Jisung lay awake in bed and couldn't fall asleep. Which was not because the evening hadn't been wonderful. But on the way back to the apartment, he had received Changbin's message and hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since then.

Sighing, he turned around.

Chan had fallen asleep quite a while ago and was now breathing deeply and calmly next to him.

A gentle smile appeared on Jisung's lips as he let his gaze wander over the outlines of the other. Even in the dark, the older looked stunning.

Carefully, so as not to wake him up, Jisung pressed a kiss on Chan's lips and crawled out of bed.

He urgently needed some fresh air and something to drink.

With a wool blanket around his shoulder and a glass of milk in his hand, he went outside, to the terrace. The air had cooled down significantly and a shiver ran over Jisung's back when he sat down on a deck chair.

The air felt different than in Korea. Even though he couldn't really describe what was different.

Yawning, he leaned back and drank a sip of milk, which brought a wave of nostalgic feelings.

His mother had always made him a warm milk with honey whenever he had had a nightmare, or simply hadn't been able to fall asleep. Not only when he had been little, but until she got ill.

He took a deep breath and tried to stop the tears that gathered in his eyes from falling down. In vain.

But even though he missed his mother insanely and the thoughts of her and their ritual weren't easy to bear, he had the feeling that it might not be quite as bad as right after her funeral. Even though his life was upside down right now, he was no longer as alone as on the day of her funeral.

With a sad smile, he wiped his tears off his cheeks and took several deep breaths. He wasn't alone anymore. He now had wonderful, kind and sweet people by his side and was definitely less afraid of the future than a few weeks ago.

Even though he still wasn't quite sure how, he had decided that he wanted to go to university with Hyunjin and would fight to make this dream finally come true.

With this hope and a lot of love in his heart, he answered Changbin.

"Hey Binnie... I really hope we'll find a way to work this out! You are Chan's best friend and you belong by his side!
We saw shooting stars earlier. And even if I can't tell you what I wished for, I would still like to share the moment with you and send a little love and forgiveness in your direction! You are incredibly important to Chan, we both know that. Maybe you have an idea how to break through the wall he built around his heart. Because you are one of us and shouldn't stand alone on the edge. I was jealous and insecure and therefore reacted far too violently to everything, I have understood that in the meantime...
Sorry for so much text, but I hope a lot that we find a solution and we all will feel better! Because you are a dear person and I like you."

Without even thinking about it for a moment, or reading the message again, Jisung sent it off.

Everything he had written was the truth. He saw Chan's looks when he himself laughed with Hyunjin or they cuddled together. And even if he probably would have thought, not so long ago, that Chan was jealous, he now understood that the elder simply missed his own best friend. Not least because he happened to listen to a small part of a conversation between Felix and Chan.

But he had kept to himself that his heart was pounding wildly every time he texted Changbin.

Last time he thought it was just nervousness and fear that Chan would catch him. In the meantime, he wasn't longer sure about that, even if he couldn't really name what exactly he felt.

Shivering, he pulled the blanket tighter, but then decided that he had spent enough time on the terrace.

He suddenly felt tired and exhausted and just wanted to go back to bed and cuddle up to Chan.

After he had drunken the milk and brought the glass into the kitchen, he put the wool blanket back on the sofa and quietly rushed back to the bedroom.

Chan grumbled sleepily when Jisung cuddled up to him. "Cold!" he complained, but continued sleeping almost immediately afterwards.

Smiling, Jisung kissed him gently and wrapped his arms around him. There was now a pleasant calm in his brain and after he put his head on Chan's shoulder and closed his eyes, he finally managed to fall asleep.

~~~

He was woken up by someone cuddling up to him. Even before he turned around, he immediately knew who had crawled up behind him.

Yawning, he turned around and wrapped his arms around Hyunjin. Before he could say anything, Hyunjin kissed him gently and then grinned at him. "Good morning, babe," he said giggling and ruffled through Jisung's hair.

"Good morning, Jinnie," Jisung mumbled and yawned. He still felt incredibly tired and would have liked to have turned around again and continued sleeping.

"Do we want to get up and go for a walk on the beach?" Hyunjin asked, looking so excited and cute that Jisung couldn't refuse his wish.

"If we really need to..." he muttered and had to yawn again.

Chan turned around grumbling in his sleep, but didn't wake up when the two left the bed.

Jisung grabbed a sweater from Chan, pants and socks and disappeared to the living room, while Hyunjin went into the bedroom, which he shared with Felix, to get clothes as well.

A short time later they sat next to each other in the car and Hyunjin drove the short way to the beach, which he fortunately remembered.

The sun had just risen and dipped the sky into an unreal pinkish glow.

After Jisung took a picture of the pretty sky, he leaned back and closed his eyes, even though he knew they would arrive at the beach right away.

"Babe," Hyunjin whispered and pressed his lips on Jisung's temple. "We are there."

Yawning, Jisung rubbed his eyes and blinked tiredly. Somehow he manage to fall asleep within the ten minutes drive.

"I'm coming," he murmured and got out of the car.

Almost instantly, Hyunjin was next to him, grabbed his hand and pulled him down a small path to the beach.

The air was still quite cool, even if the sun was already trying to fight it. The waves spouted gently to the beach and for a moment the leisurely noise made Jisung only even more tired.

But the fatigue was quickly forgotten when Hyunjin knelt down, wet his hands and splashed the younger one with the sea water.

"Jinniiiieee," Jisung squeaked reproachfully and ran away screaming when he saw the older one kneeling down again.

Laughing, Hyunjin followed him and reached for Jisung's hand again after rubbing his hands dry on his pants.

"Why did we had to come here that early?" Jisung asked yawning and let Hyunjin pull him along the beach.

"Cause we're now the first ones here and have the beach all to ourselves," Hyunjin explained almost indignantly, as if that were quite obvious. Nevertheless, he almost protectively wrapped his arm around the younger's waist and looked at him worriedly. "Are you still that tired?"

Jisung shrugged his shoulders, but had to yawn again immediately afterwards. "Somehow. It took me a while to fall asleep."

"It's just because you weren't cuddling in my arms to fall asleep," Hyunjin sighed dramatically and jerkily pulled Jisung into his arms.

The younger, who hadn't expect that at all, however, tripped and fell into the sand together with Hyunjin.

"Well, if you think so. I'm definitely staying here now and waiting for either breakfast to come to me, or the waves to wash me away," Jisung sighed and closed his eyes.

Grinning, Hyunjin sat up and looked at Jisung thoughtfully for a moment before he got up. "If you want to wait a moment, I'll go buy us coffee. And maybe I'll find something to eat."

Uncertain, Jisung looked up to the older one, but finally nodded. "Yeah.. I'll wait here. I really don't feel like moving right now."

"All right, babe, then don't let yourself be kidnapped. I'll be back soon," waving Hyunjin quickly moved away from the younger, because he didn't want to leave him alone for too long.

꧁⟢𓆩♡𓆪⟣꧂

Quick question: Would you want to have ChanSung + HyunLix chapters in alternation with Changbin chapters?
Or should it be a Changbin chapter every now and then?