Luhan practically bounced back to the shop before he realized exactly what he was doing.

                He ran the rest of the way, throwing open the shop door, running up the stairs into his room, where Fei was replacing the sprig of lavender that had nearly turned grey.

                “Oh, Luhan, you’re back!” she said, smiling slyly. “So, what’d you think of the watchmaker?”

                “First of all, I hate you, and second of all, I made a really really crazy mistake.”

                “What? What did you do?” she asked.

                “I asked Minseok out,” he said. Fei looked shocked.

                “You what?” she cried.

                “I asked Minseok out on a date,” Luhan said in exasperation. Fei watched him for a moment, as if to make sure that he wasn’t kidding, and then she smiled again.

               “Oh, Luhan, I’m so proud of you!” she exclaimed, hugging him around the middle. “You asked him out? I knew it was a good idea to send you to that shop!”

                “No, Fei, you don’t understand!” he cried. “This is bad! I don’t even like him. He stalks me! He’s annoying! It was just my mouth playing tricks on me, that’s all!”

                She didn’t let go of him.

                “Luhan, I’m so proud of you!” she repeated. “You finally gathered the courage to ask out the man of your dreams!”

                “Nightmares!” Luhan shouted. “Can you go pick up my watch for me?” he pleaded.

                “No,” she said sternly, pulling away from him. “You can’t stand him up.”

                “But Fei—”

                “Luhan, you’re going to go on your date. I’ll help you plan it. You are going to have fun and treat Minseok like a gentleman would. And it’s going to be fantastic.”

                “But it’s Minseok. My creepy stalker,” Luhan whined.

                “Minseok who you obviously have fallen for. Luhan, I’m not an idiot. Imagine hanging out with Minseok, getting to know him, falling in love—”

                “That’s not going to happen,” Luhan laughed nervously. “I won’t fall in love with Minseok. That’s just…no. No way.”

                “Go on your date, and then you can reassess that statement.”

                “That guy messes up my brain, I swear,” Luhan sighed.

                “It’s the first sign of love,” Fei replied. “Help me make your bed. You haven’t changed your sheets in far too long.”

                Luhan ended up helping Fei not only tidy his room, but Hangeng and Fei’s as well. They cleaned the whole apartment, and it helped to get Luhan’s mind off of things.

                Fei had insisted that he was just confused about his feelings. But Luhan knew that he wasn’t confused. He knew perfectly well that he didn’t like Minseok and that Minseok was creepy and this was all a big mistake and it was going to end absolutely horribly.

                Once they’d finished cleaning the apartment, Fei sat down with Luhan for a cup of tea and told him exactly what he should do for his date.

                “You’re going to go to…a café. I would say the opera, but that’s a gamble, considering it can be long and boring for those who don’t like it. So a café. Order something that shows you’re sophisticated but not high maintenance. Try to get him to order something with foam so that when he gets it on his lips you can ki—”

                “No,” Luhan said sternly. Fei pouted.

                “Fine. But seriously, everything else, you have to do. When you’re done, walk him home, kiss him—stop shaking your head, seriously, you should kiss him—and then tell him you’ll call him the next day because you will.”

                “I think one date is going to be plenty,” Luhan grumbled. “I don’t need to even think about a second.”

                “You’ll see when you go on the first. You’re going to love him. He’s a great guy.”

                “Why don’t you go out with him then?” Luhan asked irritably. Fei frowned.

                “Because I’m a girl, and he’s a boy who likes boys. And he likes you. And you like him. So that’s why you should go out with him and not me.”

                “You don’t understand how wrong you are,” Luhan sighed, and Fei smiled at him.

                “Why don’t you drop it, because you’re going on your date, since you asked him?”

                “I didn’t ask him! My mouth did!” Luhan protested.

                “That’s enough. You’re going to pick him up tomorrow and it’s going to be great. Now, go start making dinner, because Geng is going to be really late tonight. He went to get more flour from the outskirts, so he won’t be able to cook.”

                “Fine. What do you want?” Luhan grumbled.

                “Pasta,” Fei said, retreating to the living room to pick up a book. Luhan ventured into the kitchen and started chopping up tomatoes for the sauce.

                It wasn’t that easy to just forget about his evil mouth and how it said things without his permission.

                Sure, he’d asked Minseok out. He hadn’t meant it though. He really hadn’t, it just came out, unconnected to his brain or his desires or anything else. He didn’t care about Minseok. He’d rather just not see him again.

                He cursed, stabbing the knife into the cutting board, knowing full well that if he couldn’t convince himself that he didn’t have feelings for Minseok, he definitely wouldn’t be able to convince anyone else.

                It was ridiculous, he knew, because he’d only spoken to Minseok a handful of times. They hardly knew each other. That fact, knowing that it would probably cause whatever relationship they were going into not end well, was at least slightly reassuring to Luhan. His feelings were only temporary.

                But if that was the case, why did he feel so much dread?

                He went to bed that evening with his head full of Minseok, and he hated it.

               The next day, he had such trouble concentrating that Hangeng got irritated and sent him out of the shop. After that, he paced around the shop for about an hour until four thirty.

                Fei came in, having seen Luhan muttering to himself all afternoon, and she chuckled.

                “If you’re that nervous, why don’t you just go early? It can’t hurt,” she suggested. Luhan looked up at her incredulously.

                “I can’t do that!” he exclaimed. “It would be too weird.”

                “No, it wouldn’t. I bet he’d be thrilled to see you and you’d both get more time to know each other. Just hang out with him! Luhan, seriously, don’t make that face at me. It would be great for you.”

                “I can’t,” Luhan repeated, but Fei didn’t listen and instead pushed him out of the shop.

                “If you come back before nine, I’ll turn you into a meat bun,” she threatened before closing the door.

                For a moment he seriously considered just running away and staying there until nine. But with nothing to do, it would be extremely boring and Fei would surely skin him alive when she found out he hadn’t been with Minseok.

                Besides, he sort of did want to see Minseok. Just to make sure that they wouldn’t end up having a successful relationship. That was the only reason. Really.

               He walked to the store, and even though it was only a short ways away, it seemed like it took him ages to get there. He kept stopping, turning back, telling himself that he really did have to go, then continuing on.

                When he reached the shop, something didn’t feel right. He peered in the window, and even though it was dim, he could see the faint silhouettes of two people standing in the shop. They were talking, and the more Luhan looked, the more one of them looked like Minseok. They went into the back room, and they could no longer be seen from the outside.

                Luhan wanted to know what was going on.

                He opened the door slowly, so that it wouldn’t jingle, and he tiptoed his way towards the voices.

                “Why not, Minseok?” one of the voices asked.

                “Because, like I told you, I already have someone I like,” Minseok replied, sounding tired. “I have since before you got here.”

                “This whole time?” the person asked.

                “Sir Henry, I’m sorry, but I never led you on. I never encouraged you. I kept my distance on purpose. Please tell me you noticed,” Minseok said. Sir Henry didn’t reply for a few seconds. He finally let out a deep sigh.

                “I noticed. I was hoping I was wrong.”

                “I’m sorry,” Minseok said again, more quietly.

                “Who is he? No—more importantly, does he like you back? Can he take good care of you? Can he give you the love you deserve?”

                “I’m not going to ask him to do any of that,” Minseok said, and Luhan felt his heart jump. “He asked me on a date yesterday, and even if it’s a fluke or if he regrets it, I’ll be happy for today. I don’t know if he likes me back, even, but I really want to see.”

                “Are you sure?” Sir Henry asked him. “I know I can love you. I know I can take care of you.”

                “I know you can, too,” Minseok said. “I think that’s great of you. But your love should go to someone more deserving.”

                “I fell for you because you’re like this,” Sir Henry said with a little laugh. “You are so straightforward yet somehow you manage to say such harsh things without ever hurting my feelings.”

                “I—”

                “But you don’t want me, and I know that. Or at least you don’t want me like I want you. I understand, Minseok.”

                “You have him waiting for you when you go back to Cigon, you know,” Minseok said.

                “I-I didn’t come here because of him,” Sir Henry said, sounding taken-aback.

               “Give him a chance,” Minseok advised. “The way you’re feeling right now is just how he’s feeling. You might think he’s annoying, that he stalks you, but really, that’s just his way of showing you how much he cares about you. If not for yourself, give him a chance for me.” There was a long pause, and Luhan willed them to start talking again for fear that they would hear how loudly his heart was pounding. Luhan wondered if Minseok knew he was describing himself. And Luhan felt a peculiar sense of dread running through his system.

               “Thanks for everything, Minseok,” Sir Henry said finally. “I hope we meet again someday.”

               “That would be nice,” Minseok replied, and Luhan felt a wave of panic as he heard their footsteps nearing.

               He looked for somewhere to hide, but he couldn’t find any place fast enough. They reappeared from the back room, and they both looked shocked to see him there.

               “Luhan?” Minseok exclaimed, and Sir Henry looked back at him.

               “Is this him?” he asked, and Minseok blushed furiously.

               “Sir Henry, this is my…this is Luhan. And Luhan, this is my friend Sir Henry,” he said quickly, ignoring Sir Henry’s question. Sir Henry smiled at Luhan.

               “Take care of him,” he said, patting Luhan on the shoulder as he walked past, leaving the shop. “Bye, Minseok!”

               “Uh, bye!” Minseok cried, watching him leave. He then turned to Luhan.

               “How much did you hear?” he asked worriedly.

               “Pretty much all of it, I think,” Luhan replied. The blush on Minseok’s face only grew, and he started sputtering.

               “I…I was just trying to get him to talk to this guy, that’s all, I didn’t mean anything weird! I didn’t think you were here since you’re like half an hour early and I didn’t think you’d be listening, so that’s why I said that stuff.”

               “But everything you said was true then, since you didn’t think I was listening,” Luhan wondered, thinking that it was fairly amusing to see Minseok so flustered.

               “Yeah,” he said, burying his face in his hands. “I bet you think I’m crazy.”

               “I already thought that,” Luhan shrugged, “so it’s okay.” Minseok looked up, looking terrified that Luhan was going to walk out on him, or perhaps even do something worse. Luhan tried as hard as he could not to laugh. Like this, Minseok was almost cute. Seeing Minseok so nervous actually gave Luhan a boost of confidence.

               “Y-your watch is fixed,” Minseok said timidly. “Let me get it for you.” He scurried to the back room and returned with the watch, showing it to Luhan.

               It was as good as new, if not better. The hands were working exactly as they should have been, and the broken glass had been replaced. Even the metalwork had been polished and the wristband tightened. Luhan smiled in spite of himself.

               “Wow! Thank you,” he said, looking at Minseok.

               “You’re welcome,” Minseok replied, watching Luhan. Luhan looked away, pouting slightly.

               “Why were you looking at me like that?” he asked.

               “Oh! It’s just…I mean, I’d never seen you really smile before. Your smile is nice—and I don’t mean that in a creepy way, it’s just—”

               “Thanks,” Luhan replied, smiling again. This time, Minseok smiled also, and Luhan’s mouth decided to disobey him again.

               “You have a nice smile too,” he said. Minseok’s grin grew, and his cheeks turned red again.

               “Really?” he asked.

               “Yeah,” Luhan replied in a low voice. “What do you want to do tonight?”

               “Oh, um…I hadn’t really thought about it,” Minseok said, and Luhan figured that he must have thought that Luhan was going to plan their outing. Date. Whatever it was.

               Which was a good thing, considering he had planned it.

               “Let’s go to a café,” he suggested, still not looking at Minseok, because in all honesty, he was still extremely embarrassed that he was actually taking Minseok out on a date.

               “That sounds good,” Minseok nodded. “I’m up for that.”

               “Good, let’s go.” They left the shop right away, Minseok locking up before they ventured down the street. Luhan still felt that dreading feeling that maybe this relationship wasn’t destined to end badly after all.

               He could still hope. But he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

A/N: Fluff galore, that's how I do.

Fun fact: Sir Henry has an extensive backstory. I will probably end up writing it sometime during 2013. Both his story and this one (though this one is much less direct) also connect to a story I've been working on since before Exo debuted...so that will also get published one day. Meanwhile, this story is going insanely fast and I am having so much fun.

P.S. Please listen to this perfect song. It's been stuck in my head for the past three days. (Actually, all of A'ST1's songs have been.)