love like an espionage

“do you think freshman year of college you could finish this faster than you are now?” eunseok smiles as you chew on a few ice cubes.

“freshman year me would’ve pregamed some pink whit and had two of these by now.” 

and just like that the cerulean liquid is accommodating itself with your liver, glass empty save for a couple of melting ice cubes, “i mean i was out so much that the bouncers at the local college bars knew my name. they definitely knew i had a fake.”

“and they still kept letting you in?” 

you shrug as you down the ice in your cup and set it down on the bar countertop, "business over law and liability i guess.” 

far from hazy, you lead eunseok to the quickly filling dance floor as he keeps a hand on the small of your back, and manage to find a spot that’s just enough to do a little two step with each other and just almost rub elbows with a stranger. 

you’re pulling him by the waist and tip toe, barely reaching his face, your lips to his ear, “so how many shots for you to do a backflip in front of everyone?” 

eunseok brings your hands further up his body so he can settle his own hands on your waist. it’s already stuffy in the bar, and him holding you warms you up a little more, more so than the liquid blanket you paid nine dollars for. he cranes his neck and takes a good look at the scene–people funneling to and from the floor to the bar to replenish their souls, the door swinging too loosely on its hinges to let in a biting draft of air, the strobe lights only bouncing between three colors. 

“the whole top shelf, obviously,” eunseok looks at you approvingly, seeing if you’ll send a mere giggle his way given that you’re already looking up at him and batting your eyelashes.

you tip toe again, gripping his shoulder more tightly so as not to lose balance in your heeled boots, “well how many shots for you to kiss me right now?”

eunseok is a homebody. down to the bare bones definition of the word that it was probably established in the dictionary after he was born. he’d rather stay at home most nights, on the sofa with you curled up next to him as you’re dozing off to some movie that you’d insisted you both watch, while he’s up trying to actually finish the damn thing so he could review it with you in the morning. 

when he’s not leaning his right side onto the armrest of the couch, he’s sitting too comfortably in his chair, fingers working away at his console, eyes boring onto the glowing computer screen. and you’re usually in some sort of parallel play next to him, propped up on your own chair meticulously painting your nails or clacking away on your own laptop. if it weren’t for you, eunseok would definitely forget to stand up and stretch his legs however, if it weren’t for him you’d be much too focused on whatever it was you were working on and wouldn’t sleep until the next day, with eunseok hauling you to the bed to finally get some shut eye…after a round or two of lazily rolling around in the sheets together.

sometimes, eunseok, like a dog, will cling to your side and follow you anywhere and everywhere, even if he pretends he doesn’t want to go. 

you met eunseok after you’d graduated college, funnily enough at your mutual friend heeseung’s house party. eunseok was only incentivized to go because heeseung, like coaxing a turtle out from its shell, had somehow enticed him with seeing his sleek new pc set up. 

albeit only being about an hour and a half into the party, eunseok had decided that after a couple games with heeseung and sohee, while everybody else was bumping and grinding in the living room, he would see himself out. he was getting his last steps in, bidding adieu to some people he hadn’t seen in a while after being approached by them when you motioned for him, a random party-goer, to come over.

in the middle of pouring some concoction into your cup you pursed your lips, “i made some diabolical cocktail for my friend and i but i know she’ll throw up if she has one more drink, so d’ya wanna help me finish it?” 

eunseok wasn’t one to drink much, especially because he was such a lightweight and one sip of a cherry hard seltzer would be enough to set his face on fire. though your face was too warm and welcoming to deny a request. 

“promise you didn’t add a dash of king cobra venom?” he slyly smiled at you, but somewhat confused as to why you called him over instead of one of the many friends he’d seen you mingling with tonight. he figured it’s because everyone else had one too many drinks. 

“pinky swear, i’ll prove it to you,” you downed your cup without so much as scrunching your face or reaching for some stray fruit juice to mitigate the taste. you even turned your jean pockets inside out, “definitely no vial of rattlesnake spit in here.”

eunseok laughs and finally takes a swig from the red plastic cup but immediately winces, “please don’t tell me it’s ev–” “it’s like more than half everclear. a drop of Tito’s probably and whatever else if there even is room for anything else is pink lemonade.” eunseok only knew what everclear was because his college roommate sungchan’s business frat little, anton, threw up at their shared apartment after two shots of it during pledge initiation night. he swore to himself that if he were to ever encounter it he’d stay far away, but not when you were beaming at him so closely. 

much to his surprise, eunseok finished most of his cup despite his head and stomach and liver and esophagus telling him not to, but in your presence he felt compelled to do anything. his eyes kept darting to yours to see if you’d laugh at whatever stupid thing he’d say now that he had liquid courage coursing through his veins. and much to heeseung’s surprise, eunseok was kissing a pretty girl not in his bathroom but against the wall next to the bathroom since you were both too inebriated to even make it inside. 

that was the last time eunseok drank past his limit since now he’s in fear of having an awful hangover at what he thought was the old age of 25, or because he’s your driver for the night. 

you’d quite mellowed down since the tail end of your time in college, but like many people your age, had the uncontrollable urge to go out for a night and buy an overpriced cocktail. eunseok pretends to not want to go, but it’s really when you’re in low rise jeans and a halter top nearly baring your chest that he’s fully convinced he should leave his apartment for a few hours.

when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force, they're bound to roll along together. 

eunsoek doesn’t say anything, but fully wraps his arms around your waist and brings you close. you’re snaking your arms around his neck as he leans in to press his lips to yours. despite the beats bouncing off the walls and into your ears, you’re both too engulfed in the kiss to care. you’re carding your fingers through his hair, and eunseok’s gripping your waist a little tighter, his tongue shoving itself deeper into your mouth. you simply don’t care that you’ve now become that couple making out at the bar, not when your boyfriend is rubbing his hands all up and down your sides and you’re moaning into his mouth. 

eunseok’s glad he opted for contacts tonight because then he wouldn’t be able to immediately see you through the thick fog of his glasses after pulling away. he’s grateful he can take you in as you are right now–hair slightly disheveled, eyelids more hooded and blinking slower, lips smirking every single time he makes eye contact with you. you’re both as close as close could get even with dozens of people now bumping into you, random drops of condensation falling near your shoes and all. “you want another drink?” eunseok asks. you shake your head and bury your face into his chest, inhaling the fresh yet sweet musk of his cologne that’s seeped into his blue linen button down. that in tandem with his own scent of sweat is enough to drive you up a wall and just almost pull you out of your glazed state, but it’s much better being tipsy feeling eunseok’s bicep firm up underneath your hold as you shake your head. 

“i didn’t eat much today so that amf kinda hit me hard,” “do you wanna go home?” “no…just wanna stay here for a little.” you look up from his chest for a second and suddenly the strobe lights are a little too strong, the air in your nose too sharp, but once you lock eyes with eunseok, everything winds down and you wrap your arms tighter around him. you don’t know it now, but he’s making a mental note to stop at the drive-by of your favorite fast food place after your conscience comes to surface again. 

tonight is the first valentine’s you’re spending together as a couple, and both of you had absolutely zero expectations. eunseok’s just about as low maintenance as you are. when he asked if there was anything specific you wanted to do on february 14th (which he just mentioned by date, not by its formal holiday title) as he walked you to your door the other night, you’d just suggested mmm…surprise me before giving him a chaste kiss on his cheek and an even longer one on his lips before you settled into your apartment for the night. 

right now, eunseok is the one standing astonished, eyes fixated on every part of the dress that drapes perfectly over your body. but it’s eunseok, and he doesn’t let up. 

“i mean…i actually came here to ask you if you think she’s into carnations,” he joked, prompting a laugh from you. 

he’s as cool as a cucumber. at least seemingly so. you don’t know that at this moment his entire chest is about to explode as it merely cages a heart doing a thousand flips a minute. eunseok knows that you could get high on just the blush on his cheeks, so he’s pretty grateful it takes his face a longer time to warm up than the rest of his body. 

the fanciest date you’ve been on together was probably sharing a glass of pinot noir at a dive bar, and what else was there to wear other than ripped jeans and boots? eunseok knows better than to faint at the sight of you all dolled up, and your heels aren’t even on yet, but he’s pretty close to getting there when you fiddle with your necklace. his feet are planted firmly into the floor of your apartment and his hands are sworn to only holding the bouquet so as not to throw himself all over you. 

eunseok sets the flowers down on the dining table as you dash to your room to grab the rest of your belongings. his ears perk up at the clacking of your heels. he’s tightly wound once more at the sight of you altogether, but loosens up when you grab ahold of his arm. 

“ready?” you beam.

expecting maybe a nod or let’s go, you lightly stumble when eunseok settles his hands onto your waist, lips locking with yours. your purse falls from your shoulder to your forearm as you fall right back into eunseok, gripping his button-up shirt.

you pull back, “are you okay, love? you’re kinda warm,” the back of your hand goes straight to his forehead. 

eunseok takes your hand off and once again finds his hands wrapping around your waist, engulfing you into a hug.