11th Grade – Fall Semester

With their hands firmly clasped together, Sehun and Luhan entered the Junior hallway on the first day of school, smiles on their faces. Sehun wasn't sure about Luhan, but he was definitely ready for the inevitable gossip, maybe even a few protests. In fact, he had mentally prepared himself for this moment since the end of summer vacation.

Sehun experienced an unbelievably amazing summer with Luhan – one he wished didn't have to end. Every day was an adventure, full of unforgettable moments, and he felt truly happy. They shared countless kisses and hugs and everything that could set his heart fluttering, and it was perfect, but Sehun knew that they would be forced to come back to the real world – or high school in their case.

It was time to face the forever judgmental high school student body.

Without fail, the students started whispering as soon as they walked past, a few of them even gasped, but Sehun paid them no attention because he had Luhan.

“Are they talking about us?” Luhan whispered, squeezing Sehun's hand as he looked at the group of students huddled together next to the lockers.

“Well, they are pointing at us,” Sehun managed to say before he flashed the spectators a show stopping smile.

Their eyes widened and they immediately scurried away. A few others who witnessed the scene started spluttering at Sehun's boldness. Clearly, they did not expect Sehun to be so upfront about his relationship with Luhan.

“I think you scared them,” Luhan stated, voice coated in amusement, eyes looking up at Sehun in awe.

Sehun was about to say something when he suddenly heard a loud groan coming from behind him.

“Could you two get any more lovey dovey?” Tao asked, sounding highly sarcastic and unamused as he shoved Sehun out of his way.

“Yah!” Sehun shouted at Tao's back.

Tao merely shrugged in response, and continued walking. He only stopped when he came across a group of girls, who were too busy trying to get a good view of Sehun and Luhan, they didn't notice him.

The girls also happened to be blocking the middle of the hallway, which led Tao to announce rather loudly, “It's not a terrible dream, they're really together. The school's favorite cutie is taken. Deal with it and STEP ASIDE!”

Even if they were beyond offended, judging from their appalled expressions, the girls broke up, splitting like the Red Sea. Tao smiled, and strolled through the middle like it was his personal runway.

Sehun had never been more proud to have Tao as a friend.

“I'm the school's favorite cutie?” Luhan asked, confused because apparently, he was the only one who wasn't aware of his title – a title he held since freshman year.

“Not anymore,” Sehun said. “Because you're mine now.”

Luhan's cheeks tinged pink at the confession, and he kept his eyes lowered as Sehun continued to hold his hand as they walked down the hallway towards Luhan's locker.

When they got there, instead of letting go of Sehun's hand, Luhan turned the combination dial with his weaker left hand.

Tao, whose locker was five lockers down on Luhan's right, saw this and rolled his eyes.

“And the award for Most Attached Couple goes to....” Tao began, throwing his backpack into his locker in an overly dramatic manner. “Sehun and Luhan! Congrats,” he announced unenthusiastically.

“And the award for Sassiest Friend Who's Lacking Love in His Life goes to you, Tao,” Sehun retorted. “Congrats.”

Tao scoffed while Luhan laughed at Sehun's rebuttal. Sehun smiled at his boyfriend. Tao pretended to vomit in his locker at Sehun's lovestruck smile.

“Sehun, aren't you going to open your own locker,” Luhan asked when he got his open. He lets go of Sehun's hand to take off his backpack and began putting his textbooks in.

Sehun looked down at his free hand, instantly missing the softness of Luhan's hand.

“I'll go later. I have time,” he explained as he watched Luhan organize his locker space.

Tao closed his locker and walked over to where they were. He quietly handed Sehun a tissue.

“What's this for?” Sehun asked cautiously, though he still took the tissue.

“To wipe your drool,” Tao answered. “Gawd. Quit staring at him like he's dessert.”

Luhan immediately blushed, and pretended not to have heard that as he continued to put things in his locker. Sehun, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to kick Tao where it'll hurt.

“Don't you have somewhere to go?” Sehun asked, eyes narrowed.

“Nope,” Tao chirped, expression brighter now that he embarrassed Sehun in front of Luhan.

“I hate you,” Sehun muttered under his breath – all appreciation he felt earlier for Tao quickly diminishing.

“Love you too,” Tao said loudly so Luhan could hear. The blonde turned to look at them, curious as to why they were professing their love to each other.

Tao flashed Luhan a playful grin – one that Sehun wanted to wipe off. Normally, Sehun would be putting Tao in a headlock by now, but since he didn't want to appear immature (and violent) in front of Luhan, he ended up glaring at Tao, which was extremely ineffective because Tao winked suggestively at him.

And things got worse when Tao decided that he should give Sehun a spontaneous bear hug – a gesture both Sehun and Luhan weren't too happy about.

As Tao squeezed him, Sehun could have swore he saw Luhan slightly pouting.

“It's cute when he's jealous,” Tao whispered in Sehun's ears before he released him. “See ya!” Tao shouted before he skipped off to class.

Sehun's eyes widened, and he looked at Luhan, who was biting his bottom lip, expression uncomfortable.

“Uhhh...”

“Do you usually hug your friends like that?” Luhan asked, turning his attention back to his locker.

“No! Definitely not. That was –”

“HEY SEHUN!” Jongin shouted as he jumped Sehun from behind, pulling him in for a tight back hug. Luhan's eyes widened in shock.

Sehun couldn't believe this was happening. He mentally cursed his friends.

“Let me go!” Sehun demanded, his foot stomping down on Jongin's.

“Ow! That wasn't nice!” Jongin yelped.

“Well, neither was your hug!” Sehun retorted before quickly meeting Luhan's intense gaze. “We rarely hug. Swear,” he said, voice strained.

Jongin snickered. “Come on, Sehun, leave Luhan for a second and go to your locker. I'll you,” he said as he wrapped an arm around Sehun's shoulder. Jongin shot Luhan a teasing smile. “He'll be safe with me.”

Before Sehun could protest, Jongin had dragged him away from a dumbfounded Luhan.

“Seriously, what is up with you and Tao?” Sehun asked threateningly as he gave his dazed boyfriend a wave full of regret and yearning.

“It's called payback,” Jongin stated when they arrived at Sehun's locker, which was near the end of the hallway, exactly twenty-one lockers down from Luhan's (Sehun counted).

“What?”

“Tao and I had to watch you two act like obsessed lovebirds all summer,” said Jongin as he opened his locker, which was next to Sehun's. “We thought it would be fun if we made your life miserable for a few minutes.”

“This was Tao's idea, wasn't it? I'm going to kill him.”

Jongin rolled his eyes. “Let us have some fun. You and Luhan were practically inseparable whenever we hung out. Do you know how many times I've seen you stare longingly at him? Too many times. You're dating now, so stop staring at him like that for goodness' sake. It hurts our eyes.”

“No one is forcing you to look,” Sehun countered, opening his locker. “And even if you're complaining about Luhan and me, I know you appreciate the fact that you get to see Kyungsoo more now that we're together.”

Jongin made a garbled noise at the mention of Kyungsoo. “Wha – Don't make me laugh, Sehun! I definitely do NOT appreciate anything in regards to that mini amigo.”

Sehun shook his head. “All I hear is denial, denial, denial.”

“Well, you need to get your ears checked, my friend. I'm not denying anything.”

Sehun threw his books in his locker because unlike neat Luhan, Sehun had no plans to organize his locker in any way. “And you need to admit that you feel something for Kyungsoo.”

Jongin finished getting his things and slammed his locker closed. “You're absolutely right, Sehun,” he said, voice dripping with insincerity. “I should admit that I feel wonderful whenever I tease that tiny marshmallow –”

“That's a cute nickname,” Sehun interrupted. “He's your tiny marshmallow. How sweet.”

Jongin stared at Sehun, mortified. “Yah – I – Shut up!” he shouted before storming off. Apparently, smart mouth Jongin couldn't come up with a decent comeback, and Sehun marveled at that fact.

He only snapped out of it when a soft voice from behind him said, “You guys have an interesting relationship.”

Sehun spun around to find Luhan with books in his hands, all set for class. “Oh. Uh. Yeah, but they're horrible.”

Luhan's lips twisted upwards. “I see...Since they're horrible, maybe you shouldn't hug them so often,” he suggested, looking positively radiant.

Sehun chuckled. “Tao was right,” he said after closing his locker.

“About what?” Luhan asked innocently.

“Nothing,” answered Sehun as he leaned in to press an equally innocent kiss on Luhan's lips.

Usually Luhan would reciprocate if Sehun initiated a kiss, but today, all Luhan did was blush madly when Sehun pulled away.

Sehun scratched his head. “What's wrong?”

“It's our.....” Luhan started, cheeks reddening even more.

“Our?”

“It's our first kiss at school,” Luhan mumbled, eyes immediately glued to the floor.

Sehun blinked. “Oh.”

“And it's the first time we've had an audience,” Luhan muttered, tilting his head to the side.

Sehun looked over, and found at least ten pairs of eyes staring at him and Luhan. When the other students met Sehun's gaze, they quickly turned around and pretended to busy themselves with their lockers.

For a brief moment, Sehun wondered if this was going to be a regular thing. Are people always going to be watching what he does with Luhan?

Frankly, Sehun hoped they won't. He wasn't prepared for that. 

“Let's go,” he said, grabbing Luhan's hand and taking him away.

He didn't know why he expected people to get over their new relationship status quickly, but sadly, he found out that it wasn't possible. Everyone continued to stare at them as Sehun dropped Luhan off at his first class.

Luhan's classmates even started craning their necks to see Sehun whisper goodbye to Luhan before giving him an awkward wave.

“See you later,” Luhan mouthed, also waving rather awkwardly.

It's sad to admit it, but Sehun almost ran to his classroom. When he got there and sat down, almost everyone else got out of their seats and rushed over to where he was. Most of them started congratulating him (praising him for landing such a “perfect catch”). Sehun gave them a mere nod. Some asked how he even got Luhan to date him. Sehun ignored those. A small, rather rude few asked him how far he gotten with Luhan. Sehun wanted to throw those select individuals out the window.

Maintaining a straight face, Sehun lets his eyes do the talking instead.

After a few seconds of silent glaring, they got the hint and returned to their seats.

“You handled that well,” a tranquil voice from behind Sehun spoke, causing Sehun to whirl around in his chair.

“Yixng?!”

Yixing smiled, his dimple making a charming dent in his right cheek. “Sehun.”

“I didn't know you were here..”

“You never looked,” said Yixing in a teasing tone.

“I –”

Yixing chuckled. “You were busy giving our nosy classmates death glares. I understand.”

“Right.”

“We're going to have a fun semester, aren't we?” Yixing asked. “You and I have never actually hung out one-on-one.”

Sehun's eyes widened a small fraction when he realized that Yixing was right. They've seen each other plenty over the summer, and have gotten fairly close, but it was always when Sehun was with Luhan.

“Erm. Yeah.”

Yixing leaned forward. “You know since you're dating one of my best friends, I'm obligated to give you that 'Don't Break His Heart' speech.”

Sehun sat straighter, instantly nervous at what Yixing has to say.

Yixing suddenly laughed. “Don't be afraid, Sehun. I won't. I've decided not to give you the speech because I think Kyungsoo did an excellent job for the both of us. Don't you agree?”

Sehun gulped. He remembered vividly what happened when Luhan had introduced him as his boyfriend to Kyungsoo and Yixing. They were extremely friendly, and Sehun was actually quite comfortable being in their company, but then Kyungsoo had pulled him aside. Sehun would never forget what happened afterwards.

Kyungsoo had given him a rather short and terrifying speech about what would happen to him if he were to hurt Luhan. Considering Kyungsoo was much smaller in build, Sehun shouldn't have been as frightened as he was, but there was something about the way Kyungsoo carried himself – the way he spoke.

Basically, Kyungsoo was like the protective parent who made Sehun feel as though he was the loser boyfriend who lucked out in landing his eternally perfect baby. He had promised that if Sehun was to ever break Luhan's heart, he would break Sehun, and Sehun had no trouble believing him.

“Yes,” Sehun said solemnly. “He did.”

Yixing nodded. “But we really are happy for you two. Luhan is absolutely crazy about you, and it's entertaining for us to see him like that. He gushes about you all