“I am so sorry that I’m late,” Yixing exclaimed as he came closer to the shop, seeing Luhan and Minseok sitting outside. The blond turned his head and ushered Yixing to sit next to him, which he gladly did. He had practically ran all the way to the restaurant, leaving his breath hitching. “Wake up late, or something?” Luhan questioned.
    “Yeah, exactly,” he responded, practically downing the glass of water waiting for him. “Did you guys already order food?”
    “Minseok made me wait for you.”
    Yixing thanked the purple-haired one before finally finding his regular pace of breath. He glanced at the limited menu on the table before deciding what he wanted. Luhan and Minseok were continuing whatever conversation they were having before Yixing showed up, making him question why his friend wanted him there if he was just going to be ignored.
    “Are you guys ready to order?” came the waiter’s voice, causing Yixing to look up. He almost choked on the water he hadn’t yet swallowed. “Oh, hey Yixing,” the waiter said, that gummy smile on his lips again. “Fancy seeing you here.”
    Yixing coughed before swallowing down more water from his cup. Wu Yifan--the attractive, sharply-dressed journalist and photographer that he met at an expensive restaurant the night before--worked at a dumpling shop.
    How the -
    “You know each other?” Luhan asked, an eyebrow arched.
    “Looks like we both know him,” Minseok added, bowing his head slightly to Yifan, who returned the gesture almost instantaneously. “I didn’t know you worked here, Yifan.”
    “I can’t really survive as just a journalist. Hard to make ends meet when you can easily get your article rejected,” the tall man smiled. “So, can I get you guys anything?”
    Yixing was staring at him, and he really hoped it wasn’t obvious. His brown hair looked so soft when it wasn’t being tamed by gel, and his simple dress shirt and that apron that hugged his waist seemed to fit him so much better than that blue suit had. When Yifan looked at him to prompt his order, Yixing scrambled to act as if he was looking at the menu in deep interest. His voice cracked when he said what he wanted, and he mentally slapped himself for that.
    “Great, I’ll get those right out,” he said, dropping the notepad into the pocket on his apron before heading back inside the tiny shop. Yixing let out a sharp breath before looking at Luhan, the elder’s eyes wide. “That was Yifan?” Luhan smacked his arm, “Holy , dude! Nice one!”
    Yixing was still in awe. He thought Wo Chen paid well, as his boyfriend was practically rich, so seeing one of their employees working two jobs was strange. He was sure no one else had to keep two jobs.

***

    Luhan was absolutely disgusting.  Yixing came to this decision when the elder gave Minseok a hug before the purple-haired man got into his car. Luhan was never romantic, never lovey-dovey, and definitely never one to give hugs. Yixing couldn’t even remember the last time Luhan so much as touched him, so seeing his friend so easily connect with someone disgusted him. The floating look on Luhan’s face after Minseok drove away wasn’t helping him, either. “Okay,” Luhan announced as they settled back in the seating area of the dumpling shop, neither of them really wanting to walk home yet, “I think I’m in love.”
    “You met him, what, three weeks ago?”
    “Yeah,” Luhan smiled.
    “You’re infatuated. You’re not in love,” Yixing insisted, “You’re not going to be like this once you sleep with him.”
    Luhan wagged his finger in front of the younger’s face, “Don’t be so sure, my sweet Yixing. Maybe I’ve changed for the better.”
    “Change back before I leave the country and never see you again.”
    “You’re so mean to me.”
    “Only when you deserve it.”
    Luhan grinned and leaned back in the chair as Yifan once again approached the table. “You guys are back? Do you want something else?”
    Shaking his head, Luhan answered before Yixing could, “Neither of us really want to go home,” he shot a glance at Yixing, then smiled up at the tall brunet. “Why don’t you sit and talk with us? It seems like the shop isn’t getting any activity.”
    Yifan shrugged his shoulders and pulled out the seat next to Yixing, and the black-haired male glared daggers into his friend across the way.
    “How do you know Yixing?” Luhan inquired.
    “Zhixiang introduced me. Some people from the company had dinner last night,” Yifan glanced at Yixing, who was scratching his nail into the grain of the wooden table, “I’m Yifan, by the way.”
    “Luhan,” he smiled, shaking the taller’s hand, “Yixing’s best friend and right hand man. If you need any gossip about him, come to me for it.”
    “Don’t do that. He spreads false information,” Yixing enjoined.
    A chuckle left Yifan, and Yixing wanted to die right then and there. He knew Luhan was going to drag this on for as long as possible. “Other than a liar, what do you do, Luhan?”
    “I coach kids in soccer. I had dreams of making it big, but you know. Unreachable.”
    Yifan let out a sigh and nodded, “I actually know exactly what you mean. I was really into basketball when I was younger, but I just couldn’t make it. I got an injury too.”
    Yixing looked over at Yifan, and actually looked at him instead of shying away. His profile was striking, and Zhixiang was definitely right about his jawline. But Yixing could see through those sharp features, Yifan was really hurt by not continuing in a career with basketball. He couldn’t imagine himself giving up on dancing, so he couldn’t begin to feel how Yifan must have. Someone stepped out of the shop, someone who looked younger than all of them, and just around the height of Minseok. His catlike mouth seemed like it was always smiling, “Yifan, can you help me clean up?” he asked. Yifan complied and stood up, saying his farewells to Luhan and Yixing before disappearing into the shop.
    Luhan kicked Yixing’s leg hard under the table. “ him, immediately. I don’t give two s about your relationship with Zhixiang. He’s hot.”
    Yixing kicked him back with just under the same strength, not able to match the soccer player’s power. “. You,” he growled.
    The elder pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’m telling Tao about this.”
    Yixing stood up abrupting, the legs of the chair scraping against the ground loudly. “I’m going home.”
    “Yixing!”
    He didn’t mean to get so angry, but Luhan was starting to act like a complete with this whole situation. He clearly didn’t have the same mindset as Yixing did, and it really made him wonder their friendship.

***

    “Are you okay, Yixing?” Zhixiang asked, intertwining their fingers as they lounged on the couch, the movie playing on the television acting as a distraction from Yixing’s thoughts. “You seem really tense,” the elder added.
    “I’m fine,” Yixing grumbled, letting his hand fall limp under Zhixiang’s. He could tell his eyebrows were pulled together, and his jaw was locked in a frown.
    “Did something happen today?”
    “No. I said I’m fine.”
    Zhixiang kissed his cheek, then his jaw, then planted a rather light one on his neck. “Yixing…” Another kiss on the neck, and his lips were getting dangerously close to the sensitive strip of skin underneath Yixing’s ear. The elder’s lips brushed against that area, causing Yixing to moan out. “Don’t lie to me, baby.”
    “Luhan’s an ,” he breathed out, his hand falling on Zhixiang’s bicep. He wasn’t pushing him away, but he was ready to if he got any closer to that spot.
    “That’s a given. What did he do?”
    Tell me to a guy that wasn’t you. “Nothing really. He’s just a jerk,” Yixing lied through his clamped teeth.
    Zhixiang up his neck, and Yixing almost squeaked out of surprise. “Do you want to get your mind off it?”
    “Yes.”

    It felt good, but it didn’t feel right, and it was the first time Yixing felt that way after having with Zhixiang. The feeling scared him. It felt wrong. It didn’t feel like it meant anything, especially after what Zhixiang had bought for him when he had gotten home. He didn’t need new clothes, but Zhixiang had a cool purple bomber jacket waiting for him. Yixing knew it was expensive, since he had been looking at it online. As he thought about that, lying next to Zhixiang felt wrong. The heat from the elder’s body felt wrong. The love bite on his neck felt wrong. The fact that Yifan was in his head when he came down from his high felt wrong. Zhixiang’s arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer, his lips warm against his neck as the elder pressed a delicate kiss to his skin. When Zhixiang confessed his love to him, he feigned being asleep.

***

    “I don’t know, Luhan,” he muttered into the phone as he walked into the dance room. “I’ve never been the one to initiate a breakup before.”
    “You’ve had one boyfriend and one girlfriend before. You should know something about it.”
    “Both of those were mutual. Plus, neither of us even actually broke up in one of them. She moved to America. We’re still technically together if you think about it.”
    “Who knows? Maybe Zhixiang wants to break up too. Maybe he thinks you’re still falling for him, so he can’t break it off.”
    “I doubt that,” he grumbled before checking the time, “I’ll talk to you later.”
    “Think about it, Yixing. If you’ve made the decision that you do want to break it off with him, then you just need to put it into action.”
    Yixing hummed before hanging up the phone. He stared at his reflection in the mirror before rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Luhan was right. He was far enough to know that he didn’t want to be in a relationship with Zhixiang any longer, but he really didn’t think he had the guts to do anything about it. He always thought of himself as a person willing to stick himself into a niche, and just let it be. He went with the flow of things. It was a lot like how he danced, when he really thought about it. He just let the music take his body. He assumed he was letting Zhixiang do the same thing.

    Yixing almost spat out his water when he retrieved his cell phone after class. The text that lit up the screen almost gave him a heart attack: Hey Yixing, it’s Yifan. Luhan gave me your number.
    He dismissed the message, making sure not to accidentally open it, and immediately slammed his thumb onto Luhan’s contact. He didn’t even let Luhan say hello before he was yelling into the receiver. “You gave him my number?” he wailed, “How the hell do you even have his number?”
    “I got it from Minseok. Listen, if you’re breaking up with Zhixiang-”
    “You’re so stupid, Luhan!”
    “Listen buddy, you clearly have the hots for Yifan. Why not try it out? He seems, at least, a little into you, too.”
    “How do you know if he’s even into guys?”
    “Birds of a feather flock together,” Luhan sang, “He’s friends with Minseok. Minseok’s gay. Come on, man. You should know this is how it happens. You’re friends with me and Tao.”
    He let out a little whine before grabbing his stuff and heading out the door, tucking his cell phone between his shoulder and ear. “Did you initiate it? Or did he ask you?”
    “He asked me. I was surprised too.”
    “What did he say?”
    “Something like, ‘Yixing seems cool. I’d like to talk to him again.’”
    “I seem cool? I almost choked when I saw him.”
    “Yeah. Cool,” Luhan mocked, “You’re so weird, Yixing.”
    “Why? How?” he asked when he got outside, making his way to his old car.
    “How are you dropping a rich, older man, who gives you whatever you ask for, for this soul food southern guy?”
    “If you’ve forgotten, I’m from the south too. And Zhixiang is Taiwanese.”
    “Still. Seems like a drastic change.”
    Yixing ducked into his car and started the engine. “I don’t know either, trust me. Yifan just seems so different. I thought he was going to be part of Zhixiang’s type of crowd, since he works with Wo Chen, but he isn’t like that at all. I guess it’s a nice change.”
    “Better get to him fast before you change your mind about Zhixiang.”
    Yixing took that into consideration as he said his goodbye and drove back to his own apartment.