two

Several hours after the mortifying event he went through – which involved a certain Eunhyuk and his very nasty personality, and an innocent door –, Donghae finally chooses a vacant table in a far corner of his favorite bar and unceremoniously flops down on a chair next to his two friends. It’s only Wednesday night, which means they have to go to work the next morning, but after a few desperate calls and an intense brooding on his way home, Jessica and Siwon have eventually accepted to meet him for a drink.

Or a lot of them.

He is in a fool mood, tired and sweaty all over from his ride in the subway, and has such a strong longing to get drunk that he fiercely ends up cursing himself for being intolerant with alcohol. And head-killing hangovers. His body is such a ing traitor.

Soon enough, a familiar waiter – the ponytail one, his weary mind helpfully supplies – approaches them to take their order and shoots them a puzzled look, as though to ask the reason they are here while they usually only come on Saturday nights. Donghae moodily shrugs at him, and dejectedly asks for a non-alcoholic juice.  

“Right,” Siwon starts, then smiles faintly when Ponytail comes back and puts their drinks on the table. “What happened, then? I thought these night-outs were only for Saturdays? Are we going to break all of our traditions? That might mean the end of the world, you know?”

“And must you always be so bloody dramatic?” Jessica retorts with a sniff, smirking when he scowls at her.

“That’s a lot of unnecessary questions,” the brunet cuts them off and frowns at his glass. “I’m the miserable one tonight, so I get to talk first.”

And that’s what he does. For almost an hour. Siwon has the time to order another bottle of beer and flirt with a pretty woman sitting next to their table, while Jessica looks properly bored with everything that doesn’t involve her smartphone – and he has to wonder if they really are his friends, after all.

But then again, I wouldn’t be my own friend if I had to listen to myself complain all night long either, an annoying little voice whispers in his head. He promptly tells it to shut up.

“He shut the door in my face!” Donghae repeats with an indignant shout as he dangerously swings his glass of apple juice in the air, widely trying to appeal his friends into his misery. “In my face!”

Rolling her eyes again, Jessica feigns yawning and settles more comfortably in her chair. She sends a pointed look at Siwon, who politically decides to remain quiet. The ing bastard.

“Yes,” she flatly says after a moment, before he can start ranting again. “I think we got that covered after the first fifty times you told us. Or shouted, really. Stop being so loud.”

“You don’t get it, Jess,” he hisses and does his best not to sound like he’s whining. Which he probably is, come to think of it, but that’s beside the point. “He’s a complete , and he shut the ing door right in my face without even saying a word, and he’s – you know what, he’s evil!”

“Well, he does seem strange,” Siwon concedes as he takes a small gulp of his second beer. His eyes vaguely peer around the half-crowded bar – it’s only Wednesday, after all –, before they sympathetically settle back on him. “Very strange, actually. You really didn’t do yourself a favor by choosing him as your first project, huh? Only you would have such bad luck, Donghae; only you.”

Donghae sniffs and childishly stomps a foot on the dirty floor, groaning. “No ,” he grumbles under his breath. He shoves a handful of industrial crackers in his mouth and munches petulantly, earning a disgusted look from Jessica, then the salt off the tip of his fingers. Still fuming, he folds his arms on his chest and tries to look somewhat intimidating, even if there is really no reason to be so.

“I’ve never been so close to punching someone in the face. And I should have. Really. Damn, why the hell did I not just do that?”

Jessica raises a derisive eyebrow at him, which tells him he probably looks more pathetic than intimidating at all, but he bravely decides to stand his grounds.

“And what are you going to do, then?” she asks him, sipping from her colorful and nicely alcoholic cocktail. He wishes he could have ordered one, too. Blame his alcohol intolerant metabolism. “Complain and ruin all our weekday nights until we can be as miserable as you are? Whine until we die of annoyance?”

Stifling an amused chuckle, Siwon elbows her in the sides and mumbles, “Be nice.”

The brunet ignores the unnecessary sarcasm with an affronted huff. “You’re lucky I like you,” he accusingly narrows his eyes at her, then heavily leans back into his chair. “Anyways, I don’t know. I should go and try to talk with him again, I guess. But then, it’d mean I’d have to meet him again, you know? And he’s really awful, he is.”

“Awful or not, Mr. Oh will have your head if you don’t get him to sign up an author contract soon,” Siwon cheerfully tells him, which doesn’t help him at all. Then, adds with a dramatic gasp, “And maybe even more than that.”

Rolling his eyes, Donghae sends him an exasperated look though he can’t help but laugh a little. “Thank you, Siwon,” he mutters sarcastically, feeling exhausted and defeated, but a bit more relaxed. Which is strange, considering it’s probably meant to make him feel anxious. “What would I ever do with my life if the two of you wer