Three weeks before the concert

It was one of these days that Luhan couldn’t stay quiet, he kept pacing back and forth in his room mumbling to himself. He had managed to talk to Xiumin earlier confirming that EXO would have a concert in Beijing in three weeks. That…what was that really? How did he feel about it? It is not even a year since they had a concert here since his last concert, since the last time he saw Xiumin in person. He couldn’t think straight now…too many things to process. Too many feels but the most important would be that Minseok, his Minseok would be here. A call away…And Luhan was a little bit tired lately seeing him only through a screen. ‘It is my fault isn’t it? I am the one who left’. That thought came to his mind too many times lately and every time he voiced it to Minseok he would always get the same reply “It’s not your fault, it’s no one’s fault, you had to leave. Look at you now. You are healthy with your friends with your parents doing things you love. Don’t be sad Hannie we will figure it out. I will be by your side at any decision you make” And Luhan loved Xiumin for that because he didn’t question his choices as long as he was sure they would make Luhan happy. “What can I do to see you baozi?” Luhan sighed and went to lay down to his bed perhaps to try and sleep. When Kris called and told him to meet him and Lay Luhan was more than happy to leave his house and get some fresh air.

“Luhan-ge will you please stop? We came to here to meet with each other and have fun. Don’t talk about Minseok hyung for a while. I love him too but that’s too much” Lay said looking at Luhan a little bit irritated. “Woah where did that come from? I didn’t know you could get angry Yixing! Well done Luhan” Kris said making fun of them. He would admit listening to Luhan talking about Xiumin all the time could drive you crazy but after all those months they went out only the two of them he had managed to block Luhan‘s voice after a while. “I am not angry I just want to eat my hotpot quietly and learn about your news. Luhan ge keeps talking and asking about Minseok hyung all the time. And imagine when I am in Korea Minseok asks me Did you talk to Luhan? And here Luhan is like Did Minseok talk about me? Isn’t he cute? Kris do you understand me? As if they don’t talk every day!” Lay exploded you could legitimately say that Luhan looked like a tomato by that time. “I didn’t know you feel that way. I am sorry Lay” Luhan said looking at the ground.

“Luge you know I don’t mean it. I know it’s difficult for you. Let us eat first and we will talk later about that” Lay offered.

“Don’t call me that” Luhan demanded.

“What? Luge?” Lay asked.

“Don’t call me that!” Luhan repeated.

“Still the Only Minseok calls me that thing I see” Kris said. He didn’t see the punch Luhan gave him in his arm though.

They remained silent for a while as they walked down the empty streets of Beijing their bellies full with delicious hotpot. Times like this they felt like they were normal people, like they could do anything without being afraid that the next day there would be a picture or an article or anything judging them. “The last one to the bench buys ice cream” Lay said motioning to a bench about 50 meters away. They stared at each other and started running. To no one’s surprise Kris was last but it didn’t really matter. Those 50 meters were a refreshing break from reality where they actually remember how it is to be in your 20s carefree, playing with your friends, laughing…

And they laughed until Lay fell off the bench and they laughed even more. When they got a hold of themselves Kris suddenly said “Go find him.” “Gege it’s ‘Go fighting’” Lay said making Kris roll his eyes turning his attention to Luhan again. “Go find him. When he comes here go find him” The two other boys looked at him confused “What are you talking about?” Luhan said. “When Minseok comes here go find him, call him, meet him, and find him” Kris repeated in his deep voice. “It’s not that easy” Luhan shook his head. “It is or is it not? Did you try?” Kris said a look in his face as if he was challenging him. Well he hadn’t try before because this was madness but... “I will help you” Lay smiled at him. “I will find a way to get you into the concert” he said determined. “That’s too dangerous-” Luhan started “Is it worth it?” Kris cut him and he could see the wheels in Luhan’s brain turning behind his widely opened eyes as he tried to think. “He worth it” he said firmly. “Then do it” Kris replied turning his gaze towards the sky admiring the stars, a satisfied look in his face. Luhan then turned to Lay. “Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you if they find out?”

“I don’t care” the younger boy replied “That’s more important. Friendship is more important”

Luhan stood up suddenly to walk, his back to his friends and they were sure they heard a sob(?). “Thank you” he said his voice a little broken. “He is crying, isn’t he?” Kris scoffed. “I am not! I am manly!” Luhan said stomping his foot on the ground, still facing the other direction. “He is definitely crying” Lay said and they started laughing again. “Come on let’s go get you ice cream manly man” “With chocolate?” Luhan turned excitedly but they could still see the traces of his tears. “How can he be older than me” Kris laughed as they started walking smiling because when your friends support you there seems to be a solution for everything.

One week before the concert

“We should talk to him” Baekhyun whispered to D.O. as they were sitting in the kitchen watching a flushed, sweaty Xiumin running all around the house with a broom and a Swiffer in each hand. “This can’t continue anymore, he has cleaned the house so many times these days we will die from good hygiene” Baekhyun continued. “I agree it’s time to stop him” D.O. said before turning to Xiumin who at the moment was dusting a vase furiously. “Hyung! Hyung stop! Hyung!!!” he nearly screamed before he could make Xiumin leave his little world and listen to them. “Ah D.O. yah what happened? Why are you yelling?” Xiumin asked. “Hyung come and sit with us for a while” motioned D.O. calmer than before but with a deadly stare that didn’t give much of an option to Xiumin to deny. “Hyung we…we think you should stop cleaning…you have cleaned the house too many times lately…just today you cleaned the bathroom twice…we are worried about you” Baekhyun started carefully. “And if you want to clean at least use that monster of a vacuum they gave to Chanyeol” “Hey don’t drag my vacuum into this it’s not its fault if you are afraid of it!” Chanyeol yelled from the living room, D.O. ignored him. “You have too many schedules lately with your movie and school and when you come home you clean and barely sleep. Hyung are you ok? Is there anything that bothers you?” D.O. continued a worried tone in his voice. “Ah…did i? I didn’t realize I wasn’t sleeping that much…haha” Xiumin started a little nervous and uneasy “Well it’s…I don’t know I think I am nervous, upset, am I excited? I think I am excited too although I don’t know… Should I? I mean the last time we went there it wasn’t the best time of my life and I thought I –“

“Hyung take it slower” D.O. stopped him from his uncontrollable speech. “Ah…”Xiumin said blushing a little “You see, we are going to Beijing right? It’s just that I am nervous about it. I want to see Luhan, you know how much I want to see him and he is going to be there I mean we will be in the same city and I won’t be able to see him. And I am nervous because last time I was there well I don’t really want to remember about it but we have a fan sign event and a concert and I don’t want to disappoint our fans and my movie and school. And I have to pretend I am ok that these days they have put two managers to follow me all time everywhere I go in case I do something stupid and it’s really stressful so I guess that’s why I keep cleaning.” He finished releasing a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. His friends were looking at him with a perplexed look. They didn’t know their friend felt that way. Xiumin seemed to be dealing well with Luhan’s absence lately. Sure he wasn’t the same person he used to be and without Luhan dragging him everywhere he was spending most of the time in his room trying to occupy himself with studies. But since their comeback stage in June he looked a little bit happier more alive, he would go to the gym with Chen, Baekhyun and Changmin, he would have fun during concerts… But apparently that meant nothing now that he could actually be a call away from Luhan, so close yet so far. “Hyung I didn’t know you felt that way I am a terrible friend” said Chanyeol who had come from the living room to hug Xiumin. “We should have known we should-“ “No don’t say that I didn’t even know what I felt until now that I talked about it” Xiumin cut him. “ I wish there was a way to actually meet him…We talked about this he said he will be in Beijing, that he won’t have a schedule and that he wants to meet me too but he doesn’t want me to get in trouble so I shouldn’t do anything reckless.”

“He is right hyung. You know it. The managers already got mad with Lay hyung when they found out that he went for dinner with Luhan hyung. Imagine if you met him too…It’s probably better this way” D.O. said.

“Yeah…Yes I know…” Xiumin smiled a bittersweet smile, staring at the floor. Chanyeol kicked Baekhyun under the table “Hey hyung! Tomorrow is Sunday right? They said it won’t be that rainy tomorrow and we have a day off…Do you want to go out after the gym? We could go to the cinema or for pizza! What do you think?” Baekhyun asked anticipating a positive answer. “Ehm..Yeah sure why not? I haven’t done that for quite some time. It might be fun!” he smiled a little brighter now and the three boys sighed in relief that they had made his hyung agree go out and have some fun finally.

Second day of the concert

And that was the end of the second day of the concert in Beijing. As they were getting off the stage Xiumin felt Lay next to him, pulling his sleeve and asking him to follow him. "What are you doing? We have to go to the dressing room" "Hyung just follow me" Lay said in Mandarin. Weird Xiumin thought Lay would only use Mandarin if there was something really important so he followed him through the staff that tried to help the fans leave and the managers who tried to wrap up the concert. Lay took him to the room that they kept their luggage, he opened the door and motioned Xiumin to go in. Once Xiumin got into the room he froze. "You got 10 minutes" Lay said before closing the door, LaoGao following behind him. "Minseok-ah -". As soon as the door closed Xiumin stopped thinking, he just run and hugged as tightly as he could the boy that was waiting for him at the other end of the room. "I missed you, Han" he whispered as he starred at the sparkling eyes before him. Eyes that he could finally see face to face after all this time and not behind a screen. "I missed you too baozi" Luhan whispered softly caressing Xiumin's sweaty cheeks.

Ten minutes after a flustered Kai got into the room "Hyung quickly the managers are looking for you everywhere! You have to come now! Luhan hyung it was nice seeing you, LaoGao is waiting at the car" Kai said and then disappeared behind the door. Xiumin turned to look at Luhan. "I love you" he said. "I love you too. Until next time" "Until next time" Xiumin said, he squeezed Luhan's hand and then he left.

Outside the room was Kai waiting "Hyung are you ok?" he asked as soon as he saw him "Yes everything is fine “Xiumin said and they headed to the dressing room where the rest were. "Did you all know?" he asked Kai "Yes. Lay hyung organized the whole thing. He told us this morning" "How did they get in here? Didn't you guys want to see him as well?" "I think they were around here the whole concert but they got there during the last ment" Kai said "Chanyeol and Baekhyun helped them. No one wanted to see him as much as you did. And i think that applies to him as well. Hyung remember you were in the toilet because of stomachache". By that they reached the dressing room where an excited Baekhyun came and hugged Xiumin. "Thank you" Xiumin spelled before the managers see him. "Anytime hyung" Baekhyun said "Anything to see you smile like that once in a while". He exchanged a look with Lay understanding each other like that and gave him the most thankful smile he could because if it wasn't the dimple boy he wouldn't have met Luhan even for these 10 minutes....

“Where were you all this time? And why do you look that flustered?” a manager said returning him into reality “Baekhyun go remove your make up and stop hugging him as if you haven’t seen him in ages!” “Yes hyung” Baekhyun said and left after giving a final wink at Xiumin. “I rushed to the toilet my stomach was killing me” Xiumin said sticking to the plan. The manager didn’t seem to be 100% convinced but he nodded and left. Xiumin then went to remove his make along with s, a grin constantly on his face.

Later at his hotel room Xiumin was laying down thinking what had happened a few hours ago. Lay, his roommate for this concert was still in the shower when he heard a loud knocking on the door. When he opened it the forever excited beagle line walked in noisy as always followed with the two maknaes, Sehun playing with his phone and Kai forever his sleepy self. “Hyung hyung come on tell us tell us” Baekhyun said jumping on the bed. “Ya wait for Suho hyung and D.O.!” Chen yelled at him from the window. “I didn’t know we had a family time today” Xiumin said one eyebrow raised. “Oh come on hyung you know why we are here we didn’t get to see Luhan hyung for you at least tell us what happened” Chanyeol said stuffing his mouth with chips. “Don’t start without me!” they heard Lay yelling from the bathroom “I am coming in a minute” “Who else is not here?” Sehun finally closed his phone eagerness in his look. “Ya do you even listen?” Baekhyun said as they heard the knock on the door. Chanyeol literally flew to open the door “Hyung finally” he said as let Suho and D.O. come in “We brought snacks, we thought we would need them giving the rate you consume food you hungry giant” D.O. said giving Chanyeol a meaningful stare making him go sit next to Baekhyun by the bed. “Are we all here?” Suho asked. “Yes yes let’s start!” Lay said coming out from bathroom.

“So hyung how is Luhan hyung? What did he say?” D.O. asked

“He is good…He feels relaxed and healthy. He looks healthy now. Happy.” Xiumin said a genuine yet slightly sad smile. ‘Why couldn’t he be happy here with me?’ he thought. Though it wasn’t time for him to be selfish. He knew that Luhan would never leave If he hadn’t too.

“That’s all? Tell us details hyung!” an irritated Sehun said

“I don’t know what to tell you guys. I was really shocked I didn’t believe I would be actually able to meet him. Not with a manager constantly glued to my side. Really how did you make it? To bring him inside without anyone noticing?” Xiumin asked

“It wasn’t easy really” Chanyeol said barely audible with his mouth full of popcorn this time. This kid really eats a lot.

“It’s all thanks to Lay, he planned and checked everything from weeks ago to make it happen. We just had to make sure the managers wouldn’t see him.” Suho explained. “Which wasn’t that easy” Chen added.

“Anyway I need to thank you, all of you, you guys are amazing I am really thankful. Luhan is thankful too. He said he misses you, he wish he could see you guys too show you his hometown-“

“Minseok, it’s ok” Lay come and hugged him “We know, we are happy we could give you some time to see each other after all this time” Xiumin hadn’t realized the tears that kept falling from his eyes when D.O., the ever caring D.O. gave him a tissue to wipe them. “Yes don’t worry hyung everything is fine. You know Luhan hyung he was whining for so long about what to do to see you. It was better to jeopardize everything than to keep hearing him whining” Kai pointed and everyone laughed. Xiumin relaxed a bit by that.

”Do you think they know? The managers?” Sehun asked a question that all of them wondered

“I don’t think so, if they had they would already make a fuss over that. They wouldn’t let it go like that” Chen pointed

“What about the fans?” Kai reasonably wondered

“Fans…well we can never know with the fans they have eyes everywhere…Though wouldn’t there be articles or photos about it already…it would be the most important thing to report” Suho said.

“I already checked, I couldn’t find anything related but I will check again later to be sure” Sehun said and everyone fell silent for a moment.

“So anything more cheesy to share?” Baekhyun asked wiggling his eyebrows to make the atmosphere a little more light.

“Hey that’s not your concern!” Suho cut him “It’s late the managers will be back in a while and we need to wake up early tomorrow we have a flight to catch. Come on let’s go”

“But hyung I haven’t finished eating yet” Chanyeol whined

“Take them with you idiot” D.O. scolded him before he turned to Xiumin to hug him “Hyung you know I am here whenever you want” he whispered

“Thank you, really thank you” Xiumin replied.

After the said their goodbyes and the members left Xiumin turned to Lay “Yixing-ah, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, If it weren’t you-”

“Minseok don’t worry really I wanted to do this. You deserved it, you both deserved it. You are my friends I couldn’t stand watching you struggling behind a screen everyday while there was something I could do. I promised him I would take care of you when he left. I hope next time you will be able to have more time”

“You truly are an angel” Xiumin said but Lay just smiled.

01:00 Xiumin had turned for the millionth time in his bed, Lay next to him sleeping peacefully. He couldn’t stop thinking of what happened earlier, the feel of Luhan’s hands wrapped around him, the softness of his lips, his sparkling eyes, the softness of his lips, his smell, his touch, the softness of is lips. He ce more as he heard his phone vibrating at the night stand

Goodnight my beautiful bun Luhan had texted him in mandarin as he used to. Luhan doesn’t want Xiumin to forget his mandarin so he usually talks to him in mandarin, maybe it’s because he loves Xiumin’s accent, maybe because someone once had said that he took it from Luhan. Xiumin doesn’t mind, anything that makes Luhan happy. ‘This won’t do. No. Luhan came all the way to the concert risking everything. Our friends risked everything. I can’t just stay like that’ he thought.

Meet me in 30 mins! He replied to Luhan. He was determined. He would meet him he didn’t care he really didn’t care. He didn’t know, couldn’t know when he would be able to see him again. They had managed to keep the texts and calls secret from the managers even the visit earlier, but he didn’t know for how long that would last. He had to see him. So when Luhan texted him a simple Tell me where he knew that Luhan felt the same.  To our place.

When he was ready he turned to Lay who was still sleeping. ‘I should probably tell him in case anything happens’ he thought. “Xing-ah?” he said nudging him a little “I will go find Luhan. Call me if anything happens”. At first he thought that he hadn’t heard him because there was no response and was about to nudge him again when Lay said “It was about time. I thought you would never go” smiling genuinely. That shocked Xiumin at first but that wasn’t the time to discuss it. He just made a mental note to ask him in the morning.

So he left as carefully as he could hoping that he wouldn’t encounter any managers and thankfully he reached the taxi station without problems. ‘I am coming Han I am coming’ he thought.

When Xiumin reached the place a little out of breath, he had gotten off the taxi a block away not wanting to draw any more attention than him going there in the middle of the night,he took a moment to admire the place. It hadn’t changed at all since the last time he visited. Their place was actually The Place a very beautiful place situated on the east of East Bridge Road, Yingbin Avenue, in the western Beijing Center Business District. It has the huge LED screen that displays the sky and it was one of the places Luhan had brought him the first time they had been in Beijing. They loved to go there whenever they could so casually the claimed it as their place. And then he saw Luhan running, crossing the street coming to him and he couldn’t help the ear to ear smile that came to him. “I thought you would never call” Luhan said before he kissed him.

They stayed there for a couple of hours cuddling and talking like they were never apart. With Luhan there seemed to always be something to talk about. Xiumin couldn’t think of day that they stayed silent when they were together. Conversations seemed to go on so smoothly. He missed that, they missed that. But it was ok because the Luhan next to him now was healthy, was smiling wasn’t the walking corpse he had left almost a year ago here. He turned to look at Luhan who was curled on the bench his head on Xiumin’s lap, he looked so peaceful. Luhan smiled and opened his eyes “It’s creepy if you stare at me like that” he said laughing a little. “I am happy you know? I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to see you. I am happy I came today at the concert and that you called even if it’s just for a few hours” he continued as he locked their fingers staring at Xiumin with his beautiful eyes. Xiumin just smiled and kissed him “I am thankful you are here” he whispered in the end. ‘I am thankful but I wish I could be with you forever instead of just a few hours’ he thought. Luhan as if he could read his thought said “Someday baozi someday the forever will be ours” and he kissed their linked hands. “Come on deer of dawn, it’s dawn and I want to live long enough to see our forever. Drive me back to the hotel” “Love you Minseok” “Love you Luhan”.

Thankfully when he came back at the hotel nobody was awake yet, not that he had time to sleep but at least he didn’t meet any managers.

When they were at the airport and they were finally free from the managers as they were waiting for their flight Baekhyun turned to him “So did you go?” he asked him. “Go where?” Xiumin was confused by the sudden question. “Ah look at him he totally did” Chanyeol said. “He did” Yixing confirmed “Yehet~” Sehun shouted from the other end “What are you talking about?” Xiumin finally asked. “Sehun and I made a bet with Suho hyung that you would go find Luhan hyung. Now Suho hyung owns us 1000 won each hahah~” Baekhyun explained. “You disappointed me Minseok” Suho said but he didn’t seem that sad “I thought you would be more responsible and a better example for the younger ones” Suho started his speech and Xiumin got lost in his thoughts again. It would be a long flight, the members would probably and he won’t be able to sleep but he didn’t care because he knew that somewhere in Beijing a little deer was sleeping dreaming of him….