68 Hours

 The sun had begun to set as Seungcheol stood before the wide criminal armed with nothing but a pocket knife. Hansol had run to get help, but the scrawny one followed trying to stop him. Jeonghan was visibly scared and clutched onto Seungcheol's arm.

"Please just leave me be or else... or else..." Jeonghan's mind went blank as he tried to think of a threat.

"Tch, or else what? You gonna make your 'knight in shining armor' fight me?" The fat man laughed and took a step towards them, "I own you, princess!"

Seungcheol pulled the brunette behind himself, "You don't own anybody."

"My empty wallet says otherwise. I paid good money for this one. His old man needed dough for something."

"You're father sold you?" Seungcheol looked to Jeonghan, who replied only with a simple nod. "You're not laying a hand on him! Back off before things get ugly." He squeezed Jeonghan's wrist to ensure a grip. 

"It's too late to try and run." The man ran up to the two swinging his fist straight for Seungcheol. He was fast for a fat man, but not fast enough. Seungcheol quickly kicked the man straight in the stomach

"Big mistake," the criminal huffed as he doubled over. Seungcheol thought he was just bluffing until Jeonghan's wrist was violently yanked out of his grasp.

The brunette shrieked when the chunky arm wrapped around him. "Seungcheol!" He struggled, but felt something cold pressed against his neck. 

"Keep still or else I'll slit your precious throat." The fat man snapped. Seungcheol immediatly brought his fist up to fight. "Ah ah ah, you come any closer and you can say goodbye to your princess." The man demonstrated by pressing the blade harder onto the other's neck.

The blonde stopped. His face filled with worry.

The man smirked and tightened his grip, "Now, we're are gonna get back in the van and leave."

"Help..." Jeonghan whimpered barely struggling. The cold sharpness wouldn't let him escape. Seungcheol stood his ground with his eyes fixed on the silver blade.

"Yo, penguin!" He heard a familiar nicknamed being called and turned around.

"Hansol!" Seungcheol sighed in relief seeing his young friend with Wonwoo, Mingyu, and two unrecognizable boys.

The fat criminal had stopped in his tracks. His face morphed into anger,"Better stay away!"

Wonwoo crossed his arms, "What happened back here? Wait, don't answer that yet." He nudged Minghao, "Can you use some of your ninja moves on this guy?"

Minghao laughed, "Jun is already on it." He pointed at Junhui, who was right behind the criminal.

Wonwoo gawked at the impossible speed, "Great. Teleporting ninjas."

Junhui kicked the criminal straight behind his knee, making him let go of his captive and drop to the floor. Jeonghan stumbled away as Seungcheol quickly ran up to him. 

They embraced eachother."It's okay, now. I got you," The blonde cooed as he held the shaking Jeonghan.

The fat man jumped up and pointed his knife at Juhui, but the weapon was knocked out of his hand with a slap. Jun then proceeded to kick him multiple times at different angles. The others watched in amusement.

"Isn't Jun amazing?" Minghao sighed dreamily

"Good job recruiting Bruce Lee, Wonwoo." Hansol joked.

"Um," Mingyu cringed looking at the man's bloody nose and bruised limbs, "We should get going." 

"Right." Minghao clasped his hands together,"Junie, you've done enough damage!" Junhui was in the middle of a high kick when the words reached his ears. He stopped, leaving the criminal in a bloody mess on the floor.  

Seungcheol and Jeonghan still held each other. The youngest nudged them, "Let's get out of here. Time's ticking."

<><><><><>

"...and then Minghao just pops up out of nowhere and breaks the guys face!" The trunk of the truck was filled with laughter as Wonwoo retold the story of meeting their newest acquaintances. He poked his head out of the back window and gawked at the two, "I mean how did you guys even do that? Did you get dropped in a vat of acid and gain super powers?"

Junhui chuckled shaking his head, "I wish. I've been taking martial arts classes since I was 7. It wasn't fun, but 4 years later I met Minghao. So, I guess it was worth it." He kissed Minghao on the cheek.

"Ew, no PDA. I can barely handle Mingyu and Wonwoo." Hansol gagged. 

Wonwoo slapped Hansol's shoulder, "Get used to it. You're just jealous." 

"Ha, as if. Single people have all the fun. Am I right, Seung- ?" He paused seeing Seungcheol resting his head on Jeonghan's shoulder. "Oh, great. Now I'm the only single one."

Jeonghan's face turned firetruck red, "W-we aren't a couple... I think."

"Right. Then, how do you two know each other?" 

Seungcheol pondered, "Well, we were in our last year of highschool together-" 

"Oh, good it's story time. I gotta get comfortable." Wonwoo clumsily climbed through the window and next to Hansol.

"...as I was saying"

<><><><><>

"Just ask him out already." Soonyoung yawned while playing with his phone, "You can't just eat his dumplings forever. I mean I guess it's cute, but it's getting old. Plus, the poor guy probably wants to eat his own food." He shook his puffy blonde hair and glared at Seungcheol with his narrow eyes

Seungcheol groaned thinking about how stupid he must be, "It's not that easy. You wouldn't understand anyways. You haven't been single since freshman year. Why did I even invite you over?" 

The duo was sitting in Seungcheol's bedroom with school papers scattered everywhere. They had seemed to completely forgot the reason they were here after Seungcheol randomly blurted out how pretty Jeonghan is.

"It's not my fault you can't flirt for your life." Soonyoung scoffed.

"Hey, you can't either. All you had to do was dance around and Jihoon was head over heels for you!" Seungcheol rolled around on his bed pouting.

"Jeez, stop acting like a preteen girl, and nobody says 'head over heels' anymore. Weren't you the manliest guy in school?."  

Seungcheol smiled with pride, "I still am."

Soonyoung rolled his eyes,"Yet that manliness somehow disappears as soon as you look at Jeonghan. To him, you're just this guy who seems obsessed with dumplings."

"Oh my god, what do I do? I'm so stupid."

"Like I said before, when he gives you his food, just ask him out right then and there. Simple." He gathered the scattered papers into a pile and set them on a table, "Move over, I'm not sleeping on the floor this time."

"You're sleeping over again?" Seungcheol questioned.

"It's 11. I'm not riding my bike in the dark. Now move." Soonyoung plopped onto the bed.

"Oh, right. But do you think he'll say yes?"

"Ask me again and I'll tell him what you did at the freshman Halloween party." 

Seungcheol's face flushed, "Okay, okay. I'll shut up."

Satisfied, Soonyoung dived underneath the comforter, "Now, go to sleep. You have a long day tomorrow."

"Right," Seungcheol sighed.

<><><><><>

"Wait, pause!" Wonwoo interrupted, "You had sleepovers in highschool?"

"Well, it wasn't really a sleepover. He just stayed the night since it was late." Seungcheol explained.

Wonwoo scoffed, "It still counts as a sleepover."

"And what exactly happened at the freshman Halloween party?" Hansol questioned.

Seungcheol's face went as red as a tomato, "Nothing happened! Now back to what I was saying..."

<><><><><>

Seungcheol stared at the back of Jeonghan's head from his table during lunch. His stomach twisted in a million knots trying to think of what to say over and over again. Eventually, he couldn't even hear the people around him.

"Uh, is he alright?" Jihoon pointed at Seungcheol with his chopsticks.

Seungkwan laughed, "Do you see where he is staring?"

Jihoon followed the blonde's line of vision, "Oh, I should've known. But why does he look like he wants to puke?"

"Well," Soonyoung rested his head onto Jihoon's pink hair, "our man is about to finally ask out the dumpling princess."

"What? No way!" Seungkwan gaped, "When did he grow a pair?"

"Last night. I had to talk him into it, but he should be all set as long a he doesn't actually throw up."

Seungcheol snapped out of his thoughts and stood up. His face became calmer

"Goodluck!" Seungkwan cheered.

The blonde slowly made his way through the cafeteria. He could sense his friends glaring at his every move. Before he could call out to the brunette, Jeonghan abruptly turned. His hair whisked around his neck then settled in it's place right above his shoulders.

"There you are!" Jeonghan brightly smiled, making Seungcheol's knees weak, "Sit. I tried a new recipe that I found online." The brunette opened a container filled with over a dozen dumplings.

"Woah, that's a lot of-" Seungcheol was cut off when a dumpling was forced into his mouth.

Jeonghan was looking directly into his eyes waiting for some sort of reply. "Is it okay?" He asked.

Seungcheol chewed and smiled at the taste. "It's good." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah," Seungcheol swallowed, "what's in it?"

"Uh, crab and some other stuff I don't remember. I have to go get more ingredeints after class so I can make them for my dad. He's been under a lot of stress lately." Jeonghan offered another to Seungcheol. He gladly accepted.

"Maybe I can go with you? Just so you don't have to be alone." 

Jeonghan seemed to be taken back by the question, "Um, sure. That'd be nice."

<><><><><>

"Woah!" Wonwoo gasped, "Jeonghan used to have short hair? I can't picture it."

"Neither can I." Hansol squinted his eyes at Jeonghan.

"Stop interrupting." Minghao whined, "I want to hear the story!"

Wonwoo pouted, "Fine. Carry on." 

"Well, after going to the market that day, we were just...together." Seungcheol grinned, "We were happy..." 

A/N 

OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY! Please forgive me for never updating T^T

A lot of stuff happened and I just kinda lost inpiration. But, I could never abondon this story. I understand if you want to throw bricks at me >.< 

Comments make me happy~