out of the shade

warm bodies

"Woah, your house is gorgeous." Sunoo marvels as he looks around once Riki opened the front door.

The older three are all looking around in awe, admiring the pictures on the walls and decorative pieces chosen by his mother and sisters to give the place character. The teen smiles at the compliment as he takes off his shoes before shutting the door behind his friends.

"Papa? Mama?" Riki calls through the house, trying to find out if his parents are home.

"Office!" His dad's deep voice calls back to him from the end of the hallway, past the living room.

Riki turns back to his friends, "Well guys, come meet my dad."

They all follow after him as Riki walks down the hall towards his dad's office. The door is open and he has turned around in his chair, facing the door before smiling at his son.

"Hey little one." He greets before noticing the three boys behind his son which causes his face to turn much more serious, "Who are these people?"

"Papa, these are my new friends : Jungwon, Sunoo and Sunghoon— who picked me up this morning. They're here to work on a project for our history class." Riki says as he gestures to the other boys to introduce them.

"Hello Mr. Nishimura, I'm Park Sunghoon. It's nice to meet you." Sunghoon greets politely as he bows, "You have a lovely home."

"Hello Sunghoon-ssi." Arisu greets the eldest boy curtly, his eyes sharp as they narrow on him slightly.

"Good afternoon sir. I'm Kim Sunoo, it's nice to meet you." Sunoo waves.

"Yang Jungwon. Hi Mr. Nishimura." Jungwon bows to the man respectfully.

"Hello boys." Arisu tells them curtly before standing up and walking over to them.

"So you're Riki's classmates?" He asks them simply.

"Well, we would like to consider ourselves his friends." Sunghoon answers kindly, his tone slightly nervous which Riki really hasn't heard from him. He knows that they have definitely begun establishing a friendship but hearing that he really wants to consider himself Riki's friend and Jungwon and Sunoo's noises of agreement fills his chest with warmth. "I'm Riki's student guide and a senior so I don't share any classes with him but he's really sweet and honestly pretty interesting. It's nice getting to know him. I am in the dance club with him along with Jungwon-ah here and I can say that he's really talented."

Riki blushes slightly under Sunghoon's praise and only does even more when the older boy shoots him a small smile before turning back to look at Riki's father.

"We share a few classes with Riki, though. We're both juniors." Sunoo pipes up as he gestures between himself and Jungwon.

"Riki actually came up with the idea for our project and invited us over to work on it. He's definitely got a better grasp on history than us; I hope you don't mind having us over." Jungwon tells Riki's father politely.

"Mhmm, that's no problem boys. Can I just talk to Riki quickly? Riki, you can tell them where your room is." He tells the teens and Riki doesn't like his tone, he sounds uncharacteristically blank and cold. His dad is really never like this with anyone, yet Riki gets the idea that it may or may not have to do with this morning.

Sunghoon, Sunoo and Jungwon even exchange curious looks before glancing at Riki but the youngest just waves them off and gives them a small smile.

"Just head upstairs and turn right, it's the door at the end of the hall, you can't miss it." He informs them.

"Thanks Riki-yah," Sunghoon tells him, giving the younger boy a quick pat on the back before he, Sunoo and Jungwon leave.

His dad's serious expression stays unchanging and Riki closes the door behind him with a heavy sigh before he leans against it, suspecting that he is going to get some type of earful right now.