the way you make me melt
Title: the way you make me melt
For: baoxing (xingsdimple)
By: xingnamoroll
Word count: 10 150+
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There’s a difference between Wu Kris, and Wu Yifan, and that was a little more difficult to explain than the process of scribbling a signature at the bottom of a contract.
Affiliation(s): fanxingyou 2014!round
Kris shared an apartment with an old friend. A Chinese boy, who was a couple months older than him, with wide brown eyes and a mess of baby pink hair (or at least that was what he looked like about a week ago-it might be green now, or maybe all different colours of the rainbow, he had no actual way of knowing) called Lu Han. Surname Lu, given name Han; simple enough, but his employers always messed it up, thus, he was dubbed Luhan to make it easier in everyone. Luhan gave off a flower boy feel, and sweetness overload that would most likely only be in the possession of a playboy, but Kris would never forget the time when a four year old Luhan crouched alone in the corner of the kindergarten sandbox, tears streaming down his embarrassment flushed face, as he was yet to be perfectly potty trained.
He paid the driver, and walked into his building, hitting the button of the elevator to go up to his high rise apartment. He kind of missed Luhan during his business trip, as he was given a temporary phone and Luhan didn't call him. They have nothing more than a platonic relationship, but sometimes, the annoyance was a requirement in his life, else it was too quiet.
Kris punched the code into the keypad, and stumbled into the residence. He tripped over Luhan's shoes, and cursed under his breath, "God dammit, Luhan, just because I'm not home does not mean that you can make a mess of this place."
Something felt different in the apartment, but he shrugged it off as not being home for a week. Kris took off his shoes, slippers sliding into his feet as their replacement, and headed to his room. A nap sounded nice; Luhan didn't seem to be home.
Kris opened the door of his room, and did a double take as he took in the view before him. A pair of brown eyes staring directly into his, a curious smile curling into the face's lips, and a pair of ebony ears sticking out of the mass of hair atop the person's head.
Kris let go of the handle, and screamed.
“Holy shit!” He recoiled in surprise, and stared at the thing in front of him in bewilderment. What the hell? He did not own a cat, so why was there one in his room? (No one was allowed in Kris’ room.)
The cat mirrored the action of screaming, but no sound left his lips. Was the thing mocking him? It looked at him curiously, and smiled, flashing a (really cute) dimple, “Hi, who are you?”
Kris made a baffled expression, “Who am I? You're standing in,” the cat cut Kris off, “Ah! You must be the Yifan guy, Luhannie was talking about!”
Luhan. Of course this was Luhan's fault.
It was always Luhan’s fault.
“But… Luhannie said you were nice,” it pouted, and Kris’ eyebrow twitched in irritation.
“Get out of my room,” Kris ordered.
He peered up at the businessman with wide, innocent, eyes and opened his mouth, as if to begin to insist that it was his room too, because Luhan gave him half of the place, out some utter bullshit like that.
“Out.”
The cat made a pitiful expression at him and slinked away into the living room, his tail drooping to the ground. Kris picked up his cellular phone and dialed Luhan's number quickly. As soon as the call connected, Kris spoke. He didn't even give Luhan a chance to greet him.
“Luhan, get your ass home immediately, ” he snarled into the device.
-
They were situated in the living room, Kris on the reclining sofa, looking terrifyingly impatient, and Luhan, the cat, along with Minseok (who happened to be shopping with Luhan and got dragged into this), shared the loveseat.
“Why did I come home to that in my room?” Kris demanded, and Minseok only looked vaguely amused.
“I have a name,” the cat hissed. Luhan pet the cat's ears soothingly.
“Now, now, Yifan,” Luhan started, trying to sound reasonable. Kris rolled his eyes. Luhan has always called him by his real name, but god, it sounded so annoying right at the moment. “I adopted Yixing. He was an adorable stray, okay?”
Kris stared at Luhan, “A stray,” he repeated.
“Yes, a stray,” Luhan confirmed, eyeing the younger man, as if challenging him to make a comment on the fact that Yixing was a stray.
“I don't like him,” Kris said, childishly.
“But, he's so cute!” Luhan insisted, wrapping his arm around the vile thing.
Luhan wasn't looking at Yixing and the cat stuck his tongue out at Kris, mouthing: “I don't like you either!”
“Why is he in my room? Why isn't he in your room? You can adopt a houseful of stray cats if you wanted, just: why is the thing in my room?” Kris growled.
Luhan was about the make a remark, when Minseok cleared his throat, “May I interrupt?”
“Go ahead,” Kris told him.
“Yifan, Luhan already signed the forms to adopt Yixing, and it's terribly cruel to kick the kitten out, after barely a week of keeping him. Cats have feelings too, Yifan,” Minseok started, “As for Yixing staying in Yifan's room; it was vacant, and you have the master bedroom. He's a good cat. He won't bother you.”
“And if he does?” Kris pressed, to which Yixing abruptly responded with a quick remark of how he wouldn't. Minseok laughed.
“He won't,” the Korean man assured, “Give him some time.”
Kris turned to the cat, and narrowed his eyes, “You have a million seconds to stay in my room.”
Yixing sat up straight, his ears perking up haughtily, “Whatever,”
Luhan grinned at Minseok, “I sense the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Minseok sighed. Why was his life hard?
-
Kris did not like cats. He had no reason to like them. The few cats that he has met flashed him with terrible memories that he would rather not recall. Perhaps, his friend, Zitao, simply had a weird cat; or maybe cats were ridiculously intimidating during their heat. He wouldn't know, and he had no intention of wanting to find out. Ever.
Everyone knew that cats were just a luxury for the richer families. They could be considered entertainment, if that wasn't so cruel sounding. Usually, he saw them acting as an older brother role for small children who were alone, and their parents worked too much to spend time with the child. It was upsetting to Kris that anyone would even bother to purchase a cat for the sole reason of keeping their child busy. There were only two things that Kris knew about cats, and he was never interested in learning more about them.
The first and foremost being that cats were an interesting hybrid between humans and cats. He never wanted to think about how that came about (alike to how he never wants to think about how his mother became impregnated with him). Cats had the striking appearance of a human, with the addition of ears and a tail. The second thing that Kris knew about cats was that he was really not fond of them. He really didn't have a sufficient reason to explain his dislike, but it was one of those things that you subconsciously grow to dislike.
Thus, he sat in the corner at his desk, glaring at the cat who was playing with a stuffed bunny. The bunny looked strangely familiar, and he narrowed his eyes. Was that the bunny that he had given to Luhan during their high school years? (It wasn't actually a gift from Kris; a freshman had presented him with the cute bunny, and he had planned to break it down slowly that he wasn't interested in having a relationship with the girl. Luhan had fallen in love with the plush toy, and he had shoved it into his hands with an aggravated sigh.)
"Stop staring at me," Yixing spoke up.
Kris blinked, "I'm not watching you," he retorted.
Yixing looked up from his plush toy, "Yeah? Because staring blatantly in my direction is not watching me at all."
Kris did not like sharp mouths talking back to him. He grimaced, "I'm staring at the wall behind you." He really wasn't, but anything to avoid being caught staring at the aggravating (but cute) cat.
"It's blank," Yixing retorted.
Kris rolled his eyes, "Which is why I'm looking at it."
"What, do you have some sort of messed up fixation on blank wall walls? The one right behind you is blank too. Stare at that," Yixing huffed, and the blonde was rendered almost shocked.
"Stop looking at me!" Yixing repeated, his head turned the other way. From another angle, it would have been amazingly adorable to see the rosy colour that dusted Yixing's cheeks.
He ignored Yixing's statement, but turned to continue to sign his name at the bottom of the papers that lay spread out on his desk. His flight had been exhausting, but Kris had always been an overachiever. There was the sound of shuffling bed sheets, and Kris let his eyes flicker over to the other side of the room.
Yixing was buried into a bundle under the blankets, but Kris could see the cat's tail hanging out from underneath the navy covers. It was in his bed, perfect. The cat was in his bed for a while now, but he'd forced himself to have the hopeful impression that Yixing was going to sleep on the floor. (Of course, he was just trying to delude himself.)
He knew he was being rude, but how else was he expected to react when his roommate and friend of many years decided to adopt a cat and thrust it into his room? It had been completely without his permission, and Kris happened to have a slight control complex. But, Yixing was a stray cat, and who knew what kinds of diseases he might carry. (Luhan, logically, would have gotten him checked, but when Kris wasn't around, it was hard to confirm anything).
Just because Luhan was the older one didn't mean that he would be allowed to make all the decisions in their household without consulting Kris. The blonde glared down at his paperwork, and sighed, as he dropped his pen. He was letting all of this get to him. He was probably just tired. It was a long flight, perhaps he should just crawl into bed now.
He packed up his signed sheets of paper-or if you took ever felt the need to take Kris seriously: extremely important documents-, and made his way over to his bed. Perhaps, when he woke up, everything would be gone and it would all actually be a dream. (His rational side knew that something like that was utterly impossible, but sometimes, the irrational thoughts needed to sweep in. Delusions could be good, sometimes.)
"Move over," he grumbled, pushing Yixing aside. The cat growled, but rolled to the other side of the king sized mattress.
As Kris moved to lay down, Yixing turned back in his direction and cracked open a single eye, "Go take a shower; you're disgusting."
"Don't tell me what t--"
"Go!" Yixing added, as a whine. The blonde recoiled, and turned to grab his things, heading towards the shower.
He really didn't know why he listened to the cat, but he doesn't think about it until the water is beating down gently against his skin. It's the shower that awakens him slightly, and he jolted in realization.
Why am I listening to the damn cat?
He ran his fingers through suds filled hair.
Wait.
Why was Yixing in his room, if Luhan wasn't home?
He had the perfect reason to kick Yixing out of his room. The blonde hurried to finish his shower to return to his room, and remove the irritating cat from the premises of his room. He had a king sized bed, but he was a large man; he needed all that space to himself.
Kris' feet padded gently against the tiled floor as he made his way back to his room, his mind set on removing the brunette cat from his bed.
As soon as he entered his bedroom, however, he was greeted with the cat having already fallen asleep. The space next to him was more than enough for Kris, and he couldn't find it in himself to awaken the cat, and tell him to go to Luhan's room. He crawled into the bed, and sighed as his head hit the pillow. Oh that felt nice.
He wasn't being nice to Yixing; no, he just didn't want the cat to start whining when he woke up, that was all. Yes, of course.
-
The sun streamed unforgivingly into the master bedroom, and Kris was quickly reminded why he didn't like his bedroom very much. Sure, it was bigger than Luhan's, but it faced east, and the sun relentlessly attacked him in the morning. He turned, and buried his face into his pillow, and was met with warmth of another body.
Oh that was really nice. Had he brought home someone last night? He didn't even remember leaving the house last night. Based on the security of his house, there was no way it would have been a murderer of some sort. Kris relaxed, and wrapped a lazy arm around the warm figure, burying his face into his pillow.
"Hey…" the voice was a quiet whine from under him. Kris swatted lethargically at whatever direction he thought the sound came from.
"Shh, ten more minutes," he slurred.
Yixing would never have expected that he would wake up all tangled in Kris' arms. The older man was comfortable, but at the same time, it was a little difficult to breathe. Yixing swatted his tail at the blonde, who only replied with a groan.
"You're squishing me," Yixing mumbled.
A couple more whacks of his tail-it really did hurt-and that finally seemed to wake the other man up. Kris rolled off of him, and rubbed at his eyes. Yixing honestly considered slipping off the bed and hiding before the sleepy businessman realized that he was hugging Yixing in his slumber. But, as swift as his movements were, Yixing was unable to escape Kris' line of sight.
"Holy shit," Kris groaned, as he locked eyes with the brunette cat, "I was hugging you?"
Yixing nodded meekly, too exhausted to play the agitated feline, "I tried to push you off," he remarked under his breath.
"God, why are you so warm?" Kris sat up, and ran his fingers through his hair. Definitely should have kicked Yixing out. "I only hugged you because you're warm, and I was cold."
It's an excuse, and they both know it. Yixing wrapped the blanket around himself, ears drooping downwards. He really does want to be hugged, but not by someone who acted like they hated him.
"I'm going to go find Luhannie," Yixing mumbled, ready to venture out and find his favourite human-or, best friend, as it seemed they were called.
Kris instinctively caught his hand. Yixing blinked back at him curiously with wide, innocent, eyes. The blonde made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, and looked away, "Luhan's not home," he bit out.
Horribly sad eyes met with Kris', and the blonde wanted to punch himself. Why was he being so nice to the damned feline who invaded his personal space?
That really wasn't necessary. But, Minseok's words ring clearly in his head. Give him a chance. He's an Executive Director for a big company; he should be level headed, and logical. Being ridiculously mean to the cat was anything but fitting to that description. Imagine that you're getting paid for being patient; he instructed himself, but that was like working double shift. He wasn't sure that he was okay with that.
"Where did he go?" Yixing asked, and Kris bit his lip.
To Hell, he thought. Luhan went to Hell, because that was his home, and the damned demon spawn decided to visit home for a short while (in reality, Luhan was working on some sort of project with Minseok).
"Minseok's place," he told him. Kris awkwardly let go of Yixing's wrist, and the cat drew it back to himself. "You can stay in bed with me, if you're not annoying."
Yixing flashed a dazzling smile, and curled back into the sheets, mewling softly in satisfaction, and he wound his tail around Kris' wrist.
"Thanks, Yifan," he giggled.
Kris cringed.
That was so cute.
Cuteness was infuriating.
Terrible decision, Wu. He said not to be annoying, but oh. That was annoying. Aggravating. Irritating. Agitating. Terribly annoying; oh, is that an onslaught of a pounding headache he feels? Must be.
-
There are many things that Kris hated about Luhan. One of the most significant things that made his blood boil, however, was the way that he made everything sound like it was Kris' fault. So, apparently, according to Luhan's logic-and avoiding any possible loopholes in said logic-the reason that Yixing was refusing to come out of the corner was undoubtedly Kris.
"Luhan, I didn't even do anything!" Kris argued.
"Yifan," Luhan addressed him by his real name, sternly, "I will only ask you one more time; what did you do to Yixing?"
Kris scrolled his mind for everything terrible that he has ever done in his entire life, and perhaps a reasonable answer to why he put up with Luhan, in order to explain why he was cursed with living under the same roof as an extremely pretty man, who happened to possess a brain the size of a pea.
"I didn't do anything to him!"
The final thing that he remembered he did with Yixing was cuddle with him, and fall asleep, because he had been much too lazy to get out of bed. That wouldn't explain why Yixing refused to leave his corner though.
Luhan rushed to the cat's side, and cooed sweetly at him. Kris could feel his blood pressure slowly rising. He dropped onto the sofa, clutching his head. There were two main talents which Kris knew Luhan had mastered. The first being burning down the kitchen (there was a reason they always are takeout), and the second being the unforgivable ability to make Kris' blood pressure skyrocket to unbelievable values.
He didn't even know why Yixing was upset.
Or well, he had a slight idea. A vague idea. Foggy shadows forming a blurry image. (Or perhaps, he knew exactly why Yixing was upset, but he had made a promise that he wouldn't tell Luhan. Kris was a man who was true to his word; even if the person he made a promise too was an adorable and aggravating cat.)
The cat had declared Luhan as his best friend, because while Kris was away on his business trip, the Chinese man (whose hair was now a striking silver) had taken care of him. But, now that Kris was back from his trip overseas, and had decided that he really didn't like the cat; Luhan had been ignoring Yixing in favour of Minseok. And his excuse? He was supposedly making a wise decision on the future of Kris' relationship status.
But, he was not going to be dating a fucking cat. No.
He was just going to let them solve that for themselves. Kris shut his eyes, and rested his arms behind his head, interlocking his fingers together.
-
It was impossible to tell how long he closed his eyes for, but eventually, Luhan was tugging on his hand again. He would have expected his hand to be tugged by Yixing of all people (and cats), but when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by Luhan and his abnormally large eyes.
"What?" He snapped.
"We're best friends again," Luhan grinned.
The blonde rolled his eyes. How annoying. He made eye contact with the cat, who flashed a small smile at him, as if saying "it's totally okay if Luhan ditches me your that one guy that he isn't even dating; we're still best friends".
"You finally made up?" He questioned, absently. He already knew the answer from the ecstatic look on the cat's face.
"Yup! We sure did!" Luhan sounded abnormally cheerful, and Kris arched a curious eyebrow.
"Why are you so happy? You usually wouldn't be this happy over making up with a friend." Kris questioned, his curiosity getting the better of him; he usually couldn't care less about Luhan's emotions.
Luhan leaned over dramatically whispering in his ear, "Minseok asked me to go to his summer house with him, next week."
The very first thing that crossed the mind of the blonde man was: oh shit, that meant that he had to take care of the cat alone, again. He had given a cat a million seconds to reside in his room, that was less than a week, but he really didn't appreciate the company of the cat-despite his body being really warm, and soft. The blonde silently cursed the better of his two friends.
"Oh, have fun," he gritted out.
Yixing pouted, "You're leaving again?"
Luhan suddenly looked really guilty, "Y-yeah…"
The feline's ears quickly drooped, and so did his tail, "Oh…"
"You have Yifan, while I'm gone!" Luhan tried. Yixing ignored him.
"How long are you going for?"
"Two weeks."
Kris sat up straight, "Excuse me?"
"Two weeks," Luhan repeated, and shot him a pointed look.
Yixing tugged on his best friend's sleeve, and it looked almost as if he might have been on the brink of tears. Kris prayed to everything that existed that the cat was not about to cry. There were two things that he didn't like: cats and tears. But, when you put them together, it was disgusting, and he could not stand it.
"Two weeks?" He asked, as if confirming with Luhan if he comprehended accurately. Luhan nodded, and glassy eyes widened even more. Kris tore his eyes away, "All of the two weeks? All fourteen days?"
Luhan nodded, and Yixing whimpered miserably. Kris tuned out on the conversation, but he swore he heard Yixing saying something along the lines of three hundred and thirty-six hours, and maybe something like twenty thousand one hundred and sixty minutes. He just really hoped that Yixing wouldn't retreat back to that corner again.
"Yifan will take care of you, Yixing," Luhan coaxed, and Kris wanted to screech about how he didn't want to take care of the cat. Luhan adopted him, thus he should take care of him. It was only common sense. But, animals have souls and feelings too: that might have been the only thing that prevented Kris from objecting the statement that he would take care of the cat boy.
But, Kris also knew that Luhan had been chasing Minseok for the past two years, and this was a great development in their relationship. He should let the chance have an opportunity to reach the stage of a beautiful efflorescence.
"I'll take good care of you," Kris echoed, sighing.
Yixing looked terribly doubtful.
-
A week with Luhan around to take care of Yixing flew by ridiculously quickly. Kris almost wished he had the power to stop time, just so Saturday-the day that Luhan left for Minseok's summer house-would never approach. But, unfortunately, Saturday crept up on them like an eagle hunting its prey.
"So, it's just you and me," Kris muttered, as soon as the car is out of sight.
Yixing nodded, and Kris glanced at him briefly. In the light of the dawning sunrise, the cat looked a little bit adorable, once you got over the fact that he had ears and a tail-something that Kris had yet to do.
"Do you want to go back up?"
"Where else would you take me?" Yixing retorted.
He had a very valid point. Kris didn't exactly like the idea of taking a cat around the city as if he really did appreciate his presence. It’s mean to think like that, but Kris did not want to be known-at any point in his life-as the one guy to took his cat around the city for fun, because his roommate had left town for a while.
The blonde turned on his heel, and Yixing quickly followed him to the elevator.
“Why do you hate me?” Yixing asked in a quiet voice, once the metal doors slid shut behind them. Kris froze, his finger hovering right above the elevator button that took them to the highest floor.
“I don’t hate you,” he replied.
“Yes, you do.” Yixing quickly retorted, not missing a beat.
Kris considered the retort for a moment. It was true that it seemed like Kris hated the cat, and perhaps he felt a little guilty for that. Yixing hadn't done anything wrong. If anyone was to have the finger pointed at them, it was Luhan.
The blonde ran his fingers through his hair; a guilty habit. They've been sharing the same bed for the past week, and despite Kris initially stating that he wanted Yixing out of his room after the million seconds passed, he found that he quite enjoyed waking up with Yixing in his arms. It was like a silence before a storm, because they argued every other second of the day. He only saw the feline's vulnerable side, now.
"It's not that I hate you-" Kris started.
Yixing cut him off, "Of course not. You treat everyone like that, am I right? Bullshit, Yifan. Bullshit." The cat ran irritated fingers through dark locks of tousled hair. "At night, you hold me like I'm the most precious thing in the world to you, but as soon as the sun rises, and I'm out of your arms, you treat me like shit!"
Kris stumbled for words. Were they really doing this in an elevator? Kris found himself anticipating every second of the elevator reaching their floor, so he could enter his high rise apartment, and talk this out with Yixing. Yixing didn't give him that chance.
"Yixing, listen to me, I-"
"Would you tell me why?" He pressed, sounding much angrier than he did when he'd had his nervous start. "Why do you do that to me? Why do you make my emotions go haywire, and then drop me like nothing matters?"
"I thought you were a dick, when I first met you," Yixing admitted. "But, I thought you would realize that we, cats, have feelings too. Eventually."
Yixing's tirade was perfectly planned, and he exited the elevator as soon as he was done his speech. He only spared Kris one final look, before turning on his heel with a heart shattering gaze, "But, it doesn't seem you know that. I thought you were better than that, Yifan. It's about time that I've given up."
The way that Yixing stormed off and the way that his name slid off Yixing's tongue left a bitter taste in his mouth. He hated it. He was stunned for a moment, before he gathered his sense, and followed Yixing to their apartment.
He wouldn't ask for forgiveness, even though he knew he was wrong.
But, Yixing's words left him with an empty heart.
It's about time that I've given up.
-
Guilt gnawed at him, because everything that Yixing had claimed he thought of the feline kind was more or less true. He hadn't been blatantly planning on breaking Yixing, or using him for his own sick emotional pleasures, but it was more like trying to care for something so delicate that a single stroke of an incorrect fingertip could recklessly damage it.
That care was a timid stutter of motions, afraid that they would commit to something destructive. It related so perfectly to Kris. The businessman had possession of perfect logic, yet when it came to taking care of Yixing, his mind drew an empty blank and expected him to fill it in. It was a given that it wouldn't make any sense to his mind.
Yixing was something with throes of infinite emotions. He was nothing like the paperwork that sat on the Executive Director's desk, mindlessly awaiting to be signed. They didn't share that same sense of care, and Kris simply did not understand. It was stupid to think to attempt to compare the two drastically different things; Kris didn't have enough of personal social talents to cooperate.
The first night sleeping without Yixing in his arms felt weird. There was not anything to run his fingers across. There was no sound of indignant whining when he moved too much. There wasn't the sweet warmth that nuzzled against him. That scent that was distinctively Yixing wasn't present on the pillow beside him.
The second night followed suit, and Yixing didn't even speak to him in the mornings. They didn't even share an argument like they usually would. Yixing was there, but he acted as if Kris was not, and it hurt.
The third night is the worst. The third night, he's restless. He can't think about anything but Yixing, and he hated it. Why did this bother him do much, anyway? If Yixing was mad at him, then let it be. Wasn't that logical? That was the best option.
No. He's lying to himself again.
He's trying to convince himself of things that he didn't believe. How was he going to be persuasive if he didn't even believe what he was saying?
To say the very least, he actually missed Yixing.
It didn't comfort him to know that Yixing was in the room down the hall, sleeping alone.
They say you don't know what you're missing until it's gone.
Kris couldn't agree more.
-
On the third night, it storms. Kris has always had the habit of staring out the window during thunderstorms, taking in the relaxing atmosphere of the down pouring rain. On the third night, there's a knock in his bedroom door. He wasn’t expecting it, but when he thought back on it, what else could it have possibly been? Yixing and he were the only people present in the apartment. He still didn’t expect that when he opened the door, that Yixing would be standing in the middle of the doorway, crying.
He panicked.
The blonde threw all his logic to the wind-and it might have been that he really did miss Yixing, as well. He gathered the cat into his arms, and shushed him, stroking his hair gently. He didn’t know why Yixing was crying, and he didn’t want to ask, in fear that it would trigger more tears from the sobbing figure in his arms.
It turned out he never really needed to ask.
The lightning outside flashed violently, and the thunder snarled unforgivingly, and the petite male in his arms buried closer into his chest, whimpering in the midst of tears.
He’s scared of the storm. It dawned on Kris like a damned freight train to the stomach. Clumsily large fingers-shaky from the fact that Yixing was crying-carded through dark locks of hair, and Kris pressed a gentle kiss to the brunette’s forehead instinctively.
“Shh, don’t cry,” he whispered, his tone sounding a little bit too unsure.
He was supposed to be comforting, but why did he sound like he didn’t know what he was doing? It was when Yixing gripped onto the hem of his shirt, which Kris picked him up, and ushered him to his bed. He tucked the cat in. It broke his heart to see Yixing in tears, when he finally got the chance to talk to him again-or at least interact with him. The brunette had been ignoring his entire presence for the past few days.
Kris slid in with Yixing, when the younger refused to let go of his body. The blonde stroked Yixing's hair, murmuring soothing words softly into his ear. Promises that he was there, and that he would be okay. The panic only bubbled more, when Yixing's tears continued, if not increased.
It's on a complete whim that he presses a gentle kiss to Yixing's forehead. It's the second time, and he didn't know how many excuses he could make, before he admitted to himself that he honestly liked kissing the brunette.
He mentally smacked and scolded himself. No, Kris, what are you thinking?
(But, Kris was the proper businessman, and Yifan was the one who got anything he wanted.)
When Yixing's whimpers and sobs slowed to a stutter, the blonde pressed his forehead against the cat boy's. "Are you okay?"
Yixing shook his head, eyes still brimmed with glistening tears, "N-no…"
A piece of Kris-no, a piece of Yifan-broke at the negative response to his question. Yixing hadn't looked like he was in any way okay, but he had hoped that at least, a little bit of the brunette had calmed down. His heart shattered even more at Yixing's next remark.
"I'm scared, Yifan…"
Yifan hushed him, and his fingers gently brushed away stay tears, "Pretend the storm isn't there," he whispered softly.
"I-I can't-"
"Shh, baby," Yifan told him, the pet name sliding off his tongue instinctively. It doesn't even register in his mind that he said it, at all. "Yes, you can, I know you can."
Yixing whimpered, and Yifan wrapped an arm around him, "Just think about you and me, right now; the storm isn't there, okay?"
The petite male nodded, and inhaled Yifan's scent, fingers clutching at the hem of the larger man's shirt. Yixing still looked petrified, and the blonde sighed softly, leaning their foreheads together again.
"Yixing, look at me." He instructed.
Timid eyes obeyed him, opening again, and they stared blankly into his own dark orbs.
"I'm going to kiss you, okay?" Yifan muttered, "Focus on me."
It's a selfish request, yet the horrified brunette nodded his head in acceptance to the blonde's instructions, closing his eyes.
"If I kiss you here, you'll forget about the lightning," he whispered, as he pressed a kiss to Yixing's eyelids.
"If it's here, you'll forget about the thunder;" a kiss to his temple.
He could see Yixing visibly relaxing, as if believing his words.
A kiss to the corners of his lips, "Here, so the rain disappears…"
He refused to admit to his racing heart, that this was self-indulgence.
"And your lips, so the storm vanishes…"
He paused, staring at Yixing's rosy lips for a moment, his breath hitching at the back of his throat. Why was his heart racing so fast?
Yifan inhaled and leaned in, closing the distance between their lips. It's a gentle probing of lips, at first, their mouths trying to find a pattern to naturally fall into; a synchronized choreography of their molding mouths. It was Yixing who became a little more daring-biting gently at Yifan's lower lip.
And then, there was tongue; Yifan leaned to hover over Yixing, head tilting to a more comfortable position as he deepened the kiss. He could feel Yixing's tongue brushing against his own, and he felt the younger's hands tangling in his hair.
He tried to convince himself that this was to help Yixing forget about the storm; but there was an emotional hurricane brewing in his own mind. And it was Yixing's fault.
They parted, and Yifan affectionately pulled the other man closer to himself. Yixing panting softly, and staring at him with curious eyes.
This time, he blamed it on selfish intent.
He pressed their lips together again, and it's a slow exchange, his slightly rough digits rubbing at Yixing's ears. Yixing groped at the front of his shirt, and it was all about them for the empty moment of the night.
His senses were infiltrated with Yixing. How soft Yixing's lips were; how he smelled faintly of vanilla; how tightly Yixing's fingers were clenched into his shirt; how Yixing's tongue tasted on his; how gentle Yixing's breathing sounded to his ears, as it harshly pierced through silence; and how Yixing's heart seemed to thump against his chest.
Everything was Yixing, to Yifan, and to Yixing: the endless pattering of rain, and the angry flashes of lighting entailing roaring thunder, didn't exist anymore.
-
Morning was an ethereal light, dawning on them, stirring peaceful slumber. Yixing pulled Yifan to him, and buried his face against the blonde's chest to hide from the vile light rays.
There was a slow knocking of rain beating down on the glass window; serene.
"Why don't you ever close the blinds?" Yixing whined.
Yifan swatted at him, raising the blanket to cover the both of them, and he'd later insist he wasn't in his right mind, when he rolled half his body into the cat-peppering an affectionate layer of kisses everywhere on Yixing's face-morning breath be damned.
"Good morning," he murmured.
The brunette giggled softly, and pushed him away, “Hi.”
Maybe, that was when he decided that God forbid him ever to be mean to Yixing ever again, because that giggle. That giggle.
He rolled back onto the petite brunette, and affectionately nuzzled his neck, “God, you have the cutest laugh.”
He doesn’t even know why he’s being so affectionate, when barely a hundred hours ago, he was extremely rude to Yixing. They weren’t even dating, or on any terms to be so affectionate with each other. But, after the storm; it seemed so natural.
The calm before the storm lead to the raging storm, and was swallowed by an infinite serenity. That was where they were now. Yixing laughed softly as stands of flyaway hair brushed against him, tickling his chin.
"Yifan, stop it!" He whined, his hands poised to push the older man away, but there was no strength to file through with the action.
Yixing was okay with this, he really was. The overflowing affection from the older man was what he had always been craving. Luhan treated him well, but it wasn't the romantic affection that all cats loved. Luhan's heart was owned, but the man who held him now possessed an empty heart, and he would fill that slot in-if Yifan would let him; if not, he would pry his way into it anyway. Bury himself deep, and never let Yifan let him go.
Yifan found himself glad that his company had decided that it was a good thing to put him on break, coincidentally at the same time that Luhan traveled out of town. For the first time, since a month after they moved in, there was someone home to take care of the house, when both weren't present at once.
They called it a shared apartment, but he doesn't remember the last time that he was home with his roommate, before they-or rather, Luhan-decided to adopt the cat. He supposed there were the perks of becoming closer to Luhan with having Yixing around.
(And something in the pit of his gut, unknowingly to him, screamed that he wanted Yixing's attention on him, only).
It felt nice not to be at war with Yixing, anymore.
He wrapped his arms around Yixing's waist, and the other male squealed softly when Yifan rolled them both over, shifting so the cat leaned against his body instead. Yixing snuggled closer, and Yifan hummed lightly in contentment at their position.
It was funny how two disasters could fix something else. Yixing's explosion and the relentless storm had fixed a dysfunctional relationship between a cat and his legal owner's friend cum housemate.
Through mirthful eyes, Yixing glanced up at Yifan, a question lingering between them.
'I thought you hated me?'
The utterly confused expression on Yixing's face made the blonde constrict his arms tighter around the brunette, a groan of incredulity escaping his lips. How was someone possibly so cute?
'No, I think I like you quite a bit,' the silent message is transferred through a shy kiss to Yixing's nose.
The brunette's tail waved in happiness.
-
"Why are you still holding onto me? It's been hours since we woke up."
"Xing, you're so warm… I could just hold you forever, mm…"
"H-hey! Stop that-! Don't touch me there! Ack! Yifan!"
-
It might have all been a high of some sort, because everything crashed down when Yifan's phone rang.
"Hello? Wu Yifan speaking," he murmured, halting in his quest to find Yixing some clothes to change into after his shower.
"When was the last time you answered the phone like that?" Luhan's voice rang clearly through the line.
Yifan blinked, "Like what?"
"Wu Yifan; you called yourself Yifan. How long has it been since you called yourself Yifan, over Kris?"
It belatedly dawned on him the issue.
He never really used his birth name anymore, and it was only with close friends that he ever responded to said name. The last time he answered the phone with his full birth name, however, was a couple years back in time, when twenty-five year old minds found themselves madly in love with a pretty lady-before she had dumped him in favour of an ex-boyfriend that she had supposedly been trying to get back, by using him. He had decided never to bring back the memories, by using his business name. Three years later, he found himself in the same position of answering the phone with his birth name.
He laughed awkwardly, "Oh… it's been a while, huh? But, how is your vacation? Anything up? Why the sudden call?"
It later would hit him that Luhan was implying the question of whether or not he was in love, because there was no agony and depression that tagged along with the name that she once, ever-so-sweetly, called to him.
"Can't I call because I missed you guys?" Luhan asked. Yifan quickly retaliated with a gag, and he swore he heard Luhan mumbling something on the other end of the line, that sounded something alike to 'ungrateful little bastard'. "My vacation is lovely, Yifan. At what state is base in right at this current moment?"
Luhan sounded like some sort of military commander, and the blonde rolled his eyes at the dramatic antics of his friend cum roommate.
"Base is in perfect condition," he assured, "Just relax and enjoy Minseok's company, and maybe his body too; I don't know what two twenty-nine year old men would do in the older one's summer house."
The scoff that Luhan gave him elicited a laugh from him, and he only laughed louder when Luhan informed him of the very important fact that Minseok was not twenty-nine, but was actually already thirty years of age. It made Yifan almost want to make an annoyingly infuriating commentary on Minseok and Luhan being old, but something told him Luhan would flip out on him.
At his own state of twenty-nine, Yifan had yet to grow out of his aggravated Luhan appreciation phase. (It was called revenge.)
"-finitely not old, I know you're thinking it- we are the same age, Wu!"
Yifan's laugh cut off Luhan's tirade, and there was a quiet break in their conversation. He could tell there was another question on Luhan's tongue, but there was no telling what it really was.
He remembered a fifteen year old Luhan on the phone with him, mirroring this same scenario.
"Han, hey, what's up, man?" Yifan asked, his tone suddenly softening.
Luhan audibly sighed, "Should I ask him, Yifan? I mean, what if he says no? What if I read the signs wrong? What if he doesn't like me back?"
"Calm down," Yifan told him, "Think about it; Minseok understands you. If you fuck it up, it's okay. You won't ruin a friendship, but if he says yes. If he says yes, you'll be the happiest man alive. Steel your balls, and just ask."
His roommate exhaled in sheer relief, "Man, you give the best advice, how don't you have a partner in life?"
"Shut your fa-"
A shivering Yixing bounded into the room, wrapped in towels, and he whimpered quietly, "What's taking so long, I'm cold, Yifan-"
"Oh, sorry," Yifan apologized, as he lowered the phone from his ear. He tossed Yixing his t-shirt, and assumed it was long enough to cover his body. He watched as the cat scurried away, eyes raking in Yixing's perfect form.
He only snapped out if his trance, when he heard Luhan calling his name-the digitized tone sounding muffled to Yifan's mind-and he raised the cellular device back to his mouth.
"Dude, I think I'm in love with our cat. This is bad," he whispered, scandalously, into the phone.
He didn't know Yixing heard him, over Luhan's obnoxious cackling.
-
They’re suddenly distanced from one another over the next few days. It’s Yifan’s fault, really. It’s always Yifan’s fault.
Yixing would try and get closer to him, and give him a hug-but the realization that he was falling in love with Yixing hit Yifan hard, and he was still under the terrible shock of it. It wasn’t a bad thing that he was in love, but Yifan tended to overdramatize every little event that happened in his life. This was just another crisis in his mind. How could he not have noticed this coming?
The time is 22:35, and Yifan was still not in bed.
Yixing had noticed that Yifan was slowly trying to stay away from him, and he knew why-he’d heard him after all. The small kitten hybrid felt his heart shattering in two at the thought that Yifan was avoiding after the realization that he might be in love with him.
What was wrong with being in love with him?
Was he not good enough?
“Yifan?” Yixing called, and he peeked his head around the corner into Yifan’s home office.
When he didn’t get a response, Yixing entered the room in search for the blonde man. He found Yifan asleep on his desk, head buried in his arms; soft snoring sounding from him. Yixing clicked his tongue in disbelief. He crouched down on the floor, beside Yifan.
“You really did a number on avoiding me, huh?” he murmured, sadly.
A sigh.
“Isn’t it tiring to avoid someone that you see every single day? You live with me, Yifan,” he added.
“Is it that bad to fall in love with me, that you need to try away from me every single second that you’re awake? Am I some sort of disease that you need to avoid?” Yixing frowned to himself, choking lightly on his words. Don’t be stupid, Yixing, don’t cry.
"Did you know that it's okay if you fall in love with me, Yifan?" He said, softly, running his fingers through Yifan's hair. There was a pause in Yixing’s words, as he let his fingers linger between the golden locks. He held his breath, and his words slipped out as a shaky exhale, "It's not a crime to let yourself fall for me; I'll catch you, I promise I will. Do you not trust me? Or is it just that you simply do not want to be seen with a cat?
"Are we so different that you feel you need to be drowned in shame if you were with me? Is it so wrong, Yifan? I don't think it is; am I wrong to think that it isn't? What about us is so different, anyway? I have a tail, and kitten ears, but you and I both have a heart.
"It's okay, right? But, I'm scared too… you're not alone, Yifan… it's okay to be in love with me, now. It's okay to fall.
"Just because I might have already done so, to you…"
He smiled sadly, dropping his fingers from the sleeping man’s hair. His heart raced at the very thought of even being close to the blonde, but the way that Yifan couldn’t see how happily his eyes shone, when he was standing right beside him, hurt. It was an unsettling feeling at the pit of his stomach that hissed at him, and scolded him to stop his foolishness, because Yifan wouldn’t ever look at him that way.
Yixing didn’t even realize when he fell asleep.
23:52; Yifan started from his slumber, and fuzzy vision focused to see Yixing sleeping, head rested uncomfortably against the desk. Something in his gut twisted wearily. He let his mind fly to possible scenarios of why the brunette was in his office. Hadn’t he locked the door, when he hid away into his office?
But, the distressed look on Yixing’s face as he slept tore his heart into pieces. He paused, and long fingers smoothly stroked the skin above Yixing’s cheek. The area below his eyes were shadowed, clearly reflecting how tired he was. Again, Yifan felt the disturbing swivel in his body.
“Why are you here?” he whispered gently. The question was directed to Yixing, but it was inaudible to the sleeping male. “Why do you make such an effort to be with me, when I try so hard not to let myself fall in love with you?”
Why did he deserve this, when he was such a jerk to Yixing?
He didn’t deserve this.
But Yixing is like a destined soul mate that continued to return, no matter how many times he threw him away.
Perhaps, just maybe, Luhan was right.
He wouldn’t be able to hide from it forever.
A part of his mind told him it was wrong, but the overflowing affection that drilled through his mind pushed him forward, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Yixing’s forehead. He stirred, and Yifan pulled away quickly, a hand over his chest, panicked.
He didn’t want to be caught.
Yet, the quick motion away from Yixing, had made him arise from his slumber. The brunette rubbed at his eyes.
“Yifan... you’re awake,” he mumbled, stifling a yawn.
(Yifan’s heart swelled at the adorable gesture.)
The blonde swallowed past the lump in his throat, and nodded, awkwardly. Yixing’s eyes seemed to glisten with an ethereal glow that he had never noticed before. His heart thumped loudly in his ears, and god, was this how being helplessly in love felt like? (Or was this a war, and he was losing the battle?)
“... Yeah,” he answered.
“Yifan? Is everything okay?”
Was everything okay?
No, his heart was screaming at him, and he didn’t know what he was putting himself up against anymore. Everything in his mind was a mess. So, no, nothing was okay.
He gave a smile, and lied through his teeth, “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
Liar. Yixing’s eyes flashed with disappointment.
“Can I have a kiss?” he asked, hopefully.
Yifan turned flushed cheeks away, and bit his lower lip, “No, not right now,” he told him.
Yixing immediately deflated.
There was a long silence, before Yifan spoke again, “Why are you in here?”
The brunette blinked hard, and tilted his head in confusion, “I- I wanted to be with you?”
“Why?”
“You don’t want me here?”
“No, not really.”
Yixing’s eyes widened at the direct statement, and said eyes grew glassy with tears. He’s already high strung on emotions, and that’s the last straw.
“You don’t?” he harkened for a confirmation-yet, what he really searched was for Yifan to tell him that he wasn’t serious, and that he really did want him to stay. It doesn’t happen.
The blonde shook his head, in blind ambition to get rid of the relentless emotional build up in his heart. He remained blind to his surroundings. Blind to Yixing slowly cracking.
The brunette gave his last shot.
Yixing broke.
“Is there something wrong with loving me, Yifan?” he asked, his tone wrecked with infinite tears building up. “I asked you to stop treating me like shit one second, and like gold the next. You stopped that. Why are you doing it again, Yifan? Why are you pushing me away?”
Yixing was hysterical, and he clawed at the blonde’s shirt, tears streaming endlessly down his cheeks.
He doesn’t even remember the last time he’s cried.
“I heard you talking to Luhan,” he sobbed, fingers still curled into the taller man’s shirt.
Yifan looked petrified.
“I heard everything- you admitted to him that you thought you were in love with me- why can’t you do that now?” Yixing sounded helpless, and needy, but he was just slowly breaking, because his heart was tearing in two. “I said I would give up on you, but I couldn’t, why is that? Why did I let myself fall harder for you, if at that time I already knew that this is what would be waiting for me at the end of the line?
“I trusted Luhan to be my best friend, and be there for me, but he wasn’t. I don’t blame him, he’s chasing the love of his life, but when I turn to you for anything to hold onto, and perhaps a loving heart to build a home in- you’re not looking at me! What is your damned motive to fucking up my entire mentality, making me spiral into your affection, and lose myself to you, and then watching you turn away from me?
“I held and cradled that hope that you would give in to your emotions, and try to love me as much as I did to you. If you already found the entrance to that pathway, and walked more than halfway to the exit on the other side, then why would you turn the other way, and take the long way out? I’m trapped in a labyrinth, Yifan- and everything in it is you. Why can’t you realize that I’m in love with you, and just accept it?
“Is there something so terribly wrong with being in love with me? Are we so different that you can’t let it happen? I have ears and a tail, yes I know- I can’t help that! But, I have a beating heart, that races for you, and I have the belief that you do for me. We’re the same in that sense; isn’t that enough? Yifan, I love you, isn’t that enough for you?”
Red rimmed the corners of Yixing’s eyes, and hot tears rolled down his cheeks. Yifan made a move to wipe them, but Yixing moved away from him. “You don’t deserve to wipe away tears that are your fault.”
Yifan froze in his motions.
He fucked up, and he fucked up hard, but Yixing is still sitting in front of him, when he should be halfway down the street and out of there, if he was really giving up on Yifan. But, he’s not, and that built up so much hope into Yifan’s heart. For the first time, he threw caution to the wind, and let it drift away with every piece of his stupid pride.
“Fuck, I’m so stupid,” Yifan uttered, helplessly wrapping his arms around the brunette, “Baby, don’t push me away, I’m sorry.”
There was a muffled silence, and Yixing’s whimpers in attempt to hold back the tears that were already streaming down his face could be heard. The blonde felt that uncomfortable swirl in his gut again, and this time, it stabbed at him, as if demanding that he beg for Yixing’s forgiveness. And he does, because he really doesn’t know what dignity he has anymore if he lets the chance that Yixing gave him vanish before his eyes.
"Yixing," his tone is desperate, but he knows it really isn't enough. Yixing was right, and Yixing was crying (and it was his fault).
It isn't Kris, the Executive Director of a very important company that had helplessly fallen in love with Yixing; there's nothing wrong with shadowing his career with a relationship, because you didn't choose who you fell in love with. Yifan didn't choose to love Yixing; it just happened. And he shouldn't be pushing away Yixing with blind ambition to retain pride. Yixing was worth more than his damned pride.
"I'll be good to you," he promised, pressing a kiss to the corner of Yixing's lips. "I promise I'll be good to you, please don't give up on me, yet."
He's begging, but it's only because he belatedly realized how stupid his pride had been.
Yixing is a mess. He has a mind full of doubt, but his heart overflowed with promises. He doesn't want to fight with Yifan anymore, he really doesn't.
"One last chance," Yixing murmured.
"Let me kiss you?"
He does, because it is the one thing he held onto to hope that Yifan wouldn't break him for the third time. But, he trusted.
(Because it’s Yifan, not Kris.)
-
When Luhan returned to his apartment, he was half expecting Yixing and Yifan to be down one another's throats, arguing about stupid things, and half expecting that the cat would be in tears, because Yifan was so rude.
What he wasn't expecting was for them to be down each other's throats with their tongues; hard-core making out.
Luhan blinked at the sight in front of him, gaping-quite alike to a fish.
"Y-you- are you two?" He doesn't even finish his sentence.
Yifan and Yixing slowly parted from one another, and the brunette glanced up, fingers still lazily tangled into Yifan's blonde locks. His eyes brightened immediately, and he sat up.
"Luhan!" He smiled brightly.
Yifan turned his head, and blinked in the direction of his roommate.
"Oh, Luhan," he casually greeted, "You're back early."
"I- yes, I, well- uh," the (now) honey haired male nodded dumbly, "He… said yes?"
Still tangled up, Yifan grinned, "Congratulations, man! Shouldn't you be happier? Man, you've got yourself the love of your life!"
"I'm happy!" Luhan insisted, "Just, what- whatever happened between the two of you?"
Yixing turned to look at Yifan, affectionately, and the blonde rubbed his ears; purposefully smothering. And then, Yixing sighed dreamily. Luhan's expression of sheer confusion twisted into one of half disgust.
"We're in love," they replied, in unison.
Luhan gagged; Yifan looking so utterly whipped and in love? That's disgusting.
The eldest clapped his roommate on the shoulder, "I'm proud of you, buddy. I'm happy for you. Just… don't be so gross, please."
"Yeah, yeah," Yifan replied, leaning to kiss Yixing square on the lips. The brunette flushed bright red, and Luhan felt his eyebrow twitch.
That's disgusting.
Why did he even share an apartment with Yifan?
He didn't want to watch this go down every day. The honey haired man cleared his throat, and grabbed his phone, quickly hitting 3 on speed dial.
"Hey, Seok? Wanna come over and distract me from Yifan and his boyfriend?"
For: baoxing (xingsdimple)
By: xingnamoroll
Word count: 10 150+
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There’s a difference between Wu Kris, and Wu Yifan, and that was a little more difficult to explain than the process of scribbling a signature at the bottom of a contract.
Affiliation(s): fanxingyou 2014!round
Kris shared an apartment with an old friend. A Chinese boy, who was a couple months older than him, with wide brown eyes and a mess of baby pink hair (or at least that was what he looked like about a week ago-it might be green now, or maybe all different colours of the rainbow, he had no actual way of knowing) called Lu Han. Surname Lu, given name Han; simple enough, but his employers always messed it up, thus, he was dubbed Luhan to make it easier in everyone. Luhan gave off a flower boy feel, and sweetness overload that would most likely only be in the possession of a playboy, but Kris would never forget the time when a four year old Luhan crouched alone in the corner of the kindergarten sandbox, tears streaming down his embarrassment flushed face, as he was yet to be perfectly potty trained.
He paid the driver, and walked into his building, hitting the button of the elevator to go up to his high rise apartment. He kind of missed Luhan during his business trip, as he was given a temporary phone and Luhan didn't call him. They have nothing more than a platonic relationship, but sometimes, the annoyance was a requirement in his life, else it was too quiet.
Kris punched the code into the keypad, and stumbled into the residence. He tripped over Luhan's shoes, and cursed under his breath, "God dammit, Luhan, just because I'm not home does not mean that you can make a mess of this place."
Something felt different in the apartment, but he shrugged it off as not being home for a week. Kris took off his shoes, slippers sliding into his feet as their replacement, and headed to his room. A nap sounded nice; Luhan didn't seem to be home.
Kris opened the door of his room, and did a double take as he took in the view before him. A pair of brown eyes staring directly into his, a curious smile curling into the face's lips, and a pair of ebony ears sticking out of the mass of hair atop the person's head.
Kris let go of the handle, and screamed.
“Holy shit!” He recoiled in surprise, and stared at the thing in front of him in bewilderment. What the hell? He did not own a cat, so why was there one in his room? (No one was allowed in Kris’ room.)
The cat mirrored the action of screaming, but no sound left his lips. Was the thing mocking him? It looked at him curiously, and smiled, flashing a (really cute) dimple, “Hi, who are you?”
Kris made a baffled expression, “Who am I? You're standing in,” the cat cut Kris off, “Ah! You must be the Yifan guy, Luhannie was talking about!”
Luhan. Of course this was Luhan's fault.
It was always Luhan’s fault.
“But… Luhannie said you were nice,” it pouted, and Kris’ eyebrow twitched in irritation.
“Get out of my room,” Kris ordered.
He peered up at the businessman with wide, innocent, eyes and opened his mouth, as if to begin to insist that it was his room too, because Luhan gave him half of the place, out some utter bullshit like that.
“Out.”
The cat made a pitiful expression at him and slinked away into the living room, his tail drooping to the ground. Kris picked up his cellular phone and dialed Luhan's number quickly. As soon as the call connected, Kris spoke. He didn't even give Luhan a chance to greet him.
“Luhan, get your ass home immediately, ” he snarled into the device.
-
They were situated in the living room, Kris on the reclining sofa, looking terrifyingly impatient, and Luhan, the cat, along with Minseok (who happened to be shopping with Luhan and got dragged into this), shared the loveseat.
“Why did I come home to that in my room?” Kris demanded, and Minseok only looked vaguely amused.
“I have a name,” the cat hissed. Luhan pet the cat's ears soothingly.
“Now, now, Yifan,” Luhan started, trying to sound reasonable. Kris rolled his eyes. Luhan has always called him by his real name, but god, it sounded so annoying right at the moment. “I adopted Yixing. He was an adorable stray, okay?”
Kris stared at Luhan, “A stray,” he repeated.
“Yes, a stray,” Luhan confirmed, eyeing the younger man, as if challenging him to make a comment on the fact that Yixing was a stray.
“I don't like him,” Kris said, childishly.
“But, he's so cute!” Luhan insisted, wrapping his arm around the vile thing.
Luhan wasn't looking at Yixing and the cat stuck his tongue out at Kris, mouthing: “I don't like you either!”
“Why is he in my room? Why isn't he in your room? You can adopt a houseful of stray cats if you wanted, just: why is the thing in my room?” Kris growled.
Luhan was about the make a remark, when Minseok cleared his throat, “May I interrupt?”
“Go ahead,” Kris told him.
“Yifan, Luhan already signed the forms to adopt Yixing, and it's terribly cruel to kick the kitten out, after barely a week of keeping him. Cats have feelings too, Yifan,” Minseok started, “As for Yixing staying in Yifan's room; it was vacant, and you have the master bedroom. He's a good cat. He won't bother you.”
“And if he does?” Kris pressed, to which Yixing abruptly responded with a quick remark of how he wouldn't. Minseok laughed.
“He won't,” the Korean man assured, “Give him some time.”
Kris turned to the cat, and narrowed his eyes, “You have a million seconds to stay in my room.”
Yixing sat up straight, his ears perking up haughtily, “Whatever,”
Luhan grinned at Minseok, “I sense the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Minseok sighed. Why was his life hard?
-
Kris did not like cats. He had no reason to like them. The few cats that he has met flashed him with terrible memories that he would rather not recall. Perhaps, his friend, Zitao, simply had a weird cat; or maybe cats were ridiculously intimidating during their heat. He wouldn't know, and he had no intention of wanting to find out. Ever.
Everyone knew that cats were just a luxury for the richer families. They could be considered entertainment, if that wasn't so cruel sounding. Usually, he saw them acting as an older brother role for small children who were alone, and their parents worked too much to spend time with the child. It was upsetting to Kris that anyone would even bother to purchase a cat for the sole reason of keeping their child busy. There were only two things that Kris knew about cats, and he was never interested in learning more about them.
The first and foremost being that cats were an interesting hybrid between humans and cats. He never wanted to think about how that came about (alike to how he never wants to think about how his mother became impregnated with him). Cats had the striking appearance of a human, with the addition of ears and a tail. The second thing that Kris knew about cats was that he was really not fond of them. He really didn't have a sufficient reason to explain his dislike, but it was one of those things that you subconsciously grow to dislike.
Thus, he sat in the corner at his desk, glaring at the cat who was playing with a stuffed bunny. The bunny looked strangely familiar, and he narrowed his eyes. Was that the bunny that he had given to Luhan during their high school years? (It wasn't actually a gift from Kris; a freshman had presented him with the cute bunny, and he had planned to break it down slowly that he wasn't interested in having a relationship with the girl. Luhan had fallen in love with the plush toy, and he had shoved it into his hands with an aggravated sigh.)
"Stop staring at me," Yixing spoke up.
Kris blinked, "I'm not watching you," he retorted.
Yixing looked up from his plush toy, "Yeah? Because staring blatantly in my direction is not watching me at all."
Kris did not like sharp mouths talking back to him. He grimaced, "I'm staring at the wall behind you." He really wasn't, but anything to avoid being caught staring at the aggravating (but cute) cat.
"It's blank," Yixing retorted.
Kris rolled his eyes, "Which is why I'm looking at it."
"What, do you have some sort of messed up fixation on blank wall walls? The one right behind you is blank too. Stare at that," Yixing huffed, and the blonde was rendered almost shocked.
"Stop looking at me!" Yixing repeated, his head turned the other way. From another angle, it would have been amazingly adorable to see the rosy colour that dusted Yixing's cheeks.
He ignored Yixing's statement, but turned to continue to sign his name at the bottom of the papers that lay spread out on his desk. His flight had been exhausting, but Kris had always been an overachiever. There was the sound of shuffling bed sheets, and Kris let his eyes flicker over to the other side of the room.
Yixing was buried into a bundle under the blankets, but Kris could see the cat's tail hanging out from underneath the navy covers. It was in his bed, perfect. The cat was in his bed for a while now, but he'd forced himself to have the hopeful impression that Yixing was going to sleep on the floor. (Of course, he was just trying to delude himself.)
He knew he was being rude, but how else was he expected to react when his roommate and friend of many years decided to adopt a cat and thrust it into his room? It had been completely without his permission, and Kris happened to have a slight control complex. But, Yixing was a stray cat, and who knew what kinds of diseases he might carry. (Luhan, logically, would have gotten him checked, but when Kris wasn't around, it was hard to confirm anything).
Just because Luhan was the older one didn't mean that he would be allowed to make all the decisions in their household without consulting Kris. The blonde glared down at his paperwork, and sighed, as he dropped his pen. He was letting all of this get to him. He was probably just tired. It was a long flight, perhaps he should just crawl into bed now.
He packed up his signed sheets of paper-or if you took ever felt the need to take Kris seriously: extremely important documents-, and made his way over to his bed. Perhaps, when he woke up, everything would be gone and it would all actually be a dream. (His rational side knew that something like that was utterly impossible, but sometimes, the irrational thoughts needed to sweep in. Delusions could be good, sometimes.)
"Move over," he grumbled, pushing Yixing aside. The cat growled, but rolled to the other side of the king sized mattress.
As Kris moved to lay down, Yixing turned back in his direction and cracked open a single eye, "Go take a shower; you're disgusting."
"Don't tell me what t--"
"Go!" Yixing added, as a whine. The blonde recoiled, and turned to grab his things, heading towards the shower.
He really didn't know why he listened to the cat, but he doesn't think about it until the water is beating down gently against his skin. It's the shower that awakens him slightly, and he jolted in realization.
Why am I listening to the damn cat?
He ran his fingers through suds filled hair.
Wait.
Why was Yixing in his room, if Luhan wasn't home?
He had the perfect reason to kick Yixing out of his room. The blonde hurried to finish his shower to return to his room, and remove the irritating cat from the premises of his room. He had a king sized bed, but he was a large man; he needed all that space to himself.
Kris' feet padded gently against the tiled floor as he made his way back to his room, his mind set on removing the brunette cat from his bed.
As soon as he entered his bedroom, however, he was greeted with the cat having already fallen asleep. The space next to him was more than enough for Kris, and he couldn't find it in himself to awaken the cat, and tell him to go to Luhan's room. He crawled into the bed, and sighed as his head hit the pillow. Oh that felt nice.
He wasn't being nice to Yixing; no, he just didn't want the cat to start whining when he woke up, that was all. Yes, of course.
-
The sun streamed unforgivingly into the master bedroom, and Kris was quickly reminded why he didn't like his bedroom very much. Sure, it was bigger than Luhan's, but it faced east, and the sun relentlessly attacked him in the morning. He turned, and buried his face into his pillow, and was met with warmth of another body.
Oh that was really nice. Had he brought home someone last night? He didn't even remember leaving the house last night. Based on the security of his house, there was no way it would have been a murderer of some sort. Kris relaxed, and wrapped a lazy arm around the warm figure, burying his face into his pillow.
"Hey…" the voice was a quiet whine from under him. Kris swatted lethargically at whatever direction he thought the sound came from.
"Shh, ten more minutes," he slurred.
Yixing would never have expected that he would wake up all tangled in Kris' arms. The older man was comfortable, but at the same time, it was a little difficult to breathe. Yixing swatted his tail at the blonde, who only replied with a groan.
"You're squishing me," Yixing mumbled.
A couple more whacks of his tail-it really did hurt-and that finally seemed to wake the other man up. Kris rolled off of him, and rubbed at his eyes. Yixing honestly considered slipping off the bed and hiding before the sleepy businessman realized that he was hugging Yixing in his slumber. But, as swift as his movements were, Yixing was unable to escape Kris' line of sight.
"Holy shit," Kris groaned, as he locked eyes with the brunette cat, "I was hugging you?"
Yixing nodded meekly, too exhausted to play the agitated feline, "I tried to push you off," he remarked under his breath.
"God, why are you so warm?" Kris sat up, and ran his fingers through his hair. Definitely should have kicked Yixing out. "I only hugged you because you're warm, and I was cold."
It's an excuse, and they both know it. Yixing wrapped the blanket around himself, ears drooping downwards. He really does want to be hugged, but not by someone who acted like they hated him.
"I'm going to go find Luhannie," Yixing mumbled, ready to venture out and find his favourite human-or, best friend, as it seemed they were called.
Kris instinctively caught his hand. Yixing blinked back at him curiously with wide, innocent, eyes. The blonde made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, and looked away, "Luhan's not home," he bit out.
Horribly sad eyes met with Kris', and the blonde wanted to punch himself. Why was he being so nice to the damned feline who invaded his personal space?
That really wasn't necessary. But, Minseok's words ring clearly in his head. Give him a chance. He's an Executive Director for a big company; he should be level headed, and logical. Being ridiculously mean to the cat was anything but fitting to that description. Imagine that you're getting paid for being patient; he instructed himself, but that was like working double shift. He wasn't sure that he was okay with that.
"Where did he go?" Yixing asked, and Kris bit his lip.
To Hell, he thought. Luhan went to Hell, because that was his home, and the damned demon spawn decided to visit home for a short while (in reality, Luhan was working on some sort of project with Minseok).
"Minseok's place," he told him. Kris awkwardly let go of Yixing's wrist, and the cat drew it back to himself. "You can stay in bed with me, if you're not annoying."
Yixing flashed a dazzling smile, and curled back into the sheets, mewling softly in satisfaction, and he wound his tail around Kris' wrist.
"Thanks, Yifan," he giggled.
Kris cringed.
That was so cute.
Cuteness was infuriating.
Terrible decision, Wu. He said not to be annoying, but oh. That was annoying. Aggravating. Irritating. Agitating. Terribly annoying; oh, is that an onslaught of a pounding headache he feels? Must be.
-
There are many things that Kris hated about Luhan. One of the most significant things that made his blood boil, however, was the way that he made everything sound like it was Kris' fault. So, apparently, according to Luhan's logic-and avoiding any possible loopholes in said logic-the reason that Yixing was refusing to come out of the corner was undoubtedly Kris.
"Luhan, I didn't even do anything!" Kris argued.
"Yifan," Luhan addressed him by his real name, sternly, "I will only ask you one more time; what did you do to Yixing?"
Kris scrolled his mind for everything terrible that he has ever done in his entire life, and perhaps a reasonable answer to why he put up with Luhan, in order to explain why he was cursed with living under the same roof as an extremely pretty man, who happened to possess a brain the size of a pea.
"I didn't do anything to him!"
The final thing that he remembered he did with Yixing was cuddle with him, and fall asleep, because he had been much too lazy to get out of bed. That wouldn't explain why Yixing refused to leave his corner though.
Luhan rushed to the cat's side, and cooed sweetly at him. Kris could feel his blood pressure slowly rising. He dropped onto the sofa, clutching his head. There were two main talents which Kris knew Luhan had mastered. The first being burning down the kitchen (there was a reason they always are takeout), and the second being the unforgivable ability to make Kris' blood pressure skyrocket to unbelievable values.
He didn't even know why Yixing was upset.
Or well, he had a slight idea. A vague idea. Foggy shadows forming a blurry image. (Or perhaps, he knew exactly why Yixing was upset, but he had made a promise that he wouldn't tell Luhan. Kris was a man who was true to his word; even if the person he made a promise too was an adorable and aggravating cat.)
The cat had declared Luhan as his best friend, because while Kris was away on his business trip, the Chinese man (whose hair was now a striking silver) had taken care of him. But, now that Kris was back from his trip overseas, and had decided that he really didn't like the cat; Luhan had been ignoring Yixing in favour of Minseok. And his excuse? He was supposedly making a wise decision on the future of Kris' relationship status.
But, he was not going to be dating a fucking cat. No.
He was just going to let them solve that for themselves. Kris shut his eyes, and rested his arms behind his head, interlocking his fingers together.
-
It was impossible to tell how long he closed his eyes for, but eventually, Luhan was tugging on his hand again. He would have expected his hand to be tugged by Yixing of all people (and cats), but when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by Luhan and his abnormally large eyes.
"What?" He snapped.
"We're best friends again," Luhan grinned.
The blonde rolled his eyes. How annoying. He made eye contact with the cat, who flashed a small smile at him, as if saying "it's totally okay if Luhan ditches me your that one guy that he isn't even dating; we're still best friends".
"You finally made up?" He questioned, absently. He already knew the answer from the ecstatic look on the cat's face.
"Yup! We sure did!" Luhan sounded abnormally cheerful, and Kris arched a curious eyebrow.
"Why are you so happy? You usually wouldn't be this happy over making up with a friend." Kris questioned, his curiosity getting the better of him; he usually couldn't care less about Luhan's emotions.
Luhan leaned over dramatically whispering in his ear, "Minseok asked me to go to his summer house with him, next week."
The very first thing that crossed the mind of the blonde man was: oh shit, that meant that he had to take care of the cat alone, again. He had given a cat a million seconds to reside in his room, that was less than a week, but he really didn't appreciate the company of the cat-despite his body being really warm, and soft. The blonde silently cursed the better of his two friends.
"Oh, have fun," he gritted out.
Yixing pouted, "You're leaving again?"
Luhan suddenly looked really guilty, "Y-yeah…"
The feline's ears quickly drooped, and so did his tail, "Oh…"
"You have Yifan, while I'm gone!" Luhan tried. Yixing ignored him.
"How long are you going for?"
"Two weeks."
Kris sat up straight, "Excuse me?"
"Two weeks," Luhan repeated, and shot him a pointed look.
Yixing tugged on his best friend's sleeve, and it looked almost as if he might have been on the brink of tears. Kris prayed to everything that existed that the cat was not about to cry. There were two things that he didn't like: cats and tears. But, when you put them together, it was disgusting, and he could not stand it.
"Two weeks?" He asked, as if confirming with Luhan if he comprehended accurately. Luhan nodded, and glassy eyes widened even more. Kris tore his eyes away, "All of the two weeks? All fourteen days?"
Luhan nodded, and Yixing whimpered miserably. Kris tuned out on the conversation, but he swore he heard Yixing saying something along the lines of three hundred and thirty-six hours, and maybe something like twenty thousand one hundred and sixty minutes. He just really hoped that Yixing wouldn't retreat back to that corner again.
"Yifan will take care of you, Yixing," Luhan coaxed, and Kris wanted to screech about how he didn't want to take care of the cat. Luhan adopted him, thus he should take care of him. It was only common sense. But, animals have souls and feelings too: that might have been the only thing that prevented Kris from objecting the statement that he would take care of the cat boy.
But, Kris also knew that Luhan had been chasing Minseok for the past two years, and this was a great development in their relationship. He should let the chance have an opportunity to reach the stage of a beautiful efflorescence.
"I'll take good care of you," Kris echoed, sighing.
Yixing looked terribly doubtful.
-
A week with Luhan around to take care of Yixing flew by ridiculously quickly. Kris almost wished he had the power to stop time, just so Saturday-the day that Luhan left for Minseok's summer house-would never approach. But, unfortunately, Saturday crept up on them like an eagle hunting its prey.
"So, it's just you and me," Kris muttered, as soon as the car is out of sight.
Yixing nodded, and Kris glanced at him briefly. In the light of the dawning sunrise, the cat looked a little bit adorable, once you got over the fact that he had ears and a tail-something that Kris had yet to do.
"Do you want to go back up?"
"Where else would you take me?" Yixing retorted.
He had a very valid point. Kris didn't exactly like the idea of taking a cat around the city as if he really did appreciate his presence. It’s mean to think like that, but Kris did not want to be known-at any point in his life-as the one guy to took his cat around the city for fun, because his roommate had left town for a while.
The blonde turned on his heel, and Yixing quickly followed him to the elevator.
“Why do you hate me?” Yixing asked in a quiet voice, once the metal doors slid shut behind them. Kris froze, his finger hovering right above the elevator button that took them to the highest floor.
“I don’t hate you,” he replied.
“Yes, you do.” Yixing quickly retorted, not missing a beat.
Kris considered the retort for a moment. It was true that it seemed like Kris hated the cat, and perhaps he felt a little guilty for that. Yixing hadn't done anything wrong. If anyone was to have the finger pointed at them, it was Luhan.
The blonde ran his fingers through his hair; a guilty habit. They've been sharing the same bed for the past week, and despite Kris initially stating that he wanted Yixing out of his room after the million seconds passed, he found that he quite enjoyed waking up with Yixing in his arms. It was like a silence before a storm, because they argued every other second of the day. He only saw the feline's vulnerable side, now.
"It's not that I hate you-" Kris started.
Yixing cut him off, "Of course not. You treat everyone like that, am I right? Bullshit, Yifan. Bullshit." The cat ran irritated fingers through dark locks of tousled hair. "At night, you hold me like I'm the most precious thing in the world to you, but as soon as the sun rises, and I'm out of your arms, you treat me like shit!"
Kris stumbled for words. Were they really doing this in an elevator? Kris found himself anticipating every second of the elevator reaching their floor, so he could enter his high rise apartment, and talk this out with Yixing. Yixing didn't give him that chance.
"Yixing, listen to me, I-"
"Would you tell me why?" He pressed, sounding much angrier than he did when he'd had his nervous start. "Why do you do that to me? Why do you make my emotions go haywire, and then drop me like nothing matters?"
"I thought you were a dick, when I first met you," Yixing admitted. "But, I thought you would realize that we, cats, have feelings too. Eventually."
Yixing's tirade was perfectly planned, and he exited the elevator as soon as he was done his speech. He only spared Kris one final look, before turning on his heel with a heart shattering gaze, "But, it doesn't seem you know that. I thought you were better than that, Yifan. It's about time that I've given up."
The way that Yixing stormed off and the way that his name slid off Yixing's tongue left a bitter taste in his mouth. He hated it. He was stunned for a moment, before he gathered his sense, and followed Yixing to their apartment.
He wouldn't ask for forgiveness, even though he knew he was wrong.
But, Yixing's words left him with an empty heart.
It's about time that I've given up.
-
Guilt gnawed at him, because everything that Yixing had claimed he thought of the feline kind was more or less true. He hadn't been blatantly planning on breaking Yixing, or using him for his own sick emotional pleasures, but it was more like trying to care for something so delicate that a single stroke of an incorrect fingertip could recklessly damage it.
That care was a timid stutter of motions, afraid that they would commit to something destructive. It related so perfectly to Kris. The businessman had possession of perfect logic, yet when it came to taking care of Yixing, his mind drew an empty blank and expected him to fill it in. It was a given that it wouldn't make any sense to his mind.
Yixing was something with throes of infinite emotions. He was nothing like the paperwork that sat on the Executive Director's desk, mindlessly awaiting to be signed. They didn't share that same sense of care, and Kris simply did not understand. It was stupid to think to attempt to compare the two drastically different things; Kris didn't have enough of personal social talents to cooperate.
The first night sleeping without Yixing in his arms felt weird. There was not anything to run his fingers across. There was no sound of indignant whining when he moved too much. There wasn't the sweet warmth that nuzzled against him. That scent that was distinctively Yixing wasn't present on the pillow beside him.
The second night followed suit, and Yixing didn't even speak to him in the mornings. They didn't even share an argument like they usually would. Yixing was there, but he acted as if Kris was not, and it hurt.
The third night is the worst. The third night, he's restless. He can't think about anything but Yixing, and he hated it. Why did this bother him do much, anyway? If Yixing was mad at him, then let it be. Wasn't that logical? That was the best option.
No. He's lying to himself again.
He's trying to convince himself of things that he didn't believe. How was he going to be persuasive if he didn't even believe what he was saying?
To say the very least, he actually missed Yixing.
It didn't comfort him to know that Yixing was in the room down the hall, sleeping alone.
They say you don't know what you're missing until it's gone.
Kris couldn't agree more.
-
On the third night, it storms. Kris has always had the habit of staring out the window during thunderstorms, taking in the relaxing atmosphere of the down pouring rain. On the third night, there's a knock in his bedroom door. He wasn’t expecting it, but when he thought back on it, what else could it have possibly been? Yixing and he were the only people present in the apartment. He still didn’t expect that when he opened the door, that Yixing would be standing in the middle of the doorway, crying.
He panicked.
The blonde threw all his logic to the wind-and it might have been that he really did miss Yixing, as well. He gathered the cat into his arms, and shushed him, stroking his hair gently. He didn’t know why Yixing was crying, and he didn’t want to ask, in fear that it would trigger more tears from the sobbing figure in his arms.
It turned out he never really needed to ask.
The lightning outside flashed violently, and the thunder snarled unforgivingly, and the petite male in his arms buried closer into his chest, whimpering in the midst of tears.
He’s scared of the storm. It dawned on Kris like a damned freight train to the stomach. Clumsily large fingers-shaky from the fact that Yixing was crying-carded through dark locks of hair, and Kris pressed a gentle kiss to the brunette’s forehead instinctively.
“Shh, don’t cry,” he whispered, his tone sounding a little bit too unsure.
He was supposed to be comforting, but why did he sound like he didn’t know what he was doing? It was when Yixing gripped onto the hem of his shirt, which Kris picked him up, and ushered him to his bed. He tucked the cat in. It broke his heart to see Yixing in tears, when he finally got the chance to talk to him again-or at least interact with him. The brunette had been ignoring his entire presence for the past few days.
Kris slid in with Yixing, when the younger refused to let go of his body. The blonde stroked Yixing's hair, murmuring soothing words softly into his ear. Promises that he was there, and that he would be okay. The panic only bubbled more, when Yixing's tears continued, if not increased.
It's on a complete whim that he presses a gentle kiss to Yixing's forehead. It's the second time, and he didn't know how many excuses he could make, before he admitted to himself that he honestly liked kissing the brunette.
He mentally smacked and scolded himself. No, Kris, what are you thinking?
(But, Kris was the proper businessman, and Yifan was the one who got anything he wanted.)
When Yixing's whimpers and sobs slowed to a stutter, the blonde pressed his forehead against the cat boy's. "Are you okay?"
Yixing shook his head, eyes still brimmed with glistening tears, "N-no…"
A piece of Kris-no, a piece of Yifan-broke at the negative response to his question. Yixing hadn't looked like he was in any way okay, but he had hoped that at least, a little bit of the brunette had calmed down. His heart shattered even more at Yixing's next remark.
"I'm scared, Yifan…"
Yifan hushed him, and his fingers gently brushed away stay tears, "Pretend the storm isn't there," he whispered softly.
"I-I can't-"
"Shh, baby," Yifan told him, the pet name sliding off his tongue instinctively. It doesn't even register in his mind that he said it, at all. "Yes, you can, I know you can."
Yixing whimpered, and Yifan wrapped an arm around him, "Just think about you and me, right now; the storm isn't there, okay?"
The petite male nodded, and inhaled Yifan's scent, fingers clutching at the hem of the larger man's shirt. Yixing still looked petrified, and the blonde sighed softly, leaning their foreheads together again.
"Yixing, look at me." He instructed.
Timid eyes obeyed him, opening again, and they stared blankly into his own dark orbs.
"I'm going to kiss you, okay?" Yifan muttered, "Focus on me."
It's a selfish request, yet the horrified brunette nodded his head in acceptance to the blonde's instructions, closing his eyes.
"If I kiss you here, you'll forget about the lightning," he whispered, as he pressed a kiss to Yixing's eyelids.
"If it's here, you'll forget about the thunder;" a kiss to his temple.
He could see Yixing visibly relaxing, as if believing his words.
A kiss to the corners of his lips, "Here, so the rain disappears…"
He refused to admit to his racing heart, that this was self-indulgence.
"And your lips, so the storm vanishes…"
He paused, staring at Yixing's rosy lips for a moment, his breath hitching at the back of his throat. Why was his heart racing so fast?
Yifan inhaled and leaned in, closing the distance between their lips. It's a gentle probing of lips, at first, their mouths trying to find a pattern to naturally fall into; a synchronized choreography of their molding mouths. It was Yixing who became a little more daring-biting gently at Yifan's lower lip.
And then, there was tongue; Yifan leaned to hover over Yixing, head tilting to a more comfortable position as he deepened the kiss. He could feel Yixing's tongue brushing against his own, and he felt the younger's hands tangling in his hair.
He tried to convince himself that this was to help Yixing forget about the storm; but there was an emotional hurricane brewing in his own mind. And it was Yixing's fault.
They parted, and Yifan affectionately pulled the other man closer to himself. Yixing panting softly, and staring at him with curious eyes.
This time, he blamed it on selfish intent.
He pressed their lips together again, and it's a slow exchange, his slightly rough digits rubbing at Yixing's ears. Yixing groped at the front of his shirt, and it was all about them for the empty moment of the night.
His senses were infiltrated with Yixing. How soft Yixing's lips were; how he smelled faintly of vanilla; how tightly Yixing's fingers were clenched into his shirt; how Yixing's tongue tasted on his; how gentle Yixing's breathing sounded to his ears, as it harshly pierced through silence; and how Yixing's heart seemed to thump against his chest.
Everything was Yixing, to Yifan, and to Yixing: the endless pattering of rain, and the angry flashes of lighting entailing roaring thunder, didn't exist anymore.
-
Morning was an ethereal light, dawning on them, stirring peaceful slumber. Yixing pulled Yifan to him, and buried his face against the blonde's chest to hide from the vile light rays.
There was a slow knocking of rain beating down on the glass window; serene.
"Why don't you ever close the blinds?" Yixing whined.
Yifan swatted at him, raising the blanket to cover the both of them, and he'd later insist he wasn't in his right mind, when he rolled half his body into the cat-peppering an affectionate layer of kisses everywhere on Yixing's face-morning breath be damned.
"Good morning," he murmured.
The brunette giggled softly, and pushed him away, “Hi.”
Maybe, that was when he decided that God forbid him ever to be mean to Yixing ever again, because that giggle. That giggle.
He rolled back onto the petite brunette, and affectionately nuzzled his neck, “God, you have the cutest laugh.”
He doesn’t even know why he’s being so affectionate, when barely a hundred hours ago, he was extremely rude to Yixing. They weren’t even dating, or on any terms to be so affectionate with each other. But, after the storm; it seemed so natural.
The calm before the storm lead to the raging storm, and was swallowed by an infinite serenity. That was where they were now. Yixing laughed softly as stands of flyaway hair brushed against him, tickling his chin.
"Yifan, stop it!" He whined, his hands poised to push the older man away, but there was no strength to file through with the action.
Yixing was okay with this, he really was. The overflowing affection from the older man was what he had always been craving. Luhan treated him well, but it wasn't the romantic affection that all cats loved. Luhan's heart was owned, but the man who held him now possessed an empty heart, and he would fill that slot in-if Yifan would let him; if not, he would pry his way into it anyway. Bury himself deep, and never let Yifan let him go.
Yifan found himself glad that his company had decided that it was a good thing to put him on break, coincidentally at the same time that Luhan traveled out of town. For the first time, since a month after they moved in, there was someone home to take care of the house, when both weren't present at once.
They called it a shared apartment, but he doesn't remember the last time that he was home with his roommate, before they-or rather, Luhan-decided to adopt the cat. He supposed there were the perks of becoming closer to Luhan with having Yixing around.
(And something in the pit of his gut, unknowingly to him, screamed that he wanted Yixing's attention on him, only).
It felt nice not to be at war with Yixing, anymore.
He wrapped his arms around Yixing's waist, and the other male squealed softly when Yifan rolled them both over, shifting so the cat leaned against his body instead. Yixing snuggled closer, and Yifan hummed lightly in contentment at their position.
It was funny how two disasters could fix something else. Yixing's explosion and the relentless storm had fixed a dysfunctional relationship between a cat and his legal owner's friend cum housemate.
Through mirthful eyes, Yixing glanced up at Yifan, a question lingering between them.
'I thought you hated me?'
The utterly confused expression on Yixing's face made the blonde constrict his arms tighter around the brunette, a groan of incredulity escaping his lips. How was someone possibly so cute?
'No, I think I like you quite a bit,' the silent message is transferred through a shy kiss to Yixing's nose.
The brunette's tail waved in happiness.
-
"Why are you still holding onto me? It's been hours since we woke up."
"Xing, you're so warm… I could just hold you forever, mm…"
"H-hey! Stop that-! Don't touch me there! Ack! Yifan!"
-
It might have all been a high of some sort, because everything crashed down when Yifan's phone rang.
"Hello? Wu Yifan speaking," he murmured, halting in his quest to find Yixing some clothes to change into after his shower.
"When was the last time you answered the phone like that?" Luhan's voice rang clearly through the line.
Yifan blinked, "Like what?"
"Wu Yifan; you called yourself Yifan. How long has it been since you called yourself Yifan, over Kris?"
It belatedly dawned on him the issue.
He never really used his birth name anymore, and it was only with close friends that he ever responded to said name. The last time he answered the phone with his full birth name, however, was a couple years back in time, when twenty-five year old minds found themselves madly in love with a pretty lady-before she had dumped him in favour of an ex-boyfriend that she had supposedly been trying to get back, by using him. He had decided never to bring back the memories, by using his business name. Three years later, he found himself in the same position of answering the phone with his birth name.
He laughed awkwardly, "Oh… it's been a while, huh? But, how is your vacation? Anything up? Why the sudden call?"
It later would hit him that Luhan was implying the question of whether or not he was in love, because there was no agony and depression that tagged along with the name that she once, ever-so-sweetly, called to him.
"Can't I call because I missed you guys?" Luhan asked. Yifan quickly retaliated with a gag, and he swore he heard Luhan mumbling something on the other end of the line, that sounded something alike to 'ungrateful little bastard'. "My vacation is lovely, Yifan. At what state is base in right at this current moment?"
Luhan sounded like some sort of military commander, and the blonde rolled his eyes at the dramatic antics of his friend cum roommate.
"Base is in perfect condition," he assured, "Just relax and enjoy Minseok's company, and maybe his body too; I don't know what two twenty-nine year old men would do in the older one's summer house."
The scoff that Luhan gave him elicited a laugh from him, and he only laughed louder when Luhan informed him of the very important fact that Minseok was not twenty-nine, but was actually already thirty years of age. It made Yifan almost want to make an annoyingly infuriating commentary on Minseok and Luhan being old, but something told him Luhan would flip out on him.
At his own state of twenty-nine, Yifan had yet to grow out of his aggravated Luhan appreciation phase. (It was called revenge.)
"-finitely not old, I know you're thinking it- we are the same age, Wu!"
Yifan's laugh cut off Luhan's tirade, and there was a quiet break in their conversation. He could tell there was another question on Luhan's tongue, but there was no telling what it really was.
He remembered a fifteen year old Luhan on the phone with him, mirroring this same scenario.
"Han, hey, what's up, man?" Yifan asked, his tone suddenly softening.
Luhan audibly sighed, "Should I ask him, Yifan? I mean, what if he says no? What if I read the signs wrong? What if he doesn't like me back?"
"Calm down," Yifan told him, "Think about it; Minseok understands you. If you fuck it up, it's okay. You won't ruin a friendship, but if he says yes. If he says yes, you'll be the happiest man alive. Steel your balls, and just ask."
His roommate exhaled in sheer relief, "Man, you give the best advice, how don't you have a partner in life?"
"Shut your fa-"
A shivering Yixing bounded into the room, wrapped in towels, and he whimpered quietly, "What's taking so long, I'm cold, Yifan-"
"Oh, sorry," Yifan apologized, as he lowered the phone from his ear. He tossed Yixing his t-shirt, and assumed it was long enough to cover his body. He watched as the cat scurried away, eyes raking in Yixing's perfect form.
He only snapped out if his trance, when he heard Luhan calling his name-the digitized tone sounding muffled to Yifan's mind-and he raised the cellular device back to his mouth.
"Dude, I think I'm in love with our cat. This is bad," he whispered, scandalously, into the phone.
He didn't know Yixing heard him, over Luhan's obnoxious cackling.
-
They’re suddenly distanced from one another over the next few days. It’s Yifan’s fault, really. It’s always Yifan’s fault.
Yixing would try and get closer to him, and give him a hug-but the realization that he was falling in love with Yixing hit Yifan hard, and he was still under the terrible shock of it. It wasn’t a bad thing that he was in love, but Yifan tended to overdramatize every little event that happened in his life. This was just another crisis in his mind. How could he not have noticed this coming?
The time is 22:35, and Yifan was still not in bed.
Yixing had noticed that Yifan was slowly trying to stay away from him, and he knew why-he’d heard him after all. The small kitten hybrid felt his heart shattering in two at the thought that Yifan was avoiding after the realization that he might be in love with him.
What was wrong with being in love with him?
Was he not good enough?
“Yifan?” Yixing called, and he peeked his head around the corner into Yifan’s home office.
When he didn’t get a response, Yixing entered the room in search for the blonde man. He found Yifan asleep on his desk, head buried in his arms; soft snoring sounding from him. Yixing clicked his tongue in disbelief. He crouched down on the floor, beside Yifan.
“You really did a number on avoiding me, huh?” he murmured, sadly.
A sigh.
“Isn’t it tiring to avoid someone that you see every single day? You live with me, Yifan,” he added.
“Is it that bad to fall in love with me, that you need to try away from me every single second that you’re awake? Am I some sort of disease that you need to avoid?” Yixing frowned to himself, choking lightly on his words. Don’t be stupid, Yixing, don’t cry.
"Did you know that it's okay if you fall in love with me, Yifan?" He said, softly, running his fingers through Yifan's hair. There was a pause in Yixing’s words, as he let his fingers linger between the golden locks. He held his breath, and his words slipped out as a shaky exhale, "It's not a crime to let yourself fall for me; I'll catch you, I promise I will. Do you not trust me? Or is it just that you simply do not want to be seen with a cat?
"Are we so different that you feel you need to be drowned in shame if you were with me? Is it so wrong, Yifan? I don't think it is; am I wrong to think that it isn't? What about us is so different, anyway? I have a tail, and kitten ears, but you and I both have a heart.
"It's okay, right? But, I'm scared too… you're not alone, Yifan… it's okay to be in love with me, now. It's okay to fall.
"Just because I might have already done so, to you…"
He smiled sadly, dropping his fingers from the sleeping man’s hair. His heart raced at the very thought of even being close to the blonde, but the way that Yifan couldn’t see how happily his eyes shone, when he was standing right beside him, hurt. It was an unsettling feeling at the pit of his stomach that hissed at him, and scolded him to stop his foolishness, because Yifan wouldn’t ever look at him that way.
Yixing didn’t even realize when he fell asleep.
23:52; Yifan started from his slumber, and fuzzy vision focused to see Yixing sleeping, head rested uncomfortably against the desk. Something in his gut twisted wearily. He let his mind fly to possible scenarios of why the brunette was in his office. Hadn’t he locked the door, when he hid away into his office?
But, the distressed look on Yixing’s face as he slept tore his heart into pieces. He paused, and long fingers smoothly stroked the skin above Yixing’s cheek. The area below his eyes were shadowed, clearly reflecting how tired he was. Again, Yifan felt the disturbing swivel in his body.
“Why are you here?” he whispered gently. The question was directed to Yixing, but it was inaudible to the sleeping male. “Why do you make such an effort to be with me, when I try so hard not to let myself fall in love with you?”
Why did he deserve this, when he was such a jerk to Yixing?
He didn’t deserve this.
But Yixing is like a destined soul mate that continued to return, no matter how many times he threw him away.
Perhaps, just maybe, Luhan was right.
He wouldn’t be able to hide from it forever.
A part of his mind told him it was wrong, but the overflowing affection that drilled through his mind pushed him forward, and he pressed a gentle kiss to Yixing’s forehead. He stirred, and Yifan pulled away quickly, a hand over his chest, panicked.
He didn’t want to be caught.
Yet, the quick motion away from Yixing, had made him arise from his slumber. The brunette rubbed at his eyes.
“Yifan... you’re awake,” he mumbled, stifling a yawn.
(Yifan’s heart swelled at the adorable gesture.)
The blonde swallowed past the lump in his throat, and nodded, awkwardly. Yixing’s eyes seemed to glisten with an ethereal glow that he had never noticed before. His heart thumped loudly in his ears, and god, was this how being helplessly in love felt like? (Or was this a war, and he was losing the battle?)
“... Yeah,” he answered.
“Yifan? Is everything okay?”
Was everything okay?
No, his heart was screaming at him, and he didn’t know what he was putting himself up against anymore. Everything in his mind was a mess. So, no, nothing was okay.
He gave a smile, and lied through his teeth, “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
Liar. Yixing’s eyes flashed with disappointment.
“Can I have a kiss?” he asked, hopefully.
Yifan turned flushed cheeks away, and bit his lower lip, “No, not right now,” he told him.
Yixing immediately deflated.
There was a long silence, before Yifan spoke again, “Why are you in here?”
The brunette blinked hard, and tilted his head in confusion, “I- I wanted to be with you?”
“Why?”
“You don’t want me here?”
“No, not really.”
Yixing’s eyes widened at the direct statement, and said eyes grew glassy with tears. He’s already high strung on emotions, and that’s the last straw.
“You don’t?” he harkened for a confirmation-yet, what he really searched was for Yifan to tell him that he wasn’t serious, and that he really did want him to stay. It doesn’t happen.
The blonde shook his head, in blind ambition to get rid of the relentless emotional build up in his heart. He remained blind to his surroundings. Blind to Yixing slowly cracking.
The brunette gave his last shot.
Yixing broke.
“Is there something wrong with loving me, Yifan?” he asked, his tone wrecked with infinite tears building up. “I asked you to stop treating me like shit one second, and like gold the next. You stopped that. Why are you doing it again, Yifan? Why are you pushing me away?”
Yixing was hysterical, and he clawed at the blonde’s shirt, tears streaming endlessly down his cheeks.
He doesn’t even remember the last time he’s cried.
“I heard you talking to Luhan,” he sobbed, fingers still curled into the taller man’s shirt.
Yifan looked petrified.
“I heard everything- you admitted to him that you thought you were in love with me- why can’t you do that now?” Yixing sounded helpless, and needy, but he was just slowly breaking, because his heart was tearing in two. “I said I would give up on you, but I couldn’t, why is that? Why did I let myself fall harder for you, if at that time I already knew that this is what would be waiting for me at the end of the line?
“I trusted Luhan to be my best friend, and be there for me, but he wasn’t. I don’t blame him, he’s chasing the love of his life, but when I turn to you for anything to hold onto, and perhaps a loving heart to build a home in- you’re not looking at me! What is your damned motive to fucking up my entire mentality, making me spiral into your affection, and lose myself to you, and then watching you turn away from me?
“I held and cradled that hope that you would give in to your emotions, and try to love me as much as I did to you. If you already found the entrance to that pathway, and walked more than halfway to the exit on the other side, then why would you turn the other way, and take the long way out? I’m trapped in a labyrinth, Yifan- and everything in it is you. Why can’t you realize that I’m in love with you, and just accept it?
“Is there something so terribly wrong with being in love with me? Are we so different that you can’t let it happen? I have ears and a tail, yes I know- I can’t help that! But, I have a beating heart, that races for you, and I have the belief that you do for me. We’re the same in that sense; isn’t that enough? Yifan, I love you, isn’t that enough for you?”
Red rimmed the corners of Yixing’s eyes, and hot tears rolled down his cheeks. Yifan made a move to wipe them, but Yixing moved away from him. “You don’t deserve to wipe away tears that are your fault.”
Yifan froze in his motions.
He fucked up, and he fucked up hard, but Yixing is still sitting in front of him, when he should be halfway down the street and out of there, if he was really giving up on Yifan. But, he’s not, and that built up so much hope into Yifan’s heart. For the first time, he threw caution to the wind, and let it drift away with every piece of his stupid pride.
“Fuck, I’m so stupid,” Yifan uttered, helplessly wrapping his arms around the brunette, “Baby, don’t push me away, I’m sorry.”
There was a muffled silence, and Yixing’s whimpers in attempt to hold back the tears that were already streaming down his face could be heard. The blonde felt that uncomfortable swirl in his gut again, and this time, it stabbed at him, as if demanding that he beg for Yixing’s forgiveness. And he does, because he really doesn’t know what dignity he has anymore if he lets the chance that Yixing gave him vanish before his eyes.
"Yixing," his tone is desperate, but he knows it really isn't enough. Yixing was right, and Yixing was crying (and it was his fault).
It isn't Kris, the Executive Director of a very important company that had helplessly fallen in love with Yixing; there's nothing wrong with shadowing his career with a relationship, because you didn't choose who you fell in love with. Yifan didn't choose to love Yixing; it just happened. And he shouldn't be pushing away Yixing with blind ambition to retain pride. Yixing was worth more than his damned pride.
"I'll be good to you," he promised, pressing a kiss to the corner of Yixing's lips. "I promise I'll be good to you, please don't give up on me, yet."
He's begging, but it's only because he belatedly realized how stupid his pride had been.
Yixing is a mess. He has a mind full of doubt, but his heart overflowed with promises. He doesn't want to fight with Yifan anymore, he really doesn't.
"One last chance," Yixing murmured.
"Let me kiss you?"
He does, because it is the one thing he held onto to hope that Yifan wouldn't break him for the third time. But, he trusted.
(Because it’s Yifan, not Kris.)
-
When Luhan returned to his apartment, he was half expecting Yixing and Yifan to be down one another's throats, arguing about stupid things, and half expecting that the cat would be in tears, because Yifan was so rude.
What he wasn't expecting was for them to be down each other's throats with their tongues; hard-core making out.
Luhan blinked at the sight in front of him, gaping-quite alike to a fish.
"Y-you- are you two?" He doesn't even finish his sentence.
Yifan and Yixing slowly parted from one another, and the brunette glanced up, fingers still lazily tangled into Yifan's blonde locks. His eyes brightened immediately, and he sat up.
"Luhan!" He smiled brightly.
Yifan turned his head, and blinked in the direction of his roommate.
"Oh, Luhan," he casually greeted, "You're back early."
"I- yes, I, well- uh," the (now) honey haired male nodded dumbly, "He… said yes?"
Still tangled up, Yifan grinned, "Congratulations, man! Shouldn't you be happier? Man, you've got yourself the love of your life!"
"I'm happy!" Luhan insisted, "Just, what- whatever happened between the two of you?"
Yixing turned to look at Yifan, affectionately, and the blonde rubbed his ears; purposefully smothering. And then, Yixing sighed dreamily. Luhan's expression of sheer confusion twisted into one of half disgust.
"We're in love," they replied, in unison.
Luhan gagged; Yifan looking so utterly whipped and in love? That's disgusting.
The eldest clapped his roommate on the shoulder, "I'm proud of you, buddy. I'm happy for you. Just… don't be so gross, please."
"Yeah, yeah," Yifan replied, leaning to kiss Yixing square on the lips. The brunette flushed bright red, and Luhan felt his eyebrow twitch.
That's disgusting.
Why did he even share an apartment with Yifan?
He didn't want to watch this go down every day. The honey haired man cleared his throat, and grabbed his phone, quickly hitting 3 on speed dial.
"Hey, Seok? Wanna come over and distract me from Yifan and his boyfriend?"