Sanghyuk didn’t intend to get as drunk as he currently felt. It wasn’t that his life was so awful at the moment either or that anything outstandingly fantastic had taken place so there was really no good excuse for him to be smashed. On the contrary, Sanghyuk’s life was currently stable, and the only thing motivating him to drink was the social pressure and the relief that his fall semester was finally over. Finals had been especially stressful this time around, and Sanghyuk was more than prepared to let loose for a month before spring semester started up again. He had finished with what he believed would be all A’s, testament to his hard work and unwillingness to distract himself when there was work to be done. This house party—hosted by his stepbrother Wonshik and his fun-addicted roommate Hakyeon—was actually his first since Thanksgiving break, and as a result he’d drunk almost everything his friends shoved at him (with the exception of the mountain dew-vodka contraption his roommate Hongbin had come up with because it looked toxic enough to kill a small tree).

As such, Sanghyuk found himself utterly incapable of forming a coherent thought at 10:53 pm, when one of Hakyeon’s friends, a recently graduated business major with a promising career ahead of him at a top firm, walked into the room. He was—at least to Sanghyuk’s hazy eyes—breathtaking, all intelligent banter and gleaming intelligence dancing behind warm brown eyes. Dark brown hair jutted out in every direction, the look messy and effortless, a pair of thin rimmed glasses perched on the borderline too-big nose. He wore an atrocious Christmas sweater, a festive mess of red and green with a few too many silver bells attached. Granted, had Sanghyuk not been so incredibly drunk the new addition wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive, and his clear physical flaws would have been more apparent. But in his drunk and impaired state the looks of the man were overshadowed by his incredible confidence, an attitude that overflowed in his tone and the way he carried himself, as well as what he said. Confidence was a very important trait to Sanghyuk, and Sanghyuk, a college sophomore steeped in alcohol and naivety, fell in love at first sight.

“Jaehwan!” Hakyeon shrieked, stumbling a bit to throw an arm around his shoulder. “I’m so glad you could make it! Even though you’re late… Congrats on graduating!”

Jaehwan smiled, nodding his thanks as he accepted the can of ty college-budget beer Wonshik forced into his hand. Wonshik grinned dopily back, before tripping off to bother Hongbin, a handsome sophmore in the performing arts program that Hakyeon shared a class with. Jaehwan watched for a few moments before turning to the other host, quirking a questioning eyebrow at Hakyeon and gesturing back towards Wonshik laughing with the handsome guy. Hakyeon smirked back, winking lewdly at Jaehwan and mouthing a “I could set you up to get laid too” in his general direction. Jaehwan mouthed back “I can get myself laid, thanks”, his face a little spiteful, but Hakyeon just shrugged and turned back to the quiet English major he had been chatting up—a dark haired fellow who called himself Leo.

Sanghyuk watched the entire exchange with envy. He couldn’t quite make out what Hakyeon and the confident newcomer had been mouthing at each other, but the interactions between the two betrayed their comfort and closeness with each other and it made Sanghyuk bitter. He wanted to be the one the brown eyed guy talked too. Not Hakyeon. Hakyeon was interested in Taekwoon anyway. Sanghyuk knew because he had seen Hakyeon harassing the introverted kid from his floor all night. The jealousy was unreasonable, as was the possessiveness. Sanghyuk was well aware of that. But still, he couldn’t help but feel slightly entitled to Jaehwan. The man was everything he had ever wanted in another person. Jaehwan had to be his soulmate, he just didn’t know it yet.

Sanghyuk took a big gulp of his beer, only to drink nothing. He stopped for a moment, confused as he stared at the empty bottom of his red solo cup, before unsteadily making his way to the kitchen for a refill. He had to talk to Jaehwan. He had to. It was fate. But Sanghyuk was certain that talking to Jaehwan was something he would never have the balls to do if he sobered up. So instead, Sanghyuk drank more. And more. Until he was so drunk he could hardly tell his hand from his foot.

At some point 11:59 became 12:00, night officially became morning, and Hongbin staggered up to his equally drunk roommate to notify him that 1. he was headed back to the dorms and 2. Wonshik was coming with him so 3. Sanghyuk might not want to come home that night but that 4. his brother said it was fine if he stayed here and crashed in room tonight. Of course, he slurred all of this, so it sounded more like “Wonshik n’ ahre goin’ todorms and y’n stay in his room here ‘onight, m’kay?” but Sanghyuk got the idea and drunkenly nodded in agreement. It wasn’t like he was opposed to the idea anyway, seeing as Wonshik’s bed was infinitely more comfortable than his, and he really didn’t want to witness his brother and his roommate doing the dirty. Sanghyuk wanted to keep his mind clean, thank you very much. So instead he grinned and waved as the two stumbled out the door in a drunken haze of laughter and . Then he went to find a bathroom because he really needed to pee.

The event happened at 12:25, when Sanghyuk finally decided he was motivated enough to remove himself from where he’d slumped on the off-white bathroom tile in an existential crisis of contemplation over whether or not off-white was a color or a shade. He opened the bathroom door, only to be bowled over by a god-awful Christmas sweater in a hurry. Jaehwan locked the door as soon as he was safely inside the bathroom, breathing heavily. When he finally calmed down enough to look around, he noticed Sanghyuk first, lying where he had been pushed onto the floor and staring at him with lust dark in his eyes.

“Um, hi.” Jaehwan offered, scratching the back of his neck in discomfort. “Sorry I uh, pushed you over and stuff. Pretty much everyone else left except for Hakyeon and that quiet dude, and I didn’t think anyone was in here, and they  started making out on the sofa and I don’t need to see my best friend doing that so..” he trailed off, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Sanghyuk sat up, uncharacteristically solem