“Okay, have you noticed anything between Sehun and Luhan?” Lay asked Kris a few days later as they were hanging out in their room. “Because I swear…”

            “Yeah, I noticed it a while ago.”

            “Well I guess it’s all good then,” Lay sighed, plopping down on his bed. “Yeah they’re definitely a thing. I think Kai’s noticed too.”

            “He has.”

            “Well, in that case, not long before everyone notices, and then they’ll have to tell us about it. Anyway, what’d you think of gym class today? That was crazy, right?” Lay asked.

            “Yeah. God, Mr. Shin is so creepy.”

            “I know…like, the stuff he says sometimes. He calls you ‘tall kid’ and he calls Xiumin ‘hamster’ and he calls Tao ‘gangster…’ I don’t think anyone likes it.”

            “I’ve told him a bunch of times that Tao has a name, but he just doesn’t use it. I’m sure he remembers it. Tao’s name fits him perfectly,” Kris explained.

            “I haven’t really thought about Tao’s name fitting him. But yeah, I guess you could say that. But what about you? He calls you weird names too but you never correct him on those.”

            “I know it bothers Tao so I want to help him stand up for himself,” Kris said. Lay turned to look at him. Suddenly a silly grin appeared on Lay’s face.

            “Tao’s pretty cute, huh?” Lay asked.

            “You think so too?” Kris replied.

            “Oh sure, he’s cute,” Lay said, using a strange tone of voice.

            “Why are you talking like that?”

            “Like what?”

            “I don’t know; you just sounded sort of creepy just then.”

            “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lay shrugged. “Well, whatever. Help me with English, will you?”

            “Sure,” Kris nodded. Lay was a good friend. He was always relaxed (except when playing video games) and seemed extremely perceptive. He was easy to talk to, and Kris often found it easier to open up to Lay than to any of the other boys in the dorm.

            They heard a knock at the door.

            “Come in,” Lay said. Tao entered slowly. “Oh,” Lay continued with a smile. “We were just talking about you!”

            “You were?”

            “Yeah,” Lay said. “Kris thinks you’re c—”

            “Cool,” Kris interrupted. “You’re cool.” Tao looked at him skeptically. “Really.”

            “Well,” Tao said, “Luhan told me to tell you that dinner’s ready, so if you want to come to the table now…”

            Kris stood quickly while Lay got up lazily. Kris smiled at Tao, but Tao didn’t return the gesture.

            After dinner, Kris got a reprimanding from the last person he’d expect: Xiumin.

            “Were you making fun of Tao?” Xiumin demanded, barging into Kris and Lay’s room, where they were doing homework.

            “What? No, why?” Kris asked.

            “Because he’s sitting all alone in his room in a cloud of despair that I assume only you could cause,” Xiumin said dryly.

            Kris got up immediately, the thought of a cloud of despair that only he could cause running through his head as he sped to Tao’s room.

            “Tao,” he said, knocking on the partially open door but not bothering to wait until he got Tao’s approval to enter. “Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine,” Tao said stubbornly. Kris was suddenly reminded of the day they’d met.

            “Listen, I’m sorry if it seemed like we were talking about you. I mean, we were, I guess, but we really were saying good things about you.”

           “Then why did you cut Lay off?” Tao asked, his face buried in his pillow. He didn’t sound sad, or depressed, but rather matter-of-fact. It bothered Kris that Tao seemed devoid of emotions suddenly.

            “I…” Kris trailed off. Why had he cut Lay off? Luhan had already called Tao cute. So had Baekhyun. Even Lay had mentioned it. So why did Kris feel so weird telling Tao how cute he thought he was?

            “You don’t have to tell me,” Tao said, his voice still muffled by the pillow.

            “I really do think you’re cool,” Kris said slowly. “But the word I was saying was actually…I mean, not in a weird way or anything…but you’re cute.”

            “Cute?” Tao asked, looking up with the wide eyed expression Kris liked so much.

            “Baekhyun and Luhan think so too,” Kris said quickly. His heart was pounding and he didn’t know why.

            “Nobody’s ever called me cute before,” Tao mumbled.

            “But you are!” Kris said. “You are!”

            “Really?”

            “Yes, really. You’re cute, Tao.” His heart was beating so fast he thought it might burst out of his chest any minute.

            “Well…thanks,” Tao said awkwardly. Kris could feel his face getting hot. What was wrong with him?

            “Uh,” Kris said, standing up. “Wanna go…play Monopoly with the guys?”

            “But I have homework to do. Don’t you?” Tao said.

            “Oh, right,” Kris reminded himself. “Why don’t we go do it in the living room?”

            “Chanyeol and Baekhyun are in there. They’re loud,” Tao pointed out. “You can stay here if you want. I’m quiet.”

            Kris grinned in spite of himself. He raced to his room to gather his homework.

            “What are you doing?” Lay asked as Kris picked up a stack of papers and two textbooks.

            “I’m going to work in Tao’s room; I hope you don’t mind,” Kris explained as he quickly found a few pencils. Lay smiled.

            “I don’t mind,” he said in the same gooey tone of voice. “I don’t mind at all.”

            “Would you please stop talking like that?” Kris pleaded as he exited their bedroom. He walked back into Tao’s room, where Tao had already started on his homework.

            “What are you working on?” Kris asked.

            “English,” Tao began. “Aerin asked me if—”

            “WHAT?” they heard Kai cry suddenly. “It’s been two weeks already! Why hasn’t anyone told me yet?”

            Tao glanced at Kris. They both stood and walked into the living room, where Kai looked like he was about to explode.

            “Kai, calm down,” Chen said. “We thought you’d noticed.”

            “Noticed what?” Kris asked.

            “That we go to an all boys’ school!” Kai yelled. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

            “Wasn’t it kind of obvious when there were no girls in any of our classes?” Chen asked.

            “Some schools have girls in like different parts of the building or something!” Kai exclaimed.

            “Kai,” Kyungsoo said as he ambled into the room, “would you please stop yelling? Xiumin and I are trying to work in our room but we can’t when you’re being this loud.”

            Kai turned bright red.

            “Sorry,” he said. “I’ll be quiet.”

            “Thanks,” Kyungsoo said, giving Kai a winning smile as he returned to his room.

            “Anyway, our school does have a sister school,” Sehun explained. “But they’re on a different campus.”

            “Sorry, Kai, no hot girls here,” Chen said humorously.

            “Doesn’t matter,” Kai mumbled as he walked back into his room. The other guys just looked at him.

            “Wait, what just happened?” Chanyeol asked. “He was really angry like five seconds ago.”

            “He’s confused,” Kris laughed.

            “Confused about what though?” Chanyeol asked in frustration.

            “Yeah, you said that already a few days ago and it doesn’t mean anything unless you explain exactly what he’s confused about!” Baekhyun said.

            “Confused about his feelings.”

            “About whether or not he’s happy?” Chanyeol asked.

            “Sure. Happy,” Kris said slyly. “Come on, Tao, let’s get back to work.” They left the living room leaving the other boys looking completely confused.

            “That was weird,” Tao said. “I thought everyone knew the school was all boys.”

            “I don’t know if Kai minds that much,” Kris laughed. “Anyway, you were saying something about Aerin?”

            “Yeah. She asked me if I could tutor people who aren’t doing well in English. She asked me!” Tao said, looking slightly excited.

            “Really?” Kris asked. “When do you start?”

            “Tomorrow. I have to tutor Xiumin, and also two guys from 2-C.”

            “Wow, Tao! That’s awesome,” Kris said sincerely. “See? People like you more than you think.”

            “Yeah,” Tao said, his perfect bow lips curving upwards ever so slightly. “I guess it’s thanks to you.”

            “But it’s you that everyone likes,” Kris grinned. “I didn’t change you at all.”

            Tao looked at Kris with his lips still slightly upturned, his feline eyes twinkling with a sense of something like mischief.

            Kris felt his heartbeat speed up again. 

A/N: Never enough Taoris. And now that EXO-M is back in Korea, maybe we'll get a beautiful Hunhan reunion~ Here's hoping, anyway. 

ALSO 200 SUBSCRIBERS! Thank you so much~

@karinav915: Yeah, he is~

@SadisticRainbows: As much as I'd love Taoris cuddling...it's just too early for that! ;P

@pripri: It's pretty safe to say that he likes Kyungsoo :) Yeah! I watched the interview where he said he was scared of ghosts and I was inspired!

@Galdy42: QMI. LET ME LOVE YOU. They are my forever and always #1 OTP.

@hallyterry: I'm glad you likey~

@BalancedCuppycake: Yeah a lot of Taoris fics I read were like "AND THEN TAO KILLED EVERYONE WITH HIS WUSHU" and I'm like "no, because that's not his character." So yeah. I'm glad you like it :)

@aznmusiklife: Yeah Suho and Lay could be cute but...eh. I feel like it's weird to pair everyone up.

@Renzei27: It has to be slow :) That's how relationships should work in my opinion. I'm happy you approve!

@ShaZam: They will, they will :)

@KyuMinLover123: Kaisoo/Kaido~

@angelsmiles: PEACHES <3

@xxjenjaexx: YES POCKETAO WOULD BE THE BEST.

@chigire: I loved the Kai/Kris talk and clueless Creepyeol~

@BlueStarLover: Phew~ I'm glad that people are okay with me not pairing everyone else up. 

@Akira97: I love all his selcas too~

@LingView: WAHHH THANK YOU 

@Nakonoshi: Hehehehe Jongin's not the only one who's confused...at least Jongin can acknowledge the fact that he is confused.

@Yuki_Hime: I'm happy you like it!

@clarene: Yayyyyyyy <3

@EXOluv95: NOBODY CAN RESIST TAO'S AEGYO.

@s7herry: So am I~ I made the mistake of looking at Bongcheondong Ghost again yesterday...eughhhh.

@fyrefox233: I cannot believe you didn't find it scary. I'm still freaking out.

@mj_a_lover: I'm so glad you liked it!! I still need to catch up with interviews...I'm so behind aghhh.

@deathangeL_se7en: YAY I'm so happy~

@UndergroundMemories: I still can't read it all the way through...I was like Luhan, latched onto my friend's arm while she was like "keep scrolling!" and I was like "NO NO NO NONONONONONO."

@kroongho: Yay~

@aegyoXin: Nah, Baekyeol all the way.

@Lee_HyunJae: You've got the right idea :D

@WowF4ntasticBaby: *Runs around with you*

@alialiaa: I want to write out all of them so much aghhh but yeah they'll all be cute :)

@13aholic: Cuties~ Nah, no XiuChen. Although I love this picture and this picture, but not for this fic~

@vanndee13: NOR CAN I :D

@twinkletoe: It will~

@kawaiikimbap: I'm so happy you're liking this :D I get your reasoning. I think a story with a school just for gay guys could be HILARIOUS.

@AsianDrama: Yeahhh I still can't get all the way through it...

@Tofu_Holic: I KNOW RIGHT it's so scary.

@phoenix_taemints: You're welcome! Thanks for reading!

@sumomoyuki: THEY DO you shall see~ I'm glad you were able to find it again!

@CloudFu: You'll have to see~

@Staceyftw: Of course I will! :D

@MsChocoChan: He's even more confused than Kai ;)

♥ Exie

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