// Sixteen Years Old //

Minseok groaned, shaking his phone in anger as the GAME OVER banner flew across the screen. Not again. No ing way.

“I hate this game,” he muttered.

“That’s just because you at it,” Jongin teased from the seat beside him.

“Shut up. Just because you win at all games doesn’t mean you can make fun of my misery,” said Minseok half-heartedly. “You know what? I don’t even care. Go ahead, make fun of me.”

“You , Minseok,” said Jongin, Baekhyun joining in with him as he slid into the open seat on the other side of him.

“Thanks guys. You guys inspire me to go save the world,” he muttered sarcastically.

“Superheroes are all tall,” quipped Chanyeol from in front of him, scrolling through his phone with a bored expression on his face. “So you can’t be one of them, sorry.”

“Ohhhh do you need some ice with that burn?” smirked Baekhyun, fanning Minseok with his hand.

“Shut up, Baek. You’re only like a centimetre taller than me,” Minseok said, glaring at him. “And hey, at least I got the abs to make up for it. Unlike someone.” He gave a pointed glance at said person.

“CLASS, BE QUIET! WE WILL NOW CONTINUE MATH CLASS. PUT YOUR PHONES AWAY OR I WILL CONFISCATE THEM.”

“Home,” he called exhaustedly as he collapsed onto the living room couch.

“Oh Minseok, I have some wonderful news for you!” Minseok’s mother said, practically floating into the room, taking a seat beside him on the couch. “You will be so thrilled to hear what I have to say!”

“What, you’re giving me a million dollars?” he joked, grinning at his mother.

His mother smacked him on the shoulder. “No silly! It’s even better!”

“You’ve giving me two million dollars?”

“No! Even better!” She grinned at him.

“Ten million dollars?!”

“It’s not money! Geez, is that all you kids think about these days?” She shook her head at him, but the smile was still on her face. “Lu Han is going to come and live with us until he becomes of age and can live by himself! Isn’t that just wonderful? You two can be reunited!” She clasped her hands together. “It will be so lovely seeing the two of you together again!”

He blinked. Was that it? Wait… what? “Wait. Lu Han? As in Han? As in the guy I haven’t seen or talked to in six years? Mom, I’m sixteen now! Do you know how awkward it will be?” Minseok groaned, burying his face in his hands.

“But you two used to be such nice, um, friends! And besides, six years isn’t even that long! It’ll be so exciting, re-meeting your old friend! Do you remember how much you cried when he left?”

Memories of him crying as he hugged the other boy resurfaced; the feelings of deep sorrow and longing… he quickly pushed those thoughts back down.

“And even better, he’s going to go to your school!”

Minseok face palmed.

“And besides, you can practice your Mandarin that you worked so hard on learning!”

“Mom, you do realize that I already have Yifan and Zitao to practice my Mandarin on? Jongdae and I always practice on them,” stated Minseok. “No, but seriously. He’s staying in the guest room? That’s like directly across from mine. And also, when’s he coming? Does he still speak Korean?”

She stared at him as if he was a foreign species, rather than her own son. “Like one would forget a language they were fluent in in six years? It might be a bit rusty, but whenever I talked to him on the phone it seemed as good as always.”

“You… you talked to him on the phone? When?” he frowned, remembering all of the times he had asked to talk to Lu Han on the phone but he’d been sleeping, taking a shower, taking a bath, out buying groceries, at a friend’s house…

She gulped. “Ah, I wasn’t supposed to tell you… but I guess I might as well tell you since he’s coming… he didn’t want to talk to you. I think I talked to him at least once a year? I always wanted to hear the dear boy’s voice changes.”

His jaw dropped. “Why didn’t he want to talk to me?” He had made such an effort to maintain their friendship, yet Lu Han had denied all of it.

“I don’t know, he didn’t tell me. He just asked me to tell you that he was away or that he couldn’t be at the phone because he didn’t want to talk to you. I figured it was from broken heart, or something.”

Minseok felt himself flushing. “Mom!”

“Oh, and he’s arriving next week.”

“WHAT?!”

One week passed by way too fast for Minseok’s liking. He was feeling a mix of excitement and dread, and he didn’t know which was stronger. He wasn’t sure which he wanted to be stronger, either.

“Hurry up, Minseok! At this rate, his flight will come before we do, and that’ll be bad!” his mother urged.

“Why am I going, again?” he grumbled. “And also, we don’t even know how Ha-I mean, Lu Han looks like anymore! How are we supposed to find him? How’s he supposed to find us?”

She smiled. “The most handsome one that comes will be him, obviously. He was ever so handsome when he was little… I’m so excited to see how he looks now!” she squealed.

He rolled his eyes, before getting into the front seat of the car. “Mom, just drive.”

“Lu Han! Lu Han!” his mother kept calling, just to see if anyone would come to them.

“Mom… why didn’t you think of making a poster that said his name on it… or ask for a picture of him before we came to pick him up at the airport, six years after we last saw him?” asked Minseok, slightly exasperated at their current situation.

“Ah Minseok, you don’t always need to prepare so much! Sometimes, it’s good to just go with the flow, you know?” she smiled widely, before calling out again. “Lu Han? Lu Han!” She started waving wildly and Minseok turned to see who she was waving at.

A boy with blonde hair (obviously dyed on, though Minseok didn’t know why anyone would dye their hair of their own free will-it was extremely bad for you), some expensive looking headphones, a suitcase in each hand, and a stylish(? Minseok didn’t know much about fashion, all he cared about was soccer anyway) outfit-white skinny jeans that portrayed his lean figure (the pockets in which his hands were tucked into), and a plain black shirt to contrast with his jeans and his deathly pale looking blonde hair-was waving casually back at her.

“Hello auntie, it looks like you haven’t aged a day!” he said, smiling politely as he bowed slightly to her.

Minseok froze. That smile wasn’t the one he remembered-toothy, wide, and most importantly-completely genuine. But then again, people changed. And what he knew Lu Han had gone through… there was always more to it than you thought you knew. But a part of him had expected him to be exactly the same as Minseok remembered, even when realistically that was impossible.

“And you’ve grown so tall! Even taller than Minseok! Now I remember the days when Minseok was taller than you and you were so tiny and adorable! Now you’ve grown into a handsome young man.” She beamed at him, before looking down at his luggage. “My my, two suitcases? You’ve packed heavily!”

Lu Han gave a laugh. Not the laugh that Minseok remembered, of course. “This is what I have after I persuaded mother to get rid of half of the things. She wouldn’t let me get rid of anything else, though.”

Minseok shoved one hand in his pocket awkwardly, holding his phone with the other, pretending to be browsing it.

“Minseok! Don’t look at your phone when you’ve just re-met your long lost friend! Go carry one of his suitcases to the car,” his mother scolded, before turning back to Lu Han. “Lu Han, just follow me.”

Lu Han began to shake his head, “No its fine, auntie! I’m strong, I can carry both of them myself.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you must be tired from the flight!”

He laughed at that. “The flight was four hours long, auntie.”

“Still, you had to get up early and all that. Minseok, what are you doing? Go and get one of them.”

Minseok sighed inwardly, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Here, pass,” he muttered, and Lu Han rolled one of his suitcases a bit unwillingly to him. The corners of Minseok’s lips slightly tugged up; it reminded him of how Lu Han always called himself a man back when they were friends, trying to do anything to prove it. But in the end, he could never beat Minseok in arm wrestling.

They walked towards the car, and Minseok opened the trunk, easily placing the suitcase that he had into it. He held his hands out to receive Lu Han’s other one, but Lu Han ignored him and put it in himself. Minseok ducked his head to hide his growing smile.

“Lu Han, sit in the front seat, okay? Since you’re the guest for today we’ll treat you like majesty. But starting from tomorrow, you’ll be treated as family and will be expected to do chores and all that, okay?” his mother said sweetly.

“Of course, auntie! Aren’t I family already?” he chuckled.

Minseok got into the backseat of the car and put his seatbelt on.

“So Minseok, Lu Han, I’m sure you have a lot to talk about. Just pretend that I’m not here.” His mother shot a meaningful glance to Minseok through the rear-view mirror. Minseok could only sigh.

“So… um… how have you been since I last saw you?” Lu Han asked.

“Great, actually. I mean, it did take three years to realize that you hated my guts and wanted nothing to do with me which was why you avoided me like that, but after that, I made new friends and you know, I actually have a life now,” said Minseok bitterly. “I gave up on soccer because I didn’t want to play something I loved if you weren’t there, but then I decided to start again, because I decided, to hell with you!”

“Minseok!” his mother scolded.

“Its fine, auntie, I deserve it,” Lu Han said quietly.

“Oh, aren’t you the heroic and good soul?” Minseok rolled his eyes sardonically. “Taking the fall for me.”

“Kim Minseok!”

“I thought you said to pretend you weren’t there,” Minseok whispered to himself, looking back down at his phone. He knew the severity of the consequences if he had said that straight to her face. Instead, he quickly dialed Jongdae, in need of someone who would make him laugh. He could have chosen Chanyeol, or Baekhyun, but those two talked too much and their humour wasn’t as innocent and naïve as Jongdae’s was. Jongdae, he realized, was a kind and sweet soul who had boundless energy.

“Yo, Dae,” he said into the phone.

“Kim Minseok you were in the middle of a conversation!” his mother scolded.

“Hey Min. What’s up?” Jongdae replied chirpily.

“You free today? I want to see your face,” sighed Minseok into the phone.

How could he describe his and Jongdae’s relationship? It was flirty-but harmless. Both of them knew that it wasn’t serious and that they just used each other as stress relievers. Lots of skinship, lots of flirty comments. But neither of them really held any romantic feelings towards the other. To be honest, Jongdae was one of his best friends, and he knew it was the same vice versa.

“I miss you too! And it’s only been two days since I last saw you!” Minseok could practically hear Jongdae pouting into the phone. “Um… I was gonna meet up with Yixing and Yifan, but you know, you could tag along if you wanted.”

Minseok smiled. “Yixing? He’s that guy in your music class, right? The one who you said is kind of cute and is always staring off into space?”

There was silence, and Jongdae spoke again. “Sorry, I forgot you couldn’t see me and I was nodding.” He laughed sheepishly, and Minseok found himself laughing along with him. “Yeah, it’s that guy. Yifan knows him pretty well, since they’re both Chinese. Yifan decided to hang out with two cool people.”

Minseok rolled his eyes. “Meaning you and Yixing.”

“Well who else did you think I meant?” Jongdae laughed easily, causing Minseok to laugh with him. Jongdae was like that. His whole presence was fluffy and happy.

“So basically, Yifan’s ing the two of you but at the same time he’s the one that paired you two together?”

Jongdae laughed again. “Yup. So if you want to come and then be like well I’m taking Yifan so that we can have our sweet time together, go ahead.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to invite Zi instead? He’s the one who’s into Yifan,” Minseok suggested. “And also, you do know that our student council president has a thing for Yixing?”

“Yeah, exactly why I’m not inviting Zi. It’d be really awkward with him fawning over Yifan and then Yixing and I would… just be awkwardly there. But if it was you, then you could loosen up the atmosphere with your bubbly self.” He had clearly ignored Minseok’s latter statement.

Minseok scoffed. “Did you just call me bubbly? Have you looked in the mirror, Mister Bubbliest Person I’ve Ever Met?”

Jongdae’s twinkling laugh rang into his ear once more. “And that’s why you love me.”

“Yeah, that’s why I love you.” Minseok was silent for a while. “So… what time and where are you meeting? I think I’ll probably come.”

“It’s at our favourite restaurant at six.”

“Kim Minseok, if you and that Kim Jongdae meet, you have to take Lu Han, you do understand, right?” his mother said in a threatening tone.

He groaned. “Yo, Dae.”

“Yeah, Min?”

“Um… can I bring someone with me?”

“Who is he? Or is it a she? How do you know them? Are they cute?” Jongdae spit out like bullet fire.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s my mom’s friend’s son from China. But don’t worry, he can speak Korean. Not that that matters, since all of us speak Mandarin anyway. But yeah, he’s staying at my place for a while… and my mom will kill me if I leave him at home and not bring him along.”

“Minseok! You know we can hear you!”

“Sure, bring him. He better be cute.”

Minseok rolled his eyes. “Dude, keep your eyes on Yixing. And don’t worry, we’ll pull out soon after we get there. We’ll probably just eat and then I’ll take Yifan and him to the gym or something.”

“You and your obsession with gyms,” Jongdae tsked at him. “Yifan’s going to hate that. You know how much he hates working out.”

“Well he needs it,” Minseok retorted. “His stomach fat is building, and if he doesn’t work out then Zi will stop liking him or something. Then he’ll be the lonely bast-um, person like he was before.” He kept on forgetting that his mother was in the car.

“Well yeah, but you know when basketball season comes, Tao will be all over him again.”

Minseok laughed. “True, true. Yo which reminds me, Jongin agreed to consider becoming co-coach for the soccer team.”

“That’s great, Min! His soccer knowledge and strategy skills that came from playing FIFA so much will finally come in handy!” Jongdae laughed again.

Minseok rolled his eyes. “Well, FIFA is a pretty fun game. When you’re on the same team as Jongin.”

“You know he likes being called Kai,” Jongdae reminded. “If you want him to become the co-coach, call him by what he wants.”

Minseok clucked his tongue. “Right. Kai. Oh, and Minho’s been decided as captain. Which will be totally awesome; our team looks pretty damn fine this year.”

“I’ll be cheering you on with Yifan and Yixing!” Jongdae chirped.

“Yeah, I know you will.” Minseok laughed.

“Anyway, I got to go finish my Science Lab Report just in case I come home late from meeting Yixing and you guys. Or don’t come home at all. See ya.”

“Have fun with that. Love you, Dae,” he said softly.

“Love you too, Min. Love you to the moon and back!” Jongdae sang.

“Love you to the sun and back!” Minseok replied.

“Love you to the stars and further!” Jongdae shot back.

“I’ll let you win this time…” Minseok laughed. “See you later.” He popped in one last ‘love you,’ before hanging up the phone with a melancholic smile on his face, staring at the words Kim Jongdae with a red background, signalling the end of the call. He wished their friendship would last forever, but he realized that few friendships lasted even a few years.

Then, he realized that they were almost at their apartment.

“Dress casually, we’ll leave at five forty,” he said shortly before getting out of the car. The elevator ride up to their floor was silent, and when they reached their floor, Minseok turned to go to the other direction.

“Kim Minseok, where are you going?” his mother asked sharply.

“I’m crashing Zi’s,” he replied coldly, not even turning to answer her. As he took out the key he had to Zitao’s place, he heard his mother apologizing for him, and he felt his blood boiling. He knew that he was being a bit unreasonable, but there was a reason behind it.

“Zi, I’m here!” he called.

“Whattup, ge?” a voice from the kitchen answered. “Want a slice of pie?”

“He’s Chinese, though.”

Minseok nodded.

“That’s awesome, ge! Another Chinese student at our school! That makes it… four, right? This is going to be awesome!”

“Zi, you’re completely ignoring what I just said!” Minseok groaned.

There was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” said Minseok, getting up from his seat on the couch.

He opened the door, looked at who it was, and slammed the door on him.

“Oh, is it Lu Han?” Zitao asked excitedly.

“Don’t you dare open the door, Huang Zitao,” Minseok said, guarding the door.

“Ge, you may be stronger than me, but I know wushu,” said Zitao, grinning amusedly.

Minseok sighed, before going to sit at his original spot at the couch, taking another bite of the apple pie.

“You must be Lu ge! Nice to meet you, come in, come in.”

Minseok sighed once more, washing the apple pie down with milk.

“Minseok did not tell me you were this cute.”

Minseok got up, glaring at Zitao. “I’m going to Dae’s.”

“No, stay!” Zitao begged, making puppy dog eyes at him.

“I hate you, Zi,” he deadpanned, ignoring the puppy dog eyes with all his might.

“I’LL LET YOU EAT ONE OF THE D.O. COOKIES THAT DO KYUNGSOO HIMSELF GAVE ME!” Zitao shouted.

“I hate you, Zi,” he sighed, sitting back down on the couch. There was no way he was refusing Do ing Kyungsoo’s cookies. You just didn’t do that. They were renown for being rare and delicious. And Huang Zitao just happened to be good friends with him (they had a few classes together, and somehow Kyungsoo had accepted the annoying clingy Zitao as his friend), and got a few a month. Minseok had only ever had two of the famous D.O. cookies, as they were branded, and both of them had been drop dead amazing.

“It’s my last cookie of the month, too,” Zitao grumbled, before unlocking his cookie safe and getting a carefully wrapped cookie out.

Minseok took it eagerly, unwrapping it quickly as he beamed at the cookie.

“Ge, you’re so cute when you eat,” noted Zitao, grinning at Minseok.

Minseok silently shot Zitao a glare, before looking back at his cookie, taking a giant bite out of it. After he finished chewing and swallowing, he spoke. “You know, if you had another D.O. cookie, then I would tell you something about Yifan, but since there’s only one I guess I can’t tell you.”

Tao’s eyes widened and he practically jumped at Minseok, who didn’t even flinch. He had been anticipating this anyway.

“I’ll give you my whole monthly batch next month.”

Minseok grinned. “Now that sounds more like it. Did you know that Yifan is setting up Dae and that Yixing guy, and so he’s dragging me along with him so that it doesn’t seem too obvious? And then we’re going to pull out and leave those two behind. Want to come? I’ll pull out and then it’ll be just the two of you.”

Tao’s eyes lit up. “I LOVE you, Xiumin ge!”

Minseok hadn’t considered that that would mean that it would be just him and Lu Han after all of this.

A/N: Hey everyone!! I'm back: thank you so much for your patience!! Of course, I don't know when the next update will be, seeing as next week is exam week and I'll be studying like crazy and then will be pretty exhausted... and semester two starts right after.

But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! It's the first real chapter-and although I can't assure you of when the next update is-I hope you liked this. The main story line is starting from this point on; it takes place when they're both sixteen, in other words. Well, it starts off like this, I guess you could say.

Hope you all have a great day!