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"What are you going to the toilet to go make out with Lucas?!" Max mocked, eliciting a wave of laughter from around the table.
Pangi rolled his eyes, "No, I just had too much coffee with my pancakes."
And if he got the chance to kiss his boyfriend while he was away from their friends, then that was none of their business.
See, Pangi and Lukey had planned this trip since Lukey's birthday. Pangi's Big December Trip around the UK: going to PR events and Lukey's boat and finally getting the proper Brighton experience, all before Christmas day itself where they'd take the train to Lukey's parents' house and he'd get to meet Lukey's family.
He'd been enjoying the trip so far. He loved the experience of London at Christmastime; the streets bustling with life, and the skies illuminated with intricate lighting fixtures. Most importantly, however, was that London gave them lots and lots of private time.
Thing is, as much as the thing between Pangi and Lukey was an open secret, the true nature of this thing - the fact it was an established relationship, rather than the obnoxious flirting and typical obsessiveness that those around them had gotten used to - still was theirs to hide. The only people who knew were their families and their closest, most trustworthy, friends.
This meant London was good. London was safe. They could be as intimate as they liked in London and no-one around them would bat an eye. Brighton on the other hand? Brighton was a minefield. As such, Pangi and Lukey were forced to steal satisfaction in the little moments, letting their hands brush together "on accident" and forcing themselves to keep all kissing related activities to the privacy of Lukey's apartment (a very difficult task, in Pangi's opinion).
With that in mind, maybe, just maybe the fact that Lukey was also in the bathroom was one of Pangi's motivations for going to the toilet. But, it wasn't the only reason.
So, Pangi got up from his seat, walked around the table, petting Muffin the sausage dog as he passed, and headed to the corridor in the corner where the door to the kitchens and the toilets were.
And, right as he hit the entryway, bumped right into none other than one Lucas Osborn, who seemingly hadn't gotten the telepathic memo Pangi was trying to send him to spend as much time in the bathroom as possible so they could spend some private time in there. Stupid hamster boyfriend.
They didn't cause much of a commotion about bumping into each other. They barely even made a sound about it, in fact. And yet, the second they did a cry came from the table Pangi had just approached from.
"Go on, Lucas!" Jonnaay called, "I know you wanna!"
"Kiss him!" Molly added, seemingly in agreement.
Pangi looked back at the table. What the fuck were they on about. He looked back at Lukey's face, desperately searching for a sign of why his friends had all of a sudden gotten so pushy, only to see Lukey looking up at the ceiling with his stupid smirk that Pangi loved to kiss off his face. Too bad that'd be giving their friends what they want. Following Lukey's gaze, Pangi also looked up and…
Oh.
Mistletoe.
First of all, Pangi would like to announce that mistletoe is stupid. It's a dumb tradition that pressures people into kissing others without any care for consent or awkwardness. Usually, under the mistletoe, Pangi would pointedly laugh it off and dodge the person, ignoring the way every other person in the room would treat this failure to adhere to tradition. Second of all, this was a stupid place to put mistletoe. The entryway to a restaurant bathroom? Is that not the most unhygienic place to kiss someone? Not only that, but it was inevitable someone would end up kissing a weird stranger.
But, kissing Lukey was already on his plans right now. Besides, he looked really cute today and especially cute right in this moment, with the fairy lights the pancake bar was adorned with highlighting his features in just the right places. Maybe he could break his own PDA rules on this one occasion.
Luckily, Lukey was seemingly a couple steps ahead of him, already leaning in for the kiss, so Pangi simply had to meet him halfway. He pointedly ignored the wolf-whistles and jeers of his friends when their lips finally met.
Kissing Lukey was always good. In fact, it was one of Pangi's favourite things to do! But, kissing Lukey in front of an unwanted audience was new.
There were so many rules to trying to kiss without making it too obvious they did this regularly. The kiss couldn't be too long; couldn't be deepened; couldn't be anything more than a chaste peck. Pangi couldn't even let himself relax himself into the kiss, despite every muscle in his body yearning to do so. It sucked.
It was over before it began and Pangi took a steadying breath before turning and continuing back toward the toilet, his hand hesitating over the door handle.
"So are you two dating now?" Freddie laughed loudly back at the table, voice carrying clearly through the relatively quiet pancake place.
Lukey giggled, and Pangi could hear the smugness in his voice without seeing his face, he knew his boyfriend that well, "Nah. Me and Sem? Never!"
Pangi snorted at his boyfriend's antics and opened the door.
Thirty minute later, they had all left the pancake bar and started heading to their respective homes.
"That mistletoe kiss was awful" Pangi groaned, finally allowing himself to let the character drop and show his true thoughts.
Lukey put on a mock-offended tone, "So I'm a bad kisser now, am I? That's not what you were saying last nigh-"
"What are we saying!?" Pangi sighed, "You know exactly what I mean."
"Okay" Lukey rolled his eyes, "I can make up for it when we're home?"
"Bet"