Work Text:
sugar daddy 😘, Mr Clean…, baby bear 🐻
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
I'll pick you 2 up in 15
Make sure you're both ready by then <3
And we're leaving by midnight
baby bear 🐻
Where's Hongjoong??
Ignoring us 😒😒
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
He's busy
Busy ignoring us 😒😒😒
baby bear 🐻
All this cause we can't sing on your guide tracks 🙄
YOU BOTH SUCK!!!!
BOOOOOOO
👎👎👎👎👎
baby bear 🐻
womp womp
go find someone else that can sing in our range mangi
BUT BUT
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
Pls don't be fighting when I get there or you'll be out of a designated driver and have to sit at home wallowing about not having enough of a social life during the prime years of your youth.
Yessir 🫡
baby bear 🐻
🫡
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
Good ☺️
Hwa
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
Yes, love?
Do you still have that tide pen?
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
…
Wtf did you do this time???!!
-
“I told you not to show up looking like Troy Bolton!” is the first thing Wooyoung screams at him when he clamors into the passenger seat of Yunho’s car.
“I do not look like Troy Bolton,” Yunho asserts, checking that San has hopped in next to Yeosang before backing out of the parking space, “do you want me to drive you on time, or not?”
“No! I want you to get laid!” Wooyoung cries, exasperated.
“My outfit is perfectly fine,” Yunho humphs.
“Oh sweetheart…” Yunho doesn't need to look over to know Wooyoung is giving him the most diabolical side eye, “you are way too hot to be dressing like this.”
“Thank you?” Yunho isn't sure if that was a compliment.
“Babe, that wasn't a compliment,” Wooyoung answers, “you’re wasting your gorgeous face on the golfer grandpa aesthetic.”
“The what?”
San giggles from the back, “go easy on him, Wooyoung. He's got that church boy flair at least.”
“Excuse me?”
Yeosang coughs, clearly trying to stifle his laughter, “guys please, Yunho’s gonna toss us out.”
Yunho sighs as the others burst into laughter.
After everyone’s insistence that they needed a break after midterms, Yunho somehow got roped into attending a house party. Apparently he was in an especially dire need of a break according to Wooyoung. One that involved getting laid which Yunho definitely wasn’t going to do. He has better things to do than go looking for a one night stand, like looking out for his lightweight friends (San) and the history paper that’s due at the end of the semester that he hasn’t even thought about yet!
Which is why his white button up and dark shorts are a perfectly decent house party fit. It's not like he's going to the club! He's going to chill and have fun with his friends! Besides, he's the driver. He has responsibilities.
Wooyoung on the other hand’s got on something devilish, black with a few buttons too many undone over tight fitting pants. San’s sporting a muscle tee and jeans while Yeosang has on two shirts layered over each other and his own pair of baggier jeans. It strikes Yunho that none of them look like they're going to the same event. He doesn’t think they’ll ever be able to coordinate outfits together. Especially after last Halloween.
Yeosang makes little noises of surprise throughout the drive from what Yunho assumes is San touching him. The two haven’t been together very long. It’s been only about a week or two since San confessed. Yeosang’s been too afraid to make his own moves on San, despite the fact that San’s absolutely smitten. They’re adorable in their own right and Yunho can’t help the small smile that finds its way onto his lips.
Wooyoung, on the other hand, groans and lashes out with a loud, “Can you two get a room?” as Yunho parks the car.
“You'll understand when you fall in love!” San chirps as he holds the door open for Yeosang like Yunho’s 2004 Honda Civic is a luxury limousine.
Yeosang climbs out and takes San’s hand graciously, shielding his reddening face with the other.
“Bullshit!” Wooyoung grumbles as he charges his way out of the passenger side.
Yunho checks that he has all his belongings before following suit. The house they've driven up to is surprisingly large. A huge suburban affair with multiple floors and what was definitely a pool out back judging from all the noise coming from back there. Who exactly was Wooyoung friends with to get them all an invite here?
“Whose party is this again?” Yunho questions.
“I thought I already told you? Like ten times?” Wooyoung snaps, “now if you'll excuse me. I desperately need to be inebriated.”
“Clearly,” Yunho mutters, following after him.
All the crabbiness seems to melt away from Wooyoung’s face the minute he opens the door. He's in his element the second all the sounds of music and chatter flood in, immediately squawking at someone or other to make conversation with. Yeosang grows bold under the dim lights and yanks San somewhere into a crowd of people before he can protest. San’s cherry red face turns to Yunho in panic before he's swept into the music and Yeosang. Yunho chuckles fondly at how his friends had found their places before realizing something a little obvious. He's on his own now. Yeah this is fine. As much as he’d prefer familiar company, he can work with this.
Yunho decides to explore the house. It's frankly humongous. There's a flood of people towards the living room where Yeosang and San disappeared. God knows where Wooyoung went off to, but that's just the way he is, getting swept up in the moment. He thinks he can hear Wooyoung’s raucous laughter from somewhere up the staircase, but every single bone in his body knows better than to go upstairs. He is not doing something he’s going to regret up there.
Yunho wanders away from the living room, past a few couples making out in the kitchen, and out the back door onto an outdoor patio lining a massive swimming pool. Yunho's stunned. There's a whole DJ booth set up, and Yunho can feel the bass thrumming under the floorboards. The crowd out here is just as rowdy, people dancing, singing, pushing each other into the water. The energy’s downright infectious out here.
Under the sparse stars and the thrum of music, Yunho finds himself swaying to the beat of the song. It's natural the way the rhythm picks him up, and he melts away into the song. He lets his eyes slip closed, every muscle in his body losing its tension to the thrum of the music. It’s a goddamn shame he hasn’t felt like this in so long. He’s a dance major for fuck’s sake, but for the past few weeks it’s been nothing but grinding towards perfection. Every practice left him too exhausted to do something for himself.
Every freestyle is like the first time. Dancing for himself and not to be evaluated by someone, blending into the crowd with no expectation of perfection. Too many weeks he’s spent overanalyzing choreography after choreography, drilling moves until he’s perfected them to present the music’s intention. Tonight, every flaw of his movement is laid bare for his eyes only. It’s so freeing. It’s everything he’s ever loved all at once.
His heart hammers against the beat, eyes sliding open under the orange glow of the string lights around the DJ booth. Yunho nearly falters, nearly stops dead in his tracks. Dark eyes rimmed with darker shadows meet his own in the crowd for a moment. Yunho knows a bad idea when he sees one. This one just happens to be wearing black leather and holding a red solo cup while moving his body in ways that should be considered illegal.
There's something about the man that's drawing Yunho in. Maybe it's the rings glimmering on his fingers or the lopsided smile he throws around like it's nothing. He's got an aura, something powerful and numbing and all around magnetic. He's dwarfing everyone else around him, larger than life like some kind of celebrity. Yunho can't help but be caught in his pull.
He keeps it together. Until, of course, Mr. Celebrity decides he wants to saunter over to Yunho’s side of the dancefloor. Cold sweat runs down his back as the man nears him. Yunho is very close to crossing himself before the man opens his mouth. His very pretty mouth. Very pretty kissable mouth.
“Where'd you learn to move like that?” His voice is low, husky.
Yunho’s fucking pathetic. His mouth goes dry immediately. Why does he sound like that ?
“Um. It's my major,” Yunho answers eloquently.
“Sick,” the man replies, “wanna dance with me?”
“Fuck yes,” Yunho tries and fails to sound as breathless as he is.
This is such a bad idea, dancing with some random stranger that looks like a damn rockstar. Yunho is unfortunately not immune to bad ideas or beautiful men in all black dragging him by the collar to another part of the dance floor.
He gets yanked over to the side closer to the pool and falls into step so easily Yunho fears it's a dream. Mr. Rockstar manages to match his timing and energy with his own effortless flair. Yunho’s mesmerized, ears growing hotter with every second. The world fades away, and suddenly it’s just the two of them and the music.
That is, until Yunho’s damn foot slips. His heart promptly drops to his ass. The lovely atmosphere crumbles. He grasps for something, anything, to regain his balance which happens to be Mr. Rockstar’s jacket. The other man lets out a surprised yelp, eyes widening in confusion. He grabs Yunho's arms to hopefully steady him, but it’s far too late for that. Yunho can already feel gravity taking its hold on his body.
The two of them crash into the water with a large splash. Mr. Rockstar’s voice cracks as he screams. It’s the very last noise Yunho expects to hear coming out of the man. The water is fucking freezing. Yunho rushes to the surface, spitting out the tang of chlorine. His heart hammers in his chest, fighting against the icy water to keep his body warm. The other man breaches half a second later with a gasp. His dark hair droops heavily over his eyes, leaving only his plush lips visible beneath. He looks like a husky that got stuck in a fairground dunk tank, and the image sends Yunho into hysterics. He bursts into boisterous laughter against his better judgement. Fuck, this whole situation is so stupid.
Mr. Rockstar gapes at him for a moment before his lips curl into a charming smile. Something flutters in Yunho’s stomach and it only makes him laugh harder.
“O-oh my god!” Mr. Rockstar breathes between his own laughter, “are you okay?”
“Ye-yeah oh my fuck-” Yunho giggles, “are you?”
“Yeah.”
Mr. Rockstar wades over to the edge of the pool and pulls himself up and out. He extends a hand out to Yunho, and Yunho stares at it dumbly before actually taking it and getting out of the pool. The cool night air cuts into him like a knife. His teeth chatter involuntarily. The other man isn't in better shape. He looks down at his soaked to the bone leather jacket and then back at Yunho. His eyes seem to linger somewhere just below his neck.
The man coughs, “let-let's get changed, yeah?” he pulls Yunho’s hand into his own ring clad one..
“Ye-yeah,” Yunho replies in a daze.
Wait a minute- get changed? Like in the house? In the house that this party is in? The massive expensive looking house? Is this Mr. Rockstar’s house? If this is Mr. Rockstar’s house, then…did Yunho just send the host careening into the pool? Well, fuck. There goes his invitation to any future parties.
Before Yunho knows it, he’s been dragged upstairs and into a walk-in closet that looks about the size of his room. The walls are lined with clothes in enough colors and sizes to run a thrift store. Yunho blinks stupidly at all of this. Mr. Rockstar seems unfazed, stripping off his soaked jacket and- woah! Okay! That’s-that’s a lot of skin! Yunho turns away before he sees more that needs to. He’s way too sober to deal with gorgeous beautiful rockstar looking men stripping in front of him.
“Is-is this your closet or something?” Yunho’s ears are on fire.
“Huh-what? Oh no,” it’s not his closet? Thank god, he’s not getting barred from future parties. “This is like a friend of a friend’s brother’s house. I don’t think he minds people stealing his shit, don’t worry. The jacket isn’t even mine.”
What?
“I could stare at your tits longer, but you’re probably freezing,” Mr. Rockstar throws a black t-shirt and sweatpants squarely into Yunho’s face.
Yunho realizes that his drenched white shirt isn't leaving very much to the imagination. Wow. How long has this guy been staring at his tits for? Yunho pulls the fabric off his face.
“What happened to hello, how are you? What’s your name?” Yunho unbuttons his own shirt and starts pulling on the dry shirt, “how drunk are you?”
“Probably like 75.”
“75? Like your blood alcohol level?” What the actual fuck is this guy on about?
“Or 88.”
“What’s this scale even based off of?” Yunho laughs.
He makes the mistake of sneaking a glance behind him. Mr. Rockstar’s lean torso is on full display. He’s yanked a random jacket over his shoulders, and Yunho supposes he’s letting the rest of his top half breathe. Something tells him this guy is a little more than “88” drunk. He doesn’t so much as place his fingers on the waistband of his pants before Yunho whips his head back around so fast he fears he’s going to break his neck. Maybe Wooyoung has a point. Maybe he does need to get laid. So bad. He’s, like, depraved or something.
“Uh, relativity. I think.”
“So that means very,” Yunho slides the sweatpants on.
“No…yes…maybe….” Mr. Rockstar’s confidence is dying on his tongue. Yunho supposes the fun parts of getting drunk are fading along with the gall.
Yunho chances another glance to find Mr. Rockstar in a new pair of pants and sliding to the floor. He brings his knees up and plants his face on his knees. Yeah all the fun parts have died.
“Woah, are you okay?” Yunho asks though he probably already knows the answer to that.
“Probably,” so not at all, got it.
Yunho crouches down to the other man’s level. He gently tilts the man’s chin so he can look him in the eye. Mr. Rockstar’s eyes grow wide and shiny. Something grows wings in Yunho’s stomach.
“You look like you need water,” Yunho smiles.
“Probably,” Mr. Rockstar mumbles.
“Stay put, I’ll be right back,” Yunho assures.
He steps out of the closet and wanders his way down the stairs and back to the kitchen. The same couples are still making out there for some reason. Either that or Yunho’s remembering wrong. He pulls a water bottle out of the fridge before his phone starts buzzing incessantly. He slips it out to find five new notifications in the group chat.
-
#WhoreMembers
Wooung
I may hve mad a mistak
thsi gril was l ike soooooooooooo ho t
Bu t she maube was chesting on hre bf
*chesting
*cheATing
-
Yunho has read through enough of Wooyoung’s drunk texts to get the jist of what he’s trying to say. Yunho’s lucky if this girl’s boyfriend is sober enough to not kick Wooyoung’s shit over this. If he’s not then…okay he doesn’t want to dwell on the negatives. He taps out a quick reply and rushes back upstairs to supply Mr. Rockstar with his very well deserved water.
Mr. Rockstar is exactly where Yunho had left him. His wet hair is dripping onto his knees in a way that can’t be comfortable. Yunho taps him on the head gently, and he looks up with those same wide, glossy eyes as before. Yunho’s stomach flutters again.
He unscrews the cap of the water bottle and hands it to the other man, “here. I have something I need to take care of, so…I’ll see you later?”
Mr. Rockstar just stares at him with those shiny puppy eyes, and Yunho can’t help but think of him as a dunk tank husky.
“You’re really gonna leave me without a goodnight kiss?” the man pouts.
Yunho pauses, his brain turning into a loading screen for a solid ten seconds, “you’re drunk.”
“It’s only 87 drunk,” he insists.
Yunho laughs, “you’ll get your kiss when you’re at like 0.”
“That’s sober.”
“Exactly. When you’re sober,” Yunho can’t kiss this guy. Not when he’s drunk and probably not in his right mind. Also he knows he won’t stop at kissing if given the opportunity, and he’s not even drunk yet.
“That’s gonna take forever,” he whines.
Yunho sighs. He doesn’t have time for this. Every second he spends here is another where Wooyoung is probably getting his ass beat. It’s just a kiss. He’s done plenty of those on stage.
“Fine,” Yunho brushes some of the man’s hair away from his forehead and presses his lips in a chaste kiss. His ears burn with embarrassment. What the hell is he doing? This is so dumb. He's gonna regret all of this in the morning.
Mr. Rockstar’s eyes get wider somehow, and his cheeks are dusted with a light pink. Maybe if he's lucky he'll never see this man again, but goddamn does he want to be the object of that puppy stare again.
“Wow. That was-”
“You should call your friends. I don't want to leave you alone like this.”
Yunho waits until he's maneuvered his phone out of his pocket and phoned someone to turn and leave. He waves a little awkwardly. The man’s eyes slink over to his own as he greets whoever's on the phone. Yunho finds he can't look away until he's shut the closet door behind him.
He huffs out a large breath. Now to deal with Wooyoung's situation.
-
Wooyoung tumbles into a red-faced San on his way into the car. San is passed out on Yeosang’s shoulder as the other strokes his hair gently, completely unaware of the Wooyoung sprawled over his legs. It takes a bit of Yunho intervention to get Wooyoung to a position where he can actually use a seatbelt.
Wooyoung eyes him blearily as Yunho buckles the seatbelt in.
“wait a min- whose clothes are those?” Wooyoung slurs. Of course he's not drunk enough to ignore Yunho’s clothing change.
Yunho’s ears heat up to near volcanic temperatures, “go to sleep Wooyoung.”
“Did’ya get laid!” Wooyoung cries.
Yunho stays silent as he shuts the driver side door.
“Oh my god Yunho I'm so proud of you!”
“Please shut up Wooyoung,” Yunho states firmly.
“Damn you're like… the worst kinda hookup. You already left…”
“I didn't get laid!”
-
sugar daddy 😘, mr clean…, baby bear 🐻
HE LEFT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
:((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
sugar daddy 😘
Who left?
OH SO NOW YOU REPLY TO ME???;?!?!?
sugar daddy 😘
Seonghwa’s putting me to bed, but I hate him so I'm on my phone.
It's like 3 pm…
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
Ignore him.
Who left you, baby?
Do you need me to come over?
MY BEAUTIFUL KNIGHT IN CHURCH BOY ARMOR
:(((((((((((((((((((
HE GAVE ME A KISS GOODNIGHT AND LEFT MEEEEEEEEEEE
baby bear 🐻
wtf were you doing flirting with church boys at a house party?
YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HE WAS BEAUTIFULLLLLLLL
AND HANDSOME
AND THE LOBE OF MY LIFEE
AND MISSING
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
Did you get his number?
I DONT EVEN KNOW HIS NAME HWA
baby bear 🐻
…
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
What does he look like?
Asian
Hot
Sexy
Church boy
sugar daddy 😘
Great description there son…
Mr Clean Magic Eraser
GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP OR SO HELP ME-
baby bear 🐻
Sexy and church boy are contradictory imo
doesn't that go against the lord or something?
SHUT UP YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND
and idk I’ve never been to church…
-
Wooyoung squeals as he finishes fixing Yunho’s hair.
“You look so sexy! Like a real mob boss!” He covers his mouth with his hands as he admires his own handiwork.
“Really?” Yunho looks down at the honestly kind of stuffy three piece suit he's in.
“Yeah you look really good!” San pipes up from where he's helping Yeosang adjust the bow on his outfit.
“This is genuinely the most coordinated we’ve ever been,” Wooyoung looks around at everyone scattered around the escape room waiting room.
San’s got his dark hair slicked back and a formal suit hugging his form while Yeosang got on a pinstripe suit and slacks. Wooyoung rolls up the sleeves of his black dress shirt. They all kind of look like they're in the mafia.
Who knew all it would take to get them all to coordinate was booking a mafia themed escape room? The room was Wooyoung’s idea of decompressing after finals, and the coordination was San’s idea. He insisted it would help with the immersion, and it's definitely doing its job.
Yeosang pushes San’s glasses up where they've slipped down his nose. Yunho didn't think heart eyes were a real thing until he saw the way San looks at Yeosang. San looks at Yeosang with those same eyes now like he placed the stars in the sky himself. The two of them have safely lasted a solid two months now and aren't anywhere near out of their honeymoon phase. Whatever happened at the party after midterms is between those two and god, but whatever it was has completely escalated their mushiness.
Wooyoung fake-gags. He glares at them with his face all scrunched up like a cat about to cough out a hairball. He is, much to the chagrin of literally everyone around him, still single.
It’s right then when one of the escape room employees walks into the waiting room with a few dark colored brochures in hand. A welcome temporary reprieve from San and Yeosang’s sickly sweetness and Wooyoung’s abominable stink eye.
The woman smiles at them with an apologetic smile, and Yunho’s stomach turns. Something tells him that his party isn’t going to like what she has to say.
“You’re the group waiting for the Mafia Murder Mystery room, right?” She asks a little bit nervously.
Yunho’s eyes drift to all the buttons open on San’s shirt, Wooyoung’s veiny arms peeking out of his sleeves, Yeosang’s black gloves, and back to his own three-piece suit. Yeah, he isn’t sure what other room they could’ve possibly come here for.
“Yes,” Wooyoung answers brightly.
“I’m very sorry, but the Mafia Murder Mystery room has been closed for emergency repairs,” she bows.
San’s face drops into the abyss, and the poor employee looks slightly more terrified. She probably doesn’t get paid enough to deal with a bunch of grown ass men cosplaying as the mob.
“But don’t worry! We can still provide you with an escape room experience during your time slot! Our Haunting of Rime Manor room has an unexpected vacancy,” she adds quickly before passing brochures to each of them, “It’s a new experimental escape room! You and another group will be placed in two different rooms of the Rime Manor and must find clues in both rooms in order to escape. You will be able to communicate clues with each other through a speaker that connects both rooms.”
“That sounds pretty interesting,” Yunho muses as he looks at the graphics of a large Victorian style mansion with ghosts popping out from the windows on the brochure. Wooyoung nods in agreement.
San on the other hand blanches as soon as he looks at the brochure, “haunting…” he laughs nervously, “will there be ghosts in this room…”
“Ye-yes?” The employee speaks hesitantly.
“Ah. I see,” to those unfamiliar with San’s antics, he looks a bit like there’s a storm brewing behind his eyes. The poor employee looks like she’s scared shitless. To Yunho, San looks like he’s about to shit himself.
Yeosang takes San’s hand in his own and looks him in those stormy eyes, “Don’t worry, San, I’ll hold your hand.”
“You will?” San brightens like a puppy that was promised warmth and shelter after the rain.
“Gross,” Wooyoung mumbles bitterly.
“We’ll take it!” Yunho agrees amicably.
The employee visibly relaxes, “that's wonderful! Please follow me!”
Yunho takes the lead as they follow her down a hall lined with doors. She stops at the end of the hall in front of two dark wooden doors decorated with false brass door knockers. To the side of one is a metal plaque that reads “ROOM 8A: HAUNTING OF RIME MANOR 1” and to the side of the other is “ROOM 8B: HAUNTING OF RIME MANOR 2.”
The worker gestures to the door of room 8B, “This is it. You and your team of supernatural investigators are going to take a look at the second floor of the supposedly haunted Rime Manor in search of supernatural activity while another team takes a look at the bottom floor. You’ll face many puzzles and challenges within these walls, and communication with the other team is key. There will be a speaker located on the wall next to the door that will be used for two-way communication between teams. Both your teams will be given an allotted time of one hour to uncover all the secrets within.”
San coughs, “Excuse me, um…what happens if we don’t uncover all the secrets in time?”
“Well..perhaps the ghosts will get you?” the worker answers. She’s probably trying to keep the immersion as high as she can.
San pales at her answer, “Awe-awesome.”
The worker pulls a key out of her pocket and slides it into a small keyhole in the escape room’s door and pries it open, “Well, good luck and have fun!” She gives them a polite smile, “Oh and, please don’t damage any of the props or puzzles in the room or you may face a hefty fine!”
Yunho’s pretty sure they don’t need the reminder. He can’t imagine how they would end up breaking things there, but then again…neither San nor Yeosang are fully aware of their respective strengths. They’ll probably be fine. They thank her and file into the room.
Eerie ambient noise and a surprisingly dark interior greet them on the inside. It’s actually kind of impressive. There’s a singular fake window all the way in the back, spilling blue light onto a wooden office desk littered with papers. Around the desk are bookshelves filled to the brim with books and fake cobwebs. There’s a faded leather sofa and several bulbless lamps around on the wooden floor. On one wall there’s a large, gold framed painting that Yunho can’t make out the subject of. Against the other wall is a tall, wooden wardrobe with an extremely large padlock. It’s glaringly obvious that whatever they need to escape their floor is either inside or behind the wardrobe.
“Well I guess we should see if the speaker works,” Yunho suggests.
San stays glued to the doorway like a statue, one hand clutching Yeosang’s, “Yeah, I’ll do it.”
The speaker is right next to the doorway embellished with a helpful sign right next to a button that reads “PUSH TO TALK.”
San presses the button and lets out a weak, “He-hello?”
What he gets in response is a very loud voice crack ridden scream that scares San so bad he screams right back. There’s something oddly familiar about that scream that Yunho can’t quite put his finger on. A cacophony of voices layer over each other on the other side of the speaker. Wooyoung bursts into laughter as San sinks to the floor with his head in his hands.
“Oh my fucking god!” Wooyoung heaves a breath, “that was so-”
“I wanna go home,” San whines.
Yeosang strokes his hair comfortingly.
Yunho decides to take over the speaker instead, “Is everyone alright over there?”
“Yeah, you guys just scared our friend pretty bad!” A soft voice answers.
There’s a muffled, “I thought it was a ghost…” followed by someone else’s boisterous laughter.
“Jongho stop bullying him!” The soft-voiced person seems to be stepping away from the speaker.
“Have you found any clues yet?” Yunho prompts.
“No-not yet…” a different voice answers, a lot deeper and more gruff than what Yunho expects. There’s something about it…Yunho can’t put his finger on exactly what.
“Alright then, we’ll report back when we have some of our own then,” Yunho turns down to where San is still on the floor, “Do you still man the speakers?”
San looks back at him like he’s already seen a ghost, “No.”
Yeosang tugs on San’s hand, “Come on Sani, we can look for clues together.”
Suddenly San stands up, abandoning all previous fear (though it’s still written all over his face), “Okay.” Well if that was what was going to get San to actually participate Yunho wasn’t going to complain.
Yeosang pulls him over to examine the paper-filled desk while Wooyoung examines the window behind it. The painting isn’t far from where Yunho’s standing at the speaker, so he takes a good look at it. It seems to be of a family of three dressed to the nines in formal attire. There’s a father in a dapper suit next to a mother in a white flowy dress. They each have one hand placed on the shoulder of a son in his own dark suit.
“Stop pulling the lock like that, you're going to break it!” The deep voice from the speaker cries out.
Yunho dashes back to the speaker, “you guys found a lock?” He kind of wants to keep finding ways to hear this person’s voice. Sure there’s the escape room in front of him, but it’s way more interesting to puzzle through why this voice is so familiar to him.
“Yes?” The voice answers back, “I think we need some sort of code to open it.”
“Yes princess, I think that’s how escape room locks usually work,” Yunho replies. This must be this guy’s first escape room or something.
The voice on the other end chokes, and there’s a chorus of laughter from the other side of the speaker. Wooyoung huffs a laugh as he inspects the windowsill.
“Ex-excuse me?” the voice coughs out.
“Is it a number lock or a letter lock?” Yunho asks.
“Um…numbers.”
“That took you a second.”
“Shut up!” The voice whines back at him. He can hear the pout through the speaker, and Yunho huffs a laugh.
“How many numbers?”
“Three.”
Okay that’s not too bad.
Yunho goes back to examining the painting and looks a little more closely for any signs of numerical clues. He takes in the detail of each of the characters in the painting. The father’s suit jacket has a pin with three golden birds in a design together. Okay so the first number must be three. The mother’s necklace holds a golden charm of two birds entwined with each other. Two. He looks down to the boy below them. He seemingly has no evident clues, every part of him as normal as ever. He’s got a perfectly blank suit, no tie or bowtie, shiny brass buttons, a black schoolboy cap… A black schoolboy cap with four golden birds in some sort of crest. Four.
Yunho rushes back to the speaker, “I’ve got it!”
The voice on the other side startles. Yunho laughs, “Try putting in three, two, four.”
“What was that?”
“Three, two, four,” Yunho speaks a little louder. The speaker was working perfectly fine before. Is he doing this on purpose?
“E, two, four?”
“It’s a number lock princess, there wouldn’t be any letters. Try again,” Yunho taunts.
There’s still something so familiar about that voice. Was it someone he knew from class? No. Probably not. He would know if someone in class had a voice that distinct.
“It worked!” There’s a triumphant celebration on the other side of the speaker.
Wooyoung and Yeosang cheer on their side too. San gives a half hearted, mostly still terrified, woop.
A ghostly howl interrupts their mini-celebration. A scream erupts from the speaker, and San whimpers somewhere behind Yunho. Wooyoung and Yeosang both startle.
“I wanna go home!” San cries.
“We’re almost there San,” Yunho assures.
“No we’re not,” Wooyoung deadpans, “we haven’t opened anything on our side.”
Yeosang shushes him with a finger to his lips. Wooyoung surprisingly shuts up.
The group spends a few more minutes poking around at the various props spread around the room. Yunho wanders over to the padlocked wardrobe to examine it. There seems to be a four letter code on the worn lock. So it would probably need to be opened by putting together a set of clues. If Yunho’s escape room expertise is correct, then there should have been a letter that came with whatever lock the other group opened.
He goes back to the speaker, “What was inside the locked thing you opened?”
“Um…the letter R?” The deep voice Yunho has been puzzling through replies.
“R…that’s good thanks.”
There was Felix from his econ class, but his voice wasn’t this gravelly. Then there was Chris from music theory, but his voice wasn’t nearly deep enough at all. Yunho lets his mind wander for a bit, back to the party after midterms. To that beautiful rockstar looking man he met and fell into a pool with. Warmth flutters in Yunho’s chest. Could it be him behind that speaker? That would mean Mr. Rockstar was a huge scaredy cat. Which, in all honesty, was making the butterflies flutter even more furiously in Yunho’s stomach. Oh god, was he catching San’s romance disease? There’s no way! No way that Mr. Rockstar was behind that wall speaker! He’s being ridiculous.
“Oh my god is this a knife?” Wooyoung’s voice cuts through Yunho’s thoughts.
He looks over to see Wooyoung standing in front of the bookshelf with a book in one hand and a knife in another. As Yunho gets closer he notices that the book has been hollowed out. There’s a small lock dangling from the cover like it had been locked already.
“How’d you unlock it?” Yunho asks.
“It was just the number of letters in each word in the title,” San mumbles, fiddling with his thumbs.
“Nice job, Sani,” Yeosang plants a kiss on San’s cheek before going back to the stack of papers he was shuffling through. San brightens immediately like Yeosang’s kiss was the cure to all sickness.
Yunho takes the knife from Wooyoung’s hand to take a good look at it. It was clearly a prop, edges a dull plastic. He turns it over a few times until he notices a golden bird on the handle, just like the one he saw in the painting.
“There’s a bird on it,” Yunho states.
“There’s a bird on here!” Yeosang exclaims. Pointing to a drawer on the desk emblazoned with a very similar golden bird. There’s a keyhole in the drawer.
Another ghostly howl echoes through the room. San grips onto Yeosang’s hand tight enough to get a small yelp out of him.
Yunho looks from the knife to the drawer and then back to the knife. Time for another confused trip to the speaker.
“Do you guys have a clue with a knife or something?” he asks.
“Um, I don't think so?” The voice answers, and no way. The dots are starting to connect in Yunho’s head, and there is no way that he’s right about this. It’s way too coincidental, but it would make sense. The tone of voice, the pouting, the scream. This guy is definitely Mr. Rockstar from the party.
“Mingi, I can’t reach the top of this shelf!” a muffled voice calls through the speaker.
“Can’t Seonghwa get it?” the deep voice whines back.
Oh. He has a name. Okay wow. His name is Mingi. Yunho can be normal about this. He can be so normal about this.
“No, he’s lockpicking the safe!” the voice calls back.
Wait- lockpicking a safe?
“Why are you lockpicking a safe?” Yunho exclaims.
“He got tired of using his brain,” the voice, Mingi, replies.
“I did not!” a different muffled voice, Seonghwa, cries out.
“Then prove it! Stop lockpicking and start thinking!” a much higher voice calls out.
“Fine! I will!” Seonghwa yells definitively.
The lights go out, thrusting the room into darkness. Everyone around him screams. San actually sounds like he might be crying now, the poor guy. There’s so much noise on the other end of the speaker, Yunho can’t make out anything concrete. The buzz of the ambient noise is gone too. Their surroundings are deafeningly quiet. No ghosts, no nothing.
“Okay Seonghwa, maybe you should stop thinking,” someone on the other side of the speaker says.
The lights don’t turn on, but the staticky hiss of the speaker remains. At least that’s working.
“Oh my god we’re gonna die!” Mingi cries through the speaker.
“We’re not going to die princess. It’s probably a power outage,” Yunho assures.
It’s too dark to properly see anything, so Yunho starts feeling around on the walls. If he can maneuver himself to the door he can probably try to call through the door for help.
“This is supposed to be a haunted mansion!” Mingi blurts.
“I don’t think the speakers are supposed to turn off too,” Yunho points out.
A strange rattling sound echoes through their side of the room. Both rooms go deadly silent.
“Wh-what was that,” San’s voice is small.
“Uh, is that on our side?” Wooyoung asks nervously.
The rattling continues more violently. Wooyoung whips out his phone flashlight. Finally there’s enough light to see. Wooyoung flashes the light right into Yunho’s eyes before he finds the source of the rattling. The wardrobe. It gives another well timed rattle followed by a noise like scratching wood.
“That’s a very realistic effect…” Yunho starts.
“Is-is someone in there?” San whispers.
“What’s going on over there?” Mingi’s voice is thick with panic through the speaker.
“Something’s inside the wardrobe!” Wooyoung cries out.
“Is it a something, or a someone?” Yeosang poses.
“Oh if it’s a person, I can take them,” San places an arm in front of Yeosang protectively, cowardice abandoned at the implication that it’s not a ghost behind those wooded doors.
The wardrobe rattles angrily in response.
“Nevermind,” San ducks behind Yeosang again.
“There’s a ghost in your wardrobe?” Mingi blurts out.
“It’s on their side Mingi, we’re safe,” Seonghwa placates.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but ghosts can travel through walls!” Wooyoung points out.
Mingi screams again. Yunho can’t think with all this ruckus.
He has an idea, a terrible, horrible, very bad, no good idea, but if it gets Mingi to stop screaming…Oh if this isn’t Mr. Rockstar on the other end of the speaker Yunho’s going to end it all.
“You have a lovely set of pipes, princess, but can we please save that for the bedroom,” Yunho is very glad it’s dark. His ears are on fire.
The entire room bursts into riotous laughter. There’s so much noise on the other end of the speaker that Yunho can’t even tell who’s talking anymore.
“You! You can’t just say that!”
“Yunho what the fuck?”
Someone’s wheezing. Wooyoung is absolutely cackling. The outline of San’s shoulders is shaking in the darkness. Yeosang’s covering his mouth with his hands.
“Whoever you are, I’ll have you know you’ve turned Mingi into a tomato,” a voice laughs from the speaker.
Yunho covers his face in shame, “good. I think I have the internal temperature of an active volcano.
“He really likes your voi-” whoever said that gets cut off with a loud, “dude! Shut up!”
The wardrobe rattles insistently, almost like it’s screaming at all of them to pay attention to it. All the panic from before Yunho’s poor attempt at diffusing the tension resumes just as bad as before.
“You guys should break it open!” the higher voice from the other room suggests.
There’s a near unanimous “No!” from both rooms at that.
“Are you fucking stupid? We’ll get fined, Trust Fund!” Yunho thinks Seonghwa yells.
“Well do you have any bright ideas, genius?” the higher voice taunts.
The two descend into a screaming match with each other at the other side of the wall. Yunho tears his eyes away from the speaker to find Wooyoung with his eyes closed and both hands clasped over his chest.
“Wooyoung…are you praying?” Yunho raises a brow, “I thought you didn’t have a religion.”
“Shut up, it’s situational,” Wooyoung snaps.
“Wooyoung, stop having a situationship with God! The ghosts are going to kill us!” San whines, head in hands.
“That’s not how religion works, dumbass!” Wooyoung yells.
Yunho is once again very close to crossing himself. If there really truly was a ghost or a serial killer or something with murderous intent inside that wardrobe, none of them would survive with this attitude.
Finally someone comes up with the bright idea to start hitting the walls.
“Let us out!” Mingi starts pounding on the walls.
The others in the other room join in, hitting the walls and crying out in a chorus of desperation. Yunho thinks he might be going insane. The other three on Yunho’s side of the room start going at it too, and the entire escape room itself erupts into chaos.
The wardrobe doesn’t stop rattling, and that strange scratching noise accompanies it too. Something tells Yunho that if it were a person or even some kind of evil spirit, they would’ve heard some kind of voice by now. Actually, if Yunho listens closely, there’s some kind of odd chittering noise coming from inside. Fines and escape room be damned, he’s going to break into this damn thing.
Yunho grips the padlock in his hand and tugs as hard as he can. It takes a few tries and some grunting before Yunho ends up tearing the wardrobe’s handle right off. He yanks open the wooden doors, and all hell breaks loose.
Something launches at his face with enough force to send him sprawling onto the floor. His head smacks against the wooden floor. Sharp pain tears through Yunho’s face. He grabs at whatever has just attached itself to him. He feels something soft and ratty like fur. The strange chittering won’t stop. There’s so much screaming from everywhere around Yunho he can barely process what’s being said. All he knows is that the concern is being directed towards him.
There’s a rush of cool air as whatever devilspawn was on him detaches itself from Yunho’s face. He sucks in as much air as he can now that his nose and mouth aren’t obstructed.
“Oh my fucking god is that a fucking raccoon?” Wooyoung screams.
It is, in fact, a raccoon.
“How did it even-”
“Yunho oh my god!”
“Is everyone okay?”
“What’s happening?”
“Yeosang get back!” San pushes Yeosang behind him like he's going to start fighting the feral raccoon.
Yeosang climbs onto the desk. The raccoon starts hissing. Yunho finally pushes himself up to a sitting position, heart racing in his chest. His nose hurts like a bitch.
The door to the escape room opens like the gateway to heaven, spilling holy light into chaos. The employee opening the door is like an angel.
“Your hour is up- Jesus Christ!”
The raccoon takes that as an open invitation to scramble out of the doorway. The employee shrieks.
-
Apparently they all get a full refund for their troubles.
Yunho sits in the waiting room with his head in his hands. San is fast asleep on a different sofa, head resting on Yeosang’s lap. Yeosang strokes his partner’s hair absently. Wooyoung is on his phone, probably relaying everything that just happened to his twitter following.
After they'd been freed from their disaster escape room, the raccoon had scrambled its way right out of the establishment. It seemed more afraid of all of them than they had been of it. Yunho gave a ten minute long firsthand account of everything that had transpired. Now they’re finally letting the other group out of their unfortunate enclosure.
Four guys walk into the waiting area dressed in casual clothing, and the way they stare at Yunho’s group gives him a very poignant reminder that they were all in mafia group cosplay.
“Are you guys okay?” a man with long dark hair, Seonghwa if Yunho’s identifying the voice correctly, asks.
Yunho nods and opens his mouth to explain a little when he notices the much taller man trailing behind Seonghwa. Yunho’s heart drops to his ass at the sight of dark hair and piercing eyes and the same very kissable lips from before. There was no fucking way. There is no fucking way Mr. Rockstar, the same Mr. Rockstar that Yunho fell into a pool with and kissed on the forehead while he was piss drunk, the dunk tank husky himself, is standing right in front of him now in a simple gray hoodie. His dark hair covers his forehead, poking into his eyes.
“Oh my god it was you!” Yunho jumps to his feet.
Mr. Rockstar–-no wait, Mingi–gapes at him, jaw falling to the floor, “Oh my god it was you ? Wow…you look hot.”
Yunho can’t help but laugh. Everything about this seems incredibly unreal. His heart is hammering in his chest hard enough that he fears he may go into cardiac arrest.
“What’s going on?” a much shorter man with blonde hair raises a brow at the situation.
Another man with brown hair looks from Mingi to Yunho and then back to Mingi. A realization crosses his face and his lips twist into a mischievous grin. Yunho’s actually scared of what dots this guy could have possibly connected.
“Wait a minute, is that your knight in church boy armor, Mingi?” he asks.
“Jongho, I will actually kill you!” Mingi screams back.
Yunho’s face heats up a million degrees. What kind of nickname was that? He shoves his face into his hands, ears a million degrees by now.
“I told you not to wear that to the party, but did you listen? No,” Wooyoung chastises.
“Oh my god are you bleeding,” Mingi cuts through Wooyoung’s tirade.
Yunho peeks up from beneath his hands and catches Mingi’s concerned gaze. Oh yeah. Yeah, he probably is bleeding. His face still hurts in several places.
“Am I?” Yunho asks, half in a daze. Mingi’s right in front of him looking at him with all kinds of worry, and it’s frying Yunho’s brain in real time.
Mingi sits down next to him on the sofa, “did you get mauled by the raccoon or something?”
Mingi’s fingers hover over Yunho’s cheek. His heart’s thumping so fast he thinks he’s going to pass out. Is this payback for calling him princess for an hour? The lack of anonymity is frying Yunho’s confidence.
“Um…yes…” Yunho answers as eloquently as possible.
“Wow, my hero,” Mingi places a hand over his heart in sincerity.
Yunho laughs, face heating up and probably bleeding more in the process, “Anything for you princess.”
“I could kiss you right now,” Mingi’s voice is a rumble, and Yunho can’t help but let his gaze dip down to plush pink lips, “I’m definitely not drunk anymore.”
“Mingi no! He could have rabies!” Seonghwa yells.
“Excuse me?” Yunho turns to look the man in the eyes.
“And I could throw up right now,” Jongho gags dramatically.
“You got scratched by a wild animal. You need to get checked by a doctor for rabies before you do any kind of kissing!” Seonghwa pinches the bridge of his nose looking all kinds of exasperated.
Yunho looks Mingi right in his intoxicating eyes, “Okay then, how about this, princess. You can get your kiss if you can wait until after the doctor says I don’t have rabies.”
“Only if I get to pick you up from the doctor’s,” Mingi matches the intensity of Yunho’s gaze effortlessly.
“Is that a date?” Yunho teases.
Mingi takes Yunho’s hand in his own, “what else would it be?” Mingi’s lips form that same crooked smile, and the flock of butterflies in Yunho’s chest goes absolutely batshit.
“You two are disgusting,” Wooyoung spits,
“Okay I need a goddamn nap,” the small blonde one groans, “this is one fucked up fever dream.”
Everyone makes some noise of agreement, and one by one, they all file out of the escape room establishment.
-
Yunho, thankfully, does not have rabies.
His shoulders sag in relief as he closes his provider’s patient portal. He lets his phone slip from his fingers and stretches out all over the couch, letting his legs fall over the sides. The microwave goes off in the kitchen followed by the soft padding of Mingi’s feet as he goes to retrieve whatever he put inside.
Yunho’s learned quite a few things about Mingi while waiting for his test results to come back. Like that he’s a music major that’s working on releasing music, and that his music is actually really good. Yunho’s listened to a few demos, and he’s wondered if Mingi’s laced them with crack somehow. Mingi also used to dance which is how he’s so damn good at it. The man just kept finding ways to be more attractive somehow.
Mingi also asked him to sing on one of his guide tracks. Yunho had originally been shocked that he’d even asked. He isn’t a vocal major or anything, he just dances. Sure he was in choir in high school, but it’s been a while. Mingi had insisted on it. Apparently Yunho’s voice was in just the right range to fit the song he was working on. He hasn’t exactly agreed to it yet, but it’s ultimately harmless. They’ve both held themselves back from devouring each other long enough.
“Hey, Mingi! Guess what?” Yunho calls from the couch.
“What?”
“I don’t have rabies!”
“Please don’t be fucking with me,” Mingi groans, exasperated.
“I’m not, but sure, if you ask nicely-”
Yunho gets cut off by Mingi swooping down from behind the couch to give him a quick peck on the lips. It’s impatient yet soft, pleading for more.
Yunho looks back up at Mingi’s dark glare, “impatient much?” he smirks.
Mingi’s gaze softens slightly, “well, I mean- um-”
Yunho yanks Mingi down by the collar of his stupid cement colored hoodie and slots their lips together perfectly. Mingi tastes like bitter coffee and brown sugar all at once, and Yunho wouldn’t have it any other way. The clawing itch finally subsides as it’s replaced by the comfortable warmth blossoming in Yunho’s chest. He’s waited long enough to kiss his boyfriend, thank you very much.
Yunho groans lightly as Mingi pulls back and flops over the back of the couch right on top of Yunho. He burrows his head into the crook of Yunho’s neck.
“Fucking finally,” Mingi mumbles, breath fanning over Yunho’s neck.
Yunho laughs, “You did a nice job waiting.”
“So did you,” Mingi huffs a laugh, “You wanted to kiss me so bad it made you look stupid.”
Yunho giggles, “Maybe I’ll sing on your guide track, as a treat.”
Mingi whips his head up so fast Yunho fears for his neck, “Really?”
“Yeah sure, whatever you want, princess.”
“Kinky.”
“Shut up!” Yunho smacks Mingi lightly and they both dissolve into soft laughter.