Jongdae’s finger repetitively tapped his thigh. His other hand was stretched out in front of him. The stench of something horribly disgusting filled the air, and he gulped, pushing down the bile that was threatening to come out.

You got this. You need to try for the others, and if nothing happens that's alright, at least you tried.

He put both hands out, spreading the fingers apart. Shutting his eyes, he maintained even breaths, mildly calming his beating heart, then reached for the bright light. It appeared in the dark; his hand hesitantly reached for it. When the heat hit his fingertips, he jolted, eyes ripping open as he hurriedly whacked the bottom of his shorts, his legs flailing around as he tried to get rid of the fire.

It extinguished. He stared at his shorts, which were thankfully only a bit singed at the edge, then threw his head back, hitting the wall with a curse. His hands fell into his lap as he blankly gazed at the ceiling. His adam’s apple bobbed, long hair uncomfortably sticking to his sweaty neck.

A knock sounded through the room. “Jongdae? You be alright in there?” he heard Jongin ask.

He cleared his throat, pushing up from the tile floors. “Yeah,” he said, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Looking down at the toilet beside him, he speedily did his business and left the stall, washing his hands using the very fancy sinks and freshly scented, liquid, pink soap. He quickly admired the patterns and detailed, spray painted artwork, and then turned the faucet off. His now clean, wet hands dripped as he looked for a rag to wipe his hands with, seeing a strange box on the wall instead, then decided to wipe them on his dirty shorts. He slipped on the mask that was around his neck, sighing in relief when he patted it down.

He walked out of the public bathroom, unlocking the door, and bowed his head apologetically at the stranger that walked in, glaring at him. It wasn’t my fault I thought it was a regular bathroom.

Jongin and Luhan were throwing around a random stone, and the former was laughing in glee. Jongdae felt himself smile a bit as the boy caught the rock, doing a victory dance afterwards.

Sitting against the wall of the tiny restroom building was Kris, who had Ace sitting in his lap. He was feeding the dragon some of the leftover squirrel from earlier, and Jongdae observed the proud smile on the conman’s face. He looked like a proud father taking care of his son.

“Well, you were certainly in there for quite a while.” He turned around, seeing the lone rock in the grass. He got a bit of déjà vu, remembering his first time meeting her, and a small grin covered his lips. He picked her up, tossing and catching her. “I see the food earlier went right through you.”

It took a moment, but he let out a snort. Jiyoung laughed. “Sorry,” she said, “your bad jokes are rubbing off on me.”

“My jokes aren’t that bad.” He pouted.

She snorted. “Yes, they are, and you know it.”

He playfully glared. “Yours aren’t so amazing, either, to be honest.” He looked away, holding in a snort as she gasped.

“I'll have you know I was quite the jokester back in my day!” She feigned offence. “Oh my, you hooligans don’t know humor. Seriously.”

He shook his head, snickering. “Hooligans? Who are you – the old geezer down the street? Mad that I stepped on your lawn and dirtied the grass?”

“Nooo!” she exclaimed as he laughed at his jest. “That was so bad. That wasn’t even a joke!”

He pretended to wipe away tears, still chuckling. “It made me laugh.”

“I don’t know what’s lamer – the joke itself or the fact that you're the only one whoever laughs at your jokes.”

Jongin came stumbling over, a grin on his face, as he panted from running around. “What y’all talking about. Hm?” He elbowed Jongdae in the side. “About sardine things?”

“Sardine?” Jiyoung questioned, then snorted.

“Yeah, sardine! Like, um, when you be sure about something.” He looked at Jongdae, tugging his arm. “Right? You be saying it yesterday!”

“Oh,” the older drawled. “You mean certain.”

“Yeah! Certain. Exact-uh-lee!”

Luhan came at his other side. “'Nough with the vocab lessons. We know ya guys been throwin’ those cute comments at each other,” he teased.

Spluttering, Jongdae exclaimed, “Cute comments?”

“Yep!” Jongin chirped. “I heard ya guys the other day. Y’all were being real, real cute.”

“Wait, when I told Jongdae about my dream?” Jiyoung quizzed. She laughed. “Oh my lord, and here I thought we were being discreet.”

“Nope! I heard about how Jongdae came in and saved the day!” Jongin clapped his hands. “I think it was real cute!”

 “There’s obviously somethin’ else goin’ on,” Luhan teased, clamping his hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “C’mon guys, tell ya friends about ya risqué – got that one from ya, Jiyoung – behavior. Promise not to tell no one."

Jongdae shoved the hand off, pointing out, “There was a double negative in that sentence.”

“The does that mean?”

“Two negatives equal a positive. You said not and no in the same sentence, so you are basically saying you’ll tell everyone.”

Luhan blinked. Jongin blinked. Jongdae blinked. They all blinked.

“What?”

Jiyoung snorted. “I wish I had a camera your guys’ reactions were priceless!”

Waving his hands around, Jongin said, “Wait, wait but we be getting off the top now!”

“Topic, Jongin.”

“Topic!” He clapped his hands again. “Me and Luhan know y’all’s secret! Why you be saying those cute things to each other all the time.”

Snickering, Luhan nodded. “Yep.”

“And what is the secret, if I may ask?” Jiyoung asked, both curious and amused.

Jongdae eyed the two males with a raised brow. “I’d like to know as well.”

Jongin’s smile turned into a teasing grin. “Oh you know what I’m saying guys.” He wriggled his brows. “The whole dreaming ‘bout Jongdae. The jokes. How you guys be always talking to each other and laughing.”

Jiyoung snorted. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea.”

Nodding, Jongdae added, “I definitely agree.”

“And how you always wait for Jiyoung to say somethin’ when you be asking a question,” the boy went on.

Jongdae’s head tilted. The other definitely payed more attention than he let on. It made him wonder just how much he knew. He shook his head. This was Jongin. There was no need to get on the defensive. He was harmless, right? His mind wandered off to his first meeting with the boy. He shook the thoughts away.

“-or how ‘bout how Jiyoung’s always helping you out when you need her. I be seeing the hug from the other day.”

“Alright, now I’m really curious,” Jiyoung laughed. “What are you sure we’re hiding?”

“You…” Jongin trailed off for effect.

Seeing the smirk on Luhan’s lips, Jongdae assumed what was to be said was not at all going to be accurate. He mentally prepared himself.

“Are best friends!”

Jiyoung busted out into guffaws, and Jongdae couldn’t help but let out his own high pitched laugh at the ridiculous answer. Jongin glanced at them, dumfounded.

“Did I say somethin’ funny?” He itched his scalp.

Luhan, who had also curled over from laughter, wrapped his arm around the younger male. “Ya – ya got ‘em by surprise, Jongin!”

“But why?” he asked. “I mean, it be making sense, don’t it? The cute comments and stuff – they be best friends! What’s so funny?” He gave them a childish pout.

“I’m so glad that spending time with Luhan hasn’t tainted your innocence, Jongin.” Jongdae panted, grinning.

“For a second there,” Jiyoung started, taking a breath, “I thought he was going to say something else, if you know what I mean.”

“My thoughts exactly. How cringy would that be?”

The duo laughed.

“Oh my – the day that we get together is the day that I turn back into a human." She laughed.

He cleared his throat, a smile on his face. “Oh really? Then I guess i