[FOR DESIGNATIONS] HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS (1/2)
RECIPIENT: designations
TITLE: Home is where the heart is
LENGTH: 14021
RATING: PG-13(?) idk there's a few curse words
WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: When Yixing can't sleep, he turns to books. When he finds himself in new worlds, he notices one constant among all the differences. (Canon/Semi!AU)
FINAL NOTES: took the prompt and kind of multiplied it by 5...hope you don't mind!
When you have a problem, talk to your leader is a premise drilled into idols since trainee days. Learning to solve issues as a group is very important for creating a solid team sturdy enough to handle the rigors of fame.
“What’s also important, however, is sleep.”
Yixing frowns, staring through floppy, slightly curled bangs. “That’s my problem, ge.”
Yifan makes a pained noise into his pillow. “Count sheep.”
“That never works.”
“What do you want me to do, Yixing? It’s 3 in the morning.” Yifan’s voice dies down the more he speaks. Yixing knows he’s already losing him and tugs lightly at his sheets. Yifan tries to shake his head but only succeeds in creating static in his hair. Yixing notices his roots are starting to show again. “Tao was just in here last night because of the storm,” Yifan mumbles.
Yixing whines out a long “Pleeeeease” until Yifan finally grunts and rolls over in expected defeat. If he wasn’t regretting being so soft then, he sure as hell regrets it in the morning when he wakes up with only one leg left under his own blankets.
“You look terrible,” Lu Han says, whistling sadly as soon as Yifan trudges into the kitchen with mismatched socks and a bird’s nest on his head.
“Good morning to you too, sunshine.” Yifan grabs a bowl from the dish rack and Lu Han pushes the milk and cereal, already out from his own breakfast, towards him in a rare silent apology. “It’s Yixing,” Yifan says with a yawn as he pours milk over sugar-coated flakes which claim to be part of a balanced breakfast but probably aren’t. “He couldn’t sleep so he came into my room, but he still tossed and turned all night! Even when I did manage to drift off, it wasn’t very relaxing. And he stole my sheets.”
Lu Han hums, tapping his meticulously managed nails against the granite countertop. “He’s been bed hopping all week,” he says. “It was Jongdae last night and Minseok the night before, if I recall correctly. At first he was with me, but when that didn’t help for a few nights he began to migrate around.”
Yifan pushes the silverware drawer closed with his hip and leans against the doorframe of the kitchen. “This has been going on for a week?” he asks as he spoons cereal into his mouth. “Why wasn’t I told?”
Lu Han shrugs and grabs a banana from the fruit bowl. “You know how he hates to worry people, especially Duizhang,” he says, ignoring the That’s what I’m here for, idiot Yifan mumbles through his mouthful of cereal. “He skipped Taozi’s bed altogether because he didn’t want our youngest to feel burdened.”
“Must be pretty serious if you let him stay with you,” Yifan says into his bowl.
Lu Han scoffs and waves his banana at Yifan. “Yixing is always welcome in my bed because he’s not a stick in the mud like some people.”
Yifan raises an eyebrow. “No wonder he couldn’t sleep, you probably gossiped his ear off all night like at one of those schoolgirl slumber parties.”
Yifan’s life is spared when Yixing pads quietly into the small adjoining dining room and Lu Han drops his fist in favor of guiding Yixing to a chair. The poor boy is practically dead on his feet and looks to be in even worse shape than Yifan, but at least his messy hair is a lot cuter.
“Any luck?” he asks as he smooths down Yixing’s more wild curls.
Yixing shakes his head but gives Lu Han a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m okay.”
Lu Han looks like he wants to snap at Yixing, or maybe snap Yixing’s neck, but Yixing’s focus turns to the bowl Yifan plops in front of him.
“Eat up,” Yifan orders. “Then we’ll think of ways to fix this.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
They start off with simple things, like Jongdae singing Yixing a lullaby or two before retiring, and while that does sooth Yixing, he says it inspires him more than tires him. Jongdae rejoins the others with a defeated smile and news of a pinky promise to write a song with Yixing the next day.
They take Zitao’s advice and look up herbal drinks on the internet that are apparently easy to concoct and better than sleeping pills, which they don’t want to resort to just yet, but all their attempts turn into gooey green messes that they are reluctant to feed Yixing, who bravely takes a sip of each one all for naught. Yixing ends up tucking Zitao into bed instead and assuring him his suggestion was still very helpful.
They even try reading him bedtimes stories (“they” meaning Yifan, who flips through pages with red ears as he stutters over words because this is ridiculous, he is a grown man reading nursery rhymes to another grown man) but nothing seems to work. Yixing just blinks wide eyes up at Yifan after the third story and Yifan throws the book on the other side of the room.
Finally, after Yixing nearly falls over three times on the set of a photoshoot while standing in place, Yifan whips out his phone on the first break they get and alerts Junmyeon of the problem they’ll be bringing home with a quick text filled with too many exclamation points.
“We’re flying back to Korea tomorrow,” Yifan says when he returns to his members. Lu Han is holding Yixing’s hand in case he stumbles into another light stand and bows at it. “Hopefully someone there will think of a solution by then.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
“Don’t you have something in that box to cure insomnia?” Lu Han asks once both subgroups are back together and sprawled throughout the living room, all trying to come up with ways to get their dancer to sleep.
Junmyeon closes his first aid kit, from which he had retrieved a Band-Aid for the cut on Baekhyun’s finger that Baekhyun swears is getting infected and is going to cause him to lose his entire hand, and shakes his head.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” Zitao asks. “Yixing-ge is a simple guy.”
“If he’s so simple then how come nothing’s worked yet?” Kyungsoo retorts calmly from his spot beside Junmyeon’s potted “EXO Family Ficus”. He is very proud of that tree. It’s even larger than Kyungsoo, and Yixing would laugh about it if he had the energy.
“Because we’re not trying to understand the problem.” Junmyeon turns to Yixing, who is curled up between the couch and the coffee table, and asks, “Yixing, why can’t you sleep? You’re tired, we can all see that.”
Yixing’s yawn is confirmation. He shifts and pulls his hoodie tighter around himself. “Even though my body is tired, my mind is not,” he says after a moment. “I want to dance and write and compose…”
“Well we’ve gotta do something,” Jongin huffs. “We have a comeback soon, and he hasn’t slept in two weeks already.”
Yixing whimpers.
“Aside from the stress of that,” Junmyeon interrupts before anyone else can give their completely unhelpful two cents, “his mind is too active, bouncing from place to place and never settling down.” He pulls out his wallet and holds out a green plastic card with yellow writing on it.
“That’s not like any credit card I’ve ever seen,” Chanyeol notices excitedly.
Jongdae flicks Chanyeol’s ear. “That’s because it’s a library card, idiot.”
“Library card?” Yixing echoes, taking it with both hands and looking it over.
“You don’t have a Korean one, right?” Junmyeon asks. Yixing shakes his head. “Then use mine. Go pick up some books and read before bed every night. I think this will help your mind to focus and actually relax for once.”
“But I read him books already,” Yifan interjects, conveniently leaving out the fact that they were children’s fables. “They didn’t help.”
“Yixing’s thoughts are too scattered right now,” Junmyeon points out. “He wants to do too many things and he’s too dedicated to all of them. He has to be able to focus completely on one task all on his own, or else it’ll be useless.”
“I guess that makes sense…” Yixing mumbles, because it probably sounds relatively right to everyone else. “Thank you, hyung.” He tucks the library card into a pocket on his sweat pants, but Lu Han rolls his eyes and reaches in there to take it out again.
“You’re gonna lose it like that,” he chides, getting up and sticking it in Yixing’s wallet he’d left on the TV stand earlier. “And you’re gonna lose this if you don’t keep it in your bag.” He tosses the wallet to Yixing, who catches it with that gentle smile of his. More tired than usual, but just as gentle.
“What would I do without you, Lu?”
“Maybe get eaten by a crocodile.”
Jongdae chomps in Yixing’s direction and Yixing’s laugh is almost as lively as it used to be. Lu Han squeezes himself back on the couch in between Minseok and the armrest, with his feet practically propped up on Yixing’s shoulders below him, and ruffles Yixing’s hair. We’ll help you, Xing, I promise.
°˖✧★✧˖°
Only a few members are awake when Yixing emerges from his room at around 8 in the morning with Lu Han in tow, but they are all overjoyed when he announces that he was able to doze off for a few hours straight last night. Being back in a familiar bed helped, he says, but his mind is still buzzing.
(Lu Han confirms this by mumbling about Yixing waking him up when he tried to creep out of bed and ended up running into the dresser).
They don’t have any practices scheduled until the afternoon, so Junmyeon, one of the early risers already up, ushers Yixing, and by extent, Lu Han, into the showers and out of the dorm and sends them to the library with big coats, a little pocket money just in case, and a very sleepy manager dragging behind them. Yixing shoots the man an apologetic smile, one no one can stay mad at, and they make a detour for coffee before really starting their day.
“You’re looking better already,” Lu Han insists as he and Yixing slide into a booth by the café’s side window while the manager orders their drinks. “You’ll get your energy back in no time.”
Yixing sighs and rests his head in one hand. The morning sun is hitting him from the back. It makes him look even softer, more vulnerable. “I sure hope so,” he murmurs. “It’s no fun like this.”
Lu Han slings an arm around Yixing’s shoulders and pulls him in, fluffy trim of their hoods tickling their cheeks from the movement. “You will,” he says firmly. Yixing believes him.
They all take their time, letting the coffee slowly warm them up from the inside. It creates a fuzzy, hopeful atmosphere, and once cups are empty, tummies are full, and whipped cream is wiped from noses, they continue their journey to the library with newfound vigor. Yixing slips his palm against Lu Han’s somewhere along the way. Lu Han gives Yixing’s hand a squeeze before lacing their fingers together and pulling him up the steps of the grand brick building.
Their manager has to take a business call roughly five minutes into the expedition so Lu Han and Yixing are left to scour the towering shelves all on their own. Lu Han isn’t complaining though, because as much as Yixing drags him around like a child in a candy store, it’s nice to spend time alone together, a rarity in itself without the added bonus of a quiet, peaceful environment. Here, it almost feels like they’re normal kids.
Eventually Yixing plops a small stack of books onto a table, seeming very happy with his choices. Lu Han peers at them curiously.
“I got a bunch of different genres,” Yixing says proudly, “since I don’t know what will put me to sleep.”
Lu Han snorts and adjusts the couple books he picked out for himself in his arms - one biography of famous soccer players from around the world and one slice-of-life café romance. “If you want to fall asleep reading something try one of Yifan’s self-help books.”
Yixing laughs. “No way, I’m not that desperate. Look, look.” He motions to each individual spine as he goes down the stack. “This one’s an adventure novel, and this one’s a romance - oh hey, you have one too, and this one’s-”
Lu Han cuts Yixing off when he sees their manager point to his watch from where he’s waiting in a seat by the entrance. “Come on, let’s rent these before you explode or something.”
“I’m not going to explode,” Yixing huffs, but he still gathers his books and follows Lu Han to the librarian at the front desk.
“I didn’t know you liked reading so much,” Lu Han admits, letting Yixing go first once they reach the counter since Yixing has more books to carry and Lu Han is never not worrying about the careless idiot’s back.
“I don’t have much time for it, obviously,” Yixing hums, shifting from foot to foot in his constant state of restlessness, “but books are like songs, really. They can make you feel things, make you go places… it’s really fascinating.”
Lu Han watches Yixing make polite, stilted small talk with the elderly librarian as she checks out his books and really hopes this will help his friend - such a beautiful mind shouldn’t have to suffer.
°˖✧★✧˖°
With a comeback steadily approaching, practices are longer and more rigorous and succeed in distracting Yixing from his problem - that is, until the members are all hauled into vans and taken back to the dorms and the gentle rocking of the car reminds Yixing that he very much wants to sleep.
After a quick meeting in K’s living room discussing what they feel needs to be improved upon and noting corrections to peoples’ dance moves that should be made, Junmyeon ushers the M members out and into their own dorm and demands that they go to bed immediately. His gaze lingers on Yixing, clearly worried, but Yixing doesn’t notice as he moves his legs on autopilot and rubs his heavy eyes.
Lu Han sidles up to Yixing as they cross the hall and links their arms together, knowing Yixing is one stumble away from smacking into a wall and just giving up on the floor. He doesn’t say much, but his presence is comforting enough even to Yixing’s distant conscience.
Once Yixing convinces Lu Han that he is coherent enough to brush his teeth and wash his face without drowning, which takes quite a long time because Yixing himself really isn’t so positive either, he freshens up slowly and drags his feet to his awaiting bed. Lu Han isn’t in the room yet - it takes Yixing a moment to realize that the slight humming he’s hearing is actually the soft voices of his members talking in the living room. He can’t make out what they’re saying, but he can tell they’re trying to stay quiet for him and that makes him smile. He doesn’t wait for Lu Han to flop into the bed beside his, just crawls under his covers and buries his face in his cool pillow.
He’s completely comfortable, in the perfect position to fall asleep peacefully, except of course he doesn’t get that far. After ten minutes of trying to nudge dance choreography out of his mind only for it to be replaced by the melody of the song he is currently making with Jongdae, he pushes his sheets off of his body in a huff and grabs the first book he can feel around in the dark for by the foot of his bed. He reaches out to the side to flick on a desk lamp then situates himself in bed again, this time treating his sheets with apologetic care. He looks at the book, a black hardbound thing with gold trim dulled over time and faint imprints of ghosts floating along the cover.
“I’ve never read a horror story before,” he mutters to himself, and he’s not sure if it’s the best type of book to try to settle his mind with, but who is he to complain when Junmyeon so kindly thought up a tentative solution for him? So he settles the book in his lap, fluffs his pillow behind his back, and opens to the first page.
He can already tell by the end of the first chapter that the premise is a typical haunted house tale with a main character who acts on stupid impulses, but he continues on. Aside from the cliché plot, Yixing has to admit he finds the ever-lingering question of ghost or human insanity intriguing.
“Maybe she is mental,” he says to himself as he flips on to chapter three. “Who wouldn’t worry when their dog keeps barking at a bare wall?”
However, he is so embarrassingly caught up in the overdone storyline that he reads and reads until a jaw-cracking yawn has him checking the time and blinking in surprise, as if the more he opens and closes his eyes the greater the chance that the neon red numbers will flash something other than 3 in the morning. He puts the book, pages down, on his bedside table and rubs his eyes as he yawns again. He squints in the dark at Lu Han’s side of the room that his little source of light doesn’t quite reach, and even with his limited vision he can tell his roommate has yet to even crinkle his covers.
That’s odd, he thinks. He can no longer hear the murmured voices of his group mates out in the dorm so they must have gone to bed, but Lu Han hasn’t.
Maybe he fell asleep on the couch again. Yixing slips out of bed, hissing when his bare feet touch the cold hardwood floor, and grabs one of Lu Han’s extra blankets as he heads out of the bedroom.
He stops at the living room on his way to the kitchen. “You’re lucky I wanted some water,” he says, but when he rounds the couch there’s no one there. Could he have gone to a different room so he wouldn’t disturb me? Yixing tosses the blanket onto the couch anyway, figuring Lu Han could deal with it in the morning, and is about to go into the kitchen when he hears a rustling noise behind him.
“So you were here,” he snorts, flicking on the lights to illuminate the living room and once again seeing no one. He stares. He frowns.
This isn’t the living room.
Well it is, but not really. The furniture’s all there, all sitting in their correct places, but it’s clean. They’re not animals, but six boys sharing such a small space always results in evidence of, well, having been there. Minseok’s dumbbell set isn’t shoved into the far corner; Yifan and Zitao’s giant stuffed wolves aren’t flung on the floor from wherever the last pillow fight left them; Yixing turns around and doesn’t even see multiple pairs of shoes by the door. Only his own.
He turns off the light and hurries back towards the hallway, idea of water abandoned, and is almost to his room when, from the depths of the dark hall, a low, quiet breath breezes past his cheek. He can feel the wet warmth on his skin and slowly backs up, eyes trying desperately to see down the hall.
“Yifan?” he guesses, voice meek, but no response. He doesn’t dare turn his back on the pitch black abyss in front of him - something is very, very wrong. He reaches behind himself until he feels the wall corner signifying the beginning of the living room and makes a run for the kitchen - he needs a knife, a cheese grater, anything other than his bare hands.
Of course nothing is where it should be. He digs around frantically in a drawer, slamming it shut in fright when he hears louder breaths, now accompanied by footsteps that sound both heavy and light. The dorm is getting warmer. Yixing can’t even find a glass bottle to break and is halfway to crouching under the kitchen table when the doorbell rings and causes him to yelp loudly. He covers his mouth and looks in the direction of the hallway.
Whatever it is, it seems to have stopped moving. Yixing slowly sits up. He stays put, though, for a full minute, and is about to let himself relax when the noises and presence return and he is one second away from slipping into a panic attack when the doorbell rings again, twice this time, more impatiently, and again the Thing seems to vanish. Yixing doesn’t hesitate this time - he bolts towards the door and fumbles with the lock before yanking it open and surprising the man standing th-
“Lu Han,” Yixing says, tension rushing out of his body until he sees Lu Han’s green and orange getup, also wrong.
“Um, your pizza’s here, Sir,” maybe-Lu Han says, holding up a large cardboard box. Yixing can smell the pizza and his tummy grumbles but he is in no condition to even think about stomaching food.
Yixing looks this man over. He seems and sounds exactly like Lu Han, his name tag says “Lu Han”, but there’s something about his eyes, something unnerving and chilling - he doesn’t know who Yixing is. He’s looking at Yixing, and Yixing is looking at him, but Yixing is a stranger to this man and it’s uncomfortable to say the least.
“I-I didn’t order any…” Yixing manages to say, glancing behind himself. He doesn’t feel anything in the dorm anymore.
“Hey, are you alright?” maybe-Lu Han asks. “You look like you need some fresh air.”
Yixing nods, only half paying attention. “Maybe…”
The man slides the pizza box onto the small table inside by the front door and lightly brushes Yixing’s arm with careful fingers. His touch feels like Lu Han’s and easily guides Yixing out of the building and into the crisp night air. Yixing feels so much more secure out here in the open than he did inside his own home, so much safer with this man he pretends is Lu Han.
“It’s nice out, right?” the man asks, clearly trying to make small talk, and normally Yixing wouldn’t mind casually chatting about the weather but not with Lu Han - he should never experience this kind of awkwardness with Lu Han. “Are you feeling better now?” The genuine concern does strike a familiar chord in him, though.
“A little,” he says truthfully.
The man doesn’t look convinced. He offers Yixing a ride to his work, says it’s pretty dead around this time of night and he wouldn’t judge Yixing if he needed to just get away for a bit. “Not that a pizza place is very fun,” he adds. “We don’t actually get to eat as much as you’d think, but hey, you look like you need some company.”
He flashes Yixing a smile, and it’s Lu Han’s smile.
They end up talking for the rest of the night, falling into a pattern of comfortable chatter and pleasant moments of silence. Yixing doesn’t know why, but whatever was terrorizing him back at the dorm seems unable to reach him now. He eventually feels himself drifting off against one of the restaurant’s tables, finally, finally falling asleep to the sound of this not-so-stranger humming as he rolls out pizza dough.
When Yixing wakes up, he’s back in his bed. He breaks out into a cold sweat and jolts up, senses alert and feet ready to run.
Nothing happens. All he can hear is the quiet breathing of Lu Han sleeping in the bed a few feet away. Yixing realizes his desk lamp is still on and quickly turns it off. He slips out of bed for a second time and the floor is not nearly as cold. He makes his way straight to Lu Han and nudges him gently until he rolls over and Yixing has room to crawl in beside him.
At around noon, a soft knocking wakes Yixing once again. He blinks at the clock and is surprised it’s so late. They must have let him sleep in.
“You up?” Lu Han asks, poking his head into the room.
Yixing nods slowly, pulling the blankets tighter around his body. He notices he’s still in Lu Han’s bed and cracks a smile as he imagines Lu Han trying to sneak out from under the covers without waking him - Yixing can be a clinger.
Lu Han sits on the edge of the mattress and looks at Yixing with twinkling eyes. “You slept for a long time last night,” he says. “Did reading really help?” He looks so hopeful that Yixing doesn’t want to disappoint him.
“Yeah,” he nods, and it’s only half a lie, really, because he does feel more refreshed than usual, but when Lu Han pulls him into a relieved hug he thinks, Just…no more horror.
°˖✧★✧˖°
The next night after a full day of dance practices, when Yixing’s limbs ache and his body drags but his mind continues to wander, he tries his best to keep up with the various conversations going on around him but is soon forced to retire by his heavy eyelids and Junmyeon’s motherly stare.
He takes his time washing up and fiddling around on his phone for a bit before once again fishing around the foot of his bed for a book (he had scowled at the horror one and shoved it to the bottom of the pile, forever unfinished). The next one he grabs is a murder mystery novel - a step up from demons, at least.
He settles into bed, this time leaving the lights on, and opens the paperback to page one.
A loud droning noise jolts Yixing awake and he stares until his eyes focus at his cellphone vibrating on his bedside table. He groans and sets his book on his duvet, haphazardly folding down the page he fell asleep on, and grabs the phone. He frowns. Why is Lu calling me? He glances over to the other side of the room and pales when he sees no second bed there. He quickly swipes into the call.
“Lu?” he asks, rushed.
“Hey, you finally picked up,” a voice that is marred by static but distinctly Lu Han’s answers after a second. “I know the chief told us to take a break but I found a lead in the case and followed it and, well…” He pauses and Yixing can hear him steadying his breathing for a good minute before continuing, quieter now. “Well, let’s just say I found something.”
“Are you in trouble?” Yixing asks, Lu Han’s safety his first concern even as he lies in a room that is not quite his own.
“Define trouble,” Lu Han says, cheerful as always. “It’s fun, come on, meet me by the docks.” There’s the sound of something being knocked over - a crate, maybe? - and Lu Han curses under his breath. “The docks,” he repeats then hangs up.
Yixing stares at his phone after the call ends, but only for a moment - he hurries out of bed and grabs a jacket hanging from the back of his chair and almost shrieks when a gun clatters to the floor. He pokes it with his big toe. He hasn’t the faintest idea how to use a gun, but experience is the best teacher, or something like that. He picks up the gun and sees a holster that must have fallen a little ways away and takes that as well. It’s not too hard to figure out how to attach the gun to his hip and then he’s out the door.
“The docks” are a territory of seafront warehouses and overnight resting places for ships stretching a few miles along the coast, so it really would have been nice if Lu Han was a little more specific about his location. Yixing pulls out his phone to call him, but thinks better of it and slips it back into his pocket. He sticks to the shadows and stays low, not exactly sure where he learned to move so stealthily but definitely not complaining about it.
A few minutes into his search, he gets a feeling, one not much different than that of the ghost from his previous dream. Yixing never knew dreams could seem so real. He hurries his pace and tries to swerve in and out of alleys to lose whoever is following him, but they are persistent. His pursuer’s footsteps get faster, no longer trying to be quiet, which is quite worrying, and Yixing breaks into a run. The next alley he turns into is a dead end blocked by a tall chain-link fence, but with thinking quicker than he could ever manage in the real world, he bounds onto a stack of old wooden boxes left beside a dumpster and begins to scale the fence expertly.
Even in this universe he isn’t Superman, though, and his body can only push itself so much. As he nears the top of the fence, a large hand grabs one of his ankles and there’s a bit of tug-of-war before Yixing is pulled back down to the ground with a cold, hard thud. He groans, eyes clenched shut, and feels fabric being pulled over his face.
Yixing never fully blacks out, so he is aware of a strong set of arms lugging him into a warehouse and setting him roughly into a chair and tying him up. The fabric stays covering his face, though, so he has no idea who his assailant is, which, he assumes, is the point. He stays in that chair for what feels like hours, head throbbing and heart racing in fear, and he can hear the gruff voices of men a little ways off but no one ever tries to talk to him. It’s as if they kidnapped him just to kidnap, and that makes Yixing shudder.
Suddenly he hears a crash and the warehouse lights go out - even with his eyes covered he can tell it got much, much darker. The men in the large, open room shout their disapproval and feel around for any source of light. Yixing hears guns being unlocked and gulps - being tied to a chair is not ideal when mean, angry men start shooting aimlessly. He hears more noise from the far end of the warehouse and thankfully his captors head towards it, away from him.
He manages to let out half a scream when his blindfold is yanked off before a familiar hand clasps over his mouth. His eyes have yet to adjust to the dark, but the presence feels comforting.
“Jeez, how come I’m the one saving your ass when I needed help first?”
“Lu!” Yixing gasps, muffled by Lu Han’s hand. Lu Han moves away and hastily unties Yixing’s ropes and pulls him out of the chair.
“Come on, you can thank me later - these guys are known to be a trigger-happy bunch.”
Yixing obediently follows Lu Han and they’re almost to the door when the warehouse explodes with light again. There’s a loud Hey! and then Lu Han is taking Yixing by the hand and running the rest of the way. Yixing, again with the unusual quick thinking, reaches ahead and releases Lu Han’s gun from his holster with his free hand - unfortunately these criminals are the smart kind and had confiscated his - and turns his body halfway around and fires at no one in particular. It’s enough to make the men pause momentarily, enough for Lu Han to pull him through the door and into the middle of a police raid with cars and cops surrounding the warehouse.
The two come to a stop, panting heavily, and a man Yixing’s mind tells him is their chief ushers them off to the side before fellow officers storm the building. They plop down onto the ground, ignoring all the dirt that scatters the docks, and breathe in deeply, cool night air slowly calming them down. Yixing tilts his head back and looks up at the stars, and Lu Han puts a warm hand against his thigh.
“At least we can say it’s never a dull day at work,” he says with a grin, and Yixing glances at him with a snort.
They stay there for a bit, focusing on the moon and stars reflecting off of the dark water rather than the sounds of the police raid behind them. Lu Han finally breaks the silence with a nudge to Yixing’s shoulder.
“Chief said to go home and rest, take a little time to recuperate if we need it.”
Yixing hums.
“Wanna go get a pizza?”
Yixing blinks at him. “What?”
Lu Han looks at Yixing. “Not in the mood?”
Yixing smiles to himself and shakes his head. “Sorry, I was just reminded of something. Yeah, sure, let’s go.”
Lu Han stands and offers a hand to help Yixing up. They get a ride into town by a sergeant waiting around outside and, though the night was too eventful for most people, they still walk around until they find an open pizza place. They order a large pepperoni and a large Hawaiian (“That one’s all yours,” Lu Han gags) and take them back to Yixing’s - what should be their - dorm. They easily fall into pleasant chatter, as always, until Lu Han falls asleep on Yixing’s bed with a pepperoni stuck on his cheek and a half-eaten crust sticking out of his mouth. Yixing rolls his eyes and cleans Lu Han up before finding space beside him and drifting off slowly as well.
°˖✧★✧˖°
Yixing feels himself coming to and carefully peeks through one eye at his surroundings. The lights must have been turned off some time during the night but he still sees Lu Han’s sleeping form in the bed that’s where it should be and lets out a sigh of relief. He ditches the mystery novel right away and again makes room under Lu Han’s sheets to slip under.
“Hey,” a soft voice breathes into his ear.
“Sorry,” Yixing mumbles, facing Lu Han. “Did I wake you?”
Lu Han shakes his head and his hair is really a mess and Yixing can tell when he’s lying but he lets Lu Han get away with it anyway. “Are you sure the books are working? This is the second night in a row…”
Yixing nods. “Really, they are helping me sleep longer,” he says. “Just…” He might as well admit it, no point in pretending. “The last two gave me nightmares. Well, sort-of nightmares. Nightmares up to a point.”
Lu Han grunts in tired understanding. “When do they stop being nightmares?” He scoots over to give Yixing more room.
Yixing burrows closer and presses his cheek into a pillow. “When someone saves me.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
The third book Yixing picks out is finally a keeper - action/adventure with spells, dragons, princesses, the whole nine yards. The tale follows a young man, barely out of boyhood, on a quest through a barren land in search of the four descendants of the seasons in hopes that, once united, he, who has the power of the moon, and the other magic users can bring nature back into the realm. The first character he meets on his journey (and his obvious future love interest) is a girl who turns out to be the daughter of Winter - ever since she accidentally freezes a campfire, Yixing has been picturing her as Minseok which leads to some hilariously awkward scenes from his point of view.
He isn’t afraid to fall asleep anymore.
Yixing wakes to a sharp, chill wind that rushes through the tent flaps behind him. He groans and pulls his animal fur blankets tighter around his shivering frame, too tired to get up and retie the flaps, when the next gust that hits him has him sitting up in a heartbeat - it’s hot.
He knows all too well what that means, apparently.
He grabs his charmed bow and arrow from beside his makeshift bed and bursts through the tent into the clearing, coming face to face with a great, white dragon with piercing blue eyes. It isn’t as large as other dragons he’s seen, though usually he is a safe distance away, so he figures the beast in front of him is still roughly an adolescent - a good thing for him, since, while they are quicker to attack without thought, their aim and agility are much less trained.
Yixing realizes, though, that he does not want to fight the dragon if he does not have to, he can feel that it is not in his nature. He takes a slow, careful step forward with a hand raised slightly, and the dragon almost looks like it is considering backing down, but in a flash it is back to its rambunctious nature and lets out a deafening roar. Yixing winces and sprints towards the trees behind him on legs that are ten times faster than his own, not wanting to give the dragon any clear shots.
Something goes off in his mind, a signal of sorts, and he turns and fires his arrow with ease and speed impossible with even the most expert training in the real world right before the dragon is able to let out a gust of blue flame. It drops the attack in favor of dodging the glowing projectile and angry puffs of smoke shoot out of its nostrils.
No, not flame or smoke - molten ice and frost. This makes Yixing a little more nervous. Fire needs time, however little, to take in oxygen and spread through a forest. Ice can cover anything. Icicles also make areas with many overhanging objects a very dangerous place, places such as the forest Yixing is no longer running to. He skids to a stop and changes direction, running along the clearing’s perimeter around the dragon, whose long tail is thrashing carelessly every which way.
The dragon turns its head and spots Yixing and gears up for another blast attempt, short legs covering much distance as it charges. Again, Yixing feels a sensation in his brain and rolls to the left, just narrowly avoiding a sharp stream of ice that hisses as it cracks the ground. He holds up his bow and another glowing, golden arrow materializes against its fine string and he is about to fire when the dragon suddenly lets out a shriek and stumbles forward.
Yixing narrowly avoids the tree that flies his way after having knocked into the dragon’s head from behind. He stares at it for a second then stares in the direction the dragon is now roaring. He doesn’t see anyone, but someone must be there because a big rock gets hurled at the dragon’s side. It screams and shoots a powerful gust of snow and ice particles at random, evidently not seeing its attacker either.
After a few scours of the premises, the dragon then turns its attention back on what it can see - Yixing. It stomps forward, thick, deadly claws creating craters in the earth, and spits out a shower of icicles heading straight at him. The icicles cover too much of an expanse on either side for Yixing to run out of bounds safely so he takes a step back, raises his bow to fend off anything near his face and chest, and braces himself-
-And the icicles change direction mere inches from his person in one swoop and go crashing into the woods. Yixing lowers his arm in awe but raises it again to fire an arrow at one of the dragon’s front feet, lodging it right between scaly skin and claw. It stumbles and cries out in discomfort while Yixing dives behind a collection of boulders.
“Hey, sorry for taking so long with that ice but I got tired - trees and rocks are pretty damn big.”
Yixing claps a hand to his mouth to muffle his noise of surprise. His head snaps up towards a man crouching on one of the rocks.
Towards Lu Han.
“That was you?” he asks, taking in this world’s Lu Han with wide eyes - he’s a little tanner and a little more muscular than the Lu Han he knows, but his eyes still sparkle and his smile is still boyish. Most prominent, though, are the two horns jutting out from his forehead.
Lu Han hums. “Yep. Pretty cool, huh?” He wiggles his fingers at his head. “I have telekinesis.”
Yixing wracks his brain for what species fits mind powers and horns and a playful demeanor and gasps. “You’re a demon.”
Lu Han slides down onto the grass next to Yixing when they hear the dragon trudging around looking for them. “And judging by those ears, you’re an elf. Doesn’t mean I can’t help you if I see you’re in a pinch.”
“Actually it kind of does.”
“Well it shouldn’t.” Lu Han levitates a couple pebbles and sends them off in the opposite direction of where they are hiding, the sound of stones hitting dirt yards away distracting the dragon momentarily. “I don’t really believe in that fighting-my-ancestors’-ancient-feuds thing. And if I recall correctly, elves don’t like fighting at all.”
“We don’t,” Yixing says rather proudly. “Although we have bad blood with your kind, we put current situations over the past.”
Lu Han shrugs and grins. “I don’t see why I can’t do that too.” He extends a hand. “I’m Lu Han.”
Yixing shakes his hand and through the contact he can feel the beginnings of a friendship, even in this universe. “Yixing.”
Their moment is interrupted when a blast of ice shatters the boulders directly to their right. They glance at each other and bound back into the clearing, facing the dragon head-on as two. The dragon is wilder now after tasting the adrenaline of a battle and Yixing can feel its anger.
No, not anger - panic.
“Wait!” he shouts, putting a hand out to stop Lu Han from throwing another rock.
Lu Han looks at him like he’s crazy. “You mean don’t attack the man-eating monster?” he asks incredulously.
“Yes, that is exactly what I mean.” Yixing whips his hand in the direction of the dragon’s foot and a feint, green glow appears around the arrow he had put there. The arrow dissolves and the blood from the wound disappears as Yixing heals it.
“Now I see why my kind hates you,” Lu Han says, exasperated. “You’re a ticking time bomb of death.”
“Hush,” Yixing says shortly, looking up at the dragon’s face and not breaking eye contact as the wound finishes healing. The dragon’s eyes slowly stop seeming so crazed. “It’s afraid,” he whispers.
“Being double teamed by a demon and an elf?” Lu Han scoffs. “Hell, I’d be scared.”
Yixing ignores him and takes a couple tentative steps forward. The dragon lets out a low rumble but doesn’t attack. Yixing keeps walking until he is within touching distance of the dragon. From this close he can see that it is not covered in scales but in a colony of patches of fur. He pauses, then places a gentle hand against its leg and closes his eyes.
Lu Han stands there, uncertain and antsy, until Yixing raises his head and nods at the now silent beast. “So, uh…what was that?” he calls, dropping the rock with a relieved sigh because, as strong as he likes to appear, his past attacks did take a toll on his powers and the dragon currently seems docile enough.
“She’s lost,” Yixing replies. “Somehow she was separated from her tribe during migration. She’s scared and desperate to return to a colder climate, that’s why she was so volatile.”
Lu Han scratches his head. “And you know this how?”
Yixing blinks. “She told me.”
Lu Han gapes at Yixing, hands gesturing wildly. “You can talk to dragons? And you couldn’t do this before she almost killed you because…?”
“Because I can only communicate to those who want to communicate back,” Yixing says calmly. “Elven practices are a mutual, noninvasive craft.”
Lu Han slouches tiredly. “Of course they are.”
The dragon bends her long neck down and nudges Yixing’s shoulder, as if in an apology. Yixing smiles and strokes her snout.
“Her family went to the Northern End. It’s only a couple months of travel and revisions will be available in the wild most of the way so it shouldn’t be too hard…”
Lu Han shakes his head, black hair bouncing with every turn. “Wait, wait, are you…are you saying you expect me to travel to the Northern End for that overgrown lizard?”
The dragon grunts and Yixing shushes her quickly. He looks back at Lu Han with innocent eyes. “I mean, I figured since we found her…”
“Nu-uh, you found her,” Lu Han corrects. “I saved your ass, so you’re welcome. But I’m a busy guy, I have demon things to do, I can’t just drop everything to play babysitter.”
Yixing raises an eyebrow and tilts his head. “You’re what, 20?”
“25,” Lu Han corrects immediately, turning his nose up.
“At that age, aren’t demons supposed to be studying under a master or training for Hell’s Army?”
Lu Han swallows.
“You’re a mighty far way from home,” Yixing hums. He focuses on the dragon and picks out debris from her fur. “Isn’t it nice to have a destination to run away to?”
Lu Han kicks at a twig before sighing and approaching the dragon, who allows him to pet her after blowing a puff of ice air at him from her nose. “Who ever said elves aren’t conniving jerks?”
Yixing laughs and Lu Han cracks a smile and the mighty dragon nuzzles into their touches like a baby animal.
“Hey,” Yixing says, getting Lu Han’s attention. “We should call her Tao.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
When Yixing slowly wakes with a yawn and a lazy stretch, the first thing he sees is Lu Han looking at him from across the room with a delightful expression and he feels a smile stretch across his face.
“What?” he mutters, rubbing his eyes.
“Xing, do you realize what you just did?”
Lu Han looks so excited Yixing is half convinced he sleepwalked on a tightrope. “Um…”
“You slept for eight hours!” Lu Han shouts with enthusiasm. Yixing checks the clock. Lu Han bounces onto Yixing’s bed and hugs him, blankets and morning breath and all. “Whatever book you’re reading, keep at it!”
Yixing wraps his arms around Lu Han’s torso and thinks back on the memory of Lu Han in that magical world, of how quickly they grew attached on their journey and how exhilarating it was to be on an adventure with a replica of his best friend, his Lu Han.
He glances at the book left on his bedside table and smiles at it.
NEXT
TITLE: Home is where the heart is
LENGTH: 14021
RATING: PG-13(?) idk there's a few curse words
WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: When Yixing can't sleep, he turns to books. When he finds himself in new worlds, he notices one constant among all the differences. (Canon/Semi!AU)
FINAL NOTES: took the prompt and kind of multiplied it by 5...hope you don't mind!
When you have a problem, talk to your leader is a premise drilled into idols since trainee days. Learning to solve issues as a group is very important for creating a solid team sturdy enough to handle the rigors of fame.
“What’s also important, however, is sleep.”
Yixing frowns, staring through floppy, slightly curled bangs. “That’s my problem, ge.”
Yifan makes a pained noise into his pillow. “Count sheep.”
“That never works.”
“What do you want me to do, Yixing? It’s 3 in the morning.” Yifan’s voice dies down the more he speaks. Yixing knows he’s already losing him and tugs lightly at his sheets. Yifan tries to shake his head but only succeeds in creating static in his hair. Yixing notices his roots are starting to show again. “Tao was just in here last night because of the storm,” Yifan mumbles.
Yixing whines out a long “Pleeeeease” until Yifan finally grunts and rolls over in expected defeat. If he wasn’t regretting being so soft then, he sure as hell regrets it in the morning when he wakes up with only one leg left under his own blankets.
“You look terrible,” Lu Han says, whistling sadly as soon as Yifan trudges into the kitchen with mismatched socks and a bird’s nest on his head.
“Good morning to you too, sunshine.” Yifan grabs a bowl from the dish rack and Lu Han pushes the milk and cereal, already out from his own breakfast, towards him in a rare silent apology. “It’s Yixing,” Yifan says with a yawn as he pours milk over sugar-coated flakes which claim to be part of a balanced breakfast but probably aren’t. “He couldn’t sleep so he came into my room, but he still tossed and turned all night! Even when I did manage to drift off, it wasn’t very relaxing. And he stole my sheets.”
Lu Han hums, tapping his meticulously managed nails against the granite countertop. “He’s been bed hopping all week,” he says. “It was Jongdae last night and Minseok the night before, if I recall correctly. At first he was with me, but when that didn’t help for a few nights he began to migrate around.”
Yifan pushes the silverware drawer closed with his hip and leans against the doorframe of the kitchen. “This has been going on for a week?” he asks as he spoons cereal into his mouth. “Why wasn’t I told?”
Lu Han shrugs and grabs a banana from the fruit bowl. “You know how he hates to worry people, especially Duizhang,” he says, ignoring the That’s what I’m here for, idiot Yifan mumbles through his mouthful of cereal. “He skipped Taozi’s bed altogether because he didn’t want our youngest to feel burdened.”
“Must be pretty serious if you let him stay with you,” Yifan says into his bowl.
Lu Han scoffs and waves his banana at Yifan. “Yixing is always welcome in my bed because he’s not a stick in the mud like some people.”
Yifan raises an eyebrow. “No wonder he couldn’t sleep, you probably gossiped his ear off all night like at one of those schoolgirl slumber parties.”
Yifan’s life is spared when Yixing pads quietly into the small adjoining dining room and Lu Han drops his fist in favor of guiding Yixing to a chair. The poor boy is practically dead on his feet and looks to be in even worse shape than Yifan, but at least his messy hair is a lot cuter.
“Any luck?” he asks as he smooths down Yixing’s more wild curls.
Yixing shakes his head but gives Lu Han a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m okay.”
Lu Han looks like he wants to snap at Yixing, or maybe snap Yixing’s neck, but Yixing’s focus turns to the bowl Yifan plops in front of him.
“Eat up,” Yifan orders. “Then we’ll think of ways to fix this.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
They start off with simple things, like Jongdae singing Yixing a lullaby or two before retiring, and while that does sooth Yixing, he says it inspires him more than tires him. Jongdae rejoins the others with a defeated smile and news of a pinky promise to write a song with Yixing the next day.
They take Zitao’s advice and look up herbal drinks on the internet that are apparently easy to concoct and better than sleeping pills, which they don’t want to resort to just yet, but all their attempts turn into gooey green messes that they are reluctant to feed Yixing, who bravely takes a sip of each one all for naught. Yixing ends up tucking Zitao into bed instead and assuring him his suggestion was still very helpful.
They even try reading him bedtimes stories (“they” meaning Yifan, who flips through pages with red ears as he stutters over words because this is ridiculous, he is a grown man reading nursery rhymes to another grown man) but nothing seems to work. Yixing just blinks wide eyes up at Yifan after the third story and Yifan throws the book on the other side of the room.
Finally, after Yixing nearly falls over three times on the set of a photoshoot while standing in place, Yifan whips out his phone on the first break they get and alerts Junmyeon of the problem they’ll be bringing home with a quick text filled with too many exclamation points.
“We’re flying back to Korea tomorrow,” Yifan says when he returns to his members. Lu Han is holding Yixing’s hand in case he stumbles into another light stand and bows at it. “Hopefully someone there will think of a solution by then.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
“Don’t you have something in that box to cure insomnia?” Lu Han asks once both subgroups are back together and sprawled throughout the living room, all trying to come up with ways to get their dancer to sleep.
Junmyeon closes his first aid kit, from which he had retrieved a Band-Aid for the cut on Baekhyun’s finger that Baekhyun swears is getting infected and is going to cause him to lose his entire hand, and shakes his head.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” Zitao asks. “Yixing-ge is a simple guy.”
“If he’s so simple then how come nothing’s worked yet?” Kyungsoo retorts calmly from his spot beside Junmyeon’s potted “EXO Family Ficus”. He is very proud of that tree. It’s even larger than Kyungsoo, and Yixing would laugh about it if he had the energy.
“Because we’re not trying to understand the problem.” Junmyeon turns to Yixing, who is curled up between the couch and the coffee table, and asks, “Yixing, why can’t you sleep? You’re tired, we can all see that.”
Yixing’s yawn is confirmation. He shifts and pulls his hoodie tighter around himself. “Even though my body is tired, my mind is not,” he says after a moment. “I want to dance and write and compose…”
“Well we’ve gotta do something,” Jongin huffs. “We have a comeback soon, and he hasn’t slept in two weeks already.”
Yixing whimpers.
“Aside from the stress of that,” Junmyeon interrupts before anyone else can give their completely unhelpful two cents, “his mind is too active, bouncing from place to place and never settling down.” He pulls out his wallet and holds out a green plastic card with yellow writing on it.
“That’s not like any credit card I’ve ever seen,” Chanyeol notices excitedly.
Jongdae flicks Chanyeol’s ear. “That’s because it’s a library card, idiot.”
“Library card?” Yixing echoes, taking it with both hands and looking it over.
“You don’t have a Korean one, right?” Junmyeon asks. Yixing shakes his head. “Then use mine. Go pick up some books and read before bed every night. I think this will help your mind to focus and actually relax for once.”
“But I read him books already,” Yifan interjects, conveniently leaving out the fact that they were children’s fables. “They didn’t help.”
“Yixing’s thoughts are too scattered right now,” Junmyeon points out. “He wants to do too many things and he’s too dedicated to all of them. He has to be able to focus completely on one task all on his own, or else it’ll be useless.”
“I guess that makes sense…” Yixing mumbles, because it probably sounds relatively right to everyone else. “Thank you, hyung.” He tucks the library card into a pocket on his sweat pants, but Lu Han rolls his eyes and reaches in there to take it out again.
“You’re gonna lose it like that,” he chides, getting up and sticking it in Yixing’s wallet he’d left on the TV stand earlier. “And you’re gonna lose this if you don’t keep it in your bag.” He tosses the wallet to Yixing, who catches it with that gentle smile of his. More tired than usual, but just as gentle.
“What would I do without you, Lu?”
“Maybe get eaten by a crocodile.”
Jongdae chomps in Yixing’s direction and Yixing’s laugh is almost as lively as it used to be. Lu Han squeezes himself back on the couch in between Minseok and the armrest, with his feet practically propped up on Yixing’s shoulders below him, and ruffles Yixing’s hair. We’ll help you, Xing, I promise.
°˖✧★✧˖°
Only a few members are awake when Yixing emerges from his room at around 8 in the morning with Lu Han in tow, but they are all overjoyed when he announces that he was able to doze off for a few hours straight last night. Being back in a familiar bed helped, he says, but his mind is still buzzing.
(Lu Han confirms this by mumbling about Yixing waking him up when he tried to creep out of bed and ended up running into the dresser).
They don’t have any practices scheduled until the afternoon, so Junmyeon, one of the early risers already up, ushers Yixing, and by extent, Lu Han, into the showers and out of the dorm and sends them to the library with big coats, a little pocket money just in case, and a very sleepy manager dragging behind them. Yixing shoots the man an apologetic smile, one no one can stay mad at, and they make a detour for coffee before really starting their day.
“You’re looking better already,” Lu Han insists as he and Yixing slide into a booth by the café’s side window while the manager orders their drinks. “You’ll get your energy back in no time.”
Yixing sighs and rests his head in one hand. The morning sun is hitting him from the back. It makes him look even softer, more vulnerable. “I sure hope so,” he murmurs. “It’s no fun like this.”
Lu Han slings an arm around Yixing’s shoulders and pulls him in, fluffy trim of their hoods tickling their cheeks from the movement. “You will,” he says firmly. Yixing believes him.
They all take their time, letting the coffee slowly warm them up from the inside. It creates a fuzzy, hopeful atmosphere, and once cups are empty, tummies are full, and whipped cream is wiped from noses, they continue their journey to the library with newfound vigor. Yixing slips his palm against Lu Han’s somewhere along the way. Lu Han gives Yixing’s hand a squeeze before lacing their fingers together and pulling him up the steps of the grand brick building.
Their manager has to take a business call roughly five minutes into the expedition so Lu Han and Yixing are left to scour the towering shelves all on their own. Lu Han isn’t complaining though, because as much as Yixing drags him around like a child in a candy store, it’s nice to spend time alone together, a rarity in itself without the added bonus of a quiet, peaceful environment. Here, it almost feels like they’re normal kids.
Eventually Yixing plops a small stack of books onto a table, seeming very happy with his choices. Lu Han peers at them curiously.
“I got a bunch of different genres,” Yixing says proudly, “since I don’t know what will put me to sleep.”
Lu Han snorts and adjusts the couple books he picked out for himself in his arms - one biography of famous soccer players from around the world and one slice-of-life café romance. “If you want to fall asleep reading something try one of Yifan’s self-help books.”
Yixing laughs. “No way, I’m not that desperate. Look, look.” He motions to each individual spine as he goes down the stack. “This one’s an adventure novel, and this one’s a romance - oh hey, you have one too, and this one’s-”
Lu Han cuts Yixing off when he sees their manager point to his watch from where he’s waiting in a seat by the entrance. “Come on, let’s rent these before you explode or something.”
“I’m not going to explode,” Yixing huffs, but he still gathers his books and follows Lu Han to the librarian at the front desk.
“I didn’t know you liked reading so much,” Lu Han admits, letting Yixing go first once they reach the counter since Yixing has more books to carry and Lu Han is never not worrying about the careless idiot’s back.
“I don’t have much time for it, obviously,” Yixing hums, shifting from foot to foot in his constant state of restlessness, “but books are like songs, really. They can make you feel things, make you go places… it’s really fascinating.”
Lu Han watches Yixing make polite, stilted small talk with the elderly librarian as she checks out his books and really hopes this will help his friend - such a beautiful mind shouldn’t have to suffer.
°˖✧★✧˖°
With a comeback steadily approaching, practices are longer and more rigorous and succeed in distracting Yixing from his problem - that is, until the members are all hauled into vans and taken back to the dorms and the gentle rocking of the car reminds Yixing that he very much wants to sleep.
After a quick meeting in K’s living room discussing what they feel needs to be improved upon and noting corrections to peoples’ dance moves that should be made, Junmyeon ushers the M members out and into their own dorm and demands that they go to bed immediately. His gaze lingers on Yixing, clearly worried, but Yixing doesn’t notice as he moves his legs on autopilot and rubs his heavy eyes.
Lu Han sidles up to Yixing as they cross the hall and links their arms together, knowing Yixing is one stumble away from smacking into a wall and just giving up on the floor. He doesn’t say much, but his presence is comforting enough even to Yixing’s distant conscience.
Once Yixing convinces Lu Han that he is coherent enough to brush his teeth and wash his face without drowning, which takes quite a long time because Yixing himself really isn’t so positive either, he freshens up slowly and drags his feet to his awaiting bed. Lu Han isn’t in the room yet - it takes Yixing a moment to realize that the slight humming he’s hearing is actually the soft voices of his members talking in the living room. He can’t make out what they’re saying, but he can tell they’re trying to stay quiet for him and that makes him smile. He doesn’t wait for Lu Han to flop into the bed beside his, just crawls under his covers and buries his face in his cool pillow.
He’s completely comfortable, in the perfect position to fall asleep peacefully, except of course he doesn’t get that far. After ten minutes of trying to nudge dance choreography out of his mind only for it to be replaced by the melody of the song he is currently making with Jongdae, he pushes his sheets off of his body in a huff and grabs the first book he can feel around in the dark for by the foot of his bed. He reaches out to the side to flick on a desk lamp then situates himself in bed again, this time treating his sheets with apologetic care. He looks at the book, a black hardbound thing with gold trim dulled over time and faint imprints of ghosts floating along the cover.
“I’ve never read a horror story before,” he mutters to himself, and he’s not sure if it’s the best type of book to try to settle his mind with, but who is he to complain when Junmyeon so kindly thought up a tentative solution for him? So he settles the book in his lap, fluffs his pillow behind his back, and opens to the first page.
He can already tell by the end of the first chapter that the premise is a typical haunted house tale with a main character who acts on stupid impulses, but he continues on. Aside from the cliché plot, Yixing has to admit he finds the ever-lingering question of ghost or human insanity intriguing.
“Maybe she is mental,” he says to himself as he flips on to chapter three. “Who wouldn’t worry when their dog keeps barking at a bare wall?”
However, he is so embarrassingly caught up in the overdone storyline that he reads and reads until a jaw-cracking yawn has him checking the time and blinking in surprise, as if the more he opens and closes his eyes the greater the chance that the neon red numbers will flash something other than 3 in the morning. He puts the book, pages down, on his bedside table and rubs his eyes as he yawns again. He squints in the dark at Lu Han’s side of the room that his little source of light doesn’t quite reach, and even with his limited vision he can tell his roommate has yet to even crinkle his covers.
That’s odd, he thinks. He can no longer hear the murmured voices of his group mates out in the dorm so they must have gone to bed, but Lu Han hasn’t.
Maybe he fell asleep on the couch again. Yixing slips out of bed, hissing when his bare feet touch the cold hardwood floor, and grabs one of Lu Han’s extra blankets as he heads out of the bedroom.
He stops at the living room on his way to the kitchen. “You’re lucky I wanted some water,” he says, but when he rounds the couch there’s no one there. Could he have gone to a different room so he wouldn’t disturb me? Yixing tosses the blanket onto the couch anyway, figuring Lu Han could deal with it in the morning, and is about to go into the kitchen when he hears a rustling noise behind him.
“So you were here,” he snorts, flicking on the lights to illuminate the living room and once again seeing no one. He stares. He frowns.
This isn’t the living room.
Well it is, but not really. The furniture’s all there, all sitting in their correct places, but it’s clean. They’re not animals, but six boys sharing such a small space always results in evidence of, well, having been there. Minseok’s dumbbell set isn’t shoved into the far corner; Yifan and Zitao’s giant stuffed wolves aren’t flung on the floor from wherever the last pillow fight left them; Yixing turns around and doesn’t even see multiple pairs of shoes by the door. Only his own.
He turns off the light and hurries back towards the hallway, idea of water abandoned, and is almost to his room when, from the depths of the dark hall, a low, quiet breath breezes past his cheek. He can feel the wet warmth on his skin and slowly backs up, eyes trying desperately to see down the hall.
“Yifan?” he guesses, voice meek, but no response. He doesn’t dare turn his back on the pitch black abyss in front of him - something is very, very wrong. He reaches behind himself until he feels the wall corner signifying the beginning of the living room and makes a run for the kitchen - he needs a knife, a cheese grater, anything other than his bare hands.
Of course nothing is where it should be. He digs around frantically in a drawer, slamming it shut in fright when he hears louder breaths, now accompanied by footsteps that sound both heavy and light. The dorm is getting warmer. Yixing can’t even find a glass bottle to break and is halfway to crouching under the kitchen table when the doorbell rings and causes him to yelp loudly. He covers his mouth and looks in the direction of the hallway.
Whatever it is, it seems to have stopped moving. Yixing slowly sits up. He stays put, though, for a full minute, and is about to let himself relax when the noises and presence return and he is one second away from slipping into a panic attack when the doorbell rings again, twice this time, more impatiently, and again the Thing seems to vanish. Yixing doesn’t hesitate this time - he bolts towards the door and fumbles with the lock before yanking it open and surprising the man standing th-
“Lu Han,” Yixing says, tension rushing out of his body until he sees Lu Han’s green and orange getup, also wrong.
“Um, your pizza’s here, Sir,” maybe-Lu Han says, holding up a large cardboard box. Yixing can smell the pizza and his tummy grumbles but he is in no condition to even think about stomaching food.
Yixing looks this man over. He seems and sounds exactly like Lu Han, his name tag says “Lu Han”, but there’s something about his eyes, something unnerving and chilling - he doesn’t know who Yixing is. He’s looking at Yixing, and Yixing is looking at him, but Yixing is a stranger to this man and it’s uncomfortable to say the least.
“I-I didn’t order any…” Yixing manages to say, glancing behind himself. He doesn’t feel anything in the dorm anymore.
“Hey, are you alright?” maybe-Lu Han asks. “You look like you need some fresh air.”
Yixing nods, only half paying attention. “Maybe…”
The man slides the pizza box onto the small table inside by the front door and lightly brushes Yixing’s arm with careful fingers. His touch feels like Lu Han’s and easily guides Yixing out of the building and into the crisp night air. Yixing feels so much more secure out here in the open than he did inside his own home, so much safer with this man he pretends is Lu Han.
“It’s nice out, right?” the man asks, clearly trying to make small talk, and normally Yixing wouldn’t mind casually chatting about the weather but not with Lu Han - he should never experience this kind of awkwardness with Lu Han. “Are you feeling better now?” The genuine concern does strike a familiar chord in him, though.
“A little,” he says truthfully.
The man doesn’t look convinced. He offers Yixing a ride to his work, says it’s pretty dead around this time of night and he wouldn’t judge Yixing if he needed to just get away for a bit. “Not that a pizza place is very fun,” he adds. “We don’t actually get to eat as much as you’d think, but hey, you look like you need some company.”
He flashes Yixing a smile, and it’s Lu Han’s smile.
They end up talking for the rest of the night, falling into a pattern of comfortable chatter and pleasant moments of silence. Yixing doesn’t know why, but whatever was terrorizing him back at the dorm seems unable to reach him now. He eventually feels himself drifting off against one of the restaurant’s tables, finally, finally falling asleep to the sound of this not-so-stranger humming as he rolls out pizza dough.
When Yixing wakes up, he’s back in his bed. He breaks out into a cold sweat and jolts up, senses alert and feet ready to run.
Nothing happens. All he can hear is the quiet breathing of Lu Han sleeping in the bed a few feet away. Yixing realizes his desk lamp is still on and quickly turns it off. He slips out of bed for a second time and the floor is not nearly as cold. He makes his way straight to Lu Han and nudges him gently until he rolls over and Yixing has room to crawl in beside him.
At around noon, a soft knocking wakes Yixing once again. He blinks at the clock and is surprised it’s so late. They must have let him sleep in.
“You up?” Lu Han asks, poking his head into the room.
Yixing nods slowly, pulling the blankets tighter around his body. He notices he’s still in Lu Han’s bed and cracks a smile as he imagines Lu Han trying to sneak out from under the covers without waking him - Yixing can be a clinger.
Lu Han sits on the edge of the mattress and looks at Yixing with twinkling eyes. “You slept for a long time last night,” he says. “Did reading really help?” He looks so hopeful that Yixing doesn’t want to disappoint him.
“Yeah,” he nods, and it’s only half a lie, really, because he does feel more refreshed than usual, but when Lu Han pulls him into a relieved hug he thinks, Just…no more horror.
°˖✧★✧˖°
The next night after a full day of dance practices, when Yixing’s limbs ache and his body drags but his mind continues to wander, he tries his best to keep up with the various conversations going on around him but is soon forced to retire by his heavy eyelids and Junmyeon’s motherly stare.
He takes his time washing up and fiddling around on his phone for a bit before once again fishing around the foot of his bed for a book (he had scowled at the horror one and shoved it to the bottom of the pile, forever unfinished). The next one he grabs is a murder mystery novel - a step up from demons, at least.
He settles into bed, this time leaving the lights on, and opens the paperback to page one.
A loud droning noise jolts Yixing awake and he stares until his eyes focus at his cellphone vibrating on his bedside table. He groans and sets his book on his duvet, haphazardly folding down the page he fell asleep on, and grabs the phone. He frowns. Why is Lu calling me? He glances over to the other side of the room and pales when he sees no second bed there. He quickly swipes into the call.
“Lu?” he asks, rushed.
“Hey, you finally picked up,” a voice that is marred by static but distinctly Lu Han’s answers after a second. “I know the chief told us to take a break but I found a lead in the case and followed it and, well…” He pauses and Yixing can hear him steadying his breathing for a good minute before continuing, quieter now. “Well, let’s just say I found something.”
“Are you in trouble?” Yixing asks, Lu Han’s safety his first concern even as he lies in a room that is not quite his own.
“Define trouble,” Lu Han says, cheerful as always. “It’s fun, come on, meet me by the docks.” There’s the sound of something being knocked over - a crate, maybe? - and Lu Han curses under his breath. “The docks,” he repeats then hangs up.
Yixing stares at his phone after the call ends, but only for a moment - he hurries out of bed and grabs a jacket hanging from the back of his chair and almost shrieks when a gun clatters to the floor. He pokes it with his big toe. He hasn’t the faintest idea how to use a gun, but experience is the best teacher, or something like that. He picks up the gun and sees a holster that must have fallen a little ways away and takes that as well. It’s not too hard to figure out how to attach the gun to his hip and then he’s out the door.
“The docks” are a territory of seafront warehouses and overnight resting places for ships stretching a few miles along the coast, so it really would have been nice if Lu Han was a little more specific about his location. Yixing pulls out his phone to call him, but thinks better of it and slips it back into his pocket. He sticks to the shadows and stays low, not exactly sure where he learned to move so stealthily but definitely not complaining about it.
A few minutes into his search, he gets a feeling, one not much different than that of the ghost from his previous dream. Yixing never knew dreams could seem so real. He hurries his pace and tries to swerve in and out of alleys to lose whoever is following him, but they are persistent. His pursuer’s footsteps get faster, no longer trying to be quiet, which is quite worrying, and Yixing breaks into a run. The next alley he turns into is a dead end blocked by a tall chain-link fence, but with thinking quicker than he could ever manage in the real world, he bounds onto a stack of old wooden boxes left beside a dumpster and begins to scale the fence expertly.
Even in this universe he isn’t Superman, though, and his body can only push itself so much. As he nears the top of the fence, a large hand grabs one of his ankles and there’s a bit of tug-of-war before Yixing is pulled back down to the ground with a cold, hard thud. He groans, eyes clenched shut, and feels fabric being pulled over his face.
Yixing never fully blacks out, so he is aware of a strong set of arms lugging him into a warehouse and setting him roughly into a chair and tying him up. The fabric stays covering his face, though, so he has no idea who his assailant is, which, he assumes, is the point. He stays in that chair for what feels like hours, head throbbing and heart racing in fear, and he can hear the gruff voices of men a little ways off but no one ever tries to talk to him. It’s as if they kidnapped him just to kidnap, and that makes Yixing shudder.
Suddenly he hears a crash and the warehouse lights go out - even with his eyes covered he can tell it got much, much darker. The men in the large, open room shout their disapproval and feel around for any source of light. Yixing hears guns being unlocked and gulps - being tied to a chair is not ideal when mean, angry men start shooting aimlessly. He hears more noise from the far end of the warehouse and thankfully his captors head towards it, away from him.
He manages to let out half a scream when his blindfold is yanked off before a familiar hand clasps over his mouth. His eyes have yet to adjust to the dark, but the presence feels comforting.
“Jeez, how come I’m the one saving your ass when I needed help first?”
“Lu!” Yixing gasps, muffled by Lu Han’s hand. Lu Han moves away and hastily unties Yixing’s ropes and pulls him out of the chair.
“Come on, you can thank me later - these guys are known to be a trigger-happy bunch.”
Yixing obediently follows Lu Han and they’re almost to the door when the warehouse explodes with light again. There’s a loud Hey! and then Lu Han is taking Yixing by the hand and running the rest of the way. Yixing, again with the unusual quick thinking, reaches ahead and releases Lu Han’s gun from his holster with his free hand - unfortunately these criminals are the smart kind and had confiscated his - and turns his body halfway around and fires at no one in particular. It’s enough to make the men pause momentarily, enough for Lu Han to pull him through the door and into the middle of a police raid with cars and cops surrounding the warehouse.
The two come to a stop, panting heavily, and a man Yixing’s mind tells him is their chief ushers them off to the side before fellow officers storm the building. They plop down onto the ground, ignoring all the dirt that scatters the docks, and breathe in deeply, cool night air slowly calming them down. Yixing tilts his head back and looks up at the stars, and Lu Han puts a warm hand against his thigh.
“At least we can say it’s never a dull day at work,” he says with a grin, and Yixing glances at him with a snort.
They stay there for a bit, focusing on the moon and stars reflecting off of the dark water rather than the sounds of the police raid behind them. Lu Han finally breaks the silence with a nudge to Yixing’s shoulder.
“Chief said to go home and rest, take a little time to recuperate if we need it.”
Yixing hums.
“Wanna go get a pizza?”
Yixing blinks at him. “What?”
Lu Han looks at Yixing. “Not in the mood?”
Yixing smiles to himself and shakes his head. “Sorry, I was just reminded of something. Yeah, sure, let’s go.”
Lu Han stands and offers a hand to help Yixing up. They get a ride into town by a sergeant waiting around outside and, though the night was too eventful for most people, they still walk around until they find an open pizza place. They order a large pepperoni and a large Hawaiian (“That one’s all yours,” Lu Han gags) and take them back to Yixing’s - what should be their - dorm. They easily fall into pleasant chatter, as always, until Lu Han falls asleep on Yixing’s bed with a pepperoni stuck on his cheek and a half-eaten crust sticking out of his mouth. Yixing rolls his eyes and cleans Lu Han up before finding space beside him and drifting off slowly as well.
°˖✧★✧˖°
Yixing feels himself coming to and carefully peeks through one eye at his surroundings. The lights must have been turned off some time during the night but he still sees Lu Han’s sleeping form in the bed that’s where it should be and lets out a sigh of relief. He ditches the mystery novel right away and again makes room under Lu Han’s sheets to slip under.
“Hey,” a soft voice breathes into his ear.
“Sorry,” Yixing mumbles, facing Lu Han. “Did I wake you?”
Lu Han shakes his head and his hair is really a mess and Yixing can tell when he’s lying but he lets Lu Han get away with it anyway. “Are you sure the books are working? This is the second night in a row…”
Yixing nods. “Really, they are helping me sleep longer,” he says. “Just…” He might as well admit it, no point in pretending. “The last two gave me nightmares. Well, sort-of nightmares. Nightmares up to a point.”
Lu Han grunts in tired understanding. “When do they stop being nightmares?” He scoots over to give Yixing more room.
Yixing burrows closer and presses his cheek into a pillow. “When someone saves me.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
The third book Yixing picks out is finally a keeper - action/adventure with spells, dragons, princesses, the whole nine yards. The tale follows a young man, barely out of boyhood, on a quest through a barren land in search of the four descendants of the seasons in hopes that, once united, he, who has the power of the moon, and the other magic users can bring nature back into the realm. The first character he meets on his journey (and his obvious future love interest) is a girl who turns out to be the daughter of Winter - ever since she accidentally freezes a campfire, Yixing has been picturing her as Minseok which leads to some hilariously awkward scenes from his point of view.
He isn’t afraid to fall asleep anymore.
Yixing wakes to a sharp, chill wind that rushes through the tent flaps behind him. He groans and pulls his animal fur blankets tighter around his shivering frame, too tired to get up and retie the flaps, when the next gust that hits him has him sitting up in a heartbeat - it’s hot.
He knows all too well what that means, apparently.
He grabs his charmed bow and arrow from beside his makeshift bed and bursts through the tent into the clearing, coming face to face with a great, white dragon with piercing blue eyes. It isn’t as large as other dragons he’s seen, though usually he is a safe distance away, so he figures the beast in front of him is still roughly an adolescent - a good thing for him, since, while they are quicker to attack without thought, their aim and agility are much less trained.
Yixing realizes, though, that he does not want to fight the dragon if he does not have to, he can feel that it is not in his nature. He takes a slow, careful step forward with a hand raised slightly, and the dragon almost looks like it is considering backing down, but in a flash it is back to its rambunctious nature and lets out a deafening roar. Yixing winces and sprints towards the trees behind him on legs that are ten times faster than his own, not wanting to give the dragon any clear shots.
Something goes off in his mind, a signal of sorts, and he turns and fires his arrow with ease and speed impossible with even the most expert training in the real world right before the dragon is able to let out a gust of blue flame. It drops the attack in favor of dodging the glowing projectile and angry puffs of smoke shoot out of its nostrils.
No, not flame or smoke - molten ice and frost. This makes Yixing a little more nervous. Fire needs time, however little, to take in oxygen and spread through a forest. Ice can cover anything. Icicles also make areas with many overhanging objects a very dangerous place, places such as the forest Yixing is no longer running to. He skids to a stop and changes direction, running along the clearing’s perimeter around the dragon, whose long tail is thrashing carelessly every which way.
The dragon turns its head and spots Yixing and gears up for another blast attempt, short legs covering much distance as it charges. Again, Yixing feels a sensation in his brain and rolls to the left, just narrowly avoiding a sharp stream of ice that hisses as it cracks the ground. He holds up his bow and another glowing, golden arrow materializes against its fine string and he is about to fire when the dragon suddenly lets out a shriek and stumbles forward.
Yixing narrowly avoids the tree that flies his way after having knocked into the dragon’s head from behind. He stares at it for a second then stares in the direction the dragon is now roaring. He doesn’t see anyone, but someone must be there because a big rock gets hurled at the dragon’s side. It screams and shoots a powerful gust of snow and ice particles at random, evidently not seeing its attacker either.
After a few scours of the premises, the dragon then turns its attention back on what it can see - Yixing. It stomps forward, thick, deadly claws creating craters in the earth, and spits out a shower of icicles heading straight at him. The icicles cover too much of an expanse on either side for Yixing to run out of bounds safely so he takes a step back, raises his bow to fend off anything near his face and chest, and braces himself-
-And the icicles change direction mere inches from his person in one swoop and go crashing into the woods. Yixing lowers his arm in awe but raises it again to fire an arrow at one of the dragon’s front feet, lodging it right between scaly skin and claw. It stumbles and cries out in discomfort while Yixing dives behind a collection of boulders.
“Hey, sorry for taking so long with that ice but I got tired - trees and rocks are pretty damn big.”
Yixing claps a hand to his mouth to muffle his noise of surprise. His head snaps up towards a man crouching on one of the rocks.
Towards Lu Han.
“That was you?” he asks, taking in this world’s Lu Han with wide eyes - he’s a little tanner and a little more muscular than the Lu Han he knows, but his eyes still sparkle and his smile is still boyish. Most prominent, though, are the two horns jutting out from his forehead.
Lu Han hums. “Yep. Pretty cool, huh?” He wiggles his fingers at his head. “I have telekinesis.”
Yixing wracks his brain for what species fits mind powers and horns and a playful demeanor and gasps. “You’re a demon.”
Lu Han slides down onto the grass next to Yixing when they hear the dragon trudging around looking for them. “And judging by those ears, you’re an elf. Doesn’t mean I can’t help you if I see you’re in a pinch.”
“Actually it kind of does.”
“Well it shouldn’t.” Lu Han levitates a couple pebbles and sends them off in the opposite direction of where they are hiding, the sound of stones hitting dirt yards away distracting the dragon momentarily. “I don’t really believe in that fighting-my-ancestors’-ancient-feuds thing. And if I recall correctly, elves don’t like fighting at all.”
“We don’t,” Yixing says rather proudly. “Although we have bad blood with your kind, we put current situations over the past.”
Lu Han shrugs and grins. “I don’t see why I can’t do that too.” He extends a hand. “I’m Lu Han.”
Yixing shakes his hand and through the contact he can feel the beginnings of a friendship, even in this universe. “Yixing.”
Their moment is interrupted when a blast of ice shatters the boulders directly to their right. They glance at each other and bound back into the clearing, facing the dragon head-on as two. The dragon is wilder now after tasting the adrenaline of a battle and Yixing can feel its anger.
No, not anger - panic.
“Wait!” he shouts, putting a hand out to stop Lu Han from throwing another rock.
Lu Han looks at him like he’s crazy. “You mean don’t attack the man-eating monster?” he asks incredulously.
“Yes, that is exactly what I mean.” Yixing whips his hand in the direction of the dragon’s foot and a feint, green glow appears around the arrow he had put there. The arrow dissolves and the blood from the wound disappears as Yixing heals it.
“Now I see why my kind hates you,” Lu Han says, exasperated. “You’re a ticking time bomb of death.”
“Hush,” Yixing says shortly, looking up at the dragon’s face and not breaking eye contact as the wound finishes healing. The dragon’s eyes slowly stop seeming so crazed. “It’s afraid,” he whispers.
“Being double teamed by a demon and an elf?” Lu Han scoffs. “Hell, I’d be scared.”
Yixing ignores him and takes a couple tentative steps forward. The dragon lets out a low rumble but doesn’t attack. Yixing keeps walking until he is within touching distance of the dragon. From this close he can see that it is not covered in scales but in a colony of patches of fur. He pauses, then places a gentle hand against its leg and closes his eyes.
Lu Han stands there, uncertain and antsy, until Yixing raises his head and nods at the now silent beast. “So, uh…what was that?” he calls, dropping the rock with a relieved sigh because, as strong as he likes to appear, his past attacks did take a toll on his powers and the dragon currently seems docile enough.
“She’s lost,” Yixing replies. “Somehow she was separated from her tribe during migration. She’s scared and desperate to return to a colder climate, that’s why she was so volatile.”
Lu Han scratches his head. “And you know this how?”
Yixing blinks. “She told me.”
Lu Han gapes at Yixing, hands gesturing wildly. “You can talk to dragons? And you couldn’t do this before she almost killed you because…?”
“Because I can only communicate to those who want to communicate back,” Yixing says calmly. “Elven practices are a mutual, noninvasive craft.”
Lu Han slouches tiredly. “Of course they are.”
The dragon bends her long neck down and nudges Yixing’s shoulder, as if in an apology. Yixing smiles and strokes her snout.
“Her family went to the Northern End. It’s only a couple months of travel and revisions will be available in the wild most of the way so it shouldn’t be too hard…”
Lu Han shakes his head, black hair bouncing with every turn. “Wait, wait, are you…are you saying you expect me to travel to the Northern End for that overgrown lizard?”
The dragon grunts and Yixing shushes her quickly. He looks back at Lu Han with innocent eyes. “I mean, I figured since we found her…”
“Nu-uh, you found her,” Lu Han corrects. “I saved your ass, so you’re welcome. But I’m a busy guy, I have demon things to do, I can’t just drop everything to play babysitter.”
Yixing raises an eyebrow and tilts his head. “You’re what, 20?”
“25,” Lu Han corrects immediately, turning his nose up.
“At that age, aren’t demons supposed to be studying under a master or training for Hell’s Army?”
Lu Han swallows.
“You’re a mighty far way from home,” Yixing hums. He focuses on the dragon and picks out debris from her fur. “Isn’t it nice to have a destination to run away to?”
Lu Han kicks at a twig before sighing and approaching the dragon, who allows him to pet her after blowing a puff of ice air at him from her nose. “Who ever said elves aren’t conniving jerks?”
Yixing laughs and Lu Han cracks a smile and the mighty dragon nuzzles into their touches like a baby animal.
“Hey,” Yixing says, getting Lu Han’s attention. “We should call her Tao.”
°˖✧★✧˖°
When Yixing slowly wakes with a yawn and a lazy stretch, the first thing he sees is Lu Han looking at him from across the room with a delightful expression and he feels a smile stretch across his face.
“What?” he mutters, rubbing his eyes.
“Xing, do you realize what you just did?”
Lu Han looks so excited Yixing is half convinced he sleepwalked on a tightrope. “Um…”
“You slept for eight hours!” Lu Han shouts with enthusiasm. Yixing checks the clock. Lu Han bounces onto Yixing’s bed and hugs him, blankets and morning breath and all. “Whatever book you’re reading, keep at it!”
Yixing wraps his arms around Lu Han’s torso and thinks back on the memory of Lu Han in that magical world, of how quickly they grew attached on their journey and how exhilarating it was to be on an adventure with a replica of his best friend, his Lu Han.
He glances at the book left on his bedside table and smiles at it.
NEXT