Chanyeol was beyond nervous as he stood outside of the hospital room where the Busan Prep goalie was. He was pretty sure his name was Key or something like that…

He ran a hand nervously through his mop of hair and breathed in steadily.

Luhan recognized the Busan West striker from fifty feet away. He was hovering outside of Kai’s room and that could only mean that he was one of Kai’s attackers. Luhan was walking next to Sehun and Sehun noticed Luhan’s eyes narrow at the guy down the hall.

“Don’t, Luhan.” Sehun advised, his voice wavering with concern.

Sehun laced his hand into Luhan’s as they neared but Luhan was boiling over with anger. Seeing the guy that had hurt his friend and had intended to hurt him and that disgusted him.

Luhan ripped away his hand from Sehun’s and stalked toward Chanyeol.  He was seething with loathing. He grabbed onto Chanyeol’s blazer and shoved him up against the wall.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Luhan growled, slamming Chanyeol against it again for emphasis.

“Luhan! Stop it!” Sehun protested, running up behind the altercation.

Chanyeol’s eyes were full of fear and guilt. He deserved this and he knew that but it didn’t make Luhan, with the fury of the pits of hell in his eyes, any less scary. Chanyeol shivered in terror, holding up his hands to cover his face.

That’s when Luhan spotted Chanyeol’s black eye. This discovery combined with Sehun’s request, made Luhan loosen his grip on the cowering ginger. “Were you the one who tried to stop them?”

Realizing that Luhan had stopped his attack, Chanyeol looked out between his hands. He registered that Luhan had asked a question and he nodded only half-convincingly.

At this, Luhan completely let go of Chanyeol, which made Sehun quite relieved. He didn’t want Luhan to do something he would later regret. It also wasn’t really in his nature to be the assaulting type.

“I’ll still repeat myself: what the hell are you doing here?” Luhan inquired, backing away from the stranger.

Chanyeol sighed and pulled himself together. “I’m here to apologize.” He practically whimpered.

Sehun and Luhan were both taken aback by what Chanyeol had said; the fact that the guy was courageous enough to apologize to Kai face to face only days after the incident was very admirable.

“Oh.” Sehun murmured. “That’s pretty cool of you.”

Chanyeol appreciated the guy’s support. He recognized that the two guys standing before him were the captain and a rookie from the Busan Prep team. No wonder they were being so defensive; the goalie was their friend.

“I need to make this better. Donghyun and Kyumin dragged me along for the ride and I didn’t even know what was going on until we arrived at Busan Prep Stadium. I immediately got a bad feeling but they wouldn’t listen to me. They got out of the car and raced toward the guy we ended up attacking. There were two of them, at first a little guy and then the goalie. Donghyun and Kyumin wanted revenge but it was more than that. It was a hate crime. When I tried to get in the way of the attack, they hurt me as well. I felt absolutely useless but I didn’t do enough to stop it.” Chanyeol stammered, basically bearing his souls for the two strangers.

Sehun’s breath hitched at the telling of the story. He couldn’t imagine feeling that helpless.

Luhan bit his lip, he understood where the guy was coming from, but at the same time, it still didn’t make it okay.

“I should’ve stopped it.” Chanyeol continued, looking down at the floor in shame.

“It’s in the past. All you can do now is make it better by doing everything in your power to make it up to Kai. I think you can probably start with telling him that story.” Luhan suggested solemnly.

Chanyeol nodded in agreement, eyes still cast on the floor.

Sehun had a soft spot for the guy so he said, “What’s your name?”

Luhan shot Sehun a confused look. Why was Sehun making friends with the enemy? But then Luhan remembered that Sehun was just being… Sehun. The kind, always understanding, adorably friendly guy he had fallen for.

Chanyeol smiled appreciatively at the question and answered, “Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.”

“My name’s Sehun and this is my…. friend, Luhan.” Sehun introduced.

“Boyfriend.” Luhan corrected, taking Sehun’s hand in his.

That startled Sehun because they never had the conversation but he was actually delighted by Luhan’s confidence about it. It made him blush deeply.

Sehun pressed his free hand to the dog tags around his neck. Now Luhan didn’t care about him anonymously, he cared about him openly and even, proudly. How much could change in such a little time…

To Luhan and Sehun’s surprise, Chanyeol responded with not even a hint of discomfort, he actually gave them a supportive smile.

“You guys look great together.” The guy complimented genuinely which won him points in both Luhan and Sehun’s books.

“Thanks.” Sehun said. “Maybe it’s time we get in there, we don’t want to keep Kai waiting any longer.”

Chanyeol paled slightly at the suggestion but with a supportive look from both Luhan and Sehun gave him the confidence fix that he needed to see through his apology.

“Oh, by the way, Kai and Kyungsoo don’t know about ‘us’ yet, so if you could keep that on the down low just for now… we’d appreciate it. They don’t need the shock of that to add to everything else.” Sehun whispered to Chanyeol, who decided to just to respect the request rather than question it.

Luhan opened the door to the hospital and Sehun walked closely behind. “Hey, how are you?”

“SEHUN!” Kyungsoo greeted enthusiastically, skittering over to his friend. He threw his arms around Sehun and nuzzled his head into his roommate’s shoulder.

“Oh, and I’m okay too. If anyone cares…” Kai teased Kyungsoo after the kafuffle of his greeting.

Luhan immediately walked over next to Kai’s chair and gave his friend a hug. Kai winced slightly at the embrace but Luhan knew that the sentiment had been carried on, so he pulled away quickly.

“I am so glad you are alright.” Luhan shared and Kai smiled appreciatively.

“As am I.” Sehun added, dragging Kyungsoo along with him as he walked over to Kai’s bedside.

When Kyungsoo realized where they were, he quickly transferred his clutches onto Kai. Luhan and Sehun were warmed by how adorable the whole thing was. But the peaceful moment wasn’t going to last forever.

There had to be a key change for the melody to continue, so it did.

Chanyeol walked into the room, dragging his feet tentatively. Kai’s head snapped to the intruder in the room and automatically began to shake when he realized who it was.

Kyungsoo felt the change in Kai and looked up to see the guy who had retaliated against Kai’s attackers and paid for it too. Kyungsoo need to be strong for Kai so he took the goalie’s hand in his and grasped it tightly to show his support.

“Hi.” Chanyeol murmured, unsure of how to start the exchange.

“Hey. You must be Chanyeol.” Kai muttered, and Kyungsoo began to scowl at this ‘Chanyeol’.

“I am. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am.” Chanyeol started and Kai held up his hand to quiet the guy.

“I know you’re sorry. I know what happened. I just want to know what happened to the heads that did this to me.

Chanyeol swallowed slowly and explained, “Donghyun and Kyumin were expelled and they are spending at least six months in jail. On top of that, they will have to go into anger management therapy after their release.”

Kyungsoo thought it was too short for what they had done but Kai seemed satisfied with the verdict.

“What about you though” He asked, furrowing his brow in concern.

Chanyeol knew that this was going was to be a question that would arise. He had two options, he could chicken out or he could tell them what he wanted to happen. He decided to go for the latter. But inevitably, it was going to be up to Kai to make the final decision.

“Well, I can’t go back to West because I’ll be destroyed by my team for ratting their two star players out… so I was planning to transfer to Prep. This would have to be allowed by Kai, of course. ” Chanyeol answered.

He was met with a room of varying reactions but overall silence.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe that Kyungsoo slapped Chanyeol.” Sehun mused, as they walked out to his car.

“I can’t believe that Kai said he would think about it.” Luhan muttered as he slipped into the passenger seat of Sehun’s car.

“I thought you were okay with the whole Chanyeol situation.” Sehun said, putting the keys into the ignition and starting the car.

Luhan’s head was a mess of conflicting thoughts.

Sure, Chanyeol was trying to redeem himself but wasn’t asking to transfer to their school a bit much? And if he did so, would he try out for the soccer team? What sort of dynamic would that create?

Luhan had to worry about these things because he was the captain.

“I don’t know, Sehunnie, this situation is all a bit… much. I just wish things could go back to being simple.” Luhan complained, as Sehun began to drive back to their school.

Sehun burst out laughing at Luhan’s comment. “When has anything been simple with the group of us? Think about it.”

Luhan thought about if for a moment and realized that Sehun was being completely valid. From the anonymous gifting, to Sehun flashing the locker room, to just, well, Kyungsoo in general.

It was just going to have to be a whole new chapter of weird that they were going to have to live with. Adapting was there thing, wasn’t it?

“I guess you’re right.” Luhan agreed, chuckling at the slew of odd memories that came along with their group of friends. “Maybe this will be for the best.”

Sehun put one hand out for Luhan to take and they spent the rest of the ride home, in a beautiful and lilting silence.

A/N Weeeeeeeeeeeell thaaaaaaaaaaank you! Your answers were appreciated! But something new is bugging me.............. SOMEONE REC'ED ME ON TUMBLR AND I WANT TO KNOW WHO IT WAS SO I CAN THANK THEM FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please if you know who they are on AFF please tell me!!!!! Please and thank you!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND 200 FREAKING SUBSCRIBERS AND 22 UPVOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ALMOST DIED LOOKING AT THAT!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK YOU!

Hahahahaha I had a bit f a mental breakdown with this chapter because I originally didn't know whether Chanyeol or Lay would be in LRL so when I wrote ahead I just called them Ed. So when I came to this chapter I felt to lazy to change them all individually so I just pressed Ctrl-F and replaced all. Weeeeeeeeeell I had to go to dance class so I saved this WITHOUT checking it. Imagine my horror when I came back to see EVERY. SINGLE. ED changed to Chanyeol. I had to change every damn Chanyeol back. I am surprised I still have a full head of hair...................................

Anyway, keep the comments coming! I love to hear what you think!!

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