^{_{“Can you please tell me what’s up with Yixing? Did something happen with his family that I don’t know about?” Yifan asks Luhan from Yixing’s bed.}}

              ^{_{“Why don’t you ask him yourself, he seems fine with me?” Luhan taps his finger against his laptop.}}

              ^{_{“He doesn’t even want to talk with me, what did I do to him?” Yifan pouts under his cocoon of Yixing’s blanket.}}

              ^{_{“You just messed up his bed that’s for sure.” Yifan scowls.}}

              ^{_{“Can you please talk to him? I can’t get a word across without him either glaring or blanking out on me.”}}

              ^{_{A sleepy Yixing running a towel through his hair comes in and raises his eyebrows at Yifan wrapped in his blankets. Luhan finishes typing and closes his laptop. “Sure.”}}

^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{A few days later, Luhan takes Yixing out early morning because he knows a sleeping Sehun can’t whine to come along. They come back two hours later with bagels and bread in hand for everyone. Yifan turns his questioning eyes to Luhan, but Luhan just shakes his head.}}

^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{“So what did he say?” Yifan asks hurriedly as he wraps himself into Yixing’s blankets once again.}}

              ^{_{Luhan lies down and leans his head against his palms. “I don’t think it’s for me to share.”}}

              ^{_{“Can you tell me if whatever happened actually relates to me or some external factors making him hate me, or what?”}}

              ^{_{Luhan sighs and rolls onto his back. “I don’t know what I can tell you. It’s a touchy subject, that’s for sure.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan pouts and holds the blankets close to him as he rolls onto his back too. He hits Yixing’s pillow but hears crinkling. He picks out the crumples paper from under his head and smoothes it out and finds lyrics and musical notes. He tries to decipher Yixing’s notes, but the prodigy doesn’t use actual music readings for he had made up his own system of writing music. Yifan gives up halfway and throws the paper aside.}}

              ^{_{“Is he actually mad at me though? Or does he just not feel like talking?”}}

              ^{_{“I don’t know, Yifan.”}}

              ^{_{A whine creeps up Yifan’s throat and he finds himself burrowing deeper into Yixing’s blankets, trying to drown the whine. He breathes deeply with his face smothered in Yixing’s blankets and he tries to think, but a familiar scent throws him off.}}

              ^{_{“Does Yixing’s pillow always smell like strawberries?” He calls out to Luhan from under the blanket.}}

              ^{_{Luhan hums. “Well, Yixing in general smells like strawberries.”}}

              ^{_{“Oh yea, yea he does.” Yifan recalls.}}

^{_{(He tries remembering the last time he smelled strawberries off of Yixing’s skin. Not recently)}}

^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{“You took a while in the shower.” Luhan laughs, “Enjoy yourself?”}}

              ^{_{Yifan faintly hears Yixing growl at Luhan and realizes that he fell asleep on Yixing’s bed. “Is Yifan asleep?” Yixing whispers quietly.}}

              ^{_{“I think he is. He stopped making noise 10 minutes ago.” Yixing groans, “Maybe he got suffocated by your blankets. You should probably check if he’s alive.” Luhan chortles as Yixing whines. Yifan can hear Luhan’s bed creak and then he hears padded footsteps growing softer into the hallway.}}

              ^{_{The side of Yixing’s bed dips as someone sits down. Yifan hears Yixing sigh as he slowly pulls the covers down, fluorescent lights hitting Yifan’s face causing him to squint. Yifan groans and Yixing tugs him up to a sitting position on the bed.}}

              ^{_{“Come on buddy, you have to sleep in your own bed.” Yifan whimpers and grips the blanket with one hand and rubs his eyelids with the palm of the other. He slowly opens his eyes to Yixing, who looks at him with the same soft eyes as that day on the balcony. “Good morning Duizhang, let’s go to your bed.” Yixing chuckles, his nimble fingers pulling Yifan’s fingers off of his blanket.}}

              ^{_{Yifan brings his hand down to Yixing’s and places it on his. “If I get up my toes will get cold and your bed is already warm.”}}

              ^{_{“Thank you for warming my bed, now off you go.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan presses his eyes close, trying to get rid of the heavy sleep. “Can I just stay here?”}}

              ^{_{“You’re bed is too messy for me.” Yixing laments.}}

              ^{_{Yifan flutters his eyes open. “We can share, honestly.” Yixing’s lips move in silent protest and his wide eyes fix on Yifan’s. “It’s no big deal, Yixing. We did this during trainee days, remember?”}}

              ^{_{Yixing looks at Yifan with eyes sadder than the previous soft. “Compromise, you get to keep the warm blanket, but you go to your own bed.”}}

              ^{_{"Why are you so unwilling to sleep here with me, it’s no big deal?” Yifan says, his voice on edge.}}

              ^{_{“It’s because I don’t want to.” Yixing cautions, slowly getting up from the bed and pulling on a sweater.}}

              ^{_{“What’s happened between us, Yixing? Why are you so distant with me?” Yifan pushes, hands slowly turning into fists.}}

              ^{_{Yixing stops adjusting his sweater and closes his eyes. “I don’t...” Yixing opens his eyes and looks at Yifan with transparent eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it now, Yifan. Maybe another day.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan pressed his tense fists into the mattress. “Why not now?!”}}

              ^{_{“I’m sleepy, tired and I don’t want to talk.” Yixing breathes out while running his fingers through his hair and trying to shake off the excess water.}}

              ^{_{“Stop avoiding the topic, Luhan told me everything!”}}

              ^{_{Yixing inhales sharply and his glassy transparent eyes shatter before Yifan.}}

^{_{(Yifan doesn’t know why he said it, but he regrets it right after. The hopeless look on Yixing’s face hurts more than whatever he felt seconds before.)}}

^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{“Why do I have to repeat myself if Luhan told you everything?” Yixing stammers with his arms crossed tightly and cold railing pressing hard into his arm.}}

              ^{_{“I just want to hear what you have to say.” Yifan ventures, standing behind Yixing, body still wrapped in the warmth of Yixing’s blanket.}}

              ^{_{Yixing drops his head and his hands ball into fists. “What did he tell you?”}}

              ^{_{Yifan groans internally as the wind whipping his face as a slap from the heavens. Luhan didn’t tell him anything and by exploiting their friendship Yifan just made the situation a lot worse. “He told me some things, but I just want you to say it, so I know it’s true.”}}

              ^{_{Yixing remains quiet, but then mumbles out. “The lines between what was all fake and real started to blur for me and I guess when we decided against it I didn’t think it would apply to Yixing and Yifan.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan deliberates what he means. “That makes no sense,” he tries with a cautious laughter.}}

              ^{_{“It makes perfect sense, Yifan.” Yixing lifts up his head and takes a deep breath. “I knew it was all fanservice, I really did. But when we went home it was the same. We acted the same around each other, we were touchy, we had fun.” Yixing’s leans his chest into the railing as Yixing’s words slowly begin to dawn in Yifan’s mind. “And I got confused.”}}  

              ^{_{“Face me, Yixing.” Yifan mumbles softly. Yixing stays still and shakes his head. Yifan walks up to the railing, leaving a gap between Yixing and himself and stares straight ahead.}}

              ^{_{“When the company called FanXing off in favor of other couples, I couldn’t care less. But you began to talk to me less often. You would talk to me on business matters and nothing else. I guess I was hurt that you reduced our relationship down to just fanservice.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan can see cars and knows there are crickets, but the silence is deafening.}}

              ^{_{“Is that why you were mad at me during that dance practice a week ago?”}}

              ^{_{Yixing hums in confirmation.}}

              ^{_{“It wasn’t about China or Korea.”}}

              ^{_{“I said, ‘that among many things’ remember?”}}

              ^{_{Yifan hums and is followed by silence.}}

              ^{_{“Well, Yixing, let’s fix this.”}}

              ^{_{Yixing finally turns his head towards Yifan, “How much did Luhan even tell you?” Yixing’s eyes look anxious as he asks the question.}}

              ^{_{Yifan purses his lips and scratches the back of his head. “He...” Yixing’s eyebrow starts to rise. “...didn’t actually tell me anything. Don’t hurt him, okay? He’s very loyal to you, Yixing.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan expects Yixing to be grateful, but his face morphs into something of anger.}}

              ^{_{“You exploited our friendship to make me spill my secrets?!” Yixing questions, hands balling into fists.}}

              ^{_{Yifan quickly brings his hand to Yixing’s shoulder. “Yixing, I’m so sorry. I needed to know. You couldn’t continue skirting around me forever.”}}

^{_{(Yixing pushed the hand off of his shoulder and backed away from Yifan’s reach. They stopped arguing only after Yifan realized that it was 2am and they had a schedule the next day. Yixing pulled his blanket off of Yifan’s body and stormed into his room. He fell asleep with swollen eyes. Yifan went to bed cold, no longer wrapped in Yixing’s warm blanket, or in the sweet smell of strawberries. Yifan, fortunately, did not dig any deeper into Yixing’s revelations and he was still as oblivious as Yixing wanted him to be.)}}

                ^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{“I heard you two got into a nasty fight last night.” Chanyeol declares as he pulls the lanyards closer together. “You guys were such buddy-buddy’s before. This is ridiculous.”}}

              ^{_{Chanyeol slowly ties Yifan’s and Yixing’s lanyards into a tight knot. “Apologize and resolve all of this and then I will untie your lanyards.” Chanyeol lifts up the knot to their eye levels and then drops it. He pats Yixing on the shoulder and walks away.}}

              ^{_{Yixing brings his fingers up and nimbly picks at the knot as it slowly eases out of the tension. He looks up at Yifan, whose face is stoic. “There’s a FanXing fan site videotaping us.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan snaps out of his tense facade, suddenly smiling at Yixing and stepping closer to Yixing to help untie the knot. Their fingers scramble over each other as the double knot slowly falls apart. Yifan chuckles as he opens his mouth to tell Yixing how inept Chanyeol is at making knots when Yixing cuts him off.}}

              ^{_{“There was no fan site.” Yixing chuckles softly, “I was just joking.” Yifan’s smile drops and he nods curtly.}}

^{_{(Yifan stays near Yixing for the rest of the rehearsal, but Yixing could care less.)}}

                ^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{Luhan sharply draws in his breath, “You did not!”}}

              ^{_{Yifan muffles his face into Yixing’s pillow and groans. “I needed to know! It was the only way he would tell me anything!”}}

              ^{_{“Yixing would’ve told you when the time was right. Jesus, Duizhang, you’ve lost the single ounce of respect that I have for you as a leader.” Luhan says matter-of-factly.}}

              ^{_{“Luhan, I ed up.” Yifan wails into the pillow.}}

              ^{_{“Oh boy, you sure did.” Luhan’s voice softens, “What did Yixing tell you by the way? You seem a lot less unfazed than I expect you would.”}}

              ^{_{“Unfazed?” Yifan draws back from the pillow and looks at Luhan, “You mean there’s more to it than just me being a and exploiting our friendship for business and then throwing it aside when it no longer marketed?”}}

              ^{_{“Oh my god.” Luhan rubs his eyes with the base of his palms. “I’m not sure if you were just oblivious, or Yixing skipped out on an incredibly large factor.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan groans and slams his head back into the pillow. “You know what I have to do?” Yifan whispers to Luhan.}}

              ^_“What?”

              ^{_{“Get him drunk. That way he’ll be completely honest with me.” Yifan looks at Luhan seriously.}}

              ^{_{Luhan throws a pillow at him. “You are actually the worst friend, Wu Yifan.” Yifan throws the pillow back in protest. Luhan dodges and resumes, “Yixing doesn’t drink anyways.”}}

              ^{_{“Didn’t he drink last week after dance practice?”}}

              ^{_{Luhan cuts him off, “Yixing didn’t drink. I was already drunk by the time Yixing came in. I woke up the next morning and saw that he was just drinking soda. The little bugger made me think he was drinking.”}}

              ^{_{“Yixing is so peculiar.”}}

              ^{_{Luhan breathes out an exasperated sigh as Yifan tries to decipher Yixing. They hear the click of the main door in the distance and Yifan leaps out of Yixing’s bed and runs to his room. He settles into his bed, listening closely to hear any conversation, but he just hears the padded feet and the soft click of a door.}}

                ^{_{-○-○-○-○-○-○-}}

              ^{_{Yifan wakes up with a jolt realizing that he still has Yixing’s blanket from last night wrapped around his body. He pulls himself to get up and slowly tip toes out of his room as he pulls the blanket close to his body for warmth. Yixing isn’t in his room, so he goes to the kitchen and hopes to find Yixing making breakfast.}}

              ^{_{Just as Yifan expects, Yixing stands, bathed in the faint light from the windows, making eggs over the stove.}}

              ^{_{Yifan saunters over to Yixing and nudges him in the shoulder. “Hey,” he mouths because he knows everyone else is still asleep.}}

              ^{_{“It’s 5 o’clock Yifan, why are you awake?” Yixing whispers with his eyes wide.}}

              ^{_{“I realized I still have your blanket.” Yifan shrugs it off and hands it to Yixing. Yixing takes it and wraps it around himself.}}

              ^{_{“Go back to sleep now, you have a busy day.” Yixing turns back to the stove and stirs the eggs on the frying pan.}}

              ^{_{“You should, too. You barely get any sleep with your sleep schedule.”}}

              ^{_{“I’ll manage.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan sits himself down on the couch. “I haven’t actually apologized for throwing you aside and all of that.” Yixing hums as he pushes the eggs into a bowl and pats it down with rice. “Come sit here, let’s talk.”}}

              ^{_{Yixing makes his way over to Yifan and sits on the other side of the couch, feet tucked under him. Yifan reaches over and pulls the blanket down to tuck the blanket under Yixing’s legs and feet. He turns his body to Yixing, his lower back resting against the couch’s arm rest.}}

              ^{_{“So here is my apology. I’m sorry for forgetting that I still could be your friend after FanXing ran its ground.” Yixing takes in a spoonful of scrambled eggs and stares at Yifan. “It was stupid and I want to fix everything. Let’s go back to being best friends, Yixing.”}}

              ^{_{Yixing chews his food and blankly watches Yifan.}}

              ^{_{“You’re not making this any easier.”}}

              ^{_{“I fell for it, Yifan. I fell for FanXing.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan tilts his head in confusion. “What?”}}

              ^{_{“Like a stupid fan girl, I fell for it. I thought all of it was real. I fell for you, me, and us being in love. Pathetic isn’t it?” Yixing stuffs a large spoon of eggs and rice into his mouth. He chews almost pitifully.}}

              ^{_{Yifan’s eyes grow as he watches Yixing’s blank eyes look into his. “You thought...” Yixing hums nervously, “...that I liked you and you liked me?”}}

              ^{_{Yixing swallows and confirms before taking in another large bite. “Sounds about right.”}}

              ^{_{Yifan’s stumbles across the couch to Yixing and kneels in front of an expressionless Yixing with his mind blank.}}

              ^{_{“Save it. I know it’s stupid. I’m over it.”}}

              ^{_{“No, Yixing, I-”}}

              ^{_{“I skirted around you since I wanted to get rid of everything, all the stupid emotions, and hurt after you threw it all aside. It’s so pathetic, so ridiculously path-” Yifan clamps his large hand over Yixing’s mouth, cutting off his speech. With his other hand, Yifan takes Yixing’s bowl and places it on the ground.}}

              ^{_{“No, it’s not pathetic. It’s normal.” Yixing’s blank eyes curve into doubt. “Saying that I didn’t feel anything when we were together would be a lie.” Yifan takes off his hand from Yixing’s mouth and drops his head sighing. “You kept me on my toes and weren’t afraid to play with me. Your goddamn eyes would linger on me and I felt so pathetic because I knew that you saw all of me, including the lies and the true emotions. It was so reassuring and so nerve-wracking that I had someone who knew the true me. It gave me an excuse to look at you and Zhang Yixing, you are so beautiful.”}}  

              ^{_{Yixing’s eyebrows furrow and he opens his mouth, but Yifan brings his finger up to his lips to stop his thought. Yifan leans forward, his lips hovering over Yixing’s and his eyes search Yixing’s wide ones. He hopes to find assurance that this would be alright. He takes the slight tilt of Yixing’s chin towards him as confirmation and drops his finger from Yixing’s mouth.}}

              ^{_{Yifan replaces his finger with his own chapped lips as he presses them onto Yixing’s softer and sweeter ones. The blanket falls off of Yixing’s shoulders as his hands instinctively glide up Yifan’s chest and settle around his neck. Yixing shivers at the loss of warmth as Yifan grabs the blanket and covers Yixing, slowly leaning back into the couch and pulling Yixing down with him.}}

              ^{_{Huddled under the tent of the blanket, Yifan pulls Yixing closer and he tries to feel every ridge of the perfect bowed lips he’s watched for so long. Their lips settle into a smooth cadence, hot air transferring back and forth from mouth to mouth with each heavy breath. Yifan slides his hand down from the nape of Yixing’s neck along his waist and Yixing’s breath hitches as a curious hand glides across Yixing’s bare skin.}}

              ^{_{Yixing jerks up, lips pulling away from Yifan’s eager reach. “It’s over. It’s done.” Yixing says between labored breaths.}}

              ^{_{Yifan pushes himself onto his elbows, breath adjusting to the fresh air. “What are you even talking about?”}}

              ^{_{“FanXing,” Yixing groans. “I just got over this, this can’t happen and shouldn’t.”}}

              ^{_{“We can rekindle it. It can happen!” Yifan pulls himself up to a sitting position and rests his hands on Yixing’s hips.}}

              ^{_{Yixing pushes Yifan’s hands off of his hips and leans back off of Yifan, swinging his legs off the edge of the couch. “I told you I just got over it!” Yixing stands up and faces Yifan. “Why did you kiss me?!”}}

              ^{_{"I thought we can fix all of this! We can rekindle FanXing!” Yifan pulls himself to the edge of the couch and reaches for Yixing’s hands.}}

              ^{_{Yixing looks down at the hand and looks back at Yifan. He walks away with his head held high.}}

^{_{(If this was a week ago, or maybe even a few days ago, Yixing would’ve taken Yifan’s hand. He would’ve sat down next to him and talk things out, maybe even rekindle FanXing, but even if Yixing’s beating heart told him otherwise, he knew Wu Yifan was a man of business and EXO M’s Kris was a grand actor. Yixing wouldn’t fall for Yifan this time: he wasn’t and never should have been worth his heart.)}}

A:N/

The scene with Chanyeol actually happened! Chanyeol pulled Kris to Yixing, tied them, then left. Yixing untied the knot and Kris just ended up hovering around. The video got pulled down, but this is the only gifset I could find: http://shingekinowufan.tumblr.com/post/54379370324/chanyeol-the-fanxing-shipper

Special thanks to my ever perfect beta, Wren. If you don't already follow daehyun-ate-this-url on tumblr, you totally should bc she's crazy.

Be sure to check out my other work too ^^ Comment and Upvote! Thank you!