Tao huffs and rolls over, pulling his bed sheets up to his neck.

Then he curls into a ball.

Then he throws away his blanket and sprawls out.

Then he huffs again and rolls back.

Then he covers his legs with his blanket.

And everything in the room seemingly settles down after that.

And then Tao rolls over again, and groans.

It doesn’t take long for Tao to slip his phone out from under his pillows, and he scrolls through his contacts.

Well, he couldn’t call Sehun. Sehun would call him a big baby and laugh before casually dangling Luhan in front of him.

Not Jongin. Kyungsoo would pick up and whisper and curse and scare Tao even more.

He couldn’t call Suho either; Suho was even more of a scaredy-cat than he was and would be paranoid of everything.

Well… Not his parents. That would be really awkward.

Which left Tao with the only option of… Kris.

Tao’s vision blurs and he has to blink the sleep from his eyes, his racing heart thumping loudly in the dark as he clicks on the dial button. Barely two rings in, and Tao’s call gets answered. And Tao could just imagine it, Kris sitting on his bed and watching late-night reruns of SpongeBob, eyes constantly switching between the screen of his television and the phone on his nightstand, waiting for Tao’s call.

Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Kris is in Tao’s bedroom, staring down at Tao who was practically sweating from nervousness.

“Why did you call me?”

“I told you… I watched a horror movie-”

“Not that, but why me, of all people?”

Tao mumbled something under his breath, something along the lines of ‘quit asking stupid questions’ and ‘why not’, and Kris sighs as he walks around to the empty right side of the bed with hesitant steps.

“You could leave the light on.”

“But I read somewhere that it doesn’t work, it only increases paranoia and I might still imagine things.”

“But you could try,” a big sigh, before Tao feels the mattress sinking in from Kris’ weight, “It never hurts to try.”

Tao had the sinking feeling Kris was talking about something a little more serious than Tao’s childish fear of horror movies and the dark.

“I’m sorry then,” Tao’s voice quivered with barely disguised anger, “I’m sorry I tried so hard even though my parents didn’t want me too.”

Kris replies with a sigh and Tao can see him frowning in the dark. Tao doesn’t like seeing Kris frowning, especially since Kris was always so easy-going and happy and smiley. But that was in the past, that was how he always perceived Kris as. The Kris now, the future Kris didn't.. belong to him anymore.

“Fine, don’t…”

Tao doesn’t want Kris to finish his sentence, and thankfully, Kris doesn’t.

Tao rolls over again and tries to sleep this time, because that was why he called Kris over in the first place. He had to be able to sleep now, right?

Wrong. Tao could make out shapes in the dark, he could feel fingers ghosting on his ankles, threatening to pull him under the bed, he could imagine dolls leaping out from the ceiling and cackling, he could taste the coppery sweet tang of blood against his tongue, he could feel the pain of a knife being stabbed and twisted inside his guts, he could feel it, he could see it…

Tao breathes out a soft gasp when Kris hugs him, body tense against his.

Tao himself stiffens, the position was too familiar, too familiar, and it brought back too many memories. Though there were happy ones, he could still see it, his mom’s disgust, his dad’s anger, the shouting and the tears, the broken plates and the blood…

Tao gets brought back to reality when Kris tightens his hold around Tao. He realizes he has tears clouding his vision and dripping onto the pillow beneath his head. He realizes his body is shaking against his own will and he’s turning around to nuzzle into Kris’ chest and hide his sobs.

He falls asleep that way.

-

Kris blinks at the familiar name on his phone screen.

He blinks, once, twice, thrice before his fingers reach out to slide the green phone icon across his screen, but warm arms wrap around his waist and a warm body curls himself just right against his.

He turns around and Yixing is there to smile at him, eyes soft and gentle and dimples present.

“Who is it?”

Kris blinks, once, twice, thrice.

“Nobody.”

He turns around one last time to slide the red phone icon across the screen.

Huang Zitao is calling

Pick up call?

-

Tao wakes up to dried tear tracks on his cheeks, sweat drenched clothes and cold feet, phone resting on his right palm.

Tao wakes up alone.

Tao wakes up to the empty right side of the bed, bedsheets pristine and white and without a single wrinkle.

Tao blinks.

-

A/N: I wasn't intending to name this 'Blink', I actually wanted it to be something dark and mysterious or something but 'Blink' fits so perfectly now. 

So in case this fic is confusing anyone, I'd like to explain a few things.

Tao watched a horror movie with his friends (I imagine them to be Sehun and Jongin hehe Jongkaitao musketeers!) and couldn't sleep, so he decided to call someone over since he was really scared and ended up calling Kris. In the fic, he calls Kris. Many, many times. Then he falls asleep. In reality, Kris never picks up because he has Yixing now. The whole thing is what Tao imagines just so he can lull himself to sleep, because Kris is his safe haven of sorts, someone who will always bring comfort and happiness to him even when he is scared or sad. I imagine Kris to have wanted to answer the call because he wonders why Tao is calling him and it might be an emergency or something, and because of old feelings for him that will never fade.

So in the past, Kris and Tao were dating and were happy in love but they kept their relationship a secret from Tao's parents because Tao's parents are really strict. One day, Tao's parents find out that Tao is dating someone because his mom came inside his room and saw Kris' message (a popup thing) on his phone. They demand for Tao to call Kris over to their house. Tao's mom is disgusted that Kris would 'take advantage' of her baby, her pride and joy and Tao's dad is angry at Kris for 'seducing his son into becoming a rebellious teenager' and Tao argues and pleads and cries but to no avail. Tao's dad smashes plates against Kris' head in a fit of anger, hence the phrase 'the broken plates and blood'. Tao is really scared and calls an ambulance for Kris and he moves out with Kris, much to his parents dismay. Of course, he had a huge fight with his parents over moving out because he's their 'precious baby' but he moves out anyway.

Then he moves to Kris' apartment and they encounter a load of problems, the major one being Yixing falling for Kris and Kris returning his feelings. They break up and Tao moves to his own apartment, funded by his parents. And that's that. That's their backstory.

It's really long, I know, but I was in the mood to write. And also because I had insomnia last night because I watched a horror movie (Annabelle) with my friends and I got really scared.

Anyway, hope you guys liked this oneshot! This is actually a birthday fic for Yixing haha which is why Yixing appears in the end, but he was such a minor role omg I'm sorry ;;

Happy -late- birthday Yixing! <3