Aurora Skies || Stray Kids Au

21 | Out of My Mind

A book.

"I couldn't find anything, but I can always return it to you if I--What's that?" Hyunjin asks, pointing to the green book in the older's hands.

Changbin shrugs, getting up from the floor to face Hyunjin.

"I just found it under Felix's bed," Changbin tells him, "I'm sure it was just something he was reading and it somehow got kicked under there."

"Yeah, probably," Hyunjin mutters, reaching over to take the book out of Changbin's hands. Hyunjin always saw Felix reading and he always assumed it was for school so he never asked.

Hyunjin exams the cover of the book, not recalling ever seeing it with Felix, but it's not that big of a surprise. Hyunjin knows the younger could have been reading when he was alone, there is a lot Hyunjin probably hasn't seen Felix do. Flipping through a few pages, Hyunjin grazes over a few sentences of the story, mindlessly allowing the words to go through.

"I might have been wrong about this being a regular reading book," Changbin states, causing Hyunjin to remove his eyes from the book and look up at the older.

"What do you mean?" Hyunjin asks, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Changbin hands over a note that he found on the floor, allowing Hyunjin to read its contents. His eyes widen slightly at the end.

Who exactly is this friend? Hyunjin asks himself as he goes over the note again.

"We need to show this to Seojoon," Changbin states, "he might be able to understand it better than ourselves."

The taller nods in agreement, clutching both the book and note in his hand as he follows Changbin out of the room.

~•~

"What were you thinking going down there?" Seojoon questions, his voice rising in anger.

Jeongin had managed to make it back to his own dorm without anyone noticing where he was coming from. Once there no one asked questions and his roommates, for the most part, left him alone. Until Seungmin showed up, asking where he had been for the past hour. The younger had tried to explain using the same lie he had on Seojoon, only Seungmin asked more follow up questions, which had caused the younger to get flustered.

Seungmin managed to spot the lie quite easily and forced Jeongin to spill the truth. Now, Seungmin wasn't trying to be mean to the younger by making him tell Seojoon about where he was. He was trying to let Seojoon know that they had more information that could be useful to them; Seojoon getting angry was something Seungmin couldn't control.

"I only wanted to help," Jeongin explains, "so when I had an idea I acted on it."

"That's great, except you should have told us so I could have sent someone else," Seojoon counters.

"See I knew you would do that," Jeongin states," but I wanted to do this on my own. I'm a part of this group too and just because I'm the youngest doesn't mean I can't do what everyone else is doing."

Seojoon is about to open his mouth to speak but is stopped by Minho placing an arm on his shoulder. The two oldest moves to the side, discussing something no one else can hear.

Minho simply wanted to tell him not to get angry with Jeongin. The youngest wanted to help and he did, so instead of punishing him for it, he should be rewarded. Though. Minho knew this wouldn't go over amazing with Seojoon so he added a part about this being the last thing Jeongin can do on his own, letting Seojoon have a bit more power in the decision making forward on.

The two join back up with the group, Minho going back to his spot besides Jisung and Seojoon standing in front of Jeongin again.

"Fine, I'm sorry I got mad at you, and I'm glad you want to help, but please next time will you discuss it with me before you attempt whatever it is you want to do?" Seojoon asks.

Jeongin nods, although a little reluctant since he knows Seojoon is going to be pulling most of the strings and he won't be able to do anything anymore. However, he managed this one thing so maybe Seojoon will be a little more lenient and allow him to play more of a role.

"Thank you," Seojoon responds, "now, tell us what Bambam told you."

"He said he and Yugyeom went to the other world on a whim, a sudden urge brought them there," Jeongin begins, drawing everyone's attention to the youngest, "when I asked about the guards by the portals, he told me that there were none and that he and Yugyeom walked right through. They hadn't planned on leaving the forest when they got to the other world but plans changed when a group of kids caught them messing around. They managed to easily catch and trick them into thinking it was a dream, at least all except Felix. Bambam said as soon as he saw Felix he had an unexplainable urge to bring him with them, but with Yugyeom being strongly against it, it proved to be a bit of a struggle, but eventually, he folded and they brought Felix here. Anyway, my point is that Bambam told me where the portal was, and we can go there and see if there is any sign of Felix being there."

Everyone pauses to think about Jeongin's words. Something isn't adding up and Seojoon is having a hard time piecing the puzzle together.

"They got there so easily, you'd think with how many rules our school has about that forest and portal, that they would have to work in order to get through," Seungmin comments, moving to lean against Seojoon's desk as he thinks.

"Well maybe the school says it's guarded to try and scare the students from entering, but in reality, it's left wide open," Jeongin suggests, trying to persuade the group into going so he can go along on the adventure.

"As much help as it would be to go out there and check," Minho adds, "it is nearly impossible to get out of the school with the teacher's having eyes everywhere. If we were to go, we'd have to be clever with our planning and shrink down the group size significantly."

Jeongin juts out his bottom lip into a pout at Minho's words. Now, he is never going to go, there is no way Seojoon would allow him to go unless the whole group was there with him.

"It might be our only option," Jisung tells them, "we don't exactly have anything else to go on, especially since the teachers have done an excellent job at keeping all of this on the down low."

"Jisung's right, if we want more information, we might just have to go--"

A couple of loud and urgent knocks on the door cuts off, Seungmin. The group glances around at each other, all having an idea of who it may be. Seojoon luckily planned for what to tell teachers, though he never actually expected to have to face one at all. Swallowing, Seojoon reaches for the door handle, slowly turning it. As soon as the click is heard, the door is pushed open from the other side.

The group all lets out audible sighs of relief when it is Changbin and Hyunjin who burst through the door and not a teacher coming to reprimand them for what they are doing.

"Maybe announce yourselves next time, Jesus you nearly gave me a heart attack," Minho exclaims, clutching the fabric of his shirt near his chest.

"Sorry, but we have news, and we think it might be important to the search," Changbin explains, turning to look at Hyunjin to continue.

The taller holds up the book and the note for everyone to see, "you guys need to take a look at this."

~•~

Word count: 2,031