Circumstances

The Pecking Order [discontinued until further notice]

Kris glared at the wall in front of him. He wasn’t in a very good mood. Or rather, he was pissed at his cousin and furious at Lay. Not to mention Luhan had been working on his last nerve ever since his classmate got there about half an hour earlier, an unusual crease on his otherwise smooth forehead. The blonde rarely frowned, and although he was of a mind to ask why, the guy just took his regular place on the couch with a loud sigh – the out of the ordinary behavior telling Kris to leave it; it couldn’t be good anyways.

Several times that morning he’d found himself reaching up to run a hand through his hair, only to be reminded that his wonderful blonde locks were no longer there. He strongly disliked his new cropped hairstyle, but thanks to the little stunt Junmyeon and Lay had pulled he hadn’t had any choice but to pay a visit to the hairdresser and get it fixed to some state of normalcy.

That horrible morning he’d woken up early as per usual. The first difference he noticed was a slightly chemical smell. The second thing was the splotches and smudges of color on his pillow and sheets. When he then laid eyes on a lock of what he recognized as a strand of his own blonde hair, he’d rushed out of bed and into the bathroom. He was positive that he’d been stuck there with his mouth set in a silent scream for at least two minutes. Then came the real scream. He still found himself grimacing from just the memory of it as it echoed around his bathroom. Most of his beautiful blond hair had disappeared, at some places several centimeters from the roots and at others only one or two. A couple of longer strands of hair had been left uncut, but instead got a brutal treatment involving electric blue and neon green hair dye. He’d immediately jumped in the shower to see if he could wash it out, almost smashing a fist through the mirror after he stepped out again only to discover that the colors were faded but far from gone. He’d thrown something of a fit, and went on a rampage of complete destruction when he noticed Junmyeon had left a note that let him know he’d be staying elsewhere for a while – he of course took this as a confession to the atrocious crime.

Kris groaned in frustration and slammed his fist onto the desk as he thought of all the trouble wrecking the apartment had left him in with his parents, causing the boy on the couch to flinch and look at him with a confused frown.

“What’s your problem?” Luhan asked and scrunched his nose in distaste, his nonchalant attitude not helping Kris’ mood in the slightest.

“That’s none of your business! And besides, you’re not any better yourself... I mean would you stop tossing and turning already?! It’s not like it’s going to cure you of stupidity anyways...” He growled, the other flinching at his snarky tone before his teeth and flipping him off.

“It’s not my fault you had to cut off your precious hair Goldilocks.”

“Excuse me?!” Kris roared, and at the same time the door rattled open to reveal a slightly pale Baekhyun. “What?” He snapped at the informer, who jumped a bit before taking a few steps inside.

“It’s the other guys… they came for Yongguk.” The boy revealed weakly, almost whimpering as Kris got off his seat to stalk over to him. “I’ve got the video right here but-“

“Show me.” He interrupted the younger, who looked like he just wanted to turn and run away. For a split second he was concerned for what could’ve caused this sudden change of character - the kid wasn’t exactly innocent despite his neutral position, and so far hadn’t shown any signs of being very squeamish either - but gave his head a quick shake to focus on the small screen of Baekhyun’s cell phone. Luhan had gotten off the couch to join them, a curious expression on his face as he peered over the second-year’s shoulder.

The first couple of minutes weren’t too bad. According to Baekhyun however that wasn’t even close to what they’d see another few minutes in. And true to his word it all changed the minute the assassin and the rich kid Luhan had been targeting stepped out on the roof. What had previously been a couple of scratches, bruises, nosebleeds and sprained limbs turned into a pool of blood; several indisputable bone fractures and a whole bunch of gruesome knockouts filled the remainder of the video. An especially spine-chilling moment just as things had started to get really violent was when Tao, who had been busying himself with rearranging the poor Zelo kid’s face, turned to look right into the camera with a deadly glare - right before he dragged his tongue along the side of his bloodied palm with a twisted smirk. Even Kris had to gulp down the bile that had risen to the back of his throat then.

“That’s just… sick.” Luhan commented when the thing finally came to an abrupt end, and Baekhyun nodded along, again looking extremely pale.

“They weren’t even finished when I left; I just couldn’t stay up there any longer or I would’ve been sick.” The second-year admitted, slipping the phone back in one of his pockets with a quivering sigh. Kris just furrowed his brows as he walked back to the swivel chair, making himself comfortable in it before letting himself really think about what he’d just found out.

First of all, the assassin was more of a freak than he’d originally thought. Secondly, that entire group obviously suffered from a variety of psychopathic-like mental conditions. Yongguk was weak. Zelo had obviously done something moronic for the first-year to beat him up so badly. Said first-year was a freak. D.O. was clearly a danger to society the way he’d swing his bat around without any concern for the people whose bones he shattered. That big- second-year wasn’t a useless shut-in who just got himself trouble he couldn’t handle. Daehyun was a provocative retard who most likely wouldn’t be able to taunt anyone anytime soon… or speak at all for that matter. Oh Sehun had slight masochistic tendencies, but would however hit back more often than the rumors claimed. And Huang Zitao was  a goddamn freak.

When he finally put an end to his pointless thinking, feeling all grumpy about the whole thing, he looked up to see that Baekhyun had slipped away and he was left alone with his classmate again.

“You know that haircut makes you look a lot older - especially when you furrow you brows like that.” Luhan pointed out casually; seemingly having no lingering problems with or thoughts about the recording they’d been shown. “Maybe you should’ve left the pretty neon tufts.” He froze. Had he heard it right? Neon. Tufts. His mind worked at a million miles per hour until he came to a final conclusion.

“Those s filmed it, didn’t they?” He asked, his voice cold and sharp even though he was seething on the inside, just imagining the different ways he could torture the two. Because yes, he was sure as hell not going to let Lay get away just because he didn’t have any evidence towards him - yet.

“Here, have a look.” Luhan chirped gleefully as he jogged over, no doubt excited to see what sort of reaction he’d have to the second outrageous video of the day. “I personally think the camera was very well placed.” His classmate added as he clicked play, an image of Kris himself, sleeping, on his very own bed, appearing on the tiny screen. “Oh, right here, this is when you wake up - see the expression on your face?” He did. And he didn’t like it at all. He finally thought it was over after those horrible two minutes of peaceful sleep and awakening, but then the screen went dark for a few seconds, a notice of ‘three minutes later… give or take’, complete with an obnoxious winking smiley appeared, followed by a rather hysterical scream that he heard properly for the first time. It was followed by another time skip - the twenty minutes it took for him to shower - and a lot of loud curses and threats as a door was slammed open, another stream of not-so-nice words rolling off his tongue and a bunch of loud crashes resounding through the apartment until the video ended with the sound of shattering glass and a final note of ‘we hope you like your new hair Krissypoo’.

The room was quiet for a minute as Kris let the bold act of his cousin sink in properly. This was a clip that had been uploaded on YouTube. A clip that already had thousands of views despite it being an amateur video that had only been up for a weekend. It was just a matter of time before everyone would find it. And when they did…

Wordlessly he got to his feet, placed his palms against the wall, and slammed his forehead against it. Repeatedly. Muttering curses and prayers alike under his breath and only narrowly avoiding biting his own tongue off every time his head met the concrete wall.

“Uh, Kris?” He could vaguely hear Luhan call out for him with a troubled tone. He didn’t care. “…Kris.” The way the other spoke was more demanding, but he just couldn’t stop. How could he have been so stupid? How could he not see that there was more to the prank than simply getting rid of his beloved hair? “For ’s sake Krissypoo!”

“What?!” He roared, spinning around so fast that he got a bit dizzy. Or maybe it had to do with the whole head against wall thing. Nonetheless he managed to locate Luhan and glower at the boy heatedly.

“Company.” Kris frowned in disbelief at the other for a few seconds before groaning, finally directing his gaze to the door. And thereafter creating a mental image of him shooting himself, and putting it on replay.

“It did come as a surprise that the almighty Krisus was trying to kill himself, though in all honesty it was hard not to appreciate his efforts - he was practically doing our job for us without so much as being asked to. I did find myself wondering what happened to his blond bird’s nest though.” Tao spoke, face almost completely blank, but the slightly amused look in his eyes giving the brat away. “Maybe Baekhyun’s video really spooked him - though admittedly there were a lot of easier ways to handle extreme fear.”

“Ah, that’s not it, I just showed him-“

“Don’t. You. Dare.” He growled, cutting Luhan off before the traitor had time to say anything. Unfortunately the phone wasn’t in the blonde’s hands any longer, but rather in those of Oh Sehun, who cocked a brow at the display.

“Let me just watch this and I’ll bring it right back, okay hyung?” The first-year asked, and Kris furrowed his brows at the boy’s bruised exterior before asking himself what had just happened. When he glared down at Luhan however the guy just shrugged, a sly smirk playing on his lips.

Soon enough the other groups laughter was echoing loudly off the plain walls, and Kris felt himself starting on his way towards insanity - this couldn’t be happening to him. Why?! What did he ever do wrong?! Tiredly he buried his face in his hands, trying his best to ignore the noise. When the embarrassingly high-pitched scream he’d let out sounded from the small device however, another voice joined in on the others’ laughter, and he forced his head to turn up a bit.

The assassin was laughing. Since when did the freaking deadly, scary-as-hell, vicious, blood- assassin laugh?! He stared at the younger boy, unable to comprehend what was happening, until the video ended and the group’s laughter slowly died out, Tao’s bright grin fading along with it.

“Are you done now?” He snapped coldly, the Sehun brat just covering his mouth as he handed the phone back to the blonde, his shoulders shaking a bit as he returned to the other four. “What do you want?”

“To warn you.” He stared coolly at the second-year who’d spoken, a bit taken aback by the guy’s low voice, but hell bent on not showing it. As he didn’t speak the guy seemed to take it as a cue to move on. “Yongguk was first, but don’t think you’re in the clear. We’re bringing your group down.” He raised a brow at the second declaration of war, at least he assumed that was what this was, before letting out a tired sigh.

“Whatever you say - just make sure you know what you’re doing.” He didn’t know why he was warning them in turn. He’d been in charge of the school since he was a second-year, and it wasn’t an easy task. Never had been he supposed, but his group didn’t make it any easier for him, nor did the newcomers from last semester. Even as he thought it over it seemed weird, but in a way he held some sort of pride in being able to keep things relatively calm, and somehow he didn’t want for an irresponsible group with no desire to rule to take things over. He didn’t want the school to fall back into complete chaos. “It’s harder than you think to look after this place,” He started slowly, meeting each of their watchful eyes in turn, stopping at the assassin’s. “If you have no intention of handling things when all this is over, I strongly suggest you step down and cool your heads while you still can.”

A long moment of silence passed, but neither of their stares grew any weaker. Finally the first-years piercing black eyes flickered away.

“I wasn’t sure what the big guy meant by handing out advice to us, but at the same time it was worth thinking over. I for one never had any intention of taking his place.”

 

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Kai hissed where he stood in front of the mirror, pressing a damp towel to the cut on his left brow, inwardly cursing D.O. for knocking his assailant to the floor before he had time to get back at him. The bleeding had slowed down a bit, he knew as much, but there was still a bright red stain on the baby blue towel when he let it drop into the sink. He was feeling slightly light-headed still, but more than that he was just annoyed. Frustrated? Confused? Yeah, probably those two as well.

“Hey, how’s it looking?” Kai jumped a bit, and then turned to Sehun with a shrug and a forced smirk.

“I’m hoping for a nice scar.” He joked, wiping off a drop of blood that had been making its way down his temple and chuckling a bit at the disgusted face his friend was making before picking the towel back up to dab at the cut again.

“God, just give me that.” Sehun huffed and ripped the towel out of his hand, forcing him down on the edge of the bathtub by pushing on his shoulders determinedly. “Stay.” The boy grumbled as though he was some sort of dog - which he wasn’t and he really didn’t like the nickname the others had given him -, one hand pressing the towel to his injury as the other rummaged through the cupboards messily, muttering things under his breath as he searched for what Kai assumed were bandages and some sort of antiseptic or similar thing. He knew that’s what he’d look for in any case.

For a few minutes he kept his mouth shut and stayed still, allowing Sehun to at least help him wash and cover up the cut before he started squirming. The other rolled his eyes at him, but he ignored this with a short ‘thanks mate’ before slipping out of the room and into the hallway. His little container was waiting in one of the pockets of his favorite jacket, and he pulled it out with a wry smile. He didn’t have many left by now, and in all honesty he wasn’t sure if he’d be getting another batch after they were all gone – the effects had started to weaken anyways.

Once he’d popped half a pill into his mouth, swallowing it with ease, he turned around to face the guy whose presence he’d been aware of ever since he walked into the hallway. D.O. was looking at him with a blank expression, and he glared back defiantly.

“You said we were friends, right?” That… he was not expecting. He could feel his jaw drop slightly at the sudden question, and all the anger from the weekend seemed to simmer down and turn into pure bewilderment.

“Are you serious?” He asked in disbelief, totally unable to understand what was going on. This was not the cruel, heartless, arrogant, bug-eyed douche he knew. Had his cold attitude actually made a difference? Because as tired as he was of being the chipper guy all the time it was even more exhausting to act like you didn’t care. For the love of his life he couldn’t understand how some of the others could do it for so long - personally he was relieved that he could let go of some of the tension.

“Do you want to know why I left?” D.O. asked, eyes narrowing in what Kai presumed was annoyance. Seeing as his speech function was slightly impaired at the moment all he could do was nod, stumbling a bit as the other pushed him out of the way to slip his shoes on. “We’re going out. You’re not going to ask any stupid questions, you’re not going to make a scene, and you’re going to listen to my instructions without interrupting or disobeying.” Well, the guy certainly seemed more familiar now. Slipping on his sneakers and jacket with a frown he followed the other outside, hoping that the others knew they were heading off somewhere. “I told Chanyeol; don’t look so scared .” He grimaced at the casual name-calling, but wasn’t ready to respond - some part of him still wanted to beat the guy up for acting like a little , yet another part told him that not only would that lead to his imminent death, but it would also prevent him from ever finding out what was so important to the violent bastard that he’d leave them all behind without a second thought.

The streets were a bit chilly because of the fairly strong winds, but it didn’t bother either of them as they moved on. Kai tried to figure out where they could be headed, but he really didn’t have all that much knowledge of the area, and simply ended up confusing himself. Soon enough however - he guessed about half an hour had passed - a certain building lit up the darkening sky.

He was just about to ask if that was where they were going before he remembered the part about not asking stupid questions. Was it really a stupid question though? It shouldn’t be; it was straightforward and concise, just a matter of direction.

“Kai.” He’d just been about to open his mouth when the other said his name sharply, dark eyes meeting his in a strangely wary manner. “You and I are friends. We were at a party that got a bit out of hand and we accidentally got mixed up in things. We get along fine; often go to arcades or karaoke. Neither of us is involved in any criminal activities.” Kai frowned at the bull D.O. was spouting out, but didn’t object. His curiosity had no doubt gotten the better of him. unfortunately. “Don’t say anything until I say you can.” Their eyes met again, and despite his slight confusion he couldn’t help but give in to the crisp seriousness of his supposed friend.

“…fine.” He grumbled. Averting his gaze he inspected the cluster of buildings they’d arrived at, concluding that he’d been right about their destination. When they walked inside he was immediately hit by the clinical scent of disinfectant, the clean, white walls making his eyes sting a bit the first few seconds. “What are we doing at a hospital?”

“What did I say about talking and stupid questions?” Kai let out a deep sigh. Touché.

He settled for scrutinizing the other as they walked through the many identical corridors, a bit thrown off by how uncharacteristic the other was being. As far as he knew D.O. wasn’t a calm person, nor was he very nice; so why did he greet everyone they met with smiles and nice words? Why did he navigate his way around the place as though he’d been doing it all of his life? Why didn’t the nurses and other patients move out of his way when he walked towards them?

As perplexed as he was by the other’s behavior he couldn’t deny that he like this side of the guy a lot better than the usual, sadistically violent person he’d gotten familiarized with.

“Alright,” They came to an abrupt stop outside a closed door, and D.O. looked at him threateningly after glancing around the corridor. “You can make up whatever you want, except for anything about law-breaking. If you’re asked any questions answer them comfortably; lies are fine too, just not obvious ones.” He nodded absentmindedly in agreement, his mind finally catching up a few seconds later.

“Hey, wait-“ And he was unceremoniously pulled in through the now open door. About to protest he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight that greeted him. The woman in the hospital bed looked up from her book with a gentle smile, her eyes meeting his for a short while before drifting over to D.O. to his side. The guy smiled back in a similar matter, walking over to the bed to take the woman’s hand carefully.

“Have you been alright today? I’m sorry about leaving, but you did-“

“Tell you to go. Yes I did. How was it? You’re pretty early - I didn’t think you’d come until later tonight.”

Kai pretty much ignored the conversation that was taking place as he was currently busy trying to get his jumbled up thoughts in order again. It was difficult to do so however when the jerk was acting like a completely different person, and the woman on the bed looked so similar to said jerk that he had to continuously shift his gaze from one to the other. D.O. cocked a brow at him eventually however, and he was guided surprisingly carefully towards the bed. He could feel his heart rate increase a bit out of nervousness as he stood there unsure of what to do. Until D.O., being the that he really was, stomped down on his foot. Pretty hard at that.

“So, you’re Kai?” The woman asked softly, and he started a bit before nodding stiffly. “This one’s told me a little bit about you.” She added, and he pouted in slight annoyance at the other - couldn’t he had gotten a little more information about whatever this was that was happening? D.O. however only kicked his calf lightly, cheeks slightly tinted in a way that Kai couldn’t remember having seen before… apart from that time when he’d been awoken by a kick to the gut - he could vaguely recall a similar change in the color of the guy’s cheeks back then as well. “Kyungsoo honey, aren’t you going to introduce us properly?” As much as he would've loved to know how the hell 'Kyungsoo' turned into D.O. he forced the thought away. He glanced back at the woman instead, for some reason feeling slightly unnerved by her knowing smile. D.O. sighed tiredly, but gave in nonetheless.

“Kai, this is mom. Mom, this is Kai. Will that do?”

Oh. Snap.

 

 

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A/N: Okay, so, this is the second chapter of the day night... whatever! It's my first time trying a double update, chapter nineteen being a late celebration of the repackaged album's release and this chapter in celebration of my 20th birthday god I feel like some old crone, I mean I'm not even a teen anymore although... I didn't quite have time to finish either of them... in time... The whole birthday thing is just about being excessively cheesy for once in my life, but in truth I really just wanted to get to writing again because I've been slacking off so much.  *whistles innocently* 

Alright, now, this chapter is a bit rushed compared to the last, especially Kai's part not to mention it's liek a third or so shorter than Kris' and only half of Tao's, but I hope it's acceptable. And since it is rushed, and not proofread at all I don't even think I read the whole chapter through once I might decide to make some changes - of course I'll put up a note or something if this happens.

Anyhow, I hope you liked it, and I'll be sure to update fairly soon so you'll be able to find out a bit more about sweet Mrs. Do.~ *snicker*

So, thank you for reading, and extra big thanks to my dear subscribers and all of you sweet commentists~ *big nasty smooch* Ha. Love you guys~ <33333

~Fi

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Comments

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luhansprinxess
#1
Chapter 24: What the eff with be last part lol
justaweirdisho #2
Chapter 24: I won't hate you.I'll wait until you can update again.
BrotherBear
#3
Chapter 24: *hug* I just want you to know that I'll be waiting forever and ever :')
And good luck with your personal stuff, make sure all that goes away somehow!
LittleBrat
#4
Chapter 24: Huhuhu ㅠㅡㅡㅡㅡㅠ I'll wait as long as it'll take.
I support You dear! <3
If You Wanna talk I'm always free <3

*sob sob* Junmyeon and Lay told everything that had to be be said
onewaddikt
#5
Chapter 24: Its fine!!! You take your time author-nim!!! I'll be awaiting your return ^^
LittleBrat
#6
Chapter 23: Unnie... I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU~!
THEY KISSED! FINALLY! ;0; <3 CHENMIN POWER :')
Oh god... Wae didn't Xiumin told him he liked him?! My poor ChenChen ;0; <3
Can't wait till the next chapter!
Fighting~!!! <3
Anastasija
#7
Chapter 22: i'm always so excited when i see a new chapter, i really love this fic!! it's so well written and my hunhan feels~
autor-nim fighting! <3