The doorbell rang throughout the still and very silent house. As a matter of fact, it rang loudly enough for Kai to stir in his sleep, grumbling incoherent phrases that half-resembled Korean under his breath. But he somehow remained asleep.

A couple of seconds later and the doorbell rang again. One of Kai’s hands shot out of the blanket and reached over to shake the other person sharing his bed with him.

Taemin moved but remained asleep.

It was at that exact moment that whoever was at the front door started getting impatient and pressed the doorbell twice in succession. Kai groaned, burying his face in his pillow.

His foot swung his foot as hard and as fast as he could under the sheets, connecting sharply against his best friend’s hip. Taemin woke up with a start. “Dude, what the is that for?” Kai said something in reply, but Taemin couldn’t understand a thing he said. “You might want to detach yourself from the pillow. I don’t understand face-buried-in-the-pillow talk.”

He shifted until he was facing his best friend, though his eyes remained close. “The doorbell’s ringing.”

“So? It’s…” The older man glanced at the clock. “3:30 in the freaking morning, Kai. Whoever it is will get tired and leave.”

Kai was ready to agree when the now increasingly annoying sound rang throughout the house again. “Answer the door, Taem.”

“Why me?”

“Because if you don’t, it’ll wake Sooyoung and Naeun up and it’s the least you can do for crashing here for the night.”

“But it’s my birthday!”

“I’ll greet you later. Now go get the door, Taem.”

                Mumbling under his breath about how he wondered why Kai was his best friend at the first place, Taemin threw the covers off his body and groggily go out of Kai’s bed, rubbing the sleep off his eyes as he searched blindly for his slippers. The doorbell sounded another time as he got out of the room, careful to close the door quietly so as not to wake up any of the occupants of the house, he made his way downstairs; a string of colourful phases emitting from his mouth when he nearly slipped down the last step. Running a hand through his dishevelled hair, he blinked back the sleepiness as he swung the door open.

“Sorry to ruin your beauty sleep. But if we want to make it to the flight, it’s rise and shine time.” As an afterthought, Jaejoong raised the bags of take out from McDonald’s that he was carrying. “I brought breakfast. Happy birthday, Taem.”

                Since his mind wasn’t functioning enough to form a coherent reply, Taemin grinned in reply, ushering the older man inside and helping him with the bags. Once the food was settled on the dining table, Taemin excused himself to wake Kai, Naeun and Sooyoung up. For his part, Jaejoong busied himself with setting out the food that he bought from the 24/7 fast food store. Kai was the first one down, rather stumbling down the stairs as he did, straightening up automatically at the sight of breakfast.

“You look like you could use a few more hours of sleep.” Jaejoong smirked, handing him one of the cups that had coffee.

Kai merely grunted in reply, turning when another set of footsteps came down the stairs. “Good morning, Soo.”

“Good morning, brother.” The last part of Sooyoung’s sentence blended in with her yawn, wrapping an arm around Kai before she moved to do the same to Jaejoong. “You didn’t have to get breakfast, Jae.”

“I wanted to. Besides, it makes this whole being up at an ungodly hour a bit more bearable.” He settled on one of the chairs and gestured to the Deluxe Breakfast. “I got this for you.”

“You’re awesome, do you know that?” The brunette grinned gratefully, settling down beside him and accepting the plastic utensils he handed to her.

“Where are Taemin and Naeun?” Kai made his way over, sitting down beside his sister and grabbing a BLT Muffin for himself.

“I let them have a moment first since it’s Taemin’s birthday and all.” Sooyoung stabbed the sausage as she spoke, cutting a piece and popping it into .

                Once Naeun and Taemin made their way downstairs and Kai had given his best friend the proper birthday greeting, breakfast was eaten in relative silence, save for the couple of times Jaejoong’s phone rang with calls from many of their friends updating them of their whereabouts. Finishing their breakfast first, Sooyoung and Naeun had the privilege of using the bathroom before the boys; Kai, Taemin and Jaejoong preoccupying themselves with clearing the trash and bringing down some of the luggage once they had finished eating. It tppk a full hour before everyone had showered, was dressed and ready to go; the boys stuffing all the luggage in Jaejoong’s car and Sooyoung and Naeun making one last sweep of the house before they left.

*~*~*~*~*~

                To no one’s surprise, Taecyeon, Nichkhun and Tiffany were the first to arrive at the airport; Taecyeon having crashed in Nichkhun’s place the previous night so they could all go together. As it were, the three were standing near one of the posts, having just been joined by Yuri, who arrived a few minutes prior. Somewhere near the quartet were Heechul, Jessica, Leeteuk and Taeyeon, all crouching down on the floor with their luggage before them. To no one’s surprise once more, Heechul and Jessica over packed, which led to them begging Leeteuk and Taeyeon if they could transfer some of their belongings to the pair’s bags.

Such was the scene that Amber and Donghae were met with; the latter arching his eyebrow at Heechul and Jessica. “You over packed.”

“And I don’t know why.” Leeteuk shook his head at the two. “Seriously, we’ll be gone for two weeks, not two years.”

“Better to be safe than sorry.” Heechul rolled his eyes before he turned to Amber. “Do you still have space in your suitcase?”

“Good morning, guys.” Yoona greeted happily as she approached with Sulli right behind her; Taecyeon going over to them on his own accord to introduce himself. “Tiffany’s other best friend, right?”

Taecyeon grinned. “Right.”

“I just got a message from Kyuhyun.” Yuri informed everyone as he pocketed his phone. “They’re on their way.”

“That should do it.” Taeyeon declared as she got on her feet, zipping up her now packed to the brim suitcase. “Just don’t forget to get your things from us later.”

“You guys are lifesavers.” Jessica let out a sigh of relief as she too straightened up.

‘Does anyone know where Jaejoong, Sooyoung, Kai, Taemin and Naeun are?” Nichkhun asked.

Sulli raised a hand. “Last I spoke with Sooyoung, they’re around ten or five minutes away.”

“We should check in when they get here.” Tiffany suggested. “We can just wait for Minho, Changmin and Kyuhyun in the boarding area.”

                True to her words, the group as a whole checked in once Jaejoong, Kai, Sooyoung, Naeun and Taemin arrived and Taecyeon had once again introduced himself, going through the process before they settled among the cluster of chairs in the boarding area where they all waited for the last three people coming along for the two-week trip to Jeju. But as the clock continued to tick and the scheduled time for their flight grew closer with still no sign of Moe, Larry and Curly, worry and annoyance among those waiting began to grow.

Tiffany had just whipped out her phone to call one of the three when Choi Minho came into her line of vision. “What took you guys so long?”

“It’s not easy to get up for a 6:55 am flight, you know. Besides, the cab had to stop by three houses.” He rolled his eyes good naturedly before he turned towards the man who was seated beside Nichkhun. “So you must be Taecyeon?”

Leeteuk arched an eyebrow, waiting until Minho and Taecyeon were acquainted before he spoke. “So where are Frick and Frack?”

“Still in the cab.”

“Still in cab?” Sooyoung repeated incredulously. “Why?”

“They’re playing a best of three game of rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.” Minho snickered. “Loser pays for the cab fare.”

                His reply elicited groans from those gathered; almost everyone focusing their attention to the entrance of the boarding area of the terminal. When five minutes passed and neither Changmin nor Kyuhyun appeared, Nichkhun and Jaejoong were up on their feet, ready to phys