Yixing has always been known as the quiet one. He would try to keep to himself and fly under the radar. It’s not that he was anti-social. His friend, Kyungsoo, and him studied together and would occasionally hang out. Both of them didn’t need a large circle of friends or a lot of attention. All they needed was each other to keep them company every now and then .

When Yixing got his class schedule in the mail two weeks ago, he was glad to see that he had Music Theory 4 with Kyungsoo. It wasn’t really a surprise to him though; they always had Music Theory together.

For the past three years of high school, they fell into a routine. On the first day they would pair up to share a textbook and then they would have study sessions in a quiet, hole in the wall cafe for the rest of the year.

He walked into class, found his friend, then sat down beside him in the back of the classroom where they always chose to sit. Kyungsoo looked up from his phone and smiled at him. They nodded to each other as their way of saying “hi” then patiently waited for their teacher as students continued to pile in.

Kyungsoo elbowed his side and pointed at a strawberry blond walking into the room. The boy caught Yixing staring and smiled at him while holding eye contact. Yixing blushed and looked down at his twiddling thumbs. Kyungsoo laughed and went back to looking at his phone.

Luhan has been his crush ever since they began high school. He was a transfer student from China, and he became popular almost instantly. Although Yixing was also a  transfer student, he didn’t become as well-accepted as Luhan had. His good looks and outgoing personality captured many hearts at Lila Art High School, and Yixing’s heart was one of them. He  never acted on his feelings for that reason, he was just an insignificant heart amongst the many Luhan owned.

The door to the class room closing snapped Yixing out of his thoughts. Instead of looking up to seeing the familiar, stoic  face of of Mr. Wu, he saw a beaming short little man who looked to be in his 20’s.

“Hello, I’m the new teacher of Music Theory. Mr. Wu became seriously ill and I’ll be filling in for him until he can return. My name is Mr. Kim.”

The short man turned around and stood on his tiptoes to write his name on the board. A few snickers were heard around the room. Cute.

“Okay, so first things first, I’ll be splitting you up into partners to share a textbook. I know Mr. Wu let you choose your own partners, but I’d rather you all get to know your other classmates.”

Groans resounded around the room and Kyungsoo and Yixing shared a worried glance. Having to cooperate with someone they’ve never spoken to before made them anxious. Yixing gave Kyungsoo a reassuring smile, even though he didn’t like the idea himself.

Kyungsoo was paired up with a girl who he despised because she was always loud and slacked off on her work. Yixing smiled at the image of the two of them trying to work together. It would definitely be an interesting sight.

“Yixing and Luhan, you’ll be working together this year.”

Butterflies started to flutter in Yixing’s stomach. Oh god I can’t do this, I can’t be with Luhan.

Luhan grabbed his bag and came to sit in the seat Kyungsoo previously occupied.

“Hi Yixing, I hope we’ll work well together! I’m sure we’ll make a great team,” Luhan cheerfully stated. Yixing swallowed hard and nodded.

~ ~ ~

It was awkward at first. Luhan would try to make conversation and Yixing would try his best to carry it along. But they didn’t have much in common, other than music. Luhan noticed this and began talking to Yixing about the one thing he knew that he loved.

“So we’ve both been in Music Theory for four years. Are you planning on being a music major once you go off to university?”

Yixing nodded, “Yeah, I’m planning on attending Korea National University of Arts. I would like to try out for a music company, but the chances of me being accepted are slim. So my backup plan is to be a music therapist. I know it sounds lame, but music helped me, so I’d love to help others through music.”

Luhan stared at him with admiring eyes. Yixing is such a good guy, oh my heart can’t handle it! Yixing was already looking back at their shared textbook like he always does after he speaks. Luhan sighed, he acted as if he had the plague and will infect him if he looked at him for longer than two seconds.

“Hey, I think you’d be accepted into a music company right away! Your good looks and amazing voice would surely earn you a spot in a debuting group. It’s actually my dream to be an idol too. I also have a backup plan. I would just become a soccer player instead.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. Yixing’s heart felt like it was going to fly out of his chest. He lost Luhan after he said he had good looks. Don’t be stupid, he was just trying to reassure you.

He came back to reality and saw Luhan looking at him, waiting for a response of some sort. “Uh, thank you. I hope the company agrees with you. You have big dreams Luhan, but I’m sure you’ll be able to do whatever you want.”

Luhan gulped, I really want to do you. Is that something that’s possible?

~ ~ ~

Mr. Kim was drowning them with information on augmentation dots, and Luhan was so stressed he was contemplating banging his head on the table. Their first test was in a week and the two haven’t studied together yet. Luhan was too scared of rejection to ask him out to study, and Yixing definitely wasn’t going to. Suddenly Luhan had an idea. He grabbed his favorite pink pen and scribbled onto the textbook.

Hey

Yixing was confused as to why Luhan all of a sudden wanted to pass notes, but he grabbed his blue pen and replied anyway.

Hi

So we haven’t studied for this test yet and since only one of us can have the textbook at a time..I was thinking we should go on a study date.

Yixing gulped, a date? Of course he just meant to study as classmates. But still the thought of going on any kind of date with Luhan made his stomach do flips.

Yeah, that’s a good idea. Kyungsoo and I used to go to this little cafe to study together. Maybe we could go there?

Sounds good! I’ll meet you tomorrow after school then?

 ~ ~ ~

Yixing and Luhan met at the front gate then caught a bus to drop them off fairly close to the cafe. The bus ride was silent other than a few sentences of small talk spoken to one another. Luhan wanted to find out everything about Yixing. What his passions were, what he hates, and trivial things like his favorite color. Instead of poking and prying into Yixing’s life, Luhan settled on putting in his earbuds and letting the music course through his body.

Yixing felt like he should be saying something, but he could never find the right words that would continue the conversation. Luhan seemed to be trying hard to get him to open up, but with every question he asked, Yixing seemed to be pushing him further away. Once Luhan put his earbuds in, Yixing sighed and decided to play on his phone.

When the bus halted to a stop, the two boys exited the bus and began their small walk. Once again an awkward silence settled over them. Luhan couldn’t take it anymore and decided to actually poke and pry his way into Yixing’s guarded heart.

“Yixing, can you tell me more about yourself? You seem like a really interesting guy and I want to know more about what makes you so charming.”

Yixing felt his cheeks burn at the apparent compliment. “Me? I’m not that interesting. I like music, but you already know that.”

Luhan sighed, this wasn’t working out the way he had hoped. “Tell me your favorite things then! Colors, subjects, movies, shows, gender, anything!”

Yixing stopped in the middle of the busy street and stared at Luhan who now looked very flustered. He hadn’t meant to let his curiosities slip out, but Luhan wanted to know if he even had a little chance with Yixing.

Instead of leaving Yixing with the stress of answering such a personal question, Luhan decided to take the lead.

“Okay, I’m sorry I asked that. It was stupid, I know. But I just - I just think I’m really starting to like you and it would be so devastating if I thought I had a chance only to find out you don’t like guys.”

Yixing was absolutely dumbfounded. He sat there with a million emotions and thoughts running through his mind. Relief. Confusion. Fondness. Fright. Overall, he was incredibly happy though.

Yixing stared at him as he opened and closed his mouth, for he was at a loss for words. Luhan felt his heart drop. He was too hopeful for thinking Yixing might like him back.

He muttered sorry, and began walking towards the same bus stop he just got off of.

Yixing sighed then continued towards the cafe. When he opened the door, he heard Kyungsoo and his partner before he saw them. The two of them were arguing over a practice problem.

“Oh my god! I’m right, I’m telling you. I’ve been studying this textbook nonstop, and I know you’ve been slacking becau-”

Kyungsoo never got to finish his sentence, for she leaned over and crushed her lips onto his.

“Now that you’ve shut up, lets do these problems correctly.”

Yixing smiled at the interaction and left the cafe; he didn’t want to intrude on whatever was going on between them.

~~~

The next morning Yixing was still feeling extremely guilty. He hadn’t meant to hurt Luhan, but it was so sudden. And he wasn’t sure what to say. His whole life he had kept to himself and rarely opened up to anyone. But he immediately felt safe around Luhan and that scared him.

Luhan nervously bit his lip as he walked into class. Yixing was still his partner, and he had to work with him like he wasn’t devastated.

When he arrived, Yixing was already sitting in his seat with his earbuds in. His head was bobbing occasionally.

Luhan took a deep breath and set off towards his seat. He could feel Yixing’s eyes on him as he sat down, but he chose to ignore it.

He immersed himself in his music theory to distract him from his rejection.

Yixing gulped as he tried to gather up every ounce of courage he had. He grabbed the textbook from under their desk, and took out his blue pen.

Luhan?

He slid it under Luhan’s gaze, so he would be forced to see what Yixing wrote. He wanted him to know that he still wanted to be partners, friends, maybe something more.

Luhan saw what was written on the paper and wasn’t sure what he felt. Was it relief? Apprehension of what Yixing was about to say?

Yes?

Long moments passed while Luhan was waiting for the blue ink to be put into his line of vision again.

….I like you, Luhan. I’ve liked you for a while now. I would’ve answered your questions yesterday; I don’t think you crossed any lines. I’ll just answer them now then. Blue. Music Theory. Back to the Future. Breaking Bad.  Y O U.

Luhan blinked a few times. His smile formed the same way a flower bloomed; it started small and then formed into a large and beautiful sight.

Zhang Yixing, will you be mine?

Luhan blushed at his own words, thinking they might be too cheesy.

Yixing chuckled beside him and wrote his reply.

I would love to be yours, Luhan.

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A/N: This is the fluffiest story I've ever written. I wrote this for my friend, Stef, who often complains about the lack of layhan fics. I hope you enjoyed it! I love you. <333