pairing: ChenLay
length: 2036 words

Although it was a Friday night, Jongdae was stuck in his room, working on various awards applications for the community service organization that he was the president of. He only had himself to blame for procrastinating until the week before they were due, especially after the harrowing task of having to track down his advisors to have them sign supplementary forms and recommendation letters. As the most senior officer, Jongdae had the most knowledge and experience with the organization, but that also meant he was forced to take care of all of the applications if they were to stand a chance at being recognized for their achievements this past year. But because he was a stressed out electrical engineering student who had become extremely adept at pushing off work he was supposed to do, Jongdae had ended up shirking his responsibilities by either binge-watching movies on Netflix or going out with his roommate to party. Speaking of his roommate, Sehun was currently at a frat party with some other friends, most likely drinking more than his fair share of hard alcohol.

And when Sehun was drunk, he tended to blow up Jongdae’s phone with dozens of text messages and pictures. Knowing that he needed to be completely focused for the next couple of hours while he was alone and the apartment was blissfully quiet, Jongdae had turned off his phone after the first few messages from his roommate had caused the black screen to light up with several beeps sounding in quick succession.

For the next four hours, the only noises in the small two-bedroom apartment were the sound of Jongdae’s fingers continuously tapping on the keyboard and soft classical music that played in the background. Without any distractions bothering him, the engineering student was able to stay on task and doggedly write the needed supplementary essays for the awards applications. Once he finally hit the Save button on his last essay, Jongdae groaned out loud as he toppled from his chair and rolled onto the carpeted floor, wildly thrashing his limbs that had grown stiff from lack of use.

It was past midnight by now and Sehun still hadn’t come home, but Jongdae wasn’t surprised. His roommate usually slept over at a friend’s place if he got too drunk, because the duo lived farther from campus than most others did. The engineering student his phone to check what Sehun was up to and to make sure he hadn’t died from alcohol poisoning, since the other male enjoyed showcasing his partying lifestyle on social media.

The moment the screen lit up, his phone began beeping excessively as dozens of text messages and notifications appeared. Most of them were from Sehun and his friends, so Jongdae ignored them after seeing his roommate’s last text saying he would be crashing at Chanyeol’s apartment for the night. What really caught his eye was a new message chain from an unknown number.

Unknown Number
Am I the first to message you?

Unknown Number
I promise I’m not trying to hit on you!

Unknown Number
Just kidding, I am!

Unknown Number
But only because you offered first!

Unknown Number
Are you ignoring me now?

Unknown Number
Hello? Single, available guy? From one to the other?

Unknown Number
I promise I’m not a creep! I’m just drunk, hehe.

Unknown Number
Don’t leave me hanging, please?

Unknown Number
I promise I’m much more suave in real life!

Unknown Number
You should meet me! We can lament over our singleness together!

Unknown Number
My friends are bullying me now since you’re not responding.

God, this guy—whoever he was—was drunk out of his mind when he spammed Jongdae. He had half a mind to just block the number, but his curiosity got the better of him, especially knowing that he had missed out on an entire night of fun because of his stupid procrastinating self. After washing up and changing into pajamas, he jumped into bed and unlocked his phone to type up a message.

Kim Jongdae
Who are you and how did you get my phone number?

Unknown Number
You finally responded! You don’t hate me!

Kim Jongdae
Uh, you didn’t answer any of my questions.

Unknown Number
I’m just too excited! My friends keep bullying me, saying I’m too ugly and lame for you to respond to, but it’s not true! I promise I’m very good-looking!

Kim Jongdae
…If you’re not going to answer my questions, I’m going to block you.

Unknown Number
No, wait! I’m Zhang Yixing!

Kim Jongdae
Okay… I’ve never heard of you before… How did you get my phone number then?

After sending that message, he quickly added Yixing to his contacts list, since he hated seeing Unknown Number in his inbox.

Zhang Yixing
The men’s bathroom at Club Hologram. Your phone number was written on one of the toilet stalls.

Jongdae suddenly tumbled out of bed from shock as that horrid memory from last Friday resurfaced. Dang it, he should’ve known this was all Sehun’s fault.

That night, the pair of roommates had been playing drinking games at their favorite nightclub with some of Sehun’s friends to celebrate being single on Valentine’s Day. Although they could have simply filled the void by pursuing one night stands, it was less damaging and easier to get wasted on copious amounts of alcohol, ranging from soju to beer to tequila. After a particularly brutal game of King’s Cup, in which Jongdae had gotten completely wrecked by the pungent mixture of vodka and rum, Sehun had decided that his roommate needed to be punished even more.

The engineering student had been too drunk to refuse, especially with Chanyeol and Jongin crowing in agreement. The four guys had then trooped to the men’s bathroom, which had luckily been empty at the time, and found themselves crammed in a toilet stall while they loudly discussed what Jongdae’s second punishment should be.

Well, actually, he had been wholly focused on trying not to puke all over the place while the other three obnoxiously conspired in front of him.

After tossing out several terrible ideas, which didn’t mean much since they were so inebriated in the first place, Sehun had taken out a large black Sharpie pen from the back pocket of his gray pants and brandished it in the air. He had shouted out his plan, which Chanyeol and Jongin immediately cheered for, and then began putting it into action.

Moments later, there was, PLS TEXT ME BC I’M SINGLE & READY TO MINGLE. P.S. I’M V CUTE SO DON’T BOTHER UNLESS YOU’RE AS CUTE AS ME, written in blocky text with Jongdae’s phone number printed underneath. The three culprits had cackled like hyenas as they proudly examined their handiwork while Jongdae turned greener by the second. It wasn’t until he had unleashed the contents of his upset stomach that they fled the stall, still hollering and whooping like the immature boys that they were. The engineering student’s memory ended there, since he had apparently out after he finished throwing up. It was a wonder Sehun hadn’t abandoned him once he became Mount Vomit-vius, but he supposed his roommate wasn’t that awful of a person.

But Sehun was still awful.

Kim Jongdae
Oh my god, you seriously listened to that piece of garbage?!

Zhang Yixing
Does that mean you’re not single?

Kim Jongdae
No, I am.

Zhang Yixing
Then am I not cute? I promise I am! I’ll send you proof!

Seconds later, his phone beeped when it received a picture of Yixing’s slightly red but very smiley, dimpled face. Jongdae would be lying if he said the other male wasn’t attractive, despite his intoxicated state. And it took a special kind of confidence to be so flirtatious with a complete stranger.

Zhang Yixing
Did you see me? I’m cute, right? Right?

Kim Jongdae
Yes, okay, you’re cute. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to sleep.

Zhang Yixing
No, wait! You can’t! We haven’t decided when we’ll hang out and be two cute single people together!

Kim Jongdae
Uh, I never agreed to this. I think you should sleep too. You’re really drunk.

Zhang Yixing
I’m still sober enough to text you! Can you send me a picture of you? Please? Pretty please?

Kim Jongdae
Will you stop bothering me and let me sleep then?

Zhang Yixing
Yes, yes! I just wanna see how cute you are! I bet you’re really cute!

With a deep sigh, he stood up from the floor and briefly the light to snap a quick picture of his face before sending it to the other male.

Kim Jongdae
There. I’m really ugly right now, because I’m tired. Good night.

With that, he promptly powered off his phone again and set it on the bureau next to his bed as he tucked himself in again. Sleep came easily with his brain completely frazzled from exhaustion, confusion, and utter embarrassment.

--

Since it was Saturday, Jongdae had the luxury of sleeping in until noon without any repercussions. By the time he woke up, Sehun was still nowhere to be seen, so the engineering student assumed his roommate was still getting over his hangover at Chanyeol’s apartment. He tried to unlock his phone to send a text message to Sehun, but his sluggish mind forgot that he had turned it off the previous night. After several unsuccessful attempts at trying to unlock the device, Jongdae finally remembered to press the power button and then waited for the phone to boot up.

To his surprise, there was only one new message waiting for him.

Zhang Yixing
Oh my god, I just read through my texts and I want to apologize for whatever I did last night while I was drunk. I swear I’m not usually this block-headed and ignorant of boundaries. Please feel free to block me! I won’t blame you.

Kim Jongdae
It’s okay. I shouldn’t have encouraged you. And it was technically my roommate’s fault for publicizing my phone number in the first place. You seem like a decent guy, at least when you’re sober from what I can infer, so there’s no need to block you.

Zhang Yixing
I’m so sorry once again. And thank you. You’re too nice.

Kim Jongdae
It’s fine. We all make stupid mistakes while we’re drunk.

Zhang Yixing
Oh god, tell me about it. I really should stop drinking so much. It’s getting out of hand.

Kim Jongdae
Well, nothing bad happened this time, so you can sleep easily tonight, haha.

Zhang Yixing
Yeah, you’re right. Thanks again, though, for forgiving me.

Kim Jongdae
No worries.

He was about to put his phone away, thinking this would be the end of the conversation, when it beeped again with another new message.

Zhang Yixing
By the way, I never responded to your text last night, but I just wanted to let you know that you’re not ugly and your roommate is right. You’re very cute. I hope this doesn’t sound weird, but do you think we could possibly get to know each other? Under normal, sober circumstances? I totally understand if you don’t want to, though, because of what my drunk self did.

It took several minutes for Jongdae to compose a response as he paced back and forth in his bedroom. Maybe this was silly and would turn out to be nothing. After all, when did messages scrawled on nightclub bathroom stalls actually work?

But then again, he had nothing to lose at the same time.

Kim Jongdae
Sure, I’m willing to try. When should our first date be?

He almost slapped himself for being so forward after sending that text message.

Zhang Yixing
I’m free tomorrow afternoon! We could meet up at the park near Club Hologram, if you’d like.

Kim Jongdae
Yeah, that works. Three o’clock tomorrow?

Zhang Yixing
Yes, that’s perfect!

Kim Jongdae
Great, see you tomorrow!

Yixing sent a giant thumbs-up sticker in response, causing Jongdae to smile as he locked his phone and set it on his bed while he got dressed for the day.

But Sehun was still going to get an earful when he got home for being a drunken idiot.

♈♈♈