The door of the soundproof room bursts open, and Yixing’s fingers slip and hit several wrong keys from the shock of it. The sour notes continue to ring though the air long after he removes his hands and turns to stare quizzically at the uninvited guest.

 

 

If Yixing had to guess he would say that the boy standing there is at least two years younger than him, and to be fair, appears to be just as surprised as he is. “Can I help you?” Yixing asks after a pause. The boy hasn’t moved, just continues to stare with wide eyes as he attempts to catch his breath. His back is pressed against the door as if he is trying to create as much distance between himself and Yixing as possible.

 

 

A few more beats of silence go by before the boy speaks. “…I didn’t know you were in here. Sorry,” he says, and his voice is somewhat shaky, Yixing notices. “I should have checked to see if the lights were on. I’ll go now.”

 

 

The boy hesitates before swiveling around and reaching to open the door again and take his leave. Yixing places his fingers back on the keys. “Hey, you don’t have to go,” he says, and the boy pauses. “I just have one more song to practice, you can have the piano in a minute or two.”

 

 

The boy lets out a short laugh, but it doesn’t sound very happy. “I don’t play the piano,” he says dully. “This is just… A good place to hide out.”

 

 

Yixing nods in understanding. “Hide out, then,” he instructs, and once again he begins to play. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

 

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Yixing can see that the boy is still for a very long time, before finally coming to a decision and taking a seat in the only chair in the room other than the piano bench. The room is tiny, and if even one more person were to enter it would be overcrowded. “Thanks,” the boy mutters, and Yixing only hums in reply.

 

 

They don’t speak again until Yixing’s fingers come to a stop and the final notes of Moonlight Sonata are still heavy in the air. He flips through his music in search of the next piece to play when the boy clears his throat.

 

 

“My name is Sehun,” Sehun introduces himself. “That was… you’re very good. At piano.” Yixing lets out a small smile at that, but Sehun can’t see it from his spot behind him.

 

 

The whirring of the fan that keeps the oxygen flowing in the tightly-sealed room fills in the silence as Yixing continues to sift through page after page of melodies. He’s about to begin playing again when Sehun speaks up once more. “I like to come here and think sometimes, since it’s quiet,” he says softly, and Yixing’s hands settle back at his sides. “I was running away, I guess. I didn’t know what else to do.”

 

 

Yixing spins around on the bench and regards Sehun patiently, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “Is something bothering you?” he asks, and Sehun looks pleased with his interest.

 

 

“Yeah, something’s bothering me!” he suddenly loudly exclaims, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest. “I just saw my boyfriend kissing Kim Jongin!”

 

 

Yixing tilts his head to the side. “Freshman dance prodigy Kim Jongin?” he asks curiously. Sehun waves him off.

 

 

“Yeah, whatever. I was less concerned about his dancing and more concerned about his tongue down Luhan’s throat,” he drawls bitterly.

 

 

Yixing clears his throat. “Ah…” he says, unsure how to respond to the situation as a whole. “So, did you break up with him?”

 

 

Sehun’s expression reasonably confused in response. “What? No,” he says as if it were an unreasonable question. “I ran. And now here I am.”

 

 

“Here you are,” Yixing repeats somewhat dully, because though he doesn’t actually mind listening to the kid vent he really does have a recital to practice for. Sehun seems to notice his eagerness to get back to work, because he suddenly gestures back toward the piano with a sheepish grin.

 

 

“Sorry, I’m sure you don’t care about my problems,” Sehun says guiltily. “You can keep practicing. Is it okay if I listen to you until the end of the period?” Yixing turns around once more, smiling slightly as his fingers settle back on the keys.

 

 

“Yeah,” Yixing says softly. “That’s okay.”

 

 

The bell rings not long after, and Sehun is about to exit the room when he once again pauses with his hand on the doorknob. “What’s your name?” the younger asks, and Yixing smiles up at him from where he’s shoving his sheet music back into his book bag.

 

 

“I’m Yixing,” he introduces, and Sehun smiles back.

 

 

“Thank you, Yixing, for letting me hang out with you,” he says gratefully. “I’ll see you around!” And he’s gone.

 

 

He says that, but Yixing highly doubts he’ll ever see the boy again.

 

 

***

 

 

This assumption is proven wrong much sooner than expected when Sehun comes busting back into the clearly occupied sound-proof room the next day. Yixing jumps violently and knocks over his folder of sheet music.

 

 

“I’m really sorry!” Sehun insists for the twelfth time (Yixing’s been counting) as he crawls around on the floor and attempts to pick up every stray piece of paper. Yixing lets out a sigh at the disorganized mass of sheets that is handed back to him.

 

 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Yixing says, waving off his apologies with a small smile because he really isn’t mad. “I am kind of curious as to why you’re here again though.”

 

 

Sehun straightens up and rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Uh, yeah, well.” He sits on the same chair he’d occupied yesterday and swings his legs back and forth. “It’s my lunch period right now, and since I usually eat with Luhan, I didn’t know where to go.”

 

 

Yixing nods in understanding as he spreads out his music and begins to put it back in order. “Have you talked to him yet?” Yixing asks, and he realizes that it’s more out of genuine curiosity than polite conversation. Sehun is once again ever eager to vent.

 

 

“No way, I’m avoiding him!” he says as if that were the obvious approach to take in his situation. He holds up his phone with an exasperated eye roll. “He called me sixteen times last night. Sixteen. And he’s been trying to find me all day, but I keep shaking him off. He’s gonna have to try harder than that if he wants to apologize.”

 

 

Yixing pauses his task and glances up at Sehun with an inquisitive eyebrow raise. “Don’t you want him to explain himself?” he asks, and Sehun just stares at him like he has no idea what he’s talking about.

 

 

“There is no explanation for cheating,” he says firmly, and in a tone that suggests Yixing obviously doesn’t know anything about how the world works. Yixing isn’t really offended by his condescension but more interested in hearing Sehun’s views. “I don’t want to hear excuses, I want him to beg me for forgiveness and somehow convince me that he’ll never do it again.”

 

 

Yixing nods curiously. “And if he doesn’t?” he inquires. “Will you break up with him?”

 

 

Sehun looks extremely taken aback by that question, like it’s something he’s never even considered. “Luhan and I are never breaking up,” he says, and he sounds so confident that Yixing almost isn’t doubtful. Almost. “Every couple fights. It just means we’re close.”

 

 

Yixing is cynical of pretty much all of Sehun’s beliefs about his relationship, but he figures that it isn’t his place to say so. After all, what does he know? He’s barely known the kid for a day, and he’s even less familiar with his boyfriend. “You seem to know a lot about relationships,” is all he says, because that much is true. Alternatively, Yixing knows almost nothing about them, so he can’t necessarily say that Sehun is wrong.

 

 

Sehun laughs. “I just know a lot about Luhan,” he says with a shrug. “I’ve never been in a relationship before him. But we’ve been together for almost two years now.”

 

 

Yixing smiles fondly, and it occurs to him that the reason he hasn’t been eager to argue with Sehun despite the usual lack of filter on his opinions is because he finds Sehun’s confidence and know-it-all attitude somewhat endearing. “I hope you work it out,” Yixing says honestly, and a grin stretches itself across Sehun’s face.

 

 

“We will,” he says, and he sounds so certain that Yixing almost believes it.

 

 

***

 

 

Sehun’s arrival the next day is much more expected, even anticipated. Yixing may or may not have been hoping that the younger boy would show up, mostly due to the fact that he was somewhat invested in watching the progress of his relationship. It was like one of those cliché romance dramas that Yixing never failed to get addicted to.

 

 

It’s clear that Sehun’s attitude has changed the second he walked into the room, because to put it frankly, he looks pissed. He dumps his backpack on the floor and paces back and forth angrily in the tiny area, not choosing to speak until Yixing puts the final notes on Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.

 

 

“He broke up with me,” Sehun says immediately after Yixing hits the last key.

 

 

The sound takes a while to settle, and it is the only thing cutting through the thick silence. Yixing doesn’t speak, and pauses for several minutes as he waits for Sehun to continue. The younger sits down and takes several settling breaths before he does.

 

 

“He came over last night,” Sehun starts, a permanent scowl etched into his features. “I didn’t want to talk to him but my mom made me. She’s always liked him, ugh. Anyway, he told me that he was sorry and that he shouldn’t have kissed Kim Jongin and that he should have done this in a better way…” Sehun sighs deeply. “He said that he likes Jongin, like, really likes Jongin, and that it’s not fair of him to stay with me when he feels that way about someone else.”

 

 

He stops to stare at Yixing, as if expecting a reaction, but Yixing gives none.  Sehun rolls his eyes. “Do you see what’s wrong with this situation? School heartthrob slash prodigy Kim freaking Jongin gives him one ounce of attention and suddenly he’s in love. If Kim Jongin kissed you, you would go for it too. Hell, if Kim Jongin kissed me I would probably go for it, but the difference between me and Luhan is that I wouldn’t let him kiss me if I’m already in a goddamn relationship! Do you see the problem here, Yixing?” Yixing nods rapidly, his interest not wavering for a second. “And the worst part is that Luhan actually thinks he has a chance. As if, I mean everyone knows that Kim Jongin is in love with Do Kyungsoo anyway.” Yixing didn’t know that, nor does he even know who Do Kyungsoo is, but he deems it unimportant.

 

 

There is another pause in conversation, and Yixing feels like he should probably say something. “I’m really sorry,” he says sympathetically. “I know you thought you and him would never break up, but sometimes—”

 

 

“I wasn’t wrong,” Sehun cuts him off, and Yixing feels his heart sink because at this point Sehun is hanging on to broken pieces of a relationship that were nearly impossible to mend. The younger crosses his legs haughtily. “It was stupid of me not to consider that fact that kissing Kim Jongin of all people would cause this kind of problem, but I still wasn’t wrong. He’ll come back.”

 

 

Yixing eyes him. “And will you take him back when he does…?” he asks carefully, gauging Sehun’s reaction to what he was sure was another stupid question on his part. To his surprise, however, Sehun seems to deeply consider this.

 

 

“…Yeah,” he finally decides. “I guess I will.”

 

 

***

 

 

Yixing doesn’t know Sehun very well, but he’s confident that he has a good extent of the younger boy’s personality figured out. Sehun is smart, very smart, and also very aware of it. He is proud and confident and opinionated. He feels that he’s an expert on how life works and how things are going to play out.

 

 

Some might think of him cocky or arrogant, but Yixing finds him intriguing. He has never met anyone quite so certain of himself, and he’s even a bit intimidated by the incredible amount of self-assurance Sehun gives off.

 

 

But most of all, Yixing sees Sehun as someone that’s strong. Someone that would never let another person get him down or hurt him because Sehun is just too good for that.

 

 

But Yixing doesn’t know Sehun very well. And that fact becomes strikingly apparent when Yixing walks into the soundproof room the next day to find Sehun curled up in the corner crying his eyes out.

 

 

He’s shocked at first, to say the least, but that shock slowly shifts into embarrassment when he realizes that since Sehun had gotten the room first he’s technically intruding. He considers turning around and leaving him be, but something roots him to the ground.

 

 

Sehun is young, about fifteen if Yixing was guessing, and he was convinced that the only relationship he had ever been in would last forever. He watched his boyfriend kiss someone else in front of his eyes. He listened to his boyfriend tell him he wanted to be with that someone else instead of him.

 

 

He’s in love, and he’s experiencing heartbreak for the first time.

 

 

Yixing slides next to Sehun on the floor and, without thinking, puts an arm around his shoulders and pulls him close. Sehun immediately latches onto him, buying his face in his neck and letting his sobs out freely. They’re in a soundproof room, anyway.

 

 

“W-why did he have to k-kiss Kim Jongin?” Sehun chokes out, and Yixing feels his heart drop. He pulls Sehun even closer and he suddenly never wants to let go.

 

 

***

 

 

“Kim Jongin hurt his ankle,” Sehun says the next day as he sprawls himself lazily across the floor. “I heard him talking about it in algebra. He said that someone tripped him during dance class.”

 

 

Yixing hums in acknowledgement . Sehun sits up and stares at the back of his head.

 

 

“You’re in the advanced level, too. You should have been in the same class when it happened,” he points out suspiciously. Yixing doesn’t respond. “Do you know anything about it?”

 

 

“Nothing,” Yixing says a little too quickly. Sehun sniggers. Yixing continues to play through Arabesque No. 1 and Sehun never sees the smirk he’s hiding.

 

 

***

 

 

“Luhan wasn’t even that good of a boyfriend,” Sehun says dryly as he on the strawberry milk Yixing had bought him from the cafeteria. “He always treated me like I was a little kid. I mean, I know that three years is a pretty big , but you’re three years older than me and you don’t treat me like I’m incapable of handling basic daily functions.”

 

 

Yixing chuckles and rests his head on his hand. He hasn’t done any practicing, since instead he opted to sit on the floor with Sehun. He feels a little bad about the fact that someone might have wanted the room to actually practice in, but only a little.

 

 

“How did you meet him?” Yixing asks curiously, and as usual Sehun seems more than happy to satisfy his interest.

 

 

Sehun sighs, leaning his head back against the carpeted walls. “He was my tutor when I was in seventh grade,” he mumbles bitterly. “We were required to take a Mandarin Chinese course, I was failing it, he speaks it fluently… The rest is history.”

 

 

Yixing nudges him with a small smile. “You deserve better than him,” he says, and he’s surprised at himself because it’s the first time he’s given any opinion toward the whole situation. Sehun seems surprised, too, and he grins brightly.

 

 

“Thanks,” Sehun replies cheerfully, and Yixing feels his stomach drop slightly in response to how undeniably cute he is. However, Sehun’s face falls not long after. “I still love him, though. I wish I didn’t, but I do.”

 

 

Yixing can’t explain why he feels his heart tug painfully in response to Sehun’s words, so he chooses to ignore it.

 

 

There is a pause, before Sehun quirks an eyebrow and gestures to the piano. “You’ve been coming in here every day to practice for like a month,” he points out. Yixing looks down at his lap. “When’s your recital, anyway?”

 

 

Yixing flashes a small smile. “Soon,” he reassures.

 

                    

He doesn’t admit that it was actually two weeks ago, because then not only would he have to explain that to Sehun, but he’d also have to explain it to himself.

 

 

***

 

 

Sehun is nervous, and that’s something that Yixing definitely isn’t used to. He has never once seen Sehun be anything even resembling nervous, and it’s even to the point that he doesn’t speak to Yixing for at least half of the period. This is so out of character that Yixing becomes increasingly concerned every moment he doesn’t complain about something Luhan did in the past or compliment Yixing’s piano-playing skills or try to aegyo his way into getting Yixing to buy him lunch.

 

 

He eventually speaks, though, once Yixing has taken a long pause between two songs and it’s quiet enough that Yixing can hear the younger’s soft voice. “Yixing?” he says quietly, and Yixing immediately turns around because the hesitation in Sehun’s voice is alarming. He looks up at him with a tentative glance and scans his face quickly before looking away again. “Can I tell you something?”

 

 

Yixing suddenly finds it very hard to swallow. “Anything,” he says immediately. “Are you okay, Sehunnie?”

 

 

Sehun lets out a strained smile. “I’m just nervous. I don’t know how you’re going to react,” he says with a shrug, and Yixing wishes he would just get on with it because he’s becoming increasingly anxious. Sehun takes  a deep breath. “I talked to Luhan yesterday.”

 

 

 “Oh,” Yixing says. That painful tug in his heart comes back.

 

 

“Um,” Sehun scratches the back of his ear. “Remember when I told you about Do Kyungsoo? Well, he and Kim Jongin are together now… And Luhan came up to me, and he told me that was what snapped him out of it. He said he knew that he and Jongin would never happen, and… He told me that he was sorry. And he begged me to forgive him. And he convinced me that he would never do it again.”

 

 

Yixing almost immediately feels his face heat up in anger. “So what, he can’t have his first choice so he’s crawling back to you?” he says, and he and Sehun are both surprised by the bite in his words. That doesn’t stop him, though. “Come on, Sehun, you know that if Kim Jongin was still single he wouldn’t be giving you a second thought. You’re smarter than this.” Sehun pauses, before shrugging.

 

 

“Maybe,” he says dully. “But I don’t care. He came back, and that means we have an opportunity to fix things between us. I want to take it. I told you I would.”

 

 

Yixing scowls. “He’s a jerk, Sehun. He hurt you,” he says, almost pleadingly. Sehun frowns.

 

 

“You can’t talk about him like that,” Sehun says rigidly. “He’s my boyfriend. I love him.”

 

 

Yixing feels like his chest is constricting, and he takes a deep breath. Why is he so angry? He likes to consider himself as relatively passive, and it was unusual for him to get so worked up over something. So why does he suddenly feel like punching the wall? Why does he want to scream at Sehun until some sense is knocked into him?

 

 

He doesn’t know what urges him to do it, but he regrets it almost instantly. The second he presses his lips against Sehun’s he knows that he’s ed up everything. And the worst part is that, for the smallest moment, Yixing can feel Sehun kissing him back. But then he’s shoving Yixing back against the piano bench and staring at him with such a betrayed expression that Yixing wants to die on the spot.

 

 

Yixing squeezes his eyes shut. “You deserve better than to be someone’s second choice,” he says breathlessly, because he wants Sehun to know to understand…

 

 

But it doesn’t matter. He’s already gone, and Yixing is as alone as he was before Oh Sehun accidentally walked into his life.

 

 

***

 

 

 Yixing had never realized how dependent he was on the daily routine. Now that Sehun is gone, he feels off balance, and no matter what he does he can’t seem to shake the constant feeling that something is wrong. The silence after every song Yixing finishes is wrong. The empty chair in the corner of the room is wrong. Everything is wrong.

 

 

There really is no reason for Yixing to keep coming back to the practice room at this point, but he still does every day. He tells himself that it’s because he can always use more practice and he has nothing better to do anyway, but he isn’t fooling anyone. Part of him is hoping that if he keeps coming back that someday Sehun will too.

 

 

It’s only a few days after the kiss that the door opens and Yixing feels his heart rate spike in anticipation. However, he turns toward the visitor and realizes that though this person looks a lot like Sehun, it definitely isn’t him. The stranger doesn’t even have to speak, somehow Yixing automatically knows that it’s Luhan.

 

 

“You must be Yixing,” he says, and Yixing doesn’t confirm nor deny this. Luhan leans against the doorframe and stares at him calculatingly. “I heard you kissed my boyfriend.”

 

 

Yixing immediately tenses up, but Luhan’s expression doesn’t seem angry or irritated. He looks more curious, like he’s mostly interested in scoping out the person that his boyfriend has been spending so much time with for the last few months.

 

 

Yixing want to feel angry, he wants to hate Luhan, but he can’t bring himself to. This is the person that Sehun loves, the one that Sehun wants to be with, and if Sehun has deemed him worthy of that then Yixing can’t possibly hate him.

 

 

Yixing gathers his music and stuffs it into his backpack before standing up and making for the door. He pauses a few inches away from where Luhan is standing. “I heard you kissed Kim Jongin,” Yixing retorts bitterly, making sure to knock his shoulder roughly into Luhan’s on the way out.

 

 

***

 

 

Yixing enters the soundproof room one day and he’s immediately confused by the fact that there is already a backpack blocking the door. He kicks it out of the way without thinking, but immediately freezes once he realizes that the backpack looks extremely familiar.

 

 

It takes a strenuous amount of effort for him to lift his head and make eye contact with the other occupant of the room. Sehun is sitting in his usual chair with his knees pulled to his chest, a tired-looking expression covering his features.

 

 

“Hey, hyung,” Sehun says, smiling slightly. Yixing doesn’t respond, he doesn’t move, he doesn’t know how to react. Sehun stands up and shifts slightly. “I missed you.”

 

 

Yixing immediately approaches him, suddenly concerned as a thought crosses his mind. “Did Luhan hurt you again?” he asks frantically, and Sehun just laughs once and shakes his head.

 

 

“No, Luhan’s been really good to me,” he says in a dull voice. He lets out a deep breath. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

 

 

Yixing hesitates, before nodding once. “Okay. Talk.”

 

 

Sehun looks down at the ground and wrings his hands nervously. “I really liked hanging out with you. You were a really awesome hyung and I thought you were cool and nice and you made me feel better because, admittedly, I was really depressed when that whole thing happened with Luhan,” he says in one breath. He looks up and makes eye contact with Yixing once again. “That’s all I saw you as, though. My hyung that played piano really well and listened to my problems.”

 

 

Yixing swallows thickly. “I know,” he says quietly. “I know that’s all you saw me as.” Sehun sighs and sends him a sympathetic glance that Yixing immediately looks away from.

 

 

“But then you kissed me.” Sehun pauses. “And I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Because I didn’t know, I’d never even considered… but then I was scared. Because I loved Luhan. I’ve always loved just Luhan and no one else.”

 

 

Sehun takes another step closer to Yixing, and Yixing resists the urge to back away. “I never usually admit that I’m wrong,” Sehun says with a sheepish smile. “Luhan was my first love, and I wanted to hang onto that no matter what. I didn’t even want to consider the fact that there might be someone out there that was better for me. I thought that I needed to be with Luhan forever because my seventh-grade self was convinced that he was the one. But I was wrong, Yixing. I was wrong.”

 

 

Yixing’s breath catches. “What are you saying?” he asks carefully, and Sehun squirms.

 

 

“I broke up with Luhan because for the past two weeks, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Or the fact that you kissed me. Or what it would be like if you did it again,” he says shyly. He clears his throat. “Can you?”

 

 

Yixing lets out a small laugh of disbelief. “I can kiss you as many times as you want me to,” Yixing says, his voice laced with affection and adoration, and then he’s stepping forward and grabbing the sides of Sehun’s head and pulling their lips together. He feels breathless and elated and this time, Sehun is definitely kissing back.

 

 

***

 

 

“You know, hyung,” Sehun says offhandedly as he leans against Yixing’s side from his spot next to him on the piano bench. “I’m glad Luhan kissed Kim Jongin.”

 

 

Yixing just laughs and plants a kiss on top of Sehun’s head, because yeah, he’s glad too.