy for a moment, and Jongin’s so surprised he nearly stumbles backward. His eyes quickly scan to the hill, but his cheeks pink at a rapid rate because both Kyungsoo and Yixing are laughing, and they’re laughing so hard it seems like they can’t breathe.

“Smooth.” Jongin taunts, and Joonmyeon groans. It’s out of embarrassment and because his entire body feels like breaking apart.

“Whatever,” he grumbles, proceeding to shuffle into the station with his head hung down.

Luhan and Chanyeol, who have witnessed the event, just laugh, and Sehun and Jongin have their arms around one another’s shoulder in laughter as well.

“Hey,” Yixing says to Kyungsoo from their spot on the hill. They’ve just caught their breath from laughing so hard. They had been reading stupid jokes on their phones. “Why does he look so sad?”

Yixing’s finger is pointing at Joonmyeon’s rather slumped shoulders, and Kyungsoo is equally as puzzled. He shrugs his shoulders, humming in thought.

“Hm, I have no idea. Joonmyeon’s usually a pretty happy one.”

“You know,” Chanyeol says to Luhan as they’re standing with Jongin and Sehun, “We should hang out sometime. You know, all of us. Maybe tomorrow?” Chanyeol suggests, and Luhan bites his lip. He doesn’t know if he feels up to it.

“Yeah!” Jongin exclaims before Luhan can say no, and he can tell both the men are excited. Luhan doesn’t have the heart to say no, and he sighs.

“Okay, sure,” he murmurs with a weak smile on his face, “I don’t think any of us are busy, I guess.”

Although Luhan’s brain has told him no don’t do it, you’ll embarrass yourself, his heart and the butterflies in his stomach are telling him yes yes yes as his eyes lock with Sehun’s, and they maintain eye contact by some sort of miracle before Luhan finally looks away, cheeks flushed doe eyes wide.

Sehun just chuckles.

“See you tomorrow then,” And he turns away to head into the fire station.