The Car Crash Club • Monsta X

v.

The air was thick and warm, a nauseating combination. Hyungwon, sitting in the back, wanted to crack a window a bit, but he didn't want to wake up Mi-Yeon. The car bumped several times as they drove over uneven pavement before settling back into the familiar rhythm. Mrs. Chae hummed a soft melody as she watched the scenery pass beyond the narrow view of her window. The tune was familiar, but Hyungwon couldn't place it.

"Father?"

The tune grew louder and fuzzier, like the whine from a bad stereo, and it seemed to overwhelm the entire car.

"What's that?" Mr. Chae asked, looking slightly to his right before flicking his eyes up to the rear view mirror to meet Hyungwon's.

The tune cut out. All sound cut out.

"Did you know that you're going to die?"

Hyungwon awoke. It was a sudden occurrence; one moment, he was in the car, sitting next to Mi-Yeon, talking to his father for the last time. Then he wasn't. Asleep, then not. His father - alive, then not.

Hyungwon got up, blinking the memory out of his eyes, trying to push it out of his head. His eyes caught on the goldfish night light, and he hesitated.

But then he continued on, stepping into the shower. He remembered to actually use soap this time. Shampoo, too.

And when he got out of the shower, he realized that he'd forgotten a towel.

--

Breakfast was the same as always in that it wasn't. Hyungwon had never eaten breakfast, or at least, not willingly (and certainly never by his own influence). His mother had often forced him to take something with him to eat on the way.

He hadn't eaten breakfast in months.

--

The walk to campus was normal. He'd skipped another few days of classes, but once he left his apartment, he fell back into the usual route. That was weird, somehow...the notion that he was developing new routines. He knew that the world kept spinning even after horrible accidents like what had happened to his family, but he hadn't expected to be swept up into it so soon. It seemed, for a moment, like it would be so easy, to just forget, to move on.

He turned abruptly, skipping the intersection he usually crossed and turning right instead, away from campus. He detoured for several blocks before heading back in the right direction, this time approaching campus from a different angle.

He was five minutes late to class, but he felt like he'd won over something, if only just for today.

--

He didn't know why he bothered to go to his classes at all. He didn't pay attention. He didn't do the work. He didn't talk to anyone.

He thought that maybe he would just stop coming entirely.

Yes, that sounded rather nice.

He got up to leave as the class ended, but someone's arm was thrown around his shoulder.

"Hey, Hyungwon, right? Chae Hyungwon?"

Hyungwon looked to his left, his lip curling as he prepared to tell whoever it was to just leave him the hell alone, but the boy had already started talking again.

"I gave you an invite, but you never showed up. How come?"

Hyungwon blinked, still upset but more confused now, too much so to just tell the kid to fuck off. "What invite? What are you talking about? Why do you know me?"

The kid scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Tri Chi! I tapped you to join, even put an invite in your backpack, and you totally blew us off!"

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Hyungwon still wasn't following. "I don't know what you're talking about, now can you let go of me and-"

"No way, come on, I'm just going to bring you to the club once. You hate it, you never have to come back, okay? Just give it a chance, all right? Everyone's cool, you'll see."

The paper surfaced in his mind suddenly, but Hyungwon didn't particularly care what he'd been tapped for or invite to, he just wanted to leave. "I don't want to-"

"Sweet, come on, right this way," the kid interrupted. Hyungwon clenched his fists but allowed the kid to tug him through the hallway. His arm was still firm around Hyungwon, forcing him to bend his head and shorten his steps to stop the kid from hurting his neck. They went down the stairs, another awkward struggle of coordination, and into basement of the building, opening the first door on the right. "Welcome to Tri Chi," he said with a big grin, releasing Hyungwon at last.

Hyungwon scowled at him before looking around, his eyes passing quickly over the other guys in the room because he wasn't too keen on making eye contact. As for the room itself, it just looked like a normal, unused classroom, although a beaten-up piano was standing haphazardly in one corner adjacent to a worn drum set.

"What the hell is this, jazz band?" Hyungwon snapped, turning to glare back at the guy who had lead him in, but he was already walking past him. Hyungwon's eyes tracked him across the room as he high-fived one of the other guys before settling down behind the drum set, rolling his shoulders once before thumping the bass drum a few times.

"Not a jazz band, a fraternity," one of the boys said, and Hyungwon looked over at him, frowning. The boy looked sincere, which made Hyungwon distrust him more. He shifted weight between his feet, looking away to break the momentary eye contact. The door was behind him, and nobody was in his way. He could just leave.

"Welcome to Tri Chi," another member said, this one giving him a welcome smile, and his next words held Hyungwon in place. "The Car Crash Club."

finally, the title drop you've all been waiting for