Tao POV 

Today was a lazy day. It was a Friday and Tao still had work but he took the day off as an injury leave. Not because he was that dizzy, or because his head still hurt that bad, he just felt crappy and didn't want to be scooping ice cream all day.

 People say it's a wimpy job but its actually pretty hard on Tao's wrists and his feet get sore from standing for hours on end. He does get a pretty good arm work out though, so it's not all bad. That and a huge discount off ice cream which was the best part for Tao. You'd think he'd get sick of sweets right way, being surrounded by them like that, but Tao's passion for ice cream is a never ending love. 

For the first time in weeks, Tao slept in. A lot. For him anyway. He just slept and slept then lie in bed until he finally crawled out just before noon. He threw on some sweats and a baggy t-shirt and walked to the grocery store for some milk and cereal, his staple food. He actually lost a fair bit of weight from living off cereal since there's zero nutritional value and it just goes right through. Though probably not the healthiest diet, Tao was glad to see himself thinner. 

After lunch Tao ran himself a warm bath loaded with bubbles and bath salts in his overly small tub, which he was incredibly thankful to have. He loved baths, even if it was so small only his torso could fit and his legs drooped over the edge. It was simply relaxing. 

Tao discarded his clothes and checked himself out in the mirror before his bath. He wore a stony expression and gazed at his body even longer than usual. Long slender fingers delicately ran over his body. Something caught in his throat as he traced over all the old, healed but still red mar- no. He didn't want to think about it. Today was a good day, no need to feel sad. Tao shook his head and forced a smile. There was a reddish purple bruise marking his forehead still. It looked more painful than it really was. Besides, it was at least partially hidden by his dark bangs.

Tao turned the tap off, closed the door, and slid in. Goosebumps formed on his arms and his hairs pricked out a bit. He shivered from the heat. His s perked up as well, but Tao wasn't erted enough to even notice. He lifted his legs out and slid further in. He sighed out a calm, happy breath and began soaking. Finally, some peace. 

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

Tao's eyes flashed back open. He frowned, then groaned loudly. Who dare interrupt his bath?! He reluctantly got out and wrapped a towel around his hips, wondering who the heck would be bothering him. He already paid his rent. Hopefully it was no one important, that way he could quickly resume his soak. 

"Knock! Knock! Knock!" 

With an annoyed fury burning in his sharp, menacing eyes, he threw open the door to find... Kris? He was soaking wet- as if he just went swimming fully clothed- and was dripping all over the floor. He smiled though. His pretty dark eyes wandered down Tao's half form then darted back up and widened insanely. 

"Oh..." Tao said simply. "It's you.."

Kris hesitated before bowing. He chuckled lightly. "Y-yeah. Am I interrupting something?" He gestured to Tao's slender, bare torso. Tao looked down at himself, suddenly self conscious and feeling very under-dressed. 

"Yeah, you sure are interrupting something..." He sighed quietly. "You can come in though."

Tao glanced around his apartment. He never realized how embarrassingly tiny and messy it was until then. The kitchen and living room were squashed together, dining room hardly existent; its only presence being a small island with only two stools separating the cooking area from the living room area. The sink was loaded with dirty mismatched dishes, towering high in a fragile balance. Tao was definitely an impressive architect.

 Laundry and questionable manga books very manly graphic novels littered the furniture. The only real cleanliness being that Tao had recently vacuumed and threw away the trash that had previously been scattered throughout the apartment. Personal belongings covered every surface and wall. No doubt that even though it was small and messy, it definitely had that warm, cozy, "lived in" feeling. It was very... homey. Like a little nest. Kris loved that. He actually wished his house were more like this. 

Tao got Kris a towel to dry his hair with. "Just wait here," he ordered and ran to his room. Kris laughed to himself as he heard rushed footsteps and numerous thumps and bangs and crashes. Tao appeared a minute later wearing the same sweats and t-shirt from earlier. 

"So... what're you doing here?" Tao asked, genuinely curious. Had he forgotten something?

"Just came to check on you. It started raining so I got off work early," he explained casually. Tao nodded. That also explained why he was sopping wet. 

"Okay... but how did you get into the building? You don't have a key!"

"... Well, I'm kind of popular I guess you could say... "

"You know residents here?"

"Actually I'm friends with the owner of the building, Chanyeol. He's a bit of a nut case but he's a great guy."

Tao cast his glance down at his feet. 

"But... why?" Tao asked quietly. 

"Well Chanyeol and I met quite a while ago-"

"No, not that." Tao cut him off. He shifted his weight uncomfortably. "I mean... why did you come here?"

"Like I said, to check on you."

"Noooo," Tao whined childishly. "But why do you care, Kris? Why do you care about me?"

Tao frowned. Not because he was upset, just because he sincerely didn't understand. Kris sighed. 

"I don't know Tao... you were hurt so of course I wouldn't leave you like that. And... you're an interesting person I guess," he admitted. 

"No I'm not!" Tao replied defensively. 

Kris still stood leaning against the door, clothes clinging to his skin. He was nearly shivering. Tao leaned against the island. 

"Sorry," Kris apologized sarcastically. "You're a lame nobody who I'm not interested in whatsoever."

Tao looked down more then quickly back up, wide-eyed. "I-interested in?!" He exclaimed. 

A wave of uncomfortable heat crashed over Kris. His cheeks were tinted pink. "No, I don't mean it like that," he lied. 

Tao sighed in relief. Kris noticed and felt a pang of offense. Why didn't Tao like him? Everybody likes him, right? Why not this kid?

"In any case, you're wet and you'll catch a cold like that. Follow me," Tao sighed. Kris gladly followed. He was led down a small hallway and into the bathroom. It was actually a decent sized room compared to the rest of the apartment. It was already hot and steamy from Tao's bubble bath. The mirror was fogged up. Kris breathed in the sweet candy-like aroma that filled the air. There were two doors inside the bathroom; one leading out into the hall, and the other leading directly to Tao's bedroom. 

"I poured it for myself but you can have it," Tao offered. He smiled thoughtfully. "That is, as long as you're okay with washing only half of yourself at a time."

"Thank you Tao, but you're welcome to join me if you'd like. It is your bath after all."

Tao's breath hitched momentarily. He giggled and blushed. "Um, I better not, it's too small. I'll be back in a second with a fresh towel." 

With that he scooted out and reappeared a minute later with his last clean towel. He stopped dead in his tracks as he rounded the corner into the washroom. Kris was shirtless and pulling off his wet designer jeans to reveal silky black boxers and a super fit body. He was tall and lean, but strong as well. Tao gasped. Kris looked up to find the frozen Tao looking very flustered and blushing furiously. He couldn't help but chuckle. 

"Wow," Tao whispered. "You're pretty- wow..."

Kris laughed harder and grabbed the towel thankfully. "Thanks, and uh.. you're not so bad yourself, cutie!" He winked. Tao nearly fainted. "So, you rethinking that offer yet?" He smirked. It took Tao a minute to regain his thoughts and figure out what his "offer" was. 

"Oh! Right! Uh, I, uh, um, well..." Tao furrowed his eyebrows deeply. "I, er, I'm good, seriously. But uh, f-feel free to use whatever you can find." From inside the bathroom, he entered the door to his own bedroom then slammed it behind him and sighed exasperatedly.

Clothes lie scattered all around the room in heaps on the floor. One individual sock rest on the junk-covered desk. Old wushu posters decorated his walls. That, and a decent sized old TV which sat on top of a bookshelf facing Tao's bed. The inside of said bookshelf was lined with a few anime figurenes, numerous treasured stuffies, and more "graphic novels". Tao sighed. Who was he kidding? Not himself at least. They weren't just comic books. Though some of them were actually fairly hardcore books, a lot of it was really just girly romance stories. Not only that, but the majority of Tao's mangas were...

Tao gasped loudly and sprung up from where he was lying. He shot off the bed in realization. Embarassment and panic threw Tao into clean-up overdrive as he pictured his very kind and attractive visitor discovering a gay magazine or book. Tao really didn't want to mess up this possible friendship with Kris. It would be the death of him if Kris found out about his uality. What would he say? Would Kris be upset? Obviously he would judge Tao. Would he regret helping him? He would definately feel differently about him. Would if he thought Tao was weird and disgusting? What if he hated Tao? What if he was sickened just to have met him? What if he left? What if he abandoned Tao? What if he never came back? 

After hurriedly tossing any possible "indicators" in his closet in a rushed panic, which actually took a while longer than Tao was expecting, he lazily flopped onto his bed once again. The sheets were cozy and dark blue with a starry print. Sometimes Tao would just hide under them with a light and pretend he was looking into the night sky like he used to do as a child. On top of his bed was a large fluffy blanket with a realistic wolf on it. His old friend Xiumin had given it to him as a gift. All of the sheets were balled up and disorganized. 

Now that that was out of the way, Tao's mind was free to wander. Suddenly he began remembering shirtless Kris. And pantless Kris. He even began to imaging underwear-less Kris. "Wow..." he moaned quietly to himself. God damn Kris. Tao focused hard on anything unpleasant  enough to calm the growing bulge in his pants. He was extremely sensitive to things like that, even just thoughts like that, as he didn't relieve himself often at all. Self pleasuring is icky. 

(Meanwhile, in the bathroom...) Kris sat up in the smelly bathtub, reading the fun, colourful bottles on the edge, laughing the whole time. The cutest things edged the tub. "Bubblegum bubble bath"?  "Strawberry shampoo"? "Candy-cane bath salts"? There was even a rubber ducky already in the water, and a cartoonish frog-shaped soap bar on the edge... was there anything about this kid that wasn't completely adorable?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: *screaming* OH GEEZ  I could barely finish this at all! I hope it's okay!!!