"Um, excuse me."

He knows his Korean's a little rusty, okay. There is literally no need for the smug amusement on the shopkeeper's face right now. Still, Luhan really wants these Dragon Ball boxers and he'll be damned if he's going to be embarrassed about it.

He tries again, badly. "How much this?"

The shopkeeper, , corrects Luhan because of course he does. "How much for this?"

Obviously. Luhan's holding the damned boxers up in front of the man's face. Of course he wants to know how much for this. He grits his teeth but nods.

The man names a price that Luhan thinks is too high, even though he has more than enough money at his disposal for small purchases like this. Or any purchases at all, really. There was a while when money was tight--when he couldn't promote in Korea because of his broken contract with SM--but it's been years and he's done well for himself. He's not going to let this jerk cheat him though, no matter how much money Luhan has sitting in his bank account.

"It's too much," he tells the man. Or tries to. He ends up mispronouncing one syllable of one word and accidentally says "There's too many trees" instead.

The man laughs and Luhan's companion, his manager, does too.

"Your Korean has gotten terrible," he remarks to Luhan in Mandarin. The shopkeeper nods in agreement like he actually understands the exchange, and Luhan explodes. In Chinese.

"What the hell, man?! I got here two days ago and you can't let me ing talk the way I want to? I should be sleeping right now."

He pauses to consider that the time difference between Beijing and Seoul is basically nonexistent--what's an hour in the grand scheme of things?--but he's on a roll now and keeps going after a breath.

"But you and your goddamned perfect Korean or whatever just has to interfere with my beautiful sleep. I just wanted to know how much these ing boxers cost, okay?! Why don't you speak Mandarin, huh? I want to hear you try! Especially when you're tired as hell."

The man stares, probably shocked at Luhan's total lack of manners. But honestly? Luhan can't even be bothered to care. Like, has the man not heard him speaking to his manager in Chinese the entire time they've been in his store? The guy had even been following them around and fawning over them while he tried to get them to buy things and now he wants to be a about Luhan's Korean? Not happening.

"No way," the man says after an awkwardly long pause. Luhan bets he hasn't understood a single word of Luhan's rant. This is confirmed when the man shakes his head and just repeats the price he'd said originally. It's only a hand on Luhan's arm that keeps him from tackling the shopkeeper to the ground.

"Let me go, ge," he demands of his manager without turning around. He's locked in a staring contest with the smirking shopkeeper and Luhan's not going to let the other man beat him at this too.

The voice that answers his demand is deep and warm and painfully familiar. It's also speaking Korean and definitely does not belong to Luhan's manager.

"Glad to see some things never change," Oh Sehun murmurs through a smile that's got to be enormous if Luhan can even hear it in Sehun's tone. He turns around slowly, Sehun's touch still warm and constant on his arm, and looks up at his former band mate and sometimes lover.

He lets out a shaky breath as he takes Sehun in slowly. He's deliciously attractive, even more than Luhan remembers, and it's annoying because Luhan also thinks Sehun might have grown a few more centimeters while Luhan remains as short as always.

"You look amazing," Luhan says. He feels betrayed by his own mouth at this point but Sehun smiles down at him and Luhan supposes he doesn't regret saying it.

"You always look amazing." Sehun responds with a wink that has the shopkeeper gagging next to them. This brings Luhan's attention back to the issue at hand, and he turns away from Sehun to narrow his eyes at the other man.

He tells the man that he wants a discount. The shopkeeper returns Luhan's glare with one of his own and shakes his head, repeating the original price for the third and final time.

Luhan forgets Sehun's presence for a second when he shouts in exasperation, "Cut me some slack, oh my god!"

Sehun puts his hand back on Luhan's arm and pulls him so that Luhan's back is flush against Sehun's chest. "Breathe, Lu," he commands, and Luhan listens because it's been so long since he's heard his name on Sehun's lips that his breath is literally knocked out of him.

"It's been a very long time," he tells Sehun softly, leaning back into the younger's embrace.

Sehun opens his mouth to respond but the shopkeeper beats him to it.

"I can tell," he comments haughtily. "Your Korean really is terrible."

Luhan throws the boxer's at the man's head, grabs Sehun by the hand, and storms out of the shop. He'll take his business elsewhere, dammit.