“It’s picture day,” Jongdae states, showing off his camera to Yixing and Amber, teeth shining as he smiles broadly. It’s the same black Digital SLR camera he had since they were freshmen in high school, but there’s always a sense of wonder as he shows it off to them. It’s expensive, the most expensive thing Jongdae has in his possession, and he’s always careful when handling it.

Since their first year of school, it had become a tradition to take a picture on the first day of the school year, and on the last.

“Isn’t this too soon,” Amber asks.

“It’s not too soon,” Jongdae replies. “Yixing-hyung’s going to China early so we need to do it as soon as possible. He could be leaving anytime now.”

“It’s May,” Yixing says. “We’re leaving in June.”

“Exactly,” Jongdae says, “We might get too busy, we might forget; there are many reasons why today would be the perfect day to take pictures.”

Amber glares slightly at Jongdae, while crossing her arms over her chest. She makes it know that she doesn’t like Jongdae’s spur of the moment decision but he ignores her. It’s his tradition and done with his camera, so he proceeds to shrug his shoulders while letting his lips curve into a smug grin.

“Go get Tao,” Jongdae tells Yixing, as he moves to the back of the classroom. Classes had ended five minutes prior and now that there was barely anyone in the room, it was time for them to take their picture. Yixing does as he’s told and leaves the classroom, deft fingers making an effort to fix his tie on his way.

He doesn’t have to go far, Zitao was on his way to him and Yixing grins happily at his cousin. “We’re taking pictures.”

“What,” Zitao asks, eyebrows drawing together, as he makes his way over to Yixing. “What do you mean by we’re taking pictures.” He adjusts his backpack as a tiny frown makes it’s way too his lips.

“Remember on your first day, Jongdae grabbed you and forced you take a picture with us,” Yixing asks, leading Zitao back to the classroom.

“Yeah,” Zitao nods. “I was upset because I didn’t even get a chance to prepare myself.  I’m still mad at him till this day.”

“Yeah well you better start preparing yourself now,” Yixing tells him. “Today’s picture day.” He gives jazz hands and a lazy smile in an attempt to mimic Jongdae, and gets the reaction he want as Zitao laughs at the terrible imitation.

 When they get into the classroom, Jongdae’s in the back, camera on a desk as he presses button after button, looking through the viewfinder.

“Everyone needs to get to the front of the class.” They all do as they’re told and settle in front of the teacher’s desk, rearranging themselves for the picture to be taken.  “We’re taking two pictures,” Jongdae tells them. “Five second intervals in between each, okay?”

“Sure,” Amber mumbles. Jongdae hurries to the front of the class and squeezes in between Yixing and Amber, looping an arm around Amber’s shoulder.

“One. Two. Three,” Jongdae counts off, before chorusing “Kimchi” together with everyone else. They look as proper as any of them will get with their dress-code breaking uniforms, lazy styled hair, and bright smiles. The second picture is more like the real them. Amber’s moved so that she’s got Jongdae in a weak headlock, and Zitao’s nearly fallen off the desk from trying to avoid Jongdae’s flailing hands. Yixing’s the only one that come out normal, with two peace signs near his face he smiles brightly into the camera, internally laughing at his friends.

“Who wants to see the pictures,” Jongdae asks, pushing Amber off him to walk over to his camera.

“Not me,” Zitao huffs. “I swear I only take unflattering pictures when it comes to you and your camera.”

“Yeah,” Jongdae replies, rolling his eyes slightly. “It couldn’t possibly be your face.”

“Nope, sorry my genes keep me photogenic. You’re fail lighting and crappy camera skills are what screws things up.”

“I wonder how Kris can deal with dating such a prima donna,” Jongdae teases, teeth grasping at his bottom lip to keep himself from laughing.

“Yah,” Amber huffs. “Are you going to show us the pictures or do we have to stand here all night?”

Jongdae pouts a little but pushes the camera out in front of him, letting the others crowd around. They look nice in Yixing’s opinion. His friends always look amazing and even in the second picture with wicked grins and awkward posing, they still shined brightly.

“I like it,” Jongdae proclaims, lips pulled up into an easy grin. The corners of Jongdae’s lips were always pulled up, so just a quirk of his lips and he would be grinning a grin that meant he was up to no good. For some reason Yixing tended to be drawn to the people that looked like they were up to no good.

“I don’t,” Zitao retorts.

“Yeah and it makes me like it more,” Jongdae teases. “I’ll look at these pictures all the time when I become an old lonely man.”

“You’re talking like we’re abandoning you,” Amber teases, pushing at the boy’s shoulder playfully. “I’m going to the US until mid-July and then I’ll be back. Tao and Xing are going to China to visit family and then they’ll be back.”

“Then we’ll be seniors and we’ll graduate, and you really will abandon me,” Jongdae whines. “Why are all my friends foreigners?”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re destined to leave Korea right away and never come,” Yixing states. “And even if we did leave there’s still Skype, and emails, and snail-mail. Calls are great too, they’re just expensive.”

“Yeah it’ll be great the first few months, then you’ll get busy and it’ll eventually stop and then all we’ll have are memories and pictures.”

“You’re being way too dramatic hyung,”Zitao huffs. “I’m going to be the one abandoned. I have another year after you all graduate.”

Yixing frowns a little choosing to ignore the brewing argument to take out his cellphone and check the time. He’s got a new text from Kai, and he reads it, heading over to his desk where his belongings lay.

From: Kai
Are you coming over?

He sends back a quick ‘yeah’ back and turns to his bickering friends.

“I have to go,” he tells them, needing to talk loudly to be heard over them.

“See,” Jongdae says, gesturing wildly towards Yixing, “abandoning.”

“Where are you going,” Zitao asks him.

Yixing’s  grins slightly at the question as he grabs his schoolbag off of the table. “Where do you think Taozi?”

“All you need is a wink and I’m sure the whole world would know where you’re going and what you might end up doing.”

“I won’t be doing whatever you think I’m doing ,” Yixing says doing his best to control the warmth in his cheeks.

Yixing takes his cellphone out of his slacks and aims it at the side of Kai’s face. He looks through the small screen, taking in the sharp curves of his jawline and the quirk of his lips as he grins at the television. He secretly takes a picture.

“Kai,” he calls out. He watches as Kai’s eyes widen and starts to turn toward him. “Smile for the camera.” The younger boy doesn’t, he raises his hand and moves back from Yixing, a small frown on his lips.

“No,” Kai tells him. “Why are you taking pictures?”

“Memories,” Yixing answers, pulling his cellphone, “Why won’t you let me take your picture?”

“Because I don’t want you to,” Kai tells him, moving back over to grab Yixing’s hand. “Why are you being so random?”

“Why do good looking people hate taking pictures,” Yixing asks. “I want a picture of you because I like your face. It’s sentimental value or whatever.”

“Let’s take a picture together then,” Kai tells him. “Wouldn’t it make more since for it to be the two of us anyway?”

Yixing doesn’t think so; he wants a picture that’s just Kai only. He doesn’t protest though, Kai moves in close, and wraps an arm around his shoulder, resting his head against Yixing’s. Yixing bites his lip a bit, completely put off by the their closeness and momentarily forgets what exactl they’re doing.

“Take the picture,” Kai whispers into his ear. Yixing lifts the camera up with one hand and does another peace sign before finally taking the picture.

“Jongdae makes us take pictures at the beginning of the school year and the end,” Yixing explains, while looking down at their newly taken picture. “He’s sentimental in that way and I guess he sort of affected me today.”

“So what if your cousin sees the picture,” Kai asks. “Or one of your friends?”

“Then they see it,” Yixing answers, “why do you always seem more worried about this than me?”

“Because one of us has to be,” Kai states.

“I’m not worried about Zitao in the way you are,” Yixing tells him. “I’m older than him, he can’t tell me what to do. He might make suggestions and attempt to sound threatening but at the end of the day, I’m the one in charge of my decisions and I’ll do what I want rather he likes it or not.”

“You forgot about something,” Kai tells him, laying his head on Yixing’s shoulder. “Your mother is still in charge of you; even when you’re thirty-five you’ll still regard her suggestions more than anyone else’s. What if Zitao tells your mother, not that we’re dating, just about your being with us and my reputation? What will you do then?”

“I’m young enough to not care what my mother says, and old enough to not have to listen,” Yixing tells Kai. “The world can put up as much of a fight as it wants but at the end of the day, it’s my decision about who I want to spend my time with and when. That’s kind of the point of loving someone.”

“So then we’ll be fine,” Kai asks.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I promise I’ll tell Tao soon,” Yixing says. “We’ve been arguing a lot lately and I don’t want this to be something we argue about. I’m gradually trying to get him to understand you guys better so he’ll be a bit more open about me seeing you.”

“How can you make him understand us when you do even understand us,” Kai asks. Yixing bites his bottom lip, contemplating the question. Kai’s question doesn’t have any malice, sarcasm or anything of that sort. His voice was soft and questioning when he asked and Yixing wondered if he hadn’t actually meant to ask that.

“I might not understand you all,” Yixing starts off, thinking over his words slowly, “but I know you. I know you better than he does and I know you’re not like the rumors and even if it’s the only thing I know I’ll still be beside you. You’re my friends now.”

“What if it was a lie though,” Kai asks. “What if every single thing you’ve known about me and the others have been lies?”

“Is it a lie,” Yixing asks.

“Maybe,” Kai answers. “Do you trust me?”

“I do,” Yixing replies.

“Then don’t worry,” Kai tells him. “All the things I’ve told you have been true.”

Yixing wants to stay at Kai’s place for the night but he can’t. Kai tells him he should come back on Friday and spend the weekend with him, and Yixing promises that he will do so. He hadn’t spent the weekend at Kai’s place for what felt like forever, and walking home Yixing could only feel giddy at the prospect.

I was soooo distracted while trying to edit this >.< I'm sorry in advance! Anyway since this was chapter was split in half I'm thinking about updating again Friday.Do you think I should? lol