Chapter Seven (1/1)

A/N: I feel so bad right now, omfg. I am so sorry, everyone. I got a long one for you so I hope it doesn't suck as much as it felt to me when I read it over.--Jongin’s amusement doesn’t quite seem to reach Luhan as the latter sits on the couch, a small smile hanging dumbly at his lips. Once in a while, he wraps a cozy, blue blanket around his shoulders and snuggles inside of it like a cocoon, knees pulled tight against his chest. He switches from resting his right cheek on his knees to his left and vice versa, a smile never leaving his lips.Jongin, who has witnessed Luhan smile like he’s love struck for the past hour, pushes back from against the kitchen island and walks coolly towards the crème colored couch, nothing but one single goal to irk Luhan swarming in his mind. When he reaches his desired destination on the couch next to his best friend, he pokes Luhan’s cheek. “Somebody’s in love,” he coos, empathizing the last word with a long stretch on the vowel.Luhan opens his eyes that have been closed dreamily and his warm eyes suddenly turn rock hard when he notices the person staring at him with kissy lips. He snaps his head up and glares dangerously at his insolent friend, and Jongin thinks if looks could kill, he’d be 6 feet under by now. “I’m not in love, you bastard. Don’t you have anything better to do than bother me twenty-four seven? Where’s Kyungsoo?”Jongin, who looks like he just remembered something terrible drops his act and pouts uncharacteristically, leaning back against the couch and sinking into it. “He’s on a business trip for a week. Apparently, one of his best coworkers is bedridden with the flu or something, so he’s taking her place. I hate her.” Luhan thinks he’s more heartbroken than Jongin over the fact that that means Jongin would be bothering him for the next week without distraction. “He left at two, and it’s been forever since he’s been gone.” His pout becomes impossibly bigger, and he continues to stare ahead at the black screen of the television.Luhan pokes his head out from the cocoon blanket and cranes his neck towards the white analog clock hung on the wall and squints. “It’s only two forty-seven, Jongin. He hasn’t even been gone an hour.” Not wanting to hear any more rants from his friend, he doesn’t even give Jongin a second to breathe before he starts again, “anyways, I’m supposed to meet someone in an hour so peace out, don’t cry too much – you’ll ruin the fabric of the couch.” He jumps out of his snug nest and stretches his arms over his head, releasing some of his tense muscles, as he slides towards the bathroom.“Wait – what? Since when did you go out to meet someone at this time? Is it a boy? A friend? Luhan!”-“I better get going. Do you want to meet up later or something?” Sehun asked, finally getting the courage to look straight into Luhan’s eyes after glancing down at his watch.The sky had grown brighter over a couple of minutes and the city behind them became a cacophony of voices and honks and engines, marking the awakening of Seoul.“Yeah,” Luhan answered, looking up at the slightly taller male, shuffling his feet.“Awesome, let’s meet up at the bubble tea store around the corner from Black Bird at four?” Sehun ended his sentence off as question rather than a statement.Luhan smiled, his favorite store.“Great,” he replied. Luhan felt himself getting excited but after realizing his automatic reaction, he forced his heart to stop racing. It was only a simple hangout over milk tea.He didn’t wait for a response from the other male, and turned on his heel, walking towards the heart of the city without looking back.The memory swims around in his head as the water beats down on his body. The smell of steaming water is present inside the small bathroom as he steps out of the shower, hair dripping with water still warm. Grabbing a towel, he wipes down his slim body first before throwing the white fabric over his head. He exits the bathroom, clad in only a pair of boxers and a wife beater, the towel still hanging over his head.“Hey! You’re out, so I was thinking and –” The door slams, cutting Jongin off.Its 3:45 by the time Luhan is out of the bedroom, washed head to toe with casual clothing, different from his usual outwear when going to the club. Dressed in a white windbreaker and dark washed skinny jeans, he grabs his wallet and phone from the kitchen counter and slips on his white converse before slipping out of the front door, unnoticed by Jongin – fortunately.The walk to the bubble tea store Sehun mentioned before isn’t far, only a ten minute walk when there are no distractions. The routes and turns are rather confusing but Luhan keeps a map in his head, considering how many times he gets around town. A whistle makes its way through his pursed lips, a feeling of contentment settling down on his shoulders. His body is a little tired from standing all night next to the river, but he doesn’t seem to feel it as he walks, hips swaying, showing off his moxie personality.Arriving at the bubble tea store is a lot more nerve-wracking than Luhan had expected. Nearing the entrance only pushes his heart to beat a little faster and thump a little louder and he is curious as to why. Somewhere in his consciousness, he has the answer. He always does, it’s just that he perpetually pushes any thought relating to attachment away from his working brain and succeeds triumphantly each time. He exhales a breath of nervousness and speeds up.Pushing open the entrance door and producing a small bell noise throughout the store, the first thing that catches his attention is the brightly colored counter, decorated with paintings of tapioca and swirls of colors ranging from red to purple to green. He smiles at the familiarity of the shop and glides across the tiled floor, winding up in front of the counter. “Hey, Haeun,” Luhan shoots the girl at the counter a friendly smile.“Oh! Luhan!” She exclaims excitedly when she finally notices the blonde grinning at her. “I haven’t seen you in such a long time! What would you like today?” She asks, her eyes wide with a look of surprise that she tries to stifle, and she almost reminds Luhan of Kyungsoo.“The usual, you haven’t forgotten, have you?” Luhan’s eyes form crescents as he lets a playful laugh escape past his lips, setting down an appropriate amount of money on the counter.“Of course not! How can we forget the order of our favorite customer?” She writes down something and passes a cup to her coworker, who glances at Luhan and blushes evidently. Seeing as there is no one waiting to order behind Luhan, Haeun turns to face him and leans against the counter and crosses her arms, kindling small talk with the male across the counter. “So where have you been lately? I thought you came in every Tuesday and Thursday… you’ve been gone for nearly three months now.” She pouts. Luhan has to admit, the girl is undoubtedly cute. If he was straight, he’d probably date her, but his current sexual orientation states otherwise. “I’ve been busy…” is all Luhan gives her.The bell hung on the entrance door rings once again and Luhan throws a look over his shoulder, a small smile making its way onto his face when he sees who it is. Haeun, who notices the boy at the entrance, snaps her head towards the front of the store and grins widely, shouting a “hello” over to the customer.Sehun has his eyes on Luhan as he walks up to the counter, but pulls his line of vision away from the said male before smiling at the cute girl behind the counter and pulling money out of his wallet, “chocolate, please.”“Coming right up!” Haeun shoots Sehun an eye smile and writes down the order before passing it to her coworker, who blushes even more at the taller male. When Haeun faces back towards the two boys at the counter, she lifts her hands and waves them away. “Luhan, go sit down, I’ll deliver the bubble tea personally to you. Specially for my favorite!” She smiles again.“Deliver it for him, too,” Luhan jerks his head towards the male standing next to him, “he’s with me.” Haeun pushes her attention towards the said male and tones down her grin, a friendly smile settling as her expression. “Sure thing.”Luhan and Sehun walk together to the area closest to the entrance, settling down at a small table next to the window. When he is sure they are out of earshot of everyone in the store, Sehun pouts a little and faces Luhan whose back is to the window. “Who is she? How do you know her so well?” He tilts his head with honest curiosity.Luhan, who has his head craned back to look out the glass, turns his attention back to stare at Sehun amusingly. “Why are you so curious?” Sehun bites at his lip, a small wash of pink tinting his cheeks and a smirk appears on Luhan’s face.“You just seem close to her, that’s all… anyways…” The brunette mutters back as if his energy had failed him, and his sentence only gets quieter.  Some people exit the store and others come in, and it’s a while before Luhan decides to speak again, not letting the previous subject drop.“Are you jealous?” Luhan’s confident attitude that he’s regretfully lost over the past few weeks comes back to tease Sehun, and the other male widens his eyes before shaking his head. “No! Anyways, I was doing some thinking and I realized, I don’t even know how old you are.”Luhan chuckles at Sehun’s obvious desperate attempt to erase the subject out of the present time. “So you’ve been thinking about me?” He tries out something else to tease the boy, and leans back into his seat, confidence completely baseless and running through his body like adrenaline.“No,” the other boy whines, and Luhan is curious now as to what age he is. “I think it’s just that if we’re going to be – you know – friends, it should be the basics to know how old you are so you aren’t some creepy pedophile.” Luhan looks at the boy incredulously.“Do I look that old?” “A little.” Sehun teases, giving Luhan a bite of his own medicine.Luhan squints his eyes at Sehun and blows out a breath of air. “I’m twenty-three.” He finally admits, He notices the slight widening of Sehun’s eyes but the other fixes his surprise quickly and nods nonchalantly.“Oh,” is all he gets back. Luhan, who is curious as ever now at the reaction, asks Sehun. “How old are you exactly?”“Tarooooo and chocolate! Bad-a-boom! Here are your orders, lovelies. Enjoy!” Two cups are set in front of the pair and they both look up at Haeun before grabbing the two straws she is holding out for them. “Thank you,” they both reply. She smiles and winks at the duo before walking back t