Sungyeol breathed in the dimming evening air, hair drying after his dip in the nearby dam earlier, fresh shirt on, belly comfortably full of food.

 

He could hear the steady bass beat in the air, their camp far enough away for it to become comforting background noise.

 

He heaved a sigh and wandered over to the others, grabbing himself a beer from the cooler box.

 

'Last night, boys,' he said, ridges of the beer cap digging into his palm as he twisted. Woohyun grinned and clinked his bottle with Sungyeol's.

 

'We'd better make the most of it, then,' Woohyun replied and Sungyeol laughed.

 

He took a swig of his beer and grimaced, levelling a look at the bottle as if it had insulted him. 'Note for next time, the cooler box does not work for four days. This beer is just this side of unpleasantly warm.'

 

'That's why we're finishing them off,' Woohyun said, leaning over to grab the last bottle from the box. 'Hey, Sunggyu, catch!' he called as the oldest of the lot ducked out of one of the tents, tossing the beer to him as he looked up. Sunggyu fumbled the catch in surprise, the beer falling to the ground and Sunggyu sent Woohyun a deadpan look as he leant down to pick it up off the grass, holding it far away from his as the cracked it open. He took it between the fingers of his other hand after it bubbled over, shaking his foam from his hand as he took a sip, wrinkling his nose in mild distaste as he wandered over before taking another swig and wiping his hand on Woohyun's shirt. 

 

The sky was dark when they all gathered and set off for the brightly illuminated dancefloor, eyes fixed on the dark dirt path to prevent falling even as they joked around, the luminous surreal paintings stretched out around the dancefloor coming into view, dragons and fairies and mushrooms peering from the fabric.

 

'I think that tent has paint!' Woohyun declared loudly, pointing over at a small purple bedouin style tent, all points and angles from the sticks holding it up haphazardly, a small group of people inside with paint brushes, painting bright colours on each other.

 

'Great!' Sungyeol said with a wide grin, slinging his arms over Dongwoo and Myungsoo's shoulders. 'How about you two go get us all some drinks and we'll see you there?' He looked between Dongwoo and Myungsoo brightly, and Dongwoo laughing while Myungsoo shrugged of Sungyeol's arm and tugged Dongwoo's arm towards the bar.

 

'You shouldn't abuse them like that, just because they're the least likely to say no,' Hoya said with a grin.

 

'Sorry, did you want to go stand at the bar?' Sungyeol's eyes were wide with faux innocent as he looked at Hoya, indicating the crowd at the bar with a limp-wristed point.

 

Hoya laughed and shook his head. 'I'm sure they can manage.'

 

They seemed like more than five people as they descended on the tent, the people who were there drifting out, exchanging amiable greetings. Dongwoo joined them just as they were sitting down, hands full of beers, saying Myungsoo was just paying.

 

'Right, so who's doing me?' Sungyeol declared loudly over the laughter and chatter of the others as beers were distributed, reclining comfortably on the pillows, looking almost expectantly at Woohyun as Hoya tried to juggle opening a beer bottle and holding a paintbrush, Sungjong eventually taking pity on him and opening the beer, the heavy bass of the music not blurring out Dongwoo's laugh even as it covered whatever Woohyun had said that had made him laugh.

 

'I will,' Sunggyu said suddenly, dropping onto the pillow in front of Sungyeol and reaching out for some paint tubs and Sungyeol blinked at him surprised, trying to remember if he'd ever had an actual conversation with him- he knew him, of course, had exchanged a couple words with him, but that was because they had mutual friends, nothing more. 

 

Sunggyu glanced up at Sungyeol after a couple seconds of silence, query written all over his face and Sungyeol realised he should probably say something. 'Okay, cool.' He sat up from the pillows, crossing his legs as Sunggyu looked around for a paintbrush, shrugging when he couldn't find one and shifting closer until his knees were resting on top of Sungyeol's and Sungyeol was suddenly hyperaware of the warmth of his legs.

 

'Any colour preference?' Sunggyu asked, his voice pitched low, and Sungyeol shook his head wordlessly, suddenly feeling almost on edge and feeling lost as to why. The feeling only got worse when Sunggyu dipped a finger into a small pot of dayglo yellow paint, and Sungyeol realised he was holding his breath as Sunggyu's finger neared his face, carefully drawing a cool line of paint under his right eye.

 

Sunggyu's gaze was intense and critical, fixed just below Sungyeol's eyes as he drew on another two lines of paint, and Sungyeol felt a a zing of electricity shoot through him, leaving him confused because he should have been used to intense gazes, his best friend was Myungsoo. Sunggyu looked down, putting the yellow paint aside, and Sungyeol felt like he could breath again, until his lungs jolted in his chest as his eyes fell on two of Sunggyu's fingers dipping into the green paint, yellow paint peeking out just below his knuckle on his pointer finger, lumo green sliding down to mix with it and Sungyeol could practically see the question marks ricocheting around his head at the effort he had to utilise to prevent the small sound in his throat from escaping as Sunggyu's fingers slipped over his left cheek, under his jawline and down his neck. He failed in suppressing a swallow when Sunggyu's fingers neared his adam's apple, feeling very vulnerable as Sunggyu went over the line again with the green paint, the paint cool on his neck.

 

'Beers,' Myungsoo said, handing bottles to them and Sunggyu smiled up at him, yellow and green paint smearing on the bottle from his fingers as he opened it and took a swig, Sungyeol quickly opening his own bottle after realising he was staring at Sunggyu's fingers, drinking a few gulps far too fast and desperately hoping a flush wasn't rising in his cheeks.

 

Sunggyu put his beer aside and grabbed a pot of orange paint, reaching out to tug on Sungyeol's left wrist, laying his arm across his lap, and causing Sungyeol's throat to close around his beer.

 

'You okay?' Sunggyu murmured distractedly as Sungyeol made a weird choking splutter to clear his airway, finger painting a vivid orange spiral on Sungyeol's bicep, and Sungyeol made a small high-pitched noise of assent, fingers curling unconsciously into the palm of his hand, away from Sunggyu's thigh.

 

Sungyeol had finished most of his beer by the time Sunggyu had finished with his left arm, zigzags and swirls in green, orange and yellow, and Sungyeol stared briefly at the tyedye mix of paint of Sunggyu's hands, spatters of paint reaching down to his wrist as he reached for Sungyeol's other arm. Sungyeol wrenched his gaze from the yellow smear on Sunggyu's jeans and found himself staring intensely at an orange thumbprint on his arm.

 

He could feel the coolness of the paint being set in patterns on his other arm, the merest hint of the warmth of Sunggyu's fingers behind the paint, his breathing quick and shallow for reasons that were beyond him, the chatter and laughter of the others white noise in his ears, the thrumming music fading into static until all he could hear was the beating of his own heart as he stole glances at Sunggyu, the critical focus of his gaze the only thing keeping him anchored to this world. He dimly wondered if his beer had been spiked, the paint on his face dry and heavy, the coolness of the paint on his arms gradually pulling at his skin as it dried. He finished the last shaky gulp of his beer as Sunggyu delicately placed a final three dots on his wristbone with his pinky, his other hand warm as it held Sungyeol's hand steady, and Sungyeol fought the urge to yank his hand back when Sunggyu let go, lifting his eyes to meet Sungyeol's gaze for the first time since he started painting, a small smile on his face.

 

'Done,' he said and Sungyeol manages a weak smile and a half nod.

 

'Thanks,' he said, painfully aware of the crack in his voice, pathetically grateful Sunggyu didn't seem to notice.

 

'Sunggyu!' Dongwoo practically yelled, falling into Sunggyu's side, jolting Sungyeol out of his daze. 'You have to get painted too, you're not worming out of this.' Sunggyu's smile turned wide as he let out a laughing groan. 'Come on,' Dongwoo insisted, tugging at Sunggyu's arm and Sunggyu allowed himself to be manhandled around, grabbing his beer.

 

Sungyeol stared at the bottle, label obscured by a kaleidoscope of colours matching the ones covering his fingers, before shaking his head slightly and turning away, eyes falling on a widely laughing unpainted Myungsoo and he grabbed his arm with a sense of near desperation, other hand reaching determinedly for the orange paint.

 

'Sungyeol-' Myungsoo protested and Sungyeol just shushed him as he dabbed paint on the tip of his nose and over his philtrum, annoyed at his awareness of Sunggyu having a yellow line painted over the bridge of his nose by the bristles of a paintbrush next to him even as he gave Myungsoo whiskers.

 

Everyone had various patterns of paint on them by the time Dongwoo covered his hand in paint and gave Woohyun a multicoloured handprint on his , at which they decided it was probably best to leave the tent, Sungyeol firmly planting Myungsoo between him and Sunggyu as Dongwoo ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly and Woohyun and Hoya doubled over in laughter at the paint now clumping his hair together.

 

Sungyeol excused himself to get another beer, and by the time he joined the others on the smaller dancefloor they were spread out all over the place, and Sungyeol allowed himself to be dragged into the loud music and thumping bass after Myungsoo zoned out, allowing the noise to drown put anything else, holding the cool beer bottle against his neck. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he turned around to see Sunggyu quickly looking away and his grip tightened on his beer bottle, his steady bob to the beat faltering momentarily before he determinedly turned away again, tongue darting out to moisten dry lips before he took another swig of beer.

 

It happened a few more times as DJ's changed unnoticeably, Sungyeol's back would prickle and he'd turn to see Sunggyu's eyes darting away and Sungyeol kept going for more beers, trying to moisten his dry throat. 

 

'The paint glows nicely in the uv lights,' Sunggyu said during one of the bar trips and Sungyeol jolted, not having noticed him standing next to him.

 

'Yeah,' Sungyeol laughed nervously, 'You did a great job.'

 

Sunggyu gave him a small smile and took his drink from the returning bartender, nodding at Sungyeol before extricating himself from the crowd and Sungyeol noticed the slight stumble in his steps before he turned back to the bartender.

 

Sunggyu took longer and longer to glance away as the night wore in, until Sungyeol turned to see him leaning against the speaker stand, one hand in his pocket, the other holding onto a bottle of beer, his gaze fixed on Sungyeol with the same intensity as when he was painting and it was Sungyeol's turn to quickly look away, his breath catching in his throat. He kept glancing back, on edge and unsettled, swallowing desperate breaths down as Sunggyu's gaze didn't budge, and Sungyeol lost track of how long he held his stare, the alcohol buzzing his head and swirling in his veins, Sunggyu's gaze driving up the heat around him until he looked away, finishing his beer and heading off for a refill.

 

He stopped on the way back, caught between the two dancefloors, the cacophony of the different paced bass thumps beating in his ears. He glanced towards the smaller dancefloor, the thought of Sunggyu's intense gaze sending shivers through his skin, and he turned around and headed to the main dancefloor, winding his way through the people until he was in the middle of the crush, looking up at the light reflecting of the fabric web above them, intending to dance until he collapsed.

 

Sungyeol felt like he'd only been asleep for five minutes when he got woken up the next day by a yawning Woohyun kicking him in the ribs, mumbling about how they needed to pack up. Sungyeol figured he should have expected this when he only dropped when the dawn set was twinkling through the air that morning and he blearily stumbled out of the tent, reaching for a bottle of water to rinse his mouth out with. 

 

Sungyeol didn't notice Sunggyu, he was too busy concentrating on keeping his eyes open and his legs stable as he undid tent poles and shoved them in their bag, the music still pumping in the background, the campsite a bustle of activity as everyone packed. It was still loud, but Sungyeol felt that their volume at least was amped down a little from exhaustion- at least, his was.

 

Sunggyu was stowing tent pegs in the boot of the car as Sungyeol brought the cooler box over, freezing slightly as Sunggyu yawned, his eyes turning into tiny slits, Sungyeol remembering Sunggyu's intense stare on him the night before. He shook himself out of it and lifted the empty cooler box up and into the boot, Sunggyu holding up the top of the boot a little higher and Sungyeol mumbled a small thanks.

 

Sunggyu made a small sound and reached over, rubbing his thumb on Sungyeol's jaw and Sungyeol was sure his heart had forgotten how to work properly as it started beating erratically at the touch, his breath catching in his throat, his eyes flying up to meet Sunggyu's.

 

Sunggyu gave him a small smile- the same one as the night before, Sungyeol noted. 'The paint was flaking,' he said by way of explanation and glanced around the packed up campsite, closing the boot and shambling off to the front of the car, pulling the door open and climbing into the passenger seat.

 

Sungyeol just stood there, frozen, confusion surging through him, helpless curses bubbling up in his throat until he was the last one to be out either of the cars, and with a final glance at the back of Sunggyu's head, an expletive hanging on the tip of his tongue, he turned and wrenched open the back door of the other car, shoving Sungjong over and climbing in, not even caring that Dongwoo was driving. 

 

Hoya blinked at him from the passenger seat in surprise, sharing glances with Sungjong and Sungyeol studiously ignored Myungsoo's surprised glance from the other car, thumb furiously rubbing the paint from his arms until his skin went pink where the orange thumbprint had sat.