36: Luhan's absolutely convinced that something's going on between two of his friends, and so he enlists an unwitting yearbook photographer's help to prove it. Pairing!HanSoo, Side!XiuTao/SeKai, HighSchool!AU, TennisClub!AU, Yearbook!AU

“No.”

“Please, Kyungsoo,” Luhan begged as he tugged hard on the lanyard around the photographer’s neck and was rewarded for his efforts with an angry glare when Kyungsoo’s camera tossed precariously in the air. “I need documentation.”

“No,” Kyungsoo’s repeated denial was firm as was his frowning expression. He crossed his arms in front of his precious camera protectively and shook his head when Luhan tried pouting to get his way. “Aegyo doesn’t work on me,” Kyungsoo confirmed with a shrug, “I’ve got two younger sisters.”

Luhan kept pouting anyway—it made him feel better even if Kyungsoo said it made no difference—and tried a different approach. Again. “I’ll buy you coffee,” he offered, a little unsure as to Kyungsoo’s drink of choice. When the yearbook photographer shook his head with a disgusted curl of the heart-shaped lips that got Luhan into this problem in the first place, Luhan said instead, “Tea then?” Kyungsoo was still saying no, though, and Luhan was getting exasperated so he dropped the beverage idea all together. “What do you want?” Luhan finally asked, caving even though he knew Kyungsoo’s request would probably be something too exorbitant for any normal high schooler to want.

Kyungsoo took a step toward an increasingly desperate Luhan and his lips with a smug grin. The action made Luhan unwittingly shiver with anticipation and he didn’t even notice that he’d taken a forward step of his own until he caught Kyungsoo eying him up and down with an even wider smirk. Luhan would be lying if he claimed to hate the look on Kyungsoo’s face just then, but he was certainly annoyed when Kyungsoo ceased his obvious perusal of Luhan’s body to whisper, “My baby needs an upgrade.”

His baby was the camera and the upgrade was a new and expensive lens; Luhan knew this because Kyungsoo was his PE partner and that was all the owl-eyed boy had talked about recently as they stretched and exercised together in class. Apparently the lens took pictures that were the equivalent to a photographer’s wet dream, and that image had been basically ingrained in Luhan’s head since Kyungsoo said it, giving the Chinese boy some wet dreams of his own.

“Fine,” Luhan agreed through gritted teeth, painfully aware of Kyungsoo’s proximity and how little of a shield Luhan’s PE shorts provided for the awkward proof of his crush on Kyungsoo. It was difficult for Luhan to stand up for himself in general, but this trait became even worse where the yearbook photographer was concerned, so Luhan didn’t add any requirements to his request like “Go out with me” or “Be my boyfriend.” No, he simply added with a downcast gaze, “If you take pictures that prove those two are a thing, I’ll buy you your stupid lens.”

There was an offended gasp as Kyungsoo registered the insult to his baby and the photographer stepped away with another huff, moment over and closeness to Luhan forgotten. Luhan couldn’t forget, though, and he found himself remembering the feel of Kyungsoo’s breath ghosting across his neck long after the other had gone.

~~~

Kyungsoo knew more about the tennis team situation than he admitted when Luhan cornered him after the yearbook meeting that late autumn afternoon. The photographer had known that Luhan would cave if he remained stubborn enough, and while Kyungsoo hadn’t expected his own heart’s reaction to their close proximity, he’d at least expected Luhan’s.

Luhan’s crush on Kyungsoo was old news; really the only reason they weren’t dating was because Luhan hadn’t asked and Kyungsoo refused to. In his mind, Luhan had liked him first so the whole confessing thing was his job. Kyungsoo’s best friends, Minseok and Kai, often told Kyungsoo that he was being too old-fashioned and in doing so was making poor Luhan suffer, but Kyungsoo’s response was always the same: “Talk to me when you’ve got boyfriends of your own and maybe then I’ll listen.” Except now they both had boyfriends—hence why Kyungsoo was so aware of the strange noises that had piqued Luhan’s undying curiosity in the first place. Honestly, he could have just told Luhan the truth of the situation, but secretly Kyungsoo relished their interactions as much as Luhan himself did; also, he wanted that lens.

And what exactly was that truth? That yes, the strange noises were moans as Luhan had assumed in horrified fascination, but no, they weren’t sounds of pleasure exchanged between Luhan’s two friends, Tao and Sehun. Instead—and this was why Kyungsoo was privileged to know so much—Tao and Minseok and then Sehun and Kai were a thing a lot like Kyungsoo and Luhan were supposed to be. It just so happened that all four were members of the tennis team and Luhan had probably assumed his friends were doing the nasty out on the courts after practice because Sehun and Tao played doubles as a pair while Minseok and Kai did not. How his friends had ended up with Luhan’s, Kyungsoo had no idea, but he could at least admit how much fun they’d all have if they went on a group date. Not that that would happen as long as Kyungsoo remained stubborn and Luhan stayed oblivious, but it still painted a pretty picture in Kyungsoo’s imagination as he walked down the little paved path from the field to the tennis courts.

“Yah,” he called out while still out of sight, “Kim and Kim! You better not be doing anything weird with your boytoys when I come around this corner!” His voice was loud when necessary so it carried over the breathy moans that were vocal and high pitched enough for Kyungsoo to pretty confidently identify them as coming from Tao.

“Such a spoilsport, hyung,” Kai whined to Kyungsoo when the slightly older boy emerged onto the tennis court with his camera clicking but his free hand held firmly over his own eyes.

“But everyone’s decent,” Minseok added with an audible smirk as he posed for one of the many pictures that Kyungsoo was still haphazardly taking of the four tennis players. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes behind his closed lids and harrumphed because he so did not want to be there, but then he reminded himself that this was for his baby and for Luhan and that’s what got him through.

“I need a favor,” Kyungsoo requested of his friends and their boyfriends once they’d all straightened their clothes enough to be presentable.

“Lulu’s finally made a move and you need to know what to wear?” That was Tao, a fashionista even in his uniform.

Kyungsoo didn’t even have time to scoff indignantly about ever needing the panda’s help with anything because Sehun piped up too. “No way. Hannie’s too shy for that, Taozi.” The taller boy looked over at Kyungsoo before tossing an arm across Kai’s shoulders and pulling his own boyfriend closer. “So then you’re the one who’s finally manned up?”

Kai shook his head and laughed with Minseok in disagreement while Kyungsoo pouted and felt utterly victimized by both his and Luhan’s friends. “Ha! Our Kyung-hyung’s way too stubborn for that.”

“Legit,” Minseok agreed with a smile as he swung his and Tao’s entwined hands back and forth in a hypnotizing rhythm. “So what can we do for you then, Baby Soo?” Minseok asked with a grin that suggested he knew how much Kyungsoo hated that nickname and used it on purpose just to be a .

“I hate you,” Kyungsoo whined out, not really meaning it but feeling better for saying it anyway. “And don’t you dare say something stupid like “It’s okay, I have Tao now,” because I swear to god I’ll hit you with your own racket if you do.”

He sounded sincere but his hands were empty and he was still too far away to do any real damage, so Minseok didn’t take his friend seriously and said exactly what Kyungsoo had told him not to, even pulling his boyfriend down to bow together with him once he’d finished.

Kyungsoo’s sigh was long-suffering but it couldn’t be heard over Tao’s giggles and the muffled laughter behind Sehun’s hand, so the yearbook photographer gave up. He took a couple more pictures of his two best friends and the way they fit so well with Luhan’s before leaving with a flip of the bird over his shoulder as he walked away. Kai’s boyfriend didn’t even pretend to hold in his amusement anymore, and the sound of it followed Kyungsoo all the way back from the tennis courts to the yearbook room.

~~~

Do Kyungsoo was the type to be unbearably old-fashioned when it counted, so it took a few days for the photos to develop before Luhan could be sure that he was getting his money’s worth where his crush’s expensive camera lens was concerned.

“Do you realize how expensive that damn thing is?” Luhan complained loudly to the yearbook photographer who stood unmovingly with a folder in one hand. Kyungsoo’s facial expression didn’t move either and Luhan could tell that the Korean boy was wholly unimpressed with Luhan’s whining. “If I don’t get what I want then I’m not buying.” This comment was added offhandedly as Kyungsoo stretched out an arm to hand over the fruits of his investigation and Luhan reached out to take them, so the two boys ended up practically holding hands when Kyungsoo’s response to Luhan’s words was to refuse to let go.

“You’re buying it regardless,” he pouted too cutely for Luhan to handle. Aegyo might not work on Kyungsoo—or so he said—but it most certainly worked on Luhan. In fact, the older boy had already purchased the lens and had it hidden in the desk behind him because he’d known that he’d give in to Kyungsoo eventually, even if the photographer ended up taking any pictures at all. "We both know it's true," Kyungsoo reiterated, sort of fishing now because he wasn't going to confess out right but he certainly wasn't above bullying Luhan into it,

Luhan, though, just shrugged like he didn't know what Kyungsoo was talking about. His level of oblivious only went so far, so they both know he was lying but Kyungsoo let Luhan—and the folder of pictures—go after fixing the Chinese boy with a long, searching look. Luhan could feel that gaze linger even as he flipped through the file to realize his assumptions about his two friends' relationship had been completely wrong.

"I can't believe it!" He exclaimed, more to himself than to Kyungsoo. "Sehun and Kai I can see in a weird sort of way. Minseok and Taozi though?"

Kyungsoo was unperturbed by the couple, maybe because he'd seen them together and his pictures were awesome but they still didn't capture how adorable those two were together. "Their unique facial features make them compatible," Kyungsoo offered after a moment, his eye for design spotting a plausible reason why Tao and Minseok might find each other mutually compatible.

"Sehunnie tells me all the time that I've got eyes like a doe. So if you're owl-eyed then doesn't that mean our unique facial features should make us compatible too?" Even as Luhan spoke this aloud he realized that it was meant to be a thought buried deeply within himself, not something for Kyungsoo to ever know or hear about. Yet it was too late; the words were gone before Luhan could catch them and finally, after nearly two years, he confessed.

"If you want," Kyungsoo offered in smug satisfaction that his plan had sort of worked. Luhan had finally confessed his feelings and now Kyungsoo could allow himself to reciprocate like he had been doing secretly almost since the beginning. "Which you do," he grinned when Luhan suddenly looked up from where he was hiding his face in the folder.

"I do?" He asked, sounding self-reflective but not meaning that at all.

"You do," Kyungsoo confirmed again as he took a step forward, gently pulled the pictures from Luhan's hands, and then tugged the other boy toward him.

"I do," Luhan agreed finally, immersed in a haze that swallowed him up the moment Kyungsoo's hand reached for his own. The haze became total darkness when Kyungsoo leaned toward him and Luhan's eyes fluttered closed automatically at the slightest brush of Kyungsoo's lips across his mouth.

"Where's my lens, Lu?" Kyungsoo whispered teasingly, not quite kissing Luhan again but remaining so close to Luhan's mouth that the Chinese boy could almost taste the spicy ginger cough drops that Kyungsoo ate like candy.

Luhan gulped and when he opened his eyes to glare at Kyungsoo for ruining the moment, his eyelashes brushed the yearbook photographer's cheek ever so slightly and then they were kissing again. This time there was less caution and more passion as Luhan allowed himself to be embraced by Kyungsoo's arms and wrapped his own around Kyungsoo's neck.

When they paused to breathe after a while, Luhan tried to take a step back so his brain and heart could breathe too but Kyungsoo's pout was so breathtaking that Luhan found himself unable to move a single inch. If it were anyone other than Kyungsoo, Luhan would have at least tried a little harder to resist.

But it was Kyungsoo. And there was a lens hidden behind them, a forgotten pile of pictures tossed haphazardly on a desk, and two giggling couples peeking in from the hallway that showed just what that really meant. To Luhan, at least.