Seungkwan was in the kitchen with Mingyu's mum when Mingyu got back from the arcade.

"Seungkwan, can I talk to you quickly?" the tall boy had asked, a tone of urgency in his voice. Seungkwan nodded and went with Mingyu to his room.

Mingyu's bedroom was surprisingly tidy, with everything in its place. Mingyu pushed Seungkwan so he was sitting on Mingyu's bed. "You might want to sit down for this."

Now, Seungkwan was worried. Had Mingyu killed somebody by accident with his germs? Was he about to be asked to help hide evidence and bury a body?

Mingyu started pacing. "Seungkwan," he began, "I'm about to tell you a life shattering piece of news."

Seungkwan gulped, he was definitely going to be waist deep in soil tonight.

"Chan kissed Vernon." Mingyu stopped pacing and faced Seungkwan.

Seungkwan felt himself sigh in relief and his whole body stiffen at the same time. He wasn't going to acquire a criminal record, but he must've underestimated Chan. The kid obviously had more game than he'd given the boy credit for.

"And Vernon seemed to like it."

Seungkwan's shoulders slumped. Why did he have to fall for Vernon of all people.

Mingyu jumped to the bed and sat down next to Seungkwan, grabbing hold of his hands. Mingyu's eyes had a special glint to them and his pointed canines we showing even more than normal. "No, Seungkwan, this is great news! Vernon liked when Chan, a boy, kissed him. You're a boy!"

Seungkwan exhaled. "He told me Saturday night Chan asked him out and he wasn't sure what to do because he doesn't care about gender."

"Did you confess? What an-"

"No, I told him to have a date with Chan." Seungkwan sounded small and defeated to even himself.

Mingyu's eyebrows knitted together. "What! Why? You're an idiot, Boo."

"I promised myself I'd give up on him, remember." Seungkwan didn't have any other reason.

Mingyu shook his head. "That was before you knew he played both side of the courts."

Seungkwan brought his hands out of Mingyu's grip, and moved away front Mingyu. "I'm sick of worrying and hurting because I like him. Besides, him and Chan are a thing."

Mingyu straightened and put a hand on Seungkwan's shoulder. "Seungkwan, you told me once that you wouldn't mind being a homewrecker if your soulmate was already married."

"Yeah, my soulmate," Seungkwan kicked his leg out, feeling pathetic. "Vernon... he's a guy I've had a crush on for too long. He's almost definitely not my soulmate no matter how much I want him to be."

"Have you ever checked it?" Mingyu asked.

Seungkwan rolled his eyes. "I can't get to his shoulder to check properly. Checking someone's mark isn't something you can do subtlety." Sometimes Mingyu could be a real fool.

"Forget soulmates for now, then. Do you want to date Vernon?"

Seungkwan nodded lamely. "Only since I first met him, pretty much."

"Then seduce him, Boo. He and Chan aren't boyfriends, they've had one date that got turned into a group outing."

Seungkwan shrugged Mingyu's hand off his shoulder. "I tried to get him to think of me like that and it didn't work, Mingyu!"

"Try harder, then. Make it obvious you're flirting. Or..." Mingyu trailed off. Seungkwan thought he had a pretty good idea what Mingyu was going to suggest.

"No, I'm not confessing to Vernon. He'll think it's a joke! I have to get him to notice me romantically."

The two sat in thought for a few minutes. How could Seungkwan get Vernon to like him? Seungkwan ran through different possibilities in his mind. He couldn't think of anything that he hadn't been doing before.

Mingyu made a cry of exclamation. "Ooh! You could make 'notice you romantically' by showing him someone else wants to date you."

Seungkwan shook his head. "Who would want to date me?"

"Go on a couple fake dates with someone."

"The question was who, Mingyu.'" Seungkwan rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I could do it."

Seungkwan got off Mingyu's bed. "That'd be really suspicious. Vernon won't believe it. I'm going to brainstorm people on my-" suddenly, Seungkwan remembered Vernon had suggested he date Jihoon at their sleepover. "Jihoon. Mingyu, I could fake date Jihoon! He likes me enough platonically that it'd be believable. And, he even offered to have a couple fake dates with me Monday morning when I was whining to him about Vernon."

Seungkwan ran out of Mingyu's room, a giant smile on his face. He had to go ask Jihoon now.

Back in the kitchen, he grabbed his phone off one of the benches and hurried to his room. He texted Jihoon asking if the fake date was still on offer, and recieved a message back a few minutes later telling him Jihoon was on his way over so they could discuss things.

Twenty three minutes and fourteen seconds later - of course Seungkwan had been counting! - Jihoon was at Seungkwan's bedroom door.

"We have to make this quick, Seungkwan, I have a song that needs to be done by midnight tomorrow," Jihoon grumbled as he picked his way through Seungkwan's floordrobe to the stool near Seungkwan's full length mirror.

"Jihoon, if you hadn't already finished it you wouldn't have come," Seungkwan pointed out. Jihoon shrugged playfully, trying to give off a "you never know, I do what I want" aura. Seungkwan knew Jihoon too well.

"Ok, how many dates do you want and when? I have things to do and need to fit them into my schedule." Jihoon was suddenly all business.

Seungkwan thought for a bit. "Three. That's what you offered. And one a week starting next week."

Jihoon nodded. "Do Friday nights work?"

Seungkwan shrugged. "Anything works for me."

"It depends on what you want everyone to think what we're doing, Seungkwan. Night dates people think usually end in ," Jihoon explained. Seungkwan's eyes widened. "Ok, not nights. Sunday afternoon?" Jihoon offered. Seungkwan agreed.

"Anything else you want?" Jihoon asked, not unkindly.

Seungkwan wanted to make sure they both had basic information about their relationship. "We have to get our story straight. Are we-"

"We're just casual. Vernon might push away feelings if he thinks you're taken. We'll tell everyone it's because you're the first guy I've had feelings for and decided to take it slow. You get to tell everyone that, by the way."

Seungkwan beamed. That sounded so cute, and it wouldn't require them to kiss or touch too much. Jihoon was so smart.

"But, I should make it seem like I have ual interest in you too." Why did Jihoon have to pop Seungkwan's bubble? "I'll get a little handsy and stuff."

"Jihoon, you don't like touching! It isn't going to be believable if you completely change."

"Seungkwan, nobody knows what I'm like in a relationship. Plenty of people are more touchy with a boyfriend or girlfriend than with their friends." Seungkwan huffed and crossed his arms. "Seungkwan, if he realises how attracted to you he is, he's at least noticing you as something besides 'just a friend'."

Seungkwan didn't miss that Jihoon said Vernon was attracted to him. "Jihoon, what makes you think Vernon finds me aesthetically pleasing?"

Jihoon snorted. "He doesn't just find you something nice to look at like a painting. You gave him a hard on Monday morning at the cafe." Seungkwan couldn't believe it, no way Vernon thought he was hot! Jihoon must've picked up on Seungkwan's disbelief because he nodded. "Remember he disappeared into the bathroom? He had a and was trying to convince himself out of thinking about the wet dream he'd the night before that was about you."

Seungkwan felt his jaw slacken. Vernon had dreamed about him? He was definitely going into Operation Seduce Vernon full force now.

Jihoon had an evil grin on his face. "I told him I wouldn't mention it to anyone," he cackled.

"Jihoon, we'll have our first date Sunday. We'll tell everyone we're going to watch a movie, but we can just hang out at your recording studio if you want."

Jihoon nodded as got up and made his out of the room, being way too careful not to step on Seungkwan's stuff. Seungkwan flopped on his bed once the other boy had left.

Vernon had dreamed about him! Vernon thought he was hot! He definitely needed to work that angle. Seungkwan resisted the urge to scream - he couldn't act like a dumb school girl.

Seungkwan spent the rest of the night planning the next few days so he could get Vernon all hot and bothered and jeslous to the best of his abilities.

The next morning Seungkwan found himself in an incredibly good mood. He even added an extra sugar to his morning tea.

"What's up with you?" Mingyu asked when they were both putting on their shoes, his voice still husky from sleep.

"Just a great plan to get Vernon to realise he doesn't like Chan as much as he thinks he does," Seungkwan chirped. Seungkwan filled Mingyu in on his and Jihoon's plans while they walked to the cafe.

"You're so lucky Jihoon likes you. He's tried to kill me multiple times in the last six months alone!" Mingyu whined as they entered the cafe.

"Keep up your whinging and it'll be multiple times this week," Jihoon remarked from the register. "Kwannie, can you come here?""

Seungkwan tried not to freeze. Only Vernon really called him "Kwannie". And Jihoon normally didn't work so many mornings in a week. Where was Jun? Seungkwan walked over to the till, trying not to give anything away.

Jihoon was sorting sachets of sugar and sweetener into the pots that went on the tables.

"Vernon's here, so play along, Seungkwan." Jihoon placed a handful of sugar sachets in front of Seungkwan, a smile appearing across his features. "And remember to flirt with him. Be suggestive."

Seungkwan nodded and picked up the sugar, stuffing them inside his pockets. "Of course, I was planning last night."

"You know Seungkwan, I couldn't sleep last night because of you," Jihoon lifted his voice a little so it would carry across the cafe to Seungkwan's friends.

Seungkwan ducked his head, feigning embarrassment. "I couldn't sleep either," he replied, tone soft but loud enough fo everyone to hear. Jihoon rubbed Seungkwan's head, smirk on his face, and sent him off to his friends.

Seungkwan skipped to their usual table and took his normal seat between Vernon and Mingyu. Mingyu elbowed him playfully and Vernon turned away from him, striking up a conversation with Joshua.

"So Seungkwan, you and Jihoon?" Joshua asked loudly, ignoring Vernon. Junghan whispered something into Joshua's ear, but Joshua seemed to ignore him, too.

Seungkwan nodded apprehensively. He wasn't expecting it to come up this quickly. "Yeah, I guess. We aren't boyfriends, but he asked me to go out on a date because he developed a crush on me a few weeks back and wanted to see if he'd be comfortable being my boyfriend one day." Seungkwan shrugged like it was nothing.

Vernon turned back to him. "I thought you said Jihoon's straight."

Seungkwan shrugged. "uality can change over time. Or maybe I'm just a guy crush?"

Mingyu gasped. "Is this why he was over last night?"

Seungkwan nodded sheepishly, and Vernon's eyes widened. "Seungkwan, can I speak to you privately?" he requested, already gettting up and trying to drag Seungkwan along with him.

Junghan and Joshua exchanged whispers in ears, with Dokyeom trying to listen in. Mingyu flashed Seungkwan a look of hope. Seungkwan could tell he thought Vernon was going to confess to him. Seungkwan realised it was too optimistic to hope for the plan to work so quickly.

Vernon led him to men's restroom.

"Seungkwan, what if he's playing with you?" Vernon sounded concerned.

"I wouldn't mind if he was playing with me, it's about time someone said hello to little Seungkwan."

Vernon rolled his eyes. "Seungkwan, I'm being serious. He's older and you said he was straight. Why would he suddenly ask you out?"

"I asked him and he said he always thought you and I were dancing around each other, but you told him that wasn't the case on Monday or something."

Vernon looked slightly less concerned. "Ok, just be careful. Take it slow and make him make advancements." Seungkwan nodded in agreement, and the two left the men's room and joined the group again.

"Why isn't Jun working?" Seungkwan asked.

Junghan brightened and sat forward. Must be good gossip, Seungkwan thought.

"It was supposed to be Jun this morning, but he went home with one of Chan's friends last night. Jihoon wasn't impressed when I got here and he started grumbling my ear off about it. He said Jun called him in and said he'd met his soulmate and the kid had gotten permission from his mum to skip school today so they can get to know each other."

"Minghao's his soulmate? Wow, I feel bad for him." Seungkwan smacked Vernon playfully for his comment.

"Does this mean they had ?" Mingyu asked. Everyone except Junghan shrugged.

"No, Jun said they spent the night chatting, cooking and eating Chinese food, and skyping their parents to let them meet their soulmate. Quite cute, really."

Joshua checked his watch. "Time for the kids to head off to school."

Vernon grabbed Seungkwan as he got up. Seungkwan quite like this more grabby Vernon.

"Speaking of, Vernon, I'm staying at Junghan's tonight." Vernon blanched, but Seungkwan just laughed. He thought it was nice how open and comfortable Joshua and Junghan were about their relationship.

"See you after school, Seungkwan. I'll come pick you up," Jihoon called from the cash register. Seungkwan agreed, and felt Vernon's grip tighten.

Ah, what a good morning.

==========

A/N:

I know, it's been a few days since I updated. Not quite sure how long, but it's been cooler lately and I decided to spend some time my best friend and my family over the last few days. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to update almost every day all the time.

Seungkwan's trying again! Yay! The scenes where Seungkwan's tryimg to get Vernon to notice him as something other than a friend are so nice to write, so look out for more of them in future chapters.