Yixing wakes up to the annoying sound of Baekhyun yelling in his ear. It’s still dark and Yixing is in no mood to entertain Baekhyun’s whimsical whims.

“Yixing-ah, wake up! Happy birthday!” Baekhyun pulls his blanket in one short tug and the biting cold makes Yixing shiver all over, not that Baekhyun cares. Yixing groans and curls up into a ball.

“Baekhyun-ah, go back to sleep. I’m so old,” he whines. Baekhyun scurries over somewhere else in the room and this worries Yixing. So he finally sits up against his wishes, promising to make Baekhyun pay the next day.

“Yixing, switch on the lights,” Baekhyun huffs, as if he just piggybacked an elephant around the room.

“No. Yixing’s rule number one says-”

“I know, I know, but please? Just tonight. You’ll want to see this.”

With an exasperated sigh, Yixing walks to the end of the room, knocking over a pile of goodness-knows-what in his clumsy wake. Baekhyun should be hit over the head with a hammer for laughing at Yixing’s misery. And for making Yixing bend his own rule. No one defies King Yixing.

The room is much too bright and the second thing Yixing sees after Baekhyun’s dopey smile and his ducky boxers is the beautiful, sturdy piece of wood with the silver strings, waiting for Yixing’s trained fingers to start working their magic.

“I…I…Ah…Huh?” Yixing stares blankly at the guitar, and looks to Baekhyun for an explanation at the sudden act of kindness.

“It’s your birthday, silly. Happy birthday. Do you like the present?” Baekhyun beams and plays with the tip of his new baby, almost knocking it off balance. Yixing gasps and almost jumps to save his dear darling from the evil clutches of the floor.

“Be careful with that,” Yixing whispers and runs his fingers on the cold basswood, cool black in colour and still fingerprint-free.

“Do you like it? Did I get the right one?” Baekhyun asks, worried. Yixing looks straight at his startlingly brown eyes and the uneven lids from his sleep. He takes a step and closes the distance between them with a hug that speaks unsaid things.

“Thank you. I love it. Thank you,” Yixing smiles. He lets the light stay on for a while, just for the night.

***

“I got kicked out,” Baekhyun mumbles in reply to Yixing’s absentminded strumming. Yixing glances up with questioning eyes.

“Hm?”

Baekhyun picks a chip stuck on his pillow and tosses it to the floor. Yixing clicks his tongue and picks it up. Gross things bother him. A lot.

“You never asked me why I came to your room…and basically moved in without notice. Well… I got kicked out. My ‘friends’, he makes air quote marks with a dry smile, “wasn’t too happy that I told them I can’t hold the next party in my room. I had an exam the day after,” he laughs awkwardly. Yixing raises an eyebrow. He smirks.

“Never thought you would say that.”

An especially gross, moldy pillow makes contact with Yixing’s face from the top bunk. Yixing screams like a girl scout and Baekhyun laughs like a screeching hyena.

“You’re beyond disgusting,” Yixing sniffs and picks up the pillow with the tip of his two fingers. He puts it aside, near the trashbag. It’s time for Baekhyun to go pillow shopping anyways.

“Hey, give that back! Yixing-ah,” Baekhyun wipes a tear from his excessive laughter. He wheezes and throws another pillow at Yixing, to which he reacts even more violently by thrashing around like an old ahjumma who spotted a cockroach under her bloated flower patterned dress.

“Glad you are entertained,” Yixing inserts in between Baekhyun’s silent peals of laughter.

Yixing finds out what happened. Baekhyun’s so-called ‘friends’ weren’t happy. They reported untrue things to the dorm authorities and Baekhyun got in trouble. He had to move.

He had no place to go. And so he thinks of the first person he knew he could always count on.

He went to Yixing.

***

“Yixing-ah, do you have a girlfriend?” Baekhyun casually asks one day. He flips through his notes glumly for Yixing has insisted on them staying in and studying ever since Baekhyun left his red-marked exam paper lying around.

“No.” He strums a random note.

“Why not?”

Yixing scribbles down the keys and plucks a few strings. “Because no.” The sound goes way off tune. Yixing curses in mandarin and Baekhyun sneezes.

“I think I’m allergic to your mandarin.”

“Ben dan,” Yixing says curtly.

“I know you just called me dumb.” Baekhyun sneezes again.

“So did you finally google it?” Yixing grins as he looks up to Baekhyun in his deserted corner, full on pouting and hiding under his blanket.

“I asked Tao.”

“Oh.” Yixing picks on a few strings simultaneously and a quirky little melody appears.

“So why not, Xing? What’s the story?” Baekhyun smirks and skirts toward the edge of his bed.

“Not interested,” Yixing answers simply. Baekhyun frowns.

“What about boys?”

“Same,” he mutters and taps his guitar. Baekhyun taps his chin.

“What about you, Baekhyun-ah? No girls? I’m surprised you’re not in a relationship right now,” Yixing chuckles.

“Neh, I’m not interested either,” Baekhyun grins and Yixing looks up at him, out of curiosity, but boy, was that a mistake. Baekhyun winks at him and Yixing’s mouth goes dry.

“Uh…Okay…” he turns his attention to his guitar again, refusing to acknowledge the awkwardness in the room. Baekhyun laughs it off, and Yixing breaths a sigh of relief. Trust Baekhyun to diffuse any tense moments. Yixing likes that part of Baekhyun. The carefree part. The happy boy. The one that makes him feel unexplainably light-hearted. The one that makes him want to dive into fresh snow and make snow angels all day long and freeze his toes off.   

“I’m waiting for the right one, Xing-ah. I know I play around a lot, but I want to choose my… partner carefully. We will be the ones people will talk about because we make the best couple,” Baekhyun boasts. Too absorbed in his fantasy, he knocks his half a pound of notebook off his bed.

“Ow!” More cursing in Mandarin. Baekhyun sneezes again.

“Oops. I told you I’m allergic to your language,” Baekhyun snorts and climbs down to pick up his book. Yixing rubs his head with a groan. He’s sitting in the center of the room with his back against the bed. Baekhyun stops climbing up midway and jumps back down. He will be an extremely generous, nice boy and make sure Yixing is okay.

“Are you okay, Xing? I’m sorry,” he laughs and pokes Yixing’s head.

“Ow! Why did you poke it?” Yixing half-wails, eliciting a snort from the cheeky boy.

“Oh Xing?” Something just occurred to Baekhyun. “You want to come to a party? Tonight?”

“No, thanks,” Yixing declines smoothly and raps his guitar. Baekhyun hovers around him, glancing at the messy scribbles.

“It’ll be fun,” Baekhyun says quietly. Yixing turns around and sighs.

“You go ahead, Baekhyun-ah. Have fun yourself!” He shoots him a ten-kilowatt smile and turns back to his composition. Baekhyun sniffs and walks away to his small bag. He pulls out a pair of skinny dark jeans, and a long-sleeved black shirt, the kind that hugs his body just nicely.

“Would I look good in this?” One of the rare occasions Baekhyun asks Yixing for his opinion on clothes. Because as far as Yixing knows, Baekhyun thinks all Yixing has in his wardrobe are hoodies and white shirts that hangs way too low on his chest area; not something Baekhyun would ever be seen in. He would ‘rather drown in moldy tuna and expired coffee’ than touch Yixing’s everyday outfit, Baekhyun says. Yixing once asked him if coffee even expires and Baekhyun gave him a good slap on his arm. Yixing never questioned Baekhyun again.

“Of course,” Yixing nods vehemently and Baekhyun stares at him.

“What?” Yixing shoots him a funny look and starts strumming a mellow tune.

“Nothing. I look good in everything, Xing,” Baekhyun dumps the shirt and jeans into his bag before heading out the door for a bathroom break.

“Yeah, you do,” Yixing says when Baekhyun is out of hearing reach.

Unbeknownst to Yixing, Baekhyun’s heart jumped a little when Yixing indirectly complimented him. What is that tugging feeling that’s bothering him? Could it have something to do with Yixing?

Baekhyun shakes his head and washes his hand, emptying his mind of such absurdity.

***

Five weeks.

The feeling isn’t going away. It’s been five weeks and Baekhyun cannot, for the life of him, study about music history when all he has in his mind is Yixing’s figure, bent down and strumming that guitar he’s obsessed with.

Why can’t Yixing be obsessed with something else? Say… maybe a boy. A boy like Baekhyun would be nice…

Baekhyun gives himself a mental slap because why on earth would that thought ever make its way to his head?

Yixing is a nice boy and Baekhyun should steer clear of his way. He deserves another nice boy. Or girl. Or whichever way Yixing floats. But definitely not Baekhyun.

Plus, he isn’t even sure if he likes Yixing.

“Baek? You want to go get cinnamon hot chocolate with me?” Yixing’s excited voice pulls Baekhyun out of his reverie.

“Uh…sure! Let me go get changed,” Baekhyun snaps his textbook shut, cursing everything the world has given him, except for Yixing. Because, if Yixing isn’t the perfect boy, Baekhyun doesn’t know what kind of standards people have anymore.

“Oh, don’t forget to bring a scarf. You’re going to get cold again,” Yixing reminds him. Baekhyun silently looks up and brandishes a fist. Yixing is really too perfect. He’s too thoughtful. He’s too good to be true.

***

Baekhyun forgets his scarf at home. It is snowing and Baekhyun’s pretty fingers are almost possibly forming snowy frost on them. And turning blue.

So Yixing takes off his woolen scarf and wraps it around Baekhyun as they walk home to the sound of Yixing’s chattering teeth replacing Baekhyun’s.

It’s a beautiful and sweet sight, besides Baekhyun trying to down cinammon scented drink as quick as he can to end the pain.

Yixing’s smile makes it all up for him though, he thinks as Yixing breathes cold smoke out with a serene smile.

Life is good.

***

Some days, Baekhyun comes home reeking of alcohol but sober. Maybe once a month he comes home a little tipsy, almost falling over as he climbs the great mountain that is his bed. So Yixing makes him sleep on his own bed while Yixing has to put up with Baekhyun’s peppero-infested sheets for the night.

On days when he doesn’t come home at all, Yixing misses the snores and the alcohol smell that’s better than the silence.

“Ben dan,” Yixing grumbles before the lights go out.

***

They are juniors now. One more year until they graduate and Yixing still hasn’t told Baekhyun the truth. About how much he likes Baekhyun.

Really, really like him.

Every night, he goes to sleep with impossibly cheery, far-fetched fantasies of the two of them. And he wakes up bitter, knowing it can’t happen yet.

Baekhyun seems to think of Yixing as his friend, his study-buddy, his mentor, his alarm clock and occasionally, mother. Yixing wants to be so much more than just those things.

So Yixing buries all mellow feelings deep inside and puts an extra load of patience to dampen it all. He lets it leak sometimes and writes a song or two.

“Hey Yixing, what are you going to call your new song? It sounds really good. Like… bittersweet, you know?” Baekhyun calls out. “Yah!” Baekhyun has once again dropped his book on his face. Yixing hides a tender smile.

“So?” Baekhyun’s head peeks out from above. Yixing plays a note or two, deciding what to say.

“Don’t know yet. Will tell you soon,” he hums aimlessly. Baekhyun blows a raspberry in response.

***

Baekhyun has a lot of friends. Too many for his own good because everyone in the hallway seems to want to converse with him. He avoided his first group of friends in the school. But being the loud and friendly person that he is, Baekhyun is easily the center of attention.

“Baekman! Long time no see,” Chen yells from a few steps away. Baekhyun was about to greet his friend back, but he sees Yixing’s figure bent over a piece of paper, his soup waiting in vain. So Baekhyun waves to Chen and pulls up a quick, “I have to go real quick. See you after class” and strides to his table.

“Yixing-ah, your soup is getting cold,” Baekhyun reminds him. Yixing is so forgetful that Baekhyun wonders how he remembers to put on his pants.

“Oh, right. Thanks,” Yixing spoons the gooey chowder to his lips. Baekhyun makes a face at the consistency. He opted for fried chicken today and wonders what possessed Yixing to make such a horrible choice. Then he remembers the cinammon hot chocolate. Yixing makes plenty of bad choices for food and drinks, Baekhyun supposes.

Baekhyun has a lot of friends, but Yixing tops the list. Always.