Sehun is speechless. Not that he ever speaks often in the first place, but this is a situation in which he is well and truly lost for words.

Luhan. That is the name of the man he saved, the name of the one who had caught his eye from the very moment he saw him. He has no idea why he had so instantly felt such an interest in the other, but from the very beginning Sehun had never hated the other. It’s simply a feeling of curiosity, he reasons with himself. Simply curious because he has never really interacted with a fellow puppet before and Luhan just happened to be the first that he bothered to notice outside of a performance. An interest, not a liking nor a hate.

Yet from the very moment Sehun had set his gaze on the name printed in black font on that white sheet of paper depicting the details of the Master Performance, he had built up a mental wall against whoever it would turn out to be. He can’t afford to feel any liking or acceptance for the one who he absolutely had to beat, after all.

It takes a few moments, but eventually he manages to make himself speak. It is obvious that Luhan is waiting for a reply, and Sehun’s hostility does not go so far as to include his basic manners. “Ah, you knew who I was the whole time?”

Luhan shakes his head, a small (Cute, a voice in Sehun’s head tells him) smile on his face. “No, I only worked it out after speaking to you for a bit. You have a lisp, you know?”

The younger man can’t ignore the spark of irritation that flashes through him. “You mean you could only tell my identity from the fact that I spoke with a lisp?”

“That sounds about right.” Luhan answered brightly.

Sehun frowns in displeasure.

“It’s not like I know enough about you to recognise you any other way,” though Luhan speaks with the same soft, easy-going tone as before, Sehun can still detect a hint of defensiveness. “All I know about you is that you’re my opponent for the Master Performance.”

“Yes. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you hate me a bit more?” Sehun debates on whether to add the next or not, but eventually he does. “I’m going to be the reason for your loss, anyway.”

Luhan stares at him, and Sehun shifts uncomfortably under the other’s penetrating gaze. 

“If you say so.”

He sounds entirely unconvinced, and it’s the first time Sehun thinks that perhaps there’s more to his opponent than what initially meets the eye.

- : -

He doesn’t understand why his feet take him back to where he had met Luhan the next time he’s given time off. He’s dressed in a simple white t-shirt and grey jeans, a hoodie thrown carelessly on top as protection from the cool breeze, sneakers jammed hurriedly onto his feet after Kai tells him to “Get lost” once more, though in a slightly kinder (if anything the tanned man does can be attributed to such an adjective) tone. Sehun notices that his owner has the same anxious expression as the time before, something he’s not used to seeing on his normally cool and collected master.

But no matter.

Here he is now, standing in front of the same bench, the salty and metallic scent of blood long gone. He almost feels like going to the alleyway to see if there is the same, before deciding against it. Who is he, a detective or something?

He is a teenage boy currently serving as a puppet, and that is it.

“I really wonder what I’m doing here.” He mutters, turning away. Maybe he can go get ice cream or something to waste time.

Not three steps have been taken when he hears a vaguely familiar voice shouting after him. “Sehun-ah! Fancy seeing you here again.”

He sighs, and turns around. “Luhan… hyung.” Sehun has manners. He may not be particularly fond of the baby-faced older male, but that’s no reason to be disrespectful to one older than him.

“Hyung? Ah, that’s right I’m older than you.” Luhan nods, getting used to the honorific.

“Are you not used to being called hyung?” Sehun raises an eyebrow. Maybe people don’t bother to ask him his age and so address him as someone younger. Or maybe he doesn’t talk to many people?

“I’m from China. Been here for only a few years. Got found and taken to the Dollmaster, then auctioned.” Luhan shrugs, as if it’s not a big deal. It is a big deal though. For an outsider to stumble into the town’s traditions so easily, it really is quite unfortunate.

The younger male doesn’t speak his thoughts. “So you’re not used to this language then.” Sehun summarises. He doesn’t pat the other’s back in a show of sympathy, doesn’t offer his shoulder to lean on for the other to sob. Sehun doesn’t do mushy feelings, not for someone he thinks he doesn’t like.

 “No, not really,” Luhan agrees, a hint of a smile on his face. “Can you tell?”

Sehun has to grudgingly admit that no, he can’t. If it were not for the fact that he was just told, he would never have guessed that the other had originally came from a foreign country. He barely had any remains of an accent.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when he feels a tug on his sleeve.

“What are you doing?” he asks, watching the lighter-haired man beginning to walk away. He can resist if he tries, but for some reason Sehun can’t find it in himself to do so, and allows his body to be pulled along to wherever the other puppet desires to go.

“Bubble tea. Have you had it before?”

Sehun furrows his eyebrows. Bubble tea? What is that? Sensing the other stop, he blinks at the shocked expression on the other’s face. It’s almost like that of a wounded puppy he thinks, but equally as dangerous for the heart. He dares not voice this however, and watches in slight amusement as the other man splutters, clearly horrified of his lack of knowledge.

“You’ve never had bubble tea? Never?” Luhan gapes at him, before shaking his head sadly. “Your hyung is going to educate you on something you have been missing out on for a long, long time.” He proceeds to walk again, faster this time. “Never had bubble tea, never had bubble tea!” he mutters to himself all the while, the disbelief spurring him on, fast pace not slowing down.

Sehun chooses to follow behind the other. The grip on his sleeve had long since loosened, but he can’t find it in himself to pull out. He doesn’t know why. Perhaps he’s just bored. Whatever the reason, he follows behind dutifully, almost like a loyal puppy (but not quite – if anything, his fellow puppet seems more puppy-like than him), and keeps silent. Soon enough, they arrive at a brightly-lit shop, and Sehun has to stop and blink twice. He can swear he’s never seen it before in his life, but then how can he miss something so brightly-coloured… ah, right.

The young male’s expression hardens. He forgot. A life as a puppet and all.

“I like the taro flavour.” Luhan speaks, and Sehun looks up only to meet the other’s expectant eyes. Luhan is smiling, something Sehun doesn’t understand. Why smile? Why smile when they’re essentially enemies? “What would you like?”

Sehun considers this.

“Chocolate.”

- : -

This is the fourth time Kai has sent him out, and Sehun finds himself anticipating Luhan’s appearance. Why? Because so far, every time he’s been sent out, he’s run into the elder. Did he ever practice?

Sehun would contemplate asking the lighter-haired man, but always comes to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be a comfortable conversation, not by a long shot.

In any case, due to (unwillingly) being dragged around town by the inexplicably older man, Sehun has to – grudgingly – admit; Luhan has grown on him. Almost like a disease, but with much more potency than the average microscopic bug. That baby-like face is never going to be good for Sehun’s heart, and that is final.

“Sehun-ah!”

Ah, there he is.

Sehun nods back at the other, barely detectable trace of a smile on his lips. “Hyung.” He greets the other. “We getting bubble tea today?”

- : -

“No, seriously! And Yixing was all,” and here Luhan pauses to pull a face “No, the only reason I chose Luhan to be on a deserted island with me is because I’m used to it!” he says it in a mocking, condescending sort of voice, before reverting back to his usual voice, animated with the feelings of story-telling. “I mean, seriously! After I was so nice!”

Sehun coughs to stifle a laugh. This is the seventh time his master has sent him out, and the seventh time he’s run into the older puppet. After their first visit to the bubble tea shop, it had become their unofficial rendezvous point for whenever the two happened to be out and about.

What can he say? Sehun likes bubble tea.

“And then,” Luhan carries on, slightly hysterical. “Everyone laughs, and I look like a fool! A fool! Do I look like a fool to you, Sehun-ah?”

Sehun looks up, and almost snorts. The other’s usually cute appearance is ruined by the goofy, incredulous expression he has on his face.

“N-No, not at all.” Sehun manages, before he risks another glance at the other’s face.

The two are silent as they stare each other down.

“Pfft!”

Unable to control himself any longer, Sehun lets his laughter flow, loud and loose. Within moments, he feels a fist against his arm, and the indignant cry of the other.

“Yah! Stop laughing! It’s not that funny!”

As the two sit, recounting Luhan’s past adventures in China and whatever comes to mind, Sehun can’t help but to wonder how long this happiness will last for.

- : -

“Sehun-ah!”

He hears his name being called, and turns.

His attitude this time though contrasts greatly compared to the past. While previously at another point in time he would have probably rolled his eyes before high-tailing it out of the area, this time he waits patiently, a smile on his face as he waits for the elder man – dare he say it- his friend, Luhan.  

 “Where to today?” he asks, eyebrows raised in perfect arcs. Last time, Luhan had dragged him all the way across town, his destination a small toy shop that he later confessed he only thought sold rubiks cubes. It was a good thing it did, because if it didn’t… well, Sehun would have been very, very displeased.

(He chooses not to dwell on the fact that a simple wide-eyed pout from the other would have set his mood straight again.)

 “We are going to my house.”

Sehun thinks he has hearing problems, so he double-checks. “What?”

“My house. Home. Come on, I’ll show you the way.”

- : -

“I’m back.” Luhan calls out, and Sehun wants to ask him who he’s talking to because there’s clearly no one there, when a head appears around the corner, quickly followed by the rest of the man’s body. Sehun recognises him as the man he had seen standing next to Luhan back when he had gotten past stage two, the man that his master was meeting up with today.

Wait. What?

“How come you’re not with Kai?” the words spill out from his lips before he has a chance to rearrange them, and Sehun cringes. Ahh, damnit. He isn’t meant to be so rude to a master, even if it isn’t his own. He braces himself for whatever punishment he’s sure to be delivered, but the only thing he gets is—

“Would you like some tea?”

The master smiles in what seems to be kindness (he wouldn’t know, it isn’t like someone directs it towards him often anyway) at Sehun, meeting his gaze head-on, and the young puppet immediately casts his eyes to the floor. No meeting the eyes of a master, that’s a rule. He chants it over and over to himself, but when he glances up again he thinks Luhan’s master meets his gaze on purpose.

“It’s okay, Sehun-ah.” Luhan speaks up. He too is smiling kindly at Sehun. “I brought you here for a reason.”

The boy shifts uncomfortably. He isn’t comfortable with this. He’s used to following the orders of his master.

Luhan and his master both aim expectant gazes at Sehun, resembling a pair of young puppies. Sehun wouldn’t be able to deny them what they wanted even if he tried.

“What do you want?” he asks eventually in resignation. Maybe he can get whatever it is over and done with quickly, and head on home. He has no doubt that by now his master will realise he has been stood up by Luhan’s master, and will be livid. His body unconsciously tenses in preparation for the pain that he knows will come, and on second thought, perhaps he should milk this visit for all it’s worth – he probably wouldn’t be allowed out again after this fiasco.

Luhan’s master smiles. “Before we begin, I had better introduce myself. My name is Do Kyungsoo, but you can call me D.O.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Sehun says politely. He still doesn’t quite understand what he’s here for, and wants to head back home soon.

 “Before Luhan, I was the master to another puppet.” D.O says. “It was your master. Kai.”

Author's Stage -

Hello everyone!

Next update shall be the last, is everyone aware of that? In my opinion, you're likely to be quite... disappointed by the ending, but as I said, this story is already complete, and I like to think of it as my first proper completed fanfiction, and don't really want to change it. I may write alternate endings if enough people want one, but... well, when the time comes, I hope you can gaze upon my final part with an accepting eye.

Thank you!

On a lighter note, I have joined a Twitter based RP. It's quite a bit of fun! ^^