Luhan felt as if he was tortured through the whole English class – he couldn’t stay still in his seat as he was impatiently waiting to get out of this hellroom and the needles of the clock hung on the ugly green wall seemed to move so painfully slow, as if mocking Luhan’s misery. It wasn’t his fault, really, he had a not-quite-a-date-but-Luhan-calls-it-a-date-anyway after school with Sehun and he was feeling all warm inside at the thought. The thought of the delicious bubble tea they will be drinking of course, not like Luhan would get all warm and excited and heart beating fast for Sehun pffft! (Hell yeah he would!) So yeah, the needles announcing thirteen minutes left were sluggishly moving, making a minute seem like five – and five times thirteen minutes was excruciatingly long. Luhan couldn’t pay any attention to whatever the teacher was saying, which wasn’t a good thing since English was Luhan’s worst subject. But it’s not like he cared, he just wanted to get out of the room and go to the café with Sehun and drink bubble tea with Sehun and see the latter smile and laugh and then kiss Sehun and runaway with him and buy an apartment together and get married and adopt cute children who would look like their fathers even though they were adopted and live happily ever after with Sehun because they were made for each other. Yup, totally this afternoon’s plans. Okay, Luhan got a bit carried away here but still; he couldn’t wait for the tutoring session with Sehun. Which he feared would not result in them being married and living happily ever after when they got home after the date. Actually Luhan was pretty sure he wouldn’t even make it to the step where he kisses Sehun so the plan was foiled already.

Luhan looked up at the clock; only eleven minutes left! He could make it, he was sure he could. Ok who am I kidding, Luhan couldn’t make it. He raised his hand to ask the teacher if he could go to the toilet (and used his best English accent to do so), “Can I go to the washroom, please?”

The teacher raised an eyebrow at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to add something. Luhan had absolutely no idea what was wrong with his sentence and he just stared back at her without saying anything. Sehun, from the seat behind him, whispered, “May I…”

Luhan finally understood and rephrased his question, “I mean, may I go to the washroom, please?”

The teacher smiled, “Sure you can.” Luhan would have to thank Sehun later.

So he finally got up and made his way to the door, incapable of staying in this room longer and stare at the gray clock. The nine remaining minutes would pass by quicker if he didn’t have to sit still in a class full of people speaking an unintelligible language.

So he strolled down the hallways, observing the too familiar surroundings of the bluish gray walls and the dotted black and white floor, the occasional distributor machine, the tables and all the empty rooms. He liked to go out of classes for a little promenade in the school building when he was bored, so he was used to the sight of the seemingly empty building.

He met a girl he recognized from his History class in the locker room and she smiled flirtingly at him before boldly – that is, compared to the usual shy fangirls – asking him out. He politely turned her down and kept on walking until he noticed a broad shouldered and tough looking guy at the end of the hallway. He turned around and went for another hallway when he recognized the guy as Yongguk, his usual, most purposeful and most intimidating fanboy. The man was always after him and trying to touch him; Luhan would never admit it out loud but he was a bit scared of him.

Luhan got to his own locker at the same moment the bell rang and a wide smile spread on his lips. School was finally over for the day. He shove his things in his bag and closed his locker, then went to wait at Sehun’s locker. Students started filling the hallways with noises and excitement, and Luhan waited for someone in particular to appear.

A few minutes later, Sehun arrived and nodded at him, as Luhan smiled back. While the boy quietly prepared his bag, the bubbly redish-brown haired owner of the locker in front appeared.

“Minnie baby!!” Luhan exclaimed and went to see his best friend. The latter smiled widely and hugged him quickly.

“Sorry Lu, I don’t have much time, I gotta be at the soccer field in 5 minutes! So, goodbye Lulu baby~ See you tomorrow!” He said and in a flash of seconds he had already opened and closed his locker and had his things in his hands. Luhan hugged him again and waved, “See you tomorrow!”

Then he happily went back to Sehun who had already closed his locker and had been watching the best friends’ interactions with his usual pokerface. “Ready to go?” he asked, and Luhan nodded yes.

The two boys walked out of the school without saying anything, walking quietly but comfortably together. Luhan really enjoyed these moments a lot. He realized Sehun was probably the only person with whom he could be comfortable in not talking.

Outside of the school ground, they crossed the road to get to the little café they went to the previous time and Luhan smiled as he entered; enjoying the smell of coffee, tea and pastries mixed together in a delicious aroma.

The two young men ordered – Luhan a coconut bubble tea and Sehun a mango bubble tea – and they went to sit at the same area they had the last time, but instead of choosing a table, they decided to sit on the colorful sofa at the end of the room. Maybe it wasn’t the ideal place to sit for a tutoring session but it was totally more comfortable than the hard plastic chairs.

“Are there many things you don’t understand? There’s an exam Thursday so we need to make sure you understand everything! Or if we don’t have the time to go over everything, maybe we could have another tutoring session tomorrow instead of Thursday?” Luhan asked the younger man as they both took their schoolbooks out of their bag and scattering them all over the small table in front of them.

Before the other could reply, Luhan remembered something, “Oh! I just remembered Xiumin and I are supposed to hang out after school tomorrow… Maybe we could study during lunchtime instead of after school?”

Sehun nodded slowly, with an expressionless face, but Luhan thought he saw something in his eyes for a millisecond when he mentioned Xiumin… but he could have been dreaming.

“Yeah, I guess we could do it tomorrow at lunch. But that is if we can’t finish tonight.”

Luhan felt sad at that because it sounded as if Sehun didn’t want to do it tomorrow, as if he didn’t want to spend more time with Luhan. Or maybe it was just that he didn’t want to spend more time studying Maths? That would make sense but Luhan didn’t feel better about it.

“Okay, then I guess we should start.”
And with that they opened their books and Luhan explained the subjects they saw the past few days in class. After a few explanations though, the older realized that Sehun didn’t seem quite as attentive as always, nor did he look like he understood. The formulas, algebra and numbers seemed to all mix together in a very incomprehensible way for the younger man.

After a few attempts at one problem, Sehun sighed and dropped his pencil, “Ugh I’m so stupid!”

Luhan looked at him incredulously and saw a discouraged expression on the handsome face. It was the first time he saw this expression and he hoped it was the last time; Luhan didn’t like it when the younger was sad.

The blonde haired guy lightly slapped Sehun’s arms at his words, “Don’t say that again. You are not stupid, Oh Sehun. If you were I wouldn’t even bother to tutor you.”

Sehun looked at him, seeming skeptic, “I am obviously stupid! I can’t ever get this right! And most of my grades are low! Math is so incomprehensible to me, it sounds just like a language I can’t speak and I can’t find any other explanation than the fact that I am stupid.”

Luhan wasn’t quite sure how to react because Sehun rarely talked and he never talked about how he actually felt about something. So Luhan was a bit taken by surprise by this sudden outburst. And at the same time, it kind of ignited a sort of rage inside of Luhan because he was indignant at how low Sehun thought of himself when he was such an incredible person; when he was everything but stupid.

“You sincerely think that, don’t you? But let me tell you something: grades are not proportional to intelligence. The fact that you’re thinking that is just proving that the education system is ed up.” Luhan said with vigor; he was always one to defend his opinion, and strongly at that. Before Sehun could say something – though Luhan didn’t even think he would have something to reply – he continued, “Grades don’t measure your intelligence, they measure your capacity to pay attention to boring things and to remember them long enough for the exam. Then you can forget everything. This is not learning! Learning is paying attention to interesting things and understanding them; and remembering them because it’s actually interesting and you have the will to learn. Not because you’re forced to or because you want to have a ing good mark because society is threatening you that your future won’t be good without these ing marks.” Luhan had to stop talking and breathe out because he was getting a bit too angry at the matter for a casual conversation in a coffee shop.

He looked up at Sehun’s surprised expression, and gave him a sheepish smile, “Er.. Sorry. I didn’t mean to get carried away. But yeah, don’t think you’re stupid, ok?” Luhan said shyly, embarrassed by his sudden rant about school.

Sehun nodded, “Ok. You seem pretty intense about the subject, I guess I shouldn’t contradict you.” It was said almost seriously but Luhan could see a playful smile tugging at the younger’s lips and he grinned widely: Sehun had been showing a lot of emotions! If three is a lot, that is. But Luhan was really content with it, seeing how it had been many days since he really saw anything disturb the blank of the brunette’s usual pokerface.

“You’re totally right on that! No one should ever contradict me.” Luhan replied just as playfully and Sehun chuckled – Oh that melodious sound to Luhan’s ears! – before they decided to continue studying because they weren’t going to go over all the subject if they kept on talking.

As they dived back in their books, Luhan made sure that the other boy didn’t feel as stupid as before, and the latter seemed to understand more, taking more time and getting less irritated when he didn’t get it right.

After several Mathematics problems, algebra, numbers, calculations, functions and all that extremely boring stuff, the two guys decided it was enough for the day. So Luhan paid for their bubble teas – even though Sehun insisted that he didn’t have to, ‘I don’t have to be paid for babysitting your sister, really’ – and they both exited the cozy little café.

The sun was illuminating the streets brightly but the wind was a bit chilly and Luhan wanted to cry at the fact that summer was really gone and autumn was replacing it. Of course he didn’t though, that would be a little bit childish to cry over such matter.

They (Luhan) talked a bit as they walked home, but sometimes the older felt as if, maybe, he was bothering Sehun. He knew some people just didn’t like to talk and enjoyed silence and surprisingly, for the first time he realized Sehun might be one of these people and might think he is annoying as . So Luhan just shut his mouth. He was talking and it was quite possible he hadn’t even finished his sentence, but the fear that he was a burden to Sehun just kind of stabbed him; and he really really didn’t want Sehun to dislike him because of that. So the only solution he found was to stop talking. It was weird, and Luhan would realize that when he would get to bed that night and recall the events of the day, but in the moment it truly seemed like the right thing to do for him. When he lifted his head and looked at Sehun though, he saw the younger man looking at him, puzzled, with an eyebrow raised.

“Aren’t you going to finish your sentence?” Luhan didn’t even know what he had been talking about, really. So many words left his mouth in a day, sometimes his mouth seemed to talk by itself, his mind not even aware of what he was saying. Was Luhan talking too much? Probably. Why had he never realize that?

Instead of answering the question, he decided to ask what was truly bothering him, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to talk anymore without the answer.

“Sehun, do I annoy you? Like, when I talk. Do I talk too much for you?”

The interrogated guy seemed quite taken aback by the question, clearly not expecting this. And of course, Luhan couldn’t take the little wait, nor the so little he asked, he had to talk more.

“I mean, I know you’re not a very talkative person and I am not going to ask your reason for it because that’s personal AND you might not even have a reason but, since you’re a very quiet person, maybe you enjoy silence and find it extremely annoying when I talk so much and you want to punch me in the face very often? Oh god, I’m doing it again. Talking, I mean.”

Luhan looked at the ground, very very embarrassed, and decided to let Sehun the time to answer this time. He was making a fool of himself in front of his crush again, and he was really starting to miss his usual confidence.

“Honestly, no.” Sehun started and Luhan looked up at him, eager to hear his answer. “It is true that I don’t like to talk much and I do enjoy silences, but I also enjoy listening. It’s not because I’m quiet that people around me have to be quiet, too. So yeah, you can keep on talking as long as you want, I just probably ain’t the best person to have a nice conversation with…” Sehun sounded pretty diffident as he said the last part and Luhan thought he sounded just as he, himself, had sounded minutes ago. Luhan was scared he was talking too much but, he realized, Sehun was scared he wasn’t talking enough. It was cute how they were both opposites, Luhan thought, they would make a really sweet couple!

“Don’t worry about that, you’re nice company and I talk enough for the both of us!” Luhan replied chuckling. “And thank you. For being honest.” It succeeded in making Sehun smile. Luhan couldn’t help but stare as the other’s face changed in a happy expression, with his lips tugged upwards and his beautiful eyes crinkled in a half moon shape. He was so freaking adorable, Luhan had to use all his self-control to not crush him in a hug right now. Why didn’t he smile more often? That was such a beautiful smile he had, he shouldn’t hide it. But at the same time, Luhan thought, if he smiled more often Luhan would probably end up fainting very often from the overwhelming adorableness.

They kept on walking in a comfortable silence, but Luhan didn’t refrain himself from speaking when he wanted to. After a moment, Luhan saw a familiar silhouette further on the sidewalk, walking toward them and he immediately lowered his head. “, , .” Luhan muttered and looked around to see if there was some place he could hide to. He noticed Tao’s little store but it was unfortunately too far for him to get there before the other person would notice him. He decided that it wasn’t that bad and he would just ignore him like usual, he was probably stressed over it for nothing.

But unfortunately, he wasn’t.

When Yongguk approached them, Luhan could see him smirk as he noticed him, “Hey! Isn’t it my little Luhan? Always with a different guy, aren’t you? I always knew you were a anyway.” He got dangerously closer, and at this point Luhan was shivering in fear. He brushed Luhan’s arm and whispered in his ear, “But you could be my .”

Luhan tried to escape the man’s iron hand, by attempting to push him away; it didn’t work. “Let go of me!” He kept on struggling but let’s face it, Luhan is not the strongest man on Earth and he surely isn’t as strong as Yongguk.

But suddenly, Yongguk’s hands were off his body and Luhan could finally move freely.

“Are you ing deaf? He said to let him go!” Luhan looked up to see Sehun standing protectively between him and Yongguk; looking so strong and brave, in another context Luhan would have been drooling over him.

Yongguk snorted, “Want to look courageous and , protecting your princess? But you know what?” He leaned closer to Sehun, as if to tell a secret. “s are not princesses.”

Luhan felt disgusted by the man’s words. Being called a was not exactly his favorite thing and he had the strong desire to punch the man. If that didn’t mean getting killed, he probably would have.

What Luhan didn’t expect was Sehun’s fist colliding with Yongguk’s face with strength, and the older of the two taking a few steps back, shocked. Seems like the younger man had decided enough was enough and took Luhan’s defense. It was sweet and Luhan’s heartbeat quickened as he realized that Sehun punched a man for him. But maybe it also quickened because Sehun punched a man and now he was most likely to be punched back and get hurt. Luhan didn’t want that, oh gosh he didn’t want that at all.

But it seemed like he had no power over the situation as Yongguk was ready to hit Sehun, throwing a punch in the direction of his face, but the latter fortunately dodged the blow and profited of the moment to trip the bad boy. Said bad boy fell on the ground, but was soon back on his feet with what seemed like more anger and a new found vigor. He threw a punch in Sehun’s stomach and didn’t let him the time to react and threw another punch in his face.

Luhan let out whimpers at each blow and he wanted to cry when he saw the pained expression on Sehun’s face. It was definitely an expression he wished he never had to see again.

Sehun didn’t look weakened by the hits though, he even seemed even more energized now as he punched his opponent in the face three times in a row and kicked him in the stomach as he fell to the ground. Luhan watched closely, but the other man didn’t seem like he was able to get up – not anytime soon anyway.

Sehun grabbed Luhan’s arm and dragged him past Yongguk until they were far enough from the bad boy and were walking almost normally again.

After a few minutes, Luhan regained the ability to speak, “Oh my God, Sehun! Are you okay? Does it hurt? You didn’t have to do that! But thank you so much, you saved my life! But you shouldn’t have fought him, he’s such a tough guy and and oh god!” Luhan either had too much or too less to say.

Sehun looked at him and slightly smiled comfortingly, “Don’t worry about me, I’m alright. And he ing deserved it, I don’t regret anything.” Sadly, Luhan could tell by the way he walked that the fist at the stomach had hurt badly.

“Let’s go at my house, I’ll take care of your injuries.”

The younger tried to protest but Luhan shut him up, “That’s the least I can do, you just saved me from being !”

The brunette nodded slowly in response and they walked the rest of the way quietly, both in their thoughts.

When they finally arrived at the older’s house, the latter was surprised to see that the door wasn’t locked. I couldn’t have forgotten to lock it this morning, right?

He entered the house cautiously, ready to attack any intruder - and saw two sophisticated pairs of shoes on the carpet.

“Hi Luhan!” Two familiar voices said in unison and as he lifted his head, Luhan saw his parents staring at him and Sehun.

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Tun tun tuntun!! :b

You will all meet Luhan's parents for the first time in the next chapter! :D

I wanted to thank all of you guys who commented on the last chapter, because it really cheered me up and I needed that :) You guys are the loveliest ! ♥

Also I want to say that I have honestly no idea how many chapters left there will be. I have a general idea of the plot, but the chapers are mostly random ideas I have and want to write down, so the story could go on for a while with my ideas. But do you guys think the building relationship between Hunhan is too slow? Let me know! I'll try to please you with the results of the poll but hey, I'm still the author, I do wut I want :p

♥