“Xiumin, c’mon! Let’s see how many free drinks I can get!”

Minseok had placed himself on guard-dog duty as he followed the young woman get drunker and drunker with each free shot when she loudly announced to bar people it was her birthday. By the time she came to her sixth group, he had to wrangle her away to go back to the reserved table that her brother and his girlfriend saved, only to see that they were on the dance floor, grinding up against each other with drunken happiness.

Unlike the last time he drank at a club, he had two shots of whiskey in his system, unlike the girl who was sporting a trashcan concoction of eight. She had clearly told the man that she wanted twenty and he made the decision that it wasn’t going to happen.

At one point she had to go to the restroom, and he wondered what was taking her twenty minutes when she came out with a group of girls, giggling and smelling like smoke. He rolled his eyes and immediately grabbed her, expecting her push him away to hang out with her newly-made friends. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his waist and smiled stupidly at him, “Xiuminnie! You’re still here!”

He didn’t understand the name switch, but he wondered if that was one of the things the charms of her drunk self: everyone gets a new name.

Placing his hands on her hips, she nuzzled into his neck, humming contently against the harsh beats on the dancefloor. “Xiumin… can you dance with me?”

“Um…”

“C’mon! It’s gonna be sho much fun!” Yeri cheered as she pulled away from him, makingsure to take his hand and pull him along, weaving through the colorful lights and sweating bodies as she was able to find Heechul and Taeyeon with accuracy. The girls hugged each other and yelled into each other’s ears. He noticed the look Taeyeon gave him before Yeri turned back around to face him, hooking her hands around his neck and giving him a bright smile before pulling him closer and starting to move her body.

Minseok couldn’t help his reaction as her black velvet skirt seemed to flip with each swing of her hip, his hands reaching to settle on them as he let some drunken confidence let loose and pull her closer. When he saw her bit her bottom lip, hiding a smile, he felt encouraged as he danced along with the sway, dip, and turns of his body. He may have also turned her around to press her into his pelvis, helping her gyrate her hips to help his heart race at how just amazing it felt to be this physically close to her.

The manager handled his alcohol very well, and maybe he was lying to himself that he was drunk, or even possibly making it an excuse that the birthday girl’s drunkenness was contagious, but he had many mished-mashed thoughts that what he was doing was both right and wrong. It wasn’t long before he was staring at her neck, wondering if he could continue to go a bit farther and place some kisses on her neck when she pulled herself out of his grasp and weaved herself into the crowd.

They must’ve not had been dancing more than twenty minutes before she escaped; and the man was on high alert as his eyes tried to adjust to finding the blonde girl in black velvet as he tried to find her. He was offered dances and drinks, and at one time may have taken those offers, but this was one of the things he feared when the girl first told him that her birthday was going to be at a club, and refused.

“…Four! Five! Six!”

Minseok turned to the direction of the jeering as he got closer to the bar, seeing a group of college students cheering the birthday girl on as she drank a line of colorful shots. “…Nine! Ten! Woo!”

He immediately rushed over, confused and angry when another guy swooped in, standing rather close. Yeri, as far as he could tell, was looking around, not even paying attention to the guy’s words. As he got closer, she yelled out his new nickname and immediately staggered away, grinning at him.

“Xuiminnie! Ten shots! I just won a bet and drank ten shots in under ninety seconds!”

Surprised by that, he was adding up the math in his head and made a face. Placing an arm around the girl, who wrapped her own arms around him, headed towards the table. He sat her down and made her drink a full glass of water while he texted her brother that they were going home. He had a feeling the novice drinker was not going to feel all that great in the morning.

Minseok had learned four things about drunk Yeri that made him so glad she wasn’t like her big brother. Whereas Heechul tended to be easily distracted, Yeri was super focused; such as making sure her hand was always on Minseok somehow. Many times, she was holding unto his sleeve, other times his hand, and a few times his belt loops. He was a bit nervous at one point at an intersection when she got bored and played with his tie, ending up pulling him closer with it; because a) he wanted her to do that again and b) he didn’t want to fall on her.

Yeri ended up calling everyone she knew a different name. Where he was Xuimin, Heechul