As he stood in the cafeteria waiting, Tao was thinking of the day Baekhyun caught him singing in the lavatory. Nobody except his mom had ever heard him sing before. Did he actually sing well? Could it be that Baekhyun sang too? Tao had wanted to become a singer since he was a child, but considering his shyness maybe becoming a superstar wouldn’t actually be a smart career-choice for him.  He was pondering this as he saw Baekhyun across the room, walking towards him with the boy who had shot Tao the weird glance in history. They were laughing loudly and Tao could only make out some of the words, partly because they were laughing so much. Didn’t really make Korean easier.

“Hey Tao! This is Chanyeol, my best friends since… 2^nd grade or something.” Baekhyun introduced his friend, who had stopped laughing and started looking a bit reserved. “Hey.” He said sullenly. “Hi” Tao responded, flashing a bright smile. He didn’t want Baekhyun’s friends to dislike him, no matter what their reason might be.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow Yeollie.” Baekhyun said, and Chanyeol left. Tao thought he saw Chanyeol's shoulder drop quite a bit as he walked in the opposite direction of the one Baekhyun and Tao now took.

Baekhyun was actually quite a bit lower than Tao. He hadn’t noticed but it fit pretty well with his childish face. As a consequence, Baekhyun had to look up when he talked to Tao.

“So do you like it here?” Kind of an uninteresting question, but he supposed Baekhyun had to ask.

“I like it very much. The weather isn’t too different, but the people are. It’s very… open here.”  Tao had noticed that on the first day he was in Korea. The people on the street just seemed to smile more and wear brighter clothes.

“I’ve never been to China, but I’ve heard that it’s.. kind of grey. Uh I don’t know, that’s my impression of it. But that’s also just what I’ve seen on TV and maybe that’s not the best way to..” Baekhyun trailed off.

“No, no I guess you could say that it’s grey. It’s not colourful.

They turned left at a road with tall trees. It was a nice area, very calm. The houses resembled each other, but were different at the same time. Baekhyun’s was at the end of the road.

As they stepped inside, it immediately became obvious that Baekhyun’s family was a creative one. There was no wallspace without paintings all over them, and a grand piano at the start of the stairs indicated that music was also practiced in this house.

He must’ve spaced out a bit in amazement, because Baekhyun called him like he was daydreaming-

“Taooo? You can put your jacket and shoes here. Bring your bag, my room is upstairs.” Baekhyun smiled. He was already halfway up the stairs.

Tao followed him a couple of minutes after, carefully studying the art and he felt like he could hear the entire house breathing. Or maybe it was just the wind in the trees outside. No matter what, this place was infinitely more interesting than the apartment he shared with his mother in town.

If he’d been amazed at walls downstairs, Baekhyun’s room blew him away. It was not like an average teenage boy’s room. It was so splashed with bright colors that Tao almost felt the need to squint as he entered it. On the bed there was a pile of books that Baekhyun quickly threw on his desk. There was a chair and a night table and some shelves. In fact, the room wasn’t so big - the colors just made it seem kind of surreal.

Baekhyun closed the door behind Tao and sat down on the bed. “Sit wherever you want.” He smiled. Tao took to the chair, as he somehow felt sitting beside Baekhyun would be a little bold of him, when they really didn’t know each other that well.

“So. I’m not sure exactly how we’re going to do this. I could just give you my notes and you could read them and see if that helps but I don’t think you’d learn much from that.” Straight to the point, Baekhyun was kind of like a businessman. A businessman in the body of a boy.

“Uhm well we could talk it through? Like if you were to present a certain subject only this is the entire South Korean history.”

Baekhyun laughed.

“Alright. Let me get my notes and we’ll start.”

---

They spent what seemed like an hour talking about the Japanese occupation. Baekhyun had started out talking about some pre-historic stuff but that part was over quickly as there weren’t that many sources, Baekhyun said. To be honest Tao hadn’t been listening that hard… he had been studying Baekhyun’s face, the way he crossed his legs and the way his mouth sometimes twitched a bit to the left when he pronounced a weird word.

Baekhyun put down his book and looked up at Tao. Tao noticed that he looked kind of tired, and checked his watch. It was actually half past 5. “Oh, I didn’t realize that much time had gone by.” Tao excused himself. He really hadn’t realized.

“Do you have to be home soon? My parents work late, so we eat late, I never realize how fast time passes when I have people visiting. You could stay for dinner?” Baekhyun seemed a bit eager. He observed Tao with extreme apprehension.

“I think I’ll go home. My mother doesn’t like to eat alone and I’m her only company so…” Tao felt bad for his mother, but even worse for himself. He kinda liked this house. He kinda liked Baekhyun.

As he put on his shoes, Baekhyun sat down at the piano. “Do you know this song?” He started playing a melody Tao did in fact recognize. It was called Machine. Baekhyun started singing the song, but he sang the wrong lyrics…. He sang in Korean. “Yeah I know it. But it’s Chinese, I don’t get…”

“Yeah, there are two versions of it. You know the Chinese version, obviously. Do you want to sing it?”

Tao was a bit surprised. He had just heard Baekhyun sing like it was nothing, and it sounded quite good. He was worried he was going to sound awful compared to Baek.

“Well I can just keep singing and you’ll join in if you want.” Baekhyun sang in Korean, and Tao was confused. It would be messy. But then again, if he didn’t sing when he get this kind of chance, when would he? He joined Baekhyun at the chorus.

It did sound weird at first, a mix of languages. The song became unintelligible. Baekhyun explored some harmonies, and it occurred to Tao that he was a very talented singer. He even hit higher notes perfectly.

As the last chord rang out, Baek spun around on the chair and faced Tao. It was suddenly kind of awkward. It was also getting dark outside, so there were shadows over Baekhyun’s face. He looked mysterious. Tao liked this look.

“I-I’ll see you tomorrow?” Tao didn’t know why it came out as a question. They had math the next day, they both knew that because they were having a test.

“Yeah, math is gonna be tough. Did you read up?” Baekhyun suddenly sounded concerned again. Grades really were a big deal to him. Tao didn’t really care too much.

“Well yeah, we’ll see how it goes. It’s one of those things that are not too different from what it’s like in China, luckily.”

“Haha yeah I guess- Bye Tao, it was really nice having you over.” Baekhyun stood up and moved closer.

Tao had been standing on the exact same spot since they were done singing, and only now moved a bit backwards. He didn’t know why really, Baekhyun was meters away from him.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Tao spun around and went out the door quickly and soundlessly.