Chapter 8

                It's the week before Luhan's 19^th birthday and the pressure is gnawing away at his conscious and unconscious mind. He's eating less and sleeping even less, the only food he eats is whatever that's shoved down his throat by his friends or Sehun and Kai. He finds himself falling asleep on the couch beside Sehun more often than he does on his own bed when he is alone. The closer his birthday gets the less Luhan sees Sehun and Kai; they're gone more often now to help with the party preparation. Sehun has already told him that there will be other's he hasn’t met yet and they will give him till midnight to make his decision. One of the things that worry him the most is that neither side has given him any word that a fight won't break out once he chooses the opposite side.

"Do you think they will hate me, after I've chosen?" his three best friends eyes snap up to look at him, they haven't heard this question from Luhan before. They look around at each other, unsure of what to say, but they know they have to say something to him.

"No, they should be able to respect your decision" Xiumin decides to speak up, hoping his words are enough to calm the other's worried heart.

"I can't believe you have a week left to make a decision, time flies by so fast" Baekhyun murmurs as he realizes just how true his statement is. Luhan looks over to him, sadness in his face and he regrets some of his words.

"Why don’t we make the best of this week?" Yixing suggests and he smiles brightly at his friends when they all smile in agreement. They quickly plan out their next week together, including movie marathons that they will have at night while Luhan is sleeping over. Xiumin was nice enough to offer his home to his three best friends, allowing them to spend all of the following week together. Every couple days Chanyeol will come over and spend some time with them as well, he understands how much this week means to Luhan. The week flashes by much faster than any of them wanted it to and before they know it, they are all walking a nearby park for           Luhan's 19^th birthday party.

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"Luhan, this is Chen, one of the demon's you were unable to meet when you visited the demon world" Kris introduces Luhan to a shorter male with dark hair and sharp cheek bones. He gives a small smile back to Chen as he reaches his hand out to accept the others in a hand shake.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Sehun has told me a lot about you" Luhan smiles at Chen's smirk when they hear Sehun's groan of annoyance 'stop saying things' from behind them. Luhan vaguely wonders if this is the demon Kris meant when he talked about a friend of his being punished for loving an angel and he can't help but ask which angel.

"Really? These are my friends Yixing, Baekhyun and Xiumin" Luhan points to each of his friends as he introduces them to the new face. There are some more brief introductions but Luhan can't focus on them, his mind is too busy worrying about so many things.

"Calm down, you still have a couple hours, its only 7pm" Luhan jumps slightly at the feeling of Sehun standing behind him and whispering in his ear. Luhan sighs and he sags back against Sehun's chest, smiling when he feels the hands that grab at his waist and rub soothing circles into the fabric of his shirt.

"If you were me, what would you choose?" Luhan asks softly and he tilts his head up to look Sehun in the eyes as he waits for his opinion.

"I would choose whatever my mind tells me too" Sehun answers as he pulls away from Luhan and directs him over towards other guests by the hand that is still on his hip. When they reach the cluster of guests, Sehun introduces Luhan to them and Luhan learns that they are the stronger demons, the ones that are always close with his father.

"Why are there so many demons and angels and why haven’t they started fighting?" Luhan turns to Sehun and whispers in his ear once they are no longer talking to the guests. Sehun laughs softly at Luhan and gives him an amused smile.

"We don’t always fight, besides we have an agreement that there will be no fighting till everything is done" Sehun explains and his eyes are searching around the park, as if he is looking for something or someone. "We have a truce for the time being and no side knows how long it will last after you make your choice" Sehun adds, eyes landing on two figures huddled close together as they hide in the shadows. He grabs Luhan's hand and walks him over toward the figures, Luhan lets himself be dragged. When they stop in front of the figures, Luhan's eyes try to adjust to the darkness as he tries to make out the two males.

"You know, this isn’t really the place for PDA" at the sound of Sehun's voice the two bodies spring apart and they stare heavily at Sehun before they notice Luhan with them.

"Sehun, Luhan, it's been awhile" Luhan immediately recognizes the voice as Suho, the angel he met and he is surprised when the second figure presses himself up against Suho's side once again. Luhan's eyes widen in realization when Chen's sharp cheek bones and defined jaw pop out of the shadows to press against Suho's shoulder.

"So it was you" Luhan practically cheers in joy when his suspicion is proven to be a fact and he smiles wide at the adorable couple cuddle side by side. Suho smiles brightly at Luhan and his cute cheer, he shakes his head at how easy it is to amuse the boy.

"Kris must have mentioned something, didn’t he?" Chen asks, looking between Luhan and Sehun as he refuses to let Suho slip out of his grasp. Sehun shrugs nonchalantly and ignores the dirty look Chen shoots him.

"He did say something about a demon friend being in love with an angel" Luhan nods as he thinks back to Kris' words, he sees the smiles that spread across both the angel and the demons' faces. They continue to make wander around the park, stopping to chat with whoever they haven’t yet or anyone that strikes up a conversation. Luhan gets distracted by all the people that he doesn’t even realize how late it has become till Sehun shows him the time-11:45pm.

Luhan grabs Sehun by the hand and drags him away from all the guests to an area where they are all alone. He stops and turns to face the demon boy; Sehun looks at the serious expression on his face and wonders what this could mean.

"Sehun, I need you to be honest with me" Luhan starts slowly, entwining both his hands with Sehun's larger ones. Sehun looks into Luhan's eyes and waits for him to continue as he gently squeezes the hands being held in his. "I tried so hard Sehun, to stop it from happening, but no matter how hard I tried it never worked" Sehun hears the beginnings of Luhan's tears and decides to step closer to the seemingly fragile boy. "I'm in love with you Sehun and I need to know if you love me too" Luhan finally meets his eyes and Sehun can see the tears that are threatening to fall and run down his flushed cheeks. Sehun presses their chests together, lips a breath away from each other as he breathes in slowly before meeting staring back into Luhan's eyes.

"It's unreasonable and I shouldn’t have let it happened either but I'm in love with you too" Sehun answers, finally pressing his lips hurriedly against the other's. Luhan's breathe catches in his throat as he is pushed against a nearby tree, Sehun's chest hard against his. Sehun's hands move to grip the bark of the tree on either side of Luhan's hips as he tugs the smaller male's bottom lip between his own. Luhan's small hands slide up Sehun's arms before they stop and wrap themselves around the taller's neck, pulling them even closer. Sehun is the first to pull away from the kiss and he is tempted to kiss Luhan again when he sees how beautiful he looks, cheeks flushed and lips slightly swollen. "I love you so much but" Sehun pauses as he pulls away from Luhan and Luhan can feel his heart breaking as the space between them becomes larger again. "But you need to choose what is right, don't let your heart sway you the wrong way" Sehun finishes as he turns his back on the boy who he loves and loves him back, Luhan stares after him until his retreating back is no longer visible. Luhan uses the walk back to the main area of the party to calm himself and wipe away his tears, when he emerges from the area of trees; it's his three best friends that come running to him.

"Luhan, are you ready? Do you want us to stand up there with you?" Xiumin asks quickly as Luhan is huddled between the bodies of best friends.

"No, I'll be fine" Luhan hopes that his smile is enough for them to believe him as he follows Kris' directing to the small stage built in the middle of the park. Luhan stands quietly in front of the microphone set up for him to use. His eyes scan the crowd, looking at how many people are there and his eyes stop roaming the crowd when he finds Sehun standing with his father and the rest of the demons he has met.

There are soft whispers, bets among the crowd as well as words of betting slowly rising as the clock finally strikes midnight and Luhan is 19.

"I have given this a lot of thought and I see no other way" Luhan's voice starts out shaky as he tries to explain his thinking. "I just hope all of you can understand, father" Luhan's eyes move over to look at his father, the man he hasn’t seen since he was five, a stranger in his 19 year old self's eyes. "I want you to know that this isn’t about us" Luhan pauses and he takes in some air as he readies himself. "I am refusing the demon's side" there are some loud cheers from the angels and angered shouts from the demons as well. "And, I'm refusing the angel's side" Luhan finishes, and the shouts become louder, he registers his friends running up to him and wrapping their arms around him. "I have chosen to stay here, where my help is needed more" Luhan looks at the crowd as loud arguing starts up, he finds Sehun again, he sees how surprised he is but when he notices Kai, all he sees is rage. Luhan is surprised by the sadness and happiness that fights over his father's face and Luhan finds himself wishing for the first time that he had more time with his father.

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It's three in the morning and the demons have been ushered back to the demon world by Luhan's father and the angels have disappeared too. His friends had offered to stay the night with him but all Luhan wanted was to be left alone. They walked Luhan back to his apartment before they all headed home wishing him a goodnight.

"It's so quiet" Luhan's voice echoes in the empty apartment as he closes the door behind him. He moves slowly around his lonely home before he heads to his room and begins his nightly routine before bed.

Luhan curls into himself, under the warmth of his blankets and prays that sleep will come to get him soon before his mind catches up with reality. As he lays there breathe slowly evening out his mind brings him back to Sehun's kiss. His lips still remember what it felt like to have Sehun's lips pressed against them and he wishes that Sehun hadn’t pulled away from him. Luhan doesn’t realize that he is crying till he feels his pillow becoming wet and tears running down his face. His mind is racing and he realizes that he now has a three bedroom apartment all to himself and he sobs harder into his pillow. Luhan isn’t sure how long he is crying for but he knows it must have been for a while when he cries himself to sleep.

                            *So there is only a handful more of chapters and they might take more time to write. Well here is the next chapter