only mingyu, junhui and seungkwan agreed to stay for the night. chan wanted to join but seungcheol didn't want him to. we already have something going on with his father and none of us can risk it just for a sleepover. that late afternoon, just as the rest of the boys were leaving, jeonghan realized that it's going to be a chaotic time with seungkwan around, so he decided to stay. he said he couldn't trust junhui enough to keep things under control.

"how dare you assume i can't keep things under control? i always do great with the boys!" junhui exclaimed.

"i've heard stories from minghao. he called you an enabler," jeonghan replied. "i think he's a credible source."

junhui didn't say anything else.

anyway, it was only seven in the evening, and i have done absolutely nothing but lay on the couch and think about what happened earlier.

yes i'm lonely~ wanna die-

"what the hell who's playing that song?" i asked

"oh sorry it came on shuffle i'm gonna skip hehe." junhui reached for his phone to play songs with mellow tunes. i didn't mind the song he was playing, it's just funny how a rock song matches my goddamn take about what happened before. i really do feel like i'm going through something of personal crisis and i'm not happy about that.

then again, who would be?

soonyoung walked his way to where i was and crouched down to get something from under the couch. he was close to my face but we even didn't bother looking at each other. it was just like that. every time soonyoung went around the living room, it felt extremely awkward but we had to act like nothing ever happened to avoid talking about it more. thankfully, mingyu stayed by me the whole time, just as he promised.

"this is boring, let's play some cards," seungkwan broke the silence.

"what game?" junhui asked "poker? i'm good at that."

"because you're good at that, we won't be playing it," seungkwan answered. "come on guys! gather around! go get jihoon hyung but let him sit six meters away from us."

just like seungkwan said, everyone gathered in a circle. i was in between mingyu and junhui, fortunately. the only downside is that soonyoung was right in front of me, sitting next to jeonghan, who was playing for jihoon. (because he couldn't touch the cards. he's sick!)

"so what are we playing? palace or something?" mingyu asked "cops and robbers?"

jihoon furrowed his brows. "cops and robbers? are you okay? only psychopaths play that," he claimed. then, mingyu looked at the boy with a face that looked like he just figured out a dirty secret about him. "i see the kind of shit you've been reading, hyung."

"whatever. i don't read anything." the smaller crossed his arms.

"i'm so lost. what the fuck are you guys talking about?" junhui asked. we all watched a sly smile appear across mingyu's face. "ah, it's just something that you'll get if you get it. if you don't, i won't explain it. but maybe you can ask jihoon hyung."

"hey i wanna play hearts," seungkwan announced, changing the subject.

junhui laughed. "i'm good at playing hearts, if you know what i mean." ugh. all of us just acted like we didn't hear anything.

"k, hearts then. you got any deck of cards, soonyoung hyung?" seungkwan turned to the boy, who had his eyebrows raised. "what the hell? you don't have cards with you? i don't have any in here!" soonyoung answered "why would you suggest a game of cards when you don't even have cards ready?"

"why would you get a house with no deck of cards in it!?"

"wow what an argument. now i get why they didn't accept you in the debate club in school," jeonghan laughed

"i only have yugioh cards," soonyoung mumbled.

seungkwan rolled his eyes and got up to grab his bag sitting on the couch next to jihoon. "ugh fine whatever, let's play uno. i have cards." he pulled a pink box and marched his way back to his seat before letting the box slide across the floor to the center of the circle. "why is it pink? uno cards aren't pink," the eldest asked.

"it's millennial pink. it's the kylie uno."

"the what?" mingyu reached for the empty pink box with confusion plastered all over his face. "these aren't even for sale! how the fuck did you get one?"

"i slid into her dms," seungkwan proudly answered

"you can't just slide into her dms, ask for personalized uno cards and have your wish granted. you're a nobody, seungkwan," jihoon told him. "i doubt she'd look at your dm for a damn second."

"whatever." seungkwan rolled his eyes "i'm tired of explaining why i got these. i'm on the pr list believe it or not. let's just play, shall we?"

"but how did you get these—"

"are you gonna fucking play or not?"

"ugh."

_____________

"another win, yes! take that motherfuckers!" junhui stood up and violently threw his last card at the center before hopping around the circle to annoy all of us even more. it was already our third round and he was the first to run out of cards again. meanwhile, soonyoung and seungkwan were losers for the first two.

"tough luck, huh soonyoung?" junhui grinned at the boy.

"ah shut up, seungkwan is probably giving me bad cards on purpose."

seungkwan took that dramatically, as always. "on purpose!? hello!? if i could cheat in this game i would give junhui hyung the bad ones on purpose!" junhui's laugh covered the entire room and everyone was so done with it. the game went down to five of us, then four, until the last players remaining were soonyoung, seungkwan and jeonghan (ft. jihoon)

"yare yare daze," jihoon mumbled. "this is no fun, i feel like we all know who the two remaining players will be anyway."

"stop wasting time, it's your turn!" seungkwan claimed. jihoon was the only one on the couch while all of us were on the floor. he leaned in to look at the cards jeonghan was holding, thinking about what he could do with it. he moved to the right to see what card was on the center, then looked at how many cards soonyoung and seungkwan were holding. finally, leaning back, he pointed at the one the older should put down.

"no! not that one! what the fuck!?" the boy panicked as jeonghan placed a pink card down. "i pointed at the one next to it! no! no!"

across the circle, seungkwan had a surprised expression. his eyes widened and he quickly placed two pink cards down and a third one with the same number as the last. "HAHA UNO BITCHES!" he yelled out of excitement while jihoon sulked at the corner.

"alright, we fucking get it!"

"no need to be so salty, hyung," seungkwan said. "i feel like we all know who the two remaining players will be," he mocked and laughed out loud.

"i told you to put the other down! what were you doing!?" jihoon screamed at jeonghan instead, who didn't hesitate to yell back.

"you were a bad pointer!"

"you could have used your brain, yknow!?"

"well we can't do anything now, can we!?"

"um, i already placed a card. it's your turn now, hyung." soonyoung's voice calmed everybody down.

we all watched in silence as soonyoung and jeonghan (ft. jihoon) played for the last round. mingyu and junhui stayed behind soonyoung, whose eyes kept darting at jeonghan's cards, as if unsure about his next move. surprisingly, he smiled at me as he noticed me watching him. i looked away in a heartbeat.

"loser gets to buy ice cream," seungkwan announced.

"i sincerely hope y'all get a licked one," mumbled jihoon.

"he's so salty."

"i can fucking hear you whisper from here, seungkwan."

mingyu and junhui were both giggling like idiots the moment jeonghan placed his second last card down. "you better not fuck this one up, there's literally one left," jihoon whispered to jeonghan. the latter only looked at him and smiled. "don't worry, i don't see soonyoung winning this round at all. i got this."

the room was suddenly enveloped in silence, and only the sound of soonyoung's fingers fumbling with the corners of the cards can be heard. his lips were pursed though it was obvious how he was holding back a smile. he glanced at jeonghan, who was too busy using lip balm on his lips.

"go on. put on that pretty pretty lip balm jeonghan hyung, then kiss your ass goodbye with it."

"huh?"

"BECAUSE I WIN, BABY!"

both jeonghan and jihoon froze the moment soonyoung placed his last two cards and ended the round. he screamed and started jumping around with mingyu, seungkwan and junhui, as if they just won the lottery. jeonghan couldn't accept his defeat while jihoon stood up on the couch and threw a pillow, which hit junhui's head. we all tried our best to calm him down, but the boy was too strong in his rage. even mingyu got kicked on the head.

none of us expected him to be in a frenzy as if someone just beat his high score in crash bandicoot.

"don't worry, i don't see soonyoung winning this round at all! i got this!" soonyoung mocked while dancing around the room. he hurriedly ran off to the kitchen once jihoon grabbed another pillow to throw.

"who the fuck loses to soonyoung!?" he shouted "this must be the lowest part of my li—" fortunately, junhui placed a palm over jihoon's mouth to stop him from his tantrum. or else soonyoung would have to stress over noise complaints from the neighbors again.

"go get ice cream, hyung!" seungkwan ordered "go! go!"

"do i really have to? because i really don't want to," jeonghan muttered.

"oh come on, i'll do it." i volunteered. none of the boys would do it eventually and i bet they would just point at each other until it was time to sleep. i got up and grabbed my jacket from the rack while mingyu followed. he said he was going to come too, since it's night and he wouldn't want me walking by myself.

jeonghan cleared his throat. "soonyoung, don't you wanna accompany her yourself?"

soonyoung had a slightly shocked expression on as he looked at me, then at jeonghan, then back at me...then at jeonghan again. he then closed his mouth and smiled. "it's okay, i don't mind." was all he said.