Chapter 7 – Mornings

早上
（一）Dominant hand is placed in height, thumb touching the other four fingers
（二）Move hand up slowly, gradually opening it

December came with the mission to be even crueler to Beijing’s residents than November had been. Sometimes Yifan would wake up, the campus being decorated with a thin layer of snow which got everyone excited, but it never sufficed for building snowmen or having snowball fights. Most of the time it was just unbelievably cold with temperatures that dropped far below the freezing point. The air situation was especially horrible since the heaters had been , causing even more emission and dirt. If there wasn’t any smog, it was only due to strong wind that felt like razorblades against the soft skin of the people’s faces.
A few weeks had passed and Yifan found himself staying far more often in Yixing’s apartment than in his own dorm. He’d try to get his assignments ready at the library and pedaled off to Yixing right afterwards fetching dinner on the way which was kind of his payment for staying the night. In the last weeks the two of them had explored their relationship and had grown closer with every passing day. Looking back, Yifan wasn’t even sure if any other relationship he had had before had made him feel like this one did. Yixing seemed to be the complete opposite of him – small, quiet and very delicate in everything he did. But somehow it fit. They got along without words or gestures if needed and Yixing accepted Yifan’s flaws and quirks and managed to put up with them, something not even Luhan or Tao had managed to do so well in their three years of friendship. Yifan on the other hand offered Yixing security, an arm to hold on to in situations where he felt lost and a back with broad shoulders he could lean on when he felt the need to.
Plus Yifan always had a place to stay when he and the others would hit one of Wudaokous clubs and bars. Yixing never minded if he came home late or slightly drunk, sometimes he’d even stay up to greet him and tuck him in so he could sleep off his buzz.

Today was one of those days. It was two o’clock in the morning and Yifan stood in the elevator, a little tipsy, but not as wasted as Suho, who was all wobbly on his feet and babbled nonsense, switching between Chinese and Korean every five words. Sehun tried to keep his drunk roommate up.
“Jesus Christ, we shouldn’t have gotten that last round of Tequila…” he muttered while Suho hummed the melody of a Chinese pop ballad that was playing at every supermarket on repeat.
“Well, it’s too late for regrets now.”
“I think the regret will kick in after he’s woken up.”
“Noooooo, I don’t… I don’t regret… stuff…”
Suho crashed into the cold metal of the elevator walls and sighed.
“Yeah, no. Never!” Sehun scoffed and Yifan tried to hide his smile.
The doors swung open and Sehun dragged Suho out.
“We’re here Suho, say goodnight to Yifan.”
“Nightyniiiiiight!” The drunk chirped and Yifan only nodded.
Before the doors closed, the Chinese heard Suho call:
“Tell Yixing I said hello, and I miss hiiiiim…!”
Yifan rolled his eyes and pitied Sehun for a minute because he figured that Suho was a really wearisome drunk roommate. He imagined Suho whining something about not being tired before getting another can of beer out of the fridge to have one last drink. After half of the drink and a few philosophic spillovers, he’d fall asleep on the couch. Or on Sehun.

When Yifan turned the key and stepped into Yixing’s apartment, the other one sat on the couch, snuggled up in a blanket, eyes glued on his laptop. Some movie flashed across the monitor but Yifan had never seen it before. When he sat down next to Yixing, the other one finally turned to him and gave him a happy smile.
“You came,” he muttered, before Yifan leaned in to give him a soft kiss.
The other one returned it lazily.
“What are you watching?”
Yixing jerked his hands free of the blanket and signed:
“A movie about Frida Kahlo’s life.”
When Yixing was tired, he barely spoke. Using his hands was much easier and he still considered talking a dread.
“Ah,” Yifan made and Yixing grinned.
“You have no idea who she is, right?”
 “I gave myself away, huh?”
Yixing nodded and leaned forward to pause the movie. When he leaned back again he stated:
“It’s okay, I only found out about her recently in one of my classes. I thought her paintings were interesting so I thought I’d watch the movie about her life. It’s pretty amazing. But I think you wouldn’t like it.”
“Why? Because I can’t appreciate art?” Yifan shot at his boyfriend, but in a joking way.
“And I don’t even blame you for that.”
Yixing’s response shocked the other one.
“Wow! Wow, Yixing, that was mean!”
The younger one giggled and placed his head on Yifan’s shoulder.
“Sorry,” he mumbled against the cloth of his shirt.
“No!” Yifan responded and pulled away, forcing Yixing to look up to him in confusion, “You have to be more creative than that!”
Yixing understood in what kind of direction Yifan was heading and showed a dimpled smirk. He was still wrapped in his blanket and moved closer until he was able to place small kisses on Yifan’s cheeks, just to work himself down to his jawline and the soft skin on his neck. Yifan sighed and tilted his head a little to give the other more room.
“Something like this?”
“Hmmmm… I think we’re getting there.”
“Wow, your ego is so fragile…”
“Um, excuse m…?”
He couldn’t finish his sentence, because within an instant Yixing had gotten rid of the blanket and had smoothly taken a seat in Yifan’s lap. He then sealed their lips and Yifan immediately dropped the act. With a tight grip around Yixing’s hips he pulled him closer, hands slipping under the woolen sweater the other one was wearing. His skin felt smooth against Yifan’s fingertips, his lips felt soft against Yifan’s own and it was like Yixing had been made especially for him to touch.
When Yixing pulled away, he examined Yifan’s face, something he liked to do occasionally, and something that made Yifan feel completely helpless and vulnerable. It felt like nothing could be hidden from him, no matter how hard you tried. But Yifan had long given up trying to hide things from Yixing. He didn’t feel the need to. Yixing ran his fingers through Yifan’s hair and said:
“Bedroom?”
“Count me in!”
Yixing snorted and shook his head, but got up and dragged Yifan with him. Minutes later clothes were scattered on Yixing’s bedroom floor, panting and little moans filling the air. Yifan wasn’t sure why he had grown addicted to the noises Yixing made every time they were sleeping with each other – but he made sure to draw them out of him with every rocking of his hips, every kiss he planted on the other one’s skin and every touch of his hands. And as much as he loved the whole act itself he also loved crashing down against Yixing’s chest afterwards, listening to the sound of his heartbeat calming down while Yixing’s fingers painted patterns on Yifan’s back. They stayed like this for a while, before Yifan lifted himself off Yixing and rolled onto his side. Yixing looked at him a little startled at the sudden movement.
“I wanted to look at you,” he explained.
Yixing’s answer was him rolling his eyes as if he wanted to say ‘You’re doing that all the time’.
“Hey, do you sometimes wish you could hear things?” Yifan heard him saying out of the blue and Yixing’s startled look grew more confused.
“What happened to you tonight?” he mumbled and Yifan had problems understanding him.
“The last round of Tequila happened, I guess.”
“Aaaah. I understand.”
Yixing stayed silent for a while and Yifan wondered if he was planning on answering but then the other one sighed in defeat and signed:
“I do sometimes, but not too much. Thinking about stuff like this made me very depressed as a teenager.”
Yifan pulled Yixing a little closer and placed a kiss on his forehead.
“I sometimes wonder about how you sound.”
“What do you think I sound like?” Yifan asked with a wide grin on his face, expecting Yixing to praise him.
“High pitched. Like a little girl. It’s good you’ve got a deaf boyfriend who can’t complain about it.”
“… you! You are such a !!” Yifan called out and his mouth dropped open.
Yixing giggled and snuggled closer into his chest.
“Just kidding. I’m sure you’ve got the nicest voice of them all,” he mumbled.
There was silence for a moment, before Yixing raised his voice again, half talking, half signing:
“I’m not even sure if I want to hear all those things around me. What if all those sounds and noises would be too much anyway? Maybe it’s good I’m not hearing everything.”
Yifan did not seem to follow completely and Yixing seemed to understand he didn’t, so he added:
“I’m not making sense. Let’s go to sleep, it’s late anyway.”
Yifan’s arm was long enough to reach the light switch next to the bed, so after their last goodnight kiss, he killed the lights and threw his long arms around Yixing’s smaller body.

Yixing did not own any blinds, only some curtains that barely prevented the light of the day from creeping into the room, so both of them awoke rather early. Nobody said a word in the first moments until Yifan asked:
“You’re okay?”
Yixing turned his gaze to the ceiling and then proclaimed:
“I’m hungry as hell, to be honest.”
Yifan burst out into laughter and even Yixing smirked a little. Then he threw back the covers, hovered over to his closet to put on some clothes and told Yifan he’d be preparing breakfast. The other one stayed behind and sighed. He remained motionless for a few moments to enjoy the warmth of Yixing’s bed a little longer, then he reluctantly got up to get dressed himself. It would be no use. Yixing was very about eating in bed and could not even stand the thought of sharing a pack of chips while watching a movie snuggled under the bedding. When Yifan finally joined his boyfriend in the kitchen, Yixing was almost done with everything. The smell of coffee for the taller one had already filled up the room and plates and mugs were already at the usual places. It was crazy. Yifan already had a mug he always used and a certain place at the peninsula. That was basically like being married in his opinion.
“Are you just going to stand here or will you make yourself useful?”
Yifan scoffed, but proceeded to get the toast ready. While waiting for it to get finished, he threw a look over his shoulder to eye Yixing. He was reading the nutrition facts of the pack of Pop Tarts that Yifan had bought last week and snuck into his kitchen. Yifan turned around and hugged him from behind, making Yixing jump a little.
“For heaven’s sake…” he muttered, but did nothing to stop the taller one.
In that position, talking was rather hard since Yixing did not have the chance to see Yifan’s lip movements, so most of the time Yifan would only place little kisses on the other one’s cheek. But it did not seem like Yixing was up for this.
“You do know that this stuff is full of sugar and other bull?”
He turned around to face Yifan, one eyebrow raised in question, one hand holding up the blue package.
“Eyyy, I like them okay? And I got the ones without frosting! And look,” Yifan snatched the package out of Yixing’s hand and read, “Source of six vitamins and minerals! This is good stuff, I spent a lot of money in the import supermarket for this!”
Yixing shot him a look as if he was about to ask if Yifan was really that stupid, but then he put up his hands in defeat. Right in that moment, the toaster plopped and threw out the two slices of bread.
“You know what? I’m going to have one now. And you can’t stop me!”
Yifan turned around to take the toasted bread out and placed it onto Yixing’s plate, just to stuff one pastry back into the machine. Yixing giggled, but when Yifan was about to ask what exactly was so funny about him having a Pop Tart the younger’s cellphone started to chime. Yifan tapped Yixing’s with his left foot and pointed to the phone lying next to the fridge.
“Oh! Thank you.”
Yixing grabbed the phone he hadn’t been hearing and read the WeChat message popping up on his screen. He then sighed, rolled his eyes and walked over to his laptop. He mumbled something Yifan didn’t quite catch but when Yixing opened a new QQ chat window he sensed that his mother wanted to talk to him. He turned back to watch his Pop Tart getting ready in the toaster.
“My dear son, how are you?” Yifan heard Mrs. Zhang chirp when the connection finally was stable enough to transmit a video and audio.
“I’m fine, what about you?”
“Yeah, you know, you know. We’re busy with work,” she cut the smalltalk short and went right to the reason she wanted to have a conversation with her son, “Have you already booked your plane ticket for New Year’s? I’m worried you won’t get any if you won’t take care of it.”
“I haven’t bought one yet,” Yixing answered in an annoyed tone and Yifan giggled.
Deaf or not, every mom knew how to annoy her kid in the same way. When his pastry finally was ready, Yifan poured himself a cup of coffee and Mrs. Zhang finally noticed him.
“Oooooh, Yifan, my dear! You’re here, too!”
Yifan waved but couldn’t make out if Mrs. Zhang did so, too. So he grabbed his mug and his plate with his ‘nutritious’ breakfast and sat down next to Yixing.
“Good Morning, Mrs. Zhang!”
“Are you taking good care of my son?”
Yixing shot Yifan a short glance but Yifan said without even blinking:
“Yepp, I’m making sure he’s getting enough to eat, don’t worry.”
“You’re a good boy, Yifan.”
“Okay, okay, can we get to the point?” Yixing interrupted while Yifan took a big bite of his Pop Tart and said:
“Oh my god, Yixing, this is so good.”
His answer was a slap on Yifan’s knee and Mrs. Zhang asked:
“What is this?”
“Sugary stuff from America, it’s really not good for your body!” Yixing answered because Yifan was still busy munching on his snack.
“I’ve never seen these before, how do you know about them Yifan?”
“Oh, my mom sends me these things sometimes. My parents live in Vancouver and they send me stuff once in a while.”
“Wait, your parents don’t live in China?”
“No, they left the country two years ago,” Yifan explained matter of factly and Mrs. Zhang looked at him thoughtfully.
“So, will you be going to Canada for New Year’s?”
Yifan took a big gulp of his coffee before he said:
“No, I’m staying here in Beijing. The tickets are too expensive and I’m not good at handling the jet lag. I find it too stressfull. But don’t worry, I still get my red envelopes. I just get them transferred directly to my bank account.”
“But then you’ll be alone,” Yixing stated.
“Oh, I went over to Luhan’s place for one day last year. His family lives in the suburbs, maybe I can tag along again. I haven’t asked him yet.”
Mrs. Zhang seemed shocked and then turned to Yixing:
“We’re inviting Yifan over. Make sure to get two tickets.”
Yifan almost choked on his coffee and Yixing seemed to be surprised too.
“Um, okay?” he said hesitantly.
“No, wait, Mrs. Zhang, I don’t want to bother you, I’m really fine here…” Yifan started to protest but Mrs. Zhang cut him off:
“Nonsense! Maybe your friend will invite you for one day but what will you do the remaining days? Stay home and eat instant noodles? Impossible! You’re coming over to us, there will be so many people in my house, one person more or less won’t make any difference.”
“I… what… umm…”
Yifan looked at Yixing who tried to hide his grin behind his hand. When he got his facial impression under control, he said:
“Thank you for inviting him, Ma!”
“You better get the tickets now before they’re gone! You know how crazy it gets the nearer the holidays get!”
“I’ll book them right away and send you the details.”
“Good. That’s all for now I guess. Take care, guys!”
Before Yifan could start another weak protest mother and son had already bid their goodbyes. Yixing did not even close QQ and opened a booking page for domestic flights.
“Wait, Yixing…” Yifan started but Yixing ignored him.
“Soooooo, a flight from Beijing to Changsha…”
“… ey, I can’t just show up to your family gathering…”
“… I think… February 6^th would be good…”
“… I don’t even know anyone of your family, it’s rude as hell!”
“… Two adults…”
“… Jesus, Yixing!”
Yifan cupped Yixing’s face and forced him to look at him.
“I can’t possibly go there!”
Yixing frowned.
“You can. My mother invited you.”
“Yeah but…”
“Aaah, don’t worry, my mom is the boss in our home. If she invites you, it’s really okay! I think we should leave a little early, I’m not living exactly in Changsha it takes a little to get there from the airport, to be honest.”
“But…”
Yifan watched helplessly as Yixing wrapped up the booking and waited for the confirmation mail. He leaned back with a satisfied look on his face but when he saw Yifan’s shocked expression, he tilted his head in question.
“What? Come on, you always brag about Beijing, the air is really good in my hometown and it’s really quiet and nice, see it as a short vacation.”
“Except for your whole family will be there too? That’s some serious stuff!”
It felt like Yifan was missing some very important information because he really did not understand how relaxed Yixing seemed. The younger one thought about Yifan’s words for a bit and then he seemed to understand what Yifan’s problem was.
“Aaaah! Understood! You’re worried what they might say about us. Relax, I’ve came out to them a long time ago and most of them are totally fine with it.”
“So… your mom knows about us?”
“Well, I haven’t told her that you’re my boy-friend, but she and everybody else know that I’m not going to bring home a girl any time soon. We can change that though, if you want.”
“And that wasn’t any problem?”
Yixing scoffed and explained:
“It was at first. My mother did not understand why I would make my life any harder than it was already. You know, being deaf AND gay seemed like a combination to never find any happiness in my life. But she got used to it. Just like the rest of them.”
When Yifan did not respond, he added:
“My father’s mother is still bitter about it, but she’s bitter about everything, so there’s really nothing to worry about.”
Yifan processed what he just had heard and then said:
“Well… I guess I’m going to meet your family then.”
Yixing let out an excited squeal, leaned over to give him a few little pecks on the cheek and then said:
“I’ll get my breakfast.”
While Yixing fetched his stuff, a message popped up on the monitor of Yixing’s Macbook, indicating the confirmation mail for the tickets had arrived. Yifan still wasn’t quite sure what he should think of this random act, but Yixing seemed to be absolutely stoked about it. So he tried to swallow his doubts and returned the wide grin when Yixing sat back next to him with his breakfast in his hands.

A/N: OH YES. I UPDATED. I'm very sorry this took so long, but things have taken an unexpected turn around here and then I discovered the show Sense8 and bingewatched it (I really recommend you guys to watch it it's AMAZING) and kind of lost my inspiration to type ANYTHING.
I rewrote this chapter 5 times at the least, and I am still not quite satisfied but my Beta gave her consent so I figured I'd throw this at you before the update takes months. I wanted to spare you guys with awkward butt (and I felt what I wrote in the beginning was AWKWARD AS and nobody really wants to read that - I'll give that kind of stuff to authors who are better at this than me) so sorry about that but I hope you still like it.
Next Update next Friday (I hope! I'm trying to get back to the normal rhythm again)!
Oh, and wherever you are - if you're dealing with a heat wave like we do, please make sure to stay hydrated etc. - it's kind of horrible here nowadays ahahaha. /melts away