Junho fought like a caged demon, trying to get to the surface. Something had pushed him under right when he had come up for air, forcing him back down into the big blue without much air. It had made him panic, the fear constricting his lungs, making him feel like he was suffocating. And so he fought the water, punching it, kicking it fiercely, like it was a matter of life or death. It felt like a lifetime of fighting, the water just kept coming back for more, his body completely drained, yet he didn't get pushed that far down and whatever pushed him had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. A water ninja.

The moment he finally resurfaced, he heard a loud breathy wail. It took him a while before he realized that he was making the sound himself, trying to catch his breath, perhaps in an overly dramatic manner. His lungs seared as the fresh air hit the oxygen deprived tissue, but the feeling of relief was stronger. Air. He was alive. He was cultivating a growing dislike for the ocean, maybe water in general.

Then he saw it. The back of someone's head bobbing up and down in the not so far distance, heading for shore. Oh, he knew who that someone was. It had only taken half a glance to realize what was going on. Relief was replaced with fury. What was everyone's deal today? Why had he been made the resident target practice dummy? Did he have a huge red dot painted on his forehead? Well, to be fair, when it came to Taec, everyone had a target on their back. He was seething, his fuel tank being refilled with the longing for revenge, giving him the energy to chase after that most annoying of pranksters.

“Okay! I think we should call it a day, guys. We've got most of what we wanted, more than I even dared to hope. You've all been heroes today. Own it. Wear it. Bathe in it. Until your fingers get all pruney.” Yunho chuckled at his own joke before continuing.

“It's good to focus on the daily victories at a time like this. And seeing how we pulled together today, it makes me think we're totally going to make it. We can do this. Teamwork is the key! Good work guys!” Yunho made an attempt at an inspirational speech as Junho dragged his exhausted body out of the water. He wasn't very inspired, but that may not have been the speech's fault.

He gave a retreating Taec the death stare, trying to communicate how much he was going to get him back for this. Taecyeon ran behind Wooyoung, using him as a shield even though he barely covered half of him since Taec was almost twice his size. That big coward.

“So, without further ado, I'll leave the rest up to our fine judges here, so they can determine a winner before we put all this stuff away.” Yunho declared a little too formally, joining the rest of them in the excited huddle in front of the sand squares that were now filled with all kinds of trinkets, junk and debris. All but one.

“Hey, what's up with the one marked Woo. Woo didn't go in!” Nichkhun objected the moment he joined the huddle. Junho looked around and saw Chansung sitting to the side, with a view over the proceedings. He waved at him enthusiastically with an idiotic grin plastered on his face. Junho snorted. Even though he was irritated to the point of feeling like he was going to explode, he waved back with a small smile. It wasn't Chansung he was frustrated at anyway.

“No, he did. I saw it.” Minjun swore with a straight face, acting like an innocent choir boy coming to his friend's rescue as he was wrongly accused of something there was no way he could have been involved with. He said it like he believed it, his big panda eyes convincing everyone it was unjust to point fingers at Wooyoung, but the end of his mouth was quivering, threatening to pull his lips into a naughty smile.

“Then why isn't he wet?” Nichkhun playfully raised his eyebrow, not letting this slide, more for fun than anything else. And he wanted to win. There was that as well.

“Duhh, it was a while ago so I'm all dry now.” Wooyoung giggled, twirling theatrically to show how dry his clothes were. There was a sassy undertone to his giggles. He wasn't hating on being the center of attention and the game's mastermind, all at the same time.

“Yeaaah, your clothes must be made out of miracle fabric, since you must've gone in after I made my last run, and I'm still soaked.” Nichkhun wrung out the front of his shirt with a 'gotcha'-smirk to show how wet it still was, sprinkling water over his sand covered feet.

Wooyoung just shrugged and diverted his attention towards Taec, waiting until he caught his eye to send him a special little wink. After witnessing this blatant admittance of guilt, Wooyoung practically begging Taec for some kind of acknowledgement, Junho's eyes found Taec's square. No way! It was the fullest one of them all, the pile barely holding its balance, threatening to spew its collection of stuff in all directions. And.. and on the very top, the bag of peanuts!!

Junho couldn't take this a second longer. They weren't even trying to be subtle about cheating. And most of the stuff in Taec's square had come from his stash, his hard earned loot. He had the sore muscles to show for it, but almost everything else had been taken away. He was not going to take this silently. He stormed in Yunho's direction, pulling him aside.

“They are cheating, you can see they're cheating, right?” Junho said out of breath. He wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion or the emotional tornado he was conjuring up in his chest, but his breathing was labored. “This ! I've been busting my all day, when I didn't even want to and I wasn't even the one you picked to go out there in the first place, it was Minjun! That.. grr.. aishh.. Anyway, I just want it to be fair, I want my stuff back in my square!” he complained, gnashing his teeth.

“Hmm, yeah, you're right. It does seem a bit off. I'll have a little chat with the guys.” Yunho promised, Wooyoung jumping up behind him right when he turned around. Had he been listening in, that little weasel?

“Yunho! I just realized that there was a mistake in the final tally, I'll rectify it at once!” Wooyoung declared enthusiastically, dragging Yunho along towards the squares. Junho followed. He hadn't expected Woo to cave in so easily, it was almost too easy.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it's a TIE!” Wooyoung shouted dramatically as he waved his hands. He then not so stealthily moved the little stuff that was left in Junho's square into Yunho's. Junho felt like he had just been slapped in the face. He knew it had been too easy.

“Taec, Yunho, congratulations! Come claim your prizes!” Woo added, waving them over. Junho sent Yunho a glare when he had the audacity to actually step forward as one of the winners. Yunho just shrugged like it was out of his hands, “Sorry dude, it's their game, it's not like I have any real authority here.”. Yunho's courteous frown instantly turned upside down when he looked back at Wooyoung, “Sooo, what's the prize?”.

“Uhm..” Wooyoung glanced at Minjun for help. “A pick of one of the useless things?” Minjun offered. Yunho clearly liked that suggestion for it didn't take him but a second to start rummaging through the piles for that special something that would catch his eye. Taecyeon wasn't as thorough, picking up a drenched, slightly torn teddy bear. Probably something they sold onboard the plane, unless someone here had brought it. Junho snorted at the idea.

Junho was so infuriated that he couldn't take it any longer. He rushed passed Minjun, kicking a small rock so that sand would splash into his direction. He wanted him to know he was upset. It was all his fault.

He kept going, but he had no particular destination in mind, so after a while he just planted himself down in the sand, starting to doodle scenarios that ended not so happily for the piggy bank and the little chick. “Muah-ha-ha, take that!” Junho spat at the sand figures. It was more gratifying than he would have expected.

“Are you saying I'm fat?” a voice whispered into his ear as a couple of warm arms wound themselves around him, sequestering him like an octopus would its prey. Junho closed his eyes for a split second, melting into the backhug like a marshmallow over a fire. Minjun was simply too hot for him to handle. He could feel Minjun's breath on his neck as he rested his head on his shoulder. The anger he had felt was nowhere to be found, it had simply vaporized into thin air without even saying goodbye or making any kind of a ruckus. It frustrated him how Minjun could just wipe the slate clean by merely looking his way. It was an automatic reaction, he couldn't control it in the least. He was pretty sure Minjun knew how he felt, or the gist of it, but he had never told him. He had been very careful not to breathe a word of it to anyone. It was his best kept secret.

“Yeah.” Junho answered stubbornly, trying to gather up enough animosity to make him think he was angry at him. He wasn't doing a very good job of it though.

“That's not very nice.” Minjun said softly as he pinched his cheek, it was obvious he knew he didn't mean it.

“Well, you haven't been very nice today either, have you?” he pointed out, there was a clear edge to his voice.

Minjun sighed and pulled him in even closer, positioning his lips right outside his ear to be sure he didn't miss a thing. “Look.. it wasn't personal, not even in the least.. you were just the easiest target.” he squeezed Junho for emphasis.

“I didn't have a square and it was Woo's game in the first place, and Woo wanted Taec to win, you know how he is. And it's not like we could make Yunho lose or even steal that much from him. G-Dragon seems like the logical choice, since he wasn't even there, but he's such a stickler, if he would've gotten wind of us stealing his stuff, well.. “ he paused, probably imagining all the horrible things G-Dragon would do to him.

“But I brought you a peace offering.” Minjun said hopefully. Junho could hear it in his voice that he was smiling. He didn't want to leave his arms, but he was too curious not to. He broke free and faced Minjun, forming a present receiving platform with his palms. He tried to contain his excitement but his mind was already off to the land of precious giftables. What would it be? A diamond ring perhaps? No, there was no way that was on the plane. But there must have been some kind of jewelry for sale. A necklace, maybe? Or something that reminded Minjun of him, he giggled to himself, trying to imagine what kind of things that could be.

“Close your eyes.” Minjun instructed. He closed them tight, his whole body vibrating from anticipation. He felt something drop into his palms, but he couldn't feel what it was.

“Ta-DAng!” Minjun exclaimed. His eyes sprung up, the grin on Minjun's face was priceless. He looked down at his hands. It was a bag of peanuts. The same bag of peanuts he had stolen from Taec. Huh. He wasn't sure what to think. It wasn't really his dream present, if he was to be absolutely honest.

“See, I got you your nuts back.” Minjun cracked up, laughing at full volume. “Can't have you walking around with no nuts.” he added between laugher outbursts, a single tear sprouting from the edge of his eye from laughing too hard. Great. It was a practical joke.

“Oh, come on sourpuss, it was funny!” he strategically poked Junho in all the most ticklish places, though it didn't really matter where he poked him, his touch would always release a swarm of butterflies into his gut. But those butterflies were indigenous to his gut and his gut alone, never migrating into Minjun's. His butterflies were of another kind.

Minjun's beautiful laughing face made his heart sink into a bottomless abyss. He wanted that laughing face for himself, he wanted to be the reason for the vibrant glint in his eyes. He knew Minjun cared about him, that was never the problem. He just didn't care the way he wanted him to care.

“They totally cheated.” Chansung chuckled. It brought a smile to Nichkhun's face. Chansung had such a sincere way of chuckling that you couldn't but laugh with him. It was so infectious that nobody within a few mile radius was safe.

Nichkhun nodded, Chansung's hair absentmindedly. Everything in him calmed and he couldn't remember how he got so angry before. It really wasn't like him. He should apologize to Yunho. Even though he didn't deserve it, he was going to apologize. He was not going to stoop to his level.

As if he had summoned him, Yunho stopped right in front of them as he was carrying the last of the loot from the beach. He was trying to swallow his stubbornness and apologize, when Yunho beat him to the punch. “Do we have a problem?” he asked in an impartial tone. Nichkhun couldn't figure out if he was just making sure they were good or if this was some form of a passive aggressive attack. The smile that visited Yunho's lips as he glanced at Chansung made him not care. It made him remember how reckless he had been with Chansung's safety, his life!

He took a deep breath. He was not going to give Yunho the satisfaction of getting him all worked up again. He had another strategy in mind. He was going to do the exact opposite. He was going to give him no attention at all. If there was something all idols shared, it was their love for attention. So no attention was way worse than being yelled at. Take that, Mr. Self-Proclaimed King of the Island!

“No, no problem.” he answered dryly, not meeting his eyes.