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Waiters load their carts with used plates as most of his castmates and staff disperse to go home. Those who didn’t have schedules tomorrow Liu Haikuan and Guo Cheng band together for an afterparty in a club nearby. They try to invite Yibo with them, but he turns them down politely. He wants to go to an afterparty, alright, but he wants a private afterparty with the tall man four chairs away from him. He looks absolutely buzzed, if the faint pink on his cheeks are anything to go by. He laughs gleefully at what Dong Fang, one of their make-up artists, says and leans a little towards her as he pats her arm. Too close , his mind comments, spurring him into action. He stands up from his chair and rounds the table. He stops behind Xiao Zhan and purses his lips.
The actor immediately notices his presence. “Ah? Lao Wang!” He slurs his name, making it sound longer and almost like another word. However, Yibo isn’t paying him any attention; he continues to stare pointedly at the hand on Dong Fang’s arm. The girl hurries to put down the hand on her arm, gives him a thumbs-up, and grins. She knows, he thinks, his resolve crumbling a little as rationality comes back to his brain and kicking some of the jealousy out.
Xiao Zhan tugs on his arm. “Why are you here?” His hand struggles to even keep its tight hold on his shirt. “Are you gonna start a fight again? Not right now, ah, my mind is all muddled up!”
“Ge, let’s go to...” he panics a little. He didn’t think this far into the plan; all his mind focused on is the fact that he wants to monopolize the rest of Xiao Zhan’s night to himself. This is their last night to see each other properly; after this, they’ll be busy with their own schedules and will only have time for each other when promotions for the drama start a year later. “Karaoke,” he says. “Let’s go to karaoke.”
“Don’t you have to film something tomorrow?” Xiao Zhan looks at him, concerned. “You’re going to be tired if you don’t get enough sleep.” Even at the brink of drunken stupor, his Zhan ge still nags him to sleep properly.
“It’s still in the early evening,” he lies smoothly.
“You aren’t lying, are you?”
Yibo shrugs. “I’m not. If Zhan ge doesn’t want to hang out with me, you could just say so.” He knows he’s being a little mean, but he has to do this sometimes with Xiao Zhan. He starts to retreat back to his chair when the elder pulls him back weakly.
“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” Xiao Zhan stands up and gets his jacket from the back of his chair. “Which karaoke are we going to?”
“Let’s just look for one while walking around.”
The actor scoffs. “They’re going to recognize you.”
“There’s one just around the corner,” Dong Fang supplies. “It’s called Superstar Dreams. You can go through the back door of this restaurant and then go straight. It’s a shortcut.”
Yibo nods at her. “Thanks.”
“No problem!” She smiles cheerfully. Yibo almost chuckles. He lifts his finger to his lips before Xiao Zhan can even decipher it.
“C’mon, ge,” he supports Xiao Zhan’s back as his older co-star stands up with a slight wobble. He’s adorable like this, relying on Yibo to keep himself upright. Yibo likes the feeling. “Let’s go before midnight comes.”
“Aiyoo! Wang Yibo! Why are you so eager to leave?” Xiao Zhan chuckles to himself. He bumps his side to Yibo’s.
The younger flashes him a grin. “Because I want you all to myself, gege. My gege is so handsome and charming, everyone’s fighting for your attention.”
“Is it starting again?” Xiao Zhan deadpans. He gets his glass from the table and chugs it in one go before setting it down again. “How many points are we now, huh? How long will this go on?”
“We aren’t going to see each other in a while,” Yibo pretends that doesn’t irk him. “I need to rack up points as much as I can.” Once he sees Xiao Zhan done with his drink, he asks one of the waiters for the back door.
“Psh,” Xiao Zhan rolls his eyes. “You already know you’re winning anyway, what more do you want?” He follows after Yibo as the waiter leads them towards the kitchen.
You , the younger struggles to keep his mouth shut. “A prize.”
They go through a maze of a kitchen before they finally see a door. The waiter opens the door for them, and they step outside. The light breeze blows through them. Low chatter surrounds them as closing time approaches for most restaurants in the block. When they close, the bars and karaokes nearby come alive.
Yibo immediately recognizes the karaoke Dong Fang was talking about just around five hundred meters away from them. There is a dark and narrow alleyway in front of them, devoid of any sign of life. He goes into the alleyway first and walks ahead. He glances back occasionally to see if Xiao Zhan’s still following him.
“Zhan ge, what are your next projects after this?”
He hears the elder hum. “There’s a concert, a single release, and an upcoming movie. How about you, Yibo?”
Yibo takes his response in stride. “You’re going to be quite busy.”
“Aren’t you busy, too? I heard you talking to your manager about a new drama.”
“Yeah,” Yibo nods unconsciously. “So, we’ll both be busy, huh.”
An uncharacteristic silence ensues. The penny in the air doesn’t drop, not yet. They continue walking.
“Yibo,” he hears the elder say in almost a whisper after a few minutes. “Look.”
The dancer looks up, and sees the specks of light dusted across the black sky. If he stares long enough, he’ll see them twinkle. Maybe it’s the alcohol catching up to him. He’s had three bottles of strong beer, after all.
“It’s beautiful,” Xiao Zhan says in wonder. His mouth is hanging open as he observes the sky. “It’s nothing like what we’ve been seeing the past few weeks.”
“It is,” Yibo agrees, even if his eyes are looking at the stars, but on the man behind him. It’s too dark to see how Xiao Zhan really looks while he stares, but the younger’s eyes cling to the well-defined silhouette casted by the dim lights from behind them. “Beautiful.”
Xiao Zhan looks down at him and startles at the look on his face. He steps backwards a little. Yibo furrows his eyebrows. Is there something on his face?
The elder shakes his head. “Nevermind.”
“Let’s go.” Yibo unconsciously offers his hand. He tries to retract it the moment he realizes what he’s done, but the other surprises him by taking his hand. He stares at his face questioningly, but Xiao Zhan refuses to meet his gaze. Tightening his hold on him, Yibo continues to guide them through the gap silently.
If Yibo notices how his Zhan ge’s hand fits perfectly in his, he won’t let it show.
They reach the karaoke quickly, the shop’s blaring lights welcoming them gladly. They come in and ask for a private room. Yibo asks for their most expensive room, which Xiao Zhan tries to refuse, but the younger quickly slips the black card to the receptionist, who gulps and punches their request onto the cashier. Yibo grins triumphantly as the actor grumbles about how the dancer spends too much money. The younger wouldn’t let it slip, but he’s secretly spending more money buying Xiao Zhan snacks and green tea nowadays than he had ever spent on food before.
The VIP room certainly does not disappoint. It occupies one thirds of the karaoke’s second floor. The couches inside are soft and plush, nowhere near the couches he’s used to in places like these. Behind these couches is a mounted bath tub. A mirrorball hangs proudly at the center of the ceiling. Their karaoke machine is attached to a huge LED television with golden mics.
“Sirs, the bathroom is to the right. There are robes and towels there that you may use to your liking. Near the door are the remote controls for everything: one for the TV, and one for the mirrorball. All can be activated at the same time. Please wait as we prepare your requested drinks and finger food. You have reserved this room for 8 hours. Rest assured that we will keep your identities and presence here confidential. Enjoy your night.” One of the servers says as he gestures towards the room. He gives them one last bow and leaves.
Xiao Zhan immediately saunters towards the couch and plops himself without grace on it. “Look at these couches, Yibo,” he almost moans. “ So soft. I wonder if I can buy something like this next month? But, I don’t really spend time in my apartment that much…”
“Come to mine; I’ll buy it, and we can both use it.”
Xiao Zhan rolls his eyes at Yibo. “So rich, aren’t you, Wang laoshi? As someone older than you, take this advice from me: save up your money for the future. You don’t know when you’re going to lose money.”
“I don’t have to worry if Zhan ge will save my money for me.”
“Hah? You’re trusting me with your money? I’m going to run away with it.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I will.”
“You won’t.”
The elder grits his teeth at the sight of Yibo’s triumphant grin. “Pretentious brat.”
Yibo laughs and nudges his shoulder. “Give me some space, ge.” Xiao Zhan obliges him and moves a little to the side. Yibo sits next to him, puts his entire left side against his Zhan ge’s right. Xiao Zhan only looks at him with an unreadable expression on his face.
“So? You invited me to karaoke, why aren’t we starting?” The actor clears his throat, getting the songbook laid out on the coffee table in front of them. He flips through it and looks for a song to sing.
“Why don’t we make this a competition?” Yibo suggests, his hand tapping his thigh and dangerously crossing towards Xiao Zhan’s thigh. “If I get 5 songs with a higher score than yours, you’re treating me next time.”
“I’m always treating you to dinner anyway!” Xiao Zhan huffs as he gets the remote from the table and punches his number. “Fine. I’m going to win this.”
A knock disturbs them. “Hello, sirs? I’ll be bringing in the drinks and the food now.” The waiter opens the door and pulls a cart in. He stops at the coffee table and puts their orders down one by one. In total, they have four buckets of beer with six bottles each, a plate of fried squid and fried fish fingers, and a big bowl of nuts. Thankfully, the coffee table is wide enough to fit everything they ordered. The waiter leaves them again as Xiao Zhan presses a button on the remote. Familiar music blares from the speakers loudly; it’s Mayday’s Lin Ai-ing. Xiao Zhan closes his eyes and bounces on his feet. He swipes one of the gold mics that fell to the ground.
“Wang Yibo! I’m going to crush you!” He screams into the mic just as the first verse starts. Yibo laughs. He ends up joining mid-song because the elder keeps on taunting him. They battle it out for about two hours, singing one after the other, sometimes together, sometimes not. They sing through a variety of songs: ballad, pop, folk, rap, rock, and even jazz. The mirrorball is activated at some point, too. Of course, the more they, the more bottles they empty. Xiao Zhan is absolutely wasted after getting eight more bottles in his system. He insists on standing up and dancing, even when he's already stumbling and leaning on Yibo for support. He’s also more touchy now, placing his arm around the younger as he drags him to another jam or locking their arms together. Yibo feels he has unleashed some kind of touching monster at this point, but he doesn’t mind. If anything, he secretly enjoys it.
“Do you declare defeat?!” He shouts as if the younger is miles away from him. In the background, EXO’s Love Me Right plays. Yibo is sitting down on the couch, taking slow swigs of his beer. He tips his head back and swallows the rest in an impulse.
“Hey, Wang Yibo!” Xiao Zhan shouts out as he pouts. Cute . “Look at me! This is for you, you know!” He attempts to point a finger at Yibo, but manages to point only at the pillow beside him. He’s so fucking drunk . “Look at me while I defeat you! You’re going to treat me to a big dinner!”
“Sing the song, then!” He shouts back. Yibo clearly underestimated just how much of an EXO-L his Zhan ge is; once his attention is back on the screen, he sings the lyrics with ease, albeit a little slurred at some places. He’s also trying to dance by clutching his chest and moving his torso from side to side. The dancer recognizes this as the choreography of the song, one he had learned years ago in his spare time. However, instead of looking like choreography, Xiao Zhan looks like he’s an old man waddling around. Yibo’s low chuckles get drowned by the music.
He turns his attention to the drunk man in front of him, this impossible man who brought out parts of him he never knew had existed. When they first met each other in TTXS, he was but a gorgeous Chinese idol he was attracted to at the physical level. Han ge even went to great lengths just to get his number, but Yibo never texted him. He only added him on WeChat, and that was that. Yibo was too busy then to even entertain crushes, so he wasn’t able to pursue anything with him. He figured the infatuation would pass as the years went by.
Oh, how wrong he was.
He had to admit: finding out that Xiao Zhan was his co-star in a drama based on a BL novel made him feel giddy. It was his chance to revisit feelings of the past, get to know the man behind the pretty face. At first, they were shy with each other; the weight of their roles and their supposed relationship in this drama weighed heavily over their heads. However, as time went by, Xiao Zhan loosened up and began to let Yibo know him, little by little. He showed Yibo that behind that virtuous, kept man was a pure, earnest boy who wasn’t below pulling mischievous pranks on him. He let Yibo see the imperfection behind the facade he used on camera, how insecurity grappled him on nights he thinks he hadn’t done his best, how exhaustion burned him out and made him seek refuge from Yibo’s shoulder during nights of long shooting, how weight gain rattled him enough to cut back on the snacks he really loved. He told Yibo of things that exposed his heart, from little things like liking EXO and Stefanie Sun, having a fascination with the stars, and being superstitious, to deeper things like his dreams when he first entered the industry, the disappointments that came with the reality of being a celebrity, his frustrations in improving his craft, and the loneliness that came with being on the spotlight.
With every layer he peeled, with every piece of his heart he gave, Yibo found himself falling, and he was beyond saving.
It was uncomfortable to fall in love, but Yibo has always felt at ease in the uncomfortable. He found himself wanting to share his limited breaks with Xiao Zhan. Even when he was filming a different project, he’d text Xiao Zhan on his breaks and record voice messages for him. At night, if time permitted, they talked on the phone all night about their day. He also found himself expressing himself more because he wants to share himself with the man who accepts him without pretenses. He found himself rushing to be the one to help Xiao Zhan piece himself back up when he shatters from the sheer pressure, when he is defeated by the world’s expectations. He talked more, showed more, and gave more of himself than he was used to, but he did all of these things without expecting anything in return. He would gladly do everything again and again if it meant seeing Xiao Zhan smile, hearing him laugh, and feeling his warmth through the layers of clothing they wore. Everything was worth it. Xiao Zhan was worth it.
As he looks at the man he loves, bouncing on his heels and turning like a lunatic, with the mirrorball reflecting the lights in the room and highlighting his face, he realizes that at least, for tonight, he shines for him only. Of course he can’t look away. Not when he’s beautiful like this, clumsy, competitive, but still adorable. Not when he’s the epitome of everything Yibo could ever want. Not when their time together slowly counts down to zero.
Yibo puts back the bottle on the table.
The song ends, and the machine rumbles with the drum roll to announce his score. Xiao Zhan looks back and pouts when he sees Yibo not looking at him. “Look at me!” He screams into the mic, petulant.
“I’m always looking at you, ge. Don’t worry,” Yibo puts his hand back on his lap. “I can’t ever look away from you, no matter what you do.”
The actor stares at him for a long time before he throws the mic on the couch and walks towards Yibo. He stops just in front of Yibo’s widely opened legs.
“Zhan ge?” Yibo asks. The elder kneels in front of him, wobbly. He uses Yibo’s legs to stabilize himself.
Xiao Zhan looks at him and giggles. “Now, you’re only looking at me.”
I can’t take this . Yibo grips the other’s elbow tentatively. “Ge, can I kiss you?”
Xiao Zhan puts his fingers against Yibo’s lips. He uses the pads of his fingers to outline and create small circles on his lips, entranced by their softness. Slowly, he lifts his gaze upwards to the expecting man. “Okay,” he whispers.
Yibo takes the other’s face in his hands and takes his parted lips, pressing gently as he cups the back of his head. His Zhan ge tastes exactly like the beer he just had, but he thinks it’s 10 times sweeter than before. Their breaths are slow and steady as their lips meet again and again, soft and short yet the anticipation builds with every parting. Their hearts beat quickly as adrenaline rushes through their veins. Yibo gets bolder, licking and tracing the outline of Xiao Zhan’s lips before the actor relents and grants him access. He prods and explores the elder’s mouth, eager to know more but still please him. When he caresses his tongue with his, Xiao Zhan whimpers a little and grips Yibo’s legs shakily. Yibo moves his hands to the back of his neck, and the elder locks his arms around him. Xiao Zhan pulls him forward, making Yibo put his hands on the other’s waist to support him. The electrifying sensation of mouths slotting against each other repeatedly and their tightening grips on each other as if they were each other’s anchors make them lose sense of their surroundings. Right at this moment, the only thing that exists is them, Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, and this intimate kiss.
Eventually, they slow down, ending their mini make-out session with soft pecks on each other’s lips. Yibo’s eyes immediately latch onto Xiao Zhan, who looks absolutely debauched. The mirrorball makes his swollen lips and teary eyes glisten, and Yibo is in love once again.
“Xiao Zhan, I—”
“Shh,” Xiao Zhan quickly puts a finger to his lips. He smiles. “Tomorrow. Or, wait until I’m sober. This is important, right?”
Yibo feels conflicted, but he backs down. “Yes.”
“Then, tomorrow, we talk.” His eyes crinkle as his smile reaches them. “Tell me when I can remember properly. I’ll listen.”
“But, you know, don’t you?”
“You’ll still tell me tomorrow,” Xiao Zhan comes closer and whispers. “Don’t let this end tomorrow, don’t let us end tomorrow.”
Yibo could only look at his ridiculous gege. His impossibly beautiful gege. “I really want to kiss you again.”
The actor hums. “Tomorrow.”
“You’ll let me kiss you tomorrow?”
“If you’re lucky.”
“What can I say, ge? I’m always lucky.”
Laughter fills the air as they bicker in this absurdly overpriced VIP karaoke room, surrounded by luxury furniture they don’t need. The mirrorball continues to rotate, illuminating them as they make their promise of a new beginning from a supposed end. Tomorrow , they say, we have tomorrow .