Summer Before College Part 2

It was the last official day of summer vacation and consequently, also the last day everyone in the group would be at the same place. After today, they were all going to leave home and move into their new dorms at their respective universities. For their last big outing, the group had decided to go camping, so they were currently at the supermarket, buying the necessary foods.

“Is there something you should tell us?” asked Jongin as he threw packs of lettuce into the plastic bag Tao was holding.

Sehun quirked an eyebrow. “Like?”

“Like why is Luhan wearing a turtleneck in this hot weather?” Tao wiggled his eyebrows towards the meat section, where Luhan, Yixing, and Kyungsoo were.

“Maybe he's feeling chilly,” Sehun suggested, trying his best to sound nonchalant. It was a ridiculous answer, but Sehun had nothing else.

“Or maybe he's hiding his neck,” Jongin suggested with a devious smirk.

“Yeah, because he doesn't want people to see the hickeys you gave him,” Tao added as he picked up a cucumber and inspected it.

Sehun shrugged. “If that is what you think...”

Tao and Jongin cackled. “Stop playing it cool, Sehun,” said Tao as he bagged the cucumber and tossed it into their cart.

“We already know.”

“Then why must you ask me?” asked Sehun irritatedly.

“Because it's fun seeing you sweat,” was Jongin's answer before he pushed the cart to the fruit section. “And we have another question for you.”

Sehun groaned. “What?”

“Why is Luhan limping?”

Sehun's eyes widened.“What?!” He whipped his head around, eyes immediately on Luhan. “Why?! We didn't –”

“Gotcha.”

Sehun turned back around to find his friends giving each other a high-five, and he swore he never wanted to hurt them as much as he does now. “That wasn't cool.”

Tao pinched Sehun's cheek. “It got us the answer we wanted, so we think it's cool.”

Jongin smiled and added, “Congratulations by the way.”

“You're a man now,” Tao said with a proud smile. “Don't even try to deny it. We've noticed you two have been spending a lot of nights together, and nothing is wrong with that. Honestly, we're so happy for you. Our little baby boy is all grown up!”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

Tao gasped and pretended to be offended. Jongin laughed and gave Tao a pat on the shoulder. “Our new man here doesn't like us talking about him finally losing his ity. We should respect his privacy.”

“I hate you,” said Sehun, teeth clenched.

“Since you already hate us, you don't mind us being nosy, right? So tell us exactly when you lost your precious ity. Last month? Last week? Or last night?” inquired Tao as he and Jongin surrounded Sehun like hungry vultures.

“Please go eat peanut butter,” Sehun snarled.

“But I'm allergic,” said Tao, expression confused.

“Exactly.”

Jongin chuckled. “He won't tell us, Tao. We just have to accept that. Oh Sehun is not one to have and spill the details. He has morals.”

“Or he must have been terrible the first time. That may be why he's refusing to relive that nightmare,” Tao suggested, voice cheerful.

Sehun scoffed. “I was not terrible and stop smiling like that! You look hideous.”

“Ah. So you were average,” remarked Jongin with a knowing smirk.

“Do you want to die?” Sehun snapped, ready to fulfill his wish if Jongin decided that yes, he wants to die.

“Not today,” Jongin said simply. “But seriously, you're not going to tell us? Was it that bad?”

“It was not bad! Stop talking about it!”

Tao chuckled. “It's an important topic. You’re now ually active and you took Luhan's virg –”

“If the word ity comes out of your mouth, Huang Zi Tao, I will scratch your new car with my keys,” Sehun threatened.

Tao's left eye involuntarily twitched. “You would never..... but since having can change a person, I'd rather not risk it, so fine, I won't say the V-word.”

“So we're done with this topic,” Sehun concluded, hands reaching for the cart.

Jongin held up his hand to stop him. “Not quite. Let us have one last moment to rub our awesomeness in your face.”

“What?”

“You remember the first day of high school – when you said there was no way in hell you would fall for the school's flower boy?”

“No. I don't remember saying that,” lied Sehun.

Tao draped his arm over Sehun’s shoulders. “Well, you did, so Jongin and I would love to point out that not only are you in love with the school’s flower boy, you deflowered him.”

“Wha –”

“You're the hungry bee that stole his sweet nectar,” Tao explained, face abnormally serious. “His beautiful, innocent nectar. You had a taste, got addicted, and now you can't stop – can't have enough Luhan. Simple as that. You, Oh Sehun, deflowered the flower boy. Good job, buddy.”

“Let that soak in,” Jongin added before he and Tao walked away, laughing – overjoyed that they left Sehun stunned and possibly regretting the day he met them.  

*******

Luhan peered over his shoulder, eyes zeroing in on his boyfriend and his friends as they shop for fruits. “Does it look like they know?”

“Know what?” asked Yixing as he turned to look at the other three.

“About Sehun and me....”

Kyungsoo scoffed. “They just look dumb to me,” he said, eyes glued to Jongin, who was laughing and patting Tao on the shoulder.

“I think it's possible,” said Yixing. “They are best friends, so I think they would talk about it sooner or later.”

“And even if Sehun didn't specifically tell them, you pretty much did, Luhan,” remarked Kyungsoo as he looked Luhan up and down.

Luhan tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“You're wearing a turtleneck....in the summer.”

Yixing chuckled when Luhan's cheeks turned a pretty pink color. “It's nothing to feel embarrassed about. We all know why you're wearing one.  Couples sleep together and hickeys happen. No big deal.”

Luhan sighed. “I know, but I don't want people to see. It's still weird to think about it – that Sehun and I.... What do you think they said when they found out?”

“Knowing Jongin, I bet he congratulated Sehun and then proceeded to make fun of him for finally becoming a man,” said Kyungsoo before he turned his attention back to the selection of meats. Luhan thought Kyungsoo was probably right – he should know his boyfriend better than Luhan does.

“I think they would give Sehun a hard time only because you're you,” answered Yixing as he shot Luhan a side glance.

“What do you mean?” asked Luhan.

“You're special. Our entire high school thought so,” replied Yixing. “So of course, you giving your ity to Sehun would spark some intense teasing from Tao and Jongin. Tao would probably use some strange flowers and bees analogy to describe Sehun's first time with you. He's pretty creative.”

“Flowers and bees?”

Kyungsoo snorted. “Guess which one you are.”

“The flower?”

Yixing grinned. “Bingo.”

Luhan gave Sehun one last look before he turned around. “I'm not an innocent flower,” he muttered as he mentally recalled what happened two nights ago when Sehun paid him a surprise visit.

“Not anymore,” Yixing added with a wink.

“Yixinggg,” Luhan groaned, frowning when Yixing and Kyungsoo decided to laugh at him. Whether they wanted to believe him or not, Luhan meant what he said. He was by no means an innocent flower.

*******

Jongin parked his car behind Yixing's and got out. “Why are we at your house?”

Yixing gave him a dreamy smile. “To camp....duh.”

Jongin turned to look at Kyungsoo, wondering if he knew about this, but Kyungsoo was noticeably avoiding his eyes.

Tao, who just got out of his own car, furrowed his brows. “What's going on? What are you saying?”

Yixing walked over to his trunk and opened it. “We're camping here. Didn't anyone tell you?”

Tao's eyes widened. “We're camping at your house?! Are you serious?”

“Yes, I'm serious. Why wouldn't I be? Camping is a serious matter,” said Yixing as he pulled out the sleeping bags and the tent they had bought from the store earlier.

Tao shook his head. “Are you high right now? Be honest, Yixing. I won't judge you.”

Yixing chuckled. “No, I'm not high. I'm a clean whistle.”

Jongin snorted. “Not when you refer to yourself as a whistle.”

Kyungsoo gave Jongin an icy glare. “You should start taking the food out, Jongin,” he ordered.

Before Jongin could argue, Kyungsoo had already gone to the backseat and pulled out their camping equipment. That was his way of telling Jongin that they were going to camp here, whether Jongin liked it or not.

After dating Kyungsoo for a little over two months, Jongin could tell that he wasn't going to win if he did decide to argue that camping should only be done in the wilderness.

“Okay, let's say, hypothetically, that we are camping here, where are we putting the tents?” asked Tao with his arms crossed. “In your room?”

Yixing quirked one of his eyebrows. “That would be stupid. We're camping in my backyard. Obviously.”

“Your backyard isn't the woods, Yixing. Why can't we go to a real camp site?”

“I have a really big backyard,” was Yixing's cool response before he started walking towards his front door.

“I should have known better,” murmured Tao as he begrudgingly got his own stuff out of the car.

Just then, Sehun's car pulled up. The window from the driver side rolled down and Sehun's confused face appeared. “Why are we stopping at Yixing's house? Did he forget something?”

“Yes, his common sense,” was Tao's sassy reply before he too started for Yixing's front door.

“Wha –”

“We're camping here,” said Jongin, slowly accepting the absurdity of their reality. “Apparently, Yixing's backyard is huge. Don't ask. Just take out your stuff.”

He walked over to Kyungsoo and helped him with the heavy bags. “A little heads up wouldn't hurt,” he murmured so that only Kyungsoo could hear.

“I didn't think you would agree if you knew,” said Kyungsoo, voice calm.

Despite not wanting to (due to their current predicament), Jongin smiled. “You know me too well.”

Kyungsoo looked at him. “I consider that a curse.”

“Yah!”

Kyungsoo abruptly leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. When they parted, Kyungsoo blinked and walked away.

Taken by surprise, Jongin stood rooted to his spot for a few silent seconds. Once he realized that Kyungsoo did indeed kiss him out of nowhere, he ran after him.

“What was that?” Jongin asked when he finally caught up to his boyfriend, sounding completely perplexed.

“I thought I should give Luhan's advice a shot.”

“What advice?”

“He said that if I randomly kiss you, you would forget about anything that happened before the kiss. It seems to work, so it might have been worth it.”

“Yah! I'm not Sehun!” shouted Jongin, disbelief on his face.

“Of course not,” said Sehun as he came up behind Jongin, fingers entwined with Luhan's. “You don't have what it takes to be me.”

“Shut up, Sehun,” hissed Jongin before he followed Kyungsoo inside Yixing's house.

Honestly, for everyone's sake, this camping trip better be worth it...

*******

When Suho finally got to Yixing's place (his backyard to be exact), he quickly apologized to the others for being late. Too busy fussing over their tents, they didn't pay him much attention, which Suho was grateful for. They have always been a tough bunch.

“Here,” said Yixing as he handed Suho a slip of paper with instructions. “We're sharing a tent. I hope you don't mind.”

A dopey smile appeared on Suho's face at the prospect of sharing a tent with Yixing. “It's fine. I don't mind,” he muttered breathlessly, causing Yixing to laugh.

“I hope you're good with tents,” said Yixing as he picked up a random pole and stared at it.

Though Suho has never assembled a tent in his life (it was his first time camping in general), he smiled and took the pole away from Yixing. “One awesome tent coming up,” he stated.

Yixing smiled and gave him a lovely peck on the cheek. That was the only motivation Suho needed before he quickly got to work.

Several minutes later, when Suho was almost done with their tent, he took a look around and realized that he should give himself more credit for pitching a tent because apparently, he was the best at it.

Kyungsoo and Jongin had decided to pitch two separate tents, so naturally, they were competing to see who would be done first. Jongin was considerably ahead of Kyungsoo, but he would often stop to glance at his boyfriend's progress. Suho reckoned that he would have been done by now if he wasn't so busy teasing Kyungsoo for being slow.

Sehun and Luhan were sharing a tent, and though their tent was currently a bit lopsided, Suho didn't think they mind too much. They were smiling and chatting cheerfully about something. When he thought that no one was looking, Luhan would steal a few kisses from Sehun. He grinned like a child in a candy store whenever they separate. Suho thought he looked incredibly cute, and so did Yixing because he would coo at the couple whenever he caught them kissing.

As for Tao, he was done a long time ago. Unlike the others, he had spent the extra money and got himself an automatic tent – one that popped up with the push of a button. Right now, he was napping on his camping chair in front of his perfect tent, grinning in satisfaction while he slept. Occasionally, Yixing would throw grapes at Tao, just for fun.