An incessant beeping woke Tao and he glared at the offending object for a minute before giving in and picking up. "Before you start, I just want you to know that it's seven in the morning and I was sleeping. Somebody better have died."

"Tao, can we meet up for dinner? I need comfort food."

"Sehun?" Tao groaned, flopping back against his pillow. "How did you even get this number?"

"That's not important. I need you to be not busy so that you can listen to me complain while I stuff my mouth with food that I'm not paying for and then carry me home after I cry myself to sleep."

"I'm hanging up now."

"No! Wait!" Sehun shouted, voice so much louder than Tao needed for it to be. “Please.”

Tao rolled onto his side. He hated it when the kid did this. He hated even more that he seemed to be the go-to person when the boy had any worries. “Why.”

“I’m depressed and my roommate is a better dancer than me.”

“Sehun, you’re a cosmetology major.”

“Dancing is important,” the younger spat out, enunciating each syllable. “So, will you do it? There’s a nice place close to campus. Tao, please.”

“Yeah, su–” Tao paused mid-sentence, certain he’d agreed to something else. And then he remembered; fancy apartment complex and the warm man with a death wish. “I can’t,” he admitted slowly, bracing himself for the whining. Silence. “Sehun, I told this guy that I’d–”

“Yeah, yeah. You have to go save the world, one car at a time. I get it.”

Tao stiffened because was that a sniffle? “Sehun.”

“I’ll just, I don’t know, dye some bedsheets or something. I need practice anyway.”

“I can do lunch.”

He heard Sehun in a breath and then a small, “what?”

“I’m not busy until the afternoon. I can tolerate your complaints over cake.”

“Okay! Awesome!” The boy practically screamed, prompting Tao to hold the phone an arm’s length from his ear. “My morning class ends at eleven. I can meet you right after that. You can go ahead and get a table if you want. Thank you, I love you!”

Tao made a face and flipped the phone shut, face-planting into a pillow, hoping to get just a little more sleep before he was forced out of his bed and outside.

A light weight joined him on the bed and Tao concluded that the world was against him.

"Zhi," Tao whined, "not now, please." A furry head pressed against his neck and he threw the blanket over himself, trying to defend against a future attack. A paw was placed on his head and loud purring breached the fabric. "Fine! Fine!" Tao shouted, throwing off the blanket and glaring at the ball of fluff that had relocated to his abandoned pillow.

The cat squeaked in delight as Tao threw his legs over the side of the bed, leaping from the mattress and padding into the general direction of the kitchen. Tao grumbled, rubbing his eyes and dragging himself over to a cupboard that had seen better days, grabbing a bright can and ripping it open. By the time he had thrown away the lid and turned back, the tiny cat was perched on the counter, tail swishing in contentment, face obscured by the metal can.

"Now, what am I supposed to eat?" Tao muttered, opening his near-empty fridge and peering inside. The feline merely purred in response.

The table was sticky.

Tao had sat down almost ten minutes ago, asking for a table for two and lunch instead of breakfast. Since then, his mood had become worse by the minute. The first few times the petite waitress had asked if he'd wanted anything, he'd kindly told her no, but now he settled for glaring at her whenever she happened to walk near the table.

“Tao!”

The older grimaced and stopped tapping his foot against the leg of the chair across from him, ready to unleash a couple hours of anger catalyzed by exhaustion. The annoying rainbow beat him to it.

“I’m sorry,” Sehun began, voice and eyes soft as he addressed the waitress, “but could we have a table for five instead?”

Tao cocked an eyebrow and stayed seated as the waitress obliged Sehun, directing him past a barrier to the other side of the restaurant. Sehun hurried back, directing a put out look towards Tao before lugging him away and over to the newly acquired table.

“Why–” Tao shut his mouth as soon as they rounded the bend because there were three vaguely familiar guys sitting at a table with two empty chairs. “Sehun, did you wake me up just to have me eat with some other guys? I was in a gang in high school and I killed a guy once.”

Sehun rolled his eyes, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like drama queen, but quickly stepped away and slid into a seat. Tao followed, kicking his seat away from the rainbow haired teen before plopping down, hands in his pockets.

The youngest leaned forward onto his elbows, face morphing into a troubled frown. Tao scoffed audibly and was kicked beneath the table.

The tallest of the three smiled in what was probably meant to be a friendly fashion but made Tao blink in confusion because his entire face seemed to scrunch up asymmetrically. “So, Sehun, what’s up?” And then Tao blinked once more as the boys on either side of the smiling man sent each other glares. What.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Sehun sighed, sounding every bit of the whiny brat that he was. “I guess it’s just my classes are...” he trailed off and heaved another sigh.

The guy to Smile’s right, a cute little dude with a button nose, switched his gaze to Sehun–the guy on the left smiled and Tao realized he didn’t know any of their names–and asked, very concerned, “what’s the matter?”

“I think I’m going to fail college,” Sehun cried, face-planting right into Tao’s lap. The elder grimaced, trying to inch away from the younger, stopping when blunt nails dug into his thighs.

“Oh, Sehun,” Button Nose laughed, sounding like an older sister, “you’ll make it through. It’s just hard at first.”

Smile nodded. “Yeah, and you’re doing pretty good in bio!” Sehun merely moaned in reply.

The third, somewhat taller than button nose with a thin face and defined cheekbones, spoke also. “Anyway, who’s your friend, Sehun?”

Tao answered before the kid could say anything. “Huang Zitao.”

Recognition flashed over Cheekbone’s face. “Ah, I’ve heard of you. Joonmyun’s mentioned you a few times.”

“Sehun’s dad?” An indignant squawk sounded from his lap, but Tao ignored it. “How do you know him?”

“Jongdae is Joonmyun’s fuc–”

“Friend. We’re friends. We talk a lot,” Cheekbones interrupted, fluttering his lashes at Smile. “Just friends.” Button nose turned his head and gagged.

Smile grinned at Cheekbones and patted him on the head before leaning forward. “Well, it seems we all have a common friend. I know Joonmyun, too and it’s nice to meet you. I’m Chanyeol and this is Baekhyun and Jongdae. We all have bio with Sehun and cram sessions on Sundays,” his eyes crinkled unevenly, “Sehun usually calls the meetings and Jongdae didn’t think he could make this one, but his professor cancelled his class today.”

Button nose–Baekhyun?–scoffed and Jongdae smirked, leaning into Chanyeol’s side. “Yup. Happy to help a friend in need.”

“Me too,” Baekhyun quickly chirped, pointedly glaring at Jongdae.

Sehun stood straight up and pouted. “But you’ll all leave me once bio is over.”

Tao rolled his eyes. So this was just going to be hours of Sehun complaining because of his abandonment issues. Tao should’ve faked sick.

Chanyeol leaned further across the table, jostling Jongdae and smiling in what Tao guessed was supposed to be a reassuring quirk of his lips but actually looked like a maniacal grin. “Sehun, you know we can’t get rid of you now. You’ve wormed yourself too far into our dorm. Baek found one of your books on his desk last week.”

With Chanyeol preoccupied, Baekhyun and Jongdae began a silent argument behind his back and Tao watched with interest, pretty sure he knew what was going on, predicting Sehun would be complaining about being ditched by these guys within the month.

Sehun, apparently as oblivious as Chanyeol, let himself be sated with the elder’s words and grinned, protesting lightly when his cheeks were trapped between two large hands.

Tao slouched into his seat as an hour passed, the two brunets bickering, smiling innocently whenever Chanyeol turned, Sehun milking every bit of attention he could drag out of the three. When Tao stood, Baekhyun and Jongdae were both draped over Chanyeol, hissing under their breaths and absentmindedly drawing circles across a plaid-clad back as Chanyeol indulged Sehun’s childish whims.

The youngest glanced up, frowning. “You’re leaving?”

“Afraid so,” Tao replied in a mock apologetic voice. “It’s been really great, but I have a prior engagement.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Chanyeol frowned, sounding frighteningly sincere. “It was great meeting you, I hope you can join us again sometime!”

Tao blinked. “Um. Okay.” He his heel and left the four with the check, his sandwich–he’d almost cried when there was no cake–and juice hadn’t been that much anyway, not even bothering to bid farewell to Jongdae or Baekhyun. The two were completely pressed against Chanyeol, trying to touch as much of him as possible without it being publicly indecent–they’d skirted the line several times now–faces screwing up whenever they happened to brush the other.

Tao concluded that Chanyeol was either extremely unobservant or completely numb.

The leather seat, warmed by the sun, was a welcome change to the cold metal frame of the restaurant’s chairs. Tao took the time to straighten out his leather jacket before wrapping his hands over rubber grip and speeding away. His destination wasn’t that far away, close to the university but in one of the crummier neighborhood, nevertheless his second home.

When he arrived it was quiet, around everyone’s lunch break, and Tao thought it was empty until a bearded man rolled out from under a hopelessly dented vehicle.

“Tao,” he greeted, surprise evident. “You have today off, kid. Did you forget?”

“No,” Tao shook his head after removing his helmet, running a hand through tousled hair. “I was wondering, do we still have that bike that no one claimed?”

“You mean the piece of junk we all gave up on? Yeah, it’s in the back,” he narrowed his eyes, wiping grease-stained hands on a ratty towel. “Why?”

Footsteps echoed on the cemented walls as Tao made his way inside the small garage, home to him and a couple other mechanics who had been working there for longer than Tao could remember, fond memories of sweaty, black-streaked faces from when he was a kid and used to find fixing the chain on his bicycle challenging. The place had seemed a lot bigger back then. Now it was falling apart, barely able to house more than two cars at once. Despite the tight quarters and stained walls, Tao breathed in petrol, metal, and auto paint and he was home.

“That’ll work,” he hummed, tossing the keys to the man and sauntering past him, ignoring the question.

“You can’t take it till you tell me what you want with it, Taozi.”

“I just need it for a bit. Some guy wants to learn how to ride,” he shrugged, continuing on his way. “Make sure no one touches my bike!”

The older man laughed, fumbling around in the toolbox by his side. “Taking advantage of an old man?”

Tao grinned, snatching scratched and battered keys from an equally war-worn desk.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Tao turned, huffing loudly. He was going to be late.

“Have fun!”

Tao grinned.

A/N
Hey, Hannah here. Chenbaekyeol sorry not sorry.
(no taoris motorbike action yet because sillyah's the bike expert so filler. lo siento.)