Baekhyun and Jongdae don’t let him live that down until the end of school day. Junmyeon had snapped at them countless times and he almost threw his apple at Jongdae during lunch break.

“Our baby’s off to his first date” Baekhyun says while battling his eyelashes and fixing Junmyeon’s coma hair “I’m so proud”

Jongdae joins in and squeezes his shoulder “Remember to buy a on your way there, ok?”

That familiar feeling of wanting to punch both of them in their makes Junmyeon roll his eyes at them and walk towards the door so he could leave “It’s not a date”

Or is it?

“Yup, it is” Jongdae and Baekhyun say at the same time.

Junmyeon wants to bang his head against the wall for saying that aloud “I hate you so much”

“We love you too!” Baekhyun exclaims and before his friend could leave, he adds “Come back home with a boyfriend!”

He puffs his cheeks his whole way towards the parking lot, muttering how annoying Baekhyun and Jongdae could be “Boyfriend...” He comes to a halt, his heart stops “Boyfriend?” He blushes, his palms begin to sweat “Boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend” Junmyeon repeats as he considers that, his head tilting to a side cutely.

Yixing… Zhang Yixing as his boyfriend?

He giggles.

Wait what.

Junmyeon blinks repeatedly and he could almost hear his own heartbeat. Me? Dating Yixing? He can’t help but smile and even giggle again.

“What’s got you so giddy, Myeon?”

Apparently, you.

He pats himself for not saying that aloud “Going volunteering!” Yixing smiles back at him and wraps an arm around Junmyeon to guide him to the van.

“Great! I promise you’ll have lots of fun!”

After introducing Junmyeon to the team, they both get in the van and sit together at the back. They either watch silly videos on Youtube or trailers of movies to find one to watch that weekend, all while stealing glances at each other, scooting closer so their knees would brush or chuckling like idiots before staring at the other’s eyes longingly. The rest of the team share knowing smiles and mind their own business, internally rooting for Yixing.

Once they arrive, the one in charge speaks up “Alright guys, today we’re going to work in pairs” Then he goes ahead and explains what they’ll be doing today and assigns sections to them “Yixing, you and Junmyeon will help with the babies, ok?”

“Got it!” He replies and jerks his head to a side “Cmon, Myeon” The guy nods and waves the rest of them goodbye before following Yixing.

“Umn… They’ll teach us how to change diapers, right? Because I have no clue of how to do that” He admits a bit embarrassed.

Yixing guides him through the hallways of the orphanage, smiling to every kid he sees “You’re so cute but no, we don’t change diapers, the nuns wouldn’t let us… They say we should just focus on what we came here to do”

They turn around a corner and Junmyeon sees a classroom right in front of them. He ignores the compliment to avoid his cheeks from blushing and asks “And we’re here to…?”

The warmth Yixing emanates in that exact moment almost makes him melt into a puddle and his answer has Junmyeon falling even harder for him “To make them laugh, enjoy themselves and have fun so they can go to bed with a smile on their faces”

“You’re truly amazing” He blurts, his eyes shining in adoration and he’s glad he said that, Yixing’s blushing face is seriously a blessing to this world.

He scratches his nape shyly and bumps his hips against Junmyeon’s “Not as amazing as you though”

“That’s my line” Junmyeon flirts back and he’s glad Yixing decides to go inside in that moment, that way he doesn’t overthink his own actions and regret them.

The kids love Yixing, it’s obvious by the way they look at him, how they ran towards him the moment they saw him, their arms going up to ask Yixing to carry them. He does, one by one he greets them, carries them and hugs them, then he introduces them to Junmyeon. His heart clenches when they look at him with those big eyes and happy smiles, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly loved.

After saying hi to them, they start playing different games. Junmyeon soon discovers hide and sick and tag you’re it are their favourites. He’s not the type to join in though, he prefers to watch from afar and help the kids to find their friends or something of the sort, but not really playing. Yixing does play with them, he hides and runs and laughs and blends in perfectly. It takes Junmyeon’s breath away.

A nun comes in and seems to be looking for Yixing. Junmyeon knows they’re all having fun and he doesn’t want that to stop so he decides to go talk to her “Hi, I’m Junmyeon, is there anything you need?”

She gives him a sweet smile “Are you from the volunteering team?”

“Yeah! My friend invited me today so… here I am”

“I’m glad you decided to come, the kids love knowing new people” She looks around and then back at Junmyeon “You see, the other room is really crowded and there’s a little girl who can’t quite handle that, would you mind if she joins you?”

Junmyeon immediately shakes his head “No, not at all”

The granny gives him another tender smile and then opens the door a bit more “It’s okay, sweetie, he’ll take good care of you, right Junmyeon?”

He crouches in front of the little girl and gives her a reassuring smile “Of course, there’s no need to be afraid, I’ll stay by your side” He whispers, afraid his voice would somehow scare her. The girl looks at him, then at the nun and then back at Junmyeon. She takes her time to nod her head and walk towards him, catching him off guard when she wraps her arms around his neck.

She hugs him even tighter when he stands up, safely carrying her in his arm “Thank you” The older lady says, Junmyeon replies with a “It’s totally fine, thank you for trusting her with us” And with that said, the nun leaves and Junmyeon goes to sit down so he could chat with the girl.

He carefully sits her on one of his legs, a hand resting on her back to keep her safe “Hi~, should we introduce ourselves properly?” She fervently nods, Junmyeon laughs happily “I’m Junmyeon, I’m seventeen years old and I’m here with Yixing, do you know him?”

The girl’s smile widens by hearing that name and Junmyeon’s heart jumps out of his chest again “H-Hello, I’m Mika and I’m uh… four” She replies while raising all of her fingers except her thumb. The boy wants to squeal because of her cuteness “Is Yixing your friend?”

“Mnh…” Junmyeon hums. My friend? I don’t think I can describe him as that anymore… Can I? “Yeah, he is, we’ve known each other for quite a long time”

Mika jumps on his leg and grins excitedly at him “Yay!!! He’s great, isn’t he?” She exclaims and then goes on to tell Junmyeon all the things Yixing has helped her with, how he’s always willing to listen to her, play with her, tell her stories and give her nice presents. She talks and talks and talks and Junmyeon’s mesmerised by it, he’s so into Mika’s words and the stories she tells him about Yixing that he loses track of time.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you guys but…” Yixing’s voice interrupts their chitchat “It’s time for us to go”

Mika’s smile falters and Yixing’s quick to add “No, no, no sad face, I’ll be back next week, okay? Besides, I’m sure you had a great time with Junmyeon” The girl looks at said boy and giggles before exclaiming a “yes!”, Yixing’s dimples make their appearance “Exactly! So keep that smile of yours, you don’t want him to leave with you being sad, do you?” Mika immediately shakes her head while saying “No, no, no!”

“I’ll come back next week too” Junmyeon promises as he gets her down so he could stand up “And I’ll definitely look for you”

“Okay!” She laughs and runs towards her friends after they hug.

They go outside to meet the team, once they’re all ready, they get inside the van and start sharing their experiences. They also comment on what else they could do to help, like bring toys or clothes or even food, Junmyeon doesn’t miss how Yixing’s always participating and suggesting ideas. He finds out he loves discovering new sides of Yixing; yes, he knew he had a golden, precious heart but seeing it from up close is a completely different experience and he’s captivated by it.

He comes to the conclusion that his heart just won’t stop racing no matter how hard he tries…

And that he really needs to find out what that something else is.

~*~

They part ways with the volunteering team and walk to their dorm, cheerfully talking about the afternoon “You’re really the definition of solidarity, Yixing”

“Stooop it!” Junmyeon has no intention of doing so, not if it means seeing those pinkish cheeks “I’m really not, I just love helping… and kids”

“And kids love you” Yixing blushes again while opening the main door, Junmyeon dies a little bit on the inside.

“They loved you too, tha