Rating: Teen

Warnings: Implied ual Content, Alcohol Consumption

Notes: Is it just me, or am I getting less creative with the chapter names? 

Wonwoo wasn’t sure what he was doing in this ty bar on a Friday night.

As Wonwoo looked around, he couldn’t help but think that the place had definitely seen better days. He couldn’t have ever imagined that the slight undertone of dirtiness would have come with the building when it just opened. The paint probably wasn’t suppose to be that shade of yellow, and when you grabbed the countertop you definitely weren’t suppose to feel gum stuck up underneath.

But Wonwoo had just gotten done with a hard work week and this place just so happened to be the only one within walking distance from his apartment. At least the ty booze was affordable, so ultimately Wonwoo couldn’t complain much.

He had just finishing up his second whiskey on the rocks, something he hated but knew would get him drunk without having to buy too much alcohol. His system wasn’t use to the whiskey and he really needed the cheap buzz tonight.

Wonwoo was currently debating if it would have been too embarrassing of him to ask the bartender for a chaser, the burn of the whiskey in his throat was getting uncomfortable to the point of nauseating, when Wonwoo saw out of the corner of his eye someone sit in the barstool next to him.

“I’ll have what he’s having,” came the smooth voice of his newly acquired companion.

Wonwoo looked over, and almost let his drink slip through his fingers. Since Wonwoo had started to come to this bar, he’s had his fair share of companions. And in this kind of hole, they usually weren’t the welcome sort. So, to see that not only was this newcomer young, he was also ridiculously attractive had almost shocked Wonwoo into clumsiness.

To say that Wonwoo was stunned was an understatement, so much so to the point of almost forgetting to acknowledge the guy, who had met Wonwoo’s gaze with a friendly smile.

Remember himself, Wonwoo dropped his eyes back to the remaining liquid at the bottom of his glass. He wasn’t quite sure if he was in the mood for this tonight.

“Do you do that with everyone? Come up and get the same thing they are having as a way to start up conversation?”

Alright, so that wasn’t exactly the smooth comeback Wonwoo wanted to come out of his mouth, but the whiskey must have been doing it’s job well and Wonwoo had a tendency to call people out on their when he was drunk. Must be why his friends never wanted to go drinking with him.

But Wonwoo’s words seemed to have no ill effect on the stranger, his smile instead widening. He leaned back in the rickety stool, and Wonwoo worried for half a second that he might be in danger of breaking the old thing. But it looked like the stool had a little life still in it, and held the man’s weight as he sent Wonwoo a look.

The look was something foreign, completely out of place in this hole of a bar. There was something innocent to it, young and uninhibited. Easily compared to the bright daylight in the middle of summer, and caused a similar effect on Wonwoo, warming his already alcohol warmed insides even more.

The innocence in the smile was a contradiction to everything in this situation, not belonging on someone who looked like they were the human born Adonis or in a place that would forever have an underlying smell of vomit.

Maybe that was why Wonwoo had let his guard down. The rarity of seeing such a sight being cast onto him in their current setting, it drew Wonwoo in. Either that or the booze actually had something laced in it and it was really starting to mess with Wonwoo’s head.

But the bartender had just arrived with his new companion's own glass of ‘whatever he was having’, and the man had basically just downed his own drink, so if Wonwoo was starting to have a fever dream because of the booze, at least he wasn’t going to the alone in doing so for long.

“Is it working?” asked the boy, and Wonwoo had forgotten that he had even asked a question in the first place.

Wonwoo just lifts his eyebrow before raising his own glass, sipping the remains that had settled at the bottom of his glass. Which turned out to be about 90 percent melted ice. Very unsatisfying.

Wonwoo flagged the bartender down, signifying that he would like another. Wonwoo’s new companion took the opportunity to order a second drink himself.

“What’s your name kid?” asked Wonwoo after receiving his third drink. He sips it slowly, slightly wondering as to what the whiskey was doing to him. If Wonwoo was being honest, he knew he couldn’t blame his strange interest in his bar partner on the booze, since he could easily take a few more of these before the effects really started to kick in. But he really needed something to blame his unusual attraction on other than the fact that the boy was gorgeous.

He had too much pride to allow himself to think he would be swept off his feet simply by a pretty face.

“It’s Kim Mingyu, and I’m not a kid,” pouts the newly named Mingyu, holding his glass of whiskey up to cover his face, maybe as a way to hide the childish reaction.

“That,” Wonwoo motions towards Mingyu’s face with his own glass, “right there, begs to differ.”

Mingyu pouts for all of about two seconds more before he seems to remember himself, placing his drink down on the countertop before combing back his hair from his forehead, flashing a devious grin in Wonwoo’s direction.

“How about you? What’s your name?” asked Mingyu, voice slightly lowered in pitch. And now Wonwoo knows the bartender must have slipped him something more than what he ordered. Because there was no way that Wonwoo would have normally found the bad boy act endearing.

He had to admit though, he’s never been hit on by a boy in man’s clothing, and there was something about it that made Wonwoo snort into his hand, a wide smile overtaking his face.

And the responding smile — a much more genuine one — from Mingyu must have been the reason why Wonwoo leaned forward, his hand ghosting over Mingyu’s own before answering, “It’s Jeon Wonwoo.”

The touch seemed to light up the boy’s features, a slightly hint of relief mixed in, probably happy that he wasn’t being shot down. Wonwoo figured that this must have been one of Mingyu’s first times trying to pick up someone at a bar; only a newbie to the one night stand scene would still house this much worry of rejection. Mingyu hadn’t yet realized that a face like his would mean that rejection would be few and far between.

Wonwoo couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to regret this in the morning, when the spell of alcohol and Mingyu’s smile had ran it’s course.

It wasn’t the first time Wonwoo had woken up to the sunlight of a new day filtering in from his open window and having his head resting on something much warmer than a pillow.

The night before had proven that Mingyu wasn’t only a god in looks; his stamina must have also been bestowed from a higher place, proving that he wasn’t quite the child Wonwoo claimed him to be.

As Wonwoo leaned up in bed, his body ached slightly from the activities from the night before. Definitely too much stamina in the kid.

But a quick look around showed that they had made it back to Wonwoo’s place, and Mingyu was still bare chested and snoring lightly from under Wonwoo. Which meant that Mingyu must have been really new to the one night stand scene if he hadn’t already made himself scarce before the owner of the room had woken up.

Wonwoo his chapped lips, rough from the abuse from a few hours earlier. He couldn’t help but feel a small knot of pity form, knowing that he was going to have to be the one to break it to the kid about the going ons that happened after such a night with a stranger.

He sighed deeply, pushing himself off the bed and away from Mingyu, allowing himself to indulge in the last moments he had with the boy by running his hand unnecessarily down his chest and stomach as he rose from the bed.

Wonwoo took his time as he gathered some clean clothes, making more of a ruckus then necessary as he made his way around. Maybe it would rouse Mingyu enough so that he could make his exit while Wonwoo was in the shower.

15 minutes later and Wonwoo was exiting his bathroom, freshly clothed with a towel rubbing against his damp hair.

Despite his hopes, it turns out that Mingyu really didn’t know how one night stands worked, and Wonwoo found him still sitting on his bed when he exited.

This time around, the boy was awake, shaking out his messy bed head before yawning wide. When his eyes caught Wonwoo, they seemed to spark with something that Wonwoo knew he had to kill as soon as possible.

“You still here?” asked Wonwoo dully as he turned his back to Mingyu, distracting himself with shuffling through this dresser.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry, do you have somewhere to be?” came Mingyu’s slightly concerned voice from behind him. Wonwoo could hear the disappointment in it, and it pulled on his heart strings. He wasn’t an (at least he liked to believe he wasn’t), he was just trying make this a good clean break.

Maybe taking a newbie like Mingyu home hadn’t been such a good idea. Even though the was great, the aftermath of having to get the guy to leave and realize that Wonwoo hadn’t taken him home to get anything more than was going to be an emotionally draining ordeal for both parties present.

“No, just getting ready for the day,” answered Wonwoo truthfully, “I wasn’t expecting to see you still here is all.” This was probably another reason why his friends sometimes didn’t enjoy having him around. ‘Brutally honest’ is what they called it.

Wonwoo sat on the bed after pulling out some socks, a little disgruntled that he now needed to put on the useless piece of clothing, if only to keep up the act that he had gone into his dresser for something important.

Wonwoo was looking down at his feet when he felt Mingyu shift on the bed. A heavy arm wrapped around his waist before he felt Mingyu’s chest flush with his back, giving Wonwoo a makeshift good morning hug.

Wonwoo stiffened slightly from the familiarity in the contact, not use to one night stands being ‘cuddly’ the morning after. But for some odd reason, Wonwoo felt himself relaxing into it, reasoning that he might as well enjoy this while he could.

Mingyu seemed undeterred by Wonwoo’s brisk attitude, instead leaning in to leave a warm, soft kiss to his cheek.

Wonwoo turned a bit so he could look back at Mingyu, eyes wide at the surprisingly domestic gesture. Which was a bad idea on his part, since he now looking directly at Mingyu. The kid was still , only keeping a small bit of decency thanks to the low hanging sheet.

But the affectionate smile was what really hit home. Wonwoo couldn’t help but question why such a nice kid was still sitting in his bed after a night like theirs, sending Wonwoo the kind of look teens daydream about and old married couple could only wish their spouses still sent them.

Forgetting himself in the affection that Wonwoo really didn’t deserve from a stranger he barely knew, he allowed his hand to come up and cup Mingyu’s face. Something the younger took advantage of, immediately nuzzling into, even going as far as giving his palm a soft kiss.

“....What are you still doing here Mingyu?” asked Wonwoo, his voice hushed and full of meaning. They both knew he wasn’t asking the same question that he had before.

Mingyu leaned back at that, resting his weight onto one hand before shrugging his other shoulder. “I’m not really sure myself. I know that I want to be here, and the fact that you still remember my name tells me something about your stance on it too.”

Wonwoo pursed his lips. Mingyu wasn’t wrong about that. It really was saying something that Mingyu’s name had stuck even after the alcohol and night had ran its course. He had known from the very start this was strictly , and Wonwoo had found himself more times than not forgetting his one night stands’ name, sometimes as soon as they introduced themselves.

“I’m not—…. I wasn’t looking for anything more than when I brought you home last night.” Wonwoo glanced down as he said that, his voice holding less strength than he had hoped. He didn’t want to crush Mingyu, and it wasn’t like the guy wasn’t huge boyfriend material. It was just exactly as he said. He wasn’t looking for anything serious.

“Honestly? Me too,” spoke up Mingyu, squeezing the arm he still had around Wonwoo’s waist, “But I dunno, there’s just something about you Wonwoo..,” trailed off Mingyu as he brought his own hand up to cup Wonwoo’s face this time, rubbing his thumb pad over his cheek bone affectionately.

But Wonwoo found himself reaching up to pull his hand away, causing the sweet smile on Mingyu’s face to falter a bit at the corners.

“I think you should go,” said Wonwoo, forcing the strength he needed behind the words, trying to make it sound more demanding than weak. But even Wonwoo could hear how he had failed at that.

“...Alright,” answered Mingyu simply before detaching himself from Wonwoo so he could make his way around the room to collect his belongings.

Wonwoo was glad Mingyu was respecting his wishes, but it made his heart pang in his chest. When was the last time he had someone in his bed that had been that conscientious of his feelings?

Mingyu paused at the door, glancing back at Wonwoo who had followed him to see him out. Wonwoo thought it would have been terribly rude of him to not at least walk the kind boy out of his apartment.

“Could I at least get your number?” His voice rang with hope, and it tugged at Wonwoo’s heart all the more.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Mingyu nodded even though it didn’t look like he believed it, his eyes holding Wonwoo’s own for a few seconds longer than necessary before finally turning and making his way out of Wonwoo’s place.

Wonwoo couldn’t help but mull over his final words for the rest of the day. Even though he believed it in the moment, he couldn't find any reason as to why it wouldn't have been a good idea.

Wonwoo found himself in the his hole of a bar maybe a month after what he dubbed the ‘Mingyu Incident’. The fact that he hadn’t been able to forget the boy’s name by mornings come of the day should have been some sort of signifier that Mingyu wasn’t going to be just another quick lay to take an edge off that alcohol could never quite do.

Wonwoo had been avoided this place for the last few weeks, not wanting to be reminded to the boy he had already had a hard time getting of his mind.

Sometimes you have moments in life where you — for some ungodly reason — convince yourself that what you are doing is right. That you’re experience with a situation in the past is the only way to deal with something. That, when you have a one night stand, you should cast that person out of your life the second morning comes since there couldn’t be anything more you could get from them.

But Wonwoo had been almost painfully wrong to send the boy with an amazing smile and pure heart away. Mingyu’s memory was almost like a ghost, haunting Wonwoo in the worst of moments.

Like when his mother had asked last week, “Have you found yourself someone yet?” To which Wonwoo found himself involuntarily thinking, ‘Maybe I could have.’

Wonwoo knew that Mingyu was a huge ‘maybe’. He didn’t know if it actually would have gone somewhere, and he was probably being unreasonably over dramatic. It could have easily turned out that Mingyu had a gambling problem, or maybe Mingyu wouldn’t have been able to get past the fact that Wonwoo typically liked to stay in rather than go out. An innumerable amount of things could have happened to show that Mingyu wouldn't have been a good boyfriend.

But since Wonwoo had cut short any chance for them to see those possibilities, he couldn’t help but imagine that him and Mingyu really could havebeen something.

But Mingyu had been an anomaly to his usual the system. Wonwoo tried to reason that when you find yourself interacting with someone who has a personality as bright as Mingyu’s, it’s hard to forget that they had left an impression. Like being exposed to the sun for too long; you can’t just walk away without some sort of evidence being left on your skin, whether it be a nice tan or a painful sunburn.

And Wonwoo had definitely left burned, Mingyu’s smile still seared hot in his mind. But like most things, all memories of Mingyu and that night will eventually fade to the back of Wonwoo’s mind.

Which is why Wonwoo found himself sitting his his usual bar stool, ordering an even harder liquor for his system; tequila. His last visit here had meant to distract himself from the stress of his daily work weeks. Instead, he had ended up with only added stress, signifying the need for stronger alcohol. If he kept to this pattern, he’d be in the need of rubbing alcohol by the time he showed up here again.

As Wonwoo took his first sip of his drink, he couldn’t help the sneer of disgust that passed over his face. He had forgotten how horrible tequila tasted, for he hadn’t been in need of such high alcohol content in a while. But he was quickly distracted from the sting on his tongue the second a hand came to rest on his shoulder, a warm breath being cast onto his ear.

“If that look is anything to go by, I don’t think I’ll be having what you have tonight.”

Wonwoo looked up, shocked to hear the warm baritone he had come to terms with never hearing again.

Mingyu’s eye’s nearly sparkled in the lighting of the place, just as out of place as they had the last time he had encountered them here.

As Mingyu sat in the bar stool next to his own, Wonwoo couldn’t help but ask, “Have you been waiting for me?”

Mingyu was leaning onto the bar heavily, flagging the bartender down before he turned his gaze back to Wonwoo, smile wide and uninhibited.

“You’re worth the wait.”