June 1st 2013 LA, California

Kyungsoo stared down at his hands. The wounds were long gone by now but if he looked closely he could still see the faint scars. He took a deep breath, trying to gain enough courage to lift his head to look up at Jongdae but he still couldn't.

The rain had lessened and Kyungsoo wasn't sure how long they had been standing there like this. Jongdae hadn't said anything but Kyungsoo could feel Jongdae's eyes on him. 

The rain had almost stopped now, with only a light sprinkle. Kyungsoo turned his head to gaze upwards from the side. The sun was shining brightly, as if the cold rainstorm a few seconds ago had never happened. 

"That's the beauty of it Kyungsoo, that's why it's so special. The rain and sun don't really mix you know? They represent two different things to most people, sadness and happiness. But during a sun shower, they both happen at the same time so it's kind of like saying that thing's will always get better, there will always be a sunny day to cancel out the rainy ones in your life."

Kyungsoo smiled as he remembered Jongdae's corny explanation of what a sun shower meant to him. He had made so much fun of him when he had picked that as the project they would do together. He remembered Jongdae's pouty expression and threats to change partners.

The rain had now stopped completely and Kyungsoo slowly brought his hands to his legs and started to massage some feeling back into them. He could see Jongdae move his feet slightly from the corner of his eye. He heard Jongdae take a deep breath but before anything came out he heard his name being called out.

He turned and saw Jong-in looking at the both of them. Kyungsoo stiffened slightly as he saw Chanyeol walking behind Jong-in. He should've expected Chanyeol to be here if Jongdae was but it still shocked him. He watched the worried expression on Jong-in's face but couldn't really tell what Chanyeol was feeling from his face. It was eerily calm. 

Probably can't stand the sight of me Kyungsoo thought as he slowly got up on his feet. He hesitantly looked over at Jongdae to see if he was still looking at him but to his dismay Jongdae was now looking at Jongin. Kyungsoo felt his heart tighten as he watched the warm expression on Jongdae's face as he looked at Jongin. He wished that Jongdae would look at him like that, just once. Kyungsoo frowned slightly as he examined Jongdae. 

He looks thinner and his cheekbones look even sharper if that was even possible Kyungsoo thought. He saw Jongdae shiver slightly and realized that they were both soaking wet from the rain. 

Without even thinking he reached out to grab a hold of Jongdae but stopped midway when he heard Jongdae say, "Jonginnie."

Kyungsoo bit his lip as he slowly brought back his hand, hoping that no one noticed. He stood there as Jong-in walked over to Jongdae and gave him a slow hug. He watched as Jong-in slowly wrapped his arm around Jongdae's waist and started to pull him towards the planetarium. He didn't even hear Chanyeol talking to him and he only moved when he felt Chanyeol tug on his sleeve. 

"Let's get you out of these clothes, Soo," Chanyeol said quietly as he carefully nudged Kyungsoo to start walking. Kyungsoo looked down at the ground, not wanting to face Chanyeol but he did as he was told.

The walk back to the planetarium was silent between them but Kyungsoo heard the soft whispers between Jongdae and Jong-in. When they entered the planetarium, Kyungsoo couldn't help but let out a small gasp as the air conditioning hit his wet clothes. 

The four of them walked over to the museum gift shop where Jong-in quickly purchased two towels, shirts and shorts. Jong-in led Jongdae over to one of the bathrooms but turned back to look for Kyungsoo.

"I got him," Chanyeol said to Jong-in and he dragged Kyungsoo to the other side, not bothering to wait for a response. Chanyeol pushed Kyungsoo onto one of the benches and started to dry his hair with a towel. Kyungsoo nervously looked at the ground, not knowing what to say or do. He hadn't seen or talked to Chanyeol in so long and Kyungsoo still remembered how angry Chanyeol had been at him.

"Here, change into these so you won't die of pneumonia or something," Chanyeol said as he gave the extra clothes to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo nodded his head but as Chanyeol walked out Kyungsoo knew he had to say something, he had to at least apologize.

Kyungsoo grabbed Chanyeol's hand and finally looked up at his friend's face. "Chanyeol I'm sorry.. I'm sorry for ever-"

"Don't ... Don't Kyungsoo," Chanyeol said softly cutting him off. 

Kyungsoo gulped, not knowing what to do next. He wanted Chanyeol to know how sorry he was, how sorry he was for everything that happened.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before Chanyeol gave him a sad smile. "Let's not talk about it okay? It was three years ago... a lot has happened since then. We're getting better now, so let's not bring up any old wounds okay?"

Kyungsoo slowly loosened his grip on Chanyeol's hand and nodded his head. 

"I'll be outside," Chanyeol said before closing the door. 

Kyungsoo slowly changed out of his wet clothes, trying to wrap his mind around all that had happened. Seeing Jongdae again, seeing Chanyeol again, Chanyeol not wanting to rip his head off. It was all so sudden to Kyungsoo and he didn't know what more to expect. 

He made his way outside the door and saw Chanyeol leaning against the wall in the hallway. He was staring at something around the corner. Kyungsoo slowly walked over to him and turned to see what Chanyeol was looking at. 

Kyungsoo felt his breathing slow down as he watched Jongin and Jongdae. Jongin was standing in front of a sitting Jongdae and slowly toweling Jongdae's wet hair. 

Kyungsoo could see from Jongin's lips that he was saying something but Jongdae seemed to answer with only nods and shakes. Jongdae suddenly smiled at something Jongin said and Kyungsoo couldn't help but feel jealous that it wasn't him bringing that smile on Jongdae's face. However, Kyungsoo knew he had long lost that right, he never really had it. 

"It's been a while since I saw Chen smile like that," Chanyeol said as he watched the pair.

Kyungsoo stiffly nodded his head as he watched the pair, it was like they were in their own little world. "Jongin was always good for Jongdae, it's always been like that," he said softly. 

Surprisingly Chanyeol put a hand on Kyungsoo's arm and gave it a small squeeze. Kyungsoo looked up at Chanyeol and was even more confused when he saw something that looked almost sympathetic in Chanyeol's eyes. The last time Kyungsoo had seen Chanyeol, there had been nothing but blame and anger in them. 

Chanyeol broke eye contact after a few seconds and chuckled nervously. "We should catch up to the rest of the guys."

Kyungsoo was still caught up trying to understand this change in Chanyeol that he just nodded his head. They both turned to get the other pair but stopped when they saw that Jongin was now crouching in front of Jongdae and Jongdae was leaning his head on his shoulder. Jongin was whispering something to Jongdae as he rubbed Jongdae's back slowly.

"Let's just go," Kyungsoo said tersely as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see anymore. 

"Kyungsoo, wait don-" Chanyeol started to say but Kyungsoo had already walked away, ignoring the hot tears in his eyes.

~

"Hey .. don't fall asleep on me," Jongin said teasingly as he rubbed Jongdae's back. 

"Mmm," Jongdae mumbled not lifting his head off of Jongdae's shoulders and nuzzling further in.

Jongin laughed as he felt the droplets of water from Jongdae's hair graze his neck. He turned around just in time to see Chanyeol run after Kyungsoo. Jongin immediately felt bad as he watched the retreating figures. He knew that all of them meeting up so suddenly was hard on some of them, especially Kyungsoo and Jongdae. He had watched his best friend try to pick himself up after all that had happened after graduation and though Kyungsoo swore that he was fine, Jongin knew that he wasn't. 

Jongin was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Jongdae tense up. Jongin frowned as he felt Jongdae slightly tremble but after a few seconds he heard Jongdae let out a deep breath.

"Jonginnie?" Jongdae softly said suddenly.

"Yes Chen? What's wrong?"

"I... I'm just tired," Jongdae said softly, his voice cracking at the end. 

Jongin's heart broke as he heard the tiredness in Jongdae's voice. He wanted to take it away for him. The three years that he had spent apart from Jongdae had been torturous but he had promised Jongdae and he knew that he had to keep it. 

"Can.. can we just stay like this? Just for a few more seconds?" 

Jongin hummed in agreement and stayed like that, giving Jongdae as much time as he needs. He leaned his head on Jongdae's and frowned when he felt Jongdae's skin to be strangely warm.

He's so warm.... is he running a fever? Jongin thought worriedly. He reminded himself to ask Lay later about it. 

After a few more minutes, Jongdae finally lifted his head up and smiled at Jongin.

"Thanks," he mumbled. 

Jongin laughed as he pushed Jongdae's bangs out of his eyes. "Always and you really should stop walking in the rain. You feel like you have a fever."

Jongdae rolled his eyes, "Stop babying me. I already have Lay doing that."

"Well I can't help it. I haven't seen you in three years."

Jongdae smirked and cocked his head to the side. "Well I saw you... on television, scoring goals."

Jongin laughed as he got back on his feet. "Still my biggest fan?" He extended his hand and motioned for Jongdae to take it. "Let's go find the others."

Jongdae looked at Jongin's hand and then back at Jongin's face, hesitation written all over his face. He wasn't sure if he was ready just yet to actually see him again. 

As if he had read Jongdae's mind, Jongin leaned closer and grabbed Jongdae's hand reassuringly.

"How... how's he been?" Jongdae asked hesitantly.

"He's been good. He works too much but I always try to take him out when he's free. Luhan, Sehun and Tao live in the same building as us so we see each other a lot."

Jongdae gave a tiny smile, "I'm glad... but he still looks too pale. You know he's too lazy if no one forces him to go outside."

"He misses you," Jongin said quietly. 

Jongdae took a sharp intake of breath and pursed his lips. "Don't start.. don't start this again. Please."

Jongin sighed and shook his head but he let the topic drop. He didn't want to argue with Jongdae about this again, at least not yet. 

"Alright, then let's just go. I'm pretty sure Luhan, Tao and Sehun are already pissed at waiting so long to meet you."

Jongdae smiled, grateful that Jongin had stopped. "I've missed them, I've missed you."

"That's a given!"

Jongdae pouted, "When did you get so cocky?"

Jongin smiled smugly, "When I realized you looooooooveeee me a lot!"

"Ughhh," Jongdae said but he allowed himself to be dragged towards the rest of the group upstairs by Jongin.

As they passed the main entrance, Jongdae looked out the door and saw the sun shining brightly. There were still droplets of water on the windows of the door and the sunrays streaming in made them glisten just a little bit. 

"Kyungsoo if you don't get away from the window and help me with the poster I'm going to pour maple syrup all over your bed."

Kyungsoo sighed and looked over at Jongdae from the window bench. "First you make me listen to all your dumb reasons about why a sun shower is awesome and now you don't even let me appreciate the 'beauty' of it."

Jongdae rolled his eyes and threw a glue stick at Kyungsoo. "You just don't want to do any work. And stop making fun of me... it's not my fault your as sensitive as a piece of wood."

Kyungsoo snorted and turned back to admire the glistening rain drops. "Jokes aside. You're right though... it is pretty special."

Jongdae raised his eyebrow, "Oh? Why?"

"Well it's not anything corny like your dumb explanation but I was reading some of the folklore behind all this stuff and most of them talk about it symbolizing the unexpected union of two beings. For example in France, it symbolizes the marriage of two lone wolves."

"Two lone wolves? Uh aren't lone wolves supposed to ... you know.. be alone?"

"That's the point Jongdumb. The unexpected happens during sun showers." Kyungsoo said in deep thought as he traced the little rain droplets rolling down the windowpane. "The rain and sun are defying nature by happening together. It's kind of awesome you know? Defying nature, going against all odds. Anything can happen."

Jongdae snickered, "That sounds much cornier than my explanation Kyungsoo." 

"I'm ignoring you now," Kyungsoo said in a sing songy voice. 

Jongdae laughed as he watched Kyungsoo drift off into space again. He didn't want to admit it but he kind of liked when Kyungsoo opened up a bit like this. It gave him a little bit of a sneak peek into Kyungsoo's probably messed up mind. Jongdae sighed and went back to gluing the cutout sunrays onto the poster, humming happily to the beat of the rain droplets on the windowpane. 

Jongdae managed a small smile as he remembered that small moment. It had been one of the few moments of peace that Jongdae had felt after the prom debacle that year. After prom night, Jongdae had been pretty devastated by everything and had started to withdraw from the group, not wanting to hurt Jongin more. The playful bickering and banter with Kyungsoo was one of the only times where Jongdae had felt like he didn't have to think twice before talking or acting. It had also been nice to realize that someone else shared the same fascination for a meteorological phenomenon so unique and unusual. 

Kyungsoo was right. The unexpected happens during a sun shower. Jongdae thought as he walked with Jongin to the rest of the group. Jongdae could make out Kyungsoo from behind and bit his lip nervously. I didn’t think I would ever see him again… I didn’t plan to see him again… yet here he is, standing right in front of me.

Authors note:

Short chapter but felt like we needed to take a visit to the present before continuing with the high school flashbacks! Comments and questions about anything are always welcome!