New Moon ; seungjin, skz

*

"Why is it that every time I come here, I find a new favorite?" Jisung asked, happily slurping the limited edition pumpkin cheesecake milkshake.

"I mean, at this point, I've tried almost everything on the menu," Seungmin laughed. He, unlike Jisung, who loved trying everything new, simply stuck with his peach boba tea.

The four sophomores were hanging out, per usual now almost every weekend, at the Dream Cafe.

It was rush hours, so the place was very packed. The boys were huddled in the corner of the cafe. It's been about 2 weeks since the, as the group had dubbed it, the "Ericident", 

"You know what's funny, this is the section where I found the book on divines," Seungmin said, pointing up, "It's 'unclassified.' Donghyuck went off about how they wanted to put it in nonfiction, but, you, know, it would be controversial."

"Sure," Hyunjin and Jisung said, rolling their eyes in sync. They high-fived each other.

"It's hard to believe that you guys used to hate each other," Felix said with a laugh.

"Yep," Seungmin agreed.

"Well, Jisung is annoying."

"Take that back."

"Nope."

"You little-"

"Alright, y'all stop arguing," Chenle said, bringing over a slice of cake, for some reason, "New recipe, chai tea cake, on the house, you're welcome. Tell us if it's good or not."

Everyone took a bite. "It has a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but that's about it! It's not that sweet and tastes really good!" Felix said.

"Add a bit more sugar, yeah, but not too much, or it'll be too sweet," Seungmin said. Chenle wrote it all down.

"Thanks!" the boys said as the hybrid left to the back room.

"Yay, now we get friend perks and free treats!" Hyunjin said happily.

"So what's this mating thing?" Seungmin asked. Jisung and Felix had left for a walk, and Hyunjin and Seungmin stayed at the cafe, reading. Seungmin was reading his copy of the divine book, "Should we, like, wait until marriage or what?"

"We bond with another, basically. That book is very accurate," Hyunjin said, "And unless you wanna marry me at 18, mating isn't something you can exactly put off indefinitely until you want to do it. We need to mate by the age of 18, or our divinity fades." The demon shuddered dramatically, "I don't wanna imagine that."

Seungmin laughed, then stopped, "Wait, should I have laughed?"

"Well, technically, it's not exactly a joke, but today's gen of divines do joke about it a lot, so it's fine. For me at least."

"Oh, ok then."

"Ayo, I wanna have a party next week, you up for it?" Jisung asked the rest as they collapsed onto Felix's couch.

"Sure," Felix said with a shrug.

"This Saturday's new moon, hell yeah I'm down to party!" Hyunjin yelled.

"Is this a frequent thing now?" Seungmin laughed. Ever since Hyunjin openly admitted to his divinity, he's been more exuberant and dramatic (if he already couldn't be more of that).

"It is common for divines to party on their most powerful day," Jisung said nonchalantly, "Well, you fine to party Seungmin?"

"Well, since y'all are all going..." Seungmin said.

Jisung cheered, "Also, can y'all come over to help me decorate Friday afternoon?"

"Sure," they all said.

As school rolled back around, Seungmin's thoughts were on anything but school. As he sat down in front of the computer for Writing, his mind kept wandering back to his conversation with Hyunjin. About mating.

"Hey, you OK there?" Chan asked him as he dazed out for the 5th time in the last 10 minutes.

Seungmin nodded, "Just tired."

"You sure? Because staring into space constantly doesn't look like 'tired' to me. You don't look drained. You're mind's occupied."

Seungmin shrugged. He turned to the boy, but then noticed something strange.

One of his eyes was red.

"Hey, sorry if I sound weird, but are you a demon by any chance?" Seungmin asked.

Chan's fingers stopped typing as eyes widened, "What?"

"Are you a demon? It's fine, my friends are demon and angel," Seungmin said.

"Oh," Chan sighed, "I'm a hybrid, actually. You know-"

"A combo of both?"

"Yeah." He turned to fully face Seungmin. The human realized that the other actually had one red eye, one gold, just like the book said.

"Why aren't they...covered up?" Seungmin asked.

"You mean glamoured? Well, because...of this dude." He pointed at Minho sitting next to him, "We kinda have this thing where when we're with each other, we don't hide."

"Yep," Minho said. Seungmin realized that the other was a demon with his red eyes, "We're dating, in case you can't tell."

"MINHO!" Seungmin laughed as Chan smacked his boyfriend. He learned something new today.

"Can we mate?" Seungmin asked.

Hyunjin almost dropped his streamers, "Excuse me, what?"

"I said what I said." Seungmin shrugged going back to tying up balloons while Hyunjin was in a crisis.

"Mating is a big decision, Seungmin. A BIG one. We still have another two years, if we're still dating by then. You're talking about bonding with someone for the rest of your life. You lose your human life and become a divine. Think about what your friends or family would think if you jumped into this without thinking. Don't jump onto this decision without giving it some thought, or talking to others."

"Sounds like you don't want me to mate with you," Seungmin said, stepping towards Hyunjin, "Do you...not like me?"

Hyunjin became flustered. "I mean, that's not what I'm saying, I just I don't want you to be reckless-"

"So you DO want to mate me?" Seungmin whispered into Hyunjin's ear. Hyunjin didn't realize how close Seungmin was until now.

"Um- uh," Hyunjin sputtered, completely flushed.

Seungmin chuckled, backing away. "I talked to my parents again, they said it was fine, as long as you never hurt me. Remember that dinner?"

Hyunjin nodded, remembering the dinner he had with the Kims where Seungmin brought it up.

"This mating bond, as long as you don't hurt our son, then it's fine," Mr. Kim had said.

Mrs. Kim had nodded, "I know that divines need the bond to stay divine, well, at least Seungmin said that. We don't want to restrict you of that. I trust you."

"And our friends would probably say the same thing. Jisung especially," Seungmin said.

Hyunjin nodded, "...Are you sure about this? Now?"

"Are you saying we should wait?"

"Maybe soon, not today, but soon." Hyunjin finished hanging the streamers, "Mating happens quickly, but it takes time for both bodies to adapt to the bond."

"Wait...how about at the party?"