So, yeah. Almost half a year and I didn't look into this once. I decided to post everything now and correct it later, as soon as I have time.

Have fun~

            Tao sat there, waiting, thinking maybe. He didn't really know. He didn't know what to do. It relieved him immensely that Chanyeol knew, that somebody knew what was happening to him. Nonetheless, he still felt like scum. Filthy. A . Forced to e himself while choosing this himself. What an irony.

            A soft sigh left his lips as he stopped picking on the quilt they had always draped over some part of the couch because YiXing and sometimes Kyungsoo were cold easily. He stood up, picked the neatly folded quilt up and folded it again absentmindedly.

            What should he do? He couldn't pull the older one into this. But Chanyeol was stubborn. He shuddered when he remembered how he had been watched all these weeks by him - he couldn't imagine him to leave him be. He was too stubborn for that.

            "Tao. Tao, are you listening?"

            "Huh?"

            Surprised Tao looked up from where he had been staring at the quilt in his hands, let it fall down on the couch.

            "Did you talk to me, hyung?"

            Minseok nodded.

            "Yeah. I called you a few times. Are you okay? Something is worrying you, isn't it?"

            Tao opened his mouth to deny but then closed it again. A short faltering, then he turned big, uncertain eyes to the older one.

            "Can I ask you something, hyung?"

            „Sure, always. What’s wrong?“, he asked, sat down on the couch and patted the space next to him, signaling Tao to sit down as well.

            After sitting down again Tao hesitated, searched for words.

            „Hyung… you know, I have a friend who has a secret he can’t tell anybody. But his friend found out a few days ago. Now my friend doesn’t know what to do. On the one side he is happy that someone finally knows, on the other hand he doesn’t want to involve his friend anymore than he already is. What should he do?“

            Patiently he listened to the maknae's explanation. He wasn’t dumb. He was pretty sure that this friend was actually Tao himself but he wouldn’t call the younger out on it. Although he was a little bit concerned because that meant Tao had a secret and a problem he couldn’t talk about with them.

            „You know, when this friend of your friend is close to him he doesn’t mind helping your friend out with the problem he has. That’s what friends do. Your friend can still try to solve his problems alone, but he shouldn’t push his friend away. It’s always helpful to have someone close you can turn to if you have problems. Someone who's there for you."

            Tao stared at his hands kneading the quilt again before he raised his head to look at the older one.

            "Thank you, hyung. I think that might help my friend."

            "No problem, Tao. You can come always to me if you need any advice. I will try to help as good as I can.", he smiled.

            Then he patted the taller one's knee and stood up again to leave for his room. He hoped his advice had helped Tao somehow but still wished the younger one could tell him what exactly was wrong.

            When Tao came back the next time everyone sat in the living-room, watching a Korean movie with Chinese subtitles. He stood there for a second, watching them, before he turned around and went into his room where he curled up in his bed and pulled a stuffed toy he had gotten by a fan as a birthday present once into his arms. Already a few seconds later he heard the door open and then felt how someone lay down behind him and pulled him against a broad chest. Tao turned in the embrace and burrowed his face in the chest.

            "There were two today. It hurt so much...", he sobbed.

            Chanyeol made a soothing sound, through Tao's hair.

            "We'll find a way out for you, I promise. We'll find a way out."

            It hurt so much seeing the younger one suffer.

            The next few weeks Tao didn't get new messages, although they hadn't much work to do. After that first night Chanyeol started to sleep in Tao's room and more often than not sometime during the night Tao would end up crawling into Chanyeol's bed, cuddling with the older. He slept so much better now.

            At first the others had looked strangely at the two, especially because Chanyeol seemed to never leave Tao's side and whenever the younger one tensed or looked around for him he would be there to lay a hand on the small of his back or pull him into a hug. Soon though they got used to XiuHan No.2 before they started to call them ChanTao.

            But this calmness didn't last for long, as Tao woke up on one of their rare completely free days and already saw a massage blinking on the screen of his mobile phone. He knew instantly what it was. He slipped out of Chanyeol's arms and grabbed his mobile phone to  check the message. A second later he jumped up and got ready as fast as he could. He received the message a few hours prior and he should have been there already five minutes ago. He cursed the fact that they had stayed awake until late the day before. But never before did he run so fast in his life. Apologizing he entered the studio where their movie would take place, but froze when he noticed who was standing there in the middle of the room, not looking happy at all to be left waiting.

When he entered the dorm this time everyone gasped in shock. Tao didn't know how he looked like, he hadn't dared to look into the mirror while showering, but he could imagine vividly, just by how torn and broken he felt.

            "Oh, my God, Tao what happened to you?", Minseok asked shocked, jumped up from where he previously sat on Luhan's lap und grabbed Tao by the shoulders.

            A half suppressed painful hiss made him let go instantly.

            "It's okay. Someone enjoyed beating me up. No big deal.", he mumbled, tried to get past Minseok to get into his room.

            The next second YiFan stood in front of him, incredulously staring at him.

            "No big deal? ZiTao, you know Wushu. One guy shouldn't be a problem for you!"

            "Wushu isn't to hurt other people. You should never use your knowledge and talent to hurt others, no matter whom.", he mumbled dismissively.

            An exasperated snort was heard from YiFan before he grumbled:

            "Don't tell me you aren't allowed to use Wushu for your own self-defense."

            The moment Tao tried somehow to skip around the conversation Chanyeol came out of their room, popping a cherry-flavored bon-bon into his mouth. He gasped when he saw the younger's state, grabbed him by his sleeve and pulled him back into their room, the door shut tightly behind them. He set him down on his bed and grabbed the first-aid-kit Tao had in the room because of his numerous Wushu-induced injuries.

            "What the hell happened? I knew you got a message when I woke up and you weren't there anymore. But this? Tao, tell me what happened, please!", he begged.

            The hurt boy sighed lightly, mumbled:

            "You know, not all people get off on alone. Some need a third person, some like to me with toys alone and some get off on torturing me. Sometimes I am lucky and they are told they aren't allowed to leave marks on me. Sometimes I'm not so lucky.

            There is this one costumer... He's a regular, every few weeks, once a month. At first it wasn't so bad. Slapping my while ing me doggy style, ing, rough , pulling my hair. Still relatively normal things. But then he started to hurt me more, punishment for nothing. The only reason being because I did so much as breath wrongly, or he didn't like the look in my eyes.

            Today I was late, really late and then I dared to speak without being allowed to. He handcuffed me to the bed and beat and ed me until I was unconscious. I woke up alone, his already drying on me."

            Chanyeol knew in exactly that moment that he had to get Tao out of this, even if he had to tell the others. Not because of the cruel things that were done to the younger one, but because of the detached way he talked about what they did to him, as if he merely repeated the content of a movie or book, not something regarding his own life.

Almost a week later Chanyeol approached the young Chinese.

            "I want you to tell the others."

            He had thought about this every day since Tao came back battered and bruised, had thought of a solution, but there was nothing they could do. At least alone. But if the others knew, maybe they could find a solution.

            "Excuse me? What do you want me to tell them?"

            "I want you to tell them about your forced ion."

            Concerned he watched how all color left Tao's face, how his breath seemed to come shorter for a few moments.

            "You want me to what?!", he gasped.

            "Please, ZiTao! As much as I want to help you and I know I can't do it alone. But with the others we have the chance to help you!"

            "You really want me to tell the others that I e myself for SM Entertainment."

            Tao's tone was incredulous.

            "What?"

            Both turned around when they heard Luhan's shocked voice from their doorway.

            "Sorry. I didn't want them to find out like that.", Chanyeol mumbled lowly.

            A small sigh left the younger one's lips and he grabbed Chanyeol's sleeve with his pointed finger and thumb.

            "What's done is done. Let's do this.", he said, sounding more sure than he felt.

            Luhan already turned around and called for the others to gather. Tao didn't want to do this. He didn't want to do this at all. But now it was already too late. Chanyeol guided him onto the couch in the middle of their living room, sat down next to him, put his arm around his waist and pulled him closer. Tao was thankful for the close proximity because the older one calmed him down considerably.

            "Why are we here? ChanTao already making this officially?", Chen asked grinning when they finally were all gathered in the living room.

            Confused, the youngest Chinese looked up.

            "Official? What exactly?", he asked.

            Chanyeol did nothing but glare at Jongdae.

            "Ignore him. He's talking bull. Just start."

            Still confused Tao nodded, then took a deep breath before he started telling them everything he had told Chanyeol already a few months prior. He was really thankful that Chanyeol stayed close to him all the time, because the older one helped him considerably. He held him tighter when he needed him and even continued talking when he couldn't anymore.

            When they finished silence had spread in the room, except for the slight sobbing noises Tao made into Chanyeol's chest. The latter pulled him onto his lap, over his back and through his hair and made soothing noises. When Tao had calmed down again Jongin spoke up:

            "What shall we do?"

            "The better question is 'What can we do'?", Kyungsoo corrected, sat down next to Chanyeol and put his hand on Tao's shoulder, made soothing circles with his thumbs.

            YiXing stood up as well, sat on the other side of Chanyeol, encircled his arms around Tao's waist and pressed his cheek to his shoulder.

            "This isn't legal...", he mumbled.

            Sehun stood behind the couch already and through Tao's hair. He couldn't believe what his best friend had been through in the past few months, all alone.

            "I'm so sorry...", he whispered, pressed a soft kiss on Tao's hair"

            The older one looked up, smiled weakly.

            "Why are you sorry? You couldn't know. No one of you could have known. Chanyeol only found out because he got suspicious where I have always been."

            He played with the silver chain he wore since he told the older one everything. It gave him security when he wasn't around. He wouldn't tell the others that Chanyeol got suspicious because he saw him in a video.

            "Still... I should have noticed.", Sehun mumbled.

            Tao kneeled up a little and patted their youngest gently on the head. Then he sat down again, leaned his head against Chanyeol's chest while he listened to the others discussing what they could do. It wasn't much, but he appreciated that they all wanted to help him.

            "Guys, go to bed, it's late.", he sad barely loud enough to be noticed by everybody.

            They looked unsure, didn't know what to do.

            "Seriously, go to bed. We have work early tomorrow and you can't do anything either way. At least not from one moment to the other.", he added as he saw how Chanyeol wanted to protest.

            "Go sleep."

            Slowly everyone stood up and left for their beds until only Chanyeol and Tao were left.

            "Let's go to bed as well, yeah?"

            Tao nodded but didn't move an inch. Chanyeol laughed slightly, then stood up while carrying him to their room. The younger only hooked his legs around his waist to hold himself up. When he put him down on his bed he noticed Tao already half asleep.

            "It must have been exhausting for you, huh...", he mumbled lowly, then lay down next to him and was asleep almost as fast.

            At first they didn't notice anything. The day had started with Tao almost exploding.

            "Guys, seriously, I'm not made of glass! I appreciate you all considering my situation but you seriously don't have to hush around me so much!"

            Afterwards the mood was considerably lighter, to the youngest Chinese's relief. They also didn't have any public appearances that day. Only rehearsal for their next concert tour which he couldn't wait for. Not only would it be their first concert tour, but the time away meant that he couldn't have any clients. It was exhausting, but it took Tao's thoughts from thinks, thus it was welcomed.

            "I'm for take-out and a movie!", Sehun piped up from where he was lying directly under the AC, panting slightly.

            Joonmyun pulled his phone out already and ordered their regular things at their favorite delivery-service before the others could even react. Smiling and chatting they collected their stuff and headed over to the dorm. But before they reached the entrance door suddenly a swarm of reporters came towards them, asking question after question.

            "Is it true?"

            "There he is!"

            "Did he tell you?"

            "Do others of your group do this as well?"

            "What the hell?", Tao heard Baeckhyun mumble next to him before they managed to push through the reporters into their building.

            "What was that?", Jongin asked confused.

            YiFan looked like the others through the glass doors, where the reporters still stood, filming and making photos.

            Maybe we should watch the news instead of a movie..."

            Up in their dorm Baekhyun was the first one who had pulled off his shoes and when Tao finally arrived in the living-room everyone was staring at the TV. At first he was confused why they were showing only footage of him until he started listening to the things that were said. He begged that he didn't understood correctly but when they showed a censored scene from the movie Chanyeol had seen that one day so many months ago he broke down. He didn't even notice that he was kneeling down, sobbing and an endless stream of 'No, no, no's leaving his trembling lips.

            Someone shouted something and the TV got turned off but all Tao could hear was white noise. Somehow Chanyeol got him into their room where he lay down with him. They lay there for hours, not talking, solely feeling the other's presence and warmth. Chanyeol was slowly falling asleep when the younger looked up from where he had his face burrowed in Chanyeol's chest.

            "Thank you for everything.", the younger whispered, looked at the older one in a conflicted way. As if he wanted to do or say something more.

            Instead he smiled sadly and the taller one suddenly got an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach.

            The next day when Chanyeol woke up Tao was gone.