Closer.1
Title: Closer
Pairing: TaoRis
Summary: With every encounter, they get closer. With every chance of them being caught growing bigger, they shrug it off and get closer. Zitao finds comfort in Yifan and Yifan finds his heart opening up more to the youngest member of their sub-unit.
Rating: PG-15 for crude language \o/
Genre: ~Fluff~, Humor?, Romance
Disclaimer: Oh, haha. No need to rub it in.
A/N: Huzzah! My EXO writing debut! *throws confetti* So I debuted into the SHINee writing fandom with angst, the TVXQ writing fandom with smut and now the EXO writing fandom with fluff. I’m not sure about the debuting with fluff thing though, but it was the first idea that popped into my head, so why not?
*
“Sometimes, I feel as if you guys are close.”
Yifan looks at Luhan, toast still in his mouth.
“A bit too close,” Luhan doesn’t look up from his coffee, stirring it slowly. “Fans are going to suspect something.”
Yifan stays silent, chewing the bite of toast.
Eventually, Luhan turns to look at him, irritation in his features from Yifan’s lack of response. “Aren’t you worried? At all?”
Yifan swallows and shakes his head. “Zitao is the youngest and as leader, I feel obliged to take care of him. I don’t want anything to happen to him. Let the fans think what they want to think.”
“Does that apply to Yixing as well?” Luhan questions, taking out his spoon and tasting it to see if the coffee suits his taste. “You’re confusing the poor guy.” Luhan reaches over to Yifan’s side of the table.
“What do you mean?” Yifan helpfully grabs the sugar bowl sitting near him and passes it to Luhan.
Luhan sits back down and scoops one generous spoonful of sugar into his coffee. “You’re messing with his mind. One moment he sees you staring at Taozi like you’re about to kiss him, the next he sees you laughing with him as you two watch TV.”
“Maybe his mind’s playing with him instead of us,” Yifan suggests.
Luhan shakes his head, stirring his coffee again. “I strongly doubt that.”
Yifan’s eyebrows narrow in confusion. “Why’s that?”
Luhan looks at him and takes a sip of his newly-sweetened coffee. “Because I see it too.”
*
“Kris ge?”
Yifan looks up from his book. “Yes?”
Zitao’s smile is bright and sunny. “Want to be my test subject?”
Yifan narrows his brows in confusion. “Test subject? What for?”
Zitao holds up a pad of paper and some brightly colored marker pens. “I want to draw someone. No one gave me an answer.”
“Well, did you ask anyone yet?”
“No,” Zitao says, smile still in place, “because I wanted to ask you first and I know you’ll accept.”
Yifan allows a smile to grace his normally stoic face, the smile that shows his gums, and he dog-ears his page, closing the book and setting it down on the dresser. “You got me. So, any pose I should be assuming?”
Zitao shakes his head. “Just … just stay like that. You’re perfect no matter what.”
He blushes a bit at that and Yifan can’t help but ruffle his hair. “You’re so cute. Now quickly, Michelangelo, draw me before the subject loses his patience.”
Zitao ends up using only three marker pens out of the bunch, looking up once in a while then focusing back on the pad of paper with his tongue sticking out. Yifan stays perfectly still and the drawing doesn’t take very long. In fact, it only takes about five minutes, and Yifan’s kind of worried with the outcome.
“Done!” Zitao announces joyfully as he balances the black pen behind his ear, forgetting to cap it and thus resulting in some pen marks on his right temple. He holds out the pad for Yifan to take, who turns it around and instantly bursts into laughter.
It doesn’t look anything like him at all - it looks more like a dragon with cat ears giving birth to what seems to be a badly-bruised manatee.
“You’re the dragon,” Zitao says, pointing to what Yifan had correctly guessed, “and since our comeback single is Wolf, I drew you with wolf ears!”
Yifan coughs to disguise his laughter.
“And I drew a panda!” Zitao continues, crawling on the bed and pointing at the ‘manatee’.
More laughter erupts from Yifan’s lips, but he still pulls Zitao into a hug and chuckles into his hair. “It’s great. I’m keeping it.”
*
“Hey, hyung.”
Yifan turns around and sees the leader of their Korean counterparts walking towards him. “Hi, Joonmyun,” he greets. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that I’m not the leader of K,” Joonmyun teases.
Yifan then remembers belatedly that he’s in the cafeteria of SM building, waiting for the rest of M to finish ordering. Instead of being embarrassed and apologizing like any other person, Yifan smiles. “Right.”
“Listen,” Joonmyun’s tone turns serious, “I’ve been hearing …” he waves his hands about vaguely, “things.”
Yifan eyes him. “What kind of things.”
“Things I’m not supposed to hear.”
“If any time our careers crash on top of our heads, I suggest you don’t pursue the career of a Seer if you’re going to be that ambiguous,” Yifan says.
Joonmyun smiles, used to Yifan’s sarcasm. “I mean they’re rumors and I can’t help but think they’re true.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“The ones that are made up by people.”
Yifan makes to stand but Joonmyun laughs and holds his forearm, pulling him back down to his seat. “Okay, okay. I was just joking. Anyway, I’ve heard that you and Zitao are … well, um …”
“Whatever you heard, they’re untrue,” Yifan says quickly, side-eyeing Joonmyun. “Zitao’s the youngest, and I love him, but …”
“Hey, I love Zitao too,” Joonmyun says helpfully, “and I understand what you mean. Sehun’s the youngest in my subgroup and I can’t help but feel overprotective over him.”
Yifan looks at Joonmyun. “Zitao’s not in your subgroup, though.”
“True,” Joonmyun continues to smile, “but he’s still a part of EXO.”
*
Zitao shuffles into Yifan’s room, plopping down heavily on the bed and causing Yifan to jump a bit from the momentum. “… Hi,” Yifan says conversationally. “No please, do come in.”
Zitao manages a tired smile and buries his face into the covers. “Duizhang, I’m sleepy.”
Yifan takes some time to answer, still lost in his thoughts. When Zitao’s sentence settles in his mind, he still doesn’t look at him. “Then sleep.”
“I’m too tired to go to my room,” Zitao whines.
Yifan finally looks at him with disbelief. “You came into my room to tell me that? Your room is literally five feet away.”
But then Zitao pouts at him and Yifan didn’t really mind having Zitao in here in the first place and so his resolution crumbles and he sighs.
“Fine,” he sighs exaggeratedly, scooting more to one side to allow Zitao more room to sleep.
Zitao gratefully maneuvers his body to accommodate the free space and he sighs in content. “Thanks, Yifan ge. You’re the best.”
Yifan smiles when he hears Zitao’s soft snores.
*
“You.”
Zitao looks at him. “Me?”
“Stop playing with my mind.”
Zitao blinks at Yixing. “Playing with your mind? What are you talking about?”
Yixing lets out a barely-restrained sigh. “You’re making me think of … things.”
Zitao remains silent, unsure on how to respond to that. “Um?”
Yixing almost slaps his hand onto the table, but it’s way too early for that and he doesn’t want to startle anyone with the sudden loud noise. “Stop with the fanservice with Yifan ge. It’s cute in front of cameras, but not at home. You two are driving me crazy.”
Zitao opens his mouth to speak when Yifan pokes his arm.
“Ignore him, Zitao,” Yifan says sleepily, biting into his cereal. “He’s just jealous that TaoRis is more relevant than whatever pairing Yixing’s part of.”
Yixing gapes and he folds his arms. “For your information, SuLay is legit and even though it’s not as popular as TaoRis, it’s still something! And like you haven’t been noticing all the TaoHun.”
Yifan’s gaze is steely when he turns his head to look at Yixing straight in the eye. “I’m sorry, what?”
Yixing stares for a few more moments before smirking. Oh. So that’s how Yifan gets annoyed. “The ‘maknae line’ is becoming more popular, Yifan ge. TaoRis is slowly dying and it hasn’t even been two years into our debut.”
Yifan shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but TaoRis is still going strong.” His tone sounds casual but his grip on his mug tightens and his face hardens. “As for the TaoHun, sorry, but I don’t believe in things that don’t exist.”
Yixing wants to laugh and Zitao smiles at Yifan’s sudden grumpiness. “You know I still love you, duizhang,” Zitao leans his head against Yifan’s shoulder. “You’re my favorite.”
Yifan smiles genuinely and Yixing is left pondering again.
*
“This is unfair, Kris ge,” Zitao huffs as Yifan twirls around him and tosses the ball, watching it sink through the net cleanly. “You’re taller than me.”
Yifan laughs as he dribbles the ball and runs further away from Zitao. He’s always loved playing basketball. It makes him feel so free. “True, but you’ve been practicing Wushu, kid, you’re better acquainted with your limbs than I am!”
“Wushu is Wushu and basketball is basketball!” Zitao complains, running after Yifan and trying to snatch the ball from him. “They’re two totally different things!”
“They’re both sports,” Yifan says, using his back to prevent Zitao from snatching the ball. He quickly makes a fake swerve, turning left then twisting and turning right, running away from Zitao what seems like the nth time.
Zitao throws his hands up in the air. He gives up. “I don’t recall martial arts being a sport, though. Duizhang, I quit!” he whines.
Yifan halts, his shoes squeaking against the linoleum floor. He laughs and goes back to Zitao’s side. “Why do you only quit when you know you’re losing?” he smiles, ruffling the boy’s hair when he’s close enough.
Zitao shrugs his hand off. “Because it’s no fun.” He smiles at Yifan. “Pity me~”
Before Yifan can even understand what he had said, Zitao grabs the ball and dribbles it to his side of the court, jumping and tossing it in the air. The ball sails through the air and goes through the net, Zitao jumping and squealing for joy.
“Duizhang! Did you see that? I scored!”
Yifan would normally be angry that Zitao had played the pity card to cheat a win, but as he sees Zitao cheer for making one of his few goals in their friendly game, he can’t help but smile.
*
“Hey,” Jongin says as he sits next to Yifan in the practice room, bumping their knees together. “You guys fucking?”
Yifan chokes on his water. Jongin, always the one who never beats around the bush. But that doesn’t make him less crude than he has to.
Jongin watches as Yifan hits his chest with his fist, coughing out the water that got lodged up in his windpipe. “Jongin!” Yifan hacks. “What the heck, man?”
Jongin looks unimpressed. “So? You and Zitao. You guys fucking?”
Yifan glares. “No. Now leave me alone. You’re so crude.”
Jongin rolls his eyes. “Suit yourself. But we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
Yifan watches Jongin stand up. “Wait. ‘We’? Who’s this ‘we’?”
“K and the rest of M,” Jongin says simply. “Anyway, we just wanted to tell you that if you guys are fucking, you better be damn careful about it. Never know what the netizens are up to next.”
Yifan rolls his eyes. Jongin isn’t exactly the person who should be saying these kinds of things. ‘Practice what you preach’ - isn’t that what people have been saying? After all, EXO’s been calling Jongin ‘SM’s favorite boytoy’ for a reason.
“Whatever you say,” Yifan rolls his eyes back. “You’re a good friend.”
He sincerely hopes Jongin notices the sarcasm. But when Jongin’s way of answering to his sarcasm pops into his mind, Yifan takes back his wish and hopes Jongin’s oblivious. Just this once.
“I know, right?” Jongin smirks. “I’m such a martyr.”
Yifan throws an empty water bottle at Jongin’s back.
*
“Hey, Zitao,” Yifan smiles as he sees Zitao on his bike inching closer towards him. “Ready?”
Zitao nods and adjusts his cap. “You lead, duizhang.”
“Don’t I always?” Yifan replies with a smirk. He doesn’t let Zitao reply though, as he pushes his pedal forward and starts cycling.
Their bicycle dates have been becoming less frequent, but today, the two have managed to squeeze some time in between so that they’d be able to go out with their bikes. Yifan would always say that the ‘dates’ help him feel closer to Zitao while Zitao would always say that Yifan always protects him through the dates.
M is never convinced though. After all, they don’t need to be on their bicycles to prove what they say about the other.
They’re cycling past midnight tonight, as they don’t have any schedule later on. The streets are quiet, but they occasionally see people walking by, some talking on their phones, some on quiet little dates with their lovers.
“Ge,” Yifan hears Zitao say quietly behind him. Yifan slows to a stop and looks behind. Zitao had already stopped and they’re a few feet away from each other.
“Yes?” Yifan turns his bike around and goes towards the boy.
“I want that,” Zitao says quietly, looking at a couple snuggling against each other on a bench.
Yifan coughs and looks away, sure that they’re invading their privacy with their blatant staring. It’s not the first time that Zitao would imply that he wants to be in a relationship during their bicycle dates, and Yifan surely doubts that it would be the last, but this is the first time that Zitao had openly said it.
“We can’t, didi,” Yifan says kindly. “We signed a contract. And we’re SM’s latest group - I doubt they’ll let us have a girlfriend until six years later.”
“You’re over twenty years old,” Zitao says with a hint of a smile. “You’re going to die old and alone.”
“Oh, poor me,” Yifan sighs dramatically, clutching a hand to his heart. He grins at Zitao. “Tell you what, you ignore these repressions to get a girlfriend and have me for the meantime, okay?”
Zitao raises a brow at this. “And why you?”
“Because I’m the best and you love me.”
Zitao dissolves into quiet chuckles, a sound that Yifan doesn’t mind hearing more. “Okay, okay. Fine.”
“No, no,” Yifan shakes his head. “It’s not official until you say it.”
Zitao rolls his eyes but smiles almost immediately soon after. “Duizhang, you’re the best and I love you.”
Yifan’s grin is wide and he pinches Zitao’s cheek. “That’s good to know.”
*
“Hi, Kris,” Minseok smiles as he plops next to Yifan on the couch. He holds up a plate of light brown biscuits. “Gingersnap?”
Yifan eyes the plate amusingly as he takes one. “Never had these in a while, hyung. Where did you get them?”
Minseok’s grin is cheeky around the cookie. “Got them as a present from a fan. Anyway, a little birdie told me that the rest of EXO is thinking something’s going on between you and Taozi.”
Yifan wants to groan but he hasn’t eaten a gingersnap in a long while so he bites a piece off instead.
“Personally, I don’t care,” Minseok says, cheeks bulging with cookie as he takes another one. “As long as it doesn’t lead to management screaming at us and fans wanting you two to be married, then just continue whatever you’re doing.”
Yifan envelops Minseok in a hug. “See, this is why I love you.”
“You love Tao the best,” Minseok manages to say.
“That’s true,” Yifan’s grin is bright and cheerful.
Minseok swallows and tilts his head to the side. “Do you really?”
Yifan feels his heart fluttering as he pictures Zitao’s smile. He doesn’t know how or when he even fell for the boy, surely somewhere during their trainee days, but he doesn’t mind it one bit. Might as well let the eldest know. “I do.” His grin is getting to the point where it might light up the entire country for weeks.
“Then you may now kiss the bride.”
Almost instantly, Yifan’s glare takes over his grin. “I take back my love.”
“For Tao?” Minseok’s damned grin is getting to Yifan and he wants to smack it off.
“You are a dead man!” Yifan cries after Minseok, the latter zipping away to his room when Yifan lunges at him but fails. “You hear me?! Dead!”
*
“Gege, can you help me with something?”
Yifan doesn’t look up from his phone. “Depends on what it is.”
“I need help with a dance …”
Yifan stops and stares at Zitao, the words not really registering into his mind. “You need help? With a dance?” He pauses. “And you need my help, of all people?”
Zitao bites his lower lip, unsure what to feel from Yifan’s tone.
“Why don’t you ask Yixing?”
“Because Yixing ge is busy,” Zitao half-lies. Yixing is perfectly free, but he had been spending his entire day with Jongdae and Zitao doesn’t want to break their rare quality time together just for help. “And also, you’re the only one who can help me with this.”
Yifan stares. He’s the ‘only one who can help with it’? With dancing? And since Zitao said that Yixing’s busy, then what about Luhan and Minseok? Even though Yixing is the best dancers in their subgroup, they’re way better than Yifan. Or maybe even Jongin or Sehun or - maybe not, Yifan thinks. After all, those two get jealous easily. I don’t want Zitao to die from Stealing a Boyfriend Syndrome.
When Yifan doesn’t answer for quite some time, Zitao smiles and takes Yifan’s hands, pulling him up from the bed. “Come on, ge! It’ll be fun!”
“What kind of dance do you need help with?” Yifan asks, pulling free to toss his phone onto the bed.
“It’s one I never got to learn. Ballroom dancing.”
Yifan wants to stare some more but Zitao’s eyes are so expectant and excited and Yifan’s suddenly honored that Zitao would choose him of all people. Yifan clears his throat. “Are you sure? You do realize that since I have the height advantage, you would have to be the girl?”
Zitao laughs, sweet and melodious, and allows Yifan to take hold of his waist. “I don’t mind. I can ask Yixing ge or Luhan ge for the male part next time. Besides, you look like you need the practice.”
Yifan grins and he gently takes Zitao’s right hand in his. “I’m not very good at the waltz, since I’ve never been to a dance, but I’ve watched movies.”
“You must be very experienced then,” Zitao teases as Yifan begins to sway them along to music only the both of them can hear.
“Oh yes,” Yifan plays along. “I had to teach an entire class once.”
“Oh?” Zitao raises a brow, Yifan turning them slowly. “Who was your leading lady?”
“Hmm …” Yifan looks into Zitao’s eyes and he finds himself falling in love even more. “I wonder …”
Zitao suddenly laughs. “Don’t you dare dip me, ge,” he warns. “That surprised me so much I almost cried.”
Yifan smiles and shakes his head. “I would never do that …” And then he suddenly spins Zitao, the latter being caught in surprise that he stumbles into Yifan’s hold. The two of them falls into Yifan’s bed, laughing as they do so.
My first EXO fanfic and it’s split in half. Wow, this sucks :/
Pairing: TaoRis
Summary: With every encounter, they get closer. With every chance of them being caught growing bigger, they shrug it off and get closer. Zitao finds comfort in Yifan and Yifan finds his heart opening up more to the youngest member of their sub-unit.
Rating: PG-15 for crude language \o/
Genre: ~Fluff~, Humor?, Romance
Disclaimer: Oh, haha. No need to rub it in.
A/N: Huzzah! My EXO writing debut! *throws confetti* So I debuted into the SHINee writing fandom with angst, the TVXQ writing fandom with smut and now the EXO writing fandom with fluff. I’m not sure about the debuting with fluff thing though, but it was the first idea that popped into my head, so why not?
*
“Sometimes, I feel as if you guys are close.”
Yifan looks at Luhan, toast still in his mouth.
“A bit too close,” Luhan doesn’t look up from his coffee, stirring it slowly. “Fans are going to suspect something.”
Yifan stays silent, chewing the bite of toast.
Eventually, Luhan turns to look at him, irritation in his features from Yifan’s lack of response. “Aren’t you worried? At all?”
Yifan swallows and shakes his head. “Zitao is the youngest and as leader, I feel obliged to take care of him. I don’t want anything to happen to him. Let the fans think what they want to think.”
“Does that apply to Yixing as well?” Luhan questions, taking out his spoon and tasting it to see if the coffee suits his taste. “You’re confusing the poor guy.” Luhan reaches over to Yifan’s side of the table.
“What do you mean?” Yifan helpfully grabs the sugar bowl sitting near him and passes it to Luhan.
Luhan sits back down and scoops one generous spoonful of sugar into his coffee. “You’re messing with his mind. One moment he sees you staring at Taozi like you’re about to kiss him, the next he sees you laughing with him as you two watch TV.”
“Maybe his mind’s playing with him instead of us,” Yifan suggests.
Luhan shakes his head, stirring his coffee again. “I strongly doubt that.”
Yifan’s eyebrows narrow in confusion. “Why’s that?”
Luhan looks at him and takes a sip of his newly-sweetened coffee. “Because I see it too.”
*
“Kris ge?”
Yifan looks up from his book. “Yes?”
Zitao’s smile is bright and sunny. “Want to be my test subject?”
Yifan narrows his brows in confusion. “Test subject? What for?”
Zitao holds up a pad of paper and some brightly colored marker pens. “I want to draw someone. No one gave me an answer.”
“Well, did you ask anyone yet?”
“No,” Zitao says, smile still in place, “because I wanted to ask you first and I know you’ll accept.”
Yifan allows a smile to grace his normally stoic face, the smile that shows his gums, and he dog-ears his page, closing the book and setting it down on the dresser. “You got me. So, any pose I should be assuming?”
Zitao shakes his head. “Just … just stay like that. You’re perfect no matter what.”
He blushes a bit at that and Yifan can’t help but ruffle his hair. “You’re so cute. Now quickly, Michelangelo, draw me before the subject loses his patience.”
Zitao ends up using only three marker pens out of the bunch, looking up once in a while then focusing back on the pad of paper with his tongue sticking out. Yifan stays perfectly still and the drawing doesn’t take very long. In fact, it only takes about five minutes, and Yifan’s kind of worried with the outcome.
“Done!” Zitao announces joyfully as he balances the black pen behind his ear, forgetting to cap it and thus resulting in some pen marks on his right temple. He holds out the pad for Yifan to take, who turns it around and instantly bursts into laughter.
It doesn’t look anything like him at all - it looks more like a dragon with cat ears giving birth to what seems to be a badly-bruised manatee.
“You’re the dragon,” Zitao says, pointing to what Yifan had correctly guessed, “and since our comeback single is Wolf, I drew you with wolf ears!”
Yifan coughs to disguise his laughter.
“And I drew a panda!” Zitao continues, crawling on the bed and pointing at the ‘manatee’.
More laughter erupts from Yifan’s lips, but he still pulls Zitao into a hug and chuckles into his hair. “It’s great. I’m keeping it.”
*
“Hey, hyung.”
Yifan turns around and sees the leader of their Korean counterparts walking towards him. “Hi, Joonmyun,” he greets. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that I’m not the leader of K,” Joonmyun teases.
Yifan then remembers belatedly that he’s in the cafeteria of SM building, waiting for the rest of M to finish ordering. Instead of being embarrassed and apologizing like any other person, Yifan smiles. “Right.”
“Listen,” Joonmyun’s tone turns serious, “I’ve been hearing …” he waves his hands about vaguely, “things.”
Yifan eyes him. “What kind of things.”
“Things I’m not supposed to hear.”
“If any time our careers crash on top of our heads, I suggest you don’t pursue the career of a Seer if you’re going to be that ambiguous,” Yifan says.
Joonmyun smiles, used to Yifan’s sarcasm. “I mean they’re rumors and I can’t help but think they’re true.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“The ones that are made up by people.”
Yifan makes to stand but Joonmyun laughs and holds his forearm, pulling him back down to his seat. “Okay, okay. I was just joking. Anyway, I’ve heard that you and Zitao are … well, um …”
“Whatever you heard, they’re untrue,” Yifan says quickly, side-eyeing Joonmyun. “Zitao’s the youngest, and I love him, but …”
“Hey, I love Zitao too,” Joonmyun says helpfully, “and I understand what you mean. Sehun’s the youngest in my subgroup and I can’t help but feel overprotective over him.”
Yifan looks at Joonmyun. “Zitao’s not in your subgroup, though.”
“True,” Joonmyun continues to smile, “but he’s still a part of EXO.”
*
Zitao shuffles into Yifan’s room, plopping down heavily on the bed and causing Yifan to jump a bit from the momentum. “… Hi,” Yifan says conversationally. “No please, do come in.”
Zitao manages a tired smile and buries his face into the covers. “Duizhang, I’m sleepy.”
Yifan takes some time to answer, still lost in his thoughts. When Zitao’s sentence settles in his mind, he still doesn’t look at him. “Then sleep.”
“I’m too tired to go to my room,” Zitao whines.
Yifan finally looks at him with disbelief. “You came into my room to tell me that? Your room is literally five feet away.”
But then Zitao pouts at him and Yifan didn’t really mind having Zitao in here in the first place and so his resolution crumbles and he sighs.
“Fine,” he sighs exaggeratedly, scooting more to one side to allow Zitao more room to sleep.
Zitao gratefully maneuvers his body to accommodate the free space and he sighs in content. “Thanks, Yifan ge. You’re the best.”
Yifan smiles when he hears Zitao’s soft snores.
*
“You.”
Zitao looks at him. “Me?”
“Stop playing with my mind.”
Zitao blinks at Yixing. “Playing with your mind? What are you talking about?”
Yixing lets out a barely-restrained sigh. “You’re making me think of … things.”
Zitao remains silent, unsure on how to respond to that. “Um?”
Yixing almost slaps his hand onto the table, but it’s way too early for that and he doesn’t want to startle anyone with the sudden loud noise. “Stop with the fanservice with Yifan ge. It’s cute in front of cameras, but not at home. You two are driving me crazy.”
Zitao opens his mouth to speak when Yifan pokes his arm.
“Ignore him, Zitao,” Yifan says sleepily, biting into his cereal. “He’s just jealous that TaoRis is more relevant than whatever pairing Yixing’s part of.”
Yixing gapes and he folds his arms. “For your information, SuLay is legit and even though it’s not as popular as TaoRis, it’s still something! And like you haven’t been noticing all the TaoHun.”
Yifan’s gaze is steely when he turns his head to look at Yixing straight in the eye. “I’m sorry, what?”
Yixing stares for a few more moments before smirking. Oh. So that’s how Yifan gets annoyed. “The ‘maknae line’ is becoming more popular, Yifan ge. TaoRis is slowly dying and it hasn’t even been two years into our debut.”
Yifan shrugs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but TaoRis is still going strong.” His tone sounds casual but his grip on his mug tightens and his face hardens. “As for the TaoHun, sorry, but I don’t believe in things that don’t exist.”
Yixing wants to laugh and Zitao smiles at Yifan’s sudden grumpiness. “You know I still love you, duizhang,” Zitao leans his head against Yifan’s shoulder. “You’re my favorite.”
Yifan smiles genuinely and Yixing is left pondering again.
*
“This is unfair, Kris ge,” Zitao huffs as Yifan twirls around him and tosses the ball, watching it sink through the net cleanly. “You’re taller than me.”
Yifan laughs as he dribbles the ball and runs further away from Zitao. He’s always loved playing basketball. It makes him feel so free. “True, but you’ve been practicing Wushu, kid, you’re better acquainted with your limbs than I am!”
“Wushu is Wushu and basketball is basketball!” Zitao complains, running after Yifan and trying to snatch the ball from him. “They’re two totally different things!”
“They’re both sports,” Yifan says, using his back to prevent Zitao from snatching the ball. He quickly makes a fake swerve, turning left then twisting and turning right, running away from Zitao what seems like the nth time.
Zitao throws his hands up in the air. He gives up. “I don’t recall martial arts being a sport, though. Duizhang, I quit!” he whines.
Yifan halts, his shoes squeaking against the linoleum floor. He laughs and goes back to Zitao’s side. “Why do you only quit when you know you’re losing?” he smiles, ruffling the boy’s hair when he’s close enough.
Zitao shrugs his hand off. “Because it’s no fun.” He smiles at Yifan. “Pity me~”
Before Yifan can even understand what he had said, Zitao grabs the ball and dribbles it to his side of the court, jumping and tossing it in the air. The ball sails through the air and goes through the net, Zitao jumping and squealing for joy.
“Duizhang! Did you see that? I scored!”
Yifan would normally be angry that Zitao had played the pity card to cheat a win, but as he sees Zitao cheer for making one of his few goals in their friendly game, he can’t help but smile.
*
“Hey,” Jongin says as he sits next to Yifan in the practice room, bumping their knees together. “You guys fucking?”
Yifan chokes on his water. Jongin, always the one who never beats around the bush. But that doesn’t make him less crude than he has to.
Jongin watches as Yifan hits his chest with his fist, coughing out the water that got lodged up in his windpipe. “Jongin!” Yifan hacks. “What the heck, man?”
Jongin looks unimpressed. “So? You and Zitao. You guys fucking?”
Yifan glares. “No. Now leave me alone. You’re so crude.”
Jongin rolls his eyes. “Suit yourself. But we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
Yifan watches Jongin stand up. “Wait. ‘We’? Who’s this ‘we’?”
“K and the rest of M,” Jongin says simply. “Anyway, we just wanted to tell you that if you guys are fucking, you better be damn careful about it. Never know what the netizens are up to next.”
Yifan rolls his eyes. Jongin isn’t exactly the person who should be saying these kinds of things. ‘Practice what you preach’ - isn’t that what people have been saying? After all, EXO’s been calling Jongin ‘SM’s favorite boytoy’ for a reason.
“Whatever you say,” Yifan rolls his eyes back. “You’re a good friend.”
He sincerely hopes Jongin notices the sarcasm. But when Jongin’s way of answering to his sarcasm pops into his mind, Yifan takes back his wish and hopes Jongin’s oblivious. Just this once.
“I know, right?” Jongin smirks. “I’m such a martyr.”
Yifan throws an empty water bottle at Jongin’s back.
*
“Hey, Zitao,” Yifan smiles as he sees Zitao on his bike inching closer towards him. “Ready?”
Zitao nods and adjusts his cap. “You lead, duizhang.”
“Don’t I always?” Yifan replies with a smirk. He doesn’t let Zitao reply though, as he pushes his pedal forward and starts cycling.
Their bicycle dates have been becoming less frequent, but today, the two have managed to squeeze some time in between so that they’d be able to go out with their bikes. Yifan would always say that the ‘dates’ help him feel closer to Zitao while Zitao would always say that Yifan always protects him through the dates.
M is never convinced though. After all, they don’t need to be on their bicycles to prove what they say about the other.
They’re cycling past midnight tonight, as they don’t have any schedule later on. The streets are quiet, but they occasionally see people walking by, some talking on their phones, some on quiet little dates with their lovers.
“Ge,” Yifan hears Zitao say quietly behind him. Yifan slows to a stop and looks behind. Zitao had already stopped and they’re a few feet away from each other.
“Yes?” Yifan turns his bike around and goes towards the boy.
“I want that,” Zitao says quietly, looking at a couple snuggling against each other on a bench.
Yifan coughs and looks away, sure that they’re invading their privacy with their blatant staring. It’s not the first time that Zitao would imply that he wants to be in a relationship during their bicycle dates, and Yifan surely doubts that it would be the last, but this is the first time that Zitao had openly said it.
“We can’t, didi,” Yifan says kindly. “We signed a contract. And we’re SM’s latest group - I doubt they’ll let us have a girlfriend until six years later.”
“You’re over twenty years old,” Zitao says with a hint of a smile. “You’re going to die old and alone.”
“Oh, poor me,” Yifan sighs dramatically, clutching a hand to his heart. He grins at Zitao. “Tell you what, you ignore these repressions to get a girlfriend and have me for the meantime, okay?”
Zitao raises a brow at this. “And why you?”
“Because I’m the best and you love me.”
Zitao dissolves into quiet chuckles, a sound that Yifan doesn’t mind hearing more. “Okay, okay. Fine.”
“No, no,” Yifan shakes his head. “It’s not official until you say it.”
Zitao rolls his eyes but smiles almost immediately soon after. “Duizhang, you’re the best and I love you.”
Yifan’s grin is wide and he pinches Zitao’s cheek. “That’s good to know.”
*
“Hi, Kris,” Minseok smiles as he plops next to Yifan on the couch. He holds up a plate of light brown biscuits. “Gingersnap?”
Yifan eyes the plate amusingly as he takes one. “Never had these in a while, hyung. Where did you get them?”
Minseok’s grin is cheeky around the cookie. “Got them as a present from a fan. Anyway, a little birdie told me that the rest of EXO is thinking something’s going on between you and Taozi.”
Yifan wants to groan but he hasn’t eaten a gingersnap in a long while so he bites a piece off instead.
“Personally, I don’t care,” Minseok says, cheeks bulging with cookie as he takes another one. “As long as it doesn’t lead to management screaming at us and fans wanting you two to be married, then just continue whatever you’re doing.”
Yifan envelops Minseok in a hug. “See, this is why I love you.”
“You love Tao the best,” Minseok manages to say.
“That’s true,” Yifan’s grin is bright and cheerful.
Minseok swallows and tilts his head to the side. “Do you really?”
Yifan feels his heart fluttering as he pictures Zitao’s smile. He doesn’t know how or when he even fell for the boy, surely somewhere during their trainee days, but he doesn’t mind it one bit. Might as well let the eldest know. “I do.” His grin is getting to the point where it might light up the entire country for weeks.
“Then you may now kiss the bride.”
Almost instantly, Yifan’s glare takes over his grin. “I take back my love.”
“For Tao?” Minseok’s damned grin is getting to Yifan and he wants to smack it off.
“You are a dead man!” Yifan cries after Minseok, the latter zipping away to his room when Yifan lunges at him but fails. “You hear me?! Dead!”
*
“Gege, can you help me with something?”
Yifan doesn’t look up from his phone. “Depends on what it is.”
“I need help with a dance …”
Yifan stops and stares at Zitao, the words not really registering into his mind. “You need help? With a dance?” He pauses. “And you need my help, of all people?”
Zitao bites his lower lip, unsure what to feel from Yifan’s tone.
“Why don’t you ask Yixing?”
“Because Yixing ge is busy,” Zitao half-lies. Yixing is perfectly free, but he had been spending his entire day with Jongdae and Zitao doesn’t want to break their rare quality time together just for help. “And also, you’re the only one who can help me with this.”
Yifan stares. He’s the ‘only one who can help with it’? With dancing? And since Zitao said that Yixing’s busy, then what about Luhan and Minseok? Even though Yixing is the best dancers in their subgroup, they’re way better than Yifan. Or maybe even Jongin or Sehun or - maybe not, Yifan thinks. After all, those two get jealous easily. I don’t want Zitao to die from Stealing a Boyfriend Syndrome.
When Yifan doesn’t answer for quite some time, Zitao smiles and takes Yifan’s hands, pulling him up from the bed. “Come on, ge! It’ll be fun!”
“What kind of dance do you need help with?” Yifan asks, pulling free to toss his phone onto the bed.
“It’s one I never got to learn. Ballroom dancing.”
Yifan wants to stare some more but Zitao’s eyes are so expectant and excited and Yifan’s suddenly honored that Zitao would choose him of all people. Yifan clears his throat. “Are you sure? You do realize that since I have the height advantage, you would have to be the girl?”
Zitao laughs, sweet and melodious, and allows Yifan to take hold of his waist. “I don’t mind. I can ask Yixing ge or Luhan ge for the male part next time. Besides, you look like you need the practice.”
Yifan grins and he gently takes Zitao’s right hand in his. “I’m not very good at the waltz, since I’ve never been to a dance, but I’ve watched movies.”
“You must be very experienced then,” Zitao teases as Yifan begins to sway them along to music only the both of them can hear.
“Oh yes,” Yifan plays along. “I had to teach an entire class once.”
“Oh?” Zitao raises a brow, Yifan turning them slowly. “Who was your leading lady?”
“Hmm …” Yifan looks into Zitao’s eyes and he finds himself falling in love even more. “I wonder …”
Zitao suddenly laughs. “Don’t you dare dip me, ge,” he warns. “That surprised me so much I almost cried.”
Yifan smiles and shakes his head. “I would never do that …” And then he suddenly spins Zitao, the latter being caught in surprise that he stumbles into Yifan’s hold. The two of them falls into Yifan’s bed, laughing as they do so.
My first EXO fanfic and it’s split in half. Wow, this sucks :/