"alright bitches, listen up!" jihoon shouts, while soonyoung turned the music off. he stood on top of the pool(which seokmin grunted to, he was playing billiards) to take their attention. "i have something to announce!"
"hey, don't curse!" seungcheol says, covering jinha's ears. she was sitting on the man's lap. "jinha's here!"
oh, seungcheol? of course he survived. at first, jeonghan wasn't able to heal him because his heartbeat was too weak—but seventeen won't give up on him easily. jeonghan did everything and anything that he can to heal seungcheol, so now, jeonghan is missing out on all the fun in seventeen's afterparty. he passed out right after he healed seungcheol, and has still not woken up(seungcheol thought he killed jeonghan earlier and cried like a baby).
"you're literally teaching her how to play poker." jihoon deadpanned, placing his hands on his waist. meanwhile, soonyoung walked to the pool and took the 9 ball.
"just for fun! even chan agrees!" seungcheol showed one of his cards to jihoon. chan facepalmed. "isn't this what the eleventh floor is for? it's for fun fun fun! and gambling a little!"
"yeah, but whatever. here's my announcement." jihoon jumped down the pool, and took soonyoung's hand. "we've been dating. we were supposed to keep it a secret, but fuck it! it's so hard to show affection when you're always around."
opposing to what jihoon and soonyoung expected, everyone laughed. do they not believe jihoon himself? maybe kissing will prove it.
"is this another prank?" junhui asked, playing with one of those red beer cups. "if so, really funny. i'm surprised that you cooperated." everyone liked junhui's comment, so junhui got high fives and laughs that made him feel like he's a cool kid from a teen movie.
"here!" soonyoung showed his phone screen to everyone, which displayed soonhoon's picture on the seoul tower at the first day of snow. junhui squints, just in case it was photoshopped. "this is where we had our first date. joshua-hyung can testify for me!"
everyone's eyes turn to an uneasy joshua. soonyoung's dragging him everywhere! "yeah, i was there."
"in fact, he was with—"
"I KEPT your secret, and you exposed it to everyone yourselves. you keep mine until i decide to tell everyone." joshua points to soonyoung angrily, to which soonyoung reacted to with a gasp. soonyoung nods anyway.
"joshua's not really a strong evidence since you guys mentioned keeping secrets. fishy." junhui kept on squinting, acting like he was a detective. chuckles and giggles were heard in the background. "another evidence. that picture could also be photoshopped for all i know."
jihoon sighed. "look, i'm trying to be honest here, and you don't want to believe me?" jihoon says. he turns to soonyoung and uses the last option. "fine. you'll see. soonyoungie~"
seventeen gasped in shock. jihoon's duality was new! his tone was firm and final at first, but when he was talking to soonyoung, it turned into those sickly aegyo voices—is this jihoon at all?!
"yes, jihoonie?" soonyoung pouts, squishing jihoon's cheeks. jihoon giggles. "you're so cute!"
"thwank you!" jihoon's slurred speech made chan soften a little. who knew that jihoon had this side of him? "i want to say that i love you very very much!"
"aww, jihoonie! me too!" soonyoung hugs jihoon and lifts him a little. jihoon's cutesy image gets destroyed, as he laughs in his normal voice and tone. it sounds like he's genuinely happy.
"okay, i can't stand cute jihoon even more. please, no. stop this." minghao looked away, downing a shot of tequila. "ugh! i can't erase that image on my mind now!"
"very well." junhui nods. soonyoung drapes an arm around jihoon and smiles. "i believe you now."
"alright, that's the announcement! go back to whatever you're doing now!"
and so junhui, minghao, jihoon, soonyoung and vernon continue playing beer pong. chan, seungcheol, joshua and jinha continue playing poker, while seokmin, seungkwan, mingyu and wonwoo continue playing billiards.
"hey, seungcheol-hyung, you're teaching her to cheat!" chan exclaimed, throwing his set of cards on the table. seungcheol laughs at the boy, which jinha mirrored. "no, jinha! you do not cheat!"
"i cheated too. i looked at your cards earlier." joshua raises his hand, admitting his dirty secret to winning almost every game. "good use of ability."
"oh, so now i have to touch you to win poker. ya'll are cheaters! i will really stab you all if you keep on doing this!"
"yeah, but you were crying when i got shot?" seungcheol raised an eyebrow, while jinha gasped.
"papa, who did that to you? i will turn them into a doll!" jinha exclaimed and seungcheol nodded sympathetically. seungcheol patted jinha's head while she smiled at her papa.
"no, seungcheol-hyung, we do not talk about that! you never really learn from your experiences, do you?" chan facepalmed. "just let me win one game for god's sake!"
"alright, one game." joshua smirked. chan gave up. "oh, why are you being like that?! we'll let you win! come on!"
"whatever. i'll just join seokmin-hyung." chan dropped his cards and walked to seokmin, who was playing pool with the other seventeen members. their games involved a little liquor, but chan can handle it.
"come on, jinha! let's follow mama!" seungcheol chirped in an alarming high pitch, putting jinha down to run to chan. seungcheol giggled and followed. joshua was left alone. maybe joshua can sing on the karaoke machine instead? play xbox? ps4? join the beer games?
oh, right! jeonghan. he still owes jeonghan an answer to jeonghan's proposition. so, joshua gets in the elevator and goes down to the 7th floor.
cautiously, joshua turned the knob on jeonghan's door. he enters quietly, and sits on the side of jeonghan's bed. ah, i sunk! what kind of bed is this?! joshua frowned. maybe he was too heavy for the mattress.
"jeonghan? you're still asleep?" joshua asks. the obvious answer was yes: jeonghan hadn't reacted to anything joshua did. if he's acting, then whatever. joshua doesn't see the need to do that. "you can't just regain energy by sleeping. you need to eat too." no answer from jeonghan, of course.
"stupid. you should've eaten more in the party so you can use your ability without forcing your body to overwork. seungcheol thanks you very very much, though. you're missing out on the party." joshua pulled up jeonghan's covers closer to his chin, since the temperature in this room was below twenty degrees. "soonhoon revealed their relationship too."
joshua sighed, playing with jeonghan's hair subconsciously. "i really want to tell you something." joshua clicks his tongue in annoyance. "you picked a wrong time to confess!"
joshua was getting even more frustrated when jeonghan's sleeping right now. he can't say whatever he wants(technically he can) because jeonghan's not listening, and joshua won't know his intial reaction! why is jeonghan like this? why is joshua like this? what the fuck is wrong with them?!
"you're like an angel when you're sleeping. aside from the fact that your birthday is 10/04, is this the reason why you call yourself angel? though you're not smiling, or even showing any emotion through your eyes, you look so peaceful and ethereal, your breaths are steady and calming. total opposite when you're awake." joshua chuckled, combing jeonghan's hair away from his forehead. "i never thought i'd fall for a person who behaves like you. rather, i never thought i'd fall for you."