Troublemaker

twenty seven

"Ruto cancelled again?" Jaehyuk was surprised to no bounds. In all the gatherings of the four of them, Haruto had recently started to cancel frequently. It was more worrisome than it was annoying. But except for him, only Jeongwoo was as surprised. Because Asahi, and the two new people joining them- Doyoung and Junghwan all knew somewhat of the reason the tall guy could be avoiding the hangout.

Now the hangout, it's a thing proposed by Jeongwoo to familiarize his boyfriend with the close group of friends he had. The venue, a fair organized a bit far from the city. There were stalls of food, accessories, clothes and also a few rides to enjoy. It would have been wonderful had Haruto been there with them, so Jaehyuk mentioned it first.

"He's so busy these days- doesn't have time for us anymore."

Asahi defended his roommate, "He studies nuclear engineering. What do you expect?"

"Even so, these days he's impossible to meet." Jeongwoo exaggerated, "We miss him."

Doyoung intervened, "He cares about his friends. If he says he can't make it, then it's legit." The truth of his sentence was ironic. Haruto cared a lot for his friends, who would know better than Doyoung?

"We're not blaming him." Jeongwoo giddily wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's shoulder, "We know he loves us." Doyoung stayed quiet. Junghwan saw how his best friend's jaw tightened.

"Alright, let's head to the stalls." Jaehyuk announced, "You'll see, there are so many unique things sold here."

"Yeah, absolutely!" Jeongwoo said to his man, "You'll see, things here are so interesting. I bet you've never seen handmade jewelry before, they are so well made that even your expensive brands would fail at replicating them."

"Okay." Doyoung listened to more and more, responded dryly. Junghwan was closely following them, so he heard almost all of it. Jaehyuk and Asahi were at the very front. Talking and laughing. One hell of a hangout. It seemed so forced.

Jeongwoo first noticed the stall with the band having bunny ears, and he quickly showed it to the older male. Despite Doyoung's lack of interest, he took it and put it on the said guy's head, cooing at the cuteness later on.

"You look so much like a bunny, Doyoungie, this suits you so much!"

"Really?" The other guy half heartedly asked. He just didn't get it. Why were they together if there's no spark? Why must Haruto stop him from breaking free from this meaningless, one sided relationship?

"Yeah, wait let me take a picture." Jeongwoo said. While he was busy clicking the camera for his boyfriend, Jaehyuk noticed him. So he walked to them, chose a headband with wolf ears and offered it to his friend.

"Go stand next to him, I'll take it." Grinning, Jeongwoo followed. He stood next to Doyoung, then instinctively wrapped a hand around his waist. Doyoung hitched his breath, forcing a smile out. It's weird. He had always been quite touchy with Jeongwoo. Well, they hadn't kissed or hugged romantically, but they had friendly hugs, some romantic hand holds and maybe waist holds too? It didn't make sense that he'd feel so wrong being held that way.

"A little closer." Jaehyuk suggested. By that time, Asahi had joined him. As him and Junghwan watched, the couple were busy posing- well, mostly Jeongwoo. Doyoung was just following along. Realizing that his friend wasn't into it, Junghwan dismissed the session soon, distracting them with the mention of food.

"Guys, aren't you hungry?"

"So much." Jaehyuk replied, holding the camera down. As the photo session was over, Doyoung stepped away from Jeongwoo who took it as shyness to be intimate in public.