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“No! I’m n-not...druunk.” Jaemin repeats to his friends who keeps on insisting that they go home already because he’s shitfaced as fuck, which is true but he’s trying to deny it because he’s here to escape reality and not face it.
“Oh yeah? Is that someone who looks sober to you?” Haechan asks, his phone camera opened and directed straight at Jaemin’s face who begrudgingly opened one of his eye to check whatever his friend is trying to say but regrets it right away so he closes it in an instant. He knows he looks like a mess, his friends doesn’t have to rub it on his face.
“Come on let’s get you home.” Haechan says firmly again which is the reason why Jaemin is being difficult right now. You see, he doesn’t really wanna come home. Yet.
Renjun holds Jaemin in the arm, attempting to pull him from where he is seated. But the drunk pinkette is so much stronger than him even in a state of drunkenness so a little yank at his hand has him staggering. If Renjun is a calm before then he is pissed now.
“Let’s go fucking home before I call your boyfriend.” Renjun says in annoyance and an annoyed Renjun isn’t a very good thing. Jaemin should know it.
“N-no...no! Wait.” Jaemin says abruptly before his two friends can call his boyfriend. His eyes are still shut to diminish the headache caused by the blaring EDM and blinding lights. A sign that he’s totally drunk but he’s not going to ever admit that. “Let me...let me go to the, r-restroom first.” he tries to negotiate.
Haechan and Renjun are looking at each other, both suspicious of their friend. They interestingly communicated through their eyes which is something only friends for a decade can do. But what they’re forgetting is that Jaemin is also their friend for a decade whose eyes are finally wide open, so of course he understood what exactly they were thinking.
Shit! They’re gonna come with me.
Upon this realization, Jaemin started acting like he’s about to puke. As if it’s the reason why he needed to go to the restroom in the first place. His friends instantly showed a disgusted look and then a sigh of defeat. They won’t come with him if he’s about to puke his guts out because the last time it happened Jaemin threw up all over them and that's a (dark) history they never wanted to repeat.
“Just be fast.” Renjun says in defeat. Jaemin suppresses the smirk that’s about to form on his face before excusing himself to the restroom.
He staggers as walks in big strides towards the restroom, never forgetting to act like he’s gonna vomit to make it more believable. But he didn't really have to try so hard he realizes. The walk to the restroom was unpleasant, a queasy feeling started to form on his stomach and it’s getting worse with each step he takes.
Jaemin entered the first available cubicle that he could see and pressed his back against the cold and dirty door to stabilize himself. When Jaemin feels like he could breathe evenly again and his guts has calmed down a little, he goes to the sink to wash his face with some cold water. Aside from his eight shots of espresso, cold water is also a good method to rouse him up and it works all the damn time. After he wipes his face dry with the sleeves of his pullover, he makes his way out and goes to the nearest table for some water.
“Can I have that bottle of water please?” He shamelessly asks.
“Yeah sure.” The girl accepts without a fight and hands him the unopened bottle of water without sparing him another glance.
He downs the bottle in one go and throws it in the nearest bin. He gains a little energy from it and uses it all up to escape the bar using the back door that only patrons like him knew.
“Fuck! I need alcohol again.” Jaemin says once he’s successfully out, his insobriety slowly dissipating.
He hails a cab right away and when he deems he’s far enough from where his friends are, he gets off in the first bar that he sees.
Without the supervision of his friends he could drink as much as he wants. It feels more liberating and wonders why he didn’t just go alone instead in the first place. Maybe it’s because he needed someone who will listen to him, but alcohol is a better company he concludes after his friends thought it’s okay to contact his boyfriend when they just had a fight.
Jaemin was imbibing far too many glasses of beer that the bartender was starting to get worried for him. Or more like getting worried for himself because Jaemin doesn’t have any company and the bar is about to close soon and he doesn’t want to take care of a drunk man even if he finds him pretty as fuck.
“Excuse me, mister?” The bartender carefully shakes Jaemin who has his face flat on the bar top, but the drunk man only groans in response which has the troubled bartender let out a sigh of exasperation.
He tries again. “Mister, mister wake up.” The bartender shakes him roughly this time and it was enough to get Jaemin to raise his head. “The bar is closing soon.” He tries to talk to the drunk man politely, even offering a small smile. But all he gets is a glare from Jaemin and a few bills on the table which he hopes is enough for everything that he ordered. It is more than enough so the bartender forgives him easily for the small trouble he caused him.
By the time Jaemin was out of the bar, his world started spinning. He has a splitting headache that can rival a migraine and a little part of him regrets drinking past his limit.
Jaemin didn’t bother opening his phone and lets go of all his thoughts that includes a certain boyfriend of his because he’s a man on a mission now and his mission is to get home so he can sleep on his fluffy bed that he misses so much.
But it was a lot harder than he thought. It’s super late so there’s no bus operations at this time. Even getting a cab is hard because apparently he’s far from the main streets and highways. Despite his body protesting, he has no choice but to walk until he reaches the highway or anywhere that a public transportation could be.
Jaemin trudges the foreign area, feeling cold and lonely. He wraps himself tightly with his arms and snuggles more into his clothes. He kinda misses his boyfriend now because he always gives the warmest hugs and the best cuddler ever. Oh how he wishes he can just forget about their fight and run into his arms right now.
After almost half an hour of walking, Jaemin got lost, and to make it worse his legs are about to give up on him. He ended up in a very dark and desolated place and he feels scared. He feels pathetic and helpless in his situation. He misses his boyfriend even more now.
Tears started to form in Jaemin’s eyes, making his vision blurry. He didn’t suppress the tears that are threatening to fall down and let’s himself cry like a baby while sitting on the cold and dirty pavement.
Jaemin doesn’t know when he stopped crying, but he’s feeling lightheaded after all the crying he did. He just wants to sleep and he was about to, when he heard a loud honk and blinding lights flashing before him which seems like headlights in it’s full brightness. He squints his eyes at the car and curses at no one because the lights are making his head ache more than it already is.
After a few minutes, he hears the engine stop and it was dark once again because of the lack of light coming from the car. The driver comes out and walks towards him in hurried steps. From what he can make out with his muddled brain, the man is a police officer because of the uniform he’s wearing.
“Jaemin? Fuck baby, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you answering your phone? Where have you been? I was looking for you everywhere. I was so worried.” The police officer speaks too fast for Jaemin to catch up. He doesn’t wait for an answer though and he crouches down to cup Jaemin’s face to examine if he’s okay or hurt anywhere. When he concludes that he’s fine except for the fact that he’s drunk as fuck, he hugs him tightly. “Please don’t do that again. I was so worried I was about to lose my mind.”
“Warm.” Is all Jaemin says as he welcomes the familiar warmth coming from the police officer.
“Baby, what happened?” The police officer asks him.
“Baby? ‘M not your baby.” Jaemin pulls away from the hug and glares at the man who just dared to call him baby.
“But you are...my baby.” The police officer says with a little bit of uncertainty in his voice. He doesn’t even know why he’s faltering like that when he’s known to be such a confident man.
“No!‘M Jeno’s baby.” Jaemin pouts.
The police officers chuckles when he finally grasps the situation he’s in. His boyfriend can’t recognize him because he’s blind drunk.
“I am Jeno, your boyfriend.” Jeno assertively says this time but drunk Jaemin just won’t believe him.
“Liar. Go away!” Jaemin pushes Jeno with the little strength remaining in him.
Jeno sighs fondly at his drunk adorable boyfriend. He must’ve drank way too much his past limit to get to this point. Jaemin is proud of his talent of recognizing Jeno even from miles away and yet here they are - only a foot distance between them and he thinks he’s just some random policeman.
“Alright let’s get you home.” Jeno scoops Jaemin and carries him effortlessly. Though he’s thankful that Jaemin is pliant, he also gets worried at the thought that what if it’s another man and not him? He shakes the thoughts for now as he carefully sits Jaemin on the passenger seat and buckles his seat belt on in case he tries to escape.
“Not home. Hotel.” Jaemin blurts out when Jeno gets into the driver’s seat. His boyfriend’s words making him frown.
“Why the hotel?”
“Don’t wanna see Jeno.” The words make Jeno’s heart twist in pain. Up until now he’s still unsure about the real reason why Jaemin left without a notice only to find him wasted like this. His boyfriend doesn’t even enjoy drinking much so it’s still a big mystery to him except for the fact now that he might be involved in it.
“Why?” Jeno asks, hoping to get a proper answer from his boyfriend even if he’s drunk.
“We fought, and now...now I-I’m drunk. He’s gonna get even more mad.” Jaemin admits with a permanent pout on his lips and Jeno would kiss it away if only his boyfriend could recognize him. But what caught his attention is that they fought and apparently he’s mad. He doesn’t remember them fighting at all though and he can never get mad at Jaemin.
“W-we fought?” Jeno asks confusedly.
“Not you. Jeno.”
“Right, okay. What did you fight about?”
“Hmmnn...” Jaaemin thinks for a moment. “Officer, please don’t tell Jeno, okay?” The police officer nods in affirmation and then Jaemin spills everything that has been bugging his mind since he called his friends for a drink. “You see, I wanted to adopt a cat but he doesn’t wanna. I got upset over it and threatened him that I would breakup with him if we didn’t adopt a cat. Then I woke up without him next to me so I thought he was mad and that made me angry too.”
Jeno remembers it now. It was true that he rejected the idea of adopting a cat but that’s only because they already have a samoyed dog to take care of. Jeno is busy with his work as a police officer and Jaemin is in his last year of college and they can’t really afford to take care of one more pet.
But he was never upset at Jaemin. Even if he threatened him with their relationship because he knows he doesn’t mean it. Also, he didn’t leave because he’s mad but because he was suddenly called in at work. It’s something that usually happens with the nature of his work so he thought it was okay to leave without a note.
Jeno regrets it now though. Even if it’s a quick one he should always tell his boyfriend his whereabouts so they can avoid confusions like this the next time.
“Jeno is not mad, okay? He says he wants to adopt a cat too, but not now. He also left because of work and not because he’s mad at you. He can never be mad at you.” Jeno says with the softest voice ever.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m Jeno.” He says with a chuckle.
“Are you really Jeno? My boyfriend?” Jaemin leans in closer to him and examines his face with his big doe eyes that Jeno loves to stare at.
“Yes.” Jeno replies with his signature smile, hoping his drunk boyfriend would recognize it.
Jaemin does and all of a sudden he bursts out in tears as he tries to hug his boyfriend. “Jeno, I’m so sorry.” he cries out loud, wetting the police officer’s uniform with tears and snot.
Jeno is used to this, seeing his crybaby. So he does what he usually does to calm him down. He rubs the expanse of his boyfriend’s back and brushes his pink locks as he whispers sweet nothings to him. “It’s okay baby. I love you. Just don’t do it again please? I am not mad. Just talk to me next time first instead of getting drunk like this. I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have left like that. I’m not mad, I can never be mad at you. I love you so much baby.”
“I-I love you too.” Jaemin replies as he snuggles further into his boyfriend’s chest.
“Shall we go home then?”
“Yes please.”
Jeno takes care of his boyfriend until they’re home and plans a surprise once he’s sober and better. A new addition to their family wouldn’t hurt he thinks, he just has to work harder from now on.