What Are Friends For
Title: What Are Friends For
Pairings: Fanxing, Taoris (kinda)
Rating: PG
Length: ~1.9k
Summary: Tao is giving Yifan a hard time, so Yixing offers his help.
A/N: I don't even know. Written in one night during my Fanxing Anon time.
What Are Friends For
With a weary sigh Yifan slumped forward. A slight thud resounded as his head came to rest on his arms, folded atop the table. Closing his eyes he exhaled, letting his shoulders relax. He was very tempted to just let go of his consciousness, since he felt about ready to fall asleep any second either way.
In the new position his breathing immediately evened out, and not even the bustling noises of the fellow students present in the canteen could really disrupt his tranquility. He was just so damn tired.
Yixing found him half asleep, his breathing already starting to even out. A paper coffee cup was placed next to Yifan's folded arms with as much force as possible, the impact of the carton against the wood creating a dull noise.
"Time to get up, sleeping beauty, I got you coffee." Yixing called out to Yifan, mustering the exhausted figure of the taller as he sat down opposite of him, nipping at his own vanilla latte.
It looked as if it took Yifan quite some effort to lift his head, and he blinked lazily at Yixing, before shifting his gaze to the cup in front of him.
"Thank you." the elder muttered, and disentangled his arms to reach for the warm coffee instead, taking a swig.
Yixing watched him with raised eyebrows. "Rough night?" he asked.
Yifan’s drawn-out sigh sounded very much like affirmation that he had hit the nail right on the head. As soon as the taller had set the cup back down, he slumped back onto the table, though one hand stayed clutched around the coffee and he glanced up at Yixing from his resting position on his arm.
"You wouldn't guess. Tao kept me up all night." Yifan whined. "I think I slept like two hours in total, summed up." Defeated he let his head sink back down.
"Poor thing." Yixing said smypathetically, patting Yifan's freshly dyed blond hair in a gesture of familiarity acquired around the time they both joined the same college. He had made fun of the taller for the choice of hair colour, asking him if he was trying to go through a belated rebellious phase, but inwardly he had to admit that it looked hot.
Yifan sighed contently at the touch, before lifting his gaze again, a slight hint of exhausted desperation in his eyes. "It's just that Tao has so. much. energy all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love him. I just don't know how to keep up with that." he complained.
Yixing tried his best to school his expression into one of understanding. "That's to be expected. Tao's young. Of course he is a well of boundless energy."
"I know." Another whine, as Yifan seemed to be searching for the right words. "I just... " he helplessly trailed off, waving one hand around as if that would get his point across.
"Are you trying to tell me to you're starting to feel old?" Yixing simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease the taller, but Yifan barely reacted to it.
"Perhaps I am." he admitted with another sigh instead of fighting against being called old.
Seeing the other's exhausted state, Yixing decided to take pity on him. With a gentle smile on his features he touched Yifan's shoulder to get the elder’s attention, and as soon as the blond's gaze shifted onto him he offered, "Hey, do you want me to take him for a night?"
"Really, you would do that?" Yifan sounded disbelieving and eager at the same time, his eyes sparkling with new-found hope. The prospect of a night where he had his bed to himself seemed to do real wonders against his exhaustion.
Yixing's heartbeat stuttered before picking up speed at seeing the grateful, trusting expression in the elder's eyes. He told his heart to calm down, it wasn't as if he was going to spend the night with Tao and Yifan.
He wouldn't go to stay over at Yifan's place. Yixing's roommate would be out for the night either way, so it would be no problem to bring Tao home with him, even if the other should get a bit louder.
"Of course. What are friends for?"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Yifan chanted, gripping Yixing's hands in his. "You're a saint, an angel, I don't know what I would do without you, how can I ever make it up to you?"
Yixing let out an embarrassed laugh, and the amusement at Yifan's relief made it easier to ignore the constriction of his throat at the touch of Yifan's fingers on his skin.
"It's no problem, really, don't worry about it. He's cute, I'll gladly take him for a night if that helps you out." He laughed, and withdrew his hands to literally wave Yifan's concerns off.
"Oh yes, he's lucky he's cute." Yifan agreed with a huff. "I swear, whenever I thought I had finally put him to sleep he would start wiggling in the bed and whining until I paid attention to him." he continued complaining, as if he felt the need to reiterate how strenuous the night had been.
Yixing reached forward to pat his head again in what was half mocking and half genuine sympathy, while simultaneously pushing the remnants of Yifan's coffee towards him. "It's okay, I already said I'll take him tonight. I should be able to come and pick him up around 5pm I think."
"Honestly, thank you for that. And you don't need to hurry. If you want to, you can also stay for dinner." Yifan offered, lowering the coffee cup back to the table after having drained its contents.
"Sure, I'd like that." the younger replied happily, before his forehead furrowed in contemplation. "Do I need any toys for Tao?"
Yifan thought for a moment, before shaking his head tentatively. "No, I don't think so. He should be fine for a night without his toys, but just to be safe I can give you some of his favourites to take with you."
Yixing hummed in understanding.
"Really, the only thing you'll need for him are a collar and a leash, but of course I'll give you mine." Yifan continued, voice sounding reassuring, as if he was afraid Yixing would bail out.
"Who do you need a collar and leash for?" A male voice interrupted their conversation, and as Yixing turned around he was faced with a mop of black hair, eyes fierce enough to rival Yifan's and a body towering almost just as tall.
By means of greeting Zitao just nodded at both of them, sitting down at the empty spot beside Yifan. The elder just turned his head to throw Zitao a tired glance, all of his eager energy seeming to have dissipated at the younger's entrance, before burying his face in his sleeves again with an unintelligible grumble, obviously expecting Yixing to carry on the conversation.
"Your namesake has been giving Yifan a bit of a hard time, so I volunteered to take him in for a night. Give Yifan the chance to catch a proper night's sleep. Perhaps he'll be able to pay attention during classes for once then, not relying on me to homeschool him afterwards." Yixing jabbed an accusing finger at Yifan's arm. The elder just mumbled what sounded like a half-hearted retort, but he didn't even lift his head, letting the words be muffled by the fabric of his shirt.
Zitao raised an eyebrow in mocking surprise. "Oh, so you're already at the point in your relationship where you contemplate shared custody?"
Yixing felt a traitorous blush creep up his cheeks, but overplayed it with a roll of his eyes. He was about to retort, but something about Zitao's words had triggered Yifan, because the blond suddenly shot up from his sleeping position.
Jabbing a warning finger into the black-haired's chest he glared at the younger. "You better not say anything that might make Yixing reconsider, or I swear I'll call you whenever I take Tao for a walk or when he wakes me up with his whining. I'll make you suffer as bad as I am suffering. That’s a promise."
Zitao visibly shrunk under the elder’s intense stare. A sleep-deprived Yifan was a scary Yifan, but Yixing knew how to handle him.
"Now, now." He said with an appeasing voice, grabbing Yifan's hand and putting it back down on the table, patting it a few times for good meassure. "No need to threaten people, Yifan, I keep my promises. You can have an undisturbed time sleeping tonight."
The glare left Yifan's eyes, and his expression softened slightly as he looked at Yixing.
Upon being ignored (and feeling braver with Yifan's attention being diverted from him), Zitao huffed. "If you aren't prepared to handle a puppy you shouldn't have gotten one." He noted sulkily, his arms crossed over his chest, obviously offended by Yifan's reaction.
Yifan simply glared at the younger again. "Tao is so much cuter than you." he hissed, before sinking down on his arms once more, this time probably with the intention to stay down and ultimately
drown out all his surroundings.
"He's in a bit of a bad mood, since he barely slept tonight, courtesy of Tao." Yixing tried to explain to Ziao, but it didn't really stop the younger from throwing judgmental glances at the slumped figure of his senior. Zitao's lesson started earlier than Yifan's and Yixing's, so he had to take his leave first, leaving Yixing alone with the pile of misery that was Yifan.
As soon as he was gone the younger gently poked Yifan. When he didn't get any reaction, he repeated the action with a bit strength. "Yifan? Yifan are you asleep?"
" 'm not." came the muffled response, and with a yawn the taller sat up, stretching in an attempt to banish the weariness from his muscles. "Is Zitao gone?" he asked looking around, opposing his statement of not having slept.
"Yeah, he left just a few moments ago."
"I see." Yifan exhaled. "Sometimes I really regret naming my cute little puppy after him. The little guy will forever be branded."
Yixing furrowed his eyebrows, slapping at Yifan's arm in reproach. "Oi, Zitao's also really cute, you're just being too much of a grumpy old man right now to see it. And you lost the bet, it basically was a question of honour to name your puppy after Tao."
Yifan sighed again. "I know, I really should stop making bets."
"Perhaps you should. But then where would be the fun?" Yixing grinned at him.
With narrowed eyes the blond studied him, before huffing dejectedly. "I think I should regret ever becoming friends with you. You take way too much delight in my misery."
"Too late to back out now." Yixing declared, rising and collecting both their empty coffee cups to throw them away. "And on top of that I bring you coffee and dog-sit, I think I'm doing pretty great on the friendship-front."
Yifan hummed lowly in response and flashed him a lop-sided smile. "Okay, okay. As far as today is concerned, you're a great friend." The taller admitted, and Yixing grinned back at him happily.
That was all he ever had wanted to hear.
(Though if he was being honest that wasn't what he wanted to hear at all.)
~.~.~.~.~
A/N: I want to formerly apologize to all the Taoris shippers (if there are any who made it till here hahahaha) for potentially getting your hopes up but I’m ultimately sworn to Fanxing. I decidedly had too much fun writing this, mainly because I intended it to be misleading, but I don’t think I did such a good job in the end hahahah And it somehow got a bit angsty towards the end... Still hope you had fun reading it~