He stared at his reflection on the mirror. It was hard to believe that, after everything that had happened that day, he still looked pretty much the same. Tao watched himself smile, the warm sensation he had felt for most of the evening still there. Everything had seemed so unreal, yet so perfectly right. It was actually quite amusing that they had gotten together after a stupid fight. It was so... them. 

After the bet, he had felt horrible. He wasn't particularly mad because he had fallen, nor because he had lost. It was mainly because Kris had laughed. They had spent the whole day together, every spare moment they had. And Tao had come to believe that Kris hadn't regretted their almost kiss from the evening before. But after that, all his doubts returned. What if Kris didn't actually want to be with him? What if all that time he had just been misreading everything? 

But apparently, he had not. As soon as their lips touched, Tao felt something settle inside his chest, easing a pain he didn't know he had. He was still slightly insecure about their relationship, seeing as it was the first time he dated someone, and that that someone was a guy. Back in China, he had gone out with a girl once. By the end of their date, Tao had kissed her. And he had felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. That had been his first and last date with the girl. Or with anyone else, for the matter. 

But with Kris, everything had been different right from the start. Since the moment they had set eyes on each other, the spark had been there. They had talked a lot, and he knew Kris. He understood him. He liked him. Really liked him.  

He startled when he heard his phone beeping, showing an incoming message. He skipped towards his bed, grabbing the phone. 

From: Kris

'Look.'

Tao opened the attached photo, feeling the warmth spread again after realizing it was a photo of himself, gaping at the fireworks that evening. It was a really beautiful photo.

To: Kris

'When did you take it?' 

From: Kris

'You were looking at the fireworks.'

Well, he already knew that. It made him feel kind of soft inside, but most of all it was embarrassing. What if anyone else saw it?

To: Kris

'Agg, erase it! It's embarrassing.'

From: Kris

'Don't think so, Panda.'

Tao suppressed a small laughter. As he was about to reply with a very convincing angry emoticon, another message appeared in front of him.

From: Kris

'Try to erase it tomorrow. Pick you up at 12, ok?'

His smile widened.

To: Kris

'Sure. Where're we going?'

From: Kris

'Lunch and walk around the city?'

To: Kris

'Perfect. I'll wait you here.'

From: Kris

'Goodnight, Panda.'

God, he was so corny. Not that he was complaining.

To: Kris

'Goodnight, Kris.'

He couldn't help but to grin at the screen, clutching the phone against his chest. That would be the very best day of his life. 

Or maybe not. 

He wasn't even fully awake when he felt it. The numb, persistent pain. His head felt heavy and clouded, and as soon as he took a deep breath a sting on his throat made him wince. No. Not today. Please. He cursed himself for staying outside, dripping wet, the night before. Although he didn't regret it. He groaned and finally opened his eyes, fumbling for his watch. It was still fairly early, and with another grumble he dropped back to bed. 

It wasn't until he felt a cold hand on his forehead that he realized he had fallen asleep. He jumped from his bed, startling his mom. He swallowed as the sudden movement made his headache worse, and his mother frowned. 

"Are you okay, honey? Come here, let me take your temperature." 

Tao sat back down. Knowing her, she wouldn't leave him alone until she knew he was fine. Luckily, he was barely warm, not even enough for it to be even considered a fever.  

"Why don't you stay in bed today?" she looked excessively worried over a cold , "I don't want you to get worse." 

"No!" his tone came out a little bit aggressive, and his mother raised and eyebrow. "I mean, I have somewhere to be. And it's just a cold. Don't worry." 

"Are you sure?" she insisted. Tao smiled reassuringly and nodded. 

She seemed to have sensed something was going on that morning. She smiled warmly, handling him a painkiller and wishing him good luck before leaving the house, letting him know she'd be running errands the whole day.

Feeling weirdly jittery, he begun to get ready for his date. With Kris. He was going on a date with Kris. He had kissed Kris the night before. And Kris had kissed him back. He still couldn't believe it. After he woke up, the day before had seemed unreal. A precious, sweet dream. It had taken him a couple of minutes to convince himself all that had actually happened. 

He took even longer than usual to get ready. He liked to take care of his appearance, to look attractive. But today it seemed impossible. He was paler than usual, his dark circles even darker. He finished getting ready and glanced one last time at the mirror. He looked good. Well, as good as someone with a cold could.

Five minutes before twelve, he grabbed his phone, wallet and house keys, stuffing them on his jacket's pockets. He sat on his kitchen table, fiddling anxiously. After what felt like hours, but was barely four minutes later, the bell rang. Tao rushed to the door, swinging it open. He was then face to face with a smiling, gorgeous-looking Kris. Tao beamed. But not even a second later, Kris' smile was gone, replaced by a worried frown.  

"Are you okay, Panda?" 

Oh, right. The cold. He nodded.

"Yeah, it's just a cold," he rolled his eyes fondly, closing the door behind him and finally taking a step forward. He grabbed the other boy's hand, squeezing it tightly. 

"Sure?" Kris held his other hand up against Tao's forehead. Then his eyes widened and his hand dropped, face turning and endearing shade of pink. Tao suppressed a chuckle as he turned around and begun walking, pulling Kris besides him. 

They had already walked a couple of blocks when he noticed his hand was still on Kris'. Blushing, he attempted to remove it, only to have the older boy tightening his grip. Tao looked up at him. 

"What? It's nice." Kris beamed. 

Yes, it was. He had expected the date to be awkward, honestly. But talking to Kris, being around him, holding his hand felt so incredibly natural. Like they were made for it.

 A few minutes later, they had arrived to their destination. The pizza place. Tao felt his stomach grumble. After all, he was usually hungry, and he hadn't had breakfast yet. Kris just chuckled, pulling him inside. They managed to find a pretty isolated table at the back of the place.  A surge of something very similar to happiness washed over him when they decided to order the same thing. Onion and cheese pizza. Sweet enough for Tao and spicy for Kris. It made him feel that it was an accurate representation of their relationship. They were different, but saw eye to eye on the important matters. Tao ended up eating most of the pizza by himself, just listening to the other boy talk. He could hear him talk for the rest of his life. It had been hard to get there, but once Kris had started to open up with him, it had been wonderful. They talked about the most random topics. He learnt about how Kris had met Lay, about his family. It was a sour topic for him, but he didn't seem to mind talking about it with Tao. He, on the other side, felt special. Kris trusted him. He also talked about his family. It hurt a bit. He hadn't told anyone anything about it, and it felt weird hearing himself say those things out loud. Kris' expression made his heart ache in the good way. He was just too warm and comforting. 

When they finished their meal, Tao suggested splitting up the bill. Kris gave him a fake hurt look, paying everything by himself. Tao frowned, pouting slightly. It was pretty amusing seeing Kris' reaction to his expression. His whole face relaxed and broke into a huge grin.

"If you keep making that face, I swear I'll want pay for every bill ever," he snickered.

Tao narrowed his eyes at him, smiling teasingly afterwards.

"Idiot. But thanks"

"You're welcome T-A-O," Kris pronounced every letter of his name teasingly, taking his hand and leading the way out of the place.

"And now... dessert?" 

Kris startled, widening his eyes at him, "What? Are you still hungry?"

Tao rolled his eyes, "I'm always hungry. Especially for desserts," he smiled wistfully.

Then, and idea crossed his mind. What if...? He looked back up at Kris, who was still staring at him, and attempted a cute pout. Once again, he rejoiced at the effect he had on Kris, dragging him towards an ice-cream stand. He ordered a chocolate one, rushing forward to pay before Kris could even attempt to take his wallet out. The older boy chuckled at his cheerful expression. He just loved chocolate, okay? Anything sweet, actually, but that was his main weakness. As they walked away from the stand, Tao realized Kris hadn't bought anything for himself. 

"Are you sure you don't want one? It's really good," he insisted. 

Kris pondered it for a moment, a mischievous glint crossing his eyes as he took a step forward, gingerly the ice-cream from Tao's upper lip away. The boy took a step backwards, partially because they were on a public place and someone could see them, but also because, once again, they were on a public place. He couldn't just grab Kris' shirt and kiss him senseless. And that small brush had made his whole body tingle with want. He was so gone. 

Kris smirked, as if reading his thoughts, and pulled him to keep walking. Tao was still smiling when they got to the cinema. They'd decided it was a good idea, it being a first date cliché and everything, so they stood outside, watching the billboards. 

"Should we watch that one?" Kris pointed towards a cheesy romcom, with way too much pink in the poster for it to be good. Tao practically laughed at him.

"Don't be an idiot. We're not girls." Kris smiled at the choice of words, quickly dismissing the choice.

They ended up queuing to see a much more promising-looking one. It was about samurais or something like that, and it looked bloody and violent enough to catch their attention. As Kris was fumbling for his wallet, Tao heard a couple of girls get in the line behind them. A while later, hushed whispers caught his attention.

"Look at his back! Oh my god."

"And he is really tall. He looks like a prince."

Tao glanced behind his shoulder, only to find the girls mesmerized by no other than Kris. His Kris. Jealousy ran through his body. He hated himself for it. He already knew the effect the other boy had on everyone, after all he had experienced it first hand at school. Besides that, Kris was on a date. With him. So logically, he had nothing to worry about. But he did. He frowned, looking straight forward. Finally, Kris finished getting their tickets, and turned around, smile waving at his partner's contrite expression.

"What's wrong?" 

Tao seemed to be taken out of a trance, "What? Oh, nothing." 

A muffled giggle was heard behind them, making Kris turn around, a snicker appearing on his face after noticing what the issue was. He took Tao's hand in his, squeezing slightly, reassuringly. From the corner of his eye, Tao spotter the girls' shocked looks, and couldn't help the low chuckle that left his lips. The other boy smiled down at him as they entered the theater. 

Actually, it ended up being a crappy movie, not that Tao cared about it. It was quite amusing the fact that nobody in the movie's production had the slightest idea about how martial arts worked. Did they honestly think it'd be that easy to cut someone's head off with a sword? And what the with the characters named after food? He got it, not everyone could know Japanese. Hell, didn't know a word either. But it was pretty damn obvious. He mentioned it to Kris, who seemed more interested in the conversation than in the movie. Luckily for him, Tao couldn't seem to stop talking. It was a habit that drove everyone around him crazy, but he couldn't help it. He caught Kris' eyes on him several times, feeling a current go through him every time. Tension between them seemed to be growing bigger, asphyxiating.  He tried paying attention to the movie, he really did. Despite being so bad, it was quite entertaining, and he was sure that if he was by himself he would be with his eyes glued to the screen. But he couldn't concentrate at all when Kris was just a few inches away, still clutching his hand, rubbing circles on it absentmindedly. When the lights were finally , he was feeling quite dizzy. And it had nothing to do with his cold. Stretching his sore muscles slightly, he finally dared to look back at Kris, a smile tugging on his lips. 

"So, what are we doing now, Captain?" he teased, the older boy smiling at the nickname. 

"I don't know. To the park?" he took his hand once again, a new gesture that had become so familiar for them in such a short time. 

To his surprise, Kris led them to the hidden spot where Tao liked to meditate. They sat, face to face, on the small bench. He had always wondered how could two people talk to each other for hours without getting bored. Now he understood. Their attempt to play "Twenty Questions" led to them to talk about anything and everything.

Kris ran in the mornings.

Tao had been practicing wushu since he was five.

Kris spoke four languages.

Tao could barely speak two.

Kris wasn't sure about what career to choose. 

Tao didn't want to think about it.

Kris' parents owned and important company. He wasn't sure of what. And didn't actually care.

Tao's mom was a businesswoman, his dad did something related to numbers?

Yifan was Kris' real name. He didn't like it, so when he met Lay his friend begun calling him Kris and it stuck.

Taozi. That's what Tao liked to be called. His father called him like that. Thinking about him made him really homesick. 

He told Kris that when his parents had divorced he had moved in with his mother only because she needed him more, especially when she had to move to another country. But he missed his dad, despite talking to each other every day. It made his mom sad, and he hated seeing her like that, but he needed to feel close with his dad too. 

As the evening progressed, they decided to wander around the city. Tao hadn't had much time to get to know it, as he had been busy since the day he moved in. It seemed that they had more things in common than what he had initially believed. Both of them were drawn to a clothes store, and spent quite a long time looking around and trying things on. Of course, Tao had noticed that Kris looked unfairly good for their date, but he hadn't stopped to consider him someone interested in fashion. 

Not long after, Tao spotted a small coffee shop. The sun had begun to set, despite it being still quite early, and the cozy shop radiated warmth and comfort. He really adored those sort of places. Mainly because usually they meant pastries, but also because he felt a little bit at home. Eyeing his face, Kris pulled him towards a small table at the back of the place. Surprisingly, it was mainly deserted, despite it being Sunday. Without giving it too much thought, Tao ordered a chocolate frappe, frowning slightly when his partner order a black coffee. He wasn't particularly fond of them, as they were strong and sour. Kris chuckled when he told him so. 

"Of course you wouldn't like them. You only like extremely sweet stuff," he leaned a little bit closer above the table, making Tao's breath speed up, "Maybe that's why your lips are so sweet."

The boy felt himself blush, and sight inwardly, averting his look. How could he react like this to such corny comments? He just wanted to throw his arms around Kris and stay there forever. He distracted himself taking a sip from his newly arrived drink.

"Yours aren't bad either."

He raised his eyes after not getting any answer. Kris was staring at him, an affectionate look on his eyes. He couldn't take it any longer. His heart felt as if it would leave his chest any time soon, and he felt like melting or bursting in flames or everything at the same time. He looked back at his drink, avoiding the intensity of the stare. And that's when he felt something soft and cool against his burning cheek. His skin tingled where Kris' lips had touch it, and he looked  back at the smug boy incredulously. Once he got over his momentary shock, he looked around, making sure nobody had seen them. Kris was still smiling when he turned back to him accusingly.

"What the hell, Kris?" he hissed. He wasn't really angry, more like slightly paranoid, "Don't do that in public! Someone could've seen us!" The other boy grinned, completely remorseless. Now Tao felt weird. Like, crazy in love weird. Like he finally had Kris, after all the doubts and tension and hurt but wasn't able to touch him and kiss him whenever he wanted just because of what random strangers would think of them. 

When they finished their orders, they decided to head back to Tao's house. He didn't want the day to end. It had been perfect in so many ways. But it was already pretty dark, and he wouldn't want his mom to forbid him to go out again just after their first date. First of many, he hoped. They laced their fingers on the walk back, not wanting to let go so soon. They slowed down to a stop when they got close to his house. They faced each other. Tao already missed him. He was so in love it kind of made him want to punch himself. But Kris' look made him think that maybe he wasn't the only one.

"Did you have a good time, my Panda?" his sole presence so close to him made him shiver.

"Of course!" he blurted, "I'd been waiting it for such a long time," he lowered his head, cheeks burning embarrassingly.

Then, he felt himself being pulled forwards, his chest coming into contact with Kris', whose arms embraced him warmly, protectively. 

"Believe me, I've waited more," Tao felt hot breath against his ear, making him shudder slightly.

The older boy pulled away, kissing his cheek and leaving a trace of small pecks along his jaw until he reached the corner of his mouth. He paused there, waiting for Tao's green light. A surprised sound left Kris' mouth when he lunched forward, grabbing his shirt's front and pulling him down for a kiss. The whole day Tao had had to restrain himself, to avoid doing just what he wanted to. And he couldn't take it any longer. Desperately, he and kissed and tasted the other's barely open lips, needing more of them, more of Kris. The sudden urge left him, leaving only the need. He brushed their lips together, feeling their texture, their warmth. Feeling so close to him. Only when his heart and lungs couldn't take it any longer he slowly separated their lips, joining their foreheads together. Breathing heavily, he could feel Kris' lips stretched into a smile against his skin, already missing them. 

When he felt his breath was as steady as it could get around Kris, he looked up at him sheepishly, "Sorry. I- hum- probably shouldn't have done that. You'll get ill too."

The other boy was now serious, although a small smile tugged the corner of his mouth. He pecked Tao's lips one, two, three times. It took all Tao's self-control not to kiss him back. 

"I don't care. At all," he his own lips, smiling back at him, "Sweet. As expected."

Tao giggled gleefully. Turning around, he opened the door, grinning, "See you tomorrow, Captain. Don't you dare get sick."

"See you tomorrow, Panda," Kris waved goodbye, smiling the most gorgeous smile Tao had ever seen.

Closing the door behind him, Tao slid against it, sitting down on the floor. He beamed, trying to convince himself that everything had been real. He wanted to keep every single moment of that day engraved on his memory forever. And knowing he would see Kris every day made everything so much better.