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"What kind of a teacher gets into fights with students?”

Kai has been shaking his head in confusion since you met Chanyeol and even with a bit of clarity, who he is still isn’t very obvious.

You’re now stuck in Seoul having to figure out how to convince a fire user/teacher/who knows what to come back to a different dimension with you.

The halls are empty now since classes have begun again, and you and Kai are wandering around looking for Chanyeol’s classroom. Kai walks next you and places both of his hands behind his head. “Maybe we can, like, kidnap him or something.” You immediately hit him in the stomach. “We are NOT doing that. He’d probably turn us into burnt toast.” There’s a small moment of silence and then you both burst out laughing at the thought of you being toast.

“For real, though,” Kai stops walking and turns to face you in the hallway. You stop as well, searching his face. “There’s almost no chance of him coming with us. But we have to think of something.” You sigh deeply and nod your head in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right.” You walk forward once more but continue your conversation with Kai. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

You hear Kai let out a laugh while walking beside you. “Nice metaphor. That was definitely better than your toast joke.”

You smile and take a swing at Kai’s stomach again but he dodges it nicely this time, smiling along with you. Suddenly, a door swings open next to where you are standing and students begins filing out of the classroom. Eventually, the rest of the classroom doors swing open and there are now numerous students flooding the hallway. It’s almost too much to bear and it could easily make someone claustrophobic.

You turn to the side expecting to see Kai standing there, but somehow the crowd of students has separated you from him. You do your best to stand on your tip toes, searching through the crammed bodies for any sign of someone who looks like Kai. You can feel your leg muscles straining after a few minutes and you eventually give into gravity.

It seems that each of the students are navigating easily through the bodies but it is dangerously difficult for you. Sadly, you’re shorter than the majority of people in the hall so you try your best to push through the crowd, your arms and hands leading the way. Out of nowhere, a guy rushes through and runs straight into you, knocking you into a wall. He lets out a muffled “Sorry!” as he runs off, leaving you rubbing your shoulder and trying to avoid being trampled by feet. There’s nowhere to go from your spot on the floor; the hall of students creating a barrier between you and the exit. You finally feel like this is a good point to give up and have already settled with staying on the floor, when a hand grabs you by your shirt and pulls you up off of the ground.

The hand’s grasp stays firmly on the front of your shirt as the person drags you through the sea of people, casually elbowing some of them to make way for the both of you. The entire time, you assume it’s just Kai who has finally found you and is giving you a hasty escape, but when you both reach the exit and he turns around, it’s someone completely different.

“Park Chanyeol?”

He nudges you outside, and finally free of the crowd, you take in a deep breath of fresh air. Chanyeol stands on the steps in front of you with his arms crossed, looking you up and down as if he’s studying you. “Did you wait for me?”

You unconsciously gulp and awkwardly cough, because now he’s smirking at you. “Well, we both did. Kai and I did.” You then remember Kai and start looking around to see if he made it out.

Chanyeol moves to stand up straight and he purses his lips together, a smile still playing on his face. “Ohhhh, I get it. You guys are thing, huh.” His eyebrows move up and down playfully while he nods at you and you can feel your cheeks heating up. “What? No,” you stammer. “We’re not, okay? Cut that out.”

Still nodding, he responds with a “Mhmmm” and winks at someone behind you. “Here he comes.”

Your body turns around quickly to see Kai running towards the two of you. He reaches you, huffing and puffing, and leans over to catch his breath. “How the heck did you get out of there alive? I almost had to resort to teleporting and risk people seeing me. There was no oxygen left in there!” His words are spread out as he takes a few breaths to maintain himself.

Chanyeol gives a deep laugh as he takes in the sight of both of you. “Listen, I don’t know who you guys are and I don’t really care, but what do you want from me?”

You look over to Kai and share a glance, and decide it’s time to speak up. “We’re here to help you.”

Chanyeol’s soft face suddenly turns into a glare and he scoffs and raises his eyebrows. “Help me? You’re joking.”

“What— No, Chanyeol, I promise you.” You raise your hand in oath, declaring scout’s honor. “We really do want to help you. And, well, let you know that you’re not alone.”

Chanyeol suddenly lets out an obnoxiously long laugh, and he hunches over while he squeezes his eyes shut. You and Kai are standing completely still, confused at the sight. Kai leans towards you and whispers, “There’s something wrong with this guy.” This sudden change in attitude that Chanyeol is expressing causes you to tense up a bit, and the compassion you had for him is slowly starting to melt away.

“Wait, so you’re telling me you can show me someone else that can spew fire out of their hands like me? Really? You’re crazier than I am, seriously!” He slaps his knees a few times and continues. “I don’t know if you notice, but I’m not exactly normal. You don’t see people walking around with their hands shooting out flaming infernos like I do.”

You can literally see the fire in his eyes as he expresses his true feelings, something he probably hasn’t been able to do yet, with anyone. Such a sudden anger, with some strange strength behind it. Taking a few breaths as his laughing dies down, Chanyeol straightens back up and shakes his head harshly. “Ah, seriously. You two are quite interesting, but I don’t believe that you can help me.”

Kai looks down at the ground, searching for a few words to say to him, and he finally finds some as he steps a bit closer.

“Park Chanyeol.” The harsh sound that Kai makes while saying Chanyeol’s full name suddenly has him giving Kai his full attention, seeing that maybe this is more serious than he thinks.

“Do you ever have the feeling… that you’re meant for more than what you’re doing right now?” The words softly tap against Chanyeol’s heart as he listens intently. “That there’s more to your gifting than just warming up your pockets? That you are meant for something greater than sitting in a classroom for the rest of your life, teaching students that don’t appreciate you?” Kai points in the direction of the school. “As much as you think this is it for you, I’m here to tell you that it’s not.”

There are no sounds coming from Chanyeol’s mouth except for his breathing, and he suddenly bites his lower lip, looking around as if literally searching for the right words to say. 

Kai is about to speak up again, when someone else decides to interrupt. “Hey!” You turn around to see 5 familiar faces, with a little bit less frightened look on them. The “leader” walks up to Kai and gives him a dirty look. “Nice trick back there, but as you can see I have some unfinished business to attend to.” He places his hand on Kai’s chest and gives him a rough shove to the side as he walks up to Chanyeol.

Immediately, Chanyeol rushes forward and shoves the guy back, yelling, “Don’t touch him!”

His sudden outburst has you and Kai both staring in awe, watching him as he protects his new friend like a mother bear protects her cub. Chanyeol’s hand swings forward and he snatches the guy by his collar, holding him close to make sure that he can hear what he’s about to say. “You should leave, before you hurt yourself.” He then gives him another shove backwards as he releases his shirt, standing tall with his hands at his sides.

You’d expect this guy to have  caught the hint by now, but he just turns to his buddies around him and taps one in the chest. “It’s five against one, Mr. Park.” He purposely sings Chanyeol’s name to toy with him and you feel the heat radiating from Chanyeol's hands getting hotter.

“Wrong.”

Everyone’s eyes watch as Kai walks up next to Chanyeol, smirking. “You really should learn how to count. There’s two of us. How did you get this far into college?”

Sneering, the guy takes no chance for hesitation and jumps towards Chanyeol, his buddies not far behind him. Chanyeol’s eyes are directed straight at the guy coming for him and