Enjoy!

The alcohol and the stress that Baekhyun received from having his roommate hearing him completely knocked him out. Jongin noticed, once inside the car, that Baekhyun wasn’t the only one passed out. Kyungsoo was fast asleep with his arms crossed around his chest. There are unanswered questions lingering around. Jongin knows that Chanyeol has a lot to ask, but he is not ready to answer any at the moment. The 21 year old man wants to talk to Baekhyun first.

The ride back home isn’t necessarily a long one, but Jongin pretends to have fallen asleep. He does so in order to not answer any of Chanyeol’s questions. All he can think of is will Baekhyun remember everything by the time he wakes up. And he laments the moment he handed Baekhyun those drinks. Nothing would have happened then. But there is nothing Jongin can do now. He needs to protect his best friend from malicious comments and possible hatred.

“Jongin...” he hears Chanyeol, shaking him so lightly in order to “wake” him up. The 21 year old man opens his eyes, pretending to be annoyed. “We are home already.” says the elder as he backs away from Jongin.

Jongin takes a look at his surroundings and notices that they are in the parking lot. He nods as he stands, carrying Baekhyun out of the vehicle. Chanyeol does the same but with Kyungsoo.

The vocal trainer opens his eyes, groaning softly. The first thing he sees is a chin. “W-where am I?” he mutters.

Chanyeol glances down at him with a warm smile. “We are back home.” he says. It takes a moment for Kyungsoo to regain his senses. He quickly shakes his head, demanding to be put down, cheeks turning redder than ever. “Kyungsoo...” Chanyeol struggles to keep the younger still on his arms.

“I am okay now. I can also walk on my own feet, and drive back home.” he says.

The architect finally puts him down, brows furrowing together. “No you are not.” he states. “You can’t even stand on your own feet.”

Kyungsoo groans in frustration as he backs away from Chanyeol. “I am f-fine...” he tries to sound calm, to keep his speech neat, but the angrier he gets the worse his speech gets.

“Soo-”

“I can drive back home!” he shouts, hands trembling. “J-just give me my keys!” he demands with a serious look, hand reaching out.

But Chanyeol is having none of that. He doesn’t care how drunk or angry his best friend is, or if he can drive back home. There is no way that Chanyeol will let him drive this late at night.

Jongin, who had already walked towards the elevator with Baekhyun on hands, shouts, “The elevator already opened!”

Both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol sigh in unison. Kyungsoo walks firsts while Chanyeol closes the passenger’s door, locking the vehicle seconds later. The three of them stare at Baekhyun, who makes puppy-like noises on his sleep. Jongin finds himself chuckling, removing the sticky bangs away from Baekhyun’s face. Kyungsoo looks at the front with an unreadable expression. The architect gives his roommate a few glances, frowning.

Once they arrived to their floor, the three of them make their way towards the apartment. Chanyeol opens the door, letting Jongin walk in first. The younger disappears into Baekhyun’s room, leaving Chanyeol alone with Kyungsoo. “Okay, we need to sleep.” he grabs the younger, pulling him towards his room, but Kyungsoo refuses to move.

Chanyeol finally sighs in frustration, not liking one bit this side of Kyungsoo. “I’ll sleep here if that is what’s bothering you. What’s so wrong about sharing beds, Soo?” he asks in utter confusion. “We are best friends?” Kyungsoo starts walking towards Chanyeol’s room. “Soo?”

The vocal trainer snorts in laughter but mainly pain. He is a healthy grown up man with desires, needs and feelings. There is so much he can control nowadays. His biggest fear is losing control of himself, of doing something remotely stupid to his best friend. “Chanyeol...”

They eventually reach inside the room. The architect turns both lamps on, signaling Kyungsoo to get comfortable. Kyungsoo stares at the way Chanyeol fixes the bed, loving how handsome the elder looks. Chanyeol moves closer to Kyungsoo once he finishes setting the bed. The two of them stand in front of the bed just staring at each other. Chanyeol raises a brow, head turning to the side a bit. His best friend is just staring at him with so much care and affection. It has Chanyeol feeling somewhat confused. “We are best friends, right?” whispers Kyungsoo, loud enough for Chanyeol to hear.

The architect burst into a series of laughter. “We are more than friends, Soo...” the younger blushes as he nods. And he knows that Chanyeol means it in the friendliest way ever. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to hear, but he can’t really stop the elder from saying it. Kyungsoo knows it very well. He knows what he is to Chanyeol. “You are the brother that I never had.”

A small smile appears on Kyungsoo’s face the moment those words leave Chanyeol’s mouth. It’s a sad smile that is perfectly masked. And though Kyungsoo knew that he was bound to hear those words, the pain that comes is different and stronger each time. “Leave...” he says, head looking down. But Chanyeol doesn’t move. “Leave!” Kyungsoo finally breaks down, alcohol not helping him at all. If anything it only makes him bolder.

It is a well-known fact to him that he shouldn’t push Chanyeol away like that. It only happened once when they were younger. Kyungsoo had distant himself from Chanyeol. The elder had begged for days, asking what he had done wrong. “You are everything I’ve got!” Kyungsoo will never forget those words. Chanyeol had cried so much that day, begging with all of his being to never be left again. “You are the only person that cares about me,” the architect felt so lost and alone even though he had his parents.

Kyungsoo had promised that day to always be by Chanyeol’s side. He had to swallow his feelings down, drowning them deep inside him for the sake of his best friend.

But things are getting so out of control. His feeling refuse to be ignored, confusing him even more. Kyungsoo is scared and very hurt. His heart literally can’t take it anymore, so he pushes Chanyeol away when he had promised to never do it again.

He wants to forget about Chanyeol even if it’s just for one night.

Chanyeol stares at his close door with eyes wide opened, and an awful memory coming back to him. He is worried and confused. He spots Jongin coming out of Baekhyun’s room, sighing. “Jongin...” he calls the younger.

Jongin freezes, glancing up with an inaudible sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.” he says as he closes the door behind him.

“It’s Kyungsoo...” Chanyeol mutters with a frown. He hasn’t forgotten about Baekhyun’s sudden declaration. Though he is dying to know, he worries about Kyungsoo at the moment. The way that Kyungsoo stare at him was so different. The architect doesn’t know what wrong he did. The last thing he wants is for Kyungsoo to leave him again. He just can’t lose him.

Jongin’s brow knit together. “What about him? Is he hurts?” he asks, concerned written all over him.

Chanyeol shakes his head. Jongin notices how Chanyeol’s shoulders drop helplessly. The architect is lost. All he can think of is how bad of a friend he is to Kyungsoo. “Please talk to him. I don’t know what is wrong with him, and he doesn’t even want to see me.”

“What did you do to him?” asks the younger, face turning serious. All he gets a deep sigh coming from the architect.

“Please....” Chanyeol mutters desperately. He can’t erase the look that Kyungsoo gave him. It was the same that he carried when they were young, when Kyungsoo stopped talking to him.

Frowning, Jongin nods taking in mind how dejected and worried Chanyeol looks. How did things get this way? Jongin wanted to have a good time with the elders. Instead, Baekhyun got drunk, spilled his secret and Kyungsoo refuses to talk to Chanyeol.

Jongin takes a deep breath, knocking on Chanyeol’s door. He doesn’t get any answer, though. He glances at Chanyeol who signals him to just go in. The younger nods, opening the door in front of him. Chanyeol stays behind, taking a few blankets out of the closet that’s on the hall. Once Jongin closes the door, Chanyeol walks towards the living room where he will be sleeping for the night.

“Hyung...” The elder is removing his clothes in order to go to sleep. Jongin quickly looks away from the elder.

Startled, Kyungsoo jumps on his feet. “What are you doing? Don’t you know how to k-knock?!”

Jongin receives nothing but glares from Kyungsoo. “I did knock. Are you okay?” he asks as he makes his way further inside the room.

Kyungsoo takes a few steps back, trying to put his shirt back on. “Get o-out!” he shouts in embarrassment, for as he is struggling with the stupid piece of fabric called shirt.

However, Jongin ignores the elder’s request of getting out of the room. He takes in sight the elder’s body frame, asking himself how a man of that age can be so delicate looking. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” he asks with a chuckle, standing in front of a flustered Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo scoffs, still trying to get Jongin out of the room and his shirt back on. “Let me help you.” Jongin says, taking the elder by surprise. He grabs the shirt, folding the bottom part. “Up.”  

“I can do it by myself...” Kyungsoo says, cheeks heating up.

Jongin shakes his head, asking the elder once again to stick his hands up. Kyungsoo frowns as he does so. He tries to hide his blushing cheeks by staring down at the floor once the shirt is inside. “There you go...” Jongin slides the shirt down Kyungsoo’s waist. The elder stares up, still blushing. “Where you crying, hyung?” the younger asks in concern. Kyungsoo looks away, trying to hide the obvious sight of stained tears on his face. “Please, tell me what’s wrong, Kyungie.” – Kyungie?

The elder looks up and sees Jongin staring right at him. He feels his chest clenching at the mention of this new nickname. Kyungsoo feels weird, for as someone just gave him a nickname and it wasn’t Chanyeol. It feels very nice, especially coming from a handsome guy like Jongin. “Just l-leave...” he can’t help but feel embarrassed and flustered.

But there is no way that Jongin will leave the elder just like that. He wants to know what is wrong, but he knows that now is not the right time to ask. Instead, he is going to make the elder feel better. “Here...” their eyes lock in gaze for a moment.

It takes Kyungsoo a moment to look away, flustered. Jongin swallows hard the moment those doe-eyes leave his sight. He grabs the elder with shaky hands, effect that he can’t control due to the sudden rush of nervousness.

Kyungsoo only glares, not stopping the younger from doing what he is doing. Never has he had someone taken care of him that way, not even Chanyeol. He is the one always taking care of others. “Let’s get you to bed.” says the younger.

Jongin knows that Kyungsoo is not Baekhyun. He knows that the elder might find him a bit weird, but it never hurts to try. “I’ll tuck you in very well.” Kyungsoo gets inside the bed with a glare on his face, sulking like a scold kid. It’s definitely weird, but Kyungsoo feels warm.

There is no denying that Kyungsoo is still drunk. His cheeks are red, eyes lidded but bigger than Baekhyun’s. They are glassy, red and swollen, perfect evidence that he was crying. The sight is oddly beautiful, so raw and so not Kyungsoo.

And Jongin can’t stop staring at those eyes. Without thinking it, Jongin’s hand makes its way towards the elder’s cheeks. He wipes the tears with the back of his hand, eyes never leaving the elder’s. “You shouldn’t cry...” he whispers. Jongin has always hated people that cry. He finds them ugly and pathetic, but not Kyungsoo.

It brings something out of Kyungsoo that he is not able to express with words. It makes sense to Jongin even though he doesn’t know why those tears are there in the first place.

The look that Kyungsoo is receiving is beyond overwhelming. His heart beats faster than normal and his stomach hurts in very familiar ways. “I don’t like this frown.” Kyungsoo shuts his eyes close, feeling Jongin’s finger touching his forehead. “I like to see you happy.” Jongin places the covers firmly around Kyungsoo’s body.

The elder keeps quiet as he just stares at the younger. – Is he trying to cheer me up? He asks himself. “I know that there are things that we like to keep to ourselves, but sometimes it helps to talk. You might not be able to talk your closest friends about it. And I know that we don’t know each other that well, but I am here for anything. You can always count on me.