A House Made of Cards {Ateez au}

Chapter 18 - Found

Hongjoong grinned, tracing back the signal to find an exact location from Seonghwa.

Seonghwa shouldn't have used his power, Hongjoong thought, it was his downfall now. The large source of energy was able to lead Hongjoong right to Seonghwa and where Seonghwa was, Wooyoung, Yunho, and most importantly, Yeosang would be.

"Got you," Hongjoong smiled, eyes wide with joy and victory.

He sprang up from his chair and ran to the living room where Jongho and MIngi were sitting next to each other.

"You seem excited," Mingi said, looking at the leader.

"I found him," Hongjoong breathed.

"What?" Mingi said, standing up. He knew what Hongjoong said, he was just in shock.

"Yeah," Hongjoong grinned. "Where's San?"

"Drunk," Jongho snorted. "In his room."

"Do you want me to go get him?" Hongjoong said, eyebrow raised.

Jongho groaned drastically. "No no, I guess I'll do it," he dragged himself of the couch and walked toward San's room.

A few seconds to a minute later, Jongho returned, dragging a clearly drunk San behind him.

Hongjoong stared at the black witch. "Has he been like that the whole time?"

Jongho rolled his eyes and pushed San onto the couch. "Yes. The entire time."

Hongjoong grimaced and walked up to the younger boy. "San," he said gently as if talking to a child.

When there was no response, Hongjoong spoke more firmly. "San." Hongjoong aggressively shook his shoulder. "San. Hello? Are you that drunk?"

Jongho snorted again. "He probably is."

With one last look at San, Hongjoong raised his hand and slapped him. Not enough force to hurt him, but enough for him to feel it.

Jongho's eyes widened and Mingi's mouth opened before he quickly shut it again. San appeared to be more focused now, staring back at Hongjoong with a slight pout on his face.

"You hit me," he slurred.

"Wake up, you idiot, I found him."

The three words seemed to have woken him up. "What?" he mumbled, a newfound hope in his eyes.

"Seonghwa used his magic, and I was able to track it back to their location," Hongjoong put his hands on San's shoulders, shaking him slightly. "So sober up, we're getting our teammate back."

San stood up quickly, it was as if all traces of alcohol were gone from his system.

"The second you mention Yeosang all of a sudden he's not drunk and he could move on his own," Jongho grumbled. "I should've done that earlier so I didn't have to keep getting you stuff."

Jongho's comment was completely ignored. "Get ready," Hongjoong said, letting go of San's shoulders. "This will be one of our hardest fights yet."

+++

"You look nervous," Jongho said, looking at Mingi.

"Fighting these guys never ends well for me," Mingi mumbled. "I get stabbed almost every time."

"You make shields how do you get stabbed?" Jongho said, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge and chucking it at the taller.

Mingi caught the water bottle. "I actually don't know," he shrugged. "I'm never fast enough."

"Why don't you just keep a shield up the whole time?"

"Then I can't hit him."

"But he can't hit you either."
"He'd get bored of me and go kill someone else."

"But you wouldn't get hurt."

Mingi paused and looked over at Jongho, an eyebrow raised.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Jongho repeated, looking somewhat shy.

Mingi took a breath. "Let's go on a vacation after this."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it might help get rid of all this stress," Mingi shrugged.

"Mingi, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Can we be boyfriends? Like officially."

Mingi stared at him for a second. "You... want to be my boyfriend?"

"Unless you don't want to, then we don't have to, I mean really-" Jongho was cut off when Mingi leaned in and kissed him.

"Was that a yes?" Jongho asked once Mingi pulled away.

"Yes, Jongho, that was a yes."

+++

San sighs as he washes his face in an attempt to wake himself up further. He grabbed a black shirt that he left for himself on the toilet and put it on. He took a deep breath before walking out of the bathroom.

He sat on his bed and pulled out a pair of black combat boots. He put them on and tied them tightly before he got up and walked to the door, Yeosang being the only thing on his mind.

He swore to himself that he would bring the boy back, even if it meant he died in the process.

+++

"Eden I need help," Hongjoong said, rushed as he barged into Eden's room without warning.

Eden jumped a little, "Don't do that, you scared me."

"Please, Eden, I need your help with something. I need to speak with you."

Eden sighed, closing his laptop and turning his chair so he faced the white witch. "What is it?"

"We found him. We found Yeosang," Hongjoong started, taking note of Eden's surprised expression. "But I'm nervous. This is going to be one of our hardest fights yet. We're going in for the kill this time, Eden, I'm scared that one of my members is going to die."

Eden stood up and walked over to Hongjoong, giving the boy a hug. "Hongjoong, as a leader, you have to learn to make these tough calls. Your team knows what they are getting into. They know they can get hurt, they know they can die, but they choose to follow you anyway. They trust you." He paused. "It's hard losing a team member, I know, believe me, but all you can do is try."

Hongjoong sniffed. "Thank you, Eden," he says, wiping a tear from his eye.

Eden smiled. "You should probably start getting ready, like you said, this will be one of your hardest fights yet."