After listening to Dean’s instructions on where they could use this passcode, Jonathan breathed out on his not-so-dying breath. Atlas found himself stopping in the red district of Anteca. The red district of the city was where clubs, bars, and many other establishnts operated at night.
That said, including the ones he steered clear of.
"..." Atlas stared at the rainbow lights lighting up the street from all sorts of different establishnts.
Won wearing almost nothing stood outside so establishnts, calling out to people who were just passing by. There were also drunks who couldn’t walk a straight line anymore. Many other sights overwheld Atlas.
"This is?" Atlas turned to Dean.
Dean grinned before jumping out of the car. Keeping the door open, he lowered his head and flashed Atlas a smile.
"Thanks for the ride, Atlas!"
SLAM!
Dean slamd the door shut, taking a step back as he waved at Atlas. His smile stretched from ear to ear until his eyes were squinting. After that, he jogged away, knowing Atlas might just decide to run him over if he stayed close.
He wasn’t wrong.
Atlas stared at the man jogging away on the pavent. Had Dean stayed for one more second, he would’ve reversed the vehicle and then moved forward, hitting where Dean was.
"I hate him," Atlas whispered, narrowing his eyes at Dean’s retreating figure. "He’ll pay for this in the future."
---
It wasn’t like Dean lied to Atlas.
Jonathan had at least visited the red district twice during his entire training under Dean. Initially, he thought it was just one of Jonathan’s hobbies—to get lost in the liveliness and obscenity of the red district.
But on the second ti Dean followed Jonathan, he knew sothing was up in this place.
After all, he followed Jonathan into this area twice, and each ti, the man just disappeared after whispering sothing to a staff mber in the nightclub. Dean wasn’t sure, but he had a few theories.
He had already checked Jonathan’s work laptop, his computer, even the man’s phone, for anything. But alas, there was nothing. Everything was clean. Besides, Jonathan only ca to this place when sothing huge happened—not necessarily about Jonathan, but events that didn’t seem to connect to him, yet they did.
When Dean reached the sa club Jonathan would frequent, the loud music quickly assaulted his ears. People were dancing on the dance floor, others were chatting, while so were already leaving.
Dean stepped aside to give way but didn’t stop heading to the bar counter. As soon as he sat down, he flashed the bartender a smile and ordered his drink.
’Just one drink,’ he told himself, tapping his fingertips on the bar counter. ’That’s how he does it. One drink, then he’ll stop a staff mber.’
And for so reason, Jonathan only stopped and talked to the sa staff mber.
"Your drink, sir." The bartender placed a glass in front of Dean.
Dean nodded at him, taking sips of his drink. As he did, his eyes scanned the area with only one thought in mind: find the staff that Jonathan would approach.
’There he is!’ Dean looked away, observing the staff mber walk in his direction out of his peripheral vision.
Dean remained seated on his stool, eyes on the glass in his hand.
The staff mber walked past him, and Dean discreetly followed him with his gaze.
’One,’ he counted, rembering this scene when it was Jonathan doing this.
Keeping his attention on where the staff mber went, he stayed quiet. Monts later, he caught the sa staff returning from where he had been. With that, Dean chugged down the entire drink and hissed.
As soon as he slamd the glass down, he straightened his back.
"Delro," he muttered without looking at the staff, who was near his back.
The staff slowed down and glanced at him quietly. Despite the loud music and Dean’s quiet voice, he heard him clearly. However, he didn’t say a word as he resud his steps.
Dean arched a brow at the staff mber. Did he hear ? he wondered, knowing that was how Jonathan did it. But he slowed down, didn’t he?
To be fair, Dean didn’t know what to do after this. All he knew was that Jonathan would do this, and then leave his stool not long after. Dean assud that Jonathan would get a signal after that.
What kind? He had no idea.
But he was just putting everything into this because... why not? He didn’t know what else to do to distract himself from wallowing in his broken heart.
"Your drink, sir."
Amid Dean’s deep thoughts, the bartender suddenly spoke and served him a drink he hadn’t ordered.
Dean looked up at the bartender, only to catch him smiling at him. The bartender then moved on to serve the next custor on the other side.
"..." Dean gazed down at the drink, a little suspicious of it.
But then, he noticed it. The brown tissue underneath the glass. When he glanced at the drink he was first served, there was no tissue under it, but a coaster.
Now that I think about it... Dean breathed out, casually picking up the glass while clipping the tissue with the other hand. He chugged the drink while his eyes remained downward, his hand opening the folded tissue.
[STAFF ONLY]
Dean casually crumpled the paper at the sa ti he emptied the glass. Placing the glass down, he pulled out his wallet and placed a few bills. He moved the glass and placed it over the folded bills, discreetly shoving the crumpled tissue into his pocket.
He then stood from the stool, his eyes darting in the direction where the signage of [Staff Only] could be seen. Following his instincts, he went in the direction the staff mber had earlier.
But on his way, Dean felt soone’s shoulder brush against his.
Turning his head, his face twitched. "Atlas?"
Atlas, acting like he didn’t belong in this place but still benevolent enough to grace it with his presence, kept a stoic face.
"Do you think I’ll just leave after making drive you here?" he asked, giving Dean a cold sidelong glance. "Bold of you to think that."
Dean’s face twitched, but he didn’t drag the drama between them. Instead, he cast his eyes ahead and breathed out.
"Whatever he’s hiding, I want to see it. Don’t you dare interfere."
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