Kyungsoo couldn't ignore the feeling of someone watching him as he was sleeping. He wasn't too shocked then when he woke up to see seven pairs of eyes peeking at him from over the ends of the beds. Their expressions range from "WTF" to a child like curiosity of "I want to poke it with a stick!”. Still it was enough to freak him out until he realized that they weren't chasing him out (considering he was probably trespassing in their house), but instead just looking at him.

"Oh! Hello!" Kyungsoo said with his most nonthreatening expression. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on your...."

"What did you do to my house?" The boy standing by the bed marked ‘Ilhoon’ asked before Kyungsoo could finish what he was saying.

"It's not only your house, Ilhoon. Obviously he cleaned it." The boy by the ‘Minhyuk’ bed spoke up.

"But cleaning bothers Sungjae's allergies." grumbled Ilhoon.

Just than a sneeze was heard, presumably from Sungjae.

"I like how the house is all clean. I can even see the floor!" Added a bright faced boy standing at the bed marked 'Peniel'.

The boy next to Peniel nodded his head shyly while blushing scarlet when Kyungsoo looked at him.

Next to him was a boy with his head propped up on his fist while his eyelids drooped lower and lower. As his head slid off his hand and landed on Minhyuk's shoulder, he was given a nudge in the ribs by his friend.

On the end, not saying a word but just staring, was a boy with wide eyed wonder whose name Kyungsoo assumed to be Eunkwang.

"Well you're in my ('our' Minhyuk corrected) house without permission!" Ilhoon continued as if Minhyuk had never spoken. "you made a mess ('cleaned' Peniel said) and probably poisoned our food ('Smells like heaven to me' HyunSik whispered) so just get out before I get REALLY angry!" Ilhoon snapped, dividing his glare between his friends and the stranger sitting on the bed.

"I'm sorry! I thought the cottage was abandoned. I will leave right away! I didn't mean to be any trouble but I had nowhere else to go and then I saw your cottage." Kyungsoo edged closer to the edge of the bed while fighting back the urge to cry. He still had no where to stay and it was already dark outside.

"Why were you wandering alone in the woods anyway? Are you stupid or something?" Ilhoon asked earning him scowls from 5 of the boys (while Eunkwang just smiled at Kyungsoo).

"Don't be silly! You can't go anywhere tonight! It's dark and besides it's not safe to travel alone." Minhyuk said. "You can tell us how you came to our doorstep while we enjoy some of the delicious food you made," he added offering his hand to help Kyungsoo get off the beds.  

As the seven boys backed up to allow Kyungsoo to precede them down the stairs, he noticed all of the boys wore coordinating outfits. All slightly different but very bright and sparkly (Wow era). Peniel noticed Kyungsoo's double take and smiled.

"We're in a band together." He explained.

Kyungsoo couldn't hide his look of surprise.

Eunkwang giggled. ''No really!" Changsub insisted. He stopped moving, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before he began to sing. Before long Eunkwang, Hyunsik, Sungjae and Minhyuk join in while Peniel plays the guitar.

Kyungsoo's jaw dropped in astonishment.

"Okay! I'm convinced." Kyungsoo said when he found his voice again.

They all shared a laugh before the younger boys raced for the stairs with the promise of a hot, home cooked meal.

As the everyone quickly scrambled to get to their seats at the table, Kyungsoo pulled the bowl of kimchi spaghetti out of reach of the hungry boys.

Seven confused faces stared back at him.

"Nothing for anyone who hasn't washed up first!" Kyungsoo explained. "You guys smell like a gym locker! Go on now, the sooner you get cleaned up, the sooner you get to dessert" He prompted after getting no response to his first attempt.

The reaction he received was a series of groans and grumbles before they grudgingly made their way outside to wash their hands and faces.

They weren't strangers to the concept of bathing (no one wants to see a stinky idol) but they would much rather be filling their bellies than washing up!

When all seven boys returned to the table, now all wearing matching track suits, Kyungsoo couldn't help but tell them how handsome they all looked. Since he was sitting closest to Hyunsik, he reached out and fixed some stray hair that was out of place while he spoke, making the other boy blush furiously.

Not a lot of conversation was made as the group gobbled up the tasty feast.

When Kyungsoo placed the freshly baked chocolate cake on the table, there was a brief pause before a battle broke out on who would get the first piece.

Finally when all of the food that Kyungsoo had prepared disappeared into the boy's seemingly bottomless bellies, they leaned back in their chairs, too full to move.

"Why were you in the forest all alone anyway?" Minhyuk asked.

Kyungsoo's smile disappeared at the memory of the day's events. He’d shared with the boys about how the Queen sent Siwon to kill him and then the centaur had a change of heart. Siwon instead told him to run for his life and never return to the only home he'd ever known.

Kyungsoo explained how he'd met the handsome young man yesterday and he was going to return today, too.

The boys were sad about the missed meeting with the young man and frightened by the mention of the Queen. They had heard many stories of the Queen's harsh treatment of anyone who doesn't agree with his views. Minhyuk suggested that Kyungsoo should stay with them as long as he needs and most of the other boys quickly nodded in agreement.

After Kyungsoo finished telling his story, the boys thought it would cheer everyone up if they performed some of their act.

As the boys sang "Thriller", Kyungsoo was soon joining, adding his own 'zombie' moves and quickly catching onto the dance moves as they went on to sing "Beep Beep", "Insane" and "You're So Fly". As they slowed things down with "Star", Kyungsoo sat down to marvel at their harmonies.

When they attempted to do a cover of a Girls Generation song, it was so terrible that Kyungsoo and the boys ended up in a laughing heap in the center of the living room. If only for a short time, Kyungsoo was able to forget the life altering change his world had suddenly taken earlier that day.

After the laughter had died down, it wasn't only Changsub that was fighting to stay awake. Peniel was snoring, curled up on a bench with Sungjae, as his head rested on the shoulder of his friend. Ilhoon and Hyunsik were sitting by the fire but they were obviously having a difficult time keeping their eyes open and Minhyuk was keeping Eunkwang standing upright as his friend snored quite loudly and possibly drooled a little, too. Minhyuk motioned that Kyungsoo should go up to sleep on their beds like he had done earlier. Kyungsoo shook his head in refusal but Minhyuk shuffled over to his side, with Eunkwang still attached to his side, as he nudged a reluctant Kyungsoo to the stairs.

Kyungsoo was quite exhausted after his eventful day so he didn't put up too much of a fight before trudging up to bed. Tomorrow would be the first day of his new life so he'd need to be refreshed to start off on the right foot.

The sunlight streaming through the window was what woke Kyungsoo. In his room in the castle, the window was very tiny and the sun didn't reach it much later in the day.  He yawned and stretched, preparing to start the new day, until he realized his life would never be the same. The chance of ever crossing paths with the handsome stranger again was very next to zero and he was never going to return to the castle. He didn't have a death wish!

It wasn't all bad, he thought to himself, he'd met some cool people already and the Queen had no idea where he was or even that he was still alive!

Alright! With a renewed sense of determination, Kyungsoo decided it was time to start some breakfast.

Kyungsoo tidied up, trying not to disturb the sleeping boys as he washed up and grabbed a basket to pick some fresh goodies to go with the crêpes he planned on making.

He was singing to himself so he didn't notice immediately the presences of a chipmunk, a deer and a fox. The odd trio that was at the cottage yesterday, Kyungsoo surmises.

"Good morning, friends! Can you show me where I might find some nice ripe berries?" Kyungsoo asked since they didn't seem too surprised by him being there. They did seem slightly surprised that he was asking them a question though. The fox and deer looked to the chipmunk who shrugged and trotted down a path followed by the fox at a leisurely pace and the deer waited until Kyungsoo started to walk in the direction the other two had taken before joining along.

A/N Sorry about the slow updates! I hadn't been abducted by aliens, my beta was overwhelmed by stuff and underwhelmed by editing my nonsense. So please forgive the unedited mess that is this chapter.