“Yo Yifan,” Chanyeol said as he made his well timed appearance at lunch, complete with a cheesy grin and his ears sticking out even further than normal due to him previously having been riding his bike and wearing a helmet, “Catch.”

Yifan smiled as he accepted the sandwich, crisp and drink combo which the other had gone to get for them, “Thanks Chan, I don’t think I could face anymore dinners from this place.”

“Heh the joys of being a senior eh?” Chanyeol said, flopping down with his own bag off food and carelessly ripping off the packaging of a sandwich, “Get to go off campus to grab lunch.”

“Hmmm,” Yifan said, carefully folding his own rubbish before putting it back into the bag that he was using, “Even if you disappeared ten minutes before the end of class.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, that project had been finished within the first half hour and you were just making yourself busy so that you could look up information on a certain blond haired wushu cap-”

Yifan slammed a hand on top of his friends head, “You dare to utter one more syllable Chanyeol and I will kick you.”

“Oh come on, why can’t you just admit that you have a crush?” Chanyeol said shaking his head, “Seriously, I’m beginning to think that you’ll force yourself to be forever alone just so you don’t get your heart broken.”

“That seems to be a very good idea,” Yifan said with a sigh, taking a bite out the sandwich and chewing carefully.

It wasn’t a case of Yifan being afraid of getting his heart broken, hell he had been through that a few times already though no one ever knew about it of course, it was more a case of he didn’t want to have history repeat itself. The scars of his father’s betrayal still rang deep in his heart and mind, making him shy away from contact with people because he was afraid of getting too close and then having to give it all up. Whilst his little sister had the joy and grace of being far too young to remember it all, but when the man declared that he wanted nothing to do with them and virtually threw them out of the house there were many things that had to be left behind.

Not just personal possessions either. There were family and friends who had to be left behind, who couldn’t learn of the shame that had been brought on them and who were not to be contacted. Yifan had gone from a very bright world filled with joy and laughter to a place that was cold, unfriendly and extremely quiet. Yifan had cried when his mother explained that they could have no contact with their previous life because he had felt so cold and empty, alone in the world with his mother and little sister to look after and it had been horrible.

Hence why he would only admire the wushu team captain from afar because there was no way that Yifan was ever going to put himself in a situation where he could get that hurt ever again. Not that he exactly envisioned having much of a relationship with one of the schools most idolised boys of course, Zitao was high on the catch list of virtually all of the most popular girls and they constantly crowded around him. Even at school sporting events the Wushu and basketball teams did not cross paths so there would be next to no chance of him even getting to talk to the object of his affections.

Chanyeol shook his head, “Oh Kris you great big dolt, no one wants to be alone for ever. You should go and talk to him.”

“Like when is the opportunity going to present itself?” Kris said in response, shaking his head as he leaned back against the wall, “Face it Chanyeol, no one can get past the fan girls to reach the notorious Wushu team.”

“You sit in the row behind him in history,” Chanyeol said in response, shaking his head, “and the only reason you’re failing that subject is because you’re too busy drooling over him. I’m surprised that he doesn’t have a wet neck.”

“Chanyeol!” Kris said, smacking the giant goofball around the head again, failing to hide the fact that he was blushing bright red at being caught.

Chanyeol just laughed at him in return, “Oh boy you’ve really got it bad. I should just up and tell him cause I’m sure that he would think it was the most adorable thing in the entire world.”

Kris groaned and hung his head. There was no point in arguing with the giant troll sitting next to him because he would just turn everything around and use it against him regardless of how he argued. Vaguely he wondered if he should just give in but firmly stomped on that notion because there was no way he was giving Yikari an easy ride out of her boundaries either.

Chuckling, Chanyeol cast his eyes up to where Yifan had been looking before and couldn’t help but gleefully chuckle. Of course he would choose to spend his lunch within eye line of the gym just so he could see his oh so obvious crush without appearing to be stalking him and Chanyeol sighed. Someone really needed to give the boy a good old kick up the backside, even if he was his Daizhyung.

“Oh come on Yifan, you’re only young once, you should at least have some fun right?” Chanyeol tried again.

Yifan just sighed and shook his head, “You know why I can’t Channie.”

“Because of Yikari? Dude I hate to inform you but your little sister is one of the hottest girls on campus and when we graduate I can assure you that she’ll have virtually all of the boys after her,” Chanyeol smirked, “Especially since the over protective fire breathing dragon won’t be around.”

“Not going to happen,” Yifan said, shaking his head, eyes set hard and straight in front of him.

Chanyeol sighed, “You really want to put up with the little sisters ing forever? I mean sure Sehuna is Yikari’s friend but you can guarantee that once boys start getting involved.”

“Yikari is not dating anyone,” Yifan said, “She won’t date anyone.”

“Fanfan, you’re going to make an idiot of yourself,” Chanyeol said, “Plus if you give them any sorts of hints of a way out I can guarantee you that little sisters will exploit them in every single last way.”

Yifan blinked, “You dare tell her anything about the none existent crush that I have and I swear I will kill you.”

“Oh god you haven’t?” Chanyeol said, sighing and closing his eyes, “What did you say to Yikari?”

Pausing to pick a random bit of grit out of his sandwich, Yifan sighed, “I said that if I started dating then she could hang out with her friends more…that was all and it does not extend to boys in the slightest. She is not dating. End of discussion.”

Chanyeol gave him a long sideways glance, “Yup, you’ve just dug your own grave mate. Though it would be interesting to see what lengths Yikari would go to in order to get you to date Zitao.”

“Chanyeol,” Yifan said warningly just as the door to the gym opened which instinctively caused the basketball captain to turn and look.

To be met with the sight of Zitao, glistening with sweat in a really astounding y way which caused blood to rush straight to Yifan’s face in a huge blush and the giant troll next to him to burst into a fresh fit of laughter.

For a second Zitao glanced their way, secretly praying that Yifan would just look up for once and stop pretending to be so interested in the ground, his sandwich, a book or his phone. Just once so he could shoot a smile and make him melt or at least confirm that yes indeed the gorgeous basketball captain wanted his attention in more ways than to just discuss use of the courts for the clubs. But as per usual the look didn’t come and Zitao helped to move the mats into their proper places and then headed to the changing rooms in order to get changed once again. 

authors babbly:

heh a little introspecitve on Yifan's situation Hope you enjoyed