Feathers and Carnations

Chapter Thirteen

"Alright, you wanna be like that?" Seungmin slapped a card onto the table. "Take this."

Minho groaned, and Jisung glared at the card now face up on the table. "How long have you been holding onto that?"

Seungmin grinned lazily. "I've had it since we started."

"I may have you demoted," Minho grumbled, drawing a few cards from the thinning pile in the center of the gaming table.

"You're just salty that I'm winning."

The three of them were playing a game they invented that was a cross between Uno and something new altogether. It was a chaotic, confusing game, but it was fun nonetheless.

After a deal with Solswor went south, they took a step back from their plans with the mafia to lie low for a time and continue only small operations. With less to do, Seungmin and Minho were at the house for a good chunk of the day, and over the last two and half weeks of doing the same things, the three of them invented this game that Jisung decided to call 'Rage Inducer'. At the moment, Minho was a testament to the name.

"I swear you two are against me."

Jisung chuckled. "We are, you were a beast last time."

Minho smirked.

Seungmin slapped his hand over his boss' mouth. "Please don't flirt while I'm sitting right here."

"Are you not already used to it?" Jisung asked as he took his turn. Over the weeks, it became a joke that Minho turned everything into something dirty like a twelve year-old, and he'd taken it very seriously. Jisung didn't really consider it flirting, but he had to admit there were a few times he got flustered. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud. Seungmin wouldn't let him hear the end of it.

Minho's gaze moved to Jisung. "If I decided to truly flirt with you, Jisung, you would know it, and you wouldn't be able to resist it."

Jisung willed himself not to blush. He wasn't entirely sure what changed over the past few days, but he found himself reacting to Minho in ways he wasn't used to. He hadn't really noticed a change until he ran into Minho the other day, who was only wearing a towel after getting out of a shower. He'd gone red and lost the ability to form coherent thoughts. After that, he questioned why he reacted in such a way, and now every time he caught the don staring at him, his heart raced.

"I doubt that, Minho."

Seungmin dropped another card. "I believe that's the game, gentlemen."

Minho tsked, tossing his remaining cards down. "I should have known it would turn out this way. You were so smug the whole time."

"That's because he decided to cheat before we even started," Jisung added to the argument.

"You're just a bunch of sore losers. Now which loser is going to make me dinner?"

"Jisung would love to," Minho offered, smiling at the mentioned loser in a subtly threatening way.

"Excuse you, this dead man can't waste precious energy wandering a kitchen for an hour." Jisung kicked Minho's foot in emphasis.

"You're pulling that excuse again?"

"Hello, I've fainted several times in the past few weeks."

Seungmin nodded. "He's got a point there, bossman."

"And Soo would probably kill us both," Jisung added.

Minho's eyes narrowed as he tilted his head. "Yeah, you're definitely teamed up against me. Do I need to prepare for a mutiny?"