Warning: Language only.

O.o o.O

They were buying by order of age, so immediately after Luhan’s round of cocktails, it was Kris’ turn, and Tao stood without any prompting to help him carry the drinks.

“No,” Kris said firmly. “You sit and wait here.”

Tao shook his head. “I want to help.”

“I’ll come, too.” Sehun pulled at Kris’ sleeve, whispering into his ear, “Careful, hyung.”

Or he’ll be snatched up when you’re not looking, went unspoken.

Kris could only frown as he met Tao’s gaze, seeing the hesitant smile curling the corners of his lips. “Right,” Kris muttered to himself. “Come on, then.” He reached for Tao’s wrist, yanking him forward until he could wrap an arm around Tao’s waist.

Unfortunately for him, Sehun decided to slither up to Tao’s other side, hanging off his arm and leaning his chin on Tao’s shoulder. “Taotao, when are you going to take me for hot pot?”

Kris’ ears perked up. “Hot pot?”

“Oh, right, hot pot!” Tao leaned his hip on the side of the bar. “Whenever you’re free, Sehunnie.”

Sehunnie?

Sehun cuddled even closer, whining cutely as he smirked fiendishly at Kris from over Tao’s shoulder, lips pressed to the side of Tao’s neck. “Promise?”

“Of course!” Tao Sehun’s hair gently. “I always keep my promises.”

“Yehet.” Sehun let Tao turn from his grasp to face Kris.

“Ge, would you want to go hot pot? It’d be best if we can get all twelve of us to go - we can have two pots and order all sorts of things!”

“Yeah, sure,” Kris croaked, voice oddly strangled. “Sounds great.”

Sehun slid up from behind Tao, nosing at the back of Tao’s neck. “Taotao, you smell good.”

“Oh,” Tao said, cheeks turning pink, patting Sehun’s hands on his waist. “Thanks, Sehunnie.”

Kris could only gape as the devil child continued smirking at him smugly.

“Looks like you could use some tips, hyung,” Sehun whispered as Tao walked ahead of them back to the tables, focused on carrying four steins of beer.

“I do not!” squawked Kris.

“Whatever you say, Casanova.” Sehun gave a deliberate roll of his eyes before cutting in front of Kris to talk to Tao.

Kris could only lament the fact that all his dongsaeng were little s. But then his gaze met Tao’s just as he was about to sit and he slammed his knee into the table so that the beer he had just set down sloshed all over the place.

In that very split second, with eleven pairs of incredulous eyes fixed on him, Kris wanted to disappear off the face of the earth.

Minseok was the first to act, dumping a handful of napkins onto the puddle that dripped off the edges of the tiny table and onto the floor; but as always, Luhan was the first to open his big mouth. “, Kris, are you ing drunk already? How much have you had?”

“It’s just a little spill,” Minseok said, helping Yixing mop up the beer that had splashed onto his lap.

Kris was absolutely mortified; he knew why he had stumbled, and the reason was currently pressing napkins against his thighs in an effort to soak up the beer from the denim. “It’s okay,” he said, pushing Tao’s hands away. “It’ll dry. It’s fine.”

“Oh - okay,” Tao said, leaning back with a flutter of long, dark lashes. “Sorry.”

“No, really, it’s fine. It’s just beer.”

But Tao was now pressed against Suho, attention diverted once more.

“Smooth,” Sehun snickered from his other side. “Real smooth, hyung.”

Kris was too appalled to even tell Sehun to go himself. Luckily, Yixing was there to have his back: “Oh, come off it, Sehunnie. It isn’t Kris’ fault he gets just by one look from baby Tao and totally couldn’t keep his composure and has no coordination outside of the basketball court. Good thing he didn’t get any of it on baby Tao’s new clothes.”

There was a special place in hell reserved for Yixing, Kris was sure of it.

Tao turned back at the sound of his name. “What was that?”

“You didn’t get any beer on your new clothes.” Yixing raised his mug. “Cheers, baby Tao.”

“Cheers, Yixing-ge! I’m so glad you came out tonight!”

Yixing wiggled his eyebrows at Kris over the top of his glass.

On his other side, Sehun snickered again, not even trying to hide it. “Still don’t think you need tips, hyung?”

Kris didn’t even bother replying, guzzling his beer in attempt to cool the flaming blush on his face.

O.o o.O

Tao found himself completely engrossed in conversation with Kyungsoo, the two of them discussing different martial arts moves.

“Chokeholds are the best,” Kyungsoo said decisively. “Easy, good to use against someone stronger than you, and very painful as the lack of air slowly causes them to lose consciousness.”

If Tao was disturbed by Kyungsoo’s remark, he certainly didn’t show it, because he shook his head earnestly, “That’s not enough! You would need to get into position behind and above the attacker before you can use that move and you’d be completely vulnerable until then.”

“Kicking them in the balls works, too.”

“Well, yes, but anyone with a little bit of training will be able to defend themselves from that because, seriously hyung, it’s one of the main bits to protect.” Tao clasped his hands together. “And if someone has a weight or size advantage on you, it’s easy for them to subdue you without really needing much skill. That’s why, hyung, you need to focus on techniques that allow you to defend against someone larger and stronger than you.”

Kyungsoo didn’t even blink. “In a fight between crazy and brute strength, crazy usually wins.”

Tao looked sceptical. “Really?”

“Haven’t you fought before? Even in the context of a tournament?”

“Nope! I’ve always only competed in forms and not sparring.”

“Hm.” Kyungsoo still didn’t blink. “Don’t you want to try?”

“My wushu master always said to me not to fight, because if I were to fight, it would be to kill the opponent. All problems can be solved peacefully,” Tao quipped.

“I see. That’s a good motto to live by.”

“Keeping the peace is best!” Tao declared, though Kyungsoo could only inwardly sigh because he had meant the killing-the-opponent part, not Tao’s rainbows and butterflies .

“Right,” was all he said.

“Have you had a lot of experience fighting?”

Kyungsoo shrugged. “I guess.”

“Wow,” Tao breathed, eyes wide and shining with awe. “What’s it like?”

“Frightening, at first. And then exhilarating. When I put them in chokeholds and they’re gasping for air, you could almost taste how painful it must be feeling for them.” The corners of Kyungsoo’s mouth turned up slightly. “It’s nice.”

“Wow,” Tao said again. “Which gym do you go to?”

“I don’t.” Kyungsoo just looked at him with the same round eyes. “In high school, there used to be a bunch of guys that called me ‘Squishy’ and made fun of me.” A pause, and Kyungsoo’s gaze hardened. “Used to be.”

“That’s not nice,” Tao said, pouting sadly. “Mean people are the worst.”

Kyungsoo just stared at Tao for a long moment before reaching inside his hoodie and pulling out a milk candy. “Here.”

“Thank you, hyung!” Tao ate it happily as Kyungsoo patted the top of his head, noticing that Tao had barely had any of his beer.

“I’ll buy you a sweet drink.”

“Really? Thank you, hyung!” Tao leaned over to nuzzle his head against Kyungsoo’s shoulder, conveniently missing the diabolical smile that tugged at the corners of Kyungsoo’s lips.

Sorry, baby Tao, he thought. For the greater good.

O.o o.O

Hours later, Luhan and Minseok were seriously regretting their joint M suite (minus Kris) decision to ally with K suite and feed Tao shots secretly when Kris wasn’t looking, because K suite (plus Yixing and Jongdae) were off at a noraebang having tons of drunken fun while they were stuck struggling to carry a semi-conscious Tao back to the dorms.

Luhan was more than a little bitter about having to carry Tao back, mostly because Kyungsoo won a ton of money off him by being the one to have sneaked Tao the most number of shots over the course of the night - a whopping eight compared to Luhan’s paltry three. (Goodbye, eighty-thousand won.)

Minseok was turning in early because he had soccer practice the next day and neither he nor Luhan could skip it. (They were the co-captains.)

Kris just wondered why he had looked away for barely one second and suddenly Tao was blackout drunk. (He had even followed Tao to the bathroom the entire night just to be on the safe side.)

“Jesus , open the door already,” Luhan groaned, knees about to buckle under the strain of Tao’s weight.

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Minseok sighed, missing the keyhole multiple times.

“Almost there, Tao, we’re almost there,” Kris murmured into Tao’s ear. Tao could only groan in response, head lolling onto Kris’ shoulder.

They stumbled into the suite in a heap, Tao dropping to the floor almost immediately as Luhan and Kris collapsed in relief.

Kris pulled Tao back into a sitting position, hand on Tao’s cheek to turn his face towards him. “Tao? Tao, wake up, we’re home.”

Tao seemed to have forgotten how to speak Korean as he answered in slurred Mandarin, “Ge, I don’t feel well.”

“Do you need to throw up?”

Tao wrinkled his nose. “No.”

Kris helped him stand, and Tao swayed so violently once on his feet that Kris immediately slid a protective arm around his waist. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“Everything’s spinning. Ge, I don’t feel well,” Tao said again.

“Go to sleep. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Tao shucked off his clothes carelessly, tossing his shirt off to the side, but struggled with his skinny jeans as he squirmed on the bed, trying to pull them off. “Ge! They’re stuck!” He lay in a heap, legs stretching off the bed as he wiggled a foot. “Help me take them off, please?”

Kris froze, the sound of blood rushing through his temples drowning out everything else. “Y-You, ah, what?”

Tao just whined and reached for his stuffed panda, jeans pushed to his thighs and baring skintight black boxer briefs in paper-thin fabric. Luckily (or unluckily), Minseok chose that exact moment to come in with a large water bottle for Tao.

“Come on, Peaches,” he said. “Drink this. Hyung will help you undress.”

“But I’m not thirsty,” Tao said, still in Mandarin, accepting the bottle obediently and sipping from it slowly.

Minseok patted Tao’s bare stomach with a cheerful, “I have no idea what you’re saying.” But then a grimace settled as he began yanking on the jeans that were moulded to every curve of Tao’s long legs. “Holy , I told Luhan not to go one size down,” he huffed. “Little - never - listens - to - me!” And with one last heave, Minseok bowled over on the floor, Tao’s jeans still tight in his grasp.

Kris just stood uselessly off to the side, mouth dry and swallowing hard, wondering if this was actually real life. He could see the imprint of seams run up the inside of Tao’s legs, drawing his eyes up over strong calves and, up, up, up to the soft curve of his plush inner thighs and -

“Dude, seriously,” Minseok said crossly, “stop ing and help me get him under the covers.”

Tao lay sprawled on top of his duvet, limbs akimbo and panda clutched tightly in one hand. Even with a full belly from the barbecue and alcohol, the ridges of his abdominals were visible, flexing with each quick, shallow breath that he took, and though Mr Panda hid most of Tao’s chest from view, there was no hiding the fact that it was just as deliciously muscled as the rest of him. Tao tossed his head to the side, baring his neck as if in submission, and Kris quickly shook the thought from his mind and focused on helping Minseok pull the duvet up from under Tao and shifting him into a proper sleeping position.

Minseok straightened with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “That was harder than I thought it’d be.”

Kris gave one last, longing look towards Tao before turning his back on him. “Come on, let’s let him sleep.” He clicked off the light and closed the door quietly, sighing heavily as he headed towards his own bedroom.

It would take until dawn before Kris slept, body finally succumbing to exhaustion.

O.o o.O

“Oh.”

Tao looked over to see Kris frozen by the living room, hair askew, having just woken up. “Oh, ge,” he greeted, voice hoarser than usual, wondering why Kris looked so surprised. “Good morning.”

“Uh.” Kris padded a few more steps into the main space, scratching the back of his head. “Uh. How. Uh. How do you feel?”

Tao hugged Mr Panda tighter, chin digging into the top of its head. “Not too good, ge. I skipped my morning class.”

“Yeah, uh. Um.” Kris cleared his throat. “Uh. Have you, uh. Eaten breakfast?”

“Minseok-ge made me soup before he and Luhan-ge went to practice.” Tao sighed and pouted sadly, leaning his head onto the back of the sofa as he blinked up at Kris. “I think I’m still hungover.”

There were odd pink splotches forming on Kris’ face, the tips of his ears a burning red as he cleared his throat again and turned sharply towards the kitchen. “I’m making tea,” he said curtly. “You want?”

“Yes, please!” Tao snuggled Mr Panda some more, curling up tighter into his corner of the couch. “Will you add honey to mine?”

“Sure.” It took only a few minutes for Kris to hand him a mug and sit down in the armchair by Tao’s side, a tense silence settling over the two of them.

Tao tried to focus on the television, but it was hard because he could feel Kris’ eyes on the side of his face, gaze boring into his skin. If he wasn’t feeling so nauseous he would have been in full blush, but as it was, the heavy pounding of his heart only served to make him feel even sicker.

It wasn’t long before Tao couldn’t take the strange tension anymore, and blurted out, “Is something wrong?”

Kris seemed to come back to himself then, eyes widening as he shook his head and straightened in his seat. “No,” he said, not meeting Tao's gaze as he took a sip of tea. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Did…did I do something bad last night?” Tao chewed on his lower lip worriedly; he could barely remember leaving the bar, never mind going back to the dorms and being put into bed.

“No,” Kris said curtly, frown heavy on his brow.

“Did I…do something embarrassing?”

“What do you remember?” Kris turned his head away from Tao deliberately, feigning nonchalance as he kept his eyes fixed on the television.

“Not much,” Tao admitted in a tiny voice. “I was really, really drunk.”

Kris grunted, but made no other reply. “I’m going to my room.”

Tao watched him leave, despondence weighing even more heavily now than ever before at the slam of Kris’ door.

O.o o.O

Yixing returned in the afternoon to find Tao sprawled on the couch, clutching his panda with an aura of gloom permeating through the room.

“Hey, baby Tao,” he greeted easily, dumping his bag on the floor and crouching next to the sofa.

“Yixing-ge,” Tao said tearfully, leaning into Yixing’s hand as he it through Tao’s ruffled black hair.

“What’s wrong? Still hungover?”

Tao shook his head. “Ge, I think I did something bad last night.”

“What sort of bad? Did you puke on someone?”

“No.”

“What is it then?” Yixing settled onto the ground more comfortably; he had a feeling this was going to take a while.

“It’s Kris-ge.” Tao hid his face behind Mr Panda, the words coming out muffled.

“Ah.” That explained so much, not least the seemingly odd text messages he kept receiving from Kris.

“I think I did something bad, but I don’t remember it.”

“Hmm.” Yixing tapped his chin. Luhan’s updates from last night had been fairly normal. Nothing of note had happened; Tao had been too drunk, and Kris too awkward. Although, Minseok had said something interesting over lunch - something about Kris being a ? Ah, he really should have paid more attention to Minseok, but he had been so focused on keeping his noodles from sliding off his chopsticks…the ramyun from lunch was good, but the soup had left something to be desired. There was that one takeaway place that had really good jjigae - maybe he’ll have sundubu jjigae for dinner?

Tao just waited patiently through Yixing’s much-longer-than-usual pause, because Yixing’s pauses were always much-longer-than-usual and if he hadn’t been breathing Tao would have thought he was a frozen gif.

“Why would you think you did something bad?”

“Well,” Tao said, sitting up, Yixing moving onto the couch next to him, “I guess it’s because Kris-ge seemed really angry at me earlier. He was glaring at me the whole time! And he sounded really angry too. He’s not normally so short with me.” Tao’s fingers kneaded into Mr Panda’s soft stomach. “I…I can’t even remember what it was that I did to make him mad.”

Yixing watched the movement of Tao’s fingers, blinking slowly as he realised what was actually happening and what it had to do with Minseok’s lunchtime remarks. “Ah,” he said, rubbing his chin and his imaginary beard. “I see how it is. Well, if Kris hasn’t told you by now he’ll never tell you what it was you did. The only thing you can do now is make it up to him.”

“How?”

“This is gonna be a hard one, baby Tao. Kris is not easily swayed once he’s really angry. He’ll hold a grudge forever. You’re gonna have to be extra cute around him. Max out your aegyo. Up the skinship. Ask him to shower with you.”

Tao’s hands covered his cheeks. “W-What?”

Yixing smiled guilelessly. “Scrub his back. Ask him to scrub your back. It’s good for bonding.”

“But - but -”

Yixing let out a huge sigh. “I guess you could just wait out the rest of the academic year with Kris mad at you. Or you could move out.” He crossed his fingers behind his back. Please don’t move out!

“I don’t want to leave!” Tao wailed, collapsing into Yixing’s lap. “Ge, will he make me go?”

“Weeeeell,” Yixing said slowly, shifting so Tao’s head rested more comfortably against his thighs, “not if you listen to what I say.”

Tao nodded resolutely. “I’ll do all of it, ge! Everything you say! Kris-ge will forgive me in no time!” He danced Mr Panda on his stomach. “Fighting!”

Yixing allowed himself a wide, wide, evil smile, fingers brushing back Tao’s long bangs. “That’s the spirit.”

O.o o.O

/Part 13

A/N: Hello! Long time no see! I'm sorry this took so long! My health has not been the best for the past few months, so I've been resting and working mostly!!! Thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!!! It means so, so, so much to me to know you're still reading! I will not give up on OT12 and Taoris! Fighting!!!!