It was almost a ritual for Kyungsoo to stay after school every Friday in order to help out and tidy up his old teacher's class before he left. It started during his second year when he was appointed the job by his teacher, who treated him very well - unlike the others, who were just scared of him and avoided making eye contact. So, Kyungsoo felt that although he was already in his third year and was out of that class, he should still repay the teacher, whenever she needed help. Besides, the teacher was a single mom and had to leave early on Fridays in order to pick up her kids from the nearby elementary school.

Kyungsoo felt like it was the right thing to do. 

However, today Kyungsoo had finished cleaning later than the usual. Most of the teachers had already left and the only ones at school were the janitors. Seeing that it was already getting dark, Kyungsoo returns the mops and brooms to the janitors room. Kyungsoo leaves the things on the floor before he makes his way out.

Then Kyungsoo feels someone tap on his shoulder and he scream. Loud. When he turns around he sees Jongin staring at him, Kyungsoo takes a sigh of relief. At least it was just Jongin and not a potentially dangerous person like he thought. He takes notice of Jongin's outfit and notices that Jongin has switched out of his uniform and has his basketball jersey on instead. He watches, as Jongin wipes the sweat on his forehead, before he speaks. 

"For someone who doesn't talk, you really do scream loud-"

"What are you doing here?" Kyungsoo questions. "It's almost 6-"

Jongin smirks, putting his hand on his waist. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"Yeah, you go ahead, let me just lock this door."

A voice interrupts. Before they know it, the door suddenly closes. Behind the door, a man hums to a song, as he begins to lock the door, completely unaware of the fact that Jongin and Kyungsoo were still inside. But before they can say something, the man leaves, leaving the two locked inside of the janitors room, surrounded with mops and buckets. And no signal to call for help. 

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah, uh-oh." Jongin repeats. He was only supposed to follow Kyungsoo to ask what he was doing and why he hadn't called, but he never intended on being stuck with him, in the janitor's room. "What are we going to do?"

Kyungsoo shrugs. "We could try to call-"

"There's no reception in here. So lets scratch that idea out. How about we bang on the door until someone hears us? Or even better let's just try to break down the door with our feet-"

"That would be vandalism of school property." Kyungsoo replies, innocently. 

"Then what should we do? Stay here until morning?" Jongin asks, raising his voice a little.

"I'm sorry." 

Jongin sighs. It wasn't actually Kyungsoo fault and Jongin was a little mad at himself for making it sound like he blamed the latter for all of this. It was Jongin's decision anyways to take a break from practice to talk to Kyungsoo anyways. "Don't be. It's not your fault-"

"But aren't you mad at me? I got you stuck here-"

"It was my decision." Jongin replies, smiling slightly. "I told the coach that I was going to take a break because I saw you through the windows of the gym going here. So don't blame yourself for what happened."

"Why did you come here? Did you need something?"

"I wanted to talk to you. You haven't called." Jongin says. "I gave you my number and you still haven't called me. It's been 3 days, Kyungsoo. I slept late for 3 nights thinking you'd call."

"I never said I would-"

"I know but maybe a little part of me was hoping you would." Jongin mutters.

"Huh?" 

Jongin sighs. "Nothing. Now, how about you tell me what you're doing here so late at night. Shouldn't you be at home or something? It's really late."

"My old teacher asked if I could clean her class. So I did-" 

Jongin raises an eyebrow. "Why doesn't she just call the janitor's? Isn't that one of their jobs to do anywyas? She shouldn't have to ask you to do it. You're still just a student, Kyungsoo."

"But she's my favorite teacher-"

"But even so, You're only job is to go to school and study. And occasionally befriend people but that's it. You shouldn't even be cleaning up her class. Next time she asks, just say no."

"I can't. I'm not good with rejecting people-"

"Then I'll do it for you." Jongin suggests. "When she asks you to clean her class again, tell me and I'll reject her for you. You really need to learn to say no to people. Just like how you need to learn how to express yourself. Rejecting people is the first step."

"Okay. I'm sorry-"

"Second step- stop saying your sorry to everyone. It makes you sound weak. Got it?"

Kyungsoo nods. "Got it."

-

"Where's Jongin?" Chanyeol, questions, as he takes the ball away from Kris, who groans because he just lost his chance to score all thanks to Chanyeol. When Kris finally retrieves the ball again, he dribbles it towards their basket, with Chanyeol and the rest of their team following behind him. "He's been gone for a long time-"

"Can you shut the up?" Kris asks, being to get annoyed. He's only a couple more steps away from the basket and is trying to concentrate but Chanyeol keeps interrupting his thoughts. "We just need one more point to go home. I'm trying to focus-"

"Gosh. I was just worried about Jongin. It's been a long time since he left."

"I know me too." Kris sighs, as he continues to dribble the ball past his opponents and then finally tries to shoot the ball into the basket. When the ball makes it way in, the coach blows the whistle, indicating that the game was over and that Kris's team had won.

"Go Kris!" A voice in the bleachers shouts cheerfully.

The voice sounded so familiar that it caused Kris to turn around almost immediately. Kris's suspicions were later confirmed when he sees Tao happily making his way towards him with his arms wide open like he was expecting Kris to run up to him too and hug him. Kris sighs heavily; he was tired. He puts up a hand to stop Tao from coming closer, causing Tao to halt and a frown begins to form on his face. 

"Go home Tao." 

"But I-"

"No buts." Kris replies. "Just go home."

"Okay but at least take these." Tao says, handing Kris a plastic bag filled with a bag of Kris's favorite chips, sandwich, and drink . "You've been practicing since 3 and you probably haven't had a proper meal since."

"Bye Kris."

"Don't you think you're treating him to coldly?" Chanyeol asks, putting his arm on Kris's shoulder, as they both watch Tao walk out of the gym with his belongings. "The poor guy was just doing something nice for you and you still push him away. The least you could've done was thank him-"

"Don't tell me what to do." Kris rolls his eyes, before pivoting his feet towards the direction of the locker rooms to shower and change, before heading home. 

-

"Jongin." Chanyeol calls, as he wanders around the school in search of his betfriend. He had already taken a shower after practice and was about to go home, when he realized that Jongin's belongings were still in his locker. Chanyeol scratches his head, in confusion. He didn't get it. If Jongin was still at school, why couldn't Chanyeol find him? And why wasn't Jongin picking up to his phone calls?

Chanyeol was about to give up, when suddenly he hear voices coming out of the janitor's room and as he nears the door, he hears Jongin's voice. "Jongin?"

"Chan... I....Oh....I...." 

Chanyeol hears over the door, causing him to blink in confusion. He tries to lean in closer and puts his ears on the door to try and get a better understanding of what Jongin was trying to say. "Slow down. I can't hear you. Can you hear me?"

"What?"

"Can. You. Hear. Me." Chanyeol shouts, as an attempt for Jongin to understand clearer. 

"Oh. Yeah." Jongin replies a little louder. "Listen I'm stuck here with Kyungsoo. Can you call someone to unlock the door?"

Chanyeol tilts his head. He was pretty sure that most of the teachers were gone already and the only one he knew that was still at school was his basketball coach. That is if he hadn't left yet.

"I'll go get coach."

-

"You're the best." Jongin says, with a smug look on his face. Chanyeol had gotten the keys from his coach a couple of minutes ago, before unlocking the door and being greeted with a tight embrace by Jongin and a soft 'thank you' from Kyungsoo. 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes. "You're lucky I came back to look for your ."

"Well thanks, now Kyungsoo and I have to leave. It's getting late." Jongin replies, pulling Kyungsoo beside him. 

Chanyeol lets out a laugh when he sees Jongin attempting to put his arm around Kyungsoo's, only to get shot down by the latter. Chanyeol shook his head. He didn't see what Jongin had seen in Kyungsoo but considering the fact that Jongin came out alive, maybe Kyungsoo wasn't a serial killer like the rumors had said. 

Maybe Kyungsoo isn't that bad.

-

"Chanyeol was being such a today." Baekhyun groans, as he begins to talk about Chanyeol to his bestfriend, who just lays on his bed and hums, as he looks through his phone. "You know how our teacher paired us up, right? Well today, the teacher made us write a bunch of what we like and what we don't like to give to our partners and you know what he wrote for what he disliked?"

"What did he write, Baek?"

"He wrote dogs. Who the dislikes dogs? Well, I'll tell you, Park-ing-Chanyeol. That's who."

Luhan laughs. It was ridiculous how Baekhyun always gets so worked up over everything Chanyeol does. "Relax. Maybe he's just a cat person. Dogs aren't for everyone."

"That doesn't look like a cat person to me." Baekhyun replies. "You know what, Chanyeol doesn't deserve pets. He might kill them because of his -like personality-"

"I don't see why you guys hate each other so much." Luhan sighs, as he begins to sit up on the bed to face Baekhyun, who just continued to pace back in forth in his bedroom. "You guys used to be friends-"

"Yeah, emphasis on the 'used to'. We used to be friends until he turned into a totally ." Baekhyun replies. 

During their first year of highschool, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were friends after having basically all of the same classes together. The two did everything together, until one day when Chanyeol decided that Baekhyun wasn't cool enough for him and decided to ditch him for cooler and older senior friends - who by now have already graduated. After that, Chanyeol dropped out of all the classes he had with Baekhyun and rearranged his whole schedule so that that he wouldn't have to see the latter anymore. Jongdae and Baekhyun got together a couple more months after.

First year marked the beginning and the ending of Chanyeol and Baekhyun's friendship.

"Maybe he had a reason-"

"No." Baekhyun says, sternly. "He's just a , who doesn't care about anyone but himself."

"Trust me. He cares more than you think." Luhan replies almost as a whisper, as he starts to recall past memories. 

"Did you say something?" 

"No."

-

First Year 

Luhan hums along to a song, as he makes his way into the restroom. 

His english teacher was absent today, leaving the class with a y substititute teacher that commanded everyone to work quietly by theirselves, as they did the classwork their teacher had assigned.  Instead, however, Luhan opted to go to the restroom, as an attempt to escape the boredom even if it was only for a couple of minutes.

At least he was away from the quiet atmosphere. 

However when he turned the corner, he couldn't help but overhear a conversation from a couple of people in the a hallway. He turns his body towards the wall and tilts his head a little to see what was happening. He notices 2 taller students violently pushing another student on the wall, as the student looks down -  his fringe covering his face completely. From the looks of it, it seemed as though the student was getting bullied. Luhan wanted to help him, but what would he do? Luhan wasn't necessarily tough and built, like other guys. So instead, Luhan opted to just hope that the guy would be okay.

"What you're not going to fight back, Park." A voice said, grabbing onto Chanyeol's throat. "Are you just going to tell your dad and get me suspended? Because you know what? I don't give a . After what your father did with my dad? I don't ing care anymore."

"That's enough... Changmin." His friend said, tugging Changmin's arm as an attempt for him to let go of Chanyeol's throat. "He gets it-"

"Shut up, Yunho!" Changmin shouted, furiously, pulling his arm away from Yunho's grasp. Yunho flinched; he had never seen Changmin this mad before. Not even when he found out that his boyfriend got pregnant with another guy's . "His father killed my dad. This isn't enough compared to the pain I've been through."  

Another punch sent the student to his knees, but he still remained silent. 

"Still not going to talk?" The guy scoffed, looking at Chanyeol in disgust. "You know what? Let's see how you feel when all of your loved ones get hurt. Then maybe you'll talk-"

"Don't." Chanyeol replied, gritting his teeth, as he looked up. "Leave them out of this. Leave them all out of this. You can do whatever you want with me, just don't hurt anyone else-"

"Be careful of who you hang out with. Because you'll never know when I'll strike." Changmin smirked, before giving Yunho a sign for them to return to their class. "Let's go. I'm done."

Luhan waited until the two had left, before rushing towards Chanyeol's side, making sure he was alright. "Are you okay? I just-"

"-saw nothing." Chanyeol replied, getting up to adjust himself. He wiped the blood off of his mouth before he spoke again. "Now go back to class. I don't need your pity. I'm fine-"

"You might not know me, but I know you. And since I know you, I should help you." Luhan protested, causing Chanyeol to roll his eye. "You're Baekhyun's friend-"

Chanyeol thought for a moment. "I'm not his friend."

"But-"

"But nothing. We were never friends to begin with. I was just using him for my grades." Chanyeol replied and watched as Luhan's face turned sour. "Listen, I don't need a lecture right now. Can you please leave? "

"No-"

"Then I'll leave. Don't tell Baekhyun what had just happened. I don't want him to pity me." 

"." Luhan said, as he watched Chanyeol return to his class.

A/N: It's a short update but I just wanted to set the scene for Baekyeol. With their past and all.