Our Tears

i hate you (i love you)

Author : silverkatana
Original publish on : archieve of our own | 2019
Author notes : hope you enjoyed!

___________________________________

"Hello?"

To say that Jungsoo knows not to get too surprised by anything is an understatement; to say that he is not surprised upon receiving the call at two or so in the morning is an overstatement.

It's hard to hear over the din of thumping music, beats sounding so loudly the vibrations that they cause almost tangible over the phone, and he has to put the phone on speaker to hear the voice of whoever is calling him. "Hello? Is this Leeteuk?" the one on the other side yells over the noise, and Jungsoo double-checks to see the caller display - it does say Kim Heechul, but unless sleep has clogged his mind, the voice does not resemble Heechul's (and he should know, he's been working with Heechul for such a long time).

"Who is this?" he questions warily, "And why are you calling from Heechul's phone?"

There's a chuckle, a dry one. "This is Kiseok," comes the answer, and Jungsoo takes a moment to place the name to a face. "Simon Dominic," he supplies helpfully after a brief pause, and Jungsoo lets out a soft 'ah' in recognition of the AOMG rapper who had been a close friend of Heechul for many years.

"So," he's not close to Kiseok, since the members never really met Heechul's other friends all that often, and the awkward tension lingering between them is clear even through the phone call, "Why are you calling me?"

"Heechul's drunk as fuck," Kiseok states flatly, causing Jungsoo to cringe in realisation. "He's a mess right now and I'm really hoping you'd come to collect him because I have no idea what to do with him."

For a moment, Jungsoo considers throwing his phone across the bed and crashing back into sleep and forgetting anything ever happened - it takes him a total of one second of silence to make up his mind.

"I'll come and get him," he grunts tiredly, dragging his exhausted body off the bed and ignoring the way his limbs screamed in protest. "Send me the address, will you?"

He's the last person any of the members probably would volunteer as a driver, and Heechul makes that clear to him in a very loud outcry of slurred vocal protests as Kiseok and Jin - probably only the two sober enough to be of any help - shove him into Jungsoo's car at two forty-seven in the morning.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Jungsoo," Heechul mumbles out, "Go home and sleep."

"I would be, if not for you," Jungsoo hisses back through gritted teeth as he steps on the accelerator, "Why did you have to go to the club?"

He's met with a loud snoring noise as Heechul's head falls against the car window in his prompt falling asleep, and all the words that are caught in his throat escape in the form of a weighted sigh that filters in irregular breaths slipping past his lips.

Don't go to the club and drink yourself silly all the time.

Don't go around getting in trouble and putting your reputation at risk.

Don't go around kissing girls whose faces you won't remember.

Sometimes, I think I hate you.

The traffic lights switch to red, and Jungsoo allows his gaze to shift over to Heechul - he's slumped mostly against the car door, his chest moving up and down in a regular rhythm, eyes fluttered shut and mouth parted ever-so-slightly.

Don't be selfish, and don't go hanging around outside so late into the night.

I hate you sometimes when you go and get yourself drunk like this, because in the end when they call I'll always come.