Terminal (Tao/Kris, PG)
Title: Terminal
Pairing: Tao/Kris
Rating: PG
Summary: They say that all good things must come to an end.
Notes: This has been the longest thing I have ever written, at over 8K. I have spent well over 3 months with this. Even though it's not even that great. I am the world's slowest writer and I plotted this out a thousand times, and it ended up completely different from what I started out to be, lol.I tried my best with mistakes, but I may have missed a few things. Feel free to comment about any mistakes you spot! Thanks for reading. I have no idea how to work LJ. o.o Will eventually go back and edit. One day.
“Hi, I just moved here and my name's Wu Yifan, but you can call me Kris,” the tall boy rapidly said, sticking out his hand as though expecting a handshake.
Tao flinched at the sudden movement and stared at the hand outstretched. He looked back up that the owner of the hand and blinked, not sure what to do.
A smile spread out on Kris' face, changing the sharp features into a friendly, open expression. The 7 year old shook his hand as though to remind the slightly cowering boy of his greeting.
Slowly, with his own trembling, the smaller boy reached out timidly to shake Kris' hand, their small palms barely touching.
“Huang Zitao,” he whispered, as though afraid if he spoke too loudly, the wind would blow him away.
Kris' grin only stretched, his hand suddenly engulfed the other's hand. Zitao flinched at the action and tugged his hand back, but Kris' firm hold didn't let his hand slip out. Zitao stared up at the odd boy with wide eyes. “We're going to be great friends, I can already tell,” Kris said cheerfully, finally letting the boy pull back his hand.
The elder didn't let the silence last long as he launched into an enthusiastic speech of all the things the two boys were going to try since they were next door.
Zitao could feel himself being pulled into Kris' pace, knowing that the other boy wouldn't let him be. The funny thing was that he didn't seem to mind.
“I promise that I can take you on adventures you never even imagined!”
~~~
Zitao quickly made his way home as quickly as he could, trying to not trip over anything in alleyway. It was noon time and he was making his way home for a quick lunch before his mother sent him back to school. Normally, the 8 year old would be walking home with Kris, but today Kris had to stay back at school for a project he was doing for music class.
The child dreamed of all the wonderful, delicious things that his mother might've cooked up for her family, not really paying attention to where he was going.
“Ouch!” Zitao yelped as he ran into something seemingly huge and hard. He took a step back from the blow and he looked up to what he had ran into.
What Zitao seemed to run into leaned down onto the child and gave a feral grin, showing his rotting, yellow teeth. “Well, well. What have we here? A wandering child? What are in such a rush for?” the man leered, his voice a raspy sound from years of chain smoking.
It sent a shiver down the young boy's back and he stuttered out an apology as quickly as he could, bowing to try to go around the man. His young instincts were screaming at him to flee. This man was nothing but bad news and he had to get out of here as quickly as possible.
The man gave a short bark of laughter at Tao's actions and took a step in the direction that the 8 year old was trying to go. “Now, you don't have to be in such a hurry. Uncle here only wants to get to know you better,” the adult said, reaching an arm out to grab at Tao's arm.
Tao flinched and pressed away from the reach, turning on his heel to run the way that he had come from to try to get away from him.
Before Tao could even make it out of the alley, the man grabbed his shoulder and powerfully snapped the running boy back.
Tao fell down into the dirt that lined the ally, staring up the the man in fear, struggling to get up, but the man only held him down. “Tsk, tsk. Look like someone's a naughty child. I thought I told you that I wanted to get to know more about you. Someone's going to have to get a punishment, aren't they?” words came out of the man's mouth as he moved his hand down to slap Tao in the face.
Stunned, Tao slumped down, his face crumpled in pain. When he finally recovered, he continued to struggle, spitting out, “Let...me...go!”
The man only looked at him mockingly and shook his head as though disappointed. “Hah. You really want to test Uncle's patience, don't you?” He again slapped Tao hard across the face, this time on the other cheek.
Tao's face was burning in pain and tears were forming in his eyes and threatening to pour down. “P-please let m-me go!” the child cried out, desperate for the man to let go.
As though something in him had snapped, the man's face contorted into an angry expression, before bringing his leg back to kick at the small boy in front of him.
Tao shrieked as the heavy boot impacted with his fragile legs, pain exploding from everywhere.
“Please...please!” Tao shrieked, begging the man to stop as he continued to beat Zitao's small body.
As a last effort, the child's leg snapped out to kick hard at the man's crotch. The man doubled over in pain as he ground out vivid threats and punishments for the boy.
Tao took his chance and sprinted out of there as fast as he could, fleeing back into a heavily congested street , knowing that the huge man wouldn’t be able to weave through the crowd like he could.
The boy never looked back as he ran home and collapsed into the arms of his panic stricken mother at the sight of her poor beaten boy.
After Tao managed to heal from the traumatic experience, it was decided for him to take up a martial art for defense and for prevention of any repeats of an incident.
~~~
“Tao! Come on! It's the first day of middle school and you don't want to be late already,” a very familiar voice rang in the half asleep boy's ear.
The said boy only groaned in response and rolled over, trying to escape the loud voice that only seemed to continue nagging at him.
Kris frowned, staring at his best friend who was clearly ignoring the other, trying to slip back into dream land. “Tao! Now!” Kris tried again, this time stepping into the room. Like before, Zitao just ignored Kris. “If you don't get up right now, I promise that I'll let you be late to school!”
With Zitao facing the wall, he couldn't see the sneaky grin that stretched on Kris' face. Zitao grinned softly at the silence in the room that seemed to indicate that the other had finally left Tao to his lovely dreams, not noticing a Kris sneak up to his bed.
Tao jolted awake with an embarrassingly high pitched shriek as cold fingers wiggled underneath his covers and attacked his ticklish sides. Laughter poured out of Zitao's mouth as he tried to escape the cold digits and Kris unconsciously smiled at the joyful giggles that came from Tao.
“Oh....ok!” Tao gasped out between bouts of laughter, still wiggling to get as far away from Kris as possible, “I'll....I'll get up! I-I'm awake!” Kris raised an eyebrow at this dubious plead and only doubled his attack, climbing onto the bed with his friend. “Noooooo!” Tao shrieked as tears began to uncontrollably leak out of the corners on his eyes. His stomach ached from the constant laughter that came from the tickling.
“Say 'I'm a stinky hippopotamus that will be best friends with Kris for forever'!” Kris gleefully said, a smile seemingly frozen on his face.
“I...! I...I'm a s-stinky.....hi-hippo-potamus-s that w-will be best fr-friends with Krease f-forever!” Zitao spat out as fast as he could before he died from lack of oxygen.
At last, Kris' fingers stopped moving and he withdrew from his attack with a triumphant smile. “Hah. You're a stiiiinky hippopotamus,” the boy said, used to the odd way Tao pronounced his English name. Kris got off the bed and made his way out the boy's room. “Oh, by the way, your mom made some melon bread for breakfast, and if you don't get ready soon, I promise you that I'm going to eat it,” he tossed behind his shoulder before closing the door with a sharp snap!
Zitao could hear Kris' snickering as he thundered down the stairs and Tao knew that his friend wasn't jesting. He wiped away the remaining tears that had run down his face moments ago and jumped out of bed, rushing to get into the shower to get ready for school.
The short boy paused for a second to smooth out any non existent wrinkles on his neatly pressed uniform and leaned on the wall where small tick marks for his and Kris' height were. He stretched his back trying to be as tall as possible before stepping back to stare disappointingly at where his height still was. Darn it. Still only 140 centimeters.
Zitao stared longingly at where Kris' own tick mark was, high above Tao's own mark. The middle schooler pouted before hearing a faint 'Can I get another piece of bread?' float up to his room and an answering chuckle and he scrambled back to his forgotten shower to get ready for school.
~~~
He scowled at the paper in front of him, the numbers blurring in front of his eyes. Tao gave up with a frustrated noise, tossing his arms into the air.
Kris looked up from the desk and turned himself around with his spinny chair. “What's wrong?” he asked with an amused smile.
The panda like 15 year old jabbed his long fingers into his hair and grabbed at the stands in frustration and growled out, “Freaking. Mrs. Wu. She gave us 6 papers. 6 WHOLE WORKSHEETS. And most likely she's only going to look at 1 of the worksheets. And from there, pick 3 questions. Probably the hardest questions that I skipped. And grade those 3. And then I wonder why I have such a bad grade in chem! These sheets take forever, too!”
Only amused by his tantrum, Kris got off his chair and sat on the floor next to Tao and peered down at the problem that Tao had given up halfway on.
Shocked by his close proximity, Tao felt his cheeks heat up, but he brushed it off due to the summer heat the streamed in from the window. Glancing around Kris' room, he caught sight of the two friends and he could clearly see his cheeks were as red as anything.
“You forgot to subtract the 2 moles from the left side, that's why it doesn't add up,” Kris announced after studying Tao's chicken scrawl for a few moments. Tao looked down to check, and he did indeed forget to subtract the moles. Stupid moles.
“Your face is awfully red. Are you sick, Tao?” the soccer player asked, peering in even closer to bring his hand up to cup the now stuttering teen.
“Uh, uh, uh n-no! It's just hot! That's it. You know how sensitive to heat I am,” Tao made up quickly, leaning away from the hand outstretched. His heart pounded in his ears and he couldn't hear much besides the thump thump thump.
Kris sat back on his heels but just gave a bemused nod as he filed away the bit of information that he didn't know before, regardless that it was just pure bs. His a shake of his head, the giant just pointed back at the forgotten paper and asked, “Do you need any more help? You could just ask, you know.”
Tao gave a grateful smile and nodded quickly. “Yeah, I don't get question 14. What's it even asking anyway?” While Kris delved into the chunk of words that was somehow asking for an answer in numbers, Tao discreetly gave his chest a hard thump, wondering why the hell his heart was beating so quickly. Maybe I am just too hot.
~~~
A sudden weight on Tao's shoulder jerked his attention away from the romantic comedy that was playing away on the television screen and he glanced down to see what had fallen on his shoulder.
The panda-like boy froze when his eyes caught how close Kris was to Tao's face. The lanky teen had fallen asleep somewhere between when the main character professed her undying love to her crush only to be interrupted multiple times and when her crush tells her half a movie later that he feels the same way.
Tao took a deep breath and he felt his face warm up and his thoughts fired around at 1000 miles per hour. “Kris....?” Tao whispered, half hoping that Kris was awake, and the deeper half hoping that he stayed asleep so Tao could continue to stare at him.
A gentle snore answered his half breath and Tao blinked rapidly. His heart beat seemed to thunder in his ears as he gazed down at the angry bird. He studied Kris' facial features, his eyes slowly tracing from the blunt, almost angry looking eyebrows, to his eyes closed, softened by slumber, his nearly too big nose, to his circular, round lips slightly parted as he breathed in and out evenly.
Tao chewed on his lower lip as he glanced uneasily at the film still playing on the screen and at Kris gently sleeping on Tao's shoulder. An easy decision, Tao reached over to flick the volume down to nearly mute and watched as the light from the screen cast gentle, to bright, to sometimes scary shadows on Kris expression that wasn't holding his normal bitch face.
Lost in his thoughts, Tao brought a trembling hand to his best friend's cheek and softly traced down the contour. When Kris made a small noise, Tao jerked his hand back, his face violently blushing.
He kept his position for a few tense moments, before Tao felt Kris relax and snuggle into the crook of Tao's neck. Releasing a shaky breath, Tao finally allowed himself to come to the conclusion that he had been denying to himself for months now.
Ok, so I might have feelings for Kris that's beyond friendship. Maybe a little crush.
~~~
Tao leaned on the wall of the wushu studio, panting from exhaustion as sweat dripped down from his
forehead. He struggled to catch his breath as his teacher stood in front of him, not even out of breath, patiently waiting for his pupil to recover.
When Tao did at last manage to catch his breath, he assumed another offensive stance, striking at his teacher as he attempted, for the nth time to try to catch his teacher off guard. Which never happened.
With a flick of his wrist and a snap of his upper body, Tao's master had managed to pin Tao down onto the floor of the studio with hardly a disturbance in the stance he had taken when Tao began his attack.
Tao clenched his jaw in anger at himself for not seeing the stupid mistake that he could see so clearly now. The clock dinged 8 times, alerting the wushu student that it was now 8 and that it had to start getting home soon.
His teacher moved off of the frustrated boy of 16, allowing the teen to stand up and bow slowly to his master.
“You must learn to control your anger, Zitao,” his master said wisely before brushing his hands together to return a small bow to his discipline.
Zitao sighed, less frustrated and answered, “Yes, teacher, I know. It's just...hard.”
The wushu master smiled at his young protegee and answered, “Of course. We all have emotions, but we all must learn to control them.”
The student pressed his lips together, trying to dissipate the small knot of frustration in his belly with a deep breath. He bowed a last time to his master before making his way to the locker room to get changed back into casual clothes.
From when Tao was 8 until now, he had fallen head over heels for the sport that made him feel so powerful, yet so calm. Luckily, the boy seemed to have great talent at the ancient martial arts and was encouraged by an old beginner teacher to allow the boy to continue wushu beyond the beginner level.
Eventually, the wushu beginner was no longer a beginner and had begun to make his way up the ranks until he was recommended to his current teacher 5 years ago. Yet, all that time, and he hadn't even managed to land one blow on the seemingly never fazed man.
When Tao left the locker room in his casual clothes, he could see his master wandering around the studio, attending to another discipline. Tao made his way to the door and walked out into the cool air of the night that greeted him like an old friend.
“I see you're still getting your ass beat by ol' master,” a snarky voice floated over to Tao and he snapped around to glare at his gigantically tall friend.
Stiffly, Tao snapped back, “I'm not getting 'my ass beat', but rather attempting to learn a new technique.”
Kris stepped away from the shadows of the building, his black hair being ruffled gently by the wind that breezed by. He snorted at Tao's defensive statement, “Right. And I promise that I'm a flying dragon.”
The shorter one (although not by a huge margin anymore) glared at Kris and stiffly began to walk home, trying to salvage any pride he had left.
Kris just chuckled at his old friend and began to trail the teenager, Tao first just ignoring his friend out of temper, but as always, Kris got Tao out of his sullen mood and the two chatted animatedly the way home.
~~~
Tao frowned as he stared at his hand that he swore was tingling. What the hell? Tao wondered to himself, the 17 year old denying what he was feeling.
If he didn't know better, he'd say that he was in love with Kris fucking Wu. NO. NO. Ok, so he may have conceded that he had a crush on his childhood friend, but he never expected that he had fallen head over heels for the teen.
Yet, Tao couldn't deny the butterflies that flew in his stomach every time Kris sent that warm smile his way that crinkled up the corners of his eyes. He couldn't deny the way his face felt like he had just stuck it into a steaming hot bath every time Kris touched him. He couldn't deny the way his heart leaped when Tao heard his name pass through Kris' lips. Even more, he couldn't deny that he had (has) a massive crush on his best friend for the past 2 years.
He had always though that it was a early teen phase that he had been going through and that would eventually grow out of. All those blushes from being caught staring at Kris. All those quick eye glaces that he stole during lunch. All those stutters he made when Kris asked him a question out of the blue. All those rapid heart beats that threatened to burst out his chest when Kris leaned a little too close.
Well, shit.
Tao lightly banged his head against his bedroom door where Kris had just passed through just a few minutes ago.
He heard his mother open the garage door and close it, a clear indication that she had just arrived home. “Tao! Help me with the groceries!”
The mentioned teen stood sullenly, confused and in conflict just staring at the door frame.
“Tao!”
He sluggishly pulled his body up and dragged himself down the stairs and into the kitchen, before walking to the car to grab the groceries waiting in the car.
His mother noticed his obvious bad mood and she frowned, looking at him for a few moments. She placed down the bag that she was currently carrying onto the island placed in the middle of the kitchen. “Tao. What's wrong?” his mother nearly whispered to him.
The said boy froze in his step and glanced guiltily at his mom. “Hm? N-nothing wrong,” Tao tried to reassure her.
Another wrinkle appeared by the corner of her mouth as she continued to frown at her son. “Something's wrong. It's on your mind and it's clearly troubling you. Tell me,” she nudged.
Knowing that he was caught, Tao squirmed quietly, shifting his bangs from hip to hip. His mother didn't prod him any further, but just waited patiently for him to speak. He always did.
With a “to hell with this” and a purse of his lips, the teen opened his mouth, “M-mom? How do you feel about love? It should be unconditional, right? It doesn't matter who it is?”
Cautiously, his mother slowly nodded, afraid to scare away her child from speaking.
He continued, “What- what if it's...” The end trailed off as tension built in the kitchen.
“Go on.”
A pregnant pause filled the air. “What if it's between people of the same gender?”
“....”
He knew it. He knew it. Tao stared hard at the tiled floor, clenching his fists and fighting off the huge wave of shame that washed over him. The teen wanted to lift his head and stare defiantly at his mother to she her reaction, but he couldn't bear to see the disgust on her face, a heavy weight on his head.
“Oh honey,”
Tao's head snapped up at the two words, his eyes widening. He took a proper look at his mother who had a shocked expression that was slowly melting into an understanding look.
“Y-you're not disgusted?” the wushu student choked out, the corner of his eyes pricking with tears that he knew would soon come.
“Oh my baby panda,” his mother began, taking a step forward as though to embrace him, “No, no I'm not disgusted. I'm shocked, of course. I mean, this is big news and rather unexpected. It-it's ok if you're homosexual or bisexual. You're still my baby panda.” She walked the rest of the way to enfold her slightly trembling child.
Tao cowered in his mother's arms, knowing that he had just delivered a huge shock to his mother, yet still craved the comfort of his mother.
“Just- we'll have to tell your father,” she gently patted his head as she used to when he was younger, Tao's shoulders quavering a bit.
The teen didn't say anything more, but just let all of his worries that had been shouldered on him for the past year or so, slowly wash off him. He had worried countless of time on how to break the life changing news to his parents. In this moment, Tao was 8 again and still ran to him mother every time he was scared or unsure.
“...Thank you, Mom.”
“...For what?”
~~~
A gentle smile stretched comfortable across Kris' lips as he sat down in the chair next to the raven haired teen, cramming desperately for his upcoming Biology exam. The blonde sat staring with a retardly happy smile at his friend who was furiously finishing the note that he was writing down before mentally marking his place in the open text book and sliding off his headphones to ask, “What?”
“Kyungsoo.”
“Huh?” Tao asked, pausing the music on his phone to pay attention to what Kris was saying.
“Kyungsoo. My new boyfriend.”
Huh. Another one.
“Oh.” Tao's fists clenched and unclenched with a fake smile stretched across his face. The 18 year old's heart twisted and his mind drew up images of a seducing tempter with a nasty smile. “Congrats, I guess. When'd you ask him out?”
“Yesterday. I called his friend to call him out to the ice cream shop and I asked him out. He said yes, clearly, “ the lanky giant proudly recalled, Tao even able to see him puff out his chest out a bit. Git.
Why can't it be me?
“Who's Kyungsoo, anyway?” Tao asked, at an attempt to be interested, as his eyes strayed back to the open textbook to try to distract him from the aching pain from his chest.
“You know, that Freshman angel with the most adorable eyes and heart shaped lips. Oh, and his pale, milky skin...Don't get me started on his sweet eyelashes and those cheeks....” Kris continued on and one with his trademark love sick expression on his face every single time that he fell in love again. Tao tuned out the praises that were just pouring out of Kris mouth, each soft caress of appreciation just twisting the dagger in his heart deeper.
He knew that he was being over dramatic and all that, but deep down, what hurt the most was that he knew that he would never see Kris talk about him in the same love struck look and soft voice that Kris always had.
Besides, the blonde seemed to have a new toy every other week. Kris was the school's handsome heartbreaker, famous for his love at first sights and easiness of falling out of love, dumping everyone and moving on the next day. Tao had been the only one to be a constant at Kris' side from childhood.
“....Tao?” Kris asked, his face dangerously close to Tao's, as he peered down with a neutral expression.
Tao had been scowling slightly at the wooden table where his books were placed on and his knuckles were white from gripping the edge of his chair, denying the prick of tears in the corner of his eyes. Tao's frowned deepened for a moment, before being wiped away with an easy smile. “What? Oh yeah. Sorry. Just imaging how difficult tomorrow's Bio test will be.”
Kris gave a soft half smile and nodded, standing up. “I'll leave you back to your studying, then. Kyungsoo's waiting for me. Promise to hang later?”
The wushu student nodded and smiled in returned, answering, “Yeah. See you around.”
Satisfied, Kris turned away and walked to the exit of the library and Tao's eyes followed Kris' movements with a tender look unconsciously.
It'll never be me.
~~~
Tao heard the doorbell ring from downstairs and the boy wondered briefly who it could be on a Saturday afternoon. He didn't think that he was expecting anyone today.
The bell rang again, although with a hint of impatience. With a groan, the only person at home dragged his body from the bed and shouted in the general direction of the door, “Alright, alright! I'm coming!”
Tao made it to the front door and unlocked the door to be greeted with the sight of his neighbor. The first thing that Tao noticed was, well, Kris was at his door, and second, the shocking color of the giant's hair.
“Whoa,” Tao aptly said, staring at the mop of his friend's hair. The color resembled spun gold and it was styled with a messy look, complimenting Kris' handsome features easily.
Kris grinned at Tao as he gently shoved his friend aside to step into the house, taking a moment to take off his shoes.
Behind him, Tao closed the door and was still taking in the sudden change. “Like it?” Kris asked after removing his shoes and collapsing on the Huang's couch.
Tao nodded, still a bit in shock. “Yeah. It looks really good,” he managed to say after getting his vocal skills back. Too good.
“Jongin suggested me to get this color. He really likes it on me,” Kris added after a moment, studying himself in his reflection in a picture frame that sat next to the couch, missing the flash of hurt that passed through Tao's eyes.
Tao turned to the television and blindly turned on the piece of technology that honestly held no interest for him at that moment. Of course. Another boyfriend.
Kris turned to the TV after hearing Tao turn it on and glanced at this friend that sat pretending to be absorbed by the documentary on Artic Foxes. He studied Tao's features for a moment, noticing that something was off. The recently blonde tilted his head to the side, still staring at the Chinese.
“Is there something on my face?” Tao asked, still pretending to be enraptured by the fox's attempts to catch a mouse under 3 feet of snow, totally conscious of Kris' very judgmental study of him.
Kris chuckled and turned to the television, taking in a very hilarious picture of a fox with it's hindquarters and 2 back feet sticking up from the snow, it's entire front half buried. “Nah, I just was mesmerized by all that ugliness that was happening on your face,” the Chinese-Canadian joked, a smile cracking when the fox popped back up from the snow.
“Hey!” Tao shouted indignantly, “Your face is something only a mother could love, you know!” The black haired boy shoved Kris in a jab back.
“Riiiiight. And there aren't boys just lining up for a glimpse of me,” Kris retorted, reaching for the remote to watch something else.
Knocking away the giant hand that extended for the remote, Tao shot back, “They're just trying to catch a look at Sasquatch that they've been hearing about.”
The two friends' easy banter went back and forth until the hollow pain in Tao's chest began to ease up a bit.
~~~
Tao waved to Kris who had just walked into the ice cream shop looking around, even though the two sat at the same booth every time they came to parlor.
Kris smiled to indicate to Tao that he had seen him and moved to the counter to pick out his usual flavor; mint chocolate chip, while Tao preferred a much more simpler flavor; vanilla.
When Kris arrived at the table, Tao was wearing his usual impatient pout as he ushered the blonde to hurry to the table. The black haired teen snatched his cone while Kris slip into the seat opposite him, chuckling at the impatience Tao displayed to happily munch down on his sweet treat.
Tao savored the light play of vanilla on his tongue, closing his eyes to better taste the melting dessert. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Kris smiling that gummy smile at him, making Tao's heart stutter for a moment, before resuming on double time.
It took the 18 year old a moment before seeing the phone in Kris' hand, happily texting away at his new boyfriend, someone named Sehun or something like that. Tao chided his heart as he was reminded that this cheerful smile wasn't aimed at him, but at the message that Sehun had apparently just sent him.
After a moment, Kris absently licked at his now slightly melting cone, while Tao watched, mesmerized by the slow trickle of sugar. A small bit of light green stuck to the corner of his childhood friend's lip and Tao had to tear his eyes away from the tempting bit as Kris asked him a question.
“Huh?” the black haired high school student intelligently questioned, lost.
Kris rolled his eyes gently at the head in the clouds wushu student, but repeated his question, “Why haven't you ever dated anyone yet? I promise that you've been asked out and you're not bad looking, either.”
A slight flush braced his cheeks at the topic, but he shrugged as though indifferent. “The right person just hasn't come along yet,” Tao replied with a soft smile.
The blonde frowned at Tao, clearly confused by what Tao meant by “the right person”, about to press the subject, but his phone vibrated in his hand, distracting him.
Kris quickly unlocked the phone to read the new message that Sehun had just sent him, while Tao sat quietly, staring at Kris and screaming in his head because you're the right person.
~~~
“Hey Kris,”
The mentioned man looked up from rummaging around in his locker.
“Yeah?”
“Is there anyway you can tutor me in bio? I don't really understand what spewing out the teacher's mouth and certainly not the jumble of words in the text book,” Tao requested, leaning on a locker nearby as he watched his friend dig through the mess to find his books for the next class.
“Hm? Oh yeah. But, on one condition,” the blonde managed to pull out a Calculus text book from the pile of crumpled papers jammed into the small space.
“And?”
“If you tutor me in the devil's arithmetic.”
“Huh?”
“Calculus, stupid,” Kris slammed the locker shut after somehow cramming all the papers back into the metallic cage, a paper or two floating away from the mess and lay sadly abandoned in the emptying corridor.
Rolling his eyes, Tao pushed himself off the lockers and just nodded to seal the deal. “Your place?”
Kris gave a hum in answer as the two seniors moved away from the prison they called high school and to Kris' car.
~~~
Tao looked up in shock as a loud bang! resonated around the bedroom and he located his friend sprawled on his back with the Calculus text book flung haphazardly on the desk. So that was the noise.
The black haired boy unglued his nose from his Biology book that he had been staring at for the past 15 minutes, rereading the same paragraph over and over again. Tao glanced at the limbs thrown in random directions. “Wut,” he deadpanned.
Kris groaned and turned to look at Tao. “Nothing.”
Tao sent a hella-confused look at the blonde, waiting for him to continue.
“Nothing. I understand nothing. I don't even know what I don't know,” Kris whined, going back to staring at the ceiling.
The Chinese boy shook his head and gently closed the book in his lap, having come to the same conclusion long ago. About the time that he opened up the textbook. “Yeah....it's 1. We should call it a night,” Tao noted, beginning to gather his things.
Kris watched him moved about the room with a lazy gaze before saying, “Why don't you just stay the night? It's friday, anyway.”
With a quick phone call to notify his parents, the teen just let all of his things slide out of his hand and back into the positions that they were before the half-hearted pick up. “So. LoL?” Tao asked, already reaching into his bag for his laptop and Kris' quick nod just hurried the hand that was getting the machine set up for hours of mindless playing.
~~~
Tao made a noise between a groan and a sound from a dying whale as he came to consciousness. His vision swam for a moment before refocusing and he stretched his arms above him and his toes reached for the bottom of the bed. His toes touched something along the way and that something was warm.
He snapped his eyes open and whipped his head to the side. Similar to the sight that he had witnessed many years before, Kris was fast asleep with one arm haphazardly off the bed and another draped over Tao's stomach. The blond senior was sprawled across his bed and cornered Tao off onto the top right corner of the mattress.
Yet, as little space as he was allowed, Tao laid there for minutes, basking in the comfort of Kris' limbs tangled with his. He savored the nearness of the tall Chinese teen and his heart grew with a strong desire to call the man his. Regardless of all the fantasies that ran through Tao's mind as he traced Kris' features with his eyes, he knew that he would never be able to have Kris.
After lying there for god-knows how long, the idea of surprising Kris with breakfast popped into his head and Tao giggled at how coupley and romantic the gesture seemed. If Kris asked anything of it, he would just brush it off as thanks for letting the other senior crash at his place.
The 18 year old gazed down with an unreadable expression at his best friend a whisper, barely audible in the morning light escaped. “I promised to not ask 'what if...?'”
Shaking his head gently, Tao carefully nudged Kris' giant limbs back to his side of the bed and extracted himself from the man's hold, bracing his feet against the carpeted floor.
Weaving his way through the laptops strewn across the bedroom floor, the various articles of clothes scattered, and the random occasional pencil that the pair had thrown at each other in boredom. Tao paused to look at the photo frames that decorated Kris' rooms, from a picture from a decade ago, of Kris teaching Tao how to ride a bike, another a few years later, of Tao proudly displaying a medal from his Wushu competition and Kris grinning stupidly at the camera, and later, now Tao much closer to Kris' height, of the two at Kris' 18th birthday party, a lavish occasion, thrown by parents.
However, when Tao's eyes fell onto the most recent photo, a picture of Kris and his current boyfriend, Chanyeol, his smile stuttered and fell, reminding him that he couldn't have Kris because Kris belonged to another. This was his longest relationship yet, now lasting a total of 1 year and 6 months. He even remembered the day when Kris barged into Tao's room unannounced and declared that his relationship with Chanyeol wasn't super serious but he enjoyed it in retardedly extended metaphors.
Tearing his eyes away, before his heart could twist anymore, Tao bumbled out of the bedroom, trying to make as little noise as possible. Although inside, his heart was lamenting and screaming profanities that the fates that would never allow Tao to end up with Kris.
Shaking his head to clear away his tumultuous thoughts, he focused his attention of pulling together some sort of breakfast for Kris right after he washed up.
Knowing that his cooking skills were limited to making measly meals of scrambled eggs and a bit of toast, Tao decided not to set himself for failure. Making quick work of whipping the eggs in a bowl with a pair of chopsticks and pouring the mixture of eggs, milk, and salt onto a frying pan that had been slowly warming up, Tao made 2 sets of breakfast.
Deciding that he should just let Kris sleep, he left the extra plate on the counter and made his way to the living room to turn on the television to catch whatever was on. Just beginning to eat, shuffling sounds came from the general direction of Kris' bedroom.
A bleary eyed angry bird made his way down the stair and into the living room with a mumbled, “Hello.”
Tao grunted in response, his eyes glued to the little artic fox that was trying its best to catch its prey before adding, “Breakfast is on the counter if you want any. Mind you, I'm no chef, so don't expect much.”
Kris paused for a moment in his shuffling, processing what Tao had just said before mumbling, “Thanks.”
Kris retrieved his dish of breakfast from the kitchen and slid the plate noisily next to Tao, the two plates clinking together. Tao wrinkled his nose at the noise and gently scolded, “Hey watch it, I spent good time making those eggs.”
With just a soft sorry, Kris collapsed into a tangle of Chinese-canadian limbs next to Tao and quickly nuzzled his nose into Tao's neck and wrapped his arms around the lanky teen.
Tao violently blushed and managed to say with practiced disgust, “Ew man, I'm not your teddy bear. Get off me.” Although he said this, Tao didn't make any actions to move the man off of him, knowing fully well of Kris' habit of being super skinshippy when he was sleepy and half awake. Kris just grumbled into Tao's shoulder and Tao rolled his eyes at his friend before going back to the TV.
The two lapsed into a comfortable silence of Kris in his half awake, half asleep phase and Tao watching his documentary.
~~~
'When did the years pass by so quickly?' Tao wondered as he watched Kris walk up onto the stage and receive his high school diploma with a wide grin. Kris stood there for a moment, scanning the crowd for familiar faces and Tao waved at his best friend with an equally wide grin. His grin faded a bit though when Kris' gaze slid right over him and stopped somewhere else in the crowd.
Tao watched with a conflicted expression on his face as Kris walked off the stage and back to where his last name dictated him to be. He swallowed his unease as he remembered the conversation that the two had quite a while back ago.
“Tao?”
“Yeah, Kris?” Tao whispered back, his head still bent over his textbook, the pair of them cramming in the library for the mi-terms that were approaching alarmingly quickly.
“I just got my acceptance letter.”
“Oh? To which college?” Tao looked up from his notes only to see a pair of brown eyes looking at him with an intense look that he rarely saw in Kris' eyes.
“Yonsei,” Kris said after a moment of silence. Tao's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't even known that Kris had applied to the Korean college. “I- I mean, Chanyeol and I were thinking of going to Korea for university because he misses his home country and I think it's a good opportunity. There's a lot of positions for people with my major in the Korean economy, I heard.”
Tao's mind reeled with the dump of information. Kris. Kris was going away from him. Although Tao had a nagging feeling that this was going to happen one day, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Kris. He was going to college in Korea. Korea. So far away. The two had grown up just a house away from each other. Tao couldn't even fathom Kris going an entire country away from him. Tao choked for a moment, before recovering.
“That's, that's great news,” Tao croaked out, with a weak grin.
Kris saw the fake grin, yet he responded with an equally fake grin and answered with a soft, “Yeah....yeah it is.”
The corners of Tao's eyes pricked with an uncomfortable feeling similar to tears and Tao choked them down. I will not cry on my graduation. It's supposed to be a happy day. Tao repeated in his head like a mantra.
Only, Kris was leaving for Korea in a few weeks, everything was already prepared. He was going to live with Chanyeol in a small apartment and the two were going to take internships to help support them. The relationship wasn't one of two people in love, but it was a comfortable relationship that had lasted this long. Tao grappled with his emotions for a few moments, before an organizer indicated to his section to stand and make their way into the stage. The now ex-high school wiped away his expression and plastered on a wide grin for his parents.
He waved back with fake enthusiasm at the camera they had trained on their son and he saw Kris out of the corner of his eye, pull two thumbs up at this best friend. Tao turned to his friend and responded to the gesture with a immature tongue out expression. Kris rolled his eyes at the childish motion, but he grinned at the panda-like teen. Tao grinned back in response, totally unconscious. Because soon, he won't even be able to see that smile anymore.
~~~
“Make sure you don't get sick. Wear a lot of layers when it's appropriate. Don't forget to me a message on Weibo when you land in Korea. Text me when you get your new phone,” Tao rambled on and on as he fussed over Kris.
Kris grinned at Tao's overly worried mannerisms only murmuring, “I promise I will. Don't worry.”
The just recently university student shot his best friend a glare and muttered with a murderous air, “Don't you give me that 'don't worry' shit. You know I will.”
The now black haired giant chuckled at Tao's antics and only humorously responded, “And people wonder why you look like an assassin.” He reached out and ruffled Tao's now blonde hair. “It looks good,” Kris added.
“Huh?”
“Your hair,” Kris clarified.
“Mmm. Don't distract me! Like I was saying!” Tao continued to rant to Kris about how important it was to make sure to fully dry off if he got wet from the rain.
“Kris!” a deep voice interrupted Tao mid-rant as Kris' boyfriend ran up to the two. “I'm not late!” Chanyeol added with a grin that bordered on super happy and creepy I'm going to kill you in your sleep. Kris grinned in response and nodded.
A pregnant silence hung in the air for a moment that was filled with a sad feel. “Well,” Kris said after a moment, breaking the silence, “I guess it's goodbye for now.”
Tao looked up with an unreadable look in his eye and nodded sadly. “I guess it is.” The Chinese-Canadian had already said his goodbyes to his family and glanced nostalgically out the window.
“Goodbye China,” he whispered before Tao pulled him into a strong hug.
“Goodbye, you stupid giant. I'll miss you more than I can express and remember, if you ever need me, I'll be there,” Tao weakly said, not knowing what to say to his best friend of over a decade and man he had fallen in love with over the years.
Kris looked down at the blond man clutching him like a life raft and ruffled his hair gently. “I know. I'll miss you, too. A lot.”
Someone tugged Kris' arm and Chanyeol said uncharacteristically quietly, “Come on. We have to go. We can't miss our flight. Goodbye, Tao.” Chanyeol grabbed Tao from his boyfriend's arms and pulled the teen into his arms. “Thank you for taking care of Kris. And I'm sorry,” Chanyeol whispered into Tao's ear.
Tao widened his eyes and opened his mouth to ask why. But he closed it, deciding it was best to not ask how Chanyeol knew and he just nodded. “Of course,” Tao said before waving weakly at the pair's backs.
Kris turned one last time and waved at his best friend, “Thank you, Tao!” he shouted, the people around him cringing at his deep, booming voice.
Tao grinned back with full sincerity and answered, “You're welcome!” Tao stood and watched as his friends disappeared through security and wave one last time before being swallowed up by the traffic in China's airport.
Only after Tao couldn't see the two of them through the crowd anymore, did he finally allow the tears that he had been holding in slide down his cheeks blazing a hot trail. He choked and sniffed, his heart cracking at the seams and crying a river for him. “Goodbye, the last dream of my soul,” Tao whispered before turning away and allowing himself to be swept away.
~~~
Kris settled himself comfortably into his airplane seat, smiling gently at the sight of his boyfriend slumbering in his seat, a bit of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.
He reached into his coat pocket for a napkin, before a crumpling sound made him pause. Frowning, his long fingers latched onto what felt like paper.
Pulling up the mysterious item, he saw that it was it was indeed paper. Folded, in fact. Kris carefully unfolded the slip of paper and became really curious when it revealed Tao's characteristic Chinese scrawl. When had the Chinese boy even slipped in the paper, he wondered.
He unfolded all of the paper and his eyes read over the characters.
Krease!
I have watched over you by your side. I have been by your side for many years. I have watched you grow. I have watched myself fall in love with you the past 4 years. But today, today you're leaving me. Thank you, Kris. For everything. I just wanted to say, I love you. Goodbye. Live well. I promise you I will try my best to do so.
Tao
Kris' eyes widened and he jerked. His eyes drew back to 'I love you' and 'fall in love with you'. A odd noise escaped his throat as he closed his eyes and he leaned back in his seat, his head spinning.
Kris gazed out the window and his hand holding the paper crumbled just a bit at the corner. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Kris whispered to no one but himself, “Me too.”
Pairing: Tao/Kris
Rating: PG
Summary: They say that all good things must come to an end.
Notes: This has been the longest thing I have ever written, at over 8K. I have spent well over 3 months with this. Even though it's not even that great. I am the world's slowest writer and I plotted this out a thousand times, and it ended up completely different from what I started out to be, lol.I tried my best with mistakes, but I may have missed a few things. Feel free to comment about any mistakes you spot! Thanks for reading. I have no idea how to work LJ. o.o Will eventually go back and edit. One day.
“Hi, I just moved here and my name's Wu Yifan, but you can call me Kris,” the tall boy rapidly said, sticking out his hand as though expecting a handshake.
Tao flinched at the sudden movement and stared at the hand outstretched. He looked back up that the owner of the hand and blinked, not sure what to do.
A smile spread out on Kris' face, changing the sharp features into a friendly, open expression. The 7 year old shook his hand as though to remind the slightly cowering boy of his greeting.
Slowly, with his own trembling, the smaller boy reached out timidly to shake Kris' hand, their small palms barely touching.
“Huang Zitao,” he whispered, as though afraid if he spoke too loudly, the wind would blow him away.
Kris' grin only stretched, his hand suddenly engulfed the other's hand. Zitao flinched at the action and tugged his hand back, but Kris' firm hold didn't let his hand slip out. Zitao stared up at the odd boy with wide eyes. “We're going to be great friends, I can already tell,” Kris said cheerfully, finally letting the boy pull back his hand.
The elder didn't let the silence last long as he launched into an enthusiastic speech of all the things the two boys were going to try since they were next door.
Zitao could feel himself being pulled into Kris' pace, knowing that the other boy wouldn't let him be. The funny thing was that he didn't seem to mind.
“I promise that I can take you on adventures you never even imagined!”
~~~
Zitao quickly made his way home as quickly as he could, trying to not trip over anything in alleyway. It was noon time and he was making his way home for a quick lunch before his mother sent him back to school. Normally, the 8 year old would be walking home with Kris, but today Kris had to stay back at school for a project he was doing for music class.
The child dreamed of all the wonderful, delicious things that his mother might've cooked up for her family, not really paying attention to where he was going.
“Ouch!” Zitao yelped as he ran into something seemingly huge and hard. He took a step back from the blow and he looked up to what he had ran into.
What Zitao seemed to run into leaned down onto the child and gave a feral grin, showing his rotting, yellow teeth. “Well, well. What have we here? A wandering child? What are in such a rush for?” the man leered, his voice a raspy sound from years of chain smoking.
It sent a shiver down the young boy's back and he stuttered out an apology as quickly as he could, bowing to try to go around the man. His young instincts were screaming at him to flee. This man was nothing but bad news and he had to get out of here as quickly as possible.
The man gave a short bark of laughter at Tao's actions and took a step in the direction that the 8 year old was trying to go. “Now, you don't have to be in such a hurry. Uncle here only wants to get to know you better,” the adult said, reaching an arm out to grab at Tao's arm.
Tao flinched and pressed away from the reach, turning on his heel to run the way that he had come from to try to get away from him.
Before Tao could even make it out of the alley, the man grabbed his shoulder and powerfully snapped the running boy back.
Tao fell down into the dirt that lined the ally, staring up the the man in fear, struggling to get up, but the man only held him down. “Tsk, tsk. Look like someone's a naughty child. I thought I told you that I wanted to get to know more about you. Someone's going to have to get a punishment, aren't they?” words came out of the man's mouth as he moved his hand down to slap Tao in the face.
Stunned, Tao slumped down, his face crumpled in pain. When he finally recovered, he continued to struggle, spitting out, “Let...me...go!”
The man only looked at him mockingly and shook his head as though disappointed. “Hah. You really want to test Uncle's patience, don't you?” He again slapped Tao hard across the face, this time on the other cheek.
Tao's face was burning in pain and tears were forming in his eyes and threatening to pour down. “P-please let m-me go!” the child cried out, desperate for the man to let go.
As though something in him had snapped, the man's face contorted into an angry expression, before bringing his leg back to kick at the small boy in front of him.
Tao shrieked as the heavy boot impacted with his fragile legs, pain exploding from everywhere.
“Please...please!” Tao shrieked, begging the man to stop as he continued to beat Zitao's small body.
As a last effort, the child's leg snapped out to kick hard at the man's crotch. The man doubled over in pain as he ground out vivid threats and punishments for the boy.
Tao took his chance and sprinted out of there as fast as he could, fleeing back into a heavily congested street , knowing that the huge man wouldn’t be able to weave through the crowd like he could.
The boy never looked back as he ran home and collapsed into the arms of his panic stricken mother at the sight of her poor beaten boy.
After Tao managed to heal from the traumatic experience, it was decided for him to take up a martial art for defense and for prevention of any repeats of an incident.
~~~
“Tao! Come on! It's the first day of middle school and you don't want to be late already,” a very familiar voice rang in the half asleep boy's ear.
The said boy only groaned in response and rolled over, trying to escape the loud voice that only seemed to continue nagging at him.
Kris frowned, staring at his best friend who was clearly ignoring the other, trying to slip back into dream land. “Tao! Now!” Kris tried again, this time stepping into the room. Like before, Zitao just ignored Kris. “If you don't get up right now, I promise that I'll let you be late to school!”
With Zitao facing the wall, he couldn't see the sneaky grin that stretched on Kris' face. Zitao grinned softly at the silence in the room that seemed to indicate that the other had finally left Tao to his lovely dreams, not noticing a Kris sneak up to his bed.
Tao jolted awake with an embarrassingly high pitched shriek as cold fingers wiggled underneath his covers and attacked his ticklish sides. Laughter poured out of Zitao's mouth as he tried to escape the cold digits and Kris unconsciously smiled at the joyful giggles that came from Tao.
“Oh....ok!” Tao gasped out between bouts of laughter, still wiggling to get as far away from Kris as possible, “I'll....I'll get up! I-I'm awake!” Kris raised an eyebrow at this dubious plead and only doubled his attack, climbing onto the bed with his friend. “Noooooo!” Tao shrieked as tears began to uncontrollably leak out of the corners on his eyes. His stomach ached from the constant laughter that came from the tickling.
“Say 'I'm a stinky hippopotamus that will be best friends with Kris for forever'!” Kris gleefully said, a smile seemingly frozen on his face.
“I...! I...I'm a s-stinky.....hi-hippo-potamus-s that w-will be best fr-friends with Krease f-forever!” Zitao spat out as fast as he could before he died from lack of oxygen.
At last, Kris' fingers stopped moving and he withdrew from his attack with a triumphant smile. “Hah. You're a stiiiinky hippopotamus,” the boy said, used to the odd way Tao pronounced his English name. Kris got off the bed and made his way out the boy's room. “Oh, by the way, your mom made some melon bread for breakfast, and if you don't get ready soon, I promise you that I'm going to eat it,” he tossed behind his shoulder before closing the door with a sharp snap!
Zitao could hear Kris' snickering as he thundered down the stairs and Tao knew that his friend wasn't jesting. He wiped away the remaining tears that had run down his face moments ago and jumped out of bed, rushing to get into the shower to get ready for school.
The short boy paused for a second to smooth out any non existent wrinkles on his neatly pressed uniform and leaned on the wall where small tick marks for his and Kris' height were. He stretched his back trying to be as tall as possible before stepping back to stare disappointingly at where his height still was. Darn it. Still only 140 centimeters.
Zitao stared longingly at where Kris' own tick mark was, high above Tao's own mark. The middle schooler pouted before hearing a faint 'Can I get another piece of bread?' float up to his room and an answering chuckle and he scrambled back to his forgotten shower to get ready for school.
~~~
He scowled at the paper in front of him, the numbers blurring in front of his eyes. Tao gave up with a frustrated noise, tossing his arms into the air.
Kris looked up from the desk and turned himself around with his spinny chair. “What's wrong?” he asked with an amused smile.
The panda like 15 year old jabbed his long fingers into his hair and grabbed at the stands in frustration and growled out, “Freaking. Mrs. Wu. She gave us 6 papers. 6 WHOLE WORKSHEETS. And most likely she's only going to look at 1 of the worksheets. And from there, pick 3 questions. Probably the hardest questions that I skipped. And grade those 3. And then I wonder why I have such a bad grade in chem! These sheets take forever, too!”
Only amused by his tantrum, Kris got off his chair and sat on the floor next to Tao and peered down at the problem that Tao had given up halfway on.
Shocked by his close proximity, Tao felt his cheeks heat up, but he brushed it off due to the summer heat the streamed in from the window. Glancing around Kris' room, he caught sight of the two friends and he could clearly see his cheeks were as red as anything.
“You forgot to subtract the 2 moles from the left side, that's why it doesn't add up,” Kris announced after studying Tao's chicken scrawl for a few moments. Tao looked down to check, and he did indeed forget to subtract the moles. Stupid moles.
“Your face is awfully red. Are you sick, Tao?” the soccer player asked, peering in even closer to bring his hand up to cup the now stuttering teen.
“Uh, uh, uh n-no! It's just hot! That's it. You know how sensitive to heat I am,” Tao made up quickly, leaning away from the hand outstretched. His heart pounded in his ears and he couldn't hear much besides the thump thump thump.
Kris sat back on his heels but just gave a bemused nod as he filed away the bit of information that he didn't know before, regardless that it was just pure bs. His a shake of his head, the giant just pointed back at the forgotten paper and asked, “Do you need any more help? You could just ask, you know.”
Tao gave a grateful smile and nodded quickly. “Yeah, I don't get question 14. What's it even asking anyway?” While Kris delved into the chunk of words that was somehow asking for an answer in numbers, Tao discreetly gave his chest a hard thump, wondering why the hell his heart was beating so quickly. Maybe I am just too hot.
~~~
A sudden weight on Tao's shoulder jerked his attention away from the romantic comedy that was playing away on the television screen and he glanced down to see what had fallen on his shoulder.
The panda-like boy froze when his eyes caught how close Kris was to Tao's face. The lanky teen had fallen asleep somewhere between when the main character professed her undying love to her crush only to be interrupted multiple times and when her crush tells her half a movie later that he feels the same way.
Tao took a deep breath and he felt his face warm up and his thoughts fired around at 1000 miles per hour. “Kris....?” Tao whispered, half hoping that Kris was awake, and the deeper half hoping that he stayed asleep so Tao could continue to stare at him.
A gentle snore answered his half breath and Tao blinked rapidly. His heart beat seemed to thunder in his ears as he gazed down at the angry bird. He studied Kris' facial features, his eyes slowly tracing from the blunt, almost angry looking eyebrows, to his eyes closed, softened by slumber, his nearly too big nose, to his circular, round lips slightly parted as he breathed in and out evenly.
Tao chewed on his lower lip as he glanced uneasily at the film still playing on the screen and at Kris gently sleeping on Tao's shoulder. An easy decision, Tao reached over to flick the volume down to nearly mute and watched as the light from the screen cast gentle, to bright, to sometimes scary shadows on Kris expression that wasn't holding his normal bitch face.
Lost in his thoughts, Tao brought a trembling hand to his best friend's cheek and softly traced down the contour. When Kris made a small noise, Tao jerked his hand back, his face violently blushing.
He kept his position for a few tense moments, before Tao felt Kris relax and snuggle into the crook of Tao's neck. Releasing a shaky breath, Tao finally allowed himself to come to the conclusion that he had been denying to himself for months now.
Ok, so I might have feelings for Kris that's beyond friendship. Maybe a little crush.
~~~
Tao leaned on the wall of the wushu studio, panting from exhaustion as sweat dripped down from his
forehead. He struggled to catch his breath as his teacher stood in front of him, not even out of breath, patiently waiting for his pupil to recover.
When Tao did at last manage to catch his breath, he assumed another offensive stance, striking at his teacher as he attempted, for the nth time to try to catch his teacher off guard. Which never happened.
With a flick of his wrist and a snap of his upper body, Tao's master had managed to pin Tao down onto the floor of the studio with hardly a disturbance in the stance he had taken when Tao began his attack.
Tao clenched his jaw in anger at himself for not seeing the stupid mistake that he could see so clearly now. The clock dinged 8 times, alerting the wushu student that it was now 8 and that it had to start getting home soon.
His teacher moved off of the frustrated boy of 16, allowing the teen to stand up and bow slowly to his master.
“You must learn to control your anger, Zitao,” his master said wisely before brushing his hands together to return a small bow to his discipline.
Zitao sighed, less frustrated and answered, “Yes, teacher, I know. It's just...hard.”
The wushu master smiled at his young protegee and answered, “Of course. We all have emotions, but we all must learn to control them.”
The student pressed his lips together, trying to dissipate the small knot of frustration in his belly with a deep breath. He bowed a last time to his master before making his way to the locker room to get changed back into casual clothes.
From when Tao was 8 until now, he had fallen head over heels for the sport that made him feel so powerful, yet so calm. Luckily, the boy seemed to have great talent at the ancient martial arts and was encouraged by an old beginner teacher to allow the boy to continue wushu beyond the beginner level.
Eventually, the wushu beginner was no longer a beginner and had begun to make his way up the ranks until he was recommended to his current teacher 5 years ago. Yet, all that time, and he hadn't even managed to land one blow on the seemingly never fazed man.
When Tao left the locker room in his casual clothes, he could see his master wandering around the studio, attending to another discipline. Tao made his way to the door and walked out into the cool air of the night that greeted him like an old friend.
“I see you're still getting your ass beat by ol' master,” a snarky voice floated over to Tao and he snapped around to glare at his gigantically tall friend.
Stiffly, Tao snapped back, “I'm not getting 'my ass beat', but rather attempting to learn a new technique.”
Kris stepped away from the shadows of the building, his black hair being ruffled gently by the wind that breezed by. He snorted at Tao's defensive statement, “Right. And I promise that I'm a flying dragon.”
The shorter one (although not by a huge margin anymore) glared at Kris and stiffly began to walk home, trying to salvage any pride he had left.
Kris just chuckled at his old friend and began to trail the teenager, Tao first just ignoring his friend out of temper, but as always, Kris got Tao out of his sullen mood and the two chatted animatedly the way home.
~~~
Tao frowned as he stared at his hand that he swore was tingling. What the hell? Tao wondered to himself, the 17 year old denying what he was feeling.
If he didn't know better, he'd say that he was in love with Kris fucking Wu. NO. NO. Ok, so he may have conceded that he had a crush on his childhood friend, but he never expected that he had fallen head over heels for the teen.
Yet, Tao couldn't deny the butterflies that flew in his stomach every time Kris sent that warm smile his way that crinkled up the corners of his eyes. He couldn't deny the way his face felt like he had just stuck it into a steaming hot bath every time Kris touched him. He couldn't deny the way his heart leaped when Tao heard his name pass through Kris' lips. Even more, he couldn't deny that he had (has) a massive crush on his best friend for the past 2 years.
He had always though that it was a early teen phase that he had been going through and that would eventually grow out of. All those blushes from being caught staring at Kris. All those quick eye glaces that he stole during lunch. All those stutters he made when Kris asked him a question out of the blue. All those rapid heart beats that threatened to burst out his chest when Kris leaned a little too close.
Well, shit.
Tao lightly banged his head against his bedroom door where Kris had just passed through just a few minutes ago.
He heard his mother open the garage door and close it, a clear indication that she had just arrived home. “Tao! Help me with the groceries!”
The mentioned teen stood sullenly, confused and in conflict just staring at the door frame.
“Tao!”
He sluggishly pulled his body up and dragged himself down the stairs and into the kitchen, before walking to the car to grab the groceries waiting in the car.
His mother noticed his obvious bad mood and she frowned, looking at him for a few moments. She placed down the bag that she was currently carrying onto the island placed in the middle of the kitchen. “Tao. What's wrong?” his mother nearly whispered to him.
The said boy froze in his step and glanced guiltily at his mom. “Hm? N-nothing wrong,” Tao tried to reassure her.
Another wrinkle appeared by the corner of her mouth as she continued to frown at her son. “Something's wrong. It's on your mind and it's clearly troubling you. Tell me,” she nudged.
Knowing that he was caught, Tao squirmed quietly, shifting his bangs from hip to hip. His mother didn't prod him any further, but just waited patiently for him to speak. He always did.
With a “to hell with this” and a purse of his lips, the teen opened his mouth, “M-mom? How do you feel about love? It should be unconditional, right? It doesn't matter who it is?”
Cautiously, his mother slowly nodded, afraid to scare away her child from speaking.
He continued, “What- what if it's...” The end trailed off as tension built in the kitchen.
“Go on.”
A pregnant pause filled the air. “What if it's between people of the same gender?”
“....”
He knew it. He knew it. Tao stared hard at the tiled floor, clenching his fists and fighting off the huge wave of shame that washed over him. The teen wanted to lift his head and stare defiantly at his mother to she her reaction, but he couldn't bear to see the disgust on her face, a heavy weight on his head.
“Oh honey,”
Tao's head snapped up at the two words, his eyes widening. He took a proper look at his mother who had a shocked expression that was slowly melting into an understanding look.
“Y-you're not disgusted?” the wushu student choked out, the corner of his eyes pricking with tears that he knew would soon come.
“Oh my baby panda,” his mother began, taking a step forward as though to embrace him, “No, no I'm not disgusted. I'm shocked, of course. I mean, this is big news and rather unexpected. It-it's ok if you're homosexual or bisexual. You're still my baby panda.” She walked the rest of the way to enfold her slightly trembling child.
Tao cowered in his mother's arms, knowing that he had just delivered a huge shock to his mother, yet still craved the comfort of his mother.
“Just- we'll have to tell your father,” she gently patted his head as she used to when he was younger, Tao's shoulders quavering a bit.
The teen didn't say anything more, but just let all of his worries that had been shouldered on him for the past year or so, slowly wash off him. He had worried countless of time on how to break the life changing news to his parents. In this moment, Tao was 8 again and still ran to him mother every time he was scared or unsure.
“...Thank you, Mom.”
“...For what?”
~~~
A gentle smile stretched comfortable across Kris' lips as he sat down in the chair next to the raven haired teen, cramming desperately for his upcoming Biology exam. The blonde sat staring with a retardly happy smile at his friend who was furiously finishing the note that he was writing down before mentally marking his place in the open text book and sliding off his headphones to ask, “What?”
“Kyungsoo.”
“Huh?” Tao asked, pausing the music on his phone to pay attention to what Kris was saying.
“Kyungsoo. My new boyfriend.”
Huh. Another one.
“Oh.” Tao's fists clenched and unclenched with a fake smile stretched across his face. The 18 year old's heart twisted and his mind drew up images of a seducing tempter with a nasty smile. “Congrats, I guess. When'd you ask him out?”
“Yesterday. I called his friend to call him out to the ice cream shop and I asked him out. He said yes, clearly, “ the lanky giant proudly recalled, Tao even able to see him puff out his chest out a bit. Git.
Why can't it be me?
“Who's Kyungsoo, anyway?” Tao asked, at an attempt to be interested, as his eyes strayed back to the open textbook to try to distract him from the aching pain from his chest.
“You know, that Freshman angel with the most adorable eyes and heart shaped lips. Oh, and his pale, milky skin...Don't get me started on his sweet eyelashes and those cheeks....” Kris continued on and one with his trademark love sick expression on his face every single time that he fell in love again. Tao tuned out the praises that were just pouring out of Kris mouth, each soft caress of appreciation just twisting the dagger in his heart deeper.
He knew that he was being over dramatic and all that, but deep down, what hurt the most was that he knew that he would never see Kris talk about him in the same love struck look and soft voice that Kris always had.
Besides, the blonde seemed to have a new toy every other week. Kris was the school's handsome heartbreaker, famous for his love at first sights and easiness of falling out of love, dumping everyone and moving on the next day. Tao had been the only one to be a constant at Kris' side from childhood.
“....Tao?” Kris asked, his face dangerously close to Tao's, as he peered down with a neutral expression.
Tao had been scowling slightly at the wooden table where his books were placed on and his knuckles were white from gripping the edge of his chair, denying the prick of tears in the corner of his eyes. Tao's frowned deepened for a moment, before being wiped away with an easy smile. “What? Oh yeah. Sorry. Just imaging how difficult tomorrow's Bio test will be.”
Kris gave a soft half smile and nodded, standing up. “I'll leave you back to your studying, then. Kyungsoo's waiting for me. Promise to hang later?”
The wushu student nodded and smiled in returned, answering, “Yeah. See you around.”
Satisfied, Kris turned away and walked to the exit of the library and Tao's eyes followed Kris' movements with a tender look unconsciously.
It'll never be me.
~~~
Tao heard the doorbell ring from downstairs and the boy wondered briefly who it could be on a Saturday afternoon. He didn't think that he was expecting anyone today.
The bell rang again, although with a hint of impatience. With a groan, the only person at home dragged his body from the bed and shouted in the general direction of the door, “Alright, alright! I'm coming!”
Tao made it to the front door and unlocked the door to be greeted with the sight of his neighbor. The first thing that Tao noticed was, well, Kris was at his door, and second, the shocking color of the giant's hair.
“Whoa,” Tao aptly said, staring at the mop of his friend's hair. The color resembled spun gold and it was styled with a messy look, complimenting Kris' handsome features easily.
Kris grinned at Tao as he gently shoved his friend aside to step into the house, taking a moment to take off his shoes.
Behind him, Tao closed the door and was still taking in the sudden change. “Like it?” Kris asked after removing his shoes and collapsing on the Huang's couch.
Tao nodded, still a bit in shock. “Yeah. It looks really good,” he managed to say after getting his vocal skills back. Too good.
“Jongin suggested me to get this color. He really likes it on me,” Kris added after a moment, studying himself in his reflection in a picture frame that sat next to the couch, missing the flash of hurt that passed through Tao's eyes.
Tao turned to the television and blindly turned on the piece of technology that honestly held no interest for him at that moment. Of course. Another boyfriend.
Kris turned to the TV after hearing Tao turn it on and glanced at this friend that sat pretending to be absorbed by the documentary on Artic Foxes. He studied Tao's features for a moment, noticing that something was off. The recently blonde tilted his head to the side, still staring at the Chinese.
“Is there something on my face?” Tao asked, still pretending to be enraptured by the fox's attempts to catch a mouse under 3 feet of snow, totally conscious of Kris' very judgmental study of him.
Kris chuckled and turned to the television, taking in a very hilarious picture of a fox with it's hindquarters and 2 back feet sticking up from the snow, it's entire front half buried. “Nah, I just was mesmerized by all that ugliness that was happening on your face,” the Chinese-Canadian joked, a smile cracking when the fox popped back up from the snow.
“Hey!” Tao shouted indignantly, “Your face is something only a mother could love, you know!” The black haired boy shoved Kris in a jab back.
“Riiiiight. And there aren't boys just lining up for a glimpse of me,” Kris retorted, reaching for the remote to watch something else.
Knocking away the giant hand that extended for the remote, Tao shot back, “They're just trying to catch a look at Sasquatch that they've been hearing about.”
The two friends' easy banter went back and forth until the hollow pain in Tao's chest began to ease up a bit.
~~~
Tao waved to Kris who had just walked into the ice cream shop looking around, even though the two sat at the same booth every time they came to parlor.
Kris smiled to indicate to Tao that he had seen him and moved to the counter to pick out his usual flavor; mint chocolate chip, while Tao preferred a much more simpler flavor; vanilla.
When Kris arrived at the table, Tao was wearing his usual impatient pout as he ushered the blonde to hurry to the table. The black haired teen snatched his cone while Kris slip into the seat opposite him, chuckling at the impatience Tao displayed to happily munch down on his sweet treat.
Tao savored the light play of vanilla on his tongue, closing his eyes to better taste the melting dessert. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Kris smiling that gummy smile at him, making Tao's heart stutter for a moment, before resuming on double time.
It took the 18 year old a moment before seeing the phone in Kris' hand, happily texting away at his new boyfriend, someone named Sehun or something like that. Tao chided his heart as he was reminded that this cheerful smile wasn't aimed at him, but at the message that Sehun had apparently just sent him.
After a moment, Kris absently licked at his now slightly melting cone, while Tao watched, mesmerized by the slow trickle of sugar. A small bit of light green stuck to the corner of his childhood friend's lip and Tao had to tear his eyes away from the tempting bit as Kris asked him a question.
“Huh?” the black haired high school student intelligently questioned, lost.
Kris rolled his eyes gently at the head in the clouds wushu student, but repeated his question, “Why haven't you ever dated anyone yet? I promise that you've been asked out and you're not bad looking, either.”
A slight flush braced his cheeks at the topic, but he shrugged as though indifferent. “The right person just hasn't come along yet,” Tao replied with a soft smile.
The blonde frowned at Tao, clearly confused by what Tao meant by “the right person”, about to press the subject, but his phone vibrated in his hand, distracting him.
Kris quickly unlocked the phone to read the new message that Sehun had just sent him, while Tao sat quietly, staring at Kris and screaming in his head because you're the right person.
~~~
“Hey Kris,”
The mentioned man looked up from rummaging around in his locker.
“Yeah?”
“Is there anyway you can tutor me in bio? I don't really understand what spewing out the teacher's mouth and certainly not the jumble of words in the text book,” Tao requested, leaning on a locker nearby as he watched his friend dig through the mess to find his books for the next class.
“Hm? Oh yeah. But, on one condition,” the blonde managed to pull out a Calculus text book from the pile of crumpled papers jammed into the small space.
“And?”
“If you tutor me in the devil's arithmetic.”
“Huh?”
“Calculus, stupid,” Kris slammed the locker shut after somehow cramming all the papers back into the metallic cage, a paper or two floating away from the mess and lay sadly abandoned in the emptying corridor.
Rolling his eyes, Tao pushed himself off the lockers and just nodded to seal the deal. “Your place?”
Kris gave a hum in answer as the two seniors moved away from the prison they called high school and to Kris' car.
~~~
Tao looked up in shock as a loud bang! resonated around the bedroom and he located his friend sprawled on his back with the Calculus text book flung haphazardly on the desk. So that was the noise.
The black haired boy unglued his nose from his Biology book that he had been staring at for the past 15 minutes, rereading the same paragraph over and over again. Tao glanced at the limbs thrown in random directions. “Wut,” he deadpanned.
Kris groaned and turned to look at Tao. “Nothing.”
Tao sent a hella-confused look at the blonde, waiting for him to continue.
“Nothing. I understand nothing. I don't even know what I don't know,” Kris whined, going back to staring at the ceiling.
The Chinese boy shook his head and gently closed the book in his lap, having come to the same conclusion long ago. About the time that he opened up the textbook. “Yeah....it's 1. We should call it a night,” Tao noted, beginning to gather his things.
Kris watched him moved about the room with a lazy gaze before saying, “Why don't you just stay the night? It's friday, anyway.”
With a quick phone call to notify his parents, the teen just let all of his things slide out of his hand and back into the positions that they were before the half-hearted pick up. “So. LoL?” Tao asked, already reaching into his bag for his laptop and Kris' quick nod just hurried the hand that was getting the machine set up for hours of mindless playing.
~~~
Tao made a noise between a groan and a sound from a dying whale as he came to consciousness. His vision swam for a moment before refocusing and he stretched his arms above him and his toes reached for the bottom of the bed. His toes touched something along the way and that something was warm.
He snapped his eyes open and whipped his head to the side. Similar to the sight that he had witnessed many years before, Kris was fast asleep with one arm haphazardly off the bed and another draped over Tao's stomach. The blond senior was sprawled across his bed and cornered Tao off onto the top right corner of the mattress.
Yet, as little space as he was allowed, Tao laid there for minutes, basking in the comfort of Kris' limbs tangled with his. He savored the nearness of the tall Chinese teen and his heart grew with a strong desire to call the man his. Regardless of all the fantasies that ran through Tao's mind as he traced Kris' features with his eyes, he knew that he would never be able to have Kris.
After lying there for god-knows how long, the idea of surprising Kris with breakfast popped into his head and Tao giggled at how coupley and romantic the gesture seemed. If Kris asked anything of it, he would just brush it off as thanks for letting the other senior crash at his place.
The 18 year old gazed down with an unreadable expression at his best friend a whisper, barely audible in the morning light escaped. “I promised to not ask 'what if...?'”
Shaking his head gently, Tao carefully nudged Kris' giant limbs back to his side of the bed and extracted himself from the man's hold, bracing his feet against the carpeted floor.
Weaving his way through the laptops strewn across the bedroom floor, the various articles of clothes scattered, and the random occasional pencil that the pair had thrown at each other in boredom. Tao paused to look at the photo frames that decorated Kris' rooms, from a picture from a decade ago, of Kris teaching Tao how to ride a bike, another a few years later, of Tao proudly displaying a medal from his Wushu competition and Kris grinning stupidly at the camera, and later, now Tao much closer to Kris' height, of the two at Kris' 18th birthday party, a lavish occasion, thrown by parents.
However, when Tao's eyes fell onto the most recent photo, a picture of Kris and his current boyfriend, Chanyeol, his smile stuttered and fell, reminding him that he couldn't have Kris because Kris belonged to another. This was his longest relationship yet, now lasting a total of 1 year and 6 months. He even remembered the day when Kris barged into Tao's room unannounced and declared that his relationship with Chanyeol wasn't super serious but he enjoyed it in retardedly extended metaphors.
Tearing his eyes away, before his heart could twist anymore, Tao bumbled out of the bedroom, trying to make as little noise as possible. Although inside, his heart was lamenting and screaming profanities that the fates that would never allow Tao to end up with Kris.
Shaking his head to clear away his tumultuous thoughts, he focused his attention of pulling together some sort of breakfast for Kris right after he washed up.
Knowing that his cooking skills were limited to making measly meals of scrambled eggs and a bit of toast, Tao decided not to set himself for failure. Making quick work of whipping the eggs in a bowl with a pair of chopsticks and pouring the mixture of eggs, milk, and salt onto a frying pan that had been slowly warming up, Tao made 2 sets of breakfast.
Deciding that he should just let Kris sleep, he left the extra plate on the counter and made his way to the living room to turn on the television to catch whatever was on. Just beginning to eat, shuffling sounds came from the general direction of Kris' bedroom.
A bleary eyed angry bird made his way down the stair and into the living room with a mumbled, “Hello.”
Tao grunted in response, his eyes glued to the little artic fox that was trying its best to catch its prey before adding, “Breakfast is on the counter if you want any. Mind you, I'm no chef, so don't expect much.”
Kris paused for a moment in his shuffling, processing what Tao had just said before mumbling, “Thanks.”
Kris retrieved his dish of breakfast from the kitchen and slid the plate noisily next to Tao, the two plates clinking together. Tao wrinkled his nose at the noise and gently scolded, “Hey watch it, I spent good time making those eggs.”
With just a soft sorry, Kris collapsed into a tangle of Chinese-canadian limbs next to Tao and quickly nuzzled his nose into Tao's neck and wrapped his arms around the lanky teen.
Tao violently blushed and managed to say with practiced disgust, “Ew man, I'm not your teddy bear. Get off me.” Although he said this, Tao didn't make any actions to move the man off of him, knowing fully well of Kris' habit of being super skinshippy when he was sleepy and half awake. Kris just grumbled into Tao's shoulder and Tao rolled his eyes at his friend before going back to the TV.
The two lapsed into a comfortable silence of Kris in his half awake, half asleep phase and Tao watching his documentary.
~~~
'When did the years pass by so quickly?' Tao wondered as he watched Kris walk up onto the stage and receive his high school diploma with a wide grin. Kris stood there for a moment, scanning the crowd for familiar faces and Tao waved at his best friend with an equally wide grin. His grin faded a bit though when Kris' gaze slid right over him and stopped somewhere else in the crowd.
Tao watched with a conflicted expression on his face as Kris walked off the stage and back to where his last name dictated him to be. He swallowed his unease as he remembered the conversation that the two had quite a while back ago.
“Tao?”
“Yeah, Kris?” Tao whispered back, his head still bent over his textbook, the pair of them cramming in the library for the mi-terms that were approaching alarmingly quickly.
“I just got my acceptance letter.”
“Oh? To which college?” Tao looked up from his notes only to see a pair of brown eyes looking at him with an intense look that he rarely saw in Kris' eyes.
“Yonsei,” Kris said after a moment of silence. Tao's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't even known that Kris had applied to the Korean college. “I- I mean, Chanyeol and I were thinking of going to Korea for university because he misses his home country and I think it's a good opportunity. There's a lot of positions for people with my major in the Korean economy, I heard.”
Tao's mind reeled with the dump of information. Kris. Kris was going away from him. Although Tao had a nagging feeling that this was going to happen one day, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Kris. He was going to college in Korea. Korea. So far away. The two had grown up just a house away from each other. Tao couldn't even fathom Kris going an entire country away from him. Tao choked for a moment, before recovering.
“That's, that's great news,” Tao croaked out, with a weak grin.
Kris saw the fake grin, yet he responded with an equally fake grin and answered with a soft, “Yeah....yeah it is.”
The corners of Tao's eyes pricked with an uncomfortable feeling similar to tears and Tao choked them down. I will not cry on my graduation. It's supposed to be a happy day. Tao repeated in his head like a mantra.
Only, Kris was leaving for Korea in a few weeks, everything was already prepared. He was going to live with Chanyeol in a small apartment and the two were going to take internships to help support them. The relationship wasn't one of two people in love, but it was a comfortable relationship that had lasted this long. Tao grappled with his emotions for a few moments, before an organizer indicated to his section to stand and make their way into the stage. The now ex-high school wiped away his expression and plastered on a wide grin for his parents.
He waved back with fake enthusiasm at the camera they had trained on their son and he saw Kris out of the corner of his eye, pull two thumbs up at this best friend. Tao turned to his friend and responded to the gesture with a immature tongue out expression. Kris rolled his eyes at the childish motion, but he grinned at the panda-like teen. Tao grinned back in response, totally unconscious. Because soon, he won't even be able to see that smile anymore.
~~~
“Make sure you don't get sick. Wear a lot of layers when it's appropriate. Don't forget to me a message on Weibo when you land in Korea. Text me when you get your new phone,” Tao rambled on and on as he fussed over Kris.
Kris grinned at Tao's overly worried mannerisms only murmuring, “I promise I will. Don't worry.”
The just recently university student shot his best friend a glare and muttered with a murderous air, “Don't you give me that 'don't worry' shit. You know I will.”
The now black haired giant chuckled at Tao's antics and only humorously responded, “And people wonder why you look like an assassin.” He reached out and ruffled Tao's now blonde hair. “It looks good,” Kris added.
“Huh?”
“Your hair,” Kris clarified.
“Mmm. Don't distract me! Like I was saying!” Tao continued to rant to Kris about how important it was to make sure to fully dry off if he got wet from the rain.
“Kris!” a deep voice interrupted Tao mid-rant as Kris' boyfriend ran up to the two. “I'm not late!” Chanyeol added with a grin that bordered on super happy and creepy I'm going to kill you in your sleep. Kris grinned in response and nodded.
A pregnant silence hung in the air for a moment that was filled with a sad feel. “Well,” Kris said after a moment, breaking the silence, “I guess it's goodbye for now.”
Tao looked up with an unreadable look in his eye and nodded sadly. “I guess it is.” The Chinese-Canadian had already said his goodbyes to his family and glanced nostalgically out the window.
“Goodbye China,” he whispered before Tao pulled him into a strong hug.
“Goodbye, you stupid giant. I'll miss you more than I can express and remember, if you ever need me, I'll be there,” Tao weakly said, not knowing what to say to his best friend of over a decade and man he had fallen in love with over the years.
Kris looked down at the blond man clutching him like a life raft and ruffled his hair gently. “I know. I'll miss you, too. A lot.”
Someone tugged Kris' arm and Chanyeol said uncharacteristically quietly, “Come on. We have to go. We can't miss our flight. Goodbye, Tao.” Chanyeol grabbed Tao from his boyfriend's arms and pulled the teen into his arms. “Thank you for taking care of Kris. And I'm sorry,” Chanyeol whispered into Tao's ear.
Tao widened his eyes and opened his mouth to ask why. But he closed it, deciding it was best to not ask how Chanyeol knew and he just nodded. “Of course,” Tao said before waving weakly at the pair's backs.
Kris turned one last time and waved at his best friend, “Thank you, Tao!” he shouted, the people around him cringing at his deep, booming voice.
Tao grinned back with full sincerity and answered, “You're welcome!” Tao stood and watched as his friends disappeared through security and wave one last time before being swallowed up by the traffic in China's airport.
Only after Tao couldn't see the two of them through the crowd anymore, did he finally allow the tears that he had been holding in slide down his cheeks blazing a hot trail. He choked and sniffed, his heart cracking at the seams and crying a river for him. “Goodbye, the last dream of my soul,” Tao whispered before turning away and allowing himself to be swept away.
~~~
Kris settled himself comfortably into his airplane seat, smiling gently at the sight of his boyfriend slumbering in his seat, a bit of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.
He reached into his coat pocket for a napkin, before a crumpling sound made him pause. Frowning, his long fingers latched onto what felt like paper.
Pulling up the mysterious item, he saw that it was it was indeed paper. Folded, in fact. Kris carefully unfolded the slip of paper and became really curious when it revealed Tao's characteristic Chinese scrawl. When had the Chinese boy even slipped in the paper, he wondered.
He unfolded all of the paper and his eyes read over the characters.
Krease!
I have watched over you by your side. I have been by your side for many years. I have watched you grow. I have watched myself fall in love with you the past 4 years. But today, today you're leaving me. Thank you, Kris. For everything. I just wanted to say, I love you. Goodbye. Live well. I promise you I will try my best to do so.
Tao
Kris' eyes widened and he jerked. His eyes drew back to 'I love you' and 'fall in love with you'. A odd noise escaped his throat as he closed his eyes and he leaned back in his seat, his head spinning.
Kris gazed out the window and his hand holding the paper crumbled just a bit at the corner. Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Kris whispered to no one but himself, “Me too.”