In which Tao figures out that maybe there is more to Jongin and Kyungsoo that meets the eye...

~

It takes Jongin a while, but eventually he's able to get past his temporary dislike- totally not jealousy as Jongdae continually claims it to be- and after a day of school where Kyungsoo had been off ill and it was just the two of them, he had come to like the boy. It wasn't like he hated him before oh no, it was just that with the constant attention Tao was getting from Kyungsoo, Jongin didn't really like it but after getting to actually know him some more, he was willing to consider him as a friend.

"That Jongin is what we call jealousy" Jongdae pointed out when Jongin was asked why he didn't really like Tao in the first place "And quite possessive on Kyungsoo's part actually"

"For the last time it's not jealousy!" Jongin exclaimed before frowning "What do you mean by possessive? I'm not a possessive person"

Jongdae begged to differ. He could distinctly recall a time where Jongin had nagged throughout the day that Joonmyun was spending too much time with Jongdae instead of his own son, resulting in Jongdae being forced by Jongin to go do something by himself for an hour whilst Jongin had locked him and Joonmyun in his dad's room for some quality time.

"Oh come I was like eight years old" Jongin defended, turning to Joonmyun "Come on you're my dad here back me up!"

"I seem to remember you threatened him with a foam sword and then panicked slightly when you couldn't get the bedroom door unlocked after Jongdae had left" Joonmyun commented and began laughing when Jongin whined.

"I hate it when you two gang up on me like this!"

They could have their laughs now, but this was not the end! Jongin was going to continue saying until the ends of time that he was not jealous or possessive over Kyungsoo. It's just that being used to having Kyungsoo for himself all this time and then having Tao come in and havng the attention divided was a new thing for Jongin, it was taking him some time to get used to it, totally not jealousy at all... right?

First arriving to Korea, many people stayed away from Tao. Not only was he the new kid who could hardly string a sentence together, but just from one glance they all seemed to fear him. Tao likes to think it's because his relaxed face looks like he could kill somebody with one look, but it still hurts him that people were so quick to judge him rather than get to know him. If they did so- like Kyungsoo and eventually Jongin- tey would know he's actually not that scary, is a huge dork, and is super afraid of bugs (which as soon as Jongin found out, he loved the pleasure of hearing Tao squeal like a girl whenever he placed a plastic bug on his desk).

Getting to know Tao well meant that Tao was able to get to know Kyungsoo and Jongin well, really well for that matter, even though half the time they never told him anything about themselves. It was actually quite easy really.

He knew when he first met Kyungsoo and Jongin that the two were best friends. Sure they had other friends outside of each other when Jongin did ballet and Kyungsoo had an after school club to go to, but the majority of the time it was just them two and that's why they were super close. He knew- even though Jongin would never openly admit it- that as Kyungsoo spent more time with him to help him settle down into a country completely different from China, Jongin was very obviously jealous. Whether Kyungsoo noticed himself was another thing, but Tao didn't have to worry now because they were good friends. He had come to know Jongin and Kyungsoo so well that when something didn't look right between them, he was onto the mater straight away.

"I'm gonna go see if there's any leftover dessert. This just too yummy to let go that easily" Kyungsoo proclaimed over lunch "You two want anymore?"

"Yes please!" Tao replied just as enthusiastically as Kyungsoo had sounded previously

"Nah I'm good with this one" Jongin replied and watched as Kyungsoo walked over to the queue of other students who had also lined up looking for the same thing as he did, maybe Jongin watched him for just a little bit longer than what was neccessary and when he turned his head back around found Tao staring at him.

"What?" he asked 

"You've been staring at Kyungsoo a lot lately" Tao replied

"You kind of do stare at people in daily life, Tao. Particularly when speaking to them" Jongin explained, taking a sip of his drink 

"Not in the way you stare at him" Tao pointed out "Do you have a thing for Kyungsoo?"

Jongin was lucky that he didn't spit or choke on his drink when Tao had asked him. It took him a second to compose himself through stutters and coughs but when he did he began his onslaught on Tao. What the heck was he doing throwing a question like that all of a sudden?

"I'm just curious" Tao replied "The way you look at him is so different compared to everybody else. You always smile at whatever he says regardless of whether it's funny or not"

"W-well he's my best friend! I-I care for him and I want him to be happy. Besides, even if I did like him- if- I wouldn't tell him, it would just make our friendship completely awkward and would effectively ruin it... and I don't want that" Jongin explained and with Kyungsoo making his way back over with two extra desserts in hand, the matter was dropped for another day.

Oh, if only Jongin knew what Tao knew... 

Kyungsoo had been acting strange these past few days. What was wrong with him, Tao didn't know. Was Kyungsoo going to tell him? Very unlikely; whenever Tao asked him if anything was wrong Kyungsoo would just smile and dismiss the matter as nothing and would leave it at that. It was beginning to worry Tao, though he didn't exactly say anything in case Kyungsoo began to get angry with him and wouldn't talk to him. Sure, he and Jongin were cool, but Kyungsoo was really the only person he could consider a friend at the moment.

"Ah shoot!" Jongin exclaimed, jumping out of his seat "I've gotta dash now to catch my teacher before lunch ends otherwise I'll never get an extension on that homework" bending down to pick his bag up.

Though it was quick, Tao caught Kyungsoo acting kind of strange. As though he was straining to not look in the direction where Jongin was.

"I'll see you guys later" and as he ran off out of the hall, Kyungsoo's eyes followed him and stayed longer than they should have. It took Tao a second to click, but by the time Kyungsoo had turned back around he had potentially sussed what was happening and he was staring at Kyungsoo wide eyed.

"What's wrong?" Kyungsoo asked but then having a chance to think about it, began panicking that Tao knew and when his eyes widened and Tao was pointing at him ready to say something, however Kyungsoo leapt forward and slammed a hand on his mouth before he could do so.

"Please, don't" he begged

"You really do?" Tao asked

"Yes but he can't know... I'm too scared to tell him because it'll ruin our friendship" Kyungsoo replied

"Come on, you don't that! You haven't tried!" Tao tried but Kyungsoo shook his head and looked at him pleadingly

"Promise me you won't tell Jongin... promise me Tao, please!" 

Mwahahaha!!

I should point out I called this chapter Detective Tao because I literally couldn't think of anything else to call it... nothing special behind it at all...

But hey! Tao knows something that Jongin doesn't know and- possibly- something Kyungsoo doesn't know! Told you his return would be just... wow!

Next chapter however I'm gonna throw in a jealous Jongdae so you'll have to wait for the exciting continuation of this saga I'm afraid!

Until then!!