Desire (ATEEZ Boy x Boy Oneshots Book II)

A/F | A Birthday Spent With You | Jongho x Hongjoong

Yes, late, but better later than never <3

Hongjoong woke up to shuffling sounds around the house. He sat up in his bed and looked around. Seonghwa wasn't in bed either. Did he already get up?

"Hongjoong?" San peeked his head in. "You awake?"

"Yeah."

"Happy birthday!" The younger yelled before leaving. Hongjoong shook the drowsiness away.

"Oh... Where's everyone?" He called. No answer. The house was too silent.

Upon coming out of his room, he only found one person sitting at the kitchen table.

"What are you up and dressed for?" Hongjoong noticed his voice had automatically gone more serious.

"Waiting for you to get up," Jongho replied in a similar tone.

One could say there was a bit of tension between the two. Ever since their argument two weeks ago, there wasn't much conversation flowing from them anymore.

Jongho usually didn't like to follow what Hongjoong advised, and Hongjoong didn't like how rebellious Jongho would be. When they finally conflicted, all the members could hear their heated arguments throughout the dorm.

"I don't like how you treat this team, Jongho. All I ask for is for you to respect me as a leader."

"I don't think some of the things you do as a leader are the best you should do as the leader. You need to respect that too."

That was how it started. No one wanted to remember how it ended.

"Waiting for me?"

"Yeah. Happy birthday." Jongho turned back to his phone. "Can you get ready? We have somewhere to be."

Hongjoong frowned but still left to the bathroom anyway. Once he finished changing, he looked through the rooms for San.

"Where's San?"

"He left. It's just you and I today..." Hongjoong could've sworn he heard Jongho mutter "unfortunately" under his breath, but he wasn't sure.

"Where are we going?"

"It's your birthday, leader. We're going to go celebrate it."

"Oh."

"I know I'm not the best to spend it with, huh?"

Hongjoong shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant."

Jongho chuckled, but it was flat. "Yeah. Let's go."

The first place the pair went to was a diner Hongjoong liked.

"You've never been here?" Hongjoong asked.

"No."

"Oh... I think I came with Mingi last week? Was it? Maybe Seonghwa."

Jongho nodded. "I think you've invited everyone to it but me." He turned to the host. "Reservation for Jongho."

Hongjoong suddenly felt bad. Even though a part wanted to blame Jongho for never being free during his own free time, Hongjoong knew that wasn't the boy's fault. Trying to feel wrong about Jongho made Hongjoong feel worse.

"Hongjoong. Come on."

The wait was silent as they looked through the menu. Hongjoong wanted to recommend something, but he didn't want to distract Jongho from his thoughts.

"..."

"Find anything?"

"Not really."

"I like this plate. It's not too much, but it's enough for me."