Yixing had never really liked sleeping alone.

There was just something a bit depressing about sleeping alone, he didn’t really like knowing that he would be laying on his bed, alone, staring at the ceiling while waiting for sleep to take him before finally locking himself up in his own mind as soon as it did, once again alone. It was weird. Maybe he was a little weird but he didn’t like knowing that he was left alone with his own mind, his body laying on a lonely and cold bed.

He had never liked sleeping alone.

Or maybe his distaste for sleeping alone had started that first night he had slept with not one, but two pair of arms wrapped around his body cozily, keeping him company throughout the whole night and making sure that he wouldn’t get lost in his own nightmarish mind. 

Either way, Yixing didn’t like sleeping alone and that was why disappointment filled him up as soon as he stepped inside his house in the middle of the night, body still a bit jet-lagged from his business trip to China. The house was silent, the muffled sound his travel bag made as it plopped on the floor almost echoing in the entrance hall. He stood there for a few seconds and listened. It was silent. Silence meant the house was empty.

He let out a soft sigh but still hung onto that sliver of hope still beating in his chest as he stepped further inside and looked into every single room of the apartment one by one. Nothing. There was no one. It was completely silent. He hadn’t even needed to actually look around, it wouldn’t have been silent for even a second if there had been anyone inside.

A bit upset and almost exhausted to the bone, Yixing simply dragged his feet towards the bedroom, the sound of his socked feet sliding on the floor the only other sign of life in the house besides his own breathing. He pushed the door open. Empty. He walked to the bed and without even bothering to change his clothes or take a shower to wash the exhaustion of his flight off, he threw himself face first on the soft mattress before burrowing under the sheets and pulling them almost up to his forehead. It was cold.

He had expected to come back to a warm bed with two welcoming bodies he knew almost better than his own, that was the sole reason why he had taken an early flight and hadn’t told anyone. He had wanted to surprise them after their phone call last night and how much they had whined about missing him. They must have went out, he thought. He sighed again. He hoped they were at least having fun. He wasn’t really upset about the fact that they had gone out without him, he was just a bit saddened by the fact that he had been welcomed by an empty house instead of two bright smiles.

With the memory of those two smiles he loved more than anything else in the world in mind, Yixing let exhaustion win over him, his eyelids falling shut on their own accord and his tired body relaxing the slightest bit in his way too big and cold bed.

His peaceful slumber was only disturbed what felt like a few minutes later when the cold breath of his sheets was suddenly swept away by a gentle, soothing feeling of warmth that almost felt like the soothing water of a bath enveloping his tired body. His eyes were still closed but he felt the warmth pressing against his back first, sliding around his waist and gripping him tightly as if it wanted to engulf him whole and never ever give him up to the cold again. Then, the same warmth tickled his chin a little, sliding over his neck like gentle drops of water before something feathery brushed against the tip of his nose.

It was warm, so warm, and Yixing burrowed into the strong wave of warmth embracing his back and he felt so cozy and comfortable there, the real world surrounding him much better than the one his dreams were crafting in his mind. Slowly, he felt himself waking up a little, the warmth kissing his lips and caressing his side as if it wanted to lull him back into slumber.

However, when his ears started picking up on distant voices, it was almost impossible for him to cling onto the last crumbles of sleep.

"Stop kissing him, you’ll wake him up," a quiet but still rather loud voice hissed, a warm breath caressing his lips, and that was all it took Yixing to wake up entirely, heart jumping around in his chest in joy as soon as he finally realized what the actually warmth was.

"What?!" a lower voice hissed reproachfully, caressing Yixing’s nape and almost making him shiver. He didn’t move, however, keeping his eyes closed and listening. "I missed him and I can kiss him because I missed him. And you just kissed his lips so why are you policing me?"

"I kissed his lips once because they’re pretty and pink and just there for me to kiss. I missed him too but I’m not attacking his neck like you are," the first voice protested and Yixing almost laughed but kept it in because it was one of his favorite things to do, just listening to the two loves of his life speaking to each other. Even if they were bickering rather than conversing now.

"Be quiet, Baekhyun," the second voice hissed loudly and Yixing heard Baekhyun mutter a small sorry, a gentle hand brushing over his waist as if to apologize. "And I’m not attacking his neck, I’m kissing it." 

"Well, don’t. He’s obviously tired and we shouldn’t wake him up, Chanyeol," Yixing heard just as he felt Chanyeol’s warm lips gently sliding over the shell of his ear again. It tickled a bit. He had missed this.

"What if I want to kiss someone?" he heard, Chanyeol’s low voice taking on that playful edge Yixing loved so much.

"Can’t you survive without kissing someone for five seconds?" Baekhyun huffed and Yixing could almost imagine the flustered look on his face because as much as he liked to deny it, he was always the one asking for kisses and getting too worked up by even a mere peck.

Chanyeol laughed loudly and Yixing almost laughed as well when Baekhyun immediately shushed him. These two were simply idiots. But they were Yixing’s idiots and he couldn’t help but feel warmth spreading over his chest at the thought.

"You’re the one who can’t survive without kissing anyone for five seconds," he heard Chanyeol muttering begrudgingly.

"Just shut up, he’s sleeping."

"How can anyone sleep when you two are being so loud," Yixing finally said, unable to hold it in any longer.

Instantly, he heard embarrassing squeals of happiness before the warmth amplified and he felt Baekhyun burrow under his chin while Chanyeol hugged him tighter and pressed a loud kiss against his cheek. Yixing had never really had the pleasure of owning a pet but he supposed this was what people felt when they came back home and their overgrown puppies immediately swarmed them with love.

"Alright stop," he said after a few seconds during which two soft pair of lips pressed against almost every inch of his face and neck, laughter bubbling out of him because he was ticklish and he knew both Chanyeol and Baekhyun were aware of that fact and liked to use it to their advantage.

"You woke him up," Baekhyun accused Chanyeol after pressing a last kiss on Yixing’s lips.

"No, you woke him up," Chanyeol instantly retorted and Yixing simply laughed again. He had missed this. He was gone for less than a week but the life that had slowly left him in the past few days was slowly inching back to him.

"I’d rather be awake anyway," he said to cut the childish bickering before it started. "I missed you," he smiled, one of his hands holding Chanyeol’s while the other one cupped Baekhyun’s cheek.

"We missed you too," Baekhyun replied and Yixing felt his heart skipping a beat. He had always loved the way it was almost natural for one of them to speak in behalf of the other when addressing the third person. It was in these moments that Yixing felt like the three of them had really become one, that there was not even a single distinction anymore.

"Why didn’t you tell us you were coming home today?" Chanyeol then asked, the reproach clear in his voice even if he was disguising it beneath a whine. "We thought you would only be back tomorrow."

"I just wanted to surprise you," Yixing shrugged, sighing in comfort when Chanyeol's fingers tangled in his hair and gently massaged his scalp. "I thought you would be home," he continued, not reproachful at all. They had all managed to win over the phase of insecurity in the beginning of this special but loving relationship. Yixing had stopped questioning whether he had his place between Chanyeol and Baekhyun a long time ago.

"I’m sorry," Baekhyun apologized, pressing a gentle kiss on the corner of Yixing’s lips in apology. Chanyeol did the same thing a second later and Yixing couldn’t help but smile. "We weren’t supposed to be out but Jongin bought this new video game and he wanted us to try it with him."

"More like you wanted to try it so you simply bought your way into his house with pizza," Chanyeol snorted and Yixing wasn’t even surprised.

"What did I tell you about buying food to people in exchange of silly services, Baekhyun?" he playfully scolded the other, pulling him a bit closer as Chanyeol tangled their legs together and rested his head on his shoulder. It was so warm and the exhaustion was almost completely gone now, shoved to the back of his mind.

"What?" Baekhyun instantly protested, furrowing his eyebrows a little bit while widening his eyes in that mock innocent expression he knew never worked but still tried every single time. "I bought the pizza so we could all eat together while playing, not just for him to eat while I played."

Chanyeol snorted again and Baekhyun ignored him, simply nuzzling against Yixing’s neck instead. It was a bit heavy, they were both resting their head on each of his shoulders, their hands tangled over Yixing’s chest, and he knew his arms would be numb after a while since they were wrapped around their body but he didn’t mind. He had missed this feeling of warmth enveloping him from all sides.

"What did you do while I was away?" he asked after a while of comfortable silence, when Baekhyun’s fingers had slipped under his shirt to caress the skin of his abdomen and Chanyeol had started gently humming into his ear. 

"Chanyeol cried yesterday because we watched your favorite movie without you and he missed you," was Baekhyun’s instant answer and Yixing’s fond laugh wasn’t enough to drown out Chanyeol’s loud whining so he leaned to kiss him, warmth spreading through his whole body. 

It wasn’t difficult to imagine that actually happening, Chanyeol was much softer on the inside than he looked on the outside and it was the first time ever that they had spent a whole week apart after moving in together close to a year ago now.

"Baekhyun broke all our eggs while stupidly trying to make breakfast this morning," Chanyeol retorted when he was done whining, probably soothed by the kiss. "Which means there’s no eggs for tomorrow."

"We can just go grocery shopping together," Yixing simply said before curving his lips into a  teasing smile when he caught Chanyeol’s gaze. "Or we can leave Baekhyun home while we go grocery shopping to ground him for breaking our precious eggs."

"Good idea," Chanyeol played along, nodding eagerly with that amused glint in his big, brown, beautiful eyes. "He can stay here and watch videos about how to cook eggs properly while waiting for us."

"That's not nice," Baekhyun mumbled and he wasn’t upset, it was obvious from the way his lips were almost twitching in amusement but Yixing knew Chanyeol was weak, weaker than he was against Baekhyun so it wasn’t a surprise when the taller leaned over Yixing to press his lips against Baekhyun’s forehead.

"Fine, you can come with us but you won’t touch the packs of eggs," he said with his low, playful voice.

Baekhyun simply frowned and pinched his arm hard, judging by the loud, exaggerated grunt of pain Chanyeol let out before fitting himself against Yixing’s side again while whining like a hurt puppy. Another session of bickering ensued, with Yixing stuck between the two of them, laughing at their antics that were only forgotten every few minutes when Yixing stole a few kisses that were eagerly returned to him. 

That was enough for Yixing to know that they had both missed him as much as he had missed them and when they finally decided to sleep, after almost a whole hour of bickering, words of love, and gentle kisses and caresses, Yixing already felt fully recharged. It was as if the difficulty of the past few days turned into nothing but a memory from the past when he laid in the arms of the only two people he loved with his whole heart.

And as he fell asleep cocooned by warmth, Chanyeol’s chest pressed against his back and Baekhyun’s hair tickling his chin as Yixing spooned him against his chest, he thought, for what was probably the thousandth time, that he wouldn’t trade this for anything else.