Edited; Re-uploaded

                Today, unlike most days, there was a loud blaring sound early in the morning that served as a sort of alarm clock for all of those that occupied the mountain base. Actually, this was the first time that there had been any sort of alarm in the building, and Baekhyun jolted awake as soon as he heard the sound. His first thought was that there was some sort of alarming situation occurring, and he momentarily panicked at the thought of war being upon them so soon. Not that he knew how long they had to wait, anyway.

                When Baekhyun sat up, he turned to see Chanyeol mirroring him. They both jumped out of bed at the same time, and Chanyeol reached the door first to throw it open. They were faced with their equally panicking and confused friends, and they all turned to look down the hallway, where they could see people shuffling past in what they presumed to be the direction of the nearest staircase. None of them seemed to be in any sort of hurry, and as all twelve boys opened their mouths to question their actions, a familiar figure stepped into their hallway.

                Baekhyun easily recognized Mark, and the teen crossed the distance to stand beside them. Amusement lit his face, and his lips stretched in a wide, toothy smile.

                "You all must be confused, I'm sure, but worry not." He started. "Everything is perfectly fine. Siwon has just organized a group assembly, and he'd like for everyone to gather downstairs within the next few minutes."

                Mark smiled like this was all perfectly normal, seemingly oblivious to the incredulous looks he was receiving from the members of EXO. Even after living there for months, the boys hadn't experienced this wailing alarm even once, and it was hard to believe that Siwon took something as little as an assembly so seriously. Unless the older man just found it amusing to freak everyone out.

                Now that they were all awake, they decided that there was no reason to not go. Sure, they were all angry and tired, but they knew there was a meaning for even the craziest of Siwon's ideas. This would probably be one of them, and they knew that it would be wise to hear what he had to say after being told so many times that their time was running out. It could be important.

                So, following Mark's directions, the twelve boys returned to their rooms to quickly freshen up. They didn't have much time for showers, but they had taken some the night before after their muddy encounters outside, so they decided it wasn't needed at the moment. They didn't exactly have a schedule for the meeting, either, so they hurried out of their rooms in hopes of arriving on time. 

                When they reached the railing looking down to the first floor, the main hall was revealed to be filling with steady amounts of OTP members. Like EXO, some were still leaving their rooms, and the twelve boys hurried down the nearest staircase to join the crowd. They passed faces that had grown familiar over the past few months, but only small greetings were spoken between them as they squeezed past to find a space big enough to fit all twelve of the teens.

                Just as the EXO boys were settled, there was a sound ringing around the room to signal the use of a microphone and speaker system. Baekhyun looked around for the source, and it didn't take long for him to seek out Siwon, who was standing on a transparent, elevated platform that Baekhyun recognized to be Eric's work. The big boss was smiling, and he gave a big greeting into the microphone in his hand.

                Of course, there was no response from those gathered around him. Most were either woken up from sleep or prevented from resting in the first place, so there were few who even had the energy to talk. What noise had filled the hall was quickly made silent as everyone gave Siwon their attention, and he brought the microphone to his mouth once more.

                "I apologize for the early start, everyone, but today's plans are a little different than most." Siwon ended his starting sentence with what looked like a laugh to himself, and Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, not finding any of this very amusing. He'd very much like to have Mark's mind reading powers at the moment, but then Siwon went on.

                "I know that all of you have been training hard, for however long you've been here, so today will serve as a sort of break." As Siwon spoke, the faces around him grew smiling and excited, but that was before the man went on. "However, I have plans for how you will spend this day. It won't involve any training," He added when the expectant faces fell, "but it will have an effect on your teamwork and will then benefit you in the future."

                Siwon shifted the microphone into his other hand, and then he turned and began pacing on the platforms that appeared underfoot. "If you don't already know, trust is important on any team." He started again. "You will be able to do so much more if you have trust in both yourself and your fellow teammates, whether it's in a simple game or one of life and death."

                Baekhyun nearly choked on air, and his eyes hurt from how wide he stared at Siwon when those words were said. Life and death!?

                "I don't want any of you to have fear or doubt your friends' abilities." Siwon went on. "You have trained together for this long, so you know each other's strengths and weaknesses, but there are small things that you might not know about each other. Even the tiniest of doubts and fears can bring a team down and cause the worst of situations when harsh times come, and I don't want there to be any fear for such things."

                Siwon stopped in his pacing in the spot that he had begun, and he gazed out across the crowd gathered around him. Baekhyun almost thought that his gaze lingered on him and his friends, but then it moved on and Baekhyun told himself he was just imagining it.

                "I thank you all for the trust that you have given me, as little as it may be." Siwon's voice boomed once more. "I have provided for you up until now, and I have witnessed your growth. I can't say how proud I am of all of you here, even though I am only a few years older, and even younger, than many of you." Siwon let out a laugh as he looked around another time. "You're probably wondering why I keep babbling about trust and doubts, so I will now let you know that today's activities consist of building trust within your teams!"

                Siwon grinned and looked around with excitement, but there weren't many who mirrored him. Baekhyun could hardly bring himself to believe that Siwon was so serious about all of this, and his eyes drooped as he leaned his head against Chanyeol's shoulder. I just want to sleep...

                Eventually, Siwon declared that they would all take part in one of the trust activities together. He didn't give much of an explanation, instead telling them that they had to organize themselves into their groups in front of a long row of tables. The contents of the tables were covered, so they didn't know what was going to happen, but the twelve boys followed Siwon's orders and clustered around one section of the table, anyway.

                To their left, stood a group by the name of BTS, and to their right was Got7. Baekhyun recognized Mark and Jackson, and the two boys waved a greeting, which Baekhyun returned. And as he raised his left hand to wave, he felt the limb getting pulled, dragging him away from his friends.

                "And EXO has a volunteer!" A voice boomed, and Baekhyun looked up to see an unfamiliar face, who seemed to be talking about him. He was brought to the other side of the table, where he was placed facing his friends. He was going to open his mouth in disagreement, since he hadn't even volunteered for whatever this was, but then Kyungsoo was pushed next to him and he couldn't utter a word in time.

                "Now that everyone has selected two members to partake in this activity, I will explain the rules!" Siwon declared into the microphone. Baekhyun looked around in search of his whereabouts, but then his vision was blocked, and he could only hear the voice continue. "Those selected must not remove their blindfolds for this activity, and the rest of those on the other side of the tables must not cross the given line. If you have a blindfold, you cannot smell or taste any of the materials on the table, and those without blindfolds can only use their voices to communicate with their selected teammates!"

                As the rules were spoken, Baekhyun only grew more and more confused. They were still yet to be told what they were doing, and things had happened too quickly up until then. He could hear people talking around him, and it all just became a jumbled mess with Siwon's voice rising above all.

                "In front of each blindfolded person, is a collection of condiments and materials to make a sandwich. The point of this game is to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with only the help of your friends' voices to guide you. After you make the sandwich, you must eat the entire thing, then raise your hands to show that you have finished."

                Baekhyun listened closely, seeing as he was going to have to make and eat one of these sandwiches, and it didn't seem too hard to him. How hard could it be to make a simple peanut butter and jelly?

                "However," Siwon's voice continued loudly. "There are other ingredients among those to make the correct sandwich. Along with peanut butter and jelly, there is relish, cottage cheese, mayo, ketchup, mustard, sour cream, and Nutella. You must have trust in your teammates to guide you through the making of the correct sandwich, or else you may accidentally eat something you definitely wouldn't eat on your own accord."

                Baekhyun's hands rose to cover his mouth, and he nearly gagged at the thought of eating anything other than the peanut butter and jelly. Now he understood why this was called a trust exercise, and he was hit with the realization of how difficult this would actually be. He wished he could see his friends, and he dropped his hands so that he could let out a wail.

                "I don't wanna do this!!"

                No one seemed to pay attention to him, though, except for the person that placed plastic material in his hands. He was told they were gloves, and he could hear the shuffling of others putting them on, so he did the same. He had no choice, really.

                After the gloves were on, Siwon's voice rang out with a countdown to begin. Baekhyun could faintly make out the voice of D.O to his left, but after Siwon declared the game's start, every familiar voice around him was drowned out. Baekhyun was surrounded by screaming and yelling, and it all sounded the same to him. There wasn't a single voice he recognized, and he blindly reached forward in hopes of getting somewhere on his own.

                Baekhyun's hands easily found the table, and the first thing he felt was the softness of two bread slices. Continuing on, he made out the forms of several tiny cups, and he frowned after expecting something bigger and easier to move. The cups were small and flexible under his touch, most likely made out of paper, and they were clustered closely in some sort of tray. He almost couldn't tell them apart.

                Baekhyun let his fingers trace over the rim of one cup, and he lifted his face in what he hoped was the direction of his friends. He could only hope that they understood that he was asking if it was the right cup, and he listened hard for a familiar voice. But with all of the yelling surrounding him, he recognized nothing.

                Baekhyun dipped his finger into the cup as a test, and he felt the creamy substance through the plastic glove he wore. It was too smooth to be peanut butter, but not enough to be jelly. He guessed it was either the ketchup or mustard or something, then moved on. He tried the next cup up and felt the lumpiness of cottage cheese, and he quickly made a face before going on to the next cup. When he stuck his finger inside, it was cold and squishy, which made him wonder if it was the jelly. He was tempted to bring it to his nose to smell, but then he remembered the rules and decided against it.

                Baekhyun started to pick up the tiny cup, once again turning to hear from his friends. He needed a response, but the voices all jumbled together. The blindfold covered his ears a bit, too, and he wished he would've fixed it before. He couldn't even hear D.O anymore, and he feared he had the wrong cup.

                With no other choice, Baekhyun dipped his gloved fingers into the cup and scooped out some of the ingredient. He hadn't found a knife, and he had to hurry if they were to win first, so he just used his fingers to apply the mystery ingredient onto a bread slice.

                Several No's erupted around Baekhyun all of a sudden, and he nearly dropped the cup in his hand. He turned his head up in confusion, for right afterwards, he heard several more Yes's. None of them sounded like his friends, and he struggled to decided which to go by. In the end, he felt like he was wrong and used his hand to scrape off whatever substance he'd applied to the bread. And with nowhere else to put it, he wiped his hand on the table in front of him.

                Now Baekhyun was back to square one, and the voices around him were beginning to become overwhelming. A sort of fear swept through him, knowing that it'd be his fault if they lost because he couldn't hear his friends. The constant thought of eating some disturbing concoction also buzzed through his head, and he had the urge to curl up on the floor right then. Instead, he only squeezed his covered eyes shut and put the heels of his hands to his head.

                "I can't hear you!" He attempted to yell, but his own voice seemed to get drowned out, and he wasn't even sure if he actually spoke. He suddenly felt alone, and experiencing this activity made Siwon's reasoning all the more clear. Baekhyun wasn't sure if he could trust his friends in that moment, or maybe it was just himself. Were his friends not loud enough, or was he just not listening hard enough?

                "I can't hear!" Baekhyun yelled again, and he could feel his face contorting into some sort of horrified expression. "I'm sorry! I can't hear..."

                "...—hyun.... —aek...—un.... —hyun!" Baekhyun turned his head side to side when he heard the syllables of his name. What he thought was his name, anyway. So many others had similar names that it was hard to know for sure, but he hoped that it was someone calling for him. He strained to listen, and that's when his ears caught the sound of a deep voice.

                "Baekhyun!"

                Chanyeol! The tiniest of a smile made its way to Baekhyun's face and he leaned forward, turning his head to hear better.

                "Baekhyun! Listen to me!" Chanyeol yelled again, and Baekhyun nodded.

                "I hear you, Chanyeol!"

                Through the roar of those around them, Baekhyun was unsure if Chanyeol heard him. It took a few more moments for him to make out the other's voice again, and things were already starting to look--well, hear--better when he did.

                "Listen to my voice, Baekhyun!" Chanyeol called out, and Baekhyun gave a nod. He could hardly hear the teen's deeper voice, and it was already starting to mingle with the others again. He strained to keep the voice in reach, and he once again started with searching the cups. He could faintly make out the word "Up", and he reached for the farthest cup in the middle row. They seemed to be arranged in a 3x3 square, and as he dipped a finger into the cup, he felt the familiar substance of peanut butter.

                Once again, voices erupted around him, yelling "Yes" and "You found it" and "Hurry". He could make out Chen's unique voice this time, as well as Chanyeol's, so he was quick to follow their guidance and lather the peanut butter on the bread. There was cheering around him, some distant and others nearby, and he knew now that they wouldn't be in first. There was no way.

                However, they still had to finish, so Baekhyun went on to search through the other remaining cups. He could only pick out the relish from the rest, and then he was stuck once more. He let his hands linger on certain cups, listening for a reaction from his friends with his ear tilted towards them. Even though other groups had stepped out after winning, the amount of sound seemed the same, and he was soon overwhelmed once more.

                Words were being repeated, that's all that Baekhyun could tell. People were repeating something, and they were probably directing it at him. He tried holding up a cup for a clearer answer of either "Yes" or "No", and that's when he was given a clear chance.

                "Show us the cup!"

                Suddenly Baekhyun understood, and he tilted the cup in hand so that his friends could see. In response, he got another loud commotion of approval, and he was quick to squeeze the cup of jelly onto the one bread slice. He attempted to spread it around a bit, but then he just plastered the clean second slice on top and brought the sandwich to his mouth. But he couldn't bite into it as fear and doubt pricked his mind.

                Should he trust his own hearing and his friends' words, and eat the supposedly correct sandwich? What if he accidentally added the wrong ingredient and got sick from it? He didn't really fancy puking all over the place. Was it really okay?

                But as Baekhyun listened once more for his friends' voices, he heard excited and motivational shouts, and he realized that he should trust them. He'd be fine, and with a thick swallow, he brought the sandwich to his mouth and bit down.

                Jelly exploded in Baekhyun's mouth, overwhelming his taste buds before he managed to get a bit of peanut butter, too. There was another smell that he couldn't quite place, and it made him gag before taking another bite. He could clearly hear his friends' yelling now, and with the realization that his sandwich was perfectly fine, he shoved half of it into his mouth and struggled to chew it down. There was definitely too much jelly, and he nearly choked on it as he wolfed down the second half, throwing his hands into the air without even finishing what was in his mouth.

                Baekhyun tore off his blindfold after stepping back, and he was met with his friends' cheering faces. Chanyeol stood across from him, forced to stand a few feet from the table, and Chen was grinning at his side. The others stood around them, still cheering on D.O, who only took another minute to finish. With both of them done, they were pulled aside, and their friends took the chance to run over and surround them, screaming all the while.

                Baekhyun was hit with Chanyeol's sturdy body, and he was squished between D.O and the others in a giant group hug. His lips formed a messy smile, with peanut butter and jelly covering his face. Something resembling chocolate was smeared across D.O's cheek, and as they broke off from the hug, Baekhyun caught sight of Kai swiping it off with his thumb. The action caused D.O to visibly blush, while Baekhyun smiled at the sight of the two obvious love-birds.

                A hand on his shoulder served as a distraction, and Baekhyun turned to see Chanyeol. He smiled up at the giant, who grinned back down like usual. But what came as a surprise, was the large hand that raised to his cheek, turning his head to the side slightly. Baekhyun opened his mouth to ask about his messy face, when Chanyeol swept down and plush lips landed on the shorter boy's cheek. His mouth stayed hanging open even when Chanyeol pulled away with an innocent looking grin.

                "It's strawberry."

                Baekhyun's face burned, and he was forced to look down instead of at Chanyeol's face. He could hear the taller boy's deep chuckle, and the voice drew closer to his ear.

                "Come, Your Majesty. You should get cleaned up before the next game."

                Baekhyun's head turned up quickly, and he fought the urge to push the teen away. "Chanyeol!" Heat swept through him even more when the nickname was used, but mostly because of the fact that their friends were standing right beside them. Chanyeol didn't seem to mind in the least, and he took Baekhyun's hand without notice and dragged him away to clean off his face. And Chanyeol's version of a wipe wasn't a moist towel, but instead his own tongue, Baekhyun was to soon find out.

                Jongdae stood next to the other members of EXO, waiting for instructions for their next event. After they finished with the first event, they were pulled aside by someone they didn't know the name of, and now they waited for this person to tell them about what would happen next.

                Baekhyun and D.O had returned after disappearing for a while, both with red faces that people would assume to be because of harsh face scrubbing. Jongdae, on the other hand, had a different thought in mind, and though he normally would have joked around about their relationships, he just avoided thinking about it out of pure jealousy.

                After a few more minutes of standing around, listening to the voices around them die down, the unknown person began explaining things. He didn't even give his name, instead rushing straight into the event.

                "This is a test of proximity." The man told them. "It isn't much of a trust exercise, but instead it helps you realize the different feelings you may have towards each other. Whether you feel you are close, or even distant and uncomfortable around each other. Then you can decide who you wish to become closer to, since teams must be close, after all."

                The man arranged them all into two separate lines of six, and then they were ordered to face each other. Jongdae turned, and was first met with Baekhyun. The slightly older teen was blushing a light pink, and the smile on his face showed that he was in an exceptionally happy mood. Jongdae caught his gaze flickering in Chanyeol's direction more than once, and he fought the urge to roll his eyes and turn away.

                After a few seconds of just standing there, Jongdae's line was ordered to take a step closer to the person across from them. Jongdae did just that, and then they were all asked to think about how they felt compared to before. Honestly, Jongdae felt just a tad awkward, and it got worse when they were told to take yet another step forward, bringing their toes only inches apart. They hadn't been very far apart to begin with, and now it was just a bit weird to stand so close to Baekhyun. They were friends, yeah, pretty close ones at that, but this was just a little too much for just being that.

                Finally, Jongdae was ordered to take a third step forward, and their toes came to touch. And since they were near the same height, too, they had to lean back so that their faces wouldn't clash completely. That wouldn't have been good.

                Now that they were close, they were ordered to returned back to where they began, and Jongdae slowly found himself relaxing as they were a safe distance away. This repeated for him once more with Luhan, but the bubbly teen was actually more comfortable to be close to compared to Baekhyun. Other than a glare from Sehun that he caught out of the corner of his eye, Jongdae found it to be bearable and nice.

                But that was before the next person became aligned with him.

                Jongdae's eyes went slightly wide, and he swallowed thickly when Xiumin stepped in front of him. The eldest teen gave him a small smile, but Jongdae found that he couldn't return it. His heart pounded just looking at the other teen, and he had to look down to try and calm his raging heart. He couldn't even tell what he felt when he looked at Xiumin, but right then, it wasn't something that he welcomed.

                When they were ordered to take a step forward, Jongdae couldn't do it. It was like he lost connection with his legs, and Xiumin moved instead, making Jongdae's heart race faster. Normally, he would like the feeling of being this close, but then again, Xiumin was sort of being forced to do this like the rest of them. He probably wasn't enjoying the close proximity behind that smile, so why should Jongdae feel special?

                When they were brought together the closest that the three steps allowed, Xiumin's smile dropped. Jongdae refused to look up at him for more than a second, and that was the only detail that he was able to pick out with his quick glances.

                "Chen, are you okay?" Xiumin suddenly asked, and Jongdae turned to look at him fully for the first time in days. The older boy had his brows furrowed, and Jongdae could see the worry in his eyes from how close they stood. "You've been acting strange lately..."

                Jongdae swallowed down another lump in his throat, contemplating how to answer. He could tell Xiumin the truth and confess. After all, he still couldn't deny his feelings, no matter how much he told himself that he was done with Xiumin. But at that time and place, Jongdae couldn't. He'd have to find someplace else to tell the older teen, so he just gave a small nod to answer the other's question.

                "I'm fine."

                Minseok looked like he wanted to say more, but then they were ordered to step back, and the low voices that they'd been speaking in wouldn't have been heard from the distance that formed between them. Jongdae watched from the corner of his eye as Xiumin moved on to be replaced with D.O, and he sighed as the proximity event went on.

                Joonmyun stood in an empty room with the rest of his friends, who stood talking among themselves while they waited for instructions to be given. They'd gone through several trust exercises throughout the morning, and they were told that they'd have one final event before they could go off for lunch, which is why they were gathered in this specific room.

                Like from before, they weren't told what they were to do, so they waited patiently for someone to come in with directions. It wasn't long before Siwon himself strode into the room, and they all watched as he dragged along some sort of collapsed platform behind him. The man walked into the center of the room, and the twelve boys made room for him as he passed by and set up the black box looking thing. One side had a set of steps that led to the top, which was a good six or seven feet from the ground, and Siwon finished setting up the platform with a grin.

                "Good day, gentlemen. Are you ready for your last event of the day?"

                The twelve boys let out mixed answers of head nods, shakes and shrugs, which caused Siwon to laugh.

                "Aren't you an enthusiastic bunch." He commented amusingly, reaching into his pocket to pull out some sort of thin rope, which received a few questioning glances. "I guess I won't ask if you're excited then, and we'll just get straight to it." Siwon continued, and his eyes immediately met Joonmyun's, who stared back in shock as he was gestured to come forward.

                "I'm going to need you for this, Suho." Siwon said, and Joonmyun stepped forward with a slight nod. He was growing a bit nervous, and he eyed the black setup next to them with worry. Siwon seemed to follow his gaze, and he gave a nod in return, though Joonmyun wasn't sure what the meaning of it was.

                He meant to ask, but then Siwon left his side and went over to the others. He formed them into two lines at one end of the platform, and then he returned to tug Joonmyun up the black steps until he stood above his friends' heads. Joonmyun swallowed nervously and glanced at Siwon with shaking hands.

                "What are we doing?"

                "You are going to do a trust fall." Siwon finally explained, and Joonmyun felt a pang of fear in his chest. His hands instantly grasped for something to hold onto, the only thing being Siwon, and he clung to the older man.

                "You're joking, right?" He asked nervously, his voice nearly breathless at the thought of falling from even the short height that they stood at. He turned to glance over his shoulder and caught his friends forming a sort of net with their arms, and he realized that Siwon was completely serious. He turned back around and was met with Siwon's strong gaze.

                "It'll be fine. This is all a part of being the leader of a team. Kris will go through the same thing right after you." The man said. "Trust in your teammates—your friends—and they won't drop you. You can depend on them." Siwon smiled, then he lifted the rope to tie together Joonmyun's hands, mentioning the action was meant for safety. Then he gently nudged for Joonmyun to step back, and he did so until he felt a hand touching his ankles.

                Looking down, Joonmyun saw D.O's strong hand helping to guide him on one side, with Sehun's larger one on the other. Even after being together for a short time, Sehun looked determined to make him feel secure, and Joonmyun felt the tingling of tears rushing to his eyes as he gazed at the rest of his friends. They were all there for him, waiting for him to fall back so that they could catch him, and he found that his gaze landed on Lay.

                Lay wasn't the Yixing he used to know. He was missing something, but there was still a large part of him that was the same, that had never changed in the first place. That was the part that Joonmyun still loved, and that was the part of Lay that gave an encouraging nod, which made Joonmyun finally give Siwon the signal to go.

                Joonmyun leaned back, and he felt Siwon's grip on him loosening. He then closed his eyes and decided to trust his friends, no, his family, and he fell back into the safety of their arms. He didn't come close to the ground, and as he opened his blurry, tear filled eyes, he saw Lay's beautiful face smiling down at him. He could hear the cheers of his friends, and their hands found purchase on his body as they gently brought him down to the floor.

                Joonmyun couldn't hold in the tears after his feet met the ground, and he was enveloped in multiple hugs as salty streams of tears dripped down his face. He could hardly see those who approached him, and the final hug was the longest one. He let his head fall onto the shoulder of this final person, and when he looked up again, he wasn't surprised to see that it was Lay. His heart was warmed, and it happened all over again as Kris stepped up to the platform, minus a few tears, that is.