A/N: hello everyone, thanks for telling me what you want to see next! Combining aff and ao3 votes, people are overwhelmingly voting for the summer camp au <3 that may change but you can probably look forward to both an nct and a loona summer camp au coming after this! those summer camp stories are sequels to my previous ones, which you can find on both my aff and my ao3 accounts (here and here). So if you havent read them, you can read them to prepare! And if you have, you can catch yourself up! (yes im plugging my old stories). Now lets get on with the story!!!

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It was a Friday night during dead week, and Johnny's cafe was completely packed. Johnny and Taeil were standing in the corner, waiting for their drinks, and honestly the two of them felt sort of bad. They had just ordered eleven different drinks, and they could see the sweat on the barista's faces, but these cups of coffee were absolutely necessary. Other than Hyungil of course, the 127 dorm was having a study session, and a study session is worthless without coffee. 

Johnny and Taeil couldn't exactly touch like they would in the dorm for fear of judgement and outing by their peers, but they stood near each other all the same, waiting patiently for their drinks. When Johnny was sure no one was looking, he reached out and fixed a stray lock of hair on Taeil's head. 

"Are you ready to study our butts off?" Johnny asked with a smile. 

Taeil sighed. "If we must," he answered, and Johnny laughed. 

"Maybe we'll finish early enough to go drinking after." 

"No way. It's five o'clock now and dorm curfew is eleven. We'll eat at the dorm, that'll take some time, and I'm sure we'll get distracted a lot." 

"But eleven is six hours from now! I can't imagine studying for six hours." 

Taeil shrugged. "Like I said, I think we'll just keep getting distracted. 

"Bleh," Johnny answered. 

Taeil suddenly jumped as the buzzer in his hand started vibrating, he and Johnny making their way to the counter. The baristas had kindly put the eleven drinks into two drink six packs, a few iced americanos and fancy teas surrounded by whip cream covered frappes. Johnny reached for both containers, but Taeil made a face and grabbed one of them. 

"Cutie," Johnny mumbled under his breath. 

"What?" Taeil whined. 

"You're always so cute when you pout." 

Taeil tried to hide his smile as they thanked the busy baristas, pushing past the crowd of stressed students crammed into the small cafe. Once outside, they breathed in the cold winter eair. 

"God it was hot in there," Johnny said. 

"But it's freezing out here!" Taeil cried, huddling into his long puffy coat. 

"And yet we all got iced drinks," Johnny teased, holding up the drink tray in his hands. They shared a soft giggle, trudging up to their dorm building. They breathed a sigh of relief when they finally made it back to their warm suite, everyone setting up in the living room. 

"Coffee!" Ten cried. 

"Dinner should be here in fifteen minutes," Taeyong added. 

"We'll leave these here," Johnny said, and he and Taeil put the drinks down on the living room table. 

"I'm gonna grab my books from our room," Taeil said to Johnny. 

He nodded. "Me too." They walked back together, shutting the door behind them as Taeil made his way to his desk. He was unthinkingly grabbing his things when he looked up, and slowly smiled. 

There were pictures on his walls. Postcards, notes from friends, tiny knick-knacks, and tons of polaroids: him smiling with his suitemates, on vacations to Seoul and here at the dorms, at home. And there were tons of Johnny too, just his boyfriend or them together, laughing and touching. Taeil's favorite was the one of Johnny giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

Taeil looked at every single one of the pictures and doo-dads hanging up above his desk gratefully. Just a couple months ago, that wall had been completely empty. On move in day he had jealously watched Johnny and his other friends put up their photos, thinking his wall would always be empty. But months later and it was covered with photos, photos of the people in his life. And for the first time ever, those people in his life loved him. 

"Darling?" Johnny loudly called. 

"Huh?" Taeil answered, shaking his head and turning to his boyfriend. 

"Are you okay? I called you a couple times before you heard me..." 

"Yeah!" Taeil slowly smiled. "I'm good." 

Johnny walked over to the other side of their room, putting his things down next to Taeil's. Slowly, he wrapped his big arms around Taeil's small frame from behind. 

"Whatcha thinking about?" He mumbled sweetly in Taeil's hair. 

Taeil smiled. "Nothing. Just looking at these photos." 

"I like this one." Johnny pointed to the photo of him kissing Taeil's cheek. 

He grinned and turned to look at his tall boyfriend. "That's my favorite too." They shared a smile and Johnny held him tighter, safer. Taeil could feel his heart go warm and fuzzy. "It's just nice..." He continued slowly, quietly. "It's just nice to be loved. By you, mainly, of course, but by our friends too." 

"It's what you deserve," Johnny answered, kissing Taeil's cheek as they turned to gaze at the pictures once again. "It's what you've always deserved." 

Taeil grinned wider and Johnny spun him around to look him over. The amount of love and affection in Johnny's eyes was almost overwhelming but Taeil had enough confidence now to look back at Johnny. Wordlessly, Taeil wrapped his fingers around the back of Johnny's neck and pulled him down for a gentle kiss. His giant boyfriend kissed back without hesitation, so softly that Taeil had to pause and giggle, those big hands on his waist sending his mind into a bit of a flurry. Yup, he was in love. 

Someone knocked on the door but they barely moved away from each other. Knowing Hyungil wasn't at the dorm, they had no reason to part, and they sure as hell didn't want to. 

"Come in!" Johnny called happily. Taeyong pushed open the door and slowly smiled. 

"Dinner's ready, lovebirds." Taeil flushed a bit but they both smiled proudly and followed Taeyong off into the living room, books in hand. 

Looking at the living room table and the amount of food around it, Taeil knew that only eleven college age boys would be able to eat that much without letting half of it go to waste. Drinks in hand as well, they were waiting impatiently for Johnny and Taeil to finally sit down. 

"I propose a toast," Ten spoke. "To all of us not failing our finals." 

"To all of us not failing our finals," they all repeated, clinking their plastic coffee cups before digging into the food. Upon tasting the delicious ddeokbokki, their studying was forgotten, the living room practically silent as the boys stuffed their faces full of food. 

Once the immediate hunger had disappated, and the boys were casually munching instead stuffing as much food into their mouths as could fit, Sicheng reached for one of his textbooks and a notebook. He sighed deeply. 

"Should we start?" 

The other boys shared that sigh and reached for their school supplies, the joy from earlier gone, and the reality of food comas and studying setting in. 

"What does everyone need to study? Is there anything most of us have to do?" Kun asked. 

"English," Yuta immediately groaned. Most of the other boys shared that sentiment. 

"That might be good; Johnny and Jaehyun and I could all help you out," Ten answered. 

"My english isn't perfect, but it's fine," Jaehyun said in english. 

Sicheng looked around wide eyed. 

"What?" Yuta asked him, rubbing his arm with concern. 

"I didn't understand that," he answered in a panicked whisper. 

"Oh god, you're ed," Yukhei said. 

"Wait, wait," Doyoung interrupted, giggling a bit. "Before anything, I need you english speakers to teach us some swear words." 

"Yes!" Jungwoo cheered, much louder than normally. Everyone stared at him with surprise, and he snuggled into Yukhei awkwardly. 

"Actually, I'm curious too," Jaehyun added. "Since I was a little kid when I lived in America I didn't get to learn any bad words." 

Johnny and Ten laughed and shared a look. "Alright, alright," Johnny said. "I'll teach you all the best ones. You guys probably already know , , and ." 

"But...but what exactly do , , and mean?" Doyoung asked. "All I know is that they're bad." 

"Well when is a verb it means ... or when you say someone or thing over it means do something bad to them... but when you say ing sometimes it means, like, very... is a very very versatile word," Ten explained. 

"A ing versatile word?" Yukhei said. 

"Exactly! Good job," Johnny answered. 

And this was the beginning of the end. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Jaehyun groaned. Then Yukhei groaned. Then Taeil and Johnny and Taeyong and Yuta and Doyoung and Kun and Ten and Sicheng groaned. Jungwoo did not groan, because he had fallen asleep on Yukhei hours ago. But he did let out a loud snore after all the groaning.

It was two am and they were still studying. Well, maybe still isn't the right word. They had barely been studying at all, just as Taeil had so wisely predicted. 

"At least I know every bad english word or phrase that exists," Kun said. 

"My professor will love that," Yuta answered sarcastically. 

"Is that really all we've done?" Johnny asked. With tired eyes, Sicheng nodded. 

"Come on guys, I helped some of you with your statistics!" Yukhei said. 

"Yeah, actually, that was really helpful," Ten said gratefully. 

"But I'm not taking statistics!" Johnny whined and pouted. Taeil chuckled and looked up at Johnny. "What?" He whined. 

"You're cute," Taeil answered.

Johnny pouted harder.

"What, does baby need some coffee?" Taeil said in a voice typically used for kindergarteners. 

Johnny made a face. "Yes," he answered reluctantly, and whipped out his phone. "Anyone else want coffee?" 

Everyone cheered excitedly, waking up a bit for the first time in hours at the thought of coffee. It was loud enough for Jungwoo to even blink his eyes open and look up at Yukhei. 

"Whah?" 

Yukhei petted his hair. "Go back to sleep baby, it's alright." 

"Mmh," Jungwoo mumbled, and seconds later he was snoring again. 

Johnny sighed looking at his notebook. "Does anyone know anything about chemistry?" 

"I'm not terrible at it," Yukhei answered, bounding over to Johnny in his puppy like manner. He peered over his shoulder at the problem and made an expression, like a lightbulb went off in his head. "Oh! This carries over to here." 

"How the hell did you do that? Even the on campus tutors couldn't figure it out..." Johnny said. 

"So you know about chemistry but you had never heard of a lint trap?" Kun teased. Yukhei's eyes widened and he looked, panicked, between Taeil and Doyoung. 

"How did you find out about that?" He whispered, Jungwoo's snoring filling in the background noise. 

"I overheard you and Taeil whispering about it. We were all too concerned with Doyoung and Jaehyun's drama," he said, and Doyoung and Jaehyun looked momentarily sheepish, "To really care." 

Yukhei breathed a sigh of relief. "Well...I've decided you can only really be good at one thing." 

"You're the dumbest genius I know," Yuta said affectionately. Yukhei smiled at that and bounded back over to Jungwoo, putting his head back on his broad shoulder. 

A buzz of Johnny's phone alerted them all that the coffee had finally arrived, Johnny and Taeil leaping up to go run to the dorm's ground floor to grab it. Even though it was far past dorm curfew, and that meant the doors were locked, all of the delivery people near campus knew a secret window that delivery food and drinks could be dropped off to students at. 

Johnny and Taeil managed to sneak back up without any suspicion from the security guard, handing off everyone's drinks. They sipped in silence. They all let the night air swirl around, giving a moment to clear their heads before the studying had to begin again (except for Jungwoo of course, who was still fast asleep)

Taeyong looked up from his drink slowly. "Thank god for you guys, you know? I don't know what I'd do without all of you." Even Ten was too tired to . "Really. I love you all so much."

"I promise you all he is always this sentimental," Ten responded. "But..." He looked down; Ten was usually the opposite. "But I agree. I love you all too. Bringing this dorm together was the best decision I've ever made." 

"I agree, absolutely. I never thought sharing a dorm with ten gay guys who were all dating each other and one complete would be so amazing, but it really has been. I'm so glad we have another semester together, and then after that we'll all have to share an apartment, I mean, if Vivi is invited." 

"Of course Vivi is invited! I don't know how she would feel about living with eleven dudes and being the only girl though..." Yukhei answered. 

"I promise you all, she wouldn't mind. She'd love it." 

"Wait, my turn to say something cheesy!" Johnny piped up, and Taeil smiled at him. "I am also so, so glad we all met. Not just because I met the love of my life..." At that Taeil hid his face away from everyone to hide his blushing. "But the rest of you are all amazing too. Not quite as amazing as Taeil, but still amazing of course. The best people I've ever met." 

"We're all so different, yet we get along perfectly. For example, you and Yukhei's cheesiness disgusts me, but I love you two nonetheless," Sicheng answered. 

"Yuta's pretty cheesy..." Doyoung trailed off. 

"W-well, it's okay when he does it." 

Yuta laughed loudly. "I'm not as bad as Johnny or Yukhei. But I love you all nonetheless. Really, this semester has been such an adventure. Like, you guys planned all of those amazing trips to Seoul for us international students. That meant so much to me. I can tell how much effort you put into making it fun for us." 

"Thank you Yuta. I mean, I'd like to apologize for ing up that second trip just a little bit," Jaehyun said. "But it was way more fun to just see you guys see Seoul for the first time. It's not that exciting to us Koreans." 

"And thank you guys for being understanding about, just, everything," Doyoung added, sharing a look with Jaehyun. 

"My turn my turn! I love you guys so much. All of you. Coming to Korea, coming here, is the best decision I've ever made. I'll miss you all over the summer so much..." Yukhei spoke until he was interrupted.

"Don't talk about it!" Ten whined. "It's really far away!" 

"Fine, fine," he continued. "But I love you guys. Taeil and Johnny and Taeyong and Yuta and Kun and Doyoung and Ten and Jaehyun and Sicheng and especially Jungwoo." They all paused to look at a still sleeping Jungwoo, and all shared a laugh. "You're the best friends I've ever had. Really. I just feel so lucky to know you guys." 

Hearing all his friends speak, Taeil couldn't help but get emotional. They all meant so, so much to him, but it was crazy to think he meant just as much to them. He was a bit embarrassed about how emotional he was getting. He felt his eyes get a bit watery, and he buried his face in the crook of Johnny's shoulders. But it was his turn to say something, and all he wanted was to show his friends just how much they meant to him. 

Taeil rubbed his eyes, trying to hide from everyone his tears. "You...you guys mean so much to me, I promise. I've...I've never even had friends before now. A-and you all are not just any friends, you're the best friends a person like me could ask for..." Johnny wrapped his arm tightly around Taeil. "Y-you all make me like myself." 

The others stared at him for a moment, then looked at each other. The tears pouring out of Taeil's eyes started falling faster, harder, and they all leapt up to give him a hug. 

"You mean the world to us too, Taeil," Ten said in the softest voice Taeil had ever heard him use. 

Johnny kissed the top of his head and Taeil was really sobbing now, not out of sadness but out of love. It was cheesy but he could feel the love in that ty yet cozy dorm living room, the love eminating off of all of his friends and boyfriend and pouring directly into him. Taeil felt like he could burst with the weight of it all. 

"God it's so ing ty, how could your brother have made you feel so ing unloved," Yukhei grumbled quietly before Sicheng smacked his arm to get him to shut up. 

"Taeil, we really love you. We've got you now. You're never going to be alone again; we've got your back forever," Yuta said softly. 

"I-I," Taeil choked out between his sobs, "I've got all of you too. I've got every single one of you." 

They all shared that cheesy hug for a long time, just letting the moment ride itself out, making sure Taeil felt comfortable until he calmed down. And even after he calmed down they stayed like that, feeling safe in each other's arms. Their boyfriends were there but the rest of them weren't dating. They were all just friends, that had become just like family, all in one semester.

"Guys?" Jungwoo suddenly sleepily spoke. The others turned to him in confusion. "Are we still studying?"