November 6th, 2015 (pt. 2)

There was a big buzz when the prince arrived with a lot of people waiting for him to greet him in front of the venue. Yixing knew it was better to stay away from the craze of photographers so he disappeared silently and walked into the building to find his place. Some of the guests who had already escaped the flashlights of the press that weren’t allowed to get in were already there too. Suddenly, Yixing remembered that Lady Gaga was supposed to be there and that Tao was supposed to be picking her up from the airport today. He didn’t find her though, although he believed that Lady Gaga wasn’t a person who had to be found when she entered a room, she was present, so he concentrated on finding his seat instead. The handpicked journalists that had gotten the permission to attend the party had a table for themselves so that was naturally his first stop. He saw one or two familiar faces that he had met during the last years, but he did not spot his name card.

“You sure you’re actually invited?” A stranger joked and Yixing’s mind popped to the Emperor and his blood froze for a second.

“Yixing!”

He turned around and saw Luhan running towards him. He looked amazingly handsome in his suit, like a poised businessman strolling down the business district in Chaoyang to get to his next meeting, but the fit of panic on his face destroyed that illusion immediately.

“Hey there,” Yixing greeted.

“I cannot find my place and so many weird rich people are talking to me what do I have to do?!” Luhan hyperventilated and the second Yixing was within his reach, he clung onto him.

“First of all, take a deep breath. Second of all, I cannot find my place either, so let’s just stand around in the middle of the room like idiots together.”

Luhan let out a weak laugh but he relaxed hearing this. Yixing complimented him on his looks and Luhan whined about how nervous he was and then the royal siblings found them.

“You should find your seats, sweethearts, we’re about to start!” Yili cried out.

“Well, we’re both too stupid to find our seats so there’s that,” Yixing answered and Luhan looked at Yili from head to toe only to exclaim a:

“Wow, Yili!”

She grinned at Yixing’s roommate and then nudged him.

“Right back at you, handsome! Let me show you to your seat, you’re going to share the table with Tao and Sehun…”

“Have fun!” Yifan chirped while his sister grabbed Luhan’s elbow who sent out panic fueled looks into Yixing’s direction while being dragged away.

Yixing enjoyed Luhan’s confusion and nervousness a little too much so when he waved him goodbye, he kind of felt sorry for him.

“So, where do I sit? Did your father kick me out again? I remember clearly that I was supposed to sit with the press.”

“Oh, no,” Yifan said and grinned knowingly. “You’re seated with me. Changed it last minute.”

The proud smile curving around Yifan’s lips made it hard to be mad at him so Yixing just sighed and rolled his eyes before he followed him to the table.

“I think your father will not like this,” Yixing said when he saw that he was seated right to Yifan’s left.

“Oh, he won’t be present,” Yifan said nonchalantly and Yixing let out a surprised squeal. With shrugging shoulders, Yifan added, “Not his kind of jam. He’s never attended any birthday party that was celebrated like this.”

“But… you’re his son…”

Yifan scoffed and sat down. While he did so, he pulled Yixing down with him.

“I don’t think we have to elaborate this any further, don’t we?”

The younger one sighed and sat down himself while Yifan’s mother and a few other close relatives joined them at the table. Yixing felt hopelessly out of place and it felt kind of inappropriate to be sitting at a table that was clearly reserved for the closest family. The Empress lifted her eyebrow in question when she saw him. The journalist immediately tried to clear the situation:

“I have nothing to do with this awful seating order, my Empress! Yifan did some last minute changes!”

“It’s my party, I decide who sits where!” Yifan butted in.

The Empress chuckled as she sat down next to her son.

“Of course, darling. It’s your day.”

Her son nodded like he wanted to thank her but then a small petite figure jumped on his lap. It was Sophia, wearing a pink dress that made her look like she was a bridesmaid throwing petals down the aisle before the bride.

“Fanfan!!!”

“Sophiaaaaaa!”

Seeing her lit up Yifan’s heart and he gave her such a big and wet smooch on the cheek, she tried to escape his lips.

“Ewwwww, Fanfan!!”

“I cannot help it, little one, you’re way too cute!”

“Yixing, make him stop!” She cried out and climbed over onto Yixing’s lap, “Tell your girlboyfriend to stop!”

A giggle went around the table while Yixing tried to not let the others see how jumpy he was at the word.

“I don’t think he listens a lot to me, Sophia!”

“Sophia, my darling, I think it’s time you get back to your seat. The party is about to start soon!” The Empress threw in and the girl pouted, but gave in.

“Are you going to dance with me later, Yixing?” She asked and bat her eyelashes, immediately unarming the journalist.

“Of course, my princess!”

She took her leave with a satisfied grin on her face and Yifan turned to Yixing:

"The moment you said you'd be dancing with her was the moment you sold your soul to her."

"You make it sound like she's a crossroad's demon rather than your seven year old cousin."

Yifan chuckled. After a quick check on the other people who slowly found their seats, he leaned closer and lowered his voice so only Yixing was able to hear him:

"It only means I won't get the chance to dance with you because she won't let you go the whole evening."

Yixing didn't have a chance to reply to that, because suddenly the lights got dimmed and the attention of the room shifted from shallow conversations at the tables to the stage at the head of the room. The curtain wasn't lifted yet but the spotlight focused on the middle of the stage indicated that something was about to happen soon.

"Great, we're starting just in time..." the Empress muttered and Yili whose seat next to Yixing had been empty until now sat down and exhaled a long breath.

"What's wrong?" Yixing asked her and she took a big gulp from her water.

"Oh, nothing really, I showed Luhan his seat and introduced him to Sehun," she chattered away and Yixing followed her gaze to his roommate who was still talking to Yifan's cousin, looking way more relaxed than he had a few minutes before, "And I mean, you know Sehun, once he starts talking you can't really get away from him."

Yixing giggled and nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

Yili looked up to the stage and when the room had turned completely silent, it was Tao who stepped into the spotlight from behind the curtain and the guests started to applaud. He fiddled with the microphone and tapped it to check whether or not it was on.

"Huh! Great!" He then said into the mic and Yifan snorted at the rather clumsy beginning.

Tao put one hand leisurely into the pocket of his tailored suit and he said with a smile:

"Man! Had I known I'd be doing the hosting of this party I would have prepared myself better!"

The Empress, who had been very tense the whole evening because she wanted the party to be perfect in every aspect, sighed heavily and shook her head but Yifan didn't seem to mind. If anything, he was enjoying Tao’s entry up there because he was smiling and made a hand gesture to indicate it was fine.

"Anyways! I want to give all of you a very warm welcome to this party! I'm glad all of you actually came, I think I even saw some of Yifan's Exes here?"

Tao turned into the direction of a table that got put into the spotlight and two of Yifan's last girlfriends jumped when the attention snapped to them. One of them tried to hide behind her clutch while the other one just started to laugh and flipped her perfect wavy model hair over her delicate shoulder.

"You two are the only ones though, do the other ones hate him that much?"

The one who was laughing yelled something into Tao's direction and the table burst into fake laughter.

"Did anyone actually understand what that girl said?" Tao asked but when no one seemed to be able to answer, he continued with the program, "Okay then. Thanks for coming to this very special birthday for this very special person."

He turned back to face Yifan's table.

"Yifan, your birthdays are always legendary. I mean, not that I really do remember a lot from those parties because most of the time we were hopelessly drunk..." he stopped to let the audience laugh along with Yifan, "... but maybe that is just evidence to proof that it never gets boring with you."

"Yeah, no, boring isn't something Yifan has in his vocabulary," Yili whispered and Yifan side eyed her with a wink.

"I've known Yifan ever since I can remember. Trips to the capital to visit this part of my family were always super exciting because I knew I'd be seeing my favorite cousin again - and all of you know that we've got a bunch of cousins."

An 'Awwww' went through the rows of people and Yifan's smile grew even a little wider. Yixing wasn't sure if that was because Tao was so cheesy and purred the words into the microphone that the Prince wanted to hear, or if Yifan was just really happy to be here in this very moment. Yixing looked around and found that everyone was focused on Tao and the things he was saying rather than on Yifan, so he dared to put his hand on Yifan's thigh. The birthday boy didn't turn to look at him but put his own hand over Yixing's without a word.

"And I know, Yifan has a long list of scandals and parties and girlfriends, and maybe some of you in this room won't believe me when I say this, but: Yifan does have other sides to him. He can be super caring, for example. And that might sound weird but I've had the deepest and best conversations with that guy. He cares a lot about his people, and he's got a real big heart."

"Wow, now he's exaggerating!" Yixing scoffed and Yifan nudged him.

Yili giggled and even the Empress grinned at the comment before she ran her fingers through Yifan's hair and said:

"He's right though. I raised a good kid, after all."

Yifan and Yixing let go of each other the moment she had turned to her son and Yifan said:

"You've worked hard on that, mother."

Tao seemed to think about what to say next and after a short break he continued while he shifted his weight a little and started to wander up and down along the curtain:

"So yeah, today we come together to celebrate your birthday, Yifan. 25 years. The age you're considered to be mature enough to succeed your father. And I know - you're not really into politics and all that stuff. I'm pretty sure the thought alone is intimidating. Heck, I mean, I will inherit my father's company someday and that freaks me out already. You're getting a whole damn country to rule!"

The guests, including Yifan, started to laugh at the comment but while the other people were still laughing, Yifan turned silent.

"The problem is that he's right and it's just really freaking me out..." He admitted and Yixing patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry about that. At least not for now."

Yifan nodded, but still heaved a sigh.

"After a quarter of a century, you're officially getting the title as the heir to your father. I know what a lot of Chinese people say. That you're still not mature enough. That you're still a kid. You won't be able to lead this country like your grandfather or your father did. Apart from the fact that you can't even rule the country like your grandfather anymore because we've undergone a lot of political changes, but I'm sure that if you take the 25 years mark as a turning point, you can prove all those critics wrong. You've got that in you. I've seen that side of yours. Yili's seen that side of yours. Your mother believes in you. And hey, Zhang Yixing has probably written the most positive articles about you in years, you've got the base now!"

"I'm getting paid to write that !" Yixing threw in and made his table laugh.

Since their table was the closest to the stage, Tao had heard him too and he said:
"Come on Yixing, just play along. I'll give you your last cheque afterwards, okay?"

Yixing laughed and put his thumb up to show he was alright with that before Tao got back to the topic:

"Long story short, Yifan: I wish you a happy birthday. I wish you all the best in whatever you'll do. And I'm sure that no matter what you'll do, you'll do great. I love you very much, and I just want you to know that whenever you run into trouble, I'll have your back. Because you had my back ever since we were kids. And it's time to return the favor."

The room broke out in applause and Yifan got up from his chair and with only a few steps he strode over to the stage, got up and pulled Tao into a tight hug. The microphone rustled when Tao returned it but the sound drowned in the continuing applause of the guests. After they had parted, Tao kept one arm around Yifan's torso while Yifan held onto his shoulder and when the applause had died down, Tao put the mic one more time to his lips:

"So. I've been thinking about what to get you, but it's actually hard to get you something because you've got everything already... But I thought, well, I'm already making one of your wishes come true..." Yifan started to grin like a little boy and even wiggled his body in excitement while Tao continued, "I think you know what I'm talking about, I'm not sure if the other people here know though..."

Yifan squealed and asked:

"Is Lady Gaga behind that curtain?"

"You can go and peek behind it if you want."

He didn't need to think twice and jumped over to pull the curtain a little to the side. Nobody saw what was behind it but Yifan's loud fanboy scream was heard without even a microphone.

"She's not wearing a meat dress though, just for everyone's information!" Tao threw in while Yifan walked back to his cousin both hands clasped over his mouth, eyes thrown wide open in shock.

Tao put one hand back around Yifan and then said:

"Enough of that boring talk now! Let's get back to our seats and leave the stage to the one and only Lady Gaga to sing you some songs!"

As they got back to their seats, the crowd started cheering, partly because they were glad Tao had finally stopped talking, partly because they got excited just hearing the words 'Lady Gaga'. When Yifan sat back down, he cried out against the noise:

"Guys, she is here and she is looking absolutely gorgeous!! Her dress!!"

"I know," Yili said while she casually clapped along with the others and winked at her brother.

"Of course, my sister would see her before I do..." Yifan grunted but then the curtain pulled aside and the woman herself was seated at a piano, wearing a simple white silk dress, her hair falling over her shoulders in long waves. Yixing had almost feared that she'd pull another meat dress outfit or stuck some plush frogs onto her body, but she looked classy and absolutely gorgeous.

Obviously, she started off with her very own interpretation of Happy Birthday, before she greeted everyone, stating that she was overly honored to have been invited and that she decided to do an acoustic set of her songs for that special occasion. Every time she hit the keys of the piano and the familiar tunes of 'Pokerface', 'Bad Romance' and 'Hair' came up, Yifan cried out:

"This is my favorite song of hers!"

"You said that about the song she's sung before already..." Yili said but Yixing found it extremely cute, because for as long Lady Gaga was singing, Yifan completely forgot about trying to be cool and reserved.

He forgot about being the Prince of China. He forgot about Mr. Deng's health, forgot about his relapse a few weeks ago, about all the other things that bothered him. He was just enjoying the moment and he smiled like a little boy getting a cute puppy for Christmas. Yixing had to force himself to look back to the stage and not stare at Yifan's smiling face because in that moment, he thought that Yifan had never been more beautiful.

"So, I don't want to interrupt the festivities any further. I'll leave this last song as a little birthday present for the prince,” the artist finally said after the applause for her third song had died down.

"I love my life!" Yifan giggled and made Yixing and Yili roll their eyes with his fanboying.

Yes. It was cute. But only to a certain degree until it would become slightly annoying.

"This is a song that hasn't come out yet... I'm not even sure if it will be on the next album, but I liked it so much, I wanted to let you hear it. It's still very raw and will probably undergo a lot of changes until I'll release it. But I hope you'll like it anyway. And maybe, someday in the future, you’ll hear that song on the radio and then I hope, my dear Prince, that you will remember this day."

A short but enthusiastic applause emerged, then she put her hands on the keyboard of the piano and started the song. It sounded like a rather upbeat song and Yixing was sure that it would make a good pop-dance song once it would be finished.

"Ooooh, I like it!" Yifan exclaimed and Yixing was very close to sew his mouth shut so he wouldn't ruin the song with his constant commenting.

If I can't find the cure, I'll
I'll fix you with my love
No matter what you know, I'll
I'll fix you with my love

After the first chorus, Yixing felt Yifan's hand on his knee under the table, gently squeezing. It was like Yifan was trying to send him a message and while everyone else was enchanted by Lady Gaga's piano skills and her raw singing voice that wasn't distorted by a heavy amount of autotune, Yixing reached out for Yifan's hand and his fingers slipped in between the others’.

It was kind of crazy how a woman was able to enchant a whole room with just the tunes of a piano and her voice, and yet she did just that. Her words danced through the room and reached not only the audience's ears but also their hearts as she went on to the next verse and the bridge and her fingers flew over the black and white keys of her instrument.

It was basically just another sappy love song, Yixing knew that, and he usually wasn't a big fan of pop music, but something about the whole situation made him hold tighter onto Yifan's hand and his heart started to flutter when Yifan's thumb drew a random pattern on his skin.

She ended with another promise to heal her loved one and when the last note had faded, the room exploded in applause and standing ovations for her. The singer got up herself and bowed several times, before Tao came back on stage and gave her a kiss on the cheek and thanked her for coming. Then both of them disappeared backstage and the lights in the room went on before the band booked for the rest of the evening started playing some light lounge music.

"Couldn't we have booked her for the rest of the evening too?" Yifan whined, but more in a joking way and he told Yili and Yixing he'd be looking for her to thank her for the show.

Yixing spent the next ten minutes talking about how gorgeous Lady Gaga had been with Yili before Yifan reappeared with said artist. Before the singer had a chance, the Empress greeted her and thanked her for her performance, and even Lady Gaga who usually made other people swoon and lose their composure was starstruck by her. After Yifan's mother finally let her off the hook to check in with the staff about some other points on this evenings' agenda, Yifan said:

"I need you to meet Yixing."

"That handsome guy over there?"

"Yupp!"

She offered to shake hands with Yixing with a bright smile on her face.

"In that case it's even nicer to meet you!" Yixing's English was mediocre at best, so he just took her hand and smiled, stammering something about "Thank you, the pleasure is all mine", even though he knew his pronunciation was a little off. Yifan immediately reacted and started to introduce him as a journalist and a very good friend of his and when he told her about all the stories that Yixing was known for here in China, she let out a surprised sound.

"Wow, you know, the world needs more of that journalistic work, not those so called writers who type down made up stories for some tabloid newspapers, they're truly annoying and put that hard work other people are doing to shame."

"Tell me about it. According to one of our biggest gossip magazine in the country I am dating Yixing."

"Oh!" She exclaimed and looked back and forth between them, "Well, you two would make a cute couple, to be fair."

"Oh, I absolutely agree! I'd marry that guy on the spot if he only let me!" Yifan said and made Yixing roll his eyes, hoping nobody capable of speaking English was listening right now.

The singer laughed and said:

“Well, he can't marry you if you never propose to him in the first place."

"Don't say this, please!" Yixing cried out, because he feared that Yifan might be getting ideas from that statement.

Not that that was ever bound to happen, but the mere thought of Yifan getting on his knee and holding a ring up into the air made Yixing want to turn into a gooey mess. That was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

"Okay, then I'll give him another idea - because I'm kind of thirsty."

"Say no more!" Yifan said. "Say what you want and I'll get it for you!"

"Whiskey would be great."

"Got it!"

So without any warning Yifan disappeared to the bar and Yixing was left alone with that woman who had just sung on stage. Awkward was an understatement to how he was feeling and he quickly downed his own drink only to avoid starting a conversation.

"How long have you known Yifan?"

"Uuuuuuh... not very long... two months..." Yixing mumbled and apologized for his barely existent English.

"That's okay! Your English is way better than my Chinese," she said with a wink, "Don't worry."

He had the feeling that she really didn't mind but he was more than relieved when Yifan reappeared with her drink.

"Baby! Your glass is empty too!" He then observed.

"Don't call me that!"

Yifan clicked his tongue and threw an arm around him, then he turned to Lady Gaga:

"See? I'm always trying to be such a caring boyfriend and he just rejects me over and over again."

The singer took a sip of the Whiskey, then she concluded:

"He's playing hard to get!"

"I am still here and I can hear you guys...."

The other two giggled and then Sehun and Luhan crashed the scene. Sehun immediately busted into the conversation and tried to get Lady Gaga's attention, while Luhan kept staring at her like he's never seen another human being before. Then he met Yixing's gaze and mouthed:

"This is crazy! My life is crazy!!"

Yixing lifted his glass and replied:

"Welcome to my world. Need some alcohol to deal with it?"

His roommate nodded frantically so he took Luhan with him to the bar where they got some hard alcoholic drinks and clinked glasses. While they took a first gulp and Luhan made a grimace while the alcohol burned its way down his throat, Yixing let his eyes wander over the merry gathering.

"I didn't really think she'd be coming," Yixing then said while he watched Yifan and Lady Gaga (it still looked weird seeing them and repeating her name all over again in his head) drinking and talking.

"You knew that?!"

"I did, I sat next to Tao when he gave her a call."

"Dude! ! Keep dating that prince and make sure to keep inviting me for parties like these. What's next? Michael Jackson rising from the grave and performing for his coronation?"

"Okay, tone it down a notch, we are not dating."

Luhan put his glass down onto the counter and eyed Yixing suspiciously.

"Are you sure though? Because I ..." Yixing knew exactly that he was about to blabber about that night on Halloween, but he knew how to make him shut up with a threatening death glare, so he just cleared his throat and added, "... think you'd be cute together:"

"Could we maybe just stop talking about this? It's annoying!"

Luhan patted his shoulder and took a long look at him before he said:

"Okay, I'll stop. But allow me to say that I have the feeling that this won't be over after tonight. That prince won't let you go anywhere."

Yixing didn't respond to that. Instead, he inhaled the smell of his drink, feeling the alcohol getting into his head and took another sip. The really bad thing was that Luhan was probably right. And Yixing wasn't sure if he even wanted Yifan to let him go.

Dinner was served half an hour later and afterwards, Yifan told his guests to start the party and the band began their first set of music in which Yixing was forced to dance with Sophia, just like he had promised. In between short dance breaks, Tao, Sehun, Luhan, and Yifan downed shots with him and he only got off his dancing duty around ten when Sophia had to leave with her parents to go to bed. Lady Gaga had excused herself rather early, blaming the jetlag and the alcohol to make her more tired than she'd normally be at this time of the day.

“Okay, that’s it,” Yixing finally said after the clock struck eleven and he had downed more than enough drinks with the others, “Time for the press to leave.”

“Um, no?” Yifan said and looked at Yixing as if he had lost his mind, “You’re not going to leave just like that!”

“It’s not that I don’t want to stay, but I have a deadline in the morning and I need to get an article done on this whole .”

“Then don’t meet the deadline!”

“Yifan, shouldn’t you act like a grown up now?” Yixing asked and got a little annoyed that Yifan still did not understand that there were people who had responsibilities and jobs and a normal life.

The prince did not answer, but instead he jugged his glass of whiskey in one go like it was water. Then he put the emptied glass on the table, turned back to Yixing and said:

“Okay, give me five minutes, then I’ll let you off the hook.”

“Ugh,” was everything Yixing could say and then Yifan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along with him.

Yixing was a little drunk himself so he just followed him through the whole room, then through a side door and long corridors that probably were off limits for guests but Yifan walked down them like he owned the place.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting lost, obviously!” Yifan retorted and opened a door which turned out to be a storage room. He kept staring into the room for five more seconds, then he decided, “Nope, not what I was looking for.”

“Jesus Christ, Yifan, where do you want to go?!”

Yixing still followed Yifan on the heels and then the older one saw the exit sign above their heads.

“It’s getting warmer!” He proclaimed and followed the sign to a big metal door that he could only push open after throwing his whole weight against it.

The cold November air was like a slap in the face after spending hours in a room heated up by other bodies swirling around on the dancefloor and clinking glasses at tables. Suddenly, Yixing felt very sober. The door fell shut behind them and the last noises from inside vanished. Yifan had led them right to the employee parking space which was empty except for a few parked cars.

“Okay, so. I guess you already took five minutes to get me out here.”

“Okay then give me five more! It’s my birthday after all!”

Yixing’s sigh told Yifan his wish was granted. But Yifan also knew that Yixing would take those five minutes literally so he ran his fingers nervously through his hair while thinking of proper words to express himself.

“Ummmmmm, yeah… wow …” Yifan paced back and forth while he only dared to glance a few times at Yixing. The younger one was almost about to lash out and tell Yifan to spit it out already, because he realized that the longer this dragged on, the higher he got his hopes for something he didn’t even know what exactly it was he was hoping for, then the other one said, “I don’t want you to go.”

“Wow. If that is all, I’ll just stay for another hour, you didn’t have to drag me out here for that.”

“NO, I don’t mean that, Yixing!” Yifan groaned and Yixing felt his heart pounding against his throat as Yifan came closer to cup his face, “I mean… don’t leave me. Don’t… I just… oh god damn it Yixing! Look, I know, I’m a wreck and I’m so far away from being a ing normal person… and you probably deserve someone better, like, maybe someone who isn’t such an idiot and can actually take care of you, but… I just really need you, okay? You’re the only one who’s keeping me together. I can’t just lose you.”

Maybe it was the cold that crept under their dress shirts and tweaked their eyes, but Yifan sniffled and Yixing could’ve sworn he was seeing tears in the taller one’s eyes. Yet, he couldn’t see too clear either. He blinked heavily to get back a little control over his face.

“It’s crazy, I know, but I really like you.”

Those words had barely been a whisper but they almost knocked Yixing out cold because he knew he had wanted to hear those words all along. Because it really was crazy, yes, but Yixing really liked Yifan too, even though he had had such a huge dislike against him in the first weeks.

Yet, there were still a lot of doubts that Yixing had to get rid of first, because his mind would always win over what his heart wanted which had saved his more than a few times, but also had made him miss out on some great opportunities.

“Your father…” he begun, but got cut off right away:

“ him!”

“No I’d rather not.”

His comment made Yifan snort and even Yixing chuckled a little before the taller one pressed his forehead against his own. Their breathes danced along their cold faces and Yixing felt heat rising up in his body, even though the mild autumn days had gone some days ago and now it was time for winter to take its toll over the city.

“You know, I saw you with Jessica yesterday,” Yixing began hesitantly, “and I thought that we’d never be able to be together like that in public. Ever. Jessica took your arm and you both looked so good together.”

“She’s not…” Yifan started but Yixing didn’t even let him catch another breath to continue.

“I know. She’s got someone already. You two are just friends. But yet there I stood thinking I’d never be able to be like that around you even when I want to. And you are just such a physical person… I’ll never be able to give that to you, at least not when you’re under supervision of someone else. Which you are most of the time.”

“I don’t care about that,” Yifan stated after saying nothing for a few moments.

The earnest tone in his voice made Yixing lose his own and he only looked back up to the prince, completely baffled, and he didn’t even know why exactly. He didn’t know anything exactly. The only thing he knew in that moment was that maybe, after all, his worrying had been for nothing.

“As long as I know I’ve got you, I don’t care about anything else. Really.”

Risks weren’t things Yixing liked to take too much. Dating the Prince of China has definitely never been on his bucket list. All he wanted was a normal life like anyone else. But he also wanted Yifan. He couldn’t have both, so he had to make a decision.

“Okay.” He simply said which made Yifan take a step back to have a better look at the younger one.

His hands were still holding on to Yixing’s cheeks as if losing contact meant the end of his world.

“Okay…?”

“Yes. Okay. I won’t leave. You’ll have to endure my nagging until the end of your days. Or until you’ll get tired of it.”

Yixing really had the talent to destroy the slightest romantic situation, but Yifan didn’t seem to mind as he chuckled and said:

“Oh, right now I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of you or your nagging.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

Yifan grinned and then dived down to finally kiss Yixing. The tips of their noses were awfully cold as were their hands that buried themselves in hair and clothes, trying to find warmth through the other’s body. Yifan broke away first with another sniffle and the question:

“So does that make us boyfriends now? Like, officially?”

“Boyfriends… girlboyfriends… whatever you fancy.”

“I think girlboyfriend has a nice ring to it.” Yifan grinned and he looked so adorable in that second, Yixing couldn’t even bring himself to get mad at him even in a joking way.

“Okay then. Can we still get back inside again please? I’m freezing to death.”

Yifan nodded with a radiant smile on his lips and kissed Yixing one more time before they went for the door and got back in. Yixing decided to stay, something he would come to regret later but in that moment, he just felt the need to stick with Yifan, even if they tried to act like they were pulling off the usual business.

“There they are!” Sehun exclaimed when they finally got back to their table that was filled with snacks and emptied glasses, “You two been ing?”

“You jealous?” Yifan shot back and made Yili along with Luhan and Tao giggle.

“Jealous of some ten minute ? Dude... I’m used to better things.”

“That’s it!” Yili cried out and ordered one of the waiters to come over to them, “I think we need more Tequila at this table!”

The next two hours were spent with a lot of drinking, a lot of laughter and a lot of dancing once the last people from the older generation had left the venue, including the Empress. Yixing had decided to leave somewhere between twelve and one, but that intend had drowned after Yili’s second round of tequila and he ended up in Yifan’s Bentley around three o’clock in the morning, caught between the backdoor and Yifan who showered him with kisses and affection the whole way back to the palace. In that moment, Yixing knew he wouldn’t be meeting the deadline tomorrow and it surprised him how this did not bother him the slightest as they stumbled into Yifan’s bedroom.

A/N:

- First and foremost I want to apologize. It took ages. I know. I KNOW. I'M SO SORRY. Thing is, I wanted to post on Yifan's birthday okay but then I -was- at Yifan's birthday in Shanghai and it kind of slipped my mind (lol guys I missed him by ten seconds at the ing airport like if I had walked a liiiiiiittle slower and I wouldn't have looked into the other direction at the baggage claim I WOULD'VE SEEN HIM my life is so tragic). After coming back to Beijing I had a busy busy life and a ty internet connection, an even worse VPN which meant I couldn't use Google Docs and so I decided to take a break until I had to leave China in January because I didn't get my visa extended ( YOU man I just want to live there why are y'all making this so hard on me). Then I wrote 夏天之天 and this the life out of me I swear. I wasn't able to write anything after posting that and then I started to work and I am still trying to find something better and I am really not good at all this adulting and I still am trying to find my way into some sort of life??? Idk how to say that. So yeah. It took ages. And I had a very big writers block ISTG I opened the document for this so many times and immediately went "NAH THIS IS BULL" and closed it and I was frustrated.

- So. Now that I whined about this let me apologize for a crappy chapter that hasn't been beta'd yet because Google Docs is still a (turns out, it wasn't the VPN's fault LOOOOOOOOL) so please ignore any mistakes because English is hard man. Also why did I come up with that ing Lady Gaga idea in Chapter 2 I hate myself now I had to write her into this somehow and I think it a lot. But hey when I heard her newest song I was like "THIS IS AHMOM!!" and I actually listened to it while I wrote most of the chapter. LOL. OKay. 

- We still got some chapters to go but I don't know when I will post them. I will try to finish everything asap, I have a few things written out now, I just need to string them together.

- Don't worry. is on the way. Next chapter. *eyebrow wiggle*