"Runaway Baby" by Bruno Mars

That night, Hyojun couldn't sleep.

And it wasn't due to a nightmare or a spontaneous case of cramps, oh no. It mainly had to do with his mind being completely overrun by a particular someone known as Park Chanyeol (of course).

Just the mere mention of his name can cause Hyojun to squeal and sigh like a lonely grandma watching the of her romantic soap operas. Ever since he came home from school, did he realize that he's now got it real bad for Chanyeol― the guy's all he ever daydreamed about, and he barely got through his homework, because he kept sketching his face at various angles in the margins of his notebook. And even when he attempts to sleep, the moment where Chanyeol caught him would start replaying in his mind, thus turning him into a blushing, smitten mess that'd roll over the bed and kick at his blankets.

'Chanyeol, Chanyeol, Chanyeol,' Hyojun mouths his name repeatedly as if it was some kind of sacred mantra, his head fizzing with bubbly, soda-pop love. 'I really, really wanna see him again. I don't know if he remembers me, though...'

His chest began to grow warm, the prospect of seeing Chanyeol (or at least just a glimpse of his face) making him feel genuinely excited for school tomorrow. A tiny smile crept its way up to his lips, and he hugs the blankets closer, giggling silently into the darkness. 'I can't wait...'


§


It was early in the morning― Hyojun and Hanui sat at the bus stop, and patiently waited for the bus' arrival. Seeing as they came in several minutes earlier, the area's less crowded, with a few people scattered about here and there. Hanui occupied herself by playing 'Fire Emblem' on her DS, when suddenly, she could hear distant noises of footsteps.

Looking up from her game, she patted her brother's arm. "Hyung, who's that?" she asks, squinting and pointing at the distance.

As he was listening to music (Gray, his favorite artist), Hyojun removes an earbud to hear her better. "Who?" he follows her line of vision, and saw a disheveled figure sprinting down the sidewalk like he was in a hurry.

"What the..." the Min siblings watched in bewilderment as he stops in his tracks, head whipping around like he was searching for something, before releasing a huge sigh of relief. His red hair was unkempt, and he wore his school uniform in a haphazard fashion, as if he got dressed while blindfolded.

" yeah, I'm finally safe," he mutters while leaning against the stop sign in order to catch his breath. "Old bastard can't catch me now, can he?"

He starts cackling hysterically, doing a little victory dance, and fist-pumping the air. Hyojun couldn't resist the giggles from bubbling out, and covers his mouth with his jacket sleeves to mute the sound. 'What a weird guy.' he thought.

Suddenly, the guy whirls around to see Hyojun. With an amused smirk, he whistles at him.

"Yah," he calls out to him, and Hyojun straightens his back in surprise, pointing at himself questioningly. "Yeah, you. If some wrinkly, angry-looking comes and asks if you've seen me, say I wasn't here, 'kay?"

Hyojun didn't know how to exactly reply, so he just nodded, and that seemed to satisfy the other teen. "Awesome. Unless he manages to catch me, which means you'll never see me again. Welp, ciao then."

With a rushed wave, the boy dashes off just as quickly as he came. Again, all Hyojun could do was follow his retreating back until he disappeared from his vision, eyes glittering with a bit of intrigue.

Hanui began to regard her brother suspiciously. "Don't tell me..."

"Tell you what?"

"That you're attracted to him already."

"Huh?!" Hyojun nearly screams, eyebrows furrowed with incredulity, and embarrassment sprinkled all over his face. "How can I already like him when he's just a complete stranger to me? I didn't even get his name."

Hanui shrugs. "Hey, just wondering, bro. No need to get all pissy on me." the two made faces at each other (as usual), before she returned back to her game.

Hyojun scrunches his nose up. 'Hmph, what's she even thinking?' he places his earbud back in, and slightly raises the volume― the song, 'Summer Night,' was playing. 'Besides, I've already got Chanyeol-ssi. Why would I need anyone else?'


§


It was first period, now. Mr. Choi was lecturing the class about ancient civilizations, writing important dates and famous figures on the whiteboard, while students were either taking notes diligently, sleeping, or discreetly using their phones under the desk. It was quiet and peaceful for the most part, the only sounds you could hear in the room were Mr. Choi's voice, the clicking of pens, and the hands of the clock going tick-tock-tick.

Along with studiously scribbling down a list of Egyptian pharaohs, Hyojun would occasionally sketch something here and there within the notebook's margins. Most of his drawings compromised of various faces with different features and expressions, some including his teacher and a few classmates sitting nearby, just close enough where he could properly―and secretly―observe them. Though, most (if not all) of them were just of Chanyeol― he was luckily able to see him before class started, and Chanyeol even waved at him, making Hyojun go delirious, 'oh my god, he noticed me, he noticed me! I can totally die happy now!'

Suddenly, the door swung open, and everyone lifts their heads up to see who the newcomer was. A tall, handsome boy with bleached-red hair saunters inside, instantly causing most of the students to start whispering and gossip amongst themselves, while Mr. Choi stares on unamused.

Hyojun's eyes slightly widen in surprise. 'It's him,' he recognizes. 'The boy from the bus stop.'

"Byun Baekhyun," Mr. Choi crosses his arms. "This is the seventh time you've been late, and you're also disrupting the lesson in the process."

Baekhyun raises his hands defensively. "Hey, it's not like I meant to, Teach. Besides, I ran into some trouble earlier, and almost got killed on the way here."

Mr. Choi snorts. "Right. Anyway, just sit your down and be quiet, at least, I have some teaching here to do."

"Fine. But that's only 'cause I feel sore from all that running," Baekhyun blew out a dramatic sigh, strutting over to his desk, and throwing flirty looks to a few girls along the way.

"Also, Baekhyun-ssi."

"Yeah?"

"Detention after school."

"What!?" Baekhyun yells. "Why?"

"For tardiness, obviously," Mr. Choi states in a matter-of-fact tone, giving him a 'no ' look.

"But I was only late for like," Baekhyun pauses to check his watch, "Twenty minutes, though!"

"And not to mention you've interrupted class time, too. Just be glad I didn't give you a week's worth of detention, instead."

Baekhyun scowls as the class laughs at him, plopping down on his chair. "Goddamn teacher always be antagonizing me," he grumbles under his breath, leaning his head against the palm of his hand. "Man, this ing ..."

Mr. Choi then continued on with his lesson, and everyone just went back to what they were previously doing. Hyojun, as he was jotting down information about King Ramses II's reign, suddenly felt a light tapping on his shoulder. However, being the rather, ah, delicate person he is, he gave a startled―yet quiet―squeak, and banged his knees into the desk's underside. A few people turned to shoot him questionable stares, and Hyojun bowed to them apologetically, his expression sheepish.

"Geez, I didn't think you were that sensitive," a low voice mutters beside him, and he glances over at Baekhyun in a shy manner.

"Pa-par-pardon me," he stutters, scratching the nape of his neck. "Erm... d-do you need something?"

"Yeah, mind if I borrow a pen..." Baekhyun's words died off as he then squints his eyes, and leant closer to Hyojun. "Hey, haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

Becoming flustered at the proximity between them, Hyojun just coughs nervously, still replying politely, "We―we had an encounter at the bus stop earlier. Umm... you were running away from something, an-and told me to say you weren't there."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Did you ever see him, though? The man, I mean."

"Ah, n-no. And I had a bus to take, so I don't―I don't think I'd have time to say anything to some stranger..."

"Eh, true," Baekhyun shrugs. "Hey, I never got your name, by the way," he sticks a hand out in front of him. "I'm Byun Baekhyun, but you already heard that."

The glasses-wearing boy reponds with a tiny shake. "Min Hyojun, transferee. Ni-nice to meet you."

"Likewise. And, uhh, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but how come you talk like that?"

"A-ah, that... that's..."

"Byun Baekhyun, Min Hyojun," the call of their names boom out suddenly, and both boys look up to see Mr. Choi staring at them in exasperation. "I assume that whatever your chatter's about is more important than my lesson."

Before Baekhyun could make a retort, a tiny voice suddenly answers, "S-sorry, sir, he was just asking me for a pen, but I kinda―I kinda got carried away."

Everyone in class then stares at Hyojun in surprise (Baekhyun, especially), who just pushes his glasses back into place, and lowers his eyes from the attention now directed at him. Flustered, Mr. Choi releases an awkward cough, "Are... are you saying you're the one who started it, Hyojun-ssi?"

Said boy nods almost fervently, as if determined. "Yeah, it―it was me entirely. Baekhyun-ssi's not at fault here, sir."

"Gotta admit, newbie's got balls, 'specially in front of someone like Mr. Choi," a few of the students had begun to gossip amongst each other. "Damn, if that were me, I would've already thrown him under the bus."

"Well, alright then..." Mr. Choi pauses to clear his throat for a spell. "Since you're new here, Hyojun-ssi, I'll only let you off with a warning. Just don't do it again, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"So, anyway..." Mr. Choi went back to giving his lecture, everyone else following suit, and the class soon continued on like usual. Huffing out a relieved sigh, Hyojun grabs a blue pen and post-its from his pencil case, and scribbles down a few, quick words.

"Just return it to me tomorrow," he whispers, handing the sticky-wrapped pen over to Baekhyun. Just as he redirects his attention back to the whiteboard, a soft ring of a chuckle was being sung.

"Red is your favorite color, huh?"


§


"Do... do you guys know who Byun Baekhyun is?"

Hyojun was hanging out in the courtyard with Danbi and Naye, lounging against a tree, and munching on the Japanese bento his dad made for him. He's been eating lunch with the duo since yesterday, as they insisted that he sit with them from now on so he wouldn't be alone. (Well, that was more on Naye's part, all Danbi said was, "Heh, you look pathetic by yourself, Four-Eyes.")

"More like who doesn't know that ," Danbi snorts, plucking a sushi from Hyojun's bento like it was hers from the start, despite having brought a panini for lunch. "Everybody in this school treats him like a goddamn celebrity, it's weird as hell."

Naye hums thoughtfully. "Bet if Jong-Jongie were here and a part of EXO, you'd definitely be swooning after them," her cheeks puff out like a mouse's, with the amount of Doritos she's shoving into . "Ooh, maybe even become their fangirl, too~"

A light shade of red dusts over Danbi's cheeks. "Dude, ing shut up about that, seriously," she growls at her. "You've this really annoying habit of bringing him up in every conversation we have, like, are you ever gonna stop that or what?"

"I'm just saying, Daniroo. Ain't nothing wrong with being a girl in love, y'know."

"Who the said anything 'bout love―"

"W-wait, what's this EXO you guys are talking about?" Hyojun quickly asks to purposely interrupt another bout of their bickering.

The pair settled down (thankfully) to regard him. "Oh, that's right, you're still new here, Junysaur," seriously, what's up with them giving people odd nicknames? "Well, y'see, it's the name for the most popular guys in school! A lot of girls―ah, I'm guessing some boys, too―want them, so many of them join their fanclub."

"Erm... is-isn't a fanclub a bit much, though..."

"Yeah, but their cabinet managed to convince the staff into making it official, somehow. It's really ing dumb, still, 'cause all their meetings are just them drooling over how cute or hot they look, or whatever the ."

"Right, right! Like, half of the girls in my class are part of both the main club and one of their solo clubs. Pretty funny, huh?"

Hyojun could only blink, dumbfounded by the explanations. "Solo clubs?"

"Mhmm!" Naye nods. "Nine of them, in fact, for each of the nine members."

"All of them just as moronic as the main branch," Danbi adds.

"Let's see~ there's Kim Minseok and Junmyeon―"

"This prick named Jongdae, and this other prick named Jongin―"

"Zhang Yixing, Do Kyungsoo―"

"Then Byun Baekhyun and Oh Sehun―man, do I hate those s―"

"And finally, Park Chanyeol! Yay!"

Suddenly, that last mention had the glasses-bearing boy's ears perk up in interest. 'Chanyeol-ssi's part of EXO?' thought he. 'Ah, it makes sense, though, he does look like a popular person.'

"By the way, how d'you know Byun Baekhyun? You were mentioning him earlier," said Danbi.

"Ah, that... he's in my class, and we sit beside each other," Hyojun explains. "Also, do―do a lot of people not like him? I noticed everyone was saying things about him when he came in late."

"Nah, it's more like 50/50," Naye crumples up her empty Doritos bag, and tosses it towards a nearby trash can. She made a small whoop upon seeing it go right in. "Rumors say he likes to sleep around, but I dunno how much of it's true or not."

"Pretty certain most of 'em are, honestly. He's apparently known to dump chicks just after the first date, and he seems to always have a new girlfriend, like, every other week."

"Oh, I remember hearing those, too! And there was also something about him giving his side chicks away to his friends after he's done with them, or whatever."

"Uhh, that's... w-wow..."

"Yeah, it's all so damn ridiculous. Either way, I say don't mess with Byun Baekhyun― you're better off not knowing him."

Unsure in how to respond, Hyojun decided to just keep quiet, while the girls had already switched topics. (More like squabbling, really, concerning something along the lines of Naye's attempts to take a bite of Danbi's panini). He stares blankly at his emptying bento, mulling over the previous conversation about his seatmate.

'Huh... no wonder the class reacted to Baekhyun-ssi that way, earlier. But isn't it a bit much to talk about him like that? Especially over just a bunch of rumors... seems pretty mean and unfair...'

Hyojun sighs and stuffs the last roll of sushi into his mouth, slight frustration making his brows crinkle just a tiny bit. 'How weird. I don't even know him that well, and yet, I'm acting like this,' he chews over. 'Still, no one should go through what I've been in...'

Like, it's pretty much one of the major reasons why he was glad to move to Seoul in the first place― so he wouldn't have to deal with that all over again.


§


The rest of the day flew by without much problems, and school came to an end upon the bell's ring like usual. While many of the students poured out the doors as quickly as they could, Hyojun was going the other direction, texting Hanui to go on ahead without him. 'I'm so dumb, forgetting my sketchbook of all things,' he inwardly berates, walking back towards his class in long strides. 'Hope nobody's in class still. Or looking through it, god, that's even worse.'

He spots the door to his class in the distance, and makes his way over. Just as he was about to grab the knob, suddenly, he could hear soft voices being spoken from the other side. Two people are inside, the teen notices, a boy and a girl. He recognizes one of them, recalling the morning when Mr. Choi sentenced him to detention for coming to class late.

'Oh yeah, Baekhyun-ssi's inside. It should be alright for me to enter, right? Only he's there and I just needa grab my stuff, anyway...'

Hyojun gives the door a light knock. "Baekhyun-ssi, are you―" and right as he was about to finish his sentence, there came a shrill yelp, closely followed by a loud, heavy thud. His eyes widen in surprise, before going into slight panic-mode when more thumping noises were made. "Oh my god, Baekhyun-ssi!?"

As he fumbles for the handle, Baekhyun was yelling at him to, "Wait, don't―!" but unluckily for him, the damage has been done once the glasses-bearer swung open the door without heeding to his warnings.

The scene he wandered upon caused an embarrassed scarlet to color his face. There, sprawled on the floor, was his infamous classmate. His red hair stuck out in all directions, and his shirt was ripped wide open to reveal his chiseled abs, with his trousers pulled down to his knees. His female companion was also more or less in the same condition (Hyojun didn't want to keep looking at her, since it's wrong to do that to a girl when she's near-, but... he just didn't think a bra and underwear set could be so... tiny).

'A-ah... so this is what Danbi and Naye were... talking about...'

Seeing the red look on his face, Baekhyun quickly scrambles up, while trying to put his clothes back on at the same time. "Hyojun, this is― we're just―!"

Hyojun lets out a squeak, "N-no, it's fi-fi-fine!" he backs off in fright just as the other boy started to approach him. "I-I thought I left something in here, bu-but I see I've been mistakened now, so never―nevermind! And... and sorryforbeingrudeI'lljustleaveyoutwonowbye!"

"Yah, Hyojun, hold up―!"

But too late, said boy had already  his heel, and bolted from the classroom like he was on a chase. He dashed across the hallway, down the many flights of stairs, out the school's entrance, and didn't stop until he reached the bus stop.

He pants harshly, leaning against the sign's pole to rest. He knows other passersby there were giving him questionable glances, except Hyojun was too caught up in his own monologue to pay any real attention to them. 'Oh my god, I can't believe I walked into that kinda scene, Baekhyun-ssi's probably gonna kill me tomorrow for interrupting him,' and such similar thoughts buzzed around in his head.

He slid down to sit on the ground, burying his face in his hands. 'Honestly, I won't even blame him, I'd be mad too if that happened to me. That must've been so humiliating for him... god, why am I such an idiot? This is just like back home all over again...'

All of a sudden, there was a wet feeling on his palms. When Hyojun looked down, it was then he realized they were his tears. Sniffling quietly, he grabs his jacket from his backpack, and put the hood on so his crying wouldn't inconvenience anyone. 'Because crying's all you're ever good at,' a voice (which suspiciously resembles Baekhyun's) whispers to him in the back of his mind. 'You're just an embarrassment to everyone you come across.'

While Hyojun's tears managed to stop once he finally got home, they never completely dried even as he went to sleep.