Chapter 4: Hear Me Out 

Yixing
"So, I can't help but notice," Luhan starts. He is splayed out on Yixing's couch, channel surfing whilst waiting for Minseok to return from his night lecture. Yixing has become accustomed to having Luhan idling in his apartment at random times of the day. He strongly suspects that his friend probably suffers from some kind of abandonment issue. 

Luhan clears his throat loudly when he fails to get a response from Yixing. Honestly, can't he tell that Yixing is currently preoccupied with getting the wrenched printer to work, and he's getting more and more worked up by the second. The printer has been the bane of his existence ever since the day he got it, opting to always be on the blink during the few rare occasions when he needed to use it.

Yixing would very much like to tell Luhan to sod off and stop being such an attention but instead, he grunts and tosses another crumpled piece of partially printed paper into the bin. "Can't help but to notice what?" he asks dutifully, knowing that that's the reply which Luhan is looking for. With his fingers crossed, he feeds a new piece of photo paper into the printer and hits the print icon on his desktop for the sixth time in the span of an hour.

A shrill feminine scream followed by the repulsive sound of bones being crushed echoed throughout the room and Luhan hums in approval. He has finally come to a decision on what to watch and Yixing does not have to put up with the incoherent mess that was coming out of the telly's speakers anymore. The only problem would be that nothing is worse than having to tolerate an entire hour of mindless wailing and crappy dialogues. A horror movie. ing perfect, Yixing thought to himself. 

"You'd been in a relatively good mood, up until you decided to interact with the printer that is," Luhan states calmly as the next victim cries out in a horrifically high decibel. "That's when you turned into the hulk." He lowers the volume considerably as he anticipates Yixing's reply. 

Yixing waits a moment, watching the paper that is currently making its way out of the printer steadily. "Yeah," he exhales in relief once he has the perfect physical copy of the photo in his hands. He lays it down carefully on his work desk and secures it with two paperweights whilst it dries. An immense amount of effort went into obtaining it and Yixing would positively collapse if any smudges occur. He is so focused on the task at hand he did not even notice the words - I met somebody - rolling off his tongue and into Luhan's ears. 

The harm is already done when he realises what he had just blurted out and catches himself from divulging any more revelations. Yixing hears a sharp intake of breath from Luhan as he creeps up from behind him, his prying eyes pinned on the drying photo; an invasive finger dangles dangerously close to it. "Is he that somebody?" he asks with a glint in his eyes. Naturally, Yixing wants to say no and smack that meddling hand away but instead, he carefully moves Luhan's hand to a less threatening distance and reluctantly mumbles out a 'yes'. The only favourable thing that's coming out from this situation is the abandoned telly. Luhan had switched it off once he caught a whiff of something that interests him more.

"He is a beauty," Luhan says almost right away. "And he looks very well put together," he adds, albeit a bit hesitantly. Yixing scoffs at Luhan's choice of word. The adjective that he was looking for is loaded, bloody loaded actually. Luhan should know from the first glance that the coat in the picture is from Lanvin. The very one which he has been eyeing for months and the only thing that is stopping him from getting it is the outrageous price tag.

Rubbing his chin with a thoughtful look, Luhan peers at Yixing with a raised eyebrow.

Yixing does not appreciate being scrutinised as though he is a test subject. "What?" he spats, exasperated.

"So, you found yourself another sugar daddy?" Luhan questions. "Lucky you. He's young and ing attractive," he says, waggling his eyebrows suggestively whilst grinning like an idiot who thinks that he is onto something.

"Jesus, not this again," Yixing moans in frustration. Exhausted, he sighs as he plops himself down onto the bean bag, wishing that it would just swallow him whole. "What must I do in order for you to be convinced that I never had, and never will have, a sugar daddy?"

"It's not that hard actually," Luhan says, free-falling into the empty spot beside Yixing. "Just tell me how the hell do you afford this place? I mean, no offence, but you're just a waiter at that dingy restaurant. Do they even pay you above the minimum wage?" he asks, instigating Yixing with tiny jabs to his ribs.

Yixing reciprocates Luhan's actions, but with enough force to make his friend wince a little. That's all it takes to stop Luhan's nudging. Sometimes, actions really do speak louder than words, especially in Luhan's case. "I have my ways," Yixing replies, all cryptic-like.

Luhan snorts and resolves to sarcasm when he did not obtain the answers to his questions. "I think I'll have a better chance of finding some dirt on you if I just google your name instead," he deadpans and puts o