Tao sighed at the situation at hand and let his eyes move between the others in the group, the three of them glancing back in turn, different emotions reflected on their faces. From his right Kai shot him a pugnacious glare, sharp and unyielding – this was much like the looks he and Chanyeol had been receiving all weekend; D.O. running off to wherever seemed to have triggered something in the puppy that really set him off. Sehun though, who was walking next to the other, just let one corner of his mouth tug up a bit, and appeared far more excited to go back to school than his friend – Tao found this rather strange, seeing as the guy was pretty beat up still and shouldn’t really be in the mood to pick a fight with anyone, but he wouldn’t argue with him.

And then finally, there was Chanyeol. The second-year walked on his other side with long strides, face an unreadable mask. When he finally caught his friend’s eye he only received a curt nod. Shaking his head at the way the guy had reverted back into the robot he’d been described as previously – by a certain informer in this case – he decided to just think of it as an efficient defense mechanism; much like his own.

The past number of days though he’d simply gotten used to not speaking at all – Kai would just growl or snap or grunt even if he did, and if he had to talk to Chanyeol he found he’d rather do it in private and stop with his endless narrating. Whether this was a good change or not he wasn’t sure, but he felt like he’d slip into his normal habit again right away so he pushed whatever thoughts on it he had to the back of his mind.

What Tao knew he should be concerned about however was the fact that D.O. had called him to say he’d join up with them at school, which he still hadn’t informed the others of - and therefore Kai’s reaction to this. Because in the end they’d need both of them to be focused and able to work together at least somewhat smoothly, and if the two couldn’t get along… well, that might be a problem.

his teeth in frustration Tao picked up the pace a bit. Why had he even bothered agreeing to this all in the first place? Because Chanyeol was an old friend? Because he was bored? Sure, the last one was a possibility, but he was convinced now that if a little bit of interesting social interaction always led to so much drama he was damn well better off without it. Heaving a big sigh he decided to speak up.

“I felt somewhat compelled to point out that the tension of our group was starting to get on my nerves, and I really had no intention of starting a conversation with them, but seeing as they had a right to know – in a way in any case – I decided to share with them that D.O. would be waiting for us when we arrived, and we’ll be going ahead as planned.”

“Great.” Kai huffed from his side, and Tao glared at him darkly. Whatever the puppy was so wired up about wasn’t allowed to screw things up – the guy might still have his struggles but by now he could at least throw a decent punch, meaning he’d be some sort of support rather than an obstacle.

“What crawled up his and died?” Tao cocked a brow as he whirled around, honestly a bit surprised to see D.O. standing there with a similar expression, looking at Kai skeptically. True, batman hadn’t been around to see the puppy’s gruff attitude so it might’ve been a bit unexpected to him.

“I thought D.O. would be waiting at the school gates or something and found myself wondering where he even came from? And I was pretty sure his bat was still over at Chanyeol-hyung’s place…” He murmured with a frown, nonetheless stepping aside a bit so their last teammate could join in on their walk down the not-so-trafficked street. It was a barely noticeable thing, but out of his peripheral vision he could see the puppy’s fingers twitch a bit as though to form fists, only for the boy to catch himself doing it and grit his teeth in blaring frustration. Tao furrowed his brows, but chose not to speak. As D.O. did however he found that it might’ve been a better idea to have kept a conversation going.

“Did I miss anything important?” The boy asked, to which Kai gave a very loud, irritable snort. “What?” D.O. snapped at the puppy, who in turn simply scoffed and nudged Sehun’s side, the latter turning a bit to show off his wonderfully bruised face. Tao couldn’t help but wince slightly at the sight – it could’ve been worse seeing as the marks had already begun to fade; the thing he didn’t like was that it had happened at all. And even worse; the guy kept saying that it wasn’t a big deal – that he’d had it coming to him. Which was almost as strange as it was stupid, but in the end it wasn’t up to him to call for revenge – Luhan might have some pretty sick ways of going around things, and a couple of troublesome connections at that, but Tao had never deemed the third-year that big of a threat. “So?” He looked at D.O. as the guy spoke up again, and realized that he must’ve spaced out for a minute. “Does that mean today’s targets have increased?”

“No. We’ll be going ahead as planned.” Chanyeol replied sharply before anyone else had the chance to answer. “Kris’ lackeys can wait.” Tao raised a brow at this, feeling that the term used might be a little off since – as far as he knew – the people in that group did pretty much what they felt like; Kris only seemed forced to take responsibility if anyone happened to be caught doing something bad. Well, at least that was the case before, but he supposed it could be different this time, what with all those meeting Baekhyun had told them about. Somehow though, he was looking forward to speaking to the big boss a bit later in the day, seeing as the only time he’d had a proper chat with the guy was when he’d renounced pretty much everything he got from kicking the king’s – the one thing he wanted was for people to back off and leave him alone, which they did after that anyways.

“As long as we’ll deal with them later on – don’t forget to let me in on the next step when you figure it out.” D.O. huffed, rolling his shoulders and twirling the metal bat he’d brought along, the tip of it dangerously close to hitting Tao’s shoulder at one point.

“Although I actually appreciated D.O.’s actual presence here it was much harder to do so when my own physical condition was at stake. Hoping he got the point I sent him a warning glare, just to make sure he stopped spinning that prized piece of metal of his around.” It seemed to do the trick, although the other did glower right back at him for a few seconds before scoffing and staring off into space, his dark expression soon changing into a completely blank one. Which was a bit odd. Then again he could hardly claim he knew the guy.

The rest of the walk passed in almost complete silence. Out of habit Tao found himself commenting on things going on around them, just a few words in Chinese slipping out occasionally. It seemed to be getting on the puppy’s nerves. Then again everything had been lately.

When they reached the school a strange tension seemed to settle over the whole place. First period should’ve just ended if the time was any indication, and if a third of the student body was out on the school grounds the majority of the other two were still loitering around the corridors. That didn’t make the discomfort of the students they strode by any less apparent though. Tao let out a quiet snort at some of their expressions. He wasn’t sure what he felt about the whole thing with people fearing him – while he did like it that they kept his distance, and while some of their reactions could be rather amusing at times, it just seemed like he couldn’t quite get used to it. He brushed it off as some sort of lingering want to return to his middle school days of two or three years ago; which was impossible and useless to think about seeing as it only dampened his mood.

“Although people shying away from us could be considered a good thing normally,” He started calmly in a rather high volume, to ensure that the students around could spread the word. “We were here with a purpose for once, and it would be much easier for everyone around if we could find the people we were looking for sooner rather than-“

“Yongguk’s kids are welcome to come out and play! If they have the balls that is…” D.O. cut him off loudly and followed up with a snicker, snapping his teeth at a guy who was taking too long to get out of the way, just to shove the poor fellow to the floor and step right on him as though he was part of the laminate. Tao shook his head at it, but couldn’t keep from chuckling – some part of him had indeed missed having the little sadist around.

“I knew we couldn’t very much promise not to hurt anyone, but I could confidently say that we’d be a lot kinder than Yongguk and Himchan and the rest of them would be when they found out all of their group members had been cowering in fear and pressing up against the walls when we passed by. I repeated what I’d been saying before D.O. cut me off - it’d be much easier on everyone involved if the peasants would just stand up for that king of theirs. Glancing around it was clear that people were getting agitated, yet wouldn’t do anything about it… I asked myself if this reflected their leader’s weak personality or if it was just a trait the weaker goons all seemed to share.” It seemed to take a few seconds for the morons in question to actually understand what he’d told them, but when they did it was as though dark shadows fell over their faces, and they closed in in an almost intimidating manner - if you were easily intimidated that was. Tao felt a hand on his left shoulder and turned to lock eyes with Chanyeol for a moment, and then the second-year was off; a maniacally cackling D.O. and cussing Kai trailing behind him to disappear up the stairs.

“What? The shut-in and oh-so-horrible D.O. didn’t have the guts to stick around?” A random third year student sneered, stopping in front of him - and then Sehun’s fist connected with the guy’s jaw and sent him tumbling onto his with a loud groan. Tao just smirked as his temporary partner started waving his hand like a paper fan, rubbing his knuckles a bit - hit the wrong place or close your fist in the wrong way and you might end up hurting; he’d already taught the kid this.

“If the mushroom had been paying proper attention, or perhaps avoided getting himself kidnapped, he might’ve remembered how to throw a proper punch. I almost laughed out loud at the sudden thought of my going to the rich boy for help in the future - the idea was so ridiculous that I even considered asking Sehun to step down and let me enjoy this on my own; just to prove my point.” He teased, and to his surprise got a playful slap to the back of his head.

“.” The other muttered, and Tao couldn’t help but chuckle – the guy had grown some balls over night; even D.O. hadn’t had the guts to lay a finger on him before, joke or not.

They didn’t have all too much time for chatting after that, seeing as people were lunging at them right and left. Dodging and blocking wasn’t a problem, not to him in any case though it was clear that Sehun was in a bit of trouble. The worst part was how little time there was in between to counter properly. A sweeping kick hit one kid in the ribs, and left him that moment he needed to er punch another and lend his teammate a bit of support by banging a third fellow’s head against the old concrete wall – the sickening crack and blood stains left behind made him believe that the guy’s nose had been broken; a notion that made the corners of his lips tug up a bit. After that it took the two of them no more than a couple of minutes to deal with the rest, and they left behind a bunch of torn up recruits with the observers who’d had the guts to stick around for the show, making their way leisurely upstairs.

And then came a strong blow to his chest and he was falling backwards. In his daze he tried to find some sort of footing, his arms shooting out to grab at the handrails to stop his rapid and unconventional descent down the stairs. His hands slipped a bit further down, but when Sehun’s hands shot out to take a secure grip around one of his upper arms his knees finally hit the steps heavily, and he let out a small groan. His right shoulder, his hip and the places on his knees and shin that hit the hard edges on the stairs were all aching. When he peered up at the landing through his dark fringe he could see a couple of second years snickering at him, and caught a glimpse of a familiar tall figure from another first year class.

“ing Zelo…” He hissed under his breath, with Sehun’s help standing up properly and this time stepping onto the landing a bit more cautiously. Tao was fairly sure that what made them back off was his dark scowl – even his teammate took a few steps back once he’d proven that he could move properly on his own. He’d be damned if a fall down the stairs was going to beat him. “I made sure to warn everyone nearby that ‘those who don’t want to leave school in an ambulance need to get their scrawny asses out of my way’. My mood had taken a big turn for the worse and if anyone so much as dared try anything their blood would dye the floor.”

“Chill dude.” Sehun told him quietly as they watched the students in the corridor scurry off, a brave or stupid few staying behind to watch warily as they made their way up the next staircase. “That guy should be with the rest of Yongguk’s group, right? Just throw him off the roof or something.”

“I had to admit that it was a decent idea – the only downside would be the murder charges afterwards. That and, when I actually took a few seconds to think about it, the fact that I wouldn’t have the pleasure of seeing his blood make pretty patterns on the floor or hear him call for help every time my fist connected with his face.” Although that’s what he said Tao mentally scolded himself for getting so riled up – it wasn’t supposed to be part of his character anymore, seeing as anger only led to mistakes, but this time he felt like he couldn’t help it. He ran one hand through his hair, noticing how it was trembling as his fingers moved slowly across his scalp, and swallowed thickly. The sound of their footsteps as they kept moving up to the third floor were drowned out by the uncharacteristically loud thumping of his heart, and he took deep breaths to calm himself. In and out.

“But, you’re alright though, aren’t you?” He frowned for a bit before shaking his head and focusing on Sehun, whose face showed a hint of concern as he glanced over. Tao just gave a short nod, gesturing for them to move down the corridor towards the west wing. They still had to deal with at least a few more of Yongguk’s crew before they could make their way to the roof… unless the others had bumped into them on the way up.

That seemed to be the case however, as they’d only met a couple of second-years by the time they were headed up the near crumbling stairs to the western roof, leaving the aforementioned students a heap of ripped uniforms and awkwardly twisted limbs in their wake. Tao pursed his lips as they stopped in front of the metal door – as it happened there had been a loud bang just before they reached it. When he turned the handle and attempted to push it open there was a strange amount of resistance.

“The door was quite a bit heavier than it was supposed to be, and it sort of ticked me off; my day had been bad enough as it was, and I didn’t need the building to go against me on top of it all.” He said, giving the door a hard push, scoffing when it practically flew open, some guy scrambling away from them when they walked outside. It was obviously said guy’s fault that the door had weighed a bit extra.

“Took you a while – what the hell were you two scatterbrains doing? Having a tea party in the teachers’ lounge?” Tao cocked a brow as he turned to the source of the grouchy questions, huffing  as he laid eyes on D.O., who was wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth. Kai was standing next to him, looking even more vicious than before as he flashed his teeth and practically growled at the person on the floor in front of them. Tao had to think real hard before he could recall the name of that boy, but in the end he still couldn’t make up his mind on whether it was Youngjae or Jongup.

”Ignoring Mr. Batman seemed like a reasonable thing to do, so I went on to look over the people in search of the little who pushed me down the stairs. ‘Come out come out, wherever you are’ I called, mostly to give him a chance to step up before I went to find him myself.” When he finished there was a bit of unsettled shifting around by the roughly twenty students present, even those who had clearly had a scuffle with one or the other of their group glancing around uncomfortably.

“Who’s even dumb enough to do that?” Tao let his lips curve into a wicked smirk as his eyes turned to Chanyeol, somewhat pleased to see his friend holding onto the collar of a roughed a up third-year.

“Mm, what was the name again…” Sehun pondered aloud, tossing his head a bit to move his long hair out of his eyes. “Jell-o?” Tao exhaled strongly and rolled his neck – not sure if he should laugh at the way the other said the name. A few seconds passed before three familiar characters stepped out from the far back of the roof, passing the early arrivals of their group to glare at him threateningly. Zelo was slightly shielded by the leader of the group, and Tao tilted his head a bit to the side.

“Not that I minded, but I felt like calling D.O. a hypocrite – they didn’t seem to have gotten much done until now anyways so I didn’t see what he could possibly be complaining about.” He stated, meeting Yongguk’s eyes sharply before continuing. “Though I had to admit that I was pleased with their leaving the youngest kid for me – if the big bad leader would just so kindly step aside I’d be rather happy, seeing as his little brother needed to be disciplined.” Tao faked a smile, a pretty sadistic one if he could say so himself, and before Yongguk had even reacted he’d spun around the third-year and hooked one arm around Zelo’s throat. The leader would have to wait in line.

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A/N: Alright guys~! This si the first part of a double update, and I'll let you know that this was not supposed to be about Tao only I just happened to run a bit short on time and ideas. No but really, it turned out a bit longer than I'd thought, so I decided to put this up now, and then throw in a little bit of a cliffhanger for you guys in the next chapter. Big note: this has not been read through, because right now my brain = mush. not like my own proofreading's worth much anyways, but this means I might have to change things later on...

Ah, well, happens. Love for now, next chapter should be up very soon~! <333

Fi~