“Hyung, do you know where Lay hyung is?” said Tao

“Yea, he’s in the practice room. I’ll wait for him, you go on ahead with the others.” Suho replied.

Tao left and Suho was alone in the lounge on the computer. He watched funny videos on YouTube to pass the time but every now and then, he would check social media to see if the news had dropped yet. There had been rumors for weeks, it wasn’t like when Kris left, the members knew. Suho had still felt bad about the way that had happened. Of course it was too late but subconsciously he had tried to make up for it by supporting Luhan’s decision to leave. He paused a cat video to refresh the social media page and there it was.

BREAKING: Sina reports Exo M’s Luhan has filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment

Well now the whole world knew. With this being their second time, they were prepared to deal with the public’s reaction but it always takes a toll on the members, which is what Suho hates the most. He doesn’t like to read the netizen’s comments for that very reason but out of curiosity, he refreshed the page again.

Exo M’s Lay sends heartfelt message to Luhan supporting his decision

Suho’s eyes went wide. He ran as fast as he could to the practice room. The music was on but when he arrived, Lay wasn’t there. He saw that Lay’s stuff was still on the couch so he paused the music.

“Lay?” He listened closely and heard whimpering coming from the closet in the corner of the room. He walked over to it. “Lay, are you in there?”

“We’re busy!” the whimpering turned to sobbing and Suho tried to open the door. It was locked so he began to kick the door. When it finally opened, he saw Lay crouched in the corner with a man standing over him. Lay looked up and his face was covered in cuts and bruises and he was still crying.

“If there’s one thing I hate, it’s kids who can’t mind their own damn business!” The man tried to grab Suho but Suho was faster and targeted his pressure point first. The man passed out and immediately fell to the floor.

“Let’s go” he took Lay by the hand and led him out of the building.

~

When they arrived home, Xiumin was waiting up for them in the living room.

“Hey” he said worried. Lay walked in behind Suho and Xiumin immediately ran over to him and took his face into his hands. Lay flinched a bit. “I knew it” he frowned.

“What about the others?” said Suho

“In bed,” said Xiumin still focused on Lay “I made sure they weren’t checking social media”

“Thanks hyung. And don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.” Xiumin nodded. He hugged Lay gently and patted Suho on the back and then went to check on the others.

Later in the bathroom, Lay sat on the counter while Suho cleaned his face.

“Why did you do that?”

“He’s my best friend.”

“Yea but..” Suho sighed “this..  is it worth all of this? You know what the company does. I mean, you could’ve waited.”

“I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding’s like last time. They said awful things about us and Kris and there were so many lies and rumors. It makes me sick to even think about it. The people deserve to know the truth.”

Suho knew he was right but.. “It’s just really hard to see you like this. I..  I wasn’t able to protect you.”

Lay touched Suho’s face “Hey, who was it that kicked the door open and saved me from the big, bad PD-nim?” he smiled. “Where did you learn how to do that anyways?”

“D.O.” they both chuckled a bit.

“Besides, I’ll be okay. It’s only a few scratches. Nothing some rest and a couple band-aids can’t fix.” Lay always knew how to make a person feel better. When they were done bandaging him up, Suho took Lay to his bed and tucked him in.

“Thanks Suho.”

“Of course.” Suho turned to leave.

“Um Suho?”

“Yea”

“Can you sleep here tonight?”

Suho smiled and climbed into Lay’s bed with him. Of all the things that had been running through Suho’s mind in the past few weeks, the most important was the fact that they were a family and no matter what happened or how far apart they were, they would always love each other and be there for one another.