When Lu Han returned from his teaching session with Kris, Xiumin was still waiting for him on his bed. In Lu Han's absence, he ransacked his band mate's things on the floor and nightstand drawers to expose any dirty mags or photos. Surprisingly, he found nothing, but that made him even more perturbed, unsettled onto the paranoid thought that Lu Han was definitely hiding something. As he poked through the door, Lu Han saw the disarray that his side of the room had been cast in, and scratched his head, unable to get mad. He hated when his stuff were in a mess, but somehow, this time, it was cute, just because his mischievous bun had done it.

 

"What did Kris say?" Xiumin spoke up, trying to play it off.

 

"Oh, nothing," Lu Han started, and Xiumin immediately became suspicious; no one calls someone to go talk about "nothing," especially not Kris. "Just that he knew we're ing. But I told him we're together now, so it's fine."

 

", does everyone know now?"

 

"Well, everyone except for manager and Chen, I think. . ."

 

"Word travels around too fast," the older boy said, pursing his lips.

 

"I blame Yixing's tattling . But don't worry, it's all good. They don't seem to mind," Lu Han stretched his arms above his head, then seated himself next to the other, ogling him once-over. No words could express how pleased Lu Han was, with everything. He leaned into the other's ear, who offered it, whispering, ". . . so we can be as loud as we want."

 

At first, Xiumin didn't catch on and began to mutter, "What does that m―oh." His cheeks burned up when he realized, recalling how loud his moans always were in those small rooms, how they echoed. Embarrassed, at a loss for words, Xiumin pushed away Lu Han's dangerously close face. "I hate you," he mumbled, covering up his blushing cheeks.

 

Lu Han bit his lip as he laughed. "So cute."

 

Don't say that. I hate when you say that. One day I'll actually believe it. "I'm not."

 

"You don't know yourself at all! You're the cutest, the f―plumpest, iest, most delicious baozi I've ever laid eyes on. And best of all . . you're mine."

 

Xiumin stared at him, blinked once. ". . . you were going to say fat. Hate you."

 

Lu Han sighed. His inferiority complex was getting out of hand. Probably worse than before. "You have no idea how attractive that part of you is. That round, plump ―those thighs, mmm. When I come up against that skin when I'm entering you, suddenly I'm floating the soft clouds above in heaven, and sanity escapes. It's amazing―"

 

"Stop it, stop talking about my body like that!" As soon as the word ''­­­­ sprung from his boyfriend's lips, Xiumin covered his ears, making boisterous noises as Lu Han spoke, shaking his head.

 

"No, you need to hear it! Listen to me―don't cover your ears! Minseok, just listen this once," he seized the flailing Minseok by the wrists, stared him down the eyes straight into his soul, "I love. . . everything about you." The boy leaned over to kiss Xiumin on the cheek, hoping to lead into a makeout session, but Xiumin turned away; the first time he ever denied Lu Han's advances.

 

". . . what?" Lu Han sighed, drooping his shoulders from the rejection.

 

"It's nothing," Xiumin uttered, brushing the back of his hand against the heated soft of his own cheek. Lu Han lifted his head, skeptically. He wasn't just denied over "nothing;" there was a reason. "It's just that Yixing earlier, he―"

 

"He what?" the impulsive ruffian cut him off, stabbing obscenities at Lay in the back of his mind.

 

"H-he, kissed, this. . . cheek." A crackle or pop sounded. Xiumin wasn't sure. Again, he found himself pinned down, Lu Han's body straddling atop him, hovering, eyes scratched wide with ire, an angry vein revealed on his forehead next to his temple. He was blind with rage, keen on wiping away the mark Lay left on his helpless lover. Mindlessly, he lapped his tongue upon that cheek, it, bit it until it swelled pink. His frightened quarry subdued himself, a little overwhelmed, proceeding to stifle a cry of trepidation. "Stop. . ." his voice caught dry in his throat.

 

Seeing the fear in his eyes, how they trembled wide with pandemonium, Lu Han looked away, reflecting on himself. A jealous lover is the worst kind. B with greed. The need to possess. "Sorry." And then, right on cue, a tear escaped down the crease of his Minseok's eye, his lids closed shut, unable to utter another sound. Lu Han's heart sank, seeing his teary-eyed love, and removed himself to walk to the door. "I'm sorry, baobei. Forgive me this once," Lu Han uttered, a touch of sentiment echoed behind each word. "He's not getting off for this one."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lay sat cross-legged in front of the couch facing Chen and Tao, who had since returned from cleaning Tao's face and hands with soap and water in the kitchen, with the latter resting his head on the other's lap. Over what he just did, Lay didn't know how to feel. He was happy that now he got to let out his feelings and even left a kiss, but somber that nothing else would ever bloom out of it. That heart-stringing pain and lingering emptiness that resulted from the barren moors of unrequitted love.

 

There was stomping down the hall.

 

"Yixing!" A voice bellowed, getting closer. Lay lifted his head to the commotion, and Lu Han was suddenly over him. "What the did you do to Minseok?" He yanked the clueless individual up the floor by the front yoke of his tee. Being serious was odd of Lu Han.

 

"W-what? I didn't―"

 

"Don't with me -" Lu Han jerked the collar closer to him, glaring down hard, but Lay couldn't take those raging doe eyes with a straight face. He almost laughed.

 

"Swear, I just told him―"

 

"What? You told him, what?" He spoke through gritted teeth.

 

"That. . . I. . ."

 

"You what!" he spat, reinforcing his grip on the collar.

 

". . ." Lay averted his eyes, refusing to speak. At this point, no words could have let him off the hook. Maybe silence would. Lu Han released his grip, seething.

 

"You and me. Now. Outside."

 

"What?"

 

"Let's go. You touched my man. Now you're going to regret it."

 

"Is this a bar fight, wha―"

 

"Get your out there." Lay obliged and headed for the door, unable to retort. Were they really going to duke it out over something so trivial as a kiss on the cheek? All the while, Chen and Tao gaped in horror at the heated exchange between the two, and creeped behind them as they escaped the confines of the house into the front quadrangle. The two stayed hidden well behind the door, only their eyes peeking.

 

"I trusted you! How could you do this―" They rounded each other, sizing the other up.

 

"You don't deserve him; he's a plaything to you. Open your eyes! It's only a matter of time before you get bored and find something else to play with."

 

"How dare you. . . I'm not like that anymore. I have eyes for him, and him only."

 

"Heh, funny. That's what he said. But I bet if I tried to do more, he wouldn't have stopped me."

 

"Couldn't, you mean. You're so low, you only pick on someone when they're at their weakest state. How petty."

 

"At least I can control myself. You'll give Minseok hell, and he'll hate you for it."

 

By then, they were so close to each other, their faces manuevering about the other's, when Tao left from behind the doorway, and crept up behind Lu Han, who was about to throw the first fist. Lay put out his chest forward, waiting for the impact; he wasn't going to fight back. With a swift roundhouse kick to the back, Lu Han was knocked down to the cement-paved ground, forced down with the impact of Tao's leg. He grunted as the wind knocked out of him, and out momentarily, his bottom lip busted and bled from the blade of his incisors when his face clashed with the ground. Tao slowly regained stance and lowered his leg to kneel down beside Lu Han's pain-writhing figure. Lay stared down at Lu Han pitifully. 

 

". . ." Lu Han groaned, rolled over and lost consciousness from the immense pain straining down his spine and chest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Tao escaped to join the action, Chen slipped back in to find Kris and tell him about what was happening in the front. At the door, Kris analyzes the scene and knows exactly what happened. "Get the hell in. Don't be idiots out here."

 

Kris helps Tao carry Lu Han's inanimate body back to his room, where Xiumin laid on Lu Han's bed reading a Korean book he found in one of the bags, mildly wondering what Chen was yelling about down the hall when he was looking for Kris. Seeing Lu Han's battered face and limp body surprised him. "What happened?" he asked.

 

Tao spoke up, "He tried to fight with Xing-Xing. . . I kicked him so he wouldn't." They laid out Lu Han's body on the bed; Xiumin shifted over to make room.

 

"That idiot." He saw how his pretty bottom lip busted, and the pooled blood began to crust. Inside, Xiumin burned up, blaming himself for Lu Han's injuries.

 

"Minseok, you've got to keep him in check. He's ing wild," Kris prompted, nodding, "And not in a good way."

 

Kris and Tao left the room, closing the door behind them. Out the window, through the blinds, the rays of salmon pink and lavender filtered through; the sun was setting. Was it almost six thirty already? 

 

With Lu Han laying still, his chest heaving in and out, Xiumin crawled up beside him and gazed at his angelic face, now dark and tainted with the stain of blood over his lip and cheek. Xiumin cleared the blonde bangs from to reveal the untouched forehead, and leaned down to brush his lips lightly against it. "Really big idiot. . ." he mumbled to himself. Xiumin never knew this side of Lu Han before. Everything he did surprised him. He wondered if this kind of relationship was okay. If this easily-sparked jealousy was worth risking for. 

 

Still, a fire glowed warm in his chest, content with the thought that Lu Han would fight for him, over something so trivial. He wondered what he would have done if it was a full-on, mouth-to-mouth kiss. Probably a death match, he laughed at the thought.

 

He caressed the right cheek, the one lightly crusted in a stream of red, and reassuringly whispered, "Even if you're an idiot, I still love you." He smiled, glad that Lu Han probably couldn't hear him; because, if he could, Xiumin probably would have been assaulted by now. Still gliding brushstrokes through his unconscious lover's hair, he continued, "Sometimes I wonder if it's fate. That we met. Fell in love. Or if I could've met someone else first. Unlike you, with a frivolous past, I've always been sheltered. So I'm sorry for not realizing what love was until I met you. Maybe we could've had a smoother first time. . ." he paused for a second, then chortled at his naivety. "Pfft, look at me, talking about nothing to no one. You can't even hear." 

 

Fingertips fondly grazed circles around the baby-faced angel. He really was breath-taking. From the delicate sculpture of his face, one would never guess that he was so testy and wanton underneath it all, the features of him that Xiumin knew best after numerous firsthand accounts.

 

"Why do you love me?" Xiumin pondered, laying his head down next to Lu Han's. He wondered what it was about him that made Lu Han go crazy. There was nothing about himself that he felt he would go crazy after, so what was so special about him. . . what did Lu Han see in him? His heart ached thinking about it. He wanted to know.

 

Right then, Lu Han's eye twitched, and he inhaled sharply through his teeth, hissing, as he began to stir himself awake. "Aiyo. . ." he winced as he tried to prop up his torso with his elbows. "Where am I?" he asked, scanning around the room. It looked familiar.

 

"Your room," Xiumin said.

 

"Oh, hey love. . . what happened? My body aches all over. . . ouch," he groaned, trying to twist out the knot he felt in his back, which only caused a string of stinging pains all the way down. His head throbbed and pounded so hard, he could hear the palpitations pounding in his eardrums. ", it really hurts."

 

Xiumin sat up, and tried to push Lu Han to lay back down onto the bed. "Stop it, you're injured. Tao said he kicked you, because you were being an idiot."

 

"So, that's what that was. . . I remember now. I was about to swing, and then, I had the wind knocked out of me. Then I was out. Cold."

 

"Yeah."

 

"Stupid kid. Who kicks their own band members?"

 

"Says the one who picked a fight over a peck on the cheek?"

 

"Whoa whoa whoa, babe. No. That's totally different. Yixing knows clearly how I feel about you. He went there and I wasn't going to take that sitting down."

 

"You should forgive him."

 

". . . why?" he mocked, "Have you fallen for him now?" Again, he was being petty.

 

"No. . . Lu Han, I'll tell you what I told him. I only have eyes for you."

 

"He said you said that. It's funny, because I said the same about you," Lu Han smiled at their like-mindedness.

 

"Lu Han, when you were with Kris. . . he came by to make sure that I was with you now, before telling me, he liked me. He didn't do it to spite you, Lu Han, if you understand what I'm saying. If the person you liked was already someone else's, how would you feel? So that's why. . . forgive him, okay? He still considers you a friend. He loves you, too. I know this because he never told you his feelings towards me, because he knew you liked me first, am I right?"

 

"He said, he liked you? Really. . . I didn't know he hid things from me. I really thought he was being a little . Trying to up our relationship from the start. Aishh, I feel so bad. . ." Lu Han trapped his face between the palms of his hands and squeezed them down, leaving the streaked imprints of his hand down the sides.

 

"Don't be so harsh on him," Xiumin smoothed.

 

"To hell with that. I got kicked because of him." He thumbed at his mouth to see that his lip had been bleeding some minutes before, and grimaced at the sight.

 

"You started it. . ."

 

"Why do you hate me?"

 

"I don't. You know I don't."

 

"Yet you always side with anyone but me," he said, looking away, hurt. It stung.

 

Xiumin leaned over Lu Han and left a gentle smooch on the clean side of his mouth, and bit his bottom lip as he returned to his sitting position. Lu Han lingered a gaze at him, seeing if he would do anything more. The thought shattered itself when he remembered how impossibly shy his Minseok was when it came to actions of love. His little bun initiating a kiss was bold of him already.

 

"I'd have attacked you by now, but , my back is killing me." He attempted to get up again, winced, then flopped back down in defeat.

 

"Since you're in pain and all. . . anything you'd like for me to do for you?" Xiumin fidgeted with his fingers as he suggested it.

 

Lu Han raised his eyebrows with pursed lips as he thought. Xiumin's heart stopped when he saw those same lips curl up into a playful smile.

 

He seized Xiumin's hand and pulled him atop his body, face beaming in the dim light as he grinned mysteriously, reminiscent of a Cheshire cat. His hands roamed about on the other's body, giving him a once-over, until they settled upon Xiumin's hips. Tongue his lips appetizingly, moistening them as if he were about to enjoy a delicious gourmet meal. "Well, there's one thing I'd like."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: I decided to write in a mini-arc this time. UGH. THE XIUHAN / LUMIN PICTURES AT THE FANSIGN. /slain. ;~~~; hnnng. they're so hot, I can't. I need to change my dppppp. (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻ precious LuMin~~~ I BLAME IT ALL ON YOU STARKEY. MY FEEEEEELS~