The morning came with Yeosang awakening to the quiet chatter of Jongho and Mingi at the table. Jongho had foregone his gadgets and he seemed incredibly tinier and more approachable in every regard. Without the hissing heaps of metal strapped to him, his human aspects shone all the softer. There was no way to spread the sleepy grin on Yeosang's lips.

Mingi's hair was a bird's nest atop his head that he had yet to take care of. He leaned against the kitchen aisle while Jongho rested on the chair and peacefully listened to his rambling. Jongho had spread his thighs casually and supported his injured arm on one of them. By the looks of it, he wasn't in too much pain today. Yeosang hoped he got a good night's sleep. After he had slumbered away last night, anything going on had completely passed by him, he had been that tired.

When he rose, both men interrupted their conversation to greet Yeosang cheerfully. Bricky sat on the table between them. At his friendly chirp, relief that he hadn't lost his way flooded Yeosang.

"Good morning. Had a good rest?"

When Yeosang just replied with a yawn, Mingi giggled. Shy, Yeosang covered his mouth immediately after as he looked around for the other two.

"San is downstairs. He didn't want to crowd in here while we wait for Yongguk," Jongho supplied without him having to ask. Yeosang hummed in agreement.

He carded his hands through his hair in a weak attempt to fix it. Then, he also patted his clothes down before he stood up. Jongho must have tucked him in after he had left their little nest since the blanket wrapped snugly around him and preserved all the warmth. After a short minute of thinking, Yeosang took it with him. It still carried his heat and snuggled into it; he stood in the middle of the room. Lost, he peered around. Jongho and Mingi blinked back at him.

"I will join San, then, so he isn't lonely either. Tell me if you gentlemen need us." Groggily, Yeosang shuffled over to the stairs. He nearly missed the first step when his hand covered by the blanket slipped off the handrail. Behind him, Mingi giggled.

"Be careful," Jongho grumbled under his breath. Yeosang threw him a sheepish smile before he finally descended safely.

Downstairs in the corridor, San sat cross-legged on the floor and stared at the door leading outside. Lost in thought, he didn't even notice Yeosang at first until he appeared as a pillar of dark blankets next to him. Only then, he turned his head to throw Yeosang a brilliant smile. His dimples and hair looked extra soft in the morning, and some of the ongoing tiredness in his features had lifted. Satisfied, Yeosang dropped onto the floor next to him.

It took him a while to figure out where the opening to his blanket was, but once his hand snaked outside of the protective layer, he rose it to San's face. The man offered his cheek with a smile as Yeosang poked his dimple.

"Good morning."

San also rose his hand to tap the tip of Yeosang's nose. Giggling, the librarian shied away from his ticklish fingers.

"Hey, you."

Yeosang comradely opened one corner of his blanket. Without much hesitation, San joined him in his cosy cocoon. His natural scent of human wrapped around Yeosang like the comforting reminder that he wasn't alone in his mission.

"Did Yongguk awake yet?"

Yeosang rested his head on San's broad shoulder and snuggled up against his warmth while San sorted the blankets around the two of them. With them next to each other, it was barely enough blanket to shut completely.

"No, I came because I wanted to grace you with my company. I hope you're not too disappointed."

With a chuckle, San angled his head to press an affectionate kiss on Yeosang's lips. The minor gesture had Yeosang shyly hide his face in the other man's shirt.

"How could I? I would be a fool to protest a beautiful man falling right into my lap in the early morning hours."

Flattered, Yeosang pushed a strand of his hair behind his ear. He didn't get called pretty too often, especially not by men as gorgeous as San himself. While he felt like an ugly duckling next to a god, he still appreciated the attention.

"I'm not in your lap, though. So that might be a thing to be disappointed about."

San's laughter filled the room. It was ripe like fresh fruit and tasted just as sweet as the mangoes from the far south on the other side of the ocean. It filled Yeosang's heart with gleeful anticipation. He felt mighty, getting the man to laugh for him.

"Not at all. I enjoy your presence just the same, on my lap or next to me. Of course, you are always welcome there, though."

With a little nudge of his chin, San urged Yeosang to look at him. Hesitant, Yeosang did as the man asked him to. His lashes fluttered immediately when he met San's sharp eyes, not able to bear their weight. He looked at his lap instead.

San waited for him, not coercing him into anything. When Yeosang's nervous heart finally made its decision and he sunk into the man, San was ready to catch him.

Their lips met in another touch, this time a lingering one. The sleepiness that still clung to both of them hinted at a homey intimacy that Yeosang welcomed eagerly. When San's gentle fingers cradled his jaw to pull him in, Yeosang's heart jumped at the care he was handled with. San's mouth was tender on his, and the delicate press of his lips never stopped igniting excitement in Yeosang's belly. When San kissed, he did so with all his devotion. He kissed as if nothing else on the world mattered apart from that one touch.

And as much as Yeosang's head irked him to wonder what Jongho's kisses would be like, when he was with San, he was distracted.

It took Yeosang a few minutes of them losing themselves in the feeling of each other until he mustered up some confidence. He shifted without ever disconnecting his face from San's. When he rose his thigh in a questioning faint brush against San's leg, the man promptly understood. His hand travelled underneath the blanket, making it slip in the process, to hold onto Yeosang.

Everything inside of Yeosang swooped dangerously at the tame grip of San's hand on his thigh. When he was pulled over into the man's lap, San craned his head back to kiss him deeper, and Yeosang's dark fringe fanned over his brows. He shuddered in San's grip when the man reached for his waist to firmly press the two of them together. Their chests aligned when San gently pried Yeosang's mouth open with his tongue to offer him a game so saccharine that Yeosang would now be the fool to refuse.

Sitting on top of San made Yeosang feel like a prince. Mighty and noble, he throned on San as if he was his source of power.

At the same time, Yeosang exposed himself entirely to him. San's wandering hands brushed over his sides and his ribcage. They slid over his chest, his shoulders, and down to his thighs that his fingers idly trailed over. Every single one of his touches had Yeosang tense with anticipation and nervousness. A tension that San kissed right off him again, but it kept happening anyway.

Yeosang was also far too shy to touch San. He feared making a mistake or doing something weird that San disliked. San had never given him the incentive that Yeosang troubled him in any way, but yet Yeosang's hands rested on the other man's back balled to useless fists.

Yeosang's attempts to relax by putting his whole concentration on their kisses continuously got thrown overboard whenever San touched him. One second, he fell into the warmth and seductive promises that the man's mouth and tongue offered, the next, he flinched away because San slipped his hands underneath his shirt. Yeosang didn't know how to sort himself out, and he nearly panicked at his attempts.

It happened for another time, San's fingertips just slipping underneath the waistband of Yeosang's pants for the barest bit to brush his hipbones when Yeosang nearly jumped off his lap from sensitivity. Only then, San pulled back. Yeosang barely dared to open his eyes, and when he finally did, he hyper-focused on San's pretty lips that looked as swollen as Yeosang's felt.

"Yeosang... Am I moving too fast? Do you want me to stop?"

Albeit knowing that it had been his idea to come here and climb atop San, Yeosang felt compelled to agree. He didn't want to disappoint the other man, not when he so sweetly waited for him. Yeosang was excited and so fired up at the prospect of sharing this experience with San, but the other man caused him to be all over the place. If anything, Yeosang stayed too cramped and nervous about doing this right now.

For a moment more, he pondered his answer. Then, he gave a weak nod. Guilt burned in his throat as if he had swallowed poison. He wasn't ready to meet San's eyes that were no doubt disappointed and frustrated with him.

Yeosang was no stranger to intimacy. Or rather, his mind wasn't. He knew what he liked and disliked, and he knew how things worked from the countless novels he had read. Another man's touch on his body, however, that was the new aspect.

"Alright, come here." This time, San pulled him into a chaste hug. It involved no wandering hands, no heated kisses. It was just them sharing a soothing hug. Yet, Yeosang's heart beat wildly in his chest. Suddenly, he was too aware again of how different San's hug felt from Jongho's. Both were warm, both treated Yeosang with the utmost care he didn't see himself deserving of. However, they couldn't be more different.

"I'm sorry, San. I don't know what's wrong. It's not you, I swear."

The words tasted stale in Yeosang's mouth.

San brushed his fingers through Yeosang's hair and shushed him gently.

"No, no. I don't want you to feel obligated to put your own needs after mine. Please don't do anything you aren't ready for. I am not one to take whatever I want."

Yeosang winced at the upset in San's voice. He hadn't meant to paint the man as advancing too fast. After all, San had reacted to Yeosang's invitation, and he hadn't even attempted anything that could be considered threatening. Once more, Yeosang rose disheartened eyes.

San frowned at him the barest bit, but it was mostly worry that marred his features. His lips had settled in an adorable pout.

With a feathery soft touch, Yeosang reached out to cup his chin. Gently, he kissed the pout away until San's dimples were back on display.

They still sat wrapped around each other for a while until upstairs; voices got loud again. The hermit's deep drawl mixed with the other two men's voices. It was Yeosang's signal to rise from San and get to his feet. Both of them stood inconspicuously as the other three came down the stairs. Yeosang just finished folding his blanket.

Yongguk barely regarded them. Jongho's eyes lingered for a bit longer as if confused by their odd silence, but Yeosang successfully ducked away from his inquisitive stare.

"Let's go, then. I will now take you to the thing you have come this far for. It's not a long trip, maybe a mere ten minutes of climbing. If you want to retrieve the item, then I reckon you bring some sort of weapon."

Yeosang gasped softly at the sudden hint of danger.

"It's guarded?"

"No. But the canyon decided to make it its own in the past years. It's not too difficult to take from it, but if that is your decision, then it will try to hinder you."

With a nod, Jongho sprinted up again to get his gadgets. Yeosang had hoped he would stay behind and rest his shoulder, but as it seemed, there was no holding him back. Once he had strapped them all on with Mingi's help and pointed out a few hammering and hacking tools he had stored within their mechanisms and on his belt, they were ready to go.

Led by Yongguk, they returned to the familiar walls. He would take them even deeper into the canyon, and this time, it was hopefully the last they had to go in this direction.