“Yixing!” The blond’s eyes snapped open, and he blinked a couple of times as Junmyeon came into focus, and he sat up rubbing his eyes and looking around the room before settling his attention on the other.

“What’s wrong Junmyeon?” He asked, yawning as Junmyeon reached out, brushing some strands of hair out of his face.

“You… you sounded like you were having another bad dream. Are you okay?” Junmyeon asked, Yixing nodding.

“I don’t remember having a bad dream, maybe you were having a dream about me having a bad dream?” Yixing offered, Junmyeon forcing a smile.

“M-maybe,” he conceded, getting up from the bed. “Would you like anything?” He asked, Yixing thinking for a moment.

“Pancakes!” He replied excitedly, Junmyeon laughing.

“How about those wait until morning?” he asked, Yixing humming before he nodded and Junmyeon made his way back into his own bed. Yixing reached for his mobile, frowning a little when it showed no response from Yifan even though the message line showed that he had read the message. He couldn’t be busy at this hour, could he? Yixing looked over at Junmyeon, about to ask if it was alright for him to call Yifan when he noticed that the other was asleep again already. He slid out of his bed, opening and closing the door as quietly as he could, sitting on the couch as his mobile rang. He frowned when it went to voicemail and he hung up, calling the older again. His heart jumped when he heard a small click, a smile lighting up his face.

“Yifan-Ge! How have you been? I haven’t heard from you in a while… I was wondering when you’re coming back?” he said, his stomach tensing at the tired sigh he heard on the other end of the line.

“Yixing, for the last time I need you to stop calling me. I don’t want to have to block your number, but I will if you call me again. You know I’m not coming back so please… Please… Stop calling me.” He heard before the line went dead. Yixing slowly lowered his mobile to his lap, staring down at it and flinching when he felt something drip off of his chin, landing on the screen of his mobile. He swallowed hard, setting his mobile on the coffee table before wiping at his face and standing, making his way back to bed.

A muffled clang was the first thing that the blond heard when he woke up, blinking a couple of times as Junmyeon’s empty bed came into focus. He sat up slowly, reaching for his mobile on his nightstand, freezing when he heard Meng mew at him from the foot of the bed, causing his late night call to come back to him. He wasn’t sure how long his hand was extended towards the device, looking to Meng when he moved under Yixing’s trembling fingers in a way of petting himself before he settled in Yixing’s lap, staring up at him. Yixing scratched behind Meng’s ears a little, the feline slipping off of his lap as he stood from his bed, following him out of the room and into the kitchen where he settled on the kitchen table, keeping close to Yixing.

“Morning Yixing,” Junmyeon greeted, frowning a little when Yixing offered a small wave in response, his focus set on the table. Junmyeon moved the pan his was working with off of the burner, turning to Yixing and watching him for a moment. “Yixing, what’s wrong?” The other was silent for a long moment before looking at Meng as the cat his cheek, turning his gaze to Junmyeon a moment later.

“He’s really not coming back, is he?” The blond asked, making Junmyeon’s throat tighten before he padded over to the table, pulling Yixing against himself at the tears that pricked Yixing’s eyes. “Why… Why isn’t he coming back?” Yixing asked, his voice cracking a little, causing Junmyeon’s hold on him to tighten.

“Because he’s a moron. There’s no other reason that he would be putting you through this if he was anything more than a heartless low life. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted-” Junmyeon cut off when he felt something press against his chest, pulling back as alarm crossed his face at the way Yixing was pushing him away.

“Yifan-Ge is my soulmate, I would appreciate it if you never call him anything like that again,” Yixing said, the evenness of his tone almost chilling, and Junmyeon swallowed hard.

“How do you know?”

“I wouldn’t have felt like I was dying when he said he was leaving me if he wasn’t.”

“Uh…” Jongdae started, looking at Yixing, who was currently sitting across from Meng in the middle of Junmyeon and his room, strumming his guitar. “I know Yixing-Hyung likes making random songs to sing to Meng, but should we be worried?” He asked, turning to Junmyeon as he peeked out from the kitchen.

“Why do you think we should be worried?” Junmyeon replied, Jongdae letting Yixing’s song be the answer.

“Love is dead~ life means loving someone and losing them~ and that’s why life is meaningless because love is life and love means nothing~” The pair exchanged a look before Junmyeon made his way from the kitchen to stand beside Jongdae in the doorway of the bedroom.

“Hey, Yixing?” he called, Yixing’s hand coming to a stop as he looked back at the two.

“Yes?”

“Why are you… never mind. When was the last time you ate?” Yixing looked back to his guitar, picking at a couple of the strings before giving a shrug. “Yixing, you need to be eating regularly, please don’t start a habit of missing meals,” Junmyeon pleaded, startling when Jongdae placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m not trying to… I just don’t feel like eating… I’m not hungry so it doesn’t seem like I should eat,” Yixing reasoned, Junmyeon fighting back a sigh.

“You just need to get out a bit,” Jongdae said, the duo looking to him.

“I get out, I go to class.”

“Not always,” Junmyeon pointed out, Jongdae placing a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

“No, I mean for something fun, not for class. We should all go to a dance club or something,” Jongdae suggested, Junmyeon’s eyebrows knitting together.

“I’m not sure if-”

“Junnie, it’ll be fine. Right, Yixing-Hyung?” The brunet asked, looking to the blond as Meng rubbed his cheek against Yixing’s.

“I guess,” the older said softly, Junmyeon sighing softly.

The trio made their way through the crowd gathered near the entryway of the club, Junmyeon keeping Yixing so close that it reminded Jongdae of the time they all had gone out ice skating and Junmyeon was still trying to keep Yixing and Yifan separated. It would have been more amusing probably if Yixing wasn't quick to wiggle out of the others touch and make his way to sit at the bar.

“Hey, give him some space,” Jongdae said, taking a gentle hold of Junmyeon’s wrist when he tried to follow Yixing, earning a deep frown from the older.

“I'm pretty sure a club is the last place to go if you want space,” he pointed out, Jongdae wrapping his arms around the blond’s torso and holding him close.

“He's not moping in your room, that should be enough for now.” he murmured into Junmyeon’s ear, feeling his shoulders sag before he gave a single nod.

“Hey, you're cute.” Yixing heard the voice, but it took a hand being placed on his shoulder for him to realize that it had been directed towards him. He looked to the short haired brunet, blinking a couple of times before looking to the hand as the stranger started to rub circles with his thumb. “My name’s Jaehwan. Is there a reason you're sitting here all alone?” Yixing offered a shrug, looking down until there was a couple of fingers on his chin pulling his head back up. “How about we get out of here and have some fun?”

“Love is dead.” Jaehwan blinked at the statement, before a smile played on his lips and he moved a little closer to Yixing.

“We could do something that doesn't have to involve love,” he cooed, his smile drooping a little when Yixing simply stared at him for a long moment before repeating his previous statement. “Uh…” The two were soon joined by another pair, and Jaehwan winced as his hand was ripped off of the blond’s shoulder by one of the two.

“I told you this was a bad idea. Yixing, let's go home,” Junmyeon said and Yixing nodded, letting himself be lead from the barstool he was on and away from a very confused Jaehwan.

“Has your… work stack increased?” LuHan asked, entering the older’s apartment without more than a text warning.

“I picked up a couple more cases, if that’s what you’re asking,” Minseok replied, sounding a little distracted as he was flipping through one of the files on the coffee table. 

“And that makes how many?” LuHan frowned, sliding out of his shoes and making his way over to the other, who didn’t seem to notice when he sat on the couch with him. A minute of silence passed before he nudged the copper haired male’s shoulder, finally getting him to look up from the file.

“Hmm?”

“You look like you haven’t slept in three days,” LuHan pointed out, Minseok shaking his head and turning back to the file only for LuHan to take a grip of his chin and force him to pay attention to him. “Seriously. When was the last time you took a break from working? I’m getting really worried about you. Wonshik says you’ve been picking up hours there too, I thought you said once you got this internship that you would slowly decrease your hours at the coffee shop, not increase them.” Minseok pushed the other’s hand away sighing and shaking his head as he closed the file in his lap, setting it on the coffee table.

“LuHan, I’m fine. It’s just a few hours and a few more cases, it’s not a big deal.”

“Yes it is, because I’ve seen you drink twice as much coffee in a week than you did back when we first met.” Minseok shrugged.

“I built a tolerance to the caffeine, I need to drink more to feel the affect.”

“You’re going to kill yourself,” LuHan said bluntly, met with a roll of Minseok’s eyes before the older was standing from the couch and taking the files from the coffee table, setting them on his work desk. “At least tell me that you’ve been eating.” He had heard about Yixing’s decrease in appetite after being separated from Yifan, and as bad as it sounded he hoped that was just a symptom of the shock. He was worried enough about Minseok’s health without the added effect of him starving himself.

“Is that your way of saying you’re hungry?” Minseok asked, looking back at the other. “I can make you something,” He added, making his way towards the kitchen.

“Only if it means that you’ll eat something too,” LuHan sighed, watching the other disappear into the kitchen. He waited for a moment before he made his way over to Minseok’s work desk, counting the files. He knew they were confidential, since Minseok’s internship was to gain experience as a social worker, so he wasn’t allowed to look into the files to check how many cases there truly were. But if there was only one case per file, the number had grown from five to twelve in the last week. LuHan’s attention snapped to the kitchen when he heard a crash, darting across the living room and hesitating in the kitchen doorway for only a moment before he was kneeling beside Minseok, the older looking really disoriented from where he was sitting on the ground.

“H-hey, what happened?”

“Nothing, I just got a little dizzy,” Minseok said in a dazed tone, LuHan grumbling a little to himself as he helped the other to his feet. When Minseok tried to pull away to stand on his own LuHan tightened his hold on him and pulled him from the kitchen and to his room, half setting, half throwing, the copper haired male onto the bed. “LuHan, what are you-”

“I'm making you something to eat so you don’t pass out again,” came his mildly frustrated tone. “And you’re not going to work tomorrow,” the younger added before turning and making his way into the kitchen. He dug around in the cabinets for a while, cringing a little when found it had to find some kind of instant meal.

If I try to make something from scratch, it might put him in the hospital, he thought, well aware of just how bad his cooking skills were and he dug a little deeper, halfway to crawling into the deep cabinet. When he felt plastic he grabbed it and pulled it out, heart sinking a little at the label. He recognized the packaging, from the day that Minseok had gone with him to pick up Sehun, making up the excuse that he had bought all three of the first years vitamin juice. LuHan looked into the cabinet, sighing softly at the bulk-like quantity that Minseok had, mostly in peach flavor. He set the juice back in the cabinet, noticing the can of soup beside it, settling on making the older that and closing the door to the cabinet, digging around in another for a pot to heat it up in. Once he had gotten most of the soup and some crackers into the older, policing him to make sure he actually ate it, LuHan took a couple of blankets from the hall closet, making up the couch as a bed for himself to make sure that Minseok wouldn’t get up in the middle of the night to try and go over his casefiles.

“I’m headed to my class, I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” LuHan said before closing the door to Minseok’s room and making his way from the apartment. It was a little pointless, going to his class, since his focus was anywhere but music theory. He was the first one out the door when dismissed, and with his hurried pace it made it back to Minseok’s apartment in near half the time it usually took, frowning when the door was locked since he was pretty sure he had forgotten to lock it on his way out; he shook his head a little as he pulled out the spare key Minseok had given him.

“You better not have gotten out of bed just to lock the door,” he called as he stepped into the apartment, frowning as he was met with silence. The stack of case files was smaller than Minseok had left it the night before, and LuHan slid out of his shoes before making his way to the older’s room, opening the door. “I thought I said no work…ing…” The bed was empty and made, causing the pink haired male to grit his teeth a little, turning away and closing the door, fighting with his shoes a little due to his impatience to get them back on, and he ran once the door was locked again behind him.

“I told you that you weren’t going to work!” Minseok looked up from his desk, blinking once before turning his attention back to the desk he was at.

“You didn’t say which job, so I picked the less stressful one since you seem to be worried about me being stressed,” Minseok replied, looking back up at the younger when LuHan slammed his hands on his desk.

“Really? Reading over cases of children that are probably being abused is less stressful than serving over priced lattes?” He demanded, Minseok frowning at him as several others turned their attention their way.

“LuHan, keep your voice down.”

“No! I don’t understand why you’re doing this to yourself!”

“Is there something wrong?” Minseok tensed a little at the voice, looking back at the silver haired male’s concerned expression, wanting to kick LuHan under the table as he could tell that the younger was glaring at his boss.

“Yeah, Minseok nearly fainted last night, and refused to listen to me when I told him he needed to take a break for just a day.”

“Hey, I called in to the café like you wanted me to,” Minseok shot back, looking to LuHan and flinching a little when there was a hand on his shoulder, pulling his attention back to his boss.

“Is what your friend said true? Did you nearly faint?” he asked and Minseok hesitantly nodded once. “Then it’s final. You’re taking a week off.”

“But Ha-”

“I didn’t ask if you wanted to. This won’t affect your internship, it’ll just put it on pause. If you’re worried about your cases, we’ll find someone to take care of them in your absence.” Minseok sighed, looking down at his lap, the other rubbing his back in a way he knew was meant to be soothing.

“Yes, Hakyeon,” he sighed, standing from his desk and following LuHan out of the building. The walk home was silent, and LuHan wasn’t sure if the situation had played out as he would have liked, but at least Minseok would know that it wasn’t just LuHan being over protective in trying to get him to cut back his workload, right?

“I hope you’re happy.” LuHan looked to Minseok as they were sliding out of their shoes, feeling his heart sink at the other’s tone. “My work isn’t your business, I don’t understand why you’re making a big deal out of all of this. I’m just…”

“You’re just, what, Minseok? Trying to kill yourself? Because at this rate you’re going to succeed, and you’re ignoring your body trying to tell you that.”

“I’m fine, LuHan.”

“People who are fine don’t pass out in their kitchen!” LuHan argued, taking a hold of Minseok’s arm to turn the other to face him, grabbing his other arm as well when Minseok tried to pull away. “Please. Tell me why you’re doing this to yourself, why are you working yourself to exhaustion-”

“What else am I supposed to do?!” It was the loudest LuHan had ever heard the older’s voice, and it stunned him long enough for tears to lace the copper haired male’s eyes. “With the coffee shop, making all those drinks takes so little thought… And the cases, we’re not supposed to let ourselves get emotionally invested, only going through them with a rational view… As long as I’m working I can shut everything else out, and my thoughts don’t wander and I d-don’t think about him…” Minseok hung his head, swallowing hard to try and get the lump out of his throat. “Because if I let myself think about him, it h-hurts. It hurts and I don’t know what to do with myself, because I don’t know if I can be with him like none of this ever happened but I… I don’t know what to do. I can’t see myself starting over with someone else, I don’t want to start over, I love him too much.” Minseok’s head came to rest on LuHan’s shoulder, the younger pulling him closer and wrapping his arms tightly around him. “You ask why I’m doing this… it’s because I can’t do anything else without him right now.