Reason

There is a reason why we are where we are at a specific point in time. 

For Yixing, left behind by his fellow trainees alone in the practice room, the reason is the music; to be the vessel that spreads the good name of music. From when he was young, he has always been surrounded by melodic tunes and dulcet tones that it was no wonder as to which path he will take. After a successful stint as a child celebrity, Yixing grew up and moved on to bigger sights with bigger sacrifices. He had to move to a place with no knowledge of its language or its culture. He faced it all head on even if blindly. The first few weeks were rough, burning oil just to string a few Korean words that he hopes will somehow make sense. It was hard too when they segregate the new ones from the old ones. He’s heard of other Chinese trainees being in the company but he has never come across any of them. 

Such a shame, he thinks every now and then, they would have been great help for a new kid like me.

However, every time he faces a challenge, he just needs to remind himself of his goal, of his reason for being here. Like now, when he feels his knees are about to give up and he can already feel the sore muscles that will wake him up in the next few hours. He just needs to look up, watch his face in the mirror and make himself remember once again.

Do it for the music. 

Do it for Yifan.

Ah, Yixing pause with realization, Yifan. 

There are also reasons that present themselves out of the blue in a very physical form, like maybe a tall, dark, handsome Chinese male, maybe. 

It is Yifan who he stays behind these late nights at the practice room alone for. He sees the way Yifan stares at him every time he moves along the beat and he doesn’t know why but he lives for it; to see the always focused older male have his full attention on Yixing’s body, to hear him praise him afterwards. He doesn’t know if Yifan is a reason the gods have decided to place in that specific stairwell before when he wanted to give up.

It had only been two weeks but he was having a hard time juggling daily practices with his language classes. But then he meets Yifan and it seems like all the heaviness is taken away from him by that gummy smile and familiar tone.

He reminds himself to focus on the music and move but even before he can continue, the door opens and a voice beckons him back to reality from his internal pep talk.

“Let’s go home, Yixing.”

<•>

It’s funny, Yifan thinks, how it is so easy for your reasons to change. 

Not long ago, a seventeen year old Yifan would have told you that his reason for moving across the world from his comfortable life in Vancouver to a more challenging life as a trainee for a big Korean entertainment company is that he wants to help out to pay the bills. He could have done that by earning money through a part-time job but he would also want to be an independent person. Living in a country with such liberated opinions has grown on him and when a staff from the Korean company approached him to try out for an audition, there was no doubt in his mind that he will do it.

Yifan was not talented though, his only talent was to play basketball and he was completely aware of that. But he still tried his best, learning a few moves from a friend of his who dances and memorizing the lines to one of Big Poppa’s famous songs; he knows they love that American hip-hop. He fortunately passes and before he knows it he’s already packing his belongings and is on his way to a land unknown.

Now if you ask Yifan that same question again, he would still give you that answer but that would not be entirely true anymore.

Because now Yixing is in the picture.

Yixing is a breath of fresh air yet someone comfortable. It could be because they share the same ethnicity but he can easily find that similarity with a bunch of other Chinese trainees. There’s just something about that kid that keeps Yifan grounded and unable to move without the other.

These thoughts keep invading his mind whenever he is alone and without Yixing especially when he’s traversing that stairwell where he met the younger Chinese on that fated day. He will never forget that day, because it was a dark time until Yixing came and spread the light again.

It’s curious how he thinks of Yixing as a reason for everything behind what he is doing, like right now. He just closed the door to the stairwell and is heading to the same practice room he was just in an hour or so ago.

He opens the door and finds him there, standing in the middle of the room with a determined expression on his face even if his body looks like it’s about to give up.

He breaks through the silence before the younger can start gliding across the floor and tire himself out even more: “Let’s go home, Yixing.”

A/N: Hey guys! Christmas is coming! I won’t be updating the drabbles this coming week since I’ll be posting my Christmas fics. :p Happy Holidays! :)