“My question is, How did you and your best friend meet” Sehun’s voice finds its way into Luhan’s ears. Why did you even suggest this stupid game, Luhan scolds himself, you could always back out, a small voice suggests meekly. I can’t, a determined voice says, then Sehun will think that I am a little baby who is afraid of the past. Well maybe you can convince him to ask a different question yet another voice suggests inside Luhan’s head. Luhan takes a deep breath before opening his mouth, “It’s kind of a long story” he says. Luhan watches in bewilderment as Sehun just sits down inside the goal.

“I don’t really have any other plans then being here with you today.” Sehun says. Luhan can’t help but feel a little flutter in his chest at the words Sehun chose to use. Well I guess it can’t hurt to tell Sehun, Luhan concludes.

“Alright” Luhan says taking a deep breath. Where to start, he wonders to himself, as his past resurfaces.

~Flashback~

“We are very glad that you chose to enroll your son in our school” A tall balding man said, smiling over to his mother while shaking hands with his father. Luhan wasn’t smiling, he was sad. He didn’t want to be here at this new school, he liked his old class, with the familiar faces, and the pretty pink flowers he could see through the window from his seat. “Our second grade classrooms are this way” the balding man says holding open a door for his parents along with Luhan to follow through.

“Alright Lulu, I love you son” his mother says kneeling down in front of him. “Have a great day today, be brave, and I’ll see you when the school day is over” she says.

“Have a great day son” Luhan’s father says patting his hand onto Luhan’s head. Luhan took a deep breath and followed the balding man out of the classroom, waving a final time to both of his parents as he walked away.

The principal lead Luhan towards a desk where a stern looking woman sat he whispered a few things to her before placing a hand on Luhan’s shoulder, “I’m sure you are going to have a great year here with us” before walking away.

“Alright class, pencils down, eyes up here” a sharp voice hollered into the silence of the room causing Luhan to jump slightly off the ground. “We have a new student with us today.  Give him your undivided attention while he introduces himself” the voice orders. Luhan stands staring at the sea of faces, unknown faces, scary faces. “The class is waiting young man, we have lots to get done, now if you don’t want to miss your recess on the first day of school I suggest you tell us all your name, and quickly” the teacher says sternly.

Luhan’s posture becomes even straighter if even possible before he opens his mouth, “My name is Lu..Lu..Luhan” he manages to stutter out before the eyes upon him become too much and he bows his head down, away from everyone’s gaze. He can feel the blush consume his entire face and even his ears which feel as if there is a small fire burning over the tips of them.

“Good, it seems we have a lot to work on this Luhan, in this class we speak clearly and in complete sentences. For now you can take the empty seat in the back row next to Xiumin. Xiumin please stand” the woman barks out. Luhan raises his gaze slightly to see a boy jump out of his seat. Luhan feels an instant liking to the boy as he spots round cheeks and a confident smile meeting his gaze.

With his head still down he makes his way over to the desk next to Xiumin. Once he is seated Luhan sneaks a glance over to the other boy only to see a smile directed to him. Luhan shyly smiles back for a second until he feels the blush become stronger and he has to look away.

The day passes slowly with the teacher yelling out new information from the front of the room and then passing out worksheets to be completed in utter silence. Luhan misses his old class more and more. He often catches himself looking out the window to his left, but is disappointed every time when he doesn’t see a single, pretty pink flower.

“Alright students” his new teacher's voice hollers from the front of the room, causing Luhan to jump in his seat, not expecting her to be talking. “You have ten minutes before lunch, I am going to be checking over everyone’s homework to make sure it was completed to my standards, during this time you are free to read or draw a picture, even whisper to your neighbor” she says. “Can anyone tell our new student what happens when homework is not completed to my standard so he will know for tomorrow?” she said as her eyes combed around the room for a hand she approved of. “Xiumin” she calls. Luhan watches as the boy beside him straightens up in his seat and lets out a small breath.

“They don’t get to sit with their friends at lunch ma’am, they have to sit at the detention table and redo all the homework after they eat” Xiumin said. Luhan sat in awe, the boy beside him was so confident, something Luhan lacked, he couldn’t help admiring the boy for it.

“Very good thank you Xiumin” the teacher responded, with a little less venom. “Do you understand Luhan” the teacher asked. Luhan jerked his gaze away from the boy beside him, who was again smiling sweetly. Shyly Luhan nodded his head in response to the teacher’s question feeling the blush return stronger due to being caught staring by the confident boy beside him. “I believe I have told you we speak in complete sentences in this classroom young man, don’t force me to send you to lunch detention on your first day” she sternly said.

“Y..Ye…Yes..I…I..I under…understand ma’am” Luhan said feeling as if a spotlight was on him and only him as the eyes of his teacher and classmates stared at him.

“We will work on that, now you are all allowed to enjoy your free time” she said taking a seat at her desk. Luhan watched as some kids in front of him started whispering while others took a book out of their desk and started reading.  He saw a few kids take out a notebook and draw. Luhan looked in his desk and saw that he had a notebook as well. Pulling out the notebook he opened up a blue toolbox and took out a box of bran new crayons. Taking out the pink crayon from the box, Luhan opened up to the first page in his notebook and drew a few of the pink flowers that he missed so much.

“Look what we have here” the boy in front of Luhan said in a whisper “little Lulu is drawing pretty pink flowers how sweet” he added causing a couple of the boys around him to giggle quietly.

“Pl…Please don’t ca…call me that” Luhan whispered looking down at his desk, scared to meet the gaze in front of him.

“Oh, but why it is such a pretty name, for a pretty little girl” the boy said causing the kids to giggle slightly louder.

“I…I’m no…not a girl” Luhan said, trying to hold in the tears. He felt as if all the eyes were boring holes in him, with the heat from their gaze.

“Only little girls draw flowers in their notebooks during free time” the boy said. “Especially pink flowers” he adds.

“It’s actually very manly to draw flowers” Luhan hears the sure voice of the boy to his right speak. Luhan looks over to see the boy beside him sitting tall and sure. Luhan’s eyes practically double in size when the boy lifts up his notebook to show a single flower drawing. “I couldn’t find my pink, so I had to use purple, but maybe you’ll let me barrow yours someday Luhan?” the boy asked sweetly never braking eye contact with the boy in front of Luhan. “I’m actually surprised that you didn’t know that flowers are manly now, I thought you knew everything” Xiumin says to the other boy.

“Oh yeah I heard that” one of the boys who was giggling before says.

“Me too, but I forget where” another boy says. Soon all the boys turn back to the front and Luhan only feels one pair of eyes on him coming from the boy on his right. Scared to meet his gaze, Luhan keeps his head down until the teacher calls everyone to the front to line up for lunch, handing a few students little slips with homework stapled to it, Luhan catches a large red Redo written atop one paper.

Walking to lunch Luhan keeps his eyes on his feet while clutching his lunch bag to his chest. Suddenly Luhan feels a hand grabbing onto his and looks over to see the smiling face of Xiumin. “Come eat lunch with me?” he asks, Luhan sees a lack of confidence in his eyes while he waits for Luhan’s reply. Luhan shyly nods his head before Xiumin leads him over to a table and sits down beside him. The noises of the cafeteria fade away as Xiumin speaks to Luhan. Xiumin talks about anything and everything and Luhan slowly feels his nerves melting away. When it comes time to line up to return to class Xiumin holds on to Luhan’s hand again leading the way. “Luhan” he says softly causing said boy to look up and meet his gaze, “Will you be my friend?” he asks.

Luhan stares in shock. “Yes” he shouts before clapping his hands over his mouth in embarrassment. His cheeks redden further as he hears Xiumin chuckle beside him.

“Thank you Luhan, I don’t have a friend especially a best friend and I think you could be it” he says smiling even more.

“Me?” Luhan asks pointing to his chest with his available hand.

“Yep” Xiumin says confidently nodding his head.

The rest of the day passes quickly, a smile never leaving Luhan’s face. When the final bell rings and his new teacher dismisses him, Luhan gives a small wave to his new friend before running to find his mom so he could tell her all about his day. He spots her quickly and runs straight over to wrap her in a big hug. “Mommy” Luhan shouts as he is engulfed by his mom. Luhan doesn’t loosen his grip for a long time just enjoying his mother’s warmth again, when he breaks away from her he sees Xiumin standing shyly close to them.

“Hello” Xiumin says giving a small wave to Luhan and his mother. “My name is Xiumin, I am Luhan’s friend. I wanted to invite Luhan over to my house whenever you can bring him” Xiumin says proudly. “I asked my mom and she said that it would be fine” he adds quickly before continuing. “I want to show Luhan the pink flowers that grow in my backyard and then maybe we could play a game of soccer or something” Xiumin says with a smile.

“Well thank you for the invite Xiumin” Luhan’s mother says, “I will have to check our schedule and check with your mother but that sounds like it would be a lot of fun for you two” she says smiling.

“Thank you ma’am” Xiumin says with a smile. “See you tomorrow Luhan” Xiumin says before giving Luhan a small hug and then running back towards the school.

“Bye” Luhan says looking down at his toes as his face becomes brighter.

~End of Flashback~

“Xiumin and I meet in the middle of second grade” Luhan voices aloud in Sehun’s direction. Luhan grips a couple blades of grass between his fingers, “He stood up for me and became my friend when no one else would” Luhan says smiling down at the grass. “After I went over to his house for the first time that was it we were inseparable” he says pinching the grass tighter. “We did everything together, he would come with me when my parents and I went on vacations. One time I went to a cabin with him over the winter holiday vacation from school.” Luhan says smiling as he thinks back to that time.

Luhan feels a weird mixture of emotions run through him thinking over everything he and Xiumin did together. He is lost in his thoughts until Sehun shouts. “Ready for round three?” he asks rolling the ball out to meet him, “We are tied 1:1 one score to one block” he says. Snap out of it Luhan, he scolds himself as he stands up, you have to impress Sehun with your skills. Putting all thoughts of Xiumin back in the vault he had created within his mind, Luhan began to dribble the ball around once he was pleased with the angle he took a few steps back. Sehun is going to be shocked when he sees my left leg swinging to kick it, Luhan thinks to himself remembering all the times goalies pause for a few seconds to long to admire the fact that he can score a goal with either leg. Running up and winding back Luhan is filled with pride as he watches the ball sail through the air. His mouth suddenly hangs open as Sehun moves and bocks the ball before it can score a goal.

“No way” Luhan voices his shock aloud. But I wanted to ask the question, Luhan’s internal self says throwing a temper tantrum.