Title: Of Crushes and Hiccups
Genre/Rating: FLUFF, K+
Pairing: Luna/Tao
Summary: In which Tao may have a slight crush on Luna...
Chapter Song: K.will's Day One [http://youtu.be/0VeYG5hgq5Q]

Having a crush is like having a hiccup. There are brief moments and interactions that make your face flush and your heart flutter, making you feel almost positive that the other party likes you. And then it's followed by a moment of rest in which those positive feelings of having feelings returned disappear. Like a hiccup, you think those feelings will soon go away, but it's stubborn. It stays, and right when you think it's gone, it comes back once more.
Tao was having a little hiccup. Okay, so maybe it wasn't so little of a hiccup. In fact it was a rather long and chronic one that he harbored since he first moved to Korea.
Flashback
Tao sighed as he looked up at the large and daunting gates of the high school. This was the 5th time Tao moved within the past four years. His dad's company always had their family moving around, so Tao was used to being the new kid. However, this was the first time his dad got relocated outside of China. He looked around him and saw small, pale-skinned Korean girls giggling while talking to each other and somewhat scrawny and just as pale Korean boys loudly talking about some sport. 
This was the first time he was nervous. All those other times Tao moved, it was fine because it was still somewhat of a home turf. They were at least Chinese. Here, he was an outcast. Tao barely spoke korean. His dad made him learn as much Korean as possible in the past 6 months of being notified of a move. But learning a language isn't that easy. Even with a tutor who helps him practically every single day. When Tao told Minseok about his worries about this whole Korean school business, he just replied with a a cheery, "Don't worry, you'll be fine and speak excellent Korean in no time." Tao shook his head. His tutor was very wrong. It was not going to be fine. Tao felt like he might faint as he walked into the school building and waited inside the office.
He looked around and saw what looked like all the teachers working at the tables. It was pretty loud in there, which Tao thought was strange. One of the lady teacher was tugging at her pantyhose while absentmindedly chatting on the phone, another guy teacher (probably PE coach judging his training suit) was obnoxiously flirting with the lady teacher next to him (who was trying her absolute best to ignore him), and another one was sleeping on his chair with his mouth wide open. Tao tried to stifle his laugh at the sleeping teacher. The glasses were about to fall off of his face and his mustache was quite interesting. The desk was pretty messy too and Tao barley made out a nameplate that read Choi Siwon. The teacher suddenly got up and looked around in confusion. 
"Hey, you! What are you doing there?" the previously sleeping teacher asked. Tao just bowed and said in the best korean accent he can possibly muster, "I'm Huang Zitao. I'm a transfer student."
"Oh, right," the teacher replied, "I'm your homeroom teacher Mr. Choi. Can I get your papers please?"
Tao nodded as he handed his folder. Mr. Choi just looked through it and said, "Exactly how much Korean can you speak?"
Tao blinked, "Not that well."
Mr. Choi just nodded, hands absentmindedly brushing his stache, "We're gonna have to get you a tutor or something. Thankfully, I have a Chinese speaking girl in my class. She can help you out."
Mr. Choi then stood up and started walking out. Tao just stared at the retreating teacher who just turned around and said, "Aren't you coming?"
Tao quickly followed his teacher to their classroom. 1-2. Tao started getting nervous. He was going to have to deal with 20 Minseok hyungs... all at the same time! Even the thought made Tao's head spin. (All jokes, somewhat. Tao actually really likes Minseok hyung on the inside. Deep in there somewhere.)
They were already at the door and Mr. Choi told Tao to stay outside. Tao remained alone, outside the classroom, heart beating a million times a minute. He was practicing his pronunciation over and over again in his head. Hi, my name is huang Zitao. But call me Tao. Hi. Hello. What's up. What? Tao couldn't help but want to be cool in front of his hopefully new friends. The door then opened and Mr. Choi said to come in. After taking a big breath he walked in and saw 20 bright little heads staring at him with curious eyes.
"Introduce yourself to the class," Mr. Choi said. 
"Um," Tao nervously stuttered, "I-I'm Huang Zitao. C-Call me Tao. Nicetomeetyou." 
He heard some snickering but Tao just ignored it as Mr. Choi sat him next to some small boy with black hair.
"Sup, I'm Amber," the boy said. Tao was shocked for a many number of reason. One, because the kid spoke to him in Mandarin and two, because the boy had a really girly voice which meant three, the person next to him was a girl.
"You speak Mandarin?" Tao asked, shocked. Amber nodded and whispered, "Talk later. Don't wanna get caught by Mr. Choi."
Tao just nodded and paid attention to the teacher who was droning on at the front.
"Alright, class," Mr. Choi said, "Be on your best behavior, as per usual." And he left the classroom. The second the door closed everyone jumped out of their seats and scrambled around to talk to people. Even the little boy... er girl next to him got up and left Tao alone. He just awkwardly sat there by himself.
"Yo, China kid," someone said. Tao looked up and saw a couple boys walk up to him and smirk. The boy who seemed to be the leader said, "Can you even understand me, you Chinese boy?"
Tao twitched and said, "Please stop."
The leader kid smiled mockingly mimicked with an accent, "Please stop. Help, I can't speak korean."
The boys started laughing and Tao got up, clenching his fists. They were about to fly, but someone already beat him to it.
A rolled up book came out of nowhere as it hit each of the three boys' heads. 
"Yah, Byun Baekhyun, you're in no position to make fun of him. Last time I checked your Korean grade was below par," a girl's voice chimed. And that's when Tao saw her. Light was radiating onto her, making her face glow brightly. Her long brown hair was gloriously cascading down her small back. Her round and warm chocolate orbs were shining brilliantly and the most beautiful smile was on her face. If Tao wasn't staring with his mouth open, he sure was now. 
"Ow, Sunyoung, just because you're the class representative, you think you can hit us like this?" Baekhyun whined, rubbing the top of his head. Luna tsked at him, "Then why don't you become class representative?"
Baekhyun grumbled and his two friends trailed him back to their seats.
"Don't mind Baekhyun," Luna said smiling at Tao, "He's the class clown. Don't take him too seriously."
Tao just stared, mesmerized. He just nodded as Luna stuck her hand out. 
"I'm Park Sunyoung. I'm class 1-2 representative. Nice to meet you, Zitao" 
Tao stared at her hand until he realized she was looking at him funny for not shaking. He firmly grabbed her tiny, soft hand and said, "Y-you can call me Tao."
She grinned and nodded, "Okay, Tao." She then turned around to go back to her seat. He just dreamily stared after he. 
That was the first hiccup.
End flashback. 
That was year one of high school. Since then, Tao talked to Luna here and there. But she was always surrounded by guys. And it was so obvious as to why. She was freaking perfect. At least in Tao's eyes. He still remembers the second hiccup. It was during the study exam periods of freshman year. Tao was freaking out because Korean was so much harder than he anticipated and his usual tutor Amber was too busy catching up on her math. So Tao just stared at his textbook in grief of most likely failing the exams. Even after the extra study hours ended and everyone went home, Tao went to the library in hopes of at least barely passing the class. And then low and behold, Luna appeared like a beautiful angel, radiating as per usual. She looked surprised to see Tao there so late so he just shyly talked about how screwed he was in Korean. And the angel just sat and helped him with Korean for one whole hour. One whole hour with Luna! Tao's heart was soaring while Luna was teaching him. It was the worst Korean studying Tao had ever done, retaining absolutley no information except for how nice Luna smelled. 
Of course, he ended up failing.  Well, nearly failing. He thankfully just barely passed the Korean part of the portion. But it was better than a complete fail. 
Ever since then there have been a couple hiccups here and there. An accidental brushing of fingers here and 10 second conversation there. The way his name deliciously rolling off her tongue, the way she cheered for him when he did his Wushu performance, the way her eyes sparkled when she sings. Yes, Tao was completely smitten by the small girl.
Now, entering his third and final year of high school, Tao's little crush only grew stronger. 
"You're staring at her again," Kyungsoo, his best friend, said while shaking his head. 
"No I wasn't!" Tao replied defensively, embarassed that he got caught. It was self study time and Luna just happened to be sitting in front of him diagonally, giving Tao the perfect angle to see her face. His friend just clucked at him, "Honestly, Tao. It's amazing that she doesn't know. You like oogle at her every single day. Just tell her you like her. I'm getting tired of hearing your lovesick whining."
"Hey!" Tao said, smacking Kyungsoo on the arm, "I do am not lovesick."
Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say Tao."
"What are you cool cats talking about?" Amber asked as she turned around from her seat.
"N-Nothing!" Tao said quickly. Amber was Luna's best friend, so Tao had to make sure that Amber would never find out.
"Oh, you know, Tao's typical lovesick woes." Kyungsoo replied nonchalantly. An evil smile formed on Amber's face, "Yeah, Sunyoung's new haircut does look good on her, huh?"
Tao absentmindedly nodded his head until he realized what she said.
"Wait, what!?" Tao said,"No. How did you? I mean... what in the..."
Amber cheekily grinned, "I have sixth sense, dude. But don't worry. Kyungsoo and I will help you out."
Kyungsoo gave Tao a cheeky grin as well and Tao gulped. He had a bad feeling about this. 
Cut to a group of them standing outside the amusement park. Amber rounded up a bunch of friends to go on "an exciting amusement park adventure" together. They were mostly people in their class, like Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Chen, and some of the girls from the younger class Krystal and Sulli. Of course Luna was there too, looking fabulous in a simple white v-neck and blue jeans. How was it that the sun always found it's way to shine on her face? Everyone was happily buzzing while waiting for the park gates to open. Kyungsoo put his arm around Tao and said, "This is your chance, buddy. When an opportunity comes, take it, okay?"
Tao shook his head, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Kyungsoo just winked at him, "You got this, big boy."
The gates finally opened and the group of friends entered the park. They went to a bunch of little rides, like the teacups and the viking because the younger girls were apparently really scared of roller coasters. While deciding where to go next, Luna piped up, "Can we go to a roller coaster?"
"No!" Krystal whined, "I'm not going! You guys go by yourselves, I'll wait here."
Sulli nodded, "Me too!"
"Yeah, I'm not feeling a roller coaster, either," Kyungsoo said, "I think I'm getting too old."
"Oh yeah," Amber added, "I'm scared of heights."
Luna narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean, Amber? We rode roller coasters together all the time!"
"I'll go with you!" Tao suddenly said. 
"Perfect," Kyungsoo quickly said, "Tao and Luna can go ride the roller coaster while the rest of us go ride something else."
"Wait," Chanyeol said, "I wanna ride the roller coaster, too."
"No, you don't," Amber said whiel glaring at the boy, "You don't like roller coasters, remember?"
"What are you talking about?" Chanyeol said, confused, "I love r-"
Chen quickly covered the boy's mouth, "Chanyeol isn't feeling very well today. AHAHAA."
"Anyway, we'll catch up with you guys later!" Kyungsoo said as he pushed Tao toward Luna. Tao flushed. Was this the great plan that Kyungsoo was talking about?! He shook his head in embarrassment. He looked at Luna and she just smiled at him, "Well, I guess it's just you and me! Let's go!"
Tao's heart warmed as he followed Luna to the roller coaster line. It was apparently the scariest roller coaster at the park and Luna kept gushing about how excited she was. It was only when they were in line and Tao saw the intimidating roller coaster that he realized what he got himself into. He gulped. Tao hated roller coasters. He started freezing up the closer and closer they got to the front of the line while Luna's excitement just kept growing. 
"Tao, are you okay?" Luna asked when they were at the front of the line, "You look a little pale."
Tao just shook his head and forced a smile, "Don't worry. I'm fine. This is my excited face."
Luna laughed, "You are quite strange."
It was finally their turn and Tao took a deep breath before sitting down on the seat and getting the bar tightened. 
"This is so exciting!" Luna squealed next to Tao, who was trying to remember to breathe. Just breath, Tao. Calm thoughts. Calm thoughts. The roller coaster suddenly moved and Tao jumped a bit. Oh goodness, it was starting. Tao tightly held on to the lap bar and looked straight ahead. And then he made the dumbest decision of looking down.
"OH MY GOSH!" Tao yelled. 
"WHOO!" Luna yelled in response. And then off they went, speeding here and zooming there. Tao screamed off the top of his lungs, knuckles white from holding onto the bar so tightly. The ride finally came to and end and Tao just stared striaght ahead like a zombie. Luna giggled, "That was SO much fun!! Huh, Tao?"
He gave a lopsided smile and nodded, "It was real fun."
They got off of the roller coaster chair and walked out. Tao almost died on that ride today. Was it worth it? he looked over at Luna who was radiantly smiling, "Thanks for coming with me, Tao! I'm glad I got to ride it."
Tao goofily smiled back. Yeah, it was worth it. 
"Hey," Luna said, looking at her phone, "They're waiting for the water show to start. Who knows how long that's gonna take."
"Let's go ride something else," Tao said, energy suddenly coming back up. 
"Should we?" Luna asked excitedly. 
And then. Just at that freaking moment... they passed by the haunted mansion.
"OOOH, Tao! Let's go in that!" Luna squealed, pointing at the haunted mansion. Tao twitched. He absoultley HATED ghosts and haunted stuff. 
"A-are you sure you want to go in there?" Tao asked, "It's scary..."
Luna nodded while grinning, "I wanna go. Please? Pretty please?"
Tao just turned pale again while staring at Luna's puppy eyed face and the dark and haunted mansion.
"Fine," Luna said dejectedly, "We can just do something else."
Tao sighed and took a deep breath before saying, "Let's go, Sunyoung-ah!"
She perked up, "Really!?"
Tao forced a smile, "Uh-huh."
Now let's go before I change my mind, Tao thought. He bravely marched to the house, a happy Luna trailing next to him. The second they stepped through the door, Tao heard bloodcurling screams and immediately froze on the spot. 
"Don't worry, Sunyoung, I'll protect you from them," Tao mustered bravely while standing in front of her to show that he'll guard her.
"Ummm," Luna said, standing behind Tao, "That's great and all, but you're not moving."
Tao was standing in a protecting position in front of Luna... but remained frozen. He just laughed, "Haha, why can't I move? This is strange."
Luna started pushing him from behind, "Come on Tao, let's go in!"
And so Tao slowly started walking into the dark house. They came to a long dark corridor and Tao gulped as they walked across it. This was not good. This was not good. This was not
"AH!!!!!" Tao yelled as a dummy doll fell from the ceiling and onto Tao's foot. Luna laughed as Tao backed up against the wall. She went to grab his hand and pulled him to continue along the trail. By this time, Tao was too spooked to even realize that Luna was holding his hand. He was hyperventilating while looking cautiously at every corner for monsters. They went into so many different rooms, each one filled with a stupid monster that would scare the bejesus out of Tao and had him screaming like a girl. After like the 5th room, Tao swore his dark circles got even darker. This was just too tiring. You know what was worse? Luna didn't scream at all. She just laughed at his reactions. Tao twitched as they entered what seemed like the final corridor. Oh my goodness, finally. This nightmare was almost over. 
Tao suddenly heard a deep growl. He gulped and turned around. A scary looking wolf demon was standing behind him and started chasing toward him. Tao screamed as he pulled Luna's hand and ran as fast as he could toward the exit. Almost there. Almost there. 
The bright light hit Tao's face and he almost cried of joy. His eyes were still twitching and his brain was mush from all the "excitement" he had in there. He heard Luna giggled, "Are you okay, Tao?"
Tao just walked like a zombie to a nearby bench and sat down. He looked straight ahead at nothing and sat there like a vegetable.
"Tao?" Luna said, waving her hand in fornt of his face. She smiled and said, "Wait right here, okay? Don't move!" Tao mechanically nodded his head. Oh man. It was over now. Not that there was a big chance for Luna to like him in the first place, but even that small chance was now forever gone. Especially after this haunted mansion experience. What kind of guy screams way more than the girl? Tao felt like a mad man as he started laughing at his situation. This was all Kyungsoo's fault. A little thought bubble image of Kyungsoo winking at him popped up which Tao angrily waved away. Wait till he gets his hands on that tiny kid. 
"Here," a voice suddenly said. A cotton candy was shoved in front of Tao's face. He looked up and saw Luna smiling while holding it out, "Here, take it."
Tao just blinked as he took it, "Thanks."
Luna just sat next to him on the bench and said, "You should've told me if you didn't want to go in the haunted mansion."
Tao shook his head, "But you wanted to go on it."
Luna smiled, "True, but I'd rather have you conscious with me than unconscious. Why didn't you just say something?"
Tao looked at her and wondered if this was the moment. You know, if all his chances were probably out the window, might as well just go all in. There was nothing more to lose (his pride was already out the door.) With a determined look Tao said, "Because I like you. And I wanted to do what you wanted to do, to make you happy."
Luna blinked as formed an o shape. 
"Truthfully," Tao continued, "I don't even like roller coasters. But I wanted to be with you so I went on it. I've liked you ever since you first stood up for me back in our first year. Those feelings never changed throughout the years and even till this moment, I still like you."
There was silence as Luna just looked down at her hands and Tao looked at his cotton candy. He finally worked up the courage to look at her. "Say something," he said. Luna looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye and said, "What do you think I'm gonna say?"
Tao was taken aback, "What?"
She had a mischevious grin, "What do you think I'm gonna say?"
"Uhh... well," Tao mumbled. And then at that moment Luna leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. Her soft and luscious lips were on his cheek. As quickly as it happened, she pulled away and smiled, "I like you, too."
Tao's heart was beating a million beats per second and he had the widest smile, it almost hurt. Luna giggled, "I was wondering when you would finally confess."
Tao looked at her in shock, "You knew?! Amber told you huh? I knew I shouldn't have trusted her."
Luna laughed, "No. Do you really think I couldn't feel your stares? I thought they were going to burn holes into my face or something."
Tao flushed red as he learned that his crush on her was not so discreet after all. Luna's phone rang and she started talking to what sounded like Amber.
"They're done. We're meeting them at the food court." Luna said with a grin. Tao nodded as they headed toward the area. He let out an awkward cough as he grabbed her small hand. Luna giggled as she laced their fingers and she leaned toward him. Tao never felt so happy in his life. Turns out that Tao's little hiccups were never meant to go away. He looked down and smiled at his girl. 
"So," Luna said, fingers intertwined with Tao's, "For our next date, can we go bungee jumping?"

A/N: Hi guys! Here's a random short super FLUFFY thing I wrote while listening to K.will's song. It was semi inspired by Tao's experience at the haunted mansion on exo showtime. Anyway, hope you guys liked it. I know I say this like every time... but I PROMISE the next one is CHANYEOL AND LUNA! I PROMISE!!! Hehe, please be patient. Thanks for reading! Please drop a comment! :)