You were enjoying the cool day. Clouds had been cast over the desert and the wind had picked up. You walked around the neighborhood listening to your iPod when someone came up behind you and took your headphones off.

            You spun around to sock the person in the mouth but their hand caught your fist. You opened your eyes to see Zitao blocking your punch, holding back a laugh and still holding onto your headphones.

            “You think you’re funny?!”

            “Yeah!” he finally laughed.

Your heart beat faster. His laugh was so angelic. “Can I have my headphones back?”

            “What are you listening to?” he asked placing them on his head. His eyes looked at you while the music to his first teaser filled his ears.

            “I like the music okay?”

He took the headphones off and placed them around your neck. “I like your taste…but if you were going to attempt to punch me. You’ll have to do better than that.” He said grabbing your hand. He kicked up his skate board and carried it with his other and the two of you walked back to Exo’s house.

            Zitao grabbed some knuckle wraps and wrapped your hands before his and he started to punch the punching back that was hanging in the garage. He started to teach you how to punch the right way and within fifteen minutes you were tired and your muscles began to ache.

            “Stop whining.”

            “I’m not whining.”

            “Panda, I’ve been doing this all my life. I know at first it but you just gotta push yourself through the pain.”

            “But-“

            “No buts. If you want to defend yourself you’ve got to do it.”

You grunted before punching the bag again but you slipped on the sweat that had dropped to the floor and you fell into Zitao’s arms once again.

            This time the both of you fell to the ground. You landed on top of his chest and you cocked your head up before opening your eyes to look at Zitao. There was a sting of pain written on his face as you scrabbled to get off of his body.

            “I’m sorry!”

            “It’s okay.”

            “No. let me help you!” You said crawling behind him to rub the pain in his shoulder. Zitao groaned at the pressure of your fingers but it felt good to get the knot out.

            Your heart beat in your chest like it was trying to escape. The back of his neck looked so inviting for you to kiss it. You yearned to kiss any part of his body. You wanted him to touch you. Hold you.

            When you felt the knot in his shoulder go undone you let go and sat back. Zitao turned to face you giving you his sweet smile. “Thanks.” He said starting to unwrap his hands.

            “You’re welcome.” You said pulling your legs up to rest your chin on your knees.

The door opened and out walked Yixing. “Oh, here you are. Manager Hyung wants to talk to us after dinner.”

            “Okay.” Zitao said turning his head to look at Yixing.

            “Hey, Panda, even though it’s a cooler day could we come over and swim?”

            “Sure.” You smiled. That dimple could never be said no to.

            Half an hour later Exo was over in the pool while you were setting up the tea jar to brew in what sun light you had. You hadn’t noticed the clouds growing thicker and a light rain starting to fall. When the first flash of lightning lit up the sky everyone jumped and waited for the roar of the thunder.

            Exo quickly got out of the pool as the rain started to beat down hard like pebbles. You all ducked under the covered patio and watched, standing shoulder to shoulder at the rain and lightning. You counted between the flash and the thunder and looked down the row at each guy shivering. You saw the clothes had been tossed in the gazebo and you felt brave.

            In a second you dashed off into the rain and retrieved the pile of shirts and shoes before running back to the patio. Everyone took their shirt but they were almost as wet as themselves. Grandma came out with a hamper and said she’d dry them while you all waited inside to keep from catching a cold.

            Zitao grabbed your towel and wrapped it around your shoulders before putting his around his body. Exo followed you inside the house and smelled cookies cooling on the counter. The smell intoxicated your nose and you had to have one. You picked up the cookie and bit into the warm and still gooey baked good.

            “So good!” You moaned.

Exo reached out for a cooking and you stood around munching the cookies.

            Somehow Exo and you sat comfortably in the TV room watching Princess Bride. During the movie when they weren’t noisy you looked to spot any skin ships happening and sure enough there it was. You bit your lip to keep from squealing out ‘I knew it!’. And then you felt Zitao’s head resting on your shoulder.

You looked to see his eyes closed and his arms slowly starting to unfold. His breath was warm and smelled of the cookies. It over weighed the smell of chlorine that everyone was covered in. The silence of the room besides the movie interrupted your thoughts and you saw everyone else falling asleep.

This right now was perfect. You could have died happy without regrets so many times this summer but now it was the new time to die happy. Before you knew it your eyes began to droop lower and lower before you were also asleep. The storm still raged on outside but in that small room were twelve protectors to keep away the scares.