The first time Kibum saw him he didn’t even get a good look at him. He was a guy in a purple shirt and skinny jeans, not exactly appropriate beach attire—but hell, the boy did look good—with a hot dog in his hand. Kibum was walking and casually observing each of the quaint stalls positioned systematically around the field. It was past six o’clock but the sun was still young and burning everyone’s skin as if it was still midday. Kibum was cutting through the field, looking down at his shoes with his hands in his pocket, when he walks right into him, his sausage falling right out of the bun and sticking onto his shirt due to the sheer amount of tomato sauce. Kibum looked up and saw his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. “Oh , sorry!”

     Kibum peeled the sausage off of his shirt which left a red stain on it and awkwardly places it back onto his bun. “Uh, it’s okay, man.”

     Kibum walked away and the memory was quickly put behind him, the stain on his shirt not being any of his concerns.

~~~~~~~~~~

     When the sun set at around nine o’clock; Kibum was forced back out into civilisation by his parents. Kibum didn’t really care about the fact that in about three hours it was going to be a new year. Okay—he did care—but he didn’t want to celebrate it with all these people. He just wanted to be back at home in his family’s small little unit beside the beach and if he wanted to witness the fireworks going off then he would just look out the window. “Hey mum, I’m actually pretty tired—“

     “Oh live a little, Kibum,” his mother snapped at him and then went to blend in with the crowd. 

     His dad only looked at him and shrugged then went to follow Kibum’s mother. Kibum walked along the footpath kicking the same pebble while stealthily dodging the city folk who weren’t accustomed to living along the ocean side and who were, obviously, very impressed by all the nature. Kibum didn’t mind living by the beach. He liked the view but that was about it. He hated everything else about it. He hated the ‘beach’ people. He hated actually swimming in the water and god how he hated sand.

     Kibum didn’t really care that he was walking the opposite way of his parents. He wanted to go further down the path away from all the buildings to where the only thing he could see was the water and sand and nothing man-made. He liked it because the crowd was thinning and almost everyone was walking the other way. That’s where he saw him again. He was sitting on the bench with a milkshake in his hand and watching the full, rising moon behind the far-away hills.

     “Hey, you,” Kibum heard him say as he walked past him.

     Kibum turned around. “Yeah?”

     “How’s your shirt?” he asked.

     “Um, I think it’s still in the dryer. Um, thanks for asking.”

     He stood up and extended a hand. “Jonghyun.”

     Kibum felt obligated, so he shook it. “Kibum,” he replied.

     “I’m not from around here,” Jonghyun said conversationally and stood adjacently to Kibum. The two started walking together slowly, following the moon. “I live around the city. The fresh air is really refreshing.”

     “Yeah, it is isn’t it?”

     “Sorry, I really want someone to talk to. I’m actually here because my mum’s meeting friends here to celebrate the New Year. I didn’t have anything planned for myself.”

     “I don’t mind.”

     “Sweet.”

     When they were both absolutely certain there was no one else around, Jonghyun asked the next question, “Do you like living by the beach.”

     “Well, yeah, but I can’t really compare it to any other environment considering I’ve been here my entire life,” Kibum answered frankly. “You like living in the city?”

     “Always crowded,” Jonghyun responded. “I don’t hate it, though. The city lights are nice and everything but I would much prefer to live under these natural lights,” Jonghyun said, making reference to the stars.

     “Yeah but we’re kind of far from everything. Sure, we have all these markets but the actual mall is like twenty minutes from here and my school is like half an hour from here. It’s kind of hard getting around.”

     “Well, you guys must be close to everyone considering you’re so close together?”

     Kibum shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that’s kind of nice.”

~~~~~~~~~~

     Kibum and Jonghyun ended up travelling very far from all the people to an isolated part of the beach. Kibum usually hated walking on the sand and getting his feet wet but Jonghyun ended up talking him into it. It was five minutes from January 1^st and Kibum and Jonghyun were sitting on the sand, their feet to their knees soaked (Jonghyun had also somehow talked Kibum into a quick water fight). Jonghyun was panting with a smug grin on his face. He lied down with his hands behind his head and sighed at the sky. “This is really nice,” he commented.

     Kibum nodded in agreement.

     It was silent for four minutes until Jonghyun asked, “Do you have some kind of New Year’s resolution?”

     Kibum pursed his lips and shrugged. “Not really.”

     “Come on, Kibum,” Jonghyun urged.

     Just then, Kibum thought of one. “I guess…to kiss someone.”

     “You loser,” Jonghyun chortled. “Never kissed anyone before? I find that hard to believe.”

     Kibum dug his fingers beneath the sand and scraped some onto Jonghyun’s chest. “You’re an .”

     “There’s thirty seconds left,” Jonghyun irrelevantly informed. 

     “Okay, while we’re at it, what’s your New Year’s resolution?”

     “I’m too young to be worrying about that crap—plus I’ve kissed someone already,” Jonghyun answered conceitedly.

     Kibum scraped more sand onto Jonghyun’s chest and Jonghyun countered by throwing some at his face. They wrestle in the sand until they indistinctly heard the shouting of numbers. Kibum ended up being pinned to the sand by Jonghyun, the moist sand being stuck to the back of his shirt and for once he’s not paying enough attention to the uncomfortable feeling to complain.

     “Ten,” Jonghyun began.

     “Nine.”

     “Eight.”

     Each time they counted Kibum couldn’t help but notice that their lips kept getting closer and closer until he felt Jonghyun’s breath on his lips.

     “Three.”

     Kibum held his breath. “Two.”

     “One,” Jonghyun grinned and pressed their lips together as the fireworks crack in the sky above.

     Kibum accepts the lips eagerly and tangled his sandy fingers into Jonghyun’s hair. He didn’t care how messy the entire thing was because the feeling he felt as Jonghyun kissed him was exhilarating. Jonghyun managed to slip his tongue through Kibum’s lips as Kibum moaned involuntarily and their tongues tangled briefly.

     Jonghyun pulled away, breath laboured.

     “So, is this one of those one-time things or…?” Kibum asked awkwardly afterwards.

     Jonghyun shook his head. “Definitely not a one-time thing,” he said and then he was kissing Kibum again as the fireworks continued behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~

     “Kibum, you’re like this every year!” Kibum hears his mother shout. “You better be out here within the next five minutes!”

     “What’s the point mum?!” Kibum shouts back. “You’re gonna drag my out of here regardless!”

     “Watch your language young man!”

     “Mum!” he whines loudly.

     Kibum does, in fact, get his dragged out of the house and is thrown into the outside world—in his pyjamas and his shoes untied. Kibum groans and crosses his arm. Luckily, it’s almost 12am anyway so he wouldn’t have to kill as much time. He can’t help but remember last year’s New Year’s Eve and how amazing it was and how ty he felt the rest of the year when he never saw Jonghyun again—that lying bastard. Everything around him moves around in a blur. The laughter of children could be heard in every direction and Kibum felt kind of nauseas. Kibum decides to do what he usually does every year and stray away from the crowd. He doesn’t go anywhere far this time, though, and just kind of stands outside of the field in the middle of the sidewalk and let’s everyone avoid him. He kind of feels like an idiot in pyjamas and wishes he would’ve changed. He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns around hoping it’s Jonghyun but it’s his mother.

     “Kibum, please, do something.”

     “I would if I had some money,” Kibum lies convincingly.

     A fifty dollar bill is immediately shoved into his hand. “Go on some rides, buy some food, do something, do something!”

     “Okay, okay, jeez. Why are you so persistent to have me do something?”

     “Because, Kibum,” she says, kneeling in front of him. “I feel like a horrible mother to leave you here and not have fun.”

     “No mum, you’re not horrible mother just because of that; you’re a horrible mother because you dragged me out of here against my own will. Can I just go back home?”  

     “No,” she says and then she’s leaving.

     Kibum rolls his eyes and just walks around the field, peering into all the stalls, with a fifty dollar bill in his hand that he’s not intending to spend. He ends up circling the field three times when he finally spends a small portion of the fifty dollars on a soda and he’s finished circling it a fourth time when he hears someone yell, “One minute!”

     Kibum frowns and wishes Jonghyun was there with him and he tries looking for him in the crowd but his face is never distinguished amongst the crowd.

     “Kibum!” he hears someone yell and he looks around expecting to see his mother but sees the face he’s been longing to see for the passing year.

     Kibum expects Jonghyun to instantaneously smash his lips against his but Jonghyun abruptly stops there in front of me, skidding against the dirt. “Jonghyun,” Kibum says, suppressing his excitement and shock. “Funny,” Kibum scoffs. “I’ve only been waiting to see you again for, say, the past twelve ing months.”

     “I know you’re mad,” Jonghyun sympathises.

     “Of course I’m mad. You know you didn’t have to promise me you were going to come back if you knew you weren’t going to.”

     Jonghyun looks down wordlessly.

     “Do you even have anything to say to me?”

     Jonghyun looks up, “Sorry?” he guesses doubtfully.

     Kibum’s arm lifts against his own will and he finds himself slapping Jonghyun across the face. “ you, Kim Jonghyun.”

     Jonghyun grabs onto Kibum’s wrist as he walks away and eases him into his arms, though, Kibum’s not looking at him. “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am.”

     “Ten!” everyone around them chants in unison.

     “But I’m hoping—“

      “Nine!”

     “That you can forgive—“

     “Eight!”

     “Me.”

     Kibum doesn’t say anything and let’s everyone chant up to four and then says, “I don’t know.”

     “Three,”

     “I hope this can help you make your decision then…” Jonghyun says as everyone counts down to one and after one he’s cupping Kibum’s face between his hands and kissing him more passionately than he had the first time they met.”

     It’s almost identical to last year with the fireworks, although, everyone is crowding around them which forces Kibum to move closer to Jonghyun who hugs him tightly as they kiss.

     Kibum pulls away first this time and smiles as he presses their foreheads together. “Okay, I forgive you. Are we ever going to see each other again after this?”

     “Yeah,” Jonghyun responds and gives him a soft peck on the lips. “…Because I’m moving here.”

     Kibum grins in satisfaction and forces their lips together again. “Happy new year, Kim Jonghyun,” he whispers between kisses.

     “Happy new year Kim Kibum...”