Kissing the Demon (Seoksoo)

Joshua

The door had barely closed behind Seokmin before Seungkwan turned to us with his arms folded over his chest. "Okay, one of you better start talking right now."

Smirking sideways at Vernon, I spoke in a mock whisper. "Is it just me, or is he hotter when he uses his teacher voice?"

Vernon levelled me with a death glare. "Stop objectifying my fiancé."

"Like you don't objectify him on an hourly basis."

"That's different. I'm allowed."

I opened my mouth to fire back a retort but was stopped by Seungkwan clapping his hands. We turned to face him, wincing at his pissed-off expression.

"Can we discuss this like adults now? Or do I need to give you both a time-out?"

I had to bite my tongue to stop from making a sarcastic comment about how much Vernon would love to be put in time-out by Seungkwan. "Sorry."

Seungkwan gave a prim nod before sitting down. "Now, I've asked you over and over again what happened with Seokmin, and you've brushed me off. I was under the impression that perhaps you'd gotten off to a rocky start, which is why I've been pushing for the two of you to meet up. But after that shitshow of awkward tension, I want you to tell me what's really going on."

"Nothing's going on." More's the pity. There'd been a moment tonight when I'd thought Seokmin might be interested, but...nope.

"Bullshit," Seungkwan said, pointing his finger at me. "First, you spent most of the dinner in silence. I genuinely wondered if someone had put a spell on you so you couldn't talk."

"Couldn't have blamed them if they had," Vernon said with a smirk. "It's something pretty much everyone who has spent time with Joshua has considered at one point or another."

I poked my tongue out at him as Seungkwan turned his attention to Vernon. "And that's the other thing, what the fuck was with you? I've literally never heard you say so much in the rest of our relationship combined."

"I told you what was going on in the kitchen," Vernon said, avoiding eye contact with Seungkwan.

"No, you told me Joshua was upset about something, but you wouldn't tell me what."

Vernon shifted in his chair. He'd stupidly made a deal with Seungkwan early in his relationship that he would never lie to him. Clearly, this was his attempt at trying to work around that. I would've taken the piss out of him if he wasn't trying to protect me. "It's not my place to share that information."

Seungkwan slumped back in his chair, running a hand through his curls as he looked at me. "I'm not going to force you to tell me, Joshua...I'm just frustrated. I can see something is bothering you, and...well, I thought our friendship meant you knew you could trust me with things like this."

"I know I can trust you," I said, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. "This isn't about trust. It's about you being Seokmin's best friend. I don't want to put you in an awkward position."

"I get that, but you're my friend too."

I sighed. "I'll tell you on two conditions."

"Lay them on me."

"One, you cannot share anything I'm about to tell you. And two, you can't interfere with anything between me and Seokmin."

Vernon jumped in before Seungkwan could answer, "Think carefully before you agree, Seungkwan. Remember what we are. If you give Joshua your word, you cannot break it under any circumstances."

Seungkwan rolled his eyes. "As if I could forget any of you are demons. Believe me. I'm used to thinking through any agreements or instructions I give any of you now. I'll agree to the first point, Joshua, but not the second. Anything you tell me will remain in my confidence, but there's no way I'm promising not to interfere. If I think there's something I can do to help my two closest friends find happiness, then I'll do it."