Work Text:
🐻❤️
kai-yaaaaaah
come hang out
we’re having lots of funnn
Kai glances at his phone and sighs.
“Beomgyu again?” Taehyun raises an eyebrow.
Kai nods unhappily, but he soldiers on with his chemistry homework. The three of them were supposed to knock it out together, but Beomgyu bailed at the last second for a party. Which Kai and Taehyun had totally been cool enough to get invited to, but not cool enough to actually go, because Kai is shy around strangers and Taehyun doesn’t care for alcohol.
Kai’s phone buzzes again a few minutes later.
🐻❤️
i want u
to come here plzzzzz
Kai thinks he loses a few years off his life in the pause between texts. He turns his attention back to his assignment with noticeable difficulty. He doesn’t know how he manages to balance the next ten equations, but he does, and Taehyun only corrects one of them. Kai’s beginning to think he can make it through the rest of the night when his phone vibrates again.
🐻❤️
ning whr r u
miss u
iwnat to spend mor time with u :////
Beomgyu doesn’t give him time to react, because his phone rings with Taylor Swift’s “Red”. Kai carefully keeps his expression neutral when he answers the call.
“Beom?”
“Kai-yah!” Kai winces. It’s noisy, and Beomgyu sounds too drunk already. “Yah, Hyunjin, what—” He hears Beomgyu protesting in the background as his phone is taken away from him.
“Yo, Huening,” Hyunjin says, and Kai can already pick up the concern in his voice. “I usually don’t do this, but can you come pick up Gyu? He’s had way too much to drink, and I don’t mind if he crashes here but I’m pretty sure he’s going to black out before then.”
“Oh,” Kai says, and curses under his breath. “Sure, I’ll be there soon. Can you text me the address?”
“Yeah. Sorry again dude, I know you don’t really like to come out much.”
“It’s no big deal,” Kai says, thanking him before hanging up. “Hyunie, can I borrow your car?”
Taehyun looks sharply at him. “Do you want to pick him up together?”
Kai bites his lip, considers not being weak for once, but it always ends the same. He shakes his head. “I’ll be fine. Don’t wait up for us.”
“Okay. Call me if you need me,” Taehyun says, standing to go grab his keys from his room.
Kai layers up, feeling blue already.
Kai finds Beomgyu in the living room and regrets it immediately. He has a pretty girl giggling in his lap—Minjoo from dance, if Kai is remembering right. He already feels incredibly underdressed—or overdressed, depending on how one looked at things. He self-consciously pulls his sweater sleeves over his hands, wishing that he could shrink back and hide somewhere until Beomgyu was done.
Unfortunately, Beomgyu sees him before he can make himself scarce, and he waves at Kai frantically.
“Kai-yah!” he yells happily. “See Hyunjin, I told you he’d come.”
“I was the one who told you he’s coming,” Hyunjin retorts, offering Kai a thankful smile.
Kai flushes when the group of people stare at him—he sees the bottle in the middle, he’s no stranger to this type of game. He makes a show of jingling Taehyun’s car keys.
“Come on Beom, I promised I was going to hang out with Hyunie.” A lie, but they both know that. Usually Beomgyu will play along, but Hyunjin wasn’t wrong—he really did look like he had too much to drink this time.
“I’ll go after you play a round with us,” Beomgyu offers slyly, and everyone cheers. Kai hesitates—he doesn’t know any of Beomgyu’s friends other than Hyunjin. The girl has tactfully climbed off Beomgyu and returned to her seat, and she gives him a curious look. She really is very pretty.
“Just one,” Kai says before he can change his mind, because kissing has already been ruined for him anyway.
“Okay, spin,” Beomgyu says gleefully, clapping his hands, and Kai does, giving the bottle a careless twirl. With the way his luck has been going lately, he’s not surprised to see the bottle drift to a lazy stop in front of Beomgyu.
But—just because he’s not surprised doesn’t mean he’s any more prepared for Beomgyu eagerly crawling into his lap. The crowd of tipsy upperclassmen starts getting raucous, and some begin to cheer Beomgyu’s name.
“Beom,” he says quietly, urgently, catching Hyunjin’s confused look across the circle. He presses a hand to the small of Beomgyu’s back to help balance him. “Hyung, you’re drunk, are you sure you want—”
Beomgyu doesn’t listen, or he doesn’t hear. Kai can’t tell. He cups his face, eyes sparkling with—something, Kai can’t tell that either. “I’m so happy you’re here,” Beomgyu says with a wide smile before he dips down and kisses him full on the mouth. There’s plenty of time to lean back, to awkwardly laugh himself out of this situation, but he has never been one to deny Beomgyu, and he’s not going to start now.
At least he’s been drinking some of the good shit, some sort of sweet bourbon with hints of vanilla and caramel. He can’t imagine Beomgyu’s expensive tastes being able to compromise with the bottom shelf vodka that usually populates college parties like these.
Kai places a hand against the nape of Beomgyu’s neck—cool to the touch even though he’s been drinking, because he’s always been one to easily get cold and stay cold. Kai lets Beomgyu lick into his mouth, the taste of the bourbon stronger now—lets Beomgyu press his thumbs against his cheeks, his touch surprisingly tender—lets Beomgyu brush their tongues together, kissing him messily—lets him take, because he looks beautiful while doing it, because Kai can pretend that Beomgyu sees him—them—as something more, however briefly.
Kissing Beomgyu has always been an Experience, he can say that much.
Kai thinks it’s been about a minute or so, and that’s long enough, right? He pulls back and holds back a smile when Beomgyu tries to chase after him.
“Let’s go now, hyung.”
“Fine,” Beomgyu relents, “but you’re carrying me.” Then he tucks his face against the side of Kai’s neck and clings onto him, not unlike a koala. Through god’s grace or sheer luck, Kai manages not to embarrass himself getting up. He waves goodbye—or as much as he can wave, since his arms are occupied. Whether they’re sending them off or asking them to stay, Beomgyu’s—friends?—are enthusiastic. Before, he found drunk people mostly endearing, all giggly and without any of their regular filters.
Then Beomgyu happened, and now he thinks they’re dangerous.
He sees Hyunjin wave hesitantly. His eyes are wide with surprise and realization, because anyone who’d been looking close enough could tell that they weren’t strangers to kissing each other. With as much intent as he can muster, Kai shakes his head ‘no’, and Hyunjin frowns and mouths “why?”
Kai just shakes his head again before leaving, Beomgyu in tow, and doesn’t see Hyunjin’s frown deepen.
“You’re so warm,” Beomgyu says, lips pressed against his neck. It tickles a little bit. He’s only wearing a thin long sleeve; he’s always been the type to choose fashion over function.
Kai opens the passenger door and eases Beomgyu into the seat before taking off his sweater.
“You can wear this if you’re cold, hyungie.” And now he has to think of a way to get it back without him noticing. He closes the car door and gets in the driver’s side. It’s chilly. Beomgyu has his sweater pulled up to his nose—it’s a bit loose, like all of Kai’s clothing, which means it absolutely swamps Beomgyu’s smaller figure.
“This smells amazing,” Beomgyu says happily, before his lips form a pout. “How come we’re not taking your motorcycle?”
“You’d fall off,” Kai says with a snort. “Buckle up, I’m taking you home.”
Beomgyu doesn’t move. “But I like your motorcycle better,” he whines as he pulls on his sleeves. “We’re closer that way.” He glares at the center console between them as if it’s committed a crime.
It’s cute, but so out of character. Kai is used to it. He reaches over to pull the seat belt for Beomgyu; the faster he can drop Beomgyu off, the faster the night can end without disaster.
“Kai-yah,” Beomgyu says as Kai leans in close. “Kai-yah, I really like you.”
Kai fumbles and loses his grip on the belt. Beomgyu giggles and tilts his head, close enough to steal a kiss, which quickly escalates from a peck to an open-mouthed battle, Kai’s lips almost bruising against Beomgyu’s because for a terrifying second he wants it to hurt, wants Beomgyu to feel what he feels too.
Then Beomgyu cups his cheek and all of that—aggression, almost—melts away. Kai softens against the older; he has always been weak for him.
Kai finishes buckling Beomgyu’s seat belt, then his, and he checks his mirrors before reversing. He watches the road, even while Beomgyu watches him. He does everything like he’s supposed to, by the book, checks all his boxes neat and tidy and yet he is nothing against Beomgyu when the older pulls him in again as soon as the car rolls to a stop in front of his apartment, foreheads bumping and noses touching before their lips meet.
Beomgyu kisses him in an achingly sweet manner that’s reserved for when they’re alone, and it makes Kai weak, the mismatch between the Beomgyu of tonight and the Beomgyu of days and mornings and the Beomgyu who wavers sometimes like he wants to say something, but never does.
Beomgyu looks at him, and even as he starts to open his mouth, Kai keeps fervently wishing, please don’t ask me to stay—
“Come inside?” Beomgyu asks, breath warm against Kai’s face, lips tinted red and kiss-swollen.
And he says, “Okay.”
—because I can’t say no to you.
Beomgyu scans them in with his key fob, and Kai doesn’t think about the arm he has around Beomgyu’s waist to steady him until Beomgyu wraps his arms around him too, face against his neck.
“You’re not leaving, right?” Beomgyu mumbles against him.
“No,” Kai lies. “Can I borrow a toothbrush?”
“I don’t want to go to sleep yet, though.” He yawns.
“Let’s just get ready for bed,” Kai coaxes. “We don’t have to sleep right away.”
Beomgyu squints at him suspiciously but follows him to the bathroom.
“Don’t forget to wash your face,” Kai says after they rinse. Beomgyu’s eyes are drooping already, as if just the suggestion of sleep was enough to tire him. That’s Beomgyu though. He’ll wipe out soon enough once they get in bed. While Beomgyu’s washing up, Kai leaves a set of pajamas in the bathroom for him. Kai still has on a turtleneck and joggers, but they’re comfortable enough to go to bed in, especially since it’ll only be for a little while.
Kai’s stomach drops when Beomgyu comes out of the bathroom still wearing his sweater.
“Why didn’t you change? You’ll be more comfortable in your pajamas,” Kai says, trying to keep the anxiousness out of his voice. It’ll be difficult to explain that later, although Beomgyu does occasionally take Kai’s clothing since he’s chronically underdressed and Kai always has a hoodie or a sweater on hand.
“I like this sweater,” Beomgyu says as he dives into the bed. “It smells like you.”
Kai looks at him with fond exasperation. Sometimes he can’t tell if Beomgyu is being extremely honest or if he’s bullshitting around because of the alcohol. Kai carefully gets in the bed and turns to face Beomgyu, quickly judging the sweater as a lost cause. He doesn’t have any other layers on, so it’s practically impossible for him to take.
“Good night, Beomie.”
Beomgyu frowns, but his obvious sleepiness offsets the intended effect. “You said we didn’t need to go to sleep right away.” He reaches out for Kai’s hand, fingers entangling underneath the blankets. “Kai-yah...these days, you feel so far away.”
Kai smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “What do you mean? I’m right here.”
“Promise me something.” Beomgyu looks like an angel, eyes wide and expectant, the light from his lamp framing his hair like a halo. The shine in his eyes like liquid starlight.
Kai’s smile is strained, feeling like he’s going to ask for something impossible. “What is it?”
“Stay,” Beomgyu says, and he already has their pinkies hooked together. “It feels like you’re going to run away,” he continues, thumb stamp, “like Cinderella.” Beomgyu looks at him expectantly, and Kai swallows harshly. “Please?” And he looks so hopeful when he brings their intertwined hands towards himself to plant a soft kiss on their thumbs. “Stay,” Beomgyu says again, like if he says it enough times, reality wouldn’t dare to be different. “Or I’ll be sad.”
None of what Beomgyu comes up with when he’s drunk are his true feelings. That, Kai knows.
“Don’t be sad,” Kai whispers back, and Beomgyu beams at him.
“With you, I’m not.” And if Kai lets Beomgyu kiss him again, lets him settle warm and close against him until his breathing evens out and he falls asleep, lets him live out a bit of their promise before breaking it, who would blame him?
In the end, he still leaves after deleting the messages and call history from Beomgyu’s phone. He turns off the lamp and very resolutely does not look back.