Chapter 5 – Thank You

谢谢
（一）Make a fist with your dominant hand, put the thumb up
（二）Press your thumb down two times, as if pushing down a button

Yifan had been right when he had said that his friends were loud and annoying. When the two of them arrived at Sehun’s and Suho’s apartment, everybody else was already there having the time of their lives and you could hear them clearly in the hallway that was just as scary and dirty as the one on the floor Yixing lived.
“Aaaaaah, you came! Come in, come in!” Suho greeted them with a big smile when he opened the door.
Sehun had bought a bluetooth speaker for his Macbook that was blasting the newest Korean pop music, while he himself was cutting up pizza in the kitchen. Luhan and Tao were bursting out into laughter about a joke that Minseok had just cracked, while Chen stood aside talking on the phone. He was speaking Korean and he almost yelled into his newly bought Xiaomi model (his old phone got stolen so he had decided on getting a cheap Chinese phone for the time being instead of the new iPhone 6 that everybody else had suggested).
“What do you want to drink?”
“Just give me beer, I won’t be able to bear all of you guys without getting drunk,” Yifan answered at the sight and he almost envied Yixing who clearly did not hear Chen’s yelling or Luhan’s overly excited laughter (if he did, he’d just hear the muffled sounds that they made which seemed to be so much better than the full volume).
Suho tapped Yixing’s shoulder to get his attention and repeated his question.
“Just water, please. I get drunk too easily and I don’t want my view to get all blurry.”
 “He’ll have water,” Yifan translated and when Suho came back with a bottle of beer (they had settled for Qingdao) and a big glass of water, the two newcomers were seated on the big couch between Tao and Luhan.
After Chen had hung up on his relative and Sehun had finally arrived with the pizza, the other guys started to ask questions about Yixing and Yifan mediated. Sometimes Yifan thought his friends were being really rude, but Yixing did not seem to mind and happily gave detailed answers to questions like: “But how the hell can you lip read when you do not hear the tones to the words? Like, for example, how do you know which ‘ma’ the other one means??” 
After the last slice of pizza was eaten Sehun looked at Yifan and said:
“Yifan. You know what time it is.”
“Oh God. Oh no. Please. Not today!” the other one responded in horror and the rest in the room started to laugh.
“We cannot waste any time, dear!” Tao said and got up and walked over to the dining table that was covered with the board of the game Catan that was a leftover from the last session.
“Can’t we just play some Poker??”
“Nah, get your over here!”
Sehun, Tao and Chen sat down on three of the four chairs. Yifan sighed heavily and turned to Yixing:
“I need to do this, there’s no way out for me. You can watch if you want. Or join in.”
“No, I’ll be fine here, but thank you. Don’t worry.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
When Yifan got up to sit down at his chair, he heard Luhan explaining what was going on:
“These four have this ongoing competition of who gets the most points in this game. They have a list where they write down their points and at the end of the semester, the loser has to pay for dinner. Yifan is currently last so he’s not really happy about it.”
“I heard that, Luhan!”
“I’m just stating facts!”
Yifan mumbled something, while Chen and Sehun prepared the board. In the corner of his eye, he saw Minseok getting a set of Majiang.
“We learned this game yesterday in our culture class!” Minseok said and the stones of the game clattered over the living room table, “We could play this as long as the other guys play war over there.”
“Aaaaaah, I don’t understand this game!” Suho protested, but Luhan’s and Yixing’s faces lit up in excitement as soon as Minseok had pulled out the game.
“Do you play Majiang, Yixing?”
He nodded, and then Suho asked:
“Mind if we play together? I really do not understand the rules and I always lose.”
Yixing seemed to think, then he shrugged his shoulders, as if he tried to say “Why not?” and sat down next to the Korean guy on the floor.
“Aaaah, thank you!”
“Ey, Yifan, it’s your turn to roll the dice,” Sehun said and Yifan’s attention snapped back to the game.
It was time to determine who would place his village first. If he screwed this up, the game might be already over before it had even started.
“Ugh,” he grunted, before he rolled the dice – and got a four.
“Oooooooooooh, that’s too bad!” Sehun said, snatched the dice away and threw them.
He got a ten. Yifan hated this round already.

“This is UNBELIEVABLE!”
Yifan punched the table with his fist and grunted in frustration, while the other three started laughing. They were at their third round and Yifan had lost the two rounds before this one. And now it looked like he would be losing again: While Tao, Sehun and Chen already had started building their first cities Yifan couldn’t even manage to build two streets to be able to at least set up a new village. The main reason was that he got barely any resources since the good places had been taken by the others. The second reason was Sehun who always moved the robber token to his resources so when the dice showed a two, Yifan couldn’t even get the grain that would’ve been his. And this had just happened for the fourth time in a row.
“This is not FUNNY!”
“You’re done with your turn, right?” Sehun asked, still laughing about Yifan’s failure.
“ you.”
“Don’t worry Yifan, your luck will return!” Chen said, after Sehun had rolled the dice and he got four bricks and two grains which was more than enough to build another city.
“You know what? I’m starting to believe that all of you are working against me. How is it possible I lose THREE TIMES IN A ROW?! WITH A TOTAL OF SIX VICTORY POINTS?!”
He didn’t mean to yell but this was just too frustrating – he actually liked the game, but it was no fun if you could just watch the others do stuff while you struggled to get two cards together for one god damn street.
“You haven’t lost this round yet,” Chen tried to comfort him but as soon as he had finished his sentence, he burst out into giggles.
The next one was Zitao and he rolled a seven which meant he’d have to move the robber token to another part of the board. Yifan was delighted.
“Thank the heaven and earth!” he exclaimed and looked up to the sky as if thanking god for the fact that this goddamn bastard of a robber would be finally placed elsewhere.
Zitao sighed, took a look over the board and then he checked how many cards the other players had. After a moment he looked at Yifan and said:
“I’m sorry, brother. But I know for a fact that you’ve got a brick. And I really need it.”
“Don’t you dare, you traitor!!”
“I’m really sorry!”
The other Chinese placed the robber on one of Yifan’s  other resources, which meant he was allowed to choose from his cards – in this case, Yifan had to give up his last card to him.
“I thought we were friends!” the older one barked and threw his brick card over the board into Tao’s face, while Sehun and Chen snorted once again.
“There is no such thing as friends while playing Catan!” Sehun sing-songed and Yifan just punched his shoulder.
In the meantime, Tao changed three bricks and two grains for another city that he placed for a village. Sehun who was with nine the closest to ten victory points (and therefore in such a good mood) eyed him carefully.
“This means you’re at eight right now…”
Tao smiled and then said in a completely calm voice:
“No, this means I’ve won. I got two victory points while buying development cards.”
Sehun’s face fell and Yifan screamed:
“DON’T FORGET TO THANK ME FOR THAT!! IT WAS MY BRICK THAT LEAD YOU TO YOUR VICTORY!!”
Then he shot up, took his bottle of beer and left for the couch.
“ all of you, I’m not participating in this stupid game anymore!”
“Wait, we have to write down the points!” Chen protested.
“Don’t bother, he only has two,” Tao answered while Sehun counted his victory points to make sure he really had won.
“Damnit, I was so close on winning this time!” Yifan heard Sehun sigh.
When he fell down onto the couch, Yixing looked up to him and asked:
“Are you okay?”
“Give me five minutes to calm down…”
“Yifan just cannot lose,” Luhan said and Yifan did not even protest – these three gaming rounds had physically drained him too much to start an argument with Luhan.
Yixing kept eyeing Yifan, but then Suho tapped his shoulder to get his attention. He had just taken a tile and was obviously not able to decide what to do with it.
“Should I… keep it??”
Yixing nodded, and just when Suho was about to throw one tile back into the middle of the table, Yixing stopped him and said:
“Look!”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Tell him to take a closer look at his tiles!” Yixing turned to Yifan.
“Look at your tiles, Suho.”
The Korean blinked confused, then turned back to the tiles in front of him.
“Yeah. I’m looking… I’ve got… wait…” he squinted his eyes, then started to count the little stones, “Oh… my… Yixing… is this…?”
Yixing grinned and nodded and Suho’s mouth dropped open. Then he turned to the others and called out:
“Hu! I’ve won! Oh my god!”
Then he laid the tiles on their backs so everybody could check for themselves – he had managed to collect two so called pengs, two chis and one matching pair.
“Wow! Suho! We lived to see the day!” Minseok chuckled and Suho threw his arms around Yixing.
“Thank you so much!”
Yifan shot up when he saw how Suho glued himself to his friend, but then sat back down again. It was stupid to act like that. It wasn’t like Yixing was his boyfriend. When Suho withdrew, the Korean put up the thumb of his right hand and pressed it down two times. Yixing just signed a: “You’re welcome!”
“Wait a minute…” Yifan said, “Where do you have this from?”
“Yixing taught us. You’re not showing us anything so we learn from the master himself,” Luhan explained, while he and Minseok shuffled the tiles.
The clattering resounded in the room, while Suho was still on the high of his win. He sat next to Yixing, grinning from one ear to the other.
“They just know how to sign ‘Thank You’, it’s not like I’m giving lessons!” Yixing defended himself and Yifan emptied his bottle.
He did not understand why he did not really like the way this was going, even though he had no reason to feel this way. In fact, she should’ve been happy about the turn of events – Yixing and the others got along well and nobody seemed to mind his handicap. Yixing made the impression he was enjoying the time with his friends, since he smiled and laughed a lot. So why did all of this make Yifan’s stomach turn? Was he really jealous of this bunch of idiots that were playing Majiang with his friend? Nah. Impossible. That would be super stupid.
“Oh !”
Tao’s exclaim brought Yifan back to reality.
“What?” Chen asked.
“Look at the clock, guys.”
Everybody’s head turned to the big clock hung up above the television.
“Oh !” Luhan and Yifan repeated.
It was one o’clock. The gates to their dorm had closed three hours ago.
“Oh no, are your dorms closed?” Sehun asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question.
Of course their dorms were closed. And there was no possibility to get in the buildings and into their rooms without actually trying to break in.
“Oh damn it. I’ve got a lecture at eight in the morning!” Tao whined.
“It’s okay Tao, you can stay here for the night if you want to. I’m sure we still have some blankets and pillows somewhere,” Sehun said and Suho nodded to indicate that Tao was a welcomed guest for the night.
Yixing turned to Yifan.
“You can stay at my place. Only if you want to, of course.”
“Do you really think I’d choose one of their places over yours?”
“You are a drama queen, Yifan!”
Yifan ignored Yixing’s comment and signed instead:
“I’d love to stay at your place.”
Before Yixing could react to it, Minseok said:
“Luhan, you can sleep with me.”
Luhan choked on the sip of beer he had taken and turned bright red. The rest of the room burst out into laughter.
“You two are already in THIS STAGE?!” Chen screamed.
Minseok was a real unlucky person sometimes – out of the four Koreans, he always was the one to say something wrong and get into really embarrassing situations. This was a prime example of what the young man went through almost every day. His smile faded and he asked:
“Oh my god, what did I say this time???”
“You said you and Luhan are going to tonight,” Tao explained.
Minseok’s eyes widened in horror and now it was him who turned red.
“No, oh god! No! I meant… sleep! Not as in ‘having ’! Just… oh god… this is so embarrassing!”
Luhan took a deep breath to calm himself down, and then he said:
“It’s okay Minseok, I know what you wanted to say. I accept the offer! Thanks for taking me in!”
“Aaaah, I’m really sorry Luhan… I’m so stupid sometimes…”
“No, no, really, it’s okay. Don’t worry. Let’s pretend you used the right words.”
“You’re such a nice person!”
“UGH, get a room you two!” Sehun called from the table which made the others chuckle, “Really, just admit you’re really going to sleep with each other later it’s easier for everyone. You don’t need to put on an act!”
Minseok shot something at Sehun in Korean and the two started to argue, but nobody of the other Korean speakers seemed to worry about their discussion so Yifan figured they were just playing around. He eyed Suho, who was still sitting next to Yixing. And he sat closer to him than necessary. Really. Their thighs were slightly touching and sometimes when he laughed Suho would casually lean into Yixing, and Yixing did not even flinch away. How was all of this possible? Yifan shifted his weight and tapped Yixing’s foot with his toes. His friend looked up to him and tilted his head in question.
“Should we go?”
“You want to go to sleep?”
Yixing had never been a person that picked up small hints very quickly so Yifan wasn’t even surprised that this was Yixing’s reaction.
“Yeah. I’m tired,” he answered, even though that wasn’t really the case.
The other one seemed to sense that he had lied, but he just nodded, then got up. Suho looked up to him.
“Okay guys, we’re leaving!” Yifan announced and got on his feet himself.
“Do you really need to go?” Suho asked while Yifan went to get their shoes.
“Yes, we need to!” the tallest one answered simply, his voice not accepting any protest.
“If we’re completely being honest, we all should go home,” Chen suggested, “We’ve got early classes tomorrow.”
A discussion broke out among them and Yifan rolled his eyes.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Yixing giggled softly and nodded. When they turned for the others to wave them goodbye, Suho exclaimed:
“Let’s meet again soon, Yixing!”
“Yeaaah, bye!” Yixing simply answered and Yifan grabbed his elbow and dragged him out of the apartment with a last “Goodnight, guys!”
When they stood in the hallway, Yixing raised his eyebrow.
“What? Don’t look at me like that.”
Yifan hurried for the elevator that fortunately didn’t take too long to get on the sixth floor. When the doors closed and they drove up, Yixing asked:
“You’re acting weird. Is something wrong? Are you still mad about the game?”
“Pff, it’s not the game! I’m not five anymore!”
The doors opened and they stepped out on the tenth floor. Yifan buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans and Yixing linked his arm with his.
“Are you jealous?”
“What?! Me?! Jealous? Of who? And why should I? You’re talking nonsense!”
Yixing clicked his tongue, and Yifan just knew that he was not buying his act.
“I don’t know, you tell me…”
He opened the door to his apartment and they stepped in. Yifan’s jacket was still hanging on one of the hooks on the wall next to the door. It almost looked like it had always been there. Yifan kicked off his sneakers that were clearly too light for the cold weather while Yixing made the effort to untie his laces and place his shoes neatly next to Yifan’s. The older one crashed onto the couch and sighed. Maybe it was the last beer that had been one drink too much, but suddenly he said:
“Why the was Suho so touchy?! And why did you TALK to them?? How long did it take for you to use spoken language in my presence? Eight weeks? You’ve known these guys for not even eight hours!”
Yixing sat on the edge of the couch and turned to Yifan. He tried to hide his victorious smile and then said:
“So you are jealous.”
“No! I’m just confused! Like, are guys like Suho your type? Really? He’s not even that good looking! I thought you’d be into different kinds of guys.”
Yixing snorted, then looked directly at Yifan.
“You mean… guys like you?”
“I did not say that!” the taller one protested but he felt how red color flushed his cheeks.
Yixing seemed amused by the whole situation but Yifan did not understand what was so funny about it. Before he could continue his rant about Suho, Yixing seized the opportunity to express his side of the story:
“I did talk to them, mostly because they don’t know CSL and it was hard communicating with them without it. I felt really awkward, but they did not make any fun of me, so it was kind of okay. I was still uncomfortable about it though.”
Yifan only grunted into one of the pillows of the couch, well aware that Yixing would not be hearing it. Nonetheless he continued:
“And about Suho: He’s a real nice guy and he made me feel like I’ve known your friends for a very long time. I think he’s someone who gets along with a lot of people easily.  He also seemed to be really interested and asked a lot of questions and I think he did not just ask to keep up a conversation. I did not feel awkward around him. I don’t know, I have the feeling we clicked in some kind of way.”
He shrugged his shoulders and then said:
“You’re different from him on almost every level.”
“Wow, so I’m not nice?”
“Don’t be stupid!”
Yixing turned around and bent his right knee so it rested on Yifan’s thigh. Yifan flinched a little at the touch, but did not change his position.
“I said you’re different but I did not mean in a bad way. You are nice. But you show it differently. You act all tough around your friends and sometimes you might come off as intimidating for people who don’t know you. But you’re not. You care for people, even though you don’t use a lot of words to express it. You’re genuine. And when I’m with you I feel good about myself, even with all my flaws. Only a few have managed to do that before you.”
 Yifan’s muscles tensed up and he felt a weird sensation tingling through his body. He grabbed the pillow tighter around his chest.
“So please. Don’t worry about Suho. I’ll choose you over him every time.”
The negative feelings that had been gnawing on Yifan vanished within seconds and a big smile crept on his face, even though he tried to control himself. Yixing smiled back, tapped his sides and said:
“Let’s go to bed.”
“I’m not sleeping on the couch?”
Yixing who had gotten up looked at him as if Yifan had lost his mind.
“This thing will give you nothing but backaches. Come on, my bed is big enough for both of us.”
He offered his hand and the taller one took it. When he got on his feet, Yixing let go and lead the way to his bedroom, and Yifan followed, almost regretting the fact that Yixing’s hand had withdrew way too early for his taste.
“Choose a side.”
 Yixing flicked the lights on and proceeded to the closet to change into more comfortable clothes to sleep in. Yifan sat down on the left side of Yixing’s big bed. The bedding was made of simple white cotton and it felt as if it had come fresh out of the laundry.
“I would offer you some clothes but I guess they’d be too small for you anyway.”
Yixing had quickly changed out of his jeans and sweatshirt into black shorts and a plain white shirt that hung loosely around his shoulders.
“It’s okay, if you don’t mind I’ll just get rid of my pants and my shirt.”
Yixing shrugged his shoulders and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he came back, Yifan laid on the bed only wearing his boxers. A naughty smile flickered across his face and he exclaimed:
“I really don’t mind at all!”
“Pfffff, who is desperate now??”
Yifan threw the blanket over his exposed upper body to shield himself from the looks he was getting. Yixing laughed when Yifan referred to his comment earlier on that day and slipped under the covers.
“Good night, Yifan.”
After turning off the lights, darkness surrounded them and Yifan felt Yixing turning on his side. After his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he turned his head to face Yixing who had closed his eyes already. His breath wasn’t deep and steady enough to indicate that he was already asleep though and he had slipped one hand under his pillow, the other one was lying next to him. The older one changed his position to fully face the other one and after a few minutes, he hesitantly reached out for Yixing’s hand. The touch made Yixing open his eyes and Yifan wanted to apologize, but the words never made it out of his mouth. Yixing cracked a smile, before he came closer and snuggled into Yifan’s chest. Yifan threw his arms around his slim figure, nose buried in his soft hair. No more words needed.

A/N: About the next update. It might not be next Friday. Something happened in my family and depending on how this turns out the next days, I won't be around my laptop/the internet very much the next week. I'm really sorry, but I assure you I will continue to update. Things are just a little crazy right now, not only in my family but also at university and I have to sort out these problems first. Please be patient with me guys! I'll post the next chapter in two weeks (at the very latest).
Thank you for all the subscriptions and comments by the way, notifications like this make me happy everytime. :)
Enjoy your weekend~