Work Text:
“This is the fifth time you’ve been here this week,” Wai observes, ignoring the way his co-workers are watching him, “And this point, I should be signing you up for Alcoholics Anonymous,”
Korn blinks up at him, slumped over the table, eyes furrowed and lips twisted into a pout. He looks adorable. Not that Wai will ever say that out loud. It took them a long time to be friends and an even longer time for them to be able to refer to each other as best friends (Pat and Pran not-withstanding) and he’s not about to ruin it with his crush on the engineer.
“I’m not an alcoholic,” Korn mumbles, taking another sip of his (sixth? seventh? Wai doesn’t even know anymore) whiskey.
“Could’ve fooled me,” Wai snorts, it seemed Korn had taken advantage of the busy night and ordered drink after drink from the servers who’d been too busy to remember the drink limit-rule Wai had enforced on Korn after the man’s repeated appearances at the bar. The crowd has slowed down and Wai catches his manager’s eyes to signal to her that he’s taking his break now.
“So what brought you here today sans the rest of the idiots?” Wai asks, neatly pulling the glass away from Korn when the man goes for another sip. He gets another devastating pout for his troubles before Korn answers, “Pat’s on a date with Pran. Mo and Chang have gone for some football match,”
“And you decided to get piss drunk and become a nuisance, right?”
“I’m your nuisance,” Korn mumbles, staring mournfully at the glass of whiskey still out of reach. Wai softens, “Yeah. You are,” he says under his breath, far too quiet for Korn to hear.
They sit like that for the rest of Wai’s break. He gets Korn to eat some food under the guise of a dare and switches out his whiskey for a vodka lychee that’s actually just water and lychee.
What Korn doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
But his break is up all too soon and he returns to serving people and clearing tables, instructing the rest of the waiters that under no circumstances is Korn allowed to drink any more alcohol. Korn, to his credit, just remains slumped over the table, big sad eyes following Wai all around, looking so utterly pathetic that Wai’s boss gives up and tells him to take Korn back home.
“He’s making the other patrons sad,” She says, gesturing vaguely, “Take him home and sober him up, he looks like a puppy left out in the rain. The crowd is dying out and we have enough people to close up, so go.”
Wai snorts but takes the chance to leave work early and immediately grabs his bag and makes his way over to Korn, “Alright Mr.Mopey, we’re getting you home,”
“Don’t wanna,” Comes the drunken retort and Wai rolls his eyes, “Well you don’t get a choice in this,” and pulls Korn up with all his strength. Korn immediately stumbles into his arms, a mess of uncoordinated limbs and
Wai grunts as he adjusts Korn and throws the other man’s arm around his shoulders. Korn leans into him heavily, a long line of heat pressed up to his side and Wai has to forcibly make himself move before his brain freezes at the excessive contact. Korn’s physically affectionate on a normal basis, an arm thrown around a shoulder, a head ruffle here and a bear hug there but there’s something different about this touch, with Korn all unguarded and pressed up so close Wai can feel his breath on his neck.
He doesn’t know whether to curse his past self or thank him for not bringing his bike to work today.
Korn, thankfully, co-operates on the walk back, only stopping momentarily to dry-heave into some rose bushes before resuming their journey.
“The moon is so pretty,” Korn sighs and Wai squints up at the sky in confusion.
“That’s a street lamp,”
“It’s so bright and glow-y and beautiful,” Korn continues dreamily like Wai never spoke, “Like you!” He beams at Wai who blushes furiously.
“Ok Romeo, you definitely need to get to bed,” Wai laughs, hoping Korn doesn’t notice his red cheeks. It takes them another twenty minutes before they reach Korn’s apartment.
Opening the door proves to be a challenge when Korn plasters himself to Wai’s back as the architect unlocks the door to reveal Korn’s apartment. He gets Korn’s shoes off, knowing how much the man hates wearing shoes around the house and hangs up his bag by the door.
“Go brush your teeth,” Wai orders him, pushing him towards the bathroom, “I’m going to get you some water,” Korn obediently toddles off, muttering something about strawberries.
Wai takes a few seconds to gather his thoughts before grabbing a bottle of water and heading to the bathroom. Korn lights up at the sight of him by the doorway. He’s already dressed in pyjamas and there’s a streak of toothpaste on the corner of his lips that he’d not managed to wipe off.
“Hi!” he says and Wai snickers, stepping forward with the bottle, “Here, drink some,” he says handing it to Korn, “Small sips or you’ll puke it out again.”
Korn nods and Wai waits until he’s finished half the bottle before bringing a hand up and swiping a thumb over the toothpaste to get rid of it.
“Time for bed,” he says and leads Korn over to the bed and sits him down. He turns to head back to the living room when his arm is caught and he’s pulled back with a surprising amount of force, “Korn! Wha-”
“You’d make a great boyfriend, Wai,” Korn says seriously,looking up at him from where he’s sitting on the bed, “I wish you were my boyfriend,”
“Korn,” Wai starts, feeling a pang in his chest at the other man’s words.
“You’re so smart. And stubborn. And you act all grumpy but you’re so kind and soft underneath it all and I wish you were my boyfriend,”
Wai laughs. In a fit of bravery, he runs a hand through Korn’s hair, slowly untangling the knots. He’s aware that this is not the most platonic thing friends do, “You’re terrible at asking people out,” he says, “Piss-drunk and half-asleep.” he gently pushes at Korn’s shoulders until the man takes the hint and scrambles under the covers with a happy hum.
“Good night, Korn,”
All he gets is a light snore in response.
*****
Korn wakes up with a blinding headache.
The curtains are drawn shut but it doesn’t stop him from wincing as he opens his eyes. He sits up, questioning his life choices that led him here as he waits for the room to stop spinning so much.
There’s a glass of water and a small container with two painkillers which he immediately takes, welcoming the cool water. He sits there for a few minutes in silence before the smell of eggs registers and he finally takes notice of the sound of movement coming from outside.
Slowly he gets up and walks over, holding onto the walls for support. The sight that greets him makes his heart skip.
Wai, dressed in an oversized t-shirt of his and shorts, hair still mussed from sleep, frying eggs and bacon by the stove as he sways to some music playing on his phone. Korn stands by the doorway, headache forgotten as he watches Wai move around his kitchen with such familiarity you’d think he lived there.
It’s so painfully domestic and Korn wants nothing more than to walk over and press himself against Wai’s back like in all those rom-com movies. The sofa has some rumpled sheets so Korn assumes Wai slept over, though decidedly more sober.
The architect suddenly seems to detect that he has an audience and turns around with a grin, “Welcome back to the land of the living, care for some pancakes?” He gestures to the stack of pancakes on the table and Korn grunts out an agreement, not trusting himself to not say something stupid like “I’m so in love with you, please date me,”
“The eggs and bacon will be done in a bit, I figured you’d need something a bit greasy. Go sit,” Korn complies and plates up some for himself and Wai before waiting patiently.
“I borrowed your pyjamas, sorry about that,” Wai says and Korn bites his lip before the words “Don’t be, you look adorable,” can escape him. Instead he tilts his head back and waves dismissively, “Yeah sure, no problem,”
Wai comes over the eggs and bacon a few minutes later. The eggs are scrambled just how Korn likes it because Wai knows he doesn’t like the taste of runny yolk and the bacon is fried to perfection. God he wants to date Wai so bad. They eat in silence, legs occasionally grazing against each other before straying away again. Wai doesn’t let him clean up either, instead setting him to make coffee for the both of them. So Korn reluctantly turns away and starts on Wai’s coffee, determined to make it exactly how the man likes it.
It’s when he’s stirring in the sugar that he remembers what exactly happened the night before.
His hand holding onto Wai’s
I wish you were my boyfriend.
Wai’s shocked face.
I wish you were my boyfriend
“I asked you out yesterday,”
Wai startles, the plate he’s wiping nearly slipping from his grip, “Shit, what- what do you-”
“I remember now,” Korn interrupts, turning to face Wai, “I asked you out. I said I wished you were my boyfriend,”
“It’s fine Korn,” Wai says quickly, “I know you didn’t mean it, you were drunk and out of your senses,”
“Says who?” Korn asks and in a bout of courage, he adds, “It doesn’t matter if I was drunk. I still meant it. I wish you were my boyfriend,”
Wai stares at him like he’s grown a second head, “You can’t be serious,”
“Of course I am. Sure I didn’t say it in the best way but it’s true. I wish you were my boyfriend. I’ve had a fat crush on you ever since we became friends and I realized how nice you actually are,”
Wai gapes at him, ears and cheeks flushing red. He’s silent for a few beats for groaning and throwing the drying towel at him, “You’re terrible at asking people out,” he complains and Korn laughs, startled.
“But are you saying yes?”
“No,” Wai says firmly but before Korn can start crying, he continues, “I want to say yes but you’re going to give me a good proposal. None of these drunk confessions. If I’m getting into a relationship with a guy I’ve been crushing on for a year now, it won’t be because he proposed to me while drunk and mopey,”
“You’ve been crushing on me for a year?” Korn grins.
“That’s what you’re focusing on?!”
“Don’t worry baby,” Korn takes a few steps forward until he’s only a few inches away from Wai, “I’ll yell it from the rooftops if that’s what you wanted,”
“Korn!” Wai yelps, smacking the other man’s away by the shoulder, “You’re unbelievable!”
“I’m gonna woo you so hard ,” Korn grins.
***
“And that’s all he said?” Pran frowns.
“Yeah,” Wai sighs, collapsing onto his bed with an oof, “I don’t even know what that means,”
Pran hums, “Well when Pat and I had our bet going on, he sent like twelve bouquets of roses to my apartment,”
Wai stares at him in horror, “Pran my apartment does not have enough space for twelve bouquet of roses,”
Pran, that asshole, has the audacity to laugh, “Well, you’re the one who demanded he ask you out in a better manner,”
“Excuse me for being a romantic,” Wai grumbles, hugging his pillow in annoyance.
He hadn’t spent much time at Korn’s after the impromptu proposal, mostly because he had a group project to work on and Pran, finicky and punctual as ever, had been blowing up his phone with reminders for their meeting later in the afternoon. And also because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep himself from kissing Korn silly if he stayed any longer. Pran smiles and flops down next to him, “I’m glad though,” he says, “I was getting tired of your pining,” he teases, laughing harder when Wai pokes him in the ribs in retaliation.
They sit like that for a while, staring up at the glow in the dark stickers Pran had stuck on the ceiling the day Wai moved in.
“What do you think Korn has planned?”
“No idea, but if there’s one thing I’ve realized after dating Pat, it’s that those engineer boys can be really dramatic,”
***
“What’s going on?” Wai frowns, feeling uncomfortable at the way everyone’s staring at him as he walks by.
“I don’t know but I don’t like it,” Safe scowls, putting on his best resting bitch face, “What’s their problem?”
Wai glances at Pran who’s smiling like he knows something that Wai doesn’t. Which is never a good sign.
“What,” he says, pointing accusingly at Pran, “Do you know?”
“You’ll find out,” his traitorous best friend sings and Wai groans, knowing it means nothing good. They make their way to the staircase and Wai is looking forward to grabbing some sweet tea from the canteen when the sight of Korn and his friends at the foot of the staircase stops him in his tracks.
And within those few seconds he’s frozen in shock, it seems like the rest of his faculty has also arrived to watch whatever is about to go down.
An arm comes to rest around his shoulder and he turns to see his peer mentor, “P’Blue?”
“Wai,” his mentor grins, “A little birdie told me that a certain engineer boy was planning on proposing to you,”
Wai groans, feeling his cheeks heat up as the knowledge of what’s about to happen dawns on him. Blue grins and turns to face the crowd that’s gathered, “Fellow architects, the engineers, our much-loathed nemesis, seek to steal the affections of one of our own,” he bellows and Wai hides his face in his hands as the crowd starts to boo. Distantly, he hears Korn laugh.
“I think this is gonna be worse than what Pat had to go through,” He says through his hands.
He looks back up to see Blue has turned to point at Korn threateningly, “You! Engineer!” he says, “You wanna date one of our boys?”
“Of course I do!” Korn yells, his smile wide and cocky.
Blue huffs, “Really? Why?”
“He’s an idiot,” Korn says loudly and Wai feels his mouth drop open in shock. What kind of a proposal was that? Not a very romantic one, that’s for sure.
Korn continues speaking, walking up the steps as his gaze lands on Wai, “He insults my fashion sense on a daily basis. He used to beat the shit out of me and he’s as stubborn as a rock,”
“Unbelievable,” Wai mutters, “I asked him to propose to me when he was sober not insult me in front of my faculty,”
“But he’s also kind and smart,” Korn goes on, voice still loud but tinged with fondness, “And he’s loyal to a fault. He pretends to be all grumpy and serious but he’s all soft under that,” The crowd coos at that.
“He takes care of me when I’m drunk. He cooks me my favorite food when I’m homesick and remembers all the little details about me. And I’ve had the biggest crush on him since I got to know him,” Korn’s only a few steps away and Wai’s entirely focused on him, crowd forgotten.
“So,” Korn stops and looks at Blue, “So, does that answer your question?”
Blue grins, “What do yall think?” he yells the question to the crowd who cheers in approval. He grins and turns to Korn, “Well, the faculty has spoken. You have our approval, engineer,”
Pran nudges him and Wai finally shakes himself into moving towards Korn. He comes to a stop, just one step above the engineer, “When I said big, this wasn’t what I was expecting,”
“I told you I’d yell it from the rooftops if I had to. And hey, I’m sober this time as well,”
“Shut up and kiss me, asshole,”
“With pleasure,” Korn grins and cups the back of Wai’s neck and pulls him into a kiss. The crowd roars around them and Wai pulls back a few seconds later to see that their friends have gathered together a few feet away. Pat’s got his arms wrapped around Pran and they look far too much like proud parents. Mo and Safe are making several crude gestures and Chang and Louis are high-fiving like they’re the reason this all happened.
Wai grins and turns back to Korn, “So what now?”
“Well knowing our friends, we’re probably gonna end up at the bar since all our classes are done for the day.”
“What a coincidence, ending up at the place where we started from,” Wai hums, “You better not get drunk again. Boyfriend or not, I’m not dragging your ass back home,”
Korn beams, “I’m your boyfriend now?”
Wai laughs, pecking him on the lips, “You’re an idiot. But you’re my idiot.”