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On a lazy Saturday morning, the sun lightly filtering through the windows and Mingyu’s favorite songs playing at comfortingly low volume on his broken phone speaker, Mingyu was doing laundry. He hummed along to the crackly audio, switching over the laundry into the dryer, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his back; laundry was an easy task, straightforward, with very few ways to mess it up. He relished its simplicity– sometimes, it felt like life was a hacked-together trail system of needlessly complicated paths, winding around and doubling back and sometimes disappearing from sight entirely. It felt nice to just shut his brain off for a moment and–
Crash.
The sudden noise made him pause, a damp pair of shorts in his hand.
“HOLY SHIT,” he heard someone say.
Thump.
“GO AWAY!”
Slam.
“IT’S MOVING OH MY GOD.”
An ear splitting screech rang out through the building, making Mingyu’s blood run cold. Before he knew it, he was on his feet, accidentally catching the corner of his laundry basket with his knee and causing clothes to spill all over the floor as he raced around the corner.
“What’s happening who died where’s the fire–” he cut himself off, freezing as he saw the scene laid out before him.
The first thing he noticed was Chan, standing on a table and holding a book to his chest with white-knuckled hands; below him, Seungkwan and Seokmin clutched each other, chests rising and falling rapidly. Vernon’s face was pale, eyes unmoving, seemingly paralyzed as he looked into the corner, and looking back at him was…
Eight spindly legs. Menacing, beady eyes. Oversized mandibles that looked ready to bite off a chunk of whatever came too close.
A massive, black spider, bigger than any Mingyu had ever seen, sat at the junction of the wall and the floor, eyeing the boys like it was deciding which one to eat for lunch.
A squawk escaped Mingyu’s lungs and he flitted to the side, using Seokmin and Seungkwan as a human shield; he peeked his head out just enough to keep a cautious eye on the action.
Minghao, wielding a slipper like a broadsword and eyes intently locked on the corner in front of him, was the only one of them not frozen in fear– crouched in a sparring stance, he crept closer, barely making a sound, and readied his weapon with all the spring-loaded power of a master martial artist.
Then the spider twitched, and Minghao yelped, the slipper tumbling out of his hand as he flinched; it landed almost comically gently, a good several inches away from its target.
“Great, now you’ve gone and given it our only weapon,” Seungkwan groaned.
Warbling out a pained whimper, Seokmin attempted to scoot even closer to Seungkwan; it was impossible, as if they wanted to get any closer, they’d have to merge into the same person.
Minghao stared at the spider for a long moment, then abruptly turned on his heel.
“Where are you going?” Mingyu cried hysterically.
“You know, I’ve decided to spare its life,” Minghao said with attempted nonchalance, but the sharp edge to his voice betrayed his fear. “I think, um, Mother Nature values every living being, and, uh–”
“IT’S MOVING AGAIN!” Chan bellowed, causing screams to ring out around the room.
Seungkwan released his grip on Seokmin and started climbing up Mingyu’s body like a koala; Seokmin, now freed, somehow ended up on the table, squeezing Chan tight enough to make him squeak. Mingyu was pretty sure Minghao had started levitating, but he had escaped through the doorway too quickly to be sure. Mingyu steadied himself on a chair; Seungkwan was squeezing him so tightly that his already fear-filled belly felt ready to turn inside out.
Amidst the chaos, Vernon sat down on the floor.
“What are you doing, idiot?” Seungkwan yelled, his voice loud in Mingyu’s ear from his perch on Mingyu’s hip.
“Accepting my fate,” Vernon answered calmly.
Seokmin screamed as the spider raised its leg; the color drained out of Vernon’s face and he stood up again.
“You know what, maybe my fate is to just go in my room and lock my door and let you guys handle this–” he said, backing halfway out the doorway.
“Hansol Vernon Chwe, if you even think about taking one more step out of that door and leaving me with these crazy people, I’m giving my leftover pizza to Mingyu instead of you,” Seungkwan snapped.
Vernon hesitated, about to answer, but before he could, another scream sounded as the spider scurried forward.
“IT’S TRYING TO KILL YOU,” Chan shouted, hooking his arms in Vernon’s armpits in an attempt to haul him onto the table– a difficult task with the book he still grasped in his hands.
Mingyu staggered backward with a holler as the spider came closer; Seungkwan’s added mass knocked a chair over and Mingyu kicked it in front of him to create a makeshift blockade. Perhaps perturbed by the noise, the spider stopped moving.
Seungkwan wrangled his way farther up Mingyu’s torso, Mingyu wincing as he tugged on his hair.
“What do we do?” Seokmin wailed.
“We’re going to die,” Chan lamented.
“We’re going to get a noise complaint,” Minghao’s disembodied voice said from the other room.
“Ow!” Mingyu said as Seungkwan adjusted himself once again, using his hair as some sort of handle.
“My phone is still over there,” Vernon realized aloud.
“I’m calling Seungcheol!” Seungkwan said, voice nearly lost amidst the noise.
Mingyu twisted in an attempt to catch Seungkwan’s arm– it was near impossible from his position.
“No, don’t call him!” Mingyu said. “It’s his decompression day!”
“Too late,” Seungkwan announced, his phone already ringing in his hand.
Mingyu groaned, feeling a new spike of bile rise in his throat.
“What’s wrong who died where’s the fire?” Seungcheol’s stressed voice came out on speaker phone after one ring, hushed like he was trying not to disturb others around him.
“It’s nothing!” Mingyu called, trying to keep the strain out of his voice, “Go back to your spa day–”
“There’s a gigantic spider that’s trying to destroy us all,” Chan interrupted.
“Not even Minghao can kill it,” Seokmin added.
“I could, okay– if I wanted to. I just… am choosing to honor the circle of life,” Minghao protested, his voice thin from behind the wall.
Seungcheol paused. Mingyu could hear the faint murmurings of Joshua’s voice on the other end.
“Hold tight,” Seungcheol said. “I’ll be there soon.”
Joshua’s voice grew stronger– it sounded like he was asking Seungcheol for the phone.
“No, please relax–” Mingyu tried to say, but he was interrupted by Seungkwan.
“You better, because we are all going to die in here and–”
“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Joshua’s voice came through the phone, calm with a touch of concern.
“Spider,” Seungkwan said with a shiver, “But Cheol’s gonna come save us–”
“You guys can handle a little spider, can’t you?” said– strangely– Jeonghan’s voice on the other end now.
“Jeonghan? What are you doing there?” Mingyu asked.
“It’s my decompression day,” Jeonghan responded, like it was obvious.
“It’s Seungcheol’s decompression day,” Mingyu corrected.
“Yeah, we just said the same thing,” Jeonghan answered, sounding bored.
“Don’t ask me why he’s here,” Joshua cut in with a sigh, “I drove Seungcheol to the spa and somehow Jeonghan was also in the car when we got out.”
“And now you guys are making Cheollie turn around before we even get to do our cucumber masks, and that’s just not fair,” Jeonghan said.
“Right, Seungcheol deserves a break,” Mingyu said pointedly, looking at the other boys.
“No, I deserve my cucumber mask,” Jeonghan said. “Anyway, I’m hanging up. You got this love you guys bye!”
“Wait, are they okay? Did Vernon eat lunch– is Chan remembering to drink water? Oh, I never should have left them all alone–” Seungcheol’s worried voice could be heard in the background before the audio cut out.
“Well, that was a bust,” Seungkwan grumbled after a moment of silence.
“And now we’ve freaked out Seungcheol for no reason,” Mingyu added. “He’s never going to relax now.”
The spider moved to the side with jerky movements, as if scoping out its exit strategy. Mingyu thought he might throw up. Seokmin made a sound like a dying puppy.
“Well, clearly neither are we,” Seungkwan said. “We need to get rid of this thing.”
He dismounted Mingyu carefully, creeping over to the knocked-over chair; when the spider twitched again, he flinched backward, backpedaling away.
“Okay, everyone, out,” he called. “Emergency meeting.”
He ushered everyone into the next room over– Vernon was quick to follow, as was Mingyu, rubbing his sore back from holding up Seungkwan’s weight; Chan and Seokmin hesitated, but scurried off the table, Seokmin squeezing his eyes shut to avoid looking at the spider and Chan armed with his book like a soldier carrying a grenade into battle. In the kitchen, Minghao sat on the counter while Seungkwan puttered around, opening and closing kitchen cabinets with fervor.
“What are you looking for?” Mingyu asked.
“Do we have a broom?” Seungkwan responded.
“Of course,” Mingyu said, and walked over to the broom closet.
“Good,” Seungkwan nodded when Mingyu returned with the broom, calling everyone to huddle in close.
Mingyu stooped down to be able to hear what he was saying; why did huddles always have to be so low to the ground?
“Here’s our plan,” Seungkwan said. “We’re going to all gather at the doorway, and run in together on three. Make lots of noise.”
“What’s that even going to do?” Minghao asked. “You want to… distract the spider?”
“Just trust me,” Seungkwan said, giving Minghao a peculiar look, “We’re all going to run in, and then whoever… coincidentally happens to be holding the broom will smack it to death. Understood?”
“Wait, are we all going to run in?” Vernon asked.
“As in… all of us?” Seokmin asked.
“Yes. All of us,” Seungkwan said, though his eyes were flashing.
“How’s that even going to– oh,” Chan glanced at Mingyu, then nodded in understanding. “Yes. All of us will run in.”
“Yeah, so we just all run in and get it done. Okay,” Mingyu said, fear still squirming in his stomach.
“Yeah…” Minghao said, eyeing Mingyu. “All of us.”
For some reason, Mingyu felt like they weren’t talking about the same thing.
“Okay it’s a plan,” Seungkwan said with an authoritative nod. He pushed the rest of them forward; Mingyu was still holding the broom.
“Wait,” Mingyu said, pausing at the doorway; from this distance, the spider was hidden by the chair, but somehow that was even worse– knowing it was there, but not being able to see it. “I don’t want to be the one with the broom.”
“Oh, did you still have the broom? Wow, I didn’t even notice,” Seungkwan said with a peal of forced laughter. “Oh, well. Too late to change it now! Haha.”
“Wait–” Mingyu said, backing up, but Seungkwan didn’t move out of his way.
“Okay, on three,” Seungkwan said. “Ready, everyone? One–”
Suddenly, Mingyu found himself staggering forward with the force of Seungkwan’s push, and was catapulted directly into the room. The spider was still behind the chair, watching him, taunting him– Mingyu clutched the broom to his chest, unconsciously whimpering as it adjusted one of its legs. He turned back to look at the doorway with wild eyes– no one had followed him in.
“Why did you do that?” he keened, his voice sounding shrill even to his own ears.
“You have the longest reach!” Seungkwan called, “Just hit it!”
Mingyu looked back at the spider. It didn’t move.
“I can’t!” Mingyu wailed.
“Come on, just go for it!”
Mingyu’s lip wobbled as he carefully extended the broom. He hovered it over the spider, then hesitated. Did he really want to kill it? It was a living being, like any other. What if it had a little spider home with a little spider family to go back to? How would Mingyu explain to the little spider children what had happened to their little spider parent? Would he be a murderer forever–
The spider moved. Mingyu screamed and threw the broom at it before turning tail and racing out the door.
He grabbed onto the first person he could reach– Seungkwan– hiding behind him to watch the aftermath; the broom lay weakly on the floor, a few feet in front of the turned-over chair. Mingyu’s aim had failed miserably.
“Nice one,” Seungkwan said sarcastically. “All those muscles, and you can’t even– oh my god what the fuck.”
Slowly, as they watched, a single, spindly leg reached over the top of the sideways chair. Then another. Then another and another, until the spider was perched on top of it, staring back at the six boys with evil eyes.
Chan threw his book. It hit the wall and landed with a thunk somewhere behind the chair. Seokmin burst into tears.
“Oh,” Chan said matter-of-factly. “So, we’re fucked.”
“We’ll n-never be f-free…” Seokmin sobbed, using Vernon’s sleeve as a tissue. “We’ll be s-stuck in here forever and the spider will be our new landlord and w-we’ll die…”
“Don’t think that way,” Seungkwan said firmly. “What else can we use? Is there anyone else we could get to help us?”
“Anyone know where Jihoon is?” Minghao asked. “He’s, like, a man, right?”
“He’s at the studio,” Mingyu responded, his voice a bit shaky due to the fact that he wasn’t taking his eyes off the spider.
“Let’s call him,” Seungkwan said. “Who’s he least likely to murder out of the six of us?”
All eyes in the room gradually came to rest on Vernon. He shrugged, giving a longing glance to somewhere behind the spider.
“Don’t have my phone,” he said.
“Okay, then who are we most willing to sacrifice to his wrath?” Seungkwan asked.
Their eyes once again shifted. After a moment of silence, Chan sighed.
“Yeah, fine, I’ll call him,” he said. “No promises he’ll answer though.”
Juggling his phone, Chan pulled up a video call. For a long moment, there was nothing but anticipatory breathing as the phone rang. And rang. And rang.
“Okay, he’s not gonna–” Chan said, but was surprised by the screen lighting up with Jihoon’s unamused face, barely visible in the dark LEDs of his studio. “Oh my god! You’re here–”
“You have two minutes,” Jihoon said flatly.
“Okay, okay, um, well, there’s this huge spider–”
“Okay, and?” Jihoon said. “This is my problem, how?”
“It’s so scary,” Seokmin cried, “And it keeps moving and–”
“DON’T KILL IT!” Soonyoung’s face suddenly appeared over Jihoon’s shoulder, glowing with the reflection of the phone screen.
“What? Why?” Chan asked.
“Just don’t!” Soonyoung said. He grabbed the phone, ignoring the sound of protests from Jihoon.
“Hey, that’s my phone, dipshit–” Jihoon’s voice was cut off as Soonyoung took the phone away.
“You guys wanna see something cool?” Soonyoung asked.
“Um, we’re kind of in the middle of a situation–” Chan said, but Soonyoung payed him no mind.
“Look!” he exclaimed, turning the camera to a board full of buttons and flashing lights. “Jihoon let me use his board today!”
“I didn’t let you use it, you just started messing with it…” Jihoon’s voice sounded from the background.
“And I even made a track– check it out,” Soonyoung showed a computer monitor with a music mixing program on it. “Isn’t that fun?”
“Yes, Soonyoung, very fun,” Chan said, “But we have to–”
“Listen, listen!” Soonyoung turned up the volume, the vague idea of a song coming through the tinny phone speakers.
“Wow, that’s so cool,” Chan said lifelessly, “Anyway, we have to go–”
“Don’t kill the spider,” Soonyoung said, turning the camera back to his face and suddenly going serious. “I mean it.”
“Okay, bye–”
“I mean it! Don’t even try to kill it!” Soonyoung brought the camera closer. “I’ll know. You know I’ll know.”
“Yes, Soonyoung, fine,” Seungkwan cut in. “Bye.”
“See you soon!” Soonyoung said brightly. “You and the spider. Because you’re not going to kill it, right?”
“Sure,” Seungkwan said. “Goodbye.”
“Now how do I hang up this thing–”
Seungkwan pressed the ‘end call’ button, and the screen went blank. He crossed his arms.
“No way is Jihoon gonna help us now,” he said. “And Soonyoung’s useless, as always.”
“Who else is there?” Chan asked. “Do we know where Jun is?”
“Does anyone ever know where Jun is?” Minghao countered.
“Fair,” Seungkwan conceded. “How about Wonwoo?”
“I can text him…” Mingyu said. “He might still be sleeping, though.”
“Okay, Minghao, you text Jun, and Mingyu, you text Wonwoo,” Seungkwan ordered, “The rest of you, come with me. We’re finding ammo.”
Seungkwan marched off, Seokmin and Vernon in hand and Chan trailing behind all of them.
With nothing else to do, Mingyu leaned against the counter, pulling out his phone. He opened his messages and sent a quick text to Wonwoo.
Mingyu: dude theres a rly big spider and everyones scared what do i do
Mingyu: pls help urgent
Mingyu: we r trapped
Mingyu: aslo what do u want for dniner
The sound of Minghao’s phone ringing made Mingyu look up; Minghao put it to his ear, said something softly in Chinese, then hung up.
“What’d he say?” Mingyu asked.
“He’s on his way back,” Minghao answered. “But he won’t be here for a while.”
“That’s good,” Mingyu said, trying to stay optimistic. “At least we’ll have some backup.”
Minghao shrugged.
“And Wonwoo?” he asked.
Mingyu glanced down at his phone, then smiled.
“Left me on read,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t think he’ll reply.”
“Sounds about right,” Minghao said. “Where is he, anyway?”
“Oh, he’s here,” Mingyu said, gesturing down the hall to Wonwoo’s room, the door of which had been kept securely shut, even with all the screaming. “Has been all day.”
Minghao leveled his eyes with Mingyu, wrinkling his nose.
“I won’t tell Seungkwan if you won’t,” he said.
“Deal,” Mingyu agreed.
Absent-mindedly, he glanced to his side, towards the room where the spider was.
Then, a terrible, sinking realization set in.
“Um, Minghao…” Mingyu said, feeling his heart seize.
“What?” Minghao looked at him curiously.
“Where is it?” Mingyu asked.
Minghao froze.
“Where is what?” he asked, but it sounded like he already knew what Mingyu was going to say.
“Where’s… the spider?”
Ghostly pale, the two of them made eye contact, paralyzed. Mingyu tried to say something, but there was no air flowing from his lungs.
Then, he flinched at the sound of a door slamming, and Seungkwan ran out of the hallway with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a yellow stuffed chick loaded in his hand.
“No, please don’t throw Tweet-Tweet to the spider, please please please,” Seokmin begged, running after him.
Chan was next to appear, a bowl overturned on his head as a helmet and a clothes hanger in each hand, then Vernon, who carried nothing but a handful of grapes.
“Tweet-Tweet is our only option,” Seungkwan growled, readying his aim. “His sacrifice won’t be in vain.”
“Tweet-Tweet is a her,” Seokmin cried, covering his eyes. “Please, spare her! She doesn’t deserve this!”
“Her sacrifice won’t be in vain,” Seungkwan said. “Now it’s time for Tweet-Tweet to take flight–”
But just before Seungkwan could throw the plushie, he paused, sniffing the air keenly. Sweat collected in Mingyu’s palms.
“Um, so, yeah,” Mingyu said, “As you may have noticed, the spider–”
“Shut up,” Seungkwan said, “My Jeonghan senses are tingling…”
Everyone paused. The hair on the back of Mingyu’s neck raised, goosebumps rippling down his arms in a wave of raw, primal fear.
“Mine too,” he whispered. Or maybe it was just the fact that he hadn’t seen the spider in over a minute now.
Then, suddenly, the front door burst open, three figures silhouetted against the light of the outside. The biggest of them, broad, dark, and intimidating, took a heavy step inward, arms laden with insect repellent, a variety of power tools, and a take-home gift bag from the spa across town.
“I’m here,” he said, chest heaving up and down like he’d been running for hours. “Where is it?”
Mingyu let out a cry of happiness and ran to collect Seungcheol in his arms, Seokmin and Chan joining him until they were all crushed into a gigantic group hug. All fear of the spider was washed away in his presence.
“Dad!” Chan exclaimed, “Wait– I mean– Seungcheol!”
“You’re back!” Seokmin said, voice muffled due to the fact that he was being sandwiched between Mingyu and Seungcheol’s arms.
“Finally,” Seungkwan collapsed onto the hug mound with a groan, “I’ve been running a three-ring circus here.”
“You wish,” Minghao said. “It was less running and more running around.”
“Oh, hey,” said Vernon, popping a grape into his mouth. “They’re all back.”
Jeonghan slunk out from behind Seungcheol, face still covered in a green, minty-smelling concoction and an embroidered robe draped over his shoulders– even though Mingyu was pretty sure the spa didn’t give those robes out for free.
“Yes, we’re back. Yippee,” Jeonghan said sourly, “I just love having my spa day interrupted so we can go look at a bug.”
“Arachnid, technically,” Joshua corrected. He carried a goody bag on each arm– notably, Jeonghan didn’t carry anything, as he’d likely given his bag to Joshua to hold.
“Oh, no, your spa day…” Mingyu said to Seungcheol. “We ruined it…”
Disentangling himself from their pile, Mingyu appraised Seungcheol’s face; though his skin was glowing radiantly, not a blemish to be seen, his eyes were worried and stormy.
“It’s okay,” Seungcheol said firmly. “My boys come first.”
Mingyu melted into another hug, Seokmin tearing up beside him.
“Y–you would sacrifice your nice spa day f–for us?” Seokmin blubbered. Mingyu squeezed him tighter.
“Oh, yeah, big-time sacrifice for our big guy,” Joshua said, giving Seungcheol a look. He stepped in to take the goody bag from Seungcheol’s hands with a wry smile and set the three bags aside.
“Thank you sincerely from the very bottom of my heart,” Chan said gravely. He attempted to bow, but Jeonghan wrenched him upright by the shoulder.
“Stand up, you boy scout,” Jeonghan said. “It was no sacrifice– Cheollie wanted nothing to do with the spa day. Unfortunately.”
“He was ready to turn tail the second he entered the building,” Joshua said, “Almost broke a massage table because he was so excited to leave.”
“Okay, I gotta be honest, spas are really not my thing,” Seungcheol admitted. “All that hydration and exfoliation and relaxation.” He shuddered. “Spiders, on the other hand, that I can handle no problem.”
Raising an electric drill, Seungcheol scanned his surroundings.
“Now, where is that fucker?” he asked.
Mingyu laughed nervously, catching Minghao’s eye.
“Hah,” he said, “So, um, about that–”
“DON’T KILL IT!”
Soonyoung ran up behind Seungcheol and practically pounced over his shoulders, springing into the room with a wild expression. He immediately began sniffing every corner, turning over couch cushions and discarded shoes and a stray bowl that had dropped from Chan’s head in the midst of all the excitement. Immediately following him was Jihoon, brow furrowed and arms crossed and altogether looking extremely disgruntled.
“Jihoon! Soonyoung!” Mingyu exclaimed, squeezing Soonyoung into a hug. “What are you two doing home so early?” Once Jihoon was in his studio, he usually didn’t emerge until long after dark.
“I’m here to save the spider!” Soonyoung said, peering under a table.
“He kept bothering me about it and told me to take him back,” Jihoon grumbled. “He threatened to drive himself home if I didn’t.”
Images of flaming cars and bridges collapsing onto screaming crowds filled Mingyu’s head.
“Yeah, good call,” he said with a wince. “But, uh, I really should tell you all that the spider–”
“Hey, guys, look what I found!”
The crowd parted to reveal Junhui walking through the door; he carried a large cardboard box that oddly enough seemed to be making sweet, high pitched squeaking noises.
“Moon Junhui,” Seungcheol said, voice low and serious. “Why is that box meowing?”
Jun paled, grin frozen on his face.
“Oh, hi Seungcheol,” he said weakly. “You’re not supposed to be home yet. Haha. Oopsie.”
“What’s in the box, Jun?” Seungcheol asked.
Jun’s eyes flicked from side to side nervously. The box shook as if something was scratching the sides, more mewling emerging from it.
“Um,” he said, “Drugs?”
A fuzzy kitten head popped out of the box,
The room erupted with noise, everyone’s voices layering on top of each other. Seokmin and Soonyoung squealed, rushing over to inspect Jun’s box while gushing, while Seungkwan stood off to the side complaining about how cats didn’t ‘get him’ and dogs were better anyway– but he still leaned in close and might have wiped away a tear. Vernon, having finished his grapes and pressed the stem into Jeonghan’s robe pocket, poked a finger into the box. Seungcheol was attempting to scold Jun, but it was lost under the jumble of sudden activity. Mingyu fought the urge to open the box, instead keeping a nervous eye on the living room; still no spider in sight.
Amidst the chaos, a door creaked open from within the house, and a rumpled-looking Wonwoo padded down the hall.
“Why is it so loud?” he muttered, rubbing his eyes.
“Oh my god, Wonwoo, come see come see!” Seokmin said, gesturing to the box. “One of them looks just like you!”
“One of them?” Seungcheol said, horrified. “There’s multiple?”
“Haha. What?” Jun laughed nervously. “That’s… no, that would be crazy, right? If I… hypothetically found a litter of kittens in the dumpster by McDonald's and… hypothetically took them all. Hypothetically.”
“How many?” Seungcheol asked, gripping his power drill with white knuckles.
Jun started backing away towards his room, hugging the box close to his chest.
“Oh, um, I don’t know,” he said. “Definitely not ten so stop asking because it’s not ten.”
“Moon Junhui–”
Jun turned and sprinted to his room, cackling madly and clutching the box, and Seungcheol followed, the power drill he still clutched in his hand making him appear unfortunately murderous. Chan ran after them because he wanted to see Jun get scolded, and Seokmin ran after them because he wanted to see the kittens, and Joshua ran after them all to make sure no one died, and then Soonyoung started running, too, because he thought it was exciting when people started running. Jeonghan was already pulling Seungkwan aside to recreate the failed spa day with their shared skincare supplies while Wonwoo and Jihoon had already disappeared again, likely melting into the shadows as Mingyu had always suspected they’d been able to do– in the middle of it all, Vernon sat on the floor, eating more grapes that he seemed to have conjured out of thin air.
Mingyu caught Minghao’s eye.
“So, the spider….” Mingyu said.
Minghao glanced at the other boys, busy with their mischief-making and mischief-preventing and general chaos that they all seemed to take part in, then back at Mingyu.
“The spider… was… taken care of,” Minghao said definitively.
“But– it disappeared–”
“It was taken care of,” Minghao hissed. “As far as anyone here is concerned.”
Mingyu blinked, understanding growing uncomfortably in his chest.
“What, I’m supposed to lie to them?” Mingyu asked.
“No, tell them the truth,” Minghao said.
“The… truth?”
“That we…. watched it run out the door when Seungcheol came in.”
He raised his eyebrows knowingly. Mingyu hesitated.
“Fine, or you can watch Seungkwan turn into an evil tyrant again,” Minghao said with a shrug. “Your choice.”
Mingyu set his jaw.
“I also saw it run out the door,” he said woodenly. “Yes. Definitely. With my own two eyes.”
They nodded stoically at each other; Mingyu extended a hand, and Minghao wrinkled his nose but obliged, shaking Mingyu’s hand loosely, like a member of the royal court tolerating their subjects.
“Hey, whose laundry is this on the floor?” someone called from afar, “I think one of the kittens is peeing on it.”
“Shit–”
Just like that, all thoughts of spiders were forgotten as Mingyu ran to save his poor laundry from the wrath of a McDonald’s dumpster kitten.
And if he saw eight long, spindly legs scurry out of sight into the air vent as he ran past, well… that was none of his business. Not anymore.