Proprietorial love

5

When lunch rolled around, Zoe was pointedly tugging at his arm again, squishing her chest against his arm and pouting hard to exaggerate her features. "Please sit with me, Daniel!" She whined, her voice shrill enough that Daniel would have felt irritated if he bothered to care.

"I don't know about sitting with you one-on-one, Zoe, but you can sit with me, Mira, and Zack today." He replied instead, smiling down at her and waiting for her verbal confirmation.

The girl seemed a little defeated at the thought of other people sitting at the same table but cheerfully agreed all the same. Daniel let her guide him to the cafeteria, mind spinning itself into a tizzy about Jay.

He knew he was with Jay when he walked out of class, but whilst he was talking to Zoe he guessed Jaeyeol disappeared somewhere. Hyungseok hoped his friend would come back in soon.

Daniel smiled sweetly as Haneul led him to his table, where Mijin and Jinsung were milling close. "Hello." Daniel  greeted them all "I didn't think we had properly met yet, you're Mira, right?"

The other girl smiled weakly, nervous about being so close to Daniel. "Nice to meet you properly, Daniel."

They sat down together. There was a long beat of silence where no one knew how to talk to each other before Zoe spoke up. "So... are you two friends?"

That sent them spiraling into talking for the remainder of their lunch, they talked about lunch, and their favorite food somehow went to talking about their childhood then they started talking about their dream jobs.

Throughout, Daniel acted as engaging as he could, offering his own thoughts and opinions where he could. It wasn't his fault he never thought much about his future aside from the occasional wish that he wasn't working with Charles Choi.

"Where's Jay, Daniel?" Mira asked kindly, comfortable enough to flash a kind smile at him. "I thought he would come to sit with us today, seeing as you two have been so attached."

Daniel blinked out of his thoughts and checked his watch. Jaeyeol hadn't come into the cafeteria, it's been nearly 30 minutes by now. He suddenly remembered something... Jay was walking towards the bathroom, and Eli followed him.

Daniel smiled pleasantly. "I'll go find Jay, he probably isn't too far." And speed-walked out of the room with as much grace as he could manage.

Internally, Daniel thinks he's panicking. He's only had Jay back for, what? 2 days? And he knows he's desperately attached. Eli has the opportunity to watch as Jay grows. He also noticed that Eli Jang has romantic feelings for Jay. Why else would he want Jay with Daniel forever? Want him with Daniel for as long as time allowed?

("You're crazy." One of Charle's bodyguards sneered. "Crazier than me and Goo, which is an absolute achievement. I pity anyone who catches your eye."

"He's already eyeing someone, Gun!" The other one laughed with joyous eyes that overshadowed his mania. "The boss' rival son! The silent kid!"

"You're quite the man, Daniel." The other chuckled.)

He saw Eli hurriedly open the bathroom door.

There stood Jae, nonchalantly cleaning the blood off his fingers while a few people seemed to be passed out in the stalls.

Hyungseok saw this and stared as the two interacted, watching Jay's sudden jump and whirl to stare at Eli.

"There you are," Eli spoke, unable to resist cupping his friend's face. "I thought you were in trouble," He couldn't help but feel worried.

Eli looked at the few people who passed out, his shoulders shaking gently with the motion. "Jay," Eli spoke, moving to stand behind Jay. "why did you beat these people?"

Jaeyeol tilted his head to the side, acting innocent. "you little liar." Eli cooed sweetly.

Daniel peeked at them in silence. Why would he ever believe that Jay'd leave him? Hadn't he been the one to pull away the first time?

Eli stared at him and his friend in the mirror as Jay dried his hands with a tissue. Then, he gently brushed his thumb over Jay's cheek.

Satisfaction curled like a cat when Jay's cheek went red. "I'm sorry, dear. There was just some blood on your cheek." He purred.

Jay sputtered, waving his hand indignantly and glaring at Eli when the other man chuckled.

Daniel stood there, waiting for the two to be finished, he was already planning how to kill Eli Jang. Eli went out first, and then Jay. 

"Jay!" he acted, "I was getting worried about where you are," he whispered, unable to resist hugging his friend at the waist. "I couldn't find you anywhere, was beginning to think you left me." He couldn't help but tease. 

"My silent angel." Daniel cooed sweetly, something like adoration sinking into his bones and pulling away from the panic.

Jay couldn't help but laugh. God, how did his friend become so cute? He wants to eat Jay alive at this rate.

He finally led Jay back to their lunch table, where the other three watched them with various emotions in their eyes.

Daniel didn't care, more preoccupied with watching how the cafeteria lights bounced off of Jay's hair.