Zhangjing paces back and forth in his apartment as he waits for Chaoze to arrive. The man wanted to get ready together, so Zhangjing invited him over. For some reason, he was feeling a little nervous about tonight. He didn’t know why, since it was just Xukun’s birthday. Maybe he’s forgetting something? In the midst of thinking, Zhangjing hears his doorbell ring. “You Zhangjing! Open the door, it’s freezing tonight!” called a voice from outside, banging on the wood. Zhangjing opens the door the reveal his friend and is very confused when Chaoze already looks completely prepared for the party. “I thought we were getting ready together?” Zhangjing steps to the side to let Chaoze in, wearing a suspicious look on his face. “Ahhh, well we were but I’ve decided that I want to focus on getting you ready,” Chaoze explains, already walking towards Zhangjing’s bedroom. “But why?” Zhangjing questions, trailing after him. Chaoze stops with his hand on the doorknob and turns back to the other. He’s staring at him like he should already know the answer, which leaves Zhangjing feeling even more perplexed. “Zhangjing…” Chaoze deadpans and Zhangjing frowns. “What?” The elder sighs, starting to get annoyed. “So you can look good for Yanjun,” Chaoze says it like it’s obvious and Zhangjing flushes, “Chaoze, I already told you we’re not-” “Saying that doesn’t necessarily make it true,” Chaoze interrupts him and opens the door.

Zhangjing sighs and shakes his head before following Chaoze into his room. “This is what I’ve picked out,” Zhangjing gestures towards the clothes on his bed and glances at the other man, waiting for his opinion. Chaoze crosses his arms over his chest and stares at the outfit for a good thirty seconds, fingers drumming against his lips. He peers back at Zhangjing with a look of disapproval and shakes his head. “Chaoze, what?” Zhangjing squirms, wondering what he could have possibly done wrong. “Zhangjing this is literally just a sweatshirt and jeans. Who are you going to impress wearing that?” There goes Chaoze again, treating Zhangjing like he’s an idiot. “I’m not trying to impress anyone!” Zhangjing argues, but Chaoze isn’t having it. “The blush on your face says otherwise,” Chaoze teases, laughing when Zhangjing places his palms on his cheeks to see if they were warm.

“Sit,” the younger man orders, plunking Zhangjing down on the bed’s surface. While a grumpy Zhangjing taps his foot and shifts his weight back and forth on the mattress, Chaoze sifts through his closet like he’s searching for hidden treasure. “Found your o mags!” the man calls out, voice muffled by the sea of clothes around him. Zhangjing shrieks, panic setting in even though he knew for a fact that he didn’t have anything like that in his apartment. “Relax, I’m kidding,” Chaoze snickers and continues his pillage with enthusiasm. The man eventually returns with some red socks, a pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt, and an oversized black button up shirt to go on top. “Don’t frown, you’ll get wrinkles,” Chaoze warns, smoothing out the lines in Zhangjing’s face. “Wear this,” he demands, handing everything over to his friend. Zhangjing sighs and rises to his feet, signaling for Chaoze to turn around. When he’s certain that Chaoze can’t see him, he starts to change. “Okay, you can look,” Zhangjing finishes, feeling kind of awkward. Chaoze turns around, but doesn’t look completely satisfied as he absorbs Zhangjing’s appearance. “Wait a sec,” Chaoze skips back over to the closet and returns with a black belt and a pair of white shoes. “Step into these,” he orders, tossing the sneakers onto the carpet in front of his friend. Chaoze then tucks Zhangjing’s t-shirt into his waistline before sliding the belt through the loops in his pants. Finally, he kneels down and folds the bottom of Zhangjin’s pants into a pin roll to cuff them.

As Chaoze steps back to admire his work, Zhangjing feels a bit uncomfortable. “Does it look okay?” He questions, biting his lip. “Aw, you’re nervous!” Chaoze coos and pinches the skin of Zhangjing’s cheek, “Don’t worry, you look adorable Xiao You~” Zhangjing knocks his friend’s hand away and curls his lip in annoyance. “I’m not nervous,” He argues, even though he’s certain Chaoze doesn’t believe him, “And don’t call me that. I’m older than you, you know.” “Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Chaoze grins, patting the top over the other man’s head. “Stop! You’re going to mess up my hair,” Zhangjing whines, running his fingers back through his curly brown locks. “It doesn’t matter, I’m not done with you yet,” Chaoze explains, fishing for something in his bag. “What do you mean?” the other asks, pouting because he really didn’t expect to put forth this much effort tonight. Chaoze replies by snapping both sides of his flat iron together, a smile on his lips.

After straightening Zhangjing’s hair and applying a light layer of makeup, Chaoze packs up his things to leave. “Don’t you want to come with me and Yanjun since you’re already here?” Zhangjing questions, feeling a bit greasy with the foundation on his skin. “And interrupt your alone time with Yanjun?” Chaoze gasps and places a hand over his heart, looking shocked, “I would never. Besides, I don’t want to see you two lovebirds be gross in the car. I see enough of that at the office.” Zhangjing sputters, feeling frustrated that he can’t convince his friend that he and Yanjun aren’t a couple. Within minutes, Chaoze is gone, leaving Zhangjing by himself. It seems as if he’ll have to suffer from Yanjun’s horrible flirting alone.

Zhangjing jumps at the sound of the doorbell ringing. He’d been spacing out trying to predict what kind of pickup lines his friend would try to use on him tonight. As he opens the door, he is a bit amused upon seeing Yanjun’s eyes widen. The man looks a bit surprised for some reason and Zhangjing isn’t certain because of the lighting, but he thinks he might see a pink hue spreading on the other Yanjun’s face. “Um,” Yanjun clears his throat and smiles, now looking a bit more normal, “Are you ready to go?” “Yeah, one sec” Zhangjing disappears for a moment and then returns with Xukun’s present, wrapped up with a bow tied together at the top.

While they’re on their way over to Xukun and Ziyi’s apartment, Yanjun keeps peeking over at Zhangjing which leaves the older man feeling nervous. “Pay attention to the road!” Zhangjing scolds and presses two fingers against Yanjun’s jaw to make him look forward. Yanjun replies with a fond smile on his lips, which goes unnoticed by Zhangjing, who is busy staring at the road in front of them.

Once they enter the party, the two take of their shoes and start to glance around. Chengcheng and Linkai are daring Linong to take a sip of alcohol, to which the boy refuses. Zhangjing smiles, finding the boy’s innocence cute. Zhengting is talking with a few other guys (Zhangjing thinks their names are Xinchun and Wenjun?) in the corner by the kitchen. Their conversation goes unheard, since the music Xukun is blasting drowns out all other noise in the building. Xingjie and Chaoze are making their way over to where Xukun is standing, talking to Ziyi with a beer in hand. Yanjun and Zhangjing both step in that direction, wanting to greet the birthday boy. Chaoze, who looks like he’s been waiting for them, smirks when they arrive and and raises an eyebrow. “What took you guys so long, huh? Were you busy with something?” he interrogates, looking between the two. “Chaoze, we just got here ourselves,” Xingjie replies, which earns him a punch in the arm.

Zhangjing chuckles at the exchange, then glances over at Xukun. “Happy birthday,” he says before being echoed by Yanjun. Afterwards, everyone gathers around to sing happy birthday and watch as Xukun opens his presents. Yanjun sits beside Zhangjing on the couch, arm wrapped around his shoulder, as Xukun opens Linong’s third present (the intern was quite indecisive and decided to buy multiple things instead of choosing one). “Zhangjing?” he starts, grabbing the man’s attention, “For my birthday, would you give me your love?” “I’m not drunk enough for this,” Zhangjing decides, getting up to grab a beer and leaving Yanjun to laugh by himself on the sofa.

It wasn’t long until the man was far beyond inebriated. Zhangjing drinks throughout the night in order to survive to Yanjun’s relentless flirting. It almost turned into a game: drink every time Yanjun makes you disgusted (or every time he makes your heart flutter). Eventually, Zhangjing participates in an intense (and heavily intoxicated) match of karaoke with Qian Zhenghao (somehow still sounding good). On his way back to the couch, stumbles and trips over someone’s leg. He would have hit his head against the corner of the coffee table if Yanjun didn’t catch him in time. It’s then that Yanjun decides that he needs some fresh air.

They sit outside on Xukun’s porch. It’s cold, so they huddled together for warmth. Yanjun hopes that the temperature will help Zhangjing sober up a bit. “The stars are pretty tonight,” Zhangjing comments, drunk enough to lay his head on Yanjun’s shoulder. The other makes a small sound of agreement and glances up at the sky. They sit like that for a while, in comfortable silence. Eventually, Yanjun glances away from the sky in favor of looking at the man beside him. He stares at him with a loving expressions, which causes Zhangjing’s stomach to flip and his heart to race. Yanjun then slowly reaches up his hand and pushes Zhangjing’s bangs back off his forehead. Combing his fingers through the man’s hair, Yanjun smiles gently. “Why did you straighten your hair? I want your curls back, they’re cute…” Yanjun questions and Zhangjing’s cheeks turn red. They sit in silence after that once again, just staring into each other’s eyes. It feels so familiar to Zhangjing, yet so foreign. Like he should be used to this even though it’s never happened before. Without thinking, Zhangjing starts to lean forward, which leaves Yanjun feeling confused. “Zhangjing, what-” he starts, but is cut off when the older man’s lips press against his own. Yanjun relaxes into the kiss instinctually while Zhangjing’s palms gently cradle his face. It’s when Yanjun tastes the alcohol from the other’s mouth that he realizes what’s happening and pulls away.

“You’re drunk,” he states, when he sees the confused look on Zhangjing’s face. “I think I should take you home,” Yanjun stands and runs his fingers through his hair, refusing to look at him. Zhangjing can see the panicked look on Yanjun’s face and his stomach drops. The cold hadn’t been enough to sober him up, but the realization that he totally ed up was. Zhangjing was so absorbed in the moment that forgot this was all a game for Yanjun. The man had never been serious about all of this flirting and Zhangjing knew that. Too bad it worked on him anyway. Zhangjing felt like crying as he followed his friend back inside. How could he fall for Yanjun when this all started as a joke? “Hey guys, I’m going to take Zhangjing home,” Yanjun explains as they enter the living room where everyone was gathered. Chaoze is about to tease them, but stops when he sees the serious expression on both of their faces. He sends them a worried look, which goes ignored as everyone says their goodbyes.

When they exit the apartment building, Zhangjing stays put by the door. He wanted to be alone right now, or at least away from Yanjun. “I can make it back on my own,” Zhangjing bites his lip and starts making his way towards the sidewalk. He’d walk home in the cold if he had to. The alcohol had made him feel a bit warmer at least. Unfortunately, his chances of returning home alone were ruined when he stumbled forward and fell down into the snow. Sighing, Yanjun gently brought him back to to his feet and brushed of the snow left on his clothes, “You won’t make it home safely your state. You’re getting in my car.” It isn’t a question, but a command.

The world is spinning as Yanjun helps him to the vehicle. While Zhangjing would rather be as far away from the other man as possible right now, he needs his friend’s help walking. When Yanjun lays him down in the backseat, Zhangjing is already holding back tears. He was so embarrassed. How could he kiss Yanjun like that when earlier in the night he claimed that there was nothing between them? . Zhangjing felt like he was going to throw up and he couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or the panicked feeling welling up inside of him. He really wanted to talk to Yanjun about it, but what would he say? Deciding to just stay quiet, Zhangjing rolled over so that he was facing the seat. At least this way he wouldn’t be tempted to look at the other man and make himself more upset.

As they approach his apartment, Zhangjing becomes more and more nervous. He was scared to explain himself to Yanjun, but he felt like he should. When Yanjun parks, Zhangjing takes a deep breath. The sound of the car door opening is his cue to get up. “Yanjun…” he starts, but the other man still won’t look at him. There’s a pause in which the only sound between them is their breathing. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Yanjun finally mumbles, biting his lip while he tightens his grip on the handle to the car door, “You should get inside… I think you need some sleep.” Zhangjing really wants to protest, but he doesn’t have the energy to argue right now. Remaining silent, he gets out of the car, Yanjun stepping to the side when he stands.

When they reach his front door, Zhangjing turns around to look at his friend, searching for any sign that their friendship wasn’t completely ruined. “Could you at least come inside for a bit?” he asks, but realizes it won’t happen as soon as he hears a heavy sigh escape Yanjun’s lips. At this point, Zhangjing is just so overwhelmed and frustrated that he doesn’t know what to do. “Please just talk to me,” he tries desperately, reaching for the man in front of him. “I’m sorry,’ Yanjun gives him a sad smile and squeezes his hand before letting go, “I need time to think.”

After that, Yanjun leaves, not looking back once as he approaches his car. With no hope left, Zhangjing steps inside and closes the door. It was only then that he noticed he had been crying.