Luhan took a lazy drag from the cigarette placed between his index and middle finger, idly looking at Junmyeon who paced franticly at the alley near Yixing’s bar. The blond dances, in his glorious decadence, meaning the lack of clothes in his toned and lithe body; Luhan was not a person that used that many clothes, maybe it was preferable to say that he wasn’t keen on covering his body that much: it was amazing, why cover it?

The dark haired man was kicking up a storm, walking from one side to the other in the matter of seconds, muttering to himself and gesticulating a lot. If Luhan was the one to stereotype, he would say the man looked like an Italian man from a fifties movie.

“So…” he began, puffing rings of white smoke into the dark, crisp air, absentmindedly “I was under the impression that you wanted to speak to me since you dragged me out here. Or was it to make out? Because I am all down for that!”

“Shut up!” hissed Junmyeon, stopping suddenly and stomping up to him, standing a mere few inches in front of Luhan and looking up at him.

Although they wasn’t a very big difference between there heights, Junmyeon was just short enough for Luhan to nibble at the top of Junmyeon’s lip without much strain, however, looking at the pouty lips on his face and the sparkles of rage that emanated from the man, Luhan thought better than to do so. But damn if that pouty, innocent looking man didn’t seem appetizing enough.

“I brought you here to talk to you, not to allow you to molest me. Not that I ever would…”

“Don’t knock it until you try it!”

Junmyeon shot the blond a nasty glare and Luhan actually felt proud, for a mere second, at the intensity of it. He guessed he had that effect on people: he was either hated or loved.

“As I was saying,” continued Junmyeon with a pointed and very smug look on his face, after being able to shut Luhan momentarily, which was quite adorable to tell the truth. “I brought you here, away from everybody’s gaze, to talk to you about your…”

At Junmyeon’s embarrassment, Luhan was sure since the man blushed a lot and wasn’t sure to finish his sentence, the blond dancer felt the need to help the other.

“My impromptu dance lap? The one in which I used your lap?”

“Exactly! I mean what were you thinking? I don’t know you! Why on Earth did you decide that is was a good thing to do?”

“I’m hurt! I introduced myself to you, inside the bar, next to your friends and I dance at ‘El Dorado’ semi regularly, so you know a lot about me actually. Aside from the fact that you are insanely hot and oh so very cute, I know nothing about you, so clearly, you have an advantage against me!”

“And that fact didn’t make you feel self-conscious about…”

“Rubbing myself on you like a dog on heat? Not really, no! As I’ve said before, you pretty and I liked what I saw, so I jumped for it. I am not the one to refuse an opportunity when I see one.”

“You keep interrupting me.” whined Junmyeon, kicking his foot a little.

“And you’re being so cute that makes me want to ravage you, but that would be skipping steps and while I am not a patient person, I wouldn’t exactly mind if it was you.”

“Are you even hearing yourself? You don’t do that to strangers! Especially not those who do not want that kind of wrong attention!”

“You seemed to enjoy it. If really wanted to push me off, you could’ve. Especially asking your giant friend; even the small one could easily threw me aside if you asked them, out of sheer principle. However, you never did, so I really think that you are either a lying to yourself or trying to lie to others without success. You decide!”  

“Look,” began Junmyeon with a little frown on his face, not knowing what to make out of what Luhan just said; he felt offended but his need to speak up and just tell Luhan what was on his mind subdue the negative feeling. “I still know nothing about you; you are a complete stranger to me, regardless what you’ve said. I also think that it is really inappropriate for you to do something like that to a person that you don’t know and may not be consenting what you did, which was my case. It was embarrassing and downright degrading; I was with my friend, people that I’ve known since I was a child and you do that in front of then? I was teased about it! This is not a behavior that I associate with, so I am sincerely that you could apologize and we can go on with our nights. You keep doing whatever you do and me along with my friends, trying to enjoy myself and forgetting recent events.”

Junmyeon wasn’t expecting Luhan to start laughing. It was a laugh that reverberated in the stone walls of the dark alley, full of life and animated. Luhan’s large doe eyes, that Junmyeon failed to notice until now, were sparkling even in the darkness, warm and amused.

He turned to Junmyeon, a smile playing on his lips, just as amused as his eyes, throwing his cigarette to the ground, stepping on the stub, making Junmyeon gasp, mumbling something about garbage and trash cans.

“Did you seriously bring me here to demand an apology? If you are expecting one than you can turn around and go back to your friends, even if I am a bit reluctant about letting you go sweet cheeks because you are so adorable that I want to keep you with me all of the time. However, and let us put this in perspective for you, you are on a bar, not a strip bar mind you, but one that has many dancers, which are really dancers and not strippers, as I’ve previously told you, that interact with the crowd, as you’ve experienced, after all I did rub myself on you pretty intensely: I would know. Why?” he asked Luhan, taking small step behind small step, approaching Junmyeon like a predator would approach a prey. “Because, among other things, I dance here, at this bar, owned by my friend Minseok, where I dance; where I interact; where I tease.”

There was not much space between them, barely inches and Luhan’s face was dangerously close to Junmyeon’s, who looked at him with the widest eyes ever which was, in itself, a remarkable thing, since Luhan had seen Junmyeon’s petite friend.

He leaned in, mouth near an ear; the same ear that belonged to the immobile man in front of him.

“Where I make people go crazy!” he whispered, breathing slightly into the shorter’s neck.

He leaned back; eyes meeting the smaller’s, voice losing its sensual heat, as if to not frighten him.

“And I like it. I love it. It’s thrilling and it makes me feel good about myself which is a vanity I indulge myself in. So no, I will not apologize to you, for making my job, much less for doing something that, quite frankly, makes me happy, in a way. Also, you seem rather quick to judge other people for what they do…”

“I certainly do not!” replied Junmyeon indignantly.

“Don’t be hypocritical: yes you do! You judge, that is what people do, that’s what people have been doing for all of their lives. And sometimes, we missed the whole point of loving someone, regardless if you are talking about family, friend or lover. Because when you love you should love without having a reason to. But what am I saying? I am rambling and deviating from the whole point. What I meant is that you lose another by focusing on what you want to see or by others want you to see. I want you not to be one of those.”

“I am not! I am not!” interjected Junmyeon hotly, pursing his lips and crossing his arms.

“Hmm…I think that is something that I will take my time finding out.”

“What?” asked the smaller man, suddenly alarmed at the other man’s words. “What do you mean?”

“It means that I have to go but I’ll see you around. I’ll make sure of that!”

With a soft, tinkle like laughter, and a bop on the dark haired male, Luhan made his way out the alley. Before abandoning it, he quickly shouted at Junmyeon to return into the bar where it was safe, blowing a kiss into the air and nonchalantly, as if the crazy conversation never occurred, Luhan, the blond haired dancer, strutted down the street, a spring in his step, leaving a thoroughly baffled man, Junmyeon, behind.

“…and then he told me that he would see me around. Can you believe that?” asked Junmyeon, hands flailing wildly around, as he told brother and boyfriend, along with his friends, the encounter he had with Luhan, the dancer. “He just told me all of that and then left which by the way, so immensely rude.”

“You have to forgive Luhan.” replied softly from where he sat on the head of the booth, a glass of some sort of soda in his hand, since he was driving, an arm around Jongdae’s shoulder “He is tends to be to blunt for his own good and sometimes he can’t really express himself in the most convenient way.”

“Oh please Chanyeol, don’t inflate his ego more, saying he’s right” interrupted Jongdae with a snort. “You need more people like Luhan in your life.”

“To annoy me?” grumbled Junmyeon, swirling the contents of his tea on his cup.

“To give you a different perspective on life!” countered Jongdae, leaning slightly forward, almost managing to knock the contents of the table to the ground if not by Chanyeol’s fast reflexes. “Seriously, he is kind of right about the judging part Junmyeon. You do it and you don’t even notice and frankly, one day, someone was bound to: either punch you in the face and knock some sense out of that pretty little face and head, or they were going to say something that you didn’t like to ear, which was the case. From what you told me, Luhan was pretty cool about it, regarding that what you told me about your conversation. I actually can’t believe that you were so rude to him!”

“I wasn’t rude!”

Everyone, even Chanyeol, could sense the disgruntlement radiating potently from the man, whose pout could rival even the one’s from big singing idols. Yifan, at this point, couldn’t care less and was well on his way to being severely tipsy, peppering small kisses into Kyungsoo’s exposed neck making him hum in pleasure, more at the affection behind the kisses than the gesture itself, while trying to hear his best friend. It was, in times like this, when he felt jealous at his husband’s capacity to disconnect from the topic when it didn’t interest him. Yifan wasn’t a bad person, or a bad friend, but Junmyeon could be relentless and Yifan had heard it all before; he simply disconnected his brain from the sound around himself, read, Junmyeon’s voice,

“You basically call him a stripper, even though” stressed Jongdae “he is a dancer who is doing his job. It’s ‘Wild Dream Night’, didn’t you see the posters? Or do you think people go to work in leather and so much little clothes? What kind of place do you think I would bring you into?”

“I really don’t know! It’s you Jongdae.” shot Junmyeon

The words weren’t truly processed before they came out of his mouth and Junmyeon regretted them as soon as they left his mouth because the silence that followed them was deafening and the look on Jongdae’s face was killing him.

“Nice to know how little you think of me!”

“Jongdae…”

“I am choosing to walk away right now because you are being too much like mom and dad for me to handle right now.”

“Jongdae, you know that I didn’t mean that. It’s just sometimes you’re too unconventional for people.”

“I am not unconventional, you just don’t accept that I don’t necessarily want to live the live that mom and dad, and you apparently, try to shove down my throat.”

Jongdae sounded truly upset and when Junmyeon reached to touch his brother’s arm, he man was quick to move away. He, however, did not recoil when Chanyeol brought gentle hands to his cheek, holding the other’s face softly, looking into his eyes. There was a second where none of them spoke but the barely existent nod on Chanyeol’s part made clear to everybody that they were having a silent conversation.

“Well, I guess it’s getting a bit late, so Jongdae and I are going home.” said the tall man, looking at them with somber eyes.

“I can take you home Jongdae.” mumbled Junmyeon, trying to apologize to his little brother.

“Thank you for the offer but Jondgae’s coming with me.” replied Chanyeol protectively wrapping Jongdae is his long arms. “It doesn’t make sense travelling apart when we are going to the same place after all.”

“Wait, what?”

“We’re going home!”

“You live together?”

“For about four months we have.” replied Chanyeol slowly, as if waiting for an answer from Junmyeon.

“You didn’t tell me Jongdae!”

“And with good reason because apparently you cannot care for anyone it not yourself.”

With that final hiss, on Jongdae’s behalf, the smaller man, with the upturned lips, turned to leave, not waiting for his boyfriend, clearly too upset to do so. As he walked away, Chanyeol glanced at Junmyeon’s crest fallen and confused face.

“Listen Junmyeon, I know that you have the best intentions and that you wish Jongdae to take the best decisions and for him to settle down but maybe you should make his happiness a priority and the rest will come, at its own time, by his own will okay.”

Chanyeol stood up from the booth, leaving a couple of crumpled notes on top of the table to pay for his and Jongdae’s drink and left them with quick steps, searching for his petite boyfriend.

“Is that what you think I am doing with Jongdae?” asked Junmyeon, voice weak and emotional.

“Yes and no!” replied Yifan, coming back to Earth; from where Kyungsoo was not quite sure, since his husband seem to lose himself in some sort of new galaxy of his from time to time. “You need to stop imposing your ideas onto Jongdae and realize that, while he is your baby brother, he is also a grown man with his life well sort out and who is extremely happy with his life. Instead of chastise him for his choices, be more supportive.”

“What about his stability? He needs stability!”

“What’s stability for when you’re happy? That’s the question that you should do to yourself. After all, a little craziness never did anyone any harm.”

Junmyeon’s shoulders slumped forward. What was supposed to be a fun night, with his crazy brother and his amazing friends turned out to be a hell of a night. Junmyeon wished he could say it was just one of those days where nothings goes wrong, but a lot of him was his own fault, mainly for being such a pessimist after his own failed relationship. It was like he wanted everyone to be in the same mood as him without realizing.

“I think…” began Kyungsoo softly “that our night is over and that we should all go home and just…rest or something.”

“The night is over and we really should go home, maybe some rest will do us good. Clear our heads and put things into perspective, hmm?” declared Yifan, eyes twinkling, soft and gentle, not trying to hurt Junmyeon but, instead, giving him an out.

Junmyeon wanted to stay. He wanted to stay and prove to everyone that he could be animated and fun and not a mood destroyer but he guessed it was already far too late for that.

With a sigh that weighted far too much on his chest, Junmyeon nodded to the couple in front of him, watching him with expectant eyes.

“Yes, we should go.”

The alarm blared on very early in the morning and Junmyeon let out a groan pass his lips, not really wanting to get up from his warm bed; his warm, big bed where no one lay beside him anymore.

It had been a regular thing to happen: him not wanting to get up and face the bright day ahead of him like he used to do with so much glee and a spring on his step. It had been like this ever since he had said that one sentence to his brother, a week ago!

A ween had been the amount of time that had gone without Jongdae contacting him; or at least acknowledge Junmyeon’s attempts to contact him. Usually, Jongdae was quick to forgive Junmyeon’s none filtered words but this time he hadn’t and that fact alone was enough to leave a bitter taste on his mouth and a knot firmly placed on his chest. Despite all things, Junmyeon loved his little brother to pieces.

When Junmyeon was a little kid, barely even tall to reach the counters on the kitchen at their parent’s house, he had been thrilled at the prospect of having a little brother and that had not changed one bit. The only thing that really changed was the amount of time that their parents had for them, since two kids doubled up the amount of expenses in the house. So Junmyeon had assumed his role very seriously and he was happy to see that baby Jongdae, the cutest baby ever, responded well to his presence.

However, the downside of that was the fact that Junmyeon had to grow up very fast, being almost a parent like figure to his brother, while the demands of their job made their parents stricter with them than ever. Junmyeon, ever the perfectionist, had no problem in adapting to the bar their parents had set; Jongdae, on the other hand, had a real struggle with that and Junmyeon was now realizing, after everything that happened that, maybe, they had forgotten to ask Jongdae what he wanted. Somewhere along the way, Junmyeon had become too concerned with his own work, his own life and his own boyfriend to take care of Jongdae; to take care of him and just support his brother. He had forgotten about all of that and was now paying the price.

He picked his phone from the night stand, even before he got up and dialed Jongdae’s number, biting his lower lip ferociously and praying for his brother to answer him. He didn’t.

Junmyeon then tried his brother’s landline. Heaven’s knew why his brother even had a landline but it proved to be a good thing since it gave him a chance to contact his brother, other from the usual way, which meant his cellphone.

“Hello. You reached the Park…” Chanyeol’s deep and gravelly voice made itself be heard.

“Why does your name has to appear first?” And that was Jongdae’s whiny and playful voice.

“You’ve reached the Kim-Park household. Where are not here at the moment; probably at college or working, but leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we get home.”

“Byeee:” drawled his little brother cheerily, dragging the sounds playfully on his mouth. Junmyeon could hear Chanyeol’s chuckles at the end of the message.

“Hi Jongdae, it’s me, your brother, Junmyeon. I guess you already knew that because you heard my voice. I know I am being way too bothersome, calling you multiple times, on your cellphone, to your land line but you haven’t been answering, nor did you call me after I sent you these messages. I told you many times but I want to say it once more, I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. Please Jongdae just talk to me. I’m begging of you; please talk to me! I love you.”

He disconnected the call, sighing deeply as he remained without an answer for his brother. Without any other option aside from going to work and edit the heck out the documents that people sent him. He couldn’t even count of his best friend, since Kyungsoo had been attending a conference for the last few days and Yifan had been going slightly cray at the fact that he had evaluations to take care of, aside from baby Tao.

After getting himself ready, feet dragging along the tiled and carpeted floor on his apartment; his quite big and modern apartment, Junmyeon got to the streets, breathing the fresh air of the morning, still wishing it was Saturday or Sunday so that he could procrastinate in bed, dwell on misery, which he always liked to do.

He walked slowly, sipping his ginseng tea, brewed yesterday evening and reheated today morning, since he didn’t drink coffee at all, preferring the benefits caffeine provided by his favorite beverage than the bitter taste of the brown mixture. As he walked, Junmyeon focused on the people, busy like him, moving around the streets, feet quick and precise, signaling a synchronized routine that only years of practice had perfected. They were just people, so busy with their lives that probably one of them had hurt someone like he had done.

A body colliding with his was what made him snap out of reverie and he noticed black hair in front of him before he even registered the voice speaking to him.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I am so, so sorry!”

“Baekhyun?” asked Junmyeon, recognizing the petite singer.

Said male stopped for a second, looking at him with wide eyes before he also noticed who was talking to him.

“You’re Jongdae’s brother!” he pointed out loudly before taking a hand to his mouth embarrassed “I mean: you are Junmyeon, Jongdae’s brother.”

“You remember me?”

“Yes! I met you at Yixing and Minseok’s bar a weekend or so ago and I got your name when Jongdae was introducing Chanyeol to you.” answered the other boy shyly, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

“It’s good to see you remember. I never told you that because you had to leave, but I thought you had an amazing voice.”

“Thank you. Jongdae speaks very highly of you.”

“I haven’t seen him in a while…”

“I…”began Baekhyun hesitantly, making Junmyeon look at him “Chanyeol told me something about it, while we were going to college, he has been trying to get Jongdae to speak to you but Jongdae is a little bit…hurt and being overall stubborn.”

“I see…”

“But don’t quit trying, he’ll come around.” said the boy with an encouraging smile.

“Are you heading up to college?” asked Junmyeon politely, trying to shift the subject that he started.

“No.” replied Baekhyun looking a little embarrassed. “I don’t have classes on Tuesday morning, so I work.”

“Ah! To the coffeshop?”

Baekhyun shook his head, actually looking more and more mortified by the second.

“I am working as a housekeeper.”

“You seem to work a lot!”

“Tuition and living expenses are…a reality and I have bills to pay. I have a scholarship but it doesn’t pay for everything.” mumbled the raven haired man, head hanging low.

“There is nothing wrong with that. Actually, I think it shows a great humility and perseverance of you. It must be tough.”

“It is but I really need the money. I used to have a roommate but since he got out I had to move to a smaller, more affordable apartment.”

“What are you majoring in?”

“Biochemistry. Jongdae told me that you are the editor in chief of a magazine, I thought it was amazing. You are so young and you already have such a high position.” confessed the younger male, eyes lightening a little and looking more confident than Junmyeon had ever seen him.

“It is all about hardwork; put enough work into something and you’ll get anywhere you want.”

“Yes!” replied Baekhyun happily with a smile on his face.

It was strange to see the boy smiling so widely, especially since the boy had a tendency to appear as gloomy; everything from his dark hair, to his dark eyes, to the pale complexion, the eye bags and slumped shoulders. There was something to him, Junmyeon couldn’t put a finger on what exactly, that told me that the boy needed a little more happiness in his life, but he chose not to dwell too much on that fact.

“Good to see your enthusiasm. I have to go now, or else I will not be on time for work and neither will you I presume.” Baekhyun nodded firmly after taking a look to the beat up watch he had on his wrist, caressing the bracelet of it, very gently, almost without noticing. “

“Yes, I should. Junmyeon, I might be a little too forward but, if Jongdae continues to be stubborn, know that Chanyeol and I will be performing at ‘El Dorado’ on the weekend, as we always do and where Chanyeol goes…”

“Jongdae goes!” finished Junmyeon, understanding what Baekhyun was trying to say to him.

Baekhyun nodded, looking relieved that the older male had understood him. He gave a little jump, trying to adjust the backpack that Junmyeon failed to notice until now on his back, before taking a little step forward.

“Don’t give up Junmyeon. Jongdae is stubborn but he’ll come around no matter what.”

Junmyeon gave a little smile at the other’s incentive; he didn’t know him but that didn’t stop him from trying to cheer him up with positive words and heartfelt incentive.

“I will, Baekhyun. You go work and have a nice day.”

“You too!” replied the other male with a light wave before scampering off in the opposite direction from Junmyeon.

After the encounter with his brother’s boyfriend friend, grimacing a little at the title he gave him on his head, he didn’t feel like the day would be so bad, considerably lifting up his mood a notch. Maybe, all that Junmyeon needed was a little bit of optimism to counter his own negativity.

He put his tumbler on his messenger’s bag, having finished with his ginseng tea and proceeded with his way to work, by foot, since Junmyeon refused to go to work by car, since the journey barely took thirty minutes; he had taken that into considerations when he had bought the house, along with his ex-fiancé. He also took the time gaze at the sky and let the bright colors of then sky lift up his spirits and the sun to warm up if face, although gently, since it was early in the morning still.

Junmyeon rounded the corner, watching as some of his colleagues, entered the building where he worked, some of them passing by him and wishing him good morning with a pleasant smile; Junmyeon was well loved inside the company.

A lone figure, just at the entrance of the building, by the door, stood out like an eyesore and Junmyeon really wished he could see who it was. As he was approaching he noticed the snapback placed on top of a head and a large tank top, showing far too much, resting on top of a lithe body.

People were staring, because of course that person stood out from the suit and tie entrepreneurs and CEO’s around the place. Junmyeon wrinkled his nose in distaste, wandering what that person would be doing at a place like this. That is until he got close enough and spotted the blonde hair and the scar beneath pink lips.

“Oh god no!” he mumbled horrified, recognizing the figure.

“Do you know” asked the figure, taking the sunglasses of his face and resting them on top of his hat “how much snooping around did I have to do to find where you work?”

Luhan gave him a smirk, a real, full blown smirk.

“But I found you. Hello sweet cheeks!”

A/N: Sorry about the delay... I was going to post this sooner but, unfortunately, I have been battling with an infection that is leaving my body in severe pain. Thankfully enough, the medication is doing its job so...fingers crossed! ^^
Anyways...back to the story, here it comes where everything is really beginning, the story is now fully commencing, as usual with Junmyeon putting his foot in his mouth, nothing new! xD
He has a lot to overcome, a lot of things to settle with himself, so his character will have a lot of trials on his way ;)
But, tell me, did you like it? What's your perspective on what's happening? Tell me everything, don't be shy!

As usual, stay healthy, stay safe, love and be loved and be so immensely happy!
A lot of love to you all and may you have an amazing day tomorrow! 
<3