Work Text:
Jongdae should have known it was a bad idea to invite his two closest friends out for a night of karaoke and some drinks. He should’ve known because his best friend happens to be dating his other best friend, who also happens to be his cousin. It happened like this:
It was three months ago, and Jongdae’s family had a huge birthday get together for a grandmother or grandfather, he can’t quite remember. Everyone in his close and extended family showed up. It’s what happens at those big birthday parties of 50 or 60 years. Jongdae was excited because he got to see his favorite cousin. Ten is a couple years younger than him, but they’ve been best friends since they were both kids. They learned how to ride bikes together. They learned the faults of making pasta without enough water together. All the things. They were close as close can get.
But it gets even better. Jongdae may have a best friend in Ten, but he didn’t want to go to this party alone so he invited his other best friend to go with him. Baekhyun and Jongdae have been friends for at least five years but who’s counting. They might as well have been friends their whole lives with the way they’re comfortable around each other.
So Jongdae brings Baekhyun (or rather, Baekhyun begs Jongdae to be invited because he can’t stand the idea of being alone that night) and they meet Ten at the party. Baekhyun and Ten make instant friends and Jongdae might as well be on cloud nine. His two best friends, getting along better than he thought they would. He’s living his best life and they’re all having a great time celebrating with cheese trays and sparkling wine in mini glasses. It’s great. It’s really great.
But Ten and Baekhyun soon become more than fast friends. They kick it up a notch and make fast boyfriends and suddenly Jongdae doesn’t see much of both of them for a while because they’re all over each other in their free time. It makes Jongdae a little sad, but at the same time he’s happy that they’re both happy.
So he decides after a couple months, and a very long and hard work week, to invite Ten and Baekhyun out for drinks at a karaoke bar. The two immediately accept because who can say no to drinks and karaoke. Most importantly, who can say no to their best friend Jongdae. It was a fantastic idea for all of them. Jongdae coined it a little celebration of their friendship slash relationship slash whatever else, and also a way to ease the stress of all of their busy lives. It was perfect.
In theory.
Because now Jongdae is sitting in this karaoke room with his two friends who are still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship. It’s sickening at best, but Jongdae is still trying to have fun.
They’re on their third round of drinks and Baekhyun just put in an order for appetizers - three different kinds because he couldn’t decide - and Jongdae is sipping his drink slowly. He’s starting to feel something so he slows down. He doesn’t want to fail karaoke because he’s drunk, that’s all he knows for sure. Baekhyun downs his drinks as he gets them like he doesn’t have a care in the world, but Baekhyun also has an alcohol tolerance like no other so Jongdae doesn’t see him getting anywhere anytime soon.
Ten and Jongdae have rarely had drinks together, and when they have it’s mostly been with family or maybe one or two in the comfort of one of their homes. They’ve never gone out together, so it’s interesting for Jongdae to see how Ten handles his hard alcoholic beverages. Ten seems fine, if not a little extra handsy with Baekhyun, but Jongdae can’t tell if that’s the alcohol or normal behavior for him.
By the time the first appetizer arrives, Baekhyun eats half the plate in one helping. Jongdae would be amazed if he wasn’t used to this behavior from his best friend. Ten however does look quite shocked at the scene unfolding in front of him: Baekhyun stuffing chicken wings down his gullet like he hasn’t eaten in days.
“That’s sexy.” Ten says.
Jongdae groans but it’s not heard over the music.
They randomize karaoke songs and all compete to see who can get the best score. The loser pays the ticket. They’re all very talented singers but after the display Baekhyun and Ten are putting on very loudly in front of Jongdae’s trying-to-be-innocent eyes, Jongdae prays one of them will have to pay for everything. It would simply be unfair for him to get the ticket.
After two more rounds of drinks, or at least Jongdae thinks it was two, things start getting a bit hectic. Jongdae’s head is fuzzy from the alcohol so he knows it’s stopping time. Baekhyun has already eaten two plates of wings and they’re waiting on the third appetizer. Jongdae doesn’t even remember the one they ordered. He barely remembers the words to the song he just sang and mumbles the lyrics unintelligibly instead. He’s out of it, to say the least.
Baekhyun is still not even phased by his alcohol intake and Jongdae is amazed. He can confidently say Baekhyun is a monster. Ten looks like he’s had enough drinks too so they stop ordering them and just wait for the last appetizer. It feels like it takes ten hours for it to arrive and Jongdae barely sees it before Baekhyun is eating it. He wonders if Ten even got anything from the plate.
Jongdae retires himself from karaoke after his previous round because he knows it can only go downhill from there. He doesn’t want to be grunting out words if he doesn’t have to. He listens to Baekhyun sing a few more songs and compete with Ten to see who will win. There’s no prize and even if there was, Jongdae disqualified himself when he dropped out of singing.
Which would make him the loser. Which means he has to get the ticket. The night is horrible all of a sudden.
And it gets worse because after the song finishes up, he very fogging witnesses Baekhyun crawling into Ten’s lap. Ten is staring up at him with fond eyes and Baekhyun is saying the most ridiculous things to him in return.
“Your eyes are so pretty.” Baekhyun says.
“You look so cute in your glasses.” Baekhyun says.
“I love your smile.” Baekhyun says.
Jongdae has had enough. He closes his eyes hard for a minute and the world spins. He thought he had enough until he opens his eyes to his two best friends kissing and feeling each other up like teenagers. He might be sick honestly.
So he calls it quits.
He opens his phone to his Uber app and finds a ride home. He thinks about saying something to his friends but they seem preoccupied enough so he dips. He thinks to send one of them a text later saying he’s made it home and not to worry.
Your Uber driver is 5 minutes away
Jongdae gathers his belongings and leaves the room, hoping not to disturb his friends, and waits outside by the curb. It’s cold out and he forgot a coat, but he’s fine as long as his Uber driver doesn’t get lost. He puts on his hat and holds himself while he waits.
The car rolls up sooner than he was expecting, which is very quick considering Jongdae has zero sense of time at the moment, and he crawls into the backseat.
“Headed home?” His driver asks him.
“Unfortunately.” Jongdae replies and lets out a deep sigh.
It’s silent in the car for a few minutes before his driver makes conversation with him.
“Having a bad night I take it?” His driver says.
“It was decent.” Jongdae says. It really was.
It was fine. He just wanted to have a nice night out with his two best friends and have some drinks after a long work week. He wanted to win at karaoke but Baekhyun started winning all the scores. And then he started eating all the appetizers.
Jongdae doesn’t realize he’s been talking out loud this whole time. His Uber driver sits silently in the front seat, eyes on the road but listening intently.
“Sorry.” Jongdae says.
“Sometimes talking it out makes it better.” His driver says.
So he goes on.
He whines about how it was all fine until Baekhyun ordered two plates of wings when Jongdae wanted mozzarella sticks. Not like Baekhyun would have let him have any anyway. Jongdae wasn’t even really that hungry. It’s the principle of the thing.
And it was fine until he had to drop out of karaoke because his brain couldn’t form the right lyrics anymore. And shit that makes him the loser and he didn’t pay the bill. But he knows his friends are still at the bar because he hasn’t received any panicked texts yet. They’re still busy.
“They did what?! Right in front of you?” His driver asks in disbelief.
They had to start making out and doing what they’d do if Jongdae wasn’t there. Jongdae feels a twinge if loneliness and sadness but it’s his fault for making himself the third wheel. He should have known better.
“You couldn't have known they would do that.” His driver says.
“But I did know.” Jongdae says.
He knew as soon as he introduced the two together. He should’ve known better. Looking back, he absolutely knew that Ten was Baekhyun’s type. He knew them both well enough to know they’d hit it off and he shouldn’t have been surprised when they got together. He just wanted them all to be friends. What’s wrong with that?
“Nothing’s wrong with that.” His driver says.
Jongdae lets out another sigh and looks out the window. He’s been venting this whole time and feels kind of bad for his driver. Poor guy didn’t ask for this. Or maybe he did. That’s usually what happens when you pick up people from bars, you listen to them talk all the way home.
“Thank you for listening.” Jongdae says. “I didn’t mean to go off like that.”
“I don’t mind.” The driver says. “I’m told I’m a good listener.”
“You are.” Jongdae says.
Jongdae looks at his phone and he’s got two texts from Baekhyun and one from Ten. He assumes they all say the same thing, so he opens Ten’s message and just replies with: on my way home in an Uber. thanks for tonight!. He didn’t even read Ten’s text.
He then opens his paypal app and sends a chunk of money to Baekhyun’s paypal that’s saved in his phone. for tonight says the message.
He then locks his phone and sets it in his lap. He looks out the window again and realizes, hey shouldn’t we be at my apartment by now?
“Sorry, I wanted to let you talk. You seemed like you needed it.” The driver says.
They’ve been driving in circles around the block for half an hour. The driver promises he won’t charge Jongdae extra for the time. He genuinely just wanted to let him vent.
When the driver finally arrives at Jongdae’s apartment, Jongdae gets out feeling kind of like he’s leaving something behind. He gave so much of his thoughts to this random driver.
“My name is Jongdae.”
“I know.” His driver laughs. “Says so on the app.”
Jongdae immediately feels stupid. And he most definitely didn’t even look at his driver’s name until just now. He could’ve gotten kidnapped by some stranger but luckily he got a nice listener instead.
Jongdae shuts the car door and waves goodbye to his driver.
He tips Junmyeon 75% and would give him 6 stars if he could.
-
The next morning Jongdae wakes up with a terrible taste in his mouth and a headache to end all headaches. He doesn’t even remember making it to his bed. Which would make sense because he didn’t. He sits up from his beaten up and his head spins. He sees stars and wonders why the whole world is against him.
He vaguely remembers getting home after venting to his poor Uber driver for the later part of an hour. He very vividly remembers his two best friends making out and all over each other while he sat sadly Taking in his losings of everything. He lost karaoke, he paid the ticket, he even got to see his friends be gross in front of him. His friends.
He runs his eyes hard and grabs for his phone that ended up on the floor somehow. He picks it up and sees he has a dozen new texts from Baekhyun, three missed calls from him, a text from Ten, and one from a number he doesn't have saved in his phone.
He opens Ten’s text first.
thanks for letting me know! sleep tight
He’s glad at least Ten got his message from the night before. Somehow he doesn’t understand how Ten didn’t relay the message to Baekhyun, causing him to send a dozen texts and call him three times. Or Ten told him and Baekhyun just did it anyway. Either option is sound to him.
He opens Baekhyun’s mess of texts next.
12:43am: where are you?
12:44am: nevermind ten told me
1:05am: you didn’t pay the bill
1:05am: nevermind i see the money
1:06am: how did you remember my paypal
1:10am: thank you for the money
1:37am: did you make it home okay?
2:23am: are you sleeping?
4:14am: are you alive?
5:58am: please text me when you wake up!!!!!!
5:58am: or else!!!
1:34am Missed call
2:21am Missed call
4:10am Missed call
He’s impressed, really. And he’s thankful to have a friend that cares for him as much as Baekhyun. Even though he can be a little much. He’s thankful.
He hesitates before opening the last text from the new number. What if they have read receipts on and they see him read the message and not reply? What if it’s some unknown number saying they’ve kidnapped Baekhyun. Or Ten.
He decides to call Baekhyun back first.
“Oh thank god! I was worried.” Baekhyun says as he answers the phone.
Jongdae is surprised he answered and isn't sleeping. It’s only 9am and judging by the text history, Baekhyun was still awake at almost 6am. He hopes he didn’t keep Baekhyun up worrying.
“I told you I was going home.” Jongdae says.
“I know, but you didn’t respond to any of my texts. I was scared you got in the wrong car and got kidnapped and I’d never see you again. You didn’t answer my calls so I assumed the worst and thought you were dead.” Baekhyun says in one breath.
Jongdae simply laughs at him.
“I’m fine. I came home and I don’t even remember falling asleep.” Jongdae says. “I had a nice long talk with the Uber driver though. I don’t remember much other than I was a little mad.”
“I wanted to apologize for last night too.” Baekhyun says. “I was worried you were gone and the last things you remembered were Ten and I making out in front of you and bragging that you lost karaoke. I’m sorry for that.”
“Thanks.” Jongdae says plainly.
He starts to remember just exactly what he complained to his Uber driver about.
“Please forgive me.” Baekhyun says like he means it. And then adds, “Please forgive me for eating all the wings and not ordering your mozzarella sticks.”
Jongdae wishes he could punch him through the phone. He laughs again and it makes his head hurt. But he laughs for a while because Baekhyun really is funny when he’s sorry.
“Is Ten there?” Jongdae asks.
“You know the answer to that.” Baekhyun says and Jongdae does his best to ignore the slightly suggestive tone in his voice.
“Tell him I’m sorry for leaving.” Jongdae says.
Baekhyun relays the message and pretends like he’s hurt that Jongdae is using him to talk to Ten. Ten says loud enough for Jongdae to hear from his end: Jusr don’t do it again.
They really are funny, the both of them. Ten thinking he can threaten Jongdae like this. The audacity. He laughs some more and then remembers the real reason why he called Baekhyun so soon.
“I got a text from a weird number I don’t have saved and I’m scared to open it.” Jongdae says.
“Just open it and see what it says.” Is Baekhyun’s foolproof advice.
“But what if they see me read it?” Jongdae says. “There’s nothing worse than leaving someone on read.”
“They probably have the wrong number. Just see what it says and delete it if it’s garbage.” Baekhyun says.
After Jongdae gets off the phone he still continues to hesitate. He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous, but he rarely gets texts from odd numbers like this so it’s new to him. After a very long few minutes of coaxing himself to just open it, he does.
“Just delete it if it’s garbage.” He says to himself.
The message reads:
Hi there. I know I’m not supposed to do this so I’m really sorry. I promise I’m not taking your personal information. This is your Uber driver from last night (I don’t know if you even remember me or not) but you left your hat in my car and it seems like a really nice hat so I wanted to get it back to you. Let me know if you want it back. Thanks!
Junmyeon
Suddenly Jongdae is relieved. But he wonders what to do next. He didn’t even realize he took his hat off in his Uber and he really does love that hat. It was very careless of him to forget it, but he was tipsy so he’s not surprised.
He sends a text to Baekhyun.
it was just my Uber driver telling me i forgot my hat in his car. what should i do?
He sits and thinks about his plan of action. He wants his hat back but it would be really weird to just meet up with his Uber driver for that. But would it also not be weird to ask him to swing by his apartment to drop it off? He’s at a loss and has no idea what to do.
Baekhyun replies shortly after.
just tell him to drop it by your apartment. problem solved, no harm done
Jongdae knows he’s right and he doesn’t know why he’s making it out to be weirder than it needs to be. This probably happens to people all the time. He’s just thankful Junmyeon doesn’t have read receipts because he’s self conscious about the amount of time it’s taking him to figure this out.
He drafts his text out in a note so Junmyeon doesn’t have to see him type out his message.
Hi Junmyeon. I’m sorry to bother you like this, I truly didn’t mean to leave my hat in your car. I hope I didn’t talk your ear off too much last night, I tend to do that when I’m drinking.
He immediately scraps it. He doesn’t need to type so much. Why is this so difficult?
Hi Junmyeon. Thanks for taking care of my hat, it means a lot to me.
Nope. Stop putting so much feeling into this. It’s just a hat.
Thank you for finding my hat. Could you drop it by my apartment next time you’re in the area? I can resend you my address if you need it.
He copies it and pastes it to the text bar and sends it, putting the least amount of thought into it as possible. The more he hesitates, the more he won’t want to send it. He just wants his hat back and this ordeal to be over with. But he can’t help but kind of want to see this guy again. He was really nice and helpful when Jongdae was down in the dumps. He shakes the thought.
Jongdae sets his phone on the table and locks the screen. He decides he needs to be semi-productive and brush his teeth and take some painkillers for his headache. He should probably eat something too, even if it’s just plain toast.
He stands up from the couch carefully, his head still spinning a bit, and makes his way to the bathroom. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and he looks terrible. He really misses his hat because his hair looks crazy. He definitely looks as bad as he feels.
After brushing his teeth and changing into something more comfortable - because sleeping in your jeans is dreadful enough, imagine staying in them the next morning - Jongdae feels up to some breakfast. He really wishes he was still sleeping but his headache says otherwise. He makes toast and even motivates himself to fry an egg or two. Nothing tastes better than fried eggs with a side of your hangover.
He makes his way back to the couch to lay back down when his phone goes off right as he’s sitting down. Ironic. He opens the text after getting settled in.
I can come by later today. I have some errands to run for my mom on your side of town anyway.
And don’t worry about your address. I have it in my history.
Jongdae feels stupid again but only for a brief moment because he suddenly feels the need to panic. Junmyeon never stated a time he’d be over so “later today” could mean in an hour or it could mean five hours. Jongdae certainly won’t be able to go back to sleep now.
He gets back up and tries to tame his hair down and puts on something resembling decent clothes. He doesn’t want to seem dressed up, but wants to look a little more composed than he did while he was drunk. He’s got an image to maintain. He doesn’t know what that image is though.
After making himself look semi-presentable, Jongdae sits on the couch and flips on the TV. He finds some lame documentary on the science channel and ends up dozing for three hours on the couch with it playing in the background.
Two consecutive texts wake him up.
On my way over now. Will be there in about 20 minutes.
Here now. Waiting outside.
Jongdae shoots up from the couch. He walks toward the front door when he hears a knock. He opens up the door to a flustered looking man about his height and vaguely resembles the person driving his Uber the night before.
“Hi, sorry to come to your door. I didn’t know if you saw my messages and didn’t know if you were even home so-“ Junmyeon says quickly, handing over Jongdae’s hat. “Here you go!”
“Oh, thank you.” Jongdae says. “I was just about to come outside. I accidentally snoozed on the couch and almost missed your texts.”
“Understandable.” Junmyeon says.
He’s handsome. His hair is dark and a little unkempt but not in a messy way. He’s wearing glasses that slide down his nose while he talks. Jongdae thinks he’s kind of cute but won’t admit it. He’s just an Uber driver after all.
“Sorry for venting to you last night.” Jongdae says. “I mean, thank you for listening.”
“It helps to let it out.” Junmyeon says again like he did last night.
“Thank you again for bringing my hat back.” Jongdae says.
“It looked like it was important.” Junmyeon says. He’s right, but Jongdae doesn’t know how he knows that.
Junmyeon stands in the doorway awkwardly for a few more minutes before saying, “I should probably go.”
“See you around.” Jongdae says as if they’re friends and this is going somewhere.
“See you!” Junmyeon says. And maybe it is.
-
Jongdae certainly doesn’t expect the irony that pans out in his life. He just wanted to run to the craft store for something to do in his free time off work is all. He spends all his time working his very demanding job and wanted to find something new to do. Jongdae isn’t a very crafty person but he’s never really tried. So maybe he’d take up knitting or scrapbooking. His friends could clown them all he want but he hears crafting is a good at anti-stressing.
So he calls for his Uber. And what he gets is a Red 2009 Toyota Corolla and a very familiar name. Jongdae clearly thinks he’s seeing things or maybe there’s another Junmyeon with a red Corolla driving around. But you don’t usually get the same Uber driver more than once. At least not in a week’s period.
It’s fair, given that Jongdae lives in a relatively small area. There’s a couple dozen of Ubers, so he’s destined to get at least one repeat driver in all his time of requesting Ubers, but he wasn’t expecting it to be like this.
Your Uber is 5 minutes away
Jongdae prepares himself for what’s for come. He sits on his couch idly waiting for the notification that his ride is here and seriously contemplated whether he really wants to take up scrapbooking after all. It sounded cool in theory, just like karaoke with your two best friends that happen to be dating. But this new quest has put him on the path of his past Uber driver from that same night of karaoke and dating best friends.
He thinks it’s the worst but also maybe not that bad. Maybe it’s a sign for something, he just doesn’t know what.
He wonders if his Uber driver recognizes him because this is the third time he’s been to Jongdae’s apartment. His phone buzzes, signaling that his ride is outside, and he jumps off the couch and bolts toward the front door. He’s not excited or anything, he just doesn’t want to keep his ride waiting.
He opens the back door to the car and Junmyeon looks at him. Yep. Definitely the same Junmyeon.
“This is awkward.” Jongdae says, mostly to himself.
“I don’t know how this happened.” Junmyeon says.
And so Junmyeon drives Jongdae to the local craft store.
“I don’t really know much about you but I didn’t see you as a very crafty person, no offense.” Junmyeon says after a while of driving.
The store is further away than Jongdae remembers.
“I’m trying something new.” Jongdae says. “I hear crafts are good stress relievers.”
“Are you a very stressed person?” Junmyeon asks.
They both laugh at that. Jongdae thinks about when they met, when he was venting about how his life was ending. He bets Junmyeon is thinking the same thing.
“Only on karaoke night.” Jongdae says.
It elicits another soft laugh from Junmyeon. Jongdae thinks he could get used to the sound of Junmyeon’s laughter. But he banishes the thought. Just an Uber driver.
They arrive at the craft store in record time, which in reality is twenty minutes, and Jongdae hops out and thanks Junmyeon for the ride.
“If you need a ride home, I can wait.” Junmyeon offers.
“No thanks, I don’t want to hold you up. I might be a while.” Jongdae says.
“It’s okay, really.” Junmyeon says.
“I’m okay, really.” Jongdae says.
There’s a pause and Junmyeon just smiles at him.
“Well I hope you find something to destress!” Junmyeon says and puts his car in drive and heads off out of Jongdae’s line of vision.
Jongdae spends an hour and a half in the craft store trying to take it all in, but in his head all he can think about is Junmyeon’s laugh and wonders if he’ll see him again.
-
Later that evening, Jongdae is sprawled out on his living room floor with several different craft projects in front of him. Knitting and scrapbooking are a given because that’s what he went to the craft store for to begin with. He’s fir ink pads and various stamp designs, assorted stationery pages, and even a new box of markers in front of him as well. He’s got two bags full of different colored yarn he doesn’t know what to do with or how to use. He didn’t know which size knitting needles to get so he got three different ones and a crochet needle just in case. He didn’t mean to go overboard but he was shopping to make himself forget about his cute Uber driver he keeps accidentally running into everywhere.
He looks at his craft supplies in confusion, not knowing where to start, when his phone vibrates next to him. He’s got a text from Baekhyun.
hope you’re alive. ten and i are going out to dinner tonight, wondered if you wanted to come. we’re getting sushi
Jongdae would love nothing more than sushi at this moment but he also really wants to start something. Mostly he can’t see his friends because he’s afraid he’ll spill the beans about seeing his Uber driver again and they’ll pry. They’ll make up some story about how they’re star crossed lovers or something and Jongdae can’t deal with that right now.
maybe next time, sorry he writes back.
Jongdae casts aside the bags of yarn and assorts needles and focuses on his new scrapbook. He has a box of old photos he’s been meaning to do something with, so he hopes this is it. He’s got the box of photos next to him, and he opens it to go through them when his phone goes off again. This time, it’s not Baekhyun.
Hi, sorry to bother you again. I won’t make this a habit but you left your hat in my car again. I don’t think you should make that a habit too if you like your hat. I might take it somewhere and it will never return.
Anyway, Ihope you found something cool at the craft store.
-Junmyeon
It’s almost as if Junmyeon read his mind with the way Jongdae can’t stop thinking about him lately. And Jongdae really can't believe he left his hat again. He’s such a moron. Baekhyun would say so.
I’m so sorry about that! I need to be more responsible. If it’s no trouble, could you drop it by again?
Jongdae sends the message and pretends he’s not embarrassed.
On my way now! Junmyeon replies a minute later.
Jongdae is sitting on the steps outside his apartment by the time Junmyeon arrives. Junmyeon gets out of his car and walks around to grab the hat from his backseat.
“Thank you again.” Jongdae says when Junmyeon approaches.
“I’m beginning to think you did it on purpose because you wanted to see me again.” Junmyeon says and Jongdae can tell he’s clearly joking but he gets flustered anyway.
“No, I’m just forgetful.” Jongdae says. “I mean, I don’t mind seeing you again. I mean, not that I want to see you. I mean-“
“Don’t worry about it.” Junmyeon says with a laugh. “Maybe all this is just a sign we should be friends.”
“You think so?” Jongdae says.
“I dunno.” Junmyeon says. “You seem pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind being friends.”
“Okay.” Jongdae says. “But I won’t promise that I’m not actually a huge loser.”
“I won’t make any promises either.” Junmyeon says, smiling.
Junmyeon hands Jongdae his lost hat for the second time. Jongdae reaches out to shake his hand awkwardly. Because that’s what new friends do apparently. Junmyeon laughs at him and gets back into his car. He drives off but not before waving out his window.
“See you around!” Junmyeon says as he drives away.
Jongdae just waves back at him.