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Riki was hanging out with Jake and Sunghoon, the couple being grossly cute in front of him. He eyed them disgustingly as he rolled his eyes, secretly wishing he was being cuddled the same way the other two were. The maknae leaned on his bag, the bean bag chair he was sitting on, rustling under his weight as he tried to find a comfortable position. Sunghoon and Jake were on the floor, leaning against Riki’s bed, Sunghoon’s arm comfortably around Jake as if it belonged there.
He sighed and eyed the Soju six-pack the older two bought and reached for one, popping the bottle cap off with his teeth and downing a third of it in a single gulp. He immediately felt the 40% alcohol burn in his throat. Riki was absolutely not trying to make himself forget how his only way to spend his Saturday evening was to watch his older members be in love right in front of him while his own love life was on a downward slope.
Of course, he loved Sunghoon and Jake, don’t get him wrong. In fact, he was the first member to suspect the romantic chemistry between the two and the first person they confessed their relationship to, with which Riki bragged to this day. However, their relationship didn’t help Riki’s longtime little ( not so little ) crush on their leader which had been harbouring inside his heart for a while now, Riki couldn’t even remember. So, when he saw Sunghoon wipe some food from Jake’s lip, he couldn’t help but wonder how it would be if it was him and Jungwon in their place.
Speaking of Jungwon, he was currently out with the other members, as per Jay's suggestion. They were going to be out pretty late and Riki was too lazy to join which is how he ended up with the two most pda-loving men in their group.
He let out an involuntarily loud groan that caught the attention of the older two, their eyes suspiciously grazing over him as they probably were searching if their maknae was drunk or if he was just being dramatic. Little did they know, both of those were about to happen.
Riki glared at them, he disliked being treated like a baby, even if he liked the attention the older members would usually give him. However, he was an adult and could handle a bit of alcohol without worrying about taking over his hyungs brains.
“I’m not drunk if that’s what you want to know.” Riki said, as he raised the soju bottle to his lip and downed another third of it, squeezing his eyes at the burn but quickly ignoring it as Jake snorted, sounding like he was already used to the youngests dramatics.
“Yet.” Jake said and Sunghoon laughed.
“Why are you drinking as if you’re divorced with three children?” Sunghoon asked and Riki rolled his eyes so hard, he could feel them touching the top of his head.
“Ha, ha. You are hilarious.”
Sunghoon shrugged. “I know.”
Riki scoffed. “For your information, I’m not drinking like a divorce father, I’m drinking as a single man with no hope for a love life.”
Jake stared so hard Riki was about to call protection services. “How does that make it better?” The Australian asked and Riki shrugged, taking another gulp from his drink, he could feel the world be a slightly lighter than before but he was still conscious enough for productive conversations. If what they were having right now could be called productive at all.
“It just does.” Riki said.
“That doesn’t even make any sense, Riks.” The former ice skater said and Jake nodded, taking a bite from the food he had, which was some takeout sushi Jay had bought because he didn’t want to cook anyone food, which was fair enough. That man was basically their adopted father eighteen hours a day.
“You don’t make sense.” Riki spat back and Jake sighed, Sunghoon chuckled and Riki just continued to drink his soju as if he had nothing to lose.
They all fell in silence as Riki finished his bottle of alcohol and reached for another one to which Sunghoon clicked his tongue.
“Jay might kill us if we get him too drunk.” Sunghoon whispered to Jake and Riki pretended not to hear them, the intoxicating alcohol fogging his brain as the world started spinning to the point he wasn’t sure what was left and what was right.
“He’s an adult.” Jake said back. Riki giggled and pointed at himself.
“I am.” The youngest said.
“An adult with love issues.” Sunghoon said and Jake nodded.
“You’re saying as if you didn’t get drunk after you confessed to me.”
“That was different.” Sunghoon said. “Plus, it got me a boyfriend.” He said and Jake laughed, pecking him on the corner of his mouth. Riki groaned and turned his head away.
“You are gross.” The maknae said as he tilted his head and drank his second bottle without even the slightest of breaths. Sunghoon groaned and got up to go next to Riki, arms reaching to catch Riki’s head that was moving at an unknown pace, his head just lulling back and forth.
“Oops?” Jake said. Sunghoon sighed.
Riki reached for another bottle but Sunghoon settled himself next to the maknae and took it out of his hands. “Woah there, Riks. That’s more than enough.” The former ice skater said and Riki poured, turning to the older with puppy eyes that he knew everyone was weak for, even their staff. Sunghoon chuckled, putting an arm around Rikis shoulders.
“I’m not Jake, those don’t work on me.” Sunghoon said and Riki buried his face in his hands as the Australian gasped dramatically.
“That is not true!” The oldest in the room said, going on the other side of Riki, practically squeezing the maknae between the couple. Jake removed Sunghoon’s hand from around Riki and replaced it with his own as he dragged Riki to lean against him.
“Please. You are whipped for him.” Sunghoon claimed and Jake groaned.
Riki just whined, reaching for his phone. “I wish someone else was whipped for me.” The maknae said wistfully, as if he was reminiscing about a past life.
Jake and Sunghoon froze, looked at each other and then at Riki’s phone. “Oh?” Jake said, his nosiness comin in clutch as Sunghoon just waited for Riki to answer, probably slightly taking advantage of Riki’s more talkative self as he was drunk. Which, admittedly was wrong but Riki hadn’t cared much, the thought of messaging Jungwon too loud in his head.
Riki sighed dreamily. “If only he would look at me the same way Sunghoon looks at Jake.” He said as if he forgot the two people mentioned were in the room with him. Sunghoon looked at Jake who just shrugged, as clueless as the other was.
Riki then tapped away on his phone, whining when he couldn’t find a specific name because his world was spinning so much every word and app was melting together and becoming like a whirl of different colours.
“Who are you trying to find, Ki?” Jake asked. Riki shook his head.
“The love of my life.”
Sunghoon snorted. “And who exactly is that?”
“I already told you!” Riki whined, burying his face in Jake’s chest as he tapped frantically on his phone. Jake grabbed it and looked at what Riki had typed.
“This feels like a forgotten language.” Jake showed the phone to Sunghoon who squinted at the screen as Riki whined ‘nooooo’ while his phone was being passed around to the older two.
“Process of elimination, then.” Sunghoon said.
Jake stared at him as if Sunghoon had just grown too many heads. “Are you serious?”
Sunghoon shrugged. “What? He knows barely no one except us so it can’t be hard.”
Riki gasped. “Rude!”
Sunghoon ruffled his hair. “And true.”
“I want another bottle.” Riki complained.
“And we want a million dollars.” Jake shot back.
“We’re rich.” Sunghoon whispered and Jake shrugged.
As the bickered back and forth, Riki took hold of his phone again as he tried once again to type Jungwon’s name but only managed to accurately manage the first letter before his phone was snatched away by Sunghoon.
“J?” Sunghoon asked.
Riki nodded, too tired to put up a fuss now. “Mhm.”
“Me?” Jake wiggled his eyebrows and Riki made a face in disgust.
“Ew.” The maknae said which made Sunghoon laugh and Jake glared at both of them in betrayal.
“Jay?” Riki shook his head and then both Sunghoon and Jake both gasped, looked at each other and grabbed Riki’s phone to type the leader’s name, which Riki had saved with a thirst trap picture of Jungwon.
“This makes so much sense.” Jake whispered. Sunghoon nodded dumbly.
Riki scowled. “Lemme talk to the love of my life!” The maknae protested and snatched the phone back, tapping on Jungwon’s name, and without a second thought pressing the voicemail button.
“Hi, handsome!” Riki laughed and Sunghoon slapped himself.
“He’s going to regret this so much.”
Jake shrugged. “Let him.”
Sunghoon raised an eyebrow. “Ain’t you responsible?”
Jake smiled. “Remember when Riki said if he were a girl he would date Jungwon? We were so stupid to not realize he had an actual crush on our leader.” The Australian explained and Sunghoon pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Still, he’s going to kill us in the morning.” Sunghoon explained.
“And he’l have Jungwon to calm him down.” Jake chuckled.
Riki giggled. “Hear that, hyung? I like you so so so much!” Riki smiled and pressed send before relaxing against the older members and closing his eyes.
After a few minutes of just holding his phone against his chest and trying to make sense inside his mind which was to no avail because he was on the doorstep of a nasty hangover in the morning.
“Hyungs?” Riki asked, his voice coming out more groggy than usual as sleep was starting to take over.
“Yeah?” Jake asked as he ran a hand through Riki’s hair.
“Do you-” Riki sniffles. “Think he likes me back?” Riki asked.
“Well-” before Sunghoon could answer, Riki fell asleep, a loud snore coming from the maknae as the older two fell into quiet laughter, careful to not wake him up.
“I’m so sad I didn’t record this.” Jake said and Sunghoon nodded.
“I wonder if Jungwon-”
It seemed like the world wasn’t going to let Sunghoon finish his sentences today because the door snapped open, revealing the one and only Jungwon to stare at them as if he had just heard the commitment of a crime. Jake’s eyes widened and Sunghoon could only remain speechless as Jungwon stepped inside, closing the door behind him softly.
“Is he drunk?” Jungwon asked. Jake nodded dumbly, too baffled by how this situation turned into a rom-com that Sunoo would watch before falling asleep.
Jungwon sighed and crouched in front of them, brushing Riki’s bangs out of his face and looked at both of them, that stare he always did when ordering them around coming in and Jake felt a shiver run down his back, as did Sunghoon but he wouldn’t admit it.
“You can go.” Jungwon said and the two nodded, scrambling to their feet and leaving the room without a single protest.
Jungwon watched them go and then looked back at the maknae and sighed, slipping his arm gently under Riki’s knees as the other went around his back and picked up Riki in a princess carry. He brought Riki to his bed and watched as the maknae turned on his side to get comfortable unconsciously which made Jungwon chuckle.
The leader then looked at the bottle on the floor which he put in the trash by the door, ready to be taken out tomorrow. He saw Riki’s phone on the bean bag and chuckled, grabbing it and placing it on the nightstand, plugging it in to charge. He closed the blinds and then took his shoes off, he also took off his jeans and remained in his underwear as he slid in next to Riki on the bed.
“You’re an idiot.” Jungwon said as he slipped an arm around Riki’s waist.
“Don’t regret this in the morning,” he whispered, before closing his eyes.
When Riki opened his eyes, he felt warmth around his waist and he nuzzled deeper into what he believed was his pillow. However, he felt breathing above his head and his brain immediately turned it into a horror movie scenario. Riki looked up and his eyes widened comically when he saw Jungwon holding him against his chest as if they had done this a million times.
“Holy shit.”
Then, a sharp pang in his head took over as he groaned, remembering the copious amounts of alcohol his body had ingested last night. Riki groaned loudly, unaware of the effect it might’ve had over Jungwon. He sat up and made no move to remove Jungwon’s hand from around his waist as he massaged at his temples.
“It’s too early.” Jungwon’s sleepy voice came out and Riki froze.
Riki saw Jungwon’s jeans on the floor and immediately let out a scream that was not high-pitched thank you very much. He suddenly seemed to remember the events last night and suddenly felt sick to his stomach at the embarrassment he just brought upon himself.
“I– we– hyung–” Riki seemed to malfunction as Jungwon groaned and pulled at Riki’s waist to bring them face to face.
“Nothing happened. I carried you to bed and we fell asleep.” Jungwon whispered as he brought his hand to cup Riki’s cheek.
Riki felt the back of his neck and the tip of his ears start to burn; he was pretty sure they turned hot pink. His heart was hammering so violently in his chest he was almost convinced Jungwon could hear it.
“It’s way too early for this.” Jungwon groaned. “I like you too. For a while. Planned on confessin g but was too much of a pussy so I guess– thank you for doing it first. Even if it was a drunk confession.” The older said, and Riki was rendered speechless.
The older one looked at him as if Riki hung the moon and stars. Like he’d been waiting for this— them —longer than Riki could’ve imagined.
Then, Jungwon’s eyes snapped to his lips and leaned in but Riki stopped him.
“I have morning breath.” Riki whispered.
“Riki, I really couldn’t care less.” Jungwon said.
Riki stopped, breath caught in his throat, and then leaned forward, bringing his hands to cup Jungwon’s cheeks and pressed a quick kiss onto Jungwon’s lips.
It felt electric, almost surreal. His lips lingered longer than he expected, soft and unsure, but yearning. And before Riki could even process it, Jungwon glared with mock offense, his fingers curling beneath Riki’s jaw to hold him in place.
“Not like that,” Jungwon whispered, voice lower, almost reverent.
Then he kissed him again—deeper this time. Slower. Like he was trying to memorise the shape of Riki’s mouth, the taste of him, the weight of this moment. Riki’s heart stuttered as he melted into it, hands trembling slightly where they rested on Jungwon’s shoulders. His brain short-circuited completely—because what was his life?
Jungwon kissed him like he meant it. Like he needed it.
And Riki, oh, Riki kissed back like he was scared it would end too soon.
When they pulled apart, just enough to breathe, Jungwon rested his forehead against Riki’s and whispered, “I’ve wanted to do that forever.”
Riki didn’t know how to react. His lips were still tingling and he was suddenly aware of just how close they were, how loud the silence had become after the kiss.
“I think I’m dreaming.” The maknae said softly.
“Then never wake up.” Jungwon chuckled, brushing his thumb gently over Riki’s cheek.
Riki ignored the headache he was having from the hangover as he was way too comfortable in Jungwon’s arms and breathed in. Everything smelled like fabric softener, warmth, and something distinctly him .
“We need to talk about this.”
“Later.” Jungwon said.
Riki’s heart squeezed at the promise of later and closed his eyes back, allowing himself to be comforted by Jungwon’s presence.
“Later.” Riki whispered back.