he first thing he noticed, when his brain slowly seeped into a fuzzy consciousness, was that he was very warm. He tried to shift around in an attempt to remove whatever cover somebody had put over him, but he couldn't find a duvet or blanket. Groaning he forced himself to be more alert, and checked the time on the digital clock on the table; it was after midday.

Slowly, he sat up, which was when he detected an arm resting lightly over his stomach and Sehun’s head lying on his shoulder. One of his legs was curled up over his as though Tao was his pillow or something.

Sehun was wearing pyjamas with a hoodie, and he appeared to be in a pair of his pyjamas too. Which would make sense, since they were lying in his bed together. He doesn’t remember exactly how they got there, it had been a little chaotic, a lot of people bustling around, ushering Sehun and him into Sehun’s kitchen after they returned from the hospital.

Sehun wasn’t allowed to talk for a few days, until his throat healed properly from the smoke inhalation, and he had to have his face checked out for the bruises. Turned out that Tao was the least injured from this whole tirade, only needing some antibiotics for a few small cuts, whereas Sehun burned his hand and his sister injured her leg. She didn't break it, but it was a nasty sprain. He wasn'tt entirely sure where Jongin was, as he hadn’t seen him on the way out, or at the hospital

He ran his hand through his hair and squinted at his sleeping boyfriend: he was fairly sure Sehun went to sleep on the floor. But he couldn't blame him for wanting to be as close as possible, especially since he wanted the same. 

He smirked, and reached into his pocket for his phone. After typing in the password, which he know because Sehun told him, he went on the camera app and took a photo of them, taking a few cutesy shots to begin with, and then getting weirder, ending with one of him pretending to bite his nose. He stopped after that, remembering that he didn’t have his own phone with him. Maybe Sehun has it somewhere, if he picked it up.

He played with his fringe, coiling strands of it around his fingers, and marvelling at how much he loved him. He noticed when he began to wake up; his breathing changed a little, and he squirms, curling his body around him. More than he already was, anyway.  

Eyebrows furrowing, he tried to speak, but Tao could see it hurt him. He stopped, looking frustrated with himself. He his lips, not meeting Tao's eyes for a brief moment, then propped himself up one arm, pushing himself into a seated position and placing his mouth right by his ear as close as he could,

“Morning,” his whisper was so quiet, he could barely hear it, but it still made him grin, lovestruck. Sehun pulled away; replacing his face with the back of his hand, and lightly touched his cheek. Tao had forgotten he was even hurt there, but he was a little shocked that Sehun was worried about him when he was the one in pain. He didn’t know when he moved so close; Tao had his eyes closed, but then he felt a warm breath on wash over his mouth, which made him jump, and their lips collided. Tao jerked back immediately,

“Neither of us have brushed our teeth yet!” He exclaimed, holding him back when he simply rolled his eyes and tried to kiss him again. Realising the futility of fighting against him, Sehun narrowed his eyes and in retaliation Tao made mock-angry face. Sehun sighed, then leaped off the bed, pulling Tao with him, and dragged him to the bathroom.

He then handed him an unused toothbrush, some toothpaste, and looked at him expectantly. Tao chuckled in disbelief,

“You really want to kiss me that badly?” Sehun folded his arms and rolled his eyes again; obviously that meant ‘yes’,

“Well, you have to brush your teeth too, there has to be some kind of compromise in this relationship. Just saying.” Tao mumbled as he squirted toothpaste onto the toothbrush.Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sehun grab his and furiously start brushing his teeth, and he laughed at him, delay tactics. Sehun took his hand and manoeuvred it into my mouth,

“Ok, ok!” He laughed around it, giving in. After that, they spent a considerable amount of time together on his bed, ending up shirtless and simpy enjoying the time they had together before someone decided to interrupt them. It somehow felt more precious after everything they'd been through. They only stopped making out when Sehun’s stomach growled loudly, so they decided to venture downstairs together in search of food. They were surprised to find the kitchen devoid of life, no sigh of other people anywhere. That was strange. Tao had expected to find a lot of people in here, welcoming them.

Pinned to the fridge there was a note that says,

‘Gone for a meeting with a few people, be back soon, love Gayun x’

Assuming Gayun was Sehun's mother's name, he shrugged. They couldn’t be bothered to invest much time into making anything more complex than sandwiches. Tao had ham, and he chose cheese, and while eating neither of us talk, but Sehun accidentally kicked his leg, so he nudged him back, and it was a downward spiral from there.

When Sehun’s parents returned, with Xiao-Xing and Tao's mum in tow, Sehun and Tao had retreated back to the bedroom again. They weren’t doing anything compromising this time, Tao was lying across Sehun's legs reading manga, and Sehun was playing on his phone. He still hadn’t discovered the sleepy pictures yet, and Tao hoped he didn’t for a while, the longer it took the funnier his reaction would be. They heard the door opening downstairs, and practically flew downstairs to meet them.

Tao hugged his mum desperately; this was the first time he'd seen her properly in about four days. They were both crying, and his mum was his hair, crooning softly. Xiao-Xing joined the hug, and Sehun and his parents left them alone for a bit to reconnect, for which Tao was grateful. His mother was almost coming to pieces in his arms. She must have been terrified, he realised, she probably thought she was never going to see him again!

“Tao, my baby,” she all but sobbed into his shoulder.

“Mum, I’m ok,” he tried to comfort her, holding her tight, but she pulled away and looked at his face, gasping, “really, I can’t even feel it.”

“Oh, so you won't mind if I do this then,” Xing poked him, and he flinched away glaring at her, “oh, looks like you were lying,” she smirked, already back to her old annoying self. They continued bickering for a while, then mum decided that they should go home instead of encroaching on the hospitality of Sehun’s family any longer. After she said this, Tao wonder what she’d been told and what was classified. How much was he supposed to know? The reason for his kidnapping was might not be common knowledge, he reasoned, but surely they would have told her?

Everyone gathered in the hallway to say goodbye, and Tao wasn't sure what to do in front of my mum, but luckily Sehun decided for him; pulling him into a hug and sighing into his neck, hot breath warming him up and making him feel a little better about this,

“See you tomorrow?” He asked. Tao nodded, squeezing him before finally letting go.  

When he got home he realised he still had no idea where his phone was. He grumbled for a moment, wondering where the hell it could be, and annoyed that he couldn't talk to Sehun, before remembering that he could go on facebook on his laptop and chat there. He posted a status saying ‘im still alive guys’ and waited for people to started talking to him.

Almost immediately he got likes, and he smiled when he saw that one of them was from Luhan. His chat window appears, and they spent a while chatting about everything and nothing. Several times, he tried to ask him where he was; not believing that he was so badly ill that he couldnt come to school for nearly a week when he never gets so much as a cold. He headed him off every time, insisting that he really was sick and laughing every time Luhan disagreed.

He also had a short conversation with Jongin, who explained how he set the fireworks, made sure they went off, and then ran. He apologised profusely for leaving him, and Tao had to assure him that he wasn't hurt, but telling him that he should apologise to everyone else, for doing exactly what they told him not to do.

That night he didn’t get much sleep. As soon as darkness fell, along with it came a creeping sense of unease. It was illogical- he was safe here, he knew it, there was no way that crazy lady or her people would break in here to hurt him, but he didn’t trust himself to be unconscious, having been drugged before. It made him feel too vulnerable. And he was positive that woman wouldn’t forgive him for escaping; she’d be back- if not for Sehun’s data, then for revenge. She seemed like the person to hold a grudge for a long, long time. He shivered, drifting off to a restless sleep.

He woke up the next morning feeling awful, his eyelids were heavy and he ached everywhere. He got dressed anyway; the only thing motivating him was seeing everyone again. Hopefully that would drive it home that he was safe and had nothing to be afraid of. He ate an apple for breakfast, and his mum gave him a lift into college, which was very abnormal. He assumes it was because she didn’t want him to be alone. He was grateful, and it made him feel loved, but it also scared him to know that she was still scared too.

His suspicions were confirmed when she ordered him to go straight to the canteen, and find people that he knew. He rolled his eyes, because he doubted that anyone would try anything here; there were too many people around. But he found himself watching everyone anyway, avoiding anybody that came too close. He hated himself for being so weak but he couldn't help it. When he arrived at the canteen, he spotted my friends and head over to them, relieved. When they saw him, all of them gott up and smoothered him, shouting and causing a fuss. Instantly he was at the bottom of a pile of loud boys, who were hugging him and laughing. Tao laughed too glad that they had missed him.

just because tao is back and safe doesn't mean everything is fine hohoho

i forgot if i mentioned it before but me and kira are working on a new chaptered kaisoo collab check it out

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