“There’s a party this weekend.” Luhan looked up from the book he was reading and laid it on the bed. Minseok was spread out on his floor, playing a video game that Luhan had beaten so many times before, he could recite every line from it.

“So?”

“So, what? Do you want to go? I think it’d be a lot of fun!”

Luhan flopped back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Everyone at this party would know him and what he does. He’d been to a lot of parties.

“Do you want to go?”

“Absolutely! Only if you’re going though. If not, we can stay here any watch movies or something. Either way, I think the party does sound more exciting!”

Looking over at Minseok’s smiling baby face, he felt himself kind of melt on the inside. He couldn’t say no to him and Minseok didn’t even know it. That cute .

“Yeah, let’s go. Where’s it at?”

“Liu Yang’s house I think. Do you know her?”

A tight knot formed in his stomach. The name sounded familiar, and in this situation, that could turn things for the worst.

“Yeah, I think so. She lives on the coast, right?

“Yeah! Ironic, isn’t it?”

Minseok yawned and stretched his arms in the air.  

“Hey, Luhan?”

“Mmm?”

“Do you think we’ll still be friends 10 years from now?”

“Of course.”

“Do you mean it?”

“I mean it.”

Minseok got up and flopped himself next to Luhan.

“Thanks, Luhan.  I’m so tired but I still have so much work to do!”

“It’s still afternoon! Maybe you shouldn’t be playing video games when y-”

“Shhhh shshshshshshsshhhhhhhh.”

Minseok pressed his finger to Luhans lips. He puffed his cheeks out in response, eliciting a giggle from the other. He laced his fingers with Luhan’s and placed his head on his chest. Luhan could feel his cheeks heating up and his heart racing faster. , he should not be nervous about this. He placed his hand on the boy’s head and absentmindedly hummed until they both were sound asleep. It was maybe 3 in the afternoon.

“Luhan.”

“Mmmmm?”

“Luhan! Wake up!”

“Nooooooooo-”

“It’s 5 o’clock! Didn’t you have to go somewhere?”

“Oh, oh yeah.”

He shifted Minseok off of him and rubbed his eyes. He peeled his shirt off in favor of a clean one.

“I’m in a band I guess. We have practice today, you can come if yo-”

He paused for a beat and glanced back at the boy still perched on his bed.

“Actually, you were in chorus in Junior High weren’t you? Do you want to come and watch, I mean, we’re not really that great and all we do is goof off, but if you wanted to I’m sure you could join...”

“Woah, do you think they’d let me?! Oh gosh this is so cool!!!”

Minseok rolled himself up into a blanket burrito and rocked back and forth out of excitement. “You’re so cute,” Luhan laughed, and walked over to cup Minseok’s cheeks in his hands.

“Baoziiiiiii”

Minseok threw himself into a giggle fit and pushed Luhan away.

“You haven’t called me that in years!! And you know I hate it when people touch my face!”

“Ah, right. Excuse my actions princess.”

Luhan softly smiled at the boy and gestured at the door.

“Come on, the walk to Lay’s house is a mile or so and it’s getting dark. We usually all crash there- he’s a dropout but he’s got his own place and it’s pretty chill.” He shrugged a backpack over his shoulder and threw in an extra t shirt and pair of pants for the other boy. He took the stairs down to the first floor of his house two at a time. He could hear a soft thud, followed by a groan and the sounds of someone scrambling to their feet. He fell off the bed, didn’t he. He held the front door open while Minseok pouted at him.

“I fell….”

“I know.”

His hand slipped into the smaller boy’s hesitantly.

“I thought you’d leave without me…”

They both let out nervous giggles.

“Nah. You’re not terrible to be around, you know.”

Minseok gave his hand a little squeeze in thanks. He glanced upwards at the few wispy clouds still lingering in the late September sky. This time last year he had scratched poetry into the park’s slide about how he was as hollow as the cylindrical structure. He had looked at the same sky and thought about how he had come to be the type to vandalize property and write poetry about someone who probably had forgotten he existed.

Thanks for bringing him back to me, he thought while tracing his thumb over a vein in his best friend’s hand. He forgot, are you even supposed to hold your best friend’s hand?  Are you supposed to think, that in the light of late day, he perhaps looks like the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen? Maybe not. Maybe it was just the fact that Luhan had really never allowed himself to get close enough to anyone to notice the beauty in them. But still, he held Minseok’s hand all the way to Lay’s house. And when they walked in and Baekhyun asked how much he was charging Minseok for the hand holding, he just laughed along. Because Minseok wasn’t going to find out about that, you know. Even if he did, he wouldn’t believe it, and Luhan was going to find peace of mind in that for as long as he could.  

    “Oh, hey! I didn’t know you guys were in a band with Luhan!” Minseok chirped as he half walked, half bounced over to where Sehun was planted on Tao’s lap.

“Hey, we didn’t know Luhan was bringing you. What’s up?”

Luhan gestured out to the other 8 boys in the room. “Ah, from left to right- this is Chanyeol, Kai, Suho, Yixing - just call him Lay,  Kris, Chen, Kyungsoo, and the with the snapback is Baekhyun.”

Minseok waved happily at all the new people he had just met before freezing and stepping back into Luhan’s chest.

“What’s that smell?” he barely breathed out, just loud enough for Luhan to hear.

“Huh? Oh, that’s Lay. He tokes up twice a day practically, but he’s a nice guy.” Luhan rubbed the back of his head and gestured for Lay to put the bong away. Lay just assumed he was waving or something and waved back. Minseok’s heartbeat was going a mile a minute and he reached back for Luhan’s hand. Luhan’s heart jumped into the sky at the contact.

“Won’t we get in trouble just being in here with him, I-I mean, it’s ILLEGAL you know? Oh gosh Luhan, I’m so scared.” he wheezed out. The taller boy squeezed his hand and said “You’re almost out of high school, and you’ve never even seen weed? How did you even think you were going to go to that party?” He sighed. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. He’s been doing this for as long as I can remember and he’s never been caught. If you’re uncomfortable, just say the word and we can leave.” Minseok clutched at his hand even tighter.

“No, no. I’m fine. I trust you.”

The band practiced out of Lay’s garage. He had couches and pillows scattered throughout the room for the members the lounge on, and a wide open space in the center of them for practice. The only open spot left was on an armchair, which Luhan sat on and pulled Minseok into his lap. When Baekhyun pinched Chanyeol’s ribs and pointed over at the two of them, Luhan pretended not to notice. Minseok didn’t seem to have any problem with it, and snuggled against his chest while watching the other members goof around and try to practice. Luhan quietly prayed that Minseok couldn’t hear how fast his heartbeat had become, and he prayed it was just because he was nervous about bringing him here. It felt oddly natural, to be in a room with boys bustling around and making a huge amount of noise, yet be so calm and feel Minseok’s body melt against his.

Everyone had asked Minseok to sing for them, to see if he was worthy of being in their band. He chose an American song, maybe over a decade old. “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, Bonnie Raitt. It had been on the cd Luhan had given him the day he left. Hearing the first few notes escape Minseok’s voice brought tears to his eyes; and by the chorus, Luhan had found himself singing along.  Time had suspended itself again, leaving only Luhan and Minseok in this moment, their voices harmonizing and bodies melding against each others. Luhan closed his eyes, and finished out the final notes of the song with Minseok.

    The rest of the boys clapped and Baekhyun even ran up to them, cackling “So cute!!! So cute!” as he enveloped both of them in a hug.

“Baekhyun you’re such a tool.”

Kris threw what was probably a dirty sock at the guy, immediately turning his attention from them to enacting revenge on Kris.  Luhan wrapped his arms around Minseok’s midsection and exhaled into his shoulder.

“You sang so pretty, I almost began to cry.” said Miseok.

“You too.”

Luhan wiped his tears off on the other’s shoulder and prayed he didn’t notice.

“You all seem so close!” Minseok laughed at all of them. “I’m jealous!”

“That’s because Luhan’s slept with most of us.” Baekhyun spat out, pinning Kris down in an intense wrestling match.

“What?”

No. No no no no no no. This was not actually happening.

“You didn’t know? Luhan basically has this ion thing he’s got going for him,”

Baekhyun please shut up for the love of god just shut up for once.

“You either take him out for dinner or a movie or something or you pay him up front. I’m sure he’ll give you a discount or something since you’re so cu- Ow!” Kris had just planted a firm punch directly in Baekhyun’s abdomen.

No no no no no non non no non nono ahaha this is a joke. This isn’t happening this isn’t real this isn’t-

“Luhan?” Minseok asked kind of shakily.

“What’re they talking about?”

Luhan stood up, basically dumping Minseok on the floor. He grabbed his backpack and flew out the door, running down the street towards anywhere but here.

“Luhan! LUHAN!” He could hear Minseok’s voice calling him from the house, but he kept running anyways. He’d always been kind of a anyways, he figured.