“Hey, what's up?” Jongdae asks as Baekhyun sits in the empty spot next to him. He waves a hand in front of his face when all he gets is a blank face. Baekhyun still doesn't respond and Jongdae holds himself back from messing with his friend. Instead he grabs his drink and waits.

“Sehun...made a promise with me?” Baekhyun scratches his head as he leans against the table. “Promise? Does that count as a promise?”

Jongdae raises an eyebrow as he sips his drink. “Sehun's here? What for?”

“He's working with the catering staff. Which is weird because we've always hired the same company, but I've only seen him now?” Baekhyun takes Jongdae’s drink and throws it back.

Jongdae mourns the loss of his grape juice, but he doesn't complain. “So he's new. Nothing special. Junmyeon hires new people all the time.”

“Yeah, but you know what kind of people he hires.” Baekhyun places the cup down and leans back.

“Yes. Junmyeon hires less than privileged people. I thought this was established?”

“I know, but…”

But that doesn't explain how any of this happened.

xXx

The plastic bottle in his hand crinkles as he watches his group members pack up. Taemin tosses a plastic bottle into the garbage and Sehun winces. Luckily, Minho tosses his into the recycling. While Jongin tosses in granola wrappers into the trash.

“You heading out yet?” Jongin asks as he shrugs on his backpack.

Taemin groans and stomps his feet. “Dude come on. You promised you'd hang with us before going on your stupid date.”Jongin laughs and waves them off, causing Taemin to pout and Minho to sheepishly drag him out the door.

Jongin turns back to Sehun with a smile and nods towards the door. Sehun declines with a shake of his head. The other looks disappointed before nodding and waving goodbye as he leaves.

Sehun sits silently and he turns the plastic water bottle in his hands. Then he grabs his backpack, shoves the bottle inside, and treks over to the garbage and recycling. His eyes lock in on the various water bottles sitting inside.

Empty.

Full.

Half full.

Crumpled.

With a sigh, he rolls up his sleeves and begins rummaging through.

He has his backpack on as he makes his way to the bathroom. It's empty when he walks in, but he doesn't feel relieved at all. Instead he hurries to his backpack and pull out bottles, two by two. He washes and refills the empty one, but he takes the liberty of washing the outside of each one.

The moment he stuffs the last bottle into his backpack, the door opens and a few people walk in with their heads held high and hands in their pocket.

Sehun zips his backpack up and silently tosses it into the garbage.

“Ah, trying to get rid of us? Speeding up the process won't do anything,” one of them says as they stare at each other in the mirror. He frowns and nods at a guy behind him. “Go ahead.”

xXx

He can feel water up his nose. It's uncomfortable.

Sehun rips off some toilet paper and blows his nose noisily. It doesn't get all the water out, but at least it's out. He tosses the paper into the toilet behind his head and sighs. This wasn't a rare occurrence, but Sehun can't find it in him to get used to this.

His ear pops and he scrunches his face up. At least they were thorough in ‘washing’ him. The haircut that Zitao gave him was beneficial. He doesn't have wet hair sticking uncomfortably to his neck and forehead anymore. Although his shirt is soaked. And he's gonna have to walk home wet. In the cold autumn air.

With a hand pushing off of the toilet, Sehun sits upright and wipes his forehead with a dry patch on his sleeve. It soon becomes wet and he sighs.

Even though he's been through this, time and time again, there's still a part of him that hopes and wishes for someone to come in to help him. But, he knows that that will never happen. It hasn't happened before, so why would it happen now? Sehun stands with the thought that he's thinking too much about this.

He pushes the stall door open, expecting an empty bathroom, but is instead met with the faces of two familiar people.

“Oh my god.” Kyungsoo breathes out with his mouth agape. “What happened to you? Who did this?”

“Holy . You're soaked,” Jongin throws his backpack to his front and immediately s it and rummages through it. He pulls out a long towel and walks over to him. Sehun doesn't move or say a word as Jongin rubs his head dry.

From the corner of his eye, Sehun spots Kyungsoo lifting his backpack from the garbage. He wipes off the paper towels that stick to it and hugs it to his chest as he approaches the two.

“You alright?” Sehun takes one look at Jongin’s face before he bursts out into sobs.

xXx

“Sorry if the clothes are small. You're not exactly my size with your long legs. God, he's just like Chanyeol.” Jongin directs the last comment to Kyungsoo. “Tall and skinny.”

“He looks like a different kind of skinny Jongin. Not exactly the healthy type.”

Sehun tugs at the sweatshirt’s collar. It's not tight, but it does feel uncomfortable. The sweatpants stop right above his ankles. That isn't uncomfortable. It's kinda normal for this. Although the clothes are softer than what he's used to.

He glances at the changing stall door and sees a pair of feet. Sehun’s grateful for the two of them. He no longer has to go home in his wet clothes. Although he dislikes the fact that the two of them are now butting into his life. There was a very good reason as to why he doesn't have any friends. Without friends there wouldn't be any intrusions. There wouldn't have to be a constant worry about what they thought of him. He wouldn't have to worry about keeping up an image he didn't want.

But. He'll enjoy the warm feeling in his chest as he stares at the clothes on his body for now.

Sehun slowly opens the door with a creak, which makes the two stop their whispering and to turn towards him. Jongin looks him up and down before nodding approvingly. “Looks good. Is it comfortable though? It's kind of short at your ankles. I can look for a bigger size if you need me to,” he offers and points to the lockers behind him.

Sehun says his head and picks at a loose thread. “It's fine. I'll get it back to you after I wash it.”

Jongin waves him off. “Don't worry about it. Just keep it. Those are old clothes anyways.”

“No, I can't just take it. I'll-”

“Just keep it Sehun. If you don't want it, just throw it out,” Kyungsoo suggests. Then he perks up and looks down at the item in his hands. He gives it to Sehun, who takes it with tentative hands. “I forgot about that. It's a bit heavy, do you have textbooks in there? Why don't you take-”

“It's not textbooks,” Sehun interrupts and shrugs his backpack on. “Thank you for helping me. But I really have to go now.”

“Where are you going? We can accompany you if you'd like,” Jongin stops him before he exits the locker room.

Sehun opens the door and shakes his head. “This is enough.”

xXx

Luhan gasps and reaches up at the bubble that popped out of the wand in Sehun's hand. “Gege look! Rainbow!” Sehun smiles at his brother's joyful face and dips the wand back into the cup filled with bathwater and soap. He glances at the clock sitting on the sink counter and then the paper taped above the towel rack.

Notice

Due to overdue bills:

Water and electricity will be shut at 6 pm on October 23

They will be restored once bills are paid

He holds back a sigh. He still has another half hour.

This is one of the few times where he's grateful that Luhan can't read Hangul. Perks of being a four year old he guesses.

Another bubbles leaves the wand and all he can see is his tired reflection in a myriad of colors with Luhan's laughter as background music.

He sets the cup down on the edge of the tub and grabs a towel. Luhan stands and is ready to catapult himself into Sehun's arms once the towel is around Sehun's body. Sehun lays the towel against his body and opens his arms. A smile breaks across his face when Luhan jumps to him, the towel protecting him from getting wet.

Sehun makes quick work of drying and dressing Luhan. The moment he slips his pants on, Sehun hears the lamp in the living room go out. He tries not to let the worry show on his face when he feels a draft against his neck. Luhan looks up at him with a rubber duck in his hands and smiles. Sehun can't help but smile when he sees an empty spot where a tooth should be. The baby tooth fell out last week when he knocked his head into a pole a little too hard at the preschool. Sehun isn't too worried about it, it might be a bit early for him to be losing teeth, but it needs to be done either way.

“Gege, it's cold.” Luhan stands on the counter and wraps himself around Sehun's body. Sehun keeps a supportive hand under his and carries him out of the bathroom.

“I know. You can bury yourself under the covers once you put your socks on.” Luhan nods against Sehun's neck. Sehun notices their mother asleep on the couch with no covers over her, just a thick worn out winter jacket for warmth. He turns into their room and sets Luhan on his feet, who immediately scampers to the suitcase and digs through for a pair of socks. He sits on the floor and begins to put them on.

Once Sehun sees Luhan get under the covers, he says he'll he might back and exits to the living room. The room is bathed in moonlight, so he's able to walk without bumping into anything. He's standing over his mother and takes in the tired features of her face. Before the memories consume him, Sehun grabs the wool blanket on the top of the couch and lays it atop his mother.

“Seunghun…” He hears his mother whisper as he leaves the room. His eyes shut tightly as he lets the bedroom door fall close with a click.

A/N: *whispers* I’m back and done with college applications (mostly). Also the formatting isn't working properly I'm sorry D: I don't know what's going on, but this will have to do.

Leave your thoughts and I'll see you for the next chapter!