Also from Close Your Eyes (apologizing profusedly)

Every Star in the Sky

"And the prince and the princess lived happily ever after." Mrs Kim finished with a flourish, smiling at the thirty something little kids sitting on the floor in front of her. Her eye twitched as she glanced over at Chanyeol and Baekhyun whom were currently immersed in their own little world, giggling and whispering to each other. Kyungsoo was sprawled on the ground at the back of the crowd, nose buried in a book. Yixing and Suho were fast asleep, Suho's head leaning against Yixing's shoulder, while Yixing was drooling, mouth open and nose twitching. 

Mrs Kim scanned the crowd searching to see if anyone had been listening to her story. Her eyes lit upon two boys whom were sitting right in front of her: Sehun and Luhan.

Sehun was the 4 year old who was too smart for his own good and came to kindergarten early. Luhan was the cutest thing Mrs. Kim had ever seen with large glistening eyes and pale skin. Somehow, the two of them had became close friends.

They were still staring at her. Sehun slightly glassy eyed and Luhan with a disgusted look on his angelic face. 

"Sehun? Are you okay? And Luhan, what happened?" Mrs Kim prodded the two boys gently, comforting herself with the fact that at least two of her students had listened to the story.

"Mrs. Kim?" Sehun asked, his slight lisp evident. "Am I a prince charming?"

"Of course you are, Sehun" Mrs Kim replied amused at the young boy. "And you'll find your own princess"

"Mrs. Kim" Luhan cut in, a scowl on his voice, "That was a silly story."

Both Mrs Kim and Sehun stared at Luhan, astonishment on their faces. "How so, Luhan?" Mrs Kim finally managed to ask.

"The prince didn't even give the princess anything" Luhan answered pouting. "He needs to give her something to profess his love for her. You can't just say "I love you" you have to show it."

Mrs Kim just stared at the young boy, before a cackling Jongdae interrupted her thoughts. Looking up, she found Jongdae tickling Minseok, but while Minseok was sitting there, stoic, staring at Jongdae, Jongdae was cackling, his face red with laughter. With a sigh, Mrs Kim got up to break up the one sided tickle fight. 

~~~

"What do you think the prince should have given the princess, hyung?"

"Mmm?" Luhan murmured as he tried to balance the last block on top of his tower. 

Sehun stood on his own chubby legs and tried to place a block at the same time, and with a whoosh, the tower collapsed. 

Sehun's eyes widened in horror as the tower seemingly fell over in slow motion. With a sinking heart, he turned to look at Luhan. Luhan's large eyes were even bigger than normal and glistening with unshed tears. 

"No, don't cry, hyung!" Sehun yelped as he dropped towards the ground and started pulling the blocks toward him. "I'll rebuild it, okay?"

Luhan blinked his tears away and sat on the ground next to Sehun. "Okay."

"Hyung?" Sehun asked, his small tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration as he tried to balance a large red block on top of a small blue cube. "What do you think the prince should have given the princess?"

"Mmm? The bigger block should go on the bottom, Sehunnie" Luhan answered, staring at Sehun's work critically. "Well, I think it should be the thing the princess wants the most. Or what the prince thinks is the most precious thing in the world. Or something that would make the princess happy."

"What would you give your princess, hyung?" Sehun asked as he finally flipped the two pieces and placed the smaller block on top of the large one.

"Ermm, I'd give her the most precious thing" Luhan answered, pouting at Sehun's lack of architectual skills. "I'd give her a jar of stars... I'd pick a star every single night .. the brightest star in the sky that night and place it in a jar, and then once the jar was full, I'd wrap my purple ribbon around the jar and give it to her."

"I'm done hyung!" Sehun squealed smugly at the small tower he managed to construct.

Luhan stared at the small tower critically. It wasn't even half as tall as the one he had built before. But then he turned towards Sehun who was grinning at him somewhat expectantly, a slight crease on his forehead. 

"Do you like it hyung?" Sehun asked again, quieter this time, the smile on his face slowly turning into a frown. "You don't like it do you..."

"No, I like it," Luhan decided, giving Sehun a small hug. '"Its perfect."

Luhan felt better about the short, stubby tower once Sehun smiled again, his eyes creasing into small slits as he did a small dance of victory, before crashing into the tower again.

Luhan almost cried in exasperation, but instead, patted Sehun on the shoulder, seeing the younger boy's lip wobble. "It's alright. Its almost recess anyways, so we would have had to break it down."

~~~

"Mommy, can Luhan hyung sleep over?"

"Mrs. Oh, can I sleep over?"

Mrs. Oh stared at the two faces that were peering at her, both trying their best "puppy eye look". She chuckled, handing Luhan a plate of cookies. "Of course, I'll call your mother Luhan."

"Thank you!" the two boys squealed in unison before Sehun snatched a cookie and pressed a kiss on Mrs Oh's cheek and Luhan gave her a cheeky grin before kissing Mrs. Oh's other cheek and ran away with the plate of cookies. With a sigh and a soft smile, Mrs. Oh returned to cooking dinner.

~~~

"Sehun?"

"Yeah, hyung?" Sehun murmured back as he rummaged around his room. Finally, he emerged out of his closet, his hair slightly dusty, with a small jar.

"What are you doing?"

"We're going to the roof."

"Why?"

"I'm catching you a jar of stars, hyung. You can pick the star you think is the brightest, and I'll catch it for you."

Luhan grinned before pulling the younger boy into a bear hug. "Alright Sehunnie."

The two boys stood on the roof, their necks craning up to see the sky. "Which one is the brightest, hyung?"

"That one... no, that one! No, that one is brighter... No, that one."

"Its alright hyung. Just pick one. I'll end up picking all of them either way."

"Fine, I want that one" Luhan shrugged, pointing to a large star off to the left.

The two boys spent the next twenty minutes trying to reach the star, until Mrs. Oh finally came up and called them to bed. 

Mrs. Oh was suprised to find Sehun in tears when she tucked him into bed, Luhan already asleep in the twin bed that was in Sehun's room for the sole purpose of Luhan. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she murmured concerned.

"I didn't catch the star, mama." Sehun whimpered, pointing at the empty jar sitting on the ground. "Luhan hyung said he'll love me forever if I catch him a jarful of stars."

Mrs. Oh's eyebrows flew up at the confession. "I'll help you catch the star," she promised the sleepy boy.

"No, mama, I have to catch it! Otherwise, Luhan hyung might love you and you might not love daddy anymore."

Chuckling at Sehun's logic, Mrs. Oh flicked his forehead. "I'm your mother, so I'm technically you, right? So if I catch it, it counts as you catching it, alright?"

Yawning, Sehun nodded, allowing his mother to kiss his forehead. "Sweet dreams, baby"

~~~

The next morning, Luhan woke up first and he clambered out of bed to climb into Sehun's. He stumbled on the small jar sitting on the ground, and he rubbed his eyes in confusion. In the jar sat a small origami star. He looked up towards the bed and saw a sleeping Sehun, a small smile on his face.