nikky

standing with a friend near the bar, close to the entrance of the club. a clear plastic cup in his hand, seemingly of alcohol, halfway finished, and a lollipop dangling from the corner of his lips, his raven hair falling above his eyes. when you drunkenly smiled and waved in his direction, his eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he shyly smiled back at you with a small wave. the lollipop between his teeth as his eyes smiled along.

it felt like your world had slowed down for a moment as he smiled and waved at you. your stomach flipped, and your thoughts melted into just: wow, he's really cute.

he wasn't the first or the only guy who would smile and wave back when you got overly friendly when you were drinking, but he's the first one who really stood out to you. even as taeha dragged you through the crowd, following behind your group of friends and making sure neither of you were separated from them, you found yourself still thinking about him.

about his smile. about how sharp and how cold his eyes seemed when resting. about how his eyes had a smile of their own when he grinned at you.

as you danced with your friends, you were also slowly sobering up and you would occasionally catch a glimpse of his dark hair in the distance. but your introverted nature had started to surface as the alcohol in your system settled, feeling too shy to approach him and start a conversation.

at another point during the night, you caught another glimpse of him near your group. behind the dj booth, there's another dance floor on top of a short flight of stairs with some seating against the wall, and he was standing there with his friend. still feeling too shy, you took note of his most recent location in the club, all that was left to do was build up the courage to make your move.

a couple of shots, a bathroom break later, and chosing to take the long way back to your friends from the bathroom by going behind the dj booth led to passing through the platformed dance floor in hopes of running into him. unfortunately, it seemed like you spent too much time trying to build up your courage, so you missed the opportunity as he was nowhere in sight behind the dj booth.

with a dejected sigh, you made your way back down the stairs and to your group of friends. hoping to catch another glimpse of him as you dance, but nothing. regretfully, you accept that you're never going to see the raven-haired cutie again and that you should've pushed down your fears and tried to speak to him earlier. but you try to push your disappointment to the back of your mind so it doesn't ruin the rest of your night.

you have no clue what time it is now–all you know is that your friends are over this club and want to find somewhere else to party. so, you all agreed to go to another club that your friend, evelyn, raved about. everyone is making their way through the crowd, holding onto each other's hands or grabbing onto their clothes. drunkenly hollering and stumbling to the exit, down the itaewon club street and to the next establishment.

the club required an entrance fee of 5,000 won for the women and 20,000 won for the men–the former getting a complimentary drink at the bar. after getting in, you and your girl friends made your way through the crowd and straight to the bar to grab your complimentary drinks, playfully teasing the men in your friend group since they paid more to enter but didn't receive the same perks you girls did. still, you girls allowed them to take a couple of sips here and there.

the longer you stayed in this club, the more you understood why evelyn raved about it so much. in comparison to the first club, the one now is definitely a lot smaller, but the dj's a lot better, thus the vibes are incredible as the music has everyone dancing and singing along with their hands in the air. the whole club feels alive, and the atmosphere drives adrenaline through you, keeping you wide awake this late into the night.

but not everyone is being kept awake at this time of the night off of adrenaline and leftover alcohol. you notice taeha pushing her way through the crowd, away from the group and toward the back of the club where the exit and washrooms are located. you decide to follow her, finding her leaning up against a wall, the exhaustion clearly catching up to her.

"are you okay?" you ask. worry lacing your features as your eyes scan over her flushed face.

“i’m drunk but i’m fine, i swear.”

"are you sure you're okay?" you ask again, not believing her, "you're practically falling asleep standing up."

taeha nods her head with a lopsided smile on her lips, "i'm fine, y/n. don't worry. i'll call a cab soon and head back to the dorms."

"i'll come with you," taeha shakes her head in refusal, "but–"

"no buts," the girl is quick to cut you off, her eyes hooded with exhaustion but the lopsided smile still playing on her lips, "i swear to you that i'm fine. i can make it back to the dorm by myself so you don't need to cut your night short."

“but–“

"y/n, listen to me. i'll be okay by myself, i'll be calling my boyfriend the whole time. plus," taeha quickly glances behind you, "i don't think you're going to want to leave with me."

your brows knit together in confusion, "what–"

the words get stuck in your throat when you see where taeha is looking.

it’s him.

the raven-haired cutie.

there's a look of amusement in her tired eyes as she looks between you and the guy. obviously recognizing him as the one you were–not so subtly–eyeing from afar earlier. the dark-haired man blinks a couple of times, slowly approaching you.

"hi," you smile sheepishly, taking a few steps toward him.

"hey," he nervously touches his ear, "i've seen you before… i-in the last club. you smiled and waved at me."

thinking about the actions of drunk y/n makes your cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"did you... want a drink?"

you look back at taeha, who is watching the whole interaction with a smirk on her face, her exhaustion seeming to have gone away for a second and replaced by amusement as the extroverted girl found it equally entertaining and adorable just how shy you both were. when her eyes meet yours, she nods her head and gestures for you to go for it.

she urges, “i'll be okay. just go.”

you hesitate for a moment, not sure if you should leave taeha but she sends you a playful glare, shooing you away with her hands. with that, you turn back to the attractive man and accept his offer with a curt nod. he cocks his head toward the bar, hesitating to take your hand in his to lead the way until your smaller hand slips into his.

he doesn't say anything when you reach the bar; instead, he gestures toward the drink menu with a friendly gaze. you point toward a sweet, flavoured alcoholic drink, and he takes note of it, speaking in korean to the bartender and ordering your drink along with a beer for himself.

"i didn't think i'd see you again," he admits, speaking slowly.

there's a slight korean accent when he speaks in english. it's apparent enough that you're able to hear it and identify it, but not to the extent that it makes it hard to understand what he's saying.

"i didn't think so either," you agree with him, still in disbelief.

the drinks are prepared rather quickly, the bartender handing them off to both of you. pinching the straw between your thumb and forefinger, you mix the drink around as he takes a swig of his beer.

"where are you from?" he leans closer to hear you better. the sudden close proximity makes you panic a little but you try to ignore the way your heart had picked up, not wanting to stumble over your words when answering. he hums at your answer, then asks, "what's brought you to korea?"

"school," you take a sip, the sweet alcohol hitting your tongue, "i'm an exchange student."

the conversation drifts into what school you're attending here in korea and what you're studying as you're both leaning up against the bar. you see his sharp eyes widen in awe when you tell him you're studying at one of the top universities in korea.

"you must be really smart then," he praises.

you shake your head, laughing off his comment, "i wouldn't say that."

you told yourself in the beginning of the night that you would be back at the dorms by three in the morning, but time seems to have flown by in the midst of a conversation with the raven-haired cutie. it's definitely way past three in the morning as the light from the sun rising has begun seeping through the windows of the club, something neither of you had noticed. so engulfed in your conversation with the man across from you, you didn’t even notice that the once packed club’s crowd had trickled down to your friends (the ones who hadn’t called it a night and a cab), a handful of other club-goers, the raven-haired cutie and yourself–all of whom would be leaving the club at almost six in the morning.

you exit the club with your hand in his as your arms swing in between your bodies as he walks with you and your friends to the nearest subway station. on the subway platform, he points you in the direction you should go to get back to your dormitory, which is, unfortunately, the complete opposite direction of the route he needs to take to get back to his house.

you wave goodbye to him from inside the subway car, and he waves goodbye from where he stands on the platform, stepping backward, toward the opposite side where his subway slowly approaches. when the doors close, you sit in one of the many vacant seats, leaning your head against the pole with a tired sigh, your hands unzip and slip your phone out of your purse. your cheeks flushing at the most recent message thread.

yang jeongin.

to say you couldn't stop thinking about jeongin would be a complete understatement.

when you got back to the dorm after itaewon, the night you met, you checked your phone before going to sleep and saw a message from him.

yang jeongin: i had fun :) lets do it again sometime

that simple message brought smile to your face, and it took you a while to formulate a reply. you didn't want to sound too eager, at the same time, you didn't want to sound uninterested, just right in between. you tossed and turned in your bed, typing and deleting, thinking and then typing and deleting message drafts for a good while–thankfully, your roommate had slept elsewhere, so your tossing and turning didn't disturb anyone other than yourself.

when you realize that you are completely overthinking your reply, you snort at yourself in irritation, typing out a message and pressing send without a second thought.

y/n: i had fun too :) we should go out again, whenever we're both free

due to your schedules, a night when you were both free didn't come till the next weekend.

during the weekdays, you were on campus attending lectures, different school pop-ups and events they were having and finding time to study. you barely studied back in your dormitory, how could you when your bed was situated right next to the desk? your comforter, pillow and plushie that you won from a claw machine looking incredibly inviting. how could you possibly resist?

meanwhile, jeongin started work in the evenings and went late into the night, usually spending his mornings sleeping to recharge for his upcoming shift. you learned that night in itaewon that he's a couple of years older, four years to be exact, as you're currently 23 and he's 27. he graduated from university almost three years ago and now works full-time in a flower shop. seeing how big a business flowers are in korea, you aren't surprised how much he works and how late into the night he works. coupled with the fact that his workplace is understaffed, someone needs to pick up the shifts, and that someone just happens to be him.

because of your school and his work schedule, you planned to meet on the weekend after midnight. this time, instead of clubbing in itaewon, you invited him to go clubbing with your friends in hongdae.

yang jeongin: i’m off work where are you?

y/n: i’m near the convenience store at the claw machine place

while waiting for your last few friends to arrive, you found yourself squatting on a stool, eyes locked in and focused on the game in front of you.

at this point, you’ve lost count of how many times you’ve watched the machine pick up the little keroppi plush keychain only to drop it.

all you know is that your hope slowly diminishes after each failed attempt, diminishing even faster when you're pleading your friends for spare 1,000 won bills to fund your claw machine addiction, evelyn’s bill ended with another failed attempt. you quickly feed raegan's bill into the feeder before you're locked in and focused on the stubborn claw machine game in front of you, one hand on the joystick and the other hovering near the drop button. with a clenched jaw, you exhale heavily in frustration, your hands balled into fists as you watch the claw in anticipation, hoping that this would be it.

“why!?” you cry out dramatically, palms flat on the glass as you stare at the green plushies stuck in the machine.

“of course,” you turn around fast, hearing louis’ voice.

for a moment, your whole demeanour changes to hopeful as you plead for the man to donate another 1,000 won bill to the 'y/n needs the keroppi plush keychain' charity. a smile on your lips as you blink up innocently to louis, who had just come back from escorting a drunk taeha to her taxi. he deadpans, muttering about how these claw machine games are scams, but he still takes his wallet out and hands you a 1,000 won bill. your face beams at the sight of the bill, and you snatch it from his hold with a quick, chirpy thank you as you turn back to the machine with a newfound hope.

a hope that is smashed into pieces when the claw machine game withholds your big-eyed, green frog prize. your bottom lip juts out in a pout, staring at the game in disappointment as you hear louis once again repeat how these games are just scams to eat your money.

somehow, your friends convince you off the stool and out of the claw machine establishment to get you to come with them to wait outside the convenience store a couple of doors down to wait for your friend and her date for the night to arrive. you leave the establishment with your hand in evelyn’s, being dragged out with a longing look in your eyes that lingers on the keroppi keychain until it leaves your line of sight.

when your friend and her date arrive, they grab a bottle of plain soju and a chaser from the convenience store to quickly pregame before you all head down to the clubbing street. as you watch them take swigs of the plain soju, the frog plush keychain momentarily leaves your mind as you cringe watching the non-flavoured alcohol hit their tongue. you can practically taste it in your own mouth just from watching them drink.

you tear your gaze away with a grimace, shaking your head as your hand moves to unzip your purse and pull out your phone. you must have been so distracted by your friend and her date drinking the non-flavoured soju that you didn't feel the buzz of your phone in your bag five minutes ago when jeongin had texted you.

yang jeongin: i’m in the claw machine place

you fumble to slip your phone into your pocket, already taking a few steps backward as you say, "i'll be back. jeongin says he's inside the claw machine place. i'm just gonna go and get him."

you're turned around and making your way to the claw machine establishment before any of your friends can really respond with more than a nod. when you step into the building, you force yourself to ignore the keroppi claw machine located right in the front as you walk through the rows of all the other machines, searching for jeongin in the midst of them.

you spot the raven-haired boy near the back of the establishment. he's clad in loose-fitting black pants and a dark denim jacket, his back turned to you as he has a go at one of the claw machines with bigger plushies. you walk up behind him quietly, watching as the larger claw dips down and grabs onto the toy, only for it to open slightly when it retracts, causing the toy to slip from its grasp and bounce back to its original position inside the machine.

"try again," you tease.

jeongin had been so focused on the game and trying to win, he hadn't heard or noticed you had approached him. he jumps in slight surprise upon hearing your voice, but recovers quickly, shaking his head shyly. jeongin starts walking away from the machine he's at and makes his way through the rows slowly, with you following behind him. browsing and making comments about the different plush prizes. short comments about any plushies you found cute or interesting looking.

you pause for a moment before walking toward a machine with larger prizes, reaching for the display plush hanging in front of it.

"this one's a bag," you point out. it’s a capybara plush that has straps on its front side so it can be worn as a backpack. you would assume that it would look as if it's clinging to your back when worn.

“a bag?” jeongin questions. he also steps toward the machine, reaching out to inspect the bag.

he turns the bag and finds a zipper on the capybara plushie’s stomach, zipping it open, and you laugh lightly at the sight. meanwhile, jeongin can see a slight reflection of you in the glass of the claw machine, his gaze moving from the bag over to you. clear amusement on your face, a toothy grin on your face as you play with the zipper, opening and closing the bag as you think to yourself, what could possibly be the need for a capybara bag and what one would even store inside of it. jeongin finds himself mirroring the delight on your face, biting back a grin.

“cute," he says quietly.

“right?” you squeeze the plush.

jeongin catches himself staring a second too long. he blinks quickly, pursing his lips into a thin line and clearing his throat, catching your attention.

"did you want anything?” jeongin asks, referring to the many prizes in the establishment.

your whole face lights up at his question. you're so excited, you act before you can really think anything through, as you turn away from jeongin, grabbing his hand in yours and leading him to the front. his eyes widen at the sudden gesture and the feeling of your smaller hand in his, jeongin's brown eyes quickly glancing down at your hands, his stomach fluttering at the sight.

you stop in front of the same machine you were sitting at earlier, before you'd left to wait for your friends at the convenience store. the keroppi plush, the exact one you had been trying to get still sitting on the edge inside the machine, on top of many other ones. jeongin points at the machine for confirmation, receiving a silent nod from you. the man assumes position, moving to squat down on the stool, struggling a bit because of his longer legs and trying to find a more comfortable way to situate them so they aren't in the way as he plays. behind him, you're biting back a snicker as you think about how cute and small he looks, curled up in front of the machine with the neon lights illuminating his face.

jeongin takes his credit card out of his wallet, inserting it into the card reader as you watch in anticipation, your hands folded together. at the melodic chime, he moves the joystick to hover over the plushie he aims to capture as a prize, his other hand near the button. you have your bottom lip pulled between your teeth as your eyes watch the green frog get captured by the silver claw, only to drop it when the claw retracts back up. you purse your lips in disappointment, only to chuckle lightly when you catch jeongin's reflection in the glass–pure disappointment laced in his features. his jaw slackens as he blinks slowly. he thought that he had grabbed the toy perfectly. jeongin didn't understand how this could've happened.

“it’s okay, c’mon let's go,” you move forward to rest a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but jeongin shakes his head firmly, fumbling around to find his wallet in his pockets. your eyes widen at his determination.

“no, no. one more time,” he tells you as he inserts his card, paying for another attempt.

he straightens his posture, getting ready for the melodic chime that signals the game has started and that the timer is counting down, his hands already in position at the joystick and button. you watch from where you're standing behind him, watching as jeongin's second attempt is futile as the stupid claw does the same thing as all of yours and his previous attempts–grabs onto the toy, only to drop it when the claw opens slightly when it reaches the top again.

jeongin groans in annoyance, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the toy landing back where he'd just picked it up from.

“jeong–“

before you can even get his name out, jeongin's already inserted his card into the reader to pay for another round. however, this time, he's left his card in the reader just in case he fails again.

it's dark inside the club, minimal lighting coming from the bar and other neon signs within the room. you look around the place, observing your surroundings as you follow your friends inside, splitting off with jeongin toward the bar.

when evelyn gasps from a couple of feet away, you halt in your tracks and look at her with wide eyes, concern flashing in your eyes.

"what? are you okay?" you mouth, exaggerating how you're moving your lips.

the tall girl points at your bag, "you got it?" she mouths back. her eyes twinkling in the dark room, looking between your face and the keroppi plush keychain that's dangling from your purse.

you nod, gesturing to jeongin behind you, whose back is turned as he orders a drink from the bar. evelyn responds with a cheeky smile and a thumbs up, turning back to the rest of your group, where they're all trying to dance.

emphasis on trying because even though the dj seems to be trying his best with whatever music he's been given, the whole mood in the club isn't feeling very hype–it's no wonder that this club in particular is practically empty at one in the morning, when the club street is bustling with people outside.

"thank you," you hear jeongin bid the bartender when his drink is handed off to him.

as he turns back to you, you're moving your phone from your back pocket and into your purse just to be safe, zipping the leather accessory closed. turning toward jeongin, who now holds a clear plastic cup in his hand. you watch under the dim light as he takes the first sip through the straw, humming in satisfaction before he stretches the drink toward you, offering you some.

jeongin sees the moment the alcohol hits your tongue from how your eyes slightly widen with a surprised glint. you're pleasantly surprised that the drink he's chosen doesn't have too much of an obvious alcohol taste and is quite sweet; it's a dangerous combination. drinks like these that taste like juice could get anyone fucked up before they even knew it.

"good?"

you nod and take another sip, holding the straw between your fingers as he holds the cup closer to you.

“wanna dance?” you ask over the loud music. he smiles at you.

taking jeongin's hand that isn't holding the cup of alcohol, you take a few steps away from the bar and move further into the empty dance floor, trying to get into the music and move your bodies. but the combination of the music being absolutely terrible and the fact that you're both sober in such a dull club is making it hard for either of you to really let go and move your bodies comfortably. you try to sway to the music, so does jeongin, but there's a clear struggle with the stiff smile on his lips.

you meet his gaze, and you both let out a light laugh at how awkward the whole atmosphere is. instead of attempting to dance, jeongin leans down, closer to you, to speak into your ear over the loud music.

"why did you want this one?"

"this?" you reach for the small green frog dangling from your bag, and he nods, "it's keroppi."

he leans back just enough for you to catch the confusion on his face as he slowly blinks down at you.

"what's that?"

"keroppi, it's a sanrio character," you explain, "you know hello kitty?"

he answers with a silent 'ahh', taking another sip of the alcohol.

"this is one of hello kitty's friends," you look for the tag that's almost the same size as the plush itself, trying to show jeongin the cat logo in the terrible lighting.

"i see."

dropping the tag, you turn the plush back around so it's facing forward. you beam, "it's cute, isn't it?"

"mhmm, yeah."

despite there being little to no lights in this club, jeongin is still able to see your bright smile and how your eyes twinkle when he agrees that he finds the plushie cute. the longer he looks at you, the more he feels his ears heating up, his free hand instinctively toying with his ear as he gets increasingly flustered. jeongin tears his gaze away from you, and he takes another sip of his drink, offering you some right after and noticing how you like to pinch the straw between your fingers before you take a sip.

how introverted and shy both of you really are stands out in this practically empty, lifeless club, as there's nothing really for either of you to work with to get more comfortable in this atmosphere. seeing as it's the first time you're meeting after the initial meeting in itaewon, neither of you finds the sudden awkwardness strange; instead, you both find it a given. given your personalities and that you're still getting to know each other.

since you slipped your phone into your purse, you didn't feel the buzz in your bag from the incoming text messages you were getting from your friends moments ago, letting you know that they were over this club, not enjoying the vibes and wanted to try out a different club on the street. not wanting to ruin or interrupt any potential moments you and jeongin could have been having, they opted to send you a text instead. letting jeongin know where your friends had gone, you both mutually decide it's also time for the two of you to get the hell out of this lifeless club.

you walk out of the club and into the busy hongdae club street with jeongin’s hand in your own. he walks beside you but leads the way as you shoot your friends a message asking where they’ve decided to go and that you two were on the way. jeongin maneuvers you through the busy club street, making sure you don’t collide with other clubgoers walking up and down, and making sure you don’t trip and fall on your face. he also rejects and ignores the persistent staff standing outside the many clubs, advertising and coaxing people to choose their establishment over other clubs, moving you away when they seem to take a few steps forward to block your path. 

you discover that your friends chose not to wait in the long line for the club closer to the one you had just left, but to queue for the club at the end of the street, bottles of soju in hand and planning to play some drinking games to pass the time while waiting. you and jeongin physically cringed at the sight. the queue to get in was very long and winding beside the club entrance. not wanting to wait too long to get into a club, you and jeongin opted to line up for the one right beside it. the line's substantially shorter and moving faster as you found yourselves getting id’ed and let in, in under ten minutes. 

at first glance, this new club also seemed as dead as the last one due to how empty it seemed. groups of people scattered throughout the establishment, but upon further inspection, the few people that were actually in this club seemed to be having fun and vibing with the overall atmosphere. you heard whooping and cheering from different groups on the dance floor, obviously enjoying themselves and the dj's a lot better in this club as well.

at the bar, jeongin ordered his second drink of the night along with a couple of shots for you. the moment the first shot hit your tongue, you were greeted by a sweet lemon-flavoured alcohol that you found tasty. the cherry on top may have been the rim of sugar you had the privilege of licking off after each shot. you'd offered jeongin a shot, but he found the alcohol to be too sweet for him, opting to stick with whatever he ordered in that plastic cup beside him. after all the shots were downed, you hopped off the bar stool with the help of jeongin who helped you down and you both made your way to the open dance floor.

you were enjoying the energy of the dj and the music they were playing a whole lot more compared to the previous club. naturally, you felt your body beginning to move to the music and your lips mouthing the words to songs you recognized. the extrovert in you started coming out again as you exchanged friendly smiles with the girls around you, the extrovert in jeongin surfacing as well, as he wraps an arm around your shoulders and pulls you close, flush next to him.

the gesture is abrupt and he realizes how quickly he'd pulled you close to him when he stumbles on his feet. you hear him snicker as he wobbles. you're quick to steady him with a light laugh, one hand on his chest and the other around his waist. when he seems to be stable on his feet, you belatedly register just how close his face is to yours when you look up at him, your nose inches away from brushing against the side of his face, but you pretend not to notice.

"are you drunk?" you ask with a teasing tone.

he shakes his head, a smirk playing on his lips, "nooo, i'm just having fun. are youuu having fun?"

he's definitely not drunk, but he is tipsy. you are also definitely tipsy.

jeongin offers you a sip of the drink he'd ordered when you first got into this club, but you didn't hear what it was and forgot to ask when he got it earlier. out of curiosity, you decide to take a sip, only to quickly jerk your head back with a cringe when the alcohol hits your tongue. you have no idea what it is, but it's too strong for you; the alcohol taste is clearly there and seems intensified by whatever they mixed with it.

you wonder how jeongin could possibly be enjoying whatever he's drinking. how anyone could possibly drink a whole solo cup of whatever concoction is in that cup. your nose is still scrunched up and your brows are furrowed as you attempt to process what you just drank. for a moment, you think back to the lemon-flavoured shots you'd taken just a bit ago and just how sweet those were in comparison to what's in jeongin's cup.

jeongin chuckles at the sight of your clearly displeasured expression, "tastes bad?"

"terrible," you respond in korean, your accent and pronunciation probably just as terrible.

jeongin cracks up, thinking it really must be so terrible that you said it in his native language for him to completely understand.

"you sureee?" he offers again playfully just to get a reaction from you.

you shake your head quickly, backing your head away with your tongue sticking out of your mouth in disgust.

"yuck, absolutely terrible."

even though your face is still scrunched up with clear disgust as you slowly try to forget the alcohol that just hit your tongue, jeongin thinks you look absolutely adorable. the lights from the dj booth are reflecting on your face, allowing him to see how your expression slowly changes as you bop along to the music. he watches with silent awe as you mouth the lyrics to the songs, enjoying the overall vibe of this club. a complete contrast to how you were in the last club. he tears his gaze away from you, glancing at you from the corner of his vision before he downs the drink from the cup instead of through the straw. with his arm still slung around your shoulders, he bops along to the music with a satisfied hum.

you're so into the music and the vibes of this club that you don't notice when the cup in jeongin's hand runs out of alcohol, with all that's left being ice cubes. your head is still moving along to the music as you turn to look up at him, your breath getting caught in your throat. at the same time, you feel your heart skip when you lock eyes with jeongin, who'd already been looking at you with a small smile.

you expected him to look away when you caught him looking but his grin widens at your expression, clearly flustered under his gaze.

your cheeks heat up, "what?" you question.

jeongin shakes his head, denying that there's anything, but you don't buy it as his gaze is still locked on you. your bottom lip juts out in a subtle pout as your eyes narrow the slightest bit.

"whaaat?" you question a bit more insistently.

jeongin chooses to shake his head again in denial. his eyes dart between your narrowed, but confused eyes and the cute little pout on your lips.

you open your mouth to question the man again, only for the words to never come out, getting caught in your throat when jeongin leans down just enough to press his lips against yours. suddenly, your eyes widen when you feel the cold sensation of an ice cube being transferred from his mouth to yours. the piece of ice now sits on your tongue as he pulls away with a smug but shy expression, as you blink up at him in awe.

it had all happened so fast, you could barely even fully process it.

at one moment, he's staring down at you with unreadable eyes that confuse you, and you want to know what's going on in this head of his.

another moment, his lips are pressed up against yours, there's an ice cube that was once sitting in his mouth, on his tongue now in yours.

now he's pulled away, facing forward and tipping his alcohol-less cup into his mouth and letting another ice cube hit his tongue.

thinking back to it, you feel your heart stutter in your chest as your stomach flutters, remembering how soft and warm his lips felt against your own. remembering the moment of shock when the ice cube slid between your lips and onto your tongue, the icy feeling contrasting with the heat of his lips.

jeongin is still holding you flush against his side, swaying to the music, and you feel the urge to touch your lips with your fingertips to confirm that that did indeed happen and that you aren't having hallucinations from the small amounts of alcohol you drank tonight. but not wanting to look like a grade schooler who'd just had their first kiss with their grade school crush, you refrain. instead, you continue to be in a daze, your bottom lip is tucked between your teeth as you play with the ice cube in your mouth.

you wonder what jeongin's thinking after that kiss.

would it be a kiss? you begin to question. a real one or just a mere peck?

yes, jeongin's lips made contact with your own, but the most movement that occurred between your lips was him moving the ice from his mouth to yours.

the gesture was unexpected, catching you in pleasant surprise, so you weren't able to reciprocate in your moment of shock. you what conjured up this idea in jeongin's head, how he got the idea, why and what exactly went through his mind when he executed it. at the same time, you were wondering if you should initiate the next kiss, still in a daze but wanting to feel the warmth of his lips against yours again.

for a split second, you believe that this man can read your mind because jeongin turns his head and looks down at you at that moment. his movement catches your attention and prompts you to look up at him, and when jeongin leans down again, his face slowly inching closer to your own, your heart rate picks up as your eyes dart between his eyes and his lips.

when his lips brush against your own, your eyes flutter closed instinctively. he parts your lips again, using his tongue to push another ice cube from his tongue to yours, but this time, he doesn't pull away when it hits your tongue. jeongin pulls you closer.

one hand gently cupping your cheek as his arm around your shoulders holds you impossibly closer to him. you lean into the warmth of jeongin's hand on your cheek and the warmth of his lips as your hands move from your sides and find their way around his waist, gripping the back of his denim jacket as he kisses you. when you kiss him back, you hear jeongin sigh in content against your lips.

the combination of contrasting sensations, the feeling of warmth coming from jeongin's soft, plush lips against your own, paired with the cold, biting sensation of the ice cube quickly melting from the heat building up from his tongue in your mouth, is incredibly addictive.

you can taste the alcohol you didn't like on jeongin's tongue but it tastes different, better when you're tasting it this way. you were merely tipsy on alcohol before jeongin kissed you. but now you feel as if your head is in the clouds, you're getting drunk on the feeling of his lips pressed against yours, how he holds you against him.

if your grip on the back of his jacket or how close he's holding you against him or how he's trying so hard to hold himself back from letting his hands wander as his tongue swipes against yours, isn't enough of a sign that things were definitely heating up between you two. the next question jeongin asks when he reluctantly pulls away from you for the slightest bit of air, still close enough for his slick lips to brush against yours as he speaks. his dark, hooded eyes boring into your own is most definitely a sign.

"do you want to get out of here?"