LADY LIBERTY :: minchan ✔︎

friday ~ 5:24 pm

thanks for 100 reads! <3
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"sorry i'm late," minho said, arriving. he was out of breath; his outfit was slightly spontaneous and random.

chan couldn't tear his eyes away from minho's insanely attractive face.

"oh, no. did i leave a little green on my face? i thought i got it all off..." minho mumbled, noticing chan's stare.

the older man shook his head slightly, still in awe. "you're really handsome, m'lady."

minho blinked once, twice, three times. this time, face paint wasn't able to hide the rosy blush that lightly dusted his cheeks. "oh, um..."

"no, it's fine. that was a bit random of me; i apologize. let's—"

"why would you apologize?" minho interrupted. "complimenting people is nothing to be sorry for, unless you're sorry that i've never mentioned how nice you look."

minho had successfully turned the conversation in such a way that both men were blushing, awkward.

"thank you..?"

"let's just go," minho said, turning in a full circle before realizing he didn't know where they were headed. "where are we going?"

chan laughed, and the ice was broken. "there's a bar on the other end of the city, far enough away from where you usually stand that i can assume you don't work there. the owner is my friend, too, so we'll be able to force a discount out of him."

as they walked, minho and chan exchanged small stories. chan told minho about his work as a producer of music, and minho listened with content. when the conversation turned to minho, he concisely spoke of how he'd ended up doing strange jobs and working in a bar.

"wait, okay; let me get this straight. your parents wanted you to be a doctor, right? but you wanted to dance. but doctor won... and you dropped out of med school without telling your parents? and then they shunned you once they found out, so now you're trying to rebuild."

minho nodded. chan had gotten his story right. "keyword is 'trying.' i've been doing this for nearly a decade."

"some things take time," chan argued. "it could take more, too, but you push through it to get out on the other side. every tunnel has a light at the end of it. what's important is that the light isn't from the hole you dug to get into the tunnel in the first place, if that makes any sense."

"and i thought i was the poetic one," minho muttered in a joking way. the mood lifted considerably once they reached the bar. "so, who's your friend?"

at that moment, a raven-haired man who seemed to be both slightly younger and slightly shorter than minho stepped out onto the street. "chan, the man! long time no see. what brings you here?"

chan smiled and gave his friend a hug. "changbin, this is minho. minho, changbin. changbin and i have known each other since high school; we used to be in a small rap group together with another guy. changbin, minho and i met on monday; he's a pretty cool guy, if you ask me."

"what do you do, minho?" changbin asked. his intentions were polite, but minho couldn't bring himself to respond.

chan made a dramatic scene, quickly shushing changbin. "that's a secret," he whispered. minho smiled, grateful for chan's strange way of covering his career up.

he wasn't ashamed of it, per se, but he didn't like for that to be his first impression on chan's high school friend. even if they were both related to bars somehow, the way that chan and minho had met wasn't the most common way of making friends.

"changbin, didn't you once say i get fifteen percent off of everything?"

changbin raked a hand through his hair, huffing. "man, you and jisung never forget that stupid promise i made. yes, you do. and minho, too, since he's with you."

chan smirked and pushed his way into the bar. minho stayed in place, unsure what to make of this cocky, sassy version of the high-class, polite, and kind chan he knew.

"let me guess: he never acts like this around you. i just bring out the bad in him, yadda yadda yadda," changbin sighed. "somehow, it's always my fault."

"i never said it was your fault."

changbin's eyebrows flew up. "wait, you can talk?"

"hell yeah, i can talk. what'd you think?"

"sorry, i thought you couldn't. chan was doing all the verbal stuff. then again, he usually ends up doing that," changbin said, sighing once more.

minho took notice of the sighing habit changbin seemed to have. "you tend to sigh a lot."

changbin scowled, although it was slightly playful. "you've said three things to me in my entire life, and all three have managed to irk me."

"it's a natural talent; i repel people."

"minho! don't say that," chan said, returning to collect the friend he realized he'd left outside. "you haven't repelled me."

"yet."

"shut up."

changbin slowly backed away, resolving not to get involved in the potential conflict he saw. "y'all can come inside and have a drink when you're done bickering."

they did bicker, though it only lasted a minute. chan and minho made up impressively quickly, and spent the night taking advantage of their discount.

both enjoyed themselves far more than they had in a long time, and both were glad that they had someone with whom to share their good time.