It's easily become daily routine for Sehun to meet up with Luhan. After a long day at school, he relishes his time with his foreign friend. Loves the way Luhan seems to always have a clear schedule filled with nothing but Sehun.

Jongin thinks Sehun is falling way too quickly but Baekhyun says he's not, 'he's just in love.' And Sehun's beginning to think they might both be right.

The first time he notices something has changed is when Luhan first invites him to his apartment after their usual meet-up. It's just starting to snow but the TVs playing in shop windows warn that there might be a small blizzard moving through by morning. Luhan lives on the other side of town so Sehun can't understand why they're walking.

It's cold and it's dark already and Sehun hates it all. He's more of a summer person anyways. Luhan snuggles his face down into the over-sized scarf tightly wound around his neck. It's red with thin blue stripes on it and Sehun can't remember ever seeing it before. The red matches the red that adorn Luhan's cheeks and nose. Sehun thinks he looks so content and he practically see him smiling behind the thick fabric.

Sehun on the other hand hates scarfs. They're itchy in all the wrong places and Sehun has sensitive skin. He glances down at his red converses and smiles because they match Luhan. "Why are you so happy?" Luhan asks and Sehun almost slips on the sidewalk because he wasn't expecting the older to speak.

Usually they just make meaningless small talk while drinking tea or whatever Luhan feels like having that particular day. Sehun doesn't know anything about Luhan besides the fact that he works for someone named Junmyeon and from the way he talks, he hates his job. Something about desk jobs not being his ideal occupation.

"I just am." Sehun smiles at the other and swears Luhan's cheeks get a little more color in them. "I like your shoes." Luhan says, muffled by that annoying scarf. Sehun once again looks down at his feet and smiles. "I like your scarf." It's a lie but he doesn't think Luhan caught on. Luhan's eyes turn into crescents and now Sehun knows he's smiling. Sehun made him smile. And Luhan was oblivious to the squeal trying desperately to escape the back of Sehun's throat.

The second time Sehun notices something different, he wants to blend into the sky and float away.

He's sitting at their usual table in the small bakery turned cafe. Luhan is over half an hour late. This wouldn't worry him on any other day but today marks 4 months since they met. Sehun thinks he's making too big of a deal over it, now that he looks at the muffins sitting in the middle of the table.

The waitress comes back over, "Still not ready to order drinks yet?" This waitress knows their orders by heart and her smile is nice when Sehun looks up. "Not quite yet." Sehun smiles hoping it doesn't look too forced. "Flag me down when you're ready." She looks at the seat Luhan usually occupies and then walks away to help a couple that jsut walked in. Sehun glances at the clock on the wall again and notices how time is dragging.

When Luhan is almost exactly an hour and 15 minutes late, Sehun decides to give up. He flags down the waitress and she smiles at him again. "Can I get a bag for these muffins?" Sehun asks and sighs when she pulls a small to-go bag out of the apron hanging around her waist. "Oh. Can I get a small Lemon Tea to go?" She nods, bows and makes her way back to the counter. Sehun shoves the muffins into the brown bag.

When she sits the cup on the table, Sehun is already handing her the money. "This is too much money. The total was only 13188.60 won. You gave me 16485.75." She politely says and hands Sehun the un-needed bills. Sehun is so use to paying for Luhan that he doesn't know what to do with the extra cash. "Sorry." Sehun bows his head as he shoves the money into his jeans pocket. "Don't worry about it. Say, where's blondie?" She motions to the empty seat across from Sehun.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Sehun grabs the tea and the bag of muffins that are no doubt crushed now. "See you tomorrow." She says and moves to the couple that Sehun watched since they first came in.

It's snowing and it looks pretty swirling around streetlights. But Sehun just wants to get home and hide from the embarrassment of being stood up. Sehun nearly runs into a woman holding a child's hand and he wants to cry. Because he has to go home to an empty house and an even emptier feeling settling into his chest.

Their are teenagers in small groups littering the sidewalks and Sehun shrinks against the wall. He tosses the bag of muffins and the tea into a near-by trash can and he really does start to tear up.

Sehun doesn't get an explanation from Luhan the next time they meet-up. Even though Sehun has asked him roughly about 5 times in the last twenty minutes. Sehun knows he has no right to ask. Luhan can do whatever he wants and Sehun can only wish they include him.

Luhan is halfway through his third muffin when Sehun calls it quits. He gets up, slamming his napkin on the table and slapping his part of the money on the table. Sehun figures Luhan can start paying for himself. The bells above the door jingle when Sehun makes his hasty exit into the bright snow covered world.

It's not even dark yet. People with umbrellas blanket the sidewalks and Sehun starts walking towards home. "Hey, wait up." Sehun tries not to flinch at the hand pulling him back by his jacket's hood. "Where you going?" Luhan asks and moves in front of Sehun, but the younger doesn't look at him. "Home." Sehun notices Luhan isn't wearing that red scarf anymore and he;s not wearing his red converses. 

"Are you okay?" Sehun wants to say no. Wants to push Luhan against the nearest wall and demand an answer out of him. But too much physical contact would break the beginning of Sehun's wall. "No." He leaves it at that and steps away from the shorter. And he keeps moving backwards until he runs into someone and apologizes with a ninety degree bow. He sees Luhan walking away and Sehun turns away.

This time he does cry.

"Wanna hang out after classes?" Sehun asks Jongin when they're taking notes. "I really don't wanna tag along on your and Luhan's dates." Jongin is doodling instead of writing and it looks nothing like the the teacher writing math equations on the board. "I'm not meeting him today." Sehun is actually taking notes but he doesn't retain anything the teacher is spewing off in the background. "And why not?" Jongin asks.

"Just cause," Sehun isn't good at making excuses. "You and whine that you never get time with me. And here I am offering it to you, and you make a big fuss of it." Sehun bumps Jongin with his elbow and Jongin's pencil slips and draws a line through the doodle teacher's face. Jongin looks pissed but he'll get over it. "Mr. Oh and Mr. Kim please at least try to be quiet." The teacher calls out and the other students around them laugh. Jongin slips Sehun a piece of paper over Sehun's notebook. 'I'm going to beat you in Call of Duty.' And Sehun smiles.

Jongin suggests they stop and get drinks at the cafe closest to Jongin's place. But agrees to find another one when Sehun says he's avoiding Luhan and going to that particular cafe wouldn't help. No doubt Luhan is wondering where Sehun is. Or maybe he's not even there again. Sehun rather not know.

Sehun's medium coffee is left abandoned on Jongin's nightstand. Jongin is close to the screen that Sehun has to kick him away from blocking the view. Sehun misses his only shot at Jongin's character and he ends up dying. He drops the controller and leans back onto the bed. "Care to tell me why you're avoiding him?" Jongin asks as he pauses the game and slides next to his friend.

"He stood me up so why not let him know what it feels like?" 

It's a Saturday. They don't usually meet-up on Saturdays because Luhan says it's the only day he truly gets to rest. So Sehun wasn't expecting Luhan to come in and slide into the seat across from the younger. Sehun doesn't look at him, more looks at the clock behind Luhan's head. They order their usuals though the waitress seems to sense that something is wrong.

So many things are wrong when Sehun finally looks up. Luhan is wearing that scarf again and he can see the water spots on his jacket from melting snow. Luhan doesn't look happy nor sad, more like disappointed. But he's smiling but it doesn't crinkle his eyes like it should. "Where were you yesterday?" Luhan breaks the quiet and Sehun's relieved he doesn't have to. though he's rather mad now.

"You didn't tell me why I had to sit here alone the other day." Sehun is trying to sound as passive as he can when his throat feels so odd. "But I'm not like you. I'm gonna tell you. I was with my friend, Jongin." He put emphasis on Jongin being a friend. A close friend at that. Border-line committed relationship type of friend. "That's nice." Luhan says and sips at his tea. "Nice?" Sehun scoffs and doesn't notice the tears welling up until it's almost too late. He catches them before too many escape and he knows Luhan sees them.

But the older doesn't say anything, just glances around then down at his watch like he's expecting someone. Maybe he is, Sehun wouldn't know. Sehun puts his money and cup on the table, this time not slamming it. "Will I see you tomorrow?" Luhan asks but Sehun thinks it's too late for Luhan to start caring now. "No." And Sehun leaves and the bells above the door barely have time to react when he slams the door closed after himself.

He pushes a kid on a skateboard out of his way and heads towards Baekhyun's house. He'd know how to handle all of Sehun's sudden emotions, because Sehun doesn't know whether to be angry or devastated.

"Dude you look terrible today." Jongin states from his position on his floor, not even looking away from the screen. Baekhyun is next to him and they're playing some soccer game Sehun has no interest in. "Today? He's looked terrible all week." Baekhyun says like Sehun isn't sitting right there on the bed listening to their bickering about game scores or something. "I'm still here you know." Sehun says and rolls onto his back to stare at Jongin's ceiling.

"Maybe he was working late that day. What does he do anyways?" Jongin asks and Sehun shrugs before realizing Jongin can't see it. "I don't know." Sehun wishes he knew why Luhan always looked so tired all the time after a weeks worth of work. "You ever ask him?" Baekhyun chimes in and Sehun can hear the music from the video game. Baekhyun must have scored a goal or something. "He's really secretive."

"Maybe he's an assassin or something." Jongin laughs and knocks Baekhyun's controller out of his hands. Sehun can see from his peripheral Baekhyun scrambling to recover it in time to block a goal. "Oh oh! Maybe he's a secretary for some big-wig in a suit that runs some big enterprise or something." Baekhyun adds in and pouts when Jongin scores once again. "Maybe he has a boyfriend and I'm just a drinking buddy." Sehun says and his stomach knots into a tight ball and Sehun doesn't know what to feel.

"There's that possibility too."  Jongin scores another point and this time pushes Baekhyun over until the older is pressed into the floorboards. With Jongin on top of him and Sehun closes his eyes cause he thinks his friends are too touchy with each other for his own liking.

Sehun is at the usual table in the cafe with a hot chocolate this time. There's a matching beverage sitting in front of Luhan. Neither of them seem to be able to hold any kind of eye contact with each other. Luhan is the first to speak and it's lower than normal. Almost hushed like someone might over-hear.

"Are you still angry at me?" He asks and Sehun can see his squeezing the hell out his cup; the styrofoam crumpling inwards a little. "Are you gonna start answering my questions?" Sehun snaps back and finishes off the last of his drink. He doesn't even taste the chocolate when he swallows the lump in his throat. "I can try." Luhan leans closer.

"Why'd you stand me up?" It all comes back to that night when Sehun made a fool of himself in front of that nice waitress. "I had work to get done." Luhan sounds hesitant. "What kind of work?" Sehun asks and breaches terroritory he's never been in before. "Sales records for the overseas department of the company I work for. A lot of paperwork that I didn't want to bring to our date."

"What company?" Sehun asks and Luhan tenses and actually does break the cup he has in a death grip. Hot chocolate dribbles out and Sehun makes to wipe it up as it comes. When it seems to stop Luhan pushes the cup and the soiled napkins to the side. "Gangnam Central Reality." The answer takes Sehun off guard. That doesn't sound like a job that Luhan should be miserable in. Seems easy enough.

"You're a.. realtor?" Sehun draws out and Luhan sighs again before leaning back into his chair. "Yeah." Luhan runs his hands through his hair and Sehun finds it attractive. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Sehun meets eyes with the waitress and they smile at each other before she turns away to help someone else. "Because it's a lame job and I thought you'd think differently of me."

Luhan jumps, as does half the cafe patrons, when Sehun laughs. Laughs so loud Luhan has to reach across the table to muffle him with both hands. "Luhan, being a realtor isn't that bad." Sehun says when Luhan sits back in his own chair again. "I get paid barely more than minimum wage and work more days then I get off. I don't get paid vacations or healthcare coverage. I sit at a desk all day, at a computer, imputing numbers." Luhan folds his arms on the table and buries his head into them.

Sehun lets his fingers slip through Luhan's hair and he uses his nails to start rubbing. Luhan nuzzles up into the touch and Sehun smiles. "If it's any consolation, Jongin thinks you're an assassin." Sehun and Luhan are both laughing and it's such a pleasant sound. "At least you have a job though. I sit in classrooms all day staring at homework I never get done on time." Luhan peeks up and Sehun's hands don't still their movement through the other's soft hair.

"Can I ask one more thing?" Sehun asks and Luhan only nods and closes his eyes. "What am I to you?" Sehun thinks he's gonna die if Luhan says their just friends. "I'd like you to be my boyfriend." Luhan's eyes stay closed but they crinkle when he smiles. "I mean if you want to." Sehun's fingers tighten a little and Luhan hums. 

"You'd be my first." Sehun whispers and Luhan smiles even more.