Luhan rushes down the stairs, hand on the railings so he would not tumble down. Many thoughts are racing through his mind. He would never admit it outloud but he’s quite shaken at how fast Minseok and Jongdae became so close but whenever he watches the two’s interactions, it just seems like they’re really just friends and nothing more. Even in Jongdae’s part.

Except the cafeteria incident though. He was on a bad mood before going to the cafeteria that’s why when he saw Jongdae’s arms draped on Minseok’s shoulder, he suddenly snapped. He felt sorry for it after a few hours when he realized how unnecessary his actions were. He apologized to Jongdae the next day and the younger seems to be really cool about it.

However, seeing how…lovey-dovey or couple-like the two just tested his patience. If only he’ll be selfish he would have probably told Minseok to go away from the younger already but he knows he couldn’t do that. A best friend has boundaries and one of them is not stopping your best friend from having other close friends. He’s possessive but he’s not a jerk. That and Jongdae’s really a good guy. A good guy that’s just too touchy to Minseok.

He dashes to the corner of the building before stopping to calm himself down. He has to be rational. He needs to think clearly before doing anything. He doesn’t want Minseok to be angry at him. That’s the last thing he wants to happen. 

When he deems himself calm enough, he peeks through the edge of the wall and sees Minseok and Jongdae not too far. Luhan can see their backs and he watches as Jongdae grasps Minseok’s arms. It’s not intimate or what, just a mere skinship that can be brushed away as casual between friends and Luhan breathes a sigh of relief on that.

Jongdae seems to be pointing at something to Minseok on the ground. Luhan tries to look what it is but he’s too far and the two are obstructing his way. That and his poor eyesight is also to be blamed.

He also tries to eavesdrop but miserably fails because they’re far enough not to be heard and they’re probably talking in soft voices. But Luhan can see that they’re indeed having a conversation through their gestures and their brief eye contacts. It looks like whatever it is on the ground is interesting enough for a sensible conversation.

He sees Jongdae crouch a little to pick whatever it is and he's surprised to see a flower in his fingers. ‘Oh, so it must be a plant,” Luhan thinks, more confused now as to what’s so important about it. The back building is full of plants but he notices that the spot where the two males are is kind of far from the other area where a lot of plants are lined up. 

After a few minutes, he can see that Minseok shifted to face Jongdae who now has his head bowed. He furrows his eyebrows as Minseok puts his hand on Jongdae’s jaw and lifts the younger male’s face. This has Luhan’s eyes widen. Luhan starts to gape when Minseok puts both his hands on either side of Jongdae’s face now, thumbs swiping on his cheeks. 

Luhan feels his heart clench at the sight and he’s frozen on his spot. It looks like he’s watching his most feared nightmare coming to life at the sight of the two’s sweet moment. His breaths shorten and try as he might, he cannot cannot even look away. 

Lots of questions are in his mind now and he fears he’ll break down any moment. Why did Minseok not even tell him? Is it because he was so busy? Did Minseok feel like Luhan’s neglecting him? But they’re not together so why would Minseok feel that way? Or is it because Minseok just likes Jongdae differently? Like he likes Jongdae as a possible boyfriend perhaps? It can’t be right?

But as he focuses at the two again, they were still in that position. He sees Minseok slowly pull Jongdae downwards and he cannot control himself anymore. He was about to run towards the two when someone just came out of nowhere and pulled Jongdae away from Minseok.

The other male continues to pull Jongdae away from the scene not even minding Minseok and maybe from the shock, Jongdae doesn’t even have the chance to fight back. Luhan looks back at Minseok and he sees him frozen on his spot, hands still suspended in the air.

Luhan didn’t even recognize the male stranger’s face. All he can remember are a clenched jaw and furious eyes.

His heart breaks at the sight of Minseok and he wishes he could do anything for the elder right now. Minseok must feel so shocked and probably even broken. He gulps at the thought and was about to go away when Minseok turns around. He doesn’t think he could survive if he sees him breaking down. 

Minseok furrows his eyebrows when he caught sight of him and Luhan was about to really flee, back already turned, when he hears his name.

"Luhan?" 

"Luhan is that you?" Minseok says, voice now a bit a louder. He can hear Minseok’s approaching steps growing louder by the second. He feels a hand on his shoulder.

"Luhan?" Minseok says softly, hand grasping his shoulder firmly.

Luhan blinks his eyes to stop any tears threatening to come out then turns around to face the other male. 

He puts on a blank face. He can’t even force himself to smile. The elder frowns at the sight of his friend’s face then his eyes widen.

"Did you see—" 

"I have to go. I’m late for rehearsals," Luhan interrupts. He doesn’t think he could stand hearing something like "Did you see that I was about to kiss Jongdae" or something along those lines. 

He tries to shake off Minseok’s hand which is still resting on his shoulder but the elder grabs his arm. 

"No. You don’t understand. That’s—"

"I understand. I— I really have to go. Jung-saem will really get angry," Luhan swallows. He really needs to be alone right now. 

"No. You’re not going anywhere. We need to talk," Minseok insists, not letting go of Luhan's arm.

Luhan steals a look in the elder's eyes and he sees determination. He bows his head in surrender and feels Minseok starting to pull him. The male doesn't let go of him and after a few minutes he notices where they're going. It's Minseok's dorm building.

Minseok leads them up to his and Yixing's room, still not letting go of his arm as he fishes the keys in his pockets. Both of them are not saying anything and silence is so loud along the hallways, the click of the door being unlocked even echoing in their ears.

Luhan thought that it would be awkward and quiet in the confines of the room but Minseok speaks as soon as they got in.

"Luhan listen. It's not what you think," Minseok starts but Luhan interrupts.

"No Minseok. It's...okay. I mean, I get it."

"No. You clearly don't get it. Listen to me first okay," Minseok says, frustrated at how Luhan who seems to not even be willing to listen to any explanation he's planning to give him. He pulls Luhan towards the bed and makes the younger sit on it. He takes a seat on Yixing's bed across his, facing Luhan.

He was about to say something but Luhan beat him to it.

"Why didn't you even say anything? We're best friends right Seok-ah? I think I deserve to at least know --,"

"No," Minseok says, now infuriated by Luhan's words. He elaborates when he sees Luhan's puzzled expression.

"We're not b--b-bestfriends," Minseok is now trembling and he can't stop the tears from dropping.

Luhan feels like he's just been punched in the gut and all he wants to do is to beg. Beg to Minseok to at least let him be his friend. To at least let him stay by his side even if he's with someone. But then he sees the other crying hardly and he puts it on the back of his mind. He kneels in front of the older and starts wiping Minseok's tears.

It's a futile attempt however as the tears seem never ending.

"Sssh, Seok-ah please don't cry. I understand. I'll distance from you now. I won't be a bother anymore," Luhan comforts the other as he tries to stop his own tears. He fails however as he feels wetness on his cheeks.

Minseok struggles against him and pushes his arms. Luhan feels so helpless. Minseok does not like him anymore, even if just as a friend. He's probably fed up of Luhan's possessiveness and constantly not giving him any personal space.

"You still don't understand me! I don't want you as a friend anymore, okay?! I can't stand being called your best friend anymore. I'm sick of having boundaries. I'm sick of not having any right to touch you freely as I want to, to demand you presence whenever I miss you, to talk to you till late night about nothing and everything," Minseok hiccups while he looks on the floor, eyes away from Luhan's face because he's scared. He then continues, "I hate it when all I can do is smile and shake my head whenever people ask me if we're togethe. I hate it when I feel so confused of what your actions really mean. I hate it when I get my hopes up whenever you hug me. I hate it when you say you care for me because I'm your best friend because I'm not happy just being your friend anymore Luhan. I'm not," he ends. He slowly looks up and sees Luhan gaping at him, shock all over his face.

After a minute of silence, Minseok pushed Luhan's arms which are rested on the sides of Minseok's thighs.

"I get it. I get it now. Can I-- Can I be alone?" Minseok says, standing up from the bed and goes to his desk and starts getting his books from his bag.

"Please Luhan. I really need to be by myself right now," Minseok pleads, now seated on a chair, tears still flowing freely when he hears Luhan stop behind him.

"I don't understand Seok-ah," Luhan sniffs, "What about Jongdae?"

Minseok turns around from his seat and asks back "What about Jongdae?"

Luhan looks shocked at Minseok's furious expression.

"I--I mean...don't you like him?" Luhan says in a small voice but not breaking his eye contact with the elder.

"Jongdae? Of course I like him," Luhan visibly deflates but Minseok continues "I like him because he's my friend Luhan. I like him as a friend. Just as a friend," Minseok stresses, now standing and facing Luhan.

Luhan still looks puzzled and raised the question he fears the answer to, "But earlier...weren't you about to kiss him?" the male wipes the tears in his cheeks, ashamed for crying out so openly like this in front of Minseok.

"Earlier?"

"You were holding his face and you were about to kiss him and if--"

"Idiot. Do you seriously believe I'll kiss him?" Minseok answers, face now a bit better compared to its gloomy mood a while ago.

Luhan looks down and contemplates his answer. His heart is saying no but his brain is reminding him of the scene earlier. Minseok pulling Jongdae's face downwards...and a fresh set of tears flow down.

Minseok steps near him and raises one hand to cup Luhan's jaw.

"Luhan look at me," the older male says, guiding Luhan's face upwards so their eyes would meet.

Luhan obliges but still looks to a different direction to avoid Minseok's gaze.

"Luhan," Minseok says firmly. Luhan can really be stubborn when he wants to.

Luhan gulps and this time around, he meets Minseok's eyes.

"I wasn't about to kiss him. I can't even do it even if someone forces me to much less just on my own will," Minseok explains, voice now soft.

Luhan looks lost for a few minutes but Minseok hopes. He searches Luhan's eyes for any answer or reaction but he sees too many emotions at once. Shock, relief and disbelief are evident but Minseok hopes to see something he's been longing for. He wants to see longing. He wants Luhan to look at him as not just Minseok the best friend.

Minseok flinches when he feels Luhan's hand cup his hand that's on Luhan's face.

"So that means...you don't like him?"

"I told you--" Minseok starts but Luhan doesn't let him continue.

"Then you like me? Not just as a friend?" Luhan gulps, his adam's apple bobbing prominently. 

Minseok's bites his lip but does not let his gaze waver.

"Yes," Minseok confirms.

"For real?" Luhan asks again.

"I said yes!" Minseok says, sounding so irritated now but his mood swing is gone as fast as it arrived when he senses Luhan's face getting closer to him.

"You must know that there's no backing out now right Seok-ah?" Luhan whispers, eyes switching between Minseok's eyes and lips. He raises his other hand to Minseok's jaw and drops the other to Minseok's waist and pulls the older lightly towards him. He gulps again when the older's breath hitched.

Minseok, whose gaze was already at Luhan's lips, meets the younger's eyes again.

"Of course," Minseok whispers, closing his eyes because Luhan's so close he can actually feel the other's warm breath on his face.

***

Luhan stabs the meat on his plate as he continues sulking. He's not really in a good mood but his mood got worse when he hears Yixing's voice.

"Hello everyone~" Yixing says while taking his seat across Luhan. Luhan looks up from his plate and glares at Yixing.

"Why do you look like you want to kill Yixing, Luhan-hyung," Kyungsoo says while he looks from Luhan to Yixing with raised brows.

"Maybe because I really want to?" Luhan says, still glaring at Yixing who's looking back at him with a smirk on his face.

"Why? What happened?" Chanyeol asks after brushing the crumbs of chips around his lips. He's looking at the bag of Doritos in his hand while saying this, inspecting it if there's still any remaining.

"Because this idiot has the worst timing in the world," Luhan accuses as he points at Yixing with the fork still in hand.

"What? What did I even do?" Yixing taunts, smiling at Luhan and enjoying how the older's so riled up.

Luhan's about to retort when he feels a firm touch on his shoulder. He looks at his right to see Minseok, who just returned from the restroom, slide in his seat.

Luhan stops all his insults at the tip of his tongue and just pouts. He smiles though when he feels Minseok's hand hold his under the table.

Yixing now chuckles a bit loudly while banging the table. 

"Whipped," Yixing comments to no one in particular.

Luhan ignores him and pulls his chair closer to Minseok's instead, intertwining their fingers in the process.

He leans towards the older and whispers "Why are they not even asking us?" Minseok shrugs in reply, focus on his food.

"Minseok-ah," Luhan whines directly in his ear making the elder flinch.

"Sorry," Luhan gets back to whispering.

Luhan's kind of pissed at his friends. When he got to the cafeteria, the first thing he did was hug Minseok tightly in front of all of them. Then he held his hand and bought their food with him. He was even feeding Minseok a while ago! Yet, no one even asked about his actions. No one is questioning why he's so close to Minseok. No one is even paying attention to them being so close that it irritates him.

He decides to take his actions on a higher level. He raises their intertwined hands and puts it on the table and clears his throat. No one minded him. Even Minseok who is now having a chat with Kyungsoo and Sehun.

He clears his throat again, loudly this time, and almost beamed in delight when Kyungsoo stops in mid-talking and spares him a glance.

"Is your throat hurting or something?" Kyungsoo asks which made the other turn their glances on his direction, Minseok especially who looks a bit worried.

"Oh not really," Luhan says as he lets his thumb caress the back part of Minseok's hand. He smiles at the elder who smiles back at him, relieved that he's not sick or anything.

"Don't you notice anything unusual?" Luhan asks slowly, eyes gauging any hint of reaction or recognition from his friends who are all looking at him weirdly. He hears Minseok sigh but he doesn't stop. He sees Yixing snicker while his head is bowed and Luhan looks at him irritatedly before going back to looking at Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Sehun who all look so...lost.

"Nothing?" Sehun says, face obviously bewildered by Luhan's sudden question.

"Nothing?" Luhan asks again, slightly aghast.

"It's..." Chanyeol starts and Luhan looks at him hopefully "Not your birthday today right hyung? I mean...right?" Chanyeol asks as he looks at Kyungsoo as if asking for confirmation. The giant sighs in relief when Kyungsoo nods.

Luhan gapes at all of them. He can't believe this. Do their friends seriously spot nothing different? Maybe like their intertwined hands? Or them being more affectionate as usual? Seriously?

"I can't believe you all. Can't you all see this?" Luhan says, raising his and Minseok's hands.

"Your hands," Kyungsoo states, looking at their hands like it's an important display, scrutinizing if there's anything weird in it.

"Yes. My hand and Minseok's hand. Our hands," Luhan says exasperatedly.

"Yes hyung, your and Minseok-hyung's hands," Sehun says eyeing Luhan really weirdly now when his eyes widen. "Oh my god..." Sehun gasps.

Luhan looks at him expectantly. "Did you accidentally super glued it or something? We should go to the clinic!" Sehun says worriedly.

Luhan mentally facepalmed and was about to bang his head into the table when he hears his friends snicker then they all began laughing loudly, attracting the attention of other tables.

"We're just ting with you hyung. We know. Yixing practically messaged everyone with the good news," Chanyeol chuckles, wiping the tears in his eyes that's caused by too much laughing.

"Congratulations, really. Took you guys long enough," he adds to appease Luhan's mortified expression.

"I seriously thought you guys were like a long time couple when I first saw you together. I'm even more shocked when I knew that wasn't the case," Sehun says.

Luhan bites his lips to keep himself from smiling but he surrenders. He looks at Minseok to see him slightly blushing. Luhan can't resist and he pinches Minseok's cheeks. 

"Aigoo. Such a cutie," Luhan coos then Minseok slaps his hand away almost immediately causing Luhan to pout and the others to laugh again.

***

The day before

Luhan's lips are not even an inch away from Minseok's when his phone suddenly vibrated. As it's completely silent in the room, the vibrating sound was heard loud and clear and caused Minseok to open his eyes and jolt back.

Luhan curses under his breath and swears that whoever just texted him should just go and strangle himself. It's Yixing. Zhang freaking Yixing.

"Where are you? Jung-saem's so mad right now. Come here! Fast!"

This alarms Luhan and suddenly he remembers that he's supposed to be rehearsing right now. He looks at his wristwatch and was horrified to see that he's almost 45 minutes late. He looks worriedly at Minseok who seemed to have known the reason why he looks so panicked.

"Oh. You should go. Your instructors won't be pleased to practice with someone missing," Minseok says while doing hand gestures in the air because he's still kind of nervous because they almost kissed.

"Are you sure? I can just say I'm sick or--"

"I'm sure. Besides...I won't be going anywhere," Minseok adds shyly, looking at the floor.

Luhan contemplates before deciding that he really should go.

"I'm sorry. I'm coming back right after I promise," Luhan says.

"I know. Don't worry."

And before any of them registers anything happening, Luhan has already leaned close to Minseok's face and pecked his cheek which made the elder's face so red.

"I--uh. I'll be going," Luhan says with finality.

"Uhm, yeah. Practice well," Minseok says, blush still evident in his cheeks.

"I will, bye." Luhan rushes to the door after snatching his bag from the floor and once he closes it everything just came back to him and he realized what he had just done and...

Oh my god. 

He just kissed Minseok.

He just kissed Minseok.

He just kissed Kim Minseok.

The man he's been pining for for years.

He can't stop smiling while running towards his building and his mood doesn't even dampen when Jung-sonsaengnim scolded him for 20 minutes in front of everyone. 

What a perfect day...he still wants to punch Yixing though.

***

They were studying in Minseok's dorm, Minseok on his bed and Luhan on the floor when the younger pops a question.

"Minseok-ah you're now my boyfriend right?" Luhan looks on the bed to see Minseok spluttering and blinking so fast.

"Huh?" Minseok looks so lost and puzzled.

"We're together now right? I mean like, I'm your boyfriend and you're mine, right?" Luhan repeats nervously because what if Minseok says that that's not the case.

"Boyfriend?" Minseok looks utterly stupefied now.

"Yeah..."

Finally, Minseok regains his wits and processes everything Luhan just said.

"I like the sound of that," Minseok grins. "Repeat it again," he says while cajoling Luhan to join him on the bed. 

Luhan grins back and sits across Minseok after putting all the elder's things down on the floor.

"Boyfriend. I am you boyfriend. You are my boyfriend," Luhan is now grinning from ear to ear while MInseok's biting his lip to stop himself from grinning to widely.

Minseok nods multiple times before saying, "Of course."

And Luhan breaks out into full blown smile that would look scary if any other person sees it but it's Minseok so he thinks it looks so amazing.

They just look at each other for almost a minute, eyes tracing each other's features when Minseok notices that Luhan's eyes is now focused on his lips. 

"Do I get a kiss now?" Luhan asks expectantly to which Minseok just nods his head.

Luhan gets closer to Minseok's face and is about a hair's width away when the door opens and in strides Yixing who's singing loudly whatever he's listening to. The other male however stops on his tracks when he notices Luhan glaring furiously at him and Minseok's face buried on a pillow. He somehow gets a hunch on what he just did and pulls down his earphones.

"Oh. Mianhaeyow~" Yixing backs slowly, still looking at Luhan to ensure his safety and opens the door immediately once it's within reach but shouts before fully closing it.

"Sttriiiiike two for player Zhang!" he says before laughing loudly that his laughter echoes throughout the hallway.

Luhan groans and buries his face on his hands and he already feels like crying because he was so close. If only Yixing decided to be just two seconds late then he would have been able to kiss Minseok. He would have been able to feel those soft lips he had been desiring to feel since forever. 

He suddenly halts his thought when Minseok pries his hands off his face to replace it with his. He holds Luhan's face firmly before planting a kiss on Luhan's lips but he pulled away immediately.

Luhan is dumbfounded at what just happened making Minseok chuckle. The elder drops his hand and choose to lie down on the bed. Luhan followed and laid beside the other male.

He's smiling from ear to ear and he's clenching his hands into a fist to stop himself from caressing his lips because that's just not manly. He opts instead to look at the elder who's smiling widely too while looking at the ceiling.

He observes Minseok's eyes, his lashes to his nose down to his lips and can't help but think that this is just the best moment of his life.

He thought too soon though because when Minseok looked back he has to correct himself.

This moment, he thinks, is definitely the best.

-END-

And that's it! I marked this story complete BUT I would upload the bonus chapter some time this week I promise. So if you want some extra Xiuhan then don't unsubscribe yet, lol. And I spotted typos and grammar error while I was rereading the whole story and I promise to edit those once I have the time.

And of course the spin-off! Some of you might still be confused about other things (like wtaf happened to Jongdae) or other lingering questions you might want some answers to. If that's the case then you may read this. First chapter would be posted this week, weekend being the latest.

It's not necessary to read it because Xiuhan's side of story is already done and the spin-off has a different pairing but with the same setting as Looking at You. However it would be nice if you just check it out.

Another (shameless) promotion. I have another fic but this one's already completed. It's the very first fic I've written which I posted on tumblr before and I decided to post it in here as well. It's a one-shot and is a totally different au. Here it is.

Lastly, thank you everyone. You're probably sick of all my "thank you's" but I hope I have conveyed how thankful I really am. For all the subscribes, comments and upvotes thank you! /bows/