The ringing of ambulance sirens rang throughout the echoing, empty roads of the night as three idiots rode inside of the speeding vehicle. Chan, Doyoon and Seungcheol had decided it would be a fun night if they spent their time playing at the playground, pretending they were young again, that they had as much freedom as they had in those past years. Of course it wouldn’t turn out well, and they knew that, but they went anyway.

It began with playing the classic game which had become viral throughout Korea while they were in first grade, Tip. That didn’t bring much pain into the night as it could have, but only went on with a few stumbles which ended with a shrieking laugh. The combination of the three’s laughs together was horrifying and could probably shatter glass, Doyoon decided.

The next thing they decided to reminisce on was the monkey bars. Someone in Seungcheol’s primary school had tried to climb to the top of the monkey bars one time and ended up falling off, breaking their leg, so he didn’t feel that there was a great amount of safety surrounding the contraption, but played on them anyway to bring back memories. The monkey bars only ended in blistered hands and terrible stories.

One of the last things they wanted to do was play on the swings. Swings were always one of the funnest things at the playground – there was hardly a way to get hurt, and the refreshing feeling of pushing a force against the wind was exhilarating. Seungcheol and Doyoon were older than Chan, so, of course, they had much more experience on swings than he did. Chan wasn’t quite sure how to swing yet; his parents had kept him busy studying for a long time in his childhood. Doyoon plonked his fantastic on the swing next to Chan, and demonstrated how he had to swing his legs back and forth in order to create the motion which allowed them to move further and further into the air, until they felt like they were flying.

Doyoon demonstrated once, Chan followed. Twice, Chan followed again. Eventually, Doyoon felt like he was flying as he always did. Chan was also flying –-- but much too literally. Chan’s hands slipped from the chains on either side of him which he had been gripping so tightly onto, and flew through the air, landing on a rock which he thought was way too far away to be able to sail over to. He landed on top of the rock with a clearly audible smack, sliding off onto the ground with scratches beginning to pour out blood and a shrilling scream.

“Chan, oh my god, are you okay?!” Doyoon screamed from the other swing, running as fast as he could to the younger boy. “We should have never come here. Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.”

“Doyoon, stop apologising and see if he’s okay!” Seungcheol nagged, seeing that the child was writhing in pain.

“I thinkgngh I—I broohoooke my armmmm,” Chan managed to squeeze out of his mouth between sobs which left him short of breath and cries which let his eyes run dry. Doyoon, since he was more caring and had quicker reflexes than Seungcheol, called the ambulance who arrived quickly since it was, like, almost 12am – way past Chan’s typical bedtime, according to Doyoon. He had to be carried to the ambulance in a stretcher, which Seungcheol laughed at until Doyoon slapped him on the back.

☆

Seungcheol and Doyoon sat on either side of the almost unconscious boy in the ambulance, talking to one another and occasionally checking that he wasn’t completely passed out yet. They arrived at the hospital and followed the paramedics who led them to a chaotic, busy emergency room. Thankfully, Chan didn’t have to suffer through the waiting list and was able to go straight to a doctor. After some chit-chat which Doyoon took in through careful analysis and Seungcheol didn’t listen to at all, Chan was able to have a cast plastered around his arm.

The doctor said it could have been only a few fractures if he didn’t continue to slide off the rock and hit his arm again on the ground, and if the force from the swing hadn’t been so strong. Chan looked at Doyoon when the doctor said this, a look implying it was his fault for teaching him how to swing. Well sorry I just wanted you to have a memorable childhood, Doyoon thought. We should have just kept playing Tip. Damn you, stupid swings.

“Well, what are we going to do now?” Chan asked after he received the signal he could get the hell out of that place. “We can’t go back to the park, obviously,” he sarcastically toned, lifting his arm up to ensure his cast was in every view, “but I don’t want to go home either. So…?”

“We should go buy Christmas presents. Any ideas?”

“Of course you would say that, mum,” Seungcheol joked. “There’s a pharmacy!”

“What the hell are we going to buy in a pharmacy for Christmas, idiot?”

Chan chimed in, attempted to prevent any arguments from erupting: “We could buy something that would help them with their safety but still count as a present? I mean, everyone we know are pretty much as dumb as me, flying off a swing which even a five year old could use properly.  Ugh.”

“That’s true,” Seungcheol agreed. “You’re an idiot. Doyoon’s an idiot. I’m an idi—well I wouldn’t go that far. But everyone else, yes!”

☆

After a period of time inspecting first aid kits and whatnot, Doyoon eventually found something that was worth buying for everyone. “Come look at this,” he said, causing Chan to put down the chocolate he was analysing and Seungcheol to come running from the aisle which had nail polish. What the hell was he doing there? Doyoon thought, internally. Oh well. He shook his head to shake off the thoughts and rid of the confused look plastered across his face as to not offend anyone, and showed them what he held in his hands.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Seungcheol half-asked, half-exclaimed as Chan stared at the thing with what seemed to be a frozen, shocked expression. “What even is that?”

“It’s a mini fire extinguisher!”

“When are we ever going to need a mini fire extinguisher?” Chan began.

“Uh, when your phone sets on fire? When you accidentally rub two sticks together too hard and you aren’t camping? When the sun shines through your magnifying glass too brightly and starts murdering cute, little ants?!” Doyoon attempted.

Looking at the time—1:30am—Seungcheol decided it was the best they could do, and it was actually kind of cool. It shouldn’t have been described as a mini fire extinguisher by Doyoon, although that’s what it said on the box, but it was more of a cube full of liquids or chemicals or water or something which could fold up and fit in your pocket. Perfect for idiots like his friends. Although, he really had no idea if they would ever need to use it, and he hoped they wouldn’t.

“Fine, let’s get them,” Seungcheol sighed, Doyoon performing a miniature jump of excitement, which kind of looked like the beginning of a ballet routine, as his smile got bigger than Seungcheol ever thought it could and Chan walked outside in disappointment. Seungcheol followed Chan outside and Doyoon met them there.

“This is going to be the greatest present,” Doyoon said as he started skipping along the pavement.

“Uh… I guess we’re going home now then?” Chan inquired.

“Yeah… I think we all need to go to bed. I’m sorry that idiot made you break your arm and then bought fire extinguishers as Christmas presents. Let’s have a moment of silence for him.” Seungcheol replied.

“How much silence?”

“As much as we need to think about how stupid he has been and always will be.”

And with that and a crazy adult-child skipping in front of them, the two walked the 3 kilometres home in silence.

[a/n: I'm sorry chan was so hurt and i kept calling doyoon an idiot, I feel so bad I'M SORRY HAHA no I'm not]