Still A_Stray: Living With Stray Kids (ot8 fanfic)

Chapter 35

I look up at the stars all day and night 'cause I know you're waiting

Once again, the maknae dorm was in chaos when I stepped into it.

"I'm getting deja vu," I said dryly as Jeongin ran past me with a battle cry, swatting at the hazy smoke filling the room with what appeared to be a flip-flop.

"Yeji!" He shouted. "Thank god you're here!"

"God is dead and we're next!" Seungmin yelled from across the room; I could barely make out his figure through the hazy air, but it looked like he and Minho were standing on chairs, brandishing Febreeze bottles at the air.

I turned, searching for sanity. "Minho," I decided, heading towards him.

"Yeji, don't!" Minho cried, but I had already stepped through the doorway. He gasped, falling to his knees. "It's too late ... now our only noona is gone too..."

I opened my mouth, then closed it. "...Felix. Where's Felix?"

"Up here," Felix's voice called; I looked up and did a double take.

"Felix. Care to explain why you're on the ceiling?"

"A game of the floor is lava got ... out of hand," Felix explained, ripping the duct tape off the wall to land nimbly in front of me. "The fire detectors went off, but Minho-hyung and Seungminnie are still playing because they made a bet that whoever won would get radio privileges on the trip to the music video shooting place. It's an hour drive."

I looked over as Seungmin shouted, "Give up, hyung," his Febreeze bottle raised.

"I refuse to listen to an hour-long loop of Day6's Sunrise today," Minho snapped back, doing the karate kid pose. "I am willing to do whatever it takes, Kim Seungmin."

I turned back to Felix. Briefly, I wondered if before, we might have let Minho and Seungmin fight it out and gone somewhere to talk and laugh about their crazy antics. But now ... I knew it would be a while before we would do that again. But Felix was talking to me. Which meant I had a chance of being able to apologize—and maybe tell him I was wrong about Hyunjin.

I met his eyes. "Mind if I step in?"

He nodded. "Please do."

I walked across the floor, going over to the smoke alarm and switching it off. Then I dragged a chair over to where they were and climbed onto it. "You all have to leave in twenty minutes. Either find a playlist you both can agree on, or alternate who picks. Hand over the Febreeze."

Seungmin's eyes narrowed. "And if I don't?"

"Yeah, what are you going to do, tell my mom?" Minho sniped.

I crossed my arms. "No, I'm going to tell Chan."

The Febreeze bottles were in my hand in less than a second.

"Alright," I said, climbing back down. "Jeongin, who's shoe...?"

"Chan-hyungs," he said, waving the flip-flop apologetically.

I blinked. "Okay, then. I assume by the environment you all had cofee for breakfast?"

"No, Minho had Red Bull and coffee mixed," said Jeongin.

Felix shrugged. "I had tea, but like Minho's crocheting project of Soonie and Seungmin's a-day-in-the-dorm-life documentary, it is, sadly, unfinished, and somewhere in the kitchen."

"Hey, I remember my documentary," Seungmin said, perking up. "I bet I still have the tape..."

I blinked. "Okay. I'm going to make real, solid food for everyone; in the meantime, can one of you get the duct tape off the ceiling? I'll handle the rest when you're gone."