The House on Mass. Avenue | Rensung

Untitled Part 9

It was about a minute into their walk down the sidewalk, Jisung and Donghyuck lingering slightly at the back of the group, when Donghyuck spoke to him. "Jisung, about the other night..."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry I know I'm new and everything and I almost broke the most important rule-" Jisung rambled on but Donghyuck cut him off, jostling him slightly.

"Don't worry about it, I shouldn't have reacted so harshly," Donghyuck apologized and Jisung looked to the side to look the brown-haired boy in the face. He seemed exhausted despite the energetic tone of voice and the way his body moved. "Listen, I know it took me a while to speak to you after that and I'm sorry I just...wasn't feeling too good," Donghyuck explained, "I know I scared you and I was aggressive, but the basement is...it's not a good place and you've got to promise me that any other noises you hear in the night you won't go investigate."

"Yeah, I promise," Jisung said solemnly and Donghyuck smiled brightly, his face illuminating despite the bags under his eyes and the effort it seemed to take for the boy to smile. "Hey, are you okay?"

Donghyuck just nodded, giving Jisung a smaller smile this time as if the first had taken too much of his energy. Then a shout came from up ahead of them and they turned to see Chenle, Jeno, and Jaemin waving at them to hurry up, the pair having fallen behind by quite a bit. So they both sped up, Donghyuck's arm around Jisung seeming to be the only thing making sure that Donghyuck kept up and didn't fall over.

"Seems like you two made up," Chenle teased, Donghyuck and Jisung rolling their eyes in response. "We're almost there, see?" Chenle pointed up ahead and Jisung crained his neck, catching sight of a brightly illuminated building with a sign reading BBC on the outside of it.

"Oh, isn't that where Renjun works?" Jisung commented and everyone turned to look at him in surprise, Jaemin grumbling with a bit of disappointment.

"You've met Renjun? It was going to be a surprise!" Jaemin protested and Jisung gave the boy an apologetic look, not knowing that Jaemin had wanted to surprise him this way. It was only a couple days ago that he had met the older and he hadn't seen him since.

"Sorry, I was up late one night and he came home," Jisung said as they continued to walk towards the restaurant in a more condensed cluster, "We both kind of surprised each other."

Walking into the restaurant, Jisung was surprised with how packed the space was. People crowded all of the large and small tables, milling about more so to his left where there was a pool table in the center of the space. The bar had every seat filled and Jisung blinked in surprised when he saw Renjun wandering around behind the bar counter.

"He works at the bar?" Jisung said in surprise, Jeno nodding from where he stood next to Jisung, Donghyuck now leaning on Jaemin as the pink-haired boy stood at the hostess counter.

"Yeah, a bit surprising," Jeno agreed, "He looks very professional, especially since he generally hates people." Jisung raised his eyebrows briefly in surprise, looking over to see Renjun wiping a glass clean while laughing along to something one of the guests had said.

Then the bartender moved to grab another glass, his eyes briefly glancing over Jisung just to flick back to his face, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. Jisung smiled and gave the boy a small wave, Renjun nodding in response as he began to quickly make some kind of strange pinkish drink, sliding it across the counter with a small napkin under it.

Jeno tugged at his sleeve, drawing Jisung's attention away from Renjun. "Let's go, we're lucky that they have a table to fit our party in the backroom." Jisung nodded and turned to follow the rest of the boys who were following a small waiter.

The restaurant had a very homey feeling to it. It was crowded with not just people but with wall decorations. The tables were all wooden, as were the chairs and the interior plants of wood on the top of the ceiling. Pictures hung on the wall space, save for the wall facing the ocean which, instead, had several windows opening up the space. The back room as a bay window facing the ocean and Jisung was surprised to see an empty, circular table placed next to it, wondering how it was free when the place was so packed.

"Here you are," the waiter smiled as everyone began to adjust themselves and settle into the chairs and around the table, "I'll be your waiter for tonight. The menus are on the table and I'll be back in a few minutes to see if you're ready to order your drinks." Everyone echoed a collective 'thank you' and opened up the menus.

"I know what I'm having," Donghyuck said a bit cockily, not even bothering to glance through the menu. Jisung laughed a bit, as did the rest of the boys. From where Jisung sat, he was sitting next to Jaemin and Jeno, Donghyuck sitting across from him, and Chenle sitting next to Donghyuck and Jeno. Luckily for Jisung, he was sitting diagonally from the bay window so he could catch the sigh of the darknening sky over the ocean.

"Hey, are you old enough to drink?" Jaemin inquired from his left and Jisung nodded, Jaemin smiling before pointing to a drink on Jisung's menu, "That one is good, I mean, if you like sweeter drinks."

"I do," Jisung affirmed and looked over the drink, seeing that it was a more fruity drink, "Well, I at least think I do. I don't drink too often." He shot Jaemin a sheepish grin and Jaemin laughed, Jeno joining in from his right.

After ordering their drinks and then deciding what they were going to eat - Jisung opting to get the Shepards Pie after both Chenle and Jeno said they were going to get it and the entirety of the group recommending it - they all leaned back a bit and conversation flowed from there.

Jisung sat back and observed for most of the conversation as the other boys apparently caught up, not having really talked in a while. From what he could observe, Chenle and Donghyuck were closer than he thought they were. So were Jeno and Jaemin. Actually, the more he observed, he noticed a sort of awkward tension between Donghyuck and Jaemin. It wouldn't have been noticeable, Jisung thought, to anyone except him. Maybe the others noticed it but it hadn't seem like they had, Chenle definitely one to point out such awkwardness.

Maybe it was because they both lived on the first floor -- maybe it was even because the two of them had been there the longest. Jisung felt himself staring between the two, being a bit more obvious than he should have been. They did acknowledge each other in conversations, yes, but it was more of their mannerisms. Their bodies were slanted away from each other and Donghyuck had his arm on the table, creating a sort of unconcious barrier between the two of them.

"Here are your drinks," their waiter cheered from behind Jisung and Jisung startled out of his thought, jumping slightly at the sudden energetic voice. Everyone turned toward the waiter, taking the drinks as they were offered to them. Jisung took his fruity drink, so he was more than confused when another drink was placed in front of him.

Jisung turned back to the waiter with an apologetic look on his face as he pointed at the drink, "I'm sorry, I don't think this is mine."

But the waiter shook his head, tucking the tray under his arm while he pulled out a note and handed it to Jisung. "It's from Renjun." Then the waiter walked away, commenting that their food was being cooked at the moment.

As the waiter walked way, choruses of protest went up at the name and the drink.

"What the hell, I've never gotten a free drink from Renjun and I give him rides to work sometimes!" Jeno protested from his side and all of the others agreed, the rest never having gotten a drink from Renjun before. Jisung felt his cheeks heat up a little at the realization and he fumbled slightly while opening the note.

I saw your table's drink order and assumed Jaemin made you get something fruity.

I think you'd like this one more, it's cleaner -- more Old Fashioned

- Renjun

Jisung looked up from the note and looked at the drink which was in a tinier glass, the amber drink looking a bit intriguing, especially with the neater orange slice garnishing the side. Jisung slipped the note into his pocket, being a bit coy as he shook his head when the others asked what it said. He picked up the drink and brought it to his lips, taking a sip and raising his eyebrows at the surprising bitterness of the drink.

Still, he liked it.

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