Yixing never did get Chanyeol's reactions.

Yixing is startled out of his sleep by loud laughing and clapping. He blinks his eyes quickly, looking around the semi-darkened room to see where the sound is coming from.

He didn’t have to look long.

On his left is Chanyeol, whose face is outlined by the faint light coming from the TV screen. He’s grinning widely, laughing at whatever must be playing.

Yixing yawns, trying to remember what happened before he fell asleep. He remembers some of the others having to go practice, the rest all huddled around the TV to catch up on some dramas on their rare day off. But now it’s only him and Chanyeol and he doesn’t remember when he fell asleep. Where did the others go?

“Hey Chanyeol-ah,” he says, still a little groggy from the nape he just took. Chanyeol looks over at him, noticing his hyung is now awake.

“Oh hyung, you aren’t sleeping anymore?”

How can I? “I guess not. Where are the others?”

Chanyeol shrugs, turning back to look at the TV. “They wanted to sleep too, I guess, so they went to their rooms. Well, only like, four of them. Or five. I can’t really remember. But you were already asleep.”

“And you weren’t?”

The younger shakes his head. “This show is really funny hyung! Now that you’re awake, let's watch it together.”

Yixing only nods, adjusting to a more comfortable position after having been in the same one for goodness knows how long. Chanyeol starts to explain what’s happening but it goes in one ear out and out the other.

Not that Yixing isn’t paying attention or interested- on the contrary, he’s very interested- but he’s still tired from...well, everything. Their schedules had been very busy lately, with him maybe getting an average of three or four hours of sleep. Not including the naps he grabs while waiting to record or in the van or anything.

He’s usually one to keep an optimistic outlook on things but he just doesn’t understand how Chanyeol can be so cheery, so energetic after the few stressful weeks they’ve been having.

“So you got that?”

Yixing blinks, looking over to see Chanyeol gazing at him like an overexcited puppy and realizes it’s his turn to contribute to the conversation.

“Uh yeah. Thanks.”

Chanyeol smiles again before looking back at the TV. Yixing lets his eyes slide over to the screen but his thoughts are anywhere but on the show that’s playing out in front of him.

Instead they drift over to the man sitting next to him. Well, more so boy than a man. Chanyeol may be in his twenties but his mind is like that of a five-year old.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Yixing likes the childish innocence that comes with that, that makes Chanyeol look at everything in a happier way. But it still puzzles him.

When they had come on Happy Camp for the second time, even though Yixing was preoccupied with finally being back home among friends and the same language and everything, he still had kept an eye on the Korean members of EXO, making sure they were okay. They did the same to him when they went on other Korean shows and he knew their Chinese wasn’t nearly as good as his Korean, so he always made sure to translate for them.

But with Chanyeol, it was a different matter.

When the others didn’t understand something, they looked slightly uncomfortable or embarrassed or merely smiled in a ‘help me’ type of way. But Chanyeol didn’t.

No matter what, he grinned widely and laughed, even if no one else was laughing. Yixing had thought it impossible for that boy to ever stop smiling or even remotely reacting to whatever was going on around him.

Yixing found it strange but it kept things interesting anyhow.

“What’re you thinking about hyung?”

Realizing he had been spacing out- and doing so very obviously, to boot- Yixing glances over to see Chanyeol looking at him.

“Nothing.”

“That’s not true.”

“Actually, it was nothing. But what is nothing without something? When saying nothing, are we really thinking of nothing or everything-”

“Alright, sorry I asked,” Chanyeol laughs and Yixing smiles back at him. “Honestly hyung, you should be a philosopher.”

“A what?”

“A philosopher. You know…” Chanyeol waits for Yixing to understand but the elder is only looking at him in confusion. He’s never heard that word before.

“This wasn’t in the textbooks,” he mutters and Chanyeol chuckles, finally understanding.

“Someone who really likes wisdom. You know? Someone who is really wise and likes knowing things.”

“Oh, I get it. A philosopher,” Yixing says in Chinese and Chanyeol just assumes he gets it because he has no idea what the other just said.

“Exactly. I think you’d be great at it, hyung.”

“Maybe so.” Yixing looks back at the TV, thinking. “Maybe so.”

Chanyeol just shakes his head at his hyung’s reaction and immerses himself in the drama once more.

A little late, so my apologies.

PS: heard you like Taekook here