(12) LOST & FOUND

A few days later, Baekhyun brings up his day job to Kyungsoo when Sunny comes home with a note from town. She hands it to Baekhyun, who makes a face when he receives it, and right when he opens it he rolls his eyes. He folds it back up and holds it between his pointer and middle finger, looking to Kyungsoo who merely raises his eyebrows in question.

“You know how I said we were in faction D yesterday?” Kyungsoo nods his head a little. “Good. That’s good. Well, faction D- the one we’re in now- is the biggest faction in the city. Basically, we’re the commoners. We pretty much live normally compared to the others, and I guess you can say that we have a little city of our own.”

Kyungsoo only nods his head, but he’s still a little confused on the whole “really big city separated into five parts” thing. He lets Baekhyun continue, anyway.

“Us D-faction people have jobs. Like me!” He exclaims, spreading his arms out and sarcastically showing his joy with another roll of his eyes. “I have a job. To live here, you need to work. Do you see where I’m getting at?”

Making a face, Kyungsoo slouches in disappointment at his words. Baekhyun looks back to the clock on the kitchen wall before grabbing his keys on the counter.

“Come on. Let’s get going, then.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but feel irritated once he stepped foot outside, the harsh light of the sun beaming right into his eyes as if it wanted to blind him as punishment for staying indoors for so long. It wasn’t his fault that the cool air conditioned household had a better grip on him than mother nature did. Maybe it was the scented candles or the comfortable furniture in every room in the house that made him so lax.

It was as if there was a giant, wet blanket smothering all of his energy and it kept him sleepy, sluggish and much less talkative when nobody was home, which was often since Sunny always liked to go shopping and drag Baekhyun with her. Baekhyun had always loved to go with her, occasionally coming back with an item of his own or a repetitive mantra of “Why she should’ve just left that ugly piece of clothing at the store.” She always asked Kyungsoo if he wanted to tag along with them, but he didn’t want to be a bother so he’d just shake his head and wave them off, watching from the window until the car disappeared in the distance.

Now that he was back in action, he couldn’t help but feel the energy surge back into his body- even if he wasn’t necessarily excited about it. The sun warmed his cooled hands as he gripped the sides of the open-roof, ruby car. He sat in shotgun since Sunny had instructed them to play another game of rock paper scissors before hopping into the car, giving a small apology for the back seat being so full of empty cans and bottles to recycle once they got back. Baekhyun was the one who ended up having to become buddy buddy with the aluminum soda cans that reeked of cavities and caffeine, though, much to Kyungsoo’s hidden joy. Kyungsoo begins to think that his luck is just that good.

Much to his dismay, though, Sunny’s driving had him stiff and uncomfortable as his breath hitched with every bump in the road. She wasn’t horribly bad, but the way that his body swayed even with a seatbelt on made him slightly afraid of what would happen if they had collided with another driver. The only real calming side of the drive was that the inside of the car was packed with the smell of roses and vanilla, a similar scent to the one in the house. Kyungsoo likes how Sunny tends to bring a little piece of home wherever she goes, even if it’s just a little car scent.

The city sure was frightening. The buildings seemed to rise endlessly in the sky as they drove by, glass structures almost threatening to topple down on them the higher the rose and the more Kyungsoo looked. They sped past reflections of their car and others, and the sight is so dizzying that he begins to feel his eyes turn inwards. He then let his gaze wander off to something else before he could curl over the car door and hurl onto the streets, already feeling his stomach begin to churn with nausea. Even in traffic, where everything was slow and steady, he still felt a little scared. The acidic bile in his throat and white knuckles from holding onto his chair calmed his body through each jerk and movement from the car, and Sunny is still trying her best to steer around the peasants on the road as they finally arrived to their destination.

It really was dystopian, as Baekhyun had described. Kyungsoo confirms that when he steps out of the car, getting a better look at the mass amount of shops in a giant shopping district. They’re all incredibly crowded together, and some of the shops are piled atop of each other with small staircases leading above. Some seem newer than others, but in this area, the metal walls are browned from rust and everything is very clustered.

“Don’t forget, I’m picking you guys up in about an hour so don’t keep me waiting! Bye boys!” Sunny said cheerfully before attempting to drive off, accidentally going in reverse before setting the gear in drive and really leaving them.

Baekhyun was already far away from the street by the time Kyungsoo turned around. “You should move next time. She could have run you over, meat head.”

Rolling his eyes at the new pet name, he was quick to get to the door before Baekhyun left him behind, not wanting to be stranded on the streets without a guide to keep him somewhat safe. The smell of old wood aded through his senses and reminded him of the bookshelf that they had at home. Books lined the walls and each shelf rose at least twice his height before becoming filled with vases and other odd trinkets. It was hard to tell what they exactly were since they were so high up, while he was pretty much stuck to the ground.

Kyungsoo followed the dingy blue carpet down the hallways until spotting something dangling off one of the bookshelves. He stopped in his tracks in hopes that it would fall somewhere where he wasn’t currently standing, but the hanging object remained in its place and just swung back and forth. The closer he got, the less the ceiling lights blinded his vision and he was able to see a shoe swaying around and then a leg, and then finally a body.

“Hey! The boss doesn’t pay you to sleep, so get up!” Kyungsoo turned around to find Baekhyun raising his fist at the sky, his actions a bit weird until the figure made his presence known from on top of the bookshelf. Kyungsoo waddled over to Baekhyun to look directly upwards at whoever he was talking to.

“But Baek, I’m tired!” The person’s whining didn’t match his deep voice, but then again, it could’ve been because he just woke up. The boy stifled a yawn before stretching his arms up and then swinging both legs off the side. “So tired…”

“If you don’t get down here right now, I swear, I won’t talk to you for the rest of the day. And I’m working today, you know.”

Baekhyun’s words seemed to get through to the other boy as he hurried to try and climb down the bookshelf, letting out a medium pitched squeak when his foot slipped, sending a book flying down with its pages fluttering in the wind. Baekhyun had managed to see this coming and moved before he was hit, but Kyungsoo on the other hand, stayed frozen as he watched the book fall straight for him. He kept his eyes locked on it until the spine smacked him right dab in the middle of his forehead.

“Oh my god! Kyungsoo, are you okay? Damn it, be careful up there!” Baekhyun roared, causing the boy climbing down to stumble even more. His grip on the bookshelf slipped away the more Baekhyun yelled and eventually, he too fell down onto his , the tears already starting to pool as his tailbone ached.

“Sorry…” His apology was met with no acknowledgement as Baekhyun worried over Kyungsoo, who was too busy staring up at what was in back of them. They both turned to look to find the entire bookshelf leaning over, and Baekhyun was already trying to drag Kyungsoo by his wrist, letting out a scream when Kyungsoo’s body remained still.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Kyungsoo in that moment. His body froze up once the first book fell down and now the entire bookshelf was coming for him, leaving him immobile and shaking in his shoes. The thought of being crushed by that amount of books was scary and his thoughts couldn’t process in that short amount of time before he was buried alive by the hoard of novels.

Why was he so afraid? His last hope was Baekhyun, who he prayed was going to get him out of this mess, but to his dismay, the boy that caused this mess to happen pushed him away, using his body as a shield over Kyungsoo’s own as he braced for impact. Kyungsoo shut his eyes and hoped that the anxiety coursing through his body would pass before he passed out from shock.

The loud rumbling continued for a few seconds before everything was silent again, save the huffing and muffled voices. “Guys? Guys! Can you guys hear me?!”

Something was crushing Kyungsoo’s chest as he tried his best to breath, his eyes searching for a way out as his heartbeat skyrocketed. His vision flashes a bit, the scene changing with each split second that he breathed in and out. Before he could let out a whimper for someone to save him, something moved from above him and pulled him out into Baekhyun’s worried arms, the latter checking over his body and fretting with his eyebrows pinching in frustration.

“Sorry Baek, I…” Baekhyun stopped to give a mean glare to the boy before going back to babying Kyungsoo again, not even bothering to say anything at the moment.

Kyungsoo’s half lidded eyes managed to see who Baekhyun had been irritated with since he had first started yelling, almost gasping at how big he was. The boy towered over his own figure and even if he was on the ground begging for Baekhyun to accept his apology, the boy was easily taller than the both of them. “Who… Are you?”

The boy’s mouth opened and closed as the words got stuck in his throat, anxious eyes wandering over to Baekhyun who just sighed. “This is Kyungsoo, the boy that I’ve been telling you about.”

“Wait, who?” Baekhyun groaned and jabbed a thumb towards the clueless boy.    

“And this is Park Chanyeol, the idiot you wanted to talk to.”  

The one now known as Chanyeol rises even taller than he already was as he puffed out his chest. “Nice to meet you Kyungsoo! I’m Chanyeol and- wait… Do you really think I’m an idiot?” He asks, slouching over again. Kyungsoo’s brows creased together as his only clue to getting his memories back continued to pry at Baekhyun who was too busy picking up the books.

“Shut up, Chanyeol! You’re just lucky these books were paper back or else you two would’ve been dead!” The books in Baekhyun’s hands were flung towards Chanyeol as the latter tried his best not to get pelted in the face.

Kyungsoo found it amusing how someone so small could frighten someone so large, the corner of his lips curving upwards as he watched Baekhyun continue to yap at Chanyeol about how much of an idiot he was, nothing else. It was like everything stopped there despite the colorful vocabulary he’s come to know about Baekhyun.

This came to an end about a minute later after Kyungsoo’s short attention span had enough of seeing Chanyeol being kicked around like a rag doll. He opted on stopping Baekhyun first, but the pain in his head wasn’t quite gone yet and he’d rather not get another injury from an inanimate object. Taking it into consideration that Chanyeol was located on the ground with his back pressed against the floor, Kyungsoo grabbed him by the ear and yanked him to the side before making him sit and face him. He might’ve dragged him a little too much though and Chanyeol’s stretched ear made Kyungsoo alarmed.

“I, I’m sorry…” He mumbled, feeling guilty for handling the boy so roughly.

Chanyeol pinched at his own ear with his teeth clenched together, but after a few seconds of deep breathing, he looked as good as ever. “For what?”

Kyungsoo fidgeted in front of the two and kept his voice soft. “For stretching out your ear…”

Chanyeol tilted his head and hummed, still confused by what Kyungsoo was trying to say when Baekhyun broke out into a fit of laughter, leaning against a bookshelf for support as he hunched over. “You, you’re so funny Kyungsoo! You don’t have to worry because his ears are just naturally like that.”

“Oh…” He breathed out, still quiet as Chanyeol complained to Baekhyun about how he didn’t like being teased about his ears. The boy covered his red ears the best he could as he pushed the bookshelf back in place, arm muscles rippling with what seemed to be such an easy task. The fallen shelf was placed upright once more as Chanyeol carelessly chucked the books back in place, only paying enough attention to make sure that they were all facing the same way. Some books were put in upside down while other ones with names such as “Mathus” and “Milla” were placed in the X section. Everything was c