Kyungsoo wasn't really sure what he was getting himself into when he agreed to Luhan's pathetic puppy dog eyes and pouted lip. He'd been expecting a few hours wasted to ogling tall, sweaty men running up and down a small stretch of gym while bouncing a bright orange rubber ball. He'd been expecting Luhan's high pitched shrieks of appreciation whenever his new boyfriend, Kris, came onto the court. (Kris was captain, so that happened a lot.) He'd even been expecting Baekhyun's equally high pitched appreciation for the attractive athletes to prompt poor Sehun's grumpy jealousy as the result of a longstanding and unconfessed crush. (And Kyungsoo had been right on all accounts.)

He hadn't been expecting to see him. The guy from the bus. The pretty, tall one with sharp eyes and curly lips.

Tao.

Kyungsoo didn't know that Tao played basketball for their university. The topic hadn't exactly come up in the fifteen or so minutes they'd spent traveling from the campus depot to Kyungsoo's dorm, so when Baekhyun and Luhan rushed in during the last minutes of the last quarter of the game, Sehun and Kyungsoo in tow, Kyungsoo had really not been expecting Tao. Not at all.

"That's him," he hissed with a sharp jab of his elbow into Sehun's kidney. Kyungsoo was stronger than he looked and Sehun hissed back in pain, though he soon smiled quite beatifically when Baekhyun cooed at him in concern.

"Him who?" Baekhyun wondered nosily as Sehun tried to retaliate.

"My body is a temple," Sehun sniffed in aggrieved annoyance. He flicked Kyungsoo's forehead before jumping to hide behind Baekhyun with his fingers held out in an X. "I'm a gymnast."

"Rhythmic gymnast," Kyungsoo corrected with a growl. He lunged for Sehun, who whimpered, but Luhan was faster and soon both boys were being pulled along by the ears toward the bleachers.

"We're already late," Luhan pointed out through gritted teeth as Baekhyun laughed so hard at his friends that he literally caught the hiccups. "And him who?"

"Tao," Kyungsoo told his friends, rubbing hard at his ear once they all found seats and Luhan released him.

No one seemed to know who that was. "Who?"

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, completely exasperated but too distracted to put a lot of effort into it because Tao's lean and toned arms in a basketball jersey was too damn y for words. With a sly point and a fanning hand to cool his blush, Kyungsoo clarified "Bus guy! Tao!"

Almost as if he'd heard his name or felt Kyungsoo's presence in the large gymnasium, Tao looked up, eyes scanning the crowds in interest. Kyungsoo's heart began to beat at double its normal pace and didn't stop until the game was over, even after Tao's gaze caught his own and they exchanged small, shy smiles of greeting. Tao was a magnificent player, better than Luhan's scary Kris if Kyungsoo was being honest. (Not that he necessarily knew anything about basketball.)

Baekhyun was catcalling and Sehun was glaring as Luhan linked his arm tightly to Kyungsoo's and rushed down to the court. Luhan pushed Kyungsoo away as soon as Kris came into view, but Kyungsoo only had about half a second to be upset by the reckless abandonment before a strong grip came around his waist and a breathless voice whispered a quiet hello into his ear.

"Kyungsoo," Tao greeted, his smile reaching to almost touch his ears as he turned the much shorter man around in his arms and squeezed him tightly. He sounded happy. (Kyungsoo hoped he was happy.) "So we meet again."

"So we do," Kyungsoo nodded and coughed awkwardly. He was doing a valiant job of remaining focused, but Tao's sweaty and beautiful body was just so close and it was a lot for Kyungsoo's nerves to handle. "Um..."

"Do you play?" Tao asked, seeming to sense Kyungsoo's discomfort somewhat. "I could teach you?"

Kyungsoo hated basketball, honestly. (He didn't see the point.) But he really kind of maybe liked Tao a lot (maybe). In his book that was enough to win out over his general distaste for anything sports related. (That included watching sports on tv. Kyungsoo's body felt like he'd run a marathon just thinking about it.)

"I'd like that," Kyungsoo admitted, flustered and essentially blinded by Tao's catlike grin that grew even larger and more beautiful as Kyungsoo spoke.

Tao grabbed the basketball that had been tossed forgotten to the gym floor once his team had won the game, and Kyungsoo gulped at the action. It put Tao's body on display and made Kyungsoo's mouth dry with, well, something. Tao really was great looking, so when he dribbled the ball in a circle and basically made Kyungsoo feel like an incompetent couch potato, Kyungsoo didn't even care.

"Gimme!" He whined cutely, arms outstretched and body balanced precariously on his tiptoes to try and reach the ball Tao was now holding high above Kyungsoo's head and completely out of reach. When that didn't work, Kyungsoo said cutely, eyes wide and lip pulled between his teeth, "Can't you just teach me how to dribble?"

"Nuh-uh," Tao teased, shaking his head. His words were a little harder to decipher through his accent, evidently made stronger as he watched Kyungsoo continue to struggle in vain and roared in laughter. "This is basketball, Baby Soo," he smirked, the nickname slipping out to rest between them easily and almost unnoticed except for the return of a blush that dusted Kyungsoo's cheeks. Tao leaned down a little, ball still held high, and finished, "We jump."

His voice was low and his tone was mildly suggestive, and Kyungsoo just couldn't take it anymore. With a quick glance over his shoulder to his friends—Baekhyun and Sehun were bickering, Luhan and Kris were wrapped up in each other—he reached his thin arms around Tao's middle and crushed the taller student into a tight hug. They'd hugged earlier, but that had been sort of an accident. This time, it was real and Kyungsoo heard Tao's breath hitch and the distinctive bounce of a basketball as Tao dropped it and pulled Kyungsoo closer.

"I can't believe you're really here," Tao whispered into Kyungsoo's hair. "At my game. Like fate."

Kyungsoo hummed in agreement. He wasn't really all that sure about fate, but he did swear by soulmates and Tao certainly seemed to fit that bill.

When the two pulled apart for a second time, Kyungsoo heard a wolf whistle pierce the air. (Probably Kris. No one else in Kyungsoo's circle of friends had such impressive skills.) The noise prompted a surprisingly high giggle from Tao, one Kyungsoo fondly remembered from that night not too long ago when they'd first met on the bus. He still socked Tao lightly in the arm for being embarrassing enough to laugh with Kris' teasing, though, and Tao made a big show of being injured by the blow. (He was still giggling.)

"You know," Kyungsoo pouted with a huff, standing awkwardly in the middle of the emptying gym while Tao made his way to the players' bench to grab his water and towel before he departed for the locker rooms. "For someone so tall and threatening looking, you've got a really girly laugh."

"You know," Tao retorted, retracing his steps to catch Kyungsoo's wrists in his hands and drag the smaller man back with him, "for someone with such ineffectual little fists, you're still pretty perfect."

(Kyungsoo had heard almost every adjective in the book about his height, and he hadn't been gullible enough to believe he'd actually done any damage when he's punched the basketball player lightly in the bicep, but Tao's word choice wasn't what Kyungsoo had been expecting. Actually, Tao just wasn't what Kyungsoo had been expecting.)

Happy Thanksgiving!