Hoseok hadn’t expected all this hullabaloo when he’d gotten back to the compound. Sure, he’d been a little late getting back, but god. You’d think he’d been missing for weeks from how everyone fusses over him.

He’s rushed to the infirmary as soon as he gets back. It’s standard protocol, after all. Everyone who goes out has to be inspected immediately after coming back, to make sure there’s no Infection within their haven. He’s grilled on why he’s so late, why he didn’t meet up with Hyunwoo where he was supposed to. He only says that he’d slipped off the path somehow, that he’d gotten lost.

He doesn’t tell the higher-ups about the oasis in the woods, not yet. He has to take Kihyun there first, before they know about it and tear it apart for supplies. Sure, that’s against protocol, but he doesn’t care. He’ll do anything for that special moment he’d foreseen in that special place.

He’s put in quarantine for a couple days, because the ones in charge have always been overly cautious and they want to make sure Hoseok isn’t just hiding that he’s been bitten. However, when he spends a little over forty-eight hours under unwavering supervision, he’s released to resume his regular duties.

He hurries from the cot he’d been kept on since his return, intending to find Kihyun. He’ll check the kitchens first, then the man’s quarters, if he isn’t working.

Imagine his surprise when he trips over the younger on his way out of the infirmary tent.

He’d just been flipping up the front flap, not looking where he was going, when his forehead smacked right into someone else’s. He yelps in pain, backing up and holding his hand up to his forehead. He glances to see who it is he’d just run into, and his heart nearly bursts in joy at who he sees.

“K-Kihyunnie!” he bursts out. He’s just about to rush forward for a hug, but Kihyun beats him to it, throwing his small frame into Hoseok’s arms. Hoseok doesn’t even hesitate before he returns the embrace, cradling the younger’s head in his hand as he just holds him.

They stay like that for a moment too long, and Kihyun seems to realize they’re still in public. He quickly slips out of the older’s grasp, the tips of his ears a blaring red. He looks up at Hoseok with a small, typical smirk, one that Hoseok intends to return. But, then he sees the bags under the younger’s eyes, how his cheeks are a bit more sunken in than usual. He pouts in concern, pressing the back of his hand to Kihyun’s forehead.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asks worriedly. “You look thinner… Is that why you’re coming here? Because you’re sick?” Kihyun rolls his eyes, chuckling breathily as he pushes away Hoseok’s hand by the wrist.

“I’ve been here for practically two days straight, worrying myself half to death about you,” Kihyun nags at him, setting his hands on his hips defiantly, “and that’s all you have to say?” He reaches up, thwacking Hoseok’s chest playfully. “When Hyunwoo said you didn’t meet up with him, I was worried sick. Then, when they put you into quarantine, I thought…” His voice drifts off then, the light in his eyes dimming slightly as he purses his lips.

“Well,” the shorter says, and Hoseok doesn’t miss how his voice has grown a bit huskier, tenser, as if he’s holding back tears, “that doesn’t matter now. Have they released you?” Hoseok can only nod, speechless. He hadn’t realized his time away would worry Kihyun as much as it obviously had.

He knows it’s awful of him, but it brings a swelling of hope within his heart that Kihyun could perhaps grow to care for him as much as Hoseok could wish.

Hoseok can’t help but bring the younger into his arms again, burying his face into the crook of Kihyun’s neck. For a moment, he thinks he’s messed up, as Kihyun is stiff as a board against him. But, then, the shorter relaxes, seeming to melt in his arms as Hoseok feels his pudgy hands press into his back.

They break apart, and Hoseok thinks of kissing Kihyun, of suavely telling him that he’s doing just fine, just like he’d seen back in the old days when there’d been movies. But, he knows that’d only ruin his plan. So, he just squeezes Kihyun’s hips a little, as if in reassurance.

“I’m sorry I worried you,” he says honestly, releasing Kihyun fully. An unreadable light flicks across Kihyun’s eyes, but Hoseok doesn’t dare ask. After all, what if it’s about the intimate embrace they’d just shared? What if he’d just gone too far?

“Of course you worried me, hyung,” Kihyun finally responds, rolling his eyes as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He then turns, shoving his hands into his pockets as he and Hoseok begin to walk away from the infirmary. “But, I’m just glad you’re okay. Hyunwoo said that you just wandered off the path, that’s why he had to come back without you? Honestly, hyung, how much of an airhead can you be? It’s dangerous out there, and you just wander off the path?”

Hoseok can tell that from the way Kihyun rattles on that he’s relieved, that he’s convinced now that Hoseok’s doing alright. He wouldn’t nag Hoseok this much otherwise. A couple of the older’s friends from the fighter unit pass by, and they nod to him simultaneously in silent greeting. He returns the gesture, taking hold of Kihyun’s elbow to guide him to a corner just out of the usual pathways used in the compound. Kihyun falls silent but follows his lead.

“Kihyunnie,” Hoseok whispers so as not to be overheard, “that’s not the only reason I was late coming back. I… found a place. It’s beautiful, Kihyunnie, with all these different fruits on the trees that I haven’t seen since before the end, and there’s this waterfall flowing into this amazing lake…” Hoseok stops, a bit breathless, and he misses the fond light that fills Kihyun’s eyes at how he excitedly waves about his hands to explain. “I wanna take you there,” he finishes. “I think you’d like it. You could pick fruit, and we could drink and bathe in fresh water…” He pauses, gulping down his nerves.

“Plus, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Kihyun nods once, without even thinking about all the things wrong with such a plan. After all, he doesn’t have clearance to leave. He isn’t part of the fighter unit, and it’d take at least a month for him to get it. Hoseok is just so delighted at the notion of taking him there, of sharing this with him. He couldn’t ruin the notion with reality.

Hoseok’s face breaks out into the most innocent smile Kihyun has ever seen on a grown man, and it’s all he has in him to not coo and pull at his cheek.

“Great!” the older says. “You have tomorrow off, right?” Kihyun’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“Tomorrow?” he asks incredulously. “Hyung, I’m not—”

“It’s okay,” Hoseok interrupts, as if he knows exactly what Kihyun will say. “We can go at noon, when Hyungwonnie is supposed to be on guard again. He’ll let us go, whether you have clearance or not.” Kihyun frowns, his brow knitting together as he thinks of all the trouble they could get into if they’re caught. Hoseok can almost hear the wheels turning in his mind, and he chuckles good-naturedly.

“Meet me tomorrow at noon, right here,” Hoseok tells him, glancing around the building. He takes Kihyun’s hand in his own, cradling it as he rests his other atop it. “Trust me, I can keep us both safe out there. It’ll be fine.”

The apprehension is clear in Kihyun’s eyes, but he can never say no to Hoseok, not when the older is looking at him with those eyes just alight with hope. He’ll never be the reason that hope distinguishes. So, he relents, nodding his answer again. Hoseok outright giggles in joy as he leans down, kisses his cheek, and sprints off. He shouts that he’ll see the younger then and then disappears into the crowd.

Kihyun slumps against the grimy cinderblock wall of the nearest building, a watchtower. A lazy smile graces his face as he watches Hoseok’s broad back strut away, absolutely smitten.