Chapter 7

Stranded With Seventeen

 

You wake up to excited shouts – S. Coups, Hoshi and The8 are back from their fishing adventure. You sit up groggily to the commotion: S. Coups is relaying his fishing story to anyone who would listen, and Hoshi's doing some kind of odd dance, probably celebrating the success of his first time fishing. The8 ignores his hyungs and carries the day's catches to the campfire, and you hurry out to help him.

"Wow, that's a lot of fish," you say, as you eye the freshly caught fish bundled up in S. Coups' jacket. The8 smiles at you as he sets it on one of the crates.

"Next time I'll try catching fish with my bare hands." S. Coups concludes his story, grinning proudly at himself.

"We need to prepare the fish." Wonwoo eyes the slimy creatures with a slight disgusted smirk on his face. No one hears him except for you and The8 – Hoshi is still dancing, while Jun laughs at him; S. Coups is now re-enacting how he caught his first fish to Woozi and Joshua; while Seungkwan is dead asleep under the shelter, oblivious to all the noise.

The8 picks up Dino's Swiss army knife and selects a thin blade. "Does anyone know how to do it?"

No one responds. Hoshi sneezes, and Joshua mutters a quiet "bless you."

"We could just cook it whole though. This isn't a gourmet kitchen." S. Coups suggests. "Besides, Dino's knife probably can't penetrate through the fish."

Wonwoo's poking the fish, which are still flapping around, while Joshua eyes them warily, unsure of what to do. You keep quiet too, since you barely cook, anyway. It's just your luck that no one knows how to cook, even so, the lack of cooking utensils makes it harder.

"I told you guys, we can't cook without Mingyu." The8 says, flicking the blade close for protection.

"We'll cook it without him." S. Coups insists.

"Maybe we could do a barbecue style? Cook the fish over the fire." Woozi suggests. S. Coups nods in agreement at Woozi's idea.

"So first we need a fire." Hoshi says, glancing at the empty fire pit.

"You can be in charge of that." S. Coups delegates without looking at Hoshi, assessing the fish he just caught.

"Agh, I don't know how to light a fire." Hoshi says, but everyone else ignores him, crowding around the fish instead. He squats next to the empty fire pit, staring at it as if fire would suddenly sprout out of thin air.

You step up to the performance team leader and offer your help. He accepts with a toothy smile, and you show him how to light the fire, the way you and S. Coups did yesterday. It's still a painstaking process, but Hoshi learns quickly. With his explosive energy and determination, the fire is soon blazing in no time. Hoshi yells triumphantly at his achievement, and you giggle at his antics.

Hoshi excitedly fans the embers with a coconut frond, and the fire burns brighter, fed with oxygen.

"FIYAHHHHHH. I AM KWON FIYAHHHHHHHH." Hoshi gestures wildly, in his usual bouncy and loud manner. Jun, who's watching by the side, claps his hands slowly, keeping a straight face. Everyone else is still huddled around the fish, still bickering on how to cook it, except for Seungkwan, who's enjoying his beauty sleep in the shade, still oblivious to the noise that everyone's making.

"No, no, no don't do that!" S. Coups is screaming, as The8 stabs a skewer through the fish's mouth lengthwise. Woozi's laughing at S. Coups' reaction, who now has his eyes covered.

"Fire's ready, boys." You say with an amused tone.

"Wait." The8 expertly skewers three more fishes like nobody's business, accompanied by S. Coups' squeals and Woozi's laughter. Meanwhile, Joshua builds a makeshift platform to grill the fish over the fire, which Hoshi is still fanning like mad, to keep the flames alive.

"Hoshi, you're really good at that." Wonwoo comments, squatting next to him.

"I'm Kwon FIYAHHHHH." He flaps the coconut frond even more vigorously, and Wonwoo and Joshua laughs.

You and Joshua set the fish over the flames, letting the heat cook the meat.

Everyone – save for a sleeping Seungkwan – gathers around the fire and the cooking fish. Hoshi, living up to his new role as fire keeper – "KWON FIYAHHHH" – gently fans the flames with a coconut frond.

"Now we wait." You say.

"I hope it tastes good."

"Well, we have no seasonings."

"We could've eaten it as sashimi, so we didn't have to make the fire."

There's a murmur of agreement among the members at that last point. 

"How dare you look down on my fire-making efforts? I'm Kwon FIYAHHHHH."

As usual, the boys chatter to no end, with their random banter, and you wonder what's going on in their heads.

"Wonwoo, are you going to eat the fish?" S. Coups, ever the caring leader, asks, since Wonwoo doesn't eat seafood.

"I'll be fine. We have coconuts." Wonwoo grins. "Do you guys know the coconut song?"

Jun rolls his eyes once the words leave Wonwoo's mouth. Without a cue, Wonwoo starts singing what seems to be the coconut song. No one joins him, even as he literally sings the praises of coconuts.

   

"Ugh, is Wonwoo-hyung singing again?" Seungkwan calls out with a tired voice. He's finally awake from his nap. "I smell something good." The youngest among you joins the group. "I'm hungry."

"We'll just wait for the fish to cook." Joshua turns the fish over, noticing that one side has burned, charred black.

"Like you did anything today, Seungkwan?" Woozi asks sharply, as the younger boy yawns. He's been taking care of the hut all day, resting.

"Well, I'm tired of all of this. I wanna go home." Seungkwan retorts.

S. Coups pulls Seungkwan into a tight hug. "We'll get home. I promise. Hyung is here to take care of you."

You feel touched at the solidarity, how S. Coups is willing to look out for his younger brothers; but Wonwoo's coconut song doesn't fit the situation as he goes an octave higher, still in his little coconut world.

Hoshi keeps fanning the fire. "You know, we could make something out of this."

"What do you mean?" Jun prods, keeping his eyes on the smoking fish.

"You know, looking on the brighter side of things." Hoshi grins. "Like today, I learnt that I can light up fires. I'm Kwon FIYAHHHH." He stands up and imitates the Hulk, letting out a roar.

"Hey, I can light up fires, too, noona and I did that last night." S. Coups nods over at you with a slight smile.

"Well, who does it better?" Hoshi glances at you. "Me or Coups?"

You hesitate in answering, and stall by pretending to mull on the idea. "This isn't a competition, Hoshi..."

"Well, today I learnt how to fish!" The8 pipes up cheerfully, saving you from picking between the two leaders. "It's a fun experience, right, hyung?"

S. Coups nods in agreement. "I'm probably going to make it a hobby."

"You go fishing once, and now it's your hobby?" Woozi glances at him, an incredulous tone in his voice.

"Well, it's a refreshing experience. You could say it was a healing time for me, just sitting out there at sea, waiting for a catch..." S. Coups looks up to the sky, his face serene as he relieves his first-time fishing experience in his mind.

"...just to realise that you didn't put any bait." Hoshi mutters under his breath, eliciting laughs from Joshua and Jun. Woozi facepalms, as S. Coups hides his face in embarrassment.

"Rookie mistake." The8 adds in, and everyone rolls in laughter, except for S. Coups and Seungkwan, who has an amused expression on his face. Even Wonwoo pauses his coconut song to let out a big guffaw that makes you giggle, as everyone else collapse in mirth.

"Hoshi-hyung, you just ruined a beautiful moment!" Seungkwan interjects amidst the remnants of laughter. "Coups-hyung is right, I guess. This could be a healing time for us."

"Take it slow." You say softly.

"Mmhmm." Wonwoo agrees.

"Are you done with your song, Wonwoo-hyung?" Seungkwan asks.

"Do you want an encore?" There's a gleam in the lanky boy's eyes.

"For goodness' sake, no." 

 

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Thank you!
sleepyscoops
ugly crying because this story is DONE. Thank you so much for sticking with me all the way, readers. 'Til the next fic :)

Comments

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Wooyaboya
#1
Chapter 12: OMG the story ended I'm not sure how I feel anymore but it sure was an unforgettable ride! I really like this story idea, it's very unique and refreshing compared to the other stuff I read :) looking forward to your other works!
Wooyaboya
#2
Chapter 9: A RAFT! Omg so many things can go wrong! and what about the others??
Wooyaboya
#3
Chapter 7: I almost teared but KWON FIYAH IS TOTALLY MY THING. And i am no spreading the gospel of the coconut song to all my friends. thank you
Wooyaboya
#4
Chapter 4: The8's characterisation is so spot on ahhhh
damnationSUruck
#5
Chapter 12: So I just finished this the other night. And boy, did it end on a bit of a bittersweet note. T T
A part of me really wanted to see some romance budding, but the other part was just too caught up in the flurry of relief and--I don't know--endearment the end came with. The seashell bracelet as well... feels!
Thank you for writing and sharing this story! It was a really lovely concept, and you pulled it off so well.
AngieBaby
#6
Chapter 12: It's OVEEEER! IT WAS SHORT BUT IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!! I LOVED IT!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH AUTHOR NIM ♡♡♡
Wooyaboya
#7
Chapter 3: SCOUPS FOR THE WIN. And you know what they need? Mingyu. Every man needs a Mingyu when they are stranded. This story would have ended happily in one chapter if they found Mingyu lol
damnationSUruck
#8
Chapter 7: The coconut song preview was enough to wreck me. So creative, LOL, go Wonwoo!
I'm really curious to see what Woozi's deal with the forest. Of course, I probably would react the same as him considering it's a forest on a foreign island and they're less than prepared to venture into it, but I'd still like to see what's going to happen here concerning it. The end of the chapter was super cute, especially the rookie mistake part. Oh, Coups. That was just too cute, haha.
AngieBaby
#9
Chapter 11: Oml they're Already gettibg rescued?!?! Aghhh im so hapi!!!!
damnationSUruck
#10
Chapter 4: So cuuuute! The bit about S.Coups sleeping next to the protagonist was super adorable. Enjoyed this chapter and how they went about the whole sleep rotations! Seventeen is doing a pretty good job at survival so far, I must say, haha.