‘I hope things are okay with Xiumin,’ Kris said when he and Tae returned from their da- er, hangout to the HQs. ‘with that amount of snow.’

He shook his head to dislodge the snow accumulated in his hair. Some of it landed on Tae’s nose, making her sneeze the soft sneeze again. It made him smile again and he put a hand behind her back, gently pushing her in. ‘You’ll catch a cold, standing the doorway like that.’

‘Well, there’s this giant stopping the way so…’ she teased back easily, poking her tongue out as she skipped to the room she occasionally shared with Nara. He chuckled, shaking his head and turning to find the Legends in the room looking at him oddly.

‘What?’

‘Are my eyes deceiving me or was he actually smiling at her?’ Chen stage-whispered.

‘Did he just laugh?’ Baekhyun’s voice was equally loud.

Kris rolled his eyes good-naturedly, ruffling his hair as he moved to his room. Baekhyun huffed but didn’t try to avoid it, knowing Kris’s long arms would reach him regardless.

Chanyeol was eyeing him with quiet intensity too when he turned. ‘What?’ he asked, feeling a bit defensive for no good reason.

Chanyeol shook his head, smiling. ‘Nothing. Did you have a good time?’

Kris nodded, dropping his purchases on the side table. ‘She’s surprisingly good company. Plus we went book shopping.’

‘Oh?’ Chanyeol’s already wide eyes widened a bit more. ‘I thought you guys were walking?’

‘We were, before Xiumin decided to snow us all in.’ Kris shrugged, taking off his boots and falling back on the bed, one arm coming up to cover his eyes. ‘What’s his deal, by the way?’

‘Fever,’ was Chanyeol’s succinct reply.

Kris nodded. That certainly explained the unpredictable flurry. ‘Where’s Lily?’

‘With him. Hopefully he’ll claim her.’

He nodded again before sighing. Even though they’d done little more than walk around, he was feeling exhausted, a bone-deep fatigue that had nothing to do with his body and everything to do with his heart.

Chanyeol plopped down beside him, an arm coming up to cover his back. ‘What happened?’ His concern poured into Kris from their link.

Kris shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

‘It’s obviously not nothing,’ Chanyeol countered, his presence still insistently pushing against Kris via their link.

‘It’s stupid,’ Kris muttered. It was stupid how he could go months without a hitch and then something as silly as a magazine interview from a boyband half-way across the globe could make him feel like he was back to square one.

The ache of losing one’s mate never really went away. It just faded into the background but times like these, it came back with a vengeance. He’d hoped destroying Evil’s clones would make him feel better – and it had, for a short while – but it did nothing to lessen the pain, the grief and emptiness of losing his mate.

Maybe because-

‘Don’t,’ Chanyeol’s voice was firm both in his ears and in his heart. Kris realized his eyes had become misty.

After killing Evil’s clones, he’d lost most of his anger. What remained was pain and guilt and regret. So much regret.

‘I’m fine,’ he muttered when Chanyeol hugged him, squeezing his ribs tightly. ‘Really.’ His voice betrayed him, shaking.

‘Don’t…’ Chanyeol’s voice was shaky too. ‘Don’t try to handle it all by yourself. You’re not alone, you know.’

Kris felt more regret fill him because this was so reminiscent of how Chanyeol had been right after he’d lost Karen. And he’d gone and stolen his powers, deprived him of his identity and-

‘Stop it!’ Chanyeol shut him down forcibly, the warmth of hug and his link seeping into Kris. ‘I thought we were past this.’

He shook his head. ‘Sorry.’

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Chanyeol broke it.

‘You know… I don’t think you’ve ever talked to me – or any of us – about Karen.’

Kris opened his mouth to speak but Chanyeol spoke over him. ‘Not like that. Not the things we already knew.’ They’d all met with Karen before her untimely demise and in better times, they’d been on fairly friendly terms. ‘But about the things that she did or said that you don’t want us to know.’

Kris’s heart was beginning to hurt.

‘I know you want us to remember her in good words and we do, trust me, we all do. She was your mate, man. We understood that even back then.’

Back when she’d explicitly told him to choose her or them. He swallowed.

‘I’m just saying that keeping all that in, letting your guilt keep you stuck… maybe you should talk about it with someone who had no idea who she was.’

Kris looked at Chanyeol. ‘Huh?’

Chanyeol’s eyes were determined. ‘You need to let this out and I’m always here for you. I hope you know that you can always share anything with me. But I also understand why it might be difficult to talk to us about this. So… talk with someone else.’

Kris’s eyes were questioning.

‘I’m talking about Tae,’ Chanyeol answered, leaning back. ‘She’s nice and easy to talk to. And you obviously find her company comfortable.’

Kris was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t want anyone’s pity.’

Chanyeol shook his head. ‘It’s not pity. It’s called empathy. None of us ever pitied you, Kris. But maybe you’ll believe someone else on this.’

He stood up. ‘Think about it, at least.’

Kris nodded.

……………………………….

Tae groaned at the knock on her and Nara’s shared room’s door.

‘Go away!’ she called without pulling her head up. It ended up muffled in the pillow she was currently squishing her face in.

‘I’m coming in,’ Baekhyun announced, before opening the door. Tae groaned again, rolling over so she could frown at him.

‘What?’ she asked irritably.

‘We need to talk!’ That was Chen who’d followed in behind Baekhyun. ‘About you and Kris!’

‘No, we need to talk about you guys letting me make a fool of myself over a mated man!’ Tae accused, rolling over again.

‘He told you about Karen?’ Their voices were filled with surprise. Tae ignored him. ‘Go away, I’m angry!’  

Baekhyun grabbed her foot and yanked. She yelped, aiming a kick to get rid of his grabby hands.

‘What?’

‘You have to tell us everything,’ Baekhyun demanded.

Tae glared at him. ‘I’m not talking to you, not when you didn’t even bother to warn me about his mate!’

‘I’m surprised he even mentioned her,’ Chen said from beside Baekhyun, leaning over his shoulder. ‘Kris doesn’t even mention her in passing to us.’ He fixed his eyes on Tae, smiling conspirationally. ‘You must have done something!’

Tae stared at them suspiciously but Baekhyun looked genuinely interested and Chen’s eyes were serious despite his light-hearted tone.

‘Wha- why doesn’t he talk about his mate?’ she asked, pulling her legs up and pushing back so she was sitting comfortably.

Both Legends shared a look of silent communication before nodding. Baekhyun spoke. ‘She… was killed by Evil.’

Tae’s eyes expanded. Whatever she’d been expecting, it wasn’t this. ‘Killed… as in…killed?’ Her voice lowered to a whisper, ‘As in… murdered?’

Both Legends looked sad as they nodded. Tae’s head whirled. From her understanding, they only had one mate for life. And to have that person die, no, brutally murdered at the hands of your archenemy… no wonder he didn’t talk about her.

‘That’s horrible,’ she said with feeling.

Chen nodded. ‘It is. I can’t even imagine how hard it must be.’

Baekhyun shook his head. ‘He hasn’t been the same since.’ He looked at Tae. ‘But he’s gotten way better lately and today, the way he was smiling…. It was almost like old times...’

‘And we would like to see more of that,’ Chen completed for him. ‘So, you have to tell us everything!’

Tae rolled her eyes at the blatant manipulation but went with it. ‘There’s nothing to tell, we didn’t do much besides walk and book shopping.’

They’d also shared body heat and exchanged clothes but she was trying, very hard, not to read anything into it; especially after finding out about his mate.

‘How did Karen come up?’ Baekhyun prodded.

‘Well, there’s this boy-group I like,’ she began.

‘Of course you do,’ Baekhyun snarked. Tae threw a pillow at his head, which he ducked to avoid.

‘As if you don’t drool over SNSD on the daily!’ she retorted. Baekhyun spluttered as Chen laughed. She huffed. ‘As I was saying, I really like this boy group called EXO-‘

‘Oh!’ Both Legends let out simultaneous sounds of understanding. ‘Makes sense.’

‘I found a magazine with their interview – it was a limited edition – so I bought it and Kris saw it. I thought he was a fan too…’ Part of her still wanted him to be a fan because it would be great to have someone to fangirl with her.

‘But he told me he knew of them because of his mate.’ She sighed. ‘I felt so stupid because it was a date in my mind…’

‘Called it,’ Chen muttered but shut up at the glare she leveled at him.

‘…but he told me his mate used to love them, so now I’ve kissed my dreams of dating a fellow Exotic goodbye.’

Baekhyun at least had the courtesy to look sympathetic. ‘I’m sorry for not telling you. But he doesn’t talk about her at all, so we didn’t think it would even come up.’

‘Yeah, yeah…’ She waved it off. ‘I figured as much. Plus, it’s his personal matter, I can respect that.’

They sat in amicable silence, Tae lost in her own thoughts while Baekhyun and Chen whispered amongst themselves. Eventually, Baekhyun poked her arm.

‘Hmm?’

‘Will you ask him out again?’ he asked.

She shook her head, pouting. ‘I don’t think so… I don’t think he realized it was a date.’

‘He’s dense,’ Chen said sagely. ‘But he’s also a very nice guy.’

‘I can’t force you and you absolutely don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,’ Baekhyun told her. ‘But I really think it would be great if you continue hanging out with him, just platonically.’

‘He seemed really okay joking with you and Kris doesn’t do that easily. I think it’s the first time since Karen’s… death that we’ve really seen him smile and joke like that.’

Tae chewed her lips thoughtfully.

‘Think about it?’ Chen asked.

She sighed. ‘Fine.’

……………………………………………

Xiumin pulled Lily into his arms, snuggling against her, still struggling to catch his breath.

She came easily, pressing into his side, arm draping over his chest as her head rested on his shoulder. He tangled their fingers together, his heart feeling full enough to burst.

He still hadn’t been able to claim her and a small part of him was, perhaps, disappointed. But largely, he was just filled to brim with happiness, with the bliss of being able to hold her and show her how much he loved her, knowing she reciprocated as much, if not more.

He pulled her hand up to kiss her knuckles. Lily let out a tired laugh. ‘You’re such a sap,’ she teased. Her voice was husky with affection.

He ignored it because she was right. He was a sap for her.

‘I love you,’ he said, kissing her fingertips.

‘I love you too,’ she told him, a kiss feathering over his bare shoulder. She adjusted so that she was lying down, a yawn escaping her.

‘Tired?’ he asked, smiling teasingly.

‘Whose fault is that?’ she countered, burying herself into the pillows. He grinned, happy to have tired her out.

‘I didn’t hear you complaining,’ he muttered, lowering so he was face level with her. Her gaze hooded instantly, the need in them still clear.

‘I’m not,’ she responded. So of course, he kissed her.

And if that kissing led to more, he wasn’t complaining either.

………………………………………

A/N

EXO-Ls, how're we holding up? I'll be honest, I cried... but I'm so happy. It's so great to see our boys together and happy :3 I screamed when I saw Lay's teasers, and when his parts came in DFTF, my soul left my body TuT... I sorely missed Chen and Suho, their vocal flavors would've made this song even more beautiful. But we got OT7 against all odds and that's all I could ask for. I love love love the album. EXO has come through once again with their B sides - I still can't decide which one's my favorite because they all sound great. And yes, I cried when I heard Lay on the B sides as well - this album and this comeback has been such a rollercoaster, in a good way. Anyway, I'm done gushing but you know, feel free to gush some more. 

Now for the chapter... how do you guys feel about this new development? And as for Xiumin, there's a lesson in there so please don't kill me for it XD 

Until later bbs ~