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Changkyun drags his tired feet a couple blocks away from the dorm. He passes their usual net cafe, then passes the cafe with the cat that Minhyuk frequents to, then takes a turn and enters a small bar. He walks through with a little nod to the bartender and enters a door that leads to a smaller room.
There, in the secret room of the bar, lies one very drunk Yoo Kihyun. He has a bottle of whiskey on his right hand and a shoe on his left. He’s grumbling—singing, upon closer examination—and using the bottle as a mic of some sort. The liquor is pouring to his chin and neck. He’s a mess. A pink-haired, singing mess.
Changkyun starts to regret picking up the phone earlier.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t say no,” a voice comes from behind the mini bar. It’s their usual bartender—the only one that is allowed to tend on their alcohol needs. “He was pretty insistent in getting the whiskey.”
Changkyun waves, pretty sure that the bartender has done nothing wrong in this. “It’s okay. He’s just tired, I suppose.”
The bartender nods, understanding.
“Sorry it took so long for me to get here. I just got home. Everyone else is still out,” Changkyun apologizes while pulling Kihyun to a sitting position.
Kihyun opens his eyes a bit and smiles wide. He cups Changkyun’s cheeks with his palms and slurs, “Our maknae ith here. Our beloved maknaaaaaaeeee ith heeeerrrreee.”
“Yes, yes, I’m here. Stop pouring the whisk— This is a new shirt, oh my God, hyung!”
The bartender chuckles but doesn’t comment further. He slides a plate of napkins towards Changkyun and Changkyun takes some to dry himself and also Kihyun. Changkyun really, really starts to think that he should have just hang up when the bartender called. He’s pretty worn out himself, he doesn’t have the stamina nor the patience to deal with any of this. He just wants to get home and sleep. “The bill—”
“Don’t worry about that, it’s been taken care of. Just bring him home,” the bartender cuts with a smile. “Wonho sshi-called earlier, though. He said he’ll come here with Hyungwon-sshi and Shownu-sshi.”
“Oh, God,” Changkyun groans. No. He’s so not going to do this twice in the span of a night. No. “Tell them no one is home and I definitely don’t want to pick them up later. Let them rot here if they’re stubborn, I don’t care.”
The bartender chuckles some more as he nods reassuringly and eyes as Changkyun practically drags Kihyun out. Kihyun is certainly not at all that heavy, but Kihyun’s uncoordinated limbs and his stubborn demand of letth juth drink thome more, Kkungie makes it a hell for Changkyun to go through. Feeling that his patience is running thin, Changkyun releases Kihyun from his death grip and bends down slightly.
“Just hop on, hyung,” Changkyun commands.
Kihyun only stares for a while, but then a litany of hiccupy giggles stream out of his mouth. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww,” he coos.
The sound alarms Changkyun in an uncomfortable way, so he turns to look at Kihyun and gruffly asks, “What?!”
“Our maknae,” Kihyun starts, face red due to the alcohol and eyes distinctively fond, “Our Changkyunie. Our baby.”
“What?!” Changkyun demands, not knowing what Kihyun is meant to say.
Kihyun steps forward and plops to Changkyun’s back, circling his arms around the younger’s neck and pressing his chin on the younger’s shoulder. “Our baby hath grown up. He taketh care of hith hyung well. Our baby. Our maknae.”
Changkyun hooks his arms under Kihyun’s knees and starts their journey home. His cheeks are warming up because of how affectionate Kihyun is talking about him, but he disregards it stubbornly. Instead, he pretends that he doesn’t hear it well. “What the hell are you talking about, hyung? Your lisp is terrible when you’re drunk.”
Kihyun perks up and lands a pretty loud slap on top of Changkyun’s head. They are just out of the bar right then, and it takes all of Changkyun’s might to not just yell his pain to the quiet night. “I am not drunk,” Kihyun insists, scowling even though Changkyun couldn’t see him, “And what lithp? I don’t have lithp. Hotheok doeth.”
“Don’t slap me or I’ll throw you to the curb, hyung,” Changkyun warns, hissing because Kihyun can slap and, damn, his slap is hard.
“Ith becauthe you accuthe me for thomething thatth not true.”
Changkyun sighs, seeing no point in arguing Kihyun now. He hoists Kihyun up to get a better grip and Kihyun lets out a little umpfh before holding onto Changkyun tighter. They reach the cafe with the cat when Kihyun decides that he should sing their upcoming title track out loud.
Changkyun swears to God that he regrets not throwing Kihyun to the curb when he had the chance to (he actually still has the chance to if he wants to but, oh, well).
“What are you doing, hyung? Shut the fuck up, we’re not supposed to— Shut up!” Changkyun frantically pinches on whatever part of Kihyun that he could reach to make Kihyun stop. They’re so going to not hear the end of this if the agency hears about this. This is beyond spoiler. Kihyun is out here making a full blown concert on his own.
“Eathy, Kyunnie, you’re going to make hyung fall,” Kihyun slurs, unfazed. He starts to sing again and Changkyun puts him down, making him frown. “Why do we thtop? You want to thing too? Come on, thing with me.”
“No, what the fuck? No.” Changkyun puts a hand over Kihyun’s mouth. “We’re not coming back for another month, hyung, you can’t just go around and sing like—” Changkyun shrieks as he feels Kihyun licking the inside of his palm. He pulls his hand and wipes it down his jeans, mildly disgusted and utterly shocked, then looks up just to find Kihyun grinning, satisfied. Changkyun is so done. “Hyung, you’re absolutely the worst when you’re drunk. Not even Minhyuk-hyung could top this. I hate you.”
At that, Kihyun’s grin fades away. “Changkyunnie hate me?” he asks, frowning and looking like he’s three seconds away from crying like a toddler. “But I thing for Changkyunnie! Why do you hate me?!”
“Because,” Changkyun breathes out, trying to summon every ounce of willpower that he has so he’s not going to just leave his hyung there, “that song is not out yet, hyungie. Sing me another song, okay?”
Kihyun pouts. “What thong then?”
Changkyun’s quick thinking tells him that, with the volume that Kihyun was using, it’s better to not sing their own song. Just in case. “Beautiful,” Changkyun blurts out, “The Goblin song. Sing me the Goblin song, okay, hyung?”
“Goblin thong,” Kihyun parrots while knitting his eyebrows together. “Goblin thong. Okay.”
Changkyun bends down and Kihyun climbs on his back again. Kihyun starts singing, low and slow at the beginning, and Changkyun wonders how in hell his hyung still sounds so good even when his words are slurring and his lisp is showing. It must be one of the wonders of the earth, he decides. Kihyun’s voice is one of the wonders of the earth and anybody who says otherwise could fight Changkyun personally.
The rest of the walk to their dorm is rather peaceful, with Kihyun singing considerably quieter and Changkyun feeling at ease due to that. Changkyun is even humming along, finding that the moment is pretty relaxing now that the threat of the spoiler of the century is out of their way. A few steps away from their dorm, Kihyun finishes his song and buries his face on the crook of Changkyun’s neck. Changkyun shivers because Kihyun’s nose is freezing.
“Hyung?” Changkyun calls out after they got inside the dorm. Kihyun has been suspiciously quiet and Changkyun is worried. “Hyung, are you asleep?”
A little grumble comes out of Kihyun and Changkyun sighs in relief. At least Kihyun is not completely dead to the world. Yet.
“Hyung, stay awake a little bit more, okay? You need to at least change,” Changkyun squeezes Kihyun’s calf, earning a weak kick to his side. He puts Kihyun down on his bed, then goes to take a shirt and a pair of sweats. Pulling on Kihyun who is already succumbing to slumber, Changkyun whines, “Come on, hyung. You’ll chew me in the morning if I let you go to sleep like this.”
Kihyun opens his eyes a bit and murmurs, “Thleep, Kyunnie. Hyung needth thleep.”
“I know,” Changkyun answers. He also knows that Kihyun isn’t the only one who needs sleep. “Just— Sit still for a while, okay? Two minutes and the both of us can go to sleep. I promise.”
“Promith,” Kihyun smiles dreamily. “Promith ith a beautiful word, Kyunnie. I like it.”
Changkyun isn’t really convinced but he takes that as a yes. He loosens his grip on Kihyun’s wrist, planning to dash to the bathroom to take a dampened cloth or something, and regrets it in an instant. Kihyun falls back to the bed without any fight. His eyes are closing and he’s curling into himself.
“Hyuuuung,” Changkyun whines. He pulls Kihyun again and Kihyun swats his hand promptly, scooting away from him while doing so. Changkyun is thrown a few steps back as a result of the force of his tugging and his back hits the other bunk bed. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation sends Changkyun tripping on his own feet while he’s trying to regain his balance, making him fall on his butt on the floor.
Now, Changkyun is honestly, truthfully, genuinely done.
“Why the fuck did you drink on the first place, huh, hyung? You know you can’t handle your alcohol. You’re tired? Well, guess what? Me too!” Changkyun explodes, throwing the shirt to Kihyun. As the second ticks by without as much as a response from Kihyun, the question downs on himself and he realizes that he should be questioning himself too.
Why the fuck did he answer the phone? Why did he say yes on picking his hyung up when their manager is surely available somewhere out there? Why didn’t he just say no? Why didn’t he just stay in the dorm, catching up on sleep and whatnot? Why didn’t he have the heart to just leave Kihyun on the curb, so the older man would at least learn?
Why did he fall in love with this hyung, the one and only Yoo Kihyun, out of all people?
Yeah. This—all of this disaster and mishaps that happen to Changkyun—might as well be his own fault too.
Im Changkyun, and all of the terrible choices that he has made in his life.
Changkyun sighs, deep and defeated. He’s too soft for Kihyun for his own good. Too weak. Too care.
Too deep in this shit to be saved now.
Deeming that talking is of no use in this situation, Changkyun pushes himself to kneel beside Kihyun’s bed and quietly unbutton Kihyun’s shirt. Kihyun whines a bit here and there but otherwise he doesn’t really move much, so Changkyun proceeds to undress the older as deftly as his exhausted body allows. Forgetting the idea of a dampened cloth, Changkyun just briefly wipes Kihyun’s body with the used shirt and struggles with getting Kihyun’s head and arms through the fresh clean shirt. The pants are somehow easier to handle and Changkyun manages to get Kihyun decently changed a few minutes after, with a sheen of sweat on his forehead as a proof of his hard work.
Kihyun curls into a tight ball as Changkyun pulls a blanket over him and Changkyun might or might not be getting even softer on the inside. He sighs, now soft and fond, then plops down on the floor, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the bed like he belongs there. He rests his head on the bed and finds himself face to face with Kihyun, who is now sleeping like a log. He just sits there for a while, staring and feeling himself falling in love with Kihyun all over again, then hates himself because why would he fall deeper when he’s already in the deepest hole of being hopeless towards Yoo Kihyun?
Changkyun exhales and forces himself to stand up, not wanting to make yet another terrible choice in his life today. He has had made enough of those in a day to last him a lifetime. He frees himself from the jacket he was wearing then slips into his own bed, turning the bedside lamp off and mumbling, “Night, hyung.”
“Night, Kyunnie,” Kihyun, unexpectedly, slurs an answer, “Tharangae.”
It might be because of the alcohol that Kihyun actually says the word to Changkyun, but Changkyun’s heart skips a beat and does a triple toe loop inside his rib cage anyway. Kihyun is no Minhyuk or Hoseok; he doesn’t really say the word frequently if at all, especially when they’re on their private time like this.
It might be because of the alcohol.
Might.
Suddenly, Changkyun’s terrible choices don’t seem so terrible anymore.