Vernon hated Past Vernon. Especially the Past Vernon of yesterday afternoon. His parents had been told he'd had some beer, hadn't they? And it wasn't even like he could blame Joshua - he'd told them himself! As soon as he'd gotten home, panicked because as far he knew his curfew was nine and it was quarter to ten, he'd blabbed. (His curfew was apparently whenever his parents told him it was time to get home, which they hadn't bothered with because he was with Joshua.)

And now, he had to stand in front of his parents and explain himself. His mum and dad were sat on the couch because "why should you be the one comfortable when you're the one in trouble?". They'd given him twelve hours to come up with reasons he shouldn't get into trouble for drinking, and it was time to plead his case.

"So, um. Yes. I thought about it, all of last night. My reasons. And I'd like to present them to you," Vernon started. Even he could tell it was a shaky start.

It was the second time he'd had to do this in his life, being reserved only for offences his parents thought might have reasons behind deeper than "I wanted to" or "I didn't like her, why else would I put gum in her hair?". The latter of which his younger sister had said three weeks into her school career. The first time he'd to present his case was when he got caught with a cigarette a few years ago.

"The first reason I shouldn't get in trouble was I knew I was in a safe environment. I wasn't in danger of breaking anything or myself, because there's pretty much nothing to break at Seungcheol's." He used that as his first argument because he knew it made him seem responsible. It didn't appear to have any effect, however. Vernon swallowed thickly and continued.

"My second is it basically doesn't count because of how little I had. Like, me breathing in second hand smoke when I walk past people smoking in the street is doing more damage than the small amount of beer I had."

Vernon's father sat back, face suddenly less serious. "You never told us how much you actually drank," he said thoughtfully.

His mum shot his dad a sharp look. "It doesn't matter how much, he's underage."

"As if you never drank when you were a teenager," his father countered. His mum ducked her head. Obviously she'd been even more guilty of the crime when she was a teenager than Vernon.

"How much was it, then? A can? More?" his dad inquired casually.

"Less than two mouthfuls. I had a small sip to test it out, then a mouthful to decide if I liked it or not," Vernon explained, rocking back and forth on his feet.

Both his parents sighed. "You're such a well behaved teenager - didn't even have a can. I think we're finished here." His dad stood up with a groan, his knees cracking, and left to do whatever dad's do on Sunday mornings.

Vernon's mum beckoned Venom to sit down next to her, so he did.

"Really, not even a can?" Vernon shook his head, and she pat his shoulder. "You're such a good boy. I'm worried about you though. Are you repressing urges to rebel? Because I'd rather you get out of your rebellious phase before you move out, while your father and I can look after and make sure you don't get into too much trouble."

Vernon shook his head. "Not really? I only had some beer yesterday because Junghan passed me the can. I was curious, I guess."

His mum nodded. "OK, if you're sure. Even being curious and wanting to experiment with things, while your father and I would rather you restrain from drugs, if you ever do something you know is stupid, at least make sure someone you can trust is around. Someone who won't join in and will keep an eye on you."

Vernon nodded. "Of course, mum. I'm not an idiot."

She smiled and pulled him in for a hug, only letting go when Vernon said "mama didn't raise no fool" and she couldn't breathe from laughter.

"The hardest bit is my hormones," Vernon let slip.

His mum nodded. "I had noticed your showers have been longer than normal lately." Vernon face heated up, and he wasn't sure whether his mum was cool for not bringing it up, or lame for keeping tabs on how long he showered.

"I remember when I was your age - and that was without having a boyfriend I could actually do stuff with! Remember, like I've offered before, if you and Seungkwan ever want to do anything in that nature, don't be afraid to ask us to give you the house for a couple hours. I'd rather you have than drink, smoke, or do anything worse."

Vernon felt himself turn even more red. "Thanks mum, I'll keep that in mind."

She squeezed his cheek. "My little boy's growing up so fast. Now, go out and enjoy your Sunday, see your friends or something!"

Vernon chuckled and stood up. "Will do, mum. I'll get you to drop me off if I find somewhere to go for the day." He went to his room to grab his phone. He had a message from Mingyu saying to get to the cafe ASAP because there was an emergency.

Vernon rolled his eyes and scrolled through his contacts to call Seungkwan. He wanted to know the situation before he even decided whether to go or not.

"Hi, Vernon! Why're you calling?" Seungkwan answered.

"Mingyu texted there was an emergency at the cafe. What's going on?"

"I told him you and I got together, and he wants to see us being cute and coupley." Vernon could hear the excitement at the idea of showing off their new relationship hidden by the eye roll in Seungkwan's tone.

"I'll get mum to drop me off. I adore you, Kwannie." He heard noises of disbelief and light hearted teasing from the other side.

"I adore you, too. See you soon." The line died. The worst part was knowing Mingyu, and probably the rest of the group, had heard his exchange with Seungkwan. And they were all probably talking about it.

"Mum, can you drop me off at the cafe?" Vernon called through the house as he raced to put on shoes and a jacket. She was already at the door, keys in hand, and shoes on.

The cafe was quite full when he arrived, fuller than he'd seen it weeks. The kids in their final year of high school had taken their university entrance exams the past Thursday, so Vernon supposed it made sense. Reclaiming lost freedom and all that.

His friends were at the usual table. It was only Seungkwan, Mingyu, Dokyeom, and Minghao, surprisingly. "Are Seungkwan and you really together, finally?" Mingyu asked excitedly when Vernon took his place next to Seungkwan.

"Yeah, we are. Why?"

"Can you kiss? Stare into each other's eyes, share food, sit in each other's laps? Kiss?" Mingyu asked,words tumblling out of his mouth as he bounced in his seat excitedly.

Seungkwan placed a hand on Vernon's thigh. "He's known I liked you for almost as long as I have, so he's just excited."

Mingyu nodded vehemently. "I've had to put up with him whining about how you'll never notice him like that, and plan what he was going to wear just going to your house, and encourage him to go after you and just confess his dumb feelings to you."

Vernon smiled at Seungkwan. "Really? His didn't he tell anyone?"

Seungkwan gave a self satisfied shrug. "I may have threatened to delete all the off his laptop and tell everyone what he's into if he told anyone."

Vernon's smile faltered, and he remembered how far Seungkwan was willing to go to get his way. Vernon fixed it quickly, before anybody could really notice. But Minghao seemed to, and shot him a concerned smile.

"Anyway, you two kiss or something!" Mingyu exclaimed.

Seungkwan looked bashful, and squeezed Vernon's thigh slightly. Vernon scootched his chair even closer to Seungkwan's before picking up the other boy's hand from his thigh and holding it in his. He wasn't sure how much Seungkwan wanted to show off their new relationship, so he decided to let Seungkwan lead.

Except Seungkwan didn't do anything. He just placed their hands on the table and looked at the menu.

"Vernon, what do you want to eat?"

Minghao cleared his throat. Mingyu coughed. Dokyeom fake sneezed. Vernon realised the whole thing was rather anticlimactic.

"We can share whatever you want. If you'd like. I ate earlier."

"So did I," Seungkwan whined. "If we both ate, what's the point of coming here?"

Vernon kissed his boyfriend's cheek. "The point," he said as he gave Seungkwan's hand a light squeeze, "is to show off how cute we are to our friends."

Mingyu squealed. "Did you see that! He kissed his cheek!"

Dokyeom laughed. "You're way too excited about this."

"Guys, shut up or we're going to get kicked out or something - there're more people in here than usual."

As if to prove his point, Jihoon stopped on his way past to to another table. "Shut up or get out, you're disturbing everyone else in this place."

"Jihoon, can I get a hot chocolate? With some marshmallows in it. I'll come in early and help you out setting up to pay for it," Seungkwan asked before the shorter man could leave.

"Sure, whatever. I'm working tomorrow, you can wipe everything down. But you don't have to owe me something to talk. If there's ever anything you want to rant about just text me and I'll call you. I'll send Jun with that hot chocolate when it's done."

Vernon's eyebrows furrowed. "You're still talking to him?" he inquired in a murmur. He didn't want their friends sticking their noses into his and Seungkwan business.

"Yes, Vernon. I still talk to him - he's good at giving advice and'll tell me when I'm being stupid."

"He gave you hickeys, and fake dated you, and I don't like it. What do even talk to him about?"

Seungkwan cupped one of Vernon's cheeks with his hand, and looked him in the eye. "It was only to make you jealous - he's as straight as an arrow." He patted Vernon's cheek before nuzzling his nose with his own. "And mostly I used to whinge about you, how unfair it was you didn't like me. We talk about music, or food. I've known him for ages now, and I look up to him. He helps me out and gives me advice and helps me realise I worry too much about things."

Vernon nodded. "Ok, so long as he doesn't try anything on you."

Seungkwan let out a puff of air. "Vernon, stop being ridiculous, who'd want to try something on me? Have you seen me?"

"Yes, I've seen you, and I've gotten boners and had wet dreams because of you."

Mingyu cleared his throat. "Speaking of," he wiggled his eyebrows, "how far have you two gotten? I can't even count the amount of times I've heard Seungkwan moan out Vernon's name while he's in the shower, or sleeping, or having alone time."

Seungkwan turned red. Vernon was pretty sure he was the same colour, if the heat of his face was any indication.

"We haven't really done anything? Kissed, but that's it," Seungkwan shared.

Minghao looked disappointed. "I can't even hear about someone else's juicy life. This ."

"I can tell you about me and Wonwoo, if you'd like," Mingyu offered.

Minghao looked at him, expression holding nothing but boredom. "Yeah, go ahead."

"Ah, no," Dokyeom interrupted, "I've heard enough about you and Wonwoo after the story of how you gave each other head in the back of a taxi. I'll pass."

"Then I'll talk about something else. It's been ages since you've hung out with us properly," Mingyu decided.

Minghao groaned and stood up. "I'm going to try find some of those trashy romance novels my mother used to read somewhere on the internet. Or maybe ty idol group fanfiction or something - I need  with feelings," he announced.

"And you wonder why I don't hang around with you guys as much anymore? I'd rather joke around with Soonyoung and and Chan and hear them go on about dancing and choreographing and whatever drama or anime they're watching than listen to you guys only talking about ."

Mingyu's expression fell. Vernon could see him desperately searching for another topic to being up.

"What are you guys doing to do after you graduate?" Vernon asked, jumping in to keep Dokyeom with them

Mingyu was the first to answer. "Go to uni, get a degree in something cool and useful like engineering or architecture, maybe graphic design. Get a part time job so I can afford to move in with Wonwoo sometime."

"Yeah, probably uni. Study music or communications or media or something so I can become a radio DJ," Dokyeom answered.

Seungkwan had a look of constipation across his face. "I don't know if I want to go to university. I don't have a clue what I'd want to study. There are other things I can do, right? And university's expensive."

"What do you want to do, then?" Vernon asked. He was supposed to be Seungkwan's best friend, boyfriend, and soulmate. He hadn't heard about Seungkwan's plans for after graduation in the last half year.

"Jihoon's offered to pay me to the vocals on guide tracks for him, and he reckons he knows some guys in an indie band looking for a keyboardist and back up vocalist. I was thinking of taking a year off, before deciding on my future since I don't become an adult until the year after next. I might visit my family for a couple months, go work overseas for a bit 'cause I'll be an adult in most countries after my birthday next year." Seungkwan shrugged. "Who knows."

Dokyeom glanced to Vernon. "What about Vernon? Shouldn't he get a say in this? He is your soulmate, and he can't follow you around the world when he's trying to finish high school."

All eyes were suddenly on Vernon. He didn't know what he thought about what Seungkwan had just said. From the sounds of it, he wasn't planning on sticking around Seoul.

The look in Seungkwan's eyes told Vernon he was scared of what Vernon's answer would be.

"Exactly, I'm his soulmate. I'll still be here waiting for him, he's my other half," Vernon shrugged, as if it were the simplest truth in the world. To Vernon, it was. "There's the internet, so we can keep in touch. I'll send him good morning and good night messages, and take pictures of myself eating ice cream and watching rom-coms to send to him every weekend."

Seungkwan's eyes sparkled with unshed tears. "Really?"

Vernon nodded. "Of course, why would we be soulmates if not to support to each other?"

Seungkwan dabbed at his eyes with the knuckles of his fingers. "I adore you, so much."

Mingyu and Dokyeom "aww"ed.

"I adore you, too, Kwannie."

A white ceramic mug was placed in front of Seungkwan. "I understand why Minghao's hiding in the employee room," Jun muttered under his breath.

"That would be because his boyfriend's made him so ually frustrated he couldn't even handle Mingyu asking how far Seungkwan and I've gotten. He said something about ty romance novels and needing ' with feelings'," Vernon said casually. Judging by the look on Jun's face just before he turned to go serve another table, Minghao would have something to thank him for sometime soon.

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A/N:

So, I think I know where I'm going with this again. I'll probably finish this one with the 97 line and Seungkwan graduating. Then write everyone's side stories, and probably do a sequel to this fic. Is anybody actually interested in reading that much about this verse, or naw?