“Hey Luhan.”

Luhan looked up to see Sehun slump down in the seat beside him. He offered the tired looking boy a warm smile.

“You look like you need some sleep,” he said, and Sehun merely bobbed his head lazily.

“I just had two hours of absolute bull in the fundamental theories of molecular biophysics, and I still have no clue what it’s about.”

“It’s your fault for taking the special classes. You’re literally one of the four students in the whole campus who was suicidal enough to sign up for such a course.”

“I thought it was going to fun, so quit it,” Sehun snapped before rubbing his eyes. “God, why does the sun have to be so bright today?”

“Here,” Luhan said before lifting his art history textbook and placing it above of Sehun’s face as to cover the sun, “better?”

“Don’t be stupid Luhan, your arm’s going to hurt,” Sehun quickly took the textbook out of Luhan’s hand and put it back on the boy’s lap. “The sun’s not going to kill me.”

“I just didn’t want to hear you whine all day,” Luhan stuck out his tongue. Then he watched as Sehun turned up his hood, covered half of his face with it, and leaned back on the bench.

“You’re going to sleep now? But it’s only ten minutes before lunch,” Luhan said in surprise. Sehun shrugged and lifted the hood a tiny bit to look at Luhan.

“I’m not very hungry. Just go ahead without me when the time comes, okay?”

“But Sehu-”

“Shhh,” Sehun covered Luhan’s mouth with his hand, and when Luhan finally closed his mouth with a disgruntled look, he retracted his hand and crossed his arms before closing his eyes once again.

“You’re a ,” Luhan commented.

“I hear you.”

“You just told me to shut up.”

“I want to sleep.”

“Well, since you’re being so mean, I’m not going to let you.”

“How in the world are you going to do that?” Sehun retorted in a challenging manner, his eyes still closed, and was oblivious to Luhan’s eyes narrowing threateningly. Luhan slowly stood up and stuffed all of his homework into his bag before staring down at the sleeping boy in front of him.

“You know, I don’t feel like eating school food today. I think I’m just going to go downtown right now and skip the rest of school.”

“Whatever, Luhan.”

“But since I don’t want to go alone, I think I’m going to bring someone with me. And I think that someone is going to be you.”

“, what?”

Before Sehun could react, Luhan quickly wrapped his hands around Sehun’s arm and pulled him forward, dragging him across the garden in light speed.

“Wait, Luhan, I am not going to skip school with you-”

“Just live a little, will you?”

“I’ve been expelled from four schools in one year. I think that counts as living.”

“That’s beside the point. I’m hungry, so you’re coming with me.”

“Does the fact that I really, really want to sleep matter at all?”

“It did, but since you were being such an about it, it doesn’t anymore.”

“What did I do?!”

“You don’t need to know.”

“What the ?!”

“What.are.you.guys.doing.”

Both Sehun and Luhan froze when they heard a voice from behind. They whirled around to face Jongdae and Jongin who were giving them judging looks.

“Hey guys,” Luhan chirped, ignoring Jongdae raise an eyebrow and give him a pointed look.

“Were you just about to drag hetero here out of school?” Jongin asked, and Sehun narrowed his eyes.

“Will you stop with that?” He sneered, but everyone just ignored him.

“Yup!” Luhan answered, “and you guys can’t come along!”

“Luhan, I thought Baekhyun told you on the first day to go easy on the straight guy,” Jongdae scolded, although his tone was playful.

“I was hungry, okay? And Sehun here was being annoying.”

“So you decide to drag a bookworm as bad as Kyungsoo to town in the middle of a school day? Nice idea,” Jongdae snickered. Jongin glared at Jongdae before kicking the boy in the shin.

“Don’t bring Kyungsoo into this,” Jongin snarled. Both Luhan and Jongdae rolled their eyes, while Sehun was still trying to break away from Luhan’s grip.

“If you guys are done, I’m going to go continue my date with Sehun,” Luhan said. Sehun’s eyes shot open from its naturally drooped state and he gaped at Luhan.

“Luhan, what the heck?! This is not a date!” He yelled, and Luhan merely waved his hand in a dismissing manner.

“We call everything a date. Don’t pay attention to it,” Luhan drawled. Jongdae and Jongin snickered before nodding along.

“Yeah, hetero. If I were to go hang out with Jongdae right now, it’ll technically be a date,” Jongin said and linked arms with the boy beside him, “isn’t that right, baby?”

Jongdae snorted. “Sorry sweetie, but I’m already taken. Why don’t you go to your own boyfriend for a date?” He then chortled, oblivious to the looks of disapprovement from all of his friends. “Which, I must add, you don’t have.”

“Thanks for pointing that out, Sherlock,” Jongin snapped, and then turned to face Luhan and Sehun. “Anyways, you guys can’t go out right now. We have an end of semester assembly right now at the auditorium before fall break starts.”

Luhan groaned and then checked his phone for the time. “Damn, that’s now? But I’m hungry.”

“Just hang on for an hour or two. We’re going downtown for dinner as a group and you can eat all you want there.”

The four boys, an extremely depressed looking Luhan included, made their way to the auditorium at the West wing of the school. Sehun noticed the fully-packed room with rows and rows of students chatting loudly with each other when he realized that this was the first time he saw the whole student body together. Clutching Luhan’s jacket as to not get lost, he followed his friends to a row where he found the rest of the group sitting down with bored looks.

“Hey baby,” Jongdae said before sitting down at the very end and pecking Minseok on the cheek. Minseok smiled back warmly and leaned on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong with you guys today?” Baekhyun asked in disgust, earning a middle finger from both boys. Rolling his eyes, he turned around to face Jongin who was sitting on his other side.

“Seriously, can they get more sick?”

Jongin snorted and leaned towards his friend.

“Baekhyun, trust me, you’re worse with Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun turned bright red and quickly looked around. Luckily, everyone was either too engrossed in their respective conversations or busy sleeping.

“Shut up!” He hissed.

“Oh please. It’s not like your ridiculous crush on each other is a secret. The whole school knows. You guys are not very good at being subtle.”

Luhan leaned forward and smiled slyly.

“If we’re talking about subtlety, you should learn a lesson or two from me. Sehun doesn’t have a clue yet.”

“Yeah, because that’s something you should be proud about,” Baekhyun snapped, and Luhan gave him a quick glare before leaning back into his seat.

“So, about that date-” Luhan started, and Sehun quickly frowned and turned to face him.

“Don’t call it a date. It’s not a date! I’m straight!”

“I never said you weren’t. Girls go on dates together all the time as friends. It’s not uncommon.”

“In what weird universe do straight girls go on dates together?”

“I have my sources. But that’s not the matter at hand here. I’m just saying, don’t be so weirded out at the notion of our hanging-out being called dates. Jongin and Baekhyun used to go downtown together all the time, and everyone there was convinced they were dating for two whole years even though they were clearly friends. It doesn’t have to mean you’re necessarily gay.”

Sehun blinked. “What kind of ed up logic is that?”

“It’s my ed up logic, so deal with it.”

“So if I go to town with Kyungsoo for a meal, it’s technically a date?”

“What?! No!” Luhan suddenly exclaimed. “Of course not! That’s just two friends hanging out.”

“Then what makes us hanging out so different?”

“It just is! Now shut up!”

Sehun stared at Luhan in disbelief before turning his head to the stage when he saw the principal walk up, a broad smile on his face.

“Hello students!” The principal spoke into the microphone, his loud voice resonating through the room. Baekhyun immediately closed his eyes and leaned his head against Jongin’s arm.

“Wake me up when it’s over.”

Jongin snorted and ruffled Baekhyun’s hair before turning his attention to the principal once more. He suddenly felt a sharp gaze, and looked around to see Chanyeol staring at him from across the auditorium. Chanyeol’s eyes were focused on the two boys and Jongin could swear he saw a frown on the boy’s face. When he was about to look away, he caught sight of Kyungsoo who was also staring at Jongin and Baekhyun with a blank expression.

A shiver went down his spine when he met Kyungsoo’s eyes. Kyungsoo quickly looked away, and Chanyeol, who also noticed that Jongin was staring back, turned towards the stage. Jongin cleared his throat before awkwardly tearing his eyes away from the two friends.

“You think Kyungsoo is jealous?”

Jongin almost jumped out of his seat. Baekhyun had one eye open and was smiling up at him.

“You’re doing this on purpose?” He hissed back, and Baekhyun snickered quietly before leaning closer to Jongin.

“I’m a genius, aren’t I?”

“Do you not see the way Chanyeol was looking at me? I think he was trying to kill me with his eyes.”

“Oh, shut it. He was simply looking for us.”

“Are you blind?”

“Will both of you please shut the up?”

Jongin and Baekhyun quickly shut their mouths at Luhan’s enraged expression.

“So, students, it has been a wonderful year so far,” the principal chirped, “and I must say I am extremely proud of every single one of you and your academic accomplishments so far. As expected, our very own students Do Kyungsoo and Park Chanyeol have placed in the nation’s top 100 preparation exam ranking system. Please give them a round of applause!”

Kyungsoo ducked his head in embarrassment while Chanyeol beamed loudly as the student body erupted into a loud cheer. Baekhyun and Jongin, who were both sitting quietly after Luhan’s scolding, both clapped and hooted as loudly as they could.

“Now, I’m sure the school year so far had been quite enjoyable for some while stressful for others. Seniors, especially, have been working hard as the college exam season is coming in a couple of months. But our school is not what it is because of our academic results or national ranking - we are special because of our unique willingness to accept and broaden our horizon. This is why we have done something we have never done before only a few months ago. Although our school has been one strictly for homoual male teens of South Korea, our school board had decided to go for a change. That is why I would like to introduce to you our first heteroual student ever, Oh Sehun!”

Sehun’s jaw dropped open as everyone slowly turned around to stare at him. His own group of friends gawked at him, all wondering what was going on.

“Was this part of the program?” Luhan whispered, and Sehun, who was still trying to avoid all the eyes, ducked his head and turned as red as humanely possible.

“Oh Sehun?” The principal called, “please come to the front.”

The auditorium turned an eery silence - everyone was staring at Sehun, waiting for him to move. Finally, Jongdae, who couldn’t stand it any longer, leaned over and pushed Sehun out of his seat.

“Go Sehun!” He cried alone, pumping his fist in the air in fake enthusiasm. Minseok, Baekhyun, and Jongin all shared a look before slowly starting to clap.

Luhan was the only one who sat still, sending Sehun an anxious look as the boy stumbled towards the stage. He was also the only one who caught the nauseous look on the younger boy, and cringed in pity.

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Sehun whispered harshly to the principal, who had stepped down from the stage to meet him. The principal merely smiled and pat Sehun on the back. Sehun tightened his fist to keep himself from slapping that smile off his face.

“Just give a brief speech about your time here, and try to make it positive, eh? Smile boy! Everyone loves a smile!”

With that, and not even given a chance to retort, Sehun was pushed onto the stage and found himself blinking down at the large student body. He could faintly make out his friends at the very back - the only expression he could see was Luhan’s, who looked like he was going to be sick any moment.

“Um, hi.”

Sehun’s lame introduction brought forward no sort of response, and Sehun found himself staring at Luhan with pleading eyes. Luhan sighed and shook his head.

What do I do, Sehun pleaded with his eyes, and Luhan winced, as if Sehun’s awkwardness was physically hurting him.

Just make some bull up, Luhan mouthed, although he was pretty sure Sehun wouldn’t be able to understand.

Sighing, and trying to keep his face from burning up any further, Sehun cleared his throat and straightened up.

“So....I wasn’t actually informed about this, so I don’t have anything planned.”

More silence. Sehun wanted to just sit down and start crying.

“By the way, I promise I won’t be offended if you guys stand up and leave.”

Nobody moved an inch. Now, Sehun wanted to kill himself.

“Okay...so that didn’t work, did it? Isn’t this exciting.”

All he was met with were blank looks of boredom and annoyance.

Please don’t look at me. Please don’t look at me. you, bastards, don’t look at me.

Suddenly, he heard a loud hoot from the back, and his head snapped up to see his whole row of friends, plus Chanyeol a couple of rows down, standing up and clapping their hands enthusiastically.

“Let’s go Sehun!”

“Look, our very own hetero failing to give a proper speech!”

“That’s our friend up there, es!”

“Byun Baekhyun! Watch your language!”

“Sehun! Your face is red!”

“Do you think he doesn’t know that, idiot?”

“It’s okay, Sehun! We got your back!”

“Aw, our baby is so embarrassed.”

“Sehun is not your baby!!”

“Oh. He’s yours, isn’t he?”

“You shut up!”

“Sehun! Sehun! Sehun!”

Sehun watched in horror as his friends jumped up and down, pointing at him while laughing with each other. Luhan stared at him sheepishly while he remained slumped down in his seat, trying to get Jongin to sit down as well. Chanyeol was also yanked down by a very annoyed looking Kyungsoo, who was busy sending apologetic looks in Sehun’s direction.

This is not happening to me right now.

“Students!” The principal yelled into the microphone, face burning in anger, “sit down! You are disrupting a speech right now!”

Sehun quickly stepped back. “Actually, if that’s a problem I can always do this later-”

“Nonsense. This attitude will not be tolerated. Sit down immediately!”

He could hear all of his friends grumble loudly before taking their respective seats reluctantly. Baekhyun and Jongdae shot him defeated looks while Jongin stuck out his middle finger at the principal’s turned back. Luhan shook his head and Minseok, who was stuck in the middle, mouthed a very obvious sorry.

It was then Sehun realized that his friends had done it on purpose in hopes of distracting the principal enough to let him go. He sighed and nodded his head in a brief nod of understanding before wrapping his hands around the microphone.

“Thank you guys, that was a very warm welcome.”

“You’re welcome!” Jongdae screamed, waving his hands enthusiastically. Sehun cracked a tiny smile.

“As I said, I don’t have anything planned, so this is going to be all impromptu. Keep that in mind as you listen to my speech. Thanks.”

He didn’t have to see the look of pure horror on the principal’s face. If he was going to make Sehun do something he didn’t want to, then he was as hell going to make sure he didn’t give what the guy wanted to hear.

“So, I don’t know if you guys know, but I’ve been expelled from four schools this past year. Before you make any assumptions about my character, I’d like to tell you that it was all the school’s fault for expelling a student without knowing exactly what happened. If I by any chance get expelled from here, it’s not my fault but this school’s.”

Luhan broke out into giggles and Jongin was cackling loudly.

“I’m not sure what I should be talking about, but since I remember me being specifically addressed as the ‘only heteroual student’, I’m guessing I have to talk about something related to my ual preference. Therefore, I’ll have to say something that may shock many: I like girls.”

Chanyeol gasped in fake shock, while Kyungsoo shook his head in disbelief with a faint smile tugging at his lips.

“On a more serious note,” Sehun dipped his head lower and kept his eyes focused on his laughing friends at the back, “despite everything, I really like this school. It’s the single most accepting community I have been part of, and although I am an outsider due to my obvious differences, nobody has ever made me feel like I don’t belong here. I was able to make true friends, something that I didn’t know I was capable of doing. For the first time, I actually don’t want to be expelled. Even though all my friends are lunatics and annoying, I actually like them. For that, I want to thank Luhan for being patient and persistent enough to deal with my attitude. I was incredibly rude to him in the beginning, and although I still am, I like to believe that he knows how much of a close friend he is to me. To all my other friends - you guys are all plain crazy. But I love you guys. Sort of.”

Sehun slowly let go of the microphone and stepped back. Luhan was staring at him wide-eyed, and all of his previously chortling friends were sending him fond smiles. He smiled back before turning his head and facing the principal.

“That’s all I have,” he said, and the principal slowly walked over and took Sehun’s spot.

“Thank you Sehun for that wonderful speech, although I must say you could’ve been a little nicer with your words. I hope you don’t get expelled either,” he said before pointing downwards, “you may go take your seat.”

Sehun nodded stiffly before slowly stepping down the stage. He heard the principal wrap up the assembly, and decided that he would wait for his friends outside rather than go back to his seat. Going out by the back exit, he made a beeline to the bathroom to quickly wash his red face.

It didn’t take long for his words to crash in, and Sehun repeatedly hit his head against the hand dryer. He couldn’t believe he had said such corny stuff, and was dreading going back outside. By the loud voices, he knew that the students were quickly piling out of the auditorium, and he didn’t have to check to see his friends standing outside expectantly, waiting for him.

Stupid , Sehun gritted his teeth. You just had to get all sentimental, didn’t you.

But there was no way out, so Sehun took a deep breath, hit himself a couple of times to bring back his sanity, and pushed the bathroom door open. He slowly made his way to his friends who were all waiting for him at the other end of the hallway.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show up.”

Jongdae was the first one to notice him, and quickly scrambled over. Much to his surprise, the older boy pounced on Sehun and hugged him tightly.

“I love you too, buddy!”

“Move out of the way, Jongdae,” Jongin said before pushing the senior away and pulling Sehun into a suffocating hug. “That warmed my heart, hetero. Really. I didn’t know you had such a way with words.”

“My turn! My turn! My turn!” Baekhyun said excitedly and jumped on Sehun, who was frozen in spot. “You’re officially my favorite straight boy in the world!”

“Stop hogging him, Baekhyun. You go hug Chanyeol or something.”

It was Minseok’s turn, and he smiled softly before giving Sehun a much nicer, humane hug. “In case you were wondering, you’re not such a bad friend either.”

“Guys, you’re killing me,” Sehun managed to spit out before Minseok released him and stepped back, offering him a sheepish grin.

“Don’t be embarrassed, hetero. We all know how much you love us.”

“But you love me the best, don’t you?” Baekhyun said gleefully.

“Don’t be stupid, Byun. He loves Luhan the best.”

It was the first time since he came out that Luhan’s name was mentioned, and he slowly turned to face Luhan who was looking at him with an unreadable expression.

“Hey Luhan, aren’t you going to give him a hug?” Jongdae cocked his head.

“Yeah, I mean, he freaking addressed you separately. By the way, that was the sweetest thing I have ever heard.”

“If only it was a little more romantic.”

“Shut up Jongdae, the hetero doesn’t know yet.”

“Will you stop calling him hetero? What if I started calling you homo all the time?!”

“Hey, I am homo. I don’t care.”

“Why the heck are you identifying him by his ual orientation?”

“Because it’s easier than just calling him Sehun. Plus, it gives him a personality.”

“A personality of liking girls?!”

Sehun looked at the boys bicker, and slowly and quietly made his way towards Luhan who was standing in silence.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Sehun commented. Luhan blinked up at Sehun.

“Luhan, if you don’t say something, I’m really going to start freaking out.”

More blinking.

“Please don’t tell me my speech gave you a brain freeze. I don’t want to be responsible for any mental damage.”

Suddenly, Luhan snapped out of his daze and flung himself towards Sehun, sending both of them to the floor.

“THAT WAS LITERALLY THE BEST MOMENT OF MY ING LIFE!” Luhan roared. “YOU GUYS HEARD, RIGHT? HE SAID I’M HIS CLOSEST FRIEND. BEAT THAT, ES.”

“I actually don’t remember him calling you his closest friend. He said you were a ‘close’ friend, but that doesn’t necessarily mean-”

“OH, SHUT UP. YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE YOUR CLOSEST FRIEND DIDN’T DEDICATE A THANK YOU SPEECH TO YOU IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE STUDENT BODY.”

Luhan beamed down at Sehun, who was looking up at the boy in half terror and half shock.

“By the way, Sehun,” Luhan said, his body still crushing Sehun underneath it, “I like you too.”

It was Sehun’s time to blink up, and after recovering from the painful weight on top of him, he managed to smile back.

“That’s nice to know,” Sehun said.

Luhan and Sehun smiled widely at each other, ignoring the disgusted looks the others were sending in their direction.

“Stop being so gay and get off him,” Baekhyun stomped over and pulled Luhan up. Sehun let out a relieved breath as he could finally breathe normally again.

“I am gay, stupid,” Luhan muttered. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes and leaned towards his friend so only Luhan could hear.

“Well, you don’t want him to know you’re gay for him, do you?”

Luhan quickly averted his gaze before extending his hand, helping Sehun to his feet.

“Okay, so now that’s over!” Jongdae clapped his hands together excitedly, “let’s go downtown and grab some dinner, shall we?!”

Acting like typical boys, everyone immediately broke out into large grins.

“Finally! And Sehun can pay since he loves us so much.”

“Yeah. You need to still show us your true gratitude, don’t you?”

“Sehun, you’re seriously the best.”

Sehun gaped as everyone pat him on the back and began to walk out of the building.

“Thanks Sehun!” Luhan exclaimed. “I’m so hungry right now. I could probably eat like five servings.”

“Wait, hold up. Luhan-”

“Come on!” Baekhyun and Luhan grabbed both Sehun’s arm and dragged him out.

“It’s time for vacation!”

Wow, this was an incredibly long chapter. Probably my second longest chapter next to the Kaisoo flashback XD

I know this chapter isn't romance based, but it is crucial for the proper wrapping up of the first part of this story.

On that note, I want to formally thank all of you guys for sticking with me and this I call my story for 29 whole chapters. I know my writing isn't the best, and I bet I frustrated a ton of you guys with the incredible amount of kaisoo angst. I got a lot of varied opinions of Kyungsoo, and reading those comments were seriously the best part of writing this story - so many people pity Kyungsoo, while some people think he's the stupidest character ever. I'm not going to take sides on this matter, but I'll just tell you that there were definitely times I wanted to bash my computer on imaginary Kyungsoo's head.

Real Kyungsoo - I love you and your squishy self so much.

Anyways, I know that there hasn't been any drastic changes with Hunhan yet. Baekyeol has definitely changed since their first meeting because Baekhyun can finally say a coherent sentence in Chanyeol's presence. Kaisoo also went through a lot of since chapter 1. Hunhan, on the other hand, has been a pretty static couple. I did this on purpose, because really for the first part of Q&P I wanted to characterize Sehun's relationship with everyone. Hunhan's real relationship change will start in the upcoming chapters, so look forward to that.

With this chapter I'm concluding ACT 1 of Q&P. Act 2 (why do I even call my story acts it's not even a freaking play or musical) will begin this weekend - my update as usual will be on Saturday or Sunday.

Hopefully, all of you guys will stay to enjoy Queer & Proud for a while longer.

Thanks for your incredible amount of love and support. As an author, nothing could have made me happier! I love all of you guys <3