Baby? - Ren Shuyang

Chapter Three: Streams

"you Good?" Hanyu sneaks the question quietly behind the bitter boy. Shuyang was sat facing the flowing stream, arms crossed and a rotten scowl on his face. Hanyu Sat down beside him and pat his back lightly. Shuyang gave him a small look of acknowledgement before looking back into the distance. There was some heavy tension, and Hanyu had the itchy urge of breaking it.

"There's always a next time y'know," Hanyu comforted awkwardly. He didn't really know what to say, boys aren't usually the best people on comforting. Boy's way of comforting is by making jokes, but Hanyu could sense that it wouldn't even work.

Silence. Absolute, silence. Not a single peep of sound from any of them. Merely the silent song of the gorgeous scenery. The flowing river was relaxing and eased the tense nerves around them, the soft sounds of the bugs dancing around them. The trees rustled by wind, the leaves moving in rhythm. The trees were tall and dark in the dusk of the forest, but felt oddly comforting. Maybe it was because it felt as if they were listening, never leaving.

"Hey, Hanyu?" Shuyang finally spoke after a long time. Hanyu turned his head quickly, waiting for whatever came next. But whatever came "next" never really came. Silence filled between them once again. Hanyu could feel that there was something that Shuyang wasn't really telling him. Just as Hanyu was about to turn his head away, Shuyang spoke once again.

"You know I like her, right" Shuyang asked, toneless.

Hanyu shifted his focus on the boy next to him again. Well, yes, Hanyu knew very well that Shuyang liked her. It was pretty visible, honestly. The boys just didn't really act on it because the relationship between them and Y/n was a bit more different. Not that kind of cliché-Fallen-In-Love-Because-She's-Not-Like-other-Girls thing, more like, being homies and genuinely comfortable kind of friendship. Y/n was, well, pretty dense, not that the rest of them weren't, but she was next level.

"Yeah, I know." Hanyu let out. What else was he supposed to say?

Shuyang sighed loudly, lifting himself up and gestured Hanyu to follow him back to the rest. Hanyu nodded. They already made it half way towards the house, the dark looming shadows of the woods fading. Out of nowhere, Shuyang came to a stern halt.

"I just... It's embarrassing. It's already bad enough if you mess up in front of your crush, but this is just plain humiliation." Shuyang let out, the frustration finally taking over.

"Like I said, next time" Hanyu replied simply "there's no use going over about it now."

"Y-yes there is!" Shuyang protested, stopping himself from screaming.

"No there isn't," Hanyu said, getting quite annoyed.

The two of them continued walking in silence until Shuyang couldn't stop himself further.

"You don't understand!" Shuyang blurted, voice a bit whiny. Hanyu gave him a stern glare and Shuyang automatically recoiled.

"Next, okay?" Hanyu said, keeping his patience to the max.

"There is no next time! What if this happens again? The humiliation, Hanyu! You don't understand, I've been losing to her for years! Can't you give me a bit of sympathy or Emphaty?" Shuyang burst out, the words ever flowing as Hanyu looked at him dead at the eye.

"Shuyang?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

Shuyang looked down, disappointed, but not surprised. Shuyang guessed that Hanyu had a point, there was no use complaining about it now. It already passed. Y/n won fair and square. Shuyang was infuriated by the fact that the elder was, once again, right.

"C'mon, let's head in." Hanyu nuged Shuyang to get his attention. The two slipped in the door, noticing that the rest were busy arguing about something silly.

"Dude, it's not normal for you to call me 'Oppa'! " Zihao said, looking at Mingrui as if he were some mad man. The five (Mingrui, Y/n, Xinlong, Zeyu and Zihao) were all speaking loudly (the usual) sitting down on some cushions.

"Why not?" Xinlong protested, taking the youngers side. Mingrui looked at Xinlong as if in some new light.

"Because," Y/n spoke after laughing herself to tears, "Number one: we aren't Korean. Number two: 'Oppa' is something FEMALES call older males/big brother. Boys call older males 'Hyung'."

"Ay, Hanyu and Shuyang! Where have you two been?" Zeyu called attention towards the two bewildered boys in front of the closed door.

"Uhhh, nowhere-" Shuyang said, not coming up with an excuse.

"Guys, I bet they were on a date!" Xinlong teased. The five let our a chorus of "ooooh"s. Hanyu jokingly wiggled his eyebrows at Shuyang. Shuyang scoffed and rolled his eyes, smiling.

They all let out a cheerful laugh and a inner sigh that Shuyang had finally let it go.

Hanyu grabbed a cushion for Himself and Shuyang and they both sat down. Shuyang sat beside Hanyu... And Y/n. He tried to avoid eye-contact and Y/n knew it.

"So where did you two go?" Mingrui asked, opening a carton of milk because Mingrui's a good boi-

(A/n: lmao I had to-)

"Oh, just by the stream." Hanyu replied bluntly, not really minding a thing. Shuyang shrugged, knowing what was about to come next-

"So it was a date!" Xinlong winked. Zihao made up some silly song about Hanyu and Shuyang and they all laughed it off.

"Oh, but the Stream would truly be a romantic dare." a soft voice let out, coming out as a surprise to the rest of the gang. Y/n was smiling to herself, a soft blush on her cheeks.

"I wouldn't mind if someone took me there, especially at night. The scenery is so calming and beautiful" Y/n added shyly. Shuyang kept that on mind, noting it down to the deepest part of his brain. The thought of going there with Y/n made his go all hot and bothered.

"bro, why is Shuyang sweating and... Blushing?" one of the boys asked

Shuyang snapped out of it and shook his head. The rest of them started asking questions, which confused Shuyang. They started to tease and Y/n just looked genuinely confused of what was going on.

Oh boy, it's going to be long night...

💜

A/n: *airplane mode intenfies* currently writing this on the airplane back home :(( ily Philippines, I'm gonna miss you!

P. S stream ON by BTS and it's upcoming music video! Oml, mots:7 Issa bop album, PERIODT! 💜💜💜