↱GREAT ESCAPE↲ ⇾seongjoong/yeonbin⇽

12

"i hate him."

"no, you don't, wooyoung."

"yunho looked like a sun god."

"first of all," kai adds. "gross."

san's focus is on filling a plastic star-shaped container with wet sand.

"you have it bad, man." a dawning realization arrives: san isn't sure whether the statement is directed towards wooyoung or himself.

he settles on both.

their plastic tools aren't enough to cut through the sudden thick air that surrounds them.

kai wants to blame it on the salt from the sea and breeze alone (since jongho and hongjoong aren't around), except the way his two other companions are keeping to themselves make it hard for him not wonder what the actual fuck is going on.

kai's jaw remains slack, pupils shifting between the uneasy two, ready to say something - but what?

"it's an adult thing," hongjoong told him once. "maybe when you're older."

yeosang was reading through the campus newspaper's comics section. he barely looked up. "he means next year."

kai wants in on the drama

right now.

but before he can ask, they're back to concentrating on kai's sandcastle ("it's mine. i started it.") with minimal chatter.

wooyoung pauses halfway through digging the moat, dropping the green plastic shovel to push himself off the ground.

"i'm gonna go."

kai frowns. "to where?"

"somewhere."

neither get a chance to ask further because wooyoung is up and jogging in the direction of their lodging.

kai notices the way san's face falls, the latter prodding the mound with the wrong end of a plastic rake.

"i'm thirsty," san starts suddenly. before kai can even open his mouth, san is getting up as well, dusting the sand off from his hands and shorts. "want anything?"

god, people really need to start telling him things.

"the void."

"you are one angsty son of a bitch," he comments, corner of his lips quirking up into an amused grin. "anyway, apple juice it is."

once san starts dragging heavy limbs out of the shore and to the juice bar, kai takes it upon himself to double-hand dig the rest of the moat by himself, simultaneously using the green shovel and blue rake san and wooyoung left behind.

("you're taking this thing too seriously."

"shut up and keep digging."