Where was he?

Tao stepped through the rear door of the building, not wanting to deal with the crowd he’d seen spilling out of the double front doors of the theatre. 

To be honest, he didn’t think this stuff would be that big of a deal. 

It was really quiet, he noted with distaste. It was easy to fool himself into thinking that he was the only one there, in the concrete hall lined with tattered posters and pictures. He froze, a shiver running up his back. Was anyone even here? “Hello?”

He tapped his foot impatiently to break the silence, promising himself that if it remained quiet, he would run back outside and stand by the familiar blue bike, the only sign he had that there might actually be someone here he knew. 

“Tao?”

His foot stilled. That wasn’t the voice he had been waiting for. A chill worked its way up his spine and he swallowed quietly. His bike was in the parking lot, less than a minute away, all he had to do was–

“Tao? You there?” The voice whisper-shouted once more.

Tao deflated, taking a shaky step forward. He knew that voice. Rounding the corner, he pushed past a cracked door and attempted a smile, though he was faintly sure that it looked more like he was bearing his teeth, his nerves still frazzled. “Hey, Chanyeol.”

The man smiled a greeting from a beat-up couch against the wall of the small room, Baekhyun’s head in his lap and Jongdae on his other side, head on his shoulder and hand in Baekhyun’s hair. Chanyeol gave a mighty yawn before working his arm out from under Baekhyun and motioning towards the cushioned chairs across from him. 

Tao nodded, taking a seat as the lanky arm drapes across Baekhyun’s midsection. He spun in the chair, looking around. He searched his mind for a topic to breach the silence and finally settled on, “tired, huh?” noting the bags beneath the man’s eyes.

Chanyeol laughed before nodding. “Yeah, none of us really got any sleep last night.”

Tao immediately backpedalled as Chanyeol opened his mouth to elaborate. He stared longingly at the door, regretting not having left when he’d had the chance. 

“We stayed up bleaching Baek’s hair.”

Oh.

Tao took a closer look and, surely enough, the brunet had a head full of blond hair, dimmed by the poor lighting. “It looks,” he screwed his face up, searching a word before settling on, “nice.”

Chanyeol’s grin assured him that nice was good enough. “It does. All of the towels are spotted now, but,” he sent a fond look down to the boy in his lap, “Baekhyun likes it. So does Jongdae which is, yeah. Nice.”

Tao nodded politely, scanning the room for an excuse to leave. He felt like he was intruding on the trio.

“Chanyeol, you missed it! The lights were–wow and everything was just–ugh and his outfit! Oh, hey, Tao. We were starting to think you wouldn’t show up.” Sehun barrelled in, speaking a mile a minute.

Tao took a minute to process everything before replying. “My alarm didn’t go off. Zhi had to get me up.”

“But you missed it!”

Jongdae groaned and shifted, pressing his face into Chanyeol’s neck. Chanyeol shot the youngest a disproving glare, hissing, “Sehun, go fangirl somewhere else.”

The man immediately crossed his arms and glared back. “I am not fangirling.”

Jongin appeared in the doorway and Sehun squeaked, running to his side and bouncing idly on the balls of his feet. “Did you win did you win?”

The dancer sent an amused look his way before falling into the closest chair to the door. “Don’t know yet.” 

Sehun set himself on the arm, waiting for an explanation.

“After Yixing performs, they’ll announce the winners,” he recited, spinning to face the mirror, checking his make up and pulling his shirt slightly off his shoulder, a movement Sehun’s eyes followed closely. Tao snorted and received a glare and a stuck-out tongue.

“I should get back out there,” he jumped up and sauntered towards the doorway, leaning back to say, “glad you could make it, Tao. I’ll tell Kris you’re here. He hasn’t stopped worrying since he got here.” He rolled his eyes, waving before running off.

Tao felt a smile worm its way onto his face and he heard Sehun make a gagging noise before standing up and making his way over to a backpack. He took out a bag of snacks and Tao quickly gravitated to his side as Chanyeol ensured the comfort of the boys on either side of him in the back. 

“Football’s cooler,” Luhan muttered, entering the room. Minseok laughed, following behind. 

“Your opinion.”

“Truth,” Luhan countered.

“Who won?” Sehun demanded through a mouthful of crackers. A couple crumbs landed on Tao and he hit the younger in retaliation. 

Before Luhan could answer, Jongin entered with an arm thrown around a shocked Yixing’s shoulders. “We tied!”

Jongdae startled awake and hissed out a string of expletives before burrowing behind Chanyeol, who was grinning in delight.

“I don’t–you should’ve won,” Yixing mumbled, looking deeply upset, trying to squirm out of Jongin’s hold. 

Jongin shook his head resolutely, arguing right back. 

Tao frowned and looked past the four standing in the doorway, searching for a tall blond. Frowning, he neatly shouldered his way past the group and walked out into the hallway, staring into the direction that the others had come from. Nothing.

Arms wrapped around his middle and he yelped, giving in until he was pulled up against a warm chest.

“Did I scare you?”

Tao grinned and turned in the embrace, playfully punching the taller man. “Don’t do that.”

Kris grinned in response, tightening his grip before lifting Tao off the ground and spinning in a full circle before placing him back on his feet. “Hey.”

Luhan groaned. “You two are positively cavity-inducing.”

Tao smirked and pecked Kris on the cheek. “We try.”

Luhan groaned louder, filing into the room. Kris and Tao followed, hand in hand, standing to the side of the couch. Baekhyun was slowly but surely coming to, head still down but rubbing his eyes, but Jongdae was dead to the world, half-hidden behind a beaming Chanyeol. Sehun was bombarding a shell-shocked Yixing with questions of how he could tie the king of dance. Jongin sat at Yixing’s side, rolling his eyes every now and then. Minseok took a seat and Luhan immediately plopped himself in his lap.

As it quietened down and Jongdae came out from hiding, yawning widely and slapping away Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s hands, Luhan grimaced. “So, I guess that’s everyone, huh?”

Sehun ceased his questioning. “What?”

“The bets,” Luhan hummed, “I got my medal, Kris got his biker boy, Yixing did his competition, and Minseok got me. He won, by the way.”

Kris chuckled.

“Inside joke?” Baekhyun asked, voice croaky. He mumbled something under his breath and Jongdae leaned over to pat him on the head. 

Minseok shrugged in response and Luhan made a guttural noise in the back of his throat. Jongin’s phone went off and he apologized quickly before whipping it out and talking in a hushed voice. 

“Ugh, it’s going to be so boring now,” Luhan complained, throwing his head back and gripping onto Minseok’s shirt to stop from falling onto the floor. 

Sehun crossed his arms, stepping away from the two dancers. “What do you suggest?”

Jongin stuffed his phone into his bag, zipped it, and threw it over his shoulder. “Sorry, I forgot I had lunch with my family. I’ll see you all later, yeah? See you tonight, Sehun! I’ll text you about dinner later!” And then he darted out the door.

Sehun grinned and shouted back an affirmative before moving over to the couch and lying across three laps, giving Luhan an expectant stare. “So?”

Luhan’s eyes twinkled with mischief and he sat straight up. “Set up Jongin and Sehun.”

Sehun cried out and flailed. Jongdae assisted in pushing him onto the floor. “WHAT?”

“I’m in,” Tao sang. Kris shot him a look and Tao shrugged. “About time. Plus,” he leaned in closer, “if he gets a boyfriend he won’t need to call me at three in the morning any more.” Kris hummed thoughtfully.

“What do you get if you win?” Chanyeol piped up, much to Sehun’s distress, who tried to escape only to be caught between Luhan’s outstretched legs. 

“Hmm,” Luhan tapped his bottom lip in thought. “Winning group,” he stressed, “gets the first two days of summer alone at my grandpa’s house on the lake.”

“Deal,” Kris interjected not a second later. Zitao arched an eyebrow. Kris pulled him close so that he could whisper right into his ear. “It’s a really nice house.”

After everyone else had agreed, and Yixing had been adopted into Luhan and Minseok’s group after Luhan offered and Minseok had made a face in response, Baekhyun leered at Sehun, who had given up and was crouched on the counter, still within the circle of Luhan’s legs.

“So, what’s for dinner?” 

Sehun whined and Tao pulled Kris away, scrolling through the phone in his hand before shouting in triumph.

“What is it?” Kris asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“Sehun’s phone,” Tao hummed, typing in a text to Jongin.

Kris laughed, loud and amused, asking, “so we’re not playing fair?” To which Tao grinned and swung their arms between them. 

“‘Course not.”

 

 

 

 

 

--

A/N

 

The End. Fin. 

I hope you guys enjoyed the story as much as we enjoyed writing it. 

So if we ever do this again please look forward to it. 

We love all of you:)

 

Celia & Hannah