“So Minseok told me you were late to Lit today.” Yixing says as Tao packs his books back into his locker.

“Your friends are es.” The younger rolls his eyes, hating that Yixing has connections to the student teachers in Tao’s classes.

“That’s rude. A kid like you should not use such language.” The elder boy scolds him, dimpled smile still on his face, “What was up? Your hair has changed too.”

“I had a headache,” Tao lies through his teeth, “And do you really think I’d walk around all day looking like I just got out of bed? No thank you, Zhang Yixing.”

“So in other words you skipped class and went to the nurse’s office.”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t skip class because I wanted to.”

“Oh, I believe that, Zitao.”

Tao rolls his eyes and hitches his backpack up higher on his shoulder, “I want to go home, Xing, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, be safe. Don’t talk to strangers. Even hot ones.” Yixing grins, slapping a hand on his younger friend’s and giving a playful, teasing squeeze, laughing until Tao turns and smacks him.

Zitao pulls his zebra print headphones over his head and digs his fingers deep into his pockets, his head down as he starts toward the school gates.

Something jabs him right in the center of his forehead and he glares down at two fancy black dress shoes that block his path.

“What the hell. why would you do that?” Tao hisses, jerking backward and rubbing the spot, his eyes squeezing shut.

“I’d think you’d show a little more respect to one of your teachers, Zitao.” An all too, annoying familiar voice said, amusement evident in the tone.

“Why do you keep popping up everywhere I go? Are you stalking me? You creep.” The young boy whines, sliding his headphones off his ears and settling them around his neck.

“No, I’m not stalking you, but you do realize that I now work at your school and we are neighbours and that means we have about an 85 per cent chance of seeing each other everyday now.” Yifan says, smirking down at the expression on Tao’s face, "And stop calling me creep. It hurts."

“Great, I’ll have the police on speed dial.” The teen says, hitching his bag higher and walking around the blonde male, starting in the direction of home. He does not want to have to explain to any of his friends why he is talking to the school’s nurse.

“Hey, hey, Zitao,” Yifan reaches out one of his lanky arms and easily snags two fingers in the material of Tao’s spangly blue bag, “I was wondering if I could drive you home? It’s a bit of a walk, and the skies don’t look too friendly right now.”

Tao looks up and sure enough, dark clouds have started to roll over the blue sky, and he didn’t bring an umbrella, “I swear to God,” He says after a moment, fingers digging into his temples, “If one of my friends sees us…”

“There’s no one around, Tao, everyone went home already.” Yifan swings one arm out, gesturing to the empty schoolyard, a look of exasperation on his face.

“Fine.” The dark haired boy sighs, his lips pursing in defeat as he follows the tall Chinese man to his car.

They sit in silence for a good half of the ride back, the radio blaring PSY’s ‘Gentleman’. A song that Tao kind of hates, but Yifan taps his forefinger on the steering wheel in time of the beat.

“So do you have a boyfriend?” The blonde asks out of nowhere, startling Tao out of his quiet stupor.

“What the ?” The younger screeches, “Why would you even ask me that? Where the hell did that even come from? What right do you have do even ask that?”

And Yifan laughs, throwing his head back for a moment and letting his gums flash, “You are one funny kid. Are you sure you’re sixteen?”

“Do you want to see my goddamn birth certificate?”

“Sassy. Okay, but seriously, do you?” Wufan turns his dark eyes back onto the road.

Tao huffs and folds his arms over his chest, “Why ask if I have a boyfriend? Are you just assuming that I’m gay?”

“Aren’t you?” The elder inclines his head toward Tao’s blue sequined bag sitting on the floor of the car by his feet, “Mister spangles.”

“Shut up…” Zitao mumbles, “And so what if I am?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to know, that’s all.”

“Are you straight?”

Yifan chuckles, “Why do you want to know?”

“You look like the kind of guy who would either break a lot of girls hearts or have one night stands with people from gay bars.”

“Wow. I sound shallow. Do I look that shallow?”

Tao smiles, gesturing to the dark roots in the elder man’s blonde hair, “It might be the hair. You should keep up the blonde roots... Or maybe just dye it dark.”

“Is a teenager actually telling me what to do with my hair?” Yifan says, pulling up in their apartment car park.

“You’d look hotter with dark hair.” Zitao mumbles as he climbs out the car, slinging his bag onto his shoulder.

Yifan grins and slings an arm around Tao’s shoulders as they walk inside the building and toward the elevator, “Do you think I’m good looking already then?”

“Well,” The younger boy blushes, “You aren’t entirely unfortunate looking.”

“You know what? I think that you’d look pretty good with red hair.” Yifan presses their floor and the elevator doors close, silence falling over them once again.

Yifan’s arm slips from around the teen, falling to his side and Tao tenses when their hands brush. Zitao can feel the heat of Yifan's skin and hear him breathe, his eyes darting down as red fills his cheeks, creeping down the back of his neck and colouring the tips of his ears.

He lifts his hands and digs them deep into the pockets of his blazer to eliminate any possibility of them touching the elder male's, breathing slowly to calm himself down and he swears he can hear Yifan chuckling under his breath but maybe he is just imagining things.

“Well,” Tao pauses at his front door when the exit the elevator, turning to look back at the tall Chinese man, “Thanks for, you know, driving me home and stuff.”

“Oh, you are most welcome.” Yifan smiles, flashing his gums, “Anytime you need a lift, you can always ask.”

“No, I don’t think so.” Tao shakes his head, starting to stammer as Yifan’s face falls in disappointment, “I mean, like, my friends don’t need to see me leaving the school with a teacher.”

“Well,” Yifan tugs his house keys from his pocket, “The offer is still out there, if you ever need it.” He nods toward the window at the end of the corridor between their two apartments, “I’m sure I saved you from soaking today.”

“Yeah, which is great.” Tao finally smiles, looking out at the raindrops splattering against the glass, “Me and my backpack and my hair thank you for that.”

“Again, you’re very welcome, Tao.” The blonde says, flashing a smile back at the younger.

“I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow then.” The dark haired boy opens his own apartment door and gives one last look at Yifan.

“Goodnight, Zitao.” The blonde says, flashing that same smile that sends Tao’s heart into hyper drive.

He quickly shuts his door and turns, pressing his back up against the cold painted white wood, hugging his bag to his chest.

“.” He mumbles, sliding down to land on his .

Hey, everyone!

I am really sorry this chapter took so long to get up! I had the first half written, but I've been a bit distracted lately and haven't had much time to just sit and write like I did today... Even though I wasn't fully paying attention...

Anyways, so this chapter is just a bit of fluff and more of TaoRis interaction, which everyone kind of likes and honestly I like to write it too. So I really hope you all enjoy the chapter and anticipate the next!

Much love,

Tea x