“Man, I love o-chem.” Chanyeol sighed happily as he and Yixing walked out of their classroom one afternoon in November. “It’s so cool!”

“I suppose so,” Yixing smiled at him, enjoying the way Chanyeol’s whole face was always involved in his grins.

“But the homework is always really hard...” Chanyeol wilted as they both remembered the one hundred equations they would be doing for the new chapter they were learning. “Man, I need to relax some. Working too hard never did anybody any good!” Chanyeol stretched his arms up over his head in the sunlight as they exited the building where their class was held. Yixing rolled this idea over in his head, pushing his glasses up his nose absentmindedly with one of his knuckles. Chanyeol turned to look down at him and gave him a wink. “Speaking of things that are fun and not homework related, do you wanna come to my birthday party next week?” It took Yixing a minute to register the new topic of conversation, but he eventually pulled himself together to respond.

“Birthday...party?”

“Yeah! Well, sort of. We’re gonna go out drinking and eat cake, so whatever you want to call that is what we’re doing! Baek and Jongdae are coming along, which means we’ll either be going to some big celebrity club, or a super tiny bar where no one will recognize them. But it should be fun either way! Please come?” Chanyeol begged, widening his already alarmingly huge eyes and pouting.

“Sure...okay. I’d like that very much.” Yixing was pretty excited. It sounded like it would be a really nice evening with people he really liked. Little bubbles of joy in his chest, he waved goodbye to Chanyeol and headed off to his next class of the day.

The rest of the day rolled along much as every day did. Class, a few texts from Tao, Luhan, and Chanyeol, home, studying, packing food, Spoons, and then work. Today, EAGLE was recording, so Yixing’s normally quiet little corner of the world was packed with managers and coordinators. The young Chinese boy was quickly discovering that the only time the studio was empty during a recording was when Tayeon was singing. She was so talented that the agency let her little peculiarities slide and didn’t force her staff to attend her sessions in the booth. The duo had just finished up the song they were working on and were preparing to head out when Baekhyun spotted Yixing.

“Hey Yixing! How are you?”

“Oh, um, I’m well, thank you. How are you?”
 

“Fine, fine. Hey, I heard you’re coming to Chanyeol’s party-slash-drink-a-thon? That’ll be great, I’m pumped.” Baekhyun shot Yixing a wink that confused the boy endlessly. Was he missing something, or was Baekhyun naturally overdramatic?

Probably both. He decided.

“You’re lucky you have me to keep an eye on you, Baek, or else you’d have drunk yourself into an early grave by now.” Jongdae said, approaching the pair and slinging an arm around his friend’s shoulders.

“As if,” Baekhyun scoffed, rolling his dramatically lined eyes, “You drink as much as I do.”

“Well I’m not a lightweight like you, so I’m not as likely to get myself killed.”

“I am not a lightweight!” Baekhyun whined petulantly. Jongdae chuckled at the young man’s childish antics and dragged him away at the call of their manager, waving over his shoulder to Yixing. The Chinese boy laughed softly to himself.

Those two...Between them and Chanyeol, I feel like I’m friends with a herd of puppies.

The birthday party was scheduled for Friday the 28th after they all got off of work. Chanyeol’s birthday was actually on that Thursday, but he reasoned that celebrating before the weekend would mean a hangover during class; Something everyone wished to avoid. Yixing had never drunk before, and didn’t intend to, but he knew his friends enjoyed the activity and so he was happy to comply with any wish the birthday boy might have. It was getting very cold by the time the group of SM employees walked out of the building at six o’ clock.

“So, we’ll meet back here at eight?” Chanyeol confirmed with the group. All of the interns were coming, as well as EAGLE and Amber’s boyfriend, Kris. There was a chorus of consent before people began to scatter off in different directions.

“Oh, are we not going now?” Yixing whispered to Tao, who was standing next to him, piercings shimmering in the streetlights.

“No, of course not! We have to get ready!” Tao replied, aghast at his young friend’s ignorance.

“Really? Can’t I just go like this?” Yixing opened his arms slightly and looked down at his attire. Tao just stared at him for a minute. His hands slowly rose from his sides to press gently into his temples.

“HUNNIE!” He screeched, startling everyone.

Who’s Hunnie?

“We have to take him home with us! He thinks he’s allowed out in that outfit!” Tao continued to hiss demandingly. Yixing was still very curious as to whom Tao was addressing when suddenly, a voice spoke up from the other side of Tao.

“Hm. Okay. That’s probably a good idea. Maybe he can borrow something of ours. I still have some clothes I grew out of last year. They’d probably fit him.” An oval face peered around Tao’s spiky black head and gave Yixing the once-over. It was Sehun.

Sehun lets Tao call him Hunnie? Chanyeol said Sehun was a brat....

“You two...?” Started Yixing in confusion.

“Live together? Yeah. For about three months now.” Came a bland reply from Sehun.

“Xing! Are you going back home?” Chanyeol called over to him.

“No, we’re taking him home to dress him up!” Tao yelled back.

“Oh, alright! Have fun Xing! Don’t let them give you any piercings or dye your hair, ‘cause Tao will definitely try if you let him!” Chanyeol warned merrily as he got on the bus that headed back towards the university. Yixing blinked, mildly concerned, but before he had the chance to over think it, a voice was shouting,

“Well, come on then!” A strong hand gripped Yixing’s sleeve and Tao started dragging him towards the bus stop, trailed by a bored-looking Sehun.

Tao and Sehun lived in a large apartment in a large building. As soon as the trio walked through the door, Yixing was struck both by the modern amenities of the place and the fact that the entire living room, where they now stood, was pristine except for one corner which seemed to have recently been struck by a tornado. The desk was piled high with papers and colored pencils and stacks of fabric as a laptop teetered dangerously on the biggest stack of Vogue magazines that Yixing had ever seen. Sehun noticed him looking at the disaster area.

“That’s where Tao does his fashion stuff.” He explained with a shrug, following after Tao who was heading down a hallway to the right. Yixing scampered after them, still gazing around him with some amount of amazement. They ended up in Tao’s room, Sehun immediately throwing himself down on the bed and Tao immediately throwing himself into his closet. He soon emerged with two stacks of clothing.

“Sehun,” He addressed the tall boy napping on his unmade bed, “Casual or expensive?”

“Casual.” Answered Sehun without opening his eyes. “Like he just rolled out of bed, but in an attractive way.”

“Mm. I thought so too.”

“What are you talking about?” Ventured Yixing in his usual spaced-out manner.

“How to dress you, of course.” Came Tao’s immediate reply. “Hunnie, go get dressed before you fall asleep.” He sharply ordered the boy, who rolled off the bed with a groan and stumbled out of the room. Tao began sorting through the piles of clothing, sometimes pausing to examine something for a larger length of time before discarding it. Finally, he settled on one particular item and tossed it to Yixing. “Put this on. You can change in the bathroom across the hall.” Tao told him with a sideways glance that made Yixing think that maybe Tao was remembering the incident with Baekhyun. He obliged with a nod, shuffling across the hall and shutting the bathroom door behind him. He stripped quickly and pulled the shirt Tao had thrown at him over his head. Curious, he examined himself in the mirror. It was a strange, drapey black shirt that had a neckline so wide that it almost fell of one of his shoulders if he moved too suddenly. It was swishy.

I like swishy.

He returned to Tao’s room, holding his own clothes in a bundle.

“Let me see, then. Turn.” Ordered the other Chinese boy upon seeing him. Yixing dropped his things on the floor and rotated slowly.

“Perfect.” Tao entoned. “I’m a genius.”

“It’s swishy.” Yixing said.

Thirty minutes later, Yixing was wearing a pair of Sehun’s gray skinny jeans that were almost too long for him, had a long necklace draped around his neck, and was having his hair adjusted by Tao. He had been forbidden to wear his glasses and ordered to leave all of his own clothes in the apartment to pick up later. He was soon deemed ready and kicked into the living room so that Tao could get ready. Sehun was already waiting in the living room, attired in a tight button up shirt and an expensive aura. They didn’t speak while they waited, but luckily the wait wasn’t long. Tao soon appeared; Hair coiffed to perfection, eyeliner giving him a brooding look, and an outfit that looked like it had apparated out of a magazine, he was obviously used to dressing up.

“How do I look?”

“Better than usual.” Yawned Sehun, lurching to his feet and snatching his coat off the arm of a chair to head out the door. Tao pouted, but followed him with no more than a few complaints, dragging Yixing with him.

They met up with everyone else again in front of SM and headed off towards the club that Baekhyun had ordered a room at. It wasn’t far away, so they decided to walk. Baekhyun and Jongdae were ‘in disguise’; Wearing face masks to avoid too much attention until they reached the venue. Yixing found himself walking next to Jongin in the back of the group.

“So, Tao got ahold of you I see.” Jongin smiled.

“Yes...I was kind of in shock the whole time. He just dressed me up and shoved me out the door.”

“That sounds like him. He’ll make a great stylist once he graduates from college.” Jongin chuckled as Yixing picked nervously at the part of his shirt that hung below his coat.

It didn’t take long before they were throwing off their coats in the private room of club Growl. Yixing was still a little worried about his outfit. He’d never worn anything like it before, and didn’t know that it suited him. As they made their way down to the dance floor, Tao snuck up behind him and whispered a quick “Don’t worry, you look great,” into his ear before disappearing towards the bar. The dance floor was crowded, but not uncomfortably so. Yixing was following Baekhyun and Chanyeol towards the center when someone bumped into him and he stumbled. Two, hot, hands stabilized him, one on his wrist and the other on his shoulder where the shirt exposed his skin.

“Are you alright, Zhang Yixing?” Jongin’s voice sent shivers up his spine. He could only nod, not quite able to turn around yet and meet Jongin’s eyes.

“Good,” Yixing could feel the smile in the older man’s voice. “Come dance with me.” The hand on his shoulder disappeared as Jongin pulled him to one side of the floor, but Yixing felt as though Jongin’s fingertips were still burning tingles into his skin.