Luhan was missing Mei – too much. He hadn't realized it but they spent all their free time together – either in person or on the phone. Now, however, he had to stop himself from randomly calling her or sending her a text because he'd promised himself he wouldn't bother her while her tests were going on.

Not that he was completely free. In fact, these days his schedule was so full, it was a surprise he had any time for himself at all. There were his studies – he couldn't skip on them because hello, scholarship. And of course, there was his soccer practice – now more intensive because their team had cleared the initial rounds and was going into the quarter finals.

And the night shift – even though Suho was letting the student Legends free – Kai, Sehun and Tao were completely excluded from the patrol at present. Suho had offered to let him off as well, knowing he was busy but Luhan didn't feel right not doing anything while others risked their lives.

'It's not come to that, thank heavens.' Suho told him. 'D.O and Chanyeol will come back soon, so we'll have more people. You needn't worry.'

'I'll manage.' He told Suho. 'Night shifts are nothing I haven't done before.'

'Your choice.' Suho shrugged. 'I think you're pushing yourself too much, though. You have other problems to deal with as well, you know.' His hint was obvious.

'So do you!' Luhan retorted. Suho had no room to talk, seeing as he was just as stuck with Angel.

'Kids, calm down!' Xiumin put his arms around their necks, pulling their heads together. 'No need to get in a tizzy…'

'You stay out of it!' Luhan pushed his arm off and stalked away.

Truthfully, he – and Suho as well – was jealous of the ease with which Xiumin had dealt with the claiming part. He'd just strutted up to his mate and bam, kissed her. No hesitation, no shyness, just straight up, no holds barred kiss for everyone to see. Now that's how it was done.

He wondered how Mei would react if – and it was a big if – he gathered the guts to go over and bam, kiss her in front of everyone. It was a very tempting scenario and he could just imagine the look on Kai's face when he realized he'd lost…

Snap out of it! Luhan reprimanded himself. Mei was his and he wasn't going to let the likes of that cub make him do stuff he wouldn't normally do.

Still, he was determined to move things along. Their courtship had gone on long enough and it was about time – no, way over the time – that he asked her to be his girlfriend. And if she needed convincing, he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

So, on the night before their final exams, he called her.  

'Hello?' she sounded breathless.

'Miss me?' he whispered, heart suddenly thumping.

'Luhaan!' She let out an excited squeal. 'Ohmygod, you have no idea how much I missed… ahem,' she amended, speaking coolly. 'Yeah, a little.'

Luhan smiled, drinking in the sound of her voice. 'Just a little?' He asked, looking around. He was on the night patrol right now, moving around and keeping an eye out for anything unusual.

'Okay, maybe a teeny tiny bit more than that.' She added. Just like her to put on that façade so she wouldn't appear too eager. He didn't know why but he liked that about her.

He liked a lot of things about her and it was about time he did something about it.  

 'I'll be free tomorrow.' He told her.

'Oh really?' She tried to cover up her eagerness again but he could hear her underlying excitement. 'That's great, I guess. I'll be free tomorrow too.'

'Well now, aren't I lucky?' He chuckled into the phone. 'Since we're both free, why don't you go out with me? Tomorrow?'

'I'll have to see…' she stalled.

'Or I could ask Sehun and Tao instead – we haven’t hung out for like… ages.' He put in, deliberately sounding casual.

'Ya!' she snapped. 'I didn’t say I'm not going!'

'You didn’t say you were.'

'I will, okay?' she sounded irate but he knew she was happy.

'It's a date.'

He thought he heard her mutter 'About time.'

'What was that?' he asked, thoroughly enjoying himself.

'I said whatever. See you.'

'Good night.'

He hung up, then turned to go back. The night was clear, there was no sign of the Evil around and the moon looked stunning against the night sky. He whistled as he made his way back.

………………………..