title chapter from: gfriend-life is a party

party mix

dance the night away - twice feeling good - day6 can't help myself - eric nam rock - seventeen rocket - seventeen what's good - seventeen oh my! - seventeen

congratulations, you've made it this far :) honestly thank you for reading <3

The calming sound of ocean waves lapping against the shore slowly wakes Jihoon up from his slumber; and he’s instantly dazzled by the intense rays of the sun as he cracks his eyes open. The cloudless canvas of the sky above him is too blue, and the heat from the sun is overwhelming, in typical South Californian fashion. Jihoon’s throat is parched, and he wants nothing a refreshing glass of ice-cold cola to quench his thirst. It seems to be another beautiful day in Malibu, and Jihoon lets out a small, relaxed sigh.

The golden sand underneath him starts to get uncomfortably hot from the heat, until it scorches his back, and he immediately sits up. His skin feels like it’s on fire; and when he holds up his arms to inspect them, he’s horrified to find that his naturally white skin is burnt red, like a lobster; and it’s not a flattering look on him. His skin starts to prickle, like there’s an army on ants underneath it, struggling to get out – the telltale symptom of a sunburn that’s going to last for a very long time.

What was he thinking, taking a nap on the beach, without any sun protection, and right during the peak UV hours?

There are now boiling spots on his skin, popping like bubbles, a weird rash forming. Jihoon’s mind quickly flashes to Seungcheol – and speak of the devil, there he is; skipping down the beach with the largest bottle of cola Jihoon’s ever seen, calling out his name in a fond, singsongy voice.

He can’t let Seungcheol see him in this state. In a panic, Jihoon stands up, trying to look for an escape route; but that Thomas kid from Jerry’s surf shop is prancing around him, singing a German aria in a falsetto that could rival Beyonce’s vocal range. Soonyoung suddenly appears right next to Jihoon with his video camera, filming of course.

“Hoonie, why aren’t you wearing pants?”

Jihoon glances down on impulse – sure enough, he’s stark for the whole world to see, though his skin is now an angry red with splotches of bubbling rashes popping out everywhere. He can feel his temperature rising – it could be the intense heat of the sun, or from his embarrassment; and Jihoon wants to melt into the sand to escape everything that’s happening right now.

Seungcheol’s getting closer with the cola, oblivious to Jihoon’s (somewhat) sickening state; while Thomas’s voice gets louder and higher, and Soonyoung’s filming everything about Jihoon that could probably be used for blackmail someday if it falls into the wrong hands…

No way to escape; no way out of this whole predicament…Jihoon’s thoughts are a swirl of worries as he gazes out to the great Pacific Ocean; its waves calming, inviting. He doesn’t think twice and runs off towards the teeth of the water, stumbling his way through the sand. His skin feels like it’s peeling off, excruciating pain gripping his whole body. The next thing he knows, he’s in the water, steam rising from his body as he cools off in the sea. Jihoon slips his eyes shut, relishing in the cooling sensation, unconsciously drifting away from the shore…

When Jihoon opens his eyes, he realises that he’s about neck deep into the sea; and the shore seems like it’s miles away. He’s shocked to find the water around him turning dark red, as if blood has been spilled in the water. Fear instantly grips him, and he starts to hyperventilate. His limbs are useless as he starts to flail around in the water, trying to stay afloat – his newly-learnt swimming skills are now back to zero; he can’t think straight.

A shark fin appears a few feet away, smoothly slicing through the water, approaching Jihoon. He’s not sure if he’s even bleeding; he feels like he’s lost control over his body fully, barely grasping onto life in his panic. A little thought pops in his mind – blood baits sharks – this might be the end…

Regret flickers through his mind; that he’d never told Seungcheol how he really feels – how much he loves him – and he starts choking up.

But there’s no time to think of regrets; as the shark’s right by Jihoon’s side at this moment. He’s resigned himself to his doom at this point; there’s nothing that he can do to save himself. The shark circles him in a predatory manner, taking its time to attack. The ocean is oddly still; the red colour slowly diffusing away. Everything around him is moving soundlessly in slow motion, like one of those plot defining scenes in movies – he could hear the Jaws theme song ing loudly in his head as the shark draws closer to him.

Any moment now, he’ll be mauled by a shark.

A rumble comes from the sky, which is now a slate grey, with thick, ominous clouds hanging low in the sky. Lightning flashes in the horizon, and the sea slowly grows turbulent, the waves getting bigger and bigger. The shark’s nowhere to be seen, as if it’s been frightened away by the thunder. Jihoon slowly regains the feeling in his limbs, and he tries to tread water to stay afloat; yet the waves are getting wilder, almost gigantic; taller than any wave Jihoon’s ever seen. He’s cold, and the tips of his fingers are turning black, like it’s been frostbitten. The choppy waves throw him about relentlessly, yet somehow he manages to keep his head above the surface of the water.

A large wave suddenly crashes over him, and suddenly he’s underwater, flailing in the strong current, losing his sense of direction. He gulps in a lungful of salt water, and pain fills his chest.

He feels dizzy as he starts losing oxygen, and he slips his eyes shut.

This is it. He’s going to drown in this storm, and nobody would ever find him. He’d lose everything he’d ever known, remembered by others as a tragedy.

Soonyoung’s calling his name; a faraway sound that’s dramatically fading away, as Jihoon loses his consciousness. The last thing he hears is the soft strains of the pansori music that Soonyoung always plays every morning…

“Hoonie.”

Bounce.

Jihoon cracks one eye open, as his bed dips from the weight of someone jumping on it.

Soonyoung.

“Hoonie, wake up.”

Bounce.

Jihoon lets out a tiny sigh of relief, glad it’s all a nightmare - every scene, every sensation felt too real. But now he’s waking up to a real-life nightmare in the form of his best friend, who’s trying to wake him up by jumping on his bed like an excited five-year-old on Christmas morning. Of course, he’s playing his bloody pansori this early in the morning; and Jihoon hides his head under his pillow to block it all out, though he knows he won’t get rid of Soonyoung soon.

“Hooniehooniehooniehooniehoonie.” Soonyoung’s like an Energizer bunny on steroids with a sugar rush, bouncing on the bed with each syllable of Jihoon’s name.

Annoyed, Jihoon aims his pillow at Soonyoung, only to miss by a mile. “What.”

Soonyoung stops jumping on the bed, landing on his . “You were in your sleep, and you had your angry noot noot face on.” Soonyoung reaches out to touch the crease between Jihoon’s eyebrows. “I think you were having a scary dream.”

Jihoon wipes the corners of his eyes, which are slightly damp with tears. The dream had been so vivid; it seemed almost real. But he’s just going to dismiss it as one of those tricks the mind plays, messing with his worries and memories, mashing it up into a nightmare. Jihoon feels unsettled, and he wants nothing more than a reassuring cuddle from Seungcheol, but he’s still in LA with Jerry for his little acting gig.

“There, there.” Soonyoung pats Jihoon’s faded pink hair. “It’s okay, Soonie’s here.” Jihoon finds himself pressed up against Soonyoung, who’s smothering him in a tight hug. He lets Soonyoung hold him for exactly three seconds before he wrestles his way out of the suffocating embrace.

“Better?” Soonyoung beams so brightly, that Jihoon can’t help but crack a tiny grin himself.

“Somewhat.”

“You’re welcome. You owe me one.”

“Mm.” Jihoon returns to the safety of his blankets where there would be no painful sunburns or tsunamis or sharks. It had been his imagination anyway, which had gotten much wilder ever since he came to America.

After making sure his best friend’s okay, Soonyoung moves on to business - on normal days, he wouldn’t even dare wake Jihoon up, but today, he’s got an extremely important agenda, and he wants Jihoon to be there with him. “Help me, Hoonie.”

“No.” Jihoon wants nothing to do with Soonyoung today; he wants to return to sleep and have sweet, sweet dreams about Seungcheol to counter the effects of his unsettling nightmare. He pulls the covers over his head, half-wishing he hadn’t thrown his pillow away.

“Help me.” Soonyoung pokes Jihoon’s back. “You owe me one, remember?”

“No.”

“Pleaaaaaaaase.” Poke, poke poke.

“Go away.”

Soonyoung pauses for a beat before he tries again. “Cheol-hyung is downstairs.”

Jihoon immediately sits up, throwing the covers aside; jumping out of bed. Soonyoung stifles a giggle at Jihoon’s responsiveness at the mere mention of the surfer’s name. Just goes to show how much Jihoon likes Seungcheol…

“Hoonie, he’s not actually here.” Soonyoung laughs triumphantly - he’d found Jihoon’s weakness.

Jihoon’s eyes flash with annoyance, and he’s thinking about choking some sense into Soonyoung; but right then, his phone vibrates with a couple of incoming messages. Jihoon impulsively grabs it from the nightstand, where it’s been charging overnight; and wide smile forms on his face when he sees that it’s from Seungcheol.

“Who is it?” Soonyoung asks conversationally, fluffing Jihoon’s pillow.

“Cheol. He’s coming back to Malibu later.” His anger at Soonyoung is gone, and his insides feel and warm and gooey, his heart fluttering around madly in his chest - look at what Seungcheol’s done to him!

“Weird. Won-won hasn’t told me when he’ll be back. I miss him.” Soonyoung grabs his own phone, pouting at the lack of messages. “Anyway. You’re helping me with today’s project.”

“No. I’ve already got plans of my own.” The past couple of days in Seungcheol’s absence, Jihoon had taken the chance to drag his forgotten surfboard out of storage and practiced his surfing techniques on the beach with Thomas, Jerry’s assistant at the surf shop, who had took charge in his boss’s absence, making sure business went well. They’d practice surfing in the morning together – though Thomas’s also a novice in surfing, his skills were nowhere as polished as Seungcheol or Jerry; yet he’d been helpful all along. In the afternoons, Jihoon would drag his guitar out and play some tunes for Thomas to sing along to as he works around in the shop.

Thomas’s a charming kid, aspiring to be a singer. He’d just started helping out at Jerry’s surf shop for extra allowance to save up to move to the East Coast for music school. His bright personality amused Jihoon to no end, almost reminding him of Soonyoung’s equally endless energy, though he knew when to tone things down. Jihoon found himself warming up to Thomas easily, glad he’d made a new friend.

“I barely get to hang out with you anymore, Hoonie.” Soonyoung says in a tiny voice.

Jihoon flinches; that bit was true. But Soonyoung was the one who’d been MIA these few days, ensconcing himself indoors, editing his vlog on his own, in Wonwoo’s absence.

Jihoon’s thankful of all of the brand new friendships he’d built over in his time in America, yet he’s almost ignoring the oldest friendship he has with Soonyoung. Jihoon feels somewhat estranged from his best friend, drifting away from each other with their different interests, spending most of their time with other people instead of with each other. Ironically, Soonyoung had been the one who’d invited him out to LA so they could spend time having fun adventures together. But things had gone a lot different from his expectations since he got onto the plane to escape his life in Seoul, which seems like a different lifetime away. The weight of his stressful job gone, rediscovering his love for music, and potential development in the romance department with a hot surfer guy.

Maybe the least he could do was spend a bit of time with Soonyoung, his best friend. Jihoon feels a stab of guilt, seeing Soonyoung’s sad little face - what if he’d actually planned a day of fun for them? Jihoon doesn’t know how to backtrack and patch things up with Soonyoung, who would probably feel lonely without Wonwoo or even Jihoon.

“It’s okay, I guess.” Soonyoung gently puts the pillow in its place, then shuts off the pansori playing on his phone. “You already have plans.” He slowly walks out the room, dragging his feet dramatically.

“Soonie.” Jihoon exhales deeply as Soonyoung pauses expectantly in his slow exit. “I’ll hang out with you today.”

Soonyoung turns around, already smiling brighter than the sun outside. “Thanks, Hoonie.” He reaches over and wraps Jihoon into a tight hug. “We’ll have so much fun together, just like old times!”

It’s ten o'clock in the morning; and Jihoon and Soonyoung are standing in front of a supermarket located in the heart of Malibu. They’re waiting for the store to open, having arrived about ten minutes too early.

“This is your brilliant plan for today?” Jihoon mutters. “Grocery shopping.”

Soonyoung’s busy adjusting the camera angle so that both of them can be seen in the frame - of course this needs to be documented too! “You mean, grocery shopping for the greatest party the world has ever seen!”

Jihoon stops himself from rolling his eyes. Soonyoung apparently hadn’t been joking when he said that he was going to throw a party to celebrate his newfound feelings for Wonwoo – which is a ludicrous idea. Why won’t Soonyoung tell Wonwoo exactly how he feels, instead of going through great measures to celebrate his feelings or whatever he claims he’s doing (not that Jihoon’s any better with his approach to his own feelings towards Seungcheol).

“Say hello to the world, Hoonie!” Soonyoung pokes his best friend’s rib, motioning to the camera.

“Hello, world.” Jihoon acknowledges the camera with a slight raise of an eyebrow.

“Ooh, what a cool image.” Soonyoung teases, nudging his best friend again. “Did I tell you how well our vlog is doing online?”

“Enlighten me.” Jihoon tries to hide a yawn – he’s still tired.

“Everyone loves it! They think you and Cheol-hyung are cute together.” Soonyoung laughs heartily.

Jihoon can only smile shyly at the statement, the back of his neck prickling with embarrassment.

Soonyoung does a double take; and presses his camera into Jihoon’s face for an extreme close-up. “Wait, are you guys already dating?”

Jihoon sputters, choking on his own spit at Soonyoung’s sudden assumption. “W-what?”

“Oh, so you’re not… when are you going to tell him?”

“Tell him what?” Jihoon can feel his face turning redder by the moment - he’d never been prepared to talk about the details of his love life with his best friend.

“That you really, really, reaaaaaaaaaaally like him.”

Never. Jihoon thinks, partly shocked by his own answer. He likes the honeymoon period of crushing on Seungcheol - light, flirty feelings with no strings attached. But he’s scared of laying his heart out for Seungcheol, word for word in fear of losing the comfort of whatever relationship they have right now - a friendship teasing the boundaries of romance.

“Everyone can see it, Hoonie.” Soonyoung hovers closely by Jihoon’s ear, dropping his voice down to a whisper. “You like Cheol-hyung.”

If Soonyoung and the whole world knows about it, then there’s no more hiding...

“Can we just get on with the shopping?” Jihoon exclaims, uncomfortable under Soonyoung’s scrutiny.

“Hoonie, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Jihoon takes a moment to think about Seungcheol’s very existence. The sweet, sweet memory of Seungcheol giving him good morning kisses surfaces, and Jihoon feels all warm and fluttery inside. He hides his red face in his hands, exhilarated at the idea of being in love. “I like him so much, what do I do?”

“Throw a party…?”

“You’re an idiot.” Jihoon swats his best friend’s shoulder.

“He’s invited for tonight, if you must know. I’m giving you a chance to you-know-what.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Jihoon says hotly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hoonie, sweet, sweet innocent Hoonie. You’ll know what to do when the time comes.” Soonyoung smiles to himself, and goes over to grab a shopping trolley. “D’you want to sit in the baby seat?”

“I can walk by myself, thanks.” Jihoon huffs, and enters the air-conditioned supermarket, a stark contrast from the sweltering heat outside. Soonyoung snickers to himself – he always has fun teasing the life out of Jihoon.

There’s no one in the supermarket this early, only bleary-faced staff drifting around, restocking shelves. Soonyoung pushes the trolley down the aisles, picking out absolutely random items that have nothing to do with parties, like rubber gloves and watering cans, and keeping up a constant narration for the camera.

“Don’t you have a shopping list or anything?” Jihoon asks, mainly concerned for Soonyoung’s trust fund, which at this rate would be used up to buy useless, irrelevant items.

“Nope. I just go with the flow.” Soonyoung says, dumping a couple of cereal boxes into his trolley.

Jihoon follows Soonyoung closely just in case Soonyoung disappears or makes some irrational decision; though he doesn’t stop Soonyoung from putting ten chocolate bars into his shopping cart. Jihoon tries to hide a yawn, clearly bored; though the sight of Soonyoung trying to vlog and shop at the same time is amusing.

“Hoonie, can you go find me regular sized samosas?” Soonyoung asks out of the blue, as he inspects a box of animal-shaped biscuits.

“What are regular sized samosas?”

“Y’know, samosas… in regular size.”

“How would I know if it’s regular sized?” Jihoon asks, but Soonyoung’s already wandered over to a display of colourful candy with his fully laden trolley, ignoring his question.

Jihoon shakes his head in confusion, unsure where to start with Soonyoung’s random request. He barely knows what samosas are, so he musters up the courage to ask a young sales assistant dozing off by a stack of canned food.

“Excuse me.” Jihoon’s voice comes out tinier than an ant. He clears his throat, which jolts the assistant into semi-alertness. “Do you have regular sized samosas?”

“Frozen section.” The sales assistant mumbles, pointing to a row of freezers.

Jihoon mutters a thank you and hurries over, keeping an eye out for the item he’s looking for, though he has absolutely no idea what they look like. There’s a variety of frozen food available, but absolutely no regular sized samosas (at least according to the product packaging), like Soonyoung had asked for.

“I’m done shopping!” Soonyoung suddenly appears in the frozen section; pushing his shopping cart over to Jihoon, which is filled to the brim with assorted items. “Did you find the regular sized samosas?”

Jihoon panics, still empty handed; but he spies a little something jammed in the cruddiest corner of the freezer from the corner of his eye. The bright packaging catches his attention, and the huge letters spell out: S-A-M-O-S-A-S...

Samosas are samosas, regardless of its size, so Jihoon gathers about five packs - which should be enough for Soonyoung’s party - and adds it to the mountainous pile of groceries in Soonyoung’s trolley.

“Found them.” Jihoon smiles thinly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Nice. I wanna look at the ice-cream.”

Jihoon follows Soonyoung around for a bit more, not giving another thought about the regular sized samosas. Soonyoung takes about half an hour browsing the different varieties of ice-cream before he gets bored of it.

“Time to pay!”

Jihoon silently watches Soonyoung unload his groceries at the cash register; the cashier frantically trying to scan all of them.

“And the most important ones of all…” Soonyoung puts the bags of frozen samosas onto the counter with a sweeping gesture. He suddenly pauses, closely inspecting the small print on the packaging. “Hang on. These are mini samosas, Hoonie; I specifically requested for regular sized samosas!”

“They don’t have it, Soonie.”

“Do you have regular sized samosas?” Soonyoung asks aggressively.

“Chill, Soonie.”

“That’s all we have here.” The cashier says, focused on his work of scanning and packing the groceries.

“I’m going to return them. I want regular sized samosas.” Soonyoung looks like he’s going to stomp his foot in dissatisfaction.

“To have samosas, or no samosas at your party?” Jihoon asks, sounding ridiculously rhetorical.

Soonyoung mulls it over for a while, then sighs in defeat. “Fine, I’ll take them.” He hands his credit card over to the cashier. He’s silent as he watches the cashier pack everything up into plastic bags.

“I’m still mad that you couldn’t find regular sized samosas.” Soonyoung mutters, as they leave the store bearing too many grocery bags. The midday heat outside is almost unbearable, and Jihoon feels like he’s going to melt into the asphalt.

“They only had frozen mini samosas!” Jihoon says defensively. “I found them for you, be grateful.” The next time Soonyoung utters the phrase regular sized samosas again, Jihoon’s going to kill him - at this point, it sounds like a terrible joke.

“Sad. The party was supposed to revolve around the regular sized samosas; now I’ll have to improvise…”

Jihoon’s eye twitches - Soonyoung’s lucky that he’s got his hands full of groceries, otherwise he’d be roadkill, best friend or not. Soonyoung’s being ridiculous anyway, and there’s no point in arguing about something so petty, so Jihoon doesn’t try to counter further.

“Maybe I’ll pretend that the mini samosas are supposed to be regular sized samosas, and no one would know the difference!” Soonyoung says, then he pauses in his tracks, dropping all of his shopping onto the ground. “Hoonie, look at those kiddie rides!” He runs over to a row of colourful animal-shaped machines outside the grocery store. “How did we miss them on the way in?”

“You were too busy with your camera.” Jihoon mutters. “We’ve got frozens in here, can we hurry before they melt?”

But Soonyoung barely hears Jihoon, already fishing around in his pockets for loose change. “You’ve got to get on one of these, Hoonie!”

“Why not you?”

“’Cause I’d look ridiculous.” Soonyoung feeds some coins into the closest machine, a rainbow-coloured unicorn monstrosity. “Get on, Hoonie!”

“There’s no way out of this, is there?” Jihoon hesitates, eyeing the machine.

“I already put in a dollar in the machine! Don’t let it go to waste!” Soonyoung says, already filming. The unicorn ride is already bobbing in time to a cheesy jingle that irritates Jihoon’s nerves.

For a moment Jihoon thinks about marching back to the car and leave Soonyoung hanging, but he doesn’t want to disappoint Soonyoung again, even if it means entertaining his silly ideas. After a moment of deliberation, Jihoon sighs, dropping his shopping bags onto the ground, and slowly climbs onto the ride. “Happy?”

Soonyoung’s giggling like mad, slightly taken aback with Jihoon’s unlikely decision; but he quickly bounces back into action, his camera already poised in Jihoon’s direction. “No, you’re the one who should be happy! Smile, Hoonie!”

Jihoon grimaces instead, feeling ridiculous sitting on a kiddie ride, as Soonyoung takes his picture. Once Soonyoung gets the shot, he immediately turns away and sends the photo to Seungcheol, giggling like mad.

Seungcheol’s response is instantaneous: a mash of wild emojis and keyboard smashes.

There it is, crystal clear. Just a matter of time before Jihoon and Seungcheol would get together…if only either one of them would confess first. Soonyoung can’t even predict when that would ever happen, but he’s determined to get it on film somehow - maybe he could pin a secret camera onto Jihoon? They’re best friends anyway, so privacy shouldn’t be an issue - or at least, that’s what Soonyoung thinks.

Soonyoung slips his phone back into his pocket as Jihoon rides out a full minute on the unicorn, keeping an unamused expression on his face. The next sixty seconds are excruciating for Jihoon, while Soonyoung takes the chance to film his best friend with glee.

Jihoon keeps a straight face as he climbs down the kiddie ride when it finally stops, half-expecting for Soonyoung to loudly declare that he wants to have a go, too. But Soonyoung’s too busy with his phone, uploading a video of Jihoon on the kiddie ride onto his social media page. The moment it’s posted, Soonyoung’s already gotten a couple of likes; and it gives him a bit of a thrill that people are liking the short, adorable clip of Jihoon. He sends a copy to Seungcheol, too; just to a little.

Clueless about what Soonyoung is currently sharing with the whole world; Jihoon picks up the shopping bags he’d dropped onto the ground, glad that his cringe-worthy ride on a unicorn is over. “Can we go home now?”

“Okay.” Soonyoung replies distractedly, still on his phone. A hundred comments are already pouring in by the second, each one more frenzied than the other. Everyone on the internet finds Jihoon absolutely adorable, especially one (1) surfer who’s frantically texting Soonyoung more crying emojis as he makes his way back to Malibu after his acting stint in the City of Angels.

Soonyoung smiles to himself, feeling fluttery in Jihoon’s place. Seungcheol seems to be so enamoured with his best friend, who certainly returns the feelings. Even the whole world can see that they’re perfect for each other, so why is it taking too long for them to get together? But in the wise words of SpongeBob SquarePants: you can’t rush perfection…

Thinking about Seungcheol and Jihoon reminds Soonyoung and his current situation with Wonwoo. He hadn’t seen Wonwoo since their date night in LA. Just thinking about Wonwoo makes Soonyoung’s heart beat a tiny bit faster. On impulse, he sends a quick invitation for the man that he’s celebrating tonight.

Soonyoung is already nervous, doubting his plans of throwing a lavish party for someone out of the blue. But it’s for someone that he loves with his whole heart, and he’d do anything do see Wonwoo smile again - it’s the most precious thing on earth.

They’ll have lots of fun together that evening, then maybe he’ll tell Wonwoo how he feels then maybe they’d kiss and get together and stay together happily ever after. Just thinking about his favourite person in the whole world makes Soonyoung’s heart go zoom, a goofy grin forming on his mochi face.

“The shopping, Soonie?” Jihoon prompts, popping Soonyoung’s bubble of thoughts. He’d followed Jihoon back to the car automatically, wrapped in his own world, that he’d forgotten about his grocery haul sitting miserably on the ground near the row of kiddie rides.

Soonyoung pauses for a second, then skitters back to retrieve his abandoned grocery. He puts everything in the boot before he slips into the driver’s seat, replying to a few important text messages that’s flooding his phone (still no news from Wonwoo, sadly).

His plan for the evening is slowly unfurling - he just needs to keep Jihoon away from the house just for a few more hours. His tummy growls at that moment, begging for food; and Soonyoung has the perfect cover - lunch.

“I’m hungry, Hoonie.”

“We have food.”

“That’s for the party!” Soonyoung looks scandalised at Jihoon’s idea. “Anyway, I’ve been dying to take someone to this seafood place, but I can’t take Won-won because he doesn’t eat seafood so I’ll just have to take you!”

Jihoon doesn’t have any say in the matter, and he’s hungry, anyway, so he goes along with Soonyoung’s idea. The place they’re heading to is in the opposite direction from home, and it turns out to be a nice place by the beach about a half hour’s drive away.

It’s around lunchtime when they arrive, so the seafood restaurant Soonyoung’s recommended is starting to fill up with people. Still, they manage to snag a table by the sea, letting the sun warm their faces amidst the cool ocean breeze. The azure waters of the Pacific glimmer under the sun, and Jihoon snaps a photo while Soonyoung sets up his camera on the table to document lunchtime. When the waitress arrives with the menu, Soonyoung simply orders a simple seafood salad, as opposed to Jihoon’s expectation that he’d probably order the whole menu - which all seem delicious - and a whole tank of lobsters. Jihoon raises an eyebrow at how less his best friend is eating; and Soonyoun