This feels very awkward for him. Sitting in the barbecue place with two male omegas joking about something he cannot really understand, Sangcheol stares at the other customers. They are all close friends from the look of it, unlike his weird trio. Honestly, it is as if he is here to be the omegas' babysitter instead of as their friend.
"Thanks." He finally speaks to the staff who brought them their side dishes and drinks. He can see the other two's eyes brighten from the volume of the dishes as they start to feast.
"Gosh I'm hungry." The soft-looking omega - Joseph if he is not mistaken - claims.
"I need a drink."
"Yah," he takes the bottle from Haneul before the man can pour himself one into the beer glass. The action earns him a whine and a glare to which he ignores. Putting a small shot glass in front of the other, he starts to pour.
"This is how you drink soju. Ap-" again, he stops the omega from taking another glass, "and you never pour for yourself."
"Such complication." Haneul stares at him annoyingly. Nevertheless, the omega mimics his action and takes another bottle to pour a glass, smiling in satisfaction as he does so, and hands the filled glass back to Sangcheol. Finding the man's serious eagerness to learn about the drinking etiquette cute, Sangcheol replies the gesture with his own smile. He is about to take a sip before Joseph stops him. "I thought you are supposed to let the oldest drink first?"
"I thought we're the same age?" He looks at the other omega in confusion. They talk with each other casually, and he swears Haneul told him they were born in the same year. "I'm actually your seonbae."
"He is." Haneul agrees, and he swears he sees both the omegas giving each other that look with little smiles before looking back at him, "So, he should drink first? Oh," Haneul takes out his phone and types in something. Reading it out loud, "we should drink facing away from him?"
Sangcheol bites his tongue, not knowing what to answer. They are the same age so the answer should be obvious but now that it seems like Joseph wants to exert his seniority, he feels like he should abide to that, out of politeness. "That-"
"But he's the youngest." Haneul adds.
"Yeah. My birthday's December 30 so…" Joseph continues, and that confuses Sangcheol even more. He needs room to think. Drinking has never been this complicated. Why the hell did these two do their research beforehand and is adamant about following every single thing?
With no answer, Haneul presses, "unless you're born December 31st… so?"
"Uh…." Sangcheol looks back at the two omegas back and forth, trying to figure out how to not answer that question. He would really love for all three of them to ignore that tradition and just drink like friends should. He thought he is here to teach them how to do fun Korean stuff, not the complicated etiquette involving seniorities.
Click. The alpha's eyes widen as he realizes Haneul had just taken a picture of him before both the omegas burst into laughter. Speechless at what had just happened to him, he can only scoff in dissatisfaction. "Heol. Yah!"
"You're kinda naïve for an alpha." Haneul snorts in between laughter, earning him a pout.
"You're kinda mischievous for omegas." He retorts, drinking his soju, feeling a bit embarrassed at what just happened.
#####
The meats are already cooked to perfection courtesy of Joseph who, surprisingly, is really good at it. At least, after spending the first half an hour reading an instruction on the internet and experimenting. The man is really taking this barbecue thing seriously. He never seen someone strictly following everything written in the internet to the T. But then again, Joseph is planning to continue doing his Masters, he must be good at his studies and doing research.
On the other hand, the other two freshmen don't even care about how juicy the meats are – Sangcheol keep eating his fill while Haneul keeps drinking while making fun of anything he can.
"I'm just wondering," Haneul suddenly starts, "What if you drink in a bar? Or a club? Should you face away from the bartender? And everyone around you? You need to ask everyone's age first?? Wait, should you just hide your face? Like this-" he covers his face with his arms and coughs when the liquid enters his lungs instead.
"I think he's almost drunk." Joseph points out, softly laughing at his friend who gives him an eye before taking his glass and almost slams it in front of Sangcheol. He is giving the alpha the signal to pour him another. Ignoring the request, Sangcheol makes himself a cute little wrap and fills it with pieces of meat. The moment Haneul opens his mouth to whine, he shoves the whole thing into the man's mouth. "Nhh!"
Laughing at the reaction, he feels something hit his arms – a piece of garlic. Without even looking at the omega beside him, he can see the man trying to do something really stupid. Indeed, Joseph is trying to make himself a wrap by putting the lettuce first on his opened mouth followed by the other side dishes slowly; balancing them.
Sighing in surrender at the absurdity of the two omegas, the alpha asks, "Why are you guys like this?"
On the other side, Haneul munches on the wrap the alpha fed him aggressively, feeling a bit annoyed but weirdly enjoyable at the same time. He swears he bit the man's finger slightly, which, should feel disgusting but it didn't. Amidst the commotion caused by his other friend trying to find a new way to eat the lettuce wrap, Haneul decides to do the same and make a wrap himself. Honestly, it doesn't taste any better than eating the meat with rice, but this feels better. Just putting the meat in the leaf made the whole experience a lot better.
"Ouch!" Sangcheol hisses as Haneul tries to shove the wrap into his mouth as revenge, missing the timing and hitting his teeth instead. Panicking in guilt, with Joseph not helping by laughing at him, Haneul mutters in embarrassment, "Why are your teeth so huge??"
"It's normal size. You're just drunk." Sangcheol calmly responds, causing the crazy omega to shut his mouth and sits down, bowing a bit before silently eating his vegetables. Feeling awkward from the comment, Haneul clicks his tongue and bites a piece of meat. He is not drunk, yet. He is just excited. But yeah, maybe hitting the alpha's teeth was uncalled for, despite it being accidental.
Now reluctant to touch the alcohol from the comment, feeling a bit embarrassed, Haneul starts to feel bored from just eating. Like really, really bored. "I'm bored now." He looks around at other groups, noticing how they are also getting drunk. He then looks at the alpha who seems to be enjoying the food more than the soju, "Aren't we supposed to drink during barbecues?"
"No, you're supposed to enjoy the company more than the alcohol." Sangcheol answers earning him mock from the other two. Noticing how matured that sounded, his face warms from embarrassment, "What? You get drunk at house parties or karaokes! You guys are the one begging me to teach about this stuff!"
"But they-" Haneul points towards the group behind them before Joseph quickly pulls the finger down. Sangcheol's heart almost dropped thinking that the action might start a fight. The omega is really out of it, it seems. Haneul, not giving up, hisses "-they're drunk!"
"They're excited because they're talking!" Sangcheol whispers as well, making his point clear. To that, Haneul clicks his tongue again and shoves another piece of meat into his mouth, "Why are we not talking then?"