Chanyeol loved attention. He especially liked it when people looked at him. It made him feel like he was special; like he had something to offer. Right now, however, the gazes directed towards him make him feel like he’s the prey of eleven hungry vultures who had been denied food for weeks. Chanyeol laughs awkwardly yet heartily as he continues to moonwalk on the spot, trying to make light of the situation.

“Chanyeol,” Junmyeon says in a discerning tone.

“Wish I had heelies to escape these feelies,” Chanyeol jokes, still moving in circles.

“Chanyeol you are literally not going anywhere. Stop moonwalking and spill it,” Junmyeon commands, crossing his arms, unimpressed with the way Chanyeol’s acting.

The boys continue to glower at Chanyeol until he comes to a halt. As he stops dancing, Chanyeol averts his gaze towards the floor, avoiding eye contact with anyone and everyone. “So as you see,” he begins as he laughs to himself “Kris isn’t dead. He’s… very much alive.”

“Wow really?” the boy beside Kris comments, feigning astonishment.

“Tao, not now,” Kris lightly reprimands him, furrowing his brows. Tao mutters under his breath and looks elsewhere, allowing Chanyeol finish.

Chanyeol rubs the back of his neck, visibly uncomfortable with confrontation. “And get this,” he laughs a little harder than before. “I may or may not have lied about Kris dying.”

Kris’s face changes into something nearly unreadable; body motionless and eyes staring blankly. When he lets out a long sigh, Chanyeol can’t help but feel guilty. In the split second he met Kris’s gaze, Chanyeol swore he saw nothing short of hurt. But that soon changed into something more.

“Why the hell would you tell people I was dead?” he asks, slowly and calmly, though it’s clear that he is anything but calm. “Is it because I broke up with you? Because I’m pretty sure we ended on good terms before I left.”

The air becomes a lot tenser than anyone wanted it to be and Chanyeol suddenly feels like it’s hard to speak. Looking at Kris, he knows he caused more harm than he expected to, as the elder runs his fingers through his hair. A habit he had when he was upset, Chanyeol remembers.

“It started when one of my classmates asked about you after you left,” he hesitates, watching everyone’s expressions. “They were asking things about our relationship and where you went, talking as if I was some baggage you had to get rid of. And the words just slipped out I guess…” Chanyeol explains, voice faltering at the end.

“Slipped out? More like dropped from a thirty-floor apartment rooftop,” Sehun mutters, receiving a hard nudge from Kyungsoo.

“Sehun!” Kyungsoo angrily whispers at the boy.

“After that one classmate asked, it just got easier to tell people the same thing. And so I thought it didn’t matter what I said at that time because you said you weren’t coming back,” Chanyeol reasons in attempt to justify his actions. “Saying you died was a lot better than ‘my boyfriend broke up with me and left for another country’ in my opinion. I just didn’t want to seem even more pathetic than I already did.”

Kris almost forgets that they were all in the dorm hallway and nearly snaps at the boy. “And that makes it okay?” he retorts. “You told everyone I was dead because you didn’t want to tell people we broke up? Because your pride was on the line? Did it ever cross your mind that you should’ve, I don’t know, told the truth?”

There’s an unexplainable rage that stirs within Chanyeol as Kris scolds him. It’s the same rage that he felt when Kris left him for what he thought was for good. It leaves a bitter taste in his mouth that he’d rather not have and it leaves him in the form of a hostile laugh and clenched fists.

“Listen, you want the truth? Fine. Here’s the truth.” Chanyeol shouts. “I said what I did because at that time, I was as good as dead to you. So I thought, hey, in that case, you’re dead to me too.” The words come tumbling out from his lips along with his pent up frustrations, and somehow it makes him feel even worse than he did before.

“What? What do you mean you were dead to me? What the hell are you talking about?” Kris challenges, feeling wrongly accused.

“For that last few weeks we were together, you avoided me like the plague,” Chanyeol laughs, pain becoming increasingly evident in his voice. “You kept the exchange student program from me until the day you had to leave. And you know what’s worse? You broke up with me literally three hours before your flight, as you were telling me about the program,” he hisses, body beginning to shake in anger. “So don’t tell me we ended on good terms. We ended on your terms, Kris.”

Chanyeol doesn’t even give Kris the time of day as he’s storming out of the hallway, worming his way past the others before he’s running away. Nobody knew what to say or do. It was the angriest they’d seen Chanyeol since... ever. Chanyeol didn’t get mad, he got patient. He was their endearing gentle giant.

“Is it true?” Junmyeon asks, breaking the silence. Everyone let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding.

“Yeah,” Kris replies as he presses his lips in a tight line.

“No offense but, I can see where he’s coming from,” Minseok interjects, eyes softening. “You didn’t bother telling him something that was obviously very important to you, let alone the rest of us. You just kind of disappeared one day and there wasn’t really much anyone could do.”

“It was a little selfish of you, to be honest,” Baekhyun adds, willing himself to look at Kris. “I know I’m still relatively new here and probably don’t have a right to say anything but… you two are… kind of stupid? Instead of blowing up at each other, why don’t you guys have an actual conversation about this and talk it out? Like… one where you’re not standing in the middle of a hallway and surrounded by, you know, us?” he suggests, hands motioning to the rest of the group.

The boys murmur in agreement as Kris remains silent, still processing his thoughts. Junmyeon smiles at Kris’s hard expression, thinking with his hand on his chin. “What do you say?” he asks, poking his cheek.

“I think you guys should work things out. It’ll make hanging out with the two of you a lot less painful,” Jongdae teases.

“Taco night isn’t the same when your friends hate each other,” Yixing adds.

“Taco night is for friends who love each other and share a special, unbreakable bond,” Luhan says sincerely, gesturing to everyone in the hallway.

“Please never let words come of your mouth ever again,” Jongdae squints at Luhan.

Kris relaxes a little and drops his arms to his sides. “You guys are right,” he admits, smiling and rubbing his neck sheepishly. “I’ll talk to him. I just hope he wants to talk to me.”

Baekhyun grins back and sighs. “Great. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a roommate to find.”