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There was something about dozing in that halfway point between sleep and waking that was pure bliss. He could faintly hear the quiet whirring of the ceiling fan and Hyunjin’s heavy breathing somewhere next to him. The room was warm from the breeze blowing through the window, the waves from the ocean heard faintly crashing and rolling on the shore.
Absolutely pure bliss.
Jisung rolled over, dragging the blanket with him, and fell back into the inky black peace of sleep.
~~~
When Minho went to go check on their two heaviest sleepers around midafternoon, he was greeted with the sight of Hyunjin curled up on one side of the bed, snoring quietly and very blanket-less, Jisung rolled up in a burrito on the other side, being the blanket hog he usually was, the blankets rolled tightly around him.
It was a very cute sight and one that might have melted Minho’s heart a little, but no one was around to see him sneakily bring out his phone and snap a picture for safekeeping.
Decidedly done with taking in the sights, he snuck into the bedroom, closing the door behind him, and tiptoed over to the bed, proceeding to launch himself onto it and over the two still solidly sleeping bodies.
The elbow he got in the ribs was totally worth the complaints and yelps he got as he flopped and rolled over the two younger boys, effectively waking them up.
“What the heck, Minho!” Hyunjin spluttered, almost falling off of the bed as he tried to get away from the cackling boy. Jisung got stuck in his blanket prison and did end up falling on the floor with a thud, his fall cushioned slightly, though an ‘oof’ floated up from the floor.
“Wakey, wakey,” Minho said gleefully, sitting up on the mostly empty bed, looking entirely too pleased with himself in Hyunjin’s opinion. “It’s early evening, you sleepyheads.”
The lanky boy launched himself towards the older, smacking into Minho’s chest and sending them tumbling backwards on the bed.
Jisung’s head popped up over the edge of the bed, sleepily watching the two wrestling playfully on the bed before extracting himself from his mummy wrapping of blankets and shuffling out to the main area of the house, not keen (or awake enough) to engage in any physical activity.
Changbin was lying on the couch, scrolling aimlessly through his phone, oblivious to Jisung’s presence. Jisung decided to take advantage of this and gain a human pillow, making a very calculated move and flopping his entire weight right on top of Changbin, making the young man wheeze slightly at the sudden weight dropping on him, a noise of complaint erupting once he realized who had interrupted him.
“Shhhh, pillows don’t talk,” Jisung muttered, burying his face in Changbin’s shoulder.
Changbin huffed and grumbled a bit more with no real heat before accepting his fate and going back to scrolling through his phone, arms wrapped lightly around Jisung.
The two lay there until Minho and Hyunjin emerged from the bedroom and headed out into the kitchen, the sounds and smell of food cooking soon rousing Jisung enough to shove off of Changbin and waddle into the kitchen to see what was going on.
The kitchen opened up into a breakfast nook slash dining room area that had sliding accordion glass doors in lieu of a wall that opened up completely to the porch, which overlooked the beach. They were close enough to the ocean that you could hear the waves rushing and crashing onto the shore, but not so close that the water would be lapping at the stilts of the house at high tide. The open doors made the whole kitchen smell like the ocean, mingling with whatever food Hyunjin and Minho were cooking up.
Jisung placed himself at the island, hopping up onto one of the bar stools so he could best observe and, if he was lucky, get to taste test the seafood sizzling away in the pan on the stove.
It’s all warm and comfortable, the easy-going atmosphere blanketing the three.
“Where’s everyone else?” Jisung finally asked, awake enough to notice they were missing a few people.
“Chan and Felix dragged Seungmin and Jeongin down to the beach awhile ago," Minho responded, placing a tall pot filled with water onto the stove to start boiling for pasta. “Wouldn’t be surprised if they stayed out there until it was time to eat.”
Hyunjin gracefully snorted. “They’ll probably spend most of their time here down at the beach.”
Jisung chuckled, propping his face in his hand. The week-long vacation they had finally managed to pull off between eight different working schedules was being spent at the beach with the intention of full relaxation and general laziness. Three days had already passed and Jisung had spent most of them sleeping. He wasn’t the only one, though, Hyunjin having joined him for at least two of those days, both wiped out and completely crashing, with the exception of basic human necessities and food. He wasn’t sure what everyone else had gotten up to, but it was sounding like several of them would be a few shades tanner by the time they went back to work (or at least very sunburnt).
A small bowl suddenly appeared in front of him, along with a fork, a sampling of what had been in the pan steaming in Jisung’s face. He perked up immediately and dug in, the flavours of whatever magical concoction Minho had cooked up exploding on his tongue.
“This,” Jisung said around a mouthful of shrimp, “Is amazing. How’d you do that?”
Minho grinned, looking very pleased with himself. “It’s a secret.”
Hyunjin nodded gravely, his hair flopping with the movement. “Very secret.”
Jisung stuck his tongue out at both of them, hopping off the barstool and leaving the dish and fork as revenge, walking out onto the porch. “I’m going to go get the guys.” He didn’t wait to hear the response, charging down the stairs and scanning the beach for his friends, breaking into a jog when he spotted them digging in the sand several yards away.
Felix looked up and waved at him as he got closer, sand flying from his hand. “Hey there, stranger!”
“Hi!” Jisung came to a halt, breathing heavily from the short exercise.
“Dinner’s almost ready! What are you guys doing?”
“We were getting started on the moat for a sandcastle,” Chan said, looking gleeful as he stood up, dusting off sand from his knees and shins. “But we can just start again tomorrow, the tide will wash it out by the time we’re done eating anyways.”
“Tragic,” Jisung said dryly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his joggers. “Dinner’s seafood pasta.”
Felix and Jeongin shot up and took off across the sand, Seungmin not far behind, the trio playfully shouting and shoving each other as they ran towards the house. Chan and Jisung followed at a more leisurely pace, taking their time to get across the sand, chatting aimlessly all the way up the stairs and into the kitchen.
Changbin had gotten up from the couch and was setting the table, Seungmin was chasing Hyunjin with his sandy hands and an evil grin, the lanky boy yelling in protest as he tried to escape. Felix and Jeongin were nowhere to be found, presumably changing out of their swim trunks. Minho was finishing up the food, ignoring the chaos going around him, making sure the stovetop was off before he moved the pans.
“Hot pans coming through!” Deftly, he moved the skillets and pasta pot to the table in a couple of trips, avoiding the reigning chaos.
“Felix, Jeongin, food!”
Chan sat down and watched his disorderly group of friends make their way over to the dinner table. Changbin had manhandled a giggling Seungmin over to the kitchen sink to wash off his sandy hands and arms, freeing Hyunjin who sat down with a huff beside Chan. Felix and Jeongin came sliding out from the hallways and into the dining room, sitting on opposing sides of the table. Jisung sat down next to Felix and once Seungmin was done washing up, him and Changbin came and sat down, Minho following with a pan of garlic rolls.
Minho looked at Chan and proceeded to smirk. “You got the look on your face.”
Six heads swiveled to look at Chan as he spluttered. “Look? What look?”
“Oh my gosh, he doesn’t know,” Hyunjin whispered loudly to Seungmin, who was completely deadpan, though his mouth twitched at the corners. Jeongin snorted, poorly hiding a smile behind his hand.
“You just get this look on your face whenever you’re watching all of us,” Felix said, having mercy on Chan, a brilliant smile on his face. “It’s all sappy and adoring and disgustingly soft.”
Or not.
Chan felt the tips of ears burn red and he fumbled for the tongs for the pasta. “Can we just eat, please?”
Chuckles erupted around the table, light teasing continuing for a minute or two, making Chan’s ears flame ever redder until the attention was off of him and on other topics of conversation.
~~~
Changbin sat rocking in the swinging bench on the porch, staring up at the stars. It was late in the night, long after their early dinner. They had piled into the living room for a movie once it started getting dark. He was pretty sure the four same-age boys were still in a cuddle pile on the floor, probably sleeping, if the lack of conversation and in the last fifteen minutes or so was of any indication.
A few of their neighbors had their lights on, but otherwise the world was quiet, the moon hanging lowly over the ocean and illuminating the crashing waves. It was the most peace he’d had in awhile, if Changbin was honest.
He took a deep breath and slowly released it, tilting his head back to rest it on the top of the bench, gently shoving it with one of his feet to get it rocking.
The sound of the waves combined with the rocking of the bench slowly lulled him into a really drowsy state.
In fact, he was just about to slip over the precipice of sleep when there was a light tapping on his leg, like someone announcing their presence, and the weight shifted on the bench, rousing him back into awareness.
“Sorry, didn’t want to scare you,” Minho whispered, using his foot to start the bench rocking again. “Were you asleep?”
“Almost,” Changbin mumbled, rubbing his eyes with a yawn. “You alright? You went to bed early, thought you’d be sleeping.”
“I did sleep for a bit but I woke up and didn’t want to go back to sleep, so I came down to sit outside a bit.”
Changbin hummed in response, dropping his head back again and closing his eyes, eventually dozing off as Minho kept the swing gently rocking.
~~~
“Oi, stay in your lane!”
“There are no lanes in this game!”
“Do you see those white dotted lines? Yeah, those are lanes, Jisung. Stay in them!”
“It’s not my fault you chose a light kart!”
Growling.
“I will knock you off into the lava if you don’t stay in your lane.”
“I don’t think your teeny tiny kart will do much damage against my heavy duty Offroader.”
“Oh yeah?”
The video game made several crashing sounds before the dying turtle noises and a shriek erupted from both screen and human.
“How? HOW?!”
Hyunjin leaned over the back of the sofa, watching an enraged Jisung try to get his kart back on track and chase down Felix before he crossed the finish line, but the screen blinked red, indicating the match was over, Felix cheering victoriously as Jisung came to a grinding halt in-game.
“Your first mistake was not watching for shells,” Hyunjin said blithely, avoiding the pillow aimed at his head. “Your second was underestimating Felix. He’s ruthless at these games.”
“Is that the voice of experience?” Felix quirked an eyebrow in Hyunjin’s direction, fully knowing the answer.
Hyunjin decided to not dignify that with a response and walked out of the living room, Felix’s snickering trailing behind him, Jisung demanding a rematch.
Chan was in the kitchen, fiddling around with the stove and a frying pan, still dressed in pjs, hair a floofy mess of tangled curls. Hyunjin came up behind him and hooked his chin over Chan’s shoulder, shuffling a little bit as the older moved to the side to plop a pat of butter into the pan. “Watcha doing?”
“Scrambling eggs. Want some?”
“Sure.”
It only took Chan a few minutes to scramble eggs and divide them between two plates, leaving the pan to the side to cool off while him and Hyunjin sat at the counter and ate.
“You going to go down to the beach today?”
“Mmhm, probably,” Hyunjin replied, nodding his head a bit. “You?”
“I think Minho and Seungmin were going to go check out the arcade in town, I was thinking about tagging along.”
“You should take Jeongin with you. He’d probably like getting out of the house for a bit.”
Chan made a hum of agreement, chewing thoughtfully.
Hyunjin finished eating and hopped off the bar stool, coming around the sink to wash off his plate and fork. “If you do go to town, can you get more fruit bars? I think the twins ate most of them,” he said, raising his voice slightly at the end of his sentence to be heard in the living room above Mario Kart.
Loud noises of protest came from the living room, particularly from Jisung as the noises turned into actual words of him trying to defend his honor, Hyunjin giggling at the chaos he had started, slipping out of the kitchen and into the bedroom he was sharing with Jisung before he could get caught in the kitchen by a flying squirrel of the Han Jisung variety.
“That weasel, I swear…”
~~~
Seungmin wriggled his toes into the sand until the tops of his feet were covered. Him and Minho had comeback late in the evening just before the sunset from the arcade with Chan and Jeongin, who were out with Felix and Jisung in the ocean.
Changbin flopped down beside him on the towel with a grunt. “Watcha reading?”
Seungmin held up the cover of the book so Changbin could see it, eyes still travelling down the page as he absorbed the words.
“Hmm,” Changbin grunted. He rolled over and poked Seungmin in the side, the younger flinching away from him slightly at the sudden touch. He poked again until Seungmin swatted at him.
“What do you want?” Seungmin grouched at him with no real heat.
“Get into the water with me,” Changbin demanded, poking him in the ribs again.
“No. Go away, you menace.”
The back and forth continued until Changbin finally got up and hoisted Seungmin off of the towel over his shoulder, running over to the water with Seungmin screaming until he was dropped into the waves. Changbin cackled and ran off, Seungmin rising from the water, spluttering.
“Changbin!” he yelled, taking off after the older.
“Doesn’t Seungmin look a little bit like a sea monster chasing Changbin like that?” Jeongin asked off-handedly, watching the two running back and forth in the sand, Changbin evading Seungmin but not by much.
“Hmm…” Jisung tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, I can see it.”
“I think it’s the hair,” Felix commented from where he was perched on Chan’s shoulders, having remained there after playing chicken, slumped over the older’s head.
“Really? I was thinking the clawed hands.”
They watched Seungmin finally tackled Changbin with a splash as the two fell into the waves.
“My money’s on Seungmin.”
“Bet.”
“Five dollars?”
“Ten.”
“Deal.”
“I want in. Put me down for Seungmin.”
“Eh, I think Changbin’s going to win.”
“Two for Seungmin, one for Changbin. What’s your vote, Chan?”
“Mmm…Changbin?”
“All bets are in, folks. Who shall be the winner of this match between Seungmin and Changbin? Oooh, Changbin’s down for the count. But wait! A surprise attack from a wave bowls them both over and Changbin is back on top again! That was a smooth judo flip from Seungmin and with that sharp chokehold, Changbin’s calling defeat. Seungmin’s the winner, all betters go to the cash office to claim, or lose, your earnings!”
“This is why I don’t bet on friends.”
~~~
Their last full day at the beach house was spent mostly inside, people rotating between napping, playing games, and eating the last of the food.
“We should do this again,” Seungmin said, laying down a winning hand for the poker game him, Chan, Minho, and Jeongin were playing, much to their detriment. Chan threw down his cards, claiming he was done, standing up to go see what Jisung and Felix were doing. Seungmin smirked as he slide the pile of snacks they’d been using in place of real money closer to him, depositing them in the already full bag beside them.
“I think I’m done,” he announced, stretching casually.
“Oh thank heavens.” Minho threw down his cards with visible relief. “I don’t think my snack bank could take any more of whatever cheating you’re doing.”
“Oh no, if anyone’s cheating, it’s me,” Jeongin declared, scampering away from the table before the words could sink in.
Minho and Seungmin looked at each other, realization hitting both of them at the same time. They shot up from the table and ran after the cackling Jeongin.
“You little fox!”
~~~
Chan made sure the door was securely locked before he secured the keys in the lockbox around the door handle.
“Alright, all set,” he said, getting into the car. Him, Minho, Hyunjin, and Felix had carpooled together since they lived in the same city, the other four having come separately.
“Until next time,” Felix muttered, resting his head against the window in preparation for the nap he was inevitably going to take on the four-hour drive back.
Hyunjin was humming happily, looking through his camera at all the photos he’d taken over their stay. A link for a photo album would probably pop up in their texts in a couple weeks, after him and Seungmin pulled all of the photos they both had taken with their respective cameras.
His favourite one was the one with all of them standing on the beach, the sun starting to set off to the side, bathing them all in a glowing light. Half of them were soaked from the ocean, all of them covered in sand, hair wild and smiles wide. It was a wild mess of a photo, which was totally on brand with their group of friends, but Hyunjin still loved it all the same, noting to print out to hang on his photo wall at home.
He could hardly wait for them to do this again.