Chapter Text
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Mirrors. Everywhere. Hyunjin had had his fair share of trouble with mirrors, but even then, he’d never hated his own reflection as much as he did now.
It was a maze, made out of mirrors. As soon as he awoke—sleepy and groggy and cold—he’d been surrounded by them. He could barely tell where one mirror ended and the other began. And it didn’t matter where he looked. He saw himself in the reflection of the reflection of the reflection of the reflection-
And it never ended.
Against all logic, Hyunjin had tried to stay optimistic, had made the stupid choice to move from his spot and try his luck in finding the way out.
He never should have done that.
Because there was no end to this, and now he was lost. He had the urge to punch the mirrors blocking his way once more, and he gave into it, smashing his fist against the reflection of his own face and watching in anger as the shards rained down around his feet.
It wasn’t as cathartic as he’d hoped.
Because of his own stupidity, he was stuck in the maze, with no way to go back to where he’d first woken up. Not that he’d left anything behind there (thank God), but that space had been slightly bigger than the mirrored paths he was walking through now, and he was beginning to feel awfully claustrophobic.
He wished the others were here.
Hyunjin took a random turn left, then right, and then another left. He made sure he wasn’t walking in circles, but still he didn’t find anything else than mirrors, mirrors and more mirrors.
“Anyone! Please! Let me out of here!”
But of course no one answered. Just like the past hour he’d already been trying to call out.
Hyunjin didn’t like to show himself as anything but strong, but even he had to admit that he was terrified. Last thing he knew, they were going home from practice, and the next, he found himself in a maze of mirrors with no end or beginning. Had he been kidnapped? Was he in a coma? Was this hell??? And where were his members????
Needless to say, Hyunjin was freaking out.
“Anyone! Answer me! This is not funny anymore!”
~*~
It had taken him at least two hours to calm down. Or, so he guessed, since it was hard to tell the amount of time that passed when one was stuck in a never ending maze of horrors.
And yes, there were horrors other than his own face.
It happened randomly, and he hadn’t even noticed at first. One moment, he was walking through the maze, looking around desperately for any sign, when all of the sudden a new form caught his attention.
He turned around.
And saw a mannequin next to his reflection.
He screamed, twisting around to find a lifeless doll standing in the corner between a couple of mirrors, the reflection of it traveling all the way to him and making it seem as if it was standing everywhere at once. He’d turned tail and ran the other direction, but of course it didn’t seem to matter.
Now that he had found one, more and more mannequin’s popped up. They were following him, he was sure of it, and they all stood so still. They didn’t move, didn’t talk, didn’t do anything, but it was precisely that that shot shivers down his spine. This whole place was haunted, and he was being stalked by dolls.
After running along mirrors upon mirrors, Hyunjin had finally collapsed, too tired to go on anymore. He had practiced for hours with the group, alright? He wasn’t in top condition at the moment.
He chose to lay on his back on the ground, keeping his eyes firmly on the not-mirror ceiling. There, no mannequins were haunting him, looking at him with those non-existent faces. There, it was just black. No him, no dolls, no nothing. Figuring he wasn’t getting out of here any time soon, he decided right then and there that he was gonna take a nap. Creepy mannequins be damned, he was tired.
He curled up and closed his eyes tightly, refusing to look at any more mirrors. When a shiver from the cold racked up his arms, he sighed out loud.
Please, anyone. Find me.
~*~
Hyunjin blinked his eyes open, but pressed them closed as soon as he realized that nothing had changed, and no, the maleficent mirror maze was not a dream. He threw an arm over his face, groaning loudly.
“Whoever put me here,” he threatened, “I hope you lose all of your favorite people to your bullies. No, wait, I hope you fall in the toilet one day! And that you lose your keys in the process! I hope no one brings you a towel either!”
He knew he was being pitiful, but it was all he could be anymore. He needed to vent his frustrations in some way, and punching the mirror had really hurt before. His knuckles still pulsed from the hit. He was left with his words, whether he liked it or not.
“I hope your computer crashes and you lose all of your family pictures! And all of your game process! And all of your passwords!”
He narrowed his eyes at the ceiling.
“Are you even listening to me? I’m cursing you and your family right now! I hope you have the worst year ever!”
Having no idea what else to do, Hyunjin pushed himself upwards again, figuring that he probably should try to get out of here again. Not that he thought he had any chance, but he wasn’t a coward, and he was never going to give up. He wouldn’t be able to face the members otherwise.
Careful of his hurt hand, he pushed himself to his feet, cracking his neck from left to right. He did a few stretches as sleeping on the ground had made him feel very stiff, and then he was on his way again. He trailed his left hand along the mirrors and followed the path they gave him. Once or twice, those darn mannequins made him jump, but he got better at just ignoring them, following the touch of the cold glass more than what his eyes told him.
He was getting so sick of mirrors.
Until they gave him exactly what he had been searching for, and at the same time, exactly what he didn’t want to see.
One of the mirrors in front of him was different from the others, showing not his reflection, but a room behind it. It was clearly double-sided glass, and Hyunjin could imagine it was far too thick to simply burst his way through, but still he felt drawn to it.
And especially, the person he could see in the room behind it.
“Innie!”
He rushed to the mirror, placing both of his hands on the glass and feeling for a possible place he could push it open or out of the way or- he didn’t know, but he needed to get through.
“Innie, I’m here!”
Jeongin didn’t seem to hear him. He was sitting in the middle of a big, all white room, no windows or doors anywhere and two simple strips of lights illuminating the space from the ceiling. He looked so small, hugging his knees as he hid his face in them. Hyunjin blanched when he realized the boy was shaking.
All those hours Hyunjin had been stuck in the maze, Jeongin had been here?
His heart broke into a million pieces at the thought.
“Jeongin! Innie, hey! HEY!”
It didn’t matter how hard he shouted, Jeongin didn’t react at all. Hyunjin pounded on the glass, hoping against all hope that the boy would hear that. Palms flat, he hit the glass over and over again, his hands stinging from the onslaught of hits.
“Innie, please, I’m here!”
Jeongin moved. It motivated Hyunjin to pound even harder, hope exploding in his chest as his eyes were pinned on his friend.
“Innie!”
Jeongin lifted his head, a clear sheen of tears clouding his eyes as he almost met Hyunjin’s gaze. Almost, because he looked at one of the other walls, and it seemed he was none the wiser that Hyunjin was even there.
“JEONGIN!”
A loud rattling sound startled Hyunjin and he yelped, flinching away from the mirror when, all of the sudden, a white wall was pushed right across the other half of it, blocking his sight.
“Hey! What the hell!”
He couldn’t see the room anymore, the wall having closed off his only way of seeing Jeongin. Hyunjin grit his teeth, white hot anger pooling in his stomach.
“Screw you, whoever you are! I will get to Innie! You’re not gonna stop me!”
At that, he gave one last kick against the useless glass, hissing when his shoe didn’t protect his toes from the blunt force of it.
Whoever was doing this, they didn’t want him to communicate with Jeongin. Well, they could suck it. He would find a way to see Innie again, even if he had to break all the damn mirrors in this entire maze. Seeing Jeongin so small, so sad, had lit a fire in his heart. He was not gonna stop until he could hug the hell out of his member.
Mark his words, Hyunjin would find Jeongin, and wasting no time in doing so, he stomped away from the mirror, sure that somewhere in this gigantic maze, another one would give him a view of that room again. He just had to find it, and luckily for him, his Stray Kid Radar was going wild.
His gut was telling him right where he had to go.
Wait for me Innie, I’m coming for you.