Hi guys. Here's another chapter. It's 1,823 words so not overly long but there should be another one up in a few days. I was thinking of maybe waiting and updating in one go for a really long update but you've waited ages so....

I'm  sorry for the wait, it's been ages, but now I've finally finished my Chemistry coursework after literally almost 5months from planning to finish so whooo. I have mocks coming up and then exams though so yus my life won't be much less busy but hopefully now that it's just revision I have to do I'll be able to squeeze in some writing. To be fair though I kinda had writers block and basically to get this chapter written I had to sit and literally plan out the chapter which I don't normally do so... yeah I can't just blame college

Hope you enjoy, comment to say hi or complain or whatever I don't mind it's just nice to hear from you :)

ALSO about 2 weeks ago I randomly got an influx of subscribers, like I'd not updated in ages then suddenly got about 20 subscribers so I'm wondering if you guys found my fic somewhere I don't know? If you know why then please comment and let me know because I'm soooo curiousss XD

Ok enough talking here you go:

TAO

It’s late the next day when I eventually wake up. I open my eyes to the very welcome sight of Kris’s sleeping face next to me. I snuggle closer, noting happily that we’ve hardly moved since we settled down and we’re still tightly wrapped up in each other’s arms.

I’m content to gaze at his peaceful face for a while longer but eventually my body forces me to get up and go to the bathroom. Standing up is interesting, my head throbs and I suddenly regret drinking so much last night. I press a soft kiss to Kris’s forehead and with a sigh I head into the bathroom, relieving myself and washing before leaving again and padding quietly out of the room towards the kitchen.

I glance around the lounge as I pass through and smile to myself as I see the others still sleeping. The sight of Joonmyun and Lay rather intimately curled up together takes me by surprise but I decide not to jump to conclusions. We’ll see how that progresses as time goes by. It’s nice to see them being close though; Lay will need a good friend when we tell him about his dad and Kris is unlikely to be someone he’ll want to take comfort in.

When I reach the kitchen I take some water from the fridge, drinking carefully and sighing as my thirst is quenched. As I tug food out of the fridge and set up pans on the hob as quietly as I can, I ponder the relationship between Lay and Joonmyun. I guess they become close through Uni? I’m pretty sure I heard that Joonmyun has been tutoring Lay even though Joonmyun graduated at the same time as me and I’m pretty sure they studied different things. Oh well, Joonmyun’s smart.

As I get the food cooking, a full-English breakfast because why not, the smell starts spreading though the apartment, eventually taking effect, and I hear the sounds of movement from the lounge.

As I check the sausages in the oven I contemplate waking Kris but decide to let him sleep. It’s rare that we get a good night’s sleep as we’re usually woken by nightmares, and I don’t want to wake him if he’s finally sleeping peacefully. A small smile spreads on my face as I realise that neither of us had nightmares last night. That’s the first night since it all happened and I feel a sense of accomplishment. We’ll make it through this.

I call out to the others as I start placing the dishes of meat, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and onions onto the table next to the stack of plates and pile of cutlery. Joonmyun and Lay enter first, just as I’m placing down the last dish.

I hear their breath catch in sync and look up at them. I tense as I realise that their now startlingly awake gazes are fixed on the obvious scars on my wrists, which happen to be on full display as I’m reaching out with a dish in my hand.

I curse in my head as I realise I’d forgotten to change into long sleeves when I’d first got up. I place the dish down and whip my arms behind my back, breath quickening and heart beat picking up. This is an incredibly personal thing to me and I’d not wanted anyone to see the scars. I’m scared to look up into their eyes, scared of what I’ll see there, but I force myself to meet their gazes. To my relief there’s no pity yet, just shock.

Joonmyun opens his mouth to speak, but before he can, I hear Kris’s voice from the doorway.

“Wow this looks great,” he says, staring at the food in hunger. He switches his gaze to me; about to say something else, but the smile on his face fades when he sees the obvious panic in my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, moving immediately to my side. He takes in the way I’m standing, arms hidden behind my back and shoulders tense, and almost immediately works it out.

He glances at the pair by the table, who’ve still not moved, before positioning himself between them and me, and reaching around me to gently grasp my hands and pull my wrists into the small gap between our chests. I stare down at our clasped hands before he raises them to nudge my chin up, shifting my gaze to meet his.

I watch as he presses a kiss to the inside of each of my wrists before murmuring softly against one of them, “you’re still as beautiful as before Tao, so beautiful. These scars just show how strong you were, you don’t need to hide them.”

I simply stare at him for a moment, blinking rapidly to hold back tears even though I already knew he thought this way. I nod slightly before opening my mouth and huskily whispering, “I know… I know I just… I’m not ready for people to see them. I don’t…” I give up trying to put my feelings into words when he nods in understanding and takes off his jacket, slipping my arms into the sleeves and zipping it up snugly.

“Ok baby, it’s your decision and I will always be here to stand by whatever you decide.”

I give him a watery smile before glancing over his shoulder when I hear more movement from the lounge. My gaze flicks to Joonmyun who steps forward and says quietly, “I’m sorry Tao, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just… I guess I knew you’d been taken but I didn’t really know what happened there so.”

“It’s ok,” I reply with a weak smile, “it wasn’t really you as such; I’m just not ready for people to see them yet.” I motion towards the food as more people enter the kitchen, “dig in everyone, before it goes cold.” Joonmyun nods and nudges Lay who turns towards the table.

There’s a flurry of action as people head for the food. I notice Kyungsoo seems unable to function properly and I snicker to myself as Jongin takes it upon himself to serve Kyungsoo as well as he’s just too tired to do anything.

Kris wraps his arms around my waist as we wait for the others to take what we want before getting ours. Many a happy “thank you” is said as people drift back into the messy lounge to eat and we grab a plate each and serve ourselves, glad to see that there are loads left, which is fine as people will probably come back for seconds.

When we’re seated with the others, I start eating, humming in contentment as my hunger makes the food taste even better. I meet Kris’s gaze and laugh as I hear Kyungsoo sleepily mumble something in his defence when someone calls out “didn’t think you’d be an angry drunk Kyungsoo.”

Jongin chuckles and pulls Kyungsoo closer in a protective movement before rolling his eyes at the teasing that starts.

I share a grin with Luhan before leaning back into the sofa and observing quietly. Everyone looks happy, albeit tired, and I feel a wave of peace wash over me.

1 Week later

We meet with Kris’s dad. He’s requested that we come over to the office in which he’s been putting together our case against Zhang Yuan. We walk in side by side and gaze around the room at the various display boards and the few men inside. There are images of the building we were held in and of the men working there, the couple who pretended to help us after we escaped, other buildings presumably belonging to Yuan, and information linking the lot together.

I vaguely recognise a couple of the men in the room as high profile detectives and analysts, one or two of them I’m sure I’ve seen on TV. It brings me slight relief that we’ve got such a good team working on this. Hopefully it will enable this process to be over faster.

We’re ordered to sit and we do, sitting close enough to reach for each other’s hand under the table. The other men all drift over from their various areas and sit with us. I push down the intense feeling of discomfort as they start explaining everything that they’ve discovered on Yuan and exactly what they hope to accomplish by taking him to court.

I’m surprised and also satisfied to know that they plan to focus on other dark aspects of Yuan’s business as well as us. It makes me feel relieved that we’ve got enough evidence to completely remove the threat from him and his men to other people as well.

Kris’s dad takes over eventually and explains what our roles will be. We’ll both have to testify to what happened before a court of law and he suggests that we should plan out exactly what we’ll say so it’s less difficult at the time. He gives us a list of important things to focus on and says that he will also be testifying in court.

They say that it will be a very private trial and that they will request that there are no reporters allowed inside. There is also a press conference that will take place and the details are explained to us by one of the men I’ve just been introduced to.

Once we’ve had everything explained to us, Kris’s dad dismisses the team, telling them to grab some lunch and then be back here in an hour. Once they’ve left, he rests his head on his hands and sighs. It’s then that I notice how tired he seems. It must be very difficult for him to investigate and plan against someone he used to be so close with.

“You need to tell your friend, Lay,” he says with a sad smile. I sigh and feel Kris cringe next to me. “He may get angry or upset when you tell him, but in the long run he’ll feel grateful to you for telling him upfront and not leaving him to find out when his dad is taken to court.”

I nod slowly, seeing the wisdom in his words, and reply “do you have that recording? We’ll need him to listen to it.”

“Ah yes,” he nods and fumbles around in a draw before pulling out a device and placing it on the table in front of us. “That’s a copy of the recording. Don’t panic if something happens to it, but please be careful and try not to lose it. I’d prefer it if that part of my life didn’t become public knowledge.”

We nod and Kris reaches out, putting the device in his pocket and zipping it tightly shut to stop it falling out.

He stretches and stands, “I’m going to get lunch. You should tell Lay as soon as possible. We start the court process on Monday.”

Ok, hope you enjoyed that and now that that's out of the way I'll get on with the real plot stuff so I can start winding up this story.

Please comment with feedback or just whatever you feel like saying :)

Also, a bit of shameless self promotion: I have a fic rec on the go now, so if any of you are stuck for good stories feel free to check out MY_FIC_REC_TRA_LA_LA There are all sorts of exo fics there, drarry, vixx, shinee, bigbang, etc. and also there are lots of livejournal ones there too.

If you guys have any favourite fics please let me know because I can never read enough XD And yes I read a lot but it's easier than writinggg *whines*

Ok thanks guys I love you all (even the silent ones I love you too <3 )

Also thanks thatweirdo for existing and reading this and making me plan etc <3 luv ya