Thin Ice- SunSun

[Chapter 9]

The party was in full swing, and the night had never felt more alive. Speakers blaring all the most popular songs of the decade. The dance floor scattered with college kids grinding on one another. A Guy chugging his beer to their left. A girl vomiting up her beer to their right. The group could barely believe this was all happening in the middle of the woods. 

Taking a second to soak it all in, the boys quickly felt intimidated, not knowing what to do at a 'college party'. Heeseung led the group forward towards a table covered in drinks. There was beer bottles, vodka shots, rum, wine, basically anything that contained alcohol, plus a homemade fruit cocktail with a little sign reading 'drink at your own risk'. 

"Woah! This is gonna be a great night!" Running closer to the table, Riki starts pouring a mix of everything he can into one of the red plastic cups he found on the side. 

"Oh no you don't." Heeseung drags the boy back by his hood, looking straight into his eyes, he makes himself clear. "I did you a favour by bringing you here in the first place, but I am not carrying your drunk ass home."

"You suck! Way to ruin the fun." Rolling his eyes and folding his arms, Riki takes his rightful place as the groups annoying littler brother. He was like a kid in a candy store, only if the kid was told he couldn't eat any of the candy. 

"Heeseung! I didn't think you'd actually come." Walking over to the group, the person was tall, blonde and very good looking. Their ears were neatly decorated with silver piercings running up and down them. They were wrapped in a leather jacket, shielding the low v neck shirt under it. They dawned black skinny jeans and military boots, finishing off the look with a black, leather choker. No one knew who this person was, but they did look frickin cool.

"Jay! It's been a while." Clasping hands, they pull each other in, thumping their chests together, a simple handshake most kids their age did. 

"Who is this guy? I didn't know Heeseung knew anyone this cool!" Joining in on the action, Riki grabs Jay's hand pulling them in for a handshake. "Nice to meet you dude! I'm Riki."

"Hah I'm Jay. By the way I'm non binary, I use they/them pronouns, so i'd appreciate if you didn't call me 'dude' or 'guy'." Putting air quotes around the gendered terms, Jay laughs since they're used to having to explain their gender identity. 

Riki's face drops. He didn't mean to offend Jay, on the contrary he was determined to impress them. This was just his luck, his one chance to be invited to college parties, ruined! Jay surely wouldn't ever invite him again. 

Crashing down onto his knees, Riki tightly grasps his hands together, begging for forgiveness. "I'm so sorry, how could I be so ignorant. I'll never do it again, I promise." 

Heeseung and Jay look at each other, both trying to hold back laughter. 

"Riki get up!" For the second time in a matter of minutes, (Having to be a new record) Heeseung once again had a hold of Riki's hood, this time to pull him off the ground.

"Listen, it happens all the time you don't need to worry. Just make sure to use my correct pronouns and we're good. I'd appreciate if you let me know yours too, that way we can both be comfortable." Jay seemed so chill about the whole thing. It was actually a pretty unique experience, since they usually had people on their knees for 'different' reasons. 

"Really, I appreciate it." Awkwardly scratching the nape of his neck, Riki tried to pretend that whole scene didn't just happen. "I use he/him pronouns."

"Great! Now we can enjoy this party, having equal respect for each other." Even Jay's ideologies were cool. They weren't some douche teen, that was only popular because of their ruthless ways. They actually were a solidly nice person.