He kissed my eyes, one at a time. “This is beauty, and this is beauty, you are beauty, and love is beauty and we are beauty. We are divine, unchanged by time.” He said this until I promised I believed him, until I agreed it was enough.

-The Bonesetter's Daughter

~~~

September 30th:

Kris's final birthday is coming up, and I have no idea what to do for him! I don't have that much money...but I don't think it would be very helpful to get a job, and if I had the money I'd have no idea what to do with it. I mean he said he didn't want anything special but still, it's his last, and I want it to be the best birthday ever.

Tao slammed his hands on his desk for the fifth time. "Laoshi, what am I going to do?!"

"How about you bake a cake for him?" she suggested climbing onto Tao's desk, littered with scraped party plans.

"I can't cook Laoshi, you know that. Remember what happened that one Valentine's Day?"

"Oh yeah, that was bad. Your mom did not appreciate the black heart cake..."

"I knew I should've just bought one..."

"Well what does Kris like? He likes basketball doesn't he? Since he's always playing it over by that park."

Tao lay his head on the desk, "But I can't play basketball. Geez, I feel like Chanyeol should be planning this, not me."

Laoshi looked at Tao, and felt sad. She had never seen Tao so determined about anything, not even his wushu. "Tao..." his eyes were closed, and he had drifted off to sleep despite it being the middle of the afternoon. "Don't worry Tao, I'll help you." she said patting his back before running out the sliding glass door. With one large hop she jumped from Tao's balcony to Kris's. His door was open a crack, and Laoshi peered into the dark room, the light from the small crack illuminating the room, what she saw froze her in time.

Tao awoke with a jolt and quickly glanced at the clock. Oh good, it's only been half an hour. "I guess I was tired huh Laoshi? Laoshi?" Tao quickly remembered the open glass door. Oh Laoshi please don't tell me you tried to help! He ran onto the balcony and looked over at Kris's. He quickly spotted the Red Panda sitting in front of his glass door. "Laoshi! Get over here!" he said in a loud whisper. She didn't respond. "Laoshi!" he said a little louder. But after she didn't respond for the second time, Tao was left with no choice. He jumped from his balcony to Kris's and hurried to Laoshi's side. "Laoshi what are you doing?" he whispered.

"I couldn't enter."

"Huh?" Tao asked looking at the slightly opened door. "Why not?"

"Kris is asleep, and he's crying." Tao peeked into the room, small sobs and sniffles could be heard.

"Why is he..."

"He was talking earlier too but..."

"What did he say?" Tao asked turning to Laoshi.

"Nothing, but Kris looks cold, I think we should put a blanket over him or something."

"You're right." Tao was already opening to door and walking in. He carefully and quietly approached the crying boy. Laoshi was right, he was shivering on his bed. He carefully picked up the fallen blanket off the ground and gently placed it over the blonde boy. Tao kneeled by the bed and looked at the sleeping Kris. "He looks so peaceful." he reached out a hand and gently rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. Kris didn't flinch, but the soft sobs gradually came to a stop. Laoshi observed the two, who seemed totally oblivious to what they were doing. "Kris don't worry. Dream only sweet dreams okay? Tao is here to protect you, I'll make sure that nothing harms you." Laoshi once again felt sad, the sun was beginning to leave the sky, and the soft breeze made the curtains dance. Tao yawned and placed his head on Kris's soft bed, and drifted off to sleep. Laoshi smiled a smile of content before scurrying back to her house.

Kris's eyes fluttered open, and he nearly had a heart attack upon seeing Tao in his room, sleeping, by his bed. He quickly tried to recall what had happened. All he remembered was lying on his bed an letting the bad thoughts once again fill his mind, he began to cry and eventually fell asleep, and amongst the horrible dreams he had found a beacon of hope, and his crying stopped, and he felt safe, like a mother singing a lullaby to a child. Tao made a small stir in his sleep, and Kris noticed the wide open door. Did he actually come here? He noticed the blanket. And he put a blanket on me too? Kris smiled and changed positions with Tao. He picked up the sleeping boy and placed him on his bed, gently tucking the blanket around him, before taking his place on the floor. One of Tao's soft hands poked out, and Kris grabbed it, intertwining his fingers with the boy's. Feeling drowsy once more, Kris lay on the floor, still connected to Tao, and fell asleep.

Tao awoke with a small shriek, that caused Kris to awaken from his sleep. "Tao are you okay?"

"What, what happened?"

"You tell me. I just woke up and you were sleeping here, so I put you on my bed, and fell asleep here I guess."

"But you didn't do anything else right?" Tao asked alarmed, wrapping his arms around his body.

"Tao, do I look like I'd do that to a defenseless little boy?"

"I'm not defenseless! And yes!"

Kris smiled, "Don't worry I did nothing of the sort."

"Then why were we holding hands?" he asked blushing.

Kris looked at his hand, the one that had held Tao's, "Now that, I don't know."

"Well you should! But umm, thank you." Tao quickly hurried out of his room, greeted by the cold night air, and jumped to his balcony, nearly stumbling and hurried into his room. Laoshi was flipping through the pages of a book.

"Back so soon? What's wrong Tao dear? You look as red as a lai see envelope, and you're shaking." she asked casually.

Tao quickly shut the door behind him. "Oh nothing. Nothing at all." Laoshi raised an invisible eyebrow.

"Well okay then. Now did you figure out what you'd like to do for Kris's birthday?"

"Well, sort of, a little."

"So you've made progress!"

Tao smiled. "Yes, I've made progress."

Finally got to update, yay! School is over next week so I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to write then. I realized that it was really lacking fluff, and without fluff how could the love progress?! :O I also keep forgetting to put where the quotes in the beginning of each chapter are from. (But I remembered this time!) I'll probably go back later and add them. Thank you to any new subscribers! Comments/Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated~!

@Bliss_Destiny: Slowly yes, slowly it is getting intersting! And I'm sure you would gladly help Laoshi bring down the Happy Virus XD