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

“Numbers or pictures?”, D.O. enquires as he retrieves the coin from his pocket for a second time.

“Picutres”, Kai states whilst looking intently at you, “Ready to loose?”

“Bring it”, you glare in response.  The score is 1:0 to Team A, but the tides can still easily turn.  

Everyone watches the coin spin through the air before descending back towards D.O.’s outstretched hand.  He skillfully catches the coin and slaps it onto the back of his left hand before revealing the outcome.

“YES!”, Kai celebrates before turning to his teammates, “What shall we play?”

Looking around you see that Team A’s faces have lost colour.

“What?”, you ask Chen as he drops his head slightly, “Am I missing something?”

“We chose basketball!”, Tao cheerfully affirms.

“That”, Chen states as he pulls you towards the rest of the team, “We have no chance of winning against them at basketball”.

You look at him quizzically, “We don’t?”

“Nope”, Xiumin and Luhan sigh in unison.

“But you two are really good at sports”, you debate, “Plus, we have Sehun and Chanyeol.  Surely their height counts for something?”

Chanyeol swings his arm around your shoulders as you all head to the court: “Yes, but they have Tao, Kris, Kai and Lay.  This is already a lost match”.

“Don’t loose faith guys!”, you encourage, “You never know what might happen!”

                *    *    *

“HYUNG!”, Tao yells at Kris as he passes the ball over Sehun’s head.

Leaping into the air, Kris effortlessly catches the ball before landing chicly back on his feet.  Before anyone can hinder him, he quickly low passes to Lay who is making his way to the basket.

“JAE!”, Xiumin pleas from the far end of the court, “STOP HIM!”

Without saying a word you run towards Lay as quickly as you can, but get blocked by Kris only metres away.  Remembering the few lessons you had at school, you stay light on your feet and shift the weight skilfully from left to right to confuse your opponent.

It works.

In a flash you have s your way past Kris and are now heading straight for Lay as he prepares to shoot.  As you arrive in front of him, you throw yourself in the air in an attempt to obstruct the ball after it leaves his grasp. 

With your feet off the ground there’s nothing to do now but reach.  You extend your body to its fullest and hope for the best.

As the ball flies over your head, you manage to send it off course with your fingertips just before you start your descent back to the ground.

“YOU DID IT!”, Luhan bawls as he arrives at your side, “Where did you learn to play?”

Your breath refuses to return to you.  “Just at school”, you pant, “But we mainly played netball”. 

“This isn’t the time for idle chitchat”, Kai sneers as he runs past you to collect the ball, “You’re still loosing”.

“Only by four points”, you snidely return before winking to Luhan, “You never know what could happen”.

As Kai prepares to throw the ball back into play, Team A gets ready to play offence once again.  Staying light on your feet, you ready yourself for another intense round.  

The ball is passed to Baekhyun who swiftly dribbles it back towards the goal before passing to Lay.  Seeing no opportunity to shoot due to Chanyeol’s defence, he passes the ball to Kai who then immediately throws to Kris.

Their quick movements make it hard for your team to keep up, leaving Kris an opening near the goal.  Seeing no easy way out, you charge towards Kris and hope that your height won’t hinder you much.  

However, Kris sees you coming and decides to return the ball to Kai, making you turn abruptly on your feet.  *I can’t take much more of this*, you wheeze as you join Xiumin in offence under the goal, *I really am more suited for coffee and books*.

As Kai approaches the goal, you head out to meet him.  Standing your ground, you refuse to let him pass.  The rest of Team B start calling to him, but you both take no notice.  As far as you two are concerned, you’re the only ones playing now.

He tries to dodge you to the right, but you easily mirror his movements thanks to the new burst of adrenaline coursing through your veins.  He tries dodging to the left this time, but you remain his shadow.

Looking up you see that Kai is drenched with sweat.  Large droplets of liquid are tracing their way down his chiselled jaw line towards his plum hoodie.  *No sane girl could keep her heart beat steady when confronted with this*, you think as your eyes refuse to leave his, *I must not loose focus*.

Kai notices your wavering focus and sees it as the best opportunity he’s going to get.

Yet your focus does not stray for long.  As he attempts to pass you to the right, his shoulder collides with yours, knocking you backwards and onto the hard ground.

“JAE!”, Chen yells as the back of your head meets the tarmac.

Within seconds of the contact, Kris is at your side.  “Jae, are you okay?”, he asks as worry fills his eyes.

You don’t move.  You aren’t injured, but the shock knocked the wind out of you.

“KAI!  YOU BROKE CHOPSTICK GIRL!”, Chanyeol growls as he appears at your other side.

“Don’t overreact”, you state as you slowly push yourself off the ground with your elbows and ease your body into a seating positing.  “Guys”, you assert whilst placing Maki back on your head and smiling, “I’m fine, really.  It just startled me”.

“You sure?”, Suho enquires as he crouches by your feet.

Baekhyun arrives behind you and places a bottle on your shoulder, “How does your head feel?”

“Honestly guys”, you affirm as you gladly accept the water, “It takes a lot more than that to break me.  Besides, it was my own fault”.

Sounds of relief fill the air.

“As long as you’re sure”, Kris asserts as he holds his hand out to you, “Want to continue playing?”

“Of course”, you declare as you grasp his large, warm hand, “My team still have a chance to win!”

After pulling you to your feet, Kris gently brushes the dirt from your back and makes sure you drink some water before heading back to his own team.

“Team A’s ball”, D.O. states as he throws the ball to you, “Ten minutes left”.

“We can do this!”, you encourage your teammates as they find their places on the court, “Just two more goals and we’re tied!”

You throw the ball as hard as you can towards Xiumin, but within seconds Tao has descended on him, blocking his path to the basket. 

“SEHUN!”, he beckons as he passes the ball through Tao’s legs.

Sehun chases after the ball, retrieving it seconds before it crosses the side line.  Turning quickly on his feet, Sehun dribbles towards the goal and prepares to shoot.  Suho tries to stop him, but their height difference is too great.

“Give it up, ajusshi”, Sehun teases as he effortlessly extends his arms, flicks his wrists and sends the ball flying towards the basket.

Everyone holds their breath.

The ball hits the back of the board but rebounds into the net.

“YES!”, Xiumin cheers whilst high fiving the biased referee, “Just one more basket and it’s tied!”

“And eight minutes till it’s over”, D.O. smiles in return before yelling, “Show Kai who’s boss, Jae!” 

“Man, I’m beat!”, you declare as you collapse onto the floor between Chen and Chanyeol.

“Me too”, Chen agrees as he stretches his arms above his head, “I’m even starting to wish the other team had won both games so we didn’t have to play a decider”.

“Tell me about it”, Chanyeol asserts as he takes off his cap and ruffles his damp hair before repositioning the hat, “What does the winning team even get?”

Chen looks at Chanyeol, obviously contemplating something: “You know what?  I’m not even sure there is a prize”.

“You mean to tell me I look like this for nothing?”, you laugh as you gently wipe under your eyes with your index fingers to make sure no make up has smudged.

“You look fine”, Chen smiles as he nudges you with his shoulder.

“Better than fine”, Chanyeol affirms, “You’re the prettiest one here”.

You look at Chanyeol confused, but then giggle: “That’s actually a compliment considering you twelve are like models”.

The three of you fall back onto the concrete in laughter.  Using Chanyeol’s arm as a pillow, you can’t help but let out a content sigh.  *Being with EXO is so easy*, you smile, *I hope it’s like this for a long time*.

Abruptly Sehun’s voice can be heard from the other side of the court: “Hey, you three!  Stop flirting and join the rest of the group!”

“Araso!”, you return as you slowly stand up and brush the dirt off your back.  Turning around, you hold your hands out to Chen and Chanyeol: “Shall we?”

Each grasping a hand, you use most of your strength to pull them to their feet.  

“Thanks, Jae”, Chen beams as he regains his balance.  

“Any time”, you smile warmly before Chen lets go of your hand and starts heading towards the rest of EXO.  

Suddenly you become aware of the large, warm hand that is still enveloped around yours. 

Looking around, you gaze up at Chanyeol and squeeze his hand lightly: “You okay?”

As if being pulled out of thought, Chanyeol jumps slightly and quickly releases your hand.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, he awkwardly smiles, “Let’s go”.

In silence the two of you make your way to the others.  *I wonder what he was thinking about*, you question as you try to keep up with Chanyeol’s stride, *He looked like he was upset about something…*

“TIME FOR CAKE!”, Tao shouts delightfully, pulling you back to reality.

As you approach the table, you can’t help but gawk at the size of the cream cake that has already been covered in way too many candles.  

“How many are we feeding?”, you tease, “Fifty?”

“Nah”, Sehun laughs, “This is just a tradition we have”.

You look at him confused, “Tradition of what?  Passing out from a sugar overload?”

As you gaze at Sehun, his eyes become menacing and his laugh darkens: “You’ll see”.

Before you get a chance to ask what he is talking about, the rest of the group have starting singing to Suho, and so you have no choice but to join in.  As the song ends, he takes a deep breath and blows out the excess of candles.  Once they are all extinguished, Suho slowly starts to back away from the table before bursting into a sprint.

*What is going on?*, you question with wide eyes as you watch Suho disappear into the distance,*Why is he running away?*

Suddenly a commotion behind you startles you.

“GET HIM!”, Kai and Chanyeol yell in unison as they grab a handful of cake and dash past you.

“FIRST ONE TO GET HIM DOESN’T HAVE TO DO THE LAUNDRY!”, Xiumin asserts as he and Luhan also grab handfuls of cake and make their way towards Suho.

*Seriously!  What is going on?*, you panic as Tao and Sehun charge past you, followed shortly by Lay and D.O.

“This happens every time we have a birthday”, Chen chuckles as he appears beside you with a lump of cake in his hand.

“It’s why we have to buy so much cake”, Baekhyun playfully sighs as he emerges beside Chen, “Ready?”

Holding his chunk of cake towards the sky, Chen declares: “Lets do this!”

Within seconds the two of them have left your side and joined the battlefield.  *Boys will be boys*, you giggle as you watch Suho dodge Lay and nearly run into Tao, *I feel sorry for the cake though*.

“Do you want to join in?”, Kris asks as he holds a handful of cake towards you, “It can get pretty messy though”.

Taking the cake from his hand, you feel a new burst of adrenaline course through your body.

“Oh, I’m so in!”, you assert before running full pelt into the battlefield, leaving Kris in your wake.

As you get closer to the carnage, you notice that Suho is already covered from head to toe in a mix of cake, cream and grass.

“Hey!”, you shout at Chen, “Who got Su –”

Before you finish your sentence, a piece of cake makes contact with your shoulder.

“YA!”, you yell as you spin around to see who the culprit is, “Who did that?”

Instead of spotting just one person, you take in the mass of bodies fighting a war in front of you.

“Help!”, Luhan shrieks as Tao tackles him and pins his arms to the ground with his knees.  With no one willing to go to his rescue, Tao happily smears cake all over Luhan’s face.  “Noooooo!”, he wails as he desperately tries to avoid Tao’s hand by thrashing his legs and moving his head side to side.

Feeling sorry for Luhan who is no match for Tao skills, you find your legs moving towards them.  When you’re within throwing distance, you separate your ammo in half and lob a section at Tao’s body.

“Ahhh!”, he yells as your missile collides with his left temple causing him to dramatically fall off Luhan’s dishevelled body.

Before he gets a chance to notice who threw the cake, you run in the opposite direction.  As you’re running across no mans land, you notice Kai who is taking a couple of seconds to regain his breath.  Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to get pay back for earlier, you pelt the second half of your ammo in his direction.  Your throw falls a little short and the missile explodes on the ground beside him.

“You missed, Jae!”, he smirks as he straightens up and starts running towards you, “But I’ll still get you for this!”

Quickly, you turn around and start running in the opposite direction.  Looking over your shoulder you see that your pace is no match for Kai, who is quickly closing in.  *Oh !*, you panic, *I’m dead!  I’m so dead!*  Darting to the left, you make your way back towards the main battleground, only to come face to face with another enemy.  *What do I do?*, you think as you get closer to Chanyeol, *I’m sandwhiched!*

“Jae!  Duck!”, Chanyeol yells urgently as he lifts his arm up in preperation.  You follow his order without a second thought and crouch down just in time to miss the lump of cake that he had lobbed over your body.

“Arg!”, Kai cries as his footsteps come to an abrupt halt.

Looking behind, you see that Chanyeol’s missile exploded right in the centre of Kai’s face.  Rapidly, you jump back to your feet and make your way to your saviour.

“Nice shot!”, you high five him and smile, “Thanks, Yeollie!”

“Anytime, chopstick girl”, he beams before quickly tracing your left cheekbone with a cream covered finger and running away.

“YA!”, you playfully laugh as you watch him disappearing into the distance towards Sehun.

*This is fun!*, you giggle as you assess the situation.  Kai is still wiping cake off his face, but you decide it’s better to depart from his sight before he recovers.

As you make your way back towards the table, you hear someone calling your name.  Spinning around, you spot Chen and Xiumin hidden by the bushes.

“What are you two doing?”, you query as you crouch down beside them.

“We’re out of ammo, but the table is being guarded”, Xiumin informs as he nods in the direction of the cake.

Looking over, you see that Luhan and D.O. are patrolling the area, making sure that no one else can retrieve more ammo.

“Don’t worry”, you smile, “I’ve got this!”

Chen chuckles slightly, “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Kris”.

You look at him confused, but then realise what you just said.  “Perhaps you’re right”, you dramatically sigh, “I didn’t think cold guy was contagious”.

Leaving the other two behind, you head towards to table as laid back as you can.

“What’s up, guys?”, you beam as you arrive in front of Luhan and D.O..

“Nothing much”, D.O. affirms as he continues to scan the area, “Need more cake?”

“Yup”, you smile before shrugging, “I wasted my last bit on Kai’s foot”.

Luhan lightly laughs, “Alright then, take as much as you want”. 

“Thanks!”, you assert as you innocently make your way to the table.

After retrieving your ammo, you slip past Luhan and D.O. and quickly make your way back to the bushes.

“Here you go”, you smile as you pass two portions of the ammo to Chen and Xiumin.

“I don’t know why I ever doubted you”, Xiumin laughs before straightening up and heading back into the battlefield, “Thanks for the help, Jae”.

Before you can reply, Xiumin has disappeared into the distance and you are left alone with Chen.

“Shall we?”, he asks as he stands up and holds his right hand towards you.

Taking his hand, Chen easily pulls you to your feet before leading you into the battlefield.

Once you are back in the heart of the battle, Chen lets go of your hand and starts heading away from you: “Good luck, Wendy”.

“You too, Peter”, you return without completely registering what you just implied.  *Oh geeze*, you panic, *I hope he didn’t hear that!*

Before you get a chance to see if Chen acknowledged your comment, you turn on your heels and run towards the closest fight.  As you draw nearer, you see that Suho has managed to pin Baekhyun to the floor.  *I should probably help him*, you muse as you carefully approach the scene, *But I feel bad about attacking Suho with even more cake… He’s already completely coated in it*.  

Suddenly Sehun runs past you and throws his body as Suho, causing them to entwine on the floor beside Baekhyun.  Seeing this as his opportunity to escape, Baekhyun quickly jumps to his feet and runs away from the two who are currently wrestling on the ground.

*So manly*, you giggle as you watch his figure disappear into the distance.  Looking around, you see that Sehun has managed to coat Suho in even more cake and is now heading towards you with his final missile poised ready.  *Oh, !*, you panic as you try to evade the area, but you slip on a puddle of cream and collapse on the floor.

“Someone, help!”, you bawl in desperation as Sehun’s body towers over you.  Before he gets a chance to attack, Lay appears from nowhere and pounces on his back.

“I’ll protect you”, he grins as he wraps his legs around Sehun’s waist so that he can use his hands to spread cake over his face, “Run!”

“Thanks, Lay”, you affirm as you quickly regain your footing, but you don’t run.  Instead, you retrieve some ammo from the floor and step towards Sehun.

“This is for earlier”, you darkly chuckle as you ruffle his hair with your cake filled hand.

“How did you know it was me?”, he questions as Lay releases his grasp and slips to the ground before coming to your side.

“You just told me”, you evilly grin before you follow Lay across the battlefield towards another fight.

As you near the mass of bodies that are now fighting D.O. and Luhan for more ammo, a bullet soars past you, barely missing.  Looking to the right, you see that Kai has found you again and is seeking his revenge.  

“!”, you gasp as you try to dodge the second bullet that is heading straight for you.  As it draws nearer you realise that you have no choice but to take the hit.  Quickly, you turn around so that it will only do damage to your back and wait for the collision.

Nothing happens.

Turning around, you see that Kris took the bullet for you, his jumper now covered with cake and Kai nowhere to be seen.

“Kris!”, you breath, “You didn’t have to do that!”

“Yes I did”, he smiles as he takes a step towards you, “I said I’d protect you”.
“That’s true”, you giggle, “But it’s only cake”.

“That may be so”, he purrs as he closes the distance between you even more, “But I’m destined to look after you”.

“So we’re back to being all smooth, are we?”, you laugh as you playfully push his left shoulder with your hand.

Before you can say anything else, Kris has grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards his body.  As you jolt forwards, he wraps his arms around your waist and hugs you tightly.

“YA!”, you yell as you struggle to get free of his grasp, “Now I’m covered in cake too!”