Night Sky Bloom

27- Peony

"Suck it, bitches." Hyunjin burst through the door, the last to arrive. Seungmin, Felix, and Jisung looked up from the table, all of them sporting the same confused faces. "I am two steps closer to being Yang Hyunjin."

They waited, silently, for a better and more dramatic explanation to come. "He asked me out!"

Felix clapped and got up from the table to jump with Hyunjin on the wooden floor, giggling excitedly. Seungmin just raised one eyebrow, his lips parting in further confusion before asking, "But isn't that one step? What the fuck was the other step?"

Hyunjin's face instantly transformed into one more solemn, his lips straight as he nodded slightly theatrically, moving to sit at the table. "When a man loves another man-"

"Oh, god. Ew. No. Nope. Alright. Understood." Seungmin's lips twisted in disgust as he shook his head. "Good for you. Sit and drink some tea so you stop talking please."

Hyunjin's face split into a wide grin again as he settled down into the vacant seat, pulling the steaming cup of tea towards him. "Jealous much?" he teased, carefully sipping at his drink while Seungmin grimaced.

"Not even remotely," Seungmin shot back, giving Hyunjin an appraising look before turning to Felix and Jisung.

"Ignore Minnie and keep talking." Felix urged, excitedly. "Tell us how he asked you out. Tell us everything."

Hyunjin wasted no time as he leaned back on his chair, a smile plastered on his face. "Well, first of all, he looked really handsome yesterday. Like seriously, you guys. He was wearing that black leather jacket of his... you know the one." Hyunjin's eyes twinkled, obviously lost in thought.

Seungmin scoffed at this, rolling his eyes before quickly hiding his teasing smirk behind the rim of his teacup. "Right. Because we pay attention to everyone's clothes."

"And then," Hyunjin continued, side-eyeing Seungmin but otherwise ignoring his comment. "He just said it casually like we were discussing the weather- that he wanted to take me out to dinner this weekend."

Felix clapped his hands together, giggling like a schoolgirl. "Oh my god! That's so sweet! Where is he taking you?"

"Well, there's a new Italian place in town," Hyunjin replied coolly, but couldn't contain the excited glint in his eyes. Jisung chuckled fondly at the scene before him and shook his head in disbelief. Amidst their banter and laughter, he sat back and watched them all grinning and teasing each other.

Hyunjin's eyes glanced back over to Jisung with an eyebrow raised.

"And you somehow already fucked him? Before you've even been on that first date?" Seungmin smirked and shook his head.

"Absolutely, yes." Hyunjin nodded shamelessly before turning to Jisung. "And how about you, lover boy. This whole fucking house reeks of you and Minho. Should we be expecting those little anxiety-tsundere pups soon?"

Jisung choked on nothing but air, trying to cover it up with a fake cough before reaching for his tea. "It's not like that." He didn't know quite how to explain everything. It would take too long and even if he tried... there was too much.

"I mean it seems pretty simple. You like him. He likes you. You spent a heat and rut cycle together. You-" Seungmin listed off, as if he were simply reciting something as menial as groceries to be picked up, chores to do, the numbers one through ten.

"I said it's not like that." Jisung shook his head, leaning back and looking into his cup instead of meeting anyone's gaze again.

"You don't think he likes you back? Really?" Seungmin made a face littered with condescension.