Bonfire Parties

Bonfire Parties were a popular pastime of the youngest generation of Idin Yashelin in the village of Shushani Pithin. It is exactly as its name implies: a night where friends got together, lit a giant fire, and hung out.
Most bonfire parties were held on nearby beaches, where the youths could build a rapport with each other away from the prying eyes of their elders. As such, older Yashelin were often left out of the equation, but not always. As the youngest generation grew older, so too did their social circle. Eventually, just about everyone had attended a bonfire party at least once.
Bonfire parties typically coincided with a generous amount of drinking, gaming, and gossiping.
After Heyir's disappearance and the subsequent dimming of the moon, bonfire parties ceased almost over night. The tradition is not entirely gone. Groups of friends will occasionally still wander out at night to have fun at various beaches. The more secluded the beach, the better. They are not as riotous or as inclusive as they once were. Even the flames are hardly worthy of the term bonfire, these days.
There has been a recent push to revive the tradition. Only time will tell if they succeed, or if beachside bonfire parties are yet another thing of the past.

Prose

In Which Bee Scandalously Invites a Serayin to a Bonfire

Ten minutes before their shifts are due to end, Rafa passes Bee in the entryway. He barely notices Rafa sitting on the edge of the table while he transcribes the notes from the day shift into the system.
Rafa spins a key chain idly on zir finger. Ze wedges zirself further onto the table. Bee huffs, scoots a pile of paper out of zir way, and raises his eyebrows at zir impatiently.
“What are you up to after work? I owe you a drink.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Oh… what, why?” Rafa asks, stung.
Opa flinches and redirects their attention elsewhere.
Bee scowls. “You don’t owe me anything for doing my job, Rafa.”
"Sorry," Rafa mumbles awkwardly, lifting zirself off the table. Ze wanders off to finish end of day shift operations without another word.
Opa tattles, and Petal has a private word with Bee.
Upon leaving, Bee exits right behind Rafa. He puts a hand on zir arm to slow zir down.
“I’m going to the beach,” he says with an expectant look.
“Have fun?” Rafa offers, stepping away from Bee’s hand. Ze’s not over the rejection.
“D’ya wanna join?” Bee grins, shy yet eyes full of youthful glee. “Fatimi, Opa, Mayahi, and I are gonna do a bonfire and get stupid drunk.”
Rafa hates beaches. Ze hates bonfires. Ze doesn’t get ‘stupid drunk.’ Ze doesn’t even like Opa that much. Ze barely knows who the others are, except that they’re youths from Shushani Pithin.
It's a rotten commute from Caso Rovash to Heshi Ariko, let alone Shushani Pithin!
“Sounds fun! Sure,” ze agrees without a moment’s hesitation. "Lead the way."
A few hours later, Opa looks up from the firelight. "Bee, you're late! C'mo--oh holy shit."
"Uh. Hi," Rafa greets. "Can I join?"
Fatimi ignores Rafa and the stutteringly obliging Opa to ask, "Bee, why in the flying fuck is a Serayin with you?"

In Which Bee and Rafa Enjoy One of Many Bonfires

In the privacy of the bonfire light and a rare quiet moment of being forgotten about, Rafa takes out zir vimpad:

Raf
Bee kissed me?!
Seri
Awwwww Rafie’s first kiss!
Raf
Hey! I’ve kissed other people before!
Seri
Yes, your wanuye’s temple…
Cora, simultaneously
Who else have you kissed besides Petal?
Gafir
OH!
Raf
That was a mistake, clearly.
Ezeki
Is my kabi really all grown up now? Bee kissed you, huh? Did you kiss Bee back?
Raf
… No, but to be fair!!! I immediately dropped him into the ocean.
Gaf
Smooth. The start of a true romance.
Raf
I hate you all.
Seri
Rafa, you're the one who texted us, not the other way around.
Rafa
Don't know what I expected.
Gafir
Kiss him again! Kiss him again!

Bee appears suddenly behind zir with his chin on zir shoulder. “Whatcha doin’?”
Rafa yelps and puts zir vimpad away in a rush, “Nothing!”
“Too late!”
“What?! No!” Rafa squeaks, going red.
Bee laughs and daringly leans further to tap Rafa’s temple with his forehead.
He leaves it there, asking a silent, intimate question.
The warmth on Rafa’s face isn’t only Bee’s breath on zir cheek or the heat of the fire.
Bee's lips brush zir cheek.
Ze’s just about to say something stupid before Bee pulls away and jokes, “Whatever. I’m not into decrepit old people, anyway.”
“I’m not old, I’m—” Rafa stops zirself. Oh no. Fuck. Bee’s grin widens in the silence. Yashelin #5000's ears are ready, eager for Yashelin #5 to embarrass zirself. Waspish, Rafa leans entirely into the other direction, “You know what, no. Youths have no respect these days."
Bee laughs so hard that Rafa can’t help but join in.
Bee continues on, but zir laughter cuts off a little short when ze looks over to meet Fatimi’s piercing stare. They appear to be the only one who saw Bee’s display.
They sign, "Cute," yet their face is nothing approximating friendly.
Rafa looks down anxiously, then throws a clump of sand at the back of Opa’s head just to start a distracting fight. No one believes it was Rafa who threw first sand and Fatim pretends they didn’t see it.
Everyone zeros in Bee.
By the end, everyone is covered in sand.
After the gang puts out the fire, they sing together all the way back to town, cheerful and bright and utterly tuneless. When they split ways that night, later and drunker than they should, Rafa lets zirself believe that the soft hug Bee gives all of his friends is special, when his soft pink eyes look up and dart away shyly on eye contact.
Ze lets the unfamiliarly light, mushy feeling carry zir to sleep that night.