Chapter Text
The dorm was surprisingly peaceful at night.
Sanghyuk sighed audibly; gangly limbs sprawled out along the couch, staring listlessly at the roof. He’d woken with a splitting headache for the third time this week and was currently waiting for the pain medicine to kick in.
He hated this. Not only because headaches sucked on any given day, but having to wait for the medicine to work meant he couldn’t go back to sleep, which meant he was stuck with nothing but his thoughts until further notice.
And boy, he didn’t even want to think of what a mess those were.
It had been weeks since their debut stage and everyone was still walking on eggshells whenever magic was brought up. They were treating him like he was some fragile porcelain doll and it was driving him absolutely crazy.
His fingers absently drumming against the couch with dull thumps. He knew it came from a good place. He knew they were just worried about him, but it grinded on his nerves all the same. He didn’t need to be treated like some delicate flower, thank you very much. He was sixteen; he could handle it.
Sure, the whole ‘magic is real’ thing had been shocking to say the least, but he was fine. He accepted it, accepted that there was an entire world he never knew about before.
He accepted that other people, even some he knew, kept this hidden from him.
He accepted that his own members were a part it, even if it hurt a little that they were so positive he’d rat them out.
Sanghyuk turned on his side to gaze at the night sky trough the sliding glass door, now gradually lightening with the morning’s first rays.
Hakyeon would be waking up soon, which meant he’d been doing his rounds and waking them all up. If he saw Sanghyuk right now he’d sit him down and have a long talk about feelings.
He swore he could hear Hakyeon’s nagging voice telling him how bottling up you issues is not a good habit Han Sanghyuk, if something’s wrong you need to speak about it, for your own sake as much as the group’s.
And with that pleasant thought he slid off the couch and crept back to the bedroom.
He silently chastised himself for still holding onto those feelings. Sanghyuk didn’t want to stir those waters any longer, especially after the six of them finally slipped back into the easy, if somewhat awkward camaraderie from before.
Carefully, he stepped over the snoring lump of blankets he was pretty sure was Wonshik; he didn’t know anyone else whose snores could threaten to collapse a building. He hopped over Jaehwan, tightly curled up under his covers, before finally reaching his mattress and collapsing into it.
The movement must have been a little rougher than he thought because Jaehwan’s eyes cracked open. “Sanghyuk?” he mumbled, voice slurred.
“Go back to sleep hyung,” Sanghyuk said, “Hakyeon hyung isn’t up yet.” Jaehwan hummed in return and Sanghyuk heard the rustle of bed sheets as he slipped back into peaceful slumber.
Finally, as the sun’s rays began to peak through the window, Sanghyuk closed his eyes, forcing himself to try to get a few more minutes of rest.
He had no idea how much he’d need it.
++++++
“Are kidding me? This game is fu-“
“Hmmm?”
“This game is freaking rigged. Rigged I tell you!”
“Yeah, I thought so.” There was a pause. “But let’s face it, you suck at arcade games.”
“Han Sanghyuk, don’t blasphemy!”
There was an aggravated sigh. “Fine, fine.”
“That’s right, you better-“
“You suck at any game,” Sanghyuk laughed. It morphed into a maniac cackle as he expertly dodged a swift neck chop.
“Get back here maknae!” Jaehwan shouted. He flung himself at the rapidly retreating Sanghyuk, yelling about the need to respect the ‘wisest and cleverest hyung you little shit. Yeah, you better run because once I get my hands on you-‘
At that point, every person within the vicinity tuned them out. Jaehwan proclaiming his plans for sweet, terrible revenge against Sanghyuk was nothing new— it was practically a bi-weekly occurrence by now.
Hongbin scoffed, bringing up his water bottle to hide his smirk, turning to an equally amused Wonshik to say, “One day, Hyukkie is going to push him too far and end up getting his ass cursed.”
Wonshik dropped into the seat of the racing game Hongbin was leaning against. “Jaehwan hyung wouldn’t and you know it,“ he took a long swig from his own bottle, “he has the biggest soft spot for him.”
Hongbin hummed, watching Jaehwan chase Sanghyuk around the set with the same single-minded intensity of a hound dog hunting a rabbit. The crewmembers barely acknowledged them, simply shifting things (or themselves) out of the way and continuing about their work.
A heavy sigh caused Hongbin and Wonshik to glance at Hakyeon.
“They better not break anything,” he grumbled. “Fending off angry photographers and camera crew is bad enough as it is, I don’t need them adding to it.”
A crash echoed from somewhere behind him. Across the room the director shot Hakyeon a look.
Hakyeon pinched the bridge of his nose. Taekwoon quietly patted his shoulder in a show of sympathy.
“Damnit Sanghyuk!” Jaehwan screamed. Hakyeon looked up to see the pair running among the game machines, weaving between the aisles like a pair of crazed gazelle. “Stand still so I can curse you already!”
Sanghyuk laughed condescendingly, expertly twisting out of Jaehwan’s reach as he ducked behind a Pac Man machine. “As if!”
Jaehwan growled, hands glowing white. “I mean it this time, you demon.”
Sanghyuk peaked out from his hiding spot, eyes blown wide as he made a pathetic hurt sound, long lashes fluttering innocently. “So not only do you fail at games and lie, but you confuse your precious, angelic little maknae with a demon?”
“Angel my foot! If you’re an angel, then I’m a gnome!” The smirk that spread across Sanghyuk’s face made Hakyeon silently pray for Jaehwan’s dignity.
Assured neither two were in danger of accidently killing each other, Hakyeon allowed his mind to wander, thinking back on the past few months. Their Superhero promotions had been hectic and, quite frankly, exhausting. They’d only had enough time for a small break before beginning their plans for their first official comeback.
Ideas had been tossed around for days between the company heads and the members themselves; it felt like they had considered every genre and every style at least once.
Hakyeon knew the others had wanted something new, something fun and energetic for their first ever comeback. Their debut had been received fairly well and they wanted to take advantage of that building momentum; they needed a concept that could do just that.
So, when someone half-jokingly suggested a video game or arcade concept, they all jumped on it.
It was exactly what they were looking for; something bright and fun that let them show off another side of their skills. They worked harder than ever to create something that could make their angels – no, their Starlights – proud.
Sanghyuk yelped as he just barely avoided tripping over an electrical cable. He was about to curse his own clumsiness when he noticed the shimmer surrounding it. “Hyung! No fair using magic!”
He could hear the smirk in Jaehwan’s voice. “Think of this as practice for that Intuition of yours. You feel my magic and you won’t get your ass handed to you!”
“But—!”
“Sanghyuk, I’m fae; I’ve been twisting and re-twisting words in my favor since I started talking. Quit while you’re ahead, yeah?”
“Hyung, that’s— shit!”
Wonshik laughed from behind his bottle. “Oh, he’s in trouble now.” Hongbin watched them, unblinking, leaning forward as if he were watching a particularly fascinating nature documentary. Hakyeon couldn’t resist the quiet chuckle that escaped his pressed lips.
Sanghyuk threw himself behind the air hockey table as a beam of magic soared over his head, dissipating as it hit the wall behind him. “Lee Jaehwan!” he yelled, dropping the formalities in his panic. His head peaked from around the corner, glaring. “Your insane troll logic is going to get me killed!”
Jaehwan made a noise of offense, whether it was over the missing honorific or the troll accusation, Sanghyuk wasn’t sure. “First of all, fae not troll; get your facts straight. Second, I’m using non-lethal magic; I’m not stupid. And third, you can’t be angry at me for wanting to help our pwecious wittle baby master his first big boy powers.”
Whoosh. Thwack.
An air hockey puck soared across the room and hit the wall where Jaehwan’s head had been not two seconds ago. Jaehwan stared for a few seconds, blinking wildly, before shooting another bolt of magic, this one a little bigger, as Sanghyuk made a hasty retreat.
Taekwoon’s deep, rumbling chuckle echoed pleasantly in Hakyeon’s ears. Of course he’d find this funny. Of course he would.
Hakyeon exhaled, admittedly relived to finally see Sanghyuk enjoying himself. He’d been looking downright exhausted lately; it was nice to see that smile of his again.
He wondered if Sanghyuk’s Intuition was causing him problems gain. Hakyeon mentally winced; the poor kid had really been given the short end of the stick on this matter. While Sanghyuk was getting faster and more accurate (to the point where he could recognize people he was around a lot, like the other members), but that didn’t necessarily mean he had any control.
It was finicky— annoyingly so, from what Hakyeon could see. Sometimes Sanghyuk could sense a siren walking through the opposite side of a building, but other times he couldn’t even catch a fraction of a feeling when Jaehwan was standing in the same room.
Hakyeon wasn’t blind; he knew the frustration was taking a toll on Sanghyuk and he wanted nothing more than to grab him by shoulders and shake it out of him. But, he also knew trying to force it would only make him deny it. So, all Hakyeon could do was wait and be there when his youngest needed him.
But that didn’t mean Hakyeon liked waiting, especially when he could see the tired slump of Sanghyuk’s shoulders and the bitten back yawns hidden behind his hand.
He felt Taekwoon switch to a gentle kneading, his long fingers carefully massaging into Hakyeon’s shoulder. He gave the leader a look, eyes silently asking what was wrong. Hakyeon shrugged it off.
Suddenly, Jaehwan’s wordless screech of outrage echoed through the set. It was followed by a sharp crackle of magic and a startled yelp from Sanghyuk.
“Jaehwan, be careful with you magic!” Hakyeon scolded, having seen Sanghyuk fall to the ground, gaping, and wide-eyed, as a white shimmer surrounded the arcade machine behind him.
“Yeah, yeah.” He could practically hear the eye roll in Jaehwan’s voice.
“I’m serious. We don’t want a repeat of The Amusement Park Incident do we?” Hakyeon smirked at Jaehwan’s violent flinch.
Sanghyuk’s brow furrowed. “The wha—?”
“Nothing! Never you mind!” Jaehwan yelled over him. “It never happened ok? Ok. Moving on.”
He ran to the still downed Sanghyuk and used his magic to hastily pull him up. Still horribly confused, the younger allowed it to drag him back towards the snickering members.
Hakyeon scoffed. “Yeah, I thought so.”
Sanghyuk blinked. “But—“
“Boys! Break’s over,” their manager called from across the set. “We need to get those dance scenes filmed!”
With a few final jabs at Jaehwan’s expense the members took their leave, Jaehwan pouting the whole way. They left a still perplexed Sanghyuk behind.
“No for real, what amusement park? Hello? Guys? Guys come o—“
A sudden feeling, a shiver running down his spine, cut him off. It felt like something, someone, was watching him.
Sanghyuk’s head snapped back over his shoulder. He took a shuddery breath and let his senses fan out, hoping they would actually listen to him for once, but all he couldn’t really feel anything out of the ordinary.
Taking a few calming breathes he tentatively neared one of the arcade games. It was the same one Jaehwan had accidentally blasted earlier, the Pac Man game. Cautiously he brushed his hand over the controls, making sure to push each button and jostle the joystick. He watched the screen with critical eyes.
Nothing happened besides the screen flashing to the demo screen, showing Pac Man run into a power up, giving him the ability to chase down the previously invincible ghosts.
Sanghyuk let out a sigh of relief, shaking his head at his own paranoia. Must have been the Intuition acting up again.
“Hyukkie!” he heard Hongbin yell. “Get over here, we gotta film!”
He gave one last glance to the arcade machine; Pac Man’s power up ran out just as he cornered the red ghost. He silently chastised himself for getting so riled up over nothing. “Coming!” he yelled back.
What Sanghyuk didn’t see, however, was the depowered Pac Man barreling toward the red ghost and successfully eating it. It repeated the process with each one, easily gobbling up the pink, orange, and blue ghosts before turning to the maze walls and eating them as well.
++++++
“And cut!”
The six members dropped out of the ending poses, beyond relieved to be done with the shot.
“So,” Hongbin said, wide smile on his face. “How many more takes do you think they’ll want?”
“My bets on three!” Wonshik yelled.
“Five!”
“Thirteen,” Jaehwan cackled.
Hakyeon grimaced. “It better not be thirteen! There’s only so many times they can expect us to do the same choreo without wanting to strangle someone.” Taekwoon nodded sagely in agreement.
“There’ll be no strangling anyone on my watch,” their manager said, not bothering to look up from his phone. “If you guys are desperate for something to do, why don’t you spend some time in the arcade? You guys like games, right?”
At the surprisingly lack of response he looked up, raising a brow at their baffled looks.
“What?”
“No, nothing. It’s just…” Wonshik trailed off.
“You’re actually giving us free time,” Hongbin finished. “Willingly.”
Their manager rolled his eyes. “It’ll still be a while until we can head back to the dorms and since you’re done filming there really isn’t much you can do right now. I’m just trying to make the wait a little less boring.” He made a face. “Also, Jaehwan-ah has been known to experiment with spells that can break the fabric of reality when he’s bored and frankly, I’m stressed enough as it is. I don’t need a repeat of The Amusement Park Incident.”
“When will you let that die?” the vocalist yelled, to everyone’s immense amusement.
Everyone except Sanghyuk, anyway, he just looked confused.
“Of course, I completely understand if you don’t want to take a break.” A sly smirk spread across the manager’s face as their expressions changed to pure panic. “I’m sure I could find something for you all to—“
“So whose up for a round of Galaga? I know I sure am!” Jaehwan screeched. He grabbed the back of Wonshik and Hongbin’s shirts and dragged them out the room, Sanghyuk following close behind.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Hakyeon said, just a little too enthusiastically. He took Taekwoon by the shoulders and began to push him in the direction of the exit. “Come on Woonie, we need to be responsible hyungs and make sure the kids don’t get into trouble.”
Taekwoon frowned. “But I don’t want to—“
“Jaehwan said you sucked at games and that his two-year-old cousin could play better than you.”
Taekwoon’s brows shot up into his fringe, eyes widening before narrowing into a truly terrifying glare. “He’s dead."
Their manager watched with morbid fascination as Taekwoon stormed out of the room, Hakyeon running behind him, yelling about not murdering their main vocalist. He absently wondered whether or not he should start coming up with an acceptable explanation as to how their six-membered boy group was suddenly reduced to five.
“Are you sure leaving them on their own is a good idea?” one of the stylists asked with trepidation.
“It’s the weekend, no one’s in the building but us,” he motioned to the room at large, filled with staff. “It’s not like they’ll be disturbing anyone.” He gave her a half-hearted shrug. “Besides, they’re just going to the arcade. What’s the worst that could happen?”