HALLUCINATIONS - JisungxNCT

3 seconds

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"We're going into a haunted house, remember? Managers told us before we left"

Jisung pauses. His brain quite literally pauses. A haunted house? If that isn't the most cliché add to a plot of a horror movie, Jisung doesn't know what is. How can it be so, that he just happens to suffer from hallucinations for weeks on end, only to end up going into a haunted house? With cameras around? With the older members eyes on him? How will he ever get out of here in one piece...

But with Chenle's gaze on him, he can only nod and smile. Nobody has to know. Nobody has to worry about him. He's going to do everything on his own. Including this stupid haunted house program.

The managers gather them around, and Jisung stands between Winwin and Chenle. He doesn't know if it's just Winwin's usual calm face, or if he doesn't know about anything, because the older member doesn't look at him strangely like most other members. He is more than relieved at that. The director of the show stands with the managers, and this time, Jisung does his best to listen.

"You will all be going in groups of three, and one pair. Your goal is to find three letters with a red emblem on it, and get out as fast as possible. We will also be measuring your heart rate with these watches-"

He shows fancy, probably sponsor, watches. Jisung licks his lips in worry.

"There will be things inside trying to scare you, and the team with the lowest heart rate wins one prize, and the team with the fastest time wins another"

Jisung looks around the open area when the director continues to explain in more detail. Everyone is focused on his words. Taeyong and Doyoung are standing together, both looking as tall and serious as always. Jisung wishes he could be as serious about work as they are, but all he does is mess things up for himself. When he doesn't work, he ends up getting behind, and when he does work, he ends up overworking himself, because he's a child a doesn't know when to stop, and gets these hallucinations. Those lead to tiredness, fear and distractions. All in all, Jisung doesn't feel so good about himself, and he doesn't feel so good about this game either.

But he doesn't say anything. Instead he watches silently as they are grouped up.

"-The fourth group is Jeno, Jaehyun and Jisung. The fifth group is Jaemin, Taeyong and Ten. The sixth group is..."

Jisung's gaze travels towards his group members. He finds Jeno already looking at him when they lock eyes. He smiles to the older, but it doesn't do much to hide the nervousness on his face, and Jeno squints. Jisung gulps and looks away quickly. He can get through this. Then he can go home and hide under his blankets for the rest of the night, hide from all the hallucinations, sleep paralysis and other things that haunt at night. But right now he can't hide, and Jisung wonders when the next hallucination will hit.

Jisung is in the fourth group, so there are three groups going ahead of him and Jeno and Jaehyun. The first group disappear into the "haunted house", while the staff get busy filming. The managers and members can only wait around. While Chenle wanders off to talk to some other member, Jisung looks around to find someone to talk to. He doesn't want to look awkward, and he really doesn't want to be alone. Fear creeps up under his skin. He remembers all the nightmares and terrors from the night before. Last night was particularly challenging, he barely got a wink of sleep. But Jisung doesn't have time to worry, because it's Jungwoo who immediately slips behind him and gives a warm hug.

"Feeling sleepy?"

One of the members once said that Jungwoo has this slow-motion affect to him. Jisung can't help but agree. His Hyung is warm and kind, his voice is easy and positive. He pretends to be asking a normal question about Jisung's sleep, and even though it's probably related to everyone's worry, Jungwoo makes it seem natural. There is no weight in his words, no suspicion either. He's not trying to read him, not trying to see through him to figure out what's wrong. Instead he's only asking such an easy question, giving the younger an option to open up, or not. Jisung really likes Jungwoo.