“Artificial or not, love is still love.” Kris smiled as he embraced the younger.

Tao paused for a moment, unsettled by the other’s response, “…So, you’re not mad?”

“No; I mean, I kinda figured something from the beginning but I figured I’d let it play out and see where it goes.”

“I see.” Tao sighed in relief. He’d expected them to get into another argument, seeing that lately that’s all they seemed to be doing. Rather than that though, the two rocked back and forth affectionately, enjoying the warmth the other brought. Burying his head deep into Kris’s shoulder, Tao murmured something indistinguishable. Although Kris couldn’t understand the exact words he used, the older still felt the meaning behind it by the way Tao tightened his grip on his shirt.

Things were starting to look up; all the fighting and deaths were faked, Kris and Tao were on steady terms again, and they had the rest of the night to themselves. Or so Tao thought until he heard Suho’s voice in the distant background calling their names.

“I thought you said we’d get to be alone for a while?” Kris pushed his head into the younger’s shoulder in disappointment.

“We were supposed to… but it must be important if Suho-ba is going to interrupt us” Tao whispered as the mood spoiler himself drew closer.

“Geez, you guys are really far away from everyone else,” Suho huffed.

“What is it?” Tao asked with a slight tone of annoyance in his voice.

“I came all the way over here to tell you something important and you give me attitude?” Suho pulled on the panda’s ear, “I thought I raised you better!”

“Bu-but you didn’t raise me” Tao cried out and drew a smirk from Kris who was simply watching the two. “Kris, help me~”

“Hey, I was going to try and be nice, so it’s your own fault.”

Suho released his tight grip and straightened up not only his jacket, but fixed Tao’s shirt as well. “Anyway, I came to call you all over to watch the fireworks on top of the hill.” Suho smiled.

“Fireworks!” Tao said with great enthusiasm.

“…Fireworks…that’s it…” Kris spoke out of the corner of his mouth.

Suho led the pair over to the group who had been awaiting their arrival. Except for Luhan and Sehun, everyone was seated closely together in excitement.

“You act so much like a little kid, ya know that?” Kris whispered to Tao.

“So? Maybe I am a little kid.” Tao playfully punched Kris’s arm, with a little more force than he intended.

“You’re 20 already and here you are getting hyped over fireworks.”

“Kris.” Tao gave a cheeky smile, “I’m tired of living such a serious life. It seems stupid to get excited over little things, but at times like these,” Tao wrapped his hand around the older’s, “They can be bring hope. I feel like I can’t express it properly but small celebrations bring happiness.” Tao shook his head, “I feel like what I said made no sense.”

“No, it did.” Kris squeezed the younger’s hand in confirmation, “Just a little bit.”

Tao opened his mouth to speak but was cut short when a sudden explosion of light and brilliant color attacked the sky. The group watched and marveled at the magnificent hues of reds, blues, yellows, and greens filling the atmosphere. Sehun and Luhan were rushing quickly to sit among the group and were warmly invited.

“Bliss like this is such a hard thing to come by.” Tao leaned his head on the older’s shoulder.

Kris debated leaning down to kiss the younger for a moment but decided against it and simply relaxed and enjoyed the sight before him, enjoying the mutual feeling of being at ease.

After the parade of fireworks, Suho frantically rushed the group back to their rooms because they were past their curfew and might be scolded severely. With rushed goodbyes and short embraces they filtered into either door, depending on whether they were “dead” or not. Instinctively, Kris followed Tao through the doorway but paused when he remembered he didn’t belong there anymore and would be separated from Tao. The younger turned around and met his sad gaze.

“It won’t be for that long,” Tao tried reassuring the other.

“But I won’t get to see you every day,” Kris complained.

“I know, but just endure it… for the team.” Tao cupped Kris’s face with his lengthy fingers.

“Okay. I’ll miss you.” Kris leaned in to lightly press his lips against the younger’s.

“Bye-bye, Benben. Take care of yourself,” Tao spoke in accented English.

With that, Kris left and entered the apartment next door and was surprised how lively the atmosphere was. He relaxed and sat at the island bar that mirrored the one in the other dorm. He carefully studied Suho while he cooked, taking notes on how deftly he flipped two omelets at once while tending to the sausage stirring in the pan next to it.

“Why are you cooking breakfast food right now? It’s already past dinner time,” Kris pointed out.

“Well for us, it’s breakfast time. We decided the best way to make sure no one knew we were here was to sleep during the day and wake up at night so our days are backwards. I can understand you’ll probably be really tired since you’re used to sleeping at night,” Suho smiled genuinely.

Baekhyun and Xiumin pulled up a seat next to the Chinese-Canadian and intently observed him. They sat on either side of him and Kris switched his confused look between the two. “What?”

“So, Kris?”

“Oh, dear.”

“No, seriously.” Baekhyun put his hand on the older’s shoulder.

“Look at Sehun over there. Just sitting on the couch. By himself. The TV isn’t even on. But he has the stupidest smile on his face. Do you know of any reason that might be?” Xiumin casually nodded his head in Sehun’s direction.

“So what? Maybe he’s just happy he got to see Luhan again?” Kris shrugged.

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder, Kris,” Baekhyun said in a serious tone but his face didn’t match his words.

“Okay and? I don’t understand what you’re trying to get at…”

“They had , Kris,” Xiumin blurted out. “You can tell by the look on his face."

“Alright… g-good f-fo-for h-him” Kris stuttered, feeling his face flush.

“What about you, Kris?” Baekhyun leaned closer, “Did you and Tao—"

“Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!” Kris interrupted. Why was he suddenly getting so embarrassed even though he is usually so confident with Tao?

“'No' what?” Chen poked his head into their conversation.

“Go away, Chen.” Kris waved him off but somehow attracted the attention of the rest of the group, including fatherly-Suho who had been eaves-dropping the entire time.

“I wanna know, too.” Lay joined in. The only person not gathered around Kris was Sehun, who quietly realized the commotion. His face lost all color as he hurried to his room.

“Look what you guys did. Seriously, why don’t you go be involved in your own love lives?” Kris felt uncomfortable with so many people surrounding him.

They all laughed and dispersed. Except for Baekhyun who was in the same situation as Kris; Chanyeol had yet to “die” so he and Kris were the lonely ones.

“At least we have each other to be lonely with,” Baekhyun smiled hopefully.

“I have to use the bathroom,” Kris excused himself.

“…Thanks, Kris.” Baekhyun frowned.

Kris didn’t actually have to go to the bathroom; he just wanted to check out his new room, which mirrored the one he and Tao had been living in for the past two weeks or so. This place seemed to be an exact replica of the dorm next door, except the bedrooms had flipped sides in the hallway. Bored with nothing to do, he decided to pay Sehun a visit.

“Hey.” Kris quickly entered the room after a few soft knocks.

“Hi?” Sehun sat up from his bed with a green comforter.

“Your room looks exactly the same as the one in the other…” Kris trailed off.

“Yeah, I know. It maketh thith plathe theem kind of lonely, like a hollow replication of thomething important.” Sehun sighed.

“So.” Kris was unsure what he’d wanted to say to the younger since the two had never held a full conversation before

“If you’re curious about who'th fighting tomorrow, it’th Luhan and Chanyeol,” Sehun said robotically.

“Oh, I wasn’t really curious—I mean, I was but that’s not what I—I don’t know, I just felt like coming to talk to you.” Kris mentally slapped himself.

 “About?”

“…Uh… why you seem so closed off from everyone?” Kris pulled the topic out of his .

“Me? I don’t know, I think it'th becauthe I’m not much for wordth.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sehun sighed.

“Seriously, what did you say?” Kris felt sorry that the younger had to repeat himself.

“I’m. Not. Good. With. Word(ssss),” Sehun over articulated. “I feel (s)elf conciouth about my lithp.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“That’th why I didn’t mind Luhan thpeaking for me. I kinda wanted to be the one to thay the wordth but I gue(ss) a(s) long a(s) the me(ss)age ith delivered, it doe(s)n’t matter.” Sehun tried speaking with clarity but some of his words were slurred.

“Mmhm.” Kris nodded, “So anyway, I heard you and Luhan—"

Kris paused when Sehun shot him a look. It wasn’t so much serious and angry, but more bashful and uncertain.

“Tao left you a note,” Sehun pulled a letter out from his dresser.

Kris took the letter and headed back to his room to unveil it, not forgetting to respectfully congratulate the younger which caused him become so red he appeared sunburn.

Inside the envelope was a small note written in neat English:

Kris,

蔷薇花是红色

和紫罗兰是蓝色

你有翅膀

和我爱你

The English equal (Kris assumes he meant equivalent) would be like this:

Roses are red

And Violets are blue

You have wings

And I love you <3

I guess I am not that great with poems am I, Kris? I promise it is a lot more romantic in Zhongwen Chinese!!! Anyway, I miss you already and I cannot believe you were chosen to fight today. You wear were supposed to stick around until the end but I guess things have change. So, what am I going to do now that both of my shower pengyou buddies are gone? How do you except me to shower by myself when I know there could be a ghost watching me?! >w< Gege, I wish you were here or I was there. I don’t like being alone but we will have to endurance enduore endure it for a while. Don’t tell anyone else, but there is a secret door between our old room and your new bedroom. The door was sealed shut but we can slide letters under the crack, so write me back when you get the chance!

<3 I love you, Benben <3,

~Huang ZiTao 黄子韬~

二零一三年 十二月 十日。

(Sorry, in China, it's formal to write the date at the end of every letter so please neglect ignore that part).

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A/N: Hi guys. Dude, this story almost has 100 subs. Seriously. Thank you guys. It makes me so happy that people think I'm a decnt writer >w< Man, I seem to be dragging a bit on Titans don't I? I feel like it is. Time to add more action ~yay~ As far as the ending goes, there is still a longggggg time so don't worry about this ending so soon.

Interesting facts: This story wasn't supposed to be a romance (opps), this story was supposed to be a lot shorter, the original concept came from a dream I had, and lastly, my brain doesn't control the story, my hands do. What I mean is that I let my hands type whatever they like so a lot of events that happen aren't even planned. I know I sound like a reckless author, but I decided the story turns out better when I write like this. I promise my next fics will be a little more planned XD I have so many story ideas but not enough time to write them all (I have like 13 ideas. Seriously someone needs to help me).

Sorry the author's note is so long, I kinda wwent off on a tangent o.o BUT I READ ANTEROGRADE TOMORROW AND THAT WAS THE SADDEST FIC I'VE EVER READ AND NOW I'M DEPRESSED AND I CRIED LIKE A BABY THE ENTIRE LAST CHAPTER. That fic... has anyone else read it?

Like always, please leave a comment on what you thought about the chapter and I can reply if you have any questions (but I won't spoil anything :p). COMMENTS=HAPPY AUTHOR=SOONER UPDATES. I love you <3 Have a good day. Okay, seriously. bye.