The House on Mass. Avenue | Rensung

Untitled Part 16

"Wow he's really out of it."

"Jesus Renjun, how much did you give him?"

"Not my fault Lee, he wanted another one. I didn't know it was going to be the last one."

"Should we get Jaemin?"

"No, he's still healing. No need to have him get up and stress over a hangover."

Jisung let out a groan at the influx of conversation that was worming its way into his head and he threw an arm over his eyes, the conversation going dead. It hurt to even think and Jisung let another small groan slip through his lips.

A soft hand nudged Jisung's arm. "Jisung? how do you feel?"

Jisung cracked his eyes open, straining against the morning light, and he turned his gaze to look at the crowd that was standing by the couch next to him. A collection of five boys, to his utter surprise.

Renjun was crouched right next to his head, a worried and guilty look on his face. His hand reached up to press it's back against Jisung's sweaty forehead. He was still in the same clothes from yesterday and Jisung realized, with a bit of embarrassment, that he had stayed with Jisung for the entire night.

Jeno was dressed in his usual clothes he wore to work, standing directly behind Renjun and holding a glass of water in his hands. It was then quickly passed from Jeno to Renjun who then handed it to Jisung, the later helping him to sit up so that he could drink some of it.

"Here, I got some painkillers, it might help with the headache," Chenle held out, standing in the middle of the group and stepping forward to hand the pills over to Jisung who happily took them. The boy also looked like he was about to leave, hair under a baseball cap and backpack straps resting firmly around his shoulders.

Donghyuck was standing next to Chenle with an amused look on his face, despite his worsening pale demeanor and slouch. He was trembling a bit too, as if the action of standing up was getting hard for him to do. Jisung frowned and rubbed his hands over his eyes, the pills taken and the water downed. He wondered if it would do any good for Donghyuck to have the same thing.

Mark, surprisingly enough was also standing among the group with a bit of an annoyed expression, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was a bit dressed up for staying inside but Jisung guessed it was one of the rare days where, he too, would go out and grab essentials. Jisung hadn't seen the other in a while, and it was more than pleasing to see him again. He was like a normal, neutral person in the mix of all of these characters, despite the rare appearances he made.

And....someone was missing.

Jisung sprang up at the though, head whirling around regardless of it's throbbing state. "Where's Jaemin? He kicked me out after breaking one of their house rules and...and...is he alright? Where is he?" Concern seeped through Jisung's tone and everyone in the group looked warily at each other.

"He's-"

"-right here, perfectly fine and normal," an extremely strained and tired voice juxtaposed the statement and everyone's heads whirled around, taking in the sight of the boy in question. He was leaning against the doorway, bags under his eyes and hair ruffled in a messy manner. But Jisung was more concerned about the bandages that wrapped around Jaemin's fingertips and went all the way up his left arm only to disappear into his shirt sleeve.

Jisung turned to Renjun, pointing a finger accusingly at the older. "I thought you said he would get away with minimal consequence!" Renjun sucked in a breath through his teeth.

"That is minimal consequence," he muttered, giving Jisung a wary look. Renjun turned back to look at Jaemin. Chenle and Jeno had moved to help Jaemin into one of the armchair, Donghyuck taking a seat in the second armchair. With a startling realization, Jisung concluded that this was the first time all seven resident of the house had been in one room at the same time.

"Jae...what happened," Jeno asked softly and Jisung perked up at the question. Hadn't Jeno been there with the younger, inside the house? Why was he asking when he should have known what had happened? Jaemin waved his uninjured hand in the air in a dismissive manner.

"Something that was well earned from breaking one of the rules," the pink-haired boy muttered, "It'll heal so I'll be alright." The room dissolved into silence and Mark tapped his fingers against the couch arm.

"What exactly is this thing that hurt you?" Mark asked curiously and Jisung couldn't help but to want to add onto the question, although he stayed quiet. He was still new and, at the question, Donghyuck had let out a 'tch', catching the attention of the group. Challenging everyone's stares, Donghyuck narrowed his eyes and threw a finger at Mark.

"Isn't it funny that we don't see you for weeks on end but the second Jaemin gets hurt you're down here infusing yourself into the conversation? It just seems suspicious," Donghyuck threw a dirty glance at Mark who was staring at the younger with an offended glance.

"Please," Mark started bitterly and Renjun let out a sigh, moving to sit on the floor by Jisung, "If anyone is suspicious it's you. You're so sick all the time and none of us even know what for. Besides the fact, any of you are 100 times more suspicious than I am because you refuse to say a single thing about the house and the consequences of breaking the rules!"

A dry laugh sounded and Jisung's focus turned towards Chenle who was staring daggers in Mark's direction. "Oh yeah? Why do you think that is? Use your big, smart author brain and try to deduce some conclusions why don't you. You think I don't know what you're doing up there in that attic of yours you piece of shit!"

"Come on now Chenle, there's no reason to go after Mark like that," Renjun scolded, frowning from his seat, "There's no use in pointing fingers at each other when clearly we're not the ones who injured Jaemin or anyone else in the house for that matter."

"How do you know?"

The question was quiet and bitter, a tension climbing and building in the room as everyone looked towards Jeno who was crouching by one of the arms of Jaemin's armchair. No one spoke and Jeno looked up, his face set and his eyes accusing.

"How do you know, Renjun," Jeno repeated and focused his gaze on the bartender, Jisung's heart hammering in his chest from the hostility of the room, "that one of us isn't hurting the other? Even those of us who have been here for a while barely know anything and the little that we do know is vague and unclear. There's something in this house...that much is clear and these rules are the only way we're keeping ourselves protected from it - whatever 'it' is."

"So you're saying that one of us is aiding in...whatever is going on?" Chenle questioned, giving Jeno a weirded out look and glancing around the room at everyone. "That's...that's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Donghyuck posed from his armchair, leaning his head against his propped up hand.

The question hung in the air and no one else felt the need to say anything else. But it was out there now. Right in the open. Something was going on at the house, and everyone in that room was a suspect.

Everyone except Jisung.

So with tensions high and only rising, we leave our characters crowded into that small parlor, suspicious and accusing.

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