Kris woke up with a start when he heard a loud tune blaring through the room. He blindly d around until he found his phone and glared at the too bright screen and pressed the ‘answer call’ button, not actually seeing who was calling.

‘’What?’’ His tone was gruff and laced with sleep.  He groaned immediately, realising his voice was too loud even to himself.

There was no answer for a while, except soft breathing and fumbling. The person must’ve switched the phone to their other ear. With the lack of answer Kris was slowly losing consciousness again.

‘’Hey, Yifan?’’

Kris’ eyes snapped open and he glared at the blinding darkness of his room.  ‘’Tao?’’

There was no answer again and Kris sighed. He pulled the phone away to check the caller I.D and sure enough, it was Tao’s. He also checked the time and a frown settled on his face. Kris brought the phone over to his ear again. ‘’Tao what’s wrong? It’s like one in the morning, why are you calling me? I swear if it’s-‘’

‘’Can you meet with me?’’

Kris blinked as his thoughts were completely interrupted. He bit the inside of his cheek as a frown appeared yet again. ‘’What’s wrong?’’

He heard the younger sighing and it was silent for a while again. ‘’Nothing. I just… I want to meet up with you. And go for a walk. Yeah’’

‘’Zitao, it’s the middle of the night. We both have to wake up early. What’s wrong? Why do you need to meet right now?’’

‘’Please?’’ Tao’s voice was soft and quiet, the pleading tone clearly audible.

Kris dropped his head onto the pillow and let out a loud sigh, just to let the other know how much he was against it. ‘’Fine’’

-

It happened again.

Approximately a month later Kris was woken up at around the same time by Tao. He blindly searched for the phone in the darkness and answered the call, not bothering to check who was calling.

He muttered a gruff ‘’What?’’ but this time he wasn’t as surprised that it was Tao who was calling him.

This time, when the younger asked to meet, he didn’t deny it. Instead, he agreed, got out of the bed and put one the first articles of clothing that fell underneath his hands.

When they met that time, Kris didn’t try asking what they were doing there.

The hand clutching his told him enough as it was.

-

Around a month later he received another call. It was around the same time again.

When he blindly searched for the phone in the darkness and pressed the green answer button, the first words to leave his mouth were ‘’Give me ten minutes, I’ll be ready’’

He heard a sigh and a silent ‘’Yeah’’ before the call ended.

They walked around the park again, hand in hand.

Neither of them said much, rarely did they open their mouths to talk.

Kris knew why they were there. He knew what Tao wanted and he knew why he was doing it.

The only thing he didn’t understand was why they met up whenever full moon was high in the sky.

But he didn’t question it either. The elder of the two figured that he would find out when the time was right.

-

‘’Why are we here again?’’ Kris asked, watching as puffs of white air rolled around his face from his warm breath.

The other male barely shrugged and nuzzled his face into the scarf wound around his neck, his hand squeezing Kris’ own.

The elder didn’t try to ask again. Instead, he squeezed the hand in his back and tilted his head up to look at the bright moon above them. He really wanted to know why he was out when he should be sleeping, walking in the empty park, path illuminated by the moonlight.

When the younger asked him to meet, he didn’t give any single reason to do so and yet, here they were. Kris glanced at Tao who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. In fact, it seemed that he wasn’t even looking where he was going, trusting Kris to lead him the way instead.

The night was calm, almost too calm in Kris’ opinion. There was almost no wind, but the air was chilly and the silence was eerie. He didn’t like it, but Tao wanted to come here so he had to bear with it.

 

-

Kris knew Tao since the younger began middle school.

They seemed to get along almost instantly.

They spent most of their time together and grew up to be really close friends, almost inseparable.

Along with their quite the group of friends, the two of them spent a lot of time doing silly stuff and having fun.

Even now, they were still pretty young. Kris was studying in an university while Zitao was still in high school.

Even so, they still met up pretty often. And still did silly stuff with their group of friends.

-

The first time Kris found out he liked Tao in a romantic way, he freaked out.

He was in his last year of high school, Tao being two years behind him.

The younger had told him about the struggles that he was having and it made Kris sad to know that his friend was going through tough times. But he has been there and he promised that he would help Tao as much as he could.

He knew he couldn’t take away the problems but the least he could do was make the day easier for the younger. So he pledged to brighten up his day any way possible. Even if that meant bending to the other’s will.

Kris loved when the younger smiled and laughed. The expression was so genuine it made his insides flutter. And he found that he didn’t mind the feeling. It made him feel better himself.

It took a while for Kris to understand the reason behind his reactions to Tao’s happiness. When that happened, he cut himself off from everyone for about a week.

Kris told himself that he needed some time to think. He told himself that maybe he was just a little confused. Maybe he needed some time to himself.

The week passed and he went back to his normal routine. During the week nothing changed inside of him. He still felt really happy whenever he saw the younger and his insides still fluttered when Tao laughed.

He tried avoiding the younger for some time. He did it until he was cornered by Tao himself one day and the younger asked what his problem was.

At that moment Kris didn’t know what to say but Tao seemed to take the silence negatively and the crestfallen expression pulled on Kris’ heartstrings. So, despite himself, he pulled the younger into a quick hug and apologised, saying he was feeling out of it the past few days.

Everything returned to normal and Kris learned to live with his rapidly beating heart whenever the younger was around.

-

It was a dumb graduation party that happened to be the turning point in their relationship.

Kris had a little bit too much to drink, since it was, in a way, his high school graduation party.

Tao was there, making sure the elder didn’t do something stupid or hurt himself while in his drunken stupor.

But he failed at that and Kris ended up doing something stupid.

He kissed the younger.

And it only took until Tao ran out of the house to realise what he did.

Needless to say, his hangover the morning after was the biggest one he ever had to date.

He woke up feeling like his head was about to explode and as if a bulldozer ran over his body. He remembered what he did the day before and his head started pounding even harder.

That day he didn’t get out of the house.

Instead, he called Chanyeol over and complained to him about how stupid, foolish, idiotic he was.

Chanyeol didn’t deny any of his words. Instead, he tried to get Kris’ mind off of everything and help him relax.

After that day Tao was the one doing the avoiding, but Kris didn’t try to seek him out. He didn’t have enough courage.

-

It took almost half a year for Tao to start talking to him again.

In all honesty, he was really surprised when the younger went up to him and casually asked how he was doing.

By that time, Kris had lost all hope to even have the chance to call himself Tao’s friend again. But before he answered Tao asked to go get some coffee with him. Kris agreed.

When they were seated at a small café nearby Kris’ university campus Tao apologised.

But Kris only shook his head.

‘’I should be the one apologising. I wasn’t in my sane mind, I’m sorry’’ he said, something akin to a bittersweet smile adorning his face.

Tao took a sip. ‘’So… You didn’t mean it?’’

Kris felt himself panicking. But frankly, he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know where to put his hands. So he took a sip of his own coffee and cringed internally as his tongue got burned. ‘’I…’’

He risked a glance at the younger. His face seemed void of emotion but his gaze was curious. He didn’t seem to be angry though. Kris decided it was time to come clean. The worst that could happen was Tao leaving his side again, forever this time.

‘’I did. I meant it’’ He drank some more of his coffee, just to distract himself.

Silence settled in and Kris met Tao’s gaze which seemed to be boring holes into him. He felt himself shrugging half-heartedly. ‘’What else do you want me to say?’’

Tao didn’t answer. He lowered his gaze and they continued sipping on their drinks.

-

After that one day, the two started meeting up again.

But mostly they spent time with their other friends, in one big group.

It seemed that the younger didn’t feel comfortable enough to stay with Kris alone. It hurt the elder a bit, but he understood it. And in a way, the whole situation made it all better because he was sure that if he had the chance to be close to the other but not as close as he wanted, it would hurt even more.

They kept it up like that until one night, Kris got a call from Tao asking him to meet up.

That night the younger confessed that he liked Kris.

But he said he wasn’t sure. He said he wasn’t ready. He said he was confused.

Kris said he would wait.

-

They met six times in total until Kris couldn’t take it anymore.

The sixth time they met the elder led them to a bench in the park and turned to face the younger as soon as they sat down.

‘’Tao’’ he started, but the younger didn’t meet his gaze. He seemed to be more focused on the grass illuminated by the bright moon, rarely covered by night clouds.

Kris sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly. He released his grip on Tao’s hand but the younger didn’t seem to want to let go. Nonetheless he reluctantly released his hold.

Kris leaned against the bench and looked up at the night sky. Millions of stars greeted his sight and for a moment he thought about how beautiful they were before shooing the thoughts away. ‘’I can’t wait forever.’’ He muttered. ‘’This is becoming silly’’

When he looked over Tao seemed stiff. He saw the younger nodding. He heard a soft ‘’Yeah’’

He didn’t receive a call approximately a month later after that

-

They still met each other when they were hanging out with friends.

And all of those friends saw that something was obviously wrong, but they wouldn’t tell anything to anyone.

-

As time went on, Tao and Kris saw each other less and less.

Tao was busy with studying while Kris was busy with his university work as well as part time job.

It wasn’t until almost another six months later that Kris couldn’t take it anymore.

It was late. Terribly late. Around one in the morning.

But Kris couldn’t fall asleep no matter how much he tried.

He got out of the bed and opened the curtains. He stared at the asphalt road that was almost shinning from the moonlight illuminating it. It reminded him of the late night strolls he had with Tao.

Kris sighed and grabbed some clothes to put on. After he dressed up, the tall male quietly made his way outside into the cool night air.

He walked and walked without a destination in mind before he found himself at the very same park he used to visit with the younger. It made him feel a little uncomfortable and he turned to leave.

That is, before he noticed something, or rather someone, crouching by the small pond in the park.

Hell knows what made him walk over there but he did. As he stood behind the figure he could see the faint outline of Tao’s face on the mirroring surface of the water.

The younger stood up and turned to face Kris. He had a small smile on his lips.

Kris couldn’t help but smile back.

The taller scratched the back of his neck and looked down sheepishly. Honestly, he felt quite silly.

But happy.

-

‘’They say the moon brings love’’

‘’Yeah?’’

‘’Mhm. I read it in this book about Chinese folklore.’’

‘’Is it only full moon, though?’’

‘’No, that’s my own personal preference’’

‘’Did the moon bring you love?’’

‘’Yeah, the best kind of love’’

‘’Really? I’m glad’’

 

---

 

Woah the writing style is something like how I wrote the minkey one-shot.

I really don't know, I hope you liked it!