Thursday morning saw Kris finally going back to school. Umma had insisted he take a few “mental health” days before going back to school, and that mostly consisted of curling up on the couch and falling asleep. He woke up more than once with his head in Umma’s or Lay’s lap, a weird trend he couldn’t quite break, and Luhan - brutally honest as he was, and somehow always around lately - had happily informed Kris that he was shaking in his sleep and wouldn’t stop until he was touching someone. Kris had actually turned red and gone to his room, refusing to come out for most of Wednesday night until Xiumin came by with Tao and the dark-haired boy curled up in Kris’ arms, their limits virtually gone.

Kris walked into the building with Lay, his hands in his pockets as they discussed a movie they had watched the night before, after Xiumin and Luhan had gathered Tao up and gone home. Kris blinked in surprise when Lay suddenly stopped talking, though, his eyes down on the ground as they walked past a group of kids that Kris vaguely recognized as some of the ones who had been making fun of Tao back at the beginning of the school year when Lay had gotten sick. He blinked in confusion but fell into Lay’s silence, watching him as they walked.

Once the guys were out of sight Lay seemed to relax a bit, and Kris wondered what that had been about, but he didn’t have a whole lot of time to ponder before Chen magically appeared and wrapped his arms around Lay, dropping his head on his shoulder. Kris rolled his eyes and shook his head, starting to head toward the gym. He wanted to find Tao before their first class, and he usually hung out in the gym in the morning.

Kris made it to the vending machine before the dejavu really hit. He could hear voices, kids talking and making cracks at someone else’s expense, and he paused, listening to be sure it wasn’t one of his friends.

“That kid is such a freak.” One voice said, and another snorted.

“Nothing compared to that kid his mom took in. Did you see him lose it in class Monday? I heard he still hasn’t come back - probably died from embarrassment.” The second voice said. Kris frowned, his eyebrows coming together.

“He doesn’t matter anyway.” The first voice said. “But I’m telling you, that Lay kid. He’s so dense you could probably get him to blow you and convince him it’s a secret friendship handshake.”

Laughter, and Kris’ blood was boiling. He put his bag down, trying to breath and calm himself down, but he was livid.

“Can’t help but wonder if his mom dropped him on his head as a baby. No wonder she wants a new kid-” The second voice was cut off abruptly, and that may or may not have had a lot to do with Kris’ fist colliding with his face.

“What the fu-” One of the others shouted - there were probably six of them, and Kris knew he was outnumbered by a long shot, but he wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Don’t talk about my brother like that.” Kris snarled, grabbing another one and throwing him into a row of lockers.

All at once there were kids grabbing his arms, trying to control him, to calm him down, get him to stop hitting people, but he started kicking instead. There was a lot of yelling, and at least one person was definitely bleeding, but he was avoiding most of the hits. He took a hit to the face before suddenly being let go, and he looked up to see Tao pulling them off, alongside a teacher, and once they were separated Tao was on the ground beside him, wrapping Kris up in his arms like he was afraid to let go. The teacher narrowed his eyes as he spoke to the kids, and then looked at Kris with a look he’d seen all too many times. He was in big trouble.

Damn.

“If you would maybe consider telling us what happened, your side of things, maybe we could understand what happened here.” The therapist said, looking at Kris with an almost confused expression. Her voice was soft and kind, yet incredibly pushy, just like the first time they had met. Kris continued to stare at his hands and refuse to speak. “Fine, go sit with your Umma. I’ll talk to the other boys and give my official recommendation to the principal based on that.”

Kris got up and made his way out to the hall, sitting in a chair beside Umma and staring at his lap again. He didn’t know how to tell her he was sorry. He didn’t know how to tell her what had happened. At that moment, Kris wasn’t sure he knew how to do anything correctly at all.

“That’s definitely going to bruise.” Umma said softly, gently brushing her fingers over Kris’ cheek. “Tao said you took on six or seven kids on your own. I know this isn’t a typical thing to say, but I hope they looked worse than you do. I can’t imagine you would’ve picked a fight with that many kids over nothing.”

“No...it was important.” Kris agreed softly, slowly raising his eyes to look at her, and she looked a bit surprised by the emotions written into his face. “I promise. I don’t usually fight.”

“I know, baby. I’ve read your evaluations. Every single one of them says you’re about as non-violent as it gets.” She said softly, then sighed. “It must be something in the water, making all of you kids fight this week.”

“Wha- who else?” Kris asked, looking shocked. None of his friends were particularly violent - well, except maybe Kyungsoo, but Suho generally kept him in line.

“Chanyeol.” Umma said, then stood when she was called into the office, running her fingers through Kris’ hair gently before going into the office.

Kris sat in silence, trying to wrap his brain around the idea of Chanyeol being at odds enough with anyone to throw a punch. Kris was at least angsty and weird, but Chanyeol was friends with everybody, the room lit up when he walked into it, and he had no issue being the of every single joke. What the hell was going on?

He slumped back in his seat, looking up when Tao came out and sat beside him, but the dark haired boy didn’t say anything. They sat in silence for a long time, Tao looking kind of anxious, like maybe he wanted to say something but didn’t know how. Kris swallowed, looking away and wondering what Tao thought of him now. If he thought Kris was just a trouble maker, or if he thought the way Umma did, and assumed he had a good reason for what he’d done.

Honestly the only reason he hadn’t told them outright why he had done what he had done was because he didn’t want anyone feeling bad. He knew Lay’s innocence made him feel guilty about everything - he wouldn’t take it at face value, that Kris was just sticking up for him. He would blame himself for Kris getting hit, and that wasn’t what he wanted at all. Umma, on the other hand, would probably think she pushed him too hard, because that was what she always thought, and would somehow blame herself. It was better just not to tell them.

“Tao, you need to go back to class now.” One of the office workers said, and Tao flinched a bit, nodding.

Kris looked up at him, surprised. He’d thought Tao was waiting to speak to the principal again, but now those dark eyes were Kris, and Kris couldn’t decipher the look he was being given to save his life. Tao leaned closer, looking him in the eye before speaking.

“I’ll come over when we’re out of school for the day.” Tao promised, and Kris nodded. “We’ll talk then.” He added, then hesitated a moment before leaning forward and pecking Kris’ lips, then jumped up out of his seat and headed out of the office.

Kris mouth fell open, and he stared at the door Tao had exited through for a long moment before pressing his fingers to his lips and smiling a little wider than he should have, considering the circumstances.

The smile vanished in an instant when Umma came back out of the office, tears on her cheeks. Kris opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but thought better of it a moment later and did his best to shrink into his seat. It’d been awhile since he’d made a foster parent cry, and he knew Umma could forgive a lot, but he wasn’t sure what she’d just been told. Judging by the way she was crying so freely, he didn’t think it was anything good.

“Umma, I-” Kris started, standing up, but at that moment Umma wrapped him up in her arms and hugged him more tightly than Kris could ever remember being held. He hesitated before wrapping his arms around her and hugging back, waiting.

“You could have just told me.” She whispered. “That you were standing up for your brother.”

Kris tensed, not sure how to react. He hadn’t wanted them to know, for this exact reason.

“Umma, don’t cry..” Kris whispered, rubbing her back awkwardly and trying to help her calm down. She shook her head, swatting gently at Kris’ chest before stepping back and wiping at her eyes with a tissue.

“They’ve been giving him trouble all week.” She said softly. “He didn’t know what to do, to defend himself. I don’t think he has to worry anymore, though. His gege took care of him.”

Kris swallowed, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched her pull herself together. She rubbed Kris’ arm gently and smiled, leading him out of the office and to his class, the one he shared with Lay during first period, and she informed the teacher that Lay would be back when Kris was allowed back. She smiled and waved at Tao, Luhan, Baekhyun, and Kai before leading them both to the car.

“Umma?” Lay said softly, holding onto Kris’ hand in a way that let Kris know he already knew, and she smiled.

“We’ll have to make this sleepover a good one, for our two defenders, hmm?” Umma asked, and Lay smiled and nodded.

“We’ll put up a banner, Kris and Chanyeol.” Lay said, and Kris blinked for a minute before looking at Umma.

“What happened with Chanyeol, exactly?” He asked, and Lay turned serious.

“He beat up some kid that said you belonged in a mental hospital.” Lay said softly, and Kris nearly stumbled back from the impact of the words.

“He got suspended...over me?” Kris asked, and Lay smiled a little.

“Well, you just got suspended over me.” He pointed out softly. “When you care about someone...it’s worth the sacrifice of getting in trouble, isn’t it?”

Kris pulled Lay into a side hug as he nodded, knowing full well if he was given the chance to do it over, he wouldn’t have changed a thing.