Burnout ⊗ Jeongchan

⑥③ You Wraith, Pallid Companion

"Guess who's a GOD?!"

The shrill call came from the table of the shop, followed by an array of cacophony including the slam of a hand on a table, the yelling of a person who cares too much to calm down, snickering from the cover of sheltered hands, and sharp but excited apologies that ultimately never truly showed their owner's guilt for certain acts others would call improper on the best of days. And Jeongin, sat perched on top of the hood of a certain someone's car who at the moment was not too far off, was one of the few who hid his small snickers of glee through methods claiming to be innocuous. At the very least, claiming to be unnoticeable, as wrong as that previous statement might be.

"If you answered me, yes. I am a god. I'm so great, I'm just. Built different," Jisung continued to brag, a certain pride to him one would only observe from the highest of emperors obtaining once they fulfilled their purpose. His nostrils flared, hand coming to raise the laptop off the surface of the table as he turned to Chan, and finally explained, "I fixed the code."

"Seriously?" Minho quirked an eyebrow, more out of amusement than as a real questioning.

"Hell yeah, check it out. Though, something was bothering me about it and Changbin can vouch for this too," Jisung said, a continuous boast to his tone that went unrivaled in every situation as the other crew members became tethered to the laptop. Jeongin included, but it won't be mentioned he didn't understand most of this. Really, his goal was the blond who balanced himself against the back of Jisung's chair to scan through the screen. He softly bumped into the older, the older returned it by gently looping their fingers together, generally how their quiet moments of touch preferred to connect. And if Jisung noticed, he never commented.

Simply, he proceeded to ignore them and divulged into a deeper explanation, "It wasn't like the programming was messed up. It's like it was totally reverted back to stock settings."

"They reset the mods we've done on this thing," Changbin piped up from across the way, "My guess? It was done manually when you weren't around. They probably tried to get your GPS data too."

"It was when we went out together," Jisung nodded along, the bitter agreement to the statement dancing off the edge of his tongue. He shifted in his seat to face a tense Chan, a rigidness to his muscles that only existed once or twice before as his eyes drifted. Thinking. Jeongin felt the grip on his fingers tighten. Again, as much as they wanted to believe Jisung was oblivious, the younger caught his gaze through the reflection of the laptop screen. His face scrunched but he only went on, "That was one of the only times his car was completely unattended, in public. At your high-rise at least there's the private parking space. You even said you weren't comfortable with leaving it there for so long."

Minho let out an audible exhale, a sort of huff that left his lungs shriveled and complaining for air as he addressed their leader, "They've been on your ass for a while."

"Difference is, now they have warrants and it's only a matter of time before you're snagged," Changbin finished off.

And with his words, a heaviness. An oppressive weight, as if the boulder hanging on their shoulders finally crushed the last remains of hope from their minds. The last hope of a salvation. The feeling of the past, rushing to the future, finally catching up to where no engine of any caliber could escape the skeleton clutch of Death. No matter how far they ran, no matter how much they change, no matter the distance and the heights put between them, it managed to grab hold of their collars. It would drag them to the gallows. But before that, every decision was their own, every choice, every moment, they could call it their own.

That was something that could never be crushed.

No matter where it led, this future was their own to claim.