Joonmyun's next visit to the bar is interesting to say the least. Not only is Jongdae with him, but so is Luhan as well as Jongdae's younger brother, Jongin. Jongdae had had the decency to ask Joonmyun beforehand if it was alright for him to invite them, and at the time Joonmyun hadn't seen any problem with that so he told him to go for it.

(Eventually he starts to wish he had thought twice about that, though, because ever since Luhan found out that Joonmyun and Yixing is, as he likes to call it, 'a thing', he keeps looking a Joonmyun funny, like he knows one of his dirtiest secrets... which, technically, he does.)

So all four of them go to the bar, meeting up at the nearest subway station and walking the rest of the way there together. Joonmyun can't help but throw a subtle glance at Jongin and Luhan as they get closer so he can see how they react to the crowd waiting outside. Jongin looks mostly unaffected while Luhan stares unabashedly with his mouth hanging open like this is the most fascinating thing he has seen in a very long time. Just like Jongdae, Luhan doesn't even seem to care about the glares he receives in return.

The amphibian-looking bouncer mans the doors again today, and he recognizes them from the last time they were there, so as usual they're let in without a hitch. “Wow,” Luhan says. He seems impressed. “Do you come here a lot?”

“Yeah, Yixing's band performs here pretty often,” Joonmyun explains. “Their drummer's boyfriend owns the place.”

“Damn,” Jongin says under his breath. Joonmyun had almost forgotten he was even there. He's been quiet and sleepy-looking the entire time (though not too tired to put Jongdae in a headlock the very moment they saw each other).

Baekhyun is all smiles when he sees them approaching until his eyes fall on Jongdae, then his smile fades into a playful scowl. “Oh no. Not you again.”

“You say that like you didn't try to get in my pants the first time we met,” Jongdae retorts easily.

“That was an obvious mistake on my part,” Baekhyun says while pulling a disgusted face, which makes Jongdae snort out a laugh.

“Please, don't even act like you don't want to sit on my .”

Jongin squawks, covering his ears with his hands. “Gross! I do not want to be thinking about you having !”

It appears as if Baekhyun hadn't really paid attention to Jongin before, but now he definitely notices him. The look on his face is one Joonmyun has been on the receiving end of himself: the sultry, half-lidded one, like he's trying to eat Jongin with his eyes. “Well, hello there, handsome,” Baekhyun purrs, leaning against the bar. “And who might you be?”

“That's my baby brother, Byun Baekhyun,” Jongdae says in a warning tone.

“Huh.” Unsurprisingly, Baekhyun ignores the warning and looks Jongin up and down anyway. “The gods were certainly generous when creating this family. Bless.” Jongin rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “You two don't really look much alike, though.”

“He's adopted,” Jongdae and Jongin chorus, glowering at each other afterwards.

By Joonmyun's side, Luhan chuckles. “That never gets old.”

Joonmyun sighs and mutters to himself: “Maybe having no friends was better after all.”

They all order drinks and find a table to settle down by as they wait for the band to go on stage. Baekhyun is on his break now, so he is sitting with them, and he keeps flirting with a clearly flustered Jongin, much to the chagrin of Jongdae, who glares daggers at Baekhyun the entire time. Baekhyun doesn't seem to be deterred by that at all. He definitely is shameless.

Across the room, Joonmyun spots Kris, Kyungsoo and Zitao, and he raises his hand in a slightly awkward wave when one of them looks over at him. Zitao returns it eagerly, Kris more stoically, and Kyungsoo just spares him a brief nod before turning back to their conversation. “You know those people?” Luhan asks, ever curious.

Joonmyun points to them one by one as he says: “The tall, scary-looking one is Kris, he's the owner of the place. The little, scary-looking one is Kyungsoo, he's Yixing's tattoo artist. The, uh... last scary-looking one is Zitao, he's a doorman here, and he's also Sehun's boyfriend.”

“Who's Sehun?”

As if on cue, the fans start screaming when a pale, lanky kid walks on stage, picking up his bass. “That's Sehun,” Joonmyun says. He changed his hair since the last time Joonmyun saw him. It's still dyed several different colors, but rather than the bright neon rainbow Joonmyun's used to seeing on top of his head, the colors are now more subdued, more pastel, with purple, blue and pink being the most prominent ones.

The next person on stage is Chanyeol, all smiles as usual, and then comes Minseok. Luhan draws in a sharp breath. “Oh my God. Who is that?”

“That would be Minseok,” Joonmyun says. “He looks kind of scary, but he's actually a nice guy.”

“Uh, excuse you, I think you mean he looks kind of hot,” Luhan says. He still hasn't taken his eyes off of Minseok, who has crouched down to talk to a couple of pretty girls in the crowd. “Like, really ing hot. ing . I want to him.” Joonmyun is a little disturbed. Okay, a lot disturbed. Luhan is his colleague. He really does not want to think about him in that context.

Fortunately, Jongin provides a great distraction. “Wait, is that Yixing?” Surely enough, Yixing has just entered the stage with his guitar. As usual he's wearing a tanktop so his arms are exposed to show off the dark ink sketched all over his body, and Joonmyun would probably be unable to focus on anything other than that if Jongin's question hadn't intrigued him so much.

“Yeah. How did you know that?”

“I do know him,” Jongin mutters. “I think we went to the same college. I'm pretty sure we did, at least. I don't know. Maybe. I could be wrong.” He shrugs, fiddling with his glass.

“We can ask him about it later,” Jongdae interjects, and Joonmyun and Jongin both nod. Joonmyun supposes that would explain why Jongin had found Yixing's name familiar when Joonmyun brought him up the first time they met each other.

The concert progresses the same way as usual. Minseok introduces them as Switchblade Granola and they start out with a bang. They perform the same set as always with the exception of a few slight changes in the order of the songs as well as the addition of a couple of new tracks they've apparently been working on together. Chanyeol is a giant ball of energy behind the drums, Minseok sends lusty eyes at the audience and grinds against Sehun (Joonmyun tries to ignore the groan Luhan lets out when that happens), Yixing dances around with his guitar, all soft smiles and glistening, tattooed skin. Even though Joonmyun has been to their concerts numerous times before, he still enjoys it just as much as the first time he was here.

After going on for close to an hour and a half, the show ends. The band does their final greetings, Yixing throws one of his guitar picks into the crowd to be picked up by a lucky fan, and the band walks off the stage. Before long, the four of them come pouring out from the backstage area. Chanyeol and Sehun goes to Kris and Zitao respectively while Yixing heads straight over to the bar followed by Minseok. They exchange a few words with the bartender, who points towards the table Joonmyun's group is sitting by, and when Yixing's eyes land on Joonmyun, he breaks into a bright smile and immediately comes over to join them. “I didn't know you were here,” he says excited as he gives Joonmyun a tight hug. He also hugs Baekhyun, which makes Joonmyun's jealousy spike even though they've already talked this through.

“Yeah, I wanted to come see you play again,” Joonmyun says. He wraps his arm around Yixing's waist, feeling a bit possessive and very unreasonable, but Yixing seems perfectly fine with it, leaning into him. “I brought some friends with me today.”

“I see that,” Yixing says, smiling at each of them... until he gets to Jongin, then a frown comes over his face. “Sorry, have we met? You seem really familiar.”

“Uhm...” Jongin flushes when everyone's attention is suddenly directed at him. “You probably don't remember me, but... I think... we went to the same college? You had dance with mr. Jung in your third year, right?”

Yixing snaps his fingers. “Oh, I remember! You did ballet, didn't you?”

“Still do,” Jongin nods.

“That's so hot,” Baekhyun groans. “Does that mean you're, like, all flexible and ?” Jongdae looks about one ualized comment away from elbowing Baekhyun in the face.

Jongin and Yixing initiate a conversation about dancing and old teachers and shared college stories, and Joonmyun feels a slight sense of relief. He doesn't know what he had expected, and he didn't even realize until now that he had been worried, but knowing that that's all there is to their relationship makes him feel more at ease.

In the meantime, Minseok finally decides to join them at the table as well. “I see your posse's growing,” he says to Joonmyun. It's a teasing remark, but not a malicious one.

“Yay friendship,” Joonmyun deadpans, at which Minseok snorts. Luhan has been staring dreamily at Minseok the entire time, and Joonmyun decides to be a good wingman and help him out, even though he knows Minseok is straight (judging by his love of and how often he talks about them). “By the way, this is Luhan.”

“Nice to meet you,” Minseok says.

“Nice to meet you too,” Luhan says. “You did really great up there. Singing and stuff. You're great.”

The corner of Minseok's mouth twitches. “Thanks, kid.”

“Luhan-hyung is probably older than you think,” Joonmyun interjects. “Just saying.”

“Really?” Minseok looks at Luhan with renewed interest. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-eight,” Luhan says, a proud tone in his voice. A challenging tone.

“Oh.” Looking contemplative, Minseok runs his tongue over his bottom lip. The metal of his many piercings glisten. “So you're my age. Good to know.” Luhan is still staring. It's starting to get kind of creepy. “Anyway. I actually mostly came over here because I was hoping to be able to bum a smoke off of someone. I'm all out.”

“I've got a couple to spare,” Luhan says before anyone else even has the chance to open their mouth. Joonmyun isn't even surprised.

Minseok grins. “Sweet! Care to join me outside, then?” Of course Luhan agrees to that as well, and Joonmyun watches them leave together.

“Do you think your pretty little friend will be okay, going out there alone with Minseok?” Baekhyun asks. He has obviously grown bored of listening to Yixing and Jongin discussing dance techniques with all their technical terms, and now he has turned to Joonmyun for conversation.

Joonmyun furrows his brow in confusion. “Yeah. Why wouldn't he be? I thought you told me Minseok is one of the sweetest people you know?”

“He definitely is,” Baekhyun agrees without hesitation. “But he can be kind of, uh... overwhelming when he's looking to hook up with someone.”

“Hook up?” Joonmyun repeats, even more confused. “Minseok is straight, though.”

“Oh honey.” Baekhyun pats Joonmyun condescendingly on the arm, smiling like he knows something Joonmyun doesn't and pities him for not being in on it. “Minseok is whatever the hell he wants to be.”

~*~

A/N: 

this chapter is a mess. I ain't mad at it, though. I'd call it a filler chapter, but there's too much going on for it to be that. it's uneventful, but also eventful. does that even make sense? do I even make sense?

noteworthy elements in this chapter:

     1. everyone is at the bar at the same time.
     2. byun baekhyun hits on everyone and everything.
     3. yixing and jongin's past acquaintance is explained 9454893 chapters after it was first brought up.
     4. yeah xiuhan.
    (5. the title..........)

that's all I have to say for now.
byeeeee~~~ ♥

ps. if y'all are into markson, I posted a short, little, cute drabble here today. my first (posted) got7 fic, aw yiss.