Hearts Awakened, Live Alive

Epilogue: Jongho

"I just want you to be happy, hyung."

"You make me happy."

The grass was starting to make Jongho's skin itch, but there was no way he was going to move from where he was. Yeosang was lying on his chest, both of them lying on the grass of a park, watching fluffy white clouds high above in a deep blue sky: a beautiful surprisingly rain-free day. There wasn't anything in the world Jongho would trade for this moment. His first real date with the man he'd been crushing on since high school; there were few places he'd rather be right now and none that came to mind at the moment. No computers needed hacking, no threats of imminent doom loomed over their shoulders, no guns needed to be fired an adversary. It was just quiet. Peaceful. There might be things to worry about later but right now, work was as far from their minds as possible. In a single word: everything was perfect. Jongho couldn't think of another way to describe it.

With things finally calming down in the aftermath of Agony's downfall, all of ATEEZ found themselves with some much-needed downtime. They had all collectively decided to go on what was basically a mandatory vacation for a bit after the final loose ends had been tied up. There was still so much that could be done, so many high-ranked agents left unaccounted for, and corruption waited for no one, but a break was severely needed. Some members embraced the small hiatus more readily than others but none of that had surprised Jongho at all.

Wooyoung and San were using this time to move into their new apartment. They'd thrown a house-warming party a few days ago, though it was less a party and more so just an excuse for the eight of them to hang out without work being dragged into the mix. They had a really nice place now, but Jongho would be money that the apartment would be a pigsty within a week maximum.

Yunho and Mingi were spending some much-needed time with their child. As far as Jongho knew, Yunho's parent's names had been cleared but seven years in prison could do a number on a person so Gunho's custody still fell onto Yunho. Not that Jongho thought the man minded that much at all. With Agony gone for good, Yunho, and by extension Mingi, were set on giving the boy the childhood he never had the chance to have.

Hongjoong had devoted all his time to helping along Seonghwa's recovery. It hadn't been easy for any of them to watch the man's struggle to survive the life-threatening wounds he had taken. From being placed in a medically induced coma to laying unmoving in a hospital bed for over a month, Jongho was surprised the man even woke up at all. Most of the doctors hadn't been hopeful and made that painfully clear to all of them just so they didn't get their hopes up. Hongjoong had taken it the hardest of them all; of course, he had. There was so much to do, not to even mention the city insisting on carrying out Seonghwa's trial before he was even awake to defend himself. Hongjoong really had his work cut out for him. Jongho still wasn't sure how he had managed it all without more than the one mental breakdown he'd had.

Yeosang and himself had been busy trying to find where all the most wanted Agony agents had managed to disappear to. It was hard work and even harder still to convince Yeosang to take even basic care of himself at the worst of it all, but they had managed well enough. And now finally, four years of pining and a month and a half since the fall of Agony, Jongho finally got his first real date with Yeosang.

They had opted to spend it outside, seeing how nice it was and how very little Yeosang ever left their hideout, especially in the last month. Yeosang had thrown him for a loop actually since he was the one who had suggested such a change in scenery.

"I want to go to a skatepark, I haven't been in forever and I... I think it would be fun," he said, his eyes downcast as if he was afraid Jongho would say no or something harsh.

"I don't know how to skate," Jongho had admitted. Yeosang looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Will you teach me?"

Yeosang had been so excited, showing Jongho for hours skill Jongho didn't even know Yeosang had. Yeosang admitted he hadn't been skating since joining ATEEZ, never having enough time in between jobs to indulge in such a "frivolous" pastime. Jongho was glad Yeosang had shared this aspect of his life with him. Even if he didn't have nearly the amount of balance required to do anything more than coast for a bit before wiping out fantastically, he didn't mind any of it. Hearing Yeosang giggle after him and seeing him smile oh-so prettily down at him before helping him off the ground made everything worth it.