He's Just a Friend

Chapter 7

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"What is a relationship to you?" Seokjin had asked him once.

At the time, they had been sitting in the living room, watching a movie. A romance to be precise, at Seokjin's request, with chicken and beer. Namjoon had taken a few days of vacation from his military service. He had spent the first two days visiting his family before deciding to stay in Seoul for the rest of the week. Yoongi was due to be discharged the following day, and Namjoon had managed to schedule his leave so his vacations would overlap.

During his time in the military, Namjoon had given himself plenty of opportunities to think about his confession. More specifically, the rejection to his confession. More than a few nights had ended with him keeping his bunkmates awake because of his constant muttering and occasional quiet sobs.

The thing was, after a few days, Namjoon had started to wonder if he had actually been rejected at all. Seokjin had said they would talk about it when he got back, and hadn't that implied there was still a little hope?

After convincing himself that that was perhaps the case, what kept him up the most was wondering what 'when he got back' even mean? When his military service was over? The next time they saw each other? Namjoon wasn't sure.

So, when Seokjin asked that question, Namjoon immediately assumed they were finally going to talk about it. Which was why he asked, "Why do you ask?"

"I got asked out," he informed casually. "Actually, I started dating recently."
The bomb was dropped so casually that for a moment Namjoon didn't really catch it. It was a few seconds later that he managed to process Seokjin's words. Before he could even ask, Seokjin spoke up again.

"But they broke up with me," he frowned at his phone. "Just now actually."

There was a brief silence. Namjoon took a moment before he sat up. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

Seokjin continued staring at his phone, his brow furrowed. A few seconds later, he let out a quiet sigh, locked the screen, and tossed the phone onto the couch. "Yeah," he replied as he reached for a can of beer from the table. "Yeah, it's nothing new."

Namjoon watched him silently. His eyes then flickered worriedly to the other three empty beer cans on the table. "What do you mean by that?"

Seokjin cracked open the can and leaned back against the couch. "Remember when you asked me once if I dated a lot and I told you not really?"

Namjoon nodded.

"Well I lied. I've dated lots of people: girls, gays, theys." He took a gulp from his can. "I just don't really count them since they don't last long."

"What's the longest that's lasted?"

Seokjin pondered, counted. He started holding up his fingers and when he ran out of fingers, Namjoon was speechless. His jaw tightened as the words settled in, an uncomfortable heat creeping into his chest.

Noticing his expression, Seokjin frowned. "Sorry, should I not talk about this with you?" he asked, as if he really didn't understand why the atmosphere had turned out like this.

Namjoon quickly shook his head. "No—no, don't worry about it hyung," he replied, and although at the moment he felt very conflicted, he honestly meant it. He was at least glad that Seokjin was opening up to him, even if it was alcohol induced. He had previously heard rumors on campus, and currently he had a lot of questions, but was hesitant to ask.

He really didn't want to push when Seokjin was clearly buzzed.

He didn't have to, because Seokjin was very talkative. "Longest lasted two weeks. Crazy, right?"