Very Important Secrets and Everything Else
Unlikely, UnusualWinter was arriving.
Lu Han was cooking dinner a little later than usual because Sehun had been arriving home an hour or two later nowadays. Sehun said that winter was busy season for investigators.
Lu Han believed him, but he couldn’t help but wonder if it was his fault that Sehun had decided to do the extra work at the office instead of doing the work at home. Ever since Lu Han had stopped Sehun that one time, their relationship became a little strained. They always sat with a safe distance from each other in the evenings and Sehun never made any advances on him.
Lu Han really missed the contact. But he couldn’t ask for it again, not after he’d ruined everything with his last request. He did the best to endure it, to not close the distance that Sehun had carefully enforced between them.
After dinner was finished, Lu Han sat in his seat and placed his chin on top of his hands on the table. He looked at his reflection on the water glass and waited.
Lu Han was always self-reflective on his own behavior, and Papa had said that trait was one of his best qualities. So when he didn’t have much to do, he always thought about himself.
The quickest thing to occupy his mind was to think about proper pet behavior. He did this often to make sure he never was out of practice, because Sehun didn’t want him to use it when it was just the two of them. An unusual request, but Lu Han wasn’t here to make judgement. He just went along with it, but that didn’t mean that he should forget his training altogether.
After he got tired of doing that, he started thinking about his behavior toward Sehun recently. It was okay, but Papa always said that ‘acceptable enough’ was mediocre, and being mediocre was the last thing Lu Han wanted to be. So he thought about things he could do to improve, but all he really wanted to do was curl up in Sehun’s lap and wrap his arms around him…
No, no. That wasn’t what he should be thinking about. Lu Han needed to improve, not become more needy. Sehun spoiled him a lot so asking for too much would just be greedy. And it was not okay for a pet to be greedy. So what he needed to do was be obedient. Yes, that was right, listen very carefully to everything that Sehun wanted and make sure that his requests were performed to perfection. That was his duty.
The sound of a key at the door, and Lu Han stood up immediately to greet Sehun when he came in.
“Hey Lu, I’m home.” Sehun said as he stepped inside the house.
“Welcome home Sehun.” Lu Han’s mind rejected calling Sehun by such a casual name, but it wasn’t his choice, it was Sehun’s.
Sehun paused for a moment at the use of his name without the ‘Oh’ in front of it, but didn’t point it out, “How have you been today, Lu?"
“Fine,” Lu Han said, “and you?"
“Ah same old, same old.” Sehun smiled as he sat down to eat, “I’m going out drinking with some of my coworkers tomorrow night, so don’t wait up.”
Lu Han nodded, and waited for Sehun to take a bite of his food before starting to eat his own.
Dinner passed with its usual small talk. It wasn’t long before the dishes were done and they’d settled down in the usual location.
Lu Han kept looking over at Sehun discreetly before sighing quietly and laying his head down on the armrest.
“Lu Han, you alright?” Sehun did not let the pet’s body language go unnoticed.
“I’m fine.” Lu Han said, eyes fixated on the television screen.
A few moments passed and Lu Han felt Sehun’s eyes on him. Lu Han tried his best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his gut. But Sehun was right there.
“Come here.” Sehun finally said, patting his lap.
Lu Han suddenly looked at him. He must’ve heard Sehun wrong.
Seeing Lu Han’s expressions, Sehun smiled and patted his lap again, “Come on."
Lu Han brightened up when his hopes were confirmed. He quickly rolled over and placed his head in Sehun’s lap while keeping his eyes on the screen the entire time. He didn’t dare look at his master.
Sehun didn’t say anything, didn’t try to explain anything. He simply put his fingers through Lu Han’s hair like he knew the pet enjoyed.
This was one of those moments were it was better to not ask questions.
...
After work the next day, a group of guys set out from the bureau to a bar.
It was a get-together of various members of Criminal Enterprises, the division that Sehun’s sector fell under. Everyone was pretty familiar with each other, as this was somewhat of a quarterly tradition. Sehun hadn’t been to the last one though, and the other people going gave him a bit of hard time about it during the car ride over.
Once everyone arrived, they sat down and placed their orders.
“How are things going with your case?” Baekhyun asked. He was one of the members of the human trafficking sector who Sehun often worked closely with.
“Pretty good. We’ve gotten some good leads and are making fair progress. But you know how it is with these things… they just take time that no one ever has.”
Kyungsoo also joined on the conversation, “This case is probably one of the biggest illegal training situations we’ve ever dealt with. They’ve gotten away with it for so long that things can’t be pretty.”
Baekhyun completely understood, offering advice and connections were he could.
Eventually everyone loosened up a little with the alcohol, and naturally the conversation shifted from work to relationship problems.
Sehun refrained from joining in on the drinking part of the festivities and ordered himself an orange juice. He was one of the designated drivers, and he didn’t like to get drunk anyway.
“I just don’t understand what she wants from me,” Joonmyun, one of the members of the drug investigation division, said, “like she’s slept in my bed the past two times she’s stayed over, but she just got out of a relationship and all that…"
“This is why you should get a pet,” another investigator advocated, “they don’t complain and they don’t come with baggage.”
Sehun remained tight-lipped. While it he never approved of using pets, he surely wasn’t going to be that person who constantly pushed his beliefs on to other people. Besides, he quite enjoyed hanging out with this group, and he wanted to be invited back.
He took a sip of the drink he ordered, and immediately made a face. He thought the juice he ordered was non-alcoholic, but it was clearly not. No big deal. This was the first time they’d gone to this bar, so maybe he’d just misread the menu. He called over the waiter to order something else.
After the waiter left, there was a loud yell from the table. Sehun turned to look at the source, and it was Kyungsoo. Strange, Sehun thought, Kyungsoo hardly ever acted like this. That was, until Sehun looked that the mostly empty glass in front of Kyungsoo and saw that it was the same drink that Sehun had in front of him.
Oh no.
Kyungsoo hardly ever drank because he couldn’t hold his alcohol. But when Kyungsoo did get drunk, it was not pretty.
Sehun knew from experience that Kyungsoo divided secrets into two types: Very Important Secrets and Everything Else. Very Important Secrets consisted of confidential information shared at work and personal passwords and the like. Everything Else included different lesser ranking secrets, including those secrets that his friends told him, and since sober Kyungsoo was a very trustworthy person, he knew a lot of them.
While Kyungsoo would be murdered before he told any of the Very Important Secrets, when he was drunk, Everything Else was game to come out of his mouth.
“Joonmyun, I don’t even think you should give her the time of day.” Kyungsoo said, words slurring together, “She’s been seeing Chanyeol too, he told me himself."
“What?” Joonmyun said, completely outraged, “I can’t believe it!"
Kyungsoo simply tipped his glass in Joonmyun’s direction and took another swig of his drink, “And this thing about pets, I’ve got something to tell you guys."
“What is it?” Baekhyun asked.
“Sehun got himself a pet of his own recently, did you know?” Kyungsoo said, grinning, “He’s really pretty and stuff, you guys should see him.”
This caused all eyes to turn to Sehun.
Sehun forced a laugh, “Now that’s ridiculous, isn’t it Kyungsoo? You must be really drunk to start spouting lies.” He glared at Kyungsoo hoping that the other investigator might suddenly develop telepathic powers and notice that Sehun really wanted him to stop. Literally any other secret would be fine. Even that time when Sehun was drunk and accidentally—
“No,” Kyungsoo shook his head around erratically, “you just don’t want me to tell anyone about Lu Han. Your precious Lu Han.”
Now Sehun’s cover was truly blown. The rest of the group knew Kyungsoo’s tendencies when he was drunk; he didn’t lie. Sehun cursed him under his breath.
“No way!” Baekhyun said, eyes bright with excitement, “Sehun got a pet! This is insane. And he’s really pretty?"
“The prettiest!” Kyungsoo chimed in, “A gift from an elite trainer."
Sehun glared at Kyungsoo, who was too drunk to pay him any mind.
“No way!” Joonmyun exclaimed. Being from a rich family, he was one of the few in the group who knew what an elite trainer was, “He just gave him to you? That’s like a couple million dollars for free!”
“It’s complicated.” Sehun said. There was no sense in denying it now.
“I would like too see this pet for myself.” Baekhyun said, “You have to take him to the Christmas party."
Sehun’s eyes widened. He’d completely forgotten.
The Christmas event at the bureau was a black tie affair for the employees to celebrate the end of the year. It also doubled as a party where pets were brought in and shown off. That second function was the reason why Sehun avoided attending it at all costs. He always gave his invite card to his brother.
“No I can’t,” Sehun refused, “Lu Han is really not good with crowds like that—"
“Lu Han would be fine,” Kyungsoo shot back, “he’s trained for this kind of stuff."
Kyungsoo was really not on his side today.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that he has any experience with them—”
“Now you’re insulting him,” Joonmyun interrupted, “there’s no way an elite won’t be prepared for these things.”
“Okay, but I’d rather not place that sort of stress—”
“Please Sehun,” Baekhyun begged, “I would really love to see how he's like.”
There was a slight pause before Sehun finally caved. There was no sense in prolonging an argument he couldn’t win.
“Alright.”
“Great!” Baekhyun said, “So I better see you with a plus one at that event."
...
Even though he didn’t drink, Sehun woke up the next morning with the most awful headache. He picked up his phone and saw a message from Kyungsoo, apologizing profusely for revealing Lu Han to everyone yesterday. Sehun didn’t bother replying. The damage was already done.
Now what should he do?
The scent of morning cooking wafted in the room, and Sehun decided that he should get some food in his stomach before facing the rest of today.
Lu Han had noticed Sehun’s unease as soon as he saw him coming down the stairs.
It was Saturday, but Sehun did not have his normal cheeriness when he greeted Lu Han. Throughout breakfast, he did not make conversation.
Lu Han didn’t push it. He knew Sehun would say what was on his mind eventually, and Lu Han could wait.
It wasn’t until after they did the dishes together, sat down on the couch, and turned the morning news on that Sehun began to speak.
“So you know how I went out drinking with my coworkers yesterday?"
Lu Han nodded.
“Well, you know Kyungsoo right? He got really drunk and he talks a lot when he gets drunk."
Their eyes met. A pause.
“Long story short, my coworkers know about you now,” Sehun said, breaking eye contact, “not that that’s a bad thing at all, it’s just that they made me promise to go to the Christmas party and I couldn’t say no…”
Lu Han didn’t say a word, just looked up at Sehun and waited patiently for a question he could answer.
“I guess what I’m asking is if you would be okay with coming with me to a party where you would need to act… very pet-like?"
At the words, Lu Han placed his head on Sehun’s shoulder and nodded.
Sehun shifted to accommodate Lu Han’s weight and sighed, “Lu, I don’t want you to force yourself if you don’t want to, I can just make some excuses to them."
“It’s fine, Sehun."
The investigator still wasn’t convinced by the tone of Lu Han’s voice and was about to ask again before Lu Han pressed a soft kiss to the bottom of his chin.
The pet spoke deliberately, “It would be an honor for Lu Han if Master were show him off."
The shock was apparent on Sehun’s face. This was the closest contact they’d made in months, and Lu Han had initiated it. Plus the sudden use of ‘Master,’ a title that hadn’t been used for so long that Sehun forgot that that was technically his proper honorific. They sat in silence for a few moments, television in the background mentioning a chance of snow in the coming days.
“So,” broke Sehun, “we’re going to have to go get you an outfit sometime this weekend."
Shaking his head, Lu Han looked up at Sehun, “I have something I could wear."
Sehun raised his eyebrows. When he helped Lu Han unpack when the pet moved in, he didn’t recall seeing any pet clothes in his closet so Sehun thought he didn’t own any. Besides, these outfits weren’t a day-to-day thing and cost a minor fortune so Sehun couldn’t imagine Mr. Zhou giving a set to him along with his already generous gift.
“Really? From who?” Sehun asked.
“Papa.”
Never mind. Mr. Zhou really was that generous.
“Could I see it?” Sehun asked. After the pause, “You don’t need to wear it, I would just like to see it so I can figure out what I’d wear to match."
The pet nodded and stood up, waiting for Sehun to get on his feet before walking up the stairs to his room. Sehun sat on the bed as Lu Han opened his closet and pulled out a black garment bag from the very back.
“Papa gave it to me the last time we visited him.” Lu Han said, placing the bag on his bed and ping it, “Said to save it for a special occasion.”
The garment inside was made of the typical fabric of pet clothes. Sheer, delicate, flimsy enough to be pulled apart at any moment if the master should wish. The difference between this piece and the ones Sehun was used to was that this one was clearly made with class. Pet clothing was made to show off, which often meant that it was revealing and left nothing to the imagination. However this outfit was crafted so that this was nothing of the case, with the only major cutouts at the shoulders and on the back.
Mr. Zhou really knew what he was doing.
Sehun brushed the sleeve. It was smoother than silk. He could almost imagine how lovely Lu Han might look in this.
“Thanks Lu,” He said, ruffling said pet’s hair, “light blue it is."
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