Once they'd eaten and washed up ("I had no idea something I helped make could taste so good!" "Vernon, shut up, you literally got things out and cut carrots and onion." "It's still helping...") Vernon steered Seungkwan to the bathroom mirror.

Vernon watched as Seungkwan moved closer to the mirror, his face almost touching the glass, to examine the hickey Vernon had given him.

"Oh my god, Vernon. I cannot go anywhere with this!" Seungkwan moved even closer to the mirror, his face smushed against it. Vernon was quite proud of it - it was the darkest hickey he'd ever seen. "It's going to take forever to fade! You know hickeys are bruises? You just gave me the worst bruise I've ever had!" Seungkwan shrieked.

Vernon had to hold back his laughter, a few chuckles escaping despite his efforts. Seungkwan moved slightly backwards and glared at him through the mirror. "Seriously, I gave you a little one - people probably won't even notice it - and I get this?

"That's for getting hickeys off Jihoon and trying to make me jealous," Vernon shrugged.

Seungkwan sobered. "Fine. I deserve it. Even though you got hickeys from Chan, my crime was worse."

Vernon nodded. "Yep," he agreed, poping the P. "But, you're freaking out over nothing. Just use makeup and a scarf."

"Then let me use one of your scarves when I leave for home this evening. Oh- that reminds me. I need another of your hoodies or jackets or whatever."

Vernon's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?" He wondered what Seungkwan had done with the jacket he'd given him before.

"The one you gave me doesn't make me think of you, I've seen a couple guys wear a similar one," Seungkwan said flippantly.

Vernon raised an eyebrow, but agreed anyway. Didn't Seungkwan realise most of his jackets were just whatever his mum bought him? They were fairly similar to what most guys around their age wore.

Seungkwan turned around and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you!" He grabbed Vernon's hand and dragged him to Vernon's room.

Vernon stood just inside his room and watched as Seungkwan went through his clothes, looking for a jacket he liked. Seungkwan picked out one of Vernon's knitted woollen jumpers. "This one is so ugly only you'd wear it. Can I have it?"

Vernon was shocked. "It's not ugly! That's one of my favourites!"

Seungkwan shook his head condescendingly. "As your best friend of almost five years, I'm telling you this is the third ugliest thing you own and I want to burn it whenever I see you wear it."

Vernon's mouth opened in disbelief. "Why do you want it, then?"

"So I don't have to see you wear it. And I'll never see anybody else wearing something similar because it's so ugly. I'll only think of you when I wear it."

"You shouldn't insult my clothes if you want me to let you wear them."

Seungkwan put on the jumper. "Don't you like me in it?" He started turning and posing like a model.

Vernon did like Seungkwan in his jumper. He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he sighed, "you can have the jumper." He shifted his weight and ran a hand through his hair. "Can you bring one of your jackets around next time? It's only fair I have one of yours if you've got one of mine." Vernon's cheeks were suddenly hot.

Seungkwan smiled. "Sure. I like the idea of you wearing some of my clothes."

Seungkwan pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "I should head home soon, I have a dance I'm trying to learn and I haven't been keeping up with my exercise properly," he told Vernon.

Vernon moved closer to Seungkwan, kicking the door closed behind him, and pushed Seungkwan down onto his bed so they were both sitting. "Can you stay a little longer?"

"I said 'soon', not 'now'."

Vernon wrapped his arms around Seungkwan and nuzzled his face into his boyfriend's neck. Seungkwan placed a hand on Vernon's knee and Vernon found himself wishing his hand was higher up.

"Seungkwan?" The other made a noise of acknowledgement. "I adore you."

Seungkwan nodded. "I adore you, too." His tone sounded detached, like he was thinking about something.

"Do you want to cuddle? Like, properly - laying down?" Vernon offered, hoping it would take the other's mind of off whatever he was thinking about. Seungkwan didn't even answer verbally, he just layed back - dragging Vernon with him.

The two wriggled around to get comfortable, finally settling on their backs, sides touching all the way from shoulder to foot, with their heads on Vernon pillow.

Vernon layed there, holding Seungkwan's hand, completely rigid. It wasn't the first time he'd cuddled Seungkwan, but it was the first time since they'd started dating.

They layed there like that for a few moments before they started giggling. Vernon wasn't sure who started first, but knew they continued for a couple minutes.

"I can't believe how awkward this is," Seungkwan spoke up. Vernon hummed in agreement. Seungkwan turned to lay on his side, and hooked a leg over one of Vernon's. He grabbed one of Vernon's arms and placed it on his waist.

"See? Less awkward."

Vernon chuckled, and Seungkwan kissed him. Vernon kissed him back, on his lip when he tried to pull away.

It wasn't long before before they were kissing again. They kissed slowly, leisurely, just enjoying the feel of each other. Seungkwan shifted, his hard on brushing against Vernon, and then there was hands. Fingers. Hands over Vernon's own, pulling them from Seungkwan's waist to his lower back. Fingers playing with the hem of Vernon's shirt. Hands, cold hands, pressed against the skin at his sides.

Seungkwan's hands.

Vernon pulled away, slightly out of breath. He felt himself getting hard, and knowing Seungkwan was in the same boat wasn't helping. Vernon didn't want to move too fast with Seungkwan. The other wanted to take things slow, but they'd been dating less than a day and he was already trying to start a make out session.

"Seungkwan, you said you don't want to rush. We should stop."

Seungkwan shook his head. "No, I want things to feel right with you, and that I'd rather wait if I had to. I don't care if it happens all at once and we have tomorrow, or really slowly and it takes ten years for us to have . As long as it doesn't feel like we're doing things because we think we should, and we're doing things because we want to, I don't care."

Seungkwan kissed the end of Vernon's nose before sitting up. "But, I should probably get going. The sooner I tell Mingyu the less drama I have to deal with."

Vernon sat up, too. "Sure," he coughed to clear his throat. "I have homework, anyway. See you tomorrow?"

Seungkwan shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know, probably." The two walked to Vernon's front door, Vernon getting a scarf for Seungkwan as he left his room. Seungkwan gave Vernon back the jacket he'd given him the night Jun had announced they were soulmates, and they exchanged goodbyes before Seungkwan left.

On his way back to his room, Vernon was intercepted by Joshua. The older boy caught him on his way past the loungeroom.

"Vernon, can I chat to you a second?"

"Sure, but you sound like my mum and dad." Vernon followed Joshua to his room. Joshua shut the door after they both stepped in, and directed Vernon to sit on his bed with him.

Vernon wondered what Joshua wanted to talk about and he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"You and Seungkwan sorted everything out?" Joshua's tone was innocent, and Vernon wasn't sure where the conversation was going.

"Mostly. There are probably a few more things we need to discuss, but we'll figure them out as they come along."

Joshua's expression changed, as if to ask "like what?"

"I dunno. Like, , boundaries, PDA." Vernon leant back, his arms behind him supporting his weight. "There's probably more, but he's my first half-grown up relationship. It's terrifying. We'll have to talk as things come up."

Joshua nodded, expression serious. "Anything you think needs to be discussed now?"

Vernon thought for a bit. They were a day into their relationship, what could they possibly have - oh.

"What are we going to do next year? He's going to graduate, and probably want to go to uni. We also have to balance time between each other and our friends." He paused. "There's a lot more to going from friends to lovers than I realised."

Joshua shrugged. "It seems like it. But really, you'd have to deal with the graduating from high school thing even as friends, and remember even your mother thought you two were dating a couple of weeks back."

Vernon remembered how he'd been confused by that. Looking back, he understood how she'd thought that. He'd practically been dating Seungkwan for years now, just without the kissing and cheesy dialogue. Vernon groaned, how had he not realised his feelings for Seungkwan earlier than he had?

"How did nobody shake me and tell me I clearly like Seungkwan? I've liked him ages and only realised in the past few weeks. I'm an idiot and he deserves better."

Joshua chuckled lightly. "If you didn't deserve to be his soulmate, you wouldn't be his soulmate." Joshua clapped his hands together. "Anyway, I'm going out - studying at Seungcheol's while those two get it on like rabbits on his couch, probably. They're so -"

"Josh, I don't want to hear about you and your soulmates' lives, OK? Especially when Minghao always going on about how nonexistent his is."

"Maybe you should come over; Seungcheol and Junghan won't do much more than kiss if someone else is there, I get to study in peace, and you get to see probably the most functional set of romantic soulmates in our group."

"Mingyu and Wonwoo, and Jun and Minghao aren't functional?"

"Mingyu and Wonwoo's relationship is currently built on , hamburgers, and a strange, animalistic jealousy. Jun and Minghao appear functional, but Jun's always complaining about how he isn't getting enough sleep because Minghao wants any form of physical intimacy with him and they constantly argue about it."

"And Junghan's ' solves all problems' theory gives you three a functional relationship?" Vernon asked. He didn't think there was anything much wrong with the relationships Joshua had just described. Why did it matter if a relationship seemed "functional" if everyone in it was happy in it? Every relationship had it's issues.

"We have , calm down, and discuss things like adults. It works. Anyway, do you want to come, see how other soulmates act?"

Vernon shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

The two got up, Joshua got his messenger bag, and they told Mrs Chwe where they were going, put shoes and jackets on, and left.

"Why aren't we getting a ride off mum?" Vernon asked, pulling his jacket in close. "It's getting kind of chilly these days."

Joshua let out a bitter chuckle. "You think you can talk about chilly? I'm freaking freezing! I'm pretty much still fresh from LA!"

"Well then why are we walking and using public transport? My mum has a car."

"It's quicker, if we don't miss the first bus. We've got ten minutes, let's go."

They made it, and got to Seungcheol's place in half an hour. It was in a cheap looking apartment complex. Joshua knocked on Seungcheol's front door. Junghan was the one who opened it and let them in, his long hair ruffled and clothes out of place. Seungcheol greeted them from the couch as they walked in with a lazy "Wassup?" as he zipped up his jeans.

Vernon looked around. The studio apartment was pretty much what Vernon had expected, based off Seungcheol's car. There wasn't a bed - just a couch, pushed against one of the walls next to a power point. Next to the couch was a wardrobe. The kitchen in another corner was more of a kitchenette, with a microwave and bar fridge instead of a stove and proper fridge, and a plastic bag with some rubbish in it resting on the floor at the end of the counter. There was a coffee table in the middle of the small room, with a cheap laptop and an ashtray with a few cigarette butts in it on top.

"Seungcheol hasn't quit yet?" Vernon asked. He noticed a cigarette packet on top of the bar fridge. He'd heard so much about Seungcheol being really close to stopping, how he was down to a cigarette a day and was really trying.

"What do you think?" Joshua replied, tone disgusted, as he dropped his messenger bag full of textbooks on the floor.

Seungcheol got up, a look of regret on his face. "Sorry babe, I should've cleaned it up and put it away before you got here." He made his way over to the coffee table and picked up the ashtray, then emptied it into the rubbish bag.

Junghan went to sit on the couch and started combing through his hair with his fingers.

"You said you were down to one a day," Joshua stated as he crouched down to get his notes out of his bag. Junghan let out an overdramatic sigh, and Seungcheol started scrubbing the ashtray.

"Have you been lying about your progress?" Joshua went to sit at the coffee table, avoiding the spot the ashtray had been, and placed his notes on the table. "Well? I'm waiting."

Vernon stood at the door, not sure what to do with himself. The tension in the room was so thick it could've been cut with a knife.

"Don't be like that, Shua. You know Cheol's been quitting for you," Junghan spoke up.

"I was here yesterday and there weren't any cigarette butts in the ashtray. It was all clean with some change in it." Joshua's tone was cool and even.

"I asked him to smoke a few for me because I think it's hot," Junghan bit back.

"You asked him to have five? It's not healthy. Do you know how bad smoking is for you?"

Vernon shifted his weight before deciding to sit down against the wall.

"What's not healthy is you only joining in every third or fourth time Seungcheol and and I have it."

"Junghan, not everybody's libido is like yours. Your lucky I can keep up with you. We've discussed this," Seungcheol reprimanded, drying the ashtray on his shirt.

"I know, not everybody's a crazed freak like me," Junghan said like it was a topic he was bored with and rolled his eyes. "But, we were talking about the smoking." Junghan's tone even out, becoming less like a rebellious teenager and more like a mature adult. "I had a few cigarettes too, Joshua." Joshua's expression darkened. "I know it's bad for me, but I'm an adult who can make my own educated decisions. I just wanted to try it. Like the time at the club you stopped me taking that pill - except you weren't here to stop me." Junghan shrugged.

"Whatever. Smoke, I don't care anymore. Just brush your teeth before trying to kiss me, and don't smoke within a two metre radius of me," Joshua sighed, slamming his hands down on the coffee table in frustration.

Seungcheol crouched behind Joshua, clean ashtray in hand, and kissed his temple. "Babe, because it really bothers you I'll keep cutting down and stop smoking. This is my last packet. Do you want to hold onto it?"

Joahua didn't say anything, just held out his hand. Junghan whined, and Seungcheol reached behind him to grab the cigarette packet off the bar fridge and pass it to Joshua.

"See?" Joshua said pointedly to Vernon, "functional relationship. You make sacrifices to keep your partners happy." He turned to Seungcheol. "I'll give you a cigarette when I leave so you can smoke for Junghan. I'll never understand how he thinks it's attractive." Joshua shook his head.

Vernon thought the relationship wasn't much different from Jun and Minghao's. They cared about each other, and Jun made out with Minghao and let him give him s every once in a while, and Minghao didn't actually push anything physically, just whined a lot.

"Thanks, the is always great afterwards." Seungcheol pecked Joshua's cheek. He got up and walked towards what Vernon assumed was the bathroom. "C'mon, angel, we should brush our teeth." Junghan followed Seungcheol into the bathroom.

Vernon cleared his throat and Joshua looked from his notes. "Oh, right. Come sit here with me, grab a cushion from the wardrobe to sit on if you want."

Vernon went and sat at the coffee table, legs crossed. He wasn't comfortable looking through someone's stuff for a cushion.' "What does Seungcheol do? Just rap, or does he have another source of income?"

"He writes raps for idol groups sometimes when Jihoon needs help, and he babysits for a couple families." Joshua was focused on his notes the whole time, high-lighting sections as he spoke. "His parents'll give him some money if he ever goes off to uni."

"Which I'm not doing. They'll only pay if I become an engineer or something. If I did go to uni, it'd be to become a sports teacher." Seungcheol walked back into the room and sat next to Joshua, and slung his arm over Joshua's shoulders. Joshua turned his head and just about rammed his tongue down Seungcheol's throat, it looked to Vernon.

Junghan sat down in Seungcheol's lap, a can of beer in his hand. He cracked it open and passed it to Seungcheol once he and Joshua pulled apart. Seungcheol took a swig, before offering it to Joshua. Joshua eyed it, then looked to Vernon.

"I probably shouldn't, not with Vernon here. What if he feels left out?"

"He can't drink?" Seungcheol asked.

"Underage," Junghan supplied. Seungcheol "ahh"ed before looking confused and shrugging.

"Does it really matter? It's weak beer - he can have some diluted with coke, can't he?"

Joshua shook his head. "His parents would kill me."

"Only if they found out," Seungcheol countered. Junghan opened his mouth to day something. 

Vernon was amazed he hadn't been consulted in the exchange - it was like he was in a different room.

"Vernon is here," Vernon waved. "Hello, I'm Vernon. No, I don't want alcohol - my parents will definitely find out. Mum knows everything. Josh, if you want to you can drink. Don't not do something just because I'm here - except . I don't want to see that."

The three men laughed. Seungcheol shook the can of beer, and Joshua rolled his eyes. He took the can and had a couple sips before placing it down on the coffee table.

Junghan scoffed, and turned around in Seungcheol's lap. "He's going to sit on that all night, the lightweight." Junghan reached and opened the bar fridge. "Cheol, do you want one? Or am I going to share with you?"

"Grab me a can," Seungcheol grunted, looking at Joshua's notes. "What does that mean?" he asked Joshua, pointing to a section on the page. Joshua swatted his hand away and didn't answer. The fridge door slammed shut, and Junghan wiggled around to put two cans on the table in front of him.

"Why's Vernon here, anyway?" Seungcheol asked as he opened his can.

"To see how soulmates act. He finally got his soulmate to talk him and they've sorted things out, apparently." Joshua paused his explanation to take a sip of his beer. "It looks like they don't know how to act now that they're together."

Junghan gasped. "You and Seungkwan are dating! I feel like I'm really out of the loop these days."

"Seungkwan? That kid Jihoon doesn't mind? He seems like a good kid. If you hurt him Jihoon's going to have your neck," Seungcheol warned him.

Vernon chuckled nervously. "I don't plan on hurting him. He's," he smiled fondly, "he's so much to me. Has been for a while. I've learnt it when he's not talking to me."

"Sounds like you're in deep," Seungcheol stated.

"I think I am. I want to be."

Junghan passed Vernon an open can. Vernon accepted it and took a tentative sip. He'd never had alcohol before, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. Joshua glared at him. Vernon shrugged and raised the can to his lips again, taking a mouthful this time. He shook his head and screwed up his face. Nope. Nope nope. He didn't like. He passed it back to Junghan, who was laughing along with Seungcheol.

"Vernon, turn on my laptop and put on some music - there's no password," Seungcheol directed. Vernon did as he was told, and the room was quickly filled by quiet hip hop. Seungcheol got a can of coke out of the fridge and passed it Vernon. "Next time you come around, I'll have something good you can mix with that, if you want," he offered.

Vernon nodded. "Thanks? It'll be fine as long I don't get drunk."

Joshua glared at Vernon then Seungcheol. "You're a bad influence," he told the latter. Seungcheol shrugged with one shoulder and took a swig from his can. "I try, I try." He smiled proudly.

The rest of the afternoon was spent listening to Junghan and Seungcheol complain (a little fondly - they must've actually found it endearing) about how much of a wet blanket Joshua was, as they laughed and shared stories. It didn't seem to bother Joshua - he even joined in with stories about times he'd stopped them doing something stupid in the short time they'd known each other.

Vernon enjoyed it, soaking in the atmosphere, and hoped he and Seungkwan could be like that one day. Hoped he and Seungkwan would be able to joke and mess around without worrying how the other would take it.

===========

A/N:

I've been updating quote slowly lately (compared to how I normally update, at least). Have some JungCheolShua to make up for it. I love these three, and it's so difficult to find. Normally it's just JungCheol or Jihan. (Why do we use "Ji" for pairings, sometimes I don't know if it's Jihoon or Joshua and it's just - argh.)

Also, if ever I have anything in a story that you'd rather have a heads up about (for any reason, you don't have to mention why), don't be afraid to tell me so I can put a warning at the start of any chapter it pertains to.