Text Me If You Can (YiZhan FF)

Jealousy is not just a Monsta X song

Yibo had planned to treat Xiao Zhan as a colleague, just another guy in the CQL gang. But his face had not gotten the memo, as his lips moved into his classic smirk and he yelled out “Zhan-ge!”. His enthusiasm was rewarded with Xiao Zhan’s sunny smile as they both moved towards each other in unison. Always in tandem, the two of them. They didn't notice the eyerolls exchanged between Liu Haikuan and Meng Ziyi, as Haikuan took Yibo's beer from him, and put it on the coffee table.

“What’s up, man,” Yibo grinned, as Xiao Zhan grabbed his hand in a bro hug.

“I’m good, bro, how have you been?” Xiao Zhan laughed as he patted Yibo’s back. This was great, Yibo seemed happy to see him. This was awesome! “I’m so glad you came!” he pulled Yibo into a real hug. He had been nervous before his guests arrived, so he had a glass of wine. Or three.

Zhan-ge was hugging him. Yibo realized this, all at once, as he felt warm all over. His initial excitement at seeing the man slowly turned into surprise as he felt Xiao Zhan’s arms wrap around him, running up and down his back. He could feel Zhan-ge’s breath (was he drunk already?) on his neck as the older man snuggled into Yibo.

“You smell so good.” Xiao Zhan whispered. “You smell like the beach.”

Well, that does it, Zhan-ge was having some kind of episode. That’s what this is, that’s the only rational explanation as to why the straightest arrow (pun intended) in the quiver would bring up Wang Yibo’s smell. And compare it to the beach, like some poetic little punk. Yibo thumped Xiao Zhan’s back and awkwardly extricated himself from his arms.

“Ha,” he choked out. “Thanks, ge.” He noticed that Yang Yu Teng was standing at his elbow, smiling as he waited to be introduced. Ji Li and Yu Bin were following close behind as if they had never seen anyone as interesting as Yu-ge.

Xiao Zhan looked over at Yu and the others as if he just realized that this wasn’t a party of two.

“Hi!”, he held out his hand to the slightly shorter man. “I’m Xiao Zhan!”

“Hello, I'm Yu,” he smiled as he shook Xiao Zhan’s hand. “Thank you for having me.” His Mandarin was slightly accented and stilted which made Xiao Zhan raise an eyebrow.

Yibo, having clocked that, explained that Yu was half-Japanese, half-Taiwanese and having grown up in Japan, he wasn’t completely proficient in the language. Xiao Zhan nodded as he took in the man’s appearance. He looked like a cupcake with his cute little sweater that was still large on him, his button nose and shy smile. He wasn’t just pretty - he was legitimately beautiful. Standing next to Yibo, who had his pink oversized hoodie (that hoodie! That adorable Day Day Up at home hoodie!!) and baseball cap on, they looked like they had stepped out of a donghua about a sporty uke who fell for a studious seme.

“Oh, I see,” Xiao Zhan shook his head, trying to clear it. What was that sudden clench in his stomach? Was he so drunk that he was feeling light-headed already? “So, you guys are friends from..?” he trailed off, as Ji Li stepped forward.

“Xiao-laoshi! Yu-ge is a rising star in Taiwan, don’t you know? And he’s even caught the eye of a certain ex-boy band member,” Ji Li chuckled, as Yu Bin tried to pull him away.

“Don’t embarrass Yu-didi! Or he won’t tell us about season 3!” Yu Bin turned to Yu, who laughed and waved them off.

“I really don’t know anything about season 3 as of now, I swear,” Yu sighed, as the boys herded him back into the living room.

Wang Yibo gave Xiao Zhan a quick smile and followed Yu. He greeted Wang Zhuocheng and Zhu Zanjin, picked up his beer and gulped down most of it just to have something to do with his hands and mouth. He was unnerved by how Xiao Zhan was behaving and he didn’t know how he’s going to get through this dinner.