rustle | exo: wip: wonderwall

Wonderwall
— Lay/Lu Han, Kris/Lu Han, Tao/Lu Han, among many others. PG-13. 2000+ words.
— Yixing gets introduced to Lu Han. Things start to go downhill (and take quite an exciting turn) from there.

Yixing gets introduced to Lu Han on a dark day — dark due to an electricity blackout, with nothing to do on his third week at work. He's spent the past two weeks toying around with branding manuals and the like, and when the lights go out, he swears he would've shoved his face into the manual if there was no one else around.

Hence the unproductive day, and the atmosphere that is hardly conducive for work.

He opens Microsoft Word on his computer and types, Once upon a time, in a far-away land, there was electricity and there were things to do, letting his middle finger tap the period key impatiently but tentatively.

"Hey, Yixing— Yixing!" Jongin comes from behind, a small and rather awkward smile on his lips, and places warm hands on Yixing's shoulders, shaking him lightly. "Come here, I'll introduce you to my team."

He remembers meeting Kim Jongin a week back, in a trade event his boss asked him to attend despite his subtle attempts at declining the offer. "It'll be exciting," Yixing remembers Henry saying, and he just nods and smiles and bows when he gets introduced to a group of people whose names escape him as much as most movie titles do. There, he meets Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, project managers, and Jongin, a communications planner a.k.a someone who finds joy in deciphering numbers, the freshest new hire before Yixing was taken in by the company.

"He's into the arts," Baekhyun adds, then circles an arm around Jongin's shoulder. "Actually, he asked me to introduce him to you because he needs someone artistic to talk to."

Jongin is apprehensive at first, but he eventually reveals, "The closest I can get to being creative with numbers is when I doodle them on my notepad. So yeah, nice to finally meet someone who can understand the language of art." And before they even reach the venue of the event, he and Jongin have already become friends.

So it isn't really weird for Jongin to be dragging him to where his team is, because Jongin has always been eager to tell him about whatever he needs to know about the company — Exomedia, a media agency — and Jongin has taken it upon himself to be Yixing's tour guide-slash-FAQ.

Jongin goes through each member of the team, giving Yixing a short intro on each. "This is Joonmyun," Jongin says, introducing the person to Yixing's right. "He's into film and photography and the like. Maybe you can talk about bitrates sometime," Jongin jokes, and Yixing laughs a little, offering Joonmyun a smile when the latter extends his hand for a handshake.

And then, there is Lu Han.

Lu Han, who speeds past Yixing in an attempt to pinch Jongdae in his sides for no apparent reason, Lu Han who speaks faster than Yixing can even blink. He doesn't even realize Lu Han has bumped into him and he can't even be bothered to complain, because by the time he gathers enough sense to knit his eyebrows and look at Lu Han — deliberately, while Lu Han is still and not pacing two squares forward and back, not making all these huge gestures — Lu Han is already beaming at him, teeth too white and blinding.

"And this is Lu Han," Jongin then says. "But no one calls him Lu Han, except for the bosses. We call him "Xiao Lu"."

Yixing chuckles. "That's cute," he says, unceremonious.

Lu Han smiles a little. "Thanks. I know I am."

Lu Han reaches for Yixing's hand, giving it a squeeze, then a shake. Only a year and a half later does Yixing distinctly remember the warmth of Lu Han's hand, or the way his insides turn when Lu Han flashes him another smile, this time bigger than before. Only a year and a half later, when Zitao walks up to him, unsure and awkward in his own skin, reaches for his hands, and confesses, "I think I like Lu Han."

---

In the three months that Zitao has been in the company, he's already been infatuated with two different people — Joonmyun, because of his bright, bright smile; and Baekhyun, for reasons beyond Yixing's understanding. So when Zitao walks up to him with a confession on one hand and confusion in the other, Yixing doesn't set the gesture apart from Zitao's previous pangs of eureka until Lu Han's name spills from Zitao's lips.

"I heard him singing in the bathroom," Zitao narrates. "He sounded so good and I couldn't help but gawk a little." A soft blush colors his cheeks, and Yixing has to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from laughing. "The only problem is, I hardly know anything about him and I can't like him before I find out everything about him."

Yixing vaguely recalls two words that Zitao used to describe himself — idealist, dreamer. "Everything?"

Zitao nods, firm and resolute.

Yixing tries hard to think of a particular memory he can extract information from, but he's hardly had any interaction with Lu Han. At best, they're acquaintances who love doting on each other and making each other's life a living hell. Lu Han is known to tease everyone, but recently he's taken a particular liking to hovering Yixing while Yixing's working, poking at the back of Yixing's head, then at Yixing's computer screen. At worst, they're enemies. Then a memory occurs to Yixing, one of Lu Han offering to take him home after a trade event, with Lu Han fashioning a soft smile instead of the usual big, bright, toothy one, with Lu Han saying in his softest voice, "I can take you home, if you want."

He remembers politely declining and thanking Lu Han, because it would've been awkward to have a person he's neither directly worked with nor knew beyond the usual hi's and hello's to take him home at eleven in the evening, especially since Lu Han's house is far from Yixing's.

"He's a bully. That's pretty much everything I know about him," Yixing offers. He takes a deep breath, then places a hand tentatively on Zitao's shoulder. "But I'm all for you liking him! Except, you know, he's the biggest douche to surface the Earth."

Zitao's features light up. "Awesome! I like him already."

Zitao's half-smile, half-scowl makes it hard to believe that Yixing shouldn't be holding up the sarcasm sign, but he nods, anyway, and hooks an arm around Zitao's shoulder, careful not to let his cold fingers touch Zitao's warm skin.

When Yixing first enters the company's premises, he sets three simple goals for himself — one, to earn money; two, to set the standard for future multimedia designers who will be employed in the company; and three, to make a name for himself and eventually be employed in an advertising agency, not a media-oriented one. Earning a certificate degree in cyber stalking is not part of his list of goals, which is why he opens and closes Lu Han's Facebook page every now and then, still apprehensive about retrieving as much information about the latter as he can.

I have the same plaid polo as he does, Zitao says, MSN messenger window flashing in an annoying shade of orange. Lol, Yixing simply replies, for lack of better response, and finally decides to stay on Lu Han's Facebook page for more than ten seconds.

The truth is, he knows nothing about Lu Han outside of their teasing and bantering and that single moment of kindness. Lu Han, for all of his being loud, is a mystery, even to his teammates. "I mean, he talks about whatever's in his mind, but that's not really how his mind works," Yixing remembers Jongin telling him shortly after the team introduction. "We can't even tell when he's serious and when he isn't."

So the assignment has him engaged in extra curricular work for the rest of the week — that is, helping Lu Han with the arrangement of the song he'll be performing in the agency event four days from now. Being the only professional multimedia designer in the company has people dumping all their creative needs on him, from print ads to digital ads and pitch videos, even sound bites that need some cleaning or pitch modifying. "Hmm… Sorry, can you bring down the pitch? I can't sing Raise Your Glass in Darren Criss' register," Lu Han says, almost as if complaining. "I can't sing the Pink version, either."

"How about not singing at all?" Yixing replies, teasing. Lu Han doesn't come up with a retort, but only because Yixing is doing him a favor. Yixing brings the pitch down, anyway, then hits the spacebar, playing the music. Lu Han then bursts into song.

Suddenly, Zitao's image comes to mind. Zitao, whose smile tugs a bit too hard at the curve of the lip when the subject of Lu Han is brought up, whose eyes crinkle a little when Lu Han approaches him to ask for the media plan for the laundry brands. He sounded so good and I couldn't help but gawk a little, Yixing repeats, this time in his own voice, and suddenly Lu Han's voice becomes clearer in his ears.

"So, how was it?"

"Good." Yixing looks away, then adds, "It was okay, but it wasn't believable. You need to feel the song more."

Lu Han nods thoughtfully, promising, "I'll nail it." He gives Yixing a pat on the back and excuses himself, but makes sure to tell Yixing to send the new background music via email before he leaves, which is in five minutes.

Yixing creates a list of Lu Han trivia in his mind. Number one, he notes, has a really good singing voice that can give you goosebumps. Number two, has tiny, perpetually puckered lips that are pink and look soft. Finally, number three, has the uncanny ability to make people feel small in his presence, even without doing anything, or by simply smiling, large, round eyes staring at you intently as if asking, "Are you watching me? Are you, really? Are you?"

Number four, Lu Han is fond of anything sweet, so Peppero day witnesses Zitao leaving a box of Peppero on Lu Han's desk. Zitao does it on a whim, with his newfound courage after managing to converse with Lu Han about work without hitching his breath and all the speech crutches, and does it anonymously, complete with a note that says, "For someone special like you ♥"

The same day, Lu Han posts a picture of the box on Facebook, and Zitao is among the first ten to like the post.

Over the next few weeks, Zitao leaves more anonymous gifts on Lu Han's desk. A slice of chocolate cake, three chocolate cupcakes, a chocolate chip cheesecake, each note accompanying the presents becoming more adorned with smileys with each passing week. Often, Yixing finds himself acting on Zitao's behalf, placing the present neatly on Lu Han's desk, and adding the last detail on Zitao's doodles. "The panda face is a giveaway," Yixing comments, stealing the marker from Zitao, and peels a new sheet of Post-it to draw on. He doodles a sheep, then a deer, then stars. "There, much better."

Item number five, Lu Han appreciates the small gestures; number five point five, he does not get tired of chocolate. And five point seventy-five, he's eager to find out who the secret admirer is.

Christmas draws sooner than expected, and soon enough they find themselves coming up with a routine for their performance at the Christmas party. Yixing's dancing skills are revealed by accident, when Zitao and the much-newer hires are gathered in the practice area and nobody steps up to take on the role of the choreographer. The routine they orchestrate is easy enough to follow, and complicated enough to get them first place in the Christmas party. "A feat," Lu Han comments after their last run of the routine for the day. "We've never done anything like this before."

Lu Han offers Yixing a bottle of water, and Yixing mutters a small sound of gratitude.

---

Of course, Lu Han would like Kris. Of course, he would. How couldn't he? Kris is smart and so sure of himself and is beautiful in a way Yixing can never be. Kris is everything Lu Han is possibly looking for in a partner, and if the insane amount of attention Lu Han pays to Kris is not an indicator of his fondness for the latter, then he doesn't know what is.

"I saw him looking at you," Kris comments, teasing. Yixing just laughs and shakes his head, doesn't say, "No, he wasn't. He was looking in your direction and I happened to be in the way."

---
a/n:
This is actually a WIP that's really close to my heart, too close, in fact, that I can't seem to finish it. Lol. I don't even know why I decided to write media agency!au. GREATEST REGRET EVER, LOL. So um, yeah, this will never be continued, I'll never write media agency!au ever again, there won't be any embarrassing a/ns ever again. Ty ty! ♥

exo: wip: wonderwall

no subject

no subject