After what feels like hours, Joonmyun finally gathers the strength – both mental and physical – to pick himself off the sidewalk, wincing as he does so. At this point, the onlookers no longer seem to find him interesting. They have all gone back to talking among themselves as they wait in line as if nothing out of the ordinary ever happened.

There is only one person still looking at Joonmyun. In the mouth of an alley next to the bar stands none other than Minseok. He's leaning against the wall, dressed in all black – graphic tee, ripped jeans, sneakers – his many piercings glisten in the streetlights, as do the chains around his neck and wrists and the rings on his fingers. If Joonmyun didn't already know Minseok pretty well, he would most likely be fearing for his life upon seeing such an intimidating figure silently watching him from the shadows.

Joonmyun does know Minseok, though, and he knows that the worst thing he would do to him is tell him off for being such an to Yixing, so he readies himself for another verbal beating. Minseok's face is stoically blank, and he simply continues to look at Joonmyun, quiet. “Did you come to watch the show?” Joonmyun asks dryly.

Minseok shakes his head. “I'm just out for a smoke.” He lifts his hand to show off the lit cigarette held between his tattooed fingers.

“Oh.” Finally, Joonmyun gets on his feet. He tries to brush the dirt off his pants, but they're torn at the knee so it doesn't really matter. He sighs. At least he didn't wear an expensive suit today.

Minseok's eyes are resting heavily on his back, Joonmyun can feel it. “You've got some nerve, showing up here after what you did. Didn't think you'd have that kind of balls on you.”

Joonmyun lets out a bark of mirthless laughter. “Yeah, well, I had to try. I didn't have many other options, really.” Minseok just hums. He doesn't seem like he's planning on hurting Joonmyun, so Joonmyun walks over so he doesn't have to raise his voice to talk to him. He has never really had a lot of deep conversations with Minseok – to be honest, he always found him kind of scary despite Yixing's constant reassurance that he's a nice guy – but at this point he doesn't have anything to lose. “Are you going to yell at me too?” he asks just to be safe. He wouldn't be surprised. He hasn't exactly been met with friendliness since he got here.

“Nah,” Minseok says, shrugging. “ happens. I get it. Want one?” He holds his pack of cigarettes out for Joonmyun, but Joonmyun shakes his head. Minseok shrugs again and brings his own to his pierced lips to take another drag on it. “I saw you getting kicked out there. Looked pretty intense.”

Joonmyun's hands sting and his clothes are ruined from the fall, but he knows it could be so much worse. He has heard from semi-reliable sources that Zitao is skilled in martial arts, and Joonmyun is thankful he didn't have to confirm those rumors firsthand. “I'm alright,” he says.

Minseok shoots him a Look, blowing out smoke, which curls into the night air like white tendrils. “Are you really, though?” It's funny how Minseok seems to be able to see right through him. Joonmyun deflates, letting out a heavy sigh, and now Minseok looks physically uncomfortable. “Oh God, I was just trying to be nice by asking, please don't cry.”

“Okay, okay, I won't,” Joonmyun vows, even though that's pretty much all he really wants to do at the moment. “I just... I really need to talk to Yixing. Even if he tells me to get lost, I want to... I need to tell him how I feel, if nothing else, then for the sake of closure. I need this.”

“You know he left, right?”

“Yeah.” Once more, Joonmyun sighs heavily. “And it's all my fault.”

Now Minseok looks at him as if he's crazy. “What? How is it your fault?”

“Because of what I did,” Joonmyun exclaims, throwing his arms out. “He quit his job and left because I broke up with him. Because I broke his heart. It's my fault.” He can feel tears stinging behind his eyelids when he blinks, but he promised Minseok not to cry so he holds them back.

Minseok scoffs and rolls his eyes. “God, Baekhyun is such a ing drama queen,” he mumbles. He drops the stump of his burned down cigarette on the ground and pushes himself off the wall so he can stomp out the ember with his worn out Converse. Then he looks sharply at Joonmyun, who cowers slightly. “Listen, I don't know what those ers said to you in there, but it's not your fault, okay? I mean, yeah, Yixing was pretty ed up after things ended between you two, but he didn't ing leave the country because of it. You know that kid... whatshisface, the sleepy-looking one, who Baekhyun's always trying to ? Jongdae's brother?”

“Jongin,” Joonmyun supplies, and Minseok nods.

“Right, right. Anyway, apparently the kid knows a guy, who knows a guy, who owns a dance studio or something along those lines, and apparently they had a new position opening up in a few months, and Jongin offered it to Yixing since they're old dancer buddies and all. That's why he quit his job. He got a better one. He actually worked this out a while back and put in his two weeks' notice at the restaurant and everything, and he was waiting for the right time to surprise you with the news, but, well, happened.”

“Oh,” Joonmyun says intelligently.

“Yeah.” Minseok shakes his head like he can't believe how stupid Joonmyun is being about all of this. “Oh, and another thing: Yixing went back to China because he's been wanting to go for, like, eight ing years. Sure, it'll probably help with the Healing Process or whatever, but the breakup wasn't the reason why he left. You weren't the reason why he left. He just finally got the ing opportunity to do so, that's all.”

“Oh.” Foolishness is such a familiar feeling to Joonmyun by now that he's not even surprised when it comes over him once again.

Joonmyun notices a brief flash of silver inside of Minseok's mouth when he clicks his tongue. “You know, for someone as rich and powerful as you, you sure are slow sometimes.” Joonmyun frowns but chooses to ignore the comment.

Instead he asks: “So Yixing is coming back?” Minseok lets out a hum of confirmation. “When?”

It takes some time for Minseok to answer, and the wait is excruciating to Joonmyun, whose patience is wearing thin, but he doesn't want to rush what is potentially the only person willing to provide him with information. Minseok is busy pulling another cigarette out of its package, and he puts it between his lips, lights it and takes a long drag on it before responding. “I don't know.” Joonmyun kind of wants to punch him, but, again, information. He feels slightly less angry when Minseok continues: “When he left, he said he was supposed to be gone for, like, six weeks, but I don't know the exact time of his return.”

“Is there any way you can find out?” Joonmyun asks.

“I'd tell you to ask Baekhyun, but that obviously didn't work out very well for you just now.” He gives Joonmyun's battered body a pointed onceover. “Hmm. I guess I could ask Baekhyun.”

“Please do.” Joonmyun doesn't care if he sounds desperate. He would drop to his knees and beg if it would convince Minseok. Fortunately, it doesn't have to come to this, as Minseok just nods, and Joonmyun lets out a breath of relief. “Thank you,” he says. “Thank you so much. I owe you.”

Minseok shrugs. “Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for, right?” Joonmyun wasn't even aware that Minseok thought of him as anything more than a mere acquaintance, but he's thankful for it nonetheless. “You're just lucky Kyungsoo isn't here yet. You probably wouldn't have made it out of there in one piece if he was.”

“Is he really that bad?”

“Well,” Minseok says. “Let's just say that Baekhyun tried hitting on him once, and he has never ever even considered doing that again.”

Joonmyun gulps. If whatever Kyungsoo can do is enough to deter Baekhyun from flirting, it must be pretty bad. “G-got it. Then I should probably get out of here in case he does show up.” He casts a look over his shoulder, suddenly paranoid.

“You probably should,” Minseok agrees, way too nonchalantly for someone who just told Joonmyun that he was in danger of potentially getting murdered (or worse?), and as Joonmyun begins to walk away, Minseok adds: “Say hi to Luhan for me.”

That stops Joonmyun in his tracks. It reminds him of something, something he wanted to ask but wasn't sure he had the rights to since it's technically none of his business. Now that Minseok referred to Joonmyun as his friend, however, Joonmyun feels comfortable enough to get it off his chest. So he turns to face Minseok again. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

Minseok is done with his second cigarette, and he throws that on the ground like he did with the other one, then nods once in affirmation. “Shoot.”

Joonmyun his lips. Even if it's alright for him to ask, it's still awkward. “You and Luhan, you guys are like... like a Thing... right?”

The snort Minseok lets out is loud enough to startle Joonmyun. “A Thing,” Minseok repeats, chuckling. “If that's what you want to call it, sure. I guess we're a Thing.” He says it in an almost mocking way, like he finds Joonmyun's wording hilarious for some reason, and Joonmyun doesn't quite understand why it's so funny, but that's not his main focus.

“But... I thought you liked girls?”

“Yup, I still do.”

“So you like... both?” That would make sense. Joonmyun knows of people who like both. Hell, he's pretty sure Baekhyun likes anything that walks on two legs and then some.

“Nope,” Minseok says. “Just girls. And Luhan, if wanting to put my in him counts as 'like'.”

“But Luhan is not a girl.”

“Right you are, full marks for observation. Where are you going with this?” Minseok doesn't sound hostile or angry or defensive, he mostly just seems bored with the conversation. What Joonmyun doesn't understand is how he can already be so completely at peace with his recent discovery.

“How is it so easy for you to accept that you have feelings for a guy?” Joonmyun blurts out before he can even think to consider how to word the question.

Like he has done so many times while they were talking, Minseok shrugs. “ if I know. But why should it be hard? You don't really get to decide who you're attracted to, so you may as well just stop worrying about it and move on to the good part. Love is love.”

It sounds so simple when he says it like that. Joonmyun wishes his view on life was more like Minseok's, wishes he could just accept himself for who he is, but unfortunately, constant worry and debilitating anxiety seem to be integrated parts of his personality, and it's going to take more than just a few pep talks to change that. “I wish it was that easy for me, too,” he mumbles.

He doesn't really mean for Minseok to hear it, but Minseok responds nonetheless. “Just give it some time, you'll get there,” he says, patting Joonmyun awkwardly on the shoulder, and then: “I should probably get back inside. Before anyone catches me talking to the enemy.” He adds the last part with a metal-framed grin, which fades when he realizes Joonmyun isn't going to return it. Joonmyun just isn't in the mood for joking right now. “Hey, give me your number, okay? I'll text you when I find out when Yixing is coming home.”

“Thank you, hyung.” Joonmyun receives Minseok's phone with a bow, and he types his number in and saves it under his name before handing the phone back. Minseok flashes him a thumbs up. Then he enters the bar through the backdoor, and Joonmyun turns to walk in the opposite direction, going home. He didn't really make a lot of progress tonight either, but he has exhausted all his resources and hit a dead end. All there's left to do now is wait.

~*~

A/N: good news, everyone! yixing didn't actually go back to china for good, it was just baekhyun being baekhyun. but along comes No Bull Minseok to save the day. as you can see, he's actually really important to the story. yixing has a new, awesome job, he got to see his parents, all is (relatively) well.

I would like to address the part where they talk about luhan because I think it's interesting to see how different they are. it has taken months and months and almost fifty chapters for joonmyun to finally admit to himself that he likes yixing, a man. meanwhile, minseok is over here accepting his newfound interest in luhan in the blink of an eye. basically how easy it could have been versus how hard joonmyun made things for himself... then again, if joonmyun was anything like minseok, this story would only have reached a fraction of the length it has at this moment.

also, y'all are funny. saying joonmyun should "hop on a plane" and "go find yixing". hah! that's grand. :b all he knows is that yixing's parents live somewhere in or around changsha, that's literally it. go ahead and travel to hunan and try to find a mr. and mrs. zhang with no information other than that. let me know how it goes. :b

anyways. this is all I have to say. hope you enjoyed!