Byun Baekhyun's past, present, and most likely, future, could be summed up with a single word: bullied. From the very first day of kindergarten, to currently, his senior year of high, kids had picked on him. He knew that he was weaker, never been as physically strong or tall as some of the other boys in his class, smarter, a bit of a bookworm, and definitely an introvert. All of these things, and other factors, had made him somewhat of an easy target, along with the fact that he never fought back. The bullies he had met in high school though, Sehun, Jongin, and their leader Kris, were the worst by far; they did not know the meaning of the word mercy.

Due to the constant bullying, he had an inferiority complex, never thinking he was good enough, always thinking negatively about every aspect of himself; he hated himself, not the bullies, for the way he was now. He was long past the point of blaming the bullies for his problems. At some point, he had turned to books, reading all the time, studying all the time; having good grades became the only thing that that made him feel some fraction of self worth.

He had had a few friends through the years, but he had constantly been moved around quite a bit since his parents genuinely feared for his wellbeing. Every school he'd gone to, at some point, there was a serious bullying related incident that led to him being withdrawn from that school and being sent to another one; most of these incidents had landed him in the hospital, unconscious, most of the time with a concussion or a broken bone or two. These incidents were all very similar inside Baekhyun’s head, so they were all starting to blur together, and no longer discernible from one or the other.

When he started high school, though, he began keeping these bullying incidents a secret from his parents, somehow getting them to believe that he wasn't being bullied for the first time in his life. The truth was the bullying had only intensified, but he managed to keep himself away from anything severe enough to send him to the hospital, and it was also thanks to this that he met two of his now close friends, Yixing and Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo was also a victim of bullying, but he fought back, so he was left alone most of the time. Baekhyun had met him when he had accidentally run in to the other, causing his books and papers to go flying, and both them ended up on the ground. He had apologised profusely while picking up his things before thanking Kyungsoo for helping him before running away. They met again when Kyungsoo helped chase away some bullies that were teasing him. After that, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo became rather good friends. They spent most of their time studying together, but sometimes, they would just do something else, like going to the park, or a movie. Kyungsoo was of a small stature, and generally perceived as weak, but Baekhyun learned that he was anything but.

About two months after meeting Kyungsoo, Baekhyun met Yixing, almost the same way that he had met Kyungsoo, what with the bumping into him, him helping him pick up his things, and finally saving him from some bullies. Baekhyun had laughed, after noticing the trend, and realized just how clumsy and helpless he really was. Yixing was overprotective. If he could have his way, he would most likely be by Baekhyun's side all the time. Sometimes he was a little strict, and demanding, but Baekhyun knew that he only had his best interests at heart. Yixing was a year older so Baekhyun found himself relying on him a lot, since the older male had been giving him a lot of the support that he had been desperately needing and craving since kindergarten.

So, when Baekhyun ran into Chanyeol, once again getting his books and papers knocked flying, Baekhyun was sure, or so he hoped, that he could make a new friend. And as he sat there, Chanyeol by his side, his entire body aching and sore, he asked the questions that he always asked, because he deeply believed the words to be true.

"Why would you bother saving someone so worthless?"

And Chanyeol paused, a long and deafening silence, leaving Baekhyun thinking the worst. He didn't dare turn to look at the other, terrified of what kind of expression would be on his face. He was sure that Chanyeol felt sorry for him, pitied him.

"Um, well, you see…" Chanyeol began, hesitantly, and Baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut, trying to prepare himself for what he knew was probably to come. "I… I wanted to be friends." And those words were not what he had expected.

Baekhyun finally to turned to look at Chanyeol, and saw that the other had a shy smile on his face. And then he was returning the smile while wrapping his arms around the taller male, feeling a sense of comfort and safety he hadn't felt since he had met Yixing.

"Thank you, Chanyeol-ssi…"

"So, what are your intentions with my Baekhyunnie?" Yixing asked seriously, his eyes narrowed and standing protectively between Baekhyun and Chanyeol. "If you dare hurt him…"

Baekhyun looked over Yixing’s shoulder at Chanyeol and mouthed a 'sorry' at him, and Chanyeol responded by shaking his head slowly. The taller male looked rather nervous as he turned his gaze back towards Yixing.

"I… I just want to be friends!" He exclaimed quickly and loudly, waving his hands in front of himself. "I won't hurt him, I swear!"

"Prove it." Yixing stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What?" Chanyeol's forehead was creased in confusion and he looked at Baekhyun to see the other giving him a shrug.

"You heard me. Prove that you want to be friends with him, that you won't hurt him."

Baekhyun laughed rather nervously, and placed a gentle hand upon Yixing's shoulder, hoping to make him stop, unfortunately, the other didn't even react.

Chanyeol looked like he wanted to just run away, a drop of sweat slowly rolling down his forehead. "Prove… how?"

Yixing didn't speak right away this time. He paused, let his arms fall to his sides and looked straight into Chanyeol's eyes, causing the latter to flinch. If looks could kill…

"I will give you one week," Yixing began, his gaze turning to Baekhyun, a slight smile on his face. "And after that week, if I see a hair out of place on my Baekhyunnie's head, you will have hell to pay. Do you understand me?"

Chanyeol gulped audibly and nodded his head quickly, looking very much like a bobble head, it was comical, but Yixing wasn't laughing. "Ye-yes, sir…"

"Good." Yixing's mouth settled into a deep frown, and he gave Chanyeol one more intense glare before turning and walking away after waving happily at Baekhyun.

"I'm sorry…" Baekhyun bowed slightly towards Chanyeol, before smiling rather sheepishly at him. "He means well… he's just been rather… overprotective since that one time he saved me from some bullies."

"No, I get it," Chanyeol told him with an understanding smile. "I would be too, and I swear to you that I will get you through this week unscathed."

Baekhyun felt like he had his own personal bodyguard. Chanyeol escorted him from his house to school, from class to class, and back home again, keeping any bullies that even tried to come near him at bay. Despite his best efforts though, Chanyeol still couldn't be there all the time, and it was those times that Baekhyun was scared, terrified of what might or might not come, and feel just as worthless as before. Four days passed without any harm befalling Baekhyun, but on the fifth day, the bullies came after him when he was at his locker after school, while Chanyeol had yet to arrive to walk him home.

"Hey freak," Sehun, the bully with the bleached hair taunted, coming closer. "Finally alone, huh? You're nothing now, you hear me, nothing! Now kneel, and maybe we won't hurt you."

Baekhyun briefly considered doing as the other said, but he took one look at Kris and Jongin's sneering faces, and knew that he needed to stand up for himself.

"N…no!" He was surprised by how strong his voice sounded, and so were the bullies, surprise written all over their faces; he was proud of himself for finally standing up for himself, and not being a doormat.

"What did you say to us?!" Sehun screamed, pulling back a fist and slamming it into Baekhyun's left cheek. "You dare tell us no?!"

Sehun was seething, and as Baekhyun lay on the floor, his cheek throbbing, he almost regretted his choice, but in the end he knew it had been the right thing to do. As Sehun and the other two loomed over him, though, he let out a very pathetic whimper before curling into a ball, hoping to protect himself.

"Stop!" Baekhyun heard Chanyeol's voice over the pounding of fists and feet on his small form. This time unlike last time, the bullies didn't stop or even pause what they were doing, still pounding away. "I said stop!"

And then Baekhyun suddenly felt no more pain. Confused, he looked up to see Chanyeol shielding him from the blows, his face scrunched up in pain. Baekhyun wanted them to stop, but his heart was pounding in his chest, and he was frozen, his body refusing to move. Three different noises completely overwhelmed his senses: Chanyeol's grunts of pain as he shielded him, his heart thudding heavily and quickly in his chest, and the bullies' laughter, loud and noisy over everything else. All at once, it became deafeningly quiet. Baekhyun looked up, Chanyeol was still crouching over him, panting heavily, but the bullies were nowhere in sight.

"Are… are you okay?" Chanyeol gasped, wincing as he slowly eased his body into a sitting position, leaning heavily against the lockers. "I'm… sorry, for not getting here… sooner…"

"I'm fine, what about you?" Baekhyun whispered, getting into a kneeling position before running a finger over a cut on Chanyeol's arm, causing the other to wince. "I'm sorry this happened to you… why did you do it? We barely know each other…"

"Because I care about you," Chanyeol stated, his voice unwavering, his words honest. "And everything else I tried had failed… that had been my last resort, to be honest."

Baekhyun wrapped his arms around Chanyeol tightly, unable to contain the tears that were slowly falling down his cheeks. He'd only known the other for barely a week, and already he owed him so much.

"Thank you, Chanyeol-ssi…" He hiccupped into Chanyeol's shoulder through his tears. "I… I don't understand why you would be willing to sacrifice so much for someone like me, but I deeply appreciate it."

"I'm just doing what I should," Chanyeol replied, absentmindedly running a finger over the bruise forming on Baekhyun's cheek. "Yixing's going to have my head for this…"

And until that moment, Baekhyun had forgotten about Chanyeol's promise to Yixing, or he had pushed it to a far corner of his mind. Was the taller male just doing this because Yixing had threatened him? Did that mean that he was lying earlier? Doubt and fear clouded Baekhyun's thoughts as Chanyeol suddenly started to laugh. Baekhyun smiled, unwrapping his arms from around the other, but the smile never quite reached his eyes. And as Chanyeol walked him home, Baekhyun tried to convince himself that Chanyeol truly cared about him, even if he would never understand why.

"I should never have trusted you!" Yixing yelled, his arms wrapped protectively around Baekhyun. "He's so small and fragile, how could you let this happen?!"

Chanyeol was on his knees, begging Yixing for forgiveness, for another chance, like Yixing was Baekhyun's parent.

"I'm sorry!" Chanyeol's forehead was touching the floor now, his face hidden from view. "I tried to protect him, I really did!"

"He really did, Yixing hyung…" Baekhyun told the older male in defense of his new friend. "He even took a beating for me…"

Yixing was still frowning, but his posture was a bit more relaxed. "Did you?"

Chanyeol looked up, nodded furiously, and Baekhyun could see the sincerity in his eyes, that he truly hadn't meant for Baekhyun to get hurt.

"Fine," Yixing replied with a sigh. "I will allow you to stay friends with Baekhyun. If you ever hurt him though…"

Chanyeol gulped audibly, and nodded numbly; the threat was perfectly clear without words. Baekhyun winced at the unspoken threat, and then pulled Yixing into a hug.

"Thank you, hyung," Baekhyun whispered, truly meaning it. "Thank you for caring, and taking care of me."

Yixing sighed and wrapped his arms around Baekhyun tightly again. "It's my pleasure, Baekhyun-ah. You deserve happiness."

They let each other go, sharing a knowing smile, as Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol, he saw the other offer him a nervous smile, but he was definitely intimidated by Yixing.

"Well I have to get going," Yixing stated, sounding almost like a different person. "I'll be watching you." Yixing walked away while pointing two fingers to his own eyes before pointing them at Chanyeol.

"He means well," Baekhyun said again, rubbing the back of his neck. "He wouldn't hurt you… most likely…"

Chanyeol shivered at the thought before placing a long arm across Baekhyun's shoulders, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I'm just glad I can still be friends with you," Chanyeol chuckled half-heartedly. "I was terrified that he would never allow me to see you again."

Baekhyun laughed with him this time, and he wondered, absently, how he could have possibly doubted this man, this man that made his heart beat just a little faster when he was around.

"I would never let that happen…"

End of chapter 2

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So uh, yeah, Yixing is overprotective, and he just wants Baekhyun to be safe... and Chanyeol... is getting there? We'll meet Kyungsoo in a later chapter, not sure when yet... But anyway, hope you liked it =3

Thank you so much for the overwhelming amount of support on this fic ; A ; I can't really comprehend why there are so many upvotes and subscribers already, but I appreciate every single one of you, and just, thank you, all of you, so much. <3 It means the world to me.

Until the next chapter ^_^ which might be next week? or maybe not? I can't really say right now... but uh, should be next week or the week after.