honestly i just strongly believe in their bond… to me their friendship feels incredibly genuine because it’s always subtle, it never cries for attention yet it’s always there. they’re best friends, they just fit together, they’re really comfortable around each other (hence one of their ship names 闺蜜line). let us all remember the “do your balls hurt” incident, that happened like only two months after they first met. even then they were so comfortable around each other (‘∀’●)♡ oh and they’re like twins, but not really??? their opposite personalities (luhan’s gif and yixing’s jpg lol) compliment each other , yet they’re so similar. they were always so in sync it’s insane… i’m not gonna list here every layhan moment because we all know it by heart (late night conversations at low light while sipping tea, choosing each other to go to a desert because they were so used to being around each other and they’re “too lazy to change”, the guessing game where they got question after question correctly, all the inside jokes that made them giggle with each other while others tried to work around them, the fact that both straight up said that they’re each other’s best friend, and cute little things like sharing clothes and having the same item – and wearing them together, gifts that fans gave to yixing that luhan end up wearing and vice-versa…) they spent so much time together they started to pick up each others’ mannerisms. they also rely a lot on each other (istg luhan lightly putting his arms around yixing’s waist to protect it from the crowd at the airport – yixing’s waist was injured – will forever warm my heart 〜( ̄▽ ̄〜))
these little moments that were so subtle and so frequent is, to me, what showed the extent of their friendship. it was never forced, it was just natural. i’m gonna be really honest here and say that (in my opinion) certain ships like the royal ones had a bit of pushing from the company, i mean, ships are lucrative, they’re needed when a group debutes and even if said pairing is genuinely close, they face a certain amount of stress when interacting in public because people are paying attention. even if unconsciously, they feel the need to act a certain way for fanservice… but that doesn’t happen to layhan, it was never expected of them to show off their relationship or make it into something a bit more intense than it actually is… so to me their friendship is more genuine in that way…
and the fact that we still have layhan moments even after luhan’s departure just shows how strong and real their bond is… starting with his weibo update to luhan right after his departure, he was the only one who openly and directly supported him ;A; then when in the iqiyi interview thEY MENTIONED LUHAN AND YIXING SAID ALL THOSE THINGS AND THEN “BROTHERS FOR LIFE” AND THEN ON LUHAN’S BIRTHDAY FOOTBALL EVENT WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABOUT YIXING LUHAN SAID THAT THEY STILL SEND EACH OTHER TEXT MESSAGES AND THEN YIXING SAID ON THAT OTHER INTERVIEW THAT HE DID WENT OUT TO EAT WITH LUHAN SOMETIME EARLIER ALSO LET’S NOT FORGET THAT WHEN ASKED WHICH ONE IS MORE HANDSOME, HE OR LUHAN, HE IMMEDIATELY SAID LUHAN (BEFORE CORRECTING IT AND SAYING THEY’RE BOTH HANDSOME LMAO) S O YE AHH I DON’T HAVE THE STRENGTH TO DO THIS ANYMORE I’M GONNA GO DIE IN A PUDDLE OF MY OWN TEARS MY OTP IS THE REALEST THING EVER G OODBY E