"She died?"

If Sehun's eyes could go any wider he'd look like Do Kyungsoo.

"Making soup. Yeah." Tao nods.

That detail seems to make everything that little bit more ridiculous.

". What a way to go." Jongin says, running a hand through his messy, though immensely y, chocolate brown hair, "I'll never eat soup again."

"You can eat it, just don't cook it." Sehun shakes his head, tapping his pen on his chemistry workbook.

"Really. Don't cook. Don't cook anything." Tao teases the younger boy, "It all tastes like anyway."

Jongin scoffs, nudging the taller in the ribs, "Kyungsoo likes my cooking!"

"Kyungsoo's too nice to tell you what he really thinks." Sehun rolls his eyes, laughing at the blush colouring Jongin’s tanned skin.

Tao snorts, laughing at his friend's misery. He's glad he has Korean friends who actually understand him no matter how bad he is at Korean, "Don't you think it's weird she died making food? What if I really have been eating cursed kimchi and my insides are melting?”

"Someone's overthinking things." Sehun says, raising an eyebrow, "Honestly, Tao. You can take things far too seriously sometimes."

"All the time." Jongin corrects, “And you’re starting to sound worse than Chanyeol.”

"Ooh, you should be worried now." Sehun nods, "And besides, you were probably the only person she ever talked to in that apartment, she definitely liked you, espeically if she made you food.”

Tao shrugs and goes back to scribbling the notes on the whiteboard onto his page, "I just think it's strange.”

Jongin laughs, "Tell us if you see her cauldron.”

"You're an idiot."

"He talks to hear the sound of his own voice, Tao." Sehun grins, his retainer flashing.

"You guys are so ing mean." Jongin leans back on two legs of his chair, chewing the end of his pen.

"And you swear too ing much." Sehun agrees.
 

~
 

It's lunchtime and the permanently adorable yet demon possessed Do Kyungsoo lays out an array of coloured plastic boxes in front of everyone.

"I went a little overboard with food today, so I bought some for everyone." He smiles, his too-wide eyes crinkling in the corners and turning to little crescents.

At their table sits six people—Kyungsoo, Yixing, Jongin, Sehun, a bug-eyed, brassy haired boy named Park Chanyeol and Tao himself.

"This is the best! You're the best!" Chanyeol tells Kyungsoo, giving an impossibly wide grin and chortling, his eyelid twitching.

"It's nothing, really." The shorter boy's smile dissipates as he sits down, trying to rub the slight blush from his cheeks.

Jongin nudges the elder boy affectionately when he's seated, knowing he gets embarrassed easily, "It really is great."

Tao thinks that if two people in the world should ever be together, it has to be Kyungsoo and Jongin.

Jongin had moved into Kyungsoo's small apartment at the age of fourteen, his eye swollen and leaking fat tears, because the latter really was too kind hearted to let such a pitiful looking boy sit in the rain all by himself.

From that day on Jongin had lived with Kyungsoo and, though he’d never admit it, he definitely had some kind of strong feelings for the elder boy (that may or may not be as intense as love).

"Why don't you ever make a move?" Tao had asked him once, and Jongin flushed such a deep red it was almost purple.

"What the ? Why should I make a move?" Jongin punched Tao in the side, not too rough as to really hurt, but hard enough.

"Because you like him?" Sehun had tilted his chair back against Jongin’s desk to join the conversation, "The way you stare at him is a dead giveaway."

"Shut up, shut up!" Jongin had thrown his hands over his face in embarrassment.
 

And that was the last they really ever spoke of it, since later that summer Jongin went out and got himself heavily involved with a girl named Tiffany.

Tao had already told Sehun that he didn't think their relationship would last (he was right) and Tiffany would realize she would never be as important to Jongin as Kyungsoo.

After all, it was the wide-eyed boy that wandered into a lab and found her sitting on a desk with her legs wrapped around a senior’s neck.

~

"Do you think making soup is that dangerous?" Yixing says on the way home that afternoon.

"Apparently so." Tao sighs, thankful he could speak his native language the rest of the night instead of constantly jumbling out a string of Korean words that make no sense to anyone.

"What if she was making a potion or something? Added some sort of creepy secret ingredient like lava or like… Gunpowder."

Tao flashes Yixing one of those looks, "There was like fifty police officers, ge. And where the hell do you even get lava?”

“I don’t know!” Yixing shrugs, running his thin fingers through his hair, “At least I’m being creative about it. Not a stick in the mud like you.”

“Hey, off.”

"Anyway." The shorter boy nods toward Tao's apartment, "Looks like someone's moving in already."

"Already?" Tao looks over to see a large trucks parked out the front of his building, with men in uniform carrying out bits of furniture and taking them inside.

“I wish I could stay, but I’ve got things to do.” Yixing smiles, showing his dimple.

Tao raises an eyebrow, “By things you mean Joonmyun, right?”

The elder boy just gives a greasy wink and waves a goodbye to Tao, “Call me if the neighbour is cute.”

“I’ll tell Joonmyun you said that.” Zitao shoots back, laughing as Yixing wiggles his hips.

When he gets inside, Tao has to pause when he gets out the lift to avoid running into a giant black leather loveseat.

“Sorry, kid.” One of the mover-men says gruffly.

Zitao blinks and looks over at the open door to Mrs. Jang’s apartment, watching the men place down cardboard boxes and place furniture in any open space they can find.

He catches himself before he starts spacing out and heads toward his own apartment, his fingers fumbling for the key.

“Hey.”

Tao spins around and stares blankly at two sharp collarbones. His eyes trail up, up, up to rest on a square chin, perfect lips, a droopy nose and piercing brown eyes and holy .

“Kid, are you okay?” The man says, waving a large hand in Tao’s face.

“Totally fine. Hi. Who are you?” He mentally slaps himself in the face for acting like the teenager he was.

“Your new neighbour.”

Tao sighs. Another person he’s going to have to speak to in his stupid, terrible Korean.

“I’m Huang Zitao.”

“You’re Chinese.” The man raises both eyebrows, casually switching languages to converse in Mandarin, “I’m Yifan.”

“You’re Chinese.” Tao gapes in shock, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“Well I don’t look Korean, do I?”

Tao inner being screeches curses for being such an unobservant idiot.

“Ah, no. Not really.” Tao’s eyes narrow and he stares up at this Yifan character, his eyes going straight to the man’s thick, angry looking eyebrows over his hard dark chocolate eyes.

“How old are you?”

“I don’t know you. I can’t trust you. What if you’re like a molester or something?” The shorter babbles.

Yifan raises both hands, “Calm down, kiddo. Just asking to be a good neighbour.”

“I’m sixteen.”

“And you live alone?” The blonde asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“What is this, Twenty Questions?”

“I’m twenty-two.” Yifan ignores the exasperated look on the younger’s face, “I’m training to be a doctor.”

“I’m in school.” Tao says, tugging his jacket further around his skinny frame, “Training to get out.”

“It’s great to be optimistic.” The taller his head to the side, a hint of a smile on his smooth lips, “In any case, I should let you go and do homework or something.”

Tao nods and turns to walk away, but stops a few steps in front of his door and says, “If you need anything… Don’t hesitate to ask.”

Where that sudden politeness comes from, he has no idea.

~
 

It's around midnight when Tao hears the doorbell ring.

He stands from his desk and wanders to the door, keeping the chain fastened before he unlocks and opens it.

“Did I wake you?” Yifan asks, peering inside.

“I just finished an assignment.” Tao yawns.

Yifan raises an eyebrow, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Do you have a reason for being here or what?”

“Oh, I can’t figure out how to turn on the stove.”

Tao’s eyes narrow, “Is that important for this late at night?”

“I’m hungry.”

The younger sighs, shutting the door and unhooking the chain to let the blonde inside his apartment, “You haven’t eaten yet?”

“I was unpacking and suddenly I realized it was really late.” Yifan looks around, “This is nice. You sure you’re only sixteen?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Tao says, gesturing to the kitchen table, “I’ll give you some of my leftovers, since you’re already here and hungry.”

“Please show me how to turn on the stove.”

When Yifan is settled with a bowl of warmed rice and pork cutlet, Tao shuffles to the stove and coughs to catch the man’s attention.

“So you have to flip this switch here an—“

“There’s a switch?” The blonde cries through a mouthful of food, “Is that really all I was missing?”

Tao covers his mouth, unable to help the laugh that bubbles up in his throat.

“Are you laughing at me, you little brat?” Yifan says, visibly embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” He giggles, squealing when the blonde stands and comes toward him, “Hey, hey, hey, I didn’t mean it! I said sorry!”

“I can’t believe you’re laughing at me!” Yifan steps toward the younger boy and gives a small laugh when he holds up a rice-speckled scoop between them.

“Don’t make me hit you with this, you creep!”

“You laugh at me then call me a creep?” The taller asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I could have just let a into my house, I don’t know you at all.” Tao says, backing up from the elder man.

“I’m just a doctor in training.” Yifan murmurs, his voice soft and for some strange reason Tao instantly relaxes, “I’m not a dangerous guy.”

“I’m going to trust you. For now.” The smaller replies, placing down his scoop, “But if you try making a move on me, I’ll sue you for ual harassment.”

Yifan laughs, the harsh face that Tao had thought of as permanent slowly dissolving as his teeth flash, “Alright. I promise.”

Tao almost forgets to speak; he's so busy staring at those perfect white teeth, “O-oh, right. Alright.”

And the smile that follows makes the young boy blush.