Anxiousness' clammy fingers claw at Zitao's insides and it feels like a huge weight is sitting on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. He tries to keep himself calm with deep inhales and long exhales. It doesn't help much. His heart is still racing.

Six weeks. That's how long it's been since he came back from spending a week of vacation with his two best friends on the beach. It's been even longer than that since he saw Wufan, who told Zitao to call him when he got back to Seoul. Zitao didn't. As always his insecurities took over and the fear of rejection set in and he figured that never calling Wufan and instead trying to forget about him would be much less painful than hearing the disinterest in Wufan's voice and realizing that he never really did care. It would be better if Zitao just stayed away. Right?

Six weeks. That's how long it took for Jongin and Sehun to get fed up with Zitao's constant moping, which in turn made them lock him in a room with nothing but his cellphone, refusing to let him out until they had evidence that he had actually called Wufan. So in the end, after realizing that they weren't kidding around, Zitao did. And it was awkward. Really awkward. But Wufan had also sounded excited to finally hear from him and Zitao took that as a good sign and the small flame of hope was rekindled. They decided to meet up.

So here Zitao is now, waiting at the subway stop where Wufan told him to meet him. He's early. It had seemed like a good idea to leave his house with plenty of time to spare just to be safe, but now he's not so sure anymore. He's been waiting for five minutes and it feels like an eternity and to make matters worse the dark clouds that are hanging heavy in the sky seem like they're going to open up at any second and drench him. The tension in the air is electric, stifling.

Zitao shuffles from foot to foot, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. He doesn't even know which way to look. He doesn't know which direction Wufan is coming from. What if he doesn't show up? What if he changed his mind? What if he never intended on coming in the first place and only agreed to this to get Zitao off his back? Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all.

But then he sees it, the shock of blonde on a head towering inches above all the dark-haired ones and Zitao's breath catches on the way out of his lungs. Wufan is coming towards him with a brilliant smile on his face. He stops when he's they're a few feet apart. His gaze feels heavy as it wanders over Zitao from head to toe. It would take less than a full step for Zitao to walk up and press their bodies together but he doesn't. He's not that brave. "Hi," Wufan says. He doesn't sound any different, doesn't sound bitter or bored or unhappy. And Zitao can breathe again.

"Hi," he says back. It's Wufan who closes the space between them, but it's Zitao's arms that move to wrap around Wufan first as they hug. He presses his face into his neck. "H-how've you been?"

"Fine." Wufan moves back again. He's still smiling and his eyes roam Zitao's face once more. Zitao feels like he's about to burn up. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

They end up going to a small café nearby that Wufan knows of and where the workers know him by name. Zitao feels a little left out as Wufan chats with the waiter, who's apparently a friend of his from school, but the waiter soon takes their orders and leaves them alone for now. Zitao can feel Wufan's eyes on him again. He keeps his own fastened on his hands that are folded on top of the table. "I, uhm... I'm sorry it took so long for me to call you."

"I was starting to think you were never going to," Wufan says. "You said you'd call me when you got back to Seoul, but then the call never came and I just figured..." He trails off.

Zitao swallows something. "Well, you could've called me too, you know." It's hard for him not to sound accusing. "You have my number."

"I didn't want to bother you."

"I didn't want to bother you." He raises his head and for a while they just look at each other.

Then Wufan smiles. Their legs brush under the table as Wufan reaches across the top of it to place his hand over Zitao's. "I don't think you'd ever be a bother to me," he says and after a moment of deliberation he reaches out to push Zitao's bangs away from his face. "I... I really missed you." Zitao casts his eyes down again, blush crawling up his cheeks along with the coy smile that spreads slowly on his lips.

Outside it starts to pour.

~*~

A/N: this is it. this is the definite end. it's over. chapter eight could've been it, but I felt like the story needed some kind of... closure, I guess? if you preferred the other ending, the open ending, you can choose to disregard this epilogue.

last chapter someone commented on whether or not tao would man up and call kris; here's your answer. :b he did man up, but only after sehun and jongin forced him too do so (seriously, though, what would zitao do without his best friends?). understand that zitao is used to getting rejected and getting hurt more than anything so he's scared. and wufan doesn't want to push him into doing something he's not comfortable with or something he's going to end up regretting so he holds himself back and lets zitao make the first move. thoughtful kris is thoughtful(?).

fun fact; if you read into it you can tell that I may have been subconsciously inspired by this song. at the time when I wrote the story that song followed me everywhere I went (even after literally leaving the country) and I think I was affected by it. after finishing the story I read it over and I saw that there were a lot of parts that were similar to the lyrics for that song. for the most part I didn't intentionally do that, it just... happened. it's a nice song, though. I don't mind.

since this is the last author's note I'm ever doing for this story I feel like I should say a whole bunch of stuff. I don't really have a lot to say, though. I'd just like to thank all of you for making it this far, for following this story, for reading it at all. it really means a lot to me. and thank you for all your wonderful comments and upvotes too. ♥

this author's note is as long as the actual epilogue now. orz
I'll end it with some taoris because that's totally appropriate:

bye!