[shorties = short side stories of past and other members]

It was a hot day in late June when all of the school buses were pulling up one by one at the camp entrance. Fourteen-year-old Chanyeol was the last one to step out of his school's van and jumped down on his two feet. He took a deep breath and inhaled nature's air before getting stuck by the now closed doors of the van behind him. The doors opened again, releasing him with a push and he stumbled over his own feet. Right at that moment, Chanyeol knew that signing up for camp to become one with nature was going to be a great adventure. He looked around the other middle schools that are the camp site and ran to the back of the van to get his luggage.

"Park Chanyeol, grade eight!" His school counselor shouted and immediately smiled when he saw the boy. "Take your luggage and go meet up with the rest of your classmates, okay? Don't go inside yet!" Chanyeol nodded eagerly and quickly ran to meet his other classmates.

Every year at the end of June, the eighth grade class graduates from their middle school and takes a trip to a camp to celebrate their graduation and to welcome summer. Chanyeol has been waiting for this trip since the day he discovered it when he was younger. He always wanted to know how it felt to sleep in a cabin with other people from other schools, how it felt to jump into the clear lake, and how it felt to capture a few young couples in the woods holding hands and making their own campfires. Chanyeol always wanted to go on this trip with Baekhyun— specifically— but he was three years younger than him, so it wouldn't be possible for him to come along. It bummed Chanyeol, but he'll make the most fun out of it for him. Once Chanyeol caught up with his classmates and head into the main cabin of the camp, he was assigned to a cabin with another student from a different school. Chanyeol stared at the name of the dude on the white index card, and one of his classmates peeked over his shoulder. He gasped, which caused Chanyeol to widen his eyes.

"That's our school rival! You can't be in a room with our rival, Chanyeol!" He said. "What if he bullies you? Or converts you?"

Chanyeol scoffed. "There's no way this dude is our rival—"

"Park Chanyeol?"

Chanyeol looked up from his card and only saw a girl who was staring at him from afar. He rolled his eyes and landed on a short dude whose head was right where the bridge of his nsoe was and widened his eyes. This dude was from his rival's school. He knew right away because of the shirt he was wearing that had the school's emblem print of the front. "Are you from Little Seoul Academcy?" He asked while playing with the straps of his bookbag.

The taller nodded. "Y-Yeah. Are you okay with that?" He asked nervously.

The guy nodded his head. "Of course! My name is Kim Jungmyeon, and I am one of the oldest campers here!" He greeted and extended his hand out. Chanyeol's classmate ran off to tell his other classmates while Chanyeol only stared at his hand. "I can prove it to you because it is written on my name tag!"

It was true that Jungmyeon is one of the oldest campers in the camp right now. "I can't wait to spend these days with you until Friday evening, Park Chanyeol! Can I know one fact about you?"

The giant pursed his lips out while thinking with his arms crossed. "I came here to be one with nature?"

"Good enough!"

[shorties]

The schools spent their first day playing ice breakers, group activities, and exploring the woods before having dinner and being released for free time. Unfortunately, there was no internet connection for Chanyeol to hook his laptop to, and he cannot get a hold of Baekhyun until the day he comes back. It was pretty depressing, if Chanyeol may say, but at least he can use this time to think about how he truly feels for the latter. His tiny childhood friend was his crush since the day they met, but why is he feeling different about Baekhyun now? Was it because he was still going through puberty? God knows what it is. Chanyeol shook the thought out of his head and placed his laptop back into his bookbag. Maybe he should get ready for bed since by the looks of where the moon was, it looked pretty late. He can't even know what time it is!

"Chanyeol?" Jungmyeon called out from the bathroom and the younger stood up from the bottom bunk, "I think we have a problem."

Chanyeol walked towards the door and Jungmyeon opened it, peeking his head out with a nervous look on his face. "What's wrong? Did I leave my underwear in there?" He asked while studying the look on the elder's face. He saw him shook his head.

"If they were in here, I would've thrown it at your face. But in this case, this is a problem for the both of us because—" Jungmyeon paused.

"Because?" Chanyeol asked.

"The water is not working."

As if on cue, somebody knocked outside of their cabin and Chanyeol went to see who it was through the window. He saw a student from Jungmyeon's school and quickly opened the door and stuck his head out. "What's up?"

"Is your water working?" The guy asked. Chanyeol shook his head. "Damn. One of the counselors were going to each cabin advising other people that if the water wasn't running, we have to bathe in the public bathrooms."

"WHAT?" Jungmyeon stuck his head out under Chanyeol's and gawked at his classmate. "I've heard that if we shower at a specific time, we will get bad luck in our first year of high school!"

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow and looked down at his roommate. "Says who?"

"Says the best school on this ground." The guy spat.

"Oh shut up! Go back to your cabin!" Jungmyeon pulled Chanyeol inside and slammed the wooden door shut. "I'm sorry, big boy. He's a little irritating, right?"

The taller nodded while pushing up his glasses and running his hand through his greasy hair. "Wait— big boy?"

Jungmyeon bursted out laughing and nodded his head. "Yeah! You're big anyways! Can I call you that, Chanyeol?"

The nickname caught him off guard for a bit, but then it felt nice to be acknowledged as big. "I don't mind."

The boys gathered all of their belongings and marched down to the public bathrooms that night, and Chanyeol ended up taking a little dive in the lake before it was his turn to shower.

[shorties]

"Everyone make sure you have your tent perfectly up in five minutes!"

"FIVE MINUTES?" Jungmyeon cried and faced the taller. "Chanyeol! You're good at these things! You've been scoring for us this whole time!" Throughout the whole morning, Chanyeol has been doing all of the activities of the day without Jungmyeon's help, but he didn't mind it at all. Instead, he was enjoying every bit of it! They went from making a morning fire to collecting wood for the evening, and Chanyeol loved everything about camping. Jungmyeon, on the other hand, had a difficult time trying to help Chanyeol and did not know how to do certain tasks since he was afraid to hurt himself in the process. He even felt bad for the younger because he was pretty much useless.

Chanyeol rubbed his nape and bent his knees to unwrap the tent. "Jungmyeon, can you put the poles into the ground? You can at least do that for us," he said as he laid the tent flat on the dirt. Jungmyeon looked at him wide-eyed and grabbed the poles in each hand. He gawked at them and looked down at the taller. Chanyeol blinked at him confusedly, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know if I can do this, big boy. I'm never an outdoors person!" He pouted.

"Well," Chanyeol stood up straight and jabbed his finger at the elder's forehead, causing him to lose his balance a bit, "you are going to learn with me, and we will be one with nature. Clear?" The elder gulped before answering with a barely audible 'clear' and went right to work. For once he finally did something and Chanyeol was proud.

[shorties]

"Hey, Chanyeol?" Jungmyeon whispered from his side of the tent with his eyes still closed. The campers had to sleep out in their tents for the evening to experience how it's like to spend the night outdoors. To Jungmyeon's likes, he actually found it nice. "Are you awake?"

Chanyeol shifted in his position and laid flat on his back. "I'm up. What's wrong?" He asked huskily, voice dripping with tiredness.

"Tell me more about Baekhyun. I want to know him more other than he's a person with a huge heart and a bright smile," Jungmyeon chuckled. "He sounds so nice. Do you like him?" This dude is so straightforward, but Chanyeol liked it because it shows that he is honest. Also, he was unlike anything his classmates said about his school. Unless it was just Jungmyeon who was nice.

"Uh, well— oh God—" Chanyeol felt a rock stabbed his waist when he rolled himself onto his right side, "this is a little embarassing to say since, you know— Jungmyeon, how do I start? Can you see my ears right now?"

Jungmyeon quickly swung his hand and slapped the younger on the cheek in the dark and let out an 'oops' when he came in contact with his face. "You like him. Just spit it out."

"Y-Yeah, I do, but it's nothing else!" Chanyeol said while pointing his finger at the elder. "He doesn't feel the same way! I know it by the way he acts with me."

"Really?" Jungmyeon sat up and reached above their heads to turn on the lamp. "Tell me three scenarios about how you know that he doesn't."

Chanyeol immediately sat up with his blanket over his head and grabbed his glasses besides him. He put them on and frowned at the smaller as he was grinning from ear to ear. "One: he probably likes somebody in his class because he was hanging out with him for three months." He stopped as Jungmyeon began cackling at his first reason. "S-Second: he thinks he deserves someone who doesn't communicate with him while he is away. Yes, he said this to me!" Chanyeol frowned more before saying his third reason. "Third: he is probably plotting against me right now."

Jungmyeon grabbed his duck plushie and threw it right at Chanyeol's face. "Those are the most stupid reasons I've ever heard! You probably think he does like you. You are just unsure!"

"Why don't you find him when we go home and ask him then?" Chanyeol challenged him with a proud grin on his face. That will get him to shut up.

"Did you— Park Chanyeol, just watch out!" The night ended with a series of roasts and a very long, and dreading, conversation about Baekhyun.

[shorties]

It was the last evening of their stay and Chanyeol got to accomplish many things, such as: finding a bear, getting attacked by a swarm of bees, getting multiple mosquito bites, almost drowning in the lake, falling off of a boat while standing, and getting dragged by a gigantic fish he tried to fish out while fishing. It was all crazy, but Chanyeol loved every single moment of it, especially when he did everything with his little roommate. The campers ended their evening crowning the kings of camping, Chanyeol and Jungmyeon, and were dismissed to spend their last moments of camp.

Sitting on the edge of the wooden platform with his feet dipped into the blue lake, Chanyeol thought of his tiny crush. He really did missed him for the past few days. Even after that night with Jungmyeon in their tent, he had to question himself about his feelings. Was he really in love? Or is he just playing an awful game with his heart? It wasn't something he wanted to think of right there, so he brushed it off and continued wondering if the boy missed him too. Soon he heard footsteps making his way towards him and saw Jungmyeon sit besides him.

"Chanyeol," he called out and placed a rock on his lap, "this is for you."

Chanyeol squinted his eyes and immediately smiled when he read what was painted on the palm sized rock: Big Boy + Hyung = Best Roommates. He looked up from his lap and pushed his frames up while smiling like an idiot towards the elder. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome. Can we also exchange numbers too? I'm really going to miss you, if I have to be honest." Jungmyeon said sincerely. Chanyeol nodded and wrapped an arm around him.

"I'm glad you're my close friend, Jungmyeon. You're the best!" He cheered and properly embraced the elder, making him laugh out loud.

Chanyeol got a little carried away and accidentally dropped the rock into the lake, and he reacted immediately by plunging in to retrieve it back. Luckily he did, but he lost his glasses. Jungmyeon began laughing so hard to the point that he lost his balance and fell into the lake, landing right on top of Chanyeol. Good thing the taller still had the rock!

[shorties]