"So," Kyung grinned, taking another gulp of water, "how the hell did some rich Seoul like you end up here?" Jiho frowned sharply, already annoyed with the teenager leaning against the railing next to him.

    "My parents moved here. Is everyone here as much of an obnoxious prat as you?" Jiho hated where he was, to say the least. He hated the country, hated how rough the dialect sounded, he hated how the town wasn't refined like Seoul was. 

    "If everyone in the city is as horrid as you then I'm damn glad I don't live there." Kyung put back his water and hopped up off the railing, leaving Jiho alone as the two students' free period ended. It was then, Jiho decided, that he hated Kyung. 

    The whole situation was awkward, really. Jiho was the new kid on the last two weeks of school at some odd place in the country. He had only spent a few days here and already hated his assigned "buddy", Kyung. Kyung, in his own words, was "the best motherer you'll ever meet". Kyung in Jiho's words was a country weed, a thorn in the side, even more bothersome than everyone else.

----

    "Jiho, sweetie, take out the trash before it gets dark." Jiho's mother smiled kindly, handing Jiho a large bag of garbage to take to the disposal bin at the end of the street. Jiho kicked on an old pair of beat up crocs and swung the bag over his shoulder, walking out into the late-spring night. 

    Cicadas and crickets sang a song of early summer as Jiho saw one of the college-age ladies in his neighborhood light up a blunt. How classy, Jiho thought, rolling his eyes as he walked down the dirt road.

    Two boys from his high school rode their bikes as fast as possible through the puddles that decorated the street like an acne-ridden teen's face. Jiho got a glimpse of both bikers' faces, as they didn't wear helmets like every other bicycle riding hippie in this city. The bikers were Taeil and Jihoon, two friendly boys with no manners. Jiho was worried their lack of etiquette was going to rub off on him. 

    "Jiho, your father and I signed you up for summer camp." his mother's words were the first thing to greet him when he walked in the house, quickly taking off the grass stained shoes. Jiho let out the biggest sigh possible to show his disapproval, hoping it would deter his mother. 

    "Mom," Jiho started, giving up on keeping the whininess in his voice to a minimum. "I thought I was going to stay in Seoul for the summer."

     "Jiho, darling, you don't have any friends here and you're going to have to live out here for at least a couple more years. We don't want you to be lonely. Besides, it'll be a fun two-week long experience." Jiho's mother spoke quietly, yet with a strong sense of authority. What she said was law in the Woo household, no arguing. 

    "Is it a sleep away camp?" Jiho groaned, flopping into one of the chairs in the muggy kitchen. The AC in the house was broken, and was yet to be fixed. 

    "I don't see why you hate it here so much. This town has got such a lovely country charm." Jiho's mother poured herself a mug of tea, skirting the subject. In other words, it was a sleep away camp. 

    "But the people here are so annoying. None of them have manners and they all act so low class." Jiho moaned, grabbing his hello kitty fan in a desperate attempt to cool himself off. 

    "Jiho, the people here are incredibly nice once you get to know them. You are going to camp and that's final." Jiho's mother left the kitchen to go back to her bedroom, leaving Jiho alone. Jiho could have sworn he heard Kyung's crazy laughter and bolted to the window, only to see nothing except for a familiar pair of navy blue converse running into the dark night. 

    Damned country folk, Jiho thought, going off to his bedroom to sulk. 

----

    "Hello kiddos!" a tall lady with shoulders as broad as a linebacker's crowed. 

    "HELLO COUNCILOR JUNG!" all the campers screamed back. Councilor Jung, a lady in her late twenties, smiled towards the crowd in the way a crocodile stares at it's next meal. She was intimidating to say the least. 

    "For the next two weeks all of you ragamuffins are under our care. You will be expected to be hardworking and well-behaved." Councilor Jung paced in front of all the kids. All of the high schoolers nodded. Most of them had been attending this camp since they were in elementary school. 

    "Now, for which cabin you'll be in. Wolf cabin is made up of Lee Minhyuk, Park Kyung, Woo Jiho, Kim Juni, Yoon Kristine and Ahn Jaehyo." The rest of her sentences were ignored as Jiho lamented being put in a group with Kyung. One of the girls, Jiho later learned she was Kristine, dragged him to the wolf cabin.

    "Sweet, we're rooming with the lesbians." Minhyuk said as Kristine and Juni walked into the cabin. 

    "Shut up Minhyuk. We all know you want to get into Jaehyo's pants." Juni snapped back and everyone in the room, save for a red-faced Minhyuk, burst out laughing. 

    "But Jaehyo is straight." Kyung said as seriously as possible and again everybody laughed hysterically.  

    "As if." Kristine rolled her eyes. 

    "I was joking. Jaehyo is as straight as a circle." Kyung grinned as Jaehyo walked into the cabin. 

    "Seems legit. I'm just going to assume everybody in this cabin is gay. You too, weird blonde guy." Jaehyo flicked his dark brown hair and put his bags down on a bottom bunk. 

    "I'm not." Jiho stated, annoyed that everyone in the cabin-room was staring at him. He already hated all the country bumpkins at the camp. 

    "Don't worry the gay is cont- MINHYUK THAT'S MY BUNK!" Kyung screamed, jumping into the top bunk above Jaehyo to knock Minhyuk off the bed. Jiho tried to stifle a groan but ultimately failed. 

    "Hey, Jiho, don't worry. By the end of camp these guys will seem like family." Kristine smiled, putting her stuff down on a bed. Jiho hoped she was wrong, because that would mean he would be like everyone else here, some idiotic country bumpkin. 

    "Hey guys! Dinner time!" A boy with an impossibly small nose, Minhyuk introduced him later as Yukwon, cried in a nasally voice. Everyone in the cabin cheered and ran out of the room. 

    "MINO!" A boy with high cheekbones yelled from one end of the camp. 

    "HANHAE!" The other boy screamed in a low voice. The two ran up to each other and hugged. 

    "They do this every year. They even go to school together." Kyung rolled his eyes and walked up to the mess hall for dinner. The two boys (who were still hugging) ran up to Jiho's cabinmates. 

    "Just start dating already, damn. You're each other's biggest fanboys." Kristine chuckled, waiting in line for the food. 

    "It would ruin the magic!" Hanhae whisper-yelled indignantly, Mino nodding furiously in the background. The cabinmates rolled their eyes again and shuffled forward in the dinner line. Within minutes the high-schoolers had found a large table and sat down with Jihoon and Taeil as well, two other kids in Hanhae and Mino's cabin, the bear cabin. 

    "Chow-down time!" Yukwon yelled, digging into his beans and rice. Jiho stared at everyone as they all started cramming food in their mouths. It was literally the most disgusting thing he had seen in a very long while. 

    "Eat before your food gets cold, sweetheart." Jaehyo cooed, before turning back to his bowl. Within minutes everyone had finished, save for Jiho and had moved on to drinking ridiculous amounts of water. 

    "I am going to piss soooo much." Juni said, chuckling as she leaned back on the bench. 

    "You, mi amigo," Kyung chuckled softly, "are ing disgusting." Everyone at the table nodded in agreement. Juni just sighed again and smiled one of her signature lazy smiles. 

    The rest of the night passed by in an incredible blur. Things were unpacked, people were gossiped about (courtesy of Jaehyo) and cabinmates were insulted. Jiho was just left there, laying on his bunk and letting the conversations drift over him until he heard the call of lights out. 

----

    "Wakey wakey! You ready to die?" A grinning face popped up next to Jiho and the blonde screamed in horror, recoiling out of his top bunk and onto the floor. Kyung cackled, taking back a few steps. 

    "You wear actual pajamas to bed? Woah, that's so fancy." Minhyuk exclaimed, staring at Jiho's fleece pants as if they were from a different planet. 

    "Get dressed, breakfast is in ten minutes. Today's the big hike." Jaehyo called, already dressed in an orange camp shirt and black skinny jeans. A quick look around him and Jiho knew he had woke up late, everyone else was already dressed and ready to go, all in their matching orange camp shirts and all of them with sea-green bandanas, which he would later learn was their cabin's color. 

    " guys, it's six thirty. Why the hell are we waking up now?" Jiho asked, once he had finished changing. He saw all the other campers rubbing sleep from their eyes and congregating at the mess hall for breakfast like ants at an anthill. 

    "Hi y'all!" A sweet southern accent called, the lovely voice belonging to no councilor other than Councilor Yull, the pretty one. Everyone in the breakfast line turned to look at her, all with adoring smiles. Yull winked, waved and walked back to the councilor's cabin. 

    "She's perfect." Yukwon breathed, staring at the space where she was. 

    "Completely gorgeous." Minhyuk sighed, patting Yukwon's shoulder. 

    "And damn y too." Jaehyo said, rubbing his eyes. Juni nodded furiously. 

    "Even her personality is amazing." Jihoon stated, looking rather shell-shocked at the collage freshman's appearance. Technically Yull was a councilor in training, but everyone loved her all the same. 

    "I've never met anyone nicer." Taeil smiled sweetly, staring off into the distance. "No wonder everyone is in love with her."

    "The best thing is, she's completely out of Yukwon's league!" Kyung yelled, breaking everyone's trance. After Kyung's loud call the entire breakfast went normally. Bowls of oatmeal were passed out and everyone sat down at a table again. 

    "Now this," Jiho spat, looking at the disgusting grey glops of oats in front of him "this looks like . I'm going to guess it tastes the same."

    "Mmmph. You are so wrong." Hanhae sighed into his oatmeal. Jiho's eyes grew as large as a certain boy in the snake cabin (Kyung called him owlboy, Jaehyo called that bullying). The oatmeal was amazing. 

    "Can oatmeal be a religion?" Jiho asked, shoveling spoonfuls of the grey oats into his mouth. Everyone at the table nodded; inhaling their oatmeal in record time. Quickly all of the campers finished, and ran back to the cabins to grab backpacks. 

     To say the least Jiho was confused. He, being a city kid, or as Kyung called him "a whiny good-for-nothing wallflower" was not used to any aspect of country life and/or culture, and had no idea if their actions were welcoming or condescending. Nonetheless Jiho was beginning to warm up the tiniest bit to the other campers, but his cabinmates seemed to be the lowest country trash there was, lacking manners and sensitivity. 

    "So big-nose, you're probably wondering what's in your backpack right there." Juni drawled, lacing up her hiking boots for the thirtieth time. Jiho shot her puzzled looks as he had no idea that she claimed to have been "cursed" to have forever untied shoelaces. "In that old backpack you will find a baseball cap, a pow-R-bar, which tastes like wet cardboard, three delicious miniature ham sandwiches, a few liters of water, a bottle of vitamin water and the last but certainly not least at all, this." Juni held up a bag of golden-pink glop. 

    "I'm pretty sure it's made out of marshmallows, dried fruit, honey and pure deliciousness." Kristine smiled dreamily, staring at her bag of the glop. 

    "The secret ingredient is crack ." Kyung grinned even wider, swinging his bag over his shoulder. Everyone in the cabin snickered, all in various stages of preparation for the hike. Somehow within minutes Jiho was prepared for the long trek and was shoved out of the cabin for a briefing session. 

    "Welcome to your first full day of camp, children." A sleepy eyed councilor with a lilting Chinese accent whispered in the early morning breeze. Jiho was rounded up with several other first time campers. "Stick with your fellow campers and enjoy the sights. Lunch will be held when you get to the big fort. Stay on the trail and you'll be fine. Remember, have fun!" and with a lazy wink the stoned-looking councilor wandered off. 

    Jiho turned to walk back to his cabin only to face his cabinmates. Jaehyo slipped a backpack into Jiho's hands, and the old green thing was a good amount heavier than he thought. Jiho looked around as the kids walked through the campground. Were there always these many kids there? Jiho asked himself. Minhyuk nodded his head in Jiho's direction as if to say yes. 

    "Welcome aboard, soldier." Kyung grinned crazily, slapping Jiho's back a little too hard. Jiho winced, trying to feel his back through the beat up backpack. 

    "Camp is like the military. It's a life altering experience." Juni smiled softly for once, thinking about her time spent here. "Do y'all remember your first time here?" All of the cabinmates got a little misty-eyed thinking about how little they were when they first started coming to camp, sans Jiho. 

    "Did you see that councilor Jung redid the Wheel Of Pain?" Jaehyo interrupted the nostalgic flow to ask his fellow campers the "riveting" question. 

     "All new punishments for Kyung to get out of." Minhyuk chuckled, pushing Kristine out of the way to get near Jaehyo. Kristine shot death glares at Minhyuk as Jiho helped her up. 

      "Thanks." Kristine whispered, smiling at Jiho as he dusted herself off. Kristine looked like she belonged on the alps with her twin braids, skirt and white button-down shirt. Jiho found her cute in some odd sisterly way, but wondered why she seemed like just a friend to him. 

----

     "I-ugh-think I'm going to-ugh-die." Jiho groaned, slowly hiking up the massive uphill. He could see his cabinmates a handful of meters away, close enough to hear Kyung's psycho laugh, which was probably directed at him, but too far away to ask for help. 

    "Keep your back straight, it helps out in the long run." a mysterious voice called from behind. Jiho whipped his head around to see Hanhae. 

    "You're Hanhae, right? The gay one?" Jiho asked awkwardly. The fact that everyone in the camp was open with everything bothered Jiho, though he couldn't put his finger on why. 

    "No that's Jaehyo. And Minhyuk. And Ji- you know what? Yes, that's me." Hanhae sighed, running a hand through his orange-brown hair. He didn't seem angry about the whole confrontation, just tired of it. 

     "Oh," Jiho looked around, unsure of what to say. "that's-err, great?" Jiho started to blush, maybe because it was at least a million degrees outside or maybe because the situation was too damn awkward. 

    "Haha, yeah, it isn't. If I told my parents then they would kill me. You have a boyfriend yet?" Hanhae turned to Jiho, who nearly jumped out of his skin. Is everyone at this camp gay? Jiho asked himself. 

    "No, no, nah, I'm straight. Completely one-hundred percent straight. I, uh, like s. Yeah." Jiho stuttered awkwardly, feeling all of his blood rush up to his face. Hanhae rolled his eyes as if to say, "yeah right" and jogged up the mountainous hill to reach Jiho's cabinmates. 

    "Wait for me, Hanhae!" Jiho yelled, feeling some newfound energy rush through him as he ran to catch up to Hanhae. In his desperation to not be left alone, Jiho smashed into Kyung. Both boys went flying, Jiho landing face first in some dead leaves and Kyung bellyflopping into grass. 

    "What the hell?" Kyung yelled angrily, hopping up and glaring at Jiho. Jiho backed away slowly, a little bit scared of what might happen. He could see it now; "enraged high school student kills his fellow camper on a mountaintop". Luckily for Jiho, Yukwon grabbed Kyung by the arm, telling him that Jiho didn't mean to. 

    The rest of the hike was uneventful, filled mostly with Jiho whining about the uphills and Yukwon playing I-spy with Taeil. They were surrounded by nearly identical trees, making possibly the most annoying game of I-spy. Suddenly a large wooden structure loomed up out of the forest as if to break the monotony and Juni broke into a jig. 

    "We made it! We're here!" Jaehyo and Jihoon bellowed, running up to the structure. Kristine began her famous victory yodel as Juni did cartwheels. Yukwon spun around in a circle and Mino pulled Hanhae in a huge embrace. Minhyuk and Kyung did a backflip. Jiho grinned tiredly, too exhausted to do much. All of his cabinmates walked up to the fort to be greeted by Councilor Yull. 

    "Good job, y'all!" Yull exclaimed excitedly "Y'all are the first group to get up here!" Yukwon pulled Yull into a huge hug, surprising the college student. Hanhae swung his arm around Mino's shoulder. Soon enough all the campers were settled down and eating lunch. All of them were too tired to talk, but everyone shared glances, proud of themselves. Jiho was just happy he didn't have to walk. 

----

    Why is it so dark? Jiho asked himself, waking up after a bout of heavy sleeping. It had been his third night here, Night three of eighteen., he had told himself. He still couldn't get used to how dark it was at night, how many stars he could see amongst the huge forest trees. It was nothing like Seoul, and for once Jiho loved it. 

    "Can't sleep, huh?" an all too familiar voice drifted from above. Jiho sighed, thinking it was too late at night or early in the morning for Kyung's bull; he wasn't sure what time it was anymore. It was a pleasant surprise then, when Kyung took his hand and spirited him away out of their cabin and off into the night. Outside of the cabin Jiho could see the pale lemony trail illuminated by the moon, which would be full in a few days. 

    "Where are we going?" Jiho whispered, more surprised than scared. This was the sort of thing he read in books, and never thought of doing. Why would he sneak out of the cabin at night?

    "Up." Kyung grinned, the corners of his eyes and mouth crinkling upwards. He seemed a good deal more impish in the moonlight, like some Peter Pan hailing from the stars to spirit Jiho away and take him off on some magical adventure. 

    The two children walked down the path and up to a large tree, the kind Jiho thought Totoro would live in when he was little. And out in the corned of his eye, Jiho could have sworn he saw the Catbus's grin. Kyung began climbing up the tree, and Jiho followed, putting his hands and feet where Kyung told him to. In what seemed like a million years afterwards the two were at the top, cradled by emerald leaves and soft moonlight. 

    "You don't see the stars in Seoul." Jiho stated, staring at the spiderweb of bright dots in the cosmos. Kyung looked at him with a sympathetic smile, one Jiho could even describe as sweet, and pulled Jiho close. He then began to point out the stars and constellations for Jiho, and the blonde sat there, soaking it all up. Jiho had never learned much about the constellations, only ever being able to see a star or two at best in Seoul, and was clearly amazed by the huge interlaced connect-the-dots patterns in the night sky. He didn't even remember how he landed back in his own bunk, but he did remember the wind whistling through the leaves and an orchestra of insects lulling him to sleep. 

----

    "It's game day!" Kristine and Juni screeched, running around the cabin happily. Their bustling around the room quickly awakened their fellow cabinmates, who weren't exactly as pleased about the day's schedule as the happy duo was. 

    "Who needs an alarm clock when you have these two?" Jiho drawled, smiling after getting over the initial reaction of wanting to punch both of them in the face. He surprised himself after saying this, as for once he didn't feel any negative feelings towards Kyung or the others. 

    "Breakfast!" a loud roar was heard outside of the cabin, the particularly low voice belonging to no one other than Pyo Jihoon. All of the members of Wolf Cabin, Jiho included, hurrahed and hopped out of their bunks. Good vibes were in the air, as Councilor Zhang had said on that early Tuesday. 

    "You know, I don't hate you anymore." Kyung said early that morning, smiling into his bowl of oatmeal. Everyone at the breakfast table gasped, staring at the brunette. Jiho could have sworn his heart did a series of backflips, but he wasn't exactly sure why. 

    "Woah my gosh, man, you don't understand. That's about the best compliment you'll ever get from Kyung!" Taeil and Yukwon gasped, staring at Kyung as if the younger had two heads. Jiho blushed a tiny bit, happy that his cabinmate was actually being nice for once. Meanwhile, Minhyuk was trying to secretly snake an arm around Jaehyo, who was trying hard not to laugh at his feeble attempts to be suave. 

    "Everybody up! Hustle, hustle! We have a big day ahead of us!" Councilor Yull was yelling in her sweet southern accent, which by now Jiho was completely accustomed to. He still was slightly worried that he would get an accent like Yull or Kyung, but Juni had reassured him that his voice still made him sound like a prick from Seoul a million times. Jiho smiled and waved as their friends from other cabins ran off to rejoin with their cabinmates. The mess hall and all of the fields surrounding it were swarmed with people looking for their cabins. The time from then to when the field day really began seemed to be a blur. He wasn't payed attention until someone yelled "THREE LEGGED RACE!"

    "Alright Jiho, on the count of three, and if you this up I will murder you." Kyung added with a sweet smile, tying the bag around Jiho's leg. Jiho nodded, equal parts excited and nervous, and just maybe the tiniest bit queasy, as his heart was continuing to do backflips after Kyung talked to him. 

     Suddenly he heard the whistle tweet and everyone was lurching forward, with the exception of Hanhae and Mino, who had managed to fall flat on their faces almost instantaneously. Jiho could hear Kyung mumbling "One, two" under his breath and Jiho followed cadence quickly, the two hobbling along the field at an awkwardly fast gait. Jiho watched as people fell around them, gunny sack covered legs flopping in the air. He could see the bright red finish line coming up as he and Kyung quickly lost their beat and tumbled forward into first place. Kyung smiled, slamming Jiho into the biggest bear hug a short high schooler could give. Jiho grinned from ear to ear, happy about his accomplishment. He could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks after Kyung untwined their tangled arms. 

    Most of the games rushed by Jiho, many of them being uneventful. Gunny sack races were by far the most violent, with the majority of the campers faceplanting at least once. Jiho was no exception, bearing some scrapes on his arms and face, which Jaehyo later named "y battle wounds". Jaehyo had received some "y battle wounds" of his own after tripping over his own feet twice in their baton relay. It would have been humiliating, but Jaehyo had beaten Luhan, from deer cabin, who had crushed him in the hula hoop competition (or as Kristine called it, the pelvic- off) and was too busy gloating to care. Jiho had done average in most of the challenges, minus his horrific failure in long jump, which he was still trying to forget about. 

    "Alright kiddos! It's time for the final game! Go join up with the rest of the kids from your cabin." Councilor Zhang said, adjusting his sparkly, rainbow-laden unicorn shirt. Councilor Zhang was a little odd to say the least. With his final words all of the campers scurried off to find their cabinmates once again. 

    "Y'all already know what game it is." Kristine murmured, nods and replies circulating throughout her friends. Jiho looked at her, a great deal more than confused as to what was going on at the moment. As if an answer to his prayers, the key to his confusion, Councilor Zhang chose that time to pipe up again in his light voice. 

   "Do y'all know what groovy game it's time for," Councilor Zhang yelled at the crowd of teens. The teenagers and councilors alike laughed at Councilor Zhang's use of the word groovy, but cheered afterwards nonetheless. 

    "IT'S ICE ISLAND TIME!" all the campers roared, their voices at least a hundred strong. People were jumping and cheering, all excited for the game. Jiho was confused again, which was normal as far as he or anyone else were concerned. His confusion only grew as each cabin was presented a square blanket, which was laid down upon the grass. 

    "Team huddle!" Juni called, roping her arms around Kyung and Kristine's shoulders. All of Jiho's cabinmates put on their "game faces", which were a mixture of stern seriousness and childish humor. 

    "I say we just try to cram ourselves together as much as possible when needed." Jaehyo stated solemnly and everyone in the huddle nodded in silent agreement, puzzling Jiho even further. Jaehyo seemed to notice the blonde's loom of utter confusion and began to explain the game. "We all lay on the mat and it gets smaller and smaller, whoever touches the grass is frozen. If three or more people get frozen then the team is disqualified. The goal is to last the longest, and the prize is soft tacos."

    "Hold up, hold up. The prize is more than just any old soft taco. They're Yeonju's soft tacos. They're the best soft tacos in the province, if not the continent." Kyung whispered, as if revealing Yeonju's soft taco secrets would destroy the universe... or worse. Once again everyone nodded as seriously as before. Jiho would later find out that everyone in camp took soft tacos extremely seriously, and that winning that prize was like winning the lottery, except it took more skill than luck.

    Wolf cabin was broken out of their whistle by Councilor Jeong's loud wolf-call whistle. She nodded, and a councilor walked up to each of the cabin groups to watch them play. 

    The game started out easily. The blanket was big enough to accommodate all six of them easily before being folded in half. They didn't encounter any real problems until the blanket was folded the fourth time, and Juni seemed to lose balance, tumbling to the ground. Councilor Jeong blew her whistle, pointing at a scowling Juni, who was pooled out on the ground like melted ice cream. The game continued on until the sixth fold, where at least six teams disqualified at. The space was quickly shrinking and Jiho was finding it hard to stand on one foot on the "island" that was once large. He found himself tipping dangerously to one side, and Kyung quickly grabbed ahold of his hands to keep him falling, but to no avail. Jiho fell into the soft grass "ice water", which was actually quite warm with the late afternoon sun beating down on it. 

    " to be out, huh? We've only won one year, Tiger Cabin wins most of the time. We can only hope that one of them doesn't fall." Juni sighed, running her bare feet through the tall grass. Jiho nodded, doing the same and wondering what he would have thought about the camp's events if he had looked at "country folk" the same way as he had before the summer. Jiho was loudly interrupted from his brooding thoughts by a raucous cheer that roared through the campgrounds; Tiger Cabin had lost. The game was now between Wolf Cabin and Snake Cabin, and mock suspense seemed to fill the air. You could cut the tension with a knife, and the silence was brooding. 

    "FOR SPARTA!" the remaining members of Wolf Cabin screamed at the top of their teenaged lungs, and raised Kristine into the air so they could have more room to stand on the now tiny blanket. The other teams stared at them like they were crazy, which in retrospect they actually were. The suspense was cut by a loud whistle from Councilor Zhang. 

    "Wolf Cabin disqualified! You are not allowed to lift a teammate off the blanket as their feet are not touching it. That and, you yell that whole "for Sparta" thing every year, it's getting old. Snake Cabin wins!" Councilor Zhang rattled off in his thick Chinese accent. Snake Cabin whooped and hollered, high-fiving each other and hugging. 

    "Every year. Every goddamn year this happens." Minhyuk grumbled, hopping off the blanket. Jaehyo and the rest nod solemnly, walking down the path to the mess hall in rare silence. Kyung managed to find his way to Jiho and snake his arm around the bleach-blonde. 

    "Yeonju is my neighbor, we can get some tacos from her some other time in the summer." Kyung smiled, and Jiho couldn't help but grin right back. 

----

    "EVERYBODY UP AND IN THEIR SWIMSUITS. BE READY TO REPORT TO THE MESS HALL IN FIVE MINUTES!" Councilor Jeong's famous scream was heard right by the Wolf Cabin's door. Everyone shot up with the exception of Jaehyo, who rolled off his bunk and onto Minhyuk. Minhyuk would have been displeased about nearly being crushed but having Jaehyo sprawled out all over him was a dream come true, so he couldn't really complain. 

    "Why the hell did we wake up at midnight to get into swim trunks?" Jiho asked, equal parts confused and excited.

    "We swim in the lake at midnight on Fridays and weekends. It's a thing out here, since it's still so damn hot at- OFF MOSQUITO!" Juni yelled, slapping at the mosquitos latching on to her arms. According to Taeil, Juni was mosquito bait, and was constantly being bitten up to prove it.

    "Never fear, the repellant is here!" Kristine grinned, spraying the repellant all over her cabinmates and finally herself. Jiho could see other cabins doing the same, spraying mosquito repellant to keep the annoying bugs away in the humid night. The air felt ten times thicker, soupy and warmer than it did in the afternoon. Swimming was going to be nice after all. 

    The trek to the lake was torture. Jiho could have sworn he had sweat at least a gallon of water by the time he reached the lake. Everyone started bellowing campfire songs that were completely out of tune and rhythm once they left the mess hall. It didn't matter anymore though, and Jiho sang along with the rest. He was in for the ride, for better or worse. 

    "Here we are!" Councilor Jeong roared, standing in front of a large hedge. She really only had one volume: extra loud. "You all have one and a half hours to swim, then we walk back. Attempts to drown or otherwise maim your fellow campers are not acceptable, and will be punished. We don't need a repeat of what happened three years ago."

    "Yes m'am!" All of the campers yelled and saluted in unison, standing in a straight line more or less. Once the words had left their mouths the campers broke out of their rigid stances and ran into the hedge, scrabbling their way through to the other side. Jiho followed Kyung, crawling through a tiny tunnel in the bushes that grew close enough together to weave their branches into a fine mesh. He dearly hoped that the sight on the other side would be worth all the times a stray stick poked him. 

    Jiho clawed his way out of the greenery and stood up, looking at the lake in front of him. "Whoa." was all he could say as he stared at the starry night sky reflected in the mirror that was the lake. Fireflies zigzagged across, adding light to the glassy surface. The lake was still, the water so clear that it looked fake, as if Jiho were to blink it would all disappear.

    C'mon!" Kyung grabbed Jiho's wrist and dashed forward, kicking off his shoes and climbing up a tall box to grab a vine-- no, an old rope, from the large tree that shaded a corner of the large body of water. Jiho watched Kyung swing on the rope like a trained acrobat and let go, flying into the star-dotted lake. The water grew still for a second, only for Kyung's head to pop up. "The water's great, hop in!" 

    Jiho grabbed the rope and swung, flying into the air and landing not-so-gracefully in the water by Kyung. The water was cool, but not ice cold, and lacked the sting of chlorine that all the pools in Seoul had. Quickly their other cabinmates joined them in the lake. Some kids from snake cabin dragged out a tiny woven raft that Jiho had a little too much fun sinking whenever Hanhae decided to sit on it. Councilor Zhang was peacefully strumming his guitar the entire time and that night seemed like paradise, even when they had to leave the lake. 

    Jiho laid down in the grass next to Kyung, the two drying off in the faint breeze that whistled through the trees. "You know, it isn't too bad out here." Jiho whispered, facing Kyung, the tall grass framing the other's smiling face. 

    "You aren't too bad either." Kyung grinned, wrapping an arm around a blushing Jiho, who laid his head on Kyung's chest, the two looking out at the night sky. Kyung hummed along to the old folk tune Councilor Zhang was playing on guitar, accompanied by the rustling of the grass and trees in the early summer breeze and the sing-songy calls of the birds above. The world seemed to fall into a standstill around the two, and Jiho could have sworn this was paradise. He couldn't help but smile to himself. I could live like this.

•••••••••
A/N

This is my entry for the シクラメン writing contest. The prompt I used was "Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.". It took me a while to write this but I'm quite happy with it, and even if it doesn't win I'm glad I wrote it. Zikyung are really a fun ship to write, and I love summer camp AUs. Keep your inner child alive, yo. Comments are greatly appreciated, but thank you for reading.