Chapter 6 – Key

钥匙
（一）Index finger and thumb of the left hand form a little circle, imitating a lock
（二）Index finger and thumb of the right hand touch each other, as if holding a key
（三）Right hand makes a movement as if turning a key in a lock

When Yifan woke up, he found the bed empty. The side where Yixing had been laying was still warm, so Yifan figured the other one must have gotten up not too long ago.
“Yixing?” he called out but then remembered that this was very useless – Yixing wouldn’t hear him anyway.
“Idiot,” he scolded himself and swung his feet off the mattress.
After stretching out his arms and legs, he got up and picked up his jeans off the floor to put it on. After that, he stumbled into the living room, still very tired.
But the living room was also empty. No Yixing to be found. Yifan stood still to listen if there was some noise in the bathroom, but the whole apartment was silent. He suddenly felt like an intruder and hopelessly out of place. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of the sleep that was pulling at his eyelids and then he noticed a small piece of paper placed on the peninsula.

                I went out to get breakfast. You can take a shower if you want; the red towel and the second toothbrush are for you. The hairdryer is in the sideboard                       under the sink. Don’t use up all of the hot water, or we won’t have hot water in the kitchen later. Thank you!

Yifan couldn’t help but to smile – even Yixing’s handwriting was delicate and thoughtful. He was sure Yixing would scold him if he saw how Yifan just scribbled down his words. Even the Koreans made fun of his written characters and told him that it looked like a second grader had written them. Yifan turned for the bathroom and saw the red towel that hung over the small heater. Yixing had turned it on in advance and the room was warm and cozy, making the other one sigh in relief. The bathroom he shared with what felt with a hundred other fellow students at his dorm was always cold and wet and disgusting. The mold was everywhere and even with slippers on Yifan felt like he would be getting all kinds of nasty germs on his feet or the rest of his body if he touched anything. But Yixing’s bathroom was bright and clean and Yifan found him thinking that he could get used to this morning routine. The second toothbrush was placed on the sink, still sealed in the original package. After taking a deep breath Yifan got rid of his clothes and the water.
For the first five minutes, Yifan just stood under the warm stream that drippled over his whole body – he wasn’t quite sure if this was something he had done ever since he had moved to Beijing. When he was taking a shower at the dorm, he usually jumped under the water, got himself clean within seconds and jumped back out. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a relaxing shower, let alone a hot bath. Then he realized that Yixing had told him not to use up all of the hot water, so he cleaned up quickly and whined a little when he turned the water off. When he snuggled into the warm and soft towel though the pain of leaving the first clean shower in three years was forgotten in an instant. The towel smelled just like the sheets in Yixing’s bedroom – a mixture between laundry detergent and the smell that lingered on Yixing himself, something that the other one could not clearly make out, but he liked it. Yifan decided to just move into Yixing’s bathroom, because this would make his mornings so much more pleasant and relaxed – maybe he would even like getting up for an 8 am class about international accounting for a change. Just when he had brushed his teeth and put on his clothes, he heard a key turning in the lock of the apartment door. His hair was still wet, but he had never been the type to use hairdryers anyway, so he stepped out of the bathroom into the hallway. Yixing shivered before he got rid of his shoes, scarf and coat. There was a plastic bag in his left hand and the characters on it indicated –
“You brought date cake!!”
Yifan almost flew over and took the bag from Yixing. When he opened it, the sweet smell of freshly baked cake filled up his nose.
“I queued for twenty minutes in the cold, you better be grateful!” Yixing whined and went to the kitchenette.
“You’re the best!” Yifan signed with a big smile on his face.
Yifan actually didn’t like stuff like cake or pastries. Chinese were not good at baking, at least not regarding things that had swapped over from the West to the country in the past forty years. But this cake was the big exception. A couple sold it out of a window of a small building at the main street that led to the subway station. As soon as they opened up their shop, a long line would form in front of it within few minutes. The woman handed the bags out of the window, while her husband made sure there was enough cake for all the customers. The best thing about the shop was that they sold a total of one Jin for only ten Renminbi, which was basically nothing, making the heart of every student with a sweet tooth skip a beat. Sometimes Yifan would eat the whole pound in one go, because he just couldn’t resist – bought at Wudaokou, eaten at the time he had arrived at his dorm. And then he would get a stomachache, but it was worth it every time.
“How did you know I love this?” The older one asked and sat down on one stool, while Yixing placed a plate in front of him.
“You told me once.”
“I did?”
The other nodded and held up a blue mug.
“Coffee or tea?”
“Coffee.”
Yifan could not recall when he had ever mentioned anything like this in front of Yixing but on the other hand he couldn’t even remember what he had eaten for dinner two days ago. While Yixing prepared the coffee for Yifan and his tea, Yifan figured he could make himself useful and placed the cake on the plates, even though he wasn’t sure if the both of them would eat all of it.
“You know, I could get used to this,” Yifan exclaimed, after they had shared the first bits of cake and he was at his second cup of coffee.
Usually he wasn’t a morning’s person at all. He didn’t mind getting up, he just did not like how everyone around him was acting all cheerful. He generally needed two cups of coffee and one hour to himself before he could even handle other people around him, even when they did not even talk to him. Luhan and Tao complained that Yifan was too grumpy in the mornings and should get a hold of himself, but breakfast with Yixing was so relaxed and nice, his mood couldn’t have been any better.
“You could get used to what exactly?” Yixing wanted to know while chewing.
“Mainly to your bathroom. It’s like I have seen paradise.”
Yixing snorted. After he had swallowed down the cake, he asked with one raised eyebrow:
“That’s it? You only like my bathroom?”
Yifan looked at the other one who hurried to take a big gulp of his tea to hide the blush showing on his cheeks. Then he grinned.
“It’s a plus. The Date Cake is definitely one of the main reasons.”
Yixing nudged him, shaking his head, but refraining from saying anything further.
“Hey, why do you have an unused toothbrush by the way? Are you saving a spare one for your one night stands?”
Yixing’s mouth dropped open and the rest of his face flushed with red color which caused Yifan to laugh. Sometimes Yixing was way too cute to handle.
“You…! No! It’s not like that! The twin pack is always cheaper, don’t you know that?!”
“I didn’t!”
“It’s basic law, how can you not know?!”
Yifan giggled and then patted Yixing’s head.
“It’s okay, I believe you!”
Yixing grabbed Yifan’s hand but when his skin brushed against the back of the taller one’s hand, he remained motionless. With the touch, something happened between them but the feeling shooting through their bodies was too indefinite to be completely sure about its meaning. Yixing’s eyes pinned Yifan down and his gaze touched something deep inside of Yifan’s emotions that he had to turn away. Right in that moment, his eyes crossed the clock on Yixing’s stove.
“!”
“Huh?”
“My… oh god , I need to get going!”
Yifan shot up from his seat and ran back into the bedroom to gather his sweatshirt, since he was only wearing his tanktop.
“What’s wrong?” Yixing asked when he came stumbling back to put on his shoes.
“My class begins in twenty minutes and it’s a mandatory one. I cannot miss this. I also cannot come too late to this. , god damn, why didn’t I mind the time?!”
In his hectic he struggled to get his shoes tied properly and he let out a frustrated groan. Suddenly Yixing grabbed his hand and put a pair of keys into the palm of his hand.
“Uh… What’s this?”
“The small one is for the bike my dad got me when I moved here. I never use it, obviously, so you can take it. You’ll be faster this way. It’s the blue one next to the elevator.”
“What about the other key?”
“Oh, that’s just for the apartment, but I trust you that you’re not getting in here in the middle of the night to make yourself cozy in my bathroom or something.”
Yifan looked up to face Yixing who was giving him an encouraging smile.
“Oh, and take this,” the smaller one turned to get the rest of the cake and handed it over to Yifan, “I’m not going to eat all of it and I bought it for you anyway.”
Yifan’s heart felt like it was about to burst at the gesture and he didn’t know how and why, but suddenly he crashed his lips onto Yixing’s. The other one froze for a moment, but relaxed a second later and placed his hands in the nape of Yifan’s neck to pull him a little closer. His lips felt incredibly soft and Yifan forgot for a moment that he actually had to hurry. It was Yixing who pulled away and pushed him to the door.
“Go to your class.”
“Ugh, right.”
When he was just about to get out of the door Yifan turned around once again to place a peck on Yixing’s forehead.
“Oh GOD GO NOW!”
Yixing pushed him out of his apartment, but he smiled while doing so.
“You’ll text me?”
“Not if you won’t move your !”
“Alright, alright, no need to get rude about it!”
Yixing sighed half frustrated, half amused and he watched how Yifan hurried down the corridor to fetch the bike. He closed the door when Yifan was finally out of sight.

Fifteen minutes later, Yifan congratulated himself for getting in front of the building where his lecture was about to begin. He made sure to lock up Yixing’s bike and ran to the classroom, hoping the professor wasn’t there already.
Totally out of breath, he pushed the door open and a total of fifty heads turned. It seemed like the professor was still absent, so that was Yifan’s luck. It was still embarrassing enough that the rest of the class was staring at him. He was rescued by a girl sitting in one of the middle rows who waved at him. When he approached her, she switched to the seat next to her, so Yifan could sit down.
“Finally, what took you so long?” The girl with the name Yin Hang asked him.
“Long story,” he answered, “Mind if I lend a pen and some paper?”
“Wait, you’re going to take notes?” She asked jokingly but gave Yifan the needed supplies, “Keep the pen, you’re not going to give it back anyway.”
“Pfffff!”
Yin Hang was one of the rich kids at Beijing University. Her father owned a company that recycled aluminum and resold it to car companies or any others that needed it for their products. Yin Hang was a stunning young girl, with a heart shaped face and relatively big eyes for a Chinese girl. She was very flat chested though, something she longed to change but her father would not allow any kind of cosmetic surgery. Yifan and Yin Hang had a thing back in the first semester, but after the first weeks of awkward dating they had decided to go for a normal friendship and that had worked out pretty well so far. Yifan sighed and placed the cake on the table.
“Want some?”
“What the hell, Yifan… is this why you’re so late? You went to Wudaokou to get this cake??”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I slept at a friend’s and that was our breakfast.”
Yin Hang squinted her eyes and looked as if she couldn’t follow Yifan, but then she gave up and said instead:
“Forget it. I don’t want to hear it. And put that away, the professor will kill you.”
Yifan listened to her, mostly because the professor just had walked in and he wasn’t really in the position to get any more attention than he had already received.

After the lecture, a change of clothes, a quick coffee with Yin Hang at Paradiso and a tutorial that did nothing for Yifan but confuse him even more on international accounting he was surrounded by Luhan and the others for lunch. The Koreans had run into them so Yifan was sitting between Sehun and Suho, while Luhan and the rest sat on the opposite of the table.
“Ah, Sehun’s and Suho’s couch is much more comfortable than my bed in the dorm, maybe I’m going to move in,” Tao sighed and the two Koreans giggled.
“And what about you, Luhan? Did you sleep well?” Chen asked with a boyish grin on his face.
Minseok and Luhan who were sitting next to each other shot up, and Minseok let Luhan talk, since he was too busy turning red when thinking about his slip up last night.
“Yes. I did sleep well. I slept very long. And very deep.”
“Ooooh, he said deep, I see, I see,” Tao teased which made the Koreans burst into laughter.
Luhan just rolled his eyes and told Minseok to not listen to the stupid jokes of the others. Right in that moment, Yifan felt the phone in his pocket vibrating, indicating he got a message. He pulled it out of his jeans and opened it as soon as he saw Yixing’s name on the screen:

                I need you to go to Sanlitun with me, my Macbook just died. :(
                 And there’s no chance I’m going to give half of my life to someone else than the only official Apple store in Beijing.

Yifan did not realize that Sehun and Suho peeked over his shoulder into his phone while he answered:

                Sure thing! Should I come over tonight so we can set up the date? I have to give you your bike back anyway. Which saved my life, by the way. Thank                     you for that!

Before he could close the chatroom he saw the three dots at the end of their conversation that showed Yixing was typing an answer, so he just waited for the message to pop up:

                Wooooow, you know you can just come over, right? You don’t need a lame excuse like bringing back a bike. So yes. Please. Come over. I’m home                         around five today. ;)

“Okay, Luhan, you know what?” Sehun called out, drawing everyone’s attention on him, “I think someone else had some ‘deep sleep’ tonight.”
“Oh please, as if Yixing and Yifan haven’t done it already a million times!” Tao scoffed and stuffed one pork filled Baozi into his mouth.
“Umm, excuse me?!” Yifan responded.
“It’s pretty obvious!” Tao muffled and tried to hold the Baozi he was chewing on in his mouth.
“You’re such a pig, Huang Zitao! Would you have the decency to swallow before talking?” Luhan scolded and smacked the back of Tao’s head.
“Yeah, I bet Luhan swallows just fine,” Chen mumbled and Luhan made a face as if he tried his best to keep his cool.
Minseok’s face had now turned from a light red into something darker and he wished himself dead. He did not say it. But the expression on his face gave it away.
“Your minds are all in the gutter,” Sehun threw in.
Tao swallowed the last bits of his food, showed Luhan his empty mouth to proof he had done as Luhan had said and turned to Yifan:
“Okay, back to you. Admit it: You and Yixing are an item. Or you at least do it. You just haven’t told us yet.”
Suddenly, everyone leaned closer to Yifan who felt like he was thrown into a really bad American sitcom.
“What the guys?!”
“No ‘what the guys’, tell us!” Luhan urged and the Koreans nodded to undermine the urgency of Yifan’s answer.
“He and I are NOT having and I don’t really know why this is any of your business!” the tallest snapped and crossed his arms in defense.
Suddenly their table got really loud – Luhan and Suho cheered and high fived each other, while the others made a disappointed sound.
“Ha! We were right! You’re going to buy us drinks!” Suho chirped and Luhan wiggled his shoulders as if doing a small victory dance.
“Noooo, I was so sure!” Sehun called out and sighed heavily, while Tao took the next Baozi and bit into it in frustration.
“What the heck is going on here?!” Yifan interrupted his friends.
“When you and Yixing left we were asking ourselves if you two are a thing,” Luhan explained, “And Suho and I said no but the others wouldn’t be convinced. So we made a bet. Whoever is wrong is paying the drinks for the other party on our next night out.”
Yifan couldn’t believe it. He had brought over a very dear friend of his and this is what his other friends were talking about when they weren’t around? How infuriating!
“Where in god’s name did you get this idea from?!” Yifan asked Tao.
Not that he was against the idea of him and Yixing being this kind of close (if he was being completely honest), but what had given the others the right to handle the matter like a stupid game?!
“It was mainly the way you looked at each other. Especially how you looked at him all the time.”
“I look at him just like I look at you guys.”
Sehun and Chen snorted:
“Yeaaah, suuuure!”
“No, I’m serious!”
Luhan clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“I’m sorry Yifan. But you were so obvious about your crush on him yesterday even Helen Keller could’ve noticed it.”
“You…! But you said ‘no’, why are you talking like this now?”
“The question wasn’t if you have feelings for Yixing. I just said you haven’t had … yet.”
Anger crashed against Yifan’s ribcage and he shot up.
“Okay, screw you guys. Really. You’re the worst. Bye!”
“Oh come on, don’t be like that!” Sehun threw in and tried to grab Yifan’s elbow but the Chinese had already shouldered his backpack and jumped a few feet away from him.
“No, I have every right ‘to be like that’! I’m not hanging around with a bunch of five year olds!”
When he stormed out of the relatively small canteen, he heard Luhan say:
“He’ll come around again, let him blow off some steam.”
The familiar smell of Beijing’s smog filled up his nose when he unlocked the bike, muttering some insults meant for the others under his breath.
“s, how dare they…”
His phone vibrated once again. And once again it was Yixing who left a message:

                Keep the bike, by the way. I really don’t have any use for it. And keep the key also.

It was amazing how a little message could shift Yifan’s emotions from outraged to happy within what seemed like less of a second. He put his phone back into his pocket, unlocked the bike, which was officially now his, and pedaled back to his dorm. He was done with his classes and needed to find something to bid the time with as long as he could not see Yixing. No matter what exactly he had felt this morning, it was something he wanted to explore further. And he definitely wanted to feel Yixing’s lips against his again.

A/N: I actually wanted to wait with the update but then again I couldn't bring myself to it. Thank you for your kind comments! The family thing has been worked out (more or less) now it's only uni I'm worrying about atm ahahaaha. There's an exam coming up the 24th so keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm trying to update next Sunday, but please don't kill me if it's going to take a little longer. I'll try my best!