Chapter Text
Seungmin takes a deep breath as the car pulls up to the event venue, he instantly regrets agreeing to show up when he notices the crowd already forming outside of the venue. He tugs on the sleeves of his jacket when he peeks out the window, the crowd is muffled through the doors and he’s waiting for the security to give him the go ahead, he turns to his manager glued to his phone.
It doesn’t take long for the signal to come, a quick knock and his manager finally tears his eyes away from his phone, and smiles at Seungmin, “You look amazing. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he answers, because it’s the truth, if he had his way he’d be back at his hotel ordering as much food as he can stomach and watching a movie. His one saving grace is that Hyunjin and Minho are supposed to be attending the event as well, so there’s that.
The cameras flash in his eyes, his ears ringing as he exits and heads towards the carpet, he tries to remember to breathe. This is going to be fine, he’ll be okay, he just needs to make it through the walk and the interviews that’ll be forced upon him. He just needs to talk about his most recent album, and the new one that’ll be coming soon. (A lie, he hasn’t even stepped foot in the studio yet, he can’t bring himself to.)
Things happen in a blur, he answers the questions, he smiles and laughs. It’s fine, until one of the interviewers brings up his breakup, his heart stops. She’s smiling innocently like she’s only asked him about the weather, he eyes dart around spotting his manager with a stare that could kill as he starts to move forward.
“I’ve been too busy in the studio these days,” Seungmin says, smiling; he’s grateful when the sounds of screams get louder, glancing back towards the entrance. He knows someone more popular has just arrived and turns back, “I have to get going.”
He wants nothing more than to go home, except he’s here listening to some actor going on and on about some after party that’s happening tonight. He’s clearly trying to figure out which one Seungmin is thinking about attending. Seungmin pretends to think about it, knowing that he’s probably going to stop at whichever one his manager thinks he has to attend before leaving almost immediately.
Seungmin thinks he might end up spiraling before the end of the night. He texts Hyunjin to figure out where he is, he even starts spamming Jeongin with messages.
He puts his phone away as soon as the award show begins and sits up. The first commercial break happens quickly enough, the actor turns to him, ready to start up the conversation again and Seungmin says he has to go to the bathroom. He’s backstage before he can figure out what to do next, he checks his phone again as he snakes through the people milling around.
“Damn it, Hyunjin,” he mutters, when he still hasn’t responded.
Jeongin responded with a screenshot of Seungmin on the red carpet and a laughing emoji. He's debating telling his manager he wants to leave. He’s only nominated for two awards and considering who he’s going up against, he doubts he’s leaving with a Moonman. He’d have a much better chance back home.
He turns on his heel, immediately running into someone.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” the guy says, big eyes impossibly wide, “Oh, shit, Kim Seungmin.”
Seungmin freezes, then puts on a smile as nods, “Hi. Sorry,” he says, he eyes the guy but he just doesn’t recognize him. He’s Asian, and for a moment, Seungmin debates whether he can get away with the no English card to get out of this conversation when he stares at him expectantly. He wonders just how much he knows about Seungmin.
“Hi,” the guy echoes, laughing as he smiles at Seungmin, his eyes are drawn to the lip piercing. He’s got eyeliner smudged around his eyes, splashes of glittery eyeshadow. He’s cute. “Um, sorry again. Wow, I just want to say that you’ve got a killer voice, dude.”
“Um,” Seungmin says, dumbly. He clears his throat, “Thanks.”
The guy laughs again, it sounds awkward, he rubs at his neck and it’s obvious that he’s a bit uncomfortable. “Well, I-”
“Han! We’ve got to get you ready!” a harried looking production assistant shouts from down the hall. The guy looks towards her, then back at Seungmin, he looks like he wants to say more but the assistant shouts again, “Now, Han!”
He winces.
“I think that’s your cue,” Seungmin says, the guy looks a bit sheepish as he nods and offers a half wave.
“See you around, Kim Seungmin!”
Seungmin watches him disappear down the hall in a quick jog, he takes in his outfit, all black with splashes of green and glittery embellishments. It’s not until he’s out of sight that he realizes he has no idea who the hell he just met, he doesn’t have time to even linger on that when his phone starts ringing. It’s Hyunjin.
He meets him backstage, he doesn’t return to his seat instead follows Hyunjin to where he and Minho have been seated. He sits beside the two of them, even if he probably shouldn’t be, but he figures they can’t do anything to stop him.
“How are you feeling?” he asks in a hushed tone.
Seungmin glances around, “I’m fine.”
Hyunjin raises a brow, he clearly doesn’t buy it, but he can’t exactly push him further, not with everyone around them. He just pats his hand gently and looks towards the stage. Minho hums, he's frowning at him, he knows just as well as Hyunjin that he's lying. They've been friends for too long. But he switches tactics and makes a comment about how he thinks Seungmin looks like a disco ball. It makes Seungmin snort and Minho grins.
It’s as much as can be said right now, he’s sure that later he’ll be roped into an actual conversation. He’ll deal with that when the time comes, right now, he can pretend that he’s having a good time at an award show with his friend.
“Give it up for Miroh!”
Seungmin frowns as the lights go down and the crowd cheers, he leans towards Hyunjin, “who the fuck is Miroh?”
“You never heard of them?” he asks, laughing a bit, “They’re good! You’ll love them!”
There’s a strong and steady drum beat surrounding them. The lights begin to flicker as a bass line and guitar joins in, before the spotlights become solid and the stage is fully visible washed in color, a voice starts singing. Seungmin sits up as he squints at the performers on stage, recognizing the outfit and the guy he’d ran into early in the center at the mic with a guitar in hand as he smirks while singing out his lines.
“Wow,” Seungmin says, as the performance goes on and Hyunjin is singing along while glancing his way as if to say, I told you so.
He doesn’t know how he ended up at an after party, other than it was most definitely Hyunjin’s fault, he guilt tripped him into attending by complaining about how he doesn't really know many people in town, how could Seungmin abandon his best friend? He mostly agrees to get him to shut up. He knows he’s trying to be a good friend, Hyunjin’s convinced that he’s in a slump, that he’s just in desperate need of cheering up.
So, he’s here with a bunch of Hollywood celebrities feeling out of place. Hyunjin is glued to his side, Minho had almost immediately abandoned them, which makes no sense because if Hyunjin doesn't know that many people in town than Minho definitely doesn't either.
Seungmin realizes that he’d feel out of place and awkward no matter where he was. He’s just not much of a party guy, he figures he just needs to get through half an hour here before he can ditch this place.
He’s counting down the minutes, if it wasn’t for Hyunjin, he would’ve been back at his hotel already.
“Oh, Seungmin, let me introduce you,” he says, grabbing Seungmin’s wrist and leading him through the crowd before he can even ask who the hell he’s talking about. “Hey, guys!”
They come to a stop at a table with a group of people sitting, they all easily greet them happily, Seungmin recognizes them as the band that’d been performing earlier. They look intimidating up close.
“Guys, this is my friend Seungmin,” Hyunjin announces, “Seungmin, this is Miroh. That’s Chan,” he looks to see a guy with dark hair and a bright dimpled smile, he stands immediately already reaching to shake his hand. “Changbin.” The guy is muscular, his shirt has no sleeves just proving how insane his arms are, he’s waving and smiling. “Felix.” He points to the guy with long blond hair just past his shoulders in a neat half up style. “And Jisung.”
Seungmin is looking at the singer, he’s smiling and isn’t quite looking at Seungmin as he says, “Yeah, we met earlier.”
“I never got your name though,” Seungmin says, “I didn’t even know your band.”
“Ouch,” one of them says, while laughter bursts out.
Suddenly, someone is coughing, loud and fake and clearly trying to get attention. Seungmin recognizes him right away. “Hyunjin,” he says, eyes wide and tilting his head in indication that he’s been left out.
Hyunjin sighs, rolling his eyes, “And that's Lee Know.”
“Minho don’t act like we don’t know each other,” Seungmin says, rolling his eyes.
“Hi, Seungmin!” Minho beams at him, then nudges Jisung, “Ha. He knows who I am,” he sounds triumphant. Jisung snorts and shrugs it off, but Seungmin feels like he’s missing a joke somewhere. He doesn’t know whether it’s bad or not.
“Sit down,” Chan offers.
The table is full of bottles and snacks, he hesitates for a moment when Hyunjin takes the closest empty seat. Either way Seungmin would end up between him and one of the band members, he chooses Jisung, who sits up. His cheeks are rosy, Seungmin wonders how much he’s had to drink, or if it’s due to the heat.
“Um, you guys were really good,” Seungmin says, just to say something, he does mean it though. Their performance was incredible. “You’re talented.”
From there the conversation goes from how nervous they’d been to them praising Seungmin, saying they’d wish he’d been a performer tonight.
“Hey, is it true you broke up with that actress?” Changbin asks.
“Um.” Seungmin freezes. He notices that Hyunjin shifts, then Changbin winces, a hiss escaping his lips. He doesn’t have to wonder, he knows that Hyunjin kicked him, his gaze sharp and protective as if he’s daring any of them to continue Changbin’s line of thought.
“You got anything new in the works?” Felix asks, clearly trying to move the conversation along, to end this growing silence at the table.
Seungmin shrugs, “Yeah, it’s taking a bit longer than usual. But we’re working on it.”
Hyunjin gives him that look, he knows the truth, knows that Seungmin has been rejecting every song they hand his way. He’s probably going to get in trouble with his company soon, if they can’t get him to record anything.
“Can’t wait to hear it!” Chan says, smiling, “We’re all big fans.”
“Really?” Seungmin asks, he can’t help how dubious he sounds, he’s not going to lie; they don’t seem like the kind of people to enjoy the kind of pop that Seungmin releases. He knows it’s dumb to judge them based on looks. A bigger part of him wonders if they’re just being nice.
“Jisung loves to play your stuff on repeat.”
“Really?” Seungmin asks, turning to Jisung.
He laughs, running a hand through his hair, nodding. “I mean, yeah, you have a great voice.”
Somehow Seungmin finds himself taking shots with Minho and Changbin and laughing along to stories about how they know each other. Chan rants to him about music theory, and it’s surprisingly fun. They’re joined by others, occasionally jumping in to chat with him or the band. He notices Jisung watching him, like he’s trying to figure out a puzzle, or likely judging Seungmin. He can’t be sure, he doesn’t find it in himself to care as he’s pulled into a conversation with Felix about video games, it turns out they have a lot of the same interests.
He manages to slip out before the end of the night.
“I heard you actually attended a party for more than nine minutes and didn’t just sit still the whole time like a weirdo.”
Seungmin rolls his eyes, he can tell that Jeongin is smiling and ready to laugh at him any second, “yeah, Hyunjin dragged me out.”
“Hm,” Jeongin hums, “The world must be ending.”
Seungmin scoffs as he lays on his hotel bed, he switches his phone to speaker, “Yeah, yeah, whatever. As if you ever go to parties.”
“Hey, leave me out of this,” Jeongin argues, laughing, though it’s true Jeongin is just as bad as him when it comes to being social. “I also heard you met Miroh last night.”
“You know who Miroh is?”
“Seungmin,” Jeongin says, the tone edging into annoyance, “They’re like the most popular rock band in the world right now.”
“Oh,” Seungmin says, “They can’t be that popular, I’ve never heard of them.”
“Well,” Jeongin starts, “You basically live under a rock. You might as well be Patrick Star.”
“You’re way too old to be watching Spongebob.”
“Um, no, Spongebob is timeless! It’s a classic!” Jeongin argues, “I can’t believe you didn’t know them though. Minho’s friends with them.”
“Yeah, I don’t really know his other friends,” he answers, finally sitting up and stretching his arms out.
“And Hyunjin’s also friends with them!” Jeongin continues, “That’s double the opportunity to know Miroh and you failed. I can’t believe this, they call you a cultural icon yet you don’t know shit.”
Seungmin rolls his eyes, humming slightly, “You know what I do know?”
“What?”
Seungmin just hangs up the call and waits for Jeongin to call back.
Seungmin is sitting in a meeting as they go over details for his next comeback, he’s being shown different tracks. He’s even offered songs with the lyrics fully written because everyone knows Seungmin hasn’t bothered to write anything recently. Seungmin nods, says, “Yeah, I’ll listen over this and pick some of them.”
He’s been lying to his team. He has written songs, he just doesn’t know if it’s something he can record. The songs are too close to home, too personal about wounds too fresh to sing about. He considers using some of his even older stuff, or the not so personal songs, but none of those are songs he’s satisfied with.
This comeback doesn’t need to be self-written, he could get away with one mini album that he doesn’t write.
It’s what needs to be done, he’s already caused them to push it back so much already. He leaves with a number of files sent to him to listen over while being carted off to do a photoshoot for some magazine.
He’s in the middle of playing a game when his phone starts ringing, he ignores it as he continues the game. Only for it to ring again as soon as it goes to voicemail. He groans, exiting his game, leaning over to grab his phone.
He sighs when he sees Minho’s name, “Hello-”
“Kim Seungmin, open your door.”
Minho hangs up as soon as he finishes the sentence, soon enough the doorbell rings incessantly. He sighs and gets up, padding all the way to the door, when he opens it Minho doesn’t greet him as he walks in. He’s dressed up which is unusual for an average day, Minho dresses more casual when he’s not scheduled to do anything.
“What are you doing here?”
Minho is walking towards Seungmin’s room without answering. Seungmin watches him walk away, turning back to close and lock his door before trailing after him. When he gets to his room, he finds Minho rummaging through his closet.
“Seriously? Why do you have nothing nice?” Minho asks, frowning as he stares at a hoodie as if considering whether it counts as nice. “Hyunjin said to make sure you dress nice.”
“What’s going on?”
Minho turns towards him, “oh, right. We’re going out.”
“Um, who said I wanted to go out?”
“I did, right now.” He continues shifting through Seungmin’s closet with a frown, he seems to give up and walks to Seungmin’s bed, he lays down and waves his hand at him. “Hurry up, find something to wear so we can leave.”
Seungmin just stares at him. He closes his eyes as if he’s ready to take a power nap. “I don’t want to go. I don’t even know where we’re going.”
Minho groans as if he’s the one that’s currently being dragged out of the comfort of his apartment. “I don’t either, we’ll suffer together. Now get ready,” he says, when Seungmin only stands there and makes no move to do so, he adds: “Hyunjin told me to drag you out of here kicking and screaming if I have to.”
“You wouldn’t.”
Minho opens his eyes, lifting his head slightly, “I’d rather not, but I would.”
Seungmin wonders how serious Minho is being, he frowns as Minho holds his gaze and clearly isn’t backing down. Seungmin tears his gaze away, glancing at his closet, he sighs heavily. “At least tell me where you’re taking me.”
“Miroh’s having an album release party,” Minho says, his eyes already closed, “Hurry up, we’re already running late.”
The album release party turns out to be at a club. They’re greeted by cameras and a crowd as soon as they step out, he waves to the crowd as he gets ushered through to the entrance. He’s frowning as they’re finally inside the party, it’s loud and crowded with the who’s who of the industry, including some people he recognizes and those he doesn’t.
He thinks that Jeongin was right, he really did live under a rock if this is the kind of turn out Miroh gets for an album release especially as a foreign band.
Seungmin trails after Minho greeting everyone they pass by, they end up finding empty spots on the couches lining the sides.
The music being played isn’t anything Seungmin recognizes, though he does recognize jisung’s voice from the award show performance. He nods along as he takes in the songs, they’re good, a few are a bit experimental and not exactly Seungmin’s taste, but he can tell they’re talented regardless.
The band is on stage now, greeting the crowd and giving speeches before introducing their new album. The songs go on, being played as the crowd dances along, he spots Hyunjin in the crowd dancing like he’s in his own little world.
“You two look bored as hell,” a voice says, Seungmin blinks and turns to find Jisung standing beside them. “Does this party suck?”
“Yes,” Minho answers without hesitation, “Now leave us alone, we’re meditating.”
“Meditating?” Jisung asks incredulously, his laugh ringing out.
“You don’t know about meditating? It’s good for your health,” Seungmin chimes in.
Jisung blinks at him, he looks unsure whether he’s joking or not, when Minho laughs that’s when Jisung seems to relax. He laughs almost nervously while moving to sit beside Minho.
He looks a lot more relaxed than he did that first night, his hair is now more fluffy and curled; his makeup not as heavy. He’s wearing a white button up, with the sleeves rolled up, Seungmin’s eyes catching onto the tattoos across his left forearm. On his right forearm, there’s one that looks vaguely like a compass.
“Right, Seungmin?” Minho asks, he’s nudging him, there’s a smirk on his face as if he’d definitely caught Seungmin staring a little too hard.
“I wasn’t listening but I think Minho’s wrong,” Seungmin jokes.
“Ouch,” Jisung says, putting a hand over his heart, “So you do think our music sucks?”
“Someone needs to be honest, how else would you improve?” he says, doubling down and hoping Jisung knows he’s joking. He laughs which makes Seungmin relax a bit.
When the party's over, Seungmin is ready to just go home, but Felix finds them, and he starts talking about an after party. He wants nothing more than to go home, to play some games and relax. He’s about to say as much when Jisung and Changbin pass them, they’re all smiles and laughter.
“You’re coming to the after party, right?”
“Um,” Seungmin starts, he notices Jisung is looking at him expectantly, “i don’t know.”
“C’mon,” Changbin says, attempting to throw Seungmin’s shoulders, he settles with leaving his hand on his shoulder. The smell of cologne and alcohol is strong. “You have to come along, Seungmin. I’ll cry!”
“I’ll get you tissues then,” Seungmin says.
Jisung laughs, as Changbin pouts at him, “Live a little, Kim Seungmin,” Jisung says, smirking, like he’s issuing a challenge.
Seungmin ends up in a car with them, headed straight for the after party, which turns out to be at a rented out house. There’s nobody there yet except a few people milling around, staff that were in charge of setting up. He notices Chan is helping them carry boxes towards the kitchen.
Changbin makes them all gather around to do shots, and nudges Chan, “Speech!”
Chan laughs, “Well, um. This-”
“Who cares, people are starting to arrive,” Felix says, earning him a glare from Chan that he ignores. ”Cheers, mates!”
“Cheers,” Chan echoes, holding out his cup, Seungmin joins in to clink his cup and downs it as he notices Felix already moving toward the door.
It doesn’t take long for the party to turn into something that resembles an outlandish party from an American movie. He thinks Miroh is truly leaning into the rock star image of it all. He watches with a beer as Changbin starts dancing and singing on top of a coffee table, the crowd cheering him.
It’s hot and the floor feels sticky from drinks being spilled, Seungmin feels a little bit overwhelmed. He pushes himself out of the crowd, he needs to find a bathroom, it takes him awhile until he finds the empty master bedroom. He heads towards the bathroom while turning on the light.
“I’m in here!”
Seungmin jumps as he turns towards the direction the voice came from, he finds Jisung sitting in the empty bathtub, fully clothed. He’s wearing a hoodie now, he’s got headphones that he’s repositioning to rest around his neck, eyes wide like he’s a deer caught in headlights.
“Well, I need to take a piss,” Seungmin says, “Do you mind?”
Jisung slides down until his head isn’t visible, his knees appearing as his legs fold up, “Pretend I’m not here.”
“I sort of meant for you to get out of the room.”
“I’m comfortable,” Jisung says, “It’s fine, I’m not some perv.”
“Seems like something a perv would say,” Seungmin replies, he shifts his weight, debating whether he should just chance it and go, or argue some more. He sighs, going towards the toilet. When he’s finished and starts washing his hands, he asks, “Why are you in the bathtub?”
In the mirror, he sees Jisung’s legs move but that’s about it, then Jisung says, “I needed some quiet.”
Seungmin is drying his hands, he turns around. The bathtub is surprisingly big, it’s obvious that the owner’s have money. “That’s not very rock star of you,” he points out.
Jisung laughs, he moves to sit up, he glances over at him with a soft smile, “Please don’t tell the press, I have a reputation to maintain.”
Seungmin stays quiet for a moment, frowning as if he’s pretending to consider it. “Well, what’s in it for me?”
“What?” Jisung asks, brows shooting up in surprise.
Seungmin cracks a smile, as he jokes, “For my silence. What do I get?”
“Um,” Jisung starts, a chuckle escaping him, “What do you want?”
Seungmin shrugs, crossing his arms as he tilts his head and looks at him, he glances up around the bathroom. He’s trying to think of something funny to say, it’s not working. “What are you willing to offer?”
Jisung moves his arms over the side of the tub, his head resting on top, he laughs, “I don’t know, I could give you concert tickets or something.”
“No thanks,” Seungmin answers, scrunching up his nose, and Jisung laughs. It's nice knowing that he knows Seungmin is joking. He smiles a bit, looking down. Then says, “You do know there’s a huge empty bed, right?”
“Ah, Kim Seungmin, at least take me out to dinner first. I’m not that kind-”
“No, no,” Seungmin says quickly, though he feels his face getting warm, he clears his throat, “I meant it’s more comfortable than a bathtub.”
“Have you ever sat in a bathtub this big?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t judge me,” Jisung says, “You’ve got to experience sitting in a large tub to truly understand.”
Seungmin frowns, shaking his head, “No, I’ll judge you all the same.”
“Get in the tub.”
The demand causes Seungmin’s thoughts to freeze, he laughs, “What?”
“I said get in the tub, Kim Seungmin.”
Seungmin laughs, shaking his head, “I’m not doing that.”
“Why not?” he asks, when the silence drags on because Seungmin doesn’t really have much of a response other than no, he smiles at him. “Look, you could either go back to the party or get in the tub for a few minutes.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Seungmin says, though he hates he’s a bit tempted, mostly to see where this goes, he thinks Jisung is interesting. He only hesitates for a moment before rolling his eyes, he walks over and watches as Jisung’s smile grows wide. He’s shifting to make space, and Seungmin admits the tub is truly outrageously huge.
He kicks off his shoes, placing them neatly next to Jisung’s discarded pair, he steps into the tub and sits down. He carefully positions himself so that the faucet isn’t digging into his back, legs bumping into Jisung’s.
“I can’t believe you actually agreed,” Jisung says, ducking his head, wrapping his arms around his knees. His smile makes Seungmin’s heart flutter, but he ignores that as he looks up at the walls.
There’s a painting of dogs hanging across from them, he frowns, “Who’s house is this?”
Jisung follows his gaze, shrugging, “I don’t know. Some CEO, I think? We’re just renting it out for the party. They’ve got so much weird art just hanging around, I don’t know who thought this was a good one to put up.”
Seungmin laughs, tilting his head as he looks at it again, squinting slightly at it. “No, I get it,” he says, after a moment, “There’s a secret message. It literally says ‘ocean’ in it.”He tears his gaze away to find Jisung frowning at him, immediately turning to look at it, he says, “Are you serious? No it doesn’t.”
“Yeah, it’s right there,” he answers, nodding; he watches Jisung craning his neck to stare at the painting. He keeps a straight face as he watches Jisung’s expression scrunch into one of concentration as he searches the painting, it’s almost adorable how serious he’s taking the search. The minutes drag on as he mumbles half to himself, half to Seungmin pointing out vague shapes that could be letters. Seungmin doesn’t answer.
“Okay, I give up,” Jisung admits after several moments, shaking his head, all while keeping his eyes glued to it. “Where is it?”
Seungmin laughs, causing Jisung to turn towards him immediately, “I lied,” he admits, grinning as Jisung blinks at him for several moments, “There’s no message.”
Jisung huffs, then laughs genuinely, leaning back in place. “You really made me search that painting for five minutes for no reason.”
“No, there was a reason,” he says, “I thought it’d be funny.”
Jisung laughs, “Minho was right, you are a menace.”
Seungmin hums, something within him blaring like alarms, “You talked to Minho about me?”
Jisung looks down, his fingers tapping the side of the tub, the black polish catching his eyes. There’s glitter on the middle finger reflecting the light. Jisung seems nervous all of sudden, that much is clear, though Seungmin has no idea why. If anyone should be nervous it’s him, he has no idea what kind of stuff Minho has told Jisung about him.
“Well, sort of,” Jisung admits, “And um, Hyunjin too.” Seungmin’s face must show some sense of alarm since Jisung quickly adds, “It’s not anything bad. I just wanted to know more about you.”
“Oh,” Seungmin says, veins thrumming with nervous energy as he stares back, “Why?”
Jisung chuckles, it sounds awkward, he’s shrugging and shifting uncomfortably, “I just think you’re interesting.”
He frowns, it’s not a satisfying enough answer to him, but he doesn’t want to annoy Jisung. That’s a surefire way to make whatever he finds interesting about Seungmin vanish, he doesn’t even know why he cares so much. It's just that it makes no sense that Jisung finds him interesting, especially since Jisung is already far more interesting than Seungmin could ever be, like what kind of person hides from their party to sit in a bathtub? Jisung does.
So he doesn’t ask, instead he asks, “what were you doing in here?”
Jisung almost looks relieved, that makes another alarm ring in Seungmin’s mind, filing it away for another time. “I told you, I needed some quiet.”
“Yeah, but what were you doing?”
Jisung’s hands go up to the headphones still resting around his neck, Seungmin’s eyes follow the wire to find he can’t see where Jisung’s phone is. “I was watching videos.”
“What videos?”
“Um,” he starts, looking extremely flustered and embarrassed, Seungmin’s mind immediately jumps to an extreme.
“Oh my God, were you watching porn-”
“No!” Jisung shouts, eyes wide, his face turning red. “God, what’s wrong with you?”
“You’re the one being weird about not answering,” he replies, unable to stop his laughter, “what else am I supposed to think?”
“Literally not that!”
Seungmin hums, squinting at him, “Then what is it?”
“Well, now I don’t want to tell you.”
Seungmin nods, “Okay, just so you know I’m just going to assume that you were watching-”
“Okay! Shut up!” Jisung says, sitting up and pulling out his phone, he unlocks it before handing it over to Seungmin.
Seungmin frowns, taking the phone, looking at the screen. It's a paused Youtube video, but he sees his own face staring back at him, he looks unfortunate since it’s been paused on him in the middle of talking but he does vaguely recognize it as one of the variety shows he’s had to go on. He frowns, looking up at Jisung, his face red and avoiding eye contact.
“You were watching videos of me?”
“Yeah,” Jisung says, reaching over to grab his phone, he’s still not looking at him.
Seungmin isn’t sure how to respond to that, so he just says, “Oh, okay.” He pauses for a moment, “You should’ve just let me think it was porn,” he jokes, laughing a bit.
Jisung scoffs, looking a bit less tense, he rolls his eyes, “Whatever, man. I just wanted to know more about you.”
Seungmin licks his lips as he glances away. “You could’ve just talked to me,” he says, quick before he can overthink it.
He watches the way Jisung’s expression shifts, he doesn’t know what exactly is going on in his mind, but part of him wishes he did. He wants to know what Jisung is thinking and that thought surprises him.
“You’re a bit intimidating.”
Seungmin’s brows raise, he laughs, “You think I’m intimidating?”
“Yeah,” Jisung answers without hesitation, “You’re just… You’re so talented and seem unapproachable.”
Seungmin snorts, “I should be the one that’s intimidated, rock star."
Jisung looks confused but smiles a bit as he seems to relax, likely realizing he hasn’t offended Seungmin at all.
“I mean, I was intimidated by you,” Seungmin continues, “Until I found you in a bathtub.”
“Oh, come on, really?” he asks, though he’s still laughing, “You’re sitting in the bathtub too.”
“Only because you annoyed me into agreeing,” Seungmin argues, smiling as Jisung huffs and feigns his own annoyance, and he thinks this is actually nice. He’s glad he let himself be dragged out tonight, or else he wouldn’t be here now, laughing and joking around with Jisung. Something about it all makes him feel hopeful for the first time in months.