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Before Luhan could get in another word, the call had ended and Luhan was inwardly cursing his friend. If this group conversation were anything like the conversation between Yifan, Chanyeol, and all of their friends, it couldn’t go well. Luhan could always try to steal the number from Yifan before they tried to call Sehun and ruin Luhan’s image forever. But with leverage like this, Yifan would not be so sloppy as to leave his cellular simply lying around for Luhan to take. He probably already put Sehun’s number in his contacts so that even if Luhan didn’t call, Yifan could. Luhan sighed in exasperation.  He just couldn’t win at this.

The doe-eyed boy rolled onto his back and splayed his limbs in random directions. Half of him was afraid to make the call and ask the model out on a date but the other half was waiting to receive the number so he could call and invite Sehun to go out with him. Luhan ruffled his hair in frustration. Sehun was just so cute and funny and totally Luhan’s type; it was bridging on frustrating at this point. With work in half an hour, Luhan concluded that he did not have the time to be moping. He needed to make himself presentable. As this thought ran through his head, he could almost hear Yifan saying, “You preen too much. You look fine,” as he scowled.

“So say you,” Luhan grumbled to the empty room as he walked to the washroom. “You spend a good hour with your own ‘preening’ every evening.” As Luhan washed his face, he pondered his relationship with the giant and the Chibi owl.

They were a strange trio who had simply met up when they all began working in the coffee shop. He had gotten close to Yifan when he found out that Yifan was from China. Luhan had gotten close to Kyungsoo earlier on because Kyungsoo had already been working at the shop before Luhan had come. Kyungsoo, despite being significantly younger, was actually the one who had worked at the shop the longest. Kyungsoo taught Luhan how to prepare everything on the menu, although Luhan could not execute them as artfully as Kyungsoo could. As Yifan had discovered recently, Kyungsoo was the best at making and decorating cappuccinos.

Kyungsoo was also the one who had debriefed Yifan and Luhan on the schedules of the various customers during the lunch rush.  Despite not looking it, he was the most together and responsible of the three of them.

Fifteen minutes of preening and preparation later, Luhan was ready to leave for work.

Once he had arrived and changed into his work attire, he sent another five minutes regarding himself in the mirror and fixing non-existent stray hairs.  “Krisus Christ Luhan! You should just get over yourself and stop fixing your hair. It looks fine. Besides, it’s not one of the days that they usually show so you don’t have anyone you need to impress,” Yifan grumbled from behind making Luhan start and knock a few hairs out of place.

“Now look what you’ve done,” Luhan huffed, earning an eye roll in reply. “I know that he won’t be coming but I have to make myself presentable to the rest of the general population. And don’t give me any of your sass, I know just how long you spend in the mornings getting ready.”

“Come off it, you two,” Kyungsoo complained, coming to check on the three of them. “You’re both supposed to be working right now.”

“You can be such a wet blanket sometimes, Soo,” Luhan sighed melodramatically. Kyungsoo replied with a sceptical look before returning to the front upon hearing the tinkle of the bell. “Think it’s the maroon-haired pianist? Soo’s seemed a little more huffy recently,” Luhan gossiped.

“Does it honestly matter?”

“I just want to know. I love having dirt on everyone.” The smile Luhan gave was angelic but Yifan knew the evil hidden behind it and cringed inwardly.

“Hey Luhan, you have someone here to see you,” Kyungsoo called from the front.

“And who might that be?” Luhan called back without moving.

“You’ll just want to come over here and see for yourself,” Kyungsoo replied ambiguously. Luhan made a pinched face as he headed to the front. The expression turned to a cross between glee, fear, and embarrassment when Luhan saw that the customer Kyungsoo was talking about was Sehun. Sehun, and Jongin for that matter, weren’t supposed to be there. It was a day they were usually too busy to come by.

“We finished early so we decided to come over,” Sehun replied to Luhan’s shocked expression.

“So we decided to come by and say hi. Did you get Sehun’s number?” Sehun’s bronze-skinned friend asked. “I gave it to Yixing but I thin that he could have quite possibly lost it before it got to Chanyeol.” Luhan noticed that when Jongin wasn’t smiling like an idiot, he was really attractive. The bored and y expression was almost enough to make Luhan’s heart flutter just a little, but Sehun was there and outshined Jongin significantly.

Luhan tried to say something but, to his chagrin, words would not come so he ended up staring, with his mouth opening and closing in a manner similar to that of a fish.

“Yes, he got Sehun’s number,” Kyungsoo supplied helpfully, rescuing his friend from his brilliant episode of speechlessness. Luhan affirmed this with a dumb nod. He wasn’t expecting to see Sehun today and suddenly, and irrationally, felt totally unprepared for whatever it was that Sehun was expecting. “Eloquent as ever.” Kyungsoo smirked.

“I-I was going to call you after work because I thought you weren’t going to be coming today because usually your schedule is busy this day of the week,” he rambled, much to the amusement of all in the near vicinity, namely Yifan, Kyungsoo, Sehun, and Jongin. The models tried to stifle their laughter, to no avail. Sehun elbowed his friend in the ribs as he tried to keep his own face straight. In response, Luhan flushed a brilliant vermilion and felt as if he wanted the floor to swallow him up instead of trying to talk to or face Sehun ever again.

“It’s okay. I think it’s cute,” Sehun commented, sending all sorts of feeling surging through Luhan’s heart.

“You’re such a cheese,” Jongin teased.

“Well it’s better than being a socially awkward god,” Sehun replied coolly.

“At least you called me a god.” Jongin shrugged. “You’re not too hard on the eyes either. That must be why they are always doing those photo shoots with the two of us together scandalously.”

Sehun puffed his cheeks out. “You’re so immature and lewd.”

“Remind you of anything?” Yifan asked Luhan in mandarin.

“I am not lewd and immature!” Luhan retorted.

“You totally are,” Kyungsoo added, guessing what they were saying.

“You two are so cruel,” Luhan complained.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Sehun sounded from across the counter from the trio as he leaned on the flat surface. “I think it’s a cute personality, just not on this idiot,” he added.

“That’s harsh Hunnie-boo,” Jongin chided.

“As much as the fans want to see us bang, that’s not happening. I’ve seen how awkward you can be. We grew up together. It’d be too awkward if we tried it.”

“I agree,” Jongin chuckled. “But if I didn’t have my eyes on Yixing, 10/10 would bang the doe-eyed one.”

“Don’t talk about them like they’re pieces of meat!” Sehun protested. “He’s cute and nice even if he can be awkward at times. It’s endearing to see his embarrassed face.”

“You’re a bit of a sadist aren’t you, Hunnie?”

After a slight delay, Luhan finally processed what Jongin had said. “I do not have doe-eyes!” Luhan protested.

“Yes you do,” Kyungsoo and Yifan replied simultaneously.

“And it’s adorable,” Sehun concluded. Luhan’s cheeks tinted an even brighter shade of red.

“So listen,” Jongin began. “Sehun was planning on asking you out once you called him, assuming that we wouldn’t have time to come down here before you called. “ He poked his friend’s pale cheek.

“We should probably talk about this after Luhan’s work, or when he has free time. For now, we’ll just have two low fat lattes.” 

A/N: Luhan will continue to appear in my fics and such. It's similar reasoning to the note about Kris written earlier.