Answer ||| Ateez

11

Yunho scrunched his nose and tried to ignore the fact that his lower lip was begging him to stop biting it, but most of the time he didn't realize he was doing it. He could feel that it was puffed up and swollen, but right now he couldn't help it.

He and Mingi were currently leaning against the wall of a shop watching people file into a large building. It looked like it was an old warehouse that was now repurposed into the fighting ring one of their supposed team members was running.

That wasn't what was stressing him out though, at least... not fully.

No, it was the fact that he was standing next to who he presumed was a complete stranger, someone who came to him with a fantastical tale about how they knew each other in another life and told him things about himself that no one else knew... and it felt like he was where he belonged.

Yunho had always learned to follow his gut. That's how he had become such a good driver. Most street racers followed logic, like the precise angle to turn your wheel to get the perfect drift or the fastest route through the city.

No, Yunho didn't follow that. He used them as guidelines, but if his gut told him to turn left he turned left.

It was how he had survived for so long.

Yunho started to run his finger over his lip as if that would soothe the pain he had inflicted on himself while turning to glance at Mingi.

The red-head looked like he was in a constant state of discomfort. He had deep lines on his forehead from it being furrowed and his eyes darted back and forth like he was trying to see something that wasn't there.

It made Yunho wonder if it was some kind of side effect from the 'time travel' Mingi kept talking about, or if it was something else.

Either way, he felt sorry for Mingi. If everything he was saying really was true and did happen, then that was a lot of weight for him to carry alone. Especially with how the world was today... This Mercer guy had really torn everything apart and destroyed the world by the sounds of it.

God he could use a stiff drink...

Yunho looked down at his other hand and noticed that it was shaking slightly.

With everything that had been going on, it had been awhile...

"Are you ok?" Mingi asked. His voice was soft and gentle, the way one spoke to a friend they cared about.

Yunho licked his raw lips and nodded. "I'll be fine."

"You should switch to coffee." Mingi let out a low chuckle.

"What?"

"I'm not blind, Yunho. I saw the alcohol bottles in your house. I'm not going to judge you for it. But you used to be addicted to coffee. Boy did you like it. Hongjoong used to have to hide the coffee machine to make sure you didn't drink too much in one day. Boy would you get mad at him." Mingi smiled at the ground, then sighed.

Yunho straightened up and placed a comforting hand on Mingi's shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world. "You really love him, don't you?"

"Yeah... I do." Mingi's eyes grew wide and started to water. "I love him so fucking much and I don't know if that's going to be enough." He brought a hand up to cover his mouth and slowly sank down so that he was crouching but was still leaning against the wall. "He's so different from the man I fell for, but he looks exactly the same."

"Hey," Yunho crouched down next to him and leaned over to try and see his face, "You convinced me, right? I'm sure if he's anything like he person you talk about he will come around." Yunho had no idea if what he was saying was true or not, but he wanted to try and comfort Mingi at least a little bit.