Hakyeon had been going to summer camps since he was a kid and as soon as he turned 18 he applied to be a camp leader. With a near ten years experience as a camper during which his leadership skills and responsible behaviour had been taken note of, he got the position right away.

This was amazing because he could finally boss his friends around with it being completely valid. Hongbin and Jaehwan always used to complain about it, but now they couldn’t anymore because Hakyeon in fact had the authority to put them in time-out.

The first day went more than well. It was the first real opportunity to test his leadership skills, especially one aspect that he had been quite worried about – his ability to enforce necessary rules without making anyone feel restrained. It seemed to work and he wasn’t getting a bad vibe from any of the campers. None of them seemed to be potentially problematic either, which was great.

At dinner, however, Hakyeon got a bit disappointed in himself as a leader.

Each group in the camp had their own table in the dining hall. They weren’t marked, but earlier camp leaders had agreed who’d use which one. They realized that one would be empty.

As Hakyeon glanced over to that spare table, he noticed that it wasn’t unoccupied as it should be.

A dark haired boy sat there on his own. His food was untouched and he was scribbling in a sketchbook.

Hakyeon threw a glance around the dining hall and locked eyes with Yongguk, another camp leader. He mouthed the word yours. Frowning, Hakyeon looked around and counted at each table, then his own. Yongguk was right, Hakyeon’s table was the only one missing a member.

How irresponsible of him. But Hakyeon didn’t waste time feeling bad, he intended to correct his mistake.

“That’s Taekwoon,” Hongbin said, having noticed where Hakyeon was looking.

“You know him?” Hakyeon asked.

“We sat together on the bus. I saw the stamp on his backpack. He doesn’t talk, but he can hear.”

“If he doesn’t talk then how do you know his name?” Jaehwan cut in.

“He typed it on his phone,” Hongbin explained.

“And that’s how you talked the entire ride? Through typing?” Asked Lisa, who’d overheard the conversation.

Hongbin shrugged. “Well, yeah. He didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking though and honestly I wasn’t either so I offered to share headphones and we listened to music the rest of the way.”

“So why doesn’t he talk?” Lisa asked.

Hongbin frowned. “I don’t know, he didn’t say.”

“Maybe he’s mute,” she speculated.

“He can’t be,” Hakyeon interrupted. “I would have been informed.”

As the camp leader, meaning an adult who takes care of the campers, Hakyeon had to know about any illness, disability or even allergy of the campers in order to know what to look out for. But Hakyeon had only been notified of a few allergies and a few campers who need to be reminded to take their meds.

Lisa was at that point full-on staring at the boy, though he didn’t seem to notice. “Maybe he lost his voice. But usually people give you a heads-up about that like, hey I lost my voice so I won’t be able to speak for some time.” She made a sad expression in the end, imitating the sad emoji.

“Maybe,” Hongbin said, returning his attention to his food.

“How aren’t you the least bit interested to know what’s going on? Isn’t that a bit weird, someone who just doesn’t talk even though they can?”

Hongbin sighed and looked up at her. “Yeah, it’s a bit weird but it’s also none of our business.”

“And who’s to say someone wouldn’t lie in their application form,” Jaehwan added, shrugging one shoulder.

Lisa kept looking Taekwoon’s way for a second longer before turning back to her friends.

Hakyeon stood and walked over to the table Taekwoon occupied.

“Hi!”

The boy slowly looked up and pushed his sketchbook into his lap. He waved.

“I’m Cha Hakyeon, your camp leader. And you’re Taekwoon, right? My missing camper.”

He just nodded.

“Can I sit down?”

Another nod.

“You know Bin,” Hakyeon pointed, “He’s my friend. He told me you don’t talk.”

Taekwoon bowed his head, beginning to fidget with the hem of his shirt.

“That’s okay,” Hakyeon reassured. “I’d just like to know how you’d like to communicate with us.”

Taekwoon took out his phone and opened the notes app. He typed ‘sign language?’

Hakyeon smiled brightly. “I know sign language!”

Taekwoon stared at him and slowly his lips stretched into a tiny smile.

Taekwoon dropped the fidgeting in order to say, ‘I didn’t expect you to know it.’

Hakyeon felt quite accomplished. He was proud of himself for managing to crack this case – at least its beginning.

“I’ve learned years ago in one of these camps, actually. It was a fun course. So, Taekwoon, why don’t you come sit with us?”

Taekwoon chewed on his bottom lip, forehead wrinkling ever so slightly as he glanced at the table where the rest of the group was laughing, chatting and pretending not to be looking at and eavesdropping on the two of them.

“It’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll help you if you feel like talking to anyone and if not, that’s okay too. But I won’t let anyone sit alone.”

Taekwoon was still hesitant, but he nodded slowly. He closed his sketchbook under the table and Hakyeon took his tray to carry it over to the other table.

Not that the others weren’t looking already, but Hakyeon placing the tray down made them pay attention fully.

“Everyone, this is Taekwoon, our missing camper,” Hakyeon introduced. “Let him serve as an example for what happens to deserters,” he joked.

Everyone at the table laughed except for Taekwoon who just gave an anxious yet genuine smile.

“So what happens to deserters?” Yookwon questioned, resting his cheek in his palm.

Hakyeon realized that he’d painted himself into a corner because now everyone was expecting something, something that would likely make Taekwoon uncomfortable.

Curse his humour.

Hakyeon glanced at Taekwoon apologetically. “Hugs!” He told the others and embraced Taekwoon. He was tense, clutching his sketchbook but it was of some consolation that Taekwoon lightly smushed his face into Hakyeon’s shoulder, so he couldn’t have hated it that much.

“I wanna be a deserter in that case,” Jennie remarked, smiling brightly.

Kyung raised his hand as if he was in school. “Me too.”

More laughter.

Hakyeon let go quickly and slipped onto the bench next to Jaehwan. He let Taekwoon sit on the edge so that he could still symbolically be isolated while being a part of the group.

Taekwoon ate his food and didn’t look at or try to communicated with anyone. Hakyeon had also left him alone, not wanting to make him anxious by unwanted social interaction, but he also couldn’t help but notice how Taekwoon seemed to have been scooting closer to Hakyeon over time. Perhaps he was seeking comfort, but whatever it was, Hakyeon was there to provide.

Near the end of dinner time Lisa and Jisoo had stopped hiding their interest in Taekwoon. They were leaning over, asking him all the typical small talk questions like what his favourite book or movie is and such.

But then Lisa shot, “So, Taekwoon-oppa. Why don’t you talk?”

Hakyeon overheard this and he knew that Lisa meant no harm, that she was always direct and likely wasn’t used to facing people with whom she had to be careful. Hakyeon knew this, but Taekwoon may not have. On top of his normal paleness he went even paler and completely froze up and Hakyeon knew he had to save him.

“Last one eating does the dishes!” He announced, loudly.

Hearing this Taeil shoved the last piece of meat into his mouth and grinned at Chaeyoung whose bowl was not yet empty.

She put her chopsticks down and whispered, “Dammit.”

“Great. Let’s see about the rooms, yeah?”

This way all of them were well distracted and Taekwoon was left alone.

It took a while for everyone to get placed into rooms of four – Hakyeon first had to grant wishes of those who knew each other already and wanted to be together, then convince those who didn’t know each other to share a room. Through this entire process Taekwoon didn’t look up from his lap, but Hakyeon had an idea for him.

After he sent everyone else on their way, he straddled the bench next to Taekwoon.

“Hey.”

He looked up.

“Looks like you’ll be in a room with me, Bin and Jaehwan. That’s him,” he said, pointing to where Jaehwan was standing and trying to convince Hongbin to give him a piggy back ride.

“That okay?”

Taekwoon threw a glance at them then nodded. He seemed indifferent, but Hakyeon thought he saw a hint of relief in the way Taekwoon exhaled.

Hakyeon was about to get up to take the three to their room, but Taekwoon stopped him by tugging on his sleeve.

Hakyeon could honestly say, he was surprised. “Yeah...?”

‘Thank you for earlier.’

It took him a moment, but Hakyeon realized that Taekwoon was referring to Lisa’s question.

He smiled. “Don’t mention it. Hey, it’s my job to make sure everyone’s having fun.” He paused. “Taekwoon, it goes without saying because I’m the camp leader, but you really can come to me if you need anything.”

Taekwoon nodded and smiled faintly. He stood up, sketchbook in hand. ‘Let’s go.’