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The bar was filled with loud conversations and laughter as the floor vibrated with the steady thrum of the beat of some EDM song, so Minghao, Mingyu, and Seokmin had to shout to hear each other complain about their day jobs.
“It’s always the old people that get the angriest,” Mingyu said, “And I would know, I just worked 5 solid days of open to close, and it was always the oldest, grouchiest people you’ve ever seen.”
“Sometimes, but it really feels like a death sentence when a middle aged mom walks in,” Minghao said as he swirled his copper cup and took a sip.
“God, you wouldn’t believe how hard this lady screamed at me earlier today. It’s not my fault she didn’t check her coupons before they expired last year,” Seokmin added before continuing his story, complete with unflattering imitations. Mingyu slapped the table as he laughed, rattling the leftover ice left in everyone’s glasses. The three of them were holding down a table off on the side of the room as their roommates were getting more drinks.
Minghao looked across the room at Soonyoung trying to flag down the bartender’s attention a bit too enthusiastically as Seungkwan tried not to look embarrassed behind him. Jeonghan was a few seats down, leaning against the counter talking to a stranger with a muscle shirt and a lazy grin. Minghao rolled his eyes to himself and hoped he wouldn’t have to crash at someone else’s place tonight.
Mingyu drained the rest of his drink, and Seokmin and Minghao could almost see the red in his cheeks flush deeper. “I don’t get where people find the energy to get that worked up at service industry workers. It really makes me appreciate how devoid of emotion you are, Hao.”
“There’s no way he’d ever bitch out a cashier, that’s for sure,” Seokmin chimed in, subtly eyeing Mingyu. Minghao kept a blank expression, waiting to see where the conversation went from here. Minghao’s inability to show his emotions had been a source of frustration, at least for himself, recently, and he only had the chance to mention it to Seokmin since Mingyu had been working so much.
“Yeah, definitely, but I don’t think he’d be all that excited if he got a great discount or something either,” Mingyu’s words took on more of a tipsy drawl as he continued, entirely unaware of how his statement made Minghao bristle into his Moscow mule.
“Probably because you already give him all of your discounts whenever he needs coffee,” Seokmin said, raising his eyebrows at Mingyu as a signal to change the subject. Mingyu failed to notice this, as he was busy trying to stab the cherry from his empty Long Island glass with his straw.
“Maybe, but the predictability is nice. Seokmin, you can start crying at the drop of a hat. Minghao, on the other hand, is so neutral. He never gets upset about anything, it’s so easy to deal with,” Mingyu said, smiling a little too widely, giving up on fishing the cherry out of his glass and instead tipping it back, ice and all.
Seokmin looked over at Minghao and saw him staring intently at the wood grain of the table. He gritted his teeth for a second before turning back to Mingyu to tell him to drop it when Minghao spoke first.
“I never get upset about anything, huh?” Minghao’s face was blank as he regarded Mingyu. His gaze was icy, and Mingyu was too busy trying to chew through a mouthful of actual ice to fully notice. Seokmin glanced between the two of them and quickly found something very interesting to look at on the wall. Mingyu exhaled heavily after chewing a glassful of ice before tipsily smiling at Minghao.
“Not that I notice, anyway. You’re like a robot, I wish I could keep my shit in check like you,” Mingyu’s face fell as he noticed he still didn’t get the cherry out of the bottom of his glass.
“Hm. I see,” Minghao ground out. He stood up, quickly stretched his arms, and went off to find his roommate, Jeonghan.
“Hey! You left your drink!” Mingyu called after him. Seokmin grabbed his hand as he reached for Minghao’s drink.
“I think you should slow down. You say stupid shit when you’re tipsy.”
“Like what?”
“Calling our boyfriend an emotionless robot, perhaps?”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m cutting you off for now.”
“Fine. Minghao! I didn’t mean it!” Mingyu called into the crowd.
“Didn’t mean what?” Seungkwan asked as he slid past a couple grinding in the middle of the walkway. He made a face as he did so, and then gracefully set down his drink and Mingyu’s next Long Island. Seokmin intercepted and slid it away from Mingyu.
“What did you fuck up?” Soonyoung said, a bit too loudly, setting down his and Seokmin’s drinks decidedly less gracefully. Seokmin narrowly avoided his Mai Tai sloshing over onto his hand.
“He lost his filter and finally pushed one of Minghao’s buttons,” Seokmin sighed.
Seungkwan put down his Bay Breeze and smacked Mingyu on the arm. Soonyoung laughed into his electric lemonade and leaned against Seokmin.
“Should I go apologize?”
“I think you should give him a few minutes and give yourself a few minutes. Drink some damn water,” Seungkwan pushed a glass of water towards his roommate. “Your face looks like it’s about to catch on fire.”
Minghao nestled himself in between Jeonghan’s back and the barstool next to him. He was half listening to the flirting going on next to him, but had mostly shut his thoughts off and was staring at his shoes.
“Excuse me for a second,” Jeonghan tells Muscle Shirt as he turns and gestures for Minghao to follow him to the bathroom. It was mercifully empty, and Jeonghan planted himself in front of a mirror and began to fix his outfit. “Alright, I could cut the bad vibes coming off of you with a knife. What happened?”
Minghao shouldn’t have been surprised at how well Jeonghan could read his moods, seeing as they’d been roommates for so long, but it always came as a bit of a shock.
“Wish Mingyu could sense that as easily as you.”
“What’d he do?” Jeonghan turned towards Minghao, leaving his French tuck only half-tucked. “Do I need to kick his ass?”
“Please don’t.”
“But do I need to?”
“I don’t think so. He was just making fun of how stoic I am and I overreacted a little.”
“I know you’re stoic, are you sure you actually overreacted?”
Minghao shrugged half-heartedly and looked down to his side. “He kinda called me an emotionless robot.”
“He fucking what?! ”
“He’s not exactly thinking at full capacity right now.”
“Is he ever? Also, being drunk isn’t a reason for being a dick.”
“He’s not like drunk drunk, but-”
“Either way, he should know better, I agree,” Seokmin said as he walked into the bathroom. “I, uh, saw you come in here and wanted to see if you were ok.”
Jeonghan nodded before fixing Minghao with a look that said “this is what a good boyfriend does” before turning back towards the mirror, where he could fix his hair and keep an eye on Minghao and Seokmin at the same time. Seokmin stands closer to Minghao so he can speak at a lower volume, as if Jeonghan doesn’t know what’s going on and like Seokmin can actually speak at a lower volume.
“How are you? I know Mingyu didn’t mean it, but he was definitely being rude as fuck.” Seokmin said to Minghao in his approximation of a whisper.
“I know he didn’t mean it, he gets stupid when he drinks anything. I’m fine, it’s nothing, you don’t need to worry about it.” Minghao replied, not trying to whisper. It would be easier to just let Jeonghan hear it now instead of having to tell him everything again later.
“It’s not nothing if it hurt you. You don’t need to dismiss it just because he didn’t intend for it to come off that way.” Seokmin reached for Minghao’s hand to squeeze reassuringly.
“Thank god at least one of you knows how to do this.” Jeonghan exclaimed. “If you two will excuse me, I’m heading back out to find some ass.”
Minghao laughed under his breath and Seokmin wished him luck before turning back to Minghao.
Minghao sighed. “I know what he said is true, at least on some level. It’s so stupid because I have no emotions but I get so sensitive about being reminded that I have no emotions.” He looked down at his shoes that had gotten scuffed at some point during the night. Seokmin leaned closer to him to bump his forearm into his.
“You do have emotions, you just express them differently than us. I think that makes this whole thing more fun.” Seokmin smiled at him. “Personally, I love how you express yourself.”
Minghao kept looking down at his shoes. “I don’t.” He said very quietly.
Seokmin squeezed his hand again. “It would be boring if all of our love languages were the same.” He bumped his arm into Minghao’s again. “I might lose my mind if you were as much of a crybaby as me.” He smiled to himself. “Plus, it probably helps that there aren’t many parts of you that I don’t love.”
Both Minghao’s brain and his body froze a little. It took him a second to get his mouth working again.
“So, are you saying there’s parts of me that you don’t love?” He asked, expression deadpan. Seokmin’s eyes had just barely shown hints of fear when Minghao’s expression softened into a grin and he squeezed Seokmin’s hand. Seokmin laughed through his nose and bumped his arm, this time a little harder. The two of them looked up and let go of each other’s hands when the bathroom door swung open and Jeonghan walked back in with Mingyu in tow.
“Told you I’d find an ass.” Jeonghan announced before turning on his heel and walking past Mingyu back out of the bathroom.
Roughly half a second passed after Jeonghan’s exit before Mingyu blurted out, “I’m so sorry for saying that shit earlier!” Both Minghao and Seokmin looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Mingyu’s cheeks were bright red, at this point mostly from embarrassment and only somewhat from the alcohol.
“I really wasn’t thinking about how it would sound and I didn’t mean anything, well, mean by it, but I’m sorry it came out the way it did.” Mingyu said quickly, like he was trying to say them fast enough to erase what he said earlier.
Minghao shook his head and walked closer to Mingyu, which was not a long way to go given the size of this bar’s bathroom. “Thanks for saying this. I think I overreacted a little, but this is all something I want to work on anyway.”
“Well, if there’s anything either of us can do to help with that-” Seokmin began.
“Let us know.” Mingyu ended.
Minghao laughed a little. “Thanks. Someday I’d like to be that emotionally in sync too.” He looked across the room and focused on the soap stain on the wall underneath the dispenser and softened his voice. “I love you guys.”
“Say that again but with eye contact.” Mingyu said, slightly too loudly. Seokmin looked surprised, but not as surprised as Minghao.
“I- love you guys.” Minghao said, stumbling over his words a bit as he bounced his eyes between Mingyu and Seokmin’s faces.
Mingyu giggled drunkenly and looked at Minghao warmly. “Say it louder now.”
Minghao furrowed his brow as he felt his face heat up. “Ok, that’s enough.” He snorted and punched Mingyu in the arm. “You haven’t sobered up enough for this.”
“You are probably right. I am sober enough to mean my apology, though.”
“We can address the rest of this later. Take your time, Hao, we’re there for you.”
“Later sounds better. At least it’s out in the open now, I guess.” Minghao said somewhat shyly.
“Later, but it’s still happening, I hope you know.” Seokmin fixed him with a knowing look.
“Yes, and again I’m sorry for fucking up, but I’m not sorry for this new relationship progress I might have helped start.” Mingyu said while grabbing both men in a loose hug. Minghao pats his shoulder and Seokmin snorts.
“Yeah, sure, because you definitely wanted to help Hao with this when you were drunk and babbling earlier.” Seokmin said as they pulled out of Mingyu’s arms.
“My brain works in mysterious ways sometimes.”
“I’ll say.” Minghao laughed. “Are we done here? I want to see how Jeonghan’s doing.”
“Ah, to see if you need to sleep at my place or his place tonight?” Seokmin asked, reaching for Minghao’s hand.
“Pretty much.”
“Well, you’re always welcome in my bed.” Mingyu cooed before he planted a sloppy kiss on Minghao’s cheek.
“Gross.” Minghao wiped his cheek dramatically and smiled. Seokmin let go of his hand as they left the bathroom, Mingyu accidentally bumping into each of them every few steps.
“I wonder if Soonyoung is draped across Seungkwan yet.” Seokmin wondered aloud.
“How many drinks has he had?” Mingyu asked.
“Does it matter?” Minghao responded, earning laughs from the other two.
Just as they got back onto the main floor of the bar, Minghao quickly and stealthily gave each of them a kiss before he sped up his pace to their table. Not only did he not see Jeonghan, he also didn’t see the guy with the muscle shirt. When the three of them returned to the table, Soonyoung was perched in a weary-looking Seungkwan’s lap explaining the differences between the five love languages to him. Seokmin kept his hand within squeezing-distance of Minghao’s, and Mingyu drank water after nearly every sip of his Long Island (“It’s already been paid for!”) and mercifully let Soonyoung take over all of the conversations. In this particular instance, the less Mingyu spoke, the better it was for everyone’s emotions.