The seasons changed, and cold swept through Acelan. But Luhan was in a state of bliss; there was no other way to describe it.

                His gift was working normally, as it should have been, and he was happy all the time. He’d see Minseok every day and kiss him until their lips were numb and their breaths were heavy.

                “Luhan,” Minseok would laugh, pushing Luhan away with a grin, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

                “Don’t leave yet,” Luhan whined, grabbing Minseok’s shirt and pulling him back towards him. Minseok would oblige him with another kiss (or two…or three…) and he’d pull away again.

                “Really,” he said, still smiling with very red lips. “I have to go. I’ll come back tomorrow, I promise.” And out the door he’d go, Luhan left wanting more but looking forward to the next day.

                It didn’t get boring at all, and Luhan was surprised. Even though he knew he was head over heels for Minseok, he’d expected to get at least a little bit tired of kissing Minseok all the time. But he didn’t. Ever.

“Where are we going?” Minseok asked one cold morning several weeks later.

                “You’ll see,” Luhan smiled, taking Minseok’s hand. It didn’t matter that it was cold enough to snow, and it didn’t matter that the outside of Luhan’s hand felt like it was going to freeze off, because holding Minseok’s small hand was worth it. Minseok grinned up at Luhan.

                “I hope it’s good,” Minseok said, and Luhan faked offense.

                “Oh, you doubt my date planning skills? My date planning skills are even better than I thought they were!” Luhan said boastfully, and Minseok laughed.

                “Oh yeah? I think the date that I planned was the best one we’ve had so far.”

                “Making out in the back room of your shop hardly counts as a date,” Luhan teased, and Minseok blushed a little.

                “But it was still the best date, right?” he asked.

                “Fine,” Luhan admitted, “it was the best one. But you know how much I like to kiss you; it’s not fair.” Minseok grinned and Luhan smiled back.

                To be honest, he was always all smiles around Minseok, because he was happy.

                “Minseok is the best,” Minseok prompted. “Say it.”

                “Luhan is the best!” Luhan cried.

                “Minseok!” Minseok countered, and Luhan poked him in the side. Minseok jumped away, watching Luhan with bright eyes. “Hey, let’s race to the street corner.”

                “I’m going to win,” Luhan warned. Minseok pouted.

                “Just because your legs are a little longer doesn’t mean you can run faster.”

                “I didn’t say I could run faster, I said I was going to win.”

                “How can you win if you can’t run faster?” Minseok demanded.

                “Maybe I can run faster. Want to find out?” Luhan challenged, and Minseok nodded.

                “Ready, set, go!” Minseok cried, darting off towards the street corner. Luhan walked at a leisurely pace, watching Minseok run. And just as Minseok neared the finish line, Luhan lifted him up, pulling him back towards where he’d started.

                “That’s cheating!” Minseok laughed as he floated back to Luhan. Luhan grinned with a shrug.

                “You never said it was against the rules!” he explained. Minseok just smiled as he settled down next to Luhan, their race forgotten.

                “You’re great,” Minseok sighed, leaning his head against Luhan’s shoulder as they continued walking. “I think I know where we’re going.”

                “Where do you think we’re going?”

                “I think we’re going to Café Decalcomanie.”

                “How did you guess?” Luhan pouted, and Minseok burst out laughing.

                “Because it’s right there in front of us,” he pointed with his whole arm. “I hope you didn’t think I wouldn’t notice. I’m not stupid.”

                “No, you’re the smartest, because you knew I liked you before I did.” Minseok blushed again, and Luhan smiled.

                “Well, anyway, we are going there.”

                “I can’t wait,” Minseok replied. They walked to the café, hand in hand, and like on their very first date, Luhan held the door open for Minseok. “Such a gentleman,” Minseok said teasingly, and Luhan chuckled.

                “Is that Minseok?” they heard a voice say. Minseok let go of Luhan’s hand quickly, and Luhan looked at him concernedly before hearing another voice.

                “Minseok!” it cried, and they looked over to see Minseok’s five friends that Luhan had met nearly two months before. Kyungsoo was shushing Chanyeol, who was waving wildly. The waitress standing near their table was frowning, but Chanyeol didn’t look embarrassed in the slightest. “Minseok, come over here!”

                “Let’s go over,” Minseok said to Luhan. “You’ll like my friends.”

                They approached the table, but no matter how convincing Minseok had tried to be, he still looked quite embarrassed.

                “Oh, he’s with that guy,” Luhan heard Sehun whisper to Joonmyeon, who nodded with an unreadable expression.

                “Hi, guys,” Minseok said, sounding sheepish. “How are you?”

                “Minseok, we haven’t seen you for ages,” Baekhyun complained. “Where have you been?”

                “Take a seat,” Joonmyeon offered, more to Minseok than to Luhan, but they both pulled up chairs and sat down.

                “I’ve been…uh, busy,” Minseok said, determinedly avoiding Luhan’s gaze.

                “Who’s this?” Chanyeol asked, and Baekhyun smacked him on the head.

                “This is Luhan,” he said, and Luhan hated the way his name sounded coming from Baekhyun’s lips, “the guy from the dumpling store; don’t you remember?”

                “Oh, that guy,” Chanyeol nodded. “Yeah.” Baekhyun sighed exasperatedly, turning away from Luhan.

                “So Minseokie wasn’t bested after all?” Joonmyeon asked, and Minseok remained silent.

                “Uh…” Luhan began.

                “Are you going out?” Sehun asked with a straight face and a monotone, and Minseok looked up, red as a beet.

                “We’re just friends,” he laughed nervously. Sehun looked at him skeptically but didn’t press.

                Luhan, on the other hand, felt like he was going to throw up. Just friends? Just friends who’d kissed each other until their lips were raw and their breathing was ragged, perhaps, but that made Luhan skeptical. If they were “just friends” then maybe Minseok and Sir Henry had also been “just friends.”

                But even more concerning was that perhaps Minseok was ashamed of him.

                Maybe the tables had turned more than he’d thought.

               “Well, anyway,” Baekhyun said, “did you hear about the royal wedding? I can’t believe it’s going to happen in Cigon. That’s ridiculous. Acelan is clearly the stronger power; the wedding should be held here.”

                “It’s apparently something to do with a compromise between the countries,” Kyungsoo said, but Sehun waved him off.

                “It sounds to me like we’re getting the short end of the stick. Anyway, I’m expecting an invitation. I’ve been friends with Prince Minho since—”

                “Oh, please,” Joonmyeon scoffed, “you’ve been friends with Prince Minho for like two years. I’ve been friends with him for more than eight. If anyone’s getting an invitation, it’s me.”

                “Minseok, tell him that he’s being stupid and he hasn’t seen Prince Minho in months,” Sehun said, facing Minseok.

                “We haven’t seen Minseok in months,” Chanyeol countered, “so how can he tell you anything?”

                “It hasn’t been months,” Minseok protested.

                “It’s been a long time, though,” Kyungsoo said. “Seriously, what have you been doing?”

                “Nothing important,” Minseok replied automatically, and it was like a stab to Luhan’s heart. “I’ve just been sitting around, pretty much.”

                “Why didn’t you answer our calls?” Chanyeol asked.

                “I…my phone’s broken.”

                “Didn’t you get lonely?” Sehun asked, glancing at Luhan for a split second.

                “I can manage on my own,” Minseok shrugged, still avoiding Luhan’s gaze.

                “So how come Luhan’s here?” Baekhyun asked Minseok. Luhan opened his mouth, and Baekhyun gave him a death glare.

                Luhan wasn’t scared, but he was about ready to give up.

                “We met up on the street and hadn’t seen each other in a while,” he lied, and each word felt like a wound being opened.  He hoped Minseok would say something, telling his friends that none of it was true, but he didn’t. “I thought we could catch up.”

                “Minseok is ours,” Chanyeol said, grabbing Minseok and pulling him close. “Minseok, I can’t believe you’d catch up with your boyfriend before catching up with old friends.”

                “He’s not my boyfriend,” Minseok snapped, struggling away from Chanyeol.

                Luhan stood up.

                “You guys are right; I’m really sorry for intruding. I actually have to get back to work. I’ll be going now,” he said, his throat tight. He turned, walking towards the door when he heard a chair scoot back and footsteps follow him. He ignored them, hoping instead that Minseok would grab his hand boldly and tell him that it was all a big mistake and kiss him there in the café to show them all that he wasn’t ashamed of Luhan.

                 “Sorry, Luhan?” he heard an unfamiliar voice and felt a tugging on the hem of his shirt. He turned around to see Kyungsoo looking at him, his eyes wide with concern. Luhan looked over at the table, and Minseok was still sitting there, facing away from Luhan. 

                “What?” Luhan said sharply, his throat still clenching up.

                “Minseok didn’t mean any of that. We kind of figured that you two are dating, but the others are protective of him and they were being a little mean about it, but really, Minseok didn’t—”

                “That doesn’t mean anything to me,” Luhan said emptily. “He’s ashamed of me and I can tell. I went through hell before accepting how I felt about him, and this is the thanks I get? You can tell Minseok that I don’t want to see him anymore.”

                Kyungsoo looked surprised as Luhan turned the door handle and ventured out into the furious cold.

                It had started to snow, and Luhan wasn’t prepared for the cold weather, but it didn’t matter, because he was so angry that he couldn’t feel any of it.

                He was angry at Minseok, angry at Minseok’s friends, but mostly angry at himself. How could he have expected that everything would be smooth sailing from the beginning? Hadn’t everything seemed too good to be true?

                He kept hoping to hear footsteps behind him, desperate cries of “Luhan, I’m sorry,” but nothing came besides the whistling wind as the snow intensified. 

                When he got back to the shop, Hangeng and Fei were helping a long line of people. But Luhan threw open the door and marched upstairs without greeting anyone in the shop.

                “Excuse me,” he heard Fei say to a customer as she followed him up the stairs. “Luhan. Luhan!” He didn’t listen to her and opened his door, plopping face down on his bed.

                “Luhan!” she said again.

                “What do you want?” he snarled, and Fei looked extremely worried.

                “Luhan, what happened?” Fei asked.

               “I don’t want to talk about it,” Luhan muttered, the lump in his throat swelling once again. He looked away from Fei, but the tears started to fall anyway.

                “Come here,” she said, and Fei lifted him up into a hug. Luhan let himself be folded into her arms. She his head, and suddenly memories of his mother doing the same thing flooded his mind. It only led him to cry harder. “Shh,” she said, “you’re alright.”

                “He completely rejected me in front of his friends,” Luhan sobbed. “I just can’t believe any of this is happening. I thought we were over the worst.”

                “It’s okay,” Fei said. “I’m sure he’ll come to.”

                “I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to think about him, even, or at least not for a while,” Luhan sniffled. “If he comes can you just tell him I’m sick?”

                “Sure,” Fei said soothingly. “I’ll give you as much time as you need to think.”

                Fei sat with him until he fell asleep, and she covered him with his blanket and replaced his lavender sprig once again.

                He woke up the next morning with heavy eyes and a horrible headache. He propped himself up only to feel the world spin. Lying back down, he closed his eyes again, but sleep wouldn’t come to him.

                “Fei,” he croaked, and he realized his voice wasn’t working as well as it should. Was this karma for going out in the cold and falling asleep in his wet clothes? He kicked his legs, thinking that it wasn’t fair that he lost Minseok and his health in one day. “Fei,” he rasped again, but he was barely loud enough for himself to hear.

                He closed his eyes, visualizing the doorknob turning, but nothing happened. It felt exceptionally normal. His eyes flew open, and he turned to the lavender. Closing his eyes again, he tried the same thing, but once again, there was no movement.

                “It’s because I’m sick,” he told himself. “I’m just sick. It’ll work when I’m better.”

                But it didn’t feel like he was just sick, and he knew it. He didn’t want to assume the worst, but there wasn’t much he could do to convince himself otherwise. He stood up again, taking a moment to balance his dizziness before trudging to the door. He opened it and walked to the kitchen through the living room.

                Fei and Hangeng were sitting in the kitchen, talking quietly, and Hangeng saw Luhan first.

                “Oh, Luhan! You’re up! Do you want food?” Hangeng asked, standing up and holding the kettle.

                “What time is it?” he asked hoarsely.

                “Almost three; you slept for a long time,” Fei said. “Do you want something to eat?”

                “I’m not feeling well,” Luhan said. Hangeng looked at him pitifully.

                “You’re just a little down,” he said, but Fei shook her head.

                “I knew I should have helped you change out of those wet clothes,” she said. “I’m sorry. Why don’t you change clothes, I’ll make you some chamomile tea, and we can sit on the sofa and listen to the radio, okay?”

                Luhan nodded and returned to his room, changing into loose-fitting clothes because his skin felt like it was burning and every scratch felt more painful than usual.

                He returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa, feeling exceptionally lethargic. Fei came over with the teapot full of chamomile tea, sitting down next to him.

                “Drink it, and it’ll help your throat,” she said, offering him the mug. It was warm and smelled good. “Don’t you want some milk or sugar?”

                “Maybe a little milk,” he sighed. He wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet.

                “By the way,” she said, “Minseok’s friend Kyungsoo came over.”

                “Why?” Luhan asked, his throat aching.

                “He wanted to talk to you. I think it was something about Minseok.”

                “What did you say?”

                “Well, I told him you were sick. It’s not really a lie now though, is it?” she chuckled. “Well, anyway, I think you’ll be better in no time.”

                “I hope so.” And he hoped so for more than one reason. 

A/N: Oh hay conflict. So...I'm thinking there will be between 2 and 5 more chapters of this story. I currently have no plans for a sequel, but like I said, this is a sort-of spinoff of another story I've been working on (it was mentioned pretty blatanly in this chapter...anyone have a guess as to what it is?) so I'll post that sometime during 2013. I hope you enjoyed this angsty chapter.

♥ Exie