Chapter 26

“I-I’m sorry...Yixing...” Minseok stammered, quickly moving to sit up, his face beet red. “Are－are you okay?”

Yixing managed to nod. He sat up as well. “I’m fine... More importantly...it looked like you hit your arm on the table. Are you okay?”

Minseok rubbed his neck. “It’s...nothing serious. Just a bruise...”

Yixing hummed and reached for Minseok’s arm. “Let me see it. If it hurts, I can help.”

Minseok pulled his arm away from Yixing roughly, avoiding the younger male’s eyes. “I said I’m fine!” he stood up abruptly. “I’m going for a walk.”

Yixing blinked, obviously clueless about what just happened. Yifan was laughing in amusement, obviously enjoying what just happened. Joonmyeon had to hit him to shut him up. And threaten him with something through a whisper that caused him to turn red. Zitao chuckled slightly.

“Hmm...” Yixing mumbled. “I wonder if I did something wrong...Min-hyung hasn’t reacted like that since we met. The same thing happened...he got hurt and I tried to help him but he just slapped me away...” his speech was switching from Korean to Mandarin every so often.

Yifan started laughing again. “You still are really naive, aren’t you, Xing?”

Yixing looked over at Yifan confusedly. “Eh? What do you mean, Yifan-hyung?”

“You didn’t even realize it when I liked you back in high school.” Yifan said. “God, you’re so slow.”

Joonmyeon seemed shocked hearing Yifan say he had liked another person before him. Speechless really. He stared at his boyfriend as if afraid the older male would suddenly try to get close to Yixing. Jongdae chuckled off to the side at his brother.

“I had to spell it out to you in order for you to understand, didn’t I?” Yifan continued. “And even then you didn’t get it.”

Yixing blushed slightly. “H-hey...don’t bring that up...you’re in front of your current boyfriend. How do you think he feels?”

Yifan shrugged. “The past was the past. It’s not like I still like you anymore anyways.” Realizing what he said sounded rude, he quickly added. “I-I meant not in the way I did before. You’re still a very good, albeit a bit dense, friend.”

“S-so...why did you bring up our past relationship so abruptly then...?” Yixing was back to being confused. Yifan hit his head on the table. “Hyung...? C’mon, what’s wrong? I don’t get it...”

“He’s obviously trying to say Minseok-ge likes you.” Zitao said finally. “You’ve been with the guy since he came, yet you still haven’t noticed? Maybe you are still just as slow as you were before. I remember what Yixing-hyung is talking about, too...and you certainly were a hard fight for him.”

Jongdae hit Zitao lightly on the arm. “Hey. Yixing’s probably just not used to it. Stop calling him slow. You’re the one who took quite a bit to realize my feelings for you, let alone your own feelings for me, yourself.”

Zitao blushed. “B-but, hyungg.” he whined. “It’s truee!”

“Oh, now he shows Zitao his true colors to Jongdae.” Yifan said. “Have fun deciding things with him, Jongdae.”

“A-anyways...” Yixing said. “How could Min-ge like me? He’s never showed any signs of it...”

“Doesn’t Minseok have his own place?” Yifan questioned.

Yixing nodded. “He likes to stay over here a lot though. Even though its smaller than his place. I never understood it. I figured maybe he was just lonely.”

“Does he frequently ask you to go out?” Zitao asked.

“Well yeah...but isn’t that what friends do?” Yixing rubbed his head.

Zitao hummed. “You really are naive aren’t you? You should find Minseok-hyung and talk to him...since I’m sure you feel the same deep inside.”

Yixing blushed. “W-well...I wouldn’t say that...”

“Just go. We’ll watch over your place.” Yifan said. He winked and added a quick, “Good luck.”

Yixing reluctantly stood up. “I...I’ll be back soon.”

“Take your time.” Joonmyeon said, smiling slightly. “It’s nice to find new love after so long.”

Yixing blushed again and nodded. “Okay... Don’t do anything stupid, please.”

With that, Yixing left. Jongdae looked at Zitao. “Hey, hey. You said you’d take me to show you your wushu. I’m sure Joon-hyung and Yifan-hyung can watch the house while we’re gone, right?”

Zitao laughed. “Now look who’s being childish.”

Jongdae hit Zitao. “Still you for pointing that out. Don’t make me threaten you.”

“Threaten me how? I’m the one who knows martial arts.” Zitao said, crossing his arms.

Jongdae smiled deviously and leaned up to whisper something in Zitao’s ear. “So? Care to repeat what you just said?” the smaller male chuckled.

Zitao bit his lip, a blush creeping up his neck. “N-no...I’ll take you to the martial arts place I used to go to then...”

Jongdae smiled and grabbed Zitao’s arm. “Great! I’m glad you understand. Let’s go!”

Yifan blinked as Jongdae and Zitao moved towards the door. “That kid...is really manipulative, isn’t he? I hope he didn’t get that from you, Joonmyeon.”

Joonmyeon laughed. “He’s the youngest, what do you expect? If he wants something, or doesn’t want something, he’ll find a way to get his way. I’m sure Zitao is the same.”

Yifan rubbed his temples. “Don’t make me think about how he gets his way. It makes me want to puke.”

Joonmyeon laughed. “I guess everyone has their own ways of getting what they want. As long as they’re happy together, I’m happy too.”

Yifan smiled slightly. “You’re a good brother, Joonie.”

Joonmyeon smiled back. “I try.”

“Y-you wouldn’t...really do that to me though...right, hyung?” Zitao asked nervously.

Jongdae shrugged. “If I had to, maybe.”

“B-but...hyungg.” Zitao whined. “I couldn’t bare it...I love you too much.”

Jongdae laughed. “This side of you...I like it. It’s cute.”

Zitao blushed. “C-cute...?”

Jongdae leaned up and pecked Zitao’s cheek. “Cute.”

Zitao covered his face. “A-anyways...we’re here.” he stopped in front of the building he had visited earlier.

Jongdae looked up at it. “Wah. This is where you used to train?”

Zitao nodded, now calmed down from his embarrassment. “Come in. I’ll introduce you to my teacher.”

Jongdae smiled and took Zitao’s hand. Zitao led the smaller yet older male into the building. He walked up to the reception desk and started speaking in Mandarin to the receptionist. Jongdae couldn’t understand a bit of it, but he liked the way it sounded coming from Zitao’s mouth. He smiled slightly and watched Zitao intently. Even just watching Zitao talk was amazing to him. It almost made him want to learn Mandarin as well. 

Zitao looked over after he finished talking to the receptionist and tilted his head. “What are you looking at?”

Jongdae smiled. “You, obviously.”

Zitao looked away quickly, hiding his embarrassment. He cleared his throat after composing himself and wrapped an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders. “Anyways. Follow me, hyung.”

Jongdae chuckled silently and let Zitao lead him to a fairly large gymnasium-like room. He looked around, awed at all the prop weapons and photos with medals lining the walls. Part of him wondered if Zitao had a picture and medal on one of the walls. He felt it would be rude to ask though, just in case Zitao didn’t. Instead, he sat down, noticing the sudden disappearance of his tall Chinese boy slightly belatedly. He had probably been too busy looking at his surroundings to notice him leaving.

“See anything interesting?” Zitao’s deep yet somehow childish voice, with his still somehow cautious Korean, filled Jongdae’s ears again. Arms wrapped themselves around Jongdae’s body.

Jongdae glanced up and smiled. “I was just looking at all the photos.”

“I trained for years hoping to be on this wall.” Zitao said. “My teacher was certain I’d get there, too. But every time there was a competition, there was always one person better than me.”

Jongdae tilted his head. “Maybe if you tried now...you’d be able to win finally? You seem like you practice a lot, even in Korea.”

Zitao shrugged and pulled away. “After losing so many competitions, I kind of gave up on doing them.”

Jongdae frowned, but turned around and looked up at Zitao. “Either way, I still want to see you do it. Just for the experience.”

Zitao smiled and pecked Jongdae’s lips. “Alright, hang on.”

Jongdae cheered mentally. “I’ll sit down then.”

Zitao laughed and moved to the center of the gymnasium. Jongdae sad down near the wall, again belatedly noticing a change in clothing. When Zitao had the chance to grab a change of clothing without Jongdae noticing was beyond Jongdae, but either way... Jongdae tried not to stare too much at Zitao’s bare arms. He cleared his throat and directed his attention elsewhere. 

“Hmm?” Zitao called. “Were you just staring at my arms?”

Jongdae rubbed his head. He laughed awkwardly. “No. Why would I be staring at your arms? I was looking at a pit stain on your shirt.”

Zitao blinked and looked down at his shirt, causing Jongdae to burst into laughter. Zitao stared at Jongdae in confusion, pausing his stretching, skillfully balancing on one foot. This only caused Jongdae to laugh even more. Zitao hummed and stopped balancing on one foot. He moved towards Jongdae.

“You were looking at my arms, weren’t you?’ he smirked slightly, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of the shorter. 

Jongdae continued laughing. “Your reaction though. I didn’t think you were so gullible.”

Zitao rolled his eyes. “Okay, I think I have a new nickname for you. Troll.”

Jongdae grinned. “That used to be my nickname in elementary. So I don’t mind. Now continue. I wanna see your martial arts!”

Zitao chuckled and patted Jongdae’s head. “You’re a demanding one, aren’t you.”

“You still love me though.” Jongdae smiled and watched as Zitao moved back to the middle of the room.

Zitao did his final move, but all Jongdae could do was stare in awe at the performance he had just witnessed with his newly returned vision. The moves were so graceful, despite Jongdae thinking Zitao didn’t even look the last bit graceful. All of this proved him wrong. He clapped happily, grinning as Zitao walked towards him. Zitao chuckled slightly, probably at Jongdae’s reaction.

“How was it?” he asked tiredly, sitting next to Jongdae. 

His body glistened with sweat. Jongdae felt it made him look even more attractive. Not in the erted way, though. Totally. Jongdae tilted his head slightly to look the taller male in the eyes, trying to distract himself from his thoughts. As if that would’ve helped. He cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly. 

“It was amazing!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t think you could be so graceful.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Zitao questioned incredulously. 

Jongdae laughed and patted Zitao’s shoulder. “Of course it is.”

Zitao rolled his eyes. “If I had known you’d be like this I’d never had agreed to date you.” he said sarcastically. 

Jongdae hit Zitao lightly. “That isn’t the kind of thing you say to someone you like.”

“But I don’t like you.” Zitao said, causing Jongdae to give the taller a surprised look. “I love you.”

Jongdae stared at Zitao for a bit as if processing what Zitao said and deciding whether or not he was telling the truth. He hummed slightly and looked at Zitao seriously. “Can you say I love you in Mandarin?”

“Of course I can, my first language is Mandarin.” Zitao replied.

“That’s not what I meant.” Jongdae said, hitting Zitao again. “I want you to say I love you in Mandarin. To me...”

Zitao looked at Jongdae curiously, but smiled. “You’re so random. Why do you want me to say I love you to you in Mandarin when you can’t even speak it? You wouldn’t know ‘I love you’ from ‘I hate you’.”

Jongdae shrugged. “Its not my fault you’re Mandarin sounds so nice to me. I wanna hear it again.”

Zitao messed Jongdae’s hair slightly. “Whatever you say, Troll.”

“I’ll be mad if you don’t actually say I love you, you know, right?” Jongdae crossed his arms slightly. “And I hope you know what that means.”

Zitao rolled his eyes. Regardless, he laughed slightly. He leaned closer to Jongdae and whispered, “Wo ai ni.” 

Jongdae shivered and looked at Zitao, holding the taller male’s gaze. Jongdae liked the way Mandarin sounded. He liked the way Zitao spoke it, too. Jongdae could feel the space between them getting smaller, but he hadn’t even realized either of them had moved any closer until they were nose to nose. He hummed softly.

“Tao-yah...” he said quietly. “I want to learn Mandarin.” 

Word Count: 2507

A/N: Okay I think I fixed the problem. -had to completely download a new word processor- Anyways. Sorry for the lateness of this. I tried to make a longish chapter in return for that, plus I'm currently writing a bonus chapter (so basically a 26.5), so if you can guess what that bonus chapter is, you win. 

Also I'm a bit sad that there wont be Taochen for a while if ever. But oh well, fanfics will feed my love. ALSO EXO'S NEW COMEBACK THING LOOKS SO DAEBAK. It looks like they aren't in a box, either. 

I wanted to make a poll about this, but my computer wouldn't let me, so I'll jiust ask it as a question: Which of the following would you rather read after I finish this (whenever that may be)?

• Taochen fic that's basically just a personality swap, though there's way more to it than that. I'm still debating about a key part in it, but other than that I have most if it started.
• Wontaek fic that's kinda like a mixture of Uta no Prince Sama and Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. xD
• Yongwoo fic based off an episode of Hello Baby
• OCxEXO fic about magic, or
• Keyber fic based on Ouran High School Host Club