look after you | hyunin

xxxv

jeongin and hyunjin finally arrive back to
the house after an hour of grocery shopping. (read: an hour of fooling around in the grocery store.)

the energy in the room is a lot brighter than earlier while the two begin to unpack the grocery bags.

as they do this, hongseok comes downstairs from his room.

"oh, no... did my mom put you guys on dinner duty?" he asks dramatically. the pair of boys giggle at his question.

"well... no," hyunjin responds. "i suggested we make something."

"we surprisingly got enough ingredients for you and your parents," jeongin says. "we kinda got... carried away."

hyunjin pulls out a pack of oreos right as those words are spoken. jeongin laughs at the confirmation of his own words as he finished unpacking the rest of the groceries.

"where the hell did you get this money, anyways?" hongseok chuckles. "i didn't think you had a job."

"well, i did, while i was living with my parents," jeongin explains. "i worked two jobs, but i ended up getting fired from one for no-shows and quit the other because of everything going on."

"i also had one, but i quit when i started going back to therapy because everything was just overwhelming," hyunjin adds.

"you two are far better at saving money than me, damn," jeongin's cousin says with a smile and a shake of his head.

over the course of the next half hour or so, the three boys work together to make dinner for the household. this feeling of homeliness isn't unlike the way jeongin felt at hyunjin's house. if anything, it almost feels more secure.

as if on cue, jeongin's aunt walks into the kitchen from the living room and her husband walks through the front door.

"a meal that i don't have to cook? hongseokie, why don't you do this when it's just the three of us?"

hongseok snorts at his mother's words as he helps the two boys empty the pasta into a bowl that hyunjin had insisted on making.

"the last time i tried cooking, you slapped me with a spatula," he says bluntly.

jeongin and hyunjin giggle at the interaction while jeongin's uncle smiles at the boys in the kitchen. as he gets himself settled, he turns to his wife.

"haeun, who's the boy that keeps looking at our nephew like he's a star in the sky?" he asks quietly as the three boys set the table and converse loudly.

"minjun, that's his... friend, hyunjin, that i told you about," haeun says in an almost-whisper with a cheeky smile. "the one that he definitely thinks of as more than a friend, but he hasn't told me otherwise. i think hongseokie knows more than we do."

"alright, dinner time!" hongseok announces dramatically once the three finish setting the table.

jeongin gives his aunt a suspicious look. he doesn't say anything as the five sit down, but he has a feeling haeun's starting to catch on. he'll tell her later.

"so," hongseok starts with a smug smile. before he even takes a bite, he's getting ready to wreak havoc.

almost 24 years old and he still can't leave me alone.