Title: The Broken Crayon
Pairing: Sehun/Luhan
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Slight Angst

Summary: Luhan has no red crayon. Sehun gives him the whole box.

(A/N: This is for you who requested HunHan kids, and this is also for all my amazing HUNHAN shippers out there.

Enjoy reading!)

*

"You're always staring at that piece of wax."

Sehun looks up to the owner of the voice, following with his eyes his mother coming inside his tidy room with a basket of clean laundry in hand. Smiling a little, the teenager heaves a deep sigh and returns his gaze at the broken piece of red crayon on top of his palm. The paper wrapped around its tiny body has already worn out, while the blunt tip of the crayon has already turned slightly black due to its age. It can barely be used to color anything-- it's already trash, a useless coloring material for a kid or a teenager for Sehun's case, just like what his mother always says.

"Mom."

"Hmm?" Mrs. Oh says from where she is crouched beside Sehun's laundry basket, sorting her son's white and colored dirty clothes.

"Do you think I will find him again?"

There's a thick silence enveloping the room that answers his question, yet again. His mother doesn't even bother to look up from her chore, and Sehun himself already knows her response, as always. He thinks he should stop believing anymore to the saying silence means yes, because it has been a decade since he asked that repetitive query, and never in those times he received the answer he is longing for.

"Dinner's ready in a minute," Mrs. Oh reminds with a gentle smile on her lips, walking over to Sehun's study table and giving him a quick ruffle on his hair. "Don't miss my cooking tonight or else I'm going to throw that away."

"You would never do that."

"I could, but I rather wouldn't," she jokes before she is closing the door with a silent click.

Sehun leans his back against the backrest of his swivel chair, looking up to the starless skies outside his broad window. He breaks into a sullen smile, the red crayon is clutched securely inside his warm palm as he keeps his thoughts afloat in his mind.

"I will see you.." Sehun softly whispers into the cold air coming in from his opened curtain, "again, right?"

*

"Bring out your coloring books and we will going to color the apple on page three."

"Yes, teacher!"

"What's the color of an apple?"

"RED!!!" the kids altogether answer, raising their little hands up in the air.

"Very good! Now get your crayons and do your work quietly."

Six-year-old Sehun happily smiles as he grabs his box of 24 crayons inside his bag, putting it on top of his desk. Hastily, he also pulls out his new Spiderman coloring book which is a little bit crumpled, so he straightens it with his small palm.

"Red, red, red, red, red, re-- oh, there you are Mr. Red crayon," Sehun mutters as he finds the crayon inside the box. After a few seconds, he is gripping the crayon within his stubby fist as he drags it along the space inside the apple. He is very eager on coloring his apple when his seatmate accidentally nudges his elbow, making him to misalign his proper apple coloring.

"Hey!" he blurts out, eyebrows furrowed as he turns to his seatmate whom he doesn't know the name. "Why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry. I-I wasn't careful," the boy apologizes quietly, his large eyes staring back at Sehun that has Sehun feeling suddenly creepy. This boy reminds him of aliens in cartoons with wide eyes and big heads he frequently watches every afternoon.

Going back to his work, Sehun's seatmate continues to color his own apple in slow srokes, sluggishly moving his hand up and down the inside of the fruit. Sehun notices that this kid is quite pale and thin, that he wonders if he had already eaten his breakfast.

"Hey, are you even thinking?"

"Huh?"

Sehun furrows his eyebrows, own unfinished apple left forgotten on his desk. He points at the boy's coloring book and shakes his head in disapproval. Looking up to Sehun confusedly, the boy shyly clutches his coloring book against his chest.

"Why are you.. looking at my apple?"

"Apples are not green. They are supposed to be red," Sehun blurts out, clicking his tongue. "Do you even know what red looks like?"

"Yes, but I--" The kid looks away, little fingers digging into the pages of his book. "I don't have a red crayon.."

"Why?"

Sehun's seatmate doesn't answer, he just puts back his coloring book on the desk and resumes coloring his apple green while trying his best to cover his work hidden from Sehun's judgemental eyes.

Sighing, Sehun disregards the kid and gets back as well to his awaiting red apple, looking very fresh and ripe at the first bite. He smiles satisfyingly at his work as he eagerly colors his favorite fruit.

It's recess time, Sehun's favorite part of school when he notices his seatmate has left his bag unzipped. Looking around in hopes to spot the boy to tell him to close his bag himself, Sehun decides he would just zip it up as a good classmate for the boy to lessen the work.

"That kid is super weird," Sehun mutters as he gets a hold of the head of the zipper, pulling it up. But before he could close the bag completely, he suddenly sees the contents inside the bag.

Sehun slowly opens the zipper again, peeking inside the bag only to see his seatmate's school supplies-- an old notebook, an unsharpened blunt pencil, a crumpled coloring book, a piece of cold sandwich, and a shabby green pencil case with a scrawly handwriting of his name, which is Luhan written on the side. He also spots a transparent plastic bag containing his seatmate's few pieces of old and broken crayons-- blue, brown, orange, black, green, and violet-- which the labels are already torn off.

And yes, there's no red crayon inside.

Sehun feels a slight pity for his classmate-- Luhan, as he thinks to himself why his mom hadn't bought him new school supplies. Moms are supposed to buy new things for their kids, right? Because that is what Sehun's mom does, she would buy and provide things Sehun needs in school, as well as toys and other stuff.

"I pity him. He must be really poor.." Sehun sadly mutters, then he is getting his own box of crayons inside his bag, staring at it for a matter of seconds. He opens it carefully and gets his red crayon which the tip is still sharp as new.

"Mom can always buy me one," he murmurs, before holding the crayon between both hands and breaking it into two smaller pieces.

"There." Sehun inserts the half broken crayon, the butt part, inside the plastic bag together with the other crayons. The other half would be left with him as his crayon.

But then, he feels unsatisfied of what he did, so he also puts the whole box of his 24 crayons in the bag, leaving him nothing but the half part of the red broken crayon.

"What are you doing with my bag?"

Startled by the tiny voice on his left, Sehun backs away and releases the bag from his grasp. He sits properly on his chair as he allows Luhan to sit down beside him silently.

"I didn't put something inside your bag!" Sehun denies, crossing his arms over his chest.

Luhan doesn't push anymore. Instead, he gets his bag and wears it on his back.

"So, what is your name?" Sehun asks, although he already knows what it is. He turns to his side, smiling a little.

"Luhan," the boy answers as he fiddles with his yellowish shirt that is too big for him.

"I'm Sehun."

*

Luhan goes home after school, walking alone along the outskirts of the populated city. He silently enters their dilapidated neighborhood, ignoring the wild dogs barking at him and the stench of smoke and dirt wafting through his nose when he passes by the riverbank.

"Lulu-hyung!" Luhan's little brother greets him just as soon as he enters their shabby apartment. Luhan tiny smiles, ruffling the three-year-old's hair and holding his small hand as they walk inside their small abode.

"Where is mother, Baekhyun?"

"She went out to sell clams!" The little boy says in a cute groggy language as he hugs his hyung's arm, "Father left Baekhyun here alone. And Baekhyun is hungry because Baekhyun did not eat lunch yet.." He pouts, clutching his brother's shirt. "Hyung, do you have food?"

"Food?" Luhan asks, and he is opening his bag where he had kept his barely eaten sandwich wrapped in a napkin. "Here you go."

"Thank you, hyung!"

Baekhyun happily gets the bread and takes a bite on it as his hyung carries him inside their bedroom. The older ignores the low grumbling of his stomach, having skipped his lunch at school because he knows Baekhyun would ask food when he comes back. He is contented, though, just by seeing his little brother eating rather than having himself full yet the baby is starving.

After changing into a large shirt their old neighbor had given him last Christmas, Luhan opens his bag again, surprised to see a box of brand new crayons inside. He is frightened, afraid that someone had put it to frame him up to accuse him he had stolen it just like what the other kids did to him last time. But then, seeing the name at the bottom of the box makes him heave a sigh of relief. He reads the owner of the said crayon.

Oh Sehun.

"Thank you.." mutters Luhan under his breath with a little smile on his lips, spreading out his coloring book and new crayons on the floor. Baekhyun sits with him on the floor as well while he plays with his hyung's coloring sticks.

"Where did Lulu-hyung get his new crayons?"

"From a kind classmate," Luhan says, chuckling a little when he finds the red crayon is only half a size than the other crayons. He shrugs, continuing on coloring his apple which is half green and half red.

*

"Here, you can have some."

Sehun thrusts his lunchbox full of freshly baked cookies his mom prepared this morning in front of Luhan. He clears his throat a little before he is looking away to the other direction.

"These cookies are too much for me and I couldn't finish them, so," he says, waiting for his seatmate to pick some.

With his usual ogling eyes, Luhan blinks at the offered cookies in front of him and contemplates whether to grab some or to decline. He is hungry to be honest, because his mother hasn't sold a good amount of clams yesterday, and the money that was supposed to be spent for food was taken by his father to buy alcohol.

"Hey, they are free, you know. You can eat some if you like."

"Can I?"

Sehun laughs at that. "Of course!"

Hesitantly, Luhan gets a cookie and takes a bite on it. The sweetness and chocolatey taste spread through his tastebuds, making him feel happy inside. He chews on the cookie, slowly, to savor the flavor he is tasting just for the first time seeing it only on TV. He didn't know this what cookies taste like. It's really delicious.

"It's.. yummy," Luhan murmurs, several cookie crumbs falling off from his mouth that Sehun has to wipe it away for him.

"C-can I--"

"Sure!"

Sehun smiles brightly when Luhan shyly gets another piece of cookie from his lunchbox, only to see his classmate wrapping it with his clean handkerchief. He blinks at Luhan, confusion written across his young face.

"Why are you putting it in your handkerchief? And not eating it?"

"Ah," Luhan says, a little bit taken aback thinking he might have done something wrong. He smiles back at Sehun. "I'm going to take this home for my little brother. Baekhyun always asks food when I get home from school."

Sehun pauses for a while, lips curving downwards into a frown. He stares down at his classmate's hand fixing the small bite-size cookie inside his handkerchief which is not even enough to satisfy hunger.

"When I go to school, Mother would also go to the market to sell clams and leave Baekhyun in our house with Father. But Father would always go outside to drink and leave my little brother alone," Luhan says quietly, and Sehun thinks the way his classmate talks is too mature for his age.

"I wonder if Father even cooked rice for Baekhyun.." Luhan mutters, his eyes are set downcast indicating that he is sad, and Sehun doesn't like seeing his seatmate lonely like this. It makes his heart heavy just like what he feels when his mother gets mad at him whenever he disobeys her order to keep away his toys.

"Here, y-you can have all of these," Sehun immediately says, already shoving the lunchbox into Luhan's chest. "I'm not that hungry anyway. And you could give them to Baekhyun when you get back home."

Eyes widening, Luhan holds the lunchbox within his hand and thrusts it back again to Sehun.

"N-no, I can't take this. It's your food, I-I can't--"

"I'm giving my food to you, like sharing," Sehun says, beaming ear-to-ear as he pushes again the cookies to Luhan. "Because that what friends do, right?"

Slowly, Luhan nods, lower lip caught between his teeth as he clutches the lunchbox against his chest. Happiness bubbling inside him, he can already imagine his little brother's face when he gives him the cookies. He is sure Baekhyun will like his take-home food.

"Thank you," Luhan mutters in a small voice after he puts the lunchbox inside his bag. He stands up and politely bows in front of Sehun ninety degrees. "Because you're very kind to me, Sehun."

"Ah, i-it's nothing," Sehun murmurs shyly as he scratches the back of his neck. It is embarrassing that Luhan is bowing in front of him like he is a respectable person.

"I will be very happy to be your friend," Luhan says, lowering his head further.

"Y-you don't have to bow like that!" Sehun says, pulling Luhan beside him so that the other is now sitting down on his chair. Grinning, Luhan touches Sehun's hand on top of the table that has Sehun suddenly tensing a bit.

"I will tell Baekhyun you gave the cookies so he can thank you, too."

"You are talking about me with your little brother?"

"Yes, I told him you gave me your crayons," Luhan says, smiling widely, and Sehun thinks his seatmate really looks pretty when he does that. "You did it, didn't you?"

"Huh? No, I didn't!"

"I read your name at the bottom of the box," Luhan says, breaking into a wide grin as he turns to his classmate. "Thank you very much for the crayons. I will work hard so I can pay for it!"

"No! You don't have to do that! Kids are supposed to play, not to work," Sehun says out loud, flailing his arms in the air. "It's okay, you can have my crayons as a gift. Mom has already bought me a box yesterday."

Blinking, Luhan's mouth gapes into an 'o' shape. "She bought you new crayons?"

"Yes! She also bought me cool toys and cars and robots and soldiers like on TV. Like Power Rangers and Transformers--"

Luhan's eyes are shining brightly as he listens how Sehun animatedly talks about his cool toys. Never in his six years of existence he has owned new toys, he doesn't know how new toys look like nor feel like in actual life. He hasn't touched a robot yet, nor a car, let alone it's box. Because at home, he and Baekhyun would always play with used milk cartons and cans of sardines as they pretend they were cars, and they are very happy just like that.

"We should play my toys together! I'm sure you will like my cars!"

Luhan nods excitedly, already imagining lots and lots of different toys in his young mind as he smiles brightly like the sun.

*

Sehun's little eyes peek on the slightly opened window of their car as he kneels on the car seat. He follows with his sight his favorite classmate walking down the street with a skip on his tiny steps.

"Mom, mom, mom! He's the one I was talking about! My new friend," Sehun excitedly says, tugging his mother's blouse as he points at Luhan outside the car. "His name is Luhan! My seatmate with that pretty smile and big eyes?"

The woman chuckles, fixing Sehun's untucked shirt. "Yes, I know, I know. You won't stop talking about him. Oh, is that their house?"

Sehun nods, looking at Luhan on his knees hugging a little boy who's wearing a big shirt which falls past to his toes. He must be Baekhyun, Sehun whispers to himself as he bites his lower lip. He can see how the little boy happily clutches Luhan's hand when Luhan gives him the box of cookies. Seeing the scene before him, Sehun can't help but feel warm inside his chest out of happiness.

"Sehun, let's go home?" Mrs. Oh asks, putting a gentle hand on top of her son's shoulder. Sehun looks up to her and nods, intertwining his small hands within his mother's tender fingers.

Luhan turns at the street, seeing a car already driving away from the place. He waves at the car goodbye and whispers a soft thank you in the air.

"Lulu-hyung! Was that Sehun-hyung in the car who gave Baekhyun cookies?" the toddler asks curiously, his wide questioning eyes looking up to his brother.

"Hmm. What do you think?"

"That was him! Baekhyun thinks Sehun-hyung is very kind to my Lulu-hyung because he gave Baekhyun cookies, right?"

Smiling, Luhan nods and carefully carries his little brother in his arms as they walk inside the house. He dusts off Baekhyun's small feet, telling him to wear slippers because walking barefoot will make him sick.

*

It's Monday, and Luhan is absent today.

It has been five minutes since Sehun waited by the door of their classroom, but there's still no Luhan coming in to greet him good morning. Sehun stares at a long distance, tipping his toes as he impatiently anticipates for his friend to arrive. His neck already hurts together with the sadness coiling up in his heart.

They were still okay last Saturday. Sehun visited Luhan at his house, not forgetting to bring his new toys with him. They even played car racing and robot battles together with little Baekhyun, who was just as excited as his hyung was. It was really fun for Sehun witnessing how happy Luhan was when he clutched Sehun's toy truck, making a vroom vroom sound under his breath as he moved the toy on the floor. In the afternoon, they ate puddings for snacks Baekhyun's mother brought home and washed the dishes together afterwards. Luhan taught Sehun how to rub a sponge on a plate, but Sehun ended up in a mess of bubbles. After that, the two of them colored Sehun's coloring books, breaking into wide smiles across their faces and giggling once in a while when Baekhyun scrawls the black crayon on Spongebob's face.

That's not until Luhan's father arrived with the door pounding loudly. Sehun was forced to go home by Mrs. Byun, and he couldn't understand why her face looked scared that time. The toddler hid behind his brother's back when the door swung open, and Sehun didn't know what happened next because he was being ushered into the back door of the house with an anxious Mrs. Byun and a frightened Luhan.

"Sehun, you should go home now. I will see you on Monday at school, okay?" Luhan said, smiling, but it wasn't pretty just like before.

Sehun nodded, smiling back as he yelled I will wait for you on Monday! before entering their awaiting car. Luhan waved at him good bye as the car drove past their house, Sehun missing the tears escaping down Luhan's pale cheeks.

Sehun sadly sighs, still waiting for Luhan by the door. He knows it's Monday, and they promised to see each other on Monday. He even bugged his Mom to bake extra cookies so that Luhan could take some home.

"Sehun?" their teacher calls, and Sehun looks up to her, teary-eyed.

"Teacher, is Luhan coming to school? Why is he taking so long?"

"His mother called, and she said Luhan will be absent today. He is sick."

Sehun's face falls as he longingly looks at the gate outside, making the young lady feel a tug inside her chest for her pupil. She pats Sehun on the back and softly says, "He will be okay. Don't worry."

Sehun weakly nods, and quietly gets back to his seat with a sullen look on his eyes. He turns to his left, staring at the vacant chair by his side causing him to feel lonely even more. He misses Luhan already, his pretty eyes, his beautiful laughter and his soothing voice. He worries about him as well, wondering why his friend is sick.

"I will bring him medicine and food," Sehun whispers as he nods eagerly to himself.

*

This is not what Sehun expected to see.

From where he is hiding behind a broken fence, he can see Luhan crying out in pain as an angry man hits him with a long stick. There are bruises and dirt along Luhan's cheeks and arms while his clothes are also a mess. Large hand grips Luhan's thin arm to throw him into a pile of old newspapers. Sehun shuts his eyes close as he clenches his small fists by his side, hearing his friend wailing and sobbing, the stick landing repeatedly on Luhan's tiny legs.

"L-luhan.." Sehun calls in between broken cries, tears blurring his vision as he watches how Luhan's father hits the kid mercilessly. Luhan can't do anything as a child but to cry for help and beg his father to stop, and Sehun's heart breaks into pieces knowing he is here, useless, only watching how Luhan gets beaten up.

Several minutes has passed and Luhan's father is gone. Sehun takes this as a chance to run into the shuddering boy, Luhan's knees are hugged against his chest.

"Luhan, it's me," Sehun calls, shaking his friend's arm gently. "Sehun."

Looking up with his bloodshot eyes, Luhan mutters in a hoarse voice, "Sehun? W-why are you here? Y-you shouldn't be here! What if father sees you--"

"Shh!" Sehun hushes, covering Luhan's mouth with his palm that has Luhan enlarging his eyes in slight surprise. "Keep quiet. If he hears you, you might get hit again.."

"Y-you saw it.. didn't you?"

"I'm sorry.."

Luhan averts his eyes on the other direction. "You should go home, Sehun. And don't come back here anymore."

Taken aback, Sehun asks with his eyes wide, "Why?"

"Father.." Luhan sucks a breath, gripping his fist into a ball. "H-he always gets drunk, and he hits me when he is drunk. I don't want you to," He sniffs, snot flowing down his nose and he wipes it off, "to see me like this. S-so you should better go."

"But we can still see each other at school, right?" Sehun asks hopefully but Luhan just shakes his head.

"F-father said I should stop going to school because," he starts crying again, his face contorting as tears roll down his cheeks. "S-school is just a waste of time and, and.. we don't have enough money to send me to school anymore."

Sehun doesn't say anything because it hurts too much. He doesn't know why it feels like there are thorns prickling his heart when Luhan said those words to him.

"D-does this mean.. I can't see you anymore?" Sehun asks, giving Luhan's bruised arm a light squeeze. "I can't play with you anymore and I cant be with you anymore?"

"Yes.. We can't be.. together anymore.."

Luhan gets on his knees and wraps his arms around his friend's neck, hugging Sehun tightly. Sehun can hear Luhan cry, and he finds himself crying as well as he hesitantly returns Luhan the hug.

"W-why are we.. why are we crying?" Sehun sadly asks, clutching Luhan's shirt within his hand. "We will see each other again, right?"

"Y-yes.." Luhan mumbles, voice hitching as he breathes hard. "You will always be in my heart.."

"Me, too.."

Luhan pulls away slightly to see Sehun's crying face, and he is leaning again to press a chaste kiss against Sehun's forehead.

The skies turn orange as the sun sinks down behind the mountains. Sehun hugs him tightly and plans on never letting go.

But Luhan forgot to say that he is leaving soon.

*

Sehun's friends wave at him as soon as he steps out of the car. Jongin is the first to greet him, giving him a bone-crushing hug that can draw out his breath. Sehun laughs and playfully punches him on the arm.

"So, how's the search going?" Jongin asks as they walk along the hallway of the campus. It's the first day of class and all are excited about it. Their other two friends Jongdae and Minseok are busy talking behind, catching up with each other's lives.

"Have you found him yet?"

"Who?"

Jongin chuckles, nudging his friend's elbow teasingly. "Your first love, of course!"

"Give me a break," Sehun mutters as he rolls his eyes in the most annoyed way as possible. "It's too early for your teasing and I can't tolerate it right now."

"So you're telling me you're going to give up now?" He catches up on Sehun because his friend walks fast a little bit too much. "After all those years you will just stop!?"

They pause in front of the shoe locker, Sehun opens his as well as Jongin. They both change their shoes.

"Who told you I'll stop?" Smirking, Sehun says as he puts his shoes inside the locker and closes it with a thud. "I'm not going to stop until I see him and I--"

A body just collided against his, and Sehun can feel his forehead throb. He looks down on the ground and sees a bag, papers and pens scattered, together with a boy knocked down on the floor.

"Oh god--" Sehun mutters under his breath as he hastily picks up the things that are sprawled messily on the ground. He reaches for the pencil that rolls it's way on the floor.

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't careful," the voice says, and he is now helping Sehun to pick up his own things. Wordlessly, Sehun watches the pair of hands grabbing stuff and shoving them inside the backpack.

That's not until Sehun sees the hand getting something familiar rolling on the floor.

It's a half, broken, old red crayon, just like what he owns a decade ago until now, and it's--

It can't be.

"Are you alright?"

Sehun slowly looks up, only to meet a pair of large eyes that reminds him of aliens in cartoons with wide eyes and big heads he had frequently watched every afternoon when he was young. He silently nods, and stares at the stranger a little longer before he is looking away.

The stranger tiny smiles at him, bowing in apology. Slinging his bag on his shoulders, he turns his back away from Sehun and continues walking down the hallway.

There is an unexplainable feeling that settles inside his chest seeing the boy stepping farther and farther away from him, that Sehun can feel like there is a hole boring into his gut, into his soul. With clenched fist, he steps forward, slowly, gradually, and runs fast after the boy like he's running for dear life.

"Wait!"

Pausing for a while, the boy turns, looking everywhere confusedly until he is met with Sehun's glassy eyes staring back at him. Sehun walks closer, panting, as he holds the boy's arm tentatively.

"Y-your name.. I want.." Sehun breathes, still catching for air inside his lungs, "I want.. to know.. your name.."

The boy's eyes widen in slight surprise, seeing a stranger just approached him asking for his name. But then he breaks into a timid smile, eyes crinkling like moon crescents as he mutters:

"Luhan. What's yours?"

The time seems to stop in favor of the two of them and everything turns silent and slow motion. Sehun's hand releases it's grip on the boy's arm, feeling a familiar warmth creeping inside his heart and silently tears welling up on the corners of his eyes.

After ten years, he sees him again.

Finally.

"I-I'm Sehun," Sehun says, crying hard as he breaks into a crooked smile. "It's me, Sehun.."

*

END