--Joyce’s POV--

Minho and I became desperate after searching high and low with no results. We finally decided to tell a teacher. We ran to the nearest classroom and found a history teacher grading papers behind his desk. We told him we were looking for a missing person. Just then I got a text from Jjong.

Dino Jjong: we found them, we’re at the very last hallway in the D section.

“Can you take us there?” I told the teacher, showing him the text. He nodded and we ran.

By the time we got there I saw Key on top of some guy, yelling and slapping him while Jonghyun held the guy down. Taemin was behind Key and some guy looked seriously beat up in the back. I ran up to Onew and crouched down, looking at his face.

“Onew! You’re hurt!” I gasped, running my fingers over his cheek, he just shook his head and winced back when I touched his wound. I heard loud yelling and ran up to the crowd of people, Taemin, Minho, Key, Jonghyun, the teacher, and the two guys who were unfamiliar to me. They were all yelling at each other simultaneously, cursing eachother out. I rushed Taemin over to where Onew was and he plugged his ears.

“Zico, Top, EXPELLED!” the teacher yelled on top of the mob of screaming boys. Everyone quieted down and looked serious, “As for you two, Kibum and Jonghyun, this is your third warning! If you are caught fighting two more times you’re out of here!” The teacher waved his arms around frantically as he was announcing his threats to ban the couple from the school. Key just rolled his eyes at the teacher and Jonghyun smirked at the guy with dreadlocks who was clutching onto his ribs and his friend. Scared little Taemin came up behind me and clutched onto my arm.

“LET’S GO!” The teacher yelled at the two boys I didnt know, “As for you all, I better not see this violence again!” He huffed and pulled on dreadlock guy’s collars, pulling him up from his knees. “Go back to your dorms now!”

The dreadlocks guy got up and shook the teachers hand off him. Looking furious he spat blood at Taemin’s feet. “You got lucky, pretty boy.” he looked at me and smirked, “Call me some time.” he winked and laughed at himself and followed the teacher with serious a limp. He rolled his eyes when he passed Onew with a ‘pfft’. I just stood there, shocked and confused.

“I’m sorry,” dreadlock guy’s friend said as he walked by to follow the teacher out of the scene. He looked almost sincere at us. Key hissed at him with threatening eyes. He stopped and crouched down in front of Onew and put his hand out. Onew grabbed it, locking their hands together like how really close friends do, “Good bye, hyung.” he said sadly. Onew nodded. He looked sad, too.

We all stayed where we were, silently watching the teacher and the two punks walk down the hallway until they turned a corner and disappeared from our sight. I instantly turned to Taemin and threw my arms around him, relieved he's safe.

I heard a couple sniffles and then in a few seconds he burst into tears. I panicked, “Ah! Taeminnie! Why are you crying? Don’t cry!” I patted his back but he just seemed to cry harder, “It’s all right now Taeminnie, noona is here.”

Key came up to us and patted Taemin’s back stressfully, “Baby, we’ll talk about what happened at our dorm okay? Don’t cry, baby.” Taemin nodded while sniffling into my shoulder. I took his hand into mine and locked my fingers in his, hoping to make him feel safe.

Minho carried Onew on his back after Onew insisted. Jjong and Key held hands while Jjong was wiping some blood off Key’s chin. Taemin was sniffling while holding my hand as we walked. He looked like a little boy lost at the mall, crying and rubbing his eyes with the back of his free hand. I eventually let him on my back and I carried him.

It was a quiet walk to Key and Jonghyun’s dorm and it started getting awkward so Minho said, “Damn, I can’t believe I missed the fight.” He sighed, shaking his head.

Key chuckled, “I whooped that guy good.” He pursed his lips out feeling victorious.

I gasped cause Key didn’t even have one scratch on him except for a small cut on his chin, “You were the one who did that to that guy in the dreadlocks?” He nodded, smirking.

“My Jagiyah did good,” Jonghyun laughed and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.

“Key never loses a fight,“ Minho stated like it was a fact, “And Jonghyun helps once in a while.”

“I tell him not to fight, since he already has 2 marks on the ‘fight’ list,” Jonghyun frowned but then smiled, “But this fight was an exception, of course.”

“Yeobo and I are black belts~“ Key beamed while patting Taemin's hair, hoping his energy would lighten up Taemin's mood but he remained quiet with his head on my shoulder.

We finally reached Key’s dorm and I sighed in relief, Taemin was starting to get heavy on my back. I put him down and heaved a big breath. Key welcomed us inside and I was wowed by their interior decoration. Hot pink beanbags, sparkly lamps, and a million Polaroid selcas of Jongkey plastered all over the walls were just the highlight of it.

“Make yourselves at home, everyone~” Key sang while rushing into a cabinet and taking out alcohol and a first aid kit. He stopped by in front of a mirror and scared himself, “AISH! Yeobo! Why didn’t you tell me my hair looked like this the whole time!” He yelled, pouting and grabbing a comb to straighten out his hair.

Jonghyun just laughed and took a piece of cotton and wet it with alcohol. He dabbed it against Onew’s cut cheek. Onew winced wildly, “A-PO!! OWW!!”

Minho laid down in the couple’s spare bed, since they liked to only use one, and looked really exhausted from searching for Taemin and for carrying Onew's dead weight the whole time, "Hyung, you need to cut down on the chicken, I'm serious." Onew turned to slap his arm quickly. I sat on the floor next to Taemin who sat in a squishy beanbag. He was silent and looked really upset. He was just sniffling now and his eyes were puffy.

Key crouched down to be eyelevel with Taemin and hugged him tenderly. He released the hug but held onto his arms, “Taeminnie.. Tell us what happened.” Key pouted, delicately pushing Taemin's long hair behind his ears.

He hesitated before speaking. “T-t-they wanted n-noona..” he stuttered, trying not to cry, “They found out h-her secret because of m-me.” Tears poured out of his eyes and he wiped them away quickly. “They f-found her picture.. From the b-beach..” he sniffled and cried into Keys shoulder. Everyone was silent and shocked. M-my picture?

“Baby just let it out,” Key patted Taemin’s back motherly.

“They w-wanted to do bad things to her..” he choked out inbetween sobs, everyone’s eyes grew wide, “B-but I told them no.. and t-they said they would tell everyone her s-secret and it w-would..” he took a deep breath, “be MY FAULT!” he burst into tears. I was on the brink of tears as well, hearing Taemin cry broke my heart. I couldn't believe I caused this mess.

I hugged Taemin tight and let him cry on my shoulder as Key let go of him and went to interrogate Onew. Jonghyun finished up covering Onews cheek with gauze and Key eyed him up and down with fierce eyes.

“How the heck do you tie into this?!” Key yelled at Onew who looked bewildered at him.

“Excuse me?!” he said, totally dumbfounded, “I tried to save him!”

“Save him?!” Key replied with a slight scream, “How could you have tried to save him when you had no idea he was missing in the first place?” Key rolled his eyes, “Did you know those two guys?! Did you know Taemin was kidnapped by them?! PABO!”

Onew sighed and looked away feeling ashamed, “They were my friends..”

Key gasped, “BWOH?! HOW COULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH CRIMINALS!?” he screamed. Onew winced back, afraid Key was going to hit him. He peeked out of one eye and started to chuckle.

Onew burst out into laughter, “Oh my gosh, I can not take you seriously with that suit on!“ he pointed to Key’s racoon kigurumi. He was about to pounce on the poor boy but he was held back by Jonghyun just in time. Taemin buried his face into my neck sniffling and I covered his ears with my palms as Key continued to curse Onew out for being friends with those two people and insulting his pajamas.

Key calmed down a little bit later after a small talk with Jonghyun. Minho shook his head, “How ARE you friends with those two people, hyung? And if they were your friends, they seemed to still beat you up.” He said while face-palming.

--Onew’s POV--

My cheek BURNED, but I ignored it cause other things were more important now. Taemin was extremely upset and he wouldn’t stop crying. Minho and Joyce were trying their best to cheer up the maknae. Key just cursed me out for being friends with Top and Zico and making fun of his outfit. 

I was surprised to hear why Taemin was kidnapped, had I even known he was kidnapped today then things would have went differently. I felt extremely guilty and that I was probably a big factor in why this happened. I was the one who told Zico and Top all about Taemin and the others.

“Let me explain..” I said sadly, I looked at the three sad faces looking at me and Key's which just looked as pissed as ever, not including Taemin. Disappointment was written clearly on their expressions. They listened intently

--Flashback: Middle School--

It was lunch time at school and I ate my sandwich happily. I suddenly heard a ruckus going on a turned my head to a crowd of people in a circle at the corner of the cafeteria. I ran to see what was happening, a small boy was in the middle of the circle on the floor looking up at two other boys who looked tough and rough.

One of the boys grabbed the small boy by the collar and lifted him, “GIVE US YOUR MONEY!” The small boy gasped and shook his head wildly.

“I don’t have any!” he cried and he was punched once in the gut. My blood boiled and I ran into the circle. The first thing I did was panic as everyone stared at me and then next thing I knew I kicked the guy holding the small boy up in the crotch. He gasped and grabbed his crotch, dropping the boy and screamed at me.

“Let’s get out of here!” His friend said and they ran away. The circle disappeared and I sighed in relief. I held my hand out to the boy. He held onto his stomach.

“Did they hurt you?” I asked, he nodded.

“They do everyday.” he said sadly. I helped him up and we sat together awkwardly at my table. I gave him the rest of my sandwich and he ate it hungrily. “Thank you..” he said once he finished the sandwich, “I’m Choi Seunghyun.” he smiled.

“Lee Jinki,” I smiled back, “But call me Onew, and I think you should get a nickname too.” I thought for a moment, “Top~ How does that sound?”

He grinned, “I like that, call me Top.” we laughed.

--First year of High School--

Top and I hung out every so often, we became really good friends. We walked down the street on our daily walk to the bakery to get some hot buns. We walked past an alley way and saw a guy there, asleep with his back against the wall. He looked beat up. I went up to him and shook him, “Hey, hey are you okay?” I wanted to help him.

He looked up at me, his eyes were weary and tired, “Piss off.” he pushed my hand off his shoulder. Top pulled on my arm to get out of there but I just stayed put. I pitied him cause he rejected us. I pulled out a five dollar bill out of my pocket and dropped it next to him.

We walked out of the alley way and I looked back behind us to see the guy pick up the five dollar bill, holding it in his fingers delicately. I turned around to continue walking but a voice stopped me, “Wait..” the guy ran up to us even though he limped painfully, “Thank….you.. I’m Zico..”

--Junior year High School--

After meeting Zico, Top grew particularly close to him. Top told me they had this special connection. Ever since they started hanging out, I started seeing Top less and less. I knew about Zico’s schemes, and Top was beginning to turn into him little by little, becoming devious like him. Zico told us he grew up in violence, so it was typical of him to be part of fights around the neighborhood and he brought Top along with him.

Zico belonged to a rich foster family which is why he was able to enroll into Seoul Academy along with Top and I.

--End of flashback--

“BWOH?!” Key said loudly and unamused after I told them my story. He was seriously irritated, “That’s how they became your ‘friends‘?!”

“Excuse me, hyung, but,” Minho interrupted, “Where were WE in all of your story?” he said, slightly dumbfounded.

“Very inspirational, Onew,” Jonghyun laughed at me.

“So they were like, part of your charity project, huh?” Key said eyeing me with his arms crossed and his leg swung over his knee. I shook my head at my indifferent friends, “So how do you explain ending up as a hostage as well?” he pressed, gritting his teeth at me.

I sighed, “I thought they were just beating up some random kid again so I decided to just bust them to be funny,” I said putting my face into my palms, “I didn’t know it would be Taemin.” I confessed. “I didn’t know Zico would betray me either after all the years I’ve helped him.”

“PABO!” Key erupted, growling at me, “Your FRIENDS are responsible for this, and so are YOU, PABO!”

“They’re expelled..” I said quietly, trying to ignore Key’s deathly stare, “They’ll never come back, I guarantee you..” I looked over to Joyce who seemed just as upset as Taemin, “Mianhe..” 

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Oooh ~ So that's how Onew became friends with Zico and Top! he's so kind :') hehe. And diva key xD poor taeminnie );  Poor Onew :(

Thank's for reading guys! Comment comment <3

Have a great day!!