♛Moonlit Confessions 

 

Pairing: Tao/Kyungsoo

Word Count: 2,527

Requested by: Mehmehjin

 

The surprising knowledge is that Tao is waking Kyungsoo up.

What huge problem could Tao have that even Kris can't solve?

 

 

"Kyungsoo hyung..."

 

"Kyungsoo hyung..."

 

"Hyung...!"

 

Kyungsoo winces at the fierce whisper in his ear, opening his eyes slowly as he tries to gather his bearings. He blinks a few times before yawning, arms going out to stretch as he begins to sit up--

"Ow!" both he and the person who woke him up cry out as their foreheads hit one another’s with a muted smack. Kyungsoo falls onto his back with his hands cradling his forehead, groaning in pain and pouting.

 

"Ack, hyung, I'm sorry!" comes the timid, apologetic voice from beside him.

 

The older man turns his head to see calm, dark eyes boring into his. There isn't a lot of light in the room but just enough filters through the curtain and illuminates the room in a soft glow. Thus, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness, Kyungsoo can make out a small, sloped nose, thin lips, and bags underneath eyes. A forehead is framed by unruly, inky black hair and the skin is a pale but natural white.

Without a doubt, the man who woke him up and is currently lying next to him in his bed is none other than Huang Zitao, the self-entitled kung fu panda of EXO-M. Most importantly, however, known to Kyungsoo as the man he has a bit of a crush on (read: a massive crush on).

 

"Sorry!" Tao repeats, frowning. "Are you alright? Why aren't you saying anything? Did I not use the suffix properly? Ugh, I knew Xiumin ge lied when he said the proper suffix for older men is hyung. It's obviously 'oppa'! K-dramas don't lie--"

 

"X-Xiumin hyung didn't lie, Tao," Kyungsoo tells him quietly, "it's hyung, not oppa. That's what females use."

 

"Oh." Tao flushes noticeably. "Then...why didn't you say anything before?"

 

"Because you woke me up at--" he breaks off, turning his head to the night table where his alarm clock is located, "three o'clock at night. I'm going to be a bit disorientated, Tao." It’s fine, though. Kyungsoo doesn’t mind it, especially if it’s Tao of all people.

 

The younger man seems to deflate. "Right, of course," he whispers, then begins to back out of the bed. "Uh, uhm, I'm really sorry, oppa--ah, I mean hyung! Sorry. I'll let you go back to sleep." Confused, Kyungsoo balances an elbow on the mattress so he can reach out and grasp his wrist. Tao immediately stills.

 

"No, no: stay," Kyungsoo urges, not wanting the other to leave just yet. "You must've woken me up for a reason. What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

While it is EXO-K's dorm that Tao is in, this isn't surprising knowledge to the Korean sub-unit's member. M decided to stay over for a few days after having come back to Korea from China due to their schedules, and of course, K welcomed them wholeheartedly.

The surprising knowledge is that Tao is waking Kyungsoo up. Last he remembered, Tao is supposed to be sleeping in Baekhyun and Chanyeol's room with Kris. If he needed something, why not just wake up Kris, who the martial artist preferred more than anyone in the group, instead of Kyungsoo? Despite his crush on the man, the thought is a disconcerting one and Kyungsoo finds himself instantly worried. What huge problem could Tao have that even Kris can't solve?

 

"...I'm not sleepy," Tao answers.

 

Kyungsoo blinks, taken aback. “You’re not sleepy,” he repeats.

 

Tao nods his head, coming back to sit carefully on the side of his bed. “I’m not in the mood to sleep. I tried for two whole hours but I just can’t. I don’t know what to do and it’s lonely staying awake by myself, so I, uh, yeah.”

 

“So you came to me,” Kyungsoo finishes for him, smiling happily. It’s nice to know that Tao feels close enough to him to actually wake him up. However, then again, he may have woken many people up only for them to swat him away. He can imagine most of the members doing so, the cranky sleepers they are. “I suppose Kris hyung didn’t want to stay awake? Must’ve been very worn out.”

 

Tao looks confused. “...Kris ge?” But then his eyes light up. “Ah, yes! Yes, uhm, he was.” When Tao stumbles a bit over the Korean, Kyungsoo finally realises that their entire conversation so far had been in the language his dongsaeng wasn’t fluent in.

 

“Oh, Tao!” he says as loudly as he possibly can in a room of three sleeping men. “You’re talking in Korean! And really good, too!”

 

The younger male seems to flush at the encouraging words. “Y-Yes, Kyungsoo ge--I mean, hyung. I’ve been learning really hard.”

 

Kyungsoo beams at him, which somehow makes Tao flush even more. “That’s great, Tao! You’re really improving. It’s nice to see!” He frowns then. “Now if only I could improve on my Chinese. Then you wouldn’t have to try so hard to communicate with me in a language you aren’t familiar with.”

 

“That’s alright, hyung,” Tao says quickly, reaching out and placing a hand over his. “Don’t trouble yourself over something like that.”

 

“Trouble myself?” The older man tilts his head to the side before smiling softly. “It’s no trouble at all, Tao. I want to learn Chinese; I don’t find it a burden or anything. I just want to make you comfortable, I guess. I...heard about your troubles at SM Entertainment, about how difficult it was for you to be in a place where you had no idea what most of the people were saying. It must’ve been very scary.”

 

Tao stares at him for a while, silent, and Kyungsoo immediately realises his mistake. “Oh! I’m sorry! You must’ve not understand most of what I said! Forget I even said anything.”

 

“No, no,” the other male says, shaking his head. “I-I understood it well enough, hyung. I just...no one’s actually said anything to me about those days, I guess. Kris ge helped me out lots and I love him a lot for it but we don’t really outright talk about any of it...”

 

“Well, you can always talk to me about it. I-If you want, that is. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

 

“If it’s not any trouble--” Tao hesitates, glancing around the dark room, breath hissing out through clenched teeth. “I really want...I’d like to...talk now?”

 

“Of course, of course,” Kyungsoo says, nodding encouragingly before turning towards the three slumbering figures in his room. “We should go some place where we can properly talk, though. We wouldn’t want to wake up any of the others.”

 

“Outside?” Tao suggests.

 

“Outside the room? Yeah, sounds like a plan.”

 

“I-I meant outside the dorm, actually. Some”--he seems to struggle for the words, squinting up at the ceiling--“fresh air is nice. But outside the room is fine too.”

 

“We can go out if you want,” Kyungsoo offers. “I don’t mind, really. I don’t think any of the managers or Suho hyung will notice if we do; it’s so late at night, after all.”

 

Tao seems to catch the general gist of his words if the way his awkward posture straightens up and a wide grin stretches across his lips. He nods his head enthusiastically, eyes squinting into crescents, and Kyungsoo tries his best to stifle a chuckle at the endearing sight.

 

“Okay, let’s go,” he urges the younger idol. “Go change and we’ll meet up at the front door, okay? Don’t make too much noise!”

 

“Kris ge is a very heavy sleeper, hyung, and Baekhyun hyung and Chanyeol hyung as well, Sehun says,” Tao informs him, still smiling widely. “I’ll be fine.”

 

Kyungsoo watches Tao leave with high spirits, only to frown in confusion. How does Sehun know Baekhyun and Chanyeol are heavy sleepers, though--wait a second.

 

Suddenly, the day when Baekhyun and Chanyeol woke up with sharpie marker all over their faces makes a lot more sense...

 

 

 

“This is nice,” Kyungsoo says happily as the two males walk side-by-side down the deserted sidewalk near their dorm. It’s a bit frightening due to how dark out it is but Tao is there, walking right next to him. This alone is strangely reassuring.

 

“Yes, I agree,” Tao says, nodding his head enthusiastically. “The...moon is very bright.”

 

“Now all that’s missing is another moon,” Kyungsoo says, elbowing the younger lightly in the stomach before chuckling at his own joke.

 

Tao blinks, tilting his head a bit to the side. “I don’t get it?”

 

Kyungsoo frowns. Did he not understand his words or the actual joke? Unsure of what else to do, he softly begins to sing in Chinese as best he can. “There’s two moons out today. Two, two moons.”

 

The rapper’s eyes widen a tad at this, a small smile dancing across his lips. “You sing good in Chinese!” he compliments. “Better than me with my Korean.”

 

“Well, you speak better, so,” Kyungsoo awkwardly trails off, shrugging off the kind compliment modestly. He glances down at his feet before looking back up at the other idol. “So, why couldn’t you sleep?”

 

Tao bites his bottom lip as he racks his brain. “I guess it was nice seeing everyone together,” he finally manages, stuffing his cold hands into the pockets of his dark coat. “I don’t want today to end.”

 

The words cause quite an impact in Kyungsoo as he realises what tomorrow entails. Tomorrow, the K and M sub-units will come together for a joint schedule and then, afterwards, EXO-M will immediately fly back out to China for their separate schedules. The days the Mandarin sub-unit had spent in South Korea seems to have gone by in a flash, as days filled with excitement, where every single second is precious, typically do.

“I know what you mean,” Kyungsoo murmurs sadly, staring towards the darkness in front of them as they continue to walk. “Suddenly, I don’t really want to sleep either.” Sighing cutely, he begins to swing his arms almost childishly, and for a minute or so, silence reigns.

And then, quite suddenly, Kyungsoo’s right hand is swallowed by warmth. Surprised, he glances down to see Tao’s hand grasping his own hand gently, the paleness of their skin standing out even more with the streetlights’ dull glow barely highlighting their forms. He can’t help but feel a little giddy at the sight, though confused as to what caused Tao to grab his hand.

 

Tao slows them down until they are rooted to one spot, tugging on the older male’s hand until they are standing face-to-face. Kyungsoo peers up at his face questioningly, wondering what happened. Was it something he said? Something he did? Is Tao angry at him?

“Let’s spend tonight together then, hyung,” the Chinese idol says firmly, his grip becoming tight. Not enough to hurt, though; just enough to send tingles of warmth up Kyungsoo’s arm and nestle in his heart. “I don’t want to leave you. I’m really going to miss you.”

 

This causes the other idol’s doe eyes to widen even more. His cheeks turn warm all of a sudden. “M-Me? But what about t-the others?” he manages to squeak out.

 

“I’ll miss the others, but you...hyung, I’ll miss you the most,” Tao murmurs, voice gentle. He shyly begins to shuffle his feet then, breaking eye contact and looking around as if searching for something. “And, uhm. I have a small confession to make.”

 

C-Confession?! Does he actually mean--

Kyungsoo clears his throat awkwardly, heartbeat picking up. “What about, Tao?” His voice sounds strangled and the embarrassment almost makes him run away. Though, even if he had tried, he wouldn’t have gone far with Tao’s hand pressed so tight against his own.

 

“I never woke Kris ge up. I thought a lot about it, but in the end, it was almost as if I didn’t want to wake him up. It was almost as if...I wanted to go to someone else. I wanted someone else to stay up with me.” Tao exhales slowly and takes a small step towards Kyungsoo, head bowed. “I wanted you.”

 

The older male finds the words difficult to wrap his head around. “You w-wanted me? So you--”

 

“--went straight to you. Yeah. I’m sorry for disturbing your sleep, hyung, but I just--I really--I like you. I really like you a lot. I never knew how to tell you this and I honestly didn’t think today would be that day, but uhm, yeah. Sorry.”

 

Heart hammering even more now, Kyungsoo takes a small step forward, staring down at Tao’s hand in his. With trepidation, his free hand reaches forward and grasps Tao’s other hand, squeezing them both carefully.

“You don’t need to apologise, Tao,” he whispers. “I-I’m glad that you came to me first, actually. And that you like me. And that’s because...I like you too. I like you a lot.” Finally, he risks it and glances up to see Tao staring at him with wide, shocked eyes. It’s a comical sight, especially since his mouth is half-open, and Kyungsoo bites his bottom lip to quell his amused laughter.

 

“You do? Really? You mean it, hyung?”

 

Kyungsoo nods his head shyly. “Of course. Why would I lie?”

 

“You wouldn’t. It’s just really hard to...believe. I’m surprised.”

 

“What, you never thought I’d like you back?”

 

It’s Tao’s turn to nod his head shyly. “It seemed so impossible,” he admits quietly.

 

“Well, believe it,” Kyungsoo says, smiling softly up at him. “I know it might be a bit difficult since you’re always going to be needed in China and me in Korea, but it’ll be worth talking to you over the phone or on Skype or finally being with you during those days when we have a joint schedule. I really want this to work.”

 

Tao seems to be blinking back tears. “Yes, me too,” he says thickly, as if trying hard not to cry.

 

The heartbreaking immediately gives Kyungsoo an idea, and quietly, he begins to sing in Chinese. “You will never be like foam, don’t you know that? So baby don’t cry, cry. My love will protect you and never let go.”

 

The look in Tao’s eyes is worth every single time he messes up his pronunciation, and when Tao finally leans down and slants his lips over his own, Kyungsoo knows that this is worth any hardship that may come their way in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

midnight_ fantasy - -

Hi, everyone!

I'm midnight_fantasy and the new co-author of The Centerpiece. So, uhm, surprise? /awkward

Anywhom, I hope you liked my first oneshot on here! I'm afraid I am not very good in terms of making Kyungsoo as squishy and innocent as xLadySakurax is but I hope you like my depiction of him and TaoSoo in general nevertheless?

Thank you for reading and I'll be sure to complete your requests to the best of my ability!