Respiration

10

Jinyoung thought picking out what to wear for a casual party would be easy. It was not. He got home about two hours before he had to leave again for the party and didn't even realize he'd spent half the time just deciding on what to wear. He usually didn't care all too much about his appearance, but two things drove him to be a little more interested in his fashion sense. One being the party full of cool college kids, and two being Jackson.

He wanted to have a 'cool' or 'trendy' look, similar to how Jackson dressed, but with his own touch added to it. He finally decided on a patterned hoodie and ripped skinny jeans along with some sneakers of a brand that cost him a bit more money than the average pair. It definitely wasn't his usual look, just earlier that day he was wearing a plain wrinkly button up with slacks and worn out shoes. But he wanted to try something different, and he definitely thought Jackson would be impressed by his change of style.

He took a fast shower and fixed up his hair, also choosing to at least comb it a bit instead of his usual tangled bed head look. All that was left to do was wait for the next half hour he had before Jackson came to pick him up. He constantly checked the time, anticipating Jackson's arrival. His phone buzzed multiple times with random notifications, none of them being from Jackson.

He realized he was being too jumpy. He needed to calm himself. So what if this was his first college party? And so what if he could technically call this a 'date' since he and Jackson were going together? It was a bit of a stretch to call it a date considering how causal the event was, but Jinyoung couldn't help but jump to that conclusion. He tried to just sit back and relax himself, reminding himself that Jackson was gonna be there the whole time, so there wouldn't be anything to worry about while attending the party. He just needed to be chill, everything would be fine.

Though as soon as his phone buzzed again he was jumping up to check the notification. This time it was Jackson texting him:

I'm here! Come out ;)

Jinyoung's heart leapt at the winky face, and he had no idea why he was freaking out over an emoji, but he didn't have time to think about it. He frantically put on his shoes, grabbed his special jean jacket, and nearly bolted down the stairs of his apartment building to greet Jackson out front. He was panting by the time he got to the car, though his adrenaline and excitement to see Jackson took his mind away from his heavy breathing.

"Woah, slow down there bud. We're gonna get to the party at some point, you don't have to rush." Jackson said with a chuckle.

Jackson pulled off as soon as Jinyoung got in the car and fastened his seatbelt, and only then did Jinyoung realize he'd forgotten his inhaler.

"Fuck." Jinyoung cursed aloud.

Jackson gave him a concerned look. "What? What's wrong?"

Jinyoung hesitated, wondering if he should tell Jackson that he had forgotten something pretty important for his health and well being. Though the more he pondered over it, the more he felt like he didn't need it. He was going to a house party, there was nothing he could imagine being there that could trigger his asthma aside from small dust particles. But that would mostly cause him to sneeze more than struggle breathing, he figured he'd be alright.

"Um... nah, I just... forgot my wallet. That's all." He lied.

"Oh. Well we can go back and get it if you want. If you're worried about money or something though, I got it covered." Jackson assured, his smile gleaning in the dimming sunlight.

Jinyoung smiled at Jackson's kindness. "Uh, no it's okay, I don't need it. Thanks."

Jinyoung decided to focus more on getting to the party rather than on the lie he just told. He didn't want to worry Jackson too much about it anyway, he just had to make it through the night with no problem. Should be easy enough.

The car pulled up in front of the house, loud music blaring from inside. Jinyoung wondered how these kids could throw loud parties without noise complaints, but they probably invited the neighborhood kids to the party too, so parents wouldn't complain too much about it.

"Here we are. Ready?" Jackson asked, gazing over at Jinyoung with those sparkling eyes.

Jinyoung returned the look, nodding his head. "Let's go."

Jinyoung followed Jackson into the house party, his eyes glued to the hand that he wanted to hold so bad. Though as they walked in, he noticed Jackson greet some friends with a casual head nod, socializing like the talkative butterfly he was. Jinyoung was sure that walking around holding Jackson's hand would be embarrassing for him, so of course he kept his hands to himself.

At some point though, when they got more into the living room area of the house, Jackson threw his arm around Jinyoung and pushed him forward towards a group of people he had never met before.

"Guys this is my new friend! His name is Jinyoung, we've been hanging together for the past few weeks! He's a really cool guy!" Jackson said, bragging about Jinyoung with the brightest smile on his face.

Jinyoung felt a bit embarrassed, but he realized that now was probably a good time to introduce himself rather than being awkward and shy. "Hi! So you're Jackson's friends?"

"Yeah, I threw the party!" One of the guys said, taking a cup of alcohol from some girl that passed by. "My name is BamBam, nice to meet you! Drink?"

Jinyoung took the drink, though he wasn't really a fan of alcohol. He didn't want to be rude though, so he just held onto it.

BamBam pointed to the guy next to him, slapping him on the back. "This dude is Yugyeom, my roommate! Yugyeom say hi you lightweight!"

"I'm not drunk!" Yugyeom argued, though he clearly was. "My name's GyeomGyeom but call me... um... Yu.."

"Yeah, this guy's drunk out of his mind and the party just started! Anyway, relax and have fun while I deal with him!" BamBam said while pulling Yugyeom away.

Jackson hooked his arm in Jinyoung's, tugging the younger to the couch. "Come on, let's take a seat! Some of my friends are over there!"

Jinyoung followed along, letting Jackson drag him deeper into the party scene.

----------------------------------------------

(*Idkkkk what I'm writing anymore lol i had an idea for this story but i think i posted it too soon oh welp we'll see ksksks*)