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restlessmaknae · 5 years

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that summer when love comes

Sungjin is assigned to be the team leader of the most mischievous kids (the so-called Stray Kids) at the annual summer camp, but he soon founds out that this year will be different from the others for a different reason.

♦ Pairing: team leader!Sungjin x team leader!OC

♦ Supporting characters: the rest of DAY6, Stray Kids and many more idol cameos

♦ Genre: comedy + fluff + no angst

♦ Words: 9.7k

♦ A/N: The ages of the supporting characters are different from their real ones. Apart from DAY6, you have to deduct 4 years from the others’ ages aka Bang Chan is 17 and Jeongin is 13. *-*

Sungjin knew that the summer camp would be difficult with almost 50 students, but he would have never thought that it would be this difficult.

He was always said to be a leader type, someone who can take responsibility for both his and his team’s actions, someone who’s always punctual and reliable and has the ability to make others listen to him. That's exactly why he was assigned to be the leader of the most mischievous kids in the 8th and 9th cabin whom everyone called the Stray Kids because they were always all over the place, messing around and pulling pranks on each other.

“Jeongin, please don't put glue on Jisung's head while he's sleeping! It's really difficult to get it off him when he wakes up.”

“I've told you, Felix, that we don't have a girl group dance cover battle this year. Wonpil decided not to renew the tradition because of the ridiculous costumes some elder students put on last year and because the girls got offended.”

“Hyunjin, I know it's hard to resist, but I kindly ask you not to steal Seungmin's clothes because your own clothes will end up in the lake just like they did last year.”

These and other similar sentences left his mouth from the moment he entered the little camp site where the wooden houses were like dots on a green canvas. The scenery was beautiful as always with overgrowing trees sheltering the area, the pleasantly cold lake offering the chance for a quick and refreshing swim, and a huge forest with multiple little animals and flowers in all colours of the rainbow. If anything, this was really the perfect venue for such an event.

No matter what, Sungjin was certain that he could handle the kids, he wasn't chosen the best team leader three years in a row for nothing. Though last year Wonpil snatched his place because the girls loved him so much that they kindly asked the organizers (aka the organizing committee who consisted of the four team leaders and Jae) to let him get the trophy just this once and seeing their cute aegyos, the guys didn't have a heart to protest.

The organizers were best friends anyway, the five of them have been a part of the summer camps ever since Jae’s uncle – Mr Park Jinyoung – was chosen as the headmaster of the high school they once went to, so helping the so-called JYP’s students out became the most exciting and adventure-filled two weeks of their summer holidays. No matter how naughty the kids were, at least they had some fun and had some pocket money for the rest of their break. Not to mention that they were still kids at heart, so taking care of children wasn't that difficult of a task for most of them.

Though Wonpil and Dowoon were usually shy when it came to youngsters, they eventually got used to their roles, and always got along well with their teams after some initial mishaps. Wonpil was with the girls from the very start as he was the most gentle and caring, plus he seemed the least likely to hurt the girls' feelings with unnecessary teasing and stupid games. Needless to say, the girls were always head over for him. Dowoon was usually the one who got the calmest, quietest group of children, this year his team consisted of Xiaojun, Hendery, Yangyang, Jaemin, Renjun, Jeno, Dino and Vernon.

“They are really nice kids, I swear. Maybe one of the chillest ones I’ve ever had,” the youngest team leader boasted with his huge, trademark grin, giving the others a thumbs-up.

Jae almost laughed straight into his face, clearly unconvinced by the truth behind Dowoon's words.

“Oh, I think they just need the right team leader to bring out the worst in them,” Jae retorted smugly, ever so proud of the fact that he didn't need to lead a team as he was the one who organized the group activities. He would have probably lost a kid or two if he was chosen to as a team leader. If not more, really.

“The girls are lovely as always,” Wonpil admitted coyly, a blush creeping onto his face. Young K couldn't stop teasing him about his teams, they really had a soft spot in his heart, small wonder he immediately cooed at Wonpil’s words. “Chaeyoung had made me a flower crown and Tzuyu invited me to bake with them tonight,” he announced proudly, his toothy smile showing.

Jae and Young K exchanged a look while Sungjin rolled his eyes.

“My boys have overheard it, and they were about to ruin your little baking, but I managed to convince them to come fishing with me instead,” Sungjin said, and the ever so innocent Wonpil was so dumbfounded, he looked like a little puppy who just got lost.

“Fishing? Are you kidding me?” Jae chortled. “That's the most Sungjin thing ever. Indeed our reliable Busan guy,” he joked as he patted the said leader's shoulder who didn't even bat an eye as he was already used to his friend's antics. He merely rolled his eyes, knowing all too well that Jae would be talking his ass off instead of doing anything for his team if he was given the role of a team leader, so he was sassy only until he didn’t have to control 8 to 12 kids all day long for two whole weeks.

“But don't forget about the karaoke night today. We'll start at 7 sharply, and we won't accept late registrations like last year,” Young K hinted as he glanced at Jae who didn't let the words affect him. He merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Kevin's team was the one who came in first place anyway. It would been a shame not to let them join us,” he pointed out, arms raised in defeat. Young K couldn't help but let out a laugh. What were rules anyway to Mr Park Jaehyung?

Sungjin shook his head with a knowing smile on his face, then he cleared his throat to regain everyone's attention.

“Alright, let's end this meeting here if no one wants to say more!” He suggested firmly, looking for any kind of disapproval in the other's eyes. He liked to have quick meetings to gather everyone and see how they were doing with the youngsters, but he didn’t like when the meetings got dragged on without anything useful to be said. They knew about the activities that were held for all of the other teams and not just their own, so there was no need to emphasise who would organize what.

“Moonbin wants to know what's for lunch today,” Young K butted in, everyone smiling at his request. The so-called Bro Brian had a really versatile group from cool kids like Chani, Hwiyoung and Taeyang, playful kids like Q, Kevin and Hwall, and sometimes whiny but very very lovable kids like Moonbin, Rocky and Sanha.

The others looked at Sungjin for an answer as everyone knew that he was the one who could have known such things. He wasn't just a team leader, he was also the so-called info man because no matter what you asked, he knew the answer to it or at least he was willing to find it out.

That’s why no one was surprised when he knew the options as if he was reading them from the menu.

“Lasagna with a banana and apple juice, or noodles with veggies and tofu, plus an apple and banana milk on the side.”

“Gluten-free?” Jae teased, a smirk evident on his face.

“Yes, both the lasagne and the noodles.” Sungjin nodded seriously, and Jae couldn’t have been more amused by him. “The banana milk is made from coconut milk, so it’s naturally lactose-free and vegan,” Sungjin announced and Young K clapped his hands like he was clapping for the president itself.

Frankly, the camp’s chefs had a hard time considering all the allergens and nutritional preferences of children, so they’ve tried their best to satisfy everyone’s needs. JYP had paid a generous amount of money for the camp anyway because the students who were there were talented and intelligent students in at least one field of life, so the two-week long camping was actually the reward for their hard work. That’s why the chefs could actually afford to make two dishes every day and offer some fresh fruit or vegetables on the side. Knowing that Sungjin liked his stomach almost as much as he liked his own group, he inquired about the daily menus first thing in the morning.

“Very nice, Sungjin, very nice!” Young K patted Sungjin's shoulder teasingly, then rose from his seat to start planning his afternoon with his own team.

“We’re going BBQ-ing anyway,” he announced before he finally left the scene and let poor Sungjin fume inside. Why would it matter what would be lunch if they were eating on their own anyway? Though Moonbin could eat a lot, so it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if he had lunch at the canteen and then one with his team at the BBQ. Who knows?

“Plus, tomorrow there’s the afternoon trip to the nearby look-out tower, don’t forget that!” Jae reminded them loudly, so that everyone could hear it. It’s not like the team leaders didn’t talk about the group activities, it was more like they forgot to bring their kids to a certain place and instead they organized programmes for their own teams.

Sungjin sat by the lake with the kids by his side, letting out a long, long sigh in disbelief. He was already worn out even if they had just started.

Jeongin had almost poked his own eyes out with the fishing rod, Jisung had almost fell into the lake when he was chasing after Seungmin and was chased by Hyunjin while Bang Chan and Changbin were sulking like emo kids at a unicorn-themed birthday party, Woojin was daydreaming about chicken and fussing why they didn’t have a barbecue like Young K’s team, Felix was dancing to Gashina and Minho was flirting with the girls from the camp which was on the other side of the lake, flexing his muscles and showing off his award-winning smile.

After all the mess in the beginning, finally everyone was quiet, and the most enthusiastic kids even tried fishing as much as they could while the ones who were too immersed in their self-sorrow or their flirting didn’t make any mess anyway, so why bother reprimanding them? As long as no one hurt themselves or others in the process (last year, Changbin had broken a leg when Jeongin pushed him down the stairs to test if he was going to miraculously save himself from the fall or fall down for real… needless to say, what happened was the latter), it was okay. On Sungjin’s part, it was.

Six girls from the camp on the other side of the lake came to see Minho for themselves, cheering and gasping when they saw the boy in person. Even though the girls from school were pretty much neutral towards Minho (and Sungjin had no idea if it was because they didn’t care or because they had already dated him and he had dumped them all, could be both honestly), he seemed to be pretty popular amongst the other girls. At least, it was their third day at the camp, and the other camps’ females were already head over heels for him, so Sungjin could draw such a conclusion.

The team leader of the Stray Kids looked at the scene in front of his eyes, wandering why he had never been lucky with the ladies. He had some girlfriends, some really nice and lovely girls, and he had his fair share of blind dates thanks to his friends, especially Jae, who always felt the need to set him up with someone. On the other hand, there was the sixteen-year-old Minho and a smile of his was enough to attract six girls’ attention.

“Girls, I’ve told you not to go away from the team!” A firm female voice called out, showing up beside the said girls, hands on her hips, eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

She had long, jet-black hair that fell over her shoulders like a waterfall, cheeks tinted in pink from both the summer heat and the intensity of the situation and beautiful, almond-shaped, star-filled eyes. Eyes that held stars that were waiting to shine, to light up the sky and to die out as the most beautiful ones he had ever seen. Her features were defined, feminine and rounded in just the right places, and she radiated confidence that swept him off his feet. She wore the same uniform as the young girls beside her, except the fact that hers said ‘Mom Mirae’, indicating that she was (probably) like their mother figure. She was a bit shorter than Minho, yet the vibe she gave off made even the flirty boy shut up on the spot, waiting for further instructions.

“Why is it so bad that we wanted to talk to him? Just talk to him?” One of the girls whose team shirt said Yuqi whined just like a child who didn’t get to lay her hands on the dessert she had wanted.

“Not on my watch, young lady, not on my watch,” Mirae warned her, shaking her head in disbelief. Then, her features became even more solemn and she looked the girls straight into their eyes, one after another. “You’re only teenagers, you have your whole life to talk to boys!”

“Sure, then we’ll end up single like you,” a shorter girl (Soyeon according to her shirt) snorted, giving Mirae a disgusted look.

The team leader acted like she was immensely hurt when it could be seen that she was merely dancing around the edges of her patience.

“You can talk to him when we’ll have the trip to the watch-out tower tomorrow,” she explained after letting out a sigh. Then, the events took an unexpected turn, and Mirae caught sight of Sungjin watching the scene and turned to him with her whole body. “You are going there tomorrow, right?” she inquired as she raised her voice to be heard properly, tilting her head while she was waiting for his response.

Sungjin was so shocked to get caught staring that he opened and closed his mouth like a fish while he was trying to gather what was left of his pride. After a few more seconds, he finally regained his senses; he shook his head and cleared his throat.

“Yes, we’re going there too.” He nodded still dumbfounded, but he didn’t even have the chance to ask how the girls’ team leader could know about the other camp’s plans because the group of girls were already leaving the scene, reassured that they would have the chance to meet Minho the next day, too.

Sungjin watched Mirae’s fading silhouette, his brain still not catching up with the events. He knew she knew that he must have been with the boys because no other man could accompany the kids, and he was apparently the eldest. Yet, he was still surprised that she talked to him without hesitation and without even a hint of anxiety. She was born to be a leader, that was for sure.

“Our hyung is totally whipped,” Jisung cooed gleefully when Sungjin finally looked back at the boys to see if anyone had been doing something wrong.

Even before he had the chance to protest, Jeongin was about to run after the fishing rod which got a catch and poor boy nearly fell into the lake because the fish was so adamant and so heavy. Sungjin saved him in the last minute, and instead of saying thanks, Jeongin started crying that he had missed his best catch because of their team leader.

Oh really, Sungjin started to realize that this year was definitely different from the ones before. Not just because of the mischievous kids he was assigned to look over but also because of the girls from the other camp and their confident team leader.

Sungjin was definitely looking forward to the trip to the watch-out tower, not because of anything in particular… he was just excited. He felt a bubbly feeling in his stomach, and it was so strange, so stupid to wait for the time when he could see her again. He didn’t even know her, he didn’t even know if she would want him to know her. He only knew her name because of her shirt, nothing else. What if she didn’t even want to talk to him?

“You alright, Bob?” Jae nudged the guy’s shoulder to get his attention.

Sungjin casted him a deadly glare when the blondie called him by the nickname he had given him. He really didn’t see the resemblance between the said figure and himself but oh well… Jae always saw the world differently.

“Sure.” He nodded, looking like he wasn’t distracted by the thought of a certain someone. “You sure you have the map and everything?” Sungjin asked just in case Jae didn’t prepare well enough for the trip even if it was his time to shine. The team leaders could organize activities for their teams individually, but Jae was the one who organised the activities for all of them. Some of them went pretty well but for example, last year, they did a trip to a nearby folk village and Jae ended up directing them in the opposite direction, so they ended up at a graveyard instead. Needless to say, Renjun passed out on the spot.

“Of course.” Jae shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like it’s so far away. We can’t even get lost on our way there,” he explained ever so casually while Sungjin rolled his eyes.

“That’s exactly what you said before we walked 20 miles instead of 10, right?”

“That was a one-time thing!” Jae exclaimed, putting a hand over his heart like he was so hurt by his accusation.

“It happened twice,” Sungjin corrected him, giggling when his friend couldn’t bring up anything to deny the facts. Truth to be told, Jae was so much better at talking about plans and whatnot than actually making it a reality, that’s why half of his activities turned out to be failures. Though until the other half turned out to be a success, JYP didn’t really mind. At least, the kids could always tell their parents such amusing stories.

“Alright, is everyone here?” Jae clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention, and when the kids calmed down a bit, he started counting who was there, and was surprised to find out that one child was missing. Later, he was informed that Moonbin had eaten too much BBQ chicken the day before, so he needed to stay at the camp with the nurse who would take care of him for the day.

After gathering together and making sure that everyone had enough food and drinks for the one-day trip, the group headed out. Sungjin was taking care of all the 9 kids he had, walking beside them to make sure that he could watch every single one of them while they were walking. Apart from the fact that Jeongin couldn’t stop pulling Seungmin’s hair, Woojin couldn’t stop whining about the BBQ chicken of Young K’s team and Felix was singing Chungha’s Why Don’t You Know on the top of his lungs repeatedly, everything went smoothly.

Though he had to admit that he was extremely puzzled when Minho came up to him to ask a question.

“Have you ever been in love?”

The straightforward question took the team leader by surprise because he would have imagined anyone else to ask the question but Minho himself. Yet, Sungjin knew that there was nothing he needed to hide about his love life, especially when a younger one was curious about it. Sungjin was also really curious when he was younger, he didn’t know what it felt like to be in love and be loved by someone other than your friends and your family, so of course Minho wanted to know the same.

Sungjin cleared his throat before he gave him an answer.

“Yes, a few times.” He nodded, thinking back to all the girlfriends he ever had. It’s not like he was so heart-broken that none of his relationships worked out in the end, yet when you are in love, you never think about the end, and that’s what makes the pain ever worse.

“What’s it like? I mean being in love?” Minho inquired with wide eyes, and even Jisung turned his head in their direction upon hearing the question.

“Well…” Sungjin chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. How could he explain it? There was really no right word for it, everyone had to experience it to know it for themselves. Plus, he was pretty sure being in love meant different for everyone, and everyone acted differently when they were in a relationship. “You want to see the other one more and more, you want to get to know every little thing about them, whatever they do make you smile, you start remembering something you’ve done together multiple times a day and at very random moments, and suddenly you find yourself thinking about them all the time,” Sungjin concluded dreamily, earning a few snorts from the younger ones.

“Eww, gross…” Seungmin snickered, making a disgusted face.

“You’ll know when you feel it,” Sungjin continued nonchalantly, not caring about the others’ disapproving glances or eye-rolls. It was no surprise that 13 to 17-year-old kids didn’t feel like falling in love or wanting to experience the feeling. He had his first girlfriend when he was 18 years old, and he didn’t want to fall in love either. It just happened, it’s not something you can be prepared for or you can prevent.

“Thanks, Sungjin,” Minho said thankfully, patting the other guy’s shoulder. Sungjin really didn’t know why he was so grateful as he didn’t do anything extraordinary, he merely told him how he felt.

Luckily, the rest of the walking didn’t include any love-related talk, so the team leader didn’t need to feel uncharacteristically uncomfortable around the kids. They busied themselves and started playing all kinds of games anyway, so he didn’t need to interfere to calm them down or to stop them when something was getting wild. They were acting like chill kids for the first time during the first three days of the camp, and he couldn’t have been more glad.

Time went by fast since he didn’t need to supervise them so intensely, and by the time his thoughts could go back to Mirae, they were already at the watch-out tower and settled down to have a picnic. Much to Sungjin’s dismay, the girls weren’t there, neither was their team leader.

The youngsters were busy munching on their sandwiches and cookies they had gotten from Wonpil’s team, they didn’t even notice that Sungjin’s attention was completely elsewhere and not on the kids, especially when the other camp arrived at the resting area in front of the watch-out tower. Maybe he really started hallucinating things, but he could have sworn that Mirae’s eyes found his for a second, for only a tiny bit of a fraction, yet it was enough for him to completely get his hopes up. He couldn’t even tear his gaze away for the rest of the lunch, his eyes were only on the girl and her team. Though he caught sight of other groups and their team leaders too, but he was too mesmerized by the way she firmly yet caringly took care of the girls that he couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

The six girls were chattering casually, eating their little lunches while they glanced in the boys’ direction, especially Minho’s who waved back at them, earning a few excited squeals and giggles from the others. That’s when Mirae and Sungjin finally exchanged a glance, and when they did, their lips curled upwards at the same time, and they soon broke into little fists of laugher.

Sungjin turned to Minho.

“Go, talk to them! You have 15 minutes,” he told the young boy who was so taken aback that he didn’t even know what to do for the next few seconds. However, after that, it was no turning back, he jumped up and ran to the girls, sitting in the middle of the circle they had created for him.

Mirae found this moment to excuse herself and leave the scene, walking further from the lovestruck group. When she was getting closer and closer to Sungjin, the team leader got more and more nervous. What was he about to say? Was she really going to come and talk to him? Would she even remember him?

Though all his questions were answered the moment the confident female showed up beside him and pointed at the blank spot on the blanket beside him.

“Can I join?” she inquired casually to which Sungjin could only nod fervently. She hopped down beside him in the next second, her eyes darting between the face of his and the kids he was looking over.

“Are you the team leader of eight boys?” she asked in awe, her lips parted in disbelief. Well, since they didn’t have a lot of volunteers, all of their team leaders had at least nine children on their watch, so it was no surprise that he had to take care of such a large number of youngsters. On the other hand, Mirae’s question was very much reasonable considering that their camp didn’t seem to be short on volunteers. There were at least 6 team leaders apart from her.

“Nine with Minho,” Sungjin corrected her with a soft giggle, earning a same reaction from her.

“Wow, that must be difficult!”

“Oh, it’s really not that bad!” He shrugged, and even though it would have looked like he was just trying to show off, it wasn’t about anything like that. He merely got used to the silly and childish behaviours since he was a part of the organizing committee for the sixth year already. After a while, people get the hang of it and nothing seems too extreme.

“I’m Mirae, by the way,” she introduced herself with a soft smile, one that was like a breeze of the gentle spring wind after only seeing her cold demeanour. She may have looked rigid and strict when she was with the girls, but maybe they needed this amount of strictness to behave well. After all, Sungjin knew all too well that you have to use different methods with different children.

I know, he wanted to say, but he bit down on his tongue before he could say anything that indicated that he was stalking her. To be precise, he was examining her from head to toe the last time they met, and that’s how he took notice of the name on her shirt.

“I’m Sungjin.” He bobbed his head with an equally friendly smile, reaching his hand out and Mirae immediately shook hands with him; quickly and gently. When they both backed away a bit, a moment of silence fell upon the two of them, yet Sungjin had been meaning to ask her a question even the day before, so he didn’t want to dismiss it this time. “How did you know that we would come here today, too?”

Mirae let out a chuckle when she heard his question. Her chuckle was like a flower that was in bloom: beautiful, elegant and thriving. Sungjin knew he could listen to it without getting sick of it, without getting sick of the sight that accompanied the pleasant sound.

“We know about your schedules because we don’t want to interfere with your activities too much. We never know if our kids would get along well with yours, and we really don’t want to hear complaints that the children had to spend time with the kids from other camp just because we couldn’t take care of it,” Mirae explained thoroughly, her eyes shining with fondness.

“Honestly, we don’t know anything about your schedules,” Sungjin admitted nervously, wondering why JYP had never contacted them about the other camp’s activities. Maybe he really didn’t pay as much attention to the issue as Mirae’s superiors. Maybe they couldn’t even call it an issue since kids were bound to get along after a while, so why would have it mattered anyway?

“Until one of us knows, it’s okay,” the female voiced out reasonably, making Sungjin let out a genuine smile. He could already see why she was a team leader, she was not only confident and smart, but she could also make the younger ones listen to her. Even Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon were all different kind of leaders when it came to the kids in the camp, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Mirae was also totally unique.

“And will we have another event together?” Sungjin asked smoothly, secretly curious if he could see her again.

“Well, our encounter yesterday wasn’t even planned, so I think only time will tell.” She shrugged her shoulders, not even giving a proper answer to his question, but maybe she was just as smooth as Sungjin himself, and she knew exactly when and where they would meet up again.

“Alright, then don’t tell me classified information,” Sungjin joked, acting like he was so sulky, and the girl smacked him in the chest.

“You are almost as nosy as the girls.”

“I’ve just wanted to know if your girls will steal our Minho again,” he teased with a wide grin, pointing at the guy who was laughing freely with the six girls around him. He seemed to have fun with them, and even though his team leader knew that he couldn’t have fallen in love with all of the six girls, at least he had made some new friends too.

“If you are that curious, I can reassure you that we’ll steal your Minho only twice in the future,” Mirae responded with a cheeky smile.

Sungjin was aware of the fact that they could still meet more than twice (just like yesterday which was indeed unplanned), but it seemed unfair that they were so close, yet they didn’t frequently bump into each other. At least, it seemed unfair to him considering that he wanted to see her more.

“Alright, alright, that’s not too bad,” Sungjin concluded with an unfathomable facial expression, and may it be leader instinct or the fact that he didn’t check on the boys for a while, but he looked at the youngsters just in time to see when Changbin almost choked on some rucola.

“Oh gosh, Changbin, are you okay?” He ran to the boy to hit his back a few times, helping the boy to cough some more. The dark-haired kid merely nodded but he couldn’t talk for the time being because he was still caught up in the aftermath of his actions.

“Y-yeah, sure,” he managed the words out after he was over the worst part of his coughing and held onto Sungjin’s shoulder until he became himself again.

“Drink some water to help your insides going!” Sungjin suggested gently as he went back to his own water bottle to give it to the poor boy who received it thankfully. Maybe that was the first time Sungjin could earn a thankful smile from the usually closed off guy, and the fact that he could achieve something like this warmed his heart a bit. Of course, he wouldn’t have admitted it for the world, yet he was extremely thankful that he could be there for him, and he didn’t dismiss his help. For moments like this, everything that he had to endure during those two weeks was worth it.

“Thanks,” Changbin said as he let go of Sungjin’s shoulder and let out the last cough of his. When the team leader made sure that he was really okay, he retreated back to Mirae, and sat down with a sigh.

“Is he okay?” the girl inquired though she was probably not as worried as she had been if Sungjin hadn’t taken care of the boy.

“Yeah, sure.”

“You are really good with kids,” Mirae complimented casually, and it wasn’t the first time he had heard the exact same words, but it was definitely the first he felt uncharacteristically nervous because of such a compliment. Hearing it from someone like her did mean a lot to him.

“Oh well, I’m just trying my best,” he remarked gently, thinking of all the times he had managed to assist the children and prevent any mishaps. Needless to say, mishaps were likely to occur, and even if he had been their father, he couldn’t have saved them from some bruises and falls, but until everyone was happy and in one piece, it was okay. Kids recovered quickly, both from injuries and bad memories, so he wasn’t as worried about them as he had been when he first started out as a team leader.

“Alright, everyone, let’s go up that watch-out tower!” Jae announced with a clap of his hands, and Sungjin could have strangled him in that moment for ruining his moment.

“I’ll go back to my girls then,” Mirae said with a bitter smile and stood up to brush the dust off her jeans.

“Sure, see you soon then!” Sungjin waved in her direction, not knowing what else to do because he couldn’t have made her stay.

“Sooner than you think.” She winked and before he could ask what she meant by that, she was already out of his reach, taking care of her own team.

“I’m pretty sure that he’s really whipped now,” Jisung muttered under his breath, but of course Sungjin could still hear it. When he looked at the kid who was smirking from ear to ear, he wished he could swipe that smirk off his face, yet he was right after all. He was really whipped for Mirae, and they didn’t even speak a lot. What was in the air, really?

The two exchanged a few glances here and there in the next hour while they were going up and down the watch-out tower with different groups and started wrapping up their picnic in the resting area. For some odd reason, Felix couldn’t stop singing High School Musical songs the whole time, and when the high notes part came, and his voice resembled a pan that fell onto the ground, Bang Chan covered the younger’s boy mouth to shut him up but it was no use since the moment he removed his hand, he went back to Something New anyway. Sungjin shook his head at the boy’s antics, yet he couldn’t stop smiling while they were walking back to their base.

He really hoped that Mirae was right and that they would meet sooner than he would have assumed.

Two days passed and still no sign of Mirae or the kids from the other camp. As they were situated on the completely opposite sides of the lake, and for safety reasons, even those cabins were pretty far from the lake, there was no chance of them even interacting if they didn't go near the lake.

During those two days, they had a games' night when the different teams were competing against each other in almost every possible game including football, cheerleading, arm wrestling, mini archery, IQ quizzes, roleplays from famous kdramas and Activity. Then, the next day, they had a bake-off between the different cabins, and needless to say, it turned out to be a literal mess. Considering that even Sungjin's team was in two different cabins, he didn't know where to help out, and some kids looked like they had never set foot in the kitchen. Hyunjin almost turned on the mixer when Jisung's hand was still in the dough, Seungmin poured too much milk into the mixture and was surprised when it turned out odd while Woojin still couldn't let go of the BBQ idea. Bang Chan and Minho were the ones who tried their best to keep their cabins together, plus they knew a thing or two about baking, so they could save their teams from complete failure.

Young K's team was, on the other hand, a complete mess, and since the guy himself liked eating more than making food for himself, he nodded to every idea the kids had, and that's how even the two cabins had completely different cookies from the very same ingredients. Moonbin, Sanha, Rocky, Chani and Hwiyoung ended up making vanilla-raspberry muffins with star and heart shaped food decoration and even though the dough stuck to the baking paper, it was at least edible. Q, Hwall, Kevin and Taeyang made a chocolate-raspberry dough and put it on the tray with all kinds of edible decoration and called it a cake. It was a bit too sugary and a bit too artificial because of the amount of artificial colouring they put into the mixture, but the taste wasn’t so bad.

Wonpil's cabins were the best as always as the girls were really good at cooking and baking too. Even those who were not so interested in baking took part in the making, melting Wonpil's heart with their efforts. Wonpil was watching them from a safe distance, murmuring to himself how lucky he was to get a team like this.

Surprisingly, out of the boys, Dowoon's two cabins were the best ones, at least their cookies looked decent and their tastes were good, too. Plus, the way Hendery smiled throughout the whole preparation warmed everyone's heart. Though everyone knew that Dowoon would have complimented the outcome even if the boys had totally messed it up because last year he even ate a totally burnt cake just to save his team's pride. Needless to say, he had a horrible stomach ache for the rest of the day.

The two days were eventful, that's for sure, yet despite it all, Sungjin missed talking to her the most, and he had already regretted not asking for her number. That way at least he could have contacted her even if they had been on the opposite sides of the lake.

He was already starting to give up when on the third day after they met, everyone was invited for a movie night to watch Spiderman: Homecoming. It was an outside event, the movie was shown on a screen beside the lake and it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the other camp was also there since it was organized by the dude who ran the whole place including the two camp sites with the lake and the secluded forest.

When Sungjin settled down with his own kids, he caught sight of the confident team leader who had just sat down with her girls, lying down on the blanket with the six girls. Mirae was also searching for a familiar face, Sungjin was sure that she was looking for him becaseu she stopped looking around only when she caught sight of him. They both broke into a huge smile when they exchanged a look.

“You can go, you know.” Bang Chan nudged his shoulder, pointing in Mirae's direction.

Sungjin suddenly felt guilty for being so obvious that even the kids themselves realized that something must have been going on with those two. Yet, he really couldn't help it; Mirae was really charming, and the more time he spent without her, the more he wanted to see her. It was crazy that he was already missing her when he couldn’t see her for two days, yet it was the truth.

“Ah no, I can't let you be alone,” Sungjin protested right away and shook his head in disbelief. He couldn’t just leave those kids alone, they could have seriously hurt others or themselves. He always put the kids' safety first. Always.

“Come on! We are just watching a movie, nothing can go wrong,” Bang Chan reasoned, giving a slight pat on the team leader’s shoulder to prompt him to move. Sungjin knew that he was right, yet he was still very much unconvinced about the whole idea.

“You sure?” He furrowed his eyebrows, yet the 17-year-old guy nodded so hard that his head almost fell off.

“Yeah, sure. Just go!”

With a few more encouraging smiles and nudges, Sungjin was finally reassured enough to get up and walk towards Mirae and her girls. It didn't take a lot of time for the little group to realize that he was approaching them; when the wavy-haired girl squealed, so did the rest of them, and soon enough they pushed Mirae towards Sungjin.

“We don't want to see you until the end of the movie. Period,” the shortest girl (maybe she was Soyeon, Sungjin couldn't really recall her name) told their team leader who seemed so shy all of a sudden. It looked like Mirae wasn’t the boss here anymore, it was rather the teenage girl who literally told her off.

“Alright, but take care of yourself and let me know if something happens or if any of you need anything,” Mirae told them after she had recovered from the shock her own team caused her, furrowing her eyebrows worriedly.

“Yeah, sure, we will, just go! Don't make your Prince Charming wait too long,” the girls chattered cheerfully and laughed when they saw how red the two adults' faces became. They were sure not prepared for such reactions from their kids.

They silently decided to move away from the mass of people, so they decided on a little bench that wasn’t far from the scene, but it was far enough for them to at least hear each other properly.

“The kids are surely up for something,” Sungjin remarked with a soft giggle, earning a joyous laughter from the girl.

“I wonder what,” she topped his comment with a wide smile, and she was so beautiful under the sunset, Sungjin had a hard time breathing. She was painted crimson by the last rays of sunshine on the horizon and her jet-black hair seemed chest-nut brown in the midst of the colour palette that the nature has created around them. Her eyes seemed to be holding the stars that would soon move onto the night sky, shining and twirling in joy and affection. Her laugh added a mesmerizing melody to the background music that was presented by the chattering of the kids, the chirping of the birds and the sound of the scattering leaves. Everything was so picturesque, and her feminine charms added even more to the beauty of the sunset. It was crazy how beautiful she was in her own natural way; no make-up, no lipstick, only her nails were painted baby blue, but it was probably the girls’ work and not her own.

“So what have you been up to these days with the kids?” Mirae inquired and curiously titled her head. Sungjin blinked a few to get back to reality and to avoid staring at the girl so intensely. Although he was pretty sure he had already messed up the latter.

That’s how he started talking about the bake-off and the games’ night and their solely camp-related conversation soon turned into getting to know each other, about the other’s family, brothers and sisters, their university studies, dream jobs, most memorable memories when they themselves were kids at camps, family vacation stories and their favourite foods. Sungjin may have embarrassed himself once or twice but Mirae was an excellent company, she couldn’t stop laughing at his facial expressions, and her laughter was contagious. Once, even a group of children turned back to shush them because they were being loud while it was time for a confession scene, and they almost died of laughter, they tried so hard to contain their emotions.

Sungjin never knew that he could get to know so much about someone in such a short spare of time, yet since they were both quite talkative, it all went well. On top of that, they were both the types to use hand gestures while talking, small wonder Mirae once accidentally hit Sungjin’s head when she was talking about a family holiday of hers. Yet, they merely laughed it off, there was nothing to be sorry about.

It was already the end of the movie with the credits list when they realized that they would need to go back to their own groups before they would make a mess without adult supervision.

“Wait!” Sungjin yelled after Mirae before she could scamper away, leaving him in misery for another few days. “Can you… I don’t know… at least give me your phone number, so that I can contact you?” he inquired nervously, tilting his head. He usually didn’t find it hard to bring up such topics, but he was oddly anxious when it came to the ever so confident team leader.

Mirae let out a soft chuckle in response and nodded her head.

“Of course,” she gave in without hesitation and told him her number on the spot. Even when she left, Sungjin was smiling to himself at the number on his screen, not quite believing what had just happened.

He was sure one very lucky man.

“What’s good everybody?” said Jae that night, walking into the organizing committee’s cabinet like he was on the runway with such posture. Then, he pointed at his phone, wiggling his eyebrows to add to the whole ruckus. “I’m sending this song to our local lover boy, Bob the Builder!” he hollered gleefully, his trademark smile never leaving his face.

Everyone looked at him as if he had lost it; Wonpil blinked confusedly, looking like he was about to solve a Maths question with that furrowed eyebrows of his, Young K was grinning to himself even though it could be seen that he was merely there for the drama, he actually had no idea what was going on while Dowoon merely turned over and went back to sleep. Sungjin was the only one who knew exactly what the lanky guy had tried to imply, that’s why he was the only one whose face remained stern.

“I wanna know, know, know… what is love?” Jae busted from his phone, the lyrics accompanied by his stupid high school cheerleading dance. Young K snorted at the sight, covering his mouth not to make a lot of noise while Wonpil still resembled a statue.

“Mind sharing with us what’s going on?” Young K inquired as he glanced at Sungjin who let out a sigh. He knew there was no way he could hide it from the other guys, plus they were his friends after all. No matter how annoying they could be, they deserved to know the truth.

“There’s this girl who’s a team leader in the other camp and we’ve started talking.”

“And he’s also asked for her number!” Jae butted in with a knowing smirk, winking at the so-called lover boy.

“Yes, we’ve exchanged numbers, too,” Sungjin admitted as he put his hands into the air. There was really no way he could have got away with it if Jae was around. Considering that he was in charge of the group activities and didn’t supervise a group all day long, he had a lot of time to examine every single thing in the camp and to catch up with everything that was going on.

“Oh, nice one, dude!” Young K clapped his hands, cheering his friend on. Wonpil, who was lying down on the bed beside Sungjin’s, merely gave him a wide, supportive smile. He was always more serious and reserved than others, yet even his little actions meant a lot to him.

“And guess who’s managed to organize a bonfire night for both camps?” Jae asked overly enthusiastically, and even without waiting for a second, he exclaimed. “Yep, that’s right, it was me! So who’s your favourite boy, Bob?” he shouted into Sungjin’s ears when he got close to the boy.

Sungjin was more dumbfounded by the words he had said than by his actions, that’s why he didn’t push him away. Otherwise, he would have told him off right away.

“When it’s going to take place?” Wonpil spoke up for the first time since Jae’s grand entrance, yet the blonde guy couldn’t have been happier about the fact that he had decided to join in.

“This Sunday, my friend,” he answered immediately, then leaned closer to Sungjin to whisper into his ears. “Hope you’ll gonna thank me one day, buddy,” he remarked playfully, then patted Sungjin’ shoulder and continued on signing to the Twice the top of his lungs much to Dowoon’s annoyance who woke up from his peaceful sleep.

On the other hand, Sungjin couldn’t have cared less about Jae’s childish behaviour because his mind was already preoccupied with the news of the bonfire night. He immediately texted Mirae, asking if she had known about it, and she confirmed that she got to know about it during their daily meeting with the team leaders. She event sent a smiley emoji to him which warmed his heart, and his expression must have been expressive too since Young K cooed at him and Wonpil gave him a toothy smile.

“He’s so cute when he’s in love,” Young K mumbled to himself, but it was loud enough for him to hear it. Though he couldn’t deny it, instead he threw his pillow at the boy who grinned even wider after that.

Man, it was difficult to have such friends.

After that, Sungjin felt like he was a part of a modern comedy. It seemed that the whole camp knew about his feelings towards Mirae and vice versa. Not just his kids but even bratty ones such as Chani gave him glances whenever they walked past him, and girls gushed over the fact that the team leader was all heart eyes for another team leader from the other camp.

As promised, Jae managed to get the bonfire night organized without any inconveniences, and he even tried to help Sungjin out by looking over the Stray Kids himself while Sungjin was talking with Mirae, yet it ended in Seungmin’s clothes catching fire and Jeongin almost burning himself when he wanted to reach for his sausage that fell into the fire, plus Woojin was still not over the fact that he hasn’t eaten chicken for almost a week, so Jae seemed more stressed after only a few minutes with the kids from the 8th and 9th cabin than he was all his life.

Needless to say, it wasn’t the first time things got out of control when others merely tried to help them to meet up again. When Minho and the six girls tried to set them up and got a whole picnic date ready, Yuqi twisted her ankle in the morning, and Mirae had to be there for her the whole day (at least, she wanted to be there for her) until she made sure that Yuqi was doing okay, and that the other five girls would assist her whenever she needed help. Not to mention the time when Young K invited Mirae over to their cabin for a dinner, yet it turned out that Sungjin was on a night trip with his group, so she was introduced to the other guys instead, and she had the opportunity to see a very dumbfounded Jae as he was walking out of the bathroom half-naked, a toothbrush hanging from his mouth, a very shy Dowoon who didn’t know what to say to the girl, an angelic Wonpil who smiled the whole time and praised Sungjin as much as he could and an overly anxious Young K who mentally killed himself over and over again for messing things up so badly.

Though there were times when they could finally meet up, usually during sleepless nights and at the break of dawn when the kids were still sleeping, yet they gladly gave up their precious sleep just to talk a bit or to see each other a bit more. The more they met, the harder he fell for her, and he knew there was really no going back. The thought of Mirae occupied his thoughts all day long, and he waited to see her every day like a kid waits for Christmas every year. He was still a kid at heart, of course he was, yet this newfound enthusiasm really made him feel like a child, just like the ones he was watching over. Sometimes it was enough for him to know that she was doing okay, and no one fell into a trash bin in the other camp (yep, it happened once with a guy named Wong Yukhei), other times he was over the moon hearing her laughter that could light up his heart more than any firework could.

Yet, as all good things come to an end, the two-week long camp was also nearing its end very soon, and just when things were about to get serious, they already had to start packing. The goodbye was inevitable, therefore they decided to meet up personally before Sungjin and JYP’s students would leave since Mirae and the other kids came later, so they also stayed a bit more.

Sungjin was uncharacteristically nervous on the day of their departure, and when all was well and every student was on the bus that would take them back to Seoul, his eyes were searching for the oh so familiar orbs. They had agreed on meeting at 9 as the bus would take off at 9:30, so they would have some time for themselves, yet it was nearing 9:15 and the girl was nowhere to be seen. He was a bit afraid that she had forgotten about it even though he knew well that she hadn’t forgotten about anything. He had a hunch that something had happened at the camp and she couldn’t leave earlier, so when Mirae came panting and catching her breath, he knew that he was right.

“I’m so sorry, Shuhua was pranked by the girls and I needed to calm her down before she would set fire to the whole cabinet. Oh my gosh, I was so afraid that I wouldn’t get here on time,” Mirae explained so fast that Sungjin could barely get the words out.

“It’s okay, it’s really okay,” he reassured her as he put a hand on her shoulder, and merely laughed it off. Even her presence was enough to pacify his crazily beating heart. Even her voice was enough to make him feel satisfied even though they were about to say goodbye.

“I really wanted to say a proper goodbye,” Mirae admitted with a bittersweet smile, unsaid confessions and worries hiding behind her ever so lovely smile. Even if she had been running to get here, even if her hair was in a really messy bun and her clothes were still dirty from the previous night’s storm, she was so utterly beautiful.

“You know we don’t have to,” he said gently, his hand not leaving her shoulder. “We can keep talking even when the camp ends.”

“Well, after all, we live and study in the same city.” She nodded and let out a relieved sigh. Maybe she was afraid that Sungjin wouldn’t want to see her after the camp. Maybe she was afraid that he didn’t feel the same way. He couldn’t tell why she was so relieved all of a sudden, but her reaction prompted him to ask the question he had been meaning to ask for a while.

“You want to grab lunch with me when you finish here?”

Mirae froze for a second before her lips started curling upwards, eyes shining with joy. Sungjin thought that he had totally messed up everything when her eyes widened, yet it seemed that she was merely surprised about his question and not shocked.

“Sure.” She nodded enthusiastically and seeing her smile becoming wider and wider was like watching the sun rise on the horizon. “Is it a date?” she blurted out cheekily, and now it was Sungjin’s turn to get surprised.

Yet, he assumed that because she asked such a question, she actually thought of the possibility of them having a date. Which meant that he could also think that way.

“Yes, it is,” he concluded with a nod of his head.

“Then, it is,” she repeated with a wide grin and cutely scrunched her nose when her cheeks turned really red. Sungjin would have never thought that he would see the ever so confident and quite solemn team leader become so embarrassed. but he was glad that he could see yet another side of her.

“Get on, lover boy! We need to go!” Jae hollered after him, breaking their little moment into tiny little pieces.

When Sungjin rolled his eyes, Mirae slightly nudged his shoulder.

“Go!” She pointed at the bus where the kids were waiting for their scene to come to an end. Sungjin knew that they had been watching the whole thing from afar, yet he hoped that they didn’t hear a thing. “We’ll see each other soon anyway,” she promised with a sweet smile and before he could even respond to that, she gave him a quick peck on the cheeks and turned on her heel.

“Oh my gosh, she kissed him!”

“Shut up, Jeongin! That was only a kiss on the cheek!”

“I saw what I saw!”

“Then get new glasses!” Seungmin snorted and rolled his eyes at the youngest’s antics.

Needless to say, this year’s camp was full of twists and turns, but at least they were all in one piece and they had one more lover boy in the crew.

Maybe next year’s going to be even better.

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