A/N. As your wish <3

-----------

Chinese restaurant with simple yet impressive decoration.

Delicious meal mingled with soft frankincense in the air.

Luhan’s eyes sparkled in joy at a joke he made.

That was exactly what Sehun had chalked out for a good hour in the afternoon on the way back home, got ready for his date later. He took a shower, sprayed his favorite cologne which Jongin had commented as the most charming smell in the world. He wanted his date to be as perfect as possible because this time, he really had a feeling that it would lead to something else, something he’d been looking for.

To be honest, the evening went just like how he had planned. He joked around, Luhan laughed, they talked about everything. And just right when Sehun thought this could be counted as his best date ever, the stage name of his close friend slapped straight into his face.

“I’m sorry who?”

“Kai.” Luhan repeated clearly, completely oblivious to the slight disbelief glint in the younger’s eyes “Yixing said he’s a guy from work who told him about the matchmaker thing. I used to think it’s a stupid idea but since it was how we met, I guess it’s not that bad.”

He finished with a gulp of his wine, realized the other male’s eyes were getting bigger abnormally

“What’s wrong?” he tilted his head “You…You look pale.”

Sehun started shook his head vigorously as though the secret had just been revealed would be erased out of his mind if he did it enough.

“No way…” he mumbled to himself, panic was written all over his face “They could not set this up…”

“Sehun ah…”

Luhan’s voice brought him back to the earth and he could tell the Chinese was really worried about his overreaction to just a small detail he had shared.

“Are you okay? You look like you had a .”

“I…I’m fine” Sehun flashed a strained smile which made his effort to reassure the latter he was okay failed “It’s just… Remember the guy I told you that filled out a form and sent it to the matchmaker office without me knowing?”

Luhan tightened his lips into a thin line, nodded in reply

“Uhmm. Jong…Jongin, right?”

“Yup, that jerk. And apparently he is a one of the main dancers working at Seoul Theatre under the stage name of Kai.”

“Oh…” the older male uttered while linking every piece of the whole story he had so far and his jaw dropped when he finally got the same conclusion as Sehun’s “Oh, so you think he…..”

He wagged his finger into invisible circles to motion what he wanted to say and Sehun understood immediately

“I don’t know.” Sehun bit his lower lips in thinking “He’s not that smart. But you know what, it’s not important though. I’ll find out later.”

“Okay. If you say so.”

The awkward silence quickly invaded their table as the Korean boy was still deep in his thought and the other simply forgot which topic they’re on earlier so he chose to focus on his food instead. After a long minute without anyone saying a word, Sehun lastly gave up and fished out his phone. He wanted to save the rest of the evening but he knew it didn’t work anyway.

“I’m sorry. I have to…”

“Oh thank God.” Luhan dropped his chopsticks in relieved “Go ahead.”

Five sharp beeps and the call was connected with a strange accent yet familiar voice

“Hello, Jongin’s phone, Chen’s speaking.”

“Chen….Jongdae hyung?” Sehun’s forehead wrinkled up confusingly

“Hi Sehunnie. You recognized my voice!”

As much as he didn’t want to ruin his good impression and Luhan was watching him from the other side of the table, Sehun couldn’t help but making a face

“Hyung, you just said your name. But you’re back early. Isn’t your flight supposed to be tomorrow?”

“I changed it at the last minute. By the way, how is your date, Sehunnie?”

The young boy stole a quick glance to his date and as his eyes caught the curiosity in Luhan’s, he found himself suddenly blushed a bit. He switched the hand holding the phone so that now most of his face was covered, whispering

“It was fine until your precious brother’s name was mentioned.”

“Haha, he’s such a er isn’t he?”

“You’re telling me.” Sehun rolled his eyes “Where was that jackass by the way and why did you pick up his phone?”

“I don’t know. He started panicking when he saw your ID and asked me answer for him. Oh wait a sec, I think he’s trying to mouth me something…Er…don’t..tell…him…I’m…here. Oops, I guess it’s too late. My bad~~”

There was a loud disgruntled groan echoed in the phone and Sehun knew Jongin was pulling out his hair at the moment. Although he enjoyed having a conversation with Jongdae, he didn’t want Luhan to wait for him any longer so he tried to suppress his laughter and lowered his tone to make it sound seriously.

“Give him his damn phone hyung!”

“Okay.”

He heard a lot of noise coming from the other side of the line as if someone was banging his head into the wall before Jongin chirped into his ear.

“Hi Sehunnie~~~~ Miss me??”

“I. Will. Kill. You. Kim . Jong. In”

With that, Sehun hang up on his friend and in a split of second enjoyed the image of the dancer might be starring at the screen with horror all over his face at home because whenever he emphasized every single word like that it meant he’s really really mad. He shifted his attention to the Chinese male and in a moment forgot that Luhan had been watching him the whole time.

“I didn’t scare you did I?”

He hesitated a bit, praying this night didn’t just end here like this. To his surprise, Luhan’s lips slowly curved into a small smirk while he was leaning again his chair, looking at him with weird expression, as if he had found something he didn’t expect.

“Nope, not at all. I like man who can do the threatening.”

*********

It’s really unfair that Jongin could always find a way to escape from being killed. Last time it was his mother who needed him to accompany her to her charity’s 3^rd anniversary and since she’s a nice lady, Sehun couldn’t let her go there alone. The time before that was because Monggu, his dog, was sent to the vet due to his pain on the back which was a little suspicious to Sehun but again since his dog was a nice one, he couldn’t let him stay at the hospital alone.

This time, when Sehun thought there was no one who could stand up for him, Jongdae appeared and became his savior.

“Though I highly doubt the chance he planned all of this, you can not choke him till death Sehun ah.”

“Why not?”

Sehun snapped back, tossed his jacket on the couch and sent icy look to the young boy who was pretending to hide behind his brother.

“Because he’s the only hope of my parents to have a grandchild.”

“See, I’m the only hope.”

Jongin poked his head aside and repeated, earning a smack on the forehead from no one but the elder man.

“Shut up you dumb.”

Sehun threw his hands in the air groaning, knowing that he wouldn’t win this argument when his best friend family’s issue was brought up

“Hyung, you can’t play the ‘he’s straight, I’m gay’ card every time like that.”

“Yes I can.” Jongdae grinned contentedly, patting the younger’s shoulder out of his satisfaction “You should know it better.”

“It’s the only card he has anyway.” Jongin butted in again before leaving his hiding spot, still managed to maintain a certain distance from the other “Besides I told you for ten times at least, I did not know about that Luhan guy. It’s just a coincidence.”

Although cutting the tan skin boy’s balls and fed him with them was Sehun’s wish since last night, he couldn’t deny the fact that he himself thought Jongin didn’t have such a thing called megamind. So maybe they’re right. Maybe it’s just a twist of fate.

Giving his friend a final sideways look, he slowly made his way to the couch and the TV right in time the oldest male in the room plopped next to him, following by his younger brother

“So what did you guys do after dinner?”

The question ended with a crafty wink and a nudge which led Sehun to the conclusion that they wanted to know the dirty part.

“Nothing specific.” he shrugged his shoulders, finger working on the remote nonchalantly “He said he had an important appointment the next day so I just drove him home.”

“That’s it?” both of the Kim brothers said in unison, clearly didn’t get what they expected

“Uh-huh.”

“You didn’t kiss him?”

“Nope, I was pretty sure I didn’t.”

“Did he want to see you again?”

Sehun stopped clicking the button when his favorite variety show was on the screen, folded his arms tightly and leaned back against the couch comfortably

“Oh yeah. Tomorrow night.”

Jongdae exchanged a quick glance with Jongin before setting his feet on the table to make himself relax a bit and cleared his throat to share a story

“Well you know what. I don’t have many advices for you when dating a Chinese guy because I’ve only been with two before but there was something about them I want to warn you.”

He stopped in the middle to see if the younger paid any attention to his words but to his dismay the variety show was more interesting.

“Yah, Sehun ah!”

“What? I’m still listening.” Sehun said with the best excitement in his voice although his eyes didn’t move since two minutes ago.

“Fine, you will regret later. By the way, don’t ever underestimate them by their outlook. They might show nothing outside but they already have a bunch of evil plan on their mind.” Jongdae snapped his thigh as if he remembered something important “Oh, and they have weird thing with jasmine tea. It’s a lust for code or something I didn’t figure out yet but both of them claimed they made the best jasmine tea and turned out I never had chance to taste that damn tea because…”

His long nonsense blabbering finally got a good reaction when his brother nudged him in the rib and gestured toward Sehun who was obviously stiffened in his seat and his eyes were shifted upwards strangely. It’s too late for him to draw a red herring across the path as the Kim brothers already bounced up and down chorusing in joy.

“Oh my God, tell us, tell us. Did he ask you to…”

“NO, he didn’t. We didn’t…” Sehun exclaimed while moving to the edge of the couch, holding up his hand in defend “…do anything. Just fooling around a bit and for the record, he did make a good cup of jasmine tea.”

For a split of second, he thought he saw some kind of a suspicious glint in his hyung’s eyes but it quickly became a sly one along with a smirk.

“We need to meet that Luhan guy.”

Again they said in unison, ignoring the vigorous head shaking from Sehun.

“Over my dead body!”

He replied with the most serious expression he could pull out before ran for his life although his next class didn’t start in another hour.

*********

Sehun didn’t need to make any effort to keep Luhan away from his hyungs as long as possible since the Chinese didn’t seem to mind hanging out at his own apartment in the whole next month. They got along with each other pretty well but the conversation with the Kim brothers somehow stuck inside his head since then and he always tried to find the right moment to bring it up.

Like now, when Luhan was busy making a hot jasmine teapot.

Tossing the magazine aside, he darted out his tongue nervously before speaking up, trying to sound casually

“Luhan?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something? It’s kind of personal.”

He mumbled the last word, making the latter turn around with a questioning look and he could feel his ears were burning up under that stare. Luhan gestured him to spit it out with a slight nod

“Go ahead.”

“Err…about the jasmine tea. Why do you like it so much?”

In an eye blink, he swore he saw a small relieved sigh let out of the older one’s mouth right before Luhan’s bright smile plastered all over his face

“Oh it’s an old habit.” Luhan turned back to his previous task, happily shared the story behind while his hands working on the teapot “My family has a traditional medical career. My ancestor even worked as royal physician back then. My grandfather made the best jasmine tea ever and I learnt this method from him. We always enjoyed our tea time while discussing about random thing in life, especially when the winter was at the corner. It really helped us calm our nerves and regain   energy. But the most important benefit is that it helps prevent cancer.”

He ended with two smoking cup of tea in hand along with his typical childish grin which made Sehun sometimes doubted about his real age. But this was not the issue here.

“Is that all?”

The wrinkle on Luhan’s forehead told Sehun his question was actually really weird because they’re talking about an herbal healthy beverage and the Chinese seemed to already explain most of its benefits. He quickly cleared it up

“I mean I heard somewhere Chinese people love this drink very much so I thought there was another reason besides physical condition.”

“Well, that’s pretty much what I know about jasmine tea.” the latter bit his lower lip in thinking and began to walk toward the couch “Actually to think about it, there was also a rumor about it as an aphrodisiac and if I didn’t mishear from what my friend told me, a Korean guy started it. But believe me, it’s not.”

Luhan stressed the last sentence and Sehun silently nodded his head while taking the cup from him. The image of Jongdae’s evil smirk suddenly popped up and it sent shiver down to his spin. He quickly shook it off before it had chance to ruin the sweet moment and took a huge gulp of the hot tea, almost burned his own tongue but Luhan was right, it did help calm his nerves. A lot.

************

There were many times Sehun wanted to say the three big words to Luhan but he seemed always stuck in bad situation.

Like when Luhan tugged the hem of his shirt, pulled his down to share an extra goodbye kiss at his front door. The feeling was so right that he actually mumbled the first word “I” but trailed off the last two ones because of ringing tone from his phone.

Or like when he was completely crushed down on the bed after catching flu and Luhan took care of him for two nights straight. When he saw the Chinese leaning his face on the bed sleeping like an angel first thing in the morning, he wanted to whisper into his ear that sweet confession but instead a loud torrent of cough came out, woke up his boyfriend and officially brought down the mood.

Therefore Sehun started to believe that the Cupid didn’t work for him in this case and stopped waiting for the right moment. Until tonight, when he brought Luhan back to his apartment for the very first time.

“What a lovely place!”

Luhan’s delighted voice no joke could brighten up anywhere he set his foot on. Closing the door behind, Sehun chuckled as he’s watching the other carefully scanned around with amusement written on his face.

“I cleaned it a bit this morning.”

He shyly admitted but it didn’t wash the sparkle in the latter’s eyes away. Luhan’s small tour stopped when he spotted two swords hanging crossed on the wall.

“Where did you get these?”

“About three years ago I guess.” Sehun chewed on his lower lip “Jongin gave me as present for my birthday.”

“Wow, it’s cool.” again, Luhan’s age was somehow a mysterious issue “What does it mean?”

“I don’t know. Never ask him.” the younger shrugged his shoulder “And I don’t intend to either.”

“Why not? Didn’t it bother you even once since it was hung right in the middle of your apartment?”

Sehun plopped on the sofa, patted the spot next to him and motioned the other to come there. He waited until Luhan settled down comfortably with his arms wrapped around his waist to answer that question.

“When you have Jongin as a friend, you’ll learn a way to ignore thing that involves him. There are tons of weird things in his head and I don’t want to give them a chance to spill out.”

“Oh come on, he’s not that bad.” Luhan slapped his chest cutely

“Yeah, you’re right. He’s not that bad.” Sehun rolled his eyes, commented sarcastically “He’s worse.”

The Chinese let out a loud giggle and gave him another hit

“To think about it, I really want to meet him.”

“What? Why?”

“Because……you’re talking about him all the time and since I’m your boyfriend now, I need to know who you’re hanging out with.”

“I was not talking about h….”

Sehun’s attempt to deny was failed as he remembered he did mention about his buddy pretty much since their first meet. But he didn’t understand why his boyfriend had such an interest because as much as he concerned every part Jongin got into was if not annoyed then stupid. He also realized he had been silent for a long minute Luhan was literally starring at him curiously.

“Alright, alright I admit it.” he sighed in frustration “But you don’t get the point. He…he’s crazy.”

“I deal with at least one crazy patient a day, don’t worry.”

“You’re a dentist, not a psychiatrist.” the younger one stated the matter of fact.

“Oh, you should have seen my latest case.” Luhan chuckled, pulling up high his sleeve to reveal the proof “See this? I was almost bit yesterday.”

Sehun leaned in to get a clearer view of the slight mark before pinching the older’s nose, scolding

“You should be more careful. I’m the only one who has the right to leave mark on you.”

The pink quickly dusted Luhan’s cheeks and he had no time to response when a pair of hungry lips attacked his soft ones. Sehun gently pushed him laying on the sofa and looked at him mischievously while caressing the exposed pale skin on his neck

“Now should I leave some on here?” his hand traveled a little bit down to the south “Or h…”

“SEHUN AH, ARE YOU HOME?”

A loud bang from the front door made both of them jump out of their skin only to stare at each other questioningly.

“Who’s that?”

Luhan was the first one whispered when another bang was heard, wondering why the person out there didn’t use a less noisy way to see if somebody was home, buzzing the door bell.

Sehun groaned irritatingly and climbed off the sofa to open the door, deciding to let that voice’s owner answer it himself.

“Oh thank God, you’re home. I’m having an emergency here and I don’t want to do it at a public restroom. You know how I find it weird and s….” Jongin rushed into the apartment while explaining his situation in a hurry but right after he saw there was a stranger, a familiar gorgeous boy to be exact, in the room, it took him a few seconds to remember how to say hi.

“Oh did I interrupt something?” he stole a glance to the front door to see a very pissed off Sehun before dropped his attention back to his friend’s special-someone “Hi, you must be Luhan.”

“Yes, I’m him. And you are….”

“I’m Jongin. I bet you might hear my name somewhere.”

The Chinese male let out a small “ah”, shifted his eyes to his boyfriend to send his sympathy then showed his friendliness with a smile.

“Well, yes. Sehun always says you are one of his best friends.”

“Ahhh, isn’t he sweet….”

The tan skin boy held up his hands against his chest, cried out dramatically. He almost forgot about his emergency until Luhan politely reminded him about it. The room fell into a dead silence after the bathroom door was shut down with Sehun was still leaning on the main door and the other was deep in his thinking.

“Your friend…” after a long minute, Luhan finally uttered the first word “He’s….”

“Yeah I told you. He’s crazy.” Sehun simply nodded his head in reply, making his way back to the sofa and plopped down next to him.

“I was about to say ‘funny’. He’s crazily funny” Luhan added and Sehun missed the smirk secretly hovered on his lips.

Jongin made his second appearance with satisfaction all over his face, walking towards the fridge for a cold drink.

“Where were you going?”

Sehun purposely spoke up since he didn’t want his friend to start any conversation with Luhan.

“To the theater.” Jongin took a huge gulp of water then put the bottle back to the fridge “I’ll have a rehearsal in 30 minutes.”

“Then you should hurry.”

Ignoring the hint in the other’s fake worried voice, the tan skin boy flapped his hand in the air and made a face

“Nah, it’s okay. Lay will cover up for me in the beginning part.”

“Speaking about Yi…I mean Lay…” both of younger boys in the room turned to the direction of the voice’s owner who was folding his arms at ease, in surprise, especially Sehun since he initially thought he would be the one doing the talking “He also talked about you a lot.”

“Really?” Jongin’s brows narrowed a bit at the new information “What did he say? I hope nothing bad though.”

“Oh no, not at all.” Luhan smiled assuredly “He said you’re very talented and had a good sense of humor. He’s sometimes jealous of you I have to say.”

“Wow, did not know about that” the younger laughed complacently then exchanged a look with Sehun “See, unlike you, people recognized my real talent.”

“Yeah, he really likes you.” Luhan added innocently

“He does? I like him too.” Jongin chirped cheerfully, didn’t realize that he totally got the wrong idea

“Oh really?” Sehun  jerked aside as his boyfriend yelped with his excited tone, clapping his hands happily “I told him he should confess to you soon but he didn’t listen to me. Now if he knows you feel the same way as he does……Ahhh, you guys are gonna make a lovely couple together.”

“What?”

“What?”

“Huh?” his doe-like eyes kept shifting back and forth between two younger boys in confusion “Did I say something wrong?”

Jongin swore he almost experienced the very first heart attack in his life and if he hadn’t leaned against the edge of table in the kitchen for the whole time, he might have fallen head over heels. Sehun faked a cough and whispered in embarrassment against his boyfriend’s ear

“Err…babe, Jongin is straight.”

“Oh my God, rea….But I…Oh my.” Luhan covered his mouth before another slip of the touge thing came out of it

“L…Lay hyung likes me?” The tan skin boy managed to utter, his eyes went blank “You mean he likes me as in the quote ‘I like you’…no no, as in Sehun likes you?”

The Chinese bit his lower lip nervously and just nodded in response.

Few seconds later, they saw the dancer stomp out of Sehun’s apartment just like how he had gotten in

“I…I gotta go.”

Sehun let out a small sigh as he slowly stood up to close the door. For one thing about his buddy he knew for sure that he was very sensitive when it came to other boys having feeling for him. Although their first meeting was always told as a joke to both of them, Sehun guessed it’s a specific way Jongin told other people that he was damn straight. And….

Wait a minute….

How came he talked about the tan skin boy all the time and left this part aside?

He smelled something evil.

“Babe?”

“Hmm?”

He tilted his head, gazing at his boyfriend curiously

“I remember I told you about how I and Jongin met right?”

“Uh-huh.”

He stepped closer, didn’t believe in what he was about to ask

“So you did know that he is straight right?”

“Uh-huh.”

Luhan kept nodding, didn’t even try to play innocent and a artful smirk was obviously flashing on his face

“So that was…..”

“Uh….huh.” the older one grinned big, standing up so now they could face each other “It’s just my little revenge of them for tricking us in the first place.”

Sehun took a moment to look at Luhan amusingly. For so many years living, he really believed he finally found someone that could complete him in a very special way like how the smaller one did, so he just simply wrapped his arms around the latter’s waist and confessed

“Oh my God, I love you.”

“I know. I love you too.”

Luhan happily responded not only with words but also with his sweet kisses. He has been dying to hear those three words for almost a month now and it was much much better than what he had dreamed of.

I should have met Jongin sooner.