"How's the cafe?"

 

Luhan rolls his eyes as he jumps on his bed. "You sound like my dad." He releases a contented sigh. "It's..." He struggles for the right word, "...fine."

 

"That's it?"

 

He pushes himself up and stares at his younger friend. He hums. "Yeah, it's fine." He thinks it's not necessary to tell him everything that happened but they have been friends for a long time now and the blonde knows when he's keeping something. "Okay," he says, giving in to his friend's stare of tell-me-everything, "There was a rose in the counter. I guess it was Baekhyun's."

 

His friend's eyes widens. "Baekhyun hyung? How can you say?"

 

"Chanyeol's been frequenting at the cafe, Sehun. You know, that tall guy with freakingly deep voice and wide eyes and protruding ears." When he sees his friend nodding, he continues, "He's pursuing Baekhyun."

 

 

"I should go there sometimes."

 

"You should." Luhan agrees. "It's a bore to watch them all day flirting with their eyes."

 

Luhan laughs and throws his friend a pillow when Sehun pretends to throw up. "That's not very nice, Sehun." But he was laughing that when Sehun threw him back the pillow there was an 'oof' before the laughing stops.

 

"Can you get my phone?" Luhan says when his device rings, "It's on the study table." He throws his pillow again, hitting Sehun at the back of his head when the younger grumbled.

 

"You're working now, why do you still have a study table?"

 

Luhan raises his brows, reaching for his phone. "Can't I study when I'm working? And I can't just throw that away, dad made that for me."

 

"Make space for me." Sehun says, pushing Luhan towards the wall and occupies the space beside him.

 

"Stop moving, my bed is narrow." Luhan says as he opens the message he got from Baekhyun. As soon as the moving stops, he turns to his side, facing Sehun and places his head on the younger's shoulder. "Sehuna?"

 

"Hm?"

 

"The flower isn't Baekhyun's. He said Chanyeol didn't sneak in and left the flower for him." He looks up and saw that Sehun has his brow raised. Confused, he asked, "Why?"

 

Sehun turns his head to the side and their nose brushes against each other. "Nothing." Then Sehun smiles.

 

Luhan felt a little warm inside. He's had this feeling in him for quite some time now. A part of him says that he's already crushing on his friend but a part of him says otherwise, that it's just because his friend has been away for a month.

 

Then a nosy part of him rose that he can't help but ask, "Do you like him?"

 

Sehun hasn't turned his face away yet, their breath fanning across each other's faces.

 

"No."

 

"Why?"

 

Seriously, he feels like he's jealous by the way he's asking Sehun but he isn't. He isn't.

 

"I'm saving myself for someone."

 

"Really, now? Mind telling me who that someone is?"

 

Sehun just grins. "Actually yes, I do mind because it's a secret."

 

Luhan frowns. "Oh come on. We're friends aren't we? What kind of friend doesn't tell the other his secret?"

 

Sehun continues to grin at him. "It won't be a secret anymore if you knew."

 

Luhan sighs. "Fine," then he turns to the other side, a move that tells he's not pleased with Sehun's secrecy. Suddenly, there are arms around his waist.

 

"Aw, Luhan's jealous about me liking someone!" Sehun teases, as he blows against Luhan's nape.

 

"I'm not." Luhan says defensively. "I just don't understand why you're keeping it a secret." He pouts, although Sehun couldn't see. He bet the younger could feel it.

 

"He says he's not jealous but he is." Sehun continues to tease this time, rubbing his nose at the back of Luhan's ear.

 

"Stop it, Sehun!" Luhan says but ends up giggling, "That tickles, you stick!"

 

"Stick, huh?" Sehun tightens his arms around Luhan, laughing as Luhan tries to blindly pull on his ear.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

"I'm late, yeah. Sorry," Luhan says as he enters the cafe finds Baekhyun staring at him. He looks down on his watch. It's 9:06. He walks at the counter but finds that Baekhyun is still staring at him. "Hey, I'm only 6 minutes late. Stop staring like that."

 

"No, it's not about that." Baekhyun says before sporting a -eating grin on his face.

 

Luhan steps back. "What is it?"

 

"Oh Luhan."

 

Hep.

 

 

 

Wait.

 

 

 

Did he hear that right?

 

 

 

Oh my god.

 

 

 

He's dying inside.

 

 

 

He can feel an earthquake in his stomach.

 

 

 

The butterflies inside's gone wild.

 

 

 

This has to stop.

 

 

 

Please.

 

 

 

Lord have mercy.

 

 

 

He swallows a lump on his throat. "W-what did you say?"

 

"Oh, Luhan, Luhan, Luhan!" Baekhyun jumps and hugs him tightly.

 

 

 

Yeah, he heard the first part wrong.

 

 

 

But his stomach is still suffering from the aftershocks of the earthquake.

 

 

 

"What? What is it? Why are you hugging me like this? Oh my god, don't tell me. You're marrying Chanyeol?" He gasps, eyes wide, mouth 'o'.

 

Baekhyun hits him in the head. "No idiot!" He hands something.

 

"What's this?" Luhan asks as he takes it in his hand. "A card?"

 

The cover were flowers of different color. It looked like it was painted.

 

"Is this mine? Who's this from?"

 

Baekhyun just shakes his head. "I found it here." He says, tapping the counter. "I want to put some extra securities because what if the one who sent that is a theif? Or worse, murderer? But I guess I'll do that after we found out who's behind that letter."

 

In an instant, Luhan's thoughts goes to Sehun. But Sehun can't paint, can he? He's seen Sehun drawing, but never painting. And--and why is he thinking about Sehun? They're friends.

 

"Open it."

 

When Luhan opens the card, he is expecting for a long letter but all he finds is a string of words. Wow.

 

"Dear Luhan," he starts reading but he gets interrupted by Baekhyun.

 

"I've already read that letter," he grins, "so it's okay to just read it in your mind."

 

Luhan rolls his eyes. This is Baekhyun, of course he already read it.

 

 

Dear Luhan,

Will you keep smiling for me?

 

 

 

(I'm too embarrassed to write my name, so I'll just put a heart here.) ❤

 

 

 

 

The small heart shape at the bottom of the card urges Luhan to place a smile on his face.

 

 

"You didn't tell me you have an admirer!" Baekhyun chimes. "Who is it?"

 

"I don't know."

 

 

Every day since that day, Luhan keeps on getting cards from his admirer as how Baekhyun puts it. He doesn't really know who's behind it all but one day, he finally finds out.

 

 

"Hi, Luhan."

 

Luhan looks up and finds his old schoolmate grinning up at him. "Jongin. Hey."

 

"How are you?"

 

"Fine," he smiles, "What can I get you?"

 

The sun-kissed male taps his chin with his index finger and pretends to think. "Um, let me take one word from your question. Can I get you?"

 

Luhan's eyes widens before playing it cool. He laughs shakily. "Come on, what do you want?"

 

The male chuckles, "Two of your creamiest coffee."

 

"And?"

 

"That's it."

 

"Okay."

 

"Um, can you join me for a bit? Please?"

 

Luhan hesitates but Baekhyun appears behind him and answers for him instead, "You can take him." He beams at Luhan and tells him that it's okay.

 

Kim Jongin guides him toward a table by the window.

 

Luhan's brows knot together. Why would Kim Jongin be here?

 

"How are you doing, Luhan?" Jongin asks as soon as they're seated.

 

Luhan opens his mouth but Jongin interrupts him.

 

"Did you get my letter?"

 

"Y-your...your letter?"

 

 

I'm stammering and my heart is hammering and and I'm sure if I open my mouth again I'd be blabbering.

 

Oh god I'm talking in rhyme.

 

 

"Yes."

 

 

"That was from you?"

 

 

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Jongin appears to be surprised.

 

Luhan's shoulder sags. He doesn't know if it is because he finally knew the person behind those letters or because he's expecting for another person to be behind it.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

"Oy, Oh Sehun," Luhan says right after seeing Sehun when he opens the door to his room. "It's been two weeks of no showing up. How dare you."

 

Sehun is laying peacefully on Luhan's bed like it was his.

 

"I was busy." The young male said.

 

Luhan sits on the edge of the bed. Sehun moves aside but Luhan stops him and half lays on him. His arms are folded on top of Sehun's chest and his face is set on top of his arms while he's staring at the younger male. "What's wrong?" He asked.

 

Sehun manages to shake his head.

 

Luhan raises a brow, but decides not to pry so much. "Okay, if you say so." He sighs and buries his face on his arms. "I'm so tired," he says.

 

He felt Sehun's hand on top of his head, patting him. "Me, too."

 

They were quiet for a while, one wanting to say something, one wanting to hear the other's voice.

 

"Luhan."

 

"Sehun."

 

They looks at each other before Sehun's face breaks into a smile and Luhan chuckles before burying his head back into his arms. "What is it?"

 

"No, you go first."

 

Sehun waits for some time before Luhan speaks.

 

"Do you remember Kim Jongin? He was the one who was sending me the cards and flowers."

 

"Who?"

 

"Kim Jongin." Luhan lifts up his head and stares at Sehun before detecting that the younger really doesn't remember, "My old schoolmate. I told you about him before. He was the one who used to harass me after school for a date."

 

But he didn't really mean harass, he meant it as a friendly way of harassing. Kim Jongin was so playful. But somehow, he wanted a reaction from Sehun.

 

"Really? I don't remember you telling me about him."

 

Luhan didn't expect a blank reaction from Sehun.

 

"Well, what did he say in the cards?"

 

"Um, here let me get it." He gets off of Sehun and opens the drawer of his nightstand, taking a box from there and handing it to the younger.

 

"You were keeping everything?"

 

There is something in Sehun's tone that Luhan couldn't quite put his finger on. "Yes, why?"

 

Sehun just smiles and opens the box. There he saw the cards. "Do you know how many he sent you?"

 

"There are 24."

 

"You were counting, huh."

 

Luhan stares at Sehun, "What's with your tone, Oh Sehun?"

 

Sehun stares back at him and smiles a cheeky smile.

 

 

 

His stomach rumbles as the butterflies awaken and flutters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

 

Luhan,

 

Roses are red, violets are blue.

But it is true, I'd be, too, if I don't have you.

 

❤

 

 

 

 

 

And there is a rose lying on the counter comfortably beside the card.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

"Luhan, today's your birthday, am I right?"

 

"Yes, why?" Luhan dries his hands with a piece of cloth before returning to the counter and asks the customer.

 

Right after giving the customer what she wants, Luhan felt a poke on his back. He turns around and found Baekhyun with a canvas in his hands.

 

"What's that?"

 

"I saw Sehun earlier, he said to give this to you before he goes to school."

 

Luhan takes the canvas and puts it on the employees' room, keeping in mind to open it later when his shift ends.

 

When he goes back to the counter, Baekhyun asks him what was painted in the canvas.

 

"I don't know, Baek. I didn't open it yet."

 

Baekhyun smiles at him knowingly but Luhan just shrug the smile off, not really understanding what it means.

 

"Hey, Kim Jongin said it was from him, right?" Baekhyun said, referring to the cards.

 

"Yeah," Luhan fixes himself when he sees another customer entering the cafe. "What can I get you?" He asked.

 

"If it was from him, then why is it that he hasn't asked you out yet?" Baekhyun continues.

 

Luhan shrugs and continues to type down what the customer wants. He doesn't know either.

 

"If it was from him, he would've." Baekhyun says, "I think he's lying."

 

Luhan raises his brows as he turns to Baekhyun right after the customer went to her table. "You do?"

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Luhan sits on his bed later that night while staring at his own portrait on the canvas. Turns out it was from Sehun.

 

He grabs his phone and immediately called his friend.

 

 

[Luhannie.]

 

"Sehun, thank you."

 

[Hm.]

 

Luhan feels Sehun's smile at the other line and he smiles too. "Well, aren't you going to greet me?"

 

He hears a chuckle on the other line before he heard a 'Happy Birthday.'

 

He senses that Sehun wants to say more.

 

"What is it?" He asks.

 

There was a soft mumbling before he heard a reply. [Um, I have a project.]

 

Luhan smiles. "And?"

 

[It was chosen by my teacher and he's going to post it in his gallery.]

 

"Oh? Congratulations, Sehun."

 

[Yeah, thanks. Um, will you go with me?]

 

"Sure."

 

 

 

 

As soon as they hang up, Luhan goes back to looking at his portrait. He sighs.

 

He looks at the bottom of the canvas and finds a heart shape after Sehun's signature.

 

Luhan frowns. Heart. He gets the box of cards from the drawer of his nightstand. He opens a card and looks down on the heart shape at the end of the letter. He draws it close to the heart on the canvas. It looks identical.

 

He gasps.

 

But reality settles on him. He showed Sehun the cards. Sehun must've copied it. Luhan's brows furrows further. Why would Sehun copy the heart? As a painter, even if he's still a student, he should know that he shouldn't do that. He might be overreacting but Luhan thinks it's plagiarizing or something.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Luhan arrives outside the building 10 minutes before the gallery would open. But he sees Sehun outside, waiting.

 

"Sehun." He calls as he walks towards the younger male.

 

"You're early." Sehun says.

 

"You're the one to talk, Sehuna."

 

Sehun just smiles at him and Luhan feels the coiling in his stomach again.

 

"Let's go inside?"

 

"It's still close." Luhan says but Sehun shakes his head and holds his hand.

 

"It's not."

 

 

 

Somehow, with the warmth of Sehun's hand in his, the butterflies did somersaults inside Luhan's stomach. He feels like he'll faint.

 

 

 

When they got inside, Sehun stops by the flower vase and picks a rose.

 

"What are you doing?" Luhan asks.

 

Sehun smiles and gives him the rose.

 

Luhan feels his cheeks heating up but before he could touch the stem of the rose, Sehun takes it back. "Wait here."

 

Luhan watches as Sehun disappears inside a certain room, his heart falling to his stomach. But when Sehun comes back, he handed him the rose once again and Luhan sees that it's already bare from thorns.

 

"What did you do?"

 

Sehun shrugs as he walks forward, purposely walking faster before disappearing again inside a dark room.

 

Luhan follows, confused. But as he gets inside the room, the door falls close. He gasps. "Oh Sehun, this is not funny! You know I'm afraid of the dark!"

 

Luhan hears a chuckle, then the entire room lights up.

 

In the room were canvases, big and small, some in landscape and some in portrait, and he was painted in all of it. In every canvas, there was a painting of him, and beside it, is a flower.

 

"Sehun, what are all these?"

 

"You don't like it, do you?" Sehun asks from beside him.

 

"I don't get it. Why are you doing this?" He asks, not answering the younger.

 

Sehun sighs and holds Luhan's hands. "On the day of your birthday, I was going to sneak inside the cafe."

 

"What?!"

 

Sehun shushes him and continues, "I was going to sneak because I thought I should put the canvas inside. But then Baekhyun hyung saw me. He hit me in the head, hyung." He stares right at Luhan's eyes. "He says I should give it to you personally. But I never had the courage. You seemed happy with that Kim Jongin when you thought it was really him giving you the cards and flowers."

 

"I don't understand. What does Kim Jongin have to do with these?"

 

"Hyung, for someone older than me, you're pretty dumb." Sehun cradles Luhan's face in his hands and says, "My courage is running from 30% to 0 now, I don't have a lot of it left so."

 

Luhan gasps when Sehun closes his eyes because he knows what will come next.

 

 

 

And that is Sehun's lips on his.

 

 

 

God, the butterflies!

 

 

 

"I liked you since I was in high school and when I found myself painting you and writing your name randomly and thinking about you, I realized how much I've fallen, hyung."

 

When Luhan recovers from the kiss and from the fluttering all throughout his body, he asks, "So those cards were yours?"

 

Sehun nodded.

 

"And the flowers, too?"

 

Sehun nodded again.

 

"Why didn't you tell me? Why couldn't you tell me?"

 

"I told you, I didn't have the courage. We're friends and I'm in love with you and you're so innocent about it and I can't stop thinking about you and--"

 

Sehun stops when Luhan grabs a hold of his hand and places it around him.

 

"Oh please, continue." Luhan says and watches the younger bite down on his lips as Sehun tightens his hold around him.

 

"What? I said continue."

 

When Sehun didn't, Luhan places his hands on Sehun's shoulders and tiptoes and kisses him on the cheek.

 

"Oh please, continue." Sehun says when Luhan draws his face back.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

"Oh Sehun, my bed is narrow! Stop moving!"

 

Sehun whines as Luhan kicks him on the shin. "How can I stop moving when you keep on kicking me?"

 

"Stop moving and I'll stop kicking you!"

 

Sehun manages to pin Luhan on the bed, hovering over the older male, trapping Luhan's legs in his. Luhan stops instantly.

 

Sehun grins at him, "I know this would stop you." But his grin falls from his face when Luhan pinches the hell out of him.

 

 

"Sehun, can I tell you something?"

 

"Yeah.”

 

“Jongin asked me out."

 

"Tell him you already have a boyfriend."

 

"I did, and I also talked to him about those cards. He said he wasn't talking about that when he asked me if I received the letter."

 

"Oh."

 

"How dumb of me." Luhan says from under Sehun.

 

Sehun leans down and teases Luhan by placing his lips so close to his, "It's okay, my dumb boyfriend."

 

Luhan pushes him. "You are supposed to comfort me! You could've said 'No, Lu, you're not dumb'."

 

Sehun laughs from above him and kisses him on the cheek. "Okay. No, Lu. You're not THAT dumb."

 

Luhan turns his hands into fists and gets ready to punch Sehun but the younger caught his hands and placed them on top of him.

 

Luhan glares at Sehun but he only chuckles before claiming Luhan's lips. The older's hands slowly uncurls, making Sehun entwine their hands together as Luhan opens up for him to take claim of his mouth.

 

When they break apart for air, Sehun surprises Luhan with a rose on his hand.

 

"Where did you get that?" Luhan breathlessly asks.

 

"Secret."

 

Luhan glares at him again before smiling. He wraps his hands around Sehun's neck, and pulls him down for another soulful kiss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luhan,

 

I hope you like the flower.

I love you.

 

Sehun ❤

 

 

 

 

---

 

A/N: I couldn’t get enough of Cody Simpson’s Flower. I CANT. I CANT.
ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT IS HUNHAN XD /gets struck with lightning/