In an unexpected turn of events, Jongwoon got himself drunk. 

Like, very very drunk.

Hyukjae did not expect this to happen at all when he got himself ready and happily made his way to the sushi restaurant. Because Jongwoon? Drinking? Preposterous. Jongwoon drinking until he was drunk and giggling? Downright unthinkable. 

But alas. 

Hyukjae watched as Jongwoon bounced to Kyuhyun and Ryeowook — yeah, yeah, his cute maknaes whom he adored sooo much, Hyukjae is not jealous, okay — and started poking their cheeks happily while giggling that stupid giggle. 

And of course, Hyukjae was not the only one that found a drunk Jongwoon amusing and adorable. Even Kyuhyun, who was usually allergic to cooing from other members, seemed to be melting under Jongwoon’s sweet caress and giddy smile. Hyukjae pouted. 

It started out as an innocent dinner gathering for the group. Then, the boys decided to head to a bar for some drinks and started challenging and edging one another on to drink, drink, drink. Hyukjae didn’t even know how the did Jongwoon get so smashed, but he suspected that Donghae was a sore loser that did not want to drink even though he had lost at some drinking games, and Jongwoon being the pushover hyung that he was for his dongsaengs, drank on behalf of Donghae. 

The rest of Super Junior was a mess too. Donghae (despite barely drinking much) was sitting on the floor, mumbling to himself about how hard life was and oh nooo, Shindong hyung... I don't know how to pay taxes, am I committing tax fraud if I don't know how to pay my taxes? Jungsu and Heechul were drowsily watching Donghae undergo his mid life crisis from their seats, even though their eyes were half open and it looked like they were going to pass out any moment. Ryeowook was having the time of his life lip-syncing dramatically to the songs playing at the bar, while Siwon watched on in amusement and Kyuhyun complained that Ryeowook was butchering the lyrics horribly. 

A part of Hyukjae loved how Jongwoon finally stopped trying to be the sober friend and just allowed himself to let loose for once. That and the fact that he was also less hard on himself with all that needless dieting. But the other part of Hyukjae was screaming at himself, because now he was the sober friend, and just the thought of dealing with a rowdy, drunk Super Junior sent chills down his spine. Brrr. He could feel an impending headache. Even if he had Siwon with him, he was still too lazy for this . He wondered how Jongwoon managed to do this all the time. 

As Hyukjae brewed in his own distress, he did not notice that his boyfriend was also in a similar state as him, only more outwardly so.

As usual, the alcohol had made Jongwoon extremely emotional and nostalgic. It started all fine and dandy, he was having a good time reminiscing about his happy memories with Hyukjae and smiling like an idiot as he stared into the air. Then, he thought about all the times they fought. That time when they argued over how bland the ramyeon tasted because Hyukjae eyeballed the water level wrongly. Or the time where they almost got into a catfight to prove who loved each other more. Just last night, Hyukjae was almost kicked out of the bedroom after he jokingly complained that Jongwoon’s excessive usage of emoticons through text, ironically or not, was starting to get slightly annoying.

Unknowingly, Jongwoon started to tear up as he recalled the anger on Hyukjae's face from yesterday as he told him to go and sleep on the couch, you boring idiot!, to which Hyukjae replied with yeah, you ! I don’t like sleeping beside you anyway!!! A wave of sadness overcame Jongwoon and his lips wobbled. Oh no... does this mean Hyukjae doesn't love him anymore?

That single thought startled him so much that the tears which were peeking at the seams of his eyes started flowing out freely. He fell dramatically onto the person beside him, who was coincidentally the man that was also having an existential crisis. "Oh my god, Donghae... Hyukjae doesn't love me anymore... What do I do now?" Jongwoon whined pitifully into the shoulder of his friend as he wrapped two arms around the younger’s waist. 

"Whaaaat? Oh nooooo. That's so sad, Jongwoon. I thought I was going to be Hyukjae’s best man. Oh noooo. Are you crying? Nooooooooo. Don’t cry because I'll cry too.”

"No way..." Jongwoon slurred and looked at Donghae in half-lidded admiration. "How did you know that I want to marry Hyukjae? Do you know how I plan to propose to him too?”

"Noooooo, I didn't. How...? Tell me, tell me, I want to know!”

Still unbeknownst to Hyukjae, Jongwoon leaned over to Donghae’s ear and half-whispered, half-blurted out his grand plans for the proposal that he hoped against hope Hyukjae would say yes to.

"Hyungggggg! That's so cute! I want to do that too…” Donghae deadass squealed. 

"No no no, shhh! Hyukjae might hear you!" Jongwoon looked around in panic, as if he did not just declare his proposal plans while sitting right next to the boyfriend in question. If only Hyukjae was less busy with trying to manhandle a drunk out-of-control Heechul, he would have heard everything crystal clear. "And that's my plan! No stealing. Think of yours by yourself." Jongwoon hmph-ed, and pouted a grown man pout.

"But I'm a criminal, hyungie. I committed tax fraud. I'll be in jail soon. How can I get married if I'm in jail?!?!”

Before Donghae could sink into another round of self-pitying, Hyukjae intercepted the small bubble Jongwoon and Donghae were encased in. No, he was not jealous that Jongwoon was all wrapped around his best friend. "Hey, hey. You two over there, what are y'all busy whispering to each other?”

“Yah! Hyukjae! Jongwoon hyungie wants to ma-!" Before Donghae could finish his sentence, Jongwoon's whole body was on top of him, pressing him down with a palm over his mouth. Hyukjae’s eye twitched. Right in front of his salad? But no, he was still not jealous. Donghae struggled against Jongwoon, but it was futile, because Jongwoon was persistent even if he was less built than one Lee Donghae. It was a sight watching two grown men wrestle each other horizontally on a couch that could barely fit either of them.

"Nothing!" Jongwoon smiled brightly at Hyukjae. "Nothing...! We are talking about Donghae's ingrown toenail. Gross, by the way, Hae-ah." Hyukjae wondered if he should feel amused or disgusted as he considered if he should intervene. 

Credits to Donghae, with a valiant struggle, he managed to break free, pushing Jongwoon off at the same time.

"Hyung wants to ma-“

"No no no no no Donghae!”

"-make love with you.”

" my life.”

-

Somehow, with divine intervention, perhaps, Hyukjae and Siwon managed to send the whole horde of drunk men back to each of their homes without getting an aneurysm. It was hard to stay annoyed at them even when they were making his life so damn difficult, because they were loud and funny and oddly adorable (this was exclusive to Jongwoon only), even if Hyukjae hated to admit it.

And Jongwoon... his sweet boyfriend Jongwoon was all the more clingy and entertaining with his cute whining and his drunken giggling. He had latched onto every single person in the group at some point in time, throughout their time at the bar. Hyukjae thought it was unfair that his boyfriend was so adorable and clingy when he's drunk, because when he gets drunk, his beloved members would simply draw all over his face. And with how rare it was to see Jongwoon like this, it just meant that the rest of the members were all the more indulgent and fond of his boyfriend. Annoying. 

With strength that Hyukjae did not know he had at 4AM, he heaved his half-conscious, still-clinging-and-whining boyfriend closer to him as he dragged him into their bedroom. Hyukjae almost wanted to dump him on the ground there and then, but figured that he was too awesome of a boyfriend to do that, so he pushed through for another distance and threw Jongwoon onto their bed. 

Jongwoon groaned, as if he has been severely wounded and started making grabby hands at Hyukjae. “Hyukjae-ah. C’mere, come, hug me.” 

Hyukjae took off his socks and threw it at Jongwoon's face instead (punishment for Jongwoon being so flirty with other members) and turned to make his way to the bathroom to clean himself up. All that manhandling was tiring and he was sticky with sweat, the last thing he wanted was to dirty their very clean bed while cuddling with Jongwoon. 

However, Jongwoon seemed to have other plans, as he grabbed Hyukjae by the wrist and gave him a hard pull. Hyukjae yelped and crashed onto Jongwoon, elbowing the older in the ribs at the same time. Jongwoon groaned, but tightened his arms around Hyukjae. 

"You idiot, you deserved that.”

"Oww..." 

"Let me go and get washed, I'm dirty.”

"Owwwww..." 

"Hyung... I barely touched you..." 

"Pain... I'm in so much pain. My boyfriend doesn’t want to cuddle me. Love hurts. Love is painful, my boyfriend doesn’t love me anymore. My body hurts because I fell in love with you. My legs hurt because I've been chasing after you for so long. My stomach hurts from all the butterflies you give me when you smile. My —”

Hyukjae elbowed Jongwoon for real this time and Jongwoon squawked. “Hyung… you are more annoying than me when you’re drunk.” 

“I love youuuu, Hyukjae-yah. Let’s cuddle.” 

“Yes, baby. We will do that after I shower, okay?” 

"No." Jongwoon pulled Hyukjae even closer and nuzzled his neck. Hyukjae gave up on trying to escape from the tight hug, especially since he knew how annoyingly persistent Jongwoon can get when he gets clingy. And clingy Jongwoon was always endearing anyway. How could anyone even say no to him when he gets like this? 

Hyukjae ran his fingers through the older’s hair softly and Jongwoon started mewling like a kitten. See! How could Hyukjae deny anything from this man when he’s acting like that!?

"How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? You drank a lot." 

"Mhmm..." 

"Knock knock? Is Jongwoon there?" 

"Yes, your favourite boyfriend is here." 

“I only have one boyfriend.” 

“Hehe. It’s me.” 

"Are you feeling okay?”

"Mhmm... love you..." Jongwoon mumbled against the skin at Hyukjae's neck. Hyukjae squirmed and giggled at the ticklish feeling. God, Jongwoon was adorable. 

Upon hearing Hyukjae’s laughter, Jongwoon looked up with wide eyes. Hyukjae's giggling died down as he stared back at Jongwoon happily. 

“What?"

There was a moment of comfortable silence where the two stared at each other fondly. 

“I’m so lucky to have you with me, Hyukjae-ah.” 

Hyukjae was momentarily speechless. He could feel his cheeks turning warm and he was sure his ears were red too. Damn it, Jongwoon. “S-suddenly? Stupid hyung, I love you too.” 

Jongwoon smiled, a look of satisfaction. "Mhmm, okay. But I love you more. You're so good to me, you know that? You take care of me so well. You smile so prettily every time you look at me. You make me think the world is better. You put up with me even when I'm in one of my moods. I want to grow old with you. I can’t wait to marry you. I wonder everyday how I managed to get so lucky for you to return my feelings. You make me feel so safe and loved, you know? " 

Stunned, Hyukjae didn't know whether to cry or laugh at this sudden, heartfelt confession. They expressed their love and affection to each other everyday in different ways, but it had been awhile since either of them were so sincere and sweet about it. They've come so far together and that realisation itself almost made Hyukjae choke up. Who would have thought that a reckless confession on a random weekday night would lead to one of the best things in life that has ever happened to him?

But Hyukjae knew that if he started crying, coupled with an already needy Jongwoon — that would definitely be a recipe for an emotional disaster, so he swallowed back the emotions and simply leaned in to rest his forehead on Jongwoon's. 

"I didn't know that. But now I do, and I understand how you feel. Because that's how you make me feel too, yeah?”

The responding smile that broke out on Jongwoon's face was so shy that the emotions Hyukjae was trying so hard to put a lid on, overflowed, and it almost felt like he was going to burst at the seams with the immense affection he felt for the man before him. 

Hyukjae closed in on Jongwoon's lips and they met for a gentle, yet deep kiss. Both lovers tried to translate their love for the other through the kiss, and when they parted, Hyukjae was pretty sure he saw stars in Jongwoon's eyes.