Wearing his Gucci sweater that Kris had bought him for Christmas, Tao walked happily at the tall blonde’s side as they went to the park where the others would be waiting for them. To be honest, Tao was nervous about how the others were going to react to seeing Kris. They would definitely be surprised. How could Tao explain it though? Nibbling on his lower lip, Tao walked in silence at Kris’s side for the last block or so before the park.

As they got to the park, Tao saw some of the others were already playing basketball. There was snow on the ground, and yet someone had swept away the area where the guys were playing. As Tao and Kris approached, Tao reached for Kris’s arm worried about how the others would react, however as KyungSoo noticed the two approaching, he called out to them excited with that heart shaped smile and waved. The game continued only long enough for Yixing to dunk the ball in the hoop, causing Jongdae and Chanyeol to curse while Jongin tackled Yixing happily. Baekhyun then went to Chanyeol’s side, wrapping a comforting arm around the taller male’s waist and then walked along with him and the others to where Kris and Tao were approaching.

“It took you two long enough. Did you get lost or did you two…you know” Sehun wiggled his eyebrows without bothering to finish his sentence. The others laughed at the ual joke, causing Tao’s cheeks to warm as he looked up at Kris who threw a hand up and shook his head. “No! No we weren’t doing anything!” Kris said before letting out a deep laugh and then tugged a little on Tao’s shirt. “Tao just took a while to decide which present he wanted to wear.” Kris said, a lopsided grin appearing on his face.

Wrapped up in the warm welcome and the usual jokes, Tao almost forgot about why he was so nervous. Almost. As Yixing then went to grab Kris’s hand and drag him onto the basketball court though, Tao was reminded that things had been different lately than they were before. Normally, Yixing would go straight to Kris and drag him to his team whenever they used to play, lately though….Yixing made an effort to drag Tao to his team in Kris’s absence.

What was going on? Did they forget that Kris had been gone? Was it really like he was never gone? Why was Tao the only one that knew about how weird this was? Would he be the only one that knew he came back today then? Was he the only one that would get the joy of having been able to spend a day with him while the others would remain never seeing Kris since his death? It was unfair, and yet Tao felt special. What if Kris just…never left though? What if things just stayed like this forever and Tao would never have to spend another day without Kris?

“C’mon. Lets go play. Sehun…you want to be on our team or theirs?” Yixing asked the rainbow haired male who looked between Yixing and then Tao. “I’ll be on Tao’s!” Sehun said, instantly clinging to Tao and taking in a deep breath as he pressed his face to Tao’s neck. There was a look of obvious displeasure on Kris’s face, however Jongin quickly pulled Sehun away and ruffled his hair some.

“Save that for later Sehunnie.” Jongin said before then going to join Kris and Yixing. Tao then went to pull his sweater off and set it on someone’s bag that was sitting on a bench. He didn’t want to ruin it by playing basketball. He then pulled his coat back on to keep warm and joined Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongdae. “Alright…” Kyungsoo said, moving to grab the basketball from the others to play referee. Moving to stand opposite Yixing, Tao watched as Jongin stood opposite BaekHyun, Jongdae stood opposite Sehun and Chanyeol stood opposite Kris. Kyungsoo then threw the ball up and Tao watched the ball as everyone jumped to grab it and start to play the game.

Playing a few rounds, Tao’s team ended up winning, causing the young male to jump up and down with his team in excitement as Jongdae made the winning point. After a good amount of cheering from the winning team, Tao went to go cheer up his moping lover as Kris tried to explain why Jongdae even managed to get the ball away from him and to the hoops. Sehun was being a spoiled sport about it, however Yixing had been trying to explain to Kris that there was no problem at all.

“Losing team buys dinner!” Chanyeol piped up, a huge smile on his face as he came over and wrapped an arm around Yixing and Jongin. Kyungsoo then came and joined the teams, trying to figure out if he was going to have dinner paid for a well. “Where are the others, anyways?” Baekhyun asked, looking around for the rest of the group. “With family I’m guessing. They said they’d come to dinner though.” Kris responded, setting his chin on Tao’s head as the younger enjoyed every second of his embrace.

“Alright, but those who didn’t play don’t get our money!” Sehun said with a small pout before looking at Kyungsoo who was still trying to get the others to pay for his meal. “Don’t worry Kyungsoo, I’ll pay for you…” Chanyeol said, only for Yixing to push Chanyeol away and quickly say. “Ani, Kyungsoo I got you.” Tao ended up tuning the others out as everyone went to grab everything and get ready to go to the usual barbeque place. Pulling his sweater back on, Tao smiled a catlike smile when Kris wrapped his arms around Tao’s shoulders in a back hug.