[A/N]

Later on in this chapter, I'm going to take you guys back some weeks in time, just so you know. Don't get confused. To make things extra clear: Luhan's birthday is April 20th, in case you needed that info refreshened. I know I did...

Onwards!

____

It was Tuesday evening, Luhan was having a party, and Minseok was on his way there. He was alone, because Minsuh had left earlier, together with Jongdae. They didn't have the patience to wait for Minseok, who wanted to clean the house due to the nervous anticipation before beginning to wrap his gift perfectly and dress up flawlessly.

His sister didn't understand his weird subtle - but at the same time not at all subtle - anxiety about this, nor did Jongdae. Minseok wasn't sure if he himself knew exactly why he was so nervous, but it had to be those stupid feelings he was forced to live with. Stupid feelings for stupid Luhan.

The boy took a deep breath as he finally, ten minutes before Luhan's said time, arrived at the birthday boy's front door. He could feel his heart already speed up as he ran his eyes over the building. He had completely forgotten how fancy this place was.

Luhan lived with his parents in a one-floor house, although they weren't home at the moment. It was a wooden villa in a soft but clear blue tint, with corners, doors and window frames painted white. It's a colour combination made to be relaxing, but it didn't help Minseok's anxiety at all.

The house had a beautiful veranda with a white railing which depicted stems with flower sprouts weaving their way, acting as half tall walls, enclosing the veranda with it's table and it's wicker chairs with white soft pads protecting people from getting the criss cross pattern from the chair's material imprinted on their butts.

This house was one of the biggest signs of the Lu family's wealth, the yard being another one.

In the front yard stood a granite fountain, statue-less but still very beautifully sculptured, and it was in use, circulating clear fresh water with a soft pouring sound. It was surrounded by a lot of different flowers: red and yellow roses, pink and white lilies, a lot of heather, some anemones and also, considering the season, there were quite a few daffodills and tulips among the collection. The flowers sent a mixed scent through the air, and Minseok took a deep breath wanting to take it in fully, but it all got ruined for him when he suddenly could smell a different smell together with the flowery ones, a much worse smell. He almost began coughing at the horrible stench. Smoke. Acrid, musty tobacco smoke.

Minseok turned around, already slightly annoyed with whoever was smoking.

He saw a man putting out his cigarette on the asphalt road outside of the yard. At first Minseok thought it was just a by-passer, but then he saw him coming towards this very house.

The stranger was pretty tall, skinny, and attractive. Sure, Minseok was hooked on Luhan but he still wasn't blind.

The hair was short, straight and black, covering the forehead but staying out of the eyes. Eyes that were pretty much invisible to Minseok, due to the black sunglasses covering them. The nose wasn't very small, and it wasn't the prettiest feature of his face, but it was still far from ugly. The tip of it wasn't bent upwards or downwards, it was just coming to a straight end. It was, as the rest of the face, completely free from acne and Minseok suspected makeup because surely, no one's skin was that flawless. Speaking of skin, this man was pretty tan. The lips were averagely plump, and they reminded Minseok a bit of Jongdae's, because the corners of them were curved slightly upwards, even if the man wasn't exactly smiling.

When it came to the outfit, Minseok could tell that this was someone who was probably into fashion. His jacket was a black varsity with white detailing, the arms made of some shiny plastic material. It was ed, and under it a white tshirt with black letters spelling the word awesome peeked through. As pants the man wore simple but fitting black, distressed jeans, and the outfit was completed with white sneakers, cross earrings and a silver necklace with a little simple cylinder shaped charm, a pattern engraved onto it.

"Why the are you checking me out like that? Just for your information, I am taken."

Minseok almost jumped when the man suddenly spoke up. He felt his cheeks lightly heating up from being busted, as he looked up to see that those sunglasses were off now, revealing a pair of pretty dark eyes, but they had a soft glistening touch, making Minseok a little less intimidated by this person. The eyes seemed to have dark bags under them, which was weird because the man looked kind of alert and healthy apart from that.

"I was not checking you out." Minseok protested, and the man smiled, amused.

"Yeah, okay.", he rolled his eyes, " I'm not blaming you though, I am pretty hot."

Minseok scoffed, getting more and more annoyed with this person. A cocky man who smoked? No attractiveness in the world could cover up for that.

"Who even are you?" he asked, and the other seemed to be hit with realization as he bowed his head quickly and reached out his hand for Minseok to shake.

"I'm Huang Zitao, I'm really sorrry, I didn't intend to be rude" he apologized. Minseok didn't know if he should overlook it and accept the apology or stick with his first-impression disliking for this man. Zitao continued; "I know Luhan through Sehun, my boyfriend. You do know Sehun right?" he asked suspiciously as the shorter boy took the hand hesitantly. Minseok noticed Zitao had a pretty cold hand, but still a firm grip, and there were two rings, one on his thumb, one on his pointer, that Minseok hadn't seen before.

"Not personally, but I know of him. I'm Kim Minseok by the way" he muttered, letting go of the taller man's hand. Automatically he looked to the road to see if this Sehun guy was catching up, but when he didn't see anything he assumed that he had arrived earlier.

"You'll love him" Zitao smiled dreamily, enlightening Minseok's mood a tiny bit, because he could see the pure love and it was straight up adorable. He smiled slightly.

"Are you going in though? Or are you just here to smell flowers and check out hotties in the front yard?" Zitao commented with a teasing smile, and Minseok refrained from punching it off. Adorable or not, this man was annoying him. Like, alot.

"I'm going in. And I was not checking you out!" he said, stomping up the few steps of the porch's staircase before ringing the bell. He could hear a high pitched laugh behind him, before the door was thrown open. Minseok smiled widely expecting Luhan to stand in front of him, and he also couldn't help the disappointed look on his face when the person wasn't Luhan at all, but Minsuh, chuckling slightly.

"Thanks, bro. Don't worry, he's in there" she told him, and Minseok practically flew past her before reminding himself to be calm, to be smooth, to be less of an idiot. If he could. Therefore he took his shoes off slowly, his jacket even more slowly, and when he was finally completely sure that he looked okay, and that nothing about him gave his heartbeat away, he tiptoed into the building, scanning it with his eyes. Luxurious everyday decorations mixed with cheap party decorations Luhan had probably bought for less than five bucks. It was a funny combination.

"Minnieee!" a voice acknowledged him and he turned around, confirming the voice to be Jongdae's. He waved slightly to his best friend, who pointed over to the kitchen, so he went there, finally finding the person he was looking for.

Luhan was standing with his back turned against the doorway, so he was yet to notice the older boy who was getting closer. He was bent over the counter, busy with something, Minseok assumed it had to do with food. He was wearing a simple dark red t-shirt with grey pants, and his honey coloured hair was collected in a tiny little ponytail on top of his head, hopefully because he was in the kitchen and not because he thought it was a stylish party way to wear his hair.

Minseok's eyes got stuck staring at that neck, perfect, soft, beautiful, he wanted nothing but to let his hand first lay in the golden mess of hair and then gradually down the neck towards a magnificent back and...

He shook his head harshly when he became aware of the pace his heart was beating in, trying to get every single thought about Luhan out of his mind. He felt awkward, because, even if Luhan didn't know it, he was openly getting undressed and touched by Minseok's eyes.

Before Minseok could calm down enough to have the guts to make himself known, Luhan turned around. Minseok didn't know if it was due to the long time - over two weeks - since they last saw eachother, for they say distance sometimes enhance love, or if it was simply the way that t-shirt hugged Luhan's chest perfectly, as if it was designed specifically for him. Maybe it was the way Luhan's eyes glistened when he saw the older boy, as if he had seen magic, as if he was completely astonished by the sight, as if he was in fact standing there contemplating on the exact same thing as Minseok was: why these feelings were suddenly so strong, suddenly so powerful. Maybe, just maybe, Luhan was having the same feelings.

"You're looking great." came the sentence. It was not specifically spoken, but breathed out; a light brush of air, but still a heavy coat over the atmosphere.

Funny thing was, Minseok wasn't sure if it was him or Luhan who said it. He could see Luhan's lips move, he could hear the hot puff of words as if his ear was glued to Luhan's lips, but at the same time he could feel himself letting the sentence out, exposing his mind. He knew the words had surely escaped his throat, unintentionally yet very intentionally. He realized they probably said the same thing at the same time, chorusing out the compliment.

It took them a while to process. Their faces went from tints of awkwardness, to those of confusion, to realization, small stiff laughs before going back to the awkwardness. Minseok looked down at his little feet, resisting the incredibly strong urge to again glance at the body, the face, the human god, the Luhan.

The birthday boy cleared his throat, almost forcing Minseok to lift his gaze, seeing Luhan nod shortly towards the small package in the shorter one's hands. The latter could see the blush still spreading on Luhan's face, probably mirroring his own.

"Is that for me?"

"Well do you see anyone else having their birthday party here tonight?" Minseok replied quickly, a tiny smirk on his lips. Luhan glared for a second before snatching the gift, smiling evilly.

"You don't get to see my reaction then"

And he ran off, Minseok coming after him but getting locked out of the bathroom.

"You're opening my gift alone in your bathroom?!" he yelled through the door, not knowing if he should laugh or break the door open; he had to be with Luhan for this.

"That's right! Suit yourself when you can't keep your witty sarcasm to yourself" came the answer. Minseok sighed.

"Please don't open it. I wanna be there" he begged, and panicked when he in spite of that started hearing the crisp sound of paper getting ripped, unfolded, rustled.

"Luhan no!!"

But there was nothing to be done, because apparently Luhan didn't understand the serious tone in Minseok's voice.

After a moment, the sounds of paper being removed stopped. A slight gasp could be heard, and then; nothing. It freaked Minseok out, the silence, because it could mean anything and his stupid mind stayed on the negative side. He doesn't like it, he doesn't want it, it's too soon, he hates me now, I should just go.

His anxious thoughts got interrupted when the door swung open. First he saw the paper and the empty box on the floor, then his gaze travelled up Luhans figure, stopping at the thin card in the pale hands. He couldn't see the text but he knew what it said, he knew it like the back of his hand, but he refused to think about it. His eyes kept going up, eventually meeting those glistening deep, brown eyes. But he didn't dare look for long, he quickly looked away, at anything, everything, but those eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's too cheesy isn't it, I knew it, I just didn't know what to buy you because everything seemed so meh, so I did that and I, yeah. I'll take it back, or you can throw it away, and you can just take the gift card and go there by yourself or something, because I know it's your favourite coffee house, but throw the other card away because-"

"Oh my god shut up already."

"But-"

"Look at me." Luhan's voice was stern. He bit his lip and glanced up at that flawless face. They locked gaze for a moment, and Minseok felt like they both were holding their breaths, until Luhan started to smile widely.

"I can't believe you remembered my favourite coffee house." he started, sounding truly euphoric over the fact. Minseok shrugged, of course he remembered. "I don't understand why you're freaking out like this. It's just a piece of paper, really. But still not, because it's a gift and an offer and an idea."

Minseok was stunned by this sudden encouragement, he didn't know what to say next.

"What's happening??" came a voice from behind Minseok, who turned around, seeing none other than Zitao, the handsome smoker from earlier.

"Don't show it to him" the shorter boy hurried to say, running over to Luhan, trying to steal the card, to make sure that this random guy he just met would not get a chance to see what was written. Things got so embarrassing for him, he could feel the crimson red on his cheeks when he looked at Luhan, begging him to be on his side.

But of course not.

Of course that idiot would shake his head, handing the card to Zitao, while muttering about how Minseok had no reason to be embarrassed. When Zitao started reading, out loud, the oldest man balled his fists and clenched his teeth, all to stop the lump of tears rising from his throat from reaching his eyes.

"Invitation for Lu Han: Simple date. What: Some soccer and a coffee from Piano Café(giftcard enclosed). When: Whenever you're free. Who: Just us. Signed, Kim Minseok." Zitao paused, smiling, giggling. He was probably about to comment on it, saying how cuuuute it was, showing his teeth in a teasing smile, mocking Minseok for the cheesiness of it all, laughing at him, but the panicking man was in no way planning to stay and listen. He was out of there. Angrily he stomped out of the house, onto the veranda, ignoring the calls after him. He was furious, embarrassed and in a state of pure panic. He was not going to actually leave the party, considering it had just started and he was absolutely not going to repeat the last time. He just needed some air, needed to get away. But of course someone didn't know how to leave him alone.

"Minseok, please" Luhan said, already out with him, already pleading.

"Please what? Please don't be upset? Please don't destroy another party, oh please don't be such a damn , it was just a card, it was just Zitao? Tell me, say it to me, I have no reason to be upset in any way. Please enlighten me on the fact that I'm such a dramaqueen and I need to man up. Say it." Minseok growled, not even looking at the other. It was quiet for a little while, they both listened to Minseok's weary breath calming down.

"That's not it, you know that's not it. Yes it's true that I don't want you to be upset, but it's not for the sake of the party, or for the sake of your goddamn manliness, it just kills me to see you in these moods. I hate it, I hate it when you're upset, how can I be happy on my birthday when you're not?"

"Bull" Minseok chuckled dryly, hiding the fact that his heart was skipping beats like crazy, denying the fact that Luhan's voice was sincere and pure, denying the fact that the sound of those words seemed to be the whole reason Minseok's blood was even pumping at the moment. He wouldn't believe it, he refused to.

He felt a jerk on his arm, being forced to turn around, to look at Luhan. The birthday boy's hand was wrapped around his wrist and he tried shaking it off, not knowing if he was angry or secretly happy about failing.

Annoyance and distress fought against euphoria over them being so close, touching, being together. Minseok was frustrated, trying to figure out what he felt, and he turned that frustration against Luhan.

"You mess me up. Please leave me alone for a while." he sneered, backing out of the conversation like a coward, snatching his hand back to his side, walking back inside. He hoped Luhan got the message, he hoped he would be left alone for the rest evening. But at the same time, he hoped for the complete opposite. He hoped Luhan would ignore his wish, come up to him immediately because if he had done so Minseok would forgive him pretty fast, and Minseok actually wanted for that to happen, but he was a stubborn idiot. More stubborn than Luhan at the moment, because Luhan listened.

Luhan didn't try talking to Minseok for a long while.

[Jongdae's point of view] (omo, you didn't see that coming, did you? ~{O ДO}~)

March 27th, Saturday, 21:24

Jongdae sighed, walking down the streets, heading for the bar. It wasn't his wish to do so, but his parents'. 'Go to a bar', they had said, 'Find a girl'.

By now, Jongdae regretted that he never told his parents that he's probably not into girls, like at all. He wasn't completely sure about his uality, but he didn't really see himself in the future with a girl. He was afraid to tell his parents this though. They had never talked about homouality, but considering their pretty strict religion, Jongdae didn't dare to be completely open about that stuff. At least not yet, not until he knew where they stood.

Jongdae's parents were like any other parent in Korea - they wanted their children to be married before 30. Since he was 23 by now, his parents were already worried, because Jongdae had never even had a girlfriend yet. Not that they knew of anyways. Not any serious one.

Because of this, he was now heading for the bar. He was going to find a girl, a freaking beard. Jongdae was not this type of guy, he was not the liar, the faker. He was honest, but he had a weakness, and that was his parents. He could do anything to make them happy, even if it meant lying. The only thing he completely hated was having to play a girl like that, but he was thinking maybe he would ask the girl for a favour, ask her to act like his lover if she got something she wanted from him in return, whatever she asked for.

Biting his lip he entered the bar hesitantly and looked around. A few faces looked right back, all lonely by tables or at the bar, obviously unlucky souls. Some of them young girls, Jongdae thought they must be very desperate to find someone, considering their extremely revealing clothes that didn't seem to make them feel comfortable at all. It was a chilly night on top of that. Others were older men, people who hadn't even bothered to shave or wash before coming here. People who maybe just came here to get drunk, people who seemed done with life. Some people sat together, talking, laughing, kissing, touching.

Then there was this one guy by the actual bar, barely sitting on the high backless bar chair, slouching his back, pouring himself the last drops of his bottle of alcohol. He looked disturbed, distressed, but mostly apathetic.

He seemed to be by average height and quite skinny. His hair was a dark shade of brown with a touch of amber shining off of it. It was pretty thick, and some bangs fell down covering his eyes as he hung his head looking down his glass of transparent liquor, as if searching for the solution to all of his problems. The hand holding the glass shook wearily, and the man gripped it tighter before gulping everything down. He didn't look like he enjoyed it, but he obviously still wanted it, needed it to enter his body, his blood.

Jongdae found himself walking up to this guy, and something in his mind weakly protested; no, that's not a girl, stop it.

But he didn't listen. He sat his down next to the drunk and broken man, who didn't even notice him at first, busy playing with the empty bottle. He didn't know why he did it, why he came up to this particular guy. He wasn't the only one who looked heartbroken in there, and he didn't exactly look like a heap of fun right now. So no, Jongdae had no idea why he cared so much about this man that he walked over and sat down, but there he was.

"Hey, is everything okay?" he asked, insanely concerned. There was something about this one that made it impossible for Jongdae to leave it alone.

"Yeah, fantastic." the man slurred with a huff and started laughing hysterically as if he had just told the funniest joke ever. It took him a while to calm down, and by then he was looking extremely sad and lost instead. "Why is the bottle empty?" he wondered helplessly, before yelling something in chinese, grabbing Jongdae by the collar threatenly, as if he had drunk it all.

"I- I believe you've already gulped it all down. I'm sorry." he whispered, afraid to set this hyper nervous person off by simple words.

"It's gone? Of course it is. Everything disappears." the boy muttered lowly, face empty but eyes full, deep, overflowing. There were no tears, but there could as well had been.

"Please" he then uttered, a thin weak whimper voicing his request. "Please." Another whisper.

Jongdae didn't know what this man in front of him was even pleading for, and he wasn't sure the man even knew himself. He was asking for everything and anything, something to help. Someone, and it happened to be Jongdae. Having no idea what to do, he grabbed the stranger and lifted him off of the chair, half guiding, half carrying him out of the bar into the chilly air.

"Do you live around here?" he asked the man while struggling to lift him onto his back, not really expecting an answer. But then he actually got one.

"I thh..-thhh...think so. Ha...hampfire. Hampfire Roaaad."

The boy giggled. "Hampfiyahhh! At least I have my... my epic street's name."

"Can you know the street number?" Jongdae said, not really knowing how to react to the silly rambles.

"Number...n-no I don't - wait, fiftyyy, fifty something, I don' know, i don' knowwwww" he whined back, sounding ready to burst into tears at the fact.

"It's okay, it's okay, you'll figure it out on the way."

Oh dear god what had he gotten himself into? Jongdae wished his heart wasn't that weak for pretty guys with a complicated background, before taking off with the stranger on his back.

- - -

March 28th, Sunday, 10.56

Jongdae sat on a chair, which was not his, staring at a bed, that was not his. More specifically, staring at the man who laid sprawled across that bed. A complete stranger, Jongdae had no idea what his name even was. It felt sick, freaky, Jongdae had spent the night at someone's apartment, some boy he didn't know the name of. But he felt that he had to stay the night, making sure he got this poor soul to sleep, he felt that he needed to keep this person safe for some reason.

Said boy fluttered open a pair of brown eyes, meeting the gaze of Jongdae. He stared for a while.

"Who the are you and did we have ?" came the blunt question, raspy and sore. Jongdae almost choked on air, shaking his head rapidly while a subtle blush crept onto his face. It's not his thing to blush at bluntness, frnakly he usually didn't have a problem with it, but this was different, this boy was different and it made Jongdae act differently.

"No! We didn't do anything, I just brought you home from the bar last night. You weren't in the right condition for public places..."

"You brought me home with no intention? Well aren't you really something." The comment was bitter, as if this man thought Jongdae was bragging about being some kind of angel, but that wasn't the case. Jongdae had no answer for that, so he just stood up with a light sigh.

"I'll be leaving now, I guess, it seems to be what you want. Which I understand of course, since you don't even know me." he mumbled, feeling a bit empty as he walked towards the hallway. He didn't even know what he had been hoping for, but this wasn't it.

"Hold on..!" Suddenly, the attitude wasn't as cold and fierce, but nicer and regretful. Jongdae stopped, waiting for the man to come out.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I sounded very rude, but you must understand. I'm not a morning person, I woke up with an extreme hangover to see a complete stranger sitting in my room. I know that you probably struggled a lot taking me home last night, even if I don't remember anything, and it's actually sweet that you did it all for me. Please tell me your name before you leave, so I can thank you properly."

His korean was a bit lacky, but his words were filled with sudden sincere seriousness. Jongdae looked at him for a second. His hair was messy, sticking out everywhere, and he had dark circles under his eyes. His face was pretty cute, even if it looked incredibly tired, and Jongdae had a feeling it wasn't only from having just woken up, but just from life in general. He was wearing a full outfit from yesterday, Jongdae hadn't dared to take off anything, out of respect. The grey t-shirt was wrinkly and lopsided, the purple jeans dusty. But in spite of this dull tiredness, this old outfit and this constant sensation of being broken that hung over the man's body, he was looking kind of perfect. Jongdae felt himself starting to form a sort of strange craving for this body, this mind, this person, that he was yet to know the name of.

"Kim Jongdae" he finally spat out, not rudely, or cold, just short and empty. "And you are...?"

Finally, finally he was going to know the name, he was going to know what to call this man. He waited, anticipating the answer, thinking that such a beautiful human must be named something equally beautiful.

'"I'm Zhang Yixing, and I'm incredibly thankful for what you've done for me, Kim Jongdae" the boy said, bowing extremely low.

- - -

April 20th, Tuesday, 19.47

"And that's the story about how I met him." Jongdae finished his story about Zhang Yixing to Minseok, who smiled deeply.

"That's so cute. Where did you go from there??"

[Back to Minnie for a short bit]

Minseok spent a while listening to the story of that Yixing boy. He cared, of course, and he was interested, but a big reason that he did it was actually to distract himself, to not think about how Luhan was in the other end of the room talking to Minsuh. He didn't want to think about him, because it made him go crazy with anger, regret, want and confusion.

When the clock got past 20.30, people started heading home. Jongin and Kyungsoo left first, and it didn't make that much of a difference because no one had seen much of them tonight eitherway. They had probably been off snogging somewhere, and Minseok just hoped that it was sober affection this time, to prevent awkward aftermaths. Jongdae had to leave eventually as well, followed by Chanyeol and Baekhyun, the taller one being a little too drunk, a little too touchy, but Baekhyun didn't really mind. Minsuh also left, not really asking Minseok if he was joining her, simply assuming he wanted to stay longer.

And so there were only three: Minseok, Zitao and Luhan.

_

[EDITED!]