𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐆𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄

17; 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙢

"....2 million won will be wired to your bamk accounts as of tomorrow. does anyone have any questions?" joshua asked, looking at every face in the conference room. today, joshua was sent to explain the situation and the compensation to the families of the victims. of course, jeonghan tagged along.

a middle-aged woman stood up, her lips were shaking as if she was about to cry anytime. "you will catch the people who did this to my son, right, sir?"

jeonghan stepped in. this was the first time he spoke ever since the conference started. "we will do our best, ma'am." he offered a sincere and warm smile to the lady, and she nodded before sitting back down. joshua raised an eyebrow. why did jeonghan decide to be useful? joshua thought jeonghan was going to stare at him for the whole conference.

"okay, the conference has ended, ladies and gentlemen. you may leave now." joshua bows, which jeonghan mirrored. jeonghan stared at joshua while the families leave.

joshua furrows his eyebrows and turns to jeonghan. "what?!"

jeonghan gasps. "joshuji, you just raised your voice! this is new!" joshua sighed, picking up his bag, completely ignoring jeonghan. he exited the room and the building quickly, while jeonghan was running after him.

"so, why did you raise your voice?" jeonghan asked, finally catching up to joshua. joshua's unimpressed face was illuminated by the rays of sun, making jeonghan think: that's hot. but jeonghan snaps out of it when joshua spoke.

"i was kinda upset at you." joshua states. "i'm a socially awkward person, and speaking up all alone scares me. i'm.. i... i don't like it."

"i wouldn't have known if you didn't tell me." jeonghan smiled sweetly, taking off his suit jacket. jeonghan folds it in half, placing it on his arm before he continued. "because you did great, baby!"

to be honest, if joshua was to deal with the woman on the verge of tears earlier, he might've panicked. he's not good at socializing, or dealing with people's emotions. "thank you." joshua says, without giving context. though jeonghan didn't know what the gratitude was for, he hums in recognition and smiles. "but..ugh... baby? really?"

jeonghan laughed a little too loud. joshua covers his face when they get attention from the bypassers. "sorry, joshuji! i forgot about that." joshua only sighed. "aigoo, the attack is tomorrow, right? i might have to join seungcheol and chan in training, i'm not good at far distance combat. my aim sucks, too."

"then i'll help you. i'm good at far distance combat, i'm too slow at close combat. we can help each other." joshua states in all seriousness. joshua facepalms when jeonghan replied with high-pitched coos. "hey, i'm serious here! i want to serve justice for those families, you know! fukuro mafia has had enough!"

"you want to spend time with me, joshuji!" joshua deadpanned as a reply. "but i will train with you. i want to be useful." jeonghan chuckled, his pitch lowering. now, that's more of a normal person's voice; not the unusually flirty and high pitched voice that you can mistake as an anime girl's voice instead of jeonghan's.

"that's good." joshua spoke. jeonghan's stomach grumbled. "want to grab something on the way?"

"no, i'll just eat at home. seungkwan baked cookies when we left, they must be done right now." jeonghan said, kicking a rock. joshua glanced at jeonghan, before he grabs jeonghan's wrist and runs. "w-wait! i'm not ready!"

when joshua pulled jeonghan's wrist, it's like the world stopped for a short moment. just them, the background noise lowering in volume, while they stood under the blue sky.

"you're running anyway." joshua.

"where are we going? are we shooting a date montage for a romance movie?" jeonghan.

joshua just sighed in reply, while jeonghan giggled. jeonghan found himself standing in front of a bakery, stopping for a short moment that was just enough to read the sign, 'mina's bakery', before he was pulled inside again.

"once seungkwan gets those cookies out of the oven, it's a race that ends in exactly 20 seconds.  plus, you'll probably get diabetes from his cookies. they're too sweet," joshua eyes the bread on display. "ah, yes, one box of chocolate chip cookies, please. are those fortune cookies? yes, four of those, too." joshua hands his credit card to the man mending the counter.

"thank you, joshuji!" this time, the nickname didn't sound as flirty. joshua laughed a little at that, realizing that he finally can talk normally. joshua hands jeonghan the box of chocolate chip cookies, as well as the paper bag containing fortune cookies to place his card back in his wallet. "can we eat it now?"

"you said you want to eat when we get home." joshua replied, making a teasy face. jeonghan narrowed his eyes at joshua, making him laugh. "okay, okay. let's sit on a table and eat."

"what are these weird shaped cookies though?" jeonghan peeked inside the brown paper bag. joshua took one, and cracked it open. jeonghan was surprised when he saw paper inside.

"these cookies tell your fortune. mine reads," joshua spreads the piece of paper for him to read it properly. "'always be cautious. there are many dangerous people around you that can ruin your life.' dang, that sounds like some 8 ball reponse though. an essentially long 8 ball response." joshua remarked. he looks at jeonghan, then gets surprised when his eyes are twinkling.

"that's amazing, because, like, your life is always at stake because of your line of work, so the fortune cookie must be real!" jeonghan gushed, grabbing one cookie for himself as immediately as possible. joshua laughed. he's good at tricking people, yet he's so naïve. "ooh! i got, 'telling the truth will get you out of tricky situations.'. what does that mean?" jeonghan asked, popping the cookie in his mouth.

"don't pretend like you don't get it, you know that it hit you where it hurts."

"hey!"

joshua laughed, grabbing the third fortune cookie. "this says 'sometimes the thoughts and feelings you disregard will affect your life greatly.' it's starting to not make sense."

"you're socially awkward, right?" jeonghan reads the quote thag joshua just read out. "then sometimes you can be too shy to speak out your ideas and opinions. maybe it makes sense." jeonghan threw the piece of paper to joshua's face, but missed when joshua dodged.

"we need to work on your aim, indeed."

"don't change the subject!" jeonghan scolds, squinting at joshua. joshua laughs nervously, looking elsewhere. anywhere but jeonghan's eyes. "anyway, i get the last one." jeonghan fished out the last fortune cookie, cracked it open and read it out loud.

"'the first person you see after reading this will be with you for life.' this is just ridiculous, i don't believe it anymore. right, joshuji?" jeonghan laughed, lifting his head to look at joshua. joshua wasn't smiling or laughing, which made jeonghan's laugh falter.

wait, he's the first person i saw! jeonghan's expression changed, but joshua was still looking at him intently. what is this? jeonghan thought.

"han-ah, let's walk home now. it's gonna get dark soon." looks like joshua was the first one to snap out of the trance. he grabs the box of fortune cookies and then they exit the bakery.

han-ah? jeonghan asked himself. he could hear his heart thumping, and he didn't like it. he didn't know what it meant. is this what joshua feels when jeonghan calls him nicknames? if so, jeonghan wouldn't call joshua any nicknames anymore. the feeling you get is unknown, and scary.

when they reached the building with the sign 'seventeen guest house', joshua makes an illusion. that was necessary because if the other members see the box of cookies, they'll murder joshua for it. before they enter, joshua tells jeonghan a good thing. "if you want cookies, drop by the fourth floor."

jeonghan, despite his hate for this unknown feeling, smiled at joshua and nods. "i'll just join you. i think i'm still hungry."

the two laughed, chatting normally and laughing. they saw another side of each other today, a good side at that. that was enough to call it a good day.

a/n: i have dATA SO MAYBE I CAN UPDATE
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