His eyes traveled across the dance floor in a blurry motion. He thought he wouldn’t be able to find him anyway, all those people moving and screaming. That’s exactly why Yi Fan didn’t party. Who would like something this messy? Oh. Of course. That boy would. 
A girl in a pink dress bumped onto him, spilling some blue liquid in his shirt. He narrowed his eyes at his white dress shirt –now all went into something blue with a strong smell–, noticing that the girl didn’t give a damn about what happened and went away, bouncing like everyone else.

“Dammit, girl” he retorted, trying to tap the stains out of his shirt.

“Yi Fan hyung! Yah!” a familiar voice yelled somewhere near him. “Wu Yi Fan!”
He turned his head left and saw Chanyeol fighting his way towards him. The other pushed some guy aside with an angry look and shouted outraged for the drunken stranger to move.

“Did you find him?” Yi Fan asked hopeful, but the look on Chanyeol’s eyes told otherwise.

“No” he mumbled. Yi Fan’s pitiful look led Chanyeol to pat his shoulder. “Yah, don’t be like this. Yixing can only kill you once for losing his little brother”.

Yi Fan gave his friend an angry glance “Way to cheer a friend”.

“There’s no point in cheering a dead man” Chanyeol giggled at the sight of his friend miserable sigh. He was so screwed. Chanyeol knew he shouldn’t find Yi Fan’s situation funny, but the simple fact that they lost a sixteen-year old boy was barely amusing.

Zitao was the little brother of Yixing, a great friend of both Yi Fan and Chanyeol (although he was very close to Yi Fan). Yixing left the city for a very important trip with his college classmates (apparently, Yeosu had large sites of fossilized dinosaurs, and Yixing was hoping they could discover a velociraptor head) and like a careful brother, asked his two best friends to look after Zitao.

Well, he asked mainly to Yi Fan, Chanyeol thought.

The thing is, Tao escaped the first night he was under Yi Fan and Chanyeol’s watch.
In their defense, Chanyeol never thought Zitao would be the kind of guy to escape home and flee to a dance club.

“He is a sixteen-year old bastard! Of course he would flee!” Yi Fan shouted and Chanyeol giggled. “Stop laughing at my despair!”

His mind kept rewinding the last words Yixing said to him. ‘Take care of him, Yi Fan’. And, he already let his best friend down.
He couldn’t fail Yixing. Not him.
Of all people.

“I’m not laughing at your despair! I’m laughing because you’re freaking out”

“In other words, you’re laughing at my despair!” but instead of replying back, Chanyeol looked at some point behind Yi Fan and goggled, shaking and pointing his finger.

“Yah, yah, yah!!!!!” he exclaimed. “THERE HE IS!”

Yi Fan turned to look at what he was pointing and narrowed his eyes at the sight of Zitao jumping excited to the sound of music. He was dancing alone.
“Let’s go” he said to Chanyeol and both walked towards the bouncy kid.

“Seems like he’s having a good time” Chanyeol said in a joyful tone. Yi Fan could not understand what’s been amusing Chanyeol so much about the whole situation. Yixing left his adored brother in their care and they simply lost the kid.  Well, they didn’t lose. Fierce Tao escaped.

“Hey, you bastard!” Yi Fan grabbed the boy by his shirt (he was wearing a black t-shirt with a red dragon on it). Tao looked surprised as he lowered his eyes to see Yi Fan’s grab at his shirt.

“W-what are you doing here?” he moved his eyes from a really pissed Yi Fan to an amused Chanyeol.  Chanyeol found Zitao’s expression confusing; he wasn’t thrilled in seeing them, yet he wasn’t upset. He looked at Yi Fan with a surprised guise, a good surprised guise.

“Of course I’m taking you home!” Yi Fan exclaimed giving Zitao no chance to hear Chanyeol’s excited ‘Hi Zitao!’ The boy’s happy face fell as he realized Yi Fan wasn’t there to join him. Zitao tried to protest, but the other’s grab was too powerful to dodge.

“Wait! Stop!”

“I wouldn’t fight this if I were you” Chanyeol touched the boy’s shoulder understandingly and gave him a twitched smile. Zitao never liked Chanyeol. He was always laughing and finding everything so funny and being amused by the most ridiculous things, like lizards or Super Sentai. Besides… Chanyeol was always hugging and requiring Yi Fan’s attention. Didn’t he already have a boyfriend? Really annoying.

“Yi Fan! WU YI FAN!” Tao screamed trying to stop Yi Fan from dragging him to the exit of the club. “I paid an expensive ticket!”

They arrived at the door, where three men wearing black suits were standing with scrubby countenances. Yi Fan pushed Zitao onto Chanyeol and headed towards the security men.
“Did you know he is underage?” he pointed at Zitao standing beside Chanyeol. The latter waved to the security men. That could have been a very dumb move on every other situation, but Yi Fan was so angry for having to chase the runaway throughout Seoul he didn’t even think straight before blurting to the security people Tao had illegally made his way into the dance club.

“What?” the taller of the three men spoke, looking from Zitao to Yi Fan. “He showed an ID”

Now I’m screwed, Zitao thought, watching Yi Fan’s head slowly turn to him with a very homicidal aspect. His eyes were narrowed in a threatening way. Tao gasped. “So now you have a fake ID? Does Yixing know about this?”

“Well… It… It’s not mine, it belongs to Sehun”

“This doesn’t change the fact that you used it tonight” Yi Fan aggressively faced the culprit. Zitao was the perfect example of why Yi Fan never wanted any siblings. His parents used to ask when he was younger, if he felt lonely, but the truth is Yi Fan feels better alone. He had a great childhood with lovely memories of playing with action figures and watching cartoons by himself. Until Chanyeol came. And Yixing, bringing that Zitao trouble along with him.
Tao used to wander around every time the three of them were chatting or watching a movie or playing a game. He and his friend, Oh Sehun, followed the group everywhere, never obeying when Yi Fan or Yixing scolded them away. Zitao had a particular thing with Yi Fan. Whenever the three of them were separated, Tao always followed Yi Fan around instead of Yixing or Chanyeol, calling him Duizhang and saying he wanted to be Yi Fan’s apprentice.
‘Hyung what’s this?’
‘Duizhang, can you teach me this?’
‘WHOAAAAA YOU’RE AMAZING!’
Tao’s questions seemed to be endless. And so were the attempts of disguising his intentions from Yi Fan.

“I’ll call the police” one of the three security men informed, stepping out firmly. Tao goggled and felt like crying. Now he was going to be arrested just because he wanted to party at his birthday.

“Yah… Yah uncle don’t do this…” he whined.

“You don’t need to, we can deal with him” Yi Fan said calmly, but the security man refused his excuse.

“We have to notify the police about this occurring”.

Hurriedly, Chanyeol took the front and opened a grin to the guard. That was his specialty “Hi gentle sir! How are you doing? I’m Park Chanyeol, nice to meet you! What’s your name?”

The man narrowed his eyes and responded almost automatically “Jung SiHyuk”.

“Hello Mr. Jung! So, our friend here, Zitao, he is just a kid, he’s sixteen-years old and flees to dance clubs all the time when his older brother is out of town. See…” Chanyeol bent his body a little forward and lowered his voice. The security man mimicked his action “… His parents died not so long ago… He’s going through a tough time and his older brother worries a lot about him. It was our fault that Zitao escaped tonight, so, would you please let us take care of it?” and finished his speech with a joyful smile. “Please?”

Jung SiHyuk pondered, scratching his forehead and looking at his partners, who remained silent (clearly leaving the decision to him). No matter for how long he would brain about it, when the man looked at Chanyeol again, he sighed in exasperation, clearly defeated by the other’s charms. The was no living soul able to resist Park Chanyeol’s smile.

“Okay. Get him away and make sure he never comes back!”

“Thank you sir! You are a very nice man! Have a good night, bye!” Chanyeol bowed 90° about three times and then followed Yi Fan and Zitao through the club door.

When they reached outside, the music suddenly became softer, barely audible, and the street was nearly empty. Only a few people were there, mainly couples kissing or chatting (in one particular case, two girls were arguing).

“You can let go of me now!” Tao retorted, trying to disentangle from Yi Fan’s grab. The latter did as asked and crossed his arms at his chest, giving Zitao a very disappointed look.

“Is Sehun with you?” he was intentionally cold.

“No, he’s in Busan with his family” Tao replied. Why none of his plans worked out? The only thing he wanted was to celebrate his birthday! Everyone seemed to have forgotten his day (apart from Sehun, who congratulated him earlier), even his older brother, Yixing, who never forgot! If his mom was alive, she would have woken Zitao up with a gentle kiss and a whisper of “Happy birthday, panda Tao”. For breakfast, she would make strawberry pancake and Beijing Fried Rice. There would certainly be a present wrapped for him at the table and probably it would be something he really wanted. His mother always did everything to make him happy, and she succeeded. She was the one Zitao loved the most.

“Then why did you come alone???” Yi Fan kept on scolding him, feeling tired of looking for Zitao and angry with that spoiled kid, who couldn’t accept not having what he wanted.

“Because…” Tao said in a lower voice so Yi Fan and Chanyeol didn’t hear his tearful tone. “Today is my birthday. And I was the only one who remembered”.

Yi Fan and Chanyeol’s faces dropped. So this is why Sehun gave him that package, Chanyeol realized as soon as he remembered seeing the two boys happily hugging by the door of Yixing’s place three days ago, Sehun handing Zitao a well wrapped package. He thought Sehun might have delivered his present earlier because of his family trip to Busan.
“Yah, today?” he rushed, turning Zitao to him; the boy nodded and Chanyeol smiled “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

What’s the point of this coming from you? Zitao thought, avoiding Chanyeol’s cheerful eyes. When inside the club, he was distracted from the thoughts of being alone on his birthday. Outside, all the feelings came back.

“Zitao…” Yi Fan started, bringing the boy to raise his head and face him. “I’m sorry, but you shouldn’t have come here. It’s dangerous. Promise me you will never do it again”

“I promise” Tao said easily. He would never deny Wu Yi Fan a promise.  Even when the older forgot his birthday – and now he knew, still didn’t wish Tao a happy birthday.
The thing is Zitao admired Yi Fan more than he should. Sehun used to tell that Tao would go gay for Yi Fan someday, but the boy didn’t care. He liked Yi Fan in a way Sehun would never understand.

“Hey guys, I have to depart now” Chanyeol announced “Baekhyun is waiting for me at The Irish pub, we’re celebrating two months today” he grinned, waiting for reactions coming from the other two. Zitao arched his right eyebrow and ignored the comment. Yi Fan sighed and walked towards Chanyeol, hugging his friend.

“Thank you for coming, man. And, congratulations”

“Thanks hyungnim!” Chanyeol laughed and waved to Tao, being ignored for a second time. “Bye Tao-yah!”

“Just go” Tao mumbled in an undertone, allowing only Yi Fan to hear. When Chanyeol left, Yi Fan turned at Zitao with an intrigued look making Zitao instantly regret saying that; he knew Yi Fan would…

“Why do you hate him so much?” right on the spot.

“I don’t” lies. Tao didn’t always hate Chanyeol. It started that fateful day…

They were watching a horror movie, Evil Dead, and Tao was sitting next to Yi Fan. Although it was a horror movie, he wasn’t scared. He actually didn’t fear much that kind of movie and besides, Wu Yi Fan was sitting next to him. What bad could happen? Everything was just fine. Then, Yi Fan (which Tao had no idea, was scared to death) shivered and said: “Park Chanyeol… Come here. I’m scared”. Even when Zitao was sitting right next to him, Yi Fan still asked Chanyeol out to protect him, forcing the boy to slide aside and make room for the other. Tao was never this mad.

“You could have thanked him properly for getting you rid of the police” Duizhang said. Tao clucked, turning his head and avoiding Yi Fan’s gaze. “Forget it, let’s go. And, because I used all my money to pay for club tickets searching for you, I’m out of money and we have to walk home. Unless you have any cash”

“All I have is coins” Tao promptly said. “And I don’t mind walking home with you, Duizhang”

Yi Fan was already used to Zitao’s subjective ways of referring to him. The boy was always sweet and careful, and in return, Yi Fan was rude and judgmental. Something’s really wrong with this kid, he thinks. Maybe Tao developed this new way of facing different kinds of situations after his parents’ death, for he had been forced to treasure those moments he spent with his loved ones. And Yi Fan was a loved one. A very much loved one.

They could hear the sound of their steps pressing on the dusty ground; neither of them spoke barely a letter in ten minutes. Yi Fan had nothing to talk about, as for Zitao, he was afraid to bring a subject up and be scolded (because Yi Fan would do nothing else than scold him all day long if he could).
When ten minutes becomes fifteen, the boy decides to break the silence.

“Duizhang…” he called in a soft voice, waiting for the other to grunt ‘what’ as usual.

“Yes?”

Zitao wasn’t sure about the topic he was about to bring; he had a large chance of being more than scolded: he would get beaten. But that was the perfect moment. Which other chance of being alone with Wu Yi Fan would he get? So, he cleared his throat and looked at Duizhang, to find him with a very placid look.

“You and… Chanyeol are very close. Right?” he asked timidly. Seeing Tao’s timidity was like the cherry on the top of a very odd day. That kid was tougher than most guys on his class; he hadn’t experienced Zitao’s fear in a long time.

“Yes, and so is your brother” Yi Fan replied simply, trying not to sound too much interested.

 “It’s been a while since you two met, right?”

“Quite… But why are you asking all these questions?”

Yi Fan turned to Zitao, waiting for an answer, but the other simply shrugged not daring to return Yi Fan’s stare. He had witnessed that before, Tao’s reactions were pretty easy to figure out. He couldn’t fake a feeling; that was just not his style. Just like he couldn’t fake liking Chanyeol, Tao couldn’t avoid letting others notice his embarrassment as well. If the boy was embarrassed, his face would redden and his hands would dive into his pockets. Although being embarrassed was not a part of Tao’s routine, Yi Fan recognized that look on his face.

It must have to be something about Chanyeol, since he asked me about it, Yi Fan thought, sighing in a clear signal of depletion. Tao’s peeve on Chanyeol was beyond annoying; Yi Fan was starting to find it very inconvenient.
He knew that the younger held a special kind of affection towards him, he knew it. He knew Tao was jealous and wanted Yi Fan to relate to him the same way he related to Chanyeol. Or beyond.

“Zitao, if you have something to say about Chanyeol, don’t–“

“I’m not talking about him” he interrupted Yi Fan’s retort. Tao shook his head, the embarrassment still filling all his spots. That was the dumbest idea ever! Why did he go there? And, why did Tao think he could go under Yi Fan’s radar? Of course that guy figured out Zitao hated Chanyeol, although it wasn’t something Tao tried to disguise. Coming to think about the fact, Zitao had no solid reason to hate on the other. It’s not like Chanyeol was a girl in love with Yi Fan. He wasn’t. Chanyeol was very friendly and respectful towards Yi Fan and never showed any different kind of affection. He even managed to scoop a boyfriend!

Tao was the problem. He was the one overreacting.

“I don’t like the way you act around him” he shot. The look on Yi Fan’s face showed he knew that from the start.

Of course he knew. And, he would dare to say he knew about Zitao’s secret feelings.
One day a few months away, while helping Yixing to clean his guitar, the latter asked Yi Fan to search for some capo at Zitao’s room (apparently he had been playing with that and Yi Fan had no interest in knowing how). He stepped out of Yixing’s room and headed towards Tao’s, stopping right by the door after peeking at two boys talking inside.

“This is disgusting, Zitao!” Sehun’s yell came out stuffy by his hands, which covered his mouth in astonishment.

“Yah, shut up! Don’t scream, they can hear you!”

“But you’re saying you…”

“I didn’t mean it that way. What I meant is that… I really like Yi Fan”

“How do you like him?”

“I just do”

“So… Does this mean you’ll go gay for him someday?”

“How does one go gay?”

“I don’t know? You tell me, you’re the one feeling attracted by dudes”

“Shut up!”

Yi Fan even returned to Yixing’s room without the capo.

“There’s nothing for you to dislike” he responded, feeling a little stupid for even bothering answering Zitao’s sentences. He was just a kid after all, what does kids know? “And let’s walk faster ‘cause it’s getting late and I really don’t want to get robbed”

Zitao flustered. What was that tone on Yi Fan’s voice? Was he taking Tao for granted? He couldn’t leave it that way. Don’t underestimate me.
So, the boy ignored the chirping voice on his mind begging for him to forget his almost suicidal plans and gathered all the courage he had, exclaiming:

“You can’t like him! Please like me instead!”

Yi Fan stopped walking and turned his head slowly towards Zitao, clearly amazed. Well, he had to give it up for the kid. Yi Fan had the feeling that Tao’s infantile passion would vanish quickly, he never thought the boy would have the guts to shout it like that.  “What?” he stupidly asked. The redness on Tao’s face was suddenly utterly cute.

“Chanyeol already has a boyfriend. You can’t steal him from Baekhyun” his words were gaining strength and Tao felt like he could actually manage the situation. He no longer shrugged and his eyes stared at Yi Fan’s trustingly.

“And who said I want to?” Yi Fan snorted, deciding to find the whole situation more funny and cute than annoying or outraging. After all, he knew Zitao had a boy crush on him and there had no use trying to convince him otherwise.

Tao’s mind remained silently empty for a short period (which he considered enough to fit the embarrassment section). Yi Fan’s answer took all the words away from Tao, leaving the boy speechless while the other laughed amused.

“Don’t laugh at me” Zitao said in a firm-trying-to-fake-a-trembling voice and coughed.

“Or what?” more laughs. That was too much for Yi Fan to take seriously and he could tell his behavior was starting to upset Tao. He didn’t mean to provoke the boy; he just found very interesting how that kid thought he actually knew what was going on his mind. Sixteen can be a very confusing age. “Hey, Zitao,” Yi Fan started between laughs “You’re just a boy who knows nothing about feelings, so just be a good kid and concentrate on your studies, okay?”

That phrase could have made Zitao murder an entire family of puppies. He was no kid to mistake his feelings or to play around with them.  He felt his ears heat and closed his hands on his fists.

“I am not a boy”

“You are only sixteen!”

“I am not a boy”

“Ok, then are you a gir–” there was no time to finish the sentence before the stubborn kid closed Yi Fan’s lips with his. The other stood still with eyes opened wide.  It was his mind’s time to remain silently empty.

When Zitao pulled away (he really pulled away, probably predicting the older burning reaction), Yi Fan was still on the same position, fixedly staring at the nothing behind the other.

“I am not a boy” Zitao repeated. “And you might not like me now, Duizhang, but I’ll make you like me” he said very much convinced and certainly in his right mind. There was no sign of doubt or thoughtless actions.

After the short period where his mind took a time-out, Yi Fan began thinking again. He had wronged Zitao for a confused kid; he was not confused. Tao was sixteen, he wasn’t a kid anymore. He knew he liked Yi Fan that way and maybe, he also knew deep inside his heart that Yi Fan could not reciprocate his feelings.

“I will make you like me” he emphasized.

It took a minute or two for Yi Fan to react. Not that he had a problem with kissing boys, nothing like that (he had shared a few with Yixing, but Zitao didn’t have to know). He had a problem with kissing his friend’s sixteen-year old brother.
When his brain returned to providing fuel to his body – it did very slowly –, his face was so hot he could even picture the redness all over it. And, he was suddenly pissed at Zitao.

That… Sneaky… Bastard.

“YAH!” he screamed. Tao must have felt what would come next because the distance he took from Yi Fan showed he was aware of the other reaction. “DON’T RUN FROM ME! YOU’LL TASTE IT NOW! YOU’LL TASTE MY FOOT ON YOUR MOUTH YOU PSYCHO LITTLE WRETCH!”

“I’M SORRY DUIZHANG I’M SO SORRY I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING! THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN, I’M SORRY!”

“SO WILL YOU MAKE ME LIKE YOU? HUH?”

“NO, I WON’T I’M SO SORRY HYUNG I’M SORRY”

“COME HERE YOU RASCAL, I’LL MAKE YOU LIKE MY FIST ONTO YOUR FACE”

They were several miles away from Yixing and Zitao’s home, but this didn’t stop them from chasing and escaping each other all over the empty street.  That was a better birthday than Tao had expected. He started off alone, fled to a dance club, had Yi Fan and Chanyeol to pursue him, nearly went to jail, blurted out his feelings and provided laughter. But none of that really mattered, as long as by the end of the day he has his Duizhang with him. It is ok, Wu Yi Fan. As long as we keep our relationship like this, I’m happy just being your apprentice. At least Zitao had a whole day full of memories to keep close to his heart.

N/A: Hello! This is my first published fanfic, yey! I'm so excited! I know this looks like crap, but if you read till the end, then thank you sooooo much! 

This was originally a fanfic with 4 chapters, each chapter a different pairing, but I decided to publish this one right away because... Yeah. So thanks to my dear Tea, who read this even tho she doesn't like EXO very much. Thanks to my other friends who read and revised it. Thank you for reading and I'm so sorry x.x