The next big thing for Tao was when they got a makeover by the company and started to film their teasers. His own rather long hair transformed into something shorter. The most of the boys got their hair cut and a few of them colored, one who he almost had to hold hands with, who was a tad bit scared – even thou he tried to tell Tao that he wasn’t. Tao had talked with Kris through the whole time of the coloring of the male’s hair and had gotten Kris to calm down and when he was finished, it wasn’t as bad as Kris had thought it would have been.

It was a fairer color from before, almost blonde, and the style of the hair was shorter and more sophisticated. “What do you think?” he asked Tao when he was finished and the young boy smiled, nodding.  The two of them were put in a van together and drove off.

They arrived soon at the site of Kris’ filming and exited the van. It was rather cold and Tao pulled his jacket closer around his body and they entered a building. There Kris was sat down on a chair and the make-up artist began her work. Soon enough Kris was handed his clothes and he changed inside the small changing rooms.

When he exited Tao giggled at the sight of the older who threw him a glare. Kris was wearing all white; white sweater, white pants, white shoes and even a white cape was draped onto his shoulders.

Kris began his filming while Tao watched. But soon enough he felt that it was too cold for him to stay outside. He went inside the building again and laid down on the small couch that was placed in the room. He put Kris jacket that had been laying there over his legs and he closed his eyes, hoping to maybe get some sleep before they had to go.

Kris came back a few hours later and changed into the clothing he had come with. He was going to reach for his jacket when he saw Tao lying on the couch. The older male smiled a little before he began shaking Tao. He called his name quietly a few times and Tao sat up groggily on the couch before standing up and following Kris to their car.

They climbed into the car and then drove off. The two males sat in the backseat, quietly as they were driven to the next filming site. At one point Tao had dozed off again and his head had fallen down on Kris shoulder. The older male let Tao rest his head against his shoulder.

Kris had begun to see how tired Tao was. The young man did not only suffer from the lack of sleep they were getting because of the rough training they had now as they knew that they were going to debut, the boy had also hurt himself while training one day and sometimes Kris could see how his expression turned pained after dance practice and while they did something as simple as standing up from a chair.

Tao woke up just as the car stopped and they got outside. He was lucky enough to have his filming indoors and they weren’t the only ones in that building, Chen, Baekhyun and Lay were also there and they all seemed excited.

They all talked and soon enough Tao was in a dark room and he was instructed what to do and the filming began. Kris watched Tao move in the room and he saw how concentrated the boy was at his task.

When the director told Tao a few hours later that they were finished the boy bowed before coming of set. As soon as they were in the changing rooms Tao’s bright expression turned into a pained one. It had hurt his waist a lot to do that much at once and it tore on him. Kris helped the boy to lay down on the couch in the room and he held Tao’s hand.

A few tears managed to escape from Tao’s eyes and Kris brushed them away. “It’s going to be okay.” He promised the boy who nodded.

“Thank you Kris” Tao mumbled and the older smiled and his hair. He cared a lot for the boy who was in pain and he didn’t like to see him hurt in any way, it made his heart ache to see him cry.

That was the second time Kris saw Tao crying, but it wouldn’t be the last.

The next time Tao cried in front of Kris was on Christmas that year. The members had not really been celebrating that day; the day had been like the rest of them; more training. But in the evening they had gone to EXO-K’s apartment, eaten a big dinner and laughed together while singing songs. That night as EXO-M made their way home Kris and Tao were walking slightly behind the others.

Kris looked at Tao who had stopped and was staring at a Christmas tree that had been put up on the other side of the road on in a big park. Kris looked over at the tree and smiled, he ran over to Minseok and told him that they’d be home later and then he ran over to Tao again.

He grabbed Tao’s arm and dragged him over the street. “Where are we going? We should go home!” Tao said and Kris laughed a little. He draped his arm over Tao’s shoulders and walked with him.

“We are going to look at that Christmas tree closer up” he said and Tao smiled a little. The two of them walked together to the tree and looked at it. The lights were shining brightly and there were some beautiful decorations hanging on it.

“I don’t have a Christmas gift for you, so see this as a gift from me to you.” Kris said, making Tao blush slightly but Tao tried to ignore it himself. They spent a good fifteen minutes just looking at the tree before Kris noticed that Tao was crying.

“Hey, why are you crying?” he asked panicking slightly and took Tao’s face in his hands.

“I just- just miss home” Tao stuttered and Kris sighed in relief. He pulled Tao closer to himself and held him close to his chest. He felt Tao put his arms around Kris’ waist and bury his face in his jacket and they stood there like that for a minute before letting go.

They spent the next half hour walking around the park of night time Seoul, talking about what they missed with home and what they would usually do on Christmas with their families. They also talked about the performance Tao would be doing on Gayo Dejun that same New Year eve and it lightened up their mood a little and Tao told Kris how nervous he was.

Kris told him that he would do a great job preforming and Tao smiled. Kris always knew what to make him feel better and that was one of the things Tao liked about Kris. The others were how Kris always took care of Tao, looking so that the boy ate enough and went to sleep at the right times. He also helped Tao out with everything, cleaning, speaking in Korean and gave him advice.

The two of them walked home together and went to sleep after saying good night and hugging.