“Hyesungie—“ Eric trailed behind the slender man, calling his name but the man he followed never bothered looking back.

“Hyesungieeee!” the taller man finally managed to catch up and grabbed Hyesung’s wrist. He had long legs, but so did the man in front of him. It was a busy evening on that district, and consequently he had bumped too many people in his attempt to catch up to the barber who seemed to be so keen to avoid him that he walked as quickly as humanly possible.

Even though Eric had already held his wrist, Hyesung didn’t stop nor did he look back. Feeling ignored, Eric pouted and tugged the shirt sleeves childishly. Breathe, Hyesung, breathe, the slightly shorter man reminded himself in annoyance.

“What?” Hyesung snapped to the confused Eric.

“Please slow down, there are too many people. I don’t want to lose you in the crowd.”

“What are you? 5?” Hyesung sneered.

“More like 28, but so are you…” the taller man replied.

“Shut up,” Hyesung gritted his teeth, he didn’t need to be reminded that he was almost 30, single and a little broke too; while Eric, who was the same age as him, had a presumably pretty girl waiting for a date with him alongside a lot of money in his pocket, and probably a nice car somewhere in his garage. Eric didn’t even mention anything else but their age—he was just bitter and feeling sorry for himself, so suddenly feeling pathetic.

“Why are you mad?” Eric asked, still looking confused.

“I’m not,” the barber snapped curtly, sounding angry.

“Did I do something wrong, Hyesungie?”

“Don’t call me Hyesungie,” he grumbled.

“Is that why you are mad?”

“I’m not mad!” Hyesung shouted, red-faced.

Silence, as Eric raised his eyebrows at Hyesung who shouted loudly, gaining attention from people around them once again, staring at the bickering pair curiously.

“…you are mad,” Eric concluded timidly.

“Aish. Whatever,” Hyesung picked up his pace again, glaring fiercely at anyone looking at his direction.

“Shin Hyesung-ssi,” Eric called him once again, very politely.

“Why did you suddenly call me that way?” surprised by the sudden politeness, Hyesung slowed down and turned to look at Eric.

“You don’t seem to like me when I called you familiarly, so I thought…” Eric looked guilty, like an afraid puppy with his ears flopped down—how could you stay angry with someone who showed you that kind of look? Massaging his temple tiredly, he closed his eyes and pondered—why was I stuck with this guy? He could just be stubborn as usual and leave, but he found himself weak against those big eyes.

“I just… Let’s go drinking,” he concluded weakly. What was wrong with him really? Was he having some sort of inferiority complex? Eric wasn’t a show off or anything like that although everything seemed to be going well for him at the moment—and that only made Hyesung feeling even more like a sore loser in front of him, that’s all.

Eric perked up instantly—Hyesung swore that the taller man would grow a tail and start wagging it anytime.

“Yay! So where are we going?” Eric asked cheerfully.

“I don’t care where as long as there’s alcohol,” Hyesung mumbled, “…and as long as you are paying…” he added with a small voice. God, he couldn’t get even more pathetic, could he?

“Oh, no problem! I know a good place Hyesung-ah,” the taller man saluted and clapped his hands like a child, saying it so lightly that Hyesung felt even more dejected.

“Lead the way then,” Hyesung said, waiting for Eric to start walking—but he didn’t, he stood still with an expectant look on his face.

“What now?” the barber asked irritably to the unmoving Eric.

“Want me to hold your hand so you don’t get lost in the way?” Eric asked with a cheeky smile.

“NO!”

***

“One more bottle,” Hyesung called out to the guy behind the bar as Eric looked at him warily.

“Haven’t you had enough, Hyesungie?” he asked, concerned with how red Hyesung’s face was—the slender guy didn’t seem to have a high tolerance for alcohol. Not at all—even the third bottle was already one too many. Eric blamed himself for not stopping his companion before the fourth.

“I need more after you call me that,” Hyesung pouted, his speech had become more and more slurred as the night went on.

“But it suits you. If you really hate it though, I will stop calling you that way,” Eric replied. Although honestly he didn’t want to stop using the nickname because it sounded cute and fitting, he would because Hyesung seemed to be so bothered by it.

Hyesung didn’t answer, he only buried his face in his arms, resting it on the table. His head felt so light and he wasn’t sure what Eric was talking about anymore. He hadn’t had alcohol for… 4 months? Or even more? He just couldn’t spare the penny to buy even the cheapest beer with the rate the bills were piling on his desk. Darned rents.

“Hyesungie…?” Eric poked the shoulder of the man beside him, whose body was slumped on the table. The brunette didn’t answer—and Eric could hear a very soft snore.

“Hyesung-ah?” Eric tapped Hyesung’s shoulder a little harder, but he still didn’t open his eyes.

“Shin Hyesung!” He called the name loudly, shaking the body, but Hyesung only whined a little and continued on sleeping.

“It seems that your friend doesn’t need his next bottle after all sir,” the waiter bringing Hyesung’s order suddenly interrupted Eric’s futile attempt to wake Hyesung up.

“Clearly. He’s knocked out cold. I don’t know his tolerance was this bad,” Eric muttered, poking Hyesung’s cheeks softly, causing the sleeping man to unconsciously frown.  Cute, the older man smiled fondly and the soft hair.

“I would suggest for you to take him home sir,” the waiter advised politely.

“I would go right now… If only I knew where he lives,” Eric sighed. To make matters worse, Hyesung even grumbled about how his phone was out of battery not long after they arrived at the bar—now Eric couldn’t even try to call Hyesung’s friends to ask where he lived.

“Ah… I apologize I couldn’t be more helpful sir. Good luck,” the waiter nodded and left him alone with his troubles.

Eric waved at the waiter cheerfully then went back to staring at the sleeping man. He rested his head on his hand, a smile on his lips, his other hand playing with the brunette locks of Hyesung, who was pouting even in his slumber. His hair is so soft like a kitten’s fur, Eric thought amusedly. And what’s with that pout, I want to kiss it.

Frozen after hearing his own musings inside his own mind, Eric’s smile slipped off.

That’s all kinds of wrong.

If Hyesung could read his mind he would probably be mercilessly murdered right now. That deceivingly adorable kitten has some razor sharp claws, he glanced at Hyesung’s innocent-looking sleeping face with a tinge of fear.

Eric shook his head and rubbed his face with his hand, suddenly feeling tired.

Pull yourself together, he might be beautiful but he’s still a man.

I better take him to my place, at least he could sleep more comfortably there, he was left with no other choice anyway. Eric left some money on the table, enough to cover the price of the drinks along with a good amount of tip before started trying to lift Hyesung’s limp body up.

He looks thin but he is quite heavy…

“Up you go,” he said softly to Hyesung, who only replied with unintelligible mumbles. After momentarily struggling, he finally managed to get Hyesung’s arm around his shoulders, his arms holding Hyesung’s body steady and dragged him towards the exit.

Such thin waist…

“Eric-ah…?” Hyesung’s small voice startled him. He turned his head to check whether Hyesung was waking up that he didn’t notice the waiter in front of him, bringing a tray with full pints of beer.

The same pints of beer showered both Eric and Hyesung after the former crashed into the waiter.

Eric glanced with horror in his eyes at the somehow-still-managed-to-keep-sleeping-man in his arms, ignoring the waiter’s profuse apologies—it was partly his fault anyway.

Wow. He must be so badly drunk.

Then he noticed that Hyesung’s shirt and pants are drenched, dripping and reeking of alcohol.

“Oh .”

Yep. indeed. 

Bleh. Apologies for the crap grammar and stupid writing after not updating for so long. It is short and stupid and nothing important at all, I'm sorry. Thanks for reading as always and see you hopefully soon and not in another 5 months.