The waves crash onto the white sand on the small Busan beach as the sun shines its golden rays down at earth. A couple of children scream in joy from the water’s edge as their parents watch over them, a group of teenagers play beach volleyball in a makeshift court drawn in the sand, and elders walk their dogs on the pathway near the road behind them. A paved picnic area edges the sand, and Jongin sees Sehun standing at the grill with tongs in hand, as well as lots of his friends from the hospital and their partners and families scattered around the immediate area. It seems they’re the last to arrive. Jongin turns to look at Sohee with a smile. She looks beautiful with her hair in a ponytail and sunkissed skin. Their bare feet dig into the soft sand as they make their way to the party.

Mikyung sees them first and taps Sehun’s arm, pointing them out. Sehun looks up and his face lights up when their eyes meet. “Jongin!” he shouts and runs in the sand to meet them, still holding the grilling tongs. Jongin opens his arms just as Sehun stumbles in the soft sand, practically falling into his embrace. They laugh as Sohee continues on to meet up with the rest of the party. Sehun lets go of Jongin and attempts to playfully ruffle his hair with the hand that isn’t still holding the grilling tongs, but Jongin expertly catches his wrist before he can manage it.

“You made it,” Sehun beams. He looks so happy to see Jongin. “How was the drive?”

Jongin is about to let go of Sehun’s wrist and answer, but he freezes upon catching a sparkle of gold on his friend’s ring finger.

“What’s this?” he asks, lifting Sehun’s hand higher to get a better look.

“What’s what?” Sehun asks, tugging his wrist back out of Jongin’s hand and hiding it behind his back.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about!” Jongin makes an attempt to grab Sehun’s wrist again, but Sehun dodges nimbly aside and sends him a look of pure mischief. Jongin groans.

“Come on, man, just tell me,” he whines.

“I have no idea what you’re on about,” Sehun says, smirking.

“The ring! That wasn’t just any ring, right? Sehun...” Jongin trails after Sehun like an ignored puppy as Sehun starts to make his way back towards the grill and the rest of the party, where Mikyung has already pounced on Sohee and pushed a drink into her hand.

It’s the first time Sohee and Mikyung are meeting, but they’re already laughing together like they’ve known each other forever. Jongin is distracted from pouting at Sehun by the sight. As shy as he and Sehun are with new people, their girlfriends are outgoing. He knew they’d get on well. Rather than join in, he decides to let them talk about girl things and turns his attention back to Sehun, who has returned to the grill to flip the meat he left on there.

---

“Sehun, stop being mean,” Jongin says, digging strong fingers into Sehun’s side. Sehun turns around to see his best friend with the classic Jongin pout on his lips, eyes gazing at him reproachfully. Sehun snorts with laughter. Teasing Jongin is so rewarding. He can practically see the cogs turn in his brain, trying to decide whether to be offended Sehun didn’t tell him he was proposing or if he should be happy they’ve gotten engaged. Sehun knows Jongin will understand when he learns Sehun doesn’t want a big ceremony. He knows Sehun’s parents and how overbearing they can be. He will tell him later, but for now Sehun just wants to enjoy making his best friend squirm.

“- lost the competition and I can’t believe I found him attractive as he fell into the water,” Mikyung says and Sohee laughs. They’re looking at Jongin and Sehun and both men turn towards their partners to stare at them.

“I want to see Sehun on a surfboard,” Sohee giggles and Mikyung smiles. She sends her fiance a smile and turns back to her conversation with Sohee to explain that he’s actually a decent surfer, just not when he’s blinded by her gorgeous appearance.

“I didn’t lose,” Sehun interjects weakly in their conversation and Mikyung just raises an eyebrow at him. “I came second from the bottom…” Jongin snorts but Sohee shuts him up when she smiles sweetly at him and starts telling Mikyung how he ended up in the wrong part of the city. Jongin flushes a bright pink at the embarrassing story and turns to Sehun.

“Grilling meat, was it?” he asks and Sehun nods. They make their way away from their partners towards the grill on the paved picnic area when Sehun eyes another friend in the sand.

“I’ll be there in a few!” he tells Jongin before he makes his way towards Chanyeol and Yeonseok.

---

Chanyeol sits in the sand with his legs stretched out in front of him. Yeonseok sits next to him, feet gently digging sand up and piling it on top of his shin. Their fingers are gently laced between them, the warm sand a soft comfort. They’re staring at the water, the blue ocean bleeding into the blue horizon. Even though Chanyeol had been nervous to introduce his Yeonseok as his boyfriend to people he didn’t have a particularly close bond with, no one has even so much as raised an eyebrow. Chanyeol looks up as Sehun approaches. The tall dermatologist sits next to them in the sand.

“Hiding away?” he asks and Chanyeol shakes his head. They’re not hiding. Not here, not today. He lets go of Yeonseok’s hand, only to move closer and snake his arm around Yeonseok’s waist with a big smile. The pile of sand on top of his shin tumbles down.

“I’m just enjoying my boyfriend before the crazy starts,” he says. Sehun wrinkles his nose.

“Ew, spare me the lovey-dovey stuff,” he says. Chanyeol laughs and reaches down to get a fistful of sand and throws it softly at Sehun. It lands on Yeonseok but Sehun retaliates with a fistful of sand of his own. Chanyeol reaches down to get another fist but before he gets to throw it, Yeonseok reaches out to put a firm hand on his chest and a fixed gaze. Chanyeol dumps the sand beside him with a pout.

“Weren’t you children ever taught not to throw sand?” Yeonseok asks, grinning to soften the words.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol says sheepishly and leans over to brush the sand off of Yeonseok’s bare legs.

---

Chorong runs down the beach with Nayoung and Eunbi hot on her heels, giggling. Nayoung is carrying a large rainbow coloured beach ball. They reach the line Jongdae drew for them earlier and Nayoung stops on one side as Eunbi and Chorong assemble on the other.

“We’ll win this time!” Eunbi shouts towards her sister and Nayoung sticks out her tongue.

“As if!” she shouts back and Chorong shouts an excited “Yeah!” from beside Eunbi. The beach ball flies through the air as Nayoung kicks it over the line towards Chorong. Chorong tries to kick the ball but misses by an inch and the ball rolls away from them. She’s laughing when she runs to pick it up and the game continues. It’s clear that the two younger girls are no match for the soccer-loving older girl, but they give it their all as the sun lowers on the afternoon sky. When Nayoung announces her win 15 to 4, Eunbi and Chorong give up by lying down and staring up at the cotton clouds building in the sky. Nayoung joins them, beach ball by her side, as she points towards a particular cloud and announces it is a rabbit. A dragon follows the rabbit and then a frog. Chorong giggles as she tells them she sees a princess. After five minutes of cloud watching, Eunbi starts to get restless again.

“I want a marshmallow,” she announces to no one in particular. Nayoung turns her head towards her and sighs.

“I don’t think dad will let us eat candy right before dinner. I heard mom telling him not to let us do that anymore,” she says, and Eunbi sighs heavily, regretting the loss of the dad who would let them do whatever they wanted.

“We could still try,” she suggests, but Chorong wriggles around in the sand excitedly to interrupt.

“My dad will let us!” She sits up to look expectantly at the two older girls. Eunbi and Nayoung widen their eyes.

“Really?” they ask in unison and Chorong nods enthusiastically.

“Sure he will, if I ask him nicely.”

It doesn’t take long for the three girls to agree it would be best to ask Jongdae instead of Minseok, and as they run back towards the party, the beach ball is forgotten on the wobbly line drawn in the sand.

---

Jongdae has just come back to the grill area after leaving Bodeul to his task of building a grand castle in the soft sand. He’d told his son that the wet sand near the water will stick better than the dry, but Bodeul had refused to listen to his very sensible advice and insisted on piling up the soft golden sand nearer the picnic area. Jongdae watches from the corner of his eye as the first of Bodeul’s towers wobbles dangerously before the side collapses.

“I thought he’d be older before he started blatantly disregarding the wisdom of his father,” he says to Baekhyun.

“What wisdom?” Baekhyun returns rudely, grinning when Jongdae shoves his shoulder. Baekhyun looks so much better than he’d done in winter. Not only must the therapy be working, the sun seems to help too. Baekhyun starts to chatter about the puppy Yeonseok is going to get to train as a police dog and how Chanyeol and Baekhyun are allowed to come help him pick one out, and what names they’re thinking of. Jongdae likes dogs too, and doubtless the kids would love a puppy, but he couldn’t keep one in the apartment with three children already filling it. They’d need to move to a house.

He gets distracted from discussing puppy names with Baekhyun as Chorong, Nayoung and Eunbi appear from nowhere and surround him closely, all peering at him with big, hopeful eyes. Jongdae laughs, startled by being so suddenly encircled.

“What’s up, girls?” he asks, patting Chorong’s head automatically.

“Daddy,” Chorong says in that cute voice she uses when she wants something from him that she knows her mother wouldn’t allow her. He glances around, but Ahreum is nowhere nearby, and Jongdae finds his resolve to stand firm start to crumble like Bodeul’s sandcastle, and he doesn’t even know what they want. Damn, he thinks.

“Will you roast us a marshmallow? Just one, daddy...” Chorong clasps her hands and wobbles her lower lip and it takes all of Jongdae’s strength not to scoop her up and give her the entire bag of marshmallows. Beside him, Baekhyun smiles at the girls, and Chorong seizes that as an opportunity as well.

“Uncle Baekhyun!” she says cutely, sending him her most adorable smile. Baekhyun chuckles and pokes Jongdae in the side.

“Give the princesses a marshmallow,” he tells Jongdae with a smile and large wide eyes, just like the girls. Jongdae laughs.

“Ah, you want one too, Princess Baekhyun?” he asks, and the girls shriek with laughter. Baekhyun sticks out his lower lip and nods in a startlingly accurate imitation of Chorong, and Jongdae has absolutely no defences against this from any of them.

“Just one then,” he says, and turns to get the bag of marshmallows and four skewers from the picnic table behind them. He places one marshmallow on each stick and hands Baekhyun his.

“You can do your own, princess or not,” he says, the girls giggling again at Baekhyun’s offended gasp before he walks towards the grill. They all follow him over, giggling to each other. It’s probably about having won him over so easily, Jongdae thinks resignedly. There are flames as the coals slowly start to heat up and he holds all three sticks over the fire to caramelize them. Baekhyun, of course, holds his too close and gives a shout of dismay as it ignites and burns to a blackened crisp.

“Eat it, uncle Baekhyun!” the girls encourage, falling about when Baekhyun nibbles at the charcoaled marshmallow and pulls expressive expressions of disgust to make them laugh.

“Don’t do that to ours,” Eunbi says from beside his elbow, watching her marshmallow avidly.

“Don’t worry, I’m much more patient than Baekhyun,” Jongdae tells her, and proves it true when all three marshmallows turn a beautiful golden colour. He waves them in the air to cool them and hands one to each of the excited girls, telling them to sit down and eat them and not run with the sticks. All of them nod before they walk over to sit down on the sand. Jongdae watches them with a smile until he’s distracted by a hand on his shoulder. He looks around and freezes guiltily at the sight of his wife, but Ahreum just shakes her head in fond resignation.

---

“Here you go,” Minseok says and hands Eunsook a can of beer. She smiles, that hopeful smile that reaches her eyes, and thanks him. They’re standing with their backs to the small table full of fruit and vegetables and they keep snacking on the small pieces of fruit. Every time Eunsook steals a strawberry, she giggles and the sound is so cute it makes Minseok smile.

When he’d received the invitation to the barbecue party in Busan, Minseok had immediately thought of Eunsook. He’d been so busy in the week following the primary school play, but for some reason, he hadn’t been able to forget her smile and the ease she’d carried. Aside from bringing the girls, he had asked Sehun if it was okay to bring a friend. No problem, had been the answer. Now that she’s here with him, Minseok is glad he had dared ask. He glances around the beach as kids are called from the water and parents bring them home to prepare for dinner. He notices three girls eating marshmallows and for a few seconds, it doesn’t strike him that two of them are his. When it finally registers, he curses. He’s been trying to up his responsibility as a father.

“It doesn’t matter,” Eunsook tells him from where she leans against the table behind him. Minseok wrinkles his nose and looks at her.

“I wasn’t supposed to let them eat candy,” Minseok sighs.

“It’s just one marshmallow. Didn’t you ever do something you weren’t allowed to as a child?” Eunsook asks. Minseok shrugs and watches his daughters as they start play-fighting with the sticks.

“No,” he says absentmindedly.

“I don’t believe that,” Eunsook says and gently pushes at his shoulder. Minseok laughs surprised and turns to her. He reaches out to tickle her and she giggles as she squirms away.

“I was a very well-behaved kid,” he says but even he can hear the mirth in his voice and they both know it’s a lie. Eunsook snorts and reaches over to poke his cheek.

“Liar,” she says and smiles and Minseok snaps after her finger in play and she squeals as she removes it out of range. They laugh and suddenly, Minseok realises what he’s doing. He’s behaving like a flirtatious teenager. He clears his throat and Eunsook giggles and turns around to steal another strawberry from the buffet table. Joonmyun joins them to get a beer as well and he sends Minseok a curious glance.

“Oh, Dr. Lee,” Joonmyun says when he realises who the woman beside Minseok is. She sends him a kind smile.

“Call me Eunsook, we’re not at work,” she says. After a few minutes of polite small talk, Eunsook excuses herself and leaves them. Joonmyun raises an eyebrow as he watches Minseok take a step in the same direction, almost following her like he’s a piece of scrap metal attracted to a magnet.

“Eunsook, huh?” he asks. Minseok blinks.

“What?” he asks. Joonmyun raises his eyebrows, grinning and Minseok’s eyes go wide in realisation.

“Oh no! She’s just a friend,” he tells Joonmyun. “She helped me with a case.”

Joonmyun doesn’t look convinced, still smiling a little, and Minseok wonders with some embarrassment if Joonmyun had seen him playing around with Eunsook before. He wants to protest further that it’s not what it looks like, but Joonmyun changes the subject, telling him about Yejoon’s first words. He smiles so proudly when he tells Minseok that Yejoon learned to say appa a few days ago, and Minseok remembers how it had felt when Ilsung called him appa for the first time too. Instead of flinching away from the memory, he allows himself to feel the mixture of love and sadness that will never really go away, then lets it fade into the background again as they talk about their children’s first words.

---

After helping Sehun with the grill for a while Yixing goes to look for his wife. He finds Songmi crouching on the damp sand with Yejin, helping Mari dig a canal in the sand, while Ahreum helps Bodeul with what looks to be some kind of sand fort. Songmi looks up at him when he arrives, and he sends her a soft smile, which she reciprocates. Yixing crouches next to her and looks at the channel slowly advancing towards the waves.

“What are we doing?” he asks but Songmi doesn’t get to answer, before Bodeul has explained his pla