“It’s okay Channie. It’s only for a few hours, right?” Baekhyun said, his palm resting on Chanyeol’s cheek while his fingers splayed out across his face and poked at his hairline. Chanyeol let out a big gust of air before puffing his cheeks and crinkling up his nose. He held his expression for a few seconds, a few painfully long seconds in which Baekhyun’s will not to laugh very nearly crumbled, before he let his shoulders droop.

“Fine. But you have to promise to meet me right after.” Chanyeol pleaded, letting his hand rest over Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun just smiled and flicked the tall giraffes nose before placing a quick peck on his nose.

“Of course I will Chan. I’ll see you later alligator!” With that Baekhyun his heel and flounced down the pristine hallway away from his pouting boyfriend. After getting their solo song Minhee had told them that although their vocal coaching would start the following Monday, they would have a two hour session with their coach that day to get to know them and get used to it. They had also been informed that they would be paired up for their coaching with someone from the other school. He had been ecstatic to discover that Sehun had been paired with Luhan and that Suho had been paired with Lay. If everything went to plan he wouldn’t even have to intervene and steer them towards a relationship. Not that he wouldn’t if the need arose. Chanyeol had been paired with the tall, -faced blonde called Kris, though Baekhyun wasn’t too worried because if there was anyone who crack a smile from grumpy people it was his Chanyeol.

He glanced down at the post-it note clutched in his fist. He was supposed to be in room 26 E. Looking up at the white, windowed door he was passing, golden numbers and letters told him that that was room 23 D. He had been told that the letters were the floor so he needed to go upstairs. He carried on forward until he came across a smoky grey metal door. This door was different from the others which were white and glass. A gently push on the door affirmed his assumptions that it was indeed a stair well. Baekhyun glanced down at his watch as he shoved through the thick door. Oh no. He had one minute until he was scheduled to be at his rehearsal, he had hung back to speak to Chanyeol and it was costing him now. He flew up the stairs, running two steps at a time before rushing through the matching grey door at the top of the stairs. He sprinted the ten metres or so before he found his room and flung himself through the door. He bent over at the waist and clutched at his waist, taking deep breaths to try to slow his pounding heart and shift his prickling stitch.

He looked up to see Chen sitting on one of the two plush chairs against the left wall. There was a keyboard against the opposite wall and a microphone and music stand at the far wall. The room was only about 3 meters by 3 meters and had an almost cosy feel to it, unlike the kind of clinical vibe the rest of the building gave. His cheeks blossomed red as he caught sight of one of Chen’s straight, black eyebrows raised in question and a slight mocking smirk gracing his lips. Baekhyun straightened up, coughing awkwardly and scratching the back of his neck. He walked slowly towards the other chair, trying to regain some composure. Apparently his feet had other plans as his toes wrapped around the keyboard chord and he felt his balance fail him as he slid through the air, landing with a resounding thud on the floor.

“Balls.” He exclaimed as he pushed up onto his knees, redder than ever. He looked up to Chen who held his gaze with a perfectly straight face for a few seconds before his face split into a grin and he began chuckling evilly. In fact Baekhyun wasn’t sure how to describe it; it was too sinister to be considered laughter yet to boisterous to really be considered a chuckle. Whatever it was it was extremely infectious and Baekhyun found himself brushing away his embarrassment and accepting the hand held out to him. He plonked down in the chair beside Chen with a loud oof.

“Balls?” Chen asked with a grin.

“Oh sorry, it’s kind of a reflex word.” Baekhyun replied with a shy smile, evidence of his previous blush returning. “Hmm, I know your name but I feel I need to introduce myself again. Hi I’m Byun Baekhyun and I make a habit of embarrassing myself...all the time.” Baekhyun said holding out his hand. Chen slipped his hand into Baekhyun’s grasp and shook.

“Kim Jongdae but you can call me Chen and I seem to make a habit of embarrassing other people. We will get on well.” Chen said with a cheeky grin which Baekhyun couldn’t help but return.

“So is our coach not here then? I thought I was late.” Baekhyun said, absent mindedly moving his ankle in a circular motion to try and rid himself of the slight ache his trip had left in the muscle there.

“Hmm? Oh he was here a few moments before you came tumbling into the room,” Chen paused to chuckle at the memory while Baekhyun playfully glared at him, “But he said he forgot the sheet music and would be back in ten minutes or so.” Baekhyun nodded as he let his eyes wander around the room.

“Umm Baekhyun…” Baekhyun looked up at Chen’s face, hearing the more serious and slightly nervous tone to his voice than what Baekhyun had come to associate as his usual jokey voice. Baekhyun cocked his head to the side, encouraging the boy to continue. “Well, you don’t have to tell me but…what did you do to your leg? I just noticed that Minhee keeps asking and the tall, curly boy keeps worrying over it. He’s your boyfriend right?” Chen’s voice changed at the end as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and winked. Baekhyun laughed at his expression before pondering whether or not he wanted to tell or not. He decided to go ahead as there was something he could gain from it as well.

“I will tell you if you promise to answer a few of my questions after.” Baekhyun said slyly, leaning back into his chair and placing his fingertips together. He was trying to pull of the Bond villain look but he was pretty sure that he just looked like a five year old pretending to be a head teacher. Chen looked suspicious but agreed.

“Well, it’s not really interesting. I, umm, had an accident about, how long ago was it? Just over two months or so ago, I was in hospital for a little while and last week I got out and started dancing again. It’s fine now though so nothing to worry about.” Baekhyun breezed through an overview and Chen looked not the least bit satisfied.

“Wait a second, what actually happened?” Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks, he had tried to avoid saying that. He let the air go in a gush before explaining.

“Well it was the night of the group performance and I went back the practice room cause I forgot something but I only had 2 minutes so I was running back to the backstage room when I tripped and, well, my fibula dislocated and then snapped, tearing my calcaneal tendon when it pushed out of my leg and I ripped my extensor hallucis longus muscle. Basically that means that my leg popped out of my ankle and then the bone snapped shoving its way through a bunch of tendon and muscle. Anyway then we performed ‘cause I didn’t tell anyone because then they’d make me sit it out and we’d have to forfeit. But after that I don’t really know, I sorta out y’know?” Baekhyun scratched at his chin as he thought back to that night, shivering slightly at the mere memory of the pain. He shrugged off his thoughts and turned to Chen.

The boy had wide, popping eyes and a slack jaw, tongue almost comically lolling out. Baekhyun chuckled at the sight and felt his natural eye smile crinkle at the corners of his eyes. “You look ridiculous Chen.” Baekhyun giggled.

“H-how, I mean what did, I- ugh.” Chen rubbed the feeling back into his face before turning back to Baekhyun with an expression more acceptably normal. “Wait let me get this straight. After all of that happened to your leg, you still went on stage, danced and sang well enough to in a competition and then after only 2 months you are dancing again. Dude…well ing done.” Chen said with a puff of air as Baekhyun laughed. “C-can I see your ankle?”

Baekhyun frowned, only Chanyeol had seen his leg other than his doctors and even though it was healed he still felt a bit embarrassed at how the wound looked, he hadn’t even shown Kyungsoo or Suho. “Umm…”

“I promised to answer your questions!” Chen rushed to cut in. Baekhyun sighed but nodded, even after knowing the boy for only a short time and most of the time the other had been laughing, he felt like he could trust him not to laugh when it would actually hurt his feelings. Baekhyun reached down and shimmied his skinny jeans up to just below the knee. It was much more difficult than he had expected due to the sheer skin gripping tightness of his black school jeans. The otherwise perfect and pale skin of his shin was interrupted by the faded purple-black mass around his ankle. At the centre of the coloured patchwork was a 3 inch long, slightly puckered, line. The surgeon had used dissolvable stitches so they were almost invisible by then. Baekhyun hated the sight as it just reminded him of the dreadful pain, but his doctor had told him that only a pale scar would be left eventually and if Baekhyun was honest he couldn’t wait for that day. A long, low whistle brought Baekhyun out of his thoughts as he looked at Chen.

“Wow, that is one impressive injury.” Chen said with a smile. “Looks pretty cool to be honest.” Baekhyun let himself smile, feeling Chen’s words assure him that his leg was not in fact as hideous as he had been telling himself it was. He pushed, with great effort, his jeans back down his leg and sat back in his chair, hands clasped together.

“Now for my questions.” Baekhyun said with an evil grin before giggling, he couldn’t keep up the pretence. “Don’t worry it’s nothing bad.” Chen just grinned and nodded, “Shoot.”

“Okay, thing is, I have noticed that my Suho-hyung and my Sehunnie have kind of fallen a little into stricken kitten mode at your Lay and Luhan and, well, I want to see them happy and to be honest I am a meddler. My best friend Kyung got together with Kai before I could meddle so I need some meddling!” Baekhyun realised that he was straying off of the point and that Chen was looking at him amusedly. “Ugh, anyway. Yeah so I wanted to know, are Luhan and Lay gay, or maybe willing to change and are they single?” He tapped his chin contemplatively before adding, “And are you willing to help me?”

“Well first, I think that they are both gay, or at least extremely bendable if you understand. Second, no neither of them are seeing anyone at the moment. Third, well in terms of Suho and Lay, well Lay has confidence and an attitude to boot no matter how lovely he is so I think that that one will sort itself out before you can even formulate a plan however…Luhan. From what I have observed today Lulu has a crush on your Sehunnie too but he is terribly shy at meeting new people so I think a little intervention could be needed there. And lastly…” He leaned back in his chair, arms spread to the side as a magician revealing his tricks might. “I am Chen…king of pranking, practical jokes, meddling and snooping…of course I will help you.”