Apparently, class 2-A didn’t do such a good job with clean up duty yesterday and the class was forced by the teacher to redo yesterdays’ job for today. But if Baekhyun and his friends could skive yesterdays’ duty, then why couldn’t they do it again?

“What do ya say guys? A little trip to the noraebang again?” Minseok suggested whilst slipping on his original shoes. The others cheered in agreement whilst they were doing the same. Baekhyun however didn’t respond and sat on the floor, looking diligent as he skillfully tied the laces of his converse. Whatever his friends were talking about was going in through his ear and out through the other- he wasn’t paying attention whatsoever.

When he was finished, Lay offered him a helpful hand to get up. Baekhyun took it, pulling himself up. Lay had noticed that he hadn’t spoken much since this morning, he wasn’t sure whether it was just because he was having one of his ‘cold-shoulder’ days like he usually does or whether it actually had something to do with the mysteries of his life he didn’t know about.

“You alright there, man?” He questioned, genuinely concerned. Baekhyun blinked at him, as though he didn’t understand why his friend was suddenly worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine” He replied, although not very convincingly as he avoided eye contact whilst saying it.

“Hey…” Jongdae quietly called, placing a hand on Baekhyuns shoulders before he turned around. “Look there” He jerked his head towards one of the lockers further down. The three glared at it curiously before Sehun could detect a stiff atmosphere from them and joined. “…What?” The oblivious boy wondered before realizing their gazes were fixated at the locker that stuck out like a sore thumb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnnugNdtIe0

Baekhyun took the first step in getting a better look before the three followed him. The locker which had originally been a dull, grey colour was suddenly decorated and embossed with dents and graffiti, not to mention a suspicious substance was oozing out of it. ‘Freak’ ‘Dork’ ‘attention ’, harsh comments were scratched and drawn onto the metal. However one comment entitled the locker and implied the owner; ‘Mute’.

Baekhyun tensed as he eyed the vandalised locker, feeling a spark of frustration and rage ignite within the pit of his stomach. He gracelessly opened the locker, letting the goo spill to the floor as he revealed Zoras’ brand new white shoes sitting inside, drowning in eggs shells and the remains of it. The three boys beside him had their mouth open slightly from surprise.

“Whoa…” Sehun urged, taken aback by how extreme the prank went. “Man, why are they being so tight on her?” He wondered out loud in a sympathetic tone.

“They’re some messed up people in this school” Lay sneered, slowly shaking his head in disappointment. Baekhyun didn’t respond. He glared at the shoes in deep thought.

“If you won’t protect her…then I will” Kai’s declaration echoed in his ears. But even with the sincerity in his voice, the earnestness in his eyes, for some reason, Baekhyun still felt uneasy. She has someone to look out for her. Not just Kai, but there was that Chanyeol guy and maybe even King that could pull her through with the bullying…so then why…why wasn’t he feeling reassured? Why wasn’t he relaxed? Was it that he couldn’t trust them? Or…was it just that he wanted to protect her himself?

With his hands unknowingly clenched at his side, Baekhyun suddenly slammed the locker closed with a loud bang. “I forgot something in class” He said in a rush before dashing off. Minseok and some of the other boys watched as he ran down the corridor and turned to the three with their eyebrows arched.

“Where’s Baek off to? Bathroom?” Minseok wondered.  

Sehun, Jongdae and Lay glanced at each other, sending one another knowing looks...

Zora was outside the school building, trying her best to carry the heavy metal bucket that was full water mixed with polish back to the classroom. Her (so called) classmates had asked her to fetch the water for them to start mopping up. Why they couldn’t do it themselves, Zora hadn’t wondered, but she did as they said without arguing.

Just before she entered homeroom, a group of girls approached her, their arms folded as they eyed her from head to toe. “Where’s Kai and Baekhyun oppa?” One of them asked bitterly. Zora blinked at her before shrugging her shoulders. She tried to reach out for the door, however was blocked by their figures. “We’ll let you off with Baekhyun oppa because you’re his step-sister…But you better stay away from Kai and Chanyeol oppa, you little ”

Zora continued to blink naively before deciding to ignore them and opened the classroom door when suddenly an avalanche of white flour covers her whole. The class cheered and erupted with laughter whilst Zora rubbed her eyes, the small dust-like particles making them sting. “She’s still not said anything~” One of the boys sung and suddenly, eagle-eyes and his friends charged into the class, pelting her with eggs from the cartons in their hands. She desperately attempted to shield herself with her arms as the sound of cackling and howling surrounded her.

But suddenly, she couldn’t feel it anymore. She couldn’t feel the hard-shelled eggs pelting against her, but instead a warm embrace as a pair of arms wrapped around her body. The laughter fell silent. She looked up, her eyes rounding from surprise as he looked at her, his eyes glinting with worry.

“Haven’t you learnt from yesterday, Idiot?” Baekhyun growled at her quietly. Zora just glared at him in awe. A few eggs had already soiled the back of his blazer when he blocked them with his back, but after that, it stopped; almost as if the class were scared frozen.

“B-Baekhyun” The class uttered, realizing that he’d be fuming for what they did to his sister. “, dude, we’re in trouble” One of the guys nudged eagle-eyes, his eyes warily nailed onto Baekhyun.

Eagle-eyes scoffed. “Whatever, I’m not scared!” He proclaimed before he felt something tap him on the shoulder. He instinctively turned around a met with a sarcastic grin, “You like eggs?” Before he could even respond, Chanyeol smacked his hand over the boys head; his hand that contained two hard-shelled eggs.  “Bon appetite!” He added, smiling as the slime oozed over his face that contorted in disgust.

“Oy, egg-head!” A voice hollered. As the group turned, they found Jongdae and Lay stood there, Lay carrying the fire extinguisher and Jongdae with the nozzle aimed towards them. A smirk graced their faces before they fired, Chanyeol backed away whilst the gang got covered with thick, white, foam.

Baekhyun and Zora watched, unable to contain their laughter and enjoying the scene before them as the boy frantically attempted to cover themselves and use their friends as shields.

“Might wanna mop that up, mate” Lay chuckled, deciding to stop and save the foam in case of actual emergencies.

“Allow me, fellas” Kai suddenly appeared, sitting above the cabinet behind them before he poured the metal bucket full of water over their foam covered heads. Their jaws dropped to the ground.

Now the cackling continued, but the laughter was directed towards the group of guys who deserved it. The five turned crimson, utterly embarrassed as they glanced to one another. They attempted a run for it until Sehun sneakily held his foot out, causing eagles-eyes to stumble during their escape; the magnae receiving a high five from Chanyeol as a reward.

“You alright?” Jongdae asked Zora with a friendly smile as they approached her. She nodded, her hair and clothes was in a state yet she was able to grin, the smile even reached her eyes.

Kai jumped down and stood beside her, suddenly reaching out his hand to take the eggs shells off of her hair. “Told you not to stay here…” He complained with a saddened tone before he turned to Baekhyun, a rather hesitant yet profound smile appearing on his face. “Thanks for helping her” He said almost forcefully, making Baekhyun awkwardly clear his throat and straighten his blazer. 

“Ey~! You care after all~” Chanyeol teased, slapping Baekhyuns back with a goofy grin, his tall physic towering over Baekhyun like a lamp post.

“I-I just happen to pass by” He felt like kicking himself for stuttering. But his denial was see-through, even Zora could tell he was lying and most of the time she couldn't. Baekhyun took a quick glance towards her; but the memory of his morning wakeup call flashed through his head and suddenly made him nervous. “We’re going, Jongdae, Lay, Sehun” He said to his three friends as he tried to walk away, only to be grabbed by the collar by Lay and pulled back.

“Wait~ Not so fast” He said in a suspicious tone. Baekhyun glared at him, sending daggers towards the boy with the sheepish smile and dimples on his face. “Zora, Kai and er, Chanyeol- was it?” Lay arched his eyebrows at the new students. “Wanna hang with us for a bit?” He offered. Baekhyun’s eyes rounded in surprise before he jabbed his elbow into his ribs. Lay flinched, however blinked at him as if he didn’t know hot from cold.

“Yeah! It’ll be fun! We can hit the arcade, Minseok and the others won’t mind that we ditched them” Sehun shrugged his shoulders, smiling away at the pretty new girl.

“No, she’s going home” Baekhyun retorted bluntly. Zora turned to him in, her expression screaming in protest only to have him repeat it, “No, you’re going home” He commanded almost desperately.

“Aww, come on man, don’t be such an uptight bro- I’m sure she want to come along, isn’t that right Zora-shi?” Jongdae countered, having Zora nod her head in agreement.

“Sounds cool” Kai commented.

“Woo! Road trip!” Chanyeol cheered. Baekhyun felt like face palming himself. Idiots. The lot of them.

No matter how many times Baekhyun argued his case, everyone insisted on going along. Even if he said that Zora had to go home to change her clothes and get cleaned up- she had conveyed to the others how she didn’t mind going, despite looking like something that was ready to go in the oven. Even mentioning that she had no shoes to wear didn’t work since Sehun suggested her to just wear her school shoes out instead of her casual ones and cleaned them later*

After Baekhyun admitted defeat, they all ended up going to the arcade together. There were brand new machines there that were just put up a few weeks ago but the best part of it was that there wasn’t many people there. There were mostly students from other schools visiting to relieve some of their stress and a few kids but it wasn’t as packed as it was the last time Baekhyun visited.

Surprisingly, the gang got closer than Baekhyun had thought; although he wasn’t sure whether to think of it as a good or a bad thing. Chanyeol was bright, a personality that made it easier for anyone to feel closer to, even Baekhyun. They’d noticed that Kai was skilled in games, despite never even hearing of an arcade before. But also, there was something about him that felt…

“You know Kai, you’re a lot like Baekhyun” Lay commented after having a few conversations with the boy. Baekhyun and Kai glanced at each other and scoffed, “No, we’re not” both said in unison. Oh, the irony. Jongdae chuckled at the two, “Ahaha, oh yeah, now that you mention it, the way they talk and act is a bit similar…although Kai seems a lot nicer” He joked, although receiving a harsh nudge in the ribcage from Baekhyun for it. 

Zora picked up on the games quickly too, surprising Baekhyuns friends slightly when they almost found it difficult to beat her, but of course, unlike Baekhyun, they didn’t know that she possibly had a higher IQ than Einstein.

Without actually saying it, Baekhyun was grateful to his friends. He felt like thanking them for helping him out. For…helping her smile. But just hanging out and finally enjoying himself around his friends was a thank you enough for them. They barely see him smile, never mind laughing, so seeing him having so much fun with everyone; although felt a little of character, they were content.

The gang actually attracted more attention than they’d thought. Since the arcade was full of boys; seeing a cute girl being good at air hockey and zombie apocalypse games somehow made their hearts flutter, not to mention she was enjoying it; possibly even more than the guys were.

By the time they got out of the arcade, it’s already gone way passed 7pm and the sun had waved goodbye and let the moon take over its shift.

“Next time we go, I’m so demanding a rematch, dude” Sehun complained at Chanyeol who beat him at Tekken.

“Sure, but you’re still not gonna win~” Chanyeol proclaimed in a teasing tone. Zora was walking beside him along with Lay. Baekhyun watched Zora from behind, glaring at her smile and feeling warmth spread from his chest.

“Kekeke, do I sense the ice prince melting?” Jongdae snickered, catching the light smile on Baekhyuns face red handed. Baekhyun hadn’t even realized that he was smiling but instantly frowned when he faced his friend.

“Shut up” He retorted harshly.

“Okay, whatever, see you tomorrow man, this is my stop” Jongdae said with a knowing smile, randomly saluting him before dashing off, passing the gang and waving goodbye.

“See ya~!” Chanyeol waved with enthusiasm.

Lay and Sehun soon did the same, they came to their houses and bid farewell. Now it was just the 4 left walking along the dark empty streets. They made light conversation with each other right until they entered their house, which was weird since Baekhyun hadn’t thought that someone who had only seen a couple weeks’ worth of the world would actually have things to say.

“Don’t you have somewhere to go?” Baekhyun sighed, watching the two ‘guests’ enter his home.

“Nope!” Chanyeol answered with a smile before flinging his shoes off of his feet and charged into the living room like a child as he made his very own sound effects. Zora watched him flop onto the sofa, a sweet smile gracing her face as she chuckled inaudibly; she seemed to find him amusing. Baekhyun gave up and with a heavy sigh, once again, he admitted defeat.

“Whatever, I’m upstairs. Don’t call if you need anything” He said, but before he could head for the stairs, he felt s a tug at his arm. He turned and saw Zora blinking at him, a pause following before she shone him a sweet smile.

Her smile.

‘Thank you’...It was that caring, sincere smile that spoke for itself. More than words could convey; it was her eyes and her smile that conveyed her thankfulness to him. Baekhyun gazed at her…that smile…those eyes…had they…only just started to sparkle?

A loud, purposeful cough snapped Baekhyun back as he looked up towards Kai. “Don't you have school stuff to do or something?” He asked with a hint of bitterness although wasn’t as visible. Baekhyun shot him a look.

“Who are you, my mother?” He retorted before heading upstairs and into his room, although a secretive smile appeared on his face as he did.

Although, he still hadn’t admitted it, the fact that for the first time in a long long time, he had truly enjoyed the company of another. And the fact that Kai, Chanyeol and Zora were still beside him was the reason why the warmth in his chest, despite the cold winters night, still lingered. 

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A/N: Aigoo~ Really sloppy chapter guys, Mianhae~ Wanted to update in celebration of EXO's Second and Third win (whoop! whoop!) but i wasn't fast enough :'D Love you all! xoxo ;)