𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄

52; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬)

K W O N S O O N Y O U N G

jihoon returns to the twelfth floor with a champagne bottle, when i asked him to bring another champagne glass for me as he refilled his own. so, we're going to drink straight from the bottle now, are we?

"if you chug that in one go then i'll stop calling you shrimpy." i bet, pointing at the champagne bottle. he looks like he has good alcohol tolerance though, so i start preparing myself for insults. "three, two, one, go!" i commenced, and crossed my arms.

jihoon wasn't returning my energy, though. he just sipped on the champagne bottle, which i don't know why: is it because he doesn't want to play along, or is it because he wants me to call him shrimpy for longer? i doubt it's the latter! what a killjoy! "there."

"shrimpyyyyy!" i whined. he's no fun today, i give you that. "be challenged, at the least!"

jihoon rolls his eyes and sarcastically replies, "oh, woah! i'm so excited, can i chug all of this in one go? i have to, so soonyoung stops calling me shrimpy! oh no, oh no!" and i sigh, stealing the bottle from jihoon. i drink out of it.

"shrimpy, you're boring." i huff. he scoffs at me, but i was stating the truth.

"you're trying to get me drunk."

"no!" i reply, pouting at the smaller man. maybe i like him drunk, since he gets hot and he removes his shirt—but let's not think about that. happy thoughts, happy thoughts. no dirtiness today. "it was just a bet."

"keep on calling me shrimpy. i like it." he says, looking somewhere far. was he searching for something beneath the clouds?

huh?! he likes me calling him by shrimpy?! that's supposed to be frowned upon! "why do you like it?"

"i don't know, it's the closest that i have to a nickname. and being called that only by one person, that person being you," he emphasized, snatching the bottle of champagne from me without looking. he drinks, before he spoke. "makes me feel special. in a good way, in a bad way—i don't care."

"would you hate it if someone else called you shrimpy?" i ask, finally taking off my uncomfortable coat. "you almost killed me when i called you that at first."

he laughed, and his eyes found their way to mine. his gaze is telling me that he reminisced something. it's not empty. "if you were in the warehouse, you'd know. some dude from pledis named jin attacked me and called me shrimpy, and i stepped on him."

"step on me please." i jokingly comment, opening my arms as if i was inviting him.

"you're leaking your hidden desires!" jihoon snarls, while i clutched my stomach and laughed. "anyway, that's the story."

i stand up, making him confused momentarily. i give him a perfect curtsy, and i say, "thank you, your majesty, for letting me call you shrimpy. i shall comply to my mission now. dismiss me now, if you may?" i referred to the other night i made a remark about his beauty bringing me sadness.

he laughed and his eyes disappear. when he calmed down, he spoke again. "what happened in the base, though? i haven't heard the whole story."

i gulped champagne down my system, so i get a little more courage to tell jihoon about it. he deserves to know, he's a part of seventeen, too. the only problem was that he will be staring at me for a long time.

that will make my stomach feel all mushy. and my heartbeat will fasten its pace.

"okay. so, about five minutes after minseok left, the speakers were alerting that there were intruders. then, we go down to the first floor, we see four members of pledis mafia. one can shapeshift. the second one is like chan; attacks involving abilities doesn't work on him. third, that guy can control electricity and stuff related, the last one can make portals. what was surprising was that they had lots of normal guys as guards behind them, seungkwan got nervous, pressured—whatever—and his ability didn't work.

"seungkwan hid in the bathroom, trying to get back on track. seokmin went to the eighth floor after recieving a call from joshua. the rest of us fought everyone, and nobody died. jeonghan was there." i give the bottle champagne back to jihoon. "after spending some time in the bathroom, seungkwan calmed down and his ability worked. there he went with his imaginations. he attacked the guards, while we fought the ability users. we won, and the pledis mafia members got sent to the correctional center. one went to seokmin though, and got killed, unfortunately."

"so..." jihoon looked at me hopefully, obviously wanting to know about kim minhye. "mingyu..?"

"when only one was left, we thought he ran away using his portals—but he came back. with kim minhye, all tied up. he said, 'as a gift, i'll give you a big favor.' he chokes her, and raises her up. i could see life draining out of her face—and mingyu just shut down, we had to fight the member. what saddens me the most is how he lets the member get away with what he had done without a fight. and that's what made me realize things."

jihoon was probably a bit drunk, since he was leaning to his front. maybe dizzy. "what did you realize?"

"that the world is not a wish granting factory." i say. "that you don't get to choose if you get hurt, pain makes no exception."

jihoon hums in reply. is he still awake? "pain makes no exception, indeed. look at me, empty...." jihoon trailed off, rising back up to look at me. he brushes his bangs off of his forehead. "but, if i had a chance on what or who hurt me, i think the pain would be bearable."

"really?" i furrow my eyebrows at jihoon's additional remarks. "if jeonghan or wonwoo or chan hurt you, you'd be okay?"

"chan's not really a close friend, but okay," jihoon shrugged, chuckling a little. i smiled at him. "you? who are the people in your choices?"

i drink from the bottle of champagne before i answered. straight into jihoon's eyes, i look. "any of the seventeen members."

"even me? you just met me." jihoon raised an eyebrow. "also jeonghan and wonwoo, and chan."

"yep." i stare back at him, offering a warm smile to give him a little bit of comfort, without physical contact. i know he doesn't like skinship. "it's okay if you hurt me, shrimpy. do everything you need to cope," i laugh. when i decided that it wasn't enough to assure him, i speak once again: "if it makes you happy, too, i'll bear whatever pain you give me."

jihoon looked at me. i didn't know if it was because i'm drunk, or it's just what i feel, but i think i saw his eyes sparkle. his grimace grew wider, too. "do you like your choices?"

"i do like my choices."

"do you favor one choice?" i nod at him, and he tilts his head at me in curiosity. fucking cute. "who?"

"curious now, are we?" i cross my arms. "look at the mirror."

a/n: tf i miss writing fear JWBSJDHW i might make another jihan fanfic for the fourth fukien time jesus