The funhouse of murder • Stray Kids X reader

102 ☠️

How long had it been already since Jeongin sat there? He must have been sitting by the door for hours now, watching the outside for any signs of life. While the rest of us had cleaned ourselves up, Jeongin hadn't moved since. Changbin tried before, to get him to at least come down with the rest of us, but Jeongin wouldn't budge. Changbin came down again after a while, shaking his head at me as I watched him. Though Chan and Hyunjin had once again isolated themselves, especially now that there were three rooms for the safe room. A common room, together with two bedrooms with bathrooms attached to them. It wasn't hard to get into groups. The only problem for me was that I didn't know where I belonged in those groups.

Maybe that was why I had stayed in the common room for so long. I honestly didn't know where else to go. Changbin had stayed with me so far, though he too was quite shaken up he did his best to make sure Jeongin and I were doing okay. So when Changbin came down again for the fourth time in only two hours, even he seemed a little lost. "Still not coming down?" I asked him, raising my knees to create space again on the couch. To make myself more comfortable, I simply grabbed a blanket, already preparing myself to sleep there. Changbin sat down next to me, leaning back with a deep sigh. "He's still hoping they'd run up... If not for the quicksand, he would have run back out again to look for them even further, but even I'm starting to believe the video may have been real..."

I rested my head against the side of the couch, giving him a hum. "Say, Y/N... do you think you could give it a try?" Changbin asked soon after, looking back at me now. "I'll see if I can make some food for the three of us in the meantime," Changbin emphasized on the 'three of us' part. Though I had kind of been scared of the question, I couldn't say no to it. I just simply had no idea how to comfort him. I couldn't bring them back, and even I myself didn't know how to process what had happened. Whereas Changbin had been actively trying to make Jeongin feel better, I didn't have a clue on what to do. Still, I threw off the blanket, getting up. "If he won't come down, I'll just bring him the food upstairs," Changbin added, trying to lighten it a little. I smiled at him. "Thanks. Don't forget to rest out though, okay?"

I took a deep breath, making my way upstairs, already feeling the breeze growing stronger with every step. "Jeongin?" I called out softly, already seeing his figure from the top of the stairs. He slowly looked back as I made my way up, giving me a weak smile before looking back outside. "You here to convince me to go back down too?" he asked with a sad chuckle. "Changbin made me, yeah," I laughed back, sitting down next to him in silence for a couple of minutes. If he wanted to talk, I wanted him to start it. I couldn't force him to talk about something he wasn't ready for. Though the minutes seemed to last forever, occasionally wiping the sand off my face that had blown in. "You know what's the worst out of all of this?" Jeongin asked, still not looking back at me. "I know they're not coming back. Obviously they won't make it back here, it's been hours. But I just can't seem to leave for some reason."

He let out a sigh, dropping his head, finally tearing his eyes off the outside world. "It's like I still expect them to come out any second now, and if I leave now, I may just miss them. It's stupid, because of course that video was real. That wasn't hard to realize. But still, I can't leave... I just..." He stopped at the breaking of his voice, burying his head in his hands. "We already lost Felix and Seungmin, and now Minho and Jisung too... What if we too..." He cried out through his sobs. "I don't want to die," he added, his sobs uncontrollable. I smiled sympathetically, reaching out, softly intertwining our fingers, holding his hand quietly. I couldn't promise him we weren't going to die. Even I, who at first wouldn't mind it, started to fear the possibility. I could only hope being next to him could offer him even a little comfort.

As his sobs grew softer, his breathing slightly steadier, he held onto my hand more tightly, finally looking at me. "Please take me down?" he asked, his voice still shaking. "I don't think I can go alone." I nodded, giving him a soft smile. "Come on, let's get you downstairs. Get yourself cleaned up, Changbin is making us dinner," I said, getting up, pulling him along with me. "You don't think he'd be mad that I didn't go with him before right?" Jeongin asked, sounding worried. "Of course not," I chuckled, trying to keep the mood up. "If anything he'll just be glad to see you take care of yourself. He's really worried about you, you know?" Jeongin finally smiled, even if it was only carefully. "I'm glad to have him by my side."

His eyes shifted to me, stopping as we were going down the stairs, his hand holding onto mine to make me come to a halt as well. Before I could fully turn back to him, Jeongin's arms had already wrapped themselves around me, holding me closely. His breathing was still heavy, his heartbeat racing rapidly, and yet his hold was firm and steady. "Y/N, just please, promise me you'll stay by my side too." He slowly let go, lifting my chin with his finger to make me look up at him.

"I don't think I could handle losing you too, in any way."