"Hello guys! You might want to lock the front door!"
And with these words he was met with yet another guy entering the room. Neither exceptionally tall nor short with a mess of curls framing his face. Everything about him seemed laid-back.
"Uncle Kyung!"
And the newbie was promptly attacked by Sohee though Kyungsoo thought nothing but-
"Uncle?? Like. Uncle?"
Before he could even begin to construct the awkward family tree that could be behind this Chanyeol denied, telling him that he was his best friend.
Oh.
So this was his best friend? He should really leave a good impression, then.

"Cheers!"
The sound of glass bottles meeting each other was carried over the obnoxiously loud radio.
Kyungsoo wasn't tipsy yet. Ever since Kyung had revealed the shocking amount of beer bottles he had brought Kyungsoo had been careful not to overdo it. Making a fool out of himself in front of Chanyeol and his friends was not an option, after all.
Instead he had only taken a few polite sips, enjoying the overall atmosphere. By now Jongup was adorned by not only smeared kohl liner in a metallic violet but also a very sparkly lipgloss that was sticking to the neck of his beer bottle. In return he had done Sohee's make up in a surprisingly cute manner with sparkly eye shadow in yellow and green, claiming that she now looked like a fairy (and while Sohee didn't exactly show it being too proud to admit liking such girly things, she was visibly glowing at the compliment). Currently she was rolling around the narrow space of the shop on Zelo's skateboard, tumbling precariously from time to time as said boy tried to teach her how to drive a curve without being a danger to herself.
Meanwhile Kyung and Pyo tried to set up the Karaoke system Kyung had dragged along (“You're in charge of electricity - DO something!" - "What does this have to do with your weird software?!") and Zico was placing the first empty bottle down with a satisfied groan.
"NOW the weekend's finally on." he exclaimed while reaching for another one, putting it to the table's edge and attempting to break off the lid when he was met by accusing glances of exactly everyone at the table.
"What?"
"The table.", Yongguk helpfully provided, "You'll ruin it."
"So?"
"Here, you should have one as well!" Jongup interrupted what would surely be a pointless conversation either way as he offered a freshly opened, glitter-free bottle and handed it to Chanyeol.
Said one seemed hesitant, tilting his head from side to side with a critical hum.
"Nah, I don't know..."
"Come on. It's not a bottle of Absinthe, it's just beer." Zico threw in and hearing it like this put by his mentor made Chanyeol's resolve crumble and he took the bottle.
"Alright, fine."
"Glad we talked about it. Cheers!"
"Cheers-"
"Is that alcohol?!" a high-pitched voice suddenly fell in and Kyungsoo could feel his crush flinching and looking like the embodiment of guilt.
Sohee had appeared out of nowhere, arms crossed and a very pointed look on her face.
"You said you don't drink alcohol."
"Sorry Sweetie-"
"You shouldn't drink alcohol! It's bad!" she added insistently.
Chanyeol sighed in resignation.
"I know. I'm not drinking it, see?" he said, pushing it into the middle of the table.
"Good."
"Did someone just open a bottle of beer only to NOT drink it? Bad karma, I'm telling ya, let me handle this for you-"
A hand snatched away the bottle only to receive an indignant response out of the little girl.
"NO! You can't drink it either!" she called, hanging herself into the side of Chanyeol's protesting best friend.
"What?! I'm not Chanyeol though! So I'm free to drink beer, no?" Kyung protested, holding the beer high up in the air where the flailing children's arms couldn't reach it.
Sohee seemed to think about this statement really hard before coming to a conclusion.
"Hm... No."
"Whyyyy? Come on Sohee, just one!" he cried desperately only to be met with even more resistance.
While everyone was distracted by the dramatic bickering Kyungsoo took the chance to push his own barely touched bottle over to Chanyeol, just a tiny bit.
Seeing the gesture curious brown orbs searched his as he slightly nodded towards it, a clear question in his eyes. Kyungsoo subtly gave a nod of his own and tried not to watch him too closely taking a deep gulp before quickly settling it back. For once Chanyeol didn't say anything in order not to catch his sister's attention but the happy smile on his face was undeniable.
And Kyungsoo should probably feel ashamed at himself but suddenly the prospect of beer seemed not too bad anymore after Chanyeol's lips had touched the glass.

"Time's up! Game Over!"
Kyungsoo could clearly feel Chanyeol's laugh due to the way they were crammed into the small sofa. Maybe now he was slightly tipsy thanks to the obligation of always having a beer in his hand just in case Chanyeol wanted to drink a bit. Unfortunately taking a sip was a wonderful way to keep himself occupied and by now he wasn't sure whether this was the fourth bottle or already the fifth. It didn't make him forget Chanyeol's close presence and if the way his movements got even more uncontrollable with every enthusiastically sung 'A, B, C, D, E, F, G' was any indication, he hadn't lied about being a light-weight.
Underneath all the ual frustration tension he couldn't deny his heart blooming at the sight of him though. The way he provided the background chorus for his little sister who was having a singing battle with Pyo. The way he glowed from happiness.
Sensing (and misinterpreting) Kyungsoo's stare he shifted his body to him, loudly calling out over the music.
"It's her favorite band! I don't even know why, they're really not that famous but she's SO into them!"
Kyungsoo only nodded, frankly a bit more interested in the way his lips moved than the actual words he was saying though he had at least the decency to feel guilty about it.
I'm a bad person.
And now I'm thinking about games, great.
Punish me, I'm bad.
"Kyungsoo? Are you with me?"
Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bet girl...
"You're that drunk already?"
"Shush, I'm busy being a Batgirl."
"Excuse me?" Chanyeol inquired with an uncertain laugh and Kyungsoo's head snapped up.
"What?"
"What what?" the redhead echoed cluelessly and both their confusion was brushed aside as their attention was caught by the opening door revealing their boss Taeil, now dressed in more comfortable clothes.
"Hyung! You're back!" Zelo gasped in the semi-guilt you felt when crossing a police officier.
The relatively tiny guy sighed in faked exasperation.
"I couldn't let you guys burn down my shop after all. Besides I ordered some pizza- is that alcohol?"
"Alcohol at the workplace! Yaay!" Pyo exclaimed loudly, hands thrown up in glee, obviously very tipsy.
Taking in the whole scenario he wordlessly stretched out a hand to Jongup without sparing him a glance. When the confused male didn't react he raised his blank voice.
"Give me a bottle. Or maybe two. Yeah, make that two."

Kyungsoo decided that he really liked Chanyeol's friends. It might have something to do with the wonders of alcohol but by now they didn't seem half as scary as they had when he first saw them. Well, maybe the red lipstick also helped in Pyo's case (it wasn't that Sohee had done a bad job, it was merely smeared from drinking).
And after a few slices of deliciously greasy pizza his mind cleared up a bit again.
He could basically feel Baekhyun's judging look.
'Alcohol on a basically empty stomach? In a stuffy warm room and with a severe lack of sleep? You want to get wasted, do you?'
He grimaced at the imaginary scolding. Kyungsoo wasn't that big of a drinker and all he knew about alcohol he had learned from Baekhyun. Meaning that he knew exactly what to do to keep himself from blacking out before the party ended and anything greasy was always a good starting point.
So now that he was a little back in the game he had made it his mission to observe Chanyeol's best friend. After all the Spice Girls couldn't have been completely wrong about having to befriend your crush's friends. He knew for a fact that his opinion would matter a lot to Chen. Not that he'd have to worry the other way around seeing as Chanyeol was a Youtuber. He figured that alone would earn him the approval of his biased friend.
So far he wasn't exactly sure what to make of Kyung though. Besides he seemed to get along with Zico the best so far. The four of them were currently sitting around the office table and both of them seemed like they'd been friends forever already.
"I know riiiight! Though actually Wheein is kinda cute, too. I think I'm more into the cute ones." he casually said, sipping on his beer.
"You are? Didn't figure you the type. You definitely seem like the guy for y curves and all." Zico gave back in mild interest.
"Naaah. You gotta be realistic man! What you get off to on screen is not necessarily what you want in a girlfriend, ay?" he added completely unabashed and on a horribly-timed spontaneous incentive to include Kyungsoo into the talk he looked over to him.
"It's true though, isn't it? What do you say?"
Is he just asking me whether I'm able to differentiate between stars and real life crushes? Cause I think he is.
"Uhm. Yeah, obviously."
The proof's right next to me, currently giggling at god knows what.
A harsh nudge by said crush almost shoved Kyung off his chair.
"Haaah this is so funny! Cause Soo isn't even into hot girls, haha-"
Oh. He was laughing at ME.
Now Kyung was looking at him, his mouth forming a silent 'o'. For a while he was silent as if trying to wrap his mind around a completely foreign concept.
"Like, zero percent? Or are you bi?" he curiously asked and Kyungsoo figured that honesty was the only way out at this point.
"Zero percent." he deadpanned.
"Huh." He patiently waited until the next complex thought made it through his brain, his face scrunched up in a mix between deep thought and fascination.
"So what do you think of then? Like I don't know, two guys one girl?"
Kyungsoo almost choked on his beer.
"Excuse me?"
"I asked what you think about-"
"NO! No I got you, just. I'm... I'm NOT comfortable answering this." he stuttered, trying to wipe all the spilled beer off his face.
"Aww, don't be such a stuck-up! ...Wait, is that racist now?"
Chanyeol only nudged him once more before putting a comforting hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder.
"Don't mind him, he's a bit of an idiot. I think the possibility that people would prefer NOT to talk about their lives -or lack thereof in certain cases-" he said, eyeing him pointedly over his shoulder at the last statement, "-just hasn't ever occurred to him."
"Well sorry for being a healthy male with needs! It's natural, isn't it?! Besides, it's not like YOU've had much of a life either for the past-", he hesitated, looking around in concentration, "-for, uhm... for a LONG time, okay?"
Surprisingly enough Chanyeol turned slightly red at this statement (not that it'd be ANY match for Kyungsoo's red as a tomato state).
They were all saved from further embarrassment when the music's volume was turned up and a drunk Taeil jumped up the table to belt out the song 'STRESS come on!'. The passion was unrivaled and he even made up altered lyrics such as 'Telling them a hundred time but no one remembers - Stress!' or 'The true stress is that I'm in this madhouse! But I'm still the leader - STRESS!'
No one even dared showing anything but awe and respect at this performance while little Sohee kept throwing up her fist, enthusiastically yelling 'Stress!'.

'Stress!' was faintly heard as the steady thrumming of an ongoing party nearby filled the room and Kris sighed, throwing another glance at his wristwatch.
23:44.
He loved keeping Luhan company but...
"Can I finally go home? I gotta get up early tomorrow and-"
"NO." Luhan blankly said, not even bothering to look up from his sewing machine.
With a dejected pout he sank a little deeper into the uncomfortable chair.
"Oh. Okay..."

"Waah, that was so much fun!" Chanyeol called out into the cool night air and Sohee agreed readily from her vantage point on her brother's shoulders.

"Yesss! Best birthday ever!"
Kyungsoo only shook his head at them though he instantly regretted the action as it sent his head spinning. Just before they had left Kyung had complained over the unnecessary waste of alcohol and to get on his good side he had drunken an alarming amount of the left-overs with him. It wasn't that Kyungsoo had an extremely low tolerance of alcohol, quite the opposite actually. It was just that it had been a lot under non-Baekhyun-approved circumstances.
Though even in his befuddled state he was mainly worried whether Chanyeol would be able to balance Sohee. He was also kind of tipsy, wasn't he?
"I can't believe Yongguk and Zico are underground rappers! I can't wait for him to teach me!"
Kyungsoo genuinely laughed at the memory. After finding out about it Chanyeol had given Zico the perfect puppy-look, screaming of admiration and 'TEACH ME SENPAI'. Yes, in capslock. It had been very enthusiastic admiration.
It had only taken a pointed look by Kyungsoo and a down-right piercing look by Taeil for him to cave in and tell him that yes, he could probably accompany him to their studio one day.
"And you're sure we can crash at your place? Like reeeally really sure? We wouldn't want to be a bother to you..." Chanyeol suddenly switched topic as if the thought had occurred to him just that moment.
"It's fine, I told you. No problem. There's enough space. Taxis are expensive, after all."
"Taxis are creepy!" Sohee threw in as she was clinging onto Chanyeol's neck.
"Only bad things happen in taxis, I watched enough TV to know that."
"You're completely right! Even if the taxi driver's a good guy he'll drive like a mad man, every movie ever produced shows that - Public transport comes first before taxis, got that Sohee?" Chanyeol earnestly instructed and yes, Chanyeol was obviously tipsy as well.

Kyungsoo had planned for Sohee and Chanyeol to take his bed while he'd sleep on the sofa.
Really, that had been his genuine and innocent intention. It wasn't his fault that the passed out Sohee on the sofa had looked so adorable that neither of them wanted to wake her up. Not that he had shown a great deal of reluctance towards sleeping in the same bed as Chanyeol. Or any at all. The most anyone could accuse him of was feeling lucky for having Chen in the house which meant that they didn't make a big deal out of it in fear of waking him.
Good thing that ChenChen doesn't have enough offline friends to drag him out on a Saturday night, he had thought. So yeah, shame on him for being a bad friend.
With Kyungsoo's ridiculously king-sized bed it wasn't exactly an intimate experience - there was still a considerate amount of distance between them.
The remaining alcohol in his body made him all woozy and after falling into the mattress he couldn't help but groan as it felt like mercilessly stopping a roller-coaster ride midway.
"Oh god... I drank too much." he mumbled and Chanyeol quietly laughed at this.
He couldn't see him in the darkness (not to mention that he was lying on his bed) but the other presence in the bed was painfully obvious while at the same time nothing but surreal.
If he reached out, scooted a little closer...
Kyungsoo pinched his forehead.
Don't do something stupid because of a few beers. You're better than that.
"Me too. I can't even remember the last beer before the one today."
"You didn't drink a lot."
"I don't need a lot. One bottle and I'm gone." Chanyeol gave back easily.
"It's because you're always tired and need so much of your energy every day."
It had slipped him before he knew it and only the following silence made him aware that this might have been the wrong thing to say.
"Do I... look tired?" the deep voice ultimately asked and even though he couldn't see him he was easily able to picture his expression, all probing and hesitant with barely concealed misery shimmering in his eyes. He'd seen it before, more often than once honestly. It were moments like these when the wide distance between them felt almost painful.
"...No.", he replied as calm and secure as possible, "No, you don't."
I still know that you are, he though as he held his breath in anticipation.
"Oh. Okay...", Chanyeol murmured, trailing off before catching himself from whatever thought that had plagued him, "-Thanks."
"It's nothing-"
"-Thanks for the present, thanks for the cake. Thanks for showing up and thanks for getting along with my friends and thanks for letting us crash here."
"Stop it... You're making me blush."
And you're giving me cavities. No sweets at this time of the night.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't a bother at all. Besides, your colleagues were pretty cool. Kyung too. I mean-"
Kyungsoo fidgeted a little, intensely staring into the darkness above him.
"-the way everyone has accepted me... it was really amazing. Even though I'm... Even considering my preferences." he carefully said, always kind of having trouble to express himself in this department. It just wasn't easy when you'd had to face a lot of hate in the past, especially by testosterone induced guys like the ones Chanyeol was working with.
"Ah, that. Yeah, they're not all that familiar with the idea so if they offended you in any way-"
"No! No, they didn't. It was... nice."
"Really? I'm glad to hear that. They like you. Especially Taeil."
For a while it was silent and they could have just went to sleep like that. Unfortunately the beer had obviously managed to instantaneously rust a few screws of his brain.

"Could you like me too?" he asked into the silence, the question that had tumbled out so easily now weighing him down greatly.
Chanyeol rustled a bit, maybe turning towards him. Or away from him. Both was entirely possible at this point.
"What do you mean?"
"Just. A lot of people are showing some kind of respect nowadays but... It's really hard to find someone to... it's really stupid, forget what I said." Kyungsoo mumbled, squirming to lie on his side, his cheeks burning.
Seemingly getting it Chanyeol hummed.
"Ah, that's what you mean. Maybe I'm not experienced enough to comment on this but I'm pretty sure you'll find someone to like you. I mean, why would anyone not like you?"
"Yeah, but... Could you like me?"
Kyungsoo didn't even know where on earth he was taking the courage from. One thing was for certain, if he was in this situation during broad daylight he would have already fled to another country.
Damned be the sentimental feelings you get at night.
"Huh? I guess, yeah." Chanyeol replied.
He sounded a bit startled but didn't seem to think a lot into it and Kyungsoo could only pray that he'd have forgotten all about it the next morning.

So many people and songs! The songs appearing are:
AB City - AlphaBat
Bad - Infinite
STRESS, Come on! - Big Byung
Sohee is inspired by my youngest brother (11) who's also a BIG fan of Alphabat. Like, I have about 500 musicvideos but for some reason nothing can keep up with Alphabat for him. Maybe Block B.
(That's not bad though. AlphaBat are really GREAT and I've even seen them live. They deserve all the love.)

Important news:
I've made a very big decision and signed up for the Exordium challenge which is a long-fic contest. It's gonna be VERY time consuming and even though I'd NEVER put this fic on hiatus (it's my baby! :o), the future updates may be a little late, so I'm apologizing in advance~
Love,
Sugar-and-Salt

P.S.: It's poorly beta'd since our modem broke down. Sorry... :<