Sehun rests his head on his hand, picking at his food. He's been feeling gloomy since he saw Luhan. It doesn't help that Tao lives with him; which means he has to see either of them anytime he hangs around Kai's room. Which Kai had offered.
When Sehun left the morning after, Luhan had tried to make an attempt at a conversation. It immediately ended after "Maybe we should get something to eat and talk".
"Sehun," Kyungsoo sighs, setting his silverware down. "You need to eat."
"Maybe I'm not hungry," Sehun grumbles.
"What? No way!" Chanyeol pushes Sehun's plate closer to him. "You love grilled cheese!"
"I used my hard earned cash to buy you this meal!" Kai says. The only thing he ordered being a soda.
"You asked Kyungsoo for ten dollars and then paid for my sandwich." Sehun raises a brow.
"Kyungaoo used his hard earned cash to buy you this meal!"
Sehun rolls his eyes and leans back in his seat. He looks down at his phone.

Jerk: sehun, come on.
Jerk: change my nickname- don't be like this!
Jerk: i know you see these...you haven't blocked me. so just talk to me!

Sehun stares at the messages, his gut tightening. He looks up when Kai suddenly snatches his phone. He opens his mouth to say something.
"We should take him shopping," Kai leans back, tucking Sehun's beeping phone into the inside pocket of his jacket. Sehun pouts and goes back to picking at his food.
"I think that's a marvelous idea," Kyungsoo agrees. "A little something to get your mind off that trash."
"He's not trash," Sehun grumbles. He is. Luhan IS trash. Total trash. Sehun whines as he lays his cheek against the cold table. "He looks so pretty."
"Nah," Kai grabs one of Sehun's sandwiches, starting to eat it. "I think he looked like ."
Sehun knows he's lying because there's no way anyone would ever think that. With his short, messy hair dyed pink and his big, bright eyes. Sehun hates it. He hates it so much.
"Let me respond," Sehun begs, facing Kai now. He frowns when he sees his plate half empty.
"Hmm...nah."
"Nah?!" Sehun pushes his plate. "You're eating my food- give me my phone back as payment!"
"No, again." Kai pats his chest where the phone is. "You're just gonna be a and message him. Something dumb like wanting to get back with him."
'How do you know?" Sehun tests.
"Kyungsoo told me," Kai admits, waving at Kyungsoo with a sandwich still in hand. Kyungsoo swaps at him as if he were a fly. "You're not texting Luhan."
"Well...what if I want to just tell him off?" All three of them laugh at that. Sehun furrows his brow as he watches them. "What? Why is that funny?"
Chanyeol shakes his head. "Remember a few weeks ago where that girl bumped into you? She made you spill out all your books and she told you to watch where you were going?"
Sehun sighs. "Yes..."
Kai shifts around, an amused grin on his face. "Yeah? What happened?"
"Sehun got so embarrassed...he thanked her."
Kai raises his brow. "He...thanked her."
"He thanked her," Chanyeol repeats.
"You thanked her." Kai purses his lips. "Okay..."
Sehun sulks in his seat. "I'm not good at confrontation."
"Well, uhh...we highly doubt that you're going to tell Luhan off," Kai laughs. "Not yet, anyway."
Sehun frowns. "Yet?"
"Give it time, my young apprentice." Kai reaches for the last piece of sandwich. He gasps when Kyungsoo snaps him on the hand.
"No! Let Sehun eat!"
"," Kai rubs his hand after drawing it back. "You got a hard slap..."

"What about this?" Sehun holds up a long sleeve striped shirt. "This is nice!"
Taemin wrinkles his nose at it. "Ehh..."
"It's not a sweater vest," Kai points out. "That's a start."
Taemin sighs but nods in agreement. "True. Just...assessorise."
"Accessorize?" sehun looks around. "Like...add a sweater?"
Taemin groans and looks over at Kai. "Is he for real?"
"No," Kai grabs the sweater in Sehun's hands and puts it back on the rack. He goes over and grabs a studded leather jacket; which was too big for Sehun. He can tell just by looking at it. When Sehun opens his mouth to say something, Kai just pulls it off its hangers and forces the boy to shrug it on.
"You made a commitment, Sehun," Taemin says, watching the two fight a bit. "Don't knock it till you try it."
 Sehun gives up and lets Kai put it on him. He feels...ridiculous. 
"Alright, you need to, like, stop hovering and find your own ing rack."
Sehun looks at Taemin, confused by his sudden aggression. He turns around and he regrets it.
"Luhan..."
Taemin looks at Luhan and raises his brow. "You know him?"
Sehun nods but remains quiet. 
"Hey," Luhan smiles weakly. "We can talk alone, Sehun?"
Sehun glances at Kai, who just sighs and slowly nods. He grabs onto Taemin and goes to leave but stops. "We'll be over here- but we're keeping an eye on you." Kai points to his own eyes and then extends them towards Luhan as he's pulled away.
Sehun watches him for a moment before turning back to the mirror.
"Strange jacket," Luhan notes. Weird. Sehun was starting to like it.
"You're hanging out with strange people now. Are you still friends with Kyungsoo and Chanyeol?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Sehun says, shifting around uncomfortably. "What's...wrong with Taemin and Kai?"
"Nothing," Luhan looks back at the two boys observing them. "They're not your usual crowd. What're you doing around them?"
Sehun tries to not catch Luhan's eye in the reflection, so he just keeps looking at the jacket. "If you have to know...Kai is helping me reinvent myself."
"Re...invent yourself?"
"What are you doing here?"
Luhan points over to Tao waiting outside. "I was with Tao when I saw you in here and..." He stares at the jacket as well. "I don't think it suits you very well. What's wrong with your regular style?"
"Strange," Sehun says as he pulls the coat off. He looks at the price and shrugs. Nothing major. "I thought you liked punks."
"Don't start," Luhan sighs. Sehun glances at Luhan's face. He takes the jacket and shirt to spite him. 

"I'm not starting anything," Sehun's voice is soft, Luhan having to strain his hear a bit to hear over the pop music. While he was away from Luhan, everything was fine. He wanted to message him, ask for him back, love him again. But then he sees him and everything goes back to that night. That stupid night. He can't stop imaging Tao on top of him. No matter what. No other memory of Luhan can replace that one. When he tries to think of the times they'd go skiing together, he only remembers crying into the snow. Bouquet of a broken anniversary. What made all of it worse is that Luhan didn't even chase after him. Not once.
"I think I'm going to go, Luhan," Sehun hugs the articles of clothes. "They're waiting for me." He walks past his ex-boyfriend, ignoring when his name is called. He heads over to them by the counter.
"I think I'm done."
"Ohh! you're buying the boots too?" Taemin asks excitedly. When Sehun nods, he grabs them and sets them down; probably afraid Sehun would change his mind.
"I can pay for this, you know. I have money."
"I'm bored," Taemin sighs as he pulls his wallet out.
Kai snorts. "You don't have to spend money to find excitement."
"Being with you is more boring than watching paint dry, Kai."
Sehun smiles as the two of them argue playfully, eventually looking back over at Luhan. He swallows hard as he tries to not linger.
It's only going to end in pain. He knows that.
He's always known that.

-------------------------

Luhan's pink hair has ALWAYs been my favorite look of his. :3