Although Tao had his beach sanctuary, Kris took much more comfort in Beijing’s cool winter evenings. He would often roam the streets with a scarf concealing the lower portion of his face and a wool knit beanie, borrowed from Luhan, resting snuggly on his head. When the leader was alone though, standing in the middle of the barren side walk, he’d unravel the thick fabric and let the nightly breeze chill his body.

However, he had his exceptions and found himself sitting in a comfortable booth by a coffee shop window. Across from him sat a boy with raven black hair, who was currently drawing circles in the foam of his coffee.

Kris watched with his head resting in his hands, smiling occasionally when the boy pouted about his picture not coming out correctly, or when he accidentally ruined it. He calmly took a sip of his drink, his eyes flickering to the barista behind the counter. She had finished making coffee for some college students that needed a little get-me-up for their late night studying and was ringing them up.

The woman caught him looking and he quickly turned his head, not wanting to get recognized and forced to find a new coffee place. He liked this one for its location near the outskirts of the city and away from prying eyes.

“This is a nice place,” the raven haired boy complimented. Kris locked eyes with Tao, who had finished his coffee master piece and was giving him a small smile, “How long have you been coming here?”

“I leave around the same time you do to go to the beach.”

“Really?”

He nodded and tapped the porcelain cup in front of him with the tip of his nail, “It’s cozy… it reminds me of some of the shops back in Canada.”

“What’s Canada like?”

“Very cold,” he chuckled.

Tao frowned, but accepted the answer anyways and leaned back in the cushions of the seat, “… Do you like Canada more than Beijing?”

“What’s with these questions?”

“I’m just wondering!”

He sighed, “I like it best wherever ever my brother’s are. Whether it is a giant stage in places like Korea, China, or Canada… or in a hidden coffee shop on a nice winter evening.”

The maknae’s eyes curled into two crescent moons, matching the grin he had on his face while he looked down at his coffee and swirled it around a bit, “I like being with everybody too. At first I wasn’t sure I’d survive without my parents… but now I don’t know if I can survive without you guys.”

Kris reached across the table to ruffle his dark, messy hair, “Since when did you become so sentimental?”

“I’ve always been like this Ge, you just now noticed?”

He flicked his head, calling him a ‘pabo’ under his breath since it was one of the few Korean works Tao actually understood. The raven haired boy retaliated by kicking him lightly under the table. After a call from their manager, the two finished their coffee quickly and left with a quick bow to the barista.

Tao and Kris walked side by side, making their way silently down the street to the nearest bus stop. Normally they’d call a van to pick them up, but Kris had only memorized the route, not the street signs and couldn’t give them an exact location.

It’s not like they minded anyways, the two boys’ never took their rare moments of freedom for granted.

However, Kris was starting to think they should have gotten a van when he saw the poor boy beside him shudder.

“Are you cold?”

“N-No, I’m fine,” Tao tried to smile, but it only managed to make the leader doubt him more when his teeth started to chatter. Before Kris could scold him anymore, the maknae’s eyes widened and he took off down the street, stopping outside a store that displayed stands of paper windmills.

“Look Ge! Spinners!” he yelled, the fog of his breath surfacing up and disappearing into the air. Kris walked closer and examined them. They were all different pastel color like light pinks and reds. Tao’s attention was focused on one that had a pattern of clouds on a baby blue background.

“These things always remind me of flying,” he spoke again, his fingers grazing the glass separating him from the child’s toy, “A slight breeze will get the propeller’s to move a little, but as the wind picks up the speed gets faster and eventually looks like it’ll fly off the stick at any moment. I always thought that if I had enough spinners I’d be able to take off and fly over my house… it didn’t really work out.”

Kris laughed, his grin showing over the thick scarf as Tao pouted at his not-so-pleasant memory. He grabbed the boy lightly by the arm and pulled him away from the closed store, remembering that they still had curfew to meet.

Silence fell on the two again as they reached their destination. They were the only ones standing there, under the dimly lit overhead stop. The elder checked his watch, sighing when he realized they still had lots of time before the bus would come. He looked over and noticed Tao busying himself with kicking stones and smiled.

“You know… I use to think the closest thing I’d get to stopping time was these winter nights,” Tao looked up, now interested in the topic and waited for him to continue, “When I’m all by myself without a soul in sight... It sort of feels like I’m the only person on earth. It’s probably silly, but I imagine the space you’re in when time stops to be as cold as this.”

“It’s not silly,” he reassured, “It’s not silly at all.”

“I also think it’s very lonely,” the duizhang continued, stuffing his hands into his pockets, “I mean, who wants to be by themselves? It’s relaxing I admit, but just thinking about being completely alone while everyone is as still as stone… it’s a hollow feeling.”

Tao looked like he was going to say something, but decided against it as the bus pulled up in front of it. Kris dropped a few coins in the slot and walked to the back, sliding into a window seat. Tao took the seat behind him and looked around, realizing they were the only ones on the bus.

“Everyone’s home by now,” Kris cleared up, “You won’t have to worry about fans.”

“Well in that case,” Tao hooked elbows with the elder and dug his hand into his pocket so he wouldn’t be able to pull away, “When time stops for you Ge, I’ll be here to keep you company.”

Kris blinked a couple of times, processing what the maknae had just said. He smiled softly and used his free arm to unravel the end of his scarf and, in turn, wrap it over Tao’s red cheek and nose. The maknae snuggled closer since the scarf wasn’t that long to begin with and rested his head on his shoulder.

“We’ll be back at the dorms soon,” he mumbled, “So don’t get too comfy.”

Tao hummed in response, but the leader knew he stopped listening to him the moment he closed his eyes. Kris relaxed and looked out the window, finally realizing why that night was getting colder and colder.

It had started to snow. 

NOTE: i'm not completely sure where EXOM spends their time in China, hell i don't even know if they're in Beijing, but i'm going with the excuse that this is a fic and i can do whatever i want XD

My sleeping habits are going haywire again. Sometimes i sleep well and other times i don't. for the past five days i've been getting like.... 3 hours of sleep... not good.

well, thats all, i'm done complaining. Night!

Oh! And i actually broke 200 subs?! wasn't expecting  that. Thanks a lot guys XD hope you enjoy this chapter and comment~