Sehun pushed away the plate of cold French toasts in front of him and leaned back on the side chair he was sitting on, beyond full. It was nice that he could have a decent breakfast instead of eating buttered toast everyday as he used to back when he was living with Luhan, but Minseok apparently found it difficult to cook only one serving. But then again so did his mother, which was why staying with Minseok made him feel more at home than ever. Sehun didn’t pay much heed when he heard the sound of the front door being unlocked and simply got off the chair to put the plate of French toasts in the fridge.

“Just leave it there,” Minseok said, walking into the kitchen.

Sehun glanced at him and placed the plate back on the table.

Minseok held out the small plastic bag he had in his hand. “I got your milk.”

“I thought you were going shopping with Luhan?” Sehun asked, taking the plastic bag from Minseok.

“No, the bus was packed,” Minseok said, sitting himself down at the table and pulling Sehun’s plate closer to himself. “I got that from the corner store.”

Sehun nodded absently, fumbling with the flap on the small milk carton to open it.

Minseok pushed around the leftover French toasts on the plate for a moment before lifting his head to look at Sehun, an overly bright smile on his face. “Do you want to go to that clothing store down the road? You can pick something out for yourself.”

“Okay,” Sehun mumbled, finally managing to open the carton.

“Brilliant.” Minseok gestured at the plate in front of him. “We’ll go when I’m done with this.”

Sehun gave a listless nod and gulped down the milk. He was about to walk to the sink and rinse the carton out when he heard someone unlocking the front door again.

“Maybe we should go now,” Minseok said, standing up abruptly.

Sehun watched in puzzlement as Minseok walked over to the fridge and shoved the plate of French toasts in it, failing to make sense of the situation until he saw Minseok tensing up when he almost ran straight into Luhan on his way out of the kitchen.

“Minseok,” Luhan sighed.

Minseok flashed him a smile. “I’m going out. Let’s go,” he said to Sehun, and tried to resume his steps but halted when Luhan took hold of his arm. He hesitated for a moment before meeting Luhan’s eyes. “It was just a petty fight.”

“So we’re okay?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Minseok asked, giving Luhan another stiff smile.

Luhan paused, contemplating Minseok’s expression. “Are you being caustic again?”

“I don’t want to fight,” Minseok said, gently pulling his arm out of Luhan’s grasp. “I think we just need to spend some time apart.”

“But we didn’t even-” Luhan quickly stopped himself, shooting Sehun an uncomfortable glance, and lowered his voice slightly. “We barely spent five minutes together.”

“And we argued the whole time about the pettiest things.”

Luhan seemed to think that over for a while, before shaking his head, a confused frown on his face. “What kind of relationship is this?”

“We were fine before today. I think we should take a breather from each other for the rest of the day and forget about trying to change anything.”

“But this arrangement that we have now doesn’t work. Can you not see that?”

“It was working fine before you suddenly decided that you didn’t like the way things were.”

“It wasn’t working,” Luhan insisted. “You were avoiding me, you said so yourself. What kind of relationship is that?”

“If I didn’t, we’d just fight.”

“That’s exactly the problem and we need to fix that.”

“I told you what you needed to fix and you said you didn’t want to,” Minseok reminded him.

“I’m not the problem here. There’s one thing in particular that I always complain about, and what do you think that is?”

Minseok sighed. “Please don’t.”

“It’s Sehun, right? I don’t like the fact that he’s a third wheel, I don’t like the fact that you coddle him too much, I don’t like the fact that he’s a waste of space.”

“I can hear everything, you know,” Sehun muttered.

“If he’s not here then I’ll have nothing to complain about and we’ll have nothing to fight about,” Luhan continued. “Don’t you see the connection there?”

“I don’t want to do this again,” Minseok said, sounding weary.

“I’m trying to fix a problem that we shouldn’t have in the first place.”

“Even if Sehun’s not here, you’ll find something to fight about anyway.”

“We never fought before he came into the picture.”

“We’ve talked about this before, remember? How many times do I need to tell you that he’s not the problem?”

“How many times do I need to tell you that he is?”

“This is going nowhere,” Minseok sighed.

“Neither is this relationship.”

Minseok hesitated before turning around to look at Sehun. “Let’s go.” He reached for Sehun’s arm when he made no move to leave and pulled him towards the front door.

“Walking away’s not going to solve the problem,” Luhan said, following them and slamming the door shut when Minseok opened it, keeping a firm hand on it.

After a few failed attempts to open the door, Minseok gave up with a sigh. “Fighting about it’s not going to solve the problem either.”

“I’m not trying to fight. I’m trying to talk it out.”

“Maybe I should go,” Sehun said, taking a few steps away from them.

“No, stay,” Minseok said, stopping Sehun in his tracks. “It’s worse if you’re not here.”

Luhan frowned. “Well, that’s just great, isn’t it? Our relationship is so ty that we need a bloody mediator.”

Minseok looked at him, apparently trying to find the right response before finally settling for “We don’t have a problem.”

“Then what do you call this?” Luhan asked, gesturing at the both of them.

“Things were completely fine yesterday, as they had been for the past eight months. I don’t know why you’re doing this now.”

“You don’t think it’s a problem that you’ve been deliberately avoiding me?”

“That’s how I make this relationship work. We didn’t spend a lot of time together last year and the years before that and things were fine then.”

“Bloody hell, Minseok, that’s not how a relationship should work.”

“It’s how ours work. Look what happens when you try to change that.”

“Do you know what changed since last year and the years before that? That,” Luhan said, pointing at Sehun.

“Sehun has nothing to do with this,” Minseok said, exasperated. “Didn’t you promise to stop blame shifting?”

“I’m not blame shifting. I’m pointing out the problem so we can fix it.”

“You’re the problem. I keep telling you that but you can’t seem to understand at all.”

“How am I the problem? We had a stable relationship for four years and then Sehun came and everything got messed up. I think there’s an obvious cause and effect there.”

“I thought you said we had nothing in those four years.”

“No, that’s what I thought you thought.”

Minseok hesitated. “I don’t understand.”

“I liked what we had and apparently you did too. We never fought, you weren’t avoiding me, everything was perfect, and then Sehun came along.”

Minseok frowned. “No, and then you changed. Or rather, and then I got to know you. That was the problem. That’s why we fought eight months ago, because I realized that I didn’t know you at all.”

“So why are we fighting now?”

“Because-” Minseok halted.

“Because you don’t like me, right? That’s why you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Please don’t do this.”

“Don’t do what? I’m just telling you what the problem is. You keep complaining about me putting on a charade but that’s exactly what you’ve been doing all by yourself for the past six months, at least.”

“That’s the only way I can keep us together.”

“But relationships don’t work that way. It’s a two-way thing. I don’t like it when you go out of your way to avoid me just so you can pretend that we’re a happy couple.”

“That’s what you used to do. Putting on a charade by yourself and fooling me into thinking that we’re a happy couple.”

“Whatever it is, I’m not putting on any kind of pretense now and you don’t like the real me, it’s that simple. I don’t see how we can make this work at all.”

“Just-” Minseok breathed out a heavy sigh. “Just try to change a bit.”

“If you don’t like me, then you don’t like me, period. There’s no point in trying to mould me into someone I’m not.”

“I’m not telling you to become a different person, I just want you to stop blaming Sehun for nothing at all. We don’t have a problem. He doesn’t have a problem. We-”

“Why are we together?” Luhan interrupted.

There was a long pause as Minseok searched for an answer before managing a feeble “Because I love you.”

“No, you don’t. We don’t do anything for each other. You don’t need me, I don’t need you. There’s no reason whatsoever for us to be together.”

Minseok stared at Luhan as he stepped away from the front door. “Why are you doing this?”

“I think it’s best if I move out. I never should’ve moved here to begin with,” Luhan said, before turning to Sehun. “Are you staying or are you leaving with me?”

“Of course I’m staying here. We’ve rented out the house,” Sehun reminded him.

“Suit yourself,” Luhan said, heading to the guest bedroom.

Minseok followed after him. “You don’t have to move out.”

“I can’t live here,” Luhan said, shoving his clothes into a suitcase. “If I want to live in this kind of environment, I’d move back in with my mum.”

“I’ll change,” Minseok said, frustration evident in his voice.

Luhan gave him a quick glance before continuing to pack away his things. “No, you want me to change.”

“You don’t have to.”

“And you’ll keep on avoiding me so you can stay in your blissed-out state loving god knows who,” Luhan muttered, snapping the suitcase shut.

“Where are you going to stay?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the nearest motel.”

“You don’t have to leave. We just need to give it some time and everything will be fine again.”

“Things have never been fine between us since that fight eight months ago,” Luhan said, carrying the small suitcase out to the front door. “None of this is right. Living here, this relationship, everything just makes me frustrated.”

“We say and do stupid things when we’re angry, but it doesn’t have to end this way. We made this mistake before.”

“I’m not making a mistake.”

“You don’t know that,” Minseok said, grabbing Luhan’s arm when he reached for the doorknob.

Luhan paused. “I think it’s a mistake either way but staying would just drive me further up the wall.”

“This isn’t the kind of decision that you should make when you’re angry.”

“I’m not even angry,” Luhan said, pulling Minseok’s hand off his arm. “I just don’t see any point in maintaining this charade anymore.”

“How can it be so easy for you to leave?”

“Because what I’m leaving is your fantasy.”

Minseok hesitated before saying, “I was so ready to leave you eight months ago. Why did you have to make me fall in love with you again?”

“The person you love doesn’t exist,” Luhan said, opening the door and stepping out of the house. “I’ll pick up the rest of my things when I’ve found a place to stay.”

Minseok opened his mouth, obviously fumbling for something else to say but was cut off when Luhan pulled the door shut with a slam, making him flinch.

There was a long pause before Sehun mumbled an awkward “I’m sorry, I guess?”

Minseok shook his head and turned around to face him, a smile plastered on his face. “He’ll cool off and come back.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. Let’s go to that store.”

“Are you sure?”

Minseok nodded. “I think I need some fresh air.”