~<*>~ Pain in me ~<*>~

Chapter 17

Seventeen, to the world.
- Seventeen

~<*>~

"Does this feel better?" Vernon asks as he gently puts an icepack on Jun's ankle. 
"I can do it myself, thank you", Jun snaps rude and Vernon lifts his hands in the air apologizing.
"I had to put an icepack on Seungkwan's knee, so I thought I could put one on your ankle too", he explains, but Jun only rolls his eyes.
"You're the youngest out of us three, you shouldn't be taking care of us. We are old enough to do it ourselves." Vernon stares at Jun in silence while Jun awkwardly moves in the couch. With his leg up and the icepack on his ankle, he can't find a comfortable position. 
"I get that you're mad, but you shouldn't reflect it on me, I didn't decide to ban you from the Titans", Vernon says annoyed and Jun looks his roommate in the eye.
"Where's Seungkwan?" he asks, ignoring Vernon's comment.
"In his room," he answers, "but when are we going to talk about what happened?" Vernon can't hide he's impatient.
"Nothing happened", Jun responds unbothered and Vernon puts his hands on his hips.
"Stop ignoring the problem, Jun. I'm sick of watching you deny what has happened. Talk about it, please", Vernon begs, but Jun's lips are sealed.
"If you keep this quiet, I might have to say Joshua was right to ban you. We can't have someone who acts like a toddler", Vernon adds challenging, triggering Jun immediatly.
"Joshua was far from right to ban me! It was completely unfair, I saved the team and what do I get in return? I get kicked out! Why? Was it because I had an opinion of my own?" Jun blurts out and Vernon smiles satisfied before he responds.
"Maybe you should ask him what his reason was?" Vernon suggests, but only gets a scoff in return.
"Don't you think I'll ever talk to that jerk again. He doesn't want me in his team, well then he doesn't get me in his whole life. He'll regret it soon enough!" Jun exclaims while suddenly Seungkwan enters the room.
"I don't get why he banned you either, I have to admit", Seungkwan mumbles as he hobbles closer.
"What are you doing here? You should stay in your room to rest your knee!" Vernon screams worried and Seungkwan starts to burst into laughter.
"What!?" Vernon asks puzzled, guessing where this sudden behavior comes from.
"You just sound like a worried mother, it's hilarious!" Seungkwan exclaims in between his laughter. Vernon looks at the ceiling defeated while Jun smiles. He might be banned from the team, he still has his lovely roommates.
"We'll finish our conversation later, I have to put this fool to bed first", Vernon tells Jun before he turns towards Seungkwan.
"Okay, mother", Jun answers playfully while Vernon leads Seungkwan towards his room. Besides everything, Jun is happy he doesn't live alone. Now he doesn't have to cope with everything on his own, no matter how hard he tries. While his two roommates are gone, both Vernon's and Seungkwan's phones beep. Curious, Jun sits up straight. Who would text both of his roommates, but not him? The curiosity wins and after a few seconds, Jun opens Vernon's phone and looks at the message, only to be crushed with dissapointment. He knew this was going to happen one day, but he wouldn't know it would be so soon. But reality hits hard when Jun reads the text message he didn't reseave from his ex-leader.

From Joshua
Time to do something fun after all that happened! Tomorrow, we're going skydiving! Be at the location I send you at 3PM! Not one second too late! See you guys there ;)

~<*>~

Scoups has been thinking a long time about this, but he has decided this is important. The former leader has noticed Woojin being extremely loyal to Joshua and now that he has seen what Joshua is capable of, Scoups finds it a bit too dangerous. So now he's waiting for Woojin to come over since he texted the younger to do so. And only two minutes later, someone knocks on the door. Scoups opens the front door quickly and indeed, Woojin is standing in front of him.
"You wanted to see me?" he greets the older.
"I did indeed, come in", Scoups confirms and Woojin enters the apartment.
"But can you make it quick? I have a meet up with an old friend of mine and still have to get myself ready to skydive", Woojin informs Scoups as they both sit down on the couch.
"You're going to skydive?" Scoups asks surprised, but Woojin shakes his head.
"You haven't read Joshua's message yet?" he asks and Scoups checks his phone to see he indeed got a message with information about the skydive from Joshua.
"Oh, cool", Scoups says impressed, he really wanted to skydive one day.
"I know it's going to be a day to never forget", Woojin says with his eyes staring into the distance, already dreaming of something big. Scoups chuckles seeing the younger like that.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Woojin refers back to the original topic and Scoups takes a deep breath before he confronts his teammate.
"I think you need to have more perspective in your point of view", Scoups blurts out and Woojin blinks confused.
"What do you mean?" he asks surprised.
"You only know what Joshua knows, you only think what he thinks and whatever comes out of his mouth, you assume it's true", Scoups explains and Woojin nods his head slowly.
"But you didn't doubt Joshua when he told you Dino was the one who attacked him", Woojin comments and Scoups looks at him in shock.
"How do you know about that?" Scoups asks startled and Woojin grins.
"There are three people Joshua never shuts up about: Jeonghan, Dino and you. It's only logical I know about a situation where the three of you were involved, whether it was fysically or in words. Joshua bragged about it for days, I know every little detail by now", Woojin states and Scoups stares at him speechless. He didn't know Joshua would share so much information with Woojin. To be honest, Scoups thought Joshua used Woojin as an object or a slave, but maybe they are just very close friends.
"But what is wrong with my perspective?" Woojin asks interested, bringing Scoups back to reality.
"I think it isn't healthy to follow Joshua blindly. If you heard his stories, you should know he isn't always on the right path lately", Scoups says with pain in his heart. It hurts to see his friend fade away into someone he doesn't know. Scoups can't deny it has nothing to do with him, but he tells himself it will all be okay. As long as Scoups is with Joshua, there is still a chance he can fix him. But Joshua has to get out of his fake reality first.
"But Joshua is our leader. It is our task to follow his orders. You saw what happened when we, I mean you, disobeyed him", Woojin objects.
"But what Joshua did was unreasonable. You can't just kill two people and then ban someone who doesn't deserve to be banned. Jun saved our team, he did nothing wrong", Scoups tries to make Woojin see the reality.
"But if you had listened to him, none of that would have happened", Woojin reasons.
"What were we supposed to do? Let Seungkwan get caught? I don't let my teammates down, ever. Even if it takes my own life to do so", Scoups says firmly and Woojin nods impressed, but understanding.
"I didn't agree with him letting Seungkwan get caught like that, but..."
"See! And when you don't agree with him, you should say somehting about it. Let him know you don't agree", Scoups states and Woojin looks at him uncertain.
"But I can't just doubt his decision...", Woojin resists.
"A good leader listens to his team. There's a difference between a dictator and a leader", Scoups reasons with him and Woojin seems to understand it.
"But Joshua is my only friend, the only true friend, I mean", Woojin mutters shy and Scoups is filled with pity watching the younger being so vulnerable. 
"You have more friends than only Joshua, believe me," Scoups assures Woojin softly, "for example, you have me." Woojin looks up and suddenly hugs Scoups.
"Thank you", he whispers softly and Scoups smiles warmly.
"Always", he answers. He's glad he could talk to Woojin, he hopes the younger will finally have an opinion of his own. Soon after the hug, Woojin leaves and Scoups gets ready to go outside as well because he has a meet up himself. He can finally see Kyle again, Scoups is really excited to talk to his friend.

Half an hour later, Scoups is sitting down in the big, musty room where prisoners and family meet. In front of him, tired but smiling, his dear friend is sitting. This time, Scoups is alone.
"How are you?" Scoups asks, knowing it's a stupid question.
"I'm holding on. It's not that long anymore before I'm finally free. And how are you? Are you making the world ready for me?" Kyle answers joking and Scoups can't hold back a chuckle.
"I'm trying, but there is some chaos", Scoups admits and Kyle raises a brow.
"Trouble in paradise?" he asks, but Scoups waves it off.
"Nothing to worry about, it's not that big of a deal", Scoups tells his friend.
"If you say so", Kyle answers chuckling. After a few seconds of silence, Kyle speaks up again. This time, his voice sounds nervous.
"There is some trouble here as well", Kyle mumbles, uncertain if he should share his information. Scoups straightens his back triggered.
"You didn't get hurt, right?" he asks worried and Kyle shakes his head in denial.
"Then what is it?" Scoups asks impatient.
"You do not want to hear this, but something of your past has come back, or rather escaped", Kyle says mysteriously and Scoups can't wait any longer.
"What are you trying to say, Kyle!?" Scoups asks, his patience has totally run out.
"Jisung escaped, Scoups. I don't know what he's about to do but I'm worried", Kyle blurts out and the news hits Scoups like a train. Not only is there a secret ninth member of Stray kids, an angry member is also free?
"How long ago did he escape?" Scoups asks.
"About a week ago I guess", Kyle admits and Scoups' heart skips a beat out of fear.
"Please be careful, will you? I don't know what he will do and I don't want you to get hurt", Kyle says firmly, but Scoups only nods his head absently. His mind is dull and fear washes over him. He doesn't know whether he should be scared for him or for his team. Jisung is a clever one and Scoups doesn't doubt his strentgh and ability to survive on his own. He certainly is a dangerous man and someone they should watch out for. While Kye gets taken away by the officers, he glances at his friend worried, but Scoups is too far in thought he doesn't even notice it.

~<*>~

Dino sits inside the plane nervously. He never liked hights and planes are scary. Why did he agree to go skydiving with the team, and certainly with Joshua? Dino also can't think of anything else than last night, Scoups came home in panic, but he wouldn't tell Dino why. Now he's still guessing what could be the problem and it is clear that Scoups is't paying attention today at all. He's somewhere else with his mind, if only Dino knew where. The whole team is talking and being excited, while Dino stares at the backpacks. With those things, they're going to jump out of this plane, hoping a parachute will open and save them. It sucks that so many people are missing: Wonwoo and Mingyu because of Mingyu's situation and Jun and Seungkwan because of their injuries and Jun was probably not invited anyway. Dino still doesn't get why Joshua did that in the first place, there was no need to ban Jun. But Dino already accepted he will never understand Joshua.
"Are you ready?" Scoups' voice sooths Dino, he smiles warmly looking at the older.
"I'm quite nervous", Dino admits and Scoups chuckles.
"I noticed, that's why I came over. We're almost jumping. Do you want me to go with you, or are you old and wise enough?" Scoups asks with a touch of irony in his voice.
"I think I can handle it", Dino chuckles when his eyes suddenly catch a movement by the backpacks. Woojin is squatting down and doing something Dino can't see.
"He's probably checking his parachute," Scoups says following Dino's eyes, "he's quite nervous as well." Dino throws Scoups a smile, but he doesn't really believe it. 
"Time to jump!" Joshua shouts as the crew cheers. 
"It's going to be okay", Scoups whispers comforting.
"I'm praying it is", Dino answers before he takes a deep, shaky breath.