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The last thing Jakub expects when his phone starts ringing at three in the morning is for the call to be from Michal. Calling people at three in the morning is for emergencies, and Jakub doesn’t exactly think of himself as someone Michal would call in case of emergency.
Plus, if it’s an emergency and Michal really does need Jakub, he’s nearly three hours away, so the best Jakub could even do is send emergency services to him.
He answers the phone anyway.
“Jakub!” Michal says, and there’s a thud of bass in the background, like he’s at a party or a club, and he draws out the “oo” in Jakub’s name. The single word is slurred.
“Miki,” Jakub says. “You okay?”
“I’m great!” he says. He does not sound great. He sounds drunk.
“Then - why are you calling?” Jakub asks. He sits up in bed, scrubbing his fingers through his hair. He sits up, because if he doesn’t, he’s going to end up falling back asleep.
“I need someone to come and get me?” Michal says, like he’s unsure. He sounds like a wreck.
“Babe, I’m in Prague, I can’t just - “ Jakub starts.
“I’m in Prague!” Michal says brightly.
“Alone?” Jakub asks, a little bewildered. Michal is alone, in Prague, partying? That doesn’t sound like Michal. Partying or in Prague, but alone? Not so much.
“No, no,” Michal says. “I came here with some friends. But I don’t know where they are? And I think they left? And I lost my phone.”
“Miki, you’re on the phone,” Jakub says.
“Oh,” Michal says. “Oh shit.” He starts laughing and Jakub gets out of the bed. Sure, Michal could call a cab, but Jakub isn’t sure that Michal could get a cab and get himself back to a hotel, if he even knows where or what hotel he’s in.
“Tell me where you are and I’ll come and get you,” Jakub finally says, and he’s already tugging on a pair of sweatpants. He hits the speaker button on his phone and tosses it down so he can find a shirt to put on. Michal is rambling on about where he is, but not in any helpful way.
“Is there someone there who you can put on the phone who can tell me what club you’re at?” Jakub asks. There’s rustling and a few seconds where all Jakub can hear is the thump of the bass on the other end of the line. Then a strange voice he doesn’t recognize comes on.
“Hello?” it asks.
“Hi, my friend wants me to come and get him,” Jakub says. “So could you tell me where you are? I don’t think that he has any idea.”
This is stupid, Jakub realizes.
“Oh,” the person on the other end of the line says. Jakub thinks it might be the bouncer. He hopes it’s the bouncer, and that Michal’s at the front of the club, about to leave, and not at the bar, and this isn’t the bartender on the line. At least they’re able to tell him the name of the club.
He plugs it into his GPS and grabs his wallet and keys.
“Michal?” he asks.
He can hear people talking, but the phone must be transitioning back to Michal, because all he can hear is people talking, music playing, and he’s concerned that Michal has forgotten he’s on the phone. The GPS says it’s going to take him 20 minutes to get to the club. At least it’s not going to take longer.
The thing Jakub worries about most is that when he gets there, Michal might not be there. Like he’ll have left the club, or gotten in a cab, or Jakub just won’t be able to find him because there are so many people. He’s basically chewing a hole through his lip as the twenty minute drive becomes thirty because Jakub can’t find somewhere to park.
There’s a split second where he considers just double parking in the street in front of the club, but he doesn’t want to leave his car there, and he’d definitely get a ticket, if not towed. He could pay a ticket - well, no, he’d totally make Michal pay the ticket - but he definitely doesn’t want to get towed. It takes ages and he’s blocks away but he finally finds a spot.
Jakub doesn’t run the six blocks to get back to the club. He doesn’t, but he power walks it. He could have run, but he also doesn’t want to look crazy. He shouldn’t care. He shouldn’t, but he does.
And then of course, there’s still the long fucking line, which Jakub bypasses and hopes that he has enough cash in his wallet to bribe the bouncer or what the fuck ever he’s going to have to do, and he’s definitely not actually dressed to get into a club, just wearing jeans and a t-shirt that were discarded on his bedroom floor.
“My friend is really drunk and called me to pick him up,” Jakub explains. “I spoke to someone inside - he didn’t even know where he is. I know I’m walking past the line, but I really need to get him and take him home.”
“You gotta wait in line, kid,” the bouncer says.
Jakub pulls his wallet out and looks at the cash inside. “I’ve got 5000 Koruna and I’ll be out in five minutes,” Jakub tells him and tugs one of the notes free. “I’ll give you another when I come out, I swear. Please.”
“Security will escort you out,” the bouncer says, but he lets Jakub past him, plucking the bill out of his fingers.
Michal isn’t near the bar, which Jakub thinks is where he must have called from. The club is loud, everyone’s dancing. At least Michal is tall, but it’s dim, and Jakub is really going to have to look.
He gets lucky, because Michal isn’t far from the bar, standing with a woman who is having a conversation with him. Well, she’s trying to have a conversation with him, but he’s got a glazed look in his eyes that tells Jakub that he’s not really hearing anything she’s saying.
“Hey bud,” Jakub says, pushing his way to them. Michal lights up when he sees Jakub.
“Kuba!” He shouts over the noise. “You made it!”
“They’re going to throw me out!” Jakub yells back. “We need to go!”
Michal walks away from the woman without a single word or a glance, and wraps himself around Jakub. He’s heavy, and everything about him is a little sweaty and too warm. Jakub does his best to walk with Michal wrapped around him. It’s a strange role reversal - Jakub doesn’t really remember how much he was draped off Michal in the wake of the Cup win, but he’s seen photos and video. Michal’s doing that to him now.
Through sheer force of will Jakub gets Michal to the front of the club. He has to stop to get his wallet out once they’re standing outside. The bouncer actually looks surprised that Jakub came back out without having to be escorted from the club, but he also looks bemused by the state of Michal while Jakub is trying to pay him off.
“You owe me 10,000 korun,” Jakub tells Michal as he tries to get him moving down the sidewalk.
“Oh no,” Michal says, making a sad face at Jakub. “Why?”
Jakub makes a noise of frustration and slings his arm around Michal’s waist and manages to make their way down the sidewalk, back to where he parked his car and all but pours Michal into the passenger seat. He gets in himself and starts the car.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asks, not really to Michal, but to the universe in particular. He doesn’t remember Michal being like this after they won the Cup.
“I’m having a good time,” Michal says. He draws the words out, blinking at Jakub with his face lit by street lights. He’s beautiful and so, so fucking drunk.
Jakub sighs at him and pulls onto the street, heading back toward his place.
Michal is quiet on the ride, his head tilted to watch as the streets of Prague slide past outside the window. Jakub’s pretty sure that he dozes off during the drive. At least, Michal is blinking sleepily at him when he parks the car and the lights come on when he opens his door.
“Come on,” Jakub says to him. “Let’s get you to bed.”
The thing is, Jakub has an extra room. It just doesn’t have a bed in it yet, since he only bought the place at the beginning of the summer and hasn’t bothered to put together much more than the parts he’s really been living in. So Michal can sleep on the couch, which is great for sitting, but not super comfortable for sleeping on, Jakub’s learned after a few late nights, or he can sleep in Jakub’s bed.
Jakub figures it will be fine, as long as Michal doesn’t throw up in his bed or something. Jakub doesn’t think he’d be able to handle that, and he’d have to call his mom. Or he’d have to call Michal’s mom, because Jakub didn’t sign up for this.
They get upstairs and into Jakub’s bedroom. Jakub’s exhausted. He wants to strip back out of his clothes and get into his bed and go back to sleep. The fucking sun is going to be up soon.
But first: Michal.
Shoes are not a problem. They pop off easily, and the socks after that. Jakub thinks it’s unfair to make Michal sleep in socks, because sleeping in socks is weird and uncomfortable and he wouldn’t want to wake up hungover with socks on in the morning.
Getting Michal out of his shirt is a little more tricky. He’s sprawled out on Jakub’s bed, and he doesn’t seem interested in sitting up or helping Jakub. But it’s his jeans that pose the biggest problem. They’re skintight and Michal is not helpful.
Jakub swats him on the thigh. “You could help,” Jakub says. “You can’t be this fucking drunk.”
“I’m so drunk,” Michal says. Jakub tugs hard on the bottom of Michal’s jeans.
“Lift your ass up,” Jakub says. “Help me with this.”
“But I’m enjoying it,” Michal says.
Jakub stops and stands up, and stares at Michal with his hands on his hips.
“Are you fucking with me right now?” Jakub asks.
Michal grins at him. Jakub starts to get huffy, but Michal sits up and reaches out, tugging Jakub toward him. “Listen,” Michal says. “I like you.”
“Fuck off,” Jakub says, pushing at Michal’s hands. “I know you like me, or you wouldn’t have called me.”
“No,” Michal says. “Kuba, no.”
“You’re drunk and you need to go to sleep,” Jakub says. He’s tired and he wants to go to sleep.
“I’m not that drunk,” Michal says. Jakub isn’t sure that he believes that, because Michal was pretty fucking drunk when Jakub picked him up at the bar, and when he couldn’t remember that he was literally using his phone to talk to Jakub. But he’s looking up at Jakub and he seems clear and aware of what he’s saying right now, at least.
“Then why did I have to come and get you from the bar?” Jakub asks.
“Because I wanted you,” Michal says. Not because he wanted Jakub to pick him up, but because he wanted Jakub. Michal must have no idea what he’s saying. He has to be so drunk still, too drunk to realize what he’s just said.
“Yeah okay,” Jakub says. “Take your jeans off and let me go to bed.”
Jakub tries to pull away, but Michal doesn’t let him go. “I’m in love with you,” Michal says, his voice quiet and steady and not slurred at all. “I’ve been - I’ve been in love with you.”
“Don’t fuck with me right now,” Jakub says. “You already owe me money, you owe me at least breakfast for putting me through this, don’t fuck with me too.”
“I’m not,” Michal says.
“You’re not going to remember this in the morning,” Jakub says.
“You don’t remember a lot of things you did when you were drunk,” Michal says.
“I’ve seen the video,” Jakub says.
“Not everything was on video,” Michal says. That makes Jakub blush - he can’t imagine what he did while he was blackout drunk after they won the Cup.
“Okay,” Jakub says, tired. “What happened that I don’t remember?”
“I know you remember draping yourself all over me,” Michal says. “Or if you don’t remember it, you’ve seen the videos.”
“Yeah,” Jakub says, and he blushes. He’s seen the videos.
“And you don’t remember me telling you I love you,” Michal says. “I know you don’t. And I know I was drunk when I said it and I’m drunk now, but - “
“Michal,” Jakub says.
“I know. I know I’m drunk,” Michal says. This time, when Jakub tugs away, Michal lets him go. “But the feelings are the same. They’ve been the same. For the last year. For the last year and - since I came to DC.”
“Are you going to feel this way in the morning?” Jakub asks.
“Yes,” Michal says. “I’ve felt this way. I feel this way. I’m going to feel this way, even if you tell me you hate me after this.”
“I wouldn’t tell you that,” Jakub says.
“Do you?” Michal asks.
“Do I what?” Jakub asks.
“Hate me,” Michal says.
“No,” Jakub says. “No, Miki - I don’t hate you. I just want you to say it to me when you’re not drunk.”
“In the morning, when I’m hungover and miserable and at my worst,” Michal says.
“Yes,” Jakub says. “Please take off your pants and get into bed.”
“I want you to say that to me in a sexy way,” Michal says, even as he’s sliding his jeans off.
“Not tonight,” Jakub tells him, climbing under the blanket.
Michal climbs up and snuggles up against him, wrapping his arms around Jakub. Jakub tucks his chin in underneath Michal’s.
“I like you, you know,” Jakub says. “I don’t know if I love you, but I like you.”
Michal kisses Jakub on the forehead.
They sleep late the next morning, and Jakub is awake well before Michal. He slips out of bed to go and make breakfast, and hears Michal stumbling around as he gets up. Jakub’s almost finished with the eggs when Michal arrives in the kitchen, sunglasses on indoors.
“Coffee,” he croaks at Jakub, who laughs at him.
“Regrets?” Jakub asks.
“Not as many as you think,” Michal says. He leans against the counter.
“Oh yeah?” Jakub asks.
“I regret drinking that much,” Michal says. “I don’t regret calling you. I don’t regret coming here. I don’t regret telling you I love you.”
Jakub chokes on nothing.
“I told you I meant it. Drunk or sober,” Michal says.
Jakub crosses the kitchen to him in two short strides and jams their mouths together. It knocks Michal’s sunglasses askew and Michal makes a startled noise.
“So does that mean you’re into this?” Michal asks when Jakub finally pulls back. Jakub laughs at him, then kisses him softly.
“Yeah,” Jakub says, and smiles.