EXO Academy: The Kinkas and The Newbies

28

"So... how do ask out someone?" Yifan asked making Chanyeol choke on his drink.

"...you don't know?" Yixing asked patting Chanyeol on the back.

"...no? Since when have I been in a relationship to know?" Yifan replied.

"You literally dated someone the entirety of last school year." Chanyeol deadpanned.

"Okay, true but she asked me out, not the other way around."

"Just go up to them and ask them if they want to go out sometime." Kai shrugged.

"You make it sound like it's the easiest thing in the world."

"Conceptually, it is. It's just the nerves that get in the way." Yixing pointed out.

"That doesn't help."

"I mean, why don't you get them something small so they don't feel pressured to do anything and ask if they would want to hang out sometime." Chen suggested.

"...yeah okay, that seems doable."

Turns out, it wasn't as doable as it had seemed initially. Yifan had basically been hyping himself up for the past few days to gather the courage he needed to ask Tao out. That led to where he was now, standing outside of his own house, holding a french vanilla latte, Tao's favorite. Yifan knew he should head inside because one, it was weird for him to just be standing outside his own front door and two, the latte was getting less and less fresh the longer he just held it. He didn't really know what to expect. If Tao was in the living room, then he would probably have to confess right then and there, possibly with other people watching him. However, if Tao was somewhere else, then he'd have to go look for him and risk the latte spilling or something worse. Was he psyching himself out? Yeah, but hey, confessing is a big deal.

"...you can do this, it'll be fine." Yifan whispered to himself, reaching for the doorknob.

But the door swung open before he could do it himself. He looked up wide-eyed at an equally surprised Junmyeon.

"...Yifan? Um... you good?"

"Oh, Junmyeon! Yeah no, I'm fine. Was about to open the door myself actually."

Junmyeon nodded and stepped aside for Yifan to get in before walking out of the house himself. When the door shut behind Junmyeon, Yifan started his search for Tao. He peeked into the living room where he saw Baekhyun and Chanyeol sprawled on the floor, holding Switch controllers as Mario Kart was shown on the screen. Minseok and Jongdae were watching from the couch, subtly holding hands but Kris saw it anyway.

"Have you guys seen Tao?"

"I think he's in his room? At least, that's where he was an hour ago." Minseok replied.

"Okay, thanks."

The older nodded before turning back to the tv. Yifan took a deep breath before walking towards the younger's room. He lightly knocked on the door, hearing a quiet voice inviting him in as a reply.

"Yifan?"

"Hey. I got this for you." Yifan said raising the hand holding the cold drink.

"Oh, thanks. What's up?"

"I need to tell you something. I... um I... ugh why is this so hard?"

"Breathe, Yifan, breathe." Tao soothed, placing a hand on the older's shoulder.

"...would you like to go out sometime?" Yifan blurted out after taking a deep breath in.

Tao was stunned, to say the least. Not only did he just get asked out, but it was Yifan who asked him out. Yifan even spent the time to get his favorite drink and was clearly nervous about how Tao would respond. Honestly, how could Tao say no? He had admitted it to himself a while ago that he liked the older and wanted something more. He didn't think the other liked him back though so now his brain was short-circuiting. After a solid minute of tense silence between the two, Tao finally found his voice to answer the other man.

"Yes. I would love to go out sometime."

Yifan sighed in relief before slowly moving his hand towards the younger. He wanted to make sure Tao was okay with the contact before anything so he inched his had to the side and waited for Tao to initiate the skinship. Tao noticed and smiled before interlacing their fingers together.

"I'm so glad you said yes. I don't know what I would've done had you said no."

"I can't fathom the idea of say no. And you don't have to be so hesitant on skinship with me. I'm comfortable with you and if there's something that I'm not okay with, I'll tell you."

Yifan hummed, giving Tao's hand a small squeeze. He gave the younger his latte that he had been holding the entire time and smiled at the blush that rested over the other boy's cheek. The two shifted on the bed so that their backs were against the wall that the bed was pressed against, pillows behind their backs. Tao's laptop was opened and showing a movie as the two sat next to each other and basked in each other's presence. At some point, Tao fell asleep on Yifan's shoulder, one hand loosely holding the empty latte cup and the other holding onto Yifan's hand. Once the older noticed, he gently took the cup before tossing it into the trash and closed the laptop that was just showing credits. He slowly shifted so that he and Tao were laying properly on the bed and was about to leave until Tao's grip on his hand only tightened.

"Don't go, stay. I want to cuddle with you." Tao mumbled, looking up at him with sleepy eyes.

Yifan conceded and laid next to the younger, allowing him to wrap his limbs around him like a panda bear. He found himself slipping off to dreamland soon enough and ended up falling asleep with an arm around Tao's waist.

Safe to say, Junmyeon was taken aback when he walked into his room and found the two cuddling. He took some cute (and probably future blackmail) pictures before grabbing the phone charger he initially came for and heading back into the living room where he blurted the news to everyone else in the house. Yifan and Tao were surprised to hear cheering when they walked into the room later that night.

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A/N: Hey guys, this is obviously a crazy time all over the world and I just want to say, stay healthy and stay safe. I know that right now is full of uncertainty but if we work together, we can all overcome this issue. I hope that if you're struggling emotionally, this update helps bring a bit of happiness, even if it's just a little bit.

~Admin Jin