Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 7 : Three Shots, One Hole

"You know Seonghwa, the longer you stare and attempt to crush your crowbar, the more insane you look," Jongho said softly, a smile on his face as he plopped down next to Seonghwa on a large chunk of cement that had fallen away from the building.

"Shut up," the older responded quickly but with little venom in his voice.

"No matter how hard you try and pretend that's the boss's neck strangled between your hand, it won't actually happen."

"You don't know that, I can think it into existence."

Seonghwa heard Jongho sigh heavily beside him and then he felt a rather harsh pat on his shoulder.

"You're truly hopeless," the youngest replied, already getting to his feet once more and picked up the rifle he had set down and brought it up into his arms with a pathetic groan.

Seonghwa turned to look at him, his eyebrows pinched together.

"How about you take my side for once?" He nearly pouted but refrained from embarrassing himself even more.

"You see, the boss scares me and you don't. I value my life unlike you who choose to gamble with his life every time you talk to him. I actually want to keep my head on my shoulders."

"What do you mean I don't scare you?" Seonghwa shot up, nearly slipping off the block of cement he was sitting on. "I am the scariest person here!"

Jongho just looked at him with a blank expression for a long time - too long in Seonghwa's opinion - and then he had to cover his mouth to hold back a laugh. Seonghwa stood there with his mouth open, both his pride and ego hurt beyond repair.

"You know ever since I heard that the boss literally pinned you to the ground with just his foot- I will never be able to see you in the same light," the youngest finally was no longer able to keep his cool, bending over at the waist as he laughed out loud.

Had Seonghwa been in a worse mood, he would've smacked Jongho's back with the butt of his rifle to shut the man up. But he was in a fairly good mood, having slept pretty well for the first time in a very long time. Jongho should consider himself lucky. Just because he was the youngest doesn't mean he would get special treatment.

"That was a month ago- fucking let it go already!" Seonghwa reached over and grabbed onto Jongho's ear and pinched it enough for the younger to jerk his head away which successfully put a stop to his dehumanizing laughter.

"No can do, it was the source of serotonin I needed," Jongho took a few steps away from Seonghwa, hopping off the cement and rubbed at his reddened ear. "We all told you to tone it down and to be careful with him, but you never listen."

"He's the one who needs to tone it down," Seonghwa mumbled, his nose scrunching a little in anger.

He could feel Jongho watching him, the younger always had a piercing gaze to him that was nearly unsettling. As soft and squishy as Jongho looked, the man was anything but. He was pure and solid muscle that Seonghwa could only dream of having- Jongho was built like a tank and the older almost felt sorry for anyone or anything that got in his way.

"Well the sulking party is over, I know the boss made you come on this fuel trip and you don't want to be here, but we do have a job to do and it's almost dusk," Jongho gestured to the dimming light, the soft red and orange glaze that had taken over the sky. He put two fingers up horizontally and squinted one eye, and then nodded his head. Seonghwa knew what he was doing, the younger had even taught him once before.