Tae couldn't believe how suddenly everything had escalated.

One moment they, or rather she had been cheering herself hoarse for Team Tao – Luhan and his football team were hot with a capital H but Luhan was taken… like who didn't know about MeiLu? They were the inspiration for Tae's relationship goals: be the most popular girl on campus, get the most popular guy to date you and live happily ever after, haters to the left and lovers be the best. But Team Tao was y, free and single (mostly) and she was so ready to mingle… and what had she been talking about? Oh right…

Anyway, one moment they'd been having fun and the next thing they know, the court is on fire and everyone is panicking and running toward the exit. She was pushed away, carried off with the current of people headed for the exit as the fire grew larger and when she regained her bearings, she was already outside. She looked around, hoping Nara had been dragged out as well but not seeing her friend anywhere, she started panicking.

If anything happened to her, she'd be responsible because she'd dragged her along with the temptation of seeing Chanyeol and oh god, what if Nara died??? Last she'd seen, the fire had been at the base of the bleachers. Oh lord, what would she do?? She hadn't even taught her anything about dating and her research on Chanyeol's acoustics… who was going to investigate the deep bass that made one shiver like an autumn leaf caught in a storm??? Tae couldn't do that, she at research…

When she tried pushing against the heavy wooden doors to get back inside and save her friend, the door wouldn’t budge. After punching and kicking it for what felt like hours – but was only five minutes – she collapsed against it. Maybe it was just her imagination but she could hear yells inside and the door felt hotter to touch. Oh no… had someone called the fire brigade?

Professor Wu wasn't exactly what she'd call a fire brigade but she'd never been happier to see someone in her life. 'Please save my friend!!' She sobbed, grabbing his hands.

He looked a little freaked out which was kind of cute but she was too distressed to notice it.

'Please, she's still inside and… and-'

He noticed her impending panic attack and led her to the side, sitting her down and patting her back gently, 'She'll be fine, I promise.'

'Really?' she looked up at him with huge, teary eyes.

He cleared his throat, blushing and looking away, 'Yes, so… don't cry.'

She wiped her eyes and sniffed, nodding a little and waiting, twisting tissues and pacing around anxiously.

When the main door swung open again, she whipped her head around, ready to rush and hug the life out of her friend.

Only to stop short in her tracks, utterly captivated by the scene unfolding in front of her.

The people emerging from the burning building looked like movie superheroes, silhouetted against the dying flames as they walked out, victorious.  

And leading the ensemble, looking like the male lead from the said superhero movie, carrying her best-friend bridal style, was none other than the leader of the Beagles, Byun Baekhyun.

Tae felt like one of those hero-worshipping, eternally grateful movie extras who rushed to claim their saved relatives. Time seemed to slow down as they stepped outside, sounds dying away and maybe it was just her imagination but it seemed like Baekhyun was framed by an extra halo of light that made him glow.

She felt like melting into a puddle right there, unable to take a step or unglue her tongue so she could say anything. Which was idiotic because she, Tae, was never out of words. It felt like her brain had short circuited, frying even more with every step the bunch of heroes took towards her.

She swallowed nervously when Baekhyun headed straight towards her, an intense look in his eyes that made her feel like the heroine waiting on the sidelines instead of an extra.

'Tae?' he asked when he was right in front of her and oh lord, he was even better-looking up close and his voice was like dark chocolate… she loved dark chocolate.

'Wugh.' She replied intelligently, some part of her melted brain remembering he'd asked her something.

His face broke out into a smile and it felt like sun had broken through dark clouds. 'Professor Wu said you were really worried about your friend, so here – she's safe.'

Nara looked sort of dazed when Baekhyun gently deposited her feet on the floor and Tae felt an irrational bolt of jealousy – Nara got to snuggle against that wonderful-looking chest while she'd been panicking here for her safety. Was that unfair or what? She wasn't even interested in Baekhyun!

Still, her worry returned when Nara wobbled on her feet and she caught her around the waist. 'Easy, are you okay?'

'I'm okay,' Nara replied, sounding a little dazed, 'Just surprised.'

She hugged her tightly, squeezing the breath out of her, 'You scared me, don’t ever do that again!'

'O-okay?' Nara replied, sounding confused. Tae would explain the situation later, first she needed to thank Baekhyun.

She turned around and looked at his shoulder because his face very distracting and his hands too pretty for a guy – the shoulder, albeit broad, seemed safer. 'Thank you so much for saving her! Thank you, thank you…'

He put a hand behind his neck – she was unable to resist following the movement until she was looking at his face – and smiled sheepishly, 'Aw, that's nothing, really. That's what the Beagles are for!'

She smiled, the grin he gave infectious. 'Still… if there's anything I can do to…'

'Oh no, there's no-'

'Actually, there is!' A loud voice chimed in and Tae blinked, a little surprised that she hadn't noticed the other members of the pseudo-superhero group had reached them as well.

Chen offered her a large, teasing grin.

'Hey, I'm Chen,' he wiggled his eyebrows, making her laugh. He was still shirtless and she was tempted to drop her gaze but ogling from a distance was different. It was rude to stare, her mama always said, so she kept her eyes on his face like the polite girl she was.

'I know,' she confessed, 'You guys are pretty popular.'

'I knew it!' Chen pumped a fist in the air, grinning again. 'Anyway, excuse us for a minute,' he threw an arm around Baekhyun, dragging him away, 'be right back, okay?'

She nodded and turned back to her friend. Nara still looked a little dazed but it didn't look like she was hurt anywhere. 'Are you really okay?' She asked, just to be sure.

It seemed to rouse Nara out of her thoughts, 'Huh? Oh yeah, I'm sure. Thanks for asking.'

'I was so afraid you'd get caught in the fire…' she offered as an explanation for her earlier statement and Nara's face cleared, 'Oh! Uh, the fire didn't get to the bleachers, thankfully… so yeah, I'm okay.'

'Thank goodness… now,' she glanced around secretively, darting close to her friend, 'How was it?'

'How was what?' Nara looked baffled.

'You know,' Tae bit her lip, wiggling her brows, 'hugging Baekhyun? Was it nice? I bet it was nice! He has a nice chest – is it solid? Do you think he has abs? Tell me you d his abs!'

Nara looked increasingly guilty as if not taking note of any of those things was wrong – which, in Tae's book, it was because just look at him! How could you not feel him up a bit, especially when he was carrying you?

'Okay, new lesson – freely when a hot guy is carrying you, okay?' She told her sternly, 'Alright?'

Nara nodded, looking serious and Tae hummed in satisfaction. She wouldn’t be a good teacher if she didn't tell her friends the basics of a good .

In fact, maybe she should highlight the points that must be touched under all circumstances – shoulders, for instance, a nice little touch to the shoulder was always friendly and coy, and it kept the guy guessing. Ugh, she could write an entire book about the subtleties of flirting – and Nara could be her first customer, she'd even sign it for her.

Lost in thoughts of her impending fame, she didn't realize when Baekhyun and Chen returned.

'Hey… Tae, was it?' She turned around, making sure to peek flirtatiously and smiled widely, 'Hey.'

'Uh so…' Baekhyun stepped forward, looking rather awkward which was quite cute because she didn't think leader of the Beagles could get awkward. 'There is something I'd like you to do… to return the favor.'

'Of course. Anything,' she smiled, anticipation uncoiling in her tummy.

…………………………...

Mei was clinging to Luhan like he was her only lifeline and on the other side, Tiffany was doing pretty much the same with Sehun as Baekhyun carried the girl they'd found crouching in the bleachers, leading them out.

Kai had teleported Chanyeol away the moment he'd collapsed and they'd restored the building as much as they could. Sadly, the floor was useless now and the windows were blackened with soot, glass broken. Kris was injured but he'd refused Lay's help, telling him to check on the others first. Thankfully, other than scorched pants, none of them had sustained any injuries.

That didn't stop the girls from clinging to their mates, though and Sehun even forgot he was mad at Tiffany for catching Minho's shirt as she hugged him tightly, all but sobbing in relief.

Raina watched the scene unfold from her place behind Tao, where she'd been standing ever since this fiasco began.

She hadn't known what Mei and Tiffany were planning when they started giggling but they'd returned, fifteen minutes later, laden with shirts and looking rather excited, even though they were both pink in the face.

Mei had dumped all the other shirts away, handing one to Raina, 'Take that off and put this on.'

Raina had done as told and it was only after she'd slipped it over her head that she realized why it looked so familiar.

'This is Tao's,' she'd said, blushing for some reason. It felt really intimate, wearing something that had been on his body until, if she was right, a few minutes ago and still smelled like him.

Mei had grinned unrepentantly, 'Yup.'

She couldn’t seem to stop blushing, which got her plenty of teasing from Mei and Tiffany so she distracted them by asking about the other shirts. They told her how things had escalated from getting Tao's shirt to getting an entire team of shirtless guys fighting over something none of them could quite figure out. After the excited chatters, they'd told her to go cheer on Tao and not dare look at Lay.

She'd nearly snapped at that. She wasn't interested in Lay anymore, okay? A little peek wouldn't change her feelings but Tiffany had made her swear and that was worse because now she was just curious – was he really that good?

Still, she'd resisted and when she'd seen Tao, it had kind of become irrelevant anyway.

She'd always known Tao would look great shirtless. He looked so damn good with his shirts on and the little flashes of skin were promising; not to mention Mei's account when he'd walked out without his towel… Raina was actually envious of Mei for that. But really, her imagination – yes, she'd imagined him shirtless, she was sure everyone who knew him had, at some point in their life because c'mon, look at him – couldn’t have done him justice.

She was sure her jaw was somewhere on the floor, with the rest of her because she was melting into a puddle right there and dammit, how was she supposed to get over her hesitancy to talk to him when he kept becoming even more perfect???

She'd been intimidated by his face but now, she'd be bombarded with images of his golden skin, abs and the happy trail every time she looked at him and why was he playing basketball? Why? She wanted to cry at the unfairness of it – why did she have to watch him show off his perfect body and perfect game when he couldn't even bother to watch her dance?

Sadly, her objections didn’t detract her from staring at him – she liked him, okay? And then, after shooting another three pointer, Tao stopped as his team rushed ahead, inhaling deeply as if trying to locate where a smell was coming from, slowly turning in her direction.

He stilled, eyes landing directly on her.

Her face flushed like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't be – which, if she went by Chen and Baekhyun's advice, she was… she shouldn't be staring at him so openly, he needed to know she wasn't to be taken so lightly.

Time slowed down, as it always did when she looked at him, and in that moment it was just the two of them. He took her in – she was wearing his shirt over the pants she'd been wearing before and the bulky thing settled loosely around her thighs – and his eyes widened a little before a strange look came over his face.

 It was dark and wild, possessive; his eyes flashed red and it was vaguely disturbing but a whole lot more exciting. She swallowed, throat suddenly dry and her heart jumped as he took two steps towards her.

Then something seemed to cross his mind and his footsteps faltered. Casting her another dark look, he turned around and jogged towards his team.

She tried not to feel too disappointed and moved over to join Tiffany and Mei as they cheered for their mates. She didn’t feel like cheering but the energy of the game was intoxicating and soon, she found herself whooping every time Tao scored.

Things were fun – a bit violent but fun nonetheless. Then Chanyeol, who'd been leaning awkwardly against the wall, suddenly jumped into the field and somehow, everything was catching fire. In the ensuing panic, they were pushed towards the entrance while Luhan tried to keep him in control and others tried to prevent collateral damage.

It wasn't anything like their battle with Evil – but it felt like a repeat anyway and it made her heart jump into for an entirely different reason. Looking around, she could see Mei and Tiffany thinking the same, worry and fear evident on their faces as they tried to keep their mates in sight.

She was doing the same, moving so she was right behind Tao as he stopped the flying bits in midair so they wouldn't crash and cause more damage while Luhan struggled to keep Chanyeol in check. She wished she was bold enough to go and wrap her arms around him like Mei was doing with Luhan but it wasn't happening, so she satisfied herself with looking.

When Kris showed up, Chanyeol attacked him instead and the rest, as they say, was history. And now, after cleanup was done, Tao let the few people still inside the building out of the time-freeze and Baekhyun had chivalrously offered to carry the girl outside.

Chen nudged her side to tell her that this was the girl they were helping Chanyeol with and it… kind of explained the guy's sudden violence – maybe his fever had started.

Mei was still clinging to Luhan, so he laughingly swung her around before offering to carry her outside. She jumped at his offer, eagerly climbing into his arms. Sehun was trying to hold on to his anger – he was still offended she'd mixed his scent with Minho's – but Tiffany's pouts seemed to weaken his resolve. Eventually, muttering and grumbling, he pulled her into his arms as well and kissed the daylights out of her before following Baekhyun outside.  

Lay and Kris had left before them and Chen had vanished somewhere, so that left her alone with Tao. She swallowed, wondering if she was going to keep standing here and not say anything. Mei and Tiffany seemed to have no problems going to the Legends and reassuring themselves that they were okay but Raina wasn't in the position because a) she kind-of-sort-of lost her tongue around Tao and b) they weren't in a relationship where she could just cling to him to show she cared… no matter how much she wanted to.

Still, Sehun's words echoed in her head. Tell him… he can't read your mind, you know.

Yeah, maybe it was unfair to expect his understanding when she hadn't done anything to indicate she was interested in him. For all she knew, he still probably thought she was interested in Lay. Which she wasn't and she'd tell him that as soon as her tongue started cooperating with her.

Tao had bent over, straightening his jeans – he'd folded the edges so they wouldn't interfere with his running – and Raina tried to compose herself, so she could talk. This was Tao, they were friends, they'd never had trouble talking before… yeah, she could do this…

He straightened and turned, looking surprised at finding her there.

And she lost her tongue again.

…………………………….

A/N

Hey y'all :) sorry I missed the update last week, so it'll be a double update :) read the next chapter - we're gonna see Tao/Raina progress <3

and finally, the beagles came up with a viable plan for poor chanyeol :D