Minseok thinks this is a bad idea. No, he /knows/ this is a bad idea. An uneasy feeling settles in the pit of his stomach as he watches Yixing eat.

“Let’s just get a hotel room,” he presses, fingers tapping nervously against the table. He carefully gauges Yixing’s reaction, knowing his boyfriend has a viciously stubborn streak.

“It’s just two weeks,” Yixing mumbles into his soup, some of it dribbling onto his chin. Minseok reflexively reaches over with a napkin and dabs at the spill.

“Two weeks we could spend in a hotel. Comfortably.”

“I hear Luhan has a nice place, though.”

Minseok presses his lips together and folds the dirty napkin in half.

“You know that’s not the point.”

“Don’t you think it’ll be nice to see him again? I’ll be at the shelter the entire time anyways. They’re really busy with the new project—that’s why they need me to fly over. I don’t want you to sit in the hotel waiting for me all day.”

Minseok folds the napkin in half again.

“I can go shopping or something.”

“It’s safer if you have someone with you.”

Minseok forces the napkin square to bend in half again.

“Are you saying my Chinese isn’t good enough?”

“I’m saying that I really think you need to do this. Talk to him. Minseok, I know it’s hard. But I really, /really/ think this will be good. For both of you.”

Yixing nudges his empty bowl away and gently takes one of Minseok’s hands. He squeezes it, thumb brushing circles onto the back of his lover’s hand, and Minseok sighs, slumping into his chair. Their unspoken bond of trust lingers in the air, and Minseok knows this isn’t easy for Yixing either. The napkin springs open as he lets go, and some of the tension slips from his shoulders. Minseok slides his gaze to meet Yixing’s, traces of a frown lingering on his face as he exhales with more force than needed. 

“Fine. But if it’s awkward I’m so out of there.”

Beaming, Yixing gets up to place a kiss at Minseok’s temple before scooping up his bowl and bringing it to the kitchen to wash. As soon as he’s gone, Minseok presses the heels of his hands to his eyes and tries to squash the oncoming migraine.

Yixing works at an animal shelter. Well, technically, he owns it, but he’s always held himself on the same level as his employees and puts in more hours than anyone else. And technically, it’s not just some random animal shelter. It’s one of the biggest chains, with branches located in both China and South Korea. It’s his life’s passion, his blood, sweat, and tears, so it goes without saying that he’s going to personally oversee the renovations of the Beijing branch and inevitably end up doing half the work himself.

It also goes without saying that he’s bringing Minseok with him. Just not for all the right reasons. But there’s always a next time, he rationalizes. A next time where he can spend his time showing Minseok around his home country and stuffing him with all the delicacies and street food China has to offer. A next time, in the near future hopefully, where Minseok’s eyes don’t go glassy when he sees or hears something that reminds him of Luhan.

Yixing is not a fool. He knows of Minseok’s first love, just as Minseok knows about his. And he knows that Luhan’s presence still lingers inside of Minseok. It happens at the oddest moments, but Yixing notices, because he tends to notice everything about Minseok. Because whenever Minseok’s eyes glaze over with a memory of Luhan, Yixing is there to gently guide him back down to Earth, as if Minseok is a balloon that simply floats off into the sky if not grounded.

Speaking of grounded, Yixing snaps back to reality as he hears Minseok rattle off Luhan’s address in Chinese to the taxi driver. He piles the luggage into the trunk with the help of the driver, and slips into the back seat to loop an arm around Minseok’s shoulder. Minseok leans his head on Yixing’s shoulder, tired from the flight, and dozes off as the city around him darkens.

Two hours later, Minseok is being shaken awake and he automatically brings a hand up to swipe at the small dribble of drool leaking out of his mouth, embarrassed. He quickly counts the amount of money they owe the driver as Yixing goes to unload the trunk. Dipping his head in a slight bow, he climbs out of the backseat and slips the bills to the driver, who speeds off into the night.

His hand finds Yixing’s naturally, and he’s given another reassuring squeeze as they shuffle into the lobby of a high rise building where Luhan supposedly lives. A security guard waves them into the elevator after they check in, and Minseok forgets to ask which floor Luhan is on.

“Seven!” The guard yells, just before the elevator doors slide shut.

Minseok feels his hands begin to sweat. The ride up to the seventh floor of the high rise apartment building in China where Luhan lives has officially made it onto his list of Worst Elevator Experiences Ever. He stiffens when the elevator’s ding indicates they’ve arrived and Yixing has to practically drag him /and/ his luggage to Luhan’s door.

The doorbell is pressed and for a brief moment, Minseok considers bolting and hopping on the next flight back to Korea, but resigns himself to staying when he hears someone unlocking the door.

Luhan’s head pops out from behind the door, and even though Minseok thought he was prepared, he still feels his heart jump. He feels silly and a little like a child, so he bumps Yixing slightly and fixes a small smile on his face.

“Minseok! Yixing! You’re an hour early—why didn’t I get a text? You know I wouldn’t have minded picking you guys up from the airport myself.” Luhan jumps into an introduction smoothly, save for the extra second he lets himself linger on Minseok. Opening the door wide, he pulls both of them into a hug at the same time and ignores the laced fingers hanging in between them.

“We wanted to surprise you,” Yixing smiles, letting go of his suitcase to return the hug with one arm. “Right, Min?”

“Right! Thank you for letting us stay, Luhan.” Minseok says, without stumbling over his words, and Luhan nods, lifting his bags and gesturing for them to come inside.

“It’s not much, but make yourselves at home. Guest bedroom is down the hall, bathroom is right next to it, you know the drill.”

Yixing claps his hands together, looking around the apartment in awe.

“Have you done some redecorating? This is amazing, Han. Better than any hotel. And to think—“ Yixing stops mid sentence when Minseok prods him not-so-subtly in the stomach. He smiles sheepishly before continuing. “Too bad I won’t be able to fully raid your kitchen this time. I’m going to be gone for pretty much the entire two weeks……there’s a lot of work to do at the shelter. Lots of work…” Yixing trails off, trying to mentally visualize the list of things to do in his head. It’s extremely long. He’s on the tenth thing when Minseok grabs his elbow and steers him towards the guest bedroom, rolling his eyes.

“Luhan, I think we’re gonna turn in for the night. Yixing has to be up early.”

Luhan glances at the digital clock on his wall. 8:23 PM.

“Sure. Breakfast tomorrow?”

“That would be great. Anything is fine. Oh, but do you—“

“And two cups of coffee.” Luhan grins and Minseok stops in his tracks to look back at him, the first real smile of the night tugging at his lips.

“Thank you.”

He pulls Yixing into the guest bedroom along with their luggage and shuts the door quietly.

somehow, i always end up working on multiple fics at once... ^^;