Today was Thursday, Thursday afternoon to be more specific.

At this same time last week Kris was walking home with Tao and Yixing, as usual, his natural stoic expression on his face. But today was different.

"Kris!" the angelic voice called and Kris' stony facade shattered into pieces as he froze. "Kris, wait up!" Minseok cried again, jogging up to the tall boy. It was a funny sight to see, really - Kris, a tall albeit gentle (but he would never admit it) giant next to Minseok, who was much shorter, cuter, and Kris could only hope that opposites really did attract.

Minseok was fumbling through his baby blue backpack, fishing out his cellphone with a grin. "Give me your phone so we can exchange numbers. If anything comes up I can message you," Minseok explained and Kris nodded, crossing his fingers that his inner dying whale wouldn't make another unwanted appearance because damn, that thing was annoying. Kris got out his own phone, clad in a sleek black case, contrasting with Minseok's own cheerful turquoise case with black borders, and they quickly entered in their phone numbers. "Perfect. Okay, let's go; my house isn't too far away from school so we can just walk," Minseok smiled, and Kris nodded - Minseok seemed to have forgotten that Kris was there practically every day when they were kids.

They reached the familiar white house, going inside only to be greeted by silence. "Are your parents not here?" Kris asked, taking off his basketball sneakers while Minseok did the same. "Oh, yeah, their on their anniversary trip to Hawaii," Minseok said almost wistfully, "even though they've never taken us there. The farthest from Seoul that I've ever been is Jeju." Kris nodded. Kris had been to Jeju before - it was beautiful - but then again he had also been to China, Canada, and the United States.

The tutoring session went on smoothly and comfortably and when Minseok's alarm went off, signaling that his soccer practice was in half an hour, Minseok let out a frustrated groan and then gave Kris a sympathetic smile. "This was so much fun," he said, grabbing his already prepared bag of soccer gear from his neat closet. "You're probably the only one who can make English bearable. Even Hari gets boring after a while. Thank you, Kris! I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Minseok smiled, waving as Kris left the house. When Kris was out of sight he let out a giant sigh and got his phone from his pocket, texting Hari:

From: Kris
To: Hari

It went well

And not even a minute after the reply came:

From: Hari
To: Kris

OMFG really????? tell me everything.

With a laugh and a memory of Minseok's smiling face while trying to pronounce "flower", Kris thought maybe if he were to die right that moment, he would die happy.

-

Following paragraph-long text messages to Hari and random spasms of excitement because he just spent the afternoon with Kim Minseok, Kris situated himself and finished his homework. When his mother called him down for dinner, he was faced with a smug-looking Amber - his younger sister - and he raised an eyebrow. "Oh, please. I was wondering when you would stop making weird noises and flailing around on your bed," she said and Kris looked down at his plate. Right then, Mrs. Wu came into the room and slapped both children on their arms. "Such inappropriate topics will not be discussed at the dinner table," she said, a judgemental expression on her face as she stared sternly at Kris. Amber exploded into laughter while Kris just groaned and dropped his head onto the table.

-

After about a month of weekly tutoring sessions, Kris and Minseok could officially be called friends, talking in the hallways, partnering up during English, getting lunch together, and occasionally sitting together - much to Luhan's disappointment. He reached his limit when Minseok gingerly wiped curry sauce from Kris' cheek - and who knows how that got there - with a napkin and boy, did they look like a couple. Luhan slammed his hands onto the table, causing the entire group as well as others to stare in his direction. He forcefully pulled Hari up from her seat across from Yixing and dragged her into the hall, the entire cafeteria staring in silence.

"What the hell was that?!" Luhan asked with wide, angry eyes. Hari scoffed.

"You mean Minseok and Kris?" she said, her voice laced with nonchalance. Luhan glared.

"Yes, I mean Minseok and Kris! What is my baozi doing with that ugly giant?" he demanded, fists balled. Hari chuckled.

"I'm trying to hook them up. C'mon, Lu, they look so great together," she said, brushing lint off of her mahogany sweater.

"Great? Please, you and I both know that Minseok and I are meant for each other. Our relationship doesn't need distractions like him," Luhan seethed. Now it was Hari's turn to glare at the honey-haired boy.

"Yeah, that was before. Now you're a conceited jerk. You two aren't even in a relationship! Have you ever thought about Minseok's feelings? Have you ever thought that maybe he doesn't like you the way you like him? If you haven't already noticed, a relationship involves two people, not one. Get yourself together, then come talk to me," Hari snapped, pushing past him to walk back into the cafeteria. Luhan was taken aback at his friend's rash outburst and he sighed, because somewhere deep inside him, he knew Hari was right.

-

The following day, Luhan didn't flinch when Minseok sauntered over to Kris' desk to work on flash-cards.

-

Thursday came around again and it was the last Thursday before winter break. Kris was going to make sure that today was the day that something would happen, today was the day that he would make a move. Today was the day he'd confess to Minseok.

Of course, if Minseok slaps him across the face and kicks him out of the house, Kris can only hope that the cute steamed bun would forget over the long break and they could still be friends, but he didn't really want to think that way.

He had noticed a visible difference with Luhan, the pretty boy that accompanied Minseok practically everywhere. The boy's usually wrinkle-free and put-together clothes looked as if he had slept in them and then went to school; the well-styled mop of honey-hued hair was messed-up with frizzy flyaways; and there were noticeable dark circles on his smooth, porcelain skin. He isn't as alert and assertive as he usually is, and his normal bubbly attitude is nonexistent. Kris wonders if it has anything to do with what happened the other day in the cafeteria.

When the final bell rings and students are swarming around the campus, Kris manages to navigate his way to his locker to grab some of his books before meeting Minseok in front of the school, like they did every single Thursday. He greets the latter with a daring shoulder-hug, which Minseok responds with a bright smile and Kris thinks that Minseok's smile is the reason he gets up every morning.

They walk to Minseok's house, gossipping and laughing and just enjoying each other's company. Minseok's father is working while his mother is away at a wedding. Kris was pleasantly surprised at how well things were going. Minseok's English has gotten much better - so much better that Minseok is going to accompany Hari on her annual trip to New York during winter break to meet her friends from when she and Kris studied there for a year. Minseok was showing Kris photos that Hari took, as well as souvenirs and scale models of New York's architectural achievements - all shown with eager eyes.

"It's my dream," Minseok said timidly, smiling up shyly at Kris, "to become an architect. To make buildings as incredible as the ones framing New York, known throughout the world and loved by all." Kris grinned at this, and enveloped the boy in another shoulder-hug as they continued studying English. Kris was happy with Minseok's progress and his ego was boosted even more than it already was.

The end of their study session had come and Kris was prepared, wiping his clammy hands on his jeans while Minseok gathered his soccer clothes yet again. The two walked, hand in hand, to the front door and before Kris could even act,

Minseok kissed him, right on the lips, a mischievous giggle leaving his lips before pushing Kris out of the house and locking the door.

-----

a/n *~*

hahahahahahaha

i updated! yay!

sunday i attended a ballet and i had to hide the chapter :( sorry about that.

i just got back from volleyball practice so i'm sweaty and gross and tired and i just finished my homework. math .

late thanksgiving moment:

i'm thankful, so thankful, for all of my subscribers and all the people who have viewed and upvoted and commented. the comments especially, they touched my heart and made me feel welcome in the aff world if you will XD i never thought people would like my writing and i'm so glad you guys appreciate it. i'll work even harder to provide adorable xiumin fics.

so one more chapter left and maybe a bonus epilogue because those are always fun! then i'll move on to xiukai, then xiuhan, then xiuhun, and then whatever else i feel like doing. i'm most likely doing *yet another* xiuris fic because i love them so much.

thank you so much for reading and i love you <3