We Aren't Friends (Xiuchen High School AU)

Chapter 4

A month past and surprisingly, as christmas began to creep up Xiumin found that Chen wasn't really speaking to him, which was the best present he could ever ask for. Since they'd kissed at the start of year party, he'd started to notice things about his room mate such as when he smiled he was actually quite attractive and when he laughed, Xiumin wanted to laugh along to whatever stupid joke he was laughing at, and Xiumin didn't like that change one bit.

However, everytime he saw Chen, more and more familiar feelings began to show up and Xiumin found that just looking at the other male made him angry, even if Kim Jongdae was undeniably hot.

It wasn't until the week before they broke up for christmas that Chen spoke to him. They were both sat in the dorm on a Thursday, Chen reading once again and Xiumin screwing his face up at a maths sheet, when Chen asked him what he's doing for Christmas. Chen's face dropped when Xiumin told him he was going home.

"What about you?" Xiumin asked, trying to keep up appearances and Chen looked back to his book before he answered, "Yeah. I'm going home too."

Xiumin nodded, reaching for his calculator and tried to solve a particularly difficult problem when Chen spoke up again," What do you and your family do? As in for Christmas."

Xiumin put down his pen and turned to face the other boy, "Nothing special. We sing carols and decorate a tree. My grandparents come for dinner on christmas day and we open presents."

Chen nodded, trying to seem indifferent and focused on the words in his book.

"What about you? What do you do?" Xiumin asked in a soft voice, not only surprising himself, but also Chen, who gaped at him for a minute and then said with an uneasy face, "Oh we do similar things. The dinner, and the carols, and stuff. It's nothing special."

Xiumin nodded and once again turned back to his work, looking up in surprise as Chen slid a sheet towards him, and then left the room. He'd given Xiumin his completed maths sheet.

********

Xiumin woke up the night before he was to leave with his parents for christmas, to hear Chen sobbing on the other side of the room.

Xiumin laid there with his eyes open, listening to the other boy cry, before rolling over and facing him, "What's wrong?"

Chen immediately went quiet, raising his hands to his face, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. My book is just sad that's all."

Xiumin stared at the other as he desperately tried to hide his tears, and considered going to comfort the other. And then he remembered that him and Chen aren't really friends and rolled back over again to face the wall.

******

"Hey, Xiumin did you have a good Christmas?" Baekhyun greeted the smaller boy with a hug.

Xiumin pulled away, hand still on Baekhyun's shoulder as he gave Baekhyun a warm and genuine smile, "Yes I did. What about you?"

"Chanyeol's family came down and we all celebrated together this year. It was really nice."

"I'm happy for you, Baekhyun." Xiumin said, squeezing Baekhyun's shoulder and then knelt down to pick up his suitcase again, "Wish me luck."

Baekhyun just gave him a knowing smile and then walked back to his and Chanyeol's room.

Xiumin entered his and Chen's room, surprised to see that Chen was already back from his visit to his family. There were still 3 days until school started and normally only him, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were here this early.

"Hey, Jongdae," He greeted his room mate, collapsing with his bag onto his bed.

Chen barely looked up from his book, "Hey, Minnie. Good Christmas?"