Hell and Back (EXO x Reader)

Delinquent (Trials 6-7)

Chapter warnings: Mild language

Word count: 1304

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"Choose your player." Y/N said, swallowing her nervousness as she looked up.

"We have to decide who plays first?" Xiumin asked, fidgeting with his hands. "I sort of thought they'd just... assign one.

"Does it say whose powers are restricted yet?" Kyungsoo asked, still trying to navigate the app back to the screen.

"Yeah, it's Chen." Suho responded. "So maybe it has something to do with electricity?"

"Or maybe we need to be avoiding anything to do with electricity since we don't have the power to control it anymore." Kai pointed out. "Which, in that case, we need to decide who's the least likely to get hurt in a situation like that."

"So, Xiumin's out." Luhan mentioned idly. He was right of course- even frozen, water wouldn't really be a good idea. "And I don't see any help coming from Chanyeol or Kris."

"Wait a minute," the latter argued, "If I can fly, I can avoid getting electrocuted."

"Unless it's actually lightning related." Tao cut in. "Then you could get shocked out of the sky. Speaking of grounding, though, maybe Kyungsoo is the best option?" He offered. "He can protect himself with Earth power by distributing the electricity." As they bickered about who to put up to the stand first, Y/N sighed. No one was suggesting her. Of course no one was suggesting her. She had no abilities. It was making her a little bit sad, but they were too busy to notice. Finally Tao made his point.

"Y/N." He said a bit loudly. Jumping back to attention, she met his eyes. "Lost you for a second- we're going to pick Kyungsoo first." She took a moment to process, and then nodded, selecting him from the list. They all watched in anticipation as the request processed, popping up with a new trial.

"Trial 6: Vandalize a minimum of three square feet in a public area." This confused everyone.

"Why bother shutting down Chanyeol's power?" Lay asked. "That's kind of lame."

"Man, you got off with a fun challenge, though." Kris complained. "That'll be so easy."

"What if I get caught?" Kyungsoo asked nervously. Kris paused, staring at him in disbelief for just a moment.

"You're kidding."

"No, seriously!" Groaning, Kris started walking towards the door, opening it and looking back. Waving his arm aggressively, he demanded,

"Come on!" Leading them all to his car, he forced everybody to pile in (despite their complete inability to legally fit. They would just have to make sure they weren't pulled over.

"Where are we going?" Kyungsoo asked, but Kris didn't answer. They were only driving for a minute or two before he pulled over, gesturing for Kyungsoo to get out of the car.

"The rest of you can stay here." With that, he pulled something out of the center console and shut the door behind him. Y/N looked over to Suho confusedly, but he simply shrugged and turned to watch as the duo walked away. Staring intently through the window, they crowded over each other as they watched Kris shove something into the hands of his friend. The man looked uncomfortable, backing up and holding it out slightly as if it was disgusting to touch. They couldn't hear what was being said, but Kris was evidently raising his voice and pointing to the brick wall behind them.

Finally, he grabbed it back, opening the lid and spraying something on the wall. In big, whiteish-beige letters, he wrote Let's live while doing what we like. Once he had finished, he handed it back to a still exclusive Kyungsoo. Unwillingly, he raised an arm, looking to the wall as if to measure the smallest area possible to spray paint the concrete. Under the line, he finally sprayed in neat print, E - X - O. Kris slapped him on the back approvingly, directing him back to the car as Y/N watched the trial bar prove completion.

As Kyungsoo entered the side door of the car, everyone spread back out away from the windows to give him some more room. Once the door was shut, Lay shouted at the top of his lungs,

"Oh my God! The police are here!"

"Really?!" He spun around, eyes aide looking through the back windshield.

"No!" He laughed, trying to catch his breath. "You are so gullible."

"That wasn't funny." He muttered, pulling out his phone. "Who's doing the next trial?"

"You could always go twice in a row." Luhan offered. "That way everyone's keeping it organized."

"But what if they get continually harder?" Chen asked. "Then it's not fair."

"Yeah, good point..." He thought for a moment. "Well, who is it?"

"Whose power is limited?" Baekhyun asked.

"Yours." Y/N pointed out. "So it probably shouldn't be you. We want everyone at full functionality for their own challenges. What about Chen?" The boy looked up. Supposing he had been the one to argue against going back-to-back, he didn't mind.

"Sure, why not?" She pressed the selection button for Chen as the screen shifted. She noted that the drop-out fee continued to rise by $50, putting them at $150 for this round. It wasn't all that bad, but it certainly wasn't anything to dismiss right away. Continuing on that pace, they could end up in a sticky situation if someone wanted to leave later on. Reading his own challenge off the screen, he laughed awkwardly.

"Shoplifting? Ouch, that's not really cool."

"You all are such babies." Kris muttered, "It's not that hard." Ignoring him, Y/N skimmed the details to make sure they knew what they were getting into.

"It can be from anywhere, and it just has to be something with a value of a dollar or more." Chen shrugged.

"I guess that's easy enough..." They pulled into a gas station nearby, by far one of the easiest places to steal from. Chen's plan was to snake a candy bar into his pocket, but then buy other stuff to keep from looking suspicious. They watched as they saw him move around inside for a bit, then walk to the counter. Smiling politely at the woman running the joint, Y/N found it hard to believe that he was stealing at all. He looked so genuine.

As he returned to the car with a plastic bag and the stolen Snicker's, he looked a bit guilty. Lay immediately requested to be the one who got to eat the candy, causing Sehun to fight him on it. Completely disregarding their bickering, she awkwardly coughed.

"Uh, Chen... how much was that worth?"

"Um, I don't know, probably like, $1.02 with sales tax." Sighing, she put a hand to her forehead.

"It didn't count." Eyes widening slightly, he groaned.

"Are you serious?"

"Why would you bother calculating sales tax anyway?" Lay asked in a muffled voice, mouth full of chocolate.

"I just figured-"

"Just go in and fix it." Kris rolled his eyes. "And bring a king sized this time!"

"I don't wanna go to the same-" He started to argue, but they just waved him out, too impatient to drive all the way to another location. He walked in, embarrassed look on his face. His arms waved slightly as he spoke to the lady, and it wasn't long before he had returned for the second time.

"See, easy." Kris said harshly as he grabbed everything the other man was carrying.

"What did you tell her?" Xiumin asked curiously.

"I just said that all my idiot friends saw what I bought and decided they wanted some too." Looking back at Sehun still fighting to get his hands on the candy, he added, "Which isn't entirely inaccurate." Looking down at the screen again, she smiled with relief as the trial was cleared.

"Alright, I think we're getting the hang of this."