Seokmin POV

“We are such #SquadGoals right now!” Seungkwan squealed glancing around the crowded bowling alley. Apart from the group of six friends, the crowd was mainly made up of awkward teenagers out on dates, middle aged men in matching t-shirts, and children wearing brightly-colored party hats.

“Ughhh, why is everyone verbally hashtagging lately? It’s disgusting.” Jihoon pulled a face.

“Not as disgusting as your face!” Soonyoung appeared holding two large sodas, smirking as he passed one to the frowning purple-haired boy.

“Oooohh BURN.” Seokmin high-fived Soonyoung, earning him a glare.

“Hold on a second,” Seungkwan pushed his way in between Minghao and Wonwoo on the blue plastic bench where you waited when it wasn’t your turn to bowl. Seungkwan’s shoving resulted in a chain reaction that inevitably ended with Jihoon on the floor, as he had been perched on the end. Soonyoung noticed the boy’s unhappiness and patted his lap, the universal signal for come-and-sit-here. Immediately Jihoon brightened, plopping himself down on the older boy’s lap. He had been up until 4 in the morning perfecting his latest track and was so not in the mood for standing.

“Let’s take a photo!” The diva squealed as he whipped out his polaroid camera. Wonwoo groaned.

“Seungkwan, we are not a bunch of pre-teen girls, we do not need some kind of commemorative photo every time we hang out.” Seokmin had to admit that Wonwoo had a point. While Seungkwan wanting to take pictures with his friends wasn’t necissarily a bad thing, the group of friends hung out a lot. Like multiple times a week. Sometimes even multiple times a day. So taking a group photo every single time they got together was rather excessive.

“Haters gonna hate,” Seungkwan responded, carefully positioning himself. “Now smile unless you want to look like some kind of crazed lunatic.” Reluctantly, everyone smiled. “See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“What are you going to do now, post it in your BFFs Forever Scrapbook?” At Wonwoo’s sarcastic comment Seungkwan blushed while the others snickered.

“We all saw it Seungkwan, you can’t keep pretending it doesn’t exist.”

“Fine, maybe I have a friendship scrapbook and maybe said scrapbook is just a little bit glittery,” At the other’s pointed looks he sighed. “Fine. Maybe it’s a lot glittery. I don’t even know why I wanted to immortalize my time with you losers anyways.”

“At least he doesn’t keep a diary.”

“MINGHAO!” Seokmin cried, clutching dramatically at his chest.  “Why do you wound me so? It’s a journal. A J-O-U-R-N-A-L. I am a man, I do not keep some frilly little book with the word diary engraved in the cover!” Minghao rolled his eyes.

“Call it whatever you want, it doesn’t change what you write in it. Don’t give me that look- I saw what you wrote yesterday.” At the mention of the previous day’s entry, Seokmin looked as if he was about to die.

“Wait- you read that?”

“Yep.” Minghao smirked “It’s not my fault you left it on your kitchen table. How’s your hubby-wubby doing by the way?” It was official, Seokmin was dead. Jihoon, however was not dead and was laughing hysterically.

“Man, Thughao is the best.” He reached across the other boys to high-five Minghao.

“Seriously though, I am the only one who wants to know who Hubby-Wubby is?”

“What a wonderful question Soonyoung,” Wonwoo turned to boy whose soul had left his body. “Who is this Hubby-Wubby?”

“Itsnotreallyabigdeal.” Seokmin rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.

“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you?”
    “IT’S MY GOLDFISH OKAY” he snapped “Hubby-Wubby is short for Sir Charles Hubert Wubberson the Third.”

“Oh my god, somehow the nickname is less embarrassing than the actual name!”

“Why would you ever call a goldfish that?”
    “If it’s ‘the third’ does that mean that there have been other Sir Charles Hubert Wubbersons?”

“I didn’t even know you had a goldfish.” The purple-haired boy frowned slightly.

“Jihoon, don’t you remember that time we were at Seokmin’s and he wouldn’t stop talking about his baby? He was talking about his fish.”

“Ohhh so that’s what that was about. That was one of the many times that I completely annihilated you at Mario Kart, right?”

“What do you mean many times? Last time I checked the official record it was 479 to 476- you’re only up by three!” Jihoon merely shrugged.

“Whatever you say Hosh, winning is winning.”

“Do you remember that time when-”

“Aaaaaannnnnd they’re gone.” Seokmin and the others watched as Jihoon and Soonyoung launched into a rapid-fire discussion of their previous experiences.

“Um, I don’t mean to rain on whatever kind of parade you’re having, but if you want to stay here, then you actually have to bowl.” A rather bored looking boy with bleach-blonde hair and thick-rimmed glasses stared at them pointedly.

“Wait,” Jihoon snapped out of his conversation with Soonyoung, returning to the real world to stare at the bowling alley employee. “Namjoon hyung?” Namjoon, who had been turning to leave, stopped in his tracks, eyes roaming over the group searching for someone who he recognized. His gaze landed on the purple-haired boy, a grin breaking out across his face. He didn’t notice the way the boy who’s lap Jihoon was currently perched on tightens his grip around the smaller boy’s waist. In fact Jihoon doesn’t even notice, the only one who notices is Seokmin, but to be fair he’s known Soonyoung since they were in diapers and the slight change in the other boy’s posture brings a smile to his lips.

“Jihoon, wassup man? It’s been a while!”

“Not much, I had no idea you were working here! If I did, I would have come by sooner.” Namjoon shrugged.

“Nah it’s fine, I don’t exactly like to broadcast the fact that I work at Chuck’s Bowling Alley. Who are these people?”

“Namjoon these are my friends: Seokmin, Wonwoo, Seungkwan, Minghao, and Soonyoung- he’s also my roommate.” He gestured to each of the boys as he spoke, each of them giving a small wave (except for Seungkwan who was, as always, needlessly dramatic). “Guys, this is Namjoon, he’s one of Yoongi’s friends.” A chorus of  ‘Hey Namjoon’s broke out, causing him to chuckle lightly.

After the introductions were all said and done, Namjoon was staring intensly at Minghao and Wonwoo, an odd expression on his face. Wonwoo appeared not to care while Minghao, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly uncomfortable under the older boy’s gaze.

“Do you two work at Ah Yeah Coffee?” The sudden question took Minghao by surprise.

“Yeah… why?”

“Man, I knew I’d seen you guys somewhere before! You’ve met Jin, the owner, right?”

“Of course- he hired us,” Neither Wonwoo or Minghao had any idea where this was going.

“Sweet,” Namjoon grinned. “I’m actually his boyfriend.”

“Oh cool- WAIT WHAT?” Namjoon laughed at the younger boy’s reactions “You’re the one he won’t shut up about? The one who he spent hours freaking out about what to get for Valentine’s Day until we eventually convinced him to go home early?”

“Thanks for that by the way, sending him home I mean.” Namjoon rolled his eyes. “He continued to freak out for another three hours and everytime I tried asking him about it he pretended like he was fine.” He smirked as if remembering something “I did eventually get him to shut up though.”

“Omo, is he implying what I think he’s implying?” Seungkwan leaned forward, excited by the juicy turn that the conversation had taken. “Are you implying what I think you’re implying?” Somehow Namjoon smirked harder and Seungkwan squealed. “He is- he’s definitely implying what I think he’s implying- OW!”

“As much as you may find it interesting, I really don’t need to hear all the details of my boss’s love life.” Wonwoo popped a french fry into his mouth. He had to fight the urge to gag. Chuck’s might be a rather nice bowling alley but that only went so far. Bowling alley food was not to be trusted. Ever.

Noticing the slight change in his facial expression Namjoon laughed yet again. “Carefull, I may work here, but the food’s complete . I don’t even think the fries are made of real potatoes.”

“If they’re not made of potatoes, then what are they?”

“Personally, I like to think they somehow managed to gather all the shame, humiliation, and disappointment of the employees, tossed it in a deep fryer then served it to unwitting customers, but that’s just me.” The older boy shrugged.

“That was pretty dark.”

“What can I say? I have a rapper’s spirit.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means,” Soonyoung dramatically flourished his hands “That he feels pain that us mere mortals cannot, it means that he can just glace at a man (or woman) and know all of their secrets, it means-” he paused and Seungkwan leaned forward, exicited. “That he likes swearing a lot.” He flicked the diva’s forehead, causing him to curse and shoot him a nasty glare.

    Namjoon snorted “Well that’s one way of putting it.”

    “What can I say? I have a dancer’s spirit.” This time it was the purple haired boy who snorted, swatting at Soonyoung’s leg.

    “What does that mean? You failed math in high school so you decided to take an alternative path?” Soonyoung immediately flushed.
    “Seriously? You have to bring that up now? I’ll have you know that I’m currently an average math student!”
    “Soooo you have a C?”

    “What’s wrong with a C? Sorry we can’t all be straight A students like you.” Jihoon blushed a little.

    “That’s not what I meant Hosh.”

    “I know,” he smiled lightly, ruffling the younger boy’s hair.

    “I don’t mean to interrupt the love fest that’s going on, but I go on break in 5 and if you don’t start bowling soon, one of the s that I call coworkers will most likely come and kick you out.”

    “So let’s bowl!” Seungkwan exclaimed, picking up a shiny blue bowling ball. “YOLO, am I right?” Jihoon groaned, burying his face in his palms.

    “What is this, 2012? Somehow that’s worse than the verbal hashtagging.”

    “Are you guys ready to discover who the real Kingpin of our group is?” Seokmin grinned enthusiastically at his cheesy joke, hopping up to grab a shiny green bowling ball.

    “Who is the champion and who will end up in the gutter?” Soonyoung eagerly joined them, grabbing a shiny red ball. Wonwoo, Minghao, and Jihoon just stared at them.

    “Remind me again why we’re friends with these people.”

*******

    15 strikes, 7 gutter-balls, and 18 large sodas later the boys had finally finished their game. It had been an intense battle but Minghao had not come in last place, even with an abysmal 64 points. That honor had been bestowed upon a particular diva who had somehow managed to score only 52 points.

    “That game was completely rigged,” muttered said diva as he returned his bowling shoes.

    “Suuuuuuure,” Soonyoung slung his arm over Jihoon’s shoulder, both of them grinning widely. They had scored a 260 and 257 respectively. Seokmin and Wonwoo had both scored, very decently, in the 120s.

    “It’s not my fault you guys are freakishly good at bowling!” Seungkwan was still pouting as they pushed their way out of the bowling alley, the door swinging shut behind them. “Next time I’m totally going to insist on gutter-guards!” [A/N For those of you who don’t know, gutter guards are these things which stop the ball from being able to go in the gutter if you’re a crappy bowler like me :P]

    “You’re just jealous of our mad skills!” Soonyoung high-fived the shorter boy.

    “Seriously though, how many times did you guys have to play to get that good?” Minghao was in awe and Jihoon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

    “Umm, we may have gone three times a week for an entire semester… But who’s counting, really?” At the other boy’s judgmental looks and barely contained laughter Soonyoung stepped in.

    “It was for a bowling competition, the prize money for coming in first was 1000 bucks.”
    Seokmin let out a low whistle. “I didn’t know bowling paid that well. Did you guys win?”

    “What do you think? Soonyoung came in 1st and I came in 2nd.” Jihoon high-fived the aparent bowling champion.

    “How much money did you spend training though?” Wonwoo asked. “Was it really worth all the time and effort that you put in?”

    “We probably spent like 360 bucks, the prize money more than covered it. Plus learning was actually quite fun.” Seungkwan rolled his eyes, faking a yawn.

    “Enough with this bowling talk, it’s still early- why don’t we go get ice cream?” The others immediately brightened at the mention of the delicious frozen treat.

    “Where?” Seokmin narrowed his eyes and Seungkwan grinned.

    “Do you even have to ask?”

*******

    The walk to the shop was very short. The mall in which Aju Nice Ice Cream Parlor was located was just a block away from Chuck’s. The brief walk had been spent venhemently discussing which flavor was the best (it was currently split three-three between Death by Chocolate and Caramel Cookie Batter).

    “I don’t know,” said Wonwoo as he pushed the door open. “It’s just hard to beat the exquisite blend of flavors present in Caramel Cookie Batter.” Seokmin nodded his head enthusiastically.

    “Purely the combination alone is killer- cookie dough, cake batter, and caramel it’s a win-win-win! You’d have to be stupid to prefer that mass of chocolate”
    “Did you somehow manage to kill all your taste buds? Death by Chocolate is practically a gift from heaven, Chocolate Ice cream, Brownie Chunks, and chocolate turtles? It’s god’s gift to mankind in order to appologize for making the vast majority of people s.” Jihoon jumped in.

    “I don’t know it just feels like too much chocolate to me.” Minghao shrugged and Soonyoung gasped.

    “Too much chocolate? Too much chocolate? I can’t even believe that I’m having this conversation right now.” He grasped the Chinese boy by his shoulders. “There is no such thing as too much chocolate!”

    “I second that statement! How could you- Hansol?” Seungkwan was cut off as he noticed the very familiar looking half-American employee.

    “Hey Seungkwan, hey hyung- hold on a second.” Hansol grinned and pushed open the ‘Employees Only’ door behind the counter. “Chan- Seokmin hyung’s here!”

    “Coming!” came the faint reply before another boy stumbled out of the room. “Hey hyung!”

    “Hey guys!” Seokmin smiled “These are my friends Seungkwan, Wonwoo, Soonyoung, Jihoon, and Minghao.” At the mention of Minghao’s name both boys blatantly stared at him.

    “You are cute! No wonder Ju- MMMPPHHHH” What Chan was about to say was cut off by Seokmin slamming his hand over his mouth and laughing awkwardly.

“Guys this is Chan and Hansol.”

    That was a close one, he thought. I think it’s best to let him tell us on his own. Seokmin firmly believed that Minghao would tell them about Jun when he was ready. Wonwoo and him had even had a conversation about it where they both decided that it would be best to let Minghao open up when he felt comfortable. Seokmin just hoped that it would be soon- he didn’t like keeping such a big secret from his friends, Minghao should count his blessings that neither of them were big mouths like Mingyu.

    “They don’t know yet! If you say anything, you’re never getting discounted pizza again!” He hissed, quiet enough so that only Hansol and Chan could hear. Chan nodded then let out a whining noise, which Seokmin failed to notice.

    “UGHH- did you just my hand?” Seokmin pulled back his hand, wiping it on the culprit’s sweater, who simply shrugged as if it was a completely natural thing to do.

    “You wouldn’t let go.” At the sound of someone clearing their throat, Seokmin turned back to the rest of his friends who were standing by somewhat awkwardly.

    “Soooooo,” Soonyoung broke the awkward silence that was beginning to form. “Are you guys ready to order because I know I am!”

    After purchasing their ice creams, the boys sat down at one of the many pink and blue tables in the shop.

    “I didn’t know that you knew Hansol.” Seokmin placed a huge spoonful of Caramel Cookie Batter in his mouth, smiling happily at the familiar flavor.

    “Did I not tell you yet, I meant to- He’s my roommate.”

    “That’s so cool! With everything that’s been happening lately, it’s like my friend groups are colliding! It would be cool if we could all hang out together sometime."

    “Why are you always trying to force more friends upon me?” Jihoon sighed and Soonyoung patted his back comfortingly. Not surprisingly they were sitting next to each other. “Also what do you mean by ‘everything that’s been happening lately’?”

    “I, uh, don’t know…” Seokmin glanced nervously at Minghao, he might be respectful of other people’s secrets but he certainly wasn’t good at keeping them. It was yet another reason why not telling his friends was making him uneasy. Minghao noticed his discomfort and offered him a slight smile.

    “The truth is,” Minghao glanced at Seokmin and Wonwoo as he spoke. “I’m dating someone in his other friend group.” Suddenly he had the entire group’s attention.

    “WHAT?” Seungkwan practically screamed (or actually screamed everyone with the exception of Mighao was too surprised to notice).

    “That’s right, I have a boyfriend.”

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[A/N]

Hey Guys! Yet another chapter is complete! It was initially going to include a scene with Jun introducing Minghao to his friends, but it was starting to get a little long. You can look forward to that next chapter though along with *fingers crossed* hopefully some more Jihan! I have been working on a oneshot involving them in my spare time (which unfortunately I have very little of rn), so that should be up sometime in the next month.

    Also recently I’ve been really getting into Block B for some reason. My fav song right now is probably ‘Her’, it’s just so good! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and, as always, I appreciate your support! Fighting!