The two of them lay at opposite ends of the bed, a strange awkwardness filling the darkness. After a few moments and some deep breaths Tao decided to man up and he rolled into the middle of the bed, he tugged at the bottom of Kris’s shirt for Kris to move closer. When he did move Tao rested his head on Kris’s chest and smiled.

“Good night.” Tao said cutely into the material of Kris’s shirt.

“Night.” Kris said.

 He was conflicted. Being with Tao felt so right, but so did being with Lay.  If he and Lay were still considered partners then right now he would be cheating. That thought made him feel worse. But at the same time he felt like he was holding back with Tao. The more time he spent with Tao the more that he felt he owed him, and the more he came to like him too. With these thoughts swirling in his brain Kris tried to figure himself out. Realising it wasn’t working he instead took on a new approach. Kris pushed all thoughts from his head and instead focused on the slow breaths coming from Tao who was already asleep. Matching his breaths to Tao’s he finally drifted to sleep.

Tao was awoken three hours later by Kris. Sometime in the night he had rolled off of Kris’s chest but he was still very close to him. Kris was twitching slightly and whimpering, sweat starting to form on his brow.

Tao his arm gently and called out to him.  After a moment Kris’s eyes opened slowly and his panting started to reduce.

“Bad dream?” Tao asked.

“Yeah.” Kris said, sitting up to look at the time.  It was almost 4am.

“Do you get bad dreams a lot?” Tao asked.

“All the time.” Kris added quietly. It was clear that they bothered him but he was trying to hide it.

“Poor baby.” Tao said, pulling Kris into a hug. Tao could feel Kris’s fast heart beat against his own, pacing hard from his nightmare.

Kris appreciatively hugged Tao back, seeking the comfort that human contact offered after suffering a nightmare. For years he had learnt to cope by himself, but it was still so much more effective if someone was there to assure him that he was really okay.

When he started to feel Kris become calmer Tao moved backwards, breaking off the hug. However he was startled when Kris gripped him harder forcing him back forwards. Although unlike before, one of Kris’s hands slipped up to Tao’s head forcing him to look upwards so that when Kris also leant forward their mouths connected.

Lips brushed frantically against the others and Kris wasted no time slipping his tongue into the other’s mouth, seeking out more comfort, more assurance.  He tilted Tao’s head backwards to allow more access and didn’t break the kiss apart until he was sure that there was no part of Tao’s lips, mouth and tongue he hadn’t discovered.  Tao was left panting, dizzy and confused.

Kris chuckled at him and lay back down in bed. “Come on Tao it’s late. We have a lot of work to do so we need to sleep.”

Tao nodded and laid down, seemingly in shock. Eventually the two of them returned to sleep and didn’t wake again until almost 10am.

They awoke slowly, keeping their eyes shut and willing their brains to let them fall back into their slumber, all the while burying themselves in the comfort of the soft bed and each other’s warmth. Tao was the first to give up, stretching and getting out of bed to go the bathroom. Tao’s movement caused Kris to give up trying to sleep too. He adjusted the pillows so that he could sit up in bed and reached for the remote that sat on his bed side table alongside the clock. Turning on the TV and watching the news, Kris waited for Tao’s return.

Tao padded back in after a couple of minutes and climbed back into bed.

“Morning.” Kris greeted, pulling the quilt out of the way so that Tao could get into bed alongside him more easily.

“Good morning.” Tao replied pulling the quilt back over his body and watching the news too.

“What are you plans for today?” Kris asked after a short moment.

“This morning I have some paper work to sort through, I won’t need to leave home for that. However tonight is my reservation at SM with that Sehun boy.”

Kris didn’t know whether to be happy or nervous about Tao going into SM but his new technique of blocking of his thoughts before he could spend much time thinking about them took over and he quickly changed the direction that his brain was heading in.

“Boy? He’s not much younger than you.” Kris pointed out, smiling at Tao.

“Well he’s still younger and I’m sure my mentality is much older.” Tao defended, a pout trying to escape.

“Maybe so… when you’re working. However the rest of the time you act so young, especially when you pout.” Kris said, poking Tao’s bottom lip which was jutting out.

“Yeah? Well what about you? Aren’t you supposed to be about thirty? But look at you hanging around with me thinking you’re all young.”

Kris fake gasped as if he was offended “Thirty? Thirty? I’m barely past twenty!” Kris said poking Tao in the stomach which was a lot firmer than he expected. “And I hang around young people because my looks just refuse to age, I’d look out of place with people the same age as me.” Kris said, winking at Tao.

The two laughed and messed about until Tao’s stomach growled loudly, demanding to be fed.

The two of them went downstairs and had breakfast, trying to avoid the judging glances that the chef was giving them. All gossip reguarding Tao seemed to spread like fire through the staff. After they ate they went to their own rooms to get showered and dressed for the day then reconvened in the lounge. Kris sat in the corner of the sofa with a book while Tao seating himself further along, arranging paper work on the coffee table and making notes.

They both worked in content silence for a long while, both immersed in what they were doing. The only noise in the room was the turn of a page every now and then and the gentle scratching of a pen over paper as Tao worked.  Occasionally stealing secret glances at each other when the other wasn’t looking this is how the next few hours passed. Butlers would enter the room every now and then to ensure that both males had a drink or were not getting hungry, and after two hours Tao stood up and stretched.

The movement made Kris jump and he folded the edge of his page before settling his book down.

“Are you making good progress?” Kris asked, gesturing to the paper work that Tao had been working on diligently.

“Very good progress. Tonight when I speak to Sehun it should aid our case further.”

Kris’s lips turned into a thin line as he pursed them.

“I’d forgotten about that.” He said. Honestly, the whole thought made Kris nervous.

All too quickly Tao was leaving for SM and Kris was watching him leave from the doorway. Once Tao had disappeared out of view he shakily he closed the door and stood motionlessly in the hallway. After a few minutes a butler passed through.

Kris stepped forward and quietly called out. “Excuse me…”

The butler turned with a kind face and smiled at Kris. “Yes sir what can I do for you?”

“I don’t suppose you have anything alcoholic do you?” Kris asked warily, unsure of whether he had the right to make such requests in someone else’s house.

“Indeed we do. If you follow me I could show you the selection.”

Kris followed the butler through to the kitchen and then further on through a thin corridor which then lead off to the side and down some stairs into a cellar.

“This is where all of the alcohol is kept.” The butler announced.

Kris had been expecting a fridge, or perhaps a bar. Instead he found a whole cellar of alcohol. Wine bottles lined the walls, a bar stood at one of the walls and behind that fridges filled with other alcohols. The other side of the room had a wooden table and a few chairs around it, while there were a couple of stools at the bar.  Kris took out a crystal glass from a cabinet and poured himself a small glass of Rum after the butler had left, telling Kris to help himself to anything. He sat at the table and looked around the room, trying anything but to think of the current situation he was in. It was all too much for Kris to handle so he pushed it out and refused to acknowledge any of it.

Instead he sipped on the cool rum which left a burn in his throat as he swallowed. He imagined being rich and living in a house of this size with no problems at all to dwell on. Taking on this persona he admired the taste of the rum and estimated its price.  A fair amount probably. But all was well, he could afford this now.

Kris looked at the designer shirt he was wearing and pretended that he had bought it himself, he pretended this was his house, his rum. He drank the rest of the glass and stood quickly, a little too quickly, regained his balance and then set off for the bar, seeking out something else that he could taste. He eyed the wines, the vodkas, the rums, and then something else caught his attention. Soju. It was a brand he’d never seen nor heard of before and the bottle alone would cost thousands of won. 

Taking the whole bottle and a glass for soju he sat once again at the table.  He was just pouring his glass when he spotted something else in the corner below the stairs. In a small cupboard was a sound system which had speakers connected in each corner of the room.  Playing some relaxing music Kris sat down and drank the first glass of soju down in one shot. At first it made his face contort at the bitter burning flavour but once that had passed the after taste was pure bliss. His head started to go foggy and he was already forgetting what he had been forcing himself to forget.

Hours passed and he sat at that table, the number of drinks slowing down after he had reached the level of drunkenness he wanted to maintain. Of course it didn’t stay at that level, as the night progressed he got worse and worse and at half two he found himself back in his bedroom without a clue of what he had been doing for the past twenty minutes.  A bottle of wine sat on the side in his room and it appeared he had been drinking it from a soju glass.

“Hah! What a good idea past Kris had!” Kris slurred to himself, giggling as he poured himself another.  He finished it and dropped down onto his mattress, turning the TV on and convincing himself he was watching it. Ten minutes later he had no idea what channel was even playing on the TV so he turned it off again and stumbled aimlessly around his room. He heard movement in the corridor and peaked out. Tao had returned and seemed to be heading to his room.  Kris grinned and for some reason he checked himself in the mirror before heading out after Tao.

It was a pretty wasted effort seeing as how his vision was too blurry to focus on his reflection and he instantly forgot what he had looked like. It must have been a habit instilled into him after years of maintaining his appearance.  He walked after Tao and entered the room without knocking.

Kris stood in confusion for a few minutes and stared around the room. He was sure Tao had come in here. Eventually he noticed the clothes spread out over an arm chair in the corner and realised Tao must have gone to shower in his en suite. His suspicions were confirmed as he neared the bathroom door and heard the water cascading down.

He turned and closed the bedroom door which he had left open behind him, then turned the lock with a click.

Stalking forward he removed his shirt, trousers and undergarments and put them over the armchair before quietly entering the bathroom and slipping into the shower behind Tao. 

I have been dying to do this update! I really want to continue on with this story but I am so busy. Seriously sooo busy. As well as returning to my usual lessons and getting myself a summer job I have also offered to help somebody else with their fanfic on AFF. It takes up a lot of my time and I spent several nights planning and writing small parts of this chapter. 

What are you guys thinking of it so far? You can all sense what's coming right? I've been planning it in my head when I've had the time to think, which is mostly when I'm showering so yeah... the showering part kind of slipped into it some how. :P 

If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to leave them below and if you've read this much without doing so... PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! 

Thank you all for reading this far and staying so loyal. Sarang habnida~

-1990stalker-