|| Dragon District || ~ 2P!China x Reader {C5}

Chapter Five: He’s the Jealous Type

    You were lying on Allen’s living room couch reading a book one summer afternoon. The sunlight filtered through the home’s drapes and casted a comfortable atmosphere. You were enjoying your time until Allen came over—blocking your ray of sunlight—and he scowled at you with his hands on his hips. “What are you doing?”

    You set your book down. “Reading a book. You should try it sometime.”

    He tilted his head at you. “Why are you reading a book at my house?”

    He had a point. “I don’t know…” You felt just at home here as in your own house and sometimes you forgot which you were in.

    He shrugged, “Well you can come chill here whenever you want, but for today…” He stared into your face and leaned down, “Get out unless you want to meet my friends.”

    His friends? Yikes. You immediately jumped up, and your book slid to the ground. “W-What? Are they coming?”

    “Duh, I invited them.”

    “Why?”

    He squinted his eyes at you in a ‘you’re-too-comfortable-here’ look. “I forgot you were here. And why are you so scared of them, anyway? Just meet them already.”

    You reached down to pick up your book and sighed. “What are they like? And how many are coming?”

    “Just two. One is fashion trash and the other is baking trash. They’re huge fuckin’ dorks. You’d like them.”

    Your jaw dropped. “They like… fashion and baking?”

    He pouted. “What did you think they’d like?”

    What they liked didn’t matter. You just hoped they were nice. “Uh… sure, I’ll meet them.”

    “Good. They’ll be here in five minutes.”

    You tried to read a bit more as you waited, but Allen turned on the TV so it was hard to focus. Soon after, the doorbell rang.

    “Did they really just… ring the doorbell?”

    Allen stood up and rolled his eyes, “They’re not barbarians.”

    You chuckled. For some reason, you’d expected them to just barge in. Maybe they’d be polite.

    To think they’d ‘be polite’ was apparently an understatement, you later realized.

    You were still sitting on the couch when Allen went up and opened the door. Voices immediately filled the hallway: “And I was like, ‘Honey, that’s just what you get when you double-cross me’. Oooh, ciao, babe! It’s been a while, hehe.”

    Your face twisted into a look of perplexity when you turned around and saw a sparkling blonde Italian affectionately wrap his arms around Allen. “You’re looking great as usual, darling!~ Still working out, hmmm?”

    “Flavio…” Allen groaned when the said male squeezed him tightly. “Careful, you’re gonna wrinkle your Gucci shirt.”

    “Ah, you’re right!” He cried in response and instantly let go of him, much to Allen’s approval.

    Unfortunately for him, the hugs weren’t over yet. “We’ve missed you, poppet!” From your hiding spot (?) behind the couch, you noticed a shorter boy with strawberry-blonde hair and freckles greet him cheerfully.

    “What’s up with your girly nicknames for me… both of you…” He grumbled.

    “It’s because we love you, Allen dear!~” The one with the British accent basically hug-tackled him, and they looked so animated together that you could have sworn you saw fluttering hearts surround them.

    The obviously Italian one whipped off his orange Aviator sunglasses and peered in your direction. “So who’s this cutie playing hide-and-seek with us?”

    You stumbled away from the couch, “U-Um…” You fixed your clothing, which had shifted due to the sudden movement. As you looked at them properly, you almost felt underdressed. Allen was only wearing a white tank top and black basketball shorts, but his friends looked ready for a freakin’ photoshoot.

    More specifically, the one named Flavio looked like he was scheduled to strut down a catwalk. His hair was golden blonde and styled precisely, how else did he get that cute heart-shaped curl to stand out? He was wearing attention-seeking clothes with designer logos, namely Gucci and Prada. His round pink irises were most notable though, along with his multi-colored scarf. This must be the ‘fashion trash’ Allen was talking about, you recalled.

    He waved at you, wiggling his ringed fingers. “Hi there bella, what is your name?”

    You smiled at him. Both he and the other boy seemed very friendly and sweet. “I’m _____, Allen’s neighbor.”

    He grinned back, “No need to hide from us sugar; we don’t bite.~”

    Allen crossed his arms and snorted. “And she was seriously afraid to meet you guys. Isn’t that hilarious?”

    Flavio laughed and you shot Allen a look. “I wasn’t ‘afraid’…!”

    Luckily, the other friend interrupted the potential teasing. “’Ello! I’ve heard so much about you, Miss _____! Allen really adores you, don’t you know? It is so cute, I swear it! He always talks abou—”

    Teeth clenched, Allen stepped over and karate-chopped the Brit’s head before he could finish. “-Shut up Oliver.”

    In response, Oliver tearfully rubbed his head. “Ouchies…”

    Allen casted you a sideways glance, “…You heard nothin’.” He grumbled with a pout.

    “A-Anyhoo…” Oliver fixed his near-pink hair and turned to face you, “It’s such a pleasure to meet you! I do hope we can be friends.” He sent you the most sugary smile you’ve ever seen in your life and you knew right at that moment that you would treasure such a precious friend.

    “Hey girl, you should already know that we’re on your side. If any bitches give you trouble, Flavi’s got your back, kay-kay?” Flavio blew you a kiss and Oliver nodded happily.

    You gigged a bit, “Sure, thanks.”

    With new friends like these, you knew living here in Chinatown just got a bit more interesting.

    The four of you were lounging on the living room couches as you chatted about anything and everything. These people were definitely a talkative bunch, and the conversations went from complaining to fanboying to debating to reminiscing to laughing and swapping stories. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about, and the conversations flowed in the most simple of ways.

    The way Allen, Oliver, and Flavio talked made it obvious that they’d all known each other most of their lives, grew up together, hung out often, never lost touch and always were comfortable around each other. They were so open about how they felt—not hiding a single thought. Allen even let go of that ‘badass’ façade that he usually kept up around strangers or even Zao. With Oliver and Flavio, he was completely himself. Still an asshole, but he didn’t mind showing his softer, calmer (and sometimes even affectionate), side among them.

    Naturally, you saw this side of him all the time, but only when you were alone with him. It was nice to see him act this way around other people, and you regretted never agreeing to meet Oliver and Flavio till now. All this time you could have already spent with them, getting to know them more…-

    “-And that’s how I found out Lutz was allergic to shellfish. Can you believe it?” Oliver cupped his cheeks with his hands and peered at you. “Hm, Miss _____? Are you quite alright? You’ve been spacing throughout the course of my story…”

    “Oh… yeah, totally.” You looked into his face, and his eyes met yours. “…Wow,” You breathed. For the first time since he walked in, you noticed his unique and eccentric pair of eyes—

    His large, round, sky-blue irises shined with an innocent sparkle. More intriguingly, there were neon pink swirls around the blues. His eyelashes were thick and strawberry-blonde, framing his mesmerizing eyes that reminded you of a circus. His clothes seemed to match his iris hues; a sky-blue bowtie was around his neck and over his white dress shirt was a pink sweater vest.

    “Oliver… your eyes are stunning.”

    He grinned at your admiration, which only made his cute freckles more prominent. “Thank you very much, sweetheart! Yours are lovely as well, of course.~”

    Allen, who was sitting on your left (contrary to Oliver who was on your right), made a mock noise of surprise. “No way, _____ is actually checking out someone else besides Zao?” He purposely jaw-dropped and rose a hand to his parted lips, “Shocker.”

     You felt blood rush to your cheeks at Allen’s teasing, and it got worse when both Flavio and Oliver gasped in the most un-manliest of ways. “Excuse me what?!” Flavio practically shrieked.

    “Madam, you have a crush on that opium-addicted exhibitionist?!” Oliver looked genuinely surprised. “He is one of my best friends, but I never imagined him to be your type…”

    Allen laughed quietly. “You’re calling Zao an exhibitionist, but I think we know who the real one is…” He raised an eyebrow in Flavio’s direction.

    The Italian immediately waved it off, “Yes yes of course, but back the fuck up?!” He slid over the coffee table that had been separating you from him and got in your face, “Honey do you seriously like Zao?” He was glowing with excitement and clasping his hands together, as if prepared to jump for joy and clap his hands at your answer.

    Suddenly, a memory of your first day in Chinatown with Allen came to mind.

    “Ohhhhhh MAN!” He laughed energetically, “You wouldn’t want Flavio to hear of this, ahahaha! He’ll literally go full fanboy and force you two to get together.”

    “…Oh god.” You facepalmed.

    “EeeeEEEEEEEEI!” Flavio squealed as he pulled away from you and twirled around. “You do like Zao!~”

    Oliver giggled cheerily, “How adorable! He’ll be so happy that someone really actually likes him for once, hehe!”

    Your blushing intensified as you protested, “N-No, you’ve got it all wrong! I never said I liked him… and, don’t tell him that either!”

    “But why ever not?” Flavio blinked excessively at you with a fake angel grin on his lips. “I can set you two up real easy~”

    “No—”

    “-She’s still in denial,” Allen interrupted.

    Oliver leaned into you, “Wait a tic… don’t tell me you still haven’t sorted out your feelings for him?”

    His accurate question that you indeed wanted to deny only made the heat on your skin worsen. “…I-I don’t have any feelings for him…!”

    “You hesitated.” Allen monotonously stated.

    Okay… I can’t deny that I get nervous around him… you thought to yourself, trying to calm down a bit. Just the thought of him makes me nervous…! And then there’s what he told me last time we talked… he opened up to me, and I…

    “Oh my goodness gracious, what if he likes you too?” Oliver was twirling a strand of pink hair as he smiled at no one in particular.

    “I don’t think that’s true, and besides, I… h-hey Flavio, what are you doing…?” Your voice rose in suspicion as you saw the blonde texting away on his floral-cased iPhone. He had been too into the conversation to get distracted now…

    He looked up bashfully. “I… may or may not have just invited him to Allen’s to hang out with us.”

    “…You what!?” You were internally screaming. Fuckfuckfuck. You just knew that they were going to tease you and then make it obvious about how you felt towards him. “Flavio, you better not tell him anything about this!” By now, your face felt like it had set aflame.

    He giggled down at his phone, “And he’s nearby too! How convenient.~”

    After a moment, you groaned and fell face-down into the couch. Or at least, you’d intended to.

    You’d completely forgotten that Allen was slouching right next to you, and you wound up face-planting into his lap. “Guuuuh…” Frankly, you were too mortified already to care.

    Instead of making fun of you further, he seemed to give a bit of sympathy. “Told’ya not to let Flavio know.” He chuckled as he nonchalantly began petting your hair.

    “…It’s literally all your fault he found out,” You mumbled irritably into his basketball shorts.

    “Now when he comes in, let’s conduct an experiment,” Flavio began, but basically only Oliver was listening. He didn’t seem to notice. “_____ still isn’t sure about her feelings for Zao, yes?”

    “Flavio…” You warned, but your face was still hidden in Allen’s lap. You seemed to have no energy for arguing today, especially with all that embarrassment taking up your mental stamina.

    He began whispering into Oliver’s ear, and Allen was halfheartedly scrolling through Facebook as you laid there to regain your dignity. Or at least until you weren’t blushing anymore from their Zao teasing, which seemed to go a long way.

    You weren’t sure how much time passed, but it didn’t feel long. Soon after, the front door swung open. Unlike Oliver and Flavio, he wasn’t classy enough to ring the doorbell. “Yo yo yo, what is up?”

    You squeaked and shot up, but it was too late—Zao had already seen you lying on Allen’s lap. “N-Nothing.” You had a serious case of the jitters and they caused you to believe he’d been asking only you the question, which obviously he hadn’t. It bugged you that you’d responded as if being accused of something when you answered.

    Zao gave you a bewildered look. “…Were you just blowing him?”

    Flavio busted into a fit of laughter, Oliver wrinkled his nose in disgust and Allen threw his phone. He frantically pointed down, “Shorts. Are. On.”

    “Oh…” Zao looked dazed for a moment.

    Oliver gave him a sly smile that honestly didn’t fit his sweet face. “Would you be jelly if she was, Zao-muffin?”

    “Huh…” He turned his confused stare to the pinkette and took a step back.

    Flavio was examining his nails as he mentioned, “You should have seen how close they were this entire afternoon.~”

    Allen looked amused. He smirked at you before joining his friends in their ‘experiment’, “Can’t help that she’s so cute and obedient.”

    Even though it was embarrassing, you were intrigued to see such an array of new expressions on Zao’s face. You’d never seen him look this puzzled or bothered by anything, and it made it better to know all these new looks were because of you. Still… “Don’t listen to them, Zao…”

    He stood his ground. “What’s going on here?”

    Oliver dusted off imaginary angel wings, “Not a thing poppet, what gave you the idea that something was amiss?”

    By now, he knew they were acting strangely. “...Guys—”

    “-Jealous yet?” Flavio analyzed him, searching his anatomy up and down for envious body language.

    Whatever they’re trying to do, they suck at it… you realized after a few seconds of silence.

    “About what?”

    Flavio flipped his hair and laughed, “That _____ and Allen are fucking!”

    The outburst made your face burn ten shades of red all over again. “L-Lies!” You sputtered.

    Zao didn’t say anything for a moment. He was barely in the doorway. And this is how we greeted him. We’re horrible… you felt guilty, but you weren’t the one who started this.

    He looked down to the carpet, the brim of his hat shading his eyes. “Is that what this is about…” He must have figured out this was why Flavio called him over. He knew the Italian fashionisto was always thirsty for gossip and showing off when he knew ‘juicy things’ before anyone else.

    “Zao, they’re just kidding around! Me and Allen aren’t a thing.” You got off the couch and faced him. Why does it feel like I’m apologizing to him? We’re not a couple either…

    But looking at his face, you knew exactly why you were telling him this. The visible hurt that crossed his face made it evident that this teasing made him feel a sort of pain that made your heart pound. Does this mean he’s jealous?

    The hints of discomfort were gone as soon as he could mask them. He smiled at you in an eerie way, “…You sure you don’t like Allen?”

    If the metaphor was real, you would have thought you felt a piece of your heart shatter. “Of course?!”

    “I hear you’re at his place all the time…” His features looked shaken.

    “What do you think she’s usually doing here?” Flavio was thumbing through his phone. “They sure are convenient neighbors.”

    He’s taking this too far! Obviously Flavio didn’t know when he was going over the joke’s limit. Didn’t he understand that Zao…—

    That Zao what?

    You didn’t even know yourself.

    But you knew that you didn’t like putting fake stories into his mind.

    “Convenient…” He repeated. He wouldn’t look at you. “I always wondered about that, actually.”

    How many times did you need to say this? “I’ve never done anything with A—”

    “-I just remembered I have a thing.” Without waiting for you to respond, he threw the door open again and bolted out.

    “Zao wait!” Allen was the first to stand up and call after him.

    “Come back—” By the time you made it out the door, you saw that he was already down the street. He probably couldn’t hear you. With a heavy sigh, you trudged back inside.

    “I… was not expecting that type of reaction from him…” Oliver murmured in visible incredulity.

    Allen shot him a dirty look, “What kind of reaction were you expecting from him? Don’t you know it hurts to find out the girl you like is into someone else?” He quickly glanced at you from over his shoulder, “And don’t worry, I know it’s not true. But Zao doesn’t.”

    “Well…” Flavio laughed nervously. “A-At least we know Zao’s definitely got something for you, _____...”

    Allen irritably pushed the Italian’s shoulder. “What the hell, man? That was kinda fucked up.”

    Allowing Allen to do the scolding, you sank back down to the couch. You couldn’t stop thinking about Zao and how hurt he must have felt. You already knew about his home troubles, and didn’t this just make everything worse for him?

    This really hurts me too… you realized. Zao, I’m sorry…

    Two days later, you still hadn’t heard from Zao. You hadn’t seen him around town either.

    Oliver and Flavio had tried calling him multiple times, but he never picked up the phone. They knew they had upset him and they felt horrible for it. “We want to apologize to him…” Flavio kept saying. “But he won’t even give us the chance…”

    You couldn’t stay angry at them for long, especially after you saw how genuinely bad they felt. They’re not bullies… you thought to yourself, they do care about him and worry about him. They’re probably as close with him as they are with Allen.

    You felt uneasy whenever you thought about how Zao wouldn’t talk to you either. I wonder what he’s been up to.

    Currently, you were at a restaurant with your family. It was an elegant four-star place right in the heart of Chinatown. Your father raised his glass over the table, “A toast to good luck in our new home.”

    Your glass clinked with his, along with your mother’s.

    They had started their new jobs today, and everyone was completely settled into the house. “It wasn’t so bad moving here, right _____?” Your father asked you, a hopeful look in his eye.

    Your mother watched you closely as well. They truly hoped you were okay with the move.

    “I…” –already have some amazing friends that I’ve already gotten some drama with, plus met a few other interesting characters. “-I like it a lot. The people here are great.”

    After dinner, you were trailing behind your parents out of the restaurant’s exit when you noticed someone leaning beside the doorway.

    He looks familiar. He was shrouded in shadows and dressed in all black. You slowed just as the raven-haired enigma stood up straight and faced you. “Excuse me. You’re _____, aren’t you?”

    You came to a full stop and looked him up and down. Yup, those red eyes and jet-black hair were unmistakable. “…Yeah! And… you’re one of Zao’s roommates, aren’t you?”

    Your parents heard you talking and craned their heads to you, but continued walking to the car. “Oh, another friend? How nice. We’ll be on our way, but come back home before nine, okay _____?” Your mother waved goodbye to both you and your ‘friend’.

    How can they be so chill about everything… you briefly wondered before you recalled you were lucky to have such laidback parents. “Sure, okay.”

    As soon as they were gone, the boy narrowed his intimidating eyes at you. “_____. Listen to me. You need to talk to Zao.”

    “Uh okay,” You held up a hand to keep him from talking, “First, you should know that my friends and I have tried talking to him like, a bunch of times. Second… um, what’s your name again?”

    He tilted his head at you and monotonously answered, “I’m Kuro. Remember?”

    You averted your gaze, “Right. So, what’s up with Zao? He hasn’t been answering his phone.”

    Kuro started walking. “Follow me.”

    He basically led you into an anarchy.

    The house was a mess, loud music was pounding through the walls, people were in and out of the place and constant smoke was billowed into the air by cigarettes or blunts. Mostly blunts.

    Once you got to their living room, you spotted Jin playing with a lighter and a can of air freshener. Placing the spewing chemicals by the lit ember, a large blaze of fire immediately shot two feet outwards. “Ahahahaha!” He laughed maniacally at the dangerous flame thrower-like result.

    “Jin!” You ran over to him, “Stop that! You’re gonna burn the house down.”

    Yonsu suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, a pipe between his lips. “Wouldn’t be the first time he did that, heh.”

    Kuro joined the circle and demanded, “Where is he? Tell him I brought her.”

    Jin saluted, “Aye, imperial ruler!” He dashed off and called over his shoulder, “By the way, hi _____! Nice to see you again, hehe!”

    Yonsu eyed you down. “Sup? We’ve all missed you.”

    You were too busy looking around to answer him. “Why are all these people here? Just because you guys live alone, you throw parties every night or something…?”

    Kuro shook his head. “These people have nowhere else to go, the same as we did. The least we can do is allow them to have some fun here for a while.”

    “Plus, it gets lonely, and I’ve got hella drugs to spare.” Yonsu snorted, which led to a bit of coughing from the smoke that had still been in his lungs.

    So this place is basically a hideout for runaways? You shook off the thought. “Anyway…” You looked away from him and faced the most adult-like person in the room, which was unfortunately sixteen-year-old Kuro. “You brought me here to talk to Zao, right? Why couldn’t he have answered one of my calls?”

    “Got him!” Jin was dragging Zao by the arm. “Careful, he’s all huggy and kissy when he’s been drinking this much.” With no other warning, Jin pushed him towards you.

    “Zao…!” You gasped in surprised when he stumbled into your arms.

    “Kittennnnnnn!~” He cooed, taking advantage of his security in your arms and nuzzling his warm face into your neck. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in,” –hic, “-foreverrrrr…” He squeezed his arms around your waist and purred into your neck.

    You snapped your head back up to Kuro and silently worded What the HELL?

    “He’s been a mess like this because of you. Just fix things already so he’ll stop drinking. He’s annoying when he’s drunk—more so than usual.”

    “I’m a kitten too; don’t you want to pet me?” He giggled and rubbed his soft hair against you. “Touch me pretty please, meowwww~”

    “Umm… are you okay?” You tried to pull away from him, but he caught your wrist.

    “The emperor kitty’s not okay!” He wailed tearfully, “_____, _____...” He roughly cupped your face and pulled you into him. “Do you really like him? Do you like Allen?!” His voice was desperate, panicked, and slurred.

    “I told you already…” The scent of alcohol wafted from him and you turned away slightly. “I don’t like Allen. Not in that way, at least.” The best thing to do was stay calm and collected around him. Also use short sentences.

    “Y-You don’t?” His pretty eyes widened in surprise, delight, and bewilderment all at the same time. His cheeks were already tinted pink from the intoxication, and his hat was missing. Without it, his brown hair was messier than usual and a few strands poked out in random places.

    He let out a sob and fell to his knees, “Thank godddddddddd—”

    Trying not to laugh, you lowered yourself to the ground as well. “Stop drinking so much. You’re not being yourself. Okay?”

    “My normal self is a kitty,” He gave you an adorable pout, “And you haven’t petted me yet.”

    “So… you’re not mad at Flavio and Oliver? Where’s your phone?” To get him to shut up about being a cat, you halfheartedly ran your fingers through his hair.

    He made a happy noise and nodded, “My phone? I lost it.” He was still grinning as he told you the unfortunate news.

    “So…” You knew you had to repeat the other question. “You’re not mad at me, or Flavio or Oliver…?”

    He inhaled sharply, “I could never be mad at my darling!” He began crawling towards you, “Oh… and I-I’m sorry I ran away! I was sad because I thought you didn’t like me!” He lunged into your lap and hugged your waist, burying his face into your legs. “I just like you so much and it made me really really jealous and sad ‘cause I thought you liked Allen…” His drunken voice was muffled, but you felt a heat rush through your body at what he’d just said.

    Did he really just admit to…?

    You looked up, and sure enough, Kuro was watching. He’d heard it too. “…You shouldn’t be so surprised?” He raised an eyebrow at you as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

    Did Zao really just say… still, you couldn’t believe it. And it was while he was drunk too-! “Zao, get up…”

    Instead, he held you tighter. You felt his lips brush against the tender skin of your inner thigh. “Mmf… you’re so warm and soft…”

    Your heart pounded against your chest and you felt a shiver run down your body. His lips felt so good, especially while in an erogenous zone such as there. “H-Hey… you should get off me…” Weak protest. You tried to close your legs, but you ended up feeling more of his face on the flesh of your inner legs. I shouldn’t have worn shorts…

    “Oh, I know! We should kiss!~” He rose his head up and instead, he leaned into your face. “I’ve thought about kissing you every day since you got here, isn’t that funny? Let’s make it happen, hoo hah!”

    “I…” Your arms felt weak, and if you weren’t already on the floor then you guessed your legs would have gave out by now. “We can’t…!”

    Honestly, you almost didn’t want to stop him. But you knew you couldn’t do this—he wasn’t even sober. Will he remember that he said he liked me when he’s normal again? You guessed that he wouldn’t. Even if I want to kiss him, I can’t let this happen right now…

    Without warning, you stood up. “Come here. I’ll put you to bed.”

    He allowed you to grab his hand and pull him off the floor. “Will you kiss me goodnight?”

    “…Maybe.”

    “Yeyyyyyyyy!~” Gleefully, he threw his arms up in the air and ran in the direction of his bedroom. Of course, he stumbled a few times and almost ran into a wall about twice, but that was a given seeing as he was still drunk off his ass.

    By the time you navigated your way through the hallway and eventually found Zao’s room, he was already passed out on the bed.

    “You lame dork…” You whispered to his knocked-out form. “You’ll pay for this later.”

    You pulled out your phone to call Flavio and tell him what’s been going on with Zao (that he’d basically been shutting himself away in his house while drinking his sorrows away for two days straight), but a certain mumbling caught your attention.

    It was Zao. Slumbering in an awkward and ungraceful position—complete with one arm falling off the side of the bed—he murmured in his sleep, “One… kiss… just gimme one kiss…”

    As if in a trance, you slid your phone back into your pocket.

    Moments later, you fell into a fit of laughter.

    You weren’t surprised when your loud volume did nothing to wake up Zao.

    Still grinning, you said aloud, “…What am I gonna do with you?”