(( Sorry this is up later than usual, I passed out super early last night and was running late this morning ^^; ))

Chapter Twenty Two:
Everytime I see your face my heart takes off on a high speed chase, What if you don’t know who I am?

“So what’s the deal between you and your freshie friend?” Lao Go asked, pulling LuHan’s attention up from his vocal booklet.

“My… what?”

“That blond freshman in our dance class; the one that’s always watching you. He follows you around like a little puppy, how couldn’t you not notice?” Lao Go laughed and LuHan shook his head when Sehun’s smile flashed through his mind.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” He dismissed, watching Baekhyun make his way over to Lao Go and him, Kyungsoo trailing behind him. “I’ll see you around later, hopefully you’ll be done with your nonsense by then,” He said, getting up and grabbing his bag.

“We’re not interrupting anything, are we Hyung?” Baekhyun asked and LuHan shook his head.
 

“No, let’s go.” He said, following the two to their usual practice room. Yixing showed up close to ten minutes later and as they were practicing LuHan saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked to the window in the door in time to see a dirty blond haired male try to avoid being seen. He had expected to see Sehun and Jongin again, so the foreign face caused him to pause. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stopped once they realized he had, and Baekhyun had to tap Yixing on the shoulder for the blond to stop playing.

“Is something wrong, LuHan-Hyung?” Kyungsoo asked, LuHan looking to him and shaking his head.

“Sorry, I got distracted. Someone was checking to see if the room was empty, I think,” He said, looking back to the window for a few moments.

“I think it’s more like you have a fan,” Baekhyun teased, Kyungsoo nudging him. “Hey, it’s true. Your boyfriend brought some of his friends a couple of weeks ago and one of them kept staring at LuHan-Hyung, right Yixing-Hyung?” The blond smiled, looking up at LuHan.

“It was cute,” He stated, “I’ve seen him peak in a few times since then. Do you know him?”

“He’s just some freshie in my dance class, I’m not interested,” He replied, feeling a tug at his heart as the words passed his lips. “Can we get back to practicing? The recital is this weekend.”

Once things had settled between Minseok and LuHan, Minseok found himself getting restful sleep once again. This eased some of the tension between himself and Yifan, which he was sure made Junmyeon’s life a lot easier since he didn’t have to worry about the elder pair being at each other’s throats during their class. Minseok finished his own section of the group work before the other two for once, and when he started to doodle on his worksheet Junmyeon looked over at him.

“There’s only a couple of minutes left in class, you can go ahead and head out if you’re done,” He said and Minseok looked to him before nodding. “You said you were starting work this week, right?”

“Yeah, my first training shift is today,” He replied, standing and packing his things.

“I hope it goes well,” Junmyeon said with a smile. Minseok’s eyes traveled to Yifan who gave a small nod, his eyes glued to his assignment and Minseok slid his bag over his shoulder. He made his way out of the classroom, looking up from his mobile and stopping in his tracks. When he did, the blond leaning against the lockers outside looked to him. At least, he thought the other had until he smiled and made his way past Minseok and into the classroom. Minseok looked back, watching him sit on Yifan’s desk, tugging at his shirt and whining for him to hurry. The copper haired male stared at the duo for a moment longer before he shook his head and looked back to his mobile.

>I’m out of class, meet me for coffee before I start work?

He had made his way out of the building when he got LuHan’s reply and continued on his course to their usual coffee shop.

When Minseok arrived first he ordered both of their drinks and he had just sat down when LuHan arrived. Waving over the brown haired male Minseok took a drink of his coffee and LuHan sat across from him.

“You excited to start working?” LuHan asked, receiving a shrug from Minseok.

“It’s a lot of things to learn, they make so many different drinks here,” He replied and LuHan rolled his eyes, taking a drink of his iced Americano.

“And I’m sure you could figure out what goes in each just from the taste you know they should have,” he replied. “You’re going to do great,” He added with a smile.

“At least one of us has faith in me,” Minseok mused, looking over at the counter. “How’s the practice for the recital going? I bet it’s a stressful final few days,” He continued, looking back to LuHan.

“It’s actually gone a lot better than I expected. I thought the whole situation would have been more awkward since the other three have been friends for a while, so I was basically a stranger to them before we got picked. But they were very welcoming and I think they would make great friends,” LuHan looked up from his drink, catching Minseok’s eye smile.

“That makes me happy to hear.”

“What, that I can make friends?”

“More so that you’re making some closer to your age,” Minseok teased, picking up his coffee. “How’s your little friend, Sehun?” He asked, LuHan groaning in response.

“What is it with everyone asking about him this week? He’s just someone in my dance class!” LuHan exclaimed and Minseok laughed, standing and tossing his empty coffee cup into the trash.

“Keep telling yourself that, LuHan. I’ll tell you how work goes, and see you Saturday.”

“So I understand why Sehun and Jongin are going, but why are you so excited, Ge?” ZiTao asked as Yifan tied his tie and fixed his vest before making his way to ZiTao.

“It’s just… I really liked the recital at the end of last year so I started to going to all the little performances that the music program puts on.” He said. “Are you sure you don’t want to go? The dorm’s going to be empty.”
 

“Victoria-Jie said she was going to take me out to eat and help me study for the midterm next week.” ZiTao replied and Yifan gave a nod, a knock sounding from their room door. It opened and Sehun peaked his head in.

“There’s someone at the door asking for ZiTao-Hyung,” He said and the blond hopped off of Yifan’s bed as the door opened further to reveal the brunette.

“Have fun with your music thing,” ZiTao called, startled when Yifan caught him by his arm, pulling him back for a hug.

“Have a good time with Victoria, I know she adores you,” He said, Victoria watching a blush tint ZiTao’s cheeks as he nodded and Yifan let him go. As ZiTao crossed the room meet Victoria at the door, Yifan turned a smile to her, curious by the close eye she kept on them before she wrapped an arm around ZiTao’s shoulders.

As the two left, Sehun went to retrieve Jongin, surprised when Jongin was ready before Yifan was. The elder finally came out of his and ZiTao’s room, Sehun arching an eyebrow at the bouquet in his hand. Before he could ask about them, Jongin was tugging on his sleeve to get him up off the couch and to the door to slide on their shoes.

“Jongin!” The dark haired male jumped at the booming voice and Sehun laughed at the pitiful expression that crossed his face before Chanyeol hooked an arm over his shoulder. “Come sit with us! We’ve got the middle of the front row reserved,” He said, dragging Jongin along as he made his way to the front of the auditorium, Sehun and Yifan trailing behind. Yifan cringed a little when he saw Junmyeon, even though he wasn’t surprised.  Working with the blond in class had been hard enough knowing he and Yixing were bonded, but he wasn’t sure how many times he was going to have to remember that before he was done pouting about it.

Junmyeon gave a small wave that he returned before he took a seat next to Sehun, clutching at the fabric of his slacks to avoid damaging the flowers in his lap. His tension eased as the lights dimmed and the hostess came on stage. Just like the first recital he had seen, Yixing was the last pianist to play, and the only person on the stage with the blond that he recognized was Kyungsoo. Yifan looked to Sehun, intending to ask who the other two were but the younger’s mouth was hanging open a little as he stared at the stage. He debated for a moment waving his hand in front of Sehun’s face, but the brunet on the stage belted out a high note, distracting him from the idea and it seemed to signal the end of the performance as the lights came back on.

Yifan watched Jongin trail after Junmyeon up into the stage as people were filing out of the auditorium, Chanyeol skipping the stairs and simply climbing onto the stage.

The light brown haired male made eye contact with Sehun before the younger made himself look busy with his mobile, and that was all Yifan needed to know which brown haired male ZiTao and Jongin had been teasing Sehun about. He looked back to the stage, his grip on the bouquet tightening before he took a deep breath and started for the steps. Yixing and Junmyeon were hugging and the moment they pulled back someone bolted past Yifan and he froze as the brunet stopped behind Junmyeon. He grabbed Junmyeon’s , causing the blond to jump and scowl back at him.

“Why?” he asked, the brunet laughing.

“Because it makes a nice greeting.” Yifan stared at the three, Junmyeon being the first to notice, Yixing and the brunet following his attention to Yifan soon after.

“I… I’m so confused,” He said, Junmyeon’s own expression turning to confusion.

“What are… you confused about?”

“I thought… you and Yixing were…” He trailed off as the brunet started laughing.

“You thought Hyungs were together?” He asked, Yifan feeling his cheeks begin to burn. “Well, they sorta are,” He continued, Junmyeon swatting at him when he saw the playful look in the other’s eyes. Yixing took a step closer to the stairs that Yifan was still stuck standing on.

“What Jongdae means is Junmyeon and I are platonic soulmates,” He stated, Yifan tensing as the other spoke to him. Jongdae looped an arm around Junmyeon’s neck, looking between Yifan and Yixing a couple times, then to the flowers in Yifan’s hand.

“Nice bouquet there, I bet it’s for Yixing-Hyung,” He said, Yixing looked back at Jongdae before to Yifan again.

“I, uh, y-yeah,” Yifan admitted, ignoring how stupid he was sure his stammering sounded the best that he could, as well as the way Jongdae snickered. He offered the bouquet to Yixing, his heart throbbing at the smile that lit up the blond’s face as he took them, burying his nose in it to smell the flowers. He turned his smile back up to Yifan, and the older felt his toes tingle.

“You’re in my art class… Yifan-Ge, right?” Yixing asked and Yifan nodded. “I’ve seen you in the audience a lot, but I never thought that you were out there for me,” He said and Yifan swallowed hard as his heart leapt into his throat as he looked away, his cheeks burning.

“I… I saw you practicing one day last year and I was a… amazed by how you played…” He finally stammered out.

“You’re so not as cool as you look,” Jongdae laughed, Junmyeon responding by ducking out of the brunet’s hold, almost sending Jongdae to the floor in the process. Yixing looked at the pair and shook his head, turning his attention back to Yifan as he took a step closer.

“Don’t mind them, I think you’re really sweet,” He stated and Yifan slowly turned his gaze back to him for a moment before his heart throbbed again at the blond’s smile and he looked around to try to find Sehun and Jongin to aid his escape before he couldn’t breathe from his heart lodging itself in his throat. Wait – where did they…

“Did you lose someone?” Yixing asked, pulling Yifan’s attention back to him.

“Y-yeah, I… I’m in charge of a dorm with three freshmen, and one of them I’m the mentor for, but he’s the only one that didn’t come. I’m not sure where the two who did come went off to…”

“I saw Jongin and Kyungsoo leave, followed by some blond,” Jongdae stated and Yifan let out a small sigh.

“I can help you find them if you would like,” Yixing offered and Yifan shook his head.

“N-no, it’s fine. They’ll make their way home before too long; they always do,” He assured and Yixing nodded.

“Speaking of home, we should head out before it gets too late,” Junmyeon suggested and Yixing frowned a little, nodding to him and then looking back to Yifan as they started down the stairs.

“I’ll see you in class Wednesday,” He said, giving a small wave as he passed the other, holding his bouquet closer to his chest as he, Junmyeon and Jongdae left the auditorium. Yifan stated after then until his legs shook beneath him and he sat on the stairs for a few minutes. He took a deep breath, leaning forward to rest his face in his hands.

He knows my name… He knows who I am! He thought feeling his heart thundering in his chest.

(( I love Fanxing and SuChen so much uwu ))