"Kyungsoo hyung isn't letting me drink!", Jongin sulked, relaying his problem to Baekhyun.

"Why? Aren't you of age already?", Baekhyun asked as he reached for his third cup of the drink, that had somehow already been filled.

"I am! That's the thing. Somebody tell him that!"

"Here", Baekhyun passed the beer can to him without drinking even a sip. It wasn't like it was helping much. His gaze fell on Suzy and he decided to talk to her, leaving Jongin to his own devices as they all clapped to Chanyeol singing with Jongdae.

Everyone attention was diverted away from whatever they were doing upon hearing a loud hoot from the middle of the room, several minutes later. A bottle and glass fell in succession followed by giggles.

"Jongin, what are you doing?", Kyungsoo’s eyes were widened in horror as he looked along with the rest of them at Jongin, who looked like he had fallen from a flight of stairs from his flushed cheeks and tousled hair. The guy grabbed another glass from across the bar counter and began inspecting it.

"Hyung, these glasses look so strong but they break once they fall. Why are all the beautiful things so weak?", Jongin's pouted, as he blinked at his brother who had an incredulous expression on his face.

"What are you doing? Are you drunk?", Kyungsoo took the cup that he had seen in Jongin's hand a while earlier and examined the nothingness in it. "How much did you drink?"

"Oh !", Chanyeol covered his mouth with his hand as he realized what had happened. He quickly whispered something in Jongdae's ear whose eyes turned into saucers as well. They both gulped and Jongdae went to relay the bad news to Yixing who was standing a little away from him, riveted by Jongin's drunk behavior.

Soojung's huff made their heads turn in her direction. "Of course they break! When you make them fall all over you!", She replied to Jongin's question, trying to be angry but only looking cute with her drunken gestures.

"Krys, what....?", Seungwan neared her friend, who she noticed looked every bit as fuddled as Jongin.

"What did she even drink, she has such a high threshold?", Yerim asked, concern for her sister growing.

"Crystallll", Jongin blinked a few times as he freed himself of Kyungsoo's light grip and started towards Soojung, stumbling to keep his balance. Soojung puffed a strand of hair away by blowing, as she saw Jongin approach her and muttered something unintelligible under her breath.

Jongin grinned toothily at her as Kyungsoo caught up with him, and held his arms out to keep Jongin steady. "You are so pretty you know!"

"Liar!", Soojung smiled narrowing her eyes playfully at Jongin. They all looked at each other, wondering what the hell was going on. Jongin's attention then turned to the girl standing next to Soojung. "Jumpy Noona!", He grinned at Seungwan whose forehead creased further but she barely had time to respond before Jongin reached out with both his hands and squished her cheeks, startling her. "You are so cute! No wonder hyung has fallen for you! "

 Taeyeon, who had been busy observing from afar, silently limped towards them. She picked up the cup she had seen Soojung drinking from a while ago and sniffed it, cringing in disgust immediately at the strong odor. She then went on to grab Jongin's cup, and repeated the same. "Did someone spike these drinks?", Taeyeon asked out loud, her face still scrunched up in distaste.

Standing a few feet away, Chanyeol, and Jongdae tensed up from what they were whispering to Yixing.

"Spill. Right now!", Junmyeon glared at the trio standing in the middle of the room, whispering between themselves, his arms folded on his chest.

"Wh-what, hyung?", Chanyeol's failed attempt at trying to appear calm in response to Junmyeon's inquiry, made the rest of them curious as well.

Junmyeon took a deep breath in exasperation. "Speak up before we make you"

Chanyeol looked around himself at the curious gazes of his friends and realized that there was no way out. "We were just trying to have a little fun! I swear this wasn't what we planned!"

"And what was your plan exactly?", Kyungsoo had gotten a good hunch of what could be happening, and he inched towards his taller friend, who cowered away from his accusing glare. Free of all cares, Jongin and Soojung were still mumbling to each other, things that none of them could really understand apart from them and giggled occasionally diverting everyone's attention to the intoxicated state they were in.

Chanyeol explained in a scared tone about how they had put a little something 'extra' in two of the drinks, thinking it might be fun. Though they left that part out, Baekhyun had a good idea of who those two drinks were meant for considering Chanyeol had especially handed him that beer can himself. Thank God he’d been saved from making a spectacle of himself.

"Are you insane? I can seriously not believe you guys!", Taeyeon reprimanded the trio after getting to know of their activities.

"Jongin has just gotten of age, he could have overdosed and fainted or even worse! How could you let him drink it?", Kyungsoo hollered.

"We didn't mean for him to drink it! We don't even know how it got to him!", Jongdae exclaimed in their defense.

"And who did you hope would drink it, hmm?", Baekhyun spoke up, trying to appear casual.

"Well...", Jongdae scratched the back of his head.

"Guys, I think they need to be taken home!", Tiffany pointed to Jongin and Soojung, who were getting drowsier by the second. Kyungsoo and Seungwan immediately got moving. Junmyeon and Yixing helped them till the car, with Jongin either clinging excessively to them or acting like he was bewitched by Soojung, who was too drunk to brush him away when he either leaned towards her or sang like a love-sick hero. For everyone else, especially Seungwan, the whole discovery was nothing less than interesting but she was too busy trying to keep Soojung steady with Yixing's help as they walked towards the car, to reminisce over it.

_

Once they were gone, everyone else got ready to leave as well seeing as it was nearly midnight and the party was clearly over.

"Baekhyun, let's go and get the dues settled", Taeyeon asked Baekhyun after she had bid Yuri goodbye and sent Sehun and Yerim home with Junmyeon and Yixing, even though the latter resisted much to it, saying he would help them clean up and then leave. Taeyeon knew he was feeling guilty about the plans he had made, which had not gone as expected, but she also knew he had a flight to catch tomorrow for China and therefore forcefully asked him to leave and rest.

Baekhyun just gave her a wary look in response. The alcohol seemed to have taken the edge off of him. He wasn't drunk – not yet anyway –  but feeling a little more carefree. He was sober enough to not want to be around her, partly because of the guilt he was feeling because of his behavior and he wasn't in mood of having any conversation with her regarding why he was being that way. Without answering her, he brushed past her towards Chanyeol, and asked him to accompany Taeyeon after handing him his credit card.

"Why can't you go yourself?", The taller guy asked.

"I just...", Baekhyun thought about what he should say that wouldn't sound too suspicious and his eyes met Suzy's just in time, and he smiled suggestively at her, finding the perfect excuse he needed. He looked at Chanyeol and gave him a knowing look "I have people to catch up with, you know...", Chanyeol followed his friend's line of sight to find Suzy, who was busy helping Tiffany clean up some of the mess they had created.

.............................

Taeyeon was about to turn around and retort to Baekhyun, for not answering her but her attention was diverted by Hyuk approaching her. Despite the fact he wasn't close to anyone there, he had helped her out a lot that evening and she felt grateful to him for it.

"I'll go with you to clear the dues!", Hyuk offered, and Taeyeon gave him a pointed look. "No way. Baekhyun and I can manage that. You seriously need to go home, it's very late!"

"But – “

"No buts. You have already helped out a lot with cleaning and everything. Thankyou"

Hyuk made a face at her and then scratched the back of his head. "Well, I'll drop you home then. After you get done here"

"There is no need for that. Tiffany is coming to my place for a girl's night so I'll go with her. But thanks for offering anyway", Taeyeon gave him a reassuring smile. "Now leave"

"Fine", Hyuk looked reluctant. "Have a goodnight! See you tomorrow"

"See you", Taeyeon waved at him as he went away and then turned around to search for the bane of her existence, only to get surprised by Chanyeol figure looming near her.

"Baekhyun asked me to go with you instead. He's – predisposed", Chanyeol told her sheepishly, and then cleared his throat, hoping he was blocking Taeyeon's view enough, so that she wouldn't be able to see Baekhyun flirting in the back of the room with Suzy. He was so done with his friend's shenanigans, not to mention how angry he was at him for showing the insolent attitude he had all evening. But now wasn't the time to lecture him on that. "He said he's going to finish up the rest here, so we should leave directly after paying"

Taeyeon sighed and then nodded in understanding. She had had a long day and there was nothing more she would like more than to slump down in her bed, enveloped in the warmth of the covers. She asked Tiffany to wait for her outside in the car, before she went away with Chanyeol.

_

"Are they asleep yet?", Kyungsoo asked, looking at the girl in the backseat, through the rear view mirror as he drove.

Seungwan turned her head very lightly, first to the right and then left to peek at the girl and boy, whose heads were resting on her two shoulders and was about to reply in affirmative when she was interrupted.

"I am still awake!", Soojung's head shot up from Seungwan's shoulder and she pouted, startling both Kyungsoo and her. "So no funny bussiness you two...alright?" Soojung narrowed her eyes in warning looking between two of them, and then slumped back on Seungwan’s shoulder. Both Kyungsoo and Seungwan rolled their eyes. Not like there was any fun to be had when there were two drunk sentinels with them.

Everything was silent for the next few minutes except for the sound of running engine and wheels on the road, as both Kyungsoo and Seungwan contemplated on whether they should ask each other the questions that had been running through their minds for some time now. Kyungsoo had thought a lot about it, especially ever since his talk with his mother and decided that he did like Seungwan a lot, enough to not want to let her go. Girls hadn't ever been on his mind much with walls he had built around himself, but Seungwan had managed to break past them and despite him trying to run away from her and deny his feelings at every opportunity he got, she had warmed her way into his life and he knew now that he didn't want her to leave.

But it didn't feel right to ask her about it right then, considering they weren't alone, even if the audience was two very drunk people who weren't going to remember much of what had happened the next day. Seungwan pondered over the same thing, deciding the circumstances weren't appropriate for her to ask Kyungsoo, no matter how much she wanted to.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat after a while, not wanting the silence to continue any longer. "Can I ask you something?"

Seungwan looked up, upon his inquiry. "Sure?"

"Do you mind if we stop calling each other with honorifics? It's starting to feel uncomfortable", Kyungsoo confessed honestly "I mean we're practically friends"

 Friends, Seungwan repeated in her mind and smiled. He had acknowledged it for the first time and it made her happy at the same time as anxious, about whether she had been thinking too much and he really just thought of them as just friends.

"We err – “, She thought about it for a moment. Truthfully she had started feeling a little uneasy with the formalities as well, but he was still older than her and she wasn't sure if it was easy transitioning into speaking to him informally. "We could, I mean. If you want"

Kyungsoo smiled. "I do. So what should we call each other?"

"Umm...", Seungwan didn't know what to say. She had called him sunbae, even in her mind, for as long as she could remember and she couldn't fathom calling him by his name all of a sudden.

"Jumpy Noona!", Jongin shot up from her left shoulder suddenly, making them both jump. "You should call her 'jumpy', hyung"

Kyungsoo reflexively lost control of the steering for a second, making the car swerve but he quickly regained it, thanking the lord there wasn't any car around in close proximity at that time. "What the hell Jongin?! We almost got into an accident!"

"Jumpy! You’re b-both jumpy! That's what-whatt you should call each other!", Jongin said in a slurred voice, trying to look awake but his drooping eyelids wouldn't let him.

"Go back to sleep!", Kyungsoo rebuked him, annoyed with his brother to no end.

Seungwan took a deep breath. Jongin and Soojung truly were keeping them on the edge of their seats.

"So have you thought about it?", Kyungsoo asked after a while, having calmed down from the almost heart attack Jongin had given him.

Seungwan considered her options. "Not really. Why don't you suggest something?"

"Well...", Kyungsoo said thoughtfully. "I don't have anything good in my mind right now, but you could just call me Kyungsoo or D.O. You can call me Oppa too if you want....", Kyungsoo offered, inwardly cringing at the last one. It reminded him way too much of the stalker he had, and he really wished she wouldn't choose to go for it, even if it was the most acceptable way of addressing him informally.

Seungwan's face fell a little at the suggestions. She wasn't comfortable calling him by his name, not yet anyway and 'Oppa' sounded a little too brotherly to her, having only ever had called Yixing that.

"Well how about I keep calling you 'sunbae' for now while talking informally? For a little more while maybe?", She asked, not wanting to call him Oppa anyhow.

"Well, sure. Whatever you like", Kyungsoo shrugged. He didn't want to force her to start calling him informally if she wasn't comfortable.

"What will you call me?" She asked after a while

Seung. He said in his mind what he had repeated countless times before. He really wanted to call her something different, something not many people called her. "How does 'Seung' sound to you? Not too informal I hope?"

Seungwan's heart leapt in her chest. The said word brought back too many fond memories. "My father used to call me that...." She admitted, trying to swallow a lump that had risen in very rapidly.

"Oh", Kyungsoo mentally slapped himself for reminding her of her dead father. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Let's forget I ever mentioned it"

"No....", Seungwan looked into her lap. Kyungsoo calling her that hadn't saddened her. No. On the contrary, it was a name she longed to be called again. "I would love it actually, if you called me that", she smiled and even through the rear view mirror, it stretched from her lips straight to Kyungsoo’s heart.

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A/N: A short one but I really wanted to update so here it goes. I'm neck deep in my professional exams right now, need all the prayers I can get. Hope you guys like this one too. The next chapter will probably be the end of the birthday fiasco, so stay tuned.

Thankyou for reading!