Jongin and Sehun agreed to meet up and review for a quiz they had that upcoming week.

"Whose house?"

"I don’t know. I kind of want to get out. It’s hard to get studying done when you’re at home."

"Alright, you wanna do the library then?"

"Actually I was thinking maybe a cafe, in case we get hungry," Jongin suggested.

Sehun eyed the 3000 won fluttering in a breeze next to his windowsill. “Look, I know you’re not big on sweet things but there’s this bubble tea place…I’m positive you’ll like their popcorn chicken."

"Sounds good, I’ll meet you there!"

The bubble tea shop was actually closer to Jongin’s apartment, so when Sehun got there Jongin had already found a good window seat and spread his books over half the table. Sehun went up to the counter to order first.

When he joined Jongin at the table with a large chocolate bubble tea in hand, he was surprised to see that Jongin had gotten bubble tea too, and not just any bubble tea. The distinct purple hue of taro flavored bubble tea greeted Sehun’s eyes.

"That’s a good flavor to start with," Sehun said as he took a seat. “This is your first time trying bubble tea, right?"

"Actually, there’s this singing boy I’m seeing. This is his favorite drink."

At first what Jongin was saying didn’t register, but then it hit Sehun. Jongin belting along with a song. Thousand won bills caught by the wind. An upturned cup in a spreading puddle of taro milk tea on the sidewalk. A pretty eye-smile glimmering with recognition as he and Jongin jogged past. Soft cloud cheeks and soft cloud hair.

"Is…is he in the music school?" Sehun asked, throat constricting.

Jongin looked up from his notes. “Huh?"

"This…this boy you’re seeing."

"Oh, no. He’s not in school actually."

"You never told me that you were seeing anyone…"

"Well that’s ‘cause we’re not really official, yet."

Sehun flipped open his laptop, brows knitted together as he waited impatiently for it to come out of hibernation.

Jongin watched him, lifting an eyebrow. “You okay there?"

Sehun clicked open the folder he had loaded from his brother’s camera. Photos of the singing boy filled the screen. He spun his laptop around. “Is this him?"

Jongin’s eyes went wide with shock.

"Why do you have all these pictures—"

"Is this the boy you’re talking about."

"Yes it’s him but why—"

Sehun closed his laptop. His hands were shaking. “Never mind. Let’s get back to studying."

"Sehun…what’s going on?"

Sehun frowned down at his hands, taking a deep breath. A litany of unreasonable voices filled his head. I saw him first and Why didn’t you tell me before and You have no idea how I feel about him and But I don’t even know his name.

"Sehun."

Sehun’s head snapped up. “What." He didn’t mean for it to sound biting, but there was a lump in his throat and he had to force words to come out at all.

Jongin looked really upset. He reached across the table for Sehun’s hand. Sehun let Jongin put his hand over his. His best friend’s hand was warm and familiar and reassuring. Sehun stopped shaking.

"I’m sorry. I had no idea…"

"Let’s just get back to studying," Sehun whispered. “Please."

 
 
When Luhan arrived at the park that morning he noted with a touch of dismay that it appeared as though somebody had claimed his usual spot on the garden wall. As he drew closer, he saw that it was a tall, gangly boy about his age with a frown on his face and bubble tea in his hands.

"Hello?" Luhan said hesitantly.

The stranger turned to face him. His mouth fell open but he didn’t say anything. For a while the two of them stood in awkward silence.

Luhan noticed that there were actually two bubble teas, one in the boy’s hand and one on the wall. “A-are you waiting for someone?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

"I," the stranger cleared his throat. “I was waiting for you, actually."

Luhan blinked rapidly in surprise, unsure if he had heard right.

"I was waiting for you," repeated the tall boy. He looked to his side, picked up the bubble tea. No sooner had Luhan vaguely noted that it was taro than the cup was suddenly being held out to him. “I got you this."

Luhan’s eyes widened. He looked between the cup and the boy and back to the cup again. The proffered cup was not retracted, so Luhan accepted it more to resolve the awkward tension than anything else.

"Um, thank you…?"

The other boy’s face fell. “You don’t remember me."

"I’m so sorry, I—"

"No, it’s okay—"

"Wait, wait, wait, no, I remember!" Luhan unconsciously grabbed for his forearm and the other boy started. “You’re…I don’t know your name but you’re the one who caught my money for me on that really windy day. I do remember you!"

"Sehun."

"Thank you, Sehun."

Sehun turned around and was blinded by Luhan’s eye smile. His heart was thumping so loudly he was almost positive Luhan could hear it. Luhan’s hand on his arm felt like heaven. Sehun got that floating feeling again like that time Luhan had pressed change into his hand for bubble tea.

"You’re welcome," Sehun managed to reply without sounding (too) strangled.

"I’m Luhan, by the way."

"Luhan," Sehun breathed. “It’s nice to…finally meet you."

Luhan stuck out his hand and Sehun remembered to shake it.

"Um." Sehun looked around. “I should probably get going so you can set up and stuff."

As Sehun moved aside, Luhan hopped up onto his usual perch, pulled out his guitar, and—instead of waving Sehun off—immediately launched into the opening chords of Justin Bieber’s “Love Me". A couple of teenage girls passed by, giggling. Sehun could feel his blush travel all the way to the tips of his ears, but he stayed for the entire song, floating.

 
 
There was no way Luhan could have imagined the way Jongin’s heart soared and then dropped when he received his text message asking to hang out that Friday. Jongin glanced up at Sehun, whom he was having lunch with, a knot of guilt forming in his stomach as he texted back a quick yes I would love to.

"I’m giving myself a day off," said Luhan when he showed up at Jongin’s door, guitar-less and grinning.

"Where do you want to go?" asked Jongin.

"We have all afternoon," said Luhan, reaching over and tangling their fingers together. Jongin felt his heart do that thing again where it leaped up high and then plummeted to his stomach as he remembered Sehun. His best friend. His best friend in the whole world who was in love with this boy.

But his traitor mouth said, “We haven’t seen a movie in a while. We can take my car and go to the theater in the mall."

They listened to Jongin’s favorite playlist in the car and sang along together. Luhan knew most of the songs, even the ones in English. Jongin was so impressed that he impulsively leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before he could stop himself. Luhan felt soft and warm and smelled nice and comforting. Jongin tried but couldn’t bring himself to regret it. His nose had brushed against Luhan’s eyelashes.

At the mall, Luhan dragged Jongin over in front of the cinema to see what was showing. There was nothing much on—a bunch of family-oriented comedies, a couple boring-looking dramas, a foreign superhero film that had been in theaters for at least 3 months if Jongin remembered correctly, and an anime movie. An anime movie which Luhan seemed very excited about. And then seemed very embarrassed to be so excited about.

"One Piece is my favorite thing in the entire world after music and football," Luhan half-mumbled.

"Hey, I’m not judging." Jongin pulled Luhan in for a one-armed squeeze. “No, really. Don’t believe me? You should see the manga collection I have in my room."

With Luhan reassured, Jongin bought them both tickets. The One Piece movie was clearly the right choice. Luhan was so invested in the well-being of the Straw Hat Pirates that his reactions were an absolute joy to behold. If Jongin had to admit it, he probably spent as much time watching Luhan as he did watching the movie itself.

"That was the best One Piece movie yet," Luhan couldn’t help gushing as they exited the theater.

Jongin had enjoyed it quite a bit himself, but he was exponentially more glad that Luhan liked it so much.

As they walked through the mall, Jongin noticed Luhan looking at a music store that they passed by, so he steered him inside before the other could protest. After a little cajoling, Luhan admitted that he was working on recording some originals for an indie album. ("That’s amazing, hyung! You need to tell me this stuff.") They left having purchased a pop filter and a new guitar pick for Luhan.

"Where do you want to eat?" It was evening by now, around the time Jongin would usually meet up with Luhan for dinner.

"Can we go back to your place? You’ve been paying for everything all day, at least let me cook for you."

Jongin readily agreed. Back at the apartment, Luhan chopped vegetables (while Jongin hovered around until Luhan resolutely shooed him away) and cooked up some refreshing dry noodles.

"This is so good," said Jongin, swallowing a mouthful. He looked up and caught Luhan watching him eat before the other boy quickly ducked his head back into his food. Jongin smiled fondly. “I think I’ve figured out who has the magic touch after all."

"It was both of us," Luhan mumbled thickly.

After dinner, Luhan declared that he was on dishes duty as well and wouldn’t let Jongin get a word in edgewise.

"Okay, fine. Dishes are all yours."

"Jonginnie, what are you doing?" Luhan looked over his shoulder at Jongin questioningly.

"Rolling up your sleeves for you. You’ll get your shirt wet this way," replied Jongin. He reached around Luhan and did as he said, ing the cuffs and folding the fabric up to Luhan’s elbows. He didn’t notice that they had both been holding their breaths until he pulled away.

Jongin cleared his throat nervously and made his way to the fridge with the pretense of getting a bottle of water. Luhan continued to do dishes in silence.

Luhan looked around as he dried his hands, but Jongin was nowhere in sight. “Jonginnie?" he called questioningly.

"I’m up here," came the answering call.

Luhan hesitantly made his way upstairs, poking his head first into what turned out to be the bathroom, followed by a neatly-made guest room. The last room in the hall was Jongin’s bedroom. The boy inside was reading, sprawled out on his covers, socked feet dangling off the edge of the bed. He looked up when he noticed Luhan framed in the doorway.

"Come on in," said Jongin, waving him in. “That’s my manga collection over there." He gestured to half the bookshelf. “I have stuff in there from middle school, so no laughing ok?"

Luhan made his way over to the shelf. Jongin’s collection consisted mostly of sports manga, but there was a section clearly devoted to a certain beloved pirate crew. Jongin clambered off the bed and came over to stand by Luhan as he leafed through Jongin’s favorite volumes.

"You never told me you read One Piece, too," said Luhan.

"How do you think I kept up with the movie, then?" Jongin teased. Luhan gently smacked him on the arm.

When they were through enthusiastically perusing Jongin’s manga collection, Luhan peered out the window to find that it was already completely dark out, the moon and stars wanly visible above the glow of streetlights.

"Wow, it’s late," he said.

“Yeah, and since it’s already dark, if you want to stay…" Jongin accompanied him downstairs and to the door.

"No, it’s fine. I don’t want to trouble you. The sidewalk’s well-lit. I have really good night vision. It’s a nice part of town. I—"

Jongin caught Luhan by the elbows and his breath caught in his throat. “Hyung, thanks for today. I really like spending time with you. I had a lot of fun," Jongin said.

Luhan was blinking rapidly, looking down and worrying his lips between his teeth. “I did too," he said finally, voice so soft that if Jongin wasn’t stand so close he couldn’t have heard.

Jongin still hadn’t let go of Luhan. He didn’t know why. His hands were growing warm. Maybe Luhan noticed that because he slowly looked up, eyes searching Jongin’s face. And then their noses were bumping, and then Luhan’s lips were on his.

Jongin felt his breath leave him in a whoosh, a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Luhan was kissing him. Any shred of thought remaining flew out of his head, leaving only his senses. And all his senses seemed to have come to a focus on his lips, on the point where he and Luhan were connected. Luhan moved against him gently, ever so gently, reminding Jongin that he was still frozen in place. His hands slid around Luhan’s back, found their way up to the ends of his hair, lightly tugged and frantically threaded their way through the fluffy strands, pressed Luhan closer and closer, inhaled him, tilted his head, shifted to fit his own mouth better over Luhan’s, Luhan whose breath was coming in small puffs from his nose. Whose hands clutched at Jongin’s shirt and his jaw in turns. Who smelled dizzyingly nice and felt deliciously warm and soft, so soft against him. Jongin was drowning.

He pulled back with a gasp.

Luhan’s cheeks were flushed completely pink, his hair earnestly mussed and sticking up all feathery on the back of his head, and his lips were wet and gleaming, and his chest rose and fell rapidly and his shoulders shook imperceptibly and his hands hovered in midair as though unsure of what to do. Jongin wanted so badly to kiss him again. He wanted nothing more than to gather him up and press him close and kiss him for the rest of the night. But he couldn’t.

"I can’t do this."

"Can’t?" Luhan repeated. He sounded so lost and bewildered that Jongin got a lump in his throat.

Jongin could only shake his head. He couldn’t meet Luhan’s eyes.

He felt Luhan stepping back. Already he missed the feeling of his breath on his face.

"I’m sorry," Luhan said. “I was confused. I’m so sorry."

"No." Jongin’s voice broke. “I’m sorry, hyung. It’s not…it’s just that I…I can’t date you," he whispered.

"It’s okay. I understand."

No, you don’t understand, Jongin thought disconsolately as Luhan turned to go. Because you’re the best and worst thing that’s ever happened to me, and you haven’t even happened to me yet. Because I think I’m falling in love with you, and I don’t know what to do.