Heated Arguments
Clairvoyance
N POV~
"You know... I sort of miss Maia." He pouts as he takes a bite of his bacon. Their playful bickering had ended a few minutes before as they all focused on breakfast.
"But she had class." Soomi sighed. "Unfortunately that's important and I had to make her go."
"Could you two sound any more pathetic?" AJ rolls his eyes and N gives him a hostile glare, contemplating frisbee-ing his plate at his head. Too bad it would probably hit Kiseop...
"I swear to god Jaeseop, keep up the attitude and I'll-" N's threat was cut short by the front door bursting open, causing a collective scream of surprise and Soomi to fall off of Soohyun's lap. He bends down and helps her up, checking her over for injuries before sitting her back on his lap, tending to a hip she hurt in her fall.
"What the actual ?!" Maia shouted as she marched into the living room to see everyone seated around several now spilled breakfasts. "You're all here without me!"
"How did you get in here?!" Hongbin shouted, trying to recover from some strange heart attack he must have had. N giggled at his friends's reactions.
"Soomi gave me a Key." Maia shrugs and sits down next to said friend, stealing some toast off of Kiseop's plate.
"I see you're putting the emergency key to good use." N chuckles and snuggles against Leo. Leo was more quiet than usual. It was sort of worrying N. He was going to have to question him about it.
"Hey. She needed it." Soomi shrugs and nuzzles Soohyun's cheek as he continues to rub her sore hip.
"Hey. I'm cool with it." N shrugs and smiles. "I'd like to officially invite you to our family, Maia."
"Hell yeah." Maia grins and shoves playfully at Kiseop before stealing his bacon. It always left N with a profound sense of pride and satisfaction when his chosen family grows. These were all people he trusted with his life. All people he would die for. And this was amazing to him.
Leo POV~
"Does Hakyeon have some weird thing about collecting people?" Ken questions after N welcomes the girl to their family. Leo could answer. He knews why N does it. N builds their family because he's afraid to be alone. Sometimes he still has nightmares about watching his family die, their shrine burn to the ground. He welcomes new additions because he wants to make up for not being able to rescue his parents.
Leo doesn't say anything though. He just pulls N closer, still struggling with the insecurities from his dreams. He'd be lost without the tanned man on his lap.
"Hey. If he didn't, we'd be at home with our relatives being treated like circus side shows." Ravi elbows his boyfriend and Ken blushes. Leo ignores the chatter, tuning them out as he kisses N's shoulder blade before pressing his forehead to the spot his lips had connected with. If he could help it, he'd never let N go.
"Oh. I heard something weird while I was at school." Leo almost didn't hear Maia. He had been falling asleep, comforted by N's presence. "Apparently people have been going camping in the mountains lately and not returning. Like six people from my university. A girl named Gia and her boyfriend just went missing over the weekend. They never came home and nobody can contact them. That's actually why I came over. Since nobody can answer a damn phone."
"." N groans and leans into Leo. "That's where the potential Wendigo sightings were being made. Taek... Think we can handle i-"
"NO!" Leo shouts, covering N's mouth with his hand so he can't finish his sentence. "No..." he repeats, calmer than the first time, lowering his hand. He wouldn't risk N's life for this. He already made that mistake once with the hell hound. It wasn't happening again.
"We'll do it." Hyuk stand up and Leo sighs in relief. Good. Maybe N wouldn't fight him over this.
Hyuk POV~
"Say what?" Hongbin didn't seem to be agreeing with his train of thought. But Hyuk was determined to take this chance to contribute just a bit more to their cause.
"Taekwoon, we'll have the best chance." N tries to argue. Hyuk can see a look of panic tainting Leo's stoic facade.
"Hakyeon... No..." Leo's voice was quiet, pleading.
"Hakyeon. Hongbin and I have the best chance. You two are still too weak to take that thing on if it really is a Wendigo." Hyuk shakes his head, refusing to back down. "We're going."
"Hongbin..." N looks at Hongbin for help. Hyuk's boyfriend looks ready to agree with N. Well. Until Hyuk leaned over and whispered a promise of congratulatory fun in the back of the van once their mission was over.
"I'm sorry Hakyeon. But the boys are right. You two aren't strong enough. We'll do it. Right now." Hongbin was already getting up and trying to drag Hyuk out of the house.
"If you dirty the van you two are cleaning it this time!" N warns, glaring at them from his seat on Leo.
"Yeah sure whatever." Hongbin rolls his eyes and Hyuk laughs as Soomi and her group stand.
"Leaving" Ravi questions and Soomi nods towars Maia.
"I have to get her back to school or her parents won't let her hang out with us anymore." She explains and Maia blushes but smiles, clearly not regretting her decision to skip class.
Hongbin POV~
Soomi and the others follow them into the cafe and Hyuk said goodbye while Hongbin gathered supplies. Lots of flamey things. Wendigos hated fire. It would buy them time and safety if needed. Besides that, they needed silver weapons. The only things that could kill a wendigo.
"I went ahead and pulled the van around." Hyuk walks up beside him in the supply closet, preparing a first aide kit. "We about ready to go?"
"Yeah..." Hongbin faked a smile. Honestly Wendigos scared the frick out of him but he wasn't about to admit that he'd never be ready and ruin his alone time with Hyuk.
"Good. We have a long drive." Hyuk helped him get the supplies to the van and they started to drive. Hongbin reached over to hold Hyuk's hand, wanting to calm his nerves.
"Sanghyuk..." He doesn't look at his boyfriend, hating to admit his own weaknesses.
"Hongbin. I know you're scared." Hyuk interrupts his silent plea with a gentle squeeze of his hand. "I already have a plan. We find Gia and her boyfriend and then you get them to the van while I take on the wendigo. You hopefully won't even have to come near it."
"But Hyukkie..." Hongbin felt guilty. His boyfriend was willing to heighten his danger levels just to keep Hongbin a little safe. It wasn't fair that Hongbin was having a hard time wanting to disagree to it.
"That's our plan Hongbin." Hyuk whispered and the look on his face told Hongbin it would be useless to argue anyway.
Ravi POV~
The house seemed oddly empty after the morning chaos. The two couples remaining in the living room sat in awkward silence, not sure what to say. After everyone left N had yelled at Leo for a while about letting Hyuk and Hongbin do something so dangerous. Even said if something went wrong that he would never forgive him.
Now Ravi and Ken were cleaning up the spilled breakfasts. N sat on the couch while Leo stayed in his chair, a crushed look on his face. Nobody had spoken since their fight had ended. Nobody knowing how to break the silence formed by such harsh words.
"So what's a Wendigo?" Ken finally questions, his voice seeming way too loud in their mute settings. Honestly, Ravi had wondering the same thing.
"Hell..." Was Leo's soft answer as he stood, wincing in pain, before retreating to his room, slamming the door behind him. Ravi watched N flinch at the noise and look out the window, trying to hide the storm of emotions displayed on his face.
"A wendigo is a creature that was once human." N's voice was monotonous, like someone reciting from a text book. "The lore on how they're created varies. One theory is that a proud warrior sold their soul to protect their people and once their job is done they go mad, turn to the woods an eventually change. Another theory is someone whom loses their humanity through a combination of black magic and cannibalism. The third theory is a variation of the second. A group gets lost in the harsh elements of the wilderness. With no hope of rescue they turn to cannibalism and slowly turn into the wendigo. The wendigo itself is tall and thin, long sharp teeth, glowing eyes, and animal like claws. They're incredibly fast and can mimic voices to lure in victims. They're afraid of fire and can be killed with silver." Ravi feels an involuntary shiver travel down his spine as his mind goes wild imagining what the creature looked like.
"That sounds horrifying." Ravi whispers. He sees Ken nod in agreement, a worried look on his face, and pulls him into a hug.
"Will Sanghyuk and Hongbin be okay?" Ken questions, leaning into Ravi's chest. He could feel Ken's heartbeat quick against his own.
"They're strong and smart. I know they'll be fine." Ravi reassures Ken, kissing his forehead. "I believe in them."
"They better be..." N types something on his phone and then stands. "Because if they aren't... You two can have their room because I'll need mine back." He recieves a text and reads it. "I'm going out." He was gone before either of them could argue that he wasn't well enough to leave.
Ken POV~
"Maybe he just needs to calm down..." Ravi sounded hopeful. Ken wishes he could believe it too. But his phone lit up in his pocket and he knew who it had to be that was texting him.
"If he is, he's doing it with Byoungjun..." Ken pulled the phone out and stared down at the text from Daehwan.
'Byoungjun left to get Hakyeon. He said they had a hunt to do.' He read the words and handed the phone to Ravi, shaking his head.
"." Ravi handed the phone back and looked at Leo's bedroom door. "We have to tell him... He'd kill us if we didn't..."
"I'll do it..." Ken sighs and enters to room. "Taekwoon... Hakyeon is going after the wendigo." He holds out his phone and Leo takes it, reading the message for confirmation before promptly destroying it against the wall.
(Thanks to my amazing dongsaeng for giving me an idea that sparked the beginning of this chapter <3 I love you~
I have reached over 50 subs. Should I do something special for you spectacular individuals? Maybe a chapter revealing bits of their past from before they were all together?)
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