Chapter Text
"And you're sure you got it?"
"Don't worry, Mrs. Ahn," Changbin insisted, shifting the box of graduated cylinders in his arms. "It'll only take a minute anyway." The science teacher smiled gratefully as she locked the classroom door.
"Thank you, Changbin," she said, setting the keys back in her purse as she turned to face her top student. "You're always such a big help."
"It's really not a problem," Changbin said, shaking his head. "Have a good night, Mrs. Ahn. Enjoy the new Code episode!"
"Thank you, Changbin," she laughed. "Get home safely." And with that, they parted ways, Mrs. Ahn heading towards the front of the school while Changbin made his way towards the back.
The school was practically dead at that point, his footsteps the only sound in the hallways as he made his way past the locked classrooms to the storage unit at the very back of the school property. Night was fast approaching, the golden sky darkening above him and taking the warmth away with it. It would definitely be a cool night.
Upon approaching the unit, Changbin found the door to be propped open with a wooden peg. From inside the large steel rectangle, he heard the light clangs and shuffling of someone inside. "Hey, Minho," he greeted, sliding the door open and gently setting it back on the peg before walking towards the many dark wooden shelves lining the first level.
A face popped up through the shelves and smiled. "I was wondering when you'd show up," Minho mused. Changbin chuckled.
"Yeah, Ahn and I had to clean out all these." He raised the cylinders for Minho to see, who hummed. "They took a while."
"I feel you. I had to do my own dishwashing too." With his own box at his feet, Minho pulled out a large red pot, droplets of water still sticking to the black steel. "We made curry today."
"Did you save me some?" Minho laughed at Changbin's attempted pout.
"Yes, child, don't worry." He handed him a small container through the shelf, and Changbin cheered as he took it.
"And this is why I'm best friends with the cooking club president," Changbin declared. Minho frowned.
"Is that the only reason?"
"What other reason would there be?"
"I'm taking the curry back."
"No!" Changbin hugged it protectively to his chest.
"Hey, if he can't have it, I volunteer as tribute," a voice echoed from the second level. The two boys shielded their eyes as Chan shone his phone light on his face, standing tall at the top of the metal staircase with a proud smirk while he blasted the Marvel theme song.
Before promptly tripping over his own feet and sliding down the stairs.
"Owwwwwwwww!"
"Smooth, Bang," Changbin nodded.
"I think you need chill, not curry," Minho commented. Chan glared at him as he sat up.
"I have chill! I am the chillest! Chiller than ice, baby." He winked, and Changbin dramatically gagged.
"What are you even doing here anyway?" Minho asked as he returned to putting the cooking supplies away. Chan stumbled to his feet.
"Hanging out in the coolest spot for the coolest dudes."
He then proceeded to scream as something cold tapped his shoulder. But when everyone turned to look, it was just Kim Seungmin holding an ice pack out towards Chan, his note app open.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," Chan said, chuckling as his ears turned red. Minho shook his head and returned to putting his stuff away. Changbin resisted the urge to slam his face into the curry in second-hand embarrassment. "Thanks, Seungmin." Seungmin gave a small smile as Chan took the ice pack, quickly typing out a new message.
"Be more careful, okay?"
"Careful is my middle name," Chan said proudly.
"No, your middle name Dumbass," Changbin said.
"I thought it was Christopher," Minho said.
"No!" Chan yelled.
"Can you all stop yelling? You're distracting me."
Another voice came from the dark corner, and Chan had to shine his light at the figure for him to become visible. Jeongin, dressed in all black with thick eyeliner per usual, quickly raised a hand to shield his eyes even though his overgrown bangs did a great job of that already. "Stop that!"
"Okay, Mr. Vampire," Chan said, continuing to shine the light at Jeongin. "Will you turn to dust if I keep pointing this at you?"
"You're ruining everything!"
"You shouldn't be writing in the dark, Jeongin," Minho said, noticing the notebook and pencil (both of course black) in his lap. "It's bad for your eyes."
"Curse these eyes of mine," Jeongin spat. "The only thing they do is force me to be a witness to the cruelty of this damned world."
"Dude, you're like twelve. Chill," Changbin said.
"I'm sixteen!"
"Only a four year difference."
"Time is a meaningless construct made by us humans to try and find meaning in our hopeless lives. To make us feel worth something in this universe when we are, in fact, nothing."
"All aboard the Depression Express," Changbin announced sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he turned away.
"You need to learn some chill from me, Jeongin," Chan said, still waving the flashlight around him. "I'm the chillest guy you'll ever meet."
"Lava is cooler than you, Chan," Jeongin retorted. "Now seriously, turn that light off!"
"But isn't it too dark over there?"
"The darkness is my only friend. It keeps me from seeing the lies of the world." Seungmin began frantically typing, and everyone waited patiently until he turned his phone around.
"But can't light also illuminate the good things darkness is hiding? Darkness can make us see things like how little kids see monsters in it. Light helps assure us we're safe and shows the darkness is actually hurting us in the end."
"But why would the truth of safety matter if the rest of the world is still as shitty and dangerous as it was before you turned off the light? Safety is fleeting, only for a moment before reality comes crashing back onto us again. It's better to not let yourself get hurt and just stay in the darkness. At least the monsters can't hurt you as much as people can."
Before anyone could respond, the door slid open again, evening light filtering into the dim lighted unit. The collar length black hair immediately gave the student council president away. "What are you all doing here?" Hyunjin asked. "It's way past school hours already." He waved a hand at Minho and Changbin. "Not you two, but the rest of you."
"Don't you know this is where the cool people hang, bro?" Chan asked, crossing his arms.
"Then why are you here?" Shifting his gaze away from an offended Chan, he focused on the wannabe Gerard Way sitting in the corner still trying to block the dAnGeRoUs fLasHLiGhT. "And are you really just sitting in the dark?"
"The dark is my friend and comforts me, shields me from the cruel world," Jeongin said. "I write better in it." Hyunjin blinked.
"Okay, well, can't you do that at home?"
"What is a home? I just have a house that I sleep in. That doesn't mean it's a home. I have no home except the darkness."
"Never thought I'd agree with Emo Bob on something."
"Don't encourage him, Seungmin," Changbin groaned.
"And at least give me a cooler name than Bob," Jeongin whined.
"Like Chan?" Chan asked, sliding on a pair of sunglasses.
Or at least attempting to before he ended up poking himself in the eye.
"Not at all," Jeongin dismissed as Chan pressed the ice pack to his eye and jumped around chanting, "Ow!"
"What's going on here?" Felix sung, clutching the strap of his bag as he peered inside the storage unit over Hyunjin's shoulder. "And why is Chan jumping around like me at a Twice concert?"
"Cool people jump around like this," Chan reasoned as he continued hopping in a circle. Felix tilted his head in confusion.
"So why are you doing it?"
"Hey!"
"And what's with the ice pack?"
"Cool people use ice packs!"
"He fell down the stairs and poked himself in the eye within five minutes of each other."
"Seungmin! Don't expose me!"
"Expose what?" the ever loud and bright voice of Jisung rung out right beside Hyunjin's ear, making him wince.
"Just burst my whole eardrum, will you?" he grumbled. Jisung shrugged.
"Okay."
And then he began to scream right in Hyunjin's ear.
"Not actually!" Hyunjin yelled, shoving Jisung away. Jisung huffed.
"Then you shouldn't have said anything in the first place. So what's going on in here?" He pushed past Hyunjin as he gazed around the space with wide eyes and his ever present grin.
But he also managed to step on Hyunjin's feet in the process. Both of them.
Hyunjin had to physically hold himself back from clocking the boy upside the head.
"Changbin and I are putting materials away," Minho said. "I don't know what everyone else is doing."
"Being the coolest person on the planet obviously," Chan said, going to cross his arms only to drop the ice pack with a loud thunk. "Shit."
"I'm becoming one with the darkness," Jeongin explained. "It's the only way for me to truly be myself. No one besides the darkness understands me. It accepts me, and I need to be in it to stay sane."
"I'm just here," Seungmin wrote.
"So there's no secret party going on?" Jisung asked.
"No," Minho said.
"No secret drug exchange?"
"No," Changbin said.
"Orgy?"
"NO!" Seungmin immediately typed, shoving the screen in Jisung's face.
"Okay okay," Jisung relented, stepping back. "No need to bring out the caps lock, I get it."
"What you guys need are some treats," Felix decided, whipping his bag around and zipping it open. "And just your luck, I got several bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos left!" he declared as he pulled out a bag of, sure enough, Flamin' Hot Cheetos that crinkled in his grasp.
"Felix, you know you can't be selling stuff on school grounds," Hyunjin said.
"It's not like it's drugs."
"People can technically inhale the dust," Changbin said.
"But the chili powder and capsaicin wouldn't make it pleasant," Minho said. "You might as well crush a pepper and snort it."
"I'm not even going to pretend I understood what you just said," Jisung said.
"Besides the point," Hyunjin dismissed before gesturing to Minho and Changbin. "You two continue your business, but the rest of you really have no reason to be in here, and since it's past school hours, you should probably leave."
"Why do you have to be such a buzzkill?" Jisung whined even though he had been in the unit for less than two minutes. "You can't just kick us out like this!"
"I actually can," Hyunjin said with a smile. "That's one of the perks of being council president." His smile fell as he grabbed Jisung by the arm. "Now move before I literally kick you out."
"No!" Jisung protested as Hyunjin began shoving him back out the door, squirming and kicking. "I don't want to!"
"There's nothing fun in here anyway!"
"Hello! I'm here!"
"You're not fun, Chan."
"Shut up, Changbin!"
"Stop pushing me, I'll make this place fun!"
"So is no one gonna buy my Hot Cheetos?"
"No thanks, Felix."
"Get out, Jisung!"
"You'll never be cool, Chrispy!"
"What'd you just call me?!"
"Why won't you buy my food, Minho?!"
"No need to yell, Felix."
"Everyone else is!"
"Besides the point!"
"I will never give in!"
"You guys are interrupting my flow here!"
"I just wanted a quiet place to exist, guys."
"Everyone stop yelling!" Hyunjin screamed. "And Jisung, stop fighting!"
"Fuck! You!" Jisung cried, managing to wiggle himself out of the taller's grip and whirl around victoriously.
What he failed to realize was in flailing his legs around like a wild rabid mongoose, he had kicked the wood peg that was previously holding the large sliding door open.
As all seven boys focused on Jisung, they all failed to notice the slab of wood that allowed entry and exit fly off into the grass. "Ha ha!" Jisung exclaimed as Hyunjin seethed. "How you like that?"
The door slammed shut.