Kai grabbed his backpack and phone and ran downstairs. He nearly overslept, because last night he had an extremely hot act with his boyfriend until his sister had shouted the names and made them stop their doings. Luckily, the sun-kissed boy had woken up to the last beep of his alarm and taken a shower in hurry. Taemin in the other hand still slept. He had no reason to wake up yet. Jungah was awake and prepared fishcakes in the kitchen for all the boys that she planned on meeting at the camping site. She wanted to make it an unforgettable beautiful day among the seniors and the juniors. Kai passed her without a word and hastily put on his shoes.

“Jongin! Where are you going this early?” she asked, but her little brother partially smiled at her and shook his phone, indicating that he would explain it to her later via text.

Jungah pouted and tilted her head, as Kai left the building. Onew finally entered the kitchen area with a yawn. He stretched his numb arms and approached his girlfriend from behind, to place a soft kiss on the back of her head. He then walked upstairs as he was not yet done sleeping. Jungah watched him leave and giggled lightly. The seniors wanted to join the camping later around the evening.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Kai rushed to the bus station and was lucky enough to catch the drive at 4:17 in the morning. They had agreed to meet around half past five at the campsite. The sun-kissed junior sighed as he paid the ride with his card and walked to the back of the crowded bus. Tao was in the vehicle too. He immediately waved at his busy friend to make him notice him. Kai looked up and as he spotted him, his lips formed a genuine smile. He approached Tao and was happy to have an empty seat besides him. They bumped their fists and told each other how they needed some more sleep.

“Susu, Lay and Luhan are already at the campsite.” Tao told his friend and grinned, “They wanted to occupy the best spot before others get there.”

Kai laughed and shook his head from left to right, as he could not believe that those three woke up earlier for this trip. After exchanging talks, Tao fell asleep on the seat and Kai pulled out his phone to text his boyfriend.

“Good morning, Tae. I love you.”

Normally he would have said these sweet words directly to the handsome player, but as Taemin was still asleep in their warm bed and Kai had to hurry in the morning, he had no opportunity to tell him. He smiled as he clicked the send button and put back his phone into his jacket. It was a fresh morning but as summer was peaking the daytime could turn hot as hell. The yellow sun was about to rise, and the colorful birds chirped in all different octaves and melodies. Kai fought against his exhaustion but ultimately, he fell asleep too and placed his head on Tao’s shoulder.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

When the bus finally arrived at the Choansan Camping area Tao and Kai exited the vehicle together. They grabbed their bags, walked through the park and noticed a bunch of tents. The area was crowded. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun and Kyungsoo had arrived together as well, about ten minutes earlier. As the boy’s could not spot each other at the campsite they all checked the group chat. All of them typed messages.

“Where is our spot?”- Sehun.

“Tao and I are at the entrance area. Where are you?”- Kai.

“We are at the parking lot.”- Chanyeol.

“Alright, wait for us!”- Kai.

“Come to the north. We are at the water wheel at the brook.”- Yixing.

“Isn’t that a restricted area?”- Kyungsoo.

“Not for us. I handled it.”- Luhan.

“How??”- Xiumin.

“MAAAAGIC.”- Luhan.

“Xiu and I are grabbing the meat and booze. We’ll get there later! The queue is long...”- Chen.

“Don’t rush. If you drop our food, I’ll unfriend and unfollow you on all social media.”- Chanyeol.

“Is there a path leading to the water wheel?”- Baekhyun.

“Follow the ‘restricted area’, ‘trespassing prohibited’, ‘don’t enter’ signs and you’ll get there.”- Yixing.

“Uhm… Lay, are you sure we are not breaking the law?”- Kyungsoo.

“Nope.”- Yixing.

“Don’t worry guys. This place belongs to us tonight.”- Suho.

“If Susu says so, we can trust it!”- Tao.

“:)”- Suho.

Kai and the martial artist exchanged a bright grin all over their faces. The restricted area was a little farther away and out of other people’s focus, which guaranteed them some privacy. They walked towards the parking lot, to meet up with their friends.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Sehun grabbed tight his backpack and the folding chairs that he had brought along. Chanyeol helped him with the chairs. Kyungsoo carried two baskets filled with some provisions. Baekhyun held the guitar of his athletic boyfriend.

When Kai and Tao finally reached them, they greeted each other with light nods because all their hands were full. There was no room for hugs or fist bumps. They walked straight up to the north and could see the water wheel from afar. As they walked in their little group and passed the first warning signs, they slightly felt uneasy about it.

“Can we really trust Luhan?” Chanyeol questioned the situation as they were trespassing the area.

There was a short silence as neither of them wanted to admit that they still struggled trusting him, except Tao. But the martial artist remained silent.

“Luhan’s aunt owns that area…” Sehun informed the others and made them turn their heads and look at him.

Kyungsoo lowered his face with a sad expression, as this meant that his boyfriend had been here with the cute dancer during their past relationship. Sehun briefly glanced at the smaller student and bumped his elbow onto Kyungsoo’s arm.

“Don’t sulk…” he whispered, knowing exactly which thoughts tormented his mind, and told him to focus on their way instead.

Some people watched them with frowns and worried faces, as they entered the restricted area during daylight without any remorse or excuse. Kai bowed to the people all apologetic with an awkward smile as he did not know how else to respond.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

After a good walk of fifteen minutes on a path covered with branches, leaves and stems, they finally reached the water wheel and spotted Suho and Yixing who had started to set up the tents. The boys placed their stuff on the dry meadow and stretched and yawned as they felt tired. The water wheel splashed some drops into the air and the soft breeze of wind blew them to the clothes, hair and faces of the boys. It was a great feeling. Very refreshing, very soft.

“Why have you arranged this spot?” Tao asked the cute boy who was not amused by the loud sound of the water wheel.

Luhan pursed his lips and then shrugged.

“He said that we would be undisturbed here. No one can enter but us and there is the brook too, to cool off!” Yixing answered instead, and Suho nodded.

Since this area belonged to his aunt, they did not have to remain silent all night long and could drink and be loud as they wanted to. There would be no elderly people to judge them, or families that could scold them in front of their kids.

“I don’t know why you guys decided to come to Choansan, out of all places, but… around the areas at the parking lot there are many families and kids… It would have beeen too annoying... But this area here is the best spot for young men, like us.” Luhan admitted.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun exchanged glances. They realized quickly that Jungah had tricked them into changing their campsite location to Choansan because it was family friendly and crowded. Oh well, she had not considered Luhan’s aunt being the owner of the restricted area. They shook their heads. The students helped each other to set up the four tents.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Because the sun was up now, and they struggled with the tents for over ten hours, the boys had taken off their jackets and shoes, had changed into casual shorts and T-shirts and wore slippers or walked around barefooted. They took breaks repeatedly, got carried away in talks about games, the arcade and their studies and focused on the tents now and then. They had sweat a lot under the hot rays of the afternoon sun. The water wheel had stopped spinning, because there was no more wind, and the brook was still. The surface sparkled and reflected the sunlight. From further away the boys could hear children shrieking and crying, some older people singing and laughing and parents playing scolding their kids.

“Who the came up with the idea to go on a camping trip?!” Chanyeol cussed all annoyed by the stupid setup and threw the tent pole to the ground.

The others suddenly burst out in laughter. Baekhyun walked to his upset boyfriend and held his cheeks, to calm him down a little.

“It was your idea.” he then said and could not hold in his laughter.

The frown of the playful junior vanished as his cheeks blushed in embarrassment. He brushed off the hands of the skilled pianist and turned away, picked up the pole and continued to work on the setup in silence. Kai chuckled to the reaction of his best friend and approached him with a water bottle.

“Here, take a break.” he offered with a cute smile.

Even here, out in the nature, the Kai still kept his waiter spirits up. Chanyeol thanked him and emptied the bottle in one go, as he had been extremely thirsty. Yixing offered help, as he no longer was needed by Suho and Tao. Those two were nearly done with the third tent. Chanyeol nodded thankfully.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Sehun placed the folding chairs in a circle around the fireplace and asked if anyone wanted to go out looking for s