T/W: mentions of alcohol

He didn’t give a flying that it was an unacceptable hour to be drinking, he needed a damn drink. The adrenaline wore off at some point on his journey to the bar that pretty much everyone went to, and he wasn’t enjoying the feeling of regret beginning to seep in.

Of course, the place was nearly empty, it was barely lunchtime. The bar didn’t exactly serve food, just snacks, so no one really came here before nightfall. By the looks of it though there was someone sat at the bar, so at least he wouldn’t be the only person getting wasted. He threw his bag to the floor, handing his car keys to the guy behind the bar to keep safe. He knew the guy, sort of, most people did, but they didn’t actually know each other’s names. He tried to ignore the concerned expression he wore as he turned back to face him.

“What’s it going to be, then? Looks like you need a strong one,” he asked, already preparing a shot glass and chaser.

“Vodka. Double. With a lemon.” he tossed his card over to the guy, knowing it would probably be better for him to keep it and just open a tab. He didn’t care about money right now, this place wasn’t exactly expensive and the vodka wasn’t the best quality but it would get him drunk and numb his feelings and that’s all that mattered.

Resting his head on the bar, he heard the glasses being set down next to his head. “Want me to keep a hold of your card too?”

Muffled by his arms, he replied. “Yes.”

“Alright, just let me know when you need a top up, take it easy though, buddy.”

He wasn’t going to take it easy, he’d already set out a plan of action. His anxiety wasn’t going to let him just walk away and enjoy unemployment, he was going to have one night to himself to fix his broken heart and maybe tell his mom what had happened, then he was immediately going to go job hunting. There must be someplace hiring, it would probably work out for him anyway, he could probably have more flexible hours somewhere else.

After taking his shot, and a small sip of the sprite, he pushed the glass forward and left it there for a top up. A quick glance at his phone showed a couple of messages from Sehun and about a dozen missed calls from Baekhyun. Just reading his contact name made his stomach clench up and feel all weird. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“.”

He was going to smack his head down on the bar a couple of times, but he decided that probably wouldn’t be a great idea. If he did enough damage they’d just send him straight back to the place he’d practically ran away from. He really didn’t want to go back there, especially now that it just reminded him of Baekhyun. A lot of reminded him of Baekhyun, sweet aftershave, daytime television, Disney movies. He wasn’t sure how he was going to go through his whole life without watching a Disney movie.

“Jongdae, is that you?”

Looking over to his right, he finally saw the other person’s face, and it just so happened to be Kris. he wasn’t on the level of drinking that Jongdae was on, he was only nursing a bottle of beer and a dish of pretzels. This was embarrassing.

“Sorry, man. I didn’t see you there. What’s up?” he hated trying to sound like he was completely okay, he was having a miniature breakdown on the inside.

“Not much, just- I don’t know.” he took another sip of his beer, further inspection showed a couple of empties further down the bar.

“In that case, you’re already doing better than me.” he tried to smile but it probably looked pained.

Looking down at his drink, he shook his head with a laugh. “Doubt that, but sure.”

The bartender came back and fetched the vodka bottle. “Double?”

“Double.”

“Damn, Jongdae. Don’t you have work tonight?” Kris said, taking a look at Jongdae’s alcohol intake before pushing the pretzels in his direction. Not even pretzels could save him at this point, he planned on getting white girl wasted.

He banged the now empty glass on the table, turning to face Kris… and the pretzels. Okay, maybe he’d have a couple. “I actually just quit my job, like thirty minutes ago.”

That definitely seemed to catch Kris off guard. “Oh, what? Damn… why?”

Jongdae didn’t answer, just took another sip of his sprite and started eating pretzels. He didn’t have an answer or at least one which was safe to be told to anyone but Sehun. Oh god, Sehun. He’s going to be furious when he finds out what really happened. He’s going to get his beat.

“I heard you got accepted into nursing school, congrats by the way.”

“Wait, who even told you that?”

Kris shrugged. “Everyone who works in that reception is a blabbermouth, I hope you know that.”

“That’s… fair enough.”

The silence between them was somewhat comfortable, or at least, that’s what Jongdae thought. He couldn’t really see Kris’ expression because he’d put his head in his arms, waiting for the alcohol to hit him all at once. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that Kris was a good friend, more of an acquaintance, but a conversation with him was always easy going. Kris didn’t talk much to anyone other than Chanyeol or Tao, and well, Jongdae knew for a fact that he wasn’t talking to Tao as much. Now he felt awkward, he wished he hadn’t remembered that.

Lifting his head and clearing his throat, he tried to smile at Kris. “Why are you here, though?”

His gaze dropped, he fiddled with the label of his beer bottle. “I don’t know. Mending a broken heart, I guess.”

Oh, ouch.

Jongdae had literally no idea what to say. “That’s rough, buddy.”

Kris snorted. “Yeah. Such is life.”

There was a comfortable silence between them whilst Jongdae aimlessly played on his phone, beginning to feel a bit more relaxed when the alcohol hit him. Every now and then his hand would sneak over to steal more of Kris’ pretzels, it looked like the guy didn’t mind, he hadn’t pulled the little basket away from him just yet.

He decided to brave it and look at Sehun’s messages. Maybe with the nice cool vodka flowing through his system, he wouldn’t be able to feel the intense, burning anger from Sehun when he admitted what had happened that morning. It was worth a shot or two anyway.

Speaking of, he pushed his glass close to the bartender again, he didn’t seem so mad this time when Jongdae asked for a double because he asked for two, one for himself and one for Kris. although he hadn’t said anything to the other man about the real reason he was at a dive bar in the early afternoon, he felt like he had. Both of them were there for the same reason, they were going through pretty much the same . Comrades in arms in the war called love.

Damn, that sounded really ing emo. He needed to stop reading stupid love poetry when he was pining over someone.

He didn’t have to, but he ended up taking the free shot. Jongdae wanted to try to talk to him, but he didn’t want to be too nosey. Plus it would have been weird for him to be asking all these questions, especially when he hadn’t really said why he quit his job. So he left it, sent off a couple of texts to Sehun, who replied almost instantly, not as angry as he’d expected him to be, which was nice.

From Sehun:

> wow. Are you sure ur ok with tht choice???

> if it will make u happier then im sure it will be worth it in the long run, right???

> where are u, I’ll drive you home if ur that drunk

To Sehun:

> m not tht drunk. I might be by the time u get here tho lmao

> the usual spot with the nasty vodka and room temp beer

> no rush pls, the barman has already taken my keys, i cant go anywhere

From Sehun:

> dont be stupid

> im not going to leave you to drink the bar dry

> be there in 10

“Sounds like someone’s concerned about you,” Kris said, not once taking his eyes from the basketball game being played on the TV in the corner.

“What?”

“You’ve had like ten text messages in the last three minutes, so someone is clearly worried about you.”

Jongdae sighed. “It’s nothing, really.”

Kris shrugged. “Hey, at least people text you every once in a while.”

Maybe it was the vodka, or maybe it was the complete lack of dignity, but Jongdae leaned against the bar, head propped up with one hand. “I’d text you, you’re a handsome gentleman.”

At that, Kris actually laughed. “Thanks, Jongdae.”

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