Innocuous (YiZhan/ZhanYi)

Chapter 2 Come Undone

Author notes: English is not my first language, so please forgive my mistakes and awkward writing. This is NOT for profit. I don't own them. AU (as in Alternate Universe) and maybe OOC (as in Out of Character).

Author notes 2: My eternal gratitude to @JJSin2020 for editing this.

Author Notes 3: The song is Come Undone by Duran Duran

Thanks for the votes and comments! They really encourage me.

The new semester started deceptively slow. Those few days of apparent calm were full of memories for Zhan. Yi Bo's touch, his scent, the taste of his lips stayed with him, constantly present. They were not exactly unwelcomed, but in Zhan's mind they were unnecessary. He had gotten what he was looking for, he didn't need anything else, right? Right?

Self-denial loses its cuteness very quickly and he just didn't want to accept the underlying disappointment that crept into his mind because Yi Bo hadn't called him. After all, it had been he who had asked for his phone number. Zhan was definitely not going to call him. But there was this hidden urge, which he refused to acknowledge, that compelled him to call Yi Bo and repeat the whole experience, but that was against the whole concept of a one night stand, right?

Okay, he had to admit, sex with Yi Bo had been mind-blowing, and the best he had ever had. The chemistry they shared, he hadn't felt it with any other partner. It was a shame, such a shame they had met under those circumstances.

But soon enough, Zhan's professors did what every college professor always does, they gave him hell in the form of a shitload of projects and papers to submit on a very tight timeframe. So after two weeks, Yi Bo's memories took residence in the back of his mind and more pressing matters overtook the central stage of his thoughts.

He devoted his time to his projects, which he mainly worked on from home, spending a minimal amount of time at the university. Living alone in his own apartment was a curse and a blessing at the same time. He was a social butterfly, so his chosen solitude sometimes became plain loneliness for him. In times like this, however, with so many projects consuming every single woken minute of his time, it was definitely a blessing.

The mere fact of him living alone was a spoil of the fierce battle he had fought against his own mother. When he was about to enter the Uni, he wanted to live at the dorms, like most students did. His mother refused to see her only child living in 'such conditions', those were her exact words. She wanted to keep him at home. They fought for months, both of them showing a stubborn streak that was clearly in their shared genes. At the end, a compromise had to be reached in order to avoid permanent damage in their mother-son relationship. His father had taken the extremely uncomfortable position of mediator. So they agreed he would live neither at the dorms nor at home, but alone in an apartment.

Of course, you always need to pay close attention to the smallest print on any contract. His mother tried to outsmart him by buying a luxurious penthouse for him to live in. They had to haggle again. A small one bedroom apartment in the middle of the busiest part of town and a hybrid car were part of their agreement. Zhan had to admit that fighting his mother was exhausting so he relented on using public transportation and accepted a small hybrid car.

An interior decorator was about to get hired to make his apartment habitable, but at that point he drew the line. He told his mother in his kindest words that the only one with a say at how his own home would look like was him, and that matter needed no further discussion.

He went for chic minimalism, using a neutral palette where soft grey, white and beige dominated the spaces. Furniture was sparse and made of wood in its natural tones. His preference for clean lines and simplicity was a constant presence there. Large windows, offering lots of natural light and a magnificent view of the city lights at night, were on almost every wall.