“Ready to pitch tent?” Kyungsoo asked, appearing at my side. After the boys had finally stopped complaining about Miyeon’s name, we had all gotten busy setting up camp. We had a nice little plot of land to camp on. We were all starting to position our tents in a big circle around a campfire and a couple picnic tables. Some of the boys clearly had more experience than others.

            “Sehun, you’re doing it wrong.” Luhan scolded the younger boy.

            “What do you mean?” Sehun asked in bewilderment as he continued to tangle the tent and its poles.

            “You’re putting it up upside down. The opening slit is supposed to go on the side, not the top.”

            “But I wanted to put it at the top. To see the stars at night!”

            “Then how did you expect to get in the tent?”

            Sehun sighed and started to mutter to himself as my attention was diverted to the loudest pairing in the woods.

            “Chanyeol! Why won’t you listen to my directions??!” Baekhyun screamed as Chanyeol sat in the middle of a hopeless mess of tent fabric.

            “You said take the pole labeled A and attach it to the front flap. I did that!”

            “Then why isn’t it standing upright?”

            “How am I supposed to know?? I’m not a tent expert. I didn’t go to tenting school. I am only human, Baek!”

            “Chanyeol…” Baekhyun sputtered as he ripped the tent materials out of the taller boys giant hands and tried to assemble it himself. Chanyeol instead decided to go play with his son who was fooling around with the pots and pans with the twins.

            “Hello? Earth to Yisoo!” Kyungsoo tried to get my attention. “What are you staring at- HEY STOP THAT!” He screamed when he saw the twins, who were wearing the cooking pots on their heads and throwing sporks at each other.

            “Jongdae, control your kids!” He yelled for their dad, who was nowhere in sight.

            “What was that, Kyungsoo?” Jongdae said, popping his head out of a perfectly assembled tent.

            “Do I really need to teach your offspring that silverware are not toys? Or were you planning on doing that at some point in their lives?” Kyungsoo sassed.

            Jongdae still didn’t seem to know what he was talking about, that was until a spork came flying past his ear.

            “Ah! I missed Daddy!” Daehyuk shrieked, giggling at his brother.

            “Watch me!” Daehyun said, and was recoiling his arm back to throw his own spork before Kyungsoo ran up to him and ripped the utensil out of his little hand.

            As Kyungsoo proceeded to lecture the twins on the importance of clean silverware and the danger of flying sporks, Miyeon had appeared at my side.

            “Hey there!” She chirped. “Need any help?”

            “Yes.” I said, relieved that I wouldn’t have to pretend I could pitch a tent by myself.

            “Have you ever done this before?” I asked.

            “I went camping once when I was little, but not since then.” She replied.

“Do you know where this part goes?” I asked, holding up a flap of some sort.

“Um, maybe next to that blue, pointy thing?”

“But I thought the blue pointy thing went on the top big green roof thing?”

“Oh does it? Then where does the screw go?”

“What screw??”

As we struggled with the tent, I noticed Minseok smirking at us from his already pitched tent.

            “Either go smirk at someone else, or come help us.” I snapped to him as I struggled to thread a stick through the slit on the tent.

            He laughed before responding, “Sorry! I didn’t mean to stare. It was just so entertaining…”

            He came over to help and in no time, our tent was done.

            “How are you so good at this??” Miyeon sighed.

            “My sister and I used to go camping all the time. I’ve gone a bunch with Jongdae too.” Minseok replied as he put the finishing touches on their shared tent.

            “No wonder your guys’ tent was done so fast.” I sighed.

            “Hey,” Minseok joked. “At least you’re not the last done!” He gestured to Baekhyun and Chanyeol, whose tent was still just a mess of fabric laying on the dirt.

            “I think I’ll go help them out.” Minseok said as he walked away.

            Everyone else’s tent was pretty much done. Miyeon and I were sharing with Kyungsoo (though Luhan had put forth a rather detailed argument as to why Miyeon should have to share with him). In the end, Luhan had ended up Yixing, Baekhyun and Chanyeol would be sharing (that is, if they ever finished putting it up), Minseok and Jongdae were together as were Kris and Junmyeon. That had left Sehun, Jongin and Tao together, and none of them seemed too happy about the arrangement. Sehun was complaining about Jongin’s snoring, Jongin was complaining about Sehee’s finicky sleeping habits and Sehun’s sleep talking. (Or more like sleep screaming, according to Jongin, which was something I was not looking forward to hearing in the dead of night). And Tao was complaining about the younger two’s complaining, and something about smelly feet.

Finally, all the tents were set up and Junmyeon proposed we play a bonding game. “Because what would a camping trip be without father child bonding?”

            “Camping…” Jongdae had muttered which just earned him a disapproving glare. Then, after even more bickering, they had decided on a massive game of hide and go seek tag. But of coure, it wasn’t just hide and go seek or just tag. There was a slew of extra rules and weird “power-ups” and bonuses that Junmyeon rattled off to Miyeon and I. Apparently, this was a popular game for the kids and dads and they were incredibly competitive about it. From what I basically understood, six father child pairs would be chosen as a team of “it”s and they would have to proceed to tag all the others. Only when the entire other team was tagged would they win, but if they didn’t within the time frame, then the other team won.

            “Wait, so what happens if I make eye contact with someone on the other team?” Miyeon questioned.

            “If they only have two sticks then within the time it takes them to say the abc’s backwards twice, nothing, but if that time is up and they have called out the name of their favorite movie five times and said the names of the main cast, than you have to freeze and put your hands up in the air. If they then come and tag you but you blow on their ear then you don’t get tagged, but if you don’t, you get frozen for twenty three seconds. It’s really simple.” Junmyeon explained.

            “Ok I got it.” Miyeon said. “And why do I need to carry four sticks around with me?”

            “Those are you’re power ups!” Chanyeol said. “They give you superpowers for thirty seconds that everyone has to oblige to.”

            “Ok, got it. And I only yell the secret password if I am tagged, right?”

            “Yes, that way you’re teammates have thirty four seconds to come save you or else you become sardines and have to lie down in the dirt and you’re child- well, you don’t have a child, but still- has to count to fifty before they can unfreeze you.” Jongin added.

            “Ok, I think I got it.” Miyeon said affirmatively.

            I don’t. I said to myself, but I let it go. I would just run around, I decided, and try my best not to lose. Seemed easy enough.

            “Ok, let’s break up into teams.” Kris said. “Same as always, we attack?”

            “Yea, that works.” Jongdae said. “But what about Yisoo and Miyeon?”

            “They will split up.” Tao said.

            “We get Miyeon!!” Luhan yelled.

            “Wow, I feel the love.” I said.

            “No hard feelings, Yisoo.” Luhan apologized. “This is purely a strategical maneuver, I’m sure you understand.”

            “Yea, yea.” I said as I was dragged by Sehun over to the other team. Turns out the teams were just the split up groups from the meetings. That meant my teammates were Sehun, Kyungsoo, Jongin, Junmyeon, Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and they apparently had a strategy.

            “Ok, onions for the first twenty, then switch to double rainbow to throw them off.” Junmyeon planned.

            “But we started with onions last time.” Jongin said in a hushed tone. “If we want to surprise them, we go with brown feather 88 but don’t include the distractors.”

            “That seems risky.” Baekhyun fretted.

            “Fine, distractors, but only for the edges.” Jongin compromised.

“Ok, sounds good. And end with the usual?” Junmyeon whispered.

            “Yup!” They all agreed.

            “Um, guys?” I said.

            “Just follow me, sis.” Kyungsoo said, taking my hand and dragging me off into the woods.

            “This hardly seems like child bonding material.” I said as he trekked away from camp, Kyungbin half asleep on his back.

            “No it is! They love it!” Kyungsoo said. “It’s not as great for me and Jongin Sehun and Tao because our kids are too young to play, we just strap them to our backs and they get to watch, but for the older kids it’s great. They get really into it. Didn’t you listen to the explanation? The kids get each other and the adults get each other. Kids tagging other kids are five points plus or minus the age difference and adults are ten points regardless.”

            “Why are their points again?” I sighed.

            “Shhh!” He shushed me as we crouched down to the groud behind a log. “For advantages, bonus time, additional attack moves… bragging rights!”

            I rolled my eyes but followed his lead. We were crouched behind a log at the edge of the woods and just sitting in the grass, waiting for something but I didn’t know what. I was starting to get hungry and thinking about the food Kyungsoo would cook later when I heard a crack as someone trekked through the woods in front of us.

            “Did you see her face!” I recognized Jaehan’s voice.

            “Yea! You did great getting Jihye out! Now let’s go look for Kyungsoo, I think I saw him come around here earlier…” I heard Luhan’s voice and I froze. Kyungsoo looked me straight in the eyes and started counting down his fingers, expecting me to understand. I didn’t really know what to do when it got to one, but as his last finger closed into a fist and he jumped up from behind the log, I followed suit.

            “AHA!” He yelled as he shaped his hand into a fist and put it in front of his mouth. Making eye contact with Luhan, he blowed into is fist, as if shooting an imaginary dart at the older boy. “Got you!”

            “Damn it Kyungsoo!” Luhan cursed. “I knew you were there!!!”

            “Language, mister.” My brother stated cockily. “And follow the rules!”

            “Ugh. Fine!” Luhan said as he took his shoelaces and began to tie them together.

            “What kind of punishment is that??” I asked.

            “He has to tie his feet together for 12 minutes, or until he is able to save someone on his team. Oh, and Jaehan isn’t allowed to talk for the same duration of time.” Kyungsoo explained as the stated two began to complain.

            “C’mon! We have to get out of here before more of his team comes!” Kyungsoo grabbed my hand and ran.

            The game continued for about an hour before the time began to wind down. The other team had only five more minutes or else we would win. So far, Junmyeon and Baekhyun were out because they had gotten frozen too many times. Chanyeol had surrendered when they separated him from Chanyong and Jaehan had convinced his son to turn against him. Sehun was apparently still alive, but practically useless as Tao had used all his power ups to ask for unlimited power ups (a choice that was deeply debated and put up for discussion at the next rules meeting, yes, because the game was that intricate that they had meetings every so often to discuss and recreate the rules), and Tao had used all his power ups to make Sehun only able to walk backwards and crab style, on all fours.

            “We need to find Jongin and team up.” Kyungsoo muttered as we ran back to base. “We are stronger together.”

            “What about Sehun?” I asked.

            “He’s useless at this point. Will only slow us down.”

            “A little harsh… Who is left on the other team?” I asked.

            “Just Luhan and Tao. I think we have a shot.” He replied, a tired grin forming on his face. Suddenly, we spotted a figure running up ahead in the woods that I recognized as Jongin. I was just about to shout out to him when I saw Tao creeping up behind him, then sprint to his back and freeze him.

            “Damn it!” Kyungsoo whispered. I heard Tao laugh at Jongin who was laying on the floor of the woods, clearly angry. “That was his last life. Wait right here!”

            Before I could say another word, my brother ran off towards Tao and unfroze Jongin. Unfreezing Jongin didn’t get him back in the game, but I remembered from the rules it did put Tao out.

            So then there were four. I said to myself as Kyungsoo ran back to me.

            “Ok, all we have to do now is find Luhan and end this thing!” He pumped his fist. “He’s probably close back to home base, that’s always his final strategy.”

 We took off for the base, but when we got there, it seemed all hope was lost. Luhan was there, shoes still tied together because Chanyeol had given him that punishment as payback. He was chasing around Sehun, who was equally as slow and clumsy trying to walk-run backwards on four legs. But, it seemed as though Luhan had noticed us before we knew how to stop him.

            “I’ve been shot!!!!!” Kyungsoo dropped my hand, put his palm dramatically over his chest and fell to the ground as I saw Luhan smirk at him.

            “I’m out for twelve minutes, but the game ends in two! Yisoo, you have to stop him!” My brother yelled and I panicked.

            I did NOT sign up for this much pressure!!!

            I was about to run up to Luhan and freeze him when I saw him advance towards Sehun. It all happened in slow motion.

            Luhan trapped Sehun up against a tree.

            Sehun called out, “Yisoo! Help meeeee!”

            My limbs felt like they were weighed down by lead as I ran towards him.

            It all happened in a flash.

            Luhan’s hand, descending down to Sehun’s shoulder.

            My arm, ing into its path.

            I faintly heard a cry in the distance as Luhan’s hand slapped my arm, pushing me off to the side, putting me out of the game.

            “NOOOOOO!!!!!!” I yelled, but it was all for naught. Luhan pulled himself together and pressed his palm against Sehun’s stomach. Freezing him. Ending the game.

            Victory had been won, but not for us. And it was all my fault.

            “Yisoo!!! What were you thinking!?” Kyungsoo screamed as he ran over to me. “We were about to win, why did you have to save Sehun??”

            “Wait!” Jongin said, running up from the woods. “You mean it’s over?? Yisoo what did you do?!!”

            Quickly, the other boys began to gather at the home base, and my story was shared, repeatedly, for all.

            “What do you mean we lost??” Baekhyun complained.

            “Yisoo tried to save Sehun, the dumbest move I have ever seen, and cost us the game.” Jongin said, his voice dripping in malice.

            “Never save a broken beyond repair teammate!!” Baekhyun exploded. “That’s like, rule number one!!!”

            “What were you thinking??!” Chanyeol yelled, and Chanyong crossed and arms and shook his head at me, making me lower my head in dissapointment.

            “I’m sorry, guys…” I trailed off. I blamed myself for getting too caught up in the game, especially after making fun of them for taking it so seriously. I knew any reasoning I tried to make would be lost on them, because they were too busy pouting. Meanwhile, the other team all came over to congratulate me on winning the game - for them, that is.

            “Didn’t know you actually were siding with us, thanks!” Minseok joked.

            “Yea, we could’ve won on our own, of course, but you’re assistance was greatly appreciated.” Yixing added playfully.

            “Yea, yea.” I replied bitterly. “Just wait until next time, then I’ll show you!”

            “Easy there, Yisoo.” Miyeon said smoothly. “It’s just a game.” She winked too, just to get me more angry.

            I was about to let out a long rant to defend myself, but was cut off by Kris, who ran up to us from somewhere in the woods.

            “Guys, guys!!!” He panted. “Have any of you seen Ace??!!!”

            We all stared at him like he had gone insane.

            “No!!!” We all yelled. “Why?” “Where is he??”

            “I don’t know!!” Kris panicked. “I was helping Kara and he ran off, I haven’t sene him anywhere!!!” He hastily ran a hand through his hair and paced around. He had a look of pure terror in his dark, normally stoic eyes.

            “He can’t have gone off too far.” Junmyeon tried to calm him down. “We will all split up and look.”

            Immediately, I took Miyeon’s hand and we ran off into the woods. The other boys dispersed too in opposite directions and the air was filled with our voices as we tried to call out for the lost boy.

            “ACE!!!” I yelled. “AAACE!”

            “Where did he go?? Where is he??” Miyeon fretted as she tried her best to scan the land. “It’s starting to get dark, what are we going to do??”

            We kept searching as the sun began to set. Multiple times we had bumped into the others in the woods, but still no one had seen the little boy. Kris was an absolute wreck and Kara wasn’t any better, tears streaming down her face as she called out her brother’s name.

            “Kasper!!! Kasper!” Kara cried for her brother. “Yisoo Unni where is he?”

            “I- I don’t know, Kara. We will find him!” I tried to console her.

            “It’s getting dark, he hates the dark. We have to find him!” Kara worried.

            “Do you think you know where he would’ve gone?” I asked.

            “Wait!” She said. “He said he wanted to go down to the creek! By the parking lot, there was a creek he wanted to go to!”

            “Then let’s go!” I said, and Kara, Miyeon and I took off running. When we got to the parking lot, Kara lead us to the creek and we started calling for Ace again.

            “Ace! Ace where are you?” We yelled. When we got to the creek, our hearts exploded. There Ace was, covered in mud and dripping wet, splashing in the shallow water below.

            “Ace!” I yelled as I ran down to pick him up. It wasn’t until I was close did he look up and see me.

            “Yi go baba!” He babbled, offering me up a stone from the water. I picked him up and began checking him over, but he seemed completely fine, only covered in dirt and sludgy water.

            “Ace! You can’t run off like that!” I scolded the little boy as I hugged him and brought him out of the creek.

            “Kasper!” Kara cried as she gave her brother a hug. She immediately began yelling at him in English, I assumed it was something about him running off, as we all walked back to the campsite.

            “Ace!” The boys yelled when they saw us come back. Kris ran over to us and grabbed his son into a tight hug.

            “Kasper!!!” He said through tears and he squeezed his little boy tight in his arms. “Don’t you ever do that again! We were worried sick! Yisoo, Miyeon, how did you find him?? Where was he? Thank god he’s ok, he’s not hurt is he??”

            I answered all of Kris’ questions as the rest of the boys began coming back to the campsite. Kyungsoo had begun cooking dinner with Jongdae’s help and soon, we were about to eat. The sun was setting and I was starting to notice how tired I was. It had been a long day.

            “Sorry guys, I have to take this.” Yixing said as his phone began ringing in his pocket.

            “So, all in all, good day?” Chanyeol asked between shoveling food in his mouth.

            “It could’ve turned out a lot worse…” Tao said softly. “I’m just glad we found Ace and everyone is ok.”

            “Same, thank you guys, so much, for helping find him.” Kris said gratefully.

            “You would do the same for us.” Junmyeon said.

            “Yea!” Luhan added. “Your kids are our kids, right?” And the other boys nodded in agreement. I felt my head nod with them.

            “Hey guys, I have to go.” Yixing said suddenly when he returned from his phone call. “I’m really sorry for rushing off like this, but I have to leave!” He began collecting his stuff and Bing.

            “What? It’s so late!” Luhan said. “Where do you have to go?”

            “I just need to go, OK??” Yixing yelled, taking everyone aback as he rarely raised his voice at anything. “Listen, I’ll explain everything later.”

            “Are you and Bing ok?” Luhan asked.

            “We are fine, just fine. I just… really need to leave. Now.” And he took off.

            “Why won’t he tell us where he’s going?” Baekhyun pondered.

            “He’s been jumpy all day…” Tao added.

            “It’s ok, guys.” Kris reassured. “If it was anything serious, he would tell us.”

            “Wait,” Sehun added. “Does this mean Luhan has an entire tent to himself now?”

            “I guess so—“

            “DIBS!” Sehun yelled, sticking his tongue out at Tao and Jongin.

            “Jongin, you sure you don’t want to share?” Luhan pleaded, but Jongin just slung his arm around Tao and the pair grinned cheekily at the older boy.

            “Nah, Hyein was telling me earlier about how she is just dying to room with Nabi tonight. I can’t dissapoint her.” Jongin joked.

            “Oh c’mon Luhan, it’ll be great!” Sehun said with a smile.

            “Oh, fine.” The older boy complied.

            “Ok guys, it’s time for ghost stories!” Chanyeol announced.

            “It’s getting late, Chanyeol.” Junmyeon said. “The kids need to go to sleep soon.”

            “Oh just one!!” Chanyeol pleaded, and soon half the kids were pleading with him.

            “Fine!” Junmyeon sighed. “But then it’s to bed for all of you!”

            Chanyeol launched into his story, and let me say, he didn’t joke on his skills. He was the perfect storyteller. He could change his deep voice to fill the different character roles and knew just how to build suspense. He walked around telling the story, popping up besides some of the kids making them shriek or laugh. He even managed to surprise Luhan and make him scream like a girl.

            “That was quite manly.” Jongdae said as he rolled around laughing. Luhan flushed pink.

            “Hey, I’m always manly!!” Luhan protested before turning to Miyeon. “Really!!” But she just giggled.

            When Chanyeol’s story was over, Ace and Kyungbin had successfully already fallen asleep and Sehee, Hyein and Nabi were not far behind. The older kids were slightly more awake, but not by much. Jin was resting between Minseok’s legs and his glasses kept sliding off his nose as his head tipped back. Even the twins were falling asleep, each resting a head on one of Jongdae’s legs as he pet their hair.

            “I guess this is goodnight.” Junmyeon said through a yawn and we all dispersed to our tents after exchanging our goodnights.

            I curled up in the tent with Miyeon on one side and Kyungbin and Kyungsoo on the other. The sound of bugs chirping in the night was all I could hear as I drifted off to sleep, a small smile on my face.

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A/N: Long-ish chapter yay!! I leave for Korea tomorrow, so I won't be updating again for about two weeks :( But for now I hope you enjoyed this chapter and oh oh oh what do you think is happening to Yixing ??