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Jihoon took off his headphones and massaged his aching eyes. He had been staring at that damn program on his computer for so long he could practically see each note and melody imprinted on the inside of his eyelids. But finally, after many extra hours spent slaving away in front of the computer, and many arguments with each member critiquing their singing/rapping abilities, Jihoon could finally say with 100% certainty that he was done... Kind of. What artist is ever truly done with their work though, really? For right now at least, Jihoon was satisfied with what he had accomplished. In the morning he might go over the song a couple more times, maybe change a few things here and there, but for tonight Jihoon could proudly say that he was done.
He raised his arms over his head and stretched his aching muscles. It wasn't an understatement saying he had been slaving away at this song. Everything about it had just been one complication after another. First, many of the members had gotten sick leaving their voices hoarse and raw, and unable to record. Then a lightning storm managed to knock out the power, destroying hours of work that Jihoon hadn't managed to save in time. But it was all worth it in the end. Now he could go home and actually go to sleep at a decent hour instead of crawling into bed (or more-often-than-not Seungcheol's bed) at half past four in the morning, getting maybe 3 or so hours of sleep (if he was lucky), and then waking up just to do it all again.
Maybe the thing Jihoon was looking forward to most was being able to spend dinner with all of the members. Since he was so often at the studio he wasn't around to have dinner with the rest of the group. A few of them would stop by, often Seungcheol or Soonyoung, and bring him a little bit of food just so he didn't end up skipping another meal, but it wasn't the same as eating with everybody. There was something oddly invigorating about eating dinner together; letting the day's stress just whisk away as he listened to whatever randomness came out of Seungkwan's mouth that evening. While he often got annoyed or even cringed at some of the stuff those 12 boys pulled, he couldn't deny the fact that he really loved each and every one of them.
Suddenly, a loud, ear-splitting, scream sounded from outside of Jihoon's office, successfully pulling him from his thoughts. As Jihoon jumped up from his chair, he tore open the door to see Seokmin, Hansol, and Mingyu practically bent over their knees from laughing at something. In the corner of the room, sat Chan with his knees drawn to his chest. The poor boy shook as silent tears poured from his eyes.
"You should have seen your face!" Seokmin cried, wiping a stray tear from his own eyes as he patted Mingyu on the back.
Jihoon clenched his fist before marching over to the three, standing significantly shorter than all of them, but making up for it with pure intimidation. "What is going on here?!" Jihoon demanded, eyes jumping between each of them.
"N-nothing, hyung," Mingyu stuttered, avoiding eye contact with the older boy. Jihoon glared at him menacingly before a soft sniffle redirected his gaze. The youngest seemed to have recovered from his shock and was now wiping his eyes and nose with his sleeves. Jihoon's eyes softened at seeing his dongsaeng so upset, but he could feel his pulse quickening. He whipped around, grabbing Mingyu by the collar of his shirt as he pulled him down to his eye level.
"You have 4 seconds to tell me exactly what happened."
---
"Are you sure this will work?" Mingyu asked as he adjusted the table cloth over the small table. Seokmin had come to him earlier with an amazing idea for a prank, and that they had to try it out on Channie. Frankly, Mingyu wasn't exactly a fan of pranks. He thought they were rude and hurt people's feelings, but Seokmin insisted that Chan would be cool about it.
"Of course it will," Seokmin laughed, swinging an arm around Mingyu encouragingly. "Now Hansol, get in position."
"On it!" the young rapper replied before crawling underneath the table cloth. Mingyu adjusted the table cloth once more, making sure it covered Hansol's entire body.
Mingyu then helped Seokmin set three chairs in front of the table before loading up a game called "The Scary Maze Game" on his laptop.
"Alright, all set," Mingyu said, bringing the game up to the title screen. Now they just had to wait...
---
"Chan! Chan! Chan!" Seokmin yelled as he waved the younger boy over. "You have to play this game!"
"What?" the youngest asked as he walked over to the table, taking a seat in between the two older boys.
"You have to play this game," Mingyu said, handing the younger boy the mouse. "It's so infuriating, maybe you can get farther?"
"Okay!" Chan beamed, excited at the chance to be better than his hyung's at something. Mingyu would always crush him in video games. The other hyung's would go easy on the youngest boy, sometime's even letting him win (or at least not lose by that much), but Mingyu would never go easy. Mingyu would often invite Chan to play games, but the younger would just end up just getting demolished and rage quitting not much later. It had gotten so bad the younger now refuses to go anywhere near Mingyu and Mario Kart.
One minute later, Chan was already three levels into the game, and he couldn't see why his hyung's were having such difficulties? It wasn't a hard game per se, you just had to had to carefully maneuver through the small mazes. Chan gripped the mouse tightly as he carefully moved the cursor through the maze, taking care not to hit the walls.
"I don't get it, what's so-" Chan began just as a picture of a zombified girl popped up on the screen followed by a blood-curdling scream. Chan jumped and scooted the chair back in his shock. "Wow, I was not expecting that," he laughed.
"RAAAAA!!!!" Hansol yelled as he grabbed onto Chan's leg before crawling out from under the table. Chan screamed and fell backwards out of the chair, using his feet to quickly push himself away from his inevitable doom. He scooted back about 20 feet until his back hit one of the mirrored walls in the room and he wrapped his arms around his legs. It took him just a few more moments to realize that it was just Hansol who had jumped out, but he was too terrified at this point to even move.
Meanwhile, the other three boys had stood up and were bent over their knees laughing at him.
---
"It was just a little prank," Hansol whined but quickly covered his mouth as he was met with Jihoon's piercing glare. Jihoon definitely did not find this funny in the least bit. He understood pranks, he would be lying if he said he never pulled a few (especially back in his trainee days). The difference was pranks are supposed to be fun, like putting googly eyes on all of the condiment bottles, or replacing the inside of an oreo with toothpaste, not scarring a kid for life!
"I-it was my fault, Hyung," Chan stuttered as he stood between Jihoon and the other three. "I shouldn't have screamed. I'm sorry for distracting you."
Jihoon eyes softened at the youngest's selflessness, as if the only reason Jihoon was out there yelling at the three in the first place was because the scream acted as an unwanted distraction. Jihoon looked past Chan and nodded his head towards the door. The three boys quickly understood the message and practically pushed each other out of the room.
"Are you alright?" Jihoon asked once they were alone.
Chan nodded his head. "I'm fine, hyung. Thanks."
The older smiled as he draped an arm behind Chan's shoulders. "Come on. Hyung will buy you dinner," he said before leading the boy outside, shutting the lights off as they left.
---
"I still think it was hilarious," Hansol pouted as he sat criss-cross on the floor of the living room. The group was all together eating their dinner. Well, almost all of them. Jihoon and Chan had yet to return from the practice room, but neither of the three really wanted to run and retrieve them lest Jihoon was still angry from earlier.
"Yeah, if only Hoonie hyung didn't come and ruin it for us," Seokmin replied, shoveling rice into his mouth. It's not like any of them were exactly angry at Jihoon, they just wished the older could learn to take a joke for once. Then again, this was Jihoon they were talking about so maybe that was asking too much.
"What'd you guys do?" Soonyoung asked.
"We scared the crap out of Channie," Hansol laughed. He had to think that that was probably one of the best 15 seconds of his life... before Jihoon came along and ruined it of course.
Soonyoung's eyes widened as he looked between the boys. "What? Why would you do that?!"
"It was a harmless prank," Seokmin explained. "We just wanted to scare Chan a little. Then Jihoon hyung had to treat it like we were trying to kill him or something!"
"You know how he is when it comes to all of us. He cares, he just doesn't like to show it all the time. Plus, he has a double soft spot for Chan."
"Yeah, you're right," Seokmin sighed. As much as Jihoon liked to pretend he didn't care, he really did have a soft spot for all of the members. "It probably wasn't exactly cool to try and scare Chan either."
Soonyoung smiled and patted Seokmin on the shoulder. "Chan is a reasonable kid. I'm sure if you apologize he'll forgive you. Jihoon on the other hand might take a bit of time."
---
It was a quarter after 8 when Jihoon and Chan finally made it back to the dorm. The rest of the group was just finishing up with dinner, gathering the take out boxes in a pile to be thrown away. Seungcheol turned his head to the opening door and smiled as the two boys wandered in.
"We were wondering when you were getting here," Seungcheol said as he held up a couple of still full take out boxes. "We got food for you guys too."
"No thanks," Chan replied. "Jihoon Hyung already bought us dinner." Seungcheol looked at Jihoon expectantly as the latter merely shrugged his shoulders before walking out of the room.
"Bye, hyung," Chan singsonged before skipping over and taking a seat next to Hansol on the floor. The older shared a look with his other conspirators and let out a sigh.
"Hey Chan?" Hansol began. The younger boy turned to look at him with an innocent smile and Hansol internally sobbed. It broke his heart knowing that only a few hours earlier this same boy was hugging his knees to his chest on the floor of the practice room in fear because of something he did. He took a breath and placed a hand on the youngest's shoulder. "We're really really sorry about earlier, Channie."
"It's okay, guys,"the youngest replied as he smiled at his hyungs. "I know it was just a joke."
Mingyu reached out and pulled the maknae into his arms, holding him against his chest in an almost constricting grip. "I knew you would understand, Channie!" he yelled, swaying back and forth as the younger laughed in his arms.
---
3 Days Later
"Home, sweet home," Soonyoung singsonged as he walked up the steps to the dorm room. The performance unit had just got done with another extremely long practice and all four of the boys were completely exhausted. They trudged through the doorway, haphazardly disposing their shoes by the door, before making their way into the living room. "Hey, guys," Soonyoung greeted as he took a seat next to Seokmin on one of the couches. He took the popcorn from the younger boy as he propped his feet on his lap. "What are you guys watching?"
"My Bloody Valentine," Hansol replied, not taking his eyes off the screen just as a woman wearing nothing but her birthday suit ran outside to yell at another character.
"You guys wanna watch?" Seokmin asked the three who were still awkwardly standing in the doorway as the sounds of screaming and hitting effects emanated from the TV. Minghao and Junhui shared a look before simultaneously shrugging and taking a seat next to Hansol and Seungkwan on the floor.
"C'mon Channie," Mingyu said, patting the empty spot next to him and Wonwoo on the couch.
"I don't know if Chan should be watching this movie," Wonwoo cautioned, looking between the screen and Chan. The naked chick was now hiding under the bed in her motel room while the psychotic, pickaxe-wielding killer impaled a dwarf lady by throwing her into the lights on the ceiling. Talk about gruesome.
"No, it's alright, hyung. I want to watch," Chan smiled through his teeth, but they could tell that he was just as scared (and maybe even as grossed out if his grimace was any indication) as the rest of them.
"You shouldn't of done that," Hansol chastised as the lady gasped from under the bed. The murderer quickly removed the bed mattress before stabbing the naked lady to death with his pickaxe. Chan's eyes widened at the scene taking place in front of him before carefully walking to the empty seat on the couch next to Mingyu.
---
"Is it over?" Seungkwan asked, peaking his head out from behind a pillow as the credits rolled on the screen.
"Yeah, it's over," Hansol laughed as he pet his friend's hair. The older boy had been screaming during almost the entirety of the movie, yelling "OH MY GOD!" and "WHAT IS THAT!?" during practically every scene. Hansol had asked multiple times if Seungkwan wanted to leave but the diva just ignored him or continued to claim that he wasn't scared each time. During the last twenty minutes of the movie however, the older boy resorted to hiding behind a pillow as he listened to the English actors, blissfully unaware of what was going on without the hangul subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
"That was… some movie," Junhui concluded glancing over to Minghao who had the same expression on his face. The look where you are just wondering what the f**k did I just watch?
Mingyu looked over at Wonwoo who still had the same stoic expression on his face that he had during the whole movie. "Were you even scared at all!?" he demanded.
Wonwoo shrugged his shoulders before standing up from the couch. "I think we should call it a night," he said as he stretched his arms over his head.
"Agreed," Seungkwan said quickly as he jumped up from his spot on the ground. He grabbed onto Hansol's hand and pulled the rapper to his feet before practically dragging him to their shared bedroom.
"Wakey, wakey," Seokmin cooed into Soonyoung's ear. The older boy had fallen asleep almost right after he had sat down and managed to stay asleep throughout the course of the rest of the movie (despite Seungkwan's girlish shrieks). Seokmin gently shook his hyung's shoulders, causing Soonyoung eyes to flutter open slowly. "Ready to go to bed?" Seokmin asked in a gentle tone. The older boy nodded as Seokmin helped him stand up before half-carrying the boy to his bedroom.
"You coming, Channie?" Wonwoo asked, turning back to the boy who was still frozen in his seat, eyes glued to the television. The movie credits had already finished rolling and the TV and now displayed the opening DVD menu, but still Chan didn't make an effort to move. Mingyu carefully pushed the younger boys leg, snapping him out of paralysis as he glanced over to the two boys.
"Y-yeah," Chan stuttered as he stood from the couch. He carefully walked past Wonwoo and into his bedroom, as the older boy shut off the lights behind them.
---
Chan laid in bed and stared up at the top bunk above him. He was exhausted to his core, but every time he closed his eyes to sleep he would end up opening them again. Every little sound caused Chan's whole body to shake in fear, and he really regretted not listening to Wonwoo when he said not to watch the movie.
A harsh SCREEEE sound emanated from close by and Chan swiftly turned his head towards the sound, nearly giving himself whiplash in the process. The sound echoed again but as his eyes adjusted to the dark space he saw that it was just Hansol's mattress as the owner turned back and forth causing the springs to groan under the weight.
Get a hold of yourself, Lee Chan! It was just a movie!
Chan shut his eyes one more time, determined to finally get to sleep, as the sound of raindrops began bouncing against the window. He opened his eyes once more and looked out the window before smiling to himself. It's just rain, Chan, he thought calmly. Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder erupted outside and the boy jumped out of bed before running as fast as he could to Seungcheol's room.
---
Jihoon was laying in bed, wrapped snuggly in his lovers embrace, as he waited for sleep to take him. He loved this time of the day, when it could just be him and Seungcheol. There was no stress. No schedules. Just Jihoon, Seungcheol, and the heat emanating from their bodies as their legs tangled underneath the bed sheets. It was calming to say the least, to just be with someone you trusted so much. He felt safe and secure in Seungcheol's arms, even with the cracks of thunder from outside, and was slowly beginning to drift out of consciousness when the creaking sound of the door opening reeled him back. Everybody in the room was asleep (if their snores hadn't been a giveaway) and he hadn't heard anyone get out of bed, which meant someone was coming in. He listened as the door slowly shut behind the figure before socked feet softly padded their way across the room before stopping in front of Jihoon.
Jihoon was tempted to keep his eyes shut and just wait and see what the intruder wanted, when a faint "Hyung?" sounded from the figure, followed by a soft sniffling. Jihoon's eyes shot open as he sprung up from the bed and into a sitting position, waking Seungcheol in the process.
"Channie, what's wrong?" Jihoon whispered as he pulled the boy to sit next to him before engulfing him in a hug. Chan just wrapped his arms around Jihoon as he cried into the older's neck, not trusting his voice to reply. Seungcheol also sat up as he rubbed his sleepy eyes before mouthing "what happened?" to Jihoon.
Jihoon held Chan for a few moment as the boys cries slowly dissolved into nothing more than quiet sniffles. "I'm sorry for waking you, hyung," the boy said as he rubbed his eye with a balled up hand. Jihoon just hushed the boy as he continued whispering reassuring words in his ear.
"Hyung, I'm scared," the boy whispered after a few more minutes of being swaddled in Jihoon's embrace.
"Of what, Channie?" Jihoon replied, as he continued rubbing the maknae's back encouragingly. Suddenly another lightning strike went off outside the window, causing Chan to yelp as he held onto Jihoon tighter.
Jihoon continued to hold the boy as he brought a hand up to pet his hair soothingly. "It's okay, Channie. The lightning won't hurt you."
Chan nodded as he slowly pulled away from Jihoon. "I know. It's just that I watched this movie earlier and now I'm really scared, hyung. Can I sleep with you?"
Jihoon smiled at his dongsaeng and pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "Of course," Jihoon said before jabbing Seungcheol (who had apparently gone back to sleep) in the side. "Move over."
Seungcheol rolled his eyes but shuffled over closer to the wall anyways. "Here I offer you my bed and you just give it away to anyone. Might as well turn it into a bed and breakfast."
"Shut up," Jihoon laughed as he smiled lovingly at his partner. Jihoon slowly laid back down next to Seungcheol before pulling Chan in close to his own chest. He runs his hands through the youngest's hair soothingly and soon enough Chan drifts off to sleep.
---
"Psst, Seokmin. Wake up."
Seokmin slowly opens his eyes and notices two things.
1: He is no longer in his bed.
2: His arms are binded behind his back.
Seokmin pulled experimentally at the bindings but gave up quickly when they wouldn't budge. He turned to his sides to see Hansol and Mingyu in similar situations with both boys too having their arms tied behind their backs, as they sat back-to-back-to-back in a circle.
"What happened?" he asked, looking between his two friends who looked as bewildered as he did. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep after the movie finished, but other than that he had no idea what happened.
"Were we kidnapped?" Mingyu whispered shakily as his eyes darted around the room.
"Wait, aren't we in the living room?"
A jolt of lightning suddenly went off outside just as a shadowed figure appears in the doorway. Hansol and Seokmin simultaneously gasped, while Mingyu attempted to turn his head left and right, trying to see behind him, as he was facing the opposite direction than the other two.
The shadow slowly started to approach the three captives and Seokmin couldn't help but notice that the figure is actually really... short. The shadow slowly crouched down in front of Seokmin, and he could feel his heart ready to pounce outside of his chest. He wants to beg for his life but all of his words were just getting caught on his tongue. Suddenly, another jolt of lightning went off outside, and as the room was doused in light for a split second the shadow was revealed to be none other than...
"Jihoon?"
"Where?" Mingyu asked, still trying to turn his neck to face the other direction. "I can't see anything!"
Jihoon stepped away from Seokmin before going over to Mingyu, turning the taller man around with ease.
"Hyung, what is this about?" Hansol demanded, biting his tongue as he came face to face with Jihoon's murderous gaze.
"Which one of you idiots thought it was a good idea to watch a scary movie?" Jihoon asked. His voice was unnaturally calm, but it still caused all three boys to shudder uncontrollably. The three looked between each other for a moment, pondering if they should break their unspoken pact and throw each other under the bus when Jihoon continued:
"Which. One." he demanded.
"Seokmin said we should watch a movie!" Mingyu confessed first.
"Yeah, well Hansol's the one who grabbed 'My Bloody Valentine!" Seokmin countered.
"Only because Mingyu begged that we watch it!" Hansol followed.
"But Seokmin--"
"ENOUGH!"
The three stopped their bickering as they looked over to Jihoon who looked about ready to wring each of their throats. The older boy opened his mouth to say something when a small voice spoke up from the entrance of the room.
"H-hyung?"
Jihoon turned to the entry, murderous glare replaced with one of concern as he spoke to the boy. "What's the matter, Channie?"
Chan sniffled as he rubbed at his sleep filled eyes. "Hyung, what are you doing?" Chan asked, glancing over to the three who were at a loss for words.
"Nothing, Channie," Jihoon replied as he walked over to the boy. "Just go back to sleep."
"Hyung, why are they tied up?" the youngest asked, grabbing onto Jihoon's hand as he spoke. Despite Chan being younger his hand was considerably larger than Jihoon's own.
"Hyung just wanted to teach them a lesson in scaring people," Jihoon replied, squeezing Chan's hand lightly.
Chan's eyes welled up with tears as he latched onto Jihoon's neck. "Hyung, they didn't do it on purpose. I chose to watch the movie, it's my fault. Wonwoo hyung said I shouldn't but I did anyways. I'm sorry, hyung. Please don't be mad."
Jihoon laughed as he wrapped his own arms around Chan. "I could never be mad at you, Chan. These three, sure. But not you." The two stood there hugging for a few seconds until another voice brought them out of their bonding moment.
"This is nice and all but can you let us go, now? Hansol asked.
Jihoon rolled his eyes as he released Chan before turning back to the three boys on the carpet. He took out a knife from his back pocket and 'cut' through each of the bindings on their wrists. Each of their eyes widenned once they were set free and quickly ran out of the room back to their bedrooms, leaving a laughing Jihoon in their wake. He picked up the bindings from the ground, which happened to be toilet paper that was wrapped tightly around their wrists that could easily be snapped, and pocketed his rubber, toy knife, before turning to Chan. "C'mon, kiddo. Let's go back to bed."