Tao yelps as he realizes it’s too late to stop the knife, and then gasps when the pain hits him.

“Ow, damn it all,” he swears, running to the sink and elbowing Baekhyun out of the way so he can run the cut under cold water.

“Are you okay?” Suho calls from the other side of the kitchen.

“I’m fine,” Tao says, “It’s not that deep.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Kris says suddenly.

Tao is both surprised and not surprised at all. He jumps when he hears Kris’ voice, then relaxes when his boyfriend’s arms wrap around his torso and hold his hand gently.

“It’s bleeding quite a bit,” Kris says, squeezing Tao’s index finger slightly. Tao flinches and Kris kisses his cheek. “You’re right though, it’s not too deep. But we should still take care of it.”

“Just do it somewhere else,” Baekhyun whines, “You’re blocking the sink.”

Tao lets Kris lead him away, shouting over his shoulder to be careful with the carrots in case he bled on them. Kris takes him to the communal bathroom on the second floor, which is thankfully empty. Kris shuts the door behind them and gestures for Tao to sit on the edge of the tub. He takes from the medicine cabinet a square packet of gauze, some antibacterial ointment, and a bandage.

“I’ll be okay, you know,” Tao says with a laugh. “It’s just a little cut.”

“I know,” Kris says. But it’s obvious that he’s still worried. He carefully presses the gauze to Tao’s cut and waits for the bleeding to slow. Then he places a tiny spot of ointment over the cut, and quickly wraps it up in the bandage. He finishes by kissing Tao’s finger, and Tao finds himself blushing.

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

Kris hums, still looking at the injury. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” Tao answers quickly. “Well…maybe a little,” he amends when Kris gives him a Look.

“Do you want Yixing to come look at it?” Kris asks.

“No, no,” Tao assures, “It’s just a little cut. I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be either.”

Kris sighs heavily. “I will always worry.” He presses the back of Tao’s hand to his mouth and whispers something in his native language. Tao listens intently, trying to pick out the syllables, but Kris speaks too fast. Tao never knows how to describe Kris’ language—it’s like singing, with long, short, twisted, fast, slow sounds and rising and falling intonations. It sounds so complicated but so lovely, and Tao knows why Kris is so good at picking up languages, since his native one seems to require a lot of its speakers. Other languages must have been a breeze.

“What did you say?” Tao asks when Kris stops speaking.

Kris think for a moment. “It’s not exactly a prayer, it’s sort of like a blessing, I guess, for a speedy recovery.”

“It’s beautiful,” Tao says.

Kris grins and kisses him. Tao sighs and nips at Kris’ lips, wondering how much time is left until dinner is ready. But then someone is shouting downstairs and Kris is pulling away.

“We should go help,” he says regretfully.

He turns towards the door, but Tao pulls him back. “After dinner, can I steal you for a little while?” He asks, breathless. “I want you to myself tonight.”

Kris holds Tao’s shoulder and spins him around until his back is against the door. Kris leans against him, pressing close, and whispers against his lips, “Whatever you want, love.”

Tao thinks he will never get over the way Kris kisses him. It’s a slow build up, sweet little kisses pressed to Tao’s lips, nose, cheeks, eyebrows, forehead, any part of his face that Kris can reach. Then it progresses to swipes of Kris’ tongue, teeth scraping his lips so lightly that it could be an accident. Then Kris kisses down Tao’s neck, biting deliberately, soothing it with more kisses. He tugs Tao’s shirt out of the way to get at his collarbones, and this is usually when Tao starts to get , the air feels too warm and his face flushes. Sometimes they just stop there, keep it on the edge of something more, which is both wonderful and infuriating.

Tonight starts out much the same. After dinner, Tao practically yanks Kris upstairs and into their bedroom, and they fall on their bed right away. Tao kisses Kris first, tongue in his mouth, tasting the wine that Kris had at dinner. After a few moments of this Kris pulls back and mouths along Tao’s jaw, tongue hot against his skin. Tao groans and tilts his head back, and Kris buries his face in Tao’s neck, murmuring in his native language.

Tao gasps and grabs for Kris’ hands. “Yifan…”

Kris groans and drops his weight down, snuggling against Tao’s body.

“Yifan,” Tao says again, “Tell me what you just said.”

Kris doesn’t take his mouth off Tao’s neck. “I said that I love kissing you.”

Tao tries to concentrate, attempting to block out the feeling of Kris’ lips on his throat. Slowly, he repeats the syllables that he heard. He knows it’s not right, but it’s enough to make Kris stop and stare at him, his mouth slightly open in shock. Tao blushes.

“Say it again,” he demands, kicking the back of Kris’ leg, “But say it slowly so I can hear.”

So Kris repeats himself, wonder still in his eyes, and Tao tries once again to imitate, but the lilting tones are hard to get right. He makes a frustrated little noise in the back of his throat and Kris coos at him.

“Aw, it’s okay, nobody learns right away. Honestly you sound just like a little kid, trying to say their first word.”

Tao pouts. “But I’m not a little kid. Say it one more time?”

Kris smiles, and draws out the words slowly so Tao can hear every intonation. This time when Tao repeats them, he feels like he’s done alright. “Teach me more,” he pleads, wrapping his arms around Kris’ neck. “Yifan, please teach me.”

Kris moans and sits up, dragging Tao with him. “I would be a horrible teacher.”

“I wouldn’t want anyone else to do it,” Tao says, cradling Kris’ face in his hands. He kisses him once, slow and sweet. “Teach me ‘kiss’.”

It’s a short word, fairly easy, and Tao learns it quickly. Kris kisses him each time he says it.

“What else do you want to learn?” Kris asks, breathless from all the kissing.

“Everything you say to me,” Tao answers. “It’s familiar, when I hear it, but I can’t say any of it.”

Kris hums thoughtfully. “You’re beautiful,” he murmurs, and then says a word that’s like a song, and it’s so beautiful that Tao feels bad for his poor pronunciation. Kris says it again, and again, and Tao repeats it until finally his intonation is spot on.

“More,” Tao begs. “Say something else.”

Kris looks thoughtful. “There’s a word that means ‘to hold,’ and it’s used specifically for lovers.” He says it, and it’s short but the first syllable has a rapidly rising tone. It’s similar to the second tone in Chinese, yet somehow not. It’s frustrating, because Tao feels like he should be able to do better than he is.

Kris kisses his frown away. “It’s okay,” he says, his voice soft and comforting, “Just try your best, my love. You don’t have to do this.”

“But I want to,” Tao whines. “Say it again, please?”

So Kris repeats himself, and when Tao finally gets it right Kris gasps and kisses him soundly, almost knocking him back down on the bed.

“Hey!” Tao laughs, pushing himself back up. “What was that for?”

Kris shakes his head. “I need an excuse to ravish you?” He asks teasingly. “Hmm…What else can I teach you?”

Tao’s cheeks heat up and he smiles shyly. “There’s something you say sometimes…” ‘When I’m sobbing your name and begging you to go faster,’ he thinks, but he leaves that part out and hesitantly tries to imitate the sounds. Kris’ eyes widen and he blushes too, mumbling the words in the correct tones. Tao repeats after him, and Kris puts his head in his hands and groans.

“What?” Tao asks, “What does it mean?”

“It…it doesn’t have an exact translation,” Kris says hesitantly. “But it means something like, ‘I’ve got you’. Only…the context…is very ual.”

“So I shouldn’t say it in public?” Tao asks.

“Well, no,” Kris says, “Though I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

Tao blushes and laughs, but he leans forward and gives Kris a kiss, whispering the words again as he pulls away. He gets a shock when he actually looks at Kris, though. The look in his eyes is one Tao can’t describe, and he’s pretty sure it’s a good thing but he also doesn’t know if Kris is going to laugh or cry.

“Yifan are you okay?” Tao asks hesitantly.

Kris throws his arms around Tao and pulls him so close that their heads nearly collide. Tao gasps in surprise and then gasps again when Kris starts kissing him. Tao doesn’t think he’s ever been kissed quite like this before. There’s an intensity, a sense of urgency that Tao has never felt from Kris before. Kris maneuvers him onto his back, and Tao is limp and pliant in his arms. His head feels foggy, and he thinks he could get used to being kissed like this. Kris catches Tao’s lower lip between his teeth and drags gently before into Tao’s mouth. Tao groans and arches into him, sliding his hands up under Kris’ shirt. Kris pulls back, panting, and kisses Tao’s neck. He’s murmuring again, and Tao is too breathless to ask for a translation. He closes his eyes and lets the syllables wash over him, trying to remember them for later. He wraps his legs around Kris’ hips, his heels dragging up the backs of Kris’ thighs, pulling him closer.

Tao freezes when he feels Kris’ chest shaking. “Are you crying?!”

“No,” Kris says tearfully. “Well, yes, but it’s…it’s okay, I promise.”

Tao pushes him back and sits up again. “No, why are you crying?”

Kris wipes his eyes and shakes his head. “Just a little overwhelmed,” he says. “I just…I never even thought to teach you, but I should have,” he breaks off sobbing.

Tao cradles Kris’ face in his hands. “Baby, don’t cry,” he says, taken aback by the tears and not sure of how to proceed. “Are you sad? Happy? I hope you’re crying because you’re happy.”

“I am,” Kris weeps, “I’m so happy right now, you don’t even…I never imagined it would make me so happy…to hear you talk to me in my own language…I didn’t think it would be…so important to me.”

“I wish I’d done it sooner,” Tao says, petting Kris’ hair soothingly. “I didn’t think you would cry, though.”

Kris sniffles and wipes his eyes again. “Oh, Tao…when I came here I felt so alone. It’s been getting better, you know, I really like it here but sometimes I miss home so much. But now, hearing you…it’s so wonderful, to be able to share this with you. I just forgot, I guess, that I don’t need to give up my culture.”

“Of course you don’t,” Tao says, feeling a little tearful himself. “You can teach me anything you want to about your home, I would love it if you would share it with me. Language, dress, food, anything I can learn about, I want to learn.”

The wonder is back in Kris’ eyes. “I was so worried…I thought to myself, I just always thought that there was no way you could have ever imagined falling in love with someone like me, just like could have never imagined that I would fall in love when I came here. I always thought that I would never belong, never find someone who would make me feel like we weren’t different…I mean we are different, that’s a fact…I guess I just never thought that it would feel so natural.” He laughs, though he’s still crying a little. “Am I making sense?”

“Yeah,” Tao says with a smile. “We are different, but our differences are something that we can share with each other. We’re the same when it counts, we just have a lot to teach each other.”

Kris takes Tao’s hand and kisses his palm. “I love you so much,” he breathes. “By the gods I can’t believe how much I love you.”

“I love you too,” Tao says, his thumb brushing Kris’ lips. He kisses Kris once, then again because he can’t kiss Kris just once, and then again because twice isn’t enough either. “I love you,” he says again, “And I’m so glad I met you. It’s so crazy!” he exclaims, “What were the chance of us actually meeting?”

Kris laughs incredulously. “Those odds, I mean out of all the beings in the universe, and all the ways our lives could have gone…one in a hundred billion.”

“We’re so lucky, then,” Tao says. “We might be the luckiest couple in the universe.” He lays down on his side and pats the space next to him. Kris lays down beside him and they move closer, until their legs are twinned together and their noses brush.

“Yifan?”

“Hmm?”

“How do you say ‘I love you’?”

Kris smiles and draws out the syllables. “Haa-Sha-Il-M-th-yha.”

Tao sighs. “It sounds so beautiful when you say it…I feel like it would sound ugly if I tried.”

Kris shakes his head. “Never, my love. You have a beautiful voice, you know, and even if the pronunciation is off the way you say it, your intention behind it, makes it beautiful.”

Tao finds himself blushing, though he’s not quite sure why. “How do you do this to me?” He asks.

Kris shrugs. “You’re very expressive. You do the same things to me, too…I guess I’m just not as good at showing it.” He holds Tao’s hand and massages his palm. “When you do things like this, for example. Or when you mess around with my other arm. I don’t know, things like that feel so intimate. I do get flustered quite easily around you.”

“I know,” Tao tells him with a smile. “You get very quiet when you’re flustered.”

“Do I?” Kris asks. He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, and when Tao bursts into giggles he jumps and his cheeks flush pink. “Oh, I guess I do.”

Tao kisses his nose. “It’s cute, though. you’re very cute.”

“I am not,” Kris mumbles. “Joonmyun is cute, I am far too large and gangly for such a thing.” Tao bites his wrist and he yelps. “Hey!”

“I dare you to tell me you’re not cute one more time,” he threatens. “Tell me how to say ‘cute’.”

Kris frowns. “No.”

Tao pinches him. “Tell me!”

“No,” Kris says trying to squirm away, “You’ll use it against me.”

Tao pushes himself up. “Tell me!” He screeches, and then he throws himself on top of Kris and starts tickling him mercilessly. The attack only ends when Kris flails so much the both of them fall off the bed and land in heap on the floor, out of breath and nursing cramps in their sides from laughing so hard.

When Tao regains his breath he crawls over to Kris and whispers to him, “Haa-Sha-Il-M-th-yha.”

Kris smiles and says, “See? I told you it would sound beautiful. And I love you, too.”

Oh, they are so cute. 

Too bad I’m going to TORTURE them later. Much later.

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