The Universe Makes Mistakes Sometimes - Touch

Parties and Pain

Jungwoo was drunk. He was really really really drunk. Maybe he should stop drinking. No - he should definitely stop drinking. But the drinks that Wendy was making were so good and Jungwoo was a little bit addicted to them.

"Hey Doyoung, I'm gonna go get another drink now, okay?" Jungwoo slurred into his bestfriend's ear.

"Okay. Sure. No. What? Did you say something? I can't remember," the elder rambled back, evidently as drunk as his bestfriend.

You've got this, Jungwoo, one foot in front of the other.

Jungwoo stumbled lazily towards the kitchen.

"Hey Woo. Want a drink?" Wendy said, pushing a cup into his hands.

"Thanks."

~~~

Jungwoo stumbled out of the kitchen, significantly drunker than when he'd gone in - Mark had insisted on doing shots, despite how much of a lightweight he was, and who had Jungwoo been to say no?

"Doyoungie? Doyoungie where are you - ugh!" Jungwoo groaned as he was knocked to the floor, his chest slick with cold alcohol. The crop top was ruined. Who the heck had the audacity...

Wong Yukhei that was who.

"Oh sorry, let me help you up."

"You just ruined Doyoung's crop top!" Jungwoo snapped "What the heck!"

"Look, I'm pretty sure it was you who ruined it. If you weren't so drunk and looked where you were going, we wouldn't have bumped into each other," the younger retaliated.

"Oh so you're saying it's my fault now?!"

"Yes! That is exactly what I'm saying!" Yukhei said, throwing his hands up in despair "Look, man, you're super drunk, let me just-"

"Did you just assume my gender?!"

"Oh my fucking God, just let me help you up and then I can leave and we won't ever have to talk again." Yukhei sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine."

Yukhei bent down, wrapping his hand around the elder's wrist to help him up.

And Jungwoo began to scream.

It was like a million red-hot daggers were plunging into him all at once, shredding him apart. The pain coursed through his veins, reaching every part of his body.

The pain was so overwhelming Jungwoo didn't realise that Yukhei was screaming in pain too.

"Jungwoo!" Doyoung rushed over to his friend, suddenly sobering up.

"Hyung it hurts! It hurts, it hurts so much!" the younger screamed.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Doyoung shouted, but no one moved.

Slowly, the pain subsided. The throbbing in Jungwoo's skull ebbed away, enabling him to breathe again.

"Jungwoo can you hear me?"

He nodded weakly.

"You! Did you do this to him?!" Doyoung growled at Yukhei.

"I did this to him? He did this to me!" Yukhei snapped.

"I swear to God if you did this to my baby-"

"Doyoung calm down. Yukhei was screaming in pain too, didn't you hear him?" Yuta said.

Jungwoo's cheeks flushed bright red. The party had stopped. The music was still playing, the bass thrumming through the ground underneath them, the strobe lights were still flashing, basking people in hot pink and sap green and electric blue. But nobody was moving. Everyone was silent as they watched the argument.

"Hyung. Hyung I wanna go home," Jungwoo whimpered. 

"What? Okay, yeah, sure, let's get you home," Doyoung collected himself, heaving the younger onto his back. Despite his height, Jungwoo had always been slim and had never weighed much.

"I'll drive you," Taeyong offered, fishing his car keys out of his pocket.

~~~

Jungwoo looked at his wrist in horror.

The black sun that had appeared just wouldn't go, no matter how much Jungwoo scrubbed away at it. It stood starkly against Jungwoo's pale skin, mocking him.

It wasn't a tattoo - Jungwoo was sure of that. Sure, he'd almost downed enough alcohol to get one, but he was confident that no tattoo artists had been at Johnny's party.

No, Jungwoo knew exactly what it was.

He'd listen to Doyoung ramble for countless hours on end about them.

He'd seen couples flaunting them on Instagram.

He'd traced Taeyong's own strange mark with the tips of his fingers - a golden key on the side of his left index finger that matched perfectly with the golden lock on the same finger on Jaehyun's right hand.

It was a goddamn soulmark.

Jungwoo was fucked.

He maybe had a soulmark which meant he maybe had a soulmate which was bad because he had a boyfriend he was maybe in love with.

"Oh fuck," he groaned.

This was all Johnny's fault. It was his party after all. But that meant it was also Ten's fault. He was the one who insisted on them coming. But hadn't it been Doyoung who'd dressed him up and forced him to 'relax'? And because of that 'relaxing', it was Wendy's fault too, right? If she didn't make such delicious drinks, Jungwoo wouldn't had wondered back to the kitchen. Mark was at fault too. If he hadn't made Jungwoo stop for shots, Jungwoo would've left the kitchen a whole three minutes earlier and he wouldn't have ran into Yukhei.

Yukhei. It was all his fault.

Jungwoo had to talk to him before anyone saw his soulmark. 

He had to know if he had one too.

~~~

Jungwoo couldn't sleep.

His mind was swimming in a sea of regrets and the terrible soulmark, barely visible in the darkness of Doyoung's room, was still there.

Doyoung's arm was strung across his waist, pinning him to the matress. It was a great metaphor for the weight Jungwoo felt of lying to his bestfriend.

"You alright, Woo?"

"Err...yeah I'm fine."

Jungwoo wanted to tell Doyoung, but something inside him prevented him from doing so.

What if he gets jealous and doesn't want to be around you anymore? He's the one who wanted a soulmate, not you. And what if Yukhei's doesn't have a soulmark? Wouldn't that be embarrassing?

And what if he accidentally tells someone and Taeho finds out? He'll dump you and kick you out of the apartment and no one will ever love you again.

It was almost five in the morning when Jungwoo finally dropped off into the land of dreams.