rendezvous • johnten

5.

he felt... sparks?

it was as though time had stopped and the man had fallen to the ground in slow motion. it was as though the sky and the lights of seoul were shimmering and shifting before him, dancing around his vision. there was no sound except for ten's heartbeat, pounding faster and faster until he thought it was going to explode.

the taller man was on the ground, but he seemed to feel it too, and looked up at ten, perplexed. he looked weak and helpless, yet ten felt no obligation to harm him as he just had.

was the man also feeling what ten was feeling?

there was no way they were soulmates, right?

"fuuucckkk." the man whispered.

"you too?" ten breathed, the sound barely audible but somehow the man detected it clearly and nodded.

"what did you say your name was?" it was no more than a murmur. the man was still on the ground, propping himself up and wiping his jaw with his arm. his lip was bleeding and the liquid was trailing down his chin and ten noticed a drop fall to the concrete. it splattered on the ground and ten felt every emotion all at once.

"ten." the distance between them seemed to close rapidly, as though space and time were melting into one.

"johnny." the man hummed.

the moment was so intimate, so tender. the world seemed to revolve around them, the stars and galaxy and universe all circling johnny and ten and wrapping them into a warm embrace that felt like home.

"i need to get out of here." the moment broke, and ten stumbled to his feet. somewhere in the moment he had crumbled to his knees but he couldn't quite place how.

johnny looked up. "wait."

"i'm sorry. i shouldn't be here." ten muttered, half to himself, as he turned away and stepped out of the alley.

"ten, please." whispered johnny, but it was too late.

ten walked to the van, as though he was disconnected from his body. he felt empty, like a piece of him was missing. he could feel winwin jump out and shake him by the shoulders but it felt far away and muffled. he was sure someone was speaking to him but it was unintelligible and incoherent. the entire universe was abstract and all he could think about was how he felt like something was wrong.

then there was ringing.

and there was buzzing.

and there was a mad shaking and the whole world seemed to open up and swallow him whole.

"ten."

it was kun.

ten jolted awake, laying in the bedroom he used during his stays at the wayv mansion. kun was standing over him, surrounded by the worried faces of winwin and yangyang.

ten sat up in his bed, his head throbbing with the worst headache of his life. instinctively, he reached to his side table for his pill bottle, but there was none present.

"where the fuck—" ten rasped, his throat dry.

"ten, we're not letting you take any more of those things." kun sounded stern.

"kun, what the hell are you talking about." muttered ten, rubbing his temples and looking up at the man. the lights were blinding.

kun sighed. "dude, you overdosed. winwin saw you take a couple of your meds in the maverick."

"i need my fucking meds, kun." ten buried his face in his hands, desperately trying to escape the throbbing pain taking over his entire skull.

"hyung, we're serious." winwin sighed. "it's getting out of hand."

"i wasn't fucking overdosed, win." ten spat. "give me a fucking painkiller or i swear i'll go find one myself."

"then what the fuck were you, ten?!" kun didn't sound angry, he sounded afraid.

"kun i—.." ten trailed off. how could he explain? "i can't tell you right now. please. i need meds." he whimpered, his head felt as though it was going to split in half.

yangyang chirped in. "hyung, you're addicted. i don't know what drug you took but it fucked you up, bad."

"they were my fucking prescribed meds, yangyang. i literally need those. you know how bad it gets." ten had shared vulnerable moments with yangyang before, years ago— when they shared a room before wayv moved to the new mansion. yangyang, of all the people, knew how awful his headaches would get.

after more explaining and begging, kun finally took the bottle out of his pocket, checked the label, shook out three— and handed them to ten. the latter proceeded to down them without a second thought and within minutes, his head felt clearer.

the rest of the day went by slowly. kun informed ten that he had been asleep for two whole days, waking up only once to scream out the name 'johnny', which kun had no prior context of and brushed it off as a drug-induced dream.

after a few hours of laying in his mansion bed, ten drove back to his apartment and laid in bed some more. he had 16 missed calls from felix and 5 from chistopher bang—his ceo— but he ignored them. he would explain the next day.

he still couldn't shake the feeling that he was empty, that something was missing. he just felt off, and he couldn't explain to himself why.

he knew deep down that it had something to do with the man from 127, johnny— but he was choosing to ignore that.

he couldn't get himself involved with their rival. the men actively trying to crush his team to dust.

but somehow, he longed to see johnny again.

and he didn't know why.

...

wc: 941
a/n: hey gamers. sorry this chapter was kinda short and vague and weird lol
i just rewatched fight club and was watching half nelson while writing this chapter so i was feeling kinda philosophical and floaty... im literally gonna reread this chapter tomorrow and be like
lmao wtf was i talking about.
also its literally 3:04am as im writing this sooo i think that explains the mood a little..
im kinda out of it rn but i gotta keep with my daily updates so take this food and SCRAM!!!

as always constructive criticism is heavily appreciated!! take care bbs