Super Seventeen

Chapter Fourteen

a/n: woWWWW I HAVENT UPDATED IN A MILLION YEARS FORGIVE ME AHAHA
here's a long-ish update??? also i know that i doubled soonyoung's pov but the remaining ones didn't flow with the beginning so exceptions had to be made D:
happy reading !!

~~~

On a typical day, Seungcheol enjoyed reading the newspaper - especially the day after any superhero interaction, since they usually featured Super Seventeen on the headlines.

But today wasn't a typical day. Not when Chan was still being kept hostage and apparently had only a day left before his reported death. As the leader, Seungcheol had intended to make plans the day before to get started on their Chan Rescue Mission, but things had come up - specifically, NCT Dream attacking the Midnight Diner and then guilt-tripping a couple of their members to bring them into Pledis. (Seungcheol was more than slightly salty; such decisions should've been left to him to make the final say, but Jeonghan had somehow turned the situation into majority rules. He had just sighed and obliged).

When he'd confessed his worry regarding Chan to Jeonghan and Jisoo on the way home (as the three of them shared an apartment [a/n: i've decided to change some things; they're all in university, as their actual ages state that they are of that age, and the older members are pursuing a longer degree]), Jeonghan had furrowed his brow, saying, "I know you enjoy procrastinating, but now isn't the time for it -"

"Now also isn't the time for jokes," Jisoo responded, then punched the snickering boy. Seungcheol only rolled his eyes.

"But really though. Chan's a part of our team. As the leader, I have a definite responsibility over his safety - more than you guys, at least. And I can't help but feel guilty knowing that I wasted an entire day dealing with some minor issue." Seungcheol drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.

"You're not responsible for all of us. We're all responsible for each other." Jisoo hesitated before proceeding. "I sound like some kind of cheesy elementary school poster, but it's true. What's going on with Chan is a problem that we're all supposed to take part in. And the NCT Dream thing - no one saw it coming. We were trying to deal with the problem at hand. After all, we can't go and save Chan when the city's being attacked, can we?"

Seungcheol let out a low chuckle, grateful for Jisoo's reassurance, but at the same time even more guilty. With the way his companion had phrased it, the NCT Dream incident was so clearly a distraction - an attack that threw a wrench in any plans they could possibly make to save Chan.

"It was a distraction."

Now, this was the part in the movies where there'd be a dramatic pause as the other people tried to let the information sink in - except that didn't happen, because Jeonghan almost immediately replied with, "But that doesn't make any sense. One of the kids - Haechan? - said that there wasn't much thinking involved. The people in NCT sent them out on a whim."

Seungcheol snorted. "You trust whatever comes out of that kid's mouth?"

Jeonghan frowned at his boyfriend's statement, an expression that almost made Seungcheol feel guilty. Almost. "What do you mean? Why shouldn't I trust him?"

"Because you don't really know whose side he's on." Seungcheol turned around in the driver's seat to face Jeonghan who was seated behind him (it was an awkward position; he'd always wondered why Jeonghan refused to sit in the passenger seat, but he'd never received a sufficient answer). "We just recruited them today. A part of me is definitely wary that they would trust us so easily."

"They're kids." Jeonghan phrased this in a way that it seemed that was all the explanation needed.

"Kids aren't always innocent." It wasn't exactly the most professional experience, but Seungcheol's head flashed with memories from volunteering at the nearby elementary school's after-school program. If screaming and crying kids along with kids who thought they were cooler than the seniors was Jeonghan's idea of trustworthy, then he'd definitely have to rethink who he was hanging out with.