Chapter Text
ELECTRUM GOLD
The storm had been fierce outside. It had been one of the rare days the weather had been so terrible, that their schedules had to be changed, either completely cancelled or simply rearranged as they waited the storm out. It was somewhat nice, all of them stuck in the dorms together, arguing in the kitchen and yelling from the bedrooms because there was a League of Legends tournament that was getting heated, and Minho had decided to cook something so they could play into the afternoon, only for Hyunjin to find eggplants in nearly every dish.
“Are you trying to kill me?!”
“ You were supposed to be playing- you wouldn’t have even noticed if you hadn’t come and been so nosy.”
“Nosy I-? Well, sorry that I was thirsty,” Hyunjin started to leave the kitchen, and then turned around, “Actually, no. I’m not sorry. Because if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have caught you trying to poison me!”
“Eggplants aren’t poisonous, you idiot!”
“They MIGHT AS WELL BE.”
“How about I go buy some actual poison, and put it in every dish without eggplant, and we see how well you fair, hm?”
“ Hyung! ” Hyunjin started screaming for Chan, while Minho scolded him for being a baby, “ Hyung, Lee Know-hyung’s trying to kill me again!”
Minho teased in a sing-songy voice, “Hyunjin-ah’s asking to be put in the airfryer at 120 degrees for thirty minutes!”
Seungmin groaned and stumbled into one of the bedrooms, the argument continuing on, Jisung screaming from another room as he multitasked between emceeing Changbin and Felix’s moves, and providing his unsolicited commentary on Hyunjin and Minho’s argument. Seungmin was supposed to be at the company, practicing for the vocal stage. He didn’t ask to be stuck in a muggy, crowded, loud dorm with absolutely no time for himself. He finally found Jeongin in his shared bedroom with Minho and Hyunjin, where the boy was lying facedown on the floor, and without asking for permission, closed the door and spread out his music notes next to him.
“I’m going to practice,” he informed Innie, putting one earbud in.
The boy turned to his side, looking at the music, “The song for Kingdom?”
Seungmin nodded, and then noticed the younger’s sad downturned eyes, “Hey, are you alright?”
Innie looked at him for a second, and then squinted, “Do you think-- if I got sick, like within the next two days… Do you think they would pull me from the stage? And like, have time to re-choreograph it without me?”
“Um, maybe? It would be a lot of work for the dance team though…” Seungmin frowned, “Why? Are you feeling sick or someth--”
“I don’t belong on the dance team!” Innie groaned, pulling his arms around his head.
“...Did you want to be a part of the vocal unit then?” Seungmin suggested, setting aside his things for the moment, “Because I’m sure Channie-hyung would--”
“No, no I don’t belong there either ,” the younger boy’s voice quivered, “Why did we all have to be put on a team? You know I can’t do this, everyone knows, why don’t I just—? Just—?”
Seungmin blinked blankly, “...Do you think anyone else should be pulled, or just--”
“--Just me. I don’t belong on any of those--”
“Are you doubting Channie-hyung’s judgement?” a new voice entered the room, and Seungmin turned to see Hyunjin had slipped in, a serious expression on his face, “Or mine?”
Jeongin scrambled to sit up, eyes still downturned, “Channie-hyung was wrong. I’m not a good enough dancer to be in the dance unit. But he was right that I’m not a good enough vocalist to be in the vocal unit. Wha-why am I even—? What do I-- ah, what am I saying? Go away.”
Jeongin flopped over, scrunched into himself, blocking out the world. With a sharp breath, Seungmin could only stare at their maknae. He understood the self-deprecation, the feeling of inferiority, and by the look Hyunjin gave him, the dancer got it too. Seungmin scooted closer to Jeongin, the boy holding his head in his hands.
“You know,” he whispered, “ I’m not even good enough for the vocal unit.”
Hyunjin and Jeongin looked at him incredulously, because it was certainly an odd way to cheer someone up. But at least Innie’s head was no longer burrowed into his arms, and his body was slowly starting to unravel from itself.
“Seriously,” he pressed on, “Jongho has this natural sounding mature voice, and Eunkwang has this professional voice from years of experience. I’m from a group with majority rappers. I wasn’t even the main vocalist until this past year. How do you think my voice sounds next to theirs, huh?”
Jeongin snorted and wiped his nose, “But you pick up things quickly, so--”
“So do you,” Hyunjin jumped, “And don’t try and deny it, because I monitored you myself the other day. Do you trust me?”
Innie looked up cautiously, but Hyunjin’s eyes were not accusing him, just full of gentle kindness, “Yes hyung, I do.”
“Then trust my judgement on this, ok?” Hyunjin suddenly got up, “We could practice here, right now if you want. And I can show you just how good of a dancer you are, and help you with anything you’re worried about?”
Jeongin’s eyes lit up, but then turned apologetic, “Oh, no, Minnie-hyung was going to practice his--”
“No, no,” Seungmin got up quickly, “Have fun. I’m going to go see if Minho-hyung needs help.”
Hyunjin made a sour face before Seungmin could close the door behind him, “He doesn’t, unless you plan on throwing all the eggplants out!”
Laughing, Seungmin planned on going to the kitchen and doing the exact opposite. Maybe he could help Minho disguise eggplant a little more discreetly. It could pass off as chicken if cooked correctly, right? It would be interesting to see how serving Hyunjin eggplant-disguised fried-chicken would work out.
He never made it to the kitchen to find out, because as he passed one of the bedrooms, he found himself shocked into place by the sight of their leader, sitting deathly still on his bed, staring at the wall, with tears stains down his cheeks.
Part of Seungmin felt guilty, wondering if he had overheard Jeongin’s comment about not trusting their leader in decisions such as these. It was understandable for someone in the heat of their emotion to say that, but none of them truly and deeply believed that. Chan was really the best leader they could hope for, even with all his faults (although the team would insist, they were few and far between). But Chan’s confidence might not hold up so well against emotionally charged criticism, especially when it came so harshly from someone he had taken care of for so long. So he walked to the bunk, and standing on the edge of Changbin’s bed, hauled himself up to take a better look. Chan still stared dead-ahead, eye unfocused, his phone held limply in his hand, and one earbud barely pressed into his ear. Seungmin dared look down at the screen, where the contact for Hannah Bang was displayed, a little time on the bottom that revealed he had been speaking with his sister for nearly two hours. Seungmin’s concern immediately doubled.
“Is everything alright back at home hyung?” he asked softly, gently holding one of Chan’s wrists.
“Hm?” Chan’s eyes suddenly refocused, and he sat up straight suddenly and smiled, as though his soul had been a thousand miles away, and had only just returned to his body, “Oh yeah,” he wiped his tears, “Everything-- Everything’s great. I finally found time to talk with my family back home. My sister called and we chatted for a while-- Lucus sang me a song, my mom told me about some of the aunties back home and what their children are doing, my dad told me about his new class, and Hannah… she’s… graduating.”
His gaze had been growing distant, slowly, up until the end where it blurred and his voice cracked. Seungmin’s heart caught in his throat, remembering his own sister’s graduation. He had only been the younger brother, but he remembered how proud he had been, and how meaningful it had been to the both of them. Chunae had actually cried in front of him, hugging him close. But then again, it might have had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the fact that high school had been hell, and she could finally put it behind her.
“Will you get to go?” Seungmin asked, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
Chan shook his head, and tried to smile, “N-no. Can’t. But… that’s alright. It should be livestreamed, and I don’t think we’ll be busy on that day… hopefully. Well, it doesn’t matter if we are, I’ll facetime her from the car if I have to. She… heh, we used to joke, when we were little? That when she graduated, I’d take her on a road trip, just the two of us, and we’d go up to this beach, near where we first learned to surf, and… there’s this ice cream parlor, right? And when we were little, we used to sneak away with my grandma, and she would buy us huge portions of ice cream, like seriously huge! Way bigger than what a kid should be eating, you know? But it was always special… beautiful, and… ah, sorry, ” he spoke in English, his eyes small crescents, “ just… wish I could be there. Ah it’s alright, she’ll— she’ll have fun without me. And I’m going to try and go after our next comeback… maybe, I don’t know.”
Seungmin shook his head thoughtfully, because they knew Chan would throw himself into more work, and the company would put more on his shoulders, so it probably wouldn’t happen, “You could invite her here? She could fly over by herself, or your whole family could come and you could take her to Incheon… or even Busan if you have enough time.”
Chan smiled, nodding in a half-committed way that bought the idea, but not completely, and then leaned over to ruffle Seungmin’s hair, “Sorry for worrying you, Seungmo. Hyung’s alright.”
Sure, Seungmin pushed down his sarcastic quips to smile back, “It’s not a problem, hyung. It’s better for me to worry about you all than about things I can’t control.”
“Like what?” Chan narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “Are you still worried about—?”
“Oop, I should go help Minho with lunch,” he skipped out of the room, “Bye!”
“Wha— Seungmin!”
Laughing to himself, Seungmin found himself in the kitchen, Minho giving him an odd look as he stirred a pot filled with vegetables. Seungmin leaned over to check that, yes, there were eggplants included in the mix. Shaking his head, Seungmin started looking through their drawers, looking for the Australian cure-all for homesickness.
Minho looked at him blankly, “You can’t help with the cooking if that’s what you’re trying to do. There’s no saving Hyunjin from this destiny.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Seungmin pushed aside several containers of instant ramen, “Hey do you know where our packets of gummies went?”
“The Australian ones? Hm,” Minho smiled cynically to himself, “I think I saw Hannie take the last packet.”
“What about me?”
Seungmin watched in horror as Jisung stuffed his cheeks with the last gummies, and then crumpled the packet to throw away. Minho looked on with amusement.
“Seungminnie wanted some gummies. Mind regurgitating some for him?”
“Oh, sorry,” Jisung looked at him cheekily, “You should have asked a little earlier, would’ve spared me the trouble of my face getting puffy tomorrow.”
Minho raised an eyebrow, “Like that would’ve stopped you?”
“You’re just in a mood today, aren’t you?”
Leaving the two loudest members of their dorm, Seungmin made his way to the bedroom where Changbin and Felix were competing. Fine , if their gummies were out of stock, there was a backup solution to Australian home-sickness. As soon as he walked into the bedroom, Changbin threw up his arms in defeat.
“You cheated!” Changbin pointed accusingly at Felix, “You-you--”
Felix rolled on the ground laughing, “How could I have cheated, hyung? I’m not a bot, and I haven’t used cheat codes, I--”
“Cheating!” Changbin insisted, yelling and rolling over, until he noticed Seungmin’s presence, and stood up to shake the younger boy’s shoulders, “Witchcraft! Cheating!”
“Or maybe you just suck,” Seungmin raised an eyebrow, to which Changbin’s eyes bulged out, and his face turned red, and he stormed out screaming something profane in the hopes of getting some sympathy from someone. Felix was still rolling on the floor, clutching his stomach and trying to catch his breath, when he looked up and smiled at Seungmin.
“You want to play?” he asked sweetly, but Seungmin shook his head.
“Um, actually, I was hoping,” Seungmin sat down gently, “Um… Would you mind going to Channie-hyung’s room and speaking in the most exaggerated Australian accent you can muster?”
Felix’s eyes widened, and his playful look dropped into seriousness. He understood that code-- the boys used it against both Chan and Felix when the other fell into the sort of numbing home-sickness that could strangle one into depression. Without another word, Felix nodded, and without turning off the game, quickly hurried to find Chan. Seungmin powered off the game and sat back. His notes were at his feet. He realized that the room was relatively quiet, and he’d finally found a place to practice.
Suddenly, he didn’t feel like practicing.
He walked back to his bedroom, and peeking in, found Hyunjin and Innie practicing the steps for the dance unit stage. Jeongin was smiling, Hyunjin showering him in praise at every small movement. In the kitchen, Seungmin noted that Minho made a couple of dishes free of eggplants, which he discreetly laid off to the side, Jisung and Changbin teasing him quietly from the side for being such a tsundere. Finally, Seungmin peaked into Chan’s room, alarmed when he heard silence, but then pleased when he saw Felix and Chan wrapped in each other’s arms, earbuds in, and watching something on Chan’s laptop.
“Fifty won that they’re watching Crocodile Dundee.”
Jisung’s chin rested on his shoulder, a sparkling cheerfulness in his eyes as they saw their friends taking comfort in themselves. Seungmin pushed him off and rolled his eyes.
“Well, duh.”
~
The Mayfly stages rolled around, and were done in a flash. In hindsight, Seungmin would realize he had more nerves over the performance actually airing, than the performance itself. Sure, the performance was nerve-wracking, but more terrifying were the messages he got from basically everyone, from sunbaenims at the company he respected (who may or may not have included certain Day6 members) to his sister who had eagerly texted him.
Can’t wait for the performance tonight!
The teaser sounded amazing, Seungmin-ssi, looking forward to it
Wah, MY little brother? No way… you look like you dressed up to sing at church Minnie-ah <3 XD
He carefully powered off his phone, and hid it under his pillow that day. The more texts he read, the more his fingers felt tingly, slightly numb, and the cloud of dread hung over his head a little wider, the impending doom creeping closer. He kept a close eye on everyone’s schedules, and was relieved to find only himself, Hyunjin, and Felix at home by the end of the day.
“3racha got caught up with an evaluator,” Felix was leaning on Seungmin’s shoulders, an ad for a new drama on the television, “Innie got double-booked with a vocal coach, but he said he’ll watch it there, and Lee Know-hyung is meeting with the choreographers in ten minutes.”
“Hm,” Seungmin tried to sound disinterested, but he was really all too pleased, “I’m kinda tired… maybe I’ll go--”
“No!” Hyunjin threw a leg over Seungmin’s lap and wrapped an arm around his other side, “For me? Please, Seungmin-ah, please? ”
Internally groaning, Seungmin threw himself back into the couch, staring at the intricate patterns on the ceiling, Felix and Hyunjin giggling contentedly on either side of him. He decided the ceiling was very interesting and damn, Hyunjin’s puppy eyes were getting too good. Even when the show started, he did everything in his power to distract himself from the show, because even watching his own nervousness manifested on the screen made him feel dizzy and nauseous. It’s One’s performance of Spark had just finished, a commercial for a new drama running, when the door swung open and both Jisung and Jeongin stumbled in.
“Did we miss it?” Jisung threw his bag to the side and sat on the floor by Seungmin’s legs, panting as he was out of breath.
“Unfortunately, no,” Seungmin mumbled, still staring at the ceiling.
Jeongin came behind the couch, cupping Seungmin’s face cheekily, “You’re a fool if you think we’d miss watching this. I told my vocal couch I was sick.”
“That’s bad, Innie.”
“Not as bad as you trying to make us not watch this.”
Hyunjin looked at Seungmin with shock, “You… you don’t want us to watch?”
“N-no, not like that,” Seungmin faltered slightly, because Hyunjin had been looking forward to his performance all week, partially because everyone had told him how stunning he had sounded, and because, secretly, in a way that only his roomates knew, Hyunjin felt jealous that he hadn’t been able to see it in person, “It’s-- ah, nevermind.”
Swatting Innie’s hand away, he slouched down into the couch, the younger boy moving around the couch to sit next to Hyunjin, who immediately wrapped him in a hug.
“The hyungs are watching in Chan’s studio,” Jisung informed, much to Seungmin’s great displeasure, “Changbin and Chan have to modify a couple of tracks, but they said they would keep it on in the background so they can stop to watch. Minho said he’d ditch the choreographers during your performance if they started rambling.”
“He really doesn’t need to,” he mumbled.
“Oh!” Jisung turned around and looked up at Seungmin, “I wanted to stay at the studio to watch too, because Chan cries every time he hears you sing this. It’s amazing to watch.”
Seungmin wasn’t sure what the strange fluttering feeling was in his chest when he heard that. Was it pride? Nervousness? Knowing that you had the ability to pull on people’s hearts created a deliriously powerful feeling… but then again, this was Chan, who teared up whenever he was remotely proud of his team.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Hm?”
“Stay with Chan.”
Jisung backed up further against the couch, “I wanted to be here when Hyunjin hears it for the first time. He usual says something stupid when he hears you sing.”
“Shut up, it’s starting!” Felix shushed, holding Seungmin tighter.
Despite his best efforts, Seungmin found himself watching when his face showed up on screen. It wasn’t his singing he was interested in, because that he had monitored to the moon and back, but the reactions of those who were watching his performance for the first time. It was actually quite amazing-- Stray Kids had never been so quiet as a team watching a performance. There were a lot of wide-open mouths and star-struck eyes. Chan did look like he was crying. And everyone seemed stunned, enraptured by the music. Seungmin dared to glance to his side and see Hyunjin, lost somewhere in the melody. There was something in his eyes, the way his jaw was slack, wide in awe, made vulnerable by the power of his singing, that made Seungmin feel content in himself, insecurity drowned out.
But that didn’t stop him from scrunching up his nose shyly when Hyunjin turned to shower him with compliments.
“It was like, it was like--” he made a gesture with his hands, “Like, like, like that sort of feeling, you know?”
Seungmin nodded, even though it didn’t make any more sense than when Felix had told him that right after the performance. Jisung was right, Hyunjin didn’t make much sense.
“It… felt different,” was all he could reply with, “It felt good. It was a good experience.”
Jisung turned around from his place on the floor and looked at him with wide, dovey eyes, very similar to how he had in the show, when Seungmin had come back. They didn’t produce quite the same effect as seeing Chan’s tear stained cheeks, but they were still charming.
“Uh,” Innie’s phone vibrated and he looked at Seungmin in confusion, “why is your sister texting me?”
Holy hell, Chunae, Seungmin swore in his mind and rolled his eyes, “I turned my phone off because I didn’t want to talk to people. The show’s not even over yet. Our next stage is airing tonight. They can all wait.”
Jeongin’s phone began to ring, “Uh, did you tell her that?”
Snatching his phone, Seungmin rudely texted his sister to shut the hell up until the show was over, and that he’d call her , unless she wanted him to continue to ignore her the following morning. It was a threat that he had been known to follow up on, so hopefully it would keep her at bay.
“Damn,” Felix read the text, slowly, over Seungmin’s shoulder, “Rachel and Olivia would give me hell if I ever talked to them like that.”
“Mm,” Jeongin looked over the text, and passed it on to a curious Jisung, “My brothers would rat me out to my parents.”
“Huh, maybe,” Jisung passed back the phone, “It’s a middle child thing? Respecting siblings? We need to talk to another maknae of the family, because I would totally trash talk my brother if I could-- hey come to think of it, Innie talks to us like this all the time!”
“Oh,” Felix stared off into space, and then smiled, “Okay, yeah it makes perfect sense now.”
Hyunjin stared at all of them, and then spoke very solemnly, “Thank God I don’t have siblings. You all are enough to deal with for a lifetime .”
“Shut up-- the show is starting,”
“Shut up,” Hyunjin mocked, until Jisung slapped him, and Seungmin gave him a death stare that held no weight, except for the fact that it came from one of the most even-keeled members of the team, “Sorry.”
“You will be,” Jisung muttered, but then Hyunjin kicked him, and Jeongin was screaming at them to stop it because they were being dangerous again, Felix cackling off to the side while Seungmin desperately tried to ignore everything around him.
He almost didn’t notice when Minho slipped in and handed him a bowl of ramen, a rare fond look behind his glasses. Changbin slid next to Jisung on the floor, Chan on his other side, handing off notes from the evaluator and exchanging some technical terms of what they had changed. Minho handed out food to everyone else, and then sat next to Felix, looking at the screen but talking to Seungmin.
“We watched at Channie’s studio,” he said absently, “It sounded even more amazing coming from hyung’s stereo.”
“Seungminnie’s voice didn’t need my stereo,” Chan interrupted, “It sounded amazing during rehearsal, and through Mnet’s crappy--”
“And it’s starting!” Seungmin cut off, shoveling ramen into his mouth and hoping no one noticed the way his hands trembled slightly. Of course, Minho did, and he reached across Felix’s lap to pinch him slightly, with his nails, in a way that would make him hurt.
“Ah!”
“Hm?” Hyunjin cocked his head to the side, eyes glued to the screen, “You alright, Seungminnie?”
Seungmin glared at Minho, who had a blank face, and Felix, who was biting down a laugh and rubbing Seungmin’s arm sympathetically, and just rolled his eyes. The credits had barely finished rolling when Jeongin’s phone buzzed again.
“Hyuuuuung?” Innie looked over nervously and turned the screen, a familiar name lighting the screen.
With a frustrated sigh, Seungmin snatched the phone and accepted the video call.
“Whaaaat?”
“ Yah, is that how you greet your sister, pabo? Huh? Hand the phone to your hyungs, I want to ask them how you treat them.”
Felix peeked into the screen, “Hi noona!”
And then the whole room erupted with all sorts of strange, loud, and lewd (courtesy of Minho and Jisung) sounds.
“What is it, Chunae? What couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
“ Oh nothing… except that you looked like a proper church boy, and mom thought you looked cute.”
“Very funny.”
“... Did you at least get me Eunkwang’s signature?”
“No.”
Chunae groaned loudly, “Really, you’re the worst, Seungmin-ssi.”
Seungmin smiled, “Thanks.”
Her face was shining, as she sat on her bed, glittering LEDs behind her like a halo, “Hey, how did your interview go? With that company you wanted to intern with?”
“Terrible, thanks. I was using this show to destress.”
“Oh? I would have warned you, that’s a terrible idea… You do realize that it is a competition show, right? Not exactly low-tension?”
“ Uh huh, so we won’t talk about how Mayfly had a clean kill, three for three, nailing every performance, and crushing the competition?”
Everyone screamed and Chunae started laughing, “You all deserve it!”
“Thanks, noona!” Chan called over his shoulder.
“Is that all?” Seungmin smiled.
“No.”
“Get on with it then.”
“Well, if you’re done with your little fit, can I compliment you on your--”
Screaming, Seungmin hung up and passed the phone back to Jeongin and hopped off the couch, ignoring the looks Chan and Hyunjin gave him as he rushed off to his room. He wanted to go to bed, he really wanted to. But his sister’s face had been so sweet, so proud… Despite everything, he turned on his phone, and called her back, pulling the sheets over his head, and burrowing under his pillow.
Chunae’s face lit up his screen, “...What, you had to take shelter from the apocalypse or something?”
“Did you like it?”
“What?”
Seungmin bit his lip, “Did- Did you like it?”
Chunae’s face softened, “Seungie, I-- Did you know I cried?”
“No way.”
“Yup. Mom cried too, and dad teared up.”
“Lies.”
“I have video proof, I’ll send it.”
There was a stretch of silence as she looked for the video. He spent the time looking at the little details of her room, the way her eyebrow went up slightly and nose scrunched up as she concentrated on one task. He suddenly remembered Chan, and his sister Hannah, and even though Chunae wasn’t quite as far as Australia, he felt a pit of homesickness build in his chest. They talked about nothing for a while, different topics about people they knew, and people they didn’t know, news headlines, and inconsequential information passing from one to another, until Seungmin’s heart cracked.
“Ch-Chunae?”
“Hm?” Chunae smiled as she looked intently at him, “What?”
“... Nothing.”
“It was good, Seungmin-ah.”
“I know,” it was a page out of Minho’s book, but he really didn’t want to talk about the performance right now.
“ Seungminnie.”
“Yeah?”
“ I’m proud of you.”
And then his heart caught in his throat and he teared up, “Y-yeah?”
“Yeah,” she smiled, “I’m going to brag about you to everyone I know. You-- you-- It was really good. I-- It made me realize that you’ve grown so much since… It was good. I’m proud of you.”
“... Oh,” he rubbed his eyes, “Heh, ok.”
“Ok,” Chunae smiled, “ Hey, go to sleep, ok? You look tired.”
“Ok.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“G’night.”
“‘Night… love you.”
Chunae smiled, “Love you, Seungie.”
The call stopped, Seungmin hanging up before she could say anything else sappy. He took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes a moment more, before pushing his pillow off and sticking his head out of the sheets. Minho’s eyes, rimmed in silver metal from his glasses, startled him. They stared at each other, and then Minho smiled cockily.
“Seungminnie?” he smiled, “I’m proud of you. I love you.”
Seungmin threw a pillow at his face.
~
“Chunae? Are you overworking yourself?”
“What?” Chunae looked up from where she was blending her morning smoothie, “What are you-- why would you think that?”
“You said you were stressed,” Seungmin adjusted himself slightly from his spot on the bedroom floor, “And you have dark circles under your eyes.”
“Aw, aren’t you sweet?” Chunae continued busying herself about the kitchen, and Seungmin noted that she was pointedly avoiding his question.
“...Is that a yes?”
“Why do you sound so worried? Should I be overworking myself?” Chunae’s eyes went wide, “Are you not telling me something because you think I’m too stressed to hear it?”
“No, no,” Seungmin reassured, putting a hand over Hyunjin’s mouth as the dancer started laughing incredulously, “I just… just want make sure I’m not gonna call one day and find you in a hospital or passed out at the office or something.”
Chunae’s brow furrowed, her face blank and confused, and then she cocked her head to the side, “Is this like that time when you thought I was dying because you found blood in the--”
“Shut up, ” Seungmin hissed, and then hung up.
Hyunjin shook his head next to him, “You’re impossible.”
“Thanks.”
He started scrolling through twitter, Hyunjin lying on his stomach and sketching a picture he had pulled up on Innie’s iPad. Time seemed to stand still, sunlight peeking through the window, dust suspended like snowflakes in golden light. Although nobody would say it, there was a burden fallen off their collective shoulders, and a carefreeness that washed over them as they looked at the overwhelming support they received from every corner of the world. It was humbling, and reassuring, in an odd sort of way. Not that they trusted the opinions of fans, but it felt like a hero always triumphing in a story, especially as Hyunjin relaxed on top of him.
Seungmin gasped, “Hyunjin?”
“Mm?”
“Does Channie-hyung know we got noticed by Ryan Reynolds?”
“Ryan Reynolds?” Hyunjin sat up in a flash, staring at him, “Like, Deadpool? That Ryan Reynolds.”
“No, the other one,” Seungmin rolled his eyes, “ Yes you idiot, that one!”
Hyunjin slapped his arm, but stared intently at Seungmin’s phone regardless.
Across the dorm, in a collective cacophony, erupted screeches that resembled the sounds of pterodactyls more than boys.
“ The Ryan Reynolds?!”
“What the f--? ”
“Who’s Ryan Reynolds?!”