Chapter Text
Jeongin was rudely awakened from his nap by a shove to the side of his hammock. Thankfully, Jeongin had suffered such an attack many times over the past three days they’d been staying at Minho’s grandparents’ house and he had wrapped the fabric around him so he remained inside while the hammock spun upside down and righted again.
“Yes?” he asked irritatedly, keeping his cocoon tightly wrapped around himself for protection.
“Have you seen Minho-hyung?” Seungmin asked without any sort of polite smalltalk first. Jeongin didn’t expect it from him and would have been suspicious had it happened.
“From inside this hammock?” Jeongin answered sassily. He got another shove.
“Like today,” Seungmin said. “I’m hungry. Shouldn’t he be making dinner by now?””
Jeongin poked his head out of the hammock and Seungmin’s scowl melted before him as Jeongin blinked to adjust his eyes to the light. Seungmin reached over and brushed Jeongin’s fringe back into place. These kinds of actions had been getting more common with Seungmin and Jeongin wasn’t sure how to take them. The bothering and teasing he understood- he had an older brother after all- and the grudging help with assignments was familiar for the same reason but these random touches… Was he supposed to shove them off too or do something else?
“Are you still half-asleep?” Seungmin asked. “You probably shouldn’t be napping this late. It will mess up your sleep schedule.”
“We’re on holiday,” Jeongin pointed out, trying to get out of the hammock without decking it in the grass. “I don’t need a sleep schedule.”
Seungmin held one side of the strings steady casually as if he just happened to lean on it when Jeongin needed it. A lot of his actions were like that. Jeongin didn’t know what to make of that either. They had known each other for two semesters, one academic year, and even though they had lived together for that whole time there was a lot about Seungmin that confused him. Not that their other flatmates were any better. Changbin had ended up in their flat because he forgot to get accommodation and the 1st year that had originally been in his room had dropped out in the second week, leaving the room free. Changbin forgot a lot of things. Like going to class, going to sleep, eating, any recipe the rest of them tried to teach him- basic human survival pretty much. And yet he had nearly straight As in his classes. Jeongin was both impressed and furious.
Seungmin and Minho, their final flatmate, also got straight As. Seungmin’s excellence came through constant grind. Jeongin wasn’t sure he really did things other than improve his CV. Sure, baseball was a hobby, but when you were also the team treasurer in only your second year it was more like a job with exercise. Minho worked hard for his As too, Jeongin was sure. He would disappear to the library for impressively long stints just prior to a deadline and come back with thousands of words of technical jargon, beautiful diagrams and a file full of code. But Minho was equally likely to disappear for impressively long stints to other places. Places that started with a club or a bar and then became a friends house, or a strangers house and then the park and then god knows where. Jeongin didn’t think he could ever enjoy himself for as long as Minho managed too- he would definitely have an accidental nap somewhere before 6am, when Minho normally appeared with the sun. Minho was a fourth year though, so presumably he knew what he was doing to have survived it this long and Jeongin, as a lowly first year, thought it best not to comment.
Jeongin himself had got mostly Bs in his coursework. Hopefully, when the exam results came out later in the summer his exam grades would pull up his grade average but as a first year he really only needed to pass. As a second year, Seungmin also didn’t have to aim so high but that wasn’t really Seungmin’s style. Seungmin liked to be on top of everything, hence why he was asking about dinner before the sun was even that low in the sky.
“I’ve not seen Minho-hyung since this morning,” Jeongin told him. “I think he was going fishing again.”
“He’s not at the river,” Seungmin said with his hands on his hips. “And he’s not in the house anywhere and he’s not answering his phone.”
“Have you asked Bin-hyung?” Jeongin suggested. Anything to prevent Seungmin from dragging him into this wild Minho chase.
“He’s not seen Hyung either,” Seungmin frowned. “And he got grumpy at me.”
Poor Seungmin. A grumpy Changbin was not anybody’s friend. “Did you check the shed?” Jeongin offered.
“It’s locked,” Seungmin said. “I’ve looked around the whole house, the river and the field. The only other places he could have gone is down the road, the woods or the cliffs.”
“You want me to look with you?” Jeongin asked reluctantly. He understood Seungmin’s hesitation to go alone. Minho might have grown up running around here but the woods were certainly creepy to Jeongin and with no path through them he could definitely see himself getting lost in there alone.
“Yes please,” Seungmin said and held out a hand. Jeongin didn’t take it and wandered past him back to the house.
“I need shoes,” he called back to Seungmin, feeling the other boy’s dejection hit like a weight on his shoulders. As if he would actually leave Seungmin to search by himself- he wasn’t that cruel.
***
They had searched as far into the woods as they dared and found nothing and walked all the way down to the bottom of the dirt track where it met the main road and not encountered Minho anywhere. That only left the cliffs. Jeongin didn’t honestly expect Minho to be there since the fourth year was deathly afraid of heights. As in, he freaked going up the stairs to the union canteen because of the floor to ceiling glass on the stairwell. Cliffs didn’t seem like his scene. Still, they went and walked along the sea-front two metres away from the edge as per Jeongin’s risk assessment. He didn’t know the structure of the bedrock and it was better to be safe than dead.
“Can’t we even crawl to the edge and look over?” Seungmin whined. “We can’t see any of the waves crashing from back here.”
“No,” Jeongin said firmly. “What if the cliff is undercut? What if the edge is just turf and no rock underneath? Do you really think turf is going to hold you up just because you’re crawling.”
“Urgh,” Seungmin said, which was how he normally answered when Jeongin made a point he couldn’t refute. Seungmin studied law and it infuriated him to be outwitted by a primary teacher. That was exactly why Jeongin tried to do it as often as possible. Jeongin was still basking in the victory when Seungmin broke away from him towards the cliff.
“Where are you going!?” Jeongin asked in panic. He wanted to go and pull Seungmin back but then both of their weight would be right near the edge of the cliff.
“There’s a path!” Seungmin called and disappeared around the edge of a bush right by the cliff edge.
“Seungmin-hyung!” Jeongin yelled.
“I’m fine,” Seungmin’s voice floated up over the edge of the cliff. “Come on, there’s a cove. Hey! I see Minho-hyung!”
Jeongin closed his eyes for a second to add this information to his risk assessment. He had no idea what state Seungmin’s ‘path’ was in but presumably it wasn’t over undercut rock and if Minho had already walked down it it was probably safe. Relatively safe. How much did he trust Minho’s judgement anyway?
“Innie!” Seungmin called, his head reappearing around the bush. “Come on, secret beach.” His eyes were wild with the lure of adventure and he was grinning so widely Jeongin could see his top and bottom teeth. This was a very excited Seungmin and if Jeongin didn’t stop him he would run all the way down this perilous cliff path.
“I’m coming,” Jeongin said. “Wait. Don’t run.”
“I wasn’t going to run,” Seungmin said but he’s already disappeared again.
“Wait!” Jeongin called out.
“I’m waiting,” Seungmin grumbled from just behind the bush. “God, I’m not an idiot. Hurry up.”