“What are you doing here?”

Tao looked up from his position on the ground to see an incredibly tall man standing there. His hair was brown, and atop it sat a crown, much more intricate and ornamented then the crown that Sehun had worn. He was wearing red, an outfit similar to Sehun’s yet again but again, it was much fancier and detailed.

Tao had a feeling that he had bumped into the so called ‘Red King’.

“Don’t be so harsh on him brother. He’s forgotten.” Sehun entered the garden, flanked by Luhan and Xiumin. Tao got up from where he was sitting, shoulders hunched in fear.

The man raised an eyebrow, turning his attention to Sehun.

“Forgot? He dares to forget?” The man raised his voice at the end. Tao flinched at the sudden noise, which attracted the man’s attention back to him.

The two simply stared at each other for quite a long time. The Red King’s eyes were scrutinizing, and Tao was very much afraid of them but he couldn’t seem to look away. The Red King was the one who broke the gaze first, storming back off into the castle.

Tao opened his mouth to say something, but his voice didn’t seem to cooperate with him. After a few failed attempts at speaking, he gave up.

“That was his majesty, the Red King.” Xiumin quietly mentioned.

“Is he always so...” Tao finally managed to say.

“scary?” Luhan finished, to which Tao nodded. “No he’s not. Usually, his majesty more reserved.”

“He’s only like this when he’s upset. Which he would have reason to be right now.” Sehun finished.

Tao nodded dumbly, still reeling in shock. Did the Red King have something against him? Had he done something to upset him? Why was everyone talking about him...like he had been there before?

***

The next morning, Tao woke up in his room in the castle. He didn’t know why he had agreed to staying there in the first place, it was weird and filled with even weirder people.

He headed down, unsure of exactly where to go to. After all, he was hungry and he wanted his breakfast. And when Tao doesn’t get his breakfast, Tao is cranky.

“Tao!”

“...Lay-sshi right?” Tao replied, unsure.

Lay nodded enthusiastically. Tao then took notice of what Lay was wearing. He was wearing a chef’s uniform, complete with a puffy, incredibly tall chef’s hat. Lay noticed where Tao was looking and laughed, his bright laughter almost half as crazy as Chanyeol’s.

“Oh I’m the head chef here! You didn’t know? What do you want for breakfast? You must be hungry right?” Lay fired out question after question.

Head chef? From what Tao had seen before, Lay wasn’t exactly the type of person you could really trust with anything due to how...forgetful he was.

Forgetful was the right word.

“Oh... I just remembered... I left the bacon on the frypan. It’s probably burnt...” Lay muttered, tapping his chin in thought, he turned around without paying any more attention to Tao.

And Tao still did not know how to get to the dining room.

He wandered around for a while, randomly choosing a corridor to pass through, hoping that it would lead him to some sort of place that would take him to the dining room.

Wrong turn.

As he turned the corner, he walked into a pretty familiar red person.

He bowed, apologising, and tried to walk off but was stopped by someone grabbing his hand, pulling him harshly backwards. His back slammed into the wall ad two hands were placed at either side of his head, effectively trapping him there.

“Are you trying to provoke me?” The Red King’s breath floated over Tao’s face. The latter cringed, almost shaking in fear from fright. Though Tao looked quite strong and frankly speaking, scary, he actually had a cute personality and was a crybaby.

“Do you not know that the North Wing is off limits to the current you? Were you not told about that?” the Red King’s voice was laced with a deathly threat.

“S-Sorry, I was trying to find the dining room...” Tears threatened to fall from Tao’s eyes. He berated himself, why was he being so scared to the point of crying? He shouldn’t be so weak and pathetic. Tao braced himself for the harsh reply from the Red King.

But there was none.

The Red King withdrew from trapping Tao, looking off to the side. He sighed, before looking back at Tao.

“I’m going down as well. I invite you to eat with me.” The Red King conceded.

Tao’s eyes widened, before a smile spread across his face.

“Thank you...your majesty.” He answered, half grateful, half relieved.

He bit his lip in nervousness again as a dark look came over the Red King’s face again.

“Kris.”

Tao blinked. “Pardon?”

“My name is Kris. Don’t call me your majesty, I don’t like it when...” the last part was so soft it was inaudible to Tao’s ears. But it couldn’t have been something bad from the way Kris’ eyes softened a bit.

And so Tao and the Red King who he now came to know by the name of Kris went down to the dining hall for breakfast.

Perhaps Tao did wonder about why the Red King told him his name, but the thought was quickly pushed out of his head.

***

The sound of screaming fans, mostly girls nearly burst their eardrums. The crowd, as opposed to what one would think was a usual concert, was dressed brightly as usual. It wasn’t at night time, as there was no night time in the world where two moons constantly shined on EXO Planet. Fans didn’t wave lightsticks, they wouldn’t be seen anyway. They waved firesticks, sticks of artificial, burn-free fire in the colour of red. Red stood for royalty, it was a colour that no one other then the royal family and those who worked for them could wear. But when it was on firesticks, it was for the kings of the idol world. EXO Planet had idol groups, just like Earth. But of course, it was more unusual. The music, was not something that Earthlings would find tasteful, but inhabitants of EXO Planet did so indeed.

“Thank you for all coming! Please continue to support us as we are soon to comeback with our sixth album!”

The fans cheered even louder, the firesticks illuminating even more.

And with a swirl of black and an explosion of light, the duo was gone.

***

“I’m going to go deaf one day.” the ‘cat’ spoke.

“Don’t be so mean Kai. They’re our fans, we should be proud that they scream so loudly.” Baekhyun replied.

Silence followed as the stylist noonas rushed over, patting at their clothing and removing their stage makeup. It’s not like anyone was ever natural and barefaced, on EXO Planet perfection was wanted, and everyone wanted to be perfect. True it was an unusual sense of perfection with wacky colours and everything but it nonetheless was perfect. Beside makeup was manufacture to not clog pores and was used as practically moisturiser.

“D.O hasn’t been here lately...” Kai mused as he changed into his purple suit again.

Baekhyun paused at that, stifling laughter. Kai scowled, glaring at Baekhyun.

“What?” He growled. Baekhyun looked at Kai with an amused expression on his face.

“Why are you so bipolar Kai aish...forget that. D.O’s probably busy with all the things Kris is giving him.” Baekhyun replied.

“Kris is stealing D.O?” Kai repeated.

Baekhyun could have died laughing at the way Kai’s mind worked.

“If you want to think of it that way you---“ But Baekhyun didn’t get to finish his sentence before Kai disappeared.

“And he doesn’t wait for me again...” Baekhyun muttered, putting on his sunglasses and leaving as well.

***

“...Are you comfortable?”

Tao looked up from his food. Kris had actually broken the awkward silence that sat between them as they ate their breakfast. He hesitantly nodded, wondering why the Red King was bothering to even talk to him.

Silence fell again.

After a few minutes, when Tao was finishing up, a swirl of black appeared. Kris looked towards his right, looking almost impatient, waiting for the black to clear.

“Kris what did you do to oh hello Tao. What a surprise.” Kai smoother down his attire.

“Kai, what do you want?” Kris replied with a cold face.

“Need to talk. Sorry Tao, I’ll be taking Kris for a while.” Kai gave an apologetic looking face. Tao nodded, assuring ai that it was fine and that he was finished anyway.

***

When Kai was on stage or in public, he kept up his mysterious image. The fans loved it, and if he happened to be spotted, they would think it was real.

But when he wasn’t, he turned childish. He didn’t really listen to anyone, ordered people around and whined.

And frankly speaking, it was hurting Kris’ head to listen to him.

“Kris, what did you do to D.O? Why doesn’t he visit me anymore?” Kai whined.

Kris pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “Kai why are you so disrespectful to me?”

Kai shrugged. “Cos there’s no reason for me to be respectful when no one’s around? Just like how there’s no reason for you to be mean Kris, WHEN NO ONE’S AROUND. I’m looking for D.O. Bye!” Kai quickly finished off, before disappearing.

The Red King was silent, pondering the meaning behind Kai’s words.

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A/N: I know ty chapter. But I was running out of inspiration, so I wrote this a sorta filler chapter. Think I'll backtrack time, so you see their childhood.

Oh yes, and everyone's masks will come off soon.

That is all.