Yixing is kind of worried.

Actually, he's really worried not 'kind of' but possibly not as distressed as how Joonmyun looked when he finds him alongside Minseok in the kitchen. The other boy he remembers as Zitao arrives almost at the same time as Yixing did and plopped himself on the stool beside Joonmyun. The middle child is clutching his phone in his hand and is rambling about things even he can't comprehend. When Yixing asks them what is going on, it is Minseok who says that Jongdae hasn't returned home yet and pulls the phone from Joonmyun's grasp and shows it to Yixing, making a clear explanation of why Joonmyun is about to faint on his spot by showing him a set of very unexpected pictures.

Turns out Joonmyun is looking at a multiple photo uploaded on Instagram (from Baekhyun's account to be more precise) and has to blink a couple of times to digest the pictures he's seeing.

There, with his hair now restored to it's original silk black clean cut state, Baekhyun snapped a photo of what appears to be a balcony VIP lounge of an unfamiliar club. The dance floor could be seen from the angle the photo was taken—purple, blue, yellow, and green lights frozen alongside the countless body dancing—but the thing that catches his eyes the most is the boy who Baekhyun is with. While the brown color of his hair is now replaced by an ash blonde color, Yixing is going to recognize that face wherever he may go.

Not because he have a photographic memory but because said face had lately been a part of his everyday routine.

A routine that makes an abrupt change when said boy didn't came to the Chemistry Lab that afternoon. Yixing waited until six thirty before he then decided that Jongdae was not coming and he should take his leave.

It was kind of odd because the younger boy never failed to inform him if he was going to be late or if he'll come at all.

(He did saw him that afternoon but he thought he was going to come to the Lab so Yixing didn't bothered approaching him.)

With the pictures etched on his mind, he leaves Joonmyun and the rest to try reaching out for Jongdae's whereabouts-seeing that Baekhyun didn't include the club's location in his post. Taking his phone out of his pocket—the numbers 9:45 glaring at him on his screenlock—Yixing unlocks his phone and dials Jongdae's number.

It rings for a couple of times before, he is somewhat expecting it, it goes straight to voicemail.

Yixing could only frown at the device.

It is getting really late and he don't know the club. He could ask Han, Yifan, and Sehun for help but they already went out half an hour ago, leaving Yixing behind after he declined on joining them for their usual bar shenanigans. It obviously pissed Lu Han because he wanted to get drunk for some reason and with that there's zero percent chance that he'll accept his call. He also can't rely on the other two because they really don't check their phones when they're out dancing to some obscene music.

Which then basically leaves Yixing to do nothing and hope that Jongdae doesn't harm himself.

(He could always track Jongdae's phone but he promised his Mom that he'll abstain from hacking satellites just so she'd allow him to study alongside his cousins.)

But when three am strikes and Jongdae is still not home, the anxious feeling that had been eating his guts and keeping him from sleeping grows larger until, eventually, he couldn't take it anymore. Yixing throws his blankets aside—immediately shivering because he is only in his boxers—and leaves the comfort of his bed and goes straight to his coffee table where his MacPro is lying.

He is about to do his illegal deed which his mom highly disapprove of when he hears it. Yixing had to stay still, his fingers hovering above the keyboard, and listen intently. When he hears the soft shuffling of feet just outside of his door, he spring up and nearly runs toward the source of the sound. Sure enough, when he hastily opens his door, Jongdae is there, holding a bottle of half empty vodka and trying to decipher the math of opening a door.

"Hellooooo from teh out'r sideeee..." The younger boy sings as he presses his mouth on the wooden surface. "C-can," hic. "you open teh d-door, pless?" He slurs and this time bumping his head not so gently on the white painted door.

Seeing this as his cue to finally move before Jongdae hurt himself, Yixing walks out of his room (too worried and relieved at the same time to remember he's only in his boxers) and wraps an arm around the other boy's shoulder. "That's enough, Chen Chen. You're drunk." Yixing says using the nickname he came up with for the boy as he pulls him away from door.

Obviously startled by the action, Jongdae gasp and crane neck his to Yixing's direction. The boy blearily blinks, not fully understanding everything, before his signature cat-like grin find itself on his face. "Hellloooooo..." He drunkenly greets before resting his head on Yixing's bare torso. "I must've'not ceelled a twasand twaymes..." Jongdae sings, too drunk to care that the action nearly made them tumble on the ground or the fact that Yixing's practically .

(Drunk or not, he probably wouldn't mind if Yixing comes to him with his in full view. Jongdae had been wanting to see the real form of the buldge that's always present and hard to ignore while he's in his uniform slacks.)

"Just how many did you drink?" Yixing questions as he guide Jongdae to his room, mildly struggling because the younger now choose to wrap his arms around his waist and hug him tight from the front (the feeling of the cold bottle of vodka on spine makes the elder shiver). The elder opens his door with ease and turns the lights On then notes that Chen is not around.

(He guess Joonmyun must have taken the pup to his room to ease his anxiety.)

Yixing hears Jongdae murmur a "Dunno, don't care" and tightens his grip around the elder before choosing on burying his nose on the spot where the elder's neck meets his shoulder. Yixing simply rubs Jongdae's back and doesn't think much of his action as he guides him (struggling a little because of their position) to his bed.

When they reaches the foot of Jongdae's bed, Yixing's plan was too gently removed the arms around his torso and lay him down. So when Jongdae tightens his grip and pulls him toward the bed, Yixing isn't able to stop the gasp that escapes his lips as they both falls down on the soft mattress. The sound of the bottle falling on the carpeted floor is quickly overlooked with the compromising position that they're in.

Jongdae's loud giggle resonates inside the room with the action. Yixing groans softly before he props his hands on the mattress for support.

When Yixing finally fixes his eyes back to the younger, he finds Jongdae sporting his signature smile and is looking at him with strange emotions reflecting on his eyes. Yixing is about to open his mouth when Jongdae places an index finger on his lips and beat him to it.

"Whenever I'm near you, I undergo Anaerobic Respiration." The younger start, successfully making Yixing frown in confusion.

"Why? Are you hav—"

"'Cause you take my breath away." Jongdae murmurs and wrap his arms around Yixing's neck. The smile on his lips turns into a full blown grin when he takes notice of the confused look on the elder's face.

Still not understanding what Jongdae is saying, Yixing tilts his head to the side and choose to sit down on the soft mattress, taking the boy with him as he still has his arms around his neck. "What are you talking about?"

Yet, instead of giving Yixing a clear explanation (he actually isn't expecting anything clear out of Jongdae's drunken state to be honest but he could hope), Jongdae simply giggles and crawls on the elder's lap with his legs locking behind Yixing.

"I wish I was your O-Chem homework..." Jongdae once again starts with a snicker. "Because then I'd be hard and you'd be doing me on your desk." He ends with bleary eyes and cheeky grin.

Still not finding any humor from the ual innuendo the younger just spat (he may be kind but he's not dense. Well, perhaps a little but whatever) Yixing decides to simply blame it on the alcohol Jongdae had put in his system. "Come on Chen Chen, you're drunk. You should sleep..." He coaxe but Jongdae seems to be keen on staying on his lap because he protest loudly when Yixing makes a motion of removing him.

"Why are you babying me? You're not my Mom." Jongdae says with a pout before the cheeky grin makes another appearance. "But you know what? I'd rather call you Daddy." he says and wiggles his eyebrow suggestively.

He has to admit, that actually made Yixing crack a smile and shake his head in disbelief. An action which makes Jongdae grin wider. The younger says a "you laughed" then giggles instead which is followed by Yixing's own laughter. Shaking his head once more, the elder removes the arms wrapped around his neck together with the legs around him. Despite of Jongdae protest, Yixing places a hand behind the younger boy's shoulder and the back of his knees, helping him get to a more comfortable position.

"You should sleep." Yixing, again, says and ruffles Jongdae's newly dyed hair.

Pouting still, Jongdae shakes his head and reaches out for Yixing's hand before intertwining it with his. "I must be going crazy," He sings an unfamiliar song and pulls Yixing to sit back down on the bed. "I must be going crazy babe, I want you this much yet you won't look back at me."

Raising an eyebrow, the elder gives the drunk boy an incredulous look. "What are you si—"

"I must be going crazy, I must be going crazy..." Jongdae resumes, this time letting go of the other boy's wrist and brushing his fingers on Yixing's lips. "I cannot stop looking at you," he sing. "Don't break my heart, oh boy." With a coy smile on his face, Jongdae stares at Yixing with something akin to that of affection and pleading. Like the song he is singing is a message for the elder and holds more meaning than it should.

Then, with exhaustion probably now eating his whole form and whatever it was he and Baekhyun did drained his energy away, he finally succumbs to the liquor and falls asleep, leaving a near Unicorn to ponder on his words.

When he did so, mind replaying on the lame pickup lines he possibly searched on the Internet, an amused grin broke on Yixing's face.

(.)

(He don't mind getting stripped down by Zhang Yixing but can he at least do it when Jongdae's not unconscious or something? Does he even know the word "respect"? My God.)

It must have shown on his expression because Yixing chuckles and ruffles his hair affectionately.

"You should brush your teeth," He smiles, those deep as a black hole dimple showing, before standing up. "I bought you some food and medicine." is all Yixing says before going out of the bathroom to prepare Jongdae his hangover meal leaving a confused as Kim Jongdae to ponder what the hell is going on. He possibly sat there for a total of thirty seconds before he snap out of his reverie and did just what the other told him to do.

Jongdae had finishes brushing his teeth and washing his crusty red-eyed post drinking face, and Yixing is still there and playing with a hyper active Chen when he got out of the bathroom.

Maybe it's the image of Zhang Yixing kissing and tickling Chen in the middle of his bed that did it, or maybe it's the fact that he remembered the intimate position they had last night on top of said bed, but Jongdae finally snaps.

Just not the kind of snapped people are expecting.

"Why are you here?" He questions which makes Yixing transfer his attention from the puppy to its owner.

Blinking like some druggie high on weed, Yixing tilts his head to the side. "I brought you medicine?" He replies, clearly not understanding the undertone that came with Jongdae's question.

"No!" Jongdae exclaims before plopping down on the spot right in front of Yixing. "What I mean is why are you here? Shouldn't you be at school? Wait, no, don't answer that. I'm ing aware you don't need school. Damn you." He grumbles then sighs deeply. "But... Why are you really here?"

Smiling still ("what the are you smiling about?!" Jongdae want to scream but thought against it), Yixing let Chen waddle on Jongdae's lap and shrug. "You need someone to take care of you."

YOU ZHANG YIXING. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? WHY MUST YOU DO THIS? WHO THE ALLOWED YOU TO, DAMN YOU!

"Also," The older continues before Jongdae could happily perish and cross the other side. "I wanted to ask you why you didn't came to the Lab yesterday."

Everything's fine—actually nothing's fine because he still feel like a complete poop—until Yixing mentions that.

The memory of seeing a boy leaning forward to the elder while they sat face to face inside the chemistry laboratory hit him like a truck and it hurt like a . And the quivering of his lower lip didn't escaped Yixing's eyes but the younger is quick to move and bites it. Wiping his incoming tears with the back of his hand (damn, he thought that he had cried enough. Turns out, he still hasn't) Jongdae gives the elder a look that's akin to a kicked puppy.

"Why do you care?" He sniffles. "It's not like you need me to be there. Actually, why do you even ask me to come? I don't even understand why you should balance chemicals mathematically." And... And... You already have him.

"Jongdae? What's wrong?" Yixing asks in worry as he scoots closer, cupping both of Jongdae's cheeks with his large hand. And the way he says his name, oh how each syllable roll off on those goddamn tongue he had yet to taste, he swears he's already pregnant there and then.

(The idea itself hurt because that would mean he have to raised the baby alone because Yixing has other hoes. Hoes who are actually getting a taste of his unlike Jongdae.)

Maybe he is still drunk and the alcohol is doing with his hormones, or it's when Yixing brushes his tears away in worry that he finally caves in. But as the elder looks at him with genuine worry reflected on those beautiful eyes, Jongdae then decides that life is ing unfair.

"Why are you like this?" Jongdae sobs and punches Yixing on the shoulder. Not  that hard though 'cause he don't wanna hurt his boo. "Why do you keep on acting like I'm important and look at me like that but you kisses other boys!" He cries, this time all out crying like some child whose candy had been snatched by heartless teenagers who thinks that bullying children is cool when in reality it simply just makes them look stupid.

Jackass.

"You're so unfair! Why smile like that? Are you ing aware just how much you make me weak?" The younger rubs the ball of his palms on his eyes and misses the confused look that crosses Yixing's face. "Or do you simply love to lead people on?! Did you do it on purpose? Did you manipulate me to think that you and I are—"

"I didn't kissed anyone."

"—more than friends? What kind of friend buys the other a couple ring and gives them their black card—what did you say?" Jongdae, just realizing the elder's words at the last second, abruptly halts on his crying frowns at Yixing; complete with snot and tears.

"I said, I didn't kissed anyone." Yixing admits and his head to the side. "Actually, the last time I did was 6048000 seconds ago. It was during the time Han threw a party in the mansion and angered Auntie Rongjia." The boy says and blinks a couple of times.

"You think you can fool me?!" Jongdae, who have no idea how many months are in there in whatever-seconds Yixing stated, angrily screams at his face. He raises an accusing finger straight to Yixing's face and had to gather all his strength to not lose his composure, because damn Yixing looked so ing adorable when he got crossed eyed as he directly looked at the tip of Jongdae's finger. "Why are-are you always lying?! I-I saw you yesterday in the Chem Lab! That dude who you were with leaned forward and kissed you!"

When Yixing drowsily blinked and muttered an "oh" he is about to rejoice until Yixing grins and stares at him in amusement.

"He didn't." He says and all Jongdae wants to do is to bury his fist straight to Yixing's face.

"Why are you still denying it? I saw you! He, he—"

"He told me there's something on my face and I was holding a chemical mixture back then so I asked him to remove it. You should have just entered." He explains, mind flashing back to the time wherein he asked Taekwoon—apparently the reason behind Jongdae acting like a jealous wife—to remove whatever it was on Yixing's face.

"... That's possibly one of the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life." Jongdae deadpans. "You know what? it. you. this mansion. Romcom. Go look for some other Omega or whatever to play on. that stupid caste system. I swear to God I'll bring that system down and—hey! What the are you doing?!" The younger shrieks when he is pulled down to lie on the soft mattress, landing straight on Yixing's chest. Jongdae is about to protest even further but all curses he is about throw got pushed back down in his throat when Yixing rests his chin on top of his head—his strong bicep serving as the younger boy's pillow—and his free arm finding its way around Jongdae's waist.

The way his cheeks flushes red at the intimate gesture is probably quite pathetic.

"... What are you doing?" Is all Jongdae could murmur because damn, his heart is on the verge of leaping out of his chest and Yixing smells so, so good. (No, he doesn't smell like his usual perfume, a very expensive Creed Aventus, but the scent of baby powder is what invades his nostrils and it is the scent that Jongdae realized he always likes. It is the kind of scent Yixing has on when he's not out playing Alpha and simply that cute nerd with a beautiful smile who can balance two chemical equations or more within a short period of time.)

And all Jongdae could do is to bury his face on Yixing's neck because it is all too much. Baekhyun's words continuously rings on his head like some goddamned broken record and is constantly reminding him of the sad reality of the caste system.

Yet, when Yixing's like this, when he holds him close like this, when he intertwines their fingers like this, his heart whispers "can you even blame me for thinking that we're something more?".

He want to apologize to Baekhyun because even after all his efforts of slapping reality straight to Jongdae's face, he still want this. This delusional peace of dream where—

"Who said that I only see you as a friend?" Yixing speaks as he tightens his grip around Jongdae's form.

Oh.

Okay.

Wait.

What?!

"Wait, what?" Jongdae voices out, his perfect angsty moment broken by the words Yixing blurts out of the blue. The boy wiggles his way out of the other boy's grip and sits down, looking at Yixing with wide unbelieving eyes.

"It's like what you said." Yixing responds and mimics his action by sitting down. "I don't give one of my black cards just to anyone. And I bought the couple ring because I overheard some people saying that it's a necessity for couples nowadays." He explains in a tone like it's the most obvious thing in the whole world. "We're a couple, right?" before he questions with a tilt of his head, confusion evident on his face.

Although Jongdae feels offended, he could only look at Yixing with his mouth wide open.

"But—but, you! I! Wait! !" Jongdae exclaims and ruffles his hair as everything starts to make sense. "You had never even kissed me! Or even hold my hand! What kind of a relationship is that even?!"

Smiling, Yixing scoots closer to Jongdae with amusement twinkling in his eyes. "Do you want me to?" He asks and makes the younger squeak and flush red. The sound that leaves Jongdae's mouth is highly similar to that of a dying whale but when Yixing is looking at him like that patiently, he feel his body temperature rise before, finally, he bites his lower lip and nod. Flushing even darker, Jongdae covers his face with one hand.

Then.

Warm hands engulfed his and slowly pulls it down to his lap. Jongdae, with unsteady breath, shyly peeked from his eyelashes and sees Yixing softly smiling as he intertwines their fingers in a manner that he could only describe as delicate. And so, with his other hand, the older of the two softly cups the younger boy's chin and leans closer. With Yixing brown eyes staring into his, and his soft murmur of "close your eyes", Jongdae let himself drown in with everything that's Zhang Yixing.

Sweet.

It is sweet.

Possibly sweeter than those candies Yixing always keeps in his pockets and eats whenever he remembers he even have them. It is sweet. The taste of Yixing's lips and how soft it feels against his. Jongdae decides then, it is something he is going to crave every now and then.

And how their lips slotted like two missing puzzle pieces is the thing that makes him think—sighing softly against Yixing's mouth as the elder nipped on his bottom lip—that Baekhyun is wrong.

As Yixing his lower lip, only understanding that he want him to open his mouth when the other gently presss his thumb on his chin, and they simultaneously moans while elder's tongue found his (Jongdae flushed redder at action because damn it is so and Heechul is going to have a heart attack if he learns about this) and Jongdae tasted Yixing's sweet taste of cotton and mint candy, that Baekhyun could be wrong about everything he had told him.