It was raining when he woke up Friday morning.  Perhaps, that should have served as a sign, but Luhan wasn’t one to put much belief into signs.  Rather, he just dragged himself out of bed, threw on some clothes, dug his umbrella out of his closet and headed to class after making a quick stop at the dining hall to grab a bagel.

Class was, as usual, boring, but unlike usual, when Luhan would try to still pay attention and write down what the teacher was saying in minute detail so as to stand a chance of passing his midterms, Luhan let his mind wander to other things, mainly his upcoming dinner (that was not a date) with Minseok planned for the evening.

He didn’t even know where they were going, although Minseok had texted him to say that it would be downtown, which meant they’d be able to take the campus transit buses over rather than having to drive. Still, downtown was basically four blocks of nothing but restaurants and bars, leaving Luhan with far too many options for what could be their final destination.

Not to mention that he still had to work out what to do for yoga that evening, and what to practice with Minseok afterwards, a task that was only complicated by the fact that Luhan’s  brain had still somehow managed to memorize the feel of Minseok’s lips on his cheek despite his attempts to immediately erase the sensation Wednesday evening. 

It hadn’t been too much of an issue yesterday on the bike because of the helmets and the fact that Luhan’s sense of self-preservation still trumped all other emotions, but couple’s yoga with Minseok didn’t exactly make him fear for his life.  His sanity perhaps, but not his life.

Of course, Lay was only too happy to offer up his own advice on the subject as they went out to finally retrieve Luhan’s poor car from the dealership, but his recommendation to just “go for it” really wasn’t all that helpful, which meant that as Luhan walked into the studio at quarter till five he was still trying to figure out just what his strategy for the evening should be when Minseok walked in with a smile on his face and a wave.

“How are you?”  He asked after he made his way to the front and snapped out his mat onto the floor.

“Pretty good.”  Luhan responded, hoping Minseok wouldn’t tack on to the lack of sincerity in his tone.

“You sure?”  Minseok asked, gaze slightly critical.

Luhan resisted the urge to sigh.  Instead he quickly sought out a probable explanation.  “I couldn’t concentrate much in class today.  Half of what the teacher said went in one ear and out the other.”  It was another half-truth to add to the list of others he had used with Minseok.  He was beginning to wonder how many more he could say before they simply became lies.

Minseok nodded in understanding.  “I hate those days.  Do you have someone you could get notes from?”

Luhan gave a nod.  “Yeah, I already emailed him for a photocopy.”

“Well then you should be fine right?”

Luhan gave a nod.  “Yeah, probably.”  Of course, that depended largely on if Tao had been paying any more attention than he had, something that was far from guaranteed.

“I’m sure you will be, and besides, even if you’re not, at least we get to eat good food tonight.”  Minseok said with a smile.

“Where are we even going?”  Luhan asked with a laugh even as he wondered just what Minseok would think if he knew how distressing that singular fact had been all day.  

Minseok gave a shrug as he glanced up at the clock.  “You’ll find out when we get there.  Now though, it’s time for you to get to work.”

“I would have known that even without you telling me.”  Luhan said with another laugh, and indeed, he would have because, as usual, everyone was slowly getting more antsy and fidgety while looking up at the clock.

“Well get to it then.” Minseok said with a smile.

Luhan smiled back before spinning to make his way to his mat in order to begin.

He kept things simple for most of the evening, opting to stick with easier yoga flows that would help everyone, including him, to unwind from the week.  He figured most people would appreciate that, that is until he lowered everyone down into a wide squat on the floor and more than a few people let out a yawn, among them Minseok who made a point of looking somewhat bored after he was done.

Luhan resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  Fine.  If they were bored he could make things more interesting. 

“For those of you looking for more of a challenge, we can advance this move into crow pose.”

Minseok tilted his head, clearly confused, as were several others around the room.  Luhan just smiled.  This was going to be fun.

“Okay, so first place your hands on the mat in front of you shoulder width apart and spread your fingers so that you are pressing evenly through both of your hands.” 

He saw several heads nod and begin copy his motions, Minseok among them.  Luhan continued.  “Now press your shins against the backs of your upper arms trying to keep your knees as close to your underarms as possible.”

Several nods, and looks of concentration.  That was good.  They were going to need it for what was coming next. 

“Now, begin to lean forward, lifting onto the balls of your feet while looking at the space between your hands, and when you feel comfortable, while keeping your back rounded, lift your feet off the floor and straighten your elbows.” 

His last few words were perhaps not as steady as he carefully leaned himself forward and lifted his feet off the ground to balance merely on his hands above the floor, but the few shocked, disbelieving laughs made it worth it.  He didn’t often do more advanced poses in class, not that basic crow was actually that advanced anyways, but it was definitely something a lot of people wouldn’t be able to do on the first try, if the few thuds he was hearing across the room were any indication.

He lowered himself out of the pose and went around the room for a brief period, offering advice to those brave enough to keep trying to lift themselves off the floor, Minseok among them.

“Exciting enough?” he whispered as he knelt down and adjusted the positioning of Minseok’s arms slightly. 

Minseok let out a breathy laugh, already tired from repeated attempts of trying to get up in the air. “You’re ridiculous.”

Luhan laughed.  “Thanks.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”  Minseok groaned as he finally got up for a few seconds before falling forwards. 

Luhan reached out a hand to help reduce the impact.

“I know.”  He said with a laugh.

Then, once he pushed Minseok back to upright, he returned to the front of the room to keep going on to the next series of movements for the evening.

---

“So, I take it you felt like showing off today?”  Minseok asked in amusement once Luhan dismissed the rest of the class.

Luhan shrugged.  “It seemed to me that some students were looking for something a little bit more exciting.”

Minseok smirked.  “Did it now?”

“Yup,” Luhan nodded as he dragged his mat across the floor so that it was end to end with Minseok’s own. 

“Well, I hope that same standard doesn’t apply to the rest of our practice,” Minseok responded as he followed the direction of Luhan’s now outstretched hand and sat on his mat so that he was seated across from Luhan, who had settled down onto his own.

“That depends.”  Luhan answered with a smile.

“On?” Minseok asked.

“On how well the student performs.”  Luhan answered.

Minseok laughed.  “But isn’t the performance of the student dependent upon the effectiveness of the teacher?”

“Only if the teacher isn’t very good.”

Minseok snorted.  “And I take it you are very good.”

“I assure you, I am very, very good.”

Minseok rolled his eyes.  “Just not very humble.”

Luhan laughed.  “No comment.  Now, spread your legs into a V-shape and line up your feet with mine.”

Minseok nodded, doing as instructed and opening up his legs before shimmying forward a few inches as Luhan did the same so that, in the end, the soles of their feet were firmly pressed together.

“Now what?”  Minseok asked.

“Now extend your arms out and grab onto my wrists.”  Luhan answered as he reached out his hands, palms up, into the space between them.

“Like this?”  Minseok asked as he reached out his hands, firmly clasping onto the undersides of Luhan’s wrists as Luhan did the same to his.

“Yes, exactly.”  Luhan answered as he focused on making sure his grip was appropriately tight for the next step in the process rather than the feeling of Minseok’s hands holding onto him.  

He was so focused that he forgot to inform Minseok of exactly what that next step was, a fact he only became aware of when Minseok’s voice broke his concentration.

“And?” 

Luhan jumped slightly as he was startled out of his little internal war.  “And now you lean forward towards the ground as I sit back.  We can go slow, and you should tell me when to stop.”

Minseok nodded once, face determined.  “Okay, let’s go.”  He began to lean towards the floor as Luhan leaned back, pausing only when his face was a few inches above the floor.  “That’s far enough.”  He said as Luhan stopped moving, making sure his spine and his arms were appropriately straight.

“Okay then.  Now you should just relax and take some breathes like usual.”

Minseok nodded even as he complained, “Easier said than done.  What aren’t we stretching right now?”

Luhan laughed.  “If it feels too intense, come up a few inches, and we’re only really stretching your hamstrings.”

“Other parts of my body would beg to differ.”  Minseok countered as he raised himself up a few inches.

Luhan nodded even though Minseok couldn’t see him with his face still down towards the floor.  “It can seem like that sometimes.  You can let go and sit back up now if you want.”

Minseok nodded once towards the floor.  “Sounds good to me.”

He then released Luhan’s hands as he carefully pulled himself back up from the floor while Luhan focused on trying not to look too disappointed by the sudden lack of contact.  It’d be back soon anyways.  He was just about to open his mouth to inform Minseok of that when Minseok stuck out his hands, palms up.

Luhan’s eyes widened as the sight.

Minseok just laughed.  “You still have to lean forward, right?”

Luhan echoed his laugh.  “Right.  You’ve been paying attention.”  He observed as he reached out his hands to latch onto Minseok’s outstretched arms.

“I try.”  Minseok answered as his fingers gripped around Luhan’s wrists firmly before he began to slowly lean back as Luhan bent forward towards the floor.

Not hard enough…Luhan thought as he went, but all he said was, “Keep your spine straight and don’t let our arms bend.”

Luhan felt more than saw the bob of Minseok’s head at that command as he finally reached a position barely above the floor and told Minseok to stop.

Minseok did so with a laugh.  “I don’t think we could go any farther anyways.”

“Probably not.”  Luhan agreed before they fell into a comfortable silence as Luhan focused in on his breathing, and again, not on how nice Minseok’s hands felt pressed up against him.  When he had completed somewhere around five breaths, Luhan slowly began to roll up out of the pose, releasing Minseok’s hands as he went.

“And that,” he offered as he got fully upright, “is how you do a partner forward fold.”

“Partner forward fold.  Got it.  What’s next?”  Minseok asked.

Luhan considered that briefly.  “Do you think your legs can take a little more abuse?”

Minseok laughed.  “I’m a soccer player remember?  Pretty sure that’s all my legs are programmed to do.”

Luhan laughed back.  “Well then, we can try boat pose.  Although things could get interesting…”

“Boat pose?”  Minseok asked, clearly confused.

“Boat pose,” Luhan confirmed with a nod, “But first, back up a bit.  We’re going to need to move around some for this one.”

Minseok nodded as he carefully scooched back a couple inches on the floor, looking up once he had succeeded in increasing the distance between him and Luhan by enough that their feet were separated and he could easily pull them in so that he was back to sitting cross legged on the floor.

“Okay, now that we’ve done that, we need to get a bit closer together.”

“Closer?”  Minseok asked, now confused by the fact that he had just been told to move farther away only to be told to move closer again.

“Closer,” Luhan confirmed as he slid forward across his mat.  “Let’s go with about three feet to start.  We’ll probably have to adjust it later, but it should do for now.”

“What are we even doing?”  Minseok asked as he mirrored Luhan’s movements, stopping when he reached a position approximately three feet from Luhan’s own.

“Well, first uncross your legs and sit upright with your knees bent like this.”  Luhan offered as he moved into the described position, his legs out in front of him so that the soles of his feet resided on the floor.  “We need to get our toes just barely touching with both of us having our legs extended about the same amount.”

Minseok nodded and began to inch his own legs forward as Luhan glanced alongside them, evaluating their respective positions as Minseok’s toes brushed up against his. 

“Do we pass?”  Minseok asked as Luhan straightened back up and returned his gaze to Minseok’s face.

“It’ll do.” Luhan responded.  “Now, hold my hands.”

“You’re all about the hand holding today I see.”  Minseok observed as he clasped onto Luhan’s outstretched palms.  

The fact that his choosing of this pose may or may not have had to do with the fact that he got to hold onto Minseok’s hands again had Luhan fighting to keep his cheeks and tone cool as he countered, “It’s couple’s yoga.  What did you expect?”

Minseok shrugged his shoulders.  “I don’t know.  It’s not like couples hold hands all the time.”

“I’m pretty sure Suho and Lay would disagree with you on that.”

“They do hold hands a lot don’t they?” 

Luhan nodded.  “They do, but that’s not really important right now.”

“What is important then?” 

“You figuring out if you can get your legs straight while we press the soles of our feet together.”

“Do what know?”

“Press the bottoms of your feet against mine.”  Luhan began again as he raised his from the ground, relying on Minseok’s hands and his own abdominal strength to keep himself upright.  Minseok followed suit, carefully aligning the bottoms of his feet with Luhan’s as his knees remained bent at about a 90 degree angle.  Once he was there, Luhan continued, “And now try to straighten your legs.  We may have to adjust a bit.  This really—“

“Oh my god.”

“—tests your flexibility.”  Luhan finished as Minseok, who had been slowly straightening his legs, paused his movements still several degrees off straight.

“Are you sure this is physically possible?”  He complained as Luhan finished off.

Luhan just laughed.  “Yeah, like I said, it’s a flexibility test.  We can either move back a bit or try doing one leg at a time.  Either will make this easier.”

“But if we move back, we’d have to start all over.”  Minseok whined.

“Pretty much, yeah.”  Luhan confirmed.  It wasn’t an uncommon thing with boat pose.  In fact, the need to adjust and accommodate was half the point as far as most instructors were concerned.  However, Minseok’s huff at Luhan’s response let him know that Minseok wasn’t thrilled with that idea.

“Based on that sound, I’m gathering you’d rather not do that.”

“It’d be annoying.”  Minseok confirmed.

Luhan laughed again.  “Well then, lower you right leg to the floor, and let’s work on just straightening out the left. Okay?”

“Okay.”  Minseok responded as he began to carefully bend his right leg back down towards his chest before lowering it down to the floor.

Luhan followed suit, careful to not let his leg kick Minseok as he separated the soles of their feet. 

“Now, can you straighten your left?”  Luhan asked as he looked across the newly opened space between him and Minseok that allowed him to see Minseok’s face.

“Maybe,” Minseok answered, eyes going to his left leg, expression doubtful.

“Well try and see what happens.  Worst is that we fail.”

“I don’t like failing.”  Minseok responded as Luhan felt him slowly start to creak his left leg towards straight.

“Who does?”  Luhan responded.

“Nobody I suppose.”  Minseok agreed as his leg finally reached full extension.

“Exactly, and look, we made it.”  Luhan said with a smile and nod towards their now neatly outstretched legs.

“Yeah, I guess we did.”  Minseok agreed with a smile.

“And just think, you were afraid it wouldn’t work.” 

“It was a reasonable fear, all things considered.”

“Perhaps, but I bet it seems pretty silly now, right?”

Minseok nodded with a laugh, a tinge of sarcasm to his tone.  “Right, so is that my life lesson for the day?  Don’t let fear keep you from trying something new?”

Luhan shrugged.  “Sounds like good advice to me.”  If also annoyingly familiar advice that that he planned to continue to refuse to take.

“Yeah me too…”  Minseok echoed, voice trailing off at the end.

Luhan refocused his attention on Minseok’s face.  It was apparent based on his expression that he was somewhere far away again.  Luhan let him stay there a couple seconds, but it was getting later, and if they were going to stand a chance of eating at a reasonable hour, they needed to stretch their other legs and get going.

“Hey, ready to switch?”

Minseok jumped slightly before his eyes refocused on Luhan.  “Sure.”  Minseok glanced to the clock.  “After that, I think we should get going, don’t you?”

Luhan smirked as they switched the positions of their legs, sending the right up and the left down.  “Someone hasn’t told me where we’re going so I can’t really say.”

Minseok smirked back.  “Oh really.”

Luhan nodded.   “I am completely dependent on you judgment.”

Minseok laughed.  “You make it seem like that’s a bad thing.”

“It might be.”  Luhan answered as he inclined his head towards their right legs, indicating they could go ahead and lower them down to the floor as well.

“And what will be the determining factor for that?”  Minseok asked as they went.

“The size of my wallet after this meal.”  Luhan responded as he dropped Minseok’s hands once their feet were back on the floor.  He figured if he let go first, he wouldn’t have to deal with feeling disappointed at the loss of contact.  It worked.  Almost.

Minseok laughed as he leaned back on his now released hands.  “Your wallet’s going to survive.  I promise.  Any other concerns?”

Luhan let out a loud hmm as he feigned several moments of deep concentration because, in reality, he didn’t have too many concerns beyond that, save one.

“What am I supposed to be wearing for this grand outing?”

Minseok laughed as he pushed himself up off the floor.  “Whatever you want.  Nothing that fancy though.”

“Good, because my wardrobe is pretty limited.”  Luhan responded as he also got up from the floor.

“I doubt that.” 

“No, really.  I have nothing nice in my closet right now.”

Minseok shook his head.  “Now this is the difference between business majors and everyone else.”

“What, is half your wardrobe business casual already?”  Luan jibed, rolling up his mat and getting his bag together.

Minseok nodded as he pulled on his coat and got his stuff together as well.  “Not half, but I’ve got the staples.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever in need of something short notice.”

“And what makes you think I’d loan it to you?”  Minseok teased.

Luhan put a hand to his chest in mock distress.  “You’d leave me to go to an interview with nothing to wear?”

Minseok pushed Luhan lightly as they walked out of the practice room.  “You’d figure something out.”

“Well, thank you for that vote of confidence I guess.”

Minseok just laughed.

---

While Luhan had acted like Minseok’s answer to his clothing question was sufficient, it really wasn’t.  Luhan still had no idea what to wear.  It would have probably taken him all evening to decide in fact if Minseok hadn’t sent out an impatient text message telling him to hurry up after he had stood in front of his closet for a good five minutes after his shower just staring at its contents.

The message made Luhan shake his head and reach for a pair of dark jeans and red sweater.  Minseok was Minseok, a friend, and so he should just wear what he’d always wear on a Friday night in February.  It’d be fine.

“Took you long enough.”  Minseok complained as Luhan came out the front door of his building.

“Sorry, got distracted.” 

Minseok shook his head.  “It’s cool.  At least it wasn’t raining like this morning.  Now c’mon, let’s go.”

Luhan nodded, starting his way down the path to the bus stop, Minseok at his side.

“So,” Luhan asked as they got off at the bus stop in front of the arches that marked the division between downtown and campus, “is the mystery over?”

“Isn’t it more fun to just find out when we get there?”  Minseok answered as they walked across the street and started making their way down the block.

“Yes, I love not knowing things.”  Luhan answered, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“It’s called a surprise.” 

“Can’t say I much love surprises either.”

“Well, good news is, you don’t have to wait any longer.  Tada!”  Minseok waved both of his hands in front of him as they stopped in front of one of the many similar looking downtown buildings. 

Luhan followed the flourish of his hands to the sign on the door, eyebrows raising as he read the restaurant name, recognizing it instantly.  “Clocked?”  He asked.

Minseok nodded.  “Clocked.”

“And why was this such a…”  Luhan stopped midsentence, because suddenly he knew.  He knew exactly why Minseok had refused to inform him of the fact that they were going to one of the more popular local burger joints downtown. 

“You’re not going to order the—“

“The peanut-butter bacon burger.  Yup, that’s the plan.  Somebody’s got to fund my food experiments.”

Luhan rolled his eyes.  “And let me guess, if it’s terrible, you get my food, and I get yours.””

“That’s the idea.”  Minseok said with a laugh.  “Although, we can just plan to split both and work from there.”

“I’m not sure if that offer is kind or evil.”  Luhan responded as they pushed through the front door.

“A bit of both possibly.”  Minseok admitted as he slid into the bench along the wall and Luhan pulled out the chair on the other side of the table across from him.

“So, do you know anyone who has tried it?”  Luhan asked as he glanced down at the menu on the table.

“Nope.  You?”

“Me neither.  I’m beginning to think that no one actually orders it.”  Really, the peanut butter bacon burger was legendary, but Luhan had yet to hear of anyone who had actually eaten it. 

“Then why would it be on the menu at all?  Someone has to eat it.” 

“I suppose.”

“It really isn’t that bad,” A voice broke in, causing Luhan to look up behind his shoulder to see a familiar face.

“Chanyeol.  You work here?”

Chanyeol nodded from his spot behind the table.  “Since January.  Got to pay the bills somehow.”

Luhan and Minseok nodded in agreement.  “Yup.”

“And so,” Chanyeol continued as he flipped open a notepad, “besides one peanut-butter bacon burger, which yes, other people do order, what would you like to have this evening?”

“Um, I’m not really sure… a regular burger is fine right?”  Luhan asked, looking across to Minseok.

“Put cheese on it.  Everything is better with cheese don’t you think?”  Minseok responded.

Luhan nodded.  “Sounds good to me.”

Chanyeol nodded from alongside the table.  “Okay so, adding one cheeseburger.  Any sides?  And what do you want to drink?”

Luhan quickly glanced over the paper menu on the table again, refreshing his memory on what his options were before looking up across the table once he made up his mind.  “Tater tots good?”

Minseok smiled.  “When are they not good?”

“Tater tots then, and a water for me.”  Luhan said, turning back to Chanyeol.

“Me too.”  Minseok added.

Chanyeol just nodded as he continued to scribble everything down.  “Okay then.  One order of tots, and two waters.  I’ll be back with those soon, and your food will be out shortly.  Let me know if you need anything else.”

Luhan and Minseok nodded.  “Of course.”

Chanyeol disappeared soon after that.  Luhan let out a laugh as he watched him disappear before turning back to Minseok.  “Lay wasn’t lying.”

“About what?”  Minseok asked, confused.

“He’s always telling me that no matter where he goes, he runs into someone Suho knows.”

“Is that a problem?”  Minseok asked, confused.

“Only when he was trying to figure out if he could skip out on using his crutches.”

“Why was he on crutches?”  Minseok asked, leaning back as Chanyeol returned with two waters for their table.  (It was a small restaurant.)

“Moderate ankle sprain.  He would have just walked it off, but Suho made him go to the doctor and…”

“Crutches.”  Minseok finished succinctly, quickly comprehending the situation.

“Yup.”  Luhan said, taking a sip of his water.

“That .” 

“Pretty much, yeah, but it was only for a week so it wasn’t that bad.”

Minseok nodded, expression suddenly turning critical as he studied Luhan’s face.

“What?” Luhan asked, raising a hand to his cheek suddenly worried something was there.

Minseok started laughing then, shaking his head.  “There’s nothing there.  I was just wondering if I could ask you a question or not.”

Luhan could relate to that feeling all too well.   “Go ahead.  I’m an open book.”  Maybe, he figured, if Minseok was able to ask his questions, he might someday answer Luhan’s own.

Minseok snorted.  “Says the one who didn’t tell me he had a phobia of soccer because of a torn Achilles.”

“Okay, besides that, I’m an open book.”

“Yeah, I know, but the thing I wanted to ask about was that so…”  Minseok trailed off.

“Oh, well um, you can, I guess.  I mean you already know about it so what else do you want to know?”

“Well, my first question was going to be how long were you on crutches but then I thought of something else that made me more curious.”

“What?”  Luhan asked with a smile.  He had a theory about where this was going. 

“Why don’t you have a scar?”  Minseok asked.

Luhan smiled wider.  He’d been right.  Lay had asked the exact same question when he had found out about it too.  “The surgery I had was a less invasive kind that didn’t leave the big, nasty scar.  It has a fancy name I can’t remember though.  I could google it for you if you’d like.”

Minseok laughed with a shake of his head.  “That’s not necessary.  I was just curious.  I mean, I’ve seen your ankles so much in yoga, and I was wondering how I’d managed to miss a scar like that.”

“Believe me, if I had one, you wouldn’t miss it, but the doctors decided the other surgery was the best option for me so my ankles are still pretty.”

“Meaning you can still be the envy of all 19^th century women.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if we ever invent time travel.” 

“Hey, it could happen.”

“Unlikely, and besides, even if it could happen, would it be a good idea to use it?”

“I don’t know, I have some things I wouldn’t mind reset.”

“Yeah, but you never know what changing one thing may do.”

“So you believe in the butterfly effect then.”

“I believe that everything in life happens for a reason, good and bad.”

Minseok nodded.  “Perhaps, but you have to admit, sometimes it is tempting to wonder what if.”

“Perhaps.”  Luhan conceded.  There wasn’t much in his life he’d like to change currently, but he could see scenarios where time travel might be useful.  For example, if time travel existed, he could confess to Minseok with complete impunity because if it went poorly, he could just undo it.  (Of course, that was assuming he could manage to confess to Minseok period, something Luhan was pretty sure he couldn’t ever do.)

The conversation drifted after that until Chanyeol reappeared with their selections in his grasp.  “Have fun.”  He said as he walked away after getting everything down on the table.

Luhan and Minseok just nodded silently, eyes focused on one of the burgers now in the middle of the table.

“So, are you going to try it first?”  Luhan asked, watching as a small amount of peanut butter melted over the edge of the patty and down towards the bun.

“Do I have to?”  Minseok asked, staring at the same burger in trepidation.

Luhan laughed.  “Well, you were the one who wanted to order it.”

“But you’re the one who is paying for it.  Don’t you want to do the honors?”

“Not really, no, but tell you what, let’s each go for it at the same time.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”  Minseok asked.

“Chanyeol left us a knife, didn’t he?”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he did.”  Luhan responded as he plucked up the blade from the table.  Clearly Chanyeol had anticipated this type of situation. 

“You better cut it exactly in half.”  Minseok responded as Luhan lined up the knife above the bun.

“You can pick your side.”  Luhan responded as he pushed it through, slicing the burger into two fairly even halves.

“Joy,” Minseok said, reaching down to grab a side.

“You’d think I was the one who was forcing you to do this.”  Luhan said, reaching down to grab his own half.

Minseok laughed.  “I’m just afraid I may be about to embark on another experience I would undo if there was time travel.”

Luhan laughed back.  “It can’t possibly be that bad.”

He held out his half of the burger above the table.  “Cheers?”

Minseok smiled back.  “Cheers.”  He tapped his half to Luhan’s before pulling it back to take a bite.  Luhan followed suit.

The flavor that hit his tongue as he did so was one that he couldn’t quite describe, but it wasn’t… terrible.  Odd perhaps, but not completely awful.

“You know, it’s actually not that bad.”  Luhan commented, swallowing down a bite before reaching to grab his glass to take a sip of water in an attempt to clear away some of the peanut butter that was clogging his throat.

Minseok nodded in concurrence, taking a drink as well.  “Although, I think you’d have to really love peanut butter to eat it all the time.”

“No need for time travel then?”  Luhan offered with a smirk.

“I don’t think time travel will be necessary.”  Minseok answered with a laugh.

“Good, I’d—“

The sound of an alarm cut Luhan off, making him jump as Minseok pulled out his phone.  He glanced at the number there before flicking the phone to silent and setting it down on the table.

“Don’t you need to answer that?”  Luhan asked as Minseok went back to eating another bite of their culinary experiment.

“It’s not important.”  He responded as the phone stopped vibrating on the table.

“You sure?” Luhan asked as the phone began to ring again.

“Pretty sure, and besides, I’m with you right now.  It’d be rude to take a call.”

“I’d understand.  I mean, I would hate for your mom to think you were dead or something.”

Minseok laughed at that.  “Is that what your mom does?”

Luhan nodded.  “If I miss her call and don’t call her back fast enough, yes.”

Minseok shook his head.  “Well, on the bright side, you know she cares.”

“I suppose.”  Luhan agreed.  The phone began to vibrate a third time.  “Are you really sure you don’t need to answer that?”

“Positive.” Minseok confirmed.

Luhan didn’t quite believe that, but he shifted his gaze away from Minseok’s phone and back to his face anyways, redirecting their conversation towards other things.  Minseok not wanting to answer his phone was Minseok’s business.   Luhan just hoped Minseok never ignored his calls.

---

The best thing about going to Clocked, as far as Luhan was concerned, was that the bill Chanyeol handed him at the end wasn’t so large that it made him mourn for his wallet.  In fact, it was small enough that he was the one who suggested that they go ahead and stop by Walkers, one of the local bars that doubled as a café until the evening, for some after dinner tea, or coffee, because Minseok loved coffee, and Luhan loved excuses to spend more time with Minseok.

Minseok readily agreed, although he paid his own way this time as they each placed an order at the bar before taking up residence in one of the elevated booths along the wall.

“This was a good idea.”  Minseok said happily as he inhaled the scent of his coffee before taking a sip.

“Thanks,” Luhan responded, smile on his face as he drank his own cup of tea. 

Minseok nodded before picking up the thread of their conversation where they had left it before they had ordered their drinks until he was getting up to take a quick restroom break which left Luhan sitting alone at the table, or so he thought.

A gentle buzzing made Luhan realize he wasn’t alone.  Minseok had left his phone behind, and it was ringing, again.

Luhan knew he shouldn’t.  He really knew he shouldn’t, but Minseok was gone, and Luhan was curious, and who knew, maybe this time it was Minseok’s mom, so he reached out across the table and picked up the phone, just to see who it was, and then, when it was just a number, he had to answer because, who knew, it could be important.

Luhan wasn’t sure what he expected when he put the phone to his ear, but it definitely wasn’t a male voice starting before he could even get a word in edgewise.

“Minseok, thank god you finally answered.  Please don’t hang up.  I just want to talk to you.  I know I ed up a lot back when we dated and now I just—“

Luhan hung up the phone and put it on the table, suddenly wishing that he and Minseok’s previously discussed time travel was possible because he shouldn’t have heard that.  He really should NOT have heard that.

Minseok returned to the table soon after that, and Luhan tried, really tried, to act like everything was fine, but it wasn’t.  It really, really wasn’t because if Minseok had an ex, and that ex was a guy, that meant that Minseok was gay, or bi, or… whatever, it meant that Minseok dated, or had dated, guys and, and this was the important part, Minseok hadn’t told him.

Minseok hadn’t told him anything, and that hurt, a lot.

---

Dun, dun, dun another chapter in the books.

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Till next week ^^