‘Sehuna!’ May waved excitedly, bounding over to where he was sitting, minding his own business. She jumped on his back, hugging him tightly.

‘I missed you so much, did you miss me?’ she babbled, swaying herself around with Sehun’s stiff shoulders, before tucking her chin on his head. ‘What’re you doing?’

Sehun sighed, a response he’d acquired a mere week into their friendship. ‘I was reading before you interrupted me so rudely.’

May sniffed, peering through his hair at the laptop in his lap. ‘You were going to ignore me?

Another sigh. ‘No, just finish the article.’

She pouted. ‘Fine, finish it…’ she allowed. Settling herself comfortably on his head, she turned her face to the side so her cheek was cushioned in his hair, and let her arms hang around his shoulders.

Sehun, by now used to her clinginess – sheer disregard for personal boundaries, he’d asserted – went back to whatever he’d been reading while May closed her eyes, letting herself be lulled by the quiet tap of keys.

‘Ya, don’t fall asleep on me!’ he snapped, jerking her awake. She blinked owlishly, not sure when she’d dozed off.

‘I swear you and Baek…’ he grumbled, packing up his stuff.

May yawned, simultaneously trying to talk. ‘Whaaaaaat?’

He gave her a look that was meant to convey that he was done with her, but he couldn’t help the fond smile that broke out on his face when he saw her utterly lost face. Instead of standing up abruptly, he grabbed her hands, holding them in place so she rose with him when he’d straightened fully, tippy toes barely touching the ground.

As predicted, she giggled, making him smile as well. Sometimes, he thought May and Baekhyun were human by-products of some intricate experiment involving beagle DNA. So easily pleased, he thought, turning so she would swing a little in the air.

When he turned after putting her down, she looked up at him with big shiny eyes, face flushed and excited grin on her face. ‘That was fun.’

He quirked his lips, knowing full well how she craved his smiles. It’d be enough to give him a big ego if he thought there was even a remote possibility of May actually being interested in him like that. As it stood, she was just an excited puppy and the queen of mixed signals if there ever was one.

A natural flirt, he would’ve believed she was being deliberately coy if he hadn’t gotten to know her inside out, through no initiative of his own.

After their rather dramatic confrontation – in which he’d been accused of blatant hatred and he’d defended his quiet disposition – she’d force-fed him all the information he could possibly want to know – and frankly, do without – about herself. And in return, had dug up an equally ridiculous amount of unnecessary information about him.

And that had been that. He’d found it useless to struggle against her; she was like a force of nature, just taking over everything that came in her way.

It may sound like he was unhappy with the results, but it was far from the truth. He actually quite enjoyed her company, thought she complemented his reserved nature beautifully… even if he could use some personal space every now and then.

‘Let’s take a selfie!’ she declared happily, pulling out her camera with practiced ease and standing on the bench he’d recently vacated, a head taller. ‘Smile.’

He put up the perfunctory ‘V’ that was his signature pose, covering half his face and only showing his forehead. For her sake, he scrunched his eyes. She liked his eye-smiles. It was ridiculous, the amount of emotion she’d invested in just the silly scrunch on his eyes but that’s just how ridiculous she was.

Silly girl, he thought fondly, genuinely smiling by the time she snapped the shot.

‘Another!’ She grabbed his neck to pull him closer, squishing his cheek against hers. ‘Say cheese.’

‘May,’ he whined, trying to pull away.

‘Just one more!’ she whined back, and he relented with another sigh.

……………………………………..

May felt like she was floating these days, she was so happy!

Mainly because she was receiving Sehun’s cute eye-smiles and lispy greetings on a regular basis and he no longer ignored her existence.

But also, because he was a very good friend and she’d gotten close to him in record time, even by her own standards. In fact, the only person she’d befriended quicker was Baekhyun and only because they were practically twins.

Sehun was… or well, he pretended to be less crazy, trying to keep a façade of reserve but May knew exactly which buttons to push to bring out his marvelously mischievous side. And he entertained her clinginess… or well, he didn’t have a choice in the matter because May had decided he was her new cling-post.

But she digressed.

She was beyond happy. All the miserable months she’d spent with the ache of rejection in her heart were being repaid multifold and she was beyond thankful. And happy. Did she mention she was happy?