Fire Away, Fire Away part one
Pairing: LayHan (side KrisYeol)
Rated: PG13
Length 3.2K
This is the first part of the sequel to A Bad Moon Rising!
This was not what Luhan had in mind when he agreed to go back to school to help Kris out. He was expecting something more like high school where he was considered a god all four years.
But this was just teachers rolling their eyes every time they called on him and a bunch of barely legal girls who wore their skirts too short and their makeup a little too thick who giggled and winked every time he walked by.
Where was the fun in that? Where was the chase? Where was the self-respect?
“You know your name probably got around that campus just for being a whore.” Kris told him dryly, eyes not lifting from the ledger over his desk. “They probably see an easy roll around and want to compare notes.”
He threw himself backwards on the desk and sighed loudly, ignoring his cousin’s huff of anger at the mess. “But it’s not any fun if they just give it to me!” Luhan complained. “Maybe I want to feel special, too!”
Kris snorted as he pushed him away. “All you want is to forget life for a couple hours, Luhan. Let’s not call it something it isn’t. Ask a girl out, get to know her. You never know, you might actually start something lasting with someone.”
He doubted it.
“You don’t understand.” He didn’t want to turn this into a sappy moment between his cousin and him, but he might have snuck a few beers in on his patrol and no one should be held responsible for what they say under the influence. “I’ll never find someone who can put up with me for very long because I’m not a very likeable person, Kris. We both know you only tolerate me because we’re related. How can I expect someone to be with me for the rest of their life when my own family doesn’t even like me.”
Kris’s eyes widened and he pushed his chair back so that he could grab his cousin by the shoulders and rattle him. “Say that again and I’ll kick your ass all over the village. You are the only family member I would trust with my life.” His eyes softened and he let go to ruffle the smaller boy’s blonde hair. “I’m pretty fond of you, let’s just leave it at that.”
“Did you just admit you loved me?” Luhan tried to pretend he hadn’t just thrown up his feelings in an embarrassing manner. His grin was sly and he pinched the other’s cheeks and made a cooing sound at him. “I wuv you too, wittle Krissy!”
With a growl Kris batted his hands away and pulled him out of his office by the nape of his neck. “Just go to school and try not to get into any trouble, okay? Did you study for your science test next week?”
He groaned. “I don’t understand why I have to take science classes if I’m getting an accounting degree. What does chemical reactions have to do with taking care of the pack’s money?”
“It’s a requirement and you can’t graduate unless you do what they say. Which means I’m not going to trust you with the money. Which makes me stuck here all night doing it myself. And that means I don’t get to go home and see Chanyeol.” Pale blue eyes stared menacingly at him and Luhan took a step back in reaction. “And that makes me very, very frustrated.”
Luhan didn’t care how much his cousin claimed to care about him. If it came down between him and Chanyeol then Kris would flail his flesh with a butter knife and not think twice about it. “Got it boss.”
School was just a way to torture you, Luhan thought to himself as he sat through the most boring two hours of his life listening to his math teacher drone on. He was technically an adult and should have more patience than this, but where his cousin was deep and thoughtful and quiet, Luhan was blessed (cursed?) with the exact opposite. His mouth didn’t have a filter, impulse was his middle name and he talked as a way to ignore the never ending loneliness that was always around him like a shroud.
Sometimes he wondered why he did this for a village that openly despised him. Grandparents that mouthed curses at him as he entered their stores. Parents who pulled their children away and whispered threats of keep acting up and you’ll turn into him one day into their ears. He was the unwanted of the pack. After Kris took control six months ago and most of the elders defected, he wanted to prove his worth and promised his allegiance and vowed to do anything he could to help the new Alpha in his job.
But he never expected a request like this.
When Kris asked him to go back to school to get an accounting degree it made Luhan laugh at first. Surely he wasn’t expecting a thirty year old to just drop everything and enroll full time in college. But the unamused face of the Alpha had him suddenly composed and fright filling his system.
And so here he was. Three weeks into a four month class and he was already trying hard not to scream of boredom.
Out of all of his classes this semester, Chemistry was the only one that he even remotely enjoyed. As soon as math was over he felt the excited pull as he rushed down the hallway towards the lab.
The reason he actually enjoyed this one and a half hour block of time three days a week was already there waiting patiently in the front row. His book was set out neatly aligned to the desk and his chin was resting on his palm as he twirled a pen between his fingers. A dark blue pressed sweater and khaki’s fit him perfectly, not a single wrinkle or thread out of place.
“Always so prompt.” Luhan teased, dropping into the seat beside him.
A deep sigh was his answer. “Don’t you have anyone else in this class to bother, Luhan? Some of us actually care about our grade and want to pay attention.”
He pouted and pulled a bag of brightly colored candy out of his backpack. “You’re so mean to me, Yixing. I guess that means you don’t want to share my treats?”
“No.” Yixing pushed his floppy black hair behind his ear and tried to turn his body away from Luhan’s over-excited one. “Go back to your seat. This one is Xiumin’s.”
Before he could reply the teacher was strolling in with his briefcase already opened. “This is going to be a shorter class because I have an appointment in an hour. I know we’re not supposed to start for five more minutes but you all can catch the few that aren’t here yet up after class is over.” He handed a stack of papers to his assistant and told him to pass them out. “We’re starting up partnered labs next week.”
A chorus of muffled groans rang through the room at his announcement.
“Now, now don’t be so excited about it!” Professor Wang grinned mischievously at them, ignoring Xiumin as he slipped through the door. The red-haired boy glared as he passed Luhan sitting in his usual seat. “Your partner will be whoever is lucky enough to be sitting at your table today. So spend a few minutes when class is done exchanging phone numbers, emails, whatever it is you kids do these days. Everything is done out of class so you will have to work together to get these done.”
Yixing groaned and slammed his head to the table. “This is the second worse day of my life.” He grumbled under his breath. “You little asshole, why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Luhan had dealt with the other boy’s rude comments enough that it didn’t even faze him. For some reason he had made it his life’s mission to annoy Zhang Yixing until he had a nervous breakdown. Every time he got an eye roll, a grown or even a thinly veiled hiss, he felt satisfaction.
Just the sight of Yixing’s furrowed brow and tightening lips was enough to send a thrill of delight throughout Luhan’s body.
“Look, I have absolutely no desire to do this project with you.” Yixing waited until their professor had finished speaking and left the room before turning his cold glare on him. “So if you want me to just do it myself and put your name on it then I am completely fine with that.”
Luhan felt a pang of disappointment at being brushed off so rudely. He always thought that deep down Yixing really enjoyed their bickering and was only pretending to hate him.
“But I want to help.” He murmured back quietly.
With a final sigh, Yixing scribbled his number onto a sheet of paper and reluctantly handed it over. “Text me later tonight. Don’t call.”
That was as good as he was going to get and Luhan knew it. “Deal.” He bounced on the tips of his toes and happily grabbed his backpack. This meant even more chances to see Yixing and he wasn’t going to mess it up.
---
yixing yixing yixing yixingggggggggg!!!
Who is this???
It’s your most favorite lab partner in the world! What are you doing? Do you miss me?
I told you to text me later tonight, Luhan. Not two hours after class is over.
:(
I’m busy right now. I will text you back this evening.
:`(
Yixing never replied to his last text no matter how hard Luhan stared at his phone and willed it to beep.
He finished his homework, did an hour of prowling around the pack lands and even graced his cousin and Chanyeol with his company for one hour and fifty six minutes until Kris got annoyed and threw him out. “Staring at your phone and begging it to ring is not a productive way to spend your free time!” He had yelled at him before grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and tossing him out the door.
So Luhan had despondently dusted himself off and headed home to his empty house. The fridge was empty and the floor hadn’t been mopped in months. No matter that he had lived in this home his entire life, it was never comfortable to him. He much preferred spending his nights tucked in a sleeping bag on Kris’s bedroom floor than in his own bed. His mother had always told him that as soon as he married and had children then the house would be lively again, but that wasn’t in the cards for him. Over time even his own parents had grown sick of him, leaving him for weeks on end by himself until Kris ended up coming for him.
And now he had the house to himself with only the sound of the TV to keep him company.
The shrill beeping of his phone had him scrambling off the armchair, feet sliding against the floor as he ran towards the jeans that he had ripped off the second he entered the house.
I can meet you on Thursday mornings. We won’t get our assignment until Monday so that will give me a few days to plan it. Be at the lab by nine am.
That was it? Luhan wrinkled his nose. He could have added a smiley to the end or something. Anything to make the message less detached.
With a giggle Luhan added the appointment to his calendar, circling the date with a fat marker so he wouldn’t mess it. Something about Zhang Yixing made him smile and he would be a fool to let possible interactions with him pass him by.
---
Even though Yixing and Xiumin had both gotten to class early on both Monday and Wednesday and claimed the seats that were together, he still managed to land a grimace on the two boy’s faces by mentioning their upcoming lab time together as they were walking out of the door on Wednesday.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” He nudged his shoulders between them as they headed out the door, pushing Xiumin off to the side so that he could walk next to Yixing. “Should I bring anything? Coffee? Some breakfast?”
Yixing waved him off with an eye roll. “It’s just an introductory lab. It won’t take me twenty minutes to finish.”
“Oh.” His face dropped and he could see Xiumin’s smirk out of the corner of his eye. “Well I’ll guess we won’t need any then.” He watched the two walk down the hallway together, so close that their arms were bumping together. An angry feeling bubbled deep below the surface of his chest that threatened to burst out at any second. With a few deep breaths and some meditation chants that he would never in a million years mention to Kris, he managed to finally force it back down but not before he felt his wolf sit up and finally take notice of their surroundings. “Hey old friend. Welcome back.” The wolf yawned and settled back into his home but kept one eye open.
---
“Good morning Yixing!” Luhan bounded into the room in excitement, his arms full of his books, a box containing a dozen glazed donuts and two foam cups of coffee in a cardboard container. “I went ahead and brought breakfast anyways because your cheekbones look more pointy then they did last week. You need some more calories in you.”
Yixing reached up to feel his cheeks for himself. “If you talk to all the girls like that I’m curious as to how you get so many of them. They must like the egotistical assholes.”
The casual words hit him like a slap and his smile dropped. “I haven’t dated since before school started.” He replied honestly. “They keep giving me their numbers but I don’t do anything with them.” With a start he realized that he was telling the truth. That it had been a month since he had gone out with anyone, a record by his standards. He hadn’t even thought of hooking up with any of the girls here on campus. Even though they were his normal type, easy and fake, he hadn’t looked twice at anyone.
“Maybe your inner fourteen year old child is growing up?”
“You’re the size of a fourteen year old.”
“You’re really a pain in the ass, has anyone ever told you that?”
Luhan gave him the grin he had long ago dubbed the ‘Goodbye Panties’ grin. “My mother always said I was more of a charismatic brat.”
Yixing’s lips curled up in what could only be called disgust and he huffed in disbelief. “Look, just stand over there and don’t bug me. These labs are forty percent of my final grade and I don’t really feel like failing because you tripped and broke all of my chemicals or something.”
He pushed Luhan towards the wall and ordered him to sit. It amused him that Yixing treated him like a dog.
If only he knew, Luhan mused.
“So how old are you?” Luhan asked, trying to make conversation. He enjoyed watching the other boy work. Yixing would chew on his bottom lip as he contemplated which items to grab from the shelves and when he read the lab instructions his fingers would lightly tap on the desk as he concentrated. Without realizing it, Luhan had picked up on all of his different tells that showed what he was feeling at any particular moment. “You look older than most of the kids here.”
Yixing’s brows pulled together. “Is that supposed to be an insult?”
“No!” Luhan scrambled away from the wall, horrified that he had insulted him. “I didn’t mean that you looked old! You’re just…” He hunted for the right words. “You just seem more mature than everyone else.”
A smirk was shot his direction and made his eyes glued to the soft lips pointed at him. He blinked, not expecting the stir in his chest at the bright eyes and cocky expression.
“Twenty-one.” Yixing replied, not noticing the stricken look Luhan was suddenly giving him. “My mother was sick for a long time and I chose to push school back for a few years to take care of her.”
His wolf came to with a rumble at the hesitant confession. Luhan pressed a hand over his heart, mentally urging him to go back to the resting state he normally stayed in.
“I’m sorry.” Luhan cleared his throat and tried to turn his expression back into the blasé one he usually had. “That was none of my business. I shouldn’t have pried.”
Yixing shrugged, his attention turned back to the shelf. “Don’t worry about it.” He didn’t offer another remark and Luhan felt too awkward to say anything else so they sat in silence for the rest of the experiment.
Papers were shoved under his face and a pen clicked. “Copy my notes and then fill out your lab report.”
“Shouldn’t I have helped you with this?” Luhan stared dejectedly at the table of items he never even got to touch. “I mean I didn’t come here just to watch you do all of the work.”
Waving him off, Yixing gathered some of the instruments to re-shelve them. “It’s fine. I would rather be the one in charge and just do it by myself.”
With a purr of excitement his wolf decided to tell him exactly what Yixing could be the boss of. Ideas and images poured through his brain all mainly consisting of Yixing controlling him, being in charge and taking care of every whim and want Luhan could ever have.
“Oh shit.” Luhan banged his head against the table. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“Are you alright?” A soft hand pressed against his forehead and Luhan realized he was good and properly screwed. Yixing had never placed himself so close in Luhan’s personal space before and he smelled like soap and spearmint and now Luhan understood what Kris mean when he said it would happen instantly and he would just know.
And he was terrified.
“Luhan?” The soft voice danced across his ear. Fingers brushed through Luhan’s hair and across his back, smoothing out the bunched muscles of his shoulders. “Are you going to be sick?”
He wanted to scream until he was hoarse. Someone was concerned for him, someone cared.
No, not someone. Yixing. Yixing wanted to take care of him.
“I have to go.” He blurted out, jumping to his feet. Kris would help him. He would know how to deal with this in his mature, orderly way.
Frowning, Yixing nodded. “Then take my notes with you. Just bring them back to class tomorrow.”
He grabbed them and shoved them into his backpack not trusting himself to speak.
This was not what he expected.
Part Two
Rated: PG13
Length 3.2K
This is the first part of the sequel to A Bad Moon Rising!
This was not what Luhan had in mind when he agreed to go back to school to help Kris out. He was expecting something more like high school where he was considered a god all four years.
But this was just teachers rolling their eyes every time they called on him and a bunch of barely legal girls who wore their skirts too short and their makeup a little too thick who giggled and winked every time he walked by.
Where was the fun in that? Where was the chase? Where was the self-respect?
“You know your name probably got around that campus just for being a whore.” Kris told him dryly, eyes not lifting from the ledger over his desk. “They probably see an easy roll around and want to compare notes.”
He threw himself backwards on the desk and sighed loudly, ignoring his cousin’s huff of anger at the mess. “But it’s not any fun if they just give it to me!” Luhan complained. “Maybe I want to feel special, too!”
Kris snorted as he pushed him away. “All you want is to forget life for a couple hours, Luhan. Let’s not call it something it isn’t. Ask a girl out, get to know her. You never know, you might actually start something lasting with someone.”
He doubted it.
“You don’t understand.” He didn’t want to turn this into a sappy moment between his cousin and him, but he might have snuck a few beers in on his patrol and no one should be held responsible for what they say under the influence. “I’ll never find someone who can put up with me for very long because I’m not a very likeable person, Kris. We both know you only tolerate me because we’re related. How can I expect someone to be with me for the rest of their life when my own family doesn’t even like me.”
Kris’s eyes widened and he pushed his chair back so that he could grab his cousin by the shoulders and rattle him. “Say that again and I’ll kick your ass all over the village. You are the only family member I would trust with my life.” His eyes softened and he let go to ruffle the smaller boy’s blonde hair. “I’m pretty fond of you, let’s just leave it at that.”
“Did you just admit you loved me?” Luhan tried to pretend he hadn’t just thrown up his feelings in an embarrassing manner. His grin was sly and he pinched the other’s cheeks and made a cooing sound at him. “I wuv you too, wittle Krissy!”
With a growl Kris batted his hands away and pulled him out of his office by the nape of his neck. “Just go to school and try not to get into any trouble, okay? Did you study for your science test next week?”
He groaned. “I don’t understand why I have to take science classes if I’m getting an accounting degree. What does chemical reactions have to do with taking care of the pack’s money?”
“It’s a requirement and you can’t graduate unless you do what they say. Which means I’m not going to trust you with the money. Which makes me stuck here all night doing it myself. And that means I don’t get to go home and see Chanyeol.” Pale blue eyes stared menacingly at him and Luhan took a step back in reaction. “And that makes me very, very frustrated.”
Luhan didn’t care how much his cousin claimed to care about him. If it came down between him and Chanyeol then Kris would flail his flesh with a butter knife and not think twice about it. “Got it boss.”
School was just a way to torture you, Luhan thought to himself as he sat through the most boring two hours of his life listening to his math teacher drone on. He was technically an adult and should have more patience than this, but where his cousin was deep and thoughtful and quiet, Luhan was blessed (cursed?) with the exact opposite. His mouth didn’t have a filter, impulse was his middle name and he talked as a way to ignore the never ending loneliness that was always around him like a shroud.
Sometimes he wondered why he did this for a village that openly despised him. Grandparents that mouthed curses at him as he entered their stores. Parents who pulled their children away and whispered threats of keep acting up and you’ll turn into him one day into their ears. He was the unwanted of the pack. After Kris took control six months ago and most of the elders defected, he wanted to prove his worth and promised his allegiance and vowed to do anything he could to help the new Alpha in his job.
But he never expected a request like this.
When Kris asked him to go back to school to get an accounting degree it made Luhan laugh at first. Surely he wasn’t expecting a thirty year old to just drop everything and enroll full time in college. But the unamused face of the Alpha had him suddenly composed and fright filling his system.
And so here he was. Three weeks into a four month class and he was already trying hard not to scream of boredom.
Out of all of his classes this semester, Chemistry was the only one that he even remotely enjoyed. As soon as math was over he felt the excited pull as he rushed down the hallway towards the lab.
The reason he actually enjoyed this one and a half hour block of time three days a week was already there waiting patiently in the front row. His book was set out neatly aligned to the desk and his chin was resting on his palm as he twirled a pen between his fingers. A dark blue pressed sweater and khaki’s fit him perfectly, not a single wrinkle or thread out of place.
“Always so prompt.” Luhan teased, dropping into the seat beside him.
A deep sigh was his answer. “Don’t you have anyone else in this class to bother, Luhan? Some of us actually care about our grade and want to pay attention.”
He pouted and pulled a bag of brightly colored candy out of his backpack. “You’re so mean to me, Yixing. I guess that means you don’t want to share my treats?”
“No.” Yixing pushed his floppy black hair behind his ear and tried to turn his body away from Luhan’s over-excited one. “Go back to your seat. This one is Xiumin’s.”
Before he could reply the teacher was strolling in with his briefcase already opened. “This is going to be a shorter class because I have an appointment in an hour. I know we’re not supposed to start for five more minutes but you all can catch the few that aren’t here yet up after class is over.” He handed a stack of papers to his assistant and told him to pass them out. “We’re starting up partnered labs next week.”
A chorus of muffled groans rang through the room at his announcement.
“Now, now don’t be so excited about it!” Professor Wang grinned mischievously at them, ignoring Xiumin as he slipped through the door. The red-haired boy glared as he passed Luhan sitting in his usual seat. “Your partner will be whoever is lucky enough to be sitting at your table today. So spend a few minutes when class is done exchanging phone numbers, emails, whatever it is you kids do these days. Everything is done out of class so you will have to work together to get these done.”
Yixing groaned and slammed his head to the table. “This is the second worse day of my life.” He grumbled under his breath. “You little asshole, why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Luhan had dealt with the other boy’s rude comments enough that it didn’t even faze him. For some reason he had made it his life’s mission to annoy Zhang Yixing until he had a nervous breakdown. Every time he got an eye roll, a grown or even a thinly veiled hiss, he felt satisfaction.
Just the sight of Yixing’s furrowed brow and tightening lips was enough to send a thrill of delight throughout Luhan’s body.
“Look, I have absolutely no desire to do this project with you.” Yixing waited until their professor had finished speaking and left the room before turning his cold glare on him. “So if you want me to just do it myself and put your name on it then I am completely fine with that.”
Luhan felt a pang of disappointment at being brushed off so rudely. He always thought that deep down Yixing really enjoyed their bickering and was only pretending to hate him.
“But I want to help.” He murmured back quietly.
With a final sigh, Yixing scribbled his number onto a sheet of paper and reluctantly handed it over. “Text me later tonight. Don’t call.”
That was as good as he was going to get and Luhan knew it. “Deal.” He bounced on the tips of his toes and happily grabbed his backpack. This meant even more chances to see Yixing and he wasn’t going to mess it up.
---
yixing yixing yixing yixingggggggggg!!!
Who is this???
It’s your most favorite lab partner in the world! What are you doing? Do you miss me?
I told you to text me later tonight, Luhan. Not two hours after class is over.
:(
I’m busy right now. I will text you back this evening.
:`(
Yixing never replied to his last text no matter how hard Luhan stared at his phone and willed it to beep.
He finished his homework, did an hour of prowling around the pack lands and even graced his cousin and Chanyeol with his company for one hour and fifty six minutes until Kris got annoyed and threw him out. “Staring at your phone and begging it to ring is not a productive way to spend your free time!” He had yelled at him before grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and tossing him out the door.
So Luhan had despondently dusted himself off and headed home to his empty house. The fridge was empty and the floor hadn’t been mopped in months. No matter that he had lived in this home his entire life, it was never comfortable to him. He much preferred spending his nights tucked in a sleeping bag on Kris’s bedroom floor than in his own bed. His mother had always told him that as soon as he married and had children then the house would be lively again, but that wasn’t in the cards for him. Over time even his own parents had grown sick of him, leaving him for weeks on end by himself until Kris ended up coming for him.
And now he had the house to himself with only the sound of the TV to keep him company.
The shrill beeping of his phone had him scrambling off the armchair, feet sliding against the floor as he ran towards the jeans that he had ripped off the second he entered the house.
I can meet you on Thursday mornings. We won’t get our assignment until Monday so that will give me a few days to plan it. Be at the lab by nine am.
That was it? Luhan wrinkled his nose. He could have added a smiley to the end or something. Anything to make the message less detached.
With a giggle Luhan added the appointment to his calendar, circling the date with a fat marker so he wouldn’t mess it. Something about Zhang Yixing made him smile and he would be a fool to let possible interactions with him pass him by.
---
Even though Yixing and Xiumin had both gotten to class early on both Monday and Wednesday and claimed the seats that were together, he still managed to land a grimace on the two boy’s faces by mentioning their upcoming lab time together as they were walking out of the door on Wednesday.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” He nudged his shoulders between them as they headed out the door, pushing Xiumin off to the side so that he could walk next to Yixing. “Should I bring anything? Coffee? Some breakfast?”
Yixing waved him off with an eye roll. “It’s just an introductory lab. It won’t take me twenty minutes to finish.”
“Oh.” His face dropped and he could see Xiumin’s smirk out of the corner of his eye. “Well I’ll guess we won’t need any then.” He watched the two walk down the hallway together, so close that their arms were bumping together. An angry feeling bubbled deep below the surface of his chest that threatened to burst out at any second. With a few deep breaths and some meditation chants that he would never in a million years mention to Kris, he managed to finally force it back down but not before he felt his wolf sit up and finally take notice of their surroundings. “Hey old friend. Welcome back.” The wolf yawned and settled back into his home but kept one eye open.
---
“Good morning Yixing!” Luhan bounded into the room in excitement, his arms full of his books, a box containing a dozen glazed donuts and two foam cups of coffee in a cardboard container. “I went ahead and brought breakfast anyways because your cheekbones look more pointy then they did last week. You need some more calories in you.”
Yixing reached up to feel his cheeks for himself. “If you talk to all the girls like that I’m curious as to how you get so many of them. They must like the egotistical assholes.”
The casual words hit him like a slap and his smile dropped. “I haven’t dated since before school started.” He replied honestly. “They keep giving me their numbers but I don’t do anything with them.” With a start he realized that he was telling the truth. That it had been a month since he had gone out with anyone, a record by his standards. He hadn’t even thought of hooking up with any of the girls here on campus. Even though they were his normal type, easy and fake, he hadn’t looked twice at anyone.
“Maybe your inner fourteen year old child is growing up?”
“You’re the size of a fourteen year old.”
“You’re really a pain in the ass, has anyone ever told you that?”
Luhan gave him the grin he had long ago dubbed the ‘Goodbye Panties’ grin. “My mother always said I was more of a charismatic brat.”
Yixing’s lips curled up in what could only be called disgust and he huffed in disbelief. “Look, just stand over there and don’t bug me. These labs are forty percent of my final grade and I don’t really feel like failing because you tripped and broke all of my chemicals or something.”
He pushed Luhan towards the wall and ordered him to sit. It amused him that Yixing treated him like a dog.
If only he knew, Luhan mused.
“So how old are you?” Luhan asked, trying to make conversation. He enjoyed watching the other boy work. Yixing would chew on his bottom lip as he contemplated which items to grab from the shelves and when he read the lab instructions his fingers would lightly tap on the desk as he concentrated. Without realizing it, Luhan had picked up on all of his different tells that showed what he was feeling at any particular moment. “You look older than most of the kids here.”
Yixing’s brows pulled together. “Is that supposed to be an insult?”
“No!” Luhan scrambled away from the wall, horrified that he had insulted him. “I didn’t mean that you looked old! You’re just…” He hunted for the right words. “You just seem more mature than everyone else.”
A smirk was shot his direction and made his eyes glued to the soft lips pointed at him. He blinked, not expecting the stir in his chest at the bright eyes and cocky expression.
“Twenty-one.” Yixing replied, not noticing the stricken look Luhan was suddenly giving him. “My mother was sick for a long time and I chose to push school back for a few years to take care of her.”
His wolf came to with a rumble at the hesitant confession. Luhan pressed a hand over his heart, mentally urging him to go back to the resting state he normally stayed in.
“I’m sorry.” Luhan cleared his throat and tried to turn his expression back into the blasé one he usually had. “That was none of my business. I shouldn’t have pried.”
Yixing shrugged, his attention turned back to the shelf. “Don’t worry about it.” He didn’t offer another remark and Luhan felt too awkward to say anything else so they sat in silence for the rest of the experiment.
Papers were shoved under his face and a pen clicked. “Copy my notes and then fill out your lab report.”
“Shouldn’t I have helped you with this?” Luhan stared dejectedly at the table of items he never even got to touch. “I mean I didn’t come here just to watch you do all of the work.”
Waving him off, Yixing gathered some of the instruments to re-shelve them. “It’s fine. I would rather be the one in charge and just do it by myself.”
With a purr of excitement his wolf decided to tell him exactly what Yixing could be the boss of. Ideas and images poured through his brain all mainly consisting of Yixing controlling him, being in charge and taking care of every whim and want Luhan could ever have.
“Oh shit.” Luhan banged his head against the table. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“Are you alright?” A soft hand pressed against his forehead and Luhan realized he was good and properly screwed. Yixing had never placed himself so close in Luhan’s personal space before and he smelled like soap and spearmint and now Luhan understood what Kris mean when he said it would happen instantly and he would just know.
And he was terrified.
“Luhan?” The soft voice danced across his ear. Fingers brushed through Luhan’s hair and across his back, smoothing out the bunched muscles of his shoulders. “Are you going to be sick?”
He wanted to scream until he was hoarse. Someone was concerned for him, someone cared.
No, not someone. Yixing. Yixing wanted to take care of him.
“I have to go.” He blurted out, jumping to his feet. Kris would help him. He would know how to deal with this in his mature, orderly way.
Frowning, Yixing nodded. “Then take my notes with you. Just bring them back to class tomorrow.”
He grabbed them and shoved them into his backpack not trusting himself to speak.
This was not what he expected.
Part Two