ELECTRIC ϟ LEE HAECHAN

fifty two

Tense was an understatement.

No one could exactly put their finger on it, but as dinner time settled, the comfort from the waterfall had completely worn off. Maybe it was the hot tempered birthday boy, or his mother acting peculiar— or even the odd contact between the two girls in the middle of the forest. Nonetheless, the trip to Hwansang was getting weirder by the minute. Curiosity was brewing and no one was stopping it from overflowing out of the pot.

"Sungie, could you light this up for me?" Jihyeon asked for the third time, smoke filling the air again as the grill went out. Jisung was slowly losing his patience, convinced the wind was playing tricks on him for bad karma, or whatever superstitions Seorin would talk to him about. Regardless, he obeyed, sparking a flame that was slowly turning into a warmer shade; impatience. His mother wasn't an idiot. She could sense his annoyance with or without the flame. Though, the confirmation ignited uneasiness in her.

"Mom, sometimes I feel like you forget you can shift again." he mumbled as lightly as he could, dusting himself off. The scent of smoke from the grilling was rubbing off on his clothes, knowing he would smell like it for the rest of the evening. As much as he was around fire, the aroma made his head ache. "What's the point of having kids if they don't make your life easier?" Jihyeon joked, earning a half smile from her son.

Meanwhile, the living room consisted of a bunch of teenagers squished into one couch. Well, except Renjun who was enjoying himself on the massage chair he might've been a bit too short for. You could drop the group of friends onto a deserted island and somehow they'd figure out how to hook up a gaming console to a coconut tree. Fingers smashed against the controllers, as well as their shoulders that kept nudging each other in the close proximity.

Curses left Chenle's mouth as he dramatically veered his entire body to the right, hoping the animated car would do the same in a cooler drifting motion. Of course, it just resulted in an angry Hyuck forcefully shoving the younger boy off of him. "You know, you only have to move your hands, dumbass?" he grunted, jerking his wrists up to receive a power boost.

"Um, hello? I'm being squished here." Hyerin huffed, eyes fixated on the screen as she played the only game she was remotely good at. Her pink princess character cheered as it passed the finish line at... fourth place. "Trust me, we all are." Jeno sighed, flinching as Hyuck's elbow dug into his thigh.

Chaos unraveled itself as him and Chenle fought over who really won first place, even if it was decided already. Just a few feet behind them were the ones in the kitchen and the chaos was presented in a different form. Little Jae was sat on the counter with Aerin and their faces were decorated with icing— along with the cake too, to an extent.

"How did the red velvet cake end up... green." Seorin couldn't even end her sentence as a question, fully expecting disappointment as Mark was in charge of the batter. He held up his hands in defense, a piping bag in between two of his fingers.