Things get a little more interesting this chapter, so I hope you enjoy~ :3

Also the perspective changes at one point in this chapter, so just a heads up; it's not a mistake. :3 

~~~

Christmas was approaching closer every day, and the store decided to keep it festive by having the employees don Santa hats during their shift. Unfortunately for Tao’s annoying hyung, he was just a bit under the height that would allow him to reach the shelf the hats were located on. Tao chuckled to himself has Baekhyun pressed himself against the cabinet and stretched his arm up to no avail. He reached up and grabbed a hat for himself and Baekhyun.

“You should’ve just asked me if you couldn’t reach.” Tao grinned down at Baekhyun, pressing the Santa hat on his head so that it covered his eyes. Baekhyun pulled the hat up and pouted.

“Don’t act like you’re so much taller than me!” Baekhyun said.

“But aren’t I?” Tao asked, tilting his head.

“You shouldn’t disrespect your hyungs like this!” Baekhyun folded his arms and turned his back to Tao. Tao placed a hand on Baekhyun’s head.

“I kind of like that you’re shorter than me.” He said, grinning. Baekhyun turned his head slightly to face him.

“Why is that?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. Tao moved his hands to Baekhyun’s shoulders

“It’s fun to have a hyung I can cuddle with.” Tao said, pulling Baekhyun’s back into his chest, resting his chin on his shoulder. Baekhyun grinned for a second before realizing:

“But you’re taller than most of your hyungs here.” He pointed out.

“You’re right.” Tao said, rocking the both of them. “I guess I can cuddle with all of them, then.”

“No! You’re only mine to cuddle with!” Baekhyun held Tao’s arms around his neck. Tao laughed, fully aware Baekhyun was pouting. The two were so distracted, they didn’t hear the footsteps of another of their co-workers behind them.

“Baekhyun! Weird kid! Instead of hanging out back here, why don’t you two get back to work so I don’t have to report you two to the manager?” She said, crossing her arms. Tao pulled away at the girl’s voice, though Baekhyun didn’t release his hold on Tao’s arms right away, as he eyed the girl.

“Well? Move it!” she snapped.

“S-Sorry…” Tao said, pulling away from Baekhyun’s now loosened grip. Baekhyun stuck his lips out in disapproval and took Tao’s hand.

“Come on, Tao.” He said, leading them past the girl and out of the room, who watched them with crossed arms.

“That girl’s so annoying.” Baekhyun complained. “Who does she think she is, a manager?”

Tao wasn’t really used to these types of situations happening with Baekhyun. He could see it happening to just him standing around in the sign-in room. But as far as he knew, most everyone liked Baekhyun, at least. Though he knew that girl in particular to be a bit of a nuisance at times, he’d seen Baekhyun conversing with her from time to time when the situation called for it. This made Tao think of something.

“I guess you aren’t going to invite her to your party, then…” he said, somewhat quietly. It was the first time he’d brought up the topic of Baekhyun’s party between the two of them. It was a bit awkward to bring it up in the first place since, as far as Tao knew, Baekhyun didn’t even know Tao knew there was a party.

“No way, not after that.” Baekhyun said. “She’s irritating, too, but after what she just said, there’s no way.”

Tao blinked at him. He didn’t say anything regarding Tao knowing about his party despite him never telling him about it. Tao decided to just quickly forget the matter altogether in order to prevent himself from feeling sorry for himself all day, since it was now clear to him that Baekhyun didn’t want him there. He’d already accepted that it was probably just for his close friends, anyway.

“Well, we probably should be working. I don’t think she’d actually tell on us, anyway.” Tao wasn’t really sure why the idea of her saying anything about the two of them to the manager upset Baekhyun so much, anyway; he was usually unfazed by others’ threats to report him for anything.

Baekhyun gave Tao a look he couldn’t quite identify. He was looking deeply at him and it made Tao a bit uncomfortable, not knowing what was on his mind. Had he said something wrong? He returned his eyes forward and kept moving to their station.

Baekhyun was quieter than usual for most of their shift, only really talking to him near the end before his break, wherein he seemed to be back to normal, much to Tao’s pleasure. It was a bit unusual not having Baekhyun bugging him about something or just hearing his voice in general, trying to be cute with the customers. Tao still couldn’t figure out why, but figured he’d be fine after eating something. Seeing as he was going to be by himself for a bit and he was fortunately free any customers at the moment, he decided he might as well see if his manager wanted to switch his position before he got busy. He started to head for the other side of the store when Baekhyun grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going? It’s break time.” Baekhyun said.

“I can’t go on break until they tell me to, hyung. I can’t just leave when you do.” Tao said. He didn’t blame Baekhyun; he’d probably gotten used to them breaking together so often that he just assumed Tao would be with him. It was pretty rare lately that they didn’t go on their breaks at the same time.

Baekhyun stuck his lips out at him and walked off. Tao didn’t know what he was supposed to do about that, so he merely decided to go back to work, seeing a line start to form in front of his register. He’d only rung up and bagged one person before Baekhyun was back, tugging at the back of his shirt collar.

“Come on, your break’s with me.”

~~~

“What was that for? Why did you get my break moved to now?” Tao asked, chewing on a chicken nugget. The two had gotten lunch from a nearby fast food restaurant and were enjoying their break on a bench outside. “How did you even do that?”

“Would you rather take your break alone?” Baekhyun asked, rummaging through the bag and wincing after burning his fingers on the still hot fries.

“No…but how did you even-”

“I’m close to the manager.” Baekhyun explained, on his fingers. “So I asked him to let you break with me.”

Tao held up a chicken nugget to Baekhyun’s mouth, who happily accepted it.

“But is that alright? You won’t be able to do that all the time, or you’ll get in trouble.” Tao said, waiting for Baekhyun to finish chewing. “And me too, since you pulled me away right in the middle of a customer.” Tao would have to thank Chanyeol and Jongin, who’d surely be angry later, for taking his place while Baekhyun was dragging him away.

“Yah! Don’t worry yourself over it! Instead of worrying about things like that, how about you worry about what you’re wearing to my Christmas party.” Baekhyun said, stuffing a few fries in his mouth.

Tao froze for a minute, registering what he’d just heard. Did he just say what he thought he just said?

“Huh?” Tao said, looking at him slowly. Baekhyun looked back at him, glaring in a childish manner.

“What?! Don’t tell me you’re busy? If you are, cancel your other plans immediately!” Baekhyun said, reaching back into the bag.

“It’s not that…but…I didn’t know I was…invited. Tao said, somewhat quietly. Baekhyun’s eyes widened.

“Why on earth would you think you weren’t invited?!” he asked, incredulously.

“You never told me I was!” Tao exclaimed, just as confused. Baekhyun crossed his arms and slumped lower in his seat.

“Hmph! I thought it was obvious you were invited!” he said, looking away from Tao.

“What?!” Was he serious? Did he actually expect Tao to have known he was invited?

“Honestly Tao, do you really think I wouldn’t invite you to something like this?” Baekhyun said, pouting. “That I would keep talking about it with no intention of wanting you to come? What kind of person do you take me for?!”

“I…I don’t know, hyung!” Tao said, still fairly confused and exasperated. How was he getting blamed for this? “What am I supposed to think if you don’t tell me?”

“UGH!! It’s a good thing I decided to let you know what you’re going to wear or you might not have even come!”

“…You…decided what I’m going to wear?”

“Yep! After we get off from work, we’re going sweater shopping!” Baekhyun’s mood seemed to have changed instantly, which Tao was grateful for, for once.

“Shopping for sweaters?” Tao asked, making sure he’d heard correctly.

“Shopping for sweaters?” Baekhyun repeated, tilting his head.

“This is why I won’t go with you!” Tao said, crossing his arms and turning away from Baekhyun.

“Tao! Taaaooooooo~ TAO! Peach Tao!! Taaaaoooozziiiii~” Baekhyun whined as he threw himself on Tao, wrapping his arms around him.

Tao couldn’t stop from grinning. As much as he hated it, Baekhyun’s sudden puppy persona never allowed him to be angry for too long. He did this whenever he thought he hurt Tao’s feelings or thought Tao was mad at him. He ruffled his hyung’s scruffy hair.

“How come you do that hyung? I mean, call me by so many names?” Tao asked. He’d thought about it for some time now, remembering how he’d first acknowledged him with a nickname when they talked for the first time. Since then, Baekhyun referred to him by a plethora of nicknames that he’d started using on his own. “Peach” had impressed him the most; remembering how enthusiastic Baekhyun had been when he tried it out randomly one day after Luhan, had told him what the Chinese characters in Tao’s name meant.

“You don’t like it?” Baekhyun gave him a sad look, pressing into his side. “You never said anything before.”

Tao chuckled a bit, patting him reassuringly. “It’s not that, but…isn’t it weird, since I don’t have anything to call you?

Baekhyun perked up at this. “What do you want to call me?”

“I…don’t know. What do your other friends call you?” Tao asked, it now occurring to him that he never really saw Baekhyun interacting much with others to know what they called him. He’d heard co-workers here and there call him Baekhyunnie, but he thought it would be a bit weird for him since he was younger than him.

“I don’t want you to call me what they call me. Call me something special!” Baekhyun said.

“Special? But special how?” Tao asked.

“Something special between us that no one else knows!” Baekhyun said, clapping.

Well that was rather…vague. What on earth did that mean? Was there even something like that between them? It seemed like a bit of a tall order for Tao, but it was something he was determined to do it. It seemed so simple, but Baekhyun’s nicknames for him made him feel so warm and happy inside, like he had someone truly close to him for the first time. He wanted Baekhyun to feel the same way. Surely there would be something he could come up with.

“Ok, I’ll try.” Tao said. Baekhyun grinned up at him and grabbed Tao’s arm.

“Soooo….you’ll still go sweater shopping with me?” he asked.

“We’ll go shopping, hyung.” Tao agreed. “You’d just pester me until I said yes, anyway.”

“YAAAAY!!!” Baekhyun exclaimed, hugging Tao’s arm. “Right after work, right?”

“Right after work.” Tao nodded.

Tao had a lot on his mind as he left work that day. He hadn’t been able to show it at the time (due to the sheer confusion), but he was beyond enthusiastic that Baekhyun hadn’t forgotten about him and wanted him to come to party all along. He’d also spent almost the entirely of his remaining shift hours thinking up nicknames for Baekhyun and finally thought he’d settled on a good one. He only hoped Baekhyun would like it.

~~~

“This is the store over here.” Baekhyun said, pointing and speed walking after the two made their way to a nearby clothing store. “C’mon, I wanna find the sweaters before it gets too late!”

“Okay, okay, slow down, Beef hyung.” Tao said. Baekhyun stopped and slowly turned back to face Tao.

“Huh? Beef?” Baekhyun said, slowly. “Are you trying to say something else?”

“No, sorry. It’s…the nickname I thought up for you.” Tao explained, nervously. He hadn’t even really intended to use it just now, but it had been stuck on his mind all day and slipped out.

“Beef? How come?” Baekhyun tilted his head.

“Remember how you told me you were older than me and that we were born in the same month? That means your sign is the same as mine; beef, right?” Tao explained. “I thought that would be something between the two of us.” Baekhyun took a second to register his words before bursting out into laugher.

“Tao, you mean Taurus? We’re both Taurus, not beef!” he said, trying not to laugh loudly in the store. “The name of the sign is Taurus.”

Tao flushed in embarrassment. He didn’t really know the Korean words for the astrological signs and hoped the two words would be similar enough so that Baekhyun would know what he meant. He figured his reaction wasn’t as bad as it could have been, though it was still a bit embarrassing in public.

“Oh…sorry, I didn’t know the right word in Korean.” Tao said, running a hand through his dark hair. “I guess I should call you Taurus, then?

“No, no! Call me Beef!” Baekhyun said, shaking his head. “I want you to say Beef since you thought of it!”

“But wouldn’t it sound weird to you to be called Beef?” Tao asked.

“I call you Peach, don’t I?” Baekhyun crossed his arms. “So call me Beef!”

“Okay, okay. I’m glad you like it.” Tao smiled, patting his head. “Hyung.” Baekhyun pretended to be mad about the obvious jab at his height before grabbing Tao’s hand off of his head and pulling it.

Every few minutes, the two would stop to look at a few they picked up, but ultimately would end up choosing none and went back to searching. It took longer than expected since they also stopped every so often to laugh at some of the funnier designs. They decided it would be better to separate so they could focus easier.

“Have you found one, you like yet, hyung?” Tao asked. Baekhyun walked over to a different rack and his eyes lit up.

“I like these! They have bunny rabbits on them!” Baekhyun said, pointing at a teal sweater. Tao looked at it and gave him a thumbs up with a smile.

“It’s cute, Beef.” he said, before returning to looking through the racks for one for himself. Meanwhile, Baekhyun picked a pink one up from the same rack he’d found his.

“Here, this one!” Baekhyun held the sweater up to Tao.

“It looks good, too.” Tao said, still glancing through the racks.

“This one, Tao, this one!” Baekhyun held the sweater up to his face.

“I’m still looking, hyung.” Tao said, walking to look around more. Baekhyun followed him like a child shopping with their mother.

“This one, this one, this one!!” he said. Tao sighed, realizing he wouldn’t stop until he looked at it and took the sweater from Baekhyun.

“Isn’t this…just like yours, hyung?” Tao looked at the pink sweater, which was otherwise exactly the same as the one Baekhyun just picked up, rabbits printed on it and all, aside from being larger.

“Try it on to see if it fits.” He said.

“Is it really okay if the sweaters look the same though?” Tao asked.

“The whole point was to make sure we could find sweaters the right sizes that matched!”

“Why do they have to match?” Tao asked. “Is this the theme or something?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to match with me?!” Baekhyun stuck his lips out.

“This hyung is so stressful…” Tao said, facepalming. “Is a normal answer too much to ask from you?”

Baekhyun only shot him a grin in return.

~~~

“Come on.” Baekhyun shoved Tao into a dressing room and followed right behind him, before locking the door behind them.

“Why did you come in the same one as me?!” Tao complained.

“So we can go faster!” Baekhyun said, pulling his shirt over his head. Tao rolled his eyes and sighed, not willing to try to question how this would make the process go faster, and did the same. After which, he noticed Baekhyun was giving him a judgmental look, going back and forth between his face and his chest.

“What?!” Tao exclaimed, shooting an insulted look back. Now Tao knew he wasn’t super buff or anything like that, but he damn well knew he had a pretty nice body considering he worked out fairly often and did Wushu. Baekhyun didn’t say anything, just poked Tao in the abs.

“What are you trying to say?” Tao poked Baekhyun back in the chest, who responded by pinching Tao’s stomach, giggling.

“Stop fooling around!” Tao laughed as the two dissolved into giggles. “You were the one who wanted to hurry with this.” Baekhyun laughed quietly and pulled his sweater over his head, but got stuck in the middle of it.

“Help me! Taooo! I can’t see!!” Baekhyun said, stretching his arms out and spinning in circles. Tao groaned as Baekhyun seemingly intentionally ran into him.

“Are you sure you’re older?” Tao sighed as he pulled the sweater down. Baekhyun’s head popped through the hole and he pulled it down so that it fit him properly.

“I love it!” Baekhyun said, looking at himself in the mirror. “What do you think?”

“It does look good on you, hyung.” Tao said after pulling his sweater over his head. “You look cute like a little kid.” Tao grinned as he saw Baekhyun blush a little and fold his arms.

“I’m not little.” He said. Tao smirked to himself, now examining himself in the mirror.

“It fits, right?” Baekhyun asked, tugging on Tao’s sleeve.

“I think it’s okay. It’s a bit big, but it’s not too bad.” Tao said, checking himself over. “Do you think it looks alright?”

“You look cute like this Taozi!~” Baekhyun grinned and hugged Tao from behind. “Not scary at all.”

Tao’s expression fell a little. “Do you think I look scary?” he asked. Baekhyun had never said it directly to him, but he figured it would be hard to believe he didn’t find him scary like the others did.

“I think you look cute.” Baekhyun replied.

“I mean usually, like at work” Tao specified. “Do you think I look scary to other people?”

“Cuuuute.” Baekhyun stressed, pouting as usual, and squeezing Tao tighter.

So did he think Tao was scary, or not? Was this him trying to apologize again? It wasn’t like he hurt Tao’s feelings; he already knew everyone found him scary, after all. But then why did he bring it up in the first place? What was he supposed to make of this? It was getting harder and harder to understand his hyung lately, which could get a bit inconvenient considering he was pretty much the one Tao depended on. But it was usually just easier to just agree then to try to get an answer.

“Ok, I get it.” Tao said, putting on a smile. “I like it.”

“Great, so we’ll get them then!” Baekhyun said, releasing him. “Let’s go.”

And just like usual, he’s back to usual. Hyung really is strange…why won’t he tell me what he really thinks?

~~~

“Alright, now we’re ready for my party!” Baekhyun said once they’d changed back into their regular clothes. “Ready to check out then? Or you wanna look around a bit more?” Tao was looking in the other direction as if he’d spotted something.

“Just a second, I’ll be right back.” He said.

Baekhyun nodded as Tao walked off. Curious, he’s eyes followed where we was going as he saw him approach a girl who worked there. Baekhyun moved a bit closer so that he could hear, but stood where he wouldn’t be noticed.

“Excuse me? I think this shirt fits me just fine, but do you have any other sizes I could see before I buy it?” Tao explained to the girl. She was silent for a second before she spoke.

“What was that? I didn’t…really catch that.” The girl looked at Tao as if he had two heads.

“Sorry, I was asking if you have any other sizes of this shirt.” Tao repeated, holding the sweater up for her to see. Baekhyun nodded from where he was, hearing that Tao had slowed down and pronounced each syllable when he spoke the second time.

Good, good. Just say it slowly. Be confident.

“Your accent’s a bit strong there. Are you even speaking Korean?” the girl said, laughing a bit.

Baekhyun blinked at this and looked back where they stood. Was she serious? Baekhyun admitted he was a little more used to Tao’s speech than most, so of course he understood since the beginning, but he didn’t see how she couldn’t have understood him the second time, even with his accent.

“Err…uhm…” Tao stuttered out.

Now she’s making him nervous to speak. The least she could do is be proper about it and not make a scene! There weren’t too many people around, but he knew it would still make Tao a bit fidgety.

“Look, do you have a translator or something? Maybe a friend I could talk to?” the girl asked.

A translator?! His Korean isn’t even that bad! There’s no way she’s even trying to understand him! Baekhyun had had it. This girl wasn’t even making an attempt to help Tao at all.

“N-No, sorry. Nevermind.” Tao mumbled, before giving a quick bow and turning away.

“Well, let me know if you need anything else.” The girl said, seemingly forcing a smile as Tao walked away.

He did just now, didn’t he? Baekhyun thought to himself, angrily. Baekhyun could tell that she didn’t really mean it; she obviously was just following her policies. He continued to pretend he was rummaging through some clothes on the rack in front of him as Tao approached him.

“Everything good, Tao?” Baekhyun asked, not bringing up what he’d just heard. He was curious whether Tao would tell him what just happened or not, himself.

“Yeah.” He nodded. Baekhyun glanced at him.

“There wasn’t anything else you needed, was there?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine. I got everything.” Tao replied, looking at another rack. Baekhyun would have known something was wrong even if he hadn’t seen the event unfold before him. Tao wasn’t looking him in the face, which he tended to do if something was bothering him. He nodded at Tao.

Baekhyun decided to look around for a couple more minutes before he noticed the girl who’d been rude to Tao earlier eyeing him from a little ways away. He glanced up at her a few times, and each time he did, she’d look away frantically. Getting the idea of what was going on, he quickly plotted in his brain how he’d handle this. Deciding to set his plan into motion, he pretended to shop, making sure to move closer in her direction, stopping once he was within her range. He smirked to himself when he saw her approaching through his peripheral vision.

“Finding everything alright?” the girl asked.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Baekhyun said, looking at a random T-shirt.

“You uh…need any assistance with anything…looking for something in particular?” she said, smiling at him.

“Hmmm….” Baekhyun hummed, looking the shirt over. He looked up at her and gave her a little smile of his own.

“Or if you want, maybe I could see if I could possibly get you a discount or something? Y’know, with it being the holidays and all.” the girl started rambling. Baekhyun sighed as Tao was coming back to stand next to him, not yet noticing the girl. Grinning a bit, Baekhyun reached for Tao’s arm and pulled him down a bit as if to whisper, though his voice wasn’t quiet at all.

“Tao-ah, can you translate what this girl is saying? I can’t really understand her.” He said.

“Wh-WHAT?! Wait?” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between Tao and Baekhyun, clearly surprised they knew each other. “Uhm…” Baekhyun could tell the girl was flustered and knew he’d seen what she did to Tao. He almost felt a bit bad for embarrassing her like this.

Almost.

Tao seemed just as shocked as a bunch of other shoppers were looking their way.

“Hmm, I guess neither of us will be any good here. Sorry, gotta go.” Baekhyun said with a wave, taking Tao’s hand and walking off with him to the checkout isles.

When they got there, Tao was nervously fiddling with his fingers as they waited in line, not saying anything, so Baekhyun didn’t bother him about the issue. Once they were next in line, Tao leaned closer to him and tapped on his shoulder.

“Hyung…that girl…did you see-”

“Here, give me your sweater.” Baekhyun cut him off. Looking confused, Tao handed his sweater to Baekhyun. Baekhyun put them both down and pulled out his debit card.

“Wait, what are you doing? I’ll pay for mine. You don’t have to buy it, hyung.” Tao said.

“I’m treating you today.” Baekhyun said. “But don’t get used to it, this is just an early Christmas present.”

Tao looked like he was debating something in his mind, with his mouth slightly open as he just looked at Baekhyun. In the end, he just nodded, even bowing slightly.

“Thank you, hyung.” He said.

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?” Baekhyun said. “So weird.”

He saw Tao eye him with an annoyed look briefly before giving him a small smile. Baekhyun turned back to swipe his card, smiling to himself.

~~~

“So, are you busy tomorrow?” Baekhyun asked, once the two had exited the store. Tao blinked at him, remembering that neither of them were on schedule to work the next day. Not even two seconds outside and he was already making more plans for tomorrow?

“No, I’m not doing-”

“Great! Meet me at the mall tomorrow at like 11, okay?” Baekhyun said.

“Huh? The mall at 11? Okay, sure why?” Tao took out his phone to make a note of it.

“Don’t be late, okay?  It’s best to be fairly early. Try to eat before you get there so you won’t be hungry.”

“But hyung! Why are we-”

“See you tomorrow!” And with that, Baekhyun was already off.

“But…wait! Hyung!” Tao called to no avail. He sighed and decided to just head home.

What’s with him treating me so much lately? Going out to so many places…I don’t know what we’re even doing tomorrow...

~~~

With the help of Sehun, Tao was able to find the mall Baekhyun had mentioned. He declined going with Tao to greet Baekhyun, however, in favor of saying he had plans with Jongin and Luhan he didn’t want to be late for.

“So what are you, Jongin, and Luhan ge here for?” Tao asked.

“Dunno. I’ll find out when I call them.” Sehun said. “Have fun with Baekhyun.”

Tao deadpanned as Sehun walked off. So you just don’t want to have to deal with him annoying you? You don't even have any plans! Tao rolled his eyes as he saw and approached Baekhyun, who was waiting him by the directory.

“You’re here!” Baekhyun greeted Tao by wrapping his arms around him. “Peach-ah!~” He then took Tao’s arm and started pulling him through the mall.

“Beef, why did you want to come out here, today? You didn’t say anything before you left yesterday and I didn’t know how much money to bring and-”

“Here!” Baekhyun said as they stopped next to a smaller looking store. Tao looked up at the sign.

“A hair salon?” Why are we here?” Tao asked.

“We’re gonna dye your hair, silly.” Baekhyun said. Tao’s eyes widened. That certainly wasn’t among the things he was pondering the night before of possible things Baekhyun wanted to do.

“What? Why do I have to get my hair dyed?” Tao asked.

“I think you’ll look good with blonde hair.” Baekhyun said.

“Blonde hair?” Tao asked, the words coming out a bit jumbled.

“Blonde hair.” Baekhyun said slowly, pointing at his own light pale colored hair.

“Blonde hair?” Tao repeated, pointing to himself. “Me?” Baekhyun nodded.

“Why do you want me to dye my hair blonde?” Tao asked.

“HMPH! So you don’t want it because mine is like that, isn’t it?!” Baekhyun crossed his arms.

“I can’t with him anymore…” Tao said, facepalming.

“I’m kidding. I just want you to try it out! Please, for me?” Baekhyun said, giving him puppy eyes. Tao still looked a bit uncertain. Not because he was against it, but more so because he didn’t really understand why this was so important to Baekhyun.

“Have you ever dyed your hair before, Tao?” Baekhyun asked. Tao shook his head.

“It’s fun, I do it all the time!” Baekhyun said.

“Yeah I kinda figured that wasn’t your real hair color.” Tao said, chuckling a bit.

“But I have it dyed lots of colors all the time, and it’s great!” Baekhyun said, pulling on Tao’s arm. “So try it out, please?”

Tao thought it over. Maybe Baekhyun wanted him to be like their other friends who also had dyed hair; more exotic looking so he could fit in with them. Kris and Luhan were also blonde, Minseok recently went purple of all things, Chanyeol had just gotten his colored silver, Kyungsoo’s was partly red, and he’d never seen Sehun without an entire rainbow in his hair at any given moment. He figured it couldn’t hurt.

“Ok, I’ll do it.” He grinned.

“YAY!! Come on! Come on! Let’s do it!!” Baekhyun pulled Tao to the back of the shop.

Tao started to feel more nervous about this as the two were looking through magazines, trying to pick out which color they thought would look best on him. After some encouragement from Baekhyun, the two finally settle lotd and they patiently waited until it was Tao’s turn. It wasn’t as bad as Tao would have thought, aside from some slight burning when they were putting the dye in. A lengthy conversation with the woman doing his hair about Gucci bags made time fly and he was done in no time.

For the final result, Tao’s hair was essentially styled up as it usually was, but now a bright blonde color, though the effect seemed to brighten up Tao’s entire ambiance. Baekhyun had wanted to be surprised and was waiting in the front of the store and couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face as Tao approached him with the new do.

“IT’S AMAZING!” he’d squealed, gently reaching his fingers up to hover over Tao’s hair. Tao chuckled and blushed a bit.

“So, do you like it?” Baekhyun asked.

Looking in the mirror, Tao almost didn’t recognize himself. He certainly didn’t think he looked as intimidating as he did before. It was a bit weird, but good. He nodded.

“Do you?” Tao asked, looking at himself in the mirror. “Do I look good like this?”

“You’re really cute now!” Baekhyun said. “I knew you would be!”

“I really like it a lot.” Tao said, still red faced. Baekhyun clapped and thanked the woman behind the counter.

He was really excited about this. Maybe he’s trying to make me look less scary after all. Maybe my accent wasn’t the issue at all. Maybe he thought I’d humiliate him by scaring his other guests at his party. Tao thought to himself.

“Don’t worry about paying or anything.” Baekhyun said. “She’s a friend of Chanyeol’s sister, so it was on the house, today.”

“Thanks ma’am.” Tao said, as they both bowed while she shot them a wave.

“No problem, have a nice day guys.” She said.

“Your hyung is always right about these things.” Baekhyun said as they left the store. “Well, we don’t have to leave right away, y’know? Anything else you wanna do?”

“Yes, can we go shopping a bit, please?” Tao asked, pressing his index fingers into his cheeks with a cat-like smile. A grin spread across Baekhyun’s face.

“Even your aegyo is extra cute now!” Baekhyun squealed. “I can’t say no to that. Come on!”

“Thanks Beef hyung!” Tao laughed as the boy grabbed his arm and pulled him excitedly. Tao smiled, watching him.

Since I’m already here, I might as well get him a Christmas present.

~~~

It was the Friday before Baekhyun’s party, as well as the last day before they’d be off of the schedule for Christmas and New Years. But Tao wasn’t the only one happy, it seemed. The manager was in a particular good mood and let every dress a little more casually for once. Baekhyun, enthusiastically demanded that they wear their new sweaters, which Tao happily agreed to. It felt a little weird, but he sort of liked it. A few customers noticed, here and there, asking if they were a couple and such, which was a bit embarrassing for Tao. Baekhyun tended to simply laugh off the comments with the customers, but occasionally teased Tao with it when they were left alone.

“Hyung, hurry up. You’re taking too long.” Tao told Baekhyun, when the two had gone to fix a few shelves before their break. Tao, having finished his side, was ready to move on. “If you don’t, I’ll leave you.”

“Why are so cold to your boyfriend?” Baekhyun looked up at him with sad eyes.

“Don’t say that so loudly, hyung!” Tao said, blushing.

It was embarrassing enough for strangers to ask if the two were a couple, but Baekhyun himself doing it was almost ten times worse. Simply for the reason that, recently, Tao had been thinking more and more that he may actually like Baekhyun that way.

It didn’t need to be said that he’d taken to Baekhyun after he befriended him when no one else would even acknowledge him. But ever since he stood up for him in the store, Tao’d really begun to see Baekhyun as more than just a friend who occasionally annoyed him. Despite his annoying behavior every once in a while, he looked out for him much more often and always tried to stay by his side. He’d always found Baekhyun to be cute, but lately he’d feel his heartbeat speed up whenever Baekhyun’s charming smile was directed towards him.

If Tao didn’t think it were completely absurd that Baekhyun would choose him over anyone else he could have, he might have though Baekhyun had a crush on him, too. He rarely went a day without hugging him at least twice and his otherwise clingy behavior was something he didn’t even see him do with his best friend, Chanyeol as much as he did with him. Though, he figured he probably did it to others as well, and knew there had to be others that liked him too, so he decided he could settle for admiring his hyung in secret.

It was almost time for their break and Tao was finishing up a few things. Baekhyun told him to go get something to eat and he’d be outside after he took care of something. When Tao was preparing to head out, he noticed a large crowd of people by the register farthest from his in the front.

He saw Baekhyun, surrounded by almost all of their co-workers that were working that day. They seemed to be laughing at something. He didn’t think anything off it, really, until he saw a number of them look up at him, and laugh even harder.

Since the incident with the girl in the store, Baekhyun had told Tao to just ignore anyone who laughed at him and walk away. But this was weird, since Baekhyun was with them. And seemingly the center of attention. Could they have been laughing…at him? Was…Baekhyun laughing at him?

Tao didn’t know what to think and decided to just go out for his break, walking towards the door when he heard the laughs get louder. Tao was feeling self-conscious now. What were they doing? It was then that he heard a voice:

“You must feel so bad for him.”

What did that mean? If they were talking about him and all looking at Baekhyun, was he saying that Baekhyun felt sorry for him for some reason? And how did they come to that conclusion? What were they talking about? Tao didn’t know what to think as he went out the sliding doors.