A certain someone sent me this pic and I practically died for a sec.

Tao woke up feeling a little less crowded. Besides Xiumin still hugging him tightly, he could tell that there was one less person on the bed.

"Ge," Tao groaned, slowly opening his eyes. He saw that Xiumin was wide awake.

"Hi Tao," Xiumin replied sweetly. "Are you okay?"

Tao hesitated in answering. All in all, he was more than embarrassed. In a span of less than a day, not only was he put on the news, but he then proceeded to have a tantrum in response, stressing everyone out. "Yeah," Tao finally answered. "I'm okay," he guessed.

"Get off me, YiXing," they heard LuHan mutter. "Tao's awake now." He gently pushed the half conscious dancer off of him, forcing him to inhabit the small space Chen had once taken up.

"Where's Jongdae?" Tao asked.

"He's with YiFan," Xiumin answered. "Jongdae actually was the first to wake up. Once he realized Fan had come back, he went with him."

Tao swallowed hard at the mention of Kris. "Can I see Duizhang?" He asked desperately. "He's not mad at me is he?"

"We already told you," Xiumin responded. "He's not mad at you and he would love to see you."

Tao looked at Xiumin before looking to Luhan and Lay. "How long have all of you been awake?" he asked, glancing at Lay again.

Lay shook his head. "Not long," he answered. Luhan nodded in confirmation. 

Tao slowly sat up. "I needa find him," he muttered, his sole purpose to find Kris.

"He's probably in his room right now," Xiumin said. "Try looking for him there."

"Okay," Tao said as he got off the bed. "Thanks." He glanced at the older ones before leaving the room.

"Well," Lay said with a sigh, slowly rising in a sitting position. "No use staying in here anymore."

"Stay," Xiumin commanded gently. "Let's just stay in here and give them some space." He sighed, happy that Tao could gain some sort of peace of mind after talking with Kris. 

"Ge," Lay said to Xiumin. "What's gonna happen with Tao now?" 

Xiumin sat up, slowly shaking his head. "I honestly don't know," he answered. "It's probably all up to him at this point."

LuHan sat up, joining the sitting pair in their conversation. "Hopefully YiFan will know what to say," he said. "I know whatever he says can't fix everything, but at least it's a start."

Kris laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. His earbuds were on, and he found himself getting lost in his music. Chen had left Kris alone some time ago. He didn't know where Chen went, but that gave Kris a short time to get hypnotized by the lyrics of the music, wishing everything in his life would go as smooth and steady as its melody. He released a deep breath, closing his eyes in the process. 

He hadn't realized that someone had come into the room until he felt his bed dip with the addition of extra weight. Arms slowly wrapped themselves around his waist.

"Tao?" Kris asked once he turned and realized that the maknae was the one that had joined him. He pulled his earbuds out, staring at the younger one.

Tao stayed silent, just holding the leader tighter.

A small smile formed on Kris' lips. He knew what Tao's gestures meant. He brought a hand to Tao's hair, running his fingers through the maknae's dark locks. "Feeling better?" Kris finally asked, knowing Tao's answer would be somewhat positive. 

A deep sigh escaped Tao's lips. "You're the best leader, you know that?" Tao stated.

Kris mouth hung open. "Tao-"

"And you're an even better gege," Tao continued. "I'm really sorry for everything I said."

"You know we were worried about you, right?" Kris replied.

"I'm so dumb," Tao said with a sigh. "I promise to be better."

Kris shook his head. "You're not stupid," he said. "But now you know how important it is to not keep your thoughts to yourself, right? You could have really hurt someone."

Tao bit his lip, nodding at the leader's words. "I'm sorry." 

"I know," Kris replied, not finding it hard to forgive Tao. "Just remember that."

Tao sighed before biting his lip. "I...I don't know what I'm gonna do," he said helplessly. At this point, he just wanted to crawl under a dark hole. He wanted to be somewhere secret where only his friends could find him.

Just his friends, not his family.

Tao couldn't think of a way he could tell his family about this. They probably had already found out at this point. They were probably trying to call him too. But Tao had turned off his phone a long time ago. He didn't want people calling him or asking him questions, especially his family. He couldn't face them, not after what happened to him and definitely not after he had made the news. He didn't want his family to find out, especially through the television.

Tao started sobbing, making Kris jump in alarm. "Everyone knows now," he choked out, reality constantly beating him with a harsh reminder of what happened. "I just want to go away. I want all of this to end!"

Kris wrapped his arms around his sobbing friend, fighting the urge to start crying himself. He didn't know what exactly Tao meant when he said he wanted to 'go away' and for everything to 'end'. Honestly, he didn't want to assume the worst. He pushed his fears out of his head, focusing on comforting the mak