Work Text:
Sitting lazily on the couch while inhaling his iced coffee through a straw, Luhan scrolls through his social media accounts. Nothing new, he chews the straw. Seen that, that too, he takes another gulp. Then his thumb stops at a particular photo of someone being a barista. Luhan knows by heart that very picture. It is a screenshot of EXO Showtime and uploaded by a fan account. He straighten his back, puts the cold tumbler on the glass table before chuckling at the username of the account.
What a name, Luhan thinks.
***
Honestly, Luhan couldn’t fathom the reason his eyes was glued to that particular person. There must have been something in Kim Minseok that attracted him, but he didn’t know why. There were two other Kims, Junmyeon and Jongin, but apparently his brain and his eyes decided to go separate ways: brain told him not to see stare to Kim Minseok, but his eyes had gone into creepy mode.
The boy with chubby white cheeks smiled to him, red gummy was for Luhan to see. That moment their eyes met, his brain and his eyes finally connected and Luhan looked at the pencil on the table. He was too shy to be caught red handed staring at Kim Minseok.
Being in a new environment made Luhan a little bit uncomfortable. Even though Junmyeon is younger than him, he trained longer than Luhan and Luhan somehow put a barrier into their relationship. Oh, he put barrier to all people, showing a little bit of himself just for necessity. The fear of being hurt not to be able to debut with other trainees and lost contact made him closed his heart. It’d hurt less, Luhan thought, but it was hard to be by himself when he’s actually a blabbermouth and active.
But this Kim Minseok was always there when he thought it was unbearably hard. Somehow, they got to go to same class and at the same time. It was a good time when Minseok offered him a fresh towel or a bottled water after dance practices. Luhan also appreciated the silence between them when they went to dormitory together, because Luhan wasn’t sure what to say.
One month had passed and Luhan grew a habit: taking some seconds to watch Minseok practiced his rap skill while on his way to vocal training. He sometimes chuckled at how Minseok’s cheeks would puff if he missed a beat or messed up his pronunciation (Luhan guessed, because he never went into the practice room) and it reminded Luhan of his favorite snack: baozi or white hot bun. But when their eyes met again, Luhan scurried to his vocal class with mind trying to search good reason if Minseok asked why he acted like a creep.
But Minseok never asked why.
Instead, Minseok waited for him in front of the vocal room and asked whether he wanted to have a coffee at a 24 hour café near their dormitory. Luhan said he wasn’t sure because he wasn’t a fan of coffee.
“It’s bitter,” Luhan added. “I need a sweet drink but our diet doesn’t allow us to drink something sweet at this hour.”
“Good coffee will have a sweet aftertaste, and I bet you’ll like it, Lu,” Minseok smiled again. That gummy smile that made Luhan’s heart skipped a beat. Wait, Lu? Luhan gulped at the nickname.
“I hope you don’t mind I call you Lu. Lulu? I learned that we’re same age, me on March, you on April, so why not dropping the honorifics because I want to be friends with you,” Minseok scratched the back of his neck. Luhan just stared at him and Minseok started to step backward when he found Luhan said nothing, “Oh, I mean, if you don’t want me to call you Lu or you don’t want coffee, it’s okay we’re going back to do—”
Luhan grabbed Minseok’s wrist in attempt to prevent him going further away and to stop him chatting his heart away. “I’ll go with you. I would like to have a coffee with you,” Luhan released Minseok’s wrist. “And yeah, we could be friend.”
***
We could be friend, Luhan repeats the words. We could be friend. Or could we? The Chinese man takes his tumbler again and gulps down all the ice coffee. Minseok was right. Good coffee has a sweet aftertaste.
Taking his favorite snack from the plate, Luhan leans back to the sofa while letting his inner fanboy out for a while. He explores Minseok’s fan accounts and finds another old edited picture. The fan edited Minseok’s cheeks with two white buns. Luhan takes a bite of his white bun and then inhaled deep.
***
“Baozi,” Luhan said one night to Minseok on their way to dorm. “I want baozi.”
Luhan didn’t know whether it implied the real baozi or the one he gave the nickname baozi; the person walking beside him.
“Baozi?” Minseok asked. “Like white steamed bun?” He stopped to look at Luhan.
“Ding dong daeng!” Luhan laughed after imitating the sound of xylophone. Another months passed and he slowly opened himself to his going-back-to-dorm mate. Winter was coming and Luhan suddenly remembered the snack.
“But I don’t have enough money to buy steamed bun…” Minseok fished something in his pocket out and he had only some coins.
“I have some coins. If we put it together then we could have one steamed bun that Ahjumma sells over there!” Luhan was over excited and tugged Minseok’s jacket. With some winks that no one could get away from it, he beamed his cuteness, “Baozi. I want baozi!”
“But, diet…”
“We can practice harder to burn the calorie, Minseok-ah.”
Minseok lose when Luhan jutted his lower lip. He sighed and sneaked his arm into Luhan’s arm, towing him to go to the nearest pojang macha. Luhan gasped at the action, but he allowed Minseok to drag him. All of a sudden, the temperature wasn’t that cold for Luhan.
When the Ahjumma gave them extra bun, Luhan noticed that Minseok divided it into two halves and gave Luhan one of it on their way to dorm.
“You need it more,” Minseok said.
“Are you trying to make me fatter than you?” Luhan kicked Minseok shin’s playfully, but he took the bun anyway.
“I’m not,” Minseok gave him a tightlipped smile. “I know you’re drooling for it these days. Do you like it so much? Does it remind you of something?”
Luhan didn’t realize it, but the last question broke the walls he tried to build up. He stopped walking, biting his lower lips so he wouldn’t cry. He missed his hometown so much and he missed the warmth of his mother embrace, like the warmth of steamed bun. He was tired of the classes and yelling. He was confused on how to have conversation deeper. The sad feeling was eating him and tears fell into his cheeks in a surprisingly fast speed. Embarrassed at the sudden break, Luhan just covered his face with his arms.
“You can go to the dorm first, Minseok-ah,” he shooed the shorter man. “I’ll go later,” Luhan said with a shaking voice, never looked up to see whether Minseok had gone to the dorm or not. But after some seconds, he felt a strong arm grabbed his wrist, forcing him to uncover his face.
Minseok looked at Luhan and Luhan just looked away. He was really uncomfortable letting Minseok watched him with all snots and tears. Luhan tried to shake Minseok’s hold away, but the shorter man was stronger than him. When Luhan stopped shaking away, Minseok pulled him into an embrace by grabbing the back of Luhan’s neck, burying Luhan’s face into his neck.
“I’ll be here,” the older man said. “We’ll go inside like always, Lu. Together.”
Luhan cried harder, but his sobs were muffled. A hand stayed on his hip and one made circles that soothing Luhan. The latter dropped the steamed buns to the ground in order to bury himself further to Minseok’s embrace. He hugged Minseok tight. So tight that he was sure Minseok was suffocated but he let himself to be greedy for a moment.
When his cry turned into soft hiccups after five minutes, Minseok carded his fingers through Luhan’s hair and a soft sigh escaped Luhan’s mouth. He nuzzled further into Minseok’s neck and he giggled.
“You know. I’ll have to have shower because by the time we reach inside dorm, your snot will dry on my skin,” Minseok laughed. Luhan pouted, but despite Minseok couldn’t see him, he somehow felt that Minseok knew he pouted so he swayed Luhan to the right and left as he wanted to cradle Luhan. “Ah don’t forget to take the bun from the ground and toss it into the trash bin.”
Typical Minseok, Luhan thought.
It was when the wind blew that Luhan realized Minseok never left him and continued to hug him. But Luhan was pleased.
“Baozi,” he mumbled. “Minseok-ie is my baozi.”
“Huh?” Minseok pushed him but then cupping his cheeks. Soft thumbs wiping away the tears from Luhan’s face and Luhan smiled.
“You’re warm like the white steamed bun. Your cheeks also like baozi,” Luhan said.
“Luhan-ah,” Minseok looked deep at his face. “You know you can talk to me, right? I’ll listen to it, Luhan. You can speak in Mandarin or Korean. I’ll listen. I’ll learn Mandarin so I can understand you. Just—” Minseok paused for a moment. “Don’t cry. It breaks my heart.”
“You will?” Luhan searched for an assurance in Minseok’s eyes. “Because I’m quite a talker, honestly. Promise me you won’t be bored because I only have few best friends and I don’t want you to be bored of me. You can go away now if you can’t.”
“How can I go away?” a laughter like a soothing song reached Luhan’s ears. “Not when you grabbed my jacket like that, Luhan-ah.”
When the laughter fades, Minseok pulled Luhan by the back of his head and kissed the crown of his head. “I’ll be here beside you, Little Deer. I’ll be here whenever you need me.”
***
Luhan closes his eyes as the memories of Minseok and him replayed again in his head. He remembered he couldn’t sleep after he realized Minseok had kissed him and wondered if Minseok did the same to the other trainees to calm them down. But no, Minseok was always with him and he never caught Minseok being too close to the other trainees like his relationship with Minseok.
Xiao Lu and Baozi, he reads the bio of the social media where he found a lot of photo of him and Minseok together. Then his phone vibrates, a reminder pops up.
Call Baozi.
Luhan smiles as he closes the pop-up notification and he puts the steamed bun on his cheek taking a selca after. His thumbs dancing on the screen.
‘Can I call you now?’ he writes and then attached the picture he just took. Not a minute later, Minseok’s picture appears on his screen.
“Wei? Wo de Xiao Lu?” Luhan hears a greeting from the other side. My Little Deer never fails to make his cheeks flare up. So he laughs it away. We’re more than friends.
Luhan chuckles at his own thought.
“Hello, my Baozi. My lovely Baozi.”
***
trans:
Wei: Hello
Wo de Xiao Lu: My little deer