k-pop; savior part 2/2
“You should come with us,” Lu Han says, yanking at Jongdae’s arm to get him out of bed. “Zitao will be there.”
Jongdae rolls his eyes at Lu Han, shoves him in the shoulder as he gets to his feet. “Are you trying to set me up with him?”
“Yes,” Lu Han says easily, walking over to Jongdae’s closet and sifting through his clothes. “So you could at least go along with all of my efforts.”
“You haven’t even done anything,” Jongdae protests. He catches the shirt that Lu Han throws at him and sighs.
“I told you to take him out for bubble tea! He told me he had fun,” Lu Han says. He holds up a dark blue button-down and rips the shirt from Jongdae’s hand and thrusts over the other one. “So clearly that means you should take my advice and come with us. You can talk to him more.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Jongdae grumbles.
“Ha. Hahaha.” Lu Han looks at Jongdae in severe amusement and Jongdae groans, throws the shirt he was wearing at Lu Han’s face.
“You’re such a dick,” Jondgae says, slipping into the button-down, and Lu Han doesn’t even look upset. He just laughs harder and comes over to sling an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders.
“That’s the spirit,” he says pleasantly. “Now fix your hair, there’s no way Zitao will go out with you looking like that.”
It’s one of the usual Friday night parties at one of the campus apartments, and Lu Han drags him through the throng of people to a set of couches, where Jongdae finds Yifan sitting at the end with Yixing in his lap. Yixing looks a little tipsy already, head resting on Yifan’s shoulder. And next to Yifan, of course, is Zitao, and he grins up at Jongdae when he approaches, reaches out to grab his wrist and pull him down to the last seat.
“Sit here,” he says cheerfully and Jongdae dutifully ignores Lu Han’s smug smirk. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“Lu Han made me come,” Jongdae replies.
“He wanted to,” Lu Han adds, flopping down into an armchair across from them, “he’s just a coward.”
Zitao blinks, tilting his head curiously at Jongdae while Yixing snickers behind a hand. Jongdae shoots Lu Han a glare and quickly says, “Don’t listen to him, he’s full of nothing but lies.” He stands then, and Zitao’s fingers fall from around his wrist; Jongdae tries not to think about how the skin still burns from his touch. “I’m going to find something to drink.”
“I’ll come with,” Zitao says and Jongdae’s stomach flops unnecessarily as he nods. Zitao gets to his feet and grabs Jongdae’s shoulders in each of his hands, steering him through the crowd toward the kitchen. It’s only been about five minutes and Jongdae’s heart is hammering.
At least when he’s with Zitao like this, he doesn’t have to worry about Lu Han or Yixing saying something inappropriate, and that is enough to make Jongdae relax a bit. Enough even that Jongdae can ask, “Do you come to these kind of parties a lot?” Jongdae does, because they're infinitely more fun than studying, but he’s never really seen Zitao at one before. He knows he would remember, if he had.
“Sometimes,” Zitao responds. “Lu Han-ge told me to come today, so I did.”
Jongdae should’ve known. He snags a two plastic cups from the kitchen counter, passes one over to Zitao who takes it with a smile. Jongdae downs half of his in one go; he already knows he’s going to need it.
“I’m sorry about canceling our tutoring session today,” Zitao says suddenly and Jongdae shakes his head, hoping he doesn’t look disappointed about it. It’s not that he had been really, when Zitao texted him after his last class to ask if Jongdae wouldn’t mind meeting tomorrow instead because he had to work on a group project with his classmates today instead. His message was filled with a lot of cute, crying emoticons and there’s no way Jongdae could be upset by that.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jongdae says, with a wave of his hand. “I understand.”
“You could’ve spent the time studying on your own, anyway,” Zitao says. He takes a drink from his cup and then pauses, narrows his eyes at Jongdae over the rim. “Did you?”
Guilt creeps up the back of Jongdae’s neck and he rubs at his nose. “Maybe?” he says feebly and Zitao pouts at him, reaches out to light smack Jongdae in the arm. It’s such a cute, childish thing to do that it pulls a laugh out of Jongdae, and he rubs at his skin where Zitao had touched.
“I guess when we meet up tomorrow I’ll just have to quiz you on it,” Zitao says, smug, as Jongdae’s face falls.
“Don’t be mean,” he whines and Zitao laughs at him softly, pats Jongdae’s head like he’s gotten accustomed to doing. It never fails to make Jongdae’s stomach somersault inside him, a flush high on his cheeks.
Zitao pulls his hand back, but steps a little closer, and Jongdae, already pressed up against the counter, doesn’t have anywhere to go. “Don’t worry,” Zitao assures him, grinning as he leans forward a little conspiratorially. “It’ll be easy. And if you get them all right, maybe I’ll give you a reward.”
Jongdae wonders vaguely if that reward could have anything to do with Zitao’s red lips around his dick. As soon as the thought comes, he shakes it away, tearing his eyes from the curve of Zitao’s mouth and fixing his gaze to a spot above Zitao’s shoulder. He laughs, nervously, and inches away to the side. “I’ll hold you to that,” he manages to say, and his voice comes out terribly strangled. He downs the last of his drink and then grabs another full cup before turning away. “Let’s go find the others again,” he says and leads the way.
When Zitao grabs the back of Jongdae’s shirt so as to not get separated in the ever-growing throng of people, Jongdae just swallows thickly and tries not to think about how he doesn’t want him to let go.
"Hey," Jongdae says, stepping aside to let Zitao into his room. Yifan left earlier to spend the afternoon with Yixing, and Jongdae is regretting the decision of suggesting studying in his dorm together. It's too late to take it back now, though, so he just shuts the door and heads to his desk as Zitao settles himself onto Jongdae's bed, stretching long legs out in front of him.
Jongdae sits on the floor, flipping his textbook to the newest chapter. He has a test coming up that Wednesday, going over the past five chapters in the book, and it's the first big test he'll take since Zitao started tutoring him. Compared to before though, he feels much more well-prepared for this exam than the last one.
"Come sit up here," Zitao says, shifting back on Jongdae's bed until his back meets the wall. "It's more comfortable."
That just sounds like a terrible idea, but Zitao is looking at him almost hopefully and Jongdae's started to realize it's impossible for him to say no to Zitao. Just yesterday, Zitao had texted him to get ice cream and even though Jongdae was supposed to hang out with Lu Han to kick his ass at FIFA 13, he'd gone off to meet him anyway. ("You're so into him," Lu Han had snickered at him knowingly as he'd packed up his things to leave and Jongdae couldn't even refute it). So Jongdae finds himself climbing up onto his bed, too, tossing his book onto Zitao's lap and keeping a good foot of space between them.
"Okay, let's get started," Zitao says, clapping his hands together. Jongdae smiles at his enthusiasm, but flips the pages of his notebook to a clean sheet and listens dutifully as Zitao works through the new chapter. Jongdae had gone through this all in class earlier today, but with Zitao's help it starts to fully stick in his brain. He's still amazed, sometimes, that Zitao has enough patience to help him through this, especially considering he's not even one of the school tutors, that he's just doing this because Lu Han asked him if he could help Jongdae.
He's glad though, because Jondgae really doesn't know where he'd be right now without Zitao's help. They work through the entire chapter, and Zitao stops occasionally to quiz him on things, asks him to recite a few of the practice dialogues in the text until Jongdae's gotten the tones right. He always gets this extremely pleased look on his face when Jongdae does something right, and has taken to telling him, "good job," in Mandarin afterwards every time. He'll pat Jongdae's knee, and somehow, throughout the span of their studying, the space that Jondae had purposefully put between them vanishes. He's not sure if he moved closer or if it was Zitao, but somehow their shoulders are pressed together and their knees bump and Jongdae is hyper-aware of every tiny movement Zitao makes.
Jongdae is so into Zitao. Lu Han is right. Jongdae is never going to live this down.
It's just that Jongdae doesn't know how he couldn’t be into Zitao. His soft smiles, and intense eyes, the way he laughs, so big, and uninhibited, when Jongdae says something in Mandarin but his pronunciation is wrong so he ends up saying something completely stupid instead. He's impossibly cute, with his many texts, all filled with silly emoticons and exclamation marks, asking Jondgae to meet for lunch, to ask if he's been studying, even texting him in Mandarin just to see if Jongdae can reply. (He can, sometimes, and Zitao will send back a bunch of happy faces like he's really fucking proud. Jongdae's started to want to make Zitao proud).
It doesn't help either, that Zitao is tall and lean, with arms that Jongdae thinks could push him down into bed quite wonderfully, and thighs that look delightful in dark, black jeans. He hasn't stopped thinking about that reward, and even though he's sure it won't be close to what Jongdae desperately hopes, he can't help but imagine Zitao pressing his lips to his, sliding a hand down the front of his pants.
And that's just a terrible train of thought to go down right now, so Jongdae shakes his head and pushes it away. Focuses on memorizing a new set of vocab and not on the way Zitao hand has somehow moved from his knee to his thigh.
"I'm so tired," Jongdae says, when they finish, stretching his arms over his head and flopping over onto his side on the bed. His shirt rides up at his stomach, and for a moment Zitao's eyes slide across the exposed skin before he looks back up at Jondae and smiles. Jongdae flushes. He closes Jongdae's book and sets it aside and, to Jongdae's horror, slinks down to lay beside him. Like this, he's even closer, looking up at Jongdae from under his blonde hair, and Jongdae trembles with the urge to reach out and brush his bangs away.
"You did really well today," Zitao says. "I'm sure you're going to ace your test."
"You have too much faith."
"You should be more confident.” Zitao playfully punches his shoulder. “I mean, you had me as your tutor,” he adds haughtily and if they were dating, Jongdae would grab his face in his hands and lean over to kiss the smirk on his face.
But they’re not, and Jongdae grabs fistfuls of his bedsheets instead. He lets out a small, anxious laugh and says, "All right, you make a good point." A very good point, because without Zitao Jongdae would still be failing. As it is, Zitao's help has gotten his grade up considerably through homework assignments and class participation, which Jongdae used to do just as terrible on as his exams.
Zitao looks satisfied at Jongdae's admission though, smiling softly as his eyelids flutter, snuggling into Jongdae's bed more comfortably.
"Hey," Jongdae says, daringly reaching out to poke Zitao's stomach through his thin grey tank top. "Don't fall asleep."
Zitao just murmurs something incomprehensible, and it takes Jongdae a moment to realize he had spoken in Mandarin. He laughs and carefully pulls himself up out of bed, grabbing his notebook and textbook and returning them to his desk. He glances back at Zitao and asks, with more bravado than anything else, "Do you want to watch a movie?"
Zitao rolls over to look at Jongdae, nodding excitedly and Jongdae lets out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. They pick out some Chinese action film from Yifan's collection of movies at Zitao's request. "Practice," he says when Jongdae looks at the DVD cover dubiously, and Jongdae, because he can never say no, cracks open the case and pops the DVD into his laptop.
They sit side by side on Jongdae's bed again, and Jongdae can barely understand anything in the movie except for two or three select words, or when a character introduces himself. He could probably catch more, he thinks, if Zitao hadn't dropped his head onto Jongdae's shoulder, if his thigh wasn't pressed up just right against Jongdae's that he can practically feel the heat from his body sinking through Jongdae's skin.
About a third of the way through the movie, Jongdae realizes Zitao’s fallen asleep against him. Hair shields his eyes and his mouth is open just slightly, soft puffs of breath hot against Jongdae’s arm. This is the worst possible turn of events, Jongdae thinks, his heart rate quickening as he takes in the smooth planes of Zitao’s face, relaxed and peaceful in sleep. It’s really endearing, and Jongdae once agains finds himself wanting to lean over and kiss him.
Of course he doesn’t. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he turns off the movie and closes his laptop. He carefully makes to pull himself out of bed, but Zitao whines quietly, curling over onto his side and wrapping an arm around Jongdae’s waist, and Jongdae was wrong before. This is the worst possible turn of events. He rubs a hand over his eyes and after a few attempts at escaping Zitao’s embrace (Zitao is surprisingly strong, he realizes, clinging to Jongdae with more strength he ever expected, and he remembers vaguely what Yifan said about all his wushu training), Jongdae just reaches over Zitao to set his laptop down on the floor.
He sinks back into bed and Zitao presses his face into Jongdae’s shoulder, and Jongdae closes his eyes and keeps as still as he can, and it’s a very long time before he falls asleep, too.
“Then what?” Minseok asks. He doesn’t sound very interested in this at all, but Lu Han sitting beside him stares at Jongdae with big eyes of intrigue.
“Then nothing!” Jongdae says. “I woke up in the morning and he was gone.” He sighs, combs a hand through his hair. “I got a message an hour ago asking if I wanted to have lunch with him but I said no.”
Lu Han smacks Jongdae upside the head. “Why would you do that?”
“Haven’t you been listening? We slept in the same bed together and then he leaves without saying anything!” Jongdae exclaims, rubbing the back of his head. “Besides I don’t think I can see him right now without thinking about it and--”
“Don’t be so pathetic, Jongdae,” Lu Han chides him. He now looks incredibly annoyed, like Jongdae has just ruined his whole day with his story. “If he asked you for lunch that means he wants to see you.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t know what you think, you’re proving to be thick-headed these days.” Lu Han knocks his knuckles on Jongdae’s forehead, and laughs when Jongdae swats his hand away with a glare.
“You’re terrible,” he grumbles. “This is all your fault. If you’d just tutored me yourself, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“If you had studied Mandarin yourself, you wouldn’t be in this mess,” Minseok adds and Jongdae turns his glare onto him, too.
“Traitor,” Jongdae hisses, but Minseok is unperturbed, shrugging as he settles back in his seat and picks up the book he had been reading before Jongdae had come over to rant. Jongdae thinks he really needs to find better friends. “What am I supposed to do?” he asks weakly.
“You keep ignoring all of my advice,” Lu Han sniffs.
“Your latest piece of advice was to fuck him in the library, so excuse me for not listening to you,” Jongdae snaps and Minseok chokes around his drink, casting Lu Han a slightly appalled look.
“I was just trying to help,” Lu Han says, pouting. He doesn’t look very upset at all though.
“I think you’ve tried enough,” Minseok says, patting Lu Han’s shoulder. “Besides, Jongdae managed to get Zitao in bed with him on his own, so I don’t think he needs your help.” He laughs as Jongdae groans and puts his face into his hands.
“Worst friends,” he grumbles into his palms. He jumps then, when a hand rests on his shoulder, and he turns to find Zitao standing behind him. He looks rather tired, dressed more for comfort in baggy black shorts and a grey hoodie. Jongdae still thinks he looks great. “Um,” Jongdae says, his throat tight. “Hi?”
“Hi,” Zitao says, and he slides into the seat next to Jongdae, dropping his backpack onto the floor by his feet. He sits too close. Jongdae tries not to instinctively move away. “Did you not get my message?”
Jongdae did. He’d asked if Jongdae wanted to meet a little earlier for their tutoring session to go over everything that will be on Jongdae’s test tomorrow. He suggested coming over to Jongdae’s room again to study, but after how that’d gone the day before, Jongdae had ignored Zitao’s message altogether.
Now he feels a little guilty, especially since Zitao is staring at him with round eyes, clearly upset. “Sorry,” Jongdae says. He’s aware that Lu Han and Minseok are staring at him, too, and hopes his lie isn’t visible on his face. “I haven’t checked my phone in awhile so I haven’t seen it.”
“It’s all right,” Zitao says. If he catches onto Jongdae’s lie, or the fact that Jongdae is barely looking at him, he graciously doesn’t comment. “Last night was fun,” he says cheerfully. “I’m sorry I fell asleep.” He rubs the back of his neck, almost embarrassedly, and Jongdae is rather amazed, because Zitao is always so sure and confident of himself.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jongdae says, waving his hand in the air dismissively. He can’t bring himself to be upset about it anymore, not when Zitao is staring at him like that. “We should,” he starts slowly, “We should do it again sometime. And if you fall asleep again, I’ll draw on your face.” Jongdae smirks.
Zitao laughs but nods, looking pleased. “Maybe after your test tomorrow,” he suggests and Jongdae mulls over his schedule. Mandarin is his last class of the day.
“That would be okay,” he says and Zitao beams.
“What’re you doing tonight?” Lu Han asks suddenly, leaning over the table to look at Zitao. “We were going down to the pizza place for dinner, you should come, too, Zitao.”
Zitao turns to Jongdae. “You’re going, too?” he says, and Jongdae catches Lu Han’s amused look that Zitao felt the need to ask him, first. Jongdae admits he’s a little pleased, too, heart pounding in his ears as Zitao looks at him hopefully.
“Yeah, I am,” he says. “We can go together, after we study.”
“Sounds fun,” Zitao agrees.
Jongdae just nods, purposefully ignoring Lu Han’s smug grin and how Zitao’s knee slides against his leg underneath the table.
By the time Jongdae and Zitao finish studying and make it to the nearby pizza place, Lu Han and Minseok are already there, Minseok waving at them from their table in the back of the small restaurant. Yixing and Yifan are there, too, and Yifan is sliding a piece of pizza onto Yixing’s plate for him as Yixing grins and exclaims, “Glad to see you both made it!”
“How’d the studying go?” Minseok asks. “Are you going to pass your test?”
“I hope so,” Jongdae says, sliding into the seat across from Yifan. Zitao takes the empty seat on his right, and he scoots over closer than Jongdae would like.
“You’ll be fine,” Zitao says firmly, pats Jongdae on the shoulder. “You’re better than you think.” He gives Jongdae a big, reassuring smile that only makes Jongdae more anxious, but not about his test.
“You mean he wasn’t a hopeless case?” Yifan questions, raising a brow at Zitao. “I thought for sure there’d be no saving him.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence,” Jongdae says sourly. “Some roommate.” He stuffs his mouth with a giant bite of pizza.
Zitao’s hand that’s still resting on his shoulder squeezes a bit, like he’s trying to comfort Jongdae. And it does, but it also makes his heart race. He wants to shrug his hand off, but he knows it’d look too obvious, so instead he focuses on eating instead of the warm weight.
“He’s not hopeless,” Zitao says, and Jongdae chances a look at him. Zitao meets his eyes, and his expression turns devious. “Sure, he had a lot of difficulties and he can barely remember the vocabulary, and the only thing he knew how to say with confidence is how many people are in his family--”
Zitao bursts into laughter as Jongdae shoves his hand from his shoulder and punches him half-heartedly in the arm. “Asshole,” he hisses, which only makes Zitao laugh harder, loud and slightly high-pitched, and he hides his mouth behind a hand. His eyes curve into little half-moons and Jongdae just finds him so fucking adorable. “After all my hard work, that’s all you have to say?”
"You two are so cute," Yixing says, and Jongdae feels heat flare in his face. He can't even muster up a glare, because Yixing just looks incredibly amused, eyes bright almost innocently, except Jongdae knows Yixing and Yixing is just about as innocent as Lu Han, not innocent at all. When he catches Jongdae's stare, his lips tug into a smirk, and Jongdae aims a kick at him under the table. He hits Yifan, instead, but doesn't feel any remorse.
Jongdae rubs at his cheeks and glances at Zitao, and his eyes widen because Zitao is blushing, too. He's staring fixedly down at his plate and reaching for a glass of water with slightly shaking hands.
"Are you okay?" Jongdae asks tentatively, and Zitao jumps, turning toward Jongdae before quickly looking away. He won't met Jongdae's eyes. Jongdae stars at him in wonder.
"Yeah," Zitao says after a moment. The blush on his face makes Jongdae’s heart beat so fast in his chest; he wants to see Zitao like this, more, wants to be the one to make him react this way. “I’m fine.” He finally meets Jongdae’s eyes, and it’s a little hesitant, a little lost, and Jongdae feels the same.
He smiles at Zitao before turning back to the rest of the group, and frowns instantly because the others are staring at them like they’re animals at the zoo. “What?” he snaps in Mandarin, and it breaks the tension; Lu Han snorting into his drink while Yifan rolls his eyes and reaches for another piece of pizza. Yixing continues to smile enigmatically, and Minseok just turns to Zitao to ask him about a class they share.
“Remember when I said you were so into Zitao?” Lu Han says, later, after they’ve all stuffed themselves with pizza and are heading back up to campus together. Lu Han throws an arm around his shoulders and leans in close.
Jongdae casts a worried look over his shoulder to check if Zitao heard them, but he’s busy talking to Yixing, clinging to his arm. “Yes...” Jongdae says, glancing back at Lu Han with apprehension.
“Well, I’m pretty sure he’s into you just as much,” Lu Han says. He smirks wide, all mischievous, and Jongdae shoves him.
“Don’t fuck with me,” Jongdae hisses.
“It’s true, though,” Lu Han laughs. “I can tell.”
“You also thought Sehun had a crush on you and whined about it for the longest time about how to let him down gently, when it turned out he was dating Jinri.”
Jongdae rolls his eyes as Lu Han snaps, “I thought we agreed never to talk about that??”
“The point is, you are the last person I’d listen to when it comes to shit like this,” Jongdae says.
“Fine,” Lu Han grumbles, “don’t believe me. But you should go for it, though. I know he won’t reject you.”
Before Jongdae can reply, Zitao has snuck up behind them, wrapping his arms over both Lu Han’s and Jongdae’s shoulders and leaning into them. “Who won’t reject Jongdae?” he asks, looking so inquisitively at Jongdae that Jongdae’s insides seem to knot up. His hand around Jongdae’s arm squeezes a little tighter, almost possessively, and Jongdae quickly berates himself for even thinking something so ridiculous. There’s no way.
Lu Han actually opens his mouth as though he’s fully intent on telling Zitao the truth, so Jongdae quickly jumps in to say, “No one! Lu Han’s just being annoying. As usual.”
“Is that it?” Zitao asks, tilting his head to the side and the intensity in his eyes is what Jongdae imagines in weak moments, when he thinks how Zitao would look at him if Jongdae did just tug him close and kiss him.
It’s unnerving, to have him staring like that now, over something so simple as this, so Jongdae laughs and snakes his way out of Zitao’s grip. “Yes, of course. Don’t worry about it, Zitao.” He brushes it off easily, and for a moment Zitao looks like he wants to press further.
Instead he just smiles, drops his arm from around Lu Han and shoves his hands into his pockets. “All right,” he says and smiles at Jongdae, but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes as usual. Jongdae doesn’t like it.
They arrive at Jongdae’s dorm first, and Yixing follows Yifan inside, while Lu Han and Minseok bid their goodbyes and head off to their own dorm. Zitao hangs back, catching Jongdae’s wrist before he can head inside.
“Hey,” he says. “We’re still watching a movie tomorrow, right?”
Jongdae nods quickly. “Yeah, sure,” he says, and he grins when Zitao visibly brightens, a real smile on his face unlike earlier. “But no Chinese film this time; after my test, that’s the last thing I want.”
“Okay, you can choose something this time,” Zitao says easily.
Jongdae’s already got a few ideas. He rocks on the balls of his feet and says, before he can change his mind, “Thanks, you know, for all of your help tutoring. I really don’t know where I’d be otherwise.” He scratches the back of his neck, thinks about maybe looking over his notes before bed.
“It’s okay,” Zitao says, stepping up to him, so close that Jongdae has to tilt his head back to look at him properly. “I know you’re going to do great. You can thank me for real when you get your scores back.”
Jongdae laughs. “Fair enough,” he agrees, and he still feels a little unsure about everything, but Zitao’s unstaggering confidence is enough to fuel Jongdae’s. He’s starting to believe that maybe he can do this, too.
As if Zitao can read his thoughts, he holds Jongdae’s wrist tighter and says softly in Mandarin, “You’ll do fine.” Jongdae understands him clearly. “Good luck, hyung.”
“Thanks,” he replies, and his perfect pronunciation pulls a big grin from Zitao, and Jongdae hopes that he passes his test with flying colors, not just for himself.
Even more than that, he wants to see Zitao look at him proudly like this.
Jongdae gets about ten texts from Zitao the next day, all a variation of good luck!! and you can do it! and Jongdae finds his resolve building with each one. He’s surprised when he sits down for the exam and realizes he understands, that he’s not staring off into space, that he doesn’t give up at the first question he can’t figure out. He’s one of the last ones to finish, but that doesn’t bother him. He feels good about his answers, good about the whole test, and he’s pretty sure he’s just nailed it.
He meets Zitao afterward at Zitao’s dorm and Zitao happily leads him inside, instantly asking, “How did it go?”
“Good! More than good!” Jongdae grins at Zitao, tossing his book bag onto Zitao’s bed and flopping down upon it. “I’m pretty sure that is the best test I’ve taken for that class.”
“I knew you could do it,” Zitao says, sitting down beside him and bumping Jongdae’s shoulder with his.
The smile he gives Jongdae has his heart beating faster than normal and even though his exam is done and over with, Jongdae still feels a little like he needs to be saved.
It takes a week for Jongdae to get his results. He’d almost thought, in that time, that he wouldn’t see Zitao as much anymore, that maybe he’d have finally gotten enough of a grip on Mandarin that he wouldn’t need a tutor. But Zitao still messages him a meet for lunch or calls randomly to make Jongdae speak to him in Mandarin just like he did before.
Jongdae is glad, because it means, maybe, he’s not just some hopeless tutee who needed help to pass Mandarin, but a friend. That Zitao likes him enough to keep wanting to hang out with him. (Jongdae would love to hope for more than friends, but he’ll take what he can get for now).
When he does get his results back, he’s astounded, to say the least. His professor smiles at him and says, “Whatever you’ve been doing, keep it up.”
Jongdae just nods, dumbfounded, taking his test in hand and staring in awe at the clear A in the corner. He was sure he’d done well, but he didn’t expect this. He kind of wants to jump up and down in excitement, wants to call Zitao up right now and tell him the good news, but he keeps it all in. Instead he takes a photo of his test paper and sends it to Zitao after class on his way to meet Baekhyun at the library to work on a project for their history class.
His phone beeps with Zitao’s reply not even five minutes later. Good job!! it says, in Mandarin, like always, and the rest of the message is full of thumbs ups and happy faces. Jongdae laughs, starts to message back, when his phone beeps again with another message.
I want to see you!! Jongdae almost drops his phone as he reads it. We should celebrate!
I’m free in an hour, Jongdae sends back, and even if his meeting with Baekhyun takes longer than that, Jongdae will leave, because this is definitely more important.
I’ll come by your dorm, Zitao says, and Jongdae tucks his phone away, willing the next hour to go by quickly.
There’s a knock on Jongdae’s door about a half hour after he gets back and he jumps up to answer it.
“Sorry I’m late,” Zitao says looking terribly apologetic, but Jongdae doesn’t care, just pulls him into the room.
He’s much too excited to show Zitao his score, but he grabs the paper from atop his desk and practically shoves it under Zitao’s nose. “I passed!” he says proudly.
Zitao takes the test from him and looks it over, a grin slowly spreading across his face. “I told you,” he says softly, lowering the page. “I knew you could do it.”
Jongdae lets out an incredulous laugh. “I can’t believe it!” he says. He feels like he’s riding a high. “I mean I couldn’t have done it without--”
The last of his words are cut short by Zitao suddenly grabbing his elbow and tugging him close, and Jongdae only has a second of awareness as Zitao leans down and closes what little space is left between them in a fierce kiss. Jongdae’s pretty sure the world has frozen around him because he can barely hear anything other than the sound of his heart rattling against his ribcage. He must be dreaming. Because there’s no way this is happening, right?
But then Zitao gently moves his lips, the tip of his tongue sliding over Jongdae’s mouth, and Jongdae gasps as he seems to hit the ground hard. The high he felt from his aced exam is nothing compared to the reality that is Zitao clenching his hand into the front of Jongdae’s shirt and pulling him close, closer than close like he’s trying to mold their bodies into one, or the delightful feel of smooth lips against Jongdae’s own. He licks at the seam of Jongdae’s lips and Jongdae opens his mouth eagerly, stepping up into Zitao’s space until Zitao’s back hits the nearest wall with a loud thud.
“What is--” Jongdae gasps, hands finding Zitao’s hips for something to hold onto. Zitao’s skin feels warm under his fingertips even through the thin material of his shirt. “Zitao--”
“We’re celebrating,” Zitaos laughs into Jongdae’s mouth. “Think of it as that reward you’ve wanted.” Something about that just doesn't sound right, and Jongdae pulls back to stare at him. Zitao smirks. “Lu Han-ge might have mentioned something.” He laughs again, when Jongdae can do nothing but gape, and rubs thumb over Jongdae’s cheekbone.
Jongdae feels his cheeks burn in embarrassment, and Zitao’s fingers against his skin doesn’t help at all. He kind of wants to bury his face in Zitao’s shoulder but that would probably only make him feel even more humiliated. “I’m going to kill Lu Han,” he mutters under his breath.
“It’s okay,” Zitao says easily, and he drops his hands from Jongdae’s face to slid around his waist and slip into the back pockets of his jeans. He drags him in close again and Jongdae’s amazed his heart hasn’t burst straight out of his chest. “I like you, too.”
He says it in Mandarin, but Jongdae understands this better than anything else Zitao’s taught him over the past few weeks. Jongdae fists his hand into the collar of Zitao’s shirt and crushes their mouths together. He can feel Zitao smile against his lips, and it makes Jongdae just kiss him harder. The groan that Zitao lets out is like music to Jongdae’s ears, he’s wanted this for so long and he can’t believe it’s actually happening, that Zitao likes him how Jongdae hoped he would.
He pulls back to catch his breath when Zitao rocks his hips up against his, and Jongdae realizes he’s half-hard already. He gasps against Zitao’s chin as Zitao rubs his hands up Jongdae’s back, slipping up under his t-shirt, and his touch leaves white-hot trails that Jongdae is sure he’ll be able to feel hours later.
“So,” Jongdae says, when his mind has stopped spinning enough that he thinks he can speak, “about that reward...what exactly did you have in mind?”
Zitao laughs is big and uninhibited, the kind that forever makes Jongdae’s heart race and eager to kiss him. And he does, because he can, a slow press of lips that has his whole body nearly trembling in pleasure. When he pulls away this time, Zitao is smirking. It’s the only warning he gets before Zitao grabs his hips and in one swift move, turns them around, slamming Jongdae up against the wall in his place.
“Oh,” Zitao says easily, eyes bright while Jongdae stares at him, helplessly turned on, “I think I have a few ideas.”
note: a;lskdga i hope you enjoyed this~ thank you for reading! ♥