To be honest, Tao ached all over.  He just didn't want the others to worry even more about him than they'd already be worrying. He'd also lied about not remembering anything from before. He DID remember what happened in the bathroom, and because of that he ddin't want to go anywhere near it. He'd seen them though. At the time he hadn't realized who he was looking at, however when he was looking in the mirror he'd seen Sehun. It had only been a flash of his face and he was very ghostly, but after waking up Tao was certain it was him. He'd seemed so evil though. Sure, Sehun could be a brat that he wanted to kick sometimes, but that wasn't his usual bratty self. No he was evil. Like the kinds of ghosts that possess people. Then when he and Kris were so close, Tao had seen Kyungsoo. But once again it wasn't really him. He'd been horrifying. Like someone had burnt him to a crisp, tossed him into a river, then burried him...all when he was alive still. That's why he'd passed out. He just couldn't comprehend seeing his close friend like that.

 "Jesus Tao..." Kris commented, bringing the dark haired male out of his thoughts of the others that weren't in that other room. "Wha?" Tao asked, looking down at his bare body that Kris had been staring at. When he looked down, Tao noticed that not only did he have random cuts here or there, but he also had bruises. A lot of them. They looked like hand prints too. Quickly pulling his pants up, Tao felt his cheeks warm. Why had he even agreed to strip down for Kris? All he wanted to do was stare at his body anyways. Well. Not fully . Tao had kept his boxers on after all. But still! Once his pants were pulled up and fastened, Tao went to pull his shirt back on, only for Kris to grab his wrist and look into his eyes seriously again.

 Shrinking away from Kris's gaze, Tao just wanted to go home and forget any of this ever happened. "Do they hurt?" Kris asked, moving to touch one of the bruises on his shoulder. Wincing a little, Tao answered Kris's question without even having to talk. Of course they hurt. "Aishh Tao..." Kris said, moving to inspect him some more. Starting to feel self conscious, Tao moved to grab his shirt again to attempt to pull it on, however Kris then suddenly pinned him against the wall, their faces merely inches away from eachother. "Wh-what are you doing?" Tao asked, cheeks instantly bright red as he stared up at Kris's eyes. "Is it wrong for me to want to kiss you Zitao?" Kris asked, looking deep in Tao's eyes still.

 A million questions started flooding through Tao's head at that simple question. Was it wrong? Did he want to? Why did he want to? What suddenly changed for him to want to? Was it because he just saw him stripped down or was it because he was worried about him? He couldn't be worried, right? He just wanted to see him . Right? When Tao didn't answer Kris, the blonde haired male simply clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and pulled away. Tao had been too afraid to answer, too afraid to react. He didn't know what Kris really wanted or why. Of course Tao wanted to kiss him. It was obvious how he felt, right? The others all knew about Tao's feelings towards Kris. But Kris had never really returned those feelings. Not like now. It caused Tao's heart to beat hard against his chest.

 "D-dont leave!' Tao said, grabbing Kris's wrist. He didn't want to be alone. "Wait until I..." Tao started, only to notice something out of the corner of his eyes. Looking in the direction of the movement, Tao froze, turning pale again. Kris saw this and instantly wrapped his arms around Tao, Pulling his gaze away from whatever was over there.

“Don’t look” Kris said, pressing Tao’s face to his chest and looking around himself. If he could just protect Tao from whatever was happening, maybe those bruises and cuts wouldn’t come again. He could feel him shivering again though. Shaking in his boots so to speak. “Lets go back to the others, ne?” Kris said, moving to grab Tao’s remaining clothes and pulling him out of the room and down the hall some to the other room.

Back in the other room, the trio had been talking about how to get out of there. No more splitting up, they were going to try all the doors in the building and then figure out what to do from there. Once the shirtless Tao and protective Kris came in, the three in the room looked at them suspiciously for a second before they noticed the bruises on Tao’s body as well as the expression on his face.

“Are you okay?!” Kai instantly asked, pushing away from Baekhyun and Chanyeol to come and see if Tao was okay. Kris frowned a little and tightened his protective grip on Tao and put a hand out to stop Kai from getting too close. “I’m fine” Tao said with a shy nod and then realized he was shirtless and looked around for his shirt. Realizing that’s what Tao was looking for, Kris handed over the clothes and then let his hands fall to his side so that Tao could get dressed.

“You don’t seem fine…” Kai said, slightly under his breath yet loud enough that everyone in the room heard what he said. “I’m just…” Tao started only to pause so he could get his shirt on properly and then start to button it up. “…tired.” Tao finished his sentence, looking up at the others trying to offer a smile. “You’re crooked…” Baekhyun said from Chanyeol’s side and then instantly went over to Tao to the couple buttons he’d done and then straighten the shirt so that the buttons weren’t uneven. “There…” Baekhyun said, continuing to button his shirt up like a mother would.

“Thank you” Tao said shyly with a smile and then side stepped closer to Kris once Baekhyun was finished.

“Oh um…” Chanyeol’s voice suddenly came from where he was left alone as he then came closer so he wouldn’t be the lone kid in the corner. “We were finalizing a game plan.” Chanyeol said, his hand reaching down to Baekhyun’s almost possessively. It seemed that he wasn’t fond of Baekhyun’s actions towards Tao but honestly Baekhyun wasn’t trying to make a move on Tao. He was simply making sure the youngest in the room was okay.

“Right!” Baekhyun said, a small smile on his face. “There were a couple doors we haven’t checked…” He said, heading over to the table to show a small map of the school. “Where did you get this?” Tao asked, kneeling over so he could get a better look at the map without being in anyone’s way. “Freshmen get them so they don’t get lost. I found it in the teacher’s desk.” Baekhyun said, proud of his detective skills. Tao smiled in response to that and started to run his finger through the school map.

“So…where have we already looked?” Tao asked, taking his finger off the map. “Um…” Kai jumped in that time, moving in so he could show Tao and Kris what they already decided. “We’re here…” He said with a grin and then pointed at a couple different areas. “Chen, Lay and I looked here when we passed…” Kai’s voice hitched a little when he said ‘Chen’ and ‘Lay’, obviously still affected by his friends disappearing in thin air. “We checked here Tao” Kris said, pointing to the door that they’d checked when they were trying to get out. “We checked the cafeteria here…” Baekhyun said, pointing to another exit.

“Hmmmm so that leaves…” Tao started, looking for all the different exits. “Here.” Chanyeol said, pointing to one of the exits. “There? That’s it?” Tao asked, frowning a little. “I thought we had more…” Tao said, adjusting a little in his kneeling position and looking closer at the map. “Nope, that’s it.” Baekhyun said, agreeing with Chanyeol. 

“Alright. What are we waiting for?” Kris asked, moving to take Tao’s hand and help him to his feet. “The sooner we get out of here the better, right?” Kris then asked, receiving nods from the others. “Okay….to the gym exit…” Kai said, moving to lead the way for the two ‘couples’. Being a 5^th wheel wasn’t too bad as long as he was at least the leader, right?