A/N: Click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE to listen to the songs mentioned in this chapter (in order)! (Recommended!)

~~~

7:24 PM

With a shiver, Jongin steps out of the car after Yifan parks it behind the building. It must be at least six degrees outside and he really, really regrets not turning around and fetching his jacket earlier, and he's paying the ultimate price for it. However, as much as his teeth are chattering, he barely even feels it over how much his nerves are buzzing. As it turns out, Sehun's prom is being held at a rather fancy looking club (at least the brunet assumes it is) and even from his spot a few feet away, he can hear the bass to a song he can't distinguish thumping from the building and blue, green and pink lights spilling out from the open windows up ahead. Subsequently, Jongin's right leg cramps painfully, a result of bring crammed in the way back of the car whilst Yifan drove around for another 20 minutes after the GPS seemingly broke down, and to say that they're a little late would be an understatement. However, Jongin pays it no mind and he gently pats the rose, which is tucked behind his ear, as he watches Baekhyun and Jongdae exit the car together with Junmyeon and Chanyeol.

Sehun steps out a second later and walks around the vehicle before standing next to Jongin. "You excited?" he asks, adjusting his tie with his right hand and running his left hand through the brunet's hair.

Jongin nods, even though it feels like his nerves are on the brink of self destructing. He's pretty sure he dozed off a few times inside the car and he hopes his eyeliner and or eyeshadow hasn't smeared or smudged. "Yeah, are you?"

"I wasn't, but now I am, isn't that weird?" Sehun chuckles before he turns around and looks at Junmyeon, who is practically getting beat up by Baekhyun after reaching for his cigarette box. "Isn't that 'Where Them Girls At'?" he asks and Jongin seriously questions the taller's knowledge in music.

"I think it is," Chanyeol says, fixing his tie. "Jeez, this thing's practically choking me to death," he mumbles before he blinks in surprise. "Wait, you like David Guetta?" he asks in astonishment.

Jongdae laughs out loud. "He likes Nicki Minaj, that's who," he says, rightfully earning him a deadly stare from Sehun. "Anyway, damn it, I thought we'd be the first ones there," he adds sourly before linking his right arm with Chanyeol's.

Locking the car, Yifan adjusts his bowtie. "Thanks for being so nice and quiet," he says sarcastically before retrieving his phone from his pocket. "And it looks like Kyungsoo's in there already, the poor bastard, I better go find him." He gestures at the building up ahead and motions for everyone to follow after him. 

"It we had to arrive half a freaking hour late," Baekhyun grumbles, trying to grab Junmyeon's cigarette box with no success (presumably to hide it, Jongin assumes).

"Well, that's what you get for not helping me with the goddamn GPS, nitwit," Yifan retorts.

As they approach the building, Jongin feels his heart start to speed up when the music grows louder and the lights get even brighter. When they get even closer, he thinks he can hear people yelling and singing along to the music and Jongin instinctively grabs Sehun's hand because even though he doesn't have a problem with crowded spaces in general, the idea of losing Sehun in a crowded space full of people he doesn't know makes his skin crawl.

Blocking out Jongdae and Baekhyun's pointless ramblings behind him, Jongin bites his lip when they walk up the few steps leading to the building, his gaze immediately landing on the wide open doors and, when he gets a little closer, Jongin can see the silhouettes of a handful of people as they move about on the dance floor, under a sea of colorful, flashing lights which never seem to stop moving around. Jongin grips Sehun's hand tighter as the latter, Junmyeon and Chanyeol gets their names checked off the guest list. The rose sits comfortably behind his ear and his face doesn't feel itchy from the makeup and next to him, Sehun looks like a statue of a Greek god come to life (to the brunet's dismay, however, the female security guard to whom Sehun is giving his student information seems to ogle him not so subtly), and Jongin feels an excited rush surge through his veins when the word 'Welcome' fills the air (although he can hardly hear them given the loudness of the music).

~

The first thing that hits him is the smell. To be exact, the smell of at least five hundred different women's perfumes and a billion different men's perfumes, as well as the smell of excitement, of course, and Sehun thanks the high heavens that he wasn't born with extreme sensitivity to loud noises, because the bass that's pumping through the air and making the floor and every wall in the room shake is enough to make him mental note to visit a doctor and get his hearing checked first thing tomorrow. The entire room is bathed in different colors; spotlights of neon green, yellow, pink and blue travel across the sea of people surrounding them, which for some reason makes Sehun feel as if he's living in some sort of mystical dream and, with Jongin's hand gripping his own tightly, Sehun slowly walks forward, mainly to get away from the doors and thus the ice cold air from outside. 

Once they've gotten away from the entrance, Sehun is instantly surprised at how hot it gets almost two seconds later and he fights the urge to remove his tie before it can suffocate him to death. Scanning his surroundings, he sees a fancy looking bar to the right a few feet away around which a handful people are crowded, and to the left, near the DJ booth, Sehun can barely make out what he thinks is a small podium for two, but he isn't quite sure since an extremely tall stranger subsequently happens to walk past him, effectively blocking his view. The loud music, combined with the loud, drunken screaming of the people all around them, is making it difficult for Sehun to hear his own thoughts and he turns around to face Baekhyun, Jongdae, Junmyeon and Chanyeol, whose faces are all tinted neon pink, while making sure not to accidentally let go of Jongin's hand, since Sehun figures he might as well say farewell to the brunet if he were to, since the mass of stumbling people seems very unforgiving, to say the least. However, before Sehun has a chance to open his mouth, his words die in his throat when he lays his eyes on Jongin, who seems to be looking into the distance to the right, seemingly at the DJ, and before he knows it, Sehun is reaching into his pocket with his free hand, barely managing to snap a quick photo of the brunet without getting his phone knocked out of his hand by some drunk, stumbling dancer.

"They aren't playing my song," Chanyeol yells, clearly upset, but Sehun (or anybody else, for that matter) can hardly hear him over the bass. 

Sehun shrugs. "You'll have to wait," he yells back, instinctively holding Jongin closer to him when a couple of clearly drunk girls rush past them to get to the exit, presumably to empty the contents of their stomachs. 

"I need a drink," Junmyeon says, obviously not bothering to make himself heard, before he brushes past them and heads towards the bar, Baekhyun hot on his heels.

Looking to the right, Sehun spots what he thinks is Yifan talking to Kyungsoo a few feet away and, figuring they're both better off on their own, he turns to face Jongin, who still looks as mesmerized as ever. In fact, the golden shimmer on top of his eyelids is significantly enhanced by the bright pink spotlight that momentarily hits him square in the face and Sehun fights the urge to lean in and kiss him all over. In fact, when Jongin doesn't move an inch, the urge to do so only grows stronger, but Sehun doesn't get a chance to act upon it when a familiar face suddenly emerges from the crowd.

"Heya," Sehun hears Yixing (or is that Yixing? Perhaps it's Minseok, Sehun doesn't really remember) shout so Jongin will hear, before his mouth falls open. "Nice flower!!! Hey, nice eyes!" he hollers, pointing at the brunet's face and nearly jabbing him in the eyes. 

"Hey," Jongin shouts back, leaning in a little closer to Yixing so the latter will hear, and scrambles to catch him when he stumbles a little. "Who're you here with?" 

Yixing drunkenly gestures at the massive crowd before them and Sehun nearly laughs out loud. "She's somewhere there, I dunno- She was there, I don't know," he babbles and Sehun figures he's definitely had one too many (which he finds astonishing since the party has only been going on for about forty minutes). "Who're you with?" he adds, pointing to Jongin and jabbing the latter in the chest with his finger, and it's not until the brunet points to Sehun that Yixing's eyes fly open, almost as if he didn't even see the former to begin with. "Oh my God! Hi! It's you! The President!" he hollers, proceeding to bow in front of Sehun, only to trip over his own two feet and nearly fall flat on his face.

Minseok quickly comes up behind Yixing and pulls him to his feet. Sending Jongin and Sehun an apologetic look, he yells something along the lines of 'I'll take care of him, sorry' before both of them seemingly get swallowed up by the crowd. Sehun tries to locate them amongst the sea of people to no avail and only shakes his head in amusement. When the DJ switches the song and 'Wannabe' starts blaring through the speakers, causing the crowd to erupt into a fit of screams and hollers, Sehun cranes his neck and scans his surroundings, exhaling in relief when he spots Junmyeon and Baekhyun, and he suddenly realizes that he has no idea where Chanyeol and Jongdae are, and it's not until Sehun takes a closer look that he finally spots all four of them sitting by the bar. It's not until he sees Junmyeon and Chanyeol simultaneously taking a shot that Sehun feels his nerves buzz. He doesn't consider himself an alcohol magnet, like Junmyeon so often does, but sometimes, the urge to, well, enhance certain situations kind of just shows up and, leaning in closer to Jongin, Sehun places a hand on the former's shoulder. "Wanna join them?"

Jongin blinks before he turns around. His eyes seem to roam around the sea of colorful and provocative dresses and tuxedos for a while before he finally finds what he's supposed to be looking at. "I guess, sure," he yells, grabbing Sehun's hand tighter.

"Myeon and Yeol seem to need a little help," Sehun adds, pointing to Chanyeol and Junmyeon, who are clearly doing their best to express their disinterest towards a handful of provocatively clad girls who are clearly seeking their attention. As if holding Baekhyun and Jongdae's hands wasn't off-tipping enough, he thinks to himself before leaning in, pressing a kiss on Jongin's forehead and gently guiding them towards the bar.

Navigating through the neverending crowd of people (or, to be exact, stumbling, drunken zombies) is proven to an extremely difficult task, and Sehun half-assedly apologizes to a girl when he accidentally ends up stepping on her dress after nearly getting shoved over by some stranger. He makes sure to keep a tight and steady grip on Jongin's hand the whole time and even though the latter may be two inches shorter than him, Sehun is still deathly worried that somehow, the brunet will get shoved, hit, tripped, stepped on and so on, and since the idea absolutely terrifies him, Sehun subconsciously tightens his grip on Jongin's hand whilst he guides them towards the bar. He keeps his head lowered, hoping the bright lights make him look less easily identifiable to drunken females and does his best to avoid eye contact with anybody. A few times, a handful of girls actually do recognize him, the ones that don't seem to be drunk beyond belief, and Sehun only shakes them off when they go as far as to try to dance with him. He loses them in the crowd shortly after, much to his (and Jongin's relief).

What feels like a century later, Sehun and Jongin finally find their way out of the herd and Sehun practically rips Jongin's clothes off trying to find any possible bruises or scratch marks on the latter's body, only to find none, thankfully, and he quickly pulls the brunet to safety as they jog towards the bar. Chanyeol and Junmyeon look like they're on the brink of karate smashing the females in front of them through the wall and, even though Sehun knows it's probably just his worries getting the best of him, he jogs a little faster, just in case, making sure Jongin is hot on his heels, and nearly topples over in surprise when he passes a small threshold and, out of nowhere, the volume of the music suddenly decreases by at least 70%. At first, Sehun worries he might be going deaf, but a few seconds later, he hears Chanyeol and Junmyeon's mutual sounds of frustration, loud and clear, and he exhales in relief before walking over to them. Thank God for noise cancelling bars.

"They won't stop," Baekhyun groans in frustration, gesturing at one of the girls, who is practically trying to crawl into Junmyeon's lap. "Jeez, I hate them," he says before spinning around in his seat and taking a sip of the bright yellow drink, with an umbrella in it, in his hands. Next to him, Jongdae nods in agreement before he takes a swig of what Sehun assumes is Chanyeol's beer.

Crawling onto one of the bar stools, Jongin swings his legs back and forth and clears his throat awkwardly when the young woman behind the counter sends him a suggestive look. Now, normally, he isn't a fan of drinking, smoking or anything of the sort, but there's something about seeing Jongdae and Baekhyun practically inhaling their drinks like there's no tomorrow that makes something stir in the pit of Jongin's stomach, and before he knows it, his hands are scrambling for his wallet. Except he doesn't even get a chance to pull it out from his pocket when the lady in front of him puts a hand in the air, and she mouths a simple 'It's on the house', much to Jongin's surprise, and he watches in awe as she begins mixing a handful of differently colored liquids with surprising ease and, before he knows it, there's a glass filled with a liquid so neon blue that it looks like it came straight out of outer space.

"Mine was for free, too," Baekhyun says simply, wrapping his lips around his straw. "Apparently being a handsome version of Ronald McDonald gets you free drinks," he adds before taking a sip. His hair is slightly messy and Jongin figures it doesn't take a genuis to find out who the culprit is.

Jongin chuckles a little as he eyes the beverage in front of him (but he's mainly keeping his head lowered to avoid the bartender's suggestive looks in his direction. He mumbles something along the lines of 'I guess' before he listens to the muffled sound of the bass to his left, and he turns his head just in time to see a young man accidentally spill the entire contents of his beer bottle onto some girl. Not wanting to see the aftermath, Jongin decides to face the opposite direction and he nearly falls off his stool in surprise when he sees one of the girls, who was previously busy taunting Chanyeol, shooting him a less than subtle look. He barely manages to mumble an 'Oh, no' when she begins walking towards him, only for Sehun to step between them less than a fraction of a second later.

With a well timed glare in her direction, Sehun wordlessly makes his way over to Jongin before gently poking the latter's waist. "Is this seat taken?"

Trying to hide behind Sehun in an attempt to avoid the girl's glare, Jongin blinks in confusion before nodding at the empty stool next to him, mainly because he doesn't want her to claim it before Sehun. "There's on right he- Hey!" he squawks when Sehun, without a warning, sits down in his lap and Jongin hopes his legs don't get crushed under the taller's weight (even though Sehun seemingly weighs as much as one would expect an average football player to weigh, it's just that Jongin's leg muscles aren't as sharp as they used to be). "Sehun- What the hell-"

"You were in my seat," Sehun simply says before he leans backwards and rests his head on Jongin's shoulder as much as his slightly slouched position will allow him to. "And gimme a sip," he adds, turning his head and wrapping his lips around the bright pink straw when the brunet momentarily brings the glass to his mouth. Pineapple mixed with something very strong tickles his taste buds before the cold liquid travels down his throat.

As he listens to the muffled sound of what he thinks is 'Baby' by Justin Bieber blaring through the speakers a few feet away, Jongin rests his head against Sehun's. To the brunet's surprise, he doesn't catch a whiff of the taller's perfume at all, and he assumes it's because there's got to be a mixture of at least sixty different fragrances, both men'a and women's, lingering in the air right now, which honestly makes him a little sad. Anyhow, Jongin moves his glass away from Sehun's face before the latter has a chance to finish the entire thing (honestly, Jongin doesn't know if free drinks are a one time thing only, but he wants to be on the safe side) and brings the straw to his lips. 

Jongin has tried alcohol in his life, precisely, the day he turned eighteen a few months ago, courtesy of Baekhyun and Jongdae, but honestly, he barely remembers anything of it, and Jongin figures it wasn't much of an experience anyway. Jongin does, for some reason, however, consider this an experience; relaxing by the bar, sipping drinks that taste like pineapple, which just so happens to be neon blue for some odd reason, with Sehun in his lap, and Jongin takes another sip before putting the glass down on the counter behind his elbow. In his lap, Sehun is thumping his foot against the leg of the stool to the beat of the music and Jongin unconsciously snakes his arms around Sehun's waist, mainly to hold the latter in place so he doesn't fall out of his lap and onto the floor, but also because he notices the females still gawking at them (and Chanyeol, Junmyeon, Jongdae and Baekhyun, for that matter, but mainly him and Sehun) from across the room.

Next to him, Jongin sees Jongdae take two shots in a row in the corner of his eye, closely followed by the sound of Junmyeon and Chanyeol's loud cheering, and Jongin inwardly sighs because he definitely hadn't been plannig on carrying Jongdae (or Baekhyun, and probably Sehun, and definitely Junmyeon and perhaps Chanyeol as well) home, well, faced. It's not that he's got a problem with taking care of his friends, it's just that the idea of ditching Sehun when this is all over and being forced to help Jongdae and Baekhyun to the bus stop instead makes Jongin's gut churn in discomfort and, drink in hand, he reaches out and is about to pat Jongdae's shoulder, right when the latter prepares himself to throw back a third shot, with Chanyeol filming, and tell him that he should probably take it easy on the alcohol when all of a sudden, a loud feminine voice rings through the air, nearly causing Jongin (and thus Sehun) to fall off his stool in surprise. What the-

---

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to announce this year's Prom King and Queen."

Even though his head is starting to feel a little cloudy, the feeling of anguish that settles in the depth of Sehun's gut is nice and clear, and the latter clenches his jaw in irritation when a sea of excited screams fill the air, presumably those of speculations, and Sehun only turns his head and nuzzles his face in the crook of Jongin's neck as he tries to block out all the noise (now that he thinks about it, the music has stopped entirely, which he would've realized soon anyway since he can actually hear his own thoughts), careful to avoid dislodging the bright pink rose still tucked behind the brunet's ear, which Sehun has deliberately avoided looking at for the past half hour in fear of being unable to look away. In the corner of his eye, he spots Jongdae throwing his head back as he downs another shot of tequila and Sehun chuckles to himself because boy, is he gonna regret this afterwards. Underneath him, Sehun thinks he can feel Jongin tensing up a little bit but he dismisses it as his mind acting up.

"We gotta get out there," Junmyeon says a little louder than usual before sluggishly gesturing at the dance floor, where the crowd of people are giving their undivided attention to the school board leader, who is standing on the small stage in front of the DJ booth as she talks into a microphone. "Come on, this is exciting as hell," he adds, forcefully tugging on Baekhyun and Chanyeol's hands when neither of them move a muscle.

"What's so exciting about this, ," Chanyeol yells, smacking Junmyeon's hand away, even though he quickly follows after the latter whilst dragging Jongdae, who is (already) having a difficult time walking in a straight line, along. "You too, Jongin, and you too, Sehun, or should I say, 'The King'?" He sends Sehun a smug look to which the latter replies with an eyeroll.

Suddenly, it hits Sehun that he hasn't talked to Jongin about the whole prom king and queen thing, and he swallows before clearing his throat. As much as he doesn't want to toot his own horn, Sehun is at least 99.9% sure how this is going to end and, not knowing what to say (not that Jongin would hear him over the feminine screams filling the air every second, anyway), he grabs Jongin's hand, which is resting just above his belt. He doesn't want to hear what's going on and Sehun opts against saying anything, so instead, he adjusts his tie around his neck before poking Jongin to ask for another sip of the latter's drink, only to nearly flinch so hard he nearly elbows Jongin in the stomach when he hears a noise so loud Sehun worries a gang of masked men might have broken into the building and thrown a nail bomb into the crowd, and it takes him a few moments to realize that what he heard wasn't, in fact, an explosive about to detonate and blow up the entire building and thus (effectively) end their prom, but screams. To be more specific, screams and shouts from every single female in the room(s), including the two girls in the bar, who jump up and down in excitement and, at first, Sehun has no idea why they, including Jongdae, Chanyeol, Junmyeon and Baekhyun (and probably Jongin, as well) are staring at him like he's an alien from outer space, but it's not until he turns his head to the right and sees just about every single person staring at him from the dance floor that Sehun squirms in Jongin's lap. .

"Dude!" Chanyeol hollers even though he's standing less than three feet away, "they said your frikkin' name, get up there! I told you you'd win!" He walks over and whacks Sehun's shoulder in encouragement before practically pulling the latter off Jongin's lap. "Get up there!"

Clenching his jaw, Sehun actively tries to block out the high pitched screaming coming from every direction before he scratches the back of his head. He'd been dreading this exact moment and all he wants to die is hide behind the bartender, which he honestly would have done if it wasn't for her suggestive glares in his direction, and when he squints into the distance, Sehun sees somebody standing on stage and smiling at him. Sehun turns around and his gaze instinctively searches for the brunet before Junmyeon grabs his wrist and quite literally drags him towards the sea of people twenty feet away. As he tries not to stumble over his own two feet, Sehun spots Jongin slowly following after them with an unreadable look on his face and if wasn't for the fact that literally all eyes are on him right now (and the fact that Junmyeon has got an iron grip), Sehun would stand up, grab Jongin's hand and run out of the building.

Junmyeon lets go of Sehun's arm when they're both two feet away from the dance floor, and Sehun nearly splits his face open when he sticks arms out to break his fall. When he stands up, he stumbles a little and Sehun doesn't know if it's because he was harshly dropped on the floor by Junmyeon just now or because of Jongin's drink, but either way, Sehun finds himself nearly colliding with every person in sight as he subsequently makes his way towards the podium ahead, an irritated frown on his face. His frown only grows when the screaming grows even louder and, behind him, Sehun hears Junmyeon and Chanyeol drunkenly holler something along the lines of 'Sehun, you're the goddamn best' before somebody places a hand on his back, ultimately reminding Sehun that he's stopped dead in his tracks, and shoves him forward and Sehun nearly collides with the microphone in front of him as he stumbles forward and onto the stage.

As he scans the crowd before him, Sehun bites his lip as he awkwardly shoves his hands in his pockets. With the lights a little bit dimmed he can more easily distinguish the faces in front of him, but since he'd rather keep his gaze fixated on his shoes instead of anywhere else, Sehun only manages to see Yifan, Yixing, Kyungsoo and Minseok before he clears his throat and lowers his head. He prays he doesn't have to say anything, not only because he has no idea what to say, but mainly because Sehun figures yelling 'Why the should I be given a crown for hating all of you and doing literally nothing of interest whatsoever?' into the microphone probably wouldn't sit well with anybody, regardless of how thirstily they may be staring at him right now. He desperately wants to look up and find Jongin in the crowd but Sehun opts against it since he doesn't want to end up accidentally locking eyes with some crazy female in the crowd and somehow get her hopes up and thus have her stalk him for the rest of the night. The mere thought makes Sehun visibly shudder. 

The girl from before, the one who yelled out his name, subsequently guides him towards the podium (probably because she realized he'd been standing on the edge of the stage like a dead flower for a considerable amount of time) and Sehun reluctantly steps onto the platform before biting his lip. Even though he's got his head lowered so he can't see anybody, he can certainly feel every single pair of eyeballs staring at him as if he's some kind of zoo animal (which makes it extremely difficult for him to fake a grateful smile) which makes Sehun want to adjust his tie because boy, does he need a distraction.

"And the title of year's Prom Queen goes to-"

Exhaling, Sehun bites his lip as he racks his brain for any possible girls in his grade who would be worthy of being crowned Prom Queen, but he comes out empty handed (probably because he's got zero female friends and chooses to distance himself from the female gender at all costs, but still), and it isn't until the crowd dies down (much to Sehun's relief, because the screaming was starting to make him question his sanity. On another note, he's surprised that a crowd consisting mainly of intoxicated people, at least by 80%, could remain silent for longer than ten seconds) and a suffocatingly awkward silence fills the entire room that Sehun unconsciously swallows in discomfort. Not because he's going to be forced to dance with some girl he doesn't even know the name of, but because he's terrifed of what's going through Jongin's head at the moment. Honestly, Sehun has no idea what the brunet is thinking, but he hopes it isn't anything along the lines of the latter possibly ditching him to dance with somebody else, somebody more interesting and exciting, and it's not until the thought of whether or not Jongin is going to leave the building (if his speculations turn out to be true, that is) hits him that Sehun suddenly snaps his head up, and surprisingly enough, his eyes land on Jongin the second he looks into the crowd. The brunet certainly doesn't look angry or disappointed, like Sehun initially thought he would, if anything, Sehun thinks Jongin looks happy and possibly even mildly excited, and Sehun doesn't know if it's just his sanity seeping out of his system by the second making him see things, but whatever the case is, he feels himself relax significantly (especially since Jongdae is standing next to Jongin and trying not to throw up).

From his spot at the way back of the crowd, leaning against the wall, Jongin smiles at him and, over the sound of his own heart nearly beating out of his chest, Sehun hears a wave of hollers and screams, closely followed by exhilirated clapping. He doesn't pay it any mind, for he didn't even hear the name of the girl who's just been announced queen, and he could care less, and he keeps his eyes locked on Jongin as the sickeningly sweet smell of some cheap celebrity perfume briefly enters his lungs (and nearly makes him retch), and he tries to prevent his knees giving in when Jongin only sends Sehun a nod of encouragement when the latter suddenly feels a certain weight being placed on top of his head.

The face of the girl that greets him the moment he turns his head and body to the side is a pretty one, indeed; she's got brown eyes, just like Jongin, and she's got messy, chestnut colored hair, just like Jongin, and the smile that spreads across her face when a pink sash with the words 'PROM QUEEN 2017' is placed on her shoulder immediately reminds Sehun of Jongin and the latter's bright, contagious grin, and Sehun fights the urge to turn his head and keep his gaze focused on the brunet as his own sash, one in navy blue, with 'PROM KING 2017' written on it, is subsequently placed on his right shoulder. Loud clapping, cheering, whistles and incoherent screams (in both excitement and also disappointment, from girls who'd probably expected to be crowned instead) momentarily erupts across the entire crowd and Sehun, suddenly feeling very awkward, sends the girl, the Queen, in front of him a friendly nod.

Sehun feels awfully foolish with a plastic crown sitting atop of his head and he wants nothing more than to rip if off his head and break it in half, and he keeps his hands in his pockets as he bites his lip, not knowing what to do. Do I hug her??? Do I have to make a speech??? Dear God, do I have to kiss her??? The thoughts swim through his head one by one and Sehun feels himself growing anxious, especially when the colorful lights from before come on again and start moving around the room. He knows for a fact that Chanyeol and Junmyeon will about his awkwardness around women first thing tomorrow, but in his defense, Sehun figures just about anybody would feel the same way he does if they were to stand on stage, three feet away from somebody they'd never talked to in their life, and whom they are to dance with afterwards. Reaching up, Sehun unconsciously adjusts the crown on his head and he's about to rush off the stage and back to Jongin when suddenly, the silence is broken, and it takes Sehun a few seconds to realize that the sweet melody to 'Can't Help Falling In Love' is pouring out of the speakers all around them. And, as much as he adores the song and his legs are itching to run off and join Jongin and spin the latter around, Sehun inwardly screams when he remembers that he's expected to dance with the girl in front of him, which he realizes after she sends him an expectant look. .

Realizing there's no possible escape, Sehun bites his lip and watches as the people in the crowd scurry off to pair up with their dates (or people they've just met, who knows) before he takes a deep breath to pull himself together. Even though he doesn't think he'll ever forgive himself for dancing with a girl while Jongin's looking, Sehun figures he'd rather explain himself to Jongin later than risk possibly hurting the girl's feelings (even though he couldn't care less about them), and the next thing Sehun knows, he's extracting his hand towards her, instantly feeling a buzz of both guilt and irritation spread across his entire body when her warm, tiny hand grabs onto his and interlocks their fingers. Refusing to look in her direction, Sehun tries to keep his fingers as slack as possible as he trudges towards the dance floor.

'Wise men say, only fools rush in...'

Trying not to bump into anybody as he guides both himself and the girl towards a relatively empty space on the dance floor, Sehun brings them both to a stop near one of the speakers, and he's suddenly awfully thankful for being forced to watch trillions of crappy teenage romcoms all those years ago, courtesy of his sisters, because at least he isn't totally lost in terms of slow dancing, even with women, and Sehun inwardly sighs before slowly reaching out and placing his hands on her thin hips while she wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Sehun doesn't think he's ever been this close to a female before, at least not in terms of physical proximity, and he keeps his eyes fixated on the jewels on her flowy, pink dress (he fears looking into her eyes for multiple reasons) as he slowly moves them both to the music, careful to avoid making it look like he's gawking at her rather exposed upper region (seriously, the last thing he wants is to wake up to a hundred newly made blogs about not only how unamusing he is as a dance partner, but how he's a creep and a ert, as well).

He isn't holding her waist. In fact, he's barely even touching her to begin with, his hands are practically hovering above her waist as he does his best to fake a smile when keeping his head lowered gets a little too tedious. There's barely any space to move around in, given that people keep bumping into them and stepping on their toes in their druken states, and Sehun has to duck more than once to avoid getting hit in the face with a beer bottle (which he prays to God doesn't belong to Chanyeol). Her sweet perfume is dangerously close to making him gag in disgust and Sehun desperately wants to look up and search for Jongin, to make sure the latter is still here (although Sehun wouldn't exactly blame him if he left), and it's not until Sehun slowly moves them a few feet to the left that he spots the brunet, still leaning against the wall and chatting with Minseok, who looks surprisingly alert, if not completely sober, and Yixing, who is dangerously close to toppling over in his overly intoxicated state as he stands behind Minseok, and Sehun nearly collapses in relief upon seeing them all (he doesn't see Chanyeol or Junmyeon anywhere but he figures they're either somewhere amongst the crowd or in the bathrooms doing God knows what).

'But I can't help falling in love with you...'

Jongin doesn't actually look all that angry, maybe a little annoyed, but Sehun assumes it's mainly because Yixing looks like he's about to upchuck all over his face, but other than that, he looks surprisingly alright, and it takes every fiber in Sehun's being not to rush over and pull him onto the dance floor and tell his "queen" to off and go find another king. Jongin looks so elegant in his tuxedo, even though it's not entirely black, and with his hair styled in a quiff, which heavily compliments the bright pink rose behind his ear, he looks like an angel that's descended from the most holiest parts of Heaven and at one point, Sehun becomes so distracted that he doesn't even realize he's stopped moving until he looks up and sees the girl's weirded out expression, and he mouths an unaplogetic 'Sorry' before clearing his throat and slowly moving closer. 

'Shall I stay?'

At one point, Sehun successfully manages to find a balance between looking interested enough as to not raise questions or suspicions and staring at Jongin like his life depended on it. The latter isn't looking in his direction (which Sehun is sort of thankful for) as he continues to chat with Minseok and Yixing, and Sehun wishes the brunet would hear his desperate telepathic attempts to get him to come over and save him from his misery. He doesn't know if it's whatever was in Jongin's drink that makes his stomach coil this much (or it's simply the honey glazed voice of Elvis doing its magic), but Sehun feels himself growing more and more restless the longer he keeps his eyes glued on the brunet. In front of him, Sehun feels the girl's gaze burning holes in his head but for some reason, he can't bring himself to care. After a while, Sehun has stared at Jongin to the point that he can point out every crease in the latter's dress shirt, and make out the outlines of his hands in his pockets, and it's not until his gaze (unconsciously or not, he can't help it) trail down and land on the brunet's posterior, and lingers for a bit, after the latter turns his body a little, that Sehun jumps a little after the girl emits a startled squawk, and he nearly whacks her in the face whilst apologizing profusely, a blush creeping up his neck. Well, at least I've grabbed a woman's for the first time in my life.

'Would it be a sin?'

"Go to him."

Nearly jumping out of his own skin, Sehun eyes the girl, whose sash is beginning to slide down her shoulder, with impossibly wide eyes. He doesn't even remember zoning out, all he remembers is keeping his eyes glued on Jongin's backside before his world sort of seemed to disappear around him, and he clears his throat as he waits for reality to catch up with him.

"What?" Sehun yells, hoping she can hear him over the music.

She rolls her eyes before she nods to her left, and Sehun figures it doesn't take Einstein returning from the grave to know who she's referring to. "Go to him."

Listening to some drunk guy sing along impossibly off key, Sehun blinks. His head is feeling fuzzier than before and he shakes his head in confusion. "What?" he says dumbly, loosening his grip on her waist (not that he was even holding onto it in the first place).

She gives his shoulder a small shove. "I'm not an idiot," she simply says before pointing at Jongin, who is downing a glass of bright green liquid that sort of reminds Sehun of toxic waste, after Yixing returns from the bar with it (now that he thinks about it, Sehun realizes Minseok is also holding a drink of his own and he wonders for just how long he zoned out). "You've been staring at his goddamn for the past two minutes, I'm no fool, you know," she adds for emphasis, and normally, Sehun would have blushed furiously after hearing said words, but this time, he can only press his lips together in defeat.

Was I that obvious? Sehun thinks before scratching the back of his head. So you're not gonna kill me? With an awkward clearing of his throat, he nods a little before taking a step back and adjusting his crown. "Uh-"

"Go," she pries, even though there's a rather curious glint in her eye. "I was there when he asked you out, just so you know," she adds, even though Sehun can't really hear her over the music, before giving him a little push. "Go up to him, he's just standing there!"

"Uh, okay, fine-" Sehun mutters, only to blink in surprise when he turns around and doesn't see her anywhere (not that he cares, anyway). Figuring she must have gone off to find some other guy, he bites his lip and moves aside to make way for a drunken couple that nearly stumbles into him. The absence of her disgustingly candied perfume does wonders to clear his head and, after a few seconds, Sehun turns his head and looks at Jongin, who is still talking to Minseok and Yixing and, in fear of some crazed girl, drunk or not, spotting him standing alone on the dance floor, Sehun hurriedly pushes past the sea of tuxedos and dresses as he makes his way through the crowd, careful to avoid getting his shoes stepped on in the process.

---

'If I can't help falling in love with you?'

"So where's your man? Did he leave you?" Yixing shouts, waving his beer bottle in the air, nearly smacking Minseok's face. "My man hasn't left me," he yells, sloppily slinging his arm around Minseok's neck, ignoring the latter's squawk of 'I'm not your freaking man and you came here with a woman!'. "And who picked this crappy song? I hate this guy, he's ugly, he sounds drunk, hey wait, isn't this the dude who died?" He scratches the back of his head as if he's contemplating humanity's existence.

Shrugging a little, Jongin leans against the wall again, careful not to put too much pressure on his shoulder as he shoves his hands in his pockets. He sort of hates hearing this particular song at the moment, because it reminds him of Yifan, and thinking about the latter makes Jongin think of the things he said about Sehun (he still doesn't know why he hasn't socked Yifan in the face for saying that), and he low key wishes the DJ would skip to another song because the anger flowing through his veins isn't a very comfortable feeling, to say the least. 

His throat still burns from Yixing's drink, that the latter oh so kindly decided to buy for him after Jongin expressed his worries about whether or not the 'ugly, blonde' bartender would hit on him again, and Jongin swallows in an attempt to soothe the pain before he briefly spots Junmyeon and Baekhyun in the crowd, and it's not until Jongin subsequently realizes that they're engaged in a passionate, nearly overdramatic lip lock that he promptly opts against walking over to them since hearing Yixing shouting about nothing is starting to make his head hurt. He can't spot Chanyeol or Jongdae anywhere, but if Jongin is going to go out on a limb, he assumes the two are in the bathroom, where they're most likely doing things Jongin doesn't want to think about. Either that, or Chanyeol is helping Jongdae while the latter is hunched over the toilet and blowing chunks into the bowl, but either way, Jongin doesn't really want to know.

“My man’s....uh.” Jongin scratches the back of his head, trying to get rid of the burning sensation in his throat. He doesn’t even want to look to the right and at the dance floor, not because he’s got anything against Sehun dancing with the queen, but he’s worried Sehun might think he’s doing it out of envy (which is half right), so he shrugs, because he honestly doesn’t know. “I don’t kn- JesusChristwhatthehell-” He emits an inhuman noise, which thankfully goes unheard thanks to the music, when he spots something black and white in his peripheral, only to nearly fall over in surprise when he sees none other than Sehun, and it’s not until Jongin’s gaze flickers upwards and lands on the large, silver crown on the taller’s head that he doesn’t know if he should laugh or gape in awe.

Sehun remains glued to the floor a good five feet away from Jongin, almost as if he’s afraid to cross an invisible line between him and the brunet. Jongin’s gaze is honestly starting to make him feel awfully self conscious about the headgear atop of his head and he fights the urge to rip it off his head and throw it out the nearest (nonexistent) window. He nods politely at Yixing and Minseok, who nod back, before sending Jongin a smile. “Hey.”

“Where’s your wife? Where’s your queen? Did you ditch her? Ooh, where’s the First Lady? Show me her, is she hot? Lemme see her,” Yixing babbles, nearly tackling Sehun to the floor and spilling his drink all over him as he stumbles into him. Thankfully, Minseok grabs him a second later.

Jongin rolls his eyes. He actually doesn’t see Sehun’s queen anywhere (he hates using that word), and his gaze roams the crowd in search for a matching silver crown, only to see none, and he blinks in surprise. He suddenly feels awfully nervous because he doesn’t want a ton of girls coming after him for interrupting Sehun’s dance. Well then. “Sehun, what are you doing he-” He doesn’t even get to finish his sentence when a hand suddenly appears in front of his face. “Uh-”

‘Like a river flows, surely to the sea...”

“Can I have this dance?”

Jongin blinks. “Uh, what-”

“Way to ruin a romantic moment,” Sehun huffs, wincing when a bright pink spotlight hits him right in the face. “And quit staring, I know I look like a doofus,” he hisses as soon as the brunet tries to stifle a laugh. “Seriously, I didn’t ask to wear the damn thing-”

“Why are you here?” Jongin asks, eyes darting around the room for any signs of the queen. He doesn’t find her (even though he figured a giant, sparkly crown would be pretty difficult to miss amongst the crowd). “Shouldn’t you be with he-”

Adjusting the sash on his shoulder, Sehun presses his lips together. “Is that a yes or a no?” he asks before pointing to Yixing, who looks like he’s about to self combust. “Is he okay? Where are the others, by the way?”

Jongin shrugs. “He’s crazy,” he simply says, feeling awfully thankful when Minseok guides Yixing towards the bathrooms with a ‘Be right back, sorry’, after handing the brunet Yixing’s drink, and Jongin looks at Sehun with glittering eyes. “As long as I don’t end up getting attacked by the king’s guards,” he laughs, eyeing the drunken crowd before him.

“I’ll ensure that doesn’t happen,” Sehun says before reaching up and drawing an invisible line across and down his chest. “I cross my heart and I hope to die,” he adds for emphasis, whacking Jongin in the arm when the latter only rolls his eyes in embarrassment. “How many have you had, by the way?” He gestures at the glass in Jongin’s hand.

“Three, I think,” Jongin says sheepishly and he’s about to raise the glass to his lips when Sehun suddenly grabs it out of his hand, and he can only watch in awe (and mild irritation) as the latter throws his head back, as much as his crown will allow him to, before downing the entire contents in one swig. “Sehun, that’s mine, what the hell!”

“Correction,” Sehun starts, his lips and waving the empty glass in front of the brunet’s face as if to taunt him, “it’s Yixings, not to mention I haven’t had any, so it’s only fair.” When Jongin doesn’t make a move to take the glass back, he gently bends down and sets it on the floor, hoping nobody accidentally knocks it over (which is bound to happen anyway). Even though his taste buds feel like they’re on fire and his throat like it’s been coated with acid (even so, he applauds himself for his high alcohol tolerance), he feels awfully lightheaded, but in a good way, if that’s even possible. “So, is that a yes or a no?”

Jongin remains unmoving for a little while, and just when he looks like he’s about to open his mouth to say yes, he only closes it before pressing his lips together, a childish smirk on his face. “I dunno.”

Sehun blinks. A drunken dancer stumbles past him and nearly whacks him upside the back of the head with their beer bottle. “What?”

With the same smirk, Jongin leans back against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest. “I dunno if you can,” he says, wincing a little when he lifts his foot, only for it to briefly stick to the floor and he seriously hopes it’s a result of somebody spilling their drink and not bothering to clean it up instead of somebody being unfortunate enough not to make it to the bathroom in time. "Can you?"

Shifting his weight onto his right foot, Sehun sighs in exasperation even though he knows Jongin can't hear him over the music. "Are you serious-"

“Not to mention you stole my drink,” Jongin says, his voice sounding nearly offended. “So I dunno, can you?” He sends Sehun a quirky smile (which definitely makes the taller doubt his answer to how many drinks he’s had so far) before moving his foot and, inevitably, knocking the empty glass over. They both watch as it rolls away and into the crowd before it gets lost somewhere amongst the many sets of loafers and stilettos.

And I'm the cheesy one. Adjusting the crown on his head, which is starting to feel extremely heavy, Sehun rolls his eyes. Is this what I get for trying to be romantic? he thinks sourly, and he’s about to say sorry for “stealing” Jongin’s drink when an idea hits him. “Hey actually, you know what, no, I can’t.”

Jongin blinks, as if he wasn’t expecting the answer. “Huh?”

“I can’t have this dance,” Sehun simply says, even though he’s trying his best to stifle a snicker. “Sorry for bothering, see you,” he says a second later and he turns on his heel, seemingly to walk away and find himself somebody else (or the queen, wherever she is) to dance with on the dance floor, but he barely even makes it three steps when Jongin tightly grabs his arm and he lets out a loud cackle that (thankfully) goes unheard over the music.

“You ,” Jongin mutters, gripping Sehun’s arm even tighter (if that’s even possible) when the latter tries shrugging him off. He can feel the solid muscle beneath his hand and he nearly shivers. “You ,” he repeats, avoiding Sehun’s eyes and inwardly cursing. On a side note, he just noticed that he and Sehun are the only ones in the room who aren’t on the dance floor and he doesn’t know if the fact is supposed to make him feel relieved since he’ll save himself plenty of broken toes, or simply awkward. Awkward. Definitely awkward.

“What?” Sehun shrugs casually, still trying not to laugh. “I asked if I could, you questioned me and I decided you couldn’t,” he adds, pretending to turn around and walk off, only to grab the brunet by the shoulders and haul him towards the dance floor a few feet away as soon as the latter emits a (rather terrified, if Sehun is going to say so himself) squawk of protest.

It all happens so fast that Jongin barely gets a chance to process what’s even going on. One second he’s leaning against the wall, probably standing in a puddle of sticky, dried vomit, and the next he’s in the middle of the dance floor, sandwiched between a handful of drunk strangers and constantly blinking when the harsh spotlights hit him square in the face, trying badly not to stumble and fall flat on his face every time his shoes are stepped on or he’s accidentally shoved forward. The voice of Elvis is still flowing from the speakers and Jongin feels himself relax a little bit as Sehun carefully guides him through the crowd in search of an empty space on the dance floor.

Much to Jongin’s surprise, they actually do end up finding a relatively empty space a minute later, in the middle, of all places, and Jongin immediately feels himself flush (he blames it on the lights and the fact that there’s literally almost no room to breathe in the middle of the crowd) after Sehun halts, only for the latter to send him a look so endearing and full of adoration that the brunet hopes his knees don’t give in (which he seriously hopes they don’t do, because he’d definitely end up getting trampled to death in a heartbeat). In fact, Jongin is so perplexed that it takes him an embarrassingly long time to register the fact that Sehun has placed his hands on his hips and slowly moving them both along to the melody, and Jongin, being as calm and collected as always, nearly suffers a mental meltdown when he finally processes Sehun’s touch on his waist and even though he, on any normal occasion, would fear for his life because of the crazed fangirls, Jongin can’t bring himself to give it a second thought so he opts to fight back the blush that’s creeping up his neck as he wraps his arms around Sehun’s neck, the latter subsequently pulling them closer together (and thus saving Jongin from permanent skull damage when a beer bottle comes flying in his direction).

‘Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be…’

Being an avid fan of dancing himself, despite the fact that he’s (shamelessly) missed at least twelve lessons since the beginning of this month, Jongin is utterly relieved upon finding out that his slow dancing moves aren’t as mental breakdown inducing as he’d initially thought they would be; he’d definitely thought it would be more difficult than simply taking a few tiny steps every now and then and swaying back and forth a little, and he fidgets with a loose thread on Sehun’s sash whilst continuing to avoid staring into the latter’s eyes (Jongin knows that’s what people tend to do whilst slow dancing, but he doesn’t have the courage to since, again, he doesn’t want to end up getting trampled. Well, that, and because he worries he might burst into laughter if he looks at the tacky, silver headgear on Sehun’s head). Jongin doesn’t know how many dancing lessons Sehun has experienced in his life, but the brunet figures it must be a few considering the fact that Sehun is, unsurprisingly enough, as calm and relaxed as ever and Jongin seriously wonders how Sehun does it so well.

‘Take my hand, take my whole life, too…’

When Jongin assures himself that no drunk, psychotic females are secretly plotting his demise somewhere in the bathrooms, he relaxes significantly, promptly reminding him about how incredibly tense he’s been the entire time, and gradually musters the courage to look up and into Sehun’s eyes (or at least at the latter’s face) after coming to the conclusion that keeping his gaze fixated on something completely different might look a tad bit awkward after a while, at least on Sehun’s part. However, Jongin immediately wishes he didn’t do that, because the next thing he knows, all he’s seeing is black dress shoes, including Sehun’s, as well as the bottoms of a bunch of colorful dresses and a ton of empty beer cans and bottles, but Jongin barely gets a chance to question what the heck is happening when he suddenly feels a tug on his arm and, before he knows it, he’s looking at the words on Sehun’s sash again.

‘Jesus, are you okay?’ Sehun mouths, eyeing Jongin in concern. He tightens his grip around the brunet’s waist after the latter brushes himself off.

Looking around to make sure nobody saw (not that it would have mattered, anyway, since at least 99% of everybody in the room are drunk out of their minds and probably would have cared anyway, but still), Jongin clears his throat in embarrassment as he mouths something along the lines of ‘I stumbled a bit, sorry’, hoping the green spotlight on his face conceals the redness spreading across his cheeks (and that Sehun won't make a joke about Jongin falling for him, either, because he figures he'll run straight out of the building in that case). He does his best to regain his composure and it’s not until Jongin tastes a hint of pineapple mixed with what he assumes must be vodka or something like it on his tongue that he suddenly feels a rush of different emotions flow through his entire body, and he worries his knees might give in again, which is why Jongin is awfully thankful (and embarrassed) when he finds himself leaning in and resting his chin on Sehun’s shoulder instead, careful to avoid bumping his head against the latter’s crown in the process. To the sound of Elvis’s (heavenly, like Sehun’s) voice, Jongin nuzzles his face into the crook of Sehun’s neck, and he honestly doesn’t know if the alcohol is to blame, but he can’t help but think that Sehun’s perfume smells at least ten times stronger and ten times better than it usually does. A second later, Sehun presses a kiss amongst the brunet’s messy locks and Jongin fights the urge to remove his tuxedo in fear of breaking out into a sweat. That’d be embarrassing.

‘For I can’t help falling in love with you.’

As soon as the lyrics pour out from the speakers, Jongin feels Sehun’s hands rub the small of his back, which he normally would find cheesy and rather humiliating, but there’s something about it happening this time, right now, that makes Jongin’s heart flutter like the wings of the butterflies currently going haywire in the deepest parts of his gut. Lifting his head a little, Jongin promptly feels like he’s been kicked in the chest by a horse when he sees Sehun, whose entire figure is bathed in a gorgeous, pale blue light, staring at him with so much adoration that it takes Jongin a full minute to stop his head from spinning. Not to mention the crown on Sehun’s head, even though Jongin hates to admit it, makes the former look so powerful, so beautiful, so bold and so cool (mainly because the silver really compliments his jet black hair) and the fact that the twinkling in his eyes is a result of staring at Jongin, and only Jongin, is enough to nearly make the latter want to burst into tears. In fact, a second later Jongin actually does burst into tears, albeit discreetly, but he manages to conceal it by quickly resting his chin on Sehun’s shoulder again. He doesn’t know if saying that Sehun is his king would be appropriate, let alone correct, but Jongin seriously hopes it is.

As he traces invisible patterns into the back of Sehun’s suit, Jongin feels all his worries, awkwardness and anxiety disappear without a trace the minute he lets his eyes slip shut in relaxation, right after catching a glimpse of Yifan and Kyungsoo, who seem to be talking about God knows what, a few feet away. However, he barely gets a chance to close his eyes properly when Sehun suddenly leans away, promptly making Jongin’s mind swirl in confusion, only to feel a certain weight being placed on top of his head, and Jongin figures it doesn’t take a full blown genius to figure out what it is. He barely gets a chance to react, though, because less than a second later, the entire room erupts into a fit of loud, nearly maniacal screaming, promptly breaking the (semi) silence that filled the room mere seconds ago, and Jongin worries somebody might have thrown a rat or a spider into the crowd until a female voice fills the air.

‘I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world…’

Jongin slaps a hand on his forehead. . He’s suddenly feeling awfully irritated, not because he hates Aqua or this song, in fact, he’d argue that ‘Barbie Girl’, despite what most people say, is one of the best songs to exist, but because he hates the feeling of being ripped from peace and serenity, and it’s not until the entire crowd starts singing along (off key) that Jongin is reminded about the fact that he and Sehun aren’t, in fact, the only people on the dance floor and in the room. He almost contemplates going straight up to the DJ and demanding he switch back to the previous song, because the idea of Sehun leaving him to relocate his queen makes Jongin feel queasy. But, in front of him, Sehun looks overly amused if anything, and it takes every fiber in Jongin’s being not to cry when Sehun subsequently bounces up and down to the beat, clearly getting into the rhythm, and Jongin can’t help but find the sight endearing, to say the least. Oh well, at least Chanyeol isn’t he-

“It’s my song!!! Oh my God, they chose my song!!!” Chanyeol shouts over the music, whacking Jongin on the back as if to greet him with his presence, after he apparently appears out of nowhere, and he immediately shakes his hips to the beat of the song. Next to him, Jongdae does the same, even though the latter looked dangerously close to not being able to stand upright less than half an hour ago. “Oh, you’re the king now, huh? Nice, it suits you!” he yells, pointing to Sehun’s crown on Jongin’s head.

Sputtering, Jongin chokes out a 'Yeah’ before he feels a hand on his shoulder, nearly making him jump out of his own skin. He whirls around, only to be met with the sight of Baekhyun and Junmyeon, who hurry to join the four of them, and upon closer inspection, Jongin notices the distant look in their eyes, and he nearly chuckles when the redhead momentarily shoves a full glass of God knows what in his face. “Thanks-”

“Drink up,” Baekhyun practically yells at the top of his lungs, either so Jongin will hear or simply because he’s having trouble controlling the volume of his voice, and he half-assedly fist pumps the air when the brunet subsequently downs the entire glass in one swig.

“You look very nice!” Junmyeon shouts with a pointed look at Jongin, who only smiles sheepishly. His auburn hair is tousled beyond belief and his eyes are slightly glazed over and it’s not until he belts out the following lyrics to the song, those being along the lines of ‘Life in plastic, it’s fantastic’, that Jongin nearly laughs his chin off because he definitely didn’t stay true to his ‘No dancing our asses off to Barbie Girl’ promise.

“Got somethin’ for ya, too,” Chanyeol hollers, handing Sehun a relatively full beer bottle, which the latter graciously accepts and takes a long swig of a second later. He jumps up and down, practically screaming the next line at the same time as Jongdae and Baekhyun. “You can brush my hair, undress me anywhere!-”

“-Imagination, life is your creation,” Sehun, Jongin and Junmyeon all sing (or rather, scream) simultaneously, their voices immediately getting drowned in the voices of the rest of the crowd as well as the loud bass.

‘Come on Barbie, let’s go party!'

Picking up a half empty beer bottle lying neglected on the floor, Junmyeon hands it to Jongin, presumably because he assumes that the latter is in dire need of something more to drink, and Jongin wraps his hand around the cold base and takes a sip, feeling his head and nerves buzz as he feels the fizzy liquid make its way down his throat, promptly euthanizing every single butterfly in his stomach. In front of him, Jongdae stumbles and nearly falls flat on his face after attempting to steal Junmyeon’s beer bottle, only for Chanyeol to swoop in and catch him in the nick of time. Now that Jongin thinks about it, he has no idea where he’s heard this song given that he knows all the lyrics, shamefully enough, but he can’t bring himself to care as he bounces up and down to the beat, breaking out into an ear to ear grin when Sehun subsequently (and elegantly) walks towards him.

"I'm a blond bimbo girl in the fantasy world, dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly,” Sehun sings into the beer bottle in his hand, nearly making Chanyeol and Junmyeon roll around on the floor in laughter, whilst sending Jongin a smug look. He grabs Jongin’s right hand with his free hand and gives the top of it a loving kiss, making Jongin flick the top of his head with a squawk of ‘You’re not even blond, Sehun, you idiot!’.

“You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamor in pink, kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky,” Chanyeol belts before putting his hands on Jongdae’s hips and swaying their bodies back and forth, much to Jongin’s amusement (he just hopes that Jongdae doesn’t feel sick and end up vomiting in Chanyeol’s face).

Looking around, Jongin notices they’re taking up quite a large portion of the dance floor, which is actually pretty large overall (not that he’d even think about asking Chanyeol or the others to move, because it definitely wouldn’t work) and he nearly laughs when he sees essentially three large, separate groups; three chunks of human masses, blindly flailing their arms in all possible directions, and he didn’t think singing along to something like ‘Barbie Girl’ would be this amusing, especially when Sehun dramatically runs his hand through his (non blond) hair before dramatically blowing Chanyeol a kiss, to which the latter responds by pretending to gag and vomit. Come to think of it, Sehun’s resemblance to Barbie is striking, given his long limbs (if only he were blond again, Jongin thinks sourly), and Jongin promptly walks over and playfully smacks Sehun in the chest, rightfully earning him a head of even messier hair as punishment.

‘You can touch, you can play if you say "I'm always yours!”’

“What the hell, Sehun, my hair, you can’t just mess up my hair, do you know how long I spent fixing it just for you, you ,” Jongin yells, adjusting the crown on his head so it won’t slide off, and he sends Sehun a dramatic pout for emphasis. A drunk dancer subsequently offers him her drink after saying something along the lines of ‘If I finish this, I’ll hurl for the eleventh time’, so he happily accepts it before downing it all in one go, ignoring Chanyeol, Jongdae, Junmyeon, Sehun and Baekhyun’s mutual looks of envy all around him. “ers.”

“Yeah, he spent like, four years perfecting it just for you, you ,” Jongdae yells in Sehun’s face, nearly falling over after he tries smacking the taller upside the head, much to Sehun’s amusement. “At least show your man some respect!” he adds, pointing to Jongin who feigns a look of pure hurt.

“I also want a rose in my hair,” Junmyeon whines, reaching across and plucking the pink rose from behind Jongin’s ear, making the latter emit a squawk of surprise. “I think it looks better on me, it definitely looks better on me,” he says, half-assedly trying to tuck the flower behind his own ear. Jongin thinks he looks like an idiot.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “You look like a d-u-m-b-a-s-s,” he hollers and Jongin is surprised that he even managed to spell the word correctly on the first try.

“Be nice, Jongin, my baby,” Sehun shouts, grabbing Jongin’s waist when the latter moves to whack Junmyeon in the face (which probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway, considering the fact that the brunet feels like the entire dance floor is rocking back and forth), and he holds Jongin close to his chest before leaning in close to his face, seemingly to kiss him. Except he never gets to, because a millisecond later, his eyes fly open and he lets out the loudest scream Jongin has ever heard from a human being. “Oh my God, oh my God-”

‘This was never the way I planned, not my intention…’

“Sehun, this song is horse , and Kim Perry’s ugly as hell,” Junmyeon slurs, dramatically sticking his fingers in his ears as he tries to block out the noise.

‘I got so brave, drink in hand, lost my discretion...’

Watching Sehun shake his hips and dramatically bounce up and down to the vocals of none other than Katy Perry before him, Jongin can’t help but double over in laughter, careful to avoid getting his fingers smashed in by some drunken woman’s high heels, because even in his semi dazed state, Jongin can still see the split between Sehun on the field (and at school, for that matter) and Sehun as soon as he gets the chance to jam out to Katy Perry, which Jongin assumes doesn’t happen often, considering the fact that Sehun is gripping his chest and belting out the lyrics (which go unheard over the loudness of the music and the rest of the singing) like it’s the end of the world and Jongin doesn’t know if the overall commotion is to blame, or the fact that his head is getting foggier by the minute (courtesy of Baekhyun, who just returned from the bar after purchasing a drink for each one of them), but either way, he finds himself screaming out what he thinks are the correct lyrics (even though he honestly couldn’t care about getting the words right at this point) whilst rolling his shoulders along with his hips. Jongdae and Baekhyun soon join him, much to his amusement (even though he’ll admit that going all out while dancing with a drink in your hand is awfully difficult, and he ends up spilling some of it on his suit at some point).

“It’s not what I’m used to, just wanna try you on,” Junmyeon sings, purposefully making his voice as high pitched as possible to match that of Perry’s and Baekhyun has to kiss him on the mouth to get him to stop, even though Jongin personally didn’t find it all that humiliating (but then again, he figures he would’ve run off and hidden if it were Sehun singing like a girl instead, so).

‘I’m curious for you, caught my attention!’

“I kissed a girl and I liked it,” Sehun, Chanyeol and Junmyeon simultaneously belt out at the top of their lungs, almost like there’s no tomorrow, and if it wasn’t for the fact that his head feels like it’s floating amongst the clouds high above, Jongin would have ripped Sehun’s mouth off of his face in embarrassment. As much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Jongin promptly refrains from singing said line due to the reason that the thought of kissing any species of the female gender makes him cringe and want to stick a bar of soap in his mouth (he figures if he told this to Jungah, he’d never hear the end of it), and he doesn’t want to get caught singing, saying or screaming it out loud in public, drunk or sober. The spotlight above them shifts slightly, momentarily bathing Sehun’s entire figure in a gorgeous, ethereal shade of neon blue and Jongin nearly chokes on his own spit because Sehun honestly looks like a (blue) angel sent from the holiest parts of Heaven (now that Jongin thinks about it, he wonders if Sehun has ever thought the same thing about him, but he quickly dismisses the thought).

“I kissed a girl just to try it,” Junmyeon yells, his voice surprisingly stable for somebody whose vocal cords and lungs should be worn out and non existent at this point, Jongin figures.

“Hope my boyfriend don’t mind it,” Sehun mouths whilst staring Jongin square in the eye, making the latter giggle and blush profusely (thankfully, a spotlight the same color as his reddening face hits him shortly after, much to his relief). He takes three confident steps forward (although Jongin can tell he’s having a bit of trouble staying vertical) Jongin before placing and running his hands down the brunet’s back. “I really do,” he adds after leaning in closer to Jongin so his lips are a half inch from the shell of the latter’s ear. Inevitably, Baekhyun and Jongdae erupt into a fit of drunken giggles when Jongin squawks.

‘It felt so wrong, it felt so right, don’t mean I’m in love tonight.’

Mind still cloudy from the huskiness of Sehun’s voice, it takes Jongin some time to pull himself together, so he decides to take a sip of his drink while he does. He raises the glass to his lips, ready to take a swig, whilst feeling Sehun’s hands, which are still all over his back, making their way down and tracing his spine and stopping at the small of his back. It’s not until Jongin momentarily feels what must be a pair of hands caressing his backside that he nearly drops and shatters the glass in surprise, a wave of heat immediately washing over him like a tidal wave as he practically whacks Sehun upside the head as he flails his arms in all directions. “What the heck, what the heck, Sehun,” he babbles, feeling his face heat up even more when he hears Baekhyun, Jongdae and Chanyeol (and even Junmyeon) roars of laughter.

‘I kissed a girl and I liked it, I liked it!’

“Grabbing your , what a romantic,” Jongdae shouts loud enough for Jongin to hear as he bounces up and down to the music with Chanyeol by his side. “Why don’t you ever grab my ?” he asks, a hint of genuine hurt in his voice and Baekhyun promptly spits out the cocktail in his mouth all over Junmyeon. A second later, the DJ increases the volume of the music, much to Sehun’s delight and Jongin’s amusement.

“Excuse you, I like to stay gentlemanly,” Chanyeol retorts, nearly stumbling backwards when he slaps a hand on his chest in offense. “And no, he’s no gentleman,” he adds, pointing to Sehun, who looks like he’s standing on stage and singing to the President. “He’s weird, but in a good way, so we love him for it, especially because he’s good with balls!” He shoots Jongin a thumbs up and Baekhyun immediately spits his drink straight onto Junmyeon’s face again. “Seriously, he’s the best effin’ player on the team, he’s the captain, hello? He’s good with balls!”

“I’m sure he is,” Jongdae yells, his voice drowning in the bass, rightfully earning him a slap in the stomach from Jongin.

Rolling his hips to the melody, Jongin takes a sip from his own cocktail, which happens to be in an abnormally large glass, not that he’s complaining. “Shut up, Dae, you fu-” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before, the next thing he knows, Chanyeol is leaning in close so only he can hear him speak. Now, Jongin isn’t sure what he just heard, given the music and overall loudness of the room and all, but he’s at least 99% sure he just heard Chanyeol say something along the lines of, ‘Trust me, if it wasn’t so darn jam packed in here, Sehun would lay you down and you silly right here on the floor. But I mean, it’s not like you’d need to worry about being too loud, you know?’ and he nearly smacks Chanyeol’s mouth off of the latter’s face. “Oh my God, what the hell! You !”

“It’s trueeeeeee,” Chanyeol screams, seemingly to nobody in particular before he reaches over and taps a random stranger on the shoulder and Jongin’s jaw nearly hits the floor when said stranger nods before handing the taller their beer can. Talk about spot on flirting skills.

A second later, the song is abruptly cut off, much to Sehun’s disappointment, and Jongin blinks a little when a song he’s definitely heard at some point blares through the speakers. He knows it’s a song Junmyeon likes, given that the latter subsequently jumps up and down like he’s won the lottery, it’s just that Jongin can’t remember what it’s called, and it’s not until the words ‘Coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine’ fill the air (closely followed by Junmyeon's exhilirated scream of 'My song, my song!'), causing everybody in the room to erupt in a fit of screams, that Jongin remembers.

Jongin doesn’t really pay attention to the next couple of songs for two reasons, those two reasons being partially that his head feels like it’s adopted and started living a life of its own, one Jongin can’t keep up with, and the other reason being that with each song, Sehun seems to get even more attractive (if that’s even possible), and at one point, Jongin clearly recalls stopping mid dance just to ogle the taller as he swayed his body back and forth oh so endearingly to the beat of ‘The Ballad Of Mona Lisa’, ‘I Got You’ and some other The Killers song he doesn’t remember the name of. Jongin clearly recalls it because some drunk dancer had bumped into him, causing him to spill some of his cocktail onto his shoes, shortly before snapping out of his trance, and because Sehun had laughed his contagious laugh shortly after.

In fact, Jongin thinks he would have remained as unmoving as a dead tree if it hadn’t been for Sehun, because a few seconds (or minutes? or hours? Jongin isn’t sure) later, the latter is standing less than three inches away from him and tucking a lock of hair behind the brunet’s ear, and it takes Jongin a while to register that ‘Last Friday Night’ is no longer playing.

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the entire room seems to change, at least in Jongin’s opinion. The crowd is still as bumbling and uncoordinated as it’s been since they first came in, but Jongin can’t help but feel as if something is different, and he figures that it’s either that or the buzzing in his head is slowly getting the best of him. Either way, the familiar melody that pours out from the speakers (even though the crowd’s loud screaming and cheering makes it hard to hear the first few bars), combined with the spotlight, that changes into a wonderful shade of neon blue and that Sehun is staring at him like they’re the only two people on Earth, makes Jongin’s heart skip a beat (he honestly doesn’t know if the alcohol is to blame or the power of Sehun’s gaze).

‘Cause you’re a sky, you’re a sky full of stars…’

“Is this Coldplay? Oh em gee, I love Coldplay,” Chanyeol yells, clapping his hands together like a seal on ecstasy. “I wonder who picked this song!!! Who picked this song????? Was it you?” He grabs a stranger’s shoulder and promptly lets go when they shake their head. “Was it you???? Hey, listen, did you pick this song?!” He huffs in irritation when nobody answers him and downs the remaining contents of his beer.

‘I’m gonna give you my heart…’

Even though he’s trying his absolute hardest to move around a bit in order to avoid getting elbowed in the face or stepped on by the drunken strangers surrounding him, even though he’s not very far from becoming one himself, Jongin can’t bring himself to even move a muscle. Even though he’d never say it out loud, it’s almost as if he’s been petrified by Sehun’s eyes as the latter continues to beat him with his (rather glossy, but otherwise sharp) stare, and no matter how much his brain is screaming at his legs to move, Jongin remains glued to the floor (apparently, getting stared at is a perfect way of sobering up) as he unconsciously registers Junmyeon, Chanyeol, Jongdae and Baekhyun pairing up around him. Blaming it on the lights, Jongin curses under his breath when he feels himself growing extremely hot and he’s lucky he chose not to bring his jacket or else he thinks he’d die of heatstroke right on the spot.

‘Cause you’re a sky, cause you’re a sky full of stars…’

Blinking a little when his vision briefly goes a little blurry, Jongin nearly flinches when Sehun snakes his arms around his waist, securely holding him in place, and Jongin seriously hopes he doesn’t start sweating profusely in Sehun’s grip, especially when the latter lovingly rubs the small of his back. The song, which Jongin can’t remember the name of for the life of him, is a rather cheesy one and Jongin would go as far as to call it unromantic for multiple reasons, but he quickly takes it all back when Sehun smiles at him, and even in his hazy state, it’s a sight Jongin sees clearly and wishes he never saw, because he worries his knees might give in like they did earlier.

‘Cause you light up the path…’

It’s a heavenly sight indeed, the way Sehun’s face is completely drenched in the brightest shade of blue, and despite that, Jongin can still make out his sharp facial features, such as the contours of his face and his high cheekbones (and his eyebrows, of course). Sehun’s eyes glimmer in the darkness as he keeps them locked on Jongin, who is clearly trying his hardest not to blush and look away, and, with the calming melody filling his ears and head, Jongin finds himself wrapping his arms around Sehun’s neck before he gets a chance to process what he’s doing. Sehun’s suit jacket (or is it the sash? Jongin doesn’t know) is velvety under his touch and Jongin unconsciously runs his fingers across the smooth material. To his right, in an empty space, he sees Junmyeon, with a beer bottle in hand, practically attacking Baekhyun’s face with his mouth and if it wasn’t for the fact that the redhead reciprocating, Jongin would have called 911 and reported a case of cannibalism.

‘And I don't care go on and tear me apart, and I don't care if you do…’

Sehun mouths the lyrics whilst staring Jongin in the eyes as he tucks a lock of brown hair behind the latter’s ear, where the rose would have been if it wasn’t for Junmyeon, and Jongin can do nothing but smile a little, not only at the absolute cheesiness of it all, but at the way Sehun subsequently runs his thumb across his cheek. The empty feeling Jongin felt after Elvis’s song (at least he thinks it was Elvis) ended and ‘Barbie Girl’ started playing is completely gone, vanished without a trace, as he continues to look into Sehun’s eyes as if he’s searching for the answer to life in the taller’s glittering dark brown orbs.

‘Cause in a sky, cause in a sky full of stars, I think I saw you.’

When Sehun pulls him closer, Jongin can’t help but give up on fighting back the blush that quickly spreads across his face (this time, he mainly blames the alcohol and its godawful ability to make him flush over just about anything) when he feels Sehun’s body pressing against his and Jongin instinctively buries his face in the crook of his neck. Sehun smells like a mix of men’s cologne and perfume and an entire football stadium (Jongin seriously doesn’t know how that’s possible) and Jongin tightens his grip around his neck, hoping Sehun can’t feel the frantic beating of his heart when the latter tightens his own grip. In fact, Jongin fears it might leap out of his chest when Sehun suddenly leans away and his eyes flicker down to his lips, but before he has a chance to even react, Jongin sense a certain presence right next to him, and he automatically turns his head to the right.

‘Cause you’re a sky, you’re a sky full of stars…’

Two girls that Jongin doesn’t recognize stare at both him and Sehun (although mainly Sehun) like they’re a rare species of exotic animal, and for once, unlike the rest of the girls in the room, they don’t look faced and long gone, and while the thought may be comforting, it makes Jongin’s gut churn in discomfort. He simply dismisses them, hoping they’ll go away and mind their own business, which is why he feels a lump form in his throat when they continue to stare wide eyed at them, almost like they’re expecting something magical to happen. Now, this time, Jongin seriously doesn’t know what is to blame, be it the alcohol or his own feelings (which are starting to gradually fade with each song, it seems), but he only feels the lump in his throat grow even bigger when the thought of Sehun looking up and spotting them suddenly hits him, and even though the outcome may be totally different, Jongin is torn between walking over and telling the girls to off and simply moving him and Sehun to a different spot on the dance floor. But he soon realizes that moving somewhere else may be difficult, since the entire floor seems to be jam packed at this point, so Jongin swallows his words and opts to tighten his grip around Sehun’s neck instead while hoping the latter doesn’t look up.

‘I want to die in your arms…’

Constantly sneaking glances to his right, Jongin bites his lip in irritation when he spots the same pair of bright dresses, in the same spot, and he comes to the conclusion that they’re simply staring at the crown on his head (because who wouldn’t ogle somebody wearing a crown they didn’t actually earn?) before squeezing Sehun like it’s the end of the world, hoping the latter doesn’t choke to death.

However, a second later, Sehun does look up, seemingly to say something or simply stare at Jongin, and his gaze automatically flickers to the right and, despite the rather distant look in his eyes, he instantly spots the two females, who practically bounce up and down in excitement after noticing him staring. Jongin swallows and tugs on Sehun’s collar in an attempt to suggest they move somewhere else, and he honestly doesn’t care if he ends up getting squashed to death by the crowd at this point, Jongin figures that would feel much better than having to endure seeing the long haired bimbos ogle Sehun like he’s some sort of Greek god (which wouldn’t be far from the truth, but still) come to life.

‘Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark...’

Sehun sends Jongin an unreadable look that makes the latter clench his jaw in worry, and it’s not until Jongin feels Sehun’s arms slowly leave his waist that he feels as if he’s been punched in the gut, and Jongin is so caught up with plotting double (female) homicide whilst wondering where on Earth Yixing and Minseok are (he figures if Sehun is going to spend the rest of the night dancing with these two women, he might as well have a chat with them about their game tomorrow whilst bawling his eyes out) that he’s oblivious to Sehun subsequently tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

‘I’m gonna give you my heart..’

Turning his head to face Sehun, Jongin opens his mouth to say something (that he most likely would have regretted) before his words suddenly die in his throat and disintegrate, the overly sweet taste of pineapple momentarily filling his head.

‘And I don't care go on and tear me apart…’

Shortly after, Sehun gently places his hands on either side of Jongin’s head whilst the latter tightens his grip around Sehun’s neck while he tries not to collapse on the floor. The brunet vaguely registers the faint sound of exhilarated screaming, closely followed by a camera click (he hopes he isn’t framed as the guy who stole the queen’s king at the senior prom), but he quickly dismisses it as he feels his eyes slip shut, all (murderous) feelings and thoughts disappearing without a trace when Sehun moves his lips against his own (Jongin is actually surprised at how perfectly their lips fit together, but he would never say it out loud). On the other hand, Jongin is awfully glad he didn’t end up biting down on Sehun’s lower lip in surprise a second ago, because he doesn’t think he’d be able to live it down.

If there were cameras and microphones surrounding them right now, Jongin would definitely feel like an actor in a cheesy 80s or 90s high school chick flick, and the mere thought makes him giggle out loud (which would quite unfitting considering the fact that every capillary in his body is on the brink of self combustion), which causes Sehun to pull away a second later. Thankfully, the girls are nowhere to be seen, and Jongin figures they either fainted from excitement or got bored and left.

‘...And I don't care if you do, cause in a sky, cause in a sky full of stars, I think I see you…’

“If you call me cheesy I swear to God I’m taking my crown back and leaving you here,” Sehun yells after leaning in so only Jongin can hear. His lower lip is shimmery, almost like he’s wearing lip gloss, and he runs a hand through his hair, which falls in his face perfectly.

‘Cause in a sky cause in a sky full of stars I think I see you, I think I see you…’

Jongin shrugs nonchalantly, even though it feels like his lips are on fire and a dozen firecrackers have been set off inside his body. He grabs Sehun’s hand and is about to spew something witty when he suddenly feels a hand grab his arm, making him emit a startled cry which thankfully gets swallowed up by the pounding bass.

‘Cause you're a sky you're a sky full of stars, you’re such a heavenly view...’

“Oh my God, did you two just kiss?!” Chanyeol hollers, mouth impossibly wide, almost like a confused goldfish, as his gaze darts back and forth between Jongin and Sehun, and the brunet seriously questions his ability to constantly appear out of the blue.

Baekhyun soon rushes over, dragging a stumbling Junmyeon by the wrist. “I think they did!!!” he screeches, jabbing Jongin in the chest painfully. “Anyway, I caught this idiot trying to sneak a smoke, but I got ‘em!!” He retrieves Junmyeon’s cigarette box from his pocket, which the latter tries to grab with no success. “These are going in the toilet, Joonie, you can bet your on that!”

“No, you can’t, you can’t, those are mine, those are my babies, I can’t live without them!” Junmyeon yells, and Jongin thinks he sounds like he’s on the brink of tears, which wouldn’t be surprising. He attempts to reach out and snatch the box out of Baekhyun’s hand, only to stumble forward and nearly fall on his face. Thankfully, Jongdae catches him, even though the latter looks even more intoxicated than Junmyeon does.

“Can you kiss again?” Jongdae shouts, pointing to Sehun and Jongin, who both chuckle. “Pleeeeeeeeeeease?”

“I won’t kiss anyone on request,” Sehun retorts, rolling his eyes dramatically, but he ruffles Jongin’s hair a second later when the latter frowns.

Taking a swig of the beer in his hand (Jongin seriously doesn’t know how many he’s had at this point), Jongdae coughs a little. His eye makeup is surprisingly intact, save for the smudged eyeliner in the corner of his eyes. “Fine, since you won’t, then I will,” he yells before turning around and stumbling over to Jongin, and it’s not until he leans in with his mouth alarmingly close to the brunet’s lips that Sehun grabs him by the back of his shirt and harshly pulls him back. “Hey! Come on!”

“Go kiss your own man,” Sehun shouts, shoving Jongdae, and Jongin watches in amusement as Jongdae stumbles towards Chanyeol and nearly headbutts the latter in the stomach. A second later, the song ends and the silence (save for the consecutive screaming of the crowd) that fills the air momentarily is awfully relaxing.

“I don’t wanna kiss him, he tastes like beer, tequila and vomit,” Chanyeol whines a little louder than necessary, promptly ignoring Jongdae’s irritated squawk of ‘So do you, you idiot!!!’.

“ for you,” Jongin cackles, squeezing Sehun’s hand. The mere thought of Jongdae kissing him, or him kissing Jongdae, is enough to make him want to vomit all over the floor, just like the latter has probably done more than once.

“There you guys are, Jesus Christ,” Yifan exclaims after pushing past the crowd and standing next to Baekhyun. “You ready? We gotta run,” he says, checking his watch. When nobody answers, he only rolls his eyes. “Am I talking to a wall? Well?? Hurry up and let’s go!”

Junmyeon takes a swig of beer from a bottle he found lying on the floor. “Are you wearing a bowtie?! You weren’t wearing a bowtie when you came here!” he yells, his voice going up an octave before he stumbles over to touch Yifan’s bowtie, only to trip over his own two feet and collide with the latter, nearly whacking him with his bottle.

“Yeah I ing was, you know that, moron,” Yifan retorts, shoving Junmyeon back and fixing his shirt. “Anyway, hurry the hell up so we can leave already!” He slaps Sehun and Baekhyun’s hands away when they both attempt to ruffle his hair. “Don’t touch me, for Christ’s sake!”

“But you look so cute!! Almost like a soft, cuddly caveman,” Baekhyun protests, tracing invisible patterns into Junmyeon’s chest. “And already? Whaddya mean? We can’t leave! What are you talking about? We’ve only been here five minutes!” He furrows his eyebrows.

Squeezing Sehun’s hand, Jongin adjusts the crown on his head before walking over and wrapping his arms around Sehun’s waist. In the corner of his eye, he sees a girl hunched over behind one of the speakers while her friend holds her hair behind her back. He doesn’t want to know how many times Jongdae (or anybody else) has done the same thing. “We’ve only been here three minutes,” he yells, correcting Baekhyun, and it’s not until the latter tries to protest again that Yifan grabs him by the sleeve and drags him away, Jongdae, Chanyeol, Junmyeon, Sehun and him following after like a row of baby ducks following after their mother.

Yifan brings them to a stop by the entrance and Jongin blinks when the volume of the music suddenly decreases by at least 40%. “We’ve been here for three hours and we’ve got a game tomorrow, remember? Coach said we need to be on the field by 10:30, so hurry your asses up so we can leave already!” he says, snapping his fingers in front of Jongdae’s face when the latter hiccups. “Hey! Are you listening?!”

“Have you had anything to drink? Want some?” Baekhyun asks, practically shoving his (empty) beer bottle in Yifan’s face, nearly whacking his forehead with it. He frowns when Yifan shakes his head. “Why not?!”

Slapping Baekhyun’s hand away, Yifan rolls his eyes. “Because somebody’s gotta take your bumbling idiots home so you don’t kill yourselves on your way back,” he retorts, pulling out his car keys from his pocket. “Not to mention there’s nothing prom-like about this, it’s just a ton of people getting faced and- Hey! Gimme that! Goddammit Jongin, you pest, gimme that- Hey! Don’t unlock my car! Someone could break in! Gimme that!” He tries to grab his keys out of Jongin’s hand with no success. “-”

“Lemme see,” Chanyeol yells, dropping his empty bottle on the floor and grabbing the keys from the brunet’s hand. He inspects it as if it were a creature from outer space before proceeding to point it at the crowd of people a few feet away, making Baekhyun and Sehun cackle. He presses the ‘Unlock’ button over and over, much to Yifan’s dismay. “Hey, is it possible to unlock people? Why won’t they open?!?!” he whines and it’s not until he moves to throw the keys on the floor that Yifan successfully manages to get them back.

“I don’t wanna game tomorrow,” Junmyeon whines childishly, grabbing Sehun’s hand. “I wanna stay here,” he sing-songs as he tries to give Sehun a hug, only for the latter to shove him away.

“If you all don’t get out in three seconds, I’m driving off without you and leaving you all here on your own, how does that sound?” Yifan huffs, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Not to mention they’ll probably kick you out soon if they see you anyway, so we might as well go!” He gestures at the door and is about to turn around when Jongin breaks free from Sehun’s grip and rushes over to the crowd. “What the hell- Jongin, come back here, you goddamn idiot- You guys stay here.” With a stern glare in Chanyeol, Junmyeon, Baekhyun and Jongdae’s direction, he grabs Sehun’s sleeve before dragging the latter towards the dance floor.

Jongin doesn’t recognize the song that’s playing, he thinks it’s a song by ‘The Chainsmokers’, but he doesn’t care because all he knows is that his head feels like it’s swimming through a pit of clouds and, next to him, a stranger, a rather pretty girl, hands him her drink for whatever reason (he figures sharing is a common occurrence around here). Wrapping his lips around the straw, which tastes like raspberry lipstick, he takes a sip of the rather strong yellow liquid, he beams when he sees Yifan and Sehun coming towards him. “Hi!”

“Jongin, we’re leaving, now come back here,” Yifan says sternly, ducking just in time to avoid getting whacked in the head by a drunken dancer. When the brunet only shakes his head, he drags a hand down his face. “Jongin, come on-”

“I’m the king so you have to listen to me,” Jongin says, pointing at Yifan, before grabbing Sehun’s hand. “That means you’re my servant, so you have to bow down to me,” he adds, taking another sip, the liquid burning his throat on the way down. “Yifan, you have to!” He stamps his foot angrily when Yifan only rolls his eyes. “Pleeeeeease?”

‘Oh don't you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me,’

“What song is this?” Sehun yells into the air, scratching the back of his head. Yifan has still got a firm grip on his sleeve and it’s not until he hears Baekhyun’s loud voice behind him that he turns around and beams.

“I said you're holding back, she said shut up and dance with me,” Baekhyun yells, bouncing up and down, ignoring Yifan’s frustrated groan. Jongdae, Chanyeol and Junmyeon come up behind him shortly after and Jongin thinks he sees Yifan mouth something along the lines of ‘I’m gonna kill you all’.

“This woman is my destiny,” Sehun belts while pointing to Jongin, making Jongdae and Baekhyun erupt in a fit of cackles. “She said, ‘Ooh-ooh-hoo, shut up and dance with me!’" He grabs Jongin’s hand and kisses the latter’s forehead before dipping his head down and taking a long sip of his drink.

“Guys! We need to leave!” Yifan shouts, grabbing Junmyeon’s hand and attempting to drag him towards the exit, only for the latter to break free and run off and hide behind Baekhyun. “Guys, come on, do you want a ride or not?! .”

‘Oh, don't you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me--’

“Since I’m the king, I’m gonna drive, okay?!” Jongin yells right in Yifan’s face, and the latter shoves him away. “You can’t say no, I’m the king! I get to drive! It’s an order!” he shouts, trying to reach into Yifan’s pocket and grab his car keys, only to fall forward and nearly spill his drink everywhere when Yifan promptly takes a step back.

“Jongin, can you drive us to Narnia? I wanna see lions,” Jongdae yells over the music before he spots the bar behind him. “I’m gonna-” He squawks when Yifan grabs his arm tighter than ever. “Hey! What’s the big idea?!?!”

“You’ve had enough, you imbecile,” Yifan yells, tightening his hold for emphasis. “I saw you vomiting your lungs out less than twenty minutes ago, I don’t want you blowing chunks all over my new seats, got it?” he adds, grabbing the back of Sehun’s shirt when the latter tries running off towards the DJ booth after saying something along the lines of ‘I ing hate this song, I’m gonna go beat him up’. “Come on, let’s leave, okay?!”

“But I wanna drive!” Jongin yells at the top of his lungs, making a few people, who presumably aren’t drunk out of their minds, turn and look at him with funny looks on their faces. Before Yifan can stop him, he reaches out and taps on a random person’s shoulder. “Do you think everyone should listen to the king no matter what?” he shouts and after said person screams out a ‘Yes’, he sends Yifan a smug look. “See?”

“Ask someone who isn’t on the brink of barfing up a lung,” Yifan yells before shaking his head in exasperation. “Seriously, I’ve had enough, let’s go!”

“Heya Jongin, oh, who’s your friend? He’s handsome!” Yixing screams as he comes up behind Yifan, and he leans in uncomfortably close to the latter, rightfully earning him a slap upside the head. “Jongin, control your boyfriends, for ’s sake!!!” he hollers before pointing to Jongin’s head. “You look very nice!” he shouts, apparently forgetting the fact that the crown doesn’t even belong to Jongin in the first place.

“Thank you!” Jongin yells back, downing the rest of his drink before bending down and placing it on the floor, a mere inch away from a pair of feet. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washes over him and he scrambles to blindly grab onto a pair of legs like a baby koala to keep himself from toppling over. However, it turns out that said legs belong to a total stranger, who turns around and pulls Jongin to his feet before eyeing the latter with a rather suggestive look.

‘I said, "You're holding back," she said, "Shut up and dance with me!”’

Mouthing an apology to said stranger, before they have a chance to undress Jongin with their eyes, Yifan grabs Jongin’s arm and growls in irritation. “Stop doing that, you moron, have some common decency,” he grits through his teeth, only to let out a squawk of surprise when he looks up (or rather, hears Baekhyun and Jongdae’s loud guffaws), only to be met with the sight of Sehun seemingly attempting to (half-assedly) wrestle the man behind the DJ booth as he tries to switch songs. “Jesus Christ, Sehun-”

“Play 'Highway to Hell''!” Junmyeon hollers, flailing his arms in all directions and accidentally whacking Yifan in the face. "Or 'Eye Of The Tiger'!"

“ that, play ‘Barbie Girl’ again!!!! Pleeeease?!” Chanyeol yells, trying to cover Junmyeon’s hand with his mouth.

When Sehun somehow manages to slam his hand down on the sea of buttons and switches in front of him, Jongin erupts into a series of unattractive guffaws (that thankfully go unheard over the music) when ‘Baby One More Time’ suddenly blares through the speakers at an incredible volume (Jongin figures Sehun must have accidentally hit the volume button in the commotion) and next to him, Baekhyun bounces up and down the the beat. “You like Britney Spears?!”

“Yeah!” Baekhyun yells, watching as the entire crowd blindly flails their arms around to the music. “Sehun’s an awesome DJ, you’re dating an awesome guy! I’m jealous!” he hollers right in Jongin’s ear, making the latter wince.

After Yixing stumbles off somewhere, Jongin watches in amusement as the DJ rolls around on the floor for a moment, only to frown in disappointment when the man suddenly gets up, only for Sehun to yell something along the lines of ‘You play ty music, go away!’ before attempting to shove the man away. Through his rather blurry vision, Jongin sees the man trying to grab Sehun’s arm and drag him off the stage with little success. “See? That’s my boyfriend you’re dealing with there! And he’s a footballer! And he’ll knock you right out if you so much as lay a finger on him!” he yells, making Baekhyun and Jongdae cackle in agreement. However, Jongin’s excited smile quickly turns into a frustrated frown when Yifan suddenly bolts up the few steps leading to the stage before grabbing Sehun’s arms whilst apologizing profusely to the rather terrified looking man. “Yifan, you buzzkill!!!!”

Now, Jongin has seen quite a lot of weirdness in his life, things he’s much too dizzy to think of at the moment, but he never thought he’d have the pleasure of seeing Sehun wrestle with not only his own teammate, but also a handful of security guards and he seriously wonders how one could possibly get into so much trouble for simply wanting to listen to another song. He runs up to Sehun when the guards successfully manage to pin his arms behind his back before leading him down the stairs. “Hey! I’m the king, look at my crown, see? I say you can’t arrest or kill this man, you hear me? Hey, I’m talking to you!!!”

“He’s a footballer!” Jongdae and Chanyeol yell, waving their bottles in the guard’s faces, making Yifan run over and smack them both upside the head. “You don’t touch a footballer! He’ll rip your heads off, you’ll see!”

All six of them, including Yifan, follow after the guards and Jongin watches in awe as they quite literally toss Sehun out and onto the pavement after walking out the doors, and for a second, Jongin worries the taller might have hit his head on the concrete, and he exhales in relief when Sehun simply stands up and dusts himself off, seemingly unfazed. When Baekhyun tries to run back inside to dance, he’s promptly cut off before the guards slam the door in their faces, nearly causing the redhead to tumble down the six steps leading to the building.

“What jerks!!” Baekhyun yells, his voice echoing and bouncing off every building in sight. “They kicked us out!!! Why would they do that?! I mean...God!” he adds sourly, taking  a sip from his beer bottle, which he managed to sneak with him.

“See, that’s what you get, you absolute morons,” Yifan huffs, grabbing Sehun’s arm when the latter nearly falls over after he tries standing up. “Jesus, I wish Kyungsoo hadn’t left early,” he mumbles under his breath before shooting all of them a strict look. “Listen, no more running off, alright? I don’t want to have to chase you down the street before you end up getting run over by a car!”

“I can outrun a car! I’m the king, I can do anything!” Jongin says boldly, skipping over to Sehun and patting the latter’s head before his eyes land on a traffic light. “Hey, look!”

Yifan follows Jongin’s gaze and it’s not until a car comes speeding down the road, closely followed by an excited twinkle appearing in the brunet’s eyes, that Yifan’s eyes widen and he rushes over and grabs Jongin by the back of the shirt when the latter takes a step forward and onto the road, the vehicle missing him by ten feet. “ing hell. Look, my car’s right over there, can’t you all behave and pull yourselves together just this once? Jesus , ing prom right before a game? Whose bright idea was that?” he grumbles, tightening his grip on Sehun’s arm when the latter accidentally trips over his own foot. “Stay vertical, you !”

“Don’t be so angry all the time,” Sehun whines, his black hair a tousled mess atop his head, courtesy of the DJ, and Yifan growls in irritation when he reaches across the latter’s chest and attempts to hold hands with Jongin.

“Where are my cigs? Baek, gimme my cigs, gimme them, gimme them!” Junmyeon shouts, shaking Baekhyun’s shoulders, the latter only shaking his head. “I need them, you don’t understand-”

“You need them more than me?” Baekhyun asks in astonishment and cackles when Junmyeon only huffs in defeat.

“Man, this is the best day of my life,” Jongdae hums, dragging Chanyeol along the path. “Did the man beat you up, Sehun? Did you hit him?”

Sehun drunkenly shakes his head. “I didn’t want to, he had a big beard, he was scary looking,” he slurs, pointing to his own chin, and Jongin lets out a laugh that makes Yifan want to cover his ears. “Why’d he try to beat me up, anyway? Do I deserve to be discriminated against for liking Britney Spears?!”

“Make sure you rest well before the game tomorrow, set your alarm for eight in the morning so you’ll have time to warm up, okay?” Yifan practically shouts in order for them to hear. “Well?”

“Hey, I’m the king, I make the orders,” Jongin drawls, pointing to “his” crown. “And ow, let go, it hurts, you meanie,” he whines, trying to pry Yifan’s hand off. “Yifan!”

“So you can run off and try throwing yourself in front of a car again? that, I’ll be charged with suspected homicide, you idiot,” Yifan grumbles before sighing in frustration. “Since I don’t wanna let any of you go, could one of your reach into my pocket and get out my ke- Sehun, for ’s sake! No, gimme that! Hey!” He lets out a terrified squawk when Sehun, after fishing out his car keys, tosses them to Baekhyun, who barely catches them before they hit the ground. “Baekhyun, give me my keys! Come on! Don’t drop them, they’ll break! Hey!”

“Catch ‘em,” Baekhyun giggles, eyes darting around wildly.

“Me, me, me!” Jongin squeals, bouncing up and down as much as Yifan’s tight grip will allow him to. “Throw them to me!” Surprisingly enough, he manages to catch Yifan’s keys on the first try without dropping them and he eyes the silver object in his hand like it’s the eighth wonder of the world. “Man, Sehun, it’s as beautiful as you are, look!!”

“Duh, I’m more beautiful than anything in the world,” Sehun says with a wink whilst running his free hand through his hair and Yifan can’t help but let out a cackle.

“Yeah, you wish, now gimme that, you little insect,” Yifan hisses, letting go of Jongin’s arm so he can grab his keys back with lightning speed. He quickly presses the ‘Unlock’ button before shoving the keys as deep inside his pockets as possible. “Okay, everyone to the car, and don’t you dare go running off anywhere else, got it?”

“Can we stop for McDonald’s?” Jongin whines, pointing to his stomach, which grumbles a second later, as if on cue. “Pleeeease? I’m hungry!”

“Hey Dae, wanna see how many nuggets we can fit in our mouth at once?” Baekhyun asks Jongdae, who bounces up and down in excitement.

“I’m taking y’all straight home, nothing more and nothing less, now shut up and get in the car before I murder each one of you and toss your bodies into the nearest river,” Yifan grumbles before dragging Sehun and Jongin, who aren’t even standing up anymore, towards the car which is parked a few feet away. “And no screaming and or thrashing around back there, either, if I swerve and end up killing you all, I’ll take no blame for it, just saying,” he adds.

Baekhyun tosses the empty beer bottle over his shoulder and it shatters behind him a second later. “I wanna play with you guys tomorrow! Football looks so much fun!” he squeals, grabbing Junmyeon’s hand.

“You’re too short, tough guy,” Yifan mumbles, nearly stumbling when Baekhyun angrily kicks his behind. “Don’t ing- God, I hate you all, I better get paid for this, I swear to ing ,” he grumbles after Sehun and Jongin emit equally loud cackles. “Shut up!”

“Football’s pretty fun,” Sehun says, trying to stand up and failing miserably. “You kinda just--” He flails his arms in all directions as if to imitate a pass, hitting Yifan’s leg in the process. “And then you just--” He subsequently headbutts Yifan’s legs, nearly causing the latter to fall over. “See? It’s simple! I’ll be doing it tomorrow so you should come watch!!!”

“Hey,” Jongdae yells, tapping Yifan’s shoulder, “did you know Sehun and Jongin kissed?!”

“Cut it out, you ing idiot,” Yifan seethes, practically sprinting towards the car, and he doesn’t let go of either Sehun nor Jongin’s hands until he’s opened every single door. “Now get the hell inside and stay quiet,” he says, practically shoving the brunet in the backseat, closely followed by Sehun and he chuckles a little when a series of painful groans emit from the vehicle a second later. “That’s what you frigging get, you annoying pests.” Slamming the doors shut, it takes him five minutes to convince Baekhyun, Junmyeon and Chanyeol that his car isn’t in fact, secretly a giant, metallic robot that likes eating grown men, and with an irritated huff, he quickly shoves all three of them inside the vehicle before quickly getting behind the wheel, all whilst muttering an incoherent strings of curse words and profanities under his breath.

~~~