[title track: centuries - fall out boy]
[accidentally became kinda long omg im so sorry...]

epilogue;

“After finals we should transfer.” Mina pipes up one night, her tone much too casual. A couple weeks have passed since the whole nearly-dying incident and things aren’t exactly normal, more like you haven’t seen anyone in EXO for a couple of weeks (except for Yixing’s occasional visits) and your encounters at university with various people (your Calculus partner Minhyuk, Soojung, Amber, and their group of best friends, etc.) have been incredibly awkward and generally aggressive.

You’re all having a movie night and Mina’s curled up on the couch under a blanket, head on Minhee’s lap. Minhee’s recovering quickly, thankfully, though her stomach is completely stitched up and she still has bandages wrapped around her fingers. She doesn’t tell you anything, opting to remain her usual cheery self, but you know that she’s upset over the loss of her fingers. She’s a computer hacker, at one point you overheard her whimpering to Yixing that missing a few fingers felt like she had lost the use of her legs. You know she’s cried over this, her eyes had been puffy and red for a long, long time. You don’t know how to comfort her, knowing she doesn’t want pity.

Jessica, who’s sprawled on the floor in front of the TV, chews on a handful of popcorn thoughtfully before falling flat on her back and nodding at the ceiling. “I agree. Everyone knows who we are. It’s not exactly safe to be alone anymore.”

Mina hums in agreement, pursing her lips. “Just yesterday I went to the bathroom alone and half the girls in there looked about ready to jump me.”

“I was thinking about transferring, too.” You nod, sighing. It has been getting progressively harder to go to university without receiving looks and it’s only a matter of time before the professors and the board hears about all this. They can’t do anything (at least you hope not) but you’re pretty sure your position as Class President is this close to being revoked.

That’s when Minhee eyes you incredulously. You frown at her and she throws a handful of popcorn right at your face. “You’re not transferring out of here until you hook back up with Baekhyun.”

Your mouth drops open at her bluntness (you’ve missed it so much) before you promptly close your mouth, blushing and shaking your head, sputtering around the face full of popcorn. “Um, no thanks. We’re taking a break.”

“A break, my .” Minhee practically shrieks, making you jump. She gestures at her stomach, her eyes full of fire. “I got attached to a bomb, robot-style, for the two of you. I will not rest until I see you two through. I will ing tie you to him if I have to.”

You immediately feel guilty at Minhee’s words, even as Mina snorts, still chewing on popcorn. Jessica stares at you contemplatively, eyes too calculating for your taste. “Stop trying to guilt me into going back to him.” You frown at Minhee, crossing your arms as you glare. Minhee only narrows her eyes even more while Jessica stares you down in a way that severely reminds you of both Jongin and Sehun. You jab a finger in her direction, frown deepening. “And you. Stop staring at me like that.”

“I’m just thinking.” She says, blandly, blinking innocently.

“Well, stop thinking.” You respond. Jessica glares at you before rolling back on her side and focusing on the movie, that same damn calculated glint still in her eyes. You think Jessica really needs to stop hanging around Sehun and Jongin so much. Mina cackles loudly and Minhee won’t stop grinning, even as they turn back to the movie. “Baek and I are taking a break.”

No one acknowledges your words and you scowl at your television.

~.~.~.~.~

Sometimes you find yourself thinking about Baekhyun at the most mundane of moments. You think of him when you’re zoning out in class, when you’re cutting vegetables in the kitchen and your eyes wander across the counter, when you see a couple holding hands in the hallway, and especially when you’re sitting in Communications class and his seat beside you is empty. You haven’t seen him in a while and your heart clenches at the thought. You miss him. You miss him terribly. You realized that the moment he turned his back on you that night so long ago. But you can’t pick up the phone, not when it makes you feel incredibly selfish. You weren’t lying when you said you needed to focus on yourself and your best friends, because they were all hurting more than they let on. You know this because you were hurting more than you let on. You weren’t lying when you said that sometimes thinking about Baekhyun leaves you anxious. It always evokes terrible anxiety and a flicker of dark movement in your peripheral vision, the hazy memory of Bang Yongguk constantly lurking at the edge of your consciousness, as if he’s clinging to your anxieties and making himself a permanent home in your mind, even after death.

You ignore the sudden rush of panic and take a deep breath before letting yourself into your own apartment. There are a couple unfamiliar pairs of shoes against the wall and you wonder who else is here. The TV is on, a music show host speaking in a rushed and annoyingly perky tone as they introduce the next act, other voices echoing through your apartment at the same time.

You step into the living room, moving to toss your backpack on the reclining couch in the corner, when you pause and frown. Minhee is lying on the couch, a hand dangling off the side, while Jessica, Sehun, Jongdae, Kyungsoo, Jongin, Chanyeol, and Zitao sit in a circle, their backs facing you as they lean their heads close and speak in incredibly soft whispers. You catch phrases like ‘Baek’ and ‘Joonmyun’s car’ and ‘Xiumin is down’ before Minhee starts coughing in an exaggeratedly loud way, her hand slamming on the side of the couch as she flails excessively. Jongdae looks up in alarm and concern before his head snaps up in your direction and his eyes widen almost comically. He not-so-discretely smacks Chanyeol’s chest multiple times, who lets out a pitched shriek and clutches his chest before freezing when his eyes lock with yours. You watch, eyes slowly narrowing, as they all look up at you one by one and instantly lean away from each other, falling into silence as you furrow your eyebrows in confusion. Kyungsoo and Jessica have matching cute grins plastered across their faces and it’s disconcerting.

“Um.” You glance between each innocent expression, genuinely surprised because you haven’t seen EXO in weeks, and now you have half of the members lounging around in your living room and acting suspicious. “…Am I interrupting something?”

“Of course not!” Chanyeol waves his hand dismissively, grinning despite the fact that his face is bright red and he’s still rubbing his chest.

You stare at them in disbelief, wondering if you should just let it go. Jongdae nudges Kyungsoo with his foot, who glares daggers at the boy, effectively making Jongdae turn to Jessica instead. He gestures to her in a nonsensical way, accidentally elbowing Chanyeol a few times. You watch all of them silently converse with each other, Zitao shaking his head and rolling his eyes at one of Chanyeol’s gestures while Jessica pouts and Sehun looks bored. Jongin just crosses his arms and sighs loudly, eyes darting from person to person as he leans against Kyungsoo.

“Better question would be: do I want to know what you’re up to?” You ask, eyeing them suspiciously.

“We’re not up to anything. What are you talking about?” Zitao asks, blinking at you with both innocent eyes and a devilish smirk.

“You honestly think I’m…” You trail off, shaking your head and sigh, deciding you don’t have enough energy or motivation to get yourself involved in their business. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” You decide, dropping your backpack beside the couch as you trudge to the kitchen, speaking as you pass by the group. “Just don’t get arrested or killed.”

You don’t miss the pointed look Minhee throws the group and the way Jongdae purses his lips, eyebrows curling together in concern.

You’re leaning against the counter and sipping on a carton of banana milk when Jessica slips into the kitchen, her back turned to you as she swings her arms. She hisses something and shoves at someone and you hear a soft bang followed by a high-pitched ‘ow, that hurt’ that sounds vaguely like Sehun.

You raise an eyebrow at Jessica as she spins on her heels and stares at you, her arms folded over her chest. “Are you going to tell me what all that was about?” You ask, nodding beyond the corridor leading out of the kitchen.

“EXO wants me to return their weapons.” Jessica says, nonchalantly, as she leans against the wall and watches you with a particularly blank look.

You blink in confusion, “Their weapons?”

Jessica grins, sheepishly. “The flamethrower and all those other guns I found in a warehouse a long time ago.”

Your mouth drops open into an ‘o’ shape, vaguely recalling how Jessica had mentioned ‘finding’ the flamethrower. “You stole those from them?”

Jessica makes a face, “For the record, I didn’t know it was theirs at the time.”

“No wonder they wanted to kill us.” You mumble, shaking your head. It’s so ridiculous that you could laugh at how LILAC had managed to inadvertently challenge EXO for so long. You thought Yongguk had been exaggerating but it was true.

Jessica just tilts her head to the side and stares at you with careful eyes. “Come with me in a couple of nights to return them?” Jessica asks. She purses her lips, fumbling. “It’s just. I. Uh. I think Luhan might be there so...” She trails off hesitantly as her eyebrows knit together in distress.

You nod, sighing as you place your milk in the refrigerator. “Don’t worry, Jess. I’ll be there.”

Jessica gives you a close lipped smile, a wrinkle of distress between her eyebrows, and nods. “Thanks.”

You wave off her thanks and she leaves the room, disappearing into the dim hallway. You’re left alone in the kitchen and suddenly the quiet, empty kitchen feels too big to you. You feel incredibly small, lonely. You stare after Jessica long after she’s gone, frowning when the hazy image of Bang Yongguk leaning beside you on the counter bombards your periphery vision. You’ve been seeing him everywhere lately, in the halls at school, at the corner of your vision when you’re getting coffee, and you wonder if you’re going crazy. Your stomach churns in anxiety and a voice in your head that sounds horrifically like Yongguk’s murmurs that that’s exactly what’s happening to you. You’re slowly going losing your mind (from irreparable melancholy because of the aftermath of mentally traumatic events) and you hate having to deal with it alone. You wish you had someone to hold hands with.

~.~.~.~.~

A couple days later, you’re sitting at the library and trying to focus on Calculus when someone slips into the seat across from you. You glance up from the problem set you’re trying to solve and blink in surprise. Jung Soojung is sitting across from you, blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail and dark eyes searching.

“Um.” You stare at her, pencil hovering over your notebook. “Can I help you?”

“Aw, why are you being so awkward?” Soojung frowns, tilting her head, her blonde hair swinging. “Last time I recalled, we were really good friends.”

“That was until you agreed to help kill me and my friends.” You speak slowly, watching her in confusion.

Soojung nods, expression barely changing, “Mafia business is just a professional decision. It doesn’t have to be taken personally. Honestly, it shouldn’t get personal at all.” She leans forward against the palm of her hand, as she taps perfectly manicured nails against her chin. You narrow your eyes at her detached words and tone. “Of course, you know that better than any of us, don’t you? Letting mafia business and personal business intermingle?”

Anger stirs in your chest at her words (and obvious implications of a certain boy) and Soojung doesn’t seem affected in the slightest when you slam your textbook shut and promptly gather up your books, chair dragging back as you stand up. “I’m not in the mood for your passive aggressive comments, Soojung.” You snap, a bit too loudly seeing as a few people’s heads turn in your direction. You’ve been good friends with her for a while, you know it takes her a long time to let go of past wrongdoings. She’s a grudge holder and she loves to talk . You have firsthand experience with that because you were a close friend of hers for a long time.

“I’m here to warn you.” Soojung says, watching as you stuff your books into your bag.

“About what?” You ask, “If you’re planning on killing me, too, I suggest you stand in line.”

Soojung actually laughs at that. “No.” She says, shaking her head. Then she sighs, “My group never really had a problem with yours. We respected you, honestly. As a matter of fact, I still consider you a really good friend of mine. You helped me find the courage to find comfort with myself and my feelings and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that. You’re an important friend to me.”

Soojung’s voice softens, her cold expression softening along with her voice. You look down at her and there’s a slight tilt of a smile at the corners of her lips as she stares up at you. “Then what is it?” You watch her carefully, crossing your arms.

“Rumor has it, Junhong is ing pissed.” Soojung sighs. You throw her a confused look at the unfamiliar name. “Zelo.” She tacks on, hastily. “All of them are, Himchan, Youngjae, Jongup.” Soojung visibly shudders at the last name. “There are a lot of mixed rumors that they’re planning something for both LILAC and EXO. But mostly for you.”

“Rumors?” You inquire, slowly taking a seat despite the fact that you were planning on leaving. Soojung’s eyes flicker with amusement as she watches you sit back down.

“The whole syndicate scene is buzzing. I figured you knew, but then Jinri suggested you were taking a break from everything. Which is understandable after what happened, but you really shouldn’t remain disconnected for so long. People are taking sides, Sooyong.” Soojung eyes you sincerely, almost pitifully, “According to a source of mine, other cities have been getting involved. Yongguk had a lot of connections. A lot of people hated him but a lot more people liked him and looked up to him.”

Your eyes drift over Soojung’s shoulder and you swear Yongguk is sitting on top of one of the study tables, grinning as he waves at you, fingers curling and legs swinging. A chill runs down your spine, making you shiver internally. “What does that mean for us?” You turn your attention back to Soojung, who doesn’t seem to notice your momentarily distracted gaze.

Soojung plays with the end of her ponytail, pouting slightly as she contemplates her next words. She looks you in the eye as she speaks, “You need to transfer out as soon as possible and disappear. They’ll come for you sooner or later and…who knows if you’ll get through this again. You were lucky the first time.”

That’s what it always comes down to for you, you think. You’re always so damn lucky.

“Then…what does this mean for you?” You ask, frowning at her. “Word will spread about this…you talking to me. Shouldn’t you be doing the same? Shouldn’t you lay low, too?”

Soojung waves her hand, dismissively, smiling serenely, “Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself. Get as far away from here as you can. Maybe get a new look. You’d look pretty with short hair and circle lenses.”

“Soojung, you can’t just tell me to—”

Soojung slides out of her seat and smooths down her skirt. “I have to go meet up with Vic. Take care of yourself.”

“Soojung—”

She walks off before you can stop her and you glance around the library, catching a few interested pairs of eyes. In the far corner, Bobby, B.I., and a familiar looking boy are bent over a book, pages flipping at a steady pace. You’re positive it’s a ruse, however. You’re positive they were spying on you two a moment ago and you wonder why. Yongguk isn’t there anymore and Bobby and B.I. never seemed to enjoy doing what Yongguk wanted them to do. They seemed supportive of you, in an extremely warped sort of way. So why are they spying on you right now?

Your phone buzzes in your pocket and you’re pulled out of your thoughts.

~.~.~.~.~

“What do you mean they’re gone?” You screech into the phone, your voice rising about two octaves in pitch.

Kris groans into the receiver. “Calm down, you sound like a dolphin.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down.” You shriek, not even bothering to lower your voice as you stomp out of SM University and glance down the relatively empty streets. “How do you know they’re gone? Jessica wouldn’t just leave like that. And I doubt Sehun and Jongin would either.”

“I didn’t say they left on purpose.” Kris states in a belittling voice. “But there are no signs of a struggle. One of our cars is gone. Hotwired, according to Kyungsoo. Their phones are turned off.”

“Did they get kidnapped or not?” You mumble, demandingly, as you trudge towards Baekhyun’s house after deciding that you don’t have the patience to wait for the next bus.

“I don’t…” Kris sighs, his tone softening in concern. “I don’t know. Sometimes Jongin likes to run off for days when things…get too much for him. Sehun is usually the one to bring him back. Either Sehun or Kyungsoo. Sometimes Baek or Yeol. But. He’s never taken anyone else with him before.”

You rub a hand over your face. “Jessica would never just leave without warning.”

There’s a long pause before Kris speaks again, “Are you sure about that?”

“I’m sure.” You snap back.

Kris sighs into the receiver and he sounds anciently exhausted.

“Just get someone to track down the hotwired car. There must be a GPS or something.”

“There is.”

“Then do it.”

Kris mumbles something unintelligible before hanging up. You wonder why he doesn’t see this as an urgent predicament, grumbling as you stuff your cold hands into your coat pockets, shivering.

~.~.~.~.~

You slam into Baekhyun’s house without much preamble, promptly pushing past a startled looking Chanyeol and down the stairs into the basement. It’s only been a couple weeks since B.A.P and you were hoping you could go months without another life-threatening incident.

“Oh, I wonder who’s here.” Kris speaks up sarcastically the moment you walk in to the basement. “Please, stomp a little louder. I’m sure the President of the United States hasn’t heard you yet.”

“Oh, off.” You snap, crossing your arms. You glance around the room, gaze flickering over each face in the room. You haven’t seen them in weeks and you’re surprised at the rush of relief in your chest when you confirm that they all look relatively well. They must have grown on you because you think you’ve missed them, for some unfathomable reason. You avoid Baekhyun’s eyes, noting that he looks more exhausted then you last remembered. “Where are they?”

“Weren’t you paying attention to my phone call?” Kris mutters, exasperated.

“No, I meant, hasn’t anyone tried tracking down the hotwired car like I asked?” You correct, frowning at Kris. Kris just sighs and turns away. Before you can ask him why the hell he’s ignoring you, Kyungsoo speaks up.

“They’re headed towards YG City.” Kyungsoo inserts, glancing from Kris to you and back again.

You stare at Kyungsoo, at the way no one is moving, and your frown deepens exponentially. “Then why aren’t we following them?” You turn to Kris. “Kris?”

Kris just rubs his face and waves a hand, “Someone explain to the newbie.” He pushes past you and towards the stairs. “I need a nap.”

His expression twists at the very last second, before he turns away, and you see worry etched into every line of exhaustion in his face.

Kyungsoo takes pity on you, pursing his lips at Kris’s retreating back. The slam of the basement door shakes the walls. “If they’re headed to YG City, then they’re on their own.”

“Why?” You furrow your eyebrows in confusion.

Xiumin answers you instead, his eyes uncharacteristically hard and distant. “The mafias in YG City are ing brutal and we don’t have the resources to chase Jongin, Sehun, and Jess down all the way out there. For as long as anyone can remember, we’ve always been teetering at the edge of a gang war with them. SNSD, Shinee, even now. War has been hanging over our heads for generations. We’re evenly matched to the point that if we wage war with YG City, God knows what will happen to this country. If we’re seen crossing borders, all hell will break loose, and it will be a thousand times worse than what happened with B.A.P. Nobody wants to deal with that, like, ever.”

“I can’t believe Jongin and Sehun are stupid enough to head all the way out there, though.” Zitao mumbles, shaking his head, his eyebrows furrowed in concern, despite his harsh words.

“What if they’re not going out there on their own accord?” You ask Xiumin, frowning at this new information. You’ve never stopped to think about the fact that there may be more gangs in other cities.

Luhan shrugs from beside Xiumin, his eyes on you. “Either way, they’re on their own. We can’t risk it. Not when a civil war is brewing in our town, thanks to that damn bastard Yongguk.”

“I don’t—”

“Jongin and Sehun are generally capable of taking care of themselves.” Luhan tells you, rolling his eyes. “And Jessica’s more than capable of taking care of herself. She could probably take out half of Big Bang with her kicks alone.” Luhan grimaces at the thought and you frown at him, hating the fact that he even bothered to observe anything about Jessica in the first place.

“I can attest to that.” Jongdae inserts, grimacing. Your mouth twitches in amusement but you hold your smile back. You’re trying to be serious here.

“Just have a little faith in them.”

You just frown, eyebrows furrowing.

~.~.~.~.~

 You want to have faith in Jessica, Jongin, and Sehun, but you don’t believe they’re heading out to YG City on their own accord, especially if Jongin and Sehun know how dangerous it is. Jessica would never leave without telling you first. You know her and she wouldn’t.

(A small voice at the back of your mind reminds you that you don’t know her as well as you used to, not after everything.)

Mina purses her lips and shakes her head. “I think you should listen to them and trust Jongin, Sehun, and Jess. Especially Jess. She knows what she’s doing; she’s the most level-headed out of all of us.” It’s strange seeing Mina easily agree with someone, she used to enjoy going about things in the most complicated ways. Usually that entails never agreeing with the majority.

“I don’t think she made the decision to go out there on her own.” You explain, exasperatedly, for the tenth time.

Minhee sighs, swiping her blonde hair out of her eyes. “I don’t think so…” Minhee mumbles.

You stare at her. “What?”

Minhee just sighs, exhaling loudly. “What if she wanted to leave town?”

“Why would she leave without telling us?”

Minhee shrugs, “Maybe it would have been harder to leave…if she said something.”

“She wouldn’t do that. That’s not like her.” You feel like a broken record machine, your tone adamant.

Minhee just stares at you, eyes shining with some kind of emotion you can’t quite place.

Mina speaks up then, voice soft, consoling almost. “Jess has always been a little unpredictable. Recently, it’s gotten worse.”

You can’t seem to fathom the idea of Jessica leaving on her own. You shake your head, feeling strangely frantic as your eyes linger on Mina’s frail form and Minhee’s tired one. “You don’t want to go after her?”

“It’s not that.” Mina snaps at you, in a weak tone, as she shakes her head, “It’s just that we don’t have the strength to do something like that. We’re too tired, mentally and physically.” Mina pauses and her gaze hovers over you. “And so are you, no matter how much you try to hide it.”

“Besides,” Minhee inserts, “She’s with Jongin and Sehun. They’d never let anything happen to her.”

“You want me to trust them? You want me to just wait around and see what happens?”

“That’s the only thing we can do.”

~.~.~.~.~

There’s a growing restlessness in your body that’s hard to contain. You manage to go a full day, Kyungsoo occasionally texting you updates about how Jongin, Sehun, and Jess haven’t turned back, before you finally crack.

Now here you are, in EXO’s warehouse, footsteps wary as you peek around the corner. Honestly, you never meant to go through EXO’s warehouse but Jessica had dropped off all LILAC’s weapons there before she had disappeared. You don’t want to admit to the bitter taste in your mouth at the fact that you were supposed to drop those weapons off with her. Half of you is desperately worried about Jessica and the other half of you is just trying to find a distraction from the fact that you swear you can see Yongguk laughing at you whenever you close your eyes. You’re running on barely any sleep and seven cups of coffee and suddenly, chasing after Jessica had seemed like the best idea ever.

So now, here you are.

You easily find the crates filled with weapons, surprised there aren’t any guards other than the two men you evaded outside. You put your flashlight between your teeth as you rummage through the crates, searching for your favorite handgun and extra bullets. It’s a quick job and you even manage to grab a few smoke bombs and flash grenades as well (just in case, you think).

You literally tiptoe out of the warehouse, flashlight still between your teeth as you zip up your backpack. Throwing the heavy pack over your shoulder, you grip your flashlight in one hand, flicking it off as you rummage for LILAC’s van keys. You glance over your shoulder one last time before you quickly run to your van, hurriedly jerking open the driver’s side door. You turn on the engine, distracted as you adjust the mirror and grab for your seatbelt. You turn to throw the bag full of weapons on the passenger side seat when—

“Hey.”

You jump nearly a foot in the air, a loud breathless scream leaving your mouth. You blindly throw the metal flashlight in your hand in the direction of the voice and you barely register the familiar voice shrieking in a tone that matches yours before spewing out a handful of breathy curses.

It takes a minute for you to calm down and when you do, you can’t help but stare.

It’s Baekhyun.

He’s sitting in the passenger side, dressed in a black hoodie. You just stare as he clutches his nose and mumbles in pain, your flashlight lying at his feet.

After another minute of silence on your part and pained whimpers on his, he finally starts to quiet down. He glances up at you, eyes slowly trailing up from his hands to your face, his hands still clutching his nose.

“You threw a flashlight at me.” Baekhyun states in an accusingly solemn tone, his voice muffled.

“You scared me.” You tell him, copying his tone. He just eyes you for a moment, an eyebrow slowly rising while his hands cover half of his face.

It’s silent for so long that you figure he isn’t planning on answering you. You haven’t seen him in weeks and, despite the slight sense of distrust at the back of your thoughts, your heart flutters at his strangely endearing expression.

“It hurts.” He says, suddenly, his eyes widening considerably as he pouts. “I think you broke my nose.”

You snort, rolling your eyes, and he makes a sound of annoyance that sounds vaguely like a whine. His eyes are so pathetically puppy-like that you end up leaning over the arm rest between the two seats and tugging at his hands. Baekhyun doesn’t resist and you forget that you shouldn’t do this, not now. You gently prod at his (admittedly) reddening nose, pursing your lips as you examine it.

“It’s not broken.” You say, softly, eyeing the soft curves of his face. Your eyes flicker up to meet his and he’s just staring at you, eyes strangely focused. That’s when you realize how close you are to him and you immediately jump back, blushing deeply. “I…uh….Sorry.” You squeak out, blinking rapidly, your heart racing.

You can see him break into a strange sort of smile from your peripheral vision, his tired eyes glinting slightly. You brace yourself for some kind of comment from him, either regarding your shifty eyes or your red cheeks. He leans forward, over the divider and you’re acutely aware of the way he’s slowly closing the distance between the two you. The words that come out of his mouth have nothing to do with your red cheeks and you’re thankful for that. “So why are you sneaking around the EXO warehouse in the middle of the night?” Baekhyun murmurs, in a low voice. A tingle runs up your spine, but you choose to ignore it.

You just shrug. “I wasn’t sneaking around EXO’s warehouse. I didn’t even go in there.”

Baekhyun raises a brow at you and you cross your arms, eyes focused on the light pole across the street, the car’s engine rumbling softly in the background.

He reaches for your backpack, pretty fingers curling around the strap opposite the one you’re holding. “Really?” He asks, “So if I just took a quick peek in here, there’d be no problem?”

You immediately tug it from his grip and he pulls it back towards him. You glare at him, the two of you futilely pulling at the bag at the same time, back and forth. “How did you even get in here?” You mutter, turning your body so you can pull the bag out of his grip. He jerks forward, surprised at your sudden strength. Then his eyes twinkle mischievously and your frown deepens.

“You forgot to lock the car.” Baekhyun tells you. He glances from the bag up to your face, eyes narrowing. “Are you going somewhere?”

“,” You mumble, wrinkling your nose when he playfully pulls on his side of the bag and makes your grip weaken the slightest bit. Then you glare at him, annoyed that he’s barely fazed by your tugging. “That’s none of your business, Byun Baekhyun.”

Realization seems to dawn on him, even as you jerk on the bag, easily pulling it out of his slackening grip. Before you can completely pull away, realization morphs into determination and Baekhyun is already lunging for the bag. He literally jumps in your direction and your eyes widen in horror. There’s a bang as his elbow knocks against the gear shift and your knee slams into the wheel of the car as you practically scramble in haste to throw the bag behind you. Unfortunately, he manages to get a firm grip on your backpack and tug it into his chest. You refuse to let go, however.

So you tumble forward with his tug, stomach hitting the divider (you let out a breathless, painful oof), your legs flailing as one of your legs land on the steering wheel, effectively smacking against the horn and making you twitch forward at the sudden screeching sound, grip tightening around the bag.

It takes you a minute to collect yourself and when you look up, craning your neck, you find your upper half cradled in Baekhyun’s lap, his body strangely twisted and his face centimeters from your own. His nose is still a bright pinkish red from where you had thrown your flashlight at him. The bags under his eyes are more visible and his dark hair is a mess, his hoodie slipping from his shoulder and revealing his collarbones. Oh God, you think, a blush creeping up your neck. Baekhyun’s cheeks flush pink, as well, but he eyes you seriously, expression taut.

“You’re going after them, aren’t you?” Baekhyun murmurs, breath fanning over your face. You wonder if he’s purposely lowering his voice like that, if he purposely means to sound so ing throaty and raspy.

You take a deep breath and try to focus on his words. It takes you a minute to understand what he’s saying, but when you do, you eye him innocently, pretending to not understand. “I don’t know wha—”

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Baekhyun interrupts, frowning, his eyes darkening in a way that makes your stomach flutter. “It’s not going to work. We both know that.”

You glare at him, scowling at his proximity and his words and his stupidly soft-looking lips. “Does it matter if I’m going after them? Do you really care?”

Baekhyun blinks, his grip around your forearm tightening slightly. There’s a flicker of anger in his eyes, and the distrust in yours seems to grow at the sight. Why can’t you trust him the way you did before? Why can’t you just get over it?

(Because he lied to you, Yongguk’s voice echoes in your head.)

Your scowl deepens.

“It matters because you’re being reckless.” Baekhyun snaps in a low voice, eyes narrowed into slits. “Do you even know what you’re planning on walking into?”

You don’t have it in you to admit that he’s right. You’re jittery off too much coffee and barely any sleep and the weird sort of adrenaline Baekhyun’s presence seems to be drenching you in.

“Just get out of my car.” You breathe out, voice shaking slightly. Baekhyun’s eyes flicker across your face, trapping you in this strange limbo of wondering if he’ll kiss you or push you away and slam the door behind him. It’s quiet for a long time, the two of you just stuck in uncertainty.

But he doesn’t kiss you nor does he follow your orders.

(Disappointment washes through you.)

Baekhyun lets go of you and you pull back with the backpack, straightening up in your seat. Baekhyun crosses his arms, jaw tensing, and slumps back in the passenger’s seat. He rubs a pretty hand over his eyes, sighing. “You seem pretty set on this.” He states, softly, his voice barely audible. You shouldn’t have heard him, but you always hear everything he has to say and he knows this.

You nod, tearing your eyes away from his side profile and back to the steering wheel in front of you. “I have a bad feeling about whatever they’re doing. I can’t shake it away.”

Slowly, Baekhyun nods. You catch him glancing at you from your peripheral vision, his eyes studying your face. “Then I’m going with you.” Baekhyun decides, in a loud tone.

“What?” Your head snaps in his direction.

“I’m going with you.” He repeats in a surer tone. He smiles at you, annoyingly mischievous and lopsided. “Your rookie luck is going to run out sooner or later.”

“I don’t…” Your voice loses its strength and you cough, clearing your throat, before continuing. “I’d really rather you not tag along.”

Baekhyun actually rolls his eyes. “Why not?”

“You’re distracting.” You blurt out, blushing as you duck your head to turn on the headlights.

Baekhyun’s lips curl up into an amused smirk and he leans forward a bit, head tilted to the side. He rests his elbows on the divider between your seats. “Distracting, huh? Tell me more.” He stage-whispers, a smirk dripping from his lips.

“Shut up.” You swat at his head and he snickers, much to your annoyance. “I still don’t entirely trust you.” You say the last part seriously, glancing at him from the corner of your eye.

The amused look turns a bit sad as he focuses ahead. “I know. Neither do I.”

You don’t put up much of a fight after that, even as you put on your seatbelt and change gears, cruising towards the highway out of SM Town and towards YG City, Baekhyun leaning against his window beside you. Neither of you exchange a word for a while.

~.~.~.~.~

“It’s a straight shot down the highway.” Baekhyun tells you at some point when you ask if it’s going to take any longer.

You nod, eyeing the speedometer as you head down the relatively empty highway. “Do we have to sneak into the city or something?” You ask him, eyes focused on the road.

“No.” Baekhyun snorts. “Why?”

You shrug, “YG City sounds very…The way Xiumin was talking about it made it seem like we’d have to climb over a wall or something.”

Baekhyun definitely chuckles at your words and you frown at the fact that he always seems to be laughing at you. “The mafia is still generally underground there. We just have to be careful, but I don’t believe civilians would recognize us.” He pauses before continuing in a more playful tone, “Of course, if you want to scale the walls like Spider Man, I’m not stopping you.”

You’re about to respond, glaring, when you notice a long line of cars stopped ahead. There are blue and red lights flashing just beyond the little Welcome to YG CITY sign a couple hundred meters down the road. “It’s a checkpoint.” You mumble, panicking ever-so-slightly at the sight. You’ve come to completely distrust the police and you doubt the police in YG City are any less corrupt than SM Town’s was.

You don’t expect Baekhyun to hiss softly beside you, “.”

You whirl your head sideways and blink at him, “Why do you look so distressed?” You ask slowly, your grip tightening on the steering wheel as the cars in front of you start rolling forward, one by one.

Baekhyun’s eyes are wide, his gaze focused on the checkpoint. He meets your eyes and you swear you imagine his eyes softening at your own distressed expression. But then he shakes his head as he pulls his hood over his shoulders. “It’s fine.” Baekhyun says, “It’s fine. Just act natural.”

“Why?” You glance between him and the road as you inch closer and closer to the checkpoint. Then you narrow your eyes at him, realization dawning over you. He’s biting his bottom lip, nervously. “What did you do?”

He just leans closer and takes your jacket that you’ve left draped over the back of your chair. You can’t even stop him from taking your coat since you’re driving. He spreads your jacket over his body, right up to his chin, and fixes his hood so that it’s covering half of his face. Then, he lies back on the seat and, if you didn’t know better, you’d think he was asleep. He speaks, then, tone a little sheepish and alarmed, but also inappropriately amused (much to your annoyance). “Chanyeol, Jongdae, and I might have gotten involved with some…things the last time we were here.”

“What kind of…” You frown at him. “Things?”

“Some drunken things.” Baekhyun responds, shrugging a little as he fixes your jacket over his chin. “Forgot our masks. Went clubbing. Broke out of jail. Nothing too interesting.” With each sentence his voice gets quieter and your mouth drops open.

“When was this?” You ask, watching as the officers speak to the car in front of you. Baekhyun doesn’t answer and when you eye him seriously, his eyes are hidden by the hood of his sweatshirt.

“You’re an idiot.” You mutter after a moment, just as you roll up to the police checkpoint, an officer with a flashlight tapping at your window.

Baekhyun snorts and murmurs a soft, “You love it.”

~.~.~.~.~

“I don’t love it.” You snap as soon as you roll up your window and drive away from the checkpoint. Your fingers are firmly clamped against the steering wheel and you hope Baekhyun doesn’t notice the way you wipe away at the nervous sweat from your palms. Usually, it’s easy for you to lie, especially to intimidating figures, but ever since Yongguk the police make you nervous and anxious as hell. You glare at Baekhyun, who sits up as soon as you’re in the clear.

Baekhyun eyes you funnily, “What are we talking about? Did I miss something?”

“You said something before the officer spoke to me. I’m responding.” You snap at him as you cruise into YG City, the skyline dark and the streetlamps bright.

“I thought that conversation was over.” Baekhyun looks like he wants to laugh at you. It’s hard for you to be annoyed when he’s bundled up in your coat with an expression of bemusement, but you remind yourself that he’s laughing at you, not with you.

“Well, I’m not done with you. Why were you stupid enough to have your face seen in a different city? An enemy city especially?” You shoot questions at him, eyes on the road. You wonder if you should just let it go but it seems so uncharacteristic of him, especially when he had been so careful in SM Town.

Baekhyun doesn’t answer, however.

“You’re not planning on telling me why, are you?” You ask, scowling as your eyes flicker over to him.

He shakes his head, pursing his lips as he glances out the window.

“They had sketches of your face, you know.” You tell him, glancing back at him. “They showed it to me and asked if I’ve seen you before.”

Baekhyun turns to you, eyes flickering down to your hand that’s resting on your thigh. You’re unconsciously rubbing at your own thigh, nervously, and when you realize what he’s looking at, his eyes following your hand’s movements, you stop your unconscious actions. “Since when did it get difficult for you to lie?”

“I’m not…” You trail off for a moment, your heart clenching at his double-edged words, aware of Baekhyun watching you with a burning sort of gaze as you roll up to a stoplight. You clear your throat. “I’m not used to the police yet. Not since…everything.”

Baekhyun gives you a long, burning look that you refuse to meet.

~.~.~.~.~

“Where are we going?” Baekhyun asks, peering out into the dark streets. There are barely any cars out and it’s strange to you, since everything looks so empty and deserted. It’s barely midnight so why are the streets so empty? There are only small groups of people hurriedly walking down the sidewalk, head down as they walk by.

You shrug, “I’m not sure?” Your statement comes out more as a question and Baekhyun throws you a disbelieving glance.

“You were planning on coming out here alone without any kind of game plan?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” You mumble, frowning at the fact that you definitely seem foolish and rash to him now and you don’t like the way he eyes you.

After a moment of silence, Baekhyun’s eyes soften significantly.

“So I guess we’re winging it, huh?” Baekhyun sighs, before he stretches in his seat. “Do you want something to eat first?”

There’s a tentative tenor in his tone, one that is incredibly easy to miss if you haven’t been painfully aware of him for the past couple of hours. He’s being strangely hesitant and you clutch at the steering wheel as if you’re holding on for dear life.

Slowly, you nod.

He grins.

That’s how you end up in a convenience store with Byun Baekhyun, déjà vu washing over you as you stand at the end of the aisle, Baekhyun at your side.

~.~.~.~.~

Baekhyun drops another packet of ramyun into the growing pile of packaged food in your outstretched arms, watching with a sneaky little grin as you wobble in your spot, your vision blocked by plastic packaging. At least he was nice enough to sling your backpack over his shoulder.

“Why are you getting so many?” You groan, adjusting the weight in your arms. A few packets slip out of your arms and hit the ground with a dull thud, resulting in the cashiers giving both of you dirty looks from behind the counter.

“You did insist on paying, didn’t you?” Baekhyun states rather than questions, matter-of-factly. He carefully places the fallen packets back at the top of the pile, grin widening as your scowl deepens.

“I should have known.” You retort, following down the aisle after him while you try to precariously balance all the food. “I totally had this coming, didn’t I?”

Baekhyun just smiles brightly, grin blinding in its intensity. It’s the biggest grin you’ve seen grace his face in a while. “Absolutely.”

~.~.~.~.~

A wave of déjà vu washes over you when the store door opens and a flurry of loud laughter floods the store. You glance up from where Baekhyun is pondering over which packet of gummy worms he wants, rolling your eyes at the sight despite the fact that your lips unconsciously tug up into a fond smile. You lock eyes across the store with a taller boy who looks a bit older than you.

His gaze passes over you before snapping back to meet yours and there’s something off about him. You smile, hesitantly, trying your best to appear natural.

A curious smirk drips from his lips, hair falling over his eyes.

“Hey.” You turn back at Baekhyun’s voice, his expression strange. Your eyes flicker back to the boy, who’s still staring. Baekhyun frowns, eyebrows furrowing, before he points at the registers. “Let’s go pay.”

Without waiting for a response, Baekhyun places a hand at the middle of your back, fingers feather light, and steers you towards the line-less registers, hovering over you almost protectively.

When you dump all the food on the counter, the cashier eyes you irritably, sighing as he scans each item. He’s attractive, with wide pretty eyes and a cute face, and you try to ignore the fact that he continuously shoots you glares before throwing Baekhyun flirty little grins barely a second later. You half-expect Baekhyun to brush the cashier off, but that doesn’t happen. Baekhyun just takes his hand off your back and leans over the counter, grin lopsided and eyes twinkling attentively as he jokes with the cashier. You try to ignore the clawing feeling in your chest when Baekhyun laughs at something the cashier says (his nametag reads Kim and irrational annoyance bubbles up in your chest at the fact that his name tag is missing his first name).

You swipe your card, internally rolling your eyes as Baekhyun grins at the cashier, and Cashier Kim No-First-Name hands you the receipt and bags without looking at you, leaning on his elbow as he laughs at something Baekhyun says. You ignore the urge to tug at Baekhyun’s sleeve like a child and drop the bags to the ground, idly wondering if Cashier Kim would notice if you tried to steal anything. He looked about ready to jump Baekhyun and Baekhyun didn’t exactly seem against the idea, much to your chagrin. But then why do you care? You don’t care.

(Because you told him you wanted to take a break; you have no right to keep him from seeing other people. You have no right to go back on your word so selfishly.)

That’s when someone taps at your shoulder, shaking you out of your thoughts.

It’s the boy from earlier and he’s grinning down at you, his leather jacket hanging open over a thin white t-shirt. “You have a box of ramyun in there, by any chance?” He asks, his voice deep and rumbling. It reminds you of Yongguk’s and you try to ignore the shiver of anxiety that runs up your spine.

“Yeah,” You tell him, glancing down at the bags. “Why?”

“Well,” He taps his chin thoughtfully, grinning with his teeth as he rubs the back of his neck. “You did buy like half the store. And all the ramyun I like.” He shoves a thumb in the direction behind him and you smile sheepishly at the empty shelf. Damn Baekhyun. “I was hoping to buy one off you.” His eyes focus on a spot over your shoulder and he just smiles, eyes falling into crescents. “If your boyfriend doesn’t mind.”

“I mind.” Baekhyun’s voice interrupts your response and your head snaps back. There’s something strange about Baekhyun’s tone and the way the man just smiles at the two of you, eyes moving back and forth.

“But I don’t mind and I bought them so.” You grit out, scowling at Baekhyun for being rude for no apparent reason. Before he can say anything, you dig through the bags and hand the boy three boxes of ramyun. Baekhyun actually has the nerve to scowl at you. “It’s fine. You don’t have to pay me back.”

The boy glances between the two of you, before grinning again. He takes the boxes from you, his fingers lingering on yours. “Thanks…um…”

“Sooyong.” You supply, smiling as you clasp your hands behind your back.

“Ah, Sooyong. What a pretty name.” The boy responds, his voice smoothly curling around your name. You smile at his words, blinking. “I’m Mino. It’s nice to meet you.” His eyes linger on yours for an extra moment before he momentarily glances at Baekhyun. “And you are…?”

“Hungry.” Baekhyun states before fully turning his attention to you. His hand tightens around your upper arm as he gathers up all the food bags around the two of you. “Let’s go eat.” He all but snaps at you, his jaw clenching, before he practically tugs you away. You manage to give Mino a quick wave and a short goodbye and Baekhyun scoffs loudly at you when you do so, his fingers tightening around your arm.

The moment you’re out of the convenience store, you tear your arm out of his, rubbing at your upper arm angrily. “What the is your problem?” You hiss, frowning.

“He was…” Baekhyun trails off, jaw clenching. He looks away as he ruffles his hair.

“He was what?” You ask, crossing your arms as you throw your arms out in exasperation. “He was just talking to me. It’s not like he’s an evil out to kill me.”

“You never know.” Baekhyun responds, narrowing his eyes at you. “And there was no reason for you to…” He trails off, gesturing at you as if he’s trying to point something out.

“What does this,” You copy his gestures, exaggeratedly, mocking him purposely. He narrows his eyes at you, “Even mean? What are you talking about? I was just being nice.”

“You were batting your ing eyelashes at him.” Baekhyun deadpans in an accusing tone. You bristle at his statement, anger filling your chest. Who does he think he is?

“What about you?” You bite back, “You were flirting with ing Cashier Kim No-First-Name like you were ready to bend him over right there and then. How do you know he’s not secretly a murderer, too?” You say the last part mockingly, fuming. Your words leave your mouth before you can fully process them, though. When you fully realize that you might sound a little tiny bit jealous, you turn red right up to your ears and thank the gods it’s too dark out for him to see your face clearly. Baekhyun’s mouth drops open, before he clamps his teeth, anger radiating off of him. He takes a step towards you.

“So what if I was flirting?” He snaps in a seething voice. “Is that a ing problem?”

“It’s not a problem! I never said it was a problem.” You poke him in the chest but his eyes only narrow as he steps even closer, backing you up closer to the wall.

“Well, you seemed pretty fixed on the idea of me ing him over the counter a minute ago. Or did I hear you wrong?” Baekhyun shoots back, immediately. Your face heats up in embarrassment at his choice of words, but you still manage to stand your ground, angrily glaring at him.

“I didn’t say that. I don’t care about that. I’m angry because you’re pissed at me for talking to someone.” You insist, trying to push past him, your face burning, but he blocks your path.

It’s quiet as the two of you glare each other down, having a tense stand-off of your own.

“Holy .” He whispers, suddenly breaking the silence. You immediately look up at him, feeling like a deer caught in headlights because his tone is so full of realization and it’s irritating. He looks like he’s made some sort of epiphany as he stares down at you, expression slowly morphing into something you don’t like. It’s full of dark mirth and something else. “You’re jealous.”

“What? No.” You snap back immediately, crossing your arms. “I am not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No.”

“Oh my God, you are.”

“You’re the one who dragged me away from a boy because he was talking to me.” You screech, words spilling from your lips as you grow red in the face at the utter amusement in his. You want to punch that look off his face.

That makes Baekhyun blink and frown, expression changing suddenly as if you had just slapped him, “That wasn’t jealousy. He gave off dangerous vibes. I don’t trust him.” He speaks quickly, backtracking immediately.

“Oh yeah,” You roll your eyes, “A guy asking for ramyun is so dangerous, right? You were the jealous one.”

“No, I wasn’t!”

“Yes. You. Were.” You pronounce each word sharply.

“You’re the one who thought I wanted to the cashier.”

“You’re the one who minded because some boy asked for a packet of ramyun.”

“You were jealous first.” Baekhyun exclaims in an exasperated tone, voice ringing in the night, as he drags his hand through his hair, jaw clenching and expression irritable. You snort at him and his eyes flicker down your face, lingering on your lips.

“I wasn’t jealous.” You glare up at him, enunciating each word clearly, eyes flickering down to his soft, pink lips. “I wasn’t the one who had a fit and dragged you out of there by the elbow.”

He exhales, groaning, and that’s when you realize how close he is to you, his breath tickling your face.

You step back and he follows after you, his eyes flickering over your face. He’s barely a couple centimeters away, his lips annoyingly pink and inviting. You can feel his body heat radiating off of him and it makes you lightheaded. He smells good, like mint and fresh linen and Baekhyun, and memories flood your thoughts.

He breathes softly, exhaling shakily, and you can feel his sigh in your bones and straight down your spine.

The world slows down and grows quiet, the dark silence of the streets transforming the atmosphere into something more stuck, more stagnant. Nothing is on your mind except for how closely Baekhyun hovers over you and how close the solid, brick wall behind you is, how your back grazes against the rough brick as you take on final step back.

“You started it.” He mumbles, his tone barely audible, and your eyes flutter, the raspy quality of his tone making your knees quiver. “You’re always ing starting it.”

You roll your eyes at him, “I don’t care. I’m not some object you can drag around whenever you want.”

“Right.” Baekhyun mumbles, a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. His lips jut out into a subtle pout and you unconsciously tug at your bottom lip. His pupils darken and dilate, his eyes no longer flickering across your face. They’re just fixed on your lips, even as his tongue darts out and wets his own dry lips. Butterflies swarm your stomach and the world falls away all over again. His fingers are the faintest of whispers against you skin, his eyebrows are furrowed with an emotion you can only describe as annoyed. Your words seem to hit a nerve and he looks like he’s reeling over his thoughts a million and one times, eyes never leaving your face. It’s like he’s searching your face for something you can’t give him. It’s terrifying, really, how focused you are on Baekhyun and when he starts leaning forward, you find yourself gradually leaning up, heart stuttering against your ribcage.

Your eyes flicker past his for just a moment, overwhelmed by his dark eyes and his soft face, as you try to reel your emotions back in. Your vision seems to focus, then, on something just over his shoulder and your brain seems to snap back to reality.

“No ing way.” You gasp, so suddenly as you lean around Baekhyun that he jumps in place, eyes widening.

“What the hell.” Baekhyun groans, his fingers gripping your waist and his other hand rubbing at his eyes. When did his fingers find your waist? When did he manage to press his body against yours, his lips hovering barely an inch from yours? “This had better be good.” Baekhyun mumbles, lips pressing together into a thin line.

You shove at his chest and wave your hands behind him. “The car.” You shriek, fingers tangling in his t-shirt as you tug. He’s slow with the uptake, his dark eyes flickering down to the way your hands are curled around his t-shirt, before they move on to focus on the way his own hands are gripping your waist until his eyes find your face again. Your eyes follow his and you loosen your grip, face suddenly heating up.

“What about—” Baekhyun looks over his shoulder as he speaks, moving almost reluctantly and you watch as his mouth drops open. He unlatches himself from you and slides a hand over his face. “Are you serious?” Baekhyun mumbles, voice still raspy.

The parking space in front of the convenience store is completely empty, LILAC’s van gone without a trace. Someone had stolen your car and when Baekhyun turns back to look at you, sudden awareness of what had nearly conspired between the two of you dawns over his face, his mouth falling open into a concerned ‘o’.

There’s an awkward beat of silence.

A blush crawls up your neck, warming your cheeks and you awkwardly pat down your hair. (When had your hair become so messy?). Baekhyun looks sheepish as he glances away from you, not meeting your eyes as he allows you a moment to compose yourself.

There’s another awkward beat of silence and you wish the brick wall behind you would just swallow you up.

~.~.~.~.~

At some point, Baekhyun sighs and looks down both sides of the street before he sits down at one of the tables set up outside of the convenient store, dumping the grocery bags on the little plastic green table. You stare at him for a minute, still leaning against the wall, before you take a deep breath and join him at the table. He looks up from his phone and watches you sit down.

It’s quiet for a long moment between the two of you, an awkward beat passing between you two.

You break it first, never one for awkward silences. “There’s a microwave in the store.” You say as you take out two packets of ramyun. You place one in front of him and Baekhyun glances between you and the packet as if something is going to explode soon. You doubt it’s the ramyun and you sigh. You’re not some kind of ticking bomb, you’re not that unstable. “We should eat first.”

Baekhyun doesn’t respond, he just takes both packets of ramyun and disappears into the store, leaving you outside with a bunch of plastic bags surrounding you.

Then you hear a soft noise from across the street and you immediately sit up, peering down the dark, empty street. There’s nothing there but you swear you can feel eyes on you. Before you can dwell on it any further, Baekhyun is back with two steaming bowls of ramyun and two packets of chopsticks.

“I thought you didn’t have any money.”

“I don’t.” Baekhyun smirks, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes, even as he holds your credit card out in front of you as he sits down. You gape at him.

“When did you take this?” You narrow your eyes at him as you snatch your card out of his hand, a toothy, sideways grin dripping from his lips.

Baekhyun just shrugs with a single shoulder as he noisily slurps at his noodles, chopsticks in the air as he purses his lips cutely.

~.~.~.~.~

“What do we do?”

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at you and you sigh, letting your chin fall on to the heel of your hand as you lean forward. “Okay, I’ll admit it.” You tell him, wrinkling your nose as you play with the plastic chopsticks in your half-finished ramyun bowl. You’re avoiding his eyes and you’re pretty sure he’s noticed. “I have no ing clue where we are. I don’t know what to do.”

Baekhyun just hums, nodding, and you stare at him in annoyance, the tips of your fingers covering your lips as you rest your chin on both your hands this time. “What if I told you I think I know where they might be?”

You glare at Baekhyun, “I’d ask you why you haven’t mentioned it in the past couple hours like a normal person?”

Baekhyun shrugs again, “I figured you had a plan.” He says that with a pointed look and you scoff.

“Well, I don’t.” You mumble. “How many times do you want me to admit it?”

Baekhyun grins before he leans back on the chair, eyeing you carefully. “Whenever Jongin used to disappear, he’d always have a place to stay. Sehun asked me to help pick Jongin up once and on that trip Sehun told me Jongin always stays at a penthouse. He always has to stay somewhere comfortable, because despite everything, Jongin never wants to go through what he did when he was a kid.”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

Baekhyun scowls at you, ignoring your question as he continues, acting as if you didn’t just interrupt him. “Jongin has a friend in Jellyfish City who owes him. The name’s N or Hakyeon or something and Jongin saved his on multiple occasions. The guy ing loves to rent out his penthouses. He owns complexes all over South Korea and rents them out to specific types of people, but don’t ask me why. He refuses to answer that question.”

“You think they’re staying at a penthouse somewhere out here?” You ask, frowning. The city was filled with penthouses; they could be anywhere.

“Even when Jongin disappears, he loves to live in luxury. He refuses to live the way he had grown up, even if he comes off as pretentious and greedy.” Baekhyun sounds thoughtful, his eyes drifting behind you and down the street. “Besides, he’s with Sehun and Jessica. He won’t want to subject them to anything less than extreme comfort, especially Jessica.”

You watch as Baekhyun scoots out of his chair and quickly gathers up the bags. You peer up at him. “You know where they are?”

“I think so.” Baekhyun says as he picks up the bags. “If it doesn’t work out, at least we’ll have a place to sleep.”

“Is it far?”

Baekhyun shakes his head, “It’s a couple blocks from here. Kris owns it under a different name.”

~.~.~.~.~

“I thought you said it wasn’t far?” You say, glancing into empty alleyways as you pass.

“It isn’t.” Baekhyun replies, wrinkling his nose.

“Don’t tell me we’re lost.” You peer up at him as you say this, narrowing your eyes at him. Then you sigh. “At this rate, we’re going to end up sleeping in a sewer or something.”

He glares at you before he s half the bags he’s holding into your hands, shoving them into your open arms without warning. “If you have time to talk then hold these.”

You heave the bags into your hands, blinking in surprise at him. Before you have a chance to respond, you hear the faintest footfall echo from behind you and you immediately whip your head around, walking backwards as you scan the empty side street. It’s empty, the streetlamps flooding dim yellow light up and down the sidewalk at certain intervals. The two of you pass a dark alleyway, then, a breeze blowing through it, and you pause in your steps, a dreadfully familiar shadow flickering in your peripheral vision. Your fingers tighten around the plastic bags in your hand, your breath catching in your throat.

But when you come to a full stop and stare, there’s nothing there except for a pile of broken boxes and a stray cat curled up in the corner, meowing softly, it’s yellow eyes blinking languidly in your direction.

There’s nothing there, but why does it feel like someone’s watching you?

You gaze down the long alleyway, the very end of it engulfed in dark murky night. Your thoughts flicker back to that familiar shadow that’s been haunting you for ages now, the one you swear is just there, at the very end of the alleyway where your vision ends and pitch black night begins.

There’s a light pressure against the middle of your back and you jump, the bags in your hands plummeting out of your hands, everything tumbling to the sidewalk noisily. Your breathing hitches in your throat and your fingers scramble for something to hold on to, resulting in more things dropping out of your hands, clanking to the floor. You imagine the sound echoing throughout the city that seems so much like a ghost town to you, a shiver running up your spine.

“Hey…” Baekhyun’s soft voice interrupts your frantic thoughts. His tone is feathery soft and gentle, a huge contrast to the deep, mocking voice your brain had been expecting. Yongguk is dead, you remind yourself, he’s not here. He’s not alive anymore. He’s not watching you. But your brain can’t seem to process these facts and it’s terrifying. Your bottom lip trembles then and you clamp your teeth down over it, trying your best to stamp out your fear.

“Shhh.” Baekhyun’s voice returns, the light pressure at your back moving in slow, soothing circles across your back. You focus on the movement, allowing yourself to breathe to the rhythm of each measured loop. Only then do you realize that your breathing is unhealthily ragged, your eyes unfocused. You swear you can see Yongguk standing all the way at the end of the alleyway, a glint of a grin gracing his pale features, and you suddenly remember how he used to get so close to you and whisper terrible things in your ears, soothing touch always a contradiction. It feels so real that it absolutely terrifies you.

You jerk away from Baekhyun’s horrifyingly familiar touch, blinking rapidly as you shake your head stiffly, top teeth pushing into your bottom lip until you can taste blood. The slight tinge of pain doesn’t help clear your mind.

“Sooyong.” Baekhyun steps forward and you immediately step back, your bottom lip trembling so hard that you feel like you’re shaking in place. “What’s wrong?” He sounds heavily concerned and your brain tries to distinguish if he’s genuinely worried or if he’s pretending in order to gain your trust (like I did, a voice at the back of your mind that sounds awfully like Yongguk’s murmurs maliciously, Like Baekhyun was ordered to do to you).

You shake your head then, words tumbling from your lips in halting intervals. “It’s nothing…I just…I’m fine.” Your voice shakes the tiniest bit, a lot stronger than you expected it to be, and you pray he doesn’t hear the slight falter in your tone, your eyes flickering over his shoulder.

Just below one of the dim streetlamps, you swear you see a person leaning sideways against a pole and staring at the two of you. But when you blink, he disappears, the street empty again.

Baekhyun tries stepping closer, again, but you immediately flinch away. His expression crinkles with even more concern, his eyes softening, even as he raises his hands in a cautious sort of surrender. He speaks tenderly, but the belittling edge to it that Yongguk would thread through his deceptively gentle tones is not there and it startles you. “You’re clearly not fine.” Baekhyun breathes out, brown eyes flickering all over your face, the wrinkle between his brows deepening with each passing second. You catch a glimpse of panic in his eyes, even as his voice comes out calm and soothing. “You’re not breathing properly.”

You blink at him, his words dawning on you. Only then do you notice the way your chest is constricted and how you can’t quite catch your breath, tears forming in your eyes. “I just. I don’t. He’s still.” Your knees wobble and you’re trying your best to calm down, even as you slowly sink to the ground, your chest hurting from how difficult it is to breathe.

“On a scale of one to ten, how much do you trust me?” Baekhyun’s voice cuts through your frantic thoughts and you’re grateful for his distracting words because it somehow gets you to resurface for a moment. Thinking about his question seriously takes your mind away from the panic flooding your body.

“A five.” You mumble out, frowning at his question. “Maybe…maybe a four and a half.”

“Seriously?” Baekhyun sounds vaguely offended, “I’m worth at least a nine.”

You let out a breathless chuckle at that, the panic in your chest lessening as you focus more on his words and less on your thoughts. “God, don’t make…me laugh. It hurts.” You hiss as you clutch at your knees and focus on breathing properly.

Breathe in, breathe out, and repeat.

“Can I—can I touch you?” Baekhyun asks gently and you look up to find him crouching beside you on the sidewalk, his face level with yours. Slowly, you nod and he reaches out, cupping your face. “I won’t hurt you. I promise I won’t hurt you.” He whispers, repeatedly, fingers brushing across your cheeks.

The look in his eyes is so sincere that you don’t take the time to second guess his actions, his tone lulling you into a more secure place. You lean into his palms, closing your eyes as your breathing begins to slow down and normalize. Baekhyun doesn’t hesitate to pull you closer, then, tucking your head underneath his chin so you can listen to his steady heartbeat. It helps you regulate your own breathing and you feel exhausted as you lean further into his chest, breathing along to his beating heart. He the curve of your spine until your breathing returns to normal. Your throat is raspy but you’re okay.

“I’m okay.” You whisper against his chest. Baekhyun slowly pulls away and looks down at you, eyes still searching your face as his thumb brushes along your cheeks, wiping away a few stray tears. He looks sad and worried and weary. You pull away from him and shakily pull yourself to your feet, Baekhyun following your wobbly movements carefully, hands hovering and ready to catch you if you slip up.

You get yourself on your feet, your exhaustion running bone-deep, and watch as Baekhyun silently gathers whatever food he can salvage. A lot of the packets are crushed from where you had kneeled and grasped at them and he leaves those where they are, easily placing the remaining bags in a pile in front of him.

Then he wordlessly turns his back to you and crouches in front of you, glancing over his shoulder expectantly.

Flustered, you quickly shake your head. “I can walk on my own.” You tell him, pointedly, voice raspy.

He raises a brow, eyes narrowing, “You can barely stand. Don’t be an idiot.” You keep staring at him and he groans, rolling his eyes, “Come on, princess, I don’t have all day.”

“Fine.” You mutter, hesitantly throwing your arms around his neck. You ignore the way his hands find purchase against the backs of your thighs, fingers digging into them as he hauls you up so you can wrap your legs around his waist. He picks up a few bags and hand them off to you before picking up the rest. You’re stiff for exactly two minutes before your exhaustion prompts you to drop your head into the crook of his neck, leaning into him as bags dangle from your fingers. “Don’t drop me.” You murmur sleepily into his shoulder.

“Don’t tempt me.” Baekhyun responds half amused, half serious as he walks, fingers occasionally tightening around your thighs whenever he needs to adjust you on his back.

This time the silence between the two of you isn’t so awkward and it brings you comfort.

~.~.~.~.~

“Sooyong?” Baekhyun calls, tone neutral.

“Hmmm.” You hum, turning your head a little as you open your eyes.

“What happened back there?”

You examine the side of his face as you adjust the bags dangling from your fingers and over Baekhyun’s chest. He had left his bags back in some alleyway already, since it was difficult for him to carry the bags and piggyback you through town. He had ignored your mumbled annoyance about wasting your money and food, insisting someone who needed it would find it. You eye the way his jaw tenses, sighing a little. The words spill out of your mouth too easily as you close your eyes and bury your face in his shoulder, voice muffled. “I keep seeing him.”

There’s a long pause before Baekhyun speaks, “…Do you mean Yongguk?”

You nod stiffly, burrowing even further into the crook of his neck, his scent and warmth calming, and he rubs his thumbs over your thighs, comfortingly. “I know he’s dead, but I. I just. I keep seeing him everywhere. In my dreams, from the corner of my eyes, everywhere. All the damn time.” You tighten your grip around the couple of shopping bags in your hands, shuddering. The words and worries you had tried to push down for so long is finally spilling out and you wonder if it’s because of the exhaustion from your almost-full-blown panic attack, the distracting circles Baekhyun’s drawing into your thighs, or something else entirely, “I can’t stop thinking about everything he’s said to me. Everything he’s done to me. He won’t stop haunting me.”

“Is he,” Baekhyun pauses, biting his bottom lip thoughtfully before he continues, “Is he the first person you’ve killed?”

“Yeah,” You breathe out, “He is.”

“The first is always one of the hardest.” Baekhyun explains, soft voice carrying through the dark streets. You sometimes forget how experienced he is with the mafia world and all its morbid connotations. You forget how much more he’s seen and done. “All of them are difficult to deal with, in their own ways, but the first is always haunting. It will always stay with you.”

“Was Daehyun your first?” You look up at him, too curious to stop those words.

Baekhyun shakes his head, jaw tensing. Then he sighs, returning to the subject at hand, “I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Yongguk, but—”

“Nothing.” You interrupt, quietly. You wince at the faint memories of Yongguk kissing you, trying to touch you. “Nothing happened between us except for a few kisses. I just wanted to push your buttons.”

The corner of Baekhyun’s pink lips curl upwards the tiniest bit. “Well, how’d that work out for you?” He turns his head, throwing you a sideways look, and you can’t help but redden at the memories.

“Not well. You were mean.” You respond, knocking the side of your head against his cheek in slight admonishment.

There’s another pause before he speaks in a tentative tone, “I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

You just shrug, “It’s fine. Not like I didn’t consent to it.”

And then he speaks in a greasy tone and you can imagine his twinkling eyes, “I’m happy to finish what I started, by the way. Just say the word and I’m down.” He throws you the cheesiest little wink, smirk dangling from his lips. “Literally.”

You drop your forehead onto his shoulder and groan, covering up the stupid grin creeping up your face, “That was disgusting.”

Baekhyun just laughs loudly in response. You blush, your smile growing with the sounds of his laughter, and you’re ninety-nine percent sure he can feel your grin against his shoulder. For a moment, you forget that the two of you aren’t actually dating anymore, strangely stuck in a limbo between friends and something more, and relish in the intimate sort of closeness between the two of you. You’ve missed him and, despite those feelings of mistrust lingering in the back of your head, you wonder whether he’s just being playful to make you feel better or if he misses you, too.

~.~.~.~.~

“We’re here.” Baekhyun’s voice lulls you out of your light nap and you blink up at the giant apartment building. It’s fancy-looking, surrounded by gates.

Baekhyun squats and you slide off his back, fingers wrapped around the back of his shirt as you steady yourself. Baekhyun punches in a code and is buzzed into the building and you look around in awe. The foyer is huge and fancy-looking, a giant chandelier dripping with crystals situated right at the center. The white tiled floors shine, not even a smudge present, and there are leather couches in the corners, someone lounging in the corner and reading something. There’s a person typing at the front desk, dressed immaculately in a dark suit. Your eyes zero in on the security badge pinned to his chest and you wonder what kind of apartment complex would have such well-dressed security guards.

The man looks up from the desk, his eyes flickering with recognition as he glances at Baekhyun before they drift over to you. He raises an eyebrow the tiniest bit, before glancing back at Baekhyun. “Do you need anything, sir?”

Baekhyun tilts his head before responding, voice soft. “No one knows we were here.”

The man bows his head, “Of course.”

And then he returns to his typing and Baekhyun nudges you forward, towards the double doors in the corner. The doors open up to a vast room, a gym visible through a large window to the right and a giant swimming pool entrance lies just up ahead. The elevators are all the way in the corner and that’s what Baekhyun directs you towards.

You take in your surroundings, eyes wide as you eye the golden tapestries draped all along the walls, expensive looking paintings surrounded the room and even more expensive looking furniture placed strategically around the room, making it look extravagant. “Is this that Hakyeon guy’s building?” You whisper, blinking up at Baekhyun. “How rich is he?”

The elevator dings softly and you step in, dragging the bags along, Baekhyun following after you. He reaches out and punches in a code, the number twelve lighting up overhead. The elevator music is a bit bizarre and reminds you of a background track to an old school video game. It sounds like arcade music and it creates a peculiar atmosphere to the extravagant hotel.

“How much security does this place have?”

“He only rents his lofts out to…our kind of people.” Baekhyun explains, eyes trained on the number indicating which floor you’re on. “I’m surprised he hasn’t reached out to you yet, seeing as he loves to piss Kris off and have him share the same floor with his enemies all the time. He loves to make enemies neighbors and then make rules about how no one is allowed to fight under his roof.”

You purse your lips at that, leaning against the side of the elevator wall tiredly. “He sounds like fun.”

Before Baekhyun can respond, the elevator door dings open at floor seven and two boys step in, one of them punching a code into the elevator keypad rapidly. They file in beside Baekhyun and Baekhyun’s words ring in your ears as you stare at them discretely. Everyone in this hotel is a part of the underground world which means that no one is trustworthy here. You briefly wonder if Hakyeon finds some sick sort of enjoyment out of having so many dangerous people under one roof, like a ticking bomb. One of the boys, a short cute one with a solemn expression, looks familiar to you but you can’t place exactly where you’ve seen him before. The other boy, who’s tall, dark-haired, ruggedly handsome, and extremely sour faced as he meets your gaze, seems to glance between you and Baekhyun carefully, as if he’s analyzing the two of you.

There’s something incredibly unsettling about these boys and you find yourself reaching out to Baekhyun and curling your fist around the sleeve of his sweater, pulling him closer protectively. Baekhyun glances down from the numbers overhead and his eyes flicker from your face to your fingers around his arm, a tiny smile replacing the moment of surprise. He glances over his shoulder and you don’t miss the way the tall, annoyed looking boy narrows his eyes, gaze locking with yours. You shudder a bit at the cold, hardness in the stranger’s eyes. Baekhyun steps in front of you then, his body blocking the two boys from your view and vice versa. Baekhyun reaches over and caresses the back of your head in a way that leaves you blushing, his pretty fingers pushing your hair back out of your face. His eyes are reassuring, darkening as his fingers lightly trace the back of your neck. There’s something protective about his touch, something that turns you into putty in his hands.

There’s a light cough, the tension between you and Baekhyun shattering. Baekhyun steps back and your gaze lingers on the two boys in the elevator. It’s quiet and you can feel the tension thickening, Baekhyun’s arm wrapping around your waist as he finally addresses the boys. “Can we help you with something?” Baekhyun asks, pointedly.

The tall boy’s scowl deepens and there’s a low growl emanating from the back of his throat. “Actually, yes—”

Suddenly, the smaller boy clamps a hand over the angry one’s mouth, glaring at him. “Junhoe. Shut up.”

The angry one—Junhoe, apparently—mumbles into the small one’s mouth, but he doesn’t stop glaring at the two of you. The elevator music fills the tense silence, upbeat video game sounds chiming through the speakers. You vaguely wonder if Hakyeon chose this kind of music on purpose, knowing there’d be stand-offs in the elevator and finding it amusing if upbeat arcade music played throughout each stand-off.

The elevator dings cheerily and Baekhyun steers you out of the elevator, not even sparing them a second glance as he keeps his hand at the middle of your back.

As soon as the elevator doors clothes, you gape at him. “What the hell was that? Who were they?”

“I don’t know.” Baekhyun mumbles as he ruffles his hair, frowning. “I don’t know who they are, but they obviously know who we are.” Baekhyun stares at you and his eyes are blank, as if he’s staring straight through you. “This is bad.” Baekhyun groans, grabbing you by the hand, ignoring the bags dangling from your fingers, “Come on.”

“Where?”

Baekhyun doesn’t answer, expression cluttered as if he’s deep in thought.

~.~.~.~.~

He doesn’t let go of you until he’s punching in a series of codes into a door and you’re suddenly standing in the center of a spacious penthouse, the furniture made of genuine black leather and the floors a deep chestnut brown. There’s not a pillow out of place and you find yourself gaping at the wall-to-wall windows, YG City glittering beneath you. The sight is mesmerizing and you can almost pretend it’s not currently a ghost town. You press your face against the glass, staring down in awe, when there’s a series of beeps and the window morphs into pure black before your eyes, the view disappearing.

“Hey!” You call out, glancing over your shoulder. Baekhyun rolls his eyes at you, sitting cross-legged on one of the black couches with a sigh, a small device dangling from his fingers.

“Now is not the time to sightsee.” Baekhyun snaps, frowning, “They knew who we were.”

He seems so tense that you hold back your retort and lean away from the window.

“How do you know?” You ask, plopping down on the couch beside him, the soft leather making you sigh in relief as you slump back, sprawling out a little. You didn’t realize exactly how exhausted you had been.

Baekhyun taps the side of his right eye. “I saw recognition in the small one’s eyes.”

“Maybe he recognizes you from that night you got arrested?” You respond, crossing your arms as you eye him. He looks sheepish, then, his hand rubbing at the back of his head.

“How does that explain him recognizing you?” Baekhyun asks.

“Maybe he didn’t recognize me?” You respond, shrugging. “Maybe he just didn’t like me because I was there with you.”

Baekhyun nods, his eyes distant, seemingly lost in thought. “Maybe…”

You just examine his expression, taking in his tense jaw and his furrowed eyebrows. His jawline is sharp and clenched and you get this terrible urge to run your fingers down it. God, you’re too exhausted to think straight. A yawn escapes you, your eyes watering as you cover your mouth.

Baekhyun’s eyes snap up to meet yours, his expression softening the tiniest bit as he watches you curl up on your end of the sofa, the cool leather soothing.

“Go to bed.” He tells you, nodding towards the king-sized bed on the other side of the room.

You shake your head, yawning again. “No, it’s fine. I can sleep here. You should sleep on the bed.”

He narrows his eyes at you. “I’m not making you sleep on the couch.”

“It’s technically your loft.” You respond, softly, closing your eyes. “And you’re not making me do anything.”

The silence that follows your words stretches on and on and on. You hear Baekhyun move but you don’t open your eyes, choosing to rest.

Then something soft is thrown on top of you and your eyes jolt open. Baekhyun drops the pillow on your face and watches as you struggle to untangle from the blanket he’d dropped on you, too, his expression full of amusement. “Why do you always do that?” You whine, kicking out your legs a little.

“Do what?” You glare up at him and he just smirks, leaning down to fluff your pillow for you, his fingers brushing through your hair as if he does this all the time. “I’m just making sure my guest is comfortable.”

You roll your eyes and turn your back to him, ducking beneath the soft blanket, ignoring his amused snickers. It’s quiet again, soft rustling occasionally reaching your ears, and you try your best to ignore the fact that your heart is racing under your palm because of his touch. You pat at your heart and try to breathe.

~.~.~.~.~

It’s the middle of the night when you wake up to the sounds of rustling blankets and tossing and turning. You rub your eyes and peer over the back of the leather couch. The room is dark, but you hear the softest of muffled whimpers from the other side of the room. Your eyes widen when the disorientation from sleep and darkness fades and you realize that it’s Baekhyun. He sounds like he’s having a nightmare or something and your heart twists at the thought.

You stare at him, your eyes adjusting just enough to the darkness for you to make out Baekhyun squirming beneath the blankets, a leg sticking out.

After another moment of staring, you crawl off the couch, making sure to grab your pillow and carefully make your way towards the bed. You stop at the edge of the bed and hesitantly reach out, wondering if you should touch him when he’s like this. He starts whimpering again and your heart breaks at the sound. You touch his shoulder and aren’t even surprised when his hand flies out at lightning speed and twists your wrist back, his eyes shooting open immediately. His hair is a mess and there’s a wild look in his eyes, sleep still clouding his mind.

“It’s…ow…it’s me.” You mumble, clenching your fists as his grip tightens.

“Soo?” Baekhyun murmurs in a small voice, tone thick with sleep. Then he seems to realize that he’s grabbing your wrist because he quickly removes his hand from your wrist, voice sheepish and sincerely apologetic. “Sorry, you caught me by surprise.”

“It’s okay. I get it.” You respond. It’s not a lie because you do get it. You should have known better than to touch him when he’s disoriented, but the sounds coming out of his mouth were heartbreaking. You’re lucky he hadn’t pulled a knife on you or something, though.

You watch him rub his eyes, hair sticking up in all directions, and suddenly you just want to kiss the tip of his nose, wrap him up in his blankets, and tell him everything will be okay.

You grimace at your thoughts and immediately run your hands through your hair, turning away from the bed. Before you can walk away, a hand catches yours and pulls you back, gently stopping you in your tracks. “Please, stay.” Baekhyun’s tone is muffled, and breathless.

You look back over your shoulder, slowly turning, and watch him sink back into his pillows, his eyes fixed on the ceiling and his chest heaving. His grip on your wrist is feather-light and you could easily pull away from it.

“Please.” Baekhyun whispers, his velvety soft tone crawling up and down your spine, making you internally shiver, your eyes closing momentarily.

Slowly, you nod as you open your eyes.

Slowly, you drop your pillow at the head of his bed and crawl into the big bed beside him. He places your hand over his chest, where his heart is beating rapidly. He’s still staring at the ceiling and you observe the curves and sharp planes of his side profile, your fingers splayed across his chest, his own long fingers wrapped around that hand. His hand is warm and you can feel his heart racing. He must have had a terrible nightmare. “Stay with me.” He murmurs, expression so distant that it scares you.

The look in his eyes, the subtle tremble in the hand gripping yours, scares you.

You slip closer and slowly lean down to press a gentle kiss against his shoulder, lingering for a moment while he shudders. His t-shirt is made of flimsy material and you can feel the heat radiating off his skin. “I’m right here, Baek.” Your fingers grasp at his shirt, curling into a fist at his chest. You tap his chest with your forefingers and mutter against his shoulder in a soothing voice, “I’m right here.”

He just nods and nods and nods and you carefully curl up into his side, attempting to provide him some sort of comfort. You nuzzle your face further into his shoulder, pressing your lips there again, and he sighs softly, shakily. Baekhyun doesn’t move, though. He remains as still as a stone, the hand holding yours to his chest occasionally tightening in irregular intervals. You hum tunelessly, tenderly squeezing his fingers, reminding him that you’re right here. You want to tell him he’s not alone, but you can’t seem to make yourself break the silence between the two of you.

Only when you’re barely conscious and barely aware, sleep falling over you, does he finally move. He releases your hand only to gather you into his chest, nose burrowing into your hair. He doesn’t turn but he drapes half of your body over his, holding you close. He plays with your hair, twirling the strands around his fingers, and that only makes you lose more of your consciousness, falling pliant against him. You yawn and snuggle closer, his body warm.

You had to have dreamt of the soft thank you he murmurs against your forehead.

~.~.~.~.~

The next morning you wake up to soft strangely familiar voices arguing.

“Should we wake them up?” A familiar voice mumbles.

“Dude, they look like they just ed.” Another voice joins his and you’re jolted out of your sleepy state at those words, stirring. “In our bed.”

“Ew, gross.” Another voice responds.

“Why are you making that face? Wasn’t this your whole plan in the first place?”

“Yes, but I don’t need to know about their —”

“Do you mind?” Baekhyun’s voice rumbles just below your ear and your eyes shoot open, sunlight practically blinding you. You cringe back into the warmth you’re tangled into, your toes curling, as you groan. There’s a squeak and a soft, deep voiced they’re awake.

“Too bright.” You mumble, burying your face onto the warm surface you’re resting on. You inhale and then it hits you. The warm surface isn’t some mattress or pillow, it’s Byun Baekhyun. Holy . You lift your head up so fast, you nearly get whiplash, blinking rapidly. He just blinks down at you, sleepily, his hair a mess. His eyes darken the tiniest bit and you then notice that his fingers are tangled in your hair, that both your legs are tangled together beneath a large comforter. You can’t quite figure out where you begin and he ends and it makes you blush bright red as you attempt to detach yourself from him.

It doesn’t work and you end up pressed up even closer to him, the warmth of his skin only making you blush more. It’s too early for this.

There’s familiar snickering from behind you and you glance over your shoulder, thankful for a distraction.

But then your mouth drops open in disbelief because Jessica, Sehun, and Jongin are all standing (lounging in Jongin’s case) at the foot of the bed, matching grins plastered across their faces. You can’t believe they’re just standing there.

“Do you two need a moment?” Sehun asks, with a eating grin and a raised eyebrow. He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and you narrow your eyes at him, even as Jessica bursts into snickers.

You wiggle in the blankets, attempting to free yourself, your face hot with embarrassment. “Stop giggling and help me.” You exclaim at the three of them, squirming in the blankets as you refuse to look Baekhyun in the eye. Your leg is simultaneously intertwined with his legs and the blankets and each time you try to yank your leg out, your knee digs deeper against Baekhyun’s soft thigh. God.

Baekhyun groans softly and your head practically snaps up to meet his gaze because that groan sounded vaguely sensual and you’re blushing again. He looks pained, eyeing you darkly, and mumbles the softest, “Please stop moving like that.”

“What?” You breathe out, blinking at him.

He turns pink right up to the tips of his ears and bites his bottom lip. He glares at the ceiling accusingly and you throw him a questioning look.

Until you feel something hard poking against your thigh and you freeze above him, hands gripping his shoulders. You’ve probably surpassed red and reached purple in the blushing department at this point and Baekhyun’s ears don’t look much better. “Stop that.” You hiss, pinching his arm, your eyes wide with mortification and other not-so-wholesome thoughts. Oh my God.

Baekhyun has the mental capacity to still glare at you, turning the offended glare he had been directing at the ceiling in your direction. “I can’t stop it when you’re…right there. Moving.”

God.

You flail and practically roll off the bed, the blankets finally untangling themselves and you shriek as you hit the ground, your legs still tangled in his. It’s the weirdest angle ever and you groan, rubbing your head, your foot twisted in an uncomfortable angle.

You can hear Jessica giggling loudly and just when you think your morning couldn’t get worse, Sehun speaks, sounding vaguely amused. “Honestly, hyung, put that away.”

“We’re children.” Jongin adds, in mock horror.

You blink up at Baekhyun and he’s sitting up, hair disheveled, eyes narrowed, and pillow over his lap (more specifically over his crotch), an embarrassed scowl etched across his face. Jongin and Sehun both have their hands covering Jessica’s eyes while she clutches their fingers and practically keels over from laughter.

Oh my God.

“I’m going to take a shower.” Baekhyun states, sliding off the bed without another word, mumbling under his breath as he half-wobbles, half-stomps to the bathroom. Sehun, Jongin, and Jessica burst into even louder giggles, falling over each other like a bunch of puppies, and you blush at the obvious problem in Baekhyun’s pants, hindering him from walking properly.

“Don’t take too long, oppa.” Jessica calls after him in between snickers, peeking through a crack in Jongin’s fingers. Jongin mumbles a drawn out ew interspersed with giggles and Sehun cackles evilly.

Baekhyun slams the bathroom door shut, the walls shaking with the force of it.

You cover your burning face and groan, frowning because Jessica has been around Sehun and Jongin for much too long and you need to find a way to stop that immediately.

~.~.~.~.~

“So you’re telling me you actually wanted to come out here with Jongin and Sehun?” You furrow your eyebrows, eyeing Jessica with scrutiny and a strange sort of disappointment at the confirmation that she really did mean to leave without saying anything.

Jessica nods, her long dark hair falling into her face as she leans forward on the little counter dividing the bedroom-slash-living room from the kitchen. It’s similar to a tiny, personal bar and she doesn’t have to lean too far forward while she’s standing to rest her elbows. She fiddles with the mug in her hands and you take in her disheveled appearance. She’s dressed in a shirt that’s much too big for her and black leather shorts. Her eyeliner is smudged and streaky and she looks like a general mess. There’s something about her expression though that seems almost happy to you. She seems like she’s been smiling more and that makes your lips quirk up into your own tiny smile. She still speaks solemnly though and you figure old habits die hard.

“I was going to come back.” Jessica finally says, blinking up at you, gaze knowing. You try to bury away the slightly paranoid and depressing thoughts that had been running through your head for most of the trip to YG City, knowing that Jessica is probably aware of exactly what you’ve been thinking. “I just. Jongin is…was upset. Sehun decided it’d be a good idea if he went with Jongin and I…I wanted to make sure they would both stay out of trouble.”

“How’d that work out for you?” You ask, crossing your arms. You can guess that they had been out all night, especially since the clock had read six thirty when you were so rudely awakened and Jessica is still dressed, makeup and hair rumpled.

Jessica gives you an innocent look. “What do you mean?”

“Where were you all night?”

Jessica shrugs and you narrow your eyes at her. Jessica retaliates with an exasperated eye roll. “It was nothing bad. Just a club or two to let off some steam. Don’t worry, Mom.”

You snort at her comment, “A club or two?” You raise a brow. “You showed up here at six in the morning.”

“Okay… Maybe there were some other stops involved.” Jessica mumbles. Then she stands up straight and points at you, accusingly. “But enough about me. How about we talk about you and a certain someone?”

“No.” You snap back immediately.

“You were hugging him in your sleep like a koala.” Jessica says, bluntly, her tone bland and straight to the point. “You’re clearly still into him.”

“You’re changing the subject!”

“And so are you.” Jessica points out, raising a brow. She shakes her head. “I gave you such a great opportunity and everything and you’re still doing whatever-this-is with him. I can’t believe you. Why are you so stubborn?”

She mumbles the last two sentences to herself but you pick it up easily enough. You narrow your eyes at her. “What do you mean gave me an opportunity?” You stare at her even as she distractedly steps away from the bar and puts her mug in the sink. Her eyes glint in that way of hers that you don’t trust at all. “What are you planning?”

“Nothing.” Jessica hums, stepping around you and walking away, leaving you behind.

“Hey! Jessica!” You shout after her, but she ignores you, plopping down on the couch pointedly. Jongin and Sehun are on the opposite side of the room having a hushed conversation, foreheads knocking together. They look incredibly suspicious.

That’s when Baekhyun decides to emerge from the bathroom, flushed and pink, steam making his skin glisten a bit. His hair is a ruffled mess and you want to run your fingers through it. He avoids your gaze and eyes Jongin and Sehun with suspicion.

Someone coughs and you immediately snap your eyes away from him, blinking. Jessica just smiles at you from where she’s curled up on the couch and you grumble under your breath in annoyance.

~.~.~.~.~

After a short, hushed conversation between Baekhyun and Jongin, Jongin decides he’s ready to go back home. It’s strange to you because you expected something really terrible to happen to them. You expected some kind of fight or something dramatic. Instead, the five of you pile into EXO’s van a couple hours later as if you’re all going home from a spontaneous road trip. It’s so normal that it leaves you slightly confused. The well-dressed man at the front desk had wordlessly taken the keys to the room and neither of you ran into any hostile people in the halls. You keep expecting something to happen and you wonder if that’s making you paranoid.

Especially when you’re waiting for Jongin to pull the car up and you think the boy across the street with shoulder length hair and a leather jacket keeps looking in your direction with suspiciously analytical eyes. He’s just waiting for his bus, you tell yourself, glancing around the street before looking at the boy, half expecting him to disappear when you blink. He’s just looking down at his phone, like any normal person waiting for the bus. A voice that sounds like Yongguk’s resonates in your head, Are you sure about that, sweetheart?

You visibly flinch at his voice in your head and an unexpected hand settles against the curve of your spine, touch soothing. You don’t think much of it, as a matter of fact you melt into the touch a bit, visibly relaxing. But then something in your brain clicks and you belatedly realize who the hand belongs to. You immediately jump away and Baekhyun blinks, glancing down the street as he ruffles his hair, fingers flexing in midair.

You step away from him, fiddling nervously with your fingers and thankfully Baekhyun remains rooted to his spot.

Somehow, you end up with the middle seat in the back, Baekhyun stuffed up against your right, touching you, and Jessica on your left. Jessica just smiles serenely at you and Sehun rolls his eyes whenever he glances back from the passenger’s side.

“Do you do this a lot?” You ask Jongin, watching him turn the wheel of the car.

“You’re going to need to be specific.” Jongin responds, haughtily.

You wrinkle your nose, “I meant disappearing. Is that something you do a lot?”

“Yeah.” Jongin mumbles, the car speeding up as the car reaches the highway. “It helps me keep my sanity.”

“It’d be nice if you kept everyone updated, though.” You say while simultaneously wondering if you should ask for some tips on the whole keeping his sanity thing.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Jongin asks, raising an eyebrow as he glances at you through the rearview mirror. “I mean, if I didn’t drag Jess out here, Baek would never have experienced you clinging to him like a damn starfish.”

“Or that nice and cold forty-five minute shower this morning.” Sehun adds.

Baekhyun kicks Sehun’s seat but Sehun just laughs, Jessica falling into giggles beside you.

~.~.~.~.~

“I saw Zelo last night, by the way.” Jessica says at some point. Your eyes are already drooping with tiredness, but her words make your eyes shoot open. Memories of Yongguk’s death hits you hard right then and you remember the way Zelo had been crying out for Yongguk, how heartbroken he had sounded. Suddenly you feel nauseous, all the paranoia and mistrust from that night coursing through you all over again. You stiffen in your seat and you can see Baekhyun making a move to reach out to you hesitantly, before thinking otherwise, his fingers curling into fists in his lap.

Sehun snaps his head back and looks at Jessica, eyes darkening as he searches her face. “He didn’t try anything, did he?”

Jongin reaches out between the seats and pats Sehun’s knee, fingers lingering in comfort. Sehun visibly relaxes at the contact.

Jessica turns a little pink and you’ve never seen her look so flustered before. She bites her lips, her eyes flickering downwards before meeting Sehun’s gaze again. She shakes her head. “No, he just kept staring at us.”

“Are you sure?” Jongin inserts and his voice is strangely gentle, a tone you never expected from him, but there’s also an underlying current of something else you can’t quite place. He glances up into the rearview mirror and for the briefest of moments, you make eye contact with him before his gaze falls onto Jessica. “You don’t sound too sure.”

Jessica nods stiffly, turning away to face the window, face pink. “Yeah, I was with you two the entire time, wasn’t I?”

Sehun turns forward slowly, nodding to himself, and Jongin snorts in amusement while Jessica scowls at the window. You exchange a confused look with Baekhyun who just shrugs.

“Why is Zelo in YG City?” You ask, out loud, eyes flickering from Jongin to Sehun to Baekhyun and back again.

Jongin just shakes his head, his frown visible through the rearview mirror. Baekhyun speaks, then, “Who knows? But if he’s in YG City right now, then it’s a good thing we’re leaving.”

You silently agree with him, grimacing at the thought of running into Zelo at any time. You’re sure he wants you dead and you don’t think you can deal with that at the moment.

~.~.~.~.~

“Hey.” A voice whispers into your ear. You grumble something unintelligible, eyes squeezing shut as you cling to the warm pillow beside you. Then someone starts shaking you and you whine, loudly.

“Five more minutes.”

“Wake up, we’re here.”

One moment, you’re groggy, and the next you realize who that voice belongs to. This is the second time you’re woken up this fast, your eyes shooting open and your heart racing with the sudden loss of grogginess.

Baekhyun is staring down at you grimly, your chin coincidentally squished up against his shoulder. His fingers linger on your cheek and you’re blushing again. You can’t believe that Baekhyun can still turn you into a blushing mess with just a brush of his fingers. You’re a mafia boss, goddammit. “We’re here.” He says in an incredibly solemn voice, his expression grave. It would have been humorous in any other situation if it wasn’t for the fact that Baekhyun’s door is open and Jongin, Sehun, and Jessica are leaning in, eyeing you with matching grins. “I tried to wake you up earlier. You were dead as a rock.”

You immediately pull away from him and mumble a quick sorry.

He makes a face, “You owe me for all the commentary I had to deal with it on the ride here.” His tone is vaguely amused but also incredibly exasperated. He steps out of the car and you follow after him a moment later.

Jessica just raises her brow at you and you immediately put a hand over , shushing her before stomping away.

~.~.~.~.~

You’re sure everyone is in on whatever Jessica is planning. They have to be because there’s been an influx in hushed conversations and secret glances and Jessica won’t stop smiling. It’s strange because Jessica doesn’t do smiling, at least not in such a serene way. Either Jongin and Sehun’s company is changing her into a happier person or she’s planning something. You think the latter is more plausible.

A couple days pass and you’re walking to Communications when you pass by a couple students in your class. They’re both dressed nicely and helping each other lug a giant presentation board between each other.

You blink and walk beside them, recognizing one of the girls. “Hi, Hyelin-ssi!” She beams at you in response and you point at the board, “What’s that for?”

Hyelin and her partner exchange a quick glance before she blinks at you, cutely. “It’s for the presentation today!” Hyelin exclaims, placing the presentation board in front of her as she flips the two sides open. It’s beautifully decorated, Up & Down plastered in large, glittery letters across the front. The board is almost as tall as her.

You stare at her in confusion. “What presentation?”

“The final presentation?” Hyelin responds, giving you a strange look before she eyes you with pity. “Don’t tell me you forgot? Today we’re having our final. It’s worth, like, half of our grade, Sooyong-ssi.”

“Oh my God.”

“You’re ed.” Hyelin proclaims, patting your shoulder consolingly, her partner joining her. They look sympathetic. “I’m sorry. That .”

They both exchange another look before leaving you standing there in shock. If you fail any classes you automatically lose the chance to run for class president again, especially since your GPA isn’t the best at the moment. An F will bring it down way too much.

~.~.~.~.~

Baekhyun finds you a few minutes later, still rooted to your spot. He’s casually strolling by, humming, when he reels to a stop a couple feet in front of you, doing a quick double-take over his shoulder. Then he immediately backtracks until he’s standing right in front of you. You blink up at him and he leans forward peering at your face curiously.

“You look exactly the way Joonmyun did when he read the last chapter of Naruto.” Baekhyun murmurs in concern, breath fanning over your face. He’s close enough to count his eyelashes and make out the smudges in his eyeliner.

“That was a pretty awful time, wasn’t it?” You breathe, frowning. You keep your voice soft and you try not to think about how this whole moment feels way too intimate, despite all the students milling about around you.

“Yeah. He looked like he was on his deathbed for a week straight.” Baekhyun frowns at you.

“Oh.”

“Are you okay?” Baekhyun doesn’t touch you, but his voice feels like a caress of its own. It has you exhaling softly.

“Please tell me you finished the Communications project.”

Baekhyun blinks once, twice, three times, before he mutters a soft, “Oh .”

“Yeah.”

“.”

“I know.”

Baekhyun just stares at you and you heart rate speeds up for no reason at his worried gaze. You don’t have to tell him the consequences of failing a class, especially how it'll affect your hopes to get chosen as class president, next semester.

“Okay, sorry to interrupt your…moment.” A familiar deep voice resounds from beside you and you jump in surprise. Only then do you notice how close you and Baekhyun had been; the two of you were barely centimeters away, just hovering.

The two of you simultaneously swivel on your heels to look at Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, the former smirking and the latter rolling his big eyes.

“Shut up.” You and Baekhyun respond at the same time, refusing to make eye contact when you both realize what you’ve just done.

Chanyeol grins toothily. “Cute.”

Baekhyun points at Chanyeol, threateningly, “Watch it.”

“Hey, is that any way to treat someone who’s about to save your grade?”

“What are you talking about?” You interrupt because Baekhyun looks ready to jump Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo steps forward, holding out a pink Hello Kitty USB. “It’s your presentation.” You take it from him hesitantly and he tacks on a quick, “That USB is Chanyeol’s, not mine.”

Chanyeol just nods, winking. “Kyungsoo’s more of a Love Live person. I love Hello Kitty, though.”

You snort when Kyungsoo shoves Chanyeol the minute the words leave his mouth and Chanyeol lets out a high-pitched shriek, jumping away. You glance down at the USB and eye it suspiciously. “This is kind of shady, you know that right?”

Baekhyun hums in agreement, “It’s not filled with embarrassing pictures of me, is it?” He looks so wary that it’s almost laughable.

“Do you want to pass or not?” Kyungsoo snaps, crossing his arms.

Baekhyun and you both exchange solemn looks before nodding slowly in unison.

~.~.~.~.~

In retrospect, you should have known there was something up the minute Kyungsoo had handed you that Hello Kitty USB with the detachable head, Hello Kitty’s detached head peering up at you cheerily from the projector table.

You watch as Baekhyun gingerly plugs in the USB, the computer screen projecting his movements to the class. He looks nervous and Professor Kim doesn’t look impressed, thanks to the fact that the two of you aren’t professionally dressed. Hyelin gives you a confused look that you ignore completely.

A video pops up immediately in full-screen and Professor Kim sits back in his seat, pen poised as the video plays. Baekhyun stares down at the computer screen, allowing the video to run on its own, his expression wary.

The video starts off with a bright blue screen, both your names written in large font and surrounded in flowers, before it cuts to Jongdae and Chanyeol sitting side by side, leaning close to the camera and speaking in hushed tones.

“This project is about selling something right?” Chanyeol asks, blinking at Jongdae, voice barely louder than a whisper.

Jongdae just shrugs, pursing his lips.

A disembodied voice—Xiumin’s voice, you realize, grimacing—answers Chanyeol then, “Dude, the camera is rolling.”

“Oh, .” Chanyeol mumbles. Then he covers his mouth. “I meant oh, shoot.”

“Nice save.” Jongdae rolls his eyes.

Suddenly the camera swivels and Xiumin’s face takes up three quarters of the screen, his expression solemn. “Hi, they forgot their lines, apparently. So without further delay, this is going to be a documentary on selling…”

Xiumin drags out the last word for a good ten seconds, dramatically, and your face heats up when Professor Kim crosses his arms in disapproval.

“Love!” Jongdae shrieks off screen, his voice so loud that you and half the class wince at the microphone screech.

You discreetly elbow Baekhyun’s arm, mouthing turn it off threateningly.

 “I can’t.” He mouths back, looking mortified, and you look down only to witness Baekhyun repeatedly pressing the pause button. The video continues to run.

The video dissolves into a dizzying special effect, switching from the extreme close-up of Xiumin’s face to Jessica and Sehun in front of a familiar convenience store, their backs turned to the camera. Half of Jongin’s face appears on screen before he disappears behind the camera again, Sehun and Jessica crouching behind a car as they creepily videotape Baekhyun and you buying food in the store, purposely zooming in on Baekhyun’s arm lingering around your waist.

“Oh my God.” You whisper, mortified, when Jongin hands off the camera to Jessica and she begins to explain what exactly she’s filming, speaking animatedly while Jongin blatantly hotwires what you realize is LILAC’s van in the background, just over Jessica’s shoulder. He drives away while Jessica is talking. At some point, Jessica spins the camera and zooms into the convenient store again, revealing Baekhyun dropping a pile of chips into your full hands, snickering when you wobble from the weight of it all.

“As demonstrated here, the boy is trying to impress the girl by buying her half the store. This is a blatant example of the positive effects of love on the global capitalist system and how the purchase of commodities can promote economic growth and success.” Sehun narrates clearly as if he’s reading something straight out of textbook. “Clearly, the more infatuated someone is with a person, the more they are willing to spend on them. This is an incredibly important marketing strategy implemented by many major retail companies all around the world…”

“I’m going to kill them.” Baekhyun mumbles, his face pink, and you decide you’re going to join him.

~.~.~.~.~

With each passing minute, you’re getting progressively redder and just when you think things can’t get worse (they showed a video of the two of you arguing in front of the store effectively bleeping out every cuss word in the conversation and you had ducked in embarrassment when they had shown the almost kiss between you and Baekhyun against the wall) the class starts oh-ing and ah-ing at all the especially embarrassing parts, despite Sehun, Jongin, Jessica, and even Joonmyun’s educational narrations throughout the presentation and you wish the ground would just swallow you up.

Just when you think everything is over, the video suddenly cuts to a clip of Baekhyun curled up in a familiar looking bed, his face red and his eyes wide. He looks drunk out of his mind and your heart immediately softens at the sight.

Baekhyun giggles on screen, eyes fluttering, and the real life Baekhyun stiffens beside you, immediately slamming on the escape key on the keyboard. He even tries pulling out the USB. But the video keeps going.

The video is strangely quiet, the entire classroom seemingly holding its breath. Soft static crackles in the background.

“I wanted to take a break from her, so that we could have time to fix ourselves.” Baekhyun hiccups softly on screen, his slurring voice soft, barely a whisper. “But I miss her too much. I can’t stop thinking about her. I miss her, Jongdae.” Baekhyun sighs, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and I have a feeling…I think this is another one.”

“Just sleep, Baek.” Jongdae murmurs in an uncharacteristically gentle tone.

“I wonder if she—”

The screen goes black and the classroom is so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Only then do you notice that Baekhyun had straight up pulled the computer plug out of its socket, effectively turning off the entire system.

You stare at him and you could never have guessed how much this was affecting him if it wasn’t for the slight tremble in his fingers. His gaze locks with yours and suddenly you feel breathless. You can’t look away.

Professor Kim coughs pointedly and both of you jump, looking up at him with reddening cheeks and sheepish expressions.

Before either of you can open your mouths, Professor Kim speaks.

“That was extremely…creative.”

“Thanks.” You mumble, sighing. Professor Kim just shakes his head.

“You two may take a seat.” Professor Kim says. “And Mr. Byun, please plug my computer back in.”

~.~.~.~.~

The moment class is over, you practically skid out of the classroom, only to find Chanyeol waiting in the corner with Minhee.

You stomp across the hall and Chanyeol holds his hands up in solace, except you’re not the one who shoves him up against the wall. Baekhyun appears out of nowhere and Chanyeol lets out a high pitched shriek that makes Minhee snort. You jab Chanyeol in the chest with the Hello Kitty USB.

“You are so ing dead.” You and Baekhyun hiss at the exact time. Then you two exchange awkward glances, blushing a bit, before turning back to Chanyeol.

“It wasn’t even—ow—my idea.” Chanyeol responds in a placating tone, pushing Baekhyun off of him and wincing when you shove the Hello Kitty USB further into his jugular.

“I don’t care.”

Chanyeol tries to slip away from your grasp, squirming, “I know you’re embarrassed but, like, look at you two. You’re being all cute and couple-y instead of your usual angsty selves.”

Baekhyun and you exchange looks before Baekhyun speaks, scowling darkly. “Does leaving you in a ditch somewhere sound cute and couple-y to you?”

“Okay, Baek, how about we just—”

“I think that sounds positively adorable?” You respond, glaring at Chanyeol. “What do you think, Chanyeol?”

You’ve never seen Chanyeol slide so fluidly out of someone’s grasp before as he does at that moment, immediately backing away from you and Baekhyun. You’re surprised by how easily he freed himself from your grip. “I’m going to just…go.” Chanyeol says, before practically running off and around the corner, long limbs flailing as he skids around the corner and out of sight.

Minhee snorts with laughter, but it dies out the moment you turn your glare on her.

“Okay.” Minhee mumbles, rolling her eyes, “Tone down the matching couple glare.”

She cackles, hurrying away before you can throw the damn Hello Kitty USB at her.

After a long moment of silence, Baekhyun snorts a little and you lock eyes with him, smiling despite your annoyance and embarrassment. His smile widens and for a good minute, the two of you are just grinning dumbly at each other.

Suddenly, Baekhyun sighs, rubbing the back of his head as he deflates. He ruffles his hair so hard it sticks up in all kinds of directions.

You stare at him for a long, long time before you sigh, too, fiddling with the edge of your t-shirt.

“We need to talk.” You both say at the same exact time before blushing like mad and glancing away from each other.

After another moment of silence Baekhyun holds out a pretty hand for you to take, his long fingers inviting.

You don’t even hesitate.

You take his hand and he leads you away from the hallway and the curious eyes of your classmates without another word.

~.~.~.~.~

The two of you just stare at each other, the tension in the empty classroom thickening with each passing minute.

There’s distance between the two of you, so much so that it feels wholly foreign. It feels like he’s light years away from you, not just a few feet.

Baekhyun leans back against one of the desks and takes a deep, deep breath, ruffling his hair in the process.

“Stop that.” You mutter, reproachfully.

His eyes snap up to meet yours, his hand stilling halfway through a ruffle. Slowly, he drops his hand to the side and tilts his head. “Stop what?”

You figure that’s when something in you just snaps, all the built up tension getting to you because you end up gesturing wildly at him, “Everything.”

“Sorry?” He poses it as a question, visibly confused. He looks like a lost puppy and that only fuels your…you don’t know what the emotion is called but whatever emotion it is, it’s positively flaring right now.

“God.” You throw your hands in the air and begin to pace. “God.”

“Most people call me Baekhyun.” Baekhyun responds instantly, back to his default setting of sarcasm.

You stop and stare at him, eyes narrowed.

“I shouldn’t miss comments like that.” You grumble, pointing at him with accusing fingers. “I shouldn’t miss that but I do.”

You miss him so much and hearing him say that he misses you too, no matter how awkward the situation had been, makes your heart swell and soar and ing somersault.

Suddenly you don’t feel so selfish anymore and it’s so ing freeing.

“What are you—”

“I know I said I wanted a break. I know I said I wanted time to rebuild myself, for us to start all over, but it’s not working. It’s not ing working because I miss you, too. I can’t figure out how to take this break because Yongguk is…” You trail off and stop pacing. He’s staring at you now, hanging on to your every word, and you’re staring back, hanging on to his every reaction. You’re holding on so tightly to his every movement, suddenly so aware of him that it hurts. “He’s always going to ing be there. Yongguk will always be there. The mistrust he created isn’t going to go away. I don’t. I don’t think it’ll get better with space because there’s more of him in my head then there is of you and it’s just. I don’t like it. You make it better, Baekhyun. God, that sounds so ing cheesy, but it’s so true. You make it all so much better and I miss you and your presence brings me so much peace and I’m afraid if I let that go now, it’ll be gone forever, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to be afraid of that. I don’t want to start over alone, Baekhyun. I can’t.”

You’re out of breath by the end of it, heaving for air, and he’s just watching you catch your breath, uncharacteristically quiet. His hair sticks up in all kinds of directions and his eyes won’t leave yours and he’s just staring and staring and staring.

You break away first, staring at the ceiling, breathing slowly returning to normal. Your cheeks are warm and your eyes sting with his lack of response. You speak breathlessly, your voice echoing in the empty classroom. The emptiness is numbing and you let out a staggered breath. “I think that…too much has happened between us for us to start over alone.”

The silence is deafening.

You hear footsteps but you refuse to look away from the ceiling, afraid they’re heading out the door.

But then.

But then fingers cup the side of your neck and his voice is soft, thick with emotions. “We won’t.”

Your eyes flicker downwards and his eyes are so soft and full of love that you’re left breathless all over again. The pads of Baekhyun’s fingertips press into your cheekbones and he bends down, kissing your upturned cheek tenderly, “We don’t have to start over alone.” He mumbles against the corner of your lips, his tone caressing you gently. Your fingers trail up his chest and you can feel his heart beating rapidly through his thin shirt. For a moment, it’s just trailing, grasping fingers, as if you’re both trying to map each other out the way you used to.

But when his fingers curl around your neck, you unconsciously stiffen, suddenly hit with lingering mistrust and paranoia and fear and a deep familiar laugh echoing at the back of your mind.

He freezes in his movements.

“I’m sorry.” You mumble, shakily, fingers tightening around the fabric of his shirt. “It’s still there. He’s still there. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t.” He shakes his head, tone the gentlest you’ve ever heard it before, “Don’t apologize. We’ll work through it together, okay.”

You nod because you like that idea so much more than doing this all alone. You like the idea of having Baekhyun here to help you through Yongguk and everything he had entailed rather than trying to rebuild yourself alone.

You look him in the eyes, his whole expression openly fond as he brushes your hair back behind your ear. “That sounds perfect.”

He captures your lips in an affectionate kiss, lips warm and soft, before pulling away, smirking a little. “Everything I do is perfect, isn’t it?”

“Debatable.” You say with a shrug.

He pouts at you, fingers tightening around your waist, and you laugh.

Just as he leans forward, the empty classroom door bursts open and familiar faces tumble in through the entrance, the quiet atmosphere broken instantly. Jessica’s clinging to both Jongin and Sehun and holding a camcorder over everyone’s heads and the smile on Jongdae’s face is beyond creepy.

“You all lost the bet. Pay up.” Tao, of all people, cackles rubbing his hands together and the entire room falls into loud protests.

You both glare ineffectively at all your friends, but it only seems to egg them on.

“Adorable!” Yixing claps his hands and Mina and Luhan laugh at his expression.

They just happily snap pictures of Baekhyun and you glaring at them until you decide out loud that it’s time for you to get new friends.

Kris gives you an amused look and you can’t believe he’s even a part of this in the first place.

“Good luck with that.” Kyungsoo replies, rolling his eyes.

Baekhyun just pulls you closer and lets out a drawn out sigh. “They’re right about one thing, though.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m cute as a button.”

You raise an eyebrow and he eyes you contemplatively.

“You’re alright, too, I guess.”

You try to shove him but he just kisses your forehead, affectionately, and for once everything feels like it’s going to be okay.

Jessica, Mina, and Minhee look genuinely happy.

You’re genuinely happy.

You’re all going to be okay, for now.

 

~.~.~.~.~

 

 

 

“I can’t believe you let them leave your city alive.”

Somewhere in the depths of the underground, a man leans against a brick wall, his hair slicked back and a permanent grin plastered across his face. Sometimes, he wonders if the man ever stops grinning.

The man steps closer, the heels of his boots echoing up and down the empty alleyway. His smile drips from his lips with a sinister sort of insanity and he thinks under different circumstances he would have backed down immediately.

But not today, not after everything, not after Yongguk.

“Patience is a virtue, boy.” The man speaks slowly, leisurely. “Yongguk knew a lot about that, didn’t he?”

His heart clenches at the thought and he nods, agreeing silently.

“Taeyang’s plans never fail.” The man says, conversationally, his eyes glinting red in the darkness. The man’s eyes don’t waver as the he watches him carefully, analytically. “You were smart to come to B.I. and Bobby. Your…resourcefulness won’t go to waste. Trust me.”

The man throws an arm over his shoulder and steers him out of the alley and down the street, past a familiar convenient store, cashier grinning at the man mischievously.

“You’ll have her head soon, little one.” And then he laughs and it’s so, so chilling, the hairs at the back of his neck standing on end. “Hyung will make sure of it.” 

 

end.