‘Later’ turns out to be after dinner, when most of them are so full they’re practically bursting at all the wrong places, and when most of them are also completely wasted.

Sehun ends up with arms full of Luhan as they both stagger into a taxi, and it’s not a very pretty scene (especially when Sehun has to push Luhan’s drunken to fully get him into the back seat) and Kyungsoo cringes at the sight of it.

President Junmyoon ends up when he finds out someone has ordered some expensive side dish, and he shakes his head disappointedly at the bill. Kyungsoo has a sinking feeling there won’t be any free dinners anymore any time soon.

Tao has Xiumin leaning against him drunkenly. Kris stands beside him, looking impatient.

Unsurprisingly, Tao and Kris are amongst the few people who could hold their booze without passing out after approximately two cups of soju. Kyungsoo and Jongin didn’t drink. Sehun can’t even touch the bottle because he’s under-aged.

And Kyungsoo has quietly watched Junmyeon take a sip before calling for the ahjumma worker and asking for juice. So technically the only drunk ones are Xiumin, Luhan and possibly Baekhyun. That kid had been spouting more nonsense than a truck full of garbage.

"Chanyeol and Baekkie are probably hitting second base right now." Tao sighs, flamboyantly slapping Xiumin across the head for trying to his neck. "My bacon is so grown up now."

Kris grimaces and shakes his head. "Tao, I don't think hitting second base while you're drunk is a really adult thing to do."

Kyungsoo eavesdrop further, surprised. He didn’t think Baekhyun and Chanyeol are involved like that.

"Yes, it is," Tao argues, pouting. "Research has shown that your level of general dumbness increases proportionally with your age. I mean, look at Junmyeon-hyung."

Kris opens his mouth to retort, but closes it again. On second thought, Tao does have a point.The three of them watch as Junmyeon tries to charm the cashier into cancelling that expensive side dish, but obviously to no avail. He looks like an awkward uncle instead, and the cashier seems to have a perpetual smile-grimace thing on her face as she punches the numbers into the cashier machine. Junmyeon still hasn’t given up though, still talking while the cashier nods politely.

“Right.” Kris deadpans, looking down at Kyungsoo. “I’m gonna go help him realize he’s an idiot.”

Kyungsoo hides his amusement with a poker face. He turns around to find Tao, but he only sees the baggy-eyed boy already limping into a taxi with Xiumin. He sighs. He’s about to start walking in the direction of the bus stop when a familiar figure walking ahead catches his eyes.

Pent-up rage (well, forgotten pent-up rage) surges through Kyungsoo and he stalks forward angrily, feet stomping onto asphalt.

Kyungsoo finally catches up and rounds up on Jongin, who halts and looks at the shorter male up and down with a raised, questioning eyebrow. “What?” He asks, jerking his chin upwards and Kyungsoo scoffs at the whole innocent act.

“What? You ask me what?” Kyungsoo dares himself to take a step closer to Jongin, and maybe that’s a bad choice because he now has to tilt his head a little just to hold his gaze on the latter in an attempt at being intimidating. “You insult me in front of everyone and you dare ask me what?”

Jongin blinks, as if just realizing what he’s done.

The damn brat!

“Those weren’t insults.” He says confusedly. No, he’s acting like he’s confused. “They were all true.”

Kyungsoo suddenly sees red with Jongin, and it’s the red that rhymes with hell as he yells furiously, lunging at Jongin with the intensity of a stampede. The impact from Kyungsoo’s fist driven straight to Jongin’s jaw causes Jongin to fall unprecedentedly onto concrete, groaning from the punch and the sudden pain shooting up his back like a bullet.

To make it worse, Kyungsoo scrambles off him only to appear behind him and trapping him in a hand choke.

Jongin flails helplessly. He may be one of the best Judo players in the school, heck he could even be the top player in the country and he’ll still can’t do anything when someone as fragile-looking as Kyungsoo suddenly ambushes him like that. It’s insane, and all Jongin can think of is how utterly ridiculous all of this is.

“Magikarps may not own, but they never, ever run away from a fight. This is me punishing you Kim Jongin, and don’t you forget it!” Kyungsoo finally releases Jongin, who gasps in mouthfuls of air like he only just found out about oxygen. Kyungsoo, feeling just a little bit of anger left in his system, drills his knuckles into the sides of Jongin’s head and gains satisfaction from watching him yelp in surprise and pain.

“Oh my ing God, just what the is wrong with you!”

“That’ll teach you not to look down on people!” Kyungsoo yells back, equally loud. Jongin just remains sitting on the sidewalk, head between his knees as he shuts his eyes tightly.

“That really ing hurt,” He mutters, rubbing at his back sullenly, and Kyungsoo unwillingly feels a smidgen of Guilt in his chest so he pushes the sneaky bastard away, allowing Pride into his chest. He had just tackled a professional Judo player to the ground. If that isn’t a magnificently implausible feat, Kyungsoo doesn’t know what is.

Kyungsoo stands up, patting dust off his buttocks, and Jongin flinches a bit, looking up at Kyungsoo doubtfully as if the boy is going to make another murder attempt. “Well,” Kyungsoo says, eye-smiling at Jongin. “At least I’m not pissed off at you anymore. So bye!”

Jongin watches in absolute disbelief as the boy walks down the sidewalk again, like nothing has happened.

Revenge, he thinks.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow arrives.

And it’s torture.

“Again!” Jongin shouts, his voice like an invisible whip smacking Kyungsoo in the face. “Do it the right way, how many times have I told you not to stick out your hand? Fifty push-ups for every mistake from now on!”

Kyungsoo breaks his fall until his thighs burn from falling and standing up and falling and standing up. He knows Jongin’s angry because of what happened last night, but this is totally inappropriate punishment. Kyungsoo’s only holding up because there’s a bruise on Jongin’s jaw where Kyungsoo punched him last night, and it’s just so gratifying Kyungsoo almost doesn’t mind Jongin’s crazy army-drill rampage.

Although his thighs are killing him.

Kyungsoo makes another fall and then feels cold air on his abdomen, before fully realizing his belt had fallen off, making his judo attire fall open to the public’s eye.

Who is mostly just Kim Jongin.

.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jongin demands, loud and overbearing. “Get up!”

“I’m getting up,” Kyungsoo snaps under his breath, snatching his belt from the floor while expertly holding the front of his judo gi so it covered his embarrassingly pudgy belly. Jongin looks momentarily stunned before he scoffs, shaking his head.

“You don’t even know how to tie your belt,” He deadpans as he nears Kyungsoo with confident strides, looming over the shorted boy who is stoically looping his belt around any way he likes. He doesn’t answer, so Jongin stands there like an idiot for a full second before rolling his eyes and grabbing the boy’s hands so they would stop moving.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Jongin says, almost exasperatedly, ignoring Kyungsoo’s wide eyes staring up at him. He lets go of Kyungsoo’s hands so they fall slowly to the side, and then begins tying the white belt for him. The action doesn’t dawn on him as a gesture of affection or anything at all until Baekhyun whoops from the other side of the gym.

“Hot damn, the relationship’s getting kind of steamy, isn’t it?” He hollers, before snickering at the others and elbowing Chanyeol, who catcalls at them and laughs obnoxiously.

Jongin immediately feels his face overflow with blood as he continues what he’s doing but with thrice the speed. He can sense Kyungsoo still looking at him like he’s an angel or something, and damn it all, the cheering has increased into a chant of “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Jongin finishes with a sigh, stepping back to run a hair through his hair and throwing a ‘ off’ sign to the rest of the members. He looks at Kyungsoo to see the boy standing unmoving, his arms still slightly spread apart, like a penguin. There’s a tint of pink to his cheeks, but Jongin ignores it, just like he’s been ignoring Kyungsoo’s shameless staring since he joined the club.

“Practice your falls,” Jongin mumbles, untying his own belt as a sign he’s already resigning from practice. “And learn how to tie your goddamn belt.”