Hell and Back (EXO x Reader)

Sour (Trials 17-18)

Word count: 1605

Chapter warnings: Mild themes

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"You're next, Kai." Suho reminded him as Chanyeol tried to keep from shivering at the glue sliding down his neck and upper chest.

"I know."

"That's why he wants to go so quickly." Kris laughed. "He's getting antsy."

"I just think Chanyeol's being a baby." Kai explained, the other boy too busy wallowing in his own discomfort to complain at the jab. "Anyway, click my name, what's the trial?"

"Calm down, calm down," Y/N held up her hand. "Just wait a second-" She did as he asked, clicking through the apps as he moved to stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder to observe the screen. Picking his name, she watched it load up. Reading it aloud in a low voice, he said,

"Put lemon juice in your eyes." He said with a stare.

"That doesn't sound too bad," Y/N started, earning her a slight elbow in the side from Tao. "What?" He tilted his head towards Kai, drawing her attention to his face. He had completely zoned out, staring through the screen as he assumedly contemplated the challenge.

"Oh... why is he so... out of it? I mean, it might sting, but-" She asked in a hush.

"He's had problems with his eyes forever." Tao explained, trying to keep his voice down as well. "He's had eyelid surgeries, complications with it, I'm pretty sure his vision isn't that great either, I know he has glasses."

"Glasses? Why haven't I ever seen him with-"

"He prefers contacts." Tao continued. "It's strange how the trials have been lining up on occasion, though. I can't assume these are all accidents."

"There's not much we can do..."

"Hey, Kai," Xiumin walked over, lightly trying to tap him out of his trance, "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. You can drop out."

"Yeah," Y/N tried to support him, covering up her earlier comment. "The fee is gonna be six f-" As she started to say that, she realized that she was wrong. "Um... actually, it's $700?" Kyungsoo took the worst to this information, immediately moving over between her and Kai to look at the screen.

"What? Why? Why did the rate change? What happened to the $50 margin?"

"Hey, man, she doesn't know," Kris pushed him lightly. "None of us know."

"It's fine, we have bottled lemon juice at the dorms." Kai cut in.

"It's not a big deal, Kai," Sehun started to say, reaching out to try and comfort him. "We can always finish the trials on our-"

"I said it's fine!" Kai shouted at him, batting his hand away with a strong flick of his wrist, surprising the boy. "It's fine. Let's just go." Silently, Kai shut the car door, basically forcing everyone to get in under threat of his anger. Kris seemed a bit annoyed, but willing to drive back to the dorms. As they did this, she recalled what Luhan had mentioned about the trials becoming tedious. He wasn't wrong, but what else was there to do?

Pulling back in, Kai was then the first out of the car. He walked into the dorms far ahead of the rest of the group, not allowing any time for them to catch up. By the time they had all collectively gathered in the dorms again, he was already rummaging through the fridge.

"Kai, we don't-" Suho tried to slow him down, but he was already gripping the tiny, yellow patterned plastic bottle.

"Shut up." Unscrewing the cap, he moved his left hand to force open his eyelids.