He was the happiest person. He had Kris as a boyfriend, who wouldn't be happy? He's tall and smart and captain of the basketball team. He was wanted by everyone and for some reason he chose Tao, the awkward geeky boy with bad Korean. But Tao never questioned him why, he was just happy to be picked. He was the happiest person.

            But the only problem with Kris was his lack of being open. He never told Tao anything and at first Tao didn't mind, he thought that he knew everything that went on with Kris. He never questioned why Kris had never let him come over to his house. Never wondered why they only did things on his time. He never thought it was weird why Kris didn't let him hang out with his friends. He never pried or tried to get information about his life. Just kept the relationship skin deep. Because he figured that everyone's relationship with Kris was skin deep.

             So that one day when he was waiting for Kris by the gym doors because they were supposed to study together, well he was a little surprised to see him walking out and laughing with the lanky boy from bio.

            "Kris!" he called to grab the other's attention. The boy turned around and his smile faded.

             "What are you doing here?" he asked sounding a little annoyed.

             "Um, we were studying together. Remember?"

             "Oh, uh, right, sorry. I guess I forgot. But let's cancel it. Sehun is coming over to my house today." With that he turned away leaving Tao a little crushed inside. It got worse after that. Kris was constantly breaking their dates and never paying attention to him in school anymore. He never texted him back, never said 'hi' to him, never smiled at him. So Tao could only assume that this was Kris breaking up with him in a very passive way. But Tao couldn't even talk to him to find out anymore because he was always with Sehun. Sehun had taken his place.

            So Tao moved on. Kept to himself ignored the whispers of all the rumors about how he cheated and broke Kris' heart. Just generally stating that he was a fowl person and that's why Kris left him. Because no way perfect Kris could be flawed. But Tao didn't blame them. Nope, not one bit. He believed Kris was perfect too. So that was why at night he pondered their last days together, trying to place what he did wrong and every time he fell short. So he figured that it was just him in general. That he was just an awful person.

            So that's when it started. He would come home and go up to his room and sit at his desk till all his homework was done then he'd pack his backpack and push his chair in and go take a shower. He would come out all clean and happy and then look in the mirror. His dyed hair fading and roots showing his eyes permanently squinted and swollen from crying. His cheekbones and collarbones and hipbones and ribs jutting out of skin more than they ever had. He never really ate anymore only bites of meals so his mom would get off his back. The rest pushed around his plate only to end up in the trash. But the worst part was his thighs, dozens of slices coating his skin. But he no longer cared. He found comfort in the scars and gashes, found them real and deserving. Because this was his punishment, his karma. He would do this till something good happened and then he will have undone his wrong. Finally.

            After three months of this, something finally did happen. He was at his locker retrieving his math textbook and placing it in his backpack when a boy came up to him.

            "Hey do you know where I can find room 2024?" he asked and Tao was stunned for a second. Someone was actually talking to him. He hadn't used his voice in so long that he wasn't sure if it worked anymore. But he felt kind of bad for the boy. Being new here and not knowing that the person he chose to ask would be the biggest out cast of the school, so he decided to give the guy a tip opening his mouth and forcing words he wasn't sure he could say out, "You might want to ask someone else; if people see you talking to me you'll be shunned as well." And then he closed his locker, slinging his other strap over his shoulder as he walked away without looking back. But Tao was surprised by the hand that grabbed his upper arm, wincing a bit at the rough treatment.

            "I asked you. I'm going to go find someone else just because of a social status. I'm not that shallow. I'm Kai," the boy said with a light smile.

            "Tao," he replied, and couldn't help but smile back. Lips cracking from not being stretched in a little over three months.

------Four Weeks Later------

             They lay together in Kai's bed. Tao legs spread and Kai settled between them. Draped over Tao's body and kissing his lips. Just barely grinding his hips down, pulling tiny moans and whimpers from the boy beneath him. Nibbling his jaw as he worked his way up to his ear, softly pulling on one of the hoops with his teeth.

            "Can we go further?" he whispered, voice warm satin on Tao's skin.

            "Do… Do you promise not to judge?"Tao gasped, sounding far more touched out than he would have liked.

            "I would never judge you. You know that," Kai whispered again, voice still warm and thick; Tao nodding in response. Kai pulled off his shirt and started kissing down his neck and chest. Fingers splayed over ribs and sliding down to circle his impossibly skinny waist before slipping further down, catching in the belt loops of his jeans.

            Tao stilled completely, breath hitched and pulse paused as Kai eased them down. Briefs staying firmly in place as his pants are pulled to his ankles. When Kai looks back up his body he stops as well. He stared for a while and then flicked his eyes back to Tao's face. Tao was crying. Tears welled up and tipping out of unblinking eyes sliding over his temples to seep into the pillow below his head.

            "What are these?" he asks, fingers lightly brushing over his thighs.

            "Karma," is all Tao can say. And then Kai is standing off to the side of the bed and reaching down to pull Tao's light frame into his arms, sitting back down with the sobbing boy in his lap.

            "Why?" he asks, "You need to tell me why." It's not a question, it's a command, voice soft but firm. And Kai waited patiently for Tao's tears to slow and voice to speak.

            "He left me for another because I was a horrible person. He's so perfect and sweet and he left me. So I had to have done something wrong," he breathed in a rush between tears. Kai is rubbing him gently making cooing sounds to settle his boyfriend down.

            "So he didn't say why?" he asked, voice once again thick.

            "No. He just stopped talking to me. Just came out of basketball practice with Sehun one day and canceled our study date. That was the last time he even looked at me."

             "Then babe, if that's how he ended things, you're not the problem. Someone has to be seriously messed to be so cruel," he spoke into Tao's hair.

             "But Kris is perfect it had to have been my fault," Tao tried to argue. Kai just shook his head, "A person who makes you cry, who makes who stop eating, who makes you hurt yourself, is not perfect. They are the farthest thing from it. No one is perfect Tao, especially not Kris. He left Sehun you know. He was with him Tuesday and then Wednesday he left school with Baekhyun. And he'll keep doing that until some does it to him. Then he'll be the broken one; that's karma," he stated and then swept his hands over Tao's thighs, "Not this." And Tao can't breathe now. His tears have stopped and he clung to Kai tighter, legs squeezed around his sides and arms firmly wrapped around his neck as he roughly kissed Kai on the lips.

            "Help me get better?" Tao just barely breathed and Kai smiled, "Of course! I will not rest until you've gained at six kilograms and all your scares are healed." And then their kissing again only breaking apart when neither can bare to hold their breath any longer.

             "I think I love you," Tao panted against Kai's lips staring him in the eyes.

             "I know I love you," Kai murmured before connecting their lips once again.