Ravi tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, his movements producing clicking sound. He was currently in a coffee shop, waiting for his friends to arrive. The cafe was located 45 minutes away from his apartment and he had taken the underground subway to go there since Taekwoon didn't want to drive him.

3 hours earlier

"It's like 30 minutes away, I'm not going to waste my gas just to send you there and then come back" Taekwoon huffed. "Then you can stay there, walk around a bit and then go back!" Ravi lightly suggested. He received an annoyed glare in return and Ravi stopped pushing for more. He didn't want to push Taekwoon's buttons. Hongbin had done that before and the consequences that he had to face... Ravi shivered at the flashback. Taekwoon looked at Ravi who suddenly grew quiet and sighed, he really didn't want to go the city today. It was a Sunday and the traffic was usually horrendous at the day of the week, but looking at the younger one made him feel slightly guilty. "I can pick you up after rush hour, which is around 6 or later, but I'm not sending you there", Taekwoon said, snapping Ravi out of his daze. The latter smiled in response and gave Taekwoon a thumbs up, agreeing to the deal.

 。。。

Ravi called the waitress over and ordered an iced latte. He was still waiting for his two unpunctual friends. This wasn't a rare occurrence so he should've known better than to arrive on time, but Ravi didn't like knowing people were waiting for him. He didn't like waiting either but with these two friends of his, waiting was the only thing he found himself doing. Ravi glanced around the cafe, it was his first time being there. The cafe's interior was pretty cool, Ravi thought. It was very minimalistic, the walls were painted maroon and the furnitures were all in solid matte black. The source of light came from strings of bulbs, placed right above on each table, making the cafe looked even more rustic. Ravi glanced outside and tapped his fingers again out of boredom. The waitress came back to served his latte and Ravi smiled as a thanking gesture. The waitress' cheeks pinked and she smiled back timidly before scurrying off.

The entrance door was pushed open and two men came inside, both laughing loudly at something. Ravi's head turned to the source of noise and he smiled to himself, before waving his hands to signal his presence. The two men made their way to him and sat down. "Ah, it was such a hassle to come here", one of the them complained. "Kai, you suggested this place", the other replied. Ravi looked between the two and took in their panting figures. Both of them were breathing harshly, hair quite drenched and faces glistening with sweat. "Just what were you two doing before coming here?" Ravi asked while sipping on his iced latte. Kai looked at his friend's glorious drink and grabbed it away, before gulping it in one shot. "Dude....", Ravi said, taken aback. Taemin, who was currently trying to dry his hair out with a tissue snickered. He called the waitress over and ordered three more iced lattes. It was the waitress from earlier and she pinked once more. Having three good looking boys hanging out in their cafe wasn't an everyday occurrence, so she was internally grateful that she was working the evening shift that day.

The waitress came back to serve their drinks, and she carefully put down the glasses. Kai watched her movements intensely. "Hey," Kai started, and the waitress looked at him and pointed to herself, trying to confirm if it was her that he was talking to. Kai nodded with a smile and the waitress shyly smiled back. Ravi and Taemin watched as their friend interacted with the girl, both internally scoffing. "What do you think of this guy?" Kai stated while pointing to Ravi and latter's eyes widened in panic, he wasn't expecting that, he thought Kai was just flirting as usual. "Just ignore him", Ravi hastily said, "thanks for the drinks". The waitress looked between the two friends. The two of them were communicating using their eyes, one filled with fury and the other with mock. "Oh wait, don't leave yet", Taemin spoke this time. "Answer his question first", he continued. Taemin glanced at Ravi and the boy groaned, his palms pressed to his face. The poor waitress looked between the three of them and stuttered a "He's ok" before leaving with her empty tray quickly, not wanting to deal with the boys anymore, no matter how good looking they were. Kai rasped out a quick sorry to the waitress before laughing at his friend, who was still groaning.

"Not cool, guys" Ravi said after getting over his embarrassment. Taemin and Kai laughed, Ravi had always been the most fun to tease. Kai met Ravi for the first time during orientation week and hit off well with him ever since, the fact that they shared a lot of classes together helped strengthen their bond. Kai then introduced Taemin to Ravi and the three quickly became inseparable. Taemin was the brain of the gang, not academic wise, but mischief wise. He always had something up his sleeves and were always causing trouble. Kai was Taemin's avid follower, although a little more innocent. He was easier to influence than Ravi, though. Kai was more like a puppy and Taemin was the master. Ravi on the other hand was the (only) piece of sanity that held the group together. He was a little more naive than Kai, and more clear headed than Taemin. Ravi was like the babysitter of the other two, always trying to steer them out of trouble.

"So, Ravi. What do you think of that girl?", Taemin mocked. Ravi rolled his eyes. "I think she makes good latte", Ravi answered neutrally. "I think it's a little bitter, though", Kai said before propping his chin on his hand, "You sure it's not your love that's sweetening it?", he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. "Dude if you want to rile him up, you gotta do better!", Taemin scolded Kai, "that was so bad", he finished while shaking his head, disappointed. Ravi chuckled at Kai's offended face and Taemin sighed at his failure of a prodigy. "Whatever", Kai huffed, "what are we doing today?", he continued while slurping his latte, making a face at the bitterness. "Karaoke?", Taemin suggested and Kai perked up at the suggestion. "No", Ravi said sternly, "the last time we did that you two recorded me belting out Mariah Carey's high note and somehow", he emphasised, "the video got spread to our whole class!", Ravi said with an edge. Kai and Taemin barked in laughter, that was one of the many pranks they did to Ravi, but the video went slightly viral and they felt somewhat accomplished for it. "It was a good video, though", Kai said, his voice a little mocking, "cracky, but definitely worth trying for American Idol". Taemin sniggered, "Yeap. You should go try, who knows, maybe Simon would end up liking you". "It's a yes from me", Taemin imitated with a straight face, his hand on his chest. Kai laughed at the cheap imitation and Ravi flipped the two off.

They had been walking around the town aimlessly for about 2 hours with bubble tea in their hands and it was starting to get dark. "I think we gotta go", Taemin said while looking ahead, his eyes a little squinted. "Yeah we should", Kai replied, taking his arm off Ravi's shoulders. "What are you looking at?" The latter asked Taemin who was still squinting at something, or someone. "Isn't that your friend, Bean or something?", Taemin said, finally taking his eyes off the said person and pointed his hand towards the direction. Kai laughed, "It's Hongbin, idiot". "Bean, Hongbin or Hongbean", Taemin emphasised, "same thing". Ravi snickered at the former before looking at direction, squinting. "That's not him", Ravi said confidently. The boy Taemin thought was his best friend was a lot more build, and his legs were significantly longer (Ravi never noticed that fact until Hakyeon pointed it out). Taemin let out an 'oh' in response. "Anyways, we gotta go, it's getting dark and I think Jinki will kill me if I come back late again", Taemin said while shuddering. Jinki was one of his housemates and he was a bit strict on the whole curfew thing. "Yeah I gotta go too, Kyungsoo's making dinner and I don't think I want to miss out on that", Kai chirped while slinging his arm onto Taemin's shoulder. "Yeah you guys go, Taekwoon's picking me up", Ravi stated while waving. "Oh what a baby, why do you need someone to pick you up?", Taemin snickered. "Little puppy couldn't take the subway all by himself?" Kai supplied next and the duo laughed at Ravi's reddened ears. The latter hissed at them and tried to kick them away. Sensing danger, Taemin and Kai walked away from him and moved towards the subway station. They waved goodbye to Ravi, but not before cooing and making baby noises. Ravi just flipped them off (again) in response before yelling out a 'goodbye'.

He watched as the two disappeared from his view and took his phone out from his pocket to call Taekwoon.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered.

"Are you still gonna pick me up?", Ravi asked hesitantly. He didn't want Taekwoon to drive in a sleepy state, moreover just for him.

"Oh right", Taekwoon answered with an audible yawn. "I'll just wash up, give me 30 minutes".

"Okay", Ravi said, "I'm near the subway intersection", he finished and Taekwoon hummed in response before hanging up.

It had been 40 minutes and Ravi grew bored from standing. He sat on a bench near the intersection and plugged his earphones in and quietly hummed to rap music, his eyes focused on his phone, scrolling his Twitter timeline.

"Oi!" A voice hollered and Ravi looked up to see Ken sitting on the passenger side of Taekwoon's black sedan. Ravi quirked his eyebrow in question and Ken waved his hand excitedly. "Come in now! We're going on an adventure!", Ken chirped and Ravi saw Taekwoon smacking Ken's back, probably in disagreement. Ravi shrugged and made his way to the car and plopped himself in.

He moved towards the middle and poked his head out, "Where are we going?", he asked, his voice laced in excitement. Although Taekwoon owned a car, the latter didn't usually use it as he much preferred taking the public transport, "more eco friendly", he had once said. But it was no secret that Taekwoon didn't really leave the house unless it was necessary, examples being going to Uni or grocery runs, and those two didn't require driving. Ken turned his head to look at Ravi and grinned at him, "We're going to," he said elatedly, his fingers producing drum rolls beat,

"McDonald's drive thru!", Ken screamed in delight.

"That's the adventure?!" Ravi groaned out in response, he was expecting something more, well, adventurous.

"Shush now child", Ken quipped back, "it's good enough that this hermit's driving us", he said while pointing to Taekwoon, who in response hissed at Ken's statement. "I don't think he's ever seen a drive thru before", Ken finished dramatically, his hand on his chest and Taekwoon purposely missed the lane to McDonald's. Ravi chuckled quietly, obviously aware of what Taekwoon did and the familiar route they were headed to now.

Ken stayed oblivious, internally salivating at the thought of cheeseburger and greasy fries.

Ravi's chapter! Lmk what you think! Comments are always welcomed & I always reply *_*