"... you're here again?"

"Yes, he's here again — joining us for dinner," Minho replied as he ushered Hanni into his apartment. "Sorry I could greet Aunty Canh — now go bother Jisung while I prepare dinner. He brought his PS5, so go play some games."

"A PS5?!" Hanni gasped, dropping her bag by the door and quickly kicking her shoes off before running into the apartment. She dipped her head to greet the other male on the couch, and Jisung simply waved his hand. "What games do you have?"

"Minho gave me permission to stream," Jisung said as he sat back from his camera setup. "I have a relatively small audience — I'm not massively popular. I do, however, have 300 subscribers on twitch with a following of 27 thousand."

"That's a lot, isn't it?" Hanni asked, sitting on the far end of the couch to stay out of the camera frame. "It's so cool that you're a twitch streamer. Someone in my class streams, but I'm sure he's bad at it."

"Ay~ anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it," Jisung said, leaning back against the couch. "Oh, there's the first viewer. You can monitor on my laptop over there. Check who is in chat and stuff."

"There's 42 people in already," Hanni gasped. She waved her hand at the camera, smiling when she saw the limb on the screen. "Hello everyone~"

"I'm at a friend's house," Jisung said as he looked into the camera. "Felix is coming online later and we're going to play Genshin. We're just going to farm Emblem because he got C6 Faruzan and somehow still has energy problems."

"I don't understand a word, but I'm interested," Hanni said as she focused her eyes on the TV.

Minho sighed to himself, glad that Hanni was successfully distracted by Jisung so that he could prepare dinner in peace. Jisung seemed to love what he did, despite his relatively small audience — of course, Hanni was now added to that audience of his. It was endearing to see someone Minho was so close with bond with someone new in his life.

Someone new.

"Oh, you're playing music in the background of the stream," Hanni pointed out, squinting her eyes to look at the small print at the bottom of the screen. "Can I choose a song?"

"The viewers can use channel points to choose a song," Jisung explained, "but I can let you choose a song. Who's willing to give up their channel points for her to choose a song?"

Hanni gasped, pointing at the chat going up the screen in shock. "'Hanji is that your girlfriend'?! Everyone, I'm a highschooler! I'm at least 5 years younger than him!"

"Don't be gross, guys — she's not my girlfriend," Jisung said quickly, shaking his head. "I told you guys already. Don't be weird."

Minho eyed the laptop with thinned eyes, eyes falling to his own phone on the counter. He picked up his phone, opened the App Store, and did some tapping here and there. He glanced at Hanni, seeing she was phased or distracted by the sudden comment from Jisung's stream. Seeing as she wasn't uncomfortable, he dropped it.

"Do you guys want extra cheese in the tteokbokki?"

•

"It's so cool that so many people care about what you do." The two adults looked at Hanni in confusion, stopping their chewing to hear what she has to say. "I think it's cool that someone could mean so much to something that whenever you go live, they come to see. It's the same way Minho oppa seems to think about you because you're always here."

Jisung looked at Minho with soft eyes, causing the other to look away in embarrassment. "I told both of you that I don't like being noticed for my efforts. Just let me do them in peace."

"But you're genuinely such a good person," Jisung muttered, cheeks stuffed with food. "I... appreciate you."

"S-shut up..." Minho's face was burning red as he tried to ignore the mischievous pair. Jisung and Hanni glanced at one another, giggling as they silently devised a plan to embarrass the oldest. "I shouldn't be so nice to you two, you work on my nerves—"

"Hyung." Jisung reached over to Minho's free hand, taking it in his own and gently intertwining their fingers. "Thank you for... being there for me. Like, not even as a joke — I'm... glad I found someone that cares about me like you do."

"Wow... you two want some alone time?" Hanni teased, earning a quick glare from her best friend. "Just kidding. But it'd help if you didn't flirt at the dinner table. I'm still a kid."

Minho looked at Jisung for a mere second before avoiding his eyes in silent embarrassment. Jisung suddenly felt shy too, releasing Minho's hand and tending to his food once more. Hanni didn't take the silence as an awkward one, knowing that the two were just shy. She could see that their bond could only deepen from that point onward and would try to push them in the right direction.

"I'm going to head home after dinner," Jisung muttered, looking up at the older. "It's merely because Hanni's here, so... I'd rather spend the night in my own apartment."

"You sure?" Minho asked, earning a nod from the other. "I wanted to keep my eye on you to make sure you didn't... do anything I wouldn't want you to. Can I trust you for tonight?"

"Of course," Jisung nodded with a laugh. "I swear, I'll be fine. If I feel off, I'll just... call you."

A small smile spread over Minho's lips as he nodded. Hanni glanced up, catching a glimpse of the sweet eye contact the two made. She simply giggled to herself, occupying herself with the food laid put in front of her. Minho and Jisung both somehow felt confident in the direction of their friendship — no doubt they would realise how close they are and how much they need one another.

Hanni liked being nosey sometimes.