RENDEZVOUS

08 | one chug chenle

xiyeon's birthday party was off to a great start. the drinks were disappearing rapidly, the music playlist was a thorough bop, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

"hey, chenle, wanna play with us?"

chenle's ears instantly perked up from where he was dancing with jisung, and he bounced over to guanlin and his friends who were setting out a series of plastic cups.

"what game is it?" chenle giggled, clinging onto guanlin's arm excitedly.

"beer pong," guanlin replied, "we need it to be three against three, so..."

"okay!" chenle squealed in delight, totally oblivious to guanlin's casual tone.

"cool," guanlin responded simply, "you'll be on kangmin and jeongin's team then, against me, hohyeon and siwoo, 'kay?"

jisung stared as chenle skipped off to join the other boys. he grabbed another drink and leant against the wall to watch, a deep frown etched in his face.

it was obvious from the outset that chenle wouldn't last long. he didn't have the best aim to begin with, and he was off his face before he finished his first cup. after that, he only got worse at the game, if that was even possible.

the more chenle giggled and stumbled around, the funnier the others found him, and the darker jisung's expression became. he crumpled his second (third? fourth?) can and stalked over to the beer pong table, pushing chenle aside.

"i'll take his place," he told the others, whilst chenle mumbled objections from beside him.

"aw, come on, one chug chenle," joked one of the guys on guanlin's team. the rest of them laughed loudly, but jisung just took his shot.

"oh my god, one chug chenle," guanlin chortled, finding the joke way funnier than it actually was.

"oh, shut up, guanlin," murmured kangmin, who was trying to keep chenle from falling over. jeongin glanced awkwardly from friend to friend and got a bit of pizza unstuck from his braces to avoid taking anyone's side.

"jisung," chenle whined, tugging at jisung's hand, "i want a drink... let me play..."

"you're not playing anymore, lele," jisung muttered in his direction, "come on, let's go." he grabbed chenle's hand and squeezed it tight in his, dragging him away from the other boys and into the kitchen.

meanwhile, the others were still in the garden drinking and dancing around while love scenario played from inside and the sun started to set in the evening.

"so... um..." jaemin hovered around the group of girls taking selfies and gushing about each other's outfits. he still hadn't worked up the nerve to approach yet, or to tell nancy how amazing she looked in that mini-dress and those stillettos.

"oh, jaemin!" nancy finally seemed to notice him standing there and turned his way. "oh my god, i was just saying how smart you are. i have the best person to give me a helping hand, you know? especially in biology - i suck at it but you are amazing."

she looped her hand around jaemin's arm, making him gape and blush and gulp down the rest of his drink nervously. nancy just giggled, leaning in closer, lips almost brushing his cheek.

jaemin thought he was going to explode.

"anyone got me a drink?" donghyuck appeared at the top of the patio steps, and quickly bounded down to xiyeon's side, slipping an arm around her waist.

"i'll get you one now," xiyeon offered. she pressed a kiss to his cheek and started towards the french doors.

donghyuck caught her wrist and cupped her cheek with his other hand, kissing her properly before she could leave. "love you, birthday girl," he said softly.

the other girls giggled, whilst jaemin just wondered what he had to do to get himself a relationship like that. renjun and jeno were oblivious to the situation, dancing around like idiots on the grass, sipping a drink between them and laughing at everything and nothing.

"i'll be back," xiyeon promised, and went back into the kitchen to grab a drink for her boyfriend and doorman.

jisung and chenle were already in the kitchen, and jisung was trying - and failing - not to fall for chenle's charms. they had stumbled into the room and, in a desperate effort to stop the chinese boy from falling over, jisung had sat him in the corner against one of the cabinets.

"ji..." chenle whined, pulling at jisung's legs, "please let me have another drink."

"you're already drunk, lele," jisung scoffed.

"i am not!" chenle screeched indignantly, slurring over his words a little.

"oh really?" jisung pointed at the large clock on the wall opposite. "tell the time then."

chenle squinted at the clock. and then yelled at it, "i'm not drunk!"

jisung sighed and shook his head firmly as he searched the cupboards for a spare glass. "you're having water, okay?" he told him. "one chug chenle, my ass," he added under his breath. "more like 'think-about-alcohol-and-i'm-suddenly-drunk-chenle'."

stubbornly, chenle tugged at his arm and yanked jisung down to his level, catching him off guard. he stared into his eyes and ran a hand through his hair and begged, "gimme one... please?"

jisung pressed his hands into the cabinet doors to stop himself from crushing chenle. his mind had blurred the lines between right and wrong and there was only one thought running through his head. he let his eyes trail down to chenle's pink lips... and instantly looked away.

"fine," he said, standing up as quickly as he could manage, "i'll get you one."

he seized another can from the table and grabbed a straw. his hands trembled as he tried to insert the straw for chenle to drink from. surely he wasn't that drunk already, was he?

"lele, here you-" jisung turned around, only to find an empty space where chenle just was, "-go. god, where did you go?"

at that moment, xiyeon entered the kitchen. "oh, hey, jisung!" she smiled, "you seen my vodka anywhere?"

jisung blinked. "hm?" he watched as she searched the countertops for the misplaced bottle.

"don't worry, i'll find it," xiyeon brushed him off. "you enjoying?"

jisung gingerly took a sip of the drink he'd picked up for chenle. "uh... yeah, yeah, it's great," he mumbled.

"ah, here it is!" xiyeon exclaimed, "we'll do shots in the garden i think. i won't let your brother drink too much!" she skipped out of the kitchen, ruffling jisung's hair as she went.

jisung sat up on the counter next to the drinks and sucked miserably at the straw as he tried to figure out what the fuck was going on in his head. not that he could do that, being halfway to wasted already.

while he could still think semi-straight though, he couldn't stop thinking about his best friend. what was zhong chenle doing to him?

____________________

a | n
party will probably last another 2 or 3 chapters lol long plot lines ^.^

also side note: i'm really sorry if you're triggered by underage drinking or anything like that in this book. i think it is quite a normal thing for teenagers (the characters being 16/17 years old) and i want them to be relatable and ordinary, normal teenagers, if any of that made sense. that is also why you may read *slightly* heated makeout scenes, or they might swear or make a lot of sexual jokes. however, i will stress that i don't write smut, and i definitely don't write nct dream smut so you can be assured there will be none of that in this book. (i mean some might? be? hinted? at? but idk yet, i'll see where the plot takes me ;))

sorry for the long a/n, i just wanted to explain where i stand

(also i don't write smut bc it would be bad, not bc i don't like/read smut lmao. it has its place and thats not in nct dream thx)

thank you so much for everything, reading your comments makes my day i love you 💖