Luhan liked Vancouver.

Aside from the torrential rain that plagued the city for pretty much nine months out of the year, Vancouver was generally a pretty cool (pun totally intended) place.

Luhan liked the cozy Belgium waffle bar nestled downtown, he was obsessed with the heart-attack inducing Canadian dish known as poutine, and he even enjoyed strolling down the shady, but colourful streets of Chinatown.

So when the second-year commerce student bumped into Kim Minseok at Starbucks for the tenth time during finals week, Luhan decided he had finally found something he disliked about Vancouver.

“Damnit,” Luhan cursed silently into his scarf before the well-mannered side of him kicked into gear (courtesy of his strict parents) and he tugged the wool underneath his chin, acknowledging his classmate with a tiny smile and wave.

Not enough poutine in the world could make up for the fact that the city was just too damn small.

A warm smile immediately spread across Minseok’s face in return, revealing pink gums and half-moon eyes. Apparently the other male didn’t share his sentiments. 

Please don’t walk this way. Please don’t walk this way. Luhan prayed.

Minseok, however, immune to both Luhan’s grimace and God’s powers, eagerly approached Luhan’s table, grande white mocha in one hand and textbooks nestled firmly in the other. The Chinese male, on the other hand, looked like he was seconds away from an early expiry.

“Studying for Econ?” Minseok inquired as he casually slid into the empty seat across from Luhan at the tiny corner table. The brown-haired male set down his books and drink – blissfully oblivious to the sour expression on Luhan’s face – before sliding his backpack underneath the table and sealing the deal as he placed his black trench-coat over the back of the chair.

“Umm...yeah…” Luhan replied reluctantly, swiftly exiting his League of Legends game – goddamnit, he was on a winning streak too – and pulling up his Econ lecture slides. “Got a lot of stuff to do you know, don’t really have time for anything else…like hanging out…or aimlessly chatting…” The younger male trailed off, hoping the other business student would catch the hint.

But, of course, in true bright-eyed and good-natured Kim Minseok fashion, he didn’t.

“Oh, I know what you mean! I haven’t done anything fun in like two weeks, all I’ve been doing is studying for this stupid Econ final. University life .” The shorter male responded empathetically, leaning on top of his textbooks with his cheeks in between his palms. A tiny pout graced his features and Luhan might’ve even thought it was cute too, if he wasn't so busy attempting to murder his laptop screen with his eyes.

“Mmhmmm…” Luhan murmured a half-hearted agreement, feigning complete interest in Okun’s law. He was in desperate need of an inconspicuous escape plan. Maybe he could say he needed to use the washroom. With his laptop. And umbrella. And all his other stuff.

“Anyway, how far along have you studied? There’s this one part I don’t understand…do you think you could help me with it?” The more Minseok spoke, the more distressed Luhan felt. Maybe he could just pretend to faint. And then fake miraculous recovery in the ambulance. Things like that happened, right?

Luhan’s musings were suddenly cut short, however, when he caught a glimpse of familiar bright blond locks.

Oh Sehun stood by the doorway, running hands through damp messy hair and gazing intently up at the drink board. His giant green parka was sliding off one thin shoulder.

“.” Luhan hissed underneath his breath. Heart racing, he began rapidly cramming everything within his vicinity into his backpack. He ignored the hurt look on Minseok’s face and made haste towards the exit without a word.

Scratch that. Vancouver was actually kinda, really y.


 

So it wasn’t like Luhan disliked Minseok.

It was just that he still kinda, sorta liked Sehun. A lot.

“You should get laid.” Yixing said, poking apathetically at his bland pasta. “Also, the food on campus . Has no one here ever heard of seasoning?”

“I can’t just get laid, dude.” Luhan sighed, nudging his fried rice across the table towards his best friend. “Not when I still like someone else.” Luhan felt a pang in his chest. It had already been three months since Sehun had broken up with him, but the pain was still fresh in his mind.

“Well you should try anyway. You’re gloomy and boring and even Kris would make better conversation than you nowadays.”

Luhan gasped in mock anger, “Oi Yixing, how could you? I thought we had something special here! Did all those late-night study sessions mean nothing to you?”

“Uh huh.” Yixing rolled his eyes as he snagged Luhan’s spoon from the unsuspecting male’s hands and scooped some of the fried rice into his mouth. His eyes widened in surprise. “Did you make this? It’s actually pretty good.”

A cheeky grin slowly crossed Luhan’s face, flourishing vibrantly in the wake of Yixing’s compliment. Yixing groaned, he – unfortunately – recognized this -eating grin; it was the one that made an appearance whenever Luhan was seconds away from bursting into a tirade about one of his many amazing accomplishments. Fortunately, a meek voice interrupted the smirking male before he could bore Yixing to a premature death.

“Hey…I’m sorry to interrupt...but last night you accidentally grabbed my pencil case when you were leaving….” Minseok mumbled quietly, eyes averted onto the table. He fiddled nervously with his backpack strap.

“Oh, right! Sorry about that.” Luhan attempted a light smile, feeling somewhat guilty for the way he had treated the boy the other night.

As hard as he tried to move on, Luhan felt that his heart still belonged to Sehun. He just couldn’t bring himself to view anyone other than his ex in a romantic manner. As a result, Luhan often felt annoyed or exasperated whenever someone tried to flirt with him. This was especially true in Minseok’s case, since the twenty-year old had begun flirting excessively with Luhan after his breakup. It wasn’t like Minseok was unattractive or anything, in fact he was quite endearing with his upbeat personality and toothy smile, but Luhan was just not interested at the moment.

His frantic digging through his backpack was finally met with success when he fished out the bulky green pencil case and presented it almost proudly to the fidgeting male. “Here, it’s still safe.” He offered kindly, hoping his more amiable disposition would make up for the previous night – as well as soothe his own guilty conscience.

“Thanks!” Minseok responded, brightening at Luhan’s pleasant demeanor. “I’m sorry to bother you guys again! See you two later in Calculus!” Minseok clutched the pencil case tightly against his chest, bowed his head slightly in thanks, and dashed off.

“Oh, my god.” Yixing said, tossing Luhan an absolutely devious grin.

“Shut up.” Was all the Luhan said, snatching his spoon back.


 

“He’s cute, in that little brother slash puppy slash you-could-corrupt-him kind of way. He actually kinda reminds me of our little Huang Zitao before he shot up like twenty feet and became all angsty and lame.” Yixing declared during the break of their Calculus lecture. He beamed brightly at the topic of their discussion, Minseok, who had waved shyly at the trio – well, mostly Luhan – from his seat down the row.

“Yeah, okay, I’m right here in case you haven’t noticed.” Came Tao’s unimpressed response.

Yixing chose to disregard the comment. “I remember when Tao would stare at us with complete adoration in his eyes…now the only thing he looks at with admiration is his Gucci bag.”

“Oh my god!” Tao almost screeched, ignoring the way the other students were staring at him. “Zhang Yixing, I am going to kill you. I am going to cut you into pieces and mail you limb by limb back to your parents in China!”

“Ouch, harsh.” Luhan snickered, gently tapping Tao on the shoulder with his pen. “That’s not a nice thing to say to your elders.”

“Hey, why do you always take his side!” The youngest of the trio griped, huffing in discontent. “Besides, Yixing’s teasing you about the Minseok guy! You should be siding with me!”

“He has a point you know.” Luhan shot Yixing an amused glance.

“Oh be quiet you, you’re totally reveling in all this attention from us.” Yixing countered without a missing beat. “You know, you should really stop mulling over oh-what’s-his-face and seize the chance with whatever poor soul becomes infatuated with your good looks before they realize your true personality.”

“Hey! I take offense to that! I have an intelligent AND compassionate personality to back up my good looks and charm, okay?!”

“Right.” Both Tao and Yixing muttered in unison.

“You guys are terrible friends.” Luhan stuck his tongue out in defiance.

Before Yixing could make a snarky retort, one of the Teaching Assistants dimmed the lights and the classroom promptly quieted down as the professor walked back into the lecture hall. She the projector, cleared , and immediately dove into a torturous lesson about the Leibniz notation. Luhan, on the other hand, immediately dove into a light slumber.

Once Yixing was confident that everyone’s attention was fixated on the professor, he turned and pressed a concerned hand over Luhan’s arm, jolting the sleepy male awake.

“Luhan.”

“Whaaaaaaat.” Luhan yawned, rubbing his eyes groggily. “Can’t you see I’m busy concentrating on the Lebanese notation here?”

“Luhan, I’m being serious right now.” Yixing whispered, meeting Luhan’s tired eyes with his own. “I know you and Sehun dated well over a year, but you’ve been mourning for like three months, you know you are allowed to be interested in other people. You are allowed to find happiness elsewhere.”

There was a slight pause before Luhan offered Yixing a slight upturn of his lips, a semblance of a smile. In the darkened state of the room, the shadows clung onto Luhan’s hollowed cheeks and puffy eye-bags like a second skin. It was then that Yixing realized just how miserable his friend looked.

It was also then that Yixing decided to take matters into his own hands.


 

 


“Yo,” was all that Yixing provided when he cornered Minseok in the hallway, two weeks later.

“Um…hi?” Minseok squeaked, hiding half his face underneath his black binder so only his anxious eyes remained visible.

“How long have you liked Luhan?” The male demanded bluntly, arms crossed in an intimidating manner.

Zhang Yixing on a mission was a force to be reckoned with; Minseok could only gulp apprehensively, cheeks flushing a brilliant shade of pink. Minseok thanked his lucky stars that the Chinese male couldn’t see his tomato-coloured face through the binder. “Excuse me?” Came the muffled reply.

“Minseok, there’s no point in acting coy. How long have you liked Luhan?”

“I-I don’t know!” He his entire face behind his binder, quivering behind it like a protective shield. “Why…why are you asking me this?”

“Fine, be that way. I’ll help you then. It was since first year, yeah? Since the second week of Econ101 tutorial, when Luhan came stumbling in twenty minutes late, all but slumped himself in a heap between us, and asked to borrow a pen that he never returned from you, right?”

“Oh…kay?” Minseok was rendered speechless. Yixing’s creepy observation skills were on a whole other level, the stunned male decided. Sherlock Holmes step aside.

“Well, are you going to do something about it? Or are you just going to stand on the sidelines forever and watch him date every other person that’s not you?” Yixing urged, hoping to illicit a fighting spirit within Minseok.

“I tried, okay! I tried talking to him after class and sitting with him whenever I bumped into him at coffee shops…but he didn’t seem interested. A few weeks ago, he even ran away from me!” Minseok cried, turning to face the wall dejectedly. “I think he hates me….”

Not quite expecting that reaction, Yixing frowned, sincerely feeling bad for the disheartened male.

“Hey,” He began, voice softening, “You’re a good guy Minseok, I can tell. I only asked because I wanted to know if you were genuine in your affections. I see that you are, so I’m going to help you.”

“I don’t know…I don’t want to force Luhan….”

Yixing burst out into laughter. “Oh Minseok, you’re a riot. Now, let’s go.” He finished, expression rapidly switching from one of amusement to one of absolute seriousness between the bat of an eyelash. Minseok was honestly concerned for his life. It didn’t help when Yixing grabbed Minseok fiercely by the arm and proceeded to drag him down the hallway.

“Wait-what? Where are we going?” Also, please don’t kill me, Minseok wanted to add.

Yixing sent Minseok an entertained look, “Why, to every Asian-Vancouverite’s favourite place of course, a bubble tea café!”



 

Yixing drove like a madman and Minseok was tempted to ask Yixing what days he drove to school so that he could avoid driving to campus on those same days when he had access to the car.

“Um…the speed is limit is kind of like, sixty kilometres.” Minseok commented in what he hoped was a casual manner. He also tried not to grip the door handle too tightly. He didn’t want to invoke more rage within Yixing, who apparently could not tolerate anyone who didn’t drive above ninety kilometres per hour.

“I know.” A wicked grin flashed underneath the sunlight, before Yixing gassed it even harder.

“No please, no.” Minseok breathed, as the vehicle surged forward, leaving behind both a cloud of dust and Minseok’s poor, traumatized soul.


 

They somehow made it downtown within thirty minutes, limbs surprisingly intact.

“Sweet, that’s a new record for me!” Yixing cheered, sliding nimbly out of the car whereas Minseok, face tinged a worrisome shade of green, teetered gracelessly out of the passenger seat and almost fell flat on his face.

“I am never getting into your car again.” He said in a shaky breath, trying to collect himself before he attempted to walk again. He had never felt more like baby giraffe in his life.

“Oh come on, don’t be a baby! That was fun, wasn’t it?” Yixing exclaimed enthusiastically while clapping Minseok heartily on the back, nearly knocking the boy over for the second time.

“No, no it wasn’t.” Minseok objected, placing his hands on Yixing’s black SUV to balance himself as he stepped over the curb and onto the sidewalk.

“Well, let’s get some bubble tea to cheer you up then!” Yixing chirped, leading Minseok down the bustling street.

Minseok had to jog to keep up with Yixing’s brisk steps. He pulled gently at the collar of his black leather jacket, bringing it up closer against his face. He had forgotten to bring a scarf and he would have complained about the cold if he weren’t feeling so nervous.

“So, what are we doing here anyway?” Minseok inquired, after minutes of walking in silence. Anxiety swelled within his stomach. He shifted his backpack on his shoulders.

“You’ll see,” was all that Yixing offered before abruptly stopping in front of two glass doors and pushing it open.   

A blast of warm air hit Minseok in the face, warming his cheeks but drying out his contact lenses. He blinked a few times, attempting to ease the discomfort clinging stubbornly against his pupils as he trailed after Yixing towards a table tucked in the farthest corner.

Bleary-eyed, Minseok made out a red-faced lone figure slouched against the wall, his green fleece-lined military jacket pooling around his shoulders.  

“He didn’t come.” Yixing stated solemnly.

“Nope.” Luhan shrugged nonchalantly, even though his expression was everything but. He stared up at the ceiling, using his furry hood as a pillow. “We dated for a year and three months and he couldn’t even bother to tell me that he couldn’t make it.”

“Oh Luhan.” Yixing let out a long sigh, throwing his giant grey muffler onto the table and sliding up next to his friend in the booth. Minseok felt like he was interrupting an intimate moment.

“I don’t get it, why would he even say he was going to come if he wasn’t actually planning on showing up?” Luhan said, voice cracking. He continued to gaze up at the ceiling. “I thought we could fix this….”

“Hey, well now you can finally move on right?” Yixing prompted, smiling gently. He turned and motioned for Minseok to sit down.

But Minseok didn’t sit, felt like he shouldn’t. “I feel like I should go.” He bit his lip self-consciously. He looked like he wanted to make a mad dash for the door. “I don’t think this is a good time.”

“Don’t be silly.” Yixing leaned over and caught Minseok by the wrist. He stared him evenly in the eyes. “This is what we’re going to do, we’re all going to drink a -ton of bubble tea, then we’re going to grab like fifty chicken nuggets, and then I’m going to drive us to Tao’s place so we can kick some zombie in Left 4 Dead. Okay? Okay.”

Luhan lifted his head and peered at Minseok with giant, bewildered eyes. “He drove here? Did you...sit in his car?”

Minseok paled, a disturbed look inhabiting his face as all his energy suddenly seemed to dissipate at the mention of Yixing’s driving skills (or lack thereof). He practically dropped into an empty seat. “Oh my god…you don’t understand…I thought I was going to die!”


 

Luhan liked Vancouver, for the most part.

He still liked the cozy Belgium waffle bar nestled downtown, he was still obsessed with the heart-attack inducing Canadian dish known as poutine, and of course, he could never not enjoy strolling down the shady, but colourful streets of Chinatown.

The third year commerce student sat at a tiny table near the entrance of Starbucks, pretending he gave a about Economics. Although his textbook was at least flipped open to the relevant page, Luhan’s attention, however, was fully engrossed in scrolling through his Facebook feed on his phone. It was odd how Facebook became twenty times more interesting whenever exam season rolled around.

“Hey, I got you a grande white mocha, hope you’re okay with that.” A cheery voice broke Luhan away from his Facebooking stupour. A steaming cup topped with whipped cream and cinnamon was placed carefully in front of him.

“Thanks, I love white chocolate!” Luhan grinned before eagerly away at the whipped cream.

“I’m glad to hear that!” Minseok clasped his hands together, his face lighting up with a bashful smile. “Thanks for saving me a seat by the way.” Minseok added, taking a small sip of his drink. “It always gets so busy here during finals….”

“Anytime for you.” Luhan winked playfully, heart fluttering when Minseok instantly sputtered and directed his gaze out the window, cheeks burning attractively.

“By the way, you have something here.” Luhan snickered, pointing at the corner of his lip.

“Is it gone now?” Minseok asked, tongue darting timidly towards the wrong side, which only made Luhan laugh harder.

“Here,” Luhan reached over the table and wiped the chai latte smear off Minseok’s lip with his thumb, unconsciously at it afterwards.

“Oh…you didn’t need to do that….” Minseok murmured into his fluffy maroon scarf.

Luhan shrugged, a trace of rouge tinting his cheeks. “I wanted to.”

Maybe living in a smallish city wasn’t so bad after all.

(And he didn’t even notice when Oh Sehun walked through the door.)