Upon finding out that the others were going to do something with a board and spirits, Ijin was quick to count himself out.
Did he believe in the paranormal? Yeah, some weird shit had happened to him and others while they were working for the camp. Most of those events couldn't be explained through human means and when that happened, he made it a policy to avoid shit like that.
Did he care if the others were giving him shit for chickening out like that?
Nope.
They were his friends and while their opinions were important to him, they weren't important enough for him to change his mind. There were things that he could be swayed but this was not one of them. Not to mention, if he could handle the shit the other numbered would give him, then he can definitely handle what his friends were giving him.
He had only been out there for about five minutes before Seokju came downstairs, decidedly not wanting to mess with the spirits as well. "You don't want to do it?"
Seokju sat down at the other end of the couch with a sigh that puffed out his cheeks. "Nah. I don't like messing with stuff like that." Seokju shook out his shoulders as he further expressed his displeasure. All Ijin offered was a hum of agreement before they lapsed into silence. It was a Friday so all of them had the intention to stay the night. Even Yeona and Dayeon were over, partaking in their antics and while that meant that he and Seokju had to sleep in the living room so they could get their room, it just made it even better.
Ijin smiled to himself.
Compared to the last sleepover, this was much better.
They sat there for a few more minutes before Seokju stood up and he started to get a good feeling when his friend sent him a grin. "Let's mess with them?"
Consider his interest peaked.
Seokju must have seen the look on his face because now, he was grinning even wider and was motioning for him to follow. Interested in what Seokju was going to do to mess with the others, Ijin diligently followed him. "What are we going to do?" it had to be good for Seokju to be smiling like this, Even more so because Seokju rarely took part in their antics like this.
"We," Seokju paused as he pulled open a closet, looked inside, before he closed it again, "are going to find the circuit breaker." His friend opened another door, leading down to the basement. Seokju had a surprising amount of confidence as he flicked on the light and started to go down the stairs to the dark basement.
Ijin lingered at the top of the staircase. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but he wasn't expecting Seokju to say that. Slowly, Ijin followed him down into the basement. "Why?" Because really, what did he have planned where he needs the breaker?
There was a snicker," You'll see why." Ijin could barely see him, but he could see that Seokju was waving his hands around, trying to find something, "Dammit. Can you find the light?"
Ah, so that's what he was doing.
Saving time, Ijin just took out his phone and switched on the flashlight before handing it over to Seokju, "Ah, thank you." Seokju took his phone and showed it around the room, the beam revealing the crowded basement, but they didn't linger too long on that because Seokju spotted what he wanted in the corner of the basement. Together, they weaved through the miscellaneous furniture and boxes that crowded the area until they were at the circuit breaker.
He still didn't understand what they were going to do, but he had faith in Seokju that it wasn't going to be a bad idea. Maybe he would have had some doubt if it had been Hyeokjin or Jaehyung but he knew that Seokju wasn't going to do anything exceedingly stupid
Just as Seokju opened the box and started to read the labels, the sound of Jaehyung looking for them drifted down into the basement, their red-headed friend calling out to them. "We're down here!" Seokju screamed back, not even looking away as he did so. "Ah. Here we go." Peaking over his shoulder, all he could see was that Seokju had the breaker for one of the bedrooms in his hands.
That was when it clicked.
Now he was matching grins with Seokju.
"Where are you guys?" Now Jaehyung was at the top of the stairs, the distance between them and him slightly warping his voice and muffling it. Honestly, Ijin found it kinda funny that Jaehyung had chickened out too, especially because it had been Jaehyungs idea to use the board. But that only meant that he would be able to witness Seokju's stroke of genius so he wasn't going to complain.
"Down here. Shshsh. Watch this." Seokju shushed them even though they were already quiet. And with a slight pause, he turned off the breaker before turning it back on quickly.
The muffled shrieks of the others traveled through the walls, all the way down to the basement.
They lost their shit.
With the way Seokju was cackling and the way Ijin was failing to control his snorts, they could barely hear everyone's screams through the walls, and funnily enough, each time Seokju flicked the lights off before turning them back on, their shrieks momentarily got louder before they went back to their normal level. They could hear Jaehyung cackling as he stood somewhere else in the basement and it only made it funnier.
Upstairs, they could hear the door fling open and the others running out of the room.
"Nope! FUCK THIS!"
"Go! Go!"
"RUN!"
"Where are they!?"
"THE GHOST ATE SEOKJU AND IJIN!"
They stopped laughing and exchanged looks.
It was Jaehyung who had screamed that out loud and it was funny but…
They could still hear Jaehyung's laughter in the basement.
A sense of dread washed over them as they heard the others running out of the house, leaving the entire place dead silent within seconds.
"Oh, come on." The voice came from behind them and still, it sounded identical to their redheaded friends. They whipped around and felt their panic turn up a notch when they saw that there was nothing behind them, "I don't eat children." The voice was overhead. Seokju was being shoved off his feet into the nearby boxes, making them topple over with a yelp. Quickly Ijin pulled him back onto his feet, the feeling of something shifting the air on the back of his neck at the exact moment that he bent down to pull him up.
That was how they spent the rest of the night sitting out on the curb, waiting for Jaehyung's parents to come back home. After they were done screaming at each other trying to figure out what had happened to both parties even though one event was explainable and the other wasn't.
Good god was it embarrassing as shit when Jaehyungs mother and Kyong pulled up at the same time, the two adults looking at all of them like they had something particularly stupid.
Well to be fair, it was a little bit ridiculous of them to refuse to go back into the house without an adult…
In his defense, it was unnerving as shit and he just did not mess with that shit. He wasn't even going to tell Jaehyung about what had happened in his basement for his own peace of mind and apparently, it looked like Seokju had come to the same conclusion. Anyways, they were all eager to get out and forget about what happened, it was a good thing that Ijin was somewhat good at forgetting because he did just that.
Quietly, all of them got their bags, planning to transfer to Yeona's bigger, not haunted place. "Seriously Jaehyung," Jaehyungs mother chided, her voice softened with fondness with a hint of exasperation as she ruffled his hair, "I told you something was weird with the house, but you just love to not listen." Jaehyung pouted but didn't deny any of her words as he sought comfort from her.
She hugged him, and although it was a private moment, Ijin tried his best to ignore it as it happened right in front of him and Seokju as the others were still grabbing their stuff. "Now get out of here you cry baby. Don't do anything stupid."
"I won't." Jaehyung quietly reaffirmed and after a kiss was placed on his temple, his mother was wishing them good night as she went off to her bedroom.
Seokju hummed, "Your mom is really affectionate." Seokju's comment sounded like an idle one, but there was a tightness to his expression Ijin couldn't quite decipher: a pinch in his brow, a subtle tautness around his mouth.
Jaehyung didn't even notice as he turned a slight red. "Shut it."
It was silent as Yeongchan crept into the room, gun at the ready, his head twisting and turning as he used all of his available senses to try and find the others. From his position, Ijin could see everyone creeping around the garage, all of them trying their best to move silently but quickly.
Seokju and Hyeokjin were hiding by the workshop cabinets, Yeona was hiding behind one of the cars her family-owned, Dayeon was by the garage door, and Jaehyung was hiding by some boxes. All of them were great hiding spots, but none of them were as good as his.
And he was proud of that.
Ijin grinned when the others noticed him in his position above the doorway, where he had wedged himself above the door using the two walls that were parallel to it.
Seokju was frowning at him in blatant disapproval from his position behind the couch. He wasn't saying anything, but Ijin could tell by his facial expressions and hand gestures that Seokju wanted him to get down.
Seokju's action made the others notice him above the doorway, and it wasn't long until Hyeokjin, Jaehyung, Yeona, and Dayeon were glaring at him, trying to silently force him into climbing down so they all could be standing on even ground.
'Get down!' Seokju mouthed at him, pointing at the floor to further make his point. Seokju doing that only prompted the others to start doing the same, all of them mouthing words at him to scold him.
When Ijin shook his head, telling them that he was not going to climb down, the glares he got in return were amusing.
Jaehyung held up his hands and curled his fingers inward, showing his desire to choke Ijin for his bullshit.
Honestly, all Ijin saw were a bunch of crybabies who were upset they weren't able to hide like he was.
Hyeokjin snorted when he saw Jaehyung doing that, and he immediately froze when he realized what he just did. Without any hesitation, Yeongchan rounded on him, the silence had been perfect for him to pinpoint where Hyeokjin was and he reacted fast enough to get Hyeokjin before he could move.
The blond sputtered as he got a mouth full of water, "Dammit!" Hyeokjin cursed as the water went everywhere, completely soaking his face and the collar part of his shirt, "Ijin!" He pointed at Ijin the first chance he got, pure annoyance saturating his voice as he yelled, "Get the fuck down you fucking fuck!"
That prompted everyone to start giving him shit. Slowly, everyone came out of their hiding spots to yell at him.
"Yeah! It's not fair, you goddamn spider monkey!"
"How did you even get up there?!"
"That's not fair, Ijin!"
"How was he supposed to find you?!"
He just grinned. Only giving them a simple, "Sucks to suck." That only aggravated everyone even more. Though because it was true since apparently, he was the only one that could think out of the box like this.
But his favorite reaction was when Yeongchan took off his blindfold and followed everyone else's gaze. Yeongchan's expression instantly curdled when he saw where he was, "Ijin, you fuck!" Yeongchan's immediate reaction only made him start laughing. It was rare when Yeongchan cursed, but it was always funny when he did. "How was I supposed to find you?! God, this is just as bad as the time you were in the fucking rafters!"
Dayeon whipped around to look at Yeongchan, a disbelieving look on her face, "Rafters?" She turned to Ijin, and Ijin couldn't tell if she was more upset, or if she more concerned, "What rafters were you in?"
That made him start laughing even harder.
Ijin was laughing so hard from his position above the doorway, he had to climb down before he fell. "It's-it's not my fault." A snort interrupted him as Hyeokjin caught him in a headlock, digging his knuckles into his scalp as he continued to laugh. "It's not my fault you guys suck at hiding!"
That did nothing to disperse the frustration they were feeling towards him, but after Yeongchan sprayed him a few times with the water gun for being 'unfair', the game got back on track with Hyeokjin being the shooter the next turn.
Then it was Seokju.
Then Yeona.
Then Dayeon.
Then Hyeokjin again.
It was probably the third time it was Hyeokjin's turn before everyone got frustrated.
"Fuck it!" Hyeokjin shouted as he threw his hands up into the air. "Ijin! It's your turn! You haven't been It this entire time!"
Apparently, smiling and saying, "It's not my fault you guys suck at hiding, "only made their frustration towards him more apparent. That only made all of them go on a rant about how hiding above doorways and on top of the fridge was completely unfair and that he was the one that was being weird.
Again, all it sounds like to him was a bunch of Them problems. But of course, they were solving their problem by forcing him to be the hunter this time around. The babies.
Seokju tightened the blindfold tighter than necessary. "Hey."
"Nope, "Seokju responded immediately, not a single note of remorse in his voice. "I'm making sure that you have a hard time finding us." Ijin resisted the urge to snort. It was amusing to hear that Seokju thought a mere blindfold would keep him from finding him.
Actually.
Ijin was going to find Seokju just to prove a point. He was going to spray him with water, and just Seokju each chance he got to rub it in his face.
Because he could.
As Seokju walked out of the room, Ijin took note of his footsteps, trying to remember the pattern as much as he could. He was going to go after his ass if he had anything to say about it.
After a few minutes, Dayeon shouted at him to come in.
He had barely walked in through the doorway when he heard an exhale above him. considering that he had used that hiding spot a few rounds ago, he knew exactly what was going on.
He grinned.
"Ijin!" He sprinted through the doorway, nearly colliding with one of his coworkers in the process. "Get back here!" Seokju screamed after him, along with Hyeokjin and Yeongchan chasing after them. For the nth time, he ran through the kitchen doorway, trying to avoid the others.
"No!" he shouted back, laughing almost madly as he ran away from them, running past Dayeon and Yeona as he did so, who just stared at them as they ran past. "Make up your mind! Now you're getting mad that I keep winning!"
"Because you're not giving back the stupid gun!" Hyeokjin shouted out, pure and utter annoyance saturating his voice as he ran after him. However, just like Seokju, Hyeokjin was unable to keep up with him.
Though his reasoning was fair.
After the first few rounds where Ijin had easily found Seokju or one of the others (though it was mostly Seokju), Ijin discovered that it was way more fun being the shooter than doing weird shit to avoid whoever was it. After all, you could only hide above the doorway so many times before you got bored.
So, he just didn't give it back.
Much to everyone's annoyance.
Though apparently, the straw that broke the camel's back was probably the way he shot a stream of water right at Seokju's groin.
Apparently. He just thought they were being a bunch of sore losers who sucked at climbing
Ijin looked back just long enough to see Seokju's annoyed face, as well as the damp collar of his shirt after all of the rounds before he turned back around. He was running through another doorway for the nth time and just as he was about to step through.
Jaehyung stepped into the doorway.
They collided hard. To the point where Ijin was left questioning his friend's well-being because he just absolutely ran over Jaehyung. Jaehyung yelped at the collision, and based on the sound of the impact from Jaehyung hitting the floor, he just knew that it hurt.
He tried to turn back. "Fuck! Jae-"
"Get him!"
"Gotcha, bitch!"
Oh.
That moment of hesitation when he tried to go back and check on Jaehyung had been more than enough for Seokju and Hyeokjin to jump on top of him. While he was strong, Ijin wasn't strong enough to stay standing after having at least two hundred pounds of human landing on top of him.
"Worth it!"
"I can't believe that worked!"
Ijin let out another 'oof' as Jaehyung and Yeongchan (who had been lingering around the doorway too) climbed on top of the human pile that he was at the bottom of.
These absolute fucks. They planned for this and took full advantage of the fact that he was going to be worried after hitting Jaehyung like that.
Well played.
Ijin let out a huff, and upon wiggling around, he discovered that with the way the others were sitting on his legs and torso, there was no way in hell he was going to be able to squirm his way out from under them. With four people sitting on top of him, he had a solid four hundred pounds on top, effectively pinning him to the floor.
He scowled, even more so when he heard Yeona and Dayeon's laughter from the other room. "Get off." Ijin did not doubt that they had seen him get dogpiled by everyone, and that was why they were laughing so hard.
Clearly, they found joy in his suffering.
"No. This is what you get." Seokju had a lighthearted tone in his voice, his voice was close enough to tell Ijin that Seokju was the one who was laying on top of his back. Ijin turned his head as much as he could, and like he thought, Seokju was laying across his back, a shit-eating grin on his face.
Reaching back, Ijin grabbed Seokju's arm and pulled it towards him. "I'll bite you if you don't." With a bark of laughter, Seokju easily twisted his arm out of his grip, leaving him with no leverage against anyone.
Apparently, Yeongchan and Seokju were on the same spectrum, because without a single word, Yeongchan handed Seokju a pillow (where did he even get the pillow?), a pillow that he promptly used to cover Ijin's face.
"I'd like to see you try."
Huh.
So, this is how it feels like to be betrayed, again.
The words were muffled because of the pillow, but he could hear, "Oh no. I'm stuck. I cannot get out. What a tragedy." Jaehyung drawled out, sarcasm was practically dripping from his words, and if it had been any other situation, Ijin would have found it funny. Maybe when he wasn't being pinned down by his supposed friends.
"You know. This is actually kind of comfortable." He could barely hear their words through the pillow, but he smiled when he heard Yeongchan say. "It's pretty cozy."
Seokju's chest vibrated as he let out an annoyed groan. "You are on top of the pile, Yeongchan. You don't get to say that." Hyeokjin and Jaehyung were quick to agree, much to Yeongchan's amusement as he chuckled.
"Ijin, "Hyeokjin called out to him, "you're still alive, right?"
He hummed. "Yeah." unfortunately because that meant that he had to be awake to experience being pinned by his friends.
"Seokju, take off the pillow. I can barely hear him." Seokju grunted out an apology after he accidentally bumped his head while taking off the pillow, but at least he took it off.
Now that the pillow was off, he could see that Yeona and Dayeon were in the same room as them, still giggling at his predicament. The fact that he could see the bodyguards also failing to hide their smiles, only made everything worse.
Great, not only did he look like an idiot in front of Yeona and his sister, but his coworkers did as well.
Ijin huffed, somewhat struggling to expand his chest under Seokju's weight, but not enough to freak out over. "Are you guys really not going to get up?"
There was no hesitation. "Nah, "Seokju said happily. "Yeongchan was right. This is pretty comfy." The blatant lie from Seokju made him roll his eyes. There was no way in hell it was comfortable to have three people laying on top of him; Ijin would know.
"You guys. You're dead to me now."
"Sure we are, buddy."
"I'm getting you back for this."
"Uh huh."
"Watch your backs." His ending statement made the idiots chuckle, all of them falling into silence as they emulated a pile of puppies.
They were probably there for another five minutes when Ijin realized that they really weren't going to get up. "So what? You're all just going to lay here and do nothing? Just to spite me?"
Seokju snorted. "Yes and…yeah, that's why I'm doing it."
"Me too."
"I just think it's funny."
"And comfy."
Ijin didn't even know why he was surprised.
Accepting his fate, he rested his cheek on the floor. The others would get bored of laying on top of him eventually. The only problem was that he had no idea how long it would take them to actually get bored enough to get off.
Although it looked like it was going to be sooner rather than later.
"Hang on," Seokju said suddenly, wriggling around on top of Ijin as he tried to do something. Ijin let out a grunt as Seokju dug his elbow into his shoulder, prompting Seokju to immediately let up as he said, "I got an idea."
Ohhhh, he did not like that tone in Seokju's voice.
"What?" God, it was never good when Seokju cooked something up. He rarely did it. Most of the time, they let the two idiots (Jaehyung and Hyeokjin) think of stupid ideas, but it looks like it was Seokju's turn.
"Check your phone. I texted it to you."
"Should I be nervous?" Ijin was starting to feel like he should be nervous. Especially since Seokju had texted his plan to the others, not even letting him prepare for whatever they were going to do.
The others wriggled around, and Ijin heard the moment they opened the text. All of them started laughing to themselves the moment they read it.
Yeongchan chuckled. "Ah. Got it."
Shit.
If Yeongchan agreed, that meant that he wasn't going to have a single person on his side.
Jaehyung and Hyeokjin let out their own affirmatives, amusement lining their voices the entire time.
They started shifting on top of him again. "Excuse me, "Jaehyung said lightly, and that was all the warning Ijin got before there was a hand digging through his back pocket.
"Hey!" He flushed as Jaehyung dug through his pocket, thoroughly groping his ass in the process. "What are you doing!?" He was used to Jaehyung's antics but what the hell was he doing!?
"Ah!" Jaehyung finally took out his hand. "Got his phone!"
?
Ijin didn't even get a chance to question what the hell they wanted with his phone before all of them started to move around again. Two pairs of hands wrapped around his legs, another pair wrapped around his hips, and another around his chest, pinning his arms to his sides in the process.
He couldn't help but yelp when he felt his body leave the floor.
"What the fuck guys!?" Ijin started wriggling around, trying his best to escape from everyone's arms as they carried him off to god knows where. He could tolerate being laid on top of, but what the hell were they doing?
"Fuck, he's heavy."
"Grab him right!"
"That's my dick, Hyeokjin!"
"Oh, gross. Sorry."
No matter how hard Ijin squirmed around or tried to break free, it was difficult to do so when four people (who he also did not want to hurt) were restraining him. Slowly, but surely, he was being carried to the back door. Where the pool was.
He connected the dots.
"Hey!" Yeona, the absolute traitor, opened the back door for them. A huge smile on her face as they passed by. "Seokju, don't you dare!"
The closer they got to the pool, the more he tried to escape. But they had been strategic with who was holding him, with Seokju keeping his arms restrained, and Hyeokjin keeping his legs under control, he wasn't able to break free. Not without hurting them anyway.
"I'm gonna dare." Seokju didn't have a single ounce of remorse in his voice as they got closer to the pool, where Dayeon was already standing by with a bunch of towels in her arms.
They were all traitors. All of them. They were dead to him now, except for Dayeon and that was only because she was his sister.
"Seokju! Wait-hey! Put me down!" the closer he got to the water, the more he started to try and escape.
His supposed friends paid no mind to his struggle, if anything, it only made them walk faster. "Just chill, Ijin." He would not chill! He would chill when he wasn't going to be thrown into a pool of water! "It's just a little water." It was not just a little bit of water!
They were right next to the pool now, and he had no chance of breaking free.
"Yeah, it's gonna be great!" Jaehyung's happy voice was the last thing he heard when he was thrown into the pool. He didn't even get a chance to let out a shout of surprise before he hit the water, instantly sinking to the bottom where he landed on his ass.
Alright.
He had no other choice.
This meant war.
Thankfully, they had thrown him into the shallow end of the pool so he wouldn't drown. He was able to get his feet under him and stand up within seconds of being thrown into the cold water.
Because he had been thrown into the shallow side, that just meant that it was exceedingly easy for him to grab onto the arms of his cackling friends and pull them into the water with him.
Hyeokjin and Yeongchan yelped as he pulled them into the water with him, but Seokju managed to scramble away before Ijin could pull him in too.
Without a second thought, he climbed out of the pool and started to chase Seokju around, who was still laughing like a madman the entire time. "Get back here!"
"No!" Seokju yelled back. Now they were running into the grass and each time Seokju jumped out of the way, Ijin would slip because he was still soaking wet and had poor traction on the grass. "Over my dead body!"
Oh, he can have that arranged. He could have tha- a spray of water to the face interrupted his inner dialogue.
Ijin sputtered as he ducked to get away from the spray of water, and a giggle directed him to look to the right.
Dayeon was holding a water hose, a steady stream of water coming from the end as she laughed at him. She 'eep'ed when she saw that he was looking at her, and pushed the water hose into the also laughing Yeona's hands. Dayeon and Yeona shrieked as they ran away.
Ijin grinned.
Two could play at that game.
"Ijin. Ijin." He groaned as he woke up, his head pounding something fierce as he slowly woke up. The feeling of something cold pressing against his forehead made him jerk away, startled at the sudden touch.
"Dayeon?" She was leaning over him, looking worse for wear with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Slowly, he became more aware of his surroundings, and he could see Jaehyung, and Hyeokjin slumped against the touches, blankets wrapped around their shoulders as Yeongchan handed them little cups. Across from him, Seokju was being woken up by Yeona, who looked just as bad as Dayeon. "What's wrong?"
When did he even fall asleep?
He remembered changing into some dry clothes before getting all warm and cozy on his makeshift bed, but that was it. He didn't remember ever falling asleep. He looked around more, internally thankful that his coworkers had already gone home for the night.
Dayeon heaved out a sigh, bringing his attention back to her as she motioned for him to sit up before opening the bottle of cold medicine she had. "Somehow, "she poured the blue liquid into the tiny cup, "we all got sick. Probably because we all got soaked."
Oh.
Well, that was unfortunate.
It also explained why she and everyone else looked bad.
"Oh." Ijin scrunched up his nose at the thought of drinking the medicine, but as soon as Dayeon gave him that look , the look she gave him so many times when he was recovering from his gunshot wound, he gave in. He already knew that there was no point in arguing, and he didn't have the energy to argue with her anyway.
Unfortunately, Yeona was not having the same luck. "Seokju." The exasperated voice of Yeona made the Yu siblings look over at her and Seokju. "Just take the medicine and go to sleep. You're sick."
Seokju was laying down, his usual prim and proper attitude was nowhere to be seen as he slouched. "No, I'm not." If it wasn't for the fact that Seokju sounded congested to hell and back, they probably would have believed him. "I'm fine." He said nasally as if it was convincing.
Even Ijin knew that it was bullshit, and he was a rather (concerningly) big advocate for working through your aches and pains. Seokju looked like a gentle breeze could knock him over if he stood up.
Seokju tried to get up, but Yeona almost immediately shoved him back down. "No. You're not fine. You and Ijin already have fevers, don't make it worse." Yeona was much smaller and lighter than Seokju and she being able to push Seokju onto his back with a single arm. Just the fact that Yeona was able to push Seokju down like that just proved that he was sick.
"Do not." Seokju snarked back, trying to get up and failing yet again when Yeona shoved him down.
Now Seokju was just being stupid.
Ijin huffed. "Seokju, just shut up and take the medicine." Even he knew where to call it quits, and after that whole situation with him having no immune system after the gunshot, Ijin knew that it was stupid to refuse medicine. It was going to help him get better and feel better faster.
Seokju let out a long and loud groan. "You're not the boss of me, Ijin." Seokju was really trying to pretend that he was fine because he tried to sit up one more time, only for him to reach the same fate as before.
Yeona let out a heavy sigh. "If you don't take it-" she shoved the cup towards his face again, a threatening tone in her voice, "-I'm going to call Kyong."
For some reason, that made Seokju stiffen up before sending a glare her way, "You better not, Yeona." His words would have been more threatening if he hadn't rasped them out.
Yeona was not moved, instead, she only put more emphasis on her words, "I'm sure having your old babysitter here would help convince you."
Oh yeah. Ijin forgot that Kyong used to babysit Seokju as a kid.
A shiver went down his spine at the thought. Kyong telling Seokju what to do would be like Major Kang coming from the base to scold him.
Yeesh. Seokju better hurry up and agree before Kyong comes along and embarrasses him.
"Yeona."
"Seokju."
Seokju and Yeona were staring at each other now, and it was completely silent as the little stare-down went on. All of them watched the way Seokju was trying to pretend he was fine, and the way Yeona was strong-arming him into taking some medicine. Yeona picked up her phone threateningly and at last, Seokju heaved out a sigh.
"…Fine." But Seokju did not sound happy about it in the least.
Yeona brightened up, and after letting Seokju sit up, she gave him the little cup. Ijin related to the way Seokju shivered at the taste of the medicine, but it was something that he needed to do. "Good. Now lay down, you still have a fever."
"Ugh." The sound Seokju made was enough to make Yeona look up at the ceiling as if she was asking a higher power for patience.
She probably was.
"What now?" Yeona asked, annoyance lining her question as she waited for an answer.
Seokju responded by burrowing further into the blankets, pulling the blankets up where only the top of his head could be seen. "Don't wanna sleep." His voice was muffled, but they all could hear it.
Seokju was surprisingly whiny when he was sick.
Ijin exchanged looks with Hyeokjin and that was all they needed to come to a conclusion.
"Alright, "Hyeokjin groaned out. "Shut up and go to sleep, Seokju." Hyeokjin slid off of the sofa onto the floor, and slowly squirmed his way to Seokju and his makeshift bed. Ijin did the same and within a minute, he and Hyeokjin were pinning Seokju down with their body weight. Ijin was laying across Seokju's chest, and Hyeokjin was laying across Seokju's legs.
Seokju groaned as soon as they lay on top of him. "Get off."
"No." This was payback in Ijin's eyes, this was what Seokju got for laying on top of him the previous day.
"Nah, "Hyeokjin yawned. He wriggled around, getting comfortable as he rested his head onto Seokju's thigh, pulling the blankets around him as he did so. "Shut up and go to sleep."
Copying Jaehyung, Ijin started to get comfortable, and just to make sure Seokju wouldn't try and escape, he ended up resting his upper back and head onto Seokju's chest. Seokju was the shittiest pillow in existence, but it would keep him from getting up and walking around.
His pillow let out a groan. "How am I supposed to sleep with you two idiots on top of me?"
"By closing your eyes, Seokju, "Ijin said simply. He could already feel the medicine doing its magic and making him tired, so it wasn't going to be long until Seokju was falling asleep too. "You're a shit pillow, by the way."
Seokju flicked his head. "Then get off."
"No."
He wasn't sure how long he had slept, but a few hours later, he and Seokju were woken up to move onto the couch instead of being on the floor.
Somehow, he and Seokju had gotten worse while they slept, all while everyone else was feeling marginally better, it was something that he and Seokju could not relate to.
In direct contrast to the previous day, the house was deadly quiet, all of them being too sick to have the energy to do anything more than sleep and stare up at the ceiling. Well, that was just him and Seokju, the others at least had the energy to be on their phones without their heads aching something nasty.
Seokju climbed onto his feet, wavering dangerously at the top before he stabilized, "I'm going to go and-" The reactions from the others were instantaneous.
"SIT!"
"Sit down!"
"No!" All of them were frustrated by that point, though it was a combination of Seokju constantly trying to do stuff himself despite being thoroughly unwell, along with the fact that the collective sickness lowered everyone's temper.
Seokju stared back at them, the blanket nearly falling off his shoulders before he pulled it back up, "I was just going to go to the bathroom…"
Yeona pointed at him with a stern look on her face, "That better be the only thing you do."
As it turned out, having a high fever with your friend made you a little bit weird.
Also, stupid.
Very stupid.
They had finally gotten Seokju to lie down again when they realized that Ijin had been in the bathroom for a while, which led them to discover that he, in fact, was not in the bathroom. He was actually loading up the dishwasher for some fucking reason and if it wasn't for the fact that it looked like he was about to fall into the dishwasher, it would have been fine.
Though in his defense, he was going to go to the bathroom originally, but then he saw a dirty plate and got distracted.
Hyeokjin heaved out a sigh, "Ijin what are you doing?" Seriously, how did going to the bathroom equate to this? Grabbing Ijin by his shoulders, he carefully started to lead Ijin back to the living room, heat emanating from his body just like the last time he was sick like this.
Ijin was out of it, not even blinking at the way Hyeokjin pressed the back of his hand against his face as he tiredly mumbled, "Dayeon gets mad if I leave the dishes out."
"Oh my god. Hurry up and get to bed." Hyeokjin groaned, internally thankful at the way that Ijin was just as passive as a sheep to their shepherd. By the time he got to the living room, Dayeon and Seokju were putting Yeona to lie down to get some rest, with Dayeon doing the same to Seokju right after.
Grumbling, Ijin didn't fight him as Hyeokjin sat him down on the couch, piling on the blankets right after as a further deterrent. "I think his fever went up." Dayeon passed him the thermometer, and with a quick swipe across his forehead, a beep confirmed that his fever had indeed increased.
Ijins eyes fluttered open, a slight haze to his eyes as he tried to get up again, though that was easily deterred by Hyeokjin pushing him down. "Nope." He said simply as he accepted the damp washcloth from Dayeon, "You're sick. Seokju, keep an eye on him. Don't let him get up." Seokju hummed tiredly from his position on the other side of the couch, in the same predicament as Ijin. Just like Ijin, Seokju's fever had spiked some time ago and he was currently bundled up in blankets like Ijin was.
Honestly, Hyeokjin wasn't too surprised that Ijin was so sick, after everything that had happened with his shoulder, Ijins immune system probably still hasn't recovered.
As for Seokju, well, Hyeokjin had a feeling that Seokju never let his body rest as he should have, so he wasn't too surprised in that regard.
He grumbled, "I don't need anyone to keep an eye on me." Bold words for a guy that looked like he was seconds away from falling face-first into a dishwasher.
"Yeah you do. If it makes you feel better, keep an eye on Seokju. Don't let him get up." Oddly enough that did help. Ijin settled down on the couch, quickly dozing off as Hyeokjin pulled the blanket up to his shoulders before doing the same for Seokju.
For the time being, he and Dayeon were the only ones who were awake, though it wasn't going to be long before they were going to knock out too because they were still sick. "Quick Dayeon, where are the child locks?"
She huffed out a laugh, a slight wince appearing after doing that, "I think you're going overboard."
Yeah maybe, but Hyeokjin knew Ijin well enough to know that Ijin was going to continue being a pain if they couldn't keep Ijin off his feet.
"Are you sure they'll be fine?"
"Positive." Saem said confidently, not even blinking at the way everyone was scattered around the living room on the camera feed, "They got colds, not pneumonia." Besides, as much as he cared for the little shits, there was no way in hell he was going to help take care of seven sick teenagers, especially since two of them kept on being idiots and walking around like they were perfectly fine. He was trained to protect, not to parent sick teenagers. "Now shoo." He shooed away the younger bodyguard with his hands, "Go and get them more medicine." There were seven teenagers, all of them were sick and he was confident that they were going to run out before the morning came.
With an affirmative, the young man left the security office, leaving Saem in peace and quiet.
Quietly, he watched the cameras, watching the way Ijin kept on shifting in his sleep before suddenly getting up and leaving, his younger sister quickly following after him.
Should he be helping with them?
Probably.
But again, he was trained to protect, not to nurse. Besides, as he said, it was just a cold so all he was going to do was make sure that they didn't burn down the house and be available should anyone need to go to the hospital.
Ijin was brought back to the living room, and he and his sister joined the four others in the sick-fest that was going on upstairs.
He blinked in surprise.
Leaning in closer, he did a head count and confirmed that he was not seeing things. He could only see six teenagers on the screen. Both of the girls were still there, and Ijin was obviously there, and so was the redhead, fake blond, and the buzzcut kid.
Oh Jesus, where did Seokju go?
That idiot never knew when to rest, a trait he had stubbornly shown for years now.
The door opened and his question was answered when he heard the door open. "Sir?" Seokju croaked out, his voice rough with sickness and fatigue. Saem took one look at him to know that the kid was not entirely there. His face was flushed, the blanket falling off his shoulders as he held a jar in his hands, "where's Mr. Kyong." Seokju muttered, slowly walking into the room.
Jesus, he did not look good.
Saem got up, reaching out for the young man. "Come here, Kyong is out on a trip, remember?" he took the jar of jam out of Seokjus hands and set it on the desk and completely ignoring the fact that Seokju had the jam for some odd reason, he physically turned Seokju towards the door.
Seokju was calm as Saem started to lead him back to the others much like he saw Ijins sister do to Ijin meres minutes before. "He got the job?"
He had no idea what Seokju was talking about but he amused the young man for the sake of convenience," Yeah he did. But come on, you need to rest."
The sickly teenager hummed before he nasally said, "He's been my babysitter for too long. I'm old enough."
Well, the kid was definitely confused to hell and back if he thought Kyong was still his babysitter.
"Yes yes." Saem placated the teenager, "You're probably just as sick as Ijin, you dork. You need to rest."
"I'm not sick."
"How did you lose Seokju?! Ijin I am this close to giving you an ungodly amount of NyQuil just so you can STAY ASLEEP!" Hyeokjin shouted at Ijin, who he was dragging back to the sofa after he wandered off again.
He was seriously going to do it at this rate. Ijin was not a child and unless he gave Ijin a few double doses, there was no way in hell he was going to overdose on the medicine.
Hyeokjin ordered Ijin to stay before he went off to find Seokju because of course those two idiots figured out that as long as they kept an eye on each other and did everything together, they could do whatever they wanted. Which led to the two of them wandering off as if they weren't suffering from fevers.
Yeona sighed from her position on the couch and just as she was about to get up to get Ijin some more medicine, Yeongchan walked in with two tiny cups in his hands.
Honestly, she didn't even remember seeing him walking out of the living room. "Yeongchan, why are you up? you should be resting." He wasn't sick as the others, but he was still sick.
One of the bodyguards brought in Seokju before leaving, a bitter look on his face as Seokju almost stumbled in behind him. "It's a little hard to rest worrying about the house catching on fire." He handed Ijin both cups of medicine and Ijin was really out of it for him to drink both cups of medicine without any arguments, washing it down with water right after.
Seokju, the absolute idiot, saw what Yeongchan had done, "You drugged Ijin? Oh jail! Jail for Yeongchan for one thousand years."
Ijin perked up as Hyeokjin shouted at Seokju, "WHY ARE YOU AWAKE?" Seokju started trying to get up from the couch, but luckily all it took to keep him down was Hyeokjin putting his hand on Seokju's chest. Valiantly, Seokju kept on trying to get up but when he couldn't get up, Seokju squinted at Hyeokjin and muttered, "What technique is this?"
The faux blond huffed, "It's called sit down or I will sit ON you until you fall asleep." It was really starting to look like a viable option at that point because at least that meant Seokju would stay in place long enough to actually sleep.
The dipshit thought he was fine, "You're just upset I'm not letting you drug me like you did to Ijin." Hyeokjin let out a soul-heavy sigh at that because of course this idiot thought Yeongchan was drugging Ijin instead of giving him medicine, "I don't even know why you would want to drug me. I'm not even sick. I can help."
It took everything he had to not scoff, "I would not describe what you just did as 'helping'." If anything, Seokju was being a pain in the ass by trying to be so hopeful. The only reason Hyeokjin wasn't telling him outright was because it seemed like Seokju was trying to be sincere by helping.
Meanwhile,
Dayeon found her brother hunched over the kitchen sink, trying to make himself sick to get the 'drug' out of his system. Ijin stuck his finger down his throat and she rushed over to him to try and stop him, "Ijin you're gonna make yourself sick!"
Her brother gagged and spat out some saliva, "I have to get the drugs out of my stomach." he muttered, and if it wasn't for her physically grabbing him, he would have stuck his finger down his throat again.
She stammered, "The what- Ijin that was medicine!" What type of idiot was her brother!? Who the hell thinks medicine is drugs!?
Ijin stopped and gave her a surprised look, "It was?"
She started to drag him back to the sofa, where Hyeokjin was still holding down Seokju on the couch, "Ijin When's the last time drugs were lemon flavored?!" she asked in a huff, her headache doing nothing to help with the frustration that she felt at the moment.
"Oh." Ijin said dumbly.
She wanted to tear out her hair. She almost shoved him back onto the couch, "Yes. OH." She didn't let him start arguing again as she started to pile blankets on top of Ijin again and Hyeokjin, taking her cue, started to do the same to Seokju.
"Ok, new plan: Ijin," Ijin perked up at Hyeokjin's call, "until I say so, make sure Seokju doesn't get off the couch."
Obviously, Seokju did not like that idea. "W- hey! Don't salute him! I am perfectly fine!" It was a noble attempt to convince them that he was fine, but based on the way Seokju broke into consecutive sneezes, they were going to go ahead and doubt that.
Ijin has already taken Hyeokjin's spot.
Well, kinda.
Instead of holding Seokju down with his hand like Hyeokjin did, Ijin decided to just climb on top of Seokju and pin him down with his body weight.
They looked like idiots.
Both of them were wrapped in blankets and Seokju nearly disappeared under Ijin, who was resting his back on Seokju's chest.
Seokju groaned and tried to get his friend off, "Get off." He squirmed under Ijin, trying his best to get out from under him.
"No." Ijin said simply, his voice taking up a tone that let everyone know that he was not going to budge in the slightest.
"Ijin get off." This time, Seokju tried to put some more authority into his voice, but between Ijin laying on top of him and the blankets muffling him, it didn't work.
Ijin huffed as he got comfortable, "Shut up and let me sleep."
"You better not!" Only this time, Seokju didn't get an answer," Ijin?" Did he actually go to sleep? "Oh, you didn't." He must have been tired, or he was faking it because he could barely hear a gentle snore through the blankets. There was one, and then there was a second. "Oh, you asshole you did." Ijin had really fallen asleep on top of him.
And as embarrassing as it was, he was starting to get sleepy too. The combination of the medicine and Ijins bodyweight acting as a weighted blanket was helping him drift off to sleep.
He was never going to admit it, but it was kinda nice.
The sound of his phone vibrating in his pocket caught his attention, even more so when he heard his colleague's phones chiming at the message from the group chat. After getting a nod of approval from the madam, he opened his phone to see the message. It was sent to the workgroup chat so it had to be important.
Kyong snorted before he could stop himself, causing Jiyeh to look at him curiously. Feeling slightly embarrassed at his lack of decorum, Kyong passed his phone to her," The men at Yeonas house sent me this. Apparently, everyone got sick and those two wouldn't stop walking around until they had to keep each other from getting up."
Curious, Jiyeh took his phone and when she saw the picture, she couldn't help but laugh at it.
Somehow, the two of them had managed to squeeze themselves onto the couch and that was the closest she had ever seen them next to each other. Surrounded by blankets with rags on their foreheads, it was Seokju and Ijin. Seokju was tucked under Ijin's arm, his head using Ijin's bicep as a pillow as the same arm was wrapped around Seokju's neck and was resting on his chest, Ijin's second hand coming up to interlock with his first, creating a sort of circle around Seokju's upper body. Seokju's arm was over his head and resting on Ijin's face, giving her the impression that he had been trying to push Ijin away at one point. If it wasn't for the frowns on their faces, they would have looked peaceful, but she was going to assume they looked like that because they were sick.
But that didn't change the fact that it was adorable.
Quickly, she airdropped the picture to herself before she handed back his phone, "I didn't know they were close like that." And she honestly didn't, both of them didn't seem to be the touchy-feely type, but hey, you learn something new every day.
Kyong hummed, "They're not. Seokju wouldn't lay down, Ijin layed on top of him to keep him still and they fell asleep like that." she huffed out another laugh.
Yeah, that sounded like something they would do. That also explained the way Ijin was holding Seokju, which now that she knew, it was very obvious that he was holding Seokju to keep him still.
Humming to herself, she sent the picture and explanation to her fiancé and grandfather. "It's nice to see them get along."
Kyong chuckled, "The men are already planning to tease Seokju about it. Ijin most likely won't care but Seokju will."
She almost let out a bark of laughter, "You are cruel."
She said that, but even she liked to tease the young mind at times. He was just too easy and too much fun to mess with.
"If any more pictures are sent, send them to me."
"Yes ma'am."
