Nichkhun should be chilling in his room, on his laptop with music playing in the back ground. But he wasn’t at home. In fact, he was actually at the mall, hunting for a gift for his sister’s upcoming birthday. Shopping for a girl was a mission ranked high for difficulty and unsurprisingly, he wasn’t having much luck, so he eagerly welcomed the break that Junho suggested when his friend had called him.

Since the tea shop wasn’t too far from where he was, he agreed to meet up with them there. Since Wooyoung and Chansung were coming, he figured Junho had probably run into Chansung again like last time.

Nichkhun arrived at the tea shop to find Chansung in the midst of locking his bike.

Guess Junho didn’t meet up with Chansung after all.

“Hey Chansung,” he called as he got closer.

“Hey Khun. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, you?”

“Same. There’s Wooyoung and Junho.” Chansung nodded in Nichkhun’s direction.

Nichkhun turned around and couldn’t help the jealous feeling that stirred in the bottom of his stomach. The two were still a while off, too busy talking to notice their friends yet.

Wooyoung’s probably coming from work, but Junho doesn’t live in that direction. The conservatory isn’t even in that direction. So how did he accidentally run into Wooyoung?

Why accidentally? Cause Junho wouldn’t purposely meet up with Wooyoung without him, right?

“Now that we’re all here,” Chansung announced enthusiastically as Junho and Wooyoung approached them. “Let’s go.”

With a grin, there was a small ring of a bell as soon as he opened the door and the four made their way inside. They found a booth type table and Chansung slid into one side while Nichkhun followed suit into the opposite seat. The Thai didn’t want to admit that he was a tad disappointed when Wooyoung chose to sit beside Chansung, leaving the last spot beside him for Junho.

After they had chosen their flavors (Mango for Chan, Taro for Woo, Honeydew for Jun, Strawberry for Khun) they settled for a game of Jenga that was offered by the shop. They finished the game twice before Junho stared at the wooden blocks, a pensive expression on his face.

“We need to make this harder.”

“How about a time limit?” Nichkhun suggested.

“Still too easy. Time limit with a question?” put in Wooyoung.

Junho smiled. “Sounds like fun. Questions that make you think.”

There was a groan from Chansung. He had lost all the games so far.

“We’ll go the first two rounds without questions, since it’s too easy,” Nichkhun stated as he began to build the tower.

“Who’s asking who the question?” Junho asked, adding a block to the pile.

“Whoever went before can ask. So Nichkhun will ask me, I’ll ask Wooyoung, Wooyoung will ask Junho, and Junho to Nichkhun,” Chansung replied.

“So basically clockwise,” Wooyoung simplified, placing the last block carefully on the top block. Chansung gave Wooyoung a look and pouted, inducing laughs from the others. “'Kay Chansung. Loser goes first.”

They’d finished the two rounds, and Nichkhun now had to think up a question for Chansung.

“Khun ask.”

“Umm.” It was a lot harder than it seemed. “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Three pairs of eyes stared at him, followed by more laughter.

“What?” Chansung managed to ask after catching his breath.

“Hey I couldn’t think of anything okay? Besides, it’s cause I had to ask first,” Nichkhun responded, defending himself with a grin.

“The chicken,” Chansung replied firmly. “Cause then it would lay an egg, and I get to eat the chicken.”

“That’s my answer,” Wooyoung accused, looking over.

“But it’s my question,” Chansung retaliated, easily slipping a Jenga piece from the tower. “'Kay my turn to ask.” Chansung took a minute before a sly smile crossed his face. “Would you rather live without the internet for a year,” Wooyoung’s eyes widened. “…or be a vegetarian for year. Which means no chicken Wooyoung.”

Nichkhun didn’t know that Wooyoung’s eyes could get any wider than they already were. From beside him, Junho snuffled a laugh. “Wooyoung likes chicken that much?”

“Yup,” Chansung replied with a grin, obviously proud of himself.

Wooyoung on the other hand was in deep thought; Nichkhun could see that it was a difficult choice for the boy. “You have a time limit, Wooyoung,” the Thai reminded him playfully.

“Chicken,” he finally replied, pulling a block from the tower.

“You’d go a year without meat?” asked Chansung, astonished.

“No, I pick chicken over internet. As in, I’d rather go a year without the internet than a year without meat.”

“Remind me to buy you fried chicken if you’re ever in a bad mood,” Nichkhun said with a chuckle.

Wooyoung gave him a tiny smile, before focusing on Junho. “Craziest thing you wanted to become when you were a kid.”

“That’s not hard,” Chansung commented, sipping his drink.

“It is for Junho. He wanted to become a lot of things when he was younger.” Nichkhun smiled as he waited for his friend’s answer, but Junho merely waved the remark away, focusing on the Jenga tower.

“It’d probably be a fireman,” he concluded, successfully pulling a block out.

“That’s not bad,” Wooyoung observed.

“Well, I wanted to be a fireman, cause when I was even younger.” Junho hesitated, teeth on his lower lip. “My parents told me I wanted to be… a fire truck.”

“A fire truck?” Chansung almost choked on a tapioca bubble as the table roared with laughter.

“I was little! I don’t even remember saying it,” Junho exclaimed, retreating to his bubble tea.

Nichkhun took a breath to calm himself down. “Even I haven’t heard that one,” he said as Junho looked down, focusing on his drink to hide his embarrassment.

“Slow down Junho, or you’re gonna have to order another one so you don’t feel left out,” Chansung commented, gesturing to Junho’s rapidly declining drink.

“Is it that good?” Nichkhun asked, slightly curious.

“Try.” Before Nichkhun could object, Junho had already shoved the honeydew flavored tea cup in front of Nichkhun’s face for the latter to taste. Unnoticed by Nichkhun, a look of envy touched Wooyoung’s eyes as he watched the older boy sip Junho’s drink.

“How is it?” Wooyoung inquired casually.

Nichkhun gave him thumbs up. “Really good.”

“Wanna try?” Junho asked, offering the cup out to Wooyoung.

Wooyoung hesitated but Junho’s smile seemed to make it hard to resist. “Sure.” He took a small sip, and returned it to Junho. “It’s really good,” he replied, his lips.

“You guys just had an indirect three-way kiss,” Chansung pointed out, still concentrated on his mango drink. Three faces blushed in embarrassment; oblivious to their reaction, Chansung set his cup down and studied the tower. “It’s your turn Khun. You should take this one out.” He moved his arm to point, accidentally moving the piece too far and toppling the tower.

“Chansung!” Junho and Wooyoung chorused, Nichkhun laughing too hard to speak.

“Aww man,” Chansung groaned in despair.

“It’s not even your turn and somehow you still lose,” Wooyoung chided, picking up the blocks that had fallen to the floor.

“It’s alright,” Nichkhun reassured. “Is anyone else hungry? I think they sell food here too,” he added, helping Wooyoung with the pieces.

“But you didn’t get to answer a question,” Wooyoung cut in, delaying the smile that had started to appear on Chansung’s face.

Junho noticed it and laughed. “Don’t worry. Khun can answer a question without the game.”

“Isn’t it your turn to ask?” added Wooyoung.

“Oh yeah,” Junho turned to Nichkhun, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. “So Nichkhun. Name something that would make you blush.”

Nichkhun stared at his friend, heat rising in his cheeks. He was definitely hating Junho today. “That’s a bad question,” the Thai replied tartly.

“Maybe it’s when he’s near someone he likes,” teased Chansung.

“Well then that’d be Junho, since Khun’s going pretty pink at the moment,” Wooyoung added with a smirk.

“Junho’s going pink too,” Chansung announced happily.

At their comments, Junho looked down, pretending to play with his phone.

That definitely didn’t go as planned, and Khun probably wants to kill me right now, he thought smugly.

“Alright, question answered. Can we order now?”

“I don’t think Khun actually answered the question…”

Wooyoung was interrupted by the waitress who had heard Chansung’s call. They ended up ordering some food that served as an early dinner for the group.

“Hey Junho. Are there any more performances coming up?”

“Hm?” Junho raised his head from his food.

“I wanna hear you play again,” Chansung stated, putting his chopsticks down across his empty dish. Wooyoung nodded in agreement as he took a bite of his food.

Junho gave a shy laugh. “No, sorry guys. But you can come by the conservatory some time and I can play for you.” Junho paused. “Actually, do you have any plans for later? I think the place is closed early today, so we can drop by now if you like.”

“That’d be a good idea,” Nichkhun added, favoring the familiar and more private location over the busy tea shop they’d spent the last few hours in. Wooyoung nodded again, cheeks still full of food.

“It sounds like a great idea,” Chansung replied with a sigh. “But I gotta go soon.”

Wooyoung looked up. “Speaking of Leemae,” he added, finally finished with his food, “sorry about leaving so abruptly the other day. Chansung over here is always late, but Leemae’s the only exception to that rule.”

Chansung was nervously eyeing his watch. “Maybe I should head out now; it may take a while to pay the bill.” He got up. “Are you guys still going to the conservatory?”

Junho double-checked with Nichkhun and Wooyoung before answering. “Yeah I guess, why?”

Chansung already had his wallet open, mentally counting his change. “Cause I might just come by after, I don’t think I’ll be with Leemae long. See you!” He waved, paid, and walked out the door.

Junho bit his lip. He wasn’t sure why, but every time this Leemae, was mentioned, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. He sat at the table, with a polite look in his face as he tried to sort through his confused mind.