Harmless Faces - Enhypen x The Darkest Minds

| viii.

AN UNKNOWN ENTITY CHASES AFTER IL-SEONG, REACHING FOR HIM, HOWLING HIS NAME. The trees around him shake in response as he quickly runs through their leaves, small beams of moonlight shooting through the overarching branches and lightly illuminating what little view of his path he has. The young boy runs faster than he thought was possible, tears streaming down his face, lungs burning. He attempts to glance back at the creature, terrified, before tripping over an overgrown root, falling to his knees. He attempts to get back up, but knows he is too late; within seconds, he can feel the entity behind him, refusing to meet its eyes as it leans over him. He attempts to scream in pain as the entity reaches for his shoulder, grabbing it harshly, though it's as though his voice has been removed from his body. He can feel it digging into his bone, squeezing and squeezing and- 

Il-Seong shoots up, tears in the corner of his eyes, breathing quickly. The phantom pain in his shoulder quickly subsides as his hand shoots over his heart, looking around and seeing the dark scenery of the forest replaced with the cloth walls of a tent.

 Looking to his left, he sees a sleeping Jungwon instead of a murderous entity, to his right a snoring Sunoo as opposed to a tree splashed with his own blood. 

A nightmare. It had just been a nightmare. 

Il-Seong exhales, feeling his heart rate begin to return to normal. He stays for a moment, focusing solely on breathing, slowly coming back to. He's quickly grateful that he hadn't been making any noises in his sleep that could have woken up Jungwon or Sunoo- he would have been far too embarrassed to confess that he still has nightmares. 

Finally, after a few minutes, Il-Seong feels normal once again, though sure that he'll be unable to sleep. Sighing, he kicks the blankets off of himself, quietly getting off the bed. He's momentarily afraid that Jungwon or Sunoo might wake up, though when he hears another loud snore rip out of Sunoo, he's convinced that he'll be able to get out unnoticed. 

Tiptoeing over to the zipper of the tent, he quickly slips on his sandals, grabbing his hoodie from where he had thrown it on the floor earlier. Last night, after awkwardly asking the group if it would be alright with them if he stayed with them for the time being, they had welcomed him with open arms, staying up late and exchanging stories of their own introductions to the group around the fire. When they had all stumbled off to bed, he had been far too tired to place his clothes somewhere practical, instead throwing them to the side. 

It had been a bright moment in Il-Seong's heart. 

He stumbles as he attempts to stand up outside the tent, cursing as he hits his head on a tree branch. Nursing his injury, he starts to walk out, noticing the long blown out remains of the fire a few feet away. He notices a half empty water bottle next to it, and decides that he'll drink the water then attempt to go back to sleep.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees movement and whips his head towards it. In the blanket of the night, though, he's unable to see anything, suspiciously turning back around and continuing his quest for the water. 

Just as he's about to grab it, a hand shoots from nowhere, landing softly on his shoulder. Il-Seong attempts to scream, but the stranger puts their hand over his mouth. Il-Seong is gearing up to bite the hand before he hears a familiar voice-

"Sorry, I had to get you back for yesterday at the van." 

Ni-ki.

Slowly, Ni-ki unfurls his hold on the boy's shoulder and mouth, the boy's previously tensed shoulders slightly relaxing as his touch subsides. As Il-Seong turns around, breathing still slightly fast-paced, he's met with Ni-ki's shy, apologetic smile. Il-Seong attempts to laugh lightly, though it comes out as strained behind his still-racing heartbeat.