A/N: HEY HI IM BACK AND IM WRITING KRISBER BECAUSE I OBVIOUSLY LIKE TO MAKE MYSELF CRY OVER A SHIP THAT’LL NEVER HAPPEN

Sorry. Have fun with the KrisBer.

Your Protector

“Amber, honey, it’s time to go to school.”

“I don’t wanna,” the younger girl says, kicking a rock that’s in front of her house. Her mother sighs and crouches down to her eye level.

“Why?” she asks her. Amber shrugs and bites her lip. Her mother brings her in for a tight hug, knowing her daughter quite well. “Baby doll, you have to go to school.”

“But what if they hate me!! The last school I went to, people called me a boy and would throw pink paint, crayons, paper ball, erasers, pencils, and you name it!!” Amber says, clearly about to cry. Her mom hugs her tighter, rubbing her back.

“Honey, I talked to the principal beforehand last night and she said that no one there will do that.”

“You said that for the last four schools…” Amber mutters. Her mother sighs again, knowing that at this point, homeschooling Amber would be a better choice. Then again, she’s a social butterfly. She can’t just get cut off from the rest of the world because a few kids need to learn common decency.

“Amber, I can walk you to your class. I will have my phone by me at all times. I will be willing to pick you up if they bully you or hurt you, okay?” her mother reasons. Amber sighs, giving in.

“Okay, momma…” she walks to her mother’s car, jumping into the back seat, not quite tall enough to sit in the front yet. She takes out her notebook, given to her by her sister when the bullying started. It was meant to let her write down what she felt, but it turned into a song book shortly after Amber got a guitar and started learning how to play it. She read through her past songs, most of which express how mean the bullies are and how much she wants a friend that won’t tell her secrets. The next thing she sees when she looks up is the school sign. She sighs heavily and puts her notebook deep in the back of her book bag and zipping it up. When her mom stops in the front of the school, she waits until her mom opens the door for her.

“Momma, I don’t wanna go…” she says. Her mom sighs and takes her hand, pulling her daughter out of the car. Amber follows closely behind her mom, gripping tightly onto her waist. He mom opens the front office door and lets Amber walk in first. When she walks in she sees that there are two women sitting up front, talking to each other. One of them looks over at Amber and smiles wide.

“Hello there!! I haven’t seen you before, are you new?” the woman asks her. She nods and looks up at her mom. She smiles at her and talks to the ladies, probably figuring out where she’s supposed to go and stuff. It only takes about five minutes before her mom is holding a small sheet a paper and pulling her along to Amber’s new class.

“Here we are, honey,” her mom says, stopping in front of a classroom near the front of the hallway. Amber gulps as her mom knocks on the door. The teacher comes to the door, smiling.

“Hello, you must be the new student,” he says. Amber nods and smiles shyly back.

“Go on, baby doll,” her mother whispers. She nods and walks in slowly, looking at the class. She sees a lot of guys and her stomach fills with dread. They are the main bullies.

“Okay class, this is Liu Amber, she will be our new student. Be nice, okay?” the teacher announces. The class all agrees and she looks over at her mom with wide, pleading eyes. Her mom frowns and mouths a “sorry baby doll” before announcing her leave to the teacher. He nods and smiles to the rest of the class.

“Amber, you can go sit over by Kris and Luhan over there,” he says pointing to the back corner. “Luhan, Kris, raise your hand for Amber.” Only one raises his hand. The other just stares at her. She nods and gulps down the lump in . She sits down and takes out two notebooks, one empty one for whatever they are going over, and her song book.

“Hello!! I’m Luhan!! That’s Kris,” he says, pointing to the other boy on her left. She nods and avoids looking at the other boy. Luhan leans in close to her and she tries not to flinch.

“He looks mean, but he’s really not. He just doesn’t like new people, don’t worry,” Luhan says to her. She nods again, glancing over at Kris, seeing him looking up front, paying her no mind.

The rest of the day goes on quiet well. Her teacher assigned two people to help Amber around the school or with anything she needs. One girl, Luna, and Luhan. Luna usually brings along a girl named Victoria when she talks to Amber. Luhan drags along Kris and another boy, Yixing, everywhere with him. Luna is nice, and so is Victoria. Luhan is nice, and so is Yixing (maybe a little too nice, but he is cute and generous), but Kris, not so much. At first with Victoria, she didn’t speak and would just stare, but she ended up talking to her at some point, unlike Kris who just glared at everyone passing and wouldn’t speak unless spoken to.

“Wait, so you are in 5^th grade? Then why are you in my class. I’m in 4^th,”Amber asks. Luhan sat by her at lunch, wanting to talk to her.

“There aren’t many teachers left in this school, so until another teacher comes, we share classes. The teacher you have is yours. All the 5^th graders are just in your class because our regular one doesn’t have a teacher,” he explains. Amber frowns, still not understanding it.

“He means that until we get a 5^th grade teacher, we all just sit in other classes, waiting until the school finds a 5^th grade teacher,” Yixing cuts in. Amber gets it a little more, but still is clueless as to why there is no sub just being there.

“Our school doesn’t like subs to be in the class. That’s why we all sit in other classes,” Luhan adds, answering her unspoken question. She nods and just drops it, knowing it will only confuse her more if she listens to them talk about it anymore. Luna and Victoria come over and sit down, talking with all of them. Another girl, Krystal, and her older sister, Jessica, come over join. Luhan, Yixing, and Kris are on one side, while Luna, Krystal, Jessica, and Victoria are on the other. Another boy gets called over by Luhan. His name is Minseok, and Luhan hugs him tightly, attaching to him immediately. They all talk amongst themselves, leaving Amber to eat quietly. Yixing sees that she is awkwardly in the middles and he slides over in front of her and starts a conversation. She finds that Yixing is in 5^th grade, likes music, and speaks both Chinese and Korean.

“I’m not good though,” he adds. Amber smiles and nods.

“I’m not good either. My first language is English. I speak it at home, but anywhere else, I speak Korean,” Amber says. Kris, who is sitting next to Yixing, hears this and eavesdrops on their conversation.

“That’s cool!!” he stops and seems to be thinking before speaking again, “Have you always lived here, or did you move here?” he asks.

“I used to live in California actually, but I moved here when I was in 2^nd grade. By then I was speaking English pretty well, but my mom got a job here and here I am haha,” she says nervously. Yixing nods and is about to says something when someone on the other side of the table calls to her in English.

“Amber, you speak English?” they ask. Amber looks over and sees Krystal and Jessica staring at her curiously. Amber blushes and nods.

“Y-yeah I do. I didn’t know that you spoke it too,” she says. They smiles and nod at her.

“We do. My parents wanted us to live here and so we moved her last year, but we’ve been learning Korean and English since we were little,” Jessica says. Amber nods again and the two of them go back to their conversations amongst the others. Amber turns back and frowns, think that way quiet weird, but shakes it off when Yixing asks what they were saying. The lunch bell rings and they all get up, putting their trash and trays away and walking to their classroom. When they get there, the teacher tells them that they have a music class today and that they will leave to walk there in five minutes. Amber sits down in her seat, taking out her notebook and looks around, seeing Luhan talking to Minseok and Yixing while all the girls are by the door talking about some pop star. She looks back down and tries to finish her current song.

“I’m right next to you but I feel blue. Even if I try, it’s all the same. I’m like a puzzle piece that fell out. Honestly, I’m lonely, it’s an unbelievable irony. Like a withering flower covered by your shadow, I slowly harden. Are we feeling distant because the camouflage of love is coming off?” she whispers to herself. It the only part that she has written and she thinks of what else to write down, finding it hard. She doesn’t think that anyone could read it, considering it’s all in English, but she’d like to not take chances. She hunches over her desk and tries to write down the next line before someone walks over. Someone sits to her left and she glances over and sees Kris. She bites her lip, but writes down the next line anyway.

“My lips have shut, my smile has stopped and I’ve become quiet. Our eyes look at different places, am I the only one like this?” she whispers after writing it. She doesn’t notice Kris looking over her shoulder, reading it. She also doesn’t notice him speaking it in English until he stops. She whips her head towards him and gapes at him.

“Y-you ju-just read that?” she stutters. He nods and shrugs, still not speaking. “Could you not, please?” she asks. He shrugs again, turning back to the front until the teacher calls for them to line up. She sees everyone leave their bag in their seat and she does too, shutting her notebook and stuffing it back into her bag. They all walk to the music class and she sees a younger man playing the piano. It’s an old Beethoven piece. She had to learn it a couple months ago. The teacher looks up at the class as they all sit down.

“Does anyone by any chance know this piece?” he asks, playing it all over again. Amber bites her lip and looks around, seeing no one raise their hand. She shyly raises her hand, ignoring the looks people are giving her. “Yes?” he calls. Amber takes a deep breath before answering the question.

“I-It’s Sonatina in G major,” she says. The teacher nods and asks another question.

“By who?”

“Ludwig van Beethoven,” she says. Everyone is staring at her.

“Good job!!” he says, abruptly standing up. “Do you by any chance know how to play it on piano?” he asks. He looks at her when she doesn’t answer and she nods. “Would you like to play it?” he asks. Amber’s eyes widen and she sees Luhan nodding at her and smiling while Yixing is just smiling.

“O-okay,” she says. He motions for her to go up to it and she sits down. She closes her eyes and evens her breathing. She opens her eyes and shakily starts playing. She had to memorize it for a performance a while ago and still knows it. When she finishes playing, everyone claps and she bows, rushing back to her seat. She’s sitting in the back and no one is around her so she lets out her shaky breath and quietly says an ‘oh my god’ before looking back up. He starts talking about Beethoven to the class and it’s over in no time. They all make their way back to the classroom and waits until their teacher starts the lesson. Luhan leans in and compliments her playing and she smiles, thanking him.

At the end of this class, they have a free period to either stay in class or go outside or in the gym. Amber decides that inside is better and finds herself alone with Kris and the teacher. Kris is over in the corner of the room, reading something and she’s sitting her desk, writing her song. The teacher leaves at some point to go do something, leaving just her and Kris. Amber moves onto her lyrics after writing more of the music part.

“Haven’t you ever been like this when you felt lonely? Haven’t you ever been like this when tears fall? If we turn the ending page to our novel. What kind of story will it be? Did you already get there? How did I look? Did you already get there? When I open my eyes. I hope our love remains on top. Where it’s been written and erased countless times.” She whispers it out and bites her lip, looking around to find Kris still in his corner.

“Behind the closed door is your space and I’m led there. I need to read in a different language. Deviated thoughts, mismatched visions. Turn me back like a winding back a clock. Turn me back to the happy times. Find me the innocence that made my heart rush the most when I saw your face,” she adds. She doesn’t look around, thinking that Kris hasn’t moved until she feels a presence walking close to her. She looks up at him and sees him walking back to his seat. She sighs and starts to close her notebook when he finally speaks up.

“How many songs have you written before?” he asks. It’s said in English, which surprises Amber, but she just shrugs.

“I’ve written a lot,” she says. She looks up at the clock and sees that there’s still a good twenty minutes before everyone is called back to their classes.

“Hm…well I could guess that. You are working on your last pages of that notebook,” he says, motioning to it. She looks down at it and notices he’s right. She never really paid attention to it before, but now she sees that he’s right.

“I am…I’d have to get a new one then,” she says, shutting it and taking out a different notebook. This one is an old one she had that she uses to doodle in when she has to sit through this time of the day and there are too many people around.

“Why don’t you like people reading your songs?” Kris asks. Amber doesn’t look at him as she opens up to the next empty page.

“I just don’t like people reading it. My old best friend used to, but he moved and now no one does,” she says. Kris nods and they sit in silence as she doodles a little. When the students are called back to class she puts up her notebooks away. The teacher walks in and they all start working on English. It’s a mandatory thing that they have to know. Amber and the Jung sisters, Jessica and Krystal, all are given Korean worksheets to complete, considering they already know English. Yixing and this other boy, Tao, are given them too, but that’s because they are native Chinese speakers. They are all sitting at a table in the back as they do them. The teacher walks by occasionally to check on them and help them if needed.

“Okay, so we all seemed to have finished early, and that leaves about ten minutes before the school is dismissed.” The students nod and Amber walks back to her desk. Luhan walked off to Yixing and Minseok and Kris is still at his desk. Amber takes out her notebook and decides that she’ll work on her song even though Kris is right next to her.

“The trap of doubt, the process of resentment, though it’s complicated. I hope you tell me that it will be beautiful when time passes,” she whispers. She can feel Kris looking at her, probably noticing her whispering.

“Why do you only write it all in English?” she quietly asks. Amber looks over at him and frowns. “I mean, you know Korean, so why do you write it all in English?” he clarifies.

“I know it better than Korean,” she says. Kris nods and she continues writing.

“Haven’t you ever been like this when you felt lonely? Haven’t you ever been like this when tears fall? If we turn the ending page to our novel. What kind of story will it be? Did you already get there? How did I look? Did you already get there? When I open my eyes I hope our love remains on top. Where it’s been written and erased countless times.” Is all she gets in before the bell rings. She quickly packs her stuff and rushes out of the classroom, missing how Kris follows her. She gets to the front of the school and sits down on a bench, far away from other people that are staring at her. She sighs at the feeling of being alone for once, and she takes out her IPod, plugging in her headphones. She plays her English playlist, tilting her head up to look up at the sun, squinting slightly. She sighs and closes them, thinking about how well today went and how no one did anything mean. She feels someone rip her headphones out and she looks up to see a very intimidating 8^th grader.

“Hey, face, gimme your IPod,” he says, trying to pull it out of her hands. She pulls back, letting the headphones get pulled out of the AV jack.

“No.” The bully smirks and pushes Amber off the bench and stands over her, reaching down to take it off the grass. Ambers head hit back against her backpack, leaving her groaning aloud and rubbing the back of her neck.

“That’s what a dike gets,” he says, spitting down at her, Amber rolling to the side to miss it. She’s on her stomach and sighs aloud, wanting to cry because she was so close. So close to a bully free day in at least three years.

“Hey, Amber?” a girl calls in English. She looks to her side and sees Krystal and Jessica linked next to each other, looking at her in worry.

“Are you okay?” Jessica asks. She just smiles and nods, getting up and rubbing the back of her neck.

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She looks up and sees her dad’s car pulling up and she sighs. “I gotta go.” She bows and runs off to his car. She gets in the back, buckling in and pulling her knees up to her chest.

“Amber? What’s wrong?” her dad asks. She grunts and mumbles an ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’ before finally crying. Her dad sighs and drives off, looking through the crowd of kids as they all run around out front. Amber misses the angry and fuming Kris leaning against the brick wall. She misses Luhan and Yixing pulling him back as he storms over to the bully. She also misses the sad eyes Kris gives the car before it leaves out of the parking lot.

~the next morning~

When Amber makes the dreadful walk to her class, she sees a lot of the middle school kids stare at her as she passes them. Most of them give her nasty looks, but that little bit give her sorrowful looks like she’s walking on a path of spikes and fire. When she gets to class she’s one of the first there. The 5^th graders from the day before are there again and she feels a little better, knowing that the ones there aren’t going to hurt her. She sees Krystal and Luna talking at their seats and Kris hunched over his desk, probably sleeping. When she walks up to the seat, she sees her IPod with her headphones wrapped around it. The same ones from the day before. She frowns and turns it on, finding it’s fully charged and the screen is cleaned off. Her music is all the same and nothing is messed with. She turns it over and sees a sticky note on the back with Korean writing.

‘I got it back for you. I’m pretty sure most of his friends will stay away. I guess you can call me… your protector :) –Your protector’

She chuckles, smiling wide as she stuffs it in her bag. More of the students walk in and when the teacher starts class, she is given the job to wake up Kris. She bites her lip and nudges him lightly. Luhan chuckles and she can feel him reach his leg over and kick Kris in the shin. Kris wakes up with a yelp and a groan.

“Thank you Luhan, but I asked Amber. Mainly because I don’t think Mr. Wu can handle another kick to the shin,” the teacher says. The class laughs and Amber just looks over at Kris, smiling weakly. Kris just sighs and leans his head on his desk again.

After class ends and they all go to lunch, Amber finds that the people she sat with yesterday, are all back to their own friend groups. Amber finds herself sitting alone and writing more of her music. She’s too busy writing down the next line of her song when someone comes up and yanks the book off the table. She yelps and jumps forward to it, getting chocolate milk all on her pants. The whole lunch room looks over at her and the bullies, eyes wide and afraid.

“You’re the dike, right?” the one with her notebook asks.

“I guess…” she says quietly, wringing her shirt out of Chocolate milk.

“Well good, cause now that I know I can do this,” he says, grabbing a water bottle from a nearby tray and opening it. He’s about to pour it all over her notebook when Amber lunges for it, protecting it with her body.

“No!!” she shouts. There are more kids that are passing the lunchroom watching now. The bully raises an eyebrow and smirks.

“Too. in. Bad.” He bends down and tries to take it from her, making her jump back and glare.

“You aren’t getting it,” she says, gripping it tighter. She feels someone take it from behind her and she gasps turning around, seeing Kris holding it.

“Thanks Amber. I knew you’d be able to hold onto it for me.” He looks at her and she plays along.

“Y-you’re welcome Kris,” she says nodding. He gives her a smile and looks up at the guys.

“Problem?” he asks them. They quickly shake their head and rush off to their seats. “Here,” he says, handing her the notebook. The lunch room went back to their ways as if nothing happened.

“W-why?” she stutters, clinging to the notebook.

“You said no one ever sees it. I thought you wouldn’t want anyone ruining it either,” he says. He looks down at her shirt and sees the previously white and red shirt, now a dark red and light brown.

“Come with me,” he says, “and grab your stuff.” She nods, picking up her stuff, following him out of the room. They walk to the classroom and he walks to his bag. He pulls out a dark blue shirt and tosses it at her. She catches it and smiles.

“Thanks,” she says. He nods and walks out the room.

“You can change in here. I’ll keep watch of the door.” Amber nods and quickly switches shirts, not noticing Kris glancing back her and blushing a deep red and turning back to look down the hallway. She walks up to him and he turns around.

“Thanks,” she says again. He nods and the bell rings. They both just walk back to their desks and wait until the class starts to fill. Luhan rushes to Amber, eyes filled with worry.

“Oh my gosh!! I saw what happened!! I totally forgot you don’t know anyone!!” he spews, pulling her into a hug.

“Its fine Luhan,” Amber says quietly, pushing Luhan back. The teacher comes in and smiles at the class.

“Hello!! Today we have nothing to do for this period since we had music yesterday. Just do whatever and try not to break anything,” he says. The class nods and Luhan floats away from Amber and Kris over to Minseok and Yixing again.

“Would you ever let me read through your notebook?” Kris asks after a short silence. She looks up and finds him staring at her. She covers her notebook and shakes her head. “Even after I saved it from the bullies?” he says. Amber bites her lip and shrugs.

“I don’t like people reading it…” she says quietly, “It was first for when people would bully me and I needed to write down what I was feeling so it wouldn’t get bottled up, but it soon turned into a song book. It has personal stuff that I don’t want people I don’t know well enough seeing.” Kris nods and Amber thinks it’s the end of that until he speaks up again.

“Then get to know me,” he says simply.

“It’s not that easy,” she says. He shrugs at her, staring for a second longer before leaning forward and resting his head on the desk. She sees that some of the kids walk out and wander around the school and soon it’s just Amber, Kris, and the teacher. At this point Amber thinks that Kris is asleep, so she deems it safe to quietly sing her song now that she has finally finished it. She gets about halfway before frowning and fixing one part of the music and then she continues. When she finally finishes going through it, she smiles widely and flips the page.

“That means I can record it tonight…” she says, planning on how her night will go. Homework, dinner, shower, and then she’d have about two hours to record and edit it. Then she could post it to YouTube. She doesn’t realize that Kris was sitting next to her, wide awake, and listening. He’s smiling sadly after listening to the lyrics. The song is quite sad. When the class comes back in, Amber puts away the notebook and they all start the next lesson. Amber gets put to the side again and today, Kris gets to help them since the teacher has a more hands on lesson. He leans against the wall behind Amber, staring at her dark brown hair. Yixing and Tao sometimes ask for help, but otherwise, he just stares at the back of her head. Amber feels him staring, but she just writes it off to his presence making her paranoid.

At the end of the day she sits at the farthest bench, far away from any human and takes her IPod out, putting in her headphones. She plays her English playlist again, looking at the sun and closing her eyes. This time no one messes with her, but she feels someone staring at her. She opens her eyes and looks around to find no one looking her way. She looks around, seeing her mom’s car in the middle of the parking lot. She sighs and gets up, walking to it. She’s about to cross the street when someone pulls her back. She’s pulled into another body and she sees a very mad looking mom yelling at their child, speeding in front of her. She turns to look at the person and sees Kris, breathing hard as let’s go of her.

“Thank you, Kris,” she says. He just nods and walks across the street with her, closer than Amber thought he’d be, and watches closely as she walks up to her mom’s car. He jumps into his brother’s beat up pickup truck and they drive off, leaving Kris to watch as Amber’s mom follows them out the exit. They take opposite turns and Amber is sitting in the back of her mom’s car as she listens to music. When she gets home she sits at the table and does her homework, faster than usual, and decides that an early shower wouldn’t hurt. By the time she’s out, dinner is ready and she quickly eats. She helps clean up and rushes upstairs to record her song. She takes out her notebook, setting it on her desk and powering up her small laptop. She goes to the webcam and grabs her guitar. She plays through it once and then presses record. She strums through the beginning and then starts off singing.

When she finishes playing it, she smiles and let out a small thank you, shutting off the camera. She goes back and watches it through. She deems it good enough and posts it, having to wait about an hour before it posts. She looks through the past videos, only have about 7 or 8 of them. She sees that there are some more views on some and two new comments.

‘Such an amazing voice!! You are so young!! Keep on singing hun!!’

‘I really like this one. You are a good singer.’

She smiles and replies with a thank you and closes the laptop. She walks to her bed after putting her guitar away, and lays down. She drifts off quite fast and finds herself waking up an hour before she has to get up. She sighs and opens her laptop, checking her video and finds three comments, 143 likes, 11 dislikes, and almost 500 views. She smiles and read the comments.

‘Such a pretty voice!!’

‘Omg I’ll go sob in a corner. This is sad, but you sang very well!!’

‘Woah dude, you’re really good.’

She replies to them all with another thank you and decides to get up and get ready. She finds herself having to ride the bus since her parents need to get to work early. She gets on the bus with her sister by her side and they sit in the back. As they make their stops, more people come on. It’s not a regular school bus like America. It’s actually not a school bus at all. It’s just a regular bus that a lot of student ride. Amber is listening to music and waves to her sister when the bus stops at her school. The next two block are more people getting on and then someone sits by her. She doesn’t look up at them and just closes her eyes. She occasionally opens them when they stop to check for her school. She finally stop at her school and she gets up, noticing that the person that sat next to her also got up. Probably another student. When she gets off she’s humming the song she posted last night.

“I watched your video. You’re a really good singer,” a boy says behind her. She turns around and sees Kris.

“Oh, thank you,” she says, speeding up her walking by only a little. They get to class a like yesterday and she finds that not even the teacher is there. The door is locked so she and Kris have to sit outside the class until their teacher shows up.

“I listened to a lot of your videos actually,” Kris says. Amber looks up at him and he has one headphone in and the other in his head.

“Why?” she asks, not expecting him to even know about it.

“Because yesterday, when you thought I was asleep, I wasn’t. I heard you say that you post stuff on YouTube so I looked and found you. It wasn’t hard. Not many Liu Amber’s look like you,” he says chuckling. She flushes a deep red and brings her knees to her chest, hiding her face in them. The teacher comes by and greets them, letting them in the classroom. More people come in and soon the school day starts.

~a couple months later~

“Stupid teacher making us sit out here…”

Their teacher made the whole class come out since he had recess duty and now Amber is leaning against the brick wall of the school. The past few months went by pretty uneventful and now it’s summer. The bullying wasn’t bad enough to make her switch schools again because of Kris. She found out about three weeks into her being at the school, that Kris was the protector guy who would return all her stuff or would make the bullies stay away for about two weeks. She had found him leaving the note on her desk one morning when she caught a ride with her mom that morning. Now, she and Kris are pretty close friends. He’s been over her house, but never lets her at his. He’s been to the park with her, but never lets her go by herself, for a fear of one of the neighborhood bullies from their school to find her or some weirdo creep to try and snatch her up. It soon became Kris protecting Amber and Amber getting him to be more social. About two months later she found Kris with a busted lip and a bruise on his cheek. He wrote it off to a fight with his brother, but Amber didn’t really believe it.

“Amber!!” someone calls. She looks up and sees Luna waving her over and she looks scared and worried. Her teacher doesn’t notice Luna calling her or Amber rushing towards her. Victoria is the one to pull Amber to the side and push her against a slide. She points over to the empty grassy part of the playground and Amber can see a bunch of eighth graders and Kris. Two holding him still as the boys hit him. All the kids around them are staring helplessly at them.

“I have to go help him!!” she says to Victoria and Luna. They shake their heads and Victoria lets her go.

“You can’t. You’ll get hurt. They are scared to hit girls. Luna, come on, let’s go get Mr. Choi.” Amber bites her lip and feigns giving up. Right when Luna and Victoria turn around to run over to Mr. Choi, she sprints to the bullies, slipping into the small circle. She’s really small and thin, so she can slip around them as they try and hit her. One lands a hard slap on her right cheek and another jabs her in the side. She yelps and is able to harshly kick three in the crotch, leaving them groaning on the ground. Kris is panting and watching as she slips around the boys. The two holding Kris let go and go after her. She gets an idea to run and have them chase her when she sees they follow her around.

“What? You can’t get me?” she eggs them on. They all chuckle and she gets an ‘oh ’ moment when they all sprint after her. She, on the other hand, is faster. She leads them to the teachers, all of them too busy trying to get her to notice where they are going. Mr. Choi is about halfway there when she sees him.

“Mr. Choi!!” she shouts. He looks over to her and sees the bullies shouting rude name at her and rushes towards them. Amber stops, panting heavily as she jogs back over to where Kris is. Luhan and Yixing are helping him up, one holding each arm. Amber walks up and sees that his face is bloody and probably has a bunch of bruises under his shirt. She walks through the school with them to the nurse, opening doors and having people move out of the way. When they finally get there, they bullies are all in the office outside the principal’s office. The nurse is already standing and getting thing ready, having been told about it when Mr. Choi came up with the bullies.

“In here kids,” she says, motioning to the side of the bed where they ley Kris down. His eyes are opening and closing slowly as if he were about to fall asleep, but the nurse has them keep him awake. She takes off his shirt, checking his ribs and other body parts. His injuries aren’t bad enough for the hospital, but they are bad enough for four people to help clean him up. The nurse has Luhan and Yixing find a shirt for Kris since his had blood on it from his busted lip and bloody nose. The nurse tends to the bruise on the side of Amber and hand her an ice pack for her cheek. Luhan and Yixing come back with two separate shirts, one bigger than the other, not sure which to bring. They hand the nurse both and she takes the bigger one and has them help get it on him.

“Would you stay and make sure he doesn’t fall asleep? I need to write up the report for the principal.” They nod and Amber sighs, sliding down the wall facing Kris’ side. Yixing and Luhan find seats on the other side and sit. They occasionally call for him to wake up when they notice him dozing off. Soon they are called into the principal’s office to say what happened.

“Amber…” Kris calls weakly. She looks up at him and gets up and walks to him.

“Hey…” she says, looking down at him. She’s holding the ice pack to her cheek and he frowns, reaching for her left hand and holding it tightly.

“I’m sorry that happened. You shouldn’t’ve helped. It got you hurt,” he says. Amber frowns and shakes her head.

“No, I wanted to. If I hadn’t, you would’ve been a lot worse than how you are now…” she says, feeling small tears well into her eyes. He squeezes her hand and he smiles.

“Thank you, but I’m your protector. I’m not supposed to get you hurt.” She smiles and rolls her eyes.

“Let me do the protecting for once. You’ve probably been getting beat on for a while now,” she says. He frowns and shrugs.

“Maybe, but no one hurt you. That’s enough for me,” he says. The principal comes in and calls for her to come to her office and Amber nods. Luhan and Yixing come in and walk up to Kris. She walks out, following her to her office and Amber sits down on a green chair.

“Okay, so, can you explain what happened?” she asks. Amber nods and swallows down the lump in .

“W-well I was leaning against the wall on the far end of the playground, right behind Mr. Choi when Luna called me over. When I got over there, Victoria pulled me to the side and pointed to where Kris was being hit by the group of bullies. Two were holding his arms, keeping him still, while, I think, five were hitting him. Victoria and Luna told me not to intervene for they wanted to tell Mr. Choi, but when they turned around to go walk to him, I ran over to the bullies and slipped into the fight. I was hit on my cheek,” she says motioning to her face, “and on my side,” motioning to her left side, “after then, I hide three of them in the crotch. The two holding Kris let go of him and chased after me, causing the other boys to follow. When I ran over to Mr. Choi, he was already halfway over to where the boy were. I ran them over to him and called out his name, letting him stop them and take them to the office. I jogged back over to Kris and helped Luhan and Yixing bring Kris to the nurse.”

“So you admit to hitting them?” she asks. Amber merely nods and the principal writes it down.

“I will be calling your parents, mainly because you hit another student, but I would like to say that you finally gave me the ability to expel these bullies. If it were just Kris, I would have to suspend them for a month, but they hit you and Kris, which is expelling standards,” the principal says. Amber smiles lightly and nods, seeing her smile back. Amber walks back to the nurse’s office, seeing only Yixing there.

“Luhan left to get all our stuff with Mr. Choi. The nurse has a lot of paper work to do since they’re expelling them and won’t be here to watch him,” Yixing says when Amber walks up to him. She nods and leans back against the wall.

“What happened?” he asks.

“She’s calling my parents, but because I intervened, I was able to get them expelled. If it were just Kris, they would’ve been suspended, but they hit two people. Now they are expelled.” Yixing nods and smiles sadly.

“You know how many times that happened after school because he was so dead set on protecting you?” Yixing says.

“You know I’m awake?” Kris rasps out and they laugh.

“Yeah we know,” Amber says, “It’s our job to keep it that way.”

“Yeah…” Yixing says. Kris just smiles a little and sighs. Luhan walks in with Mr. Choi and hands Yixing his stuff as Mr. Choi gives Amber hers.

“Thanks,” she says. Amber takes out her notebook, choosing to pass time by writing some music. She sees Yixing move over next to her and at this point she doesn’t really mind. She hasn’t started writing lyrics yet, so it’s just the music part. She’s been playing piano and guitar all her life and at this point she knows all the notes sounds.

“You write songs?” Yixing asks. She looks over at him and nods.

“I have my guitar with me. Could you play one?” he asks her. Luhan looks up at them and Kris smiles.

“She’s really good at it,” Kris adds. That only makes Luhan join in and she finds that she can’t say no.

“Fine. Gimme da guitar,” she says. They all smile and Yixing crawls over to it, opening the case and handing it to her.

“Do the one you were working on when you first came to this school,” Kris says, referring to Ending Page. She blushes and nods, turning to the song. She plays it for them and they all clap gleefully, and Amber finding that Kris knows the lyrics.

“You’re really good,” Yixing says. Luhan takes all of twenty seconds before exploding and complimenting everything about it. Soon, Luhan and Yixing leave to go wander around, leaving Kris and Amber.

“Come here,” Kris says, extending his arm. Amber smiles and walks over there.

“Yes?” she says, looking down.

“I want a hug,” he says quietly. Amber laughs out, but bends down and hugs him tightly. Kris then pulls Amber down next to him. She lets out a surprised yelp and he chuckles. She tries to get up, but Kris just pulls her down again. She gives in and just rests against his chest, used to this position from many sleepovers in their tree house or in the regular house. Soon Amber finds herself dozing off. Kris just smiles and runs his fingers through her hair, humming some of her songs that he’s memorized by now. Luhan and Yixing come in, Luhan fawning over the “cute little couple” and Yixing smiling fondly at them.

Amber is awoken by Kris after the last bell rings and Yixing and Luhan have left.

“Amberrrrrrrr,” Kris says. She inhales sharply and opens her eyes slowly. She sees Kris looking down at her and she smiles.

“Hello,” she greets.

“You fell asleep,” he says simply, smiling back. Amber nods and rests her head on his chest again, ignoring the chuckle from him.

“Come on, you gotta help me limp over to the bus stop with you,” he says. Amber gets up and helps pull him up, sitting him up on the bed. They get their stuff and Amber lets Kris lean on her as they walk to the bus stop.

“You’re comin’ to my house, right?” Amber asks.

“It’s Friday, right?” he says. Amber just smiles and nods, helping him onto the bus. They sit in the back and Kris lets out a relived sigh as he can finally relax. They drive by a couple blocks and then Amber’s sister gets on. She’s talking with two friends and scans the bus to find Amber and sits down when she knows she made it on the bus. Amber sighs and leans against Kris, careful of the bruise on his ribs. Kris smiles and wraps an arm around her shoulders, bringing her to sit closer. She dozes off again, not really caring, and wakes up to Kris, shaking her.

“Come on,” he says. Amber nods and grabs her stuff, helping Kris up and out of the bus. Her sister is up ahead by a couple paces, talking to her best friend. They get to the house and the babysitter is just getting there.

“Hey guys!!” she says waving at them. They smile and wave back, walking in the house behind her. She counts the kids, Amber and her sister with Kris and her sister’s friend, and shuts the door locking both the door knob and the other lock. She rushes them to do their homework as she makes them ramen and cold tea.

“Here ya go!!” she says, handing the kids their food and drink. “I’ll be in the living room if needed. I have a project to work on and I don’t wanna disturb you guys,” she says, bringing the poster board she brought in with her to the living room. They all nod and continue working quietly. Amber is the first to finish, having the least amount easiest homework. She goes upstairs, bringing her bag with her, and grabs her guitar, tuning it before playing a little. She plays through a song or two and takes out her notebook. She’s on the last page and probably needs a new one, but she’ll worry about that when she gets there. She plays the one she’s working on and finishes the music part, moving onto the lyrics. She looks up after a couple minutes, finding Kris at the door.

“Hey,” Amber says. Kris nods and sits on her bed, listening as she writes her song. She looks back occasionally to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep, but finds he just stares at her. When she gets tired of doing it she puts the guitar away and shoves her notebook in the bottom drawer. She walks over to Kris and she moves over, having her lay down next to her. She curls up in his side and they just lay there quietly with Kris’ arms wrapped around her and Amber resting her head on his chest. They soon doze off together, falling asleep until Amber’s sister or the babysitter comes up to wake them up for dinner.

“Amber,” someone whispers. She frowns and curls further into Kris. He lets out a light chuckle and smiles fondly at her. “You gotta wake up,” he tries. She just cracks and eyes open and pouts cutely.

“But I don’t wanna,” she whines. He laughs out this time, making her sit up with him. She finally fully wakes up, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“You keep falling asleep, how late do you stay up at night?” he asks her. She shrugs and leans against him. He smiles again, helping her up. They walk downstairs and Amber sees her sister helping the babysitter cook while her friend is doing the dishes for them. Kris and Amber walk in, greeting them, and jumping in to help them. Amber’s dad comes home first, saying a quick hello before rushing upstairs to finish the rest of his work. When they finish cooking, they sit in the living room, watching a Chinese show, with only Kris and the babysitter understanding what’s going on. Amber is sitting in between Kris’ legs and they are on the floor, leaning against the couch Amber’s sister and her friend is on and the baby sitter is sitting on the floor, eating over the coffee table. Kris sets his bowl aside, putting Amber’s empty one inside of his, stacking them. He wraps his arms around her stomach and lets Amber intertwine their fingers. People tend to comment how close they, some kids at their school are convinced that they are dating. Though, they are only in 4^th and 5^th grade, it’s still quite an advanced friendship for such young kids. Amber’s mom comes home later, after they all clean the kitchen, and she calls Amber to talk to her. Kris and Amber already know why, but she still has that confused face on for the innocence part.

“Amber,” her mom sighs, “your school called me and told me that you broke up a fight between Kris and some other older boys, but you did so by hitting them.” She crosses her arms, but it’s more of an ‘I don’t know what to do’ kinda way and not an ‘I am mad at you, send your friend home and you’re grounded for a month’ kinda way. Amber just nods and puts her hands behind her back, messing with out of nervousness.

“Well, I want to punish you, but she also said that since they hit you, they were expelled. She said that she’s been trying to rid her school of bullies, but they have to do a lot before it actually happening.” Amber bites her lip and nods along, listening to her mother. “Just,” she closes her eyes and sighs, “Let’s just drop it, okay? You won’t be in trouble, but you aren’t getting praised. Just, please, don’t do it again. Alright?” her mom finishes.

“Yes ma’am,” Amber says, nodding. Her mom smiles and shoos her off, patting her back.

“Are you okay?” Kris asks when he sees her. She just smiles and nods, hugging him tightly. He laughs and hugs her back.

“I want ice cream…” Amber mutters. Kris laughs loudly at the random statement and helps her get ice cream. She brings out a small bowl for everyone, and then sits next to Kris on the floor again, happily eating her ice cream. When everyone is done, she rinses the bowl and they decide to sneak upstairs after their baby sitter says goodbye and drives off. Amber gets her laptop, bringing it over to her bed and sitting next to Kris. She was able to snag four movies from the living room before getting up here so they can just sit and watch movies all night. She puts one of them in and sees that it’s Big Hero 6 that she grabbed. She smiles and presses play, her and Kris bundled up in a thick blanket as they watch the movie. Since they both dozed off and napped during the day, they are able to stay up later than usual, watching all four movies. She closes the laptop and sets it on the floor, sliding it under the bed so no one steps on it by accident.

“We should sleep,” Kris comments. Amber yawns and nods, lying down next to Kris so she’s laying the same direction he is in. He tosses the blanket over her and wraps his arm around her, nuzzling his nose in the crook of her neck and pulling her body closer to his. She smiles and lets him, putting her hand over his from where it is on her stomach.

“Thank you by the way,” he says. Amber turns her head around to look at him and frowns.

“What?” she asks.

“You helped me and I didn’t properly thank you. You’re a great best friend because not even Yixing and Luhan, my friends from the start, intervened,” he explains. Amber just smiles and nods.

“You protect me. I thought I’d return the favor.” Kris just laughs and smiles wide.

“It’s my job to protect you. I like you and I don’t want you getting hurt,” he says. Amber freezes momentarily before blushing deeply, matching the one Kris has from finally saying it.

“Y-you like me?” she asks. He nods and the dim light covers his blush. Thank god the moon is dark tonight or else he’d has his blush be seen. Amber smiles wide and reaches up, kissing his cheek, and turning around quickly. Kris is wide eyed, but smiles like a goof when he realizes what she did. He pulls her close again and kisses the back of her neck, smiling wide.

“I’ll protect you as long as you don’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you Kris,” she says. He lets out a breath of laughter and nods. When he’s sure she’s asleep he speaks up again.

“I think I might love, though I’m young, I’m pretty sure this is what it feels like…” he says. He doesn’t notice that Amber is actually still awake and since she’s facing away, he doesn’t notice the smile on her face either.  

‘I think I love you too. And I don’t think that’s ever going to change.’ She thinks to herself before willing herself into sleep.

As they grew up, Kris never left Amber’s side, living by his word. Amber never hated him, and so, he spent his time making sure she doesn’t get hurt again. Amber’s parents are soon wary about their closeness, but when Amber got into high school, they never did anything ual. They never thought to. They were best friends, nothing more, nothing less. Kris still liked her, and at some point Luhan pointed out how the way he acted pointed to love more than like. Kris would just sigh and walk away, not wanting to invest enough time into his feelings to confuse him or frustrate him. Being best friends with her is good enough. As the time went on, Luhan would date and Yixing found a girlfriend, Hyoyeon, which soon left him for a younger kid, Jongin. Luhan dated another kid, Sehun, but soon broke it off when he found him making out with Tao. Though his and Sehun’s relationship was never known to anyone, but Minseok, Yixing, and Kris, he still was mad. He soon got over it, deciding that Tao is a better friend than enemy.

Now, Kris is in his last year of high school, and Amber is in her second to last year. They both know he’ll graduate and then leave to go off to college, but they don’t think about it. With Kris, he puts it where he put the feelings for Amber, the back of his mind to be untouched until absolutely needed. At the end of Amber’s third year, she won a scholarship for a summer trip. She spent about two seconds thinking about it before giving it away to Krystal and Jessica, knowing that they would get more out of it than she ever could. And this is the last summer she can hang out with Kris while he’s still here. Her parents spent five minutes talking to her after they got news that she gave the trip away, but gave up quickly when they realized nothing was changing. This only made their worries deepen, but they never said anything. Amber got “the talk” in seventh grade when she hit puberty along with Kris. He got taller and so did she, but he kept getting taller and she soon stopped, being almost a whole foot shorter, making her 5’5’’ and Kris 6’3’’. He graduated and Amber sat by his brother and mom as he walked the stage with a too short gown and a too small cap, being designed for smaller males.

Amber later found out after talking with Luna and Krystal that she has a crush on him. She turned to Victoria, whom has a boyfriend older than her and was in the same situation as Amber is in, and she also said that’s what it sounded like. Zhoumi, her boyfriend, would act in a similar way towards Victoria, but since he went to a different school, it wasn’t as extensive as Kris was. Amber now knew that her closeness with him wasn’t best friends, but crushes being hidden under a fear of being apart. She talked to Jessica and Hyoyeon, needing another woman that had experience like Victoria, and they agreed. She was frustrated and soon did the same thing Kris did, shove it to the back of her mind. Not to be touched until needed. She liked the friendship too much to possibly ruin it. She valued him being around too much to it up because of might’s and maybe’s.

As time went on, her YouTube channel became well known and people at school even knew of it. Kris would help her with it, rapping some parts for her as her lyrics advanced, or he would sing lower notes that she couldn’t hit. The viewer’s soon assumed that they were together since he was in almost all her videos and came up with a ship name, KrisBer. They would laugh about it and reply, saying they aren’t together, but appreciating the ship name. The kids at school would make comments about it and they would laugh it off, but in the back of their minds, that thought itched to be touched. To be thought about and frustrate them. But it never made it passed and was shoved further back.

After the ceremony, Amber went along with them, eating out and sitting next to Kris in the car and at the restaurant. His mother always knew that they were close, soon (the day that Amber came to the school) finding that Kris likes Amber, explaining why he didn’t like Amber coming over to his house, and would constantly comment on it and ask if they were dating. Amber would always blush and shake her head, letting Kris groan quietly and give an annoyed but firm no.  Amber never really understood if she liked him, but she never dated anyone else and neither did her. The school knew that they were close and a lot of the kids were scared of Kris, whom of which became a giant overnight, so no one bothered asking either out. There were guys and girls fawning out them, but no one dared ruin the relationship. Not when Kris is her best friend. Maybe if it were Luhan or Yixing as her best friend, but no, it was Kris. 

During the summer, they spent the whole time doing all the fun stuff and soon Kris got accepted to four different schools. He didn’t tell Amber about the other three, choosing that it would be easier to tell her he only got one, which happened to be the one that Zhoumi went. Kris thought that if Victoria and Zhoumi can have a stable relationship, then it would work with him and Amber. He had to stay in the dorms for the first semester, but the second one he was able to rent an apartment two blocks from his school, four from Amber’s house, and one from her school. He picked up a job at the mall that Amber works at and was able to buy a car. He would sometimes pick up Amber and take her to his house and they would work on their homework and hang out until Amber had to catch the bus home. Soon, Amber got a space in his house from always being there and when she became a senior, she and Kris talked to her parents about living with him. They were hesitant, but figured she practically already does, and let her. Her sister graduated and came home the same year Amber graduated high school. She was seated next to Kris and would find him sniffling or smiling like an idiot. Amber had won a scholarship to the school of her choice and the school that Kris goes to was the one of her choice. She wanted to go into the entertainment area and that’s what that school did. Kris went in as an actor and Amber as a musician and songwriter. She perfected her guitar and piano skills and also became a much better singer. She was able to write harder songs and found a classmate, Chanyeol, who played many other instruments. She asked him to help and he gladly agreed, for he had seen her YouTube channel. She became well known for it and became a popular YouTube musician.

Kris also became an actor. He stared in a local movie that soon became popular due to Amber mentioning it on her channel. Many of the people that watched it were viewers of hers and they all got it to be the most popular Korean-Chinese movie. Now that they were widely famous, people were watching them constantly. They dug up anything they could and found nothing that made KrisBer official. They tried really hard, but it never happened. Kris and Amber still kept quiet about the feelings they had, but never made it affect the relationship. They did almost everything together liked planned. They would spend time writing Amber’s songs or reading Kris’ current script. Amber would go to his set when he could and he would go to her video shootings when he could. As they got busier it got harder to maintain the close friendship, but the gods felt nice and would give them their moments.

It was on Amber’s 22^nd birthday when Henry came along. He was the old best friend that Amber had. He moved to Canada with his mom and dad and kept up with her YouTube all the time. He came back and decided to see her again for her birthday. That was also the day that Henry told her he liked her. She was surprised to find that out and agreed to go out with him. Kris stood in the back for a while until Henry just up and left her for another girl one day. Amber had gotten busy with another performance that Henry decided to get a less busy girl. Kris was the first one to hear about it when he found her crying over the note Henry left her on her bed at the apartment she still shared with Kris. He ran up to her and hugged her tightly, carrying her to his room, knowing that having her stay in that room will only bring memories since that’s where she and Henry slept. He laid her down on the bed and laid behind her, bringing her close and her hair. She was facing the same way he was and so he had his arm around her stomach and nuzzled his head in the back of her neck. He said quiet sweet nothings as she cried. She fell asleep soon after she calmed down and woke up in an empty bed with one of Kris’ shirts and a blanket over her body.

She looked around and temporarily forgot why she was there until she remembered the note. She felt tears well up, but pushed them back and getting up. She saw Kris making tea and ramen and walked up to him, encircling her arms around his waist.

“Hey, you,” he says. Amber smiles sadly and rests her head on his back. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“Ehh, my head hurts,” she rasps out. He frowns and reaches over, grabbing the bottle of Tylenol that he placed for this reason, and opens it, taking out two and turning around to hand them to her. She takes them and he hands her the tea and she takes the pills. She sighs and leans against him again and closes her eyes.

“I’m not surprised this happened. The last time I actually saw him was almost two months ago.” Kris frowns and hugs her again, kissing the top of her head lightly. Amber feels her heart flutter and she sighs. “I guess I have to come up with a statement now. Kinda fishy having your boyfriend out with another girl. Don’t want to cause any drama,” she says, sighing and grabbing her phone from her room. She sees the note and picks it up, rereading it. The tears from earlier return and she doesn’t stop them. When she comes back out, Kris set her ramen on the table next to her tea and he’s sitting eating his while reading his script. She sits down next to him and clicks the number for her manager.

“Manager Oppa?” she says. He grunts and asks her about the rumor and she explains the whole ordeal. By the end of the conversation, it is officially going to be said that they broke up with each other over both being too busy for a relationship. Amber hangs up and finally eats, eating slower than usual. The note that Henry left is on the table in front of her and he reaches over to grab it. Amber watches as he reads it, rolling his eyes at the end and setting it down.

“I would like to burn that piece of bull. Can I?” he asks. She laughs at the proposition and agrees. He gets up, setting his cup and bowl in the sink, and grabs his lighter out of one of the drawers. Amber picks up the note and walks over to Kris. He stands over the sink and clears one side out. He lights the lighter and Amber holds the note over the flame. She smile lightly as it burns away in the sink. They wash it out when it’s just ashes and Amber finishes her ramen and tea.

“We don’t have anything to do today,” Kris says after they clean up.

“Yeah I know. Kinda funny how he broke up with me the day before my first day off in two months,” Amber says, smiling sadly. Kris frowns and walks up to her. She looks up at him with curious eyes and he bites his lip.

“Don’t think about him, okay? It’s hard to protect you when you are thinking about it,” he says. Amber smiles and nods, sniffling a little. She leans forward and hugs him again, hiding her face in his chest. He hugs her back, running his fingers through her hair. They stay like that until Amber finally deems it long enough.

“I want some ice cream…” she mutters. He laughs and nods. They take out two small bowls and get some ice cream. They sit on the floor, leaning against the couch with Amber in between Kris’ legs. They watch Chinese shows, Kris having to explain what’s going on. When they finish their ice cream, they stack the bowls and set them aside and Kris wraps his arms around her. She intertwines their fingers and leans back into him. They sit like that for the rest of the show and only get up after it ends to put the bowls and spoons in the sink.

“Wanna watch movies today?” Kris asks. Amber smiles wide and nods, running to grab blankets as Kris picks out movies. Amber comes back with at least ten blankets and they set them up to make a small burrow. As Amber sorts through the blankets so the fluffy ones are in the middle and the thin ones are at the bottom, she comes across an old blanket that Henry gave her for her birthday. Kris notices her stopping and looks over, also recognizes the blanket.

“We can burn that too, you know?” Kris says. Amber airily laughs, wiping her eyes quickly before nodding.

“Later.” Kris nods and they continue. She tosses the blanket behind them on a chair. When they are done, they sit in it, wrapping in the think blankets on the top and Kris uses the remote to press play. Amber laughs out when he sees that it’s Big Hero 6, her favorite movie as a kid.

“I think I’ve done well,” he says, pulling Amber closer him. He wraps his arm around her and she leans against him. This is how it’s supposed to be… Kris thinks to himself. As they watch the movies, they can feel the feelings itch the back of their minds. Amber bites her lip and sighs quietly. At the end of the movie, she gets up to go pee and finds that she forgot she was wearing Kris’ shirt. She’s wearing her shorts underneath, but his shirt is big on her and they are covered. She sighs heavily and pees and washes her hands, looking in the mirror and seeing that her eyes are red and puffy. She walks out and sees Kris on his phone. He looks up at Amber and smiles.

“Hi,” he says. She rolls her eyes and sits back next to him. They start the next movie and watch quietly. They are both really close against each other, but they don’t move, liking the closeness. At the end, Kris brings up the blanket.

“Wanna burn it now?” he asks. Amber looks up and smiles wide, nodding. They get up and Amber grabs the blanket from the chair and Kris grabs the lighter. They walk outside and Kris lights the lighter. Amber lights one end of the blanket, letting it drop to the ground. There are people watching, but neither cares. Kris pulls Amber close and wraps his arms around her. She rests her arms above his and leans back into him.

“Feeling better?” he asks her. She smiles and nods, noting how he talks in English when they are out together like this. When it’s burned, Kris runs in and grabs the broom and dust pan, sweeping up the mess. They walk back in and throw it away, going back to the living room, watching more movies. When they get hungry, they get food and Amber jumps onto the counter to eat it. Kris leans against the counter next to her. He finishes first and sets his bowl in the sink, rinsing it and standing back next to Amber. When she’s done, she jumps down and rinses her bowl, leaving it in the sink. They walk back to the living room and watch the last movie. Amber falls asleep halfway through and Kris chuckles, picking her up and taking her to his bed. He walks back to the living room and turns off all the lights, shutting off the TV. When he walks back in he doesn’t notice Amber cracking her eye open at him. He lies down behind her and pulls the blanket over them. We wraps his arms around her waist and nuzzles her shoulder, sighing deeply.

“I want to be able to protect you, but it’s so hard when I always want to hug you. I really like you Amber. So ing much. Haa…this is so cheesy. I’m confessing while you’re asleep. Hm…but it’s true. I really love you. You matter so much to me. I can’t handle seeing you hurt over someone else because I can’t protect you from that. I don’t know how to make you feel better. It’s so hard, Amber. I love you, but you make it so hard. I always want to just kiss you and keep you away from the people that will hurt you. I always want to just beat the ers that try something to you. I just…never mind. It’s useless.” Kris closes his eyes and wills away the hot blush on his face. He feels Amber move and he tenses up, but keeps his eyes closed. Amber is grinning wide and hugs him.

“It’s not useless…” she whispers. Kris’ eyes snap open and he stares at her in disbelief. He sees her grinning and he can’t help but grin back. She laughs out and burrows her head in his chest, hiding the blush that is quickly forming on her face. “Don’t think it’s useless, Kris,” she says in English. He blushes and smiles.

“What does that mean?” he asks, still kinda confused as to what she’s talking about. She looks up at him and pulls her body upward, being at eye level with him. She leans forward and pecks him lightly on the lips, smiling wide when she pulls back and sees his face. His eyes are wide and his lips parted. She giggles lightly and pecks him again, lingering just a little longer.

“A-Amber, a-ar-, wha-what?” he stutters. Amber just giggles, rolling her eyes.

“Kris you are so thick headed sometimes,” she whines, finally kissing him properly. She feels him push back against her, returning the kiss. He pulls back quickly and inhales sharply.

“Amber, you heard all that right? You understand how I feel? And this is not because of Henry?” he asks. Amber’s face becomes serious and she sighs.

“Yes I heard it all. I understand because that’s how I feel. It’s not because of Henry, I promise.” Kris’ face breaks out into a wide grin, pulling Amber close and kissing her hard, finally able to do it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kris breathes.

“I don’t know. Uncertainty? Nervousness? That doesn’t matter though because now I have and it feels great,” she says, grinning wide. Kris just nods in agreement and lightly kisses her again before pulling her close. She is facing towards him and burrows her head under his chin, gripping onto his shirt tightly. Kris doesn’t sleep until she thinks she is, but when he deems her asleep, he speaks up again.

“I said this long ago, but now I’m sure of it. Amber, I love you.”

A light breath of laughter and,

“I love you too Kris. Always have, always will.”

A/N: *CRIES A ING RIVER AND OCEAN* WELL HERE WE GO