Chapter Text
“What is it with soju bombs that make you ask these stupid questions?” San rolled his eyes but Mingi only thrusted his empty cup in front of him in all seriousness. The group had ended the Beginning of the End world tour in Yokohama, and had landed back in Seoul just hours before Mingi had whipped out a bottle of soju— which had turned into five and then ten— and the eight of them had spent the rest of the night laughing, crying and unwinding. But Mingi always did find a way to turn a quiet drinking session into a comedic disgrace.
“It’s not stupid!” He insisted, “you’re telling me you’ve never planned what you’d do in that situation?”
“A zombie apocalypse?” Hongjoon chuckled, sipping his own drink. He’d been quiet most of the night but with the sudden spark in the group’s otherwise subdued conversation, he’d found himself a little curious. Mingi looked over at him hopefully as he filled his own cup with a mixture of soju and beer.
“You guys haven’t given it any thought? It could happen, you never know!”
Seonghwa nodded as he finished the last of his drink and slid it over the low table, gesturing at Mingi to refill it. Mingi obliged and Hwa hummed decidedly.
“Okay, then,” he challenged, taking the cup back and leaning into his seat with a sigh, “what would you do Mingi?”
Wooyoung pointed at Mingi too, adding to the provocation, “yeah Gi,” he said, “what would you do in a zombie apocalypse?”
Mingi’s face lit up, “I’m so glad you asked,” he said, slamming his drink onto the table and bracing his elbows on his knees, “so, in this scenario, are we all together or are we seperated?”
“Let’s say we’re seperated,” Jongho grinned, “just to make it difficult.”
“Okay,” Mingi continued, “say the apocalypse happens when all of us are spread out across the city for work or something. I would call everyone and tell all of you to meet me at Incheon Harbour—“
“The harbour?” Seonghwa asked sceptically, “you want to trap us in a place always packed with people?”
“No,” Mingi clicked his tongue in exasperation and waved Hwa off dismissively, “there’s a tow harbour around the south side where my uncle used to get scrap parts for his dinghy back when I was younger. I went with him all the time, and there are hundreds of top tier boats— like, boats rich people have anchored where they aren’t supposed to— waiting to be made into scrap metal! They’re all in perfect shape— so we all get to the harbour, steal a boat and get out to sea!”
“What zombie is going to get us out at sea?” He continued, “and if we get food and essentials along the way, we’ll be set for life! Fishing, singing, living on the open water. It’s kid Mingi’s dream!”
Yunho hummed in thought from Mingi’s side, “what about when we run out of gas and essentials?”
Mingi shrugged, “we could probably raid other boats if we needed to. San, remember we used to syphon gas out of cars back in the day, it’s the same as that with boats.”
San shook his head, “you’re taking the pirate king concept too far here, Gi. Plus, none of us can navigate the ocean, it would be suicide anyway.”
Mingi’s mouth flew open in offence and he pointed to himself, “can I remind you who came up with our concept? I grew up on the water, I’m the navigating wizz of my family. I am literally the pirate king!”
Hongjoon nodded, “I did a lot of extracurriculars in highschool; I joined the young sailors club for three years. I know how to work a boat too.” Mingi nodded and gestured to the leader as if making a point.
“See?” He egged, “don’t shut me down just because you know you’d be screwed without me or Joon.”
“Whatever,” San scoffed, “it’s still a stupid question; who even has a full apocalyptic survival plan, anyway? You’re just strange.”
“Strange, and alive.” Mingi huffed and snuggled up to Yunho, red in the face and contentedly drunk. Yunho smiled and shook his head; at least the idiot wasn’t screaming this time.
“We need to go to bed, it’s already three in the morning.” He didn’t need to tell the others twice before they all got to their feet and dispersed to each of their dorms. Well, everyone but Mingi, who was left on the sofa with his whole body weight around Yunho, banishing the both of them to sleep in the common room for the rest of the night.
“See you in the morning, Yunie,” Wooyoung smiled in a daze as he switched off the light, following San back to their dorm. Yunho had accepted his fate when he’d chosen to sit with Mingi in the first place, and waved exhaustedly behind him, getting as comfortable as he could with a Mingi-snake wrapped around his waist.
San dropped onto his bed and Wooyoung did the same; they just laid there for a long time, staring at the roof. They’d put glow-in-the-dark stars up there years ago— a birthday gift from San when Woo told him once that he was afraid of the dark. It had meant to be a short lived joke, but the stars had never been taken down, not even after their glow had faded.
“What would you do?” Wooyoung whispered suddenly.
San looked across the room at him, “what?”
Woo sighed and put his arms behind his head, “if we were separated… and the apocalypse happened… what would you do?”
San pouted his lip in thought and frowned, “as much of a nitwit Mingi is, he kind of has a point… I think I’d go out to sea. I just hope everyone would be with me…”
Woo scoffed a laugh, “yeah, he has a few good ideas when he’s off his face…”
“What about you?”
Wooyoung seemed to think long and hard about that. He was silent for many moments, and San began to think he’d fallen asleep before he eventually spoke up, “I’d find you first.” He said, “I’d find you… and watch your back.”
San smiled in the darkness, knowing his friend would be grinning too, and closed his eyes in comfort.
“Me too,” he said, “I’ll always have your back.”
Wooyoung nodded and closed his eyes too, “promise?”
“Promise.” San agreed. And they both knew all too well that— in their own kind of idiocy— this conversation was just a beat-around-the-bush way of saying, ‘I love you.’
Till it wasn’t.