Note from the author: To save confusion, everything said in ENGLISH will be in BOLD font.

Half an hour later, the thirteen of you collapse into a cake covered bundle on the hard ground.

“You do that every birthday?”, you question as you try to catch your breath.

“Yup”, EXO chime in unison as they let out content sighs.

“But sometimes things can get quiet violent”, Luhan teases, “Right, Tao?”

“That only happened one time!”, Tao protests flabbergasted.

Not sure if you want to know what happened, you shuffle to the table on your knees and retrieve the plastic bag full of bottles of water before making your way back to the mass of bodies.

“Who wants a drink?”

Hearing the word ‘drink’, the twelve members quickly sit up and form a distorted circle on the floor.  *They’re just like children at times*, you giggle to yourself as you quickly distribute the bottles.  

Looking around at everyone’s bodies which are covered in a concoction of cake, cream, grass and mud, you can’t help but notice that you took the least damage.  *So chivalrous…*, you sigh as you take a big gulp of water, *But I kind of wish they’d treated me like one of the boys, not the damsel in distress who needed protection*.

“So then”, D.O. asserts as he throws his empty bottle into the middle of the circle, “Who hit Suho first?”

“I did”, the voice next to you proudly states before cheering, “So I don’t have to do the laundry!”

Looking to your left, you can’t help but gawk at the victor.  Out of the twelve members of EXO, you had never expected Chen to be the winner.

“No need to look so surprised, Jae”, Kris chuckles, “Chen is sort of our resident troll”.

You look at him confused, “Resident what?”

“You’ll understand soon”, Baekhyun affirms, “But more importantly, it’s still a tied match!”

Protesting moans emit from most of the group.

“Nooooo”, Sehun wails as he flails his arms in despair, “I’m too worn out!”

Chanyeol dramatically collapses headfirst onto the floor before mumbling: “Can’t we just say it’s a tie?”

“Out of the question!”, Kai abruptly asserts as he jumps to his feet.

“Yeah”, Lay agrees as he makes his way to Kai’s side, “But what shall we play?”

Everyone falls silent as they try to think of the least strenuous game to play.

“How about a relay race?”, Tao queries.

“Too much effort”, Luhan sighs before silence falls again.

Suddenly Xiumin claps his hands together, making everyone jump.  “I know what we should do”, he beams in excitement, “Dance charades!”

“Dance charades?”, D.O. queries with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, like normal charades but with dance moves”, he titters.

Suho lets out a groan, “Sounds delightful…”

“Don’t worry, grandpa Suho”, Xiumin teases as he pushes himself to his knees and waddles towards Suho before throwing his arm round his shoulders reassuringly,  “Chen and Chanyeol are on Jae’s team”.

The mention of your name makes you look up.  *What does he mean by that?*, you question as you watch Suho’s face brighten at the realisation, *They can’t be that bad, right?*

“Okay then”, Suho asserts with a new burst of energy, “How does this game work?”

“Each member gets thirty seconds to dance whilst their team has to guess the dance.  Once the answer is right, they can move onto the next dance.  However, once you’ve danced a group, you can’t use them again during your round”, Xiumin explains.

“Sounds alright to me”, you beam both excited and nervous.  You love dancing, but you’re not sure if you want to dance in front of Sehun or Lay, especially not Kai.

“Let’s do this!”, Sehun bellows as he jumps to his feet exhilarated before joining Lay and Kai in pulling everyone off the floor.                     

                        *    *    *

“LUCIFER!”, Baekhyun yells as soon as Kai starts the dance, “Next one!”

Kai’s team is currently winning by two points, the score now 17:15.  The game had started off lightheartedly, but by the fifth player of each group, things began to get more heated and competitive.  The first twenty minutes of the dance charades had witnessed Chanyeol attempting to dance to Block B’s Very Good, Xiumin sashaying to Hyuna’s Bubble Pop, Suho presenting a mellow and slightly off beat version of Teen Top’s Miss Right, Kris trying to act cool by dancing to 24K’s Hurry Up and Tao swaggering to SNSD’s Genie, along with many other memorable moments that some of the members will never live down.

Nonetheless, by the time it was Lay’s turns, the atmosphere changed.  He managed to score four points by dancing effortlessly to Teen Top’s Rocking, Wonder Boyz Tarzan, SNSD’s I Got A Boy and SHINee’s Everybody.  Following suit, Sehun also scored four points by dancing skilfully to BTOB’s Wow, SHINee’s Replay, VIXX’s Voodoo Doll and Infinite’s Destiny.  But this meant that Team A was still one point behind Team B, with only Kai and you left to dance.

“THRILLER!”, Suho bellows only seconds after Kai begins dancing.

*Make that three points ahead*, you sigh as you watch Kai break into his next dance, *I’m going to have to work hard!*  

“Oh, oh!”, Lay bounces excitedly, “MIROTIC!”

*Four points…*

“10 seconds left”, D.O. announces from the table behind as Kai swiftly changes to his next dance.

“Ooooo!”, Tao whines, “I know this one! Um…”

“Five seconds!”, D.O. yells above Tao’s whimpering, “Four.  Three.  Two”.

“TRAP!”, Kris asserts, “BOO YAH!”

Team B celebrate by having a round of high fives whilst your team turns silent.  *Five points… Five dances in thirty seconds?*, you panic, *How I am supposed to do that? And that’s only to draw! I’ll never manage six songs in thirty seconds! That’s… That’s one song per five seconds!*  Your brain hurts from doing the math, and you feel yourself nearly defeat until Chanyeol’s voice pulls you back to reality.

“You can do it, chopstick girl!”, he beams as he slugs his right arm over your shoulders.

“Yeah”, Luhan affirms as he swings his left arm around your shoulders, “We have faith in you!”

As the rest of your team link together until you are all in a tight circle, you can’t help but smile. 

“Remember”, Xiumin winks playfully, “You’re our secret weapon”.

You giggle slightly, trying to calm the butterflies that are pounding their iron wings into the walls of your stomach: “Thanks, guys.  I’ll try my best!”

“That’s the spirit”, Chen asserts as the circle breaks up, “Fighting!”

You pump your right arm in return and make your way to the front of the group.

“Ready to lose?”, Kai smirks from his spot on the floor.

*Bring it!*

As D.O. signals the start of the final round, you instantly break into the first dance that popped to your head.

“FICTION!”, Luhan cheerfully yells only seconds into the game.

You pause for a second before starting the next dance.

“HYDE!”, Chen asserts eagerly.

*Four more points.  We just need four more points!*

“SECOND CONFESSION!”, Sehun bellows before you break into the next dance.

“HEARTBREAKER!”, Xiumin yelps excitedly

*Two more points!  We only need two more points!  !  My mind’s gone blank!*

You only pause for a couple of seconds, but you worry that your freeze has thrown the game.  

*There’s only one thing to do*, you decide as you break into dance once again, feeling slightly embarrassed by your choice of song.

“I AM THE BEST!”, Chanyeol asserts merely seconds later, “One more song, Jae!”

*What’s a song that the guys will definitely recognise?*, you panic as you feel the end of your thirty seconds approaching quickly, *Oh geeze, I’m going to have to do something y!*

“Five seconds!”, D.O. warns as Team A begin to cheer in encouragement.

*I have no choice*, you inwardly sigh as you start your final dance, *I’m going to regret this…”

“24 HOURS!”, Chen yells simultaneously with D.O. announcing the end of the game.

Team A’s victory causes a mix of cheers and moans to fill the air.  Chanyeol and Luhan begin to dance happily in triumph, whilst Kai and Tao yell at them to stop bragging, apparently very upset about their defeat.

“You did it, Wendy!”, Chen declares as he arrives at your side, throws his arms around your waist and swings you around until your legs flail in front of you, “You really did it!” 

“YEHET!”, Sehun asserts above the noise as he high five’s Xiumin.

Once Chen has gently lowered you back to the ground, the opposing team make their way towards you.

“Well done”, Baekhyun beams, “You’re really something else!”

His comment confuses you slightly, but you giggle and accept it as a compliment anyway: “Thanks”.

“I didn’t know you could dance like that”, Lay asserts before chuckling, “If I had known, I would have tried harder!”

“You still would have lost!”, Sehun teases as he appears at Lay’s side, causing everyone to laugh.

“Hey, Jae!”, a loud voice beckons through the laughter, “Come here for a second”.

Looking around, you see that the voice belongs to Kai.  *Oh no*, you pout as you slowly trudge towards him, *What is he going to say now?*  Staring at the ground, you wait for Kai to throw some kind of sarcastic remark at you, but it never comes.  Instead, Kai lightly knocks the peak of your hat back with his right index finger, causing you to look up in confusion.  

“You were amazing”, he smiles kindly, “You deserved to win”.

His comment shocks you slightly: “Um… Thanks…” 

“You should dance with me from time to time”, he beams wholeheartedly, “It would be awesome!”

His three-sixty in character leaves you dumbfounded.  *What happened to the Kai from before?*, you question as you search his face for clues, *Did that face plant cause more damage than we originally thought?*

“Um… Sure…”

“Great!”, he declares as he swings his arm around your shoulder and leads you back towards the rest of EXO, “I’m sure Taemin would love a new dance partner too”.

*Wait, what?*, you inwardly gasp before clarifying, “Taemin?” 

“Yeah, SHINee’s Taemin”, Kai smiles, apparently missing the meaning behind your words, “We dance together all the time”.

Before you are able to say anything else, the two of you have rejoined the rest of the group who are talking among themselves whilst picking up any rubbish that is still on the ground.  After Kai releases you from his grasp, you pull your phone out of your pocket.  *It’s already half past eleven*, you sigh as you shove your back, *I guess I should be heading home*.

As if reading your mind, Kris appears beside you. 

“I’ll walk you home”, he asserts as he slyly places his arm around your waist and pulls you closer, “It’s not safe for a gorgeous girl to be walking home alone at this time of night”.

“You’re right!  I’ll have all the men swooning over me”, you chuckle, “They won’t be able to resist the mix of cake, grass and sweat”.

“She has a point”, Baekhyun chortles from close by, “Perhaps we should all walk her home to ward off the hordes of men”. 

“I agree”, Chanyeol agrees he bounces to your free side, “She’ll need as many knights in shining armour as possible”.

“Too true!”, you giggle as you happily link arms with Chanyeol and use your free arm to point forwards, “Now take me home, chivalrous knights!”