‘I don’t want you to fall down’—what? What did that even mean? Where did that even come from? Was Jongin going mad? Seriously? Who even was he at this point, god knows Jongin himself had no clue anymore. Yes, his heart was beating like crazy with Yixing’s warmth and sensual scent eating him up alive, but that wasn’t an excuse for him to blurt out rubbish out of him mouth now was it? What would Sehun say if he found out? Baekhyun would have a blast mocking him that’s for sure. Jongin shook his head at the image of a proudly grinning Baekhyun soaking up in his misery and dared to take a glance back at Yixing. Hoping—praying he was as uncomfortable as Jongin was.

Okay, maybe he was overreacting a bit, ‘cause Zhang Yixing seemed completely clueless about the turmoil Jongin was going through. He was dozing off, clearly, mouth gaping and eyes unfocused. Jongin was starting to worry, he seemed to do that quite a lot.

“We’re here.” Jongin announced, eyes glued to Yixing’s gaping mouth. Rain was still going strong and Jongin was getting seriously worried about the Chinese male’s mental health as it took him a moment to wake up from his daze and catch Jongin’s gaze with a warm smile.

Yixing bashfully asked for a change of clothes and if he could take a shower at the younger’s house, and Jongin got even more confused and uncomfortable not knowing how he’s going to deal with the other boy’s presence in his house.

“I’m completely soaked,” Yixing chuckled sheepishly, wet hair sticking to his forehead. “The umbrella didn’t do much I guess.”

“Eh…yeah I guess.” Jongin didn’t mind really, yeah sure whatever, Yixing was soaked and Jongin wasn’t cruel enough to ask him to leave like that. Jongin was raised well, and Yixing was a pretty nice dude, hell he’d rather have Yixing in his house than any of those rats he called friends.

“You have a beautiful garden Jongin-ssi!”

“Eh…” That was random. “Thank you…” Jongin stepped off of the bicycle and waited for Yixing to follow him to his house, not sure how to feel anymore. Yixing smiled uncertainly at Jongin before grabbing the younger boy’s arm to stop him in his tracks.

“Look…” Yixing took a deep breath and Jongin was yet again confused. “I—“

“Yes…?”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, like—I mean if your parents are not okay with strangers in your house I completely understand and I’ll just leave and go dry up at my own house—“ Jongin arched his brows in confusion.

“What?”

“Never mind, I’m leaving!” Yixing was back on his bike and as he was about to pedal and wave goodbye to Jongin, the younger boy blocked his way, still unbearably confused and a tad bit irritated, hoping to understand what was going on.

“I’m sorry what?” Jongin looked so lost Yixing almost cackled if he wasn’t as distressed and confused himself at his own abrupt action. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t really want to bother you Jongin-ssi…”

“You already did.” Yixing couldn’t stop his mouth from dropping in shock at Jongin’s brutally honest statement. “We’re at my house, might as well come in since we’re already here.”Jongin deadpanned and Yixing gulped. True, he asked for this, more like forced Jongin to ride his bike and drive it through this rainstorm. He was being annoying and Yixing hated that Jongin was getting irritated because of him. Jongin was about to talk again when Yixng cut him off by a loud sneeze.

“That’s it, you’re coming in whether you like it or not.” Yixing had no choice but to oblige and follow Jongin’s suit. The garden was indeed breathtaking, the house was nothing impressive, but the garden made it look like it was a house straight out of a fairytale book.

“Let me guess, your mom likes gardening?” Yixing stared in awe at the nicely laid out flowers and majestically dancing petals of trees as they fell down along with raindrops. It even had a ceramic fountain, Yixing was in love. The Chinese male was reminded by his grandmother’s skilled gardening techniques and passion for everything botanic.

“Nah, it’s actually my dad who maintains this garden, whenever he’s around that is.”

“Oh, that’s cool. He did a great job, it’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is, I guess.” Jongin scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I help too, sometimes…” Unsure of why exactly he added that part, Jongin opted to simply brush off whatever Yixing said to that unnecessary addition and push the entrance door with a deep sigh.

It should have felt weird having a complete stranger standing in the middle of his entryway looking around in awe as he took in the oddly shaped mirrors, huge paintings and colorful decor pieces adorning the walls and corners all around him, yet it didn’t. It didn’t feel weird at all. Actually, the tanned male couldn’t help but wonder what Yixing thought of his mother’s interior design taste.

Jongin stared at Yixing in anticipation, not sure what he was supposed to say, after all it was his house, and Yixing was kind of his guest. A ‘Welcome to my house!’ maybe? Or perhaps a simple ‘We’re home.’ Eh, no. No, absolutely no way. What did that even mean? ‘We’re home.’ Were they newlyweds or something? Jongin decided to simply keep quiet and stare until Yixing initiated a conversation. Yixing kept looking around, seemingly unaware of Jongin’s turmoil until finally deciding to look back at Jongin with a soft smile.

“Lovely house, Jongin.” Jongin blinked at that and answered with a nod and a short ‘Yeah’. Yixing blinked back at him and for a moment they stood in the entryway simply staring at each other. Jongin felt like it was his cue to strike up a conversation or show Yixing the way to the bathroom or anything but stand there and lock eyes with the complete stranger. It wasn’t uncomfortable, per se, but at the same time it felt like Jongin was drowning, the more he stared at Yixing’s caramel eyes the deeper he got dragged in some metaphorical ocean. His heartbeat was starting to pick up the pace a bit and his palms were getting swea