Despite everything that’s happened, Luhan doesn’t quit his job at the cafe. In fact, he throws himself into it, withdrawing further from society, and he is definitely not trying to keep away from a certain person. There was no such thing as time for socializing, everything centered around college applications, scholarship applications, and getting the funds to last him. Or at least, that’s what he tried to tell himself. 

He had thought that meeting Sehun less often would have left him feeling less confused over everything, back to the simple days of order. But Luhan just feels lonely, terribly so. Their meetings had dwindled to nothing, not even a coincidental “hello” as they pass each other in the corridor. And let’s not even mention Sehun’s frequent visits to the Student Council room, simply because they no longer happened. Whenever Chanyeol came to flirt with Baekhyun, he always came alone.

“Please, if you want to make out, go find yourselves some dingy closet in the more obscure parts of school…” Luhan sighs, rubbing his temple as he looks up to see a sight that he certainly wished he hadn’t. “Baekhyun!”

“Now, now, no need to get snappy.” Baekhyun walks over to the President’s chair, hugging his best friend from behind.

“Just do your work, please? I’m stressed enough as it is with my own future at stake, but the teachers just keep dumping new stuff on the student council--”

“Honey, I already finished my tasks--”

“You mean, delegated them all to me, right?” Minseok slams down a stack of papers in front of Luhan, glaring at Baekhyun as he goes back to his desk.

“Whatever.” Baekhyun ignored Minseok, turning back to Luhan. “I know you’re stressed as right now, darling, but taking out your frustrations over it on me and Chanyeol isn’t going to help.”

“Then what will?” whispers Luhan. Everything really was piling on top of him, and it was so exhausting trying to stay afloat. Baekhyun could tell that Luhan was genuinely tired, and pity flashes across his face (which he quickly wipes off, he knows how prideful Luhan is).

“Love!” shouts Baekhyun gleefully, and Luhan swears he wishes that strangling your best friend wasn’t considered a crime.

“Baek, so help me, if you don’t shut up right now--”

“But Luhan! Christmas is coming soon,” Baekhyun picks up a poster from his table. “It’s the perfect time for you to find some love before the new year!”

“Who the hell needs love when you have tests and finals to study for? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not interesting in anything akin to romance at the moment.” Luhan huffs, returning to his books. He finished his own work early too, and would prefer to have his mind occupied with numbers and formulas rather than British boys with nice smiles.

Luhan angrily scribbles down his formulas, grumbling nonsensical words under his breath. Baekhyun has noticed the change in Luhan’s mood lately, and he’s been very bothered by it. Walking around the table, he stands then to Luhan, his hand on his shoulder. “You okay, bae? You seem really out of it, and don’t tell me it’s finals because that is like a month away.” 

Baekhyun knows better than to directly say the word love again, considering Luhan’s earlier reaction. Baekhyun may have his annoying tendencies, but Luhan knows that he does that as a defense mechanism. There’s more than meets the eye with Baekhyun, and sadly not everyone understands that he’s really just a sac of hopeless romance and mangas. 

So he decides it’s better to confess all that’s been bothering him, there’s no use in keeping it to himself. “Sehun came to the cafe the other day with Krystal, and for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it. I let my emotions control my customer service and slammed the change back into his hand and I wanted to slam Krystal’s face into the cake and scream Sehun is mine like what the oh my god what’s going on with me, Baekhyun.” Luhan said it all in one breath, and he held onto the edge of his desk as a support as he felt his head spinning from the lack of oxygen. 

“Huh…” 

“Is that all?! After I poured out my frustrations to you, my best friend, that’s all you have to say? I thought you were the self-proclaimed ‘Love Doctor!’ What’s my diagnosis? Desperate homewrecker?”

“It’s just-- It’s the first time I’ve seen you jealous--”

“Am not! What a horrible prognosis...” mutters Luhan.

“Hear me out, Mr. President.” Baekhyun places his hands on Luhan’s shoulders to placate him. “This is the first time you’ve ever considered liking someone. This is the first time these emotions started to surface.” 

“Yeah!” says Minseok. Oh, they forgot he was still there. Minseok casually walks to Luhan’s desk, leaning against it with his hip. “I know a few things about love, President.” Baekhyun and Luhan look at him skeptically. His shoulders sag. “Okay I’ll confess since that’s what we’re doing right now. I actually like… the president of choir club.”

There’s a silence, in which Baekhyun just stares at Minseok with a blank look. Without saying anything at all, he turns back to Luhan. “Well, honey, as I was saying--”

“Are you just going to ignore me?” Minseok waves his hand in front of Baekhyun’s face to catch his attention, the latter swatting away the hand as if it was a fly.

“At least Jongdae doesn’t have a girl to make you jealous of!” Luhan bursts, turning his back to the other two.

“Okay, you two crybabies, stop whining about it,” sighs Baekhyun. “To be honest, both of you are the same… Too afraid to make a move.”

“Watching from afar is my favorite hobby, I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Minseok grumbled. Baekhyun shakes his head. 

“No no you’re doing it wrong. You’re supposed to watch, attack, possess! You can’t simply be stuck forever at the first step, obviously nothing will happen.”

“This isn’t National Geographic: Wild, Baekhyun.” 

“No, it isn’t. It’s the art of dating, which you guys obviously have no expertise in.”

“Oh yeah? Then who are you dating?” Minseok presses. Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Chanyeol, of course. Who else?” Minseok gapes at him, his eyebrows scrunching in the middle. “Since when?! Why didn’t I hear of this?!”

“You’re the only one who doesn’t know this because you always leave before you get the chance to see us do hot steamy things in the office.” 

“Basically, consider yourself lucky that you managed to remain ignorant this whole time,” Luhan sums up.

“But my love life isn’t the main point right now! It’s Luhan’s - well, I guess both of yours - that matter right now!” Baekhyun turns back to Luhan. “Now tell me everything that’s bothering you right now,” he continues, pointing at Luhan. “I’ll deal with you later,” he adds as an afterthought to Minseok. “This is important! This is the first time we see our cute, little President worry about something other than his grades!”

Luhan sighs, slumping back into his leather seat. “I mean. Sehun would want to be with a girl right? It’s the law of the universe for a guy to be with a girl so they can have a cute family.”

“But you guys can have a cute family too.” Luhan glares at Baekhyun to shut up. 

“Yeah but, they just look so good together, and it’s so natural. While whenever I’m with Sehun all I do is say the wrong thing or nothing at all! Everything is just a mess! And I realized I really really like him. And this is really, really…...bad….” Luhan trails off, embarrassment heating up his face. Just like the times that Sehun used to visit, those same feelings that made him flustered, that destroyed the order of things.

“You only think it’s bad because it’s screwing you up mentally and physically.” Minseok snorts. “Okay, not like that you nasty. What I’m trying to say is, get this cleared up before you jump to your own conclusions.” A knock at the door steers their attention away from the tired Luhan. 

“Am I interrupting an impromptu meeting?” Chanyeol peeks his head through the doorway. “I can come back later if you want.” Baekhyun’s face lights up. He runs his way toward Chanyeol locking his arms around his neck. “Babe! Just the man I was looking for! Come here and join our meeting.” 

“I’d be honoured, but are you sure? This seems like some pretty serious student council stuff…”

“Nah, it’s more important than that! Luhan’s love life that we know you play an important role in.”

“ME? BAEK, BABE. I’M NOT CHEATING ON YOU.” Chanyeol widens his eyes but Baekhyun just laughs. “No! I don’t mean that! I mean you know something we don’t.” 

“I do?” Chanyeol points at himself in disbelief, Baekhyun nodding.

“Babe, are Krystal and Sehun dating?” Chanyeol laughs, shaking his head. “Hell no, she likes Taemin. Sehun and Krystal used to be neighbors when they were younger.”

“Hear that, Luhan? They’re not dating! And here you were, jumping to conclusions and dizzying yourself with muddled thoughts.” Baekhyun turns around to see Luhan not in his seat. “He was just here a minute ago! Where did he go again?”

----

One thing Luhan likes about staying after school are the empty hallways in the corridors. The emptiness gives him time to think about his sad love life. The door to the gym is closed, but Luhan can hear the sound of rubber against the wooden floor. If he’s not mistaken, tryouts for basketball were soon. It was probably someone training, there was really no reason for Luhan to be curious.

But something from his memory, something that Chanyeol mentioned weeks ago, about a certain transfer student being a pro at basketball… it stuck to him. He shouldn’t be hoping that it is him. 

He pushes the door to the gym, taking a seat at the top of the bleachers. Only when he sits down does he notice that it is indeed Sehun, but can’t find it in himself to move away. He watches as Sehun runs up and down the court making lay-ups and backboard points. Blond hair slicked back, sweat dripping from his body, it’s a different side to Sehun that Luhan hadn’t yet witnessed. 

“Hey there, gorgeous. Had fun watching me practise?” Luhan is shocked back to reality when a voice whispers right beside his ear, and he screams, flailing his arms. But before he can fall, Sehun catches him by the waist. The smile he gives Luhan is more than what he can handle. Luhan feels his face warming up faster than a car engine. And screw it. If Luhan is homewrecking anything then so be it. “You were really great. You must be some kind of a pro huh.” 

If Luhan had thought that the smile was the end of him, the laugh that comes from Sehun is the cherry to top it all off. It was probably a symptom of not being exposed to it for who knows how long now.

“Impressed?” grins Sehun, bumping shoulders with Luhan.

“I’m only used to soccer balls.” Luhan scoots away from Sehun, trying not to dwell on the short moment of contact between them.

“Do you want to get familiar with other balls too?” Sehun smirks. Luhan smiles and hits his shoulder “!”

“No! It’s only you who took that the wrong way. I mean get acquainted with my basketball, not anything else. You’re dirty minded huh, Pres. Don’t tell me you have fantasies about me.” Luhan scoffs, turning his face away from Sehun. 

“As if.”  Luhan finds himself thinking how strange it is, that they can talk like this. As if Krystal wasn’t in the picture, as if it was always just him and Sehun. Wondering if the fond smile on Sehun’s face is the same smile that Sehun sees on his face. 

“What if I said I think about you?” Then Luhan is pulled up from his place on the bleachers, lead down to the center of the court where Sehun circles him with a scrutinizing look. “What do you mean?” Sehun shrugs his shoulders, bouncing the basketball in his hand. “Do you know what buzzer beaters are?” 

Luhan nods his head. “Yeah, the shot made just as the buzzer sounds.” 

“Great! Then this will be easy. Luhan, I like you.” Sehun bounces the ball, turns around and shoots. Just as the ball falls into the ring, and into the basket, Sehun pulls Luhan closer to his face, planting a kiss on him. The ball falls gracelessly to the ground. Luhan is left with no air, and no sense of direction. 

When Sehun pulls away, he searches Luhan’s eyes for any sort of disgust. Luhan stares back at him with wide eyes, and a partially open mouth. When reality hits him, it hits him hard. The only thing he manages to say is “But what about Krystal?! Isn’t she your girlfriend?! Isn’t that why you brought her to the cafe two weeks ago? Isn’t that why you’ve been avoiding me ever since?” Luhan tries to push Sehun away. This cannot be happening, it definitely wasn’t happening. 

“Whoa, whoa, easy there. Breathe, Luhan, breathe. One question at a time.” His hand never leaves Luhan’s waist; instead it pulls him closer. Luhan can feel the heat radiating off of Sehun’s skin, making him feel more light headed than he already is. “She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a childhood friend of mine. She wanted to know what was going on in my life when she went away for America and we basically caught up. She wanted to know if I was interested in anyone and I said yes I am. That’s how we ended up at your cafe, I wanted her to see you.” 

“But-- The way she clung to you-- It doesn’t make sense--” Luhan blabbers, since he’s still not fully aware of exactly was going on. “Even if you say you’re childhood friends, how do you know she doesn’t have feelings for you?” questions Luhan, refusing to fall for it.

“Cause she told me she really likes that guy from that really popular drama, uh, Lee Taemin and has been interested in him ever since her first year.” Luhan raises an eyebrow at him, still skeptical. “I swear, I don’t like her like that. She doesn’t like me like that. I like you, it was like at first sight. So, what’s your reply?” Sehun asks, hopeful.

Luhan looks at him puzzled. “Reply for what?”

Sehun groans, his eyes rolling back. He runs his hand through his hair in frustration. “I just confessed my admiration for you and you repay me with this?” Luhan’s cheeks warm up again, and he nods his head slowly then quicker. “I like you too…” he mumbles. He buries his face into Sehun’s chest because he’s too embarrassed to say anything further. 

Sehun wraps his arms around Luhan’s body. “Yes! Yes! He finally said yes!” Sehun shouts in the empty gym! “Woo! Luhan said yes!” Luhan hits his chest. 

“But that’s not an explanation as to why you’ve been avoiding me lately.”

Sehun shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve been here practising. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything related to basketball, I wanted to warm up. Did you miss me?”  Sehun leans down his sweaty forehead touching Luhan’s. Luhan’s glasses start to fog up, but he doesn’t want to push his new boyfriend away. 

“A little bit.” Luhan shifts his gaze away from Sehun’s. He knows that Sehun probably sees right through his white lie.

“It’s not good to lie, Luhan.” Sehun teases. 

“I thought you were really going out with Krystal that’s why. You just stopped bothering and annoying me the day after you visited and it confirmed my suspicions.” 

“I’m annoying?” Sehun fake gasps, acting offended.

“Very. With your British accent, and blue eyes and blond hair--which I should say you should color brown because you’re not following school rules.” 

“It’s my natural hair colour though, wouldn’t it be worse to promote hair dyeing?” retorts Sehun, ruffling Luhan’s hair. 

“I think you’d look handsomer...with brown hair….” Luhan mumbles.

“Maybe we should trade hair colors. You have my blonde, and I’ll have your dark brown.” Luhan looks at him blankly. “I’m your boyfriend now, I don’t understand why you’re still trying to push rules onto me.”

“Just because we’ve started dating doesn’t mean you can not follow the rules. If anything shouldn’t this make you more obliged to follow them.” Luhan stops when he realizes that he had gotten caught up in his President-mode, and he scratches his neck awkwardly.

“That was too much. I’m sorry. I-- I just don’t know how to deal with things. Like rule breaking, I don’t do that.” 

“Really. You don’t say.” Luhan was worried that Sehun was genuinely annoyed by him, but the teasing tone paired with the laughter in his eyes was enough to convince Luhan that everything was still okay.

“Shut up.” Luhan nudges into Sehun. “Are you done practicing?” He asks. Sehun nods his head. “Got somewhere to go?” 

Luhan shakes his head, holding him by the hand. “Nowhere, unless you want me to go somewhere with you.” 

“It’s Friday, do you want to come over?” Luhan scrunches his nose while thinking about the possibilities of sleeping in the same bed with his newly established boyfriend. “No funny business.” Luhan says, looking at him straight in the eye. 

“Of course not! I’m a gentleman. I’ll make you come to me instead.” Luhan rolls his eyes, “Whatever.”

“Let me go get my gym bag, I’ll meet you at the front gate in about ten minutes?”  Sehun leans down to kiss Luhan’s forehead. 

“I’ll be waiting.”

------

The walk to Sehun’s house was a quiet one. Not because they had nothing to say, but because they wanted to say everything but just couldn’t find the right words to start the conversation. They were both treading in uncharted territory. Everything about relationships were foreign to them. Neither one knew anything about dating. 

As they walked, however, they kept their hands and their fingers interlocked. When they reached Sehun’s house, Luhan waited as Sehun unlocked the door. Mama was watching her daily television dramas, and noticed that they had a visitor, her favorite one. 

“Luhan! Luhan! You’re here! What a wonderful surprise! I’m so glad Sehun brought you back.” Mama Oh was a darling, Luhan couldn’t deny that. He gave her a warm hug back.

“I’m happy to see you’re healthy,” he replies politely, feeling slightly uncomfortable around her only because of the guilt of not being the girlfriend that she had probably envisioned for her precious son.

“Sehun, you didn’t tell me you were bringing him over, I would have made something special for dinner!”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to trouble you,” Luhan quickly assures Mama Oh. “Everything you make is delicious, like my mum’s own cooking,” he says with a smile.

“You flatter me, Luhan,” Mama Oh laughs happily. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have you as my son?”

“Well your wish has been granted, Mum. You’re looking at the future Mr. Oh!” Luhan turns bright red and quickly turns around to smack Sehun on the chest. 

“No! No! It’s not like that-- We didn’t elope or anything! He just asked me to be his boyfriend today.” Luhan didn’t think that Sehun would tell his family about him so soon, or in such a casual manner. He had been thinking to himself, if he should be preparing for the moment that he has to face them, but now that he’s been thrown into the spotlight like this… It was surprising.

But what was more surprising than the reveal, was Mama Oh’s reaction. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN SOON!” she squeals, and Luhan almost jumped out of his skin.

“Er-- Excuse me?”

“Well, after last time… Sehun doesn’t bring many people over you see, it’s always just Chanyeol. And even when Chanyeol sleeps over, they never share the same bed like you two did.” Mama Oh explains.

“Speaking of sleeping over, Luhan’s sleeping over today!” Sehun announces, pulling Luhan closer by the waist.

“That’s wonderful, I’ll be able to prepare an extravagant breakfast for you kids then! Dinner’s already ready, and I’m sure you two have had a long day.” She ushers them into the kitchen. “And don’t worry about my husband or Junmyeon finding out, they have some business to attend to tonight, it’s just me in the house,” she says with a wink.

“Thank you, Mrs. Oh--”

“Oh no, I can’t have any of that. Call me Mum!”

“M-- Mum?”

“That’s right, I like the sound of that,” she says happily, dolloping on steaming hot casserole onto their dishes. “Eat up!”

----------

Being in the same bed again didn’t help Luhan all that much. His heart was racing, his mind was racing, everything was just a blur. It wasn’t until Sehun came back from the restroom that everything slowed down. “Can’t sleep?” 

Luhan turns his body to face Sehun. “Nope, too busy thinking about you.” Sehun turns so he can look at Luhan too. 

“If I had known that you were this smooth talker, I should have asked you to be my boyfriend earlier.”  Luhan just simply smiles at him, beaming like the moonlight streaming in from his windows. 

“What’s your favorite color, Sehun?” Luhan says out of nowhere. 

“Blue, sometimes black. Possibly even gray. Yours?”

“I love Red. I love red because of Manchester United.” 

“Manchester United, I’ve watched a few games of theirs while I was in London. They’re a great team, I can see why you like them.”

“It started from Ronaldo, but now he’s in Madrid, I can’t just let go of the Reds because my favorite player isn’t there anymore! That’s unfair!” Sehun chuckles, scooting closer over to Luhan. He wraps his arm around his waist. “Is this okay?” He asks, not wanting to cross any boundaries. Luhan nods his head. “Oddly enough, I’m okay with this. With us like this.” 

“Do you have any future goals?” Sehun whispers. Luhan yawns, closing his eyes as he talks. 

“I want to be a lawyer when I grow up. I guess it has something to do with fixing the injustice of the world, and fighting for the innocence of the good. I love being right, and proving that people are stupid. Can you blame me?” Sehun chuckles, rubbing circles into Luhan’s waist. “No, I think you’ll be a good lawyer.” 

Soft snore fill Sehun’s ears. He watches Luhan’s sleeping face, and thinks he can get used to seeing this everyday.