Most boys grow up investing their time in video games and sports even well into their adult lives, but for Xi Luhan, his adolescence was spent reading romance novels of high school girls falling in love with high school boys. Typical stories included an unpopular girl crushing on the popular guy and getting him in the end, a girl who changes everything about herself for a guy realizing in the end that being yourself is best and finding a guy who loves her just the way she is.

This was what Luhan’s teenage years added up to. Expensive teen romance novels that made him smile for a few seconds before he moved on to a new story.

Now, he was in his third year of university, wondering where all his time went and only a bitter fragment of what he once was.

Although all his books had happy endings in the end, they didn’t reflect real life and Luhan had to learn that the hard way. Most of his stories involved girls who were in love with boys, and somewhere along the way, Luhan became in love with the idea of love. The only problem was, his love had strayed from going to boys instead of girls.

“Hey Luhan, can you help me with this?” said Chen, his housemate for the past year, as he unboxed a brand new mini fridge in the living room of their double-storey terrace house. It wasn’t a bad house but it wasn’t exactly a mansion either, not that Luhan was complaining considering how hard it was for an international student to study in the UK, not to mention finding a house that was cheap and didn’t require much paperwork.

Luhan made a face to Chen but helped the Korean student get the fridge up to his room, which was right next to his own. As both of them placed the fridge in the corner of Chen’s small bedroom, Luhan had to wonder why Chen wanted his own fridge in the first place.

“The fridge downstairs is way too small for all three of our food stuff, plus it’s handy if I want to hide my snacks away from you guys,” Chen said with a playful grin, earning a smack from Luhan on his right arm.

“I don’t steal your snacks, I’ll leave that job to Kai,” Luhan said, getting a little laugh from Chen.

“I heard that!” a voice bellowed from downstairs making both Luhan and Chen laugh a little more. “You guys are such . Snacks are meant to be shared.”

Kai trotted up the stairs up to Chen’s room and made a face to his housemates before noticing the new fridge Chen bought. “That is so unnecessary.”

“I agree,” said Luhan with a nod.

“You guys don’t appreciate food like I do,” said Chen as he adjusted his fridge into a ‘perfect’ position when all their phones beeped with their text message tones.

“New students are here. Let’s go next door,” Kai said as he placed his phone in his back pocket.

Being the small population of Asian students in the dull grey country that is England, it was only feasible for them to form a chat group of six people to keep in contact in case something came up. A group that will now increase to nine people once the new students join in. As Luhan went out into the slightly cold air outside, he locked the door to the house and went down the steps onto the sidewalk.

It was complete luck that he managed to find a house just two doors down from the students he made contact with a few weeks before he received his scholarship and he thought that the stars were aligning for his years in university but stars can only align for so long.

As Kai knocked on the door of the Chanyeol-Baekhyun-Tao house, previously known as the Chanyeol-Baekhyun-Suho-Henry house until Suho and Henry graduated and Tao moved in from his two-bedroom apartment that he shared with Kyungsoo as soon as Suho, Henry and Kyungsoo flew back to Korea, they were greeted with a happy Chanyeol at the door.

“Hey guys! Come on in,” Chanyeol said, moving himself away from the small space of the entranceway to allow Kai, Chen and Luhan to go inside the house.

As all of them went inside, Luhan quickly noticed the new students sitting on the chairs of the four-seater dining table just behind the sofa in the living room. Luhan politely smiled at them and they greeted the blonde-haired, doe-eyed boy with a smile as well.

Luhan took a seat next to Baekhyun who was sitting on one of the two white couches in the room that was placed near the wall, scrolling through instagram from what Luhan could see, while Chen and Kai sat on the couch in front of the dining table, craning their necks and eyeing up the new students with interest.

“So, this is Kris and Yixing. Kris and Yixing, this is everybody,” Chanyeol said as he lamely introduced everyone.

“Wow, thanks Chanyeol. You’re a real conversation starter,” said Baekhyun, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s introduction as he pried his eyes from his phone. “This is Luhan, Kai and Chen.”

Baekhyun pointed to each of them while Luhan observed the two new guys. One was incredibly tall with nice blonde hair and piercing eyes, while the other one was cute with dark brown hair and dimples blatantly showing on his face as he smiled while politely bowing to his hyungs.

“I’m Yixing,” dimple-boy simply said.

“I’m Kris,” tall guy said with a deep voice. “I thought there were nine of us in total. Where are the other two?”

Realising the absence of Tao, Luhan knew it could only mean one thing.

Jet lag.

Although Tao was a third year just like Luhan, he was incredibly childish and had a tough time when it came to adjusting his sleeping pattern.

“Tao is… sleeping,” Baekhyun said, tilting his head towards Chanyeol as he shared a knowing smile with his other half.

Kris looked at Baekhyun with a confused stare, “but it’s one in the afternoon.”

“Jet lag,” both Baekhyun and Chanyeol said. “We’ll introduce you guys to him later,” Chanyeol said with a strained smile as he filled up the space near Baekhyun on the couch, forcing him, Baekhyun and Luhan to squeeze together tightly on the small two seater couch.

Luhan could only inwardly laugh as he imagined Kris and Yixing meeting the character that was Tao later on when he wakes up.

“But, what about the other guy?” Chen asked, taking a break from bothering Kai, who was texting on his phone. Texting with, Luhan could only imagine, Kyungsoo.

“He told me he had to stop by some place in London before coming here so he’ll be a little late,” Chanyeol explained, gaining a few understanding nods from the people in the room.

“Sorry guys. Excuse me for a sec,” said a smiling Kai as he literally bounced off the couch and out of the front door.

“And there he goes,” Chen said, gaining a chuckle from Luhan and Baekhyun.

“What’s going on?” Yixing asked as he stared at the front door.

“Oh nothing. Just Kai being a lovesick puppy,” Chen replied to dimple-boy.

“Lovesick puppy?” Kris reiterated, leaning forward for a further explanation.

“Well…” Chen started but caught Baekhyun’s excited face. “Why don’t you tell the story, Baek.”

Baekhyun beamed. “Okay, last year we had another student named Kyungsoo and Kai was a first year like you guys—”

“I’m a third year,” Kris interrupted, not liking being called a first year when he was simply doing the one-year abroad for his course.

“Fine. Kai was a first year, like Yixing,” Baekhyun said bitterly towards Kris, “and the first time he saw Kyungsoo, he was completely smitten. Like, he would text him separately outside of our whatsapp group and he’d walk Kyungsoo home if his classes ended late and stuff. It was just so sweet but Kyungsoo was so oblivious but somehow, they finally got together and now they’re still going strong. They were so cute. I hope they’ll be able to stick through this long-distance thing.”

Yixing nodded in understanding at Baekhyun’s story. “So, he’s on the phone with this Kyungsoo?”

Luhan, Chen, Baekhyun and Chanyeol nodded in unison.

Kris and Yixing looked at each other and shared a look before smiling back at their new university mates.

“You guys seem funny,” Kris said with a small laugh.

Somehow, everything became comfortable after that. With no rhyme or reason, everyone began talking like they’ve been best friends forever and things seemed to just flow. It was nearly dinnertime and Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Yixing were busy making some carbonara enough for nearly twenty people, considering the fact that Chen eats enough for three people while Chanyeol, Tao and Kai ate enough for two people and of course, they didn’t forget to consider the fact that they haven’t figured out how much Kris and Yixing eat. Chen and Kai were chatting to Kris about his life and hobbies at the dining table, which left Luhan alone, staring at his phone and reading tweets, which wasn’t a good combination.

As Luhan scrolled through the latest tweets, his fingers expertly tapped onto a profile he had become so used to stalking since the summer. 

 Kim Minseok.

He didn’t know why it became routine for him to check his ex-boyfriend’s tweets everyday. It wasn’t as if he was still in love with him but he couldn’t help but wonder how the guy was doing after the break up.

Luhan and Minseok had been together for nearly three and a half years and in all that time, Luhan really thought that he was in love but when his grades started slipping from too many visits to where Minseok was studying, he knew he had to do something drastic or else becoming a lawyer would only be something of a fantasy, and Luhan couldn’t have that.

After leaving for Korea earlier than Minseok, whereas before they would fly off together, Luhan spared no expense in ignoring his long time boyfriend until finally, Luhan decided to put them both out of their misery – through text.

 

Let’s break up 19:22✓

What? 19:22

You can’t be serious. 19:23

But I am. 19:23✓

I don’t want to be with you anymore 19:23✓

Where is this coming from? 19:23

You really want to give up on us? 19:23

I do. 19:25✓

Give up nearly 4 years of being together? 19:25

Yes. 19:25✓

 

Minseok deserved better than a text breakup. Luhan knew that but it didn’t stop him from doing so.

Luhan hadn’t always been so cold. Prior to the breakup, people would usually call him bright and cute, which surprised people when he told them that he wanted to major in Law in University. He was always hung up with the idea of love that sometimes studying took a back seat. Luhan had always been smart without trying but the last two years of high school proved to be tough. Nevertheless, Luhan pulled through even though he didn’t get to go to his first choice university.

Luhan wondered if it was because he was with Minseok, or if it was his own fault for being so infatuated with the idea of being in love with Minseok. Would he have gone to his first choice if he rejected Minseok’s confession? Too late to ponder now.

“Hey Luhan. What are you doing? You’re so quiet. Come here. Kris is telling us this hilarious story,” said Kai, snapping Luhan back from his trip down memory lane. Luhan gave a little smile to Kai, standing up to join them even though he wasn’t really in the mood to joke around.

Luhan scrolled through his phone one last time before stuffing the little device into his hoodie’s pocket. He was about to join his housemates and Kris when the doorbell rand.

“That’s probably the other new guy! Someone open the door!” Chanyeol yelled out from the kitchen.

As Luhan was the nearest to the front door, he made his way to it. He unlocked the door skillfully since the Baekhyun-Chanyeol-Tao house was basically his second home, and the chilly autumn air blew into the entranceway as he opened the door revealing a tall, flawless like porcelain and not to mention, good-looking, very good-looking guy.

“Uh, hi. Are you Chanyeol?” good-looking, porcelain guy said to a frozen and blinking Luhan. Luhan snapped out of his frozen state, blaming it on the autumn air even though it wasn’t that cold, and shook his head.

“No. Chanyeol’s cooking right now. I’m Luhan. Uh, come on in,” Luhan said, awkwardly swinging his arm to welcome the guy inside when he noticed the two large suitcases on the sidewalk. “I’ll help you carry those in.”

Porcelain guy looked back to where Luhan was looking before turning back and smiling at Luhan.

He smiled, and it was the most magnificent sm— stop, Luhan. Not the time for a romance novel moment.

Luhan looked down and away from porcelain guy and made his way down the steps onto the sidewalk with porcelain guy in tow.

“I’m Sehun and you don’t have to carry those in. I live here,” pointing to the house between Luhan’s and the BCT house (BCT = Baekhyun-Chanyeol-Tao house). “With uh… Yi… xing? Yeah, Yixing.”

Okay, the BCT house is now the Baekhyun-Chanyeol-Tao-Kris house. BCTK? Not that catchy but whatever.

Luhan nodded. “Uh, I’ll help you carry it to your house then.”

Why was he saying ‘uh’ all the time? Luhan was supposed to be a lawyer who can fast-talk his way out of things. Not this… thing.

“Thanks… Luhan hyung,” Sehun said, giving Luhan both a good and bad shiver across his shoulders, depending on how you look at it.

“Just Luhan.”

“Aren’t you older though?” Sehun asked, as he opened the door to his house.

“Yes but not that much older. So, just Luhan,” said Luhan dismissively as he dragged one of Sehun’s suitcase up the stairs and into a similar entranceway to his own where Sehun was waiting and smiling that goddamn smile at Luhan again.

“Okay, just Luhan.”

 

The first month of Luhan’s last year of university went by quickly as he was instantly bundled up with stacks of assignments and reading to do before Christmas break. Kai was extra busy compared to his first year, being a Pharmacy student and all and Chen was just… Chen.

“Luhan! I’m going out for the night and Kai said he had lab so he has to stay at uni til like midnight or something,” Chen yelled to Luhan through his bedroom door. It was a Friday night and Luhan didn’t expect any less from party animal Chen. Luhan told Chen to have fun and not drink so much before going back to highlighting all the reading material he had sprawled on his bed.

2 hours later and halfway through all the reading he needed to do before Monday, a knock downstairs knocked Luhan out of his zone.

Luhan groaned at who could possibly disturb him when he was at such a critical part of his research. With an annoyed feeling and cramped legs, Luhan quickly went down the stairs and opened the front door slightly, a frown still on his face until he saw who it was.

“Hey…” Sehun said with his hands in his pocket. “Uh, did I disturb you?”

Luhan opened the door wider. “Uh, no. I was just studying. Um, come in.”

‘Uh’, ‘um’, god, what is wrong with me?

Both boys stood awkwardly in he living room for a good minute before Sehun spoke up. “About why I’m here…”

“Oh, right! I was going to ask that,” Luhan said, wondering why he was getting so flustered.

“Uh, well, Yixing made food, too much food actually, and he left for the library just a few minutes ago and uh, I, I was wondering if you’d want some? At my house?” Sehun asked, fumbling over his words a little, which Luhan would’ve usually found annoying but he found it cute on him.

No, let’s not go there.

Luhan shook his head to snap his thoughts back to center. “I’m not—”

Grumble.

Luhan could feel the heat of a hundred suns on his cheeks at the loud sound his stomach just made. He could see Sehun’s surprised expression instantly turn into one of amusement as he tried to contain his smile and laughter with the palm of his hand. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

Luhan smiled sheepishly and gave a small nod, quietly grabbing his jacket that was hanging on a hook the door separating the living room and the entranceway before going outside.

 

“When you said Yixing cooked too much food… you weren’t kidding,” Luhan said as he looked at the amount of food that was on the dining table of the Sehun-Yixing house.

The amount of food Yixing made for this one night equaled to the amount of food Luhan had made these past two years of university when he had bothered to cook.

“Yeah… I keep telling him to stop cooking so much but he said I can just put it away if there are leftovers. The problem is, there’s too much leftovers and the fridge can’t take it,” said Sehun as he placed two plates on the dining table along with a fork and a spoon. “Go on.”

If Luhan was being honest with himself, he was quite glad for the change. Luhan had been eating more ramen than he had ever had his entire life this past month trying to do as much work as possible and damn, the chicken Yixing made tasted like heaven even though Luhan had never been to heaven and did not plan on doing so anytime soon.

Luhan heard a soft chuckle on the other side of the table. “Good?”

Luhan wiped his mouth with his hand and smiled politely at Sehun. “Yeah. Best meal I’ve had in a while.”

Sehun grimaced before taking a tissue that was near him and leaning over the table to wipe Luhan’s lips, getting a little up too close and personal for Luhan’s taste. “That’s dirty.”

Luhan stood up so fast that the dining chair tumbled backwards. If his growling stomach made him feel like a hundred suns were on him, the simple sound of Sehun’s voice saying ‘that’s dirty’ felt like a thousand suns were on him now.

“I, I, uh, I’m full. I’ll go wash my plate,” said Luhan as he grabbed his plate and walked quickly to the kitchen. What is going on? This shouldn’t be happening. Luhan wanted this feeling to stop. His heart was beating so fast and his head was feeling so dizzy. If he wasn’t a veteran to it, he would’ve probably thought he was sick but no. He was starting to like Sehun. No, starting wasn’t the right word. He had liked Sehun the first time his flawless porcelain face came into view at BCTK, and now it’s spiraling out of control and manifesting into something that Luhan didn’t think he had to face so soon.

“You okay?” Luhan heard Sehun say, making him slightly jump as he washed his plate. “You seem kind of… jumpy.”

“N-no, I’m great!” Luhan said with a little too much enthusiasm, which didn’t go pass Sehun.

“Don’t lie. Do you… not like me?” Sehun said, his face dropping a little. “I’ve been here a month and we’ve had dinner with the guys next door a few times and I kind of notice that you don’t really… acknowledge me.”

Luhan finished washing his plate and his mind was whirring. Did it bother Sehun that he had been trying to control himself from staring too long at his goddamn face? And more than that, Sehun actually noticed?

“It’s… It’s not like that,” said Luhan lamely.

Sehun furrowed his brows. “I thought it was because I was new so you felt awkward around me but you seem fine with talking with Kris and Yixing. Do you just dislike me?”

This was getting ridiculous. Sehun had totally misinterpreted his actions as something else.

Dense. I thought characters like him only existed in those stupid teen romance novels.

Luhan sighed and faced the now sad-looking Sehun. So frikkin cu— no. “I don’t dislike you. You just… make me uncomfortable.”

Sehun raised his eyebrows. “Doesn’t that mean you don’t like me?”

Luhan closed his eyes in frustration. “No, it doesn’t mean that. I just… You’re… I like your face.”

What the hell? That was not what I wanted to say!

“My face?” Sehun asked, confused.

Okay, just go with the flow. “Yeah. Your face. I like it.”

A moment of silence passed by them as Luhan stared at Sehun who was probably analyzing Luhan’s words.

“So…” Sehun started, breaking the tension of the silence. “Since you said you like my face… oh my god, you’re in love with me!”

Oh .

“No! I’m not! I was just—”

“Is that why you’ve never really talked to me before? Cause you thought I’d hate the thought of you liking me?” Sehun asked with excitement in his voice.

Luhan took a deep breath and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Sehun, I told you. That—”

 Before Luhan could even begin to explain this somehow strange situation, Sehun had managed to close the two feet gap between them and was now two inches from Luhan’s face. “I liked you since you opened the front door for me.”

Sehun’s breath tickled Luhan’s cheek as he spoke and Luhan thought he had to get out of this situation. Fast.

“Just then?” Luhan said drily, referring to when he opened his door for Sehun at his house.

“A month ago,” Sehun said, ignoring Luhan’s discomfort. Sehun’s gaze had somewhat moved onto Luhan’s lips and stayed there for what felt like an eternity for Luhan. What made it even more nerve wrecking was the fact that Sehun was now moving forward trying to close that small two inch space Luhan was clinging onto for dear life.

“Sehun! Sehun! Open the door! I’m freezing my off!” a voice yelled, which sounded a lot like Kris’, stopping Sehun midway of what he was about to do.

Luhan took his chance and pushed Sehun away, running out of the front door and past a surprised and red-nosed Kris.

 

 

It had been nearly three weeks since the whole thing with Sehun happened and for the past three weeks, Luhan had literally buried himself in piles of work and revision, even taking on extra workload that wasn’t even required of him to do. Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who were also taking Law, stared at Luhan who looked like a demented ghost obsessed with studying as he scribbled away.

“Uh, Luhan, is everything okay?” Baekhyun asked after watching Luhan for the past ten minutes instead of reading the textbook in front of him. They were all in the library, doing some research for their next assignment due in two weeks but Luhan looked like he was doing an assignment due in one hour.

“Of course,” Luhan said without looking up. Baekhyun gave a look to Chanyeol and Chanyeol simply shrugged.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Chanyeol asked, worry straining his face.

Luhan stopped scribbling and contemplated whether to tell them the whole story. It had been clawing at him for the past three weeks and Sehun’s face, his goddamn face, was stuck in Luhan’s mind in pristine HD quality. He had tried everything to get his mind off Sehun’s confession. Taking on extra workloads, going shopping, watching dramas, heck, he even went jogging despite the cold weather.

This year was supposed to be about getting the highest grades possible and having nothing, absolutely nothing, breaking his stride. He had focused on his love life for the first two years of university and it nearly cost him his first class grade. Luhan really hated Minseok for always begging him to come take a train to Leicester and spend the weekend. The weekend turned to a whole week then a whole two weeks. Luhan felt like kicking himself for being such an idiot for the past two years and blamed it on his adolescent years obsessing over butterflies in the belly and whatnot. He also blamed Minseok, but mostly he just blames himself.

“Hello~ Earth to Luhan,” Baekhyun said waving a hand in front of Luhan.

“Sorry,” said Luhan, taking glances between Chanyeol and Baekhyun. “I got confessed to.”

“WHAT?!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol said out loud, much to the annoyance of the people around them.

“What did you say?” Baekhyun asked eagerly.

“I ran away,” Luhan said, embarrassed.

Chanyeol started laughing. “Classy.”

“It’s not funny. It’s bugging me now. I broke up with Minseok because I wanted to concentrate in my studies but now Sehun comes along and—”

“SEHUN?!” both Baekhyun and Chanyeol yell out again, resulting in a lot of ‘tch’s and ‘shut up!’s from nearby students.

“You’re telling me Sehun confessed to you?” Baekhyun asked to make sure.

Luhan nodded. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. He’s… he’s breaking my stride.”

“If you put it that way then I guess I can say that Baekhyun broke my stride,” Chanyeol said seriously.

“Yah!” Baekhyun said, giving Chanyeol a death stare.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way, baby,” Chanyeol said with a smile, rubbing Baekhyun’s hand before Baekhyun pulled away.

“Whatever,” Baekhyun said, flipping his head away from Chanyeol.

Chanyeol shook his head, but had a smile on his face. “Remember when I first got here? I was so anti-social and all I did was stick to my video games in my room. You and Baekhyun broke me out of my shell, Baekhyun especially.”

Chanyeol gave a sweet stare to his boyfriend and although, Baekhyun pretended not to notice, Luhan could see the creep of pink on his pale cheeks. “My parents were happy when I came back cheery and not broody like I used to. I became a better person.”

“That’s a sweet story and all but what does that have to do with me?” Luhan asked.

“Well, I’m saying that maybe you don’t have to see this as a bad thing. Maybe you and Sehun can just… see how things go,” Chanyeol simply said.

See how things go?

Luhan didn’t know what to say so he settled for a nod, which seemed enough for Chanyeol as he focused his attention in gaining Baekhyun’s reluctant hand in his.

 

A few nights after the heart to heart with Baekhyun and Chanyeol at the library, Yixing had invited all of them to his and Sehun’s house for a celebratory dinner. Celebration for what, Luhan didn’t know but he was eager for the food… and eager for something else too.

Luhan hadn’t seen or spoken with Sehun for nearly a month, which was amazing considering the fact that they lived next to each other. Sehun had tried to speak with him a few times but Luhan told Chen to tell him that he wasn’t home and Sehun wouldn’t press on the issue, but enough was enough and Luhan needed to clear the air. Which was why he was in front of Sehun’s house… a whole two hours early.

Luhan fought with himself on the steps of Sehun’s front door and held his fist up multiple times to knock but losing his confidence.

Come on, it’s just a knock. Just say hi and say that you need to talk to him before the party. It’s that simple. It’s not like it’s going to kill you. Plus, don’t you want to—

“How long are you going to stand there?”

Luhan looked up from the ground and the view nearly knocked him backwards. Sehun was wearing a crisp white button down with a blue cardigan hugging his oh-so-delicious body in all the right places and some light brown trousers. Let’s not forget his face either, his god damn beautiful face.

“Uh… I…” Luhan could feel his chest tightening but took a deep breath and ignored it. “I have to talk to you.”

“Why? You’ve been ignoring me. I thought you wouldn’t even come tonight,” Sehun said bitterly.

“I… I’m really sorry about that night,” Luhan started, cursing himself for not thinking of what to say beforehand.

Should’ve taken a hint from all those crappy confessions in those books.

“I’m not,” Sehun said angrily before sighing. “Come on in. It’s cold.”

Luhan went inside as Sehun locked the front door. “Where’s Yixing?”

“He went out to buy some stuff for dinner. What did you want to say to me?” Sehun said, getting to the main topic fast.

Luhan could see that Sehun was annoyed with him but he also saw the hurt he had on his face.

“I just wanted to apologize.” Luhan said quietly.

“I told you, I’m not—”

“I was just surprised,” Luhan said quickly. “I just broke up with someone and… and your confession kind of threw me off. I got scared so I ran. I do like you but I’m in my last year and I don’t really want to be distracted. I’m not saying yes or anything but… we could start as friends. I won’t ignore you anymore and I won’t be such a . I know you probably—”

Luhan didn’t know what was going on but that blue cardigan that was hugging Sehun in all the right way was now pressed against him along with Sehun’s body, all vocabulary flying out of his head.

“This… this is for cutting me off just then. And… it’s also my apology and my thanks, I guess.”

Luhan could only hope that Sehun didn’t hear or feel his heart through that cardigan of his. Sehun smelled like expensive cologne and his flawless porcelain face felt soft and warm as it brushed past Luhan’s cheek. Luhan felt like he could get used to this feeling and that was bad so he pulled away before he did something stupid like hug Sehun back.

“You’re too easy to persuade,” Luhan joked, earning him a smile from Sehun. His god damn perfect smile.

“Some people would say that’s a good trait.”

 

 

Christmas break was approaching and although Luhan never celebrated Christmas, he really would love a little break.

“Hey,” Sehun greeted Luhan with a smile as he took a seat next to him in the library.

“Did you get me—”

Before Luhan even finished, Sehun had already stuck out a honey and oats granola bar in his face without even looking at him.

“Tch,” Luhan said in fake distaste, smiling at the younger. Luhan stared at Sehun a little longer than he intended as Sehun flipped through his textbook that had ‘Cells, Molecules and Genes’ printed in front in bold black letters.

His mind wandered on the past two months of hanging out with Sehun. He learnt that Sehun was an only child and his parents run their own hospital which led him to choose his major in Biomedical Sciences.

‘Medicine is too long. I can’t stand it,’ Sehun said when Luhan asked why he didn’t just take medicine. Although Sehun was lazy like that, he was quite hardworking and smart, which was a pleasant surprise as well as an annoyance.

You’re smart, tall, friendly and you have a flawless face. I really hate you. Luhan would think but seeing how kind Sehun was forced himself to admit that Sehun was just such a pleasant existence to have around that he simply couldn’t hate the guy.

Okay. More than pleasant. Luhan really liked having Sehun around. Probably a little too much.

Imagine the shock on people’s faces when the both of them started walking to and back from university everyday without fail, having lunch together without fail and even going grocery shopping together most times without fail. Chen and Kai were definitely surprised and Chen being Chen decided that he should simply say ‘Hunhan’ every time he needed Luhan or Sehun since both of them were like Siamese twins, constantly with each other.

Luhan shook his head at the name but secretly he quite liked how their names meshed together. It was endearing.

“Luhan, are you actually studying? Or are you enjoying staring at my face that you like so much?” Sehun said with a smirk.

Luhan blushed and turned to face his textbook and he could hear Sehun’s light laughter ring in his ears. “I’m kidding. Go study.”

Luhan took one last peek at Sehun before returning his focus on Family Law. It surprised Luhan how much more work he got done even though Sehun was constantly by his side. Truth be told, he was a little worried that hanging around with Sehun would be harmful to his grades but his worries were blown away when he had his first study session with Sehun. Sehun didn’t make a sound for a whole three hours and Luhan managed to finish reading about three journal articles and make concise notes on them without any distractions.

Maybe Chanyeol was right. He shouldn’t see this break in stride as something negative, especially considering that he had more peace now than ever before.

“Yo, Hunhan!”

Luhan and Sehun looked up and saw Kris and Tao coming their way.

“Could you not? You’re always so loud,” Tao complained as he and Kris sat across Sehun and Luhan. Kris rolled his eyes and began to take out some books from his backpack.

Sehun and Luhan looked at each other and shared an understanding smile. Kris had it bad for Tao. Real bad.

But ‘real bad’ hadn’t translated into anything more than bickering with each other at any time and place. Luhan didn’t know why Kris was so smitten with Tao but everyone has their tastes. Tao got up and went off to get a library book with Kris watching him until he was out of sight.

“So… I guess I can’t call you guys the name I created for you,” Sehun said as he leaned back in his chair.

“What are you on about?” Kris said with an intimidating look on his face.

“Taoris,” said Sehun, making Kris’ intimidating stare drop and replaced with a shy-shocked look.

“Sh-shut up. Don’t say that in front of Tao,” Kris stammered, which made Luhan laugh out loud as Kris didn’t seem the type to stutter.

“Why don’t you just say you like him?” Sehun asked, shaking his head.

“Why don’t you?” Kris retorted, pointing his chin in Luhan’s direction.

“I already did,” Sehun said with a smirk, before facing Luhan. “I’m just waiting.”

 

Luhan was waiting for Sehun to come out of class like he usually does on Wednesday afternoons. Sehun would come out, smile that goddamn smile and they’d spend fifteen minutes walking back to their respective houses, only to meet up again five minutes later after changing. It had somehow become routine for Luhan to do this and he had stopped questioning this unexpected relationship he had with Sehun a long time ago.

But today was different. Today, with just five minutes to go before Sehun’s class finished, Luhan got a text.

 

I can’t come home with you today. 15:54

Sorry. 15:54

I’ll see you later though :) 15:54

 

Luhan couldn’t help and feel disappointed but it wasn’t like he couldn’t get home by himself.

 

I’m not a baby. 15:55✓

I can get home fine. 15:55✓

Yeah, see you later :) 15:55✓

 

 With a sigh, Luhan left for the library.

 

 

It was nearly six in the afternoon by the time Luhan finished printing off some notes and read some books for his class the next day. He finished packing up his things and went out of the warm library and into a freezing cold of the outside.

Luhan made his way across the pebbled surface of the car park when a sight caught his eye.

Sehun was talking with a girl with long brown hair near a black car and he seemed to be carrying a bunch of her books. Luhan subconsciously made his way closer to where they were and he thanked the moon for not shining so bright that night.

“Thanks, Sehun. I wouldn’t have been able to carry all these books myself,” the girl said kindly.

“No problem,” Sehun said as he placed the books in the backseat of the black car. “I’ll see you around.”

“Wait!” the girl yelled out as Sehun was turning around. “Um, go out with me.”

Luhan felt his legs freezing up from those four little words.

“What?” said Sehun.

“Please go out with me. I like you,” the girl said. A girl, now that Luhan bothered to look at her, who was incredibly pretty. Why would Sehun refuse?

Luhan began walking backwards quietly to leave them alone but he seemed to have acquired the skill of tripping on air suddenly cause that’s exactly what happened. His landed on the rough pebble-filled car park catching the attention of the two people who he didn’t want to notice him.

“Luhan?” Sehun said, looking at him confused then looking at the girl before finally making the connection. “This isn’t what it looks li—”

“Sorry!” Luhan exclaimed as he got up and removed the dirt from the back of his jeans as much as he could with his bare hands. “I… I’ll go now.”

The last thing Luhan remembered doing was running away from Sehun, hoping for him to chase after him. Clinging to all those romance novel scenes for one last time, but he never came and Luhan expected so.

 

The next day, Luhan left his house early to go for a walk. His class for the day was cancelled since the lecturer got sick and he cursed the existence of illnesses because he really needed something to keep his mind off of Oh Sehun.

He really didn’t want to see Sehun. He didn’t want to know if he said yes to the girl or if he said no. He hoped he said no but hoping doesn’t always result in things going your way. Did he purposely stay back in uni just to spend time with that girl? It wasn’t like he and Sehun were dating, but he didn’t have to keep it a secret, but then again it’s not like he asked if Sehun liked anyone in his class. He just assumed that Sehun would like him til the ends of time.

Okay, that was an exaggeration but he still assumed so. Sehun was the one who confessed, Sehun said he was waiting, Sehun was always there with that face and that smile. That goddamn smile.

“Luhan!”

Luhan froze as the voice was all too familiar. Luhan started to walk faster but Sehun caught up to him and grabbed his arm, turning him to face Sehun.

“Listen to me! That girl. She—”

“She’s pretty. You’re lucky. So, are you two going out?” Luhan said as cheerfully as he could but failing miserably.

“No,” Sehun sternly said, no hint of amusement in his voice. “I’ve told you before. I like you. Only you. Nobody else. When are you going to get that through your thick skull?”

Luhan looked away. “Then why didn’t you walk home with me yesterday?”

“That…” Sehun trailed off, shifting his gaze to the side.

“You went to meet that girl, didn’t you? You don’t have to hide it. We’re not… we’re not going steady or anything,” Luhan said with a prick in his chest.

“I already told you, it’s not like that! Yesterday, I…” Sehun trailed off again, making Luhan agitated. “I was working.”

“Working?” Luhan asked.

“Yeah. I… I wanted to buy you something nice for Christmas. I know you don’t celebrate it but I still wanted to get you a present anyway,” Sehun said, uncomfortably rubbing his neck. “Plus, you also said that you hate it when guys use their parents money to buy unnecessary things so I thought I should use the money that I earn to get you something.”

Sehun moved closer to Luhan and Luhan thanked the heavens for standing in an empty street. “I only like you. You should get it by now.”

Sehun softly held Luhan’s hand in his own, interlocking their fingers together, creating a tingling sensation that he never felt with anyone before, and simply through the act of holding hands. Sehun’s other hand was lightly playing with Luhan’s blonde hair in a comforting manner.

Before Luhan could lose his nerve and his chance, he looked up at Sehun. “I think I get it.”

Luhan stood on his tiptoes, cursing at and thankful for Sehun’s tall height. Cursing because kissing a tall person was a lot harder than the way it plays out in story books, but thankful because Luhan could comfortably hide his embarrassed face in Sehun’s shoulder after being bold enough to kiss him.

“Does that…” Sehun trailed off. One of his many favourite ways to speak apparently.

“Shut up. Just… shut up,” Luhan said, feeling hotter than having a hundred, a thousand, even a million suns shine on him. Sehun seemed to get the hint and simply wrapped his arms around the embarrassed boy.

“You’re my boyfriend now,” Sehun said happily.

Luhan groaned. “Stop. Don’t.”

Sehun pulled away and made a face. “You aren’t?”

Luhan looked away, hiding his face but Sehun cupped his face in his hands and forced Luhan to look at him.

“Are you or are you not?” Sehun asked sternly.

Luhan gulped. Forget the suns, someone might as well just throw him into a pit of fire because admitting that he wanted to be Sehun’s boyfriend would probably give off the same feeling but seeing Sehun’s worried expression on his face, his god damn beautiful face, Luhan would jump into a pit of fire a billion times just to wipe it off. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

Sehun’s face morphed into an expression that could only be described as pure bliss. If it was beautiful before, now his face was just goddamn blinding, not that Luhan minded.

 

 

It was finally Christmas break and true to his word, Sehun bought Luhan something with what he earned from assisting one of his professors with an experiment.

“Really?” Luhan said in disbelief.

“Chen said you wanted one. Do you not?” Sehun asked.

“Well… I wouldn’t say I wanted one,” Luhan said as he stared the mini fridge that was in the corner of his room. “But, I guess it’s useful.”

Sehun smiled. “Good.”

Luhan and Sehun had been together for about two weeks and everything had been going great but something poked the back of Luhan’s mind.

Kissing.

After the first kiss they had at the sidewalk, there hadn’t been much progress on that fort and Luhan was starting to get anxious.

“Where’s Kai and Chen?” Sehun suddenly asked.

“Oh? Uh, I think Chen went to one of his friends’ Christmas party and Kai is in London since Kyungsoo is coming tomorrow from Korea. He’s picking him up and coming back here tomorrow,” Luhan explained, and Sehun nodded. “How about Yixing? Isn’t he lonely by himself?”

Sehun scoffed. “That guy? Lonely isn’t in his dictionary. He has friends in every corner of this country. I think he’s on his way to Birmingham or something to meet up with his old friends.”

Luhan nodded and an awkward silence filled the air.

“So…” Sehun trailed off.

“So,” Luhan replied. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure,” said Sehun. “Oh! Give me ten minutes!”

Without needing a reply from Luhan, Sehun ran downstairs. “Don’t come down yet!”

Luhan heard some things being moved around and he wondered what on earth could Sehun be up to.

“Okay! It’s ready!” Sehun yelled. Luhan went downstairs carefully, scared of what Sehun did to his living room.

As he opened the door, a red blanket had been put in place of the couch that was pushed to the side of the room and on that red blanket were tons of food and chocolate and cakes as well as an abundance of pillows.

“Merry Christmas!” Sehun greeted.

Luhan smiled. “You’re going to get me fat.”

“More to love then,” Sehun said. “Let’s eat!”

Sehun patted the space next to him and Luhan sat down, eyeing up the food that was undeniably made by Yixing.

As they finished their meal, Luhan put on a movie for both of them to watch although it ended up with Luhan falling asleep on Sehun’s shoulder.

“Luhan… hey… wake up. Movie’s finished,” Sehun said, stirring Luhan awake.

“Oh crap. Sorry,” Luhan said as he rubbed his eyes.

“It’s okay. You were cute,” Sehun said, staring at a newly awaked Luhan.

“I’ll pack away the food,” Luhan said, feeling shy over Sehun calling him cute. He hadn’t been called cute in a while and he kind of missed it.

Both of them finished putting away the picnic Sehun brought and sorted some pillows and duvets on the red blanket.

“Wanna watch another movie? Since you slept through the first one,” said Sehun with a smirk.

“Sure, but I might fall asleep again though,” Luhan said. He wasn’t big on movies but he enjoyed it from time to time.

“Hmm, let’s watch something scary then,” Sehun suggested.

“Okay,” Luhan said in a strained voice that Sehun noticed.

“What? You don’t like horror?” Sehun asked.

“Not… really,” Luhan said. “They kind of scare me. I know it’s all acting but I scare easy.”

Sehun smiled as he put the movie into the DVD player. “I’ll protect you.”

Luhan made a face at Sehun’s cheesy line as he came to sit next to Luhan on the red blanket.

Barely forty minutes into the movie, Luhan was already hiding his face in Sehun’s shirt sleeve.

“I can’t watch this. Just tell me what happens,” Luhan said as he fought the urge to watch what was being done to one of the characters of the movie.

“The guy is being cut open by the ghost’s powers and all his guts and stuff are—”

Sehun stopped talking as he heard Luhan grumble. “Don’t tell me. Hearing it is just as bad.”

Sehun laughed and took this opportunity. “Want a distraction?”

Sehun could feel Luhan nodding into his shoulder. Sehun took a deep breath and turned to face Luhan.

The feeling of fear disappeared as soon as Luhan felt Sehun’s lips on his. Luhan felt Sehun his bottom lip and he instantly parted his lips. At first, both lightly grazed each other’s tongues as they deepened their kiss but it didn’t take long for the kiss to translate into something more. Sehun was eagerly exploring the warmth of his boyfriend’s mouth as well as his body and Luhan was enjoying the younger boy’s excited state. Sehun had somehow slipped his hand into Luhan’s shirt and was now caressing the soft skin of Luhan’s milky white back. Sehun could hear Luhan’s little moans through the kiss and it was taking a lot of Sehun’s self-restraint to control himself from ripping every piece of clothing Luhan had on.

“Let’s… go upstairs,” Luhan said, eyes filled with desire and affection and his voice dripping in lust.

Screw self-restraint.

 

 

<Chats         Hunhan Updates          Info

                                                               [ Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Chen, Kai...]

 

     ▾                      Unread Messages                    ▾    

 

Kai:

My eyes are scarred 10:01

 

Chen:

HUNHAN?!?! 10:01

 

Kai:

Yep 10:02

 

Chanyeol:

What happened?! 10:02

 

Kai:

They were  10:02

In the living room 10:02

You can guess 10:03

I think we need to rip out the carpeting, Chen 10:03 

 

Chen:

 ＼(*T▽T*)／ FINALLY 10:03

 

Kai:

Carpeting? 10:04

 

Chen: 

No, you idiot 10:04

They're actually together now 10:04 

 

Baekhyun:

Why are you so happy, Chen? 10:05

 

Chen:

Cause Luhan is my bro 10:05

I'm happy he's happy 10:05

 

Chanyeol:

Yay! A new couple is born! 10:06

 10:06

 

 

As Suho stared at his phone, wondering why he was even part of this chat group, he was happy that Luhan had finally managed to move on completely from Minseok. Although Luhan didn't cry when he broke it off, Suho could see that it was eating him up inside the last time they met over the summer. 

He didn't know this Sehun kid but judging from the texts his juniors were rapidly sending, he seemed like a good kid who had managed to heal Luhan's heart. It wasn't his place to say, but he thought he should say something in the group as an indirect congratulatory message to them.

 

I'm glad Luhan is doing alright 10:08✓

I'm going out of this group now 10:08✓

Bye guys. See you soon! 10:09✓

 

Suho shook his head as he quit the group much to the protest of Chen and Chanyeol, but a smile remained on his face. That's just how love is, he thought, totally unpredictable, just the way it should be. 

 

 

 

[ That's it... Okay, bye. Sorry for such a long, totally unexciting story. BYE. But I would love comments though. OK FORREAL BYE. ]