A few days after Tao came back to the practice room with the torn shirt, everyone seemed to have calmed down. No one was really smiling, but no one was frowning either. Everyone seemed just too exhausted to portray any emotion on their face. And Kai was kind of okay with it. It was oddly refreshing to look around and not see a group of abandoned boys.

Now, when it was time for a break, the boys wouldn’t just flop on the floor and wait. It was starting to be like the old days again where they all had enough energy go to joke around. So when the choreographer called for a fifteen minute break, everyone started grabbing onto each other and headed for their bags in the corner. However, Tao seemed to want a bit of personal time and escaped out the door.

“This concert needs to come faster, I’m done with practicing!” Baekhyun laid back across the ground with an anxious look on his face. “I just want to sing.”

“I just want to dance,” Kai answered back with a smirk. He knew how Baekhyun felt. After all the turbulent emotions, some normalcy of a hectic idol’s schedule sounded amazing.

A few of the other band members started talking about how amazing it was going to be when they finally got on stage, and while Kai agreed, his eyes had wandered over to Yixing, who was sitting in the corner observing a small group that had branched off.

Curious, Kai walked over to the older dancer and sat down next to him, “What are you looking at?”

“Luhan.” Yixing answered simply. “Something’s wrong.”

Kai followed Yixing’s line of sight to the doe-eyed boy and was slightly confused. Luhan was standing around with Xiumin and Chanyeol, talking about something. What it was, Kai couldn’t hear, but nothing looked out of the usual. “I don’t get it. He looks fine. He’s not as cheerful as he used to be, but he seems fine to me.”

“I just know.” Yixing answered as if he was the ultimate authority on all things Luhan.

Kai turned back to watch the older singer once again, seeing if he could tell if anything was wrong with the boy, but came up blank again. He was standing fine, responding to everything the other two said, and he even had a slight pink hue to his cheeks. But that made Kai think. Sure they all probably had red in their cheeks because of all the dancing and singing they were doing, but there was something different about Luhan’s cheeks. It kind of looked like Luhan’s whole face had a pink tint.

“I’m worried about him.” Yixing sighed before turning towards Kai, “What about you? Are you okay?”

The younger nodded, “For now. I’m doing better.”

“Good,” Yixing sent him a small grin before turning towards the rest of their group again, “Do you know where Tao ran off to?”

Kai shook his head, it was always about Tao. Well, not really, but Yixing was always concerned about the youngest member of Exo-M. Sometimes Kai wondered if Yixing asked about him when he wasn’t around. “He left when break started, probably to use the bathroom or something.”

“Can you go check on him? He’s been wandering off and keeps tripping over his own two feet.” Yixing asked, turning his chocolate brown eyes towards Kai, “He keeps coming back with little scratches, I think he’s going somewhere and breaking down. But I want to see if I can figure out what’s going on with Luhan. Can I trust you to look after Tao?”

“Of course.” Kai replied instantly. The second Yixing threw out the word ‘trust’, Kai knew he was going to agree to anything the older said. It made his heart flutter to know that Yixing trusted Kai with someone so precious.

As quickly as he could, Kai jumped to his feet and walked out the door. He had no clue where to find Tao, but if Yixing thought he was crying, the dancer figured the best place to look would be the nearby supply closet. However, once he got there, he didn’t walk into the situation Yixing expected.

The door was slightly ajar, so Kai slid himself in the small crack and froze. Tao, despite how tall he normally stood, was cowering in the corner while some trainees cursed at him. Kai wanted to step in immediately, but he was so shocked that his body remained frozen.

“You were lucky back then when he stepped in for you.” The biggest of the trainees was kneeling and stuck his face right in front of Tao’s. “But now that he’s gone, you’ve got no one on your side. So show us your tough stuff, why don’t you? Aren’t you supposed to be some Wushu master?”

“I’m not suppose-“ Tao began to reply, his voice smaller than Kai had ever heard before.

“Not supposed to use it on us? Or so you’ve said before.” Another trainee spoke up. “I think it’s because you have no talent what so ever.”

“No, he’s too good to use it on someone like you.” Kai finally found his voice. He was upset with himself that it took him so long to talk, but once he did, he took control of his body and pushed the trainees aside. “Tao is a good person and knows that if he injures one of you, you won’t be able to train because you’d be in too much pain. I know it’s hard to imagine being nice with all that jealousy running through your veins, but you’d better learn to respect those above you in the company, because don’t think no one will be hearing about this. If you’re lucky, I’ll tell the company directly, but you know we’ve got connections to everyone here so I can make your life a living hell. So I’d watch my back if I were any of you.”

One of the trainees looked like he wanted to say something, but the other two pulled him back and they all scurried down the hall.

Once he was sure they were gone, Kai kneeled down next to Tao and took the Chinese boy into his arms, “Why were you letting them pick on you like that? You can fight back, no one would blame you.”

Tao shook his head and remained silent, however Kai could feel something wetting his shirt. Tao was crying.

“Hey you don’t need to cry. They didn’t hurt you too bad, did they?” Kai began running his fingers through the older boy’s hair and somehow, in this position, he realized why Tao let that happen. “You used to get bullied, right? The other guys talk about it sometimes. But, if I remember correctly, Kris saved you, didn’t he?”

Tao pulled back a little and wiped at his eyes. He looked up at Kai with a new bruise on his neck, “I know it’s stupid, but he used to save me every single time. I don’t know how, but he was my hero. He saved me.”

Kai pulled Tao even closer to him and wrapped his arms tightly once again. “I’m not your hero, Tao. And I’m not going to try to be because he’s gone. Your hero left. He’s not coming back to save you.”

“But he could!” Tao’s head shot up, his eyes wide. “He could still come back!”

“He could.” Kai immediately agreed and ran his fingers through Tao’s hair to try and calm him. “But I don’t think he can ever be your hero again. Because even if he does come back, you’re always going to remember this time when he didn’t save you and resent him for it.”

For a moment, Tao looked like he was ready to protest. But when he realized just how true Kai’s words were, he let his whole body flop lifelessly against the younger boy’s chest. “He’s not gonna save me anymore Kai.”

“That’s okay, it’s time you save yourself.” Kai tried to encourage the older boy. He was going to try and find some words to comfort Tao, but the door opened wider and Yixing stepped in.

The oldest boy in the supply closet looked at Tao with sympathy in his eyes, “I heard some trainees talking about you. So did half the group so they’re taking care of them right now. I figured I’d make sure you two were doing ok.”

“He’s upset.” Kai stated the obvious, feeling a bit like an idiot after he said it. “He was waiting for Kris to save him.”

“Taotao,” Yixing sat down in front of Kai and pulled Tao onto his lap, “Kris isn’t here right now. You have to accept it if you want to move on.”

Tao shook his head and muttered some Chinese. Before Kai could ask what he had said, Luhan came barreling into the room and landed in a seating position next to the group on the floor.

“Tao,” Luhan ran his fingers through the youngest Chinese boy’s hair. “Don’t cry.”

“He’s upset, maybe it’s okay for him to cry it out.” Yixing suggested, though didn’t sound too sure of his own words. He had his arms tightly wrapped around Tao, who had somehow managed to curl up into a tiny ball on the smaller boy’s lap.

Kai couldn’t help but sit back and marvel at the three in front of him. Even though he saw them all the time, and even though he couldn’t understand them, Kai was in awe. Once again the three just connected in a way that none of the other members did.

Even though he was crying, Tao managed to chuckle at something Luhan had said in Chinese. Even Yixing managed to crack a smile, and Kai was sure that was the first real smile he had seen from anyone in Exo since the day Kris left.

“You feel better?” Yixing asked Tao after Luhan spit a few more jokes in Chinese. “We need to be getting back to rehearse.”

“Come on Taotao,” Luhan had a bright smile on his face as he pulled Tao up to his feet. “Let’s run to the bathroom and get you cleaned up real quick.”

Kai got up quickly and helped Yixing up to his feet. Once stable, Yixing threw his arms around Kai, making the younger freeze.

“Thank you.” Yixing said, his arms wrapped tightly around the younger dancer. “Really, thank you. I had suspicions that this was happening again, but he kept denying it. Thank you for saving him.”

“It isn’t a big deal.” Kai wrapped his arms around Yixing, a smile on his face. “He’s my bandmate, too. I want to protect him as much as you do.”

Yixing pulled away, and Kai was surprised to see the older had tears in his eyes. “I’m glad. Thank you, Jongin."