"What's the reason for the party Luhan," a tall slightly older woman asks. "Looking for a lover or is it that you already have one?"

"Do I tend to throw parties to find lovers," Luhan asks in a teasing manner. There aren't many people there yet, but Luhan still tries to engage in conversation with everyone there.

"Well," the woman says a laugh on her lips. "I've only been to a few of your parties and the word is that you usually only throw them when you've found a lover or lost one.

Luhan grins a false little grin as he wonders just how much of his life is known to the public. Maybe there’s a laundry list of every lover he has ever been with passing from ear to ear. "This party is to celebrate the return of two friends,” he explains. “They’ve been out of the Capital for a very long time.”

Yixing comes after Luhan's finished making his first round of greetings. He grabs the older Perfect and throws his hands around his neck to give him a hug. "Luhan," Yixing calls out in childish joy. "Thanks for the party." There's a strong smell of alcohol on Yixing's breath and Luhan knows that it's only the start of a drunken night for him.

"You're drunk," Luhan states, an indulgent laugh at the tip of his tongue. Yixing doesn't answer and instead rests a heavy arm around Luhan's shoulders.

"So where's the real guest of honor," he asks, whispering inconspicuously as if he's speaking of something forbidden.

"Junmyeon," Luhan asks, eyes narrowing in mock confusion. "You would know better than me."

"No not him," Yixing says, shaking his head and leaning in closer to Luhan, "your secretary."

"Oh," Luhan mutters, "he hasn't arrived yet."

Yixing frowns just slightly, "ah, I can't wait to meet him." He lets go of Luhan and heads to pick his poison from Luhan's extensive collection of alcohol.

Kyungsoo arrives after Yixing with Kai right behind him. Luhan greets them both and asks Sehun's whereabouts, watching in mild amusement as Kai stutters out some excuse about family problems. Luhan figures the youngest model is spending time with his new boyfriend that Kai had informed him of and figures he’ll tease the youngest the next time he sees him.

Kris arrives alone, and Junmyeon sneaks his way in with an entourage of men and women.

Finally after much anticipation on Luhan's part, Minseok arrives. Luhan finds himself taking in a sharp breath of air as he gazes unabashedly at Minseok. Luhan has only seen Minseok in ill-fitting suits. Minseok has discarded that look for the night, and if Luhan thought Minseok was attractive in his slightly tight suits, then he was simply sinful at the moment.

Minseok is dressed from head to toe in black, his coat which he removes and holds in his arms is a heavy black leather with fur lining, and extremely expensive.  His pants are just as dark as his coat and the way they cling to his legs and hips nearly makes Luhan feel like a ert for staring so intently. Minseok's shirt is the only simple thing on him, it's a basic black with a pretty silver design.

He's one of the last to arrive, and Yixing is the first to greet him. Luhan does his best to not grimace as he watches Yixing talk to Minseok. He doesn't have to worry about Yixing scaring Minseok, he has to worry about drunk flirty Yixing, and childhood friend Yixing. If Luhan's honest, despite how childish it may seem Yixing hitting on Minseok and telling embarrassing stories of Luhan’s childhood, is nightmare inducing. Yixing’s tales were worse than any rumor that existed about him, because at least then Luhan could deny those.

He continues watching them as Yixing grabs Minseok's hand and leads him over to Junmyeon. The younger boy looks into Luhan's direction, flashes a taunting wink accompanied with an impish grin and laughs when Luhan glares at him in return. He's going to have to work extra hard to erase Yixing's meeting from Minseok's mind. Luhan takes one last look at Minseok sitting in between Junmyeon and Yixing with a beer in his hand, and he can't help but think that Minseok fits in well.

It's not unthinkable to imagine that Minseok might have been to clubs in District Three or Four, but the Secretary had always been a tad bit aloof when talking to Luhan, so in a way Luhan had assumed quite foolishly that Minseok worked and barely ever played. Looking at him now, Luhan can't help but think that Minseok would fit in well in his world, amongst the elite.

Minseok ends up approaching him first, he corners Luhan in the kitchen, a brand new drink in his hand as he leans against the counter beside the sink. "Hey," Minseok says with a small smile as he takes a sip of his drink.

Luhan stares, stunned at the way Minseok seems utterly relaxed despite being out of his element. "Hey," Luhan says as well, with his own smile, "are you enjoying yourself?" Luhan concludes then that Minseok is just a master of disguise because the boy's shoulders sag just a little as if he’s releasing some of the tension free and his smile broadens, reaching his eyes as he gazes at Luhan.

"Yes," Minseok breathes out, "your friends are great. Thank you for inviting me." Luhan falters then as he's met with such sincerity and he's not exactly sure what to say, Minseok had been at the top of his invite list, higher than Junmyeon and Yixing, when he first decided to throw the party.

"How did you get here, did you take the subway," Luhan finds himself asking, attempting to change the subject.

“No I flew,” Minseok says jokingly, “It really isn’t as bad as you think it is.”

"It is," Luhan replies indignantly. "You can't even have a proper phone call while you're down there."

"Maybe one day you can take it with me,” Minseok says, “I promise that no Imperfects are going to attack you. Everyone minds their own business.”

“I guess,” Luhan says albeit a bit reluctant. “I’m always up for a new adventure.”

“Good,” Minseok says. He then proceeds to move closer to Luhan, eyes shining brightly as if he’s about to speak of a great secret, “You have all these friends in high places, yet you’re just a model. Something doesn’t add up.”

“Friends in high places,” Luhan repeats, “like who.” He has a small smile on his lips as he plays dumb.

“Kris Wu, the Zhang family’s sole heir, and Kim Junmyeon,” Minseok lists off. “Just who are you?”

“I’m Luhan,” Luhan replies, “A model of no background. We met thanks to a few unfortunate events, and grew up together, Kyungsoo as well, his family is also pretty powerful.”

“Tell me about it,” Minseok presses, leaning forward as he stares into Luhan’s eyes, “not the unfortunate events, tell me about your life growing up.”

 “It’s not that interesting,” Luhan mutters, just as Yixing comes into the kitchen. Minseok draws his eyes away from Luhan and turns his attention to the younger male, grinning as Yixing approaches them.

“Hi Yixing,” he greets simply, seeming to not be in the least put off by Yixing’s sudden interruption.

“Hi Minseok,” Yixing greets, he lingers on the last syllable of Minseok’s name, stretching it out in a singsong way. “What are we talking about?”

He makes to grab the bottle of wine beside Luhan’s arm, but Luhan quickly moves it out of his way and leers at his friend. “You,” Luhan says bitingly, “and Junmyeon. Why aren’t you with him?”

“Why do you sound so upset Lu,” Yixing retorts, “if you don’t want people interrupting your conversation, don’t you think you should do it somewhere more private. You have an apartment full of people, it’s only a matter of time before more come crashing in here.”

He flashes Luhan a conspiring grin and Luhan doesn’t know rather he should roll his eyes affectionately or kick Yixing back into Junmyeon’s arms, one glance at Minseok shows that the secretary finds the whole situation humorous, and Luhan’s sure he knows what Yixing’s hinting at.

“He’s right Luhan,” Minseok says playfully, “you can’t have a private conversation in such a public place.”

“Fine,” Luhan huffs, he grabs the bottle of wine, and two glasses. “Minseok come on.”

Minseok puts down his near finished drink and follows after Luhan, giving Yixing a quick goodbye. They enter in Luhan’s bedroom and Minseok takes his time to briefly look around before setting his eyes on a book beside Luhan’s bed.

He doesn’t comment on it but he does flash Luhan a curious glance. “So tell me about your childhood. I don’t care if you think it’s not interesting, I want to hear it.”

Luhan falters at Minseok’s honest curiosity. “Where should I start? What do you want to know?” He pours the wine in one of the glasses and hands it to Minseok before pouring another for himself. He’s not exactly sober and he thinks that maybe he shouldn’t be drinking anymore to stay at the nice balance of slight inebriation, but he needs something to stop himself from staring blatantly at Minseok.

“How was it growing up with such legendary families,” Minseok asks, “I’m sure it was probably no big deal to you, but I’m from District Eight, paint me a picture.”

Minseok says his district with such ease that it honestly surprises Luhan, he had seemed so ashamed the night Luhan had volunteered to take him home, and yet now, he said it without a second thought.

“It was pretty intimidating,” Luhan admits, before launching into minor anecdotes of his past. He tells Minseok about the large gatherings their families would throw, and how he became friends with Kris and Yixing, before he met everyone. He keeps things on a happy and easy note, small surges of confidence coursing through him at every expression Minseok makes, or every awed sound that leaves the boy’s lips.

Eventually they move onto different topics, from tales about Luhan’s guests to stories of Minseok’s workplace. Luhan had no idea that working at Nessen outside of the public’s eye could be so entertaining. They nearly go completely through the wine, with Minseok’s subtly reminding him that Luhan should be hosting his party, and not locked in his bedroom talking to one single guest.

It reminds Luhan a lot of when he was a teenager and how he and friends used to sneak expensive alcohol to his room during those huge fancy gatherings, they would hide out and experiment and blame the alcohol for their brash actions.

He’s so wrapped in his thoughts, that he doesn’t even hear Minseok, until the male is deep into his personal space and whispering his name in concern. His eyes are directly on Minseok’s pretty pink lips as he breaks away from his thoughts.

“Are you okay,” Minseok asks, sitting back and biting on his bottom lip, his eyebrows are creased with concern. “Did I bore you already?”

“I’m fine,” Luhan replies with a small laugh, “I got distracted.”

“I didn’t realize you were such a daydreamer,” Minseok says laughing as well. “Whatever had you distracted must have been interesting.”

“Can you guess,” Luhan asks, flashing another glance towards Minseok’s lips. It doesn’t usually take this long for Luhan to kiss someone if he’s attracted to them, but with Minseok he’s still bordering on a line between strictly friendship and pure adult attraction. He hadn’t had such a deep pulling desire to kiss Minseok until that very moment.

“I know,” Minseok says matter-of-factly, he leans back a bit, the smile on his lips is wide and full and the look in his eyes is both mischievous and full of challenge. “You’re pretty easy to read when you want to be.”

Luhan doesn’t get Minseok’s confidence, but he figures that he must have had a lot of admirers in his lifetime, it’s reasonable and would make sense with how he looked and behaved, or maybe Minseok was just confident by nature. He hadn’t been the least bit shaken when Luhan walked into President Kim’s office the day of their very first meeting.

Luhan’s eyes continue to flicker from Minseok’s eyes full of challenge to his lips, back and forth. He knows what he wants, and he’s usually never afraid of going after that, but for some reason despite the amount of alcohol in his system, and the dare in Minseok’s mocha brown eyes he can’t voice his desires.

“Will you let me,” Luhan finally asks. His heart is beating quickly in excitment He has never wanted a kiss as badly as he does now and he thinks maybe it’s the chase, if this was any other person they would have already melted into him, but Minseok puts up a fight, he makes everything a challenge, a question of courage. Luhan watches silently as Minseok tooth-revealing smile turns into a simple closed mouth one, before he presses his lips together as if he’s thinking of what to answer.

There’s a tiny quirk of Minseok’s lips and Luhan’s sure that he’s going to laugh at him. Luhan would have if he was in Minseok’s shoes. Luhan has probably done it before, laughing at someone else’s expense because they were too shy or cautious to take action. It was only fitting that he was now in that position.

A cold hand, holds the side of his neck, completely breaking him from his thoughts of doubt, and allowing him to go back to anticipation. Minseok’s eyes aren’t closed like an inexperienced teenager about to lean in for his first kiss, the challenge has melted away but the mischievous glint is still there.

Minseok moves in closer and closer, head tilted just slightly as his lips press against Luhan’s. It’s simply a press of lips together at first, but then Luhan’s confidence is back and he’s kissing Minseok, enjoying more than just the softness of Minseok’s lips as their mouths move together.

If kissing was a school subject, Luhan was sure Minseok could study it, master it, and teach lessons in it with ease. Minseok gently at each lip, drags Luhan's tongue into his mouth, and the way he on that makes Luhan's knees weak. They let their tongues work together in a game of dominance which Luhan wins or Minseok surrenders. When they pull apart to allow air into their deprived lungs, Luhan looks from Minseok's still closed eyes to his kiss swollen lips, and the urge to do it again swells inside him.

“You’re not the type to kiss people when you’re drunk are you,” Luhan asks when he finally finds his voice.

“Who said I was drunk,” Minseok replies taunting, “but I’m guessing you’re the type that overthinks things when you drink. For a second I was starting to doubt the rumors.”

“The rumors,” Luhan repeats, “do they say I’m a good kisser?”

“No, that’s something I had to find out myself” Minseok says with a laugh. “They say you’re confident and your ego is the size of this city.”

First update of 2015! Happy New Year everyone~ I planned to have had an update after Christmas and an update today but my December wasn't so great, so sorry for making you wait so long.