The REPLAY of SKZ: Let's Go Back to Those Times

Chapter 16 - I.N

Peace. No stress. No questions about this and that, no people staring at you like they're dissecting your every move and thought. Just nice sweet pea- "Awww! Looks at him! He's so cute!" Spoke too soon. A finger pokes my left cheek. Quickly after, another pokes my right cheek. They giggle as the skin bends around their digits. I groan sleepily, weakly hitting the intruding hands away. I miss, but they still retreat.

"Hey, Innie-ah, it's time to get up, aegi." A voice calls. I whine and attempt to shove the voice away. I want to sleep. My hands make contact with a chin, one hand of the rude waker closes over my fingers. They gently bring my hands down and into my lap. When the hand withdraws, I grip it, keeping it close. The sound of a chuckle rumbles through my body.

"Aegi! Come on~!" The voice says again, louder this time. Or maybe I'm just more conscious now. Either way, I don't to wake up. I don't want to wake up. Steeling my resolve, I push the body away. Curses string out around the room.

At first, I thought I offended anyone, but I can feel myself slowly tilt back. It feels like everything is in slow motion. The guy who was trying to wake me up attempts to grab me, but he fails, missing my upper body, and I continue my backwards descent.

I tense, bracing myself for the inevitable impact. If I wasn't awake before, I certainly am now. Despite how awake I am, my eyes screw shut in anticipation and fear.

Air rushes, and the milliseconds blur into each other. And... crash! I yelp instinctively upon the collision... but it didn't hurt. Impact... but not? Not with the ground? If feels rather like I'm sitting on squishy poles, like well-built legs? My eyes fly open, desperate to figure out the confusion, to figure out what the hell is going on.

I'm facing upwards, as expected, with my back on the... thing under me. It feels like everything is frozen. Some of the hyungs are not moving, not even breathing. I can identify Changbin—I mean Lewis—as the culprit who awoke me. He looks terrified, as if I'll die from a fall that short. I can already see the apology in his eyes. The... cushion poles move again. Holy- it's alive! Looking down in fear, I find it is indeed legs. Chan-hyung's legs. Chris-hyung.

"Chris-hyung! Are you okay?" I ask worriedly. He broke my whole fall with just his legs. That's gotta fucking hurt. We stare at each other, making eye contact. I nod at him, looking expectantly for a response, "Chris-hyung?"

He stares at me for a second more, studying my face. For what? I don't know. But he eventually nods and gives me a reassuring smile. "Yeah, Innie-yah, I'm okay. Don't you worry!" He ruffles my hair fondly. At that, the room unfreezes. We have a simple way of thinking about things instinctually: everyone's safe, that means there's no need to panic.

Lewis drops the hand that tried to grab me before I fell. Lee Know is still trapped by the Sunshine Twins, both koala-hugging his body. Yongbok is back-hugging him, head lolled into his nape. Jisung is settled in LK's lap, head laying on the opposite side of Bok's. I find it cute. Sky rushes over to us, dragging Sam with him by the wrist. Sky helps me up, pulling my body off of Chris's and Sam then pulls Chris up.

Hyung then drags me over to the couch and I plop down on his legs again, only it's now more comfy. I settle happily against his chest, snuggling into his cocoon of warmth. Now comfortable, I return my mind to the rest of the room.

"Yah! Lewis, why did you drop me?" I suddenly outburst, feeling super playful with my new energy from the scare earlier. I smile so he can see it's a joke, I know earlier he was scared that he'd hurt me by not catching me.

Thankfully, he smirks back and plays along. "Yah! I'm your hyung! Treat me with respect! And it's not my fault you fell!" He whines.

I dramatically gasp. "It totally is! You should've held onto your poor, poor dongsaeng! I'm the maknae!"