“Ge, sit with me.” Tao said, pouting up at Kris. The elder sighed, nodding and going along with him without argument. He didn’t really want to keep eating by himself anyway. “Are you happy that Lay is back? Did you miss him?”

“Ah..not...he wasn’t gone very long.” Kris said, feeling uncomfortable. Tao tilted his head.

“I miss you when I go home and see you the next day. And that’s not very long.” Tao pointed out, causing Kris’ eyes to widen. He started moving toward the overcrowded lunch table. Tao followed along, holding onto Kris’ arm.

Lay looked up when Kris sat down, his head resting against Chen’s arm as he eyed Kris and Tao, but Kris pointedly ignored him as he pulled out his packed lunch, absent-mindedly shifting himself to accommodate Tao’s apparent need to live in his armpit.

“Can I have a bite?” Tao asked hopefully, eyeing the food in Kris’ container. Kris hummed softly, lifting a pickled radish and letting Tao eat it before continuing to feed himself, offering the other nearly every other bite.

“Didn’t you pack a lunch?” Sehun asked, looking uncertain as he curled into Kai’s side. Tao blushed and shook his head.

“I was in too much of a rush to get to school.” Tao admitted, and Sehun rolled his eyes. Xiumin, however, looked horrified.

“I’ll start packing your lunches again, Taozi.” He said, concern melted into his expression. Tao flushed bright red, pointedly looking at the table in front of him.

“I don’t mind sharing.” Kris said absently. He felt several pairs of heavy eyes on him all at once, and it made him want to leave, or take it back. He wasn’t overly fond of too much attention.

“So...Kris.” Lay said suddenly, and Kris glanced up at him. “Did you ask Tao about this weekend?”

“Hmm? What about this weekend?” Tao asked, perking up with a hopeful expression. Kris shook his head, stuffing more food in his mouth to prove a point, and Lay sighed.

“Umma said we can start having sleepovers again.” Lay said. The reaction was almost instantaneous, sounds of excitement and cheers coming from literally everyone, aside from Kris and Lay.

“Should we come over after school?” Sehun asked, tugging excitedly at Kai’s shirt. Kai didn’t even seem to care.

“We’ll bring snacks.” Xiumin said, nodding. Luhan laughed beside him and kissed his cheek.

“We always bring snacks, Xiu.” Luhan said softly, resting his head against Xiumin’s shoulder.

“Where’s everyone going to sleep, though?” Chen asked, looking at Lay with a worried expression. “We used to all sleep in the spare room together, remember?”

Lay opened, then closed his mouth as he thought about it. Kris refused to look up, even though Tao was tugging lightly on his shirt, trying to get his attention. He held out a bite for the other, hoping it would distract him. It worked.

“We’ll just have to figure that part out. I mean, the living room is pretty big.” Lay said, nodding, and there was a collective sigh of relief, Tao’s seeming to be the most obvious. Or maybe that was just because Kris was sitting so close.

“Maybe we could study some more this weekend then?” Tao asked hopefully, and Kris nodded slowly. Studying was easy. Two days of intensive studying would definitely help Tao’s understanding. He could probably start upping his vocabulary, too.

“I’ll start working on a study guide.” He said, relieved to have something to distract himself with. The more he thought about it, ten people was a lot to have sleeping over all at once. But he wouldn’t admit that to Umma or Lay. They would just feel bad and cancel it, and Kris was trying not to be an obtrusive visitor. Even if, in the off chance, he did stay until he was 18, it didn’t matter too much. He would still be on his own on his eighteenth birthday, and out of their lives, and-

“Kris, are you okay?” Lay’s voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked up in surprise.

“I’m fine. Why?” He asked, and Lay glanced at Chen before biting his lip.

“You broke your chopsticks.” Lay pointed out, his voice soft and worried. Kris blinked, looking down at the splintered wood in his hand and wondering when that had happened.

“Huh. I guess I did.” He mumbled, shaking his head a little and getting up to throw the pieces out. Tao looked uncomfortable being left alone, and he quickly shot up to follow Kris around like a lost little puppy. Kris stuffed the empty lunch container in his bag and headed to the library, knowing he still had fifteen minutes left on his lunch break and he needed a new book. Or six.