Minseok stares down the bottle of his half drunk bottle of cider. ‘Crisp and Refreshing’ reads the bottle, but all he tastes is the stale aftertaste of cheap liquor as it sits on his tongue, coating his mouth. He frowns, takes another sip, and gives the room a once-over, probably his tenth once-over in half an hour.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and Minseok is newly single. Well, it’s been a few weeks, but not too long ago he’d imagined coming to his best friend’s party with a boyfriend in tow, someone he could snuggle with and laugh at others’ antics with, drink with and get wasted together, and come midnight they’d watch the television for that stupid, cheesy countdown when the ‘ball drops’ in Times Square and Minseok would have someone to kiss and then laugh at how ridiculous was the whole night.

That was his plan a few weeks ago, anyway. Not tonight apparently. Tonight he’s got no plans and no one, not even Chanyeol can cheer him up.

Minseok scans the room for his friend, and it’s only ten years worth of friendship that keeps him from making his bitterness known. Chanyeol has been in a relationship for half of those years. This New Years marks the first time he’s celebrating it as a married man. Minseok isn’t jealous. He wasn’t engaged, hadn’t even considered the possibility of it. Yet.

Technically, tonight’s a work party for Chanyeol’s colleagues and just a few of his friends, which makes Minseok kind of a one man out. He’s surrounded by strangers, and not just that, but they’re happy strangers. Some of them are starting to get rowdy, which means loud. Loud, rowdy, happy strangers. He takes another swig of his cider and grimaces. The label reads only 5% alcohol, which means he’s either going to have to find something else to drink or down another dozen.

Too late, he hears another of Chanyeol’s guests complaining loudly that ‘SOMEBODY DRANK ALL THE CIDER!! NOOO!’

Minseok sighs, puts down his bottle, stretches a little more languidly on the sofa he’s commandeered for the night, and stares absentmindedly at the TV which he can’t even hear due to all the commotion. Some pop artist whose face he recognizes but can’t remember the name is singing his heart out to a swelling, moving crowd. He wonders vaguely if he can just snooze for the rest of the night.

Too late again, he hears his friend making his way across the room to him.

“Minseok, hey!”

Chanyeol’s voice is too loud. He’s smiling like a dork, his husband strangely absent.

Minseok raises his bottle, and smiles.

“Move your legs, I gotta sit down.” Chanyeol wobbles like he’s drunk. He’s probably not as drunk as he acts; Minseok knows him much too well. But he complies. Having somebody to talk to, someone like Chanyeol at least, isn’t a bad thing.

“‘Sup?” he says.

Chanyeol grins at him, heart eyes crinkling and laugh lines long. “You….” he begins, stopping at the look on Minseok’s face.

“Don’t you dare tell me I look lonely.”

Chanyeol chuckles and looks awkwardly away. “I wouldn’t dare.” He most certainly was about to.

Minseok coughs, hastening to deflect the conversation before his friend can say anything more. “Where’s your husband?”

“Over there somewhere.” Chanyeol waves a hand towards the kitchen. “Making the rounds, you know. Mingling.”

“ Mingling,” Minseok repeats. The word sits unhappily in his throat, kind of like the cider. Together the two form a discordant harmony and Minseok shudders at the thought. Chanyeol chuckles some more and then stops and sighs. He’s looking at Minseok with eyes half filled with pity, half exasperation.

“Just say it.”

“What?” Chanyeol almost chokes.

“Whatever’s on your mind. Just say it. Come on, get it out. I promise I won’t get too mad.”

But Chanyeol is already shaking his head and both his hands. “No, no, what? I wasn’t gonna… I mean, I wouldn’t do that to you. It’s been… it’s too…”

“Too soon?” Minseok finishes for him. Chanyeol’s face turns a startling shade of pink before he gulps and looks away. “I’m fine, Chanyeol, really. I just need, another drink, I don’t know. Go mingle and ignore your pitiful friend for a little bit, okay?” He nudges Chanyeol in the ribs with his elbow to try and get across his point. Finally, reluctantly, Chanyeol leaves him and Minseok goes back to nursing his mostly empty bottle.

The clock winds down, half an hour left to go until midnight. Minseok’s mind is beginning to wander as he vaguely listens into some of the other guest’s conversation. Nothing sticks, though he’s growing more and more amused by everyone’s reactions to yet another guest Minseok hasn’t seen yet.

“A raving idiot!” someone laughs, sounding fond.

Minseok looks, but sees only Chanyeol’s husband Kyungsoo coming out the kitchen shaking his head, also fond.

“He’s always like that, don’t mind him.”

A second later, Chanyeol follows, crowding Kyungsoo into a back hug as they walk away from the scene. The other guests are still peering over their shoulders so Minseok assumes it doesn’t have anything to do with either Chanyeol or Kyungsoo.

He waves at them anyway, suddenly craving a little bit of comfort in the form of his longtime friends. Unfortunately, there’s a loud crash from the other side of the house that has Kyungsoo distracted and instead of coming to see Minseok, the pair march off resolutely to deal with the mess.

Minseok sighs and sinks back into the sofa, forgetting whatever had been happening in the kitchen until the guests begin snickering again.

“Think someone should stop him?” says one, a lady Minseok doesn’t know.

Her companion shakes her head. “Nah. Are you kidding? This is great. Baekhyun does this kind of crap every year, trust me, it’ll be worth it.”

Baekhyun . Minseok is so bored he says the stranger’s name softly, trying out the syllables on the tip of his tongue.

“No, but seriously, that can’t be tasty…Whisky, cola and… is that fruit punch?”

“I think so,” says another, still laughing.

“And how is this supposed to be worth it?” says another. Minseok perks up, privately agreeing. He’ll admit, his cider wasn’t quite up to standards but whatever this Baekhyun is conconcting sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster. And he just can’t seem to stop listening in. He sits up a little and stretches, feeling curiosity setting in.

“Let’s just say, he’s very creative?”

Minseok snorts, but his feet are already planted on the ground. He stands, trying not to look too obvious that he’s bored out of his mind and kind of wants to see what’s so worthwhile about this Baekhyun and his creative alcoholic creations.

One of the guests actually stops him in the kitchen doorway with a friendly warning. “Careful, now! This is usually when he begins to ask for volunteer taste testers.”

Minseok smiles, says something about being able to handle himself, and goes on in anyways.

At first he can’t see anything but the back of at least half a dozen heads. They’re all huddled along one side of a counter, hemming and hawing, ohhing, and gagging about whatever this Baekhyun is making.

“Alright, anyone got game tonight?!” says a cheerful voice. Minseok catches the tips of a blond head through the bodies. He sidles around the least crowded side of the kitchen to see the cause of this commotion.

“Not in my life!” comes someone’s response. More people laugh. Strangely enough, the loudest laugh seems to come from Baekhyun himself.

Minseok finally elbows himself into the countertop, catches sight of the blond. So this is Baekhyun. He has a tiny face, angular, but somehow soft. Great big heart eyes filled with mirth and widest, prettiest grin. Minseok finds himself smiling in return.

“How about I make a chaser?”

Minseok waits for the typical retorts, pleas and gags, including half the partiers abandoning the kitchen when Baekhyun turns from the fridge with a bottle of beer and a pint of chocolate milk. He’d only gotten one taker to even sip from his earlier creation, before that person promptly spit it down the sink.

Minseok sits on a bar stool and props his elbows on the counter. Baekhyun turns to him with startling sparkly eyes.

“Hi! Have we met?!”

Minseok smiles. “Don’t think so.” Baekhyun hasn’t asked for his name, so he doesn’t give him one. Instead, the man is already playing around with plastic cup and pouring a new drink.

“What’s it gonna be this time, Baekhyun?” says one of the other bravest of souls.

Baekhyun’s eyes linger on Minseok for a second, before he tears them away to respond.

“Ahh, Jongdae, my loyal friend. I’m thinking a little nitro, with some swirl of chocolate dairy. Top it off with some… hmm…. where is it now… brandy?”

His hands flit across the counter with surprising accuracy, motions polished, like a bartender or a barista. Minseok can’t help staring at his hands with their long, delicate fingers. His sleeves have been rolled up past the elbow, revealing strong looking forearms, a few freckles, soft, delicate hairs.

“How about you, huh?”

Minseok looks up, eyes wide. “Huh? Me?”

Baekhyun grins at him. “Yeah. Got any requests? Watcha in the mood for tonight?”

Minseok wants to laugh. He sounds so professional, but his drinks are anything but. Minseok decides to humor him. Half the counter is scattered with liquor, schnapps, mixers, and the like. He points to a bottle of Jaegermeister. Baekhyun follows his finger and smiles delightedly. A second later, Minseok silently adds one other request: a green jello shot.

“Now that’s the spirit! My kind of guy.” He grabs the bottle, swirling it around to get the little bits of gold flakes moving. “See, Jongdae? I told you’d I’d meet my soulmate here tonight.”

Jongdae snorts. Minseok leans forward a bit and grins.

“What’s your name?” asks Baekhyun, smoothly talking while he dumps out the jello shot. It lands in the cup with a sickening thunk.

“Minseok.”

“Minseok? Oh, right. I’m Baekhyun.” Minseok nods. Never faltering from his craft, Baekhyun shares a glance with Jongdae that Minseok can’t read. He doesn’t ask, just lets Baekhyun work, mildly following the two friends’ conversation from which he concludes they must work together in the same office as Chanyeol. He kind of wonders why he’s never met them. Minseok’s met most of Chanyeol’s colleagues at parties like these before.

“Okaaay, here we go!” says Baekhyun, withdrawing a tiny spatula from the plastic cup and plopping it before Minseok.

Minseok just raises his eyebrows at the cup, catching Baekhyun staring at him. He swears he can detect a foul odor rising from the drink, and knowing what went into it, there’s no chance in hell he’s putting it in his mouth. On the other hand, he kind of wanted to see Baekhyun drink it.

“You ever try your own concoctions?” he asks, delivering his challenge.

Jongdae cackles softly, getting off his stool and silently retreating from the kitchen. That leaves Minseok all alone with Baekhyun, and he can’t say he’s unhappy with this development.

“Sometimes. You said your name was Minseok, yeah?”

Minseok nods. “Yeah. You know me?”

“Only by name.”

Well that is certainly news to him. Minseok takes the drink, swirls it around a bit and feigns smelling it. Then he slides it back across the counter to Baekhyun.

“First time I’ve heard of you, to be quite honest,” he says.

Baekhyun blushes.

“Ah well, Chanyeol mentioned something earlier… but…”

“Chanyeol did?” More news to Minseok. “What did he say?” He’s genuinely curious, though truth be told he has a hunch already.

Baekhyun is still kind of blushing, but he hasn’t looked away from Minseok’s piercing glance. And there’s something about that resolve that has Minseok’s blood churning like nothing he’s felt in at least several weeks.

The blush on Baekhyun’s cheeks doesn’t go away. Instead, if anything his face grows a little more red, a little bit more daring.

“Try my drink and I’ll tell you?”

Minseok laughs. “Uh ah. I am not that curious. Besides I can just ask him later.”

Baekhyun pouts, and it’s definitely the cutest thing Minseok’s seen in ages. “Fine. Well since you’re asking, I might as well say it. He was gonna hook us up tonight.”

“Oh?” Minseok feigns disinterest, though it does confirm what he’d thought.

“Yeaah.. So, anyways.  Sorry if I’m overstepping by telling you this, but he did come back later and say it was a no go.”

Minseok is the first to look away this time, but he’s still smiling. Bless his friend, that darling Chanyeol for attempting to read into a situation. Because yes, half an hour ago he got the feeling Chanyeol was gonna pitch something just like this and no, Minseok wasn’t anywhere close to a mood to deal with that.

It’s almost a shame though. Baekhyun looks pretty sweet. Crazy with his drink combinations, but he doesn’t even appear to be drunk. Minseok finds himself staring at the other’s hands again. One fist is slightly clenched as from nerves. The other is wrapped around the base of that ridiculous drink.

“Yeah, I guess I wasn’t really interested,” says Minseok. He’s half impressed with the tone of his voice. Minseok isn’t really great at acting, and when Baekhyun’s face actually falls right in front of him, he regrets the little game almost immediately.

“Earlier, that is,” he adds with a wink.

Like sunshine, Baekhyun perks up. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“So…”

“So?”

Baekhyun is now practically salivating. “So, what’s a guy got to do around here to get a date?” From the other room he can hear the crowd getting loud as the clock inches towards the hour. The ball’s about to drop. Baekhyun’s face is aglow.  “Or... at least a midnight kiss?”

Minseok laughs. So forward, really. But for some reason it’s just the kind of thing he craves.

“Hmm. I don’t know.” He glances down at the cup in Baekhyun’s hand, gaze lingering long enough for Baekhyun to get the hint.

There’s silence for a moment. Then, “. I asked for that, didn’t I?” He laughs, then pales, swirling the terrible mixture around and around and around.

“Ten!”

Comes the roar of party guests in the living room.

“Nine!”

Baekhyun gulps.

“Eight!”

Minseok grins.

“Seven!”

Baekhyun brings it to his mouth, cursing.

“Six!”

He throws his head back, cup to his mouth.

“Five!”

It gurgles down his throat.

“Four!”

Baekhyun gags.

“Three!”

Baekhyun screams, still gagging.

“Two!”

“One!”

Minseok swipes the cup from Baekhyun’s hand, tosses it to the ground and leans across the table. Their mouths meet while Baekhyun is still in shock, either from the taste or from Minseok’s movement.

Someone breaks out into Old Lang Syne, badly off key. Minseok recognizes Chanyeol’s voice, also recognizes Kyungsoo’s yelling at him to stop. Meanwhile, Minseok is kissing Baekhyun.

It’s not great, to be honest.

Baekhyun tastes like beer and brandy and chocolate milk and jello. But, there’s still probably some time to fix this.