(6) SUMMER

Everyone’s health is recovered, much thanks to Lay’s kindness, his overbearing concern for the others being a better pro than a con. He’s called in for many small situations, the rough play between the group scratching and bruising small areas on their energetic bodies, and it isn’t too hard to take care of- he’s definitely gotten used to it as his powers got stronger with each use.

The days begin to bring forth sweaty upper lips and sudden lake-jumping urges, and Chanyeol feels like he’s having the time of his life. Summer was the season of freedom; the season of relaxation; the season of fun. Literal fun, this time.

Yet, fate doesn’t seem to side with his eagerness- not this year.

“Are we going out today again?” Chanyeol pounces into the room, grinning from ear to ear at the other members who lounge on stacks of blankets and cotton pillows. “Are we?!”

Luhan turns over on the couch, facing the cushions with a small groan. “I’m tired,” he whines. “Maybe tomorrow.”

Almost everyone in the room, including Lay, groan nauseously at the heat that bakes the top of their heads. Empty bottles of water are scattered across the floor, dried up rags hanging off sills of opened windows, and fans are blasting hot air into the faces of the exhausted boys. Chanyeol frowns at their miserableness.

“I’m bored, though…” he mutters. He took a seat next to Luhan and kicked his feet angrily, heels pounding at the bottom of the couch. Bits of dust fly up into the air as he continues to throw his hissy fit.

“Stop moving! You’re making it more hot!” Xiumin growled, ripping off his shirt and laying faced down on the floor. His power was fizzing out and would continuously create small bursts of cool air before the room got hot and stuffy again, repeating the process as the boys were put through the hellish heat.

Chanyeol wanders over to Kyungsoo who was fanning both himself and Kai with a makeshift fan made out of paper plates and chopsticks. He snuggled in between Kyungsoo’s legs, pressing his body right against Kai’s, who was also currently resting with his back flush against Kyungsoo’s chest. “Do you guys want to play with me?”

The heat in the air cooked Kai’s brain to mush as he whined from the loss of air blowing against his face. Kyungsoo stared at Chanyeol before he continued to make the gusts of wind, flicking his sore wrist every second to keep the crybaby in his lap sane. “Maybe next time, Chanyeol. It’s a little too hot to move right now.”

Giving a small nod and sulking over to Tao, he sat directly in front of him, imitating his cross-legged pose. Sweat poured down his neck and his eyes were shut, expression serene even in this dreaded weather. He waved a hand experimentally across Tao’s face in hopes he would snap out of his trance, only to have it grabbed by Kris who shook his head.

“He won’t move from his stupid meditation thing. Trust me, I tried.”

Chanyeol glanced down at Kris’ grip on his wrist and found small purple blotches lining down the other’s forearm. He scrunches up his eyebrows and cringes lightly at the assortment of colors. “Why don’t you ask Lay to heal you?”

Kris sighed and flopped onto his back, hand crawling up to his neck as he wiped away the sweat. “He doesn’t really look like he’s in the mood.”

“Yeah, but he’d still heal you. He’s nice that’s why.” Chanyeol argued, making Kris sit back up with a frown.

“Have you not seen him recently?” he squints. Chanyeol’s eyes scan the room.

“Why is it so hot in here? This is outrageous and unfair…! Xiumin, why can’t you just freeze the room over or something? Save us from this heat! What if the others get heat or something?!”

Lay was currently babbling on to Xiumin who had already dozed away into dreamland, his limbs sprawled out on the floor to air out his poor heated body.

“Kris! Get your over here and explain to me why you got hurt when we’re not even doing anything!” Kris rolled his eyes and looked at Chanyeol who held two hands up in defeat, slinking away from the scene as Lay caught sight of the green and blue bruises lining Kris’ arm.

After crossing his arms and fussing to himself for the longest time, Chanyeol slips off the couch and trots over to a sleepy Baekhyun who lies on the floor. He covers his eyes with his arm, huffing from the uncomfortable air that enters his lungs and heats his chest.

“Baek,” Chanyeol begins, lying near him and poking his head. “You’ll hang out with me, won’t you?”

Baekhyun groans, sweaty hands lightly whacking Chanyeol's away. “Not today, Chanyeol.” he mumbles, snuggling closer to Xiumin as he weakly brushes him off. Sulking, the taller tugs at Baekhyun’s shirt impatiently, yanking at the fabric as it pulled against his neck.

“Come on,” he pulls. “Please?”

With a final huff and irritation rising, Baekhyun angrily rises from the floor and runs his hand through his hair. Without a word, he quickly heads straight for the front door and slams it close on the way out. As always, Chanyeol scurries up from the floor and runs out the front door after him.

The air is awfully dry, and in the distance, Baekhyun can see the blur of nature that wobble in the sun rays. He rubs his eyes with the tips of his fingers, wipes his moist hands on his shorts, and walks straight towards the lake. The still water seemed to calm how jittery his body felt, emotions swirling as the irritation rose from the heat and also from Chanyeol whom he thought he had ditched.

“Wait up!” Chanyeol calls out from behind, catching up to him with a mere five strides, and Baekhyun curses the boy’s lengthy legs. He’s too hot to deal with his dear friend, so he decides to ignore him the whole way, bending over at the edge of the lake and dipping his hands into the cool water. He cups them underneath and snaps his arms upwards, splashing the fresh water into his feverish face.

Chanyeol bends down next to him, running his pointer finger over the surface of the lake. The water felt warm as it splashed against his hand, so he didn't understand. “What do you want to do today?”

Baekhyun merely ignores him again, rising after closing his eyes to relax. He sways to the right and walks along the rim of the lake, ducking under low tree branches as he leads himself deeper into the forest. The trees seem to grow taller, looming over the two and casting wider shadows than before, their large structures blocking the sunlight. Of course, Chanyeol scurries closely behind.

He kicks at a few stones before picking one of them up, flinging it towards the body of water. His first attempt fails, but when he does it again, it skips five times until it falters, eventually swallowed by the deep blue.

“Look!” Chanyeol laughs and points, but Baekhyun is further ahead, so he catches up to him again. When the smaller turns, he eyes Chanyeol secretly before moving and curving around the trees.

“Baekhyun, look-”

“I want to be alone, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol raises his eyebrows when he’s forced to stop, standing behind Baekhyun who doesn’t turn around. The sun continues to burn above them, but they both ignore the sticky feeling that coats their skin.

“But-”

“I didn’t come outside because I wanted to hang out with you,” he admits, turning his body to the side. “It was getting too hot inside, so I left.”

Awkwardly rubbing his arm behind his back, Chanyeol feels the blush rise to his cheeks in embarrassment. “Oh,” he mumbles. “I thought you wanted to…”

Baekhyun turns back around, ready to walk on ahead. “Go home, Chanyeol. I’ll be back shortly.”

Even so, when Baekhyun reaches the next tree, Chanyeol starts to follow him again, trying his best to keep his clumsy steps quiet as he seems to step on the crunchiest leaves and branches laying around. Baekhyun attempts to pay no attention, but it’s no use when the other starts calling his name again.

“Baekhyun, look! I-”

“Chanyeol!”

Dropping the stick in his hand, Chanyeol stares up at an angry Baekhyun, face red with anger. He digs his nails into the palms of his hands, lips clenched and ready for an outburst.

“Why do you keep following me? I told you, I want to be alone!”

“But, I just want to hang out with-” Chanyeol looked down at his shoes and glared at the stick he had dropped earlier, blaming it on why Baekhyun was chewing him out.

“You’re so irritating!” He groans, now pacing around bitterly. “You always follow me, and you’re always in my space, and I just...!”

Dropping his head even lower, Chanyeol looks down at the leaves underneath his feet. He’s completely ashamed, falling deeper into the feeling the more Baekhyun bit at him.

“You always cause so much trouble to me! I just want to be alone, can’t you see?”

Chanyeol doesn’t look up, or rather, he doesn’t bother. Facing Baekhyun like this would make his feelings hurt even more than it already was.

“You’re so hyper, and all you talk about is getting your new powers. I could care less!”

Chanyeol’s head snapped up as Baekhyun began to reveal the truth. All these times that he’s gushed about how amazing it would be to have a power, Baekhyun had smiled and cheered him up as the others got their own powers one by one. “I just want to be there for-”

“For me? You can’t! Never would I want someone like you to be there for me! Someone so...annoying! Useless!”

His words prick at Chanyeol’s skin and send goosebumps all over his body. Tears form in his eyes, and he’s shaking, but Baekhyun only continues to shout at him.

“You’re the worst! Friend! Ever!” he yells, inhaling a deep breath. “I HATE YOU!”

The statement has Chanyeol spewing out tears like a fountain, collecting at his chin and dripping down his neck as Baekhyun’s figure retreated from in front of him. But even though his chest is hurting from the insults, he still reaches out for Baekhyun when he begins to walk away. He snatches his wrist and tugs on it lightly, but he definitely doesn’t expect him to yelp out in pain.

The longer he holds on, the more Baekhyun thrashes under his grip, and he doesn’t understand why, still desperately holding in hopes that he would forgive him before they get into another fight like before. Baekhyun’s face scrunches up in agony as he continues to try to peel Chanyeol off his arm and hand, but he still doesn’t let go.

“It hurts!” Baekhyun sobs, falling to the floor and flailing violently. “Chanyeol, it hurts! IT HURTS!”

It’s only after one more scream does Chanyeol realize that he’s hurt his friend, but he doesn’t realize that it was that serious until he sees his skin blistered pink and red from his pinky all the way up and around his entire wrist. He rolls around and breathes heavily, staring at his shaky arm that drips blood as the pain scorches up his body.

“I-It, It h-hurts, h-hur-”

Baekhyun’s suffering only makes Chanyeol panic, but when he reaches out again, Baekhyun pushes himself back with his feet, falling into the loose leaf piles as the dirt coats his clean clothes.

“D-Don’t touch me! Stop!”

Managing to touch his hand to examine it, Baekhyun yelps again, kicking furiously and backing away to lean against one of the trees. Chanyeol only stares in utter shock and confusion.

“I don’t…” he trails off with a deep frown. His lower lip quivers and his face heats up from pain. The tears begin to dribble down his cheeks, one by one. “Why are you…”

The feelings that build up in his chest are too much for him to handle as he begins to hyperventilate, but Baekhyun can only look with fear in his eyes as Chanyeol melts to the ground. The leaves underneath his palms smoke at first, but burst into flames the more Chanyeol seemed to freak out. The fire spreads out around him, the orange and yellow tinting Baekhyun’s eyes and casting their warm shadows against the doomed green. Soon, the two of them are enveloped in a ring of flames, trapped in the center as the fire roars around them.