A/N: Story is dedicated to Girl who asked for fluff in the park. Not sure if this counts as fluff  though... Sorry I got side-tracked X_X.

I honestly hope it improves your mood anyway! 

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Chapter 2: Lukai 

Jongin was a good friend to Luhan.

And, sure, Luhan was a good friend to Jongin as well.

But Jongin was a better one. Friend, that is.

Having cleared that up…

“You should hook up with Sehun.” He said as they both walked down the park during a not-so-busy evening in late-November.

“The shy boy we went out with last week?” Luhan asked with a small smile on his face.

It was a little like someone had casted a spell on Luhan, Jongin thought.

Every time he saw Sehun, or spoke about Sehuh, he had that stupid, sneaky smile on his face.

Seriously, Jongin was starting to get annoyed.

So, fine, he decided to hook them up and be done with it. Because he was one awesome friend.

“Yeah, Oh Sehun.” Jongin nodded, staring down at his feet, suddenly interested in the way his shoelaces jumped up and down as he walked.

“I didn’t think you’d be the kind of person who likes to play matchmaker.” The cute Chinese guy mused.

Jongin felt the intensive need to agree that, yes, he definitely wasn’t the kind of person to play matchmaker. In fact, he wanted to shout those exact words and then possibly smack Luhan in the head with something like a stick, to make him stop grinning whenever he mentioned Sehun.

“I’m not playing matchmaker.” He settled with saying, in the end. “I just thought you’d look good together.”

At least the second part wasn’t a lie.

Jongin really, honestly, believed Luhan and Sehun would make a nice couple.

Luhan was a kind and playful hyung who loved to take care of people.

And Sehun was a kid who loved to be taken care of.

A match made in heaven, Jongin was sure of it.

“Me and Sehun?” Luhan raised an eyebrow. “Really? You think so?” He sounded surprised and suddenly uncomfortable.

Jongin bit the insides of his mouth as he just nodded in response.

“I don’t know…Erm… I mean… Actually…” Luhan sounded like he was having a seizure right next to him and would have almost collided with a tree had Jongin not pulled him away.

The result was not very good.

Jongin was awkwardly holding Luhan’s tiny waist and Luhan was crashing on him, with his hands resting on the Korean’s chest and their faces only inches apart.

In Jongin’s opinion, Luhan could have waited till there was some space between them again, before blurting out the next words.

“And… you wouldn’t mind if I dated Sehun?” Apparently, Luhan didn’t feel awkward at all with their close proximity, so he spoke with ease.

“Why would I mind?” Jongin was already red in the face and his heart was beating faster than the time he had danced for seven hours straight.

“You mean because you’re both my friends?” He suggested, because there was no way he would let Luhan find out that he really did mind.

Jongin was going to be the bigger man, in this story.

If Luhan was in love with Sehun, he was going to be supportive and nice about it. There was no way he would go all jealous on Luhan and lose him.

Jongin was pretty down to earth as a person.

He knew you couldn’t always get what you want. So he wasn’t going to start crying and acting like a hormonal teen because Luhan smiled whenever someone mentioned Sehun.

Luhan finally moved away from him, straightening himself up and dusting off his clothes.

“These trees are dangerous.” He said throwing a half-hearted glare at the trunk that almost became one with his face a few minutes ago.

“The trees are just standing there. You’re the idiot who can’t see what’s in front of him.” Jongin muttered confidently.

Luhan was definitely an idiot who couldn’t see what was in front of him.

“You know what, Kim Jongin? You’re being very rude to me. I’m your hyung you know!” The blonde guy crossed his arms.

“Well, if Luhan hyung looked a bit like he was older than me, then maybe I would remember to respect him.” The dark-skinned guy argued back.

Then Luhan just stuck his tongue out and they both started laughing.

“I’m glad we came here, today, Jongin-ah.” Jongin was gulping down his ice tea thinking, guiltily how much Sehun would have liked it if Luhan had bought him ice tea, when the Chinese guy spoke again.

“You like the park?” Jongin asked slowly, trying not to choke.

“I do. I like it.” Luhan rested back on the bench they were sitting on with a hazy look on his eyes. He was like a kitten next to the fireplace, only cuter.

“And I like you too. So it’s pretty perfect right now.” The blonde guy added, making the hair at the back of Jongin’s neck stand up.

“W-what?” He mumbled, feeling himself freeze on the spot.

“I like you!” Luhan repeated, turning around and staring straight into the other guy’s eyes.

Jongin coughed a little, to buy time for his brain to start functioning again.

“Of course you do. We’re friends.” He squirmed away, nodding, not so much for Luhan to see, but rather to persuade himself that this was the case.

When he dared to look back at Luhan he couldn’t help but smile. His strange friend was sniffing the air, like a dog, his nose crinkling and his eyebrows furrowing.

“Hyung! Yah!” Jongin elbowed the guy. “Are you a dog, hyung?” He rolled his eyes at the concentration Luhan was showing to his sniffing.

“I am Chinese. Chinese people have a great sense of smell.” Luhan announced.

“No they don’t. Hyung, just because I’m not Chinese it doesn’t mean you can lie to me about things like that.” The dark-skinned Korean scoffed.

This trick wasn’t going to work again on him. Maybe, last time he had believed Luhan, when he said that  Chinese people could read minds – I mean honestly how was Jongin supposed to know that Xiumin was Luhan’s friend and they already shared all their secrets?- but he wasn’t going to be fooled for a second time.

“Don’t interrupt me, I’m investigating here.” Luhan pushed away his elbow distractedly.

“Can you stop? People are staring.” Jongin lowered his head apologetically to a couple of runners who were going by.

“You should stop caring about what other people think so much.” Luhan pointed out, never stopping his shameful activity.

“I’m eighteen, I’m not going to act like a five-year-old.” Jongin retorted.

“Sehun is eighteen too, but he didn’t have a problem jumping around the place and doing aegyo until you bought him popsicles, the other day.” Jongin was sure that Luhan hadn’t even thought about those words, before saying them.

Obviously, his friend had no idea how big of an impact they would have on Jongin.

During the past months, the Korean had made a strong armor for himself and he always put it on when Luhan was around. He had managed to cover himself in silver and be almost invincible to Luhan’s little, sneaky attacks towards his sanity.

Almost being the key word here.

Almost.

Now, Luhan was doing his best to break that armor and cause Jongin all different sorts of pain.

And it wasn’t fair, because Jongin was a good friend. No. An amazing friend!

He had even proposed to hook Luhan up with Sehun, even though he was rather undeniably in love with Luhan himself.

He felt something stir inside of him at the realization that he had finally admitted it. Only to himself of course, but he had done it. After that, letting the jealousy in wasn’t a big step.

“Then maybe you should go to the park with Sehun and you can sniff the air together, like nutjobs!” He sounded exactly like the jealous third-wheel in dramas; even his words were the same. Jongin was quickly becoming pathetic and admittedly not a very good friend.

“You sound mad.” Luhan put in, don’t even sparing him a look. “I thought it was you who wanted me to date Sehun.”

There was a whole speech, about how Jongin was simply a very good friend and about how Luhan just smiled too much when it came to Sehun and if it was up to Jongin, Luhan wouldn’t be able to even look at Sehun; a speech which the Korean really wanted to make at that moment.

But Jongin didn’t do it.

He decided to brush Luhan’s provocative words aside and keep his cool and mature façade. 

“You can date him!” Jongin all but shouted. “You’ll make a great couple, I’m telling you.”

That was an insult. He wasn’t sure if Luhan’s stupid mind had realized it, but the dark-skinned guy had meant it as an insult.

“You said that before too.” The blonde guy finally stopped sniffing and laid back on the bench to look up at the cloudy sky. “Why do you think so?”

“Well, hyung is nice, too nice, actually. You talk a lot, but you don’t make the other person uncomfortable. You’re friendly and playful. And you like to take care of people. That’s why you have so many friends and everyone likes you.” Jongin blinked surprised at the tidal wave that had just come out of his mouth. He didn’t think he had so much to say about Luhan. He really didn’t.

“A-and… Sehun is… he’s a shy kid. He’s a kid. The kind of person who needs someone to look after him and play with him and sniff the air with him in the park.” To make up for his clearly bitter tone, the Korean had to offer sincerity.

“I have friends because I like to take care of them? Are you saying my friends are using me?” Luhan didn’t seem to appreciate the sincerity though. He looked almost angry at that point.

“N-no!” Jongin choked. “I only meant you are a caring person and people like that about you. I like that as well, even though I don’t need to be taken care of.”

The Chinese guy didn’t seem completely convinced yet his facial expression had relaxed a little. “And you think that I would match well with Sehun, because I take care of people and he likes to be taken care of?”

Luhan asked pointedly, and it sounded like an accusation, so Jongin felt rather uncomfortable as he nodded that, yes, this was what he had in mind.

“What makes you think I actually like taking care of people? I do it, sure, but why do you think I enjoy it?” The blonde guy was perfectly serious and Jongin gulped visibly without replying.

“I like my friends. That’s why I am forced to look after them. I don’t babysit others as a hobby. Taking care of people is tiresome and stressful and it feels like a ton of bricks on my shoulders.” Luhan deadpanned, making the other guy understand exactly why he was supposed to call him hyung.

“So all this time that you drove Tao hyung to school and back and you helped Yixing hyung when his back was hurting and you tutored Xiumin hyung in Chinese…” Jongin left his sentence hanging, unable to finish it.

“I was having a very hard time, but I did all those things anyway, because I like my friends. I wasn’t happy to take care of them; I was happy to see that afterwards they didn’t need me anymore.” Luhan said in a tone that didn’t leave room for questioning. Then he noticed the younger man’s stiff expression and his eyes softened a bit.

“I don’t want to date Sehun, Jongin-ah.” Now, Luhan’s voice was sweet, almost playful. “I want to date someone that doesn’t require me to look after him all the time. Someone that I can lean on from time to time.”

Jongin felt his heart rate rising.

“Is that wrong?” Luhan pouted and Jongin thought this look should be illegal.

“N-no!” He exclaimed, with over-optimistic enthusiasm. Maybe Luhan was just saying this, having no one particular in mind. Yet Jongin’s imagination was jumping from one word to another, creating bridges between him and Luhan.

“Still, I don’t understand why you were smiling at Sehun all the time.” The vivid memory brought Jongin back to reality and suddenly he had to ask.

Luhan gave him a perplexed glance. “Was I?” He asked pensively.

“I was only thinking that Sehun is really too much like a child and I happen to have a very good friend who doesn’t easily tolerate childish behavior. This friend, his name’s Kris, is just so serious and strict about everything. ‘It’d be so funny to see those two arguing’ that’s what I was thinking about.” The Chinese guy shrugged, like it really was no big deal, then his eyes lighted up with realization.

“Wait! Why did you think I was smiling?” Luhan’s eyes widened in shock. “Don’t tell me…”

Jongin could not believe it.

The basis upon which he had based his whole ‘matchmaking plan’ was one big misunderstanding. Suddenly, he felt so stupid for not having asked Luhan straight away whether he liked Sehun or not.

And frankly, if Jongin couldn’t even understand that much about his friend, then he wasn’t such a good friend after all.

“Hyung!” He turned around abruptly and excitedly, a million things caught up at the tip of his tongue, fighting about which one would come out first.

“It’s going to rain!” Luhan interrupted him at the worst moment possible and forcefully changed the subject.

Jongin was surprised, yet he tried to comply and looked around him. “The sun is still out, hyung, and there’s only a couple of clouds on the sky…” He commented blankly, having already lost his momentum.

“I’m telling you, it’s going to rain. I smelled it.” Luhan said proudly, pointing a finger at his nose, while Jongin rolled his eyes.

“So that’s why you were sniffing around, like a dog.” The Korean sighed.

“You don’t believe me.” Luhan frowned. “Fine just wait and-”

It was a little annoying how Luhan had everything going his way in life, Jongin thought.

Not only was he terribly good-looking, tall, with big chocolate-colored eyes and blonde hair, but he was also smart and friendly and genuinely nice to everyone. He was able to magically make people fall in love with him- ‘people’ being, in this case, Jongin. And now, on top of all that, he had a Chinese super-nose that could smell rain.

Bottom line, it was raining.

They were in the park, enjoying a nice, albeit slightly eventful walk and just as Jongin was about to pour out his heart, it started pouring. Literally.

The dark-skinned boy did not fail to see the irony as the thick drops of water crashed all over his body.

Luhan cracked up, doubling over on the bench, but making no move to protect himself from the rain.

“Hyung, we should go somewhere dry and-” Jongin was trying to keep a straight face and be sensible.

“No.” Luhan shook his head, childishly refusing.

“Hyung you’re already getting soaked. You’ll catch a cold and then-” A finger was pushed on top of Jongin’s lips, effectively shutting him up and Luhan was standing right in front of him, too close for comfort.

“And if I catch a cold?” The blonde guy’s hot breath made Jongin flicker his eyes, dumbly, a couple of times.

“You-you’ll start coughing and get a fever and-” Jongin felt himself tremble a bit, as Luhan’s fingers moves from his mouth and barely touching his jaw,  caressed his neck.

He wanted to gulp and get rid of that lump that was stuck in his throat but he was too scared that Luhan would notice and do something even more endearing, just to .

“That’s not what I meant.” Luhan said in a hoarse voice and Jongin thought it was a little too early to be catching a cold.

“Tell me what will you do , if I catch a cold?” The Chinese challenged.

Jongin’s pride should have interfered, at that point, forcing him to say something about Luhan being pushy and naggy and a really bad friend.

But his pride was caught up in Luhan’s fingers that were running over Jongin’s collarbone right then and so it did not force any fake protests to come from his mouth.

“I’ll take care of you.” Jongin mumbled and as if hypnotized by his own desire, he reached over and pushed some strands of wet blonde hair away from Luhan’s face.

The older guy awarded him with a smile.

“And if you get sick?” Was Luhan’s next question.

The Korean furrowed his eyebrows.

“Hyung doesn’t have to worry about that. I know how you don’t like to take care of people. So I will definitely, never get sick!” He said with certainty and a little pride.

The victorious feeling was soon forgotten though, when Luhan crashed his lips on Jongin’s mouth.

The kiss was wet, from the rain and not particularly soft.

It was desperate and at the same time bold, just like Luhan, Jongin thought.

And that must have been the last coherent thought he made, before tangling his arms around Luhan’s waist and kissing back frustrated and delighted at the same time- because Luhan had that effect on him.

Jongin felt the excitement rising inside of him as he deepened the kiss, more slowly now, giving in and savoring the sensation rather than settling a score between them. The Korean wasn’t sure who had surrendered to the feeling first, but he didn’t mind if it was himself.  

He vaguely felt the rain falling around them, making a buzzing sound that barely hushed Luhan’s whispers that sounded suspiciously like a repetition of Jongin’s name, while Jongin began discovering the feeling of Luhan’s neck on his lips.

After an hour or so, the storm passed, leaving them both at the same bench, with Luhan breathless on his chest after a very long make out session.

“Idiot…” Luhan panted. “I’ll take care of you, whether you like it or not.” And even with his wet clothes sticking on his body like that, Jongin felt warmth.