strawberry shortcake

10. distant

"Chan-ah!" Jisung bursted into Chan's room, causing the older to almost have a heart attack due to the fright. "You can't do that to the old man." Seungmin who was sat on Chan's bed with laptop in his lap chuckled at the way his hyung clenched his chest in discomfort.

"You, both, my office in ten minutes." He ran off once again and the two just shared a confused look. "What's his problem?"

"Well maybe it's the fact that you're his right hand and I'm the underboss." Chan remarked sarcastically, getting off his bed. "Let's go so he doesn't freak out."

~

"Jeongin is still very new to this and even though he's doing more than alright, he's slacking on some parts, so I want you to train him." Jisung said, gaining two different looks from the two that sat before him. Seungmin looked taken aback by Jisung's new idea while Chan's eyes sparkled in excitement that he was trying his best to contain.

"Why do you want me to do the training?" He asked curiously and Jisung shrugged.

"He needs to learn more about leadership, you're the best we have." Jisung folded his arms on his chest as he leaned more into his armchair. "I have a lot of work to be honest, but sure, I'll do it."

"Coolio, next-" "Ew don't say that ever again." Seungmin's face twisted in disgust while Chan nodded in agreement. "It was very disturbing."

"Whatever." Jisung rolled his eyes, standing up from his chair. "Seungmin, I want to meet up with Choi Soobin, Nishimura Riki and Kim Hongjoong. They can take a plus one. I want to meet up in a week, in Starlight."

"Is it a good idea to meet up with Kim after the Seonghwa thing..?" Chan voiced out unsure of his boss's reaction who only chuckled in response.

"It's all business Chan-ah. At the end of the day you all work for me and you have to do as I say."

~
(Ateez part again haha)

"Fuck," Wooyoung groaned, banging his head against the wall behind him. Or at least he intended to do so, but San's hand that instinctively reached to the back of his head restricted him from doing so.

"Is your anxiety acting up again? You're shaking." San asked in concern, scooting closer to Wooyoung who was visibly trembling. It worried him to see his boyfriend in that state and it definitely wasn't helping that it was happening more frequently.

"It is. I don't know what to do with myself." He whined, covering his face with his hands. He quickly decided against that action though as it only made breathing harder and just took in a very sharp breath while covering his quickly beating heart with his hand.

He could hear his heartbeat in his head and he was afraid of what was to come if he didn't calm down somehow.

"You okay?" San asked worriedly now dropping his phone on the pillows and hurrying to his boyfriend's side. "What's on your mind that's causing you to feel anxious?" San's gentle voice helped Wooyoung to focus on something nice and soothing, yet it still wasn't enough.

"You and Minho and Yunho and Changbin and many many other things. I-I feel guilty, like everything's my fault." His eyes filled up with tears at his own words as speaking his mind out loud made his thoughts seem more real.

San placed his hand around Wooyoung's, intertwining their fingers to offer him as much reassurance as possible. "What is your fault baby? Nothing is your fault."

"It is, everything is. Minho got kidnapped because of me, Yunho is sad because of me, Changbin's having some problems but I can't bring myself to text him back, and you're always taking care of me because I'm just useless. I'm ruining everyone's life..." tears spilled down his cheeks at his own words and the uncomfortable clenching feeling inside his chest. He felt like he was dying.