Suffice to say, I learnt my lesson…

The whole excessive drinking thing-? Yeah, not for me.

I felt like absolute … and not just because of the massive hangover I had as a result.

I was supposed to be looking out for L.joe right now, I explicitly told him to curb his drinking habit and look out for himself and what do I do?? Let him get astronomically smashed right before my very eyes!!

I can’t believe I lost track of how many we had had… I can’t deny I had a good time making new friends and letting loose- but the whole point of our excursion to that pub was for L.joe!

I wanted to prove to him that there was nothing wrong with being gay anymore. And the only way I could think of doing that was taking him to Arias. Arias was popular- young men loved the vibe, the alcohol- and I knew alcohol would be the thing to convince L.joe to come with me in the first place. I just wanted to prove to him that being gay is normal… that maybe he could meet a guy for himself. And yet-

Yet when I got there I didn’t really want that anymore…

I felt uncomfortable with other teens eyeing him off, and there were a fair few doing that. There were many handsome guys there that night and it surprised me that he hadn’t been swayed even a little.

He was still scared…

Uncomfortable, that much had been obvious- not just to me but our new acquired friends too.

I should have looked after my friend better- that is my job after all. And I let him down…

Hence why, when he spam dialled my number a week or so later in the middle of the night and left a string of incomprehensible drunken voice messages I didn’t go off. Instead, I leapt straight to out of bed, crept out of my house and made my way over to his place.

“Heyyyyyyyy strangerrrrr,” the boy slurs, hanging off of the front doors frame in an oversized black hoodie and gym shorts. His eyes are half lidded and he has what appears to be a piece of pizza dangling precariously in one hand.

“Jesus Christ….” I sigh, taking him all in. “Where are your parents dude?”

“They’re outaaa townnnnnn~!!” he sings, stumbling a little on the doorstep as I ready myself to catch the boy. “It’s their- hic- wedddddding anniversary…”

“A-huh…” I hum lowly, watching as the boy drops said pizza on the ground and looks down in confusion.

“Oh-! I called- hic- called youuuu,” he continues happily, moving out of the way to welcome me inside. “I ordered- hic, some- hic- pizza!!”

A smile breaks onto my face and I feel the urge to laugh at the sheer innocent look on his face right now, “Yes, I see that-“ I reply, nodding down at the floor. “A pepperoni is it-?”

“Ahhh, I can’t believe I- hic- ruined this pieceeee!” he cries dramatically, almost toppling over as he bends to scoop the slither off of the wooden floor.

“You know, it’s a little late right now, yeah-?” I remind the boy gently, as I close the front door behind me.

“Oh-!” he gasps in surprise, squinting down at his phone to try and read the time. “Ah, I- hic- I guess it is! I’m sorry Chanheeeee, but I didn’t want you to-hic- miss out on pizzaaa,” he drawls out.

It was always Chanhee when he was drunk- Chanhee with a whole lot of extra eeee’s on the end of it, hardly ever Chunji.

I let out a chuckle as I follow him to his bedroom at the back end of the house. “How considerate of you.”

He beams back at me, about to eat the slice of pizza once more that had just been scooped off of the floor; “Ah, how about I chuck this one away, and we eat a fresh piece, huh?” I coax smoothly, snatching the slice out of his grip and leaving it on the kitchen table as we pass through the kitchen area.

“I have alcohollll too!” he slurs, trying to hold his hiccups in, as we enter his bedroom- multiple cans of beer and a stray bottle of vodka laying over the floor and study table. A large box of freshly opened pizza sitting atop his desk chair, one slice missing.

“I can see that-“ I surmise, with a twinge of regret. “Look Byunghyun- I wanted to apologise to you about last Saturday night.” I begin, pulling my shoes off and making my way over to sit on the edge of his bed.

“What- hic- what for??” he frowns in confusion, making his way over for another piece of pizza before flopping messily down beside me.

“You were extremely hungover the next morning dude-“ I remind him, looking around the room to try and calculate how much he had had to drink tonight-

7-? , has he had all 7 beers tonight??

AND vodka-??

He’s going to need a lot more than just this one pizza to soak all that up-

The teen bursts into laughter, pushing my shoulder playfully. “Haha, so were YOU Chanhee!! Not just meeeee~”

“I know,” I agree with a small smile, his happiness was rather contagious after all.

And lately he only seemed to be this carefree when he was drunk… at school he was always just a little on edge and his smile no longer reached his eyes like it used.

“But, Byunghyun… I should have made sure you didn’t get into that state again. Into this state again-“ I point out, giving his littered mess of a room a look.

“Ahhhhh… Chanheeee…. don’t be so- hic- boringgg!” he brushes casually, shaking his head at me before lopsidedly standing up from the bed.

I frown at his flippant disregard for his own wellbeing as he brings the pizza box over to the bed. He picks up another piece and holds it out to my face;

“Open uppp~” he chirps, prodding the cheesy bread against my lips.

“L.joe I-“ and I can’t quite finish my sentence here as he s the piece of food inside, chuckling as he takes a seat back on the bed.

“Don’t worry- hic- about me so muchhhh.” Byunghyun says, happily staring down into the pizza box. “I am just- hic- drowning out all the complicated- hic- complicated stuffff…”

“Hold your breath-“ I say softly, watching the sad look that descends his features as he tries to play nonchalant with me.

There was really no point- I knew him too well by now…

“These bloody- hic- bloody hiccups!” he pouts, holding his abdomen in discomfort as a queasy expression takes over his face. “I don’t- hic- don’t feel so g-good….”

Oh god….

I note the distinct grey colour that’s readily taking over his complexion as he stumbles onto his feet to head over to the adjoining bathroom-

“Er, I might just go get you some water Byunghyun-“ I say precariously, as I back slowly away from the nauseated looking teen and quickly head out to the kitchen.

Well really- what did he expect after 7 bloody beers?? My brain screams, grabbing a couple of water bottles from the fridge and binning the slice of floor pizza as the sound of vomiting echoes back down the hall.

Letting out a worried sigh, I slowly trudge back to the bedroom to find the bathroom door wide open, light aglow.

“You alright, dude-?“ I hedge awkwardly as another bout of vomit hits the bottom of the toilet.

“Mmrghhh….” The boy groans weakly in response.

Entering the bathroom, I note the teens slumped over position against the toilet bowl, arms wrapped either side as his head rests on his upper right arm.

I edge around to try and see his face, coming aeround to his left and knweling sown on the cold tiled floor beside him.

“Mmmm….” He mumbles, sweat soaking his pale forehead, blonde damp hair sticking wetly against the black sleeve of his hoodie.

“L.joe…?” I prod gently, placing a hand on his back as he allows his eyes to flutter closed. “Dude… you can’t sleep here…” I say, shaking him a little to try and geta response.

“Mmrghhhh….” He groans, clenching his arms tighter around the loo now as vomit oozes out of the side of his motuh.

“Urghh, Byunghyun… you’re not doing this again!” I say sternly, unable to help the way my hand starts rubbing reassuring little circles into the warmth of his upper back.

He seems to dry retch for another second or two before weakly wiping his mouth across his sleeve and turning his doozey looking eyes on me.

“Have some water,” I urge, holding up the nice cold bottle in ky free hand. “You need to flush all that out of your system somehow…”

“Mmmm… stop doing that-“ he sighs, eyes fluttering shut once more as he curls in on himself against the toilet seat.

“Huh-?” Confused, I look down to the water in my outstretched hand and back at the seepy sick looking teen. “Yah- don’t refuse the water dude, you will thank me come morning time-“ I quip smartly, rubbing soft circles up into his shoulder blades.

“Nooo….” He hums, deep and hoarse in the back of his dry throat as my skin tingles. “Mmm… the touching…” he clarifies with a small sigh.

My skin heats up in surprise and my hand halts in the middle of his spine, taken aback by the sudden realisation that I was in fact rubbing patterns across his hardened upper body.

"O-Oh..." I stammer softly, about to pull away once more as his eyes fixate back on me.

“It makes my stomach burn…” he speaks lowly, dark brown eyes piercing into me as I forget to take my next breath. “I like when you touch me…”

I blink owlishly back at him, as my hand curls int a nervous ball against the fabric of his black hoodie. “I- I think most people like to be touched when they’re drunk L.joe…” I attempt, weakly brushing his advances aside as I mentally juggle with the fact that my heart has begun to pound in my chest.

“Hmmm…?” he hums, a crooked smile tugging at his pale wet lips. “Even by a guy…?”

My stomach clenches in heat and I feel my gaze pulling away from him now as I struggled to get a hold of myself.

Wtheck was happening right now-??

“B-Byunghyun, drink this water-“ I say, ing the bottle into his face, to try and put some distance between us as he eyes threaten to close once more.

“…fine…” he moans weakly, puling the bottle from my grip and sways drunkenly in place as he tied to unscrew the cap.

Should I call his parents-?

I’ve never seen him looking so ill before...

I worry to myself, heart still pounding away in my chest as my hand slides down to his lower back.

The blondes gaze shifts, averting away from the bottle he was now guzzling down so needily to me, to my arm that ducked out of sight and wrapped around the small of his spine.

Should I throw him under the shower-? That would surely wake him up a bit-

But then how was I going to handle his drunken state to get him back into his bed for the night-?

“I’m still hungry…” the boy whines, snapping me out of my daze as he drops the emptied water bottle to the floor between us.

“Yeah, nah- I don’t think food is the answer right now.” I say, shutting that vomit inducing idea down right now as his lips pout back at me.

“Mmm… Pepperoni…” he sighs, curling his arms back around the cold toilet seat again and closing his eyes.

“L.jooe-“ I prod, shaking his shoulder and making his hair flop into his face. “You’re not sleeping on the bathroom floor dude-”

“Mmmm… Chanheeeeeee-?” he groans, a hiccup escaping his lips as I pull back a notch- expecting more vomit to come.

“Chanheee…. it wasn’t the- hic- pepperoniiiiii…” he mumbles, completely incoherent now as a bemused smile twitches at the corners of my mouth.

“The pepperoni-?” I reply stupidly.

“I didn’t call you because of the pepperoni…” he sighs, hugging the toilet tightly as his head nuzzles into the crook of his elbow.

My smile widens, and I think I finally understand what he’s trying to say before he sleepily blinks his eyes back open again.

“I just- hic- wanted to see you…” he whispers softly.

I tighten my fingers into the back of his hoodie, giving a slight squeeze against his skin as he looks apprehensively back at me. “Mmm…” I hum quietly, and moving to stand up in front of him as he wobbles back against the toilet seat for support. “I know…”

D-Did you- hic- get any pizzaaaa-?” he mumbles again, concentration lost once more as alcohol wipes clean over his senses.

I laugh out loud, shaking my head in amusement before reaching down to yank the teen up by both arms-

“Yes- I did get some pizza, thank you…” I reply patiently, holding right as the teens body stumbles against my own and he lets put of string of uncomfortable moans.

“Ughhh… Chanhhhhheeee- the room is spinning…” he groans, clenching his eyes closed as and gripping a fist into the back off my own shirt as I pull him over to the bathroom sink.

“Is it-?” I say innocently, looking down at his pained expression as he nods furiously back-

“Urghh!! See!” he cries, pulling a hand up to his eyes as the sudden movement, “It just moved againnnnn-”

“Ok ok, take this,” I say calmly ing a toothbrush into his clenched fist- a big mound of paste on top and prodding him to open his mouth. “You need to brush your teeth-“

“Ahh-“ he says, opening his mouth wide as he rams the brush inside, scrubbing awkwardly fast as bubbles start frothing out the corners of his lips.

A few minutes later I’ve managed to half drag, half carry, the boy back to his bed, moving the pizza box to the bedside cabinet before flopping his life-less body atop the blue coves.

“So L.joe… you going to promise not to drink so much again-?” I say, making my way over to the table to grab the spare water bottles I’d collected earlier and passing one into the boys still hand.

“Nnnn…” he grumbles, pulling himself into a semi recumbent position to guzzle down some more icy cool water.

“That sounded like a ‘yes Chanhee’ to me,” I retort smartly, picking up the little frown the crosses the others expression before he falls back against the soft blankets.

Reaching down I pull the other’s hoodie up his torso, watching as his eyes flutter in sleep as I continue tugging- waiting as he allows me to slide it off of his shoulders and head to throw towards the back of the room-

Yeah- I wasn’t having the vomit hoodie sleeping right next to me, that was for sure-

He rolls into a tighter ball now that his chest is bare, subconsciously shying away from the cold as I pull the covers down and turn off the bedroom light to get into bed beside him.

“Chanheeee…” he mumbles, rolling back over to face me as his hand reaches out in search.

I move myself closer to the teen, feeling his warm minty breath sweep across my face for a moment as his cold fingers grasp around my forearm- pulling my arm in to hug against his bare torso.