Chanyeol curses at himself for pressing the snooze button on his phone because instead of having an hour to get ready, he has fifteen minutes to get ready and be at school. In his defense, his head was sore and the medication was in fault of that. He stumbles around his room, stubbing his toes repeatedly as he dresses himself, stopping to check and make sure his clothes were clean. The house was absolutely silent, and Chanyeol sighed because that meant he was alone in the morning. Due to his growing hospital bills, his parents were working every moment that they could.

Ten minutes left.

With a curse escaping his lips, Chanyeol stomps down the stairs with his blazer half buttoned and only one shoe placed on his foot. The other one would have to wait until he was outside. He hopped into the kitchen, grabbing a banana and a piece of toast one of his parents had apparently left him. He manages to choke down half the banana and leaves the rest on the counter, and with his bread hanging between his lips, he grabs his backpack and runs out the door.

Right into Zitao and Kris. They're standing in front of the driveway shared by Chanyeol's and Zitao's parents and Chanyeol literally collides right into Zitao's back. Zitao barely manages to balance himself and turns to shoot a glare at him, but stops when he sees the state Chanyeol's in.

"Did you just wake up?!" Zitao asks in bewilderment, and Chanyeol grunts his answer as he finally fixes his shoes and his blazer. He still looks unkept with his curly hair sticking out in every direction, but he could take care of that when he gets to school.

"Crap. I'll see you later, Zi, Kris." He says hurriedly, after learning he only has three minutes to run twenty blocks.

Zitao chuckles and resumes talking in the language that he shares with Kris, but Chanyeol can feel his gaze as he fixes himself. Chanyeol breaks off into a sprint, his joints sore, but he can at least try to make it before the gates are shut. He doesn't bother wondering why Kris was there outside his house. As he mentioned before, they have a mutual friend in Zitao, who doesn't go to their school but Zitao works at a local martial arts place and almost everyone knows him.

He looks like a madman as he runs, but he doesn't even care. Not until he reaches the school gate, that is. Because he makes it right before they're closed and he's absolutely dumbstruck when he finds Kris climbing out of a car. How is it that Kris got here before he did, in a car, when Chanyeol was sprinting for his life?

There's also the thought of why didn't the guy ask him if he needed a ride, considering they're both going to the same damn place. But with a deep breath, Chanyeol just does what he can to flatten his unruly hair and drags his aching body in the direction of his first class.

He's almost passed Kris when the taller reaches out for his shoulder, and Chanyeol turns his head back to the guy like he's never expected it. And he didn't expect it at all. He's even more surprised when Kris holds out a bottle of water and is quick to accept it, chugging down half of the bottle in his haste to cool down his racing heart.

"Next time, just ask me for a ride." Kris says as he walks into the building, and Chanyeol can't help the way his eyes narrow at Kris's straight back. Now it's all his fault that he can't assume that Kris is his friend that will give him a ride to school?

Chanyeol's rightfully a little pissed at Kris when he enters the school and throws his locker door open. The bell hasn't rung yet, thankfully, but when he sees both Jongdae and Baekhyun rounding the corner, he notes that he doesn't have time to waste thinking of Kris. He needs to get his books for class.

"Chan!" Jongdae cheers from afar, and like always, he runs over and jumps on Chanyeol's back. Seeing that his joints are already sore, he can't do much; just buckles a little under Jongdae's added pressure. He recovers quickly, however, lifting Jongdae's legs up and spinning like he always does.

"Don't you two ever get tired of greeting each other the same way every goddamn day?" Sehun's voice asks, a scoff following short after as he crosses his arms and rests against Chanyeol's now closed locker.

"Don't you ever get tired of being a buzzkill?" Baekhyun counters, and Chanyeol can see the spark of offense that lights Sehun's slightly narrowed eyes.

Because Chanyeol loves messing with Sehun, he lets Jongdae onto the ground and then hurries over to Sehun. Sehun sees him instantly, of course, and there's a warning dancing in his eyes, but Chanyeol spins and hoists the young male's legs around his waist. Sehun has no choice but to grab onto his shoulders, unless he wants to fall and hurt himself.

"Grab my bag!" Chanyeol shouts over to Jongdae, and Jongdae complies eagerly, trailing after Chanyeol as he spins twice and then hurries off in the direction of Sehun's class.

"I swear to god if you don't let me down-" But his threat and the several following it go ignored because how can Sehun deny he's having fun? Judging by the way he doesn't thrash in Chanyeol's hold, the elder can guess that Sehun's actually having a decent amount of fun.

.They pass both Joonmyeon and Minseok on their way to Sehun's class. Both are silent as they watch and even turn away to pretend they don't actually know the four of them, but when Baekhyun hollers a greeting, that flies out the window. The three of them are then running faster to get to Sehun's class before Joonmyeon can think of ways to torture them in public.

But his joints are tired now and he slows down. Sehun notices, of course, but he's silent as Chanyeol struggles to keep up with their other friends. Thankfully, Sehun's class isn't too far and all he has to do is drop him in front of the door and then go to his own class, but the problem with going to Sehun's classroom is that Kris's locker is in the same wing. He's both excited and a little anxious to see Kris again, he learns, but braces himself anyway.

Kris turns his head in their direction the second they enter the wing. Everyone else does, as well, because Jongdae's laughing way too loud and Sehun's a little too big to be piggybacked around the school. Plus, Baekhyun pretty much sticks out like a sore thumb wherever he goes. Most students turn away because when they see Chanyeol with Jongdae and Baekhyun, they know trouble is in the near future. Kris doesn't turn, however. His eyes are focused on Chanyeol and Chanyeol stares back with wide eyes because he doesn't get why for a moment, but then his muscles buckle again and Chanyeol makes sure no one else saw what happened.

"I think it's about time you got off." Chanyeol says to Sehun, and Sehun knocks the back of his head as he's let down. Chanyeol winces but his grin is wide and both Baekhyun and Jongdae are grinning as Chanyeol's backpack is tossed over to him. Chanyeol barely catches it, crushing it to his chest and turning to walk away with wobbling knees. He fears that maybe his knees will give way right as he walks, but then Kris is by his side and though no one can tell because of how close their bodies are, his hand is wrapped around Chanyeol's arm to keep him off the ground.

Chanyeol stares down at the hand on his arm for a moment, and then his eyes are right back on Kris's. The taller of the pair pretends not to see or feel his gaze, his eyes focused straight ahead as he guides them to their classroom, but Chanyeol's unable to do the same.

"I can't figure you out, Kris."

And the slightest grin is formed on Kris's lips, but he still doesn't turn his head. He just walks a little faster, and Chanyeol realizes that the grin isn't one of joy but of pain. Chanyeol doesn't like seeing it, because a face as handsome as Kris's shouldn't be doing anything other than smiling.

"I'm exactly who everyone says I am." He almost misses it when Kris speaks, because his head is still working on deciphering the person that was right next to him, but as if Kris knew what he was doing, he leans down and whispers it right into his ear, and Chanyeol shudders a little.

And then, because they're close enough to their classroom for Chanyeol to walk alone, Kris lets go of hi arm and walks into the room. Chanyeol stands there, shaking his head silently because no, it's not true at all. He knows the rumors and he knows that even he's had bad experiences with Kris; but Kris to be a person that was supposed to be thought of so horridly? He refused to take part in believing that. And he watches Kris go into the classroom because he's still trying to balance himself properly, and Kris's back looks... lonely. Lonely and scared.

Chanyeol slowly enters the room and takes his normal seat, though his eyes are continuously looking over at Kris through the morning's lessons. No one else seems to notice, but Kris does. Most of the time, Kris just pretends not to see Chanyeol looking over at him. However, once in a while when Chanyeol turns just slightly to look at that face and try to read it, he finds himself lost in Kris's gaze. He can't shake the thought that this is all so unfair.

It takes until he's dying for him to meet Kris, who is the exact opposite of everything he's ever led to believe. He hates that he can't even let himself get closer to Kris, because Kris has a whole lifetime ahead of him and Chanyeol won't be a part of it. Chanyeol thought he already accepted his fate, the fate that he would die soon and everyone would move on because they all had their own lives. While his gaze is trapped by Kris's, however, tears fill his eyes because for some reason, he doesn't want to leave Kris alone again and he has no choice but to do so.

Kris's eyes widen immediately at the sight of the tears forming in Chanyeol's eyes; but because he doesn't know what Chanyeol is thinking as they stare at one another, he's silent, and Chanyeol just smiles the kind of smile he thinks Kris should see directed towards him once in a while before his attention returns to the teacher.

Not that it remains on the teacher for long, of course, when he feels Kris's unwavering gaze on him.