超想见你 - Can’t wait to see You [Prompt #122] (1/2)
Title: 超想见你 - Can’t wait to see You
Rating: NC-17
Length: 20,466 words
Warnings: none, except for maybe the huge amount of fluff at the end that might make people want to gag?
Summary: Yifan and Yixing were meeting for the first time. They both got talking on Tumblr and then started their Skype and texting friendship soon after, however, the lines between friends and something more often got blurred.
Notes: I butchered the prompt and I’m sorry for it. I never intended for it to become 20K but here we are. Sorry in advance. It just - happened.
Yixing wasn't the type of person to do crazy and spontaneous things so when he boarded a plane from Changsha to Taipei, he felt like he was about to faint within the next five seconds. When he had found his seat somewhere in the back of the plane he fumbled his phone out of his pocket and typed a quick message:
I just went through boarding. See you in a few hours!
He knew the person he sent it to wouldn't be able to read it in the next hour since he was up in the air himself, but he still felt like he should give him information on what was happening. Or maybe he just needed to keep his mind occupied for as long as possible. Right when the message got sent, a stewardess reminded him to switch his phone off in about ten minutes, before she hovered over to another seat row to help a young boy fasten his seatbelt. Yixing sighed and switched the device off before he let it slide back into the pocket of his jacket. When the plane started to roll onto the field for take-off, Yixing closed his eyes and tried hard to recapitulate how he got here.
▪▪▪▪
It all started with that Tumblr account he had created right in the first weeks of January last year. That was the beginning of a long road that constantly went downhill. His blog didn't even have a real purpose - Yixing had opened it because he wanted to practice his English skills as he had felt like the regular classes at his university weren't enough. Dancing was his passion so he soon had started to upload videos of his latest practices, nothing special really in his opinion, but somehow after his first post, his follower count started to increase. Somewhere between those first followers, Yixing had found Yifan.
According only to his blog, Yifan had nothing in common with Yixing and the young man from Changsha had wondered why a guy would follow him who was only posting stuff about travelling and a shitload of selfies. Nonetheless, Yifan came around when Yixing was still on his "I follow back" roll so they became something called ‘mutuals' and in the first weeks their only communication had been them liking each other's posts. Yifan was always one of the first users to like and reblog his newest choreography and he'd always use the same god damn tag: #nice. When Yifan thought the movements were especially good he'd tag it as #niCE!! and it made Yixing roll his eyes every time. He thought this guy was the lamest dude on earth but he somehow had found a liking in his selfies and pictures of his trips, so while Yifan was appreciating Yixing's dances, Yixing was always there to give Yifan notes for his face and pictures of landscapes and architecture.
It wasn't until spring the cycle of endless likes and reblogs got broken by Yifan. Yixing hadn't been feeling very well, since an old hip injury had taken its toll again and he went a few weeks without posting anything new. Some people had noticed and he got some anons asking if he was alright, and between grey display pictures he saw Yifan's message.
Are you okay?
It wasn't a very long and eloquent message, but it was written in Chinese which made Yixing stop short because he hadn't thought Yifan was actually capable of speaking the language. There was barely any personal information about the other guy on his about page and he only wrote in perfect English while Yixing was always apologizing for the mistakes he was making while writing. He typed a short answer, saying that he was fine and was just recovering from an injury. Then he dropped the question where Yifan was actually from since he had somehow assumed the other one was American. The answer came faster than Yixing had expected.
Hahahaha, what, no, no no. I'm from Guangzhou, but I spent some years in Canada, that's why I've got no problems with English. You're from Changsha, right? Never been there, but I heard that you guys have that weird saying… what was it? "There are four million hot guys eating hot food in Changsha"?? :D
Yixing had rolled his eyes at the comment, but answered nonetheless which marked the moment they had started to actively talk to each other. Yixing had found out that Yifan was an international economics student enrolled in Guangzhou University and that he liked playing basketball. He could not eat spicy food ("But I hope that you still give me a chance") and was allergic to seafood. He had travelled to a lot of countries in his life, picking up one or two more foreign languages he could communicate in, even if he wasn't that fluent. Yifan was single, his last relationship dating back two years before he came from Canada back to China. His mother had a cat, even though he was more of a dog person. Soon after the first message, Yixing could've been able to write a whole book filled with random facts about the other one. But then again, Yixing had told him everything about his life too. How he loved Michael Jackson and how the first music video he saw on TV had gotten him into dancing. How, despite being Hunanese, he couldn't handle Hot Pot at Haidilao to save his life but had no trouble with biting into chilies that grew in Hunan and were famous for their spiciness. How he had never gotten out of China and only made it out of that city when he visited his family in Yongzhou. How he had fallen in love once, but never had had the pleasure of being loved back, staying single to this day - and how thankful he was that Yifan hadn't made fun of him when he had told him.
Despite their differences, they had more things in common than Yixing might have given them credit for in the beginning. They both liked to listen to Mayday and Jolin Tsai, which was a rather weird combination. They preferred summer over winter. They'd never try online dating sites because most of them were a scam anyway. Their worst subject at school had been Chinese because they hated learning poems and classics. They loved to eat watermelons and the best way to eat them was to cut them in half, sit in front of the TV and scoop one half out like ice cream. And just like this, Yixing considered Yifan his friend, even though he had never seen him in person and didn't even know what his voice sounded like.
Yixing's other followers were lovely. Most of them complimented him on his dancing skills and his English ("It's cute! Don't worry about it!") and admired his facial features, even though Yixing did not think that he was that attractive. So when he had gotten his first hateful comment, he was completely thrown off track.
You're ridiculous lmao get your Chingchong ass out of here back to Korea nobody wants to see your ugly ass anyway.
It wasn't a nice feeling Yixing had to admit. The comment was hurtful, but he tried to play it cool and not cause any drama, so he published the message with a simple comment.
But… I'm Chinese?
He didn't notify Yifan about it, because he didn't think it was necessary and went on with his daily routine of classes and practice, even though the words kept gnawing at him the whole day. He thought that his behavior was stupid - it was just one single person out of a whole bunch of people who followed him and thought that he was good. That had been a person that wasn't even really brave because they hid behind a grey display picture so he should be laughing it off. But seriously. It hurt. When he came home he didn't even want to open the homepage, and with a weird feeling in his stomach he scrolled through his activity bar. Of course his answer hadn't gone unnoticed and among numerous likes and reblogs with comments like "Wow anon, who hurt you?" he spotted Yifan's reblog.
BITCH you better get your ugly ass out of here. What went wrong in your life that you hide behind anon to insult people that have nothing to do with your miserable existence? It's the jealousy, right? I bet you're one of those fat nasties that sit around all day, don't get their lazy asses moving and jerk off to anime porn in momma's basement. So when you come across someone who actually has a life you get so angry at yourself you have to project it onto others lmao trust me honey the only ridiculous person here is you.
First of all Korea is not the only fucking country in Asia (I know, shhh, take a moment) so get yourself a fucking map if you're capable of reading. But then again I guess you've lost your brain cells somewhere between microwaved Mac ‘N' Cheese and scratching your butt so you're not able to read anyways because if so, you would've been aware of the fact that Yixing's posts easily hit the 1K mark after like maybe 10 minutes of posting while nobody gives a flying fuck about your blog probably filled with screenshots of the latest Hentai you've watched. You were also aware of the fact that Yixing is a fucking gorgeous human being I mean if I was straight I'd still let him ride me like there's no tomorrow LMAO BYE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE.
#excuse me but what #in what world is xingie ugly #no I don't understand #do you hate happiness anon?? do you??? #like #he is the incarnation of a cinnamon roll #too good for this world #too pure #LOL I FEEL PERSONALLY OFFENDED BY THIS?? #you've got a problem with my friend you've got a problem with me homeboy #next time reveal yourself so I can drag your ugly ass personally
Yixing felt his cheeks burn at the last sentence and had to take a moment to convince himself that Yifan surely did NOT mean that serious. And even though he told himself not to interpret too much into it, he felt his heart flutter as he read the tags and the ‘xingie', wherever Yifan had picked that up from. The fact that a guy like Yifan had typed that down was just really ridiculous but somehow cute at the same time. He buried his face in his hands and let out a small squeal, before he told himself to calm down. Then he sent another message for Yifan to read.
That was savage.
He didn't expect a quick answer because Yixing knew that Yifan was mostly out having dinner or something around this time so he went to his own kitchen to make himself some Jiaozi. When he came back Yifan had answered.
:*
Anything for you, Xingie~!
It was kind of absurd, Yixing thought. When exactly did it happen that he'd spend his evenings with his laptop on his lap, chatting with a guy he had never met in his life? Sometimes his roommate Luhan lurked into his room and asked whether or not he wanted to share dinner and one evening when he had walked in on him right when Yixing had read a rather funny story about a weird college experience Yifan had had that day, he asked:
"Bro, are you flirting?"
"Huh?! What?!"
Luhan rolled his eyes and then clicked his tongue before he said:
"You're obviously flirting with someone the way you swoon and giggle all the time…"
Yixing snorted and started to ramble something about "That was just really funny right now!" while he pointed onto the screen of his laptop which made Luhan only shake his head.
"Anyways. I'll be out for a while. See you around!"
"See you!"
When he heard the apartment door close, Yixing stared back on the screen, thinking about what his roommate had just said. Was he really flirting? Well, given the fact that Yixing's flirting ability was just as good as stones could swim in water - but did he really show serious interest in his internet friend? He nibbled on the dry skin of his lower lip, while he slowly had to admit to himself that, indeed, he might like Yifan the teeniest-tiniest bit. And maybe, if he wasn't getting his hopes up way too high, Yifan might also like him the teeniest-tiniest bit. It was maybe because Yifan was simply not so subtle about what he thought about Yixing after he had dragged that hate-anon. When Yixing read the tags in the reblogged videos, he often wanted to scream or eat his phone because Yifan was just - so - lame.
#Mr. Zhang this is not okay #how DARE YOU #@ my followers do not click play if y'all don't want to become sexually frustrated #IS HE EVEN REAL #i have witnessed magic #damn son that body roll #there are a lot of things I regret in my life #following xingie isn't one of them #awwww look at him #like srsly he could do the Macarena and I'd be turned on wtf #YOU ARE OFFENDING ME GET THE FUCK OUT #take_me_to_church.mp3
He really didn't know how to put all of this into perspective. And he wouldn't dare to ask Yifan to clear the situation. Because when they talked to each other, Yifan was a whole different person. He was considerate and thoughtful, always caring about Yixing, always asking how he's been doing. He'd ask him about stuff that Yixing had mentioned weeks before in maybe a small sub-clause that he never remembered mentioning himself at first. The dancer let out a huge sigh and plucked up some courage before he asked Yifan if, by any chance, he could add him to his Wechat to make their conversations easier.
Wow I thought you'd never ask! My ID's WuFan1106. :D
▪▪▪▪
When Yifan turned on his phone, the first thing he did was to get his device connected to the airport's Wifi. It took him ages and he groaned in frustration, but when he was through the baggage claim, he finally logged into the service and got Yixing's message. He smiled when he read it and typed an answer:
Awesome. I just went through the baggage claim. I'll be waiting for you in the arrival hall. I can't wait to see you.
When he stepped out into the arrival hall, he already saw Yixing's flight on the monitor above the passangers' heads. He was delighted when he saw the flight would land in time because he really didn't know if he could've managed any additional waiting time. If somebody had asked him what the craziest thing was he had ever done, he'd probably tell them about how he, one day, had decided to meet a guy he got to know on a stupid website and how he had boarded a plane for that because they had arranged to meet in a city different from their hometowns. He didn't even know if the meet up would be successful. For all he knew they could also spent four awkward days together and afterwards never talk to each other again. But he had felt if he wouldn't even try, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. He pulled his suitcase behind him to find a place to wait where he had a good view of the people who stepped out from the baggage claim into the hall. And then, the final waiting began.
▪▪▪▪
The moment he got the notification that Yixing had added him to his Wechat friends, Yifan's heart had skipped a beat. There was no need to deny it, he was crushing hard on this guy who he had never even really seen before. It was kind of weird, he thought. He had always looked down upon people who used the internet to find love - he even had a friend that met his current girlfriend on Weibo, and even though the two hadn't created accounts to specifically find love, he wasn't convinced that people were able to find real love over the world wide web. But well, now it was his turn and he tried to be as lowkey about it as possible. He wasn't though. When he had some time between classes, the first thing he did was checking his Wechat and if Yixing hadn't left any new messages, he let out a small sigh before he went through Tumblr, even though he hated the mobile app with every fiber of his being. He'd often get mentions from his mutuals, and he slowly started to realize that he had kicked off a really questionable trend:
Am I the only one who almost loses their shit when @MR-FanXianSheng and @ZYX100791 interact on my dash because I'm always like "WHY DON'T YOU GUYS KISS ALREADY" and then I remember that Yixing is located in Changsha and Yifan is from Guangzhou and when I check China's map I realize how fucking huge this god damn country is and I start to cry. I've never thought that a country could COCKBLOCK ONE OF MY OTPS.
#this is rude #everybody who feels the same RAISE YOUR HAND #i should just give up on shipping people because it always ends in tragedy
The number of notes this post had gotten ever since it had been posted spoke for itself. This girl who had been following Yifan ever since he had started his blog back in 2011 when he was still in Canada wasn't the only one with that feeling. His cheeks started to hurt from the stupid smile that had crept onto his face as he decided to play along. Yixing would kill him if he had the chance so when he reblogged the post and added a comment, he was thankful for the distance between them for the first time ever.
WELL THEN you guys need to fund me so I can buy a train ticket to Changsha and I can finally claim that nice ass. :)))))))))
#i take donations starting at 5$ #i demand a couple name like brangelina have #look xingie #look at that #people start to notice us #we're meant to be!! #when will you finally return my undying love for you and your body rolls?
Yifan thought he was hilarious. His followers thought he was hilarious. Yixing thought he was horrible.
"Aiyoweiiiii what did you DO?!"
Yifan snorted at the voice message he received after the last class of his day. He loved hearing Yixing's voice. It wasn't what he had expected at first but he grew addicted to the sound. He always wanted to hear him and his adorable Changsha dialect that he ever so often tried to hide. He failed most of the time, especially when he got emotional like he'd gotten just now. Yifan just simply loved the high pitched sound Yixing made when he stretched the vowels and he did everything to tickle that way to speak out of the other one as often as possible.
"I didn't do anything what do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb Wu Yifan! That stuff you said on Tumblr!! I have seen it all! I have read your tags! Don't say those things if you don't mean them!!"
Yifan escaped a giggle, something that happened so rarely his best friend Huang Zitao who was walking next to him raised an eyebrow.
"What the fuck was that noise? What happened to you?" He asked while they walked over to their dorm to get rid of their bags and afterwards get something to eat.
"Huh, what do you mean?"
Tao rolled his eyes and asked:
"You're acting strange. I'm not used to you being all giggly and happy all the time. You're supposed to be grumpy and sarcastic. So tell me - what's going on? Are you seeing someone?"
Yifan put his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and contemplated whether or not to tell Tao about what was going on. He'd surely be judged hard, but on the other hand… Tao was his best friend and Yifan valued his opinions more than anyone else's. He sighed.
"It's complicated."
"Do I know him?"
"No you don't."
Tao gasped theatrically and looked at Yifan as if the older one had just betrayed him and his whole family. Yifan ignored it and went on explaining the whole situation. When he had ended, they had reached their dorm and Tao tried hard to process all the new information.
"So. You, out of all the people, are telling me that you fell in love with a random stranger online?"
"I did not say I'm in LOVE," Yifan corrected while he opened the door to the dorm room both of them shared with four others, "I just said that I like him a little. He's cute."
"I hate to break it to you, but you are so in love. You act like a bubbly teenager that has a huge crush on the famous football player in high school. That's not you."
In search for a good comeback, Yifan huffed and puffed but gave up on it as soon as his bag landed on his bed and he pulled his purse out of it. Tao chuckled and then asked:
"Are you guys making plans to see each other? Does he like you back?"
"No and I don't know. I don't want to force him to do anything…"
The comment made Tao squeal and for the rest of the evening, he teased Yifan about it. Yifan regretted telling him right away, but the damage was already done so he had to endure it. Tao's words had an impact on him though. Did Yixing like him? And would a meeting be of any help? He liked to think that yes, if both of them met one day, they'd have a great time. But proposing a meet up just like that would surely scare Yixing off so Yifan had to sit back and wait. Tao led the way out of the room and Yifan followed, pulling out his phone as he remembered he still had to answer Yixing. To not give Tao anymore fuel to the fire, he typed his thoughts down instead of sending a voice message.
I always say what I mean, don't worry about that.
They eventually had moved on from Wechat voice messages to Facetime a few weeks later which had been triggered by a visit at the hairdresser. Yifan liked to experiment with his looks a lot and one day, only god knew why, he felt the need to shave his whole head because he was absolutely unhappy with his current haircut but didn't want to wait until it would grow out. When he had been at the salon, he thought the outcome wasn't that bad but when he was at his dorm and he had taken a closer look into the mirror, he cursed his stupid ass for having such an idiotic idea. He really needed someone to tell him he still looked good so he decided to fuck it and just give Yixing a call, hoping he'd not be scared away by his sudden move. It took him ten long seconds until Yixing answered. The picture showed him with a confused look on his face as he asked:
"What is going on? Did anything happ-"
When he saw Yixing's shaved head the words got stuck in his throat. If Yifan wouldn't have been so absolutely tormented he'd have complimented Yixing on his look. It seemed like he was at university since a few students walked through the picture in the background and he was wearing earbuds. His skin seemed so smooth and clear as if there was a filter laid over the picture. And maybe it was because he was missing his, but Yixing's hair seemed especially fluffy and wavy and it was just so unfair when Yifan had no hair at all.
"What happened to your hair?"
"I cut it." Yifan answered with grinding teeth.
"Why would you do that?"
Yifan told him he didn't know either - it was just a random thought and he'd gotten along with it and was now regretting every little bit.
"Please say something to make me feel better!" He whined while he started to pout and he thought he might look cute that way.
Yixing snorted but got a hold of himself again. He then took a moment to take a closer look at Yifan and even through the crappy internet connection and the not-so-HD videocall the older one felt uncomfortable as he felt Yixing's gaze on him. He just hoped he had nothing on his face because that would've been even more embarrassing.
"You're still handsome, don't worry about it." Yixing then answered with an honest smile and a slight blush on his face and Yifan shot him a thankful grin.
"As long as you like it, I think I can manage!"
The comment made Yixing grunt and roll his eyes, but while he did so he tried hard to prevent the corners of his mouth from curling up.
"Yifan, I've got to go. There are some people coming over and we have to prepare a presentation together… call me again tonight when I'm home? I mean… only if you want to."
"Of COURSE my darling! Is that some sort of date now?" Yifan swooned, knowing he'd flip Yixing off.
"Just STOP IT! You're impossible!"
Yifan blew him a kiss and Yixing bit his lips to suppress the smile that threatened to grow wider and just disconnected without any further word. Yifan wasn't mad though. He'd rather send another message to remind Yixing of telling him when he'll be home so he could ‘prepare for their date'. He knew he'd have to pay for his behavior sooner or later but he had never expected Yixing to sneakily make a screenshot while they had been having the conversation, loading it up to Tumblr and caption it with:
哥 has gotten a haircut and is not happy. Please send him love. His self-esteem is so low. He needs to know that he's still handsome. :)
#my egghead #he's an idiot
From this day on, the nickname ‘egghead' stuck to Yifan like glue. If you visited Yixing's blog and searched only for the tag ‘egghead' you'd be directed to every selfie and entry of Yifan that Yixing had ever reblogged. Yifan had to admit that he hadn't been too fond of the name in the beginning, but eventually started to get used to it. Especially since Yixing called him that also during their conversations on Facetime and he did it with a loving expression in his voice that made Yifan's heart flutter and he suddenly really didn't mind. Their conversations became a ritual that both of them cared about very much. Regardless of they had or hadn't a lot to say to each other, they'd still have their videochats, even if it meant that sometimes, Yifan just watched Yixing doing some work for university or Yixing endured Yifan's endless grunting when he was doing some photoshop work on a picture he had taken on his last trip. Yifan was a night owl while Yixing used to have a very regular sleeping schedule and often Yixing would just tell him "I'm going to bed" and place his laptop next to him and about ten minutes later when Yifan looked up from whatever he had been doing, he'd see Yixing, curled up on his bed, lips slightly parted as he let out long and regular breaths that indicated he was already fast asleep. Most of the time he disconnected the call then but sometimes the younger one looked so adorable, he just let the camera run until he went to bed himself. Having those videocalls made the distance a little more endurable since it was almost like having Yixing lying right next to him. But they surely never made up for his need to actually have him lying next to him, being able to put an arm around him, giving him a hug to comfort him when he was sad, caring for him when he was exhausted from dance practice or just simply hold his hand when he felt like it. He was needy to touch him. But with more than 400 miles between them, that need was doomed to stay unfulfilled.
Once in a while a friend of his had to celebrate a birthday so one day he had to tell Yixing that they might not be able to have a chat since he was bound to come home late and he knew how Yixing hated it to stay up until the late ams. Yixing seemed to not take it too hard and told him to have fun with his friends so that's what Yifan did, even though he often peeked at his phone to check whether or not he had gotten a message. The more glasses of drinks he and his friends had, the more he forgot about his phone though until his thoughts and vision was so blurred he couldn't even remember how many of those Mojitos he had downed already. When he came home it was already 3 a.m. and he was, to put it bluntly, wasted as fuck. He was lucky Tao was there to bring him back to their dorm and into his bed. When he was finally spread out on his mattress, face pressed into his pillow to somehow ignore the spinning in his head, his thoughts immediately snapped to Yixing and felt the need to write him. He didn't really know what to write, since he wasn't even able to speak properly without messing up words and sentence patterns, hell, he wasn't even able anymore to separate Mandarin from Cantonese and had spoken a weird mixture of the two when Tao had dragged him back home - but he just needed to tell him that he was finally home at least. His phone was somewhere in the back pocket of his jeans that he was still wearing and it took him especially long to type in his screenlock code. He didn't want to wake anyone of the others in his room up so he pulled his blanket over his head, the fresh linen feeling cool against his heated skin. He sighed and enjoyed that little moment, before he opened his eyes again and squinted at the brightness of his phone screen. He whimpered until he could manage to look at his device without feeling like being blinded and opened the chatroom with Yixing - which he double checked, because he didn't want to accidentally send his texts to someone else.
I'm home now. I guess you are already asleep but I just wanted to let you know.
It had taken him ages to type these two sentences and he somehow felt proud of himself when he hit the send button. He wasn't sure how long he had stared at his phone until he decided that another message couldn't do any harm.
I wish you were here.
He didn't know why and how but suddenly he was scrolling through ctrip and checked prices for a ticket from Guangzhou to Changsha. He was genuinely surprised though - the highspeed rail only needed two and a half hours to get from his hometown to Yixing's, which was laughable.
It's either you who has to be here or me who has to be where you are. I don't care. 400 miles, right? The highspeed rail only needs about two hours to get me to Changsha. It's 314RMB for next weekend.
Actually, Yifan had been pretty sure that his drunk rambling would go unnoticed until Yixing would wake up to go to class so he had to double check if there really was a message of Yixing popping up in their chatroom.
You are drunk, go to bed, egghead. Don't book any train tickets in that condition. You might end up buying a ticket to Beijing.
Yifan let out a surprised squeal which was louder than he had intended it to be. He lifted his blanket to check if anyone had heard him, but there was still the soft snoring of his roommates and a look over to Tao's bed made him realize that he was already fast asleep. He crawled back under the blanket and started to type.
What are you still doing up?!
The answer came pretty fast.
Says the one looking for trains at four in the morning.
Yifan retorted that this wasn't the same since he had been out with friends. Yixing's answer came after what felt like an eternity, even though the time that had passed had been barely a minute.
I'm not sleeping well tonight and forgot to mute my phone. You are drunk and not thinking straight. Besides, I have to go visit my family in Yongzhou next weekend. Don't book a ticket to Changsha when I'm not even in town. Go to sleep now, egghead.
Lying in his bed and being infused by all the alcohol he had, he felt fatigue taking its toll and had troubles to keep his eyes open. Furthermore, Yixing was right - there wouldn't be any use in going to Changsha when he was in a complete different town. Yifan felt a yawn threatening to part his lips so he finally obeyed and wished Yixing a good night.
The next day was filled with headaches and regrets over drinking that last cocktail, but at least Tao didn't feel any better even if he had been drinking not as much as Yifan. It had been bad, he knew that. And he wasn't sure how Yixing was thinking about his drunk texts so he was especially nervous when he was sitting in a café working on some paper and Yixing called him. He didn't know if the nauseous feeling came from the fact that he was still hungover or it had a whole different reason. When he accepted the call and Yixing had layed his eyes on him, the smaller one started to laugh.
"You look so horrible!"
"Thanks, I love you too." Yifan grunted.
Yixing's laughter rang in his ears and he was thankful that the other one seemed to take everything with humor. He had a fun time to tease him about his current state which would've driven Yifan mad, but then again - it was Yixing. He could not imagine to get mad at Yixing ever.
"Okay, I'll stop now," Yixing sad after he had cracked another lame joke about drunk people, "But I have a serious question I've got to ask you."
"What is it?"
Yifan's grip around his mug half filled with tepid coffee grew tighter as he recognized the expression on Yixing's face that had shifted from a joyful smile to an anxious frown. Yixing seemed to scratch together his courage for something and it made Yifan a little uneasy, to be honest.
"Those things that you said last night - did you actually mean that?"
The older one didn't know what to say for a moment before he replied:
"Why wouldn't I still mean it?"
"Well, because, obviously, you were fucked up." Yixing responded with one raised eyebrow.
"You know what they say about drunk people, Xingie. They always speak the truth."
To avoid any further embarrassment, he downed his coffee. A smile came back to Yixing's face.
"So… do you still want to… see me? Like… in person?"
Yifan supported his head with one hand and looked at the video on his laptop screen.
"Yes. I do. I always do."
He knew he sounded lame and got the confirmation right away when Yixing snorted and shook his head at him.
"I'm honest, I've had that thought for a while now, too. I just never knew how to address it."
Yixing admitted and for the first time today Yifan was pretty sure the weird feeling in his stomach wasn't because of the alcohol that somehow still seemed to circulate in his system.
"Well. It's addressed now. When's the best time?" Yifan responded and closed the document of his paper just to open his browser and got on qunar.com to check for ticket prices.
▪▪▪▪
When the plane touched down, Yixing felt like someone had punched him in the guts repeatedly for the last two and a half hours he had been up in the air. Automatically, without even thinking much, he fetched his cabin baggage and followed the other passengers out of the plane. The stewardess from before wished him a pleasant stay in Taipei when he got out and walked through the gate to the baggage claim, but Yixing didn't even really notice her. While he was waiting for his suitcase to arrive, he tried to connect his phone with the airport's wifi because he didn't dare to activate his mobile data. To say that he was nervous was an understatement as he got a hold of his luggage and the wifi still wasn't working. He immediately started to worry that something might have gone wrong - that Yifan might not be waiting for him anymore was one of his most feared scenarios. When he stepped out into the arrival hall, his eyes were glued to his phone that finally seemed to cooperate. He had indeed gotten a message from Yifan, and fortunately it wasn't something along the lines "I'm headed to the hotel now." He sighed in relief and looked up to search the crowd for him.
Yifan spotted him right when he stepped out of the baggage claim, staring at his phone and dragging along a small suitcase. There was a fraught expression on his usually soft face. Yifan thought about pinching himself for a moment, just to make sure that this was really Yixing standing a few feet away from him. Right when he tried to call out for him, the small brunet let out a sigh and a smile ghosted across his face and he looked up looking for someone - looking for him. When their gazes met, both of them stood still for a moment, as if moving could mean the other one would disappear within the blink of an eye. Yifan suddenly felt like fifteen again when he had had his first crush on a guy who had happened to be the kid from one floor beneath them. His breath shortened, his heartbeat got suddenly very fast and the palms of his hands got sweaty as one held onto the rail of his suitcase. Yixing was the first to move and took a few hesitant steps towards Yifan which encouraged the taller one to stride into the other one's direction. They met halfway and before Yixing could bring himself to form a "Hi!" Yifan let go of his luggage and pulled him into a hug. Yixing smelled like soap and comfort. Getting hit with that thought made Yifan cringe - he was already that deep, huh?
"How was your flight?" Yifan mumbled into Yixing's shoulder while the smaller one carefully put his hands around Yifan's waist to return the hug.
Yifan was taller than Yixing had imagined but somehow it made him feel secure while the other one had his arms wrapped tightly around him. Being pressed against his chest felt oddly amazing as if he was just meant to be there.
"It was okay," Yixing said, "The food was horrible though."
The comment made Yifan snort and he loosened his grip around Yixing's slim body. He took a step back only to cup the other's face with his hands to take a closer look. Yixing surely didn't know what to do and to hide his nervousness he made a grimace.
"Then let's get to the hotel to check in and have dinner, shall we?"
Yixing nodded and as they stepped out of the arrival hall he apologized to have kept Yifan waiting for over an hour.
"Yeah right how DARE YOU not telling the pilot to fly that god damn plane faster?" Yifan responded with a wink and Yixing rolled his eyes.
"You idiot, you know what I mean!"
Yifan ruffled his hair and smiled.
"It's okay. You're here now. That was worth the wait."
The comment made Yixing's stomach do little summersaults while Yifan stopped one of the taxis and told the driver where they needed to go. They spent their car ride in the backseat, getting through a travel plan Yifan had put together on his iPad all while their knees and shoulders touched, making their skin tingle in excitement. There was no awkward silence - they had plenty of stuff to talk to even if it was mostly Yifan listening to Yixing's first flight experience. The older one would often laugh at some of Yixing's comments ("Why wouldn't they let me take my WATER with me? Like?? It's WATER?!") and even though Yixing was used to the sound of Yifan's laughter already, it sounded different in reality. It sounded better. If only he could allow himself to get used to it. But he couldn't. In not even four full days he'd be back in Changsha, and Yifan would be back in Guangzhou and he had to be content with distorted videochats, voice messages and reblogs again.
The hotel was located in the middle of Taipei with a subway station nearby that would bring them to the sightseeing spots within a few minutes. Yifan had picked it, since he was used to travelling and knew what to look for and his choice had been good. Maybe Yixing didn't know what to think of a king size bed ("Don't look at me like that, I didn't know either!") but the room was clean and cozy and there was a big window giving them a great view over the city they'd be exploring together.
Yixing had to admit that he felt completely drained even though it was maybe six in the evening. The moment he laid down on the bed to test whether or not the mattress was too hard, he felt like he never wanted to get up again. Yifan plopped down next to him, holding his iPad over his face.
"How do I connect to that god damn wifi?" He asked.
"Why? Do you need to blog about how you're sharing a room with me, hashtag I cannot wait to tap that ass?" Yixing shot back and was surprised how he could've brought himself to actually say that out loud.
Yifan himself seemed to be surprised too, so much that his grip around his iPad got loose and it fell onto his face. Yixing burst out into laughter at the sight of it and Yifan's super dumb face afterwards. Yifan seemed to think of a good comeback but lacked a flash of inspiration so instead he said, while activating the front camera:
"Well, YES maybe I was just going to do that! Come over here, it's time for our first selfie together!"
After a little whining of Yixing's ("I look like crap!"- "Shut up you're gorgeous as always!" - "SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND STOP LYING!") and a few tries Yifan had decided on which picture to use. While he uploaded the picture, he explained that he originally wanted to check for places to eat in the area. Yixing thought that this was a great idea since he had barely touched the food on the plane and the last real meal had been his breakfast. So while Yifan was roaming some travel blogs Yixing decided to check on Yifan's post and tried hard not to completely lose his shit.
Y'all fake bitches didn't fund me and we had to pay for those plane tickets and the hotel ourselves. Your ungrateful asses actually do not deserve this but I'm gonna upload that selfie anyway because this needs to be seen by the world: Look at @ZYX100791 and his radiant beauty. I CANNOT BELIEVE HE IS SO PRETTY.
#the adventures of xingie and egghead #I CANNOT WAIT TO TAP THAT ASS #xingie said I should use that tag I'm innocent for once! #i feel like an ugly potato next to him
"I did NOT say you should use that tag!" Yixing yelled and Yifan immediately shot up out of Yixing's reach so he couldn't get hit by the other one.
"It was too good to not put it there," Yifan responded and tried to change the topic immediately, "I have found some places to go, are you ready?"
He really just wanted to stay on that bed, but nevertheless he got up. Yifan still seemed so full of energy, maybe because he was used to trips like these, Yixing didn't want to spoil his good mood and followed him out of the room. Yifan shoved the keycard into the palm of Yixing's hands.
"You take care of it, I have a tendency to lose that stuff."
Yixing wasn't sure if he was the right choice for that task since he was clumsy as hell and used to fuck things up on a regular basis, but he promised not to lose it. When they stepped out of the hotel and strolled through the streets in the neighborhood Yixing was surprised how different Taipei was compared to his hometown. The vibe was kind of different - and Yixing didn't really know how to describe it as he followed Yifan through the buzzing streets of the district they were staying at. One restaurant and small boutique after another appeared to both their sides while they had to dodge parked motorcycles that their owners put in front of the houses and sometimes even on the sidewalk. Yifan had picked a Japanese restaurant for dinner that was, according to the blog entry he had read, the one with the best price-performance ratio in the area. They spent about two hours talking and eating while Yifan gave all of the seafood to Yixing who had never tasted anything like the stuff they had ordered. He actually didn't like seafood that much but now he was sitting on his chair at a table filled with different kinds and he loved all of them.
"I think it's because the stuff is fresher here," Yifan said when Yixing voiced his astonishment, "Changsha is in the middle of nowhere with no ocean around. Ewww you're getting the old stuff!"
"Shut up or I'll throw this calamari at you!"
"Don't you DARE I'm going to die otherwise!"
"Don't be such a drama queen!"
Yifan grunted and shoved some rice into his mouth while Yixing snorted and shook his head at Yifan's silliness, but he liked it. He liked talking to Yifan in general and he was relieved that they weren't awkward with each other even if there weren't the monitors of their laptops between them. Yifan finished his dish and then proceeded to lean into the table while his hands searched for Yixing's knees under it. When he found them, he squeezed them and asked:
"Should we go?"
Yixing shifted in his chair at the touch and mumbled something about finishing his plate and Yifan withdrew. When they had payed they took another route through the side streets to their hotel. Yifan told him that he liked to get to know the area around the place he's staying at first before doing any sightseeing which made sense if Yixing thought about it. Ximen was also a very lively district with a lot of young people roaming the streets so their little walk didn't even get boring. Yifan stopped almost every few feet to take photos with his rather expensive camera that he carried around everywhere. Yixing was the victim of his snaps more than often.
"Seriously could you stop it please?" Yixing asked when they had stopped by a Seven Eleven to get some snacks and refreshments because they had decided to get back to the hotel to end the evening on a relaxed note before they'd be calling it a day.
"To put it frankly - no," Yifan answered and showed a big grin while he showed Yixing the picture on his camera, "Look, you make everything look so artsy!"
Yixing rolled his eyes and hovered over to the counter to pay for his water and snacks and Yifan followed him on his heels. When they got out and their hotel was in sight, Yixing asked:
"Do you always annoy your travel partners with your photos?"
"Nah, I usually travel alone."
"Huh? Really?"
"It's more relaxed," Yifan said and shrugged his shoulders, "I tend to get annoyed by others very quickly. I have my own pace and my own ideas about a vacation that often don't cooperate with those of others. And I hate making compromises. So when I was eighteen I started to travel alone."
His comment left a worried expression on Yixing's face and Yifan snorted while they got into the lobby.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to get annoyed by you within four days!"
"Three days. The first is almost over." Yixing corrected.
"Ew don't remind me please!"
When they opened the door to their room (Yixing was glad he hadn't lost the card) Yifan went to take a shower while Yixing got scared by his phone that started to buzz nonstop ever since it got connected to the hotel's WiFi. His notifications on Tumblr had blown up and Yixing had actually thought that he'd take a short break from this stupid website and its even more stupid app that was good for basically nothing, but he couldn't ignore all this shit so he scrolled through his notes and mentions and he cursed Yifan's stupid ass for this stupid selfie.
I'M GONNA FUND YOUR WEDDING GUYS!!!
#i don't have money myself #but imma sell my soul for this shit
This looks like the beginning of some gay porn - I love it!
#is yifan already tapping yixing's ass or is he waiting a little for that? #WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY
IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? IS THIS THE REAL LIFE? IS THIS JUST FANTASY???
#i'm crying i'M--------- #I CANNOT BELIEVE #this is NOT photoshopped right??
Oh god I cannot BREATHE this is what we all have been waiting for!! Our Tumblr OTP! IN THE SAME ROOM! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
#FANDOM RISE #we need fanart #and fanfiction #WE NEED MORE OF THAT YIFAN DON'T LEAVE US HANGING WITH ONLY ONE LAME ASS SELFIE
I bet you guys they were not wearing anything after that selfie has been shot
#yifan's wish will finally come true #i hope he knows a romantic way of telling yixing that he thinks of him while masturbating lol
"EWWWWWW!"
Yixing threw his phone across the bed and it slipped onto the floor but he didn't really care in that moment. Yifan came out of the bathroom and had already changed into some sweatpants and a shirt and looked at Yixing's phone in confusion.
"What's going on?"
"READ THE NOTES!"
Yifan picked up the phone and when he went over the comments he started to laugh.
"A romantic way of telling Yixing that he thinks of him while masturbating, I never even MENTIONED that!"
"This is your fault!"
"Oh come on. Let them be. They're just like us - fucked up kids with too much time on their hands and an internet connection."
Yifan shrugged his shoulders and stretched out on his side of the bed. Yixing sighed heavily and instead of saying anything he grabbed the remote on the table next to him and turned on the TV. There was a pregnant silence following after it in which Yixing hopped from one channel to the other and didn't feel like watching any of the shows. He eventually ended up watching a rerun of The Voice of China where a fat little guy was singing his version of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Yifan broke the silence:
"God damnit who has given him these pants? They're horrible!"
Yixing snorted and was thankful for the change of topic.
"It's not about his pants, silly!"
"It's irritating me to a degree I cannot even pay attention to his voice!"
They went on commenting on the show, the candidates and especially the judges. Yixing found out that Yifan hated Jay Chou with every fiber of his being and it was so funny to listen to his comments every time someone chose Jay Chou over the other judges. Sometimes it was just a sarcastic mutter under his breath but at the end of the show Yixing's abs hurt from all the laughing and tears were running down his face. Yifan laughed with him because it was just too good to hear Yixing crack up and spill some words out in his dialect that sounded like he was begging Yifan to stop with his nonsense. When Yixing had finally calmed down they talked about some random topics while they were munching on the chips Yixing had bought before. The later it got, the weirder their conversation went until Yixing's eyelids grew heavy and threatened to close any given moment.
"Xingie can I ask you something? It's kind of personal, I'm not mad when you say no."
"Shoot." Yixing responded and let out a long yawn that he had fought against for the last few minutes.
Half asleep, he recognized Yifan shifting his weight so he was directly facing the other one. Yifan smiled when he saw Yixing's face that had a complete content and relaxed expression. He asked himself if that would be changing the moment he'd have popped his question.
"Okay, so… have you ever kissed someone?"
Yixing's eyes flew open and he sat up straight on the bed. He eyed Yifan as if he had lost his mind.
"Aaaaaah, I knew you'd get mad, I shouldn't have said anything."
Yixing couldn't respond at first and just started to blabber:
"I… what… why… why do you want to know that?!"
"I was just thinking. You said you've always been single so… yeah. I'm a curious asshole. I'm sorry."
The younger one sighed and laid back on his back to face the ceiling. He contemplated whether or not to tell Yifan the truth or just simply lie about it but in the end lying would be no use anyway.
"Well, if you're really dying to know - nope."
"Wait… what?!"
"Yeah… I have never kissed someone. Tragic, isn't it?"
"For real?!"
Yixing side eyed Yifan who stared at him in pure disbelief.
"For real. I told you that I got rejected the last time I liked someone and afterwards I went to university and somehow… I just never really had the time to meet anyone. So. Yeah. Here I am at 24, still unkissed."
"Who in the world is dumb enough to reject you?"
Yixing chuckled and patted Yifan's hand.
"I appreciate it, but during High School I was really chubby and ugly. I can see why they would say no."
"Looks aren't everything."
"Pffff, says the guy who makes a bazillion selfies a day?" Yixing mocked Yifan and the older one responded:
"Hey, selfie culture is something different. Don't drag me for this!"
"If you say so…"
Yifan exhaled a long breath and turned around on his back. Their shoulders touched as they both were staring at the ceiling and Yifan had another question that was just waiting to roll off his tongue but he wasn't sure if he could really go there.
"I'm pretty sure you are the total opposite of me right?"
"I have, in fact, kissed people before, yes," Was Yifan's answer and he looked at Yixing with a smug smile, "I don't want to brag, but people tell me that I'm pretty good at it."
Yixing made a sound that sounded like a grunt and a squeal at the same time and he rolled over to one side away from Yifan. The older one didn't say anything so after some time, when Yixing was sure the blush on his cheeks had faded, he turned back around and snapped:
"What?! Are you implying you want to kiss me?!"
"You know Xingie," Yifan said and crossed his arms behind his head, "Better have someone who cares about you stealing your first kiss than someone who's just playing with you."
"That is not…"
"What? Don't tell me that doesn't make sense because it perfectly does!"
Thinking about it, Yifan was right. First times should always be shared with special people, things like kisses in particular.
"You're thinking about iiiiiit…" Yifan sing songed.
"You are so impossible!!" Yixing cried out and Yifan rolled over, upper body pressed onto Yixing's chest.
Yixing squealed and threw his hands over his lips, more out of reflex than to protect him from Yifan's attack. A weird sensation started to shoot through his body starting from his chest and wandering through his whole system until Yixing felt like his whole body had just heated up a few degrees. Yifan pinned him down with his gaze and Yixing didn't know what to do, let alone where to look so he kind of focused on Yifan's nose, which was kind of weird. The older one started to run his long fingers through his hair and without a further warning he pressed his lips gently onto Yixing's forehead. They felt soft and warm against his skin and Yixing closed his eyes, not moving an inch. He felt how Yifan's hands cupped his face and the many many small kisses that he placed all over his forehead, his cheeks, his nose - it felt like Yifan did not miss the smallest inch and it felt just so good. It was like Yifan was appreciating every of Yixing's features, trying to let him know how beautiful he thought Yixing was. Eventually Yifan kissed the back of Yixing's hand that was still placed over his mouth. Yixing wasn't sure if he should give in, because he was sure that if he crossed that line he'd be unable to go back to how things had been before. However, and he wasn't sure why, he removed his hands to give Yifan more space and when the other's lips touched his own, he immediately placed them on the nape of the other's neck which was more of a reflex. What started as short and gentle kisses soon heated up into more demanding ones where Yifan took the lead, occasionally dipping his tongue between Yixing's lips and Yixing was willing to follow. He had never felt anything like this - neither the feeling when their tongues and lips touched nor the emotions that rushed through him the whole time. It felt like the world had stopped turning for a moment and it only started to spin again when Yifan broke away from Yixing. The younger one threw his eyes open and shot Yifan a questioning look.
"So?" The one on top of him asked.
"What?"
"Was that a good first kiss?"
"God you are a jerk."
Yifan giggled and rolled off Yixing, put placed another peck on his cheek.
"Bother to know my opinion? I think you're a natural!"
"That's IT I'm going to brush my teeth!" Yixing cried out and escaped into the bathroom while Yifan's laughter was ringing in his ears.
While he tried to calm his heartbeat down, he didn't recognize how Yifan pressed his face into his pillow to get a hold of his face that was being tortured by a wide stupid grin. Don't be an idiot, he reminded himself. Don't fuck this up.
▪▪▪▪
Yixing wasn't used to falling asleep next to another moving and breathing body. He tried to remember how it was when he had some sleepovers as a kid and shared a bed with his friend, but as far as Yixing could recall those scenarios, he and his friend would fall asleep under their blanket fort and wake up in the exact same position, next to each other with enough space between them.
He never had someone holding him in their arms, their steady and deep breaths tingling across the skin of his neck. He never had experienced how it felt when another body was pressed against his, giving off comfortable heat. It was weird. But it wasn't something Yixing couldn't get used to. The curtains of the room weren't pulled close properly and the light of the illuminated city flooded the room, occasionally bringing the ringing of a motorbike's alarm system with it. Yifan had been asleep for at least two hours now. Sometimes he'd move in his sleep, pulling Yixing a little closer to his chest but that was about everything he did. The other one just laid on the mattress and waited for sleep to take over him since he really was exhausted. The problem was that, even if his body desperately needed the rest, his mind wouldn't shut up. His thoughts jumped from the first time he had recognized Yifan among his followers to the kiss they had shared not even three hours ago back to how they had started talking and forth to the first time he had laid his eyes on Yifan at the airport. He couldn't really put the pieces together and didn't understand how something like this would've happened to a guy like him. His brain then started to fantasize about what would happen when he'd get back home. There was one scenario that made it hard for him to hold back his grin as images of him and Yifan flashed across his inner eye, somehow working out the distance, somehow ending up together and spending lazy Sundays in the living room of their shared apartment, just being together, having found their cheesy happily ever after, while Yifan would keep their Tumblr followers updated on their life. But, he tried to remind himself, reality wasn't a predicatble teenage love story like in the movies, so it maybe was highly likely that they'd never even stand a chance. Yixing tried hard to get back down to earth and suddenly felt like Yifan could read his mind which made him throw a look over his shoulder to make sure he was still asleep. Which he was.
Eventually, sleep had finally won the battle and the next thing Yixing noticed was Yifan's body heat that was completely missing. He turned around and squinted his eyes. Yifan was indeed gone. He wasn't in the bathroom either because everything was silent. Yixing sat up and looked around the room, half expecting Yifan to jump out of the closet even though it was way too small for a giant like him, but nothing happened. It took him a few moments but then he got hit by the fear that Yifan had just gotten up and left him, for whatever reason. It felt like someone was squeezing his stomach as he tried to recall if he had done anything that might have make Yifan leave him after barely 24 hours they had spent together but then his eyes locked with Yifan's suitcase that was still placed next to the door, clothes scattered carelessly around it. Yixing tried to calm himself down. If he was indeed gone he would've taken his belongings with him, wouldn't he? He reached for his phone but realized that writing Yifan would be no use since they didn't use mobile data in Taiwan. He grunted and right when Yixing decided to get up and get dressed to maybe look for the other one, the door opener made a buzzing noise and in stumbled Yifan with a bag and two coffee paper cups in his hands. He blinked when he saw Yixing who was just about to get up from the bed.
"You're up, I'm sorry! I thought I'd be back earlier…"
Yixing sunk back on the bed while Yifan kicked the door close. He then hovered over and sat down next to him, shoving a cup of coffee into his hands.
"It's two sugars, right?"
"Ummmm… yes…"
Yifan shot him a smile and when he placed his cup on the small desk next to their bed, he opened the bag and the smell of scrambled eggs filled up Yixing's nose.
"I wasn't really sure what you like to eat for breakfast, so I kind of got a few things.."
"Oh god, you went out to get breakfast…!" Yixing exclaimed - he didn't mean to actually say it out loud, but it just spilled out and he felt incredibly stupid for the small fit of panic that he had had just a few minutes ago.
"Of course I did. I couldn't bring myself to wake you up, so I left and went to that breakfast store around the corner. I don't know if the stuff is good, so if it's not I'm not to blame!"
They spent the next half hour on the bed trying out the breakfast sandwiches and burgers and eventually found some things they decided would be their breakfast for the next two days. Afterwards, Yifan put the wrapping paper into the bag and looked at Yixing.
"You should go and change, we need to get going. I'll go to the lobby and check how to get around. The wifi is better there."
Yixing nodded and before Yifan got up, he pulled the younger one closer to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he grabbed his backpack and his camera and threw the bag into the waste bin on his way out.
"I'll be waiting for you."
And then he was gone. Yixing stood still for a second, petrified by the touch of Yifan's lips who had kissed him in such a casual way as if it wasn't any different than what he's been doing any other day in his life.
"Fuck!" Yixing breathed and got up to take a quick shower.
{part 2}
Rating: NC-17
Length: 20,466 words
Warnings: none, except for maybe the huge amount of fluff at the end that might make people want to gag?
Summary: Yifan and Yixing were meeting for the first time. They both got talking on Tumblr and then started their Skype and texting friendship soon after, however, the lines between friends and something more often got blurred.
Notes: I butchered the prompt and I’m sorry for it. I never intended for it to become 20K but here we are. Sorry in advance. It just - happened.
Yixing wasn't the type of person to do crazy and spontaneous things so when he boarded a plane from Changsha to Taipei, he felt like he was about to faint within the next five seconds. When he had found his seat somewhere in the back of the plane he fumbled his phone out of his pocket and typed a quick message:
I just went through boarding. See you in a few hours!
He knew the person he sent it to wouldn't be able to read it in the next hour since he was up in the air himself, but he still felt like he should give him information on what was happening. Or maybe he just needed to keep his mind occupied for as long as possible. Right when the message got sent, a stewardess reminded him to switch his phone off in about ten minutes, before she hovered over to another seat row to help a young boy fasten his seatbelt. Yixing sighed and switched the device off before he let it slide back into the pocket of his jacket. When the plane started to roll onto the field for take-off, Yixing closed his eyes and tried hard to recapitulate how he got here.
▪▪▪▪
It all started with that Tumblr account he had created right in the first weeks of January last year. That was the beginning of a long road that constantly went downhill. His blog didn't even have a real purpose - Yixing had opened it because he wanted to practice his English skills as he had felt like the regular classes at his university weren't enough. Dancing was his passion so he soon had started to upload videos of his latest practices, nothing special really in his opinion, but somehow after his first post, his follower count started to increase. Somewhere between those first followers, Yixing had found Yifan.
According only to his blog, Yifan had nothing in common with Yixing and the young man from Changsha had wondered why a guy would follow him who was only posting stuff about travelling and a shitload of selfies. Nonetheless, Yifan came around when Yixing was still on his "I follow back" roll so they became something called ‘mutuals' and in the first weeks their only communication had been them liking each other's posts. Yifan was always one of the first users to like and reblog his newest choreography and he'd always use the same god damn tag: #nice. When Yifan thought the movements were especially good he'd tag it as #niCE!! and it made Yixing roll his eyes every time. He thought this guy was the lamest dude on earth but he somehow had found a liking in his selfies and pictures of his trips, so while Yifan was appreciating Yixing's dances, Yixing was always there to give Yifan notes for his face and pictures of landscapes and architecture.
It wasn't until spring the cycle of endless likes and reblogs got broken by Yifan. Yixing hadn't been feeling very well, since an old hip injury had taken its toll again and he went a few weeks without posting anything new. Some people had noticed and he got some anons asking if he was alright, and between grey display pictures he saw Yifan's message.
Are you okay?
It wasn't a very long and eloquent message, but it was written in Chinese which made Yixing stop short because he hadn't thought Yifan was actually capable of speaking the language. There was barely any personal information about the other guy on his about page and he only wrote in perfect English while Yixing was always apologizing for the mistakes he was making while writing. He typed a short answer, saying that he was fine and was just recovering from an injury. Then he dropped the question where Yifan was actually from since he had somehow assumed the other one was American. The answer came faster than Yixing had expected.
Hahahaha, what, no, no no. I'm from Guangzhou, but I spent some years in Canada, that's why I've got no problems with English. You're from Changsha, right? Never been there, but I heard that you guys have that weird saying… what was it? "There are four million hot guys eating hot food in Changsha"?? :D
Yixing had rolled his eyes at the comment, but answered nonetheless which marked the moment they had started to actively talk to each other. Yixing had found out that Yifan was an international economics student enrolled in Guangzhou University and that he liked playing basketball. He could not eat spicy food ("But I hope that you still give me a chance") and was allergic to seafood. He had travelled to a lot of countries in his life, picking up one or two more foreign languages he could communicate in, even if he wasn't that fluent. Yifan was single, his last relationship dating back two years before he came from Canada back to China. His mother had a cat, even though he was more of a dog person. Soon after the first message, Yixing could've been able to write a whole book filled with random facts about the other one. But then again, Yixing had told him everything about his life too. How he loved Michael Jackson and how the first music video he saw on TV had gotten him into dancing. How, despite being Hunanese, he couldn't handle Hot Pot at Haidilao to save his life but had no trouble with biting into chilies that grew in Hunan and were famous for their spiciness. How he had never gotten out of China and only made it out of that city when he visited his family in Yongzhou. How he had fallen in love once, but never had had the pleasure of being loved back, staying single to this day - and how thankful he was that Yifan hadn't made fun of him when he had told him.
Despite their differences, they had more things in common than Yixing might have given them credit for in the beginning. They both liked to listen to Mayday and Jolin Tsai, which was a rather weird combination. They preferred summer over winter. They'd never try online dating sites because most of them were a scam anyway. Their worst subject at school had been Chinese because they hated learning poems and classics. They loved to eat watermelons and the best way to eat them was to cut them in half, sit in front of the TV and scoop one half out like ice cream. And just like this, Yixing considered Yifan his friend, even though he had never seen him in person and didn't even know what his voice sounded like.
Yixing's other followers were lovely. Most of them complimented him on his dancing skills and his English ("It's cute! Don't worry about it!") and admired his facial features, even though Yixing did not think that he was that attractive. So when he had gotten his first hateful comment, he was completely thrown off track.
You're ridiculous lmao get your Chingchong ass out of here back to Korea nobody wants to see your ugly ass anyway.
It wasn't a nice feeling Yixing had to admit. The comment was hurtful, but he tried to play it cool and not cause any drama, so he published the message with a simple comment.
But… I'm Chinese?
He didn't notify Yifan about it, because he didn't think it was necessary and went on with his daily routine of classes and practice, even though the words kept gnawing at him the whole day. He thought that his behavior was stupid - it was just one single person out of a whole bunch of people who followed him and thought that he was good. That had been a person that wasn't even really brave because they hid behind a grey display picture so he should be laughing it off. But seriously. It hurt. When he came home he didn't even want to open the homepage, and with a weird feeling in his stomach he scrolled through his activity bar. Of course his answer hadn't gone unnoticed and among numerous likes and reblogs with comments like "Wow anon, who hurt you?" he spotted Yifan's reblog.
BITCH you better get your ugly ass out of here. What went wrong in your life that you hide behind anon to insult people that have nothing to do with your miserable existence? It's the jealousy, right? I bet you're one of those fat nasties that sit around all day, don't get their lazy asses moving and jerk off to anime porn in momma's basement. So when you come across someone who actually has a life you get so angry at yourself you have to project it onto others lmao trust me honey the only ridiculous person here is you.
First of all Korea is not the only fucking country in Asia (I know, shhh, take a moment) so get yourself a fucking map if you're capable of reading. But then again I guess you've lost your brain cells somewhere between microwaved Mac ‘N' Cheese and scratching your butt so you're not able to read anyways because if so, you would've been aware of the fact that Yixing's posts easily hit the 1K mark after like maybe 10 minutes of posting while nobody gives a flying fuck about your blog probably filled with screenshots of the latest Hentai you've watched. You were also aware of the fact that Yixing is a fucking gorgeous human being I mean if I was straight I'd still let him ride me like there's no tomorrow LMAO BYE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE.
#excuse me but what #in what world is xingie ugly #no I don't understand #do you hate happiness anon?? do you??? #like #he is the incarnation of a cinnamon roll #too good for this world #too pure #LOL I FEEL PERSONALLY OFFENDED BY THIS?? #you've got a problem with my friend you've got a problem with me homeboy #next time reveal yourself so I can drag your ugly ass personally
Yixing felt his cheeks burn at the last sentence and had to take a moment to convince himself that Yifan surely did NOT mean that serious. And even though he told himself not to interpret too much into it, he felt his heart flutter as he read the tags and the ‘xingie', wherever Yifan had picked that up from. The fact that a guy like Yifan had typed that down was just really ridiculous but somehow cute at the same time. He buried his face in his hands and let out a small squeal, before he told himself to calm down. Then he sent another message for Yifan to read.
That was savage.
He didn't expect a quick answer because Yixing knew that Yifan was mostly out having dinner or something around this time so he went to his own kitchen to make himself some Jiaozi. When he came back Yifan had answered.
:*
Anything for you, Xingie~!
It was kind of absurd, Yixing thought. When exactly did it happen that he'd spend his evenings with his laptop on his lap, chatting with a guy he had never met in his life? Sometimes his roommate Luhan lurked into his room and asked whether or not he wanted to share dinner and one evening when he had walked in on him right when Yixing had read a rather funny story about a weird college experience Yifan had had that day, he asked:
"Bro, are you flirting?"
"Huh?! What?!"
Luhan rolled his eyes and then clicked his tongue before he said:
"You're obviously flirting with someone the way you swoon and giggle all the time…"
Yixing snorted and started to ramble something about "That was just really funny right now!" while he pointed onto the screen of his laptop which made Luhan only shake his head.
"Anyways. I'll be out for a while. See you around!"
"See you!"
When he heard the apartment door close, Yixing stared back on the screen, thinking about what his roommate had just said. Was he really flirting? Well, given the fact that Yixing's flirting ability was just as good as stones could swim in water - but did he really show serious interest in his internet friend? He nibbled on the dry skin of his lower lip, while he slowly had to admit to himself that, indeed, he might like Yifan the teeniest-tiniest bit. And maybe, if he wasn't getting his hopes up way too high, Yifan might also like him the teeniest-tiniest bit. It was maybe because Yifan was simply not so subtle about what he thought about Yixing after he had dragged that hate-anon. When Yixing read the tags in the reblogged videos, he often wanted to scream or eat his phone because Yifan was just - so - lame.
#Mr. Zhang this is not okay #how DARE YOU #@ my followers do not click play if y'all don't want to become sexually frustrated #IS HE EVEN REAL #i have witnessed magic #damn son that body roll #there are a lot of things I regret in my life #following xingie isn't one of them #awwww look at him #like srsly he could do the Macarena and I'd be turned on wtf #YOU ARE OFFENDING ME GET THE FUCK OUT #take_me_to_church.mp3
He really didn't know how to put all of this into perspective. And he wouldn't dare to ask Yifan to clear the situation. Because when they talked to each other, Yifan was a whole different person. He was considerate and thoughtful, always caring about Yixing, always asking how he's been doing. He'd ask him about stuff that Yixing had mentioned weeks before in maybe a small sub-clause that he never remembered mentioning himself at first. The dancer let out a huge sigh and plucked up some courage before he asked Yifan if, by any chance, he could add him to his Wechat to make their conversations easier.
Wow I thought you'd never ask! My ID's WuFan1106. :D
▪▪▪▪
When Yifan turned on his phone, the first thing he did was to get his device connected to the airport's Wifi. It took him ages and he groaned in frustration, but when he was through the baggage claim, he finally logged into the service and got Yixing's message. He smiled when he read it and typed an answer:
Awesome. I just went through the baggage claim. I'll be waiting for you in the arrival hall. I can't wait to see you.
When he stepped out into the arrival hall, he already saw Yixing's flight on the monitor above the passangers' heads. He was delighted when he saw the flight would land in time because he really didn't know if he could've managed any additional waiting time. If somebody had asked him what the craziest thing was he had ever done, he'd probably tell them about how he, one day, had decided to meet a guy he got to know on a stupid website and how he had boarded a plane for that because they had arranged to meet in a city different from their hometowns. He didn't even know if the meet up would be successful. For all he knew they could also spent four awkward days together and afterwards never talk to each other again. But he had felt if he wouldn't even try, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. He pulled his suitcase behind him to find a place to wait where he had a good view of the people who stepped out from the baggage claim into the hall. And then, the final waiting began.
▪▪▪▪
The moment he got the notification that Yixing had added him to his Wechat friends, Yifan's heart had skipped a beat. There was no need to deny it, he was crushing hard on this guy who he had never even really seen before. It was kind of weird, he thought. He had always looked down upon people who used the internet to find love - he even had a friend that met his current girlfriend on Weibo, and even though the two hadn't created accounts to specifically find love, he wasn't convinced that people were able to find real love over the world wide web. But well, now it was his turn and he tried to be as lowkey about it as possible. He wasn't though. When he had some time between classes, the first thing he did was checking his Wechat and if Yixing hadn't left any new messages, he let out a small sigh before he went through Tumblr, even though he hated the mobile app with every fiber of his being. He'd often get mentions from his mutuals, and he slowly started to realize that he had kicked off a really questionable trend:
Am I the only one who almost loses their shit when @MR-FanXianSheng and @ZYX100791 interact on my dash because I'm always like "WHY DON'T YOU GUYS KISS ALREADY" and then I remember that Yixing is located in Changsha and Yifan is from Guangzhou and when I check China's map I realize how fucking huge this god damn country is and I start to cry. I've never thought that a country could COCKBLOCK ONE OF MY OTPS.
#this is rude #everybody who feels the same RAISE YOUR HAND #i should just give up on shipping people because it always ends in tragedy
The number of notes this post had gotten ever since it had been posted spoke for itself. This girl who had been following Yifan ever since he had started his blog back in 2011 when he was still in Canada wasn't the only one with that feeling. His cheeks started to hurt from the stupid smile that had crept onto his face as he decided to play along. Yixing would kill him if he had the chance so when he reblogged the post and added a comment, he was thankful for the distance between them for the first time ever.
WELL THEN you guys need to fund me so I can buy a train ticket to Changsha and I can finally claim that nice ass. :)))))))))
#i take donations starting at 5$ #i demand a couple name like brangelina have #look xingie #look at that #people start to notice us #we're meant to be!! #when will you finally return my undying love for you and your body rolls?
Yifan thought he was hilarious. His followers thought he was hilarious. Yixing thought he was horrible.
"Aiyoweiiiii what did you DO?!"
Yifan snorted at the voice message he received after the last class of his day. He loved hearing Yixing's voice. It wasn't what he had expected at first but he grew addicted to the sound. He always wanted to hear him and his adorable Changsha dialect that he ever so often tried to hide. He failed most of the time, especially when he got emotional like he'd gotten just now. Yifan just simply loved the high pitched sound Yixing made when he stretched the vowels and he did everything to tickle that way to speak out of the other one as often as possible.
"I didn't do anything what do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb Wu Yifan! That stuff you said on Tumblr!! I have seen it all! I have read your tags! Don't say those things if you don't mean them!!"
Yifan escaped a giggle, something that happened so rarely his best friend Huang Zitao who was walking next to him raised an eyebrow.
"What the fuck was that noise? What happened to you?" He asked while they walked over to their dorm to get rid of their bags and afterwards get something to eat.
"Huh, what do you mean?"
Tao rolled his eyes and asked:
"You're acting strange. I'm not used to you being all giggly and happy all the time. You're supposed to be grumpy and sarcastic. So tell me - what's going on? Are you seeing someone?"
Yifan put his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and contemplated whether or not to tell Tao about what was going on. He'd surely be judged hard, but on the other hand… Tao was his best friend and Yifan valued his opinions more than anyone else's. He sighed.
"It's complicated."
"Do I know him?"
"No you don't."
Tao gasped theatrically and looked at Yifan as if the older one had just betrayed him and his whole family. Yifan ignored it and went on explaining the whole situation. When he had ended, they had reached their dorm and Tao tried hard to process all the new information.
"So. You, out of all the people, are telling me that you fell in love with a random stranger online?"
"I did not say I'm in LOVE," Yifan corrected while he opened the door to the dorm room both of them shared with four others, "I just said that I like him a little. He's cute."
"I hate to break it to you, but you are so in love. You act like a bubbly teenager that has a huge crush on the famous football player in high school. That's not you."
In search for a good comeback, Yifan huffed and puffed but gave up on it as soon as his bag landed on his bed and he pulled his purse out of it. Tao chuckled and then asked:
"Are you guys making plans to see each other? Does he like you back?"
"No and I don't know. I don't want to force him to do anything…"
The comment made Tao squeal and for the rest of the evening, he teased Yifan about it. Yifan regretted telling him right away, but the damage was already done so he had to endure it. Tao's words had an impact on him though. Did Yixing like him? And would a meeting be of any help? He liked to think that yes, if both of them met one day, they'd have a great time. But proposing a meet up just like that would surely scare Yixing off so Yifan had to sit back and wait. Tao led the way out of the room and Yifan followed, pulling out his phone as he remembered he still had to answer Yixing. To not give Tao anymore fuel to the fire, he typed his thoughts down instead of sending a voice message.
I always say what I mean, don't worry about that.
They eventually had moved on from Wechat voice messages to Facetime a few weeks later which had been triggered by a visit at the hairdresser. Yifan liked to experiment with his looks a lot and one day, only god knew why, he felt the need to shave his whole head because he was absolutely unhappy with his current haircut but didn't want to wait until it would grow out. When he had been at the salon, he thought the outcome wasn't that bad but when he was at his dorm and he had taken a closer look into the mirror, he cursed his stupid ass for having such an idiotic idea. He really needed someone to tell him he still looked good so he decided to fuck it and just give Yixing a call, hoping he'd not be scared away by his sudden move. It took him ten long seconds until Yixing answered. The picture showed him with a confused look on his face as he asked:
"What is going on? Did anything happ-"
When he saw Yixing's shaved head the words got stuck in his throat. If Yifan wouldn't have been so absolutely tormented he'd have complimented Yixing on his look. It seemed like he was at university since a few students walked through the picture in the background and he was wearing earbuds. His skin seemed so smooth and clear as if there was a filter laid over the picture. And maybe it was because he was missing his, but Yixing's hair seemed especially fluffy and wavy and it was just so unfair when Yifan had no hair at all.
"What happened to your hair?"
"I cut it." Yifan answered with grinding teeth.
"Why would you do that?"
Yifan told him he didn't know either - it was just a random thought and he'd gotten along with it and was now regretting every little bit.
"Please say something to make me feel better!" He whined while he started to pout and he thought he might look cute that way.
Yixing snorted but got a hold of himself again. He then took a moment to take a closer look at Yifan and even through the crappy internet connection and the not-so-HD videocall the older one felt uncomfortable as he felt Yixing's gaze on him. He just hoped he had nothing on his face because that would've been even more embarrassing.
"You're still handsome, don't worry about it." Yixing then answered with an honest smile and a slight blush on his face and Yifan shot him a thankful grin.
"As long as you like it, I think I can manage!"
The comment made Yixing grunt and roll his eyes, but while he did so he tried hard to prevent the corners of his mouth from curling up.
"Yifan, I've got to go. There are some people coming over and we have to prepare a presentation together… call me again tonight when I'm home? I mean… only if you want to."
"Of COURSE my darling! Is that some sort of date now?" Yifan swooned, knowing he'd flip Yixing off.
"Just STOP IT! You're impossible!"
Yifan blew him a kiss and Yixing bit his lips to suppress the smile that threatened to grow wider and just disconnected without any further word. Yifan wasn't mad though. He'd rather send another message to remind Yixing of telling him when he'll be home so he could ‘prepare for their date'. He knew he'd have to pay for his behavior sooner or later but he had never expected Yixing to sneakily make a screenshot while they had been having the conversation, loading it up to Tumblr and caption it with:
哥 has gotten a haircut and is not happy. Please send him love. His self-esteem is so low. He needs to know that he's still handsome. :)
#my egghead #he's an idiot
From this day on, the nickname ‘egghead' stuck to Yifan like glue. If you visited Yixing's blog and searched only for the tag ‘egghead' you'd be directed to every selfie and entry of Yifan that Yixing had ever reblogged. Yifan had to admit that he hadn't been too fond of the name in the beginning, but eventually started to get used to it. Especially since Yixing called him that also during their conversations on Facetime and he did it with a loving expression in his voice that made Yifan's heart flutter and he suddenly really didn't mind. Their conversations became a ritual that both of them cared about very much. Regardless of they had or hadn't a lot to say to each other, they'd still have their videochats, even if it meant that sometimes, Yifan just watched Yixing doing some work for university or Yixing endured Yifan's endless grunting when he was doing some photoshop work on a picture he had taken on his last trip. Yifan was a night owl while Yixing used to have a very regular sleeping schedule and often Yixing would just tell him "I'm going to bed" and place his laptop next to him and about ten minutes later when Yifan looked up from whatever he had been doing, he'd see Yixing, curled up on his bed, lips slightly parted as he let out long and regular breaths that indicated he was already fast asleep. Most of the time he disconnected the call then but sometimes the younger one looked so adorable, he just let the camera run until he went to bed himself. Having those videocalls made the distance a little more endurable since it was almost like having Yixing lying right next to him. But they surely never made up for his need to actually have him lying next to him, being able to put an arm around him, giving him a hug to comfort him when he was sad, caring for him when he was exhausted from dance practice or just simply hold his hand when he felt like it. He was needy to touch him. But with more than 400 miles between them, that need was doomed to stay unfulfilled.
Once in a while a friend of his had to celebrate a birthday so one day he had to tell Yixing that they might not be able to have a chat since he was bound to come home late and he knew how Yixing hated it to stay up until the late ams. Yixing seemed to not take it too hard and told him to have fun with his friends so that's what Yifan did, even though he often peeked at his phone to check whether or not he had gotten a message. The more glasses of drinks he and his friends had, the more he forgot about his phone though until his thoughts and vision was so blurred he couldn't even remember how many of those Mojitos he had downed already. When he came home it was already 3 a.m. and he was, to put it bluntly, wasted as fuck. He was lucky Tao was there to bring him back to their dorm and into his bed. When he was finally spread out on his mattress, face pressed into his pillow to somehow ignore the spinning in his head, his thoughts immediately snapped to Yixing and felt the need to write him. He didn't really know what to write, since he wasn't even able to speak properly without messing up words and sentence patterns, hell, he wasn't even able anymore to separate Mandarin from Cantonese and had spoken a weird mixture of the two when Tao had dragged him back home - but he just needed to tell him that he was finally home at least. His phone was somewhere in the back pocket of his jeans that he was still wearing and it took him especially long to type in his screenlock code. He didn't want to wake anyone of the others in his room up so he pulled his blanket over his head, the fresh linen feeling cool against his heated skin. He sighed and enjoyed that little moment, before he opened his eyes again and squinted at the brightness of his phone screen. He whimpered until he could manage to look at his device without feeling like being blinded and opened the chatroom with Yixing - which he double checked, because he didn't want to accidentally send his texts to someone else.
I'm home now. I guess you are already asleep but I just wanted to let you know.
It had taken him ages to type these two sentences and he somehow felt proud of himself when he hit the send button. He wasn't sure how long he had stared at his phone until he decided that another message couldn't do any harm.
I wish you were here.
He didn't know why and how but suddenly he was scrolling through ctrip and checked prices for a ticket from Guangzhou to Changsha. He was genuinely surprised though - the highspeed rail only needed two and a half hours to get from his hometown to Yixing's, which was laughable.
It's either you who has to be here or me who has to be where you are. I don't care. 400 miles, right? The highspeed rail only needs about two hours to get me to Changsha. It's 314RMB for next weekend.
Actually, Yifan had been pretty sure that his drunk rambling would go unnoticed until Yixing would wake up to go to class so he had to double check if there really was a message of Yixing popping up in their chatroom.
You are drunk, go to bed, egghead. Don't book any train tickets in that condition. You might end up buying a ticket to Beijing.
Yifan let out a surprised squeal which was louder than he had intended it to be. He lifted his blanket to check if anyone had heard him, but there was still the soft snoring of his roommates and a look over to Tao's bed made him realize that he was already fast asleep. He crawled back under the blanket and started to type.
What are you still doing up?!
The answer came pretty fast.
Says the one looking for trains at four in the morning.
Yifan retorted that this wasn't the same since he had been out with friends. Yixing's answer came after what felt like an eternity, even though the time that had passed had been barely a minute.
I'm not sleeping well tonight and forgot to mute my phone. You are drunk and not thinking straight. Besides, I have to go visit my family in Yongzhou next weekend. Don't book a ticket to Changsha when I'm not even in town. Go to sleep now, egghead.
Lying in his bed and being infused by all the alcohol he had, he felt fatigue taking its toll and had troubles to keep his eyes open. Furthermore, Yixing was right - there wouldn't be any use in going to Changsha when he was in a complete different town. Yifan felt a yawn threatening to part his lips so he finally obeyed and wished Yixing a good night.
The next day was filled with headaches and regrets over drinking that last cocktail, but at least Tao didn't feel any better even if he had been drinking not as much as Yifan. It had been bad, he knew that. And he wasn't sure how Yixing was thinking about his drunk texts so he was especially nervous when he was sitting in a café working on some paper and Yixing called him. He didn't know if the nauseous feeling came from the fact that he was still hungover or it had a whole different reason. When he accepted the call and Yixing had layed his eyes on him, the smaller one started to laugh.
"You look so horrible!"
"Thanks, I love you too." Yifan grunted.
Yixing's laughter rang in his ears and he was thankful that the other one seemed to take everything with humor. He had a fun time to tease him about his current state which would've driven Yifan mad, but then again - it was Yixing. He could not imagine to get mad at Yixing ever.
"Okay, I'll stop now," Yixing sad after he had cracked another lame joke about drunk people, "But I have a serious question I've got to ask you."
"What is it?"
Yifan's grip around his mug half filled with tepid coffee grew tighter as he recognized the expression on Yixing's face that had shifted from a joyful smile to an anxious frown. Yixing seemed to scratch together his courage for something and it made Yifan a little uneasy, to be honest.
"Those things that you said last night - did you actually mean that?"
The older one didn't know what to say for a moment before he replied:
"Why wouldn't I still mean it?"
"Well, because, obviously, you were fucked up." Yixing responded with one raised eyebrow.
"You know what they say about drunk people, Xingie. They always speak the truth."
To avoid any further embarrassment, he downed his coffee. A smile came back to Yixing's face.
"So… do you still want to… see me? Like… in person?"
Yifan supported his head with one hand and looked at the video on his laptop screen.
"Yes. I do. I always do."
He knew he sounded lame and got the confirmation right away when Yixing snorted and shook his head at him.
"I'm honest, I've had that thought for a while now, too. I just never knew how to address it."
Yixing admitted and for the first time today Yifan was pretty sure the weird feeling in his stomach wasn't because of the alcohol that somehow still seemed to circulate in his system.
"Well. It's addressed now. When's the best time?" Yifan responded and closed the document of his paper just to open his browser and got on qunar.com to check for ticket prices.
▪▪▪▪
When the plane touched down, Yixing felt like someone had punched him in the guts repeatedly for the last two and a half hours he had been up in the air. Automatically, without even thinking much, he fetched his cabin baggage and followed the other passengers out of the plane. The stewardess from before wished him a pleasant stay in Taipei when he got out and walked through the gate to the baggage claim, but Yixing didn't even really notice her. While he was waiting for his suitcase to arrive, he tried to connect his phone with the airport's wifi because he didn't dare to activate his mobile data. To say that he was nervous was an understatement as he got a hold of his luggage and the wifi still wasn't working. He immediately started to worry that something might have gone wrong - that Yifan might not be waiting for him anymore was one of his most feared scenarios. When he stepped out into the arrival hall, his eyes were glued to his phone that finally seemed to cooperate. He had indeed gotten a message from Yifan, and fortunately it wasn't something along the lines "I'm headed to the hotel now." He sighed in relief and looked up to search the crowd for him.
Yifan spotted him right when he stepped out of the baggage claim, staring at his phone and dragging along a small suitcase. There was a fraught expression on his usually soft face. Yifan thought about pinching himself for a moment, just to make sure that this was really Yixing standing a few feet away from him. Right when he tried to call out for him, the small brunet let out a sigh and a smile ghosted across his face and he looked up looking for someone - looking for him. When their gazes met, both of them stood still for a moment, as if moving could mean the other one would disappear within the blink of an eye. Yifan suddenly felt like fifteen again when he had had his first crush on a guy who had happened to be the kid from one floor beneath them. His breath shortened, his heartbeat got suddenly very fast and the palms of his hands got sweaty as one held onto the rail of his suitcase. Yixing was the first to move and took a few hesitant steps towards Yifan which encouraged the taller one to stride into the other one's direction. They met halfway and before Yixing could bring himself to form a "Hi!" Yifan let go of his luggage and pulled him into a hug. Yixing smelled like soap and comfort. Getting hit with that thought made Yifan cringe - he was already that deep, huh?
"How was your flight?" Yifan mumbled into Yixing's shoulder while the smaller one carefully put his hands around Yifan's waist to return the hug.
Yifan was taller than Yixing had imagined but somehow it made him feel secure while the other one had his arms wrapped tightly around him. Being pressed against his chest felt oddly amazing as if he was just meant to be there.
"It was okay," Yixing said, "The food was horrible though."
The comment made Yifan snort and he loosened his grip around Yixing's slim body. He took a step back only to cup the other's face with his hands to take a closer look. Yixing surely didn't know what to do and to hide his nervousness he made a grimace.
"Then let's get to the hotel to check in and have dinner, shall we?"
Yixing nodded and as they stepped out of the arrival hall he apologized to have kept Yifan waiting for over an hour.
"Yeah right how DARE YOU not telling the pilot to fly that god damn plane faster?" Yifan responded with a wink and Yixing rolled his eyes.
"You idiot, you know what I mean!"
Yifan ruffled his hair and smiled.
"It's okay. You're here now. That was worth the wait."
The comment made Yixing's stomach do little summersaults while Yifan stopped one of the taxis and told the driver where they needed to go. They spent their car ride in the backseat, getting through a travel plan Yifan had put together on his iPad all while their knees and shoulders touched, making their skin tingle in excitement. There was no awkward silence - they had plenty of stuff to talk to even if it was mostly Yifan listening to Yixing's first flight experience. The older one would often laugh at some of Yixing's comments ("Why wouldn't they let me take my WATER with me? Like?? It's WATER?!") and even though Yixing was used to the sound of Yifan's laughter already, it sounded different in reality. It sounded better. If only he could allow himself to get used to it. But he couldn't. In not even four full days he'd be back in Changsha, and Yifan would be back in Guangzhou and he had to be content with distorted videochats, voice messages and reblogs again.
The hotel was located in the middle of Taipei with a subway station nearby that would bring them to the sightseeing spots within a few minutes. Yifan had picked it, since he was used to travelling and knew what to look for and his choice had been good. Maybe Yixing didn't know what to think of a king size bed ("Don't look at me like that, I didn't know either!") but the room was clean and cozy and there was a big window giving them a great view over the city they'd be exploring together.
Yixing had to admit that he felt completely drained even though it was maybe six in the evening. The moment he laid down on the bed to test whether or not the mattress was too hard, he felt like he never wanted to get up again. Yifan plopped down next to him, holding his iPad over his face.
"How do I connect to that god damn wifi?" He asked.
"Why? Do you need to blog about how you're sharing a room with me, hashtag I cannot wait to tap that ass?" Yixing shot back and was surprised how he could've brought himself to actually say that out loud.
Yifan himself seemed to be surprised too, so much that his grip around his iPad got loose and it fell onto his face. Yixing burst out into laughter at the sight of it and Yifan's super dumb face afterwards. Yifan seemed to think of a good comeback but lacked a flash of inspiration so instead he said, while activating the front camera:
"Well, YES maybe I was just going to do that! Come over here, it's time for our first selfie together!"
After a little whining of Yixing's ("I look like crap!"- "Shut up you're gorgeous as always!" - "SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND STOP LYING!") and a few tries Yifan had decided on which picture to use. While he uploaded the picture, he explained that he originally wanted to check for places to eat in the area. Yixing thought that this was a great idea since he had barely touched the food on the plane and the last real meal had been his breakfast. So while Yifan was roaming some travel blogs Yixing decided to check on Yifan's post and tried hard not to completely lose his shit.
Y'all fake bitches didn't fund me and we had to pay for those plane tickets and the hotel ourselves. Your ungrateful asses actually do not deserve this but I'm gonna upload that selfie anyway because this needs to be seen by the world: Look at @ZYX100791 and his radiant beauty. I CANNOT BELIEVE HE IS SO PRETTY.
#the adventures of xingie and egghead #I CANNOT WAIT TO TAP THAT ASS #xingie said I should use that tag I'm innocent for once! #i feel like an ugly potato next to him
"I did NOT say you should use that tag!" Yixing yelled and Yifan immediately shot up out of Yixing's reach so he couldn't get hit by the other one.
"It was too good to not put it there," Yifan responded and tried to change the topic immediately, "I have found some places to go, are you ready?"
He really just wanted to stay on that bed, but nevertheless he got up. Yifan still seemed so full of energy, maybe because he was used to trips like these, Yixing didn't want to spoil his good mood and followed him out of the room. Yifan shoved the keycard into the palm of Yixing's hands.
"You take care of it, I have a tendency to lose that stuff."
Yixing wasn't sure if he was the right choice for that task since he was clumsy as hell and used to fuck things up on a regular basis, but he promised not to lose it. When they stepped out of the hotel and strolled through the streets in the neighborhood Yixing was surprised how different Taipei was compared to his hometown. The vibe was kind of different - and Yixing didn't really know how to describe it as he followed Yifan through the buzzing streets of the district they were staying at. One restaurant and small boutique after another appeared to both their sides while they had to dodge parked motorcycles that their owners put in front of the houses and sometimes even on the sidewalk. Yifan had picked a Japanese restaurant for dinner that was, according to the blog entry he had read, the one with the best price-performance ratio in the area. They spent about two hours talking and eating while Yifan gave all of the seafood to Yixing who had never tasted anything like the stuff they had ordered. He actually didn't like seafood that much but now he was sitting on his chair at a table filled with different kinds and he loved all of them.
"I think it's because the stuff is fresher here," Yifan said when Yixing voiced his astonishment, "Changsha is in the middle of nowhere with no ocean around. Ewww you're getting the old stuff!"
"Shut up or I'll throw this calamari at you!"
"Don't you DARE I'm going to die otherwise!"
"Don't be such a drama queen!"
Yifan grunted and shoved some rice into his mouth while Yixing snorted and shook his head at Yifan's silliness, but he liked it. He liked talking to Yifan in general and he was relieved that they weren't awkward with each other even if there weren't the monitors of their laptops between them. Yifan finished his dish and then proceeded to lean into the table while his hands searched for Yixing's knees under it. When he found them, he squeezed them and asked:
"Should we go?"
Yixing shifted in his chair at the touch and mumbled something about finishing his plate and Yifan withdrew. When they had payed they took another route through the side streets to their hotel. Yifan told him that he liked to get to know the area around the place he's staying at first before doing any sightseeing which made sense if Yixing thought about it. Ximen was also a very lively district with a lot of young people roaming the streets so their little walk didn't even get boring. Yifan stopped almost every few feet to take photos with his rather expensive camera that he carried around everywhere. Yixing was the victim of his snaps more than often.
"Seriously could you stop it please?" Yixing asked when they had stopped by a Seven Eleven to get some snacks and refreshments because they had decided to get back to the hotel to end the evening on a relaxed note before they'd be calling it a day.
"To put it frankly - no," Yifan answered and showed a big grin while he showed Yixing the picture on his camera, "Look, you make everything look so artsy!"
Yixing rolled his eyes and hovered over to the counter to pay for his water and snacks and Yifan followed him on his heels. When they got out and their hotel was in sight, Yixing asked:
"Do you always annoy your travel partners with your photos?"
"Nah, I usually travel alone."
"Huh? Really?"
"It's more relaxed," Yifan said and shrugged his shoulders, "I tend to get annoyed by others very quickly. I have my own pace and my own ideas about a vacation that often don't cooperate with those of others. And I hate making compromises. So when I was eighteen I started to travel alone."
His comment left a worried expression on Yixing's face and Yifan snorted while they got into the lobby.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to get annoyed by you within four days!"
"Three days. The first is almost over." Yixing corrected.
"Ew don't remind me please!"
When they opened the door to their room (Yixing was glad he hadn't lost the card) Yifan went to take a shower while Yixing got scared by his phone that started to buzz nonstop ever since it got connected to the hotel's WiFi. His notifications on Tumblr had blown up and Yixing had actually thought that he'd take a short break from this stupid website and its even more stupid app that was good for basically nothing, but he couldn't ignore all this shit so he scrolled through his notes and mentions and he cursed Yifan's stupid ass for this stupid selfie.
I'M GONNA FUND YOUR WEDDING GUYS!!!
#i don't have money myself #but imma sell my soul for this shit
This looks like the beginning of some gay porn - I love it!
#is yifan already tapping yixing's ass or is he waiting a little for that? #WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY
IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? IS THIS THE REAL LIFE? IS THIS JUST FANTASY???
#i'm crying i'M--------- #I CANNOT BELIEVE #this is NOT photoshopped right??
Oh god I cannot BREATHE this is what we all have been waiting for!! Our Tumblr OTP! IN THE SAME ROOM! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
#FANDOM RISE #we need fanart #and fanfiction #WE NEED MORE OF THAT YIFAN DON'T LEAVE US HANGING WITH ONLY ONE LAME ASS SELFIE
I bet you guys they were not wearing anything after that selfie has been shot
#yifan's wish will finally come true #i hope he knows a romantic way of telling yixing that he thinks of him while masturbating lol
"EWWWWWW!"
Yixing threw his phone across the bed and it slipped onto the floor but he didn't really care in that moment. Yifan came out of the bathroom and had already changed into some sweatpants and a shirt and looked at Yixing's phone in confusion.
"What's going on?"
"READ THE NOTES!"
Yifan picked up the phone and when he went over the comments he started to laugh.
"A romantic way of telling Yixing that he thinks of him while masturbating, I never even MENTIONED that!"
"This is your fault!"
"Oh come on. Let them be. They're just like us - fucked up kids with too much time on their hands and an internet connection."
Yifan shrugged his shoulders and stretched out on his side of the bed. Yixing sighed heavily and instead of saying anything he grabbed the remote on the table next to him and turned on the TV. There was a pregnant silence following after it in which Yixing hopped from one channel to the other and didn't feel like watching any of the shows. He eventually ended up watching a rerun of The Voice of China where a fat little guy was singing his version of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Yifan broke the silence:
"God damnit who has given him these pants? They're horrible!"
Yixing snorted and was thankful for the change of topic.
"It's not about his pants, silly!"
"It's irritating me to a degree I cannot even pay attention to his voice!"
They went on commenting on the show, the candidates and especially the judges. Yixing found out that Yifan hated Jay Chou with every fiber of his being and it was so funny to listen to his comments every time someone chose Jay Chou over the other judges. Sometimes it was just a sarcastic mutter under his breath but at the end of the show Yixing's abs hurt from all the laughing and tears were running down his face. Yifan laughed with him because it was just too good to hear Yixing crack up and spill some words out in his dialect that sounded like he was begging Yifan to stop with his nonsense. When Yixing had finally calmed down they talked about some random topics while they were munching on the chips Yixing had bought before. The later it got, the weirder their conversation went until Yixing's eyelids grew heavy and threatened to close any given moment.
"Xingie can I ask you something? It's kind of personal, I'm not mad when you say no."
"Shoot." Yixing responded and let out a long yawn that he had fought against for the last few minutes.
Half asleep, he recognized Yifan shifting his weight so he was directly facing the other one. Yifan smiled when he saw Yixing's face that had a complete content and relaxed expression. He asked himself if that would be changing the moment he'd have popped his question.
"Okay, so… have you ever kissed someone?"
Yixing's eyes flew open and he sat up straight on the bed. He eyed Yifan as if he had lost his mind.
"Aaaaaah, I knew you'd get mad, I shouldn't have said anything."
Yixing couldn't respond at first and just started to blabber:
"I… what… why… why do you want to know that?!"
"I was just thinking. You said you've always been single so… yeah. I'm a curious asshole. I'm sorry."
The younger one sighed and laid back on his back to face the ceiling. He contemplated whether or not to tell Yifan the truth or just simply lie about it but in the end lying would be no use anyway.
"Well, if you're really dying to know - nope."
"Wait… what?!"
"Yeah… I have never kissed someone. Tragic, isn't it?"
"For real?!"
Yixing side eyed Yifan who stared at him in pure disbelief.
"For real. I told you that I got rejected the last time I liked someone and afterwards I went to university and somehow… I just never really had the time to meet anyone. So. Yeah. Here I am at 24, still unkissed."
"Who in the world is dumb enough to reject you?"
Yixing chuckled and patted Yifan's hand.
"I appreciate it, but during High School I was really chubby and ugly. I can see why they would say no."
"Looks aren't everything."
"Pffff, says the guy who makes a bazillion selfies a day?" Yixing mocked Yifan and the older one responded:
"Hey, selfie culture is something different. Don't drag me for this!"
"If you say so…"
Yifan exhaled a long breath and turned around on his back. Their shoulders touched as they both were staring at the ceiling and Yifan had another question that was just waiting to roll off his tongue but he wasn't sure if he could really go there.
"I'm pretty sure you are the total opposite of me right?"
"I have, in fact, kissed people before, yes," Was Yifan's answer and he looked at Yixing with a smug smile, "I don't want to brag, but people tell me that I'm pretty good at it."
Yixing made a sound that sounded like a grunt and a squeal at the same time and he rolled over to one side away from Yifan. The older one didn't say anything so after some time, when Yixing was sure the blush on his cheeks had faded, he turned back around and snapped:
"What?! Are you implying you want to kiss me?!"
"You know Xingie," Yifan said and crossed his arms behind his head, "Better have someone who cares about you stealing your first kiss than someone who's just playing with you."
"That is not…"
"What? Don't tell me that doesn't make sense because it perfectly does!"
Thinking about it, Yifan was right. First times should always be shared with special people, things like kisses in particular.
"You're thinking about iiiiiit…" Yifan sing songed.
"You are so impossible!!" Yixing cried out and Yifan rolled over, upper body pressed onto Yixing's chest.
Yixing squealed and threw his hands over his lips, more out of reflex than to protect him from Yifan's attack. A weird sensation started to shoot through his body starting from his chest and wandering through his whole system until Yixing felt like his whole body had just heated up a few degrees. Yifan pinned him down with his gaze and Yixing didn't know what to do, let alone where to look so he kind of focused on Yifan's nose, which was kind of weird. The older one started to run his long fingers through his hair and without a further warning he pressed his lips gently onto Yixing's forehead. They felt soft and warm against his skin and Yixing closed his eyes, not moving an inch. He felt how Yifan's hands cupped his face and the many many small kisses that he placed all over his forehead, his cheeks, his nose - it felt like Yifan did not miss the smallest inch and it felt just so good. It was like Yifan was appreciating every of Yixing's features, trying to let him know how beautiful he thought Yixing was. Eventually Yifan kissed the back of Yixing's hand that was still placed over his mouth. Yixing wasn't sure if he should give in, because he was sure that if he crossed that line he'd be unable to go back to how things had been before. However, and he wasn't sure why, he removed his hands to give Yifan more space and when the other's lips touched his own, he immediately placed them on the nape of the other's neck which was more of a reflex. What started as short and gentle kisses soon heated up into more demanding ones where Yifan took the lead, occasionally dipping his tongue between Yixing's lips and Yixing was willing to follow. He had never felt anything like this - neither the feeling when their tongues and lips touched nor the emotions that rushed through him the whole time. It felt like the world had stopped turning for a moment and it only started to spin again when Yifan broke away from Yixing. The younger one threw his eyes open and shot Yifan a questioning look.
"So?" The one on top of him asked.
"What?"
"Was that a good first kiss?"
"God you are a jerk."
Yifan giggled and rolled off Yixing, put placed another peck on his cheek.
"Bother to know my opinion? I think you're a natural!"
"That's IT I'm going to brush my teeth!" Yixing cried out and escaped into the bathroom while Yifan's laughter was ringing in his ears.
While he tried to calm his heartbeat down, he didn't recognize how Yifan pressed his face into his pillow to get a hold of his face that was being tortured by a wide stupid grin. Don't be an idiot, he reminded himself. Don't fuck this up.
▪▪▪▪
Yixing wasn't used to falling asleep next to another moving and breathing body. He tried to remember how it was when he had some sleepovers as a kid and shared a bed with his friend, but as far as Yixing could recall those scenarios, he and his friend would fall asleep under their blanket fort and wake up in the exact same position, next to each other with enough space between them.
He never had someone holding him in their arms, their steady and deep breaths tingling across the skin of his neck. He never had experienced how it felt when another body was pressed against his, giving off comfortable heat. It was weird. But it wasn't something Yixing couldn't get used to. The curtains of the room weren't pulled close properly and the light of the illuminated city flooded the room, occasionally bringing the ringing of a motorbike's alarm system with it. Yifan had been asleep for at least two hours now. Sometimes he'd move in his sleep, pulling Yixing a little closer to his chest but that was about everything he did. The other one just laid on the mattress and waited for sleep to take over him since he really was exhausted. The problem was that, even if his body desperately needed the rest, his mind wouldn't shut up. His thoughts jumped from the first time he had recognized Yifan among his followers to the kiss they had shared not even three hours ago back to how they had started talking and forth to the first time he had laid his eyes on Yifan at the airport. He couldn't really put the pieces together and didn't understand how something like this would've happened to a guy like him. His brain then started to fantasize about what would happen when he'd get back home. There was one scenario that made it hard for him to hold back his grin as images of him and Yifan flashed across his inner eye, somehow working out the distance, somehow ending up together and spending lazy Sundays in the living room of their shared apartment, just being together, having found their cheesy happily ever after, while Yifan would keep their Tumblr followers updated on their life. But, he tried to remind himself, reality wasn't a predicatble teenage love story like in the movies, so it maybe was highly likely that they'd never even stand a chance. Yixing tried hard to get back down to earth and suddenly felt like Yifan could read his mind which made him throw a look over his shoulder to make sure he was still asleep. Which he was.
Eventually, sleep had finally won the battle and the next thing Yixing noticed was Yifan's body heat that was completely missing. He turned around and squinted his eyes. Yifan was indeed gone. He wasn't in the bathroom either because everything was silent. Yixing sat up and looked around the room, half expecting Yifan to jump out of the closet even though it was way too small for a giant like him, but nothing happened. It took him a few moments but then he got hit by the fear that Yifan had just gotten up and left him, for whatever reason. It felt like someone was squeezing his stomach as he tried to recall if he had done anything that might have make Yifan leave him after barely 24 hours they had spent together but then his eyes locked with Yifan's suitcase that was still placed next to the door, clothes scattered carelessly around it. Yixing tried to calm himself down. If he was indeed gone he would've taken his belongings with him, wouldn't he? He reached for his phone but realized that writing Yifan would be no use since they didn't use mobile data in Taiwan. He grunted and right when Yixing decided to get up and get dressed to maybe look for the other one, the door opener made a buzzing noise and in stumbled Yifan with a bag and two coffee paper cups in his hands. He blinked when he saw Yixing who was just about to get up from the bed.
"You're up, I'm sorry! I thought I'd be back earlier…"
Yixing sunk back on the bed while Yifan kicked the door close. He then hovered over and sat down next to him, shoving a cup of coffee into his hands.
"It's two sugars, right?"
"Ummmm… yes…"
Yifan shot him a smile and when he placed his cup on the small desk next to their bed, he opened the bag and the smell of scrambled eggs filled up Yixing's nose.
"I wasn't really sure what you like to eat for breakfast, so I kind of got a few things.."
"Oh god, you went out to get breakfast…!" Yixing exclaimed - he didn't mean to actually say it out loud, but it just spilled out and he felt incredibly stupid for the small fit of panic that he had had just a few minutes ago.
"Of course I did. I couldn't bring myself to wake you up, so I left and went to that breakfast store around the corner. I don't know if the stuff is good, so if it's not I'm not to blame!"
They spent the next half hour on the bed trying out the breakfast sandwiches and burgers and eventually found some things they decided would be their breakfast for the next two days. Afterwards, Yifan put the wrapping paper into the bag and looked at Yixing.
"You should go and change, we need to get going. I'll go to the lobby and check how to get around. The wifi is better there."
Yixing nodded and before Yifan got up, he pulled the younger one closer to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then he grabbed his backpack and his camera and threw the bag into the waste bin on his way out.
"I'll be waiting for you."
And then he was gone. Yixing stood still for a second, petrified by the touch of Yifan's lips who had kissed him in such a casual way as if it wasn't any different than what he's been doing any other day in his life.
"Fuck!" Yixing breathed and got up to take a quick shower.
{part 2}