Minseok looked at his mother, confused. They were standing in front of a large apartment complex, and his mother had brought a suitcase filled with his clothes, as well as his favorite stuffed toy. A cute black teddy bear.

His mother pushed one of the buttons by the door, which lead inside one the buildings. There was a lot of buttons, Minseok noticed. He had never seen so many buttons by one single apartment entrance. Many people had to be living there. They waited a couple of seconds before a voice answered.

“Yes?”

“Oh Sehun? It’s Mrs. Kim.”

“Ah, okay.” A buzzing sound came from the door and Minseok’s mother pushed it open. They went into the elevator, where Minseok was picked up by his mother so he could push the button for the 14^th floor. They waited quietly for the elevator to reach it’s destination. Minseok looked up at his mother. She looked tired, but there was something else in her face, too. An emotion Minseok couldn’t read.

As soon as the doors opened and Minseok and his mother stepped out of the elevator, the left of the two doors on the floor was opened as well. Minseok recognized Sehun right away, despite the fact that his brown hair was messy, unlike the day before, where his hair was styled to perfection. His clothes was completely different, too. The black jeans, white t-shirt and dark blue blazer was now replaced with a pair of grey sweatpants and an a-shirt.

When Sehun saw them he started to apologize to Minseok’s mother. He hadn’t expected them so early and he wished he looked more presentable. It was almost as if this Sehun was a different person than the Sehun from yesterday. Minseok lifted a small hand to his face to hide his smile.

Before Sehun could ramble on about being sorry, Minseok’s mother lifted her hand to silence him. She calmly told him it was okay. Nodding, Sehun took the suitcase from her and let them inside. After putting down the suitcase by the couch, he quickly showed them around the small apartment.

It was a very basic apartment. A small open kitchen, which could be entered from both the hallway and the living room. One bedroom and one bathroom. Nothing special, except for the pictures that decorated the walls, as well as the few that was placed on a small round table in the corner of the living room. All the pictures were of Sehun and his friends and family. They gave the place a more homey feel. One picture in particular caught Minseok’s attention. So naturally, while his mother and Sehun was talking, he walked over to the picture, hanging on the wall to the left of the window in the living room.

There was six boys in the picture, one of them being Sehun. He was in the middle with a dark haired boy, who reminded Minseok of a panda. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked slightly intimidating, but his smile seemed friendly. Beside the panda boy was an angry-looking guy with big eyebrows and blonde hair. He was scary, Minseok concluded. On the other side of Sehun was two friendlier-looking boys. Both had brown hair. The one closest to Sehun had full lips and a nice smile. The other one, who had slightly lighter brown and wavy hair, was wearing eye-liner. Something Minseok otherwise had only seen girls wear, except for the pretty boys, who danced and sang on the music shows. The last boy in the picture was standing behind the others and he was making bunny ears on Sehun and the scary-looking one. He had elf-like ears and a big smile. He looked nice, Minseok thought.

“Minseok, darling?” Being pulled out of his thoughts, Minseok turned towards his mother. “I’m leaving now.”

Minseok’s eyes widened and ran over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Crouching down, his mother wrapped her arms around him as well.

“Don’t leave, mommy…” Minseok whispered. His mother sighed sadly.

“I don’t want to, dear, but” His mother pulled away and placed her hands on his shoulders. “we’ve already talked about this. You have to stay with Sehun for a bit. I promise, as soon as it’s possible, you get to go home okay? But for now you’re safest here.”

Minseok just nodded, eyes tear-filled. His mother brushed his hair away and placed a kiss on his forehead. She hugged him one more time, before getting up. Sehun followed her to the door and she thanked him wholeheartedly. A sad smile graced her face before she entered the elevator once again, this time without her son.

A sigh left Sehun and he went back to the living room. Minseok stood at the same spot, tears still threatening to fall from his eyes.

“Hey…” Sehun said, as he walked over to the little boy and ruffled his hair lightly. “What do you say we get you unpacked and then I’ll make some lunch? Pancakes, maybe?”

Minseok sniffled, but nodded nonetheless. Sehun smiled and picked up Minseok’s suitcase. They went in into the bedroom, which didn’t have much furniture. A white bed with black bedding was standing on one side of the room. There were two large drawers underneath the bed, a smart way to save room. On the other side of the room was a desk with a computer and two drawers on each side. And beside the desk stood a tall closet.

Sehun placed the suitcase on the bed and ped it. He picked up the first thing he laid eyes on, the black teddy bear, and turned towards Minseok.

“Who’s this?” He asked curiously.

“His name is Suho.” Minseok answered. Sehun handed over the bear to him with a smile.

“He’s cute.” Minseok nodded, small smile on his lips. Sehun’s smile grew as he started to put Minseok’s clothes into one of the drawers under the bed.

“Sehun-hyung?” Turning to Minseok, Sehun looked slightly surprised after being called hyung. Most of his friends were older than him, so it wasn’t something he was used to.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Where will I sleep?” Minseok asked, big eyes looking wondering at Sehun.

“Well, uh,” Sehun sat down on the floor with a ‘thud’. “wherever you want. You can have the bed if you want.”

Minseok’s eyes widened and he shook his head furiously.

“No! It’s yours!”

“Well, I’m not sure I want to let you sleep in the living room alone.” Sehun said. Minseok hugged his teddy bear, Suho, close and looked at his feet. His lips formed a pout as he went in deep thought. Sehun leaned back, supporting himself on his arms. He smiled a little and waited patiently for the young boy to finish his thinking. Minseok’s eyes went to the bed and he studied it for a while. Then he looked at Sehun again.

“Can’t we both sleep in the bed?” Sehun lifted his eyebrows in surprise. He had thought about the possibility himself, but had dismissed it because, honestly, the kid barely knew him.

“Well, if you’re okay with it.” Minseok nodded with a relieved smile. He wasn’t going to tell Sehun, he was a big boy after all, but he was a little afraid of being on his own after how worried his mother had been since he had received the pretty rose from the stranger. It was very unlike his mother to panic, she was always very calm and down to earth.

Sehun got up after having put the last of Minseok’s clothing away. He placed the suitcase on top of his closet and left the room, Minseok close behind him. Sehun went to the kitchen, but Minseok stopped by the picture he had been looking at earlier.

“Sehun-hyung?”

“Hm?”

“Is this your friends?” Minseok looked curiously at the tall teen as he walked over to him.

“Yeah, they are.” Sehun smiled. “You might meet them, you know?”

Minseok’s eyes widened. “Even the scary one?”

Sehun looked down at Minseok, surprise written all over his face.

“The scary one?” Sehun questioned, raising an eyebrow with a slight smile.

“Yes. The scary one with the big eyebrows!” Minseok said, touching his own eyebrows. Sehun looked at the picture. His smile turned in to laughter when he realized just who Minseok was talking about.

“Trust me, Minseok; Kris is nothing to be afraid of.” Sehun said, remembering all the times his ‘cool city guy’ friend had publicly humiliated himself.

“Kris..?” Minseok repeated the name. Sehun nodded, before pointing to the panda boy in the picture.

“And that’s Tao. He and Kris are both from China; well Kris is Canadian… or something.” Sehun grimaced, he had never really bothered to try to understand Kris’ weird ethnicity problems. Lord knows if Kris could even figure it out himself.

“What about the rest?” Minseok asked, finding Sehun’s friends interesting.

“Right, this” Sehun pointed to the boy with the full lips. “is Jongin, but he prefers to be called Kai… weirdo.”

Minseok couldn’t help but smile at Sehun’s remark. Continuing, Sehun pointed to the boy beside Jongin, or Kai.

“That’s Baekhyun. He can be a bit of a pain, but he’s good enough. And in the back, that’s Chanyeol. He’s very… special. He’s so happy sometimes, it’s almost annoying.”

“What’s wrong with being happy?” Minseok questioned, eyebrows furrowing.

“Nothing, except when you act like you’re on ing drugs or something.” Minseok’s eyes widened and his hands flew to his mouth. Did Sehun just swear?! Sehun noticed Minseok’s eyes on him and looked down on the short boy.

“What?”

“You said a no-no word.” Minseok mumbled from behind his hands, eyes still wide. They almost looked like they were gonna pop out. Sehun scratched the back of his head. He couldn’t swear while the kid lived with him? Well, .

“Uh, sorry?” Sehun offered. Minseok stood there for a moment.

“Okay. Just promise me you won’t do it again, okay, hyung?”

“I promise.”

“Pinky promise?” Sehun sighed, but crouched down anyway. He held out his pinky.

“Pinky promise.” Minseok grinned and linked the fingers. After verifying their promise with a little shake, Sehun picked up the small boy and carried him to the kitchen.