I couldn't curb Baekhyun's sassy mouth. Beware of foul language ahead.

Chapter Three:  A Library About You
{Library; TTS}

Chanyeol wakes up on Sunday afternoon and comes downstairs to find Oh Sehun at the table, sipping a cup of hot chocolate and sporting a busted lip. Chanyeol pats his head as he walks over to the fridge for some milk.

“When did you get here?” He croaks.

Sehun shrugs. “Two hours ago.”

Chanyeol is used to this. Sehun used to be one of his mother’s students before she quit teaching—she had to, because they moved so much. Sehun was a special case, and she cared very deeply about him. She stayed in touch with him after they moved and always welcomed him into her house. He would show up every now and then with black eyes or bruised knuckles. Chanyeol never asked where he got the injuries. His mom affectionately referred to Sehun as her wandering son. Chanyeol liked Sehun enough to think of him as an adopted brother, certainly well enough to let him sleep in his bed.

Sehun will usually stick around for a few days and then disappear as unassumingly as he arrived, leaving behind a note of thanks and doing something like washing the dishes or mopping the floor to thank them for letting him stay. Mom once confided to Chanyeol that she would slip money into Sehun’s jeans after she washed them. Chanyeol had been doing the same thing, and he was pretty sure he saw his dad reverse pick-pocket the kid a few times. He wondered how much money they gave Sehun in total.

Chanyeol makes grilled cheeses for himself and Sehun, and the two of them spend the rest of the day playing video games and fall into Chanyeol’s bed around 1 AM. Chanyeol wakes up late the next morning and runs around the house screaming at his mom to drive him to school before he remembers that she left early to do some serious shopping in Seoul. Sehun comes downstairs to tell him to just skip and then promptly falls asleep on the couch.

At a loss for what to do, Chanyeol walks aimlessly around the house imagining having a little kitten to play with. The bell rings at quarter to eight and Chanyeol immediately thinks that it’s the truancy police to come get him. He answers the door almost in tears, but it turns out it’s only Baekhyun on his doorstep.

“What are you doing—” Chanyeol starts, and then he actually takes in her appearance. Her hair is disheveled, her skirt is dirty and her tights ripped, and she’s only wearing one shoe. Chanyeol’s question changes.

“Who did this to you?”

Baekhyun’s eyes start to water and she bites down on her lip for a second before her expression steels.

“Can you just lend me a pair of shoes and some bus money?” She asks evenly.

Chanyeol shakes his head. “No, but I can give you a whole new outfit and something warm to drink, then give you a phone and money to call a taxi.”

Baekhyun crumples and starts to cry. Chanyeol hugs her gently, pulling her inside the house. He guides her over to the table and once she’s seated promises to get her something to drink. Sehun appears just when Chanyeol has finished making hot chocolate and after a brief introduction asks Baekhyun who jumped her.

She shrugs, having calmed down a bit by now. “Two guys who have been giving me problems lately. They took my bag and I lost my shoe chasing after them.” Then she slumps over the table, face buried in her arms.

“My phone was in there,” she moans tearfully. “My mom is going to be so pissed off.”

Sehun waves his hand. “No she won’t. Now, tell me more about these guys.”

Baekhyun sits up and runs her fingers through her hair. “Tall ers…smelled like Jack Daniels and cigarettes.”

“How do you know what JD smells like?” Chanyeol blurts. He is ignored as Sehun narrows his eyes.

“Did one of them have a beard?”

Baekhyun shakes her head and Sehun goes quiet. Chanyeol chooses that moment to speak up again.

“I’ll go upstairs and see if I can find you something from my mom’s closet.”

Baekhyun abruptly stands up. “No,” she says firmly. “Just…I need to see Kris.”

Chanyeol nods. “Okay, where does he live?”

Baekhyun shakes her head. “I’ll take the bus.”

“The hell you will!” Chanyeol cries, startling her. “I can drive you there, I have a car.”

“It’s fine.”

“No it isn’t!” Chanyeol yells, and suddenly he’s close to tears. “Aren’t we friends?”

Baekhyun looks shocked and slightly heartbroken. “Of course we’re friends.” She’s still talking in that soft tone and it only makes her sound more upset.

Chanyeol looks away from her for a second to steel his nerves; he’s never been good at handling other people’s tears. “Then why do I feel like you don’t trust me?”

Baekhyun gapes at him and shakes her head. “I-I don’t understand.”

“You know what,” Chanyeol says after a moment, “I think you do.”

Baekhyun’s face falls and Chanyeol holds up his hand. “It’s okay,” he tells her. “You’re upset right now and I don’t want to make you even more worried, so let’s put this aside for a while. Now, where does Kris live?”

Baekhyun mumbles the address and Chanyeol assures her that he can drive her there.

Chanyeol’s car had been a gift from his aunt and uncle—their 15 year old car that they’d passed down to him when they got a new one. It wasn’t perfect but Chanyeol loved it anyway, though he wasn’t sure what Baekhyun would think of it. Thankfully she didn’t comment, though Chanyeol knew for a fact that the passenger seat had a loose spring that poked people in the back if they sat the wrong way.

It takes 10 minutes to get to the apartment Kris shares with his roommates, and when they get there a girl with pale skin and red hair answers the door.

“Hi Tiffany,” Baekhyun says brightly, and Tiffany gasps and grabs Baekhyun’s hand. Baekhyun seems to remember her state and immediately her smile dims.

“Oh about this,” she mutters, gesturing towards herself. “Do you have something I can borrow?”

Tiffany nods and steps back to let them in. She gives Chanyeol a quizzical look but doesn’t pay him much attention once he’s inside. Instead she pulls Baekhyun down a hallway and leaves Chanyeol to stand awkwardly in the middle of the floor. After a moment he hears footstep and a heavily tattooed guy comes down the very hall that Tiffany just went down.

“You Baekhyun’s friend?” He asks, voice hoarse. Chanyeol nods mutely and the guy smiles and nods.

“I’m Jay, Jessica’s friend. Baekhyun told me to come out here and assure you that nobody was going to eat you.”

Chanyeol nods again and Jay gestures toward the couch. “You can sit if you want, Baekhyun might be a while, Tiffany’s trying to fix her makeup.”

“Do you know why Baekhyun got…like that?” Chanyeol finally manages.

The smile fades from Jay’s face and he shrugs helplessly. “Maybe, I don’t know. I don’t have the whole story…” his voice fades as he takes in the look on Chanyeol’s face. He looks over his shoulder and goes to sit beside Chanyeol on the couch.

“Baekhyun really doesn’t have as many friends as she would make you believe,” Jay whispers. “She gets on well enough with the girls in her class but I’m sure you’ve noticed that people can ignore or be openly hostile to her. She doesn’t like to scare off potential new friends with her personal issues. It’s nothing she has against you, it’s…” Jay seems to flounder for a moment. “She’ll tell you when she’s ready,” he assures Chanyeol.

Chanyeol sighs and slumps back. “I wish I could kick the of whoever did that to her.”

Jay laughs and claps Chanyeol on the shoulder. “Get in line kid,” he says cheerfully.

In the following silence Chanyeol gets a text from Sehun asking where the hell he was. Chanyeol realizes he’d quite forgotten about the young boy in his house and hastily responds with an address, though he assures Sehun he will be home soon. After a few more minutes the apartment door swings open and Kris storms in, followed by Lu Han.

“Where is Baekhyun?” Kris demands, throwing his bag on the floor.

Jay points down the hall. “Go rescue her from Tiffany.”

Kris disappears and when he comes back he is carrying Baekhyun on his back.

“It’s not that bad,” She protests, and Chanyeol is shocked to see that her ankle is bandaged.

“You didn’t tell me you got hurt!” He cries, and Baekhyun glowers as Kris sets her down on a chair.

“I’m not hurt!” She yells, and it’s the loudest that Chanyeol has ever heard her speak. She throws Kris’ arms off of her and swings her leg out, nearly clipping him in the knee. “Stop babying me!”

Kris kneels in front of her and whispers something so quietly that Chanyeol can’t catch it. Whatever he says makes Baekhyun deflate instantly.

“No,” she whispers. “They didn’t touch me but…” She pauses for a second and then buries her face in her hands. “I was so scared,” she sobs. “I thought…I don’t know.”

Kris pulls her hands away from her face and brushes her hair back. “I know,” he says softly. “Believe me, I know.”

Baekhyun falls forward and Kris catches her, allowing her to sob on his shoulder.

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” she whimpers. “I’m so tired…I don’t know what to do.”

There is a knock on the door and everyone jumps. “I’ll get it,” Lu Han mutters. Baekhyun sits up and frantically wipes her eyes.

“Who are you?” They hear Lu Han ask.

“Oh Sehun,” comes the reply. “Are you Kris?”

Chanyeol leaps off of the couch, nearly landing on his face. “Sehun!” He cries, racing over to the door. “What are you—what on earth happened to you?!”

In addition to the busted lip Sehun now has bruises on his cheek and jaw and when he holds up his hand Chanyeol sees that his knuckles are bruised too.

“I’ve got something for Baekhyun,” Sehun tells him, pointing into the apartment. Chanyeol and Lu Han step back and Sehun waltzes in and holds up a bag shaped like a panda bear.

“Is this yours?” He asks.

Baekhyun stares at him. Everyone stares at him.

“How did you…” Baekhyun starts, but Sehun s the bag at her and cuts her off.

“Make sure everything is in there, I have your cell phone in my pocket hang on…” Sehun holds out the phone and Baekhyun rips it out of his hands only to shove it at Kris and nearly choke Sehun with her hug.

“You are the nicest delinquent I’ve ever met,” Baekhyun sobs into his shoulder. Sehun looks mildly surprised.

“Um…thanks?”

Lu Han points at Sehun. “How did you get that?” He demands.

Sehun sighs. “Those guys have been a pain in my for years now, I’ve been looking for an excuse to go kick the crap out of them.” He pats Baekhyun’s back awkwardly. “It’s no big deal, you don’t have to cry all over me.”

Once Baekhyun has finished sobbing her appreciation, Kris pulls her over to a corner and whispers to her for a little while. Chanyeol tells Sehun to go back without him, he wants to stay with Baekhyun for a while. Sehun gives him a funny look but does as he says.

“Chanyeol,” Kris calls, startling Chanyeol into almost tripping on air. “Can you drive Baekhyun home? The rest of us have class to go to.”

Chanyeol nods and Baekhyun gathers her things, still wiping at her eyes. Tiffany kisses Baekhyun’s cheek before she leaves and pats her head.

Baekhyun is totally silent during the ride home, hugging her bag to her chest and keeping her eyes down. Chanyeol wonders if it’s because he yelled at her and starts to regret it. when they pull up in front of Baekhyun’s house, Chanyeol looks over at her and starts to apologize.

“I was out of line earlier, I shouldn’t have—”

“No,” Baekhyun interrupts. “You were perfectly in line. You have a right to ask.”

“And you have a right not to tell me,” Chanyeol cuts in. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Baekhyun finally looks up and gives Chanyeol the brightest smile he’s ever seen from her.

“You are so sweet,” she tells him, and her tone is so sincere that Chanyeol’s face flames and he looks away.

Baekhyun reaches over hesitantly and touches his shoulder. “I wasn’t trying to trick you or anything,” she whispers, “I didn’t hide this from you because of anything like that.”

Chanyeol’s pulse quickens. “What are you talking about?”

Baekhyun pulls her hand back and runs it through her hair, gathering the strands at the base of her neck. She looks him head on and with her hair back and no eyeliner she looks vastly different…

Baekhyun smiles sadly at him. “I’m a boy.”

Everything clicks and Chanyeol realizes his mouth has fallen open. “So…they jumped…Teacher Lee…the kids at school…” Chanyeol points at her. “You take gym though!”

Baekhyun looks like she (he?) is about to faint. “I change in the custodians store rooms, and just let me explain—it’s not that I want to be a girl. I’m not taking hormones or planning on having a surgery, I don’t want that I just…”

Chanyeol swallows. “You don’t have to explain it to me,” he says softly. “It’s enough that you’ve told me this much.”

Baekhyun shakes her (his?) head. “No, I have to say a little more.”

Chanyeol nods and pretends to zip his lips shut, which makes Baekhyun smile.

“I don’t mind when people refer to me with female pronouns, and I also don’t mind when they use male. My mom tells everyone she has two sons but she buys me girl’s clothes, Jongdae only calls me a boy when I’m not wearing anything frilly and Kris, Jessica and them always call me a girl.”

Baekhyun looks at her lap and folds her fingers together. “I started cross-dressing when I was seven, I just grabbed a skirt off the rack at a clothing store and told my mom I wanted it. At the time all I wanted was to be different from my brother, because everyone compared me to him and sometimes they even called me by his name and it annoyed me so much. But then I started to realize that I just looked better in girl’s clothes. I can’t remember the last time I went shopping in the men’s section.”

Baekhyun looks up again and Chanyeol sees tears in her eyes. “I used to feel better in skirts, but now when like this happens I just wonder if it’s even worth it.”

“Of course it’s worth it!” Chanyeol cries. “Baekhyun, if you want to wear a skirt what should be wrong with it?!”

He takes Baekhyun’s hand and holds it gently. “Look, you could shave your head and wear a fish suit for the rest of your life and I would still like you.”

Baekhyun laughs, and for the first time Chanyeol realizes that her voice is pretty deep. “That would be pretty eccentric,” she giggles.

Chanyeol stares at her seriously. “I can deal with eccentric. You want eccentric? Sometimes I fantasize about random people walking up to me and handing me bouquets of kittens.”

Baekhyun laughs again. “Like, real kittens? Not stuffed animals?”

Chanyeol nods. “Real kittens. All I’ve ever wanted was a kitten and my mom won’t let me have one.”

Baekhyun leans over the seat and throws her arms around Chanyeol’s neck. “Thank you,” she whispers.

There are a million things Chanyeol could say, but for once he decides to stay quiet and accept the thanks. Chanyeol hugs her back and they stay like that for a while. Baekhyun pulls away first.

“Can you come over to my house tomorrow after school?” She asks.

Chanyeol smiles and nods. “Of course.”

Was this what you were waiting for???? What did you think??

Next chapter is the last one :D