Chapter Text
Good, you didn't pick up. I'm glad that I've finally started beating your stupid sleeping schedule into something sane. Anyways, I'm getting on the flight home now. Please don't fuck anything up at Pei Ming's party before I get there. By the way, I do in fact have a gift for you. My parents sent me home with a book of recipes. Before you say anything, I'm gonna translate it for you on the plane, because your Mandarin reading skills are shit.
Speaking of my parents, my mom looked at all the pictures I had of you on my phone. It's safe to say she's in love with your fashion sense. She says she's happy that I've got such a handsome boyfriend. Good job. You've won her over with your fucking boring black clothes.
You know, I think I'm getting unhealthily attached to you. I - ugh. Hey, promise not to mention this when I get home? Okay. The stupidest things reminded me of you at my parents' house. I imagined your eyes rolling when I looked in the mirror in the mornings and saw how messy my hair was. I panicked when the other side of the bed was cold, because I thought you'd left. I waited for you to interrupt and snark at me every other second when I talked to my parents. I wondered where your shoes were when I saw mine lying alone by the front door. I mis -
Oh. I gotta go now. See you tonight, Mu Qing. Love you.
So, all in all:
Feng Xin is on thin fucking ice.
Mu Qing woke up at ten in the morning to that thing sitting in his phone, and he listened to it for a full twenty minutes, sitting on his bed, quietly stunned. He listened to it as he got up and made breakfast, listened to it while eating said breakfast, and only stopped when he actually had to get to work. He listened to it on the way to Pei Ming's annual New Year's party, which he only decided to go to because Feng Xin made him promise. He said it'd be "fun".
Mu Qing doesn't see how it's fun but it gives him an excuse to dress up, which he'll take.
He's been listening to the voicemail for the past half an hour, sitting in the corner of Pei Ming's stupidly large living room, trying to make himself as small as possible.
See you tonight, Mu Qing. Lo -
Rewind.
I wondered where your shoes were when I saw mine lying alone by the front door. I mis -
What did he miss, Mu Qing wonders, as he rewinds.
I waited for you to interrupt and snark at me every other second when I talked to my parents.
Mu Qing certainly has something to say to that. Rewind.
I panicked when the other side of the bed was cold, because I thought you'd left.
Mu Qing has nothing to say to this. Rewind.
I imagined your eyes rolling when I looked in the mirror in the mornings and saw how messy my hair was.
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are sitting together on the couch in the middle of the room. Hua Cheng is playing with Xie Lian's hair. Rewind.
You know, I think I'm getting unhealthily attached to you.
Hua Cheng is twirling Xie Lian's hair around his pinkie. Xie Lian slaps him lightly, though continues to speak with Shi Qingxuan.
Oh, what Mu Qing would give right now to see Feng Xin's face after being smacked with Mu Qing's ponytail. Skip forwards.
I imagined -
I panicked -
I waited -
I wondered -
I mis -
Mu Qing misses Feng Xin too.
See you tonight, Mu Qing. L -
Rewind, rewind, rewind.
See you tonight, M -
See you -
"Mu Qing!"
The room is crowded, and loud, but the call of Mu Qing's name is clear.
His head snaps up. "Fen - oomph! "
Feng Xin basically jumps into Mu Qing's lap, legs straddling Mu Qing's hips, grabs the collar of his shirt and gives him a messy kiss. "Mu Qing!"
"What are you doing," Mu Qing squeaks, stuffing his phone in his pocket to wrap his arms securely around Feng Xin's waist. He flushes when he realises he was almost caught listening to a fucking voicemail, but now that he's paying attention, Feng Xin...
Is extremely drunk.
"Get off," Mu Qing says, voice tight, though he doesn't loosen his arms.
"Where've you been?" Feng Xin complains, cupping Mu Qing's face in his hands. "I've been looking everywhere - "
"I've been here," Mu Qing replies. "In the living room. Where the party is."
Feng Xin pokes Mu Qing's nose (dear lord, how drunk is he?), frowning. "Are you mad? Don't be mad. No one would tell me where you were! Hey, you're not mad, right?"
Mu Qing's not mad.
He's currently speechless at the sight of the brilliant flush on Feng Xin's face. It's high on his cheekbones, spreading over his nose, complimenting the specks of gold in his eyes, which are intensely staring at Mu Qing - so intense that Mu Qing thinks Feng Xin's seeing something more than just his face.
He's beautiful.
Mu Qing reaches up, holding the left side of Feng Xin's face, tracing his thumb over the redness, which only seems to grow when Feng Xin realises what he's doing.
"Did you miss me?" Feng Xin smiles, turning to kiss Mu Qing's hand.
"I'm not telling you anything while you're drunk," Mu Qing scoffs, dropping his arm.
"Nooooo," Feng Xin whines, grabbing Mu Qing's hand again. "Well, I missed you, Mu Qing - "
"Shut up."
"I did! A lot!" Feng Xin grins. "Did you get my voicemail? Did you like it? I was gonna say something about missing you, but I had to go!"
Mu Qing's phone is burning a hole in his pocket as they speak. "Yes, I got your stupid voicemail."
Feng Xin's face immediately changes expressions, lower lip protruding as he pouts. "You sound mad. Why are you mad?"
"I'm not - " Mu Qing sighs, and Feng Xin jolts in surprise when Mu Qing drops his forehead onto Feng Xin's shoulder, breathing in deeply. Feng Xin smells mostly of alcohol, which isn't surprising, but Mu Qing can also pick up the scent of berries that he's grown accustomed to smelling when he wakes up in the morning.
"I missed you," Mu Qing mumbles, so quiet that even he can't hear himself properly. But Feng Xin either has really good hearing when he's drunk (which doesn't make sense at all), or he doesn't care, because he laughs, pulling Mu Qing's face away from his shoulder, squishing his cheeks a bit before kissing him fiercely.
"You're very pretty when you blush," Mu Qing says, only because he knows Feng Xin won't remember this in the morning.
Feng Xin beams. "You too!"
Maybe there's something in the way Feng Xin automatically responds, but Mu Qing suspects that Feng Xin's too far gone to have a proper conversation with.
"You're stupid."
"You too!"
"You're the dumbest person on Earth."
"You too!"
"I love you."
"You too!"
Mu Qing sighs. "Come on, let's ditch this stupid party and get you home."
The next morning, Mu Qing has just about finished making pancakes when Feng Xin slams open the door to the bedroom, stumbling over to the stove.
"What the fuck did I do last night?" he demands, trying to look intimidating while covering his eyes with one hand, wincing against the light.
"Nothing," Mu Qing says automatically.
"Then what the hell is this?" Feng Xin shoves his phone into Mu Qing's face.
Mu Qing frowns, going slightly cross-eyed as he tries to make out what's in the photo. He quickly realises it's a picture taken from the side, while Feng Xin was sitting on Mu Qing's lap, pulling him in by his collar and kissing him.
"Are you embarrassed of kissing me now?" Mu Qing frowns, pushing the phone away, turning back to the stove. "It's your own fault for drinking so much."
"Tell me that I didn't say anything embarrassing," Feng Xin pleads.
"I didn't say anything embarrassing," Mu Qing deadpans.
"Mu Qing, I am going to stick that spoon over there up your - "
"Try me," Mu Qing interrupts.
Feng Xin's face falls. "Did I really say something bad? I'm sorry, okay? You said it yourself! I drank too much."
"What?"
"What?"
"Why are you sorry?"
"...'Cause you're mad?"
"Who said I was mad?"
"..."
Mu Qing sighs. "Look, you really didn't do anything." His eyes narrow. "Actually, you kept on mentioning that I looked mad. And you kept kissing me."
"... That's it?"
Mu Qing rolls his eyes, turning off the fire on the stove. "What do you want me to say? That you announced to everyone that you wanted to rail me against the wall until I passed out?"
Feng Xin's eyes blow wide open. "..."
"... Don’t tell me Pei Ming told you that you said something like that.”
Feng Xin wordlessly hands Mu Qing his phone.
Sus Womaniser
[09:30]
Sus Womaniser: hope you have a nice hangover
Sus Womaniser: you said some great things last night
Sus Womaniser: look! i got a picture of something:
[Sus Womaniser has sent a picture]
Sus Womaniser: couldn't keep your lips off him!
Sus Womaniser: guess you were right
Sus Womaniser: you really were eager to fuck him!
Sus Womaniser: anyways, make sure to take some advil!
Sus Womaniser: take careヽ(´▽`)/
[10:30]
Feng Xin: PEI MING????
Feng Xin: what the FUCK
Mu Qing scoffs, rolling his eyes again as he hands the phone back. "Well, you didn't say that you wanted to fuck me to my face. You might have said it to him. He was the one who got you drunk in the first place, wasn't he? Who knows what you spilled."
"How am I supposed to know? I don't remember anything!"
Mu Qing raises an eyebrow, turning away to open the drawer on the left, pulling out utensils. Secretly, he's glad that -
"Wait."
Mu Qing slowly sets a fork down on the counter. No, he doesn’t remem -
"You said you missed me!" Feng Xin declares, like he's solved an exceptionally difficult math equation. "Didn't you?"
"... Fuck off." Mu Qing turns away, determined to avoid Feng Xin's gaze at all costs. Which proves to be quite a problem when Feng Xin crowds Mu Qing against the counter, reaching up and jerking Mu Qing's chin straight to look at him.
"Well?" Mu Qing mutters, after Feng Xin hasn't said anything for a couple seconds. "Gonna yell at me or what?"
"Did you?"
Mu Qing blinks. "Excuse me?"
Feng Xin clenches his jaw. "Did you - " he repeats through gritted teeth, like he’s pulling the words out of his throat, “ - did you miss me?”
Mu Qing stares. Then he laughs, loud, putting his hands on Feng Xin's waist, leaning in to give him a chaste kiss. "You idiot."
Feng Xin turns his head away, furrowing his brow. "Yes or no?"
Mu Qing rolls his eyes. "Maybe I missed your stupid face," he relents, then quickly catches Feng Xin in another kiss before he can be made fun of. Feng Xin makes a little sound of protest before accepting his fate, wrapping his arms around Mu Qing's back, deepening the kiss. They only stop when Feng Xin suddenly lifts Mu Qing up and sets him on the counter, resulting in Mu Qing accidentally slamming his hand onto the fork from earlier.
"Ow," he mutters, staring daggers at the offending piece of metal.
Feng Xin laughs, breath fanning over Mu Qing's face. "That's what you get."
"For what?"
"Making me ask twice!"
Mu Qing pushes Feng Xin away, sliding off the counter. "You asked 'did you' the first time, how was I supposed to know what you were talking about - "
"You knew what I was talking about, you just wanted to make fun of me - "
"You didn't have to ask in the first place!"
“You expected me to just wonder when I could’ve gotten an answer?”
“Did you really expect me to give you a straight answer?”
“Well, you’re not straight, so - “
“What the fuck,” Mu Qing snaps, turning around to open the cupboard above his head, taking out a plate. He stabs one of the pancakes, lifting it straight out of the pan and onto his plate. "That's a low blow and you know it." He begins walking away, with his nose turned up in contempt.
"Wait, Mu Qing?"
Mu Qing stops. "What?"
"You were listening to something on your phone before I came over."
Mu Qing makes an indignant noise. "Don't you fucking - "
"Were you really listening to my stupid voicemail - "
"Say one more word and I will stab you with this fork. Right in your precious face.”