Burnout ⊗ Jeongchan

③⑤ Hyena

"So, when are you planning to assimilate back into the mortal realm?"

In the sweltering heat of the day; the flowers in the shade wilting, mirages of a paradise barely visible on a concrete oasis, Jeongin leaned back against his friend. They were waiting under a potted tree, a familiar shopping district and chatting of civilians trying to enjoy their time together despite the disgusting weather for the autumn season. Raining one day, hot the next, never seeming to make up it's mind. The cool concrete barrier around the tree was the few bits of relief Jeongin and Jisung were able to find as they waited for the rest of the crew to come back from their shopping.

Jisung hit his knuckles against the plastic cup of his drink Minho bought for him only a few minutes prior, the mailable and cheap material bending every time he applied pressure to the condensation dripping from the edges. Jeongin entertained himself with the droplets. He watched as they fell, slowly, some falling apart and others experiencing a gradual descension that made him wonder if the drops realized was happening to them. When he began to recognize the reflection of his wine red hair in the surface, he flinched away from the cup.

"Back to school?" Jeongin hummed the question for clarification. When the other made a small grunt of approval, he laughed quietly, "Never, if I had my way."

Jisung took a not so light sip of his drink, Jeongin remembers one of them mentioning it to be bubble tea but he was too transfixed elsewhere to really care, and nodded along. He set it down next to his hip when he deemed himself satisfied, "Yeah but you've been gone for more than a week now. And come on, be honest with yourself, besides trying to osculate the rich boy at every chance you get it's not like you have anything important to do. Teachers are pestering me, your parents are annoying, it needs to happen at some point."

"Tomorrow then," The younger pressed his back farther into Jisung's shoulder and directed his gaze up to the branches of the tree above them, trying to catch a glimpse of the sun through the gangling veins on the bronzed leaves, trying to block out certain parts of that sentence that were unneeded. He gave up not too longer after, instead trying to spark up more conversation with his company, "Thank you for dropping my stuff off at Chan's place by the way."

"Sorry, what? Not me," Jisung denied with a firm scoff, "If I went to your house and saw your parents, I'd be out for their blood."

With a huff, Jeongin furrowed his eyebrows together, "Then who?"

"Like I have an idea? The only ones who know where you live are me, Chan, and Changbin. Minho too, but he doesn't count since he only dropped you off that one night."

"Changbin?"

"Yeah but he's not one for running errands."

"No, how does he know where I live?"

"Oh. He knows your brother. We're not really on good terms with him," The drink was in his hands again as he told promptly, becoming more interested in playing with the straw in his mouth than seriously taking a sip. Jisung mumbled as an after thought, "We're not on good terms with any of your family."

But that would mean the others have met them, my parents too, If it were possible, Jeongin's eyebrows knitted together even more. He opted not to vocalize his concerns. There were already hundreds of problems piling on top of his shoulders that he eventually would have to address but had been deliberately avoiding; becoming suspicious of the crew, decorating himself in an ornate distrust of one safe oasis in this barren desert- was not an issue he wanted to throw on the list of personal issues.

In the safety of the sun and the comfort of his friend, Jeongin let his eyes fall closed. Even if it was in ignorance, or wrongfully so, it wasn't so bad to trust them. At least he knew, I can trust them more than I can the others.