Noona [Ateez]

Toy

That night
Bosam's Point of View

I had lunch at Jiho's and then he dropped me off back at the dorms. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Rowoon and went to bed early, wanting to catch up on the sleep the sleep that I didn't get over the weeks of promotions.

But then, around two am, my phone ringing was what made me jolt awake and rush to pick up before Rowoon could be woken up as well. "Hello?!" I whisper-yelled in a groggy tone against my phone, annoyed at whoever was on the other end for the audacity of calling at this hour.

"Sam," a voice from the other end croaked, making my face grow pale for a second. 'Sam' was the nickname used by only very few people in my life. A nickname I hadn't been called in years, since it was given to me by Rowoon's father. It took me a few panicked seconds to realize it wasn't him.

"Jiho?" I asked, my tone turning more confused. "Mhm," he said from the other end with a sniffle. Was he crying? What was going on? "Omo- oppa are you alright?" I asked, sitting up and leaving for the living room, so as to not risk waking up my son.

"No... Sam, I need to see you. I can't do this anymore." He whimpered. I had never heard Jiho like this before. I felt a knot in my throat. "Oppa... you're worrying me. Where are you? What's going on?" I asked, confused, going back to my room for a second to grab the keys to the van and my purse. "I'm at the bar.." he mumbled. Ah, he was drunk, that explained... barely anything. He seemed fine earlier, what the hell happened? And wait, didn't he also drink the night before? He said he was hungover this morning... I should've known something was wrong... but we hung out for a good portion of the day and everything seemed fine. What happened?

"Okay. Can you text me your location? I'll come pick you up." 

After a few minutes of a less than competent, drunk Jiho attempting to send me his location, I asked him to instead tell me the name of the bar, and I hung up, saying I was on my way. 

The whole drive, I was praying that I was heading to he right bar. Soon, I parked in front of the curb and called him. Thank God, a few minutes later, a drunk Zico came stumbling out. "Jiho, oh my gosh." I said, rushing over to his side and holding on to him to keep him steady. 

"Nutty," he whimpered, leaning down to hug me, lying the weight of his 6 foot self on my much smaller frame, nearly toppling us both over in the process. He squeezed me so tight I could barely breathe. "Jiho-" I wheezed out, making him release me. "Shit, sorry. I'm just..." he said, before sighing instead of completing his phrase. "I'm happy to see you," he slurred out, cupping my face in his large hands and squishing my cheeks a bit, looking down at me with a warm expression.

I quickly swatted his hands away. "Yah, what's up with you? What if someone sees? Just hurry, come on, get in the car." I said, before wrapping my arm around him once again and struggling to lead his large, less than coordinated self into the van. 

Once he was inside and sitting on the passenger's seat, I had to lean over to help him put on his seatbelt, before climbing into the driver's side with a small, tired huff.

"Are you mad?" Jiho asked, looking over to me and tucking a stand of my hair behind my ear, since it was all messy, given that I had just woken up, thrown on a coat, and came to get him. 

"Not really... I'm just confused. What's wrong?" I asked, looking into his eyes, but he looked away at my question. "Can we listen to some music?" he said, completely disregarding my question as he started to hook up his phone to the van's stereo. 

I was a little frustrated by his lack of response, but I let it slip, since he was drunk and less eloquent than usual. I could ask again when he had gotten home safely and sobered up.