Disclaimer: I cannot write angst. I am terrible at it. But I enjoy reading it, so here it is. Enjoy, I guess? I hope the last chapter makes up for this one...

Again, I am not basing Kyungsoo's mother character on his actual mother. I'm not that mean. 

The rain worsened slowly outside, light taps turning into heavy thuds against the front door and windows. Inside the boy's dorm, the fireplace crackled, casting light and unneeded heat across the darkening common room.

Kyungsoo sat with his elbows on his knees in the armchair next to the fireplace, watching his mother settle into the well-lit chair across from him. She hadn't changed much in the four years between then and the last time they met. Her cheeks still stretched taut in the way only natural thinness could make them, her eyes still the brown of the baby owl they went to see once in an aviary, her hair still in the loose curls she had gotten after she met that other man. She smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes the way they used to.

Amber stood next to Kyungsoo, a hand on the back of his chair. "You don't have to talk to her if you don't want to," she whispered. 

Kyungsoo shrugged. "She wants to. It's only polite." Even to himself, his voice was strained.

Amber sighed and stood up straight. "Hi, uh, Mrs. Do--"

"Call me Yunseo, please." Kyungsoo's mother, tipped her head to Amber.

Kyungsoo tensed. Amber glanced down at him, then cleared . "Yes, Yunseo. I, uh, Kyungsoo isn't feeling well, and he has classes tomorrow...let's keep the conversation brief."

"Of course." Yunseo turned her attention back on Kyungsoo. "Lots of schoolwork?"

Kyungsoo met her eyes. They were trained on him, almost daring Kyungsoo to say something out of line. He nodded slightly. "Yeah."

Warmth crossed Yunseo's expression for a moment, then retreated back to wherever it had come from. "Must be hard being a high schooler, hm?"

"Yeah."

"Anyways, I heard you got hurt. Are you--"

"I got shot. I'm alright now." Kyungsoo looked away, scratching the back of his neck.

Yunseo's brow furrowed. "You got...shot? By who?"

"A former student."

"He was drunk," Amber added. "He's in jail now. Apparently, this isn't his first offense."

Yunseo shook her head. "Oh, goodness. So many bad people out there. You really do have to be careful."

Kyungsoo looked back up, pointedly meeting his mother's eyes again and holding them. "Yeah."

Yunseo stared back, keeping her face carefully blank. 

A few moments of silence followed, filled only by the whispering fireplace and the thunder rolling outside. 

Finally, Amber spoke. "How about we end it there?"

Yunseo stood up. "Of course. Kyungie has to do homework."

Kyungsoo frowned. "Kyungie?"

If Yunseo heard him speak, she didn't let on; quickly, she put her blazer back on and pulled an umbrella from her bag. Amber walked her to the door. 

"Parking lot is behind the building. You can walk around under the awning," Amber said.

Yunseo paused. "Kyungie," she said.

Kyungsoo stood up. 

His mother turned where she stood. "Do you remember the time you had pneumonia?"

Kyungsoo didn't reply.

"Do you remember how scared I was, and how much I begged your father to let me take you to the doctor's, but he wouldn't let me because he didn't want them to see how badly he hit you?" Yunseo stepped forward, and Amber grabbed her arm. The older woman shook the bear hybrid's arm off. "Please," she said, then turned back to her son.

Kyungsoo backed away only to find that he couldn't, the fireplace on one side and the couch behind him. Chanyeol and Baekhyun crept into the doorway of the staircase, ready to intercept.

"Do you remember the time we went to the zoo and saw the baby birds?" Yunseo continued, her hands starting to ball up into fists. "What about Steve the rock? Didn't I buy you a hermit crab when we went to the beach together after? And we saw a turtle on the sand, and we let it go. Remember when I bought you that seal stuffed animal? What about when we went to look at the pretty houses, and the art museum, and the musical? Didn't you like the musical?" Yunseo's voice broke. "Do you remember?"

Kyungsoo realized, with some surprise, that he was crying. Quickly, he wiped at the stray tears on his cheek, anger rising fast up in his throat. 

Yunseo took another step forward. "Kyungie, where were you all this time? I've been--"

"GET THE F OUT OF HERE."

Everyone in the common room froze, and Yunseo's eyes widened.

"What right do you have to come here?" Kyungsoo demanded. "Why are you even here? You dropped me at some random person's house when I was twelve, and now you're back trying to tell me it's MY fault? MY fing fault that you've been lonely and desperate and angry at everything?" Kyungsoo's throat was raw, but he kept spitting the words out, the words that had been pent up in a locked box somewhere in him for years. "What did you ever do for me? You left me with my dad just so you and some ahole could go escape, and who was the one who got hit for you? Who was the one who had to call the police for you? Who was the one who ran off after being fing dumped like your s because you were afraid? What do I remember? What do you remember? Do YOU remember?" 

Kyungsoo in a deep breath, ready to scream again, when his mother spoke in an achingly familiar, soft, scared voice, the same one she would use on Kyungsoo's father.

"Of course I do." Yunseo swallowed hard. "Of course I remember. I'm your mother."

She turned and swept out the door just as a flash of lightning crossed the sky. The door slammed in time with the thunderclap.

Amber, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun rushed to Kyungsoo. He sat down hard, then curled up, head on his knees. Someone's arms went around him, and someone else spoke quietly into a cellphone.

And Kyungsoo cried.