"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

 

'Okay, that's enough.'

'No, I want s'more Ky'soo.'

'You finished fifty of those already!'

'I'm jus' gettin' started!'

Kyungsoo tried grabbing the neon orange cup imprinted with the symbols Sigma Mu Epsilon away from his friend but Baekhyun forcefully tipped the cup into his mouth, not allowing a single drop of punch to escape his lips. His face looked green but he managed to smile at Kyungsoo anyway. 

'Go to the restroom. Now,' hissed Kyungsoo sternly into Baekhyun's ear, firmly gripping his collar.

'But I don' wanna. I'm feelin' a'right,' slurred Baekhyun loudly enough to overcome the eardrum-bursting music, as he brought a wobbling hand to Kyungsoo's arm. Almost immediately, a nauseous feeling overtook Bakhyun and he covered his mouth. Pushing Kyungsoo away, he dashed to the nearest restroom he could find, nearly tripping over his own legs. Watching his friend's pathetic drunken form turn a corner, Kyungsoo slumped into the plush sofa, looking quite exhausted. He closed his eyes and berated himself for not having stopped Baekhyun from accepting the invitation to this frat party. 

Sigma Mu Epsilon was the oldest frat house in their college. Started by some guy named Lee Soo Man, it was now presided over by the likes of Kyuhyun, Changmin and of course, the wealthiest guy on campus, Siwon. Who happened to be Junmyeon's older brother. So it didn't come as a surprise to Kyungsoo when Baekhyun barged into their room with a pamphlet in hand, looking like an over excited circus primate. 

'LOOK AT WHAT JUNMYEON GAVE ME!' he squealed, face and neck washed pink all over.

Pausing his little game with Kyungsoo the hedgehog, Kyungsoo the human inquired,

'What? He sent you a report on the current situation at Wall Street?'

'No...' drawled Baekhyun, clearly a bit annoyed at Kyungsoo's casual attitude, 'He sent us an invitation to a Sigma Mu Epsilon party coming up this weekend.'

'Isn't entry restricted?'

'Siwon finally decided to let in anyone and everyone into their frat party. Ain't that amazing?'

'So you're telling me you're going?'

'Duh! Booze. Food. You. What else do I need?'

'Whoa! Wait right there! I never said I was coming.'

Baekhyun immediately plopped down beside Kyungsoo's feet, looking at him with adorable puppy dog eyes. Not again, thought Kyungsoo, smirking a bit at his friend's tactics.

'No offense, Baek, but where there's booze and the undeniable presence of a certain Zhang Yixing, I'm afraid that something might happen.'

'Which is why I need you to take care of me,' mewled Baekhyun, knowing how to get his way very well.

'Do I have "babysitter" etched onto my forehead?' snapped Kyungsoo.

'Well I suppose you want me to get drugged and wasted amidst all those reckless people, right?'

'Don't twist my words—'

'—Can't you be there to watch over me? Isn't that the least you can do as a friend?—'

'—As if you'll even listen to me—'

'Why do you have to be such a pest?'

'Oh so I'm being the pest now?'

'No, you're right. You're a monster—'

'GUYS!' came a sharp voice from the doorway. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo whipped around to meet a glaring Sehun, who had a similar  irritated expression on his face.

'Keep it down, will you?' scolded Sehun, 'Jongin and I are trying to study.'

'Oh yeah? Well that's how we feel when our study-time gets disturbed by certain-ahem-activities-ahem- you and Jongin take part in,' teased Baekhyun.

'Karma is a ,' commented Kyungsoo with a sneer. 

Sehun narrowed his eyes at them and couldn't help but wonder how they were always ready to have each other's backs when just a few moments ago, they were snapping and biting at each other like a snake and a mongoose. Shaking his head, Sehun began,

'We're trying to cram in as much as possible so I'm begging you to be a bit considerate.'

'Okayyy. We'll stop bickering. Go ahead and be a nerd,' mocked Baekhyun, with exaggerated hand gestures.

'Oh, and Kyungsoo?' started Sehun as he was about to close the door behind him, 'Just go to the party, will you? Or else we'll never hear the end of it from that spoilt rotten princess of a friend you have beside you.'

As soon as Sehun shut the door, Baekhyun turned to Kyungsoo with the most vexatious smile the former has ever displayed. Waggling his eyebrows, he sang, 'I don't think you have a choice here, my friend!'

Closing his eyes, Kyungsoo sent a heartfelt prayer to God to give him the strength and sanity to last him through that tumultuous night.

 

Kyungsoo opened his eyes the second he felt a hot body pressed into his side. Okay, make that two hot bodies. Heavily making out on the couch. Beside Kyungsoo. Who happened to hate PDA or any form of physical contact, unless it included a very special best friend.

With a disgusted look, he pulled himself up and scanned the crowd for Baekhyun. It'd been a few minutes since he'd left to the restroom and he still hadn't reappeared. Of course, mused Kyungsoo sarcastically, considering how very intoxicated he was when he left, he probably forgot his way back or how he even ended up at this party in the first place so maybe he settled himself next to the toilet or something. Following Baekhyun's previous trail, Kyungsoo pushed through the crowd of sweaty, tipsy people and finally, landed in front of the restroom. Clutching the door handle, he braved himself for a few moments before allowing himself to face his bestie's condition, however horrible it might turn out to be. 

Creaking open the door, he peeked in. There were puddles of vomit here and there and Yixing seemed to be meditating under the wash basin. Byun Baekhyun, however, was missing from the scene. Panic seeped into Kyungsoo's heart and he wrapped his fingers around the handle tighter till his knuckles turned white. Making sure his voice didn't waver or crack, Kyungsoo spoke out to Yixing.

'Hey! Did you happen to see Baekhyun come in?'

Yixing peeked at Kyungsoo from under his half-closed eyes and after taking a moment for recognition, he flashed his signature dimpled smile.

'Yeah. He was already puking when he barged in,' hummed Yixing in a lazy voice.

'And where is he now?' whispered Kyungsoo softly as though speaking to a child.

'He left but "don't worry about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be alright".'

Kyungsoo dug his nails into his palm for having asked the amazingly oblivious, Bob Marley-quoting Zhang Yixing of all the people in that frat house. Gritting his teeth in anxiety, he retreated back to the party, his head swimming with ache.

Letting Baekhyun go to this party was one thing but accompanying him and still not being able to do a good job of protecting his friend was something worse. And when Kyungsoo was stressed out, his mind had this weird way of pushing his self esteem to a completely new level of low.

I should never have left Baekhyun alone. I should have stopped him before he took that first sip of punch. Instead, all I've been doing was commit error after error... This whole night was a mistake just waiting to happen. Any fool would've said no. But hey, Do Kyungsoo is such a bleeding genius that he went along with it. And God sends to my aid the one and only residential moony, loony philosopher, Zhan—

Kyungsoo paused and blinked twice. The hot tears pricking his eyes seemed to have cleared away.

'Moon!' exclaimed Kyungsoo to no one in particular, 'When Baek gets drunk, he likes to watch the moon. Perhaps...'

His body quaked with a newfound energy and he ran up the winding, spiral staircase despite being exhausted to the core of his bones. Dashing to the high rise balcony at the top of the frat house, Kyungsoo prayed earnestly that he would find his friend there safe and sound. Once on top, the cold wind chilled his face but he was glad for the breath of fresh air. 

'Baek?'

A small form, standing by the low ledge at an extremely dangerous angle, seemed to have taken note of his voice. A few passed out students lay in the shadows but Kyungsoo kept his eyes fixed on that one person.

'Soo?'

'What are you doing there? Come here before you fall off and hurt yourself.'

'Always the sensible one...' trailed off Baekhyun, as he took a step closer to the edge, teetering precariously forward.

'Hey! I'm talking to you! You'll kill yourself...'

'I know. What does it matter anyway? We're all going to die someday.'

Kyungsoo's breath hitched in his throat. Baekhyun was acting strange and Kyungsoo didn't like it one bit. It was certain that he was drunk but somehow his words seemed to say otherwise. 

'I'm not happy with my life, Soo.'

'Shut up and listen to me, Baek!'

'No! You listen to me— Nobody likes me anymore! My lecturers think I'm annoying. My classmates picture me as the perpetual, good-for-nothing dunce. My parents have a similar opinion...'

Kyungsoo bit his lower lip because he knew from where exactly all these pent up emotions were stemming from.

'My brother is in the Army, Soo. What about me?! I'm going absolutely nowhere.'

'You know that's not true,' breathed Kyungsoo, 'You are talented in many ways. You know how to talk yourself out of a situation and you are exceedingly smart and sincere. Anyone would love to have you in their company.'

'For what?!' spat Baekhyun, his eyes glazed over, 'To teach other employees about what it means to be a bad example? Or to put me up as the entertaining oaf?'

Baekhyun had never ever been this pessimistic and Kyungsoo was at his wit's end.

'I don't know what you're implying but for one, you are my ray of sunshine. You are the reason I survive my worst days, which literally make up for three-fourth of a whole year for me.'

Kyungsoo gingerly stepped closer to his friend, getting ready to pounce on him if he ever swayed and toppled off like a sack of rice. But Baekhyun stood perfectly still. Taking that as a good sign, Kyungsoo resumed,

'You are kind, witty, annoying, yes, but a cute type of annoying. Lecturers are too dull to understand the bite behind your sarcasm. And if there are others out there who can't stand your charm, then they've just got to deal with it.'

'You really mean that?'

'From the bottom of my bottomless, pitch black, ice cold heart.'

Baekhyun burst into a fit of giggles and took an infinitesimal step back. 

'You thought I was going to jump, weren't you?' teased Baekhyun with a sly smile.

'Zip it and back away from there.'

'NANANANANA!'

'Baek...'

NANANANANANAAAAA— OOOHHH SHHHIIIITTTT!!!!' screamed Baekhyun, accidentally tripping backwards over his foot just as he had begun to poke fun of Kyungsoo. 

I'm not letting you go, thought Kyungsoo, Not this time.

In the blink of an eye, Kyungsoo lunged at Baekhyun and heaved him forwards by the front of his shirt. Only he didn't expect Baekhyun to grasp his hand as he fell, exerting an equal and opposite force on him, and by the natural laws of Physics along with the attractive pull of gravity, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo fell freely through air. 

Time seemed to go slower for Kyungsoo. He watched as Baekhyun's eyes widened in fear, the freezing air tearing through his lungs.

The brown flecks in Baekhyun's eyes.

The smell of his favourite conditioner that Baekhyun ungraciously stole every weekend without fail.

Yixing's parting words that went: "Don't worry about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be alright."

The soothing warmth of their enclasped hands was the last thing that Kyungsoo etched into his memory before everything went black.

 

The sound of hushed whispers woke Kyungsoo up. His hazy vision caught sight of white walls, white beds, a nurse and a flustered Junmyeon. He murmured incoherently and the concerned lad rushed to his side. 

'Oh my God, Kyungsoo! Can you hear me? Thank God, you're alive!' he gushed, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. 

'Where—?' 

'Stop talking! You're in the hospital but don't fret; Siwon's paying for everything...'

'How... bad...?'

'Well, you've broken a few ribs and they put a cast over your right leg. It was a miracle that you fell right into the canvas awning. It blocked the complete impact—'

'No...' growled Kyungsoo, 'Baek... hyun.'

'Oh. Well, the little imp had to get a stitch on his forehead and he broke quite as many bones as you. At first, they decided to put him in another room. But even in his tipsy, painkiller-induced state, he asked for you. I've gotta say though... you two make quite the pair. Humpty, Dumpty and their Great Fall.'

Kyungsoo smirked lightly and strained his neck to look at a sleeping Baekhyun by his lefthand side. 

'Thanks for taking care of us, Junmyeon.'

'It's alright. I'll be leaving now but I'll be kept informed by the nurses. Get well soon, you two!' chirped Junmyeon as he left the dynamic duo in peace. 

 

'K'soo?'

'Hey you...'

'I had a bad dream. I dreamt we fell over the balcony at the Sigma Mu Epsilon frat house.'

'That... wasn't a dream.'

'Heheheh. I was just kidding.'

'You kid horribly, you know.'

'True... Wait, listen. I'm sorry I got you into this mess.'

'Why should you be sorry? We don't have to attend classes and we get to avail as many free services from this hospital since Siwon's paying.'

'Do they have a buffet?'

'I think not. Guess we'll have to ask Siwon himself.'

'Cool. Umm... Kyungsoo?'

'Hmmm?'

'Mind if I ask you a favour?'

'Anything except escorting you to a frat party again.'

'Don't worry. That's off my bucket list.'

'What's this new request then?'

'Can I keep staring at you? Not in a creepy way, though. Unless you think it's creepy, which I completely understand—'

'Go ahead. I've judged you on far worse scenarios.'

'It's just that... I can't turn my head to the left and hence, I can't look at the moon through the window. But it kind of calms me to see the moonlight shining off your still face.'

'Okay, now you sound creepy.'

'A Jeffrey Dahmer kind-of creepy?'

'More like a Hannibal Lecter sort of way.'

Baekhyun laughed heartily despite the pain searing through his body. He saw Kyungsoo extending his left hand to him through his peripheral vision. Fixing his gaze on his best friend's wan face, Baekhyun entwined his fingers with Kyungsoo's, forming a bridge between their beds. The same warmth he felt before they had their Great Fall heated his skin. 

'Thanks for being there, Soo. And talking to me.'

'I'll always be there for my bestfriend.'

'Always?'

'Forever.'