“Baek Hyun!?” Yixing shouted in disbelief over the loud crackle of the fire. Behind him, a cabinet collapsed, sending the porcelain cups and dishes crashing onto the floor. He glanced down, wincing as a piece dug into his foot, and when he looked up, the barista had vanished.

Pushing the shock to the back of his mind, Yixing desperately looked around for an alternative escape route. There was no way he could walk through the door without getting burnt but the only other way was to climb through the window and fall to his death from the 12th floor.

Sparks flew and a chunk of burning ash flew past his head. It was scorching hot and at the rate the fire was spreading, he might catch fire next. The smoke seared his throat and closed his airways, sending him into a series of coughs. If he wasn’t going to be burned alive, then he’d probably die from smoke inhalation.

“Get down!” hollered Baek Hyun. Baek Hyun kicked the flaming debris away from the doorway, quickly patting out the fire that caught onto his jeans. Startled to see him return, Yixing did as he was told and dropped to his knees with a cough, covering the lower half of his face to prevent breathing in the smoke. Something damp fell onto his back and suddenly Baek Hyun was next to him.

“Stay low,” he instructed Yixing and tightened his grip on the wet blanket above them. Scooting closer to Baek Hyun under his arm, Yixing grabbed the blanket on his side and that was when he heard the hiss from the other’s lips.

“Your... your hand...” he started in horror, his eyes fixated at the sight of the ugly red blistering patch on Baek Hyun’s hand.

Baek Hyun shot him a look that promptly shut him up. Still coughing, they stumbled their way out of the kitchen with the barista manoeuvring the way. A huge portrait of Jongin and Kyung Soo toppled from the wall, landing by their feet in flames. Yixing jumped a little and aggravated his bleeding foot, nearly falling over if Baek Hyun hadn’t reached out in time to pull him back under his arm.

Then the ceiling fan plunged down on them and all went black.

***

When his eyes opened again, he was staring at a white ceiling connected to four very white walls. His gaze move downwards, to the oxygen mask across the lower part of his face to the white bandage cast on his foot.

“You’re up?”

He swiftly turned sideways to look for the source of the voice, groaning aloud at the sudden movement on his cramped neck. “Baek!” Yixing rasped, his eyes scanning the latter worriedly. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes unknowingly, seeing Baek Hyun lying on a hospital bed with the white gauze around his hand and an oxygen mask similar to his. “Are you okay?”

His friend offered him a smile that mirrored his worry. “I’m fine,” Baek Hyun replied hoarsely. “Just a second degree burn. What about you? I heard the doctor say you inhaled too much smoke.”

Yixing held his thumbs up weakly. “What were you doing there, Baek?” he croaked. “The fire... you... you could have saved yourself from an injury.”

“And leave you there by yourself?” He scoffed. “Don’t be silly. Just because we had a fight doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you there to die—” Baek Hyun cleared his throat, pretending he hadn’t just choked on his own words, and struggled to finish his sentence. “I... just wanted to apologise to you, then I heard you shouting for help.”

He pulled his gaze away from Baek Hyun to stare at the ceiling, his eyes forming tears that were threatening to fall. Yixing’s chest tightened, not because it was difficult to breathe, but it was heartening to know that Baek Hyun was a friend who would risk his life for him. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to throw himself at the latter and hug him to death but the mask attached to his face was thankfully stopping him from making an idiot out of himself. Even if he couldn’t understand Baek Hyun’s reasons for doing certain things, he was still his best friend, and Yixing was grateful for that. He swallowed and attempted a smile.

“Thanks,” he mumbled shyly. “For rescuing me.”

A nurse appeared in their ward to take Baek Hyun to his follow-up consultation. Yixing brought his hand up to rub away the wet streaks on his cheeks, burdened with the onslaught of emotions that were going through his head. It was then it hit him – Jongin and Kyung Soo. He had to tell them what happened but he had no idea how to. It was his fault for giving them trouble and causing them to lose their home.

As he was searching the bedside table futilely to see if they managed to salvage his phone, the door was suddenly flung open and in stormed Chanyeol.

“Hyung!” he shouted in panic, his widened eyes darting around the room to search for Baek Hyun before they fell onto Yixing. Chanyeol narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Baek Hyun hyung!”

This was the first time he had ever seen Chanyeol speak about Baek Hyun but one look at the taller man was enough for Yixing to tell that he was genuinely worried for Baek Hyun. All of a sudden, he couldn’t help feeling protective of Baek Hyun. This was the man who abandoned Baek Hyun when the police arrested him for robbery. This was the man who didn’t turn up to see Baek Hyun when he was released.

“With the doctor,” replied Yixing curtly and stared at the other man just as hard as he was looking at him. He had a sinking suspicion about something but he hoped it wasn’t right. “Don’t hurt Baek Hyun.”

“Mind your own business.”

“Baek Hyun is my business,” Yixing snarled, yanking the oxygen mask off his face and sitting up. “Baek Hyun isn’t Kris. He looks strong but you haven’t seen how upset he was when you weren’t around.”

Chanyeol stalked towards Yixing and glared unblinkingly down at him. “You have no right to lecture me. You want to protect Baek from me? Why don’t you try saving your Kris first. Meeting him to tattle on me... great move. No wonder his agency doesn’t want you around him. You’re only a bad influence on him.”

“What the ?” he snapped, so furious that he choked on his words. Yixing gulped a huge lungful of air between coughs. “I’m a bad influence on him? I suppose you’re an angel? Baek Hyun told me what you’re trying to do to him. It’s you who hid his letters, isn’t it!”

The taller of the two rolled his eyes. “Yes, I did. It was on the orders of the agency but even if they didn’t tell me to, I would have done it. I bet you were the one who got him into drugs in the first place, weren’t you? If I were the goddamned judge, I would have sentenced you to more than 2 years.”

“But I wasn’t...” Yixing trailed off. Wait – he’d forgotten that Chanyeol, Baek Hyun and the agency didn’t know he had never done drugs. They thought he was a real drug addict who had supplied Kris with the drugs?! It did kind of make sense now, why the letters would be hidden, why Kris couldn’t contact him... He slanted a look at Chanyeol.

“You know, for someone out to destroy Kris, you’re awfully concerned for him,” Yixing said warily. “You like Kris, don’t you?”

The reddening of Chanyeol’s face was almost instantaneous. “So what if I do?” he spluttered. “So what if I like him now? I wouldn’t—”

The sound of a falling object was so quiet Yixing would have missed it if he didn’t look up just then. His gaze followed the spilled water bottle rolling towards him to the stunned figure standing at the door. Chanyeol took one look at him and spun around in time to see Baek Hyun run back out. “Hyung!” he yelled, leaping to action and flung off the hand belonging to Kris at the doorway before he chased after Baek Hyun.

The two remaining men stared at the door for a moment, listening to the loud shouts from the hallway. Then their gazes met and in an instant, Kris was by his side.

“How did you...” Yixing began to ask, but his voice was muffled in Kris’s shoulder. The actor enveloped him in a suffocatingly tight hug and if Yixing didn’t start coughing just then, he probably wouldn’t have eased his hold on him.

“Chanyeol. Called me,” Kris explained in a strangled voice. He hid his face into Yixing’s shoulder, pulling him back in a gentler hug. “. How did this happen? Do you know who did this?”

“Someone wants me to stay away from you,” he murmured, and told Kris of the red paint outside the house. He refrained from telling Kris that the fire only started when the person knew Yixing was inside the apartment because he didn’t want Kris to worry but it seemed that Kris came to the conclusion himself.

“I’m sorry,” the actor said in an anguished voice. “This is all my fault. Everything that has been happening to you – it’s all my fault. I’m selfishly holding onto you when it’s causing you harm. If I... let go of you, would it... would it simplify things?”

... It would. Everything that had been happening to Yixing evolved around Kris. If he were to erase Kris’s existence, he could lead a relatively good life. He had a contract deal that he could depend on for at least five years and he had Luhan who stuck by him regardless.

But it wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough compared to the four years he spent with Kris as trainees, the two years he was pining for him in prison and the months that taught him more things about the latter than he could have the past 6 years.

He didn’t want to let go of their history, of the relationship they never cared to label.

“Don’t you dump me,” he said lightly, but his shaky voice gave him away. Yixing lowered his head to stare at his hands clinging onto Kris’s jacket. “You don’t have permission to leave me. I won’t fo—”

His words dissolved into Kris’s lips as the latter moved in towards him, gently placing his lips against Yixing’s. Yixing’s eyes fluttered close, his hand loosening on Kris’s clothes to graze the side of his face. They kissed with bittersweet fervour, making up for the lost years they were forced apart.

“I love you,” Kris said, and this time Yixing smiled.

“I love you too.” 

A/N: Wondering if it's still posible to finish in 20 chapters. Hmm.