Minseok is in the middle of being quite happily asleep, dreaming dreams of rainbows and unicorns and fluffy pink bunnies, when he's very rudely awakened by a hand shaking roughly at his shoulder.

    "Gege!" A familiar voice hisses, sounding stiff and uncomfortable. "Please wake up! I just saw a ghost and it was real it really happened please save me."

    Confused, Minseok blinks his eyes open, squinting into the darkness to try and make out a face. "Tao?" He guesses after a good minute of absolute failure. It's a safe bet, he thinks sleepily, since the voice has a very distinctive accent and Zitao is, of course, himself.

    "Well that's just rude," the voice replies, sounding put out but no less nervous. "Seriously can we turn on a light? I think it might've followed me. I'm Yixing," he adds when Minseok doesn't immediately respond.

    For just a moment, Minseok allows himself to be stuck. Zitao waking him up in the middle of the night to fight off ghosts or try and crawl into bed with him (and hog his blankets; evil child) is a pretty regular occurrence. Jongin sometimes does the same, when he's had too much sugar before bed and Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo decide to punish him for it. Yixing, on the other hand, is completely new. Still, it's not the first time that Minseok's been called upon for such a situation, so he readily reaches over and turns on the lamp sitting on his bedside table before throwing the covers off of himself and sitting up.

    Yixing hovers next to the bed, expression anxious and hands clenched into fists at his side. As soon as Minseok stands up, Yixing latches on to him instead, clutching his arm and nearly pulling him towards the bedroom door.

    "I know it seems stupid," he admits as Minseok opens the door only to pause when he realizes that he doesn't know where he's going. "But I swear it wasn't a dream - I was getting some water in the kitchen and suddenly this thing popped out of the wall and I looked at it and it looked at me - and it glowed, ge! - and then I ran away because it was scary."

    The living room and kitchen are both bathed in darkness, but Minseok strains his eyes in that direction anyways, not really expecting to see anything but willing to try. 

    "Are you sure you weren't asleep?" Minseok asks when nothing jumps out at him, finally turning his head to look at Yixing instead. His face is shadowed by the lamplight behind them, but Minseok can see how hard his teeth are tugging anxiously at his bottom lip, how his eyes keep darting towards the direction of the kitchen even though the door separating it from the rest of the house is probably closed. He's practically quivering next to Minseok, his hands shaking as they grip onto Minseok's arm, and Minseok realizes that, dream or not, it doesn't matter. Yixing will inevitably make him search the entire house for a ghost that doesn't exist, and then will probably ask to sleep in his bed for the remainder of the night. Minseok surreptitiously glances back towards his nightstand, where his alarm clock is flashing 1am. Morning. Whatever.

    "Yes," Yixing answers, looking at Minseok firmly. For a second, his eyes flick towards the kitchen before they meet Minseok's once more. "I would've noticed if I'd run to your room from mine, and anyways if I'd been asleep I probably would've just jumped into Jongdae's bed - he hasn't moved into Luhan's old room yet." The look Yixing is giving Minseok is imploring, and Minseok can see how much he needs to be believed, for some justification that he's not crazy. So, patting Yixing's hand on his arm placatingly, Minseok begins walking blindly through the living room with his dongsaeng trailing hesitantly behind.

    It's second nature that keeps Minseok from running into things, having lived in the apartment for so long that he doesn't need the light on to move around. They make it to the kitchen door with Minseok having only stubbed his pinky toe once, and Minseok takes a moment to congratulate himself on a job well done. Yixing doesn't seem to be in celebratory mood, however, pulling once on Minseok's arm as if trying to move him away from the door - even though the only reason Minseok is there in the first place is because of him - before he takes a deep breath and mumbles "Please don't let it get me." 

    Minseok isn't sure if Yixing is asking him specifically, or if he's praying. "It'll be fine," he says regardless, pushing open the kitchen door and leading Yixing inside. As expected, the kitchen is devoid of any glowing things. Minseok takes a moment to let that sink in for Yixing - feels Yixing's fingers digging almost painfully into his skin and hears his breathing steadily become more rabid the longer they stare into the dark kitchen - before Minseok finally decides to reach over and flip the switch for the overhead light. Immediately the kitchen is bathed in a warm fluorescent glow, still looking quite normal, though vaguely Minseok notices that Jongdae didn't do the dinner dishes like he's promised.

    Minseok knows from his experiences with Zitao that the thing not to do right now is say something like 'see, nothing's there', because then it seems like he never believed there was a ghost in the first place. Not that he really did, but Yixing doesn't have to know that. Zitao never does, after all, and neither does Jongin. "Do you still want water?" He says instead, looking over at Yixing quizzically. 

    Yixing looks abnormally pale in the light, his eyes wide and a few beads of sweat clinging to his forehead. He's still shivering and it takes him a moment to respond, but Minseok is willing to wait for Yixing's breathing to become a little more steady before repeating the question. "Yeah," Yixing answers, though he makes no move to let Minseok go. It's hard for Minseok to be patient when he's still so tired, but he manages not to sigh as he leads Yixing into the kitchen and begins preparing a glass of water with the hand that isn't currently being imprisoned by Yixing's grip. Yixing does have to let go eventually though, to grab his glass because Minseok draws the line at putting the damned thing to his lips.

    Regardless of Minseok's slight irritation, watching the way Yixing grips the cup with both hands and looks around the kitchen nervously is absolutely adorable, and before Minseok realizes what he's doing he's already begun to smile at his dongsaeng fondly. He has to resist the urge to reach over and pat Yixing's head like he's a child.

    "You can sleep in my bed tonight," Minseok tells him as Yixing gently places the cup in the sink. "If you want." Yixing nods silently, and when he turns back around he's cheeks are the sweetest shade of pink and he can't quite seem to meet Minseok's eyes.

    "I probably seem pathetic," Yixing mutters, shoulders slumping even as he grabs onto Minseok's wrist for protection.

    "Not at all," Minseok promises seriously, beginning the slow trek of leading Yixing out of the room. When he glances back where Yixing is huddled up behind him, he looks unconvinced, so Minseok adds "it's only pathetic if you cry" and is rewarded by a small smile. He turns off the kitchen light and closes the door without incident, and every step they take through the living room towards the sanctuary of Minseok's room causes Yixing's grip on Minseok to lessen just a little more, until he lets go of Minseok completely in the doorway to his room and instead hurries to get into bed. 

    Minseok moves to close his door, and hesitates when he sees something move out of the corner of his eye, near the couch. He turns to look, but it's just as dark as dark and silent as it should be - he shouldn't let other people's imaginations get to him - so he shuts the door softly and moves across the room to fall into bed next to Yixing. He turns off the lamp and settles beneath the covers, Yixing curling naturally into his side.

    It doesn't take either of them long to fall back asleep.

    Minseok is woken up by a small thump. His first instinct is to feel for Yixing, but Yixing is still in bed with him, pressed against his side and snoring softly into his shoulder. Confused, Minseok lifts his head off the pillow and opens his eyes, only for them to widen a moment later.

    There's a human shape standing in front of the far wall, faceless but luminescent, and Minseok has the eery feeling that it's staring right at him.

    It's a glowing thing.

    "Oh," he breathes, heart rate beginning to pick up for every silent second wasted, him staring at it, it staring at him. He has the strongest urge to throw the blankets over his and Yixing's heads, as though it would do any good. He also kind of wants to scream, has to clench his teeth together to keep from doing just that. The seconds continue to add up, both human and ghost frozen, until finally, after far too long, the figure turns around and walks through the wall. 

    With the spell broken, Minseok moves, scrambling to turn on the lamp, to get out of the darkness. Yixing mumbles as Minseok leans away from him, says something in Mandarin that Minseok doesn't think he'd be able to understand even if his brain wasn't currently screaming at him to get the light on for the love of God someone save him! His hand hits the chain hanging off of the lamp and his closes his fist around it, tugging it back on and breathing a sigh of relief when light suddenly illuminates the bedroom.

    He looks around wildly, head swinging on his shoulders as he makes sure that it hasn't come back, that they're alone again, and finds himself sighing in relief a second time when it appears to be so. Only after he's sure, absolutely sure, does he look down at Yixing. 

    It's lucky, he thinks, that Yixing didn't wake up. At least one of them isn’t currently trying to squash down a panic attack.

    Trembling, Minseok sits up fully, takes as many deep breaths as he needs to before finally, finally, beginning to calm down. He lies his head back on the pillow, turning to face Yixing and pulling him into a much needed embrace. Yixing mumbles something again, his eyelashes flutter, but then he simply presses his nose into Minseok's collarbone and lets out a quiet snore.

    With the light still on, Minseok closes his eyes and tries his best to go back to sleep. 

Luckily, he's still wide awake five minutes later when someone - probably Zitao - lets out a shrill scream from the bathroom. Yixing's eyes pop open and he sits up, bringing Minseok with him and whimpering anxiously. "What was that?" He asks, looking at Minseok with wide eyes.

    Before Minseok can answer, the bedroom door bursts open and Jongdae runs in, throwing himself onto the bed and letting out another terrified cry. "You won't ing believe what I just saw when I was peeing! Oh my god it was horrible, hyung, don't make me go back out there!"

    Minseok sighs, pulling Jongdae into his lap and petting his hair comfortingly as the younger boy begins crying pitifully into his chest. Yixing huddles in close to them, muttering something about someone closing the door, please. From his nightstand, Minseok's phone begins ringing. He stops petting Jongdae long enough to answer it.

    "Gege someone screamed come get me," Zitao hissed, sounding near tears.

    "It was Jongdae." Minseok sighed, patting said man on the comfortingly on the back before adding "I'll be there as soon as I can."

    Stuck with three terrified bandmates and a rampaging glowing thing, Minseok thinks it's going to be a long night. Maybe they’ll go bother the K members.