Drunkard

Yitian picked his ringing phone that woke him up and squinted at the screen, trying to make out name or number from the hazy sign. It was some number, so he hung up on it. Nobody sane calls at, he gazed at the time, hell, 3 am. He was too tired from all the work they made around the buildings. He had never guessed that running around, taking measurements and sketching plans would be so tiring. The borrowed phone chimed with a message. Yitian reached for it again and tiredly opened it.

"Pick up! Yixing" Yitian read and immediately got up and dialed the Yixing's number. Because when Yixing called it would be bad, not knowing where he got his number. Not even Yitian himself knew his own number.

"What's going on?!" he exclaimed when he heard Yixing picked it up. Yitian was tired, but not enough not to be worried about Chao. He heard some mumbling and then noises of someone groaning. "Hey! Yixing! What's that?" He shouted and after his roommate groaned at him from his sleep, he took his phone to the bathroom.

"I need you to come back. He is uncontrollable!" Yixing shouted and some noises, like fighting, could be heard.

"What do you mean come back? Uncontrollable?" he said back to Yixing really confused. Someone finally claimed the phone and shouted so much that Yitian had to hold the phone away from his ears.

"YOU HAVE T-TO… hiccup ...COME H-HOME!" That was Chao's voice. But pretty drunk. Yitian didn't know if to laugh or be pissed.

"Why are you drinking?" Yitian asked Chao calmly and smiled for himself. He knew what was up, but he wanted to hear it from him, Chao.

"Because... hiccup… you are not here," Chao said with a sad voice, these hiccups made it so funny so Yitian had a problem not to laugh. Chao would get offended and Yitian didn't want him to do anything stupid.

"I know I'm not there. But is it the reason to get drunk?" Yitian asked, trying to reason with Chao. But then he heard Yixing shouting something in the back. It was hard to make out what he was yelling so Yitian simply asked. "What is Yixing yelling in the back?" There was a pause, then Chao snored and Yixing picked up the phone.

"He has been drinking since the day you left." Yitian was shocked, that was three days ago.

"Do you say he has been drinking for three days straight?" His mouth hung open waiting for Yixing to answer.

"I shouldn't peach at the drunkard, but not he hasn't been drinking for three days straight," Yixing said and Yitian sighed with relief, but it was too early to do that because Yixing continued, "actually, yesterday he attended the exam, so he wasn't drinking during the day…" Yitian closed his eyes and breathed out. What was he doing? Chao said his nightmares stopped, why was he not sleeping?

"Did he get kicked out? What is he doing now?" he asked, still trying to remain calm and not to shout.

"He fell asleep… That's the problem, he got his nightmares back. He even wakes me up with his screams, but I can't help him. So, he decided to drink himself to sleep. Apparently, either that or your voice knocked him out. He is now sleeping on the sofa. And luckily no, they didn't notice him being drunk. I forced him to shower and change clothes before going there." He could hear Yixing being tired, he was obviously babysitting this big baby that needed to be cared for.

"Tomorrow, we are leaving and I will arrive late at night. So you need to put up with him at least one more night." Yitian said counting hours and days. Yixing sighed.

"Before, I was complaining he is not drinking with me… You know what, keep him. He made my party nights a nightmare. He drove away all the nice girls, and he was drinking one after another without dancing or anything. Just swearing and ranting about how everyone leaves him. WHO AM I? EVERYONE?" Yixing sighed and Yitian was sending him a virtual pat on his shoulder over the line. Poor him, he was being ignored by his friend.

"You are really good friends. Thank you for him, you know that he didn't mean it like that. He is fortunate to have a friend like you." Yitian said, trying to console him.

"Don't butter me up. I know he did not mean it like that. He is just mad that you left. Hey, he didn't even want to tell me why tho… Jerk!"

"He has his reason. Like you do have your reasons for trying to nail everything that moves and getting drunk almost every day," Yitian said.

"Shut up you an amateur psychologist. I just wanna have some break." He slammed some doors and sighed when Yitian laughed.

"Break. So, I heard your dad is rich… You doing this doesn't have to do anything with him huh?" He said sarcastically, knowing from Chao that Yixing had some problems with his father, who was a big boss in the entertainment business, owning some studios or whatever.

"FUCK OFF!" he yelled and slammed another door. Should Yitian say what he wanted?

"What about you taking this phone and giving it to Chao, I will talk to him in case he has nightmares," he said and heard only a hanging tone. He laughed quietly and got out of the bathroom still smiling. He was worried about Chao, but he could do anything more than… he wrote him a message.

Chao was woken up by his own screams in his bed sweaty and tired more than he was three days ago. He looked around and saw his phone blinking, so he picked it up and unlocked. One message, from Yitian. He vaguely remembered what he did before, earlier in the morning, and facepalmed himself. Just hoping Yitian won't be scolding him.

'Try not to drink too much, remember your APM… I'll be back once you sober up properly.'

Chao read his message and smiled. He was too drunk, so proper sobering up... He hoped that Yitian would be back soon. Because Yixing couldn't handle him.