Chapter Text
Yoosung wasn’t exactly sure when the little comments from Seven started to make his cheeks flush red, but he was certainly aware of it now.
“You look so adorable with your hair stuck up like that,” he chuckled (redredred) and moved to flatten out the spring of Yoosung’s hair that seemed to have erected itself during the night. It wasn’t surprising, given their sleeping conditions. Yoosung had woken up with his head on Seven’s dashboard, a little pool of drool from the corner of his mouth starting to roll down towards the glove compartment. Seven had narrowed his sharp eyes at the abuse of his ‘baby’, but hadn’t said anything, much to Yoosung’s surprise. He thought that the redhead might just have been grateful to him for agreeing to risk coming out to some place in the mountains in the middle of the night. Then again Seven had had to use Honey Buddha Chips to bribe him.
But if Yoosung was being honest… Any excuse to see Seven was perfect. And a road trip where he could steal glances at the hacker while his eyes were fixated on the road? Even more so.
God… when had Yoosung got so deep in this? When had he got used to dialing Seven’s number between classes, cradling his phone to his ear just to hear that familiar teasing tone while his classmates phoned their girlfriends? When did his stomach start sinking when he was redirected to voicemail (which was more than often, since Seven was almost always busy hacking and tracking and god knows what else)?
Yoosung was finally able to exhale when Seven sunk back into his seat, his hands returning to scuttling across the keys of his laptop at a startling pace. Yoosung watched those loose fingers dance, little soldiers moving desperately to keep up with Seven’s lightening thought process, before dragging his eyes back to Seven’s face. For what seemed like the billionth time that day, Yoosung examined Seven’s features. His slim nose, just a little shallow on one side so that his unadjusted glasses weren’t perfectly symmetrical: slightly lower on the left. His thin lips, partially open, with his tongue peeking out in concentration. The slope of his jaw, and how it clenched every once in a while – at the same time that his fingers froze and his brow would furrow at the screen for only a millisecond. Then his fingers would scatter madly once again, and his jaw would unclench as his brilliant brain inevitably came up with a solution to whatever problem he had come across.
“Yoosung, you’re staring,” Seven said after a while, and Yoosung wondered how long he had been aware of this fact.
“R-r-right!” he stammered, looking away bashfully. “Sorry.”
“No worries, cutie.” That teasing tone again. “Not sure exactly why you’re staring though.”
Yoosung cocked his head and, without thinking, said, “It’s because you’re pretty, Seven.”
He clamped his hand over his mouth. But it was far too late for that. A pleased smirk played on Seven’s lips, and he turned from his laptop to take in Yoosung’s blushing face. Even the tips of his ears had pinkened. He extended his hand and curled his fingers around Yoosung’s wrist. He gently tugged it from his face. Beneath Seven’s fingers, Yoosung’s pulse was erratic.
“Oh, so cute! You think I’m pretty, Yoosung?”
“I-” Yoosung squeaked and shut his eyes, as if it would somehow make the situation disappear. Seven’s teeth sank deep into his lower lip. With Yoosung’s wrist held above in his hand, and his eyes squeezed shut, he looked so vulnerable, and, and…
He dropped the other boy’s wrist. It felt heavy, to Yoosung, without Seven holding it up.
Oh god, oh god – I fucked up. He totally knows! He knows!
“Don’t worry.” Seven muttered, shifting back into his seat uncomfortably.
They settled into an awkward silence. The only sound was the noise of Seven’s manic typing. Yoosung passed the time by gazing out at the trees around them and playing games on his fingers. By Yoosung’s third sigh, Seven finally dragged his attention back to him.
“I’m boring you?” he teased, waggling his eyebrows.
“Sorry,” groaned Yoosung. He fidgeted in his seat (again) and turned so he was practically on his hips, facing Seven. “Are you almost done?”
Seven chuckled. “Yes. Have a little faith.”
“Sorry,” repeated Yoosung, but this time a small smile stretched across his face.
“There,” Seven said, not moments later, “I’ve looped the CCTV so anyone watching won’t see me, and disarmed the security system to buy some time if I get caught.”
“Yay!” Yoosung clapped his hands once. “Good job! Now let’s-”
Seven’s hand whipped like snake. “You’re staying here, Yoosung.”
Yoosung wrestled with the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Child locks? Really?”
Seven winked, but then his face fell somber.
“Please. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to you…” Seven closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest. He looked tired. So tired. Yoosung wanted to lean over, run his fingers over his eyelids, smooth out the lines on his forehead, sweep his thumbs across the dark circles… He almost reached across. Almost.
“Is it dangerous, Seven?” Yoosung’s brows were drawn together, and there was a worry in his eyes that Seven had never seen before.
“Don’t look so worried. I’ll come back.” His signature smile. Still, this didn’t stop him from fishing out a crumpled note from his hoodie and pressing it into Yoosung’s palm. “I will, I promise. This is just in case.”
Yoosung smoothed out the note.
1. Call this number: xxxx-xxxx-xxx
2. Say the letters J X Y N H Z R T
3. Respond to the question with ‘confirmed’.
4. Toss phone in nearby lake
5. drivedrivedrive
“S-seven…”
Yoosung’s eyes brimmed with water, dangerously close to spilling down his cheeks.
“Don’t cry, Yoosung…” Seven affectionately ruffled his blond locks. “I’ll take the child lock off, but can you promise me you’ll stay in the car? If something happens to me, I need you to tell the others… so that… so that they can get help! Okay?”
Yoosung sniffled and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Okay…”
“Good boy,” Seven cooed, causing Yoosung’s face to heat up. “I’ll be right back.”
And then he was gone.