In the dark

43

The rest of the shoot was pretty uneventful. The eight of them had enough drama for one day. The only time there was ever a hiccup was when they would lock eyes with Peri. A big smile would come across her face, and her cheeks would turn a bright shade of red. Peri would turn her head in any direction she could to not look directly at them when she should hear their laughter on the stage. Even the staff members notice the boy's upbeat mood after the conversation outside. 

On the drive back to the apartment, Peri sat dead-center, keeping herself as equal as possible. Namjoon and Kookie got the pleasure of sitting beside her, easily accessing her hands and intertwining them with hers. That, of course, did stop Jin from throwing his arms over her shoulder from behind her. He leaned over and used his phone to select the pizza from the delivery app. Its estimated time of arrival matches theirs. 

At dinner, the sitting order was Jin at the first end of the table, followed by Hobi, Peri, and Jimin. Namjoon had the other end seat, then Tae, Yoongi, and Kookie on the opposite side. The eight engorged themselves in pizza and spoke casually to one another. They were telling Peri stories of their early days.

"We were just supposed to rip off the top shirt, but Namjoon took both of them right off his body!"

"I had to do the rest of the performance, holding onto my shirt. It was so embarrassing!"

"I bet all the girls in the crowd went nuts."

"Nah. They go crazy when Jimin and Jungkook do it."

"Well, then you didn't hear their scream 'cause they were passed out on the floor. They swooned when they saw you." Namjoon went to open his mouth but was rendered silent when he saw the look on Peri's face. "Take the compliment, Namjoon." He smiled and mouthed a thank you. It wasn't always the easiest thing for him to do. Namjoon still saw himself as the chubby little nerd that loved books and nature before he became RM. 

Peri felt Hobi's thumb pressed against the side of her neck. When she turned to smile at him, she noticed a confused look on his face. "Are you ok?" she asked him.

"It should be there. I know I left one," Hobi stated.

"Left what?" Jungkook asked as he picked up on Hobi's confused state.

"I gave her a love bite, but it's not there anymore. It's gone."

"You gave Peri a love bite!" Jungkook shouted, causing the whole table to look over at her.

"I think it has something to do with her invisibility. She doesn't have a single marking on her body," Jin added to the conversation.

Yoongi reached over and took Peri's hand into his. He pulled in closer and examined her finger. "There should be a scar from cutting your finger, but nothing is there."

"See? She doesn't have macules, papules, or nevi anywhere," Jin finished. 

"And you discovered this how?" Hobi asked.

"Oh! Jin and Peri-" Jimin began.

"Ok! Stop right there!" Peri said firmly. "We can move on from that. In fact, I think there need to be some ground rules, maybe not rules, but guidelines or addendums to the relationship...relationships- plural?" 

Peri started to trail off from her ramble. Her eyes looked into the sky, hoping to pull her thoughts into existence. Namjoon laughed; she was cute when she went off on a tangent. "It's a relationship, not a legal document. But I understand what you mean. What would you like?"

"I don't know how to explain it because I've never been in a relationship before, but I would like to keep things private. I guess that is the word I am looking for. I want my time with all of you to be just us. To keep our time exactly that as that- our time. What happens between Hobi and me, or Jin and I should stay that way. I'm not trying to separate the dynamic, but I also don't want any of you to feel jealous or like it's a competition."