Nari's p.o.v.
There's a certain feeling one gets after having cried for hours on end. Maybe not comfort or solace, but a particular kind of numbness, the overflowing sorrow having washed out every other emotion with it.
As she woke up, that feeling swept through her, filling her veins like lukewarm honey. Nari inhaled deeply, bringing her fingers up to rub the remnants of sadness from her eyes.
The hair near her temple stirred, and she jerked back out of reflex to get away from whatever had moved it. Relaxing, Nari smirked at Hyunjin's sleeping face, his breaths puffing out of his pouting lips as he lay inches from her.
He was so peaceful in that moment, so calm and undisturbed. Nari lifted her hand slowly and brushed his bed hair back, subconsciously grinning as she watched the boy slumber.
If only she could keep him like this. If she could banish any and all that wanted to harm him, that wanted to take him away. Hyunjin deserved the world - all of Stray Kids did. And it wasn't fair that they kept getting pummeled endlessly, never getting a good rest or break from the struggles that life brought to them.
The stroking of her hand began to rouse Hyunjin, and he rolled onto his back, groggily opening his eyes. He caught sight of Nari and sent her a bleary eye smile. "Hey. What time is it?" he asked raspily, reaching up to cover a yawn.
Having been distracted by his voice and utter adorableness, Nari blinked a few times, realizing that she'd missed what he said. "Huh?"
Of course, once he became more aware, Hyunjin smirked at the effect he was having on the girl. He sleepily threw an arm over her waist and dragged her to his chest, lazily twisting their legs together.
"I asked," he repeated as Nari had a mini freak out in his arms, "what time it was."
Cheeks rosy, she tried to form a sentence, even just a single word, but all that came out were broken stutters. Since she couldn't speak, Nari pointed at the clock resting on her beside table, desperate to get his attention off of her flustered state.
Hyunjin followed her finger and squinted at the clock, lips slightly parted. "Ugh, it's only 5:00," he groaned, releasing Nari to grab a pillow and smother his face with it.
She sat up to escape his reach and placed her hands on her cheeks, willing the blush to go away. Glaring at the boy for attacking her with his embrace, Nari grinned mischievously, an idea popping into her head.
Carefully, she went to hover over him, raising her hands to smack the pillow pulled over his face in an attempt to scare the living daylights out of him.
As she brought her hands down, Hyunjin pulled the pillow off to reveal his grumpy expression. His eyes went wide as he watched Nari's vengeful palms streaking down towards him.
Nari squealed in surprise at the appearance of his face and changed her hands' direction at the last second, plunking them on either side of Hyunjin's head with powerful thumps.
"I'm sorry! Sorry, sorry," she apologized as she inspected his face to make sure she hadn't grazed him. Oblivious to this, Hyunjin gazed up at Nari, her hair framing her face and lips puckering as she worried over him.
"I wasn't meaning to hit you, really! I was going to smack the pillow and scare you but - "
Nari gasped with surprise as Hyunjin's arms encircled her and drew her down on top of him, her body rising with his steady breaths.
Yeah, that blush wasn't going anywhere soon.
"H-hyunjin," Nari peeped quietly, their noses brushing. "What, uh... hm... "
Her voice faltered as Hyunjin's dark eyes stared up at her, flicking over her features as though he was trying to memorize her. They settled on her lips, the attention causing Nari to lick them before speaking again.
"What are you doing?" she whispered, shivering as his hands rested softly on her waist.
He waited a few moments before answering, his eyes meeting hers once again. "Looking," he replied simply, continuing to trace her face with his gaze.
Selfconciously, Nari tried to pull away, sure that her imperfections would disappoint him, disgust him. Confused, Hyunjin gently laced his hands behind her back to stop her. As he tried to read her expression, Hyunjin realized what she was thinking, and his heart sank.
"Hey," he said tenderly, sitting up to make sure she was listening to him as he reached up and pushed her hair back. "Please don't feel like you have to hide from me. You're beautiful. Really, really beautiful."
Nari halted, biting her lip to hide both the ache of relieved tears building behind her eyes and the stupid smile taking over her mouth. Once again, Hyunjin's stare caught on her lips, and she felt his heart rate pick up as his own lips parted.
The stirring in her chest was unlike anything she'd ever felt, like a cage if butterflies was trying to escape and surround her, brushing her cheeks with their velvety wings. Nari drew in a shaky breath, pupils dilating as she read the yearning in Hyunjin's eyes.
Neither of them could speak, but they both could sense exactly what the other wanted. Before he moved, Hyunjin looked back up at her, silently asking if this was okay, if she was okay.
She couldn't move, and was barely breathing, but Nari managed to give him a tiny nod, her breath speeding up.
Slowly, Hyunjin moved his hand out of her hair to cup her chin, his thumb lightly brushing her bottom lip. Nari began to tremble, her emotions becoming too intense to stay inside of her.
Heart pounding, Nari stayed completely still as Hyunjin leaned into her, head tilting and eyes closing as he neared her, tickling her lips with his breath.
BAM BAM BAM.
The loud knocks caused Nari to reel back and land on the mattress, hands clenching as she gaped up at Hyunjin. He was kneeling where he had been on the bed, disbelieving eyes staring at the door.
The knocks sounded again, this time more impatient. Practically steaming, Hyunjin stalked over to the door, yanking it open as Nari scrambled to neaten herself.
"What," he deadpanned at the visitor, obviously miffed.
Minho appeared, poking his head around Hyunjin's frame. When he saw Nari, he squinted and studied her appearance before facing Hyunjin.
"Why so mad? Did I interrupt something?" he asked in an innocent tone, but smirking slyly as he spoke.
"No!" Nari yelped, running over to the door. "Nothing. We just woke up and were about to come downstairs," she rambled, blazing cheeks betraying her.
Minho took note of her blush and Hyunjin's reaction and pursed his lips. "Uh huh. Well, Chan said to come and eat something when you're ready. Don't be too long, kids," he cooed, shutting the door with a wink at Nari.
The room was swallowed with silence, the two teens too awkward to even look at each other after the intense moment. Hyunjin rubbed the back of his neck, chewing the inside of his cheek.
"You want to go down now?" he asked without looking at her.
Nari nodded, a bit too eagerly, and turned to grab one of the many hoodies scattered around on her floor to distract herself from the way Hyunjin was looking at her. When she finished pulling the fabric over her head, Hyunjin was still at the door, waiting for her.
Pretending to scratch her lip, Nari hid a grin, her heart fluttering as she walked through the doorframe, her fingertips brushing his.
The teens made their way down to the kitchen, where the others were eating and hanging out. Jisung caught sight of them walking in together and gasped dramatically.
"Ohhh," he teased, tongue touching the corner of his mouth. "What took you guys so long?"
Changbin smacked the back of his head playfully. "Shut up, you're embarrassing Nari," he laughed as indeed, Nari hid her face from them.
As she sat down at the table and fanned her warm skin, Seungmin placed a plate full of food in front of her, sitting down at her side as he discussed something with Chan. She patted his shoulder in thanks and dug in, observing her members while chewing.
As Nari ate, she felt like something was off, tilting her head and frowning, scanning the area to see if she could spot what was making her feel uneasy. "Hey," she poked Seungmin in the side, and he batted her hand away. "Where's - "
A blaring alarm went off, forcing Nari to clamp her hands over her ears to block out the painful sound. Chan shouted over the ruckus, hand going to the gun at his hip.
"It's Sicarius!"
Cold fear shot down Nari's spine as everyone bolted up from their seats, abandoning their meals as they asked Chan for orders.
The alarm shut off as Chan hit a button on the wall, eyes the most serious Nari had ever seen them.
"It's time," he announced gravely. "Everyone get to your positions!"
Her members ran off to different areas in the house, and Nari came up to her leader, clueless. "What should I do?" she panicked, not having been briefed on her duties.
Chan smoothly pulled out a phone, flipping it around in his grasp as he handed it to her.
"Take this and call your brother," he instructed while pulling his pistol out and checking the mag.
"We're inviting NCT to this party."
y'all tHIS SUCKED I'M REALLY SORRY–
anyway i have this research
paper that i'm supposed to be
writing rn but stray kids is more
interesting :D