They all watched Ijin as he sucked on the straw, and he found himself restraining a chuckle when he saw the teenager frown, letting them know that he had at last, tried a boba pearl. They watched him eagerly, waiting for his reaction towards a drink that was rather beloved by a decent part of the world.
Scrunching up his nose, Ijin went through a range of emotions as he chewed on the boba pearl, ranging from curiosity to uncertainness," So," he said lightly, sipping on his own boba drink as he waited for Ijin to finish," What do you think?" Just like they had been doing for the past few months, it was now time for Ijin to try boba for the first time, something that they had been meaning to cross off the list for a while.
Ijin hummed before swallowing," It tastes good," He scrunched up his nose as he thought further about the drink," but I'm not sure if I like the chewy balls so much." A chuckle slipped past his lips, and everyone else laughed with him after Ijin smacked him with his hand for laughing at the accidental insinuation.
"I'm sure you don't," Jaehyung laughed even harder at the way Ijin flicked his arm," But do you like it?"
He nodded," Yeah," He had a light tone in his voice, and gave them one of his rare smiles," Thanks for making me get one."
"Well," Seokju said dryly, though his tone didn't match the small smirk on his face," We had to figure out if you like chewing on balls or not." That made him, Yeongchan, and Jaehyung smirk while Ijin kicked the back of Seokju's knee, and Seokju let out a strangled squawk as his knee buckled. Within seconds, Seokju recovered, and Ijin barely managed to escape the jab that had been aimed at his ribs.
Hyeokjin chuckled into his hand. It was always fun to see those two be a bunch of dipshits together. Especially since the two of them always had a stick up their ass otherwise.
"Shut up," Despite his stern tone, Ijin also had a smile on his face," You know what I meant."
They started walking back to the P.C café, ready to get some game time in before they all went their separate ways for the night. The five of them were talking idly on the way back, Jaehyung and his stupid comments making them laugh more than once. Recently, he, along with the others had noticed that Ijin was starting to come out of his shell even more, and that made them almost ecstatic.
Sure, Ijin was still quiet compared to them, especially when they were with other people. But lately, his comments had been snarkier, and it had been easier to make the teenager laugh and/or smile. Not to mention, with the way he and Seokju seemed to develop this sort of friendship where they messed with each other 90% of the time, it only helped Ijin show his true personality (A.I: A certified idiot)
He couldn't help but smile at the way Seokju was trying to kick the back of Ijin's knee in retaliation, only to miss almost every time. The more Seokju missed, the more he was getting annoyed, much to Ijin's obvious amusement. At this rate, he wouldn't be surprised if Seokju just decided to throw his cup at Ijin in hopes that it would hit him.
"Excuse me!" Hyeokjin damn near jumped out of his pants at the way the person behind them nearly screamed that out. Within seconds, all five of them were whirling around to see who the hell was talking to them like that. He was already clenching his fists, ready for some type of fight with some idiot that decided to be so bold.
It was a couple, the girl was holding up and phone and was obviously recording them, while the boy was holding up what looked like one of those clippable microphones YouTubers would use. The two of them recoiled at the way all five of them turned around, especially since Seokju and Ijin had turned around as if they were expecting to get attacked.
It had to be a scary sight, to see four guys on the defensive (with two of them being taller than the average person) all while the fifth one looked exceedingly nervous.
"Sorry," The boy bashfully ducked his head," Would you guys mind if we asked you a few questions?"
"Oh," They all relaxed at that, Jaehyung speaking for them as he let out a sigh that puffed out his cheeks," Man, you scared us!" despite the way he had been glaring at the couple a few seconds ago, he was giving them a pleasant smile. A smile that had just about everyone but Ijin following suit as they helped defuse the situation.
He had to keep his soul suffering sigh to himself. He got that Ijin didn't grow up in the best of places but come on. It's not like the couple would be able to overpower them, not with all five of them there!
Ijin grunted when he got elbowed, and he had a silent conversation with the former mercenary as he motioned for him to relax. Ijin rose his eyebrow before he sighed, taking a sip of his boba as he truly relaxed.
If Hyeokjin saw Seokju cough after Ijin elbowed him for laughing, he wasn't going to say anything.
"Sure," He kept his tone light, allowing the couple to relax further as he said," We got time, is this for a TikTok?"
"Yeah," The boy beamed, and it wasn't long until the girl was stepping back, allowing her boyfriend to be in frame with all of them," Just one question," The boy turned towards him first, and holding up the tiny microphone towards him, he asked," Would you punch your dad for one hundred thousand dollars?"
That made him scrunch up his nose.
Hmm…
On one hand, he knew his father would happily forgive him for doing such an act against him.
But on the other hand, with everything that had happened with his mom and the mess afterward, he respected his dad way too much to do that. not only was it his dad for god's sake, but it was also his dad that had saved them from living in an abusive home with his mother, as well as raising him by himself for the past eight years.
He shook his head," Nah. That's my dad. I ain't gonna hit him." The boy nodded his head in understanding, and it wasn't long until the others were answering, all of them giving the same answer of 'I'm not going to hit my dad, he's my dad.'
Well, everyone but Ijin answered.
The boy turned to Ijin, who was still sipping on his boba impassively, and asked," Would you punch your dad?"
Now Hyeokjin didn't know what he was expecting, he was somewhat expecting Ijin to point out that he was an orphan, or just lie and say that he wouldn't punch his dad.
What he wasn't expecting Ijin to do, was shrug his shoulder nonchalantly before saying," Sure." That should have been a sign, that he had agreed so readily," Punching an urn won't be the worst thing I've done." And then pretend that there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with his statement!
Jaehyung choked on his drink, while he, Seokju, their interviewer, and Yeongchan choked on their spit, all of them looking at Ijin with wide eyes.
The worse part was that he knew that Ijin had done things than punching an urn, what was worse, he didn't know, but he knew that Ijin had to do some fucked up things to survive as a young teenager. So they all knew that.
But the couple didn't know, and they were just staring at Ijin in pure horror.
Ijin had the audacity to look confused at their reactions.
The boy looked horrified, and almost shakily asked," You-You're joking right?"
They didn't even give Ijin the chance to fuck it up even more.
"Yes-" Seokju stepped forward, cutting off Ijin,"-Shut. Up-" Seokju snapped out, looking thoroughly annoyed as he kept Ijin from digging his own grave before turning back to the interviewer," Yes he's joking," Seokju sounded exasperated, and Hyeokjin couldn't help but relate at that moment," Sorry, he has a shit sense of humor."
Ijin still looked confused, even more so when he, Jaehyung, and Yeongchan started to drag him off," What did I say-" Yeongchan was quick to cover Ijin's mouth with his hand, and Hyeokjin was positive that the only reason Ijin let him get away with that was because it was Yeongchan who was doing it.
"Oh Jesus Christ, Ijin shut up!" Yeongchan almost screamed at him, the three of them still dragging Ijin away from the couple. And that was when he knew that he and Jaehyung weren't overreacting because it was Yeongchan out of everyone that was screaming at Ijin for him to shut up.
For once, the ever-so-quiet Ijin needed to shut the fuck up.
"Goddamit Ijin," Jaehyung's whisper was fierce," Why would you say that?!" Ijin audibly huffed behind Yeongchan's hand and pulled it away.
"Because it's the truth?"
That only encouraged them to get Ijin away from the couple even faster.
"pfft-ahahha!" He rose his eyebrow when he heard his brother laughing so hard. Because if there was something that he knew about his younger brother, he knew that it was exceedingly difficult to get the little shit to laugh so loud.
Putting down the spatula, he walked into the living room, curious about what was making Isak laugh so hard," What's so funny?"
Isak was laughing so hard, he couldn't even answer him. He was damn near folded in half with how hard he was laughing, his arms wrapped around his stomach as he kept on laughing.
Without a word (not that he could talk with how hard he was laughing) Isak held out his phone, prompting him to take it.
With a raised eyebrow, he blinked in surprise when he saw 001 of all people in the video, and he unmuted the video just in time to hear,
"W ould you punch your dad?"
Considering the fact that he knew 001 was an orphan like them, he was expecting a blunt 'I'm an orphan' from their former leader.
He definitely wasn't expecting 001 to shrug his shoulder before saying,"," Sure. Punching an urn won't be the worst thing I've done." A bark of laughter escaped him before he could stop it, but once he saw how everyone just looked at 001 like he grew a second head, that made him start chuckling.
Isak was still laughing his ass off on the couch," That fucking idiot!" he gasped out, and Liam couldn't help but agree with him.
001 was a fucking idiot.
Ijin let out a soul-suffering sigh as he heard 032 and 006 laugh at him from the other side of the phone. The way 006 kept on trying to recompose himself only made it all the more painful," You-You're," 006 cleared his throat, but he could still hear the poorly disguised amusement in his voice," You're a fucking idiot man." Despite 006's attempt to be stern, he could still hear 032 laughing in the background.
Yeah.
He knew that.
Especially since the others had been making fun of him, and reminding him every chance he got, to the point where it was starting to get annoying.
Even Major Kang had texted him that he was an idiot, and since he had texted that in the group chat for him and his men, it wasn't long until everyone else was doing the same. Even Dae-Hyun was telling him that he was, and he quotes 'had the common sense of a half dead moron'.
So in other words, he was just being called a fucking idiot in a different way, but he did have to give the medic props for being creative about it. That didn't mean he appreciated everyone reminding him that apparently , he said the wrong thing.
"Yeah," Note to self, don't make comments about his dead parents and their urns," I know."
