Chapter 4 – Art

艺术
（一）Index finger of dominant hand writes the character艺into the air
（二）Dominant hand pats the back of the other hand, then goes under it in a circle
（三） Pat the back of the dominant hand with the other one

“Yifan? Hellooo?”
Tao’s voice made Yifan shoot up from his laptop and he blinked confused.
“Um… yes?”
“Have you been listening to us?”
Tao, Luhan, Minseok, Suho and Yifan sat in the university’s library, in a corner far away from other students so their conversations wouldn’t disturb anybody else. Originally, the plan had been to get over the Korean’s homework and practice their listening comprehension, but apparently, Suho had had the great idea to invite everyone for a little sit in at his and Sehun’s apartment tonight and they were going through points like who would be bringing the beer. Yifan hadn’t paid any attention though. After the eventful Karaoke Night at Helen’s the young man had finally managed to look up hearing implants on the internet and now he was so hooked on the topic, he had brought his laptop to the library to get more information about it, since the wifi at the dormitory had been a mess for the last few days.
Yifan somehow understood why Yixing was against getting a Cochlear Implant – the process of getting one involved multiple surgeries and in the end you’d have to wear a sound processor that got attached to the skull and was clearly visible for everyone else (of course, you could cover it up with hats or longer hair, but Yixing did not seem like the type for either headdresses or hair that was way longer than his ears). He didn’t quite understand every detail about it, since he was no expert in the anatomy of the ear and everything else - his major was still International Business Economics, not Medicine. Therefore he had started digging deeper and actually found something that seemed to be a better option (visually speaking) than the Cochlear Implant. The thing was called Esteem Implant and was completely internal, which meant it wasn’t visible and also pretty much waterproof. It also meant that you never had to turn off the sound processor, which resulted in 24/7 hearing ability.
“Um. Yeah. No. I don’t know. Party at Suho’s tonight. I’ll be there,” Yifan babbled and drew his attention back to his screen, where an animated graphic was demonstrating how the implant worked.
“What the heck are you doing there?” Tao asked and leaned over the table to catch a look at what his friend had been doing for the last thirty minutes.
“Huh, what is that?”
“It’s a hearing implant, Tao,” Yifan cut him off, but with that comment, the attention snapped from the choice of beverages for tonight to him.
“Is Yixing getting one?” Luhan asked and the two Koreans pulled their chairs closer.
“What the guys…” Yifan grunted, but when he realized he was not getting out of this matter anytime soon, he gave up defeat, “No. He’s not getting one. I’m just checking. It doesn’t seem like he wants one.”
“Oh, but why would he…”
“I don’t know, “ Yifan cut Luhan off and added, “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“I would love to, but you never bring him over!” Luhan responded with a big smile that was meant to be sarcastic.
Yifan rolled his eyes, mumbled a “Whatever” and went back to his research. The other guys sensed that questioning him any further would only make things worse, so they proceeded to answer the most important question: Should they get Qingdao or Nanjing beer? And should they also get some bottles of Soju, considering the fact they had classes tomorrow? Especially the Koreans were suffering from the difficulty of language courses that started at eight in the morning so they decided against the latter and after the issue was settled, Suho announced that he was hungry. Since breakfast had been a few hours ago, the five of them decided to leave the library and get something to eat. Most of the students would be in class now so the cafeterias and canteens would be empty.

When they stepped out, Suho and Minseok pulled out some masks with a small filter out of their pockets and placed them over their mouth and nose. The three Chinese snorted when they saw it and Tao commented:
“You’re looking like Hannibal Lecter, guys.”
“Shut up! I’m not risking anything!” Suho shot back, his voice muffled under the fabric.
Today Beijing revealed his nasty site: The smog covered the city mercilessly and did not let one ray of sunshine get through to them, which gave the whole environment an apocalyptical touch. If you took one deep breath, you almost felt the fine dust particles settling down in your lungs and damaging them profoundly – Yifan remembered that he had to fight severe coughing fits in his first months because his lungs were not used to the pollution. There was also the smell of metal, dust and other exhausts in the air that would creep into bed- and living rooms if no air filter had been installed. Yifan was the only one of the three to understand why Suho and Minseok used the air masks in such a strict way. He reckoned he’d wear one too if he didn’t know that the cheap masks from Seven Eleven were a complete hoax and actually did nothing against the smog. And he was way too stingy with his money to buy one of those high-tech super masks that had just hit the market. So he basically just accepted his fate and risked getting all sorts of deadly diseases, just like everybody else living permanently in Beijing did. At least they’d all get cancer together.
“Where do you want to go for lunch?” Yifan asked, before Tao could pull off another stupid Silence of the Lambs joke.
“The noodle canteen!” Minseok called out and the others sighed heavily.
The ‘noodle canteen’ did not really have this name, but Minseok could never remember it correctly. But it had indeed specialized on noodles and every serving was freshly made in front of the student’s eyes which somehow fascinated Minseok so much that he basically lived there. Since nobody else had a better suggestion, they made their way to the building and when they had just passed a supermarket, a small brunet stepped out of it, with a huge plastic bag in his hand. When Yifan recognized him, a wide smile crept on his face.
“Hold on a second, guys,” he said and headed towards Yixing who looked up in that moment.
Yixing’s face lit up and Yifan pulled him into a hug, something they had never done before, but Yixing did not seem to mind at all.
“What are you doing here?” Yifan asked after he had pulled away from him.
Yixing lifted his plastic bag and signed:
“I needed stuff for my lunch. I finished the lectures for today and I was just about to go home.”
“Wait, you’re a freshman and they’re letting you go in the early afternoon? Man, I should’ve studied Art, too,” Yifan responded and Yixing let out soft giggles.
Then his eyes locked with something behind Yifan and he frowned.
“Um, Yifan…”
Yifan turned around and almost jumped into the air – the other four had approached them and suddenly they had been standing right behind him, maybe one or two feet away.
“GUYS!” he barked.
“Sorry!” they said in unison, but they were actually eyeing Yixing, as if he was some major attraction at the zoo.
“Sweet Jesus, you are the worst,” Yifan mumbled and then proceeded to introduce Yixing to the other ones he called his friends.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Luhan chirped and shook Yixing’s hand, who was obviously perplex.
“Yifan, how do you say that in Sign Language?” Suho demanded and Yifan answered:
“Yixing can read lips, he’ll understand you. Only if you take off your masks, of course.”
The Koreans eyed Yixing in awe, but Yixing’s expression gave away that he did not like all the attention.
“It’s nice to finally meet you. We have been wondering about you for a long time,” Tao said with a big smile.
“Could you stop acting like he’s an alien? You guys are embarrassing!”
“It’s okay, Yifan, don’t be hard on them. I don’t think they’re trying to be rude.”
“Nooo, stop being too nice,” Yifan responded, gesturing with his hands.
“Excuse me, what?”
That was the advantage of CSL: it was like speaking a foreign language and nobody around you knew what you were talking about. Yifan made a hand movement at Tao as if he was telling him to forget about it and then Luhan stepped in:
“Hey, what about Yixing coming over tonight, too?”
“Coming over to what?”
“Oh god, the guys are coming over to Suho’s tonight to have a few drinks. And I guess they’re also in for some rounds of Catan, it’s really boring, I don’t think you’d like it.”
“Hey, I heard that!” Suho interrupted, took off his mask and a few steps towards Yixing.
When he was sure to have caught Yixing’s undivided attention, he said:
“You’re welcome to come too, of course! Yifan’s friends are also my friends!”
“You are too much! For how long have we known each other? Two months?! And you dare to talk like this?!”
“Shut up!” Suho shot at Yifan who was so shocked of Suho’s cockiness he was at loss for words.
Yixing grinned widly, clearly having fun. Then he turned to Yifan:
“Will you be there?”
“Yeah I guess.”
Yixing eyed Suho and the others then he turned back to the tallest:
“Okay.”
“Wait… are you sure?”
“Yes, I am.”
Yifan looked at Suho who did not get the conversation between them and said:
“He’s coming.”
“Oh really?? That’s so cool!”
Suho and the others were stoked to hear the news, Luhan even let out an excited gasp.
“I’m living in Huaqingjiayuan, building 23, room 654. I think we’ll start around seven. I’ll get some take out, is Pizza okay with you?”
“Oh! That’s in the same building I live in!” Yixing announced and Yifan groaned.
“You’re living in the same building,” he then translated and if this was possible, Suho’s eyes grew even wider and his smile became even more radiant, and Yifan clearly did not like it.
“Really?! That’s so cool! So you’ll be there?”
Yixing nodded, infected by Suho’s good mood.
“Nice!”
“That’s really nice indeed, but I’m dying of hunger, can we get going now?” Minseok threw in and brought them back to reality.
And the reality was cold, smoggy, and everybody was having an empty stomach.
“Sure, let’s go!” Suho said and the four waved goodbye to Yixing.
“I’ll catch up to you,” Yifan stated and the four shrugged their shoulders and strolled down the street to finally get something to eat.
When they were out of earshot (even though that clearly wasn’t necessary), Yifan asked:
“Are you sure about what you just did here, Yixing?”
“Yeah. I accepted Suho’s invitation.”
“But… I don’t really get it. You always avoid other people.”
Yixing smiled, then squeezed Yifan’s arm before he explained:
“I just thought it would be nice to get to know your friends better, they seemed to be decent people. And if it’s too much for me, I don’t even have to take a long walk home. He’s basically living four floors beneath me. And you said you’ll be there, too, so there’s nothing I have to worry about.”
Yifan did not seem to be convinced 100%, but his stomach fluttered when Yixing had said that in his presence, the smaller one felt safe enough to step out of his own comfort zone. Or he was just really hungry and needed food as soon as possible.
“Okay,” he gave in, “I’m going to pick you up?”
Yixing nodded to give his content and after bidding goodbye, each of them went their own way.

Yifan had said that he was going to pick up Yixing, but he never said when. That’s why when Yifan stood in front of Yixing’s apartment and waited for him to open the door, it wasn’t something around seven pm so they could go directly to the elevator to get down four floors – it was half past five. The fact that Yixing was really confused goes without saying.
“What…?” he said when he finally opened the door and Yifan stepped in as if he lived here too and just had forgotten his keys.
“My roommate brought his girlfriend, I’d rather not be around when they get too steamy with each other,” the taller one explained and got rid of his shoes and jacket.
That wasn’t even a lie. Yifan had been in the middle of preparing the next lecture in economics, when his roommate came in, his girlfriend on his arm. Both of them giggled like five year olds and did not even seem to realize that Yifan was in the room, too. They started a passionate make out session and Yifan escaped the scene before he could witness anything else that included two bodies grinding against each other. First of all, because these two bodies would be really weird to watch (his roommate and his girlfriend had the appeal of two old potatoes) and second of all, it was not his body grinding against another body and he could not stand being reminded that his ual life was non-existent at the very moment (especially because these two seemed to have it better than him – sometimes he really wondered how such things were possible). So, being kicked out of his room, he thought of Yixing and figured that he also could just visit him a little early.
“Oh, I see.”
Yifan sat down on the couch and sighed.
“I just don’t understand how this is possible. These two are so ugly. Why are they getting all the time it’s annoying.”
Yixing chuckled and then proceeded to the easel and the painting that he had been working on.
“So no hot girlfriend in sight?” He asked with a naughty grin, before he picked up his pencil.
Yifan let out a desperate laugh. He wasn’t sure whether he should just nod or let the cat out of the bag and tell Yixing that he did not only date women but also men. Nontheless, Yixing was right with his assumption. Yifan knew Yixing was watching him so he answered:
“No. And no hot boyfriend either.”
He imagined that Yixing would blush or would be appalled but he just gestured without even blinking:
“Well, that’s a tragedy. I hope you’re going to find either one.”
No matter which reaction Yifan had expected, this hadn’t been one of them.
“Um. I just told you that I’m biual, you did understand that?”
Yixing nodded and responded:
“Yeah, and now? Do you think you’re a special snowflake because you like both es?”
“You don’t think that’s weird?”
Even if China acted like it was a developed country, it still lacked a lot of things. Acceptance of anyone having a different uality than heterouality was one of them. Of course China wasn’t the only country with oppression of the LGBT community but being gay in China was a whole different package than being gay in an European country or the USA. Most of the time, homoual people got into heteroual marriages so their families and friends wouldn’t find out. LGBT communities were basically non-existent and if there was one, the government sure knew how to shut them down sooner or later, with the founders getting locked away only god-knows-where. The notion that bi- and homouality was a choice and a bad thing to do was still present in the heads of a lot of Chinese people. In fact, it was only in the year of 2001 the government had officially stated that homouality was no longer considered a mental illness. China obviously still had a long way to go.
Yixing tilted his head, then he signed:
“No. The only thing I find weird is how you can find women ually attractive, but who am I to judge?”
It took Yifan a moment to realize what that actually meant.
“Wait. Are you telling me you’re gay?”
“What are the odds, right?”
Yixing shrugged his shoulders with an apologetic smile, then finally turned to his painting, as if the whole thing wasn’t a big deal and not even worth an ongoing conversation. Yifan’s heart skipped a beat in excitement. The only other gay person he knew was Luhan – and of course, sometimes they’d stroll around the gay clubs and bars around the Sanlitun area, but ever since Yifan moved to Beijing, he had never found a guy that he genuinely liked. Sure enough there had been One Night Stands and short relationships with girls from his classes, but he’d rather not think back on either ones. But this changed everything.
“Yixing, my dear!” he chirped, got up and hovered over to the other one who sighed when he noticed Yifan moving and turned back to him.
When Yixing saw Yifan’s wide smile mixed with just a little bit of naughtiness the artists stated:
“We’re not in that kind of stage yet, Yifan.”
Yifan’s face fell in disappointment, but then gave up. It had been meant to be more of a joke anyway.
“I guess you’re right. What are you doing exactly?”
He stepped behind the smaller one to get a glimpse of Yixing’s work. Yifan did not have any sense for art so Yixing could’ve painted the whole canvas blue and stated that this was a true masterpiece and Yifan would’ve believed every single word. So when he saw the project, his jaw dropped.
“What the heck, Yixing.”
 It was the painting of the Forbidden City’s bird’s view from a few weeks back. There were so many details that Yifan leaned in a little closer to examine the structure of the roofs, that Yixing had brought on the canvas. The most striking feature where the colors because they did not match the reality at all. Not even the trees had been painted in green tones – and it looked absolutely amazing.
“I got new paint and I just wanted to experiment with the colors it’s nothing special.”
“Nothing special?! Are you kidding me?!”
“No, really. I did not even put in a lot of effort; the vanishing point isn’t even accurate. I’m not very good with architecture.”
“Yixing, stop it. This is amazing.” Yifan turned his head towards him, and then he added, “You are amazing.”
For a second, Yixing stared at him in shock, but then he replied:
“Wooooooow, you are very desperate for !”
It was the way Yixing had spelled ‘’ and the way how sarcastic his voice had sounded that made Yifan burst into laughter and Yixing joined in. When Yifan had finally calmed down, Yixing put down his pencil and stated:
“I’m going to wash off the paint. Make yourself at home.”
Yixing’s arms looked like they had to serve as his artist palette – they were covered in paint starting from his wrists and ending around his elbows. Since the paint wasn’t completely dry, Yixing held his arms in a 90° angle away from his body to not get anything on his shirt as he went to the bathroom. Yifan plopped down on the couch again and stretched out his long feet. After a view minutes Yixing got back and sat down next to him.
“What now?”
“I don’t know you’re the one who came in so early.”
“You know. Two hours are more than enough.”
The taller one wiggled his eyebrows in a way he thought was y, but Yixing just snorted at the sight and slapped a pillow into his face.
“I said: Not there yet!”
“Okay, okay, I give up.”
And this time, he really did. Yixing and Yifan started to talk about their day and made plans for coming Friday. Since it was too cold to get out anyway they had decided on getting Indian take out and watching a movie (Yifan was surprised Yixing had suggested that, if he was being completely honest). And suddenly, the clock struck seven.
“Oh, we need to get going,” Yixing stated.
Yifan groaned. He didn’t really know why he was having such a bad feeling about the evening. This was all Suho’s fault.
“We don’t really need to go, you know,” Yifan started a last-minute maneuver to convince Yixing of not going.
“We said we’d come. Don’t be such a baby.”
“Ugh, fine. But my friends are loud and annoying. And stupid.”
Yixing pulled Yifan up and said:
“Good. Then they’re just right for you.”
Yifan’s mouth dropped.
“You are such a cocky !” he exclaimed but Yixing just gave him a big dimpled smile, unarming Yifan immediately.
“Let’s go. If we don’t like it, we can still leave.”
 

A/N: About this chapter... I actually wanted to do something different but then it went into this direction and I thought "Cool, that's working for me too, but what about my plot??" so yeah sorry it's more of a filler chapter. I'll be back on track in the next one with a lot of fluff. Enjoy!