oh my god guys i updated twice in the span of three days what is happening
ooo ooooo and thank you for 5k :")
aND AND AND i finished planning the book out; there are two more chapters after this one... and then we're done!!
last thing :: wishing a happy birthday to FeLiXeU_skzee ; have the best day nana!! thank you for being such an amazing friend to me, and ily <333 everyone had better wish her a happy birthday or i'll come steal your forehead
now on with the cliché summer camp au you came here for
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"It's really not that hard," I say, grinning at Felix. "Just say the name."
"No."
I snort. "It's someone in this room?"
Felix's face flushes redder than his hair. "We're in the freaking cafeteria. Yes, the person I like is in this room."
"And his name is Hwang Hyunjin," Jisung adds from behind me. "He's currently refilling on scrambled rubber and burnt fakon bacon."
"There's a possibility."
I snort again. "Busted. Jisung, we're two for two."
"Two? Huh?"
"Two for two... couples created. Ourselves and, uh, Fejin."
Jisung blinks. "Hyunlix sounds better."
"Nah, I like Fejin," Felix chimes in. "It sounds like something that most people would prefer."
Jisung makes an 'ew' face. I only laugh—two weeks of officially being allowed to kiss my dork wherever I want, his very existence still manages to amaze me. Yes... two weeks of dating Jisung.
I do my best not to think too hard about time, though. Summer's end is close enough that I could count down the days on all my fingers and toes, and still have a few toes left over. And I don't want to think about what happens when summer ends, when seeing Jisung daily ends.
"Fejin superiority," I say, nodding to Jisung. "We wish we could be like Fejin."
"No, we don't. We're together. 'Fejin' isn't." Jisung has a point. To acknowledge that, I press a kiss against his lips. Who cares that the table digs obnoxiously into my hip bones? Not I, not if it means I can satiate even a little bit of my constant urge to remind Jisung how much I like him.
Felix, looking mildly disgusted, scrunches up his nose before departing. "I'd rather confess to Hyunjin than witness this," he mutters.
"Do it, coward," Jisung calls out after him. I grin at my boyfriend, and he only sighs. "He's not going to."
"Doesn't matter. Let Felix regret his cowardice later; for now, are you done with breakfast?"
Jisung uses his wooden fork to push some bouncy greenish stuff around his plate. "It's not really food. I don't think it counts as breakfast."
"Are you done with it?" I repeat.
He shrugs, eyes still fixed on a whitish spot among the green. "I doubt I was ever going to start," he mumbles. "You should tell your aunt to up the cuisine here. She could use a chef or two, not those scarecrows with friendly-ish faces."
I gasp. "Those are my cousins, Jisung. They aren't scarecrows."
"Wait, what?" he pales. "Oh, my goodness, I didn't realize—"
"Messing with you," I say.
"So they are scarecrows?"
After a moment of hesitation, I answer. "...Yes."
"Can I teach your aunt how to budget—"
I lightly flick his arm, giving him an affectionate 'shut up' look. Jisung chuckles and blushes. He stands up from the table and picks up his plate of gelatin broccoli, or whatever it is, tossing it into the trash as he leads me out of the cafeteria.
"Where...?"
It's Saturday; we have nothing scheduled. "You'll see," Jisung says, guiding me past our cabin, past the infirmary, past the various areas of the camp. We walk along the edge of the woods where the 00' liners had their party a few weeks ago. Only once we have to duck under a chain, holding up a sign that reads "NO ENTRY BEYOND THIS POINT," do I hesitate.
"Uh..."
"I promise you, this is worth it. And legal," Jisung adds with a wink.
I purse my lips. "Alright, Ji. Just don't get me killed."
"No promises," he says, then pauses for a moment, thoughtful. "Well, except the promise that this is worth it. And legal." He ducks under the chain, and I cross after him. "Here, take my hand if you're scared," he offers.
I grab his hand, murmuring, "I'm not scared; I just like holding your hand."
"Cute."
After several more minutes of silent walking, Jisung and I find ourselves at the shore of a small pond. Some meters away is an old gazebo, its gray paint slightly peeling. Under any other circumstances, the cliché-ness of this would make me feel sick, but Jisung's presence just makes it scenic and fitting. It's so fitting.
"How did you find this place?" I ask. My voice comes out softly, as if it doesn't want to break the tranquility that hangs over this place like a warm blanket. It's completely silent aside from the two of us.
Jisung shrugs and smiles. "It's the spot where Chan, Changbin, and I agreed to meet up every Saturday night to check in, after the... disaster... of the party." Still holding my hand, he leads me into the gazebo. It smells like dampened wood and old paint, but in a comforting way. "It's very scenic. I figured you'd like it."
"I do like it," I say. He looks out at the pond, and I smile a little at his serene expression. "And the view is great."
Jisung looks back at me then, and he blushes. "Look at the water, dummy. Not me."
I shrug. "I'll look at what I want to look at."
"Fine." He turns his head back to the pond, his blush fading as the serenity bleeds into the atmosphere. I also find my gaze drifting to the water, sparkling under the sunlight. "Hey, Min?"
"Hmm?"
"After camp ends..."
I shudder involuntarily. I don't want to think about that. I don't want to go back to school, deal with my parents pressuring me to get good grades, a girlfriend, the people I try to call my friends. I want to stay here, in this musty gazebo, forever, stay with Jisung. But I bite my lip and don't tell him that.
"...I'd like to stay in contact with you."
I breathe a sigh of relief. "Me too, Ji."
"No, I didn't finish," he says. "But I'm not sure how that will work. 'Cause I'm an idol, right? And that's a big responsibility. Our CEO never mentioned a dating ban, per se, but we are encouraged to avoid it. This summer is different--this summer he let us go to camps, but only because we're so young, and because we literally just debuted."
I nod. "Makes sense." My heart clenches nervously.
"Also, you're two years older than me, or something like that."
That'd never occurred to me. I mean, of course I've known that. But the age gap hasn't bothered us as of yet.
"So, yeah." Jisung wrings his hands in his lap, still not looking at me.
I blink a few times, slowly, trying to think of what to say. "Yeah." C'mon, brain. "I understand that, actually. It makes sense. And we have two more weeks to just chill, Ji. After camp ends, if we have to break this off, I will completely get it. You won't have to worry about me as an evil ex, too; I don't think I'm that type."
Jisung giggles. "Okay, let's just enjoy the next two weeks."
"Yeah," I say again.
The water still twinkles in front of us, and I realize we had that whole conversation without looking at each other. It's probably for the better. I've only known Jisung personally for a month and a half or so, but I've fallen fast, and I've fallen hard.
I purse my lips. "Let's just enjoy them."