Work Text:
Yeongi was a firecracker, and always had been. She prided herself on that very fact.
Which was why Sieun knew that the moment they were all legally allowed to drink, his arm would be twisted and he would inevitably end up being force-fed shots in some shitty club in Gangnam.
He prided himself on being a stone wall, impervious to any influence or pressure from outside forces—as robust as steel.
But there was one thing that made him tick.
Unluckily for him, Yeongi was not only a firecracker but incredibly perceptive, and had figured it out long before Sieun really grasped what 'it' was for himself.
It otherwise known as Ahn Suho. His best friend. Or, as Yeongi liked to call him, leverage.
So, when Sieun's hard 'no' to clubbing turned into a begrudging and resentful 'fine', Suho had recieved two long days of unfair glares and harrumps, until he lodged a formal complaint with Sieun one afternoon when the latter was studying. Something about it being mean of Sieun to take his anger out on him, when he had done nothing wrong and if he did, then Sieun had to share, otherwise Suho could not do anything to make it up to him.
Which was valid in some ways. But Suho was the entire reason that Sieun was going to be grappling with a hellish sensory nightmare on a Saturday evening, so he felt he was within reason to be a little reticent.
It did not last. It never really did with Suho.
All it took was a timely 'delivery', and Suho's grin as he held up Sieun's favourite takeaway to coax a fond and resigned sigh from the smaller.
If Sieun was impenetrable, Suho was his own personalised gamma radiation; getting through his skin breezily with those charming smiles that should not make Sieun as breathless as they did.
And Sieun's choice to go to the club had everything to do with keeping an eye on his two best friends, and nothing to do with Suho's handsome face and seemingly effortlessly charisma being unleashed upon a swarm of intoxicated partygoers.
The week preceeding their clubbing venture, Yeongi and Suho established that they were going only to feel the atmosphere, let loose a little, and test their limits. All of which were alien concepts to Sieun. They assured him they did not expect the same from him, and that they would not leave him to fend for himself. He did not really care if Yeongi ended up draped over a woman, but it was comforting to know that Suho had no such plans.
He did not linger on that thought.
Prior to D-Day, Sieun was set on staying sober, even if it came at the price of his sanity. That was before Suho arrived at his apartment in a black leather jacket with a tight white top hugging his every muscle. It was then that Sieun decided he may as well drink until he dropped dead.
Suho ran an eye over Sieun's outfit, eyes widening ever so slightly.
"Yeongi chose it," Sieun explained even though Suho had not asked and did not really need to because it was inconceivable for Sieun to have purchased clothes like this for himself.
His shirt was a silver grey and when the loose thin fabric caught the light it showed off the silouhette of his body beneath. One side had been tucked into a pair of black jeans and a smaller necklace dripped down his chest, golden skin visible where his shirt had been unbuttoned to his breastbone.
"She has a good eye," Suho said, nodding. "I'm surprised you let her dress you."
Sieun bit his tongue before he said something stupid like 'only because she said that you would like it if I did'. Instead, he tilted his head, bangs falling over his eyes. "We're going clubbing, are we not?"
"Well yeah, but—" Suho coughed, eyes flicking down to Sieun's waist and back up. "I dunno. Just didn't think you'd dress up."
Sieun shrugged. "Should I not have?"
Suho shook his head, rather frantically. "No, I didn't mean that. You—" He cleared his throat. "You look good."
Lips twitching, Sieun said. "Thank you. You look nice as well."
Suho's head dipped to hide his smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, Sieun."
When they were finally out of the doorway, walking through the apartment to Sieun's bedroom, he glanced back at Suho. He was wringing his hands, eyes on the floorboards.
"Where is Yeongi?" he asked. "I thought she was coming with you?"
"She wasn't ready," Suho said, lifting his head. "Seokdae's dropping her off in thirty."
"Of course."
Seeing that Yeongi was thirty minutes overdue, Sieun got some last minute studying done in the meantime, which probably looked ridiculous with him in his Yeongi-approved outfit. Or, at least, Suho must have thought so, because he kept staring at Sieun studying and then abruptly laughing and looking away only for his eyes to return to him a few seconds later.
Not to say that Suho watching him was out of the ordinary, he did that often whenever Sieun studied. It was just usually not so distracting. Nor was he usually wearing an outfit so eye-catching. Sieun thought he was over-dressed, but he was not about to say that aloud. Not after Suho complimented him.
"Still not drinking tonight?" Suho abruptly asked, breaking the silence both familiar and novel that had settled between them. Like ordering the same thing on the menu after years and finding something very subtle had been changed in the recipe. It still tasted the same, but something was different.
Tapping his pencil against the page, Sieun answered, "I might."
"How come?"
For the second time within the hour, the answer was 'Suho', but Sieun's response was, "We're going clubbing, are we not?"
A second passed and then Suho huffed, an amused note, and flopped down on Sieun's bed as if he owned it. Not that much of a stretch seeing that he spent half of his afternoons or early mornings napping there.
They did not speak again until Yeongi arrived. Which Sieun was surprisingly thankful for because he could not concentrate when Suho was laying on his bed looking like that. Plus, the longer waiting time just left more room for anxieties to sprout.
Seokdae offered to drop them at a club, somewhere that he had done a few gigs as a bouncer, where he could get them free entry. Sieun was not the type to take advantage of connections, but the idea of not wasting money on an experience he would not enjoy was tempting. His silence was as good as an agreement for his friends.
As they walked to Seokdae's car, Yeongi fell into step beside Sieun and pinched his side. "How did he react, huh?"
Sieun stared at her out of the corner of his eye. "To what?"
"I spent hours picking this outfit for you and you're telling me he didn't react at all?" Yeongi pulled a face of offence and raised a fist towards Suho's broad back, a few paces ahead of them. "Asshole."
"Oh, the outfit. You could've been clearer." A pause and then he said, "He said I looked good."
"Good?" After her neck rolled back, Yeongi recovered quickly and looped her arms through Sieun's. "Did he stutter?"
Sieun released one of his half-laugh half-sigh noises and retrieved his arm from her grip. "No. Suho isn't—"
"Yeongi-yah." The call came from Seokdae and she hurried ahead, her delinquent persona shed for a bright smile.
Suho drew back to let the two of them speak. Sieun waited for the heaviness of an arm falling on his shoulder, or a hand ruffling his hair, but it did not come. He snuck a look at Suho and found the taller with eyes on his shirt again. Realising he got caught, Suho lifted his head with a disarming smile. "Did you bring a jacket? It's cold out."
It was far from cold out, but Sieun humoured the question. "No, Suho. We'll be inside."
"Could still be cold. You never know."
Sieun hummed as though Suho had brought forth a good point. Detecting the sarcasm, Suho gently pushed his shoulder with a, "Stop."
Lips curling up, Sieun found a similar smile on Suho's face. An arm landed on his shoulders and squeezed, reassuring Sieun that everything was exactly as it should be.
Seokdae finally ushered them over and they clamboured into the car. The drive was filled with loud music that Sieun recognised from the radio growing up, and both Yeongi and Suho—hell, even Seokdae—were screeching the lyrics as if they were ten drinks deep.
A few times a beat would pulse through the car and Suho would gasp and wildly grab at Sieun's hand in excitement before pretending their joined hands were a microphone, his suprisingly good singing voice filling the car. Yeongi would twist to face them from the passanger's seat and Sieun would have to stifle a laugh. They may have been headed to the club, passing some invisible threshhold of adulthood, but they were acting no different than they did at karaoke. It allayed some of his worries about the night.
After Seokdae managed to find a parking space, he led them down a few twisting alleyways and breezed past the line out front to the suited bouncers near the entry. Their eyes lit up when they saw him, a flurry of clapping hands and call-greetings.
A mandatory catch-up commenced and the three younger's huddled together while they waited.
It somehow ended with Yeongi and Suho trying to guess what kind of drunks they all were. Sieun listened with a pinched expression. Not a topic he had given much thought, but now his palms were a little clammy. If there was one thing he despised, it was not being in control, especially when it came to his own body. His parents had never been big drinkers, or around often enough for him to ever see them drink beyond a glass of red during a clipped dinner. He knew that alcohol affected everyone differently, but not so drastically.
Now it was something that struck fear in him. What if he ended up in the passanger seat of his own body?
"You're definitely a clingy drunk," Yeongi declared, wiggling a finger at Suho.
Suho snorted, eyes flicking to Sieun for some reason. "No way. I think I'll be the same as normal. Right, Sieun?"
A short silence settled and Sieun raised a brow. "I've never seen you drunk, so I can't say."
"Well, duh. Based on what you know about me," Suho said, straightening up.
"Uh…" Sieun chewed at the inside of his cheek. "I don't know."
"He wants to say that you'll be a clingy drunk but he doesn't want to hurt your feelings—" Yeongi began before Suho flicked her forehead and she broke off her sentence with a yelp.
"I don't know," Sieun repeated.
The glare dissolved from Suho's face as he turned a closed mouth smile on Sieun. It was the kind he had on hand whenever Sieun seemed slightly nervous or worried. "It's fine, Sieun-ah. We'll find out soon enough."
Shortly after, Seokdae broke off from the bodyguards and lead the group inside. Sieun and Suho immediately flanked Yeongi, who beamed and looped an arm through each of theirs.
They passed two set of doors that had managed to suppress the loud bass and flashing lights to the best of its ability.
Sieun winced the second that the multi-coloured strobes invaded his vision, making everything jerky and slowed. His breathing hastened, eyes flitting around as he tried to get a sense of his surroundings.
The music was so loud that everything else was drowned out, including whatever Yeongi was trying to yell in his ear. Sieun shook his head, trying to convey that he could not hear her.
She cupped her hands around his ear and said, "I'll go with Seokdae oppa to get drinks, he's paying for the first round. You and Suho find a table."
Withdrawing, she waited for any indication he had heard—a firm incline of his head—and then she joined Seokdae's side, a few steps ahead of them. They were swallowed up by the pulsing crowd, and Sieun blinked a few times, panicked at being left behind.
A hand rested against his lower back and he jolted, head whipping to his side—to Suho. Right, Suho.
Suho was here with him.
Suho, with his brows knitted together, corner of his mouth folded down. Sieun's wide eyes met his concerned ones for a few beats and then Suho leaned in. Sieun almost dodged him on instinct, despite how accustomed he had grown to Suho's touch. His body was already wired like he had just been thrust into the midst of a battleground and had to fend for himself.
Lips brushed his ear as Suho spoke, gentle and with only enough volume to be heard, not to overwhelm. "We don't have to do this, Sieun-ah. If you're uncomfortable."
He pulled away and Sieun turned to him again. The hand on his lower back started rubbing in small circles, trying to ground him to that touch. It worked, somewhat. Now his breathing was uneven not from panic but because Suho was carressing him and had just whispered in his ear.
Tentatively, Sieun shook his head. He was fine. He could do this.
His hand lifted and he beckoned for Suho to come close. The taller blinked before ducking down, offering his ear for Sieun to speak into. "I'll be fine, Suho-yah. Let's go find a table."
Suho straightened up and nodded, the hand against Sieun's back lifting so it could fall over his shoulders. He steered them through the crowd, finding their way to a small booth off the dancefloor which was vacant. Sieun defaulted to the bench against the wall, and Suho slipped in beside him.
The music was not as thunderous as it had been at the front, and Sieun could hear Suho without having to strain his ears much.
"You don't have to drink," Suho said. "I don't have to either. I really don't care. I'd rather you're comfortable."
Sieun shook his head. "It's okay. Seriously. I mean it."
Still slightly reluctant, Suho leaned back in the booth, arms crossed. Sieun tracked his gaze towards the bar, where Seokdae and Yeongi were laughing with the bartender.
After a moment, he said, "Is this really meant to be enjoyable?"
Suho's eyes flicked to him and the corners crinkled as he let out a laugh, rumbling at the back of his throat. "Nah. Most people drink before they come here so they're already a bit…" He made a show of swaying side to side. "Y'know."
"I see."
Unwittingly, Sieun started rocking in time with Suho, who noticed with a private smile.
The moment Yeongi and Seokdae pulled away from the bar, Suho stretched his hand in the air, calling for their attention. Still swaying, Sieun's shoulder knocked against Suho's and he realised what he had been doing. He tugged at his earlobe with a frown, eyeing the gleeful look on Yeongi's face as she appeared before them with a tray of drinks.
"Raspberry vodka for our Sieunnie," she said, lifting a red drink by the rim and setting it down in front of him. "It shouldn't taste too strong of alcohol."
The glass scraped against the wooden table as he dragged it closer with a quiet, "Thank you."
Next, she pulled the most decadent of drinks from the assortment, a big glass with orange liquid inside, complete by a small umberella and a sugar-crusted rim. She took a sip, squeezing her eyes shut before they shot open wide. "Oh, that's good." She jabbed a finger towards it as if anyone would have missed what she was referring to. "That's really fucking good."
Seokdae made an amused sound, lifting a bottle of soju and beer from the tray. He jutted his chin towards Suho with a grin. "Reckon you can deal with a soju bomb?"
"So Yeongi gets to start with a cocktail, Sieunnie gets the raspberry vodka, but I'm thrown off the deep end with a soju bomb?" Suho's tone made it clear he was not offended in the slightest.
Wordlessly, Sieun lifted his glass to Suho. It took the taller a second to realise it was being offered to him, his brows climbing his forehead. After a moment, he said, "Have you tried any?"
Sieun shook his head.
"So you're making me your guinea pig?" Suho asked with a grin. Sieun was about to protest when Suho dipped his head and caught the straw between his teeth, taking a quick sip.
He released it after a gulp, and Sieun brought the drink back to his side, pinching the straw and rolling it between his fingers.
Suho hummed. "Good choice."
"I didn't choose it," Sieun mumbled, but with Suho's approval, he guided the straw to his mouth and drank.
It was a meagre amount, and it mostly tasted of raspberries, a faint aftertaste of liqueur coating his tongue. He made a similar approving noise to Suho, who's entire focus was zeroed in on him drinking.
He jokingly moved the glass away from his friend. "You can't have any more. Get your own."
Suho's mouth twisted into a grin, and he licked his lips, turning back to Seokdae, who had made quick work of pouring out soju in a shot glass and beer in another.
"You know what you're doing?" the older asked, handing the drinks to Suho.
"Do you have any idea how many times someone asked me to make one of these?" Suho said in lieu of an answer.
He grabbed two chopsticks and laid them over the glass, balancing the shot glass on top. His head turned to Sieun and he smirked. "Watch a master at work, Sieun-ah."
His hands slammed the side of the glass, and the shot glass dropped into the beer. Bubbles instantly exploded up, almost pouring over the side of the glass, but Suho was quicker. He lifted the glass to his mouth, gulping down the entire drink without a breath inbetween. Yeongi cheered when he slammed the glass down with a victorious inhale, and even Seokdae offered a clap.
Sieun's attention was somewhere between Suho's heaving chest and the drop of alcohol that had missed his mouth, run down his chin, and was now making its way over his adam's apple. Suho wiped it with the back of his hand and Sieun's eyes snapped up a second before Suho was looking at him. "So?"
He shrugged.
Both Seokdae and Yeongi laughed at his unimpressed reaction, only bolstered when Suho began lamenting about Suho's indifference to all of his cool tricks.
Sieun attached to the straw of his raspberry vodka so he could avoid confessing how he thought Suho was much cooler than any of the little tricks he had up his sleeve. Though, they definitely contributed to that air of ease surrounding him.
They continued drinking, Seokdae providing an endless supply of shots or somaeks. As soon as Sieun's head felt a bit fuzzy, he slowed down his drinking, wanting to properly 'test his limits' and make sure he reigned it in the second things felt out of his control.
Yeongi and Suho had no such interest.
Seokdae slipped out a little while later, and Yeongi disappeared with him, intent on getting another tray of drinks before they would have to start paying themselves.
She was successful, doing a shimmy as she made her way over with the tray. Sieun laughed a little, genuinely delighted by her antics.
The alcohol did not make him flirty, clingy, emotional, or just a mess, as Yeongi had insisted it would. Rather, Sieun just felt relaxed, like a slab of chocolate that had melted a little in the cupboard; softer and gooey.
A few more shots later and he ascertained that it would likely not affect him any more than that: mellowed out with a penchant for giggling. He liked that. It felt peaceful and comfortable. He was sinking back into a cloud of fluffiness.
"…Dance?"
Sieun peeled his eyes open—when had he shut them?—and blinked at Yeongi, who was standing now. She was addressing Suho, a little uncertain on her feet. Sieun was about to tell her she should probably sit down, when she repeated the question. "Do you want to dance?"
Suho had what looked like a permanent smile on his face, grinning up at Yeongi. "Should we?" He turned to Sieun. "Wanna dance?"
Sieun's lips parted. It had not even crossed his mind that it was an option before this moment, probably had not crossed Suho's either, but the alcohol had melted the both of them that little bit. Bites of chocolate. Gooey.
He smiled.
Which was not an answer, so Suho said, "Don't you wanna dance with hyung?" Then, his tone a little sulkily, "I don't wanna leave you here."
Yeongi's hiccup sounded oddly like a laugh, and Sieun cut her a cool look. She already had her mouth covered, but her reddened cheeks were swollen with glee, that much was obvious.
"Suho-yah."
Suho's nose crinkled. The corners of his mouth created little indents as his lips formed a 'v' shape. It was so cute, and guilt rooted in Sieun's gut for following that with his next words.
"I can't dance."
Suho's face dropped. "That's okay," he reassured a second later. "You don't need to."
Sieun shook his head, a stern look on his face. "That's stupid. Of course I need to know how to dance if I want to dance."
"Were you born knowing how to breathe?"
He stammered, at a loss for words. Suho grabbed the opportunity to continue, "Exactly! Dancing is like breathing."
"This is hilarious," Yeongi said through giggles. "Sieun's not gonna dance, Suho. Idiot."
Suho's bottom lip poked out. "But I want him to."
Yeongi laughed more.
What was so damn funny?
This was a serious dilemma. Sieun could not dance and Suho wanted him to dance. It was a quandary of the highest order.
Oh, Sieun was definitely drunk.
He shook his head, forcibly clearing his mind. Some semblance of mental clarity returned with that simple gesture. "It's okay, Suho. Just go dance. I'll wait here."
Suho's pout grew but he nodded, slipping out of the booth. Yeongi wobbled a bit on her feet and Suho caught her. "You'll wait right here?" he said to Sieun.
"Right here."
"Right here? Not a single centimetre anywhere else."
It was so silly that Sieun giggled. "Not a single centimetre."
That pleased Suho immensely and he beamed, eyes becoming half-moons. "Good. Good. Isn't that good, Yeongi-yah?"
"You know what would be great?" Yeongi asked dryly. "If we could go and dance."
"Right. Yeah." Suho glanced back at Sieun. "Dancing. That is great."
Sieun tilted his head with a smile and waved them off. Suho's face lit up.
"Would be even greater if Sieun—"
With a pained groan, Yeongi yanked Suho away from the table and with him, the rest of the sentence. His eyes remained on Sieun until the crowd cut them out of each other's sight.
At the table, Sieun nursed his drink, that entire interaction running on repeat in his mind.
Gooey chocolate. Cloying on the tongue.
For what it was worth, he did not feel as if control was slipping from him. Rather it was that he did not care as much about the consequences of his words and actions, which perpetually haunted his every decision when sober.
Even when thinking more clearly about how Suho had acted—how they both had acted—it was not regret that nettled him.
Instead, a faint blush rose on his cheeks as he replayed Suho's expressions and words over and over again.
Around ten minutes later, Sieun spotted Yeongi and Suho on the fringes of the dancefloor. Immediate relief washed over him to see that they were dancing together, rather than with other people. A few times someone would try and join or tug one of them away, but either of the two would pull a apologetic face and shake their head.
Yeongi did a little spin with her hands in the air and Suho laughed, copying her, albiet a lot less loose in the hips in comparison. Sieun smiled to himself, teeth leaving small indents in his straw.
Even though the lights were sporadic, hues of all colours illuminating the crowd, when Sieun was looking at Suho, he seemed to have a perpetual spotlight cast on him.
Eventually the crowd stole away his friends from view again, and Sieun busied himself with trying to figure out how to balance a shot glass on chopsticks like how Suho had.
The songs seemed to merge into one, but maybe that was only for his untrained ears because sometimes there would be sudden cheers or screams and people would dash to the dance floor, moving to the beat before they even reached the crowd.
He was still fiddling with the stupid shot glass and the chopsticks by the time someone dashed away from the dance floor.
One second Sieun was at peak concentration, tongue poked against the corner of his mouth, eyes narrowed and brows drawn together as he tried to balance the glass. Then, something slammed into him with so much force the glass tumbled from his hand and rolled across the table, and Sieun nearly toppled over himself.
Thankfully, two arms looped around his waist, keeping him steady.
Sieun glanced at the mop of black hair pressed against his side.
"What are you doing, Suho?" His voice was a little breathless.
Suho mumbled something. He had catapulted his body across the booth, and now his head was digging into Sieun's ribs, the rest of him hanging off the seat.
Sieun stared down at him with disbelief. "Suho."
Suho lifted his head, mouth forming that pout he had been wearing before getting dragged away to dance. "What's wrong? Where's Yeongi?"
"Dancing with someone else," Suho said. "Do you hate me?"
Sieun flinched, eyes widening. "What?"
"You didn't ask me where I am," Suho said.
Sieun's mouth opened and closed like a fish at an aquarium. All that was missing were the bubbles coming out with a 'blurb-blub' sound. "You're right here, though."
"Right here," Suho parroted in sing-song. "You didn't move!"
Sieun gaped at him. "Suho, did you drink more?"
"Mm… No! I don't drink without my Sieunnie, that'd be wrong."
That coaxed a smile onto Sieun's face and Suho replicated it on his own, nose scrunching again.
"Did Yeongi send you back here?" Sieun asked.
Suho's bottom lip stuck out again. "She said I was annoying her."
Sieun feigned a gasp, stroking Suho's hair in hopes that it would make him stop sulking. Somehow, it had the intended effect.
"Apparently I wouldn't stop talking about you. Which is so unfair! You're my Sieunnie. Of course I'd be talking about you."
Sieun really, really liked how that possessive pronoun kept slipping out now that Suho was drunk. The exhiliration of being called Suho's had more of an influence on his nervous system than the alcohol.
"Why don't you sit up, Suho?"
Suho frowned but straightened out, looking at Sieun afterwards like he was expecting some acknowledgement or approval for doing as told.
After quelling the blush on his face by pressing cold hands against his cheeks, Sieun reached for the shot glass that had rolled away.
His shirt was tugged the moment he lifted off of the seat.
"Where are you going? You said you wouldn't move a centimetre. You just moved a centimetre…"
Presenting the shot glass he had in his hand to Suho, Sieun sat back down. "I dropped this when you came over earlier."
"Ahhhh, that's not good. Sieun, you have to be careful."
"I was being careful," Sieun said, almost defensively. "You threw yourself at me."
Suho looked up to the ceiling like he was trying to recall the events of two minutes ago. After a while, he armed a wide, toothy grin and said, "Nah, I don't think I did."
Sieun giggled, leaning in with raised brows. "You didn't?"
Suho leaned closer too, shaking his head. "Nope."
Shrugging, Sieun sighed. "I guess it must be true then."
"Have I ever led you astray, Sieun-ah?"
Sieun laughed under his breath and then fixed Suho with an awfully fond look. Suho's eyes were melted chocolate, and Sieun could feel that softness in his own gaze too. "No, Suho-yah. You've never."
Suho smiled, almost shy, and lowered his eyes.
Suho was really cute when drunk. And Yeongi had been absolutely on the mark. He was a clingy drunk.
"What were you doing while you waited for me?" Suho asked, resting the side of his head on Sieun's shoulder.
"Trying to do what you did earlier. With the soju bomb," Sieun said, lifting the chopsticks and shot glass.
A silence stretched and then Suho mumbled, "Why would you need to learn that? I can just do it for you."
Flushing, Sieun said, "I was just curious."
Another short silence.
Then, one of Suho's arms slid behind Sieun and a hand moulded around his on the shot glass. Suho did the same with the hand holding chopsticks. "You do it like this," he murmured.
He guided Sieun's hands to place the chopsticks further apart than he had been putting them. Once they were in place, Suho moved the shot glass too, callouses brushing the back of Sieun's hand.
"Just like that," he said, taking Sieun's hand away from the shot glass and leaving it balanced atop the chopsticks.
His hands dropped away, though the one wound around Sieun's back fell by his leg instead of returning to Suho's side.
Sieun lifted the glass and rolled the chopsticks together before following Suho's instructions. By the end, he had a standing shot glass.
"See, you're a natural," Suho said, a little sullenly. "You don't need my help anymore. I'm useless. You'll go to soju bomb university and leave me behind."
The prospect was so absurd that Sieun snorted, covering his mouth a second too late to hide his amusement.
"And you're happy about it," Suho lamented. "You want to be free of me."
"Suho-yah, what are you on about?" Sieun demanded, turning to look at him, except Suho was still on his shoulder, so he just got a face full of hair.
Suho did not lift his head, but rather nuzzled against Sieun's shoulder, hiding his face. "Don't want to dance with me, don't want to know where I am, don't want me to make you soju bombs… I get it, Sieun-ah, you hate me."
Sieun gaped, mouth open but unable to form any coherent words.
Suho's breathing started wavering. That was when Sieun got just a little worried.
"Should we dance then?"
Suho's head shot off his shoulder so fast he almost tipped back. He stared at Sieun with wide eyes. They were slightly glassy. "What."
"Why do you think I hate you, Suho-yah? If it's because I wouldn't dance, then let's go dance. And you can make me a soju bomb if you want to."
"No, you shouldn't drink more," Suho said, head shaking.
"Okay," Sieun softly said. "Suho-yah, I don't hate you."
"Really?"
"You're my best friend."
"Okay, well…" Suho leaned in and whispered, "You're my best friend, too."
He withdrew and hushed Sieun as if he had just shared his deepest secret, and not simply told Sieun something they had both known for years.
Regardless, Sieun smiled and played up his surprise. "Really?"
"Mhm." Suho nodded his head very vigorously. "You're my favourite person in the whole world."
That probably should have been the confession that Suho tried to keep hush-hush. Sieun's cheeks warmed and he glanced away. "Me too. You're my favourite person."
Suho wrapped his arms around Sieun and squeezed. "So if you go to soju bomb university, you have to take me with you, okay?"
Huffing, Sieun said, "Yes, Suho-yah. When I go to university, I'll take you with me."
Suho was too drunk to realise Sieun had adjusted his words ever so slightly, and Sieun was too drunk to notice that he had made the very promise he had wanted to for months.
"Okay. Yay. Are we dancing?"
"Do you want to dance?"
Suho nodded vehemently. "Yeongi started dancing with someone else and I didn't want to dance with anyone but you or her, and you weren't there so—"
"Let's go then," Sieun said, giving Suho a little push.
Suho scrambled out of the booth and then offered his hand to Sieun like he was assisting a princess with stepping out of a carriage. Sieun downed the rest of his drink and then slipped his hand into Suho's. Their fingers interlaced and Suho remained a step ahead, weaving through the crowd with Sieun in tow. He was sporting a huge grin, literally glowing, and Sieun felt giddy knowing that it was because of him, even if alcohol was acting as a catalyst.
They somehow found Yeongi in the midst of it all, dancing with a long-haired girl. Suho greeted her by name, but Sieun could not hear anything over the music again. Yeongi's jaw dropped when she saw Sieun and she reached between Suho and her dancing partner to try and hug him. Suho tugged Sieun but Yeongi had already wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Told you you'd be a clingy drunk." Yeongi's voice was audible with her head hooked over Sieun's shoulder.
Suho must have responded because a few seconds later she blew an obnoxious raspberry and Sieun's hand was pulled at again.
This time, he let himself be extracted from Yeongi's hold, bowing his head in apology to the girl she was with, who thankfully just seemed excited to have a new person join them.
Swaying on his feet, Sieun looked up at Suho, who was still managing to bicker with Yeongi despite the thudding bass beneath their feet swallowing everything up. He had no clue how they could hear each other.
"Suho. Suho. Suho-yah."
Suho faced him and leaned down so their cheeks were almost pressed together.
"I don't know how to dance," Sieun admitted, followed by an embarrassed giggle.
Suho shifted to speak into his ear. "Just do whatever, Sieun-ah. Copy me or Yeongi or anyone. Nobody is paying attention but me. And I like everything you do."
Sieun felt like a fully melted piece of chocolate now, simmering away on the stovetop or baking in the summer sun. Suho withdrew with a reassuring smile, and then interlaced both of their hands together.
He started pulling one side towards him while pushing the other towards Sieun, twisting his body too.
It was so unfitting for the club, with people draped over each other, rubbing bodies in ways that Sieun had been overtly blocking out since they first arrived.
Yet, here Suho and Sieun were, dancing like kids.
And Sieun was having the time of his life.
He kept giggling, dipping his head when staring at Suho got too flustering, until he kept his head down for too long and Suho stepped closer, trying to check if he was okay. After that, Sieun was only allowed quick breaks. Suho did not step away again though.
Suho was singing along to the songs, lifting their hands in the air during a particular beat drop or the choruses, and then doing his little push-and-pull with even more energy, bobbing on his feet as he sang the lyrics to Sieun. Sieun would nod along like he could distinguish the words, but he was too taken with how happy Suho looked to really pay attention to anything else.
He did not know how long they had been there by the time there was a tap on his shoulder that made him tear his eyes away from Suho. Yeongi leaned close and said, "We're going to sit down for a bit!"
Sieun nodded. When he turned, Suho ducked down so Sieun could relay the information.
The taller asked, "Do you want to go back too?"
Sieun mused over it, swaying side to side as he thought. He liked being here, being here with Suho, but he did not like dancing, and he also sort of needed to use the restroom.
In the end, he nodded and they followed Yeongi and her dance partner back to their booth which was thankfully still empty.
Suho decided to get them more drinks after he dropped Sieun off at the booth.
Sieun watched him go and then turned to Yeongi. "I'm going to the bathroom."
She gave him a thumbs up. "I'll tell Suho."
Somehow, Sieun managed to navigate his way to the bathrooms. He was still swaying on his feet, but he successfully emptied his bladder and was washing his hands in the sink as an already sobering feeling washed over him.
After drying them on paper towel, he patted his face, letting the remaining coolness seep through his skin.
The music was muffled from here, and none of the stalls were occupied. He closed his eyes and gave himself a few minutes to recollect himself.
While he was in the bathroom regaining his sanity, Suho was outside quickly losing his. As in, 'tears running down his face, clinging to Yeongi' losing his sanity.
Because he came back to the booth and Sieun was not there. Which, for a drunk Suho, was as close to armageddon as he could get.
Whilst he was blubbering, Yeongi slid the tray of alcohol to the opposite side, out of his reach, sharing a look with her dance partner.
Sieun was still in the bathroom, eyes closed, heart settling in his chest like it was coming down from a high. Which it sort of was.
Suho was half-certain Sieun had fallen into the toilet and died by this point, so he begging Yeongi to do something about that.
After around ten minutes, Sieun left the bathroom and headed back to the booth, his gait steady once again. As he approached, he noted Suho sprawled over Yeongi, who looked fed up. When she saw Sieun, she pulled a face, motioning to Suho.
Sieun had no clue what she was trying to tell him, but Suho's voice reached him before he could say anything.
"Yeongi-yah, where did my Sieunnie go?" Suho cried. "He left me… I'm going to dieeeee!"
Sieun paused, a few steps away.
"He went to the bathroom," Yeongi said in a way that made it obvious this was her umpteenth time repeating it.
"Why didn't he take me?!" wailed Suho.
This time, when Yeongi motioned to the boy in her lap, Sieun knew exactly what she was saying. Come deal with this.
His face was even warmer and fuzzier than when he had entered the bathroom to cool down. A whole lot of good that had done him now. All it resulted in was Suho crying and Sieun being left to deal with the aftermath.
He stepped up to the booth. Suho's crying stopped and he glanced up to see Sieun over him.
He blinked. Once. Twice. A few more times.
Then Suho wiped his cheeks free of tears and let out a small giggle. "Hi," he said, shyly.
Sieun threw Yeongi a look of pure disbelief. She shrugged, pressing her lips together to try and stifle a grin.
"Hi, Suho-yah." Sieun responded, attention returning to his best friend. "Why are you crying?"
"I'm not," Suho said. "Why would you think I was crying? I wasn't doing that."
"Okay," Sieun spoke slowly. "Why don't you get off Yeongi?"
Suho frowned and pulled himself away from the girl, who looked beyond relieved to be free of him. Suho's eyes remained glassy so Sieun was approaching the situation like he was navigating a minefield. Yeongi ducked under the table and popped out the other side, settling down next to her dance partner, who looked thoroughly entertained by the whole spectacle.
Sieun lowered himself onto the seat beside Suho. Almost immediately he was scooped up and placed in Suho's lap.
A gasp escaped his lips, his head shooting up. He made intense eye contact with Yeongi across the table, both of them absolutely non-plussed by Suho's behaviour.
Suho squeezed Sieun tight against him. "Next time tell me where you're going— Actually, no. Just bring me along. I'll go anywhere."
Sieun exhaled, slightly shaky and brushed a hand over Suho's head. "Yes, Suho-yah. I'll bring you along no matter where I go."
"Mm…" Suho released a dreamy sigh. "That's good." After a pause, he added, "We should drink more, I think."
"I don't think—"
"You're still so tense," Suho said, ironically making Sieun tense even more.
"Are you going to make me a soju bomb then?"
Suho let out a delighted sound. "Should I?"
"Mm, but you have to put me down first, Suho-yah."
Sieun could already sense the pout that put on Suho's face, but he still obliged by Sieun's request and slipped him back onto the seat, on the wall side this time.
Despite being on the verge of dry heaving a few minutes prior, Suho moved masterfully, in full control of all his motor skills. Sieun watched as he poured out the alcohol. Instead of lining it all up for Sieun's convenience, Suho slid him the chopsticks and nodded towards him with a scrunched nose and a cute half-smile.
Sieun smiled back, albeit with a lot less confidence than Suho was in his ability to do everything correctly.
Yeongi began to express the same sentiment but Suho interrupted her. "I taught him. He can do it."
Sieun sighed and set the chopsticks atop of the beer and then balanced the shot glass on them. It did not spill over, which Sieun saw as a huge win. He snuck a furtive look at Suho, hoping the taller would offer to do it for him. Instead, Suho gave him another one of those firm nods. "Perfect."
So, Sieun smacked the side of his glass and sent the soju shot down into the beer, immediate bubbles climbing up the walls. He brought it to his lips and hurried to drink it down. It burnt his throat a little.
"See?" Suho said, addressing Yeongi. "My baby is a fast learner."
Sieun choked on the alcohol and it sprayed from between his lips as his eyes shot wide. He started coughing, pounding on his chest in time with his erratic heart.
Yeongi's hiccup was obviously a laugh this time, but Suho was too busy fussing over Sieun, who was hacking with an expression not so dissimilar from a hunted deer. Suho began patting and rubbing his back and Sieun would have shoved him out of the booth if not for the fear that Suho would burst out crying again.
"See, I knew you shouldn't drink again," Suho chided, and Sieun was done.
His eyes met Yeongi's across the table and she was suddenly raring to dance again, shuffling her partner out of the booth and away with a wink.
Sieun spun to face Suho.
"Suho. Suho-yah."
Suho tilted his head, brows knitting together despite the smile on his face.
It was adorable. Sieun faintly recognised at the back of his head that he was going to have to reckon with all of this when he was more sober. But not right now.
So, he said, "You're drunk."
"I think you're more drunk," Suho said, poking his side.
"Everyone in attendance tonight would disagree with you," Sieun retorted.
Suho's eyes widened and then he got a little fearful look on his face. "Are you going to go and ask them all? Can't you stay with me instead? Look, ask me who is more drunk."
The corner of Sieun's lips twitched as he tried to tamp down his smile. "Who is more drunk between us?"
"Me." Suho pointed to himself.
And Sieun could not help it. He burst out laughing.
His forehead rested against Suho's shoulder as he guffawed, stomach hurting as his amusement twisted his insides.
Only when his laughter died down did he release a drawn-out exhale. "Seriously, Suho-yah. What am I going to do with you?"
Suho's body stiffened and Sieun lifted his head. Suho was staring at him, cheeks still flushed from the tears he had shed. "I'm glad you came tonight, Sieun-ah. I wouldn't… It wouldn't be right without you."
Sieun melted for the hundrenth time that night. "That's why I came, Suho-yah."
"For me?"
A nod.
Suho wrapped his arms around Sieun and cuddled against him. "You can't leave my side then. Not tonight."
"I wasn't planning on," Sieun said with a chuckle. He reached for the soju bomb and finished drinking what was left.
He returned the empty glass to the table with a sigh. Suho's hold tightened and Sieun faced him again. Licking his lips, Suho said, "Don't drink too much."
"I won't. I'll stop now, mm?" An easy smile came to Sieun's face, already facilitated by the alcohol.
All malleable and soft for Suho.
"Okay… Sieun-ah?"
"Hm?"
Suho leaned closer to whisper in Sieun's ear. "Did you hear what I called you earlier?"
"What?"
"When I called you my baby."
Teeth sinking into his bottom lip, Sieun kept his eyes pinned on the opposite side of the booth. Silent.
Suho whined. "Sieun-ahhhhhh…"
"What do you want me to say to that, Suho?"
A hush stretched, a little too long for Sieun's liking. He looked at Suho from the corner of his eye, and found him in deep, deep thought. Brows furrowed, confusion dispersing across his face.
"Don't think too hard," Sieun said, smiling.
A simple-minded smile formed on Suho's mouth. "Okay, Sieun-ah."
Sieun exhaled.
"Are you going to leave?"
"No, Suho-yah."
"Good. Okay. Stay with me."
"I'm staying with you."
"I called you my baby."
Sieun did not answer that.
Suho laughed, squeezing him tighter again. "'Cause you're my baby."
"Okay. Are you going to dance again, Suho?"
"Only if you dance with me."
"I'm not dancing again."
"Then I'm staying here," asserted Suho, "with my baby."
"I'm never letting you drink again."
Suho giggled, hiding his face in Sieun's neck. "I like being close to you."
Sieun smiled to himself, stroking Suho's hair. He did not say anything else, only offering odd responses when Suho would break the silence to ask if he was going to leave.
He did try at one point, because he wanted to check on Yeongi, but Suho had been brought to tears again and Sieun was resigned to texting her with a sniffling Suho on his shoulder, clinging to him. Thankfully she responded and assured him that she was at the bar. Five seconds later, she started sharing her location.
Sieun drank more from the tray, relaxing a little, despite how tense having a drunk Suho paw at him was making him. Eventually, he was more giggly again, which was nicer for both him and Suho. Suho liked it a lot when he got a smile or soft giggle from Sieun.
They went to the dance floor again after a while, and Sieun rocked on his feet with a little sway as he watched Suho dance, smiling. Suho refused to let go of his hands the entire time, so it was often ungainly but Suho still looked cool in Sieun's eyes.
It was an hour later, after they had returned to the booth, that the alcohol started to have the opposite of the intended effect on Suho and he was blinking away sleep. Sieun was absentmindedly stroking his hair, and Suho begun drifting off, head dropping and then suddenly jerking up.
Sieun sent a text to Yeongi to let her know, and then turned to Suho. "Lay down if you're tired."
Suho's face brightened, a sleepy smile filling out his expression. "Can I?"
Confused why he needed permission, Sieun nodded.
Suho took quick action. He flopped down, head landing in Sieun's lap. The latter opened his mouth, about to insist he did not mean like that, but then Suho did the cutest thing ever.
He smacked his lips together and nuzzled against Sieun's thighs, releasing a content sigh. "Thanks, Sieun-ah."
So in the end, Sieun hummed and ran his fingers through Suho's hair, simultaneously thanking and cursing whatever God decided to make Suho a combination of a flirty, clingy, emotional, mess of a drunk.
Yeongi found her way to them at one in the morning. Sieun was also tiring. Suho was dead asleep in his lap. She laughed when she saw it.
"We can head back," she said. "I'll call an uber now and wait for you out front."
She moved to depart again, but before she did she swiveled and squinted at Sieun. "Are you going to talk about this with him? Tomorrow?"
Sieun pursed his lips, looking down at Suho in lap. "He might just want to forget about it."
"Sieun, he's been acting like your husband all night. He called you his baby. And cried when you went to go piss for like five fucking seconds. You're not breezing past this, even if you both want to forget it."
Sieun groaned. "Remind me why I came tonight?"
With a sly smirk, Yeongi motioned to Suho in his lap. "Him."
"Right."
It was that simple.
Sieun always made those irrational and stupid decisions for Suho.
Yeongi flitted out of the club and Sieun gently pinched Suho's cheek. "Suho, we've got to go now."
Suho's expression scrunched up and he tried to hide his face against Sieun's stomach. Sieun let out a breathy chuckle. "Do you want me to leave you behind?"
Suho shook his head, almost nuzzling into Sieun's stomach this time. "Noooooooo…"
"Then you need to get up."
That was all it took for Suho to lift off Sieun's lap, hair mussed and definitely sulking. The alcohol had not completely disappeared from his system, then. Sieun smoothed down his hair. "We're going back to mine now. You're staying over, remember?"
Suho's pout faded a little. "I am?"
"Yes, Suho-yah. So let's go back?"
This time, Suho nodded vigorously and got out of the booth as fast as he could. Again, he needlessly helped Sieun out with a hand, and the latter released one of his final laughs of the night.
It had been a weirdly cathartic experience, the club. Not at all what he was expecting.
Suho held his hand tight as they manoeuvred through the club, escaping out the front into the cool—not jacket weather just yet—night and finding Yeongi on the road side of the pavement.
Their uber took ten minutes to arrive, and it was only when Suho headed for the front seat that Sieun realised they had still been holding hands while waiting.
Yeongi spent the drive telling Sieun about her dance partner, Chaewon, and Suho was twisted in his seat, staring back at them as he listened with a content smile.
Sieun remembered how Suho had called him his favourite person in the entire world and could not keep a smile off his face either.
Before they had set off for the club, Sieun had set up the guest room for Yeongi to sleep in, and the moment they were through the front door of his apartment, she disappeared inside the room with a yawn and a goodnight.
Suho had snuck his hand back into Sieun's at some point between the uber and the front door, and Sieun seriously could not stop smiling.
On a normal night when he slept over, Suho took the couch, though sometimes they did end up sleeping in Sieun's bed together. Something close to spooning but not exactly that. Or maybe it was just not because they had not put a name to it.
Sieun had a sneaky suspicion that Yeongi was right, and tonight meant they could no longer leave things as they were—that a label was needed.
A label for all their straying glances, their unspoken communication, Suho's compliments and how they flustered Sieun, the way that Suho was the exception to every one of Sieun's rules, and that Sieun was Suho's priority regardless of anything else. A label for all of it.
"Sieun-ah," Suho said when the bedroom door closed behind them. He rubbed his eye with his free hand. "I'm not completely sober, but it's not a mistake."
Sieun nodded, pursing his lips. "Okay. Me too."
Suho smiled softly, pulling him into a hug. "Oh," he said after a moment. "Except the crying. Please forget about that."
That was what persuaded Sieun's final laugh of the night from him, breathed out against Suho's neck.
Suho's chuckle rumbled in his body, reverberating between the two of them. Sieun felt like an atom vibrating at an intense frequency.
Because Suho had just told him that he wanted Sieun to be 'his baby'.
And Sieun had just answered that he would like that also.
That night, Suho was in bed before him, leaving the wall side open for Sieun because that was his favourite to sleep on. He crawled from the base of the bed and Suho lifted the covers for him to slip under. After being thanked, Suho pulled Sieun until their bodies were pressed together. Melted together.
Suho's face found its home in Sieun's hair, breathing him in.
"Goodnight, Suho-yah," Sieun whispered.
"Night, Sieun-ah."
Faintly, Sieun felt lips press against his scalp and he fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Tomorrow was for the label, destabilising a three-year-long friendship, and two terrible hangovers because Sieun would come to learn he was immune and only his friends would suffer.
But tonight, all that really mattered was that Sieun and Suho were together, and Sieun had become—had always been—Suho's baby.