Sehun decided not to respond to Luhan’s text, pretending to have gotten ‘really busy with homework’ if his captain friend asked about it. When he went to bed, he thought about it for a moment but then restrained himself, figuring Luhan was off with Minji somewhere.

The next morning, Sehun woke to the sound of something hitting the floor outside of his dorm room. He quickly jumped out of bed and ran for the door, throwing it open with a thud.

“What the heck?” Kyungsoo squeaked, shooting up into a sitting position. He had some major bed-head going on but Sehun didn’t have time to tease his friend about it, he had to find out what was going on.

And then he saw it, a brown package on the floor marked ‘To Sehun’. He picked the gift up and slowly walked it into the room. It was lighter than the last one but easily as intriguing.

“Another one? Seriously?” Kyungsoo asked, bounding over to the bed, his hair still an utter mess.

Kyungsoo took a seat at the end of the bed as Sehun tentatively ripped back the paper covering the box.

Scrawled on the box was barely legible message that said:

Hope this helps to keep you covered up. ;)

Sehun’s breath hitched as he ran his hands over the note to him. The whole situation was confusing but when Kyungsoo ripped open the top of the box (he was relentlessly impatient), he was brought out of his moment of questioning immediately.

It was a bath robe. A soft to the touch, hunter green, extremely expensive bath robe. Sehun didn’t even know what the gift meant until he remembered how yesterday had gone in the locker room. One of the blokes must have seen his escape and wanted to make a joke out of him. He pushed the ‘gift’ away and muttered angrily under his breath for he didn’t want Do “ Ears” Kyungsoo to hear the expletives he was expressing.

Sehun had thought that his team mates appreciated him. Was it too much to ask to just fit in for once? Maybe the entire thing was a joke to them, maybe Xiumin, Kai and Luhan were just pulling him along for their own amusement. And maybe Kyungsoo was right about Luhan… what if he was just like everyone else who was popular?

“What’s wrong, mate? That thing looks so comfortable and you don’t want it? If so, I will gladly take it!” Kyungsoo volunteered, his fingers reaching toward the stupidly relaxing looking bath robe.

“That’s not what its about, Kyungie.” Sehun snapped, pulling the box back toward himself and away from Kyungsoo’s grabby hands.

“It’s the fact that they think this is all a joke. This is all a stupid prank, me being on the team.” Sehun continued, getting choked up over the betrayal of his team that he thought he could actually be a part of.

“If that what you think this is about… you have to wear it to the locker room, and go to practice. Prove them wrong.”  Kyungsoo advised, sounding very mature for a moment. That perception was shattered by the fact that he was sipping away at a carton of chocolate milk. But, Kyungsoo did have a valid point.

It wasn’t revenge, it was Sehun standing up for himself. It was a defensive move.

“You’re a genius, Kyungie!” Sehun praised Kyungsoo with a celebratory hug.

“I guess so, but I never would do it. Though, I would never go into a locker room full of jocks anyway, that’s a ridicule session waiting to happen.” Kyungsoo noted solemnly, taking another gulp of his childish drink.

“Hey, its not as bad as you think. Seriously. Just a lot of scantily clad blokes taking showers.” Sehun answered, passively.

“Then, why did you run out?” Kyungsoo asked, his blue eyes wide with interest.

“Oh you know… just a lot of scantily clad blokes taking showers.” Sehun repeated himself that sent them both into hysterics.

Before class, Sehun and Kyungsoo proceeded to do a fashion show of bath robes, eat a feast of a breakfast and then get ready for school. Sehun packed his cleats, a clean practice uniform and Xiumin’s shin guards into his bag along with his school things. At the last moment, he made the final decision to make the bold choice of wearing the bath robe in the locker room. He didn’t need to get back at his team mates, he needed to prove them wrong.

Later…

Kyungsoo was skittering down the hall, trying to make it from English class to Band without bumping into anyone. He hated going between the two classes because Band was the only class that Sehun didn’t take with him, so his travels through the hallways had to be taken alone. This meant trudging through crowds of students with a guitar on his back, which was never safe in the first place.

He walked with his eyes glued to the floor and was occasionally elbowed or pushed out of the way. He didn’t like eye contact. Kyungsoo just wanted to get to class without a confrontation with a popular. Was that too hard to ask?

WHAM!

Kyungsoo walked straight into an open locker and when he fell onto his back, he heard an awful crunch. His guitar.

The sound made him want to cry, but he held back his tears by biting down on his lower lip. The pain helped the emotions to subside as he struggled to get back to his feet. The problem was much like that of a turtle over his shell, his backpack and guitar case were so heavy that he couldn’t get himself back up.

Kai was walking by when he saw Kyungsoo writhing on the ground, a sad look on his face.

“Oh my god, Kyungsoo. Are you okay?” Kai asked, crouching down next to the helpless looking boy.

Kyungsoo felt a mix of embarrassment and total weakness as Kai helped him into a sitting position.

“I’m okay, but my guitar…” Kyungsoo muttered, his eyes b with tears.

Kai took the guitar case gently off of the boy and zipped it open. The guitar was smashed in many places, it looked utterly unusable. That is when Kyungsoo actually started to cry, his body shivering slightly as the raw emotion took hold of him. Kai’s heart broke at the sight and he did the first thing he thought could help: he held Kyungsoo in a strong embrace.

Kyungsoo at first felt suffocated, like he wanted nothing more than to escape from the madman’s arms. But after a second, he realized the hold was comforting and as he sobbed, it just became more so. He didn’t feel judged for feeling upset about a stupid broken guitar, he felt utterly at home… and it terrified him.

“Uh… thanks. I think I’m okay now.” Kyungsoo mumbled into Kai’s shoulder.

 The hallway had cleared as everyone had made into their prospective classrooms. Kai unwrapped himself from Kyungsoo and stood to his feet. He held out a hand for Kyungsoo to take and Kyungsoo did.

“I’m so sorry about your guitar.” Kai said genuinely.

Kyungsoo nodded, looking down at his feet again. For a second, Kyungsoo had actually thought that Kai and he could be friends but when he looked at Kai and saw the confidence that he exuded, he knew that Kai would never want to be friends with someone like him. Kyungsoo was just Kai’s charity case, he pitied him.

“It’s fine. I have to go.” Kyungsoo snapped, gathering up his things and rushing off to class. There was one thing he hated more than popular people and that was tardiness.

Kai was perplexed by Kyungsoo’s sudden mood change but decided to take it in stride. He was getting through to the boy and no matter how much persistence it took, he would be there for Kyungsoo.

Later…

“He did what?” Sehun asked, incredulous, walking toward the locker room.

“He hugged me. It’s not a big deal.” Kyungsoo muttered, regretting sharing the details of the earlier situation with Kai to Sehun.

“But he hugged you and you didn’t run away. That’s big progress!” Sehun said excitedly.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, as they paused outside of the locker room. He pulled out his pom poms and Sehun sighed.

“I sort of did. Afterward.” Kyungsoo explained, his head buzzing at the memory.

“Not that I’m a fan of Kai right now because of the prank they’re all pulling on me, but I think that he could be a great person to have as a friend, Kyungie. Honestly.” Sehun stated and Kyungsoo only shrugged.

“Five minutes til practice!” Xiumin’s voice boomed from the field, seemingly projected by a megaphone. Whoever thought it was a good idea to give Kim Minseok a megaphone was now in Sehun’s bad books.

“That’s my cue! See yah after practice.” Sehun said before rushing off into the locker room.

“I’ll be in the stands!” Kyungsoo called to Sehun as he ran off.

Sehun went straight to his locker, unwilling to acknowledge any of his teammates because of their stupid prank. He was going to be the bigger person. But after what Kai did to help Kyungsoo, he would forgive him for now.

“Hey, Sehun . Didn’t see you after yesterday’s practice. I wanted to talk to you about Kyungsoo…” Kai said, opening up his own locker.

Sehun almost took the first part of what Kai had said as an insult but then he heard how much emphasis Kai had put on his friend’s name, which made him relax.

“I heard what you did for him today. I think you’re really starting to get through to him.” Sehun complimented, quickly stripping off his school clothes and jumping into his practice uniform.

“Really?” Kai asked, smiling brightly.

Sehun laughed and answered, “Yes, really. I think another friend is exactly what he needs to start trusting people. It’s really awesome of you.”

Luhan walked in and Sehun became stoic. He quickly grabbed his cleats and ran out to the field, with just his socks on. Xiumin gave him a weird look, but he didn’t care.

“What the hell was that about?” Luhan wondered, back in the locker room.

Kai shrugged before saying, “Maybe he finally got over the initial infatuation of being your friend.”

Kai jogged away, unwilling to be late because of Luhan and Luhan was left to change on his own, confused.

As Kai hit the field, he waved up at Kyungsoo, who gave him a little nod of acknowledgment. He wanted a smile but that was something he felt he was going to have to really work for.

Luhan finally joined the rest of the team, making some excuse about Minji that Sehun just thought was laughable. Xiumin didn’t look happy but he clearly didn’t have the patience to deal with Luhan today, so he ignored it and went on with practice.

Sehun fell into autopilot during practice, not feeling the need to interact with any of his teammates in a social way. He just wanted to play and when it came to scrimmage time, he put all his anger into kicking the crap out of people’s ankles. It wasn’t hard enough to be a foul but he enjoyed the annoyed look on his teammates faces. They deserved a little annoyance.

When Xiumin called the end of practice, they all rushed into the locker room. Sehun looked over at Kyungsoo who gave him a supportive wink. It was show time.

Sehun sauntered into the locker room and proceeded to get buck . He didn’t care who stared, he actually wasn’t discrete about it at all. But when he ‘noticed’ someone staring, he squealed and dove into his locker.  He grabbed the expensive bath robe and wrapped it around himself.

When he was sure he had an audience, he walked into the middle of the locker room and declared, “Thank god I’m covered up, because I just can’t stand the idea of other guys seeing me !”

“Oh my god…” Kai muttered, clasping a hand over his mouth.

“What’s going on?” Luhan asked before noticing Sehun in the bath robe.

“Yup. it up, guys. I mean, I get it. I’m the new kid, so why not  prank him, right? This just seems like a pretty expensive prank, if you ask me.” Sehun proclaimed, doing a turn to show off his bath robe.

The room remained silent, nobody knew what the hell was going on.

“Look, I’m just going to take this as a welcoming present but I want you all to know, I don’t care about being in front of you. And well, here goes nothing.” Sehun said, before dropping the bath robe to the floor.

His point had definitely been proven as he swaggered his way toward the showers, every one of his teammates glued to his body. Nobody could unsee that.

Luhan could definitely not tear his eyes away. So much for the ‘eyes on your own’ rule…

A/N For the sake of this story, Kyungsoo plays the guitar and most other instruments.