───── ❝ 18 ❞ ─────

155 16 9
                                    

⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 – 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙

Ⰶ║ July 5 2020 ║Ⰶ

"Sungie..." Chenle shakes Jisung's shoulder, telling him to move. "I can't move..." His groggy voice was just barely enough to stir the younger boy. Barely.

Jisung mumbles something that Chenle couldn't quite decipher but moves nonetheless. Chenle sighs and shuts his eyes, now able to stretch his legs out fully on the backseat. He and Jisung were in the way back, laying horizontally so that their heads were at one armrest, and their feet at another. And although Chenle is marginally shorter, he still needed his leg-room; unfortunately, Jisung wasn't giving it to him and instead just clung to the older boy's side.

It was early in the morning, around 3 am, and Jeno was driving with Mark beside him. Jaemin, Renjun, and Donghyuk were in the middle row, with Renjun sleeping and Jaemin patching up Donghyuk's loose sling.

"Aish...Jaemin-ah, it seriously hurts." Donghyuk complains, trying to keep his voice down for the sake of the babies and Renjun.

Jaemin sighs, tying the final few knots. "I know, but we need to keep it tight so that the gash doesn't reopen and so that it heals faster."

"I know, I know. Still hurts like a bitch though."

Jaemin sits back up, finally finished with retouching his friend's injury. "It'll hurt more if you mess with it. Trust me, I would know."

Donghyuk sighs and cups his chin in his palm as he stares out the dark window. "Yeah, I know."

Jeno checks on the two boys from the mirror, looking between them to check if everything was ok. Mark turns around in his seat, giving Jaemin and Donghyuk a soft smile.

"Why don't you two try and sleep? It's late and it'll take us a good while before we reach an area with houses or buildings." Jaemin nods and immediately cuddles himself up next to Renjun, resting his head on the Chinese boy's shoulder. Mark turns to look at Donghyuk who just pouts. Mark sighs. "Go to sleep, the pain will go away, alright?" Hyuk nods, the pout still on his face. "Sleep darling."

Mark finally sits back normally once he sees Donghyuk's eyes close, although part of him regrets it thanks to Jeno's smirk.

"So Mark–"

"Don't even start with me Lee Jeno."

Ⰶ║ July 5 2020 ║Ⰶ

Jisung blinks awake to the warm voice of Jaemin and the ruffling of his shirt sleeve. 

"Baby, I need you to get up. We're going into one of the clean restaurants to have some food."

Jisung sits up, accidentally waking Chenle in the process. The two of them rub their eyes and blink around the backseat tiredly.

Chenle looks to Jaemin. "Food?"

"Mhm, come on you two, it's time to eat." He moves out of the way for the two babies to get out of the car, Chenle helping the very tired Jisung with the door. "The others are already inside, so you head in."

Jisung turns to Chenle, panic written on his face. "Peelers?"

Chenle shrugs and raises a brow and Jaemin. The honey-haired teenager just shakes his head. "No Peelers, it's completely empty. Don't worry Sungie Baby." The 16-year-old nods and grasps onto Chenle's hand tightly as they make their way into the restaurant. Chenle just smiles and ruffles Jisung's hair.

"Alright, obviously Hyuk still can't cook but thankfully Jaemin has enough skill, and Renjun will help him to not burn the kitchen down," Mark says from the barstool on which he sat. The other boys all nod. "Alright. Hyuk, Chenle, and Jisung will relax here and just take a rest. Jeno and I will walk around the closest few blocks to see if anyone else is alive, alright?"

Jisung stiffens at the mention of other people and Chenle gives him a side hug. He hushes his voice, making it just barely audible for the younger boy to hear. "They'll be ok Sungie, don't worry. Everything is gonna be fine. You, me, and Hyuk hyung will just sit in here and take a break, ok?" Jisung nods, but his body doesn't relax. "You're safe Sungie. You're ok."

"I...I am..o-okay." His soft stutter makes Chenle chuckle and nod his head.

"Mhm, you're fine. Let's take a seat at that booth over there. The hyungs are discussing boring stuff and I know neither of us wants to hear that." Jisung nods and follows Chenle to the corner booth.

Chenle sits against the window and Jisung leans into him, yawning. "Still tired?" but all Chenle got in return was Jisung grabbing his hand to fiddle with. "Aw, you're so cute Sungie." Jisung pouts and tosses Chenle's hand away in protest, making the Chinese boy laugh. "But you are~" Jisung just huffs and takes Chenle's hand back, this time placing it on his head as a signal for the older boy to run his fingers through his hair.

The calming pattern of Chenle's hand on his head, the soft mutters of Donghyuk, Jaemin, and Renjun; and the warm sunlight filtering through the windows make Jisung slowly drift back to sleep. Chenle follows him not long after, both of them now sleeping soundly.

Jaemin looks up from where he was cutting some onions and smiles at the sight of his "children" sleeping on top of each other. "They're so cute."

Donghyuk turns his head and chuckles. "They really can fall asleep anywhere."

Renjun nods. "Kinda scares me not gonna lie." His comment makes the other two laugh before Jaemin turns back to his cutting board and Donghyuk turns back to the window, staring out at the buildings beyond.

Ⰶ║ July 5 2020 ║Ⰶ

Jeno holds up the ringing phone in amazement.

"Holy shit...it's ringing."

Mark turns from his place, eyes widening at the ringtone coming from the phone. "That's impossible, technology shouldn't be able to work."

Jeno shakes his head. "Forget that shit...it means someone is alive."

⋘ Tʀᴀɴsᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴇʀʀᴏʀ. Pʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴛʀʏ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ. ⋙

AfterWhere stories live. Discover now