Edit: This chapter is specially dedicated to Nara because she motivated me to write this chapter and she left really sweet comments and she's just such a nice person! *hearteu hearteu* And of course, since Yixing (and Minseok) are her biases (is that how you say it? xD), I decided to write Yixing's little side story. I appreciate and read every single comment, and though I don't usually reply, I really, really want to thank everyone for reading this au. Subscribers, commenters, silent readers, I love every single one of you! Thank you for clicking on this and I hope you enjoy! :D <3

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Of Dancing, Reading Between the Lines and Chai Green Tea Latte

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As Zitao’s apparently sworn enemy, as Sehun’s ‘savior’, as Minseok’s boyfriend, as Kai’s dance partner and as Luhan’s… love rival?

Yixing realizes his feelings painfully late.

-

It wasn’t supposed to happen.

Yixing had never expected any of this to happen, nor did he ever willingly want this to happen.

Three days. Three days since he found out Minseok had been bullied, and saw the pain Minseok had went through without telling him. Three days filled with confusion and silence.

He hadn’t gone to dance practice for those three days, and now, he had no choice but to go. Dancing was the only way to clear his mind now.

Three days filled with confusion, guilt and… anticipation?

If only he hadn’t seen the brief hurt in Sehun’s eyes. He wouldn’t feel this way, otherwise.

Dim lights flickered on as Yixing moved to the center of the room to an invisible beat, limbs stretching before the door to the dance room banged open.

“Do you know how hard it is to find someone who skips class for three days straight and doesn’t even register his dorm room under his real name?” Jongin groaned loudly as Tao shoved pass him, and turned to Yixing with a glare.

“You- you ed up ! Brat! Asswipe! How dare you do this to Sehun and Xiumin? When you first approached me in the library, I had no hesitation in giving you Xiumin’s schedule just because I could see it in your eyes that you weren’t going to fool around, and that’s what makes this worse.” Tao spat as he pushed Yixing down to the ground.

“Do you even know what you’re doing? You don’t know how important you are to Hun, considering how ty of a friend Tao and I have been. And you probably know you’re the only one who can have this much of an effect to him, but you-”

“You ed up! You created this mess, now fix it!” Tao cuts Jongin off as he balls up his fists, brows furrowed.

“I don’t understand.”

Yixing’s simple answer sets something off in Tao, and the fury burning within his eyes scares Yixing, though he wouldn’t like to admit that, knowing any answer he had would just add fuel to the fire within Tao.

“You don’t understand anything! You never did! You- you had no idea what you were doing, and look what happened now! Sehun’s refusing to eat, to drink, to come out, he doesn’t even ing talk to us, all we know is that he cooped himself in his room to cry non-stop, I don’t even know how to help him anymore!” Tao sighs as he pinches the bridge of his nose, angry tears filling his dark black eyes.

“It’s the exact repeat of what happened last time, and that’s what hurts the most.”

“Nobody ever did bother telling me what happened with Sehun, before I came.” Yixing bites the urge to grab a packet of tissues and pat Tao’s back while he listens to Tao spill all his worries, it’s a somehow bad habit he developed over the years, not once did Yixing think his kindness would be repaid with this mess he created because of Sehun.

 Yixing looks up as he hears a sigh, and meets Jongin’s exasperated gaze.

And the story begins.

-

His first day of school in Korea, foreign surroundings, new people, and even a new country. Somehow, a very desperate attempt at escaping from the friendly, yet bleak, environment Yixing was used to.

And well, obviously, Yixing was lost. Who wouldn’t be, in a new school this big?

He doesn’t bother asking for directions, because Yixing had been warned beforehand that the people here weren’t going to be as accepting as the villagers back home. Meaning that they’d think Yixing was a freak and a nerd without any proof whatsoever. Countless judgments based on nothing but their own wild imagination.

He wasn’t stupid, he had expected that trying to live in a new country would be tough, the foreign food and culture almost too overwhelming to handle. Yixing knows he has to leave a good impression, and catch everyone’s attention and make friends. Or, he might mess it all up.

Although lost, Yixing does, however, take the advice he’s been given and observes the people in the hallways very intently. It’s what he does best, perhaps.

A group of good-looking boys and girls huddled close, listening attentively to a grinning boy with freakishly handsome features, soccer ball in one hand as he talks animatedly with wild gestures and cheers.

A duo of girls at their lockers, arguing over something that they’d forget about the minute they turn their backs.

A guy that is shorter than Yixing, much to his relief, with wide and round innocent eyes. Oh, wait; did he just kick someone in the balls with a calm face? Never mind.

And then the bell rings, and Yixing groans when he snaps out of his daze to see the hallway clearing out faster than the wind.

-

Somehow, Yixing manages to find his class and grins when he realizes it seems like his grandmother had been wrong after all. His classmates weren’t looking all too unfriendly, and some girls were even squealing and cooing over how adorable he was.

“And you’ll be sitting beside Oh Sehun.” Yixing’s new World History professor nervously whispers as the chatter in the classroom grows louder. Yixing’s heart trembles in trepidation as he scans the classroom for somebody that looks like an Oh Sehun. Huh, maybe the guy with the short and spiky brown hair that’s humming under his breath? The one with thick dark hair that seems to have collapsed on his table? Or maybe it’s the-

“He’s the one with the stupid-” Said teacher suddenly coughs violently when he realizes what he’s saying, “-I mean the adorable pink hair. I hope you don’t mind.” He turns to Yixing with what seems like an almost apologetic smile, crescent eyes practically overflowing with fake happiness.

“Oh, that’s… okay?” Yixing is even more confused because pink hair is cute. Really cute. Especially on a guy.

And so he thanks the teacher before his eyes land on the pink-haired lad staring outside the window, face set in a frown.

He’s not that bad, and the pink hair is cuter than I expected.

Yixing clears his throat as he settles down on the chair and catches the pink-haired lad’s attention, before introducing himself.

And then his expectations kind of crash and burn when the pink-haired lad- no, Sehun’s, judging gaze burns into his eyes, and Yixing hopes with all his might that he manages to impress him and live up to Sehun’s obviously high expectations. His new desk mate rolls his eyes and huffs under his breath before his gaze returns to an uninterested and blank look and he tilts his body so that he gets a better view of whatever is outside the window.

Yixing, being Yixing, doesn’t feel offended by the pink-haired lad’s cold demeanor. His grandmother had told him, after all, that he wouldn’t manage to impress everyone and anyone. Maybe his new desk mate is just different, maybe he’s just trying to act like a rebel, or maybe he’s just… on his man period? Yeah, that’s it!

But then Yixing gets confused when it’s 20 minutes into the lesson and this Oh Sehun guy is still staring out the window, much less taking any notes. The admittedly weird World History professor had threatened them to pay attention because the topic was coming out for their exams – and that apparently he would punch the lights out of any student that disobeyed him and throw them into a tank full of sharks – and Yixing is worried about the fate of Sehun. But Yixing still prefers calling him pink-haired guy, though Sehun is a really cute name too.

 Yixing doesn’t need to muster up any courage to talk to his new desk mate; he just kind of needs to prepare himself for Sehun’s piercing gaze. It was okay though, he had nothing to hide from Sehun anyway.

“Excuse me…”

And then it happens.

Yixing thinks Sehun looks really adorable when he sighed dejectedly and came to terms that Yixing is no ordinary person, and that he wasn’t going to be intimated by Sehun’s stare. Okay, maybe just a little bit. Who in their right minds wouldn’t feel scared, even though Sehun has pink hair?

For some reason, Yixing grins at this thought. He felt the urge to tell Sehun that he was cute.

He’s probably never been called cute before.

Although cute, Yixing didn’t want to test Sehun’s patience and quickly reveals why he interrupted Sehun’s daydreaming session, and receives another glare and no replies, before Sehun turns back to his beloved window.

Shock makes its way onto Sehun’s face, not a pleasant kind of shock either, Yixing could tell. And then Sehun’s face slowly morphs into one of a frown, and Sehun blinks repeatedly, seemingly to try and will away the tears gathering in his eyes.

It’s not Yixing feeling Sehun’s pain gnawing at him that stuns him. He’s used to being so empathetic that he can feel what others feel too. What truly stuns him is that he has an unexplainable urge to tell Sehun he’s beautiful even when he looks hurt and broken. So beautiful, but so painful to touch and even more painful to look at. Yixing doesn’t like this, doesn’t like seeing Sehun on the verge of crying. Instead of the usual offering a packet of tissues and lending a listening ear to comfort someone who’s crying, he finds his fingers itching to caress Sehun’s face and wipe away those tears. To feel for himself if Sehun’s pale skin feels as soft as it looks. And he does just that. He gives in to the urge.

However, as quickly as the bittersweet pain comes, it disappears when Yixing pushes it away. He’s not supposed to feel this much pain. He’s not supposed to have to suppress his own tears from leaking out; in fact, he’s not supposed to have any tears at all.

And so, his instincts kick in and he offers the packet of tissues that he always keeps in his pocket to Sehun.

But he can’t help the sad smile that makes its way to his face as he turns his attention back to the professor in front, and most certainly doesn’t stop the lone tear that betrays him and slowly drips down his face.

-

Yixing first sees Minseok in the nearby grocery store near their school when he’s lying over the counter and talking to Suho about lowering the rate of his math tuition fees, because even though Yixing knows Suho is soft and kind and all about - reluctantly - giving in to people, he’s awfully money-minded as well. Yixing pokes fun at this fact and is easily amused by the conflicting emotions showing on Suho’s pained face as he subconsciously keeps patting his pocket where his wallet is.

“Yixing?” Suho’s voice snaps Yixing out of his train of thoughts and Yixing then realizes his speech had cut off all of a sudden and probably confused the hell out of Suho. Yixing lets out a choked gasp when he sees the attractive stranger is walking closer and closer to the counter where Yixing is practically sprawled out on.

Ten steps, six steps, two steps and then…

And the attractive stranger slumps a little bit as he drops the coffee bag onto Yixing’s stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of Yixing who let out a soft ‘oof!’.

Suho gives Yixing a disapproving stare, eyebrow raised, as he swiftly grabs the coffee bag and scans the barcode, typing up a receipt and telling the attractive stranger the price of the coffee in a monotonous voice as he dumps the bag into a plastic bag. And just like that, the stranger was gone.

“Minseok hyung didn’t even take his change… People nowadays just don’t know how to appreciate money!” Suho tsk-tsked as he shook his head and turned his attention back to Yixing who stared; dazed, at the ceiling of the store.

“Yixing, what’s gotten into you? You’ve never been so distracted before, not even when I gave you that pop quiz on Thursday.”

“His name is Minseok? How do you know him? Does he like cappuccino? How old is he-”

Suho shushes Yixing and calmly replies his questions, before asking if Yixing wanted to know more about Minseok. And Yixing being his usual silly and naïve self, agreed.

Yixing swore that Suho had never smiled so wide at him before, even though in the end, Yixing’s wallet suffered.

-

Over the weeks, Sehun finally started to warm up to Yixing and listened to him when he told the pink-haired lad to pay attention in class. Yixing couldn’t be any happier and content with how life was, dance after school with Jongin and Kyungsoo – who had seemed a little familiar to him when he first saw him, but Yixing shrugged it off afterwards -, afternoons in the field offering milk tea to Sehun and feeling the warm grass on his back, dinner with Suho over math homework and Wednesdays in Organic Chemistry class with Minseok.

Gradually, Yixing fell even more in love day by day as he caught glimpses of a sleepy and grumbling Minseok in between classes, accompanied by a pretty boy by the name of Luhan – which Yixing learnt from Suho. At first, Yixing wanted to approach Luhan, seeing that they were both Chinese natives and could probably bond over Minseok, but Suho had been quick to object and warned Yixing that Luhan wasn’t someone to get close to.

“He’s the person Minseok likes. It’s hopeless though, you’ll soon know why.”

Suho had promptly left after that, but not before he made Yixing swear to secrecy to never tell a soul about this.

-

A few more weeks passed and Yixing finally had a fateful encounter with Minseok, and even though it was many days ago, Yixing still felt the urge to squeal whenever he remembered that Minseok had drank his favorite Chai Green Tea Latte and hadn’t minded Yixing’s saliva. He absolutely couldn’t sleep at night when images of Minseok’s smile after he tasted the latte resurfaced in his mind, resulting in heavy eyebags the next day but an extremely satisfied Yixing and a panicky Suho.

Suho had been the first person Yixing went to after his little ‘date’ with Minseok, and Suho had been elated at Yixing’s progress, but over the next few days, started acting weird and had been awfully distracted while he was wrapping up teaching the last few chapters of Yixing’s math textbook. He was spooked by the slightest touch and stumbled over goodbyes before he rushed out the café to his car.

Yixing was heading towards dance practice when he felt his phone vibrate with an incoming message.

From: Suho

I’m leaving for Australia. You’re ready for your Math tests, I have confidence in you! Don’t let your money go to waste and make sure to make Minseok hyung fall in love with you.

Baffled, Yixing typed a quick reply to ask Suho why he was leaving so suddenly without a proper goodbye when they were just halfway into the term, but received no reply after that and he resumed his way back to the dance studio.

-

 It’s days after Minseok had finally agreed to give Yixing a chance and go on little romantic dates with him; - which always ended up with Minseok exclaiming in annoyance that they weren’t on dates, and he most certainly wasn’t going to fall for Yixing -, that Yixing starts to notice Sehun’s feelings for him. He notices Sehun’s newly dyed blond hair, the way Sehun was always so graceful, Sehun’s dark eyelashes, Sehun’s tiny crack of a smile, Sehun grumbling under his breath, Sehun crying, Sehun’s melancholic gazes at the sky, Sehun grimacing when he ate ice-cream too quickly, Sehun falling asleep on the field to the sound of rain; Yixing had classified all of Sehun’s expressions, Sehun’s everything.

And, heck, Yixing realizes that the little crush he had on Sehun had developed into something more serious, his heart is getting more conflicted by the day and he has nightmares of a crying Minseok after Yixing dumps him for Sehun.

For the first time in a long while, Yixing gets torn apart by decisions and nobody to listen to him.

-

Yixing is furious and crying by the time Jongin finishes telling Sehun and Luhan’s past, Tao sulking behind Jongin. Luhan was a jerk; a complete and utter jerk who didn’t know how to appreciate Minseok or Sehun. He didn’t deserve their love and most certainly shouldn’t be adored and fawned over by the students. So what if he had money? Feelings are heartfelt and deep and so sincere, what made him think he could play around with Sehun’s precious feelings?

Yixing ignores Tao’s glare and gets off the floor, only to be slammed onto his back once again as Tao grabbed a hold of Yixing’s collar.

“What exactly is your problem?” Yixing hisses at Tao because he knows he made a mistake with Sehun, he wants to fix it but he doesn’t deserve this kind of disrespect. He’s fed up with Tao’s hostile attitude and using his Wushu for his own selfish needs, never mind that he was friends with Minseok.

“My problem is that you knew Sehun’s feelings for you and it’s your fault for not stopping it when you had a chance to!” Tao ends his sentence with a knee to Yixing’s stomach and Jongin is momentarily stunned before he pushes Tao off of Yixing.

Yixing clutches at his tummy, sputtering in pain as he yells at Tao, “I can’t control Sehun’s feelings! I can’t-”

“You can’t do ! You’re lying to Minseok; you’re cheating his feelings because you’re 'falling' for Sehun too! Don’t you dare trick yourself into believing you’re so kind and perfect and caring, because you’re not. You’re hurting Minseok by leading him on and you’re giving Sehun false hope too, if that’s what kindness is; then this world will rot and crumble down and just go to . And the worst part? You’re lying to yourself too, believing that you have deep and admirable feelings for Sehun when you’re actually just falling for his looks and nothing else. You think you know him so well? You think you’re being noble? Then I salute you for your stupidity. You’re not any better than Luhan; you don’t know his reasons for his actions. But I know your reasons, and I hope you’ll wake up and realize that your actions are hurting not only Sehun, but Minseok too. Just leave, Minseok is better without you.”

Jongin is rooted to the ground by the end of Tao’s speech, and he blinks repeatedly as if to process and filter in his brain what Tao said.

“Tao,” one step forward, “you can’t assume things like that and accuse Yixing, you don’t know him-”

“Oh really? Do you know him that well then? You know how many siblings he has, his family, his past, how many pets he owns, how can you assume that I haven’t hit jackpot? Sehun’s your cousin, the least you could do-”

Yixing dashes out the door before Tao finishes.

-

It’s been a day since Yixing has locked himself inside his dorm. He ignores Kyungsoo knocking on the door and the scent of Kyungsoo’s baked goodies and dinner. He ignores Jongin standing outside the door awkwardly as he apologizes for Tao’s ‘absurd’ behavior and tries to persuade Yixing to come to dance practice. He ignores Tao mumbling under his breath and snapping at Kris who urges Tao to apologize sincerely and make amends for his rashness.

Yixing can ignore the grumbling of his stomach and his parched throat, but he can’t ignore the swirling and growing guilt and unhappiness in his heart, and the thoughts that occupy every nook and cranny of his mind.

He takes a deep, deep breath as his half-lidded eyes squint from the gaps between his doors, the coast is clear.

He walks carefully to Sehun’s dorm, staring at the ground the whole time as his brain comes up with a hundred different scenarios of Sehun crying, of him crying, Sehun shouting at him, Tao shouting at him, before he bumps into someone and lands on the floor.

“Goddamn it, watch where you’re-”

The voice trails off halfway and Yixing curiously looks up to see that it’s Luhan. Luhan is standing outside Sehun’s door, looking like a hurricane struck him with his messy windswept hair, puffy bloodshot eyes, and fingers digging into his palm.  

“You! You’re the one to blame for all this.” Luhan spits as he hauls Yixing off the floor and all of a sudden, gets way too close to Yixing’s face and all Yixing can see are the pores on Luhan’s face.

“Why aren’t you replying me? What are you even doing here?”

“To… apologize.” Yixing winces at the dryness of his throat and the way his voice cracks.

“Apologize to Sehun? That’s it? You think he’s going to forgive you for the scar on his face with a simple apology? You caused him so much pain, you don’t deserve his love at all; how could he fall for such a spineless, poor and ill-mannered cockroach like you?”

“Funny… how I could say the same for you.” Yixing weakly laughs as Luhan’s eyes widen in shock, his fist on Yixing’s collar slowly loosening.

“Who do you think you are? You have no right to say that to me, do you know who exactly I am? I can and I will destroy your family’s future with a snap of my fingers, I can cause you threefold the pain you caused Sehun as long I will it to, I’m Lu Han. There’s no stopping me once I want something.”

Yixing swears his heart stops for a moment. All of a sudden, everything seems all too clear to him. Everything leading up to this very point.

He wasn’t sure if Luhan had that much power, but could he really risk the smile of his grandmother?

“You cold-hearted bastard.” Yixing mumbles into Luhan’s ear and he wants so badly to rip off Luhan’s growing smile.

“Funny how I could say the same for you, that’s what you said, right? Well guess what; don’t delude yourself into thinking I’ll show mercy. Your grandmother… Age 64, Zhang Tianxin… Lives by herself in a sparsely populated village that harvests crops for a living, owns three birds, husband died when he was just 30, her daughter dumped her son on her when she was just 31… I wonder how she’d react if I pay her a visit-”

“Don’t you dare!” Yixing uses what little strength he has left to shove Luhan to the opposite wall, eyes bulging as he screams with all the pent-up frustration and anger within his trembling body. “Don’t you dare touch my grandmother!”

 Luhan’s face merely crumples into a frown as he huffs while brushing dust off of his cashmere shirt. “People like you don’t deserve to touch nor threaten me, much less try to make deals with me. As long as you don’t touch Sehun, I don’t touch your practically non-existent family. You don’t have a say in this. I hope you treasure your grandma enough, if not… I’m sure you don’t want to go back home to an empty house and a funeral.”

Luhan smirks as he easily pushes Yixing away from Sehun’s door before leaving.

-

Yixing’s hands tremble as he clutches at his phone, dialing that oh-so-familiar number.

The call rings once, twice, thrice, and Yixing almost thinks the call will never be picked up, until he hears a ‘click’ and the sound of steady breathing.

“Hello?”

-

A/N: This chapter should be titled: 'How to explain why I spent 5 days (11 hours+ in total) writing this... thing. Not sure if it counts as a massive chunk of text or just a thing. But really I think this has been one of the most exhausting/fun arc in the entire AU to write, though I feel like Luhan's is going to be even better, more fun (crazy) yet more tiring which means lesser sleep for me. I've been having this insane urge to just writewritewrite nonstop lately, it's crazy, trust me. 

Anyway I've unexpectedly have many things written out in my AU folder, and this is one of the latest things I've written and I honestly don't know why I didn't stick to my schedule and post this next week but I was so damn excited to post this up, aaaah! :D Hope you guys liked how this turned out. Did I make the story even more confusing? As the title suggests, I hope you've been reading between the lines (the hints are actually very obvious because I don't know how to hide things okay. I just don't know. D:) If you haven't, don't worry and don't re-read the entire chapter again! I've done that before when authors say there are big hints in their story and in the end, all I get is a massive headache, dry eyes and confusion just everywhere. Luhan's arc for this story will be up in maybe three months time, I'll try to rush it up before my birthday (but my birthday falls during the exam period ;__;).

Meanwhile I decided to be really mean but nice (that doesn't make sense. again.) and I've put together some small drabbles of Jonginsoo in this AU to kind of tide you guys over for the next three months, because that's honestly how long it takes for me to write. But as I've mentioned above, I've been in a mood to write lately so I have three (not one, not two, THREE! >:D) updates waiting to be uploaded. Two now, after I upload this. (or maybe three I have writer's block for a taoris!au and I just can't write. I just can't write taoris for some reason. Too much pain and feels and ugh ;_;)

Do you guys hate Tao now? He's actually very interesting for me to write and I love how fiercely he treats Yixing. (does this make me weird D:)

What are your thoughts on Suho's money-minded yet very kind character? I made him basically force Yixing to pay money for very basic information about Minseok xD He's probably never going to appear again, but who knows! (though I admit I probably would pay to learn very basic info about Tao too but still hE'S PRECIOUS TO ME OKAY. MY BABY ;_;)

Luhan is still a jerk-of-sorts and I bet a lot of you want him dead and destroyed and trampled on. I like his character so much though, everything will finally be revealed in the next chapter! (that again, I want to reiterate will possible come three months later because my writing process is one big nope).

With every single goddamn chapter the titles grow longer and longer. HELP!

I've been getting hit with Jonginsoo feels lately ;_; they're so cute together and Kyung and Jongin are just two cuties in general and they just, wow, I really love their relationship so much. I want to write Jonginsoo non-stop!

Extra hint: All the members are in this story ;D ifyougetwhatimean *winkwinknudgenudgenextchaptercoughcough*

I edited this chapter 5 goddamn times and there are still mistakes and typos everywhere. Tsk. *I like tsk-ing VERY LOUDLY at people in public. It's fun to watch everybody's reactions.*