“Oh my god, you look great and your looks great and if you don’t step away from that mirror right now I’m going to schedule an intervention,” Jungsoo groans. It’s Thursday night and he’s supposed to be going to a party. He’s already well past fashionably late since his best friend won’t tear himself away from the full-length mirror on the back of his bathroom door.

Heechul gives him a flat look over his shoulder. “You’re just saying that because you’re impatient,” he accuses. “These jeans make my look nonexistent.”

Jungsoo groans and throws his arms over his face. He’s sprawled on Heechul’s neatly-made bed, where he’s been for the last hour. “That’s what you said about the last pair, too. Maybe it’s not the pants. Maybe it’s your .”

“Hey, you just said that my looks great in these jeans!” Heechul exclaims shrilly, whirling around to glare at his best friend.

Jungsoo just groans again. He really can’t win.

“That’s it. I’m changing,” Heechul announces, and he stalks over to his closet to find another pair of pants. This is the seventh time that this exact scenario has happened that evening and Jungsoo has lost what little patience he had to begin with.

His handphone goes off then, his message alert nearly drowned out by the pop music Heechul is blasting. He pulls up the message. It’s from Jongwoon, the guy who’s throwing the off-campus party they’re supposed to be attending. The message demands to know where he is, as he’d said he’d get there an hour earlier.

Jungsoo grimaces as he types out a quick reply, explaining that Heechul is having another fashion crisis regarding his and that they’ll be on their way soon. “Jongwoon is getting pissy because we’re so late,” he announces.

“He can wait a little longer,” Heechul insists, shimmying into a pair of slacks and doing up the buttons. “Perfection takes time.” He turns around in front of the mirror, examining the way the fabric hugs his backside from all angles. “What do you think?” he asks, glancing up at his friends. “Yay or nay?”

“Yay! Yay! For the love of god, yay!” Jungsoo exclaims, jumping up. “You are gorgeous, Heechul. You are a god in human form. You are breathtaking and stunning and everyone at the party is going to be jealous of how handsome you look. Now can we please go already?”

Jungsoo is so ready to go that he doesn’t notice the faint pink blush that dusts his friend’s cheeks. “Okay, okay,” Heechul gives in, grabbing his jacket from where it’s hanging on the back of the door. “Let’s go.”

The party is off-campus, so they have to catch a taxi closer into town. Jongwoon’s older brother lives in an apartment not far from the school, so he lets Jongwoon throw parties there quite often. Jongwoon is sort of known around Peritia Academy for his amazing parties, so both Jungsoo and Heechul are looking forward to it.

It’s already raging when they get there; there are so many people crammed into the apartment that it’s a wonder Jongwoon even noticed that they hadn’t arrived yet. There are girls in short skirts and high heels dancing with boys wearing jeans so tight they look like they’ve been painted into them. There are coolers overflowing with beer and alcohol in the corner. There is music blasting through Jongwoon’s brother’s stereo system.

As two of the most popular guys in school, they’re immediately bombarded by admirers pressing drinks into their hands and giving them compliments on their fashion sense and dashing good looks.

“See?” Jungsoo grins, taking a liberal sip of the beer some girl from another school had given him. “You look great.”

Heechul gives his best friend a significant hand gesture, but Jungsoo knows he doesn’t really mean it. So he slings his arm around Heechul’s shoulders and they go in search of some friends to bother.

As the night wears on, the partiers get more and more inebriated. At some point a group of girls who go to a school nearby – Jongwoon knows all of the coeds in the area, after all – strip down to nothing but their underwear and start dancing on the bar. A group of second years lucky enough to have been invited start an arm wrestling competition on the beer pong table. Jongwoon is nowhere to be seen, probably making out with some girl or guy back in his brother’s bedroom.

“What do you think of the party?” Heechul asks, lip curling up as he obviously judges the get-together.

Jungsoo shrugs, taking another liberal sip of his beer. It’s his eighth or tenth for the night; he’s long since lost count. “I dunno,” he slurs with a sloppy sort of grin. “It’s not that bad.” The alcohol drifting lazily through his veins is making him strangely accepting; he doesn’t even flinch when a girl runs past them shouting at her boyfriend, who seems to have purposefully upended his beer on her blouse to make it transparent.

Heechul gives him a long, flat look. “Not that bad?” he repeats. “They are arm wrestling on the beer pong table. That is a definite no-no. And do you see what that guy over there is wearing? Who pairs striped pants with a striped shirt?”

“You pulled that last summer when we went out on your parents’ boat over vacation,” Jungsoo points out with another lazy grin. “Remember?”

Heechul flushes as his own fashion faux pas is point pointed out. “Shut up,” he grumbles. “How do you even remember what I wore over summer vacation? That was like a year ago.”

“Because the color of the shirt really made your eyes pop,” Jungsoo replies without hesitation, finishing off his beer. “Even if it looked ty paired with striped pants. I’m going to go get another beer. You want anything?”

Heechul doesn’t answer, just leans down – he’s the slightest bit taller than his friend – and brushes their lips together.

Despite the fact that they’ve been best friends for what seems like ages – since before starting Peritia together as first years – this is the first time that they’ve kissed. In fact, their relationship has always been strictly platonic despite Heechul not keeping it a secret that he likes both boys and girls. Their lips mold together gently, the slightest hint of tongues tasting like beer and the breath mints that Heechul chows down on as if they’re candy.

Neither moves to deepen the kiss, but at the same time neither of them move to break it either. They simply stand that way for what seems like forever, the party still raging around them despite the fact that their world has come to a stand still.

Eventually they break apart, and the sudden lack of warmth is not pleasant for either of them.

“A beer,” Heechul finally answers Leeteuk’s question from earlier. “Bring me back a beer.”

Leeteuk flashes him a cheeky grin as if they hadn’t just kissed. “Sure thing. Be right back.”

Heechul collapsed against the wall the second Leeteuk disappears into the kitchen to find more beers. He’d sort of been wanting to do that for years now, ever since his feelings of friendship had developed into something a little more serious, but he’d never thought he’d actually get a chance to do it.

He supposes that he can blame it on the alcohol if Leeteuk brings it up later. Well, and the alcohol and the fact that Heechul hasn’t gotten any since he and his last boyfriend broke up over a year ago.

But he needn’t have worried. When Jungsoo returns, carrying two beers, he resumes their previous conversation as if it hadn’t just been interrupted by a kiss. Heechul isn’t sure if he is relieved or disappointed by this. 

Soooo a little Jungsoo/Heechul action here ^^ What do you call this pairing? Leechul? Heeteuk? I'm not really sure OTL

Anyway, Jongwoon (aka Yesung) is mentioned in this chapter but he's not a main character - or even really a secondary one, aside from this chapter - so he doesn't get his pretty little picture put up here ^^

Also, I went to Busan this weekend with my boyfriend ^^

Aren't we cute? ^^