When Junmyeon shut his house’s door and walked into the living room, found a little Yixing on his sofa, clutching a bunny’s plushy and watching kid’s cartoons. The writer hadn’t yet realized he had come in the house, so he walked as quietly as possible and sneaked behind him.

“BU”

Yixing jumped so high he fell from the sofa, much to Junmyeon’s hilarity.

“That almost gave me a heart attack” he said between pants.

“I told you I was a funny guy. Are you having fun on your day off?”

Not waiting for a reply, the young man sat beside him on the floor, taking away the tie and throwing socks and shoes in the air, to then rest his head on his shoulder.

Yixing had to bit his inner cheek to stop his smile from spreading too much on his face. Was he allowed to be that happy? Could he really forget everything and move on? No, forgetting was for the stupid, for those who went on and on, making the same mistakes because they couldn’t learn anything. He just had to quiet down his pain, like he always did, keeping it as a reminder, but not letting it take control of his action. He was in control now and he had chosen to be happy.

“I watched cartoons all day. For a moment, I thought I was turning seven again”

“What was your childhood like?” asked Junmyeon in a soft voice.

“There is not much to talk about, it was like all the others: I had the most loving parents I could desire, always taking care of me. Thinking about it now, I probably got them tired many times, because I loved to lose myself in the beautiful details of my life and never to follow the traced path. One time they had to call the police because they couldn’t find me anymore and I was just asleep in the playground next door. Every day was fun and unique, even if there were people who hated me or despised me, I loved being alive. Then I found the girl of my dreams and I thought I would never be happier”

Junmyeon suddenly felt uncomfortable where he was, so he got in his feet again and went in the kitchen to have a glass of water.

“Are you happy right now? Happier than you was back then?” he asked, timidly.

In reality, he didn’t want an answer. He much preferred not knowing than break himself apart for doing so, but that time he had to.

Yixing followed him in the kitchen and hugged him from behind, tenderly kissing the back of his ear, almost tickling him.

“I’m not sure, but we can work on it. Humans can recover from anything, that’s their strength. Now, if you’ll excuse me, another episode of Garfield awaits me”

Junmyeon couldn’t contain a sweet smile. Things weren’t perfect: Yixing would have scars all over his heart forever, but maybe he could numb the pain a little bit bringing him as much joy as he was feeling in that moment.

“Wait for me! After that there is Spongebob”

Sehun was at his bedroom’s window, looking at the starry sky, not really focusing on anyone of them. Just looking, sometimes he did that: he unplugged his brain for some minutes and just looked at the big picture. He didn’t feel on Earth, he was so light and everything so ethereal… was he dreaming? No, he was sure that was reality.

Luhan. Luhan under the willow, the wind blowing up his hair, making it look like a bird nest, with the leaves dancing in the air, floating gently until they hit the ground. Luhan in his arms, with a crooked smile on his lips, his eyes full of light, so much they seemed sparkling. Luhan’s lips on his, in a kiss that tasted like freedom.

Why had they waited? He didn’t know, it wasn’t important anymore.

-Are you up?-

Sehun practically launched himself on his bed, making it creak dangerously, to catch his phone.

-Yes, I was just looking at the sky-

-It’s beautiful tonight, isn’t it? There are so many stars I feel like a life could be spent counting them and it still wouldn’t be enough-

-That is a fact my not-deep-as-I-thought Luhan-

-Grumpy as ever Mr. Hunbun-

-Call me that way and I’ll cut all your precious hair off. I know how you look like now-

-Oh God. Maybe meeting wasn’t the smartest idea after all-

-Mwahaha. No, but seriously, thank you endlessly for coming. I thought I would have to leave alone-

-To tell you the truth, I was going to catch the bus and call it off. I was so scared you can’t even imagine, but someone made me realize how dumb that was. “Luhan, you are a man, you can do this” I thought-

-Let’s overlook the fact that I’m laughing too much at your last words. Teel me who I have to thank for this-

-The school’s dream boy, the one you asked me to research on. Can you imagine? He came back to Earth only to help me, just like a manga hero-

-Dream boy, will he save the world? You’ll find out in the next episode-

-Ahaha. Go to sleep, you need it. I love you-

-Me too. So much-

Kyungsoo had spent days upon days trying to figure out how could happiness be achieved. In books, people with a life similar to his were very happy, there was nothing lacking; still, he felt hollow. Something was lacking and he didn’t know what: he had a nice house with a beautiful garden, caring friends and music always at hand. Was he the problem? He had asked himself that question many time, never finding the answer.

Now he knew: he needed someone to lead him back on his feet and take his hand on the right path. He was letting his friends doing it because he was afraid to pull them into his dark nothing with him, but somehow Jongin had reached out to him without being affected, always smiling brightly, always to light on his feet.

Don’t take this for granted, it won’t last forever. You have to make an effort to make it last.

His head had recovered from the night before and was running at full speed, warning him every moment, but he didn’t mind. The sky was Zenith blue, clear as a polished gem.

He still needed the headphones; anxiety can’t be cured in a night, even if you find the right person to help you, but he was steadier on his feet, growing more confident with every step.

Summer was ending, he could feel it in the wind that now carried the faint smell of autumn, sweeter than summer, like dries berries and fallen leaves, but the sunlight wasn’t giving anyone a rest, so much he had decided to bring one of his black hats with him to relieve some of the heat.

How could he describe himself at that moment? Light, that was probably the most fitting word. Light in the heart, light in the body, so much he almost believed he had grown real wings on his back. So many times he had dream of transforming into a bird and fly away, in a place where everything was beautiful and loneliness didn’t exist, then he would have come back and took his friends with him, because they definitely deserved it.

But now he had him and his desire had evaporated, disappeared behind a cloud in the sky. And there he was, reserving a seat next to him with his bag, fanning himself with a textbook because the heat was incredibly strong on the vehicle.

“Hey, I’ve reserved you a seat” said Jongin, wiping of some sweat from his forehead.

It was quite surprising to Kyungsoo how much nothing had really changed between them: Jongin was nice and smiling as always, he didn’t treat him differently from before and he was sleepy and dreamy just like every other day. The only thing was that now Jongin could put an arm around his shoulder and he could snuggle on it without having to worry about other people.

He had a boyfriend now. The thought struck Kyungsoo as powerfully as a lightning; never in his life he had thought he would get in a situation like that but, surprisingly, he was happier than he had been in a long time.

As soon as Baekhyun and Chanyeol saw them hand in hand, walking slowly and chatting, they couldn’t help but run to them with an almost creepy smile on their face and ask for an explanation.

“So I guess now we are not the cutest couple on campus anymore” said Baekhyun.

“Not true, you are hella cute” replied Chanyeol, making everybody laugh.

“God Chanyeol, shut up, you are embarrassing to be with! Besides, nobody says hella anymore”

“Again, not true. I say it”

Jongin and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile at their silly argument.

And then, something happened that made the dancer’s jaw to drop in disbelief: walking past the campus entrance, a very smiley Sehun, as rare as you can get, and the prettiest boy he had ever seen, arms wrapped behind each other’s back, talking like there was no one around them. They were so caught in what they were saying that they didn’t notice the other four, staring at them.

“Jongin, isn’t that one with Luhan your best friend?” whispered Kyungsoo as they passed by.

“Yup, he definitely is” he replied, with a proud expression on his face.

Summer was ending and fortunately it was looking like a happy ending for all of them, but you never know when a summer shower storm is coming, especially if it travels in a very old Chevrolet.

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This story is coming to and end phew. I'm sorry, but after this chapter is posted I will be leaving for Los Angeles with a study group (Yeah, I know, KCon LA will be happening when I'm there but I can't go to any performance *giant tears* but I hope I'll get to make friends who love kpop as much as I do) so I won't be able to update for some time but I promise that as soon as I came back home I'll start writing again at full speed ^__^