Taemin and his friends approached the barbecue where Kai and the others laughed and talked in joy. The juniors immediately pushed aside and hid the booze as they did not want Kai’s sister to see them drinking. Jungah instantly put the baskets down and hugged her little brother all tightly, making him blush.

“Surprise!” she shrieked happily and smiled at the others, “Oh, come on boys! You don’t need to hide your drinks! I know you are drinking today!”

She squeezed the cheeks of her little brother and frowned at him for a second, but then she smiled and let go.

“Just don’t exaggerate it…” she whispered to him and glanced at Sehun, who was still twenty as well.

Sehun clenched the corners of his lips and lowered his eyes, as he felt intimidated by her. Jungah let go of Kai and the juniors got up one by one to bow to the seniors, although they felt intruded. Jonghyun looked at Kyungsoo and smiled at him sweetly. He noticed that his junior was upset about something. Minho put his arm around Chanyeol’s shoulders and tousled his hair with a bright grin.

“You didn’t invite me, Yeollie! I’m really hurt.” he added in a joking tone with a sulky expression, and the playful junior scratched his arm in embarrassment.

Key looked around with pursed lips as he was not fond of trips like this, because he could not stand sleeping in tents, but had not declined the invitation as he did not want to break Jungah and Onew’s heart.

“Wow, this is a beautiful area!” Onew stated and put down the equipment he had carried.

He stretched his arms and inhaled the fresh evening air. Jungah grabbed the baskets to put them on the table. Taemin nodded thankfully to Luhan and walked towards his boyfriend. He put his arms around Kai and kissed his hair, inhaled his scent ant let go.

“Hi, Nini.” he said and pinched Kai’s nose, “I love you too.”

The sun-kissed boy smiled cutely with a blushed face as this was the reply to his morning message. Taemin pressed a soft kiss on his cheek and sat down to eat with them. Chanyeol slid aside to make room for the handsome player. The other seniors joined them with laughter and excitement. They were hungry. Kai got up and walked to his sister. He helped her with the dishes and the serving. Key joined them too.

“Wow!” Chanyeol shouted all amazed by all the food that Jungah had prepared for them, “You made all of this? For us? AAHHH, I wished you were my sister!”

Jungah laughed to his words and told him that his own sister was a cute girl too, but Chanyeol pouted and shook his head from left to right. He thought that she was not as cool as Jungah. As the boys had grilled some meat and there was plenty enough for the seniors too, Onew decided to keep the meat that they had bought in the cooling box for tomorrow morning. Xiumin offered bottles of Soju to the seniors. When Yixing handed a drink to Jungah, Onew grabbed it with a thankful smile and placed it to the bottle he had received from the cat eyed junior. Kai noticed the attentive behavior of Onew, as he did not want to hurt Yixing’s feelings, because Jungah would no longer accept alcoholic drinks. She had stopped consuming it as soon as she knew that she was pregnant. While they all enjoyed the food, they talked about a lot of things. The faculty was topic number one, making them exchange information on progress concerning the tutoring and their marks. Then they reminisced the times when they first got involved with each other. They laughed so hard, when Jonghyun told them that Taemin had entirely fallen for the sun-kissed junior from the moment, Kai had smiled at him. That killer smile of his convinced the handsome player that he wanted to be together with that junior. Kai’s friends confirmed that his smile was his strongest charm. Kai and Taemin exchanged glances and the shy junior covered his lips as he wanted to hide the corners that went up, but the handsome player held his hand and looked him right in the face with the sweetest pout ever. Chanyeol told them of Minho’s sneaky questions about Kai and his favorites and how he had given him all the false answers. They burst out in loud laughter. Jungah covered her lips as she wanted to prevent herself from spitting out the food she was chewing, due to the immense laugh building up from her stomach. She managed to hold it in. She looked at her best friend and the charismatic senior formed a heart with his fingers for her.

“You!” she said loudly across the table and pointed her chopsticks towards Minho, right after she had swallowed her food, “You knew about Jongin’s involvement with Taeminnie and didn’t tell me anything about it?!”

Taemin glanced at the charismatic student and chuckled. Of course, his best friend would not tell her about their earlier dispute. Minho pouted cutely first, then grinned and shrugged at Jungah. Onew put his arms around her and caressed her hair. She giggled. While they talked a lot more, Jonghyun got up. He poked the arm of his boyfriend, as he wanted Minho to follow him. Key watched them but remained seated with a slight smile. Onew kissed Jungah’s cheek and got up too. Taemin noticed that his friends left the table, but he stayed seated, like Key. Kai slowly finished his plate and Taemin watched his greasy lips, thanks to the grilled meat. He bit his own lower lip as he loved the way the sun-kissed junior chewed his last bite.

“Nini…” he whispered and leaned forth, making Kai pull back and blink his eyes several times.

Kai swallowed and his own lips to get rid of the oil. The handsome player placed his hand on Kai’s thigh and made a circle movement with his thumb on it. Right in this moment, they had eyes only for each other. Their friends were all busy with laughing and joking, talking about past events and a possible next trip. Jungah started to put away the dirty plates and tableware. The handsome player focused on Kai’s full lips and the junior noticed this. He gulped nervously and placed his hand on Taemin’s which still rested on his thigh. When the good-looking senior wanted to kiss Kai, Minho suddenly put his arm around his shoulders and pulled him up from the bench.

“M- Minho?!” Taemin shouted all startled.

The charismatic senior lifted his brows and smiled at Kai.

“Jongin, you’ll have plenty of time to kiss him later, but right now, your boyfriend must help me with the tents!” he commanded with a chuckle.

Taemin kept his eyes on his boyfriend and lifted the inner corners of his brows as he felt sorry for being dragged away. Kai sulked sadly, but then he got up, picked up the dishes and approached his sister. Key helped her too.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Chen and Xiumin went back to the tent to study, for real. At least for the time being. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Sehun decided to help the seniors with their tents. Yixing walked to the campfire that Sehun had set up with Kyungsoo hours before and put some wood in it to keep it burning. Luhan got up from the table too and thanked Kai’s sister for her efforts, then he put his hands into his pockets, pursed his lips and walked towards the Chinese student at the fireplace.

“Hey… XingXing…” he said with a low voice and sat on one of the folding chairs, that Sehun had put up in a circle.

The Chinese student looked up from the fire and blinked at him. Luhan sulked sadly and briefly glanced to the handsome player. Yixing lowered his head again as he felt off being here with him, knowing that he still seemed to like the senior. Luhan watched Taemin from afar, then he turned his head and stared into the colorful flames that went up to the sky. He remained silent. Yixing shook his head, walked away and grabbed his guitar. He hesitated first but then returned to the campfire and sat right next to Luhan. Yixing adjusted his guitar and strummed the strings gently. The cute dancer turned his head to him and placed his chin into his own palms as he watched the Chinese student adjust the chords.

“XingXing… give me the guitar.” he suddenly said and stretched out his hand.

Yixing lowered his brows in wariness, glanced into Luhan’s small palm, then turned the guitar and gave it to him. He was curious of what he would do with it. He observed him without a word. Luhan took it with the cutest smile ever and re-adjusted the chords. Jungah approached them with Key, and she handed them two bottles of Soju. Yixing took both as Luhan was busy playing a beautiful melody. Key tilted his head and blinked his eyes in surprise. He knew that piece because it belonged to Jonghyun. When he asked the cute junior about it, Luhan told him that he had caught it up some time when he had passed the music room.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

The seniors were close to being done with the three tents. They were way faster than the juniors because they actually had been out camping every now and then and with the help of the four juniors it went smoother than expected.

“Soo?” Jonghyun asked the silent junior after a while, as they were setting up a tent together with Sehun, “What’s the matter? You’ve been moody all day long…”

Kyungsoo looked up all startled by the sudden question. He blinked his eyes nervously and briefly glanced at his boyfriend, who stood a little further away from him. Sehun looked at him with a blank face. Kyungsoo shrugged and remained wordless. Jonghyun tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

“Did you fight?” he asked his juniors and tested the zip of the tent.

They were finally done and Jonghyun brushed the dust off his clothes. His knees were stained with grass. Kyungsoo and Sehun exchanged glances. Then the taller boy put his hands deep into his pockets and walked away. The lyrical genius lifted a single brow and turned his head to his junior. Kyungsoo hesitated, but then he took place on the ground right to the tent. Jonghyun watched Sehun going away, then he joined his junior and handed a bottle of Soju to him. Kyungsoo took it with a thankful nod. The lyrical genius did not ask any further questions as he wanted the smaller student to talk whenever he felt like it. After a single gulp of Soju, Kyungsoo finally opened up about it.

“Back when we set up our tents… I- I told Luhan about…” he stuttered and lowered his eyes with a red face, “I- I told him that I… topped Sehun.”

Jonghyun’s eyes doubled in size, he instantly blushed to the words of the junior. Unintentionally images appeared in his head. He smiled and put his arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“Well… It was just about time you told Luhan, whom Sehun belongs to from now on.” Jonghyun said and placed his palm on the junior’s head.

He gently pushed Kyungsoo’s head towards himself and caressed his hair slowly. The upset junior blushed as his cheek rested on Jonghyun’s shoulder. He enjoyed this moment with the lyrical genius. He was Kyungsoo’s safe place, a caring brother he wished for since childhood.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

The sun had set, and the first stars shimmered up in the dark sky. It was a beautiful night and there were still families awake that could be heard from far away.

“Yeah!” Chanyeol suddenly cheered and high-fived with Minho.

They were finally done with the tent and the athletic junior was proud of it, because this time it had not taken them hours. The charismatic senior laughed to his cheer. Onew, Taemin and Baekhyun looked at them as they were not yet done, because the clumsy senior dismantled the tent more than he set it up. Onew apologized repeatedly and the other two tried to calm him down and made sure that they would make some progress. Chanyeol grinned all over his face and Minho asked them if they needed support. Taemin nodded frantically as he wanted to finish this as fast as possible because he missed Kai and could not stop himself from glancing at him repeatedly.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Sehun walked back to the campfire and sat across Yixing and Luhan, as this was the largest gap, he could create between himself and his ex-boyfriend. The fire crackled in the center and little sparks flew up to the sky and glowed until they went out and vanished in the air. Luhan had strummed the strings of the guitar for a while now. Yixing listened to the melody from beside him and watched the dark sky. He took sips from the bottle and sighed totally relaxed. Sehun leaned forth, placed his elbows on his thighs and put his chin on the back of his veiny hands. He had interlocked his fingers and stared into the flames as he observed the sparks that went up to the sky and dragged small pieces of ashes along. The fire crackled softly to the beautiful sound of the guitar. When Luhan suddenly changed the melody he played, Sehun set his eyes on him. He remembered the piece that his ex-boyfriend chose. It was their melody.

“Wow, this sounds beautiful… What’s it called?” Yixing asked and Luhan looked up from the guitar, stared across, straight into Sehun’s face.