Paper

If only

"...to kiss him."

Rhydian ogled at Shuko, his straw still on his tongue.

Shuko raised his eyebrows. "Did I say that?" He blinked, confused as his face began to become tinted with red. His mouth hadn't moved. Rhydian put his glass down.

Then who the hell said that?

"Ah, Shuko, we were hoping we'd find you here," a familiar voice suddenly said as Jing and Nina appeared around the booth, both of them carrying a tray with some salad or other. Shuko's eyes grew at the man's presence. 

"Oh, Jing-kun! Were you and Nina-chan talking about something-?" "I was just telling her about my boyfriend, I hope we didn't interrupt anything."

Shuko arched one of his eyebrows at Jing before running a hand through his hair and slouching so that his back hit the seat.

"Talk about impeccable timing..." He mumbled, his face tinged a light pink before he switched his gaze to Rhydian. 

"That wasn't what I was going to say," Shuko began, "I mean, Ace is great and all, but kissing him is a bit... much," He grinned sheepishly. Then his eyes shot wide and a grin spread across his pale face. "How is your boyfriend, Jing-kun?" He asked excitedly, resting his chin on the palms of his hands.

Jing's face dusted with pink. "Fine," He said, messing with his light brown hair. Jing opened his mouth as if to add something, but instead, he straightened himself and gave Shuko an even look. "I do hope you'll clean up all those papers upstairs. Raj nearly fell when he was going to his office."

Despite Jing's disapproving look, Shuko let out a snort of laughter. "He probably would've fallen without them, Jing-kun-" The pale man broke into a coughing fit, cutting himself off and taking a swig of his iced green tea. Rhydian, still rather startled by Jing-kun's words that seemed to fit so perfectly with Shuko's facial expression and eyes at that moment, slowly chewed on a strawberry, wondering about the coincidence.

That was definitely some incredible timing.

☯

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop telling Ace to hack my calendar- I'm plenty busy enough with work from Shuko and dealing with giggling females," Oscar said sharply as he sat down, giving a certain tall blonde a glare.

The peach-haired boy had gotten a notification that he had to pick up something at a local high-tech restaurant. He didn't really think much of it at the time- his parents liked the place's food. However, once he got there, he was informed that no such meal had been ordered for pick-up. Jasmin could be seen waving from a high table next to the large windows.

"Oh c'mon, you need to relax and have fun sometimes, Oscar! You're so uptight all the time, no wonder you're always so grouchy-" Jasmin was silenced with a scowl from the bookworm and he grinned apologetically back. "Sorry. Anyway~ you're really closed off and I think it'd be nice to get to know you better."

Jasmin propped a simple menu up on the table, observing the options.

"You could've asked," Oscar grumbled, propping his elbow on the table and looking out the window. "Although I probably would have said no."

"Exactly."

Jasmin peered over his menu and gave the grumpy Oscar one of his dazzling smiles. "Just think of this as a date!" He said cheerfully (joking, of course) as a programmed robot waiter whizzed past. Jasmin braced himself for a kick in the leg or something to be thrown at him, but instead, Oscar only mumbled, "I'll pass."