There was a five-story game complex a few neighborhoods away that held a bowling alley, billiards, ping-pong, arcade games, and basically anything that anyone whose inner child had yet to die would find exhilarating. It was about 35 minutes from their dorm by bus, 30 on a good day, and a very good first place to look for five missing young-adults-turned-kids. After pinky-swearing with the other four that they wouldn’t leave or destroy the dorm while he was gone, Tao hastily left the dorm to search for them. He took the fire escape as well; it was the only way out of the dorm that gave a good chance of not being followed by anyone. He descended as quickly as he could and ran down the alley, cursing when he saw that the usually locked gate at the end hadn’t been shut properly. On his way, he stopped and picked up a few hats and pairs of sunglasses at a childrens’ store before hailing a cab and continuing to his destination.

The cab got stuck in traffic about six blocks away, and with no time to waste, Tao hurled enough money for the fare at the driver, and took off. He didn’t realize he’d been at a near-sprint until he burst through the doors and heard his own heavy panting. There was no time to slow down, however, and he did a thorough scan of the arcade to no avail. Upon realizing that that wasn’t where they had gone, and that he didn’t have any other solid leads, he resisted the urge to curl up under one of the pool tables and bawl loudly and instead did what he probably should have done in the first place: Ask at the front desk.

“Did you see *pant* five kids *cough* little kids… come in recently?”

The clerk at the front desk raised an eyebrow ever-so-slightly at the disheveled popstar, but answered the question nonetheless. “Yes, they were here for a brief time, but they left about five minutes ago.”

“Which way… did they go?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see.”

Tao nodded, disappointed, as he stepped away from the counter right before falling into a coughing fit. He had thought today couldn’t get any ier. He was so very wrong.

“We made it!” Kai said, sounding entirely relieved.

“Told you we would,” Chanyeol retorted proudly. "I'm in charge, after all."

“Yeah, but dude…” Baekhyun murmured.

“What?” the leader asked, turning toward the timidly questioning voice, which hesitated to speak again.

Sehun spoke up flatly, unafraid to say what Baekhyun was going to. “Have any bright ideas for how we’re gonna get back in, Dear Leader?”

The five children stood looking at their dormitory from the end of the block, but it was clear from the usual populace of stalk-happy fans that there was no chance they’d be able to go in through the front without drawing attention. They'd found that the gate through which they’d exited was no longer propped open, a likely indication that Tao knew where they were and had already left to go find them as Kai had feared and managed to talk the others into believing. Figuring that the best way to hide from Tao and avoid punishment as long as possible was to hide in plain sight, they’d returned to their home only to realize that the frequent annoyance that was their stalkers had become a major issue now that they were munchkins.

After about 20 minutes of waiting (a.k.a. playing tag and Red light/Green light in a nearby alley,) the group of sasaengs not losing a single member, and Sehun complaining about what a poor decision joining the group had been, they decided that they'd have to do something, whatever that something was.

“There’s only one way in,” Chen concluded. “We have to climb the gate.”

“Are you cwazy- er, crazy!?” Kai yelled. “It’s a 4-meter-high gate with wa- RAzor wire on top!”

“So what’s your idea, Einstein?” Chen asked, lips pouty. Kai didn’t respond to the question, instead asking one of his own.

"Who's gonna do it?"

“I will,” Chanyeol volunteered. “I did it before. I’m good at it!”

“But your wrist…” Baekhyun reminded, eyeing the other’s still bandaged arm.

“It’s okay, I can still do it!” Chanyeol insisted. “You guys are on my team, and I told you I'd have your back, so I will. Stay here until I unlock it!” Before the others could protest, he had run down the block and across the street. They watched him test his injured wrist, and then, indicating that he was satisfied, begin scaling.

Baekhyun’s eyes were wide with concern, and he tried to take comfort in remembering the multiple occasions on which he’d had to sneak back into the dorm with Chanyeol. The taller’s longer limbs gave him an advantage when navigating around the barbed wire. He hoped the experience would help him even though he had lost the height advantage. It didn’t take him long at all to scale the ten feet to the top, but once he reached that height he stopped. Hesitantly, he reached his bad hand up to grab a safe spot between the razor threads, and then his other to join it.

That was when the trouble started.

He tried to put a foot up on top as well, but whether it was his injury or him simply not being strong enough, he struggled to muster up the force necessary to get his leg to where it needed it to be. The others stood on-edge as they watched him finally get the hold, but then freeze up entirely.

“He can’t reach around it…!” Baekhyun noticed, horrified. The others’s heads snapped toward him, an indication that he needed to keep talking. “Next he always puts one of his arms on the other side, and uses his leg that’s still down to push himself over, but his arms are too short!”

“Ahhh, I knew we should have sent Sehun! I knew it all along,” Chen hissed.

“Why me!?”

“Because look at you. You’re all arm and leg!”

Sehun looked down at his limbs, which despite his short overall height for a four-year-old, were rather gangly. Well, he couldn’t argue there; the rest of his body hadn’t caught up to his arms and legs until he was at least eight.

“Look!” Kai piped up.

Their attention was forced back to Chanyeol’s predicament as he finally tried to make his move. He somehow managed to get an arm around the wire, and was now inching his other leg up in order to build some leverage for the push.

“I can’t watch…” Baekhyun groaned. Neither could any of the others, as they looked away.

They heard a rattling sound. Then they heard the sound of cloth ripping and a dull thud. Then the loudest wailing they’d heard all day.

Looking back up, they gasped when they saw that not only had Chanyeol’s attempt failed, but his bandage had caught on the razors on the way down. Chanyeol himself laid on the ground sobbing, his arm suspended in the air by the bandage that was still partially attached to it. By instinct, they started running toward their friend, but they stopped in their tracks when they realized in horror that the crying had attracted the attention of one of the sasaengs. She moved from where she stood looking at her phone to find the source of the incessant wailing, and upon seeing the obviously injured child she immediately called for the help of the other dozen-or-so girls stalking the doorway. About three of them came at first, but something they said attracted the attention of the rest of the girls. The first girl propped Chanyeol up gently, talking to him in what they could hear were soothing intonations, while about ten of them went into their purses for candy to give him.

“Now’s our chance,” Sehun murmured. “Stay here.”

“Wait, wha-“

Before any of them could question him, Sehun was already halfway down the block. He flipped the hood of his sweatshirt up and pulled the drawstrings as tightly as they would go before passing the preoccupied girls, who were fawning over the injured young boy, with coos of, "You look like you fell out of one of Chanyeol's kiddie pictures; you even have his same ears and everything!" Sehun fumbled in his pockets for his door fob and yanked it out just as he ran up to the door, scanning it and disappearing inside before anyone else could notice that there was more than one mini-EXO 'replica' running around. Despite the tears still slightly blurring Chanyeol's vision, Sehun's actions didn’t go unnoticed by him. He cheerfully accepted the candy gifts before insisting that he was okay and taking his leave. All of the girls waved goodbye happily before reassuming their positions by the door.

Chanyeol was all smiles as he walked back toward the group with armfuls of sweets.

“What happened?”

“Did they know who you are?”

“I told you guys this was a bad idea…”

“And apparently no one cares if I’m okay,” Chanyeol murmured, unwrapping and popping one of the hard candies into his mouth. “Intraguiging."

"It's 'intwiguing'" Kai corrected.

"Whatever, Mr. I'm-Now-Pronouncing-Every-Other-R-As-A-W. Did Sehun get in?” he asked, ignoring the rest of their questions and Kai's annoyed pout. The others nodded in reply.

“He’s probably gonna unlock the gate,” Kai deduced after thinking for a second about what kind of plan Sehun would think up. “Let’s go, hurry!”

They ran the long way back around the block so the girls stalking the doorway wouldn't see them. By the time they managed to do so, Sehun had already gone through the building and was standing in its shadow, ready to let the others in. They got in without attracting any attention and ran back inside, up the stairs, and into their place...

Where they were promptly met with a cross-looking Suho, Lay, D.O., and an apathetic Xiumin who was trying to pull his wrist out of D.O.’s grasp so he could return to playing in the mess of toys splayed about.

“Uh.”

“Oh.”

“Spaghetti.”

“Os.”

“…Really, guys?”