Jin had thought of everything, it seemed. Aside from the obvious food (and supplies to eat it with), he’d brought along jujube. Had he known Ahn-Bo’s muscles ached and brought it specifically for that purpose? Or had he simply packed them because they were one of Jin’s favorites? Likely the former. Jin was an overthinker—which also meant he was rather skilled at overplanning. He would have come up with every possible scenario and tucked whatever supplies were needed in his magical bag of everything.

It was nice to see his friend smile for real this time (at his expense, but that was fine.) It wasn’t as if he had much dignity left. The teasing brought back a semblance of what they’d had before, though it was bittersweet. There would be no going back to before. No matter how much Jin tried to make it so, cheek poke and all.

The mention of fish had him frowning. If only his friend knew just how much fish he’d been consuming the last few weeks. It was surprising he couldn’t smell the stink of it. (Unless he had, and just hadn’t said anything about it.) The cup was pressed into his hand then—the honey cake gone within seconds. Over the rim of the teacup, he met the vampire’s gaze, golden as it reflected the firelight. ”I missed you.” It was quiet, nearly a whisper, but sincere.