Since they could allow themselves some leisure once the fuel station was secured, San made do on his promise to talk to Yunho. Wooyoung watched them for a while as they idled outside, checking on the jeep and carrying in some blankets to sleep. Their lips kept moving, but they never got so loud that Wooyoung could make out the words. He was thankful, seeing them like this. Both of them were important to him; Yunho since he had always been and San just recently, but he liked seeing them get along. Occasionally, San got dwarfed depending on the angle of his shoulders when he stood next to Yunho, and Wooyoung stifled a snicker about it.

Every day, he was happier with his life. Things never turned out as planned, but that was fine. Even if Mission Bluebird failed, Wooyoung treasured the memories and the friends he made here, the difficult ones and the happy ones. Seonghwa was the voice that could change the world. If not literally, then by giving them the hope that kept them living.

Once satisfied with their hoard of food, Mingi called the others to assemble. Since the space between the shelves was narrow, they made a fire outside in what Seonghwa called the parking lot. Wooyoung suggested staying near the entrance of the fuel station, but Seonghwa refused.

"I can't even begin to tell you how bad of an idea a fire is over there," was all he said, mysterious as ever, so Wooyoung just accepted his quirks.

Everyone picked some conservatives and some snacks. Today, they drank sodas, and the others eyed the brown bottles as suspiciously as Wooyoung did.

"Seonghwa said they make you feel funny," he commented. "There is something in there that makes your minds dizzy and blood weird, but it isn't dangerous if we don't drink too much."

Mingi grabbed one and hit it open with the back of his knife. He smelled it and grimaced.

"Let me guess," he addressed the laptop. "Same reason not to smoke?"

"You got it," Seonghwa replied and ended with a sigh when Mingi tilted his head back to drink in big gulps.

"I know similar stuff, but not this. Is it strong?" San asked as he also took a bottle. He offered one to Yeosang, but he reluctantly shook his head. He found a package of cheese crackers he liked and touched nothing else.

Although he was a laptop, Seonghwa paid them the same company as a human.

"It's called beer and no, not super strong. But go easy since you want to drive tomorrow. You might see double."

"Exciting," San whistled as he tried it. Without needing to meet Wooyoung's curious eyes, he handed the bottle over while the taste settled in his mouth. The beer stunk, but Wooyoung still took a few sips. Nothing as nice as clear water, but also not as awful as some sodas he tried.

By their side, Jongho took off the last bandage he wore over his injury. He cheered when it was fully covered by a rosy scar. Finally, their mechanic could spring around as he desired.

Yeosang peered over.

"Coyote?" He guessed and Jongho nodded grimly.

"Wooyoung and San saved me from the beast. It has been feeling fine for a while, but Seonghwa told me to keep it covered until it shut."

Yeosang nodded while Wooyoung muttered Jongho got himself into that situation.

"Better than getting sand in. Our Seonghwa is really so wise," he muttered in awe. The concept of the laptop confused him as much as it did to Wooyoung in the beginning, but one day, he could also shrug it off. Seonghwa was just weirdly shaped, but he talked like a person. If an oddly knowledgeable and old person.

"Please, I'm just trying my best to keep everyone alive without the aid of hands."

Wooyoung felt light when he giggled. He took another sip of the beer, liking its rugged taste and the warmth it spread in his belly. As Seonghwa said, it wasn't so strong that he lost his mind, but he let go of his constant edge. Those not drinking kept an eye out for him.

"Come here," Mingi uttered at Jongho when the mechanic awkwardly massaged his leg. Under Mingi's guidance, he placed it across the trader's lap and he worked his fingers into the muscle tense from staying in the same position all the time. Satisfied, Jongho sighed and held onto Mingi's shoulder.

"You like these?" San suddenly asked, pulling Wooyoung from his pondering. His mood was light when he turned and found San holding up a pack of gummy worms.

Yunho, happy with his nuts and raisins snack, chortled.

"He hates them."

The first time Wooyoung tried those - and even though they were encased in food-like packaging - he almost threw up. The texture was so foreign to him, so wrong. He was sure it was some sort of appliance instead of food and it burnt and stabbed at his mouth.

When San popped one into his mouth with a grin, Wooyoung made a face. Reluctant to show off his marks, San had parted his bandages around his lips and sat with his right half turned away into the darkness of the forest. Still, Wooyoung could hear the satisfaction in his sticky chewing noises.

"They are food," Seonghwa assured them. "Back in the day, humans liked to play games with their foods or give them goofy shapes. If I search my database, the first thing I come up with is a game of chocolate sticks, in which two people bite at the same stick from two ends and try to get as close as possible without kissing."

Jongho clasped his hand over his mouth.

"I never kissed anyone," he choked out, scandalized by regarding it as something so casual as for a game.

"You don't have to," Mingi muttered at him. He skimmed their food pile, but they found no such sticks.

"They were having fun," Yunho chuckled. He reached out his hand for a gummy worm and San offered the bag without hesitation. When Yunho grinned in gratitude, Wooyoung's heart did a happy little dance.

Yes, he liked this. Being with a community didn't have to mean betrayal. It could mean sitting around a dancing fire with their snacks and their weapons and bickering about the marvels of life. Seonghwa was a fun teacher, but Wooyoung was sure that even without him, he found some people worthwhile.

"A kissing game... We don't need sticks to try it out, though. You down?" San suddenly challenged and Wooyoung turned his head to find him staring right back at him. He tucked a gummy worm between his teeth and though Wooyoung loathed those things, he wanted to surge right in and see how close he could get without touching San's lips.

With rapt attention, the group awaited Wooyoung's answer. Everyone was curious how it worked, to play like the old ones did without a care in the world.

A pioneer of science, Wooyoung would never back down from a challenge. He scooted closer to San and packed his jaw so his fungi would face away from the group. In the slit of San's bandages, his dimple was barely visible, and it looked adorable, even covered by the marks on his skin.

"You better eat most of it," Wooyoung threatened as he scooped in to catch the dangling worm from San's chin. Still, the squishy texture bothered his gums, but he wasn't as repelled this time. San's face was so close and his eye was lidded on Wooyoung's features. The alcohol in Wooyoung's veins made him bashful yet cocky, bringing out the brazen side in him that wanted to see if San would back down first.

"Don't chicken out," San muttered as he came closer, scooping the gummy worm into his mouth with the flick of his tongue. Wooyoung gulped, holding still as San demanded their pace. His hands clutched to San's shoulders, unafraid to touch him. Only now, he realized the tension of this game. The potential if paired with alcohol and the chaos if played with someone one was unfamiliar with.

San was familiar to him but he still made Wooyoung's heart hammer in his chest. He wanted to pinch his eyes shut, but that meant losing in his chaotic logic, so he kept them stubbornly open. San's dark lashes fanned over his eye and when he tilted his head to get impossibly closer past their noses and the soft tufts of hair covering his right eye danced aside to expose it in the privacy of their closeness.

Wooyoung had never seen his second eye before, or at least not that close. Now that it was right before him, he noticed its unnatural color. The iris was a deep red as the fungus drew up even there and splotched the corners of the white with greens and oranges. It was strangely beautiful, scary yet utterly normal on San.

He always hid it, so he must have known that his hair would expose him if he tilted that way. His trust in Wooyoung not to recoil warmed Wooyoung's stomach. Perhaps the beer made him bold, because he leaned in, gathering the last bit of gummy worm San was coquetting with, and pecked him on the lips. It was sweet, no more but a brief gesture of gratitude, but San's eyes widened.

Wooyoung pulled back, grimacing around the worm.

"Disgusting."

"You lost!" Mingi guffawed, breaking the tension around the group. All of them had watched, entranced, as the two neared each other and a blush crept into Wooyoung's cheek when he noticed. Worried, he glanced at Yunho, but he just winked back at Wooyoung, praising his boldness.

San had averted his face, but Wooyoung could tell he didn't hate it.

"No, no, they have to stop right before, correct?" Jongho interviewed Seonghwa to make sure. He sat comfortably with his legs in Mingi's lap as the trader drank to their game.

"Yes," Seonghwa agreed.

"I can do better. Yeosang, want to play?" Yunho asked, not drunk but giddy about the game. When Yeosang flushed scarlet into his ears, Wooyoung booed at his best friend.

"Making use of the new guy!"

"But he blushes so sweetly!"

The others squabbled along to throw in their opinions, but naturally, a game between those two wasn't as loaded with tension as between Wooyoung and San. Still, they watched, good-naturedly, as Yunho proved himself the winner. He stopped right before Yeosang's lips and their poor new friend squirmed and wound himself as Yunho let a long second pass. When he finally dug in his teeth to bite off the gummy worm, Yeosang slumped away in relief. He lay on the ground, trembling, and Wooyoung got him more of his crackers since he knew the feeling all too well. Yunho was a force to reckon with.

They drank some more and giggled about Seonghwa's tales of the old world, but they called it an early evening. The alcohol made it easy to get drowsy, and they looked forward to sprawl out. Thus, after extinguishing the fire, they retreated into the shelter.

As Seonghwa had promised, four simple cots took up the hind room. Since this station was far out, it offered an emergency resting space for lost travelers or those who couldn't make it home from their working place.

Mingi claimed a bunk and was out like a light since he could properly stretch his legs after so much time in the car. On the other hand, Jongho and Yeosang flattened the seats inside the jeep, creating more than enough space to sleep there. Seonghwa went with them, safely locked inside.

Thankful for the cots, Yunho, Wooyoung and San built their nests in the bunks. Mingi was at the bottom, so Yunho shared with him after throwing a blanket over his sprawled body. He took the rest of the gummy worms with him as a late-night snack.

Wooyoung got the top bunk since he felt it was cooler than the bottom, and San complied without arguing. They clicked out their flashlights and got comfortable. Wooyoung's nerves were at ease, not strained by fear and further mollified by the alcohol. He settled into his cot with his gun by his side, ready to catch some deep sleep.

He was just about to drift off when the ladder by his side trembled. Surprised, he glanced up, fingers tight around the gun but not aiming, since the door didn't open. A moment later, a dark head of hair wrapped in gritty bandages popped up.

"Want to take a stroll?" San whispered so he wouldn't disturb the other two. Wooyoung definitely preferred to sleep, but the urgency in San's voice had him reconsider. When he nodded, San jumped back down and slipped into his open shoes. He waited by the door and held it open when Wooyoung followed him into the dark fuel station, leaving his rifle to take his handgun along for whatever whim San was up to.