A/N: My apologies in the form of a special chapter. We need a small break from all the dramas, no?

He hadn’t even reached his fifth step through the school gate when shudder ran down his spine. Flashing a bewildered look, Nam Woohyun snapped his head to study his environment, nimble fingers clutching to the strap of his bag tightly as his eyes darted around. He had a bad feeling that bad news was about to happen and his intuition is something he would never disregard.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he took tentative steps into the school building with his back hunched slightly; eyes keep darting left and right for any incoming attacks (or some sort. He might have a few loose screws since he didn’t really get a good sleep last night). And despite his great defense, he still jumped a feet off the ground when Myungsoo poked his back.

            “Goodness gracious, Kim Myungsoo. Are you trying to kill me?!” Woohyun barked at the other male. Myungsoo simply let his hand hang in the air as he blinked.

            “But I was only greeting you though,” the slightly younger male frowned, taking his hand to shove it into his pocket. “Anyway, have you seen the notice board? Congratulations.”

            “Congratulations?” Woohyun repeated the other’s word. His head tipped slightly to the side as confusion was clearly etched upon his face. A corner of Myungsoo’s lips tugged up into a small smirk before it broke into a suspiciously innocent smile.

“Go and see it for yourself!”

Woohyun didn’t expect anything when Myungsoo pushed him towards the notice board direction.

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Woohyun definitely didn’t expect anything. Especially being chosen as a committee member for the horror night special.

The event was told to take place tomorrow, which would be Saturday, at 8 PM—and most probably it would end up at midnight. He didn’t mind the time, but what bothered him more was the fact that committee members must stay behind at school, and chances are they might have to spend the night at school.

            “Halloween is over like months ago and it’s almost valentine, and the school is actually holding this?!” Woohyun screeched as he restrained himself from clawing at the notice board.

            “Mhm. I heard the student representative decided to make this event for the shy couples—or any couples, really—and those who love the adrenaline,” Dongwoo said with a light laugh. The idea seemed to amuse him ever since he first heard of it.

            “Did they actually mention about this before?” Woohyun turned his gaze to the male beside him.

            “They did. The registration ended two days ago, if I’m not mistaken,” Dongwoo tapped his chin, eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought.

            “But I didn’t—“

            “But anyway, congratulations, Woohyun. Apparently you will have to spend more time at school for the preparations as well,” Dongwoo laughed as he slung an arm around the other male’s shoulder.

Woohyun blinked at the mention of ‘as well’ before returning his gaze back at the announcement attached on the board. There were about 20 students who were assigned to be in charge of the event, and he recognized seven specific names, if his own name is to be included. He noticed how the names were listed upon the registration date instead of alphabetically.

And that’s when he realized that it wasn’t his bad luck playing on him.

            “Dongwoo…” Woohyun said before he turned to face said guy with a forced smile, words spilled out through gritted teeth. “Who signed me up on this?”

An awkward laugh escaped Dongwoo’s throat, his hand sliding down to hold Woohyun’s waist before he patted the latter’s lower back as a weak attempt to calm the obviously fuming male.

            “Cross my heart, it wasn’t me,” Dongwoo said as he patted his chest with his free hand.

            “And me neither,” Hoya piped up from behind. Both Dongwoo and Woohyun glanced back to see Hoya striding over with Myungsoo next to him.

The two turned to face the newcomers properly, Dongwoo’s hand still rested comfortably around Woohyun. Hoya simply raised an eyebrow at the skinship between the two before shaking his head to snap out of it.

            “I actually just heard about it from this guy here,” Hoya pointed at the grinning Myungsoo. The latter seemed to be too ecstatic for his own good, and hence he quickly lifted his hands up in a defensive manner when he saw Woohyun glowering at him.

            “Whoa, whoa, calm down! I actually signed up for myself,” he emphasized, “when I first heard about the event! But then Sungyeol suddenly came over—“

            “And let me guess, he signed all of us up?” Dongwoo smiled in empathy as Myungsoo nodded rapidly.

            “Well, of course I was the one who told him to go ahead and write your names… But it wasn’t me who wrote them down, so forgive me!” Myungsoo whined as he went down on his knees, clutching onto Woohyun’s pants. The other male simply stared ahead with an empty smile.

Hoya blinked at the lack of response from Woohyun. He could guess that the latter was too upset by it that even words failed him, but then again Nam Woohyun was practically the most patient person he has ever encountered in his life. ‘There’s no way a small thing like this would affect him that much,’ Hoya thought, until he saw Woohyun’s hands trembling slightly. Realization started to sink into him.

            “Uh… Woohyun,” Hoya started carefully, not wanting to elicit any unwanted reaction. “Could it be that… you’re easily scared?”

The way Woohyun jolted and snapped his head to look at him with glassy eyes was more than enough for Hoya to know.

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            “Not exactly easily scared, I mean, you know how I managed to handle blood and all,” Woohyun sighed as the four of them walked down the hallway. The assigned students were exempted from class activities, as they have to help out decorating the whole school building.

            “Then?” Dongwoo tipped his head to the side slightly.

            “I just hate—no, loathe the jumpscares,” Woohyun muttered bitterly. The other three chorused a long ‘oh’ in respond.

            “Oh, right. If it’s horror maze then obviously—“

            “There would be lots of jumpscares,” Myungsoo finished Dongwoo’s sentence.

            “But then again we’re going to be the committee instead of the participant, so I think you’ll do just well, Woohyun,” Hoya said as he patted the gloomy male’s head.

It was quite a sight, to be honest, for the other three guys. The ever so active Nam Woohyun to be stumped like this. Heck, they haven’t even started decorating and yet Hoya swore he saw shadows looming over Woohyun’s slightly hunched figure. He grimaced at the picture in front of him and nudged Myungsoo’s side gently.

            “I don’t think I like what I’m seeing—despite how interesting it is—but his negativity is starting to give me chills,” Hoya hushed-whispered to Myungsoo.

            “I know. I’m actually feeling the same thing,” Myungsoo said, his shoulders somehow getting heavier by each step he took. “But what to do..?”

            “Uh, Woohyun, you know that aside from playing the ghost role, some committees are supposed to go as pairs to stay in their respective post, right?” Dongwoo started. Woohyun simply blinked at him in response.

            “Don’t you think that there are chances that you would be getting closer to Sunggyu this way? I mean, you can always volunteer to be his partner for this event.”

And just like magic, Woohyun’s expression brightened instantly. The rest of them could practically see his eyes sparkling and a tail wagging excitedly behind him. Myungsoo and Dongwoo cooed at how adorable Woohyun looked while Hoya simply stared at Dongwoo’s hand, which had somehow magically landed on Woohyun’s .

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            “Huh? Partner up with you?” Sunggyu blinked in surprise before tipping his head slightly to the side. “Well, I guess that would be alright?”

            “W-well, you don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to,” Woohyun trailed off as his gaze went to Sunggyu’s sneakers instead.

Sunggyu stared at Woohyun’s (obviously) sulking look for a few seconds before he let out a rather loud snort and quickly looked away. Woohyun looked at him as if he wanted to skin the other alive—hey, Woohyun might be holding a mere scissors, but in the wrong hand it could be a very lethal weapon—before Sunggyu waved it off quickly.

            “I’m sorry, you’re just… cute,” Sunggyu grinned sheepishly, shifting his weight from one foot to another as he played with the hammer in his hand.

            “But anyway, sure. I will be your partner. Catch you later, Woohyun-ah,” Sunggyu smiled before padding off towards the end of the hallway, helping a small number of guys in setting up a panel.

Woohyun could only stand frozen in his spot, Sunggyu’s voice kept replaying inside his mind like a broken record. It took him a few seconds to snap out of the countless rewinds of “cute” before sauntering away happily, leaving a scowling Sungjong staring at his disappearing figure.

            “Just what’s with the atmosphere today,” Hoya furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed his nape, goosebumps running up his skin when he felt his surrounding getting even colder by each second.

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            “So, Myungsoo and I will be paired together, Hoya with Dongwoo, Sunggyu and Woohyun…” Sungyeol trailed off before he turned to look at Sungjong who had somehow found a corner for him to loom at. “… And you want to be one of the ghosts?”

            “Mhm, since apparently no one remembered me when they’re suddenly looking for partners,” Sungjong crossed his arms over his chest, his surrounding turning impossibly darker.

‘Sorry,’ Woohyun thought as he eyed Sungjong with an awkward smile. He was well aware that the glare had been directed towards him the whole time, but oh well. Woohyun had been the first one to ask Sunggyu after all.

            “I don’t want to say this, but even without any special makeup or decoration he might do a great job sending chills down people’s spine,” Hoya whispered. Dongwoo let out an awkward chuckle while Myungsoo thwacked his head in respond.

            “Shut it. If his glare shifted to us I might piss my pants,” Myungsoo muttered lowly, earning a soft snicker from Sunggyu, who apparently have heard their little conversation.

            “Alright, I’ll be giving the data to the head committee. Feel free to take a break, by the way. It’s almost 6, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels hungry here,” Sungyeol smiled sheepishly before he strode away. Myungsoo perked up at the mention of ‘hungry’ and followed Sungyeol almost immediately; his instinct had never been wrong whenever it screamed out ‘incoming free food’.

The remaining five stood in silence before Sungjong pushed himself off from the place he had been leaning on and waved dismissively at them.

            “I’ll be looking for the other students who play the role of the ghost. The rest of you should find a nice spot, you know,” Sungjong hummed before glancing back at the four. “Because I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want to be stuck in the fourth floor by yourselves. I heard there would be only one post in that level.”

And just like that, the two pairs immediately scurried away to check for the route map of the event.

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            “You okay there, Woohyun?”

Woohyun winced slightly, but then he nodded before taking the hand Sunggyu offered to him, letting the latter to pull him off the ground. Apparently the other committees heard about the whole ‘only one post in the fourth floor’ issue and they all raced towards the head committee to claim their respective position.

Both Sunggyu and Woohyun definitely didn’t expect the hoard of students coming from their back before Woohyun was suddenly shoved away by the football team captain and twisted his ankle when he tried to balance himself.

            “I seriously thought a hoard of bulls just passed by, really. They were practically storming over! I mean, did you feel the ground shaking beneath you?” Sunggyu said as he animatedly flail his arms.

Woohyun blinked at Sunggyu. ‘Has he always been this talkative before?’ The thought crossed his mind before he noticed the hint of worry flashing inside his eyes. A small smile graced his lips when he finally understood Sunggyu’s motive.

            “Please, Gyu. You’re not the one who got barreled over by a train,” Woohyun sighed as he placed a hand over his chest in a dramatic manner. “If that was Titanic hitting the iceberg, I’m sure the iceberg would be the one sinking instead of the ship.”

A soft smile was formed on Sunggyu’s lips when he saw the small grin Woohyun sent him. And yet, the latter’s grin slowly faltered and Woohyun let out a sigh.

            “Sunggyu… If we’re going to be the one staying in the fourth floor then I’m sorry,” Woohyun murmured. Sunggyu raised an eyebrow at him.

            “You’re sorry for being injured? They should be apologizing instead for hurting you,” Sunggyu scoffed.

            “But that was an accident—“

            “Which is the reason why, you should not be apologizing,” Sunggyu said. His gaze softening when his eyes met Woohyun’s, the latter seemed to be lost.

            “Look, Woohyun. If we’re going to be stuck together just the two of us then it’s fine by me. I mean, I definitely won’t be protesting about that,” Sunggyu his lips before he continued. “If I have to be frank, I’m saying that I want to spend some time with you. Alone.”

Woohyun’s eyes widened in surprise and pink started to tint his cheeks. Sunggyu’s lips curved into another smile before he leaned in and brush his lips against the rosy cheek, earning a spluttered reply from Woohyun.

            “Come on, let’s walk you to the infirmary,” Sunggyu chuckled when he saw the flustered male, wrapping an arm around the latter’s waist before pulling Woohyun’s arm over his shoulder.

            “W-well… I want to spend some time alone with you too,” Woohyun muttered under his breath. Sunggyu glanced at him briefly before a fond smile started to climb upon his features.

            “You know, the event would probably end up by midnight. Do you have anything special planned this Sunday?”

            “Not that I know of, no,” Woohyun hummed. “Why?”

            “Oh, nothing,” Sunggyu glanced away as he kept walking. “Just asking.”

Woohyun flashed him an odd look, but Sunggyu simply looked ahead. The small smile still present on his lips.

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Horror night special

Saturday, February 7^th – 20:00

Post #13 (4^th floor) committee(s) in charge: Kim Sunggyu, Nam Woohyun

            “The event would probably end up by midnight. Do you have anything special planned this Sunday?”