The five sat comfortably in the car which Onew’s mom was kindly driving. Being the little maknae he was, Taemin rested himself against Minho’s arm while he dozed off. Jonghyun was focused on the handheld game in front of him which also sparked the interest of his seatmate Kibum. Onew, as the eldest, took a nap himself to which he blamed old age. To the others that excuse didn’t make any sense since Taemin – the youngest – also took frequent naps.

“Just let me try one more time.” Kibum insisted yanking at Jonghyun’s clothes. “I swear I’ll get gold this time!”

“No. You keep losing.” Jonghyun answered while dicing up tomatoes on his screen.

“Come on…” Kibum pleaded trying to give Jonghyun the best puppy-eyed face he could. Unfortunately his hyung wasn’t paying even a molecule of attention to him so his plan did not succeed in the least. “Fine…” He crossed his arms and looked out the window. “Wow. The sky’s so blue today…” Kibum pressed his hands against the glass and gazed around enthusiastically.

“Are we there yet…?” A tired Taemin muttered wiping his big brown eyes.

“Not yet, Taemin. You can sleep some more.” Minho told him his dongsengs hair.

“Okay…” As fast as he woke up, he fell back into dreamland.

“Give me some attention too you guys.” Onew stated annoyed that not one person had talked to him since they got in the car. It’s been an hour since they sat themselves inside the vehicle, only half an hour that Onew had to endure being ignored since he was sleeping for the first half. He sat beside a sleeping Taemin in the back and the seat in front of him was empty since Kibum and Jonghyun shuffled all the way down to the other end so there was no one to keep him company. Minho would’ve gladly talked to him had he not been afraid of waking the snoozing boy up. “Minho…” Minho only placed a finger to his lips, gesturing his hyung to stay quiet. “But he’d just fall right…” His dongseng continued his gesture. “Okay…”

“Can I play now?” Kibum asked less patiently this time. “Come on. I’m bored.”

“Then get one yourself.” Jonghyun told him as he fried his burger in the pan

“Mom, can I get a NintendoDS?” Kibum turned to his preoccupied mother.

“Maybe for your birthday.” She replied hesitantly. Kibum huffed out a puff of air and glared at the zoned out boy before him. He was now decorating the burger that he had put together in the previous step.

“Fine…” Kibum mumbled disappointedly. Still he was fascinated so he continued to watch Jonghyun breeze through the recipes with continuous gold stars. “How come you’re so good…?”

“I play a lot.” Jonghyun responded now making a pita dish. “You’d be this good too if you could practice.” Kibum looked hurt at his remark.

“Are we almost there yet?” Kibum whined.

“Almost.” His mother told him. “About ten more minutes okay, honey?”

“Okay…” Kibum said slightly happily. He could get out of the car soon and into the nice summer beach air.

The ten minutes passed quickly and they were already looking for a parking spot. After finding one, they got out one by one. Before leaving, Jonghyun dropped off his game on the seat. Minho of course had to tap his dongseng’s shoulder to wake him up from his nap. He was rewarded by a warm smile from the maknae. The two hopped out of the car as well and joined the rest by the trunk.

“I’ll stay with the blanket under some shade with the food okay? You boys can go have fun.” Mrs. Kim told them before going to close and lock the doors. The group ran for the beach leaving Kibum’s mother behind to close the trunk. She then followed them down to the sand.

Taemin hesitated a little before stepping onto the warm sand. “It’s hot…” He uttered. Minho decided to piggyback him until they reached the edge of the water since the sand where the water was was cooler. Just as Taemin balanced himself onto Minho’s back, the other three sprinted past them throwing their shirts to the ground. When they reached the soggy rim, he set the little boy down. It was only Taemin’s second time at the beach so he looked down at the water in awe.

“Can I drink this?” Taemin asked looking up to his hyung with sincerity. “I’m thirsty…”

“No Taemin. This water is dirty. It’d make you sick.” Minho told him intelligently. “We can go get you water once Kibum’s mom gets here.” Taemin let a little ‘oh’ of understanding and stepped into the water slightly disappointed by the fact that it wasn’t edible.

Right beside them the other three were making a riot as to who could swim the fastest and the farthest. “I’m the best since I’m the oldest!” Onew reasoned smirking. He marched into the watery depths proudly until he was chest deep in.

“That’s not true…” Jonghyun mumbled grabbing a long stick that was sitting right next to him. He walked five meters down and stuck the branch into the water. “We’ll just have to prove whose best.” Jonghyun snickered back at the two that were getting into position.

“I’ll win this time! For sure! Gold!” Kibum exclaimed confidently. There was a burning fire in his eyes as he wanted to prove once and for all that he wasn’t as bad as Jonghyun thought he was.

Soon Jonghyun joined the others by the starting line. Minho, understanding their motives, pulled Taemin with him as he stood next to them. “On your marks… get set… go!” Minho shouted raising a hand to the sky. The three started off strongly but in no time at all, Kibum was already sinking. One thing Kibum forgot to calculate was that he didn’t know how to swim and so he resurfaced gasping for air with a light pink tinge on his cheeks. Onew and Jonghyun glided through the watery depths so easily that it seemed that there was absolutely no resistance whatsoever.

“This game wasn’t fair!” Kibum retorted angrily. “They knew I couldn’t swim but they forgot to tell me!” He started to shake his fist in anger at the backs of the two professional swimmers.

“But Kibum… shouldn’t you know that yourself…?” Minho questioned slightly confused at his friend’s remark. “I mean… to not know that you can’t swim… its weird isn’t it…?”

“Oh shut up, Minho!” Kibum yelled at him his face brightening because of his embarrassment and frustration. “Mr. Know-it-all…”

“Don’t say things like that in front of Taeminnie…” Minho scolded him holding Taemin closer. The maknae looked up at Kibum fright masking his face.

“Oh Taemin-ah! I didn’t mean it. Minho and I were just joking.” Kibum reassured him inching closer to him. He set a hand on his head and rustled his orange hair. Eventually the youngling came around and smiled brightly at his hyung. “See? Just joking!”

“I want to joke too!” Taemin told him jumping up and down excitedly. “Shut up!”

“Yah!” Minho shouted at the now receding Kibum. “How dare you teach him that! He’s only six!” He kept in his physical violence to avoid tarnishing the younger’s mind even further.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Taemin told Minho ecstatically. He proceeded with yelling that as he skipped down the beach.

“I totally won!” Jonghyun argued. “When I lifted my head you were still a meter away!”

“That’s not true!” Onew snapped gesturing his own distance away from the lagging Jonghyun instead. “This far! You were this far away from the finish line when I got here!” The two butted heads, literally, and began growling at one another.

“I won!”

“No, I did!”

“I did!”

“No, me!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Taemin cheerfully added eyeing out the two stubborn arguers. His eyes had this sparkle in them that made him look so innocent, but the two were startled by what he was saying. “Shut up! Just kidding!” Taemin continued down the beach, of course grabbing the attention of fellow beach goers.

“Wha…?” Onew uttered completely lost. “What just…? What were we talking about again…?”

“I don’t remember… whatever.” Jonghyun said walking towards Kibum. Just as they turned to face him, Minho came flying by with an expression of absolute pain and confusion.

“Taemin!” He called out worriedly. He continued to chase down the now tarnished infant.

When the two rejoined Kibum at the starting point of their forgotten race, they exchanged puzzled glances. “So what happened…?” Onew asked trying to comprehend what was wrong.

“Long story.” Kibum responded shortly hoping that it would stop their interrogating. The two only nodded noticing the dark aura emanating from Kibum. “So who won?”

“Won? Won what?” Jonghyun questioned innocently.

“Nevermind…” Kibum muttered. “Well, we should go help him find our little baby, huh?” He soon walked off in Taemin’s direction to which he could only see Minho’s back still frantically running after Taemin.

“Wait, win what?” Jonghyun called out. “Why’s everyone so confusing today…?” He pouted and the two slowly followed Kibum.

Almost an hour had passed since the whole ‘Shut up!’ ordeal with Taemin started and they finally captured him at the end of the strip of beach. The four were completely out of breath though their maknae was still chirping the words with his now tired voice. A strong wind shot past them so they automatically looked towards the source. A big gray cave looked at them from behind the shrubs. After taking glances at one another, they nodded and started on their next journey.

“Wait!” Onew called out. Everyone stopped and looked back at the reddening elder. “Jonghyun! I won!”

“You? Win?” Jonghyun scratched at his chin before retrieving his lost memory. “As if! I totally won!” The two were at it again having remembered their earlier game. They roared at one another as though it would’ve accomplished something.

“Let’s just go…” Kibum told the other two before leading them into the dark cavern. Taemin tailed closely behind Minho while grabbing onto the back of his shirt placing his other freehand on his mouth.

“I won!”

“No! I did!”

“I did!”

The two continued fighting for five minutes before realizing that they had been left behind. Panicking, they decided to just jump right in and look for them by calling out their names. After some time, they finally caught up and breathed a sigh of relief together. And thus truly begins their journey in the cave.