The second time Jongdae saw him; it was actually dark that time.

                Jongdae could barely see anything in his room. It was pitch black, but due to the dreadfully uncomfortable and indisputably eerie silence of the night he could just about hear the sound of engine running outside. Gathering all the strength he had left, Jongdae clung to the last strings of consciousness to walk out of his bed just to look outside his window and see where all the noise was coming from.

                Jongdae prayed that the rest of the neighbourhood didn’t hear Tao.

                There he was, at Jongdae’s front lawn at 2AM in the morning. The sky was dark, the stars were out; Tao was on a motorcycle riling its engine up in order to catch Jongdae’s attention, hoping all the noise he was making wasn’t noteworthy to anyone else who were clearly supposed to be sleeping at a time like this—people unlike Tao, anyway.

                Upon noticing the other male Tao looked up and grinned, waving at him.

                Jongdae reluctantly opened his window and at this point, wearing his pajamas in front of someone who barely even knew him wasn’t a bother anymore. His hair was a complete mess, but he just wanted to go back to sleep. “What the hell are you doing here, Zitao?” He demanded.

                “You’re awfully rude,” Tao shouted back as he put on a mock-innocent face before smirking mischievously. “I wanted to see you. Come down, please.”

                “Why?” Jongdae hissed.

                Tao riled up the engine once more. Jongdae flinched, afraid that the noise would wake his parents. He glared at the -eating grin Tao made and huffed. “Please, Jongdae. I can do this all day,” Tao wiggled his eyebrows. Though the gesture proved to be undoubtedly irritating Jongdae made a half-assed attempt at putting on proper clothes before leaving his room. Somehow, even in the terribly silent dead of night, he managed to walk down the stairs without the wooden floorboards creaking or creating a single noise that could wake his parents. He put his sandals on and walked out, hearing Tao’s engine rumbling again.

                When he was finally at arm’s length away from the other male Tao leaned against the front of the motorcycle, his chin resting against the palm of his hand. “Come with me,” he said, patting the empty space behind him.

                “Why?” Jongdae asked again. “It’s late. I want to go back to sleep.” He explained rather petulantly. He was a spoiled brat, after all.

                Tao gave a noncommittal shrug, playfully pursing his lips. “I’m lonely. It’s a nice night, nice aura, nice view,” his hands motioned to the stars above, causing Jongdae to look up.

                Jongdae had no idea what made him comply, but the next thing he knew he was climbing the motorcycle behind Tao and hesitantly wrapping his arms around the other’s waist. That was embarrassing enough, though not as embarrassing as having to rest his cheek in between the other male’s shoulder blades. However, much to Jongdae’s dismay, Tao seemed to enjoy it, because he gave Jongdae a side glance, his eyes twinkling with delight and satisfaction. Jongdae wanted to hit his face—he just wanted to protect himself in case Tao forgot how to drive the motorcycle and ends up ing up the ride for them.

                “Here,” he handed him a helmet, one that had previously been on his lap before Jongdae seated himself behind him. “And don’t lean back.”

                Jongdae shot him a confused look. “You’re not wearing one?” He asked, concerned.

                Tao chuckled softly in response. “No,” he patted Jongdae’s arms that were wrapped securely around his waist. “I already have my seatbelts on.”

                Almost immediately Jongdae felt his heartbeat rate quicken and he tightened his grip around Tao’s waist unconsciously, pushing himself further into Tao’s back just because he was so damn flustered and the fact that Tao was picking up speed after driving slowly was not helping. Jongdae thought he should be grateful, or something. At least the other male wasn’t doing any dangerous stunts that could very well lead to his demise and at least he let Jongdae wear a helmet, because Jongdae probably wouldn’t have known what to do if he were driving a motorcycle by himself.

              Along the way Jongdae’s mind drifted off and he started to calm down, Tao’s driving seemingly a form of relaxant to him. Soon Jongdae began to question why he initially thought that declining the other male’s offer to go back to sleep was a good idea.

              They arrived at an open field. Tao stood up first and turned to look at Jongdae, unfastening the helmet and removing it for him. “Thanks,” Jongdae muttered, standing up. His eyes naturally moved to the field. The wind was blowing, rustling the leaves in the trees that surrounded the field, picking up the dead ones and taking them away from the field. “So… why are we here?”

              “I told you I was lonely” was Tao’s reply as he left his motorcycle to head towards the field. Jongdae followed closely behind him.

              Tao stopped in the middle of the field and spun round, locking his eyes with Jongdae. He spread his arms out and smiled. “This was what I wanted to show you,” he explained, then pointed upwards. “You can see the stars clearly here.”

Jongdae furrowed his eyebrows, frowning. He refused to look up. “Really now?” He asked. “Just to see the stars?”

                His grin grew wider this time. Tao placed his hands on his hips. “Well I’m sorry, I didn’t exactly hear you rejecting my offer now, did I?” He rasped. Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he sat down on the ground, motioning for the other to sit beside him. “You’ll like it, I promise.”

                Shoulders deflating, Jongdae forced himself to trudge over across the field to Tao. “But I’m tired,” of course, his statement fell on deaf ears, so with a sigh Jongdae finally lowered himself down and sat next to the other male. At long last he looked up, and the sight before him truly mesmerised him and took his breath away.

                Without light pollution, the stars were visible. Jongdae didn’t know how long he’d been staring until Tao nudged him in the ribs, a steely glint in his eyes. “Still tired?” He joked.

                For the first time that day Jongdae smiled, and he couldn’t quite figure out why. He wasn’t sure if it was because of Tao’s lame joke or if it was because he hadn’t felt this happy and contented in a while. Either way, in this moment, watching the stars in the open field with Tao by his side, Jongdae just felt entirely… elated.

                “So what are we?” He asked, the question escaping his lips in all of a sudden.

                Tao moved his gaze from the stars to Jongdae, perplexed. “What do you mean?”

                “I mean…this,” Jongdae looked back at him. “You tried breaking into my house. Now you’re taking me with you just to watch the stars,” he quirked an eyebrow. “Is there an ulterior motive here? So you can get what you want without being told that you stole it?”

                Tao laughed, his arm reaching out to sling over Jongdae’s shoulders. “No,” he replied. “We’re friends. And I did tell you that I already had what I came for.”

                There was a moment of silence where they just stared into each other for a long time, Jongdae contemplating whether or not this was real. If this was really just a dream, he never wanted it to end. He searched the dark and obscure abyss that was Tao’s eyes, stopping when he realised that he didn’t even know what he could be searching for, let alone find. He dropped his gaze.

                “Friends,” he echoed.

It was around quarter to four when they arrived once more in front of Jongdae’s mansion; Jongdae’s mind feeling hazy again as he sleepily removed the helmet from his head. He handed it back to Tao, who placed it on his lap after gladly taking it from him. Jongdae hopped off the motorcycle.

                “Thanks Zitao,” he sheepishly mumbled, struggling to maintain eye contact with the other male. “For… all this. I really appreciate it.”

                “No problem, Jongdae,” Tao smiled, “I should be thanking you. I don’t feel lonely anymore.”

                Jongdae deadpanned, “I had no idea you were this cheesy,”

                Tao riled up the engine, causing Jongdae to flinch as he recalled that everyone in the neighbourhood was still asleep, as should he be. Tao grinned victoriously, receiving a playful hit on the arm. “See you next time, then?” He asked.

                “Yeah…whenever that is,” Jongdae replied. Only when he finally reached the doorstep of his house did he hear Tao’s engine rumbling once again as he drove out of the lawn and left. Jongdae fell back to sleep without any difficulty, feeling many different emotions at once.