You can’t give it back but it’s great when it’s there. Enjoy it while you can, for it can only stay fresh for so long. Follow your nose, K.

Sincerely,

Someone who dares

Sehun and Kyungsoo burst into the cafeteria, running directly for the lunch lineup. Even though it was a Saturday, they still served lunches for the people who felt like eating the crap they made.

Sehun tried to avoid it as much as possible for he didn’t really want to deal with chance of contacting salmonella or some other food born disease.

“What do you think it’s talking about? ‘Can only stay fresh for so long’?” Sehun quoted from the original message. He didn’t know his way around food like Kyungsoo did.

His friend looked utterly at home in the cafeteria. It was probably one of the only places (besides the stands of the soccer field) that he felt like he could be around a large group of people.

“Well, cheese goes bad pretty damn fast… we could check there first.” Kyungsoo suggested, pointing over to the fridge with the assortment of ‘Cheeses from around the world’.

Sehun followed his friend over to the section of the cafeteria and they looked over the cheese. There was Gouda, cheddar that looked far too orange and some nasty looking cottage cheese.

“How can people eat that stuff?” Sehun wondered aloud, pointing at the slimy white looking cheese that sort of looked like vomit.

“It’s good with grapes actually, of all things.” Kyungsoo answered.

The king of food himself could seriously make the most disgusting of foods seem a bit appealing. Kyungsoo poked around the cheeses a bit because Sehun really didn’t feel like touching any of it (based on the fact that it was also Kyungsoo’s clue).

“Do you see anything?!?” Sehun inquired, looking over his blond friend’s shoulder.

“It’s not here!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration.

Sehun remembered one of the most important aspects of the clue. He immediately clamped his hands over his friend’s eyes.

The darkness fell over Kyungsoo’s vision and he felt like he was falling into oblivion. One of his greatest fears was of the dark and of he was definitely claustrophobic. He began to flail and scream in protest. It was completely disorienting and terrifying.

“NOOOOO! I DIDN’T DO IT! I DIDN’T STEAL THE COOKIES! I PROMISE!” Kyungsoo objected at the top of his lungs.

Sehun rolled his eyes. His friend was clearly having one of his ‘working through his childhood problems’ moments. He had gotten through most of them after meeting Kai but there were still some remnants of some of them.

“Kyungie, calm down. I’m just taking away your sense of sight so that you can concentrate more on your sense of smell, just like we learned in science. Get it?” Sehun explained, making sure his voice was the picture of calmness.

Kyungsoo still wriggled in protest. “I DON’T WANT TO GO DOWN THE STAIRS! PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME!”

Sehun lifted his fingers off Kyungsoo’s eyes and twisted his friend around to face him. “Kyungsoo. It’s fine, it’s just me. Please just concentrate. I’m going to cover your eyes and then you’ll be able to smell things better. Use that nose of yours!”

Kyungsoo still shuddered slightly but he was brought back into reality by Sehun’s soothing words. He breathed in deeply and centered himself. They had a job to do; they had to find Kai and Luhan.

“Okay. I can do this.” Kyungsoo assured himself before letting Sehun put his hands back over his eyes. He knew that without Sehun’s hands there, he would definitely peek out.

At first, nothing seemed any different but slowly and surely, his sense of smell definitely became amplified. There were wafts of spicy chili, fresh brownies and cookies and even a whiff of Caesar salad.

Kyungsoo began to salivate profusely at all of the aromas. He desperately wanted a little taste or bite out all of every single thing that he smelled. But then something basically slapped him in the face with how bad it smelled.

He began to sniff erratically, stalking out the source of the horrid smell. Sehun felt like he was walking a blind dog on a search for an invisible source. But Kyungsoo seemed to have a lead so he let himself be dragged around.

“Do you smell something, Kyungie?” Sehun asked, eyes widening with anticipation.

Kyungsoo completely ignored him and bee lined for the meat section. The hot lights made the mystery meat bubble and seem as it was living. Floating in the mess of it was a small piece of paper.

Sehun took his hands off of Kyungsoo’s eyes and hugged him tightly. “You found it, Kyungsoo! It’s in the mystery meat, which looks absolutely disgusting actually.”

Kyungsoo quickly vaulted himself over the counter toward the meat. The lunch lady looked horrified by his being there but she also seemed to recognize him.

“Your mystery meat is spoiled, Mrs. Walter, you might want to prepare some more. Mostly because of what I’m going to do next, I apologize in advance.” Kyungsoo explained, before jamming his hands into the meat.

He fetched the next envelope triumphantly and joined his surprised looking friend.

“Before you ask, yes, I’m friends with the lunch lady. Before I was friends with you, I spent a lot of time in the cafeteria.” Kyungsoo answered before Sehun could even ask the question.

Sehun ripped open the envelope dripping with spoiled mystery meat and plugged his nose before he read it:

Congratulations on getting so far, boys! This next one is a doozy.

I flit, I fly.  I never get to see my own beauty because of the way I’m designed. Find your next clue where I love to rest.

Sincerely,

Someone Who Dares

“Huh?” Kyungsoo blurted, unsure if he read it wrong or not. “That doesn’t mean anything to me…. Does it mean anything to you?”

Sehun wracked his brain and read over the words again. The second part sounded so familiar….

“I think this may require a stop at the library.” Sehun concluded, before throwing away the nasty envelope.

“How many more do you think there will be?” Kyungsoo asked, rubbing his eyes before looking up at Sehun with an exhausted look.

Kyungsoo looked like a little doe with his big blue eyes. Sehun threw an arm around his friend. “We’ll get to see them pretty soon, don’t worry Kyungie.”

“Good. I miss them.” Kyungsoo shared, pouting like a little boy.

Sehun laughed before grabbing Kyungsoo’s hand and leading him out of the blond’s domain and to the place where books lived.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luhan and Kai were playing Go fish! with Xiumin in their hiding spot.

“Do you have a three, Xiumin?” Kai asked, smiling hopefully at his competitor and coach.

“Damn it, Kai, it’s like you’re a frickin’ psychic!” Xiumin muttered, passing him the three from his hand.

“So, man, what are you going to do about that Chanyeol guy?” Luhan asked Kai, seemingly out of nowhere.

Kai became somewhat stoic and the atmosphere became very tense.

Xiumin looked over at the goalie and raised his eyebrow. “As your coach, he’s a good player, Kai, he could really be an asset to the team. But, as your friend, this decision needs to be purely selfish. It’s about whether you can handle having him around all the time.”

Kai smiled at his friend and coach. It was nice to hear support from Xiumin considering that the guy seldom said anything besides screaming incoherent football commands.

“I think that I’ll let him, but don’t tell Kyungsoo that, he doesn’t want me to have anything to do with Chanyeol. But the bottom line is that I want to give him a second chance because he honestly deserves it. I put myself in his shoes and I know that I would genuinely regret what I did. He wants to make a change and I can give him that. So, the answer is yes.” Kai explained confidently.

Luhan smiled at his friend. He was being the bigger person in the situation. People could change for the better.

“That’s awesome of you, Kai. I don’t know if I could do that if I was you. I guess that shows how much more mature you are than me though.” Luhan complimented.

“Okay, I’m done with this sentimental crap. Luhan, do you have a king?” Kai inquired.

“Are you a witch? Seriously!” Luhan complained, handing over his king.

Kai smiled with satisfaction before shrugging his shoulders. Luhan and Xiumin groaned at the ever-increasing pile of matching cards that Kai had compared to their miniscule collection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This doesn’t even make sense. Something that can’t see it’s own beauty because of the way it’s designed… so like, it has something to do with its anatomy. What’s the most beautiful animal you can think of that might not be able to see it?” Sehun pondered, pouring over a mess of books.

“A mole rat!” Kyungsoo determined enthusiastically. “Because they are blind!”

Sehun rolled his eyes at his ridiculous friend and then dove back into books. After ten minutes of research, he thought about Occam’s razor. It was most likely the simplest answer. He was totally over thinking it.

Then, he realized they were dealing with Minji. The girl who loved the color pink, and just about everything girl, save the fact that most of her friends were guys.

“Imagine you were a girl, what would your favorite animal be?” Sehun demanded of Kyungsoo.

“A butterfly. They always wear shirts with sparkly butterflies.” Kyungsoo answered with out a second thought.

“That’s not an animal!” Sehun objected, looking back down at the books.

But then it hit him: “Oh my god, Kyungsoo, you’re a genius. That’s what I remembered! The other day in science we learned that butterflies couldn’t ever actually see their wings!”

“So…. They can’t see their beauty!!” Kyungsoo added, smiling brightly at their discovery.

“But… where do they love to rest?”

“Probably some type of flower ‘cus they like pollen right? Or is that bees?”

“No. They drink nectar… but they do like a certain bush.”

“What’s it called?”

“A butterfly bush!”

“Oh… that’s not fun to guess. That’s so obvious.”

“But… where is there one?”

“What about the rose garden?”

That’s when Sehun blushed and realized the significance of why Minji had chosen the spot. It was where he and Luhan had had their first kiss.

She really liked to meddle.

“That sounds like the right place.” Sehun muttered before they set off.

Kyungsoo raised a speculative eyebrow but decided to ask Sehun about it later. Right now, they were on a mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sehun spotted the butterfly bush as soon as they arrived at the garden. He snatched it from the bush and could basically feel that they were finally closing in on finding Kai and Luhan.

“What’s it say?” Kyungsoo wondered, peering over Sehun’s shoulder.

“You read it this time.” Sehun instructed, handing it to his friend.

“Oh.. Okay.” Kyungsoo murmured, excitement apparent in his beaming eyes.

He took the letter in his hand and cleared his voice, before reading it aloud:

Let the melody guide you. It’s time to show how much you care. Choose the song of your choice and go to the band shell. There’s a pep rally and I have arranged for you guys to put a show on for the school. I know how Kyungsoo loves his pom poms!

The show starts at 7’oclock sharp. Be there or you may never see your boys again.

Sincerely,

Someone who Dares

“No. No. NO….” Sehun objected, grabbing the letter to see if Kyungsoo had read it wrong.

“I can’t do that….” Kyungsoo muttered nervously.

What the hell had they gotten themselves into…? 

A/N Heyyyyyyyyyyyy guys!

Well, I, well more so you, didn't break my comment record. *collective aw*

Oh well! I have so many new subscribers and a couple of new upvotes and I am SO. DAMN. HAPPY. You guys will be the death of me I swear! XD

Nothing new to report really, except, I have been writing ahead and I see the end of LRL in sight! I SORRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE! I just feel like this story is coming to the end of running its course and I don't want to just keep on rambling, ya know?

Love you guys so freaking much,

VIPnzLOVE

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

*sends cookies or any other sweet treats you prefer*