Breakfast was tense the morning after the incident.  Zitao felt awful, and it seemed that at least Kyungsoo and Baekhyun hadn’t forgiven him yet, even if the others seemed to have.  The commotion when Zitao had suddenly vanished in a busy store worried them.  They didn’t tell the UN, although they probably would find out eventually.  The family tried to ignore the thought that if someone was looking for them, they would have their ears perked for just this sort of story.

Still, it was hard to blame Zitao.  He was clearly distraught, and chastising him would hardly help his nerves or self-esteem.  Sehun looked tired, and sat close to Zitao at the table, now and again laying a hand comfortingly on his arm as Zitao picked at his food.

There they go again, Jonghyun thought.  Whenever one’s down, so is the other.  On the plus side, if he could make Zitao happy, Sehun would follow suit.

“Zitao,” Jonghyun said, and Zitao looked up, his face looking even more pinched than usual.

“We might as well come out and say that we’re… concerned about what happened yesterday.  But we certainly don’t blame you.”  He resisted the urge to shoot Baekhyun a repressing look just in case he tried to say something sarcastic.

“It’s not your fault and I don’t want you to get messed up about it.  It could have just as easily been me losing control and smashing all the glass in the room.”  Of course, that wouldn’t have been as big of a problem, as no one would have known it was Jonghyun doing it.  But he wasn’t going to mention that.

“I think we should have Kai teach you what he can do.  What d’you say?” 

Zitao didn’t looked thrilled by the idea, but he seemed relieved that Jonghyun wasn’t angry.

“I don’t suppose I get a say in this?” Kai chimed in.

“No, you don’t.”

“Very well.”  Kai returned to his eggs.  “It’s hard being in such high demand, but I’m sure I can manage.”

“Goody,” Jonghyun returned with sarcasm.  “I want the two of you outside right after breakfast.”

“Aww, don’t I get a chance to change out of my pajamas and into my y underwear?”

Baekhyun and Zitao looked mildly horrified.  Chanyeol didn’t bat an eyelid, just went on eating his breakfast.  Jonghyun supposed that Chanyeol, being Kai’s particular friend, was quite used to this sort of comment.

“You may change out of your pajamas,” Jonghyun answered, “and you may not change into anything y.  In fact, if I find y underwear in the laundry you can expect me to promptly burn it.”

~

“OK, kid, time to learn.”  Kai and Zitao had gone out a little way into the woods.  Their breath came out in little clouds, and the sun hadn’t yet had a chance to burn off last night’s dew.

“Though, honestly,” Kai continued, “I’m not sure exactly what Jonghyun expects us to accomplish.  I mean, quality like mine isn’t something you can necessarily teach.

“Well, first things first.”  Kai clapped his hands together.  “We need to teach you how to teleport at will.”

Zitao nodded.  Kai always made him feel awkward, and he wasn’t particularly eager to be spending time alone with him.  Still, he had better apply himself.  He couldn’t hold out hope that Jonghyun would forget about making him work with Kai; Jonghyun was too stubborn.

“All right,” he said to Kai.  “What do I need to do?”

“Well, let’s see.  I figure you must have a least some degree of control over where you go when you teleport, or else you wouldn’t end up in familiar places like the living room and the back yard.  So how about that?  Do you find yourself visualizing where you’re about to go before you disappear?”

“I don’t-”

“And don’t say you don't know.  Think.”

Zitao closed his eyes and brought to mind the feeling from the day before, right before he vanished.  It brought an uncomfortable blush to his face, but he tolerated it.  He did want to get better.

“I think… I thought of the house right before I disappeared.  Because the house is safe.”

“Excellent, so you knew where you wanted to go.  Now I want you to think hard about somewhere you want to go.  That’s what I do when I want to teleport, but of course it’s easy for me.  I think, ‘Hey, I wish I was in Chanyeol’s bedroom right now’, concentrate on it, and poof.  There I am.  You have to sort of get the right feeling, of your body sort of… loosening and drifting apart.”  Zitao was looking at Kai intently, trying to memorize everything he said.  “I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.  But anyway, I want you to try it.”

Zitao closed his eyes again and concentrated.  Where did he most want to be?  That should be easiest.  He pictured his bed.

“No, no,” Kai interrupted.  Zitao’s eyes snapped open.  “You got this nice peaceful look on your face, and then you tensed up all of a sudden.  Don’t tense.  Relax.  Relax and let your body drift to the place you want to go.  Try again.”

Zitao tried to make himself relax, thinking of his bed again, so comfortable and welcoming. 

“And now you look like you have a headache.  You’re less tense, but not less tense enough.”

“I’m trying to make myself relax!” Zitao protested.

“Oh no honey, you can’t make yourself relax.”  Kai shook his head.  “You just have to feel it.”  He let out a frustrated breath, rubbing his chin.  He regarded Zitao thoughtfully.

“But I only disappear when I’m nervous,” Zitao pointed out. 

Kai opened his mouth and shut it again, looking at Zitao suspiciously.  “Are you with me or what, kid?”

“I-”

“OK, new tact.  We’ll try it the other way around.  Obviously your extreme jumpiness is the root of the problem here.  Let’s try making you nervous, and then you try to calm down instead of poofing off somewhere.  Maybe if we can work your nervous streak out, we can make you into a real boy. 

“Now.  I’m going to make you nervous, and I want you to try to stay here.  And if you really feel like you can’t, I want you to at least try to direct yourself somewhere.  Don’t pick the place you’d most likely go; pick something else so we can see if it worked.

“Now, where are you going to try to go if you do disappear?”

“Um… the back yard, I guess.”  Zitao was slightly concerned about what Kai exactly meant when he said make you nervous.

“Good.  So you try to stay here, but if you can’t, I’d better find you in the back yard.  Let’s get going.  Shut your eyes and don’t open them.”

Zitao shut his eyes.  He pictured the back yard.  Kai didn’t move or say anything for a minute, but Zitao didn’t let his guard down.

Suddenly there was a damp crunch of leaves as Kai approached.  “Good,” he said softly, and Zitao couldn’t help a little start.  Kai was closer than he had thought.

“Keep concentrating.”  Kai put a hand on Zitao’s arm.  “You know,” he continued quietly, “I’m glad Jonghyun forced me to help you.  I’ve been trying to get you alone for ages.”

Zitao turned his head toward Kai’s voice, confusion on his face.

“No!  Keep your eyes shut.  Concentrate, now.”  Zitao turned his head back to face front.

“Very good.  Now, like I was saying.  I’ve wanted to get you on your own for awhile now.  You’re a very sensitive person, Zitao.”  He lowered his voice almost to a whisper.  “I like that.”  He put his hand on Zitao’s cheek, and Zitao started, automatically moving his head away slightly.

“Don’t be like that.  We could be good together, you and me.”  He drew his fingers across Zitao’s chin, gently, and settled on his lips.  Zitao leaned away a little more, a pained look on his face.

Kai moved his hand to the back of Zitao’s neck and put his mouth by his ear.  “Let me tell you a secret,” he whispered.  Zitao’s heartbeat had increased in alarm, but he tried to ignore it. 

“I want to kiss you.”

~

Back at the house, Jonghyun had glanced up from his book to see Sehun tensed, staring vacantly at the wall.  He watched him for a minute, but Sehun stayed the same.  Usually they ignored this habit of Sehun’s, but Jonghyun noticed the strain in his posture.

“Hey, you all right, Sehun?”

Suddenly, Zitao appeared in the room along with a small puff of smoke.

“Christ, Zitao!”  Jonghyun protested, adrenaline sending his heart pounding.

Zitao looked confused and a little shaken.  “This isn’t the back yard.”

“No.  No it’s not.”  Jonghyun glanced at Sehun again, who was now staring intently at Zitao, strain still evident in his position.  Jonghyun wondered if he was trying to get something particularly slippery out of Zitao’s mind.  Whatever it was, he seemed to find it, as he released a breath and leaned back into the couch again. 

“Uh, I should probably-” Zitao started, when Kai suddenly appeared in the doorway of the living room.

Jonghyun jumped again.  “For ing crying out loud, you two!”

But Kai was too busy laughing to answer.  He leaned against the wall, shaking and whooping with mirth.

“What the hell are you laughing at, you loon?” Jonghyun demanded.  Zitao looked nervously at Kai, unconsciously moving back toward Sehun, who put out a hand to touch his comfortingly.

“Oh.  My.  God.  Zitao is so funny to mess with, Jonghyun.  You really ought to have a go.”

“May I remind you,” Jonghyun said, folding his arms across his chest, “that I sent you to work with Zitao, not torment him?”

“I’ll admit to mixing business with pleasure on that one,” Kai said, working out the last couple of chuckles.

Jonghyun glanced at Zitao, who was looking at Kai with trepidation and holding onto Sehun’s fingers.

“What did you do, Kai,” Jonghyun demanded in a flat tone.

“Well, I decided to try to train him out of disappearing on the spot when he got nervous.”

“Kai-”

“So to do that I had to make him nervous.”

“Kai.  What did you do.”

“I told him I wanted to kiss him,” Kai said without further ado.

For a moment Jonghyun was taken aback.  “What?”

“I said-”         

“I know what you said, you crazed psychopath!  Why the hell did you choose to flirt with Zitao to make him nervous?  And I don’t think, by the way, that making him nervous as a training device is the best idea I’ve heard this decade, but even so, why not just jump out at him and yell ‘boo’?”

“Oh no.  That would have been no good.  I had to pick the thing that would make him the most nervous without giving him a heart attack.”

“Oh?  And that was the best idea because…”

“Two reasons.  One, Zitao hasn’t had enough human contact in his life, so he’s not sure how to react to it.  And two, he would be very uncomfortable with my advances because he’s in love with Sehun.”

Jonghyun opened his mouth and then shut it again.  His eyes darted over to Zitao, who had dropped Sehun’s hand hurriedly.

“I’m- I’m not in love with Sehun!”

Kai shook his head, an amused look on his face.  “Yes, you are.  You just don’t realize it yet.”  He tilted his head in consideration.  “Well, now you know, I suppose.  I shouldn’t have said anything.  I still think we could have had something special.”

Zitao looked horrified.  “I’m not… Sehun… Sehun’s my friend!  Aren’t you?”  He looked back at Sehun, who nodded. 

“Oh, I give up.”  Kai tossed his hands in the air.  “Zitao, you’re hopeless.  And Sehun, you may be a mind reader, but you can’t even decode your own feelings.  I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do with you two.  Well, actually I could think of a couple-”

“Kai, shut your face if you want to keep it intact,” Jonghyun cut in. 

He turned to Zitao. “You’re free for the rest of today, but don’t think you’re off the hook for training.  I want you to learn to control your ability if you can.”

He turned back to Kai.  “And you.  You’ve got 24 hours to think of a less terminally stupid training regime.  I hate putting you in charge of Zitao, but unfortunately none of the rest of us know how to teleport.

“And now,” he said, standing, “I’m out.  This place is turning into a freaking soap opera.”

-----------------------

Sorry to my subscribers, it's been a few days since I updated!  (I was distracted by Kai wanting HIS story to go up.)

Next chapter we get some actual plot!

Please comment!  This is like my favorite scene because Kai's such a pain in the and Zitao's so pathetic, they're so funny.