I'm sorry. This is so late. I would have had this up about twelve hours ago but then hit the fan and there was an emotional breakdown and I'm moving in literally 24 hours and the stress just kind of got to me, so yeah.

I know I've mentioned this in the story feed, but for those of of you who haven't seen it Strings Attatched will be updated once a month minimum from now on--hopefully more if I can get my together.

Anyway, thank you all so much for your patience. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me. Sorry for any errors. This is the unedited version because I didn't want to make any of you wait any longer than necessary. I will go back and edit it later, promise :)

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Yixing wasn’t in Art 126 the week after his exhibition.

Nor was he in class the week after that, and artist’s absence made Jongdae worry more than he thought possible. Jongdae sat by Baekhyun and Hani now and spent more time than he wanted to admit staring at the empty easel across the room, letting the idle conversation of the two Koreans beside him flow past him like a mantra. Yixing almost felt like a dream to Jongdae now, even though the exhibit had only been a few weeks ago. The Chinese exchange student had become a fixture in Jongdae’s life that Jongdae didn’t know he’d miss until after he disappeared. Once or twice a thin, black haired Asian that looked suspiciously like Yixing would dart across his path in a knit sweater and navy blue Marmot coat, but he always disappeared before Jongdae could utter a word to stop him. Jongdae even sent texts to Yixing—things like “hey, what’s up?” and “how’re you doing?”, or “were you in the library around 2 today?”—but he never received a response and the texts became fewer and fewer. Halfway through finals week Jongdae stopped trying to contact Yixing and instead settled for the next best thing.

The final for Art 126 was simple. Create a painting on a 4’ by 6’ canvas and bring it in at 3:30 on the Thursday of finals week for peer review. The review itself only lasted for two hours, and it was almost too easy for Jongdae to track Yifan down afterward. Yifan on the other hand had decided that it was far too difficult to avoid Jongdae, and choose to admit defeat, purposefully packing up slowly after the peer review to let Jongdae approach him.

"Hey Kris." Jongdae started, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Jongdae." Curt and straightforward.

"Look, um.." Jongdae let his voice trail off, gulping audibly before trying again. "What I'm meaning to say is, well."

Yifan raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Well..."

"I need to meet with Yixing in a few minutes Jongdae. What do you need?" Jongdae stiffened at his words, and Yifan inwardly cheered. He'd known mentioning Yixing was sure to get some sort of reaction out of the kid.

"It's actually about Yixing."

"Oh?" Yifan raised an eyebrow, trying to look surprised.

"Yeah. Um, well. Why isn't he in class anymore?"

Yifan grinned. He knew it! He knew Jongdae missed Yixing. "I told him he didn't have to come."

Jongdae frowned. "What? Why?"

"He doesn't actually need this class," Yifan shrugged, "and besides, after his exhibit he received a bunch of commissions. I told he could skip this class and I would still pass him with an A. He's really busy. Besides, he's still painting, which is kind of the point of this class. He just isn't doing the exact assignments I give. If anything, the work he's doing is harder."  

"Oh." Jongdae stilled. "I see. So that's why he never came back after the exhibit." Yifan watched his student carefully, noting the way Jongdae's shoulders drooped at his words.

"Hey," Yifan grinned, patting Jongdae on the back, "don't worry about it too much. Just send him a text. I'm sure he'll reply once he has time."

Jongdae's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure? He hasn't been responding to me at all, and I've texted him more than once."

Yifan forced out a laugh. "Of course I'm sure! Xing always does this." Of course it was all bull, but Jongdae didn't have to know that. "Yixing gets so occupied with his work that he forgets anything exists." Yifan let out an uneasy chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. His voice raised a pitch. "I have to check on him to make sure he eats. One time I forgot and when I went to visit him later he had passed out on top of his easel. All his work was ruined and his face was stained blue for the rest of the week. Anyway all I'm saying is that him not replying to you at all isn't personal. He does it to everyone."

"Except you apparently."

"Well yeah, I mean of cou--, wait what?" Yifan froze, suddenly noticing Jongdae's facial expression. He wasn't impressed.

"I said, except for you apparently. Seeing as you're meeting with him soon and all that."

"Ohh," Yifan sighed in relief. He hadn't realized his method to get Jongdae to talk could backfire, but this was nothing big. He could handle it easily. "You're right. That's a rule we have, ever since the day he passed out. He can ignore his phone all he wants but if he hears me on voicemail he has to pick up. And if I ask to meet him he has to make time for me. That way I can make sure he doesn't just breathe in paint fumes all day." Yifan looked down at his wrist, pointing at a non-existent watch. "Look at the time. Xing is waiting for me. I have to dash. Later Jongdae!" and in a flash he was gone. Jongdae watched him rush out, frowning a bit.

"But if he's checking Kris" messages," he muttered, "then shouldn't he at least be seeing mine? Why won't he reply?" He alone stood in the art studio trying to discern the reason for Yixing's sudden and complete disappearance until his phone rang—the easy beats of Childish Gambino’s Sweatpants echoing in the empty room.

“Hello? Hey Liyin. Yeah, I’m ready. No, my suitcase is in my room. Yeah, I’ll head over. Okay, I’ll meet you in front of the towers in fifteen. Mhmm? Of course. Ha! Love you too. Of course this will be the best Christmas vacation ever! My mom can’t wait to see you again. Oh, don’t worry about it. I think she likes you more than she likes me! Why would I lie about that? Okay, now you’re just trying to get me to complement you. Yes. I already said I love you. Fine. I’ll say it again. Love you too. Bye.”

Jongdae took he phone from his ear, shooting one last look at the door Yifan exited through. Then he shrugged. He’d find Yixing next semester but until then he had every intention of enjoying his Christmas vacation with his family and his girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Jongdae’s plan to catch up with Yixing come second semester was not as successful as he would have liked. Despite his best efforts the thin artist remained impossible to find and any conversation with Jongdae had with Kris to try and wheedle out his friend’s whereabouts always ended in a horribly derailed conversation about Psych or How I Met Your Mother. Apparently Kris was a big fan. Jongdae thought it was funny. Liyin hated the two shows—thought they were dumb—so Jongdae never watched them anymore. But that didn’t mean he liked them any less, and if he were being honest he’d admit watching those shows was something he missed about being single. Either way, his attempts to weasel information out of Kris proved consistently unproductive so Jongdae found himself resorting to other methods.

He started with Minseok first, since he knew the redhead would be less likely to question him when he asked to borrow his phone to contact Yixing. That time the Chinese artist did respond to Jongdae’s “hey, wanna hang?” text with a curt “sry min. busy.” Despite the flat refusal it was a response, and therefore still better than anything Jongdae had gotten from Yixing in the past two months. Jongdae frowned. His theory that recently Yixing tried to avoid him was beginning to hold water. He sent Yixing another text from his own phone: “Hey Xing, you busy?” No reply. He waited another ten minutes. Then he waited an hour. Even the next day there was still no answer. He tried to text from Minseok’s phone again, but his redhead friend wouldn’t let him.

“Look Dae, I don’t know what’s going on with you two,” Minseok answered when Jongdae had asked to borrow his phone again, holding his Samsung impressively out of reach considering his short height, “but you guys need to figure it out without using me as a middleman. I like Yixing, and if you up with him I’d rather not have my friendship with him sacrificed as collateral.”

Jongdae could understand his point of view, so of course he abandoned his attempts to sway Minseok and went to beg Kyungsoo for help instead. Kyungsoo’s response came much more immediately.

“Hell no Jongdae. I am not fixing you and Yixing.” He wiped his hands on his pants, staining the jeans with grease as his lips pulled into a frown. He peered at the engine in front of him as if staring harder would suddenly fix it. Kyungsoo—like Yixing—proved to be notoriously hard to get in contact with. However, unlike Yixing, he did answer his phone and it was possible for Jongdae to meet with him—even if that meant that they met in the university’s mechanical engineering building so Kyungsoo could work on his project while Jongdae talked. “Look,” Kyungsoo continued, “I get it. Yixing’s a pretty incredible guy and it’s totally a bummer that he’s not talking to you but has it ever occurred to you that maybe he has a reason? Because Xing has a reason, I swear. And trust me—it’s valid.”

Jongdae ignored the brief spike of something ugly that tore through him when Kyungsoo used his nickname for Yixing in favor of focusing on the more important information. “You know why he’s avoiding me? Why? Tell me!”

Kyungsoo shook his head, grabbing a wrench and moving around the engine to tighten something Jongdae couldn’t see. “It’s not my place to say. That’s something you’d have to hear from Xing.” He put the wrench back, opting instead to wipe off his hands and walk over to Jongdae. “All I can say is this: Xing needs some time. And it’s my job—and your job—to make sure he gets it. So just chill okay. He'll get in contact with you when he’s ready.” Kyungsoo flashed an easy smile and gave Jongdae a firm pat. “I’m sure you’ll see him again before the summer.”

The words should have comforted Jongdae but instead they only strengthened the nauseous empty feeling that had started to grow the second Jongdae realized that Yixing was purposefully avoiding him. His thoughts flashed back to two months ago—Yixing’s exhibit. His words still haunted Jongdae’s memory.

I’m jealous.

They rang uncomfortably clear. His relationship with Liyin—Yixing claimed to be jealous of it. But Jongdae couldn’t help but question if his relationship was what Yixing truly envied.

You guys look happy, Yixing had said, a pained grimace painted clearly on his face and reflected in the shadowy light of the gallery. I want that, he’d continued. He hadn’t said anything else when Jongdae asked.

So why did it feel like a lie?

Nevertheless, Jongdae did as Kyungsoo suggested and stopped trying to find Yixing, deciding instead to hold to the hope that it would be the other who reached out eventually—not him. In a whirlwind of classes and tests Jongdae managed to make it through finals week, almost forgetting the slim- artist who so abruptly vanished. It wasn’t until the Thursday of that last week when Jongdae’s suitcases and boxes had been packed and loaded in his Jeep that an overpowering need to see Yixing again struck him. Jongdae couldn’t deny it. Over the past four months an uncomfortably large, Asian-shaped hole had pushed itself into the forefront of Jongdae’s mind and forced him to acknowledge exactly what—or more accurately who—he missed. Yixing. Something about his smartass, dimpled smile made Jongdae’s chest hurt when he thought of ART 126 and complementary colors and green. Jongdae knew he was ed when green started to make him miss Yixing. So that Thursday, at 3:02, Jongdae traipsed off to Yifan’s apartment to ask about Yixing.

Yifan opened his door with very little excitement and no pants. It took Jongdae a few seconds of staring at bright blue Angry Birds boxers to gather his wits about him and make eye contact. Yifan looked groggy, his face swollen in the way