Chapter Text
It was their second party of the night, and it ought to have been completely unextraordinary.
In a way, it was. The stars shone no brighter; the weight of the world didn't immediately melt off his shoulders; he didn't fall in love; he didn't save the world. It was a catalyst. Not for Greater Things, perhaps, but important in an irrevocable sort of way. Changkyun often wondered what would have happened if they'd met any differently. If then, perhaps, things could have been different, and if he ever really wanted anything to be different. It was, the night and most things that came with it was, in irrefutable fact, a complete disaster, but most importantly, it was the start of a turning point in the life of Im Changkyun, and, if he were to be really honest with himself, he barely remembered any of it.
It all came down to a decision, all of which could be traced back to sitting next to Jooheon in his first ever lecture, but that wasn't exactly a decision (it was the only available seat, after all). Lee Jooheon, having decided a month or two after their initial meeting, with Changkyun deciding to go along, had dragged him and Lee Hoseok (better known as Wonho) to a twenty first birthday party earlier that night. Jooheon had made a pretty solid case for it, too; words filled with promises of potential Student Life memories and booze, only to steal most of the food there and get moderately tipsy. Enough so to think that ditching that particular party and going to a club was The Best Idea ever, so here they were.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
There were too many people. Changkyun couldn’t hear anything over the repetitive club music, so loud that he could almost feel him ruin his chances of hearing anything at the age of fifty. The floor was dirty with spilled drinks, and the skirts too short and the boys too eager, but most of all, it was obvious that Jooheon really, really wanted him to drink this shot of tequila.
“I don’t wanna,” Changkyun pouted, and so did Jooheon. Unfortunately Changkyun was at a bit of a disadvantage, as Jooheon also made his eyes all big (honestly, how did he do that) and Changkyun was a weak, weak man. A weak, weak man, who ended up drinking at least three of the things he didn’t remotely want entering his body in the first place.
After three shots of tequila, some brandy, what must have been wine, and a very pink drink he would totally order again if he could remember what the damn thing was called, Changkyun didn’t seem to care much anymore about what Jooheon asked him to do or drink anymore.
“Oh, my God, it’s you!” Wonho (where the frackadoodle had he come from?) suddenly screeched from next to him. Changkyun, having a bit of a delayed reaction to the outburst, only jumped when the elusive ‘you’ was dragged along by his mildly intoxicated, usually very shy but now totally inhibited, friend.
“Changkyun!” Wonho screamed excitedly over the bass drop. “Kyunnie, this is Hyunwoo! He’s a DJ, Daniel.”
“Daaaaaamn,” Changkyun replied in a higher octave than necessary, eyes widening. “So you’re playing this song, right now?”
“Uhm. No?” The tall, muscled man Wonho had introduced as Hyunwoo laughed, only looking slightly concerned about Changkyun's mental state.
Changkyun, in turn, nodded and blinked languidly. “Right, you’re stando-standing right here, why would you be—“ Changkyun giggled. “Fucking good, too, this song sucks.”
Changkyun looked back to them, Hyunwoo looking highly amused and Wonho reminiscent of a hyper puppy. Wonho hung off Hyunwoo’s arm, grinning widely.
“Did you come alone?”
Hyunwoo shook his head, to which Wonho screeched; “Minhyukkie?!”
Changkyun didn’t know what a Minhyukkie was, but that woman behind them was wearing a really very shiny dress. Really, quite shiny.
Hyunwoo nodded, unperturbed by Changkyun seemingly losing all interest in their conversation. “Kihyun, too.”
“NO! Really?” Wonho giggled. “Oh, my god, how?! Did you threaten his kitchen appliances or something?”
"Nah, he said we'd all get ourselves killed if he didn't come along," Hyunwoo smiled, looking somewhat smug.
"Typical."
Changkyun blinked and turned his attention (so shiny) back to the two.
“Hyunwoo, what’s a 'Minhyukkie'?” Changkyun asked. At which Wonho detached himself from Hyunwoo’s arm (after biting it? How drunk was he?) and hopped over to Changkyun.
“You’ve got to meet him! Kihyun, too. If we can find him, that is,” Wonho laughed, and so did Changkyun even though he was pretty sure he didn’t get the joke. Changkyun watched as the two boys exchanged a few more words (“Words are so weird, man,” Changkyun mumbled to himself, wondering when this club had installed spinning floors. “They’re just sounds. Is a fart a word?”) before Wonho dragged him across the spinning floor to where a lot of people were dancing.
“Overpopulation is a growing world issue, y'know,” Changkyun yelled (a necessity) after a moment of being dragged along, as he had just brushed at least five butts with his own butt on the way to the middle of the crowd and wasn't too happy about it. “It’s like 14 billion cheeks, man.”
“Butt or face?” a blonde boy with a bright smile and skin covered in glitter (Changkyun squinted. Did he sweat glitter?) asked him.
“Both!" Changkyun replied over the loud music. "Are you a Minhyukkie?”
“I am!” he squealed over the still shitty music, before jumping at Wonho, arms open wide.
“Wonho! Oh, my God, it’s been ages, dance with me!”
Wonho gladly complied, laughing as he pulled Minhyuk onto a table and Changkyun wondered idly if those kind of hip movements were technically legal in public. Feeling moderately dirty watching his friend do what can only be half a strip show and wave his shirt around, Changkyun wandered around the crowd of sweaty, moving bodies. The strobe lights flashing barely allowed for any sort of sight, never mind trying to actually find any of his friends, so Changkyun decided that you know what, fuck it, I am shitfaced and in the middle of a dance floor with no chance of escape, I am going to dance.
He tried, he really did.
Very quickly, a dance circle formed.
Not at all because the boy was impressive in the way he moved his body about, more that it was absolutely hilarious to watch. Changkyun had started to dance and had quickly realized that he didn’t know what the hell he was doing and had therefore decided that he might as well roll with it, because he liked making people laugh and if his body spasms could do that, then so be it.
Someone—he was about ninety three percent sure it was Jooheon—had joined him, and soon enough, everyone was trying to outdo the other in whatever weird dance they could think of. A pink-haired boy had entered the circle at some point. Said boy might have been pushed in but that was besides the point, because after turning a really impressive shade or red, he whipped out the absolute best robot dance Changkyun had ever seen. Changkyun’s attempt to copy him had left both of them in stitches, the other boy seemingly falling on himself in laughter. Changkyun did his best to catch him, but tripped, and they both went down laughing. Changkyun wiped the tears from his eyes, untangling himself to get a better look at him, but the boy was gone.
Changkyun wasn't exactly sure why this fact upset him.
“Dude, you’re fucking trashed,” Jooheon laughed in his ear suddenly, picking him up from the floor and steering him out of the mesh of people and to the outside. It was cool, but not freezing, and the stars were really close.
"No, those are fairylights,” Jooheon answered what Changkyun hadn't realized he'd actually voiced. He lead Changkyun over to one of the low walls by the entrance arch, fairylights strung across the line of trees that separated the outside of the club from the street, rose bushes at their barks. Changkyun kept staring at the fairylights.
“They’re too close," Changkyun pointed out as he was sat down. "We’re all going to burn to death, Jooheon.”
Jooheon paused, buttoning up Changkyun's shirt. When had that happened. “You’re a very interesting drunk, do you know that?”
Changkyun’s eyes widened, turning to Jooheon as he leaned forwards. “I’m drunk?”
“Yeeees," Jooheon said, deliberately slow. "And I’m pretty sure you used your jacket for your dance as a Matador of the Shitfaced, so I’m going to go try find that for you, okay?”
“No bulls were hurt in the dancing of this--” Changkyun swayed, tipped backwards, Jooheon tipped him back again, leaning him against the archway. “--Was I dancing, just now?”
“Have you never drunk before? Holy shit,” Jooheon ran a hand through his short, dark red hair, looking amused but also appropriately worried for his best friend, before snapping his snapback back in place, looking determined. “Don’t move, okay?”
Changkyun groaned, squinting at his best friend as he leaned against the wall. “Can’t just one of you go?”
Jooheon laughed and patted him on the shoulder with a “Be right back, buddy,” before disappearing back into the club.
Changkyun stared at the entrance to the club. It kept moving. The doors wouldn’t stay shut and they made a lot of noise when they opened, like there was a really loud dog that barked shitty electronic music every time you pet it. Or something.
The doors opened again and oh my god.
Changkyun stood up, pointed directly at the Pink-Haired Robot Dance Boy and yelled “Hamster!”, before losing his balance and promptly falling backwards over the small wall and into a rose bush. Or two.
“Ow,” Changkyun said matter-of-factly from his new spot in the rose bush. He was resolutely not moving. Moving was bad.
After a moment, the pink haired boy was suddenly much closer, his face an odd combination of scolding and amusement as he, in the prettiest voice Changkyun had ever heard, yelled at him reprimandly. “I'm not a-- What the hell were you thinking?!”
Changkyun reached out pathetically, making grabby hands into the air. “Help me, hyung, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
“Oh, for the love of...” Pink-Haired Boy groaned before grabbing hold of an arm and helping Changkyun out of the bush and back to his spot on the low wall. He was grumbling softly to himself as he picked thorns off Changkyun's clothes.
Changkyun blinked at him. “My hero.”
The boy frowned, “How much have you had to drink, kid?”
Changkyun thought about it. “Many.”
“You’ve had many to drink? How much is many?”
“Just like,” he waved his hand around. “A bunch. Now sit down,” Changkyun yanked on the boy’s arm, who startled a bit before his butt hit the wall. “There we go. Much better.”
“You can’t just yank people--!”
“Shhh,” Changkyun said, putting his finger to his own lips and talking around them. “You’re going to scare the stars away.” He used the same finger to point up at the fairylights in the trees. The other boy let out a laugh despite himself, trying to hide it behind his hand.
“That’s so nice," Changkyun said and the boy immediately stopped. "No! You should laugh, it’s really nice,” Changkyun mumbled, leaning against the archway again, facing the other boy. "Pretty laugh. Pretty face."
“I, er,” the pink of hair now matched his cheeks, though he seemed to make a point not to look at Changkyun. “Shut up."
"Will falling into the rose bush make you laugh again?"
"What, no--stop leaning, oh my god." The boy kept a hand on the swaying boy's arm. Just in case. He looked around, a soft frown on his delicate features. Changkyun wondered when frowning was ever so preeeetty~.
"Did you come here alone?” the boy asked him.
“Down boy,” Changkyun winked.
“No!” he quickly defended as Changkyun giggled. “I just don’t want you to wake up here tomorrow morning in a rose bush, for fucks’s sake...”
“Nah, m’good. My friend’s looking for my… shoes. Or my jacket. Something about a bull, I think,” Changkyun said, squinting at the other boy. “I have a name, by the way.”
The boy laughed. “Wow, what a coincidence, so do I.”
“Ah, cool. Do you know yours? Cos I can’t find mine,” Changkyun said, a truly worried frown on his face. The boy laughed at him, shaking his head.
Changkyun smiled. His laugh really was very nice, but then he didn't stop laughing and it was just rude. Changkyun kicked him lightly, pouting. “Hey, it’s not funny! Maybe that’s what my friend went to get.”
The boy's laughter trickled into a chuckle, running a hand through his hair. “God, why did I sign up for designated driver.” He looked at Changkyun, who looked back at him like he’d just spoken French. “It's Kihyun, by the way.”
"What is?"
"Me."
“Aaaah, Kihyun… Kihyun, Kihyung, Kyung? Kihyunnie, Kyun, Kyun. That sounds familiar. Yes!" Changkyun sat up excitedly, Kihyun having to steady him on the wall again. "Changkyun! I’m Changkyun! Tha’s me.”
Kihyun looked at him, amusement still adamantly tugging at his lips. “Well, I’m glad you got that sorted out.”
“Oh, thank God, you’re still alive,” Wonho's voice came from his left, walking up to the two of them, out of breath and forehead covered in sweat, a jacket in his hand. “Oh, Kihyun." Wonho blinked and tilted his head inquisitively. "Hyunwoo said you were here but I thought he was joking.”
Kihyun rolled his eyes so hard Changkyun felt a bit dizzy. Kihyun steadied him again as he spoke. “I’m not a complete stick in the mud, you know.”
“You do have one up your ass, though,” Wonho said, yet smiling innocently. Kihyun opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and settled on frowning unhappily.
Changkyun poked Kihyun's forehead, more specifically the space between his eyebrows. Kihyun jumped, turning his now wide eyes to Changkyun, who squinted in concentration and poked it again. Kihyun frowned.
"What the hell--"
“The lines are angry, shhh.”
“Wonho,” Kihyun said, voice calm, now squinted eyes remaining steady on the clearly very drunk younger boy. “Wonho, he’s touching my face.”
“I can see that, Kihyun.”
“Why is he doing that?”
“I’m trying--” Chankyun stressed, rubbing at Kihyun’s forehead much to the latter's chargrin. “--To get the angry lines to go away. Oh, that’s better. All gone!” Kihyun had simply relaxed his face. At the kid’s amused expression, Kihyun raised his eyebrow, but was quickly reprimanded. “Oh, no, no, they’re back!”
Wonho hid his face behind his hand as he laughed. “Oh, my god, Jooheon’s gonna hate missing out on this shit.”
“Pretty,” Changkyun mumbled, patting Kihyun’s cheeks, who came to his senses and patted his hands away after a second of that nonsense. “Noooo, hyung,” Changkyun complained. “The stars are in your eyes, hyung.”
Wonho made a choked noise, Jooheon appearing at his shoulder with a curious, “And what is this?”
“S-stars?” Kihyun choked.
“Mhm!” Changkyun nodded fervently. “You saved us! Does it hurt having all the stars in your eyes? It’s very pretty.”
“I’ve literally never seen Kihyun blush this much,” Wonho whispered to Jooheon as Kihyun sat, frozen.
“Oh, my god,” Jooheon said, evenly. “This is the best day of my life.”
“What’s this about stars?” Wonho chuckled despite himself.
“He means, uhm,” Kihyun said, swallowing thickly as Changkyun was still very intently looking to his eyes and Kihyun didn't know how to handle it, “The f-fairylights. I think.”
“S’okay, Kihyunnie,” Changkyun said, smiling sweetly, dimples on his cheeks. “Don’t worry, I’ll take ‘em.”
“Take the—“ Kihyun’s question was cut short by his heart jumping right up into his throat at the sudden fear that Changkyun was going to kiss him. He didn’t. Changkyun had put his hand on the back of Kihyun’s head, leaned forward, and with surprising gentleness for a trashed human being, put their foreheads together, eyes not straying from the other boy's.
Wonho and Jooheon were uncharacteristically quiet.
“There!” Changkyun said suddenly, still smiling, bright and unabashed. “Better?”
Kihyun was very proud of himself for being able to rationalize the fact that the light of the fairylights were blocked out by their heads, therefore there wouldn’t be any more of them in his eyes, and that was what this crazy boy was going on about, in his fucking Kiss Zone.
“Yep,” Kihyun said, voice not nearly as steady as he would have liked. “You’ve got all of them, now. W-Well done.”
“Okay, good,” Changkyun breathed in relief. “I think I’m gonna kill them.”
“Wha—“
Changkyun closed his eyes, leaned sideways and forwards, onto Kihyun’s shoulder, where he seemingly fell asleep within a split second, held up only by Kihyun's arms instinctively coming up around him.
“Oh, my God,” Wonho said.
“Oh, my God,” Jooheon laughed.
“Yeah,” Kihyun said around a suddenly very dry tongue. “What you guys just said.”
“Changkyun’s never this touchy,” Jooheon marveled, eyes wide as he watched his best friend's slack features on Kihyun's shoulder.
“Kihyun’s never this touched,” Wonho added, matter-of-factly.
Kihyun did the effort to glare at Wonho, trying his best not to move too much for the softly snoring boy on his shoulder. Keeping him up was difficult enough, Kihyun trying his best not to crumble under the dead weight. His stomach muscles were screaming. “Er, guys, a little help—“
“Right, yeah, sorry,” Wonho said, laughing a little before turning and squatting down to allow the boy to be maneuvered onto his back. Jooheon and Kihyun managed to get Changkyun onto Wonho’s back with all the effort of moving a sack of potatoes, Kihyun insisting the pinkness of his cheeks was the cold's fault.
“Will you manage?”
“Yeah, hyung, no worries,” Jooheon said, dimples showing in a sincere smile.
Wonho shifted Changkyun's weight on his back. “You’ll make sure Minhyuk doesn’t start an impromptu parade or something, yeah?”
“Honestly, I'll try, but he’s unstoppable,” Kihyun said, running a hand through his hair. “But yeah, I’ll be fine. Just, er,” Kihyun gestured to the lump of Changkyun currently drooling on one of Wonho’s favourite shirts. “Take care--Yeah.”
Wonho rolled his eyes, smiling at the shorter boy. “We’ll make sure to introduce you to when he’s not completely shit-faced, okay?”
Kihyun nodded weakly and watched as they made their way to Wonho’s car. When the car passed from view, he allowed a long breath to escape his lips.
What the hell was that?
True to his word, Kihyun stayed at the club and kept Minhyuk in his peripheral as he blended into the grafitti'd walls of the club. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he squinted at it.
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 02:35, Sept 3
he woke up a bit but he's still completely shitfaced
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 02:36, Sept 3
he wanted you to have that???
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 02:36, Sept 3
I think he's singing pineapple pen something? (≧∇≦*)
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 02:36, Sept 3
but he’ll pass out once his head hits a pillow, I'm sure of it lol
From: Yoo Kihyun
Sent: 02:37, Sept 3
Good to know.
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 02:37, Sept 3
thanks for taking care of him, Kihyun
From: Yoo Kihyun
Sent: 02:38, Sept 3
Right.
From: Yoo Kihyun
Sent: 02:38, Sept 3
I mean, yeah, no problem.
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 03:05, Sept 3
he's in bed but he's rambling lol any idea what he’s talking about?
He’s asking for a cotton candy robot
From: Yoo Kihyun
Sent: 03:08, Sept 3
...No idea.
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 03:08, Sept 3
why do I feel lied to
From: Yoo Kihyun
Sent: 03:10, Sept 3
no time to explain minhyuk's twerking I gotta get him into a cab or some shit
From: Lee Hoseok
Sent: 03:11, Sept 3
lord have mercy