heaven ✿ jihan

007

Joshua was freaking out. This was absolutely not going to plan. His new friends were supposed to be the ones you only speak to during school, not the ones you have sleepovers with every weekend.

Worst of all, he had to figure out what to tell his dad.

There was no way the man was going to just let him go over to someone who he hardly knew's house—much less when it was going to be filled with five other teenage boys. Therefore, not only was he going to be partaking in a bonding activity he wanted no part of, he was going to have to lie to his father. Great.

The boys had told him to come by around five. It was currently 4:45, and he was still blank. He rolled over with a frustrated groan and stuffed his face into his pillow, praying to God to help him figure something out. He felt terrible for even considering lying. Lying was bad, especially to one's parents. He's sinning for people he doesn't even want to hang out with, all because he allowed himself to be persuaded by some pouting.

Amidst his internal battle, an idea popped into his head. It was a risky one, but it was all he could come up with. With quick steps, he headed downstairs and confronted his father, who was sitting in front of the television watching some random history documentary.

"Dad, there's a basketball game tonight. Is it alright if I go?"

The man diverted his attention away from the show and sent his son a tight-lipped smile. "Are you going with anyone?"

"I'm going to meet some new friends there."

"Alright, that's fine with me. Be safe," his dad concluded before turning back to the TV.

Joshua felt like half the weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He didn't have to worry about explaining himself any further, but the stress of lying was still heavy on his conscience.

As he started walking briskly down the street, he tried to set his mind free. It wasn't a huge lie; he could shake it off, and there would be no harm. With this in mind, he refocused on heading to Jeonghan's house.

Although he didn't necessarily want to go there, he reminded himself that it's better than staring at the same four blank walls he has studied since he moved to Korea. At this point, he could draw a picture from memory of every detail pertaining to his bedroom. That was highly concerning, but that was his life.

In a relatively short amount of time, he was preparing to ring Jeonghan's doorbell. It would be a total lie to say he wasn't nervous. He had never hung out with them before, and they were all significantly closer to each other than to him. He didn't know how they acted outside of school, or how they expected him to act. Hopefully, they would allow him to sit back and observe, as he planned to.

Finally, he pressed the bell, and in no time the door swung open to reveal Wonwoo.

"Jisoo's here!" he squealed, nearly bouncing up and down.

The brunette boy smiled awkwardly and pushed past the younger, desperate to get the greetings out of the way so they can get back to whatever they were doing before he arrived.

"Hey, Shua!" a certain blonde-haired boy called when he entered the living room—which he found thankfully without needing assistance.

Jisoo would be lying if he said that little nickname didn't make his stomach do a somersault. He had always been called Josh as a nickname, never Shua. He certainly preferred the latter—it was unique and had a lovely ring to it.

Forcing himself to stop mulling over the name he had been called twice now by Jeonghan, he gave them all his signature tiny smile. "Hi, guys."

"Hope you're good at Mario Kart, because we're about to beat some ass," Jeonghan smirked, tossing a game controller toward the younger—who nearly missed it, but he was not going to be responsible for a broken controller two minutes after arriving. "Come on, sit," the male continued, lightly patting the spot next to him on the couch.

"Hey, that's my seat," Wonwoo whined.

"Go sit in the chair, clingy bitch," Jeonghan retorted, clearly unfazed by the black-haired boy's antics.

When Wonwoo sulked towards the chair, Joshua carefully sat down where Jeonghan had told him to and waited for their game of Mario Kart to start.

Dammit, how did he let himself get involved.

☁️☁️☁️

Jisoo had played more video games tonight than he had in a very long time. He used to play them with his friends back in LA, but other than that, he was not one to game an ample amount.

This lack of playing was very evident in his skills. On occasion, some of them had shouted at him for making rookie mistakes, but Jeonghan was always swift to snap at them for being assholes and forced them to apologize before they could continue the game. The brunette thought that was a bit ridiculous, but he did appreciate the effort the slightest bit.

Eventually, they all got tired of gaming—which was expected, considering the many hours they had blown doing nothing but playing different games.

"I've got a surprise for everyone," Seungcheol smirked before untangling himself from Chan and standing up. "I'll be right back."

Everyone was giddy—save for Joshua—when they heard the news. It was quite obvious to the others what was coming next, but poor Jisoo was in the dark. He didn't know them well enough to understand what it meant when Seungcheol said he had a surprise.

Not long after, the black-haired boy returned with his arms hidden behind his back. All at once, with a very dramatic motion, he revealed his hands, which were holding three bottles of hard liquor.

All the boys cheered...except Joshua. The boy's stomach turned sour as he registered what was contained in the bottles. Not only were his friends gay, but they also drank. This wasn't good, not in the least.

He almost lost his composure a bit at the realization—after all, bad company corrupts good habits. However, he kept himself collected and watched the other boys as they rushed to get glasses so they weren't all sharing bottles.

When Wonwoo held a solo cup out towards him, he hastily shook his head and said, "I don't drink."

By the grace of God, the boy was respectful. Immediately, he retracted his hands and sent the older a reassuring smile. "No problem."

Still, he felt a bit left out as all the boys around him slowly got drunk. They were all giggly and sluggish, while he sat there silent, simply watching everything unfold in front of him.

He should've just stayed at home.

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me projecting my religious trauma onto josh ?? never.....