strawberry sunday ❧ k.jw | ✔

four

Only two tracks into your chosen album, Johnny announced that he'd be pulling off at the next exit for gas, so any snack purchases and bathroom breaks would need to happen now as well. You gave him a weak thumbs-up in the rearview mirror, the only part of his face visible in said mirror being an inquisitively raised eyebrow. As Johnny slowed the van to a stop at the gas pump, Jungwoo slid away from you as casually as he had slid over, leaning over the seat to try to wake Donghyuck up.

"Donghyuck," he cooed at him. "Donghyuck, wake up. Y/N and I need to get out."

"That's not going to work," you sighed, hunching over the seat as well. "You have to resort to violence with Hyuck."

"He's covered in plants," Jungwoo pointed out. "I'm not a dryad but harming nature still isn't really my thing."

"I didn't say set him on fire or anything."

"Then what—"

Mark had already hopped out of the car at that point, and opened the door to the backseat then. You and he made eye contact, nodded once in unison, then he grabbed one of Donghyuck's ankles and yanked on it. The basilisk jerked his hand back before vines could wrap around it. But it worked, the dryad shot up, head whipping around as he looked around for the culprit, and his hands coming up to rub at his eyes sleepily.

"Who—"

"Gas station, Hyuck," you told him as all the plants on him closed up and disappeared. "Can you move so we can get out please?"

He let out a heaving sigh, scooting across the seat to do so, "Fine, I suppose. Only because I need to pee."

"Thank you for letting me know that you've been hydrating."

With Donghyuck out, Johnny helped you finagle the fold-down middle row so that you and Jungwoo could climb out of the back, then gave you his card to buy him a soda from inside. You found Mark in front of the refrigerated section, and he dug a hand into the pocket of his shorts before pulling out your missing sunglasses and handing them to you.

"Here. Thanks for letting me borrow them." His voice slightly drug out the sibilance of his 's' as he spoke, slitted pupils just visible through the tint of his own pair of sunglasses he was donning now. He stuffed his hands back in his pockets as he looked over the drink options.

"Yeah, of course, Mark," you perched your sunglasses atop your head, then quietly scanned the fridges for Johnny's soda request.

Mark had come over to your apartment last week to study with Donghyuck for some class they had together, and Johnny tagged along so that you and he could have a little self-care night before the hecticness of finals week. Doing face masks together just felt natural after you had washed his face for an entire month. Johnny had been keeping you up to date on how his roommate was handling the onset of his powers lately. Basilisks, unlike other mythological creatures who were born as such, came into their powers comparatively much later in life, within a year after their first molting. Mark just had his last summer (the details of which Johnny had thankfully spared you but did let you know was awful to have to clean up around the apartment), and had been slowly but surely developing his various basilisk abilities since. One of which, petrification, hadn't come on at all yet.

Until Johnny had stepped out of your bathroom that night with a green clay face mask on to grab his phone from the living room, turned the corner, and had startled Mark so bad that with just a split second of eye contact, he'd been petrified. Thankfully, not properly turned to stone, just paralyzed more so. He'd remained entirely fleshy and regained full use of his limbs within ten minutes, but Mark had kept your sunglasses on for the rest of the night just in case.