“You run a food delivery service now?” Jungkook crossed his arms, leaning against the wall as he watched Luhan open Sehun’s cell door.

                “Leave me alone Jungkook.” Luhan snapped. He has grown increasingly annoyed with the pompous guard for the past few days. The bubble tea containers knocked against the door as Luhan opened it and walked in. Sehun was lying on the bed, but he shot up instantly when Luhan came in, the sight of those containers bringing a smile to his face.

                “I knew it!” he jumped down from the bed and smiled. “Oh god I haven’t had bubble tea in years.”

                “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to find this.” Luhan set the containers down on the table. “They have gone out of style in recent years.”

                “What do you mean by out of style? Do these people not appreciate the value of these precious bobbas in their teas?” Sehun gasped in mock disgust (or what seems like mock disgust). “Where did we all go wrong?”

                “I think we have just evolved.” Luhan shrugged. He stuck a straw into the chocolate one and helped himself. They sat at the table, just casually sipping the sweet drink as if they had done this many many times before. Luhan saw how dry Sehun’s skin was under the light, and he ran his thumb over them.

                “You have dry skin.”

                “I do. I ran out of lotion a while ago.”

                “I’ll be happy to bring you some next time.”

                “It’s okay. I wouldn’t want Jungkook to think you’re my personal delivery service.” His eyes panned to the door, watching for Jungkook’s silhouette outside. The blue iris in his eyes shone so magnificently, like the beautiful oceans of the islands. Luhan couldn’t help but be enchanted by them.

                “So,” he cleared his throat. “Are you ready to talk?”

                “About what?”

                “About what happened.”

                “You think one stupid bubble tea is going to get me to talk? Hell no. You’re going to need to work harder than that.” Sehun grinned naughtily.

                “What do you want me to do?”

                “The question is what are you willing to do.” He watched Luhan from his side of the table, nibbling the end of his straw. “You’re willing to be my friend, and you’re willing to touch me. Would you sit next to me on the bed if I asked?”

                “Sure.”

                “Would you still bring me food?”

                “Definitely.”

                “Would you kiss me?”

                That made Luhan almost spurt out his drink like a fountain. Sehun’s eyebrow raised and his lips curved into a small smirk. The young scientist was now coughing and sputtering like an engine.

                “Excuse me?!”

                “I’m just saying. If I had the ultimate information, but I needed you to kiss me. Would you do it?”

                “You…you can’t just ask such a question! That’s…”

                “I’m not asking you to kiss me now for God’s sake.” Sehun laughed. Luhan’s face was getting red and he felt all hot and nervous. He was supposed to interview Sehun and now look what happened. He felt like he was being humiliated by him.

                “I just wanted to see how far you would go for the so-called pursuit of knowledge.”

                “I’m not going to just sit here and let you extort me.” Luhan said, trying to hold his ground.

                “Of course not. You’re too smart for that.” Sehun agreed.

                “I just want to know what went through your mind when it happened.”

                “Honestly, nothing.”

                “Nothing?”

                “I don’t care if you believe it or not. It’s the truth. Nothing was happening in my mind during the riot.” Sehun said. “I felt like I was in a dream most of the time. I had gone to sleep before the showcase, and then when I woke up, my mind was no longer present.”

                “You did all those things unconsciously? Do you remember what happened?”

                “Of course I do. I remember them, and I also remember not being able to stop myself. My mind had this haze or cloud over it, and it was dark and empty. My body knew what to do, but my mind couldn’t control it.”

                “So you…mauled your teammates?”

                “I didn’t maul them. I…” Sehun looked away for a minute. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

                “Why not?” Luhan leaned forward. “What did you do that made everyone lose control?”

                “I…I kissed them.”

                “Huh?!” Luhan stared at him. “You…kissed them.”

                “Yes.”

                “A kiss caused a group of 9 boys to start a riot.”

                “You could say that.”

                “This is…” Luhan was at a loss for words. “This is unbelievable. It’s impossible. It has to be. You guys had Triple X. You couldn’t have felt anything! It couldn’t have triggered such wild emotions.”

                “You think I believe it any more than you do? Every time I think of that day I have to think of the fact I kissed Kai and that was disgusting.” Sehun scowled. “Especially since he smells of onion and garlic most of the time. How does Kyungsoo live with that?”

                “There must have been some mix-up. Maybe physiologically there was something inside of you. Maybe…”

                “Are you saying I’m sick?”

                “No no, what I’m saying is that perhaps you weren’t normal from the beginning.”

                “And you call those dancing robots upstairs normal?”

                “I…” Luhan sighed. “I guess not.”

                “If I could tell you what was wrong with me I would, wouldn’t I?” Sehun emptied his drink. “I wish I wasn’t like this.”

                “Then what would you like to be?”

                “You.” Sehun looked at Luhan earnestly. “I wish I could be like you.”

                “Sehun…”

                “This is fun you know.” He smiled. “I haven’t had a friend in a long time. I wish we could do this more often.”

                “Me too.” Luhan nodded a little. “I’ll come see you again more often.”

                “And when you do, can we not talk about the riot, my experiments or whatever nonsense like that? Can we just talk and hang out like normal friends?”

                “Okay, let’s do that.” Luhan looked down at his watch, and he knew it was time to go. He had several meetings lined up for today and Jungkook would only permit him to talk to E.X.O for only an hour at a time.

                “By the way Luhan,” Sehun called for him again after Luhan closed the cell door on the other side. “I wasn’t really joking about the kiss.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Think about it.” He smiled, and gave Luhan a small wink.

                “Okay okay that’s enough flirting going on. Get back upstairs. Your session is over.” Jungkook reminded, pulling Luhan’s arm and dragging him out forcefully. Luhan shrugged Jungkook’s arm off and gave him a look before returning upstairs.

                Back at work however, Luhan could hardly concentrate. Today they were running an experiment on a new type of potion that would colour your hair for you, roots and all, without ever having to use hair dye again. They had Wendy, Joy, Yeri, Mark, Winwin and Jaemin for this experiment. Zitao was actually having a good time, getting them to drink potions of all sorts of different colours. He didn’t notice Luhan was not paying attention.

                Luhan twirled the pen with his fingers, taking down notes on the form before him. He could still feel Sehun’s dry skin beneath his thumb. He could hear his voice, and that wink. Those eyes and that smile.

                He didn’t realize just how much time he had wasted thinking about Sehun until he looked up and saw that Zitao was preparing to close up and call it a day. He felt bad for having spent all his free time goofing off.

                “Zitao, I’ll clean up after here.” Luhan said. “You guys can go ahead and leave first. I’ll make sure they head to the flush tank too.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “I’m sure.” Luhan insisted.

                “Okay then. Good job everyone!” Zitao said. Everyone packed up and was prepared to go while Luhan stayed behind to clean up after everyone.

                “Thank you all for participating in the experiment.” Luhan smiled at the girls, tipping his head politely. The rookies were packing up their own belongings and getting ready to exit when Luhan turned and called. “Wait!”

                “Yes?” only Mark and Winwin responded.

                “Uhm…” Luhan scratched his head. “I just…uh…could you do me a favour?”

                “Sure.”

                “Uh…” Luhan inhaled deeply. “I need you two to kiss.”

                “What?”

                “You heard me. Mark, kiss him.”

                “But we…”

                “Just do it!” Luhan urged.

                Mark looked at his friend, who simply stared at him. He shrugged and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on Winwin’s lips. The two boys looked at Luhan.

                Nothing.

                Nothing happened.

                “I don’t understand.”

                “Don’t understand what?” Winwin asked.

                “There’s nothing. No reaction. No spasm. Nothing.” Luhan took both their wrists in his hands to check their pulses. “Nothing. All normal.”

                “Was something supposed to happen?”

                “Yes! I mean no. I mean…” Luhan groaned and massaged his temples. “It’s fine you boys can leave. And don’t breathe a word of this to anybody. Just don’t.”

                “Okay.” Mark and Winwin left the lab, leaving Luhan alone in the lab, confused by what just happened. How could a kiss start a riot?

                It’s impossible. There must be something. There always is something. Luhan cleaned up the lab and shut it on his way out, hoping that no one finds out about what he’s doing.

 

A/N: I wish I could say more but EXO-CBX and Lay's solo debut have rendered me useless.