*ring ring*

It is just seconds after Kim Jongdae presses send that the little "1" next to his KakaoTalk message flips to a "0" and his phone lights up with an incoming call from his best friend. He smiles widely and swipes, bracing himself for impact. Before he can even say "Heyyyyyyy," an angry voice greets him quickly:

"YAH. WHY ARE TOU BEING LIKE THIS TO ME TODAY?"

"Hi, hyung!!!" Jongdae responds brightly.

“DON'T YOU 'HI, HYUNG' ME. EXPLAIN YOURSELF," comes Yixing's voice. Jongdae can clearly visualize the raised eyebrow and scowl that must be marring Yixing's normally amiable face.

"Hyungggg," Jongdae whimpers, "you know I don't like it when you raise your voice..."

A drawn out exhale is heard before Yixing speaks again, sounding calmer this time, "Jongdae-ya. Why would you say something so mean to your hyung, huh? Did I do something wrong?"

Jongdae ponders his words wisely before responding, "It's not so much what you are doing wrong, but more...what you are not doing right."

Crickets. Only the sound of crickets. "...say it clearly, Jongdae," Yixing warns, voice dangerously close to increasing too many decibels, "I don't understand what you are trying to say."

"That's the problem, Yixing hyung! It's no wonder you can't understand anyone else—you don't even understand your best friend!" Jongdae remarks exasperatedly. He loves his friend, he really does, but sometimes he thinks that the older boy needs help. A lot of it.

Jongdae can tell Yixing is pinching the bridge of his nose because his next words come out a bit nasally, "I don't understand because you are all half sentences and cryptic comments! Use your words, man!"

Before he can stop himself, Jongdae blurts out "GIRLS—you don't understand girls at all! You're killing me, Smalls!" A few of the college coeds in the vicinity can't help but to turn to give him a look after his outburst. Jongdae wildly waves them away, shouting "Move along, move along; nothing to see here!"

"Get a hold of yourself, you sound like a crazy," Yixing scolds, "Is this seriously what you are calling me out on? You think I have no game?"

Jongdae scoffs, "I don't think; I KNOW. And it’s not just that you have no game, it's like you don't even know a game is being played. I have personally witnessed your obliviousness to girls flirting with you and it literally pains me." It pains him not only because his friend is seemingly unaware of his effect on people, but also because of his own inability to tame the green monster inside his chest during moments like that. But Yixing doesn't need to know that part.

This time it is Yixing's turn to snort, "Yeah, right! I am not nearly as clueless as you think I am."

"Oh, yeah?" Jongdae challenges, "Alright, let's put you to the test. Incoming at 6 o'clock, passing by you in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, action." Jongdae has yet to tell Yixing that he is also on campus, and is currently acting as an eagle-eyed scout, watching his friend closely. Knowing Jongdae, this really isn't weird. At all. Or at least that's what he tells himself.

Yixing, the poor guy, doesn't even have time to register confusion before someone bumps into his shoulder from behind, sending a stack of books and papers to the ground. Jongdae sees his friend turn around to lock eyes with a petite, long-haired beauty.

"Ah, I am so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going..." Jongdae hears the girl explain through Yixing's microphone—he also sees her blush and shyly tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. His heart clenches as Yixing smiles brightly at her and stoops down to help her pick up her belongings, while assuring her that accidents happen and no harm done. He sees the way she reaches out to take her books from him, and how her fingertips linger an extra second on his skin. They bow to each other politely and off she goes, her smile a little bigger than before.

After a few seconds, Yixing seems to remember that he still has Jongdae on the line, "Sorry about that, girl just randomly bumped into me—"

"—And she dropped her crap, you had to help her, and she wants to live happily ever after with you, the end," Jongdae interjects. He laughs out loud when Yixing spins around to look for him, looking paranoid.

"Stalker. Are you going to come out of the shadows now, or keep lurking like a creep?" Yixing sounds amused; as if he has forgotten the shade his best friend has thrown his way. Jongdae runs up from behind and jumps onto Yixing's back, causing the older boy's knees to buckle, almost collapsing to the ground. Thanks to his natural athleticism and agility, Yixing is able to recover quickly and traps a laughing Jongdae in a tight headlock, dragging the helpless younger boy back to his apartment, all the while spewing endless threats about "teaching him a lesson" and "can't believe you called me out in public."

Luckily for Jongdae, Yixing lives right off the edge of campus, so the humiliation of being led by the head will only last a few minutes. Jongdae has the sense to keep his eyes down and stop struggling, but still has the audacity to beg his hyung for mercy. "Hyungggggg..." he starts to protest, but is quickly cut off.

"Nuh uh uh, no more words from you, sir, until we get back to my place. Can't trust what is going to come out of your mouth next," the captor chides, although he has a satisfied smirk on his face.

*~*~*~*~*

They arrive at Yixing's front door a couple minutes later. Jongdae rubs his neck to massage out the stiffness, and pounds on his lower back to ease out the soreness from walking bent over for so long. Kicking off his shoes, he beelines for the couch and sprawls out as if he is in his own home. Within two seconds, Yixing is looming over him.

"Explain yourself," is all he says, and his tone is enough for Jongdae to start talking.

"You...seem to not notice when girls are flirting with you. And it is infuriating," he states plainly. He watches Yixing's face for signs of anger, and is surprised when he sees no reaction at all. The Chinese boy is sporting his usual blank expression.

"What girls?" he asks, blinking innocently. He genuinely looks like he has no idea what Jongdae is talking about, which irks the younger boy even more.

"ALL. OF. THE. GIRLS," Jongdae says shortly, "LITERALLY ALL OF THEM." He groans loudly while rubbing his hands over his face and through his hair. Sitting upright and pulling his friend by the arm to sit down beside him, he looks his older friend straight in the eyes and asks, "You honestly haven't noticed?"

"I really haven't," Yixing explains softly, "and I'm sorry that I'm so frustrating to you. Will it make you feel better if you explain to me what I'm doing wro--what I'm not doing right? I don't like it when we argue and raise our voices at each other, Dae." Yixing has always been the calming presence in Jongdae's life, and he has always been good at turning high-tension situations into constructive conversation.

"How about we act out each time I didn't notice a girl flirting with me, and you teach me how I should handle in the future. It’ll be like…Flirting 101 with Professor Kim Jongdae. Does that sound good?" Yixing suggests. He gazes expectantly into Jongdae's eyes, and the younger boy can do nothing but agree helplessly.

"Ok, so...first thing that comes to mind is that girl earlier; the one who bumped into you and dropped her books? She definitely did that on purpose," Jongdae states. Yixing starts to counter that it was an honest mistake and it could've happened to anyone, but Jongdae is very adamant that it wasn't. "XingXing, listen to me—I saw her completely change her route to walk past you, she did the hair tuck, AND she brushed her fingers against your hand. She was begging for you to ask for her name, and she left when you didn't."

Jongdae stands up from the couch and motions for Yixing to join him, handing him a stack of books and papers. "Ok, I am going to be you and stand here with my back turned. Now, you are going to come from over there and bump into me like that girl did, ok? Remember to say what she said and do the hair tuck and all that," Jongdae plans in a very directorial manner, "In 3, 2, 1, action!"

Yixing bumps into Jongdae's shoulder, drops the books, and delivers the girl's line perfectly. Just like Yixing did earlier, Jongdae stoops down to pick up the books. This time though, he feigns interest in one in particular, flashing a smile and commenting, "Oh wow, you are taking English Lit? At 11am with professor Shin?"

Yixing stares at his younger friend with wide eyes, not quite sure how to respond. "Uhhhh...y-y-yeah..." he finally stutters, not used to seeing his goofy friend so suave and smooth.

"Awesome, me too! Hey, do you by chance already have a partner for the collaborative paper? I haven't found a partner yet and I’m afraid I may have missed the boat on getting a good one..." Jongdae laments, sighing dramatically.

"I don't!" Yixing finds himself exclaiming quickly. He clears his throat and repeats more calmly, "I mean, I don't." He doesn't even know why he said that. He is not taking English Lit, so obviously has no idea what this collaborative paper is. Now that he thinks about it, Jongdae isn't taking an English Lit class either, but regardless, he finds himself also agreeing to grab coffee with the boy later.

"And wham, bam, thank you ma'am, you have a date!" Jongdae brushes his shoulders off and smiles proudly, boasting, "I bet you didn't see that coming!"

Yixing still looks dazed as he responds, "OK, a) I don't think 'wham, bam, thank you ma'am' means what you think it means. And b) what just happened? That's not even an English book, and if it was, I'm not even in that class. How did you do that?"

Jongdae laughs heartily, and explains, "That is the best part! It doesn't even matter what you say! When a person has an interest in someone else already, guy or girl, they have already made up their mind to agree to anything."

"Dang. Since when did you become an expert in human psychology? If only you put this much effort into your studies..." Yixing jokes. "What's lesson number two?"

"You laugh, but these skills will serve me much better in life than anything I'm learning in the classroom," Jongdae says defensively. He continues, "Do you remember that lady at the DMV when you went to title your car?"

Yixing raises an eyebrow, "Dude, that was months ago, how do you even remember that?"

Jongdae shrugs, "I remember most things when it comes to you—we're best friends, right?" Yixing nods in confirmation and asks for a recap of the story.

"So what happened was..." Jongdae begins.

It was a spring day much like any other when Yixing had asked Jongdae to accompany him to the DMV. He had been putting off titling his car, and since the two "have plans to hang out together anyway," Jongdae allowed himself to be dragged along.

"Hello, welcome to the DMV, how may I assist you two today?" the young lady behind the counter asked brightly. Yixing showed his naturally dimpled smile and explained that he needed to title his car. "Sure thing," she said, "I'm just going to need to see your license, proof of address, and purchase paperwork from the dealership." He presented the necessary papers and waited while she looked it over. "I love your last name, Mr. Zhang," she commented with a smile, "You don't see a lot of people with that name here." Jongdae choked and nearly ripped his hair out when Yixing just said a simple thanks and wrapped up quickly before going on his way.

"What was wrong with that?" Yixing asks, not understanding why his friend is bringing up this particular incident, "she said she liked my name because it is foreign; what else was I supposed to say?"

"You have to read between the lines! She was obviously asking you to propose to her. Quick, say you love my name," Jongdae demands. Yixing complies, to which Jongdae winks and responds, "Play your cards right and it could be yours too."

Yixing gags and protests, "That is so cheesy! I'm not saying that!" while Jongdae has to continuously slap him on the back to prevent him from choking.

"It may be cheesy, but incredibly effective. Admit it," the Korean boy says proudly. Yixing shakes his head resolutely and wipes the tears away from his eyes. "Quick, teach me something else before I lose all respect for you," he pleads.

Jongdae taps his index finger against his chin while he ponders what example to use for his final lesson. "Ah yes, I think this final lesson will be the most important one yet. Remember that time we went to Chanyeol's raging house party? That chick who swore you looked like that Super Junior member's little brother?"

"That sounds vaguely familiar..." Yixing says.

"That was by far your greatest offense. I honestly thought my brain was going to hemorrhage just from watching you," Jongdae launches into the memory.

Yixing wasn't much of a party animal, but he always found it hard to decline when his enthusiastic best friend begged him to go out. "Come on, Xing ge! It'll be funnnn," Jongdae pleaded, gripping Yixing's forearm and swinging it back and forth. He was well aware that the Chinese boy had a soft spot for Jongdae calling him in his native tongue. "Besides," he reasoned, "who else can I trust to take care of me if things get out of hand?" And that is how Yixing found himself squished between Jongdae and a random girl on Chanyeol's basement couch.

The pretty girl (who was admittedly a little tipsy) had been rambling on and on for about 5 minutes about how Yixing looked really familiar and how she swore they knew each other. Yixing just smiled politely and humored her, saying they may have had a class together, even though he obviously didn't know her. Yixing has an excellent memory when it comes to people, so if he had met her before, he definitely would have remembered. Jongdae had to give Yixing props for continuing to engage in conversation with the girl—he had lost interest after about 30 seconds. A loud clap drew his attention back to the conversation.

"I don't know you from class!" the girl exclaimed, "You look just like Lee Donghae! From Super Junior!" Yixing took the compliment and thought that would be the end of it, but if course it wasn't. "Oh my God, are you Donghae's little brother??? I read an article about how good looks run in the family! On my gosh you are SO good looking. Can I get you a drink?” By this point, the girl was leaning towards him with an expectant look on her face, and Yixing’s face was red with embarrassment. The girl’s voice had attracted the attention of many people in the room, and Yixing just apologized repeatedly while denying that he had any relation to the boyband member. When the girl continued to try to get close to Yixing, he was quick to wrap an arm around Jongdae’s shoulder and explain that he and his “friend” were fine and didn’t need anything from her.

Yixing blanches at the memory of the persistent party girl, “I thought I handled that really well. What else was I supposed to do? She was embarrassing me!” Jongdae laughs melodically and admits, “I wouldn’t have touched her with a 10-foot pole either. I just wanted to see your face when I brought it up.”

Yixing whacks Jongdae on the back of the head. “Alright lover boy, since you seem to be such a know it all, how come I haven’t actually seen you use these smooth moves on any lucky ladies?” Jongdae’s smile falters for a split second before he admits, “There…hasn’t been a girl who has interested me.”

Yixing sits back down on the couch and tugs on Jongdae’s pants leg to get him to follow suit. “You cheated me out of a third lesson, so can I ask you for some advice?” he asks seriously. Jongdae’s forehead creases in concern at the change of mood before he nods for Yixing to proceed. “How do you know whether to confess to someone or not? I have feelings for somebody that I am very close with, feelings that I am very sure about; feelings that I know are not going to change. But I am unsure of what their thoughts are, and I don’t want to say anything in case their feelings are not the same as mine. I’d rather keep my friendship with this person and lock up my feelings than let them out and lose my friend forever,” he looks at Jongdae earnestly. “What should I do?”

Jongdae’s heart crumbles a little when he hears that Yixing has someone in his. “You have to tell them,” he says decisively, “You have to. If you two are really as close as you think you are, chances are they have feelings for you that they are also suppressing. If they don’t feel the same way, you will need to sit down, have a serious talk, and make the decision to move on from your romantic feelings in order to save your friendship. It will be difficult and it will hurt, but when you are old, do you want to look back on your life and regret not confessing to your soul mate and one true love? Your friend will understand. Besides, it’s you; no one could ever say no to you.” Jongdae isn’t sure who he is trying to pep up—Yixing or himself.

It is silent for a couple minutes while both young men let Jongdae’s words marinate. It is Yixing who breaks the silence by simply calling his best friend’s name, “Dae.”

“Yeah, ge?” Jongdae replies.

Yixing takes a deep breath and pierces straight through Jongdae’s eyes into his soul. “Dae,” he repeats, “I wasn’t completely oblivious to those girls’ advances. I was letting them down easy; I didn’t want to lead them on, especially in front of you.” He fidgets with the hem of his shirt, making him look so much younger in Jongdae’s eyes than he is used to seeing him.

“Especially in front of…me?” Jongdae asks, clearly confused by his friend’s statement. His mind races through all recent memories and is unable to think of a single time that Yixing has ever even looked at a girl for longer than necessary when with Jongdae. And to be honest, that is a significant portion of Yixing’s time. “I guess I’ve never really thought about it,” he admits, “but now that you mention it, yeah, you always did kinda let them down easy. You were doing that intentionally?”

“I never wanted to do anything that would send mixed signals or confuse you, or anyone else,” Yixing explains, “Because I knew that one day, I would want to have this conversation with you. And when you got that confused look on your face and started thinking back on every moment we spent together, I didn’t want there to be any doubt, any question at all, what my feelings were then, and now.”

It feels like his world is spinning, and Jongdae can’t keep a firm grip on reality. He spaces out and stares at a photograph of the two of them that is hanging on the wall just to the left of Yixing’s head. He can feel his pulse racing and his breath becoming shallow. He is brought back to the present when he feels Yixing squeezing his hands, whispering, “Hey, earth to Dae; are you still with me?”

Physically shaking the dazed feelings out of his head, Jongdae refocuses his eyes to Yixing’s and asks him seriously, “Please say it clearly, XingXing,” repeating the words that Yixing had just demanded of him earlier that day.

Staring down at their intertwined hands, Yixing starts to say, “I am—,” but Jongdae releases Yixing’s grip on one hand to bring it up to cup the older boy’s face. “Hey, look at me,” he encourages, “you don’t need to be afraid.”

Yixing raises his eyes up to Jongdae’s face, and is met with a gaze that holds all of the emotions he never let himself even hope or dream of seeing—love, adoration, happiness. With renewed courage, he leans into his best friend’s touch and declares, “I love you. I am in love with you. I don’t expect you to feel the same way or to reciprocate my feelings—oof!” His confession is unceremoniously cut short when the younger boy tackles him onto the couch, arms wound tight around his neck and face buried into his chest.

“You are an idiot,” Jongdae says, voice muffled in Yixing’s shirt.

“What?” Yixing asks, clearly not expecting that reaction after his heart-felt confession.

“Like, dumber than a doorknob,” Jongdae states matter-of-factly.

Yixing tries to push the other boy off his chest but to no avail, protesting, “What the heck? Take that back!”

Jongdae lifts the weight of his torso off his friend and hovers his face above his true love's. With a smirk he responds, “I will once you...kiss me.”

El fin.