The doorbell rang and Luhan quickly went to open the door. He still wore his work clothes – a suit – but the necktie sat loose around his neck and he wasn’t wearing the blazer that completed the suit. He hadn’t even pulled himself together to change clothes after he came home. He knew he had to work at home anyway.

When he opened the door a pale, smiling, cute-looking boy greeted him.

“Hi! ‘Friends with benefits’ at your service! I’m you friend for the next four weeks,” his smile grew even wider. His eyes were almost gone. You could only see two tilted lines where his eyes were supposed to be.

Luhan took a glance at the smiling boy. He looked a little bit too happy about being there.

“Nice to meet you,” Luhan extended his arm so the other could shake his hand. “I’m Luhan. Please come in.”

The cute boy’s smile faded a little, but it was still big. The only difference from the other smile was that he was now able to see.

When the door closed behind him, he took off his coat and looked at Luhan.

“Let me take it,” he offered and got the coat to place it on a small table close to the door.

The boy got his shoes off and was now standing in front of Luhan.

“Where’s the living room? You have to sign some paper,” he tried to sound as polite as possible.

Luhan told him to follow and so he did. Soon after they were in the living room. Luhan was on one couch and the boy on another. He presented the papers and put them on the coffee table that matched the furniture they both sat in. Luhan read it through. It was a contract. It was basically to prevent anything bad to happen to his new “friend”. He had to endorse that he wouldn’t make love to the other, that he’d only do as he wrote in the application. That was also written in the contract. Everything he’d written in the application was in the contract; his name, his address, his phone number, even the preferred age of the “friend”. Everything.

“You also have to choose your payment method. Transfer or cash, it’s your choice,” the boy informed.

Luhan nodded and checked the ‘cash’ box. It also stated how much he should pay each day for the service they provided. He had to pay 90 dollars per day.

He signed it and handed it back to the smiling boy. He still smiled and Luhan wondered if he ever got tired of smiling that much.

The white, chubby cheeked boy put the contract away and went to sit beside Luhan. He looked concerned at him. He tried to put a hand on Luhan’s back carefully to see if he would reject him.

“So,” Luhan spoke up, his hands on his knees and slightly awkward with the closeness of the other, “can I, like, hug you and such now?”

The boy confirmed with a hum accompanied with a slight nod.

“Cool,” Luhan nodded and got up from the couch. “Make yourself feel at home. Eat something from the fridge if you’re hungry. I have to finish some work.”

“Okay,” the boy flashed a smile at Luhan and the latter left the room to work in another. The smiling boy wandered around in the apartment to look at the place he would spend his afternoons and evenings for the next 4 weeks. He would absolutely feel at home here. It was so big and bright and just outright fashionable. The Luhan guy must’ve earned a lot of money in his so far short life. The boy looked at the pictures, he looked at the small things on the shelves and he looked in the bookshelf to see what kind of books his new “friend” liked to read. He went back to the couch again and read the description about his new “friend”. Out from Luhan’s wishes, or needs, he seemed like a pretty innocent guy, but it didn’t really say anything about him. That was something the boy had to find out by himself.

He tried to find the kitchen and found it after a few seconds of searching. That place was bigger than he’d expected it to be. It was on the highest floor of the building, so it was a penthouse; a big penthouse. It was the only apartment on that floor and it was in two stories.

The kitchen was big and bright, just like the rest of the house. The boy couldn’t believe that only one person lived there. He, himself, would never get enough money to rent a place like that; not with the pay he got.

He searched through the fridge and found it extremely empty. There was only the most necessary; milk, kimchi, some meat and a few vegetables. The boy searched through the cabinets and tried to find something else to eat. He couldn’t find anything and then his eyes landed on a fruit basket; bananas, apples, grapes and oranges. He had to find Luhan first and ask if he could eat it. That was what he always was told by the company; ask before acting.

Then another search set in. He found the bathroom first and then a bedroom before he dared to move upstairs. There were two doors in the hallway the stairs led to; one on the right side and one on the left. He tried the one on the right side first and got met by a surprising room. Another bedroom, but this one was bigger than the one downstairs, a lot bigger and then there were two doors in the room, which led to two other rooms. There was a big king size bed and a television as big as the one in the living room. It was beautifully decorated and the entire room was filled with the afternoon sun that streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows. From those windows you could look out at the city. The view was beautiful.

The boy continued the search and tried one of the doors, but entered another bathroom. He quickly closed the door again and tried the next door; a walk-in closet. He left the room and tried the last door. That room was also beautifully lid by the sun. Two out of four walls were made out of glass and let nothing be a secret. A desk with a hardworking man sitting behind it was placed with his back to the corner where the two glass walls met. He looked up as the other entered the room. The man looked so beautiful with his hair and eyelashes catching the afternoon sun’s rays. There was a laptop on the desk and he’d been typing until the door opened and the slightly chubby boy had come into his view.

The scenery had reminded the boy about his childhood because Luhan looked so much older when he sat behind that desk. It reminded him about the times he’d interrupted his father while he worked, but he was always told to go out and play and then his father would come and play with him a little later because he was busy. But Luhan didn’t tell him to go away. He just smiled at the boy who was holding tightly onto a banana.

“Can I help you?” Luhan asked and kept his warm smile attached to his lips.

The boy looked down at the banana and then up at the Chinese man. “May I eat this?”

Luhan let out a small chuckle. “Sure, just eat it.”

The boy smiled and bowed. “Then I won’t annoy you anymore.” He motioned to close the door when an idea popped up in his head. He opened the door again and Luhan still looked at him with a smile. “Should I make dinner?”

“That sounds nice,” Luhan looked down at his computer. “I’ll be done with this in about an hour or so. Do you think you could make something in that amount of time?”

“Yes!” the boy answered cheerfully and a big smile was plastered to his lips. He bowed, closed the door and went down to the kitchen again while he peeled the banana. He ate it before he began cooking, but he couldn’t really make anything special with the groceries he had. He ended up making fried rice and kimchi, easy and quick. He sat that table and put the food onto it too. The boy made sure it looked okay before he went upstairs again to get Luhan.

“Dinner’s ready,” the cheerful boy announced when he’d popped his head inside the home office.

Luhan closed his laptop and rose from the big office chair. “Sounds good. What are we having?”

“Fried rice and kimchi,” the boy answered a little embarrassed because it didn’t sound like much.

When they got downstairs and sat at the table, Luhan complimented the smell.

The boy looked at Luhan as the latter took his first bite of the food. Luhan’s eyes lit up as the food hit his taste buds.

“It tastes really good if you think about how simple the dish is!” Luhan exclaimed as he took another mouthful of food.

The boy smiled pleased and began eating too.

They ate in silence. The boy stole glances at his “friend” and his eyes caught every detail about his pretty angelic face. His nose was so cute and the same were his eyes. He almost looked like a doll. A really cute doll that could talk; a living doll.

“Can I ask you a question?” the smiling boy, who’d now become more serious, asked.

Luhan swallowed before answering. “Sure, ask away.”

“Why did you choose to use our service?” the boy asked a little fascinated. “You look really handsome and it looks like you have money. I bet everyone, either male or female, would want you.”

Luhan focused his eyes elsewhere as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“To tell you the truth,” he began, “I used to date someone. I really liked him and he liked me too.”

“Are you biual or homoual?” the boy aske curiously. “Not that I mind either of them, or else I wouldn’t be here.”

A smile spread on Luhan’s lips. “I’m gay and the man I used to date was bi.”

The boy made a grimace that screamed ‘trouble’.

“Oh, you guessed it,” Luhan said and his smile became sad. “He’s bi and chose a girl over me, but of course he did that. They always do.”

“We are some shameless bastards,” the slightly chubby cheeked boy said and attached a smile to his lips. “I’m bi by the way, but I prefer guys over girls. Girls are so hard to understand.”

“You’ll probably also end up with a girl, just like my ex-boyfriend,” Luhan smiled half-hearted.

“Probably not,” the other laughed. “Have you heard them? They always complain over everything even if there’s nothing. And then they speak a different language than us. ‘Don’t give me that! I’ll just get fat!’ actually means ‘give it to me! It’s so tasty!’”

Luhan’s smile grew a little. “Yeah, you’re right. They complain a lot and are hard to read.”

The boy smiled because he’d lifted the mood a little. And then silence came upon them.

“When does your… you know, this, finish for the day?” Luhan asked carefully, not sure if breaking the silence was a good idea.

“You mean our service?” the boy tried to help him. He received a nod from the other. “It usually ends at 9 or 10 PM, but if we get 30 dollars extra we have to stay over for the night and sleep with our ‘friend’ on the conditions of the contract.”

“So if I paid 30 dollars extra I would get…?”

“Then you’d get the empty spot beside you occupied and someone to cuddle up to or someone cuddling up to you. You’d also get kisses and sweet whispers.”

“And you do that without feeling anything for the other?” Luhan asked and was taken aback of how much this resembled ion.

“Basically yes,” the boy answered truthfully, “but if we want to be extra sweet to our customer or ‘friend’, we can have with them. When we do that we keep the company out of it and don’t get paid. We do it because we want to, except if it says in the contract that the customer wants to have .”

“And have you provided that kind of… service yet?” Luhan asked a little embarrassed.

The boy had to think a little before answering. “Hm, I’ve done it one time. There are also a lot of people who try to pay me, but I’m not a e so I tell them no and tell the company to get me transferred and blacklist the person.”

“Oh,” Luhan carefully said. “Sorry to ask you this, but that one time… why did you do it?”

The boy laughed cheerfully. “I’d been his ‘friend’ for almost seven months and he had feelings for me. Like, he was obsessed with me, or something. He was constantly on me when I was at his place and I found it kind of cute. When the seven months had went he had to move to America and he was really sad about leaving, so it was a kind of comfort I provided and he was cute, so I was fine with it. Another reason is because I would never get to see him again.”

“Okay,” Luhan commented interested. “Is it hard to do all those things with strangers? Like hug them and kiss them when you’ve just met them?”

He chuckled at the words. “In the beginning it was a bit difficult, but as I grew older and more experienced it became easier and easier.”

Luhan nodded understanding.

They’d both finished their meals and now just sat and stared at each other. The boy sitting in front of Luhan looked so cheerful. He was also very cute and radiated an aura that made you feel good in a split of a second. A very gracious person. The exact opposite of Luhan, Luhan thought.

“Oh yeah,” Luhan smiled embarrassed at the other. “What’s your name?”

“I’ll let you choose,” the other said and folded his hands on the table. “Just as an extra service.”

“Hm,” Luhan thought about which name that would suit his new friend the best. “You remind me of a steamed bun.”

“A steamed bun?” the pale boy asked surprised.

“Yeah,” Luhan smiled. “You also remind me of home.”

“When you say home, do you mean China then?” the boy asked.

“Yeah,” Luhan confirmed for the second time. “Oh! I got it. What about ‘Baozi’?”

“’Baozi’?” the newly named boy asked confused.

“Mmh! Baozi!” Luhan confirmed enthusiastically. “Cute little Baozi.”

The name made a smile spread across the Chinese boy’s face and that made the other smile too. Luhan’s smile was so carefree and he looked like a child. It was the first time ‘Baozi’ had seen him like that. His heartbeat also quickened a little, but he didn’t think much of it.

“Then Baozi it is,” the Korean boy nodded. “Oh! Maybe you should get my phone number, you know, so you can text me or call me if you’re busy and don’t have time for me coming over.”

Luhan pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Baozi. He quickly dialled his number and gave the phone back to Luhan.

“I’ll look forward to be working with you,” the boy smiled.

A/N: This is just pure crap and very boring to read v__v I sincerely appologize.. This is a very very bad start for a fic, but it's the introduction and there are no feelings and it's just..... I hate it T^T 2600 pure word vomit that no one likes.... (I blame the writer's block I had when I wrote this chapter...)

To be honest; I hate using the word 'Baozi' when I talk/write about Minseok, but unfortunately that will be his name for half of the story and I'm so sad about that T^T Sorry ;A;

And this chapter is really long compared to the others, so now you're warned!! I'll see if I'll be able to update twice a week (since the chapters are really short), but this will be the only update this week and there will be no updates next week since I'll be in Paris :3 (How romantic xD)

If you have any questions, please do ask! ^^