“Can I come in?” Tao asked softly, standing in the partially open doorway leading to Minseok and Luhan’s room. Their apartment in general was tiny, and Minseok and Luhan had taken the smaller of the two tiny rooms, more or less looking like they were living in a closet. The full sized bed they’d squeezed into the room took up most of the space, and their single shared dresser was stuffed into the corner, leaving just enough bare floor space for the door to open.

“Of course, Taozi.” Minseok said, his voice light. Tao pushed open the door, smiling a little bit when he saw Minseok sprawled with his head in Luhan’s lap. He made his way into the bedroom and sat on the bed, picking at the hand-crocheted blanket for a moment before Luhan swatted his hands away.

“My grandmother made that.” Luhan said, and Tao pulled his hands back, frowning.

“I’m sorry.” Tao said softly, and Minseok tilted his head.

“How did it go with Kris?” Minseok asked, and Tao’s lip trembled.

“Fine.” He whispered, and Minseok sat up slowly.

“Fine?” Minseok asked, pulling Tao closer. Tao took a shuddering breath and nodded.

“Doesn’t seem fine to me.” Luhan said softly, and Tao shrugged a bit.

“He um...he told me he was tired. That he’d see me at the sleepover.” Tao explained, and Minseok nodded softly. Luhan looked angry.

“He just threw you out? After what happened?” Luhan asked, and Minseok shushed Luhan gently. Luhan literally bit his tongue to keep quiet.

“Did you tell him what we talked about?” Minseok said. “I mean, did you tell him why-”

“Remember that face Jongin made when Sehun got mad at him last summer and told him he didn’t love him anymore? How he looked kind of shocked but mostly like Sehun had just ripped his heart out?” Tao asked softly, and Minseok nodded calmly, while Luhan’s expression was confused. “That was the face he made. Not even a few words into the conversation. So I panicked and started talking about Wushu instead.”

“And then he told you he was tired?” Minseok asked, and Tao nodded.

“Tao...” Luhan said softly, his eyes narrowed. “Why would Kris look heartbroken if you went over to talk about why you kissed him?”

“W..well, Minnie-ge and I were talking and...w-we decided that...maybe it’s not a good idea to...” Tao bit his lip. “Get...get involved with him right now. Because he’s kind of got a temper and he keeps saying this is only temporary and-”

“So you kissed him and then told him you didn’t want to be with him.” Luhan said. It wasn’t a question, and Tao flinched. Luhan was shaking as he turned to Minseok. “You know. I know we agreed not to parent each others kids, but this is too much. After everything, trying to make sure he wasn’t going to play games with Tao, treating him like family, talking to Haerin about adopting him, getting him so involved in our day-to-day lives we wouldn’t know what to do without him, let alone what he would do without us, you two suddenly decided his emotions aren’t sincere enough?”

“Hannie, no, it’s not like that.” Minseok said, and Luhan glared even harder.

“You know damn well he only explodes when someone pushes him well past his limits. He yelled at Lay once, once! Because Lay refuses to let things go once he gets stuck on them. And he got into a fight, defending Lay.” Luhan snapped. “We’ve all gotten into shouting matches, and fist fights, more than once. I’ve got a scar on my face from where I took a hit defending one of my friends in China. Are you going to break up with me, Minseok?”

“Hannie, it’s not the same thing, he’s-” Minseok started, but Luhan interrupted again.

“What? A foster kid?” Luhan asked, his tone mocking. “In the absolute worst case scenario, he’s still staying here until he’s eighteen. And if you really think Haerin’s going to throw him out the second he turns eighteen, you really need a reality check. She loves him, and he loves them, even if he’s not very good at saying it. He’s not going anywhere, and he’s not going to hurt anyone. You both know it.”

Tao was trembling by the time Luhan was done, tears threatening to spill, and Minseok looked angry. He hadn’t seen Tao cry since the power outage, and to see his own boyfriend causing it was too much for him.

“You should go.” Minseok whispered, and Luhan’s jaw dropped for a moment before he burst out laughing.

“You’re kicking me out?” Luhan asked, and Minseok swallowed, not saying anything. Luhan kept on laughing as he stood up, grabbing a bag and throwing his clothes into it. He stopped suddenly, though, anger crossing his features again. “Don’t you dare show up to the sleepover. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden, but don’t come anywhere near me until you realize just how much of an you’re being.”

He finished packing up and went to Sehun’s room, seeing that the boy was already tearfully packing up a bag. Luhan frowned softly and sat beside him, kissing his head softly.

“I’m sorry, Hunnie.” Luhan said softly, and Sehun shook his head.

“It’s not your fault.” He mumbled, sniffling. “Minnie’s being a jerk.”

Luhan smiled sadly before hugging Sehun close, kissing his temple softly and rocking him in his arms.

“Do you want to stay with Jongin tonight?” Luhan asked, and Sehun sniffed, shrugging.

“Will you come too?” He asked, and Luhan shook his head.

“I’ll go stay with Kris and Lay for the night. They won’t mind the company.” Luhan promised, and Sehun thought about it for a long moment before nodding. Luhan handed him his phone and stood up, going to grab their school bags from the living room and setting them by the door to wait for Sehun to come out. A moment later, Minseok stepped out of their room instead, a guilty expression on his face.

“Hannie...” Minseok whispered, and Luhan shook his head.

“Don’t.” Luhan said, his lips pressed hard together. “Just don’t. We’ll talk on Sunday, alright? But for right now, we need to put a little bit of space between us, and Kris definitely needs space from Tao. So just don’t.”

“I’m sorry.” Minseok said, tears building in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that-”

“Which?” Luhan asked, anger radiating off of him. “That you wanted me to leave? Or that Kris was some kind of ticking time bomb just waiting to hurt Tao? Because really, you should be sorry for both, but I get the feeling you’re not really sorry for either.”

“Hannie, stop.” Minseok pleaded as Sehun stepped out of the room, going to Luhan’s side with his bag over his shoulder. Minseok’s eyes widened. “No, no, no, you don’t have to go. Just stay, we can talk this through.”

“We will. On Sunday.” Luhan said, picking up the other bags and waiting for Sehun to get his shoes on. Tears spilled down Minseok’s cheeks.

“You’re really leaving?” Minseok asked, his voice wavering.

“You told me to. It’s too late to take it back.” Luhan said, putting his own shoes on and refusing to make eye contact, his own eyes too damp for his liking. “Let this be a lesson to you, to think before you speak. You’ve hurt five people, because you spoke without thinking. Take the weekend to let that sink in.”

Luhan opened the door, keeping his back to Minseok because by now, the tears were freely falling, and he couldn’t do much to stem the flow. He hated that he was leaving his house and leaving these bad feelings, but he wasn’t in a good place to talk about things yet, and Minseok really did need to think about what he’d done.

“We’ll be back Sunday.” Luhan whispered, then closed the door behind him.

XiuHan are ing me all up.
They were not supposed to fight, and especially not to the point of Luhan leaving.
I'm really sorry, but they'll be okay.
I promise. ;;