The funhouse of murder • Stray Kids X reader

108 ☠️

Changbin and Jeongin

The silence was painful. Maybe even more painful than actually having to discuss the elephant in the room. Maybe it wasn't as obvious as they both thought, that Y/N would be choosing them. Surely, they were close, and for what they both thought way closer than Y/N was with either Chan or Hyunjin, but maybe she'd just truly thought it to be better to check the rooms. They tried their best to convince themselves that was simply the only reason, as the doubt and self-consciousness were trying to get through to them. Had they not tried hard enough to be there for her? Did she really not view them as friends, as they saw her? Were the moments they had all shared not enough to keep her close to them?

Changbin was the first to make a sound as he let out a groan. Jeongin finally looked up from the ground, letting out a small chuckle. "It's bothering you too, isn't it?" He asked Changbin, who now agreed with a hum. "Why would she be going with those selfish, dangerous pricks anyways? Haven't we been the ones to always be there for her when things were tough? All they've been doing is bring people in danger and quite literally hate her, or have some sort of issues with her. I'm sure there was a reason for it, but I just can't seem to figure it out." Jeongin's chuckle turned into a small smile, his eyes on the floor again as they continued walking, now going down the second set of stairs. With each staircase they went down, they had to go to the other side of the hallway again for the next. At least it kept them busy while their minds were overthinking the whole ordeal.

"I'm sure she'll be fine though, right? She's strong, she can take care of herself. I'm sure she'll meet up with us soon," Jeongin tried to sound positive, trying to remain optimistic. Changbin hummed again, trying to let it go, even though it wasn't working well for him. "I just..." Changbin continued after another minute of silence. "You saw the way she looked down, right? She couldn't even say anything... It just isn't like her at all, like something had been bothering her." He looked over at Jeongin, not wanting to be pointing fingers, but just curious. "Did anything happen between the two of you, by any chance?" Jeongin looked back at Changbin, shaking his head. "Nothing I can think of at least... Neither with you, I'm assuming?" Changbin shook his head as well, letting out a sigh. "Nothing here either..." Jeongin hummed, already having expected it. "I just hope she's doing alright... if it really leads to the next safe zone, let's get her there as soon as possible." Changbin finally smiled, as they still hadn't given up the hope she'd join them still. "Agreed."

The both went down the next staircase, already vaguely seeing the next one yet again at the end of the hallway. It was difficult, especially as the hallways just seemed to be getting darker by the second, but at least they were still able to follow the arrows to the exit. "These hallways really are endless, aren't they?" Changbin asked, finally letting out a chuckle, hearing Jeongin agree with a deep sigh. "I always told my classmates that the school hallways were the real cardio, I can confidently say now that I've been right all along." Changbin nodded, laughing at it. "You must have been a good student if you were able to put in so much work... It sounds like your life was quite normal, actually. Well, aside from the cult thing then. I'm still confused on how that happened," Changbin chuckled.

"Oh please, don't remind me of it," Jeongin groaned. "You know, the only reason I was about to join was because of Hyunjin too, in the first place. I used to talk to others quite the bit, and actually had quite the social life, until I became friends with Hyunjin when he transferred. There were actually rumours about him killing three people, but I never believed in them. I'd been trying to get the rest to see Hyunjin wasn't bad, but instead those I used to be friends with were now starting to avoid me because of him. At one point, a group of guys approached me right outside of school, seemingly my age, telling me they were friends of his from his old school. They told me they had proof Hyunjin didn't do it, and needed a lot of money for it to buy the footage. I figured that if I joined this, I could actually proof his innocence, and would let us join their group to make enough money for it... Guess it taught me the truth instead."

Changbin gave Jeongin a pat on the back, his smile disappearing. "My reasons for joining weren't exactly great either. I told you right, that my mom had turned me into a child porn actor? She'd always been on drugs, drinking too much, and figured this was a great way to help her earn enough money to keep living like that. I couldn't even go to school or anything like that, so living like this was all I knew. I tried to get out of it, but even as I grew older my mother forced me, going as far as locking me up so I wouldn't get away. She always told me that unless I'd make her instantly rich, I'd be helping her forever. When I heard someone talking about this place behind the scenes on set, or rather just at home, as soon as I had the chance, I ran away. I remember being thankful to Chan at that time for allowing me to join, but looking back I'm sure he was just trying to feed his ego or something. So he could go around feeling good about himself."

As the two of them kept on walking, now already down to the fifth five floor, they finally reached the lowest level, watching as the last arrow pointed at the door at the end of the hallway. They stopped right before it, Changbin's hand already on the door handle. "Changbin... Are we sure about this?" Jeongin asked, a hint of fear in his voice. Changbin gave Jeongin a reassuring smile, leading Jeongin to take a few steps back.

"Not at all, but it's worth a try," he said as he flung the door open.