"okay please listen up everyone!" mister lee casually walked inside the wooden cabin, gaining the attention of all thirteen teens who occupied the room.
everyone had to gather in their own cabin about fifteen minutes ago for the first activity that was planned. a curtain of darkness had already fallen over them, signaling midnight was only a few minutes away. the bright and nearly full moon watched over them, giving the night a rather sinister atmosphere.
mister lee was satisfied with his group since all teens instantly stopped talking the moment he set foot inside with an important announcement to make. and so, he was given the chance to continue.
"as you all probably might already know from students who went on school camp before, tonight we're playing the school's famous forest game!" the corners of his lips curled up in a mischievous smirk as he turned on the bright flashlight he was holding on to, "hide and seek in the dark!"
sounds of excitement mixed with those who tried to hide their fear was what filled the atmosphere in the room, making mister lee smile in delight upon seeing the various reaction.
"now, when the clock hits exactly twelve am and a horn will be blown i want you to run outside together with your partner. chan, you can pick for yourself if you rather go out alone or if you join another duo. you get five minutes to find a good hiding spot. when those five minutes are over, me and the other teachers will start searching for you. when one of us finds you and shines their flashlights on you together with calling out your name, you're out. you find your way back through the forest to the cabins and you go to sleep once your caught, so if i were you i'd better find a good hiding spot."
"i'm going alone! the dark doesn't scare me that easily." chan said, stroking the wrinkles from his t-shirt with his chest puffed in pride.
wonwoo was the first to roll his eyes on that gesture, which luckily went unseen by everyone in the group as he sat on the top of the bunkbed with his knees pulled up against his chest. he genuinely wondered how mingyu could be friends with someone who acted like that all the time. however, the mingyu he knew from the last two days was still someone else than the rumored asshole he appeared to be at school.
if he only knew that mingyu, one bed lower, did the exact same thing as he did, being overly done with chan's cocky behavior.
"then that's set!" the teacher pulled out his phone, checking the time on the display that lit up, "you have about ten seconds left, so please get up so you can run away when the clock hits midnight."
everyone got up from their positions on the beds, the duo's getting ready to run away when the horn would be blown outside.
however, while most of the group was filled with excitement and nerves for what awaited them, a few of them were trembling in fear, trying their best to suppress their fright in any possible way. boo seungkwan was one of them.
he looked up to hansol, who seemed to be confident about the fact they were about to run through a dark forest. but despite the fact that he was terrified, the moment hansol turned his head and gave him a reassuring look seungkwan knew he would protect him. making his fear at least fade a little.
a loud trumpet-like sound was heard from outside and mister lee threw the door open. "good luck everyone!" he yelled as students passed him, running out of the cabin as fast as they could while trying to hold up with their chosen partners.
once outside they saw students, both boys and girls, also running in the woods direction from their own cabins. the field resembled seungkwan as one of the famous scenes from hunger games, where they released the game players to fight or escape in the woods. only this wasn't an arena filled with slaughterous teens, but a game in the darkness with no intention to further harm.
"seungkwan! i just came up with a good strategy." hansol turned around to face seungkwan who had been running behind him, the moment they reached the edge of the forest. large trees towered over them, intimidating the frightened students who had to enter the darkness.
"a strategy?" seungkwan repeated, confused what hansol was trying to tell him.
"yes! follow me!" without further hesitation, hansol reached for seungkwan's hand and interlaced their fingers together. he kept a firm grip on seungkwan's hand, who was flustered by the sudden move, when hansol started running again.
he guided them a way through the large overpowering trees, keeping his hand in front of him so they wouldn't run into something as the woods were too dark to actually see anything. the darkness made seungkwan realize that if it wasn't for hansol who held onto his hand, his legs would have probably given up on him the moment he got embraced by the utter darkness. ever since he was a kid he had been scared of the dark, his fear remaining when he grew up.
heck, he still slept with his little night light turned on.
the further they ran through the forest, the more the voices from other students became muffled and disappeared eventually, meaning the time was still ticking and the moment the teachers would come to find them was getting closer.
"i think we're far enough now." hansol whispered, still being careful just in case their five minutes would be over already. they had absolutely no idea of time or how long they had been running, "we're going to climb in a tree."
"we're going to wha-" hansol quickly covered his hand over seungkwan's mouth as the boy spoke a little too loud for his liking.
"shh shh shh, they might find us." hansol warned him, removing his hand as he pointed out a tree to climb in, "its branches are reaching low to the ground so we can climb in easy that way. i noticed that nearly all the trees in this forest have bigger and stronger branches higher up, so we might even sit comfortably as long as we have to wait."
"who said i'm capable of climbing a tree? i can't even see you standing in front of me properly." seungkwan complained, his level of fear going up even more.
"you go first, i'm right behind you." hansol tried to reassure seungkwan, softly nudging him in the direction of the tree.
after a moment of hesitation seungkwan eventually nodded, determined grabbing a hold of the first branch to feel if it would hold him when he would climb on it. it felt strong and steady, so with trembling hands seungkwan pulled himself up on the first branch, reaching for a next one when his feet found balance on the wooden surface.
he kept climbing and climbing, until he felt a gentle tap on his ankle, signaling that they were high enough and on a perfect height to spend the time they had to wait. with all the strength he had left, seungkwan pushed himself on the last branch, one that was wide enough for him and hansol to both sit on it.
once seungkwan sat down with his back against the tree, hansol took a seat next to him, panting from the exercise they had just done.
"i don't think they're ever going to be able to find us up here." hansol whispered, looking beside him to check if seungkwan was still doing okay.
meanwhile, seungkwan had his legs pulled up against his chest, wondering if he looked weak in front of the fearless hansol, since his anxiety was obviously showing. his entire body was still trembling and since the temperature was still decent enough to be in short sleeves at this ungodly hour, it must have looked suspicious to him.
however, hansol only found himself adoring the boy next to him, who openly showed his fears and vulnerabilities instead of hiding them away to act tough. and so all he did was pull the trembling boy closer to him, tightly hugging onto him, knowing that a little touch and warmth was the only thing seungkwan needed at that moment.
"i'm here, okay? i'll protect you." he whispered, making seungkwan nod against his chest as he loosely lay his hand around hansol's waist.
"i'm sorry."
"hey, no need to apologize. i said that i'm here to protect you, so that's exactly what i want and what i'm going to do. don't be scared okay, the only things hiding in the shadows of tonight are students and teachers. nothing else."
hansol was right.
for tonight.
