Next To You
Title: Next To You
Author: mystery
Pairing: Taoris
Rating: PG-13/R
Genre: Fluff, humor
Warning(s): Mentions of/implied sex and diva Yixing
Summary: Zitao sleeps next to Yifan four times before it becomes a more usual occurrence than him not sleeping next to the duizhang.
Author’s Note: Random drabble-ish Taoris. Think I was only half-coherent while I wrote this, so sorry if parts of it doesn't really make sense... or something OTL
Fanfiction Masterlist
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The first time it happened, it was because of a nightmare. Zitao came running into the room Yifan shared with Yixing in the middle of the night, crying so hard he could barely breathe, and easily awoke the leader with a few shakes of his shoulder.
“G-gege,” he sobbed, trying to be quite so he wouldn’t wake up Yixing. “I h-had a nightmare- I dreamt that- that all of you d-died and it- it was my fault!”
Without saying anything, Yifan pulled the younger boy into his bed and offered his blankets to crawl in under, his body warmth to curl against as comfort. “It was just a dream,” he whispered as he stroked Zitao’s hair, “just a nightmare. Everything is okay. I’m okay. Yixing is okay too, he’s sleeping over there.”
Despite knowing that everything was fine, Zitao heaved himself up on one hand and turned towards Yixing’s bed, as if to make absolutely sure that Yixing was sleeping on the other side of the room, safe and sound. Once he was satisfied with his observations, he curled up against Yifan’s body again and fell asleep rather quickly.
The second time it happened, Zitao said he couldn’t sleep. “Duizhang…” he murmured at dinner and everyone looked at him, despite the fact that he’d addressed their leader. Everyone wanted to know what people had to say to their leader.
Yifan hummed through a mouthful of kimchi spaghetti that Kyungsoo had given Yixing the recipe of. “I… Can I sleep with you tonight?”
There was a half uncomfortable, half amused silence following his words. Zitao seemed perplexed, but then his face went an interesting shade of red as he realized what he’d said. “N-Not like that!” he exclaimed, staring down at his plate. “I just… I’ve had troubles sleeping lately and- that night when I had a nightmare, you know?” Zitao glanced up and Yifan nodded encouragingly. “I slept so well then, so I just thought… maybe…”
Yifan smiled and reached across the table to ruffle Zitao’s hair. “Of course. Just don’t kick me in your sleep; I’d like to wake up with my balls still intact.”
Zitao’s face went an even more interesting shade of red and he nodded curtly before he offered Yifan a shy smile and went back to his food.
The third time it happened, Yifan wasn’t fooled by Zitao’s excuses. This time he’d said that their manager, whom he shared a room with, snored obnoxiously loudly and that both Yifan and Yixing were more silent than him. Yifan pretended to believe in this to save their youngest from an embarrassing situation, but he knew the moment that they laid down and Zitao’s arm wrapped around his chest that Zitao had lied; the boy liked him. Whether it was only brotherly love or not-so platonic feelings remained to see, but either way the boy obviously had problems admitting it.
Not that Yifan minded, he may or may not feel a little more for the EXO-M maknae than he should.
The fourth time it happened, several months after the third time, it was because they had sex. They’d been alone in the dorms when Zitao suddenly snapped and told Yifan that he liked- no, loved him. He’d spoken so quickly that it took Yifan a few moments to process what he said, and he had tears in his eyes.
Once the words finally reached Yifan’s brain, he’d done the only thing he could think of; he’d leaned in and kissed the younger, whispering desperate words of love against his lips. One thing had led to another and eventually they lay sprawled on Yifan’s bed, naked and panting, covered in a thin sheen of sweat and with strings of drying semen on their skin.
“We should probably go shower… or at least cover up before the others come home,” Yifan muttered, but Zitao merely hummed absent-mindedly and curled up against the elder’s side. Yifan couldn’t bring himself to move much either as he let his fingers comb through Zitao’s hair while the younger rested on his arm and they eventually fell asleep just like that.
They were woken up by a loud rather girly shriek a few hours later as Yixing discovered them and continued to incoherently yell at them about nakedness and decentness and disgusting sights and nightmares and you’re the leader for fucks sakes! Zitao and Yifan offered a few sleepy glares, but obeyed without protests when Yixing started yelling that they could at least take a fucking shower.
After that, Zitao slept every night in Yifan’s bed and no one asked why.