It Follows {Book One}

09

Tuesday, August 8
24 days

•Ten•

"Do you need anything?" Ten asked, glancing up at Jisung for the umpteenth time since he returned. He hadn't been there when it happened, whatever 'it' was.

Yuta seemed to know exactly what was going on, but Ten learned a long time ago not to listen to him, especially after being told that if you put your finger in a pencil sharpener, nothing will happen. In hindsight, that was not the best idea. He was seven at the time, but still.

Jisung shook his head. "No," he said simply, though his hands were fidgeting in his lap. Scratching his wrists and leaving angry red lines that would inevitably end up scabbing over, then digging into the arm of the chair, pulling strings out of his jeans and tying them together, and then setting them on fire with a lighter he pulled from his pocket. He held it between two fingers for a while, watching it burn. But as the flame slowly inched closer to him, he set it on the cement floor and watched it until there was nothing left.

The blanket Jisung liked to carry with him was balled up in his lap, and Ten wondered if it was ever used as an actual blanket.

"Where are your gloves?" Taeyong asked as he leaned over Doyoung to grab Jisung's hands in his to stop his scratching.

Jisung only shrugged.

Chenle poked his head out from the box fort. "He set them on fire outside the other day."

Ten groaned. "Should've told me, I'd get some gasoline. Could've made a big pile of stuff and just burn it all."

"Then we could make s'mores!" Jaemin's eyes widened as he looked up at Jeno with a massive grin. Jeno pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips and Ten gagged.

Ten was far from homophobic, don't get confused. He himself was into everything. Mostly Johnny. Taeil liked to say that Ten was the type to screw anything that moved.

But he thought that was a bit far fetched. He'd never sleep with Yukhei, and Yukhei moved a lot.

And he could deal with couples like Yuta and Sicheng, who were incredibly touchy feely (mostly Yuta, Sicheng just let it happen, honestly) or Mark and Donghyuck (also really touchy, but weirdly casual about it), but Jaemin and Jeno? They were so sickeningly sweet that he wanted to shove his fingers down his throat and vomit everywhere.

Even that would be less gross than them.

Ten was glad that he wasn't around as much as everyone else, he and Mark often left to find cool things that people had abandoned. Ten was proud that he could cross robbing a bank off his bucket list—though Mark said it didn't count because nobody cared about money when the world was ending, and they really just walked in and walked out. Ten didn't care, it was still cool.

Ten remembered a few years ago, Mark started acting strange. He knew something was wrong, but Mark wouldn't say anything. But spending most days in a car together, it was hard to avoid the questions, and Ten had always been pretty good at getting information from people.

And his method was simple. Annoy them until they finally broke. And Ten took pride in how easily this worked for him.

Mark wasn't exactly one for sharing, in fact, the only reason any of them found out that Mark and Donghyuck were together was after Donghyuck's second suicide attempt.

Ten hadn't even know about the first time, and neither had any of the others. They all knew about the second time. They had gone to visit Donghyuck in the hospital, and they had seen his scars for the first time. And he felt guilty that he had known Donghyuck for years, and never knew how unhappy he really was.

Mark eventually caved, after a long while of Ten pestering him while they drove through the abandoned cities. He told Ten about how he had stopped by to visit Donghyuck, but the house was silent. Mark didn't think he was home, but went upstairs to see if he had fallen asleep. Mark didn't go into very much detail, all he could say was 'blood', there was so much blood, just everywhere.

Ten was pulled from his thoughts when Johnny sat down in the empty space beside him. "He'll be okay."

It took him a few seconds to realize he meant Jisung.

"Will he?"

Johnny sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his face. "Honestly, I don't think so," He said softly, glancing to the side to make sure Jisung or Taeyong weren't listening. "There's so much shit in the air. Whatever air is left, I mean. He was suffocating, Ten. We all will. Just . . . some of us sooner than others I guess."

Ten bit his lip and shook his head. "I hope I die before he does."

"So do I. I don't think I could handle seeing him, y'know, " Johnny paused to cleared his throat, "gone."

"Jisung's health is better than most of ours, Johnny. Why is he first?"

"I don't know," He said, looking down at his lap. "But at least for now, he's okay."