Even though they had come home extremely late at night – or very early in the morning – Yixing and Zhixiang were already up around nine. After leaving the restaurant Luhan had insisted on going to McDonald’s to get something to eat which had delayed their return home for about an hour more. The rather weird thing was that Luhan seemed to be up already because they heard someone preparing some breakfast in the kitchen.

“Morniiiiing!” Zhixiang mumbled next to him and rolled over to face Yixing.

“Why aren’t we asleep,” Yixing asked and covered his face with his hands.

“Because the sky is awake!” The other one responded and made a theatrical hand gesture, “So I have to be awake too!”

“God Damnit Luo Zhixiang, did you actually just quote ‘Frozen’?”

“Yes, because I know you’d be the only one who’d get the reference.”

Yixing snorted which then turned into a heartfelt laughter. That’s what he’d been missing all the time. His best friend and his bad puns and pop culture references that were absolutely lame. Zhixiang placed his head on Yixing’s shoulder.

“Aaaah, I missed you so much Yixing.”

“Tell me about it. Every day without your bad puns is horrible.”

The answer was Zhixiang pinching Yixing’s sides. Yixing flinched but barely tried to escape and after a moment of silence the younger one asked:

“Sooooo, how are things going with Yangqing? Is she able to bear living with you?”

“Aaaah, yes!” Zhixiang exclaimed and shot up.

He waddled over to his bag and pulled out a big and heavy looking envelope where he had written Yixing’s name on it. Zhixiang threw himself on Yixing’s bed again and handed the thing over to his friend.

“This is a love letter from me to you, my love!”

“Ugh could you stop it. What is this?”

“Open it!”

Yixing sighed and opened the envelope while Zhixiang watched him carefully as he pulled out a big card that read

“You…! You are getting MARRIED!” Yixing yelled and almost threw the card away in excitement.

Right in that moment the doorbell rang but both of the men decided within an instant that Luhan should answer it. Zhixiang let out a snorting laughter and yelled back:

“I’m getting married!!”

“How…! Wow! What did you do to trick her into saying yes to such an idiot like you?!”

“I guess what they say is true: Birds of a feather flock together!” Zhixiang answered and Yixing sat up to give his best friend a hug.

“My god, congratulations!”

His friend returned the hug and when they let go of each other, he said:

“You need to be my best man for this!”

“Of course! Anything! Wow! I’m so happy for you, Zhixiang!!”

Yixing threw his hands around the other once again and gave him a big smooch on the cheek, because he really didn’t know how to express his own excitement. He felt like his heart was beating faster and his stomach fluttered, it was almost as if he was the one getting married.

“I’m glad you approve of this, that was the most of my concerns,” Zhixiang admitted.

“Are you kidding me? Why would I oppose this?! This is great! I finally can lean back and relax because your wife will have an eye on you!”

Both of them giggled like little girls and Zhixiang patted Yixing’s head before he started to play with a strand of his friend’s hair.

“You are truly my best friend. I love you, man.”

Right in that moment Yixing’s bedroom door flung open and Yifan stood in the doorway. Yixing let out a surprised squeal and Zhixiang blinked confused.

“What are you doing here?!” Yixing exclaimed and untangled himself from Zhixiang’s grip.

“I called you – you’re supposed to pick up when I call you!” Yifan grunted behind grinding teeth as he eyed Zhixiang as if he was about to smash his head in.

“You… what?!”

Yixing turned for his phone that had been charging over the night and indeed, there were several missed calls and all of them said “Wu Yifan” – he had forgotten to unmute it so he hadn’t heard.

“Okay, so?”

“So?! You-!”

Before Yifan could go on a rant on how the world had to revolve around him once more, another thought came to the journalist’s mind:

“Hold on a second… what are you doing here?! How do you know where I live?!”

The newcomer heaved an annoyed sigh.

“That is not even the point I’m trying to make here, Zhang Yixing!”

“No, this! How did you find out where I live?!”

Yifan bit his lip and supported his hands on his slim hips, as if contemplating whether or not he should speak the truth. He didn’t even have to say anything, Yixing had already made up his mind.

“Leave my house!”

The younger one got up from his bed and pushed Yifan out of his room and into the hallway.

“You are throwing me out?!”

“I’ve had enough of your manipulative ways! man, can’t I have like one ing day to myself?! Leave! And don’t even think about showing up on my doorway ever again, you stalker!”

“How are you talking to me?!”

There was a struggle as Yifan tried to shake Yixing off and Yixing shoved him to the exit. On their way, they almost ran into Luhan who was peeking out of the kitchen. His facial expression gave away that he regretted opening the door for the prince.

“I’m talking to you however the I want! And now go! I don’t want to see you anymore!” Yixing yelled as he opened the apartment door and gave the taller one a final push out of the apartment, “I’ll resign from this job tomorrow, this man! You can terrorize someone different from now on, it won’t be me anymore!”

“You CAN’T, Yixing!” Yifan finally yelled back.

“Oh I can’t? Just watch me!” Yixing responded and tried to slam the door shut.

“NO!”

The next few seconds went by in a weird slow motion montage that was still too fast for anyone to prevent the happening – Yixing took all his energy and tried to close the door in front of Yifan’s nose with more force than he had intended to. Yifan tried to avert just that and in a little fit of panic he placed his foot in the doorway. Since the apartment door was made of heavy metal and the momentum of it falling shut was so immense, Yifan’s subtalar joint made a weird cracking noise and he screamed in pain.

It only dawned on Yixing what had happened when Yifan went down on his knees and held his ankle.

“! Yifan? Are you okay??”

Startled from the noise, Luhan and Zhixiang emerged into the hallway and watched as Yixing squatted down to take a look at the mess he had made. Yifan whimpered something about how he clearly was not okay and it was Luhan, the one with the biggest hangover, who seemed to be the only one with a functioning brain:

“Man, you’ve got to get him to the hospital I’ve heard that ankle cracking from like a million feet distance!”

So that’s what Yixing and Zhixiang did. They heaved Yifan up on his feet (or rather, the other foot) and after throwing on the next best clothes they brought him downstairs where Yixing had to find out that Yifan had actually driven here by himself in his Ferrari FF. Zhixiang offered to drive while Yixing tried to prevent Yifan’s ankle from swelling by draping a cold wet towel around it. On their way Yixing apologized a billion times but Yifan didn’t really respond to that because he was too busy playing the dying swan.

Around an hour later, Yixing sat next to Zhixiang in the hallway of the nearest hospital and anxiously waited for Yifan to come out of the doctor’s office. He was a dead man.

“.” He exclaimed and rubbed his face in frustration.

“He’s not dying, he’ll be fine.”

“I made the ankle of China’s Prince turn into ugly mush, Zhixiang! That’s like committing a major crime!” Yixing retorted at his best friend’s comment.

“Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks like, Yixing.”

“The bones CRACKED man! I’m so dead. !”

“Language, Darling!” Zhixiang scolded and patted Yixing’s back, “It already happened, you can’t change that anymore.”

“It’s still super unnecessary! I really didn’t need that!”

He wanted to have a nice day with his best friend before he’d be leaving for Taiwan in the evening again. Like visiting their favorite restaurant when they had gone to university, for example. Now he was wasting precious time in a hospital, just because he had let his temper win over.

Yixing went on in throwing himself into a dark pit of self-hatred until Yifan came out, walking on crutches while a nurse and the doctor walked out after him.

“You’ll be fine in a few weeks,” Yixing heard the doctor say and the men shook hands.

The journalist and his friend stood up and Yixing was somehow relieved that it didn’t sound that bad. Yifan’s ankle was madly patched up though.

“Thank you doctor!”

“We’ll be sending the report to your personal doctor so he can go on with the treatment. Until then, go home and remember to rest a lot, put ice on it, compress it and elevate it.”

“I will, thank you very much.”

They shared laughters and smiles until the doctor and the nurse disappeared into the office again and Yifan turned around to face Yixing. His smile died down within an instant.

“So?” Yixing asked but Yifan didn’t answer and tried to waddle away as fast but as graceful as possible on his crutches - it failed horribly.

“Hey, would you please talk to me here?!”

The others had caught up on Yifan pretty quickly, but Zhixiang stayed in the background while Yixing demanded some answers.

“How bad is it?! YA, Yifan, are you seriously ignoring me?!”

They got out of the entrance hall onto the parking lot where the Ferrari had been exchanged for the Bentley and Yifan’s personal driver. Yixing wondered for a second how that had happened, but he had no time to reflect on that because Yifan finally decided to let him in on his diagnosis:

“It’s not completely broken, it should be fine in a few weeks.”

“So that’s… good?”

Yifan’s cold look shut Yixing up right on the spot. They stood there for a mere second and Yixing said:

“Listen, I am really sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Without one more word Yifan turned for the car and his driver opened the door for him.

“Your Ferrari has been driven back by Mr. Wang, my prince,” the man in his forties informed and Yifan just nodded.

For an awkward moment the driver expected Yixing to get in too, like he usually did, but Yifan pulled at the handle and closed the door, clearly showing Yixing wouldn’t be joining him. The driver blinked confused and looked at Yixing, it was almost like he expected an explanation - or like he wanted to ask if everything was alright between them. Yixing heaved a sigh and then said:

“Thanks for picking him up.”

“It’s my job,” He shrugged his shoulders and wished Yixing a nice day before he sat behind the steering wheel and drove away.

Zhixiang joined him in that moment.

“What an !” Yixing scoffed, which was directed at Yifan, of course, not the driver.

“Let him cool down for a day,” Zhixiang said and dragged Yixing to the main street to catch a taxi, “Let’s go and eat something, I’m starving.”

Yixing dragged Yifan for the rest of the day and Zhixiang tried to pacify him until they went to the airport and parted ways again for the time being. After the check in Yixing followed his best friend to the security check where he couldn’t go through, even though he wished he could. Getting a time off seemed too alluring right now.

“I’ll miss you,” he said while they hugged each other tightly.

“I’ll miss you too,” Zhixiang responded, “Don’t let that prince of yours annoy you too much.”

“Pff, I’ll resign first thing tomorrow, he won’t be getting on my nerves anymore.”

The man from Taiwan just smiled and pinched Yixing’s cheek.

“Do you think he was jealous?”

“Huh?!”

“I think he was jealous,” Zhixiang voiced his thought while he swayed back and forth, “I’m actually pretty sure. He didn’t want you to be alone with me.”

“You are being ridiculous now. He just wanted to pull another I’m-the-prince-I-can-do-whatever-I-want-scene, that’s all.”

“If you say so!”

The older one hugged Yixing one more time before he finally let go of him and took his cabin luggage in his hands.

“I’ll see you, and I’ll send you a proper invitation for the wedding. And you have to come over someday, okay? Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Zhixiang ruffled Yixing’s hair and with a last wave he disappeared to the security check and for the departure gates. The journalist sighed and went home, still a little irritated, but at least a little tamed. When he came back home there was another person sitting on the couch next to Luhan waiting for him.

“Yili!” He exclaimed and felt like someone had punched his stomach.

“Xingiiiiieee!” Yifan’s sister cried out and gave him a big hug and a radiant smile.

“How come everybody knows where I’m living?!”

“Yifan gave me the address,” Yili answered with a shrug and sat back down onto the sofa.

“I didn’t know you were coming…” Yixing said and took a seat on an armchair.

“It’s okay, it was more of a surprise visit. Luhan kept me amazing company!” The princess said and patted Luhan’s knee who turned red at the touch.

“You’re here because of Yifan, right?” Yixing asked and slumped into the armchair.

She nodded and Luhan said:

“Okay, that’s a thing between you two, I’m going to leave.”

Yixing’s roommate got up and took his glass of water with him. While he left the living room, he said:

“You know Yixing, if you ever get fired at the Zhongguo Ribao, just start at OMG! Magazine, you have so much insider knowledge about Yifan now, your articles would be even something I would read then.”

“Shut up Luhan and get lost!”

Luhan snorted and when the remaining two heard his bedroom door close, Yixing turned back to Yili.

“Yili, I didn’t do that on purpose, I’ve apologized but I think he’s not accepting that!”

“Yeaaaah, I know it was an accident, don’t worry, I didn’t come to sue you for compensation for his injury.”

“Then what’s the reason for your coming?”

Yili took a sip from the orange juice Luhan had offered her prior to Yixing’s arrival. She kind of looked out of place in their living room. The Princess of China, sitting on an old sofa Luhan had found on a flea market in her perfectly coordinated outfit while her surroundings were a horrible mix of furniture that didn’t fit together. She heaved a sigh and flipped her hair back before she eyed Yixing.

“You weren’t serious about actually quitting, right?”

“Umm…?”

“Listen,” Yili said, “I know my brother isn’t very easy to handle…”

“Yili, he intruded my privacy…”

“What? Because he showed at your doorway? Does that make me an intruder too then?”

“No, that’s a different thing. You sit here and actually talk to me in a civilized manner, while Yifan stormed into my bedroom and made a scene like a jealous girlfriend catching her boyfriend sleeping with another chick!”

“Believe me, I already told him that was a move.”

“Great!” Yixing scoffed sarcastically and then added, “I don’t think Yifan wants to see me, he gave me the cold shoulder at the hospital.”

“Oh, I think he does though!” Yili retorted, “He’s actually very anxious you might not come back after what he pulled on you today.”

“Well, I’m glad he starts to reflect on his actions and the consequences!”

“Yixing… Yifan is not a very stable person to begin with…”

“Yepp, he’s an absolute sociopath, nice to know I’m not the only one who sees that!”

“That is a little too harsh!” Yili threw in and frowned, a glimmer of hurt flickering across her pretty face.

“Yili, this guy tries to control every aspect of my life. He flips his when I simply don’t hear my phone ringing when he calls and stalks me to my home! On the only free day I had in a long time, by the way!”

“Hey, try to walk in his shoes for a while – you also wouldn’t know how to behave if you had grown up like him. He’s never been shown any boundaries. He doesn’t know any better,” Yili tried to defend her brother but Yixing wasn’t having any of that.

“Well, so did you! You grew up in the same household and you’re smart, charming and well mannered! So what went wrong with him, huh?!”

“I just had him showing me how you could downright ruin your own life because you hang around with the wrong people so I decided to do it differently!”

“Those fake friends of his? Yeah. Amazing.”

“William and the others? Pff, no, believe me, they are hardly as bad as those other bastards who ruined him.”

Yixing tilted his head in question and Yili sighed.

“I swear to god if you tell anyone, you’re dead.”

The man nodded while the princess shifted her weight to check if Luhan could possibly be hearing them. Then she turned back to Yixing and said:

“Yifan has a history with drugs and depression. He met the wrong people at the wrong time that him down that road when he was around twenty. Long story short, when he was twenty three we had to give him into rehab and therapy, he cut ties with all those people and has been trying to get back to normal ever since.”

Yixing blinked in confusion.

“What…?”

“It’s the family’s best kept secret, actually. And I just passed it on to a journalist, amazing!” Yili said and threw her hands up in horror when the realization had hit her.

“I… I won’t tell anyone.” Yixing reassured and the princess took another big gulp from her drink.

“Believe me, the Yifan we’re dealing with now is an improvement to what he has been a few years ago. He’s getting better and he’s trying. But it’s hard for him.”

Suddenly, Yixing remembered the highlighted lines in In Cold Blood. You are strong, but there is a flaw in your strength, and unless you can learn how to control it the flaw will prove stronger than your strength and defeat you. He truly had gotten an insight on Yifan’s mindset. If only he had known back then already. He might have reacted differently.

“That’s why I really need you to come back.” Yili pulled him back into reality.

“What exactly has that to do with me?” Yixing asked.

“Oh Yixing!” Yili cried out and rolled her eyes, “My brother likes you and thinks very highly of you! And I cannot deny that ever since you appeared, he’s never been better actually. If you leave now, he might fall back into old habits.”

“Wow, are you trying to shame me into supporting him?”

“I’m not shaming anyone, what horrid allegation!” The princess exclaimed, “I just want you to come by tomorrow and talk to him. I talked to him already and he doesn’t want you to leave. Give him a chance to explain himself. And when you’re still mad at him, which is your absolute right to be by the way, you can still decide to talk to your boss and resign.”

“Jesus Christ…”

Why hadn’t anyone warned him about this job beforehand? Yili looked at Yixing, trying an encouraging smile, almost begging him to consider her offer. The journalist thought about the past weeks and had to admit that Yifan had had his good moments, spoiled brat attitude put aside.

“...okay… I’ll do it.”

Yili smiled and leaned over to hug him.

“Thank you! It means a lot!”

So the next day, Yixing made his way through the palace (the guard actually had stopped asking for his ID since he came by almost every god damn day) to Yifan’s bedchambers where he knocked at the door but didn’t wait until someone told him to come in.

Yifan was lying on his bed, his injured foot resting on a few pillows while he seemed to be reading something on his iPad. When he looked up and saw Yixing, he pressed his lips together.

“Hi.” Yixing said and Yifan nodded.

He’s still acting like a , Yixing thought as he approached the prince whose attention snapped back to his tablet. When he stood next to Yifan he pulled a book out of his bag which he had gotten on his way here. It was a copy of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl – Yixing had chosen it mainly because it was over 500 pages and Yifan would surely have enough time to do a lot of reading while resting his ankle. Plus he had read it himself and liked it very much.

“Here, I thought you might like it.”

Finally Yifan put the tablet aside and looked at the book. He took it into his hands and asked:

“Is it good?”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty smart book. Big plot twists. Great writing. I think you’ll like it.”

Yifan looked at the cover and said:

“Gone Girl. Wasn’t a movie made out of that book?”

“Yes, but I’ve never seen that one actually.”

Yifan nodded and skipped through the pages before he looked up and thanked Yixing. There was an awkward silence following in which Yixing refused to be the first to apologize. After all, he had apologized already. Now it was Yifan’s turn.

“So? Do you want to talk or…?”

“Yili has visited you, hasn’t she?” Was Yifan’s counter question.

“Well, yes.”

“Otherwise you wouldn’t be here, I reckon.”

“Can you hold it against me?! You just storm into my apartment and make a scene out of nothing. You might have gotten your way with your girlfriends like that, but you can’t act like this with me!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Yifan threw in before Yixing’s rant could drag on, “I apologize. Sorry. I just – I don’t know what was going on with me.”

“Man, the day started out so good with Zhixiang’s marriage news and then you bursted in…”

“Wait, what? Marriage?”

“Yeah, he told me he’d be marrying his long time girlfriend next year and asked me to be his best man. And then – boom – you came in and just ruined the mood,” Yixing explained and watched as Yifan’s face fell in surprise and the prince kind of facepalmed himself.

“He’s getting married,” The older one repeated and shook his head, “I’m so stupid…”

He had muttered the last sentence under his breath but it was loud enough for Yixing to understand.

“You’re not actually telling me that you were jealous? For real now, Yifan??”

The other one didn’t answer but slightly blushed, trying to find a smart way to talk himself out of the situation but then Yixing started to laugh, and he didn’t even know why. It was too ridiculous.

“HEY, what was I supposed to think when you two sit half on your bed and he tells you he loves you??”

With that, Yifan only made it worse and Yixing let out a howl of laughter before he had to support himself on the mattress the prince was laying on. The tall man realized how wrong all of this sounded, so he bit his lower lip in frustration and massaged his temple.

“I’m--- oh god, YIFAN!” Yixing had to go down on his knees and catch his breath. While he wiped away some tears caused by his laughing fit, he giggled, “Zhixiang and me are just best friends. I love this guy and he loves me. But that’s 100% platonic. Like, are you capable of grasping the concept of ‘friendship’??”

Yifan rolled his eyes.

“Okay, I GET IT, I was stupid! Can we put this to rest now please?!”

Another laugh threatened to escape Yixing’s throat when Yifan’s phone went off and reminded him to change the bandages on his foot. Yifan grunted but was happy about the distraction. Clearly ashamed of his own stupidity he turned the alarm off and sat a little straighter to grab the phone on the desk next to him and call someone to help him with that. Yixing stepped in:

“I’ll do it.”

“Huh??”

“I mean, I did that,” Yixing said and pointed to Yifan’s bandaged foot, “Let me change that for you.”

“You don’t need to…”

“Let me.”

Yifan sighed and put the phone back onto the desk before he pointed at some new bandages and some ointment he was supposed to put on the grazed parts of the injury. Yixing took his coat off and tucked the sleeves of his shirt up. When he revealed his left wrist, Yifan grabbed it and said:

“Ey? You’re wearing the watch!”

He was right. Yixing had indeed taken the Rolex out of its box and put it on this morning before leaving the house.

“It would be a waste of money if I didn’t wear it,” he explained matter of factly and Yifan’s lips finally curled up into a smile.

“It suits you. I knew it.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Yixing started his task and when he saw the blue and red shades on Yifan’s swollen skin around his ankle, his heart sunk. That looked like it hurt immensely.

“Is it very bad?” He asked while he carefully put the medicine on the maltreated skin.

Yifan flinched at the beginning but his muscles eased after a while as he watched how Yixing put a new bandage around his foot.

“It’s okay. I won’t die. Don’t worry.”

Yixing nodded and excused himself to wash his hands. When he returned to the bedroom, he sat down next to Yifan, unsure of what to do next. Yifan looked at him with a soft facial expression.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m glad you won’t sue me.”

Yifan snorted.

“I’d never even dare to think about that,” he retorted and patted Yixing’s knee, “I’m sorry again. I’m a up, you know.”

“… I know.”

They looked at each other and there were no words needed. Yifan somehow knew what Yixing meant and he accepted that fact in squeezing the other’s knee.

“I’ll get better, I promise.”

“Well! I do hope so!” Yixing responded and tickled another giggle out of Yifan.

“So… can we be good again? Please?”

It was the “please” and the sincere look on Yifan’s face that let Yixing give in once again.

“The last time we said that wasn’t even 48 hours ago.”

“I know, but that one doesn’t count then!”

“Oh, really?” Yixing asked, eyebrow raised while Yifan curled his lips into a pout that gave him the look of an overly cute puppy.

“Yes?” The prince responded and tilted his head hoping it would do the trick.

“You really will be the reason for my high blood pressure. But okay. We’re good again.”

“Awesome!”

Yifan scooted over to give Yixing a little more space and they sat next to each other on the bed, barely an inch apart and Yifan placed his head on Yixing’s shoulder before he sighed in content.

“One question remains though… how did you find out my address?”

“I didn’t…” Yifan admitted, “I… okay, so, remember two weeks ago when I asked you to connect our phones via GPS so you could see when I’m on my way from the Palace to that appointment? So you could calculate the time better when to leave your office because of the horrible traffic that day?”

“Umm… yeeees.”

It slowly dawned on Yixing.

“Yeah. That’s how I knew.”

“You ing tracked my phone.”

“It’s not tracking when you still got your GPS on and your phone connected to mine!” Yifan defended himself hastily and lifted his head, fearing he might flip Yixing off right after they had buried the hatchet.

Yixing grunted. He couldn’t actually be that mad. He had, in fact, connected his phone to Yifan’s, but he had already forgotten about it.

“I’m just going to turn off GPS in the future.”

“Suit yourself.” Yifan shrugged and placed his head back on Yixing’s shoulder.

Hi now that I think about it I hate this chapter but when do I not throw myself into a pit of self doubt anyways have a nice week and stufffffffff!