Seonghwa allowed himself to stand back for a second as he normalised his breathing again. He'd had some troubles crossing the ruins, but nothing too dramatic for now. There had been some deathly traps that seemed to be keen on ending his life before he ventured in further. He had to dodge those with dangerous climbing tricks across the walls. Seonghwa had seen some weird ceremonial looking altars, and a lot of bones, but so far, nothing that pointed him at what he was searching for. It seemed futile. The city was huge; it spread seemingly endless through massive parts of the mountains. Seonghwa would spend days exploring, and he was not equipped for such an extended stay.

While he was sitting in some corner and munching down his lunch, he discussed the matter with his friends back in England.

"It was not at their burial site. And also not in the ceremony room." Seonghwa shuddered at the reminder of that room, of rusty knives and wooden apparatuses that had been blackened by blood with time. "Do you think it might have disappeared somewhere? I've read nothing about it anywhere; they might have thought it's not important?"

Seonghwa would need more time if he had to search the whole damn mountain. The time he did not have with a needy omega at home, and men, who wanted to shoot him waiting around every corner.

His knees were bleeding where he had scraped them earlier, and the elbow of his camouflage uniform was ripped too. His vest made his shirt stick to his skin uncomfortably tightly. He wanted to rip it off his body already, but if he did that, three people would scream his ear off.

"Maybe you could try finding the living quarters of their important people — a king maybe, or a shaman. I'd say if anybody gets to keep weird things nobody has ever seen before, it might be those people," Yeosang supplied helpfully, albeit a tad breathless. He had been back for a while now, and his earlier tension was now eased. San had allowed him to sit down on his cock to keep him nice and warm while Yeosang was working on his documents on the side.

"I could try. This down here looks like the quarters of the lower class. I might need to search further." With a sigh, Seonghwa put the empty box back into his bag and rose to his feet to dust his pants off.

"Where is that little scoundrel anyway? I haven't seen him yet." Which he was glad about. He did not need to see his smug smirk when his men had already ruined Seonghwa's day anyway.

"His chopper is parked in a cave further north. He's been hanging around for a while now; I think he might be waiting for you."

Seonghwa groaned as he again spied out his route. It led him further South, further away from his Nemesis.

He hesitated.

"Do you think he might have found it?"

There could be two reasons why that brat could be waiting for him. Either, he wanted to show off and disappear with Seonghwa's artefact, or he wanted to talk. Usually, their talks ended in gunfire, though, so Seonghwa saw little use in those.

"I have no idea. But the fact that he managed to get the right time again kinda creeps me out. Ah- Yeo- don't move." San gave a choked groan that got echoed by Yeosang. Seonghwa rolled his eyes, smirking. He could not wait to be home again and play with Yeosang in the sheets while he forgot everything about his arch-enemy.

"Send me his coordinates, I'm checking it out."

"Checking him out, hm? I kinda get it, he's undeniably hot." San began tapping away at his keyboard again, their little slip-up forgotten. However, Seonghwa believed to hear the slick sound of Yeosang moving on him anyway. He willed the heat that gathered in his own body unprompted away and tried to concentrate on his duty.

"There, your PDA has it. Make sure to ask him for his number this time, so your next date doesn't have to involve so many corpses," he didn't stop his teasing. Seonghwa jumped down from the boulder he had been resting on and started searching his way through the labyrinth of corridors.

"I swear to God, San, I'd make you choke on my knot if I was there right now. Yeosang, be a good boy and shut him up for me. Make sure you turn your mic off, though. As much as I'd love to hear you two fuck, I kinda need to concentrate on the enemy and his guns."

"Make sure your eyes don't stray too far, Hwahwa. I kinda suspect you of being interested in what else he has to offer apart from his guns-"

Seonghwa threateningly reached up to turn the device off, but San shut right up with a last giggle. Finally, silence surrounded Seonghwa.

With a benevolent eye-roll at the mess his two friends were, he wandered off, further down the trap-studded halls.

Seonghwa flipped and jumped over them for another half an hour until he reached the corner his PDA was pointing him to. A sudden light was flooding in from the left, it was obviously an exit of some sorts.

Seonghwa took his weapon in his hands again, not entirely rounding the corner yet. First, he wanted to take a look.

Carefully, he peeked around the corner and into the hidden part of the city.

It was the perfect spot to trap someone in. It was another one of their ceremonial sites, but the location was different from the dark chambers filled with bones and rats Seonghwa had seen so far.

It was a platform on top of a massive stone that seemed to grow out of nothingness. Indeed, Seonghwa could hear water in the distance, so he suspected it to be a plateau surrounded by the streams within the mountains. The crater was open here, similar to a volcano and there were birds idly patrolling the skies. A single pendant bridge led over to the platform, and all around it was a big cleft before the tall walls of the mountain rose into the sky all around.

The location was obviously human-made. The walls were decorated with their symbols and decorative art. They had also built canals in the earth for water to flow freely from four symmetrical waterfalls from above. It rushed down into the canyon loudly and strong enough to kill a person.

Seonghwa had lost his tongue at the sight, drinking it all up full of amazement.

This was pre-Incan. Far before the ancient settlers had built their pyramids and holy temples. Seonghwa could only marvel at the creative minds those people had had many thousand years ago.

He wanted to study it forever. He wanted to take pictures and decrypt all of their magnificent symbols and letters. He could spend years here, but there was something terribly out of the picture.

It was the chopper standing on the platform — a sleek black thing with open doors and calmly rotating blades that seemed to wait for somebody.

And there, right on the altar and in the sun, there laid a man on his stomach. He was idly kicking his legs while his fingers were playing with some object. His red hair shimmered in the light like fresh blood.

Seonghwa felt his stomach drop and clench at the same time at the sight of the guy.

San had been right.

Seonghwa quickly scanned the area, again becoming distracted. There was the raised altar that the man was lounging on and clearly desecrating. Around it remained several broken and fallen statues, obelisks and arches that were once looming over the scene like powerful gods. Seonghwa could picture it clearly, the importance of this place to the people, their pride.

The water must have been as high as the platform once, before making its way down and smoothing out the stone with time. This place was nothing short of breathtaking, and this brat was lazing around in the middle of it as if he owned it.

Seonghwa wanted to shoot his damn head off already.

However, he stayed patient. After a quick scope, he found nobody else apart from the redhair and the man in the helicopter. No need to shoot just yet.

Grumbling, he put his weapon down and stepped out of his hiding place.

The redhair picked right up on him, as Seonghwa started to cross the dangerously swaying bridge. With his interest piqued, he sat up and protected his eyes with one of his hands as he watched Seonghwa come closer.

"Park, fancy meeting you here! Is this fate?" He swung his long and build legs over the edge of the altar to turn to Seonghwa fully.

By now, the alpha could detect the smirk on the man's pointy features, but more important was what he was wearing at the moment.

Seonghwa faltered in his steps when the redhair stood.

It was a fucking catsuit.

Gulping, Seonghwa let his eyes travel down the man's form. His chest stood out most to Seonghwa's eyes, looking full and rounded in the tight black latex. The lines of his abs were clearly visible too, just like the jut of his hipbones. There was also another far more private shape Seonghwa could detect far too well, and that he would pretend he did not stare at for nearly thirty seconds.

"I see you've coloured your hair!" Seonghwa tried to save the last bits of his dignity by pretending he didn't look.

He reached the end of the bridge in the next moment, while the other man had started stepping down the steps leading up to the altar with his heavy boots himself. Seonghwa took notice of the two pistols he wore strapped around his muscular thighs - another fact he didn't have to see this clearly.

Tense, he gripped his shotgun tight.

They met at the bottom of the stairs. Seonghwa stood on the ground, and the other man on the first step, becoming a few centimetres taller than the alpha by default.

"Do you like it?" The man angled his head with an amused smile, looking far too young and attractive for Seonghwa's tastes. He played dumb.

"You look like my bike."

Another languid smirk that showed off his many perfectly straight teeth. His grin seemed roguish, like that of a swindling pirate. Seonghwa despised the charming expression it put on his handsome face.

"Maybe I want you to ride me too?"

Seonghwa finally reacted and pushed the muzzle of his weapon right against the man's throat. He could feel himself getting irritated, his scent spiking to alert possible predators of his will to fight.

Predators like this man right here.

"Hongjoong Kim," he growled threateningly as he reached out with his second hand to grab at the little satchel the man wore on his weapon belt. He had to wrap his arm around the waist of the man to reach for it, counting four grenades slipping under his fingers. By now, he was confident that the other man had stolen his artefact right away from his eyes.

Hongjoong gave a smug grin at the weird embrace Seonghwa invited him in.

"Seonghwa Park." He breathed auspiciously. He had the audacity to chuckle at the way Seonghwa jolted from having him whisper against his ear like that. He roughly grabbed onto Hongjoong's belt when the man tried to twist away.

"Don't move. You wouldn't want your brains to decorate those ruins."

"You can't shoot that gun with only one hand," Hongjoong rebuked him while leaning further into Seonghwa's body. Seonghwa grew irritated with him and the lack of smell on his body, but he was also too prideful to twist away from the man's proximity.

Hongjoong continued. "I, however, can." With that, he gently pressed his own gun against Seonghwa's side, making him freeze.

He was right.

Seonghwa's fingers waited, poised, on his decision. Every muscle in his body was tense, even as Hongjoong just snuggled a bit more into his arms. He was acting like they were friends.

They were enemies for God's sake; what was he doing?!

"I wanted to tell you personally I'm taking this with me. See you in Peru." With that, he gently patted the satchel before taking a step back. With his gun still pointed at Seonghwa, he jogged over to his chopper while Seonghwa could only stand, and stupidly stare at the sway of his hips in that suit.

He didn't even want to shoot, just glaring at Hongjoong and his stupidly pretty face.

"Don't drool, it's embarrassing." With another smirk and a salute, Hongjoong stepped into his chopper which lifted right off the ground immediately.

Seonghwa snapped back when he felt the sudden gush of wind hit him. Swiftly, he pointed his weapon at the helicopter, right at Hongjoong, who was still grinning down on him where he was standing.

His shot uselessly hit the bottom of the thing as the pilot pulled it around and up.

Seonghwa could only curse his own stupidity as they took off with his fragment.