The party was packed and the music was deafening while people took shots at the bar or sweated on the dance floor. On any other night, Seungri would have been ecstatic and ready to drink in all the excitement to fuel himself for the rest of the night, but he didn’t feel the energy consume him like it normally would. He was still worried over what had happened with Youngbae.

That’s where Chaerin found him at around midnight, still brooding over the same thing and she tried her best not to roll her eyes. She took a seat next to him at the bar, taking a small break from dancing, and ordered both of them a drink. A strong one, too.

“I didn’t bring you here for this,” she groaned. When they got their orders, Chaerin took Seungri’s drink in her hands and held it up to his lips. “Come on. Drink it. Now.”

Seungri didn’t have the energy to refuse and took the glass from her hands and downed it in one go. She smiled at her brother and gave him a thumbs up. She turned toward the dancefloor, observing everyone on it, ready to pick her next dancing partner when she caught sight of a familiar frame. She blinked a few times and followed the figure intensely until it was walking right toward her and Seungri. Chaerin jumped down from her chair and stood in Seungri’s line of sight.

“Let’s dance.”

He made a face and chuckled. “When have you ever danced with me outside of class?”

“Come on. Let’s go or you’ll waste the rest of your time here thinking about Youngbae and the dance.”

“I’m not thinking about him.” Seungri almost cringe. “Anyways, I like it here. It’s pretty nice.”

“Sure it is. You do like drinking quite a bit, huh?” An outside voice shouted over the music, stepping into their conversation. When both siblings turned to look, Youngbae was standing right next to Chaerin with his arms crossed over his chest.

Seungri rolled his eyes and could feel his body tense just at the sight of him. “Nobody asked for your opinion.” He rolled around to face the bar and ordered himself another drink. This time, a couple of shots.

Youngbae took a seat next to him and ordered the same thing.

“You can’t even hold your liquor. Why are you ordering shots?” Seungri watched as the bar host set their orders in front of them and decided not to say anything further when he saw Youngbae reach for his.

“I’m not some lightweight.” He took a shot and let out a satisfied sigh.

“Whatever you say.” Seungri downed his two shots, aware that Youngbae was watching him intensely. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Let's have a competition right now. Who can drink the most before blacking out.”

The whole time their exchange was going on Chaerin was standing behind them looking back and forth between the two, but once the word competition was uttered she quickly turned around and disappeared into the crowd of people on the dance floor.

Seungri could only stare incredulously at Youngbae for a few moments before he shook his head. “I don’t need to compete with you.”

“Because you know I'll win.” Youngbae was smug and was about to settle on the fact that Seungri was too scared to face off with him, but Seungri never backed down from a challenge when he was proved. It wasn’t a few seconds later when he heard Seungri order “the strongest shots you have” for each of them. Youngbae glanced over at Seungri, wondering if he was really up to this.

“I’ll never let you win anything over me.” As soon as the waiter brought their order and set it in front of them, Seungri took one glass and handed it to Youngbae. “Losers first.” He smirked.

Youngbae gave a tiny, strained smile and nearly snatched the shot glass from Seungri’s hands and downed it before he could think twice. Seungri didn't hesitate and drank three in a row. When he set down the third empty shot glass, Youngbae had to control himself with all the strength he had. He took three shots himself, ignoring the fact that he had started to get a little lightheaded from the first drink.

Twenty minutes and eighteen shots later, Seungri struggled to keep himself upright and leaned against the bar counter and stared intently at Youngbae who was barely on his feet, putting all of his weight on leaning on the countertop and had been shouting at the top of his lungs had called repeatedly for more drinks.

“Come on! Give me some cocktails! A margarita! Hey! Are you ignoring me?” Youngbae turned to Seungri and pointed his finger in his face so close that Seungri had to lean back a little. “You! I don’t want to dance with you!”

“Me neither!” Seungri tried to stand up so he could tower over Youngbae, but as soon as he put one foot on the ground he felt his legs turn to jelly and sat back down.

“What are you going to do if I can’t perform in next year’s competition, huh?”

“Just do something else,” Seungri mumbled back.

Youngbae slammed his hand down on the top of Seungri’s head and it took all it had in him not to let out a string of curses. “Will you ever shut your mouth?”

“You’re the one who talked first!” He was ready to shove Youngbae back into his stool when he felt his phone vibrate. He reached for it and squinted his eyes to get the caller I.D clearer and when he saw who it was, he picked it up right away. “Ji, what’s up? Ah...I only drank a little bit…” Before he knew it, Seungri was having his phone taken away from him and when he looked up, Youngbae was holding it to his ear talking into the phone as if it were his own.

“Jiyong! Where are you? You should be at this party! It’s so fun.” Youngbae let out a hearty laugh that scared Seungri just a little, but not as much as the next words that left Youngbae’s mouth. “What? Dance? Yeah! I’ll do it! Seungri and I.” He let out that scary laugh again and immediately hung up the phone.

Seungri stared dumbfounded. “Huh?”

But Youngbae didn’t pay attention to him and held his second to last shot in his trembling hands. “I'll drink it. I'll drink...it." The last word barely escaped his lips. "Waiter, hey! Give me some beer after I finish this!...Are you still ignoring me?”

*

Seungri woke up to the sun blinding him in the face. He wasn’t sure if he was even in his room, when he usually closed the curtains when he got back to his house, no matter how drunk he was. He looked around and saw that he was in his room, and with the limited memory he had of last night, it was lucky that he was even indoors. As he started to blink away the sleep from his eyes, he began to feel a pounding headache that made him feel like he was on the verge of death. Seungri rested his head further back into his pillow and squeezed his eyes shut trying to remember what happened last night, but that made his headache even worse so he decided to think about it later.

He was ready to drift back to sleep, when he felt a shift next to him and an arm squeeze around his waist. Then he realized he was shirtless. No, he was  . Seungri’s eyes snapped open and his heart caught in his throat as he looked down to see someone’s right arm draped over his bare stomach. He stopped breathing for a moment and followed the arm to the warm body that was next to him and cuddle into his side.

“. . .”

As soon as he uttered the last obscenity the person’s eyes slowly opened and it took a few seconds for them to take in their surroundings. They looked up and when their eyes caught Seungri’s, it took a few seconds to understand the situation, but it sunk in as they glimpsed at the place where their arm was settled.

They both flew apart from each other in seconds, Seungri holding up a pillow to cover himself and the other grabbing the sheets to cover his whole body.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m in my house! What are you doing here?!” Seungri pointed at his body covered in the sheets. “Why are you in my house? Why are you in my bed, Youngbae !”

“I don’t know!” Youngbae hissed.

Just as Seungri was about to ask another question, he heard the passcode for the front door being punched in and they both looked at each other with widened eyes.

“Seungri! Are you here?” Chaerin’s shrill voice echoed throughout the apartment as she made her way in. Seungri and Youngbae were stuck in place, terrified to even move.