9:45 am

“Dae will need someone to take her home as she is underage. For the rest of you, we are not holding you back. You are free to go. Don’t get into any trouble.” Haruka waved to you, Yunho, Jaejoong, and Yoochun. Your parents hadn’t been contacted. The four of you made a slow escape from the building that had imprisoned you for over 24 hours. When you were finally far away, you all turned your backs and gazed at the place. You were all taking in the fact that you were all in the criminal database. Taking in that Changmin was dead. That they were always going to watch you. Taking in that with you was a man that Jaejoong had rejected.

Yoochun and Jaejoong stood on either side of you, each with a hand holding yours, and walked at a steady pace. Yunho followed closely behind, but he knew that he was being ignored. Yoochun didn’t really mind and Jaejoong was trying to dismiss his presence. Yunho didn’t want to get on Jaejoong’s nerves, but he really didn’t know the streets of Seoul that well. He was just going to wait until Yoochun and Jaejoong split up because he knew that Yoochun was more willing to help him. He was stealthily keeping up with them and not making a ruckus until he ended up tripping and yelling loudly. Jaejoong spun on the spot and snapped at him. “Why are you still following us?”

Yunho couldn’t tolerate the random exclusion. “Why are you rejecting me but not Yoochun?” Jaejoong waved his hands like he couldn’t believe Yunho was asking him such a question.

“I know how you think Yunho. You like to be the one in the spotlight and with this nightmare crap you are getting the chance to show off.” Yunho sullenly lowered his head.

He mumbled words that were almost unheard between the four of you. “It’s not like that.” He avoided directly looking at Jaejoong and took a sudden interest with the ground he was sitting on. “I don’t like being in NIGHTMARE just as much as the rest of you. Don’t take it the wrong way.”

Jaejoong scoffed and shook his head. He did not believe a single word Yunho said. “I’m sure you were jumping with joy when you saw that you had risen in rank. You are like that Jung; you like to be the best.” Yoochun tapped Jaejoong’s shoulder.

“Actually, Haruka told me that the ranks changed again. Changmin and Amara took the lowest ranks and then it is Dae, Erika, Haruka, Junsu, me, Yunho, -------, then you. It changed around somewhat.” Jaejoong was staring at Yoochun coldly, like, why had he brought it up? “I’m just saying, he isn’t number two anymore.”

“Whatever. I know that when you learned of your rank before you acted like a complete jerk. Do you need the attention that much?” Jaejoong scowled in Yunho’s direction. Yunho was ashamed and he wanted to clear up the misunderstanding.

“That’s not how I really am.” His words came out in a whisper. “You don’t understand what is really happening.” Jaejoong let his head lean down in a questioning glance. He wasn’t so angry that he wouldn’t give Yunho a chance to explain himself. He knew that it was wrong to only accept the first impression. He let Yunho win him over. “I do a lot of sport, u-know, and I’m good at them and all, but my parents expect me to be number one at everything I do. I don’t really want to think that way, but that has been engraved into my thought process since I was young. I’m not looking forward to the nightmares as a way to show off, I just happen to give the nightmares my all because that was how I was raised. It feels like I am letting myself and the ones around me down when I don’t do my best. I just happen to like feeling proud of myself and receiving praise. Is that really so bad?”

Jaejoong stuck his tongue out while thinking. Yoochun rolled his eyes and squeezed your hand to make sure you were okay. He didn’t like that Jaejoong was ignoring you momentarily. It was practically Jaejoong’s duty to stay by your side. Yoochun wanted Jaejoong to wrap up his stupid rant so they could go.

“Sorry Yunho, but I still find you to be too dangerous. I don’t want you near us.” Yunho was speechless. He was excluded by a person that was babying a crazy girl? How was he dangerous compared to you? In his eyes Jaejoong didn’t make sense.

“So toy are you are just throwing me away? Just like that? Am I really that untrustworthy? You have a messed up way of thinking!” Jaejoong turned around and wrapped his arm over your shoulder and pulled you into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry Yunho; I’ve said this before, outside of NIGHTMARE, we are strangers. When we are there we can be best friends for all I care, but here that just isn’t possible. Please try to understand.” Jaejoong carried you and Yoochun along. Yoochun turned his head around and shouted back at Yunho.

“The station is five streets the right and one block over! Hurry, it gets bust around lunch time!”

2:39 pm

You used your testy self control to not punch your father in the face. You wanted to say he was over reacting and you really hadn’t done anything wrong. You wanted to point out that you had been cleared of suspicious charges and they weren’t even going to bring you to court. You wanted to point out it wasn’t your first time to be arrested anyway. Mostly you wanted to take an ax to his face for yelling so much. He was the one that really needed to work on his self control. Mental cases ran in your family.

Your mother was having a good day and wasn’t treating you like crap. She did that whenever her husband was on the verge of a heart attack from strenuous vocal activities. She couldn’t take his harsh accusing words just as much as you. In times like this you were comrades in a lost war. You still wanted to shove her face in a door for being so ing messed up. She was really letting the house go.

Why were the walls peeling? When did they ever get maggots as pets? What part of ‘I’ve been arrested’ makes the house seem festive? You didn’t like the way everything was going. So many things had changed in the time you were gone. Impossible things happened that you had an easy time accepting. It was perfectly normal for the sky to be dark in the middle of the day. That wasn’t a house fire; someone was just smoking the walls. Godzilla did not just eat those commuters. Whatever, it wasn’t your problem. Your real problem was what were you going to eat? You were so hungry, like you hadn’t eaten in days.

Oh god, Changmin.

**********************************

Jaejoong is able to guess how Yunho acts because he is someone that is interested in psychology and sociology and he is majoring in whatever that would be called. He doesn’t like anything to do with NIGHTMARE so when he thinks that Yunho likes to a high rank he feels the need to push him away. He lets his feelings cloud his judgment and he isn’t able to properly see why Yunho acts the way he does. Yunho’s pressure from his parents was really what made his last nightmare so frightening for him. He had the expectations weighing down on him and he couldn’t handle the similar pressure that he had from his parents. Sorry for making Jaejoong seem like such an here. And -------- no longer sees things as a scary image that isn’t real. Everything is just messed up and she sees the world wrong. *officially crazy* her visions are horror and psychological mental attacks.

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