[Sol 41]|

Jisung felt drained. Ever since they'd managed to hook up the satellite to his rover, he'd been sitting in the front seat, getting pushed around by a bunch of nosy scientists.

One of the more interesting messages had told him that Minho had joined as the team's leader, but he didn't hear anything better after that.

It got so bad that Jisung had to tell the scientists to shut it, and that he needed some down time. He was sure that they weren't happy to do that, but what could they do? They couldn't control him.

And besides, it was his birthday.

Maybe.

Jisung was pretty sure that, if he'd been counting the sols correctly, today was the day.

So, today being 'special’, Jisung decided to do whatever he wanted. Which, funnily enough, did not include following the orders of a bunch of stuck up, asshole scientists.

Right now, what he wanted was to lay down. Relax. Maybe look at pictures. Snoop through his friends’ stuff.

His food was still the standard rations, so he couldn't do anything special with that. But he could find stuff that was special to himself.

Jisung's uniform at this point, had just turned into his pajamas. Well, who was going to care if he walked around the HAB in sweatpants and a hoodie? No one.

Besides, it was his birthday.

Jisung took a deep breath, tugging his own box of stuff out from its compartment. He sat down criss cross applesauce on one of the beds, pulling the box into his lap.

This would be the first time he'd gone through his own stuff since they landed, over 40 sols ago.

He reached out, and with shaky hands, pried open the lid.
At first, it didn't look like much.

A few notebooks, scattered papers, and some of his favorite novels. Okay, maybe fifteen of his favorite novels. What could he say? It was a long trip.

There were also his own music discs. A new feeling of elation was beginning to spread from the tips of his fingers and heart. He could listen to his favorite music, not Chan's super depressing kind. Why hadn't he opened his box sooner? Maybe this was the perfect kind of birthday present for himself.

Jisung stuck his hand in the box, pulling out a random disc. He glanced around, spotting Chan's laptop just out of his reach.

With a sigh, Jisung stretched out as far as he could, just barely grasping the edge of the computer before retracting his arm.

Even still, the light-hearted, happy feeling hadn't gone away yet.

He popped the disc in, setting the computer on the side table and pressing play. The familiar tune of The Chainsmokers’ 2016 hit, Closer, shattered the surrounding silence.

Jisung inwardly cringed at his basic white girl choice of music, but he couldn't be mad at himself. It was like nothing could bring him down.

As the song went on, Jisung found himself growing fonder of it. One thing was for sure, it definitely brought him back. Not too many people liked the year of 2016, and, to be honest, neither did Jisung. Sixteen was…. Not his best age, to put it lightly.

Jisung smiled reminiscently, turning back to his tub of stuff. Maybe he would just settle down with his playlist and read a bit.

It's certainly been quite awhile since Jisung could just… relax.

Reaching back into the box, he grabbed out a random book, and shifted the bulky tub off of the bed.

When he looked back at the small, well-worn novel in his hands, Jisung noticed that a certain page was bookmarked.

Huh.
This must've been the book he'd been reading on the way there, more than seven months ago now.

To be honest, Jisung didn't remember any of the book’s material, but he decided that it couldn't hurt to see where he'd left off.

When he opened to that page, a small picture fell out onto the bed beside him.
Frowning, Jisung set down the book, taking the little photo Into his cold hands.

Oh. He remembered finding this picture, on the very bottom of his duffle bag, as he stayed at Chan's place a day before takeoff.

The moment that the photo snapshotted was almost just as memorable.

That day, Chan, Changbin, Felix, himself and Minho had gone out for ice cream.
It'd been the most fun he'd had in a while.

That was also during the time that he'd been trying to distance himself from Minho. So, it was late November to mid December, about a month before they all left for Mars. Winter was obviously the superior time to get ice cream.

Changbin had insisted on carrying around his Polaroid camera the entire time, taking pictures of the tiniest details. One of these had been when Jisung, unable to resist any longer, smeared Minho's nose with ice cream. Changbin managed to perfectly capture the disbelief and rage within Minho's eyes as he realized that the top of his nose was now covered with mint chip.

He also got Jisung in the frame, laughing so hard that his form had come out blurry.

Jisung felt a huge grin take over his facial features, just by looking at the photo. Usually it hurt to be acquainted with anything related to his ex, as it brought back horrible feelings of guilt for what he'd done. But… not this time.

This time it felt as though a small, happy piece of Minho were spending Jisung's birthday with him.
And he couldn't be more joyful than he was within that moment.

When Jisung got back to Earth, he would apologise.

He would beg for forgiveness.

The loss of his dignity would be nothing compared to the loss of Minho in his life.

Jisung smiled.
He had a plan.

His grin dropped, however, when he felt that he should check the rover. Jisung couldn't place his finger on it, but he had a feeling that something important was going to happen.

Again.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Y'all
Hi

how was the chapter?

Kay ily be safe wear your seatbelt bye