Sehun kept changing the radio stations, clearly not satisfied with the choice of music the DJ’s had. The highway stretched far and long, as much as they had enjoyed Busan, they had a feeling Seoul was where they were supposed to go. Lu Han drove until the sun went down and pulled over to the side of the road for the night. Sehun jumped out of the car and stretched his long limbs, satisfied to walk around on his legs after hours of sitting.

Lu Han followed his lead, craning his neck from side to side to get rid of the stiffness while checking for wood; they would need it for the bonfire. They had some logs in the back of the trailer but those were for emergencies; Lu Han didn’t want to use up their savings.

“Hey, hyung,” Sehun called, “Why don’t you work on the fire while I check the map? I’ll try the radio in the meantime.”

Lu Han nodded, eyes trained on a tree not far from where they were. They had an axe in the car, so Lu Han retrieved it. After weeks of living in the woods of Busan with Sehun, he had become quite the master at chopping down trees. Once he had enough woods to create a decent fire, Lu Han trudged back to the trailer. Sehun had abandoned the radio and was instead working on the communicator he had found at the lab; apparently, the white coats had found their pods and stolen most of their instruments. It worked out for them in the end; all they had to do now was get the damn thing to work.

“Nothing?” Lu Han asked, dumping the log on the floor. Sehun shook his head, lips pursed in a pout.

Lu Han started a fire and immediately got to work on dinner; he produced some canned beans from the back of the trailer and some frozen meat, which he cooked over the fire. Sehun took out the plastic chairs and placed them next to the bonfire, then went back inside to look for the drinks.

“Dinner’s ready,” Lu Han announced after a few minutes. To be honest, the meat would have been much better if they had an actual kitchen, but it wasn’t time to be picky. Sehun didn’t seem to mind his dinner was half burnt; he wolfed down his entire potion with a smile on his face. It made Lu Han feel a lot better.

Afterwards, they remained seated. This time it was Lu Han with the radio, trying every station for the signal he and Yifan had worked on while trapped at the lab. The idea was to send out a message to an ‘old friend’ and ask to catch up at a location of the messenger’s choice. It was a long shot, but it was worth to try.

“Hyung, look,” Sehun said, pointing at the sky, “A shooting star.”

Lu Han turned his head just in time to see it fade away. He still wished to see Yixing again, though.

-

The next week they arrived at Seoul. Sehun suggested they found somewhere to stay first and then look for a job of some sort, so Lu Han drove around town for a while until they came across a motel cheap enough for their unemployed, otherworldly asses.

The clerk looked at them funny when they requested a room and said he only had a single, but Lu Han took it anyway. He was already used to sharing a bed on the trailer with Sehun; it wouldn’t make much of a difference to do it in a motel. Once settled in, Lu Han took it upon himself to go out to get a job.

About fifteen minutes north from the hotel, Lu Han came across a store in need for a new cashier. It took some convincing, but in the end he scored the job and would start in a few days.

Satisfied, Lu Han made his way back to the motel to tell Sehun the good news. As soon as he walked through the door, though, he knew something was wrong. Sehun’s coat was thrown on the floor and the radio was gone; Lu Han walked back outside with dread weighing down his heart.

“Excuse me,” he said to the clerk, “Have you seen the boy that was with me? The tall one?”

The clerk seemed to think about it for a long while, even if his only customers were Lu Han, Sehun and the old guy who smelled funny. “Yeah,” he said eventually, “I saw him run out of here about two minutes ago.”

Lu Han had been standing there waiting for him to answer for approximately a minute and a half.

With a snarl and a nod, Lu Han was racing out the door. He looked to one side and the other, hoping to catch sight of his abnormally tall friend. There was a glimpse of a blond head turning the corner and Lu Han went after them, hoping it was Sehun. Lu Han nearly lost them, but once they were in a more secluded area he was certain it was the air bender.

“Sehun!” he called out. Sehun turned around as if in a daze but smiled excitedly when he saw Lu Han.

“Hyung,” he said, “I think I heard something.”

With renewed hope, they ran up and down in search of what Sehun thought he heard. They went at it for hours, until Lu Han was tired and sweaty and worrying that Sehun was imagining things.

“Hyung, look,” Sehun whispered, “Aren’t those… Baekhyun and Jongdae hyung?”

Sure enough, a few ways up the street he could see two familiar figures walking a dog. Sehun ran up to them eagerly, waving his arms around to catch their attention. Jongdae looked up first, hit Baekhyun in the arm and pointed towards where they were. Lu Han ran after Sehun when the other two took off in their direction. He wasn’t sure who he hugged first; it was pretty much a blur. The streetlamps exploded, lightning rumbled in the distance and the wind picked up. Lu Han simply hoped he wasn’t making anything float in the air; he wasn’t sure how they would explain that one.

“Hey, Lu ge,” Baekhyun said, “Didn’t you hear me? Yixing hyung is with us.”

Lu Han probably got whiplash with how hard he spun his head around in search of his Yixing. “Not here,” Jongdae laughed, “He’s at the apartment.”

“You have an apartment,” Sehun said, “We get a cheap motel room.”

“It’s more of a studio,” Baekhyun corrected, “It was empty and the owner lets us do whatever we want as long as we don’t do anything to draw attention. The whole building is abandoned, in fact.”

“Can you please take me to Yixing?” Lu Han begged exasperatedly.

“Sure,” those devils said in unison.

-

They agreed to give them some space, a few minutes of alone time before Sehun barged in and claimed Yixing’s lap as his pillow. Lu Han couldn’t feel his fingers as he walked through the door, past the small kitchen and into the living room. Yixing had his back to him, going over what seemed like a bunch of papers; the news, Lu Han realized.

“Xing?” he called softly. Yixing stiffened, turned around slowly, as if afraid. Finally, Lu Han could breath again; Yixing launched himself to him, arms and legs tangled with his until they fell on the floor and Lu Han nearly hit his head on the low table.

Yixing was crying, his tears trailed down his face and landed on Lu Han’s neck. Lu Han himself felt like crying too, but no tears came out. All he could do was clutch Yixing as tight as humanly possible, as close as he could. It was the best hug he had ever had.