“…and he models, and did I mention that he’s super tall?”

Xiu Yi rolls his eyes and lies back completely on Yixing’s bed over a pile of clothes that had been thrown from the closet earlier. “Only ten times. You’ve told me every detail about him since you met him four days ago.”

Yixing pouts but continues going through every shirt he owns. “I know, but he’s just really handsome and his hair is blond and it was styled so flawlessly, and he-“

“Can fly? I get it, Xing. He’s perfect, and you want to have his babies.” Yixing sticks his tongue out at his roommate. “But this is just a date with a guy you met in a bar so I don’t know why you have to try on every outfit you own or why you need me to watch you try on everything.”

“Because he’s a model so I can’t just wear what I usually do. And I haven’t been on a date in forever, so I need your opinion on what to wear.” He holds a button up to his chest. “How about this?”

“You’ve been on two dates. You didn’t do all of this for that other guy, and I bet you didn’t do all this when I took you out.”

“Because I didn’t think you meant a date date. You’re my best friend so I thought we were just hanging out.”

 Xiu Yi sits up and shakes his head. “I pour my heart out to you think I’m kidding. Anyway, you’ve told me everything about this mysterious stranger except for his name; I trust you haven’t forgotten it,” he teases. Yixing is suddenly very quiet and picks at a hole in his jeans. “…Did you actually forget his name?”

 “No!” He retorts defensively, but immediately looks sheepish. “Well, I remember it starts with ‘Yi’, but I’m not sure of the last part…”

 “Good luck then. You’re gonna need it.”

 Three hours later and an hour after Yifan was supposed to show up, Yixing is curled up on his bed, understandably feeling a little sorry for himself. The day they met, Yixing had left his phone at home and, in line with his forgetfulness, he couldn’t even remember his own number by heart. Luckily, he was able to give Yifan his address to pick him up, but now he regrets not having his phone. But maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have Yifan’s number, he thinks, because then he’d have to actually hear that he’d been stood up. He sighs and sits up on his bed.

 At least he can say a model asked him out.

 He jumps when there’s a loud knock on the front door. He gets off his bed and peeks out his bedroom door to see if Xiu Yi’s finally back from wherever he went to earlier but groans when he sees that his roommate’s door is still open and dark. He rather not answer the door when he’s feeling so down, and plus his shirt is a little wrinkled from lying down, but he walks across the small expanse of his living room and opens the front door.

 Yifan’s eyes are wide as he’s panting from running all over the block trying to find Yixing’s neighborhood, but quickly morphs into an apologetic expression when he sees Yixing’s surprise. “I’m so sorry! I got lost, and I didn’t have your number to call, so…”

 Yixing can only blink up at him at first but he smiles brightly when he realizes that Yifan hadn’t stood him up. “No, no, it’s fine!” He quickly tries to smoothen out the wrinkle in his shirt and runs a hand through his hair. “I should have told you that I live on the east end of the street and the west.” His eyes sweep over Yifan’s black button down tucked into black slacks and he feels super underdressed in his v-neck and jeans. When he looks back up at Yifan, he sees that he’s been caught staring and blushes slightly. “You look nice, Yi… Long.”

 Yifan’s eyebrows knit together, but he doesn’t try to correct Yixing, but Yixing takes this as a sign that he correctly remembered his date’s name. “Thank you.” He flashes Yixing a smile that makes his knees weak. “You do too, Yixing.”

 “Let me go get my jacket, and then we can do whatever you have planned.” Yixing smiles in what he hopes is also charming and retrieves his jacket from the mess of jackets on the living room couch.

 “Well, um, I planned for us to go see a movie,” Yifan rubs the back of his neck nervously. “But we’ve already missed it, so I had to call for tickets to a different movie, if you don’t mind.”

 “No, it’s fine. I’m just glad to go anywhere with you.” The honesty takes Yifan aback, but he smiles and steps back so Yixing can lock the apartment door as they exit.

 “I hope you don’t mind if we walk a little bit? Since the movie we’re going to now is a little later, we have some time to kill.”

 Yixing smiles and nods. “I’d like that. That gives us more time to get to know each other.”

 The time to the subway station is about 15 minutes and it allows them to talk, mostly about their jobs. Yixing calls Yifan ‘Yi Long’ a few more times, but Yifan feels that he’s waited too long to correct him so it lets it past. During the short walk, their hands continuously brush against each other, but both of them are still feeling too shy to properly hold hands. Even when they sit together on the subway, their thighs brush against each other as they sit in a nervous silence.

 When they finally get to the movie theater, Yixing is immediately drawn to the concession stand and stares at the menu for a few seconds. “Movie snacks are so expensive,” he observes. “When I went to the movies with friends in high school, we used to hide snacks in our bags.”

 Yifan eyebrows raise and he laughs. “Used to? I didn’t bring any snacks today because I wanted to make a good impression.”

 “We’re meant to be together,” Yixing blurts out before he can filter himself. When he realizes what he’s said, he blushes hard and stutters out that he’ll buy popcorn for the both of them to share. Yifan can’t help but smile as Yixing stands in the concession stand queue and bounces on his toes as he waits for his turn. When he finally asks for his popcorn, he keeps demanding that the worker adds more butter until the popcorn is practically gold.

 Yifan forgets to tell Yixing that the new movie there were seeing was a children’s movie, but Yixing can deduce that quickly when he sees all the kids with their parents bouncing in their seats and talking loudly. “Sorry…” he apologizes sheepishly. “This was the next movie available after the one I wanted to take you to.”

 Yixing smiles and shrugs. “It’s alright, Yi Long, I love kids and I love kid movies so this should still be fun.” He walks to a couple of empty seats in the back and sits with the popcorn bucket secured between his legs. Yifan stares at the placement of the bucket before he realizes that staring at Yixing’s lap on the first date might seem too forward. He sits down next to his date, but can’t help but glance at the bucket every now and then.

 A little while into the movie, Yixing realizes that Yifan isn’t eating any popcorn, so he grabs his right hand that’s resting on the arm between them and puts it in the popcorn bucket. “Come on, eat. This is too much for me to eat by myself.” Yifan tries to draw his hand back, but Yixing smiles and holds it there. When Yifan leans into Yixing, the smaller man lets go in surprise and Yifan smirks and brings a handful of popcorn to his mouth, turning his attention back to the movie.

 The movie is actually quite good for a kids’ movie and Yixing looked like he really enjoyed the movie so Yifan feels a little less embarrassed from missing the first movie. After the movie, they decide to go to the nearest mall to walk around and eat. Yixing stands in front of the window of several shops and points at clothes and electronics he’d like to buy if his band made more money.

 After some time, they stop at the restroom for Yixing. Yifan takes this time to run to one of the stores they stopped at to buy an item Yixing pointed out, and he knew he had enough money to buy. He quickly grabs the phone charm Yixing pointed out and buys it before he starts sprinting back to the bathroom. Unfortunately, while trying to avoid running into an elderly couple, he dodges quickly to the left and trips into a fountain.

Many of the bystanders can only stare or laugh as Yifan takes a moment to comprehend what happened to him. He slowly rises to his feet and spits out the fountain water that got into his mouth. He does his best to shake off the excess water, not that it really matters with his shirt and pants already clinging to his body. He knows there’s absolutely no way he can hide this, but he hopes to delay Yixing finding out as long as he can. But luck is not on his side, he realizes as his date comes walking up, obviously looking for him.

 “Yi Long? Um… are you alright?” He holds out a hand to help Yifan out the fountain, which he gladly takes, but he’s completely mortified at how this date is turning out. But Yixing doesn’t laugh like Yifan thought he would. He offers a small smile and suggests that they go to the security office to see if they have a towel. When they’re all settled in the office, towels wrapped around Yifan, he starts to apologize, but Yixing cuts him off. “I was starting to think that you were too perfect. Honestly, when I came out the bathroom and saw you weren’t there, I was a little worried that you ditched me, but I was actually really happy that you were in a fountain and not a train home.”

 Yifan shakes his head and pushes his hair off his forehead. “I swear, I’m not usually this clumsy, but I’ve really liked you since I first saw you so I keep messing everything up, and this must be the worse first date you’ve had.”

 “I haven’t been on too many dates,” Yixing admits. “But this one is definitely the best I’ve ever had.” He reaches out and takes Yifan’s hand in his, linking their fingers together.

 This time on their way home, instead of their hands awkwardly brushing against each other’s, their hands are tightly clasped together. Yifan’s shirt is still damp so Yixing invites him in to loan him a shirt until the next time they meet. Xiu Yi is lounging on their living room couch and gives Yixing a look when he sees him bring Yifan in.

 “You brought him inside?” Xiu Yi asks as Yifan is changing in the bathroom.

 “Just to borrow a shirt!” Yixing counters. “I’ll explain later.”

 “Well, you said you wanted to have his ba-“ Yixing picks up a pillow from one end of the couch and holds it over Xiu Yi’s face to shut him up when he sees Yifan coming out of the bathroom with his borrowed shirt on.

 “I should be on my way,” Yifan smiles politely and bows slightly to Xiu Yi.

 “Let me walk you to the door.” Yixing stops smothering his roommate and herds Yifan to the door. He sighs in relief and smiles up at Yifan as soon as he closes the door behind him. “I had a really great time, Yi Long. Thank you.”

 “Thank you for the shirt,” Yifan laughs, holding up his damp one. “Um, I know we just finished our first date, but I was hoping that maybe you’d like to grab some coffee next weekend."

Yixing’s smile widens and he nods. “I’d like that.”

 They awkwardly stare at each other as they each try to assess the situation and see if a kiss would be appropriate. They make the decision at the same time, that yes, a kiss was in order, and their noses bump into each other hard. They embarrassingly laugh off the bad attempt and go for it again. Naturally, Yifan takes the lead as Yixing’s only experience in kissing is a one-sided kiss from Chanyeol.

 When they pull away from each other, Yixing realizes that his hands have ended up griping onto Yifan’s shirt as he attempts to steady himself.

 “I really like you, Yi Long,” he says quietly, not wanting to disrupt the atmosphere.

 “I really like you too, Yixing. But, uh…” He nervously chews on his lip. “My name is, uh, Yifan.”

 Yixing stares at Yifan and his eyes double in size before he runs back into the apartment and slams the door.

First date~

Fun fact: Yixing's has literally been calling Yifan a dragon in Chinese.