pic credit to http://duijangs.tumblr.com

A few weeks later~

Tao and I sat on the couch, each doing something on our phones. It was 10PM on the night of Christmas Eve, so I've been attatched to the boy the whole night to make sure that he didn't open any of the presents early. There was nothing to watch on tv besides sappy Christmas films and a fake log so I had just decided all five of us, yes, still only five, would simply listen to some classical music to pass the time.

And no, I wouldn't let Tao take care of that issue.

All of a sudden, Tao landed in my lap.

That sounds incredibly wrong, but he went from sitting up next to me to straight up diving into my lap and resting his head on my thighs.

"Krisssssssss let me opeeeeeeeeeeen oneeeeeeee of themmmmmmmmmm," He groaned.

"No." I didn't hesitate.

"Please?" He looked up at me, and I'm sure he had a good view of all my boogers, but the answer was unchanged.

"No."

His head 'slyly' scooted closer to my stomach, turning to face it.

"What are yo- ;LAKSDGJ;ALKGJ TAO STOP ASL;DGKJ STOPSTOPSTOPTAO OMG TAOO!"

Said boy had lifted up my shirt and began my abdomen more then sensually. With all of the others in the room. He erupted in laughter and I had half a mind to push him off, but instead pushed his nose into the trail of slime he had just created.

"AGHHHHSLDKF," the sounds that emitted from him were similar to that of a dying walrus, and it was more than priceless. I began to laugh, but soon stopped after noticing that all eyes in the room were on us. Some interested, some horrified.

I slowly turned my laugh into a clearing-my-throat-kind-of-thing and looked away before lightly pushing Tao off of me and acting like nothing had happened. The raven haired boy landed with a rough oomph and nearly immediately looked at me with an aggrivated scowl.

He got up and dusted himself off, now standing in front of my sitting form.

"FINE! NO CHRISTMAS FOR YOU!" Tao shouted and stomped off.

My mouth dropped.

My cheeks burned.

And my heart jumped 

at the simple thought of that pleasure.

But that wasn't the point. 

Every other person in the room had their jaw glued to the floor.

"We haven't done a-anything. I swear." Ignoring their lack of response, I got up and practically ran back to Tao. I searched in the first place I knew he would be: our room. I quietly opened and shut the door behind me, seeing his standing form looking out of the window. The loud ticking of the clock was the only sound that occupied the room. You couldn't even hear him breathing. I quietly snuck up behind him and placed my hands on his hips. Sliding them ever so slowly around his frame, I pressed my chest into his back, rested my chin on his shoulder and held him close.

"Are you really mad about that baby?" I whispered, not wanting to disrupt the nice, quiet atmosphere.

He took in a long breath and sighed.

"No." He sounded disappointed, but hadn't said anything more. I stood there confused.

Until he turned himself around in my arms with a sly smile.

"I just wanted some alone time with you~" He purred, eyeing my lips as if he were the hunter and I was the prey.

I smiled. "Well," I tightened my grip around his waist, bringing both of ours closer together, "you could have just said that~" My breathy words had his mind swimming. He quickly attatched his lips to mine and brought both of his hands up to hold my face.

Shouldn't I be the one doing that?

After a few seconds I had realized the ticking of the clock had stopped. The ends of Tao's mouth curled up in a smile, absolutely loving the frozen moment and wanting it to last forever.

Nevertheless, I let Tao have his miniscule moment of dominance before I backed away from the kiss. He pouted and looked me in the eyes. I let him be confused for a few seconds and waited for the ticking of the clock to resume. Once it did, I took my right hand and cupped his cheek, slowly going in to kiss him. I could feet his hearbeat rise, as my other hand was still tightly secured around him, and couldn't help but smile into the kiss.

He was certainly making my heart race too.

We slowly departed, partly for air and also because Tao looked as if he wanted to say something.

"I really wish it would snow." He frowned. "It never snows in this part of town. It's so boring during christmas." Another pout formed on those soft lips of his, and it made me sad. I wasn't a weather maker nor did I have to machines to make snow.

"I know... maybe we'll get lucky." I tried to reassure him, but it was no use. Mopey Tao was back.

"Maybe..." He muttered to himself.

I rolled my eyes. He was not about to be moody two hours before Christmas. I wouldn't allow it.

I brought my lips over to his ear. "Or maybe... you'll get lucky..." I trailed off, letting the breathy syllables drift onto his skin. I couldn't see his face from this angle, but could see goosebumps form down his neck and to his shoulder.

"C'mon. Let's go back out there." I lightly let go of him and saw his eyes dart from one side to another, mouth slightly agape. He shut his mouth immediately once he saw I was staring at him and quickly walked around the bed and out of the door.

This boy... 

I followed suit and went back to the living room, where everyone was simply waiting for the numbers to turn. I gave the maknae a stern look everytime he lifted his fingers, knowing he was attempting to fastforward the clock.

At 11:59, we all got ancy. It's not that we were selfish and just wanted gifts, but this would be the first Christmas that all of us would be spending together. I just wanted to feel that experience, and so did everyone else.

"FINALLY!!" Tao nearly shouted as the short hand struck 12. He dived under the lighted tree to hand everyones gifts to eachother.

"Lay, here you go, Chen, Kris, Luhan, and me!" He was cute, but perhaps a little too cheery.

We all opened our presents, some getting electronics and others getting money or gift cards.

"Oh! I forgot something." Tao said before sprinting off to the hallway.

Where was he getting all of this energy?

A few seconds later he came back and stood in front of me with something behind his back. A knowing smile was plastered on his face, looking as if he would blurt out what it was before I got the chance to see for myself.

"Close your eyes." He demanded.

Way to be bossy.

I closed my eyes.

"Now hold out your hands."

I did so.

I felt something being dropped into my hands. It felt kind of medium sized, and very familiar to my fingers. I opened my eyes when he said I could and saw T.M. laying in my hands. I lifted him up and saw a silver chain dangling from his neck. I slipped my fingers around the panda's neck and slid it off, examing it.

It was a silver necklace.

And it looked freaking amazing.

I looked up to Tao. "Thank you so much." I stood up to give Tao a tight hug.

"I'm glad you like it! I still wish it would snow though..." He trailed off and looked to the side.

"Tao, I think there's another present with your name on it." Lay spoke up.

"Huh? But I handed all of them out already." 

"Apparently not." Lay lightly retorted, pointing to the back underside of the tree.

Tao slid out of my embrace and went to look behind the tree.

There was, in fact, one more thing there.

It was an envelope with the name 'Huang ZiTao' written on the front of it.

"Duizhang," he looked back to me, "is this from you?" He raised his eyebrow in interest.

I shook my head. "Open it." I didn't know who it was from either. And the strange thing was, Tao had gotten all of the items from under the tree. I was checking. So how and when did that get there?

"There's no name on it..." He mumbled to himself.

His fingers slid inside only to pull out a single piece of note paper.

"'Look outside...'" Reading what it said, his head curiously turned to look out the window. He instantly dropped everything.

"Oh my god. It's snowing!"

His words made everyone's head snap to the direction of the window, seeing if it was really true.

It was.

Tao ran to the door and practically jumped out of it, spinning his arms in the snow. We all tentatively stepped out of the door, as if this was some dream, as if the ground would crack under us, or just as if we were on Candid Camera.

But no, this was no trick. Catching one of them soon left a drop of water on my warm fingertips. I looked in the sky to see if there was a snow machine, but there was absolutely nothing. It was like a trick. 

But we couldn't find the magician.

I stared around in wonder, and soon saw a figure moving in the distance. I prepared myself incase it was a psychopath or something, but stopped when the form looked slightly familiar. I watched it get closer and closer, and got a sense of dejavu.

One more step and the person would stand under the streetlamp, able to be seen.

And that is exactly what they did.

I stepped closer, heart dropping when I did.

"XiuMin..." I whispered aloud in disbelief. Tao's ears perked up and he immediately stopped playing with the ice and came to stand next to me.

All five of us held our stance as he walked towards us. We all watched with mixed emotions; anxiety, happiness, nostalgia all mixed together in one unintelligible bundle of feelings that coursed through our veins.

He soon stepped close enough so that we could see his facial features. He held his hands up and out.

What was he planning?

As soon as he was sure we were all watching, he began moving his hands in the air. Withing seconds the snowfall that had fallen earlier turned back into snowflakes floating in the air. From the sky fell more, instantly dousing the ground with a thick layer. XiuMin moved his hands once more and the snow immediately stopped falling.

Small gasps came from those who put it together, and confused glances filled the one's who didn't.

XiuMin had the power of snow, and this was his way of asking forgiveness.

A breeze formed next to me and it wasn't until a few seconds later that I realized it was Tao running towards XiuMin. Without warning, Tao jumped on him and tackled him with the biggest, happiest bear hug that anyone could manage.

If Tao could forgive him, I could too.

We all ran over to XiuMin, lifted him up, and hugged him.

The groups warmth was too strong for the cold substance, melting it around us. Yet, none of us minded as we were now one.

We were now EXO.

Concluding notes (you don't have to read):

First and foremost, I want to thank you all for subbing, reading, and commenting. It truly makes my day and keeps me writing. I never expected this story to be this long nor this pupular, but thank you, because it truly is all thanks to you. Every chapter after Lay's death was really sad for me- I lost so many subscribers. I can understand why but I wish they would have stayed to see the happy ending. I mean, come on, do you really think I would just leave it like that? Plus, this story is full angst. To accomplish that, I needed some despair, sadness, and anxiety in it. Nevertheless, to all of you who did stay, thank you. 

Taoris hwaiting!

Or layris for you unicorn fans out there!!

I have a favour, if any of you like kaisoo, I have a oneshot I'd like everyone to read. Tell me if it's any good, I would appreciate your input!! 

here are some excerpts from the story:  [Waves crashed onto the shoreline close enough to his feet that it might even take him if he stepped too close.]

[Flush, heated lips press and caress what they love most, attempting to imbed their love into the one receiving it.]

[ X ]