Chapter Text
Life for Juhoon was, well, great to be completely honest. He lived in a school dorm with one of his best friends who was technically his coworker, and his other best friend of 4 years was also technically his employer but also his coworker and a famous streamer. He got good grades, had amazing friends, and a great family. Even though Juhoon’s only helping James because that is his friend, James does pay him for his time.
Life was great.
“Hey Juhoon!” James greeted as he entered Juhoon’s room.
“I know that you and Martin have been coming up with ideas for a new series.” Sighing, Juhoon looked up from his computer, giving James a weird look.
“How’d you even get in here? I thought only students could enter.”
“Well you gave me the key and technically I was a student here so that’s gotta count for something!” Juhoon just looked at him in disbelief.
“Ok well maybe I told them that I was here to visit a family member but that’s not important-”
“James, you don’t have any siblings, and your family doesn’t even live here!”
“Not important. ANYWAYS, since it’s Halloween season I thought, ‘why not start a series where we go to haunted places and each episode every place we go gets spookier’ or something like that.”
Juhon turned back to his computer. “No.”
“Ayeee. I know you're not the fondest of scary things but I promise you that I’ll make sure that nothing happens. We could start at some haunted house attraction and work our way up to a real investigation.”
“You don’t even believe in ghosts!”
“Yeah even more of a reason to go! It could be a series where we try to see if you guys can get me to believe in ghosts.”
“‘You guys?’ Who else is gonna be there?”
“I got the idea the other day while talking with Keonho so I figured that he could come too.”
“Hyung, we still have school. I mean you do too! You’re literally in college-”
“And since Keonho is gonna be there Seonghyeon’s probably gonna be there too since that’s his cameraman.”
“Omg..”
“Oh and obviously you and Martin will be there since yk- you guys are my team.”
“...I- have you told Martin about the idea yet?”
“No. He’s busy making music and what not. If he was actually here I would have told him already.”
“... I don’t know, I mean how are we even going to get there? None of us have any cars.”
“We can rent one out.”
“...”
“Please Jju. I’ll even pay for your hotel room at one of the locations!”
“Two.”
“Fine.”
“...”
Life was not so great.
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4 years ago, Juhoon met James when he was in his final year of middle school and James was starting his first year of high school. The two were roommates at their bordering school so they were bound to talk at least once.
To be honest, Juhoon was pretty intimidated by the foreign boy. He had long dyed hair when they first met, and his features were strong and prominent. It didn’t help that James was older and quiet with the worst rbf known to man. (he still has one now it’s just not as bad)
Juhoon was itching to talk to the other but couldn’t will himself to get up and start a conversation with him other than the occasional,"I'm running to the convenience store if you want something.” Fortunately for Juhoon, luck James really wanted them to be friends too.
The two somehow purposely on James’ end but he would never admit that ended up bonding over some game that James was playing in his room on his computer. Ever since that day, the two only grew closer. Whether it be through snacks, hating on teachers, or something else.
A year into their friendship, James began his streaming career as a fun little side hobby for when school got hectic. He played games, danced, unboxed blind boxes even though realistically he had no money as a high schooler, and made ‘a day in the life of a high schooler’ vlogs whenever he got the time to.
Juhoon helped edit some of his videos and appeared in his streams from time to time, but he really just supported his friend from the sidelines. He was glad that James was doing something that he loved.
James was doing pretty well as a creator. He had gained quite the following in a short amount of time with 65k on YouTube in only 8 months. That all changed after James was in his second to last year of high school because with a face card like that and a personality like his, greatness was only inevitable.
One of James' pictures went viral on social media. He and Juhoon attended a soccer game some time ago and somehow- someway someone online took some photos from afar and posted them on the internet for all to see.
Juhoon wasn’t even mad about the fact that he was there too, like right next to James or that the random person took the photos. He was just internally scolding himself and James for not posting his pics of James sooner. I mean- did you see the numbers on that post! Insane.
And as more and more people became interested, more and more started to like James for his content and not just looks (although he was very handsome). Every now and then he would go viral again, most recently for talking about My Little Pony (fans headcanon him as Rarity). Even a short convenience store vlog made coffee milk go viral.
To get to the point, James’ stardom was rising rapidly to the point of needing at least another helping hand. So, somewhere along their journey they found a boy the same age as Juhoon. An aspiring SoundCloud rapper if you will. Although it was less of them finding someone else and more like a friend of theirs offered to help and they really needed it.
Martin’s also more behind the scenes. If Juhoon shows himself on camera, he shows himself on camera and vice versa.
Despite his rare physical appearances, he really likes to talk behind the camera whether it’s to James or Juhoon. He’s even acquired quite the occult following for when he does make an appearance.
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“Oh yeah- I’m down. If you’re paying.”
“Nah bro you got that.”
“What?? You’re paying for Juhoon, what about me??”
Queue Juhoon’s current predicament. An hour and a half drive to an abandoned facility that he’s never seen or heard of before. Where did James even find this place?
Not to mention that he was stuffed in the back of a 7 seat car. Which, to be fair, Juhoon had voluntarily sat back there alone with a shit ton of equipment. Even when Keonho asked him to switch, Juhoon insisted on staying. He didn’t know why but it felt right to.
God did he regret his choice.
“AHHHHHHH-”
“HOLY SHIT-”
“IS THAT A DEER-”
“Oh hey it kinda looks like martin-”
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON-”
After that unnecessary quick-time event, the whole crew was in disarray:
Martin was sweating bullets in the front seat, James was clutching the seat so tightly that Juhoon swore that the handle was gonna break, Seonghyeon looked like his soul came out of his body (video idea- ‘my friend’s soul came out of his body and now we’re trying to communicate with him via ouija board’), Keonho was trying to get a better look at the deer and Martin’s face, and Juhoon almost got crushed to death (‘my cameraman died because of my other cameraman and now I think he’s haunting us??!!!’) by equipment and therefore had no idea what was going on.
Everybody was catching their breath.
“...”
“...”
“... who the FUCK let Martin drive?”
“Well-”
“JAMES WHY WOULD YOU LET HIM DRIVE?” Seonghyeon looked flabbergasted as he reprimanded James.
“Well I sure as hell wasn’t and I didn’t want you guys to drive on the way there because you don’t know where we’re going!”
“You’re literally the oldest! And Juhoon was right there!!” Seonghyeon pointed at the boy who was currently just a pile of things and barely even a boy. He tried to put his hands up in defense but he gave up halfway through trying.
“Well Martin isn’t fitting in the back.” James pointed to the back at a more freed Juhoon and completely ignored the fact that he could have sat back there.
“So no one is gonna tell me what happened.” The tired boy said with… just things on his lap. (he gave up trying to get it off, it just wasn’t working for him)
“We almost died because of Martin’s ass driving.”
“THE DEER JUST RAN INTO TRAFFIC WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?”
“IDK JUST NOT THAT??”
“Hey at least we’re all ok now.” Keonho said jokingly, not too focused on the conversation and more focused on getting everything off of poor Juhoon. The mochi-looking boy muttered a low thanks, not because he wasn’t grateful, but because he was physically in pain.
“THANK YOU Keonho, at least SOMEONE appreciates me.”
“Idk about ‘all ok’ I almost died back here.” Juhoon grabbed his neck trying to soothe a cramp. Martin craned his neck and squinted his eyes to try and see Juhoon through the rearview mirror just in time to see Keonho helping him.
“Oh shit mb twinski.”
“Nah it’s ok.”
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Almost eight minutes and one sketchy turn later, the whole Scooby Squad was finally at their destination. Ten more minutes later and well, let's just say Seonghyeon was throwing up off camera as Juhoon and Martin filmed the two creators. This video was going on James’ channel anyway so Seonghyeon not being there wasn't a huge deal.
After the intro, James and Keonho went to get their go pros and other equipment for exploring such as gloves and masks because who knows what you’ll find out there. Like a frog just jumped at James while he and Keonho were walking. It barely missed him but he didn’t want to know what was gonna happen if it actually landed on him.
“Dude-” Seonghyeon was rudely interrupted by his own vomiting. Juhoon was crouched
besides him with one hand on his back, trying to guide him through this rough moment.
“I’m so sorry bro I didn’t know that you got motion sickness…” Martin stood on the opposite side of the poor boy with a hand on his neck.
“*cough-* eugh… it’s fine tin i know you had to just- eugh- i’ve been like this since i was little.”
“YOOO- he just caught that fly!” James’ voice exploded through the dark forest, the other two making their way towards them with flashlights. Juhoon squinted at the bright light trying to make out what the other two could be doing.
As they got closer, he saw James holding most of the equipment for the rest of them. Ok, that was fine. What wasn’t fine was Keonho. As the boy approached them with a mischievous smile, Juhoon noticed that he wasn’t holding any equipment besides the gloves on his hands.
“What are you holding-“ Juhoon was now slowly backing away from both Keonho and Seonghyeon. Keonho was wearing that shit eating grin as he approached the three boys.
“Ain’t he cute?-” Keonho approached with the biggest frog Juhoon had ever seen, he was terrified out of his mind.
“Keonho put that down…” Martin tried to have a serious tone but his voice was shaking. Unfortunately, Seonghyeon couldn’t even run if he tried to. He sighed, already used to Keonho’s shenanigans but gagged soon after, not fully over his motion sickness.
“It’s ok he don’t bite-” No, the frog didn’t bite. But it did jump, and it was slowly slipping from Keonho’s grasp because of its slimy skin.
“AHH-”
“Oh what the-”
“Wait- frog!!-” The frog had finally found its target and leaped from out of Keonho’s hold towards Juhoon. Martin just screamed because he imagined what would have happened if it was him that it jumped at.
Junhoon almost froze as the amphibian sloppily fell through the air and towards him. He panicked not knowing what to do. He might actually faint if that frog lands on him or even gets near him.
So, in an effort to save himself, he launched himself in a random direction and prayed for the best.
THUD
“Ouch…”
“OW-”
“Huh?...” What Juhoon thought was supposed to be the cold, hard dirt felt more like a warm, softer cushion of fabric. He looked up to see what he landed on.
“H-hey, uhm… are you alright.” Keonho looked back at him… Keonho, looked back at him. Omg he landed on Keonho.
“Omg are you ok?” Juhoon pushed himself off of the formally human cushion, worried that he accidentally hurt him after he practically tackled the other.
“Yeah! Ehm- I’m all good” He coughed as he sat up. Keonho looked super red.
“Your face is all red. Are you sure you’re feeling fine?” Keonho internally screamed at James for pointing out his face. As if he wasn’t embarrassed enough…
“You’re right.” Juhoon brought a hand to the boy’s head and Keonho’s face only became more red. He tried to cover his face with his hands but they were slick with frog goo so his forearm was the best he could do.
“What are you doing?” He couldn’t even look him in the eyes. Just a glance, that’s what he told himself. But he ended up doing more than just glancing.
How could he when the boy in front of him was so breath taking, even after he tackled him. His hair was slightly messed up, lips shining under his teeth as he bit his lips; And the way he looked at Keonho, eyes glimmering with guilt and concern like it was his fault that Keonho was blushing on the floor.
To be fair, it was his fault. But Keonho could never get mad at him. In his eyes Juhoon could never do wrong, but he would never tell him.
“You’re a little warm right now… are you sure that you’re ok?” Keonho realised that he was staring and pulled away.
“Yeah I’m fine. Are you ok?”
“Oh- yeah. I’m fine.” Juhoon extended his hand out to Keonho.
“Thanks for catching my fall. Even if you didn’t do it on purpose.” Juhoon laughed to himself. Keonho hoped that he could hear that laugh again, and he hoped that he would be the reason behind it.
Martin and James watched the two during this- moment, if you will.
“Come on guys, the video isn’t gonna film itself.”
“Ehem. Sorry guys, I think I’m ok now..” Seonghyeon wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stumbled as he got up. Martin Put his hand on his shoulder. He still felt bad that he was the reason Seonghyeon was throwing up.
“Oh wait!” James rummaged through the various things that he was holding.
“Here,” He pulled out a bagel seemingly out of nowhere.
“Since you practically threw up everything you ate. Oh and here’s some water and altoids because you know you’ll need it.”
“Thanks Hyung. You’re actually my saviour.”
“Maybe we should take 10 and then film in a bit?”
“Sure”
“Yeah I’m gonna need it”
PAUSE, REWIND, PLAY!!(things that could have happened but didn't)
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“YOOO- he just caught that fly!” James’ voice exploded through the dark forest, the other two making their way towards them with flashlights. Seonghyeon's back was facing everyone else so he could only see the two lights getting brighter as James and Keonho made their was closer.
“What are you holding-“ Juhoon and Martin were now slowly backing away from Seonghyeon. Alright, he was sure that it was just Keonho being stupid, or maybe even James. Either explanation made sense and to be honest, he really didn't care. Seonghyeon has been on the verge of passing out since he got out of the car and hasn't stopped throwing up since.
He's sure that if he knew what was going on that he would be freaking out too, but right now he had bigger problems.
“Keonho put that down…” Martin tried to have a serious tone but his voice was shaking. So he was right, it was Keonho. Unfortunately, Seonghyeon couldn’t even run if he tried to. He sighed, already used to Keonho’s shenanigans but gagged soon after, not fully over his motion sickness.
“It’s ok he don’t bite-” If Seonghyeon wasn't confused earlier he was now. He hasn't turned around to see what was going on.
“AHH-”
“Oh what the-”
“Wait- frog come back!!-” The frog made a hop, skip, and a jump next to Seonghyeon. And for a while, the two just stared at each other. No one else spoke. They didn't even know what they could say.
"What the hell is going on..." James whispered to really just himself. No one knew what was going on. Hell, they were probably confused too.
Frog and Seonghyeon were having a staring contest, and no one knew who was going to win. Keonho was confused, but he was rooting for the frog. They just stood like that for 3 minutes. No one moved a muscle. It seemed like no one was even breathing. Then, finally, the frog licked its eyeball, and blinked right after.
"Alright that's enough looking at this frog I gotta go before I hurl agian." Seonghyeon got up and walked over to James just to get a snack. He was starving after throwing up all of his dinner.
"*munch munch* yo come on guys- if we don't start now we aren't going to finish recording until 3." He spoke while chewing, like nothing even happened. Juhoon Just looked at him with disbelief. Martin was left mildly impressed, but he still had no idea what was going on.
"I would actually pay to get a glimpse of his brain."
"Me too..."