“Moonbyul! We’re gonna be late for breakfast!” Solar shook Moonbyul for probably the thirtieth time this morning. To her dismay, Moonbyul only rolled closer to the wall. “I’ll make sure the mess hall only gives you decaf if you don’t get up right now!”

Moonbyul shot up instantly, knocking her forehead on the ceiling and falling back to her pillow with a loud moan. Solar would laugh about that later, but for now she climbed onto her bed so she could stand a little taller and get closer to Moonbyul to inspect her head trauma. “Are you okay,” Solar whispered, biting her lip. Moonbyul groaned again, pressing a palm to her forehead.

“I didn’t ask to be born into a world where top bunks were made to be so close to ceilings. I really could have lived without that.” Moonbyul choked out. Solar could tell that she was fine though, just a little sore and probably tender. She kissed two fingers and pressed them to the opposite side of Moonbyul’s forehead from the wound.

“There. All better. Get dressed and I’ll meet you at the mess hall.” She noticed as she hopped down from her perch that Moonbyul had cracked open one eye to stare at the ceiling. Solar absently wondered if Moonbyul’s growing blush was from the pain or from her finger kiss thing. She assumed it was just from the pain as she skipped down the steps of the cabin’s porch to meet Whasa and Wheein. The couple was waiting at the picnic table outside of Solar and Moonbyul’s cabin, Wheein watching the kids line up in front of the mess hall while Whasa played with her girlfriend’s hair.

“We seem to be missing one half of the MoonSun duo,” Wheein commented lightly as Solar approached them.

“Yeah, well. I may have caused Moonbyul brain damage in an attempt to wake her up,” Solar rubbed the back of her neck.

“Oh,” Whasa jumped off the table, her eyes wide and eager. “How so?”

“Oh, y’know...” Solar avoided her eyes, a little confused as to why she seemed so intent to know how Moonbyul had gotten hurt. Not even in a concerned way, either.

“Oh my god, Solar, you didn’t…” Wheein leaned forward as well.

“Didn’t what? I just threatened to make sure that the mess hall only served her decaf coffee and she hit her head on the ceiling.” Solar quirked an eyebrow.

Whasa and Wheein deflated. Their bet would continue to be drawn out, it seemed.

“Oh, of course.” Wheein played off the disappointment easily. “The thing Moonie loves most is her morning caffeine.” And, y’know, you probably, both she and Whasa added silently.

“We better head over before all the kids eat the food.” Whasa suggested and the three of them started making their way up to the mess hall. Solar shot a worried glance back towards the cabin where Moonbyul remained.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Moonbyul continued rubbing her forehead and stared up at the ceiling, stunned.

“And another thing I didn’t ask for was to fall for the sweetest girl in the world,” She shouted at the ceiling after a few seconds. The ceiling said nothing back. “Don’t you ignore me you smug bastard!”

She rolled off the bed, landing on the floor in a crouch, grumbling.

She remained grumbling as she got dressed and while she walked to the mess hall. Her grumbling ceased as soon as she got inside and wrapped her fingers around a mug full of coffee.

“Hey,” She asked, side eying the kitchen staff. “This is regular coffee right?” Boa, an old friend of hers and a member of the kitchen staff, snorted.

“Byul, do you think any of us are brave enough to last a day of you running purely on decaf?”

Moonbyul smirked groggily and raised her mug in silent thanks. Boa rolled her eyes and laughed, going back to work.

After refilling her mug several times just in the few minutes that she scanned the room for her girls and took a headcount, Moonbyul headed outside to join her friends.

“The banquet is kind of a happy prelude to the part of camp where everyone cries. The older counselors put on a comedy routine for everyone, there’s a cook out, a desert buffet. People get dressed up, too. And they get dates.” Wheein was animatedly explaining The Banquet to Solar, who appeared to be listening intently.

“Of course, then we dismiss the junior campers and the senior campers and all the counselors come together for a bonfire and we all cry our eyes out,” Moonbyul grumbled as she plopped down beside Solar. “Sorta brings the good vibes to a crashing stop.”

Solar began fretting over Moonbyul as Whasa and Wheein watched on, amused. Moonbyul always seemed to get into accidents when Solar was involved. They wondered if Moonbyul would even make it till the end of the week.

“Hey, Byul,” They all looked up and saw some older camp counselors waiting by the doorway. Boa was leading them, her blond hair pulled into a messy ponytail. “We were gonna go scope out the High Falls trail and make sure it’s safe for tomorrow’s hike. You in?”

Moonbyul nodded. “When are we leaving?”

“As soon as you finish your coffee we’ll head out.”

“Who’s coming?”

“Oh it’s just us girls this year. You, me, Sihyun, Narae, Jiwon, and Bohyung. Should be fun without the guys telling us what to do like last year.” Boa flicked her bangs out of her eyes.

Moonbyul raised a thumbs up in her direction and turned back to her friends.

Solar was worried. “Moonbyul, you hurt yourself this morning, should you really be hiking?”

Moonbyul laughed. “Solar, I’m fine. Remember?” She kissed two fingers and pressed them to Solar’s forehead, imitating her from this morning. “All better.”

Solar blushed. Wheein and Whasa were stunned. Moonbyul was screaming internally, unable to believe she just did that. Someone must’ve spiked her coffee because she never would’ve tried something that bold without chemical help.

Actually, everyone at the table was screaming internally. Moonbyul shifted her gaze to her coffee and chugged it down quickly so she could leave. “Okay, well. I’ll see you guys later.”

As soon as she was gone, the bell rang and Wheein and Whasa essentially had to drag Solar out of her stunned stupor and to the amphitheater so that she could do her job as a counselor.

Solar went through the morning songs still in a daze. She didn’t even whisper the words, just mouthed along. Her head was reeling from Moonbyul’s actions earlier. Solar absolutely refused to over analyze the situation just so that she could see romance where there was none. Which, of course, meant that she over analyzed in the complete opposite direction.

It was one thing for her to indirectly kiss Moonbyul’s forehead, because she thought she was hurt. But for Moonbyul to repeat the action to Solar when it was unnecessary? That was a different story. Maybe Moonbyul was just as prone to skinship as she was? Yes, that was probably the answer. And if Solar did it in the morning that would certainly leave Moonbyul to assume it was fine for her to repeat.

“Solar? Sunshine? Hey, grandma, wake up,” Wheein shook Solar. She popped out of her daze quickly, looking around the amphitheater. It was empty, save her, Wheein, and Whasa.

“Did all the kids go to play sports?” Solar asked.

“Mhm. We were gonna go help out in the Art Cave, do you wanna come with?” Solar nodded, following the couple into a room beside the stage of the amphitheater, underneath stairs that lead up to the top game room and loft.

The Art Cave was a simple room boxed off into two separate sections. Entering the room put you into the camper area, which was equipped with tables and benches so that kids could paint little birdhouses or make friendship bracelets. In front of the camper area was where the patron goddesses of Art Cave resided.

Which was to say, two elderly moms who sold cheap crafts and gave kids paint and color advice.

“Wheein, sweetheart, have you come to help us decorate the mailboxes?” One of the ladies asked.

“Yes ma’am!” Wheein chirped. Solar was stunned. Wheein literally chirped. How did one person get to be that adorable in real life?

“Alright, you and your friends can get started on painting the boxes. Make sure you keep the labels easy to see, please.”

“On it,” Wheein and Whasa picked up cups of paint and got to work, spreading colors in pretty swirls and swatches. Solar watched them for a moment before picking up a cup of her own and joining in.

“Oh, Hyejin, are you still fighting off all those boys,” The other lady asked playfully. Solar noticed Wheein’s shoulders slump ever so slightly.

“Well, not so much anymore,” Whasa said lightly.

“Oh, is it because you’ve finally found Mister Right?”

“My lips are sealed,” Hyejin played along, but Solar could see how tense she was. The elderly ladies laughed and went back to work organizing the art supplies.

“They mean well,” Hyejin whispered. Solar saw her paint a tiny heart on Wheein’s hand. She saw tears forming in Wheein’s eyes.

“You haven’t come out yet,” Solar whispered, putting the pieces together.

“It’s easier to continue coming here if we just keep it secret and act like a pair of friends who are both really into skinship.” Whasa explained for both of them, knowing that Wheein wouldn’t be able to trust her voice. “The world is becoming more progressive, but we can’t be open about our relationship, never mind our ualities, in front of the more family oriented counselors.” Whasa’s voice tightened on the word family.

“We’re out among our age group here, and we’ve asked them to keep our secret. They have for the past year, so it seems.” Wheein’s voice shook. Solar’s heart shattered. Love was something that ought to be shared with the world, not hidden and kept secret, having to tiptoe around people who might destroy it.

“I’m sorry, you guys,” Solar murmured, noticing that she had been swirling the same circle since she started painting. She switched to painting leaves.

“Don’t be.” Wheein whispered, throwing her a watery smile. “We’re glad we can be open and honest around you and our friends. As much as we appreciate the sentiment, we don’t want pity. We just want support.”

Solar nodded and returned the smile.

Her leaves, she noticed, had turned into hearts.

“So,” Whasa broke the silence after twenty minutes of painting. “You can use these mailboxes to send notes to people within the camp.”

“Oh really?” Solar blinked.

“Yep. The kids love it. They send all kinds of notes to each other. This is also the preferred method of Banquet date getting.” Wheein’s voice sounded brighter, recovering from earlier.

“Does everyone have a date,” Solar raised an eyebrow, deciding to compliment her now drying hearts with glitter glue.

“Of course you don’t have to get a date, but it’s fun. At least in our humble opinion,” Whasa shrugged. “You and Moonie could go together.”

“Aaaahhh, I don’t know about that,” Solar laughed nervously, her hand slipping off of her planned course and causing her pattern to meander in a new direction. She huffed and reworked her artistic views.

“Just a suggestion,” Whasa hummed.

They continued to paint in silence until they made sure that every surface of the mailboxes had been covered in decorations and designs.

Solar touched the pocket of her shorts, expecting her phone to be in its usual place. Of course, as soon as she moved she remembered that it was still sitting on her bed at the cabin, but she followed through with the motion anyway. With a sigh, she looked up at the clock over the door.

It had only been an hour.

“Hey, guys, I’m gonna go back to my cabin.” Solar looked over to where Wheein and Whasa had taken to leaning on the wall and whispering.

“Still sore from yesterday?” Wheein asked.

“Yeah, sorta.” It wasn’t a lie, to be honest. She was sore and kinda tired, but she really wanted to escape from the atmosphere that had been created earlier. It was not to insult Wheein or Whasa, but she was coming up confused with her own feelings and she really didn’t want to be in an area where having to hide those kinds of feelings was the norm.

So she waved to the couple and headed back towards her cabin, noting with a hint of dread that the sky was gray, flecked with darker spots. She turned to look over at the mountain peak, remembering that the tiny bit of running water she could see from this spot was actually High Falls. Which just so happened to be where Moonbyul was.

Solar looked back up at the sky, hoping for her new friend’s safe return before the coming storm decided to hit.

As soon as she made it into the cabin she made a beeline for her bed. As soon as her head hit her pillow, she was fast asleep.

The sudden bang of thunder woke her up. Bleary eyed, she checked her phone. It had been a little over two hours since she’d fallen asleep.

Another clap of thunder caused her to jump. She grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, frowning at the poor excuses of windows as the wind battered against the mosquito netting.

Solar really hoped Moonbyul was okay.

When the third round of thunder came, the girls flooded into the cabin, hair all dripping. Solar went to work ushering them to their beds, making sure that every girl who was scared of thunder was with at least one or two of her friends. When she saw to it that all the girls were safe, accounted for, and supported she retreated back to her own bed.

Solar remembered that counting was something people recommended for anxiety, so whenever a clap of thunder would hit, she would scoot a little closer to the corner of the bed and start counting slowly. She pretended that it wasn’t because she was scared and she was just really interested in how far away the storm was.

It wasn’t far away at all.

When the front door swung open, she hid her face in the blanket, finally admitting to herself that she was terrified.

“Solar?”

Solar burrowed deeper into her blanket.

“Hey,” Moonbyul stepped closer, her voice softer. “Solar, hey, it’s just me.”

Solar looked up from her blanket and blinked at Moonbyul.

“Oh my god,” Moonbyul was by her side in a second, holding Solar close in her arms. It was only when Solar buried her face in the crook between Moonbyul’s neck and shoulder that she felt the wetness on her face.

Moonbyul herself was soaked, both with sweat from the hike and rain water, but neither of them really cared. Moonbyul rocked Solar back and forth slowly, rubbing the sides of her arms.

“I’m sorry for crying on you,” Solar sniffed and looked up at Moonbyul, who only frowned.

“Solar, don’t you dare apologize for this.” She stated firmly. But she quickly warmed back up. “Are you afraid of storms?”

Solar’s voice was thick with emotion but if Moonbyul was asking, she may as well tell the truth.

“A few of my friends died in a car wreck during a storm about a year and a half ago.” Solar whispered. “They were leaving my house and the storm was really bad and they couldn’t see and it was a head on collision and,” Solar was shaking. Moonbyul held her tighter. “I worried about them until the storm ended, but the next day my mom told me to check the news and.” Her voice died into a sob.

Moonbyul pulled her closer, letting her bury her head in her shoulder while she cried.

“And I was worried about you, up on that mountain and,” Solar was incapable of finishing any of her sentences. Moonbyul gulped and rubbed her back.

“It’s alright, sunshine. It’s okay, I’m here, and I’m okay. It’s alright,” Moonbyul whispered. She leaned back and took Solar’s face in her hands gently, wiping her tears away with her thumbs. Moonbyul leaned up and pressed a kiss to Solar’s forehead and offered her a small smile. “’All better’, right?”

Solar smile was weak, but it was there. Moonbyul would accept it.

Yerim, one of their girls, poked her head in their room. “Miss Kim, it’s stopped storming, can we go to lunch now? All the other cabins are going.” Moonbyul and Solar blinked and Moonbyul spoke for them.

“That’s fine! Just stay together, and if you see lightning, get to shelter immediately. Understood?” Yerim nodded and she ran out of the cabin, followed by the rest of the girls.

“Do you want me to bring you some food?” Moonbyul offered, unsure if Solar was the type to hide her tears or not.

“No, I think I’ll be okay,” Solar stood up and wiped her eyes with the inside of her shirt.

Moonbyul held out her hand and Solar took it, intertwining their fingers. Together, they made their way to the mess hall.

Wheein and Whasa were waiting for them at their normal table on the patio, already bickering over who got to steal what off of each other’s plates.

“Okay, Solar, Moonbyul, if I give Whasa my chips, isn’t that a solid trade for her dessert?” Wheein whined when they sat down.

“I’m telling you, I don’t want your chips, I want the dessert.”

“But I want more dessert!”

“Then go get another dessert!”

“Aren’t you two a little old for this kind of fighting?” Moonbyul eyed them over her mug as she took a sip of coffee.

“She has a point,” Solar spoke through a mouthful of salad.

“True, we shouldn’t fight,” Wheein kissed Whasa’s cheek and turned sharply to Solar and Moonbyul, who froze. “So which one of you is willing to give up your dessert?”

Solar shrugged and pushed her tray over to Wheein. Everyone at the table stared at her as she shrugged and stated, “I’m not all that hungry.”

Moonbyul frowned but said nothing.

“Hey, Byul,” Sihyun poked her head out to the patio.

“What’s up?”

“Boa said we have to check the trail early in the morning tomorrow to make sure the rain didn’t mess it up. You wanna come along?”

Moonbyul noticed out of the corner of her eye how Solar’s face scrunched up ever so slightly. “Uh, no I’m good actually. I’m kinda out of practice with hiking, so I think one hike a day is enough.”

“Gotcha. I’ll let Boa know.”

Moonbyul watched Solar visibly relax and smiled.

For the rest of the day, Moonbyul and Solar were joined at the hip, even more so than usual. From the end of lunch, throughout free time, into dinner, and during the evening songs- Wheein and Whasa watched the pair grow even closer.

And as the couple left them when the junior campers were dismissed, they watched their bets on the couple grow even larger.

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