MISSING, jongsang

12 ; too sensitive

the air was chilly as yeosang and san made it out of the convenience store, gusts of wind occasionally sending shivers through their bodies.

the older of the two felt stuck, almost. a part of him couldn't handle being around san for a moment longer, whereas another part was somewhat eager to know what was going on in san's mind — despite mainly being because of the information he had on wooyoung. the rest of yeosang, though, just wanted to feel the warmth of jongho's hand holding his own again.

and just as yeosang's thoughts became clouded with the brunette, a familiar motorcycle, rather coincidentally, came into view, an involuntary smile tugging at his lips. his slight worry for san seemed to have slipped from his mind when he began to skip towards jongho, sudden excitement rushing through him.

"hey. did everything go well?" jongho initiated, once yeosang was close enough for him to loosely sling an arm around his torso.

the latter's brain confusedly halted due to the abrupt affection, it being the last thing he expected, no matter how much he'd sought for it. his lips quickly curved up into a timid smile after processing it, however.

"yeah, um, we- well, san collected the footage but, uh..." yeosang's gaze trailed to the pear-haired boy, who had yet to caught up to them — head held low and fingers fiddling with the hem of his sleeves in front of him. "... i don't really know, but something upset him while we were in there," yeosang finished, turning back to jongho, strangely conscious about the arm wrapped around his frame.

at the news, jongho just shrugged his shoulders. "probably nothing that concerns us."

"we should still make sure he's okay, though," yeosang fired back, the younger's behaviour coming as a surprise. jongho stayed silent at this, causing the older to smirk smugly in victory.

but he soon realised that that wasn't that case, a weak, yet determined, voice coming from behind him," i am okay. and jongho's right for once, it doesn't concern any of you."

jongho scoffed. "for once?"

"i didn't fucking stutter, did i?" san muttered, before hopping onto the very back of the motorcycle, expectedly looking at the two to do the same. and once they moved forward to join him, not after exchanging a short moment of eye contact, that is, the pear-haired continued, "what are we going to do, now, then?"

gently placing his hands on the dip of jongho's hips, yeosang bit his lip in thought. "well, we should probably have a look at the footage, right?"

"yeah... which one of you guys' places are free?"

"i'm sorry, but my mom doesn't let me have guests over so late..." yeosang admitted, cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

"that's okay." san leant his head towards the youngest. "uhm, jongho? what about you?"

the boy shook his head, a chuckle in his voice as he spoke, "my siblings are really annoying, i doubt we'd be able to focus. and anyway, why can't we head to yours? you live on your own, don't you?"

san froze for a moment, before shifting uncomfortably behind yeosang. "i don't- er, my place is a mess right now, so..."

"it can't be that bad."

"i-i—" san stammered on his words a little. "well- it- you'd probably be weirded out and stuff, i haven't cleaned up in ages..."

"you and wooyoung were literally friends, though, surely looking for him should be your first priority," jongho responded cleverly, spinning around in his seat to face the latter — a challenging expression painted across his features.