Sing For Me

Kim Jongdae never liked transfer students. Especially ones that know little to no Korean. Yet, he finds himself standing at the office, waiting for some Chinese transfer student whom Jongdae has heard knows not much Korean. All thanks to his friend Kim Minseok. Jongdae remembers how it happened clearly.

He was out with some of his friends for lunch. Three of these friends are Chinese, so it makes sense that they’d bring up a Chinese transfer student. Though they didn’t mention about him being Chinese until Minseok decided to jump in.

“The new Chinese transfer student, you mean?” he asked. “Huang Zitao?”

Wu Yifan (also known as Kris), nodded. “That’s him. How do you know about him?”

“Being the student body president, I was asked to give him a tour,” Minseok informed, “but after I accepted, I remembered I have soccer practice during the time I was asked to give the tour.”

“Where are you going with this, Minseok?” Luhan inquired.

“I need someone to take my spot and tour him instead.”

“Well, I certainly can’t do it.” Luhan responded immediately. “I have soccer practice with you, remember?”

“Right.” Minseok nodded in agreement. “So…what about you, Yixing?”

“I have dance practice around that time.” Zhang Yixing replied. “There’s a competition soon.”

“Kris?”

Kris shook his head. “I have vocal lessons for an hour, then basketball practice.”

Minseok gave Jongdae a pleading look. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Jongdae wasn’t paying much attention. He only realized his hyung was speaking when he heard him say, “Daedae? You’re the only one left. Please?”

Jongdae nearly spat his noodles out of his mouth at the sound of this sudden new nickname of ‘Daedae’. “Daedae? And please what?”

“Weren’t you listening at all? I said I needed someone to take my place giving the new Chinese transfer student a tour. And you seem to be the only person that’s free then.”

“What do I get if I do?”

“Yah, Kim Jongdae! Respect your elders!”

That was an ironic phrase to say, since even though Minseok is 23, Jongdae, who is 20, looks older than him. Frankly, Minseok looks like he doesn’t even belong in university.

Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. I’ll do it.”

“The tour?” Minseok’s eyes were filled with hope.

“No, your homework!” Jongdae responded sarcastically. “Of course the tour.”

“Well, if you do my ho—”

“Don’t push it…hyung.”

And now Jongdae is standing at the front office, still waiting for this transfer student. He doesn’t have a clue who he’s supposed to be looking for. Minseok just told him that ‘you’d know him when you see him’ and that he’d informed the kid that he wouldn’t be doing the tour but one of his friends would be instead.

Suddenly, a fairly (or maybe more than fairly) good looking person appears in front of Jongdae. He’s good looking to the point it’s slightly frightening, though. His eyes are attractive, but look as if he’s looking into your soul. Honestly speaking, he has this serial killer vibe, but at the same time looks innocent and lost.

His hair is the color of red wine, and it’s styled up in a way that the middle of his hair is the red color, while you can still easily see his original hair color. The way it’s styled up is common nowadays. The color, though, is something not many people would manage to pull off, but somehow, this person pulls it off wonderfully.

“Chen?” the boy asks. “You are Chen, right?”

Jongdae nods, realizing that since this person is Chinese, Minseok must have told him Jongdae’s Chinese name that Yifan gave him when they first met. “Um, yes.”

“I’m…Huang Zitao.” The boy—Zitao—introduces.

The way his Korean is in slightly broken sentences or mispronounced is cute to Jongdae. He notices Zitao’s eyes looking him over. Sort of as if Zitao is scanning him through an X-Ray or something. Jongdae feels slightly uncomfortable under the transfer student’s dark, baggy eyes (that make him look like a panda), but he doesn’t want to seem rude by telling him to stop. So he waits until Zitao is done analyzing him to speak.

“Tour?” Zitao finally questions.

“Right…” Jongdae nods and does a ‘follow me’ gesture. “Follow.”

Jongdae decides that using broken speech like Zitao is would make it easy for him to understand. It’s awkward, but Zitao gets his point with the help of gesture.

“Mandarin?” Zitao offers as they walk.

It takes a while to realize what Zitao is asking. When he realizes that Zitao is asking him if he knows Mandarin, he shakes his head, “Little bit.” He makes a gesture with his thumb and pointer finger to show a small amount. “Korean?”

Zitao shakes his head too. “Only…this.”

Jongdae realize Zitao means only as much as he’s speaking now. The latter thinks for a while. Then his eyes widen and lighten up as he gains an idea.

“English?” Jongdae asks. He asks in both Korean and English just to prove his point and help Zitao understand.

Zitao looks at Jongdae hopefully. He nods and says, “Better than Korean.”

Said in English that’s much better than what Jongdae can do. Jongdae smiles nevertheless.

“Good…alright.” He says in English. “Where to start?”

“Martial arts?” Zitao offers.

“Okay.”

Jongdae leads Zitao to the other side of campus. They built the new addition of a martial arts studio in the far wing of the school. Is Zitao interested in martial arts, perhaps?

“Wow…nice.” Zitao remarks, looking around the large room. “Awesome.”

“Just added.” Jongdae comments, also looking around, it being his first time in the room as well.

Zitao nods, looking excited. But, as the tour progresses, his excitement is gone and replaced with indifference. It’s a shame, too, because Jongdae finds Zitao’s happy/excited expression kind of cute. The tour ends quicker than Jongdae expects and he’s now bidding Zitao goodbye as he drops him back at the office to get his dorm room number. The dorm Zitao will have to live in for the rest of his time in SMISA (SM International School of Arts).

Jongdae is glad to be back near his dorm room so he can finish working on the project he got for composing class. But, that’s apparently postponed when two of Jongdae’s friends Kim Jongin and Do Kyungsoo whisk him away. Turns out they are going to the nearby High School to visit Jongin’s friend Lee Taemin, Taemin’s friend Kim Kibum (also known as Key), and Key’s girlfriend friend Amber Lui.

Though Jongdae doesn’t see a point in going with them, Jongin claims it’s to get him more female friends, which he lacks. Finally, Jongdae is allowed to go back to his beloved room where all he wants to do now is take a nap. After that ‘fun’ trip, Jongdae has gotten very tired. He blames Jongin for being such an annoying and obnoxious brat.

Jongdae makes it to his room interruption free this time. He sighs and flops on his bed. He curls into a ball, not even bothering to put on his blanket, and immediately falls asleep.

~○♥○~

Huang Zitao peeks inside the room he was told he now lived in. He walks in, noting his sleeping new roommate, and quietly puts his luggage near the free bed. He leaves just as quickly as he walked in and is now walking across campus to get to the martial arts studio.

He puts his duffle bag (containing a variety of things he doesn’t like sharing) down on the ground by the door and starts stretching. He easily remembers his old teacher in Qingdao, Shandong telling him that stretching is the most important part of doing martial arts because if you don’t do it, you might cramp up. Zitao finishes stretching and moves onto his form practice.

Luckily, everything he needs is just a ways away on the far wall. He practices with ease using every single prop. He’s doing pretty well until he messes up on a move and lands too hard, causing his side/waist to hurt. Not too badly, but badly enough to affect how well he practices. He pauses to look over the injury.

After assessing the damage, he continues practicing again. Nothing that can overexert him, but his old teacher told him something that corresponds with the saying ‘if you fall, get back up on the horse’. If you fall, don’t give up right then. Stand up and keep on going, no matter how much it hurts.

Finally, he reaches a point where the pain is almost unbearable and stops practicing. He’s suffered worse, though, so he easily copes. He returns everything to their respective spots ever so neatly and pick up his duffle bag. Then he slowly makes his way back to his new room so he can take a shower and tend to his injury.

As Zitao enters his new room, he notices his new, unknown roommate is still sleeping from the first time he walked in an hour and a half ago. Zitao quietly sits on how new bed and removes his shirt to get a better look at his injury. It’s red and tender, but nothing seems to be broken. He knows how to take care of things like this.

Then, Zitao (being the ninja he is) stealthily makes his way into the bathroom and prepares the shower. Surprisingly enough, the sudden sound of running water hitting tiles doesn’t wake up the sleeping roommate. Zitao sighs in relief (maybe?) and rids of the rest of his clothing after closing the bathroom door. Then he steps into the warm water.

~○♥○~

Jongdae is dreaming that he’s a famous singer singing live on a stage. He’s singing all the songs he’s written and he’s in front of hundreds or thousands of cheering fans. Everyone is calling him ‘Chen’ though. Is Chen possibly his stage name in these types of dreams? He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t care. He just smiles at all his admiring fans.

Now the scene changes. He’s no longer on a stage, but rather sitting on a swiveling chair with a huge camera in front of him. There’s a male MC in the room, too. But he isn’t alone with this MC. As he looks around, he notices to his right are all his Chinese friends (and Minseok). They seem to be sitting in a specific order. Yifan is first, then it’s Yixing, Luhan, and right next to him is Minseok.

It’s as if him and his Chinese friends (plus Minseok) formed a band and became famous. But when he looks to his left he notices an extra, empty chair next to him. As if rather than them being a five member group, they’re a six member group with someone missing.

“So, about your new song…” the MC says. Jongdae, however, can only understand it through a translator. “It’s called ‘The Wolf and the Beauty ’, or WOLF, am I correct?”

Yifan at the very front, closest to the MC nods. “Yes. It’s on our new, first full album, XOXO. Though we sang the title song with everyone else, the rest of the album is spilt up into Hug, our other half, and Kiss, us. Unfortunately, our other half can’t be here with us today.”

Once again, Jongdae can only understand what Yifan said through a translator. This is when he realizes that Yifan, and the MC, is speaking in Mandarin, and the translator is translating the Mandarin into Korean.

“Not only is EXO-K missing…” the MC notices. “But one of your own members is also away, too, isn’t he? What’s the reasoning for that?”

“Ah, yes…Tao…” Luhan answers this question. “He injured himself, so now he’s at home resting. We all miss him very much.”

Before Jongdae can get his own chance to speak to the MC, he wakes up. He sits up and runs a hand through his hair, not noticing the stuff on the once empty bed across the wall from his. He doesn’t do anything yet. He just…thinks.

‘Why did I just dream Minseok-hyung, Luhan-hyung, Yixing-hyung, Kris-hyung, and I were in a group or band together? ’ He wonders. ‘And why in China, too? ’

He knows a lot of his friends are musical somehow, Kris does rap, and he can sing, Yixing, like Jongin, does dancing, and Jongdae is pretty sure he can play the piano and guitar, etc. etc.. Hell, Jongdae himself likes singing too. But, he doesn’t know what caused such a dream to happen.

Jongdae sighs and pushes the thought out of his mind. He yawns slightly and stretches his arms upwards. He gets off his bed and only now notices the stuff on the bed which he was sure was empty when he first went into his room. He tilts his head and approaches the other bed slowly.

“Don’t move.” a broken Korean voice demands, startling Jongdae.

Jongdae jumps away slightly, breathing heavily and hand clutching his chest. He looks at the person that scared him, “Yah! Who do you—!?”

Jongdae stops. He narrows his eyes at the person in front of him. He does look slightly familiar. “Oh, it’s you—the transfer student. Um…”

“Zitao.” The person—Huang Zitao—offers. He knows to speak in English when he says, “It’s Huang Zitao. Have you forgotten already?”

“S-sorry…” Jongdae mumbles, in Korean first by accident. “With so many friends, it’s hard to remember new names.”  

“Just…call me Tao then…”

Zitao quickly realizes the person he knows as Chen must be his new roommate. He sighs, also realizing this very handsome and not forgetful looking person has already forgotten Zitao’s name within a span of 2 hours. As much as Zitao finds Jongdae attractive and an inviting, approachable person, he doesn’t expect much from living with him.

“I guess we’re…” Zitao pauses, his brain misplacing the English word for roommate.

“Roomies?” Jongdae supplies. Zitao nods and Jongdae nods back. “Guess so.”

~○♥○~

There isn’t much conversation from Jongdae and Zitao at first. Mostly because of the language barrier, but also because the majority of the day, Zitao is out somewhere Jongdae is unsure of, and after that he’s in their room for an hour or so (admiring Jongdae from afar). Then he leaves for Korean lessons. The times when Zitao is in their room. Jongdae is either gone with friends, or studying/reading on his bed (occasionally, he’s napping, too).

Jongdae still doesn’t know much about Zitao, though. Only that he’s Chinese, of course, his name is obviously Huang Zitao. He’s also always gone a lot in the mornings, long before Jongdae wakes up for classes. And just recently, Jongdae learned that Zitao has a strange obsession with pandas.

Going back to the ‘gone in the morning’ thing Zitao always does, even on weekends or days off, Zitao is gone before Jongdae wakes ups, which is at around 10am. Normally, the boy doesn’t come back until lunch time (noon or 1pm). The room is quiet and lonely. Though it’s not as if Jongdae isn’t used to being lonely.

One day, Jongdae decides that, since Zitao is gone and there’s nothing else to do, he can practice the song he wrote for composing class. Well, with the help of Yifan, since the song is in English and Yifan lived in Canada for the longest time before coming to Korea. The song is the first part of a two part assignment.

At the beginning of the semester, Jongdae, and the rest of his composing class, was given an assignment. He has to write two songs, each in a language other than Korean. This assignment is due at the end of the semester, which is in a couple weeks.

Upon receiving this assignment, Jongdae immediately knew he wanted to do an English song (and practically begged Yifan to help him). But now he’s finished the first song, and is stuck on what language to do the other song in. There are so many languages in this world, none of which Jongdae is interested in learning just for a song. He’s completely stumped.

Jongdae pulls his song book out from under his bed and opens it to the page the song is written on. It’s titled ‘I Would’ (side note: song is originally by Henry Lau). It’s about a guy who is still suffering to get over and forget a girl he once dated like she did with the guy. Jongdae takes a deep breath and starts to sing the sad ballad.

‘Nothing has ever broken me like you did.

No one I ever wanted more than you.

Nobody else could make a man so weak…’

~○♥○~

Zitao puts the wushu stick he was using down. He was practicing hard on his weapons routine. But one of the moves caused his side to hurt, even though he could have sworn it was healed enough by now. He wipes his brow and sighs, touching his still tender side.

The Chinese boy puts the wushu stick in its respective spot on the wall and picks up his duffle bag. He goes into the nearest restroom to change into something more casual than the sweats he was wearing now. Then he makes his way back to his room.

As he approaches the room he shares with a certain person (who Zitao doesn’t like to dwell on the fact that he’s really cute) known to Zitao as Chen, he freezes when he hears singing. A melodious voice singing a sad, melancholic, ballad-y song sung in English. The song type really matches the voice.

‘If I could just get over you, I would.

Don’t wanna love you anymore.

And missing you is like fighting a war.

It’s a battle~ I’m loosing

And I’d give up girl if I could

If I could walk away as easily as you

I would~’

The last note sung was a beautifully sung long note. Zitao inches towards the door of his room slowly. He swiftly peeks in and sees his roommate engrossed in song. He swipes his head around the corner, hiding himself. He shivers slightly.

Zitao has to admit, Jongdae’s pronunciation of words is far more astonishing when he’s singing compared to when he’s speaking. And his voice is so potent. Jongdae pulls a slight high note and Zitao shivers again. Funny—the boy isn’t cold or anything… The Chinese boy, feeling very odd, looks down at his skin.

‘Goosebumps…? ’ He wonders. ‘And…why is my heart beating so quickly? ’

Zitao bites his lip and peeks around the corner again. Jongdae looks much more graceful than normal. Normally, Jongdae will trip over his feet, his shoelaces, or even just trip in the air. But now, in Zitao’s honest opinion, he looks so beautiful and graceful.

The song ends far before Zitao even realizes it does. He’s too busy thinking about how breathtaking Jongdae’s voice is. He finally realizes the song is over when he sees Jongdae standing right in front of him.

~○♥○~

Jongdae, after finishing his song, rises. He was in need for a drink and a viewpoint from Yifan on his pronunciation. (But mostly the pronunciation viewpoint from Yifan). He steps out of the room and sees Zitao standing by the door.

“Oh, Tao!” he exclaims in Korean happily (Over the past week, Zitao’s Korean has steadily improved). “You’re back from…whatever it is you do?”

Zitao looks at Jongdae with a dazed expression. But it goes away as quickly as it came. “Oh, hi, Chen-hyung! Y-yeah…just got back. Where are you going?”

“I need to visit Kris-hyung momentarily.” Jongdae responds.

A curious Zitao tilts his head at Jongdae. “May I come? I’ve got nothing to do.”

Jongdae hesitates. He looks at Zitao, who has this adorable expression on his face and finds it hard to say no. He reluctantly nods a yes at Zitao. The (what Jongdae learned to be) younger beams and Jongdae almost faints at the sight of the sudden cuteness.

Zitao grabs Jongdae’s arm happily and loyally follows him to their destination. The sudden clinginess of Zitao surprises Jongdae slightly.  But he kind of enjoys the closeness and lets it go. He stops to get a drink before finding where Yifan was.

When they near the door, Zitao decides to ‘casually’ wrap his arm around Jongdae’s shoulders. Jongdae seems to get slightly distracted because of this, because if it isn’t for Zitao, he would have run into a door. Zitao chuckles as he pulls Jongdae away from the obstacle.

It’s ironic…Zitao it’s normally this clingy. Usually only when he wants something (or is extremely attracted to someone). But after hearing Jongdae singing, he believes he’s found a new found (that’s not so new found) crush on the older.

“Well, well, it seems like you two have become close,” Yifan automatically notices as the two walk into his room which he shares with Yixing.

Jongdae glares at Yifan, whom likes to call himself the leader (duizhang) of the little group in which Jongdae is always hanging out with when he’s not with the rest of his Korean friends. Of course, this ‘group’ is composed of Jongdae, Yixing, Luhan, Yifan, Minseok, and as of recent, Zitao. Even though Jongdae is glaring at Yifan, Zitao notices a slight pinkish hue on Jongdae’s face. Zitao smiles slightly. He finds Jongdae’s embarrassed expression very adorable.

Unfortunately for Zitao, Jongdae gently removes Zitao’s arm from his shoulder and approaches Yifan’s bed. Yifan rises and gives Jongdae an awkward brohug. Then both boys sit down after that very awkward situation and Zitao sits next to Jongdae. He notes the small notebook in the latter’s lap.

“So, the English song is finished…” Jongdae says to Yifan. “No thanks to you. But…I can’t think of what language to do the other song in…”

“How about Chinese?” Yifan and Zitao suggest simultaneously.

Jongdae looks from Yifan to Zitao. The youngest hides his face, his cheeks suddenly heating up. Yifan notes the blush on Zitao’s face and chuckles softly. Having to get to know the boy, he noticed the younger did talk about Jongdae a lot as of recent.

Of course, Jongdae considered using Chinese for his second song. But he never really thought hard about it. Now that two of his Chinese friends mention it, he realizes it might be nice to try it out. Listening to his Chinese friends talk in Mandarin, he learned it sounded very elegant. He makes a face as he thinks, not noticing Zitao staring at him with a slight smile on his face. Finally, Jongdae nods.

“Chinese…” he decides. “Might do.”

“Glad you agree with us,” Yifan says. “’Cause I know the perfect person to help you.”

Jongdae looks at Yifan with wide eyes of shock. “You mean…you’re not going to help me?”

Yifan shakes his head. “Nope. Not this time, buddy.”

“Then…who?” Jongdae asks. “And if you want me to sing, you better tell me first.”

“Well, that won’t take much time. He’s sitting beside you with a slight pout on his panda face.” Yifan responds with a haughty smirk.

Jongdae’s head automatically snaps in Zitao’s direction. Zitao is just as surprised and shocked as Jongdae is. His finger is pointing to himself in confusion and shock. Jongdae looks back at Yifan with a questioning look.

“You…you want me to write a song with Tao?” Jongdae asks, meaning no mean intentions, but as he says it, he realizes how rude it sounds. “Not that I would mind…but why was he the first person to come to mind?”

“Who else but Zitao?” Yifan asks rhetorically. “It’ll give you guys more, ah, ‘bonding time’” he winks. “Also, you’ll be learning another language.”

“But…Isn’t Korean and English good enough?” Jongdae pouts.

“No. I know 3 Languages, plus a dialect. You can never know too many languages.” Yifan says. “English, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese. Plus, a bit of French because in Canada, French and English are its National languages and they teach it in school.”

Jongdae pouts again, but nods reluctantly. “Fine, I’ll write a song with Tao.”

“Now can Chen-hyung sing?” Zitao asks eagerly.

Jongdae sighs and turns to look at Zitao. “Why do you want to hear me sing so badly, Tao? I’m not even that good.”

“I call bull on that,” Yifan denies. “Let Zitao hear you sing. He’s probably just curious. I still say we should start a group someday.”

A group? Jongdae suddenly remembers the dream he had last week. Didn’t Luhan say something about a sixth member being gone? And his name was Tao? That could only mean…

“OH!” Jongdae accidently says out loud.

“Oh, what?” Yifan questions. “Are you going to sing or stare into space muttering utter gobbledygook?”

So Jongdae sings. As soon as he starts, his eyes close and he delves into his own world. As per usual for Jongdae, though… Every time he sings, the world around him melts and turns into a world where he’s in front of lots of fans. He opens his eyes. He can hear Zitao clapping enthusiastically, but he can clearly hear more than just Zitao’s hands clapping.

Jongdae focuses his vision and looks around. All of his friends are also in the room, clapping. This makes Jongdae want to crawl into a hole and bury himself in it. He isn’t used to this many people, despite his dreams and such. He takes a few breaths to calm his nerves.

Jongdae’s youngest (but seemingly the most mature) friend, Oh Sehun approaches Jongdae toting two other people behind him—Minseok and Luhan.

“Wah, Jongdae-hyung, I didn’t know you sang so well!” Sehun says, his lisp seeping through his words.

“Yeah!” Luhan agrees. “If I had known you had such a good voice, I would have asked to do a duet together long ago!”

Jongdae awkwardly nods his head in thanks. But slowly, his sane and comfortable state is disappearing. His hand unconsciously reaches over for Zitao’s hand loosely as he gets up. Then, without another word, he pushes his way through his friends and runs until he’s at their room.

~○♥○~

Zitao can’t help but gape and his hand, which is being held by Jongdae’s. He was just starting to relish Jongdae’s touch when said person suddenly decides he hasn’t gotten his daily trip in and stumbles over his own feet. Jongdae’s hand slips out of Zitao’s as he falls. Thankfully, with Zitao’s quick reflexes, he grabs Jongdae’s arm with one hand, and his waist with his other. He hauls the elder (who is surprisingly light) up with ease.

“A-Ah, thanks, Tao.” Jongdae says, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Zitao smiles and pulls the elder closer to him with the tug of his arm, which is still around Jongdae’s waist. Zitao notices the other flush, and while it took him a lot of nerve not to blush himself, laughs.

“You’re adorable, you know that, Chen-hyung?” he compliments.

~○♥○~

The writing of the Chinese song starts off a little awkward. The hardest part is coming up with a title and concept. When Jongdae looks at the assignment sheet again, it reminds him that the song needs to have something to do with love. Whether it’s a breakup, love-letter-ish song, confession, or the likes, doesn’t matter.

Zitao is very helpful with giving examples and ideas. But none of the ideas…pop to Jongdae. Finally, a song idea perks Jongdae’s mind. A song about an angel arriving on earth and falling in love with a human, thus losing their wings.

So with that idea in mind, they start to write the song. They figure to start out with a title (which isn’t really what Jongdae does first, but Zitao said they should, so they did). It takes a couple hours to come up with something that should be as simple as a title. Finally, Zitao sits up with a beam on his face.

“Oh, I know!” he exclaimed. “How about Into Your World? Since it’s a song about and angel coming into Earth from Heaven and entering the human’s world after meeting the girl or whatever.”

Jongdae nods. “I like that. Now…how do you say and spell that in Mandarin?”

Zitao smiles and gives Jongdae the Pinyin for the song title, helping him with the accents on the letters and with the pronunciation. Then he takes the pencil and writes the Chinese characters for it. Underneath that, Jongdae writes the Korean (and teaches Zitao how to say it properly and how to spell it with Romanization and Hangul). The alternative title becomes just simples ‘Angel’.

It takes even longer to come up with the first set of lyrics. Zitao tries to help by offering Chinese phrases and then doing his best to translate them back into Korean for Jongdae (who helped him if he got stuck on a word and Jongdae knew what it was supposed to be). Still, nothing Zitao offers seems to perk Jongdae’s interest. The younger frowns and juts his bottom lip out in a pout.

Jongdae notices this and smiles. For someone who looks like an intimidating person who can easily kill you if you get on his bad side, Zitao is such a cutie pie who looks slightly like a panda. Sometimes, Jongdae just wants to squeeze the kid because he’s so cute. Of course, he doesn’t—that would be weird.

Zitao notices Jongdae looking at him and blushes. He manages to stammer out, “W-what are you looking at?”

“Oh, nothing in particular.” Jongdae responds, his eyes almost completely closing as his closed lip smile becomes a full on grin. “Anywho, lyrics.”

“Right…” Zitao thinks again. “Oh, I have something!”

Zitao tells Jongdae the lyric idea in Mandarin, then does his best translating them into Korean. Jongdae confirms those are good for the first lyrics, Zitao smiles. Then he helps with the Pinyin spelling. In the end, he also ends up teaching Jongdae what each word meant and how to write the characters. He makes Jongdae practice pronunciation until he has the line perfectly down.

‘Hao xiang, shen, me dou bu dong de hai zi yi yang, chun zhen

Chong sheng, na ge mei li di shun jian~

(Pure, like the innocence of a child who doesn’t know better

Born in this beautiful moment)’

Zitao claps approvingly at Jongdae, pleased that he successfully taught the elder Chinese. Jongdae smiles at Zitao’s childishness. Then they try to work out more lyrics for the song to offer Zitao to translate into Mandarin.

They work on the lyrics until they’re both half asleep. Jongdae yawns and puts his pencil down. He closes his book and pats Zitao on the thigh, thanking him for being so helpful. Zitao’s stretching his arms up in the air.

He blushes at the compliment. “You’re too kind. I’m not the one who comes up with all these amazing lyrical things. Hell, pretty much everything you say sounds poetic.”

Jongdae, who was putting his lyric book in its special spot, pauses to look at Zitao in shock. “P-pardon me?”

Zitao flushes. “N-never mind!”

He quickly gets off of Jongdae’s bed and practically leaps onto his own bed. He covers himself with his sheets, hugging his stuffed panda tightly. Jongdae chuckles and gets up so he can change into some more comfortable sleepwear. Zitao turns back to look at Jongdae just as the older is finishing taking his shirt off.

Zitao flushes again but clears his throat. He takes his stuffed panda and chucks it at Jongdae’s (very beautiful) back. “Yah, what do you think you’re doing?!” he’s trying to sound annoyed, but is probably failing. “Don’t just strip in front of me!”

Jongdae glances over his shoulder at Zitao. He smirks and laughs slightly. “At least I’m still wearing my pants. Enjoy my beautiful back, for now.”

(Zitao was doing that anyways.)

Jongdae reaches down and picks up the panda stuffy and throws it back at Zitao. Then he grabs a shirt and pulls it over his head. He glances back again and smiles at how Zitao is hugging the stuffy.

“If you’re so against me stripping in front of your poor, innocent eyes, you might want to look away now.” Jongdae says humorously.

Zitao rolls his eyes, but obeys the elder and hides his face in his pillow, squeezing his panda. When he looks back up, Jongdae is fully clothed. He’s also staring at Zitao with an amused expression.

“What?” Zitao questions, sitting up straight.

“Nothing.” Jongdae responds simply. He turns back, takes something from his bed and throws it at Zitao. “But here. Change into these. They might be a bit small though. Sorry—it’s because you’re too tall. Either that or I’m too short.”

Zitao bites his lip. He looks at Jongdae, then at the bundle of clothing that landed perfectly in Zitao’s lap (but not before hitting him in the face, naturally. This causes a slight stifled laugh from Jongdae). He hears Jongdae laughing softly again but refuses to look back at him. Zitao gingerly picks up the simple white tank top.

“It won’t hurt, Tao.” Jongdae states. This causes Zitao to look at Jongdae with a confused look. Jongdae flashes a sly smile and continues. “To wear someone else’s clothing for a day. It won’t hurt.”

Zitao nods, seemingly understanding. Then he realizes Jongdae is either mocking or teasing him. He childishly sticks his tongue out at the elder. Jongdae stares at Zitao for a while. He smiles slightly as he turns away.

‘How is someone like him so cute? ’ Jongdae wonders as he sits on his bed.

Zitao eventually does put the clothing on. By then, Jongdae is lying on his bed with his back turned. Zitao’s going to be honest—Jongdae’s clothing smells nice. Like oranges. Maybe it’s from his shampoo or body wash. Or just simply the scent of his laundry detergent.

Zitao smiles and settles into his bed, hugging his panda doll. He unconsciously mumbles, “Good night, Chen-hyung…”

“Night, Tao.” Jongdae’s voice automatically replies back groggily.

~○♥○~

Jongdae and Zitao finish writing the song within another week. Thankfully too, because the end of the semester—the day the assignment is due—is a day after. During this time, Jongdae learns quite a few things about Zitao. He also learns a few things about himself.

The next day after handing in the assignment, Jongdae calls Yifan and Luhan over to his room. He could have chosen anyone, but…he trusted something like this with these two rather than with people like Jongin, Yixing (he’s really bad at keeping secrets). And definitely not Sehun. Anyways, Zitao is out for the morning, doing his daily whatever. Jongdae looks at either of his friends.

“Guys,” he says, “I called you over here because I need to tell you something. I also need your help.”

Luhan is playing with his beloved Rubik’s cube (that he made Jongdae reshuffle before he sat on his bed). Yifan is on Zitao’s bed, looking at his stuffed panda and everything else on his bed. Jongdae knows by now that even though they’re not paying any attention to him, they heard him loud and clear.

“So…” Jongdae speaks after a second of silence. “What do you say?”

“Why don’t you tell us whatever it is you want to tell us, first?” Yifan says, putting the panda down. “Then we can make our judgments.”

Jongdae sighs and rolls his eyes. “I was getting there.”

“Well get there faster.” Luhan mumbles impatiently as he tries to finish the Rubik’s cube. His fingers are moving as fast as a pianist’s on a piano. Or, even better, faster than light (because to Jongdae, Luhan’s hands are moving that fast).

This causes Jongdae to get slightly distracted as he watches Luhan rotate the blocks on the colorful cube. He shakes his head to focus himself and straightens up. Then he clears his throat.

“So, you all know Tao and I are roomies,” he states obviously.

“Really? You are?” Yifan asks sarcastically.

Jongdae shoots the older a glare and continues. “This…is difficult to say…but…I think I like Tao…more than just as a friend.”

“Oh, that’s obvious.” Luhan jumps in, still concentrating on the Rubik’s cube.

“Shut up, Little Deer.” Jongdae mumbles annoyed at all these interruptions.

“’Little Deer’?” Luhan questions, looking up at Jongdae.

“Tao taught me that deer in Mandarin was Lu.” Jongdae explains. “Now don’t change the subject.”

“Sorry,” Luhan says. He doesn’t sound very apologetic though.

Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Anyways, even though it’s apparently so obvious, I want to confess.”

“And why does this concern us?” Yifan asks.

“I want to sing for him…” Jongdae mumbles, suddenly embarrassed. “And I need…some kind of reason.”

“Well, Zitao’s birthday is in a few days, if that’s what you’re searching for.” Luhan offers.

“You know this how?” Jongdae inquires.

“It’s all he’s been talking about when we talk sometimes.” Luhan responds. “We do talk and hang out you know.”

“So…how about we throw a surprise party, then?” Yifan asks. “Then we can all wish him a happy birthday. And you can sing for him and confess later.”

“Fine.” Jongdae agrees. “That will do.”

~○♥○~

Zitao, upon finishing his usual practice, approaches his shared room. He enters the pale blue walled room only to see Jongdae, his roommate, talking with two of their other friends. Zitao tilts his head.

“Hmm? Luhan-ge, Yifan-ge…?” He questions, calling them the Mandarin word for older brother rather than hyung, the Korean word for older brother, because both were Chinese like him.

All three young men look at the youngest. Jongdae stands up first to greet Zitao. Yifan and Luhan just wave from the beds they’re sitting on.

“Ah, Tao! You’re back!” Jongdae says happily. “Luhan-hyung, Kris-hyung and I were just talking about you!”

“R-really?” Zitao asks. “W-why?”

“We were just talking about how you’re always gone in the morning.” Jongdae lies. “They were just about to leave, though.”

“We were?” Yifan questions, suddenly not as cocky as he was before. Luhan shoots him a glare from across the room. “Right, we were!”

Both boys stand up quickly and make their way to the door. Jongdae smiles at them.

“See you tomorrow?” he asks.

The boys nod and leave the room. Jongdae waves after them. Now it’s just Jongdae and Zitao. Jongdae realizes how bored he is and sighs. He walks over to his bed and sits on it. Zitao moves over to his own bed and sits down, immediately grabbing his panda doll and hugging it.

“Do you have any nicknames?” Jongdae suddenly asks, realizing he doesn’t know of any nicknames for Zitao other that Tao.

Zitao looks at Jongdae, his chin placed on top of his doll’s head. He nods his head slightly. “In China, my friends would call me Kung Fu Panda. When introducing myself, I’d always say ‘Hello, I’m the romantic Kung Fu Panda who likes taking walks on the beach, Huang Zitao’.

Jongdae looks at Zitao incredulously. “Kung Fu Panda? Why? And they’d let you say that?”

“Yeah, they’d let me say it. They found it cute.” Zitao replies. “And I’ll show you why they called me that, later.” He looks back at Jongdae. “How about you? Any nicknames?”

“Kris-hyung calls me ChenChen sometimes,” Jongdae responds. “You’ve probably already noticed that, though. In high school, people used to call me Dancing Machine.”

Zitao raises his eyebrows. “You can dance?”

“Not very well.” Jongdae admits. “I’m not as good as Jongin or Yixing-hyung. They only called me that because I used to claim I was able to, and when I did try, it was apparently funny. So my friends jokingly called me Dancing Machine.”

Zitao snorts, holding back a laugh. “Really?”

Jongdae nods. “I was a real troll back then. Actually, that was another one of my nicknames—Troll. I used to joke around and pull pranks on students and teachers I disliked. Chanyeol and I were classmates and we used to have fun pulling pranks on others.” Jongdae chuckles, remembering the time when he wasn’t as serious as he is now (unfortunately, Chanyeol didn’t change at all. He’s still all smiles and…just generally creepy). Then Jongdae looks at Zitao. “What did you do in high school?”

“Do you want me to show you?” Zitao asks with a smile Jongdae has never seen before.

“Um…should I be afraid?” Jongdae asks, suddenly worried for himself.

“It depends.” Zitao stands up and grabs Jongdae’s arm. “C’mon.”

Jongdae allows himself to get dragged by Zitao. They end up walking across campus, which confuses Jongdae slightly. He’s surprised when Zitao stops in the martial arts studio. Zitao tells him to sit down, so Jongdae does. Zitao sits down to stretch is legs.

“What are you—?” Jongdae tries to ask.

“Just wait.” Zitao cuts off.

He stretches a little bit longer, then stands up and stretches his arms a little bit more. He pauses then begins his graceful ‘dance’ of sorts. Because that’s what it looks like to Jongdae. But to Zitao it’s just the routine he normally preforms. Somehow, though, Zitao feels more pressure than he ever has with competitions. As if Jongdae is more important to impress than the judges who help him win the competition.

As he’s doing his flips and aerial cartwheels and other (really epic) moves, he feels he needs more. He waltzes over to a wushu stick. A dangerous move indeed, since he promised he wouldn’t touch the weapon until his side heals more. However, it’s still part of his routine, so it doesn’t mean he can’t do it anyways (though he could have easily took the sword instead it do that).

Unfortunately, as he does the move where he lands on the ground and pushes the stick out of his hand, he lands more harshly then he wants to. He groans slightly in pain, but bites his tongue so he doesn’t groan again. He tries to jump up from his position, but fails.

~○♥○~

What Zitao was doing was beautiful and amazes Jongdae. But one of the moves he does…doesn’t look very well, even though he doesn’t have the slightest on what it’s supposed to look like. Now Zitao is lying on his back, holding his side. Definitely doesn’t seem like it would be part of this beautiful routine. Something is wrong.

Jongdae stands up and runs to Zitao’s aid. “Tao? Are you alright?”

Zitao nods his head and looks at Jongdae. “Fine. I’m…fine. Sit back down. I’m not finished.”

Jongdae notices something white on Zitao’s side under his shirt as he shifts his position (no, Jongdae wasn’t looking there on purpose). Somewhere where his tan skin should be, and Jongdae is positive Zitao isn’t wearing a shirt underneath his dark gray t-shirt. Gingerly (and awkwardly), Jongdae moves Zitao’s shirt slightly. Jongdae realizes the white is a bandage and gasps.

“Tao, you’re hurt!” he exclaims. “Why are you doing this when you’re hurt, idiot?!”

“It’s fine.” Zitao insists. “I need to finish my routine for you.”

“Why?” Jongdae demands.

“B-because…” Zitao stammers. “I…need to impress you.”

“Impress me?” Jongdae laughs. “I was impressed the moment you started. Now stop acting like this, you’re hurt and shouldn’t be doing things like this.”

Zitao nods and tries to stand up. He stumbles and almost falls again, but Jongdae graciously catches him (even though it was hard for Jongdae, because Zitao was so tall and…muscular). He gives the younger a worried look as he lets him lean against him. Then he gently takes Zitao’s wrist and pulls it around his own shoulder. He puts his free hand around Zitao’s waist so he has more balance.

Zitao blushes at all the skinship that he isn’t used to from the elder, but tries to hide it. He looks at Jongdae, who is looking at him. His expression isn’t like it usually is. Instead of being teasing, smiley or just plain adorable, his face shows visible worry, concern, and seriousness.

“Let’s take you to the infirmary to get you check up,” the latter offers.

“N-no! Back to our room is fine.” Zitao insists. “I know how bad it is, and I know how to take care of it.”

Jongdae’s expression of concern and worry deepens (if that’s even possible), but he reluctantly nods and says, “Fine. I’m going to start walking, okay?”

Zitao nods and they slowly (but surely) make their way to their room. Jongdae, being the klutz he is, nearly trips twice. But thankfully, he steadies himself before he can fall. After Jongdae trips for the third time, Zitao finds himself worrying that Jongdae will eventually fall and hurt himself too. A clumsy, scrawny looking 21 year old like Jongdae tying to carry the weight of a tall, muscular, yet younger boy just doesn’t seem right or safe.

Thankfully, though, they make it back to their room safely without any unplanned trips. Jongdae sits Zitao on his bed and disappears into the bathroom to get supplies to help the younger. He comes back holding a white box—a first aid kit.

Jongdae sits next to Zitao and opens the white box. He turns to look at Zitao with a slight pinkish hue on his cheeks.  He doesn’t want to have to say or do this, but he bites his lip.

“U-um…do you mind…?” he stammers, trailing off. He tries again. “You—your shirt…”

It takes a while for Zitao to understand what Jongdae was asking. He stares at Jongdae in shock for a second, but nods. A blush is creeping onto his face, but he nods. Slowly and hesitantly, he pulls his shirt off, revealing a decent looking body. He lets Jongdae remove the bandage/gauze from around his waist and examine his injury.

“D-does it hurt when I press here?” Jongdae asks, trying not to look at Zitao’s slightly visible 6-pack. He’s pressing a spot on Zitao’s side.

Zitao makes a face and suppresses a smile/giggle. Rather than hurting, it makes Zitao want to laugh because it tickles slightly. Jongdae doesn’t seem to notice the suppressed smile and moves on to a different spot on his side. He pushes down.

“Here?” he asks.

Now Zitao winces and makes a little yelp like a puppy. Jongdae tilts his head and presses it again. This time Zitao’s yelp is louder. The younger finally nods in response with another wince.

“How long have you been hurt for?” Jongdae asks, taking a roll of gauze out of the first aid kit.

“Since I came to the school and you showed me around.” Zitao responds as Jongdae touches the spot that hurts gently. “After I was given my room number, I dropped my stuff off and went over there to practice. That’s when I hurt myself.”

“That was two weeks ago!” Jongdae exclaims. “Does it normally take this long to heal?!”

“It depends.” Zitao responds calmly. “Sometimes it can take two days. Or two weeks. Sometimes even a couple months.”

“And you’re used to this?” Jongdae asks incredulously.

“This has happened before.” Zitao responds, slightly surprised by Jongdae’s suddenly raised voice. “So…yes.”

“And what happens if it’s worse than before?” Jongdae’s voice is progressively getting louder. “What happens when you break a rib or something?!”

Zitao blushes slightly at the very concerned older man in front of him. “C-Calm down, hyung! Why does it matter?”

“Calm down?” Jongdae is practically yelling now, but Zitao isn’t scared because he’s just being concerned in a very angry way. “How can I calm down if my best friend is injured like this?!”

“B-best…f-friend?” Zitao stammers, shocked at the sudden words.

Best friend wasn’t exactly Jongdae’s first choice of words. But, obviously, it would be stupid to replace ‘best friend’ with ‘crush’. Jongdae nods at what Zitao words, thinking before he speaks again so he doesn’t say something he isn’t supposed to.

“Well of course.” Jongdae finally says. “You’re less annoying that most of the other people I call my friends. I like Yifan-hyung, but he can be egoistic and sarcastic, Jongin is also pretty egoistic and he’s pretty obnoxious…Kyungsoo-hyung…acts like a mother and follows Jongin everywhere, Chanyeol-hyung…um, you get my point. You’re the most normal of my friends.”

“You know, you’re no better than them sometimes.” Zitao states in a teasing voice.

“You’re not helping the mood…” Jongdae complains

“But…” Zitao continues. “That’s why I like you. And you have killer vocals.”

Jongdae can’t help but blush. He clears his throat quickly. “A-anyways…let’s get this gauze on you…”

~○♥○~

The days until Zitao’s birthday slowing dwindle. Jongdae spends the mornings when Zitao is practicing with Yifan and Luhan, planning the surprise party. Jongdae, at first, is against Zitao doing martial arts again, but he realizes that it’s the only way he’d get to talk about the party without him listening. As soon as Zitao comes back, Yifan and Luhan say they are just about to leave and Jongdae tells Zitao that he was hanging out with them.

“Yifan-ge and Luhan-ge have been here in the morning every day…” Zitao suddenly points out. “But why do you need to hang out with only those two, and so early in the morning?

“They’re the only others up at this time and when I wake up and see you gone, I kind of get lonely.” Jongdae replies. “I mean, I was alone every morning before you came…but I got used talking to you every day…so…”

“My birthday is in a few days…” Zitao suddenly decides to state.

“Is it now?” Jongdae tries not to sound like he knows, but also tries not to sound like he’s being sarcastic.

“Yep.” Zitao confirms. “It’ll be my first birthday away from home and without my family.”

Jongdae frowns. This he didn’t know (though it did seem obvious). “Really?”

“But it’s fine, since I have amazing friends and you to celebrate with.” Zitao adds smiling.

Jongdae looks at him, seeing the smile on the younger’s face, and can’t help but smile right back. But Jongdae is suddenly a little afraid to pretend not to know it’s his birthday for the first couple minutes on Zitao’s birthday. He can tell it would break the young boy’s heart if he did that to him. Jongdae sighs and bites his tongue.

“Chen-hyung?” Zitao calls, shaking the elder out of his thoughts.

“I’m sorry, what?” Jongdae asks politely.

“We’ll do something special on my birthday, right?”

Jongdae nods. “Of course. Something very special.”

Zitao beams and pulls Jongdae into a hug. Though Jongdae is unsure why he’s receiving this embrace, he doesn’t hesitate to hug back. He pulls back slightly a while later and hold’s Zitao’s shoulders.

“Let’s go out for lunch, ‘kay?” Jongdae asks. “Just us two.”

Zitao beams again and nods. Jongdae can’t help but flash a beautiful smile back. Then they both leave campus to get lunch.

~○♥○~

Jongdae has to wake up much earlier than he’s used to on Zitao’s birthday. Thankfully, since Zitao’s birthday is on a Wednesday, there was no school that day. In order to catch Zitao before he leaves, Jongdae has to wake up at 4am and pretend to be asleep until he notices Zitao get up.

Jongdae catches the younger just as he’s getting ready to leave. Gently (and hesitantly) he winds his arms around Zitao’s waist in a backhug. This causes Zitao to stiffen slightly, but when he realizes that it’s Jongdae, he practically melts against the shorter but older.

“Happy birthday, Huang Zitao.” Jongdae whispers.

“Why are you up so early, hyung?” Zitao questions.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Jongdae replies, resting his chin on Zitao’s shoulder. “I was too excited about your birthday.”

“You should go back to sleep, Chen-hyung.” Zitao states, slightly flustered from all this physical contact. “I have to go to practice.”

“No, wait…” Jongdae lets go of Zitao. “Let me come with you!”

“Why?” Zitao asks, shouldering his duffle bag.

“Be—because it’s you’re birthday!” Jongdae responds. “Please?”

Zitao turns just in time to see Jongdae pouting. Zitao bites the inside of his cheek and holds back a blush (or at least tries and fails to hold back a blush).

“F-fine...you can come.” He decides.

Jongdae tries not to act too excited, but fails. Zitao just laughs and pushes Jongdae towards the door. This isn’t exactly what Jongdae wants, but nevertheless, he leads Zitao out of the room. As they walk, he lags behind the tall Chinese boy. When they near the martial arts studio, Jongdae comes up behind Zitao and covers the younger’s eyes.

“Y-yah!” Zitao exclaims, stumbling slightly at the sudden temporary loss of vision. “What are you doing?!”

Jongdae doesn’t reply. He just continues to lead them into the martial arts studio. Once they enter the martial arts studio, he uncovers Zitao’s eyes.

“Surprise!” all the people in the room shout simultaneously.

Zitao looks around in shock and awe. The room is filled with balloon and streamers of all colors. There’s a seemingly handmade banner hung on the roof that reads ‘Happy Birthday Huang Zitao! ’. Everyone that Jongdae and Zitao know is in the room; Yifan, Luhan, and Minseok just to name a few. They’re all wearing party hats and some are holding noise makers.

Zitao turns to look at Jongdae. The look of complete awe and surprise is still on the younger’s face. Jongdae smiles at it, amused.

“Surprise~!” Jongdae exclaims softly.

Zitao just stares at the older. “You—did you—?”

“Plan this?” Jongdae offers. Zitao nods meekly and Jongdae chuckles. “Yes. With the help of Yifan-hyung and Luhan-hyung.”

Zitao stares at Jongdae a little bit longer. Then he grins and practically throws himself at the older, making them almost fall over. Jongdae laughs and hugs the younger back. He pulls back a while later, still with his arm around Zitao’s shoulder.

“So, everyone…” Jongdae starts. “Should we get this party started?”

“Yeah~!” everyone shouts in reply.

Jongdae turns to Zitao, who smiles. Jongdae smiles back and they make their way to all of their friends to celebrate.

~○♥○~

Jongdae announces the presents will be left for last. First, they go to the cake, which reads the same thing as the banner and has 20 candles on it. Jongdae lights the candles and allows Zitao to blow them out.

“What did you wish for?” a fellow tall friend, Park Chanyeol, asks eagerly.

“If I tell, it won’t come true, now will it?” Zitao responds, gaining a pout from Chanyeol.

Jongdae gives Zitao a knife to cut the cake. The latter does a neat trick with the knife (nearly cutting Jongdae’s finger in the process. Zitao apologizes), but finally cuts the cake. Everyone sings happy birthday in English then Korean. The three Chinese friends sing in Chinese. Zitao bows in appreciation.

“Open your presents~!” someone (Jongin, Chanyeol, and Minseok collectively, actually) shouts.

Zitao smiles. He looks around for Jongdae, but doesn’t see him anywhere. His smile dissolves into a frown as he continues to look amidst all his friends for his roommate.

“Where’s Chen-ge?” he asks Luhan in Mandarin.

“He probably went to the washroom or something.” Luhan responds back in Mandarin. He switches back to Korean and adds, “Open my present first~!”

The older Chinese boy offers Zitao a box. Zitao, having no choice but, takes the box. Everyone crowds in a little closer as Zitao opens the present.

~○♥○~

With Zitao distracted and unable to see through all the people around him, Jongdae slips back into the room with a microphone. He’d managed to discreetly sneak out of the room when Yixing, Luhan and, Yifan sang happy birthday in Mandarin. He puts the microphone down and jets out again so he can practice for a short while. He also needs to grab the music/instrumental Yixing made for the song.

Thankfully, when he finishes all that, he’s back just in time for Zitao to open his supposedly last gift. Jongdae hears Zitao complaining about Jongdae not being here still. That’s when he figures is perfect timing to turn on the music. Everyone turns around.

“Huang Zitao—happy birthday~!” Jongdae shouts.

Then he grabs the microphone and starts to sing.

~○♥○~

 Zitao is surprised. Not only because Jongdae is singing the song had they written together, but also because it’s being sung for him. Everyone moves away from Zitao, leaving the latter just standing and staring. He expected Jongdae’s eyes to be closed, like the normally are when he sings and gets lost in the moment, but they weren’t. His eyes never left Zitao’s. He even winked at the younger a couple times.

Zitao is oblivious to the world besides Jongdae now. He doesn’t even notice his friends slowly disappearing. Right now, Zitao is in a world that’s just him and Jongdae. Jongdae and him. And it’s the best thing ever.

The song ends. Somehow, at some time, Jongdae ends up in front of Zitao. He smiles. This is when Zitao realizes everyone is gone, and it literally is just him and Jongdae.

“There’s just…one more thing I’d like to say…” Jongdae says. He’s really close to Zitao now. “I love you; saranghae; wo ai ni.”

With that, Jongdae reaches up on his tip-toes and capture’s Zitao’s lips in his. The younger is caught off guard slightly, but then he smiles against Jongdae’s lips, wraps his arms around the elder’s waist, and kisses back. Jongdae’s arms snake around Zitao’s neck, pulling the taller down slightly to deepen the kiss.

The kiss is euphoric. The moves made were hesitant, since it was both their first time, but both got used to everything. Zitao can honestly say he would be able to die happy now that all this has happened. Then finally, both pull back. Zitao rests his head on Jongdae’s and they both smile breathlessly.

“Happy birthday,” Jongdae whispers once he’s caught his breath. “And may your wish come true.”

Zitao laughs. “Too bad this is far better than what I wished for. I wouldn’t want anything better.”

Jongdae laughs back. Zitao pulls him into his embrace. Jongdae rests his head against Zitao’s chest contently, smiling widely when he hears how quickly his heart is beating.

“Thank you for singing for me, hyung.” Zitao whispers into Jongdae’s ear, his breath sending shivers down the letters spine. “And, I love you too.”

Jongdae pulls back a centimeter to look at the taller. Zitao stares back for a while, a slight smile on his face. Then he leans down and pecks Jongdae’s nose, causing the older to blush slightly.

“Thank you for the best birthday ever, Jongdae-hyung.” Zitao says. “I definitely don’t regret meeting you.”

Jongdae smiles and looks at the ground bashfully. He lets go of Zitao and finds one of his hands. Intertwining it with his own, he says, “Come on, Zitao. Let’s go out for the day.”

“Will you sing for me again?” Zitao asks eagerly.

Jongdae chuckles. “If you really want me to.”

“I do! I do!” Zitao exclaims happily, his eyes sparkling.

“Well, then I’ll always sing for you.” Jongdae squeezes Zitao’s hand. “Let’s go, then!”

You don't wanna know how long this took to write. I wrote it on paper first as a rough draft...Then, on the computer it became 21 pages long. How is this a one shot? I'm so bad. D: Hope this wasn't too long for you people. Expect more Taochen from me~ I'll get to my Key x OC fic...eventually. BUT I WILL FINISH IT. I PROMISE (even though it doesn't seem like people want to read it...)

But...while I'm talking about it, there's no shame in promoting it, is there? (yes, yes there is Niki, jeez)http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/431941/the-secrets-of-sm-entertainment-key-shinee-originalcharacter-exo