Jackson finds himself standing in front of the gym doors with an extra pair of clothes for change. The coach of the basketball team approached him the day before and talked to him about how Yifan and Yixing recommended for him to join the team so here he is.

“Hey, not coming in?” Yixing appears at his side and the senior has a smile on his face.

“They’re a pretty crazy but fun bunch, you’ll see.” Without waiting for the freshman to utter a word, Yixing hooks an arm over his neck while his other hand pushes the door open for them.

“Look who’s here.” Yifan immediately looks up at the sound of Yixing’s voice and smiles when he sees the freshman he has in a playful harmless headlock.

“Don’t worry Jackson, you’re not yet part of the team. The coaches still have to evaluate you so you don’t have to look like you’re life has ended already.” Yifan tries to lighten the mood as he watches the color leave the younger’s face.

“Xing, you might want to release your captive now.” He adds when the senior hasn’t removed his arm on the new recruit’s neck. A playful oops leaves Yixing’s mouth before he runs off to the locker room to change.

After a few drills just like during the try-outs, the coaches approved of Jackson. The freshman lost the nervousness after warming up and started showing the shots that Yifan and Yixing saw him down that night more than a week ago. The freshman lets out a sigh of relief at the news then he’s receiving claps on his back and a loud Welcome to the team from their always overly enthusiastic big puppy of a vice-captain.

“Our next game will be Saturday next week.” The coach announces after practice since he’s not certain if their new rookie has any idea of their basketball games.

“You’ll have enough time to warm up to the team by then. Get to know your teammates on and off the court.” The assistant coach adds in before they said their goodbyes to the team.

~*~

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yifan sees Chanyeol staring at him with the intensity of a thousand suns and to say the captain is burning is an understatement.

“You’re unbelievably perky nowadays.” As opposed to Chanyeol’s usual smiling face, one that scrutinizes every inch of Yifan is what welcomes him.

“What?”

“You used to be like this.” The other giant made the meanest scowl he can muster after reaching for some of the left over laver he brought with him and put them over his eyebrows to imitate Yifan’s thicker ones.

“No, I was never like that.” Yifan countered but made the same face Chanyeol just tried to imitate.

“It’s Yixing, isn’t it?” His eyes were close to falling off their sockers with how much he widened his lids at what Chanyeol just said.

“What? How can this be about Yixing?” He shies away from the stare that his vice-captain is giving him and wills the flush that he can feel on the apples of his cheeks to go away.

“Ever since he came back to your life, you’ve been less angry.” Chanyeol tries his best not to laugh at how Yifan is acting very much like a sixteen-year old girl being asked about her crush with the way he’s blushing.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh don’t play dumb with me hyung. I’m not blind.” The younger fixes the fake specs he has perched on the bridge of his nose before eyeing the captain again.

“Can you, just for once, be honest with your feelings? Else, he’ll get away. Just a little advice, hyung.” Chanyeol abruptly stands up, walks away and meets Baekhyun at the entrance of the cafeteria before leaving. Yifan watches him go then ponders on what the younger just said and he decides that his calculus quiz that will be in the next hour is more important at the moment.

~*~

Yifan’s wearing a black dress shirt and a coat that fits perfectly over his broad shoulders and muscled arms. He sits on the couch situated in the living room of the Zhang household as he waits for Yixing and his parents to finish dressing up.

It was the day of Yixing’s performance and to say that the pianist is ecstatic is an understatement. The whole basketball team texted him their encouragements and some of his classmates who knew of the spring concert gave him their good lucks before the class ended the day before. Although some of his teammates were being grumpy about not being invited especially when they learned that Yixing invited Yifan. He had to explain that he can only invite three people and as much as he wanted every one of them to watch him perform his powers were limited. The boys were very understanding and told him they were just teasing him, Chanyeol even wiggled his eyebrows over at Yifan when Yixing wasn’t looking which caused the captain to make him stay and clean the mess they left in the gym. Poor Chanyeol; he silently plotted his revenge whilst picking up the scattered basketballs and mopping the floor.

“Sorry, did we keep you waiting for too long?” Yixing asks, the question accompanied by his footsteps. He’s dressed in a three-piece suit with a bow tie and his hair is pulled back showing off his beautiful face. He never really liked wearing those suits that the other musicians are wearing that have a long tail on the back. He’s glad his orchestra is not-so-traditional in clothing terms. Yifan forgets for a while that he’s just been asked a question and he feels that his mouth has gone dry so he opts for a head shake as Yixing looks at himself on the mirror again.

“Okay?” Yixing turns to him and closes the front buttons of his coat. He gives him a thumbs-up because he’s pretty sure his throat is all dry by now. The next he knows