The Art of Love | Seungjin AU

Chapter 9

They arrived at the Korean barbecue restaurant and all 6 of them sat down on the floor at the long table. Seungmin and Hyunjin sat next to each other and Minho sat in front of them. "Wow, it's been a minute since all of us could come out together right?" Felix said after everyone got settled.

"Yeah it feels like ages since Minho left his building. It must have been a shock to your system when you had to put on real clothes to come out tonight. Are you feeling light headed with all this fresh air?" Seungmin asked, teasing mercilessly.

"It's a bit overwhelming and my shoes are very uncomfortable. Thank you for your concern." Minho replied sarcastically.

Seungmin smirked and Hyunjin looked at the both of them in shock and thought to himself 'I thought they were friends... What's with this atmosphere?'

"You are one to talk, Seungmin. I feel like we haven't seen you around in months, but I think I understand now that you must have been distracted." Chan said looking at Hyunjin up and down real quick.

"Hey he's been around Channie, you are the one that has been so wrapped up in your boyfriend lately." Changbin said.

Felix shot him a look and Changbin looked confused. "Ex boyfriend..." Chan said sadly.

"Oh shit, uh sorry Channie, I forgot..." Changbin said with a painfully awkward expression.

Felix patted Chan's back to comfort him before looking at Seungmin to change the subject. "Uh yeah, I have been busy lately. This is my friend Hyunjin, he works with me at the museum and we have been spending a lot of time working on my upcoming debut exhibit." Seungmin said.

"That's right, what was the theme again?" Minho asked.

"Love." Hyunjin replied.

"Interesting, the two of you spending so much time together... researching the topic of love." Minho said with a smirk.

"It's not all that interesting, we mostly just sit in the dusty old archive room flipping through catalog books." Hyunjin replied.

"Hmm, and it's just you two alone, in this dark, secluded archive room?" Minho asked with a sly smile.

"Not everything is like your BL manhwas Minho, some of us have real work to do." Seungmin said furrowing his brows angrily towards him. Minho sat back, satisfied at successfully teasing Seungmin.

"Yeah, it's nothing like that. Seungmin and I are just friends." Hyunjin said quickly.

Ouch. Even though he knew that was the truth, hearing it come out of Hyunjin's mouth did not feel great. Seungmin picked up his bottle of soju and began chugging it.

"Whoa! I guess we are getting Party Animal Seungmin tonight!" Felix said excitedly, lifting his drink.

"Hey you should slow down Seungmin, you know you don't hold your liquor well." Chan said with concerned eyes as he watched Seungmin.

"Chill out Chan, you aren't bartending right now. You don't get to decide when to cut him off. Drunk Seungmin is the most tolerable of Seungmins. Let's go!" Minho said as he began chugging his own drink.

All of them drank except Chan, surprisingly the bartender hated drinking alcohol. In fact the only real reason Chan got into bartending at all was to counsel and help those that came to the bar needing a shoulder to cry on. Their friend group always said it was his way of giving free therapy.

Hyunjin drank but not too much, he had let Seungmin see too many embarrassing sides of him already. He looked over to the brunette beside him, with his rosy cheeks and wide grin. He really looked in his element, joking and laughing with his friends. It was a fun side of Seungmin that was very different from his usual more serious demeanor.