Sehun nudged Jongin in the side, gaze fixed on something across the room. Turning his attention from the skinny blonde that had bumped into him, upsetting his drink all over the dark red fabric of his shirt, Jongin searched for the indicated subject.

"Do you see him?" Sehun asked, half shouting over the pounding bass and roaring music of the club, and pointed to a particularly thick section of the crowd.

The smoke that clogged the room almost made it impossible to see, but after a moment Jongin became aware off small figure hidden within the cloud to which Sehun pointed. Stark black hair framed a pale angular face that make Jongin's breath catch.

"Who is it?" He called back, eyes straining not to lose the petite frame that floated through the smoke.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jongin could remember the first rime he'd set eyes on Kyungsoo. The smell of alcohol and sweat and smoke was still there, right on the edge of his memory and ready to be recalled at a moment's whim. He rolled over in the bed, watching the play of the moonlight as it cast black shadows and flickering silver on Kyungsoo's peaceful face.

He could remember the first words they'd spoken to each other as well.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Do you always just stare wistfully at the objects of your affection or are you actually planning on talking to me sometime tonight?"

Jongin whirled away from the bar, narrowly avoiding spilling his drink for the second time that night as he found himself face to face with the last person he expected.

The platinum blonde of the hair made the stranger easily recognizable as the clumsy one that had knocked into his arm earlier, causing the dark stain the size of a cantaloupe that spread along the hem of his new shirt.

He stared back blankly, not understanding. It was true that, since the mishap, Jongin had thrown the occasional glance at the perpetrator whenever he passed through his line of vision. But how anyone could misconstrue his glares for tenderness was beyond him.

"So are you going to buy me a drink or not?"

Jongin had just opened his mouth to reply when Sehun appeared out of the crowd. His eyes raked up and down the boy's slight frame and he smiled. Snaking one arm around his thin shoulders, Sehun leaned in close and whispered something into his ear. The room was too loud to make out the message, but a light red spread across the blonde's cheeks and he nodded. Sehun cast a smirk in Jongin's direction before turning and leading the blonde back into the throng of people.

Jongin threw a cursory glance around the room after the two disappeared, repeating the motion for what felt like the billionth time. It had been about ten minutes since he'd lost track of the intriguing boy, and the more time that passed, the stronger the nagging sense that he'd already left became.

There was a clink in front of him that drew his attention back to the bar, where the bartender had placed a glass full of scotch on the gleaming counter.

The man pointed down the bar at Sehun, who was already busy devouring the face of the blonde. Jongin looked from his friend to the glass of liquor in front of him, then snickered and downed the drink. It looked like Sehun wouldn't be coming home that night, if he remembered properly the system of drinks and messages that the two of them had set up.

Lost momentarily in his thoughts, Jongin was slow to react to the soft tap between his shoulderblades. He swiveled on his stool to face the person calling upon his attention - and felt his heart skip a couple of beats as he found himself eye to eye with the dark haired boy from before.

His gaze, though slightly unsteady from an obvious intolerance for drinking, was determined. A neat bow drew giggles from a short brunette wearing a great deal of eyeliner and a taller, raven haired man wearing a scarf that stood a little way off to the side, and that Jongin strongly suspected to be his friends.

But none of that mattered because the dark haired boy was opening his perfectly shaped lips to speak, and Jongin was prepared to hang on to every word.

His voice carried over the thumping beat of the trance music, rising just loudly enough to be heard across the short distance that separated them. "Are you a stripper?"

A slow smile spread itself across Jongin's only briefly shocked expression. It looked like he wouldn't be going home that night, either.
It was hard for Jongin not to laugh when he thought of that peculiar evening at the smoke filled club, and even harder when he thought of Kyungsoo's shock upon finding out that he wasn't actually a stripper, mainly because he "danced so convincingly."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kyungsoo stirred in his sleep, muttering something about a cracker being stuck inside of a bird cage as he snuggled closer into Jongin's embrace.
Thinking back, Jongin was pretty sure that some sort of cracker had been present when he'd had the conversation that had led to his impromptu enrollment into a pole dancing class. At the time, it had been no more than a challenge. Now, looking down at the small figure in his arms, Jongin realized that he'd never properly thanked Sehun for his knack for awkward dares.

Closing his eyes, he made a mental note to buy him flowers as soon as he got up in the morning.