MISSING, jongsang

18 ; for the rest of the night

"jongho, i-i—" yeosang bit his lip in contemplation. "could you... g-go home?"

upon jongho lifting his head up from his neck, yeosang reluctantly continued, "i'm sorry, really, i-i just- i'd rather be alone right n-now..."

although he was sure jongho's company  would only brighten his mood, as he always held the ability to do, yeosang didn't feel like sugarcoating the bad today. they had nothing to advance with now that the tracking device had strangely given up on them, therefore they were — much to san's distaste if he were to hear — back at square one.

maybe even lower than that, considering they at least had a plan when all of this had begun, contrasting greatly to current time, in which they had absolutely nothing, not even a trace of a clue.

"oh..." jongho's features sunk slightly. "sure, if that's what you want, but... i can tell there's something bothering you, sang. we can talk about it if that would make you feel any better?"

in all honesty, yeosang never thought he was even capable of being treated so delicately as jongho did him. growing up, no one had ever taken individual interest in him before, besides wooyoung that was; yet, still it felt different, dare he say. and even if yeosang's feelings weren't replicated as he wished, he felt what he had with jongho just had to be something different than a usual friendship, despite his lack of even that.

therefore, yeosang tilted his chin upwards but shortly back down again, mustering a bashful nod. jongho cared, and he wasn't ready to let go of that just yet.

the brunette offering him a gentle smile, yeosang tugged him closer, so he'd set himself besides him. in a moment, jongho was sat directly opposite him on his slightly ruffled sheets, hand naturally gravitating towards his knee.

yeosang's features scrunched up a tad bit due to the smile stretched across his lips. "i'm really... glad we met that one time, you know?" he blurted out, without thinking about any possible consequences of his words, growing confused when he initially earned a chuckle in return.

"that makes me happy, sang, it really does, but we aren't here t' talk about me, remember?"

stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the warmth that attacked the tips of his ears, yeosang scoffed. "so you aren't gonna appreciate the only compliment you'll ever receive from me?"

"never that, but if you're purposely trying to stall, then maybe." jongho shrugged his shoulders.

yeosang couldn't help but beam. jongho made him feel safe, no matter how sickeningly cliché it sounded. and honestly, it felt more like a transient fever dream than reality, because how on earth had a heart like jongho's made its way into yeosang's tedious life?

fingers hesitantly grazing over the hand placed atop of his knee, yeosang looked away, fixating his gaze into the knobs of the wooden dresser a few feet away. "i-i don't know what's gotten me so... like this, actually..." he started, clearing his dry throat.

"it's just... i feel like this is pointless. a-and i know it's not, i know our hard work has done something, even if it's no longer worth anything but—" yeosang sniffled away the liquid pooling his eyes. "believe me, i really am grateful for you and san and everything you guys have done, but i just- all i want is to see wooyoung again... please, i-i have to, i can't—"

a pair of arms wrapping around his trembling body, yeosang sobbed loudly, but was quick to clasp a hand over his mouth to compress his heartbreaking sounds, since his mother was only downstairs. so badly needing the comfort, he leaned into jongho's chest, basking in the warmth that ultimately took him over. jongho's here, yeosang reminded himself. he's right there, so it's okay. it'll be okay.