Ever since they were children, Sehun and Minseok had been very, very close.

Ever since their mother placed a warm little gurgling bundle into Minseok's chubby arms when he was four, they had done everything together: had adventures on the playground when they were very young, worked on their homework side by side as they grew older, watched movies and TV shows until late in Minseok's room and told each other about their day. Even when Minseok entered university, he would always skip parties, trips out of town and group dates if Sehun asked him to stay home and treat his little brother to takeout. Once Minseok had graduated and entered the workforce, he would spend less time with Sehun during the day but they still had the evenings and Minseok always made sure to buy a little treats for Sehun on his way back from work: cookies, jelly candy, street food... all the things Sehun loved to nibble on while spending quality time with his brother. Kim Sehun, brother to Kim Minseok, was no doubt the most spoiled little brother in existence. At least, until recently, that is.

Roughly six months ago Minseok started coming home late at night or not coming home at all. Sometimes Sehun would catch him sneaking into the house way past midnight and on some days – which got more frequent as time went by – he would only see Minseok for a moment during breakfast when Minseok came in to change his shirt and tie before work.

When Sehun asked about why Minseok had been gone, for some time his brother would always mutter something about work being really demanding at the moment. As things got even worse and Sehun got to spend less and less time with his brother, Minseok would stop making excuses about work and instead brought Sehun presents to make up for lost time. Not seeing enough of his brother was getting to Sehun, but he understood that trying to make it at his new job meant that Minseok would need to give it his best and it made things a little easier to know that even the toughest job came with vacation time that Minseok could spend with Sehun.

Three weeks ago when Minseok found out he got a week of vacation and he told Sehun he would be taking a plane to Beijing to spend his days off there, Sehun had had enough. He performed every emotional play he had in his bag of tricks but once it became clear that no amount of begging or whining or guilting or blackmailing was going to stop Minseok from leaving, Sehun had no other choice.

He burned Minseok's passport the night before his flight.

It was Minseok's anger over what Sehun had done that finally caused him to reveal a small shred of the truth.

“He has already paid for the hotel and everything!” was the slip of the tongue that kept ringing in Sehun's ears long after Minseok had calmed down and walked out of Sehun's bedroom in disappointment.

Later when Sehun slipped into Minseok's room with his head hanged low to apologize, Minseok only smiled at him and gently patted his little brother's head. Even after the stunt Sehun had pulled, Minseok showed that he loved his brother. Sehun supposed that was what gave him the courage to ask: “Who? Who had paid for a hotel?”

And a moment later Sehun regretted saying a word while Minseok explained everything: how he had had late-night dates with his boyfriend after work, which then had turned into all-night dates more often than not and finally for Minseok's vacation, they had had plans for him to meet his boyfriend's family in Beijing. He was sorry for deceiving Sehun for so long but he hadn't known how to tell him. Or anyone in their family for that matter.

Crushed, Sehun wanted to beg Minseok to stop dating that man, to demand him to stop dating and only spend his time with Sehun, just like he always had. He wanted to scream at Minseok how his little brother should come first no matter what and how dare Minseok lie to him about something so important. But after burning someone's passport hours before they're meant to leave for the airport, he knew he wasn't in a position to demand for anything.

Instead, he asked Minseok questions about his boyfriend. After all, the more information he had on him, the more chances he would have to beat the man and win Minseok's heart back to himself. Sehun would take all those little details and tidbits and find a way to humiliate the guy in front of Minseok and as many other people as possible, to reveal all his dirty secrets to the world so Minseok would be so grossed out by the man that he wouldn't even think of dating him any longer.

It was a plan that would've worked perfectly under any other circumstance, Sehun was sure. Just not in the case of Minseok's boyfriend being a super charming, super attractive superstar.

Which brings Sehun to his family's living room, watching as his mother coos over the Chinese mega star Lu Han, who had flown to Seoul to meet Minseok's family after their plan of having Minseok meet Lu Han's parents had fallen through, all thanks to Sehun.

Sehun can't help but notice how happy and proud Minseok looks when their father shows interest in the fancy European car Lu Han arrived in and Lu Han promises that their father can take it for a spin any time he likes. Nor can he miss the way their mother's eyes twinkle – the same way they do when she watches one of her romcoms on TV – when Lu Han narrates the story of how he and Minseok met when Lu Han was shooting a film down the street from Minseok's workplace and they bumped into each other at a nearby coffee house where they were both getting a cappucino.

“I went in for a cappucino, but found this adorable bun instead!” Lu Han says and laughs while Minseok's round cheeks with his hands. Their parents look more than charmed, like they're about to hand Minseok's dowry to Lu Han and send them off to live their happily ever after.

Sehun is undoubtedly less charmed. He thinks Lu Han looks ugly when he's laughing and can't believe Minseok would ditch him for such a stupid-looking goober.

It's utterly depressing, realizing this guy is someone he can't beat – neither literally or figuratively. Lu Han is a famous hottie who can give Minseok the world and Sehun is the whiny, needy little brother. It's not really even a competition.

Minseok's going to move to Beijing, Sehun's going to lose Minseok, and there is nothing he can do about it. Nothing. Nothing he can say or do or burn can change it.

In merely a moment, Sehun's life changes. Just not in the way he would've thought.

“Goodness! Is there a man standing outside our window?” Sehun's mother cries out when she gets up from the living room sofa to prepare some tea in the kitchen.

Lu Han looks apologetic and begins to tell their mother how sorry he is for scaring her. He bows over and over while explaining that his management demands that he keep a bodyguard with him at all times.

“At all times?” their mother wonders. “Does he follow you two around on your dates, too?”

Lu Han looks uncomfortable, but Minseok offers him a small smile, obviously used to having a third wheel along wherever they go.

“Ah... yes,” Lu Han admits. “I feel so sorry for Minseok, but I have no choice. I can't escape from Tao, either – God knows I've tried.”

Minseok murmurs a quiet “it's fine, really” and takes Lu Han's hand in his. They look sickeningly cute and Sehun wants to sit on their joined hands and fart on them.

“So today when you're going to the... some theme park, wasn't it? He's going to have to go there, all alone, and watch you two be happy together? What a sad, lonely job he has!” their mother sympathizes.

“You should bring someone along to keep him company, that way you two might get some more privacy, too...” she muses before exclaiming: “Sehun! You could take Sehun with you! He rarely leaves the house, it would do him good, too!”

“I am not third-wheeling Minseok's date!” Sehun protests. It's enough that he has to watch his brother and his Chinese beau be all icky and cutesy in his home – he does NOT want to have to see them being twice as gross at Lotte World. Him joining his brother's date is officially the worst idea ever. The worst. Idea. Ever.

“It's okay, we won't mind,” Lu Han tells him, as if his approval of Sehun tagging along makes things any better.

Just as Sehun is about to protest again, his mother announces that it's settled: Sehun will get changed and leave with Minseok and Lu Han so he can keep Lu Han's bodyguard company while the lovebirds have some time to themselves.

Walking up the stairs to his room, Sehun grumbles to himself about how awful the rest of day will be. He's going to be watching his brother and the guy who's robbing Sehun of his brother each other's faces, in the company of some stranger. How marvelous. Just when he thought his day couldn't get any worse his mother decided to prove him wrong.

When Sehun gets back downstairs, the front door is open and his brother is already entering the fancy car parked on the driveway. Lu Han waves at Sehun and points at the passenger door for Sehun to get in, while he himself follows Minseok into the backseat, which conveniently has tinted windows. Sehun tries to shake every thought of his brother and Lu Han going on car dates from his head.

When he sits down on the passenger seat, Sehun hears a soft, accented “hello” to his left and turns his head to look at the bodyguard.

And good God. The bodyguard is gorgeous.

His hair is a golden blond, his skin has a warm tan, his body is lean but muscular and on top of all that, the guy's got legs 'til Tuesday! The piercings in his ears glimmer in the light and his mouth curves into a smile when the bodyguard takes off his sunglasses and says “my name is Zitao, you must be Sehun.”

Sehun can feel his mouth opening and closing, as if he were a very confused goldfish, but no words are coming out. He hears giggling from the backseat, which must be Minseok and Lu Han reacting in turn to Sehun's reaction.

Zitao looks concerned.

“Are you okay?” He asks and Sehun feels his limbs go weak over Zitao's accent. What a wonderful accent. Zitao must be Chinese like Lu Han, but the way they speak Korean couldn't be much more different from each other. Lu Han tries hard to get his pronunciation correct, to the point where he's almost overdoing it. Zitao, on the other half, has such a pleasant drawl to the way he speaks. Sehun could listen to him all day.

“Hot,” Sehun mutters. Minseok and Lu Han burst into laughter in the backseat, and Sehun realizes what he just said.

“H-hi! I said hi,” He corrects himself, trying to pull his cap over his face so Zitao won't notice his embarrassment. Once he finally dares to look up again, Zitao winks at him and starts the car. Sehun rolls his hands into tight fists and hopes he can will his nervous sweating to stop.

The way to Lotte World is spent mostly in silence, aside from the occasional rustling and smacking sounds from the backseat and Zitao humming along to some of the Chinese pop songs on the car stereo. Once they arrive at their destination, Zitao exits the car and Sehun feels like he can finally breathe again.

Lu Han places a hat over his head and a mask over his face and drags Minseok out of the car, towards the theme park. Zitao waits for Sehun to get out of the car before he locks up the doors and together they fall into step, roughly a dozen feet behind Minseok and Lu Han in order to allow them at least some degree of alone time.

Lu Han clings onto Minseok the whole time they're there and tries to make him laugh by any means necessary, even if it involves making a fool of himself by dressing up in funny costumes in the souvenir shop or messing up at the carnival games, although Sehun doubts the latter is always intentional.

Watching his brother with his boyfriend is a lot less infuriating than Sehun thought it would be. Instead it's awkward and nerve-wrecking, thanks to Zitao. Sehun's too wowed by the man's good looks and charming personality to say another word to him. It doesn't help that Zitao's acting like the perfect gentleman, guiding Sehun around the park despite the fact that Sehun's probably been there more often than Zitao has.

“Just so you know, it gets less weird after a while,” Zitao tells Sehun when they're standing next to a merry-go-round, watching Minseok and Lu Han ride fairytale horses hand in hand. Sehun is stuffing his face full of cotton candy to avoid having to come up with something smart to say. Or anything at all to say. He nods at Zitao's attempt to break the ice and swallows the lump of sugar in his mouth.

“I thought it would be awful to watch my brother be like this with someone,” Sehun confesses, “but I'm having more fun than I expected.” He doesn't add that being able to stare at Zitao whenever he's not looking at Sehun is what boosted the day's 'fun' levels like never before. Sehun is infatuated, there is no doubt about it.

“It wouldn't be a surprise if it were odd for you to see them like that,” Zitao tells him. “I hear you and Minseok are really close and have spent pretty much all your lives together. Just the thought of him coming here with someone other than you must seem strange, let alone the fact that he's dating a star from another country.”

Zitao's eyes, lined with black kohl, are a warm shade of brown. There's something inviting in them just as there is in his voice and Sehun hates knowing that there will come a moment when this date ends.

“How do you know all that? That we're close and all,” Sehun asks, genuinely curious.

“He talks about you a lot. And I've been paying attention,” Zitao says before turning his attention to the shooting gallery to their left. Before hopping on the merry-go-round, Lu Han tried to win a giant plush kitten for Minseok but missed with every shot. Minseok didn't seem to mind but Lu Han looked disappointed. Apparently his plan was to use the games to look “manly” in Minseok's eyes. So far, his plan is a big old failure but Sehun no longer cares if Lu Han looks weak or pathetic to Minseok. He's got more important things – and people – on his mind.

Zitao takes fast, calculated shots. Sehun doesn't even realize he has won until Zitao places a big, soft creature into his arms.

“I think that's from Neko Atsume, I hope you're a fan of the game,” Zitao tells him. Sehun is glad Zitao turns his face to look in the other direction. That way he won't see the blush creeping up Sehun's face when he thanks the bodyguard. Sehun holds the plushie tight in his arms and places little kisses on its head on his way to get some more cotton candy from a nearby stall while Zitao approaches the merry-go-round to make sure no one hurts Lu Han or Minseok as they exit the ride.

When Sehun returns with a medium sized tub of cotton candy, Lu Han throws a fit over the plush toy, 'causing both Minseok and Zitao to burst out in laughter.

It's late in the evening when Lu Han's car returns to Sehun and Minseok's driveway to drop the brothers off. Sehun wonders if there's ever a time when Zitao isn't acting as Lu Han's shadow and if it would be possible for him to 'accidentally' run into the bodyguard in his free time. Maybe Sehun would find the courage to talk to him more that way.

“I had such a great time,” Lu Han says and gives Minseok a peck on the cheek.

He then turns to address Sehun. “You should join us again soon,” he suggests. “I'm sure Tao would like that, too.”

The bodyguard looks startled over Lu Han's words and gestures him to be quiet. Lu Han mutters something about how Zitao never won him any toys and takes Minseok's hand to walk him to the front door. Sehun's left standing on the driveway, next to Zitao, with the plushie in his hands.

“He's right, though,” Zitao tells him. Sehun looks up at Zitao and sees the bodyguard smiling at him. “I would love it if you joined us again. Maybe next time you could tell me more about yourself? I'd love to find out more about you than your choice of sweets.”

Sehun can feel his face flush. He holds the plush toy closer to himself and tells Zitao he'd love to join them again. “So, you know, Minseok can have more privacy with his boyfriend...” he murmurs, “...but also because I'd love to see you again.”

Minseok's timing couldn't be more apt when he hollers at Sehun from the front door, telling him to come in so he can lock up. Sehun dashes towards his brother but stops at the stairs to catch one last glimpse of Zitao for the evening. He really is gorgeous. Like someone from an anime.

A while later when Sehun is in his bed, curling around the kitten plushie, he thinks about how he went from having a brother complex to maybe having a bodyguard obsession in less than a day. And with more of Minseok and Lu Han's dates coming up, he definitely isn't complaining.

He places one more kiss on the plushie's head before closing his eyes. He's going to have to get up early to make breakfast for his mother. As a thank-you for the best worst idea ever.

A/N: I hope you liked this! ^^