It’s interesting how your expectations of someone can be completely different from how they actually act. Yongjae was positive that Zelo would take one sip and change his mind. Oh how wrong he was.

“Hyunnng!” Zelo laughed, “Why is it so HOT!” he shouted the last word in Jongup’s ear. Jongup’s head flew off the table and immediately dropped back down. He mumbled something about Lucifer, prompting another bit of laughter from Zelo.

“Jongup,” Daehyun whispered on the other side of the boy, “how do you feel?”

The young man managed to groan loudly. Yongjae only had two beers and was keeping an eye on Daehyun and Jongup. He walked over carefully and shook Jongup’s shoulder. When he didn’t respond, Yongjae pulled him up.

“Let’s get him in bed for now.” Daehyun nodded and grabbed his other arm. Zelo watched them drag his friend out of the room before turning to Himchan.

“Ah, hyung~” he said with a bounce, “Can we go for a walk? It’s hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!” He bounced with every hot, inching closer to Himchan a bit each time. A smile tugged at Himchan’s lips. It was sickeningly sweet to watch Zelo act aeygo without being prompted to. The boy had become energized in his drinking, and was making a point to shout constantly at Yongjae and Jongup. Youngguk had long since left, declaring he was too old to put up with Zelo’s behavior. Now with Yongjae and Daehyun distracted, it was just Himchan and Zelo.

“Only for a short time.” Himchan decided, helping Zelo out of his chair. The younger stumbled a bit before balancing on Himchan’s shoulder. Upon opening the door, Zelo stretched his arms up to the dark sky.

“Do you know how I feel Himchan?” he asked, slurring a bit. “I feel so light, like the wind could blow me away if I don’t hold onto the world. But it’s weird because my body feels so heavy when I move compared to my light mind. It’s like if I had no body I could go anywhere!” he laughed again, “But you can’t go anywhere without a body! I’m speaking nonsense, huh?”

Himchan laughed a bit too, “Weirdly, what you’re saying makes sense. You aren’t pretending to be more drunk than you actually are in hopes of getting lucky, are you?”

Zelo actually blushed at this, making Himchan’s face flame up as well. The older looked around the outside for a distraction. “Want to try to ride your skateboard in this state?” he quickly crossed over and picked up the board. Zelo looked shocked at his hyung’s words.

“Himchan,” he protested, “didn’t they teach you in school?” The boy let out a giggle, breaking character, “You’re not supposed to drink and drive!” Himchan set the board back down and crossed back to Zelo.

“What did they say about drinking and walking?” he asked with mock intrigue.

“Nothing that I can remember…”

Himchan reached out and lightly took Zelo’s hand for the second time that night. His hand went from holding the palm in his own, to lightly caressing the other’s fingers while slowly moving down. Zelo watched, almost hypnotized as Himchan intertwined their fingers together. Zelo didn’t look up from their hands, his mouth slightly opened and his breathing speeding up. Himchan watched Zelo’s face closely for his reaction.

The older found himself leaning closer to that open mouth, but stopped himself. He tightened his grip on the boy’s hand and began walking instead.

“Then we’ll just have to see.” He finally replied, looking out into the night.

\0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/

Zelo lifted his warm face against the cool night breeze. He could feel his face flush from a mixture of the cold and the alcohol. His steps slowed down for a moment, when he felt the gentle tug of the hand holding his urging him to continue forward. Zelo observed their locked hands. They hadn’t spoken or let go for the past five minutes. Yet he didn’t feel uncomfortable in the silence. It was like being on a late car ride home after a family trip. If anything, the silence spoke words of comfort and understandings louder than any meaningless chit chat could have.

Zelo closed his eyes, and as a result became incredibly dizzy and ran straight into Himchan.

“Ah, watch where you’re…” the older man trailed off, confused when the younger rested his head against his shoulder, “Zelo-ah, what’s wrong? How do you feel?”

Zelo groaned and gripped Himchan tightly, “Spinning…everything.” Himchan’s eyes widened as he realized what was coming next.

“Open your eyes or you’re going to vomit.” Zelo’s eyes cracked opened a bit before covering his mouth. “It’s all in your head, just focus on something that’s not moving.” Himchan tugged Zelo down so he was kneeling on the ground and facing the street. He thought back to his first time getting drunk. He had become so dizzy and wouldn’t open his eyes. It only had made him dizzier though, and he ended up vomiting all over one of his friends.

Zelo opened up his eyes and focused on a crack in the sidewalk. The world slowed down a bit, and he realized that the sidewalk wasn’t actually spinning. His heartbeat slowed as well. He smiled up at Himchan feeling much better. Himchan smiled back with such warmth, that Zelo had to look away to keep himself from doing something he would regret. He looked over Himchan’s shoulder and gasped over dramatically.

“How long has there been a park here?!” he flew up from his kneeling spot and stumbled past Himchan.

The raven haired man turned to look at the new subject of his intoxicated friend’s attention. It was a small park with two swings and a jungle gym. It looked pretty old, but not yet run down. There were also sandboxes and benches scattered around. It was surrounded by large trees and bushes, almost hidden in the night. Zelo dove at one of the swings, swinging on his stomach like a child, instead of sitting in the seat. Himchan sat in the other swing next to him.

With every swing, the set groaned in protest under Zelo’s weight. The groans became high pitched squeaks cutting into the otherwise quiet night.

“Why are you just sitting there?!” Zelo shouted over the sound of the squeaks.

Himchan observed the rusty poles holding the swings together, “I think if I swing even just a little bit the whole thing will collapse.” He gestured to Zelo, “Especially with your reckless swinging.”

Zelo frowned and stopped swinging, dragging his feet across the dirt. He turned around and sat his swing properly. “Hyung,” he asked, “why do you always do that to me?”

Himchan furrowed his eyebrows, “Do what to you?”

“You always make it sound like I’m doing something bad or wrong. Even the fans say you’re harsh with me.”

Himchan kicked his legs, thinking carefully. “You’re really good at what you do.” He said after a long pause, “But since you are young-and don’t say you’re not-there is so much more you can improve on and become better at.” He looked up at Zelo, “If you work really hard, you could become even more special than you already are.”

All the blood in Zelo’s body seemed to rush to his face, and he averted his gaze. Himchan quickly attempted to save himself, “W-which would be great for the group and the fans and TS and we really all should improve, ehem. Ah…”

“Thank you, Himchan.” Zelo whispered. He stared his elder with shinning eyes. Himchan cleared his throat again.

“But..eheehee, you’re still a chicken for not swinging.” Zelo began to push off the ground, kicking his legs out furiously. He wasn’t going very high in his tipsy state.

Himchan shook his head and frowned, “Your form is horrible.” He took on the mocking tone of a school teacher, “What, did your parents have no common sense to teach you how to swing?” Zelo laughed at Himchan’s words. “Allow me to demonstrate, young pupil.”

Himchan stretched his legs out and pushed off. He sat up straighter than Yongjae did during some of their first interviews, and made sharp over exaggerated kicks with his legs.

“One, two! One, two!” he called out, “Remember you only have sixty seconds before it’s someone else’s turn, make the most of this and work hard!” Zelo was laughing so hard that he couldn’t even swing anymore. The swing set poles protested loudly with every forward kick Himchan did. He laughed at Zelo’s loud drunken laughter, and hopped off the swing. Facing the maknae, Himchan gave a deep bow. Zelo applauded from his swing, wiping the moisture that had formed in his eyes. The younger perked up suddenly, “Do you hear something?”

\0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/ \0/

Youngguk turned restlessly in his sheets. He had been wrestling with sleep for a long time now. The leader and War Captain gave up on sleep and wandered out of his room. The kitchen was empty, which confused Youngguk. Himchan wasn’t in their room, or the kitchen. He checked the living room, bathroom, and dance room and found no one. Youngguk opened the door to Jongup’s and Zelo’s room. Jongup was curled up under a mountain of blankets. Zelo’s bed was empty though. Youngguk walked out over to Yongjae and Daehyun’s room. He reached for the door knob before changing his mind. To be honest, he didn’t want to know what was in there.

He walked back into the kitchen and checked the clock. It was just after midnight, which means it was past curfew.

“Where the are they?” he asked, worried about s. He picked up Daehyun’s phone off the counter, dialing Himchan’s number. He paused for a moment hearing something funny. The leader glanced around the kitchen before realizing where the noise was coming from.

“MAZIK, MAZIK MAZIK, OMOOMOOMO!” Youngguk picked up Himchan’s phone of the floor and sighed. The careless man had left the house without his phone, meaning that they probably had no way to find out if Himchan and Zelo were okay.

Youngguk walked back over to Daehyun and Yongjae’s door. He knocked reluctantly, “Ah, anyone up?”

“Yes.” The familiar sound of Daehyun’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door.

“Himchan and Zelo wouldn’t happen to be in there, would they?”

“No, just me and Yongjae.”

Youngguk sighed, “Want to go help me look for them?”

Daehyun emerged from the room swiftly and closed the door behind him, “They’re not in the house?” Youngguk shook his head. “Then you and I can look for them.”

“Do you think Yongjae would want to help? Jongup isn’t in the right state to go walking.”

Daehyun smirked a bit, “I don’t think Yongjae is the right state to go walking right now either.” He grabbed a sweater off the back of the couch and went to put his shoes on without further explanation. Youngguk followed behind, silently telling himself that Yongjae was probably just drunk.

Probably.

Most likely.

Maybe.

Hopefully…