Still A_Stray: Living With Stray Kids (ot8 fanfic)

Chapter 18 ★

Friday~

I see myself in you

Another thing I learned while living with Bangchan, Changbin, and Jisung of Stray Kids: they could be summoned like demons in salt rings and five-pointed stars with the correct materials. Said materials included leftover kimchi, fried eggs, and sleep deprivation. Chan stumbled into the kitchen first the morning after my conversation with Hyunjin, his eyes stilll half-closed and his nose in the air.

I looked over my shoulder as he moved towards me in a daze, looking to all the stars like he'd just risen from the dead. Usually, I was the last one up in the dorm, but I'd heard 3Racha return from the studio after midnight last night. They had to be wiped out. It was safe to assume they had eaten minimal amounts in the last 24 hours, too, so I knew that the smell of fried eggs would draw them from their rooms like zombies.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked cheerfully as Chan stumbled into the kitchen. Thankfully, he was wearing a shirt today. The last couple times I'd gotten up to make breakfast after 3Racha had been on a burnout, he'd come into the kitchen utterly bare from the waist up. It took him half an hour to actually realize this fact, and when he asked if someone had opened a window and I'd told him no but he might be feeling cold because he was half naked, he'd apologized profusely and locked himself in his room out of embarrassment for the rest of the morning.

Chan grunted in response. This was a typical reply for him, so I didn't mind; usually he could only form sentences once he'd been awake for more than five minutes. Knowing this, I hummed along to Astronaut, taking out an extra bowl for him.

Changbin was next to come out; he was quiet enough that I jumped when I felt him wrap his arms over me, tucking his chin into my shoulder. "우주로 가자 like an astronaut," he sang, finishing the verse I'd been humming.

"Bin, I'm trying to cook," I complained, attempting to wiggle out from under his arms to no avail. He just mumbled the next line of the song and burrowed his face deeper into my shoulder. I gave up and let him, flipping the eggs as he clung to me like a sloth.

"Am I dreaming, or is that kimchi eggs?" Jisung called sleepily, entering the room last. He saw me cooking in the kitchen, and grinned through the mess of dark hair falling over his eyes. "You're the best, noona."

"I'm only making extra for you three because I know you haven't eaten since yesterday morning," I told him, swatting at Changbin's hands as he tried to take a bite of food directly from the pan.

"No, we grabbed lunch at JYP-E yesterday," Chan corrected, sitting on the arm of the couch with his feet on the cushions.

"Why, that's splendid, Bangchan! You've only gone twenty hours without food, rather than twenty-four. Would you like a gold star?" I glared at him over the counter, then switched back to Korean. "Go grab a bowl for yourself and sit down."

Chan saluted me from his spot on the couch. "Yes, ma'am."

I plated the food, handing the bowls off to Jisung and Changbin, and we all gathered around the table. The ferocity at which all three of them tore into their breakfasts made me both proud of myself for making good food and simultaneously pissed at them for not taking care of themselves like they'd promised to. "You guys aren't going to JYP-E again today, right?"

Changbin shook his head. "We have an interview in an hour and a half, though, and dance practice tonight." He turned to Chan. "We're pushing Movie Night back to tomorrow, right?"

Chan nodded, not pausing in his conquest of his breakfast.

I sighed. "Have you finished the track yet?"