He melted into the kiss that tasted of pepperoni and Kris, his heart thumping hard against his ribcage. The touch of Kris’s lips against his reminded him of their ambiguous relationship 3 years ago, where they were together, yet unwilling to label their relationship. It was a little too late but Yixing regretted avoiding that conversation of what they were whenever Kris brought it up. 

Perhaps if he had agreed that they were a couple, Kris wouldn’t have cheated?

He hadn’t realised his eyes had closed until they came up for air. Yixing stared at Kris for a split second before he balled his hand into a fist and punched the latter in the face.

Couple or not, he deserved much better than how Kris was treating him.

“I’m not a plaything for you to use when you feel like it,” Yixing growled, jumping up from the couch angrily and shoving Kris away when he tried to come closer. He stumbled out of the studio, his cheeks flushing slightly when he remembered how he had reacted to the kiss.

He was so caught up in running away that he did not realise there was someone else in the hallway until he walked into a warm body. Hands gripped his shoulders, forcing him to look into the eyes of Chanyeol.

“Are you okay?” the taller man asked in concern.

Oh god. Yixing had helped Kris cheat on Chanyeol.

He swallowed uncomfortably and nodded, immediately pulling his gaze away from Kris’s manager. “Sorry, I-I need to go. My housemate forgot his key and I need to get back,” he stuttered, certain that the other man could see through his lie.

Chanyeol blinked his wide eyes at him. “Oh. Okay. No wonder Kris called me to pick him up.” He rolled his eyes, lowering his voice as if telling Yixing a secret. “That idiot can’t live without me. He’s like an overgrown child.”

Great. Just great. Yixing forced a laugh that sounded completely fake to his ears and nodded, pulling away from Chanyeol’s grip. “I’ll see you two tomorrow then,” he mumbled and hurriedly left without waiting for Chanyeol’s reply.

It was close to one in the morning when Yixing finally reached home. Carefully opening the main door, he was surprised to see a streak of light from the kitchen. Shouldn’t Baek Hyun and Luhan be asleep?

“Lulu?” Yixing blinked at the figure sitting alone by the kitchen table. “Why are you awake?”

He felt a pang of guilt when Luhan turned and he saw the worried expression on his face. Yixing closed the distance between them, grimacing when he recalled their conversation earlier in the day about getting dinner.

“Sorry, Lulu,” he said softly, “I forgot to call. I was too… caught up at work.”

“You didn’t pick up your phone or replied my messages,” Luhan accused but there was no real bite in his voice. Yixing sensed the disappointment in his best friend’s tone and felt all the worse. Luhan must think he was avoiding him after his confession. What a fantastic best friend he was.

“I didn’t receive—” he started to say, reaching for his phone in the back pocket of his jeans but all he felt was air. Yixing swore aloud, hanging his head apologetically. “I think I dropped my phone at work.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Luhan asked aloud, reluctantly smiling at him. He pouted and rubbed his stomach. “I waited all night for you and didn’t eat. You better do something.”

A wave of relief swept past Yixing as he immediately jumped to action, opening the cabinets for ramen. “I’ll cook dinner for you then you’ll have to forgive me, ok?” he said over his shoulder, while he placed a pot of water over the stove for the noodles.

“I’ll think about it,” Luhan murmured. “Can you get the day off tomorrow? I really want to spend it with you.”

Yixing bit his lower lip, glad that his back was facing Luhan so the other couldn’t see his facial expressions. He had only barely started working as Kris’s assistant… would they allow him a day off? Kris probably would let him; considering the idiotic thing he just did earlier, he’d likely feel embarrassed to look at him. Besides, Yixing owed it to Luhan.

“Okay. I’ll call in sick.”

***

It only occurred to Yixing the next afternoon when Luhan dragged him to Lotte World that it was Valentine’s Day. His cheeks flushed as red as freaking tomatoes when he caught sight of couple after couple in his line of vision. The snack stands were featuring different shapes and sizes and flavours of chocolates and the couples everywhere were feeding each other chocolate.

 “Why are we here if you’re afraid of heights?” Yixing asked his best friend with an arch of his eyebrow, not noticing the way Luhan was clinging onto him.

“Because. I haven’t been here with you before.” Luhan shrugged. “Plus we could both use a break from work.”

That was true. He slid a sideways glance at him, pulling him towards the queue for the rollercoaster while he was distracted with looking around the surroundings. It was only when they reached the front of the queue that Luhan realised what was going on and desperately tried to drag Yixing away.

“It’ll be okay!” Yixing insisted with a grin, pulling Luhan towards the first car of the rollercoaster. He resisted the urge to laugh when the older man held onto his arm in a viselike grip as the ride attendants strapped them into their seats.

“I’m going to kill you, Zhang Yixing, I swear if we make it out alive, I’m going to kill you,” Luhan rambled incoherently, eyes widening as large as saucers as the rollercoaster jerked to a start. “Oh my god, I’m going to die I’m going to die ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Five minutes later, Yixing wasn’t so amused anymore. He bit the insides of his cheeks at how pale Luhan was and offered his best friend an arm to hold onto as they slowly moved away from the ride. Yixing tugged Luhan down onto a bench, hurrying to a snack stand to buy a bottle of ridiculously expensive water and shoved it in Luhan’s face.

“See, you’re alive,” he said gently, nudging him slightly to make sure he was alright. “Just keep breathing.”

Luhan whimpered in response and shut his eyes, resting his head on Yixing’s shoulder. One of his hands held the bottle shakily while the other gripped tightly onto Yixing’s wrist as if afraid Yixing would abandon him.

A small smile formed on Yixing’s lips. Silly Luhan.

They spent the rest of the day on rides that stayed on the ground. After Yixing had dragged Luhan to that rollercoaster ride, he made sure not to scare his poor best friend again. His heart warmed at the sight of the half moon shapes Luhan’s eyes formed, and Yixing was determined to keep the smile on Luhan’s face.

Towards the evening however, Luhan suggested going on the Aeronauts Balloon ride. Yixing’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. The balloon ride was attached to the ceiling of the theme park and allowed the park visitors a view of Lotte World from above. Needless to say, it was way, way high up.

“Are you sure?” he asked worriedly while he trailed behind the resolute blond. “It’s really far from the ground.”

“I’ll be fine,” Luhan scoffed, but Yixing could hear the waver in Luhan’s voice. “I have you, don’t I?”

As Yixing followed Luhan onto the ride, his hand automatically slid down to clasp Luhan’s, hoping that it would ease some of his tension. Yixing marveled at the scene below them while the park attendant locked them into the balloon and he was about to turn to Luhan to point out the rides they had been on when he noticed his silly best friend had plonked himself on the ground of the ride with his eyes tightly shut.

Yixing shook his head and sat down in front of him. “Why do you torture yourself by coming on here if you’re going to freak out?” he asked dryly.

“Because it’s your first time here and I feel bad that you can’t go on so many of the rides,” Luhan said in a small voice, sneaking a peek at Yixing before deciding it was safe for him to open his eyes.

“Silly idiot,” Yixing chastised smilingly, watching with curiosity as Luhan dug into his pocket and pulled out a small palm-sized box. Yixing gulped at the size. Could it be? “What—”

The box popped open to reveal a heart-shaped chocolate in pink. “Will you be my Valentine?”

Yixing’s heartbeat raced as he gazed at the earnest look on Luhan’s face. Why the hell not? he wondered. “Okay,” he murmured, unable to resist the grin on his face when Luhan lit up and popped the chocolate in his mouth.

His breathing slowed as Luhan closed the distance between their mouths and kissed him gently. It was nothing at all like the one they had when they were drunk and definitely sweeter than the Kris’s. Yixing smiled against Luhan’s lips. Maybe this was better for them all. Maybe Luhan was the right choice.

They staggered out of the balloon laughingly, too caught up in each other to be embarrassed by the bewildered look on the attendant’s face as she let them out. Luhan intertwined their fingers together and beamed at him, swinging their arms slightly as they walked hand in hand.

“You’re like a child,” teased Yixing in amusement. He glanced shyly at Luhan, about to give him an equally silly smile when the happy expression on Luhan’s face suddenly fell. Yixing followed his gaze to the newspaper and froze at the headline.

BREAKING! JESSICA JUNG CALLS OFF ENGAGEMENT WITH KRIS WU.