People said that Valentine was the busiest day for every couple all over the world. In Korean, they celebrated their love as romantic as they could and chocolate, especially handmade one, was the gift that expected the most.

Luhan strolled from shop to shop, trying to find something special for Sehun. He personally thought chocolate was a little bit too cheesy and girly for someone manly like him. Lately he has been thinking about being mature and acting right to his age seriously. He suddenly had a feeling of annoyance when people saw him that much younger than his real age.

 Like last weekend, when he went shooting outside, a female model actually asked the stylist that why the studio hired a teenager to do the job and dropped her jaw as she was told about his profile. Even though at the end of day, she gave him a polite bow along with a thumb up for his professional skill, he couldn’t help but responded with a strained smile.

Or like this morning, when a walking-by Yixing gave him a slap on the and commented “How can you even enter college ge?” as he was bending down, playfully humming a melody, looking for a scarf that would match his shirt.

He didn’t know why that thing out of nowhere being such an big issue to him.

Okay, lie…

 He knew exactly the real reason.

Flashback

“Hyung, what are you doing on Valentine Day?” Jongdae plopped down on the chair in the opposite side of the table, casually asked. They were waiting for Minseok who was standing in a queue in front of the cinema’s ticket booth.

Luhan averted his eyes from the leaflet in his hand to the younger one with an unbelievable expression on his face.

“I’m having a date with my boyfriend, of course.”

“Oh, you’re still with him?” the latter seemed surprised more than necessary “His name is Sehun right?”

As much as he wanted to be nice to the Korean boy (a.k.a his close friend’s secret crush), Luhan’s fret could be sensed in his voice since he stressed every word.

“Yes, I’m still with Sehun. Happily.”

Noticing he had brought up a pissed-off deer, Jongdae quickly waved off his hand vigorously, trying to save the moment.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it that way.”

Which other way did you mean though?

Luhan wanted to say it out loud but since the panic was quite obviously seen on the latter’s face, he inhaled a deep breath to calm himself, dropped his attention back to the leaflet.

“It’s okay. You don’t know.”

It must be a clear sign that he had hinted to stop the topic there but to his dismay, Jongdae was either too thoughtful or too insensible.

“I was quite amazed when Minseok hyung told me about you guys. Don’t get me wrong, you two make a cute couple but sometimes I just can’t believe it lasts long.”

The sincere lingered in the younger’s voice gave Luhan a knot in his stomach. This was the first time someone said something like this about his relationship. Well, he probably wiped it out of his mind at the end of the day but right now, it was poking into his curiosity and anxiety as well.

“What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because somehow you give me a child-like feeling, both in appearance and action. I guess thing couldn’t work out. But again, life can’t be easily predicted. I’m glad for both of you.”

Jongdae gave a slight squeeze on his hand and a genuine grin before stood up to wave at Minseok, who was approaching their direction with three tickets flapping in his hand.

End of Flashback

Although he hated to admit it, that young boy had his point and this was how Luhan became more aware of the way people talked to him or treated him. He couldn’t blame them though because he was naturally giving the others that kind of feeling. So he planned to act less childish, less baby-like, even though to Sehun.

This Valentine would be the best opportunity to show people the whole new image of Luhan, a manly mature one.

The Chinese stopped in front of a small instrument shop. He fished out a piece of paper from his pocket to see if the address was right then freely pushed the glass door open.

The smell of old carpet and worn out case dashed into his nose, made him sneeze several times. The shop owner was a middle age man, looked at him over his glasses hung a little too low on his nose bridge, seemed like not expecting guess at this time.

“May I help you?”

Luhan bowed in greeting, scanning the room first before stepped toward the elder man.

“I want to buy a violin case.”

“All the samples are in here” he handled Luhan a brochure, turned back to his ongoing reading book.

Luhan flipped over few pages, tried to read all the information written in there to figure out which one was the best but to a person who knew nothing about what he was going to buy, he gave up after five minutes, shifted his eyes to the older, looking for help.

“Err…Do you happen to have something special to suggest?”

The man put down his book again, scanned the young boy from head to toe then he slowly stood up and made his way to the back store. Luhan rooted into his spot, didn’t know what to do since the shop owner didn’t bother to ask him to wait.

‘”Excuse…”

He was going to call out then that man appeared with an old case in his hand. He gently placed it down on the table, removed the nylon bag cover to reveal a wooden oblong violin case.

“This is my last designed one.” He opened the dou-tip lock “It took me almost two weeks working without rest.”

Luhan blinked when he saw the inside. It had a large music pocket, 2 large accessory compartments, 2 attached back-pack straps and carrying straps. The high quality purple velvet gave him a goose bump as he touched it.

“It’s…beautiful.”

He couldn’t help but spit it out. The owner chuckled, walked around the table and plopped into his chair again.

“It is, isn’t it?”

The Chinese didn’t respond to that question but both of them knew what the answer was.

“I’ll take it.”

Luhan said after a long minute contemplated this little piece of art, his voice was full of contentedness. He was sure Sehun would love it because his case was already worn out from a long time accompany him.

“Look like you get it for someone else.” the elder man said without looking at him, hand writing down the receipt.

Luhan shyly nodded, then realized the other couldn’t see him so he quickly spoke up

“Yes, it’s for my Sehunnie.”

“Sehunnie?”

“Oh, my boyfriend.”

A hint of surprising flashed in the older one’s eyes but instantly covered by a smile. He didn’t stand here to judge, and not so many people nowadays brave enough to admit their feeling toward someone that way.

“I see.” he handed the young male the receipt “Do you want to carve some words for your Sehunnie? I can do it for free.”

Luhan’s eyes widen in bliss. He was so gonna recommend this store on the SIA’s website later.

*********

It was not a lucky day for Sehun.

He woke up late this morning because of the long night chat with Luhan the previous night and missed his Instrument History class, not that he cared anyway.

He stepped on a puddle when dodged a postbox on the way the bakery, resulted in few stains on his jeans.

But none of those compared to the fact that today was Valentine Day and he not only had to work but also being in charge of doing the close up. Luhan said it was okay and he would come to pick him up at the closing time so they could grab something to eat together but the Korean boy couldn’t help but felt sorry for not able to spend the whole night with his boyfriend.

Sehun looked at the clock on the wall, his shift had half of hour to go and there were not many cakes left. He heard a noise from behind and turned back to see Minji, the baker of the shop, took off her apron and threw it into the dirty clothes basket nearby. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to make you a batch of chocolate?” She approached his direction with a bright smile “I mean it’s Valentine Day.”

Sehun shook his head in response

“It’s fine noona. I think Luhan will get me some.”

“Ahh, the Chinese boy right?” She winked at him, made Sehun blush a little.

That was quite obvious for an answer so Minji just laughed and her heels to the hanger, grabbing her coat before heading out of the store, not forget to wave goodbye to the young boy.

“Okay, have fun!”

“You too, noona.”

Sehun said back and waited until her shadow disappeared at the bus stop to continue his mopping the counter. He bended down to see if there was any chocolate cake left but it seemed like an impossible thing to happen on this day.

A ringing bell for the front door joilted him back. He sighed in relief as recognized the person was not Luhan because he didn’t want his baby deer to wait for him.

“Oh, it’s you.” he breathed out

“Is this how you greet your customer?” Chanyeol wrinkled his forehead, pretended to be vexed “And your hyung?”

Ignoring that lame sham of the older, Sehun tilted his head aside to scan the outside, making his hyung also looked back toward the door’s direction.

“What are you looking for?”

The maknae finally gave his attention to the latter

“Where’s Baekhyun hyung?”

This time, Chanyeol felt really offended. He crossed his arms and pursed his lips. This image actually was not that cute because sulking wasn’t fit his face, like not at all.

“Why must I be with Baek? I could be with some girl too.”

“You came here alone on Valentine Day, hyung.” Sehun rolled his eyes “What am I supposed to assume?”

They locked the fierce look at each other as if they were on an eyes staring contest, which was their favorite kind of thing and none of them wanted to lose.

After half of minute, Chanyeol blinked and stomped his feet on the ground, clearly not satisfied with the fact that he was the one who made the first move.

“Aishhhh, damn you smart kid! Fine, he was in the shop across the street. I’m bored so…”

The younger glanced at the clock the realized he only had fifteen minutes before his boyfriend showing up. He quickly got back to his previous work, but tried to keep on talking with the latter as well.

“You two should find other people to hang out. Really!”

“We’re fine. Thanks.”

Chanyeol grinned then clapped his hands enthusiastically, bending down a little to find what was left on the display, but that smile immediately turned into a pout as he didn’t see what he wanted.

“No chocolate?”

“Sorry hyung, it’s sold out.”

The taller stood straight and narrowed his eyes suspiciously

“You save it for Luhan hyung, don’t you? Come on, give me some!”

“No I swear it’s all sold out.” Sehun tried to convince the other. No actually he tried to drop the topic there to focus on cleaning because he would be killed with guilt if Luhan had to wait for him any more minute this night “But Luhan hyung will definitely make a lot for me and…also for himself of course. I’ll bring you some tomorrow.”

Chanyeol tapped his chin for a moment before held out his pinky finger

“Promise?”

Sehun mentally groaned, he should have remembered this hyung sometimes could be so childish.

“I promise” he entwined his finger with the taller one’s then abruptly shooed him away “Now go so I can close the store!”

“You’re mean!”

Chanyeol gave his dongsaeng a sideways before stormed out of the shop as he received a call from Baekhyun, probably nagging about where he had been.

Luhan came to pick Sehun up ten minutes after that and the younger swore he had never done the closing that fast before.  His hair stuck out messily and there even beads of sweat stood out on his forehead.

The Chinese chuckled when he saw his boyfriend locked the rolling door and spun around to give him a sweetest smile. Sometimes he forgot he was the older in their relationship. He took the granted for Sehun’s maturity and used it as an excuse for his babyishness.

“Have you eaten?”

Sehun asked as he laced their fingers together, pulled him closer for a soft kiss. Luhan shook his head slightly, mumbled something incoherently between their lips but Sehun assumed it was a “no” answer.

They wandered the downtown area, enjoyed snack foods from street vendors here and there until there was no room for another hotdog. Sehun noticed that his baby deer had been pretty quiet the whole evening, he even gave Sehun a gentle scold as the Korean almost burned his tongue when hungrily took a bite on hot tteokbokki which was really weird because normally he would laugh hard and patted the younger’s back teasingly.

They made their way back to Luhan’s room when the clock hanging on the front of the main building in centre of the campus struck ten.

Sehun stretched out his hand playfully right after Luhan turned around to face him.

“Where’s my present?”

The older giggled, didn’t know his boyfriend was that much eager for the gift. He walked pass the grinning Sehun toward his bed, fished out the case that he had been hiding beside the nightstand to avoid the curious look of his roommate.

Sehun’s jaw dropped as the sight of a black violin case caught his eyes. He had no idea that Luhan would buy something related to “music”, not to mention an instrument.

 But the case, it was handmade beautifully and the smell from old wood always inspired Sehun more.

“Wow.”

He uttered, touching the surface of the wood. His finger felt something carved at the left corner. It was a word, a stylized “Sehun”. His name.

“I’m expecting more than just a ‘wow’.“

Luhan’s chuckle brought him back to the room. He looked up, happiness was written all over his face.

“What can I say?” he tried to find the right word to describe his feeling “It’s… I love it.”

“Really?”

“You don’t have to ask.” Sehun put the case down and leaned in to answer the question by a kiss.

Then he pulled away, stepped back a bit to give them enough space for a hand reach.

“Okay, it’s time for yours.”

As much as he wanted to jump up and down because he was waiting for his turn for the past few days as Sehun refused to reveal even a little hint about his gift, Luhan tried hard to calm himself, just smiled and held out his hand in response.

Sehun stopped in the middle, the smile on his face slowly faded away as he notice the lack of enthusiasm from the Chinese boy. He withdrew his bare hand out of the pocket, grabbed the latter’s hand and pulled them settle down on the couch.

“Before I give you your present, tell me what’s wrong first. You’ve been acting weird the entire night.”

“It’s nothing.”

Luhan lied, scooted over to wrap his arm around the younger’s waist. He suddenly wanted to be the childish Luhan again because the warmth from Sehun’s body was melting him inside.

“Babe?”

“Don’t call me that.” he nudged Sehun’s rib “I’m older than you.”

And that was enough for the Korean to figure out what was really on his boyfriend’s mind. He pulled both of them sit up, gripped on Luhan’s shoulder so he could see his round face.

“Hey, did someone say anything about us?”

Luhan tightened his lips, silent.

“They commented on your babyishness didn’t they?”

Sometimes he hated how Sehun could understand him that well.

“And now you’re trying to act cool to prove them wrong aren’t you?”

Luhan loosened the grip on his shoulder and hold Sehun’s hands with his own. The younger would always have a feeling of shiver down to his spine whenever real mature Luhan showed up.

“I’m going to graduate soon Sehun ah. I don’t want people see me as a teenager who carries a camera running around.”

“O..okay” Sehun mumbled before looked deep into the latter’s eyes, lowered his tone to the stage that he thought would smooth the mood and wash Luhan’s worry away “But to me you’re not a teenager. You’re my Luhan, the one who always seeks for my hands whenever I forget to lace our fingers together, the one whose eyes would sparkle in joy even at just an ice cream I share, the one that would puff his chubby cheek in order to lure me to give him another goodbye kiss at the door. I love that Luhan because he’s amazing and it also made me feel good to know that I’m the one who could protect him like that.”

Luhan just stayed silent again. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t expect this or be ready for any of this. His heart was beating too fast for his own good causing his cheeks to flush.

Sehun wiped the bang on his forehead, pulled him into an embrace, whispering

“So you can go and tell the world ‘hey, I’m a ing 22-year-old adult.’ but when you’re with me, just be who you are, okay?”

The Chinese just nodded his head twice in response and dug his face deep into the crook of Sehun’s neck. They sat still for a while until Sehun remembered where they left off in the middle. The younger chuckled, planted a soft kiss on the top of his head before separated them again, rubbing his hands together and said excitedly.

“Okay, be ready for your present. Tadaaa…..”

Now it’s time for Luhan to drop his jaw, but with different reason. He looked at the colorful Rubik cube in Sehun’s hand then shifted his eyes to his boyfriend in disbelief several times sputtering.

“This….what…..Sehun!”

He stomped his feet on the ground, pouting. So he spent few days thinking about what to give the younger on Valentine Day, asking some friends for recommended handmade instrument stores in town, wandering from shop to shop to find that little piece of art and now all he got back was a Rubik cube.

Are you freaking kidding me?

He was getting more confused when Sehun suddenly burst out laughing, pinched his nose mischievously.

“That’s my Luhan!”

“What? Give me the real one!”

He almost jumped on Sehun to search thoroughly for his gift and just stopped when an envelop was given to the front.

“Here here.” Sehun shook his head “Tsk, tsk I don’t believe you. One minute ago you’re….”

The rest of his sentence was sunk into the exclamation from his baby deer

“Oh my god! Spring Lake? How can you even get us a reservation at this time of the year? ”

The other smirked with a shrug

“Just pull some strings, you know.”

Luhan was sure it took the younger a lot of effort to book the hotel because Spring Lake was one of the best resorts on the outskirt of Seoul, famous for its beautiful landscape and the widespread skiing area as well. But he couldn’t care more about the process. The fact that he was going to spend two days – one night with his boyfriend relaxingly was enough for him to squeal and threw himself at Sehun a second later.

He nudged the Korean boy by his side, flapping the paper in the air.

“I think you’re spoiling me with all of these, you know.”

Sehun laughed, pulled him close to whisper

“You’re spoiling me with other stuffs too so I think we’re even.”

Luhan blushed hard and shyly hit the latter’s shoulder after being dazed in a second to understand what Sehun really meant.

Again, it’s okay if Valentine didn’t filled with chocolate or roses because Sehun’s laugh was more beautiful than any rose and no chocolate tasted better than Sehun’s kiss.

-------------------

A.N/ Phew, it’s been two weeks and the longest chap so far.

I’m so sorry for your waiting *bow*

Hope you guys like the late Valentine update <3.

I'll see you in another two weeks if I'm lucky :(