Kris jerked awake. The early autumn sun was rising and the soft sunlight glowed through the curtains. Kris rubbed his eyes and scanned the room, trying to find the source that woke him up and beat the crap out of it. The only thing he could find was Tao, lying next to him with a frown across his brow and sweat beading down his cheeks. He was breathing frantically, like he had just finished a race and had water seeping through the corners of his eyes.  Kris didn’t want to wake him straight away as he would have disturbed his dream and made Tao more frightened. So instead, he took hold of Tao’s hand and gently it like an animal. Tao reacted by grasping him tightly, making Kris even more concerned. However, Tao’s breathing seemed to slow down and his expression relaxed. Kris his arm, going from Tao’s hand all the way up to his neck and rubbed Tao’s cheek with his thumb. Kris glanced over to have a look at his alarm clock, realising they had a couple of hours before they had to get up. But Kris needed to know what Tao was dreaming; otherwise it would have an effect on the maknae’s behaviour that day. He whispered Tao’s name, still rubbing his cheek and waited for a reaction. He waited, but got no answer so tried again. Tao inhaled deeply through his nose, fluttering his eyes open and shot Kris a questioning look. He blinked a couple of times to get rid of the sleep in his eyes before asking.

“Is everything alright Gege?”.

Kris rolled his eyes. “You tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

Kris resisted the urge to shove him out the bed and folded his arms instead. “You were dreaming. What happened?”.

Tao’s eyes widened in surprise. “Did I wake you Gege?”. He felt bad for waking their leader. He knew how much stress Kris went through every day and how important sleep was to him.

Kris sighed. “It doesn’t matter” he said soothingly, brushing Tao’s hair with his fingers. “I’m awake now.” He added with a smile.

Tao smiled back and explained what happened. “I was still in the room, but then some people came. They were wearing white and they had not features on their faces.”. Kris made a mental note never to let Tao watch ‘Doctor Who’ by himself anymore; he was getting too many ideas from that programme.

“They pulled the bed away, with me still trapped in it,” Tao continued. “Then there was a bright light.”. Salty water pricked his eyes and he looked away, praying that Kris didn’t notice. He did. Kris wiped the tears with his thumb and put an arm around his shoulders. Tao felt his throat tighten; he needed a drink. “I couldn’t see. The light was blinding and the people were everywhere. More people came and they were shouting. They were shouting at me, surrounding me with cold metal tools. But I couldn’t understand what they were saying! I was drowning in their words and their faces but when I tried to call out, they didn’t hear me!”. Tao chocked back more tears and he huddled against Kris, trying not to let the tears escape. He was becoming hysterical and Kris could tell he was going to break at some point.

But Tao stopped, exhaling forcefully and smiled softly. “Then it came.”.

Kris looked at him curiously, “What did?” he questioned.

Tao shrugged, “I don’t know what it was, but it saved me. There was suddenly this warm feeling and it spread all around the room, then everything went.”. Tao paused. “And I was back in the field.”.

Tao glanced up at Kris, who was frowning in bewilderment. “What does it mean, Gege?”. Tao believed that the dreams were related to something that was going happen in the future.  Kris, however, believed that Tao was bullting and that the maknae needed to stop worrying. But not wanting to upset him even more, Kris shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

Tao sighed and pursed his lips in thought, trying to analyse the dream. Kris jabbed him sharply in the chest. “Stop thinking about it – It’s ended now.” He commanded. Tao sighed, narrowing his eyes and glared at the bed post, like he was bullying it to give him an answer. Kris gave him a shove.

“Come on, get up.”

Tao turned to the clock, groaning and pulled the covers over his head. “Gege!”, he whined. “Let me sleep for another hour, pleeeeeeeeease!”. Kris gave him another shove and Tao fell out the bed with a thud. He grinned as Tao rubbed his painful shoulder, giving him an evil stare with his dark eyes. This scared Kris, and he quickly scrambled out of the bed and offered Tao his hand. Helping Tao regain his feet, he smiled and patted his back.

“I need help making breakfast – come on!”

Kris strode out the door as Tao quickly retrieved his panda from the bed and waddled behind him into the kitchen. He sat down at the table on the corner with a yawn and watched as Kris began preparing vegetables. Kris put down the knife, dug around in the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs along with the frying pan from cupboard beneath him. He put the pan on the hob, but stopped. He was missing something. Tao tilted his head to the side as Kris went flying through the kitchen in search for the most important ingredient.

“What you looking for Gege?” Tao asked sleepily, rubbing the panda against his cheek. Kris stepped back and put his hands on his hips.

“Where is that damn oil?”

“What oil?”

“Cooking oil, I was going to make omelettes.”

Tao his lips hungrily at the thought of Kris’s omelettes. They weren’t as good as D.O’s, but still good. Kris stomped out the kitchen and yelled down the hallway.

“WHO’S HAD THE FRIGGEN COOKING OIL?”. Whiney voices erupted from each of the rooms, complaining at being woken up so rudely.

“Kris, no one cares…”

“Why the hell would we have cooking oil?”

Kris rolled his eyes and headed back to the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, just make something else.”. Kris gave Tao a ‘Are you kidding me’ look. Tao cowered back into his chair and held the panda defensively in front of his face. Kris smirked and shook his head at the maknae’s pathetic shield.

“I’ve prepared everything already…” he froze and looked horrified at the kitchen door. Tao peeked behind his panda but Kris rushed over and covered his eyes.

“CHEN, WHAT THE HELL?!” Kris shrieked. Tao tried to remove Kris’s hands but the leader stood firm.

“Gege, what’s wrong?”

“Yeah hyung, what’s wrong?”

Kris’s eyes bulged out of his head.  Chen was leaning on the doorframe seductively. .

“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD PLEASE GO AND SOME BLOODY CLOTHES ON!”

Chen chuckled and stretched his arms, exaggerating his ness just to piss Kris off and headed towards the fridge. Tao was struggling under Kris’s hold and was begging to be set free whilst Kris was just watching Chen. He wanted to look away, but somehow he couldn’t. Chen spotted him gawping and laughed.

“You know this isn’t the first time seeing me starkers’,”.

Kris glared at him. “When I accidently walked in on you having a shower! And some of us,” He indicated to Tao, “would like to keep our innocence!”.  Chen grinned, pulling out a carton of orange juice and taking a swig from it. Kris gagged.

“Sick, I was going to drink that!”

“Drink what Gege?” Tao was still oblivious to what was going on and it was starting to annoy him. He hated being left out.

Kris patted him, “Just remember not to have the orange juice”.

Chen tutted, “Oh, I was going to return this!”. He suddenly left the kitchen and shuffled down the hallway and back to his room.

“DON’T FORGET TO PUT PANTS ON WHEN YOU COME BACK!” Kris yelled at him.

Chen was back in a moment, still . Kris groaned, but then stopped to study what Chen had in his hands. The Cooking oil.

“What the-” He began, but then noticed it. The white crust over Chen’s abs, the bruises on his hips and love bites on his neck. He let go of Tao, taking a step back to steady himself.  Chen held out the oil to him and Kris took it cautiously. The bottle was sticky, wet and half empty. It hit him.

“Don’t tell me you’ve-”

“AHHHH! CHEN! WHY ARE YOU !?” Tao shrieked in terror. He opened his eyes and got the full view of Chen’s , morning-after- body. He felt his eyes burn holes through his skull and into his brain. Shutting them quickly, he tucked himself onto the chair and hugged his knees as if to comfort himself.    

“I can’t believe you.” Kris was telling Chen, who was still standing normally watching both the members freak out. “No wonder Tao was having nightmares!”

“Oh, come on Kris! You know Tao isn’t as innocent as he looks!”

“What do you mean?”                                    

Tao snapped his head up, then realised Chen was still and hid his face again. “Please don’t tell him” Tao begged behind his hands. Chen smirked as Kris looked at him curiously.

“Tell me what?”

“Well the other day, when the rest of you had gone out, I came back to find Tao home alone.” He paused and clocked his head to look a Tao, who was praying for the ground to swallow him whole. He knew what Chen was talking about.

“I heard him in the bathroom and noticed the door wasn’t shut. So I peered in and saw him , holding a picture of something and jerk-”

“OK, I THINK WE’VE HEARD ENOUGH!” Kris interrupted. He didn’t know if his stomach could hold it anymore. Tao was flushing a bright red and looked sheepishly at the leader, who returned with an ‘unimpressed’ expression. Chen, however, found this situation hilarious and was cracked up laughing. It wasn’t until they heard a whine from one of the rooms.

“Chen~! Where are you? My arse hurts like …”

The leader and maknae turned to Chen, who had now gone silent. He was chewing his lip and looking at the floor, trying to avoid eye contact from the other two.

“Was that…”

“OPPA?!” Tao screeched in disgust. “YOU DID IT WITH OPPA?!”

Kris rolled his eyes, “Keep up Tao.”

Tao had images running through his mind and was tugging at his hair, pulling it from the roots. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. Tao’s stomach churned and he thought he was going to be sick. Kris grinned but then turned serious, giving Chen his ‘leader-’ face.

“I know about the relationship between you and Xuimin,” he scolded Chen, “But please…”

“YOU KNEW?!” Tao cried.

“Everyone knew, Tao; get over it! And let me finish!”

Tao screamed into his panda. Oppa. His innocent, boazi Oppa was doing it with Chen?!

“Getting back to the point,” Kris continued. “Chen!”

Chen turned round. He was caught trying to sneak back into his room and returned with his head bowed.

“As I was saying, I know what is going on between you two. But could you please not make this a habit? I don’t want to hear your noises during the night…”

“You can hear us?!”

“Would you let me finish?!”

Chen bowed his head in shame, hoping the ground would swallow him whole. The dragon eyes were scowling at him so fiercely and he knew Kris meant business.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt...” Kris trailed off. Chen looked up to see that Kris’s gaze had soften and a small smile was forming.

Chen beamed. “Don’t worry Leader, Hyung is good to me!”. He stretched his arms out wide and shuffled over to Kris to give him a hug.

“Don’t you dare touch me until you’ve showered! And put some bloody clothes on already!”

Chen smiled sheepishly and left without another word.

“Wait.”

Chen looked back, hurt that he didn’t get a hug. “What.” He said sharply.

“What were you doing with the cooking oil anyway?”

Chen grinned, showing off all his pearly whites. “Didn’t have lube and Boazi wouldn’t let me him raw.”

Tao screamed again and Kris shook his head in disbelief. He then jumped in repulsion as he realised he was still holding the bottle. Throwing it straight in the bin and washing his hands, he turned his focus to Tao, who had gone white and was staring to space. Kris walked over and ruffled the maknae’s jet black hair.

“Don’t let them get to you. They’re only having fun”

Tao shuddered at the dirty things that Chen would do to his Oppa for ‘fun’.  Kris patted his head, making his way over to the kitchen side and poured him a glass of milk.

“Let’s go out for breakfast. My treat.”

Tao blinked up at Kris, noticing the kindness in his eyes. The dream was still having its effect on him and Kris thought Tao could do with some fresh air. Agreeing with Kris, Tao took a gulp of his milk and sighed. A milk moustache grew on Tao’s upper lip and Kris could help but laugh. Kris leaned down, cupping Tao’s cheek and wiped it away with his finger. Tao looked away embarrassed and lightly blushing. Kris smirked and stood up straight.

“I’ll give you an hour.” He ordered. “I have a couple of emails to send before we go.” Kris cleared away the ingredients he got out earlier, putting them in containers and in the fridge neatly. “And I suggest you get in the shower before the others do. They might be a while.”

Tao nodded and arose from his seat. “But Gege, are they going to join us?”

Kris grinned. “Depends how quickly they get ready.”