Where is he?  The final bell rang a couple minutes ago, Chen internally wondered as he stood in front of the school. Maybe he doesn’t want to meet out in front of the school, he thinks suddenly as he pulls his phone out of his back pocket. Quickly he clicks the screen to life but not seeing any new announcements clicks it back to darkness. Maybe he changed his mind, a soft voice suggests from the back of his mind. No Xiumin wouldn’t stand me up, Chen swiftly defends the other on his mind.

“Hey sorry I’m late, for some reason Tao was at his locker” Xiumin’s voice says from beside Chen. Tao, he thinks as he scans his eyes over Xiumin’s face for signs of discomfort.
“Where did that jerk hit you this time” he voices aloud, arms aching to wrap around and comfort the boy in front of him.

“No, he didn’t hit me, I waited him out” Xiumin answers with a silly smile on his face. “Thanks for worrying about me though Chen, it means a lot” Chen heard the other say as he looked down to pick at his fingernails.

Of course, Always, Forever, Chen’s inner voice screams but when he opens his mouth all that escapes lips is a cheesy "Yeah“. Uggg, Chen mentally slaps himself.

“So umm. I texted my parents and they said that they can either pick me up in about an hour or later this evening after my little sisters’ have all their practices and things, do you think we can get everything done in an hour” Xiumin questions.

“Don’t worry about it, you can stay, my mom can make dinner” Chen offered in a plain tone. Stay calm, don’t scare him off, he instructed himself. Can you imagine Xiumin sitting at my kitchen table, his thoughts went wild and he was finally pulled out of his own imagination by Xiumin’s small hand in front of his face.

“Chen, hello, did you hear me” Xiumin questioned with a questioning look on his face. Oh congratulations Chen you just blew your chance to have Xiumin over for dinner, your one chance and you tossed it out the window, he scolded himself.

“I’m sorry what” Chen asked aloud, still internally reprimanding himself.

“I said, are you sure it’s okay if I stay for that long of a time, I really don’t want to be an inconvenience or over stay my welcome” Xiumin said. Chen’s heart melted more at Xiumin’s cuteness as he thought to himself, I could never get sick of seeing you.

“Tell your parents to come later tonight, we have a lot of work to get done and my mom will insist on feeding you anyway” Chen said instead. “Come on, my house is a couple blocks from the school this way” He said as he started walking away from the school.

Xiumin walked quietly beside him for a couple minutes. Chen kept stealing small glances at the other boy who was staring ahead of him absentmindedly flipping his phone over in his hands. I wonder what’s on his mind, Chen thought to himself.

“Are you sure your mom will be okay with me staying for dinner?  I really don’t want to bother your family with my presence” Xiumin’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Yes I am absolutely positive my mother will be over the moon to have you in our house and staying for dinner” Chen said aloud. She probably thinks you are just a figment of my imagination at this point, he adds inside his head. He steals another glance at the quite boy to see him typing on his phone.

“Done” he says with a big smile on his face that makes Chen’s heart speed up.

“Awesome” Chen says mimicking Xiumin’s smile. I wonder if my smile causes anywhere near the same reaction in Xiumin as his do to me, Chen thinks.

After a couple minutes, Chen’s house comes into view. Upon seeing his front door, Chen’s palms start to sweat way too much. Stay calm, this isn’t a date you have to keep cool, Chen reminds himself as he climbs the front steps. “After you sir” Chen says as he pulls his front door open. The chuckle that escapes Xiumin as he crosses the threshold of Chen’s home warms Chen’s heart.

“I’m in the kitchen” his mother calls out once Chen closes the door.

“Do you want to meet my mom now or later” Chen asks hesitantly. He is just here to do a project Chen remember that, he is just a fellow student not even a friend at this point, he lectures inside his mind.

“Yeah, I want to thank her for letting me come over” Xiumin says with a small nod of his head. Chen leads the way towards his kitchen stealing a few glances here and there to see Xiumin looking around his house. He fits in here, Chen thinks with a warm feeling spreading through him.

“Hey mom” Chen says once he enters the kitchen.

“Hey honey I’m just getting some chicken started for dinner, what time is your little friend coming over, is he staying for dinner” his mom asked rapidly, back facing Chen and the other occupant in the room.

“Umm, mom this is Xiumin” Chen says nervously chuckling for a second, “and he will be staying for dinner” he adds.

“Oh my where are my manners” she says wiping her hands on a small towel before turning around. “Hello Xiumin, welcome to our home” she says with a smile before wrapping her arms around the smaller boy. Chen wants to slap himself in the face when he watches Xiumin’s eyes double in size as his mother wraps him up in one of her hugs. Should have warned him mom is a hugger, Chen reminds himself internally. “You were right son he is just the cutest thing ever” she says before turning back towards the stove. Just shoot me now, Chen thinks. He steals another glance at Xiumin to see his mouth slightly open as if wanting to say something in reply, but with his hand playing with the back of his beanie as if totally embarrassed.

“I’ll have your brother bring up a few snacks in a bit to keep those brains working till dinner time” his mother says before Chen or Xiumin can voice a word.

“Thanks” they each say before turning back the way they came.

“Ohh and Chen honey keep your door open okay” she yells to their retreating figures. Oh my gosh seriously, he wants to scream aloud.

“Your mom is….funny” Xiumin says as Chen leads the way towards his room.

“Yeah funny, soooo funny” Chen says in reply. How could she say those things, uggg, there go all my chances of ever having Xiumin in my life, he thinks bitterly.

“So I was thinking for our project that we could use this one template I have seen on Prezi” Xiumin said as Chen watched him pull a few papers and a laptop out of his backpack. “It’s this really cool template where the whole slideshow, it looks like a book and I thought that since we read books to kids it would be really cool. Well, only if you think that is okay” he pauses to meet Chen’s gaze.

“Honestly Xiumin that sounds amazing, I always admire your slideshows when I see them in class so you are in charge sir” Chen adds a mock salute at the end of his little rant and smiles when he gets the desired giggle out of Xiumin.

“Okay I was also thinking that we should put some statistics about reading on the slideshow, you know statistics that show the importance of reading at a young age or a statistic that shows the average words or lessons known per book, something like that” Xiumin finishes with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Sounds great” Chen says with another smile and is very pleased when Xiumin smiles back in return. Chen gets lost in