𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋! | ateez

kimchi jiggae and the art of saying sorry

it takes ten minutes of weaving in and out of asteroids and space rubble until the aurora is finally free of the earth's orbit. seonghwa's biceps ache with the controlled force of pulling levers, and beads of sweat gather on the three steerer's foreheads. mingi's the first to whoop loudly and cheer, and suddenly, they're all hooting and celebrating and waving their limbs in the air like maniacs (they'd be jumping, if not for the anti-gravity). hongjoong's panting slightly, and as seonghwa breathes a sigh of relief, they look at each other and smile. it doesn't linger long enough to be considered a 'moment', but it's a 'something', and seonghwa allows himself to be hopeful about repairing his friendship with the other, even if he turns his head too quickly and hugs jongho instead.

after a solid five minutes of celebrations and relief, their schedules begin. as quickly as they'd gathered, they then scatter, busy with their new jobs, because being an astronaut wasn't just fun and games. hongjoong excuses himself to his private office attached to the control bay (a small room filled with files and tech and whatnot; his own private room that even has a lock on the door) to write up a report of the events just prior, yunho heads to the bio-dome, and seonghwa is left with san and yeosang to check the next section of their flight path (it was slightly tedious, having to go through every part of their route over and over again, but objects travelling through space were rebellious and unpredictable, so this was necessary). mingi and jongho, the lucky bastards, already have a free period, and with wooyoung in tow they go to explore the interesting breakfast options in the kitchen.

with all the exhausting events happening (both physically and mentally) in such a short span of time at the beginning of the day, it was easy to forget what had happened between hongjoong and wooyoung earlier.

but it seems wooyoung hasn't let it go, as he wanders back into the central bay, floating to yeosang's side. he's like a lost ghost, and then like a brooding dog when he flops his chin onto the navigator's shoulder. he doesn't flinch, or pause the sentence he's speaking- he just pats wooyoung's head mindlessly and continues on. san and seonghwa say nothing, but the woeful energy the youngest is emitting is unmistakable and suffocating. he looks so dejected, so miserable, and it doesn't suit him at all. seonghwa's much more used to his teethy grin and his lifted cheeks and ear-achingly high-frequency laugh. it's so out of character for the data controller, than seonghwa has the urge to storm into hongjoong's office right now and scold him properly for making wooyoung so sad. or maybe that's just his maternal instincts again (god fucking damnit).

thankfully, it doesn't take long for their meeting to wrap up, since the first push into their expedition went as perfectly as they could've ever imagined (seonghwa's almost a little smug about it, reminiscing on the time him and eden had picked out each candidate that stands before him. he's so proud, he has to compose himself and clear his throat). this gives them a little time to... talk?

or sort out their personal issues. read: wooyoung and hongjoong.

it's the heavy elephant in the room, and wooyoung keeps huffing (he's unaware of it, too) as he piles all his weight onto yeosang. yeosang, as their bluntest member, sighs, but not impatiently.

"wooyoung, do you want to talk?" he asks, not gently, but not harshly. yeosang has funny way of handling things, but seonghwa can't argue that his cold yet kind methods don't work.

"i guess," wooyoung replies in a whiny, dreary tone, the sort that actually means "yes, i really would", as if they hadn't realised that before.

"i tried to speak to hongjoong about it," seonghwa adds, and wooyoung looks up at him, a tad surprised, like he's just remembered seonghwa was in the room when it happened too.

"and? what'd he say?" from the look on seonghwa's face, wooyoung flops back onto yeosangs shoulder dejectedly. yeosang doesn't move away, but he doesn't move closer to wooyoung for it to be more comfortable. like seonghwa said: an enigma.