The only sound present was the leaves of the trees brushing against one another, accompanied by the soft tapping of San's foot upon the doorstep.

The boy had just rung the doorbell of Mingi's house, and shared a glance with the shorter boy who stood next to him.

Wooyoung and San had showed up just a bit late for the party, due to more than a few distractions when getting ready to leave.
San only hoped no one would notice how messed up his hair was...

The door swung open to reveal a pair of middle aged women; a short one with hair done up in a bun, and her taller wife, carrying a small cat.

"San! Hey kid, come in!" the woman holding the door beckoned, with her wife disappearing off into the house upon seeing who had rang.

San smiled as he took in the sight of Mingi's house. It had been a while since he'd visited, but every time it seemed to become more and more cozy.

"You're his boyfriend, right? Wooyoung?" the small woman asked as she shut the door behind all three of them.

Wooyoung nodded, shyly, after sharing a glance with San.

Mingi's mom shared a look with San as she walked, although one containing just a bit more pride.

"Well, come on!" she said excitedly, gesturing for the two to follow her.

The woman hurried through their hallways as she led the pair towards the door to their backyard.

"Everyone's back there, they've been waiting for you," she said, giving San and Wooyoung a firm pat on the back as she left them in front of said door.

San watched in amusement as Mingi's mom scurried over to grab her car keys from the kitchen counter, yelling for her wife to get their car ready.

"Are you going somewhere, Mrs. Jung?" San asked out of curiosity, Wooyoung resting his hand on the door handle.

The woman gave a kind laugh. "Oh, honey. You think we would stay here with you eight boys? We don't want to see what happens," she joked, shoving her shoes hastily onto her feet.

"We're going to have a nice date night in the city. You all have fun!" she said, now heading towards the door.
Mingi's other mom appeared from the side hall, rushing towards the door as well.

"Bye Sannie! I trust you'll take care of the house for us," the taller woman said, giving San a thumbs up.

"I will! Don't worry," he gave a smile in return to the mother, whose wife playfully hip bumped her for even saying such a request.

San turned to Wooyoung as the parents slipped out of the door, leaving the two alone in the house.

"Is it weird to ship Mingi's parents...? Because..." Wooyoung trailed off, sending San into a laughing fit.

"Noo, no, I completely get it," San answered, as he took the initiative to finally swing the back door open.

The pair were greeted with the sight of five boys in the backyard, all in various positions.

"WOOSAN ARE HERE!" came Mingi's voice, who had previously been screaming as Hongjoong hit him in the face with a pool noodle.

Wooyoung and San practically dashed over to the pool area as the group greeted them, all yelling and scrambling out from different areas of the pool.

"Hey, San!" a sweet voice came from a chair to the side, causing San to whip around to the voice.

Yeosang.

"Oh my god—" San practically ran over to the blonde boy, who was excitedly standing up to greet him.

"Yeosang, shit, it's been so long," San said as he wrapped his old friend in a tight hug, one which was immediately returned.

Yeosang gave him a small pat on the back before letting go, sparing a look at the rest of the group.

"I got so much shit to talk to you about," Yeosang started, notably glancing behind San towards the others who were chatting.

"Who'd you bring with you?" Yeosang asked, nodding towards Wooyoung.

"Oh!! Um," San paused, suddenly feeling flustered. "That's Wooyoung, he's my boyfriend."

Yeosang's expression couldn't have held more shock. "No fuckin way. Seonghwa wasn't kidding?" he commented, not that San was aware of any prior conversation on the topic.

"Sang, why would I lie about that?" came the whining voice of Seonghwa, who had now wandered up to the pair and into the conversation.

"Hey San," Seonghwa ruffled the boy in question's hair, gaining a warm smile from him in return.

San turned to greet the rest of the group as Seonghwa began explaining something to Yeosang, with the two forming their own little bubble.

"Hongjoong, Jongho, what's good," San greeted the pair who'd both just finished talking to Wooyoung.

"San, you ever tried my brownies before?" Hongjoong asked, throwing San just slightly off at the topic switch.

"No?" he replied, ignoring how Jongho was snickering to himself from the side.

"I baked some for today. They're in the fridge. Try one, you'll literally die," Hongjoong grinned, now with both Wooyoung and Jongho laughing their asses off for some unknown reason.

San chose to not probe further into the topic. He glanced around, sensing something amiss.

"Where's Yunho?" he inquired. Wooyoung next to him scanned the area, before shrugging.

"Oh, Yunho's in Mingi's room taking a shower; he spilled his drink on himself," Seonghwa yelled from the side, where he sat on a lounge chair with one arm around Yeosang.

"Yeah, he'll be out soon," Mingi seconded as San nodded in understanding.

Mingi, who had been in the pool and still remained without a shirt on, quickly dived back in upon finishing greeting the pair.

San had to suppress the strong urge to make fun of his friend's behavior.

He slipped his hand into Wooyoung's, giving it a gentle squeeze. Wooyoung looked up at him questioningly.

"You wanna swim right now or wait a while?" San asked, with Wooyoung taking a moment to ponder the question.

"Swimming now. The sooner I see your shirt off the better," Wooyoung joked.

San lightly hit him in response, though he knew the statement was sarcastic.

Within five minutes, Wooyoung had dragged San into the pool, with the latter barely even having time to get ready beforehand.

The cool water was certainly a refreshing change from the hot air, and thus San became immediately glad that he'd gotten in so fast. Not that he'd tell Wooyoung that.

Wooyoung, as soon as he'd successfully dragged his boyfriend into the water, went off to locate a pool noodle—hopefully not to attack San with—while San waded over to the poolside.

There sat Hongjoong and Jongho together, letting their legs dip in the water. Both wore t-shirts and shorts, a sign that neither had swam yet.

"It's hella hot, you guys not gonna get in?" San questioned, resting his arms on the warm pool edge next to the pair.

Both shook their heads. "Nah. I've got this, so I'm fine," Jongho said as he held up his glass containing an ice cold drink within.

"He can't swim cause of his binder. I might get in later, who knows?" Hongjoong said, stealing Jongho's drink and taking a sip from it.

San nodded in understanding, stifling a laugh at how Jongho playfully swatted Hongjoong's hands away from his drink.

"Dude, what kind of drink even is that?" he asked Jongho, who thought for a moment.

"No idea. Yunho gave it to me," he answered honestly.

"Jongho, that's probably alcoholic," San stated.

"Oh no wayyy, I'd be able to tell if it was!" Jongho insisted.

San raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen what Yunho's capable of—?"

"I heard my name? What'd I miss?" came the voice of a boy with excellent timing as he walked into the backyard, hair wet and a towel over his shoulders.

"Yunho, the fuck took you so long?" San waved him over, the jest said all in good sentiment.

"Pizza delivery guy got here while I was in the shower, if you guys want food get inside," Yunho announced, sending more than a few boys dashing towards the door of the house.

Hongjoong, Jongho, and San shared a look of mutual judgement at the others, none of the trio particularly caring about the food.

"You guys can go inside if you want?" San offered anyway, "I was really late anyway."

Hongjoong and Jongho both shook their heads.

"Nah, we can just hang out here for a while. I brought a ton of snacks for later," Hongjoong answered.

The three collectively agreed to just chill outside and talk, letting the time pass by as they dwelled on whatever subject they pleased.

Hours passed that only seemed like seconds.

By the time the sun began to set, the group had eaten and spent more than enough time in the pool; splashing each other in the face and accidentally dropping their things into the water.

As of the current moment the sky had nearly become black, and all eight found themselves huddled outside on the poolside chairs, getting a bit cold as the temperature dropped with the sun.

San opened his arms as Wooyoung waddled over to him, plopping down next to him on the chair.
He wrapped his towel around both of their shoulders, leaving a small kiss on the younger's nose as he did so.

"It's getting late, who wants to go inside and watch a movie?" Mingi called out, receiving a chorus of noises from the group in return.

"Can't we play a game or something?" Hongjoong suggested, with a couple others piping up in agreement.

"We should do truth or dare," Seonghwa stated, all eyes turning to him in either fear or agreement.

"Hwa, you want us to die?" Jongho argued as he messed with his bangs. Being the only one not wet and shivering, Jongho had the advantage of being stable somewhat on his side.

"Can we please just go inside I'm dying," Yeosang spoke up, with a murmur of agreement following.

The group somehow managed to all collect themselves and make their way inside Mingi's house.
A collective sigh of relief was let out at the warmth of the house compared to the cool night air.

Yunho walked off towards Mingi's room after announcing he needed clothes, while the others found their bags and got what they needed from them.

San chatted with Yeosang as they slipped their shirts on in the hallway, both sick of being freezing after drying off.

"You haven't seen that vine?" Yeosang was currently questioning as he dug through his backpack, pulling out a pair of sweatpants.
"I have to send it to you, you'll cry," he spoke, gaining a grin from San.

Wooyoung stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a loose sweatshirt and pajama pants.

"Whoever needs to change next, I'm done," he announced, with Jongho instantly hurrying past him to get to the bathroom first.

San sauntered over to Wooyoung, smirking as he made eye contact with the younger. He stopped right in front of him, playing with the strings of his boyfriend's hoodie.

"I like this group a lot," Wooyoung said quietly to San. The elder pursed his lips, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah. This is nice, isn't it? Feels like a while since I've just hung out with friends like this," San mused, now absentmindedly tapping his fingers on his boyfriend's chest.

"What are they doing over there?" Wooyoung asked, directing his gaze past San and towards the living room.
Mingi and Seonghwa, who had both changed into pajamas already, could be seen laying pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals in a circle on the carpet.

"I think they're getting ready for truth or dare," San answered, looking back towards them.

"When do Mingi and Yunho go to sleep usually?" Wooyoung asked, daunted at the prospect of them staying up all night.

San shrugged. "Usually about 4am. Why?"

Wooyoung pursed his lips, glancing around the room as if to check if the others were listening.

"You wanna pull an all-nighter with me?" he suggested quietly, placing a hand on San's shoulder.

San couldn't help but grin at the question.

He took Wooyoung's hand from his shoulder and brought it up to leave a small kiss on the back of it.

"Mingi said he'd kill us if we did anything," San whispered, despite the mischievous look in his eyes.

Wooyoung shrugged, scanning once more to assure no one was eavesdropping. "I didn't say what we'd do. Just stay up with me, we can go stargazing or something," he persuaded.

San nodded, immediately showing he'd given in. "Okay," he mouthed, turning around to see the rest of the group congregating on the pillows and blankets strewn about the living room.

"San, Wooyoung, get your asses over here we're gonna start playing," Mingi said as he waved the two over.

San and Wooyoung shared an evil look before walking over to join the rest of the group.

It would definitely be a long night for all eight of them.