Care
Broken Puppet
Thursday comes around before Kris is even prepared for it. He spent the last few days having constant internal battles about whether he should go to Luhan's house when Tao would be there. Overall, the situation is driving Kris insane. Through all the worrying and constant self-arguments, he decides to stick with his beginning outcome. He decides to stay home.
Now, telling Luhan that he had to stay home is going to be a whole different story because Kris has never been good at lying.
Tao drops his pencil onto his desk. He places a hand on his face and pays no attention in his normal English class. Though most of it doesn't make sense to him anyways, today he's feeling a bit light-headed. To add on top of that, no matter how hard Tao tries to focus on his surroundings, things are slowing down and becoming a bit of a blur. Tao concludes that he's sick.
Everything is passing him by and he's finding it so hard to catch up. His body aches with vigor and his mind is running in circles. There's a whole field of fog that's preventing him from thinking clearly.
He rubs his eyes in an attempt to make things less blurry. It doesn't work. The world only seems to spin faster and Tao's balance feels completely off charts. He hates being sick.
The bell rings and Tao tries to get up from his seat. Vertigo overcomes him in an instant and he's pulled back down by his own weight. He lets out a silent groan and tries to move again. He slowly gets up this time and the vertigo isn't as bad so he collects his books and trudges out of the classroom. He's already regretting coming to school today.
Tao's normal friends are all on a field trip because they take the same classes together. This leaves Tao by himself, which he wouldn't mind usually, but even he admits that he might need some help today looking at his condition.
When he walks down the hallway, all he can see is a blur of faces. Just an endless sea of people and colors that Tao can't pinpoint because they all blend into one giant canvas of mess. He tries to avoid bumping into anyone and for the most part succeeds until his shoe catches on something and his body lurches forward.
He slams into someone else and his books become scattered on the floor. Tao isn't sure, but he hears people gasp around him. While he tries to regain his senses and apologize, he's suddenly shoved into the lockers next to him.
Tao can usually handle himself. He has a background with martial arts and he knows how to knock someone out or take them down before they have a chance to injure him, but Tao could barely see properly, let alone walk. How would he be able to defend himself now?
"You ing idiot. You think you can just walk into me like that?!" This aggressive voice suddenly slams into Tao with full force and he tries to focus on the face in front of him.
"S-sorry." Tao stutters. He's too weak to do anything. In fact, he's not even sure if he can comprehend what's happening at the moment.
...
Kris walks down the hallway, ready to see Luhan and confront him about 'being busy tonight'. He's repeated a plethora of lies in his head and yet they all seem inadequate. He tries to speak them in his mind with different tones and possibly different facial expressions, but at the end of the day, Kris just overthinks everything--and loses all the natural attitude of a lie.
Kris runs a hand through his hair when he spots something irregular in down the hall--there's a small crowd bustling around this one small spot near the lockers. Something's not right about this scene, and Kris has a gut feeling that he should check it out.
When Kris nears, he sees something that quickly makes his heart falter. Tao is being pressed into the lockers and being targeted by a buffer guy in the school. Kris' fury suddenly overtakes him and he's flying forward before he can even think about his actions.
As the guy reels his fist back and aims for Tao's refined jaw, Kris catches it and yanks him back.
"Don't you ing hurt him." Kris spits with venom seeping from his voice. His protective side becomes blatantly obvious and it takes control of his entire being. He stands taller than the other guy, but the stranger has a bit more muscle and burliness to him.
"What's it to you?"
"Does it matter?" Kris looks back at Tao and realizes something about the way Tao looks today—his cheeks are flush but his face is pale, there's something awkward about his stance and Tao is slightly panting through his mouth. He's sick, Kris realizes. He recognizes it easily. So that's why he can't protect himself from this moron.
"Get out of my face, pretty boy." The guy shoves Kris but he's having none of it.
"Get lost." Kris erupts and suddenly he's pushing the guy backwards. He falls to the floor with a loud thud and Kris can barely comprehend his actions until someone yells, "Teacher!" and everyone scrambles like little children away from the entire scene.
"C'mon man, let's bail." One of the guy's friends heaves him up and they walk away.
Kris takes a heavy breath before turning back to Tao.
"Hey, are you alright?" Kris asks without even thinking about it. Did I just talk to him?
Tao looks up in a daze. Is that Kris?
Tao lets out a weak nod but slowly crumples to the floor. His knees gave out and his body begins to fail him. Kris catches him just in time.
"Jeez, you look terrible!" Kris lets a mumble before using the back of his hand to gauge Tao's temperature. Then, with his palm, he places his hand on his own forehead and compares the temperature.
"You're burning up!" Kris frowns. Tao is absolutely dazed and can't even concentrate on the person in front of him. Tao's sure he can hear words being thrown at him about how he doesn't look alright, but he's not even sure anymore.
"C'mon, I'll get you to the nurse's office." Kris reaches underneath Tao's arm and lifts him from the floor. Tao faintly feels someone around him, but the more prominent sensation is the one where he's being lifted up. He can't pay much attention to anything, and all he's beginning to feel is this constant heat that's burning up his entire body like a wild fire. Tao desperately needs something cold on him, but words are failing him at the moment.
"Oh my god! What happened?" Kris turns around to see Luhan behind him, followed by the rest of the gang.
"He's got a high fever." Kris decides to leave out the rest because in truth, he actually doesn't know the full situation beforehand.
"Let's quickly bring him to the nurse's office then!" Xiumin quickly adds.
"That's where I was heading." Kris replies. Luhan quickly grabs Tao from the other side and helps drag Tao. Kris is too concentrated on getting Tao to feel better that he doesn't even feel jealous about Luhan being that close to Tao.
Actually, this whole scene has got Kris so worked up that he hasn't even noticed that in the space of 5 minutes, he's talked to, touched and held Tao. Every fear he previously had about merely being around Tao faded away like rain, all because of his worry for the boy.
As the boys make their way to the nurse's office, Yixing works quietly in the background to collect all of Tao's books that lay forgotten on the floor.
...
Luhan isn't an idiot. He knows everything that Kris didn't tell him. In fact, he arrived on the scene with Tao being pressed up into the lockers at the same time Kris had. But just when Luhan was going to do something about it, Kris had already stepped in and shoved that specific away. Actually, Luhan is the one who yelled, 'Teacher!' so that everyone would walk away from the situation. But Luhan had ran and quietly hid behind a small corner that was too discrete for Kris to spot him, and watched the caring scene unfold before his eyes.
It absolutely astounded Luhan as to why Kris cares so much about Tao. He has never seen him act this way before, with such raw emotions coming out to play. That fury when Tao was being picked on, that gentleness when Kris was checking Tao's forehead, the delicacy when Kris spoke to Tao, it all shocks Luhan. He has never seen this side of Kris before and it really made him wonder why Tao is so special to him. Though he genuinely cares for Tao, he also cares for Kris. And because he hasn't seen Kris actually care for something this much in such a long time, Luhan comes up with a cunning idea that he wants to set into motion as soon as he can.
The six boys all cram into one small room within the nurse's office. Tao lays still on the bed, fast asleep with an ice pack on his forehead and a soft pillow beneath his temple.
The five remaining boys all look at each other...all except for one who's eyes have never once left the sick boy on the bed.
"Kris." Luhan calls. Kris grudgingly turns away from Tao to focus on Luhan.
"What?" Kris' eyes fail him and they immediately flicker back to Tao who continues remaining motionless save for the steady movements from his chest. This motion does not go unnoticed by Luhan...in fact, it doesn't go unnoticed by Yixing either, but only one of them is actually going to do something about it.
"Would you take care of Tao afterschool?" Luhan proposes this idea with a subtle innocence that he plays out perfectly.
Kris is rather shocked by this idea. "B-but, it would be kinda awkward wouldn't it?" He rubs his neck again in nervousness and Yixing can't help but for a small smile to play on his lips.
"Well, you're the one who found him like this so I guess he's kinda your responsability now. Plus, you're the only one that actually has any classes with him. I don't think his parents are home either." Luhan tries his best to persuade his friend. Though his motives seem rather hidden, all he wants is for his friend to be able to care about something again. He hasn't seen Kris care about anyone since middle school, not even himself.
"I guess..."
"Good!" Luhan gives a beaming smile and Kris pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes. What has he gotten himself into? In the space of a single day, he's gotten more contact with Tao than he has in a year or so. Kris isn't sure if he's ready to handle being Tao's friend again, but looking at the frail body on the bed, Kris knows he needs to do something. He cares too much to watch Tao suffer, even if that makes Kris suffer in return.
"I just called his parents. Neither of them are able to pick him up. Are one of you boys able to bring him home?" The nurse appears from her small office adjacent to the nursing area.
4 pairs of eyes turn to Kris and he nods at the nurse.
"That's wonderful, here's his address."
11 years earlier...
"Gege, it's really hot in here." Tao slowly crumples onto his bed and Kris looks worriedly at his best friend. Using the back of his hand to gauge Tao's temperature, he then places his palm on his own forehead and compares the temperatures.
"You're burning up, Taozi!" Kris scrambles to Tao's drawer and gets a hankerchief before running to the bathroom. He wets it with cold water and squeezes the excess liquids out. Then he sprints back to Tao's room and places the cloth on Tao's head.
The night turns a little warmer as the moon rises to it's peak in the sky. Kris is having a sleepover at Tao's house, but the latter isn't very lively at the moment. Not that Kris cares, he's worried sick about his friend.
"Thank you." Tao murmurs because that's all he can manage at the moment.
"I'm going to go downstairs to get your mom. Your temperature is pretty high." Kris says sensibly, but as he turns to leave, Tao sloppily graps his wrist. His fingers begin to slip off because Tao is that weak, but it's enough to stop Kris in his tracks.
"Don't leave me, gege." Tao sulks a little but stares at Kris with his huge eyes.
Kris frowns a little, trying to decide what's best for this vulnerable child before him.
"I'll never leave you, Tao. Don't you worry." Kris kneels down again, besides Tao's mattress and pats Tao's head.
"Promise?"
"Promise." Kris then softly lays next to Tao on the matress and the two of them fall asleep to each other's breathing. Never once leaving each other's side for the rest of that night.
How come you left me?
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