“Your nose is running.”

Kris looked up, reaching for a tissue and wiping at his nose like a little kid. He sniffed after the fact anyway, and Tao rolled his eyes as Luhan sat behind Kris on the bed, rubbing his back.

“He’s got a lot on his mind.” Luhan said softly, and Kris scrunched his face, elbowing Luhan’s side lightly. Luhan stuck his tongue out. “Let him cry if he wants to.”

“I’m fine.” Kris said, wiping his eyes again. “Go away.”

“I’ll go get something for dinner.” Luhan said, fluffing up Kris’ hair. “Noodles?”

Kris nodded, watching Luhan go before slumping back down on the bed, holding the tablet not far from his face. Tao smiled on the screen, blowing kisses and making silly faces. Kris didn’t want to smile, but he couldn’t really help himself. Tao made him happier than he’d ever been, even with Henry. He sniffed and hid his face.

“Stop it. I’m not supposed to be happy.” Kris mumbled, and Tao laughed.

“Yes you are. You’re coming home soon. You’re supposed to be very happy.” Tao said. Kris looked up slowly, sticking his tongue out as the door to the hotel room closed.

“Only if Luhan is right.” Kris mumbled. Tao’s smile turned kind of sad, and he nodded.

“He’s right.” Tao said sincerely. “He’s always right. That’s why he and Minseok fight sometimes. Because Lu-ge is always right.”

“Why would they fight over that?” Kris mumbled, and Tao pulled a face.

“So they can make up.” Tao said. Kris groaned, flopping back on the bed and sighing.

“Gross.” Kris mumbled, shaking his head. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.” Tao whispered, his expression turning soft. “I want you to come home. You’ve been too sad lately. I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be okay.” Kris said, catching sight of himself in the corner of the screen and realizing what an unflattering angle he had the camera at. He shifted, trying to make himself a little more attractive.

“I know. Luhan’s going to take care of you.” Tao said. He looked like he wanted to reach out, but Kris knew that even if he did it wouldn’t matter. Kris nearly started crying again. “Your whole room is going to smell like me when you get home.”

“It is?” Kris asked, looking surprised. Tao rolled his eyes and panned the camera around, showing Kris more of the room he was in. Kris saw that Tao had moved his books off of the bedside table, back onto the shelf where they belonged. He his lips, rolling over and staring into the screen with a hopeless sort of longing in his eyes. Tao brought the camera back to his own face.

“Don’t cry.” Tao whispered. “You’ll be home soon.”

“Is...is Lay home?” Kris asked suddenly, hesitantly. Tao looked away from the screen as he sighed, shaking his head.

“He’s volunteering at the hospital with your mom and Minseok.” Tao said. “He didn’t want to sit at home anymore.”

Kris swallowed hard and nodded, tears overwhelming his eyes again. He sniffed as a few slipped out, then promptly hid his face because this was a stupid thing to cry about. Missing his brother and mom when he’d just seen them a few days before felt like the dumbest thing in the world, but telling himself that he’d be home soon wasn’t helping. His heart felt heavy, and his stomach was twisting up again.

“Do you want me to go get Chanyeol and Baekhyun?” Tao asked quietly. Kris shook his head. He knew they would make him feel better - they were kind of dangerously close to best friend territory - but he just didn’t think it was fair.

“I don’t want to bother anyone else.” Kris explained quietly, forcing himself to pull it together for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“You’re not bothering anyone now.” Tao said, and he was trying to sound stern but Kris could hear the worry in his voice. Kris shrugged a little, mopping his eyes with another tissue and resting his head on his arm as he looked at the screen again.

“I don’t like it when everyone sees me crying.” Kris mumbled, looking at his image in the corner of the screen again and sighing. “I don’t like it when you see me crying. I look ugly.”

“You’re not ugly.” Tao said, his tone completely flat. “You just look sad. Really, really sad.”

“I just want to go home.” Kris said softly. Tao frowned again, but he nodded.

“I know.” Tao whispered back, sighing a little bit.

Kris ended up saying goodbye a minute later, when he realized talking to Tao wasn’t going to make him feel better. He didn’t want to keep on dragging his boyfriend down when all of their friends were having fun on the other side of the door. He wanted Tao to have fun while they waited for Kris to be allowed to come home.

Luhan came back a minute or two later, frowning when he saw Kris curled up on the bed with the pillow over his head. He made his way over to the bed, lightly poking the teen’s thigh and receiving a bitter grunt in return as Kris glanced out from under the edge of the pillow. Luhan held up the takeout bags with a little smile.

“Headache.” Kris mumbled, stuffing his head back under the pillow stubbornly.

“Again?” Luhan sighed, setting the food down and going to the bathroom to dig out the heart-safe headache medicine. He brought the bottle back with some water and the bedside light so it wouldn’t be so bright. “Come on. You gotta take something.”

“I gotta sleep.” Kris mumbled, sitting up slowly. “It’ll go away if I sleep.”

“You have to eat, Kris. You need something in your stomach before you take the pills, or you’ll get sick. You can sleep after.” Luhan said stubbornly, pushing the food into Kris’ hands and watching him stare at it for a long moment before nodding.

Luhan watched Kris slowly eat the food in the container, taking the pills after he’d had a few bites and laying back on the pillows with a sigh. Luhan frowned, moving closer and pressing his palm to Kris’ head, but Kris pulled away from him.

“Not sick.” Kris mumbled, shoving another bite in his mouth. “Do you know when we’re meeting...them?”

Kris had been steadfastly refusing to acknowledge his biological parents as anything more than parasites trying to ruin his life, and Luhan sighed because he knew the actual meeting was going to be a disaster if he didn’t get Kris behaving sooner than later.

“Four.” Luhan said, and Kris made a face.

“I don’t want to go.” Kris said, putting down the empty food container. “I just want to go home. Do we have to-”

“Yes.” Luhan said sternly. “And you have to be polite. Umma won’t be happy if he finds out you’re being rude to people.”

“Umma’s not gonna be there.” Kris said petulantly. “And if you tell on me, it’s all on you.”

“If you don’t give me anything to tell her, there won’t be anything to worry about.” Luhan said sternly, taking a seat on the bed beside Kris and tugging him up. Kris slowly sat back up, stuffing more food in his mouth just in case Luhan decided to try to make him talk more, but Luhan moved to sit behind him.

Kris groaned when he felt Luhan’s fingers digging into his back, his muscles giving way and his shoulders slumping more and more until he finally leaned back on Luhan, his head falling back on Luhan’s shoulder.

“What if they don’t sign the papers?” Kris asked suddenly, and Luhan sighed.

“They will.” Luhan said simply. “You just have to tell them you want to live with Umma and Lay.”

“Do you think it’ll matter to them...that Umma’s not married?” Kris asked quietly. Luhan ran his fingers through Kris’ hair as he thought about it.

“I don’t think so. I don’t think it’ll matter. They just need to make sure you’re happy.” Luhan insisted. Kris sighed, putting the empty food container to the side.

“I don’t think they’ve ever cared about if I was happy or not.” Kris said stubbornly. “I’d be amazed if they even remembered my name.”

Luhan watched Kris’ eyes cloud over for the millionth time, and he kissed his head before sliding out from under him to go make some cocoa in the hotel microwave.

“Drink this.” He said softly, pressing the warm mug into Kris’ hands. “And go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”