Sleep never comes easy for Luhan when he’s alone and sober. While the rest of the city is asleep, Luhan is wide awake reading books that have probably been outlawed. It’s not fiction, fiction writing had died long ago and all that remained were the dark fairytales of princesses, forests, and evil. Luhan reads self-help books and books about medical conditions both mental and physical.

His current book is about Insomnia, and he reads through it while infomercials play loudly in the background. It’s his bedtime story in an abnormal way. He reads it till the words make little sense in his mind and his eyelids get too heavy. Like clockwork Luhan nearly always falls asleep with the first lights of day.

Even on his first day off after such a long time Luhan doesn’t get to sleep in. He wakes before noon to incessant banging, and the loud obnoxious ringing of his doorbell. His first thought is someone is dying or the building is on fire, and despite his brain urging him to hurry to stop the noise his tired body won’t let him go faster than he’s always walking.

Luhan stops in front of his door, the noise has stopped but there are voices, loud and muffled on the other side and part of Luhan just wants to go back to sleep, maybe climb in his bed and huddle underneath the covers instead of resting on the leather sofa.

Reluctantly he opens the door and catches sight of Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin standing in front of a glaring Do Kyungsoo.

“We brought you coffee,” Sehun says, breaking into a grin as he lifts the tray of drinks up for Luhan to see. Luhan moves to the side and lets the younger two trip over themselves to get inside his apartment. He watches as Kyungsoo enters passing him a sympathetic look as Luhan closes the door behind him.

“So I’m guessing there’s been a change of schedule,” Luhan utters, a sigh slipping pass his lips as he eyes Jongin sitting on his sofa, and Sehun stumbling out of his kitchen, fingers clutching two cups of coffee.

“You could still have your day off,” Kyungsoo tells him, “as long as you don’t mind spending it in the back of a van.”

“Where are we going,” Luhan asks, taking the coffee out of Sehun’s hand and sitting beside Jongin on his sofa.  He takes a slow sip and lets his shoulders sag just a bit. “And why are we going now?”

“The photographer for tomorrow had a change of heart and wanted a more authentic back drop for tomorrow, the higher ups in their company agreed” Jongin states. He raises an eyebrow and Kyungsoo takes over the explanation.

“Tomorrow’s shoot is a desert shoot,” Kyungsoo explains. “We’re going to the desert because our photographer is so eccentric that he can’t work with a computer generated background.”

“So we’re driving to the middle of nowhere for a shoot for tomorrow and then tomorrow you’re going to drive me back for a different shoot the next day,” Luhan asks. “Six hours to and fro,” Luhan continues. “Is that safe, we’re going out of jurisdiction to a no-man’s land, and we’re more vulnerable because we’re from the Capital.”

“We’re taking a campervan out,” Kyungsoo says. “Government officials are coming with us. Just bring you’re identification.”

“Manager said that campervans are like compact apartments, they have bathrooms, beds, and even tiny kitchens,” Sehun tells him finally speaking up. “I’ve never been in one it sounds fun. I’ve never even been out of the Capital.”

“We went to Asaea,” Kyungsoo reminds him. “Took a plane there and even went sight-seeing.”

“We should vacation there,” Sehun says as Luhan begins leaving to his bedroom to get dressed. The last thing he hears before he closes his door is Sehun gushing about the city that was half above the sky and half on solid ground.

****

The camper is bigger than what Luhan initially expects. It’s like an all-white mini truck, with ugly beige and off white curtains covering the back windows. It’s old and Luhan secretly wonders if it’s a pre-war vehicle, made in a time where according to the legends, violence, and war were everyday occurances. This is his first time seeing a camper in real life and a part of Luhan wonders if it’s even safe to ride in.

Kyungsoo’s talking to the driver. The guy’s a middle-aged balding man that continues to remove his hat from his head despite the cold temperature of the day. The two younger kids are moving around attempting to get pictures of the camper from every angle, they see this as just another adventure and something new to experience. Luhan just feels worried.

It’s one thing to roam around the city without a care despite the bold claim of rebel Imperfects, it’s another entirely different thing to actually head into their territory. It was a well-known rumor that the Red Devils had camps throughout the desert because no sane person would wander there. It was a no man’s land, a place people only traveled when they gave up. It was said that the dead soldiers remains were buried in the dirt. Luhan didn’t want to find out.

“We’re going,” Kyungsoo calls out, and Luhan moves to the side to let Kyungsoo enter first. The door rattles, but it doesn’t open. Kyungsoo has to jiggle the handle to make it work, and the door finally unsticks swinging back wildly. Luhan can’t help but eye it in disdain. Sehun and Jongin rush inside like a pair of feral dogs looking to cause destruction and Luhan enters after them half expecting them to start jumping off seats and what not.

“Is there heat in this thing,” Luhan asks, sitting down and taking his jacket off.  Jongin is tampering with the tiny television hanging above the entrance to the driver’s and front passenger’s seat and Sehun is typing rapidly on his phone.

“You should wear a thicker jacket,” Kyungsoo tells him. Luhan watches him move over to the driver, and moments later the whizzing of heat sounds through the relative silence. It makes a few soft thudding noises as if it’s about to die but then it just lets out a soft noise that can easily be ignored. Kyungsoo sits in the passenger’s seat beside the driver, starting up a mundane conversation with the stranger.

Kai gives up trying to get the television working, to sulk over to the dinette and sit glaring at the window. Luhan lets his eyes roam around the room before stilling on the bed in the very back. It’s pretty big and can probably fit four really skinny boys if they squeeze in tight.

“Who are you messaging,” Jongin asks still pouting, and Luhan sits back so that he can try and peer over Sehun’s shoulder.

“Kim Minseok,” Sehun answers not looking up from his phone.

“Minseok-hyung,” Jongin asks, quickly cheering up. “Are you telling him about the campervan?”

“Minseok-hyung,” Luhan repeats.

“Yeah President Kim’s new secretary is from the same place my ancestors lived,” Jongin explains. “So he lets me call him hyung ‘cause it sounds nice and he likes it when people acknowledge that he’s older than them.”

“You guys seem pretty close to Minseok,” Luhan states.

“He’s really nice,” Sehun says, putting his phone down on the table. “We went to lunch together once, and he told us that he used to want to be a barista when he was a kid, and now he wants to own his very own shop. Isn’t that cool?”

“How is that cool,” Luhan asks with a huff. “It’s not that hard to become a barista, you know, you can do it right after high school if you want. You don’t even have to go to school to do it. It’s a simple dream.”

“But it’s Minseok-hyung’s dream, and I think it’s cool because not many people have dreams nowadays,” Jongin counters. “Even if he dreamt to be President Kim’s secretary I would still think that’s pretty awesome.”

“You didn’t dream to be a model,” Luhan asks, eyes flickering from Jongin to Sehun. They’d joined at the same time, two high school friends that were too tall and too good-looking for their own good.

“No,” Sehun answers. “Jongin wanted to so we did. We don’t mind the extra money and we didn’t have much to do anyway. The only people that go to college are people that want jobs at places like Li Corporations or under the government.”

“We can’t do normal jobs,” Jongin adds, his nose scrunched slightly in disdain. “We’d look nice in suits but the repetition and the rigidness would have killed us.”

“I have a book for you,” Luhan says a moment later. “It’s about Narcissism.  It’s a personality disorder.”

“Perfects don’t have disorders.” Sehun tells him rolling his eyes.

Luhan bites back the snarky remark on the tip of his tongue and turns towards Kyungsoo and the unknown driver. For all he knows the guy could be working for the government and Luhan needed to watch what he said. He couldn’t be careless in his speech, he still held on to so many things that would be considered incriminating for a person like him, and Luhan didn’t want to be watched by the government.

Instead Luhan turns and moves the curtains to gaze out of the window. They’re on the freeway. The sun shines over their car and the sky is surprisingly clear and bright, yet everything still seems dull.

“What kind of person is Kim Minseok anyway,” Luhan asks returning back to the topic on hand. He leans closer to the window, observing the drivers and their passengers zooming through their boring lives.

“Luhan-hyung are you into Minseok-hyung,” Jongin asks. Luhan wrinkles his nose the way Kai had done and he shakes his head softly. He can just make out his translucent reflection in the slight tint of the window and he watches as it copies him.  He sees the way his hair moves out of place slightly from the soft shakes and the way his lips pull into the tiniest of frowns.

“He’s not my type,” Luhan states simply, eyes still trained on his reflection. “I just want to know what makes Kim Minseok so…” he trails off attempting to find the perfect word and his eyebrows furrow just slightly. “Unique?”

Sehun makes this strange little face that shows he’s thinking before he finally turns towards Luhan. “I don’t know. I don’t think you really know what makes a person unique. Besides we don’t know Minseok all too well.  He’s just really kind. He’s like a rare breed of human. You can’t really find a person like him in today’s time.”

Luhan turns towards Sehun with a quirk of his lips. “When did you start getting all deep on me,” Luhan asks. “I guess you’re not a baby anymore.”

“I was never a baby,” Sehun says pouting and crossing his arms across his chest, his actions going against his words. “Minseok doesn’t treat me like a baby.”

“Because he hasn’t watched you grow up,” Luhan tells him. “Just because you’re a man now doesn’t stop you from being like a baby brother to me.” Luhan’s not stupid even if he’s good at pretending to be when it advantages him. He’s really observant and he sees the flash of hurt in Sehun’s eyes at the statement. Luhan knew Sehun liked him, could still recall the day he found out. Luhan did his best to convey to the boy that it would never happen. He didn’t want to lead Sehun on, he was a good kid and could probably find someone much better than him.

He watches as Sehun stands abruptly and goes over to Kyungsoo’s side. From the corner of his eye’s he can see Jongin glaring at him, as Sehun and Kyungsoo talk in hushed whispers before Kyungsoo stands and heads over to the dinette.

“What’d I miss,” Kyungsoo asks with a friendly smile trying to defuse the tension.

“Nothing,” Luhan replies, standing and heading towards the huge bed in the back of the camper.

****

Kai’s arm is thrown around Luhan’s waist, and he can feel the boy’s breath against his neck. It’s one thing having a person cling to you when you’re drunk and exhausted. It’s a completely different thing to be fully awake and having your friend cling to you like a koala.

He’d taken his sleeping pills ten minutes prior and in another ten he’d probably feel the first signs of sleepiness start to appear. He regrets it, he’d never taken the pills in the presence of others, he knew the nightmares continued but he hoped that he suffered silently. Kyungsoo had persuaded him to take them but Kyungsoo was also the only one that knew about his nightmares. The last thing he needed was disturbing the younger two’s sleep because of it.

Luhan’s eyelids become a bit heavier as he recalls what Sehun said earlier. If Perfects didn’t have disorders than maybe Luhan wasn’t a Perfect. It’s not like he wanted this life anyway, but then again he doesn’t want the life of an Imperfect either. He doesn’t want to be perfect or imperfect, he just wants a bit of peace of mind.

I spent hours looking at campers so I could write a basic description of the vehicle lol I'm prettty sure that I still got something wrong. I guess I can tell you now that there won't be any love triangles between Xiumin, Luhan and Sehun.