It was exactly 4 in the morning when Yixing, Baek Hyun and Luhan stumbled into the apartment after hours of drinking. Baek Hyun muttered something under his breath and disappeared into his room, accidentally slamming the door so hard Luhan fell over in shock. A laugh escaped Yixing as he helped the completely drunk Luhan up, half dragging him towards his room.

“Looks like you and Baek Hyun get along just fine,” Yixing murmured, to which Luhan replied with a grunt. Luhan nuzzled his face into Yixing’s shoulder, his arms wrapped so tightly around the slightly shorter man that Yixing gave up trying to peel them off and just fell onto the bed with Luhan in tow.

“I miss you,” Luhan mumbled, pressing his nose against Yixing’s neck. “I’m sorry I didn’t visit much when you were in prison… it’s just so difficult to see you suffering… are you mad at me?”

The problem with Luhan when he got intoxicated with alcohol was that he tended to talk. A lot. It was actually a miracle that Yixing could actually make out the words he was saying instead of the usual gibberish.

He rubbed comforting circles on Luhan’s back while he tried to pull the blanket over them. “It’s okay… I can never get mad at you,” Yixing said softly. “At least you bothered to write… not like somebody we know.”

Luhan fell silent for a long time, so much so that Yixing thought he had fallen asleep. Yixing’s eyes drifted close, about to enter dreamland too, when moist lips pressed against his. His eyes flew open, widening in surprise.

“Y-yah, Luhan, what are you—”

“I like you, Zhang Yixing.” Luhan stared unblinkingly at Yixing. “I always have. I just didn’t… have the guts to tell you then since you and Yifan were so obviously close.”

Yixing stared back at Luhan blankly.

“I know, I know, I’m drunk but I’m serious okay?” he pouted, burying his face into Yixing’s shoulder again. “I hope you’ll give me a chance. I don’t  want to just be your best friend.”

Yixing didn’t know what to say. So he kept quiet, closing his eyes tightly and pretending he had fallen asleep, aware that Luhan would know it was an act. Luhan had been his best friend for years; to have him suddenly confess that he had more-than-friends feelings for him was startling. He wished he had an answer for him, but alcohol was clouding his brain and affecting his ability to say something correct.

Yixing heard Luhan sigh and let the other man pull him into a hug, swallowing the lump of guilt in his throat. 

***

“Drink up,” instructed Yixing, pushing the two bottles of hangover drinks across the table to the pair of unkempt, whiny men with heads in their hands. An amused smile played on his lips as he watched Luhan and Baek Hyun clink their bottles together and down the liquids in record speed. He didn’t know why he found it surprising the two of them would become fast friends – they had pretty similar personalities, in his opinion.

Baek Hyun shook his head sadly when Yixing placed the plates of ham and omelettes in front of them. “I can’t…” he said mournfully, reluctantly dragging himself from the table. “Kyung Soo called me a bunch of times. I need to go to the café.”

Which meant Yixing was left alone with Luhan.

He cleared his throat and placed all his concentration in chewing his omelette. The subject of Luhan’s confession hung in the air. Should he pretend to—?

“Xing.” Luhan’s voice broke the silence.

Yixing swallowed his eggs and hesitantly looked at him; the sight of Luhan's dejected expression immediately had him regretting his ty behaviour towards his best friend. “Y-yes?”

“I still mean what I said last night,” Luhan mumbled into his breakfast. “But I won’t push you for an answer. I just… hope you’ll give me a chance.” He reached over to steal a piece of ham from Yixing’s plate with his fork, to which Yixing responded with a whimper.  “And… and don’t treat me differently. Please.”

“… Okay.” Yixing flashed him a smile, albeit a slightly awkward one. “I’ll think about… it.”

The sound of a mobile phone ringing cut into their conversation. Yixing didn’t think he’d be so relieved for technology until then. Scrambling out of his chair, he grabbed his phone from the living room, glad to put some distance between them.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Zhang Yixing! Chanyeol here.”

“Ah, yes?”

“I need you to go over to Kris’s house earlier. I’m a bit hungover… so you have to cover for me, ok? Kris needs to be at the recording studio at 2pm. Right, thanks! I owe you one!” There was a click and then – nothing.

A loud groan escaped Yixing’s lips. Great. Alone with Kris. Just what he needed.

“Is something wrong?”

Yixing looked up to see a concerned Luhan blinking at him. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his best friend that he was working with Kris now because he already knew what Luhan’s reaction would be. Particularly now that he knew Luhan liked liked him.

“Just my workplace. I need to go to work soon.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see you for dinner if I can leave by then ok?”

After making a promise to Luhan that they would talk later at night, Yixing took the bus to Kris’s neighbourhood. It suddenly occurred to him that he actually wasn’t fired. After last night during the tension-filled drive, he would have thought Kris would try to get him kicked off as his personal assistant but no. He still had a job.

The gate to Kris’s house opened immediately before he could even press the doorbell. Yixing played with the idea that Kris was perhaps watching him from the window but he decided that only caused more confusion he didn’t need.

“How do you know Chanyeol?” was the first thing Yixing said after ten minutes of silence in the car ride. He noticed, from the corner of his eye, that Kris sat up straighter in surprise, probably not at all expecting Yixing to talk to him.

“It’s… quite complicated,” Kris said carefully. “We were introduced at one of those charity events. One thing led to another and he ended up being my manager.”

Well, that answered nothing. If anything at all, it only gave Yixing more questions.

Like what the was one thing led to another?!

He didn’t realise he blurted that out loud until he heard Kris chuckle.

Oh was he funny now? Yixing tightened his grip on the steering wheel, tempted to wallop Kris on the head for laughing at him when he was hurting him with his stupid presence.

“I-i-it’s really not what you think!” Kris stammered, apparently noticing the dark cloud above Yixing’s head. “He’s just a really good friend who thinks he can manage my life better than I can.” Kris shrugged. “I guess he was tired of listening to me complain about incompetent managers.”

“My, don’t you have high standards,” Yixing replied bitterly. He stopped the car at a red light and turned to give Kris a sharp look. “The drugs. Are you still using.”

Right away, Kris shook his head. “I promised you I will kill the addiction,” he said softly. “Chanyeol actually helped me get over it.”

Yixing’s heart clenched at the tone Kris used. So… so in a way, Chanyeol saved him. But it wasn’t fair. What about the years Yixing wasted and the future he had thrown away for him? Out of sight, out of mind, huh?

He was glad when the recording studio came into sight. Yixing didn’t think his heart could stand it anymore, listening to how besotted Kris was with this Chanyeol even when he was engaged to someone else. He couldn’t bring himself to hear that he had long been erased from Kris’s life.

Those thoughts aside, Yixing found it a little strange that of all places to record his first album, Kris would be doing it in a smaller recording studio instead of his own agency. After all, the agency they had trained in was known for its idols. Surely their in-house producer would already have a list of tracks for his debut album.

The style of the music playing over the speakers was completely different from what Yixing would have expected. This wasn’t pop or rock nor had a hint of dubstep to it. Yixing blinked. Kris was going down the R&B line?

“Hyung, I was thinking there should be backup vocals for this verse,” Kris was saying to the producer while Yixing sneaked glances at the score sheets lying around the table, humming the tune a little under his breath. He didn’t catch the look Kris sent him but then he heard – “Lay here would be perfect for that. Can we let him try recording that bit?”

Things seemed to happen in a blur then. One minute he was trying to blend in the background, the next minute he was standing in front of the microphone with headphones over his ears while the music producer gave him orders to repeat the lines.

Yixing’s eyes sparkled delightedly as they quickly ran over the music sheet. He could hardly believe that he was in fact recording a song, never mind that it was only a small part. The adrenaline rush of being able to do what he had dreamed of doing was like an injection to his heart, reminding him of the grueling years of training he had been through to be able to debut as an idol.

Minutes turned to hours and before they knew it, it was half past eleven at night. Yixing was tasked to buy dinner for the three of them but when he returned with a large box of pepperoni pizza, only Kris was in the studio.

“Hyung went to take a nap in his office,” explained Kris, plopping onto the couch next to Yixing and helped himself to the pizza. “His loss.”

Shrugging, Yixing grabbed a slice of pizza, too hungry to care. He ate in silence for a while but something kept bothering him for him to properly enjoy the food.

“… Thanks,” Yixing said reluctantly into his pizza. “… for giving me the opportunity to, well, sing.” He sneaked a glance at Kris, frowning for some reason when he saw him smiling.

“You have always been the more talented one. Still are,” Kris said softly, turning over to face Yixing. “Your excitement earlier was really contagious.” He looked at Yixing and paused, gesturing a little at the latter’s mouth.

Yixing’s eyes widened when Kris’s fingers ran over his lips. “Ketchup,” he mumbled.

Then Kris kissed him.

A/N: THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND SUBSCRIBING, EVERYONE! 2 kisses for you in this chapter. Maybe the next chapter should be Valentine's Day....?

Come on, silent readers! Your comments, no matter how short, fuel my chapters. ;___;