Serenade

Jongdae likes to sing. In his school, SM Institution of Music, his classmates all love his voice. Even some of the best singers in the school praise Jongdae’s strong vocal ability. There is one person who thinks he might be one of Jongdae’s biggest fans though. Jongdae’s newest friend, Huang Zitao loves the sound of Jongdae’s voice so much he finds himself wishing the older would sing to him all the time.

Another thing that Zitao loves about Jongdae is…well everything. He is funny, cute, has an amazing smile and laugh, and he’s caring. In short, Zitao just really loves Jongdae. Of course, Zitao has never told Jongdae how he feels. The boy is too afraid to hear Jongdae’s answer.

However, Zitao doesn’t know that Jongdae has also been eyeing him for a while, watching him as he practiced his martial arts in the gym (Zitao does do music related things, too, though, since SM is a music school) and admiring him when they visit each other for help. Zitao is everything Jongdae would want—tall, handsome, and strong, yet quiet, cute, and childish at the same time.

Yet he finds it hard to get his feelings out. He wants to, but whenever he tries, he gets either interrupted or hesitant. Thus, he comes up with a plan to confess; plans that will not allow anyone to interrupt him and would be completely school appropriate. Well…mostly school appropriate.

“Hyung, you’re acting weird.” Jongdae’s best friend, Kim Minseok, comments before his plan begins. “Are you high or something?”

Jongdae laughs. “No. You know that’s only Chanyeol.”

“Then why are you so giddy?” Minseok asks. “You’re never this happy.”

“It’s the same reason you’re so happy when you see Lu-hyung.” Jongdae replies casually.

Minseok blinks. “You like someone?”

“DUH!” Jongdae wants to hit Minseok across the head for not noticing sooner. “Dude, I’ve liked him for like…ever. Are you that dense? Or maybe you’re spending too much time with Lu-hyung. I’m going to confess today.”

“Whoa dude.” Minseok says. “Someone should have informed their best friend.”

“I thought it was obvious.” Jongdae responds nonchalantly. “I mean, I’m always talking about him. He’s over at my house when you call.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Back the hell up.” Minseok puts down his fork. “You’re saying you like Zitao?”

Jongdae nods.  “Yup; I’m gonna serenade him in class. I asked the teacher and everything.”

“Damn. That’s gonna be interesting.” Minseok mumbles. “Better than the confession Lu Han gave me…”

“Yah, don’t say that.” Lu Han’s voice scares Minseok as his boyfriend sits next to him. “My confession was fabulous. You even cried.”

“D-don’t say that!” Minseok shouts.

“You mean you haven’t told Chenchen?” Lu Han questions. “Well, Minseokkie cried after I confessed. I thought I said something wrong.”

“Great. I’ll keep that in mind when I confess.” Jongdae says. “If he cries, I’ll know he likes me back.”

“Good luck, Jongdae-ah.” Lu Han comments. “I know Zitao will say yes, though.”

“What the heck?! How do you know about all this but I don’t?” Minseok groans. “Am I like, out of the loop or something?”

“I heard it from Baekhyun.” Lu Han says. The bell rings before Minseok can comment. Lu Han pulls Minseok too his feet and winks at Jongdae. “Good luck out there.”

“Thanks hyung.” Jongdae smiles and stands up, throwing his uneaten food away.

He heads off to his next class and takes his seat. He is one of the only people in the room besides the teacher. He decides to check if he actually can do this without getting in trouble. The teacher says of course—just as long as it does not go too far. Jongdae smiles and thanks the teacher. He sits back down just as Zitao comes in and sits next to him.

“Are you ready for today?” Jongdae asks conversationally. “You have to perform your raps, remember?”

Zitao nods. “I’m done everything; I memorized the lyrics. Everything is great. What about your project?”

“I think everything will do perfectly.” Jongdae smiles at Zitao. The look in Jongdae’s eyes make Zitao confused; it was a look Zitao never seen before.

Everyone else files into the room. The teacher starts class by asking everyone if they are finished with their lyric writing projects. Then one by one, he starts calling names to perform. Jongdae was to sing his songs fifth. Zitao would do his songs last.

The songs before Jongdae’s are pretty good—songs called ‘Honesty’ and ‘Orgel/Music Box’ sang by Kim Jonghyun; songs called ‘Your Name’ and ‘In Your Eyes’ sang by Lee Jinki, and lots of other songs that are pretty nice sounding. Finally, it is Jongdae’s turn to sing his two songs.

His first song has the title of ‘My Turn to Cry’. The other students love it. Naturally, since he is apparently incredibly good at putting feeling into his songs. He pauses before he sings his second song and glances over at his teacher, who smiles.

Then Jongdae looks straight at Zitao as he says, “This next song is called ‘Lucky’. And I’d like to say, it’s dedicated to Huang Zitao.”

The students ‘ooo’ at Zitao, who is flustered at what he just heard. Jongdae smiles and offers his hand to Zitao. Zitao hesitantly takes it and stands up, following Jongdae, who has no plans of letting Zitao’s hand go, to the middle of the room. When Jongdae starts to sing, Zitao is not sure what to feel. He smiles at some of the lyrics, while Jongdae’s stare flicks from the students watching to Zitao’s eyes.

Zitao actually feels like crying because if the lyrics to the song are written especially for him, that is the sweetest thing he has ever heard. The smile on his face is so vibrant he is surprised Jongdae is not blind yet.

“So lucky my love, oh-whoa~ So lucky to have you, oh-whoa~ So lucky to be your lo~ove…I am…mmm.” Jongdae finishes the song off. Their classmates clap. Zitao tries to move back to his spot, but Jongdae pulls him back. “I’m not done with you, Tao.”

“What…?” Zitao looks back at Jongdae in confusion.

“There’s a reason why this song is dedicated to you.” Jongdae says. “And it’s because…I love you.”

“Y-you what…?” Zitao stammers.

“I love you.” Jongdae repeats. “And don’t you dare make me say that a third time.”

“Y-you love me…?” Zitao is surprised, obviously.

“I told you not to make me say it again.” Jongdae says. “But yes. I love you. Why? Do you not like me that way?”

Zitao shook his head. “It’s not that…I do like you that way. I’m just…surprised I guess.”

“So…you do love me?”

Zitao nodded. “I love you too.”

There is a mixture of ‘awes’ and ‘ews’ coming from the other students. Jongdae stares at Zitao. Zitao stares back. One of their classmates starts to chant for them to kiss, and soon everyone is chanting for them to kiss. Jongdae stares at Zitao again as if asking ‘do you wanna do this?’ but Zitao just pulls Jongdae up and kisses him without hesitation. Jongdae kisses back and their classmates cheer. Jongdae, getting high on just one kiss from Zitao, pulls back shortly.

“Is it okay if we…?” he starts awkwardly.

Their teacher hesitates. But to Jongdae’s surprise, he lets them go. “Go on; I know how it feels to want to kiss someone so badly. Just be back before Zitao’s turn.”

“Really?” Jongdae stares at his teacher in shock. “Thanks, saem!”

With that, he drags Zitao off while the teacher laughs in amusement. After a moment, he calls the next person up and Jongdae and Zitao are out of the door in a second, unable to separate from each other. They end up in the staff bathroom where they locked the door and stared at each other for a while.

“You’re not joking, right?” Zitao asks seriously. “You seriously love me?”

Jongdae kisses Zitao lovingly. “Does that answer your question?”

“Well it was nice.” Zitao admits. “But I’d like to hear an honest confession.”

Jongdae smiles at Zitao. “Alright. Well here goes nothing… Ever since I first seen you, I knew that I wanted to date you. I wanted to talk to you. But you looked a little scary. So I watched you practice your martial arts every morning. The day you spotted me and told me to come in, I was incredibly happy. When we became friends, I was elated. I wanted to become closer than just friends though. In short; I’ve loved you since I first seen you and I’m sincerely happy you accepted my serenade.”

“That song…” Zitao says as Jongdae steps a bit closer. “It was written specifically for me and about me…?”

Jongdae nods as he pecks Jongdae’s lips. “I honestly feel really lucky to be next to someone so handsome. I’m amazed you even noticed my presence that day by the gymnasium. Normally, no one I like notices me. I’m just a nobody.”

Zitao brushes some hair out of Jongdae’s face. “You’re not a nobody, hyung. You’re cute, funny, sweet, an amazing singer. I don’t see why nobody would like you. You’re everything I want in a person.”

“Most people only like me for my voice.” Jongdae admits. “I don’t think they like my height—a lot of the people here are taller than me. Or at least all of the guys are.”

“Don’t be silly.” Zitao says. “I think short people are adorable. I think you’re adorable. That’s why I love you.”

“I love you too, Tao.” Jongdae whispers, hugging the taller. 

word count: 1,602

A/N: When I wrote this on paper, it was much shorter. So be glad I lengthened it for you all. Even though some of it may have been useless. I'm sorry. ;-; Also sorry for my terrible pretense. I still at it. T_T I'm on a roll with this Taochen stuff. Because there needs to be more Taochen on this site! Right?! YEAHHH! -crickets- Ahem, sorry. I think I'm too obsessed with Taochen. I'll go now. Bye.