in dreams

chapter seven - perfect

hyunjin and felix were stuck together the rest of the night. after a few words from felix, seungmin and chan loosened up around him too. the eight boys drank, danced, laughed, and got to know each other well. everyone was connected in one way or another, but now they all existed as one group.

"chug, chug, chug, chug!" they yelled and banged the table in unison as changbin stood, downing a bottle of beer, some of it dribbling down his chin. some of the boys were wasted at that point, only drinking more for the fun of it.

"me next!" jisung declared proudly, standing up and picking up a half drunken bottle of soju.

"noo, not with that. not at all, actually," minho took the bottle out of his hand and sat him back down. minho was one of the boys who hadn't drunk much. he had a few sips here and there, but he held his responsibility as designated driver very seriously. "you had way too much already."

"aww, come on! it's my birthday!" jisung complained, trying to pry the soju out of minho's hand.

"your birthday is next week, sunshine." hyunjin reminded him from across the table. he too was now one of the sober ones, deciding not to drink much more after the whole incident with chaejun. jisung looked at him, pouting when he realized he was right.

"next week? mine too!" felix sipped leisurely on a drink, sweet, but nonalcoholic.

"oh my god, what day?" jisung's expression changed again to one of excitement. "we could totally be twins! mine's on the fourteenth."

"mines the day right after! the fifteenth!"

"oh, seungie! seungmin's is on the twenty second!" jeongin bubbled up, tightening his arm around seungmin's as if to bring attention to him.

"let's all end the night with one more shot for the september babies." chan started filling shot glasses with gin.

"ugh, i don't know why you insist on drinking gin instead of vodka. you're so old.." despite his complaints, seungmin took his shot.

they raised their glasses together and took the final drink of the night.

~

later, the boys funneled out of the club, some having to drag or hold up their friends.

changbin and chan had drank plenty but seemed only out of their minds and not of their bodies. seungmin was still being held onto by a giggly and cuddly jeongin. jisung was a lost cause, but minho didn't seem to mind.

"do you want me to drive, minho?" hyunjin offered, seeing how occupied he was with jisung.

"i unfortunately don't trust you to drive my car.." minho frowned, but hyunjin nodded in understanding.

"okay, come here, ji." hyunjin started to pry his friend off minho, but found trouble when jisung started pushing him away and hitting him every time he came close.

"no! noooo.." he hiccupped. "get off of my min!"

"i don't want your min. i actually need you to get off your min so that we can go home," hyunjin tried approaching him again, only to get smacked across the face this time. "ow! jisung!"

"it's okay, hyunjin. i got it.."

"do you want me to drive you home?" felix grabbed hyunjin's arm from the side, reminding him he was still there and a viable way home. he left out a subtle gasp as he felt the younger's small hands wrap around his bicep.

"oh. are you sure? i don't want to be a bother."

"it's not a bother," felix smiled reassuringly. hyunjin had missed that smile. "i'm offering. it'd be nice actually. can i take you home?"