not like the movies.

It is by pure divine intervention that Yixing finds himself in a booth in some coffee shop three blocks away from his flat, nursing his third cup of coffee since the moment he got there. If by divine intervention you mean Lu Han widening his eyes, pouting and faking a sad look (because Lu Han is never sad) saying, “Please, please, please Yixing, I beg you. This’ll be good for your non-existent social life, all the while I can keep Jongin and Sehun to myself please”, then yes, it is a pure manifestation of divine intervention. Because like what Lu Han had pointed out, Yixing’s social life seemed pretty much non-existent. The rare chances that he ever goes out are moments when the call of necessity to buy groceries to supply his monster appetite and feed his sweet tooth demands his attention. The only interaction with a talking organism he ever gets is with Lu Han invading his flat, his personal space, and his life, which Yixing can probably think as an equivalent of going into a night club, with the amount of talking and loudness Lu Han makes. Not that he’s ever been in a night club before, but he imagines it’ll be the same with Lu Han around.

Thankfully, his line of work doesn’t demand anything within the line of necessarily interacting with people. He does his compositions and submit it into the head office when it’s due, not to mention he can email it or just ask Lu Han to do it knowing that the older boy would be more than glad to see the cute receptionist who likes abusing the concept of kohl in his eyes. Yixing finds the boy weird. Lu Han finds him hot. But then again, Yixing is the complete deviation of the ball of sunshine that is Lu Han, with the melancholic look on his face, and the occasional flight of his mind from the present world.

Lu Han sums his life in one word: boring. Yixing sums it in two: peaceful and in order. Lu Han likes spontaneity, Yixing sticks with routine. That is probably why he looks so surprised upon the arrival of that ‘cute little thing’ because his appearance is anything that Yixing has ever expected to be. He expects something within the line of combusting energy, someone who can catch up to Lu Han’s energy, instead, he sees a pasty boy who looks as if he’s live the world so long that the prospect of staying on it already bores him. Well, he’s not about to judge but –

“Did Lu Han send you this time?” the boy asks, his tone of voice a complete flat on Yixing’s ears. Yixing flushes because this isn’t the first time Lu Han has done it? He loves Lu Han and all, but sometimes, the things he do doesn’t meet Yixing’s moral standards anymore, not that he ever judges him for it, but, he simply doesn’t want to get involved with it.

“Umm yeah, he said he’s going to do some stuff –”

“That’s okay.” Sehun (Lu Han had told him) cuts him off, taking the seat opposite him. “Can I get you something?”

There’s nothing really hostile with Sehun’s face, but there’s nothing cordial about it either. And it ticks Yixing off. It ticks him the wrong way because he is not used to not being able to look on different kind of expression, of faces, even though most of the times, all he ever sees are faces of Lu Han when he’s excited, his face when he’s pissed, his face when he is melancholic, his smile, his laugh, his sour expressions, his smirks. Maybe Lu Han is right after all, he really needs a life because times like this are times when he doesn’t know how to deal with the situation. But then again, he wouldn’t be in this situation if it’s not for Lu Han.

In his trip between the present world and his own, he imagines this pale boy’s eyes turning into crescents as his lips curve upward in a smile, lines forming on each side of his face. He figures that he likes to see just how pretty his imagination would be if it comes to life. He would very much like to see it personally.

“Umm excuse me?” a voice kicks him away from his own world, taking him back to the soft couch of the coffee shop, eyes adjusting to the warm light. He gives a shaky laugh. “Ah… I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, giving the boy a dimpled smile as a sign of apology. Sehun merely nods at him, his face still devoid of any emotion. He wonders if his social ability is that rusty that Sehun can’t bring himself to form some sort of expression because Yixing being in his company isn’t just worthy. He wonders how Lu Han’s natural ability to make people smile without even doing anything makes Sehun’s face form an ear-splitting grin, coupled with pink-tinted cheeks and a warm heart. He blinks these unpleasant thoughts away. He hears Sehun sigh.

“You do that a lot, don’t you?”

Yixing furrows his eyebrow. “Huh?” he answers rather dumbly. Because smart is Yixing.

The smart one blinks again. “Huh?”

“You space out a lot,” Sehun simply answers, leaning back on the couch, face as blank as Yixing’s new music sheet.

Yixing has the capacity to blink again.

“And blinks your eyes a lot too.”

“You really look good if only you’ll smile.” Yixing blurts because he is smart. Really smart. His eyes widen when the realization of what he just said hit him like a tsunami.

“I mean, I’m sorry, there isn’t really much to order in a coffee shop so coffee?”

He thinks the slight quirking of Sehun’s eyebrow is what you’ll call a normal human’s frown. Except, those eyes that look about to drop anytime don’t change.

“That’s your third cup of coffee, don’t you think you’ll get an overdose?” he points at the cup Yixing is holding.

Yixing lets go of the cup and glares at it as if it had just given him away. “How did you know?”

“I’ve been here thirty minutes earlier than you –”

“I got here first.”

“–and is not sure whether to approach this table or what because you, in any way, doesn’t look like Lu Han and you’re occupying the table where he said he’ll be.”

Yixing doesn’t know whether to be offended by his statement. He could just ask. And he does. “Do I need to get offended with that or what?”

Sehun raises both eyebrows in what Yixing assumes to be a lazy manner. “Get offended with what?”

“That I do not look like Lu Han because Lu Han is gorgeous?”

Yixing thinks he hear Sehun snort. But when he looks at his face, it is still the complete facade of a blank sheet of paper.

“You have dimples.” Sehun states simply, shrugging.

“What does that mean?” Yixing demands sharply because he is really, really, really ticked off by the poker face and it’s making him snap.

“That I’m complementing you?” Sehun supplies; Yixing’s eyes widen because is Lu Han’s boylet hitting on him? He doesn’t acknowledge the little queasy feeling at the pit of his stomach. Sehun’s face isn’t giving anything anyway, so why assume? (although he would like to think that is something of normalcy based on what he observed the moment Sehun showed his face to him)

“Thanks?” Yixing offers, assessing the boy’s face for possibly flattery he could send him. He finds none. Okay frankly, he finds it odd that everything looks ing endearing. If only he’ll smile, he thinks. He doesn’t mean to say that aloud.

“You keep pressing on that smile thing,” Sehun says, gesturing for a waiter to come their table. Yixing averts his gaze from his face and into the vintage wallpaper of the shop –anything but his face.

He still hasn’t thought of an answer (if Sehun is even waiting for one because everything he says is in monotone, it is hard to decipher if he ever needs one) but thankfully, the waiter appears, bringing two menus that he gives to each of them.

“I’ll get caramel cream puffs, please,” he tells the waiter as soon as he handed him the menu (just in case Sehun presses for an answer though that is just him and his wishful thinking)

“With 100 percent of sugar please,” he adds as an afterthought, then directs his gaze on the menu again, making himself look like he’s immersed with the not-so-extravagant menu of the shop.

He hears Sehun’s voice say, “I’ll get a slice of caramel cake. Please add syrup,” Yixing tears his gaze away from the menu to face Sehun because –

“That’ll be too sweet, Sehun!”

“So?” Sehun raises an eyebrow. (but darling baby, wow, his face still has that uni-expression aka that poker face)

“I tried it once and I’m sure you’ll blanch!”

Yixing forgets that the shop’s waiter is still beside them, hands perched in a notebook to get their orders, he speaks, “Sir, our cakes here are very good, no matter how plenty the amount of sugar you put,” looking affronted.

Yixing flashes an angelic-apologetic smile to the waiter (Lu Han says his smile, when his dimples appear looks angelic, okay).

“It doesn’t matter. I like sweets.” Sehun shrugs, scanning the menu once more for potential orders.

The tips of Yixing’s ears redden. “You don’t look like it,” he deadpans. Sehun looks up to cast a wary glance at his face.

“Do you want to order anything else?” he says instead, handing the menu to the waiter beside them. Yixing looks down on his lap and shakes his head, “No, not really, thanks.” He hands the menu to the waiter as well. He hears him say a ‘that would be all thank you’ to the waiter and leans back on the couch again. Yixing looks up.

“I like sweets too?”

Sehun peers at him and nods. Seeming to remember something, Sehun moves his body forward and rests his elbow on the table, tucking his chin in between his palms. “You haven’t told me your name.”

Yixing suddenly looks affronted. “Zhang Yixing,” he says, feeling bitter that over the twenty minutes they spent together (mostly with Yixing just staring into space) Sehun has the decency to ask for his name only now.

“It’s nice to meet you, Zhang Yixing I’m –”

“Oh Sehun, I know,” Sehun’s mouth forms an ‘O’ and Yixing is not distracted by it. No, definitely not.

“Are you Chinese too?” he asks.

“Yes,” Yixing answers, leaning back on the couch and resting his arms on the table.

“Your Korean sounds good.”

Strike two.

Second compliment.

“Are you hitting on me, Sehun?” Yixing blurts, face an epitome of nothing but pure curiosity. Sehun raises an eyebrow. “No?”

“But –” Yixing is about to protest when he sees Sehun’s lazy face and got infected by the laziness too, so

“Nothing, never mind, forget that I even asked.”

And then silence ensues and looks as if no one is going to give in and break it. Yixing is used by the silence; to him, it is an old friend, welcomed and warm and always pleasant. So the silence between the two of them now shouldn’t have been unsettling.  But no, with Sehun, it was maddening. He just wants to talk and talk and talk and never stop because that way, he might get something of Sehun’s stolid face. He couldn’t help but try.

“Hey, Luhan really personally wants to go here if not for personal matters he needs to attend to…” Yixing starts even though Luhan is not apologetic in the slightest. This time, he really hears Sehun snort.

“By personal matters you mean chasing that tan dancer he’d been eyeing for almost a month?” he says, voice dead just like his face. Yixing swallows. There’s no use lying to him now, right?

“How do you know?” Yixing asks, feeling cautious in case Sehun is a bomb he may tick the wrong way and explode anytime.

Sehun’s answer comes immediately. “I’m not dumb.”

Yixing’s mouth forms an ‘O’ and he leans back on the couch once more, willing himself to blend in the wallpaper because this is ing embarrassing. Everything he did for the past few minutes is embarrassing. Thankfully, the waiter comes on time again (he really tells himself to give this waiter a nice tip because he always comes in the right time to save his face from his embarrassment, that is, if he’ll remember) and he is saved from yet another humiliating confrontatio