ashes [hyunin]

chapter twelve

And then weeks turned to months. Two months and eighteen days, to be exact. He thought about confronting the older man, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

Now Hyunjin had graduated and there wasn't any point in confronting him. If Hyunjin wanted to avoid him, it'd be easy. They'd never have to see each other again. Jeongin just accepted it.

One specific Saturday, right after school ended, he was lounging in his room, trying to complete some application for a summer job his mom had pressured him to apply for. Then, phone rang.

He picked it up, not bothering to check the caller ID, he's too absorbed in the work to care.

"Hello?" He says, rubbing his eyes, sitting back in his chair.

"Innie!" Jisung's voice shouts through the phone. "Come over! My parents are out of town and the group is hanging out. We've got beer,"

"Beer?" Jeongin laughs probably a bit too much.

"Yeah. Felix suggested the party and Chan helped me get the beer!"

"Ah. Makes sense," Jisung and Felix had gotten closer over the previous weeks. Their whole group had. Jeongin enjoyed Felix but was a bit uneasy around him, since he always managed to bring up Hyunjin.

"Mhm! So, are you coming?" Jisung's voice snaps him out of his thoughts.

Jeongin hesitated, he hadn't really been out aside from school in a few weeks. His fight with Hyunjin had been affecting him more than usual recently. His friends would constantly ask him to hang out but he always turned them down. 

The only person allowed to come see him was Seungmin. And thats only because he's the only other person who knows about Jeongin and Hyunjin.

Seungmin would come over when his days would get rough and talk him through it and kiss his forehead and make him feel better.

"Yeah, I guess.," Jeongin yawns, closing his textbook. He'd spent enough time moping around, it was time to have fun again.

"Cool! Seungmin's gonna swing by to get you See you then, Innie!" Then the line clicked.

Jeongin got ready, walking downstairs.

"Hey, mama. Ji invited me over. Is that okay?" He smiled, quickly grabbing a drink of water.

"Of course, love. You staying the night?" She smiles, kindly. She's always so sweet about this sort of thing.

"Probably, I'll let you know if it changes," He slides his shoes on at the door.

"Alright, love," She pecks his cheek. "Have fun. Call me if you need me."

"Will do!" Then he walked out to Seungmin's car, the older apparently had been waiting already.

"Missed you, In," He says, patting Jeongin's thigh, knowing the other isn't in a talking mood just yet.

"You too, Minnie," He smiles, enjoying the drive.

The drive felt like it took forever, Jeongin's excitement seemingly slowing time. He parked his car, walking up to Jisung's front door and knocking. The boy answered quickly, smiling.

"In-ah! Its been so long!" Jisung pulled him into a tight hug. He returned it quickly, smiling as well.

"Yeah, it has." He mumbles. Then Felix appeared behind Jisung.

"Jeonginnie!" He shouted, also going into a hug which Jeongin, also, accepted.

He laughed, actually happy he came out. Jisung lead him into the house. "The others are on their way." He explained.

Jeongin nods, catching sight of Chan. He smiled as they noticed him

"Oh my god! I didn't expect you to actually show up!" Chan chuckled, standing up to hug the boy. Jeongin nodded, starting to get a bit overwhelmed at all the hugging. But, thats what he gets for disappearing for weeks.

Jisung ruffles his hair from behind. "What happened? Why'd you get all depressed on us?"

"Oh, just some personal stuff," His mood plummeted, "I don't wanna think about it. Can we just hang out?"

Seungmin looked at Jeongin, frowning. He side hugged him quickly. "Yeah of course, but we're here if you need us. All of us are," Seungmin kisses his forehead, smiling.

Jeongin nods, looking around. He catches sight of Minho, who was paying him no mind. He seemed to be too engrossed in watching Jisung and Felix talk.

"Minho?" Jeongin tilts his head.

"Hm?" The older looks at him, eyes wide.

"You're in the group now?" He poked, not trying to sound accusatory or rude, just curious.

"I had no choice," He laughs, "Jisung and Felix made me."

"If you're dating a group member, you're in the group." Jisung says, walking to sit by Minho. "It's literally in our rules."

"We have rules?" Jeongin looks at Chan, holding back his laughter.

"We made them in your freshman year, remember?"

"Oh! Yeah. I thought those were just for show though," He giggles.

"Nope." Seungmin smiles, "They're for real. You can't break them,"

Jeongin feels a pain in his heart as he remembers Hyunjin again. That stupid boy won't leave his head.

A knock on the door brings him back out of his thoughts.

"Speaking of rules," Jisung nudges Felix's side, giggling.

"Oh shut up," He mumbles, going to the door with a smile. Jeongin heard it open and heard Felix shout Changbin's name, then laughter.

He looked up, expecting to just see Felix and Changbin. But Hyunjin stood there too.

Jeongin froze, his eyes widened. "I gotta piss," He mumbled, forcing himself to walk into the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face, trying to calm himself down.

Hyunjin was here? Why here? Didn't he have some other shit to do?

He wouldn't lie, he was pissed that Hyunjin could show up here yet not reply to any of his texts.

He pushed it off, reasoning with himself that Hyunjin probably had a reason. Then he walked back out, sitting back next to Seungmin. He leaned on his shoulder.

"Everything okay, baby?" Seungmin asked, softly. He knew everyone's eyes were on him. 

"Yeah." He mumbled, cuddling closer. Seungmin slipped an arm around his shoulder. "Just got a little dizzy, is all."

"If you need anything, let me know." The older boy's voice drops to a whisper, "I'm not scared to hit someone for you, you know,"

Jeongin tensed up, sighing. "I know,"

Seungmin nods, looking back to the group. Felix smiled, looking between the two. "So, what's up first?"

"Wanna drink?" Chan suggested, passing out some of the bottles.

"Please," Minho said, happily taking and opening the bottle.

"Oi. Don't get too drunk," Jisung slaps his arm before taking one himself.

"I won't!" He smiles, taking a sip and placing a kiss on Jisung's nose.

Jeongin watches, pouting a bit. He wished that he and Hyunjin could do that. He snuck a glance at the older and to his surprise, Hyunjin was looking back.

Jeongin quickly looked away, opening the bottle that has just been past to him and drinking quickly.

Hyunjin's eyes remained set on Jeongin. It was going to be a long night. Part of Jeongin hopes he's drunk enough to forget it.