Tiger Inside ||Stray Kids Mafia AU||

Chapter Twenty-Six

"How the hell are we still driving? I'm starting to think you guys may just be kidnapping me." My head rested against the cold window as I chuckled at Seongho's groans in the backseat, "Oh god, do I know too much? Are you taking me out to a field so you can off me?"

Minho's eyes strayed from the road just long enough to gaze back at him through the rearview, giving a soft roll of the eyes before directing back to the street in front of him.

'Listen, we didn't tell you that we drove for five hours to see you for a reason." I turned my head back to face him, trying to keep my face serious and not break the façade, "We knew you'd go into a tizzy the moment you found out we had to make that trek back."

"FIVE HOURS!?" Seongho's head fell back dramatically against the headrest with a groan of distaste, eyes squeezing shut. Minho's lips pursed together as he tried to suppress a snicker and a grin, casually leaning against the center console with one hand still on the wheel as he tried to cover his mouth with his other.

Minho and I had already been at the mercy of Seongho's complaining for far too long, the groaning of a boy who never leaves the city finally experiencing a drive out to the countryside for the first time. By a certain point, I can't help but decide to mess with him a little bit, and maybe my gross over exaggeration of our time spent in the car was the easiest way to do so.

"I'm not scared to turn this car around right now. I could just leave you at that last crossroads, let you find your own way home." Minho's face quickly dropped back into the stoic mask as he composed himself, speaking to Seongho through the rearview.

The two of us were both fully aware that we were already quickly nearing home, familiar surroundings as we took the last turn onto the house's street and into the long stretch of trees. Minho leaned back onto the console and closer to me, a hand resting in front of his lips as he muttered quietly.

"Ya know, I could just keep driving back and forth, see how long it takes him to notice." With a chuckle I nudged his arm with my elbow, leaning back towards the door and letting my head rest back on the cold window.

"As entertaining as that may sound, let's just head home. I wanna see the guys, I miss them."

The colliding of two worlds is scary, nerve-racking, unsettling. An unknown outcome of what to come with bringing Seongho into this world by my side, my sidekick finally back on my team. Deep down I knew he could easily mesh with the rest of the guys, I knew his potential as a team member, but still the nagging guilt in the back of my head made residency about even bringing him into this life in the first place.

But there was something about standing back and seeing Seongho stand before the SKZ house that made all of this actually start to feel real. Everything was starting to fall into place, now I just had to hope that Seongho and the guys would get along.

He stood with hands in his pockets, gazing up to the large building in front of us. I watched as his head scanned from one side of the house to the other, taking in its opulent features for the first time just as I had.

Minho pulled his bag from the trunk, slinging it over his shoulder, before taking the suitcase from my hand and rolling it alongside him up the long path to the house. Seongho stayed beside me, watching as I hesitated making my first step with him by my side. He glanced down at me with a gentle smile, clearly feeling more excited about this than I was now that it all had come to fruition.

"You alright?" I glanced up to him as his voice pulled me from my thoughts, his head cocked to the side. "I bet they're all lovely people, I'm looking forward to meeting them." He gave a reassuring smile, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, his hand giving a squeeze.