As the sun peeked through the cumulus clouds of the bright sky, one after another, the team began to stir awake. Throughout the night, Soyeon and Haseul monitored the area, until San volunteered for the last few hours before dawn. However, at one point, the area didn’t need any monitoring due to an unexpected twist.

“Happy anniversary, Tae…” Beomgyu let out a loud yawn as soon as he whispered the words, his eyes lingering on the small figure of the boy resting on his leg. He smiled softly at the sight of a soundly sleeping Taehyun.

“Oh my God, it’s today?”

Beomgyu turned around to see Soobin sitting up straight, the latter rubbing his eyes repeatedly. He flashed a quick smile and nodded. “Good morning, hyung.”

“Good morning, Gyu. I thought I told you that you can drop the ‘hyung’? We’re just a few weeks apart.”

“It feels nicer having you as a hyung of mine. I mean, you should be grateful for it. Don’t you get irritated when I call you informally?”

Soobin let out a giggle, stifling another yawn that made way. “I was just messing around, and you know that! Now that you mention it, I really do miss your screams and laughs. When was the last time you had a genuine laugh?”

“Before all of this, of course. Before Kai went missing. Before the bridge collapsed.”

Soobin noticed the way the younger’s tone changed. He cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject, “Ah… So today is the day… Two years now! Taehyunnie honestly prepared a lot for this day, but look at us now…”

“Wait, what? What did he prepare?” Beomgyu was relieved that they had a topic to talk about – anything but the tragic situation they were in. He widened his eyes and shifted in his position, ears open and alert. “Tell me!”

“Well, I’m not supposed to but… Anyways, Taehyun was gonna take you out to a fancy restaurant, but Kai and some of his friends would intentionally interrupt your date, which would lead to a smart Taehyunnie taking a sulking Beomgyu back to the dorms. That’s where Yeonjun-hyung and I play a part! While the fiasco at the restaurant occurs, we were supposed to prepare a nice, cosy date for you two in your dorm room. A small table, home-cooked meals, candles and roses, everything sweet. Apparently, Taehyun said he had a special gift for you? I don’t know what though…”

Beomgyu felt a spark in his heart upon hearing Soobin speak with a glimmer in his eyes; moreover, he was falling in love all over again, absolutely giddy at Taehyun’s plan – except none of it would happen now. He felt a shade of red creep up to his cheeks and his ears, to which he immediately buried his face in his hands.

“Oh. Oh, that. Yikes, how come I never thought of that? First time?”

“W-What? No! Damn it, mind your own business!” Beomgyu whined at being teased by the other. He tried not to startle the others awake, but it was too late. With his ceaseless blushing and Soobin’s giggles, Taehyun and Yeonjun stirred up.

Beomgyu’s previous flustered state dropped at once. He pulled Taehyun into a hug, whispering soft words into his ears. “Are you feeling better? We’ll get some food, yeah?”

Soobin smiled at the duo being all sweet and intimate with each other. He only wished there would come a day when this apocalypse would stop, he only wished there would come a day when he could feel the same way that Beomgyu and Taehyun were feeling. Before he could try and jerk Kai awake, his nose picked up the delicious aroma of what seemed like proper, real food.

“Soobin!” Yeonjun raised an eyebrow upon hearing the other’s stomach grumble loudly. He was about to complain, when he felt his own stomach take a turn. He was starving. “. I’m hungry. What the hell? We have food? Real food?”

Before any of them could further process the flavourful smell diffusing across the region, Jisung rushed towards them.

“Oh, you’re finally awake. Come on, join the line! Some of the civilians are cooking up suitable meals using whatever they could find in the restaurants and the cafes! Thankfully, there are gas stoves, so they’re just using lighters to start the fire.”

“Cigarette lighters?”, Beomgyu remarked with hopeful eyes.

“Yeah, basically those. Be sure to save some of the food for later though. We don’t know when the barrier will expand, and soon enough, these buildings will be destroyed by the machine too. By the way, the machine fell out of your pattern, Taehyun.”

The aforementioned raised an eyebrow. He walked over to the edge of the road that finally dried up, the only remnants being puddles of goo from the previous night. He examined the barrier and tried to figure out the route of the machine. “Oh, .”

“Yeah. I noticed it too. We have to tell the others soon.”

Taehyun turned to his side and saw Yeosang, a baseball cap on his head, covering most of his blond locks and shading his eyes from the glorious sunlight. “Yeosang-hyung…”

“How are you feeling? Look, don’t blame yourself for any of this, okay? You’re a good person, I know it. Oh, and Changbin’s awake.” Yeosang showed a small smile towards the other, before he removed his cap and put it over the younger’s head. He walked away, joining the long queue.

“Hmm, keep the hat. You look good. Wait here with Kai and Yeonjun-hyung. Beomgyu and I will go get us some food.” Soobin brushed past the younger, a soft smile on his face.

Whether it was a genuine grin or a forced one, no one seemed to care, for everyone was still scarred from yesterday’s occurrence.

Taehyun watched as Soobin and Beomgyu stood patiently; he let out a sigh and turned around to see in the distance, a body covered with a white sheet. He shut his eyes and tore his gaze away from the corpse, hoping that the guilt wouldn’t rise to his throat again. He returned back to where he spent the night, seeing Yeonjun and Kai wide awake now.

“Kai, are you feeling better now?”

The younger nodded slowly, “The fire inside’s quiet now, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. I think it’s just my own strength, because I talked to Jungeun-noona and she seems fine.”

“Drink some water, go use the washroom while it lasts.” Taehyun tossed a water bottle to the other, before he fixed the cap on his head. He then looked at Yeonjun, who had a furious and irritated expression.

“Hyung, what’s got your pants tight?”

At that, Yeonjun’s ears took on a shade of flaming red. He quickly looked down, his hands ready to cover himself if needed, but he breathed out in relief upon realising that the younger’s question was not to be taken literally.

“Taehyun, you ing idiot! You scared the out of me! For God’s sake, Soobinnie was sleeping on my leg!”

“Yikes. Anyways, umm, Changbin-hyung’s awake. You can go check him out.”

Yeonjun nodded and patted Kai’s head, before standing up on his feet.

“Stay with Kai.”, he said as he looked at them with a pitiful smile. He pitied them more than he pitied himself; he felt incredibly responsible for the protection of the two youngest in the team. He forced himself to have faith as he stepped away from the car.

He frowned in disgust at the feeling of his pants all sticky and tough from the dried sludge; he tried to ignore the discomfort as he made his way over to a small assembly. He tiptoed and smiled at the sight of Changbin, awake and alive and aware. “Changbinnie, h-hey…”

“Yo, you look like a mess.”

Yeonjun let out a chuckle; he knew right there and then, Changbin was just fine. “Yeah, well, a lot of things happened while you were unconscious. I suppose Felix filled you in. He’s a good kid, keep him close.”

“You say that like you’re an old man. Drop the act, Yeonjun. We all have the urge to protect Felix!”, Wooyoung piped in as he looked over his shoulder to see the aforementioned approaching the group with boxes of food. “Speak of the devil, here’s our sunshine and his buddy coming over with what smells like delicacies.”

Haseul walked towards Felix and Jisung, helping them bring the boxes along. With a forced smile, she uttered out: “Well… I’m sure we need a little bit of sunshine during this madness, and if Felix is our sunshine, let him be so.” She began to distribute the boxes, frowning at falling short.

“Here!”

They all turned around to see Soobin and Beomgyu coming over; momentarily stepping away from Changbin, they accepted the boxed meals. They waited for the rest of the team to assemble in the parking lot. While they sat on the hard ground, some of them leaning against the irregularly arranged cars, Hoseok – the last to return – finally settled himself onto the ground, quiet as a graveyard.

“Okay, hate me for saying this but I don’t think any of us will have to poop while we’re stuck within the barrier. I mean, what are we eating anyway?”

“Jisung!”, Seungmin glared at the other. “What the hell? J-Just appreciate the sandwiches!”

“He’s not wrong though…”, Yuqi trailed off. She shook her head as the others stared at her in disbelief. She knew what everyone was thinking; she knew that no one was truly in the mood to burst out into laughter or share a few