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"I'm going home. Good work, everyone!"
The yell through the bar made Chan look up from the non-alcoholic beverage he was nursing. He spotted the cute, blond cook that Changbin had employed a few years back at the door waving towards the bar owner.
Felix was an angel, the sweetest kind. With a heart of gold and ethereal looks. He easily made women and men equally turn their heads; just like he did now as he announced his trip home.
"Good work. Get home safe, the weather is quite bad out there," Changbin called back, a slightly worried frown on his face as Felix left.
Now Chan wasn't usually one for gossip. He was, however, a regular at Changbin's bar, Streetlight; he would call himself a good friend of Changbin's by now, after they found out they worked out at the same gym. And the guy had secrets. Which was normal for a bar keeper. They heard stories. The good ones, the bad ones, the sad ones. And Changbin made sure that they did not find their way to someone else.
However, Chan had little interest in those secrets. The one secret that did not let him go was the one of Changbin’s husband.
A while back Chan had tried to shoot his shot with Changbin. He was a handsome man, funny, kind, and empathetic. Nice to look at. Changbin and he shared similar interests and music taste. And Chan was single. It had seemed like a good idea at that time, but he was shot down fast.
"Sorry, Chan, but I am a married man."
Changbin had proudly showed off his hand. There on his right hand, on his ring finger, was a simple golden band. The gold was a bit dull, like the ring had been worn for quite a while already.
Chan had left it at that, not made another attempt. He didn't want to be a homewrecker. It did make him wonder who this mysterious husband of Changbin was, however. A lot of people come and go to Streetlight, but none had shown any signs of being romantically involved with Changbin. Until Felix came.
Changbin and Felix already knew each other when Felix first came in to work. That day Changbin was quite distracted while working, a fond smile never leaving his lips. And Felix looked at him the same way. Chan also noted that there was a lot of physical contact between them. Soft touches, hugs, protective arms around the shoulder, standing close together. No kisses however, nothing that could concretely confirm his suspicion that Felix was the husband.
There was another flaw in his theory. Felix did not wear The Ring. He wore rings. Chan had noticed when he came out of the kitchen to join Changbin behind the bar. But you could easily tell they were all accessories, nothing meaningful. The ring fingers stayed empty. No signs of a ring being removed either.
His friends, he had tugged along to the bar, didn't notice how his thoughts had drifted. They were far away in their own world, like always, switching topics faster than he could keep track of. They probably put his mental absence off as drowsiness anyway. Chan hadn't slept that well or much last night. He had been tired all day.
The low hum of conversations was like a lullaby to Chan's ears. Here at Changbin's bar he felt the most relaxed. It was why he came by quite often, even though he didn't really drink. At least nothing alcoholic.
The sound of the door sliding open again, the howling of the wind, and the patter of rain somehow caught Chan's attention. He turned his gaze from his friends and spotted the figure entering the establishment.
The first thing he noticed was that he had an umbrella with him that was dripping water on the floor, creating a small puddle at the door. He made an attempt to shake off the water towards the outside, until he gave up and put the umbrella into the stand by the door. His head was covered by a big hat, pulled low into his face. When he turned Chan couldn't really make out his face. The collar of his long brown coat had been pulled up, probably when the man had fought off the dashing rain and wind outside. Overall, there was not much to see about this man. When he came closer, walking towards the bar, Chan realized he was wearing black leather gloves as well.
Surely a sight you did not see every day at Streetlight. The man sat down at the bar, immediately drawing in all of Changbin's attention. From his position he couldn’t really see Changbin, just the back of the mysterious customer.
"The usual, please." His voice was slightly nasal. Chan could easily make out the grin in his tone. He watched as the guy put down his head, revealing light brown, soft hair.
The usual? Chan could not remember having ever seen this guy here before. Not that Chan remembered every guy entering and leaving the establishment, but he was fairly certain that he knew all the regulars.
"Well, well, well… It's been quite a while since I have seen you here. You should have told me you were coming."
Apparently Changbin knew this guy. Chan wondered if he should ask Changbin later who he was or if he was being too nosey. In the end it was none of his business really. Still, there was something that caught his attention, that made him eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Hmm and give you the pleasure of having the upper hand. I don’t think so." A teasing tilt, like an inside joke that was just known to them. It followed a short span of silence as Changbin prepared the drink the stranger asked for. The ice cubes clicked as they fell into the glass.
"When did you come back?"
"Just now. I came directly from the train station."
"And you immediately went to see me? What about your boyfriend?"
"Hmm, he can wait."
What kind of answer was that? Sure, a lot of people with failing relationships came to Changbin, talked about them, even tried to flirt with Changbin. Usually, Changbin turned them down immediately. However,…
"You must have missed me quite a lot then." The sound of Changbin's pleased laughter traveled through the bar. Chan knew he was staring but couldn't help himself. He wished he could see Changbin's face, see what kind of expression he was making. Wasn't he weirded out? Why would he reply like this?
"Always." The answer was strangely fond.
This conversation was weird, Chan decided. What was their relationship? Maybe he was a brother he hadn't seen in a long time. Did Changbin have a brother? Chan wasn't sure, he only ever mentioned an older sister, but then again how much did he actually know about Changbin's private life. He realized, not that much. It just wasn't the kind of stuff they talked about.
"I missed you too." Changbin's reply was just as strangely fond. “How long before you have to go again?”
The guy tilted his head, like in thought. “I thought, I could stay for a while, take a break, enjoy the money I earned, annoy you until you can’t stand me anymore. Old man.”
Changbin laughed. Gone was the fond moment. Instead, it was replaced by teasing and bickering. Chan was utterly lost.
"Hey, I'm still young."
"In your dreams. You definitely have gotten a few more lines in your face since we last saw each other. And is that a gray hair strand?"
The guy leaned forward, touching Changbin's hair. Like it was a natural gesture between these two. And Changbin allowed it.
"It's not!" Changbin subconsciously touched his hair. "Even if it was, not all of us have been blessed by the goddess of youth, like Innie was."
"True," the stranger sighed. "Is Innie here?"
Innie was their server Jeongin. Even if he was in his early thirties, he still looked like he did when he just turned twenty. The world was unfair like that. This guy really must be a regular, who Chan somehow had never seen before, or he just knew the people in Changbin's life. The second was more likely. Maybe he knew about Chan too? That would be a disadvantage for him. He knew nothing about him, besides what he learned so far. He was close to Changbin and had a boyfriend? And apparently, he knew Jeongin.
"He's on break."
Maybe Chan could later discreetly ask Jeongin who this guy, and what his relationship with Changbin was.
"I'll have to greet him later."
Chan watched his glass get emptier while he kept listening to their conversation. But he learned nothing. It was mostly just nonsense, the weird kind, that he couldn't pinpoint if it was teasing banter or flirting. The kind he was oh so familiar with from his friends sitting across from him. The difference however was that the one across from him was oblivious, but the one between Changbin and the stranger held some kind of intent. Chan wasn't sure he liked that. Both of them were in a committed relationship as far as he knew.
When he was face to face with the bottom of his glass, Chan made a decision. He would walk up to the bar, ask for a refill, and subtly remind Changbin that he was a taken man. Like a good, responsible friend would do.
The first part of the plan went fine, the second part also was easily taken into action.
"Oh, hey Chan," Changbin greeted him and took Chan's glass from him. "The same again?"
"Uhmm, yeah sure." Chan was too distracted taking a closer look at the stranger. He had folded down his collar, revealing the side profile of the man. A handsome nose with a slight bow, beautiful jawline, flawless skin, soft cheeks with high cheekbones, his forehead was covered by the soft waves of his hair. Dry, as he noticed, despite the rain. He was taller than Chan, not by much, Chan would like to say. There was a sly smile on his lips when he caught Chan staring.
Changbin came back with his glass filled when noticed the two of them had become aware of each other.
"Oh right! Chan, this is Seungmin. Seungmin, this is Chan." Chan hoped for some more information, but no such introduction came.
"A pleasure to meet you." Seungmin stretched out his hand, for Changbin to accept, which he did. He felt slightly uneasy as Seungmin mustered him from head to toe in these few seconds their hands touched.
"The pleasure's all mine."
Chan was ready to turn his attention back to Changbin, ready to drop some hints about his husband, when a movement caught his attention. Seungmin had forsaken his gloves; they were lying next to his hat, and he was now playing with something on his finger, his ring finger to be exact. It suspiciously looked like a wedding band, golden, simple. But hadn't they talked about a boyfriend, not a husband? Maybe Changbin hadn't been caught up to date yet, and it was still a very new thing. The marriage.
Seungmin followed his line of sight, and subconsciously pulled his fingers away from the ring, exposing the ring to Chan's eyes. Definitely a wedding ring, and it looked oddly familiar too, just like…
"Where is he?"
The door to the kitchen flew wide open, banging against the wall. Out came Jeongin, with a wide excited grin. His gaze immediately fell on Seungmin, his eyes crinkled as his smile grew.
"Mister Seo! You're back." Jeongin ran towards Seungmin and engulfed him in a tight hug. Chan couldn't remember a time Jeongin had been this excited to see someone. Wait…!
"Mister Seo? But isn't…" Chan trailed off looking towards Changbin. There on his right hand was the ring. The same ring that matched the one that was currently messing up Jeongin's hair.
"My last name?" Changbin helped out, grinning wide. "Yeah, Seungmin is my husband."
Seungmin was the husband. Seungmin was The Husband. The one he got rejected for, the one everyone got rejected for, except…
"But Felix…"
That made Seungmin look up from Jeongin, who was currently trying to bite his hand.
"Felix?" Seungmin turned towards Changbin. "Honey, are you cheating on me?"
Chan turned white. No, that.. that wasn't his intention. Was Felix Changbin's affair? Did he just cause trouble for Changbin's relationship? He was no supporter of infidelity, but Changbin was still his friend. They should have talked first. It just slipped out. All the time he suspected Felix was the husband. But now this guy, he never met before, never been explicitly told about, turns up, being declared as the infamous husband. For a short while Chan had even thought that the ring was a ruse to get people off his back. But the husband was real, and right in front of him.
"Don't be like that, Seungminnie. Chan is about to have a heart attack. Or faint."
Seungmin started cackling. Chan did feel slightly faint, but most of all he was utterly confused. What was going on? Nothing he had witnessed tonight made any sense.
"Chan, calm down. Drink this." Changbin slid him a shot glass filled with a strongly smelling liquid. Chan pushed it away. "Listen, Seungmin knows about Felix. He knows about Felix very well actually because Felix is Seungmin's boyfriend."
"But,..."
"And I am very okay with that," Changbin immediately interrupted Chan, "because Felix is also my boyfriend. Do you understand now?"
Chan sat back, trying to process all the information.
"So, no cheating happening?"
"No, everything is very consensual."
Seungmin was still laughing. This whole scene seemed to give him immense joy.
"You didn't know?" Jeongin asked.
"No, I didn't. Changbin never told me." Chan was a bit dejected that he hadn't learned about this sooner.
"Yeah, sorry about that. It never really came up, and you never asked me about my relationship with Felix." Changbin shrugged his shoulders, grabbing a glass to dry.
That was true. Instead, Chan had sat on the sideline, watched Felix flirt with Changbin and made up his own little theories. This was however not a scenario he had come up with. That Changbin had a husband and a boyfriend, who happened to be Felix, who was also the boyfriend of the husband.
"Are we good?" Changbin sounded a bit concerned. Chan could understand that. Reactions to polyamorous relationships could be very different.
"Yeah, we're good. No worries. I'm happy for you. And it's nice to finally meet The Husband."
"As I said, it's a pleasure," Seungmin smiled at him, looking all formal, if it weren't for that sly grin pushing through. "So, I heard, you hit on Changbin a while back."
Chan groaned, burying his head in his arms. He decided then and there that he did not like Seungmin. At all.
---End