‘Yah! Stop face like hormonal teenagers when we’re trying to have a conversation!’ Hongbin hissed, throwing a chip at the shameless couple across from hm. Jaehwan pulled back from Wonshik with a smirk on his red lips, ‘Shut up Kongbean, just because you got dumped and became a eunuch doesn’t mean I have to resist temptation!’. Wonshik chuckled, burying his face in his boyfriend’s neck. Taekwoon sighed in his mind, munching on his chips absentmindedly as he waited for Hakyeon to join them. He loved their friend, he really did but at times their bickering and urges to each other in public went beyond Taekwoons limits. He often found himself cringing at the shameless acts of affection between Jaehwan and Wonshik. Hongbin was a safer option, he kept his hands to himself aside from holding his dates hand or a few soft kisses here and there. He wasn’t loud with his relationship like Jaehwan and Wonshik who took every opportunity to show off their relationship. The two of them locked in a heated battle of the lips was the least scarring of the couples public displays of affections that Taekwoon had witnessed. ‘Taekwoon agrees with me, right?’ Hongbin demanded, drawing Taekwoon’s attention back to the table and his diminishing pile of chips. He blinked as all eyes turned to him, staring back at them indifferently. ‘Taekwoonie isn’t even paying attention to you Kongbean!’ Jaehwan laughed. Wonshik smirked, stealing a chip from Jaehwan’s hand before speaking, ‘He’s lovesick. Hakyeon isn’t here to hand feed him and cuddle him so he’s all depressed now’.

              Taekwoon scowled slightly, raising a hand to flick Wonshik in the forehead. ‘Awh look, we hit a nerve Shikkie! The ice prince is sad without his queen to melt the icicle that is his heart!’ Jaehwan teased, faking a tone of a gushing and gossiping old woman. Taekwoon felt his eye twitch in annoyance as his friends smirked at hm. Hongbin elbowed him gently in the side, giving Jaehwan a knowing look, ‘I pretty sure Hakyeon effects more than one icicle’. Taekwoon dropped the chip on his hand, feeling a hot blush grace his cheeks at the younger’s words. ‘Oh look! He’s gong all red, is he imagining it right now?  Bet it is, as Hakyeon himself would say, very hot. Am right?’ Jaehwan laughed obnoxiously. Taekwoon groaned softly, resting his head on his folded arms to hide his blushing face, anger boiling under the surface of his normally calm exterior. It was times like these that he contemplated the pros and cons of murdering his friends. The pro’s often outweighed the cons, except for the one that told him he’d only ever get to see Hakyeon through a pane of glass for the next few years of his life. That was the one that made murder pointless.

                 ‘What did you do to my boyfriend?” Hakyeons voice rose above the teasing and crude comments. Taekwoon relaxed at the soft hand that carded through his black hair gently. He lifted his head, wrapping his arms around Hakyeons waist and buried his face against the soft material of his shirt. ‘Save me’ Taekwoon muttered softly, nuzzling Hakyeon’s clothes stomach softly, feeling the muscles tense against his cheek as the other laughed. Hakyeon chuckled at his boyfriend’s cuteness, knowing just by the smirks on the others faces that they had embarrassed his quiet boyfriend. ‘We were just talking about Taekwoon’s love for icicles’ Jaehwan smirked, causing Wonshik and Hongbin to burst out laughing. Wonshik had tears on his eyes as Taekwoon stood and promptly attempted to strangle Jaehwan who smirked like the cat that caught the canary. Hakyeon wrapped a hand around Taekwoon’s wrist, gaining the others attention before linking their fingers to calm the other. Taekwoon took a deep breath, tugging Hakyeon to sit in the seat beside his before pushing his food towards the other. Hakyeon smiled, kissing Taekwoons slightly pink cheek softly before taking a chip.

         ‘You two are too cute and good for each other, why can’t ye fight like Hongbin and his last girlfriend?’ Jaehwan complained, stealing another piece of food from Wonshik’s plate and shoving it in his mouth. Hongbin scowled, annoyed at Taekwoon taking his seat so Hakyeon could sit beside him, pushing Hongbin to the edge of the table. ‘We didn’t fight a lot; we just didn’t have the same opinions on certain matters’ he muttered, staring at his bottle of water angrily. Hakyeon scoffed, leaning across Taekwoon slightly to point a fork at the younger, ‘You two couldn’t even agree on a movie to watch Hongbin, it was sad watching you two try being a couple. Although those fights provided us with some great entertainment’. Taekwoon played with their fingers in his lap, twisting the rngs on Hakyeon’s fingers softly. Hakyeon picked at his salad gently, pushing the food around before nibbling on a lettuce leaf. ‘Remember the time she yelled at him for buying non diet coke when we went on that triple date because she was on a diet and though he was teasing her?’ Wonshik chuckled, hand on Jaehwan’s thigh as the other laughed into his neck, scattering kisses here and there. ‘She could be a devil alright, I was happy to see the back of her’ Hongbin muttered, playing with the cap of his bottle. ‘Plus I heard Hyeri has the hots for you so it works out nicely. Didn’t you have a major crush on her when you two took introductory physics in your first semester?’ Wonshik commented, shivering when Jaehwan got a little too playful and nipped at his skin. Hongbin only nodded shyly in responses to Wonshik, diverting his eyes to his empty plate.

      ‘Could you two stop that? You’re putting me off my lunch’ Hakyeon complained, giving them what the others had dubbed as his ‘ face’. Jaehwan cuddled closer to Wonshik, purposely letting his tongue flick against the others neck to annoy the eldest of their friend group. ‘Just because you have a prude for a boy toy doesn’t mean you got to spoil my play time. Plus can you even call that food? I wouldn’t even feed that to my kid cousin’s rabbit!’ Jaehwan scoffed. Hakyeon glared at him before sighing sadly as he speared another piece of cut up vegetable with his fork. ‘It’s not like  want to eat this food Jaehwan but some of us need to keep fit in order to get job offers once we leave this place’ Hakyeon spoke slowly, ‘And leave Taekwoon out of this. I can give you plenty of proof to show that he is not what you think he is. He’d make Wonshik seem innocent’. Taekwoon froze, fingers gripping Hakyeons tightly, giving the other a pleading look. Hakyeon smiled, leaning over to press a soft kiss to Taekwoons lips, ‘Don’t worry Taekkie, what happens between us, stays between us. I won’t let Jaehwan ert you’. Taekwoon smiled, placing a hand on Hakyeons neck to pull him in for a deeper kiss, running his fingers through the ends of Hakyeons hair softly. Hakyeon placed a warm hand of Taekwoons cheek, blocking them from site as Jaehwan whined about Hakyeon’s hand ruining his show. Hakyeon bit Taekwoon’s lower lip gently, smiling at him before kissing his nose softly, ‘Later’. Taekwoon nodded happily, letting his arm fall around Hakyeons shoulders, pulling the other close enough to rest his head against Hakyeons soft hair.

              Jaehwan and Hakyeon continued to bicker over inappropriate touches and who was handsomer, or ‘hotter’ according to Hakyeon.  Wonshik continued to poke at Hongbin’s empty love life and its recent failings as Taekwoon allowed himself to drift off in his mind. He created peace when with the ones he loved the most. Even though he sometimes felt like running Hongbin and Jaehwan over with a bus, he knew he adored their senses of humor and friendship too much to actually harm the younger boys. He needed this. He needs the laughter and the jokes, the familiar warmth of people who care about him enough to enjoy poking fun at him. The warmth of Hakyeons palm against his denim clad thigh and the smell of Taekwoon’s shampoo coming of his red hair. Taekwoon opened his eyes, smiling softly as he joined Wonshik in his teasing of Hongbin, watching the younger get confused and annoyed by the way they ganged up on him while Hakyeon listened to Jaehwan gossip and complaining about the girls in his vocal class that hated him for getting the lead over them. Taekwoon placed a hand on Hakyeons on his thigh, laces their fingers together as he allowed a content smile on his lips at the comforting presence of his friends. His own little family away from home.