Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

it went down like this: a fan handed war a lollipop after yin’s birthday concert and all hell broke loose.

yin wasn’t even being dramatic. it was really that bad. one minute he was laughing at something a fan was asking him to write down on her photocard and the next he was fighting for his life because for some unfathomable reason war wanarat thought sucking on a lollipop in plain sight of actual people was a good idea. 

the fan behind the funny girl already had her phone out and was making sure to get everything on record and yin was pretty sure the guy behind her was the one who let out the shocked squeal that made yin look over and spot war in the first place. the one behind him was scrambling to get out camera lenses for what he was sure would turn out to be some serious 4ks shots because why the fuck not. 

and it’s not like yin could blame any of them, really. the whole thing really was that squeal inducing-UHD candiding worthy. 

but yin was pretty sure war was already reaching the wrong side of tipsy if the way he was swaying to the song playing in the background was any sign. and well, the whole lollipop sucking thing was pretty fucking telling too, of course. 

point was, things were quickly getting out of hand. the man needed to be stopped before a disaster took place. yin has seen first hand what thirsty fans are capable of when provoked and what was happening on that chair on the other side of the stage was a clear provocation, no other word for it. 

what or who war was trying to provoke was a whole other matter, one in which yin would try to avoid delving deeper into if he had the choice because that way madness lies and all that and this was sooo not the right time or place for that. 

but seeing as his entourage had decided to desert him in this ultimate moment of need and haven’t so much as looked his way in the past 10 minutes, it seemed like this problem was all his to solve.

just great.

he got up and made sure to tell the fans that were still waiting for their turn in line to help themselves to some refreshments and that he was so so sorry and would be right back with them. 

the lollipop was midway back towards its destination when war spotted yin walking in his direction. the older man opened a big, satisfied grin as he resumed directing the damn candy into his mouth and when the white stick finally rested between those pretty, perfect teeth, yin was already more than a little bit out of breath and seriously rethinking this whole thing.

“hey, birthday boy,” was what war chose to open with, grinning as he waved his beer cup around. “bonz has been giving me weird looks, do you know what that’s about?”

war was such a little shit, and yin just had to be the biggest simp on this earth because he was already smiling like a fool at his antics.

yin ignored the question and took another step closer. he extended his hand out towards war and had to wait only a second for his confused expression to show.

“i’m sorry to do this, believe me, but i’ll need you to hand over the lollipop.”

war actually looked taken aback for a split second before letting out a disbelieving laugh. and it was unfair, really the lowest of blows, that he looked so absurdly good tonight with that fucking make up on and that stupid, sexy as hell hair and-

god, this man was so fucking damaging to yin’s nerves it wasn’t even funny. 

“well?” he prompted when war failed to answer. “give it over.”

“i’m sorry,” war started with a giggle. ”i know it’s your birthday celebration and all and i’m not supposed to say no to you today, but i don’t think i will.”

yin knew by now his smile was just as big as the other man’s and they were about to cross the line into dangerous waters very soon. he could feel everyone’s eyes following their every move but, for the life of him, yin couldn’t bring himself to put an end to it. didn’t want to. god knew he craved these little moments with war like a junkie waiting for his next fix.

“you’re giving the fans literal seizures.” yin tried to soldier on. “i came over to stop you before someone actually passes out on my stage.”

“oh? just the fans?” war quiped back, twirling the lollipop between two fingers. “i must be doing something wrong, then.”

yin shakes his head at him, disbelieving. tries and fails to not keep smiling. flirty war was his absolute favorite war.

“you’re a menace, is what you are.”

it’s kinda ridiculous the way the sound of a person’s laugh alone can make your heart want to jump out of its rib cage. but then again, everything about yin was ridiculous when it came to this man. he had honestly made his peace with it a long time ago.

“this is all starting to sound a lot like victim blaming, don’t you think?” war kept going. ”i’m just sitting here, singing some songs, enjoying this candy a fan of yours was nice enough to give me. it’s not my fault you’re all perverts.”

yin actually had to laugh at that one. it was true, they were all depraved little fuckers drooling after this man and his lollipop. and yin would have put an end to this whole thing if he thought war was actually being harassed or exposed in any sort of real way. 

but yin knew the man sitting before him better than anyone in this whole world and the face looking up at him told yin all he needed to know about war’s intentions.

dangerous waters indeed.

maybe the most prudent thing to do right then would have been to take a step back. it seemed to fade into the background whenever they got like this but there were other people nearby, they were still intent on protecting their privacy and not feeding the fan service hell pit. or at least yin thought they were. 

things have changed between them since the night of his birthday and they haven’t really had the chance to talk about what it all meant for their public lives. haven’t had the chance to talk about what it meant, period. 

and it’s not like yin was worried. their night together had been a long time coming event, a natural step in a long line of moments that made their relationship the absolute, most real thing in yin’s life. he knew going back on it wasn’t in either of their minds.

thinking about all this was making his heart beat faster and at this point yin couldn’t have turned away from war if he tried.

so he didn’t. he took a step closer instead, so he could stand between the other man’s legs. nothing too outrageous, they weren’t even touching, but now the war had to really lean back on his chair in order to look yin in the eyes. 

and seeing him like this, his eyes shining with mischief, made yin’s hands itch to reach out, to run a finger over those pink lips, to brush aside that stray lock of pale hair tickling at his nape, to fit his hands around that strong, enticing neck and-

and he was seriously losing control of the situation at hand.

“it must be a really incredible lollipop for you to be so bent on parading it around like this.” yin said, trying to regain his focus.

“it is.” war said, calmy, eyes dancing. “best i’ve ever had.”

another incredulous laugh from yin. 

“ war ”

“wanna try it?” war kept going innocently. as if he wasn’t well on the way to driving yin into doing something that would ruin both their careers forever.

Chapter Text

“see, now i know for sure you’re trying to get me in trouble.”

“just trying to give the people what they want.” war threw back, matter-of-factly. 

and okay, so, war had the whole being tipsy thing to justify his behavior. yin on the other hand had absolutely no way of explaining the satisfied grin that took over his face when he saw the other man’s eyes slowly start to follow a path down his chest and stop right at the patch of skin yin was well aware his cropped tee failed to cover.

“you realize we’re probably being fucking live streamed by now?” yin tried to reason, knowing damn well he looked anything but put off by the staring. 

“what else is new?” war shot back as he made a show of returning his gaze back to yin’s and proceeded to thrust the lollipop at his face. yin really had no choice but to open his mouth and accept it in. he was just that well trained, it seemed.

he shook his head at war’s satisfied smile when the high pitched screams erupted in the background. this whole thing was no doubt going to be all over twitter in the next two seconds and would stay there for eternity and this time they’d really have no one to blame but themselves. 

yin wondered absently if he could still use the ‘it’s my birthday’ excuse to get out of the ass chewing that was coming their way later. might even leave war to the wolves this time around, he hadn’t decided yet. 

“good?” war asked, fake-sweet.

yin decided it was about time he regained some ground, they were short on time after all, and he knew from experience that this push and pull they had going on could last all night if he let it.

“hmm.” yin answered as he slowly pulled the candy out of his mouth. “i’ve had better, actually.”

“it’s your favorite flavor.” war argued, raising his eyebrows at him.

“used to be, yeah.” yin agreed with a nod. “but i guess you could say i had an eye opening experience recently that made me reassess my tastes.”

and yin had to give it to war, he really tried to hold his ground in these types of exchanges. he failed every single time, yes, but he never, ever stopped trying. 

although this time he actually managed to send quite the menacing look in yin's direction before breaking eye contact, suddenly finding his beer cup very interesting. 

“but it should be enough to hold me over until i can get my hands on the real thing, don’t you think?” yin kept going, encouraged by the other man’s reaction.

and if yin needed a sign war was very much still struggling to get used to the fact that yin had no intention of backing down from his provocations anymore, this was it. 

he wondered then what war would do if he ever found out yin had, in fact, learned very early on in their partnership that he had way more to gain by standing his ground against him, for no other reason than if yin didn’t, how else would he ever get to see this shy and flushed and just all around lovely version of him?

“hey,” yin said with a laugh when the other man failed to come up with a come back. “don’t get shy on me now, you started it. you just keep forgetting i can give as good as i get.”

“i don’t.” war said, voice way more serious than their banter called for. “i don’t forget.”

yin wondered if war knew he sounded downright possessive right then, that the fierce look in his eyes made yin feel like he was being let in on all his dirty little secrets. that, when he got like this, he was simply the most devastating sight yin had ever beared witness to.

“i hate that i can’t touch you.” yin told him then, quietly, almost without meaning to. 

and of course war took that sudden confession in like it was something he had been expecting to hear all along. he probably had. god knew yin had his own brand of secrets he wasn’t able to keep his eyes from telling war.

“i hate that you’ve been hearing i love yous from people all night long and not a single one of them came from me.” war offered back, apparently not willing to stop until he saw yin rid of every inch of sanity. “i hate that everyone else is allowed to say it to you so freely but i’m not.”

and it became very obvious to yin then just what this whole thing had been about and it felt like literal torture to force himself to stand still and not reach for him in that moment, the need to reassure war being no different than natural instinct at this point.

but there were hundreds of eyes on them in that moment and no amount of wanting could change the fact that yin was simply not allowed to touch war whenever he pleased like that. 

it was a painful reminder, the kind that finally made this whole thing reach the point of completely unbearable because, if war’s limits laid on being put on the spot, yin’s had always laid on having to put up with the unfair boundaries set on their affections. 

yin let out a shuddering breath, feeling thrown off for the first time that night. he saw war’s aborted attempt to reach for his hand and knew he was letting himself show way too much emotion and this whole thing was taking a turn into disastrous very fast, wasn’t it?

they were probably two seconds away from an intervention and yin would honestly be glad for it at this point. he obviously wasn’t handling this as well as he first predicted.

“you say it in all the ways that matter.” he told war.

“that’s not the point-” war tried to argue and he was starting to sound upset for real and yin just wasn’t having any of this anymore.

“war? the things you don’t say? they are always the ones i hear the loudest.” yin told him firmly, needing him to understand. “don’t you know? it’s always been like that with us.”

thing was, yin was well aware war’s confession was coming from a place of insecurity, the kind he understood all too well because he himself was no stranger to those overwhelming feelings. you try being in love with war wanarat. 

possessing the privilege of holding something so uniquely precious and coveted on the palm of your hand was no small thing to make sense of. some days yin thought that no matter how much he tried he would die without being able to show war just how grateful he truly was for having him. 

it just somehow hadn’t crossed his mind that war would feel the same way in regards to him because, honestly, it wasn’t as if it wasn’t embarrassingly clear to everyone around them that there could never be anyone or anything in this world yin could ever want more than him.

“this is our reality and i fucking hate that it hurts you but i need you to understand that i’ll take you any way i can get you.” he kept going. 

and he could see his words had the intended effect because war looked downright speechless right then and was very obviously struggling to hold back his shy smile.

“fuck, i was the one supposed to be doing the wooing tonight.” was war’s response after a whole second and he did let out a disbelieving laugh then. “you sure know how to shut a guy up.”

“but you knew that already.” yin shot back with a wicked smile, happy to see he’d manage to make the upset look leave war’s face as quickly as he had put it there. “now say you believe me. i need to get back to the fans and they won’t like it if they see me on the verge of tears.”

“yeah, okay. i do.” war replied with a small laugh. “i believe you.” 

he locked eyes with yin and yin knew they were not done with this conversation. could see in war’s expression everything he had left to say but wouldn’t. 

“we got time.” yin told him. “there’s no rush.”

war simply nodded, looking appeased enough, at least for the time being. 

yin took that as the sign he needed to steer the conversation back to the more fun subject at hand. 

“so. a fucking lollipop, really?”

war’s laugh came out full force this time around, scrunchy nose and all and just like that everything was right in the world again.

“it worked, did it not?” he said, a little too satisfied for yin’s own sanity.

“of course it fucking worked, have you looked in a mirror recently?” he shot back.

“i don’t need to.” war kept going, happily. “the way you’ve been eyeing me all night told me all i needed to know.”

“do you want me to jump your bones right now? in front of all these people?” yin asked, unable to keep the laugh off his voice. “you’re asking for- shit! p’go is coming this way. shit. he doesn’t look happy.”

“you should give me back my lollipop and go, then.” war replied, not looking the least worried. 

he made to take the lollipop from him but yin moved out of his reach just in time.

“i don’t think so. i told you i needed something to hold me over until i could get my hands on y-”

“fuck you” war interrupted with a gleeful laugh and tried to shove him away. “just go!” 

p’go was approaching them with the look of someone who meant very unpleasant business so yin decided to just do what war said. he let himself be pushed away and started back towards the fans, still keeping eye contact with him.

“cover for me.” he pleaded and laughed happily when war gave him the finger as answer. 

prom was giving him a double thumbs up when he finally turned around and that combined with the elated smile on his face only served to reinforce yin’s suspicions from before. they were so so screwed.

that knowledge doesn’t do a thing to damper the stupid smile on his face though and that was a problem. 

he can’t help it, though, because he is thinking of war and of his confession and the longing in his eyes as he made it, and he’s thinking of the song war chose for them to sing together and all the hidden meanings behind it; he is thinking about the very overdue, potentially life changing talk they are going to have later when they get home which then leads him to think about all the life changing non-talking they will most certainly be doing after that. and, you see, he just has a lot to smile about.

he can feel the giddiness radiating from the fans as he sits back behind the table and very pointedly ignores the curious faces looking down at him. he doubles his efforts and manages to tone his smile down a notch, he thinks. gets on with the signing, but not without risking one last glance in war’s direction. 

war is nodding absently at whatever p’go is saying to him, clearly not listening to a word of it if the wicked smile he had on his face as he waves at the passing fans was any indication. 

and it’s not like yin couldn’t tell from the whole lollipop thing that war had come to this meeting set on spreading chaos but he's still a little shocked when the man looks back at him and, without an ounce of hesitation, blows a whole kiss his way.

yin does the only thing he can then, and catches it in his palm. holds it tight and puts it away where it belongs, right there on the left side of his chest.

war smiles,

the crowd cheers,

happy birthday to yinyin, indeed.

the end.