“Chen, we agreed to dress up as super heroes!” Sehun shouts, eyes furious when he sees Chen rushing towards the group in a costume that's definitely not a part of the super hero category.

“But Harry Potter is a super hero!” Chen fires back, waving his plastic wand around. “He's the chosen one!”

“He's not a comic book super hero!” Sehun argues, stomping his foot angrily. Chen gives him nothing but a lazy shrug in return as he fixes his round, non-prescription glasses. Sehun wants to just grab that stupid prop out of Chen's hand and smack him with it.

“It's okay, Sehun,” Yixing says, swinging his hammer back and forth (he's dressed up as Thor). “At least he's got a decent costume this year.”

“Hey!” Chen says, face indignant. “There's nothing wrong with dressing up as a student.”

“You didn't dress up. You wore your school uniform,” Minseok points out. “That's not considered a costume.”

“Oh, shut up, Greenie.”

Minseok rolls his eyes. “I'm the Hulk.”

“Are you getting angry?” Chen teases, lips curved in a twisted smirk. “You're going to smash me to pieces?”

“No, but I will do this.” Minseok grabs Chen's wand and hits him in the head with it. Chen glares at him angrily as he snatches back his wand, but he doesn't bother hitting Minseok back. Everyone knows not to fight with Minseok. He isn't exactly an easy opponent – not since second grade when he beat up the snobby fifth grader who picked on him for his chipmunk-like cheeks.

“So, Spiderman, who are we picking up next?” Tao asks, scratching his head with the plastic claws taped to his knuckles. Although Tao looks intimidating every day (thanks to his ever-present eye bags and towering height), he doesn't look at all terrifying as the great Wolverine.

Sehun clears his throat and adjusts his mask slightly. “We're – um – we're picking up Luhan next.”

There's an almost instantaneous plethora of “Oohs” and “Awws” at the sound of Luhan's name coming out of Sehun's mouth. His friends are all smiling at him, each looking creepier than the one next to him.

“What?” he asks, despite already knowing what they're going to say.

“We're picking up your favorite,” teases Flash, also known as Jongin.

Not surprisingly, Sehun wants to punch his best friend in the face. But like other times, he succeeds in resisting that crazy urge to hurt Jongin for knowing too much. “He's not my favorite.”

It's a downright lie.

“I'll pay to see you tell him that,” says Chen. “Name your price.”

Sehun scoffs. “Whatever.” There's no way in hell he'll say that to Luhan.

As they're walking towards Luhan's place, the cute coral house at the end of the neighborhood, Sehun suddenly feels hot, his spider suit sticking to him uncomfortably. His hands start getting clammy and his stomach lurches when Luhan's front door comes into view.

“What's the matter?” Yixing asks when he sees Sehun fidgeting with his mask. The darn thing feels tight all of a sudden, and Sehun wants to rip it off and chuck it in the nearest garbage bin.

Chen laughs when he too notices Sehun's odd behavior. “His Luhan senses are tingling.”

“Shut up, Chen!”

Minseok runs up to the door and rings the doorbell as the others huddle around on Luhan's front porch. A few seconds later, Mrs. Lu answers the door.

“Oh my! What a cute bunch of super heroes and –” She sees Chen grinning at her. “And Chen Chen.”

Chen frowns. “I'm Harry Potter, Mrs. Lu. The coolest wizard super hero.”

She smiles at him, eyes affectionate. “Of course, sweetie.”

“Where's Luhan?” Jongin asks, saving Sehun the trouble of asking – not that he was going to. Of course not.

“He's –”

“Mom! Don't!” a tiny voice hollers from the bathroom located underneath the staircase.

Mrs. Lu looks back behind her, expression worried. “I'm afraid Luhan might not make it,” she says when she turns back to address the group.

“Why not?” Sehun blurts out, ignoring his friends' smug faces.

“Because he's –”

The bathroom door swings open. Luhan walks out, head down, and mumbles, “Because I'm not a super hero.”

He kicks the carpet with his silver shoes, avoiding eye contact with the group. Contrary to what he said earlier that day, Luhan is not dressed as the popular Iron Man. Instead, he's wearing a silver tin can suit with matching shimmery pants and he has a funnel on his head, which his mom probably spray painted silver to complete his look.

Mrs. Lu rushes over and hugs her baby. “I'm so sorry, Hannie. I thought you said Tin Man.”