Yoo Youngjae stifled a yawn as he dragged his feet all the way up to the dorm, which he shared with the rest of the B.A.P members. The recording with Secret's Sunhwa on their new single had taken longer than he expected, and it was now two in the morning. For the third time, he cursed the faulty elevator under his breath and stepped heavily onto the fifth floor and heaved a deep breath. He had reached his floor.

 

With a renewed spring in his step, he pushed open the door of the fire exit into the hallway.

 

A masked man was standing in front on the elevator, holding an airbag about three feet long. The door slammed shut behind him as he stared in bemused shock at the peculiar human half-crouched next to the broken elevator, oblivious to its non-function. The slam startled him, and he turned wide eyes towards the fire-exit, and in Youngjae's direction. Shock was displayed in his eyes and Youngjae could practically sense his mouth fall open behind the City Hunter mask. He was wrapped up fully in black, from a turtleneck to raven-black skinny jeans.

 

Youngjae stared at him.

 

He stared back.

 

“Who are...”

 

Before he could finish his sentence, a gloved hand clasped over his lips and nose and pulled him backwards into someone's arms. He flailed his arms in surprised response and kicked out vigorously. Something sweet filled his nostrils, and his heart thumped madly as he felt his limbs go limp. His thoughts seemed to wind down into a soft hum and...

 

He remembered no more.

 

*

 

“Where's our yacht?” Kyungsoo inquired as he wheeled the enormous suitcase behind him with difficulty. Both him and Jongin were jogging along a quay, parked with gleaming yachts, owned mainly by fat cats with fast cars. The moonlight grinned down at the water, casting a silvery gleam onto the surface so that it appeared to sparkle. The waves gurgled slightly when they hit the pier and the natural silence was broken by only that and the sound of a clattering suitcase as Jongin directed Kyungsoo to their transport he had booked two days ago.

 

A lone seagull stood at the edge of the pier, watching interestedly from a distance as it watched one of the humans hoist his suitcase up vertically and the other one dump the object onto the deck of a white yacht labeled – SM Prop. The yacht bobbed slightly at the new load as Jongin leapt onto the yacht and hoisted the suitcase to a side.

 

“Did you bring the food?” Kyungsoo asked, climbing aboard cautiously.

 

“Yes, I packed everything into the larder there just now.”

 

“Did you remember to call the other members?”

 

“I called Kris, Junmyeon, B.A.P's manager – everyone. Stop worrying.”

 

Kyungsoo still looked thoughtful as Jongin scampered excitedly like a chipmunk to the front and inserted the keys into the slot by the wheel. Then, he turned cold.

 

“Kai, did you learn how to drive this yacht?”

 

“I'm under-aged,” Jongin replied absently and the engine roared to life.

 

“Do you know how to run it?”

 

Jongin said nothing.

 

*

 

“Kyungsoo, are you alright?” Jongin asked in a slightly compassionate voice as the shorter member retched into the sea. His head was well overboard, and Jongin was holding his legs to keep him from falling off the yacht. The yacht had docked to an old, wooden pier at the South side of an island his Jongin's cousin owned. It was a tiny piece of land off-grid, in the middle of the sea, where his cousin's family often visited for the weekend. There were a couple of home-stay chalets there and a was mainly covered with trees and grass.

 

The perfect natural paradise for a celebration, or so Jongin thought.

 

“Don't talk to me,” Kyungsoo croaked, his voice sore from throwing up, “I could've died. DIED.”

 

“Whatever, are you done? Because we have work to do,” Jongin said and hauled Kyungsoo in. Kyungsoo's face was still green when he gargled a bottle of Listerine and helped Jongin unload stuff from the yacht.

 

The suitcase sat on the deck innocently.

 

*

 

When Youngjae came to, the first thing he saw was a sharp ray of light piercing into his eyes. He shut them hastily as tears filled the rim of his eyes. Then, comprehension dawned onto him very quickly.

 

He had been kidnapped.

 

As though demented, a piercing scream filled the air and he started writhing and kicking like crazy. Voices filled his ears and a hand grabbed at his limbs, but he lashed out at them, struggling and yelling for help.

 

The light left his face and he took the challenge to steal a peek at his kidnappers. His heart almost stopped.

 

A figure was holding a flashlight below his chin, and the light shone up onto his face, which was heavily made-up with blue patterns that made the figure look impeccably like a cannibal. His hair was frizzy brown and the light cast shadows on the edges of his face, making him appear hideous.

 

Then, the figure smiled.

 

Youngjae passed out again.

 

“He went back to sleep?” Jongin inquired, putting down the torchlight incredulously. Kyungsoo slapped his own forehead.

 

“If he dies of a heart attack, it's either the BABYs or our CEO who's gonna kill you,”

 

Kyungsoo managed to revive him a few minutes later with some smelling salts whilst Jongin removed his make-up (the same make-up he used in his MAMA music video). Youngjae took half-an-hour to digest the shorter member's explanation, and by the time Jongin had fully removed his make-up, he had calmed down completely.

 

“SURPRISE, YOUNGJAE!” Jongin cheered, throwing his own arms around Youngjae's shoulders.

 

“Jongin, I don't think he's that surprised any more.”

 

“Happy birthday, Youngjae! Were you surprised? Are you pleased?”

 

“Yeah,” Youngjae smiled kindly, and stared around, “where are we?”

 

“We're on my cousin's island,” Jongin explained and added quickly when he saw Youngjae's thoughtful look, “and don't worry about any schedules tomorrow, I called your manager.”

 

“Oh, that's real thoughtful of you.” Youngjae smiled again.

 

“Oh, yeah!” Kyungsoo smiled evilly and pushed back Youngjae's hair, “close your eyes!”

 

“Why?”

 

“Just close them!” The shorter member insisted.

 

He did, and simultaneously, something wet splashed down onto him like a cascade.

 

“Happy birthday, Youngjae!” Kyungsoo repeated, grinning as Youngjae stared daggers at him, holding the empty bucket in his hands. There was a brightly lit birthday cake sitting three feet away from him on top of its floral box.

 

“Kyungsoo, you were supposed to smash the cake into his face, not pour water onto him.”

 

“He'd be burnt.”

 

“Without the candles, you zot.”

 

“What's a zot?” the dripping Youngjae asked, interested.

 

“No idea, sounds like him somehow.” Jongin replied idly.

 

“What do you mean? This is what Mithra-hyung did at Tablo's party that day, remember?”

 

“Tablo's party,” Jongin repeated, “Tablo's party to celebrate the birth of his first kid, remember?”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Jongin said and whipped out his phone, “the rest of EXO send their wishes,” he said and played a playlist on his phone. Jongin and Kyungsoo sang along as a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' from EXO-K and M played from his phone and Youngjae covered his cheeks in embarrassment as they carried the cake in front of him

 

“Gee,” he sniffed when the sound had ended and he had blown out the candles, “that's really nice.”

 

“Minseok's voice sounded really weird though,” Jongin commented.

 

“At least it was better than Chanyeol's. We had to record the whole thing seven times before his singing didn't sound like rapping any more.”

 

“Or croaking,” the evil dance machine said.

 

“Yah.”

 

“Presents time!” Jongin squealed and there was a sound of scrambling as they scurried to a huge crate at the shore, leaving Youngjae looking surprised as he sat cross-legged on the rug on the sandy beach. He took a minute to take in the cool, breezy surroundigs and took a deep heave of air. It was all so serene, despite the fact that both idiots were bickering as they rushed for their surprises. Then, Kyungsoo leapt over next to him with his green package.

 

“Open mine first!”

 

“No, mine!”

 

“I was here first!”

 

“Who cares? Open mine!”

 

“MINE!”

 

“Yah, you think being tall is everything?”

 

“At least it's better than being three inches tall!”

 

“I AM NOT THREE INCHES TALL, YOU PUNK!”

 

As the heated debate went on, Youngjae had already begun gingerly peeling the green wrappings of one of the presents apart. A tiny colorful box decorated with sparkly stars at the sides rolled onto the rug and Kyungsoo stopped trying to throttle the brown-haired irritation.

 

“Be careful with that,” he grinned at him, as Kai sniffled indignantly behind him, “it's a memory card.”

 

“Eh?”

 

“I had everyone in EXO-K and M download one of their favourite games into that memory card, you can use in it iPhones, iPods and even tablets, it's great,” and Youngjae's eyes lighted up gleefully.

 

“Wow, that's great! Thanks, Kyungsoo,” he said and gave the shorter Korean a happy squeeze.

 

“There's DOOM, EA Need for Speed, Sims City, some real old, but legends.”

 

“Didn't Yixing download a Barbie doll treasure hunt game?” Jongin inquired innocently.

 

“Shut it.”

 

“Well,” Youngjae grinned and picked up Kai's present, which was wrapped in coloured paper and plastered with sparkly stars at the side, “Jongin's turn!”

 

Jongin's expression brightened up as Youngjae unwrapped the gift delicately, three of them sitting cross-legged in a circle on the mat.

 

“Oh, wow, it's a...” Youngjae was lost for words.

 

“Clown,” Kyungsoo muttered, “and a damn ugly one, that's for sure.”

 

“It's an alarm clock,” Jongin explained, ignoring him, “it goes haywire when it goes off. I got it at a fantastic electronics-sale a couple of days ago, see?” he indicated a fat slit on the top of the metal figure's steel hat, “it also acts as a piggy bank. If the alarm goes off for more than three seconds, there's a springy compartment in there that makes the clown throw up some of the shillings and wheel around crazily so that you'd have to catch it to make it clam it. So be sure to keep it on the floor so that it doesn't go AWOL.”

 

“Wow, that's really impressive,” Youngjae marveled, surveying the Killer Clown figure with awe. Jongin swelled with pride and even Kyungsoo smiled.

 

“He spent days window-shopping to get you something you'd like,” Kyungsoo told him and Youngjae gave the dance machine a strangling hug.

 

“Thanks, Jongin.”

 

“No biggie.”

 

Aside from their own, Jongin and Kyungsoo presented Youngjae with gifts from the rest of EXO as well, which included a rubber ducky with 'I ♥ Youngjae' on it, a pair of Monster Beats Headphones limited Edition, a Musiq Soulchild vintage album, a photoframe with B.A.P and EXO's first meeting's group photo in it, a silk belt with metal studs...

 

“Who's this from?” Youngjae inquired, staring at the rubber ducky.

 

“Suho, definitely, Suho,” Jongin said gravely. His grim expression immediately faded when Youngjae suddenly wrapped his arms around both EXO-K members and held them in a suffocatingly tight hug.

 

“They're the best,” Youngjae sniffed into both members' necks.

 

They smiled.