After a lot of pleading and a few more kissed Kris had managed to convince Tao to come back to the warehouse with him. Everything the teen had left at his apartment had been moved to one of the rooms upstairs so all he’d need to do was unpack. As far as Kris knew Lay was out getting dinner for the boys, Luhan had gone for a jog and Chen was at a piano lesson, leaving only Xiumin to sort out unpacking the kitchen area of their new home. Kris wanted to take Tao upstairs first and get him settled in before letting the others know he was back but as he pulled his car into the driveway his plan was shaken a little at seeing a pile of what looked like Luhan’s things splayed around outside. Tao noticed the stuff straight away and hoped out of the car before Kris parked properly, walking to a small pile of shattered glass Tao bent down to pluck the picture of Lay and Luhan out from under the shards of the photo frame. Tao looked the photo over for a moment then took in the rest of the stuff that had been strewn around, it was obvious from the sight that something had happened between Lay and Luhan during Kris’s absence. Looking up at the older boy Tao passed the picture to him and silently walked away to gather up everything that wasn’t broken. Kris didn’t really know what to do with the picture so he tucked it in his back pocket and watched, confused, as Tao started picking up the bits of clothing, accessories and plushies that were littered around. Smiling softly at seeing Tao carefully brushing the grass off a small teddy bear Kris stepped forwards and picked up a few things himself. It only took them about ten minutes to pick everything up and bring it back inside.

“Kris?” Xiumin sounded a bit distant and Kris assumed he was still in the kitchen unpacking, putting Luhan’s stuff on the sofa he strode out of the room to see what the boy wanted.

“What’s up Xiu?” Smiling proudly Xiumin opened out his arms and spun around the fully unpacked kitchen.

“Looks good right?” Nodding happily Kris gestured for Xiumin to follow him back into the living room/training area were Tao was stood looking down at Luhan’s things. As soon as he was the teen Xiumin sprang forwards and pulled Tao into his arms. Jumping at the sudden hug Tao took a minute to get over the shock of Xiumin’s sudden appearance before hugging the older boy back.

“Hey Xium-”

“Tao where the hell have you been?!” Releasing the teen Xiumin took a small step away from him to look him over, after inspecting him the older boy frowned grumpily at him, “we’ve been looking for you everywhere Tao, I swear to God if you ever try to run away from us again I’ll freeze your to the floor!” Unable to hold back Tao broke into a light stream of laughter at the older boy’s threat, he couldn’t imagine the boy ever doing anything remotely vicious so the notion of him trying to stop Tao leaving through force was ridiculous.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.” Childishly Xiumin pouted at the teen and held out his pinkie finger expectantly. Curling his own pinkie around Xiumin’s Tao half-smiled at the older boy, “I promise.”

Disrupting the pair Kris stepped forward to address Xiumin, asking him to call the others back so they could let them know Tao was back. Leaving Luhan’s things on the sofa Kris lead Tao upstairs to take him to the room that would be his.

Sitting on the foot of his new bed Tao looked around at the neatly piled boxes labelled in Kris’s messy handwriting. The room was smaller than he was used to and the bed was a single, the teen made no effort to hide his disappointment that he and Kris had separate rooms, pouting heavily and avoiding looking at the older boy. Kris awkwardly leant against what would be Tao’s desk and looked at the teen anxiously.

“So yeah.. just unpack whenever you feel like it really. And if you wanna train at anytime just let me know and I’ll get the front room cleared for you.” Kris started to walk to the door but was stopped as Tao jumped off his bed and wrapped his arms around the older boy from behind, leaning his forehead on the small of Kris’s back he spoke just loud enough for Kris to hear.

“Don’t go yet.”

Smiling softly Kris stayed still, only moving to cover Tao’s hands with his own as the boy leant against him. They were silent as they stood together.

The sound of Lay’s bike engine cut into their silence, followed not long after by two sets of footsteps. Tao and Kris slowly broke away from each other and Tao let the older boy lead him downstairs to inform the others that he was back.