bambam shows up to the venue with yugyeom, jinyoung, and youngjae. yugyeom tells them that the rest of their friends will meet them there in a few minutes, they had dropped jay off earlier and were coming back from getting food. youngjae is beyond excited, nothing is better to him than music and making new friends.
jinyoung feels just about the opposite, having to be at an asshole's show instead of at home, not watching someone he doesn't like perform. but he's there for bambam and he doesn't say any of the things he's thinking, he still wants bambam to have a good time. and he still has youngjae with him, he can't have a bad time when he gets to dance with his boyfriend.
yugyeom stands from where they sit and waves when he sees his friends walk in.
"oh my god," bambam hears youngjae whisper. as mark and jackson walk closer, jackson's smile and energy seem to disappear when he and youngjae make eye contact.
"youngjae?" jackson asks, but he knows it's him. he knows exactly who it is.
"you know each other?"
"bambam, come get a drink with me." youngjae grabs bambam's arm and pulls him to the bar and without asking bambam what he wants, gets them each 2 shots of tequila.
"you know jackson?" bambam asks after he and youngjae quickly finish their shots.
"he's my ex." youngjae admits, dropping his head down on the bar for a moment but soon lifting it to order 4 more shots for them.
they finish their shots, bambam regretting being such a kind friend as he feels the shots hit his stomach, and head back to their group. youngjae asks bambam not to tell anyone they took 4 shots each, and instead insist they both just got 1 drink while gone. bambam agrees because he's never seen youngjae act like this and he doesn't want to be anymore part of it than he is for taking all the shots with him.
jinyoung has heard who jackson is by the time the two get back and he isn't exactly sure how to respond. youngjae never even told him about jackson, and all he can do if keep thinking of reasons why.
bambam has drank very few times in his life, and he's a lightweight. by the time jay is going on, bambam is drunk out of his mind and beyond excited to watch him perform.
they're sitting at a table, further back in the room because jay never lets them sit where he'll be able to see them easily. he says it's embarrassing to see them listen to him sing about the topics he sings about. bambam is barely sitting in his chair which is about an inch away from yugyeom, who was put in charge of bambam when everyone discovered how drunk he was. usually it would be jinyoung but he was a little preoccupied with the youngjae and jackson situation.
about a half hour into jay's 45 minute set, bambam has abandoned the table and his friends and is leaning onto the stage and staring right up at jay. he's jumping up and down and dancing as well as he can with how little coordination he currently has. he gets butterflies in his stomach every time jay looks down at him and smiles, even squatting for a moment for a drink of water and holding the bottle with a straw in it to bambam's mouth for him to take a sip. he can tell he's drunk, he just doesn't know how drunk.
bambam doesn't think anything when some guy starts dancing with him. however, it is all jay thinks about for the last 5
minutes of his set. and while his friends waves for him as he gets off stage but his first priority is finding bambam.
it takes jay 2 minutes to find bambam being grinded up on against the wall by the same guy he had started dancing with. it takes jay 2 seconds to grab the guy's collar and pull him off of bambam and push him in the opposite direction.
the moment jay was face to face with bambam all he could smell was the tequila on his breath even from at least 3 feet from him. "i don't know that guy, i just was dancing and he came over."
he pulls bambam over to his friend's table to get him to sit down for a while and drink some water. bambam ends up drinking yugyeom's entire cup of water before he could even realize it was in his hand. he can't help but burst into laughter when yugyeom grabs the cup to take a drink but finds it's empty.
"remember youngjae, jackson used to date? he's jin's boyfriend," mark whispers to jay upon entering the tension filled atmosphere, "youngjae and bambam both took 4 shots."
mark has always been the most observant person that jay has ever known, and in this moment he really appreciates it do he can get out of said situation. as he walks to the bar to get a free drink because he preformed, bambam and youngjae sneak away to dance.
jay sits back down at the table, next to yugyeom, and pulls out his phone to check for any notifications. while jay is looking down, yugyeom feels a tap on his shoulder and, as eloquently as he can for someone with such long legs, he grabs bambam's hand and follows him out to dance with them.
jinyoung convinces yugyeom to drive him home after about 40 minutes of dancing, and mark goes with them so there would be enough room in jackson's car for everyone else.
after yugyeom leaves, bambam asks jay to dance with him and pulls him out of his seat and onto the dance floor.
when bambam and youngjae start to hit that wall 50 minutes after jinyoung asked to leave, everyone knows it's time to leave. no one else was having much fun, so there's really no reason to stay.
bambam and youngjae sit behind jackson and jay in jackson's car. jackson feels beyond awkward but it's not like youngjae cares, the two may have had a few more shots through out the night. they never felt the tension in the room, youngjae spent so little time at the table he forgot what the issue was. jackson wasn't even sure that the state youngjae was in that he even really recognized jackson.
bambam insist that he and youngjae can get to their apartment on their own and send jay and jackson to their own floor.
and 5 minutes later they're at their door knocking to be let in, explaining that neither youngjae nor bambam have their house key and they don't want to make jinyoung mad right now.
"can we stay the night?" bambam asks, big eyes and little pout making it impossible for anyone in the house to say no, even jackson who just felt like this was just going to complicate things more.
jay lets them sleep in his bed and says he'll sleep on the couch. he gives bambam clothes to change into, he has clothes for youngjae too but the man is already passed out in jay's bed in his own boxers and t-shirt by the time jay comes back from getting two glasses of water and some ibuprofen.
jay leaves the two men in his room and sets himself up in the living room. the rest of his roommates are in their rooms after an emotionally tiring night with the drama at the table. jay honestly doesn't mind sleeping on the couch, it's pretty comfortable for a couch he bought at goodwill 6 years ago. he puts in a dvd, gets himself a bowl of cereal, and sits down with a blanket over his lap.
five minutes into his show, bambam sits down on the couch next to him and opens his mouth for a bite of cereal. once jay puts a spoonful in his mouth, he sits back and leans against jay.
neither really say anything, just watch the show together. every few bites that jay takes, bambam gets one until the bowl is gone.
they lay down on the couch, jay on his back and bambam laying on him, his head on jay's chest. it only takes bambam moment to fall asleep, maybe because he's drunk but lay likes to think it's because he's there.
