When Sunggyu finally wakes up, the sun is shining for the first time in a long time. The ground is still cold, but the fire has burnt out, and the dirt beneath it is still hot. Sunggyu clears away the ash and takes it upon himself to build another fire.

A clear wind blows through, and the fire dies in Sunggyu’s hands. He laughs, laughs because the sky is so impossibly blue, laughs because Dongwoo’s breathing is steady, laughs because the sun is back, because he can see hope ahead.

And something cracks in the forest to his right.

Sunggyu immediately shuts up, whipping his head towards the sound. Myungsoo steps out of the darkness, holding a handful of fluffy, dry grass. He raises his eyebrows.

“Gosh, hyung,” he says, amused. “I could hear you from a mile off. You need to be more careful when you laugh, or someone’s going to find us all.”

Sunggyu nods, embarrassed. “You’re right, Soo,” he agrees. “Come here, I can’t get the fire started. Do we have food?”

Myungsoo snorts. “Are you kidding?” He shakes the snow from his hair. “All we can do is eat snow, or melt it and drink water.”

Sunggyu rubs his eyes. “I’ll try to find something,” he tells the younger boy. “You had the knife, right? Give it to me. I won’t lose it.”

Knife in hand, Sunggyu heads out into the forest. He remembers reading somewhere that the inner bark of pine trees is edible. He doesn’t remember seeing any pine trees on the way, but then again, he hasn’t really been paying attention to his surroundings. Unfortunate.

Nonetheless, Sunggyu leaps upon the first pine tree he sees, hacking away the outer bark, sending up an apology to the tree gods, and scrapes off the white inner bark. He goes all the way around the tree until an entire section has been cut off, and he can barely hold the amount of bark in one hand.

He fairly sprints back to the clearing, where Myungsoo has already succeeded in making a second fire.

“Guys!” he yells excitedly, waking everyone up. “Guys, I have food!”

Sungyeol rolls up, eyes bright, then groans and falls back onto the ground. “Hyung, that looks like wood shavings,” he complains. “We can’t eat wood…”

“You idiot,” Dongwoo whispers, voice raw from coughing all these days but already much clearer than before. “That’s inner bark. It’s edible, and we can probably cook it on the fire. Right, hyung?”

Sunggyu nods, dividing the tree bark into seven piles. “I know it’s not much, but at least now we have something in our stomachs. I swear, I’ve felt my body trying to digest itself for the past few days.”

“Me too, hyung!” Sungjong puts in. “Come on, Yeol-hyung, food is food, and you’ll probably end up whining for more.”

Sungyeol glares at him but makes no move to deny. Howon laughs, and Woohyun, the designated cook, spears the pieces of bark on sticks and sets off to roast them.

“Howon,” he calls from the other side of the fire. Howon looks up expectantly. “You need to tell us what’s going on between you and Sunggyu-hyung.”

Sunggyu’s head snaps towards Woohyun, who, despite the fire separating them, instinctively backs away.

“There’s nothing going on between us,” Howon answers calmly. Sunggyu’s heart sinks; Howon sounds way too casual for there to really be ‘nothing going on’.

Evidently, Myungsoo thinks so too, because he laughs. “Really, hyungs?” he asks, giggling like a kid. “We’re not blind, you know. Sure, you’ve always been close, but today especially, and yesterday.”

Before Howon can ruin it again, Sunggyu hastily answers, “I’m just trying to make up for yelling at him last night. Now shut up about it.”

“Sure, hyung.” Sunggyu doesn’t like the sly look on Sungyeol’s face. “We believe you, totally.”

Howon threatens to burn him alive. Woohyun breaks it up by throwing food at everyone, and silence falls as the seven devour their meager rations.

“Hyung,” Sungjong pipes up. “Let’s all look for food tomorrow. I remember that dandelions are edible.”

“It’s winter,” Dongwoo points out. “But I agree, there must be other sources of food out there.”

Dongwoo looks so much better than he had in a while. Maybe the medicine did do him well after all. At the thought of that, Sunggyu smiles.

“Okay,” he agrees, giving in. “Tomorrow. But right now, we need to either build shelter or move on. Personally,” he continues quickly, seeing the disgruntled look on Sungyeol’s face, “I would prefer to rest here for a bit before leaving.”

Sungjong lets out a happy cheer. “You’re the best, hyung!” he squeals, hugging his food-stick to his chest. Sunggyu rolls his eyes and waves him off.

“We need a rough shelter, then,” Woohyun decides. He stands up and slaps the dust off his pants. “Howon, with me. Myungsoo, you go with Gyu-hyung. Dongwoo-hyung, you and Jong stay here. Sungyeol…” Woohyun hesitates, but Sungyeol volunteers to go alone.

“I can work faster that way,” he offers. After a brief glance at Sunggyu, who nods, Woohyun gives approval.

“Stay closer to base, though,” he calls after Sungyeol’s quickly retreating back. “And don’t get lost! Come on, Howon.”

If there’s something that Howon’s just discovering about Woohyun, it’s that the boy walks fast. Seriously, and Howon isn’t slow himself.

“Hyung,” he puffs, “slow down. I can’t keep up.”

Annoyed, Woohyun turns around, shivering in his thin coat. “I’m freezing, you idiot,” he growls. Nonetheless, he does slow down enough so that Howon will at least be able to keep him in sight.

They gather branches in silence. Occasionally, Woohyun makes a comment on how short Howon’s branches all are. Sometimes, Howon asks for Woohyun’s approval on a piece of wood, and Woohyun grunts in reply.

It’s only when they’re walking back to camp, weighed down by all the heavy branches they’re carry, that Woohyun poses the question.

“Do you like him?”

“Sorry?” Howon panicks, nearly snapping his own neck to stare at Woohyun. Woohyun gives him a side-glance and raises his eyebrows.

“It’s pretty damn obvious, you know,” he says with a smirk. “It’s okay, though. None of us hate you yet.”

Howon can hear the thudding of his heartbeat, feels his cheeks flushing, and Woohyun notices. He laughs, the rich sound ringing through the trees, bouncing off the glittering snow. “Oh, don’t worry so much,” he chuckles, stopping to shift his grip on the branches. “I’m pretty sure he likes you too.”

“N-no, that’s not it…” Howon shrinks under Woohyun’s piercing gaze. Surprisingly enough, Woohyun actually drops the branches he’s carrying to face Howon directly.

“Lee Howon,” he says, quietly but clearly. “Let me tell you one thing, the most important thing, that I know about Kim Sunggyu, and it’s that he would never give you up, not for the world. Not for any one of us, not for governmental peace, not even for the entire universe. There’s no way to prove that right now, since neither of you will make a move, so you just have to believe that, because I do.”

Howon is sure that his face is still red, burning, and he can’t help the smile that grows on his face, but he only nods, hardly able to hold down the wild joy that threatens to burst out, and follows Woohyun back to the clearing.

It seems as if Sunggyu and Myungsoo made it back before them, and as soon as Howon steps foot into the clearing, Sunggyu shoots him a bright smile. Howon’s smile only grows, and beside him, Woohyun coughs, hiding a laugh. Howon is about to jab him with an elbow, but at that moment, Sungyeol bursts in, screaming.

“HYUNGS! HYUNGS, I FOUND SOMETHING!”

In a flash, Sunggyu is on his feet in a defensive position. “WHAT’S WRONG, SUNGYEOL?” he screams back, gathering everyone behind him. Sungyeol shakes his head, stamping his feet in impatience.

“Hyung, hyung, hyung, I found an old building!!”