THE FEELING of chan's arms around his waist didn't leave jeongin's mind— not after he dropped chan off; not when he drove back home with his friends; and not even when he woke up the next morning. it was nothing short of a blessing and jeongin longed to feel it again.

the redhead was crammed onto a couch watching television with his biker brothers when his phone buzzed. digging it out of the pocket of his sweatpants, jeongin saw that it was from felix.

freckles:
ayo mate you up?

me:
yea! gmorning felix :))

freckles:
morning jeongin!

freckles:
are you busy today?

me:
nope. what's up?

freckles:
well idk if you knew but
today is chan's birthday!!

freckles:
me jisung and seungmin
are throwing a small
birthday party for him at
club levanter tonight and
we wanted to invite you to
come along!

freckles:
wait you're 18 right

before jeongin could register the fact that today was chan's birthday and he didn't even know, someone plucked the phone out of his hands. "what the—"

"ooh, a party? tell them we'll go!" hyunjin squealed from behind him. jeongin smacked his friend on the shoulder before snatching his phone back.

"dummy! i was invited, not you! besides, i don't even know if i'll go yet."

hyunjin clicked his tongue. "oh, please. why would you pass up a free chance to party hard all night long?"

easy for you to say, jeongin thought. you go clubbing all the time! "i'm just kind of nervous. i've never gone to levanter before, so i don't know what to expect." even though he had been eighteen for a while, jeongin had never even stepped foot into a club of any sort before. it's not like he even wanted to— he didn't think that there was anything appealing about being in a place filled with alcohol, sweaty bodies, and music with sexual lyrics. sometimes things are like that at home, though.

"and that's why you should take me! i'm club levanter's most frequent guest." hyunjin peered over jeongin's shoulder. "who's throwing the party, anyway?"

"felix, jisung, and seungmin."

hyunjin froze. "get minho and changbin," he whispered. "we have to go to that party."

as it turned out, convincing changbin to tag along was easier than expected. "after everything that's happened these past two weeks, i've just been looking for an excuse to get wasted," he muttered, causing jeongin to grin sheepishly.

minho, however, was the exact opposite.

"no," he said when jeongin asked him, slamming his bedroom door in the younger's face. it was appalling, to say the least; however, minho had been acting a bit strange ever since he came home the previous day. although he was known to be quiet most of the time, he had completely brushed off any attempt that his friends made to speak with him and didn't acknowledge them at all. this was the first thing jeongin had heard him say since he left them at the supermarket and he had no idea what was wrong.

"please, minho?" he begged through the door. "it won't be the same without you." he got nothing but silence in return. sighing in resignation, jeongin turned to face hyunjin and changbin. "looks like it's just the three of us. you guys will stay with me, though, right?"

changbin reached up to pinch jeongin on the cheek. "of course, i.n. what kind of brothers would we be if we left our youngest by himself?"

"or even worse...with poor fashion!" hyunjin added, emitting a chuckle from the other two. "for real, though, we need to figure out what you're gonna be wearing so you can look like a lady killer tonight." he paused. "or a man killer. or a non-binary killer. oh god, that sounds so bad. let's just make you look killer, alright?"

jeongin grinned while changbin bit back a laugh. "sounds good to me."

☀☀☀

"CHAN!" FELIX yelled, bursting into his friend's bedroom. chan's head immediately shot up from where it was snoring on his desk, his eyes the size of saucers.

"the fuck?" he mumbled sleepily as felix barreled into him, nearly knocking him out of his chair.

"happy birthday you old fart! get up, it's already noon! you can't waste the whole day just laying here!"

chan groaned and attempted to push felix off of him. "felix, go away," he whined. "i just wanna sleep."

"too bad," felix huffed. "you have to get up right now so we can find you something sexy to wear for tonight!"

"and why would i need to look sexy tonight?"

"because," felix said, hopping off of chan's lap, "jisung, seungmin, and i are throwing you a party at levanter tonight! surprise!"

chan dropped his head back onto his desk. "no."

felix's face dropped. "what? c'mon, you've gotta go!"

"no i don't."

"yes you do! i'll drag you out of that chair if i have to, bang chan!"

chan sighed. "felix, there's not a single thing you could say that would get me to leave this spot."

"jeongin will be there."

for a moment, chan was silent, and felix thought that maybe he had read the entire situation wrong. but then his friend peeked up at him from the desk and asked:

"what was that about making me look sexy?"

the freckled surfer grinned slyly. got him.

☀☀☀

JEONGIN HAD no clue what to wear to a club. fortunately, hyunjin had gone out and picked up some clothes for him. unfortunately, most of them were very...scandalous.

"hyunjin," changbin said while holding up a black lace top that left nothing to the imagination, "did you buy anything that doesn't scream 'i'll fuck anything that moves'?"

"of course!" hyunjin dug through the pile of newly bought clothes that he had dumped on his bed and pulled out something that jeongin had trouble identifying. it looked like a ton of leather straps that were stuck together. "i also got things that scream 'bend me over a table right now'! it's the best of both worlds!"

"jesus!" changbin shoved the bundle of leather back into the pile, ears burning. "where did you even— never mind. why did you buy that for him?"

hyunjin shrugged. "impulse buy. i'll return it if he doesn't like it. let him decide, though."

jeongin tilted his head. "what is it?"

before changbin could respond, hyunjin slapped a hand over his mouth. "it's just a little accessory that you can wear over your clothes. would you like to try it on?"

jeongin shrugged. "sure."

that's how yang jeongin, age eighteen, ended up in a leather harness for the first time.

"i kinda like it!" he said, spinning around in front of the mirror and missing the way that changbin's face paled. "it makes me feel snug. it's not that bad at all!" the harness in itself was rather simple: it stretched across his chest and back in an x-shape, allowing ample room for him to fit his arms and shoulders through. silver circular studs accentuated the straps more than it already was against the white collared shirt that jeongin wore underneath.

"if you wore black skinny jeans with that, you'd look perfect," hyunjin marveled. "you should definitely wear it tonight."

jeongin nodded excitedly. if hyunjin thought he looked good, he must look phenomenal because his friend had extremely high beauty standards. i really hope chan likes it, he thought. that would be even better than any gift i could ever get—

jeongin gasped. "a gift! i don't have a gift for chan!"

hyunjin blew a raspberry. "and? neither of us has a gift either. our presence enough is a gift."

"maybe to you, but..." jeongin made a face. "i'd feel bad showing up and not giving him anything."

"does it matter?" changbin groaned. "why do you care so much about it?"

of course, jeongin knew the answer to that question. however, he wasn't ready to say it yet. "never mind. it doesn't matter. let's just focus on looking good and having fun tonight, yeah?"

hyunjin grinned. "well said, lil' bro. i can already tell that this is gonna be one insanely crazy night."

"especially since i.n is literally wearing a bdsm harness," changbin muttered.

"wait, what?"