~Ouchies (XiuTao)~

******This is Xiumin and Tao’s story of how the two of them got together in SM&TDS (Past)******

            "What are you doing?" asked Tao as he wandered into Xiumin's kitchen.

            "Trying to make cookies," answered Xiumin completely unsurprised at seeing the younger in his house once again, it was the weekend after all and Tao always came over no matter what. They were neighbors anyways and the younger had taken a liking to Xiumin since the day they met for some reason but it wasn't like the older minded. Xiumin was glad he could easily get along with Tao, now that they were in high school it still was no different from all the way back then.

            "Oooh your cookies are always good! Can I eat the left over cookie dough!?" asked Tao excitedly as he reached for the bowl.

            Xiumin waved Tao's reaching hand away, "No, not yet Tao."

            The younger pouted at Xiumin who wasn't looking at him at the moment since the older was too focused on making the cookie dough. "Why? You always let me eat it," whined Tao.

            "I'm trying out a new recipe for this batch so I want to make sure that it'll come out okay first before I let you eat the cookie dough," replied Xiumin simply as he began scooping out little blobs of the cookie dough and placed them on to the baking sheet.

            Tao brightened instantly at hearing Xiumin trying a new recipe, call him biased if you want but every time Xiumin decided to try out a new cookie recipe it always came out tasting amazing.

            Tao has had a crush on Xiumin since the two of them met, the feelings developed all throughout middle school and high school, he wasn't too sure what initially drew him to the older since it could have been a number of things like the way the older smiled with a twinkle in his eye, or the way the older never minded how Tao would follow him around like a lost duckling, or how Xiumin would baby and watch out for him with complete patience. Well regardless of what it was the younger was completely infatuated.

            "What is it? How long will it take to bake?" Tao couldn't help it he was curious.

            Xiumin chuckled as he scooped out the last of the cookie dough to place on the baking sheet, "Eager for cookies as usual I see. It'll be ready in an about thirty minutes."

            "What's the occasion anyways? You hardly ever make new recipes unless something is up," noted Tao as he took a seat on the counter.

            Xiumin shrugged before picking up the baking sheet to place into the oven, "No occasion I just felt like trying something new today."

            Tao eyed Xiumin, "No way, you don't just make new recipes for the fun of it. Come on tell me the occasion pleassseeee?"

            Rolling his eyes, Xiumin pinched Tao's cheek playfully, "Fine you caught me, but you'll have to wait until the cookies are finished first and I'll tell you the news."

            Tao swatted Xiumin's hand away with a laugh, "Ha, I knew it! You can't hide anything from me!"

            Xiumin smiled, "I guess not. So how's your first year in high school so far?"

            "You ask as if you're an old grandpa reminiscing," teased Tao.

            "Yah, I'm older than you anyways. First year in high school was fun for me, third year is a ton more work though since grades are especially important right now due to senior year coming up, enjoy your first year," complained Xiumin.

            Tao laughed again, "That's what you get for choosing too many advanced classes you should have cut back on a few."

            Xiumin snorted, "Yeah, I probably should have too bad I can't now."

            "Oh well, You'll get through it!" encouraged Tao before he launched into his own crazy story of what happened during his school day.

            Xiumin listened to the younger with intent attention, it was cute how Tao could be so expressional with everything, waving his arms about and making big gestures. Being with Tao was easy, it was cozy, it was nice and in a way relaxing. Xiumin liked how they could be this comfortable with each other, enjoying their company with one another.

            Without either of them noticing the thirty minutes just seemed to have flown by, the only thing indicating to them that time was passing was the sudden ring of the timer Xiumin set for the cookies.

            "Oooh! They're done! I'll get them out!" volunteered Tao as he slipped off the counter while grabbing an oven mitt.

            Opening the oven carefully and extracting the cookies, Tao placed them on to the top of the stove to cool momentarily. Turning around he smiled brightly at Xiumin, "Cookies are done! Now tell me the big news!"

            Xiumin returned the smile as he grabbed the other oven mitt and placed the second batch of cookies into the oven before turning towards Tao, "Alright the big news is that I got a letter in the mail today from SMACSE! Guess what it said?"

            "You got rejected before you could even apply, it's okay Xiumin I'm here for you," deadpanned Tao opening his arms to hug the older.

            Xiumin threw his oven mitt at Tao who laughed as he dodged, "No, not even close you dorky panda."

            "I was just kidding. So what did it say?" asked Tao he knew it must have been something important and good if Xiumin was making a new recipe.

            "I… got my request granted for an early tour of SMACSE's campus during winter break! Kris and Luhan were granted the same request! They even said that if we enjoyed the campus tour and everything goes well SMACSE will open it's campus in the summer for possible incoming students to dorm there and try out their classes early for the entire summer! Isn't it great!?" announced Xiumin excitedly as he pulled his letter out from his back pocket that was laying on the kitchen table and showed it to Tao.

            Tao felt a sudden pang in his chest as he looked at the paper. What… But this summer was the last summer they would be able to hang out together and play like they always do since the summer after this would be where Xiumin would be off to a university which he knew without a doubt that it would be SMACSE which was quite a bit away from where they lived... He felt upset, he didn't want to lose Xiumin this early. He was looking forward to their summer together knowing that it may have been the last for a long time. But looking at Xiumin's glowing face, Tao knew he couldn’t voice his real thoughts.

            "It's great! I'm so happy for you! You'll have a ton of fun this summer if you go!" Tao said it as enthusiastically as he could but it still seemed a bit sad to his own ears.

            "I know! It'll be so great and this experience will be amazing before I try to apply there myself next year!" replied Xiumin seeming to have n