Two

Blending in had always been something Kyungsoo had taken a sort of pride in. He wasn't the stereotypical version of this, either. He could remember reading about protaganists who claimed they blended into the wall, but always got bullied.

Kyungsoo didn't get bullied. Well, a little bit, like the dreadful words he'd find carved or written on his desk in the mornings. No one ever owned up to doing it, though, so he usually washed the words off, or covered the carvings with his books, and pretended they weren't there.

Kyungsoo also had friends. They were few, but he always preferred a few reliable close friends over many distant friends. If you could count Byun Baekhyun as reliable, anyway. He was friends with a couple of the guys on the baseball team, and on speaking terms with the majority of them. Baekhyun hung around Chanyeol a lot, so Kyungsoo had become decent friends with him. Joonmyun was very kind too, not exactly the best ball player on the field, but he could hit a double or triple no problem. Jongdae was annoying, but nice to be around if you were feeling down.

So, even though the friends were few, it was alright. Kyungsoo was happy most of the time.

*     *     *

It was time for practice after school. They had a scrimage in a day, so they were doing their best to get down team coordination. Fly balls tended to go into the outfield, and though Chanyeol had long arms perfect for catching up high, he got clumsy when throwing, and when it was supposed to throw it to his cut-off, he tried to throw it right to second base or first base, where the cut-off was supposed to throw the ball to one of the other bases.

Kyungsoo sat on the home bench under the shade the tiny shelter provided next to Baekhyun, who was currently making the team goody bags for half time tomorrow. The players usually got really thirsty and needed something with sugar in it, so they put candy in the bags, along with a few protein bars. Then they would make the players sandwiches tomorrow in case they needed something a bit more filling, and then of course water or a sports drink.

Some of the ball players had playfully complained that only kids got goody bags and snacks at half time, but after the first game when they got to eat while listening to their coach give them a pep talk, they stopped complaining. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo spoiled them, in a sense, and most of them were grateful.

Kyungsoo glanced up