The VCR was playing. The fans were cheering loudly. Beijing was hot that day.

But under the stage, it was strangely quiet. It used to be really loud and gleeful, as it always had to be. Everyone would run around, goof and laugh, change and fix themselves up for the next stage and just simply take a short break.

Everyone was in the changing room but they weren't talking for one bit. They were busy fixing their makeup, hair and rehearsing their respective dance parts. The staffs were also preparing the props for the mashup dance routine. It was like they weren’t EXO.

There were Minseok and Luhan wordlessly sitting next to each other on the couch. Minseok looked torn. And so was Luhan.

"Minseok, I gotta tell you something," Luhan blurted, eyes fixed on his feet, cracking the silence in the room.

"Yeah?" Minseok turned.

"You know.. This is my last stage and it's in my hometown, and.." Luhan said as his thumbs twirled around each other.

"And..? Is there something I haven't known of you?"

"You know.. We’ve gone along so well.. We hardly fought, we have the same interests, and you have been one of the best people I have ever met and lived with.. Don’t you feel something more than just.."

"More than just best friends?" Minseok chuckled at his words.

"Minseok, I'm hell serious," Luhan shut his eyes as color flooded his face.

"Look at me, big guy," Minseok said as he cupped the latter's face, facing his own. Their gazes met.

"Remember when you pulled me back right before I jumped off the SM building because of the hate the antis showered me with? Remember the same tears you have been wiping off that fell from these eyes? Remember these hands that.. that held the knife you pulled away from?" Minseok stuttered in a crescendo, looking deep into the soul of the other with watery eyes.

"Who the hell would think my heart won't fall for that? You always save me, man!" Minseok teared up. "I'm hell serious too, you know."

"Minseok, I.."

"I don't care for what reasons you've done these things for, but I want you to listen to the screams of my heart before you and I part until God knows when."

Luhan smiled and chuckled as his gaze turned away from Minseok.

"Kim Minseok. Remember the seats you always sit on when we go abroad for concerts? Remember who you caught unconscious seconds before hitting a head to the floor from the stage? Remember from who and what the amount of painkiller doses you've always took away was? Don't you remember where you took me after seeing me blacking out in the practice room?" Luhan recalled.

"I guess you do, Minseok. Thank you. And I'm sure we feel the same thing."

"So what's with this 'more than just best friends' you were talking about?"

"I was wondering if I can give you something you can choose to accept or not.." Luhan held his tears back.

A brief silence blanketed the room when a staff broke in and informed that the VCR was about to end and they had to get ready for the next stage.

The eleven of them sprinted to the center stage platform and prepared their earphones and microphones. Still, Minseok and Luhan were still next to each other.

“I know what you’re planning to give me. Don’t worry, I’ll give you mine too,” Minseok chuckled. He chuckled because he knew that it’s obvious what other people give to each other when they feel they’re more than best friends.

The platform lifted them onstage.

Time passed and all of them had heart-shaped cushions in their hands. The music blasted with electro funky beats and melodies of young ladies.

Dance routines were made and Luhan and Minseok were already in their mannequin poses.

Luhan had his right hand on his forehead. He realized that this was his last time to act as a mannequin.

Luhan saw the fans cheering for him in the pits below the stage. He realized that this was his last chance to ever see them cheer for them, give them strength and keep them as one. As EXO. As a family he would always be thankful for.

Luhan felt Junmyeon’s palms gripping his waist and dragging him towards Minseok. He realized that it was his last chance to remember how everyone’s hands felt like. The tenderness, the warmth, the love and affection that flows from every touch.

Luhan looked back at the rest of the members. He realized that it was his last night together with the members on stage. There wouldn’t be any more stages for him to perform and give his all with the EXO members.. in one stage.. as one.

And as Luhan stumbled forward by the gentle drag of Junmyeon’s arms, he looked at Minseok.

He’s going to miss a lot of things.

In which most of them brings him true happiness.

And Minseok was a big part of those many things.

Those single eyelids, the m-shaped lips, the pinchable cheeks that look like buns.. not to mention Luhan himself gave him the nickname ‘bun’. The eyes that turns back time; way back even until the moment their eyes first met in the practice room, when they were scolded for being late.

Luhan looked at Minseok’s arms that were hugging the heart-shaped cushion.

He remembered those arms saving him from smashing his head onto the floor in the practice room. He remembered those fingers running through his hair whenever his acrophobia strikes. He remembered the palms that grabbed away those excessive painkillers he used to take. He remembered the fingers that held to him his Christmas and birthday gifts. He remembered the chest that embraced him after being saved from a free fall onto the pits of the festival area of the concert.

He remembered secretly wanting to confess to him.

He remembered the urge kicking inside him to kiss him under the mistletoe on the hallway of the dorm when everyone else was away.

Luhan doubted if he even made the right choice; to give up his memories for the sake of his own health and family.

He doubted if he was ready to leave his savior.

He doubted if he had paid him back for all the goodness he had accomplished in his life.

And he doubted if the parts of his heart he gave for his family and those wonderful things were equal.

He remembered his hand shaking while receiving the contract nullification papers. He remembered showering himself with tons of questions whether his heart was stronger than his health or not.

It was too late to change anything anymore… unless he believed in the faith within him.

Should I… make a go? What if he rejects? What if I break my heart for the nth time? Will I still survive the pain?

Will he grant my last wish?

Luhan and Minseok’s faces were now just a few inches away from each other. They would lock gazes, like they always had, but tonight, Luhan didn’t. He didn’t dare to see Minseok in the eyes because… it killed. He had struggled to prepare for the end of what they have within the relationship, but… looking at him just made his efforts dissipate in vain. He would break down again, fighting with himself and losing control. He wished someone could hear his heart and his very own self scream out.

But instead, Minseok grabbed Luhan’s nape and took over his eyes.

“Look at me, Luhan. I said I was going to give my heart to you, the way you give yours to me, too, don’t you remember?”

Luhan’s eyes widened. He remembered.

"I was wondering if I can give you something you can choose to accept or not…"

“I know what you’re planning to give me. Don’t worry; I’ll give you mine too.”

Minseok did grant his last wish.

“Minseok… I’m so glad you accepted…” Luhan teared up, a drop of incomprehensible emotions rolling flooding his beautiful doe eyes, absent to the eyes of the fans.

“Baby, don’t cry… I have to make myself trustworthy to my one and only ex-best friend, right?” Minseok whispered, bending the both of them backwards to hide the scene from any suspicions. Luhan held the other’s back, wanting to feel the moment as deeply as possible.

“Luhan. I love you, alright?” Minseok smiled.

“Me too, Minseok.”

And so, the gap closed in and two pairs of lips touched, fondling in the nicest and most pitiful way.  Emotions, thoughts and heartstrings flooded through the contact and the way the heart cushion got in the way didn’t interrupt at all.

All the doubts and unstableness in Luhan’s heart faded away. He was beyond relieved and glad that his best friend was willing to accept him as someone more than a best friend.

A lover. A loyal, trustworthy lover that could go through anything to make him happy, even through distance and time, because their happiness is each other’s.

Gee,  a relationship grew from a detention in the practice room into something one could treasure his life for.