"You're earlier today," a familiar voice says. Yixing looks over his shoulder to see Seon leaning over the lockers. She looks particularly fluffy today, wearing a comfortable black turtleneck and a pair of high-waist jeans. Lay grins happily at her sight. "Again. My dad is starting to get worried." 

Yixing takes off his hoodie and frowns at her. "Why?" 

"Because you're getting so good at shooting." 

"That's a good thing, though, right?" 

"According to him, it's not a good thing if you decide to shoot us all." 

"Jesus," Yixing mutters, sitting down on the bench and looking at her in disbelief. "That's an awful scenario." 

"I'm sure he was mostly joking," Seon assures. "Although, I can rarely guess. You know how his face is."

"I'm pretty sure he made a dad joke last week, but I totally didn't catch it because he looked very serious when he told it to me," Yixing admits, biting his bottom lip and cringing. He looks a bit apologetic. "Don't worry. I won't shoot you to death." 

"What if you go rogue?" Seon asks, quirking a brow at him. 

"I wouldn't be smart enough then to work with a gun," Yixing says, smiling. "When a werewolf goes crazy, he doesn't think. He just needs to...destroy. And bite. And stuff." 

"Especially 'stuff'," Seon says, pushing herself off the wall and smiling at him a little. "Wanna shoot together? We could compare our scores." 

"Uh, no, thank you," Yixing scoffs, standing up from the bench. "I'm never comparing my shooting score to a huntress's." 

"Shame," Seon pouts. "I like to win." 

"I've noticed."

"You still owe me five bucks, by the way." 

"That wasn't even a serious bet!"

*

Yixing enters his and Chen's apartment in a good mood. He's humming a song to himself as he takes off his shoes and he's spinning a little on his feet as he heads to the kitchen to grab a carton of orange juice. Then he goes to the living room, with the sole purpose of watching some TV, eyes getting used to the darkness.

One of the floor lamps in the living room suddenly lights up and Yixing chokes on his juice, spilling it all over himself and the floor when he spots Luhan sitting on the armchair, his legs crossed and his expression stern.

"The heck, Luhan?!" he asks once he manages to get his voice out of his throat. He wipes at his chin. When he looks at Luhan, his friend looks a little apologetic, and is sitting normally now, waving his hands a little at him. 

"I'm sorry," Luhan says, "I didn't have a spare cat to go with this whole intimidating...mother-waiting-for-her-son-at-home thing." 

Yixing is staring at him, hand frozen over his chin. Okay. So Luhan was waiting for him in complete darkness, with his legs crossed, because...

"Are you roleplaying?" he asks. 

"What? No! I was supposed to look scary! I mean, you did jump and choke on your drink, so I count it as a win." 

"Why would you need a cat for?" Yixing questions. Luhan raises his brows. "Oh, okay, don't tell me. Vito Corleone?" 

"Aw, look how geeky you are," Luhan says, nodding approvingly. "I could totally pull that off."

"We could try that one day with Kai and Dal, but we should all be waiting for them to come home and could totally use some cats," Yixing says, slowly walking towards his friend. "Luhan. What are you doing here? And how long have you been here?"

"To be completely honest, I don't know how moms in the movies do that," Luhan says, stretching out in his chair. "It's been ages." 

Yixing's next expression is the purest embodiment of question marks. 

"Wait, I don't have to be a mom," Luhan says, letting out a hiss. "Remember that scene in 'The Incredibles' where Helen was waiting for Bob to come home? Was it because she though he was cheating on her?" he wonders out loud, tilting his head to the side and looking away from Yixing for a moment. "Or was it after that thing with Bob and Frozone...? I honestly can't remember," he finishes, looking back at Yixing. "My point is: are you cheating on me, Yixing?!"

Yixing is in his .jpg mode now. He's not even blinking. "You have a boyfr—"

"You smell like gunpowder," Luhan notes, cutting him off. Yixing tenses a little. "Chill. I'm not mad." 

"Oh." Yixing deflates. "Then why did you sit on the armchair and—" 

"I just really wanted to try that one day, I saw a chance and took it," Luhan explains. He leans back in his seat, very comfortable and smug, and once again throws one leg over the other, looking shady as frick. "I could become an actor."

"I still don't understand the point of this conversation." 

"That's because you're too blissed-out by Seon's presence earlier and you can't keep up with me." 

Yixing squints at him. "How did you know?" 

"Dude, I'm your best friend," Luhan says, snorting. "Also, you're not actually sneaky? You turn all your senses off once you see her, seriously. If you were paying any attention when you entered your house, you'd have scented me and known I was here before I could scare you so magnificently. So. Now that the cat is out of the bag, you're gonna tell me everything."

"But there's nothing to say," Yixing mutters. He walks over and sits down on the couch; now Luhan is on his left. He looks around for a TV remote. "Her family owns a shooting range. I go there to learn how to shoot. She's usually there because she works there, so we talk." 

"You're red in the face." 

He sputters, drops the remote, and starts mumbling. 

"Am not." 

"Okay, so what are you going to do?" 

"Luhan please."

"Don't use that tone with me!"

Luhan is pointing an accusing finger at him now. Yixing turns the TV on, first sounds begin to fill the silence between them, and he sighs. 

"Please let me do it my way," he says. "And don't tell the rest." 

"Why not?" Luhan asks. "They probably know already. You perk up like a puppy every time someone mentions her, you know." 

"Maybe," Yixing replies, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "But it's a delicate topic. Also, I don't want to be like Dal and Kai. Or Suho and Heejin." 

"Meaning?" 

"I don't want everyone to tease me!" 

"Can I tease you, then?" 

"No."

*

"Hey," Seon says, skipping over to him. He still has his hand raised in the air in a half-wave. "Listen, can you stay a while longer today? I want to show you that new gun my dad bought. He says it could be useful to Dal, but we're not sure." 

"Yeah, of course," Yixing says, smiling widely. 

"Great," Seon says, taking a step back and slowly withdrawing. "Oh, and, uh, what's up with Luhan and The Invincibles?" 

"What do you mean?" Yixing asks, alarmed. He stops loading his riffle to look at her in worry. 

"He dropped by yesterday and was talking about Helen. Or someone."

Yixing blinks a few times. 

"You know what, never mind," Seon says, sighing. "See you later." And with that, she's off to God knows where. Yixing stares at nothing.

Then he goes to bump his head on the wall a few times.

"You okay?" someone asks. He turns to look at a young hunter who spends quite a lot of time on the shooting range. He's one of Seon's best friends. 

"Hey, Myungsoo," Yixing greets, going back to bumping his head on the wall. He feels a warm hand on his forehead instead of the wall, though, and when he looks up again, Myungsoo is smiling at him, although his brows are creased in confusion. 

"Hey, Yixing, are you okay?" the boy asks, withdrawing his hand. Something in Yixing's brain snaps. "Hm?" 

"Myungsoo," he says slowly, breathing out, "do you have a girlfriend?" 

Myungsoo statrs blinking rapidly. 

"No. Why?"

ships, ships everywhere