Tao loved interviews more than he would ever admit. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he was only too willing get in front of the camera and talk. But he didn’t want anyone to know that, giving himself a somewhat awkward stage presence. He loved interviews, because he liked talking about the music, the dorm, the ‘powers’ they all had, and he loved talking about his band mates.

This had caused problems in the past, however. Tao would get distracted by something or other, and just blurt out whatever was on his mind because he was so at ease sitting close to Xiumin with someone showering them with attention. Generally, though, Xiumin was the distraction. He wasn’t bad at Chinese, but he was nowhere near fluent, so sometimes he would have to answer a question in Korean.

That was when Tao would lose focus.

He would get entirely too caught up in listening to Xiumin talk, and try to figure out what exactly he was saying (Tao’s Korean was no better than Xiumin’s Chinese), and if he did figure it out, he would generally comment thoughtlessly on it. Hence, the Spicy Mic interview where he ended up having to lie to the fanbase, claiming he only cuddled with Xiumin once or twice a month, when in reality it was an almost daily thing. He was amazed they hadn’t figured it out after the initial slip - “I hug him every day.”

He was getting distracted again, thinking too much in his own world with the camera right in front of him. It took him a moment to realize a question had been directed to him, and he had been quite embarrassed to ask the woman to repeat herself. He was grateful it wasn’t a live broadcast.

“I asked, why do you wear so much black? It seems like an awfully dark color for someone so young to be wearing.” She said.

Tao looked down at his outfit and his eyebrows pulled together. He wasn’t wearing that much black. He had taken off his sweater before coming out to the interview stage, and while he had eventually slipped on a pair of finger-less gloves and some of his metallically spiked cuffs to go with his silver necklace and ring, the majority of his outfit was still grey and silver.

“It looks good on me.” He said, not missing the roll of Xiumin’s eyes.

“What about the other members, do you feel the color suits him?” She asked. Xiumin spoke up right away.

“He has a much brighter personality.” He said, and she nodded.

Tao was certain the question would never make it to the final cut. The answers weren’t terribly interesting, nor were the questions themselves. It seemed more like something she wanted to know, than something the fans would be interested in.

The rest of the interview was laced with concerned glances from the baozi to the panda. Xiumin was used to Tao spacing out a bit during interviews - he chalked it up to an anxiety because Tao would never explain where his head was at - but he’d been off kilter all day. Sure, Xiumin had been the one to suggest that Tao sleep in, but he had never seen Tao sleep for so long.

He felt somewhat anxious himself, wanting to get the maknae out of the public eye since he seemed to be unwell. It wasn’t up to him, though, and so he just did the best he could to deflect the questions aimed out Tao when he could, and make sure he was paying attention when the host was being adamant.

Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one. Everyone could see there was something going on in the feline boys head that kept him from being fully on Earth. Eventually the MC commented on everyone’s reluctance to let the maknae speak, and Tao smiled slightly at it, before brushing it off easily.

“I wasn’t feeling well last night, so I didn’t get much sleep.” He said, and she softened considerably.

“They’re good Gege’s.” She said, and Tao nodded in agreement as Xiumin leaned back, his head resting on Tao’s knee.

When the interview finally came to an end Xiumin ushered Tao back out to the dressing room, intent on finding out what was wrong with the maknae. Tao started tugging his cuffs and gloves off right away, clearly looking to put his sweater back on and go back to being comfortable. Xiumin allowed him to satisfy his intent before pulling the youngest into a soft hug.

“Are you still feeling sick?” Xiumin asked. Tao’s head found purchase on Xiumin’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Tao said, not really sure how else to describe the way he was feeling. It wasn’t sickness, but his stomach wasn’t very happy either.

“Alright.” Xiumin said. “Well, let’s go back to the dorm. You can lay down until the manager comes to bring us to the airport. You already packed, right?”

“Yesterday.” Tao confirmed. Xiumin smiled and ruffled his hair, and Tao reached up to grab the eldest’s hand, lacing their fingers easily.

When they got into the van Tao found himself wedged between Xiumin and Kris, which was so common place he barely noticed it anymore. He was grateful that Kris liked him so much, though. The elder could be quite intimidating when he wanted to be, but he was generally nice to him and Luhan. He tilted his head onto Kris’s shoulder silently, and the leader looked at him with an unreadable expression.

“Take medicine when we get home.” Kris said, his own unique brand of caring coming out in the one sentence. Tao nodded and closed his eyes, relaxing at the feel of Xiumin’s thumb rubbing the back of his hand.

“Baozi.” Luhan called out softly, seeing the elder’s reluctance to allow Kris to carry the maknae into the dorm. “He’s just a little sick. Let Kris take care of him.”

“I’m just worried about him.” Xiumin said. Luhan nodded, leaning his head on Xiumin’s shoulder.

“He’ll be ok.” Luhan said. “We’ll be in Korea soon anyway. He’ll cheer up when he gets to see Baekhyun and Kai.”

“He doesn’t want to go.” Xiumin said softly. Luhan wasn’t the only one to stop short at the Korean’s words. They were in the hall of their dorm now, about to go into their rooms, and the entire group seemed stunned by Xiumin’s words. “He’s really not feeling well.”

“Lay.” Kris suddenly spoke up, and the dancer looked at him expectantly. “Get the stomach medicine from our room. He needs to relax before he gets really sick.”

Not long after Xiumin found himself perched on the edge of Tao’s bed, gently the younger’s hair. He couldn’t help but be amused by the fact that the maknae had put up such a fuss over the medicine. He hadn’t expected Kris to actually give him something from a pharmacy, and the Kung Fu Panda was a strong believer in herbs and honey to treat anything and everything.

When he had eventually given in and swallowed the chalky liquid he had looked absolutely miserable, even going as far as to buing buing at the elders in a last ditch effort to avoid it. It had nearly worked, too, until Kris reminded them that Tao had slept the day away, and then forgotten himself in the middle of an interview. It didn’t stop Tao from putting on the water works when he actually tasted the stuff, though.

“Op-gege?” Tao stuttered out, looking up at the eldest. “Are you all packed up?”

“Not yet. I need to finish. Why?” He asked, eying the younger with concern.

“Will you lay with me after?” Was the response, and Xiumin couldn’t say no.

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A/N: I want to warn you guys now, the death that occurs will be within the next two chapters. It's a strong possibility that it will be the next one, because the scene in which it happens can only be stretched so much. After that, the story will really start to pick up and the actual relationship aspects will come into play.