To follow the Latter Path - Inclinations to Disobedience [One-shot]
Title: To follow the Latter Path
Genre: Fantasy, AU, Action/Adventure, Mild Angst, Fluff, Romance, Humor
Pairings: Tao/Sehun
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a world where people can defy the laws of nature, rules are necessary. But rules, when made and handled by fallible humans can cause pain and hurt instead. But like with life, one could choose to react with bitterness or to transfer that pain into something fruitful instead. These are the stories of those who chose to follow the latter path.
[A/N: For Yeonah. Her original prompt was: Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience OR The lyrics in Dead End (Mirai Nikki 2nd Opening)]
~*~
The cries of the masses were deafening, like a roar of a million voices congealing into a thundering wave of vibrations that was as meaningful as blank silence.
He felt a gentle nudge in his ribs and his hand automatically shot up and waved, his lips curling into an automatic smile. No one noticed the faux pas, only Joonmyun (or Suho as they had christened him), who had been the one who had nudged him in the first place. And when their eyes met, the leader's gaze questioning, he just gave the other a smile that he hoped look tired. Let Joonmyun blush imagining the reasons of why since they all knew what their maknae was up to nowadays.
He bore through the pomp and circumstance of the parade, the speeches and the unnecessary glory. It's already been half a year since the war is over - since they'd been heralded as the saviours of the world - and the public hadn't yet gotten tired of all the never-ending press conferences and media coverage and publicity. Today it's some commemorative festival of some minor battle or another that they'd blown up the importance of because well... this particular battle had been won without the help of that team.
Damn hypocrites the lot of them politicians were. No, make that the whole of their society.
But as much as he'd like to chuck the medal that they were handing to him back into their faces, Joonmyun and the rest didn't need the bad press that would bring. They needed their spotless image of perfect heroes to be intact if their plan was to work.
He bore through all the excruciating minutes of the ceremony. And he was infinitely glad that the planners had slotted in a showing exit with Jongin using his powers to teleport out from the stage to their van waiting to bring them back to the HQ. He didn't think that he could deal with the screaming fan hordes after all that.
The minute they'd stepped into the HQ, he'd made a beeline for his room. The others watched him go with no lack of sympathy. They were all tired of this as he was.
Of course, they didn't know that he had another motivation to get to his room other than the one that they were thinking. A motivation that appeared after he'd stormed in, slamming the door shut behind him and had gone and angrily splashed water over his face in an attempt to cool himself down.
He was still breathing hard when he heard the creaking of someone getting off from his bed and a then pair of arms slid around his waist. "Welcome back, Sehun-ah."
Sehun felt the tension leave, and his frame relaxed into the curve of the one standing behind him. He let the arms shift and manipulate him like putty, so that he was turned around and pulled into a proper hug; and he sighed, resting his head against the crook of the other person's neck, feeling for all the world like a sinful man seeking forgiveness for his crimes. "Tao."
He could feel the smile directed into his hair where Tao had buried his face into. And he let Tao pull away for a moment, knowing that the other would come close again, this time to press his lips onto Sehun's own in a soft kiss.
But Sehun wanted more, and he arched into the other, mouth inviting, lips invading, desperate; and after his initial surprise, Tao was more than happy to comply.
"I'm presuming that something must have happened during the press conference for you to be like this." Tao murmured after they had finally stopped, breathing hard. Sehun had rested his head on Tao's shoulder once again, breathing in the other's scent like a man dying. "No... no," he mumbled, lips brushing against Tao's skin. "Just..."
'You should have been there with us' are the words unspoken. But Tao would have guessed what he was thinking. And so he paused, before pulling Sehun up so he could look into the other's eyes. "You know why not. You know the rules."
And Sehun did. For in their community where people could do feats that defied most laws of nature, rules were necessary for survival in a world with an ignorant majority, and to watch themselves from being too overwhelmed by power that they thought themselves more than simple creatures who just had a few more tricks up their sleeves. And the war that Sehun had fought and won had been against those who had thought themselves beyond the rules and had wanted to do away with them entirely.
But there were rules, and there were stupid rules. And the ones Sehun hated were the latter. They had nothing to do with the preservation of the world. Just the preservation of human naivety - the bad kind.
"I just..."
"Sehun. You know I don't mind."
But Sehun did. Which was a little odd since Tao was usually the one fishing for compliments and praise where it was due. Because Tao and the five others who were the Shadow team were the ones whose efforts had really won the war.
But it was the team that Sehun was in - the Alpha team, so called specially put together with the strongest and the brightest to vanquish the forces of evil, that had gotten all the glory, become the poster boys for the light. When their sacrifices had been much less combined than that of any one member of the shadow team's.
But of course, the shadow team couldn't exist. Because the war for light couldn't have been won using dark methods. There couldn't have been any rules broken for victory to have been gained because they were the side of the light. Right?
And yet, how would they have known all the necessary information for all their strikes if Luhan hadn't broken every single rule of the Telepath's book and invaded the minds of captured enemies for them? And could they have fought so tirelessly, campaign after campaign after campaign if Yixing had not broken all of his healer oaths and had stolen the life forces of their enemies to restore their energies and repair the hurts beyond what his own abilities could have done? And could they have won so many of their battles if not for Jongdae and Minseok who had defaulted from the other side, finding that their leader's ideas may not have been so idealistic after all, and had risked their lives to be spies, leading a double life, sometimes doing so many things they still regretted in order to keep their covers, and yet still distrusted by so many because of where they had come from once?
And how would they still be alive really, if Zitao had not broken the biggest rule of the universe, and had not turned back that one time where his team had royally screwed it up and had all gotten killed because they had been too hasty and had rushed into a fight where they shouldn't have?
Sehun had woken up by the shrill ring of his alarm clock, wondering if dying had been all a dream. But then, Joonmyun had barged into his room, just as Luhan's telepathic call had alerted them all that he'd woken up to the sound of Tao coughing up blood and they'd both had the same revelation at the same time.
Sehun would never forget the sight of Tao's body withering away as the universe tried to take it's payment for defying fate and death. Nor would he forget Yixing toppling over after he'd exhausted himself barely succeeding to heal Tao, coming close to death himself.
It had been from then on that all the incredible tales of the perfection of the Alpha team had started. Sehun had laughed when the reporters had asked him after the war, the reason they had suddenly become so much more effective nearly overnight. Joonmyun had given some pre-prepared crap answer that they'd been instructed to say. But they all had been thinking the same thing: 'Because if we'd fucked up again, that stupid idiot Tao would have probably tried to do the same time and this time he'd have died because the universe might be willing to let go the first time, but a second? And after that time, we all swore that we'd never, ever cause the Shadow team to need to resort to such drastic measures to cover our asses again."
Yet, those people in the high places, those people who had conceived the Shadow team in the first place, now wanted to hide them like they were some kind of dirty secret - and for what? For fear that if their decision had been discovered they would fall out of power. And for fear of what they had created. For if Yixing could steal the breath of their enemies to heal, then what was stopping him to steal from anyone and everyone to increase his own power? If Luhan could steal secrets from their enemies, then what was preventing him from reading everyone's minds and knowing everyone's secrets and using those for his own gain? If Jongdae and Minseok had once been of their enemies' ranks, then what was stopping them from becoming betrayers again if they had done it once before? If Zitao could turn back time so as to change history, then he couldn't he change anything he wanted to his liking?
No. They had to be hidden away, locked up and kept a careful eye on. They were far too dangerous.
And even Kris had not been spared the unfair judgement when all he'd done was to choose get drafted into the Shadow team instead of staying on in the Alpha team where he'd originally been posted. Because he saw how everyone treated his friends and he knew that they needed someone to lead and keep them all sane else they would all self-destruct and then the fear that those in authority had of them now would have become reality a long time ago.
"Sehun? Earth to Sehun? You still with me?"
Sehun looked up into Tao's eyes and shook off his train of thought. "Nothing."
But they both knew that this 'nothing' wasn't nothing. And from Tao's expression, Sehun knew that he needed to give Tao something or the other wouldn't let it go. "I just... I was just thinking of the day we... you know... started this."
'This' was Sehun falling into Tao's bed, or vice versa nearly every night. And the day it had started was the day that the Alpha team had come back after a near month's long of touring around and interviews and press conferences and all the supposedly necessary shit, and Sehun had took one step down the corridor leading to his room when he'd heard the clink of chains and saw Tao being walked down, bound with both physical and magical chains, as if he was some sort of criminal.
The six of them in the Alpha team had been told that public opinion was too volatile for the Shadow team's existence to be made known at the moment, and all of them had stupidly swallowed the lies. They certainly hadn't known that it had been the government's intention to bury the existence of the Shadow team entirely back then. The only thing that had saved any of the Shadow team from being killed outright was because the only ones as powerful as the Shadow team really had all been on the opposing side or were in the Alpha team.
It must have been dramatic, the way all the windows in the vicinity had shattered from the pressure of the wind storm that Sehun had released and the guards had been flung onto a wall, helpless against Sehun's power. He'd broken Tao's chains and then had paused at the pained look in Tao's eyes.
"No," had been Tao's whisper. "You can't do this. If you do, they'll try to lock you up as well. I can't have that."
And then time had jerked. And Sehun found himself at the end of the corridor, watching Tao again being led away in chains. Tao didn't collapse this time, but Sehun detected the wobble in Tao's footsteps and the fatigue in the other boy's eyes.
He'd visited Tao that night, after having met with the other members of the Alpha team. He'd bribed the guards watching Tao to let him into Tao's room.
He had prepared the speeches and the apologies. But Tao had pre-empted him and had said, "if you're here with speeches and apologies you might as well go away because I'm not going to listen to them."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Sehun had asked, affronted.
Tao shrugged before a mischievous grin crossed his face. "Maybe you could kiss me?" He suggested cheerfully as if he was sure that Sehun wouldn't.
Sehun would prove him wrong of course. And one thing had led to another. Until clothes had come off and they'd tumbled into bed like a comet to its end, crashing into the earth with a fiery, glorious explosion of heat, sparks and light.
"Ah that day." Tao's words pulled Sehun back into the present again. Tao's smile was ironic. "I'm still curious however, why you decided to kiss me back then and why you still refuse to tell me. Is my theory about being so frustrated after one month on the road and the others refusing to do anything with you because you're their precious maknae really true?"
Sehun pinched Tao's butt, eliciting a laughing yelp from the older boy. But Sehun didn't Tao why he'd kissed Tao that day, because truth to be told, Sehun didn't know either. So he changed the subject.
"And I still don't know how you can be so cavalier about the whole situation. You're locked down here and treated like a criminal just because of a silly fear that you'll turn bad."
But Tao stiffened. "That's not... a silly fear."
And the fear on Tao's face is like a stab to Sehun's heart, because how could Tao believe that he could turn bad even after Sehun had told him many times that before that he would not? He might have been boastful about his powers when Sehun had first met him, but they'd all seen, after a while, the fear that Tao had of his own powers - using more often, his skills in martial arts to fight. And the only time he'd really used the full extent of his powers, it had been for them - their silly mistakes, and he'd nearly paid it with his life.
"Tao-"
"They have good reason to lock me down here! I'm dangerous!" Tao yelled, pulling away from Sehun entirely. And from the way he hunched over, wrapping his arms around himself, reminded Sehun of a wounded animal.
Sehun could have said many things then that he'd already said before. He could refute Tao, saying that he wasn't. He could remind Tao of the many times he could have gone wrong but he hadn't yet. He could have argued until they were both exhausted and angry. But he did none of those, and instead, in a flash of inspiration, he said, his voice hardening. "Well, so am I. But you don't see them locking me up."
Tao looked up, surprise flooding his face. "What? What are you talking about? You're not dangerous, Sehun, not the way I am."
"Tao. I'm the most powerful wind-user in the world. I could call up a storm that would wreck a whole continent within hours if I wanted to. And I could use that power to threaten and destroy in order to get what I want. And if you've forgotten, my most powerful killing technique is stealing the wind from the lungs of people so that they suffocate to death. And I have done it to whole armies before."
Tao's mouth opened, then closed in disbelief. What Sehun said was all true... but... "you won't do that. You won't turn bad that way."
Sehun folded his arms, quirking an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"You..." Tao floundered for words, "you... just won't. You're you, Sehunnie. You won't turn bad that way."
Sehun's expression didn't change for a moment as Tao's words settled into both their minds. Then, a slow smile spread across the younger's face. "Yeah. I wouldn't. And neither will you. Because you're you, Tao. You wouldn't either."
The change is almost unnoticeable, but it's there as Tao stared at Sehun, the small flickers of hope slowly beginning to dawn in his eyes. "I wouldn't."
"Yeah. You wouldn't." Sehun took a few steps forward, cautiously taking Tao's hand.
"I... wouldn't." Tao slowly repeated, a small smile crossing his face, and then he pulled Sehun forwards suddenly into a crushing hug. "I wouldn't."
"Yes. You wouldn't." Sehun agreed, and then added on lightly, because even after that, Sehun thought that maybe, the slight tremble in Tao's frame was because Tao might still be afraid. "And even if you did. I'd come after you and kick your ass."
Tao laughed, and with a grin that made him look more like himself he replied. "Heh. Bring it on!"
The tickle fight that they got into turned sexual very quickly as it always was with them. And after both of them were lying on the bed, spent and curled up around each other, Sehun said. "So, agree with me that the old geezers up there are stupid for trying to lock you down here? As if they'd have enough power to keep you locked up if you guys were serious about getting out. And even if they wanted to, they should have kept us all locked up. They got all greedy thinking they could use the success of the Alpha team for their own political gain. Stupid old geezers."
"Those old geezers are still the authority you know, even if they are getting ineffective." Tao reminded. "Not all the rules they put are good, but they have been holding things together pretty well. We shouldn't be opposing them so much."
"Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience." Sehun replied carelessly, then sat up in surprise when Tao's expression became uncertain.
"Is... is this... about that?" Tao asked, trying to make the question casual, as if asking if the reason Sehun breaking to rules to sleep with Tao was just to defy authority was something casual. And Sehun's eyes widened in horror as he cupped Tao's face, nearly yelling. "No, you idiot. It's definitely not about that."
Tao relaxed, but the fear is not entirely gone. "Then what is it? You never really said."
"I..." what was it really? Sehun looked down then slowly said. "I think it's love."
"Love."
"Yeah." Sehun looked up. "Love."
Tao's lips quirked a little as he asked his next question. "What's 'love'."
"Dunno." Sehun answered immediately, much to Tao's snickering. "Chocolate, cotton candy, flying imaginary hearts and uh puppy dogs."
"Puppy dogs." Tao repeated incredulously before bursting out into laughter with Sehun joining him. "Puppy dogs... really, Sehun?"
They're still laughing when Baekhyun suddenly barged into Sehun's room, yelping as he covered his eyes from the suddenly unexpected nudity. Tao raised an eyebrow, not at all perturbed by the intrusion. "Serves you right, Baekhyun-hyung. You should have knocked if you didn't want to get an eyeful."
"Well, I wouldn't have had to barge in if Sehun was paying attention to his phone!" Baekhyun glared at Sehun as if it was his fault. "Suho called fifteen minutes ago! It's starting!"
Sehun sat up, even as Tao stared at Baekhyun, now utterly confused. "What? I thought it wasn't for a week?"
"Yeah, well. Kai had teleported into Lay's rooms to prank him and found him healing up some hideous looking wounds on Chen and Xiumin. Apparently, someone tried to carry out a revenge act on them last week and they nearly died, but the whole team of Shadow idiots decided to keep mum about it." now both Sehun and Baekhyun were pinning withering looks on Tao who muttered something about: "They threatened us if we didn't keep quiet..."
"Anyway, we told Suho and... I've never seen leader-sshi so... terrifying before." Baekhyun shuddered as if remembering. "So we're starting early. 'Enough is enough' as Suho put it."
"Wait, what's starting?" Tao looked confused as Sehun let out a whoop of excitement, rushing to put on his clothes. Baekhyun yelped and yelled that they had five minutes before running out to save his eyes some burn.
"Revelation, darling." Sehun grinned. "We're going to try to change the way things are, challenging the authority as it's meant to be. Don't worry," he added when Tao looked alarmed. "We're doing this the right way, through public opinion and petition. And we're going to do it fabulously."
Tao shook his head in bewilderment, because really, what was Sehun going on about? But then the younger held out his hand, the wild grin on his mouth reminisce of the nature of his power and Tao felt as if he was on the verge of getting swept away.
"Coming?"
Tao smirked, and reached out for Sehun's hand without hesitation. Tao is all about time, and he knew the importance of something missed. Sure, he could turn time back and right all his mistakes if he really wanted to, but why would he want to pay the price for missing something he was sure of in the first place?
He let himself get swept away.
~*~
[ Promises of Desperate Conversations]
Genre: Fantasy, AU, Action/Adventure, Mild Angst, Fluff, Romance, Humor
Pairings: Tao/Sehun
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In a world where people can defy the laws of nature, rules are necessary. But rules, when made and handled by fallible humans can cause pain and hurt instead. But like with life, one could choose to react with bitterness or to transfer that pain into something fruitful instead. These are the stories of those who chose to follow the latter path.
[A/N: For Yeonah. Her original prompt was: Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience OR The lyrics in Dead End (Mirai Nikki 2nd Opening)]
~*~
The cries of the masses were deafening, like a roar of a million voices congealing into a thundering wave of vibrations that was as meaningful as blank silence.
He felt a gentle nudge in his ribs and his hand automatically shot up and waved, his lips curling into an automatic smile. No one noticed the faux pas, only Joonmyun (or Suho as they had christened him), who had been the one who had nudged him in the first place. And when their eyes met, the leader's gaze questioning, he just gave the other a smile that he hoped look tired. Let Joonmyun blush imagining the reasons of why since they all knew what their maknae was up to nowadays.
He bore through the pomp and circumstance of the parade, the speeches and the unnecessary glory. It's already been half a year since the war is over - since they'd been heralded as the saviours of the world - and the public hadn't yet gotten tired of all the never-ending press conferences and media coverage and publicity. Today it's some commemorative festival of some minor battle or another that they'd blown up the importance of because well... this particular battle had been won without the help of that team.
Damn hypocrites the lot of them politicians were. No, make that the whole of their society.
But as much as he'd like to chuck the medal that they were handing to him back into their faces, Joonmyun and the rest didn't need the bad press that would bring. They needed their spotless image of perfect heroes to be intact if their plan was to work.
He bore through all the excruciating minutes of the ceremony. And he was infinitely glad that the planners had slotted in a showing exit with Jongin using his powers to teleport out from the stage to their van waiting to bring them back to the HQ. He didn't think that he could deal with the screaming fan hordes after all that.
The minute they'd stepped into the HQ, he'd made a beeline for his room. The others watched him go with no lack of sympathy. They were all tired of this as he was.
Of course, they didn't know that he had another motivation to get to his room other than the one that they were thinking. A motivation that appeared after he'd stormed in, slamming the door shut behind him and had gone and angrily splashed water over his face in an attempt to cool himself down.
He was still breathing hard when he heard the creaking of someone getting off from his bed and a then pair of arms slid around his waist. "Welcome back, Sehun-ah."
Sehun felt the tension leave, and his frame relaxed into the curve of the one standing behind him. He let the arms shift and manipulate him like putty, so that he was turned around and pulled into a proper hug; and he sighed, resting his head against the crook of the other person's neck, feeling for all the world like a sinful man seeking forgiveness for his crimes. "Tao."
He could feel the smile directed into his hair where Tao had buried his face into. And he let Tao pull away for a moment, knowing that the other would come close again, this time to press his lips onto Sehun's own in a soft kiss.
But Sehun wanted more, and he arched into the other, mouth inviting, lips invading, desperate; and after his initial surprise, Tao was more than happy to comply.
"I'm presuming that something must have happened during the press conference for you to be like this." Tao murmured after they had finally stopped, breathing hard. Sehun had rested his head on Tao's shoulder once again, breathing in the other's scent like a man dying. "No... no," he mumbled, lips brushing against Tao's skin. "Just..."
'You should have been there with us' are the words unspoken. But Tao would have guessed what he was thinking. And so he paused, before pulling Sehun up so he could look into the other's eyes. "You know why not. You know the rules."
And Sehun did. For in their community where people could do feats that defied most laws of nature, rules were necessary for survival in a world with an ignorant majority, and to watch themselves from being too overwhelmed by power that they thought themselves more than simple creatures who just had a few more tricks up their sleeves. And the war that Sehun had fought and won had been against those who had thought themselves beyond the rules and had wanted to do away with them entirely.
But there were rules, and there were stupid rules. And the ones Sehun hated were the latter. They had nothing to do with the preservation of the world. Just the preservation of human naivety - the bad kind.
"I just..."
"Sehun. You know I don't mind."
But Sehun did. Which was a little odd since Tao was usually the one fishing for compliments and praise where it was due. Because Tao and the five others who were the Shadow team were the ones whose efforts had really won the war.
But it was the team that Sehun was in - the Alpha team, so called specially put together with the strongest and the brightest to vanquish the forces of evil, that had gotten all the glory, become the poster boys for the light. When their sacrifices had been much less combined than that of any one member of the shadow team's.
But of course, the shadow team couldn't exist. Because the war for light couldn't have been won using dark methods. There couldn't have been any rules broken for victory to have been gained because they were the side of the light. Right?
And yet, how would they have known all the necessary information for all their strikes if Luhan hadn't broken every single rule of the Telepath's book and invaded the minds of captured enemies for them? And could they have fought so tirelessly, campaign after campaign after campaign if Yixing had not broken all of his healer oaths and had stolen the life forces of their enemies to restore their energies and repair the hurts beyond what his own abilities could have done? And could they have won so many of their battles if not for Jongdae and Minseok who had defaulted from the other side, finding that their leader's ideas may not have been so idealistic after all, and had risked their lives to be spies, leading a double life, sometimes doing so many things they still regretted in order to keep their covers, and yet still distrusted by so many because of where they had come from once?
And how would they still be alive really, if Zitao had not broken the biggest rule of the universe, and had not turned back that one time where his team had royally screwed it up and had all gotten killed because they had been too hasty and had rushed into a fight where they shouldn't have?
Sehun had woken up by the shrill ring of his alarm clock, wondering if dying had been all a dream. But then, Joonmyun had barged into his room, just as Luhan's telepathic call had alerted them all that he'd woken up to the sound of Tao coughing up blood and they'd both had the same revelation at the same time.
Sehun would never forget the sight of Tao's body withering away as the universe tried to take it's payment for defying fate and death. Nor would he forget Yixing toppling over after he'd exhausted himself barely succeeding to heal Tao, coming close to death himself.
It had been from then on that all the incredible tales of the perfection of the Alpha team had started. Sehun had laughed when the reporters had asked him after the war, the reason they had suddenly become so much more effective nearly overnight. Joonmyun had given some pre-prepared crap answer that they'd been instructed to say. But they all had been thinking the same thing: 'Because if we'd fucked up again, that stupid idiot Tao would have probably tried to do the same time and this time he'd have died because the universe might be willing to let go the first time, but a second? And after that time, we all swore that we'd never, ever cause the Shadow team to need to resort to such drastic measures to cover our asses again."
Yet, those people in the high places, those people who had conceived the Shadow team in the first place, now wanted to hide them like they were some kind of dirty secret - and for what? For fear that if their decision had been discovered they would fall out of power. And for fear of what they had created. For if Yixing could steal the breath of their enemies to heal, then what was stopping him to steal from anyone and everyone to increase his own power? If Luhan could steal secrets from their enemies, then what was preventing him from reading everyone's minds and knowing everyone's secrets and using those for his own gain? If Jongdae and Minseok had once been of their enemies' ranks, then what was stopping them from becoming betrayers again if they had done it once before? If Zitao could turn back time so as to change history, then he couldn't he change anything he wanted to his liking?
No. They had to be hidden away, locked up and kept a careful eye on. They were far too dangerous.
And even Kris had not been spared the unfair judgement when all he'd done was to choose get drafted into the Shadow team instead of staying on in the Alpha team where he'd originally been posted. Because he saw how everyone treated his friends and he knew that they needed someone to lead and keep them all sane else they would all self-destruct and then the fear that those in authority had of them now would have become reality a long time ago.
"Sehun? Earth to Sehun? You still with me?"
Sehun looked up into Tao's eyes and shook off his train of thought. "Nothing."
But they both knew that this 'nothing' wasn't nothing. And from Tao's expression, Sehun knew that he needed to give Tao something or the other wouldn't let it go. "I just... I was just thinking of the day we... you know... started this."
'This' was Sehun falling into Tao's bed, or vice versa nearly every night. And the day it had started was the day that the Alpha team had come back after a near month's long of touring around and interviews and press conferences and all the supposedly necessary shit, and Sehun had took one step down the corridor leading to his room when he'd heard the clink of chains and saw Tao being walked down, bound with both physical and magical chains, as if he was some sort of criminal.
The six of them in the Alpha team had been told that public opinion was too volatile for the Shadow team's existence to be made known at the moment, and all of them had stupidly swallowed the lies. They certainly hadn't known that it had been the government's intention to bury the existence of the Shadow team entirely back then. The only thing that had saved any of the Shadow team from being killed outright was because the only ones as powerful as the Shadow team really had all been on the opposing side or were in the Alpha team.
It must have been dramatic, the way all the windows in the vicinity had shattered from the pressure of the wind storm that Sehun had released and the guards had been flung onto a wall, helpless against Sehun's power. He'd broken Tao's chains and then had paused at the pained look in Tao's eyes.
"No," had been Tao's whisper. "You can't do this. If you do, they'll try to lock you up as well. I can't have that."
And then time had jerked. And Sehun found himself at the end of the corridor, watching Tao again being led away in chains. Tao didn't collapse this time, but Sehun detected the wobble in Tao's footsteps and the fatigue in the other boy's eyes.
He'd visited Tao that night, after having met with the other members of the Alpha team. He'd bribed the guards watching Tao to let him into Tao's room.
He had prepared the speeches and the apologies. But Tao had pre-empted him and had said, "if you're here with speeches and apologies you might as well go away because I'm not going to listen to them."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Sehun had asked, affronted.
Tao shrugged before a mischievous grin crossed his face. "Maybe you could kiss me?" He suggested cheerfully as if he was sure that Sehun wouldn't.
Sehun would prove him wrong of course. And one thing had led to another. Until clothes had come off and they'd tumbled into bed like a comet to its end, crashing into the earth with a fiery, glorious explosion of heat, sparks and light.
"Ah that day." Tao's words pulled Sehun back into the present again. Tao's smile was ironic. "I'm still curious however, why you decided to kiss me back then and why you still refuse to tell me. Is my theory about being so frustrated after one month on the road and the others refusing to do anything with you because you're their precious maknae really true?"
Sehun pinched Tao's butt, eliciting a laughing yelp from the older boy. But Sehun didn't Tao why he'd kissed Tao that day, because truth to be told, Sehun didn't know either. So he changed the subject.
"And I still don't know how you can be so cavalier about the whole situation. You're locked down here and treated like a criminal just because of a silly fear that you'll turn bad."
But Tao stiffened. "That's not... a silly fear."
And the fear on Tao's face is like a stab to Sehun's heart, because how could Tao believe that he could turn bad even after Sehun had told him many times that before that he would not? He might have been boastful about his powers when Sehun had first met him, but they'd all seen, after a while, the fear that Tao had of his own powers - using more often, his skills in martial arts to fight. And the only time he'd really used the full extent of his powers, it had been for them - their silly mistakes, and he'd nearly paid it with his life.
"Tao-"
"They have good reason to lock me down here! I'm dangerous!" Tao yelled, pulling away from Sehun entirely. And from the way he hunched over, wrapping his arms around himself, reminded Sehun of a wounded animal.
Sehun could have said many things then that he'd already said before. He could refute Tao, saying that he wasn't. He could remind Tao of the many times he could have gone wrong but he hadn't yet. He could have argued until they were both exhausted and angry. But he did none of those, and instead, in a flash of inspiration, he said, his voice hardening. "Well, so am I. But you don't see them locking me up."
Tao looked up, surprise flooding his face. "What? What are you talking about? You're not dangerous, Sehun, not the way I am."
"Tao. I'm the most powerful wind-user in the world. I could call up a storm that would wreck a whole continent within hours if I wanted to. And I could use that power to threaten and destroy in order to get what I want. And if you've forgotten, my most powerful killing technique is stealing the wind from the lungs of people so that they suffocate to death. And I have done it to whole armies before."
Tao's mouth opened, then closed in disbelief. What Sehun said was all true... but... "you won't do that. You won't turn bad that way."
Sehun folded his arms, quirking an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"You..." Tao floundered for words, "you... just won't. You're you, Sehunnie. You won't turn bad that way."
Sehun's expression didn't change for a moment as Tao's words settled into both their minds. Then, a slow smile spread across the younger's face. "Yeah. I wouldn't. And neither will you. Because you're you, Tao. You wouldn't either."
The change is almost unnoticeable, but it's there as Tao stared at Sehun, the small flickers of hope slowly beginning to dawn in his eyes. "I wouldn't."
"Yeah. You wouldn't." Sehun took a few steps forward, cautiously taking Tao's hand.
"I... wouldn't." Tao slowly repeated, a small smile crossing his face, and then he pulled Sehun forwards suddenly into a crushing hug. "I wouldn't."
"Yes. You wouldn't." Sehun agreed, and then added on lightly, because even after that, Sehun thought that maybe, the slight tremble in Tao's frame was because Tao might still be afraid. "And even if you did. I'd come after you and kick your ass."
Tao laughed, and with a grin that made him look more like himself he replied. "Heh. Bring it on!"
The tickle fight that they got into turned sexual very quickly as it always was with them. And after both of them were lying on the bed, spent and curled up around each other, Sehun said. "So, agree with me that the old geezers up there are stupid for trying to lock you down here? As if they'd have enough power to keep you locked up if you guys were serious about getting out. And even if they wanted to, they should have kept us all locked up. They got all greedy thinking they could use the success of the Alpha team for their own political gain. Stupid old geezers."
"Those old geezers are still the authority you know, even if they are getting ineffective." Tao reminded. "Not all the rules they put are good, but they have been holding things together pretty well. We shouldn't be opposing them so much."
"Wherever there is authority, there is a natural inclination to disobedience." Sehun replied carelessly, then sat up in surprise when Tao's expression became uncertain.
"Is... is this... about that?" Tao asked, trying to make the question casual, as if asking if the reason Sehun breaking to rules to sleep with Tao was just to defy authority was something casual. And Sehun's eyes widened in horror as he cupped Tao's face, nearly yelling. "No, you idiot. It's definitely not about that."
Tao relaxed, but the fear is not entirely gone. "Then what is it? You never really said."
"I..." what was it really? Sehun looked down then slowly said. "I think it's love."
"Love."
"Yeah." Sehun looked up. "Love."
Tao's lips quirked a little as he asked his next question. "What's 'love'."
"Dunno." Sehun answered immediately, much to Tao's snickering. "Chocolate, cotton candy, flying imaginary hearts and uh puppy dogs."
"Puppy dogs." Tao repeated incredulously before bursting out into laughter with Sehun joining him. "Puppy dogs... really, Sehun?"
They're still laughing when Baekhyun suddenly barged into Sehun's room, yelping as he covered his eyes from the suddenly unexpected nudity. Tao raised an eyebrow, not at all perturbed by the intrusion. "Serves you right, Baekhyun-hyung. You should have knocked if you didn't want to get an eyeful."
"Well, I wouldn't have had to barge in if Sehun was paying attention to his phone!" Baekhyun glared at Sehun as if it was his fault. "Suho called fifteen minutes ago! It's starting!"
Sehun sat up, even as Tao stared at Baekhyun, now utterly confused. "What? I thought it wasn't for a week?"
"Yeah, well. Kai had teleported into Lay's rooms to prank him and found him healing up some hideous looking wounds on Chen and Xiumin. Apparently, someone tried to carry out a revenge act on them last week and they nearly died, but the whole team of Shadow idiots decided to keep mum about it." now both Sehun and Baekhyun were pinning withering looks on Tao who muttered something about: "They threatened us if we didn't keep quiet..."
"Anyway, we told Suho and... I've never seen leader-sshi so... terrifying before." Baekhyun shuddered as if remembering. "So we're starting early. 'Enough is enough' as Suho put it."
"Wait, what's starting?" Tao looked confused as Sehun let out a whoop of excitement, rushing to put on his clothes. Baekhyun yelped and yelled that they had five minutes before running out to save his eyes some burn.
"Revelation, darling." Sehun grinned. "We're going to try to change the way things are, challenging the authority as it's meant to be. Don't worry," he added when Tao looked alarmed. "We're doing this the right way, through public opinion and petition. And we're going to do it fabulously."
Tao shook his head in bewilderment, because really, what was Sehun going on about? But then the younger held out his hand, the wild grin on his mouth reminisce of the nature of his power and Tao felt as if he was on the verge of getting swept away.
"Coming?"
Tao smirked, and reached out for Sehun's hand without hesitation. Tao is all about time, and he knew the importance of something missed. Sure, he could turn time back and right all his mistakes if he really wanted to, but why would he want to pay the price for missing something he was sure of in the first place?
He let himself get swept away.
~*~
[ Promises of Desperate Conversations]