[12:09]

Has your mail arrived yet?

Kibum rolled his eyes with the tiniest of smiles, setting aside his phone and returning his attention to the meeting. Minho had been texting him that question every day for the past week since he sent his painting. He’d done what he intended, though, because now he was distracted. 12:11. Maybe he should go home for lunch to check if the rather large package had arrived yet.

He drummed his fingers on the table, impatient now. He wasn’t even gonna be involved with this VIP’s account, why did he have to be here?

Eventually, the meeting ended, and Kibum left as quickly as he could, dropping by his cubicle to grab his keys before hurrying to the car park. He only had an hour for lunch, but luckily, he didn’t live too far from work. Despite his better judgment, he ran up the stairs, and to his dismay, there was no painting waiting for him. So, with a groan, he let himself inside.

[13:01]

You need to stop being so annoying ㅋㅋ
Did you actually send it this time??

He set his phone down on the kitchen counter and shrugged out of his jacket, tossing it over the back of one of his chairs so he could put together a quick lunch for himself. Just as he was about to reheat his take-out leftovers, his doorbell rang. He whipped around at the sound, only to turn quickly back so he could finish pressing in the time and start the microwave.

The doorbell rang again, and Kibum, muttering about impatience, hurried over to answer the door.

A very young delivery boy stood there, his hands resting lazily atop a rather large brown-papered rectangle. “Kim Kibum?” he asked, sounding bored. When Kibum nodded, he reached into his jacket, pulled out his handheld computer, and presented it for Kibum to sign for it before passing the painting to him. He left as Kibum thanked him, and Kibum let the door fall closed behind him as he pulled it inside.

He flipped it around, searching for a seam to open it, only to find an envelope taped to the back. His address was there, of course, but when he pulled it off, he felt something inside. Without any of his usual decorum, Kibum ripped it open and peeked inside.

A small, folded piece of Minho’s familiar thick painting paper waited for him, and he took it out, flipping it over to look at the painted front. Oh, it was one of his watercolors?

It was a simple painting of the sky, the wisps of clouds tinged partly pink. Kibum smiled at it before he flipped the card open.

I hope you like the title.

Kibum’s brow furrowed as he pocketed the card, and resumed his search for a way to open his painting. Once he found it, he carefully tore into it, slowly revealing the finished piece.

The picture Minho sent didn’t do the stunning vibrancy of the colors any justice whatsoever. He stood there, staring at the impression of that beach they had visited what felt like a long time ago until he was jolted out of his trance when the microwave beeped. Right. He was supposed to be looking for a title.

He scanned the front, but there was nothing, so he went around behind it, eyes darting wildly over every centimeter until they caught on a black scrawl on the bottom left corner of the folded-over canvas. Kibum crouched down, squinting at it.

Sun of a Beach, it read, and Kibum snorted, grinning.

“I should book my flights,” he said to himself as he shook the painting free of the paper and carried it over to the empty spot.

He set it on the table below where it would hang, carefully rearranging the potted plants that had accumulated there over the months since his return from Jeju. Then he stepped back, smiling up at it before he retrieved the little card to place on the table between two of his succulents.

“There.”

He grabbed his take-out from the microwave and then his phone from the counter, sitting down at his little table to eat and get his flights sorted out. Once they were booked, he went to text Minho, only to get distracted by an Instagram notification from Jonghyun.

Oh right, it was his and Minho’s shared day off, wasn’t it?

He pressed on it, scoffing immediately as the post loaded. They were eating at a ramen place in town that Jonghyun had taken him to when he was there last. Jonghyun was posing with the ramen halfway to his wide-open mouth, and Minho was sitting behind him, his face contorted in mock judgment. He swiped to the next picture, sighing with slight exasperation at the two of them posing “cutely” with peace signs over their mouths.

He liked the post, shaking his head, and checked the time. , he had to head back soon. Pausing as he passed it, Kibum took a quick picture of the painting and sent it to Minho as he made his way to the door.

[13:42]

I need to try to remember to get stuff to
hang this when I get off work

He switched over to his and Jonghyun’s texts as he made his way to his car, texting, I remembered to book my flights today. I’ll be there June 2nd.

* * * * *

A richly deep blue sky surrounded Minho. Puffy white clouds stretched around and above him, tinted a pale gray in the defining shadows. Tall green grasses and long-stemmed yellow wildflowers danced all around him in the breeze.

Well. Almost all around him.

He glowered at the last stretch of the mural he had left to paint, his paintbrush between his teeth as he massaged his aching hand.

Jinki had hired him last week to paint a new “relaxing” mural in the reading room in his shop to prepare for the new round of tourists set to come through for the summer.

He flexed his hand a few more times, then grabbed his paintbrush and resumed. This was his third day in a row of working on this, and as nice as it was to have Jinki around more often, he was ready to be finished. Being trapped in this small room for this long was starting to wear on him, even with Jinki, Taemin, and Jonghyun dropping by to occasionally keep him company.

It was sort of ironic that he felt this way, given how he had been about the world outside his little shop down the boardwalk a little over a year ago.

“How’s it going?” Jinki asked, his gentle voice drawing Minho away from his thoughts and the strand of grass he was painting. “Oh! It’s looking amazing!”

Minho smiled up at him before he shifted his focus back to the wall. “Will you want help moving everything back in here?”

“I should be fine. Taemin already offered to drop by and help me later. Once it dries.”

Minho nodded. “You can come get me if you need me, you know. I don’t mind helping you with—“

The tiny silver bell above the front door tinkled softly, both of them turning to the threshold leading out to the rest of the bookshop. Jinki left him, and Minho listened for a second before he resumed painting, only…

Jonghyun’s bright yet somewhat breathy laughter filled the empty shop, and Minho cracked a smile, not looking up. Of course, Jonghyun was here. He dropped in nearly every day, didn’t he? Was often a bit late on his visits to Artist’s Choice, sighing a bit wistfully as he glided into the room. Jinki said something, but his voice was too quiet to make out more than a low mumble, but whatever it was must have been funny for Jonghyun to laugh like that.

Minho schooled his features as their footsteps drew near, not even bothering to look around as they stopped in the doorway.

“See?” Jinki asked. “Isn’t he doing a good job?”

Minho smiled, looking back at him, only to find Jonghyun watching Jinki without even bothering to look around at the mural. “Yes, very pretty.”

God…

It took all of his effort not to laugh, but as Jonghyun’s friend—best friend, maybe—it was his sworn duty to keep his amusement in check when he was around his long-standing crush. That’d have to wait until they were alone.

And possibly drunk.

He glanced back at Jonghyun, suppressing a smile when he caught his eye. The tips of Jonghyun’s ears immediately flared red, and Minho turned back around, painting another stalk of grass.

Jonghyun cleared his throat, his voice slightly higher pitched than usual when he asked. “You almost ready to head out?”

Minho’s brow furrowed, and he glanced down at his makeshift paint palette to switch to a different shade of green. “Head out…where?”

“Kibum’s flight will be here in—“ Oh, right. Minho turned back around, watching Jonghyun dig into his pocket for his phone to check the time. “—An hour, and it’ll take us that long to head into town, so…”

“Yeah, okay.”

He turned back around, setting his paintbrush on his palette. He’d been so distracted with painting that he had almost forgotten. Not quite, of course. Anxiety had been creeping into his mind since Jonghyun let him know when Kibum would be back.

It’s not that he wasn’t looking forward to seeing him again, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. He most definitely was. Only…part of him was worried that, with how depressed and reclusive he’d been last time Kibum was here…and the role Kibum had played to help him climb out of the deep, dark hole he’d been trapped in for years… Part of him was worried that he’d worked Kibum up in his mind to be this flawless, saintly, mythical figure and when he’d see him again, he wouldn’t live up to his expectations.

Not that any of this was Kibum’s fault, of course.

He was looking forward to getting to know him. Actually getting to know him. Hopefully, Kibum would still want to be his friend.

But then, if he didn’t, why would he have continued to text him over the rest of the year?

No, he needed to stop worrying. He was past that now.

“Minho?”

He stirred, looking back at the pair of them. “Yeah sorry, lost in thought. Uh,” he met Jinki’s gaze, whose eyebrows raised in silent question. “You good with me coming back to finish this up after we get back?” He nodded, smiling softly. First at him, then at Jonghyun, whose eyes started to widen slightly at the sight. Minho pushed himself up, shaking his head with a smile, then glanced down at his clothes. , they were, like usual, all covered with paint. “I don’t have time to change, do I…”

“Why would you need to change?” Jonghyun asked, following Jinki to the door. “Come on!”

Minho squinted as soon as they were back outside, failing to stifle an aggressively loud sneeze before he hopped into the passenger seat of Jonghyun’s car. As he buckled, he looked up, wholly unsurprised to find Jonghyun lingering to talk to Jinki. Minho watched the pair of them with growing amusement.

He hadn’t figured out that Jonghyun liked Jinki until about a month after Kibum left. Minho had started eating over at the cafe regularly, just to hang out with Jonghyun and Taeyeon more. Because of that, he got to see how absolutely pitiful Jonghyun was whenever Jinki was around. And—according to Taeyeon—had been since their school years.

Did they let Jonghyun be about it?

Unfortunately for him, no they didn’t.

Just from watching Jinki, however, he hadn’t been able to make up his mind if Jonghyun’s feelings were reciprocated. He was just plain nice. To literally everyone. And he didn’t know him well enough to be able to judge whether he was into guys or not.

Jonghyun said he had only dated women so far, which was why he hasn’t said anything. But he still hadn’t lost hope.

Minho’s expression shifted to one of incredulity when Jonghyun glanced at the car, smiling when Jonghyun did a double take. He opened his door, letting Minho in on the end of their conversation.

“Will you be coming by for dinner today?”

Jinki gave him a sad smile. “No, Mom wants me to come home tonight.”

“Alright then,” Jonghyun said with a quiet little sigh as he sat behind the steering wheel. “See you later.”

“Bye!”

Minho returned Jinki’s wave, and Jonghyun reluctantly closed the car door, his forehead thunking against the steering wheel as soon as Jinki was back inside.

“Bro…”

“Don’t say a ing word.”

Chuckling, Minho rubbed his back until Jonghyun sat up and started the car. Jonghyun turned down the radio a bit before he drove off, and Minho kept his mouth shut until the second chorus came around.

“Are you ever gonna tell him?”

“Why would I?”

Minho looked over at him. “To put yourself out of your misery?” Jonghyun shook his head, sighing again. “Either he does or he doesn’t like you back. If you ask him out, then you’ll have your answer, and you’ll either have the boyfriend of your dreams or you’ll be able to move on.”

He left off the finally, but it was heavily implied, and he could tell by the way Jonghyun clenched his jaw that he had felt its absence.

At Jonghyun’s muttered whatever, Minho let it drop.

Jonghyun continued to mull over his feelings in silence, and Minho contented himself with watching the countryside pass them by. There was the field of flowers that he had been intending to paint for months now. Then, a few kilometers past that, the orchard of tangerine trees that Jonghyun had struck a deal with the farmer so he could create a special summer cocktail with them.

It was a beautifully cloudy day. His attention was snagged away from an interestingly shaped cloud when he spotted a plane flying towards the city they were heading to.

“Think that’s Kibum’s?” Minho asked, breaking the silence.

Jonghyun ducked down, looking up through the windshield at it before returning his attention to the road. “Yeah, probably.” He sped up enough for Minho to grab onto the handle of the door. Jonghyun laughed. “What? I don’t want him to at me for being late to pick him up.”

Minho snorted, looking away from the plane long enough to grin at Jonghyun, but then he kept watching the plane until it landed behind the terminal. They parked as close as they could to the arrival doors, hurrying into baggage claim. Both were slightly winded when they reached it, but luckily, Kibum didn’t text Jonghyun that he had landed until about five minutes after they had arrived.

“Should we go wait for him by the gate?” Jonghyun asked, looking up at Minho when he stopped pacing.

“Do you know where it is?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Minho let him lead them to the gate, his mingled anxiety and anticipation growing with every step closer. When Jonghyun stopped, Minho paused beside him, sticking close and out of the way of the flood of people exiting the terminal.

He scanned every face, searching for Kibum’s.

And when the crowd parted, there he was.

The world around him slowed as he drew nearer. His hand reached up to brush his fringe out of his eyes, but his glossy black hair only fell right back across his forehead. Jonghyun moved forward, waving to grab his attention, and Minho’s heart threatened to stop—or beat right out of his chest, he couldn’t tell which—when Kibum spotted them. His faint smile bloomed into a grin so wide that dimples indented both cheeks.

And Minho…

He found himself wishing he had learned to paint portraits.

The world around him returned to regular speed when Jonghyun squeezed Kibum in a very tight hug, and Kibum’s gaze finally met his.

How had he forgotten about his eyes? They were so—

“Minho?”

—spellbinding. They widened slightly as Kibum gave him a quick once-over.

Why the hadn’t he insisted that he go home to change?

“Is that you?” Kibum asked, looking up at him in what could have been alarm.

, he was scaring him off. He blinked, looking over at Jonghyun for a second. “Yeah, sorry. I wanted to come with, to, uh…pick you up.”

But Kibum was still staring up at him, more confused now than alarmed. “Have you always been this tall?”

Minho snorted, allowing himself to relax at last. “Unless I had a growth spurt I didn’t know about, then yes.”

Kibum blinked rapidly, looking back at Jonghyun before leaning a little closer to Minho. “Maybe it’s just because you’re next to Jonghyun that you look taller.”

“Hey!” Jonghyun said indignantly as Minho burst out laughing. Jonghyun raised his fist to punch Kibum, whose hand slipped around Minho’s arm, and ducked behind him with a grin. “Shut up and get your luggage before I decide to leave you here.”

* * * * *

The pilot’s intercom clicked off after he welcomed them to Jeju and told them they were allowed to use their phones. Even though the seatbelt light wasn’t off, Kibum unbuckled his, stretching out as much as he could as he reached for his phone to turn it on. He tapped it against his thigh as he waited for it to boot up again so he could text Jonghyun that he was here.

[13:23]

Just landed

He was about to exit out, but the text was almost immediately read.

Alright, we’re waiting in baggage claim for you

We’re? Who the was with him, Taeyeon? Frowning, he started to gather his things, eager to get away from his still-snoring seatmate. It took an age for them to deboard, and Kibum made his way as fast as he could manage without looking like he was expending more effort than necessary toward baggage claim.

He brushed his hair out of his eyes, blinking when it fell back into place. Maybe he should get it cut somewhere. Jjong’s hair looked nice usually, maybe he should…

Oh, there he was! Standing up on his tiptoes, waving over the crowd. Kibum grinned at him, his gaze flicking to the tall guy he had been standing beside before he moved to wave at him. Was that the we? Did Jjong have a boyfriend, finally?

Before he could look at the guy anymore, Jonghyun yanked him into a tight hug. Kibum’s eyes closed in contentment for a second before he opened them to see who…ever…

Wait a second.

“Minho?”

It could have been no one else.

Flecks of paint were smattered in his hair that was effortlessly tousled back off his forehead—had he learned how to style it since Kibum left? More paint was scattered over his cheeks and…arms. Bare arms. Toned, muscled arms. The sleeves were…inexplicably cut off his kelly green Thrasher t-shirt, exposing his sides almost to his waist.

Had he looked like this last summer? No…no, he couldn’t have… Kibum would have definitely remembered.

“Is that you?”

Minho, who had been watching him, averted his eyes and glanced at Jonghyun. “Yeah, sorry. I wanted to come with, to, uh…pick you up.”

Had his voice always been that deep? How had he forgotten…Like, sure, he’d been in a rough place last year, but…had he been ing blind? And deaf?

“Have you always been this tall?”

Come on, Kibum, get it together…What kind of stupid question—

Minho let out a quiet snort, smiling bashfully. “Unless I had a growth spurt I didn’t know about, then yes.”

Growth spurt…

Kibum looked over at Jonghyun, alarmed to find him watching him with a small, almost knowing smile. As if he were reading his mind.

.

“Maybe it’s just because you’re next to Jonghyun that you look taller.”

“Hey!”

Minho burst into an obnoxiously loud laugh that Kibum hadn’t gotten to hear last summer when Jonghyun made to punch him playfully. Grinning at the sound, Kibum moved toward him, his hand automatically going to Minho’s arm.

To use him as a human shield, of course. No other reason.

He looked over Minho’s shoulder at an exasperated Jonghyun when he said, “Shut up and get your luggage before I decide to leave you here.”

But he had already moved to follow the crowd before Kibum could fire back. With him gone, though, Kibum redirected his attention back to Minho.

Damn it, he smelled nice, too. Was there no end to this?

Maybe it would help to stop holding onto his arm.

He let go slowly, clearing his throat in the silence. “It’s nice to see you again,” he said at the same time Minho said, “Sorry, I probably should have told you I was coming.”

Minho gave him another shy smile, his eyebrows lifting ever so slightly, and Kibum returned it before he pulled him into a hug. “I don’t mind. It’s a nice surprise,” he said, patting Minho’s back a few times before releasing him, his hands slowly slipping away from Minho. “I guess we should probably go find Jjong, huh?”

Minho’s smile turned into a cute little crooked grin. “Yeah. Don’t want to piss him off.”

Minho was a few steps away before Kibum realized he hadn’t moved, then he hurried to catch up to him.

Really, Kibum? Snap the out of it.

Had he learned nothing with Joonwoo? He rolled his eyes, huffing quietly when he fell into step beside Minho. Just because he was apparently….hotter than he remembered and nice on top of that didn’t mean a goddamn thing. He’d sworn off dating for a reason, hadn’t he? And he’d stuck to that since he returned home.

Granted, he hadn’t exactly been all that tempted.

But still.

He wasn’t about to fold so quickly for a cute guy, even if it was someone he genuinely liked as a person.

“These are yours, right?” Jonghyun asked, pointing to the two suitcases he pulled off the conveyor belt.

“Yup.”

“I can take them,” Minho said when Jonghyun reached for them. Both of them looked up at him. “What? It’s not a long walk to the car.”

And without waiting for either to agree, Minho picked up both suitcases with surprising ease, leading the way back to Jonghyun’s car.

Okay… no dating but…maybe he could do a little friendly flirting.

Just for fun.

Jonghyun unlocked the trunk for Minho to stuff Kibum’s luggage inside while Kibum slid into the passenger side. He immediately flipped the visor down, checking his hair, only to look Jonghyun’s way when he cleared his throat.

The knowing smile was back.

“Shut up.”

The smile grew quickly. Annoyingly. “I don’t think I said anything.”

But before Kibum could respond, Minho squeezed into the backseat, and Jonghyun looked away, still smiling as he started the car. “So what all have you been up to?” Minho asked, leaning forward between them as much as his seatbelt would allow.

Kibum shrugged. “Not much outside of work, unfortunately. Visited my family a few times but that’s it.”

“You should invite them down sometime this summer,” Jonghyun said, glancing behind them to make sure the lane was clear to merge into.

He shook his head. “Can’t. They’re taking Yeri to Europe.”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

Chuckling, Kibum glanced between them. “I’d already booked this trip!”

“You could have canceled it!” Jonghyun said. “We would have understood, right, Minho?”

He nodded fervently, and Kibum shot him an incredulous look before he looked back at Jonghyun. “If you don’t want me here, just take me back to the airport right now.”

Jonghyun glanced through the rearview mirror at Minho, whispering, “Should we take him back now and be rid of him or wait a few more minutes so it looks like we thought about it?”

Minho met Kibum’s eyes, his own agleam with unexpected mischief, then whispered back to Jonghyun, “Wait a few minutes. It’s more polite.”

“Hey…” He looked back at Jonghyun, smacking his shoulder. “Stop being a bad influence on our Minho…”

Minho’s laughter filled the car, and Kibum turned back around, his face scrunching up a little as he shook his head in amusement.

“What do you want to do when we get back?”

“Nothing too strenuous after my flight.”

“Your hour-long flight,” Jonghyun cut in.

Kibum ignored him. “Maybe relaxing on the beach for a while. You’re off today, right?” Both Jonghyun and Minho shook their heads. Kibum blinked, glancing between them. “Then why are you here?”

“Someone needed to pick you up. I’m not needed for another few hours anyway.”

Nodding, he looked at Minho for an explanation. “My boss said I could go with Jonghyun for this.”

“Your boss,” Kibum said with a laugh, reaching around the seat to shove Minho, who cracked up and fell back for a second before scooting back up between them again. “What are you working on today?”

“Still that mural for Jinki. I’m almost done, though.”

“Oh? Can I come see it?”

“Yeah, just come with Jonghyun next time he drops in on the bookshop.”

Kibum almost snorted, and Jonghyun let out a drawn-out sigh as he glowered at Minho through the rearview mirror. Kibum glanced back at him to find mischief glimmering in his eyes again.

Did he know about Jinki, too?

“Can you guys just leave me alone? I deal with enough about him from Taeyeon.”

“Yeah, okay, sorry Jonghyun,” Minho said, looking slightly abashed until Jonghyun returned his attention to the road. Then he grinned at Kibum, who smiled back.

“Uh,” he said quickly, glancing at Jonghyun to make sure he hadn’t witnessed that before he looked back at Minho. “Will you be dropping by for dinner then tonight?”

Minho nodded eagerly, and Kibum sat back in his seat, smiling to himself.

He left them almost as soon as they got back to the cafe, waving goodbye before he jogged around the front to head to the bookshop. Kibum watched him go, his gaze lingering even after Minho disappeared around the corner. Until Jonghyun’s car door slammed shut, that is. He gave his head a little shake and turned, hurrying to join Jonghyun on his way through the kitchen.

“He’s here,” he called out to Taeyeon as he hung his keys up on the hook.

Within seconds, Kibum was nearly bowled over by her, but he managed to steady himself before they fell over. He gave her a tight hug, and she squeezed him tighter until he said, “Okay, Taeng, can’t breathe…”

Laughing, she smacked his back and pulled away to look up at him. “Come help me with prep.” She didn’t wait for him to agree, she just turned and walked away as Jonghyun made his way through to the restaurant.

Kibum slipped out of his loose button-up and took one of the spare aprons from the hook, replacing it with his shirt. “Please tell me you’ll pay me for this.”

“Of course! You get…the pleasure of my company.”

“I don’t know if that’s enough.”

“It’s gonna have to be. Cut the cabbage for me.”

“For kimchi?” She nodded, and Kibum watched her for a second before he took one of the knives from the magnets on the wall and rolled one head of cabbage toward him. “How much do you need?” She gestured to the bag filled with cabbage and carrots and scallions and onions and ginger. “All of that?”

“We’re running low.”

Kibum let out a quiet harrumph, which only made her laugh, and started chopping it up. “Starting to get busy again?”

She nodded, sighing heavily as she shook some gochugaru into the bowl between them. “It’s a good problem, but god, summer makes me so tired.”

“You should take more time off, then.”

“And make Mom and Dad come down here to cook? Please…”

“I mean, you could hire someone to help. Just for the busy season.” He looked over at her as he scooped up some of the cabbage and dropped in it the bowl. “Are there some high school or college kids in town who’d be interested?”

“Maybe.” Before Kibum could press the issue any further, she added, “I can talk to Jonghyun about it later.”

Nodding, he grabbed the next head of cabbage. “Speaking of…”

“Hm?”

“How has he still not asked Jinki out?” She motioned for him to be quiet, looking around him to the back of the kitchen. “He went up front, remember?”

“Oh, right,” she said, whispering. Kibum leaned a little closer to hear her. “I don’t know. I keep telling him to, but he insists that it’ll ruin whatever they have now if he does. I just hate seeing him so—“

“Miserable,” Kibum supplied.

“Yeah. And, like, you know Jinki…”

“Sorta.”

“Well, he’s really nice, so even if he didn’t return Jonghyun’s feelings, I don’t think he’d treat him any differently.”

“Yeah, but…” But if it were him, and he wasn’t sure about how the guy he liked felt toward him… “There’s a bit more risk, here.”

“I guess that’s true.”

A comfortable silence settled between them, Kibum’s mind wandering as he started on another cabbage. Jonghyun had gotten pretty close to Minho in his absence. There couldn’t be that many other gay men in town, so even if things with Jinki didn’t work out…

His brow immediately furrowed. It was almost too weird of a thought to entertain, and yet…Minho had gotten quite comfortable with him. Comfortable enough to divulge the reason he moved to Jeju. Maybe…it was a possibility…

“What about Minho?”

“What about him?”

“Him and…” he gestured with the knife to the door to the bar, and she followed the movement, only to look back at him with an incredulous laugh in her eyes. “What? It’s possible.”

She snorted loudly, moving away to get some water. “For which one of them?” Kibum shrugged, watching her fill up a container to bring back over to dump in the bowl. “Jjong is too far gone, and Minho—“ Her brow knit together, and she half-shrugged. “He just seems to regard him as a friend. Nothing more. Besides, he teases Jjong about Jinki almost as much as me. I don’t think he’d do that if he were harboring feelings for him.” Kibum nodded, his shoulders relaxing a bit as he went back to chopping. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason. Just thinking out loud.” He could feel her watching him as he grabbed one of the carrots. “What? There can’t be a lot of gay people in town. It can get lonely.”

She wasn’t looking away. “They’re friends, at least. That’s gotta help, right?”

Kibum nodded, starting to peel the carrot.

He still had most of his friends after his breakup with Joonwoo last year. But he did lose some. For whatever reason, some of them took /his/ side. If he got lonely, and he did, he could only imagine how isolated they felt here in this tiny town.

But at least they had each other, now.

Jonghyun came in, pale iced green teas in hand for each of them, and the subject was dropped.

Taeyeon kicked him out of the kitchen once they were finished with prep, so he threw his overshirt back on, heading out to keep Jonghyun company at the bar while he waited for Minho to arrive. He was taking the occasional sip of his second Tangerine Sunset of the night—Jonghyun’s summer cocktail—when the bell above the door jingled.

In walked Minho, and Kibum didn’t have to wave at him for him to notice where he was. He combed his fingers through his hair as the door closed behind him.

Kibum, whose head was buzzing delightfully in his almost tipsy state, rested his chin on his hand as he watched Minho approach the bar. His hair was slightly damp around his ears. At the nape of his neck, too. And his clothes…as far as he could tell, didn’t have a speck of paint on them.

Still surprisingly boring for an artist, but they suited him.

Not that he was boring.

Just…

“You clean up nice,” Kibum said as Minho took the seat beside him.

Okay, wow, Kibum. Not what you meant by friendly flirting. At all.

He pushed the cocktail away as Jonghyun came over to see what Minho wanted to drink. He ordered one of the cocktails while Kibum asked for water. Minho clasped his hands together on the counter, his thumb twitching back and forth. Kibum cleared his throat, and Minho looked over at him with a small smile.

“Did you get to finish the mural?”

“I did, yeah. Had to help Jinki move the furniture back in once the walls were dry. That’s why I showered.”

, he had made him feel awkward. “Minho, I—“

“I’m just messing with you,” Minho said quickly, a hint of the mischief from earlier today shining in his eyes—or maybe it was just the bar lights…or his slightly inebriated state. It was gone when he turned to take the cocktail from Jonghyun before he slid a glass of water to Kibum. “Will you guys come see it tomorrow?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Jonghyun leaned on the counter across from them. “Why not what?”

“He finished the mural and wants us to go—“

His smile fell so quickly that Kibum stopped talking. “Give it a rest,” he said before he pushed away from the bar and slipped into the kitchen.

“What…”

“Did he think we were talking about—“

Kibum’s mouth clamped shut when Jonghyun came back out with a tray of food for someone in the restaurant. But he didn’t look their way.

“Maybe we should give him some space for a while,” Minho said, his voice so low that only Kibum could hear it.

His hand found Minho’s arm, and he pulled himself a little closer so he could whisper back, “But you weren’t teasing him, were you?” Minho shook his head. “Me neither, I was just—“

Jonghyun stopped before them, and Kibum’s grip on Minho's arm tightened for a second before he let go. “What do you guys want to eat?”

“The bokkeumbap,” Minho said.

“Jjamppong, for me.” Nodding, Jonghyun returned to the kitchen. “You don’t get the soup anymore?”

Minho smiled slowly, then shrugged. “Sometimes I do. But I’ve been trying to experience new things. You know…”

“Branch out a bit.” He nodded, his expression brightening a hint more. “I know we kept in touch but in person is just different. How have you been?”

“Good.” He nodded, glancing around when the karaoke machine started up. “Keeping busy. Taking breaks, though.”

“When’s your next day off?”

“Tomorrow. Jonghyun, too.”

Kibum sat up, meeting Minho’s gaze with a smile. “Maybe we can all do something fun.”

Minho kept him company until every last customer was gone, and it was just them sitting alone at the bar. It was so nice to see him again, especially now that he was clearly much more comfortable with himself. He was almost sure that the alcohol had all but left his system, what with all the food and water he had, but he was still feeling a bit dazed, sitting there, listening to Minho talk about his next big commission.

His eyes got so bright and wide, his expression so animated when he was talking about something he was this passionate about.

They were a bit distracting. His eyes. If he allowed himself, he could have very easily gotten tangled in the golden brown web of them, but before he could, his attention was snagged away from Minho’s gaze when Jonghyun trudged behind the bar, heading to the front door to lock it.

“I know, I’m talking a lot. I’m sorry.”

“No, honey, it’s fine,” he said, absently patting Minho’s arm, his attention still on the obviously glum Jonghyun. “Jjong, what’s the matter?”

Minho swiveled his stool, turning to follow Jonghyun’s progress across the room.

Jonghyun shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Clearly,” Kibum said flatly, and Jonghyun rewarded his sarcasm with an attempted glare. “Just tell us.”

“Can we help you?” Minho asked, his voice tender. Kibum’s eyes flicked over to Minho in surprise. But just for a second.

“You guys will just make fun of me.”

Kibum sat back in his stool, sighing heavily. “We won’t—“

“Yes, you will! You do! Every day! I’m sick of it!” Kibum resisted the urge to glance over at Minho, to see how he reacted to his outburst. “I get it, okay? I’m pathetic.” The admission rang in the air, and Taeyeon peered through the kitchen window. “It’s pathetic that I’m so…so…that I like him this much. That he probably has never once thought of me like that and he never will. It’s pathetic that I can't get past that. Or…or work up the courage to ask him out like you all say I should.

“But, if I can’t…if we don’t date, if I never tell him…then I won’t lose him. And I can’t lose him.”

He gulped thickly, his eyes red-rimmed. He turned and ducked through the kitchen door as Taeyeon opened it. She spared them both a glance before she followed her brother into the kitchen.

Neither Kibum nor Minho spoke for a moment, both watching the kitchen door.

“Maybe I should head home…” Minho said quietly.

“I’ll walk with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

Kibum sniffed a quiet laugh as he slid off his stool. “I know.”

He peeked through the kitchen door, surprised to find it empty. Minho followed him in when he gestured for him to, and Kibum led him to the back door, only…Taeyeon was sitting cross-legged on the floor by the bathroom door, and she looked up at them as Kibum reached for the door handle.

“Is he in there?” Kibum whispered so quietly that the words barely escaped his mouth.

She nodded, then pushed up from the floor with a wince, shooing them out of the back door while following them. “Maybe lay off the teasing for a while?” she said, still quietly, despite the closed door.

“We weren’t even—“

She cut off Kibum with a wave of her hand. “I know, Bummie. But just…we all should.”

“Will he still want to hang out tomorrow?” Minho asked.

“Probably. Either he or I will text you in the morning to let you know.” He nodded. “But, odds are, he’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“See you tomorrow, Minho,” she said before she fiddled with her keys in the dark and let herself back into the cafe, leaving them alone.

“, I feel really bad, now,” Minho mumbled.

“Me too,” Kibum said, linking their arms as he started them down the alley toward Minho’s darkened shop. “I wish there was something we could do to help him.” Minho nodded, sighing.

But what could they do? Aside from…wait…

Could they, somehow, figure out how to get them together? What could they even do? Would Jonghyun be mad about them meddling?

But if he got to date Jinki in the end, did it really matter?

Kibum stopped a few steps away from Minho’s back door, staring straight ahead.

“What?” Minho asked, looking back at him.

“What if we did help him?”

He let himself be pulled along by Minho, who was digging his keys out of his pocket. “How can we?”

“I’m not sure yet. But maybe…I don’t know.” Minho flipped on the light inside, the warm golden light within spilling around him like honey as he looked back at Kibum. “Maybe we can find a way to get them together, you know?”

“But how?” Minho asked.

Kibum shrugged, stepping a bit closer to him. “I’m sure we’ll be able to think of something, though.”

“As long as he doesn’t get hurt. Or, you know, upset at us.”

Kibum smiled up at him. It was sweet that he was so worried. “He won’t.”

Minho squinted at him, giving him a crooked little smile. “How can you be so sure?”

Kibum patted his arm. “I just am, trust me.” Minho laughed, but the sound of a car door down the alley drew Kibum’s attention away. One of his cousins was getting into the car, which meant— “I should go.”

“See you tomorrow?” Minho called after him as Kibum stepped away from the light of his shop.

“Of course!” Kibum said, waving goodbye before he jogged through the night toward the lights of Jonghyun’s car.

* * * * *

The rear lights of Jonghyun’s car disappeared around the corner and Minho slumped against the doorway, unable to look away. He sighed into a small smile before he pushed off from the door jamb and made his way inside.

If they could help Jonghyun, that would be beyond amazing. Even if he didn’t quite see how they could. But Kibum would think of something good. If anyone could, it’d be him.

He didn’t bother turning on the lights of his storefront, as he was just double-checking that he had locked the door. He had, so he returned to the backdoor, locking it before flicking the light off and heading upstairs, taking two steps at a time to get ready for bed.

It was so nice. Having Kibum here again. Even now, as he tucked himself into his bed, he was still smiling. He was still just as vibrant and fun as he remembered. Warm, too. Just, genuinely comfortable to be around. As worried as he had been that he had worked Kibum up to mythically unattainable expectations, he was still just the same.

Such a relief.

He had nothing to be worried about.

It was stupid, really, that he had been at all.

He rolled over, hugging his pillow, his brow knitting together as his thoughts drifted back to Jonghyun. He hadn’t intended to upset him, but the intent didn’t matter, did it? And even if he had —though, not just then at dinner—shouldn’t he know better by now? Just because they bantered and argued for fun on a daily basis, it didn’t mean that Jonghyun couldn’t be hurt by those sorts of comments.

Frowning now, Minho sat up and reached for his phone, opening his texts with Jonghyun.

[23:48]

Hyung, I’m sorry. I never intended
to hurt your feelings like that. I
definitely understand the position
you’re in and how stressful that’s
gotta be, so I’ll back off now. I hope
you can forgive me for any badgering
or teasing or stress I’ve added to and
please let me know if I’m overstepping
again. I really don’t want to hurt you,
you’re my closest friend and I love you
very much. I’m here for you

After reading through it twice, he sent it and set his phone beside him in bed, waiting for a text that might never come.

But it did.

[00:03]

Thanks, Minho

See you tomorrow

As much as Minho wanted to respond, he left him alone, switching to his and Kibum’s texts.

[00:04]

Is he okay?

Yeah, we talked.

Don’t worry about it and try to sleep

Sorry for bothering you

ㅋㅋ you’re never a bother

Minho smiled at the screen before he stretched to plug his phone in for the night. Sleep did eventually find him, and he dreamt of things that escaped him seconds after he opened his eyes.

He took much longer than usual to pick out his clothes for the day. Nothing he had seemed right, even if he was gonna be having a relaxing day off. He opted for something more casual, with one of his white cut-off t-shirts and ripped jeans with his swimming trunks on underneath, since they’d probably end up at the beach.

Oh, would they be playing volleyball later? Well, he’d be going to Sooyoung’s in a minute, he’d ask her then.

He made his way downstairs, grabbing his sunglasses on the way out the back. It only took a few strides before he reached the bakery, and he knocked twice, paused, then a third time before letting himself in.

“Sooyoung!” he called out, adding a touch of a cute lilt to his voice as he closed the door behind him. She let out an exasperated sigh from somewhere further in, and he laughed as he made his way into the kitchen.

She looked up from brushing egg wash on a pan of croissants. “Get the salt, will you?”

Minho nodded, turning around and opening the cupboard to the left of the sink, grabbing the jar with the large flakes of salt. He unscrewed it, reaching in for a pinch to sprinkle over one of the ones she had already finished with. “You coming to the beach today?”

“Hopefully. Why, are we taking on the Kims again?”

“Maybe. I haven’t asked yet.”

She hummed as she brushed the last bit of wash on the croissants. “Either way, I’ll probably come. Taeyeon needs me.”

“She really does. Too many guys,” he said, his face scrunched up as he shook his head.

Laughing, she took the pan away and balanced it with one hand before she opened the oven. “You say that like you’re not part of the problem.”

“I can’t help it.”

Sooyoung pulled out her phone, assumedly setting her timer. “Your’s is in the oven now, but the other two are ready.”

“I don’t mind waiting.”

“Good, because you have no other choice.” She said it so seriously, but her stern expression cracked into a smile when she met his wide eyes. “So,” she said, leaning across the table toward him. “Did you get to see him yesterday or were you too busy?”

“See who?” Her expression shifted into an are-you-ing-kidding-me glare, and Minho shrunk back from her, glancing away. Had he brought up Kibum that much? He hadn’t noticed… “Yeah, I went with to pick him up from the airport.”

“And?”

“And…what?”

“Did it go alright?”

Alright? Maybe she’d been able to tell how nervous he was about Kibum’s imminent return. He nodded, meeting her curious gaze with a smile. “I’m happy he’s back.”

She smiled to herself as she turned to grab another tray of pastries.

As soon as his croissant was cool enough to pick up, he had his, a plain one, and a banana custard-filled one with three coffees in hand as he made his way down the alley toward Taemin’s family’s shop. “Morning,” he said, letting himself in through the already-open back door.

Taemin, who was packaging one of his pieces, shook his hair out of his eyes as he turned around, giving Minho a bright smile. Minho dug out the banana custard croissant and grabbed one of the coffees, handing it to him. “Aren’t you taking the day off?”

“Supposed to.” He plopped down in his stool before the switched-off kiln, facing Minho. “Taehyun will be here later. He’s got a doctor's appointment.”

Minho nodded, grabbing one of the chairs and sitting before he dug out his very warm croissant. “I’m not sure what the plan is, but we’ll probably be down at the beach today if you wanna come hang out.”

“Which beach?” Jinki asked as he made his way inside Taemin’s workroom.

Minho held out the remaining coffee and plain croissant, waiting for Jinki to take them. “I’m not sure. Jonghyun hasn’t mentioned one yet.”

The corner of Jinki’s mouth twitched in what might have been a smile, but it was so quick, Minho wasn’t sure if he had imagined it. “Well, just let me know. I have a bit of admin to do before I can relax today.”

“Yeah, h—“ He froze. What if Jonghyun considered him setting up the expectation that he would be the one to text Jinki to be teasing? “I’ll text you.”

He stayed long after he finished his breakfast, Jinki leaving first to head next door. Minho helped Taemin box his custom glassware until nine o’clock rolled around and he had to open his storefront. He checked his phone on his way back, but neither Kibum nor Jonghyun had texted him yet.

So, while he waited, he tidied up from his busy week, scraping up paint splatters and cleaning palettes and wiping down easels and dusting every surface he could think of.

A loud rapping at his front door startled him enough to fumble with his duster, and he peered outside to see Jonghyun there with Taeyeon and Kibum in the car behind him, waving for him to join them outside. Minho grabbed his keys with a grin and hurried to join them. But before he bothered to lock his door, he pulled Jonghyun into a tight hug.

“I’m okay, Minho, really,” he said, after a long while of hugging him back. Minho squeezed him a little tighter, then patted his back gently.

“Come on, come on, let’s go,” Kibum was saying as they climbed into the car—Jonghyun into the front passenger seat by Taeyeon and Minho scrunched up in the backseat with Kibum.

“Just relax, Bummie. The beach will still be there,” Taeyeon said as she switched into drive as Minho and Jonghyun buckled up.

“Whatever.” Minho shot Kibum an amused look and was met with a dimpled smirk.

“I asked Sooyoung and Jinki and Taemin if they wanted to meet us later, I hope that’s okay?” Minho asked, looking between Jonghyun and Taeyeon, his gaze settling on Jonghyun. “If not, I can just let them know…”

“No, that should be okay,” Taeyeon said, but Minho didn’t relax until Jonghyun nodded. “We’re heading to Gwakji.”

Minho dug his phone out of his pocket, hurriedly going to text the three of them, when a message from Kibum appeared at the top of his screen.

Already getting started?

Minho blinked, looking over at him. On…He glanced at Jonghyun in the front seat, who had his hand out of the window, making waves with his arm in the wind, then back at Kibum, who nodded. Not really, but Minho still shrugged and nodded.

Kibum mouthed, We’ll talk about it later, and Minho nodded again before he finished texting the others.

* * * * *

The parking lot to Gwakji stretched along the beach, and Taeyeon took her time finding a parking spot that was a little ways away from other cars. Kibum unbuckled before she switched the car off, and once he was outside, he was looking around at the restaurants and little cafes that he could spot across the street.

“Oh, Taeng,” he said, sidling up next to her as Jonghyun and Minho ran ahead of them to the white sands. “Did you see the bingsu place?”

She didn’t look up from digging around in her purse. “Oh, yeah, it’s good.”

“We should go after we’re done here.”

Nodding, she pulled her sunglasses out. “Okay, sounds good.” Then she looked back over the beach, raising her voice. “Jonghyun!”

Minho turned around, but Jonghyun was too far away. She waved Minho back, tutting under her breath about sunscreen. “Do you want me to go get him?” Minho asked after he bounded back to them.

She let out a heavy sigh, and shook her head, returning to digging around in her purse. “He’d probably just ignore me anyways.” She pulled out the sunscreen, holding it out to Kibum. “Need some?”

“I put some on already, but maybe in an hour or two.”

Both looked at Minho expectantly, and he let out a little laugh. “I’m good, I don’t wear that.”

Taeyeon speared him with a look reminiscent of both their mothers, and Minho quailed under it, his eyes widening a little as his attention flicked to Kibum. There was a silent plea in them, but not enough to sway Kibum.

“Do I need to look up skin cancer and show you what it looks like?” Minho laughed in slight disbelief, looking between them again as Taeyeon handed the bottle off to Kibum, who then held it out to Minho as she started for the beach again, yelling for Jonghyun. “Take it.”

Minho’s eyes met his again, eyebrows raised in the middle with what was clearly amusement. “Are you gonna keep me from enjoying the beach unless I do this?”

“Yes.”

“How.”

Kibum shrugged, and grabbed Minho’s hand, stuffing the bottle into his palm. “I can do anything I set my mind to. Don’t test me.”

Minho laughed as Kibum walked past him, following Taeyeon’s path through the sand. He was grumbling behind him, and Kibum rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. Jonghyun, who was already wet from being in the water, was being dragged back to a pair of empty seats. Kibum arrived first, Minho a few steps behind him.

“It feels weird,” he said, a definite pout in his voice as he tossed something over the back of the seat that Kibum was thinking about taking.

“Don’t be such a ba—“ Minho came around before him, his shirt completely off. “—by.”

Oh god.

Pull it together, Kibum.

Okay.

Well.

Yeah.

So, he’d definitely been working out with Jonghyun like he said he was.

Joonwoo never worked out. Ever. Which was really…

But then…at the moment…he couldn’t really remember what he looked like. At all.

“But it feels gross,” Minho said so annoyingly casually. As if nothing had happened. And then, to make matters worse, he ped his jeans, pulling them off so he’d just be in his swimming trunks. Kibum let out a quiet, distracted laugh, grateful for Taeyeon and Jonghyun rejoining them so he’d have something…someone else to focus on.

Jonghyun said something, but Kibum didn’t catch it. He was too busy not looking at Minho, only to reflexively glance their way when something flew between them.

Ah, just the…uh…the bottle of sunscreen.

What was wrong with him? It’s not like this was his first time seeing a shirtless man—which would have been quite the feat, at this point in his life…but that was beside the point. Sure, it was his first time seeing Minho shirtless, and he, well, he…kinda drove any other man he’d ever seen out of his mind.

Just for a moment.

A long moment.

“Alright, I’m heading back out,” Jonghyun said, grinning up at Minho as he tossed the sunblock onto one of the chairs, then looked at Kibum. “You coming?”

Minho bent over, grabbing the bottle again. “I gotta finish putting this on. I’ll be right there.”

Jonghyun nodded, looking back at Kibum, his eyebrows raising in question. Kibum cleared his throat. “I’m not sure yet.”

“Suit yourself!” he said, shrugging, and darted off across the sand again.

Taeyeon pulled out her wallet, glancing between them. “Can you watch our stuff? I’m gonna go get waters for us.”

“Sure.”

And just like that, they were alone.

Kibum scratched the back of his neck, still not looking directly at Minho, and stepped around him to situate himself in the chair beside him.

“Do you not like being in the water or something?”

He squinted up at him. “I do.”

Minho’s eyebrows rose a little behind his sunglasses, and he gave Kibum a half-smile. . “So why don’t you want to come with us?”

“It’s not that I don’t, I just don’t feel like it right now.” Minho squirted a bit more of the sunblock in his hand, reaching around to get his back, sort of wincing as he did. “Can you not reach?” Kibum asked with a laugh.

Minho snorted. “Not really. Do you, uh, mind?” he asked, holding the bottle out to Kibum.

Oh.

Okay…

Kibum shook his head and pulled his hat back out of his eyes before crossing his legs under him as Minho came around to straddle the end of the beach chair, his back to him. “So,” Minho said as Kibum put a generous squeeze of sunblock across his…sculpted shoulders. “Did you come up with a plan?”

“Plan?” he asked before his brain could catch up to the question as he started to spread the sunblock over Minho’s back. “Oh, plan. Right.” He cleared his already dry throat—when would Taeyeon be back with the waters? “Well, first things first, we have to figure out if Jinki is interested. Because otherwise, there’s no real point to any of this.”

“That’s true. But,” he turned his head, giving Kibum a glimpse of his side profile as he squeezed out a bit more sunblock. “How do we go about doing that?”

“If he comes today, then we can try to observe, and hopefully we can figure out more.”

Neither of them spoke for a moment, Minho clearly lost in thought, and Kibum distracted by the few freckles dotting his tanned back.

“Is he really feeling better than he was last night?” Minho asked after a while, and Kibum suppressed a small smile. “Because if he’s not…”

“No, he is.” He had finished rubbing the sunblock evenly over his back, so he brought his hands up to his shoulders, rubbing the excess sunblock from his hands off onto them. “He’d just been in his head all day about it, and it built up to that.” He patted Minho’s shoulders before shoving him lightly away. “Go on, have fun.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

He looked so eager, he almost hated to disappoint him. “Maybe in a bit.” Minho gave him one last lingering look before he turned and jogged away. Kibum stared after him until he lost him in the crowd.

When he finally looked away, he grabbed one of the towels Taeyeon brought with her, wiping the remaining sunblock off on it. He let out a huff of a sigh before he reached around for Minho’s shirt, folding it and setting it on the chair, then he shook the sand out of Minho’s jeans before folding them as well.

Alright, so. Minho was attractive.

So what?

It didn’t mean anything that he thought that. Really. He just was. That was a plain, observable fact.

It didn’t matter that he hadn’t found anyone attractive since last year.

In fact, he’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that he found Minho attractive. Which, lying was never a good thing, not even to yourself. Wait, no, you especially shouldn’t lie to yourself.

And he wasn’t.

He looked up, glaring through his sunglasses in the direction Minho went.

It was just…he really didn’t want to date again.

But then, why would he even be considering that? Dating. Why put himself out there only to probably get hurt again? Definitely not worth the hassle. And he hadn’t gone on even a casual date since…since…what’s his name.

Joonwoo. Right.

Oh, god.

He snorted softly in disbelief, shaking his head as he set the jeans on top of the t-shirt, and looked up, peering through the crowd to see if he could find Minho again.

“That was a long line,” Taeyeon said as she approached, tearing Kibum away from his search. “Got some for all of us, though.” She sat beside him in the empty chair, setting the bottles in the sand between their chairs. “Did you skip your ears this morning?” Kibum frowned, looking over at her in confusion. “When you were putting on sunscreen.”

“...No?”

“They’re just a bit red, that’s all.”

Kibum pulled his bucket hat back down to cover his ears, shrugging without saying anything, and luckily, she didn’t comment further.

She stretched out beside him, rearranging her sunglasses as she settled in her chair. As she set her phone on the armrest, her screen lit up, and she tipped it toward her, only to pick it up to text whoever it was back. Probably her boyfriend.

He leaned back, his head knocking against the back of his seat as he looked out over the crowded beach. Casual soccer games and the occasional building of sand castles dotted the beach. Squealing children being chased by their parents, tourists laughing and chatting. A little ways away, a picnic was being had by a group of older women. Some college-age kids a few paces away were already drinking and slightly rowdy.

Through all the chaos, he only caught glimpses of Minho and Jonghyun, but they were still down in the water. What they were doing exactly, Kibum couldn’t tell but—

Taeyeon sat up beside him, peering between their chairs to look behind him before she smacked his arm. “She’s here. Get out.”

“What?”

He looked around too, finding the baker next to Minho’s shop striding onto the beach from the parking lot, two iced coffees in hand. Taeyeon sat up, waving her over, and her smile immediately bloomed into a grin as she started jogging over to her.

“Are you really kicking me out of my chair?”

“Yeah, obviously.”

“Wow. Your own cousin…”

“Look, we don’t get to hang out very often anymore,” she said when Sooyoung stopped beside his chair as he clambered out of it, then slipped into it and passed Taeyeon her coffee. “And I’m stuck with boys all the time so it’s nice to—“

“But I'm good at girl talk.”

“I don’t care. This is sacred.” Kibum let out an exasperated huff, and they both chuckled. “Go be a lifeguard or whatever to the other two,” Taeyeon said, settling back in her seat and taking a sip of her coffee. “Who knows what they’re up to down there.”

“Remember last time when Jonghyun said a squid latched onto him and almost dragged him out to sea,” Sooyoung said, laughing when Taeyeon sighed.

“He’s so dramatic, I swear. Minho said it just floated past his foot. Though, I wish he would have caught it so we could have taken it back to the cafe.” She shook her head, then both of them looked up at Kibum, and she shooed him away. “Go away.”

“Seriously?”

They both shooed him away, with cheery smiles this time, and Kibum rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses before he reluctantly turned away, trudging across the warm sands to where he had seen the pair of them last. He made it all the way down to the water, but they weren’t playing there anymore. Squinting, he looked this way and that, scanning everywhere for Minho and J—

There. On the outcropping of rocks. Minho was standing on it, poised to dive. He was looking back at Jonghyun who was standing thigh-deep in the ocean, filming him. When Jonghyun gave him a thumbs up, Minho nodded, lifted one arm straight up, looked over at Jonghyun again, and got a running start before jumping feet first into the ocean.

Kibum had reached Jonghyun’s side by the time Minho surfaced with a laugh that was almost drowned out by the waves crashing around them. Water spilled around him as he swam close enough to stand, and just for a second, the world slowed.

Sunlight caught in the water clinging to Minho, glittering in the air around him as he shook his hair out of his eyes before carding his fingers through his hair.

No.

Stop.

He closed his eyes, thankful for the cover of his sunglasses for the moment.

You’re not about to fall this easily again. You’ve learned your lesson.

Stop this now before you hurt yourself.

And him.

He opened his eyes again, and the world had returned to normal. Minho was just a few steps away from them, his eyes on Kibum now, his smile getting bigger still. “Finally decide to join us?”

Jonghyun looked up at him, surprised. Must not have heard him walk up.

“The girls kicked me out of my seat,” Kibum said, shrugging as he glanced between them.

“Is J—are the others here?” Jonghyun asked, looking up at him expectantly.

“Not that I know of.”

When Jonghyun glumly looked back down at his phone, Kibum chanced a glance at Minho, unsurprised to find a smile twinkling in his eyes. Kibum pursed his lips to keep from smiling as he looked quickly away.

Poor Jonghyun.

Well, maybe Jinki would be here soon.

* * * * *

Water frothed around his knees as the wave surged inland, but Jonghyun didn’t look up from his phone as he waited for Minho to resurface before he ended the video. He squinted through his sunglasses, watching the replay to see if they needed to try filming it. Again.

“Finally decide to join us?” Minho asked, a smile in his voice.

Frowning, Jonghyun looked up. Originally at Minho, but then at Kibum when he noticed him standing beside him. Kibum shrugged, looking from him to Minho and back again. “The girls kicked me out of my seat.”

“Is J—are the others here?”

“Not that I know of.”

Letting out a clipped sigh, Jonghyun looked back at his phone, not actually seeing what was on the screen. Hopefully, he’d show up. It was always so fun when he did. Granted, he was biased in thinking that, and had been since forever, but…well, after yesterday…after he had time to think…maybe being more direct would be the way to go.

Because he didn’t want to live like this for the rest of his life. Hoping that Jinki might like him in return. He’d never know for sure, anyway, unless he—okay, well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do, but he’d figure out something.

“What are you guys doing?” Kibum asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he glanced between them.

“Just ing around in the water,” Jonghyun said before Minho could answer. “Come on,” he added, starting toward the outcropping of rock Minho had been on a moment ago. Judging by the sound of sloshing water, they were both right behind him until Minho overtook them with his longer strides. He clambered up first, helping them both up with an outstretched hand. “Take off your shirt.” Kibum’s eyebrows shot up from behind his sunglasses in surprise. “What?” he said with a laugh, gesturing to his and Minho’s bare chests. “I need to hide my phone somewhere and ours are back at the chairs.”

Kibum’s jaw worked for a few seconds before he slipped out of his shirt and bucket hat and reluctantly passed them over to Jonghyun, who folded his phone up in them. He set them down in the shade of the biggest rock, only to turn around to find Kibum still hugging himself and pointedly looking away from Minho. Jonghyun glanced between them.

Yeah, okay, he understood. They worked out together so Minho’s physique barely phased him anymore, but even he felt a bit insecure sometimes just standing next to the guy. Especially when they were both shirtless.

“Relax,” Jonghyun said, shoving Kibum lightly and earning a glare in return. “Or did you forget to put sunscreen on your chest this morning?”

“No, I did,” he said, looking at the water surrounding them. “I’ve just never swam in the sea before.”

Jonghyun’s eyebrows rose as he pulled off his sunglasses. Minho caught his gaze immediately, looking back at Kibum for a second before he met Jonghyun’s eyes again. Neither of them needed words to communicate anymore, so when his eyebrows slowly rose in question, Jonghyun nodded. They both lunged, grabbing him on their dive into the sea.

It was a shallow area, so barely any swimming had to happen, but Kibum came up sputtering, grabbing Jonghyun by the hair and pulling him under for a second in retaliation before Jonghyun shoved him away with a sputtered laugh. Minho was already jogging away, albeit backward, grinning as he watched Kibum chase him onto the beach. For whatever reason, despite Minho’s head start, Kibum caught up to him, shoving him away from him while Minho laughed. Though, he lingered close enough for Kibum to latch onto his arm and pretend to want to punch him.

They were too far away for Jonghyun to hear them, but—

The thought trickled away as he turned his head to find Taemin, who was also already shirtless, booking it for the water, with Jinki leisurely jogging behind him.

He combed his fingers through his wet hair a few times before he half-ran, half-swam back to the rock ledge to get his phone. Jinki was glancing all around, searching for someone until Jonghyun waved, snagging his attention.

The way his smile immediately grew…blossoming into something so bright that it could have rivaled the sun…

He sighed, thankful for the distance to conceal the moment of weakness, and smiled in return before ducking his head and starting for him. Jinki met him at the edge of the rocks, extending his hand for Jonghyun to hold as he descended. Did he need the help? Probably not, but who was he to deny such a thoughtful gesture? His hand slid into his, his heart fluttering as Jinki’s grip tightened for a second.

Jonghyun hopped down beside him in the dry sand. Jinki’s hand clenched slightly as soon as Jonghyun pulled his hand away. “Sorry, it’s probably wet, huh?”

“Well, I mean, you were just in the water,” he said, his eyebrow raised in quiet amusement. Jonghyun smiled back, and Jinki’s brow furrowed for a second before he cleared his throat. “Taeng said we were playing volleyball?”

“You can referee if you want to. I can probably bully Kibum into joining one of the teams.”

Jinki smiled again, looking past him to where Kibum and Minho probably were, but Jonghyun couldn’t look away. Not even when he met his eyes again. His expression softened slightly, and he his lips, looking away. “I’ll go get Taemin.”

“Okay.” Jinki made it a step away before Jonghyun added, “Minho and I set up the volleyball net down there.”

He gestured over his shoulder, a little way down the beach where it was slightly less populated. Nodding, Jinki turned away, hurrying over to where Taemin was playing with some random dog in the water. Reluctantly, Jonghyun looked back around, finding Kibum standing at the edge of the water, arms crossed, and a hint of amusement seeping through his irritation as he called out to Minho, who was retreating into the water, wearing Kibum’s sunglasses and a -eating grin.

Kibum let out a huff as Jonghyun stopped next to him.

“Minho!” Jonghyun called out with a laugh. “Come on, it’s time for volleyball!”

“Volleyball?” He nodded as he looked over at Kibum. “Can I ref?”

“Nope, Jinki’s gonna ref,” he said, waving Minho back in.

Minho jogged toward them, still grinning broadly, and slipped the glasses off his face. Kibum held his hand out expectantly for them, but Minho ignored it, instead choosing to put them back on Kibum himself. “I’ll go get the girls,” he said, glancing between them before he darted off.

“He has too much energy for his own good,” Jonghyun said in explanation as Kibum, whose ears were rapidly reddening, turned to follow his progress across the beach.

“Yeah,” he scoffed, clearing his throat and looking back at Jonghyun. “Do I actually have to play volleyball?”

“Even teams would be nice to have.”

He let out a very long sigh. “Give me my stuff back, at least.”

Just as he was unraveling his phone from Kibum’s shirt, Taemin ran past them, heading for the net, and Jinki fell into step on the other side of Jonghyun a few seconds later. “What are the teams gonna be?”

That question wasn’t answered until everyone was gathered. Jonghyun and Taeyeon, of course, paired up, as did Minho and Sooyoung, but when it came time for Kibum and Taemin to be chosen, Taemin spoke up before either of them could. “Nope, I’m on Jonghyun’s team,” he said, already ducking under the net to join them.

Minho looked mildly affronted while Sooyoung laughed. “Why?”

“You know why” was all he said in response—which started Jinki laughing—and even with Kibum’s glasses being on, Jonghyun could sense his apprehension as he looked between the two teams. Still, he joined Minho and Sooyoung on the other side of the net.

“Come here,” he said, throwing his arms around both their shoulders and bringing them into a huddle. “We have the advantage here because we already know how we all play. I don’t think Kibum has ever seen a volleyball in his life.”

Taemin grinned, peeking over their heads to glance across the net while Taeyeon said, “But their height, though…”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ve still got this.”

“Jjong!” Jinki called out, ripping his attention away from the huddle. Minho was already waiting on the other side of the net beside Jinki, who was twirling the volleyball between his hands. Jonghyun patted both Taeyeon and Taemin’s backs before he jogged over to them. Minho stood a little taller as Jonghyun stopped on the other side of the net, looking a bit smug. “You already know what to do.”

Both of them clasped their hands behind their backs, Jonghyun getting a little tenser as he waited for Jinki to count them in.

Jonghyun threw rock. Minho did, too.

Squinting and smiling, Jonghyun held his hands behind him again, waiting for Jinki’s cue.

Both scissors.

“Stop copying me,” Jonghyun said, and Minho just gave him a toothy grin as he held his hands behind his back again.

“One, two, three—“

Minho threw rock, which Jonghyun only realized as he started to form scissors, and he deftly changed it to paper.

“Hey!”

“What? It was paper!”

Minho shook his head adamantly, laughing as he nudged Jinki. “Come on, he cheated!”

“Looks like paper to me,” Jinki said so sincerely that Jonghyun almost believed that he had missed the switch. Until Minho turned around in a huff, that is. Then, Jinki tossed the volleyball to him with what could have been a wink. “Good luck.”

Grinning, Jonghyun went back to his sister and Taemin, tossing the ball to her so she could start the game. Minho went back to his team as well, and he was showing a disinterested Kibum how to hit the ball when it inevitably came to him. He cast a furtive glance at Jinki, who was watching the pair of them in mild amusement. Just for a second, then he motioned for Taeyeon to serve, and the game began.

The ball went directly to Kibum, who immediately dodged it. Minho dove into the sand behind him, lobbing it up for Sooyoung to set. He scrambled up and was at the net quicker than should have been humanly possible, smacking the ball down between Jonghyun and Taemin. The volley lasted only a few more rounds, ending when Minho attacked with a bit too much vigor and Jinki declared the ball to be out of bounds.

Jonghyun swung back around as Taeyeon ran to retrieve the ball, fully expecting Minho to be passionately laying into Kibum for not playing to his standards, but…but he was dusting the sand off of Kibum’s bucket hat that had fallen off mid-volley and setting it back on his head with one hand as he gestured with the other. Blinking in surprise, Jonghyun’s attention was taken away from them when Jinki motioned for Taeyeon to serve again.

It took several volleys for Kibum to get into the game, despite his general distaste for any sports outside of the waterskiing he did as a kid. To everyone’s surprise, Minho only raised his voice at him once, and that was after Kibum called for a ball that flew over his head and fell without being touched by anyone on that side. Taemin shot Jonghyun a bewildered look when Minho backed off after Kibum adamantly denied calling for the ball at all.

They played two matches, Jonghyun’s team winning both times. Though truth be told, more points could have gone to Minho’s team. Jinki seemed more distracted than usual and all but three of the times the ball supposedly went out of bounds, he ruled the play in Jonghyun’s team’s favor.

Not that he was complaining. At all.

In an effort to ignore Taemin’s jubilant tauntings, Minho trudged off back toward the incoming waves when Taeyeon and Sooyoung linked arms and started making their way back to the distant chairs. Jinki grabbed Taemin’s shoulder before he could follow Minho, shaking his head when he looked back at him questioningly.

Kibum glanced over at Jonghyun, who nodded in the direction Minho went and, after looking between him and Jinki, Kibum started after him as Jonghyun made his way over to Jinki. “He’ll be okay, right?” Jinki asked, looking after Minho as Jonghyun stopped beside him.

Jonghyun leaned against the net, staring past Jinki to watch Kibum step up beside Minho where he was standing ankle-deep in the sea. “Yeah, he just hates losing.” Jinki looked back at him, and when Jonghyun tore his gaze away from Kibum and Minho, Jinki quickly looked away from him, squinting as he surveyed the packed beach with sudden interest.

He cleared his throat, nodding. Still not looking away from the crowd. “Makes sense.”

The warm breeze was toying softly with his fringe. Almost tauntingly. Jonghyun meant to look away, too, but he couldn’t force himself. Not even when Jinki finally looked back at him. They searched each other’s gaze for a second, and Jonghyun’s eyebrows slowly rose as Jinki looked as if he were about to speak. Until—

“Didn’t Taeyeon say something about going to get bingsu?” Taemin asked, ducking under the net and walking around to face them.

Jinki looked away first—Jonghyun sighed in an attempt to not get exasperated with the kid—and over at Taemin, as he mused aloud, “I haven’t had that in ages.”

“Do you want to come with us?” Jonghyun blurted out, glancing between them, his gaze settling expectantly on Jinki.

His expression gradually started to brighten into a small smile. “Yeah, sure.”

Taemin started to run off toward the girls until Jonghyun called after him “Go tell Minho and Kibum!” He promptly changed direction, running toward the sea, then shook his head with a sigh as Jinki chuckled. “This kid…”

“He’s cute, isn’t he?”

Cute was one word for Taemin, but then Jinki had basically decided to adopt him as the younger brother he’d never had. Still, he couldn’t pretend to be annoyed with Taemin right now. Not now that Jinki was coming with him…them. Okay, so maybe it was lame to get excited about a non-date, but still, Jonghyun shot Jinki an amused look, then ducked under the net to follow him back to where Taeyeon and Sooyoung were.

Hopefully, they’d be heading over to Sulbing soon.

* * * * *

Kibum jumped back, startled by the spray of sand that flew past him as Jinki called the game point for Jonghyun’s team. He whirled around to find a sullen Minho, his arms, abs, and knees rubbed red—almost raw—from the many times he dove to save a ball that Kibum failed to deflect. He was glaring across the net though, not at him, as Taemin leaned across the net, grinning at them.

Whatever he said, Kibum didn’t hear more than a few words of it, as his attention was snagged by Minho leaving the makeshift court in a huff.

He barely registered Taeyeon ducking under the net to join Sooyoung, focused as he was on Minho’s retreating back. Then, when he lost him to the crowd, he looked back at Jonghyun, who nodded toward him.

It was his fault they lost today. He should probably try to make it up to him or something.

Letting out a resigned sigh, he started after him, picking up his pace once he was clear of the net.

There he was, down by the water again. Kicking up little splashes as he walked along the shoreline. Kibum slowed the closer he got, unsure now of what he could say to make up for his terrible attempt at volleyball. Which, to be fair, it was his first—and hopefully last—time playing, so expectations should have been low. But, whatever…

“Minho?” he said, more to let him know that he was approaching than anything else. He whirled around, eyes wide and slightly red-rimmed. Kibum’s brow immediately furrowed and he closed the distance between them, his hand resting on Minho’s arm for a second. “Wait, were you crying?”

“No,” Minho said emphatically, shaking his head as he looked back down at his feet.

Kibum pursed his lips, retracting his hand from Minho’s arm. “Are you mad?”

“Sorta. Yeah.”

“I know, I , but—“

“No, no,” he cut Kibum off, eyes wide again. Almost imploringly. “Well, yeah, kinda, but that’s not why I’m mad.” Kibum snorted, grinning as he immediately relaxed. “I’m sorry you thought that. No, it’s just—“ He kicked at the water again. “It’s dumb.”

“What is?”

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “Losing is…the worst. I’ve always felt that way. I blame my dad for me being like this,” he added with a laugh.

“Is…” Kibum hesitated, eyeing Minho before he continued. “Was he into sports?”

“Oh god, yeah. The man was obsessed.” Minho shook his head with a small smile. “Coached me and Minseok—that’s my brother, have I mentioned him before?”

Kibum nodded. “In passing.”

Minho hummed thoughtfully, and Kibum fell into step beside him when he started walking through the foamy waves again. “We played every little league game you can think of, and he tried to coach them all. Then he was our P.E. instructor up until high school.”

“Jesus…”

Minho cracked up, smiling over at him. “I know, right? He was such a perfectionist, too. I’d get in trouble if I ed up during practice or if my team lost…so, I don’t know”—He faltered when Kibum touched his arm consolingly—“Just kinda stuck with me, I guess.”

“I’m sorry for making us lose, then.”

Minho nudged him gently, shaking his head with a small smile. “It’s not your fault.”

“Then wh—“

But before he could ask, Taemin’s voice cut through the air, startling Kibum. “Hey, losers! We’re gonna go get bingsu!” He darted off, back up the beach, before either of them could retort.

Minho let out a long sigh, and Kibum laughed as he grabbed his arm, dragging him along after Taemin. “Who’s fault was it? Sooyoung’s?”

“What? No, it was Jinki’s.”

Kibum blinked rapidly as he let go of Minho’s arm. “How in the —“

“Didn’t you see him? Couldn’t keep his eyes off Jonghyun.”

Kibum smacked his arm lightly, and Minho turned toward him, feigning hurt. “But that’s a good thing!”

“I know, but—“

“But what? That means we can move forward with the plan—“

“That we still don’t have.”

Kibum smacked Minho again, who outright laughed this time. “We’ll figure it out. Keep an eye on them at Sulbing, too.”

“Yeah, okay, well I don’t know if I want to help them anymore,” he grumbled under his breath, only to immediately crack up when Kibum leveled him with a glare.

Kibum shook his head, smiling when he turned away, and started back for where the girls had been, Minho bounding to catch up to him. He glanced over at Minho, who was back to his pre-volleyball-game self, then down at his still-red arms. His gaze slipped to his abs again, and it was then that he noticed Minho watching him.

He cleared his throat, reaching out to grab Minho’s wrist, turning his arm to show the sand burn better. “Does it hurt?”

Minho shrugged and brushed some of the sand off of his raw skin, an audible wince slipping out as he did. “No, it’s fine.”

Kibum his teeth, dropping Minho’s wrist. “Maybe Taeyeon has some cream for this in her purse.”

“Bummie, I’m okay.”

Yes, well, it was his fault, wasn’t it? Might as well do what he could to make him feel better, right?

As it happened, Taeyeon didn’t have anything that would help. Sooyoung did, though. She plopped Minho down on the chair, shooing everyone away as he started applying some to his stomach and her to his knees and shin. “We’ll be there in a minute. Save us a seat.”

Taemin was already on his way, Jinki and Jonghyun following after him, and Taeyeon slipped her arm through Kibum's, pulling him away from the Chois to follow the others.

“So,” she said quietly, her eyes on Jonghyun and Jinki. “What do you think about that?”

“I think I’d have to be crazy to play volleyball again.”

She her teeth at him. “You know what I mean.”

He smiled, eyes darting between the back of Jonghyun and Jinki’s heads, settling on Jonghyun when he turned to look at Jinki. He could feel the affection in his gaze, even from here. “I’m curious to see how it’ll play out.”

Sulbing’s was packed once they reached it. Jinki took everyone’s orders—Taeyeon and Jonghyun supplying Sooyoung’s and Minho’s orders—and Jonghyun accompanied him in line while Kibum and the others squeezed together in a corner. Kibum went up on his tiptoes, waving Minho and Sooyoung over to join them. Sooyoung slipped between him and the wall, sliding up beside Taeyeon to keep her company, while Minho pressed close to Kibum and the window, inspecting the flock of American tourists beside them curiously before his attention redirected to Kibum.

“Are you off tomorrow, too?” Kibum asked when Minho gave him a small smile.

“Uh, probably not. I haven’t been open the past two days, so I should probably make up for lost time.” Kibum nodded mutely, biting back a frown. “Why?”

“Oh, Jjong and I are probably going tangerine picking tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s fun! They’re really good.”

“Has he taken you before?”

Minho nodded, then, smirking, he added, “Watch out for spiders.” Kibum glared at him, and Minho laughed. “I’m just saying—“

“No, I know.” Still, he shuddered, and Minho chuckled. “It’d be fun if you could come with, though.”

“Yeah, someone has to be able to reach the ones up high.”

He shied away with a laugh when Kibum made to punch him. “You’re not that much taller than me.” Glancing back up at Minho, he found him watching him with an annoyingly amused expression. “Nevermind, I don’t think you should come with us at all, actually.”

He laughed again, and Kibum found that he had to work very hard to keep himself from smiling. So, he looked away, finding Jonghyun and Jinki in line. Close together, though probably because of how full the shop was. However, did Jinki’s hand have to be resting at Jonghyun’s waist because of that?

Kibum looked back at Minho, nodding toward the pair of them, and Minho peered around him to see for himself. Then he leaned closer, Kibum turning his head so Minho could whisper in his ear.

“Maybe we don’t have to do anything.”

“You think?” He pulled away from Minho enough to see him shrug. Kibum lifted his chin, and Minho ducked so Kibum could whisper in his ear. “Maybe not, but let’s still keep our eye on them.” Minho nodded, the shell of his ear nearly brushing against Kibum’s lips. “It’d be nice if we didn’t have to, though.” Minho pulled away, frowning at him, only to dip his head again when Kibum tilted his head up. “It’s my vacation, I shouldn’t have to work at all, right?”

Minho chuckled as he straightened, Kibum involuntarily smiling at the low sound, and he regarded Kibum with a small smile of his own.

Jonghyun returned with spoons for all of them, Taemin hurrying to help Jinki with the many bingsus they had ordered while everyone else shuffled out of the packed shop and back to the beach. The chairs were unfortunately taken, but there was a stretch of sand in the shade that they staked out, Minho settling in the sand beside the rock that Kibum had perched on. When Jinki and Taemin arrived, Jonghyun jumped up to help him pass them out.

“Oh my god,” Jinki said as Jonghyun handed Kibum his patbingsu topped with a scoop of matcha ice cream. “We’re missing one.”

“Who’s?” Jonghyun asked, digging in his shorts pocket for the list, his eyes quickly scanning it before he looked down at Minho. “, Min, we can go back and get it for you.”

He shook his head, his hand raising between them placatingly. “No, no, it’s okay. They’re really busy.”

“But—“

“It’s fine.”

Kibum nudged his shoulder with his knee. “We can share if you want.”

Again, he shook his head. “It’s yours. You don’t h—“

“It’s a huge portion, I don’t mind sharing.” Minho met his gaze as Kibum held it out to him, reluctantly taking a tiny spoonful for himself. Jonghyun and Jinki turned away, giving Sooyoung her bingsu before they sat together with their own. He let out a surprised little hum when he tasted it. “It’s good, right?”

Minho nodded, digging in, getting a bigger spoonful. “I usually get peach, but this is good.”

“Leave some for me, will you?”

Minho’s eyes flickered to meet his again, amusement glimmering there before he looked back down at the bingsu. “Do you…” He cleared his throat, reaching up to steady the paper bowl as he got another spoonful. His fingertips accidentally brushed against Kibum’s. “Do you think you’ll be able to hang out much at the studio this summer?”

He wasn’t looking at him. Not at first. The barest hint of the shyness that had been so prevalent last summer lingered in the quiet question. Kibum smiled, watching him. “Yeah, I think I’ll be able to.” His eyes lifted to meet Kibum’s again, wide now. Hopeful. “I’ll be there as often as you can stand my presence.”

Minho opened his mouth to speak but clearly decided against it. He turned back to the others, but not before Kibum caught just how pleased he looked. his lips, Kibum returned his attention to his bingsu, unable to keep from smiling himself.

* * * * *

Night had completely fallen by the time the Kims had dropped Minho off at his shop. He slipped reluctantly out of the back seat, grinning lethargically back at the car as Jonghyun rolled down his window and Kibum leaned across the seat Minho had been in. He was, perhaps, still a little bit tipsy, as was everyone except Taeyeon, given that she was the one driving. But before they could all say a sleepy, slightly slurred, affectionate goodbye more than twice a piece, Taeyeon drove off.

Minho barely registered her wave, but the abruptness of the departure did nothing to subdue the contented warmth filling every bit of him.

He stumbled back, struggling with his keys until he was back inside his studio, where he slumped against the closed door.

He was grinning still, uncontrollably now. But at least the darkness was his only audience. He had long since lost track of just how many times the thought of I’m so glad Kibum is back had crossed his mind today alone. It was true, though. Any of his apprehension and anxiety surrounding his return had melted away early enough in the day that it didn’t put a damper on anything.

Sighing, he pushed away from the door, ambling up the dark stairs to his apartment. He fumbled around in the pitch black, not bothering with the lights to guide him or the tv for noise. No, he stripped out of his jeans and t-shirt but fell into bed before he could change out of his swimming trunks.

He found his pillow, hugging it tight and burying his face in the crook of his elbow, inhaling deeply. The salt of the sea was still strong on his skin, but that was to be expected. He’d have to shower before work after he woke up. But…he sniffed again, his brow knitting together as he tried to place…the other…

Sunscreen.

Once again he was thankful for the night. As well as his being totally alone.

His face inflamed despite his best efforts, and he pressed his face deeper into his pillow.

Though he was used to being touched again—Jonghyun had taken care of that himself almost single-handedly—nothing could have prepared him for Kibum helping him with that. Maybe it was pathetic to still be thinking about…about the feeling of his hands. About how nice it was for Kibum to offer in the first place. Or, wait, had he been the one to ask Kibum to help him? Had he imposed on him? What if he hadn’t wanted to?

He sat up quickly, his head spinning, his heart thudding in his ears, and he steadied himself as he stared out at the moonlight glimmering over the sea.

No, stop, you’re past this, he told himself.

Kibum wasn’t Yeunseo. He wouldn’t have taken the sunscreen in the first place if he were uncomfortable with the idea of touching him, would he? No. And it didn’t mean anything, really. He was just helping him out because he asked, literally nothing more. Despite his own feelings—

Wait…

He stilled, staring wide-eyed at the darkened wall beyond his bed. His feelings? Minho sat up slowly, dragging his fingers roughly through his hair. Was he even allowed to have those for people anymore? Or, rather, would he allow himself?

There was no point in denying that he did. Like him, that is. Because he did. Quite a lot. He was fun and interesting and distractingly beautiful. He had no other choice but to get caught up in the whirlwind that was everything Kibum.

Technically, objectively, he wasn’t in the wrong. His…his having feelings toward Kibum. It was perfectly natural, after everything. However, was it smart? Was it good for both of them? Kibum himself had said last summer that he wasn’t interested in dating anyone.

Sighing heavily, Minho slipped out of bed, heading blindly for the coffee maker. As soon as it finished brewing, he took his cup to the balcony, sitting on one of the chairs overlooking the star-strewn sea.

It would probably be for the best to try to shut down that part of himself—the part of him who longed for…dreamed of experiencing romance again. He’d thought—when he had been with Yeonseo—that he had found the one. His only one. Until now…that he was back with Kibum again…

He sipped his coffee, humming thoughtfully.

No, it wouldn’t do to be rash about any of this. He was probably just excited that there was a glimmer of something, again, even if it were only one-sided. Ultimately, it would be best to ignore and tamp down these feelings, if possible. Kibum would just be his friend.

A very good friend.

He pressed two fingers to his neck, resting his chin on the other two as he sighed again. Then, he rolled his eyes with a rueful chuckle.

Maybe he should have foreseen this development after last summer. But, then, he couldn’t be surprised if Kibum never returned the feelings.

Ever.

Actually, no, it would be foolish to.

Would he be able to come to terms with that?

Sighing again, he stood, turning his back on the sea and making his way through his darkened apartment, slipping on one of his oversized painting tunics before he made his way downstairs. He sat at his station, setting aside his mug and flipping through his sketches.

It didn’t look like he’d be getting any sleep tonight, so he might as well get a bit of work done, right?

He taped down his choice—the beach and sky framed by rocks and flower-filled bushes from Sagye beach—and started mixing a color palette. The reference photo was somewhere on his computer, but he didn’t need it. He remembered the moment well. It had been sunrise, and the opalescent sky stuck in his mind even now.

The colors he mixed were much more vibrant than they were that day, and he did eventually lighten them with white until they were more pastel.

Kibum would probably wear all of them.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a second, shaking his head with a huff of a sigh. Pushing aside the thought, he finished mixing the colors for the rocks and the bushes and the flowers…that may or may not have been the same shade of bright pink that Kibum’s shirt had been yesterday.

But again, that thought was pushed aside and he started to paint.

Night shifted gradually into day without Minho’s notice. By the time he was down to the finishing touches, the rising sun shone in his eyes, tearing his attention away momentarily. It was then that he realized just how exhausted he was. He rubbed his eye with the hand that was holding his paintbrush, probably sending a streak of purple through his hair or something.

He had just finished adding the last sheen of residual water on the outcropping of rocks when the door handle to his backdoor jiggled. Blearily, Minho looked around, frowning at the door for several long seconds, getting up when the handle shook again. He lumbered toward it, leaning against the wall as he opened it to peer out, surprised to find a bright-eyed Kibum standing there, a plastic convenience store bag in his hands, with Jonghyun waiting behind him in the car.

“You look like ,” he said at once, concern creasing his forehead. “Are you that hungover?”

“Oh, no, uh…” The furrow in Kibum’s brow deepened when Minho chuckled. “Couldn’t sleep. Painted all night.”

Kibum reached out, grabbing his paint-flecked arm. “Honey, no…” Despite his best efforts, his heart fluttered madly until Kibum broke their eye contact and looked around at Jonghyun. “I’ll be right back!” he called out to him before he pushed Minho inside.

The door fell closed behind them, casting both of them in the shadow of the narrow hallway. “Are you okay?” His heart felt like it was swelling now, about to burst. Distance…was necessary. With a great effort, he turned away, heading back for his station. He sat back in the chair, looking at the painting he’d almost finished. “Is this what you were working on?” Minho nodded, not looking away from the iridescent clouds. “It’s very pretty.”

“Thanks.”

“Where was this?”

He looked up at Kibum, pleased to find him so interested in the piece. “Sagye.” Kibum’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Minho smiled sleepily up at him. “It’s a bit further down than where I took you last summer.”

“You should have taken me here, too.”

“I mean, we could still go.”

Kibum finally met his gaze, searching his expression for a few seconds. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

Minho gulped, then shrugged. “Sometimes you just can’t, you know?” Kibum’s eyes narrowed slightly, so Minho asked quickly, “Why’d you stop by?”

“Oh, right.” He looked down, holding up the plastic bag between them. “Got you a hangover remedy on our way into town.”

“Oh.”

“Just in case, you know.”

“Right. I just—“ Kibum met his gaze again expectantly. “I don’t really use them.”

“That’s what Jjong said, but that’s stupid.” Minho snorted as Kibum turned and started for the stairs. “I'll stick this in your fridge, then I have to go.”

“Alright.” Minho watched him disappear up the stairs, turning quickly around when his footfalls sounded in the stairwell again. “Have fun today!” he said as he looked down at his palette, trying to distract himself with picking which color to choose for his signature.

“I’ll try.” Minho started at how close Kibum’s voice was, looking up when Kibum was standing beside him again, his attention fixed on the painting again. “What else are you adding to it?”

“Oh, I’m done, so just my signature.” Minho held up the palette. “Can’t decide which color, though.”

To Minho’s surprise, Kibum smirked, reaching out his finger. To point, he thought, at the mess of colors on the palette, but instead, he swiped the tip of his finger across his forehead. When he pulled away, he held it up between them to show a smear of the pale purple he’d used as part of the sea and the highlights and the sky. His dimpled smile drew heat to his cheeks and the tips of his ears, and he was sure that Kibum could feel it as well as see it when he poked Minho’s cheek with his painted finger before wiping it clean off on his shirt.

Well, . He wouldn’t be thinking about anything else today, would he?

He was still dumbstruck as Kibum called out his goodbye and let himself out the backdoor. Jonghyun may have waved to him in the split second between Kibum slipping out of sight and the door closing—Minho barely registered the movement.

So much for keeping his crush in check.

He started thinning out the purple with a sigh, effortlessly signing the painting before hanging it to dry. Then, he dragged himself upstairs, catching a whiff of Kibum’s lingering cologne.

Is it a crime to have a crush on a friend? Even if it would never be returned?

Hopefully not.

It would probably be better this way. In the end.

But for now…well, he wasn’t sure. Maybe he should try to get a few hours of sleep before opening for the day. Then, just maybe, he’d be a little less distracted when he woke up.

As days shifted into weeks, sleep came a little easier, even if his poor brain was rarely given a reprieve from thoughts of Kibum.

He flitted in and out of his days, whether he kept him company in his studio while he worked—helping him decide on his color palette or making him laugh or helping him update his Instagram. Those days, more often than not, he dragged Minho over to the cafe to eat lunch with Taeyeon and Jonghyun. His nights too were full of Kibum, either with him sitting beside him at Jonghyun’s bar, engaging him in whispered quips about anything that came to mind or at Jonghyun and Taeyeon’s house for their weekly drama night.

Either way, there was no escaping him. As if he wanted to in the first place, but…

As the summer wore on, he grew increasingly accustomed to Kibum’s presence again. Not that it helped put a damper on his growing feelings in the slightest. Quite the contrary. Still, he looked forward to seeing him every day. Despite knowing that it would probably be best for both of them for him to maintain a bit more distance.

But he liked the new routine. He liked being able to get to know Kibum even more than he did the summer before. He liked how normal it felt for Kibum to have woven himself into his daily life, even if it were just for the summer.

Kibum breezed in one such day, iced coffees from Sooyoung’s in one hand as he reached up to pull off his sunglasses and bucket hat. Both got set aside on Minho’s cleared-off table, the strings of Kibum’s hat drooping lazily over the side before Kibum handed Minho his coffee.

“Do you have a class today?” he asked as he turned, pulling his usual stool closer to the edge of the table. Closer to Minho. He shook his head. “Good, you can keep teaching me how to use watercolor, then.”

Minho sniffed a quiet laugh, throwing him an incredulous look. “I’m still learning myself.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Kibum said with a dismissive wave of the hand holding his coffee. “Will you be too busy, or—“

“Of course not. I just have to finish a few paintings before lunch and then I can.”

Thankfully, it was a slow morning, so he was able to finish all of the paintings he needed to before Kibum popped over to the cafe to get their lunch. He ended up helping him out, telling him to keep painting whenever a customer came in, and talking about his paintings and ringing them up. To his surprise, Jinki opened the back door for Kibum, whose hands were filled with their drinks and takeout, and followed him inside.

“Straws are in my back pocket,” Kibum said as he handed Minho his kumquat tea, staying close enough for Minho to flick aside Kibum’s colorful floral overshirt and grab the straws for both of them. He held one out for Kibum, who grabbed it between his teeth before he peeled the paper off and looked up at the slightly-out-of-place looking Jinki.

“What’s up, Jinki?” Minho asked as he speared his tea with his straw, taking an appreciative sip and a half-glance at Kibum as he set their bag of food on the table before heading back up front. Probably flipping the sign.

“I just had a quick question for you before I went home for lunch.” Minho’s eyebrows raised in question, and he was quite proud of himself for not looking away and back at Kibum as he reentered the studio. “Would you want to go into town with me this weekend? Just for the afternoon.”

Minho was about to ask what for when Kibum cut in, his voice slightly sharper than Minho was used to. “Are you asking him on a date or something?” Jinki chuckled and was soon joined by Kibum, and Minho was sure he had imagined the tonal shift.

“No, no. We just sometimes go together. I have a book fair to attend and I was wondering if you were running low on paint and needed to head into town.” Minho nodded as he took another sip. “So?”

Eh, he could probably stock up on a few tubes of paint and a couple of pads of paper, but—

He made the mistake of glancing Kibum’s way. For just a second. He gave him the slightest shake of his head. “Uh, no?” A tiny nod and smile, and Kibum went back to unpacking their lunch. “Sorry, I’m all stocked up.”

Kibum snapped his fingers, drawing both of their attention back to him. “Jonghyun,”—Minho grinned, quickly hiding it with another sip of his tea. Ah okay, that’s what he was doing.—“he just mentioned to me when I was over there that he needed to pick up more glasses for the cafe. Maybe he’d be willing to go with you?”

Jinki stared at Kibum for several long blinks before asking, “You think he’d be up for that?”

Kibum shrugged nonchalantly, throwing him a very innocent, definitely not meddling smile. “Only one way to find out.”

Minho coughed a laugh, covering it as if it had been a sip gone wrong when they both looked over at him.

“I guess I’ll go ask him, then.”

Both he and Kibum called out their goodbyes when Jinki turned to leave, then froze, waiting for the door to fully close behind him on his way out. “Quick thinking,” Minho said as soon as Kibum looked his way with a dimpled grin.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Minho snorted, and Kibum chuckled as he started laying out their take-out containers. “Come over here and eat before it gets too cold.”

Minho was scooping out the dregs of his jjamppong when the back door burst open and Jonghyun stumbled inside. Kibum, who was sitting across from him, started and whirled around in his stool, cutting himself off mid-story about one of his more annoying clients. Both of them watched him approach the table, where he stood between them, leaning against it with a heavy sigh.

“You okay?” Minho asked, searching Jonghyun’s slightly dazed, bewildered expression.

“Jinki just asked me out. Not as a date,” he added quickly when Kibum’s mouth opened to speak.

“Is this…” Minho started to say, and Kibum finished it for him with, “...a bad thing?”

“No, but—” He sighed again, with more of a dramatic air than the last time. Minho’s eyes flicked over to Kibum to find him rolling his eyes, and he suppressed a grin. “—That was the day I was supposed to be picking tangerines for the shop and now I’ll have to wait another month because the farmer is very particular about who comes to pick when which is obviously fine but we’re running low and the ones at the store aren’t as sweet which is just—”

“Jjong,” Kibum said flatly before he could spiral further. “Do you want us to go for you?” Minho’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked over at Kibum again, but he was watching Jonghyun.

“You’d do that for me?”

“Of course.” He met Minho’s gaze as he asked. “You said you did it before, right?” Minho nodded. “You wouldn’t mind?” He shook his head. “Then that’s settled.”

Jonghyun left a few minutes later, muttering something about not knowing what he was thinking. But as the door closed behind him, Kibum whirled around with a bright grin, and Minho set aside his empty takeout container, holding his hand up for a high five. “Good work,” he said with a smile as Kibum obliged him, their fingers interlocking for a second before Kibum pulled his hand away. “I didn’t know you were such an evil mastermind.”

“Yes, be very afraid of me.”

“Oh, I am,” Minho said, making it quite obvious that he was joking. Kibum glanced up at him as he reached for his soup again, his dimples indenting his cheeks.

* * * * *

“I have nothing to wear.”

“What are you talking about? You have a ton of clothes.”

Jonghyun sighed, glaring at the desolate contents of his closet. “Are any of them good enough, though?”

Kibum stepped up beside him, crossing his arms then almost immediately unfolding them to pull out a pair of pinstripe pants. “What about these?”

“Won’t that look like I’m trying too hard?”

Kibum shot him an amused look, letting it fall back amongst the other clothes. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to look like I am.”

He hummed thoughtfully, looking back at his closet. “I guess that’s true.”

Jonghyun continued to stare helplessly at his dismal closet as Kibum pulled items far enough out to inspect before releasing them again. “What do you usually wear for dates?”

“This isn’t a—“

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Answer the question.”

Shrugging, Jonghyun stepped back, flopping backward onto Kibum’s bed. “I don’t ing know. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been on an actual date? You and Joonwoo were still happily together.”

“Seriously?”

“It was a long-distance thing, too. He was from Busan.” Kibum looked back at him, stunned. “What, there’s not a lot of gay guys in the area here, unless you count Minho.”

His expression shifted to something more neutral. “And you don’t?”

“Don’t?”

“Count Minho.”

“Not for me, no. He’s like the little brother I never had.” Nodding quickly, Kibum turned back around, facing his closet again. “Speaking of, maybe I should help him set up a dating profile or something.”

Kibum cleared his throat, pulling out the pinstripe pants again. “It might be too soon for him, still,” he said as he draped the pants over the foot of Jonghyun’s bed.

“True. I didn’t think of that.”

“But, anyways,” Kibum said airly as he pulled out a loose white top, laying it over the pants. “Dressing for a date is easy if you think about it—“

“Not all of us can convert a second bedroom into our closet.”

Kibum waved him off with a slight smile. “Yes, but the mentality is still true regardless. You pick out one of your favorite items, whether it’s a shirt or shorts or pants or whatever, and pair it with something that makes you feel confident. Both have to be appropriate for wherever you’re going, too, which”—he laid the pants he picked haphazardly over Jonghyun’s legs, then the same with the shirt over his chest as Jonghyun started to sit up. He held it to his chest as he looked down at himself as Kibum went on. “Luckily for you, this is classy yet casual enough for a book fair. And possibly a meal before you come back home.”

“You think?”

Kibum nodded when Jonghyun looked back up at him. “You’re lucky you have good taste in clothes. Makes it easier for you.” Over on the nightstand by Kibum’s bed, his phone vibrated. He went over to it, checking the message with a gradually growing smile before he unplugged the charging cord to text back. “We should hurry. Minho says he’s ready whenever we are.”

“Alright, go ahead and wait in the car. I’ll be right there.”

Kibum looked over at him, his scarred brow raised, as he pocketed his phone. “Are you sure? I thought maybe you’d want me to dress you too after all that fuss.”

“Just shut the up and go away.”

Cackling, Kibum left, leaving the door slightly ajar for Jonghyun to shake his head and finish closing it himself before he stripped out of his pajamas to change. A whirl of clothes and a few puffs of cologne later, Jonghyun was hurrying out the front door to where Kibum was waiting for him in the car. He set his phone screen down, looking over at Jonghyun as he situated himself behind the wheel.

“What?” he asked as he started the car when Kibum didn’t look away.

“The cologne might be a bit much.”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened. “Really?” Kibum’s concerned demeanor shattered as he grinned, and he laughed and shied away when Jonghyun made to smack him. “You’re evil.”

“If you wanted someone to be nice, you’d have asked Taeng for help.”

“And listen to her talk about how it’s taken me long enough?” He huffed, shifting the car into gear and backing out of the driveway. “It’s not even a real date.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Kibum said, just loud enough for Jonghyun to hear.

Thankfully, it was a short drive, so he didn’t have to endure Kibum’s teasing for much longer. Or…at all. He was oddly quiet for the rest of the drive, even up to when they pulled up next to Minho’s little car behind the cafe. He was leaning against the hood, wearing what looked like his best jeans and a nice pale blue button-down. A bit of a strange choice for going tangerine picking in the middle of July, but—

Kibum brushed his fingers through his fringe a few times before sliding out of the car, and Jonghyun was right behind him, looking over at Minho when he let out an annoying wolf whistle at the sight of him. “Shut up.”

“Looking good, Jjongie!” he said with such an obvious smile in his voice, he didn’t even need to look over at him to know that he was.

Sighing, Jonghyun opened the trunk, pulling the baskets out of his trunk, stacking them, and tossing them both to Minho as he approached. “I’m giving you both but just one should do it until I can go again. But get as much as you like.”

“Don’t worry, Jjong,” Kibum said absently, fishing his sunglasses out of his bag before he tossed them into the passenger seat of Minho’s car. “We know what we’re doing.”

“Do you really?” Jonghyun asked, but Kibum missed the sarcasm, as he was already in Minho’s car, closing the door.

Minho closed the trunk of his car, walking over to Jonghyun and pulling him into a quick hug. “Good luck today!”

“It’s not a date,” he held himself back from saying for what felt like the billionth time. Instead, he waved to Minho when stopped to open his door, getting a bright grin in return before he ducked to get behind the wheel. The car started and idled for a few seconds before Kibum rolled down his window and gestured for Jonghyun to come over.

He leaned in, glancing between them. “What?”

“Just…try to relax, okay?”

“I mean, yeah?” he said, well aware that he was currently anything but relaxed. More like…a slightly trembling bundle of anxiety and excitement. As if the two could coexist. Kibum tapped his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose, giving him a droll glare over the top of them. Jonghyun sighed. “I’ll try.”

“It’s just Jinki, remember that. You’ve known each other for ages.”

True. That was true. “Thanks again for going for me, you two. I really appreciate it.”

Kibum smiled up at Jonghyun as he straightened, but it was the shy glance that Minho threw to Kibum that caught Jonghyun’s eye. But before the question could be articulated in his mind, Kibum rolled up his window and Minho shifted the car into gear, carrying them away.

Leaving him alone.

To wait.

He twirled his keyring around his finger, the tinkling together of the keys filling the silence. Was he not coming? Was he just running late? After two more trips back and forth past the back door of the cafe, he shook his wrist, looking down at his watch. He was supposed to be here five minutes ago…

Frowning, Jonghyun glanced down the alley, his gaze curving around to where Jinki’s shop sat. What if…Squinting, Jonghyun jogged a few paces down the sidewalk, coming to a walk again before he reached the boardwalk before all of their shops and there Jinki was. Standing in front of his shop, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out over the beach across the street with a serene smile.

His heart stuttered slightly as he moved toward him, his smile somehow coming easier the closer he got to—”Jinki, hey.”

He turned immediately to him. “Oh, hey! I was expecting—”

“I parked around back.”

“Oh right, duh. You usually do that.”

Jonghyun chuckled, scanning his expression quickly. “Do you…I can make us teas? For the road? If you want, that is.”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Jonghyun shook his head quickly, then nodded back to his cafe. Jinki jogged a few steps to catch up to him, then he easily matched his stride, staying close when Jonghyun stopped to unlock the door and hold it open for him. “Oh, thank you!” he said brightly.

Jonghyun stayed holding the door open for a few seconds after Jinki crossed the threshold. It was…just too early for him to process being in Jinki’s presence. Whatever, he needed to get it together and quickly if he was going to survive the day ahead. “What flavor do you want?”

“What are my options?” Jinki asked as he leaned against the bar, watching Jonghyun walk around before him. He laughed when Jonghyun let out a groan. “What, are there a lot?”

“Yes, please don’t make me do the spiel .”

Jinki laughed again, and Jonghyun could have sworn the sun shone a little brighter through the window behind him. “Okay, fine.” He leaned closer, eying Jonghyun, the tiniest tip of his tongue poking out to wet his lips. “Surprise me.”

Jonghyun grabbed two to-go cups and filled them halfway with ice, setting them on the counter before he ducked down and opened the cooler below to check out his current inventory. Hm…he grabbed the jug of honey-sweetened green tea, swirling the contents a little as he inspected the array of juices. For himself, he grabbed the bottles of watermelon and lychee juices—to test the flavors of a cocktail he was dreaming up for next summer—and for Jinki…

He glanced up, doing a double-take when he found Jinki leaning further over the counter, watching what he was doing. He gave him a fleeting smile before he looked back in the cooler, pulling bottles of different fruit juices aside until he found the blended pineapple and passionfruit juice. Ever since they were kids, Jinki had always been drawn to pineapple-flavored things. Mom always made sure to have pineapple sorbet on hand whenever Jinki came over to study with Taeyeon.

Jonghyun grabbed the bottle, precariously standing and setting them on the counter. Jinki reached out to steady the jug of tea that threatened to tip over.

“Thanks.”

“What are you making me?” Jinki asked as Jonghyun poured a measure of the pineapple juice into one of the cups.

Jonghyun glanced up at him with a playful little smile. “I thought you wanted me to surprise you?”

Jinki leaned his head to one side with a cute, lopsided grin. “Am I not allowed to change my mind?”

Looking quickly away, Jonghyun bit his smile back from growing any further. “No, actually. It’s sorta like lying. Which is rude.”

“Is it?”

Jonghyun stopped pouring the lychee juice into his cup, setting aside the bottle with a flourish before slapping his hand down on the counter. “Honey,” he said with a sigh, infusing as much this-is-a-joke into his voice as he could. Jinki’s eyes brightened in amusement as he continued, “If you don’t think it is, then I don’t think this date can continue.”

Please take it as a joke. Please.

Jinki’s expression shifted, his eyebrows lifting in faux worry. “I’m sorry, please don’t break up with me.”

Jonghyun held back a laugh as he reached for the bottle of watermelon juice. As if he would ever, given the option. “I’ll give you one more chance.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

Don’t look at him…don’t…

It unfortunately took a gargantuan effort not to, but he succeeded, up until he finished quickly pouring their drinks, topped them off with lids, and handed Jinki his with a straw. He slid off the stool, and as Jonghyun made his way to the kitchen door, he looked back at Jinki, surprised to find him halfway to the front door.

“Jinki…where are you going?” he asked when Jinki met his gaze.

He gestured to the front door. “To…your car?” Chuckling, Jonghyun stepped toward the kitchen door, holding it open as Jinki scurried over to him. “I didn’t think you’d want me in the kitchen.”

“Don’t worry, it’s empty. Besides, it's Taeng you have to worry about, not me.”

“Oh, god, you’re gonna make me have flashbacks,” he muttered as he passed Jonghyun, who started laughing as he followed him.

“You think you have flashbacks? Try living with her.” Jinki tried the door, unlocking it and then locking the door again once it was open. He held it open for Jonghyun and stayed beside him while he double-checked the lock. “Car’s unlocked, by the way.”

“Oh, okay.” But he still didn’t leave his side until Jonghyun turned to head to the car. “Do you know where we’re going?”

Jonghyun shook his head as he started the car, fishing his phone out to plug in the aux cord. “You do, though, so hopefully that’s good enough. What do you want to listen to?”

“What do you have?” Jinki asked, taking a sip of his tea. “Oo, pineapple!”

Jonghyun smiled as he tapped on his Melon app. Internally, he was grateful to himself for having the foresight to not have any sort of stupid, yearning, unrequited love song playlists on any of his music apps. Not that he didn’t listen to them. Obviously, he did. Needed something to listen to for his workouts that wasn’t Minho jabbering away. So, he handed his phone to Jinki with only the mildest hint of apprehension. “Have fun.” He pulled out of the alley, glancing over at Jinki when there was no music playing yet, finding him scrolling through his library with a slightly bemused expression. “What?”

“Are these…anime soundtracks?”

“Oh my god,” he whispered, shaking his head and trying not to smile as he looked back at the road, his eyes snapping shut when Jinki hit shuffle, bringing up the opening from the third season of Sailor Moon.

Jinki was evidently still scrolling through the playlist, because he asked “No shonens? Oh, wait, there’s Naruto.” with such an obvious laugh in his voice that Jonghyun let out a resigned sigh.

“I can’t help having superior taste.”

“No One Piece?”

“Do I look like Minho?” Jinki snorted, and the song changed to one that sounded distinctly like a closing theme, but he couldn’t place which anime it went to at the moment. “We don’t have to listen—”

But then Jinki started singing along in what might be able to pass as Japanese in a breathy falsetto, despite clearly not knowing the song. So, Jonghyun turned up the music a little louder, joining in with the actual words while Jinki did some weirdly cute dance to the upbeat song. Or, as close as he could remember the words being. There were a few times—he was actually quite proud of himself for restraining himself—when he felt compelled to turn the music down to explain in vivid, rambling detail the story arc attached to whichever song triggered his need to do this. He was in the middle of passionately breaking down his rankings for the most annoying filler arcs in Naruto when they reached town and Jinki had to start navigating.

Thankfully, Jinki didn’t get him lost, though it did take longer than expected to find parking somewhat close to the warehouse. “So,” Jonghyun said once they were parked, out of the car, and making their way toward the sidewalk. “What are we looking for?”

“I’ll know it when I see it,” Jinki said, slipping around Jonghyun to be closer to the busy street.

Jonghyun glanced over at him with a slight smile. “I didn’t know bookshop owners could be so mysterious.”

“It’s just part of my charm, I guess.” Jonghyun sniffed a laugh, and Jinki cracked a small smile, casting a lingering glance his way. “But really, it’s just whatever catches my eye.” They reached the line, and Jinki went up on his tiptoes, gripping Jonghyun’s arm for balance. “Oh, my line is over there. Let’s go,” he said, giving Jonghyun a gentle nudge to the left, guiding them out of the larger line and toward the one that had a sign saying “Business” hanging over the check-in desk.

Jinki bowed politely to the woman sitting behind the desk. “Hello, Ms. Park. It’s nice to see you again.”

He held out his hand, and she automatically slipped a deep red band around his wrist, looking up at him with a too-friendly smile. Friendly in a way that made Jonghyun want to crawl out of his skin for even thinking that Jinki might ever, could ever think of him as anything but a friend.

If he was gonna have to stand here and watch Jinki get hit on…Was there an open bar at these things?

She could have spoken, he would have never noticed. He was only drawn back to the conversation when Jinki reached for him, pulling him a step closer. “Oh, he’s with me. My visitor.”

Ms. Park inspected Jonghyun curiously, and he gave her a smile he was well aware didn’t meet his eyes. Which, admittedly, was probably rude. And for no good reason, too. But neither she nor Jinki seemed to notice, and she secured a royal blue bracelet around his wrist before looking back at Jinki with the same, overly bright, definitely hopeful smile, “I hope you have a wonderful day.”

“You too!”

It’s stupid to be jealous. You’re better than that, he told himself as he followed Jinki into the venue. He sighed heavily, looking around at the booths surrounding the maze of bookshelves in the middle of the room. It would be hard—but so necessary—to finally let go of his feelings for Jinki. They were never going to be anything other than friends, and that wasn’t secondary to a relationship.

He could begrudgingly admit that. Eventually.

But, maybe, after today, he could find the inner strength to do just that. To let go of the thought of them and what they could be together.

It’d be the healthy thing to do, really.

“Where to first?” Jinki asked, his bright voice slicing through Jonghyun’s sudden inner gloom.

“I literally have no opinion,” Jonghyun said with a slightly sardonic laugh. Get it together. “You’re the one in charge today.”

“I mean, here, at least, yeah.” He shot Jonghyun a briefly concerned look before nodding over to one of the booths. “Let’s go meet some authors.”

It was fascinating to watch him at work. So effortlessly charming, when in his experience, Jinki was quiet around strangers. So this talkative, outgoing Jinki was quite a pleasant surprise. Asking the authors questions about their works, both past and the one they were currently promoting. Making jokes and his adorably dumb little puns that made the authors laugh politely and Jonghyun had to turn away to hide his smile. He put in a few orders with some whose novels sounded interesting, sliding a book from each of them into his bag to take back to his shop.

Once they had completed the circle around the room, Jinki’s hand went briefly to Jonghyun’s waist to prod him toward the maze of bookshelves. Jonghyun stopped beside him once they reached the first of them, not even aware that he was watching him until Jinki glanced his way, doing a surprised double-take.

“What?”

“I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Had…what?”

Jonghyun nodded toward the last of the booths, looking back at Jinki when he glanced over his shoulder at it. “I don’t think I’ve seen you talk that much to people you don’t know.”

Jinki was wearing a shy grin as he redirected his attention to the books before him. “I usually make up for it by not talking for three days straight after.”

“Ah, so it’s a…balance thing for you.”

“No, my throat just hurts.” Jonghyun chuckled, looking over at the books for the first time. “Gotta recover.”

“That makes sense.”

It took several shelves before Jinki slipped one of the books he picked up off the shelf into his bag, but the glimpse Jonghyun caught of a very wet, distraught-looking, half-dressed man prompted him to dig into Jinki’s bag to pull it out again. “What’s this?” he asked, looking over at Jinki to find the tips of his ears tinged bright red as he continued sifting through the shelf. “Together for a Day?” Jinki cleared his throat, evidently to keep from laughing, judging by his smile. Grinning, Jonghyun flipped the book over, reading the back flap aloud in his most dramatic voice.

“When the day begins with your boyfriend breaking your heart, you’re bound to want to get through it and leave it far behind. Hopefully forgotten. For Chaewon, it is unfortunately impossible. Her world shattered that day, and before she could pick up the pieces, the day began again. And again. And again.” He emphasized that, glancing over at Jinki when he snorted.

“She has long since stopped keeping track of how long she has been trapped in her worst day, but no matter what she does, nothing changes. Until she runs into Siwoo, that is. Their catastrophic meeting ensnares him into the time loop and reinvigorates her desire to escape the day she had long since resigned herself to keep living. Will they find a way to escape this prison time created for them? Or will they discover happiness again being Together for a Day?”

He turned the book back over to the front cover, inspecting Siwoo, apparently. “Why is he almost shirtless? And wet.”

“No idea.” Jinki laughed, reaching for the book to take it back, but Jonghyun turned away. “What are you doing?” he asked as Jonghyun started flipping through it.

“Finding out. Aren’t you curious?” Jinki sighed, reaching for another book and quickly scanning the back flap. “Unless this is a book for you and you don’t want spoilers.”

“It’s not. It’s what we in the business like to call a ‘lighthearted beach read’.”

“Hm…I don’t know if I believe you.”

“I learned my lesson about lying, remember?”

Jonghyun, who had been about to read a passage aloud from the book, lost his voice for a second. He looked over at him, but Jinki wasn’t looking his way. His ears were still pink, though. “Yes, well,” he said, at last, snapping the book closed and stepping closer to slip it back into Jinki’s bag. “I was just testing you.”

“Did I pass?” he asked, looking away from the books. Meeting Jonghyun’s gaze. Jonghyun could only nod, and Jinki returned his attention to the books with a slightly self-satisfied smile.

He asked for Jonghyun’s opinion on all the books he picked out before they made it to his bag after that. More “lighthearted beach reads,” some in Chinese or Japanese that both of them could get the gist of, some in English for international tourists that both of them hoped were okay. And, to Jonghyun’s surprise, a volume of poetry.

It wasn’t a surprise that Jinki picked it up in the first place, nor that he wanted his thoughts on it, but rather, as he handed it to him, he said, “Oh, you’re the expert on this. What do you think?”

Jonghyun flipped tentatively through it, his brow furrowing. “How am I the expert on poetry?”

Jinki shot him a bewildered look. “You used to write it.” How the hell did he know that? He asked as much, which made Jinki laugh. “You don’t remember?” Jonghyun shook his head, confused. “You brought some of your poems to Taeyeon when she and I were studying one day. Asked her to proofread them, I think. Anyway, I read bits of the one on the top. It was really good.”

And…he remembered it? All these years later?

“Do you still write poetry?”

“Uh, no, I don’t.” He closed the book, slipping it into Jinki’s bag with the other books. “Haven’t felt all that inspired for quite a while.”

“Who knows,” Jinki said quietly as he moved on to the last of the bookshelves in the maze. “Maybe you will again soon.”

Somehow, Jonghyun doubted it. Nothing new ever happened in their sleepy little town, except for the influx of tourists during the summers, but even that was ending soon.

Jinki didn’t find anything that interested him there, so they went up to the register, the cashier stacking all of his books neatly into boxes and taking notes of the authors while Jinki pulled out his debit card. He paid and Jonghyun grabbed the box for him, folding his cloth tote and setting it atop the books inside while Jinki pocketed his wallet.

“I can take that,” he said, already reaching for the box, his hands sliding over Jonghyun’s before he relinquished the box to him. “Where to next?” he asked as Jonghyun dug his keys out of his back pocket. “Don’t you have to get glasses? For your restaurant, not your face.”

Jonghyun sniffed a laugh, glancing his way. “I mean, might as well while I’m here.”

“Is the restaurant supply store far away?”

Jonghyun shook his head, unlocking the trunk for Jinki to drop off his books. “We can walk if you don’t mind. It’s just a few blocks from here.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Jinki shut the trunk and hopped back on the sidewalk, taking the side closer to the road again as Jonghyun started them walking the opposite way. “Minho’s art supply store is clear across town. I always feel bad making him come all this way for me.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t mind.”

“No, probably not.”

A comfortable silence lapsed between them until they stopped at the crosswalk. I was broken by Jinki starting to ask “Are—” but he cut himself off as the light changed to let them walk.

“What?” He shook his head, glancing around at the crowd. “No, what is it?”

“Is there something going on between them?”

“Between…”

Jinki lowered his voice, leaning closer. “Minho and Kibum.”

Jonghyun blinked rapidly, leaning away from him in surprise. “What makes you say that?”

He shrugged. “I was just curious if you noticed anything.”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened and he sidled closer to him with a grin. “Have you?” Jinki hesitated, gradually grinning when Jonghyun nudged him. “Come on, you have to tell me, now.”

“Well—oh, is this it?” Jinki asked as he halted, pointing to the store on the other side of Jonghyun.

Jonghyun whirled around. “Oh, yeah.” Jinki moved first, opening the door for him to enter first and following Jonghyun inside. “So?”

“Where are the glasses?”

“Jinki, I swear to—”

He snorted, grabbing Jonghyun’s arm and prodding him to start walking. “I’ll tell you, let’s just get what you’re here for.”

“Fine.” Jonghyun glared around the room, locating the sign near the back, and nodding toward it. “This way.”

Once they had slipped into the furthest aisle from the register, Jinki continued. “It’s really not much, I just noticed that they’ve been spending a lot of time together since he came back.”

“So do we, and that doesn’t mean anything.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Jinki looked away with a slow blink and an eventual nod. Why…was his mouth…bigger than his brain sometimes?

“I know, but, haven’t you noticed that Minho talks about Kibum a lot?”

“I suppose?” He ran through all the times he’d seen them together this summer, the memory of the unseen look Minho gave Kibum this morning coming to the surface. “Maybe?”

Jinki stopped walking, and it was only then that Jonghyun realized they had reached the section with the glasses. “I’m probably just imagining things,” he said, sounding strangely…sad. “Which ones do you need?”

“Look for some tall, thin ones.”

After about ten minutes of searching, they found some, but only the display versions. Jinki lent him a pencil to jot down the product number on the palm of his hand, and they returned to the register so Jonghyun could put in an order for them.

“Sorry you couldn’t get them today,” Jinki said as he held the door open for him yet again.

Jonghyun waited for him to fall into step beside him again before he started back down the sidewalk to his car. “Eh, it’s okay. I’ve still got a couple. Some drunken idiot dropped two the other night—”

“Sorry about that.”

Jonghyun huffed a laugh, nudging a grinning Jinki away as he continued. “And I just prefer to have a full set in case we get busy.”

“That’s—”

Jonghyun looked up as raindrops pittered in his hair, despite the sunshine. As he lifted his hand to cover his hair, Jinki grabbed his arm, dragging him over to stand under a colorful awning for a tiny cafe. Both of them looked out at the sunny downpour, then at each other for a second before Jinki looked back into the cafe. “You wanna?” he asked, nodding to the door when he met Jonghyun’s gaze again. “Who knows how long this’ll last.” When Jonghyun hesitated, Jinki gave him a small smile. “My treat?”

“Alright, fine.”

He opened the door, letting Jonghyun in, the little bell above the door jingling. The staff behind the counter greeted them warmly as they approached the counter, where Jinki ordered a matcha latte and Jonghyun a cappuccino, and a slice of the cafe’s chocolate roll cake with fresh berries stuffed into the center of the cream. Two forks. He took the number the cashier gave them, leading the way to the corner table by the window.

“I haven’t been here in ages,” Jinki said quietly as he settled in the seat across from Jonghyun.

“I’ve never been here before.”

“Really?” He looked genuinely surprised, and Jonghyun just shrugged. “I used to come with my ex all the time. It was her favorite place.”

“Eunae?”

Jinki’s brow furrowed. “Mikyong.” Ah, the one at the tail end of high school. Broke up with him a few days after he got home from the army.

Jonghyun wrinkled up his nose, and Jinki chuckled at his reaction. “Well, I promise I won’t cheat on you the entire time you’re in the military.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it.” Jinki looked up behind him, moving the little number card aside as the cashier came over with the tray with their drinks and cake. After she arranged it before them, they thanked her as she bowed and Jinki grabbed his fork, digging into the cake.

Jonghyun grabbed his fork, but he didn’t move to start in on the cake. It must be nice to have memories of romance tied to places, even if the relationship didn’t work out, in the end. Knowing that it was possible for someone to love you…willing to make time for you, be seen with you, enjoying the time you do spend together. In all the time he’d been out, he’d yet to have an official boyfriend. Sure, there were guys he’d gotten attached to, they’d gone on dates. But they were all long distance, most broken off before they could meet. And the one time that didn’t happen, he’d gotten the text ending it by the time got home from his weekend trip.

“Is something wrong?” Jinki asked him, and Jonghyun met his eyes.

“Uh, yeah.” He twisted the fork between his fingers before leaning forward to cut off a bite for himself. “Sorry.”

“What is it?” Jinki asked, clearly not fooled.

Jonghyun shook his head. “It’s stupid.”

“I’m sure it’s not.”

He ate the cake off his fork, chewing slowly and swallowing before cutting off another piece. “I was just thinking it must be nice to have places you remember from relationships.” Jinki’s eyebrows knit together. “I know, you guys broke up, but still…”

“Don’t you have places like that?”

“Sorta? It’s harder when you can’t even call them relationships.”

Jinki blinked rapidly. “What about Jaeseong?”

Jonghyun closed his eyes in surprise as he ate his next bite. ing Jaeseong, the from Busan. The one who broke everything off before they could get started. Had he mentioned him to Jinki? He didn’t remember that. “That was nothing, really. Just a fling.”

“Ah.” He sank back in his seat, looking down at the decorative foamy leaves in his latte as he fiddled with the handle of the mug. “Are you not interested in relationships?”

This was not the direction he had expected any of their potential conversations to go today. Jonghyun couldn’t meet his eyes anymore, so he took a sip of his too-hot cappuccino, the foam from his upper lip as he went for another bite of cake. “I mean, theoretically, yeah. It’d be nice. But it feels impossible, at this point. So I’ve decided not to get my hopes up for anything.”

“But…you’re not opposed?”

Oh, god, did he have a gay cousin or something he was trying to set him up with? At least he knew what his personal version of hell was like now, for future reference.

“If the right person comes along, then no.” He gulped, looking across at Jinki, finding him watching him, his gaze oddly intense. But then he blinked, his expression softened, and Jonghyun was sure he imagined it. “What about you?”

“I feel the same way. I know what I want, and I don’t want to settle for anything less.” Jonghyun nodded, looking away again. Well, whoever she was, hopefully his future partner knew how lucky she was.

The sunshower had long since ended by the time they finished their drinks and cake, and they were well on their way home by the time the actual downpour began. “,” Jinki mumbled, squinting up at the clouds through the swishing windshield wipers. “Do you think it’ll stop by the time we get home?”

“I mean, hopefully sooner. I hate driving in the rain.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Jinki, it’s fine,” he said with a laugh.

“My poor books…”

Oh right, the books. “Check the backseat. Taeng usually keeps an umbrella back there.” Twisting in his seat, Jinki rummaged around for a few seconds before letting out a bright peal of laughter that almost made Jonghyun look away from the darkening road. “What?”

“What is it with you two and Sailor Moon?”

“It’s Sailor ing Moon,” he said, as there was no other explanation necessary.

“I’ve never seen it.”

Jonghyun did look away from the road this time, his disbelieving look making Jinki’s eyes crinkle up as he laughed again. “How the hell were you at our house so often growing up and you never watched Sailor Moon with us?”

“You never invited me?”

“So now it’s my fault?”

“We can blame Taeyeon.”

Grinning, Jonghyun settled comfortably in his seat again, catching a glimpse of the exit for their town in the headlights. “Well then, your next day off that you don’t already have plans, come over and we can start you on it. You’ll just have to bring your own snacks.”

“I can do that.”

Jonghyun took the exit, heading to their neighborhood. Jinki only lived a few streets up from them. His parents’ car was already in the driveway, so he parked along the street, reaching for the umbrella once he pulled his key out of the ignition and popped the hood. Jinki hopped out and Jonghyun opened the umbrella as he ran around behind his car, covering Jinki and the books as soon as he reached them.

“Are they okay?”

“I think so,” Jinki muttered, bent over the box to inspect the spines and exposed pages. “I won’t know until I get inside.”

“Let’s hurry, then.”

Jonghyun closed the trunk lid once the box was free, and he walked alongside Jinki to his porch. The porch light flickered on, bathing them in golden light.

“Thank you for taking me today,” Jinki said, his voice softer than it had been all day. So soft that it almost startled Jonghyun. Instead, he just met his gaze, slightly mesmerized by the smile glittering in his eyes. His eyes that dipped slowly down to Jonghyun’s lips.

W…what…

Jonghyun’s brain short-circuited as Jinki’s gaze caressed its way back up to his eyes. All words escaped him when Jinki smiled again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

The only thing he could do was nod.

“Bye, then.”

And with that, Jinki opened the door, giving Jonghyun one last glimpse of his smile before it closed behind him.

The light turning off from his lack of movement was what made him realize he hadn’t left the porch. He looked around at the rainy night, still completely dumbstruck. Then he stepped off the porch, and he would have walked all the way home had his keys not jingled in his hand.

He was pretty sure he didn’t blink once until he was back inside. Taeyeon’s head peeked over the back of the couch as he toed his shoes off. “How'd it go?” Hopefully, he mumbled something close to “good”, but he couldn’t be sure. “Have you heard from Kibum yet? He’s not answering my or Yeri’s texts.”

“Mm,” Jonghyun murmured on his way back to his room.

Had Jinki wanted to kiss him?

The thought fully sank in as he leaned against his bedroom door, closing it behind him.

In his limited experience, that’s what it had always looked like when a guy wanted to kiss him. But this was /Jinki/.

Jonghyun shook his head firmly, pushing away from the bedroom door only to flop fully clothed into bed. His hand went to his hair, and he slowly twirled a few locks.

Had he wanted to?

Maybe he’d find out tomorrow.

His eyes widened in alarm, the thought sending an electric course to his nerves.

If he had…well then, maybe Jinki was right—maybe he would get back to writing poetry again.

* * * * *

“Well, I was gonna ask if we wanted to get some coffee, but it looks like you’re a step ahead of me.”

Minho looked away from Jonghyun and down to the drinks in the cupholders between him, then to Kibum before he shifted the car into gear and started down to the main road.

“Which one’s mine?”

He tapped the one closest to the stick. “I hope you don’t mind?”

“Nope, but only if it’s the right drink.”

Minho sniffed a laugh as he watched Kibum pick it up and slowly arrange the straw before he took the tiniest of sips. “Does it pass?” Minho asked with a barely contained laugh as Kibum smacked his lips.

“I suppose.”

Snorting, Minho turned off onto the road heading out of town. “Oh, wait,” he said, gaining a bit of speed. “I don’t remember how to get there.”

“Well, I mean, me neither.”

“No,” Minho laughed. He grabbed his phone from its cubby behind his stick, holding it out to Kibum. “I’ve already got the address in here, can you turn it on?”

Kibum grabbed his phone, but before Minho could pull his hand away, Kibum took it, too, extending Minho’s finger to unlock the phone. Minho had never been so grateful to himself for the idea he had in March of following the prompting of his new phone to set up a fingerprint password. A of brilliance. Kibum released his finger, and he couldn’t help but glance over at him as he plugged the cord in so it’d play over the speaker. It only took a few seconds for him to get the directions going, but he wasn’t putting Minho’s phone down.

“Do you have music we can listen to?”

“Uh, yeah, I have a few playlists.” Hopefully all relatively normal. Another glance over and Kibum’s brow was furrowed slightly behind the bridge of his sunglasses as he slowly scrolled. “We don’t have to if I don’t have anything good.”

Kibum looked up at him, and even without the sunglasses coming off, Minho could still sense his utter bewilderment. He tapped a song or playlist, and a second later, there was a crinkle, then a bit of—”Was that Japanese?” Kibum asked. Minho shrugged. A jazzy, upbeat song started playing, followed by the smooth voice of Michael Buble.

Even with his attention on the road, he could feel Kibum looking at him. “What?”

“I just never pegged you as the type to listen to English artists.”

“Am I not allowed to like his voice?”

“No, no, you’re fine,” Kibum said, and when Minho looked over, he found him wearing a dimpled smile. “It just surprised me.”

Minho let out a tired sigh, drawing a clipped laugh out of Kibum as he reached forward to turn the volume down or change the track, only for Kibum to smack his hand away. “His voice is lower and I can actually sing along sometimes, okay?” When Kibum didn’t respond right away, Minho looked over at him to see him watching him expectantly. “I’m not gonna right now.”

Kibum his teeth, looking away. “Fine, be that way.”

“I will.”

When the song changed, it was once that Kibum evidently knew, because he started humming along to it. Minho reached over, turning the volume up a little bit more for him.

It only took about an hour and a half to get to the orchard, and the time was filled with idle conversation…or Kibum singing a few lines at a time of his apparent favorites from Minho’s playlist. Which, Minho wasn’t surprised that he found himself liking Kibum’s singing voice, too. Even if he wasn’t being remotely serious about it. It was just as…as vibrant and enchanting as the rest of him.

There’s no way he’d be able to listen to these songs without thinking of him, now.

Not that that would be a problem. At all.

Once they arrived at the farm, Minho pulled slowly up to the yard, both of them peering through Kibum’s window at the place. “It looks right…right?” Kibum asked, glancing at him.

“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Minho unbuckled, popping his door open. “I’ll be right back.”

A woman—the owner of the orchard, it turned out—answered the door, confirming that it was the correct place and that they could just go around back and stay as long as they needed. Minho thanked her with a bow and jogged back to the car.

“Yup, we’re good,” he said after he had opened Kibum’s door for him, closing it once he was standing beside him. Then he unlocked the trunk, pulling out the baskets Jonghyun had given him and prying them apart before he handed one to Kibum. “We can race to see who fills it first!”

“If you’re gonna make a competition out of this I’m gonna stay in the car.”

Laughing, Minho clicked the lock button on his key fob until the horn honked. “Good luck with that.”

Kibum fell into step beside him with a dramatic sigh, and Minho glanced down at him, worried for half a second that he was upset with him. Judging by his small smile and shake of his head, he was still good.

As they made it around the back corner of the house, a large, very friendly, black and white dog came bounding up to them, detouring their short trek to the grove for a few minutes with his demand for attention. Kibum hunkered down beside him, trying to get a picture with and then of him, but he wouldn’t stay still long enough. He loped before them, his swishy tail wagging as he looked back, waiting for them to catch up with him.

Kibum’s shoulder bumped into his as they walked along, and he muttered a quiet apology. Minho glanced down at him, then at his phone screen. “He sure is sweet, huh?”

“Hm?” Kibum looked up at him, then back down at his phone. “Yeah. Makes me miss having dogs.”

“You used to have them?”

“Never just me. My family did though. Always had a gaggle of tiny dogs.”

“What kind?”

“Always poodles. Had to have two at a time, my mom was adamant. I tell Yeri all the time that that’s the only reason our parents decided to have her.” Minho cracked a smile when Kibum laughed, who then smacked Minho’s arm. “Oh, hey, speaking of, we should get a picture together before we get sweaty and gross.”

“What for?”

Kibum tapped his sunglasses a little further down the bridge of his nose, meeting his gaze over the frame. “What do you mean ‘what for’?.”

“You said ‘speaking of’?”

“Oh.” He shoved his glasses back up his nose, reaching down to pet the farm dog as he wedged himself between them before running ahead to the grove again. “Yeri is pestering me for more pictures because apparently three a day isn’t enough.”

“I can take some of you. You know, for your Instagram, too.”

Kibum looked back at him as they reached the shade of the first of the trees, giving him a small smile. “I’d appreciate that. But first—“ He reached for Minho’s shoulder, pulling him close under the dappled light. “Let’s make it weird. For her.”

“Weird how?” Minho asked with a laugh, and Kibum shrugged, holding his phone up, the camera facing them.

Without really thinking, Minho slung his arm over Kibum’s shoulder, leaning fully into him while Kibum threw up a peace sign and flashed the most awkward smile Minho had ever seen him wear. He burst out laughing and would have leaned away had Kibum not grabbed his wrist to hold him in place.

“Stop, stop, be serious again for a second, I didn’t get it.” It took them several tries and an accidental slip into video mode to finally get it. Minho stepped away, watching him fiddle with his phone for a few seconds more before he crouched down to pet the dog again. “, I don’t have any service out here.”

“I guess your sister can wait.”

“It’ll do her some good,” he said, sighing as he pocketed his phone. “She’s spoiled enough as it is.” His attention shifted from the dog to Minho and back to the dog again as he reached out to scratch behind his ears. “I suppose we should get to the tangerines, huh?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“If I come across any spiders, you have to deal with them. Okay?” he said as he left them to go pick up his basket.

Minho’s eyebrows shot up as his gaze trailed after him. “Yeah, okay.”

Kibum grabbed both baskets, holding one out to Minho as he approached. “Do we want to work on separate trees or the same one?”

“You can just say you don’t want to hang around me. I’m tough, I can take it. I was in the Marines, after all.”

Kibum’s expression shifted from incredulity to mild faux irritation. “You’re so annoying.” He rolled his eyes when Minho shot him a grin, and turned away, heading to the nearest tree. Minho followed him, heading to the other side and setting his basket down on the tangerine-strewn ground between him and the trunk. “What do we want to do after this?”

“What do you mean?”

He dropped the three tangerines he just picked into the basket, three light plunks in quick succession. “I mean, it's your day off, don’t you want to do something fun?”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“We’re sorta close to town, aren’t we?”

Minho pointed between the branches at Kibum, sternly amused. “We’re not gonna go spy on Jonghyun and Jinki if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Kibum grinned, moving to another section of branches, the patches of sunlight filtering through the leaves casting a perfect shadow of his dimple. “What makes you think I would have suggested that?” Minho squinted at him, and Kibum’s smile grew a tad more impish. Minho wished his sunglasses were off so he could see the twinkle he was so sure was there in his eyes. “But, like, if we just happened to run into them…”

“No!” Kibum chuckled, glancing at Minho again as he tossed another few tangerines into his basket. “We need to let them be. Let nature run its course.”

“Nature?” Minho nodded adamantly, and Kibum shook his head, returning his attention to the branch above him. “Fine. But we should get something to eat at least before we head back.”

“You know what I haven’t had in a while?” Kibum hummed in question. “Tteokbokki.”

“Ooo…that does sound good.”

“Right? I know a good place in town, we can go.” Nodding, Kibum went back to picking more, his face contorting in disgust when he stepped into a cobweb. “Oh, ,” Minho muttered, dropping the four he just picked into his basket and coming around to where Kibum was. “Is there a spider?”

“I don’t think so.” Kibum sputtered as he dragged his hand over his face, knocking his sunglasses off in an effort to get the cobwebs off of him.

Minho caught them when they fell between them, holding them out to Kibum when he looked up at him. “Here, let me,” he said, reaching out to peel a few more strips of cobwebs off the rim of his bucket hat.

It took a few seconds for him to meet Kibum’s gaze, and when he did, Kibum blinked quickly and looked away before he stepped back to slip his sunglasses on again. “Thanks.”

When his heartbeat returned to normal, Minho gulped and looked away, but he didn’t return to his side of the tree. The dog came up between them, his tail slapping the back of Minho’s thigh as he ducked his head into the basket, gingerly grabbing one of the tangerines and dropping it at Minho’s feet. He sat, looking up at him with an expectant smile, and Minho looked up at Kibum.

“Does he want me to throw it for him?”

“I think so,” Kibum said with a laugh in his voice.

Minho bent down, picking up the slightly slobbery tangerine, and poised to throw it. The dog tensed, his eyes on the tangerine, eagerly waiting for Minho to toss it. When Minho finally did, he burst after it, skidding past it in a cloud of dirt as he raced back around the trees. Minho watched his progress in complete confusion, but Kibum just laughed, fondly directing the dog to go retrieve the tangerine. It took a few tries, but he did come back, tangerine plopped before Kibum this time.

“You just don’t want us to get any work done, do you?” he asked in a baby voice as he hunkered down in front of the dog, scratching roughly behind his ears. The dog’s tail wagged on the ground, collecting fallen leaves with every swipe. After a little prodding, the dog rolled onto his side, tongue lolling out as Kibum started to scratch his belly.

Minho, abandoning any pretense that he had been trying to continue picking, joined him.

Kibum was looking at the dog with a sad pout, and Minho let out a sniff of a laugh. “You really want a dog again, don’t you?”

“Yeah…” Kibum sighed, meeting Minho’s gaze again, though the pout didn’t go away quite yet. “Maybe when I get home I can start looking into getting one.”

“Or two.”

“True.” He continued scratching the dog’s belly, his fingers accidentally bumping into Minho’s. “Would you like to get a dog?”

“I like the idea of that if I’m being honest. It’d be nice to have a buddy. I just don’t have much experience with them.”

Kibum frowned. “Did your family not have pets?”

“No, we did have a dog. A Samoyed, I think they’re called? My mom’s dog before she got married to my dad. Her name was Cloud.” Kibum smiled, sitting back on his heels. “I think they had to put her down when I was three, so I don’t have many memories of her.”

“That , I’m sorry.”

Minho shrugged. “My mom has…or, had, probably…a picture of me when I was around two asleep on top of Cloud in the middle of the kitchen. It was on the fridge still when I got back from the military, but…” He shook his head, looking over at Kibum when his hand rested over Minho’s. “Probably not anymore, I imagine.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how have you been doing with that?”

“Not too bad, thanks to you. Every day it gets a little easier not to dwell on it.”

Kibum patted his hand with a small smile. “I’m so glad to hear it.”

“What about you? Still doing okay without the ex?”

Snorting, Kibum pulled his hand off Minho’s. “Oh yeah. I realized ages ago how ty he was for me. I think it was…for the best that things ended. Just, obviously, I wish it had ended slightly differently.”

“How was he ty for you?” he asked as he joined Kibum on his feet again. “Besides the obvious, of course.”

“Well…it was a lot of things. Little things.” Kibum pulled down a branch, picking two tangerines with his free hand before dropping them in the basket. “I think I figured out that I had settled for him. Because I didn’t want to end up alone, and our options being so limited…”

“Right, I understand that.”

“Yeah, so, I’ve come to terms with that, I think. Or I’m well on my way to getting there.”

“Getting…where?”

“Getting to the point where I’m okay with being alone.”

Oh.

Minho looked away and up at the tangerines again, picking a few. So, there really wasn’t a chance, huh? He could respect that. It was probably for the best, anyways. He’d probably never be ready for a relationship again, either. It had been nice to dream for a little while, though. But then, friendship wasn’t a downgrade. Especially not with someone like Kibum.

He’d have to keep reminding himself of that for a while.

Minho cleared his throat with a tiny shake of his head. “I need to keep working on that.”

“It’s a process. Not easy, because sometimes—“ he cut himself off so abruptly that Minho ducked his head to look over at him between the leaves. It was no surprise that he wasn’t looking at him. “I don’t know…”

“What?”

Sighing, Kibum pulled his sunglasses off, cleaning the lenses with his shirt. “I feel like I wasted my one chance at finding love on someone who would cheat on me. What would be the point of me trusting someone like that again only to get my hopes up and then dashed again? It’s just not worth the risk, to me.” He looked over at last, his gaze searching Minho’s for a second before he slipped the sunglasses back on with a wry smile. “Sorry.”

Minho frowned, confused. “What for?”

Kibum shook his head with a shrug. “I didn’t mean to lay all this on you. It’s kind of a lot for picking tangerines,” he added with a laugh.

Minho chuckled for a second, then sobered. “I don’t mind. Really. Like I said, I get it. Probably better than most.” He looked over at him again, and even with the sunglasses on, Minho could feel his scrutiny. “I think…if I ever were to find someone again…I’d have to trust him implicitly before I could even think of beginning a relationship.”

“Yeah, I’ve learned my lesson there. I’m not an impulsive eighteen-year-old anymore.”

“Sixteen, for me.”

“See? You totally get me.” Kibum patted his shoulder with a small smile before returning his attention to the tree.

It only took three and a half trees to fill the first basket, which Minho promptly took back to his car while Kibum started on the next one. Or, at least that was the plan, but by the time Minho jogged back, Kibum was sitting at the base of the next tree, Minho’s barely-started basket a little ways off, the farm dog half in his lap, and a few tangerines in his hand held out of reach of the dog.

“He really wants these,” Kibum said as Minho sat in the shade beside him. “It’s too bad we’re not sharing,” he said, slipping into the baby voice as he passed two of the tangerines to Minho.

“Are they not good for dogs?” Minho asked, flinching when a bit of the oil from the rind spritzed his face and shirt as he started to peel the first one.

“No clue. I’m just selfish, I don’t like sharing.” Minho looked over at him with a fleeting grin as he peeled the rest of the skin off. Once the segments were free of the pith, he handed it wordlessly to Kibum, who didn’t immediately take it. “No, that’s yours.”

Minho held it out insistently. “I don’t mind.” Kibum reluctantly took it, and Minho started on the next for himself.

“You know, Jonghyun did say we only needed one.”

“True, but…” Minho pried the first of the segments apart, popping it in his mouth. “Might as well, while we’re here.” After a second, he looked over at Kibum, who was taunting the farm dog by holding one of the segments just out of reach of his mouth. “Unless you’re ready to be done?”

“No, I’m fine.”

The dog snapped at the tangerine segment, and Kibum pulled it back just in time, eating it with a triumphant smile. “You’re so mean.”

“I am, aren’t I.” He cast a sly glance Minho’s way, his smile donning dimples when he looked back at the peeled tangerine in his hand. “That’s just something you’re gonna have to live with if you’re gonna be my friend.”

“I think I can handle it.”

One of Kibum’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t look away from the tangerine. “Is that a challenge?”

“It’s whatever you want it to be.”

Kibum polished off the rest of his tangerine, chewing slowly. Thoughtfully. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said as he started peeling the other tangerine. When he finished, he passed it wordlessly to Minho before he started on the next one for himself. As soon as he was done eating it, he wiped his fingers off on his shorts and reached for his phone, pulling out his camera. “Still up for taking a few pictures for me?”

“Yeah, sure,” Minho said, shoving the last few segments in his mouth before he reached for the camera.

Maybe they got a little carried away.

Minho lost track of how many pictures he ended up taking, most of them unusable because one or both of them started laughing at a quip the other said, resulting in a blurry photo. After a while, Kibum stole the phone back to take a few selfies, but also somehow ended up snapping a few pictures of Minho, all of which got progressively more ridiculous the more Kibum directed him. The dog bounded after them when Minho started to chase Kibum through the trees to get the phone back so he could delete the latest picture of him—one where he had an open-mouth, wide-eyed crazy looking grin.

He caught him in a hug from behind, his arms holding him firmly despite his effort to get away, both panting to catch their breaths.

“Let go of me,” Kibum said, a barely restrained laugh in his voice.

“Delete it first.”

Sighing, Kibum held his hand up as far as Minho’s hold would let him so they could both see the screen, and Minho rested his chin on Kibum’s shoulder, watching him delete it with a flourish. Slowly, Minho released him, taking a half-step back as Kibum fiddled with his screen for another second or two before he pocketed his phone with a satisfied smile. “You did delete it, right?”

“You saw me.” And before Minho could retort, Kibum shoved him lightly back toward the grove. “Enough distractions, let’s get back to work.”

“But it’s my day off,” Minho said with an exaggerated pout, which only made Kibum roll his eyes and shove him again when Minho started laughing.

They had barely reached the brim of the second basket when a sunshower started. Kibum ducked further beneath the tree as the dog ran inside, both of them looking around at the sunny shower of rain. Minho gathered up the basket and started for the car, and Kibum hurried along under the trees until there were no more, then jogged over to the house to let the farmer know that they were done for the day. Once he was sitting behind the wheel, Minho started the car, leaning forward to watch Kibum’s progress across the yard. Almost as soon as the door closed behind him, the sunshower stopped.

“Seriously?”

“It’s fine, we were done anyways. Tteokbokki?” Kibum nodded, and Minho started them toward town as soon as he unlocked his phone and handed it to Kibum. Which turned out to be a mistake, because he kept picking Michael Buble songs, until Minho ripped his phone away, setting it in its cubby with a laugh. “Just let it shuffle normally, goddammit.”

“What if I told you that’s what I was doing?”

“Then I’d say I don’t like being lied to.”

Kibum scoffed, shifting in his seat. “You’re no fun.”

Minho cracked a smile, glancing over at him for a second before shaking his head and looking back at the road.

Kibum got service again when they were about fifteen minutes outside of town, so he sent some of the pictures they took earlier to Yeri, and he debated with himself which ones he should post on Instagram. Minho was no help, not only because he was driving. Kibum did ask his opinion, though, despite often choosing the ones that Minho didn’t.

“I’ll post them in a few days,” he said as he pocketed his phone again. “It’s good to space them out.”

Minho, who still barely had a handle on what he should post to Instagram, simply nodded as he took the exit to get into town from off the highway. Kibum chatted aimlessly while Minho silently navigated his way to his favorite tteokbokki shop, doing his best to avoid potholes and mostly succeeding, and interjected with the occasional thought whenever Kibum paused. Once he was parked, they both slipped out, and Kibum was waiting for him at his side of the hood, and Minho opened the door to let him into the shop first.

“Just tteokbokki?” Kibum asked him as he sidled up next to him at the back of the line.

“Do you want something else?”

“I mean, I was wondering if it’d be enough with us sharing?”

“True.” Minho scanned the menu with a slight furrow in his brow. “What else sounds good? Should we get rice?”

“Probably…” Kibum looked away from Minho and at the menu, too. “Bibimbap?” Minho hummed, his furrow deepening. “Jajangmyeon?”

“Maybe…their fried chicken is really good, too.” Kibum’s eyebrows shot up. “We can get the jajangmyeon, too if you want.”

“You don’t mind sharing all that?”

Minho shook his head, looking down at Kibum again. “I should be asking you that.”

“Why? Do you eat a lot?” Minho smiled, then laughed when Kibum rolled his eyes and let out a sighed “Of course.”

He stepped up to order and Kibum broke away to find them a table. He joined him by the window, taking his seat across from him, setting their drinks down, and looking out at the sea a few blocks away. “Would you mind if we headed to the beach for a bit on the way home?” Kibum sipped his tea and shrugged. “It just looks like it’ll be a nice sunset and I want to try to paint it.”

Kibum glanced out the window, smirking slightly when he met Minho’s gaze again. “It looks like it’s gonna rain.”

“And? The clouds will be cool.”

“Can’t fault that logic.” Kibum sipped his tea again, searching Minho’s expression. “Did you bring supplies with you?”

“I have a traveling watercolor set in my glove compartment.”

Kibum’s dimples barely started to show before he schooled his expression. “Of course you do.”

“If you want to go straight home after this—“

“No, no, don’t worry about me. I’m okay with it.” He leaned forward a little, peering out the window. “It does look like it’ll be a cool sunset.”

When the food arrived, they both went straight for the tteokbokki, Minho snatching a rice cake from the top of the heap while Kibum dug around for a few seconds, extracting a hidden fish cake. Minho chewed thoughtfully, watching him immediately start digging for another fish cake as soon as he was chewing the first.

Minho swallowed, still watching him. “Do you only like the fish cakes or something?”

Kibum looked up at him, doing a double-take when he found him watching him. “Sorta? Why?”

He leaned on the table, grabbing another rice cake from the top. “Because I only really like the rice cakes.”

Kibum covered his mouth as he laughed. “We’re tteokbokki soulmates then, I guess.”

“Works for me,” Minho said, quickly lowering his gaze to the tteokbokki between them. And when his next choice of rice cake revealed a fish cake below it, he dug it out and set it on Kibum’s side of the tteokbokki before grabbing his rice cake again.

The sun was getting closer to the cloudy horizon by the time Kibum ate his fill, and Minho polished off the remnants of all the dishes a few moments later, and they were off. Minho opened the car door for Kibum before he went around to his side and let himself in. Kibum was on his phone by the time Minho settled behind the wheel, and Minho looked around at the baskets of tangerines.

“They make it smell good in here, don’t they?”

Kibum hummed in agreement, then added, “Hopefully you’re ready for at least a week of it. I swear I’m still gonna be smelling like it for a month after I get home.”

“At least it’s nice,” Minho said, sliding his hand behind Kibum’s seat as he backed out of the parking lot. “We probably won’t have service at the beach, you know.”

“Now you tell me.”

Minho chuckled. “Just say the word and we’ll head back to Jjong’s.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kibum grumbled, and Minho glanced over to see a resigned sort of amusement settling into his expression.

There was a bit of a detour on their way out of town, construction on one of the roads. Though, the route that Maps took him on, the roads were just as dilapidated. Even though he was going as slowly as possible, the potholes were hard to avoid. He hit a big one, reaching out to steady Kibum when the sudden dip jostled him, when he swerved out of the way of a couple of jaywalkers. Kibum rolled down his window to yell at them, but they were already too far away.

“They should work on this street next,” Kibum muttered, still glaring back at the jaywalkers.

“Probably. Are you good?”

“Yeah. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a drink, huh?”

The storm clouds were just starting to get tinged with pink by the time Minho pulled into the empty parking lot for the beach. He reached across Kibum, opening the glove compartment and rummaging around for his supplies. Kibum, in his long-suffering benevolence, followed him around until Minho found the ideal vantage point for him to attempt to paint the horizon. Minho passed his tin of paints and pad of paper off to Kibum while he fished his shot glasses out of his pocket and ran down to the oncoming waves to collect some water. He walked back to where Kibum was sitting in the sand, being careful not to spill, and sat beside him.

He took the pencil out of the tin and sketched a light outline of the cloud shapes, which only took a few minutes. Then after a few moments more, he chose his color palette, mixed a few colors, wet a bit of his paper, and got to work.

He could feel Kibum watching him. Or, rather, watching him paint. Quietly, so he didn’t distract him. By the time Minho finished laying down the pink, his temple rested on Minho’s shoulder. Only for a second, though. He lifted his head with a quiet /sorry/, and Minho turned his head slightly toward him.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

Eventually, his head rested there without moving. Minho sighed into a smile as he mixed a shade of indigo. He'd be quite content to stay in this moment for as long as he could, but unfortunately, it didn’t last very long.

Raindrops splattered his head, his painting. He covered his painting, looking up at the sky as Kibum scrambled to his feet. He dumped out the water and gathered his supplies, jogging after Kibum and running back to the car. Only…

His steps slowed, and he stood frozen in the downpour, staring at the front driver’s side tire. The very flat tire…how...

Kibum, who was already inside the car, popped Minho’s door open, leaning partially out to call to him. “What are you doing? Do you want to catch a cold?”

Minho came to, hurrying inside the safety of his car, and Kibum looked up at him expectantly. “We have a problem,” Minho said a little louder than he usually would have, because of the rain. “I’ve got a flat tire.”

“How?” Minho shrugged, shaking his head. Kibum’s eyes widened, and he looked out at the rain before returning his gaze to Minho. “What are we gonna do?”

“I’ve got a spare, and I can fix it, but—“

“Not while it’s raining, though.”

“No, I know.” They stared at each other for several heartbeats. “I’m sorry, Kibum.”

“What are you talking about? It’s not your fault.”

“Yeah but,” he pulled his phone out with a sigh, the lack of bars not a surprise. “You don’t happen to have service, do you?”

“What do you think?” Kibum asked sardonically, pulling out his phone to check anyways, and shaking his head. Slowly, Minho turned his head, looking at the backseat. After a second, Kibum leaned closer, looking back, too. “There’s no way we’ll fit back there.”

“No, I know, but the seat folds down. Hold on.”

Haphazardly, Minho climbed into the backseat, folding himself up to fit between the full baskets of tangerines. Shimmying around, he managed to maneuver the first of the baskets between the front seats to the waiting Kibum, he carefully shoved it into the driver’s seat. Minho had the next basket ready for him, which he just held while Minho worked on unfolding the seat and releasing the back portion to open up the trunk.

“You know what’s kinda ridiculous?” Minho looked back at Kibum as he half-stood, half-crouched over the folded-down back seat, his eyebrows raising in question. “How such a tall guy can have such a tiny car.”

Minho laughed as he stretched into the trunk, feeling around in the dark for his spare sweatshirt and beach towel. “I’ve always liked these cars, though.”

“Do you still?” Kibum asked drolly as Minho extracted himself from the trunk.

“Believe it or not, yes.” He sat back on his heels and leaned back against the side, looking back at Kibum. “This is it.”

Kibum peeked over the headrest, looking dismally at the limited expanse of the trunk. “I didn’t know this hotel had such…charming accommodations.”

“I know, it ,” Minho said with a quiet chuckle. “We have some options, though. We could share the trunk, or one of us could take the trunk and the other could take one of the seats and lean back to sleep.”

Kibum’s gaze shifted to Minho, a definite smile in his eyes. “Are you worried that people will think we’re gay if we both take the trunk?”

“I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” Minho said, laughing.

The smile dimmed a little, and he sat back before shifting the second basket of tangerines into the passenger seat so he could crawl back and join Minho. “Which side is yours?”

“Side? You know how it’s been since I’ve shared a bed with anyone?”

“So? I still sleep on my side of the bed.”

“Which side is that, then?” Kibum patted the left side of the trunk, and Minho nodded, relaxing against the side again.

Kibum leaned back, too, and for another several heartbeats, they just stared at each other. “Now what?”

“Wait out the night, I guess.” Kibum sighed, his head knocking against the window and he turned, looking out at the darkening sky. “I’m really sorry.”

Kibum looked back at him. “Was it that one pothole?”

“Probably.”

He shook his head with a rueful smile. “Those ing jaywalkers.” Minho could feel his gaze, even in the dark. “You should have let me yell at them.”

“I’m not sure if that would have helped much.”

“You just don’t want me to be happy.”

“Apparently not.” He laughed when Kibum let out an exasperated sigh, then both fell silent, listening to the heavy downpour for a moment. “Should I start the car so we can have heat throughout the night?”

“Hm. How much gas—“

“About half a tank, I think.”

“.” Minho nodded even though Kibum couldn’t see him. “No blanket? Besides the beach towel?”

“Nope. You can use the sweatshirt if you need a bit more warmth.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Minho smiled, tracing Kibum’s silhouette with his gaze. “It’s okay, I usually don’t sleep in much…so…” Oh god, why’d he say that? Of all the things. He could have said. He said that. “Because I’m usually warm, I mean.”

Kibum cleared his throat, the tone of it clearly amused. “If you’re sure.”

Minho felt around for it, and once his fingers brushed it, he grabbed it and passed it to Kibum. There was a rustle of clothing for a few seconds, then, “I’m assuming you don’t have pillows stashed in your trunk.”

“You’re right, but that’s not a bad idea, maybe I should start.” Kibum snorted, and Minho scooted down into the trunk, shaking out the beach towel as much as he could in the cramped space. “Should we…”

“Attempt to get comfortable?”

“If that’s even possible.”

Minho scooted more until he was laying down, Kibum’s knees knocking into his as he did the same. He shifted several times beside him, but Minho stayed as still as possible, eyes wide in the nearly suffocating darkness.

He started when Kibum’s fingers brushed his thigh. “Oh, sorry,” Kibum said. “Where’s the towel?”

“Do you need that, too?”

“I thought we were gonna share that,” he said, a laugh in his voice.

“We can.”

Even he could hear the strain in his voice, so it was no surprise that Kibum found his hand in the dark. “Minho,” he said softly, and Minho turned toward him. “Try to relax, okay?”Minho nodded, and though Kibum couldn’t see him, he patted his hand before releasing it to lie down beside him. Not touching him, though. But he did drape the towel over both of them before letting out another sigh. “Despite, well, this,” Kibum said. “I still think it was a pretty good day.”

“I’m glad I didn’t ruin your vacation.”

“Ruin? Nah.” Kibum nudged his elbow with his own. “We’ll just call it an adventure.”

Minho grinned, a bit of tension leaving his shoulders as he finally let himself relax beside him.

Sleep found Kibum first, though it wasn’t until the storm almost passed. Minho lay there, eyes growing slowly drowsy, listening to the steady sound of Kibum’s breathing and the depleting rain until it was replaced entirely by the sound of the waves racing to shore. He had been about to succumb to sleep himself when Kibum’s breathing changed, coming in shorter breaths than before. Frowning, Minho glanced his way, unsure what was wrong until Kibum started shaking a little. Panic coursed through him, and he nearly hit his head on the driver’s seat back as he sat up.

“Kibum,” he said, but Kibum didn’t stir. Tentatively, he reached out, finding his shoulder and giving it a gentle shake. “Bummie.”

“Hm,” came the partially asleep reply.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm,” he said at first, then it was followed by a pout-filled “Cold.”

Minho blinked slowly, hesitating.

No, it wouldn’t be right.

But Kibum continued to shiver, and he was a bit cold, too, if he were being completely honest with himself.

He sat there, contemplating every outcome that presented itself to his mind, until his teeth were chattering, too. It’d probably be smart to share body heat…right? Was he thinking about this too much? Probably. Actually, definitely.

Kibum was right, he needed to relax.

Shaking his head, he laid back down, and after several more seconds of waiting, he tentatively reached for Kibum. His arm wrapped around him, holding him close as Kibum leaned into him. It only took a few minutes for Kibum to not be shivering like he was, and Minho was warmer.

Warm enough to drift off at last.

* * * * *

Soft sunlight streamed through the droplet-strewn windows and draped over Kibum. He stirred, the light bright behind his eyelids, and blearily looked around.

Right. They had to camp out in Minho’s car.

He yawned as he started to stretch, only to freeze a second later as he suddenly realized that there was something unexpectedly heavy around his waist. He looked down with wide eyes, staring at what could only be Minho’s arm. He shifted, turning back until he and a sleeping Minho were almost nose to nose.

Kibum blinked slowly, staring at him. He must have gotten cold in the middle of the night. Or maybe Minho was just a cuddler when he slept. He could see that being the case.

Joonwoo had never been like this. Sure he was physically affectionate at times, especially at the start before the honeymoon phase wore off. But when it came to sleeping, he never really wanted to cuddle. He obliged Kibum sometimes, but never for very long.

So this was new.

He shifted, rolling onto his back and slipping out of Minho’s hold. Carefully, he crawled out of the trunk to sit on the folded-down seat, his attention shifting back to Minho once he was settled.

He looked a lot younger, less care-worn, while he slept. At peace in a way he couldn’t quite achieve while awake. Kibum reached out, brushing his thick, slightly wavy hair off his forehead. Still sleeping, Minho turned his head at the touch, the corner of his lips twitching up in what would have been a smile if he were awake.

There was a freckle there, too. On his chin, just below his lips.

He looked away, reminding himself for probably the millionth time in the last twenty-four hours that he wasn’t ready to consider dating again. That he wasn’t going to be impulsive about entering into a relationship again. That Minho himself said yesterday that he wasn’t ready for another relationship. That he needed time as well as trust in his potential future boyfriend.

Still…he could do a whole lot worse than Minho…

He looked back at him, smiling softly when he stretched and shifted in his sleep. After a second, Kibum reached over him, readjusting the beach towel over him so he was covered and hopefully warm.

“Stop it,” he whispered to himself as he leaned back before he could fuss with Minho’s hair again.

It wouldn’t be right to try to start anything between them, even if there was a glimmer of longing within him that he was trying desperately to ignore every time he was with Minho. Even if he thought he saw hints of the same longing in Minho’s eyes whenever he looked at him. They’d both been hurt terribly and he knew he needed more time to heal before he let himself be seriously involved with someone else again.

Which, if he needed more time, then Minho certainly did.

Maybe…some space was necessary. After they got back, of course, since it’d be hard to achieve that in such a tiny car. For both their sakes. So he—or they—could clear his head and be sure that it wasn’t just the excitement of the possibility of something new clouding his better judgment.

Minho shifted again, stirring now. He wiped sleep from his eye as he looked up and around, finding Kibum sitting up.

“Good morning,” he said, his voice lower than usual. Slightly cracked, too, from being asleep.

.

“How’d you sleep?”

Kibum shrugged. “Not bad, considering.”

Minho rubbed his eye again, lethargically looking around. “Sorry if I was still holding you when you woke up. You were shivering before I fell asleep, so—“

That damn sense of longing flared up again, stabbing him through the heart. “You were, but it’s okay. I, uh, wasn’t sure if that’s what it was or if you were just a cuddler while you slept. Or whatever.”

“I have gotten that complaint before,” Minho said with a sheepish chuckle.

Complaint? Kibum mentally added another item to his list of things to yell at Minho’s ex about if he ever had the misfortune to run into him. When Minho met his eyes again, Kibum looked away, searching for something to fill the silence to keep him from saying something stupid. His gaze landed on the tangerines in the front seats, and he reached over, grabbing a few.

“Made you breakfast.”

Minho let out a sleepy sniff of a laugh as he sat up and combed his fingers through his hair. It flopped back over his forehead, looking slightly more disheveled than before.

This didn’t bode well.

“Thanks, it’s been a while since someone else cooked breakfast for me.”

Kibum bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from blurting out that he was a pretty good cook himself. Instead, he simply passed Minho two of the tangerines before peeling one for himself.

“You’re sure you can fix the tire?”

Minho didn’t look up from his half-peeled tangerine. “Oh, yeah. It’s actually pretty easy.” He broke a segment free and popped it into his mouth. This car was used when I bought it and the tires were so worn out, so I’ve had a bit of practice.”

“See, when something goes wrong with my car, I take it to a mechanic.”

Minho snorted, prying another segment free. “Yes, but that would have required talking to strangers.”

Kibum watched him thoughtfully for several long seconds before asking, “So you’re not naturally shy?”

“I mean, I have my moments. Everyone does. But, no, I was the kid getting in trouble for being the hyper one in class.”

“I can see that,” Kibum said with a grin that he tried to hide by ducking his head to start on his first tangerine.

“Can you?” he asked with an incredulous laugh. Kibum pursed his lips together. “Am I that annoying?”

“Obviously.”

He could hear the smile in Minho’s voice without looking up at him again, but oh, he was tempted. “What, were you a perfect angel in class? Did you remind the teacher about homework?”

Kibum his teeth with a shake of his head that made Minho laugh. “And if I did?”

“Then I don’t know if we can be friends.”

“You're in luck, then, because I didn’t.” Kibum glanced up at him as he discarded the peel, slightly dazzled by the sparkle of daylight in Minho’s dark eyes. He looked back at his lap quickly, splitting the segments apart. “I was the instigator, never the one in trouble.”

“That makes sense.”

Frowning, Kibum’s head snapped up, catching Minho’s annoyingly gleaming gaze. “How?” he asked, affronted.

He shoved the rest of his tangerine in his mouth, chewing with a growing grin for a second before saying, “Gotta go work on the flat now.”

Kibum watched him crawl into the front seat with a blank glare, letting out a droll “Really?” as he opened the driver’s door. He watched him walk around to the trunk for a few seconds before ducking back in there, propping his chin on his fist while he waited for Minho to pop the trunk. “What’d you mean by that?” he asked amidst Minho’s peal of surprised laughter.

Minho tapped his arm before prodding him. “Move, I have to get the spare.”

“Not until you answer my question.”

“I seem to remember only one of us being referred to as an evil mastermind.”

“Pretty sure you were the one who called me that.”

“Yeah?” Minho flashed him a bright, lopsided grin. “And you agreed pretty quickly if I remember right.”

He patted Kibum’s arm again, and this time, he moved. Minho pulled back the carpeted plastic, handing the edge of Kibum to hold while he slid the spare and the jack out of their home in the trunk. He let the plastic fall back once Minho had moved away, and he crawled out of the trunk after him.

A niggling voice in the back of his mind reminded him as he followed Minho around the car that he had, mere moments ago, decided that they needed some space to clear their heads.

He ignored it for the time being, however, plopping down on the pavement beside the car while Minho got to work.

The day was bright and warm already, despite the sun just barely starting to rise. The air was clear and fresh from the storm last night, and a nice, light, salty breeze was blowing in off the sea. Kibum breathed deeply in, his back settling against the fender of Minho’s car.

“Can you hold this for me?” he asked, and Kibum held out his hand without looking away from the sea, only glancing over when he felt fabric instead of some sort of tool.

His shirt.

Kibum blinked slowly, taking in the partially-shirtless Minho. He wasn’t quite sure if he was happy that he had one of those white, skin-tight tank tops under his shirt. Actually, no, it was a relief. Dealing with a shirtless Minho on a crowded beach was one thing, but one-on-one like this probably would have been too much, especially this early in the morning. Sighing, he started to fold the shirt in his lap, tracing one of the pale lines in it, before he squinted, looking at it closer.

“This looks familiar.”

Minho stopped cranking….whatever that tool was…and looked over at him. “Yeah, I bought it last year when we went shopping.”

“Ah, that’s why.” Minho started cranking again for a few more seconds before stopping to set a metal thingy between them before he started on the next one. “That was a fun place to shop. Have you been back there since then?”

“Mm-hm. Sooyoung and I go together.” He set another one of the things between them, and Kibum reached for it, pausing when Minho asked, “Do you want grease on your hands?”

Ah, no. “See, that’s why I don’t work on cars.”

“The single reason.” Kibum met his gaze, both of them cracking up before Minho dropped another one on the pavement. “Can you move for a second?”

“So demanding,” Kibum muttered as he moved out of the way with a furtive glance at him as he released the wheel and went around back to stick it where the spare had been.

It had to be sort of heavy, though it didn’t look like it with the way he carried it one-handed so he could unlock and open the trunk. He looked away when Minho disappeared behind the open trunk, shaking his head with a sigh.

Get a grip, Kibum…

He avoided looking over at Minho as he returned to fix the spare where the flat had been, focused instead on smoothing the wrinkle in Minho’s shirt collar.

Minho was right, it didn’t take him long to replace the tire. In just a few minutes, he had it fitted back on the…whatever that’s called, and then Minho was running off to go wash his hands in the sea while Kibum set the jack in the trunk and started folding up the back seat. Minho was back in time to help him move the tangerines, and then they were off, heading into town for some coffee before starting for home.

Both of their phones burst with notifications after about five minutes on the road. “Sixteen calls from Taeyeon, seven from Jonghyun…Jesus, twenty from my sister.”

“Texts, too?” Kibum hummed his assent. “Who called me?”

Kibum picked up Minho’s phone, and it prompted him to give the password. He squinted at the screen before typing in 1-2-0-9. It unlocked, and Kibum snorted. “Honey, you need a better password.”

“You guessed it?” Minho asked, looking at him in apparent surprise.

“Are you really shocked that I remembered your birthday?” Minho huffed a laugh, and Kibum scrolled through his notifications. “I can’t believe this.”

“What?”

“Jjong called you more times than me.” He pressed on the missed call notification on Minho’s phone, immediately calling Jonghyun, putting the phone on speaker, and shushing Minho when it dialed.

The phone picked up after one and a half rings. “Oh my god, are you guys okay? What happened? Is Kibum alright? Where have you guys been, we’re all so worried,” Jonghyun blurted out before Kibum could speak.

“How dare you call Minho more than me. Do you even care about me at all?”

Minho glanced over when neither Jonghyun nor Kibum spoke for a moment, cracking up when Jonghyun replied “Are you ing kidding me?”

“Of course,” Kibum said at the same time that Minho said, “Jjong, it’s okay, we’re totally fine.”

“What happened?” Taeyeon asked. They must have been on speaker in the cafe, too.

Kibum let Minho explain while he held up the phone between them, and after Minho gave them an estimate of when they’d be home, Kibum hung up, setting Minho’s phone back in its place while he called his sister, setting her on speaker, too, while it rang.

“Oppa!” she practically yelled into the phone as soon as she picked up. “What the ?” Minho laughed out loud as he took the exit, and the spiel Yerim was about to go off on died in the air after a few syllables. “Who is that?” she asked after a pause.

“Sorry,” Minho said, still laughing. “I’m Minho, your brother’s friend.” Kibum looked over at Minho with what he knew was an overly fond smile, but Minho was thankfully paying attention to the road so he didn’t see.

Another pause, then, in a politely sweet voice that she had never used with him, “Hello, it’s nice to finally meet you.” Minho’s eyebrow raised and he looked over at Kibum as he turned the speaker off and pressed the phone to his ear before she added, “That’s not what I was expecting you to sound like.”

“You’re off speaker now,” Kibum said quickly.

“Good. Are you two on a date or something?” When he didn’t reply immediately, she continued. “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on or do I have to fly down there?”

Kibum gave her an even more condensed version of the story than Minho gave Jonghyun and Taeyeon, pausing when they arrived at the drive-thru and it was time to place their orders. She asked to be put on speaker while Kibum picked what he wanted, and she helped Minho decide to get choux cream bread for both of them for breakfast. She put in a valiant effort trying to get him to not order his usual iced americano, but in the end, he was too set in his ways. Kibum listened to her, though, and got an iced earl grey latte with a couple of shots of espresso. They said goodbye before they hit the highway again so that the sudden lack of service didn’t cut the conversation short.

“She’s fun,” Minho said as Kibum finally set his phone on his lap, and Kibum smiled.

“Yeah, I taught her well.”

Minho snorted, then nodded at his phone. “Go ahead and put something on.”

Kibum grabbed it and unlocked it, scrolling through his music and setting it on shuffle, gasping when he saw that it was a song from one of his favorite girl groups. He turned the music up a little louder, absently singing along until he noticed Minho glancing at him with an amused smile.

“What?”

Minho shook his head, his smile growing as he turned the music up a little louder, and Kibum went back to singing along.

It was a pleasant drive back to the cafe. Somehow, he wasn’t sick of the smell of tangerines yet, and they perfumed the whole car. There were still a few clouds in the sky, puffy and white compared to yesterday’s blanket of gray. “A Toy Story sky,” he called it, looking over to see Minho smile at the reference, and as he did, he spotted a vast field of yellow and pink flowers on Minho’s side of the road. He leaned toward the dashboard to see it better, the movement catching Minho’s attention. He glanced at Kibum, then over at the field.

“Oh, yeah, it’s pretty, isn’t it?” Kibum nodded even though Minho wasn’t looking at him. “I’d like to go try to paint it someday.”

“Why not right now?”

Minho’s brow furrowed as he chuckled. “I don’t have my oils.”

“Yeah, but you’re watercolors—“

“I know, but I’d want to use oils for those.”

“Well, we should go before I head home.” Minho blinked, not looking away from the road. “If only to get reference pictures.”

“You’d want to come with me?” he asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Unless you don’t want me to?”

“No, I do. It’d be fun.”

Kibum smiled, looking back at the road and seeing a sign for the turn-off fast approaching. His heart started to sink—their time alone was coming to an end.

He looked away over the countryside, nibbling on his lower lip. He was being ridiculous and he needed to snap out of whatever this was as soon as possible. Even with that thought lingering in the back of his mind, he was still reluctant to leave the tiny car once Minho parked behind the cafe.

“You can run in and get Jonghyun. He can help carry these in.”

Kibum shot him a disgruntled look. “I can do it.”

“Yeah, but he should do at least a little of the work with these, don’t you think.”

“True.” Smirking, Kibum turned, popping the door open and letting himself out.

He knocked a few times on the backdoor before racing footsteps approached and Taeyeon pushed the door open. She gave him a relieved smile, ushering him inside. “Did you get breakfast? Do you need lunch?”

“Calm down, mom, I’m fine. Is Jjong up front?”

She nodded, and Kibum left her side, making his way through the door. “Hey, Minho wants”—But he was enveloped in a suffocating hug, forcing him to squeak out—“you to go help with the tangerines.”

“We were so worried about you guys.”

“Okay,” Kibum said, patting Jonghyun’s back. “Well, we’re okay, so…”

“Yeah…” Jonghyun squeezed him a little tighter, just for a second, before letting go to head into the kitchen.

Kibum followed a few steps behind him, finding Minho already inside with one of the baskets, towering over Taeyeon as he set it on the counter beside her. His back was to him as he directed Jonghyun, squabbling with him about how much they had brought back before Jonghyun slipped out the back door. Kibum still made his way over to them, leaning against the counter on the other side of her.

“How is there more than this?” she asked, pulling one out to eat, apparently, given that she just started peeling it.

Minho turned back around. “That’s the smaller one.”

“Smaller?”

Kibum snorted, glancing at Minho over her head and smiling when he met his gaze. Jonghyun came in a second later, his arms wrapped around the basket. “It’s stupid how many you got.”

“Not my problem anymore,” Minho said with an almost roguish grin. “I’ve gonna go get my tire replaced. See ya.” He looked around at everyone, his eyes settling on Kibum last before he jogged out of the kitchen. “Be back in a bit!” he yelled back before he disappeared beyond the threshold.

Kibum watched the empty doorway for a few seconds more, coming to when he felt Taeyeon’s scrutiny. His eyes flicked to meet hers, and she smiled to herself before eating another segment of her tangerine, her attention returning to Jonghyun as he stood, hands on his hips, surveying the two baskets.

“What the am I supposed to do with all this?”

“No idea.”

“Sorbet?” Taeyeon suggested, grabbing another one.

“But for what, though?”

“That might be good in a cocktail,” Kibum said.

“I’ve already got a tangerine cocktail, , I can’t make another one.”

Kibum rolled his eyes, grabbing one for himself and holding it up to his squinting eye. “Does it have to be for the store?”

“I guess not.”

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Taeyeon said, scooping up the peels and carrying them over to the trash. “We open in an hour.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jonghyun grumbled, taking the less full of the two baskets up to the bar.

As soon as the door swung shut behind him, Taeyeon snorted, and Kibum glanced toward the door. “Did it not go well last night?” Kibum whispered as he sidled back up to her.

“No, it did.”

Kibum squinted at her then past as she started thinly slicing green onions on a bias. “So why is he frustrated?”

“That’s a whole conversation, but,” she paused, glancing at the door as she scraped the onions sticking to her blade off into the bowl beside her. “I got the impression that they almost kissed last night.”

“What?” Kibum whisper-shouted, but she still shushed him.

“That’s what he said, anyways.” She nodded toward the kitchen. “But I guess only time will tell.”

“Interesting.”

Neither spoke for a moment, letting the rhythmic shink-shink-shink of her knife and Jonghyun’s muted banging around in the front of the house fill the silence. Then, suddenly, she asked, “Where’d you guys end up sleeping?”

He blinked at the question, looking back at her, but she had turned away, grabbing her prepared bean sprouts to add to the bowl. “Uh, his car. It was—” Cramped. Miniscule. Confining. “—surprisingly comfortable, considering.” She hummed, and he hurried to explain, “Obviously not my first choice. But we made it work.” She hummed again. His eyes narrowed. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

She looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. Was he just being paranoid? “Nevermind. I’m gonna try to look for something we can do with these,” he said, nodding across the kitchen to the tangerines.

He hefted himself up on the counter beside the basket, whipping out his phone and typing tangerine recipes into the search bar. There were a few things, but nothing sounded good, so after a few moments of fruitless searching, he switched his keyboard to English, tapping on the prompt for “tangerine marmalade”. He mouthed the word as he scanned the recipe, then hopped off the counter.

“Do you have sugar? Like a lot of it?”

“Uh,” Taeyeon looked up from her phone, too, hiding the screen when Kibum approached to search on that side of the kitchen for some. “Yeah, in the pantry. Why?”

“I was thinking we could make marmalade,” he said, heading back there, finding a half-full bin of sugar on the shelf. He checked the recipe again. Yeah, that should be enough.

He had just finished getting everything set up when there came the crunch of tires against gravel outside. Kibum leaned back, catching a glimpse of Minho’s car as he drove down to his end of the row of shops. Would he come back over? Or would he have his shop open for a few hours?

His question was answered a moment later when Minho bounded in, smiling at Kibum when he looked over. “Good, you’re back. Come here and help me.” He came without question, looking over his shoulder as Kibum finished peeling the first of the tangerines. “You can peel, I’ll chop the rinds.”

“Just be careful, that knife looks sharp.”

He pursed his lips for a second to keep from grinning. “Okay.”

“How much do we need?” Minho asked after a few quiet moments, to which Kibum shrugged. They were standing close enough that his shoulder brushed against Minho’s. “So it won’t matter if I just—” Minho popped a segment in his mouth, laughing when Kibum smacked at his hand. “What, do you think we’re gonna run out?”

“No, we just—hey!” he exclaimed when Minho did it again. “You’re terrible.”

“Taeyeon,” Minho said, looking over his shoulder. “Kibum is bullying me.”

“Kibum, be nice,” Taeyeon said disinterestedly as Minho shied away from Kibum’s elbow digging into his ribs.

“Tell him to leave me alone, then.”

“No.”

“Get away from me,” Kibum said to Minho when he came back up beside him.

“Kids, stop fighting.”

They both looked back at Taeyeon, Minho laughing as she gestured between them with her knife. He turned back around first, Kibum looking up at him for a second, half-aware of just how fond his expression must be at the moment. He came to before Minho noticed his distractedness and went back to slicing the rinds.

Once they got everything in the pot, he let Minho stir it uncertainly as he turned to Taeyeon. “We need to go get canning stuff, can you watch this for a bit?”

“I don’t need to stir it constantly, do I?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

She shrugged, turning back around to continue prepping. “Yeah, alright then.”

A few moments later, he and Minho were back in his car, pulling out and driving around the boardwalk. “Where do we even find canning stuff?”

“At the grocery store? I think that’s where my grandma would get it from.”

“Did she do a lot of canning?”

“Oh my god, so much. She always wanted me and Yerim to have our favorite summer fruits during the winter.”

“That’s really sweet. Literally,” he added after a second, and he laughed when Kibum smacked him.

“She was, yeah.”

When they reached the grocery store, Minho trailed after him down the aisles, balancing everything he handed him in his arms. They were back at the cafe just in time to divide the marmalade between the jars they had just bought.

They had filled almost six when Minho let out an excited /oh!/ and left his side, going to the other side of the kitchen and grabbing Taeyeon’s canister of gochugaru. Kibum looked at the flakes, then up at Minho.

“Are you insane?”

“What? You don’t think it’ll taste good?”

“I mean…”

“Spicy and sweet!” When Kibum didn’t answer right away, Minho’s eyebrows slid up pleadingly. “Please?”

Kibum looked away from him, sighing. He tipped the pot towards him, checking the contents. “What will we even use it for?”

“I don’t know.”

Sighing again, Kibum scooped out two more spoonfuls, filling the sixth jar. “Fine. But not too much.” Minho popped the container, grabbing a healthy pinch and dumping it in before going for another. “Nope,” Kibum said, turning his back on Minho, protecting the rest of the marmalade as he stirred the chili flakes into it. “Go put it back.” He waited until he could hear Minho’s receding footsteps before he set the pot back down and started to fill the last two jars.

Taeyeon shooed them out of the kitchen by the time they pulled the last of the jars out of the water bath because even though they were tucked into a corner and as out of the way as two grown men could be, it was a small kitchen and the lunch rush. She needed the space.

So, they went back to Minho’s shop, Kibum sitting on his usual stool and keeping Minho company while he tidied up, ignoring the thought yet again that they needed to not hang around each other as much. But, that could wait until tomorrow. It’d be weird to completely ditch him after their little trip, right?

Well…

In theory, it was a good idea, but for whatever reason, each day that followed he was unable to make himself stay away. From Minho, from his studio, from helping him set up for his summer classes and then helping him tear it all down. In a word, they were inseparable, and no matter how many times he mentally berated himself, he couldn’t seem to find the willpower to stay away.

Which, truth be told, was just plain odd for him. But he could ignore that, too.

Because Minho was fun to be around. Sure, he could be annoying and loud and mischievous, but he was funny and sweet and kind-hearted in a way that Joonwoo had never been in all the years they’d been together.

“What I really need to do,” he muttered to himself one day when he was walking down the boardwalk to get their lunch. “Is try not to compare the two of them anymore.”

No such luck, of course.

Especially not with a day at the beach the following day, as it was one of Jonghyun and Minho’s last days off before Kibum had to head home. Just two more weeks and he’d be home—well, back to Daegu to catch up with his family after their European vacation.

No volleyball today, yet somehow Minho convinced Kibum to come down to play in the water with him and Jonghyun. Jinki joined them, too, after a while but they mostly stuck together in ankle-deep water while Minho picked Kibum up to toss him into the waves. Only, Kibum fought against him so much that he lost balance and they both tumbled into the water.

Minho came up laughing, then laughing harder still when Kibum pushed him back under for a second. When he came back up, Kibum was still sitting there as the waves crashed and sprayed around him, shaking his head. Minho, who had looked for a second like he was about to get up, settled beside him.

Jonghyun called something out to them, but the sea was too loud for either of them to hear. Kibum cupped his hand around his ear, leaning toward them a bit to hear Jonghyun say, “What do you guys want to drink?”

Minho leaned closer, his bare shoulder pressing into Kibum’s. “What do you want?”

Kibum shrugged, then called back, “Just surprise us!”

Both Jonghyun and Jinki gave them a thumbs up, then Jinki’s hand settled on Jonghyun’s waist as he said something to him. Then, after a few pats, he dropped his hand and they turned to leave the sea.

Kibum watched the pair of them traipse away across the white sand to where the girls were lounging. Another wave crashed over them, and Kibum closed his eyes until it started to recede, but once he opened them, he’d lost sight of them. Minho grunted as he stood, then turned, holding his hand out to Kibum to help him up.

He eyed his palm warily, squinting up into his cheery face. “How do I know you’re not gonna just push me into the water again?”

“You’ll just have to trust me.”

Ha. If it hadn’t been so bright, he would have rolled his eyes.

He reached out, taking Minho’s hand. His grip was firm. Warm, somehow, but that could just be the sun bearing down on them. He hefted Kibum up, steadily on his feet, neither letting go right away.

To have somewhere else to look beside Minho, he glanced around, finding Taemin half-buried in the sand and scooping more over him. “Should we go help him out?”

Minho hummed in question, and when Kibum nodded over to Taemin, he snorted. “Yeah, sure.”

But he didn’t move. Not until Kibum finally released his hand. Kibum watched the back of his head, the sway and bounce of his wavy wet hair as he jogged a few steps. Trust was a fickle thing, wasn’t it? But, you have to start somewhere. Sometime, he reminded himself as he started after him.

* * * * *

“Yeah, okay, I see what you mean, now,” Jonghyun said as Jinki returned to his side after tripping over a protruding shell and falling into the ocean.

“About what?”

Jonghyun nodded out at the sea, and Jinki turned to see Minho scooping Kibum up and laughing as Kibum clung to him, yelling at him to put him down. Jinki sniffed a quiet laugh, looking back at Jonghyun. “I’m just glad I’m not crazy.”

“I never said that!” Jonghyun said indignantly, which only made Jinki laugh.

“It was implied.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Jinki turned back out at the sea, his satisfied smile shifting to a grin when both Kibum and Minho fell together into the ocean. “Serves them right.” He nodded, looking back at Jonghyun, their gazes meeting.

In that second, Jonghyun realized that this was the first time they had been alone since they said goodbye on Jinki’s porch. Granted, they weren’t as alone as he’d like to be, given they were on a crowded beach, but…

His attention dropped to Jinki’s wet t-shirt and swim trunks, and he cleared his throat. “Do you want to go dry off?”

“That’d probably be nice, yeah.”

“We can bring drinks back for everyone, too.”

“Sounds good.” Kibum was no help, and neither was Minho and Taemin. Taeyeon and Sooyoung offered to help him make the drinks, but Jinki’s hand went to his waist again. “I can help him.”

Taeyeon’s expression brightened a fraction as her gaze shifted back to Jonghyun, and he worked very hard not to start laughing. Out of nerves or happiness, he wasn’t sure. Both, probably.

They jogged across the street, their slides slapping against their heels with every step, and to Jinki’s shop. “Lucky I didn’t lose these, huh?” Jinki asked as he dug his keys out of his pocket. He shook some of the excess water off of them with a jingle, and let them in. “Go ahead and lock it. We can go out the back way.”

“Okay.” He held it closed, switching the deadbolt before following the damp trail Jinki was leaving to his office.

Jinki’s shirt had been discarded, but his back was turned to the door as he slid his head through a dry t-shirt. Jonghyun leaned against the threshold, averting his eyes so Jinki didn’t feel uncomfortable. His attention shifted to his desk, and he snorted, reaching in to grab Together for a Day.

“So is this any good?” he asked, flipping through it until he reached the bookmark.

The bracelet from the book fair. His was tucked under his pillow so Kibum would stop teasing him about it, but he was hopelessly in love with Jinki or as close as he could be without actually dating him. But…

“You kept this?” His voice was softer than he would have liked as Jinki turned around to look at the book.

“Of course.”

“Do…do you usually?”

Jinki’s gaze met his. “No, I don’t.” Jonghyun blinked as a smile glimmered in Jinki’s eyes, his hand going to Jonghyun’s waist again. “I’m ready.”

Ready?

Oh, right, to go make drinks.

Jonghyun backed out the doorway, Jinki’s hand lingering for a second more before he lowered it and followed him out. He waited beside him as he locked the alley entrance to his shop, then Jinki followed him to the back door of the cafe. Jonghyun let him in first, closing and locking the door behind them while Jinki made his way up to the bar.

“What do you want me to do?” Jinki asked when Jonghyun joined him behind the bar.

“Oh, you can just keep me company. This shouldn’t take long.”

“Works for me.” But Jinki didn’t move around to sit behind the bar. He stayed, leaning against the bar, sorta out of his way as Jonghyun bent to get his different teas and juices and boba. “Listen, Jjong,” he said after a minute, once Jonghyun had spooned the variety of boba into the seven different cups. He looked up as he scooped the ice and was just about to tip some of it into the first cup when Jinki added, “I want to ask you out on a date. A real one.”

Taemin’s cup got the full scoop of ice, which was unfortunately over capacity. It spilled out onto the counter and the floor, but Jonghyun just stared at Jinki. “Is this some sort of joke?”

“Why would I joke about something like this?”

Well, yeah, that was true, however…

“I’m just…you like me?” Jinki gave him a shy grin and nodded. “How…long?”

“A while now, if I’m being honest, which I already know I should be if I don’t want you to break up with me.”

Jonghyun let out a breathy, would-be sarcastic laugh, and he turned his wide eyes to the scattered ice. To the overfilled cup. He picked up a piece of the ice, tossing it into the sink. “I’m sorry, I just—” Don’t say it. Don’t you say it. “—I’ve wanted this for so long—” .

“I know.”

. “You did?” He couldn’t even look at him anymore. Was this a pity thing? Was that why this was happening?

“No offense, but you were kinda obvious.” If the ground could just swallow him up right now, it would be kinder. “I thought it was cute.” Slowly, Jonghyun looked up, meeting Jinki’s eyes again. “But, that's why I had to be absolutely sure before I came to you.”

Jonghyun tapped the empty ice scoop on the counter, filling the silence. “Am I the only guy you’ve ever…had any sort of feelings for?”

To his utter surprise, Jinki shook his head. “You’re the only one who’s ever made me want to confront those feelings, though.”

Ah, well… “If we do this, it’s gonna be a lot different than what you’re used to. With women.”

Jinki chuckled. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

How the hell was he so calm right now? Some of his question must have been legible in his expression because Jinki sobered slightly. “Look, Jjong, if it’s too much right now, I understand.”

“No, no, I’m just not…not sure that this is actually happening. I guess.”

Jinki’s smile returned, softer than before, if that were even possible. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Jonghyun shrugged, so Jinki stepped forward, relieving Jonghyun of the empty scoop and setting it on the counter beside them. He took his hand in his, his touch gentle. Jonghyun looked up at him, his heartbeat quickening in his ears. “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

As if he would have, or even could have, said no to that question. But…even Jinki seemed to be holding his breath, waiting for confirmation. “If you’re sure, then—” He couldn’t bring himself to finish that, just in case, so he nodded.

Jinki leaned a little closer, then, his nose nearly brushing Jonghyun’s. Halfway in, waiting for Jonghyun to meet him. So, before he could talk himself out of it, he went up on his tiptoes a little, finally…finally kissing Jinki.

He consciously held himself back, just in case Jinki changed his mind. Any second now, he’d pull away, scrub his lips clean of him, and say he had made a mistake. It had happened to him before…but…no…

Jinki’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist, pulling him closer as he deepened the kiss. Jonghyun relaxed at last, smiling when Jinki did. “Should we go tell the others the good news?” Jinki whispered once he pulled away, his lips softly brushing against Jonghyun’s with every word.

Jonghyun’s heart did a giddy little flip, and he was barely able to contain his smile. “They’re sorta smart. Let them figure it out.”

Jinki laughed and Jonghyun, who felt as though he had done more than enough waiting in his life, kissed him again.

* * * * *

“What’s taking them so long?” Taemin asked, still brushing sand off of himself as Kibum sat on the other side of Taeyeon’s towel. She cast a glance at Sooyoung, who suppressed a smile. “Should I go get them?”

“No!” the girls said together, and Minho froze halfway to sitting down on Sooyoung’s towel. “Just let them be,” Sooyoung said.

“They’ll come back when they’re ready,” Taeyeon added, and Kibum turned his head when he saw Minho look his way in his peripheral vision.

He leaned a little closer so Minho could whisper, “Is it time, do you think?”

Kibum nodded as Minho pulled away, and he mouthed We’ll see as Taemin draped himself across both towels, only for Taeyeon to immediately prop her feet up on his stomach. Despite Taemin’s protests, Sooyoung joined her. Minho was about to do the same when Kibum spotted the door to the cafe opening, Jonghyun and Jinki emerging with drinks in hand. He smacked Minho’s arm, nodding across the street to them.

All five of them watched their progress across the road, then the sand. Kibum squinted as he looked up at them when they reached the towel, smiling slowly when he saw just how big Jonghyun’s smile was.

“Here,” Jinki said, crouching to set the drink carrier on Taemin’s chest while Jonghyun went around to give Taeyeon her drink. Ignoring Taemin’s grumbling as he tried to sit up without spilling, he continued, “We’re gonna head out.”

“On a date,” Jonghyun added, as if unable to contain it any longer.

Minho froze as he was reaching out to grab his and Kibum’s drinks, looking up at the pair of them with a bright grin. “It’s about time!”

Taeyeon aimed a kick at him, but her legs were too short and her heel landed hard on Taemin’s stomach. He coughed roughly, clearly offended, and made to get up, but Minho saved the drinks from his chest before he could spill them. Taeyeon warded him off with an outstretched hand pressed against his chest, ignoring him to look up at Jonghyun. “Go ahead and stay out however late you want. Minho can drive us home.”

“Oh, it shouldn’t be that late,” Jinki said, his attention trailing over to Jonghyun when his head snapped toward him. Jinki’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Or…maybe it will be?”

“Don’t wait up,” Jonghyun said, his smile somehow growing bigger than before. And with that, he grabbed Jinki’s arms, pulling him away while the others called Have fun! and Bye! after them.

“You don’t mind being volunteered, do you?” Taeyeon asked Minho as Kibum sidled up next to him, grabbing his and Minho’s drinks from the tray.

“Nope.” Kibum passed Minho his and sat back, watching him until he settled beside him, then he held out his drink to him. Though confused, Minho clinked the rim of his against Kibum’s. “What’d we toast to?” he asked as Kibum finally took a sip of his tea.

“To a job well done, of course.”

Minho snorted as he took a sip from his straw. “I still say we didn’t do anything.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong. We were integral.”

“Whatever you say,” Minho said, shaking his head with a small smile.

Jonghyun and Jinki didn’t reappear before sunset, and Taemin’s older brother had long since gotten him to help him close up shop. So now, he, Minho, Taeyeon, and Sooyoung were sitting in her bakery, wiling away the time while they waited for Sooyoung’s boyfriend to come pick her up. They were splitting their second croissant when a familiar car pulled up, only it was Taeyeon’s boyfriend, not Sooyoung’s.

Kibum frowned as she started to gather her things. “I thought you were going home?”

“I was going to, but he got off work early, so…”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“You don’t mind, do you, Minho?” He shook his head quickly, not meeting Kibum’s eye when he looked his way. She glanced back at Sooyoung, who immediately sipped her coffee to hide her smile.

They stayed with her until her boyfriend arrived, too, standing together on the boardwalk as she locked her front door and waved goodbye to them before he swept her away into his car.

Minho cleared his throat as the car rounded the corner and disappeared, scratching the nape of his neck as he looked back at Kibum. “Kinda weird that everyone else is on dates, huh?”

“Taemin probably isn’t.”

“He might be, you never know.”

Kibum chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets, the breeze toying with his overshirt. “Seems kinda early to go home, though.”

“Well, I mean…” Kibum looked up at him, curious and slightly concerned at what he was about to say. As much as he had thought about it, he knew he wasn’t ready for anything yet, and if Minho were about to— “There is a new episode tonight, and I’m not gonna not watch it just because Jonghyun is on a date.”

Kibum grinned, relaxing immediately. “Let’s get some snacks and then head to his place. How much time do we have?” Kibum asked as they made their way around to the back of Minho’s studio.

He dug his phone out of his pocket, tapping the screen. “Uh, about forty-five minutes.”

“That’s plenty of time.” It was just enough time for them to get all the snacks and drinks their hearts desired and plaster on two of Kibum’s sheet masks before the new episode of Minho and Jonghyun’s drama started. Luckily, Kibum had been here for the full thing, so he didn’t have any questions about who was who and what the was happening. “ that he’s missing the finale,” Kibum said as he fished around for a chip.

“I have a feeling it hasn’t even crossed his mind,” Minho said as the opening theme started playing.

Yeah, okay, that was probably true.

By the time the finale ended, it was still too early to call it a night, they decided. So, while Minho searched for another drama for them to start, Kibum tossed their face masks and finished his skincare routine after changing into his pajamas. Minho still had the clip holding his fringe back on when Kibum came back in, mindlessly snacking on some honeyed rice crisps.

“I’ve already watched this one but I think you’ll like it,” Minho said, his mouth half full as Kibum sat beside him again.

“You don’t mind a rerun?” he asked, tipping the bag in Minho’s hand toward him so he could snack, too.

Minho shook his head, pressing play. “I haven’t seen it in ages so it’ll probably be fresh.”

They were two episodes in when Kibum started to get drowsy. He rested his head on Minho’s shoulder during a commercial break, staring blankly at the screen as a female voiceover talked energetically about a new vacuum.

“Do you want to go to bed?” Minho asked. He must have been looking down at him because each word gently buffeted Kibum’s hair. “We can stop it here and I can go home.”

Kibum shook his head. “I can hold off until we finish the episode at least.” He sniffed, his gaze tracking the smooth turn of the vacuum. “I should get one of those.”

“The vacuum?” Minho asked, a laugh in his voice.

“Mhm. I think I’d clean all day and do nothing else.”

“Just be sure to swing by my place so you can clean it, too.”

“That’ll be twenty million won per hour, then, honey.”

Minho chuckled. “Good thing it’ll only take you like three minutes because I don’t have that kind of money.”

Kibum snorted softly as the commercial ended, scooting a little closer to Minho without lifting his head so he didn’t have to strain his neck anymore.

He didn’t make it to the end of the episode. In fact, he barely remembered the rest of the commercial break. But when he woke in the morning, Minho was still there, asleep beside him, the blanket from the back of the couch draped over them. Slowly, so he didn’t disturb him, Kibum lifted his head and moved away from him and out from under the blanket.

Quiet clinking sounds in the kitchen drew his attention away from arranging the blanket around Minho. He quickly patted it in place going around the corner to find his aunt making a pot of coffee.

“Is he up, too?” she asked as Kibum sat down on one of the stools on the counter. He shook his head, and she grabbed two cups. “Where are Taeng and Jjong?”

“On dates,” Kibum said, stifling a yawn behind his hand. “Did they not come back?”

“Not yet.” She poured coffee into one of the cups, handing it to Kibum, who reached over the counter for the sugar cubes. “Who is Jjong out with?”

“Jinki.”

She sighed heavily, taking some sugar for herself, and plopping them in the dark brew. “It’s about time.”

Kibum grinned as he offered her the spoon so she could stir the sugar into her coffee. “Right?”

“So, was this a date, too?” When Kibum looked confused, she nodded toward the living room, then smiled when Kibum’s face inflamed. “No?”

“Uh, no. Everyone else left us, so…”

“I see.”

Kibum’s coffee was almost to the right drinking temperature by the time Minho joined him at the counter, murmuring his thanks to Aunt Miyeon when she poured him a cup of coffee, too. “I did mean to leave after you fell asleep, but I didn’t want to wake you up,” he said, rubbing his hand over his face before yawning. “I was thinking—“

“Good for you,” Kibum said, sipping his coffee and grinning when Minho made to shove him but didn’t.

“Today is my last day off before you have to head home.”

“Mm.”

“So…if you still wanted to go with me to get pictures of that flower field…”

“Oh. Hm…”

Did he?

Well, yes he did. The pictures he could get would look good on his Instagram, and…more time with Minho would be nice, too. But, would it be smart to spend so much time with him when he was already conflicted about his growing feelings?

Though, now that he was thinking about it, what were a few more hours in the grand scheme of things? Wasn’t he already gonna be apart from him for the majority of the year? He could put off clarity of mind until he boarded his plane home.

“Yeah, just let me shower and change, first.”

He caught a glimpse of Aunt Miyeon’s amused expression as he slipped off the stool, but, like everything else in his life lately, he ignored it.

He showered quickly, leaving him ample time to pick his outfit for the day. Something cute, because flowers, but effortless, so Minho didn’t think he was putting the thought that he /was/ into his choice.

He laid out beige shorts, a pair of bright pink socks, and a pale periwinkle button-down with embroidered white flowers on it. His white ball cap, too, and his Converse. He scanned his jewelry as he tied on his first shoe, picking up a chunky beaded necklace to put on only to then spot a bright purple scarf. That’d be nice if it got too warm and he needed to wick sweat away…He wrapped the necklace around his wrist instead, tying on the scarf when he returned to the bathroom to check his hair.

Once he was happy with the way it was laying, he returned to Minho in the living room. “Ready!”

Minho looked up at him, his gaze lingering as he scanned Kibum before standing. “My turn!”

“You have clothes here?”

Scoffing, Minho shook his head and made his way out to the backyard, Kibum trailing behind him. “Aunt Miyeon?” Her head peeked out from over the scallions in her garden. “We’re heading out! Thank you for letting me crash here for the night,” he said, bowing to her.

She smiled, waving them away. “Anytime, honey!”

Minho’s hand found Kibum’s back, and he gave him a gentle push toward the backdoor. It was only when they were already pulling out of the driveway that Kibum realized that he had forgotten his sunglasses.

He got out of the car with Minho when they got to his studio, Kibum lingering there with his camera in hand while Minho jogged upstairs for a quick shower and change of his clothes. And, when he said quick, he meant it, because he was back downstairs in maybe five minutes, hair still damp and very askew, a pair of his paint-flecked jeans and black t-shirt on. He jogged the few steps across the room to Kibum, taking the camera when he offered it to him, a wave of his lightly spicy cologne wafting over Kibum.

Hm.

His eyes darted from speck to fleck of paint before glancing up at Minho himself.

Maybe it wasn’t that bad of a look.

His eyes widened slightly as he looked away. Maybe he was already too far gone if he was thinking that about paint-stained clothes.

He could never admit this aloud, though.

Minho finished replacing the SD card in his camera before he looked down at Kibum. “Ready to head out?”

“Mhm.” Minho led the way out, locking the door behind Kibum, who was plugging his phone into the aux cord by the time Minho slid into the driver’s seat. “You’re in luck, I made a playlist that’s only Michael Bublé.”

“Shut the up,” Minho said with a laugh as he pulled out, and Kibum hit shuffle, a girl group song filling the speakers.

It wasn’t that long of a drive, or maybe it just didn’t seem like it was. With the open road and the nice breeze streaming in through the windows and the cerulean sky with puffs of clouds and the bright, summery music playing, it would have been hard not to relax and enjoy himself. Minho pulled off to an off-road after a while, taking them down to a tiny parking lot with a scenic outlook and a few meandering paths that led into the vast fields of flowers surrounding them.

Kibum leaned forward, poking his head out of the window and breathing in the sweet floral fragrance clinging to the breeze. They were all myriad colors—how Minho would pick his eventual color palette, Kibum shuddered to think—though, in some areas, there were more yellow or pink flowers.

Minho just barely parked before Kibum unbuckled and let himself out, nearly running for the nearest path. “Bum, hold on!” He paused at the start of the path, watching Minho grab his camera before jogging over to him. “I didn’t know you were that excited about this.”

“I just really like flowers, okay?”

“Okay,” Minho said back, clearly amused. “Lead the way.”

And so he did, Minho hanging back every once in a while to snap a few pictures. He caught up to Kibum when he stopped at a stretch of dark and light pink flowers, and he let his camera dangle around his neck as he reached for his phone. “Here, let me get a few shots of you.” Kibum looked up at him. “For your Instagram.”

“Yeah, alright.” Being careful not to crush any of the blossoms, Kibum stepped into the tall grass. “Where do you want me?”

“Wherever works for you.”

Kibum sat in the sea of pink flowers, his hands moving up to adjust his cap after a few moments of mindless poses. “It’s so pretty out here.”

“Yeah, it is,” Minho said, eventually lowering his phone when Kibum started to get up. “Wait, let me get some with my camera, too.”

Kibum looked up at him in surprise as he pocketed his phone again. “Would you paint it?”

“Yeah, I’d like to try. I’ve been thinking about attempting portraits lately.”

“Aren’t portraits usually close-ups?”

Minho laughed, lowering his camera. “Yeah, but let me ease into it. I’m a landscape artist, Bum.”

“Whatever.” Minho hid his smile behind his camera, crouching down for a different angle. Don’t say it…don’t… “I’m just saying, shouldn’t you get some up-close shots, too?”

“Probably.” Minho lowered his camera, neither of them looking away from the other. “Would you be okay with that?”

Slowly, Kibum nodded, and Minho looked away, stepping in Kibum’s footprints to join him in the field. Kibum took off his hat, running his fingers through his hair as he glanced around. There had to be some smaller flowers around here somewhere.

“Hold on,” he said, standing when Minho reached him. “There was this photoshoot one of my clients did this spring that I liked.” He pinched a tiny blossom off of one stem, then a slightly bigger one off of another. “Can you put these around my eyes?” he asked as he knelt amidst the flowers again, holding the blossoms out to Minho to take. “Just here and here,” he said, pointing to both corners of his eyes.

Minho set them gently in place, adjusting the one so it rested against the bridge of his nose. “Can I fix your hair, too? It’s kinda sticking up.”

“Yeah, of course.”

He bent over him, his fingers oh so lightly primping Kibum’s hair this way and that, making the tiniest adjustments. “Okay, is this the pose, or…”

“Uh, I think he had his hand in his hair, too.” So Kibum put his hand up, messing up what Minho just fixed, probably.

Before Minho took his pictures, he pressed the blossoms into place gently again, just to make sure they stayed put. The shutters snapped a few times before Minho pulled his camera away from his eye, and crouched down beside Kibum to show him the digital display. “You okay with these?”

Kibum hummed his assent, pressing his thumb over Minho’s to go back and forth over the snapshots. “I think these turned out better than the original.”

Laughing, Minho slapped Kibum’s back before he got up, only to hold his hand out to help Kibum up. “Come on, let’s go check out the other side.”

They didn’t stay nearly as long as Kibum would have liked, though any longer and they might as well have held hands while strolling through the flower fields. Which…no, don’t think that. Minho got several more pictures, a few of them of Kibum, before they left, heading back to Minho’s studio.

He kept Minho company while he uploaded the pictures to his computer and started on a few quick sketches for the shop. He was able to finish about five, complete with little post-it notes listing which colors he was thinking should go. Kibum sat beside him on the stool, helping him as much as he could with his opinions on colors and always being ready with a post-it note when Minho needed one.

To both of their surprise, the cafe was open and Jonghyun was behind the bar, chatting amiably with the customers sitting there as they walked up to their usual spot in the corner. He slid their way after he finished making the customers’ drinks at the other end, his grin hilariously cheery. “What can I get you?” he asked, glancing between them.

“I don’t care,” Minho said as Kibum asked, “How was the date?”

“Oh, you know.”

“I don’t need the gory details,” Kibum said quickly when Jonghyun leaned closer.

Minho snorted, elbowing Kibum, as Jonghyun laughed and said, “That’s probably for the best. It went…very well.”

“Good. Give me one of those sunset drinks, then.”

“Yeah, me too,” Minho added.

“Coming right up!”

The remainder of his vacation flew by, his time torn between Minho—who, true to his word, took no more days off to push through the final batch of summer tourists—and his cousins, who kept him quite occupied with shopping trips when they didn’t have to work. On the morning of his flight, Minho arrived at the house early, which made Kibum pack a lot more haphazardly than he would have usually. Everything that he vaguely recognized as his made it into his suitcases. The marmalades jars were wrapped individually twice before being triple bagged, just in case they broke on the flight. He lugged his suitcases out into the main room before joining the rest of the family—and Minho—for breakfast before Jonghyun and Minho took him to the airport.

Like he had when Kibum first arrived, Minho took care of his luggage, hefting everything but his carry-on onto the scale for him while he checked into his flight. Jonghyun pulled him into a hug, squeezing him tightly right outside of the security checkpoint.

“You’re coming back next year, right?”

“I’ll do my best,” he said, catching Minho’s eye over Jonghyun’s shoulder and rolling his eyes. Minho grinned, glancing away.

“Have a safe flight, okay?”

“Jjong, it’s just to Daegu. I’ll be okay.”

“I know, but you never know.”

Kibum patted his back a few times before he leaned away, and Jonghyun let him go, relinquishing him to Minho, who wrapped him in a hug, too. He closed his eyes, leaning into him. Neither of them spoke for a second, and the silence was broken when Kibum said “You’ll post pictures of the finished paintings, won’t you?” softly.

“Definitely. Do you want me to tag you?”

“Do you know how to do that?”

Minho chuckled, and Kibum patted his back, pulling away to look up at him. “I’ll figure it out. Just for you.”

“Thanks.” He patted Minho’s sides before he stepped away. “I’ll text you when I’ve landed, okay!” They both nodded, then waved as Kibum turned, heading for the back of the line.

They stayed until Kibum reached the front of the line, where he turned to wave to them one last time. Jonghyun turned away almost immediately, but Minho stayed, going up on his tiptoes for one last wave before Jonghyun tugged him away. Kibum made it past the ID check, and when he turned back to see if they were still there for whatever reason.

But they weren’t.

A pang of longing turned to a sort of…loneliness pooling in his heart, and he sighed heavily, turning back to head further in.

* * * * *

You’re being…so stupid… Minho thought forlornly as he trudged after Jonghyun to the car. It’s not like you can’t talk to him while he’s not here.

He took a deep breath in when he reached Jonghyun’s car, letting it all out before he opened the passenger-side door. As he started to get in, he froze when he found Jonghyun watching him. “What?”

“How’re you doing, kiddo?”

“Kiddo?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Jonghyun said, pointing at him. “Are you ever gonna tell him?”

Minho blinked rapidly, and he could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. “What?”

“Are you really gonna make me say it.”

Gulping, Minho sat back in his seat, buckling himself in. “Am I that obvious?” he asked at last.

Jonghyun chuckled as he started the car, throwing him an exasperated glance before shaking his head and starting for home.

He left the Kim’s house almost as soon as they arrived back, eager as he was to get back to his paintings. There were several that he just had finishing touches left on, and he was still struggling to find the perfect shade of periwinkle to match Kibum’s shirt. What felt like near-constant interruptions by customers didn’t help much either, as they kept pulling him away from his work. But, as he had to keep reminding himself, they were the reason he was able to stay in business.

He painted throughout lunch, finishing the clouds of one and the flowers of another, and was about to add a bit more definition and shadow to the stalks of another when he remembered that he should probably flip his sign again.

Despite Jonghyun’s pouting, Minho ordered his dinner to-go, just like old times, painting between bites.

By the time the sun was setting, though, he was done. With all of them. Except for the signing. So he thinned a few of the brighter colors—and periwinkle for the one with Kibum in it—signing each of them quickly. Then he spread them out, inspecting them critically.

The one with Kibum would be getting posted, of course, but which other two should he choose? Well, he liked the shadows on the clouds of this one, and that one, he’d done a pretty good job depicting the breeze that had been sweeping over the field at the time, so…

He took a picture of each, being careful not to catch his shadow in it. The first he posted without a caption, tagging the location instead. Kibum’s sort-of portrait was next, the center of this set, and he sat there for several moments, thinking of anything he could say in the caption. After much deliberation, he settled on:

He really enjoys the flowers.

Hesitating for a second, he posted it. And then, as if to cover it up, he posted the third picture, Putting ☁️🌸. as the caption.

He sat back with a sigh, setting his phone aside to hang the pictures to dry. When he came back to clear up and head upstairs for the night, his phone screen lit up, and he grabbed his phone, glancing at the screen.

bumkeyk liked your post!

Minho tapped the notification with a smile, looking at the painting on his screen. He stared at the depiction of Kibum until his screen timed out, then he pulled his watercolor paper pad toward him and grabbed his nub of a pencil before flicking through his pictures on his computer, pulling up one of the shots of Kibum with the flowers around his eyes.

It was finally time to attempt an actual portrait.

* * * * *

“There he is!”

Kibum turned, smiling immediately at the sound of Yerim’s voice. He went up on his tiptoes, waving at his parents before she bowled into him. Laughing, he held her tightly, picking her up a little as he hugged her. “How was your trip?”

“Amazing, of course. Did you go on any more dates or was it just the one?”

“Shh!” he hissed, but it wasn’t fast enough, because Mom asked “Are you giving dating a try again, honey?” before she hugged him, too.

“No, Mom,” he said, glaring at Yerim over her head, only to be met with an annoyingly innocent smile.

They both let go of him to let Dad have a turn, who patted Kibum’s back roughly before he suggested they head to baggage claim to get Kibum’s stuff. Mom took one arm and Yerim clung to the other as they followed Dad through the terminal. “We’ve got to get you home soon. I’ve got your favorite waiting for you.”

“Aw, Mom, you didn’t have to.”

“Of course, I did.”

He leaned a little closer to Yerim, whispering out of the corner of his mouth, “It’ll be edible, right?”

“Don’t worry,” she whispered back. “She ordered take out.”

“Oh, thank god.”

Lunch blended into dinner, as they didn’t leave the table—except when Dad scurried off to grab his box of photos from their trip to Europe. He got to hear all about their adventures there, and he was only slightly jealous that they went without him. He showed them pictures from his trip, too, and it was only then that he realized just how many pictures he had of Minho on his phone. Yerim noticed because he caught her knowing look several times across the table.

If Mom and Dad caught on, he couldn’t tell. They didn’t say much about the frequency of his appearances in his camera roll aside from Mom’s occasional “What a nice looking young man” comment whenever he popped up.

“Are you even allowed to have that?” Kibum asked Yerim as she grabbed a bottle of white wine from the fridge after Mom and Dad had said their goodnights, pouring them both a glass.

“I’m twenty,” she said, shooting him a bewildered look as she picked up both of the glasses. She passed him his glass on her way past him into the living room, then looked up at him expectantly until he relented and sat across from her on the loveseat. Once he was settled and had taken a sip of his wine, she asked, “So, what’s the deal with you two?”

“It’s nothing.” She rolled her eyes, releasing a dramatic sigh before she took a sip of her wine, too. “I’m serious!”

“Right.”

He glared at her, sinking back in his seat as he took a long drink. It was one thing to think all the things he had about Minho these past few weeks. Well, months. But it was a whole other thing to say it out loud. To his sister.

“It’s not a crime to like someone again, you know?” He looked at her over the rim of his glass. “Okay, poor choice of words, but it’s technically not.”

He finished his wine, setting it aside but not letting go of it, twisting the stem back and forth for a few seconds. “I don’t know what to say if I’m being honest.”

Silence stretched between them, broken by a quiet ding! from Kibum’s phone. He pulled it out, glancing at the screen.

artists_choice made a post!

Kibum smiled absently, tapping on the screen and opening Minho’s artist profile. Three new posts, like usual, and they were from their recent trip. The picture in the center caught his eye, because of course it did, and he opened it up, looking at Minho’s impression of himself.

It was softer than he had been expecting.

He tapped the photo twice, a heart appearing in the center, and looked up when Yerim cleared . “What? Sorry.”

“Do you like him?”

Kibum sighed as he set his phone aside, tipping his glass towards him, just in case there were a few more drops of wine in there. “Yeah. More than I probably should, if I’m being honest.”

He didn’t have to look at her to know that she was grinning. “I know I haven’t met him yet, but I already like him more than Joonwoo.”

Sniffing a laugh, Kibum looked over at her. “How can you say that if you’ve never met him?”

“You just seem a lot happier, that’s all.”

That was probably true. He shook his head, dispelling the thought for now. “The thing is…speaking of Joonwoo…I don’t want to repeat that. It was a disaster and I don’t think I can go through that kind of heartbreak again.” Okay, maybe he didn’t need any more wine. “And, Minho’s been hurt, too. I don’t want to be the cause of that if…if we don’t work out, you know?”

“Why do you think it wouldn’t work between you two?”

“Experience.” She huffed, taking a sip of her wine. “Look, you just don’t get it. I don’t want to jump into something right now. I need to think about it for a bit. Maybe…” He paused as the thought fully struck him. “Would it be stupid or like…completely heartless of me to…to start casually dating again?” Yerim’s eyes widened as she stared at him. “Just to, like, see if what I’m feeling for Minho is genuine. If I’m just lonely, then…”

“No, no, it might be a good idea. Just, be careful out there. Guys are s.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” She let out a quiet little laugh, and he got up grabbing his glass. “Want more?” She shook her head, and he returned to the kitchen, pouring himself another glass.

He didn’t leave Daegu until Sunday, which turned out to be a family road trip to Seoul. Dad insisted, despite Kibum’s repeated suggestion that he just fly back to the city. But it was nice, having a bit more extra time to spend with his family. When they left, he sat on his empty couch in his empty apartment, the silence gnawing at his ears.

“Maybe I should get a dog,” he said to himself as he dragged himself off the couch. “That might help.”

He grabbed his luggage, rolled it behind him into his laundry room, and plopped down on the ground to start sorting through it. All three of the marmalade jars made it safely, which was a relief because he didn’t want to clean any of that up. He set them aside, reaching for the…sweatshirt below it.

It was Minho’s.

Easily distinguishable, on account of the paint flecks, sparse though they were.

He pulled it out of his suitcase, shaking it out, just about to start wondering how he accidentally ended up with this when he remembered—he’d just never given back the sweatshirt after their trip to get tangerines for Jonghyun.

And now it was here.

With him.

A little piece of Minho.

He ran his fingers over it, pausing to caress a speck of paint. “There’s just no escaping you, is there?”

The sweatshirt, being inanimate, refused to answer.

He let out a long, exasperated sigh at himself before he pulled off his shirt to toss in the dirty pile before slipping into Minho’s sweatshirt and, shaking his head, got back to sorting.

Hopefully, by tomorrow he’d have his head on straight and he’d be able to easily get back to work. But, as he caught a hint of Minho’s cologne lingering on the sweatshirt, he started to doubt that that would be possible at all. He could try to ignore it and all the memories now tied to the fragrance like he’d been doing with everything else these past few weeks, but…did he really want to?

No.

Not at all, actually.