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Hyunjin was sulking. Sitting in his corner, arms crossed and lips pursed in a pout, he wasn't participating in cleaning the dorm at all.
And Felix did not like it.
"Hyunjin-ah, come on! Don't make me clean this alone!" He threw a stray sock at the taller boy and watched him jump in surprise and grimace in disgust.
"Whose sock is that?"
Felix put a hand on his hip and smirked. "That's for you to figure out." He pulled a second sock from his pocket and threw it.
"Yongbok!"
"Stop sulking! The sooner we are done with this, the better!"
The two of them were on cleaning duty. 3racha was in the studio and the other three members were working on their vocals, leaving the dorm to the cleaning crew. Group. Pair. 1+1.
It was their turn, either way, but just the day before, the two of them had accidentally spilled an entire take-out tray. The group's response to that? Punishing them by assigning them the spring cleaning of the year.
Last year, Changbin and Minho had earned that particular penalty when a squabble between them had had two neighbours complaining about the noise.
They did this every year and usually more than once - a dorm with eight people in it tended to get messy. It meant not only dusting and vacuuming like usual; they also had to sort thorugh all the stuff that had accumulated in their home and scrub everything clean. The kitchen, the bathroom, the floor - everything.
The members had instructions not to touch personal belongings as everyone would be responsible for sorting through that on their own. Usually, the members would do so a few days prior and put everything into the boxes in the living room.
Felix peered into one of said boxes. "Oh, Innie threw away a bunch of school stuff."
Hyunjin tilted his head to the side. "Really? Only now? Pretty sure I watched him burn a stack of worksheets during one of our camping trips."
Felix chuckled. "Well, didn't we all? I'll bring this outside." He picked up the box and disappeared behind the big blue curtain.
Hyunjin reluctantly examined the sock Felix had pelted him with and concluded it didn't matter who it belonged to since there was a hole in it and the only place it would be going to was the trash can.
Looked like Changbin's, though.
Felix came back to examine the other boxes and went to sort through the items while Hyunjin began cleaning the kitchen. Which included cleaning the fridges. After looking at the three fridges for a second, he decided to start with the cupboards, instead.
An hour passed by, the two boys working in comfortable silence.
It was interrupted when Felix called from the living room, "Hyunjinnie! I found a notepad under the couch."
"Under the what now?" Hyunjin shook his head as he went to check it out. Long live the chaos.
Felix held up a notepad and pointed at the couch's leg. "Partially under the couch. Someone must have kicked it under by accident. Do you think that's meant for the trash, too?"
Hyunjin took the notepad and examined it. It was blue and the size of a diary. Jeongin's full name was written on the back.
"Must be one of Innie's." He flipped it open and laughed incredulously when he saw the many empty pages and the randomness of notes.
Hyunjin spotted a number of doodles, exactly one equation and a few more or less messily scribbled pages. Some of them were filled up, neat letters printed onto the page as if the maknae had had a burst of motivation and put some effort into his assignments. It was almost suspicious.
"Did he blackmail Jisung into doing his assignments or something? This looks like his handwriting." He flipped the page and chuckled. "I don't know what subject he was studying, but I don't think he was paying attention.", he concluded.
Felix peered at the pages. "All of them and none of them at once, apparently. What a mood."
Hyunjin, still chuckling, closed the notepad and waved it in the air. "I don't think he needs this anymore."
He threw the notepad into the paper bin without second thought and returned to his chores.
Their efforts paid off, at last. When the members returned home, no one had any complaints to make. Felix and Hyunjin considered it a massive success.
The peace did not last long, however.
The next day, Hyunjin and Felix were sitting down for breakfast when a troubled-looking Jisung waddled into the kitchen.
"Good morning. What's wrong?", Felix asked, handing him a sandwich. It was unusual for him to be up this early, especially on a day off.
Jisung thanked him and frowned. "I'm looking for something. Pretty sure I was holding it when I fell asleep on the couch a few days ago, but I don't remember where it went after."
He scrunched his nose. His face lit up seconds later and he looked up at the two of them.
"You cleaned the whole flat yesterday! Did any of you see my notepad? It's about this big." Jisung indicated the size with his hands, then reached up to scratch his head. "It's blue and has Yang Jeongin written on the back."
Felix' spoon froze midair. Hyunjin slowly set his glass down. "Why is Innie's name written on the back? Isn't it yours?", he asked cautiously.
Jisung shook his head, oblivious to the looks Felix was giving Hyunjin. "He used that notepad only when he forgot his other ones at home, so it was mostly empty. He gave it to me when he graduated. I use it to brainstorm lyrics, sometimes."
"Wait, don't you write them on your phone?", Hyunjin wondered. One time, he had looked into the rapper's notes app. How he managed to keep track of what belonged where, Hyunjin had no idea.
"Usually, yes. I use the notepad when my battery has died or I find myself in situations where it's rude to be on your phone. Sometimes, writing by hand helps my creative flow." Jisung shrugged. "I take it you haven't seen it?"
"Actually-" Hyunjin kicked Felix under the table and blocked him from Jisung's view by leaning across the table.
"No, but we will keep an eye out for it. Why don't you look through your drawers again? We didn't touch them."
Jisung nodded thoughtfully. "I already did. But someone might have found it and put it to Innie's stuff since his name is written on it. Okay, thanks. Tell me if you find it."
He left the kitchen, still looking troubled.
Felix rounded on Hyunjin once Jisung was out of earshot. "What was that? Why didn't you tell him?"
"Because we wouldn't live to see the sunset if I did. Also, we can just go and look for it. It should be in one of the boxes."
Hyunjin stood up and looked into the living room. No one else seemed to be up yet. He gestured at Felix to follow him and ducked behind the curtain, careful to not make any noise.
They went over to where they had placed the boxes. Hyunjin was thinking of an elaborate plan to give Jisung the impression that the younger had just overlooked the notepad while searching through his stuff by discreetly placing it in his or Jeongin's drawer before he stopped short at the spot where the boxes were standing.
Or should have been standing.
He was positive him and Felix had placed them right there in the corner next to the trash cans to finish sorting through them after breakfast.
But they were nowhere to be seen.
"Yeah, so much for just looking for it." Felix crossed his arms and scanned the area thoughtfully. When he failed to spot any sign of the boxes or the notepad, his face went pale. "Actually, where are they? I am positive we placed them here."
"You and me both, Lix." Hyunjin ruffled his hair in frustration, then remembered something. Beaming, he turned back to Felix. "Wait! I remember! I threw it into the paper bin!"
Hyunjin opened the paper waste bin and peeked inside, his face falling. Felix shook his head at the antics.
"Oh no."
"What is it?", Felix asked, simultaneously hopeful and dreading the answer.
"It's empty?", Hyunjin said, voice inclining in the end as if he wasn't sure that was what he was seeing.
"What is? Your brain?"
Hyunjin and Felix jumped in surprise when a third voice entered their conversation. They turned their heads in sync, looking towards the intruder.
Seungmin furrowed his brows. "Creepy.", he mumbled.
"Seungmin.", Felix breathed. Then, dragging out the sound of his name, "Seungmin~!"
"Felix~!", Seungmin mimicked him. He frowned at the two of them. "What are you doing?"
"Uh..." Felix looked at Hyunjin for help. The other needed a moment to take the hint.
"We're recreating a meme!", he announced enthusiastically.
Seungmin's expression stayed unchanged, but he induldged them. "And you are out here with the trash, why?"
"That's... the meme? Remember that one time we climbed...", looking at Seungmin's expression, Hyunjin trailed off.
Yeah, the younger wasn't buying it. Not at all.
Seungmin gestured at him to go on and Felix caved. "Okay, so maybe we misplaced someone's stuff and came here to look for it."
"Whose stuff?"
"Jisung's."
Seungmin snorted in amusement. "Chances are I can't blame you for that. What did you misplace?"
Hyunjin shifted his weight and cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact. "His notepad. But we didn't know it was important! We found it in the living room, so we just assumed we were meant to get rid of it!"
Seungmin hummed. "Yeah, that's where we usually put stuff we don't need anymore. He surely wouldn't have left it there if he still needed it. Not even by accident. That's too specific."
Felix scratched his neck. "Well, you see, it wasn't inside the boxes. I found it under the couch. Jisung said he fell asleep on the couch while holding it.", he elaborated when Seungmin frowned.
"And you just assumed it belonged into the trash?"
"Well, no. We checked it, of course. But it was mostly empty with a few random entries and it had Innie's name written on the back, so we-"
"Wait, are we talking about a blue notepad?", Seungmin interrupted them, his relaxed and somewhat amused expression fading into one of dread, "Innie's old notepad? The one Hannie uses for lyrics?"
"...Yeah?", Hyunjin replied sheepishly.
"Are you guys nuts?"
"Please don't tell the others! They will kick our asses into next year!", Felix begged, clinging onto the vocalist's arm and showcasing his puppy eyes.
"Yeah, no kidding. And they'd be right to do so." Seungmin sighed heavily. "The only reason I'm not doing that right now is that we need to find that notepad, ASAP."
Felix pouted. "You're not allowed to do that. You're younger than us."
"Lix, I'm literally younger than you by a week."
"A week is a week, I'm still older than you."
"Oh, so now it matters? And you believe that would stop me?"
"Not really. But please don't.", Felix whined.
"Wait, hold up a minute." Hyunjin held up a hand, then pointed at Seungmin, who was struggling to free himself from his fellow member's clutches.
"You knew about that notepad?"
"Of course, I did. How didn't you? Hannie rarely uses it, but him whipping out a notepad and furiously scribbling in it is hard to miss." He shook his head. "There are some pretty genius lyrics in there. We need to get it back. Right now."
Hyunjin and Felix nodded in agreement. The latter tightened his clutch on Seungmin's arm. "So, you won't snitch on us?"
"Not yet. Never, if we manage to get it back."
Felix breathed out a sigh of relief.
"I think."
"Yah! Blackmail us later. The boxes are gone and the bin is empty."
"That's because we sorted through them yesterday after you fell asleep. As for the bin, I believe Chan took out the trash when he returned from the studio."
Hyunjin gulped. "That means we will have to search the trash bins outside." He cringed at the thought.
Digging through trash.
Theirs as well as someone else's.
Joy.
The three of them quietly left the dorms, careful not to alarm Jisung or wake anyone else. They raced down the stairs and into the backyard, where the big trash bins were located. Luckily, no one else was around. Most people were either still asleep or had already gone off to work.
Hyunjin opened the waste paper bin and peeked inside, letting out a groan. "Someone's been here after Chan. No one in our group actually reads the newspaper and solves the crosswords at the back."
Felix scrunched his nose. "Guess we'll have to dig through it."
The three men shared an uneasy glance, hoping someone would step up.
Seungmin raised both hands, shaking his head. "I might have agreed to help you find it, but I will absolutely not search through the trash. That's on you."
The other two members sighed.
"Fair enough", Felix shrugged, gripping the edge of the bin and hoisting himself up, "Here goes nothing. Yeet!" He swung himself over the edge and jumped into the trash bin.
"Good thing that's just the paper waste.", Hyunjin mumbled.
"Hurry up!", Seungmin told him, "If anyone sees us doing this, we're be done for."
Hyunjin shuddered. "Imagine the headlines."
"What, 'Stray Kids Members Spotted Digging Through Trash' doesn't sound flattering to you?"
Felix groaned. "You two are not helping. Seungmin, Minho-hyung's influence is showing on you."
He ignored the ensuing protest and started digging through the paper bin, sometimes throwing things aside and miscalculating his strength, so Hyunjin and Seungmin had to pick them back up from the floor.
(Seungmin suspected it wasn't fully accidental, but made no comment on it. After all, they weren't the ones digging through the trash.)
"Aha!" Felix's hand popped up, presenting a blue notepad with a flourish.
Hyunjin snatched it from him and eyed the cover, disappointment settling on his features. "Felix, that's not the one."
"Wait, for real? That's the only one I've seen." Felix pouted from where he was standing inside the trash can. His gaze fell on something behind the two others and he bowed hastily, greeting someone.
Seungmin and Hyunjin turned around and spotted the old lady who lived above them standing only a few steps behind them.
"Oh. Good morning, Mrs. Kim."
The two of them bowed and received a warm smile from the lady.
"Good morning to you, too. Whatever could you be doing out here this early? Especially inside the trash bin?", she asked, simultaneously baffled and amused.
"We might have misplaced a friend's notepad. It is very important to him, so we are looking for it.", Felix admitted.
He liked the old lady. Sometimes, they would meet up for tea or share their baking recipes. She knew the eight boys well and even brought them food sometimes. Also, she had a sense of humor. Refreshing.
Mrs. Kim nodded thoughtfully. "That is unfortunate, yes. Have you had any luck finding it?"
"No, unfortunately not.", Seungmin admitted and tossed the notepad back into the bin.
"Please don't tell anyone about me doing this.", Felix added, gesturing down at himself and ducking a bit lower into the bin.
"Of course not.", Mrs. Kim chuckled. "You might be looking in the wrong place, though. I saw Chan bring out the trash very early this morning, but he did not put anything into the bin you're standing in, dear."
Felix frowned. "Oh, really? Then I'll be happy to get out." He climbed out of the bin and dusted himself off.
"Do you, by any chance, know where he put everything?", Seungmin asked the old lady.
She thought about it for a second, then pointed behind them. "Try looking behind the other containers. Good luck!"
The three men bowed politely and said their goodbyes before sprinting towards the containers.
Felix almost dove to the ground when they finally reached them. Seungmin stood back as Hyunjin and Felix shuffled through a pile of waste paper that was obviously theirs.
"Yes!", Felix cheered. He waved the blue notepad victoriously. I.N's name was written on the back.
Hyunjin exhaled heavily. "This is the best thing to happen to me this week. I haven't felt this relieved in a very long time." He grabbed the notepad from Felix, hugging it close to his chest.
Seungmin shook his head, but had to admit that he was relieved, too.
"Guess who is not getting beaten today!", Huynjin cheered, throwing his hands up. "Oh crap!" He spun around, watching the blue notepad sail through the air and right into an open window.
The three boys gaped at the window the notepad had disappeared through.
Seungmin closed his mouth, blinked a few times, then snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, no. There's no helping you. I'm out."
He turned and began walking away. His walk lasted only the few seconds it took Hyunjin and Felix to register what was happening and fall into panic mode.
"No! Wait!" Felix caught up to Seungmin, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him back.
"You can't leave us on our own!", Hyunjin added.
"As you've said, both of you are older than me. You can deal with this on your own.", Seungmin replied while raising an eyebrow.
"Well, obviously, we can't.", Felix argued.
"You saw what just happened.", Hyunjin agreed.
"We're a walking disaster. A metaphorical car crash waiting to happen.", Felix deadpanned.
Seungmin looked at them, then at the window, then at their desperate faces again. Sighing heavily, he massaged the space between his eyebrows.
"Waiting to happen? I'd say it's happening right now. Sometimes, I wonder how I wound up in a group where the amount of chaos increases exponentially with the amount of members present."
"You only think that because you're always present when the chaos happens. Which not only proves your statement, but also makes you one of the reasons for said chaos.", Felix reasoned.
Seungmin laughed at that, only a tad bit sarcastically. "Really? I'm not the one who got us into the situation."
Felix and Hyunjin had the decency to look sheepish. Seungmin considered their faces, then pictured Jisung's face when the other would discover that his priceless notepad was gone.
Alas, that mental image didn't leave Seungmin with much of a choice. "Alright, fine. I'll come with you. But that's about it. All the talking and acting is on you."
The two boys thanked him, claiming they were forever indebted to him. Seungmin told them to hurry and get it over with. He doubted he could trust them with any favors any time soon.
Prime example: He was standing in front of a stranger's door to retrieve a highly important lyric book that his members had mistaken for old school stuff and thrown away, then dug through trash to find it, only to throw it through a window that happened to be opened. What were the chances?
A little girl, maybe seven or eight years old, opened the door, looking up at them curiously.
"Uh, hello. Excuse us for the interruption, but we might have accidentally thrown something through your window and we really need to get it back. Do you think you could look for it?", Felix asked.
The little girl pouted. "I am not supposed to talk to strangers."
"That's right, you absolutely shouldn't.", Seungmin told her. Hyunjin and Felix shot him a look that told him he wasn't helping. Was he wrong, though?
"Well, that's right. We will be on our way very soon, we just need to get that notepad. Could you get it for us, pretty please?", Hyunjin told the girl, bending down slightly to not look as tall and scary to her.
The girl looked back and forth between them and a mischievous grin appeared on her face. "I can."
Felix relaxed way too early, Seungmin could tell by the glint in the girl's eyes.
"But you have to play with me first! I'm bored."
Felix blinked at her. "But... I thought you weren't supposed to talk to strangers?"
"And what do you think I'm doing right now?"
Seungmin raised his eyebrows at that.
The girl went on. "Besides, you're not strangers. I know you. You're the eight nice boys people living in the other complex! Well, three of them. I see you on TV sometimes. Mrs. Kim always tells me good things about you!"
The three boys shared a surprised look.
"Really? But how do you know that's true?", Felix asked, rubbing his chin in a comical form of thinking.
The girl pouted again. "I just know."
Hyunjin shrugged. Well, can't argue with a logic that does not exist in the first place.
"Okay, so, I'm happy to hear that you have such a good impression of us, but you really should listen to your parents.", Felix told her.
The girl huffed. "If I did, I wouldn't have opened the door and you'd be even farther from getting back your notepad."
Seungmin huffed, too. "Who raised you? Now I really want to meet your parents."
The girl just shrugged and opened the door a bit wider. "Come in!"
Hyunjin sighed heavily. He had a feeling they would come to regret this. And not leave any time soon. The things he did for his members.
In later retellings of this particular adventure, neither of them would elaborate on their two or so hours spent with the girl. It felt like a fever dream even to them.
Hyunjin wasn't complaining. He'd gladly banish all memories of playing the most confusing games until his brain shut down and he had to sit the rest of them out. Telling the others about it would only cement his placement in paboracha and he'd much rather not listen to the teasing that would ensue.
At the end of it all, they had played all games known to the little girl, colored at least five pages in her coloring book and watched an episode of Spongebob.
Finally, she retrieved the notepad from her room and handed it to Felix, nodding to herself. "Mrs. Kim was right. You're nice."
Felix smiled in response. "Thank you."
"You should never let strangers into your home, still. Especially not when you're home alone.", Seungmin told her once more.
The girl shrugged. "I won't tell anyone."
"That's not what I-", Seungmin started, then sighed. "Alright." Reasoning was useless. He'd talk to Mrs. Kim later.
They bid the girl goodbye and left the flat, heading for their dorms.
Felix clutched the notepad to his chest, shooting Hyunjin a pointed look. "I'm not giving this to you."
Hyunjin held up his hands in response. "I'm not asking you to! Please don't."
Seungmin glanced at his phone and gestured at them to hurry. Felix hid the book under his sweater before they entered, which he sniffed to make sure the smell wouldn't give away what he'd been doing that morning.
They entered the dorms, trying to look as casual as possible. Minho - who just so happened to be standing in front of the door - gave them a long look when they did, asking, "Where have you been?"
"Went on a morning walk.", Seungmin replied.
"With...", Minho looked between him and the two other members, "Hyunjin and Felix?" He sounded much too skeptical for their taste.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?", Felix asked.
Minho shrugged, still looking between them. "We're looking for one of Hannie's notepads. You didn't happen to see it?", he asked instead of answering,
Felix clutched his abdomen a little tighter. Hyunjin nodded. "He mentioned that. We said we'd tell him if we found something."
Minho hummed, but narrowed his eyes at them, gaze zoning in on Felix' sweater.
Seungmin glanced at the two, not in the least surprised that Minho was onto them. They looked much too guilty. Felix shifted his weight.
Minho's eyes locked with Seungmin's and he shrugged. "Hurry and help us look.", he told them before turning around and walking away.
Hyunjin raised a hand to his chest. "Why is he so scary? He wasn't even doing anything!", he whispered.
Seungmin shrugged. "Just give it back before Hannie dies from a heart attack."
He didn't wait for them as he strolled into the living room. Hyunjin and Felix shared a look before running off to find Jisung.
They found him in his room, digging through the drawers in what had to be his third or fourth search. His hair was sticking out to all sides as if he had been ruffling it in frustration all day.
Hyunjin grimaced and gestured at Felix to take out the notepad. Felix did as he was told and called Jisung's name to get his attention.
Jisung blinked at the notepad presented to him before his face lit up, body relaxing in relief.
"You found it!" He scrambled forward and took it from Felix' hands, thumbing through the pages. "You have no idea how important this is! Where did you find it?"
Hyunjin made a vague gesture while he searched for words. "On top of the fridge.", is what he settled on, fully aware of how ridiculous he must have sounded. He was glad neither Seungmin nor Minho were in the room to hear this.
Jisung frowned. "The fridge? Why was it there? How did we miss it?"
Felix shrugged. "Most of us are too short to notice, I guess."
Jisung hummed. "That must be it. Woah, I'm so glad you found this! Thank you!" He wrapped the two of them into a fierce hug. "I gotta tell the others!"
He was out of the room before either of them could reply.
Felix slumped, letting out a groan. "I'm never touching things that aren't in the boxes ever again."
Hyunjin nodded gravely. "Agreed."
Minho found Seungmin in the kitchen later, when everyone else was busy with something else. He slid onto a free chair, tented his fingers and rested his chin on them.
"So, what did they do with it?"
Seungmin looked up from his book, frowning in confusion before his brain caught up with the question.
"I told them I wouldn't snitch.", he replied simply, returning his attention to the book.
Minho hummed noncommittally, reaching for Seungmin's glass of water.
Seungmin looked back over his shoulder, then tipped his book down and grinned at Minho, dropping his voice to a whisper as he said, "I didn't promise, though."
The older mirrored his grin and leaned forward, also whispering. "This ought to be interesting."