Please keep your expectations low...

----- How Troublesome -----

“What’s wrong with you?” Baekhyun, who was busily munching on his sandwich, asked the seemingly sulking Sehun who did not even touch his food. The shorter male raised an eyebrow at the latter when he only received a sigh in response.

Jongdae, Sehun’s other friend who’s just as loud and obnoxious as Baekhyun, stared at the silent male questioningly. “Dude, is this about the project thing with Jongin and his gigantic friend?” He asked as he secretly sneaked a fry off Sehun’s plate. Sehun, on the other hand, only glared at his friend’s grabby hand.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Baekhyun chimed in after taking a bite off his sandwich. “This nerd of a captain finished it on his own two days ago without the help of those es.” He wiped off some of the mayonnaise that got smeared on his face.

Jongdae only hummed before he tried to steal another fry from Sehun again. However, the latter managed to swat his hand away this time.

“Oh!” Baekhyun’s eyes gleamed as he realized something. “Is this because of Kris-sunbaenim, loverboy?” He sent Sehun a knowing look. The basketball captain just groaned in response, and Baekhyun was certain he had hit the bull's eye.

“Speaking of Kris, there he is!”

For a moment, Sehun felt like strangling the breath out of Jongdae who apparently screeched, loud enough for everyone in the cafeteria to hear. Baekhyun, on the other hand, waved excitedly at Kris who halted in his place at the mention of his name.

Is he referring to me? The nerd waterboy, who was just about to buy some lunch in haste as he was not able to prepare one at home, asked himself, turning his head around to check if the shorter male was indeed waving at him particularly. When he found no one else, he stared back at the waving boy, contemplating if he should wave back or not. And he did, albeit awkwardly.

“Stop,” Sehun breathed through his gritted teeth, his tone was dangerously low to threaten his traitor of a friend. However, Baekhyun did not even bat an eyelash at the fuming male. Instead, he even gestured Kris to come and join them on the table. Sehun will definitely kill someone later.

Kris tilted his head a little bit sideward, perplexed as he stared at Baekhyun. Is he telling me to come over? He pondered, and he suddenly felt giddy at the prospect that maybe the short male wanted to befriend him. He would finally score a friend. Without a second thought, he flashed a goofy smile as he enthusiastically strode his way to the table, examining the other faces seated on the same table but stopped on his tracks as his eyes landed on someone apparently beside Baekhyun.

“Hi Kris-sunbae– What’s wrong?” Baekhyun cheerfulness toned down a bit seeing Kris’s seemingly troubled face.

Jongdae turned and stared at the awkward male. “Why don’t you join us?” He invited without hesitation, but Kris just stayed silent and was shuffling uncomfortably on his place. Baekhyun raised an eyebrow as he observed the tall male, noticing that he was glancing from time to time at the person beside him, who happened to be Sehun. He turned towards Sehun, but the latter just gave a bored look, staring at his now-cold food.

“H-Hi, Ugh –?“

“Baekhyun,” the shorter male introduced himself.

“H-Hi, Baekhyun,” Kris breathed shakily, sending the others a anxious smile. “I-ugh, have to go. Bye!” Without much thought, he spun on his heels after throwing one last glance at the uncaring captain before marching out of the cafeteria, tripping a few times over nothing.

Baekhyun gave a worried glance at the retreating male before he turned to face Sehun. “Is there something wrong between you two?”

Sehun let out an annoyed sigh before he slung his bag over his shoulder, stood up, and left the table without another word.

“Something must’ve happened,” Jongdae concluded, looking at Baekhyun who also looked at him in return.

“I know,” A mischievous grin crept onto Baekhyun’s lips that did not fail to excite the other male. Jongdae just chuckled at his friend before finishing Sehun’s untouched lunch.

“Hi!” An overly cheery voice that’s awfully familiar snapped Kris up from his study session. The older male looked up and saw a smiling Baekhyun who did not hesitate to grab a seat next to the waterboy.

“H-Hi?”

“So, this is where you hang out at this time,” Baekhyun said as-a-matter-of-factly, the same smile still plastered on his face.

Kris was momentarily in daze as he stared at the other male who was looking through the book he was reading so casually. It took quite a while before he was snapped back to reality with a shake of his head. “Y-Yeah. I j-just– I mean I love t-the silence of the library s-so–,“ Kris, being the socially awkward person that he was, started blabbering, eyes looking anywhere but Baekhyun. On the contrary, Baekhyun was so amused that he mindlessly chuckled at the nervous male, halting the latter from spluttering nonsense further.

“Relax, Kris-sunbaenim,” he said, propping his elbow on the table. “Why are you so tensed?” He added with a soft giggle.

“I’m s-sorry –!“

“Why are you apologizing? There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

Kris only kept mum.

“Anyways,” the shorter male scooted closer to the waterboy, his smile suddenly looked suspicious. “I was wondering why you did not join us last time,” he asked, turning his head towards the other male who was growing uncomfortable to the close proximity.

“I-uh– “

“I was really hurt!” Baekhyun faked a dejected sigh, pouting excessively as he clutched the part of his shirt where his heart was. “Don’t you want to be friends with me? With us? Am I that unlikeable?” Now, he was being overly dramatic, and it was painfully obvious that he was just acting. No one in the right mind would believe him. However, with his innocence, Kris fell for it by default.

“N-No! That’s not t-true!” Panicking, Kris hesitantly placed his hand the other’s shoulder, trying to coerce the latter to believe his words. “I a-actually want to be your friend b-but–, “ he stuttered in haste, as he tried to find the right words to say.

“But what?!”

“It’s just that C-Captain– “

“What about Sehun?”

Kris heaved a deep breath in resignation. “H-He said he doesn’t want to be my f-friend," he huffed defeatedly.

Baekhyun's cheery smiled dropped in an instant. "He what?!" He noticed Kris flinched at his tone but he could care less. What the hell was Sehun thinking?!

"W-Well, it was m-my fault. I asked him to be my friend but he said he doesn't want to be just a friend–"

"He said what?!"

"H-He said he doesn't want to be j-just a friend."

Oh. Baekhyun's lips began to tremble as he tried to suppress a chuckle. Sneaky little bastard. He mentally facepalmed himself at the information. Smooth .

"S-So I figured he must not l-like me–"

"Oh Kris-sunbaenim dear," Baekhyun sing-songed as he s his arm around the older's shoulder, pulling him closer, earning a surprised yelp from the latter. There was a playful glint in eyes. "I think you've misunderstood Sehun," he breathes in a low tone which sent shivers down Kris's spine. "Trust me, he did not mean it that way."

"Quit staring, you're getting creepy," Sehun said pointedly as his eyes raked through the book he was currently reading. Across him was short male with a knowing look in the name of Baekhyun, who had been staring at the basketball captain for quite some time now. Baekhyun just chuckled at the male as he rested his head on his palm.

"Didn't know you're that bold, Sehunnie," the shorter male stated, earning a questioning look from him friend. The former then clicked his tongue in annoyance as he rolled his eyes at the same time. "Let's see, 'I don't want to be just a friend.' Really?" Sehun almost choked on his own spin upon hearing what the other just said.

"What?"

"It's disgustingly cheesy. But I commend you for that though," Baekhyun playfully patted the blond male's shoulder, only to be swatted away by a glaring Sehun.

"Shut it."

"You're finally a man, Sehunnie! I'm so proud of you!" The annoying boy teased even more, wiping away nonexistent tears dramatically.

"Baekhyun."

"Fine. Geez," the said male slouched on his seat, stretching his limbs out for a while before sitting straight up.

Sehun just glared hard at his so called friend for a moment before his eyes softened as a thought rushed into his head. "Wait," he closed his book and placed it on the table. "How did you even know?"

His friend just snorted at his stupidity. "I asked Kris-sumbaenim. Duh."

"You what?!"

"The poor guy misunderstood what you said though. He thought you don't want to be his friend at all. Like, he thinks you actually dislike him!"

The pale man turned even paler, burying his face on his palms as he groaned at the unfortunate turn of events. "That was not what I meant." God, could the ground just swallow me whole?

"Obviously!" The shorter male rolled his eyes. "But he's dense as a freaking concrete and he's too naive for his own good so it was kind'a expected he'd take it the wrong way."

Sehun dejectedly slumped his face on the table, wallowing in self pity and cursing his fate. Way to go, Sehun. He berated himself in silence, thinking how he could salvage his nonexistent relationship with Kris. Before he could take his thoughts further, he felt a pat on his shoulder, caressing it gently. He looked up to a smirking Baekhyun.

"Fret no more, pal. We're here to help you."

Sehun felt himself shudder and his face hardened. "Don't even think about it."

But his threat seemed to fall on deaf ears as the brunette had the nerve to laugh at the situation. "Oh, it's our pleasure to help imbeciles in need."

"Shut up. I don't trust you. And what do you mean by 'we'?"

"Why, with Jongdae of course!" Baekhyun clicked his tongue in fake disappointment. "Our prowess in match-making is unmatched. Trust me, you'll need it."

"You know what? I'm out," Sehun abruptly stood up and left the cackling male alone, grumbling about how stupid people have become nowadays especially a certain Baekhyun.

"G-Give it back–!" Kris aimlessly threw his hands out trying to get his book back from two towering guys who seemed to be enjoying the former's agony. One of the boys, Mino, snickered as he drew his arm up and back just so the struggling male would not be able to reach it.

"Who the hell reads petty mangas like this?" Said the other male called Bobby who repeatedly pushed Kris back when the latter got closer. "Shoujo manga? Really? So stupid!" An annoying smirk was visible on his face.

"P-Please–," Kris bit his wobbling lips as he felt his vision turning hazy due to the tears that were threatening to fall. "–Give it b-back!"

Mino's smirk got wider as he heard a choked sob from the senior. He hid the manga behind him and leaned his face closer to Kris's. "Ooh, is this big baby gonna cry?" He mocked just before the boys broke into a boisterous laughter.

However, their laughter was short-lived as Mino felt the manga snatched from his hand without a warning. "What the–?!" His annoyed expression morphed into a frown when he snapped his head to a sight of an impassive-looking Sehun, with the manga already in his hand. "Sehun you're no fun–!"

"When you don't have anything better to do, I suggest you leave," the blond captain said in a cold voice. His face darkened.

Kris furiously wiped his tears that he was not able to hold back at the sight of the pale man. "C-Captain..." To say that he was beyond relieved was an understatement.

"Stay out of this Sehun–!"

"And what do you expect us to do? Just sit still and watch morons like you pick on the weak? I'm appalled!" Baekhyun, who was just behind Sehun, stepped in as he rubbed his head in due to an incoming migraine the two imbeciles would cause him. He shot a pointed glare at the bullies.

"What's wrong with shoujo mangas anyway?" Jongdae appeared, nonchalantly munching on his chips, looking at the two in an uncaring manner. "I read them all the time." With that, Kris shot the munching short male a shy smile.

Bobby scoffed with a roll of his eyes and was about to retort but Baekhyun beat him to it. "I'd love to see you guys suspended."

With that, the bullies just clenched their jaws in annoyance before they hissed and spun on their heels, leaving the scene but not without purposely bumping against Kris's shoulder, resulting to Kris stumbling back a bit.

Kris watched at the mean boys retreat, frowning at them,eyebrows knitted together. He was sad at what they were doing to him all this time but at the back of his mind, he still thought they had their own reasons why they resort to such things. He was suddenly cut off of his thoughts when he felt something shoved gently before him.

"Here," he heard the captain say as he gazed at his shoujo manga. His initial frown turned into a bright smile as he eagerly took it from the other with both of his hands. "T-Thank you!"

"Those morons have no life," Baekhyun clicked his tongue, before looking at the happy male. "Hi Kris-sunbaenim!"

"Are you hurt? Did they physically harm you?" Jongdae interjected, visually inspecting Kris's face, trying to search for bruises or some other evidence of possible assault. Kris, on the other hand, could not help but smile at the inquiry. He was touched. It was not everyday that someone would actually care for you aside from your family.

He shook his head 'no', still with that small geniune smile on his face that did not go unnoticed by Sehun, who was silently admiring Kris's beautiful features.

"Anyways–," Baekhyun beamed ever so lively as he reached for both of Kris's hands and held them gently. "Do you wanna hang out with us over lunch? We'd love to have you over!" He flashed a hopeful smile at the water boy, who was overtly taken aback by the invitation.

Sehun choked on his own spit at what his idiot of a friend pulled while Jongdae just shamelessly cackled at him.

"H-Huh? I–!" Kris glanced at each of the boys, unable to form a coherent statement in his mind. He honestly did not know what to say.

Baekhyum just quirked an eyebrow at the hesitating male. "I mean, I'm sure Sehun would love to get to know you more too."