Prologue

It was one of those lazy Sundays where you crawled out of bed in the late morning, only to stroll to the sofa, have a bowl of cereals and watch TV the whole day. If you were productive, you’d maybe take a shower and change into a clean set of pajamas, but that was about it. Yifan had managed to just do that – his hair was still a little damp as he plopped onto the couch of his boyfriend, who had spent most of the morning in front of his newest painting. His arms were covered in blue and red paint, something which always happened when he worked on his stuff. Yifan had learned not to interrupt him, especially not when Yixing had this concentrated expression on his face as he did now. A jazz song that Yifan had never heard before filled up the room, in a moderate volume, just right for a day like this. The one on the sofa watched the artist for a while, until the song had stopped and silence filled the air. Only a few minutes later Yixing seemed to realize the CD had stopped playing. He looked up in confusion.
“It’s finished already?” he asked and hovered over to the stereo to change the disk.
“You could just press on ‘repeat’ you know.” Yifan suggested.
“Nah, there’s still so much more to listen to.” Yixing replied without looking at him.
Two years ago, he had started to buy any piece of music he could get his hands on. He could’ve also just downloaded everything on Baidu or iTunes, but Yixing preferred the physical copies and he liked the sound of the old stereo that he bought on Taobao made much more than the speakers of his laptop. He chose the CD of a young female artist from New Zealand, and as soon as the first song started playing, he went back to his painting.
“Yixing?”
“Hm?”
“What’s your favorite sound?”
Yixing lowered the brush that he had just picked up and looked at Yifan, obviously in deep thought. After a while he smiled and said:
“I really like the sound of brushes against canvases. I don’t know. It’s just really nice and relaxing.”
Yifan smiled. That was so typically for his boyfriend. He’d find the beauty in small details that others would never even notice.
“Oh. Yeah. And your voice. Especially in the morning when you’re still sleepy.”
“You’re just saying that!”
“No, I mean it. It’s just a few moments, but when you wake up and say ‘Good Morning’ your voice is very different from the rest of the day. And it’s just the right sound to wake up to for me.”
“Eww, cheesy!” Yifan shot at him, but Yixing’s statement made his stomach flutter in joy.
“You asked, stop acting like you don’t like it.” the other one replied, made a final brush and took a last look at his current project, before he nodded in satisfaction and put his utensils down.
After he had washed off the paint on his arms, he joined Yifan on the couch who pulled him into a hug and buried his nose in his hair. Yixing smelled of fresh paint and coffee, a combination that he had grown addicted to.
“Do you have a ‘favorite sound’?” Yixing asked.
“Hmmm…”
The older one frowned and thought of something but when he was being completely honest, there were a lot of sounds that he liked. He couldn’t possibly pick one. So he grinned, snatched his hands under Yixing’s shirt and said:
“I really like your moans.”
Yixing shot up and hit Yifan’s shoulder.
“!”
Yifan giggled and even Yixing couldn’t keep his serious expression up for very long.
“What? You asked, stop acting like you don’t like it!” Yifan imitated the other one.
Yixing rolled his eyes, failed to hide his blush, then got up.
“Alright, I think I’m going to take a shower.”
“Can I join?”
“You just showered, Yifan…”
“I don’t care.” he purred with a devilish grin on his face.
“No, you cannot!”  Yixing shot back and Yifan pouted, while the other one took off for the bathroom. Two minutes later, Yifan heard his boyfriend sigh heavily.
“Okay, come on.” he called from the bathroom and Yifan didn’t need a second invitation – he was up within seconds.