Chapter Text
Creak
Seungcheol's face scrunched up in annoyance, he hated this chair and was in desperate need of a new one. Not that it really mattered right now, he had a mission coming up, so he wouldn't have the time to sit down for a while. Really, he should be taking the time to appreciate the calm.
"The calm before the storm." He reminded himself out loud.
He glanced towards his open door, thinking for a moment of his members.
They were mad at him. Not yelling mad, but there had been this icy tinge to Wonwoo's tone, an awkwardness to Mingyu's presence and Vernon didn't even try to start a conversation.
It wasn't like he had even done anything wrong. In fact, if anything they should be thanking him. He's taking more missions on for them to lessen their load.
And, there was no way he was letting any of them in to the pit. They were too young, and, maybe there was another reason too.
But Seungcheol wasn't ready to admit that yet.
A knock at his door interrupted his thought process. Looking up, he saw an apprehensive Vernon sticking his head through the door, as if to check Seungcheol was there first.
"Did you need something?" Seungcheol questioned.
Vernon waited until he was standing in front of Seungcheol before starting to speak.
"Hyung, I really don't think this is a good way to go about it..." He trailed off towards the end, clearly not liking whatever Seungcheol was doing with his face.
But who was he to blame Seungcheol, he was the one going around picking a fight. Which, to be fair, is not a very Vernon thing to do.
Should Seungcheol mind how transparent he is? Probably. But he wasn't known to be a good liar. No one in the hiphop team was. Which is why Vernon could likely see how much he hated the idea of giving the mission to someone else.
Seungcheol's mouth tightened at the corners. "Don't tell me how to run my own team for gods sake Vernon." Voice dripping with venom.
The man in question flinched. "I'm not trying to tell you how to run your team, I'm just saying that you shouldn't be the one to go on this mission. You'll run yourself to the ground."
"And who would you suggest goes in his place? Yourself?" Seungcheol mocked.
Vernon shuffled on his feet. "Well...Why can't I?"
Seungcheol paused. The silence in the room was deafening. "Vernon. There's no way I'm sending you down to the pit. You're too young."
Vernon scoffed. "You were younger than me when you first went down there."
"And that's something I wish never happened. I got injured so bad, the boss thought about pulling me out completely." Seungcheol retorted.
"What did happen back then?" Vernon asked, not to know the answer, but to make Seungcheol uncomfortable. He knew that Seungcheol would never tell him.
"What happened is none of your business. Don't act like you care." Seungcheol replied coldly, his shoulders squared as he slowly got out of his seat.
This seemed to aggravate Vernon further. "Care? Care? You act as if you care about us, and that's why you're taking all these missions. But the rest of the unit see through your lies now. We all now you just like all the attention and privilege you get from it."
Vernon's words hit him like a truck. No, it wasn't Vernon saying that, was it?
Because Seungcheol would never do that. Because Vernon would never say this. Because the team would never think that. Because Seungcheol knew what this was.
He stepped towards Vernon. As he placed a hand on the younger's shoulder, he watched as the Vernon his mind had conjured up disappeared.
He was really getting sick of all these hallucinations. He needed stronger meds. God, it was getting to him. He sat back down in his chair, hands harshly banging at his forehead, as if he could fix his mind by just that.
Did he need to contact the doctor again?
A loud crash spooked him out of his thoughts, reaching for his gun on instinct.
Unless, he paused, was it another one? He didn't often get more than one hallucination a day.
"THAT WAS ME! DON'T PANIC!" Mingyu called out.
Was it bad that made Seungcheol relieved? His teammate could be injured, and here he was, happy? He was a horrible person. Calling himself a leader? What a joke.
"Hyung! Can you come in here with the first aid kit?" Wonwoo called out.
Seungcheol's heart leapt to his throat. "Of course!" He dashed out in to the hall, and down to Wonwoo's bedroom. Was Mingyu injured bad?
There, he found a teary eyed Mingyu, a worried Wonwoo and Vernon. Wonwoo was inspecting Mingyu's finger, holding it gently.
"What happened?" Seungcheol asked.
"Mingyu was helping me move my bed around but he dropped it and got a splinter." Wonwoo explained.
Is that it? Surely there was something, something more to it. It was too simple. Nothing in Seungcheol's life was that simple. The change of mood was messing with his mind, though he had to remind himself that no one in the room knew of his previous breakdown.
Out the corner of his eye, Seungcheol watched Vernon give Mingyu an awkward pat on the back. "There, there." He comforted.
When Vernon was met with three looks of disbelief, he just held his hands up. "Splinters hurt man."
Mingyu nodded solemnly. "He's right." He whispered.
This made Seungcheol want to laugh. Would it be okay if he did? Is he even allowed to laugh? Surely it's too soon after a hallucination to go back to normal again. It's never this easy. There had to be something else.
Wonwoo made a quick job of patching Mingyu up. Of course he did, Seungcheol thought in amusement, exchanging a look with Vernon. It was obvious to everyone but Mingyu that Wonwoo had a crush on him.
As he looked away from Vernon, insecurity clouded his mind again. Was that weird, to suddenly act so close to Vernon after their argument.
No, not their argument. That wasn't real, he reminded himself.
Silence fell over the group of four as Seungcheol felt his thoughts swallow him whole. You would think, after being together for so long, they would be less awkward. If you thought that, you would be wrong.
Vernon's phone buzzed in his pocket. As soon as he saw the caller id, his face lit up in confusion. Clearing his throat, he told them he was going to take the call.
Seungcheol wondered who he was talking to, not that it was much of his business.
He glanced back to where Mingyu and Wonwoo were sitting on the soft carpet floor. "So, uh." Seungcheol started. "What were you moving your bed around for?"
Wonwoo just shrugged. "Needed a change, I'm not used to being in one place for this long."
Mingyu made a noise of agreement. "We haven't been given a mission in a while."
Seungcheol froze. When neither brought up his upcoming mission, the tension left his shoulders. "Which means there's a big one coming up."
Mingyu's eyes lit up. "That could mean we get to work with another unit!"
"So long as it's not with the Vocal Team." Seungcheol muttered, mood dampened again.
Wonwoo frowned, making a move to get closer to him. "You're friends with Joshua hyung though?"
"Well- yeah but you know, there are other members, who- well- yeah. You know." Seungcheol spluttered.
Mingyu let out a burst of laughter, exchanging an amused glance with Wonwoo. "You mean Jeonghan?"
Seungcheol felt his mood sour as he heard that name.
"Guys!" Vernon called out. "We have a meeting with the boss!"
Seungcheol felt his stomach drop.
Had he been told of the mission? Had he forgotten? He couldn't have. He always remembered. Anything for his team...Right?
"That we're late to already!" Vernon called out again.
Wonwoo's eyes widened as he scrambled up from the floor.
"Oh shit, the boss is gonna kill us." Seungcheol yelled out as he dashed to put his shoes on, hands fumbling with the laces.
But before he could step out the door, a hand was placed of his shoulder, preventing him from continuing.
"Hyung." It was Vernon. "I heard voices in your office." Seungcheol couldn't see the man, though he imagined that Vernon's brows were furrowed and his mouth would be pressed in to a straight line. He could see Vernon having that quizzical look to his eyes.
Though it wasn't much of a question, really. It was much more of a statement.
Seungcheol answered anyway, his hands clenched in to fist, outside Vernon's view. "It was nothing, Vernon. Just muttering to myself."
Vernon's brow furrowed, but he didn't press further. Good. None of them could know. None of them could know how fragile Seungcheol truly was. He was their leader, before their friend. Seungcheol couldn't afford for them to see the monster he was.
If Seungcheol looked back behind him, he would have seen the frown on Vernon's face, and how hesitant he was to let Seungcheol go.