𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 | Seongjoong/Ateez ff

Chapter Two

"This night went definitely well." He said putting back his guitar and his mic in their covers, sitting on the couch of the little room the owner had reserved for them. It had been a long night and he was so proud of his bandmates.

It was only their second night performing at that little bar but it held a beautiful atmosphere with all those colored lights and they had already made quite a lot of fans.

But it was understandable. All of their songs were written by them, and with years of practice and friendship they were coordinated as they were almost the same person.

"It's all thanks to you, our beloved leader, Hongjoong." Mingi, his boyfriend, said walking up to him but when he tried to kiss him he leaned back. Hongjoong didn't like that, but he shrugged it off.

He had been friends with all of them since they were in highschool. He met Yunho, their tastierista, first,  because of a project in which they had to collab with someone from a year below and they had soon found out about their shared love for music.

After Yunho had come San, one of Yunho's classmates and with him he also met Yeosang and Mingi the first time they had decided to hang out together.

That's how they met. But in the last two years he had realized that what he felt for Mingi wasn't just a simple friendship, and after debating on what to do he had confessed. They had been together since for almost a year and a half.

Lately he felt almost as his boyfriend was slowly distancing himself from him, but he had discarded the thought after when he voiced his concerns Mingi had told him he was just too focused on his bass practice.

It was believable, Hongjoong himself took his guitar and vocal practice really seriously, so he didn't want to doubt his boyfriend.

"What are you thinking about, Joongie?" His boyfriend asked hugging his waist.

He shook his head and smiled at him.

"Just how far we've gotten since we started all this."

The others cought up with them and entered the room, everyone began puting away their instruments except Yeosang, since the drums were the bar's property and had been provided by the owner.

Mingi immediately let go of his waist and he furrowed his eyebrows in disappointed. They never really had any problems with pda so it didn't really make sense for his boyfriend to start worrying about that now, but he shrugged it off as tiredness as he too was craving the moment he could throw himself on the bed and pass out.

They all changed into the more comfortable clothes they had brought ahead of time. Hongjoong's consisted in a black t-shirt with black sweatpants and his favourite oversized hoodie.

His bandsmate's outfits weren't really that different, and after he was ready he put a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder muttering a "I'll wait for you outside" before turning to the others and saying bye to everyone with a quick hug.

Now let me get this straight. He and Mingi didn't live together. They had talked and decided that their lifestyles were too different for them to actually cohabit. Hongjoong more often than not spent his nights working on producing songs and practice, while Mingi was more of a morning person, and since both of them were actually quite loud persons when they were working they probably wouldn't be able to live together without going for each other's throats.

So they had settled for having their own apartments and occasionally going on dates or hanging out all together. That worked pretty well, before Mingi seemed to start distacing himself, that was.

But today his boyfriend had suggested to pick him up and drive him there, so he was now waiting in the parking lot, hands in his pockets and eyes scanning the perimeter.

He heard two voices talking but he couldn't make out what they were saying. When he turned around he was met with a pair of eyes looking at him in the distance. Hongjoong looked as the guy's eyes widened and a soft blush spread across his cheeks as he turned to the other person that was with him, probably a friend, or a boyfriend, that didn't really matter.

A hand on his shoulder made him jolt and turn around and he was met with the brown eyes of his boyfriend that had a tired look on his face.

"C'mon, I'll drop you off."

Hongjoong took a hold of Mingi's hand and followed him to his car, getting on the passeger seat as soon as it was unlocked.

"Tonight was fun." He spoke in an attempt to start a conversation, fidgating with the hem of his sleeves. Lately that had been a little difficult for no paticular reason at all.

"Yeah, we all played really well. You looked good on stage."

And there it was again. The feeling that Mingi actally cared and wasn't distancing himself from him. That was the main reason on why he always decided to ignore everytime the younger seemed to slowly walk away from him without giving him a chance to catch up and walk beside him.

They were a couple. They loved each other.

Right?

Those little compliments were the reason Hongjoong never questioned his boyfriend even when he should've had, even when it was obvious that something was wrong.

"You looked really good too." He smiled at him.

Then the conversation died, and woth that it came the usual awkward silence that seemed to came everytime they were alone lately. Oh how Hongjoong hated that silence.

Mingi pulled up at the side of the road and turned off the engine, getting off, followed immediatly by Hongjoong who started walking to his house with a hand reached over to Mingi. Mingi never took it.

They stood awkwardly in front of Hongjoong's door as he took out his keys from his bag, guitar on his shoulder, and opened his door, before turning around and opening his arms. Mingi hugged him tightly, and Hongjoong smiled as he took in his boyfriend's perfume he knew he put on right before their performance earlier that night.

They pulled apart and Mingi mittered a little "Good Night." That Hongjoong returned with a smile before walking back to his car and getting in.

Hongjoong stood by his doorframe, watching, until his boyfriend's car disappeared into the night. Then he went inside and closed the door behing him with a sigh. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore the younger behaviour. If Mingi kept acting like thing Hongjoong was afraid he would be forced to aknowledge the other's loss of feelings, and he didn't want that.

He put down both his bag and his guitar on the living room couch and walked to his room. He stopped walking when his gaze was drawn to the wall in front of his desk. He never used the desk in his room, really, he had his studio so it wasn't even necessary to have that, but he had hung over in, on the wall, a lot of pictures.

Pictures of he and and his bandmates at the beach, of their first night playing in a bar, pictures in which they made dumb faces at the camera. And then pictures of he and Mingi alone. He and Mingi having a picnic at the park, he and Mingi holding hands while their back was at the camera (Yeosang probably took that one, Hongjoong didn't remember), he and Mingi having their first kiss at the park they usually hung out at after they had been begged to do so by San, he and Mingi, smiling without a care in the world.

He felt tears starting to form at the corners of his eyes and he adverted his gaze from the pictured that right now were so hurtful to look at. He walked to his bed dragging his feet, throwing his whole body on the soft matress, hoping to forget his boyfriend's behavior in the past few weeks in an instant.

But he didn't forget, no. Instead, a series of broken sobs started escaping his lips, and he found himself gripping at the bed's covers, warm tears dripping down his face onto his pillow.

By the time he fell asleep his pillow was soaked and his eyes red and puffy. His hands were still gripping tightly his blanket in his unconcious state, but he didn't dream of Mingi.

He couldn't really understand the reason, nor how it happened, but in his dreams was that same guy with whom he had locked eyes earlier, in the parking lot, while waiting for Mingi.