The Demon Next Door

3

Kyungsoo didn't exactly know what walking was anymore.

It felt like floating, and swimming, and dancing at the same time. If it weren't for Jongin, he would have been face down on the asphalt.

They spent the entire rest of their day at that club, fainting and drinking. Kyungsoo sobered up every time someone tried to get in his pants and that angered Jongin, since he was one of those people.

Hiccups rang through the night air like staccato notes. Kyungsoo held onto Jongin's shoulders desperately as he followed him like a kaboos, eyes drooping with every step they took closer to home.

Jongin forced Kyungsoo up the steps to his house, knocking on the door. Kyungsoo leaned over the stairs' railing, looking down at the pavement below as if it was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.

Swaying back and forth on his feet, Jongin knocked again. When Mr. and Mrs. Do didn't come to the door, having gone to a meeting hours earlier, Jongin spun around on his heel and left for his own house.

Kyungsoo followed him, stumbling over his feet. "Yah! Wait up!"

"Your parents aren't home, Egghead," Jongin told him. "Wanna come over?"

Kyungsoo squinted at him, vision blurry and ears ringing. "What did you say?"

Jongin crept up to him, lips millimeters from the older's ear. "I said, your parents aren't home! Wanna come over to my place?!"

"Gosh, fine!" Kyungsoo replied. "You don't have to scream about it!"

Holding onto Jongin again, he let his new neighbor lead him into the house next door.

Through the sliver of vision that he had, Kyungsoo was able to see that the inside of the house was the same basic layout as his own, since they were made by the same architect.

The walls were painted black, though, unlike his own white ones. The furniture was silver and antiques littered the tables and the inside of a glass case standing in the living room.

The kitchen was well equipped and black as ever. Jongin forced open the fridge door, pulling out one of his father's cans of beer. Though it was clearly forbidden for anyone to drink Mr. Kim's precious Bud Light, Jongin did it just to piss his father off.

He tossed one to Kyungsoo, who completely misinterpreted where it was heading. It slammed against his forehead before falling into his hands, earning a small squeak and a bump.

They sat down at the kitchen table. Kyungsoo's nose had already gotten used to the stench of alcohol since it radiated off of him, too. When he opened the can of beer, it didn't even faze him.

Jongin leaned towards him at the table. "So, Egghead, how's it going?"

"Good." Kyungsoo took another chug of the beer. "It's going great. Just fantastic, bro."

"That's my boy," Jongin said, patting Kyungsoo on the head like a dog.

Kyungsoo smiled triumphantly. He finished off his can, only to have Jongin replace it with another. Pulling the tab back and opening it up, Kyungsoo began swallowing it down, too.

They devoured almost the entire package Mr. Kim had bought just the day before. Metal cans littered the floor, and neither of them bothered to pick them up.

Instead, they passed the time with Jongin trying to teach Kyungsoo how to smoke a cigarette properly. Just one inhale and Kyungsoo was already coughing again, his throat flaming.

"No, man," Jongin cut in. "You've gotta go slow. Smoothly breathe it in. Not like you're swallowing helium, for fuck's sake."

Kyungsoo did as Jongin advised, taking small and slow breaths of the smoke in. It seemed to trickle down his throat that way, and it felt rather soothing. Almost as if his throat was in a sauna.