The man’s name was Sehun, and he had only really loved one person in his life.

            That person’s name was Luhan

            Is.

            Is Luhan.

            The picture in the locket had been taken years ago; too many years that Sehun had stopped counting. But he had never stopped counting the days he had lived without Luhan. It wasn’t that he tried to keep count, his head just automatically tallied up the days. He would never forget that number, he couldn’t forget it even if he tried.

            7,305 days.

            20 years.

            20 years ago, he had said goodbye to Luhan.

Sehun could almost hear his voice, the voice that he had loved from the moment he heard it.

He picked up the white shirt and rubbed it between his hands. The fabric was worn and frayed, evidence of its age. It was the shirt that Luhan had been wearing when Sehun had first met him, over 50 years ago. Luhan never knew that Sehun took his shirt, merely thinking that it was missing, or he had lost it somehow. Sehun leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, remembering his first encounter with Luhan.

Sweat was pouring down Sehun’s face as he danced. It had been 3 hours, but he refused to stop or take a break. He had to work harder. He had to be chosen. He had to debut. Jongin and Joonmyun had given up trying to outlast the youngest an hour ago, and were now lying on the floor. Sehun ignored them and continued to dance.

“Hey, take a break already; you’re going to hurt yourself,” Joonmyun called out. Sehun continued to ignore him. However, he couldn’t ignore the next voice he heard.

“Hello, is anyone using this room?”

Sehun froze and whirled around. The studio door was open just a crack, and a sliver of a face could be seen through it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Please forgive me,” the voice nervously said. The door started to close. Sehun wanted to call out to the person, but he felt like something was stuck in his throat. Luckily for him, Jongin wasn’t as shy.

“Don’t worry about it! Come in, are you new here?”

The door stopped closing and opened again, this time wider. Sehun could now see the person behind it…

…and almost stopped breathing.

The person’s face was dominated by bunny-like round eyes that plainly showed his innocence. A tiny ski-slope nose and heart shaped lips just made his face even more perfect. He was smaller than Sehun, but only by an inch or two. He was dressed casually, in a white t-shirt, black jacket, and dark jeans, but he looked as if he had stepped out of a magazine catalogue. Sehun tried not to stare, but it was hard.

There’s something about his voice…

“Hello, nice to meet you. Yes, I am new here. My name is Luhan, and I’m from China.” Luhan recited shyly at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with any of them.

“You’re Chinese? But your Korean is so good!” At Joonmyun’s compliment, Luhan finally looked up at them.

Don’t stare. Don’t. Stare.

“Thank you so much! I’m actually a foreign exchange student at Yonsei University,” Luhan said softly, still held back by shyness.

“Have you ever danced or sang before? Or is this your first time?” Jongin asked kindly.

“I’m not very good at either, but I’m willing to work hard,” Luhan said determinedly.

He’s willing to work hard? I like hard workers…I wonder if – no, what am I thinking? I’ve just met this guy! Get a grip on yourself, Oh Sehun.

“Can you do freestyle?” Sehun finally unstuck his throat.

“Freestyle? I guess so…” Luhan didn’t make eye contact with him.

“I bet you’re amazing, Luhan. I want to see this!” Jongin jumped up and turned the music back on. Sehun snorted inwardly; Jongin was quite dumb at times. There was no way this kid could dance as well as they could. But Sehun couldn’t help being curious about Luhan, so he decided to see how things turned out.

“Start us off, Joonmyun!” Jongin was the most excited person there. Other than Sehun of course, but he was hiding it. Or at least he thought he was.

Joonmyun wasn’t very good at freestyle, and he knew it. Actually, he was awful at freestyle. But, he knew Jongin and Sehun enjoyed laughing at his efforts, so he got up and started to dance. Sehun couldn’t stop a laugh from escaping him as he watched Joonmyun’s fruitless attempts to freestyle. He saw that Luhan had taken off his jacket and was also laughing.

“Okay guys, your fun is over. Now for Sehun!” Joonmyun pushed Sehun to the middle.

If there was one thing Sehun could do, it was dance.

He pulled some of his best moves, but Luhan didn’t seem impressed at all.

Why isn’t he surprised? Everyone compliments me on my dancing…

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Luhan!” Jongin yelled.

Sehun narrowed his eyes as the baby-faced boy stepped to the middle…

…and started dancing.

Holy crap, he’s good.

That was the only thing Sehun could think. He had taken Luhan for someone who had been cast for his looks and his looks only, but that was obviously not the case. For someone who was a new trainee, Luhan knew what he was doing.

The door suddenly banged open.

“Woah, who’s the new guy? He’s good! Hey you! You’re good!” The only person who would say something like that was Chanyeol, and sure enough, Chanyeol had just entered the studio with everyone else: Minseok, Wu Fan, Yixing, Zitao, and Kyungsoo.

Luhan stopped dancing and looked lost, his bunny eyes huge. Joonmyun took pity and introduced him.

“Guys, this is Luhan. He’s from Chinaand joined us today.”

Sehun didn’t hear any of this, though, due to Luhan’s big bunny eyes.

He’s such a cutie, how old is he, like 13?

“You’re new too? Join the club!” Kyungsoo had joined not long ago.

“You’ll love it here, really. Everyone is nice and you’ll get used to it really quickly. How did you get cast?” Chanyeol was hyper as usual.

“You’re Chinese? Where in Chinaare you from?” Wu Fan asked.

“How long have you been dancing? You’re pretty good!” Yixing smiled at him.

Luhan was looking at all of them with those big bunny eyes, not knowing what to do with all the questions being thrown at him.

“Guys, I think we’re overwhelming him…” Jongin had said something smart for once.

“Well, we should eat dinner before overwhelming him some more, I’m STARVING,” Minseok announced.

Joonmyun laughed.

“Typical Minseok…what do you guys want to eat?”

“JUSTGIVE ME FOOD.”

“Minseok, calm down, you’re not going to die from starvation. I promise,” Joonmyun said patiently. Only Joonmyun could be this patient.

“Let’s go to that deli down the street!” Zitao suggested. “I mean, if that’s okay with you, Luhan.”

Luhan started at the mention of his name.

His confused face is so cute…

“What? Oh, a deli sounds fine,” Luhan said nervously.

Jongin laughed.

“It’s your first meal with us. I’ll treat you.”
            “Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like you have to–“ Luhan started.

Jongin waved him away.

“Don’t worry about it! I remember Kyungsoo’s first meal with us…”

At this, everyone except Luhan and Kyungsoo burst out laughing. Kyungsoo’s face was bright red.

“HEY! You guys PROMISED not to tell ANYONE about that!”

“How could we waste such a perfect story? Okay Luhan, so this is what happe–mmph!” Kyungsoo had clapped his hand over Jongin’s mouth. Jongin tried to throw him the smaller off, but Kyungsoo could be strong when he wanted to.

Sehun saw a chance to talk in front of Luhan.

“We gave him a wasabi sandwich and told him it was ground-up kiwis,” Sehun blurted out before Kyungsoo could stop him.

They all burst out laughing again, even Kyungsoo.

“I still can’t believe you fell for it. I mean, who puts ground-up kiwis on bread? I don’t think even Minseok would eat that…” This earned Wu Fan a smack from both Kyungsoo and Minseok.

“You should have seen his face afterwards! And the amount of water he drank!” Chanyeol could barely talk from laughing.

Luhan laughed even more. His laugh sounded like a wind chime on a windy day: light and bubbly.

He’s even cuter when he laughs…

“You guys won’t do that to me, right?” Luhan asked, only half-jokingly.

All the guys exchanged glances.

“We’ll make an exception just this once,” Minseok said.

“Minseok just wants to go eat as quickly as possible,” Zitao observed.

“Right you are! Now let’s go.”

They grabbed their jackets and were about to leave when a man in a suit entered the studio.

“Oh, Mr. Lee! We weren’t expecting you. Please excuse our informal attire.” Joonmyun’s voice had taken on a different quality. He sounded more professional and smooth, though his eyes gave away his nervousness. Sehun had never met this man before, but guessed that it was Lee Soo Man, head of SM Entertainment. He straightened up, hoping to make a good impression. He saw the other guys do the same, but Luhan just looked confused and a little scared.

His scared face is cute too…Is this guy anything but cute?!

“No, no, don’t apologize. Hello everyone, I’m Lee SooMan.I heard that there were a couple of new trainees that joined recently, and I hadn’t been able to meet other trainees in the past, so I decided to come and visit you all. Now, I know Joonmyun, Jongin, and Chanyeol, but could everyone else introduce themselves and give their age?”

One by one, each member introduced themselves.

When it was Sehun’s turn, he confidently said, “Hello sir, my name is Oh Sehun and I am 16 years old by the solar calendar.”
            Mr. Lee nodded and shook his hand; then he turned to Luhan.

“Hello sir, my name is Luhan and I am 20 years old by the solar calendar.”

20 years old? He’s older than me?

Sehun couldn’t keep the surprise off of his face, and he could see that the other guys were also shocked that Luhan was just as old as Joonmyun, Wu Fan, and Minseok.

“20 years? But you look so much younger! You must teach me the secret to your youth sometime, Luhan.” Mr. Lee smiled warmly at Luhan and shook his hand. Luhan smiled back, but it was obvious that he was still nervous.

“It was very nice meeting you all. But that’s not the only reason I’m here. I think it’s safe to tell you that you will all be debuting in the same group probably in the next year or so. You’ll all be training together now, so get to know each other.” Mr. Lee nodded to them and then left.

For a moment there was silence, and then the room erupted in noise.

“DID YOU HEARHIM?! WE’RE GOING TO DEBUT SOMETIME IN THE NEXTYEAR!!” Chanyeol yelled excitedly over the din.

“GUYS! Calm down! He said we’ll PROBABLY be debuting, nothing’s been set in stone,” Joonmyun said, but his ecstatic smile gave away his excitement.

They all ran around the studio, gleefully shouting and yelling, but Sehun noticed that Luhan was standing off to the side by himself. He was looking at the ground. Sehun walked over and laid a hand on Luhan’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Luhan didn’t look up.

“I’m new today and I’ve already been told that I might debut. Some of you have been here for years and have only just heard the news. I don’t deserve to celebrate with you,” he said softly.

Sehun was surprised.

“Why shouldn’t you celebrate with us? We’re going to be a team! This is team bonding!” he said encouragingly, hoping to get Luhan to look up.

It worked. Luhan raised his head and looked Sehun in the eyes…

His eyes are exactly the color of chocolate…

…and smiled at him.

…did I mention that I love chocolate? He should smile more, it makes him look beautif-I mean, nice. He looks nice when he smiles. There’s nothing wrong with looking nice while smil–

 “Are you sure?” Luhan asked, interrupting the voice in Sehun’s head. Not that Sehun minded.

Sehun forced himself to sound calm and collected.

“I’m sure.”

At this, Luhan smiled a real smile; a smile that blew away all the ones that Sehun had already seen. Luhan’s whole face lit up and his eyes came alive. He looked so young and cute that Sehun didn’t know what to do with him.

Then, unexpectedly, Luhan hugged him.

Sehun froze in shock.

Luhan was hugging him.

Hugginghim.

Before Luhan could pull away, Sehun unfroze in time to wrap his arms around the smaller boy.

Man.Smaller man. Luhan is a man. He’s older than me. He’s my hyung.

“Thanks for making me feel included, Sehun-ah,” Luhan said with another one of his beautiful smiles.

“No problem, hyung!” Sehun could feel his mouth stretching across his face in probably the most ridiculous smile ever.

And just like that, they were friends.

Sehun didn’t know he was crying until his tears dripped from his face onto the t-shirt. He quickly wiped them away, almost ashamed of them. However, he soon realized that his efforts were futile, so he let them flow. He never got tired of touching Luhan’s shirt. It had just been another shirt to Luhan, but Sehun loved this one the most. He didn’t know why, but that didn’t matter. 

A/N: Hope you enjoy this! This is my first fanfic EVER, so yeah.

also, I'm new to AFF, and I can't figure out how to reply to comments..but comments will still be appreciated! :)