Super

28. sleep tight

"Taeyong."

Taeyong was vaguely aware of having an irritatingly repetitive voice at his ear, but he wasn't sure what it was. The only thing he remembered and cared about was that he had fallen into a blissful sleep a few hours ago, and had specifically stated that he did not want to be awoken.

"Taeyong." The voice was back, and was beginning to remind him of a particularly insistent mosquito who would not take no for an answer. The whisper was more urgent now, spoken in staccato, and through his drug-like sleepiness, Taeyong recognized the voice.

"Mark?" he mumbled, squinting through one open eye, scrunching up his nose. The light he had expected to flood his vision did not come. The house was still dark. "Do you want to go to the toilet or something?"

"No," Mark said, mortified, and Taeyong heard a stifled giggle a few centimeters away from his face. "Wake up. It's urgent."

He groaned, and attempted to roll over onto his side. "No!" Mark exclaimed softly, and as Taeyong rolled over, he felt the support beneath him disappear to thin air. Him still being drugged with sleep, his eyes didn't open until he fell like a rock onto the floor with an emphatic oof.

"What the hell?" he whisper-groaned, remembering that he was supposed to be sleeping on the couch after sacrificing his comfortable bed to Shao. He opened his eyes, feeling tiny, stab-like pains behind his eyes as he did. His head ached, his mouth was dry, and his entire body creaked like an unoiled machine. Suffice to say, he did not feel good.

Mark and Shao were standing over him, both fully dressed. The curtains hadn't been drawn, but the sky was still dark, which meant it was well before four, at least. Taeyong sat up, feeling a crick in his neck, and rolled his head to work it out.

"What the fu—hell is happening?" he asked, feeling his irritation like a dark cloud in the horizon. "Why are you two all dressed up?"

"Distress signal," Mark said, looking plenty distressed himself. He looked tired, but it was nothing compared to Taeyong. Shao seemed unbothered, and had even managed to find the time to pull her hair into a semi-proper braid which made her look like she hadn't just rolled out of bed. "Ten sent it out, so I guess something, like, bad happened at that diner they went to." He shrugged, but his face was creased in worry. "We have to go."

Taeyong resisted the urge to groan for a third time, and got to his feet in a quick motion before his body could lull him back to sleep. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide, then looked at Mark. "How long ago was this signal sent?"

"Three minutes."

He made a face, and stalked down to the kitchen. "Can't get one good nap in with all this superhero crap going about. I knew I should never have listened to that—"

"Where are you going?" Shao called, and he turned to look pointedly at her before placing a finger on his lips.

"Jaemin's still asleep," he said, feeling the top of the refrigerator for a pad of sticky notes before grabbing it and tearing one off. The paper was bright pink, and Mark had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling as Taeyong scribbled on a quick note. "Go outside, both of you. I'll be down in a moment."

"Don't take too long, mom," Shao said with a smirk. Taeyong wanted to glare at her, but he wanted to conserve what little energy he had left.

"Go," he snapped instead, condensing all of his anger and frustration into the monosyllabic reply before stalking up the stairs—well, not really stalking, because he knew that the stairs could give out easily.

Taeyong slapped the note onto the door of Jaemin's bedroom, peeking in before he left. Jaemin was sleeping peacefully with his mouth open. His hair looked like ghostly bubble gum in the moonlight. A little bit of drool had collected at the corner of his mouth.