Sehun knocked on the front door of Luhan’s house three times and waited patiently for someone to answer.  His sleeping bag was tucked under his arm and his overnight bag was slung over his shoulder.  He was going to be spending a few days at Luhan’s house while his parents were on a business trip.  Luhan’s mother had readily agreed to watch Sehun.

 

 

Speaking of Luhan’s mother, she opened the door and smiled at Sehun warmly.  “Do you have everything you need?”  she asked.  Sehun nodded quickly.

 

 

“I think so.”  he said.

 

 

“Well, it doesn’t really matter.  If you forgot anything, you can ask Luhan.”

 

 

Sehun just smiled, because in all honesty, he thought Luhan was really weird.  Ever since he’d seen Luhan wearing bright pink nail polish and white, glittery headband, he’d avoided the boy.  He wasn’t even sure if he still wanted to be friends with Luhan, but of course he hadn’t told his mother — or Luhan’s mother — that.  So now he was stuck sleeping over with the weirdo for multiple nights.

 

 

“Is he home right now?”  Sehun asked, hoping that maybe he could get settled in and have some peace and quiet to himself.

 

 

“Yes, he’s up in his room.  Why don’t you guys stay up there for a while?  I was just starting to make dinner, and I’ll call you both down when it’s ready.”

 

 

Sehun tried not to sigh.  “Okay.”  he said.  “And thank you… for letting me stay over.”  he added quickly.

 

 

“It’s always nice to see you, Sehun.  Luhan has a hard time finding friends at school, but you’ve always been so nice to him.”

 

 

Hard time finding friends at school?  I wonder why, Sehun thought.  He almost rolled his eyes, but he stopped himself just in time and hurried upstairs.

 

 

Luhan was curled up on his bed, reading a book.  He had a headband in his hair again — this time it was pink with multicolored polka dots.  Sehun just shook his head and cleared his throat so Luhan would know he was here.

 

 

“Sehun!”  Luhan said, smiling from ear to ear.  He jumped off the bed and set his book down, running over to give Sehun a hug.

 

 

“Uh, hey.”  Sehun said while Luhan squeezed him tightly.

 

 

“I haven’t seen you in ages!  I thought you’d forgotten about me.”

 

 

Sehun suddenly felt bad for purposely avoiding Luhan — even at school.  But really, who wanted to be seen with a boy who wore nail polish and headbands?  Sehun looked down at Luhan’s hands and swallowed hard when he saw the light pink color on his nails.

 

 

“Luhan…”  Sehun said.  Luhan blinked up at him, then adjusted his headband.

 

 

“Yeah?”

 

 

“Why do you paint your nails?  And why do you wear those headbands?  Are you going to start wearing girl clothes too?”

 

 

Luhan nibbled at his bottom lip.  “No… why would I wear girl clothes?  And… I just like painting my nails… and I thought the headbands were cute.”

 

 

“Everyone at school makes fun of you,” Sehun blurted out.  “They make fun of me too because they know we’re friends.”  he reached forward and plucked the headband off of Luhan.  “So maybe you could stop being so weird and… just don’t wear this stuff to school.”

 

 

“But I like it —“

 

 

“Well I don’t like hearing you get made fun of!”  Sehun snapped.  Then he mentally sighed at himself.  Now Luhan was going to think he cared about him.

 

 

“Okay,” Luhan said quietly.  “But can I wear it now?  Please?”

 

 

Sehun gave the headband back to him and then carried his overnight bag to the bathroom.  He shut the door and started to arrange his toiletries on the sink.  Luhan knocked a couple times, trying to get his attention, but Sehun ignored him.

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

After dinner, Luhan didn’t really say much.  He took a cup of tea upstairs and just sat on his bed, reading his book, while Sehun awkwardly set up his sleeping bag on the floor.  For some reason, he was too embarrassed to ask Luhan for a pillow, so he just stole one off of his bed, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

 

 

If Luhan noticed, he didn’t act like it.  He continued to drink his tea and read his book.  Sehun glanced up at Luhan a few times before getting his phone and lying down on the sleeping bag.  He played Fruit Pop! for the next ten minutes until Luhan finally finished his tea.

 

 

“So uh… do you want to do something?”  Sehun asked.

 

 

“Like what?”  Luhan said.

 

 

“I don’t know… we could spend the night in your treehouse.”

 

 

“Maybe another night.”  Luhan said.  “I’m really tired.  I think I’m just gonna go to bed now.”

 

 

“It’s not even eight o’clock.”  Sehun pointed out.  But Luhan had already tucked himself under the covers and was facing away from Sehun.  Sighing a little, Sehun turned off the lights and got into his sleeping bag.  He stayed awake for a long time, feeling like the worst friend in the world.  Eventually, he decided that when he went back home, he’d tell Luhan they shouldn’t be friends anymore, because he just didn’t want to be around him anymore, and what was the point in faking a friendship?

 

 

After he sorted all of this out, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

The next morning, Sehun woke up to an empty bedroom.  Sitting up, he ran a hand through his hair and untangled himself from his sleeping bag.  He checked the time on his phone and frowned when he saw that it was almost eleven.  Had he really slept for that long?

 

He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth before heading downstairs.  Luhan’s mother was bent over the sink, cleaning some dishes.

 

 

“Luhan’s outside,” she said.  “Maybe in the treehouse, I’m not sure.  Are you hungry?  Luhan said you were sleeping when I called you guys down for breakfast, and he didn’t want to disturb you.”

 

 

“Oh, um, I’m okay for now.  I’ll just wait until lunch.  Uh… I’m gonna go find Luhan.”

 

 

“Okay.  He looked a little upset this morning and he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, so maybe you could find out for me?”

 

 

“Yeah,” Sehun said.  He’s upset because of me.  “I’ll see if I can.”

 

 

He ran outside, feeling guilty and unable to stay in the kitchen for a second longer.  It was chilly outside, and Sehun shivered as he climbed up the ladder to the treehouse.  Luckily, there wasn’t a lock on the small door, so he went inside uninvited.

 

 

Luhan let out a small, surprised whimper when he saw Sehun and he shuffled across the floor until he was sitting with his back against the wall.

 

 

“Hi,” Sehun said.  He sat down next to Luhan.  “I just wanted to apologize for being such a jerk yesterday.”

 

 

“It’s fine,” Luhan said quietly.

 

 

“No, it’s not.”  Sehun shook his head.  “And I was doing a lot of thinking last night and I’ve realized how unfair I am to you so I think… maybe we just shouldn’t be friends anymore.”

 

 

“What?”

 

 

“It’s mainly because of me, you didn’t do anything wrong.”  Sehun said.

 

 

Luhan’s eyebrows knitted together and he scratched his head.  “It’s because of this isn’t it?”  he wiggled his fingers in front of Sehun’s face, showing off the nail polish.  “I’ll take it off, I won’t wear it anymore, I promise.  Look —“ he started to pick at the nail polish, ruining the perfectly smooth coat of color.

 

 

“Wait — Luhan,” Sehun said.  “Stop.”

 

 

“No,” Luhan continued to pick off the nail polish.  “Please don’t stop being my friend.  I like you and… I don’t have anyone else.”

 

 

“Well if you weren’t so weird, you’d be able to make new friends.”  Sehun said.  He turned away from Luhan after he said that, unable to look at the hurt expression on his face.  “So maybe when you go to school on Monday, you can go without the nail polish and the headbands and you can stop doing all of the weird stuff you do —“

 

 

“Shut up!”  Luhan cut Sehun off.  “You can’t tell me what to do, and I don’t care if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.  So get out.”  he reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out a white iPod.  A pair of earbuds were tangled around it and Luhan worked furiously to get the knots out.  Sehun just sat there, watching him.

 

 

“Okay… I’ll go now.”  Sehun said quietly, not even knowing if Luhan was listening to him or not.  He opened the small door of the treehouse and climbed down the ladder.

 

 

Should he go back into the house?  There was really nothing to do in there, except talk to Luhan’s mother.  But she was probably busy and talking to adults was boring anyway.

 

 

He ended up going to Luhan’s bedroom, bored out of his mind.  He dug around in Luhan’s bathroom drawers until he found his nail polish collection, and looking at the different colors made him feel weird and sad.  But he picked up a bottle of blue nail polish (to Sehun, the color was quite pretty) and a bottle of purple liquid that had ‘nail polish remover’ stamped on the front.  He couldn’t find any tissues so he grabbed a roll of toilet paper and headed outside.

 

 

It was a bit difficult to climb up the ladder with his hands full, but he managed.  He went into the treehouse and set everything down on the floor.  Luhan hadn’t moved from his sitting position, except now he was listening to his iPod, head hung low.

 

 

Sehun gently tugged the earbuds out of Luhan’s ears and turned the iPod off.  Luhan blinked down at the stuff Sehun had brought.

 

 

“Are you making fun of me?”  Luhan asked, his voice trembling a little.

 

 

“What?  No!”  Sehun picked up the nail polish remover.  “I’m going to do your nails.”

 

 

“What —“

 

 

Sehun silenced Luhan by grabbing his hand and rubbing a piece of toilet paper, soaked with nail polish, over his fingernails.  The nail polish came off easier than Sehun expected, and he smiled.  Off to a good start so far.

 

 

“Sehun, you don’t have to do this.  And I liked the color I had on…”

 

 

Sehun paused.  “Oh.  I’m sorry.”  he coughed awkwardly.  “Well you can change it back later.”

 

 

Once all of the pink nail polish was off, Sehun picked up the blue nail polish bottle and unscrewed the cap.

 

 

Painting nails was harder than Sehun thought it would be, even though Luhan was keeping his hand perfectly still.  When Sehun finally finished, he looked at the mess he’d created and his cheeks turned pink.

 

 

“I…”  Sehun said, feeling like an idiot.  Luhan started to laugh.

 

 

“It looks horrible,” he giggled.  Then he covered his mouth with his hand.  “I mean…”

 

 

“No, it’s fine, it does look horrible.”  Sehun said.  “Sorry for ruining it.”

 

 

Luhan started to blow on his fingernails to get the nail polish to dry faster.  Sehun found himself staring at Luhan’s puckered lips, and he had to force himself to turn away.

 

 

They stayed in the treehouse for a while, until Sehun got a text from Chanyeol, asking if he wanted to hang out for a bit.  Unlike Luhan, Sehun had a lot of friends from school.

 

 

“Do you mind if I leave for a little bit?”  Sehun asked.

 

 

“Oh… no, I don’t… but you should probably let my mom know where you’re going.”  Luhan said.  He picked up his iPod and put on the earbuds, and Sehun froze for a few seconds before making his way down the ladder and into the house.

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

Sehun hung out with Chanyeol for the rest of the day, completely forgetting about Luhan and the fact that it’d probably hurt Luhan’s feelings a lot when he’d left.  He even ended up having dinner with Chanyeol, so by the time he got back to Luhan’s house, it was already eight o’clock.

 

 

He found Luhan sitting on his bed, folding some laundry.  All of Luhan’s t-shirts were tight little things in pale, pastel colors.  Some had designs on the front, like daisies or puppies or other sickeningly cute things that you would often find on children’s clothing.  Sehun felt bad about it, but he’d made fun of Luhan’s clothing when he’d first met him.  Back then, Luhan would cry at everything, and he’d burst into tears when Sehun had asked him why he was wearing a pink t-shirt with ‘girly stuff’ on the front.  Now, Luhan didn’t cry so much, but maybe that was because Sehun was his friend.  A pretty crappy friend, but a friend nonetheless.

 

 

“Need any help?”  Sehun asked.

 

 

Luhan looked up from the pair of pants he was folding and shrugged.  Sehun sat down beside him and picked up a blue t-shirt — a plain one.  But it still looked like it would be tight on Luhan, and Sehun sighed.  Maybe he was being too judgmental.  Who cared if Luhan liked to wear this stuff?  Who cared if he liked putting on nail polish and wearing pretty headbands and all of that?  Sehun decided right then and there that he was going to be more accepting of Luhan.  And maybe he should invite Chanyeol over so Luhan could be friends with him, too.

 

 

“Hey Luhan… you know my friend Chanyeol?”

 

 

Luhan nodded.

 

 

“Can I invite him over tomorrow?  I think you guys should get to know each other.”

 

 

Luhan froze, fear clouding his eyes.  “How long have you known?”

 

 

“Known what?”  Sehun frowned, confused.  Luhan looked like he’d just witnessed a murder.

 

 

“That I… that I um, like… b-b-boys.”  Luhan stuttered a little, his cheeks turning rosy.  The tips of his ears turned a little bit pink as well.

 

 

“Wait, what?  I — you like Chanyeol?”

 

 

“N-No… I… maybe a little bit… I don’t know.”  Luhan sniffled.  “Sorry, allergies.”  he said quietly.  Silence fell around them, and Sehun didn’t really want Chanyeol to come over anymore.

 

 

“Well, Chanyeol likes girls, so…”  Sehun swallowed hard.  “I won’t invite him over, ‘cause that wouldn’t be fair to you.  But since when have you liked him?”

 

 

Luhan shrugged.  “I don’t know if I do… I just like all boys, I guess… I just…”  he sighed in frustration.  “I mean I guess it was obvious to you, because of the nail polish and the headbands and the clothes and all of that… you probably always thought I was gay.”

 

 

Honestly, Sehun had never even thought about Luhan’s uality once.  When he’d looked at Luhan’s appearance, the only word that had come to mind was ‘weird’.  

 

 

“I never thought you were,” Sehun said.  “I only suggested invited Chanyeol over because I wanted to help you make some more friends.  I wasn’t planning to set you guys up together or anything like that.”

 

 

 

“Oh, okay.  Well… thanks.”  Luhan pinched his bottom lip with his thumb and forefinger.  “But as long as you’re my friend, I don’t really need anyone else.”  Luhan said shyly.  “And I d-don’t like you as m-more than a friend, so don’t worry.  I won’t make a move on you.”

 

 

Sehun laughed loudly to get rid of the weird churning sensation in his stomach.  He couldn’t help but picture Luhan kissing him.  It wasn’t like he wanted it to happen, it’s just that Luhan had mentioned it, so Sehun couldn’t help but imagine it in his head.

 

 

“Okay, let’s just change the subject.”  Sehun said.  He noticed that Luhan was still wearing the blue nail polish, even though some of it was on his skin and not on the actual fingernail.  Sehun smiled a little, the quickly grabbed another t-shirt to fold.

 

 

“By the way, my mom wanted to tell you that she has some tickets for an amusement park.  So we could go… if you want.  We don’t have to.”  Luhan picked up a stack of folded t-shirts and put them away in his closet.  “Do you want to go?”

 

 

“Yeah!”  Sehun exclaimed, unable to hold back his excitement.  It’d been so long since he’d been to an amusement park.

 

 

“Okay, I’ll let her know.”  Luhan grinned, then hurried out of the bedroom.  By the time he came back, Sehun had finished folding the rest of the clothes.

 

 

“Thanks,” Luhan said as he put them in the closet.  “You didn’t have to do that.”

 

 

“I’m used to doing my own,” Sehun said.  “So when are we going?”

 

 

“Tomorrow.  We can spend the whole day, so let’s get up really early…”  Luhan his lips nervously.  “Do you want to sleep in the treehouse tonight?  I think it’s supposed to rain sometime in the middle of the night, but that’ll make it more fun, don’t you think?”

 

 

“Let’s do it,” Sehun said.

 

 

They stayed in Luhan’s room, just talking and laughing, until midnight rolled around and they both remembered that they were supposed to be sleeping in the treehouse.

 

 

“Uh, I don’t have a sleeping bag to bring.”  Luhan said.

 

 

“You can share mine,” Sehun said quickly.  “I think it’s big enough.”

 

 

Luhan’s cheeks turned a bright red, but luckily, Sehun didn’t notice because the bedroom was so dark.

 

 

They crept outside, being as quiet as they could because they didn’t want to wake up Luhan’s mother.  The grass in the backyard was wet.

 

 

“Maybe it already rained,” Luhan said as he climbed up the ladder.  When Luhan got to the top, Sehun tossed the sleeping bag to him, then climbed up himself.

 

 

Sehun felt like the treehouse was a little creepy in the dark, but he didn’t tell Luhan that, of course.  Instead, he arranged the sleeping bag and ped it, letting Luhan get inside first.

 

 

There wasn’t a lot of room.  In fact, Sehun was smashed up against Luhan and there was really nothing he could do about it.  He didn’t know if he should face the boy or not.  If he did, their noses were almost touching.  If he and Luhan turned around so they had their backs to each other, their butts rubbed against each other.  And if Sehun faced Luhan’s back, he was basically spooning the other boy.

 

 

Eventually, Sehun decided to lay down on his back and Luhan was forced to have half of his body on top of Sehun’s.  They stayed like that, though, because it was quite comfortable.

 

 

Sehun was about to fall asleep when rain started to pound down on the treehouse, and Luhan’s body spasmed a little.

 

 

“Are you awake?”  Sehun whispered loudly.  Luhan replied with a small grunt.

 

 

“The rain’s coming down pretty hard — what if the treehouse collapses?”  Sehun said.

 

 

Luhan stretched a little and sat up.  “It’s built pretty well.  We should be fine.  What, are you scared?”

 

 

Sehun scoffed.  “Scared for you, maybe.  You’re so little and fragile.”

 

 

“Hey!  Shut up, I am not.”  Luhan dug his elbow into Sehun’s rib.  Then he lay down again, and they both faced each other.

 

 

“Yeah you are, with your nail polish and your dumb glittery headbands and your tight t-shirts and… and…”  Sehun looked at Luhan’s eyes, his long eyelashes, and his light pink lips.  Sehun had never really thought about kissing anyone — girls or boys — but now, he wanted nothing more than to press his lips against Luhan’s.

 

 

The rain pounded down on the treehouse relentlessly and Sehun’s heart was beating furiously in his chest.

 

 

“I’m not fragile,” Luhan said.  He sniffed indignantly and squirmed around to find a comfortable position and accidentally kneed Sehun in the crotch.

 

 

“Ouch.”  Sehun hissed, his hands snaking down to grab at the wounded area.

 

 

“Sorry,” Luhan giggled.

 

 

“Let’s just go to sleep,” Sehun said.  He no longer wanted to kiss Luhan, and he felt angry at himself for even thinking about it.  He’d probably just felt that way because his face had been inches away from Luhan’s.  Wasn’t it common to think about kissing someone if you were that close to them?

 

 

“Okay,” Luhan yawned.  “See you in the morning.”  he turned around and Sehun scooted backwards, trying to create more space in between them.

 

 

Usually, the sound of rain made it easier for Sehun to sleep, but now he just felt antsy and agitated, and he lay awake for a long time, listening to Luhan’s slow, steady breathing and the little whimpering sounds he would make once in a while.

 

 

When Sehun couldn’t stay lying down for a second longer, he sat up and ran a hand through his hair.  Making hot chocolate sounded like a really good idea right now, and he quietly ped the sleeping bag so he could get out.

 

 

It was still raining hard outside, and Sehun hurried across the backyard and into the house, his hair dripping wet.  While the water heated up in the kettle, Sehun went upstairs and quickly rubbed his hair dry with a towel.  He grabbed one of Luhan’s hoodies to wear when he went back outside and hurried downstairs.

 

 

Grabbing a pack of hot chocolate powder, he poured it into a mug and mixed in the hot water, taking a huge gulp as soon as it was blended together.  It burned his tongue, but Sehun didn’t really care.  He was halfway done with it when Luhan came into the kitchen, blinking sleepily.

 

 

“What are you doing?”  Luhan asked, looking completely bewildered and confused.  It was a cute look on him.

 

 

“Just drinking some hot chocolate,” Sehun said.  “I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted.

 

 

“Oh.  Can I have some?”  Luhan came over to Sehun.

 

 

“Yeah, sure.”  Sehun handed Luhan the mug.  He watched as Luhan took a few sips.

 

 

“We aren’t going to be able to sleep for a while now, because of the sugar.”  Luhan said.  He finished the rest of the hot chocolate without realizing and frowned when the mug was empty.  “Oops, sorry…”

 

 

“It’s okay, I was pretty much done anyway.”  Sehun lied.  “Should we go back to the treehouse?”

 

 

Luhan nodded, and Sehun handed him the hoodie instead of putting it on himself, because that was the right thing to do, right?  And no, Sehun was definitely not worrying about Luhan catching a cold by getting wet from the rain.

 

 

Sehun followed Luhan outside, laughing when Luhan slipped on the grass immediately and fell into a puddle of mud, his pants getting completely soaked.

 

 

Clutching at his stomach, Sehun almost fell over himself from laughing so hard, but he quickly became silent when he saw Luhan’s face all scrunched up, like he was about to cry.

 

 

“Hey, come here,” Sehun said.  He helped Luhan up and they went into the treehouse.  Luhan took off his muddy shoes and set them in the corner of the room.

 

 

“I need to go back inside the house and get some new clothes,” Luhan said.

 

 

“No you don’t.  Here — just take off your pants.  You’re wearing underwear, right?”

 

 

Luhan nodded.

 

 

“Perfect, you can just wear that to bed.”

 

 

“Okay.  Don’t look.”  Luhan ordered as he started to pull down his pants.  Sehun turned away, closing his eyes, and waited for Luhan to say when it was okay to look again.  He heard the rustling of the sleeping bag and figured that Luhan was inside it, so he opened his eyes.

 

 

“Are you cold?”  Sehun asked as he climbed in beside Luhan.  Luhan shook his head and yawned cutely.  

 

 

“No, I’m fine.”  he closed his eyes.  “We really should sleep though.”

 

 

“Yeah, I know.  Goodnight, Lu.”

 

 

“Goodnight.”

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

Sehun fell asleep for a couple hours before he woke up again, sighing loudly when he saw that it was still dark outside.

 

 

Luhan was fast asleep next to him, his mouth open.  He was snoring lightly, and the sound was driving Sehun crazy, so he shook Luhan a little.  He giggled when Luhan snorted like a pig and made some weird ling sounds with his mouth.  But at least the snoring stopped.

 

 

Sehun moved around, trying to get comfortable, and accidentally elbowed Luhan in the stomach.  Luhan’s eyes flew open, and Sehun sighed.

 

 

“Sorry for waking you.”  Sehun said.

 

 

Luhan was blushing.  “It’s okay.”  he looked away.

 

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

 

“Nothing, I was just having a weird dream.”  Luhan shrugged.

 

 

“About what?”

 

 

“Nothing!”  Luhan squeaked.  “What time is it?”

 

 

“I don’t know, but it’s still dark out, so we couldn’t have slept for that long.”  Sehun said.  He looked at Luhan’s cheeks — which were still a bright pink.  “Why are you so embarrassed?”

 

 

“I’m not,” Luhan said.  “Just go back to sleep.”

 

 

“Fine,” Sehun huffed.  He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, trying to keep it slow and steady so he could fall asleep faster.

 

 

“I was dreaming about you,” Luhan mumbled several minutes later.

 

 

Sehun opened his eyes and turned to face Luhan.  “What?”

 

 

Luhan pressed his lips together.

 

 

“What were we doing in the dream?”

 

 

“Mmmff,” Luhan said into the fabric of his shirt.

 

 

“What?”

 

 

“Don’t worry about it.”  Luhan said.

 

 

“Okay, now that you’ve said that, you have to tell me.”

 

 

Luhan sighed dramatically.  “We were kissing, okay?  I always dream about us kissing, but it doesn’t mean anything.  Now go to sleep and don’t talk to me for… the rest of our lives.  Thanks.”  the pink color was back on Luhan’s cheeks and Sehun just stared dumbly at him before leaning down and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

 

 

“H-e-ey!”  Luhan gasped.  “Sehun!?”

 

 

“Was it nice?”  Sehun asked, feeling stupid.

 

 

“I d-don’t… that was my first kiss…”

 

 

“Oh.  Well it was mine too.”  Sehun said.  “Wow, I can’t believe I just kissed a boy who wears headbands and nail polish.”

 

 

“Well, no one forced you too.”  Luhan grumbled.  He started to get out of the sleeping bag.  “I think I’m going to sleep in my own bed.  You can stay here if you want.”

 

 

“Wait — Luhan — I’m sorry for saying that.  And I’m sorry I kissed you, too.”

 

 

“No it’s fine, it was nice.”  Luhan looked down and started to play with the bottom of his shirt.

 

 

“Stay here,” Sehun whispered.  “It’s probably really cold outside.”

 

 

“Okay.”  Luhan lay back down.  They were both silent for a while, until Luhan leaned over and gave Sehun a soft kiss on the lips.

 

 

“It feels weird, doesn’t it?”  Luhan said.

 

 

“What feels weird?”

 

 

“Kissing.”  Luhan said.

 

 

Sehun frowned and kissed Luhan again, closing his eyes and memorizing the feeling of Luhan’s lips against his.

 

 

“I think it feels okay,” Sehun said truthfully.

 

 

“I don’t like it very much,” Luhan said.  Sehun bit his tongue.  Was he a bad kisser?

 

 

He kissed Luhan again, moving his lips a little more this time and tangling his fingers in the back of Luhan’s hair.  He could feel Luhan’s little tongue poking against his lips and he wondered if everyone felt this lightheaded while they were kissing someone else.

 

 

“We don’t have to do it anymore,” Sehun said as he pulled away.  “Goodnight.”

 

 

“Goodnight,” Luhan whispered.  Sehun noticed that his voice was very unsteady, and he smiled to himself, hoping that Luhan was breathless because of the way he’d kissed him.

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

It was still raining hard in the morning, and there were supposed to be thunderstorms later in the day, so Luhan’s mother said they’d have to postpone the amusement park.

 

 

“Maybe you two could have a movie night?  I can go rent a movie — you guys can pick out whatever you want.”  she said.  “I’ll get you guys snacks, too.”

 

 

“Let’s watch a horror movie,” Luhan said.  “And can you get ice cream?  And a box of ice cream cones?”

 

 

Laughing, Luhan’s mother nodded her head.  “Okay, does that sound good to you as well, Sehun?”

 

 

He nodded quickly.  “Yeah, it sounds great.”

 

 

“I’ll be back in less than an hour,” she said.

 

 

When she was gone, Luhan walked upstairs to his bedroom and Sehun followed him.

 

 

“Do you mind if I take this off?”  Luhan wiggled his fingers and Sehun looked at the messy coats of blue nail polish.

 

 

“No, I don’t mind.”  Sehun said.  “Can I watch you do your nails?”

 

 

“Okay,” Luhan said quietly.  For the next fifteen minutes, Sehun sat next to Luhan on the bed, watching as Luhan expertly painted a pale pink color on his nails.

 

 

“Is pink your favorite color?”  Sehun asked.  He picked up the bottle of nail polish and examined it.

 

 

“Yeah,” Luhan said.  “This nail polish is my favorite.  But it’s discontinued so I only wear it when I really want to.”

 

 

Sehun looked at the bottom of the bottle.  The label told him that the color was called ‘Sweetie Pie’.

 

 

“Sweetie Pie?”  Sehun laughed a little.  “What a cute name for a nail polish.”  he looked at Luhan’s nails, which were dry now.  

 

 

“It suits the color though, don’t you think?”

 

 

“Yeah, it does.”  Sehun said.  “It suits you, too.”

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

Sehun wasn’t sure how Luhan made it through the movie, but he did.  He almost cried out of fear four times and Sehun felt bad for laughing at him.

 

 

“I picked a horror movie because I wanted you to comfort me when I got scared…”  Luhan said.  “But you were completely useless.”

 

 

“Oh,” Sehun said.  “Sorry I —“

 

 

“Thought it was funny,” Luhan finished his sentence for him.

 

 

Sehun pressed his lips together and looked at Luhan guiltily.  “Will a kiss make it better?  Or do you still think kissing is weird?”

 

 

“I, u-um, I d-d-don’t —“

 

 

Sehun kissed Luhan to stop his stuttering and he squeezed Luhan’s slender hips, wondering if maybe he’d always had a crush on the boy.  

 

 

When they broke the kiss, Luhan blinked up at Sehun.  “What does this mean?”

 

 

“I don’t know.”  Sehun said.

 

 

“My mom said I’m not allowed to date until I’m sixteen.”  Luhan said.

 

 

“We don’t have to date,” Sehun said quickly.  “It’s probably better if we don’t, anyway.”

 

 

“Okay.  It’s not because you don’t want anyone to know, right?”

 

 

“No, no, it’s not that.  I just feel like I’d be the worst boyfriend ever.”

 

 

Luhan laughed.  “Yeah, you probably would.”

 

 

Sehun glared at him.  “Shut up… sweetie pie.”

 

 

And Luhan’s cheeks turned the most beautiful shade of pink.

 

 

 

~

 

 

 

On Monday, Sehun couldn’t help but stare at Luhan when he saw him.  He was wearing one of his cute, glittery headbands as well as a tight little t-shirt and sweatpants that hung low on his hips because they were a little too big for him.

 

 

Sehun walked over to him and asked him if maybe he wanted to go get something to eat after school, and Luhan giggled and nodded and Sehun was highly aware of people staring at them curiously.  Sehun felt like he could’ve kissed Luhan right then and there.

 

 

Luhan was wearing Sweetie Pie on his nails and Sehun was wearing his heart on his sleeve.