Proofread as for 23.9.17. Thank you fanficliker ♥ (hopefully aff didn't butcher the lay out too much. 

3 AM (18)

 To say that Tao needs his Christmas break is an understatement. He is just like any other 20-year-old, living alone in a small apartment with a college to follow and a part time job to do. It isn't as if he couldn’t live without his job- he won’t deny it. He has more than enough money already and his parents still send him money every month. It's just that his parents didn’t want him to grow up as a spoiled child of rich parents.

So he didn't.

Which led him to be in this kind of state - tired and absolutely worn out, and in dire need of his break. 

He didn’t fail any of his tests, so there is no need for him to worry about studies this week. He asked for days off at his work since he wanted to spend his Christmas at his apartment for once. He needs rest.

His parents wouldn’t come eat at his place; the distance being too much for them to travel, and also he hates cooking.

So he is totally alone at Christmas, just how he likes it. He really needs his peace and now he finally had it.

Well, not really.

Since Baekhyun was currently sitting next to him, talking about how stupid his current boyfriend, Chanyeol, was. Apparently, they got in a fight today, the day before Christmas and Baekhyun couldn’t stop talking about how Chanyeol ruined his Christmas. Tao felt bad for them but he really. needs. his. peace.

“Hyung, just go home, both of you apologize, have some hot make up and let me have my peace.”

Baekhyun gave him a look, rolled his eyes, stood up and hugged him being the understanding friend he was. “Will do. Sorry for bothering you again. Merry Christmas in advance” Tao hugged him back. “You too. Enjoy it.”

Ah, finally, the peace he wanted.

By now it became quite late. The clock would say that it’s twelve in a few minutes aka Christmas and Tao decided he wants to start it in a good way. His laptop was picked up from the table and he let himself and the laptop fall on his bed.

By now, way too many times seen intro of Sisi started.

Hey. Don’t judge.

Just because he is - who he is, doesn’t mean he couldn’t like films like these. It’s a classic.

And so he watched.

He was already 30 minutes into the second film and his eyes were slowly closing, he couldn’t pull an all-nighter, he knew. It was getting harder and harder to focus on the film and at one point he just closed his laptop and snuggled into his pillow, ready to let sleep overtake him. He let out a content sign and could feel his mind drifting away. Ah, sleep.

Oh he wished.

A sharp ring rang through his apartment and he recognized it as the fire alarm.

And there his sleep goes.

A tiny part of his heart is in fear that maybe an actual fire has occurred. But his rational mind argues that it is not, because there have been more than enough occasions of false alarm during his stay in this apartment. The probability of this being a false alarm was more than 0.8.

Obviously mad that he had to leave his bed, he sat up and went with his hand through his hair, trying to gather the courage he needs to get out of his bed.

Just because he was awake doesn’t mean he actually wants to leave his bed.

His feet touched the cold floor and he cursed the one that made the fire alarm go off. How hard is it to have a peaceful and quiet Christmas?

At last he got up because safety and life comes first. He doesn't want to end up as a ghost on an auspicious day like Christmas.

He put on a random hoody he found on the ground and some shoes before he left the safe ground of his apartment. He wasn’t the only one standing in the hall. He recognized both his neighbors and the old woman that lived at the end of this floor, who he decided he really didn’t need to see in her pyjamas.

Everybody was complaining about getting woken up and Tao nodded here and there when people spoke to him; he just wants to sleep again.

The head of the building arrived not much later, telling everyone that, indeed, nothing dangerous happened and that everyone could go back to sleep peacefully, wishing them a merry Christmas at last.

But Tao wasn’t going back to sleep “peacefully” since his peace has been ruined.

And he would find the one responsible for it and make him pay.

So he did.

a handsome face but said well-built and has making a small talk with the head of his building. Tao’s eyebrows furrowed. The man is the man that ruined his sleep. The man came walking in while he is In front of him is face is filled with an awkward grin and his hand is scratching the back of his head.

The head of the apartment noticed the mood,(especially the Who-is-that-er I have to kill aura emanating from Tao and Tao is easily capable of looking as on of the deadliest assassins alive) and quickly excused himself, escaping from something he probably didn’t want to witness. This left Tao staring at Mr. I’m-handsome-but-I-still-ruined-your-sleep and said mister visibly getting more awkward as Tao kept staring.

“So,” Tao started, “you’re the man that ruined my sleep.”

The culprit looked up when Tao started speaking.

“Ah yes, I’m sorry, I-” he started apologizing but Tao cut him off.

“I don’t need your apologies, I need my sleep!” The stranger looked shocked at his outburst but Tao didn’t show the male mercy, he deserved it. “I don’t know what you were doing at 3 AM that made the goddamn fine alarm go off and I honestly don’t want to know-” this time the stranger cut him off.

“I was cooking Christmas dinner.”

Tao closed his mouth.

“I didn’t want to know.”

“Yet I told you.” The stranger's awkward grin had transformed into what could have been counted as a smile yet also as a smirk.

So the stranger could be something else than awkward?

A nice surprise.

“Well, if you like talking so much, do tell me why you were even cooking a Christmas dinner at 3 AM!”

“Shall I tell you inside?”

The door next to them opened and the familiar head of his neighbor appeared. “Please do, some people are trying to sleep,” and with that, the door closed again.

“Tell me your name and we can.”

“Wu Yifan, but I go by my English name Kris. You?”

“I’m Huang Zitao. Just call me Tao. Now get inside.”

And the no-stranger-anymore did.

They ended up at the couch and Kris started explaining his situation.

“So in short, you forgot you were the one that needs to cook this Christmas and you somehow thought it was a good idea to start preparing in the middle of the night?”