campfires ₰ l.gn ✓

not

"g-geonu." with the breathy stutter of his name, she breaks out into an incredibly loud chuckle. "he lost a bet to beomgyu, and now he has to let the vocal minis paint all over his face. it's hilarious. i saw the whole thing go down-"

"oh my god, tomi. you really scared me there." melody lets out a sigh of relief at hearing that he was okay.

hitomi hands her the paper towels and busies herself with one of the camper's mosaic, excitedly listening to the child's backstory of how he fell off the tire swing in his backyard.

as melody discusses with nina which shade of green to use for the grass, the receiver of her radio crackles in her pocket and she pulls it out to listen.

beomgyu's voice is transmitted through the speaker and he says, "melody, i'm sending geonu and a few of the minis over to the art room. it should be fine, right? is class almost over?"

she presses the button on her radio, like you would on an intercom, and speaks clearly as she nods to nina in approval. "yeah, that should be fine. what bet did he lose?"

beomgyu's cheeky giggle comes through the speaker again as he says, "oh, i'll have him tell you the whole story. the head counselor should wallow in the sorrow caused by my victory. oh boy, he's gonna look like such an idiot after this, i can't wait."

her words come out into the radio, before melody even processes what she's saying. "i'm sure that even with paint smeared on his face, he'll look just as cute as always." nina and niki burst out laughing at her blurted honesty and daniel and dahyun confusedly look at them from across the room.

geonu's response comes in almost immediately. "r-really? thanks, mel." melody's eyes go wide.

"dude, gross." that's definitely olivia's voice and it snaps melody out of her daze.

"you know we can hear you guys, right?" youngbin teases through the speaker. "real subtle flirting there."

"leave them alone, i ship it." jeongin says, support displayed through the lively tone of his voice.

melody rolls her eyes and chooses not to respond, making eye contact with a hitomi (who is also sporting a knowing smile), before rolling her eyes again.

a few minutes later, the door swings wide open again, revealing the head counselor and a few of the little campers. as they walk into the room, the minis (younger campers) hold on tightly to his hands and pant legs, in nervousness around the older kids.

"okay guys! that's all for today, head to lunch!" the arts director claps animatedly, her short caramel-colored hair bouncing at her shoulders. she hasn't even finished her sentence, but the campers have already sprinted out the door and to the dining hall.

"face paint's in the brown cabinet, 2nd shelf. knock yourself out." hitomi directs to geonu, giggling at his irritated expression. "this is gonna be hysterical."

only now does melody get the chance to look at the head counselor, the front of his hair tied cutely into a small little ponytail to keep it out of his eyes. others may find the hairstyle silly or weird, but she can't help to think it's adorable, even charming.

as hitomi and and melody clean up the arts room and place the tiles in the sunlight for them to dry faster, they also get to see the minis absolutely terrorize the poor boy's face with a multitude of different hues of paint sprawled across their grubby fingers and eventually their hands too.

"come on, let's get you all cleaned up and to lunch." hitomi coos at the young ones, guiding them out of the art room after they've finished their masterpiece.

as melody wipes down the final table, geonu looks at himself in the reflection on the window before turning to the remaining counselor, "...so, how great do i look?"

if she's being honest, he looks like a hot mess, but it's his fault for losing the tree climbing bet to beomgyu. she really does not know what goes on in that music class. but instead of saying that, she opts for the more sarcastic answer, "absolutely stunning."

geonu walks dangerously closer to the girl, eyes lit up mischievously. while she's looking away, he dips his finger in the open cup of purple face paint, hiding his behind his back as he stands right in front of her. "then i should help you look as great too!" he moves his hand quickly, swiping the finger covered in purple paint across her face childishly, watching her eyes cross as she tries to follow his action.

he knows he only has a few seconds before she realizes what he's done and threatens to murder him, so he runs out of the art room on his way to display his face to the entire camp as his punishment. before he leaves, though, he doesn't hesitate to call out, "by the way, you always look cute too!"

melody knows that she can't even be mad at his prankish humor, because he always makes her smile afterward.