for me, there's you (and nobody else) 2/3
part 1
Jongdae startles awake only a couple hours later, but the cabin is quiet and he's not sure what woke him. He holds his breath and listens to the silence for a few seconds, nothing seeming amiss - maybe it was something outside, a branch snapping or even just the wood of the cabin creaking? Just when he's about to roll over and close his eyes again, he hears whispering across the room.
"See? They're still asleep, it's fine," Baekhyun murmurs. Jongdae squints into the dark and sees Baekhyun's vague outline standing on tiptoe beside the other bunk bed, peeking over the top.
He hears Kyungsoo huff quietly, and some rustling as he sits up. "Warn me next time you're gonna put your cold fingers near me, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Are you coming?"
"Baek, it's like two in the morning," Kyungsoo sighs. "Why do you want to go now?"
"Because it's two in the morning!" Baekhyun insists. "No one else will be looking. We'll have the whole woods to ourselves!"
"Yeah ourselves and the… what did you say earlier? Werewolves?"
"I was joking. Come on, it'll be fun. Please?"
There's a few more seconds of silence, then a long sigh. Jongdae hears the other bunk bed creak a little as Kyungsoo climbs down the ladder, then soft shuffling as he and Baekhyun slip their shoes on before sneaking quietly out the door.
Jongdae stays put, more dumbstruck than anything. He had kind of hoped they were playing a joke, but they really did just leave the cabin at two a.m. to go look for Mount Crescent in the woods. Christ.
He thinks about just going back to sleep, but decides against it. He should probably stay up to make sure they get back okay, right? So he sits up and rubs his eyes and settles in to wait.
Some time passes - could be ten minutes, could be an hour - before Jongdae properly worries himself into jittery uneasiness. It's dark enough outside even without being in the middle of the forest, where the dense trees surely block out what faint starlight there is. If Baekhyun and Kyungsoo lose their way, they could be stuck in the woods until morning, or longer.
After that thought, it isn't hard to make up his mind and quietly get up to put his shoes on. He picks up his jacket and glances at Chanyeol, still fast asleep in his bunk. He better be having some great dreams, Jongdae sighs to himself, then slips out the door and closes it silently behind him.
The whole ranch is dark and quiet, and it's a little too cold for just his thin windbreaker. He sneaks down the front steps of the cabin and is about to head towards the closest gap in the trees when the shadows around him are suddenly lit up.
He whips around to see someone holding up a flashlight, pointed directly at him. Jongdae gulps, shielding his eyes from the bright beam. If it's a staff member, he's screwed - there's no way 'sneaking out into the woods in the middle of the night' isn't on the list of Things That Get You Sent Home - but the voice that calls out to him is… familiar?
"Jongdae? Is that you?"
Jongdae drops his hand. "J-Junmyeon?"
Junmyeon lowers the flashlight, frowning at him. "What are you doing out here?"
It crosses Jongdae's mind to come up with an excuse, say he was sleepwalking or something, but he can't bring himself to lie to Junmyeon. "I-it's Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, they went into the woods and they aren't back yet. I was going to, uh... go look for them."
Junmyeon points the flashlight towards the trees, sweeping back and forth. "How long have they been gone?"
"I don't know. They probably got lost,” Jongdae tries, weakly. “I’ll find them and bring them back to the cabin, I promise. Just-- please, don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t,” Junmyeon says easily. He shines the light around until he finds the path leading into the woods. “They would've gone in through there, I think.”
Jongdae gives him a confused look. “W-wait, you’re not going to turn me in?”
Junmyeon raises an eyebrow at him. “No…? Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m out of bed,” Jongdae says slowly, carefully watching Junmyeon’s face, “and about to go searching in the woods for my two idiot friends?” Maybe he’s just tired, and hasn’t realized yet that Jongdae is breaking nearly all of the rules.
Junmyeon, however, just shrugs. “I won’t tell if you don’t,” he says, grinning, and beckons for Jongdae to follow him toward the trees. “Come on, let’s go find them.”
He gets a couple steps ahead before Jongdae remembers how to make his feet move. “Wait, you’re--? What?”
“I said, let’s go find them,” Junmyeon repeats, looking back at him with a smile. Jongdae takes a moment to stare after him in disbelief, then hurries to catch up and grabs Junmyeon’s arm, making him pause just before the treeline.
“Y-you don’t have to come with me,” Jongdae stutters out, looking back at the cabins. “I can go alone. I don’t want you to get in trouble if we get caught--”
“So let’s not get caught,” Junmyeon laughs, slipping out of Jongdae’s grip, but Jongdae huffs and grabs his hand instead.
“I’m serious,” he insists, more than a little exasperated.
Junmyeon’s grin fades a little. “So am I,” he says, turning back to face Jongdae. “It’s not a good idea to go into the woods alone, especially in the dark. You said yourself that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun might’ve gotten lost - what good would it do them if you got lost, too? Or if you got hurt?”
Jongdae frowns at the ground. He hadn’t thought of that.
“This is one rule I’m not letting you break, okay?” Junmyeon says, softer. He tugs his hand out of Jongdae’s slack grip and links their fingers together instead, squeezing a little. “If we look together, and stay together, we’ll find them.”
Walking through the woods in the dark with Junmyeon is not the most romantic thing in the world, unfortunately. It's still a little thrilling to be out in the woods when they're supposed to be in bed, though, and Jongdae knows there'll be hell to pay if they get caught, but he can't bring himself to turn back.
Plus, Junmyeon is still holding his hand, so it's not all bad.
"Do you know why Baekhyun and Kyungsoo went into the woods in the first place?" Junmyeon asks, breaking the silence between them. "Was there something they wanted to find, like a certain plant or tree or something? Might make it easier to find them."
"Oh, um." Jongdae worries his lip, not sure if he should mention the legend, but it's probably a good idea if it could help find them… "They're trying to find, uh. Mount Crescent. Have you heard of it?"
Junmyeon frowns. "I don't think so. Are there even any mountains around here?"
"It's magic," Jongdae says, cringing at how lame it sounds. "There's a legend about it, with these two, uh, lovers, who climb the mountain to be together…" He trails off, shaking his head. "Baekhyun wants to show Kyungsoo that it's real, and Kyungsoo wants to prove Baekhyun wrong, so they went to look for it."
"Right," Junmyeon hums. "Do you know more about the legend? It sounds interesting."
Jongdae takes a deep breath and relays the story that Jonghyun had told them at breakfast, as well as he can remember it. He stutters a few times, worrying that Junmyeon will think it's dumb or childish. When he finishes, he holds his breath, waiting for a reaction.
"Huh," Junmyeon says, after a moment, and turns to smile at Jongdae. "That's cute."
Jongdae has only a second to revel in the feeling of his heart melting before a branch suddenly snaps somewhere closeby. He jumps at the noise, bumping into Junmyeon's side. "Wh-what was that?"
Junmyeon grips his hand a little tighter. "I don't know, I think it came from over there." He shines his flashlight over the trees to their left, but there's nothing there. Jongdae glances around anxiously, trying to see something in the dark between the trees - all he can think of is werewolves, and wow, is he ever going to throttle Baekhyun when they find him.
Another branch snaps, then another and another, and Junmyeon's grip is probably cutting off circulation to his hand but Jongdae is way more concerned about the possibility of getting eaten by a werewolf any moment now--
But a light flickers in the trees, and Jongdae falters.
"Is that a-- flashlight?" Junmyeon whispers.
"Werewolves don't need flashlights," Jongdae says without thinking. Luckily, he doesn't have time to deal with how stupid he sounded, because more branches crack and snap and then Baekhyun and Kyungsoo are stumbling out of the trees, looking tired and annoyed and very surprised when they notice Junmyeon and Jongdae.
The four of them stare at each other for one bewildered moment. Baekhyun has his cellphone in hand, the flashlight beam on the back illuminating the patch of grass between them.
"Jongdae?" Kyungsoo breaks the silence, squinting at them. "What are you guys doing?"
"Looking for you," Junmyeon answers for him, lowering his flashlight with a sigh.
Jongdae feels a little like he might collapse from relief. "We thought you might've gotten lost," he says, hoping it doesn't sound as weak as he feels.
"Well, we did," Kyungsoo says, with a short glare at Baekhyun, "so thanks. Do you know the way back?"
"I think I do," Junmyeon says, sweeping his flashlight across the trees again.
"We can find our own way," Baekhyun huffs, but his phone light takes that exact opportunity to flicker and shut off. "What-- connect to power? I had ten percent battery like five minutes ago--"
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and looks back at Junmyeon. "Lead the way."
Junmyeon nods and starts back the way they came. Jongdae slips his hand out of his grip to walk beside Baekhyun instead. "You okay? I thought you guys were trying to find Mount Crescent."
"We were," Baekhyun grumbles, still glaring at his phone. "I don't know why we didn't find it, maybe we're in the wrong part of the woods or something."
"Or maybe because it, I don't know, doesn't exist," Kyungsoo says over his shoulder.
Jongdae expects Baekhyun to sneer something back at him like he had been doing all day, but he just sighs instead, deflated completely. He's probably exhausted, though, Jongdae supposes. It must be close to three in the morning by now.
The rest of the walk back through the woods is quiet, and when the four of them emerge from the trees, Jongdae feels another flood of relief. Junmyeon walks with them back to their cabin, leading the way with the flashlight. Jongdae lets Baekhyun and Kyungsoo go in first, and then it's just him and Junmyeon on the doorstep - he wishes, somewhat childishly, that they were still holding hands.
"So, uh, thank you," he says quietly. "For coming with me to find them. I think I definitely would've gotten lost if I went alone."
Junmyeon shrugs it off with a smile. "I'd say 'anytime', but I think I've had enough of the woods for one night. But hey, at least there were no werewolves."
Jongdae immediately flushes red. He had really hoped Junmyeon hadn't heard him back in the woods - but Junmyeon is still smiling at him, so he must not think he's an idiot, right?
"Make sure those two stay inside until tomorrow, okay?" Junmyeon says, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder.
Jongdae manages to nod. If they pull this again, he's gonna leave them in the woods. "Sure thing."
Junmyeon smiles again and steps back. "Goodnight, Jongdae. Get some sleep."
"You, too," Jongdae calls after him, and watches him make his way to the next cabin over. He waits, one foot in the door, until Junmyeon has gone inside, then heads in himself.
Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are already up in their beds and the room is quiet like it was before. Jongdae had thought they'd stay awake to bicker a little more, but apparently not. He slips off his shoes and heads back to his own bed just as Chanyeol stirs and sits up.
"Did you guys have a party without me?" he slurs sleepily.
Walking around in the woods was hardly a party, especially the part where Jongdae definitely thought he was going to die. "We would never," he assures him, and Chanyeol lies back down, satisfied.
--
The next morning is a lot like the first, with sleepy subdued breakfast before a full morning of sectional workshops. Jongdae watches Junmyeon head off with the sopranos to the field outside the lodge before he follows the rest of the tenors inside to a practice room.
Jonghyun leads them through nearly their whole repertoire, and Jongdae yawns so many times it's almost embarrassing. He's worried someone will ask what he did the night before that left him so tired, but thankfully, no one does. Even Baekhyun, usually the insufferable morning person of their group, is quiet, but Jongdae chalks that up to him being tired for the same reasons as himself.
It's not until their sectional is over and they're heading outside that Baekhyun speaks up for the first time all morning. "Hey, do you think Kyungsoo likes me?"
It catches Jongdae off-guard. "Do I-- what?"
"I know we're-- or, I'm pretty sure we're friends," Baekhyun goes on, "but sometimes, I…" He trails off with a frown, and Jongdae raises an eyebrow.
"Are you guys fighting?" He had no idea Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had even spoken this morning, but he supposes they don't need much time to find something to bicker about. "I mean, you fight all the time, but… are you really fighting?"
Baekhyun shakes his head. "No, I just…" He flops down in the grass with a sigh, and Jongdae sits somewhat gingerly beside him. "Last night when we were looking for Mount Crescent… I really thought we were going to find it, but once we were out there for a while, it felt like we were just walking in circles." He leans back on his palms with a frown. "It's just... I know you're supposed to look with someone you're gonna fall in love with forever, which, okay, whatever. But I thought Kyungsoo at least felt--"
He cuts off suddenly, looking ahead of them. Jongdae follows his gaze and sees Kyungsoo and Chanyeol on their way over, with Jongin and Sehun in tow.
He turns back to Baekhyun, nudging him. "Felt what?"
"I don't know, something…" Baekhyun mumbles, then flops onto his back and rolls over. "Whatever, forget it."
Before Jongdae can press further, Chanyeol bounds over and collapses in the grass next to them. "Mmm, nap time."
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, but he's smiling. "Hey, get up. We have to go over to the barn. Mr. Lee says there's activities planned, or something."
Chanyeol rolls over to look up at him. "I thought the horses were on vacation?"
"They are. It's probably the same team-building stuff from last year." He nudges Chanyeol with his foot. "Come on, I'm not helping you up."
"What did you guys do last year?" Jongdae asks, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.
"Improv games, trust falls, obstacle courses… things like that," Chanyeol explains. He flaps one hand in the air uselessly until Jongin comes over to pull him up. "I heard there's an archery range here somewhere, too. Maybe we'll get to use that!"
Baekhyun snorts and rolls onto his back again. "Even I think that's a bad idea."
Kyungsoo laughs and holds out a hand to him. Baekhyun hesitates for a split second before taking it and letting Kyungsoo help him up, and they follow the rest of the choir over to the barn.
It turns out it's not archery after all - it's section-vs-section relay races and rhythm games, all of which are very noisy and very competitive. The altos end up winning both, but not without hard effort. The last round of Concentration 64 ends in a showdown between Chanyeol and Wendy, and Jongdae is pretty sure Chanyeol only loses because of Kyungsoo staring hard at him from across the room - or as he calls it, 'helping'.
After that, Mr Lee is adamant that they split into pairs for a massive three-legged race. Jongdae looks around for a partner, passing over Chanyeol because of his awkward height, and Jongin and Sehun for the same reason. Maybe Sunyoung, they're probably close to the same height--
His eyes catch on Junmyeon sitting off to the side, quietly watching everyone else. Jongdae hopes it's entertaining, at least, watching the whole choir goof off instead of sing, and by the time that thought has passed he's been staring again. He's about to turn away when Baekhyun comes up next to him and, as always, ruins it.
"Junmyeon, why don't you join us for this one?" Baekhyun calls to him, waving him over.
"Oh, uh," Junmyeon stutters, holding up a hand, "I don't know, I'm not really--"
"No, it's fine!" Baekhyun insists. "Here, you can partner with Jongdae!"
Jongdae wishes, for a moment, that he could disappear into the dirt floor. He glances up at Junmyeon with an apologetic expression ready - but then he sees Junmyeon's cautious smile as he comes over, and how eager he looks now that he's been invited to play, and Jongdae can't imagine telling him no.
All the pairs get handed out a length of rope and spread out across the barn to learn how to walk. Jongdae and Junmyeon head outside to the field and sit down to tie the rope on around each of their ankles, then pause to marvel as Minseok and Luhan walk by, tied together and already excellent at it. The sight of them sparks a determined look in Junmyeon's eye.
"Ready?" he asks Jongdae, already poised to push himself up.
Jongdae scrambles to get into the same position. "Uh, yeah."
"Okay. Three, two, one, go--" They both swing themselves upwards at the same time, but Jongdae loses his balance when Junmyeon touches his waist to steady himself, and when he leans too far over it pulls Junmyeon over with him. They end up back in the grass with the wind knocked out of them, but Junmyeon starts laughing as soon as he catches his breath.
"I guess it's harder than it looks," he says, sitting up to look at the knot. Jongdae sits up beside him and, trying to distract himself from the feeling of Junmyeon's leg against his own, notices the tiny space ships on Junmyeon's socks.
"Nice socks," he says absent-mindedly. Junmyeon immediately perks up, grinning as he rolls the hem of his pants up to better show the design.
"Thanks, they're my favourite ones." He taps one of the space ships. "Made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, you know."
Jongdae blinks a few times. "I'm sorry?"
"The Kessel Run," Junmyeon repeats, his eyes widening with concern. "The Millennium Falcon? Han Solo's ship? Oh my god, have you not seen Star Wars?"
Jongdae shakes his head helplessly. "They're sci-fi movies, right?"
"They're epic space opera movies," Junmyeon corrects him. "Star Wars is one of the biggest franchises on the planet! It spans generations, covers countless themes - destiny, family, love, just to name a few - and…" He trails off, deflating. "Sorry, that's… really nerdy, wow."
"No, it's cool!" Jongdae tells him. "It's interesting, really." He might not care much about Star Wars, but he sure does care about the way Junmyeon's eyes lit up while he talked about it.
Junmyeon smiles sheepishly. "I don't get to talk about this stuff very often. I guess I'm out of practice."
Jongdae frowns, turning that over in his mind. "You can talk about whatever you want."
Junmyeon laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just feel bad talking your ear off. Why don't you tell me about something you like?"
"Um, okay," Jongdae says, and does his best not to lose focus when Junmyeon smiles at him. "I like… video games? And anime, I guess? Kyungsoo got me to watch Prince of Tennis a while ago, it was really good."
"Oh, awesome!" Junmyeon crows, grinning excitedly now. "Sports anime are always great. What about mechas? Have you seen Gundam Seed? Or any Gundam series, really."
"Bits and pieces, I think," Jongdae hums. "That's the one with the giant robots, right?"
"To put it really simply, yeah," Junmyeon laughs. "But I guess they're the best part. I've built a bunch of models of them, and you really get to see how detailed each one is..."
As he goes on, Jongdae comes to the slow realization that Junmyeon is… a huge nerd. It tears down the original image of him that he held in his mind, where Junmyeon was cool, collected, and confident 24/7. But watching him stumble over his words in excitement, Jongdae decides that this Junmyeon, Real Junmyeon, is even better.
Besides, being on the retreat with just the cabins and the wilderness around them has a way of making real life, like school and cliques and student council, seem very far away… so maybe this is okay. Sitting beside Junmyeon with their legs tied together at the ankle, talking about anime mechas. Maybe this is as easy as it seems.
"Hey," Chanyeol interrupts, startling Jongdae out of his thoughts. He's appeared in front of them with Jongin in tow. "Have you guys been out here the whole time? You missed the race!"
"What?" Jongdae splutters, glancing at Junmyeon and finding the same expression of disbelief that he feels. Had they really been talking for that long?
Junmyeon looks down at his watch with a frown. "Wow, I didn't even notice. Woops."
"No worries," Chanyeol says with a shrug. "You guys just missed me n' Jongin's stunning victory." He breaks into a grin and throws his arm around Jongin, who beams right back at him. "We kicked everyone's asses, it was great."
"Sorry we missed out," Junmyeon says with a smile.
Chanyeol ruffles Jongin's hair before letting him go. "Anyway, we're all heading to the lodge for dinner. We'll meet you there when you get… untied, I guess?"
Jongdae looks down at his ankle, still bound to Junmyeon's, and flushes. "Uh, yeah, see you there."
With a grin, Chanyeol saunters off, talking loudly to Jongin with his arm once again around his shoulders. Jongdae sits quietly with Junmyeon for another moment before clearing his throat.
"So, uh, we should--"
Junmyeon is already nodding. "Yeah, the rope is--"
They both reach for the rope at the same time, their hands bumping over the knot. Jongdae gulps, glancing up at Junmyeon, but Junmyeon just snickers.
"Let me do it," he says, quieter, and tugs the knot loose. When he moves his leg away, Jongdae misses the warmth for a moment before he gets himself together and stands up.
"I'm going to go give this back," Junmyeon says, folding the rope up in his hands. "You can head over to the lodge without me."
"Oh," Jongdae says. He wants to follow up, wants to say that's okay, I'll wait or hey, I'll go with you, but can't get the words out of his throat. Maybe it's for the best, though - Junmyeon probably wants a break from him, after all that. "Okay, I'll... see you there."
Junmyeon nods and starts toward the barn. Jongdae makes himself turn and head for the lodge instead of watching him leave.
--
Chanyeol spends dinner with his arm around Jongin, recounting the story of their win to anyone who will listen. Jongdae has it memorizes after the fifth time, and so jumps at the opportunity to duck out of the dining hall with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo after hastily scraping his plate. The sun is just starting to go down, so the three of them decide to head back to their cabin, where the bug spray is.
"So," Baekhyun says, stretching his arms above his head as they head down the path. "Chanyeol and Jongin, huh?"
"What about them?" Jongdae asks.
"Oh, you know," Baekhyun says with a shrug. "Just the puppy dog eyes Jongin's been staring at Chanyeol with all day."
Kyungsoo snorts. "Not to mention how Chanyeol's been literally hanging off him."
Jongdae looks back and forth between them. "Are you guys joking, or…?"
"Not in the slightest," Kyungsoo says, sitting down on the front steps. "You were right across from them, didn't you notice?"
"It was worse after they won the three-legged race," Baekhyun snickers. "I thought they were gonna kiss, honestly. Hey, where were you during the race, anyway?"
Jongdae blushes a little. "Uh--"
"Wait, look," Kyungsoo cuts him off, pointing over to the lodge. Chanyeol and Jongin are just coming through the door, and no one else is around. Baekhyun gasps dramatically and pulls Jongdae down to crouch beside Kyungsoo while the other two start towards the cabins.
Chanyeol unwinds his arm from around Jongin's shoulders but stays close, and Jongdae is pretty sure he sees their hands brush as they walk side by side. The sun has set far enough that the three of them probably won't be seen, but they still all hold their breath when Jongin and Chanyeol reach the edge of the cabins. The one on the end is where Jongin is bunking with Sehun and Taemin, and it looks like Chanyeol is walking Jongin right to the door.
"Are we watching the end of a date right now?" Baekhyun whispers.
Kyungsoo shushes him, and they all watch with bated breath as Jongin pauses in the doorway, smiling up at Chanyeol. Chanyeol says something too quiet for them to hear but Jongin nods, murmurs something back, and Chanyeol steps a little closer like he's going to whisper something--
But the door frame creaks loudly where he leans on it, the sound startling them apart.
Jongdae lets out his breath. "Okay, so you weren't joking."
"Aw, look at them," Baekhyun coos as the other two give each other an awkward little wave. Jongin closes the door and Chanyeol heads back down the steps, running a hand through his hair. "So pure. This is great, I was starting to worry Chanyeol would be alone with his ferret forever."
Kyungsoo snorts, urging Baekhyun and Jongdae to stand up as Chanyeol gets closer. "Quick, try to look like we didn't just witness the start of something beautiful."
"Hey, Jongdae, good news," Baekhyun laughs, nudging him in the side. "If you and Junmyeon don't get around to finding Mount Crescent, it looks like there might be some other candidates if those two keep making eyes at each other."
Jongdae doesn't have time to do much more than blush and roll his eyes before Chanyeol gets close enough to greet them, and then the sun dips down behind the trees and the four of them finally head inside.
--
Later, after Mr. Lee has announced lights out in fifteen minutes and then four of them are on their way back from the lodge bathrooms with freshly brushed teeth, Baekhyun squints into the dark as they approach their cabin.
"Do I even want to know what you're looking at?" Jongdae sighs, glancing warily at the trees only a few metres away.
"In this case, yes," Baekhyun answers, then grins at him. "Care to tell me why Junmyeon is waiting by our door?"
Sure enough, when they get to the front steps a second later, Junmyeon is there with his clipboard and a cautious smile.
"Hi," Jongdae says, hoping he sounds casual, and a little more desperately, that Junmyeon doesn't notice his Spiderman toothbrush.
"What brings you to our doorstep?" Baekhyun asks, trying and failing to hide a smirk.
Junmyeon's smile falters a little. "I, uh, wanted to ask Jongdae something."
Jongdae can see the urge to tease practically written across Baekhyun's face, but by some miracle he decides to take pity on Jongdae for once, and only waggles his eyebrows at them before he heads inside the cabin with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.
Once they're alone, Junmyeon turns to Jongdae, a real smile lighting up his face this time. "Nice toothbrush."
Jongdae pouts playfully at him and hides it behind his back, taking a half step towards the door. "If you're gonna make fun, I'm going inside."
Junmyeon laughs and reaches out to pull him back. "I'm not making fun of you! I think it's great, Spiderman is the best."
"Yeah, whatever," Jongdae sniffs, crossing his arms with an exaggerated frown - but he can't hold the expression for long, cracking into a smile before he can help it. "What did you want to ask me?"
"Right," Junmyeon says, and stands up a little straighter. "I was wondering if you could do me a favour."
"Uh, sure? What is it?"
"Well…" He holds up his clipboard and flips through a few pages. "Taeyeon left me all these questions and tables to fill out, and I don't really… know what to put for some of them." He looks up at Jongdae with a sheepish smile. "Do you have a few minutes to help me out?"
Jongdae agrees easily, and they both take a seat on the edge of the cabin porch. Junmyeon reads each question out to him and Jongdae does his best to answer, but some of them are tough even for him.
"'On a scale of one to five, how accurate would you say your section's pronunciation and enunciation of consonants and vowels is, both stylistically and in terms of the piece's language?'" Junmyeon reads, a crease forming between his brows. "'Do you find the tone quality elements--' Jeez, when did Taeyeon have time to write all this?"
"She takes her position very seriously," Jongdae sighs, rubbing his eyes. "You can say that we need work, I guess… unified vowels and word endings, making sure we all know how to pronounce Shenandoah, things like that."
Junmyeon scribbles a few things down, then flips the page over. "Okay, last one: 'Tonal balance among and between sections'?"
"Oh, say something like… we're all singing in the same colour," Jongdae tells him, and snickers at the raised eyebrow he gets in return. "It'll make sense to her, trust me."
With a shrug, Junmyeon fills out the last box and then flips all the way back to the first page, sighing in relief. "Done. I think I feel a hand cramp coming on."
Jongdae nudges him in the leg. "Aren't you gonna add it all up? What's our score?"
Junmyeon gives him a surprised look. "What? Oh, I gave you guys five out of five on everything already. I just wanted to hear your thoughts so I could sound like I sort of know what I'm talking about."
"Oh." Jongdae feels a blush creep up his neck. "That's… that's awesome, thank you."
"No problem. You guys deserve it," Junmyeon says with a shrug. "Watching all of you sing, even just in rehearsal, is so cool." He puts the clipboard down beside him and leans back on his palms. "I wanted to join, a few years ago, but I had too many other electives taking up my time. I used to really love singing when I was younger."
"Really?" Jongdae claps his hands. "Could you sing something right now?"
"Ahh, I don't know," Junmyeon sighs, but there's a smile playing around his mouth. "It's been a while…"
"Come on," Jongdae whines. "Please?" He turns his best pout on Junmyeon, immediately grinning when he holds his hands up in defeat.
"Okay, um…" Junmyeon goes quiet for a few seconds and Jongdae lets him, trying not to stare too hard at the side of his face.
Eventually Junmyeon takes a deep breath and… lets it out in a short, sweet melody, his voice curling around words Jongdae doesn't recognize but loves the sound of. The few short bars he sings send shivers up Jongdae's spine, striking him with how light yet strong his tone is.
He sounds like an angel, and when he stops singing, Jongdae is the one feeling out of breath.
"Wow," he says softly. "Your voice is so… wow. Did you take lessons?" Junmyeon shakes his head, a soft pink in his cheeks, and Jongdae loses his breath again. "You're amazing, seriously. I've never heard anyone sound like that."
Junmyeon waves him off, his face turning a shade darker. "Aw, you flatter me. I'm nowhere near as good as you."
It's Jongdae's turn to blush. "Well, if you were in choir, you'd be even better than me, probably."
Junmyeon laughs, shaking his head. "If I was in choir…" He trails off, then sighs. "I did really want to join. Watching you guys on this trip, I... I kind of regret it now."
"Just because you're not in choir doesn't mean you can't sing," Jongdae points out. "And your voice is… it's really good."
Junmyeon leans back on his palms with a playful grin. "Well, if you're gonna compliment me so much, then maybe."
Laughing, Jongdae nudges their shoulders together. "Hey, if you want more compliments, you have to sing again."
"Fine," Junmyeon says, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, but he smiles at Jongdae right after. "Just for you, though."
Jongdae flushes pink and ducks his head, studying the ground and hoping Junmyeon doesn't notice his embarrassing reaction.
There's a pause between them, broken by some loud laughter in the cabin across the path. When it goes quiet again, Jongdae realizes how dark and empty the rest of the grounds are, and how late it must be. "We should probably get inside."
"Right." Junmyeon stands up with him and walks him the three steps to his cabin door, smiling when Jongdae pauses in the doorway and faces him. Jongdae very suddenly remembers Chanyeol and Jongin's doorway encounter from earlier, but tries to push it out of his mind.
"Well, goodnight," he says quickly, part of him wanting to slam the door shut or maybe just scream - but another, louder part of him doesn't want to go inside at all.
"Goodnight, Jongdae," Junmyeon says, soft. "See you tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," Jongdae agrees, and waits until Junmyeon is climbing the steps to his own cabin before he shuts the door. He pauses once he's inside, resting his head against the doorframe with a sigh. He could probably float away, he's so happy.
"So," Baekhyun speaks up from behind him, much louder than necessary. "How's loverboy?"
Jongdae rolls his eyes before he turns around. "Who?" he asks, feigning innocence as he heads to his bed. The lights are off and Kyungsoo and Chanyeol seem to be asleep already. They must've already had their nightly round of truth or slap.
"Um, our very own student council president?" Baekhyun says slowly. "The one you just had some quality alone time with?"
"Oh," Jongdae says, pulling his blankets back and sliding under them. "Yeah, he's doing fine."
Baekhyun flops dramatically over the side of his bunk, letting his arms dangle into Jongdae's space. "Give me the deets. What did you talk about?"
"Choir stuff," Jongdae answers truthfully. "I helped him go through all his notes for Taeyeon, he told me about how he wanted to be in choir when he was younger. That's it."
"That's boring as hell," Baekhyun says bluntly. "Did you at least invite him on a late night woods-walk?"
"No…?" Jongdae squints at the bottom of the bunk above him. "Was I supposed to?"
"Of course you were!" Baekhyun hollers. "It's part of the plan! The Get Junmyeon And Jongdae To The Top Of Mount Crescent plan!"
"Okay, stop," Kyungsoo says from his bunk across the room. "Listen. Baekhyun. Let's make a deal, here." He sits up on his elbows so they can see each other. "If you stop talking about the fucking mountain, I'll stop talking about how dumb it is. We'll agree to disagree and just… not speak of it around each other, okay? Deal?"
Baekhyun takes a second to respond. "Uh… sure, yeah. Deal."
"Thank christ," Kyungsoo sighs, and lies back down.
Baekhyun doesn't say anything else, but Jongdae hears his blankets shifting and assumes he's finally going to sleep too. He pulls his own blankets up and closes his eyes, letting his mind wander until it settles, inevitably, on Junmyeon's voice, and the way it sounded right next to him, the memory of it soft in his ears.
( part 3)
Jongdae startles awake only a couple hours later, but the cabin is quiet and he's not sure what woke him. He holds his breath and listens to the silence for a few seconds, nothing seeming amiss - maybe it was something outside, a branch snapping or even just the wood of the cabin creaking? Just when he's about to roll over and close his eyes again, he hears whispering across the room.
"See? They're still asleep, it's fine," Baekhyun murmurs. Jongdae squints into the dark and sees Baekhyun's vague outline standing on tiptoe beside the other bunk bed, peeking over the top.
He hears Kyungsoo huff quietly, and some rustling as he sits up. "Warn me next time you're gonna put your cold fingers near me, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Are you coming?"
"Baek, it's like two in the morning," Kyungsoo sighs. "Why do you want to go now?"
"Because it's two in the morning!" Baekhyun insists. "No one else will be looking. We'll have the whole woods to ourselves!"
"Yeah ourselves and the… what did you say earlier? Werewolves?"
"I was joking. Come on, it'll be fun. Please?"
There's a few more seconds of silence, then a long sigh. Jongdae hears the other bunk bed creak a little as Kyungsoo climbs down the ladder, then soft shuffling as he and Baekhyun slip their shoes on before sneaking quietly out the door.
Jongdae stays put, more dumbstruck than anything. He had kind of hoped they were playing a joke, but they really did just leave the cabin at two a.m. to go look for Mount Crescent in the woods. Christ.
He thinks about just going back to sleep, but decides against it. He should probably stay up to make sure they get back okay, right? So he sits up and rubs his eyes and settles in to wait.
Some time passes - could be ten minutes, could be an hour - before Jongdae properly worries himself into jittery uneasiness. It's dark enough outside even without being in the middle of the forest, where the dense trees surely block out what faint starlight there is. If Baekhyun and Kyungsoo lose their way, they could be stuck in the woods until morning, or longer.
After that thought, it isn't hard to make up his mind and quietly get up to put his shoes on. He picks up his jacket and glances at Chanyeol, still fast asleep in his bunk. He better be having some great dreams, Jongdae sighs to himself, then slips out the door and closes it silently behind him.
The whole ranch is dark and quiet, and it's a little too cold for just his thin windbreaker. He sneaks down the front steps of the cabin and is about to head towards the closest gap in the trees when the shadows around him are suddenly lit up.
He whips around to see someone holding up a flashlight, pointed directly at him. Jongdae gulps, shielding his eyes from the bright beam. If it's a staff member, he's screwed - there's no way 'sneaking out into the woods in the middle of the night' isn't on the list of Things That Get You Sent Home - but the voice that calls out to him is… familiar?
"Jongdae? Is that you?"
Jongdae drops his hand. "J-Junmyeon?"
Junmyeon lowers the flashlight, frowning at him. "What are you doing out here?"
It crosses Jongdae's mind to come up with an excuse, say he was sleepwalking or something, but he can't bring himself to lie to Junmyeon. "I-it's Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, they went into the woods and they aren't back yet. I was going to, uh... go look for them."
Junmyeon points the flashlight towards the trees, sweeping back and forth. "How long have they been gone?"
"I don't know. They probably got lost,” Jongdae tries, weakly. “I’ll find them and bring them back to the cabin, I promise. Just-- please, don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t,” Junmyeon says easily. He shines the light around until he finds the path leading into the woods. “They would've gone in through there, I think.”
Jongdae gives him a confused look. “W-wait, you’re not going to turn me in?”
Junmyeon raises an eyebrow at him. “No…? Why would I do that?”
“Because I’m out of bed,” Jongdae says slowly, carefully watching Junmyeon’s face, “and about to go searching in the woods for my two idiot friends?” Maybe he’s just tired, and hasn’t realized yet that Jongdae is breaking nearly all of the rules.
Junmyeon, however, just shrugs. “I won’t tell if you don’t,” he says, grinning, and beckons for Jongdae to follow him toward the trees. “Come on, let’s go find them.”
He gets a couple steps ahead before Jongdae remembers how to make his feet move. “Wait, you’re--? What?”
“I said, let’s go find them,” Junmyeon repeats, looking back at him with a smile. Jongdae takes a moment to stare after him in disbelief, then hurries to catch up and grabs Junmyeon’s arm, making him pause just before the treeline.
“Y-you don’t have to come with me,” Jongdae stutters out, looking back at the cabins. “I can go alone. I don’t want you to get in trouble if we get caught--”
“So let’s not get caught,” Junmyeon laughs, slipping out of Jongdae’s grip, but Jongdae huffs and grabs his hand instead.
“I’m serious,” he insists, more than a little exasperated.
Junmyeon’s grin fades a little. “So am I,” he says, turning back to face Jongdae. “It’s not a good idea to go into the woods alone, especially in the dark. You said yourself that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun might’ve gotten lost - what good would it do them if you got lost, too? Or if you got hurt?”
Jongdae frowns at the ground. He hadn’t thought of that.
“This is one rule I’m not letting you break, okay?” Junmyeon says, softer. He tugs his hand out of Jongdae’s slack grip and links their fingers together instead, squeezing a little. “If we look together, and stay together, we’ll find them.”
Walking through the woods in the dark with Junmyeon is not the most romantic thing in the world, unfortunately. It's still a little thrilling to be out in the woods when they're supposed to be in bed, though, and Jongdae knows there'll be hell to pay if they get caught, but he can't bring himself to turn back.
Plus, Junmyeon is still holding his hand, so it's not all bad.
"Do you know why Baekhyun and Kyungsoo went into the woods in the first place?" Junmyeon asks, breaking the silence between them. "Was there something they wanted to find, like a certain plant or tree or something? Might make it easier to find them."
"Oh, um." Jongdae worries his lip, not sure if he should mention the legend, but it's probably a good idea if it could help find them… "They're trying to find, uh. Mount Crescent. Have you heard of it?"
Junmyeon frowns. "I don't think so. Are there even any mountains around here?"
"It's magic," Jongdae says, cringing at how lame it sounds. "There's a legend about it, with these two, uh, lovers, who climb the mountain to be together…" He trails off, shaking his head. "Baekhyun wants to show Kyungsoo that it's real, and Kyungsoo wants to prove Baekhyun wrong, so they went to look for it."
"Right," Junmyeon hums. "Do you know more about the legend? It sounds interesting."
Jongdae takes a deep breath and relays the story that Jonghyun had told them at breakfast, as well as he can remember it. He stutters a few times, worrying that Junmyeon will think it's dumb or childish. When he finishes, he holds his breath, waiting for a reaction.
"Huh," Junmyeon says, after a moment, and turns to smile at Jongdae. "That's cute."
Jongdae has only a second to revel in the feeling of his heart melting before a branch suddenly snaps somewhere closeby. He jumps at the noise, bumping into Junmyeon's side. "Wh-what was that?"
Junmyeon grips his hand a little tighter. "I don't know, I think it came from over there." He shines his flashlight over the trees to their left, but there's nothing there. Jongdae glances around anxiously, trying to see something in the dark between the trees - all he can think of is werewolves, and wow, is he ever going to throttle Baekhyun when they find him.
Another branch snaps, then another and another, and Junmyeon's grip is probably cutting off circulation to his hand but Jongdae is way more concerned about the possibility of getting eaten by a werewolf any moment now--
But a light flickers in the trees, and Jongdae falters.
"Is that a-- flashlight?" Junmyeon whispers.
"Werewolves don't need flashlights," Jongdae says without thinking. Luckily, he doesn't have time to deal with how stupid he sounded, because more branches crack and snap and then Baekhyun and Kyungsoo are stumbling out of the trees, looking tired and annoyed and very surprised when they notice Junmyeon and Jongdae.
The four of them stare at each other for one bewildered moment. Baekhyun has his cellphone in hand, the flashlight beam on the back illuminating the patch of grass between them.
"Jongdae?" Kyungsoo breaks the silence, squinting at them. "What are you guys doing?"
"Looking for you," Junmyeon answers for him, lowering his flashlight with a sigh.
Jongdae feels a little like he might collapse from relief. "We thought you might've gotten lost," he says, hoping it doesn't sound as weak as he feels.
"Well, we did," Kyungsoo says, with a short glare at Baekhyun, "so thanks. Do you know the way back?"
"I think I do," Junmyeon says, sweeping his flashlight across the trees again.
"We can find our own way," Baekhyun huffs, but his phone light takes that exact opportunity to flicker and shut off. "What-- connect to power? I had ten percent battery like five minutes ago--"
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and looks back at Junmyeon. "Lead the way."
Junmyeon nods and starts back the way they came. Jongdae slips his hand out of his grip to walk beside Baekhyun instead. "You okay? I thought you guys were trying to find Mount Crescent."
"We were," Baekhyun grumbles, still glaring at his phone. "I don't know why we didn't find it, maybe we're in the wrong part of the woods or something."
"Or maybe because it, I don't know, doesn't exist," Kyungsoo says over his shoulder.
Jongdae expects Baekhyun to sneer something back at him like he had been doing all day, but he just sighs instead, deflated completely. He's probably exhausted, though, Jongdae supposes. It must be close to three in the morning by now.
The rest of the walk back through the woods is quiet, and when the four of them emerge from the trees, Jongdae feels another flood of relief. Junmyeon walks with them back to their cabin, leading the way with the flashlight. Jongdae lets Baekhyun and Kyungsoo go in first, and then it's just him and Junmyeon on the doorstep - he wishes, somewhat childishly, that they were still holding hands.
"So, uh, thank you," he says quietly. "For coming with me to find them. I think I definitely would've gotten lost if I went alone."
Junmyeon shrugs it off with a smile. "I'd say 'anytime', but I think I've had enough of the woods for one night. But hey, at least there were no werewolves."
Jongdae immediately flushes red. He had really hoped Junmyeon hadn't heard him back in the woods - but Junmyeon is still smiling at him, so he must not think he's an idiot, right?
"Make sure those two stay inside until tomorrow, okay?" Junmyeon says, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder.
Jongdae manages to nod. If they pull this again, he's gonna leave them in the woods. "Sure thing."
Junmyeon smiles again and steps back. "Goodnight, Jongdae. Get some sleep."
"You, too," Jongdae calls after him, and watches him make his way to the next cabin over. He waits, one foot in the door, until Junmyeon has gone inside, then heads in himself.
Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are already up in their beds and the room is quiet like it was before. Jongdae had thought they'd stay awake to bicker a little more, but apparently not. He slips off his shoes and heads back to his own bed just as Chanyeol stirs and sits up.
"Did you guys have a party without me?" he slurs sleepily.
Walking around in the woods was hardly a party, especially the part where Jongdae definitely thought he was going to die. "We would never," he assures him, and Chanyeol lies back down, satisfied.
--
The next morning is a lot like the first, with sleepy subdued breakfast before a full morning of sectional workshops. Jongdae watches Junmyeon head off with the sopranos to the field outside the lodge before he follows the rest of the tenors inside to a practice room.
Jonghyun leads them through nearly their whole repertoire, and Jongdae yawns so many times it's almost embarrassing. He's worried someone will ask what he did the night before that left him so tired, but thankfully, no one does. Even Baekhyun, usually the insufferable morning person of their group, is quiet, but Jongdae chalks that up to him being tired for the same reasons as himself.
It's not until their sectional is over and they're heading outside that Baekhyun speaks up for the first time all morning. "Hey, do you think Kyungsoo likes me?"
It catches Jongdae off-guard. "Do I-- what?"
"I know we're-- or, I'm pretty sure we're friends," Baekhyun goes on, "but sometimes, I…" He trails off with a frown, and Jongdae raises an eyebrow.
"Are you guys fighting?" He had no idea Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had even spoken this morning, but he supposes they don't need much time to find something to bicker about. "I mean, you fight all the time, but… are you really fighting?"
Baekhyun shakes his head. "No, I just…" He flops down in the grass with a sigh, and Jongdae sits somewhat gingerly beside him. "Last night when we were looking for Mount Crescent… I really thought we were going to find it, but once we were out there for a while, it felt like we were just walking in circles." He leans back on his palms with a frown. "It's just... I know you're supposed to look with someone you're gonna fall in love with forever, which, okay, whatever. But I thought Kyungsoo at least felt--"
He cuts off suddenly, looking ahead of them. Jongdae follows his gaze and sees Kyungsoo and Chanyeol on their way over, with Jongin and Sehun in tow.
He turns back to Baekhyun, nudging him. "Felt what?"
"I don't know, something…" Baekhyun mumbles, then flops onto his back and rolls over. "Whatever, forget it."
Before Jongdae can press further, Chanyeol bounds over and collapses in the grass next to them. "Mmm, nap time."
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, but he's smiling. "Hey, get up. We have to go over to the barn. Mr. Lee says there's activities planned, or something."
Chanyeol rolls over to look up at him. "I thought the horses were on vacation?"
"They are. It's probably the same team-building stuff from last year." He nudges Chanyeol with his foot. "Come on, I'm not helping you up."
"What did you guys do last year?" Jongdae asks, getting to his feet and brushing himself off.
"Improv games, trust falls, obstacle courses… things like that," Chanyeol explains. He flaps one hand in the air uselessly until Jongin comes over to pull him up. "I heard there's an archery range here somewhere, too. Maybe we'll get to use that!"
Baekhyun snorts and rolls onto his back again. "Even I think that's a bad idea."
Kyungsoo laughs and holds out a hand to him. Baekhyun hesitates for a split second before taking it and letting Kyungsoo help him up, and they follow the rest of the choir over to the barn.
It turns out it's not archery after all - it's section-vs-section relay races and rhythm games, all of which are very noisy and very competitive. The altos end up winning both, but not without hard effort. The last round of Concentration 64 ends in a showdown between Chanyeol and Wendy, and Jongdae is pretty sure Chanyeol only loses because of Kyungsoo staring hard at him from across the room - or as he calls it, 'helping'.
After that, Mr Lee is adamant that they split into pairs for a massive three-legged race. Jongdae looks around for a partner, passing over Chanyeol because of his awkward height, and Jongin and Sehun for the same reason. Maybe Sunyoung, they're probably close to the same height--
His eyes catch on Junmyeon sitting off to the side, quietly watching everyone else. Jongdae hopes it's entertaining, at least, watching the whole choir goof off instead of sing, and by the time that thought has passed he's been staring again. He's about to turn away when Baekhyun comes up next to him and, as always, ruins it.
"Junmyeon, why don't you join us for this one?" Baekhyun calls to him, waving him over.
"Oh, uh," Junmyeon stutters, holding up a hand, "I don't know, I'm not really--"
"No, it's fine!" Baekhyun insists. "Here, you can partner with Jongdae!"
Jongdae wishes, for a moment, that he could disappear into the dirt floor. He glances up at Junmyeon with an apologetic expression ready - but then he sees Junmyeon's cautious smile as he comes over, and how eager he looks now that he's been invited to play, and Jongdae can't imagine telling him no.
All the pairs get handed out a length of rope and spread out across the barn to learn how to walk. Jongdae and Junmyeon head outside to the field and sit down to tie the rope on around each of their ankles, then pause to marvel as Minseok and Luhan walk by, tied together and already excellent at it. The sight of them sparks a determined look in Junmyeon's eye.
"Ready?" he asks Jongdae, already poised to push himself up.
Jongdae scrambles to get into the same position. "Uh, yeah."
"Okay. Three, two, one, go--" They both swing themselves upwards at the same time, but Jongdae loses his balance when Junmyeon touches his waist to steady himself, and when he leans too far over it pulls Junmyeon over with him. They end up back in the grass with the wind knocked out of them, but Junmyeon starts laughing as soon as he catches his breath.
"I guess it's harder than it looks," he says, sitting up to look at the knot. Jongdae sits up beside him and, trying to distract himself from the feeling of Junmyeon's leg against his own, notices the tiny space ships on Junmyeon's socks.
"Nice socks," he says absent-mindedly. Junmyeon immediately perks up, grinning as he rolls the hem of his pants up to better show the design.
"Thanks, they're my favourite ones." He taps one of the space ships. "Made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, you know."
Jongdae blinks a few times. "I'm sorry?"
"The Kessel Run," Junmyeon repeats, his eyes widening with concern. "The Millennium Falcon? Han Solo's ship? Oh my god, have you not seen Star Wars?"
Jongdae shakes his head helplessly. "They're sci-fi movies, right?"
"They're epic space opera movies," Junmyeon corrects him. "Star Wars is one of the biggest franchises on the planet! It spans generations, covers countless themes - destiny, family, love, just to name a few - and…" He trails off, deflating. "Sorry, that's… really nerdy, wow."
"No, it's cool!" Jongdae tells him. "It's interesting, really." He might not care much about Star Wars, but he sure does care about the way Junmyeon's eyes lit up while he talked about it.
Junmyeon smiles sheepishly. "I don't get to talk about this stuff very often. I guess I'm out of practice."
Jongdae frowns, turning that over in his mind. "You can talk about whatever you want."
Junmyeon laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just feel bad talking your ear off. Why don't you tell me about something you like?"
"Um, okay," Jongdae says, and does his best not to lose focus when Junmyeon smiles at him. "I like… video games? And anime, I guess? Kyungsoo got me to watch Prince of Tennis a while ago, it was really good."
"Oh, awesome!" Junmyeon crows, grinning excitedly now. "Sports anime are always great. What about mechas? Have you seen Gundam Seed? Or any Gundam series, really."
"Bits and pieces, I think," Jongdae hums. "That's the one with the giant robots, right?"
"To put it really simply, yeah," Junmyeon laughs. "But I guess they're the best part. I've built a bunch of models of them, and you really get to see how detailed each one is..."
As he goes on, Jongdae comes to the slow realization that Junmyeon is… a huge nerd. It tears down the original image of him that he held in his mind, where Junmyeon was cool, collected, and confident 24/7. But watching him stumble over his words in excitement, Jongdae decides that this Junmyeon, Real Junmyeon, is even better.
Besides, being on the retreat with just the cabins and the wilderness around them has a way of making real life, like school and cliques and student council, seem very far away… so maybe this is okay. Sitting beside Junmyeon with their legs tied together at the ankle, talking about anime mechas. Maybe this is as easy as it seems.
"Hey," Chanyeol interrupts, startling Jongdae out of his thoughts. He's appeared in front of them with Jongin in tow. "Have you guys been out here the whole time? You missed the race!"
"What?" Jongdae splutters, glancing at Junmyeon and finding the same expression of disbelief that he feels. Had they really been talking for that long?
Junmyeon looks down at his watch with a frown. "Wow, I didn't even notice. Woops."
"No worries," Chanyeol says with a shrug. "You guys just missed me n' Jongin's stunning victory." He breaks into a grin and throws his arm around Jongin, who beams right back at him. "We kicked everyone's asses, it was great."
"Sorry we missed out," Junmyeon says with a smile.
Chanyeol ruffles Jongin's hair before letting him go. "Anyway, we're all heading to the lodge for dinner. We'll meet you there when you get… untied, I guess?"
Jongdae looks down at his ankle, still bound to Junmyeon's, and flushes. "Uh, yeah, see you there."
With a grin, Chanyeol saunters off, talking loudly to Jongin with his arm once again around his shoulders. Jongdae sits quietly with Junmyeon for another moment before clearing his throat.
"So, uh, we should--"
Junmyeon is already nodding. "Yeah, the rope is--"
They both reach for the rope at the same time, their hands bumping over the knot. Jongdae gulps, glancing up at Junmyeon, but Junmyeon just snickers.
"Let me do it," he says, quieter, and tugs the knot loose. When he moves his leg away, Jongdae misses the warmth for a moment before he gets himself together and stands up.
"I'm going to go give this back," Junmyeon says, folding the rope up in his hands. "You can head over to the lodge without me."
"Oh," Jongdae says. He wants to follow up, wants to say that's okay, I'll wait or hey, I'll go with you, but can't get the words out of his throat. Maybe it's for the best, though - Junmyeon probably wants a break from him, after all that. "Okay, I'll... see you there."
Junmyeon nods and starts toward the barn. Jongdae makes himself turn and head for the lodge instead of watching him leave.
--
Chanyeol spends dinner with his arm around Jongin, recounting the story of their win to anyone who will listen. Jongdae has it memorizes after the fifth time, and so jumps at the opportunity to duck out of the dining hall with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo after hastily scraping his plate. The sun is just starting to go down, so the three of them decide to head back to their cabin, where the bug spray is.
"So," Baekhyun says, stretching his arms above his head as they head down the path. "Chanyeol and Jongin, huh?"
"What about them?" Jongdae asks.
"Oh, you know," Baekhyun says with a shrug. "Just the puppy dog eyes Jongin's been staring at Chanyeol with all day."
Kyungsoo snorts. "Not to mention how Chanyeol's been literally hanging off him."
Jongdae looks back and forth between them. "Are you guys joking, or…?"
"Not in the slightest," Kyungsoo says, sitting down on the front steps. "You were right across from them, didn't you notice?"
"It was worse after they won the three-legged race," Baekhyun snickers. "I thought they were gonna kiss, honestly. Hey, where were you during the race, anyway?"
Jongdae blushes a little. "Uh--"
"Wait, look," Kyungsoo cuts him off, pointing over to the lodge. Chanyeol and Jongin are just coming through the door, and no one else is around. Baekhyun gasps dramatically and pulls Jongdae down to crouch beside Kyungsoo while the other two start towards the cabins.
Chanyeol unwinds his arm from around Jongin's shoulders but stays close, and Jongdae is pretty sure he sees their hands brush as they walk side by side. The sun has set far enough that the three of them probably won't be seen, but they still all hold their breath when Jongin and Chanyeol reach the edge of the cabins. The one on the end is where Jongin is bunking with Sehun and Taemin, and it looks like Chanyeol is walking Jongin right to the door.
"Are we watching the end of a date right now?" Baekhyun whispers.
Kyungsoo shushes him, and they all watch with bated breath as Jongin pauses in the doorway, smiling up at Chanyeol. Chanyeol says something too quiet for them to hear but Jongin nods, murmurs something back, and Chanyeol steps a little closer like he's going to whisper something--
But the door frame creaks loudly where he leans on it, the sound startling them apart.
Jongdae lets out his breath. "Okay, so you weren't joking."
"Aw, look at them," Baekhyun coos as the other two give each other an awkward little wave. Jongin closes the door and Chanyeol heads back down the steps, running a hand through his hair. "So pure. This is great, I was starting to worry Chanyeol would be alone with his ferret forever."
Kyungsoo snorts, urging Baekhyun and Jongdae to stand up as Chanyeol gets closer. "Quick, try to look like we didn't just witness the start of something beautiful."
"Hey, Jongdae, good news," Baekhyun laughs, nudging him in the side. "If you and Junmyeon don't get around to finding Mount Crescent, it looks like there might be some other candidates if those two keep making eyes at each other."
Jongdae doesn't have time to do much more than blush and roll his eyes before Chanyeol gets close enough to greet them, and then the sun dips down behind the trees and the four of them finally head inside.
--
Later, after Mr. Lee has announced lights out in fifteen minutes and then four of them are on their way back from the lodge bathrooms with freshly brushed teeth, Baekhyun squints into the dark as they approach their cabin.
"Do I even want to know what you're looking at?" Jongdae sighs, glancing warily at the trees only a few metres away.
"In this case, yes," Baekhyun answers, then grins at him. "Care to tell me why Junmyeon is waiting by our door?"
Sure enough, when they get to the front steps a second later, Junmyeon is there with his clipboard and a cautious smile.
"Hi," Jongdae says, hoping he sounds casual, and a little more desperately, that Junmyeon doesn't notice his Spiderman toothbrush.
"What brings you to our doorstep?" Baekhyun asks, trying and failing to hide a smirk.
Junmyeon's smile falters a little. "I, uh, wanted to ask Jongdae something."
Jongdae can see the urge to tease practically written across Baekhyun's face, but by some miracle he decides to take pity on Jongdae for once, and only waggles his eyebrows at them before he heads inside the cabin with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.
Once they're alone, Junmyeon turns to Jongdae, a real smile lighting up his face this time. "Nice toothbrush."
Jongdae pouts playfully at him and hides it behind his back, taking a half step towards the door. "If you're gonna make fun, I'm going inside."
Junmyeon laughs and reaches out to pull him back. "I'm not making fun of you! I think it's great, Spiderman is the best."
"Yeah, whatever," Jongdae sniffs, crossing his arms with an exaggerated frown - but he can't hold the expression for long, cracking into a smile before he can help it. "What did you want to ask me?"
"Right," Junmyeon says, and stands up a little straighter. "I was wondering if you could do me a favour."
"Uh, sure? What is it?"
"Well…" He holds up his clipboard and flips through a few pages. "Taeyeon left me all these questions and tables to fill out, and I don't really… know what to put for some of them." He looks up at Jongdae with a sheepish smile. "Do you have a few minutes to help me out?"
Jongdae agrees easily, and they both take a seat on the edge of the cabin porch. Junmyeon reads each question out to him and Jongdae does his best to answer, but some of them are tough even for him.
"'On a scale of one to five, how accurate would you say your section's pronunciation and enunciation of consonants and vowels is, both stylistically and in terms of the piece's language?'" Junmyeon reads, a crease forming between his brows. "'Do you find the tone quality elements--' Jeez, when did Taeyeon have time to write all this?"
"She takes her position very seriously," Jongdae sighs, rubbing his eyes. "You can say that we need work, I guess… unified vowels and word endings, making sure we all know how to pronounce Shenandoah, things like that."
Junmyeon scribbles a few things down, then flips the page over. "Okay, last one: 'Tonal balance among and between sections'?"
"Oh, say something like… we're all singing in the same colour," Jongdae tells him, and snickers at the raised eyebrow he gets in return. "It'll make sense to her, trust me."
With a shrug, Junmyeon fills out the last box and then flips all the way back to the first page, sighing in relief. "Done. I think I feel a hand cramp coming on."
Jongdae nudges him in the leg. "Aren't you gonna add it all up? What's our score?"
Junmyeon gives him a surprised look. "What? Oh, I gave you guys five out of five on everything already. I just wanted to hear your thoughts so I could sound like I sort of know what I'm talking about."
"Oh." Jongdae feels a blush creep up his neck. "That's… that's awesome, thank you."
"No problem. You guys deserve it," Junmyeon says with a shrug. "Watching all of you sing, even just in rehearsal, is so cool." He puts the clipboard down beside him and leans back on his palms. "I wanted to join, a few years ago, but I had too many other electives taking up my time. I used to really love singing when I was younger."
"Really?" Jongdae claps his hands. "Could you sing something right now?"
"Ahh, I don't know," Junmyeon sighs, but there's a smile playing around his mouth. "It's been a while…"
"Come on," Jongdae whines. "Please?" He turns his best pout on Junmyeon, immediately grinning when he holds his hands up in defeat.
"Okay, um…" Junmyeon goes quiet for a few seconds and Jongdae lets him, trying not to stare too hard at the side of his face.
Eventually Junmyeon takes a deep breath and… lets it out in a short, sweet melody, his voice curling around words Jongdae doesn't recognize but loves the sound of. The few short bars he sings send shivers up Jongdae's spine, striking him with how light yet strong his tone is.
He sounds like an angel, and when he stops singing, Jongdae is the one feeling out of breath.
"Wow," he says softly. "Your voice is so… wow. Did you take lessons?" Junmyeon shakes his head, a soft pink in his cheeks, and Jongdae loses his breath again. "You're amazing, seriously. I've never heard anyone sound like that."
Junmyeon waves him off, his face turning a shade darker. "Aw, you flatter me. I'm nowhere near as good as you."
It's Jongdae's turn to blush. "Well, if you were in choir, you'd be even better than me, probably."
Junmyeon laughs, shaking his head. "If I was in choir…" He trails off, then sighs. "I did really want to join. Watching you guys on this trip, I... I kind of regret it now."
"Just because you're not in choir doesn't mean you can't sing," Jongdae points out. "And your voice is… it's really good."
Junmyeon leans back on his palms with a playful grin. "Well, if you're gonna compliment me so much, then maybe."
Laughing, Jongdae nudges their shoulders together. "Hey, if you want more compliments, you have to sing again."
"Fine," Junmyeon says, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, but he smiles at Jongdae right after. "Just for you, though."
Jongdae flushes pink and ducks his head, studying the ground and hoping Junmyeon doesn't notice his embarrassing reaction.
There's a pause between them, broken by some loud laughter in the cabin across the path. When it goes quiet again, Jongdae realizes how dark and empty the rest of the grounds are, and how late it must be. "We should probably get inside."
"Right." Junmyeon stands up with him and walks him the three steps to his cabin door, smiling when Jongdae pauses in the doorway and faces him. Jongdae very suddenly remembers Chanyeol and Jongin's doorway encounter from earlier, but tries to push it out of his mind.
"Well, goodnight," he says quickly, part of him wanting to slam the door shut or maybe just scream - but another, louder part of him doesn't want to go inside at all.
"Goodnight, Jongdae," Junmyeon says, soft. "See you tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," Jongdae agrees, and waits until Junmyeon is climbing the steps to his own cabin before he shuts the door. He pauses once he's inside, resting his head against the doorframe with a sigh. He could probably float away, he's so happy.
"So," Baekhyun speaks up from behind him, much louder than necessary. "How's loverboy?"
Jongdae rolls his eyes before he turns around. "Who?" he asks, feigning innocence as he heads to his bed. The lights are off and Kyungsoo and Chanyeol seem to be asleep already. They must've already had their nightly round of truth or slap.
"Um, our very own student council president?" Baekhyun says slowly. "The one you just had some quality alone time with?"
"Oh," Jongdae says, pulling his blankets back and sliding under them. "Yeah, he's doing fine."
Baekhyun flops dramatically over the side of his bunk, letting his arms dangle into Jongdae's space. "Give me the deets. What did you talk about?"
"Choir stuff," Jongdae answers truthfully. "I helped him go through all his notes for Taeyeon, he told me about how he wanted to be in choir when he was younger. That's it."
"That's boring as hell," Baekhyun says bluntly. "Did you at least invite him on a late night woods-walk?"
"No…?" Jongdae squints at the bottom of the bunk above him. "Was I supposed to?"
"Of course you were!" Baekhyun hollers. "It's part of the plan! The Get Junmyeon And Jongdae To The Top Of Mount Crescent plan!"
"Okay, stop," Kyungsoo says from his bunk across the room. "Listen. Baekhyun. Let's make a deal, here." He sits up on his elbows so they can see each other. "If you stop talking about the fucking mountain, I'll stop talking about how dumb it is. We'll agree to disagree and just… not speak of it around each other, okay? Deal?"
Baekhyun takes a second to respond. "Uh… sure, yeah. Deal."
"Thank christ," Kyungsoo sighs, and lies back down.
Baekhyun doesn't say anything else, but Jongdae hears his blankets shifting and assumes he's finally going to sleep too. He pulls his own blankets up and closes his eyes, letting his mind wander until it settles, inevitably, on Junmyeon's voice, and the way it sounded right next to him, the memory of it soft in his ears.
( part 3)