HIKE

04 | starting line

"Looks like we're here...?" Jaehyun pulled up on the side of the road where another group of backpacked teenagers were waiting, looking like a bunch of lost turtles on the pavement.

"Wait, which group is that?" Donghyuck squinted from the backseat.

"If you're getting hopeful, it's not Xiyeon's group,'' Renjun informed him, rolling his eyes.

"Damnit." Donghyuck wrinkled his nose but unclipped his seatbelt and scrambled out of the car anyway.

"Dong-yuck!" yelled one of the guys from the other team, his voice hoarse but his grin wide. He was taller than the others, with unusually large hands, and was a year older too since he'd gone back a year when he'd moved to Seoul from Hong Kong.

"Fuck you, Lucas, stop calling me that!" Donghyuck pointed a finger in Lucas' direction, storming over with the others in tow.

"Calling you what?" Lucas asked innocently, blinking with a pair of big eyes. "It's my accent, right?"

"Yeah, Hyuck, don't be racist," Renjun teased, coming over to join them.

Lucas slung an arm around Renjun's shoulders and smirked at Donghyuck. "Don't get on the bad side of the Chinese mafia," he warned.

"Fucking mafia," Donghyuck scoffed, "I hate you guys."

"We all hate you too, Hyuckie," Jaemin reminded him. He was helping his brother unload all the backpacks from the car, all of which were packed full of tents and cooking stoves and sleeping bags. It was a sore reminder of what they would endure for the next few days.

"Chani!" said Jeno, greeting his fellow teammate from the school soccer team. He cast his gaze over to where Lucas was ruffling Renjun's hair and raised an eyebrow. "Um, is there, like, a teacher here or something?"

"Yeah!" piped up a tall boy from the other team, whose perm had left him with curls like uncooked ramen. "Mark-hyung came to see us off, but he just went into that store over there to get some water."

"Thanks for the wiki article, Sanha," said another boy with a small face and pretty features, yet with a sour expression and pursed lips.

"Hey, Jinyoung, c'mon man," said Lucas.

By that point, Mark had returned from the store with a bottle of water. Even in the middle of nowhere, where there were roads there were stores, and people selling bottled water to other people too dumb to bring their own.

"Alright, guys," said Mark with more enthusiasm than the two boys teams put together, "Mr Kim is seeing the girls teams off, and he sent me to meet you guys before you go your separate ways. Now, has anyone forgotten anything?"

Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun all glanced at Donghyuck like it was part of a choreographed musical sequence and were about to mouth the word condoms when-

"Shut up," Donghyuck hissed, wanting to throttle all of them with his bare hands. "Do not bring up the fucking condoms again."

Mark cleared his throat. "Sorry, did you have a question, Donghyuck?"

"Huh? What? Oh, no," Donghyuck replied with an awkward burst of laughter. He resumed his bored expression and added, "Can we just go already?"

"You sure your fat ass doesn't want anything from the store?" Renjun smirked.

"Need I remind you that this fatass is the only one in a relationship, thank you very much," Donghyuck snapped.

"Yeah, but are you sure that Xiyeon isn't blind?" Jeno put in.

"And deaf," Renjun added.

"And only attracted to really weird personalities," said Jaemin.

"And people with fat asses," Lucas chipped in, letting himself in on the squabble.

The other four stared at him.

"Oh, am I, like, not a part of this squad?" Lucas asked, giving each of them a hurt look.

"Anyway," Mark interrupted, raising his voice above all of them, "we'll set off now, okay? As long as everyone definitely has their map and compass...?"

The groups chorused yes and Mark smiled a little more confidently.

"Good," he said. "Okay, everyone gather in and we'll say a chant before we leave. After three say: Hike Chall-"

"Yeah, whatever." Donghyuck pushed past him, lugging his heavy rucksack onto his back and setting off alone.

"Lee Donghyuck!" Mark yelled after him.

"He won't come back," Jaemin informed him.

"Not after we've made fun of him," Jeno snickered to himself.

"Donghyuck, come back right now or your whole team is disqualified!" Mark called with a tone of frustration.

"Yeah, yeah, what are you gonna do, hyung? Send us home?" Donghyuck taunted from a distance, his voice growing further away by the second.

Mark glanced over at Jaehyun, who was still hanging around, leaning against the bonnet of his car. "Well, yes, actually-"

"Jaehyun-hyung, get in the car and drive!" Donghyuck shooed Jaehyun away with his hands, which made the older laugh at him.

Eventually, Renjun got fed up and marched down to where Donghyuck was to drag him back to the group. "Geez, can we just say this chant already so we can get this weekend over with?" he groaned.

"Be more positive, Renjun," Mark smiled at him. "I'm sure we'll all have a ton of fun!"

Renjun didn't believe him.

But no one ever believed Mark Lee.

Donghyuck would say it's because Mark Lee is a dumbass.

"Okay, well put your hands in everyone," said Mark. He was taking his role as leader and supervisor very seriously. Almost too seriously, really.

They gathered around to put their hands together, and even Jaehyun joined in for fun. Mark counted to three and there was a monotonous harmony to the words Hike Challenge! in which only Yoon 'Ramen Hair' Sanha from the other team seemed excited.

"Whatever, let's go now," said Donghyuck, ushering them on.

"Thanks for driving us, hyung," said Jaemin, accepting his brother's help as Jaehyun hauled the enormous rucksack onto the younger's back.

"Have fun, Mini Jae," Jaehyun smiled. "And please, for mom's sake, don't die."

"Nah, don't worry, I won't," Jaemin laughed. He awkwardly hugged his older brother (awkwardly, because it was in front of all his friends) and finally said goodbye.

"Alright, hoes, time to go, chop chop," said Donghyuck, hurrying them up and onto their walking track.

"I swear to god, Hyuck, you are the gayest straight boy I've ever met," said Jeno.

"Why? You meet a lot of gay boys?" Donghyuck raised an eyebrow at him suggestively.

Jaemin jogged a little to catch up with them. "I thought we'd already established that Jeno was gay," he remarked.

"Stop using big words, Jae, none of us have the brain power," said Donghyuck.

"Guys, I never said I was gay."

"Well, maybe I can help you learn some big words then," said Jaemin, completely ignoring Jeno at this point.

"Or maybe you can keep your big words to yourself and shut your mouth?" Donghyuck suggested in a pleasant tone.

"Am I even here?" Jeno blinked.

"Guys, no one cares about your fucking big words," said Renjun, finally drawing his gaze away from the view of the wildlife they had stumbled into.

"Shut up, Renjun."

"Yeah, shut up, Renjun."

They had only been walking for four and a half minutes, and there were still another two days to go after they finished this one.

Renjun gave a really long sigh.

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