Trust
Opening Up To Others
Tao yawned as he sat up on his bed sleepily, rubbing his eyes and standing up. He glanced at the bedside clock. 1pm.. He yawned once more and shuffled to the study table where his phone rang.
Tao picked up his phone, “Hello?”
“Morning Tao~! Or should I say afternoon?” Xiumin’s cheerful voice chirped over the line.
“Morning,” Tao blinked away his sleepiness and took out new clothes.
“Is Kris awake?” Tao looked behind his shoulders and saw the boy sprawled all over his bed, snoring and sleeping like a log.
“Nope.”
“As expected,” Xiumin chuckled.
“Why did you call me for?” Tao sat down on his bed, waiting for Xiumin’s reply.
“Ah, Suho called for a group meeting.”
“What for?” “I don’t know, he says he’ll tell us when we gather at his room. Oh, and you’ll have to bear the task of waking Kris up, it’s a big challenge!”
“Okay?” Tao glanced at Kris who was oblivious about the meeting, “what time would we have to gather?”
“2pm.”
That’s an hour from now..
“Noted, thanks for calling Xiumin.”
“No problem! See you later Tao!”
The boy hung up and placed his phone down, stepping into the showers. I’ll wake Kris up later.
Ten minutes has passed and Tao walked out of the showers.
He’s still asleep?! Tao rolled his eyes as he kneeled down beside Kris’s bed.
“Wake up,” the boy shook the sleeping figure. Kris groaned as he turned around. “Wake up.” Tao said more firmly this time and shook him harder.
“Go away,” Kris smacked Tao’s hands away and covered his face with a pillow.
Tao huffed as he walked off, “Fine.”
He later returned with a bottle of cold water.
“Wake up now or you’re going to get splashed.”
No reply came from Kris so Tao took it as an ‘okay’.
“HEY!” Kris jumped out of his slumber and glared at Tao, “Why did you do that for?”
“I warned you,” Tao shrugged as he returned the glare defiantly.
“I’m all wet now thanks to you,” Kris groaned as he ruffled away the water on his hair.
“You’re going to get wet later in the showers anyways.”
“Why did you wake me up?” Kris asked as he stood up, water dripped from his clothes as he waddled to the showers.
“Xiumin said Suho called for a group meeting,” Tao stated.
“Why?” Kris called out from inside the bathroom, turning on the water.
“No idea. We have to gather by two, so hurry up.”
“Then why aren’t you leaving?”
No reply.
“Oh.. I see, you’re waiting for me aren’t you?” Kris smirked as he put on his clothes.
“You wish.”
“Why are they taking so long?” Suho asked no one in particular as he glanced at his wristwatch again.
“Patience Suho.. It isn’t two yet,” Lay said softly as he munched on a cookie.
“I know, but everyone is here except for the two of them!”
“Well Kris is hard to wake up..” Luhan rubbed his neck, “I’ve tried waking him up once to play soccer but he just slept despite all the effort I used.”
“Says the one who kicks those who gets on his bed,” Baekhyun said.
“You too kicked me off your bed once when I tried to wake you up too Bacon!” Chanyeol shouted.
“I’m not a Bacon!” Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks, “That sounds so greasy and fat!”
“Bacon taste nice actually, especially the ones D.O. cooks,” Kai wrapped an arm around D.O. and smiled.
“Get your hands off me,” D.O. blushed slightly at the compliment, “It depends on the oil you use to cook it.”
“But still!”
The door opened and everyone stopped their chatter.
“What?” Kris asked as he and Tao entered the room.
“Tao managed to wake Kris up?” Luhan stood up and stared in awe, “How?”
“Cold water,” Tao nodded and went to sit beside Xiumin who patted the seat beside him.
“Oh.. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Cause you’re too stupid with that tiny deer brain of yours haha,” Chen laughed.
“Okay enough,” Suho clapped, “Now everyone is here, we can start on the discussion.”
“About what?” Xiumin asked.
“Our group name.”
“That’s a good idea Suho,” Kris said.
“Thanks Kris,” The other leader smiled.
“How about Thunder Chickens?” Kai suggested.
“Pfft! Seriously Kai?” “We all know you order chicken every morning but having ‘Thunder Chickens’ as our group name !”
“What about Thunder Ducks then?”
“No.”
“Ahah I know!” Chen stood up, “No Beer For Fear!”
“You aren’t even legal to drink bear, Chen,” Kai laughed, “None of us are!”
“At least it’s better than ‘Thunder Chickens’!” Chen retorted.
“Team Ninja!”
“Shadow Assassins!”
“Bubbletea.”
“This is getting nowhere,” Kris sighed.
“Yeah..” Suho agreed as he rolled his eyes at the ridiculous names s suggested.
“Tao? Any ideas?” Kris asked the boy.
Tao shook his head, “ I’m not that good in giving names, sorry.”
“I know!” a voice suddenly shouted. All eyes turned to look at the boy.
“Please don’t come up with one of your stupid and lame names, Yoda,” Baekhyun rolled his eyes, expecting another one of his idiotic names.
“Nope!” Chanyeol gave them a thumbs up, “I have a great name.
“Well what is it?”
“EXO.”
“What does that even mean?” D.O. asked, tilting his head in curiosity.
“EXO, as in exoplanet!” Chanyeol grinned.
“So you’re just saying that we’re going to call ourselves aliens?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow.
“Of course not!”
“Well I think EXO sounds cool,” Lay spoke, nodding his head in agreement.
“Yeah, I agree,” Xiumin said.
Chanyeol beamed, “What do our two leaders think?”
“I wouldn’t object to it,” Kris smiled.
“Neither would I,” Suho gave Chanyeol a pat on his shoulder.
Tao nodded, EXO sounds pretty awesome for a group name.
“Yay!” Chanyeol grinned, “Told you they would accept my suggestion!”
“Whatever,” Baekhyun waved the boy away.
“From now on, our team name is called EXO.”
“We are EXO. We are One!” Suho said, standing up.
Chen laughed, “Aren’t you being a little too overdramatic?”
“No.?” Suho sat back down, “I’m just happy that we finally formed a group. It has always been my dream.”
The boys burst into laughter.
“What?” Suho stared at them weirdly.
“Forming a group,” Chen’s laughter broke the sentence, “has always been your dream?”
“Seriously Suho?”
“Yup,” Suho smiled, “I want everyone to feel wanted and loved, friends that would stay with each other till the end, just like you guys.”
“Aww..” Chen wiped away a fake tear, “That’s so sweet.”
“Chen!” Xiumin glared at the boy and punched him.
“And now we are one as EXO, we are like brothers to each other,” Suho continued, “We help each other through thick and thins, protect each other and care for one another.”
“If there’s anything bothering you, just feel free to approach any one of us and share, don’t keep them in your heart,” as Kris spoke, the blonde held eye contact with Tao.
Why is he looking at me like that..?
“Okay guys?” Suho looked around, “Promise we’ll stick with each other till we are old?”
The boys nodded. “We swear,” for once, the boys united and swore at the same time.
“I love you guys,” Suho went around and hugged each member.
“Now this is settled,” Kris smiled, “Shall we go out and have desserts to celebrate?”
The seriousness in the room lifted almost instantly as cheers filled the room.
“Yeah! I want ice cream!”
“Milkshake!”
“Sundaes!”
“Puddings!”
“Bubbletea!”
“Let’s go then, what are we waiting for?”
The boys dashed out of the room.
“You are a great leader, Suho,” Lay walked to the boy and smiled, “Guardian of EXO.”
“Thank you, my Unicorn,” Suho returned his smile and the two of them walked out of the room.
Tao sat beneath a tree eating an ice cream cone. The group had decided to buy some desserts, drinks and snacks and hang out at a park. Tao heard rustle and someone sitting beside him.
“Hey Tao,” Kris greeted.
“Hey.”
“Still putting up a cold act huh?” Kris asked, taking a sip of his vanilla milkshake.
“No.”
“Come on,” Kris held Tao’s chin and made the boy face him, “Haven’t you heard what I said back at the dorm?”
Tao stayed silent and shook free of Kris’s grasp.
Kris sighed as he watched the boy eat his ice cream, “Tao.”
“Why do you keep insisting on knowing?”
“Why do you keep hiding your true self? Do you not trust me, not trust us, the group?” Kris asked back, feigning a look of hurt.
Tao turned and looked at Kris’s hurt face. Did I really hurt him? Trust is really a big word and serious feeling.. Tao bit his lips.
“I’ll tell you.. When we get back to the dorm, okay?” Tao finally said.
“I knew you’ll fall for that,” Kris chuckled, earning a look of shock on Tao’s face, “It just proves to me that you aren't actually a cold person.”
“You..” Tao stood up and kicked Kris with such force that the boy fell over to a side, despite sitting down.
He fooled me! Tao glared at Kris before storming away.
“Haha,” Kris chuckled, watching the dark haired boy walking away from him, cute.
[A/N; When I was typing the fanfic, I listened to this piano cover of EXO's Peter Pan and it fitted the scene nicely. Here is the link if you want to listen as you read the story~ ^^ ]
Back at the Tao and Kris dorm, the two boys sat facing each other on their beds after showering and changing to their bed clothes.
“So..”
Tao sighed, “I was bullied very often since I was a young child.” He began.
Kris nodded and signaled him to continue.
“Due to the lack of love from my family.. I was shy and insecure, the bullies like taking advantage of my innocence and bullied me. I didn’t fight back because I was scared. Only my Grandmother found out that I was bullied, so she sent me to Wushu classes..”
“You learn Wushu?” Kris asked him, that sure would explain the strength of his kick, he thought.
Tao nodded, “I started learning when I was eight.. But it didn’t help me fight off the bullies much.. Despite having much more strength than I had back when I was younger, I was still scared- it’s like the bullies had instilled a fear in my heart..” Tao looked down, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, “I always kept quiet, pretended that everything was fine, that the bullies didn’t bothered me at all..”
“Why didn’t anyone help you? The teachers? Your school’s principal?”
“They didn’t care,” Tao scoffed, “No one dared to befriend me because there were rumors saying that I should be avoided, a monster.. And the teacher never found out the bullies’ scheme, I was their scapegoat. They never believed my reasons; they called me a bad student despite me not breaking a single rule before.” His shoulders shuddered as the first tear fell from his eyes, “I was expelled because I couldn’t take it any longer, I snapped at the bullies and attacked one of them, landing him in hospital.. Their members got agitated and plotted a scheme, thus landing me in trouble once again and getting me expelled..”
“Tao..”
“I feel so alone in this world..” Tao’s voice was barely a whisper as tears streamed down his face silently.
Kris went over and hugged the boy, “it’s okay Tao, I’m here with you..” Kris said soothingly and patted the boy’s back.
“T-thank you, gege..”
“Gege?” Kris asked, looking at the boy.
Tao realized what he had said and blushed, wiping his tears away quickly, “Nothing!”
“I heard you,” Kris chuckled as he softly wiped away a tear on Tao’s cheeks.
Tao blushed even more, “Don’t you dare tell the others what I told you!”
“I won’t,” Kris smiled and hugged Tao once more.
“Good!” Tao said almost loudly, pushing the blonde off, “Now go to sleep, I’m tired!” With that, Tao laid down on his bed and pulled the covers over his head.
Kris chuckled softly as he turned off the lights, “Goodnight Tao.”
As the lights turned off, Tao felt his face turn hot as he buried his head onto the pillow. I can’t believe I cried in front of Kris and called him gege.. He scolded himself for his slip of tongue. He sighed, feeling his chest getting lighter, like a load was lifted off him. Why do I feel like this? Like I feel more at ease?
Kris watched the back view of Tao, smiling to himself, he's so innocent for a fifteen year old boy.. I feel like I just want to protect him, and keep all the evil away from that boy..
I’m glad Tao trusts me now.
[Author's Notes]
Tao finally told someone about why he was acting cold! :O
I actually planned to make the reason why Suho formed such a big group was because he didn't want others to feel alone like he was when he was young, so he gathered those 'loners' and formed a group; and Chen had been mocked and stuffs- but decided against it as I didn't want this fanfiction to be too dramatic lol..? Hope the other reason was good enough though!
Did you guys try out listening the song while reading the last paragraph? I know the song Peter Pan is actually a happy song but the piano version sounded sad and kinda fitted the mood. There is the part in the song that goes "Those who bullied you were defeated and chased away by me." I thought that it fitted Kris as he wanted to protect Tao from the bullies and make him happy and stuff (I never watch the movie before so I don't really know the story of Peter Pan.. .__. ) Song credit to jgmb829 on YouTube!
Thanks for the 43 subscribers, 4 upvotes, 12 comments and 500 views~! <3
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