One Last Light (Ateez)

Prologue

 The forest was chattering with the sound of cicadas and birds tweeting from the trees as Wooyoung and Yeosang made their way through. Wooyoung was leading since he was the only one out of their friend group who spent the majority of time inside the forest and was the least likely to get lost. The air was warm with the taste of summer on their fingertips and the breeze of freedom carding through their hair as they walked. Wooyoung talked while walking, adding to the noisiness of the forest as he chattered away about his day. It was a Friday afternoon, and both had gotten an early release from school.

Finals had just about passed, and everyone was just waiting for the last days of school to finish up so they could get the summer vacation they all so desperately wanted.

Wooyoung led them through a canopy of brush, taking care to make sure Yeosang walked through before he let the fixture drop. On the other side, Yeosang was already moving towards the lake that resided. The area was hidden; essentially a pocket in the otherwise dense forest. With flatland covered with lush grass and tiny blue flowers scattered about, the forest pocket was beautiful with the small lake inserted in. The two got settled on the lake's rim, pulling their shoes off and dipping their feet into the ice-blue water.

"... He was acting brand new. I don't know. Like, if you're gonna try and assign homework, don't make the homework stupid as hell. What do I look like trying to explain the differences in Hamlet's soliloquies based on how he delivers them? I can barely even understand what the man is saying to begin with." Wooyoung ranted, brows furrowed as he gestured grandly.

From beside him, on his phone, Yeosang hummed thoughtfully. "I think it was tonal," he said offhandedly. Wooyoung reached over and swatted his arm, and Yeosang made a noise of pain.

"You're supposed to support me, not agree with the teacher," Wooyoung said with a frown.

At this, Yeosang finally glanced up from his phone to shoot his friend a blank look. "... Well," he began, "I guess it's your grade, not mine."

Wooyoung stuck his tongue out and the two jeered at each other for a few moments before Wooyoung fell back against the grass, exhaling loudly. They settled in peaceful silence for a while and eventually Wooyoung broke it as he pulled out his phone to begin playing BTS Superstar loudly. Yeosang groaned and kicked him in the knee with his wet foot.

"Dude, you're so loud."

With a cheeky grin, Wooyoung promptly ignored his friend, instead focusing on trying to beat his current record in Mic Drop. Yeosang sighed exasperatedly and turned back to his own phone, scrolling mindlessly through Twitter. A decent amount of time passed and eventually, Yeosang set his phone down before flopping back, sliding his hands behind his head.

"Gonna take a nap?" Wooyoung asked distractedly and Yeosang hummed in reply. Wooyoung pursed his lips and nodded, "That kind of sounds like a good idea. Bet I won't too," he announced as he abruptly locked his phone and set it beside himself as well and lying back.

Due to all the time that passed, it was already nearing evening by the time they decided to take their nap. Roughly an hour and a half had to have passed before one of them woke up, and by then, the sky was touched in orange and reds as the sun began setting. Yeosang stretched out his limbs with a groan, then blindly reached over to swat at Wooyoung. "Woo, get up."

Wooyoung mumbled something and adjusted himself, but didn't wake up. Yeosang rolled over to stare at him and reached over again to nudge him again when there was a loud noise that washed over the forest. It was like an explosion or a gunshot; loud and sudden. Beneath them, the ground vibrated from the aftershocks. Both boys flinched at the sound, Wooyoung abruptly waking up. "What the fuck was that?" He asked as he sat up, quickly rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his fist.