Chapter 7

Zitao stood in shock, not even caring about dropping their food. The floors were squeaky clean anyways, so it wasn’t like it mattered that much. But what did matter was that Jongdae seemingly confessed to him. And Zitao’s mind was spinning, making him literally dizzy.

“Zitao-yah?” Jongdae tilted his head. “What’s wrong? I heard something break. Are you alright?”

Zitao didn’t reply. He couldn’t reply. All he could do is stand, staring at Jongdae. He his lips and tried to form a coherent sentence. “You…w-what did you just….just say?”

“I asked if you were alright.” Jongdae replied.

“N-no…before that.” Zitao stammered.

“What do you mean?” Jongdae sounded just as confused as Zitao was.

“You…you said that you…liked me.” Zitao said quickly and quietly.

“I did…didn’t I?” Jongdae rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“F-forget it…” Zitao said. “I’ll forget you even said anything. You…you probably didn’t mean it.”

Zitao was about to go back into the kitchen to find something to clean up the mess he made, but Jongdae managed to grab his wrist gently. Zitao bit his lip and waited for Jongdae to say something; give him a reason for grabbing him.

“Zitao…I—” the older started.

But Zitao could already sense what was going to happen. And…he wasn’t sure if his heart was ready. He gently shook away from Jongdae’s grip. “Sh-shouldn’t you be going? Do you need me to call your brother?”

Jongdae pouted. “You’re being kind of mean suddenly…”

Zitao blinked. “Me…? But I…” he sighed. “Jongdae-hyung…I—I’m sorry…I’m just a little…”

He his lips nervously and looked down at Jongdae, who was now already on his feet. Zitao hugged Jongdae tightly. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean it…”

Jongdae seemed confused, but he hugged back anyways. “It’s okay…don’t worry about it. You’re probably just in a bad mood. I don’t know if this will make it better or worse but…can I stay here a little bit longer? I—I like it here…”

“N-no. It’s no problem!” Zitao said awkwardly. He pulled away. “Stay as long as you want…it’s…nice to have the company.”

Jongdae grinned. “Really? Thank you! I l—I mean…you’re the best!”

“But…I kind of have to go to wushu practice…” Zitao said. “I’m sorry. Y-you can come though…although it would kind of be a waste.”

“I’ll come!” Jongdae said automatically. “How are we going to get there?”

“By bumming a ride off of Sehun.” Zitao said, causing a giggle out of Jongdae. “No, but seriously. Sehun always drives me. He’ll be at the house in 15 minutes.”

Jongdae nodded in understanding. “Is Candy-shii around?”

Zitao chuckled. “Is that all you care about?”

“No…” Jongdae pouted.

“I was kidding.” Zitao said, messing Jongdae’s hair up. “I’ll go find her. She was in the living room earlier…”

Zitao turned around and looked for his little puppy, calling her name every so often. Eventually, the puppy ran out from under the couch and stopped at Zitao’s feet. She yelped, looking up at Zitao with her cute fluffy face. Zitao smiled and picked her up and brought her back to Jongdae.

“Here you go.” Zitao said, placing Candy in Jongdae’s hands gently.

Jongdae smiled and ran a hand over Candy's soft fur. “Thank you.”

“Any time.” Zitao smiled back. “Oh, I should probably get changed. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” Jongdae said.

A short while later, Zitao came out of his bedroom in more comfortable clothing for martial arts. Jongdae had somehow moved to the couch, which worried Zitao slightly. He sat down next to Jongdae and touched his arm to get his attention. Jongdae looked over.

“Hyung, how did you get over here?” Zitao asked.

“I followed Panda.” Jongdae replied. “Whenever she would yelp, I would follow the direction it came from. I only ran into the coffee table.”

“Are you okay?” Zitao asked.

“You don’t need to worry about me.” Jongdae offered Zitao a pleasant smile. “Are you all ready to go?”

Zitao nodded. “Sehun-ah should be here any second now.” Then he quickly realized something. “Oh, hold on a second.”

He ran into his bedroom to grab a sweater for Jongdae, seeing as it wasn’t supposed to be very warm that day and Jongdae was only wearing a t-shirt. Then he came out and moved Candy out of Jongdae’s hands (causing the older to pout).

“Give me your arms.” Zitao said.

“Why?” Jongdae asked quizzically.

“Just give them to me.” Zitao said. “I won’t hurt you. Don’t worry.”

Jongdae let Zitao take his arms reluctantly. Zitao chuckled lightly and carefully put Jongdae’s arms through each arm hole of the sweater. He smiled fondly at how loosely it fit the shorter. It almost made him look cuter. He quickly shook the thought out of his head though and cleared his throat.

“Uh. It’s…cold.” He said awkwardly. “So…I got you a sweater. S-sorry it’s a bit big…”

Jongdae beamed. “Thank you. I don’t mind. It’s more comfortable when it’s loose fitting.”

“Do you want me to zip it up?” Zitao offered without really thinking.

Thankfully for him, Jongdae shook his head. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“Alright.” Zitao said.

As if on cue, the door opened without any knock or anything, revealing a casual looking Sehun, who grinned upon seeing Jongdae. Zitao sighed and quietly led Jongdae forward, keeping an eye on Sehun just in case the younger were to pounce on him for no reason. Sehun’s attention moved back to Zitao.

“Isn’t that your sweater?” he asked, gesturing to the hoodie Zitao had just helped Jongdae into.

Zitao shrugged. “I let him borrow it. It’s supposed to be chilly, isn’t it?”

“So you’re saying he’s coming with us?” Sehun asked, raising an eyebrow as he feigned being skeptical.

Jongdae nodded. “I told him I wanted to come. Even if I couldn’t see what he was doing.”

Sehun smiled and tapped Jongdae on the shoulder lightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything he’s doing. With the best of my ability of course.”

Jongdae smiled. “Really? Thank you, Sehun-ah!”

“No problem.” Sehun said, pleased with himself.

Meanwhile, Zitao was annoyed. Why was Sehun so friendly with Jongdae yet so rude and abrupt to him most of the time? He sighed and forcefully turned Sehun around and started pushing him out of the door, while trying to tell Jongdae that they were moving at the same time.

“Alright. That’s enough.” He said. “Sehun-ah, let’s just go.”

Sehun pouted. “Fine, fine, I’m going. Stop pushing me!”

Zitao let go of Sehun and focused his attention back at Jongdae. “Come on, hyung. We’re leaving.”

Jongdae nodded and instinctively reached for something to grab to make sure he didn’t get left behind. That ‘something’ ended up being Zitao’s hand. Zitao flinched in surprise at first, causing Jongdae to look at him as they walked. Sehun didn’t pay much attention to them (thankfully).

“Nothing…” Zitao mumbled reassuring Jongdae that he was fine as he hesitantly tightened his grip on the shorter male’s hand so they wouldn’t get separated, even if the walk to Sehun’s car wasn’t that far from the front of Zitao’s house.

Sehun looked back at the two when he reached the car and couldn’t hold back a smile. “Well isn’t this cute?”

Zitao sent Sehun a death glare as he helped Jongdae get into the car. He mouthed a quick ‘shut your face’ to Sehun, then got in next to Jongdae after his duffle bag was placed in the front seat. Normally it would be the opposite, but Sehun all but forced Zitao to sit in the back with Jongdae; in other words, Sehun forcefully took the bag from Zitao and shoved it in the front seat without forewarning. Not that Zitao didn’t want to sit with Jongdae. It would have been easier to help him in and out if the car anyways. But still.

“So, did Jongdae-hyung decide to move in or something?” Sehun asked abruptly and Zitao wasn’t sure if his friend was joking or not.

“W-what are you talking about?” Zitao stammered. “He just wanted to stay longer. He…obviously doesn’t plan on staying any longer. Right, hyung?”

Zitao looked over at Jongdae with a look that probably would have said something except for the fact that Jongdae wouldn’t be able to see it. Jongdae looked a little confused anyways, but managed to sound his way to looking at Zitao.

“Eh?” he asked.

“You’re planning to leave later today, right?” Zitao asked.

“Oh.” Jongdae nodded. “Yeah. If I can get my hyung to pick me up.”

Sehun pouted. “Aw. I thought if you guys lived together, I could get to see you more…”

Zitao leaned over to kick the back of Sehun’s seat. “First it’s only my dog that you care about. Now it’s Jongdae-hyung? Jeez, some friend you are.”

“Whatever, hyung.” Sehun said. “Don’t kick my seat. It’s distracting me. Do you want me to crash or something?”

Zitao rolled his eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“Zitao-ah…” Jongdae’s voice called silently. “Do you…not like having me around?”

Zitao’s eyes widened. “No! No. I just haven’t lived with someone else in years. I guess I’m not…used to living in the same house with someone…”

“But…you seemed pretty comfortable earlier…” Jongdae’s lips formed a slight pout.

Zitao sighed. “If you ever needed it…I’d let you live with me. Because you’re my…friend. Whom I’m here to help whenever you need.”

“You never do that for me…” Sehun whined silently.

“Shut up.” Zitao said. “What do you call those times I let you stay over when you got into a fight with your parents?”

“Still…”

Zitao sighed. “Will you just drive? I’m going to be late if we keep dilly dallying.”

“I’m driving. Jeez.” Sehun grumbled. “Meanie.”

Jongdae laughed. “You guys really are close friends, aren’t you? You can argue and tease each other without getting really mad…”

“Sehun-ah is an annoying, high maintenance scoundrel.” Zitao said. “But I don’t let anyone else say that to him.”

“Must be nice having someone there to support you.” Jongdae mumbled.

“Hyung, if you really need it…I can help you.” Zitao said. “No matter what. Just call me—or get your brother to call me or something—and I’ll come to help.”

“M-me too!” Sehun jumped, wanting to be noticed.

“Really…?” Jongdae’s lips curled into a smile. “Wow…I’ve never had friends like you guys before…”

Zitao managed to pat Jongdae’s shoulder. “That’s what friends are for.”

Jongdae hesitated. Then subconsciously started singing something under his breath. Zitao looked over at Jongdae confusedly. He realized it was another English song. Jongdae must have really liked listening to English songs in his pastime.

“Hyung? What are you singing?” Zitao asked.

“A song I know…” Jongdae muttered. “From a movie my hyung told me about.”

“What song?” Zitao questioned.

“That’s What Friends Are For. From ‘The Jungle Book’.” Jongdae took a small, cheap looking mp3 player from his pocket. “It’s on here somewhere. I normally don’t choose the songs I listen to because…you know. But I love listening to music, so my hyung bought this for me. You can find it if you’d like.”

Zitao took the mp3 player from Jongdae carefully and looked through the song list. “You have quite a collection of music on here.”

“Hyung downloads it for me. I normally tell him what I want. But sometimes he surprises me.” Jongdae explained.

“You like your hyung a lot, don’t you?” Zitao smiled.

Jongdae nodded. “Almost as much as I like y—music. As much as I like music.”

Zitao noted Jongdae’s hesitation. But chose not to ask about it. Sehun cleared his throat and looked at the duo through the rear view mirror. “We’re here. You can listen to the song later.”

Zitao put the mp3 player in Jongdae’s hand again, but Jongdae rejected it. “You can keep it for a while. My way of thanking you for letting me borrow your sweater.”

Zitao smiled again. “Thanks, hyung…”

“I’m just trying my best to return what you’ve been doing for me.” Jongdae replied. “Because you were my first actual friend.”

Meanwhile, Sehun had already stopped and parked the car. He was looking back at the two impatiently. “Hey. Stop dilly dallying. Tao-hyung, didn’t you yell at me for not driving and making you almost late, even though I was driving as fast as the speed limit allows me.”

“I didn’t yell at you…” Zitao put the mp3 player in his pocket. “Go help Jongdae. I need to get my bag.”

“Yes, hyung…” Sehun mumbled, getting out of the car as Zitao did the same.

After grabbing his duffle bag, he went over to aid Jongdae and Sehun. “Hyung. You can grab the strap of my bag if you’d like.” He offered.

Jongdae nodded and reached forward without any direction or knowing where Zitao was talking about. Sehun came in and helped him find the strap, and then the trio walked into the gymnasium, Jongdae secretly excited to even just hear what Zitao’s doing. Zitao glanced back at Jongdae and noticed the smile he was trying to hide. He chuckled inwardly. If Jongdae ever did get the chance to see again…Zitao would definitely make his wushu the first thing Jongdae were to see. 

Word Count: 2,201

A/N: Well this would've been a monster of a chapter if I hadn't have decided to cut it off.

Originally, this chapter was going to end with Jongdae learning about Zitao's wushu skills (with the help of Sehun)...but it would've ended up being either boring, or probably over 6k words long. So that'll be the next chapter. Also, I hope Zitao's reaction to Jongdae 'confessing' at the beginning wasn't too boring. 

Also did anyone catch Jongdae almost saying he liked Zitao twice more? Could that mean he was serious? c; You'll have to find out. Mwahahaha. 

Uh. Well anyways. I hope you enjoyed and feel free to comment and all that. ^^