This is my New Years present for you guys :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Thanks so much for reading and/or subscribing this story - really guys, I just love you!

As always: the people here are not mine, they only belong to themselves (sadly :P) and what I wrote here is pure fictional (again, sadly hahahahaha). Any similarity with other already existing stories is not intentional.

Alright then, have fun reading ^.^

Greetings
Kayuki

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He didn’t know how long he stood there – in front of his leader’s room, not daring to knock on the light brown wooden door. Maybe it was an hour, or maybe just a few minutes, he didn’t know, nor did he really care, if he was honest with himself. 
But he knew, he had to ask. He had to! Or otherwise he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night, nor any other night that would follow. He would lie in his bed, wide awake, staring at the ceiling and scolding himself for not being brave enough to ask the question he burnt to know the answer to.
Finally, he raised his hand, knocking softly on the hard wood.
“Yes?” a muffled voice could be heard from the inside, followed by nearing footsteps and the door opening, revealing a shirtless Kris in the doorframe.
“Tao?” the older asked puzzled, obviously, he hadn’t expected the black haired boy to knock at his door at 1:15 in the morning. It was pure coincidence that he was still awake. 
“What’s wrong?” with slightly furrowed brows, he eyed the younger, who didn’t return his gaze, but kept staring at the floor, head hung low.
“Gege…” his voice was timid, as if he didn’t know if he should voice his concern or not “I… can I ask you something?” 
“Sure” Kris answered, folding his arms in front of his chest and leaning against the doorframe, silently wondering what the younger wanted to know.
“Have… have you ever… thought about running away?” Tao’s voice wasn’t very loud, but the taller could hear him nonetheless.
“Hu?” the question took him by surprise, why would the boy ask something like this?
“Running away from what?” he wanted to know, titling his head slightly to the side, hoping to catch the younger’s gaze with his own. In vain.
‘From myself’ “I don’t know… anything” was the vague reply by the younger, confusing his leader even more.
“I… no, I haven’t” the latter finally replied, looking straight ahead, hands stuffed inside his jeans-pockets.
“And… would you ever… run away? I mean… if something happens…?” again a rather airy question.
“I don’t think so” Kris responded. Because, really, he wasn’t one to run away – if there was a problem, he would stand his ground and face it. He didn’t like to run away, because he knew, it didn’t solve anything.
“Even if… I don’t know… if… it’s for… something really important…?” the questions became more bewildering by the minute.
“Tao, I don’t run away” he stated clearly. Because really, he didn’t. And why should he in the first place? They were perfectly fine right now, they were safe and sound. There was no reason to run away from anything, not at all. 
“Why do you ask?” with raised eyebrows he regarded the boy standing in front of him.
“Just… just because” the panda shrugged his delicate shoulders, still looking to the floor, “thanks… thanks gege” and with that he scurried away, not sparing his leader even one single glance. 
‘Weird’ concluded the blonde as his gaze followed the younger band-member retreating in his own room. 

Now he knew. Now he had his answer. But… nevertheless, he couldn’t sleep. 
‘What did I expect, like… seriously?!’  he scolded himself again. This time for asking in the first place. Maybe, he should have asked more specifically. Maybe he should have asked if Kris would run away with him. Him, Huang Zitao. Maybe the answer would have been another… or… defeated, the black haired boy let out a low sigh, shaking his head bitterly. 
Whom was he kidding, really? No, the answer wouldn’t have been another, and he knew that. 
Never – not in a million years or even his next life – would Wu Yifan run away with him. Why should he? There was no reason. Because Kris wasn’t like himself, he wasn’t as foolish as Tao. Tao… who was stupid enough to fall for his own band-member, his leader on top of it. 
Yeah… he had fallen head over heels for Kris. Head over heels in love – with no-one to save him, no-one to catch him, to prevent him to fall. And he fell deeper every day, every second… he couldn’t help it. He loved his gege, more than he should, more than he was allowed to. And more, than the older would ever accept him to.

This night, Tao cried. Alone and with no-one there to comfort him. 
He cried, until he had no tears left… until sleep overcame his weak, lonely form. 

It was that night, Tao realised that one day… when he couldn’t take it anymore… when he had to run away – he would be alone. Because no-one was going to come with him…

“Okay, WHERE is he?!?!” the deep voice of the M-leader roared through the dorm. Five weeks had passed since the question Tao had asked him. From that night on, the younger had been even more quiet than usual, he had shut himself off almost completely, as soon as they had come back from their schedules, he had literally fled into his room, didn’t come out again, except maybe for dinner. And even that had become a rare occurrence.
“Guys!” Kris demanded s’ undivided attention, as he all but stomped into the living room, where he could find them sprawled all across the floor or lying upside down on the couch. 
“Where is he?!” his gaze roamed around fiercely.  
“Whom are you looking for?” Chanyeol was the only one who dared to ask the enraged blonde.
“Tao!” ‘who else?!’ the older barked. 
“Isn’t he still in the company? … I thought he wanted to practice some more” Luhan piped up from behind their second maknae, not daring to voice his thoughts out too loud since their leader’s furious gaze was now focused on him. 
“No he isn’t” the blonde hissed “I called them already, they told me he finished practice like an hour ago!”
“Have you called him?” again Chanyeol was the bravest of them all.
“Of course, I have! He doesn’t pick up!!” by now, Kris was almost screaming. He didn’t even know, why he was so worked up about the younger’s disappearance. It wasn’t the first time – and surely not the last, that much, he knew – that Tao would vanish without a word and come back a few hours later, smiling sheepishly and saying that he had lost track of time. It wasn’t like they had somewhere to be – like an interview or a concert – and he, as their leader, had to gather all the members in order to get them ready. And it wasn’t like Tao couldn’t take care of himself – the kid was a wushu-master for God’s sake! 
Nevertheless, Kris couldn’t help but feel agitated, restless. He hated it when he didn’t know where his little brother had gone to. He detested it. No… he loathed it.
Why…? Well… if he was perfectly honest with himself, he knew the reason, he clearly did. A few months ago, he had admitted it to himself – after almost a year of denying and avoiding his own feelings – that he had fallen. Fallen hard for their little kung-fu-panda. 
Yes, he loved the EXO-M-maknae. Huang Zitao had claimed his heart like no-one had ever managed to before. And he was sure, no-one ever would. Not that he would tell the younger boy, hell no! And he really tried to cover his feelings up as well, so that no-one would notice. Especially not Tao. 
The boy was so pure and innocent – and certainly not interested in him, his leader, his older brother… a man! Because, if he was sure about one thing, then, that his love-interest was straight as his wushu-stick with no possible affection whatsoever for the male , especially not him, as manly as he was – it were times like the