Joshua could handle his alcohol. He could drink four glasses of wine, and he wouldn't feel the slightest bit tipsy. He remembers the time Jeonghan and Seungcheol had invited him out to drink at a local night club. Just your typical college students getting drunk off their asses the night before exams.

It definitely wasn't his smartest choice.

They'd had a couple of drinks, and the effects were already visible on Seungcheol, as his alcohol tolerance was low. Jeonghan not so much.

Like Joshua, he could handle his alcohol well. Not as good as Joshua, but still relatively well.

Joshua remembered the night very vividly.

While everyone else had been puking their guts out, Joshua had been the one to hold their hair back, clean their faces with a cloth, and get them water to drink. He did have Minghao to help him, though. The younger, who lived in the same dorm as Joshua, happened to be at the club that evening. Minghao's alcohol tolerance was even greater than his, and he was thankful for that, or else he would've had to take care of almost half of the people in his dorm by himself.

It was like everyone was at the nightclub that night.

Even Junhui, his friend, who had a terrible tolerance for alcohol, getting tipsy after so much as a sip, had been at the club.

It wasn't hard to tell Junhui was drunk. After all, his face was a bright shade of red, his speech was slurred, and he was clinging onto Joshua like a lost puppy.

"Joshua-Hyung~, I'm not drunk, honest~,"

Junhui had basically clung to his back the entire night, which got annoying when he had to help Soonyoung and Seokmin up the stairs and into their own rooms.

He'd clung to him all the way to Joshua's own room as well.

"Jun, go back to your own room. I have to make some food," it was around one in the morning, and Joshua hadn't eaten dinner yet, and his stomach was practically screaming at him for any type of food.

Of course, Junhui was never one to give up on something he wanted, and he begged Joshua to let him stay.

He gave him the best puppy eyes he could manage, and Joshua's stubbornness broke, and here he was, reheating some leftover spaghetti in his microwave when it hit him.

Sure, Hong Joshua had a great tolerance with alcohol, everyone knew that.

His stomach couldn't handle it at all.

He felt the sensation of it before it was actually there.

It burned so badly he visibly choked, alerting Junhui, who immediately ran up to him, questioning what was wrong. Joshua could barely even speak the words to him, voice coming out raspy and weak.

"B-bathroom," Junhui didn't need to hear any more than that. He practically carried Joshua all the way to the small bathroom, placing him down in front of the toilet. It was at that moment, Joshua felt himself vomit, felt that familiar burning sensation coming up his esophagus, he felt it in his mouth, the horrible, rancid taste of the wine mixing with stomach acid.

Junhui had a hand on his back, rubbing up and down, while his other kept Joshua's hair away from his face, just as Joshua had done for so many others that night. 

At some point, Junhui had left to grab a glass from Joshua's kitchen. That's when Joshua seriously started to feel the effects, even worse than before, with the alcohol leaving his system through the vomit.

He was tired, no exhausted, and his fingers were digging into the toilet seat, trying to give himself leverage so he didn't fall down and smack his head on the toilet bowl.

The rancid taste in his mouth was worse than before, it felt like it was seeping into his tongue, his gums, his teeth. He felt like he would've needed a powerhouse to get even a fraction of the taste gone, and even with that, it would've still been unbearable.

Junhui had returned, albeit slightly later than he wanted due to his intoxication, but nonetheless, Junhui returned, a glass of water in hand, rushing to Joshua's side. Joshua felt Junhui slowly lift his head up, and felt something cool touch his lips. At first, he assumed it was the glass, but it was sitting at Junhui's side.

Junhui had grabbed a cloth from the kitchen and had wet it, bringing it to Joshua's lips to wipe off any lingering vomit.

Of course, Joshua's first reaction to the wet sensation was to recoil, the cold feeling of it contrasting to how much of a burning sensation his mouth had. Junhui was having none of that. He continued rubbing Joshua's back, hoping to calm the older.

He then leaned in by Joshua's ear and whispered, "Its okay, relax."

It was spoken in Chinese, yet Joshua still felt the gentleness in his voice and did his best to relax himself, trying to will his stomach into calming down.

Junhui began to lightly wipe his lips, and the proximity between the two of them began to dawn on Joshua, and he felt his cheeks turn a light shade of pink. He hoped Junhui would either assume it was from Joshua's intoxication, or that Junhui was to intoxicated himself to notice.

Unfortunately, Junhui noticed immediately.

"You don't have a fever or anything, do you?" His voice came out in the same gentleness as earlier, barely louder than a whisper.

Joshua noticed Junhui put the cloth down and he reached out to touch Joshua's forehead but froze. His hand would've been freezing cold from the cloth, so Junhui chose the next best option.

He touched his own forehead with Joshua's, checking for a fever.

Joshua held his breath, he didn't care about the burning sensation his throat still had. Junhui was so close to him and he'd be damned if he let Junhui smell how horrible the wine and stomach acid made his breath.

When Junhui backed away from him, Joshua finally let out a breath, watching as Junhui picked up the glass of water beside him. 

Joshua felt the hand that was on the middle of his back slide up to his neck and he shivered a bit. Having Junhui touch him like this was different, usually, he could handle the hugs and the cuddles and the clinging, because that was the type of person Junhui was. He'd never seen Junhui touch anyone the way he was with Joshua now.

"Joshua-Hyung, tilt your head back," Junhui spoke, and although he told Joshua to do it, it felt as if Junhui was still the one who tilted his head back.

He brought the water to Joshua's lips, tilting the cup ever so slowly so the water didn't come rushing out. Joshua didn't realize how thirsty he'd been, drinking half of the water nearly the moment it reached his lips. The burning sensation was starting to fade, and Joshua blinked, his face felt wet, and it wasn't from the cloth. He must've  started crying earlier from the pain.

Junhui's hand never left his back, even as Joshua's body sat up straight, his breathing evening out. He stared into the younger's eyes, so many emotions lingering in them.

Junhui then pulled him into a hug.

He felt Junhui's body shake for a second. His nerves must've been shot. After all, Junhui, who was intoxicated, had to somehow help Joshua through something he didn't understand the cause of at all.

"Jun–," Joshua began, but Junhui interrupted him, holding on to the sides of Joshua's face and pulling him in for a kiss. 

Joshua was so shocked he forgot to breathe, his eyes widening, and his mouth left agape when Junhui pulled away. He was pulled into a hug yet again, Junhui's grip even tighter around him.

"You scared me, Joshua," Junhui dropped the honorifics. "I love you so, so , so much. Please never scare me like that again."

He felt Junhui shake once more, and figured he was trying to keep himself from bursting into tears. Joshua slowly reached his arms up, placing them around Junhui's neck, and buried his head into the crook of his neck.

"I promise, Jun."