[PG-13] Once upon a Dream [EXO] (3/3)

[airplanewishes]

Title: Once upon a Dream
Author: airplanewishes
Fandom: EXO
Characters: Lu Han/Kris
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Fluff
Rating: PG-13
WC: 16,042
Summary: Lu Han quite liked the fact that his friends thought of him as a social butterfly. Butterflies were pretty and carefree and that was just how he wanted to remain.
Note: Another side-story to Someday Dream, but can be read alone. And 3 parts because LJ. OTL

My beta, Chrys, khrysallis1106, is patient and beautiful. ^_<

Once upon a Dream part 3

Part 2

-

Sooner came faster than later and Lu Han was finally cornered at Exo Hotel’s garden, where he ran to when Kris started to approach him. Lu Han was in the hotel as a favor for Yixing to drop off the things that Yixing’s mom had wanted to give Kris’ mom. He’d argued with Yixing for about an hour before he finally agreed, deciding that he could probably drop the stuff off at the concierge and make a hasty exit. But he was out of luck. Kris was at the lobby when he arrived.

Lu Han let out a breath, puffing his cheeks out, as he turned around and faced Kris. He had half the mind to close his eyes because Kris looked amazing, as he always did, and it wouldn’t help his case if he had to deny someone like that from his life. Because it was better for everyone in the long run.

Kris opened his mouth to speak.

“Let me talk first,” Lu Han pleaded, holding a hand up. “I want to apologize for what I said…” He shook his head and corrected himself. “I mean, what I did, I’m sorry. I didn’t—I wasn’t thinking and I just—.”

“Stop,” Kris interrupted. He took a couple of steps towards him until he could touch him. “I know what you’re going to say.” He took another step forward and tilted Lu Han’s face towards his with a gentle finger. “And I’m simply not going to allow it.”

“Not going to allow what?” Lu Han wanted to know breathlessly. He followed as Kris’ eyes went from looking at him to looking at his lips and he began to feel the tremble starting to rack up his body.

“I’m not going to allow you to talk me out of this, out of wanting you,” Kris said. “I shouldn’t have let you leave last time. I should’ve made it clear to you that I—.”

Lu Han shook his head. “It’s fine. You don’t have to explain,” he hurriedly assured him, trying to take a step back. Their too close proximity made him feel heady and he felt the need to back away to breathe. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I didn’t, but I hurt you,” Kris said, allowing Lu Han to step away. “And that wasn’t my intention. I don’t ever want to hurt—.”

“You’re not—you didn’t,” Lu Han promised him, smiling a little and then managing a chuckle. “Look,” he started to say, “I’m not trying to talk you out of anything. I’m just telling you that this is who I am. I’m not…I don’t do steady relationships. I’m not someone you can expect to come home at a certain time of the night. I don’t like reporting to anyone where I am. I don’t like being told what to do. I’m not—.”

“I don’t expect any of that from you,” Kris interrupted firmly. “I don’t want to change you.” The steady look that Lu Han gave him made Kris hold his breath. There was an assessment in his gaze and one that made him wonder what Lu Han was thinking.

Lu Han smiled, almost mockingly. “Everyone wants change,” he finally spoke. “And, if you think that you’re going to be content with being with me the way I am now, you’re mistaken. Because I’m going to disappoint and hurt you over and over again that you’ll get tired.”

“Lu Han, why won’t you just—?” Kris tried to reason and took another step forward.

“I kissed Sehun,” Lu Han sharply cut him off, taking a step back in turn. He chuckled when Kris clenched his fists. “After that night, I thought we agreed that we were done. And we are. So I moved on.”

Lu Han took a couple of steps back until he could move around Kris and make his way back towards the hotel. His hands were shaking and clenching them was all he could do to keep from showing it. He was practically choking the words out of his mouth and it wasn’t something he was proud of, but he had to do it because it was true. He wasn’t someone meant for serious relationships. If he tried and he failed, he was only going to break Kris’ heart further and that wasn’t something he meant to do to anyone. That was why he got out before anyone got hurt.

Strangely enough, he’s never felt this conflicted before, but he chocked it up to the fact that Kris was being so difficult about it. None of the others had stopped him like Kris did, none of them even bat an eyelash when he told them he was tired and moving on. Because that was the deal from the beginning, that was his condition.

A hand clamped on his wrist and he jumped. Turning around, he saw Kris with a pleading look.

“Please, let go of me,” Lu Han appealed. His defenses were starting to crumble and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to say no anymore if they did. “Please.”

And for the second time, Kris let him walk away.

He felt out of breath as soon as he managed to get out of Kris’ earshot. He fumbled through his phone as he went through his contacts list.

“Sehun,” he mumbled. “Can you come get me?”

-

“What happened?” Jongdae asked as soon as he stepped into Sehun’s apartment. He didn’t even bother taking his coat off and just went straight to the couch where Lu Han was asleep. Lu Han’s cheek was resting on his hand and he looked deep into slumber. He took a seat on the edge of the sofa and rested a gentle hand on Lu Han’s arm.

“He called and I picked him up,” Sehun hastily explained. “Then he wanted to drink and…” He trailed away, letting out a breath as he scratched the back of his neck. “He doesn’t usually get drunk like this, but I don’t know what happened. After three glasses of Soju, he was swaying and I… I tried calling Baekhyun but he was busy. I figured he wouldn’t want to wake up like this.”

Jongdae watched Lu Han’s breathing. “He probably didn’t have anything to eat before having the drinks,” he told him. “That’s why he got drunk easily.” There was something else he wanted to say, but changed his mind. Instead he looked up at Sehun curiously. “Why did you call for me and Baekhyun? You could’ve just let him stay over.”

Sehun hesitated. “I don’t think that’s going to send out a good message…to anyone,” he finally said, biting his lip. “I don’t think he’d want to wake up here either.”

“He likes you, Sehun,” Jongdae straightforwardly relayed. “I don’t think that’s a secret. And he really isn’t going to mind staying over. He’d like it that you took care of him.”

“But I’m not really who he wants,” Sehun said, shaking his head. “And I don’t want him to feel obligated to me for anything and be with me for anything like this.”

Jongdae smiled and shook his head. “Well then,” he shrugged. He stood up and started to wake Lu Han. “I’ll take it from here.”

When Lu Han’s arm was around his shoulder with Lu Han barely awake, Jongdae shot Sehun a smile. “You’re a good friend to him, Sehun,” he said, “and a good person.” He shifted Lu Han in his arms when the mentioned male started to sag his whole weight against him. “He’s lucky to have you still around.”

With Lu Han’s height and weight pretty much in bigger quantities than Jongdae’s, it was quite a surprise that he managed to haul Lu Han from Sehun’s apartment and into his car. He pushed Lu Han into the backseat and strapped him in, while getting in after him. He then told his driver to take them to Lu Han’s apartment.

“Thank you,” Lu Han gurgled as he shifted in his seat and leaned his head on Jongdae’s shoulder.

Jongdae smirked. “How long have you been awake?” he snickered.

“Since you manhandled me off the couch,” Lu Han managed to get out through his dizziness.

“Then I’m sure you’ve heard how much you don’t deserve Sehun and his kindness, didn’t you?” Jongdae pressed. Lu Han merely pressed himself closer to Jongdae, burying his face in his friend’s chest. Jongdae sighed and wrapped an arm around him. “What are we going to do with you, Lu Han? With you and your fake aversion to happy endings?”

Lu Han squeezed his eyes shut and chose to pretend he didn’t hear what Jongdae said.

-

Lu Han fiddled with his brand new mobile phone as he leaned back on the headboard of his bed. His room was bathed in semi-darkness, the curtains drawn as the sun started to set. He stayed at home again, not really wanting to see anyone. His fear wasn’t that Kris would come to his store to plead with him again. It was that Kris actually wouldn’t come and then Lu Han would be the one running to the hotel.

As the hours passed after he practically begged Kris to stay away from him, something hard and heavy lodged itself permanently to his chest. It was like a slow, constant, ache, ebbing in and out when he breathed. Sometimes he found that he almost couldn’t breathe because it almost became too painful to do so.

He missed Kris if he actually admitted it to himself. He liked the way he was always beside him or behind him when he blinked his focus away from whatever he was doing or thinking of. He liked that Kris always looked so serious, that he scared his employees away sometimes, but that when he looked at Lu Han, there was a certain softness in his eyes and a small smile on his lips. He liked that Kris made an effort to want to get to know him, really get to know him. He missed all of those things and more.

There were still a lot he and Kris hadn’t done together. They’d gone out on dates, dinner, breakfast, and lunch. They already watched a movie and had hung out together with Lu Han’s friends.

But there was still that first kiss.

It wasn’t that Lu Han didn’t want to kiss him; he did. It was just that Lu Han didn’t want to kiss him and find out that he wanted Kris so much that he’d be willing to dive into a relationship again after so many years. He wasn’t sure how ready he was for that and he wasn’t sure how far he was willing to go. He wasn’t sure if he was ready not to give up halfway through. Because, if it turned out that he was still as afraid as he was all those years ago, he was going to hurt Kris and himself as well.

He took a deep breath as he pressed his phone to his ear. He wasn’t sure how calling Yixing was going to fix things, but he liked talking to Yixing. His best friend had a way of knocking some sense into him even if he didn’t welcome it most of the time.

“Did you finally realize that you still want to be a Disney Princess?” were Yixing’s greeting words as he picked up the call. It was so typical of him to assume things without so much as a hello.

Lu Han bit his lip. “Maybe,” he disclosed, remembering what Baekhyun said. Maybe is a good start.

Yixing snickered and Lu Han wished he were in Beijing to smack Yixing’s face. “Then what are you doing on the phone with me?” he demanded.

Lu Han immediately hung up and got off the bed, feeling a new determination coursing through him. He opened the door to his room when he heard the apartment buzzer. Padding through the apartment, he opened the door and found Junmyeon. He ushered him in to the living room.

“Kyungsoo’s just getting ready,” Lu Han told him. “Can I get you anything?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Junmyeon said with a warm smile.

Lu Han let out an inaudible sigh as he went to fetch Kyungsoo from his room. His last conversation with his flatmate hadn’t been one of their best ones. Lu Han had lashed out at him, upset that he was letting Junmyeon get away, when he was actually just angry at himself for doing the same thing with Kris. It hadn’t been fair to Kyungsoo and he really felt bad that he’d allowed them not to talk about it.

When Kyungsoo had finally left with Junmyeon, he stood in the middle of the apartment for a while. He’d told Kyungsoo that he was going to see Kris and insinuated the same thing to Yixing when he so unceremoniously hung up on him.

But maybe he wasn’t ready. He should probably just think things through some more before actually going up to Kris and talk to him.

He was already on his way back to his room when his mobile phone rang.

“Baekhyun,” Lu Han distractedly answered his phone.

“I’m downstairs,” Baekhyun told him. “Get your butt down here. I’m driving you to the hotel.”

“Why—what?” Lu Han gargled.

“I’m driving you. Because, knowing you, you probably already changed your mind in a second of weakness,” Baekhyun impatiently explained. “Now get down here and man up.”

“I’m going to kill Yixing,” Lu Han mumbled as he moved towards the door of his apartment.

“Not if I kill you first,” Baekhyun retorted. Lu Han froze when he realized that Baekhyun probably found out about Chanyeol and the setup.

-

Lu Han’s hands were place primly on his lap as he waited for Kris to arrive. He had been ushered by the concierge to one of the empty function rooms on the second floor.

He was starting to think he was crazy for ever being interested in Kris. What was he thinking? Of all the people in the world, he just had to—

The door opened and he stood up, fists clenched on his sides. Kris walked in, quietly closing the door behind him. In a few short strides, Kris was merely a couple of feet away.

“Lu Han,” Kris’ voice was measured, restrained, as his eyes bore into him. “What are you doing here?”

“I…” Lu Han took a deep breath. “I wanted to see you.” He managed to get the courage to meet Kris’ eyes and he was surprised to find Kris wasn’t angry. If anything, he looked like he was happy to see him. “Why are you not mad at me?” he blurted out, instead of all the other things he had rehearsed in his head.

“I talked to Sehun,” Kris told him, making Lu Han shift in uncomfortable surprise. “I know it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I did it. I talked to him and asked him about the two of you.” Lu Han opened his mouth to explain, but Kris shook his head at him. “He said that you guys were just friends. He said you kissed, but that it didn’t mean anything.”

Lu Han frowned, not really sure what to say to that.

“Then I told him that we haven’t done anything remotely close to kissing,” Kris went on, watching Lu Han closely. “And you know what he told me?”

“What?” Lu Han’s mouth was dry.

“He said that you keep the people you really liked at an arm’s length,” Kris relayed. He paused. “Is that true?”

“Sehun should learn to keep his mouth shut,” Lu Han made a face, irritated at Sehun, despite being surprised at how correct he was.

“So he’s right?” Kris sounded surprised and Lu Han’s breath hitched when he realized he didn’t deny it.

“So what if he is?” Lu Han snapped.

This really wasn’t going the way he’d planned it to be. He was supposed to apologize and tell Kris that maybe he was wrong and that maybe they could start over. But, at the rate things were going, Kris would want nothing to do with him since there were so many things he’d apparently lied about.

“So I lied to you,” Lu Han continued. “I didn’t mean it and I actually came here to—.”

“Lu Han,” Kris interrupted him. He took a step forward and his hand cupped Lu Han’s face. “I think you’re missing the point.”

Lu Han opened his mouth then closed it again because Kris was so near to him that he felt like he was going to faint. They’d never been this close to each other before.

“I… I don’t—,” Lu Han tried to speak. “I just… I didn’t want to ruin things.”

“Why would a kiss ruin things?” Kris wanted to know, looking amused.

“Because… because…” Lu Han struggled with words as Kris slowly dipped his head down, their breaths starting to mingle with each other’s.

“Because what?” Kris pressed, his words caressing Lu Han’s lips.

“Because—.”

Kris engulfed the rest of his sentence with his mouth, his lips fitting and sliding perfectly with his. Lu Han’s eyes fluttered shut and he found that he couldn’t do anything else but kiss him back. The warmth of Kris’ lips on his, the slight teasing of his tongue, triggered something in him. Luhan jumped up and wrapped his legs around Kris’ waist and his arms around his neck.

“Feisty,” Kris chuckled as he nipped on Luhan’s lower lip. “Is this why you were holding back?”

Luhan pulled his face away to look at him and shook his head. “No,” he clarified. “I was holding back because I didn’t…I didn’t want to validate the fact that I wanted more because you’d already given me more than I’d ever had in any relationship.” His heart pounded in his chest as Kris put him down gently. “I was afraid that kissing you would make me want a relationship,” he added, “that it would make me want you.”

“I don’t see any problem with wanting me,” Kris said.

“Yes, well I—.” Lu Han raised an eyebrow. “Did you just…?” He scoffed in disbelief. “Oh my god, I am not dating a—.”

Kris captured his lips in another searing kiss. “Yes, you are,” he decided for him as he bit his lower lip. “You are.”

Lu Han hummed. “I am,” he gave in, wrapping his arms around Kris’ neck to pull him down into another lip lock.

“Listen,” Kris spoke when they’d pulled away for air, affectionately rubbing his thumb on Lu Han’s cheek, “I’m not pressuring you for anything. We can take this as slow as you like.”

Lu Han snorted. “Are you kidding me? You tell me that after that kiss? No way!”

“Are you sure?” Kris looked worried.

Lu Han pressed himself against Kris, grinding for a bit, just to show him how sure he was. Lifting his face up to his, he whispered to his lips, “I’m no virgin, you know.”

Kris smirked at this. “No you’re not.”

Lu Han giggled like a girl as Kris lifted him up, making him wrap his legs around him once more, and kissed him again.

-

“Are you okay?”

Lu Han jumped from where he was staring out of the window of the hotel room. He closed the curtains and turned around, adjusting the sunglasses that he had on. He smiled as he took in Kris looking extremely handsome in a dark three-piece suit.

“If I could whistle, I would,” Lu Han stated, smiling up at him when they were merely inches apart.

“But you can’t whistle,” Kris raised an eyebrow teasingly.

“I can show my appreciation in other ways,” Lu Han knowingly told him. He reached up, pretended to fix his tie, before leaning up and kissing him. His tongue gently prodded his lips open and he traced the cavern of his mouth. “How’s that?” he asked when he pressed his feet back on the ground.

“Much better than whistling,” Kris decided.

Kris moved towards the vanity and checked his reflection out, making sure that ever hair was in place. Lu Han rolled his eyes and just watched Kris be vain approvingly.

“One of these days, mirrors are going to start shattering when you look at them,” Lu Han offhandedly commented. Kris side-eyed him. “You look perfect,” he assured him.

Kris took Lu Han’s hand in his. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

And it wasn’t really a question because Lu Han was nervous. Exo Hotel’s anniversary was going to be the first event they were going to as an official couple. Sure they’d gone out on dates before, but this just felt different, because this time Lu Han promised himself that he was all in and that he was going to do everything to make it work, that he was no longer going to be afraid. And knowing all of those things, it just meant so much more.

“Is it because you have a black eye on you?” Kris went on, his mouth trying so hard not to quirk up into a smile.

Lu Han let out a laugh. When Baekhyun got mad, he really made sure that he got that message across. Once Baekhyun had found out that Lu Han and Jongdae had orchestrated the whole thing with Chanyeol and the escort service, they’d all gotten into a scuffle, resulting into various injuries between them. Lu Han thought he’d gotten the worst of it with a black eye. Jongdae got a sudden haircut (for some reason, Baekhyun had scissors during the scuffle), but it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed by his hairstylist. Baekhyun managed to get out with only a cut on his cheek, nothing a concealer couldn’t hide.

“Yeah, it’s the black eye,” Lu Han said.

Kris slowly lifted the sunglass off his face and pressed a feather-like kiss on the bruised eye. “Everything is going to be fine,” he assured him, looking into his eyes. “We’re going to be fine.”

Lu Han found himself nodding because he believed Kris. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, we will be.”

When they got to the party, they were greeted by Jongdae with a, “Oh look! Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip are finally back from such a long sleep! They’ve stopped being stupid!”

Lu Han almost smacked Jongdae’s face, but he saw Kyungsoo’s genuine happiness with the way that he smiled at them that he immediately forgot about it.

“Is he saying that you’re Princess Aurora and I’m—,” Kris began.

“No,” Lu Han vehemently denied. “Mulan,” he pointed at himself. “I’m Mulan and you’re General Shang.”

Kris’ eyebrows furrowed then he merely took a deep breath. “I think this is the sort of thing you should’ve warned me about,” he stated. “Instead of stupid things like being afraid of relationships.”

Lu Han’s eyes were suspiciously glassy when he looked at Kris, touched at his words. “You’re perfect, you know that?”

Kris smirked as he leaned down to him. “I know,” he agreed. “Do I get a kiss?”

“Yes,” Lu Han whispered, reaching up to place a hand on his neck. “My very own prince.”

“I thought I was a general,” Kris leaned back in confusion.

“Shut up,” Lu Han directed, effectively doing so with a kiss.

End.

Author's Notes:
1. What is this really? I apologize.
2. Comments/suggestions/violent reactions are welcome. :)