i.o.u ( eric.s x male reader ) ✓

034

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eric tightened his grip on his phone anxiously as he walked into the restaurant looking for his friends. after spotting them, he gave a small bow to the seating hostess and headed over to them, seeing them all laughing together. he took a deep breath as he finally arrived at the table.

he noticed chanhee and sunwoo had stopped laughing pretty quickly upon seeing him, making his heart twist.

"eric!! what took you so long?!" sangyeon asked as the other sat down next to juyeon.

"probably too busy playing kissy kissy with m/n.." sunwoo said under his breath. chanhee nudged his arm in disapproval, giving the male a shake of his head. sunwoo frowned and crossed his arms, showing eric how upset he was with no hesitation. eric looked down at his hands as he felt his throat tighten up.

"did i miss something..?" younghoon asked. the atmosphere around the friends became tense and a bit awkward, making tears prick at eric's eyes.

"i think we all missed something.. what's going on?" jacob asked as he looked between sunwoo and eric. chanhee decided to cut in quickly.

"nothing, everything's fine!" he said with a soft smile. the others exchanged glances around their table, not really convinced. eric's eyes remained dead set on his hands in his lap as he played with the hems of his long sleeves. he could feel sunwoo's burning eyes on him, only making the urge to cry grow more and more.

after the boys moved on from the awkward moment, the night went on like it normally would for all of them except eric and chanhee. eric barely said anything and chanhee would laugh along sometimes or say a one worded sentence, but neither of them were their usual selves.

after a bit into eating their dishes, juyeon noticed eric hadn't eaten much. he couldn't help but be worried, and decided to send him a quick text under the table asking if he was okay. the other saw the message, but couldn't find the energy to reply. he stayed quiet and stuffed his phone in his pocket, waiting for the night to end.

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