Hansol had never been much of a movie watcher, yet he couldn't help but groan at the cliché situation he found himself in because really, even he knew every teen summer movie started out exactly like this. There he was, in the backseat of a shuttle car, both earbuds in and blasting some angsty teen music because he was just a little pissed off at his parents for shipping him off to some family friend that lived in the countryside for a summer of “fresh air and new friends!” 

Maybe if he and his friends hadn't gotten in trouble with the law for the nth time that year, they wouldn't have done this. But something about Hansol being dragged home last week by the same grumpy policeman that always found a way to bail him out of things sent his parents over the edge. He knew they blamed his friends for his behavior, and that wasn't totally unreasonable. Maybe if it weren't for them and their hunger for the rush of adrenalin stealing and trespassing gave, Hansol would be at home more, studying or doing some other boring activity that would make them swoon with pride.

His mom had sat him down the next morning, disappointed eyes contrasting her fake-excited smile, and announced that Hansol needed a break from the city for a bit. Conveniently, she had an old friend who lived on a farm - yes, a freaking farm - and was looking for someone to help with it over the summer since her oldest son would be studying abroad. “She has a son about your age!” She grinned. “He’s well behaved and he'd be a…a good influence on you, I'm sure.”

They were in the town where the family lived by now, and Hansol could already tell it was nothing like he was used to. Everything felt dated somehow, like he had just stepped back into the 20th century but with newer cars and a cell phone, which buzzed in his hand. He was lucky enough to convince his parents to let him keep the phone over the summer, so he wouldn't fall out of contact with his friends for a full 10 weeks. He had yet to break the news of all of this to them actually. He figured the message he just received would be the perfect way to drop it.

Seungcheol: hey, you free today?

Hansol: actually, I'm busy

            i kinda will be for the next 10 weeks :/

The reply didn't come for another minute, and when it did it was in the group chat, a handful of his friends all freaking out at the same time. Frantic texts of “Oh my god, are you grounded???” and “What we did wasn’t that bad :/” flooded his phone (because yeah, stealing a tub of ice cream, bag of chips, and bottle of soda from a small family-owned corner store wasn't as bad as say, murdering someone, but it wasn't the thing star citizens did either), and he sighed, typing up a brief message explaining that no, he wasn't grounded technically; he was shipped off to some unheard of town with a population of, like, 3000 and that he'd see them all when school started again.

They weren't really satisfied with that answer.

A loud ringing broke the silence, causing the driver (whose name Hansol didn’t know or care to know) to cringe slightly, and Hansol picked up his screaming phone. He cringed himself when immediately at least four voices screamed out “What do you mean?!” simultaneously.

“Dude, you’re kidding.” Hansol recognized Mingyu’s voice, and he couldn’t help but feel slightly frustrated because, yeah, he’d totally lie about something like this.

“No, no I’m not.”

“But what about-” Wonwoo started just as the car started to pull into a driveway. Hansol promptly cut him off, “Look guys, I’m here now, I’ll call you later, okay?” , and despite their groans and whines of protest, Hansol hung up just as a house and barn came into view. It honestly looked like something out of a movie. The late afternoon sun filtered through the trees, bathing the white farmhouse and bright red barn in a warm, yellow glow, and Hansol nearly forgot to breathe, watching a horse run around in a fenced enclosure. He hardly even noticed when the car stopped, and the driver got out and opened the door.

A boy stood by the car, bright smile on his face.

Hansol thought love at first sight was bull. However, the feeling he was suddenly struck with was strong enough to maybe, maybe , make him question that

“Hello! I’m Seungkwan.”

Hansol couldn’t help but stare for what felt like eternity, but in reality it was only a few seconds before he was sputtering out an introduction of his own, cheeks bright pink because god, he was just seeing this kid for the first time ever but he was stunning . His chestnut hair was tousled up, bangs framing his round face and dark eyes, and Hansol stared as if Seungkwan was a hypnotic spell and he was caught in it.

“I know your name already.” Seungkwan smiled, pulling Hansol out of the trance and also making him feel as if he was being shot in the chest with Cupid’s arrow all over again. “Come on, I’ll show you your room.” He grabbed the larger of Hansol’s two suitcases and started towards the house. Hansol walked a few paces behind him, looking around in awe. The house looked even nicer up close, and the porch was somewhere Hansol could see himself spending a lot of time on. A heart-shaped twig wreath hung on the door, and two rocking chairs sat side by side, each with its own light green cushion.

“Mom, Hansol is here!” Seungkwan called in