Scattered [ONF ff]

Chapter 9

The drive lasted long and Changyun couldn't concentrate. This time, it wasn't his own thoughts, it was his environment. Yuto fiddled too much. He kept looking up and averting his eyes whenever they locked with Changyun's. There were words behind his grinding teeth.

"Yuto," Changyun said, "don't worry too much, we'll make it back safely."

"I know." Yuto's answer sounded secure. A wrong guess.

"What's bothering you?"

A knife-like sharpness flashed in Yuto's eyes. He didn't answer. Changyun looked at Seungjun for support but he seemed equally lost.

"You know what's wrong," Yuto mumbled.

Even with giving it a second, Changyun couldn't place the antagonism. "I don't..."

"Won't you tell us?" Seungjun tried and somehow got Yuto angrier.

Changyun couldn't think of what prompted this behaviour. He doubted it was the facility or newfound weaponry, but the attitude was sparked since the encounter with the hunters. Yuto hadn't said a word after, only one snide remark towards their new transport. Every move Yuto had made felt stiff, even though his headache had already subsided.

❧☙

"What's on your mind?" Minkyun asked after putting his phone away. "You seem distracted."

Hyojin wanted to brush it off, but if anyone could explain it to him, it would be Minkyun. "I...got a weird feeling while me and Seungjun were in the file room."

"Well, you were met with a lot of not so fun things. I think it's normal to get uneasy."

"I wonder if it was that..."

"How come?" Minkyun asked airily and rephrased himself after a shrug. "What happened to give you the feeling?"

Entering a more civilised part, the roads turned a little busier but nothing hectic, so Hyojin sighed and sat back. "I'm not too sure," he mumbled, "Seungjun just did something nice and it felt as if my flame activated. My skin began to burn..."

"Strange..." Minkyun pondered. "What did he do?"

"Hide a body before I entered the filing room."

"Hmm... Maybe you felt anxious being in such an enclosed room with a corpse."

A nagging feeling in Hyojin disagreed, but he had no better explanation so let the bother eat away passively. He briefly looked over.

Anything he'd ask would most likely be met with a vague or not well thought out answer. There had always been an air of serenity around Minkyun, but there wasn't a sliver of that left now.

In his current state, Minkyun was thoughtless enough to do something secret right next to a mirror.

Hyojin hadn't mentioned it, failing to find the timing, but he also didn't feel a need to. He hadn't even been surprised when, from the driver's seat, he looked in the right side view mirror to see Minkyun press a kiss on Changyun's forehead. They had always been close, and Hyojin already knew Minkyun had feelings for Changyun.

Weeks before, he would've gotten mad—furious. But now, Hyojin hadn't thought twice about it. The dragonborn weren't leaving anymore, they weren't hostile; there was no reason to oppose a deeper connection.

A strange thought flashed through Hyojin's mind, one he dismissed before he could even register it. It was absurd. His heartbeat quickened.

Troubles kept them both silent, only an occasional direction was mumbled until they were surrounded by people again and the moon was taking over. Hyojin parked slightly outside the centre so the van could be left there for a couple days without issue.