Falling. That’s all he could remember. Falling into an inky abyss to which had no end, and it was at this point that he thought this was it: the end. At least, until he felt a warm sensation - so warm and pleasant, and it was spreading all throughout his body ever so quickly. This warmth quickly became hot however, then boiling all at once, with pain shooting through the boy’s body.

The darkness became light, and the warmth had become seering white pain.

Never had he hated light so much.

---

Baekhyun woke with a jump, sitting up quickly and scanning the room. It was cold - that was the first thing he noted - but maybe that was because he had been laying uncovered on the plush bed. His clothes had evidently been changed by someone else, seeing as he didn’t recall waking up and putting any others on. But now he wore shorts and an oversized sweater; pink, which made him smile. It was a nice color - one he didn’t get to see much of.

He reached his hands above his head, allowing his bones to pop and crack in sickly sequences. It was then that he decided to venture off of the bed and towards the door which opened as soon as he attempted to reach the handle. A red faced boy appeared on the other side, out of breath.

“Oh- hello Baekhyun. I was just coming to check on you.”

If his voice had worked in that moment, he would’ve asked who the other was, but it seemed such a thing wouldn’t happen. He instead took a step back, eyes looking the other up and down.

“Are you okay? Should I get Sehun for you?”

Baekhyun perked up at the sound of the other’s name and nodded quickly, eliciting a chuckle from the boy before him.

“Okay- And before I go, I’m Xiumin- or uh, Kim Minseok, but we don’t really use our actual names much.”

He wanted to reply with a ‘nice to meet you’ but instead diverted his sight to the floor, head bowed. The shuffling of feet was heard and then Baekhyun was alone once again.

It was always like this - being unable to talk to most people, especially if they seemed a bit shady or off. But the fact was, Baekhyun couldn’t talk to new people easily, and being able to talk to Sehun almost instantly was almost like a miracle. Maybe the boy was special - different somehow. Either way, Baekhyun trusted him.

Not more than two minutes later, Sehun arrived, hair a mess with the top two buttons of his shirt undone, showing off his collarbone. Baekhyun didn’t pay quite enough attention to these things however, and instead launched himself at the other, burrowing his face into his neck.

Sehun chuckled, lifting a hand to ruffle the shorter’s hair.

“Missed me that much?”

Baekhyun quickly nodded against his neck, mumbling a yes.

“I would’ve slept here with you but I didn’t want to impose anything.”

He hummed in response, shutting his eyes and just allowing himself to intake Sehun’s presence.

“Xiumin called me though, what was wrong?”

“I can't talk to the people here.”

Sehun furrowed his brow, taking a step back to stare at the boy.

“What do you mean by that? You can talk to me just fine, why not the others?”

“Scary.” was the mumbled reply. Baekhyun felt his cheeks burn scarlet at the sound of laughter.

A hand ruffled his hair, taking a tuft of hair and twirling it around a finger. He leaned into the touch.

“You'll warm up to them all eventually, I promise.” He allowed a moment to pass before continuing.

“But for now I won't mind talking for you.”

The bright smile on Baekhyun's lips made Sehun's heart clench in the weirdest of ways. His hand fell from the boy's hair, instead slipping into Baekhyun's hand.

A gentle smile reached his lips as he stared down at the other. It had been a while since he witnessed such innocence, and sure enough it was intoxicating. His eyes were reluctant to move away from the boy, but he couldn't stare at him all day, much to his dismay.

“Baek, would you be okay with coming to our morning meeting?”

He shrugged in response, going against his mind that screamed at him to decline the offer - to hide away in Sehun's room all day; to hide away from the new world he had entered altogether. But Baekhyun would go against the little alarm sounds in his head for today, especially if it made the other happy.

“Alright, then let's go. I'll be by your side the whole time so tell me if you're not okay with being there at any point.”

A sheepish nod.

Baekhyun had gotten caught up in his thoughts and didn't even notice his own two feet moving, nor arriving in front of a large room with double doors which seemed far too intimidating. It was only when these doors opened with a loud creak that he snapped out of his thoughts.

Ten men- at least, he hoped, knowing how bad his counting could be at times. The number was daunting, but he assured himself it would be okay with a quick squeeze of Sehun's hand; receiving a squeeze back in return.

The two walked to the last empty seats at the table, sitting down in silence and reluctantly detaching their hands. As soon as the act was done, the silence was broken, and Baekhyun decided it to be best to keep his eyes glued on the table before him.

“Yesterday was a success then? Got our money back-”

A chuckle resounded from the body next to Baekhyun, and he found he quite liked the sound.

“Yeah, and in the nick of time because Yeollie here was about this close to having my head.” A series of coughs covering laughter alongside snickers chorused from around the table.

“Surprised he's not going grey from all that stress.” another voice piped up. Baekhyun let his lips curl into a small smile of amusement.

“Hey, you got the kid to smile- Nice going, Kai.”

Baekhyun looked up briefly, feeling eyes on him, and sunk back further in his seat at the sight of everyone staring at him.

“How rude of you, Sehun, you haven't even introduced us properly. No wonder he's so frightened.”

The person that spoke looked tall even from his seated position, and had piercing eyes with dark bags under them. He looked intimidating but held a childish quality which dulled this.

“Reckon he's scared of your face, but if it helps you sleep at night-”

“Oh Sehun, I'll suffocate you in your sleep, I swear-”

A higher toned voice cut through the bickering, evidently directed at Baekhyun.

“Ignore them, they're always fighting over trivial things. I already introduced myself before but if you forgot, I'm Xiumin. Sorry if I scared you earlier.”

Baekhyun shook his head quickly at the other's apology, almost assuring him that he wasn't scared, and the other's lips curled upwards in response.

“We're doing introductions then? Color me surprised- I'm Jongdae- Chen. Either is fine but I'm normally referred to as Chen.”

“No one cares.” Came a light voice.

“Hey! You're so mean to me, Lu.” The boy's whiny tone didn't go unnoticed, and Baekhyun instantly decided that he liked Jongdae, staring at him with shiny eyes as he proceeded to whine at the boy he called Lu.

“Kris or Yifan. Idiots use the names interchangeably, so use whatever. Oh and that-” he pointed at the boy that had jokingly (at least he hoped) threatened Sehun earlier, “is Zitao, but Tao is his nickname, and I think he likes it so I'd suggest using it.”

Tao spared a brief wave at Baekhyun before leaning down in his seat a bit and presumably kicking Sehun, to which the other returned. It was amusing to watch.

“Kai. Jongin. I made you smile, so you have to like me- if you want- it's okay if you don't-”

“Hello Baekhyun, I'm Lay but you can use the name Yixing if you’d like.”

The first boy was shy - that was the first thing Baekhyun noticed. Yet the second was kind hearted, and laid back. His previous anxiety of being with such people had slowly begun to melt at this point.

Sehun paused in his bickering for a moment, glancing to his other side, before tapping lightly on the neck of a boy who instantly whipped his head around as soon as the action was complete.

“Baek, this is Lu.”

As soon as the words slipped from his lips, the boy had gone back to throwing petting insults at Tao who fired retorts.

“Oh- Hi, I’m Luhan- or Lu - like Sehun said - or Han. I wouldn’t mind if you gave me a nickname though.” The ‘you’ was stressed. Baekhyun struggled to understand if this was meant maliciously or not, but the sweet smile on the other’s lips was pretty and that distracted him from it.

Baekhyun took in a deep breath.

“Nice to meet you.”

His words were barely above a whisper - just for the two to hear amongst the loudness of the table.

Luhan grinned.

A loud cough came from somewhere around the table, and Baekhyun jumped, looking around for the person who had made the noise.

“Sorry for startling you- I’m Suho, that’s Kyungsoo.” The other pointed a thumb to the boy beside him. “I hope you like staying here, Baekhyun.”

He nodded quickly as a reponse, looking around the table to see who hadn’t been introduced to him yet. The search didn’t last long, however, and once again Baekhyun returned to his state of fear; quickly tugging on Sehun’s sleeve as soon as anxiety began creeping to his gut.

“Park Chanyeol. I don’t trust you being here but Sehun’s a little so I couldn’t refuse this time.” He paused, before continuing with a glare, “Watch yourself. And if you even think of leaving without permission- Well, I’m sure you know what’ll happen.”

Baekhyun gulped, the sound of blood rushing in his ears becoming prominent. Nevertheless, he nodded, diverting his eyes to the oak of the table once more.

The boy felt sick to his stomach.

-

“You’re all dismissed. Make sure someone is with the ki- Baekhyun, at all times. Luhan, you can watch him first.”

A smile tugged at the boy’s lips, looking to the side to see Luhan eyeing him happily upon hearing this.

Everyone began taking their leave, some rushing off to their respective rooms; others glowering as they trudged to their stations, needing to fulfill their duties.

Sehun left after giving Baekhyun’s hair a fond ruffle, mumbling something along the lines of ‘be good’ before taking his leave too. Soon after, he felt two hands on the back of his seat; craning his neck to look up at the person behind him.

Luhan smiled down at him for a brief moment, before all at once, his face grew closer, and warmth suddenly spread on his lips. Soft - it was soft. But the lips that attached to his own quickly left. The tingles that followed after made Baekhyun’s face hot, but evidently Luhan hadn’t been affected in the same way, only lowly laughing out of amusement.

“Come on, I’ll give you a tour.”

Baekhyun furrowed his brows before deciding that the short touching of lips was normal - at least, with Luhan.

And so he allowed himself to rise from his seat, interlocking hands with Luhan, before being dragged off.

Oddly it felt like normalcy.