Afternoon classes were in full swing when Chanyeol was out wandering the halls with a ‘Restroom pass’ in his left hand and in his phone in his right hand. He was watching his avatar ‘lovingthatsize27’ walk on the screen as he was walking in real life. He smiled at his female avatar. She looked so cool when she walked. He could never look that cool walking, he always managed to stumble a bit. Chanyeol looked down at his feet, confirming that his shoelaces were tied, just in case. He walked passed the second floor restrooms and continued making his way toward the end of the hall where the stairs were located. He needed to get more points and also needed time to think. Chanyeol didn’t really need the bathroom anyway.

 

Several days had passed since the Quicky Mart incident where Chanyeol destroyed the display of desserts. He was still a little depressed at not being able to capture the Jigglypuff (aka Baekkie). Chanyeol had returned the next morning to the store and went to the back, armed with his phone, to see if the pokemon was still there. To his disappointment, it wasn’t.

Baekkie was long gone. Chanyeol walked out of the store empty handed and depressed.

 

His stats showed he was still at level 5.

 

He wanted desperately to level up, because at level 6, he could chose a team: Valor, Instinct, and Mystic. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure about which team he wanted to join. One thing was for certain, Chanyeol wanted to be part of a team.

 

Chanyeol was nearing the stairway when he picked up voices of people walking up the stairs, two people in fact. He was about to keep on going when he heard his voice. Chanyeol stopped and backed up against the wall, he peeked over the corner and saw Kris and his friend Luhan walking up the stairs, talking to each other.

 

“I heard if you go to public landmarks there will be rare pokemons hidden nearby,” explained Luhan, “You wanna go check out a few spots after school?”

 

“Can’t,” answered Kris, “I have practice. How about this weekend?”

 

“No can do,” replied Luhan, “Baby-sitting.”

 

“Why not bring them along?” offered Kris

 

“Do you really wanna spend the whole day with that annoying brat?” questioned Luhan, as they started walking up the next flight of stairs, “The kid is a know it all prick.”

 

“If he’s a prick, why do you babysit?” inquired Kris raising an eyebrow at his friend

 

“Because it’s easy money that’s why.” answered Luhan bluntly with a shrug

 

“Remind me to never leave my kids alone with you,” stated Kris shaking his head at the smaller boy

 

“Like you would ever have any kids,” retorted Luhan rolling his eyes

 

Chanyeol moved away from the wall he was hiding behind and looked up at the stairway longingly as Kris and Luhan disappeared up the stairs.. His feet started moving on their own toward the stairway. Kris wants kids!

Chanyeol gripped the handrail and followed the upperclassmen.

 

He stayed a several steps behind the duo who hadn’t noticed he was behind them, and kept talking to one another. This time they were talking about teams.

 

“What team are you anyway?” asked Luhan outloud, while pulling out his phone, “You never told me which team you chose.”

 

“Valor,” answered Kris shrugging his shoulders

 

Chanyeol’s heart skipped a beat. Kris is on Team Valor!

 

It didn’t seem like Luhan was on the same page as either of them, the shorter male groaned in disappointment while shaking his head.

 

“Ugh Valor?” he asked, clicking his tongue, “Really? Valor !”

 

“No they don’t!” defended Kris, giving Luhan a bewildered look “Valor better than Mystic and Instinct combined!”

 

Luhan snorted and said “Yeah right and I am a ing fairy tale princess. Quit being so delusional.”

 

“Well what team do belong to, jackass?” countered Kris, playfully shoving his friend, “And by the way you totally look like a fairy tale princess with that pink hair.”

 

“Hey I will push you and say you fell by yourself,” snapped Luhan, “Team Instinct, !”

 

Kris laughed sarcastically as he shoved Luhan again. Chanyeol’s eyes had glossed over with adoration. Kris had different laughs for different situations. All of those laughs (ranging from his showing his gums to that tight smile when he was only laughing to be polite about a stupid joke Suho told him), were all super attractive and music to Chanyeol’s ears. Chanyeol let out a whimsical sigh, oh how he would love to make Kris laugh and hear smooth velvety voice turn to creamy caramel at a joke he made. Chanyeol didn’t know a lot of jokes, but he would try hard Kris!

 

While Chanyeol was daydreaming about what kind of jokes Kris would like (‘What ship doesn’t sink? Friendship!’), Kris and Luhan had reached the third and were about to part ways, Kris had Biology II and Luhan had Calculus II. They were both still arguing about which team was better. A fellow classmate was approaching them (they were standing in the middle of the hallway), struggling with the large model of a volcano in his arms.

 

“On your left!” the student yelped, sighing in relief when both Luhan and Kris moved off to the side, both holding out their phones, not giving the other student any acknowledgement.

 

“Hey do you have any grassland pokemon?” asked Luhan suddenly

 

“I do, but do you have any fire pokemon?” came Kris’s reply

 

Chanyeol was still lost in his daydream when he made it to the third floor. He didn’t see the other student (thanks to the large model) and walked right into the volcano.

 

“Oh no!” cried the student

 

Chanyeol braced himself as he fell backward and rolled down the flight of stairs. He could hear the student exclaim in shock but it was suddenly drowned by the shrilling sound of the bell signalling that 5th period was over and their five minute intermedial between classes had begun. Chanyeol groaned in pain as he hit his head on the side of the wall, covered in something that smelled like tomatoes. His eyes were watering from his shoulders and back pulsing in pain from falling down 12 steps. He could hear people leaving their classrooms and entering the hallway. Chanyeol gripped the rail and pulled himself up, he moaned when he saw he was covered in tomato sauce (lava for the volcano). Chanyeol looked up when he saw the student approach him, looking livid and also horrified at the sight of Chanyeol. It was as if Chanyeol had just came back from murdering a tomato farm.

 

“Are you okay?” asked the student, “You need to watch where-”

 

Chanyeol had taken a step back but suddenly regretted when his left foot slipped from under him and his legs started to separate. Chanyeol’s hands were too slippery to grip the rail right making his slip. He was running in place, trying to get a grip on the tomato covered floor to regain his balance. Chanyeol waved his hands in the air, he was starting to walk backward from all the movement his legs were causing. He looked at the other student in fear, silent pleading for the guy to help him and lend a hand. But he never did. He just stared at Chanyeol in horror as Chanyeol neared the second flight of stairs and fell backwards down the steps.

 

People were screaming in shock at Chanyeol rolling down the steps. No one bothered to help him but moved out of the way as legs got too close to their bodies. Chanyeol landed on the second floor on his side, groaning in pain. He stayed still as people gathered around him. People were asking if he was okay or commenting that it was simply Chanyeol being Chanyeol. Chanyeol rolled over onto his back. He paled when he saw Kris was looking down at him from the third floor with a blank expression while Luhan, who was beside him was snickering as he had his phone out, pointing it down at Chanyeol filming him. Chanyeol’s cheeks turned red in embarrassment and he looked away, his eyes watering from looking so pathetic.

 

Great.

 

There was shoving and Jongdae’s loud voice telling people to move it. Baekhyun knelt down beside his clumsy best friend and put his hand on his shoulder with the least amount of tomato sauce.

 

“Show’s over folks!” shouted Jongdae angrily, “MOVE ALONG! THERE’S NOTHING TO SEE HERE!”

 

“‘Yeollie are you okay?” asked Baekhyun tentatively

 

“And YOU!” shouted Jongdae, glaring up at the student who was holding the failed science project that was now all over Chanyeol, “Who the brings a volcano to school? What are you nine?!”

 

The student squeaked fearfully and ran up the stairs, Jongdae chasing after him, telling him he better run away! He flipped the bird to the remaining upperclassmen who were still looking down at Chanyeol laying on the ground, daring them to come down and try something.

 

After the rest of the crowd dispersed Jongdae jogged back to his friends and helped Baekhyun pull their tall friend to his feet. Jongdae wiped Chanyeol’s cheek of sauce and flicked his hand to the floor.

 

“Let’s get you clean up.” mumbled Jongdae gently

 

Baekhyun nodded attentively as gently tugged Chanyeol toward the stairs again where the nurse’s station was located on the first floor.

 

*

 

Kris was moving away from the railing, gently tugging Luhan away who was still laughing obnoxiously. He glared at his friend when Luhan shouted for Suho who was coming out of a classroom and telling him to come over and check out the recording of Chanyeol falling down the stairs. Kris plucked the phone out of Luhan’s dainty hands and started to fiddle with it. He held it over his head when Luhan tried to take his phone, shouting at him to return the phone. By the time Suho had jogged over to them, Kris had deleted the video and tossed the phone back to Luhan who shouted angrily at Kris for deleting the video.

 

“I was only going to show Suho and then I was going to delete it!” defended Luhan, folding his arms and stomping his foot.

Kris gave Luhan a hard look causing the short male to stop complaining and look away with a pout on his face.

 

“What’s going on?” asked Suho slowly, as he held his binder to his chest, looking back and forth between his two friends, they rarely fought.

 

“Nothing,” answered Kris curtly, looking away from  Luhan and turned around on his heel, “See ya in class.”

 

Kris made his way down the hallway toward his class, ignoring Suho asking if he wanted him to grab his binder for him while he was at the lockers.

 

Stupid Luhan.

 

Well, Luhan had always been the stupid one out the two. He sometimes did things on impulse and was mostly insensitive when it came to others welfare. Chanyeol falling was one of those things Luhan was insensitive about. Luhan always laughed at the sophomore’s clumsiness, making jokes and poking fun at him. In the beginning it didn’t bother Kris so much, but recently it was starting to bug Kris to no end. He didn’t appreciate Luhan being a jerk to someone as innocent as Chanyeol. His patience with his long time friend was starting to thin. He didn't’ like Luhan so much anymore.

 

Kris didn’t know Chanyeol was on the stairs with them. If he had known he would of turned around and said something. He knew Chanyeol was a big pokemon fan. The only reason Kris even got back into the game was because Chanyeol was a really into playing Pokemon Go! Kris mentally kicked himself for not being aware of his surroundings, if he had seen Chanyeol before it would of been the perfect opportunity to get closer to the sophomore. They could start off as friends, maybe even go out and look for pokemon together. Oh, that sounds like such a lovely idea. Hanging out in the park with Chanyeol, phones out, joking around with each other.

But he didn’t know. He finally saw Chanyeol when he was laying on the floor covered in tomato sauce. He wanted to run down the stairs and help Chanyeol out, but the hallway and stairway was crowded with students, he couldn’t move. Kris couldn’t help but glare at his classmate who brought the stupid volcano model. Tomato sauce? Really? That stuff was difficult to get out! Before Kris could get his thoughts together and tell the fellow senior off for bringing something so ridiculous as a volcano model, Kris watched in horror as Chanyeol started to fall backward and fell down the second flight of stairs. His heart clench when he saw Chanyeol land at the second floor, on his face. His anger boiled when he saw no one was helping the poor boy. Kris gripped the iron railing hard. His eyes widen when he saw Chanyeol roll onto his back and his heart stopped when he saw the boy was staring up at him.

 

Chanyeol looked so vulnerable and so beautiful, despite being covered from head to toe in tomato sauce. His big eyes were glossed over with unshed tears, his cheeks were dusted with a light pale pink. His large ears were covered with tomato sauce, his nose was splash as well. He looked so cute but also so sad. It was almost puppy like the way he look and Kris felt his heart melt at the sight.

Kris was snapped out of his daydream when he saw Chanyeol’s loud friend shouting and pointing at those who were staring down at the scene, telling them to move along. When no one moved, his short friend stormed up a few steps and started making threats. Saying he wasn’t scared to get in trouble and if they didn’t leave he was going to throw them in the tomato sauce. Kris gave one last look at Chanyeol before he reluctantly pulled away from the railing.

 

The bell rang as Kris entered his Biology class and he too his usual seat in the back. As he sat down Suho entered the classroom, giving an apology to their teacher for being slightly late. The teacher waved him and told him to take his seat. Suho handed Kris his binder as he sat down. Several minutes passed before Suho spoke up to Kris.

 

“You know Luhan was only goofing around, right?” spoke Suho gently

 

“It still doesn’t make it okay for him to film something like that,” muttered Kris as he opened his binder

 

“He is sorry for what he did,” chasted Suho patiently, “We both know you have….a special thing for that guy.”

 

“Hmph.” mumbled Kris as he started flipping through his notes, ignoring Suho’s concerning expression toward him.

 

*

 

“I’ve got the extra clothing,” said Jongdae loudly as he entered the small office where Chanyeol and Baekhyun were sitting.

 

“Didn’t I tell you making one of our lockers an emergency kit was a great idea, or wasn’t it a great idea?” asked Baekhyun with a grin, “Thank God we brought spare clothes just in case.”

 

“Word.” mumbled Jongdae as he placed his friends clean clothes next to him on the twin size bed.

 

Chanyeol gave his friend a half smile as he picked up his clothes and walked over to the restroom so he could get cleaned up.

 

After getting the tomato smell out of his hair and scrubbing thoroughly behind his ears, Chanyeol stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in his spare clothes drying his hair with a towel. He smiled when he saw Baekhyun and Jongdae were both on their phones, talking stats and checking out each other's screen.

 

“I have a Butterfree.” mumbled Baekhyun, “I really want a water pokemon though.”

 

“You have to go to a lake or a river to find those,” muttered Jongdae as he glanced at Baekhyun, “Dude we should take a trip to the bridge this weekend and wander around looking for more pokemon.”

 

“As long as we can go to that place where we went the last time that had the yummy fries.”

 

“Fatty.” smirked Jongdae

 

“What are you guys doing?” asked Chanyeol casually as he walked up and tossed the towel onto the bed behind them.

 

“Nothing really,” replied Jongdae, still smirking, “Just talking about Baekhyun bottomless stomach.”

 

“Oh shut up.” snapped Baekhyun

 

“What level are you guys?” asked Chanyeol as he picked up his phone and opened it.

 

“10.”

 

“11.”

 

“What about you ‘Yeol?” asked Baekhyun, looking up from his phone.

 

“Uh,” said Chanyeol hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously

 

“Let me see,” said Jongdae asking for Chanyeol’s phone which the younger handed over. “Level 6. Dude! You leveled up!”

 

“Yay!” cheered Baekhyun

 

“What?” asked Chanyeol in disbelief as he took back his phone and stared at the screen.

 

True enough it showed that he had indeed leveled up. Chanyeol’s eyes widen and he broke out in a big smile. He jumped up in the air waving his phone. At last he leveled up!

 

“You can finally pick a team buddy!” said Jongdae enthusiastically,

 

“Ooh Chanyeol make sure you pick the right team!”

 

“Yeah pick a good one,” argued Jongdae, “Like Mystic-!”

 

“No Instinct!”

 

Chanyeol ignored his friends who started throwing each others teams under the bus and were starting to insult one another. He saw the notification and he tapped on it. He scrolled through the letter and saw at the bottom where he could choose which team he could go to. He immediately tapped on ‘Valor’. Chanyeol confirmed the choice and his eyes widen when he saw emblem was a bird in flames. It looked so pretty. No wonder Kris picked this team. It also didn’t help that the emblem was red, he was starting to like the color.

 

“Team Valor,” said Chanyeol loudly, making his friends stop fighting long enough to stare at him with big eyes and mouths open.

 

“Say what?” quipped Jongdae, frowning

 

“Squeeze me? Baking Powder?” said Baekhyun looking lost

 

“I, chose Valor as my team,” said Chanyeol nervously, blushing

 

“Oh,” said Jongdae duly, “Oh. Oh.”

 

“Uh, Chanyeol, you do know what's a fighting team right?” asked Baekhyun nervously, “And that they are-”

 

“A bunch of pricks!” snapped Jongdae

 

“Chill dude.” pointed out Baekhyun giving his friend a look, “Anyway, Chanyeol are you sure that was a good idea? You don’t have any fighter pokemon.”

 

“I have a Charmander,” spoke Chanyeol looking at his shoes

 

“But he’s not exactly a fighter till he evolves,” remarked Baekhyun

 

“He will! He will become Charizard soon!” declared Chanyeol,

 

“You skipped Charmeleon hun,” pointed out Baekhyun shaking his head.

 

“Wait,” said Jongdae suddenly, “Maybe this is a good thing.”

 

“What are you going on about?” asked Baekhyun with one delicate eyebrow raised

 

“We can help Chan level up and get more pokemon,” started Jongdae, his eyes glazing over with determination, “We will train him and then take him over to that gym near the school and finally take it back from that bastard!”

 

“You're more mental than Chanyeol,” argued Baekhyun rolling his eyes, “Chanyeol has cute pokemon like Togepi, Psyduck,Vulpix,Magikarp,and Pidgey!”

 

“But they evolve to powerful pokemon!” argued back Jongdae throwing his hands in the air, “We can help him and get them evolved and then we go and take back the gym from that stupid ‘hands69’!”

 

“Oh dear lord,” groaned Baekhyun, “‘Dae please just let it go!”

 

“Who’s ‘hands69’?” asked Chanyeol curiously tilting his head to the side looking lost

 

“hands69 is Jongdae’s rival.” answered Baekhyun shaking his head

 

“I had that gym for a total of 14 days and that bastard took it from me!” said Jongdae angrily

 

“You can do that?” asked Chanyeol with wide eyes, that was so cool

 

“Yes you can!” retorted Jongdae, “And it's been a disaster trying to get that gym back! And that ‘’ always takes the gym back whenever I take it from him.”

 

“He only had the gym for fifthteen minutes last time,” commented Baekhyun,”before ‘’ took it back and then it went to ‘renaissancegymnist7’ who held onto the gym till ‘’ took it back.”

 

“ is team Valor too!” argued Jongdae, “If we can get Chanyeol at, at least a level 10 we can take that on and get the gym back.”

 

“Your team Mystic genius,” pointed out Baekhyun,”It wouldn’t make sense.”

 

“I’m gonna get on the LINE pokemon chat and see if I can get ‘’ to come out for a challenge so Chanyeol can see a battle!” declared Jongdae, ignoring Baekhyun who was shaking his head at his friend.

 

“You’re an idiot ‘Dae,” commented Baekhyun as he tucked his phone away.

 

*

 

Kris was leaving practice when he saw Luhan standing by the school gates staring at his phone. They usually walked home together after school.After their little standoff, Kris thought for sure Luhan would walk home alone. As he got closer, Luhan looked up and stood up straighter. Kris stood in front of Luhan and stared at him with a neutral expression.

 

“My bad dude,” mumbled Luhan, “That wasn’t cool of me to film that. ‘Specially since you have a soft spot for that kid.”

 

“It’s cool dude.”replied Kris, keeping his tone neutral too.

 

“We cool then?” asked Luhan nervously, peeking up to look at Kris

 

“We cool.” shrugged Kris

 

Luhan smiled in relief and hugged his taller friend, smiling widely when he felt Kris return the hug and chuckle at him.

 

“You know what will help us make up even more?” asked Luhan casually as he let go of his giant friend.

 

“What?” asked Kris

 

“Let’s go to the park and challenge a few people.” answered Luhan,”We got a ‘love call’ from several trainers today.”

 

“Really?” asked Kris curiously as they started walking away from campus.

 

“Yeah, remember ‘thunderboi21’?”

 

“That little trash talker who keeps trying to take the gym from us?” asked Kris

 

“That would be the one,” nodded Luhan, “He asked to meet us at the park, he wants another shot at taking the gym again.”

 

“Aren’t you in charge of the gym right now?”

 

“Yeah but, it's always fun watch you take the gym from him,” grinned Luhan,”Besides I had the gym for too long, it's getting annoying defending it.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“So, you wanna go to the park and have some fun?” asked Luhan excitedly

 

Kris shrugged his shoulders and said “Why not.”

 

*

 

The walk to the park was boring, it wasn’t till they arrived at the small clearing on top of a hill did things start getting exciting. Chanyeol watched as Baekhyun yanked grass out of the ground and dropped them on Jongdae’s head getting their friend to shout angrily at him and chase after him like a boy chasing after a girl on the playground. The trio were playfully wrestling (they dragged Chanyeol into their scuffle) when they looked up at two guys walking toward them, wearing the same uniform as them. Only they were upperclassmen with their silver and pink hair. Chanyeol felt his stomach twist and flutter with butterflies, he knew that silver hair anywhere. Chanyeol felt Baekhyun push him and Jongdae off him and get to his feet, brushing his uniform off. Jongdae stopped laughing and got to his feet too. Chanyeol was about to open his mouth when he heard Jongdae swear.

 

“No ing way!” he swore

 

Luhan and Kris approached the younger boys, looking cool. Luhan smiled his usual sweet smile and waved at them. Kris looked like he was super bored and wanted to go home.

 

“Hello there!” greeted Luhan, “We got a call from a ‘thunderboi21’, are you guys him?”

 

Baekhyun immediately pointed at him, blushing as he looked at Luhan.

 

“He’s ‘thunderboi21’,” blurted out Baekhyun

 

“So you’re the trash talker,” said Kris with a raised eyebrow, checking out Jongdae

 

“Which one of you is ‘hands69’?” demanded Jongdae glaring up at Kris

 

“That’s an unusual name,” mumbled Baekhyun, looking at Kris when Luhan pointed at him with a grin.

 

“I challenge you!” shouted Jongdae,

 

“Oh that's adorable.” cooed Luhan

 

Chanyeol blushed when he saw Kris stare in his direction. His face flushed when he looked down and eyed his hands. They were huge. They were like hands!

 

Kris smirked when he saw Chanyeol look away and blush, he was just too cute when he got all pink and embarrassed.

 

Maybe he will get his chance to talk to him.