Birdwing
Birdwing
Lay/Sehun; AU,Romance; PG; 5,600
Yixing works at a butterfly conservatory where he meets a curious college student during one of his tours.
“This beauty is here is called Greta oto or more commonly known as the Glasswinged butterfly.” Five pairs of eyes were trained on Yixing as he spoke about the butterfly that had just landed on his shoulder. “They are mostly commonly found from Mexico down into Central America.” The butterfly flutters it’s translucent wings and flies away gracefully. The whole tour group watches the Glasswinged butterfly until it is out of sight.
Yixing notices one of the younger girls in the group has her hand raised.
“Do you have a question?” he asks her.
She nods shyly. “Are there any blue butterflies here?” she asks quietly. “Those are my favourite.” her eyes are shining with excitement and Yixing can’t help but smile.
“There are quite a few blue butterflies here.” he says to her with a smile. “I’m sure we will come across one soon.”
Yixing continues the tour spotting a couple Monarchs flying lazily around the koi pond. He guides the small group of children past the pong and through the conservatory stopping every now and then to teach them about some of the species, insect and plant alike, that live inside the conservatory walls.
This tour is his first of the day, the conservatory had just barely opened and already his first group was there within five minutes of his manger unlocking the front doors. Yixing didn’t usually like giving the first tours of the day because the butterflies weren’t always active so early in the morning but he loved watching the children’s faces light up in wonder every time he taught them something new or every time they caught a glimpse of a butterfly.
Yixing kept moving through the conservatory throwing facts at the children animatedly. In truth he loved his job, he loved watching peoples faces light up with joy and wonder every time they saw a different butterfly.
The tour ended after a short fifteen minutes due to most of the butterflies still being inactive. Though Yixing tried his best to show them as much as he could anyway.
Yixing led the small group out of the conservatory and waited with them in the lobby until their parents came to get them.
Soon all of the children were gone and Yixing had a little time to rest before his day really began. Yixing sits down on the dark red sofa placed against the wall right across from the vestibule that led into the conservatory. Yixing turned to his right to look into the glass tanks sitting on shelves that were built into the wall. The tanks held all sorts of different critters, a few lizards, a couple snakes, and of course some other species of exotic insects.
“Hey Yixing!” Yixing turns his head to the left and sees his roommate, best friend, and co-worker Luhan walking through the entrance into the lobby. Luhan is grinning widely as he makes his way across the lobby to Yixing.
“What is it Luhan?” Yixing doesn’t get up from the couch as Luhan approaches still wearing that wide mischievous grin that can only mean trouble for Yixing.
“You’ve got a high school tour today,” Luhan sing-songs. “Sucks to be you.” He starts laughing lightly as he plops down onto the sofa next to Yixing. Luhan hands Yixing a piece of paper, which yixing looks over quickly. It’s his updated schedule for the day. He has three tours plus the added one with the high schoolers. At least one is already done.
Yixing sighs tiredly. High school tours are the worst and he really doesn’t want to deal with it. “They don’t even ask any questions. At all,” he says slightly exasperated. “They just want to rush through the tour so they can go home.”
Luhan nods in agreement. “That’s why I always make the tour last almost a full hour. They hate that.” Luhan smiles evilly.
“Maybe I’ll just let them walk around by themselves. I mean they don’t listen when I speak so why should I waste my breath?” Yixing runs a hand through his hair and stares at the entrance absentmindedly. He would really just prefer to give people who actually cared tours but high schools always booked educational tours despite having not one student who wanted to be here.
“You could get in trouble for that,” Luhan says pointedly. “The manager says when people book a ‘tour’ that they have to get a ‘tour’.” Luhan rolls his eyes.
“Luhan, Yixing, what are you two doing lounging around?” Their manager is standing in the doorway to the employee room. “Make yourselves useful and water the plants or something. I don’t pay you to stand around and chit chat all day.”
Neither of them speak again until the manager is once again tucked away in the back room doing whatever it is he does back there all day.
”I hate that guy,” Luhan says bitterly. “Why can’t they just fix the sprinkler system so we don’t have to hand water the plants? It’s so stupid.” Luhan whines getting up from the sofa. He doesn’t wait for Yixing before he heads for the vestibule leading to the conservatory.
Yixing eventually follows Luhan inside the conservatory and soon they get to work and water the plants. Luhan takes on side of the conservatory and Yixing takes the other. They work silently and carefully. Yixing hates spraying the butterflies with the pressurized water from the hose because he’s scared he might hurt them by accident. So he takes his time and waters all the plants properly. Surprisingly enough Luhan does the same being gentle and not trying to get it done as soon as he can even though he loves to rush.
Luhan ends up finishing first and with a wave to Yixing he leaves. A few stray people have come in and out of the conservatory but other than that’s it’s a slow morning. The next tour Yixing has is half an hour before lunch and it happens to be Yixing’s tour with the high students. He isn’t looking forward to it even if there isn’t anything else for him to do today.
Yixing finishes up the rest of his section and heads for the doors only to be stopped by a woman in her late sixties.
“Excuse me,” she says politely to Yixing. “Could you tell me what species this is?” She points to a red and black butterfly sitting on a large green hanging plant.
“That is a Postman Butterfly.” Yixing answers without skipping a beat. Working here for so long, he knows most of the butterfly species by sight.
“Thank you.” She says kindly with a smile. “It’s very pretty here.” she compliments with a far away look in her eyes.
Yixing smiles and decides to stick around a little longer in case the lady has any questions. After a few minutes in which she seems to go into her own little butterfly filled world Yixing leaves the conservatory. He checks his watch briefly making sure he still has time to get a snack before the worst tour of the day.
After shoving a granola bar into his mouth Yixing heads to the lobby to wait for what is sure to be a disaster of a tour.
He only has to wait ten minutes before he can hear them arrive.
Raucous laughter fills his ears and makes him cringe. Yixing sighs and gets up from the sofa. He stands in the middle of the lobby waiting for the group to enter the lobby. Who Yixing assumes is their teacher enters the lobby first. He spots Yixing immediately. “Are you the tour guide?” he asks.
Yixing nods. “Yes.”
The man smiles at Yixing before looking over his shoulder. “They are loud today,” he says looking back at Yixing. “Oh, I brought a couple of students from my college class too if that’s alright.” he adds.
Yixing cringes at the noise but at least there are some college students who willingly came today at least they will listen to him. Hopefully.
The teenagers enter the lobby and gather around behind their teacher without even sparing Yixing a class. The group seems to consist of twenty or twenty five students, Yixing’s largest group to date.
The students talk to each other in loud voices for a while as Yixing waits for them to quiet down. There is no way he is going to raise his voice or try to talk over them.
After a few minutes a hush seems to fall over all twenty five of them and Yixing can finally make his introduction.
“Hello students,” he starts with a forced cheery smile. “My name is Yixing and today I will be your tour guide. I will be teaching you about different species of butterflies, plants, and other insects and wildlife that are currently living in the conservatory. You are welcome to ask as many questions as you’d like.” Nothing, not one single person makes a peep. “Let’s begin.”
Yixing begins walking backwards toward the conservatory doors. “First I am going to lay down some ground rules,” Yixing stares at the students. “Number one, no food is allowed inside the conservatory at all. Number two, do not touch the butterflies or plants, if a butterfly lands on you that’s fine but do not try to touch them on your own. We don’t want anyone accidentally damaging their wings. Number three, no running or fooling around. Number four, before leaving please check and double check to make sure you have no passengers. Are we clear?”
Mostly everyone in the group nods even though Yixing knows half of them weren’t even paying attention to him.
“Let’s proceed then.” Yixing leads them through the first set of doors into the vestibule. He waits for them to all be inside and shut the first set of doors. Then he opens the second set of doors and heads into the conservatory.
The students stay mostly quiet, just a few conversations near the back, as they first walk inside. Yixing leads them about thirty feet from the door before stopping and turning to speak to them again.
Yixing is about to speak when a boy near the front raises his hand.
“Yes, do you have a question?” Yixing asks him.
The boy nods. “How many different species of butterfly live in here?” he asks.
“I can’t say for sure how many species since there are always new ones being added but I do know that we have over 4,000 butterflies currently living here.” Yixing answers proudly. The boy nods looking around, his eyes take in every inch of the conservatory.
“Any more questions?” Yixing asks just to be safe before he continues.
The boy shakes his head and no one else in the group says anything so Yixing continues on with the tour.
As the tour continues Yixing notices the boy who asked the only question so far seems to be the only one interested in the butterflies and plants. Every now and then when Yixing looks back at the group he’ll see the boy focused on a specific plant or butterfly, pure wonder and curiosity filling his features.
When Yixing reaches the end of the conservatory he stops. “That concludes the tour. You can walk around and explore on your own now if you’d like, you’re free to leave when you’re satisfied,” he says. “Just remember the rules.” he reminds them as they begin to group off and walk in different directions.
Yixing walks around listening in on some of their random conversations when one catches his attention. “Those are Monarchs.” A males voice says.
Yixing looks in the direction the conversation is coming from and sees that it’s the curious boy speaking to a dark haired boy. Yixing turns his attention to the butterflies they are talking about. They’re not Monarchs.
Yixing makes his way over to the two of the them. “Those aren’t Monarchs. They’re Viceroys.” Yixing tells the two of them.
“See Sehun?” The boy’s dark haired friend says. “I told you, you didn’t know everything about butterflies, you’re just a know-it-all.”
Yixing feels a little bad for correcting him in front of his friend but then again…. “Actually the Viceroy mimics the Monarch butterfly.” Yixing say to the dark haired boy. “It looks almost exactly like a Monarch so your friend wasn’t technically wrong.”
The dark haired boy frowns. “How do we even know if you’re right?”
“Jongin,” the brown haired, curious boy, Sehun, warns. “He’s the tour guide, I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about or he wouldn’t be working here.”
Jongin scoffs. “He doesn’t even look that much older than us. He can’t be a butterfly expert at such a young age.”
“I am actually twenty-two.” Yixing says. In truth he is slightly offended. “You two are only, what, seventeen?”
They both shake their heads completely in sync with each other. “We’re in college.” Jongin announces.
Yixing had completely forgotten there were a few college students mixed in with the high schoolers. Matter of fact, none of them looked any different from each other especially these two who don’t look a day older than seventeen.
Yixing is about to further explain to the two the difference between the Monarchs and the Viceroys to prove he knows what he’s talking about but something catches Sehun’s eye making his head snap to the right suddenly.
“What’s that one called?” Sehun asks softly, pointing to a beautifully colored butterfly fluttering toward them.
Yixing spots the butterfly quickly. He can see it’s wings are green on top and on the underside yellow, blue, green and black. It’s body is plump and yellow. Yixing automatically knows what it is for it’s his favourite one of all. “It’s called a Cairns Birdwing. It’s from Australia. It’s--”
“Time to wrap up guys, we’re leaving in ten.” The teacher says loudly interrupting Yixing.
Sehun waits for Yixing to finish what he was about to say but Yixing doesn’t finish. He can’t remember what he was going to say for some strange reason.
Yixing starts heading back to the vestibule but what he really wishes he could do is teach the boy, Sehun, about everything in here. Sehun seems genuinely interested and Yixing rarely comes across people like that. His curiosity intrigues Yixing. Yixing wishes for once, that a tour could last longer.
“What kind of butterfly is this?” Someone asks Yixing as he is walking past.
Yixing stops and looks at what the the tall guy(Yixing can tell this one is definitely a college student) is pointing at.
Sehun and Jongin come up behind Yixing snickering at the tall guy. “Kris you’re a dumb ass.” Jongin says.
“That’s not a butterfly it’s a dragonfly.” Sehun says to Kris barely containing his laughter.
Kris looks to Yixing as if he needs him to confirm. “Yeah it’s a Green Darner a common species of dragonfly.” Yixing says to him.
Kris nods and walks away heading for the doors with everyone else. From behind him Yixing can hear Jongin and Sehun laughing and making fun of the Kris dude.
Once everyone is in the lobby the teacher looks to Yixing. Yixing isn’t sure but he thinks the teacher wants him to say one more thing to the students. He usually doesn’t do that. Most of the people leave as soon as they are out of the conservatory.
“Thank you for coming today,” Yixing starts a little hesitantly. “I hope you had a great time and learned a lot. You are free to come back anytime we are open and explore.”
Sehun raises his hand. “Do you give more private tours?” he asks.
“What do you mean by more private? We do small groups of five to ten but nothing usually smaller than that.” Yixing answers.
“I was thinking more along the lines of a one on one tour. It would be more thorough to learn more.” Sehun says.
Yixing see’s Jongin side-eye his friend.
“We don’t officially do that. But you can come in anytime, find someone working and ask them to give you one, if they’re free they most likely will.” Yixing explains.
Sehun nods eyes lighting up. “Is that way more effective in learning about the butterflies and plants? Or does it not matter?”
Yixing nods. “It’s probably better that way.”
Yixing asks if anyone else has questions but of course no one does. Then they all leave only Sehun stays behind.
“Are you working tomorrow?” Sehun asks his voice sounding strange.
“Yes.” Yixing answers slowly. “I work almost everyday?” He doesn’t mean to make it sound like a question but that’s how it comes out.
Sehun opens his mouth but before he can speak Jongin comes over to the two of them. “Sehun lets go. I promised Kyungsoo we would pick him up and hang out.”
Sehun waves goodbye to Yixing and then disappears from the lobby as Jongin drags him away.
A few minutes later Yixing spots Luhan coming out of the backroom.
“How was the tour?” Luhan asks raising an eyebrow.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.” Yixing admits. “Actually things ran smoothly for once.”
“What’s wrong with you? You have this dreamy look in your eyes,” Luhan gags. “I hate when you get that look.”
Yixing doesn’t say anything in reply. Does he have a dreamy look in his eyes? No. Why would he?
The door to the lobby creaks and a two people enter. Luhan and Yixing go into employee mode and smile at the two new people standing in the lobby.
“Excuse me,” The shorter of the two says coming up to Yixing and Luhan. “Can we get an educational tour?”
Luhan shakes his head. “I’m sorry there is actually a tour starting soon and with only two of you it would be a private tour which we don’t offer.” Luhan says keeping a smile plastered onto his face.
“Doesn’t admission also come with a tour?” The tall one asks in a deep voice filled with confusion.
Luhan shakes his head. “No, tours need to be booked in advance and have to have at least five people.” Luhan explains.
“But we are still allowed inside right?” The short one asks. “I mean, I didn’t pay twenty bucks to just stand here in the lobby.”
“You are welcome inside the conservatory for as long as you’d like.” Luhan’s voice is filled with fake cheeriness that makes Yixing want to gag.
The two men nod finally understanding.
Luhan turns to Yixing and gives him a look.
“I’ll escort you into the conservatory.” Yixing says to the two taking his cue from Luhan. Then he gestures for the two to follow him through the vestibule on the other side of the lobby.
Inside the conservatory the two immediately head toward the pond leaving Yixing behind without a second thought. Yixing watches them as they chatter excitedly while watching the butterflies fly around them. Yixing’s stomach rumbles loudly ruining his little bit of quiet time.
Yixing busies himself waiting for Luhan to enter the conservatory so he can leave and get lunch before his next tour.
❁
Yixing’s last two tours go by without a problem and before he knows it, it’s time to head home. Yixing just has to do a quick check of the conservatory and then he can leave.
Yixing quickly walks through the conservatory checking to make sure everything is okay. When he is done he waits in the lobby for Luhan.
Luhan always insists on bugging the manager before he leaves. Yixing doesn't know why, maybe some sort of pointless revenge? Yixing doesn’t really care why just as long as Luhan makes it quick so they can go home.
A few minutes later Luhan exits the employee room with a huge grin plastered on his face. He waves something in the air. Yixing gives him a questioning look to which Luhan replies, “I’ll tell you in the car.”
They exit the lobby and enter the front room. The light is on but dimmed so it’s not impossible to see but still hard. The admission desk is unattended, Krystal having already left a half hour ago. Yixing and Luhan approach the double door entrance. Luhan pulls his key out and unlocks the door. They go outside and Luhan quickly re-locks the door as Yixing heads to Luhan’s beat up old Chevy.
Yixing waits on the passenger side of the car with his hand on the handle as he waits for Luhan. Luhan skips over humming lightly. He unlocks the drivers door and plops down into the drivers seat unlocking Yixing’s door a second later.
Yixing gets in the car. He can’t contain himself any longer. “What do you need to tell me?” he asks.
Luhan starts the car and puts it into drive. He pulls slowly out of the parking lot and onto the street. “Joonmyun gave me a raise.” Luhan squeals. “When he told me I was so shocked I couldn’t speak.”
Yixing feels jealousy burn up his throat like acid. “Why would he give you a raise?” he tries to keep all the bitterness inside but some of it still manages to leak into his words.
Luhan laughs. “Because I’m such a damn good employee.” he says not being sarcastic at all.
Yixing stares at the passenger side window. Luhan keeps babbling on and on about how Joonmyun must clearly love him making Yixing want to throw himself out of the car.
“I mean you’ve worked there a year longer than me and you haven’t been given a raise, right?” Luhan says.
Yixing grits his teeth as a sudden urge of anger hits him. “Shut up Luhan.” he says.
Luhan must sense something in Yixing’s voice because he stops speaking and doesn’t speak until they pull into the driveway of their small house.
Yixing gets out of the car and goes inside slamming the car door hard behind him. Luhan stays quiet as a mouse as he follows Yixing up the front steps and into their house.
Yixing ignores Luhan the rest of the night.
❁
Yixing waters the whole conservatory by himself. Luhan had decided to take a sick day meaning Yixing has twice the work he usually does. Yixing had tried calling Jongdae to take ask him to cover Luhan’s shift but he didn’t answer his phone. Having no one else to call Yixing accepted his fate. He has five tours today which is three more than what he was supposed to have.
It was going to be a long, tiring day.
❁
After half the day had gone by and three of his tours, Yixing was ready to collapse. He never had so many tours before lunch. It was usually two before lunch and one or maybe two after lunch. Today he had three tours each with more than ten people all before lunch.
Yixing quickly went into the employee room to grab his lunch. The whole time he avoided any eye contact with Joonmyun, he was still mad and probably would be for a while.
He rushed out of the employee room choosing to instead eat alone in the lobby.
After eating Yixing had an hour free before his next tour. He headed into the conservatory and went straight for the koi pond.(It had been a while since it was cleaned)
Yixing sang under his breath as he made his way across the conservatory in the direction of the pond. He stopped short when he saw someone was already there sitting on the small marble bench a foot away.
A strange tingling sensation ran up the length of Yixing arms as he resumed walking.
It wasn’t until he was about five feet away did he realize why.
The boy, Sehun, was the one sitting there. Yixing stared at him for a moment wondering why he would come back so soon. Did he really want a one on one tour? Yixing cleared his throat and then moved forward.
“Hello, again.” Yixing said.
Sehun looks surprised to see Yixing but he covered it up quickly. “Hi.”
They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before Sehun finally said something. “Can you teach me about the butterflies?” he asked looking away shyly.
Something fluttered in Yixing’s chest. He waited until Sehun got over his momentary embarrassment and looked back at Yixing before he answered. “I’ll teach you everything you want to know.” Yixing said voice low.
Sehun got to his feet and moved away from the marble bench.
Yixing wasn’t sure what to do next. Should he just start walking and looking for butterflies? Or should he ask Sehun which butterflies he wants to learn about? Yixing wasn’t sure so he started to walk going with plan a.
Sehun followed Yixing as he made his way away from the pond towards brilliantly colored flowers a few feet away from them. There were a few different species of butterfly flying around the flowers. It was the perfect location to start.
Yixing watched Sehun’s face as he watched the butterflies land on the flowers. His eyes seemed to be following one in particular. It was a black and blue colored Swallowtail. “Do you want to know what that one’s called?” Yixing asked Sehun softly.
“Yes.” Sehun breathed.
“It’s called a Alpine Black Swallowtail,” Yixing’s voice was soft.
“And that one?” Sehun asked pointing to one with black and white striped wings.
“Zebra Longwing.”
“What about that strange looking one?” Sehun asked sounding amused.
Yixing didn’t know which one he was talking about at first but then he saw it near the ground and not on the flowers with the other two. Yixing is surprised that Sehun saw it.
It appears to look like a dead leaf but Yixing knows better. “That’s a Orange Oakleaf,” Yixing says.
“It’s ugly.” Sehun says.
Yixing shakes his head. “Watch.” Yixing lightly blows at the butterfly trying to scare it to fly away.
It takes a couple good blows but the butterfly finally takes flight showing it’s hidden beauty. Yixing hears Sehun inhale as he sees the upper side of the butterfly’s wings, which happen to be blue with a stripe of orange near the black tips of the wings.
Yixing moves to some more flower and they do the same thing. Yixing tells Sehun the names of the butterflies and Sehun listens completely transfixed on every word the Yixing speaks.
Yixing has never met another person who cared so much about the butterflies other than himself, not even the other employees liked the butterflies as much as Sehun seems to.
Yixing can feel feeling slowly beginning to flower in his heart. Every time Sehun smiles at the sight of a butterfly Yixing’s heart speeds up. He’s never felt like this before and he doesn’t want it to end.
“How do you know so much about butterflies?” Sehun asks. They are back at the koi pond sitting side by side on the marble bench.
“I’ve worked here for a while but before working here I used to study them on my own.” Yixing answers.
“That’s what I do.” Sehun says. “But I’ll never get to work with them like you.” Sehun sounds sad.
“Why not?”
“My father said studying useless insects is a waste of a life.” Sehun runs a hand through his hair. “He said no son of his would be a ‘bug scientist’.”
Yixing feels bad for Sehun. His parents were never like that, no matter what he wanted to do or not do they supported him wholeheartedly. Yixing can’t even imagine what it must be like to have parents that won’t let you live your life the way you want.
Sehun stares at the fish in the pond with a faraway look in his face.
Yixing glances down at his watch and jumps to his feet in sudden realization. His next tour is in three minutes.
“What’s wrong?” Sehun asks.
“Nothing, I just have a tour.” Yixing answers with a smile. “I have to go.”
“I should go too.” Sehun says standing up.
Sehun doesn’t move and neither does Yixing. “I want to see you again.” Yixing says softly.
Sehun’s eyes widen slightly but he nods. “I want to see you again too. I want to learn see more butterflies.”
Yixing has an idea, something he isn’t technically allowed to do. “I get off work at six,” Yixing pauses briefly considering if he should really do this. “Meet me here an hour after that, at seven.” Yixing is sure that Joonmyun will be gone by. After the manager leaves no one is supposed to be allowed into the building but Luhan has a key.
Sehun nods. “I’ll be here.” he says.
Yixing bids him farewell and books it to the lobby where he finds the whole group already gathered.
He starts his introduction speech. Halfway through he sees Sehun exiting the conservatory and heading toward the exit. He watches Sehun until he’s out the door and he can’t see him anymore.
Yixing manages to get through the rest of his tours and the rest of his day even though his mind was absorbed in thoughts of Sehun the whole time. He wasn’t really paying attention to anything just running on autopilot.
❁
Yixing waits until he sees Joonmyun exit the building and leave in his car before he goes inside. He unlocks the door looking over his shoulder paranoid that Joonmyun is going to come back.
Getting the key was easier than Yixing had thought it was going to be. Luhan had been passed out on the couch with an Xbox controller in his hands when Yixing had come home and hour earlier. All Yixing had to do was go into Luhan’s room and dig the key out of Luhan’s dirty pants on the floor.
Yixing re-locks the door once he was inside. He still has twenty minutes before Sehun is supposed to meet him.
Yixing goes into the lobby and then into the conservatory. Once inside he takes a right and heads to the panel with the timer for the light and the broken sprinklers. Yixing opens the panel and looks at the time.
The timer indicates that the lights stay on for fifteen hours so him and Sehun have plenty of time before the lights go off. Yixing only checked to be sure, if they were inside when the lights went off they would be utterly screwed, it’s happened to Yixing before and he had to sit in the dark for four hours until Luhan had found him.(It’s a long story)
Yixing stares at the beautiful conservatory for a while letting the minutes pass by slowly. Then with five minutes before Sehun is to arrive, Yixing exits the conservatory.
❁
“It’s creepier now for some reason.” is the first thing Sehun says when they enter the conservatory. “I mean there isn’t anyone here but us it’s strange.”
“I’m not supposed to be here.” Yixing says. “I could get fired.”
Fear fills Sehun’s eyes. “Lets leave, I don’t want to get you fired.”
Yixing shakes his head. “I won’t get fired unless Joonmyun happens to come back which is doubtful.”
“But--”
Yixing cuts Sehun off. “Do you want to do this or not?”
“I really want to do this.”
Yixing starts walking and talking like it’s one of his other tours except when he speaks he doesn’t sound like a robot, Sehun asks multiple questions, and Yixing goes slow giving Sehun as much information as possible.
They reach the Koi pond after almost a full hour. They sit once again sit side by side on the marble bench.
Silence fills the space between them.
“Yixing,” Sehun says breaking the silence. “I-- Thank you.”
Yixing stares at Sehun. “Why are you thanking me?”
“For doing this, risking your job to teach me about butterflies.” Sehun looks away.
Yixing knows that his feeling for this boy are real. Sehun’s love for butterflies draws Yixing in and leaves him wanting more.
“Sehun,” Yixing whispers. “Look at me.”
Sehun turns and locks eyes with Yixing.
“I think I’m falling for you.” Yixing says almost inaudible.
Sehun licks his lips and swallows hard.
It’s slow and innocent. Lips lightly slotted together, testing to see how they fit. Butterflies fly around them silently as they softly kiss. Yixing can feel the heat radiating off Sehun’s body and all he wants to do is close the remaining distance between the two of them. But he doesn't, he doesn’t want to rush things, doesn’t want to ruin it all.
They separate and once again both of them are silent.
“Yixing,” Sehun says breaking the silence. “What’s you’re favourite butterfly?”
Yixing gets to his feet and grabs Sehun by the hand. He guides him towards some large flowers with Pink petals. Sehun doesn't speak as Yixing searches the area.
“There.” Yixing says after a few minutes pass by. “That one.”
Sehun looks to the butterfly that Yixing is pointing at.
“The Cairns Birdwing.” Sehun says remembering when Yixing told him about it the day before.
“It’s my favourite of all the butterflies.” Yixing says softly. There aren’t many of them in here but even so Yixing can always seem to find them easily.
Yixing goes into detail about his favourite butterfly.
He tells Sehun everything that comes to mind about the butterfly before he runs out of more to tell him.
They are still hand in hand so Yixing decides to pull Sehun behind him continuing with the rest of the tour.
❁
Yixing kisses Sehun goodnight outside the building’s front doors. He feels the fluttering in his chest strengthen and knows that this, Sehun and himself, is going to be something magical, something special. Something he will never regret.
❁
A/N: sorry for the rush ending but I thought it would be better just to leave it off on a good note.
Lay/Sehun; AU,Romance; PG; 5,600
Yixing works at a butterfly conservatory where he meets a curious college student during one of his tours.
“This beauty is here is called Greta oto or more commonly known as the Glasswinged butterfly.” Five pairs of eyes were trained on Yixing as he spoke about the butterfly that had just landed on his shoulder. “They are mostly commonly found from Mexico down into Central America.” The butterfly flutters it’s translucent wings and flies away gracefully. The whole tour group watches the Glasswinged butterfly until it is out of sight.
Yixing notices one of the younger girls in the group has her hand raised.
“Do you have a question?” he asks her.
She nods shyly. “Are there any blue butterflies here?” she asks quietly. “Those are my favourite.” her eyes are shining with excitement and Yixing can’t help but smile.
“There are quite a few blue butterflies here.” he says to her with a smile. “I’m sure we will come across one soon.”
Yixing continues the tour spotting a couple Monarchs flying lazily around the koi pond. He guides the small group of children past the pong and through the conservatory stopping every now and then to teach them about some of the species, insect and plant alike, that live inside the conservatory walls.
This tour is his first of the day, the conservatory had just barely opened and already his first group was there within five minutes of his manger unlocking the front doors. Yixing didn’t usually like giving the first tours of the day because the butterflies weren’t always active so early in the morning but he loved watching the children’s faces light up in wonder every time he taught them something new or every time they caught a glimpse of a butterfly.
Yixing kept moving through the conservatory throwing facts at the children animatedly. In truth he loved his job, he loved watching peoples faces light up with joy and wonder every time they saw a different butterfly.
The tour ended after a short fifteen minutes due to most of the butterflies still being inactive. Though Yixing tried his best to show them as much as he could anyway.
Yixing led the small group out of the conservatory and waited with them in the lobby until their parents came to get them.
Soon all of the children were gone and Yixing had a little time to rest before his day really began. Yixing sits down on the dark red sofa placed against the wall right across from the vestibule that led into the conservatory. Yixing turned to his right to look into the glass tanks sitting on shelves that were built into the wall. The tanks held all sorts of different critters, a few lizards, a couple snakes, and of course some other species of exotic insects.
“Hey Yixing!” Yixing turns his head to the left and sees his roommate, best friend, and co-worker Luhan walking through the entrance into the lobby. Luhan is grinning widely as he makes his way across the lobby to Yixing.
“What is it Luhan?” Yixing doesn’t get up from the couch as Luhan approaches still wearing that wide mischievous grin that can only mean trouble for Yixing.
“You’ve got a high school tour today,” Luhan sing-songs. “Sucks to be you.” He starts laughing lightly as he plops down onto the sofa next to Yixing. Luhan hands Yixing a piece of paper, which yixing looks over quickly. It’s his updated schedule for the day. He has three tours plus the added one with the high schoolers. At least one is already done.
Yixing sighs tiredly. High school tours are the worst and he really doesn’t want to deal with it. “They don’t even ask any questions. At all,” he says slightly exasperated. “They just want to rush through the tour so they can go home.”
Luhan nods in agreement. “That’s why I always make the tour last almost a full hour. They hate that.” Luhan smiles evilly.
“Maybe I’ll just let them walk around by themselves. I mean they don’t listen when I speak so why should I waste my breath?” Yixing runs a hand through his hair and stares at the entrance absentmindedly. He would really just prefer to give people who actually cared tours but high schools always booked educational tours despite having not one student who wanted to be here.
“You could get in trouble for that,” Luhan says pointedly. “The manager says when people book a ‘tour’ that they have to get a ‘tour’.” Luhan rolls his eyes.
“Luhan, Yixing, what are you two doing lounging around?” Their manager is standing in the doorway to the employee room. “Make yourselves useful and water the plants or something. I don’t pay you to stand around and chit chat all day.”
Neither of them speak again until the manager is once again tucked away in the back room doing whatever it is he does back there all day.
”I hate that guy,” Luhan says bitterly. “Why can’t they just fix the sprinkler system so we don’t have to hand water the plants? It’s so stupid.” Luhan whines getting up from the sofa. He doesn’t wait for Yixing before he heads for the vestibule leading to the conservatory.
Yixing eventually follows Luhan inside the conservatory and soon they get to work and water the plants. Luhan takes on side of the conservatory and Yixing takes the other. They work silently and carefully. Yixing hates spraying the butterflies with the pressurized water from the hose because he’s scared he might hurt them by accident. So he takes his time and waters all the plants properly. Surprisingly enough Luhan does the same being gentle and not trying to get it done as soon as he can even though he loves to rush.
Luhan ends up finishing first and with a wave to Yixing he leaves. A few stray people have come in and out of the conservatory but other than that’s it’s a slow morning. The next tour Yixing has is half an hour before lunch and it happens to be Yixing’s tour with the high students. He isn’t looking forward to it even if there isn’t anything else for him to do today.
Yixing finishes up the rest of his section and heads for the doors only to be stopped by a woman in her late sixties.
“Excuse me,” she says politely to Yixing. “Could you tell me what species this is?” She points to a red and black butterfly sitting on a large green hanging plant.
“That is a Postman Butterfly.” Yixing answers without skipping a beat. Working here for so long, he knows most of the butterfly species by sight.
“Thank you.” She says kindly with a smile. “It’s very pretty here.” she compliments with a far away look in her eyes.
Yixing smiles and decides to stick around a little longer in case the lady has any questions. After a few minutes in which she seems to go into her own little butterfly filled world Yixing leaves the conservatory. He checks his watch briefly making sure he still has time to get a snack before the worst tour of the day.
After shoving a granola bar into his mouth Yixing heads to the lobby to wait for what is sure to be a disaster of a tour.
He only has to wait ten minutes before he can hear them arrive.
Raucous laughter fills his ears and makes him cringe. Yixing sighs and gets up from the sofa. He stands in the middle of the lobby waiting for the group to enter the lobby. Who Yixing assumes is their teacher enters the lobby first. He spots Yixing immediately. “Are you the tour guide?” he asks.
Yixing nods. “Yes.”
The man smiles at Yixing before looking over his shoulder. “They are loud today,” he says looking back at Yixing. “Oh, I brought a couple of students from my college class too if that’s alright.” he adds.
Yixing cringes at the noise but at least there are some college students who willingly came today at least they will listen to him. Hopefully.
The teenagers enter the lobby and gather around behind their teacher without even sparing Yixing a class. The group seems to consist of twenty or twenty five students, Yixing’s largest group to date.
The students talk to each other in loud voices for a while as Yixing waits for them to quiet down. There is no way he is going to raise his voice or try to talk over them.
After a few minutes a hush seems to fall over all twenty five of them and Yixing can finally make his introduction.
“Hello students,” he starts with a forced cheery smile. “My name is Yixing and today I will be your tour guide. I will be teaching you about different species of butterflies, plants, and other insects and wildlife that are currently living in the conservatory. You are welcome to ask as many questions as you’d like.” Nothing, not one single person makes a peep. “Let’s begin.”
Yixing begins walking backwards toward the conservatory doors. “First I am going to lay down some ground rules,” Yixing stares at the students. “Number one, no food is allowed inside the conservatory at all. Number two, do not touch the butterflies or plants, if a butterfly lands on you that’s fine but do not try to touch them on your own. We don’t want anyone accidentally damaging their wings. Number three, no running or fooling around. Number four, before leaving please check and double check to make sure you have no passengers. Are we clear?”
Mostly everyone in the group nods even though Yixing knows half of them weren’t even paying attention to him.
“Let’s proceed then.” Yixing leads them through the first set of doors into the vestibule. He waits for them to all be inside and shut the first set of doors. Then he opens the second set of doors and heads into the conservatory.
The students stay mostly quiet, just a few conversations near the back, as they first walk inside. Yixing leads them about thirty feet from the door before stopping and turning to speak to them again.
Yixing is about to speak when a boy near the front raises his hand.
“Yes, do you have a question?” Yixing asks him.
The boy nods. “How many different species of butterfly live in here?” he asks.
“I can’t say for sure how many species since there are always new ones being added but I do know that we have over 4,000 butterflies currently living here.” Yixing answers proudly. The boy nods looking around, his eyes take in every inch of the conservatory.
“Any more questions?” Yixing asks just to be safe before he continues.
The boy shakes his head and no one else in the group says anything so Yixing continues on with the tour.
As the tour continues Yixing notices the boy who asked the only question so far seems to be the only one interested in the butterflies and plants. Every now and then when Yixing looks back at the group he’ll see the boy focused on a specific plant or butterfly, pure wonder and curiosity filling his features.
When Yixing reaches the end of the conservatory he stops. “That concludes the tour. You can walk around and explore on your own now if you’d like, you’re free to leave when you’re satisfied,” he says. “Just remember the rules.” he reminds them as they begin to group off and walk in different directions.
Yixing walks around listening in on some of their random conversations when one catches his attention. “Those are Monarchs.” A males voice says.
Yixing looks in the direction the conversation is coming from and sees that it’s the curious boy speaking to a dark haired boy. Yixing turns his attention to the butterflies they are talking about. They’re not Monarchs.
Yixing makes his way over to the two of the them. “Those aren’t Monarchs. They’re Viceroys.” Yixing tells the two of them.
“See Sehun?” The boy’s dark haired friend says. “I told you, you didn’t know everything about butterflies, you’re just a know-it-all.”
Yixing feels a little bad for correcting him in front of his friend but then again…. “Actually the Viceroy mimics the Monarch butterfly.” Yixing say to the dark haired boy. “It looks almost exactly like a Monarch so your friend wasn’t technically wrong.”
The dark haired boy frowns. “How do we even know if you’re right?”
“Jongin,” the brown haired, curious boy, Sehun, warns. “He’s the tour guide, I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about or he wouldn’t be working here.”
Jongin scoffs. “He doesn’t even look that much older than us. He can’t be a butterfly expert at such a young age.”
“I am actually twenty-two.” Yixing says. In truth he is slightly offended. “You two are only, what, seventeen?”
They both shake their heads completely in sync with each other. “We’re in college.” Jongin announces.
Yixing had completely forgotten there were a few college students mixed in with the high schoolers. Matter of fact, none of them looked any different from each other especially these two who don’t look a day older than seventeen.
Yixing is about to further explain to the two the difference between the Monarchs and the Viceroys to prove he knows what he’s talking about but something catches Sehun’s eye making his head snap to the right suddenly.
“What’s that one called?” Sehun asks softly, pointing to a beautifully colored butterfly fluttering toward them.
Yixing spots the butterfly quickly. He can see it’s wings are green on top and on the underside yellow, blue, green and black. It’s body is plump and yellow. Yixing automatically knows what it is for it’s his favourite one of all. “It’s called a Cairns Birdwing. It’s from Australia. It’s--”
“Time to wrap up guys, we’re leaving in ten.” The teacher says loudly interrupting Yixing.
Sehun waits for Yixing to finish what he was about to say but Yixing doesn’t finish. He can’t remember what he was going to say for some strange reason.
Yixing starts heading back to the vestibule but what he really wishes he could do is teach the boy, Sehun, about everything in here. Sehun seems genuinely interested and Yixing rarely comes across people like that. His curiosity intrigues Yixing. Yixing wishes for once, that a tour could last longer.
“What kind of butterfly is this?” Someone asks Yixing as he is walking past.
Yixing stops and looks at what the the tall guy(Yixing can tell this one is definitely a college student) is pointing at.
Sehun and Jongin come up behind Yixing snickering at the tall guy. “Kris you’re a dumb ass.” Jongin says.
“That’s not a butterfly it’s a dragonfly.” Sehun says to Kris barely containing his laughter.
Kris looks to Yixing as if he needs him to confirm. “Yeah it’s a Green Darner a common species of dragonfly.” Yixing says to him.
Kris nods and walks away heading for the doors with everyone else. From behind him Yixing can hear Jongin and Sehun laughing and making fun of the Kris dude.
Once everyone is in the lobby the teacher looks to Yixing. Yixing isn’t sure but he thinks the teacher wants him to say one more thing to the students. He usually doesn’t do that. Most of the people leave as soon as they are out of the conservatory.
“Thank you for coming today,” Yixing starts a little hesitantly. “I hope you had a great time and learned a lot. You are free to come back anytime we are open and explore.”
Sehun raises his hand. “Do you give more private tours?” he asks.
“What do you mean by more private? We do small groups of five to ten but nothing usually smaller than that.” Yixing answers.
“I was thinking more along the lines of a one on one tour. It would be more thorough to learn more.” Sehun says.
Yixing see’s Jongin side-eye his friend.
“We don’t officially do that. But you can come in anytime, find someone working and ask them to give you one, if they’re free they most likely will.” Yixing explains.
Sehun nods eyes lighting up. “Is that way more effective in learning about the butterflies and plants? Or does it not matter?”
Yixing nods. “It’s probably better that way.”
Yixing asks if anyone else has questions but of course no one does. Then they all leave only Sehun stays behind.
“Are you working tomorrow?” Sehun asks his voice sounding strange.
“Yes.” Yixing answers slowly. “I work almost everyday?” He doesn’t mean to make it sound like a question but that’s how it comes out.
Sehun opens his mouth but before he can speak Jongin comes over to the two of them. “Sehun lets go. I promised Kyungsoo we would pick him up and hang out.”
Sehun waves goodbye to Yixing and then disappears from the lobby as Jongin drags him away.
A few minutes later Yixing spots Luhan coming out of the backroom.
“How was the tour?” Luhan asks raising an eyebrow.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.” Yixing admits. “Actually things ran smoothly for once.”
“What’s wrong with you? You have this dreamy look in your eyes,” Luhan gags. “I hate when you get that look.”
Yixing doesn’t say anything in reply. Does he have a dreamy look in his eyes? No. Why would he?
The door to the lobby creaks and a two people enter. Luhan and Yixing go into employee mode and smile at the two new people standing in the lobby.
“Excuse me,” The shorter of the two says coming up to Yixing and Luhan. “Can we get an educational tour?”
Luhan shakes his head. “I’m sorry there is actually a tour starting soon and with only two of you it would be a private tour which we don’t offer.” Luhan says keeping a smile plastered onto his face.
“Doesn’t admission also come with a tour?” The tall one asks in a deep voice filled with confusion.
Luhan shakes his head. “No, tours need to be booked in advance and have to have at least five people.” Luhan explains.
“But we are still allowed inside right?” The short one asks. “I mean, I didn’t pay twenty bucks to just stand here in the lobby.”
“You are welcome inside the conservatory for as long as you’d like.” Luhan’s voice is filled with fake cheeriness that makes Yixing want to gag.
The two men nod finally understanding.
Luhan turns to Yixing and gives him a look.
“I’ll escort you into the conservatory.” Yixing says to the two taking his cue from Luhan. Then he gestures for the two to follow him through the vestibule on the other side of the lobby.
Inside the conservatory the two immediately head toward the pond leaving Yixing behind without a second thought. Yixing watches them as they chatter excitedly while watching the butterflies fly around them. Yixing’s stomach rumbles loudly ruining his little bit of quiet time.
Yixing busies himself waiting for Luhan to enter the conservatory so he can leave and get lunch before his next tour.
❁
Yixing’s last two tours go by without a problem and before he knows it, it’s time to head home. Yixing just has to do a quick check of the conservatory and then he can leave.
Yixing quickly walks through the conservatory checking to make sure everything is okay. When he is done he waits in the lobby for Luhan.
Luhan always insists on bugging the manager before he leaves. Yixing doesn't know why, maybe some sort of pointless revenge? Yixing doesn’t really care why just as long as Luhan makes it quick so they can go home.
A few minutes later Luhan exits the employee room with a huge grin plastered on his face. He waves something in the air. Yixing gives him a questioning look to which Luhan replies, “I’ll tell you in the car.”
They exit the lobby and enter the front room. The light is on but dimmed so it’s not impossible to see but still hard. The admission desk is unattended, Krystal having already left a half hour ago. Yixing and Luhan approach the double door entrance. Luhan pulls his key out and unlocks the door. They go outside and Luhan quickly re-locks the door as Yixing heads to Luhan’s beat up old Chevy.
Yixing waits on the passenger side of the car with his hand on the handle as he waits for Luhan. Luhan skips over humming lightly. He unlocks the drivers door and plops down into the drivers seat unlocking Yixing’s door a second later.
Yixing gets in the car. He can’t contain himself any longer. “What do you need to tell me?” he asks.
Luhan starts the car and puts it into drive. He pulls slowly out of the parking lot and onto the street. “Joonmyun gave me a raise.” Luhan squeals. “When he told me I was so shocked I couldn’t speak.”
Yixing feels jealousy burn up his throat like acid. “Why would he give you a raise?” he tries to keep all the bitterness inside but some of it still manages to leak into his words.
Luhan laughs. “Because I’m such a damn good employee.” he says not being sarcastic at all.
Yixing stares at the passenger side window. Luhan keeps babbling on and on about how Joonmyun must clearly love him making Yixing want to throw himself out of the car.
“I mean you’ve worked there a year longer than me and you haven’t been given a raise, right?” Luhan says.
Yixing grits his teeth as a sudden urge of anger hits him. “Shut up Luhan.” he says.
Luhan must sense something in Yixing’s voice because he stops speaking and doesn’t speak until they pull into the driveway of their small house.
Yixing gets out of the car and goes inside slamming the car door hard behind him. Luhan stays quiet as a mouse as he follows Yixing up the front steps and into their house.
Yixing ignores Luhan the rest of the night.
❁
Yixing waters the whole conservatory by himself. Luhan had decided to take a sick day meaning Yixing has twice the work he usually does. Yixing had tried calling Jongdae to take ask him to cover Luhan’s shift but he didn’t answer his phone. Having no one else to call Yixing accepted his fate. He has five tours today which is three more than what he was supposed to have.
It was going to be a long, tiring day.
❁
After half the day had gone by and three of his tours, Yixing was ready to collapse. He never had so many tours before lunch. It was usually two before lunch and one or maybe two after lunch. Today he had three tours each with more than ten people all before lunch.
Yixing quickly went into the employee room to grab his lunch. The whole time he avoided any eye contact with Joonmyun, he was still mad and probably would be for a while.
He rushed out of the employee room choosing to instead eat alone in the lobby.
After eating Yixing had an hour free before his next tour. He headed into the conservatory and went straight for the koi pond.(It had been a while since it was cleaned)
Yixing sang under his breath as he made his way across the conservatory in the direction of the pond. He stopped short when he saw someone was already there sitting on the small marble bench a foot away.
A strange tingling sensation ran up the length of Yixing arms as he resumed walking.
It wasn’t until he was about five feet away did he realize why.
The boy, Sehun, was the one sitting there. Yixing stared at him for a moment wondering why he would come back so soon. Did he really want a one on one tour? Yixing cleared his throat and then moved forward.
“Hello, again.” Yixing said.
Sehun looks surprised to see Yixing but he covered it up quickly. “Hi.”
They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before Sehun finally said something. “Can you teach me about the butterflies?” he asked looking away shyly.
Something fluttered in Yixing’s chest. He waited until Sehun got over his momentary embarrassment and looked back at Yixing before he answered. “I’ll teach you everything you want to know.” Yixing said voice low.
Sehun got to his feet and moved away from the marble bench.
Yixing wasn’t sure what to do next. Should he just start walking and looking for butterflies? Or should he ask Sehun which butterflies he wants to learn about? Yixing wasn’t sure so he started to walk going with plan a.
Sehun followed Yixing as he made his way away from the pond towards brilliantly colored flowers a few feet away from them. There were a few different species of butterfly flying around the flowers. It was the perfect location to start.
Yixing watched Sehun’s face as he watched the butterflies land on the flowers. His eyes seemed to be following one in particular. It was a black and blue colored Swallowtail. “Do you want to know what that one’s called?” Yixing asked Sehun softly.
“Yes.” Sehun breathed.
“It’s called a Alpine Black Swallowtail,” Yixing’s voice was soft.
“And that one?” Sehun asked pointing to one with black and white striped wings.
“Zebra Longwing.”
“What about that strange looking one?” Sehun asked sounding amused.
Yixing didn’t know which one he was talking about at first but then he saw it near the ground and not on the flowers with the other two. Yixing is surprised that Sehun saw it.
It appears to look like a dead leaf but Yixing knows better. “That’s a Orange Oakleaf,” Yixing says.
“It’s ugly.” Sehun says.
Yixing shakes his head. “Watch.” Yixing lightly blows at the butterfly trying to scare it to fly away.
It takes a couple good blows but the butterfly finally takes flight showing it’s hidden beauty. Yixing hears Sehun inhale as he sees the upper side of the butterfly’s wings, which happen to be blue with a stripe of orange near the black tips of the wings.
Yixing moves to some more flower and they do the same thing. Yixing tells Sehun the names of the butterflies and Sehun listens completely transfixed on every word the Yixing speaks.
Yixing has never met another person who cared so much about the butterflies other than himself, not even the other employees liked the butterflies as much as Sehun seems to.
Yixing can feel feeling slowly beginning to flower in his heart. Every time Sehun smiles at the sight of a butterfly Yixing’s heart speeds up. He’s never felt like this before and he doesn’t want it to end.
“How do you know so much about butterflies?” Sehun asks. They are back at the koi pond sitting side by side on the marble bench.
“I’ve worked here for a while but before working here I used to study them on my own.” Yixing answers.
“That’s what I do.” Sehun says. “But I’ll never get to work with them like you.” Sehun sounds sad.
“Why not?”
“My father said studying useless insects is a waste of a life.” Sehun runs a hand through his hair. “He said no son of his would be a ‘bug scientist’.”
Yixing feels bad for Sehun. His parents were never like that, no matter what he wanted to do or not do they supported him wholeheartedly. Yixing can’t even imagine what it must be like to have parents that won’t let you live your life the way you want.
Sehun stares at the fish in the pond with a faraway look in his face.
Yixing glances down at his watch and jumps to his feet in sudden realization. His next tour is in three minutes.
“What’s wrong?” Sehun asks.
“Nothing, I just have a tour.” Yixing answers with a smile. “I have to go.”
“I should go too.” Sehun says standing up.
Sehun doesn’t move and neither does Yixing. “I want to see you again.” Yixing says softly.
Sehun’s eyes widen slightly but he nods. “I want to see you again too. I want to learn see more butterflies.”
Yixing has an idea, something he isn’t technically allowed to do. “I get off work at six,” Yixing pauses briefly considering if he should really do this. “Meet me here an hour after that, at seven.” Yixing is sure that Joonmyun will be gone by. After the manager leaves no one is supposed to be allowed into the building but Luhan has a key.
Sehun nods. “I’ll be here.” he says.
Yixing bids him farewell and books it to the lobby where he finds the whole group already gathered.
He starts his introduction speech. Halfway through he sees Sehun exiting the conservatory and heading toward the exit. He watches Sehun until he’s out the door and he can’t see him anymore.
Yixing manages to get through the rest of his tours and the rest of his day even though his mind was absorbed in thoughts of Sehun the whole time. He wasn’t really paying attention to anything just running on autopilot.
❁
Yixing waits until he sees Joonmyun exit the building and leave in his car before he goes inside. He unlocks the door looking over his shoulder paranoid that Joonmyun is going to come back.
Getting the key was easier than Yixing had thought it was going to be. Luhan had been passed out on the couch with an Xbox controller in his hands when Yixing had come home and hour earlier. All Yixing had to do was go into Luhan’s room and dig the key out of Luhan’s dirty pants on the floor.
Yixing re-locks the door once he was inside. He still has twenty minutes before Sehun is supposed to meet him.
Yixing goes into the lobby and then into the conservatory. Once inside he takes a right and heads to the panel with the timer for the light and the broken sprinklers. Yixing opens the panel and looks at the time.
The timer indicates that the lights stay on for fifteen hours so him and Sehun have plenty of time before the lights go off. Yixing only checked to be sure, if they were inside when the lights went off they would be utterly screwed, it’s happened to Yixing before and he had to sit in the dark for four hours until Luhan had found him.(It’s a long story)
Yixing stares at the beautiful conservatory for a while letting the minutes pass by slowly. Then with five minutes before Sehun is to arrive, Yixing exits the conservatory.
❁
“It’s creepier now for some reason.” is the first thing Sehun says when they enter the conservatory. “I mean there isn’t anyone here but us it’s strange.”
“I’m not supposed to be here.” Yixing says. “I could get fired.”
Fear fills Sehun’s eyes. “Lets leave, I don’t want to get you fired.”
Yixing shakes his head. “I won’t get fired unless Joonmyun happens to come back which is doubtful.”
“But--”
Yixing cuts Sehun off. “Do you want to do this or not?”
“I really want to do this.”
Yixing starts walking and talking like it’s one of his other tours except when he speaks he doesn’t sound like a robot, Sehun asks multiple questions, and Yixing goes slow giving Sehun as much information as possible.
They reach the Koi pond after almost a full hour. They sit once again sit side by side on the marble bench.
Silence fills the space between them.
“Yixing,” Sehun says breaking the silence. “I-- Thank you.”
Yixing stares at Sehun. “Why are you thanking me?”
“For doing this, risking your job to teach me about butterflies.” Sehun looks away.
Yixing knows that his feeling for this boy are real. Sehun’s love for butterflies draws Yixing in and leaves him wanting more.
“Sehun,” Yixing whispers. “Look at me.”
Sehun turns and locks eyes with Yixing.
“I think I’m falling for you.” Yixing says almost inaudible.
Sehun licks his lips and swallows hard.
It’s slow and innocent. Lips lightly slotted together, testing to see how they fit. Butterflies fly around them silently as they softly kiss. Yixing can feel the heat radiating off Sehun’s body and all he wants to do is close the remaining distance between the two of them. But he doesn't, he doesn’t want to rush things, doesn’t want to ruin it all.
They separate and once again both of them are silent.
“Yixing,” Sehun says breaking the silence. “What’s you’re favourite butterfly?”
Yixing gets to his feet and grabs Sehun by the hand. He guides him towards some large flowers with Pink petals. Sehun doesn't speak as Yixing searches the area.
“There.” Yixing says after a few minutes pass by. “That one.”
Sehun looks to the butterfly that Yixing is pointing at.
“The Cairns Birdwing.” Sehun says remembering when Yixing told him about it the day before.
“It’s my favourite of all the butterflies.” Yixing says softly. There aren’t many of them in here but even so Yixing can always seem to find them easily.
Yixing goes into detail about his favourite butterfly.
He tells Sehun everything that comes to mind about the butterfly before he runs out of more to tell him.
They are still hand in hand so Yixing decides to pull Sehun behind him continuing with the rest of the tour.
❁
Yixing kisses Sehun goodnight outside the building’s front doors. He feels the fluttering in his chest strengthen and knows that this, Sehun and himself, is going to be something magical, something special. Something he will never regret.
❁
A/N: sorry for the rush ending but I thought it would be better just to leave it off on a good note.