The first thing Zitao does once he gets outside is wish he wore something more than just his tanktop. It may be warm during the day, but at night it gets colder and the breeze that blows, no matter how soft, really isn't helping any. The second thing he does is rethink his decision to come along on this trip in the first place. Jongin hadn't given him much of a choice when he brought it up about a month and a half prior. Of course Zitao should come with them, of course. He had to come. They're all best friends, all three of them, so they should all go. It would be fun. And it had sounded very good in theory, but now... now Zitao isn't so sure anymore.

Zitao leans over with his forearms braced on the top of the low brick wall that separates the beach from the parking lot and he sighs, presses the heels of his hands into his burning eyes. He feels so selfish. He should be happy that his friends are happy and he is, but... He lifts himself onto the wall and starts walking along it with his arms stretched out for balance and his eyes fastened on his feet. He is happy, but at the same time there's a small part of him that doesn't want them to be together. Because if they have each other they won't need him anymore, right?

He wobbles a little and has to spend a moment righting himself before continuing along the wall and he thinks to himself that maybe it wasn't the best idea to do this when he's had a bit to drink, but he keeps walking anyway, carefully placing one foot in front of the other. "Don't fall." The pure surprise of someone speaking out of nowhere startles Zitao enough for him to lose his balance again, swaying precariously with his arms flailing. A pair of hands catch him by the waist before he falls and then Wufan's smiling face is suddenly in his vision. "What did I just say?" he mutters teasingly. Standing on the ground he has to lean his head back to look up at Zitao.

"What are you doing here?" Zitao gasps, eyes wide.

His tone must have sounded accusing because Wufan shrugs and says: "Just taking a walk. It's a public beach, right?"

Zitao gulps. "Right." Wufan's hands are still resting on Zitao's hips even though Zitao is perfectly fine without the support now. They feel warm on his skin through the fabric of his tanktop. It's cold when Wufan pulls away. He offers his hand for balance, but Zitao doesn't take it. A little shakily he jumps down from the wall and he lands on Wufan's side, the beach side. He shoves his hands into his pockets and starts walking again, damp sand crunching under his feet.

Even though Zitao walked in the same direction as the one Wufan came from, Wufan follows him after just a moment, quickly catching up with him. They walk quietly side by side until Wufan asks: "What are you doing here?"

"Just taking a walk," Zitao shoots back.

"By yourself?"

"Yes, by myself." This time Zitao is aware of how snappy he sounds, but he's really not in the mood for this. It seems like Wufan can tell because he doesn't comment on it any more.

Instead he questions: "Where are your friends?"

Zitao sneers. "Probably ing by now," he spits, failing to keep the bitterness from seeping into his tone. His tongue is too loose under the influence of alcohol. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"ing your friends, I think," Wufan replies easily and Zitao's hostility falters as his stomach drops and he swivels his head around to look at Wufan with sympathy. Oddly enough Wufan doesn't seem very bothered by it. The reason for this becomes evident when he adds: "Baekhyun's not my boyfriend, by the way."

Zitao averts his gaze, flush creeping rapidly up his cheeks. "Oh." Well. That explains a few things.

They fall into silence again. Zitao considers asking Wufan to please go away, he kind of wants to be alone right now. But then Wufan looks at him again and asks: "Which one of them do you like?" Zitao looks at him, startled and confused all at once. Wufan's lips twist in a grimace. "I'm sorry if it's inappropriate, but I've kind of noticed the way you look at them. You're clearly jealous. So... which one is it?" Zitao goes back to staring at his feet. It feels less dangerous that way. "Both, maybe?"

Zitao flushes even more. "What? No, it's... it's not like that, I..." He doesn't know why he's thinking about telling Wufan this. He doesn't even know him, not really. Then again it may be easier to talk to a stranger. If he's never going to see Wufan again it won't matter as much if he judges him. "I don't like them,” Zitao elaborates with a sigh. “Not like that, anyway. I just... I'm afraid that they're going to abandon me now that they're with each other. We've been best friends for a long time, you know? And I... I don't have a lot of friends." He chuckles wryly. It feels pathetic to admit it like that. Wufan must think he's such a loser.

"I don't see why you wouldn't."

"Well, most people are kind of reluctant to keep associating with me once they realize that I'm a ." He spits the word with just as much distaste as he has heard in the voices of everyone who ever called him that. He has heard it a lot.

"That shouldn't matter," Wufan says without missing a beat and Zitao is a little taken aback by how unaffected he is by the confession. "You seem like a great person. You deserve so much better."

Zitao snorts. "Are you flirting with me, Wufan?"

"Hmm, that depends..." He leans a little closer. "Is it working?"

Zitao swallows thickly, averts his gaze once more. A blush burns warm in his cheeks. It might be, is what he doesn't say, opting instead for the safeness that is silence. Wufan is hitting on him. He knows that he's hitting on him, he's not stupid. It's exciting and scary all at once. Wufan is gorgeous and charming and Zitao likes him, but at the same time he knows absolutely nothing about him. For all he knows Wufan could be planning on using him and then ditching him. Just a holiday fling. It would be so easy. Zitao shivers at the thought. He doesn't want that.

Something brushes against him and he jerks away from it until he realizes that it's just Wufan. Wufan doesn't seem to let the initial reaction deter him as he rubs one big hand up and down Zitao's bare arm. "Hey, are you cold?" he asks. The expression on his face is one of genuine concern. "Maybe we should go inside, it's getting a little chilly out here."

Zitao shakes his head. "I'm fine." Wufan doesn't argue. He does start taking off his sweater, though. Zitao stops walking and frowns. "What are you doing?" He doesn't get an answer. Instead he gets fabric draped around his shoulders and a smile directed at him. It makes Zitao's heart race, but he just frowns harder and looks away. It worries him how easily he's giving in. He slips his arms into the sleeves, let's the material settle on his skin. It's warm and soft and it smells really nice and Zitao can feel a heat burning in his core, spreading through his limbs. This is bad.

Wufan takes Zitao by the shoulders and turns him so they're facing each other. There's yet another soft smile tugging at his lips as he picks and pulls at the sweater to make it sit better on Zitao. When he arranges it against Zitao's collarbones his knuckles brush warm skin and Zitao just barely manages to conceal the hitch in his breath. He's hyperaware of every tiny millisecond of contact between them, of Wufan fussing with the sweater, of how ing amazing his chest, his arms, his body is in that white shirt he's wearing. "It looks good on you," Wufan says, placing his hands on Zitao's shoulders. "Almost better than it looks on me." He grins earnestly, eyes creasing.

Zitao doesn't even think twice about what he's doing. It's Wufan's eyes and Wufan's smile and Wufan's warm touch on his body and maybe a little bit the small amount of alcohol that's coursing through his system that makes him lean up to just barely press his puckered lips to the corner of Wufan's mouth. Almost as fast as it had happened he pulls away again, eyes wide in terror upon realizing what he just did. "I'm... sorry, I..."

Wufan's hands quickly slide up to touch his neck, to keep him from moving. He looks directly into Zitao's eyes, every little trace of a smile gone from his features. "Did you mean that?" he asks, voice thick. Zitao trembles under the sudden intensity of his gaze. "Zitao, did you mean that? Tell me if you didn't or I'm... I'm gonna..." His eyes drop to Zitao's parted lips before flicking back up to lock with Zitao's. It's like an unspoken question and Zitao gets it. He has barely nodded before a mouth presses against own, softly just like everything else Wufan does.

Wufan kisses him right then and there on the beach under the stars with the waves whispering in the background, all tooth-achingly sweet and disgustingly romantic (just like Zitao prefers it). It's not his first kiss, far from it, but it's the first that has managed to make heat boil in his stomach so fast. For once the tongue that swipes against his lips isn't prying. Instead it's tentative, almost as if asking for permission. Zitao nearly snorts at that. This is all so different from what he's used to from a kiss. Nonetheless he opens his mouth for Wufan's tongue and it slides against his own, coaxing it lazily into play. Zitao can feel the pleasure all the way down into his toes that curl up.

They part with a slick sound and Zitao lets out a breath. One of his hands has somehow clutched onto the back of Wufan's T-shirt of its own accord, the other is on Wufan's neck. Zitao's cheeks are burning. "Can we do that all that time?" he asks and Wufan laughs and kisses him again.

"We can do anything you want," he whispers. He leaves kisses all over Zitao's face, mostly on his lips (those last a little longer than the rest), but also quick pecks on his cheeks, his jaw, his chin, the bridge of his nose. Zitao melts into him so easily, turns shuddery and pliant in his arms. Wufan ends with his mouth hovering over Zitao's again and Zitao readies himself for another kiss, puckers his lips and closes his eyes halfway. But it never comes. Wufan is watching him, pupils blown. "Just... probably not right here." Zitao whines. Wufan drags his bottom lip through his teeth and releases it with a troubled exhale. "Wanna go back to my room?"

~*~

A/N: lots of things happened in this so I'll do a summary:

1. baekhyun and wufan are not boyfriends. if you look through the story you'll see that baekhyun does the same things with jongin and sehun and zitao as he does with wufan (walking with their arms linked, calling them affectionate pet names). baekhyun is just a flirty person by nature.
2. zitao totally does not like neither sehun nor jongin like that. right from the start a lot of your comments suggested that he had a crush on one of them, but he doesn't. he's just really scared of losing his best friends now that they're busy getting it on all the time. perpetual awkward third wheel, yup.
3. on top of being bullied because he's a chinese kid in korea, zitao has also been bullied because he's gay so he doesn't have a lot of friends, which is yet another reason why it would so much for him to lose sehun and jongin. bonus: if you squint your eyes and your head to the side you'll also pick up that he had to deal with his parents splitting up at a young age (it was mentioned in another chapter that zitao came to korea with his mom, not his parents). troubled taozi is troubled.
4. zomgz this chapter actually has taoris what is this sorcery?????
5. the gross omfg the gross get it away from me DDD:
6. can you tell where this is going?
7. (pssst, the next chapter is going to be rated, juss sayin')
    

thank you for reading.