Work Text:
Cale Henituse has a constitution where he doesn't get drunk. Not easily, anyway.
In fact, this is the entire reason why he could learn that everything that the original Cale Henituse did was calculated, as he had never actually been under any influence from the alcohol.
That's why it was a strange feeling when- for the first time since entering this world- he felt genuinely inebriated.
It wasn't anything bad. He didn't feel like the world was spinning or that he needed to throw up. His mind was fuzzy, and his emotions were softened. It was gentle.
He liked this feeling more than what he had felt in the past. He rarely drank, but over 36 years it wasn't only once or twice that he had gotten tipsy or drunk. Most of the time as Kim Rok Soo, he just fell asleep after the effect hit him, leading to the night ending rather quickly.
Now? It was quite pleasant.
He was in Alberu's bedroom, sitting across from the dark elf at a small table. Sipping on a glass of something dark red with a hint of purple- just on the edges- and a glossy sheen to the surface, giving it a deep color. It was smooth too, so smooth that he knew his lips would be stained red by the end of the night. It had that kind of allure to it.
"How is it?" Alberu smiled. "It's called 'Elves Blood,' because the production of it is taken as seriously as Elves take care of plants."
"… Is it?" Cale tips the wine glass back and the wine, astringent and sweet, hits the back of his tongue and slides down. He licks his lips without thinking. "It's good."
Alberu doesn't say anything as he watches Cale's eyes grow out of focus. This wine is known for being extremely strong without having the overwhelming burn of a strong alcohol. It also has a fast absorption rate, beyond any typical alcoholic beverage.
"You called it Elves Blood?" He asks, raising the cup to his eyes and examining the color. He swirls the deep liquid around. His voice comes out languid and slow. "Ironic that you would bring this sort of drink, your highness."
Alberu watches Cale drink leisurely, not touching his glass in front of him. It was fascinating to watch Cale slowly lower his guard, and the fact that Alberu had yet to drink goes unnoticed by his commander due to the effect of the alcohol.
"Hyung." He corrects his dongsaeng lightly.
"… Hyung," Cale places his cup back on the table. Then he oddly picks it back up and takes another sip, as if he couldn't bear to leave it down too long. It covers his lip again, so he licks it off, blinking slowly. "You cannot drink this."
"—Sorry?"
"This wine…" Cale assirts, but his voice fades out at the end in contemplation. "It is not good for you. Because… you're a dark elf."
Alberu pushes down his grin. "So I can't drink it? Because I'm also an elf?"
Cale nods. His head tips too low, and he brings it up again, staring at Alberu. "Yes. Blood doesn't taste good," he scrunches his face, "so don't drink it."
"Then, why are you still drinking it?"
The cup had arrived in front of his mouth before he realized it. He wants to put it back down, feeling his mind grow hazier with each small taste, but it feels like a loss to not have one more sip.
The edge of the glass stays on his crimson-stained lips for a long, sweet moment, and he registers that he's taken several swallows when he had only intended to have one more. He sips again.
The flush to his face burns. He swallows the last of the wine in his cup and gently sets it on the table, his hand feeling weak and delicate.
He replies to Alberu's question.
"I'm used to it."
"… Yes, you are, aren't you."
"Even before this," he adds unconsciously. "I also tasted blood on Earth."
Oh? Alberu leans forward.
"Not as often." He raises the glass and finds it empty. He holds it anyway. "Just… often enough. So I couldn't forget it, no matter where I was."
"That must have been hard for you."
"Hard… Well, everything was hard, so it made it easy." Staring into the glass, with the base stained red and a hint of purple, he remembers a monster that bled a similar color. His breath is warm. "Things become the easiest when you don't have time to think about… how difficult it is. It just is."
"I see," and Alberu really did see. He understood. When things were horribly difficult, he couldn't think about how he wished it wasn't. He didn't wish that he wasn't the prince, or wish dark elves weren't hated. He just struggled to live while carving out a place for himself, and it became second nature.
"So you can't drink this."
Huh? Alberu frowns. He thought they had moved on from that already.
"Because blood tastes bad. You shouldn't taste it, no matter what, or you'll forget how difficult things are."
Cale tips the glass to drink, waiting patiently as the leftover wine accumulates into a small drop and rolls down the glass in a perfect purplish, red line. Into his waiting mouth. Staining his teeth and his tongue, falling down his throat. He could barely taste it, now.
He licks his lip even though there was nothing to lick off.
"I won't forget anyway. So you, who can forget, shouldn't do that."
This was how he really felt. He had made many memories that he could remember when he needed them the most, when he needed to remember what he was fighting toward. His ability let him reminisce in them as if he were there, and he could always remember that things were difficult.
For someone like Alberu, it was for the best if he never had to go through that. He could fight, struggle, but he should never be in a place where he had to drink his own blood that filled his mouth.
Once that happened, he would forget how to fight without that blood rising again and again, as if he was meant to bleed if he wanted to live. Cale wanted Alberu to fight without tasting blood. To fight without risking his life.
"You crazy bastard," Alberu swears. "How can you say something like that?"
"I-" Cale interrupts, "I lie a lot." Alberu wants to curse in frustration but he holds it in when Cale continues. Even if he wanted to curse at his words and force Cale to take them back, he was compelled to hear the thoughts of his dongsaeng. "But I don't lie often."
Alberu sighs. He cools his frustration and thinks about what he said.
He lies 'a lot,' but he doesn't lie 'often.' When he needs to lie, he does it generously, but he doesn't lie most of the time.
What a strange drunkard.
Cale spins the thin handle of the glass in his weak fingers. It felt like it was going to fall at any moment, but it remained in his hand mysteriously. It was held even when it should fall.
"So when I speak, I don't care if someone believes me. Because I am a person who lies. But your highness. No, hyung. Hyung should listen to me right now. Even if I do lie. Hyung should believe me right now even if I am someone that lies, or I don't know what I should do. How can I…" his weak but strong voice wavers. "How can I say these things without your trust?"
Even if Cale lies, even if Alberu couldn't always believe what he said, Cale needed him to listen right now. Alberu needed to trust Cale even when he lies, and to believe his words right now.
Alberu swallows. His throat is dry.
Even when he's drunk, he doesn't say anything meaningless. No, right now Alberu wanted to hear him talk more than ever. Reveal more of those inner thoughts. A strange feeling built in his chest, where he considered a world where he did not trust Cale. He considered another world where he believed Cale no matter what, even when he said he was fine, and said it was not painful. He had to trust Cale even if he lied at times. That's just how Cale was.
Cale continued to look into that glass, stained red, slightly purple, with a clear ring around the middle of it and a thin line pointing up. Alberu also looked into that glass, and imagined it had really been blood. Alberu has not drank from his glass yet- but Cale had drank all of his.
Rather than Cale not noticing that Alberu had not drank, perhaps he didn't mind even if Alberu did not drink.
He felt an extremely bitter taste rise to his mouth. The universe spoke in strange ways.
He grabbed his glass and downed it without thinking hard. If Cale wanted to drink and taste blood, telling Alberu not to taste it because it was difficult, then Alberu would do everything in his power to drink it right alongside him.
There was nothing to regret even if he became extremely drunk in front of Cale, because Cale had done it first. There's no way that the commander, someone both ignorant of his body and the only one aware of it, would not notice that he was becoming drunk.
Cale just did not mind. In front of Alberu, it didn't matter if he got drunk, or spoke carelessly. Alberu also didn't mind if he got drunk in front of Cale or if he spoke carelessly. It was okay because it was Cale.
Alberu had a decent tolerance for alcohol too- though he rarely drank- because of his dark elf heritage. His aunt could still drink him under the table, but with a regular human there shouldn't be any difficulty.
Cale was already extremely impressive for being able to tolerate a half glass of this wine without stumbling around and swearing incoherently. Alberu had to hope he didn't become like that.
His mind swayed with the impact, but not as much as he predicted. It was a strange sensation. It made sense how Cale could speak coherently, but also spoke so strangely.
The taste was delicious as well. Albert regretted not being able to savor it. He looked at the bottle in the middle of the table.
"You…" his voice felt fuzzy on his tongue. "Have already had my trust. For a long time now. So don't say things like that anymore… you stupid dongsaeng."
How did Cale talk so well? Stupid.
Alberu set his glass down and leaned his head on his arm. His limbs felt… mushy. His arm refused to support his head, so he laid it down on the cool table. It felt nice on his warm face.
"Stupid… blood. Ugh."
"Hah—" Cale laughed. "I said to not drink."
"Shut up." Alberu shut his eyes. The absorption sped up and his veins grew hotter, mind grower farther from his limbs. "Wha… What are you? How can you be… fine?"
Cale leaned his elbow on the table and propped his head on it, staring at Alberu with a smug expression. He pokes the dark brown hair and laughs again.
"Who is stupid? You can't hold your head up." His words are still slow and his face is extremely flushed, along with his too-bright smile that highlights his distant eyes, but he is comparatively better than the dark elf.
"… bastard," he grumbles, mind spinning. "Fucking… ugh, shit."
"Haha!" Cale beams. "Hyung can't hold some wine?"
"Bastard… I'm never drinking with you ag, again."
"Poke," Cale absentmindedly says it out loud as he pokes Alberu's pinched glabella. "I think you will. Bring more Elves Blood next time. This is fun."
Cale reaches for the bottle. It doesn't lift.
"…" his weak hand can't pick up the heavy bottle.
"Hah!" Alberu cackles. "Haha, you're also… affected. Bastard."
Cale frowns. He tries to lift the bottle again but only succeeds in knocking it over. It rolls off the table.
It shatters on the floor.
"…"
Sigh, "Dongsaeng, that wasn't cheap wine."
"Mm. I didn't think so."
"You…"
"It's for the best. Should I help my hyung to his bed?"
"Bastard," he swears, "I don't need…"
Cale stands up, determined to help his hyung, when the world tilts. He stumbles back into his chair.
Alberu, witnessing that spectacle, decides that he doesn't need to get up so soon.
"Just… call your butler."
"Noo…" Cale complains. "He will make me drink lemon tea…."
"You always drink it anyway."
"Huu," Cale whines, "I'll figure something out."
"Crazy…" Albert mumbles to himself. It's really hard to think, now.
"Hyung?"
"Mm," his tongue is numb. Why did they decide to drink alone?
A few hours later, Tasha enters the room to discover Cale and Alberu both sprawled on his bed, fully dressed with their shoes on. Next to the table which has two abandoned wine glasses is the remains of a shattered bottle of Elves Blood, which had been nearly full.
Tasha sighs.
Entering the room, she closes the curtains, cleans up the poor wine bottle and glasses, removes the shoes of the drunk hyung and dongsaeng, and turns out the lights.
They were both still kids, in the end.