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WooSung always got giddy when he'd go near champagne, and JungJae always got nervous when he did.
They'd been friends for a while but he'd never seen him take a drink of the stuff, which may not have been an issue if he wasn't liable to have parties every second week. He ran a liquor store, not one of the kinds you found on high street open all hours of the night, but a real high-end deal that catered to wine aficionados and people who smoked cigars. He didn't own it of course, but that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to sample their wares, when employee discounted costs afforded him of course.
“Yah, could you get me the bottle opener?”
“Which one?” Being in the liquor business, JungJae was liable to have a bartender's best friend in every available room of the house, including in the bathroom for when he needed some hair of the dog early morning before work.
“On the fridge, the one that looks like a crab that I got in Busan.”
“Ah, okay.” It wasn't like WooSung didn't drink at all, in fact, he liked beer and soju so much he could have run a liquor store all his own with what he drank between any given Friday night and Monday morning. When it came to the quality though, the force majeure that was a good, original, French champagne, WooSung couldn't seem to keep farther away, “JungJae-yah, did you have some champagne when you got home?” He also had a sixth sense.
“Just a glass, the bottle's on the counter.”
“I thought so...” As he trailed off, JungJae swallowed the last of what he had, fast, assured that should his roommate come nearer that things would get a little... weird . As if in answer to his prediction, WooSung rounded the doorway to the living room almost on cue, giggling as he shook the bottle opener in his hand, a glazed look to his eyes as he watched the plastic ones of the crab roll around, “I love this thing...”
If he wasn't so used to keeping inventory he'd assume that WooSung was drinking it and that was why he would get so seemingly wasted just from being in its presence a mere moment of two. It wasn't so bad when they were alone, though, WooSung tending to keep to himself and laugh over infomercials while JungJae sipped away on the recliner across the room. It was the fortnightly parties where things could get a little anxious for the, funnily enough, more imbibed of the two.
“Do I know any of these people?”
“Huh?” He had his hand on his shoulder to gain his attentions as always, JungJae not yet having cracked out the good bottle so it was safe to say this was as innocent as it seemed, “No, these are mostly new, people I've met through the industry.”
“Ah.” He rolled his eyes to the knowing smile he got in return for his answering, as if WooSung were calling them all alcoholics whilst holding his third beer for the day in his hand by the neck. At least it was only his first since the party started.
“JungJae, didn't you say you had some Lanson?”
“A case .” His smile could have rivaled WooSung's, it wasn't the most expensive brand but his boss had let him have it on the house due to the time of year, “We'll ring in the new year with a bottle each .” Just so long as everyone was sure to keep their bottles away from the taller man who was now poking around at the snack plate in search of something to go with his drink.
“Ten, nine-”
“Yah, shut that thing off, I can't hear the stereo.”
“Okay.” WooSung was the first to vacate his chair in order to follow through, the remote long having been lost somewhere in the fray of alcohol appreciation and appreciators, to be discovered tomorrow morning on the windowsill behind the curtains or some other unimaginable spot for anyone with a decade sized hangover. Just after he'd said it JungJae wished he hadn't, watching helplessly from halfway across both the kitchen and living area as WooSung walked right past the wafting smells of sparkling wine. Maybe it wouldn't affect him this time? Maybe he'd had enough beer that his system wasn't accepting any more? When he saw the way WooSung had to hold onto the cabinet in order to stay upright JungJae let out a shaky sigh of defeat. At the very least maybe the others had had enough themselves that they wouldn't notice?
“JungJae...JungJae make me a sandwich ...” He was laughing again, so amused by the simplest of things but now with his fingers running through his roommate's already tousled hair.
“WooSung...we have company .” He was trying to laugh it off himself, even when nobody seemed to be looking in their direction. What was it about the mixture of the scent of champagne and having his friends over that made WooSung's previously dormant giddiness hone in on him ?
“They've had food, I don't like what you put out for them and you know it...you wanted to make a sandwich with me, didn't you?” Something about that giggly tone in his voice, the inferring way in which he spoke about simple acts...it sat strangely with JungJae and made him all the more anxious than WooSung's usual bubble induced reactions.
Maybe because he wasn't planning on letting it lie at anything so simple, not tonight.
“Why are you still hanging on me? I made you a sandwich, didn't I?”
“Too much seeded mustard.”
“You were hovering over my shoulder asking for more earlier.” No amount of eye-rolling or exasperated sighing was seeming to deter the taller man, JungJae somehow more concerned now that hi friends had gone home and the affections hadn't stopped. Just how long was WooSung planning on staying vapor-drunk anyway?
“That's only because I liked the way you spread it on...” JungJae chuckled nervously, a little too drunk himself to be having to handle behavior like this when he was suddenly turned from where he'd been re-wrapping the leftover hors d'oeuvres WooSung had such a distaste for, and had a soft kiss pressed against his own lips, “What do you think?”
“Huh-w-what?”
“I can still taste mustard on my breath.” He shouldn't have been making a face like that, tongue poking out and eyebrows furrowed as his marginally older friend still reeled from what he had just done. He'd kissed him. WooSung had never done that under the influence before. Sure, he may have touched him in a more than friendly manner, played with his hair or clothes, blown air into his large ears, but that had all been in front of other people. Having it happen when they were alone just made it seem all the more... dirty .
Why had he done that? Especially now? JungJae could still feel the softness of his bottom lip as it curved out, exposing the wettened interior of his mouth partially in order to lock their lips together with saliva and heat, even for only a second or two. JungJae felt violated. There was no other explanation for how his breath was coming short, his eyes widened and shaking.
“Couldn't you have used some mayonnaise or something? The bread's always dry because you keep it in the fridge.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Do what? Oh, sorry.” He thought he was talking about him fiddling with the cocktail tools that mostly gathered dust since when did they not just pour straight from the bottle to drink?
“Why did you turn off the TV?” WooSung seemed confused now, glancing over his partially hunched shoulder to see the black screen, cold from inactivity these past few hours.
“...JungJae, I didn't-”
“Earlier. When I asked?”
“Because you asked me to?”
“Not you . Anyone but you, you knew you'd have to walk past the bottles, you knew you'd have to and that you'd get... dizzy .”
“ Oh .” He was avoiding eye-contact now, was he ashamed of what he'd done? Was he finally sobering up?, “Nobody else was going to do it.”
“But you know what champagne does to you! That's why-...that's why you kissed me just then.” There was a strange feeling in his chest now, an anxious worry that JungJae normally tried to suppress, “...Isn't it?”
When WooSung laughed JungJae's heartbeat knocked against his chest. It could have been relief, WooSung about to explain himself in a way that made things better after the evening's drinking and cavorting which couldn't have included him since it was against his taste.
“I did that because I wanted to.” Or not.
“...You wanted to?”
“Mm-hmm. If I knew how bad you were at making sandwiches though, I would have just made my own.”
“You wanted to?!”
“JungJae, calm down.” It was WooSung's turn to roll his eyes now, JungJae seeming the more drunk of the two, for once, as his curled hair limped down across his forehead, his cheeks flushing red.
“But...but you were dizzy, f-from the champagne. Weren't you?”
“The champagne makes me dizzy for a while...but tonight I was dizzy because of you .” When he kissed him again JungJae's eyelids dropped closed quickly, as if he were expecting something more than that now strangely familiar softness pressing like a whisper against his own lips, “Happy New Year, JungJae.”
“N-new year?”
“Uh-huh.” He gave a smirked smile to his older friend, opening the fridge in search of another beer as JungJae turned to auto-pilot and placed the tray of food on one of the shelves, sidling in alongside in order to do so, “Now how about for a resolution this year you decide to learn a good mustard to turkey ratio?” The smile was infectious, JungJae's own assaulted lips curling up before his teeth showed in a cheeky grin.
“Only if you promise not to disappoint me when you're dizzy next time?” He had those eyes on him in a moment, feeling his face heating up again as WooSung seemingly weighed the odds of either happening before he nodded once.
“Okay.”
Moving back from the refrigerator so JungJae could close it, WooSung fiddled with the bottle opener to ensure the crab's eyes would jiggle when he popped the cap off, smile on his face and eyes distracted so as not to see the way the shorter man looked to him.
“...WooSung?”
“Yeah?”
“...You're not dizzy now ...Are you? Because I could open some more champagne.”