"Maaaiiii. Maaaaaaaaaiiii."

She knew who's voice that belonged to all too well. There was only one person she knew who would dare barge into her room (a place she specifically told them to NEVER enter without permission) at five in the morning.

"Mai, I'm hungry."

"Good for you, U-Kwon." She rolled over underneath her blankets so her back faced said perpetrator, a clear sign that she was tired and wanted more sleep. She needed all the energy she could get, what with the idiocy she had to deal with 24/7.

"But Maaaiiii ..." And here she knew there was the real kicker. Once that childish, whiny tone took over U-Kwon's voice, she knew sooner or later she would turn around to look at him, and then she would see that irritatingly refreshing smile, and somehow that smile would persuade her to get up and make food for him.

"U-Kwon, I'm tired. Go make something yourself."

She felt a finger poke her cheek. "Mai Darling~," he cooed, using a special nickname he made up when they first met, immediately prompting Mai's cheeks to flush an angry red and shoot up to glare at him.

Oh, Luong Mai hated that nickname ever since he first thought of it. He must have thought it so very clever, because it sounded like 'My Darling'. U-Kwon loved calling her that just to see her pissed off.

Thank goodness none of the others started calling her that, or she would have killed them all. Although Zico occasionally uses it when he's especially annoyed at her ...

"U-Kwon, do you want to die? Because I can easily arrange a one-way ticket to hell if you --"

U-Kwon instantly took the chance to sidle closer to Mai and flash her a brilliant, LED-bright smile that left her staggering. "Mai, don't you want to wake up and make your favourite pirate U-Kwonnie some breakfast? Pretty pwease?"

And that was how she found herself blinking stupidly and yawning in the kitchen, making breakfast for that little bastard who always knew how to use his cute smile to his full advantage. U-Kwon himself had just gone straight to sleep afterwards, the little tick ...

Sounds of feet shuffling behind her alerted her to another's presence. She didn't have to look behind her to know who it was. "Hey, Taeil." She knew Taeil was the first to wake up when he felt like it, and if he was tired, he would sleep all day and snap at anybody who tried to wake him up. Damn, she already knew their sleeping patterns. That was so utterly creepy she wanted to kick herself. She's been living on this stupid ship for too long.

"Mo-mo-morning," he said in-between a huge yawn. "What're you doing up so early?"

"U-Kwon."

"Oh."

There was a comfortable silence as Mai handed him a cup of coffee as she single-handedly flipped the sizzling rashes of bacon in a frying pan. Taeil was the only member of the Block B crew who could actually shut up for more than five minutes -- well, besides B-Bomb. But he's a freak of nature, so she didn't exactly count him.

"So, are we going to actually land somewhere today?" She asked casually, as Taeil sat on the bench and sipped his coffee. The kitchen's table was long, in order to seat all eight crew members comfortably, and two long benches on either side of the table instead of chairs.

Mai loved this kitchen almost as much as her bedroom. It gave her the few precious moments she could spare to herself. Zico even allowed her to decorate it as much as she wanted, which was nice considering she practically lived in the kitchen. Those boys had big appetites.

"Who knows? It all depends on what Zico wants. You know how he is." Taeil said, rubbing at his eyebrow piercing good-naturedly. "He mentioned landing in Korea, I think he misses his home."

"Yeah, mentioned," Mai snorted. "I need to go shopping soon, we're running out of supplies. And to be honest, I'm sick of seeing nothing but your faces every day."

Taeil rolled his eyes but laughed as well. "Yeah, well, you're not the only one. Jaehyo and Kyung keep ranting about a -- what was it -- a girl-deprivation or something?"

"Jesus, those basta -- I'm a girl!" Mai's cheeks flushed red at the injustice of it all. She's spent so much time around these idiots that she was pretty certain they only saw her as 'one of the guys'. Which was completely unfair.

"Don't worry about it, Mai, they see you as a girl," Taeil said in a consoling manner. "Besides, you're very pretty." Mai wasn't wholly sure if he was telling the truth or not.

"Well, thanks for the thought." She slid the bacon onto a plate, scrambled eggs following after. "I better wake up U-Kwon. You hungry?"

"Nah, don't worry about it. I'll make myself something later," Taeil said with a smile.

God bless you, Taeil, Mai thought to herself fondly as she walked down the hall to the boys' bedroom area. If she had to choose her favourite crew member, it would definitely be him. Maybe because he was the only sane one. She also thought P.O was okay, too, when he wasn't acting like his hyungs.

Just as she was about to open the door, the door opened by herself and she squeaked as she almost ran into somebody.

"What the -- oh, B-Bomb. Good morning."

B-Bomb just nodded. Awkward silence. At least, to her it was awkward. She wasn't sure if it was awkward for B-Bomb. On the other hand, she had a feeling that twisted kid enjoyed making others feel nervous around him.

Mai shifted a little on her feet. She's been living with these boys for almost three months, and she still didn't quite understand this alien boy. He just stood there, not moving, blocking her way.

Finally, he said, "What's this?"

She looked down and realized he was talking about the plate of food she still held in her hands.

"Um, this is U-Kwon's breakfast. He made me wake up early to give it to him."

B-Bomb looked over his shoulder into the dark room. Through the light shining in-between closed blinds from the windows, Mai could see the dark outlines of the snoring pirates, some in various stages of rolling off their beds and some nowhere near their beds at all.

He looked back at her. "But he's sleeping."

"Yeah, I know." Irritation creeped up Mai's voice. "Little bastard."

A brief, amused smile flashed across B-Bomb's face, so quickly she might have just imagined it. Then in one smooth move, he took the plate from her hands.

"I'll do it. Go eat," was all he said, before closing the door behind him as he disappeared back into the room.

Mai just stood there, a few seconds too slow on the uptake. An embarrassed grin made it to her face. When he wasn't being weird, B-Bomb was really cool. Maybe a bit too cool for his own good. Luckily he was an alien, otherwise he wouldn't fit in with these misfits at all.

Mai returned to the kitchen, where Taeil was making himself toast. "Did you give it to him?"

"I ran into B-Bomb, he said he'd do it for me."

"Ahh, I wouldn't trust that kid if I were you ..."

Mai frowned in confusion. "What? Why?"

Almost instantly, she heard a yell shake through the entire ship. 

"B-BOMB, YOU BASTARD!!! THAT WAS MY BREAKFAST MAI DARLING MADE FOR ME!!! IT WASN'T YOURS!!!"

Mai slapped a palm over her face. "Ugh, I should have known ..."

Taeil sympathetically patted her shoulder. "It's okay, Mai, it could happen to anyone."

The chaos coming from the boys' bedroom grew louder and louder until finally Mai could hear the leader's irritated voice break through the anarchy. 

"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE UP??!!!!"

There was a long silence, followed by U-Kwon's sulky voice saying, "There's no need to shout, Zico."

The sound of a door being opened and footsteps grew louder, along with the chatter of voices, and suddenly the kitchen door burst open and the rest of Block B piled into the kitchen.

"Zico, was that really necessary?" Kyung yawned and stretched, his red hair fluffing out in all directions. "I was having a great dream where I went on a huge massacre and threw all the cucumbers I saw into the ocean, you didn't have to go wake me up like that ..."

"Sea cucumbers?" Zico suddenly interrupted, his eyes widening. The two boys looked at each other before bursting into hysterical laughter.

Mai rolled her eyes at their corniness. That joke honestly wasn't even funny. She really didn't get boys.

U-Kwon slid onto the bench next to her, pouting. "Mai Darling, B-Bomb ate all my breakfast!"

Mai looked up to glare at the alien. "You loser, you said you'd take it to U-Kwon."

"I said I'd take it to him, I didn't say I would let him eat it," B-Bomb smirked.

Ouch. Damn, was he cool.

"Mai! Coffee! Now!" Zico barked. Mai scowled at him but followed his orders anyway. "Yeah, yeah."

"But still," Kyung continued to argue. "If I wanted to be woken up by somebody, I'd much rather be woken up by Mai." He gave the girl a greasy grin. "Right?"

"Do you want to die?" was her immediate answer. She filled a cup with coffee and stomped over to Zico. "Here, high-and-mighty-leader."

"I know I am," he said with a smirk, taking the cup from her. She stuck her tongue out at him and went to the stove.

"Mai Darling, can you make me another breakfast?" U-Kwon called from the table, where he was currently stretched out and sprawled on the surface.

"Not fair, hyung, you already got breakfast from Mai! I want to eat now!" P.O whined, his deep voice and suddenly rather cute pout contrasting oddly with his messy blonde hair. If he knew he was acting aegyeo right now, he'd probably be furious with himself.

"But B-Bomb took my breakfast! That doesn't count!"

"It does so, hyung!"

"Hey, wait a second! I want breakfast first! I'm the leader!"

"But I'm older!"

"I'll make you all breakfast, so shut up!" Mai interrupted before things got really out of hand -- mainly, before Zico blows his stack and fists are drawn.

Jaehyo yawned and stood up. "I'm going back to have some more beauty sleep. Later."

Mai's eye twitched as the handsome pirate walked away. I don't even have beauty sleep! How come I don't get any beauty sleep? Where's the justice in this?

"Mai! Breakfast!"

"Jeez, I'm going! God, you're impatient ..."

Just as Mai got out more bacon and eggs, she heard Taeil quietly say to the leader, "Zico, she hasn't eaten herself yet."

"WHAT? What the hell, hyung? How come nobody told me! YAH! MAI!"

"WHAT??!!"

Mai felt a sharp tug on her wrist, and found herself being yanked forwards until she was seated at the table with the others. 

"Hyung, you know how to cook, right? Can you help me?"

"Sure, but it'll cost you."

"WHAT?!"

"One box of candy at my bed by tomorrow evening. Don't screw up."

"Hyung, that's blackmail!" Zico's normally agressive tone was starting to turn just as whiny as U-Kwon's. 

"Do you want to learn how to NOT burn bacon?"

"Guys, I could just --" Mai started to say, but P.O immediately pushed her back down.

"Ah, you know better than to question Zico hyung's brain," P.O said cheerfully. "Just relax."

Mai placed a hand on his head and furiously messed up his long hair, making him yelp. "I can't believe I'm the ONLY person on this ship you don't have to talk formally to."

"I'm older than you, right?"

"Yeah."

"Can you call me oppa?"

She smiled and pinched his arm, hard. "No."

"Hyungs, Mai is being mean to me!"

Mai leaned forwards on the table and sighed heavily. Zico's panicked shout followed by the smell of burning meat meant that breakfast wasn't going well. She really didn't understand them.

To be honest, if she thought she would someday be kidnapped by an all-male pirate crew composed of seven young men her age, she was pretty certain it wouldn't have gone like this ...

LOL I have no idea what I just wrote. 

Anyway, the next chapter will start at the very beginning, when Block B first goes to Vietnam and meets Mai.

I kinda just started this story randomly in the middle and I'll work from there.

Hope you (sort of) got a glimpse of how utterly insane Block B is and Mai's suffering while living with them ^^

P.S. To all who are currently experiencing Hurricane Sandy, be strong!