The next day marked their third day on the trip and Sungmin woke up to the unmistakable sound of Ryeowook’s laughter. Sungmin’s mood was high despite that, and he stretched his limbs as he felt a few stiff muscles warm up and bones crack. He was a bit groggy still, having woken up no more than a minute ago and a faint snoring sound reached his ears.

He glanced over to his left where Kyuhyun was snuggled up into his sleeping bag, cheek squishing against his pillow. His pink lips were parted, a small amount of drool pooled at the side of his mouth which had spilled out and made a splotch on his pillow. His hair was a complete mess, adorably frizzy and poking out in different directions. Sungmin noticed how pale he was only at that moment, when there was nothing to distract him from observing the other. There were acne marks marring his cheeks but otherwise, he had mostly soft and flawless skin. It was an endearing picture.

Last night they had slept late, being the last ones to enter their tent and fall asleep. All throughout dinner and much later they stayed up talking, about the cafe, Kyuhyun’s job, and their hobbies. It was of no surprise to Sungmin that Kyuhyun had changed significantly. He was now a responsible and intelligent grown man, whose life centered mostly around his work and friends with a little extra time to spare for the things he loved to do. Among those, of course, was reading.

Though he had changed, there were little things that he did that reminded Sungmin of the younger version of Kyuhyun. He would laugh, exposing two rows of straight teeth and lean back in his chair, feet lifting off the ground as he clapped. There was the way he constantly teased Sungmin, or how he’d unknowingly act cute and pout.

Sungmin knew that honesty only worked when it was a two-way street. His honesty with the younger served as the initiation factor, and it was obvious that Kyuhyun was more comfortable telling Sungmin more things about his life after the elder’s confession. Even though Sungmin learned more about Kyuhyun in a few hours last night than he had in two days, there was still a huge missing gap in their conversations.

Kyuhyun never mentioned his family. His friends, sure, his job, yeah- he was more than open about that. Yet Sungmin didn’t know how his parents were doing, or his sister. He hadn’t asked, though- if Kyuhyun wasn’t telling him, there was a reason and for the time being Sungmin was going to respect that.

He hadn’t realized he was still staring at Kyuhyun as he was caught up in his own thoughts until the other began to stir, mouth closing and opening a few times before he turned to his other side. The back of the younger’s head was now in Sungmin’s line of sight, brown hair matted down.

Sungmin let out the breath he’d been holding, not even moving a muscle so he wouldn’t be caught creepily staring at his friend. Friend. They were friends, right? Only friends told each other secrets, and only friends could talk as long as they had last night. So, Sungmin supposed they were. A smile broke out onto his face. He was friends with Kyuhyun again.

Sungmin was thankful. He was thankful that Kyuhyun forgave him, and was even willing to accept him again. He was thankful that the other was treating him no different even after everything was out in the open, so to speak.

Well, not everything, he reminded himself.

Sungmin ped the side of his sleeping bag, hissing slightly at the cold air that assaulted his warm body. He looked around, trying to figure out a way to maneuver himself around the lump that was Kyuhyun; but the younger’s body was so long that his feet touched the other end of the tent. He was also right smack in between the door and Sungmin, only a sliver of space available on both sides of his body but not enough for the elder to step on. It left Sungmin with no room to wiggle out of there without disturbing him.

Sighing quietly in defeat, he slipped back into the warmth of his sleeping bag, missing the sound of Kyuhyun turning back toward him amid his own rustling. When he turned to lay on his right side, he was met with Kyuhyun’s heavily lidded, but open, eyes.

“‘Morning Min,” Kyuhyun murmured, voice so deep Sungmin could almost hear it vibrating. His left cheek was pink, skin tattooed with sleep lines most likely from his sleeping bag zipper. After he blinked slowly and lazily, he brought a hand to rub at his sleep-swollen eyes. “W’time‘s it?” he mumbled, turning over and feeling around for his phone.

Sungmin inhaled deeply, not even realizing he’d stopped breathing as soon as he saw that Kyuhyun was awake. His pulse had jumped when the younger had spoken, the low rumbling sound going straight to his groin. It didn’t help that Kyuhyun’s barely-woken-up face was making Sungmin want to squirm with its cuteness. Squirm, dammit.

“Good morning, Kyuhyun,” he replied gruffly, trying to busy himself in ridding his body of the extra blanket layers. It was suddenly too hot.

“You been up long?” Kyuhyun yawned, sitting up and stretching his arms over his head. His fingertips touched the top of the tent, Sungmin noted absentmindedly.

He shook his head. “Only about 15 minutes.”

Sungmin’s gaze did not follow the younger’s hand as it lifted up his shirt, scratching at the pale, smooth skin of his hip. He wetted his lips nervously. He should probably get out of the tent and into fresh air as soon as possible. When he looked up and met Kyuhyun’s eyes, he almost wanted to scramble away at how intense and awake his gaze was. What if he had caught him staring?

In a second his expression changed, forcing Sungmin to think he might’ve imagined it.

“I’m sorry, was I blocking your way out?” Kyuhyun asked, seemingly embarrassed.

Sungmin chuckled slightly. “Actually yes, you and your large body didn’t let me go through,” he joked, getting on his knees. After wrapping a light sweater over himself he shoved Kyuhyun lightly, who was barely putting on his glasses. “Come on, move. I’m hungry.”

Kyuhyun glared at him playfully, before curling himself into a ball to leave Sungmin with plenty of space. “Is that good enough for you?”

"Barely," Sungmin rolled his eyes, ping the tent and tumbling his way out onto the dirt. He slipped his feet into his boots, not even bothering with the laces or anything. He just needed something to not get his socks completely dirty with the blackish, powdery dirt. Siwon and Ryeowook were already sitting down on the table near the fire pit, talking until they saw Sungmin walk toward them; they suddenly quieted down significantly.

“What nice weather- oh, good morning Min!” Ryeowook said brightly, white teeth flashing through his dark pink lips.

Sungmin’s eyes went from Siwon to Ryeowook, then back to Siwon before landing on Ryeowook again. Since when had they become such good friends? “Morning,” he said slowly, swinging his legs over the wooden bench and sitting down. There were two pots with steam coming from them on the table, one filled with hot water and the other with coffee. He took a metal mug and poured himself some coffee, allowing himself to breathe it in before taking a sip.

Kyuhyun was not far behind him, and he didn’t even say good morning to anyone first. Instead he silently took a mug and also filled it up with the delicious black liquid, taking a few gulps before sighing contentedly. “Good morning, Ryeowook. Hyung,” he nodded towards Siwon and Ryeowook. “Where’s Hyuk?”

Siwon snorted unattractively. “Went on a jog with Donghae.” The way he said it made it clear he thought it was an excuse.

Kyuhyun laughed into his mug. “Well I guess we’ll wait for them to come back before making today’s plans.”

“I’ll assume you’re talking about us,” Hyukjae huffed, Donghae following behind him closely. They were out of breath and sweating, and Hyukjae leaned forward, resting his hands over his knees as he came to a stop. “Thought we agreed to go to Tenaya Lake?”

Kyuhyun shrugged as he poured more coffee into his cup. “Just checking to make sure those were still the plans.”

Hyukjae just nodded eagerly and ripped open a new pack of water bottles, tossing one to Donghae before gulping his down and finishing the entire bottle in one go. “If you guys wanna sightsee a little bit on our way over there, then we shouldn’t wait too much longer to go. I want to get back with some daylight to spare since I’m sure we’ll all want to shower.”

“How far is the lake from here?” Sungmin asked as Hyukjae took a seat next to Kyuhyun. Donghae was still stretching.

“About an hour, give or take. But we usually stop a few times on the way there to look down at the valley and take pictures, so it takes longer,” Siwon explained, already beating some eggs in a bowl.

“We even saw some bears last time, right Kyu?” Hyukjae nudged the younger’s shoulder, excited smile on his face.

Kyuhyun’s face lit up at the mention of bears. “Yeah, a mother and two cubs. They were drinking at a pond when we hiked a couple of minutes from the car.”

“Oh! I think I still have some of the pictures on an SD card,” Hyukjae mumbled, leaving his spot on the bench to rummage around his tent for his camera pouch.

Sungmin turned to Kyuhyun with a look of mild terror on his face. “Bears?”

Kyuhyun seemed amused when he the saw expression on his face. “Yeah. I told you the first night there were a lot of bears here, didn’t I?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Last night you told me most people never even see a bear when they come to Yosemite,” Sungmin reminded him.

“Your chances increase the more out in the wild you are,” he explained. “Like here, at this campground? Bear sightings just about every night.”

Sungmin paled. “Kyuhyun, don’t scare me like that.”

“Last night you could hear the soft padding sounds as the bear’s paws made contact with the ground,” the younger tilted his head back as he recalled it. “That’s why we come here instead of the valley. The thrill of seeing such magnificent creatures.”

“You’re lying, there wasn’t one here last night…” Sungmin trailed off, trying to convince himself. Bears were massive, quick, and intelligent animals. Just the thought of having one so close to him with only the thin barrier of the tent for protection made a shiver of fear run up his spine.

“Did you know some of them aren’t even afraid of humans anymore? They’re so used to our presence that they become more threatening and aggressive,” Kyuhyun continued matter-of-factly, nodding to himself.

Now Sungmin could tell Kyuhyun was just messing with him. He reached across the table to slap his arm lightly. “You’re such an , Kyu.”

Kyuhyun bit his lip to keep from smiling. “It’s true, though! Just wait till there’s a bear tearing up the tent and clawing your skin to shreds- ow!”

Sungmin had grabbed Hyukjae’s empty water bottle and thrown it at Kyuhyun’s head. The younger’s hand flew up to rub at the red mark on his forehead gently. “We share a tent so whatever gets at me will get at you. Now shut up and help Siwon make breakfast,” Sungmin snapped, however with no anger in his voice.

Kyuhyun pouted cutely -again, Sungmin thought miserably- and dragged his body to a standing position. He started mumbling something about why was he always the one who had to make breakfast, he just did it yesterday and Sungmin couldn’t help but giggle behind his hand at the younger’s immature behavior.

Sungmin was too busy observing Kyuhyun to notice Ryeowook staring at him in wonder, a mischievous smile slowly making its way to the small man’s lips.

____

They ate and packed some of their things for their time at the lake, including extra clothes, water and food. They only needed to take one car, Siwon’s, since it fit 8 and had enough room. By the time they were ready to leave, it was almost noon.

Sungmin squeezed his way to the last row of seats, sitting in the far corner after he threw his bag in the back. He’d been observing Hyukjae and Donghae the entire morning (well in the time that he wasn’t busy drooling over Kyuhyun, not that he’d ever admit it) and it seemed like Donghae almost forgot all about his supposed friend Siwon. He was attracted to Hyukjae like a moth to a flame, while the latter seemed more than enthusiastic about the attention. Frequently he’d hear Donghae bark out laughter at Hyukjae’s jokes, slapping him playfully when he just couldn’t handle it anymore. To anyone else, it might’ve just seemed like they were good friends; but they’d only known each other for a couple of days. It was obvious something else was going on and every other member of the group noticed it. Sungmin just wasn’t sure if Donghae was ready for that kind of relationship or if Hyukjae knew what he was getting himself into.

“Do you mind?” he heard Kyuhyun ask as he ducked his head and sat next to Sungmin.

Sungmin answered with a wide smile. “I do mind actually, I was saving that seat so I could rest my legs on it. Sorry.”

Kyuhyun shrugged as he played along. “Rest them on my lap.”

Sungmin’s heart jumped but he only chuckled nervously. It wasn’t literal. “What a gentleman.”

Kyuhyun laughed and buckled his seatbelt, readjusting his glasses when they slid down to the tip of his nose.

He was wearing a thin white v-neck, red swim trunks, and flips flops since they were heading to the lake. He chose to wear his glasses instead of his contacts, fluffy hair framing his face. Sungmin had been watching him for the past two days, but he just couldn’t get enough of the younger’s face. Kyuhyun was strikingly handsome, smooth skin stretching across high cheekbones and a sharp jawline, down his gracefully long neck and protruding clavicle. Sungmin’s eyes followed the skin of his lower bicep down to his forearm, watching as the muscles flexed when the younger opened up the book he brought with him. Kyuhyun’s hands were large and decorated with blue-green veins, long pale fingers turning a page slowly.

Just as Sungmin was about to look away toward the window on his left and watch the green pine trees blur past them for a distraction, on the edge of his vision he could see Kyuhyun’s gaze turn toward him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kyuhyun closed the rather large book, setting it in the seat between him and Sungmin. “I’m so rude, I was just going to read and ignore you-”

Sungmin shook his head. “No, it’s okay Kyu, you can read your book if you want. I brought my iPod so I can just listen to music,” he said rather quickly, thankful that the other just thought he wanted to talk instead of thinking Sungmin was staring and practically adoring every inch of his body. Because that would be creepy, and certainly not what Sungmin was doing.

“But we have so much more to catch up on!” Kyuhyun countered. “8 years’ worth.”

Sungmin could feel his lips stretch into a smile, exposing his teeth, and he couldn’t believe how much he was smiling lately. When was the last time he felt so carefree? “We have as much time ahead of us as we need to talk about those 8 years,” he reminded the younger, nonetheless turning his body just slightly toward him in invitation.

Kyuhyun’s answering smile was so bright, it made his cheeks lift up in the cutest way- not that Sungmin was noticing. “How much do you think we can cover in the next 5 days?” Kyuhyun’s eyes sparkled- no, they twinkled. Twinkled in that excited way that was purely Kyuhyun.

It took Sungmin’s breath away. “Why don’t we find out?”

____

As it turned out, they could actually cover a lot, even in the course of 45 minutes.

Sungmin didn’t know why he was even surprised that talking to Kyuhyun was so damn comfortable. It could be compared to sinking into your bed after a tiring day, wearing an old t-shirt, or even eating a favorite childhood meal. So warm, incredibly pleasant and so very familiar. Nothing was awkward. He could just sink into Kyuhyun’s voice, which floated through h