"Took you long enough!"

Kyungsoo's first reaction was to glare at the speaker while Jongin clutched his heart as if he was terribly offended by the other's poor choice of words. 

"Why are you trapped here in the first place?" Kyungsoo said in a dangerously low voice. He was clearly annoyed and not happy with the whole situation. It was bad enough that he was stuck with Jongin at home so it was completely unnecessary for the old man to add insult to injury by pairing them up at school as well.

"I didn't choose for it to happen, that's for sure." Joonmyeon grumbled as he hurriedly headed for the door. He instantly looked as if he was resurrected back to life the moment he breathed the fresh air outside of the room.

"Tsk, tsk. What a big, fat liar." Yixing countered while he leisurely stepped out of the room as well. "He totally crashed my dance practice first and somehow managed to lock the door from outside, trapping us inside until you find us."

"I'm... fat?" Apparently, that's the only bit that Joonmyeon heard before he began inspecting his body all around. "What the , Zhang Yixing. I am not fat!"

"Did he seriously missed the liar part and cared more about that?" Kyungsoo said, unamused. "He's almost as dumb as you are when it comes to being narcisstic." He added, glancing at Jongin in distaste.

"Good for him." Jongin argued. "I'm sorry that not everyone is as careless as you are when it comes to your appearance."

Kyungsoo's eyes tinted slightly darker. "I'm sorry for being so imperfect then. Why don't you run along now to your perfect bunch of companions?"

Yixing, who was standing next to the pair, instantly began shifting uncomfortably in his spot. He was already dreading the inevitable bloodbath that followed whenever the two decided that it was time to start agonizing each other.

"Oh, look!" Yixing interrupted in his desperate attempt to distract the two. "It's a unicorn wearing a flip flop and a hippie bandana!"

"What?" Jongin and Kyungso stopped fighting at once as they simultaneously turned to face Yixing. 

Yixing grinned. "It works? How surprising." Then, he casually walked past the two and dragged Joonmyeon away. "Come on, little bunny. We have work to do."

"Let me go!" Joonmyeon repeatedly slapped Yixing's arm. "I am not a bunny and we do not have work to do! Help!"

"Where did you find this guy?" Kyungsoo said, furrowing his brows.

"Lotte World." Jongin deadpanned before shoving his hands into the pocket of his pants and began trailing after Yixing and a struggling Joonmyeon.

"The , that can't be true." Kyungsoo muttered to himself. "Right?"

Kyungsoo looked up while furrowing his brows. He knew it can't be true but this is Jongin we are talking about. Go figure. Sighing, Kyungsoo eventually just shrugged and started walking as well. When they arrived at the class, they were welcomed by the sight of Sehun and Luhan kneeling in front of the principal with their hands raised above their heads.

"Whoa, whoa." Jongin whistled loudly. "How could you start a party without me, Sehun? I thought we are friends!"

"Shut up, you ." Sehun mouthed in reply before lowering his face back after hearing the principal clearing his throat in warning.

"The rest of you, go and sit down at your respective place." The principal instructed sternly, making good use of his cane as he slammed it on the table. They quickly obeyed without a word, scurrying towards their tables like a headless chicken. "Alright, who can tell me the fault of these two that they had to be punish this way?"

Yixing timidly raised his hands. "Because they got caught in the act?"

"What kind of act?" Apparently, the principal didn't get the hint. His brows were all scrunched up together as he expected an answer from Yixing.

"I don't know." Yixing shrugged. "Probably ing each other or Luhan spanking Sehun's —"

"Zhang Yixing!" The principal got so red in the face that you could've mistaken him as a tomato. "What kind of obscenity is that? Watch your language, young man!"

Yixing blinked innocently. "Well, you asked..." (If you haven't figure it out, he genuinely thought Jongin's comment about the party was true, thus his reply.)

Next to him, Jongin whistled even harder. "Damn, that's hot as ."

Kyungsoo scoffed. "You're not seriously getting hard because of those two, right?" He turned slightly to Jongin with a disgusted look. "Because that's just disgusting."

"Why in the hell not?" Jongin argued as he fixed his gaze upon Sehun and Luhan. "I hate to admit it, but Luhan is pretty as and Sehun is quite a handsome lad. Not as much as me obviously, but then again, nobody is as handsome as me anyway."

"Narcisstic ." Kyungsoo muttered under his breath.

"You loved this once." Jongin said without thinking. When he realised though, he quickly became aware of the awkward silence. He gulped, not daring to look at the other. Meanwhile, Joonmyeon and Yixing instinctly exchanged a look with each other. They could almost felt the tension in the air between the two the moment Kyungsoo's whole body began to stiffen.

"Do something," Joonmyeon mouthed to Yixing. "—before they start killing each other!"

Yixing pointed to himself while saying out loud. "Me?" 

"I don't mean you, Zhang Yixing." The principal interrupted, mistaking the younger's word as a response to him scolding Sehun and Luhan. Then, he shifted back his attention towards the two students on the floor. "Now, get back to your seats."

"Fuhh, that was close." Luhan pretended to wipe the sweat on his forehead once he got to his seat. "Aye, what's up, Joonmyeon? I knew it that Kyungsoo will find you. He always do."

"Shut up." Joonmyeon hissed. "Don't you see that Kyungsoo is on the verge of killing Jongin there? Stupid Jongin for bringing that up."

"Whoa, whoa. What's the occassion?" Luhan raised his hands as if in defeat, taken aback by Joonmyeon's sudden filthy mouth. The latter never liked cursing much unless it was absolutely necesssary or he was highly annoyed. "I've always known that Jongin is a little piece of but what did he—" Realisation dawned upon Luhan before he even finished his word. Abruptly, he turned around and glared at Jongin as well. 

"Alright, children." Thankfully, the principal interfered at the right moment. "Shall we start now?"

"... Yes, sir."

~~X~~

"Stupid, idiot, annoying little piece of dirty gum Kim ing Jongin." Kyungsoo muttered under his breath. He was furiouly stomping his feet on the ground, trying to crush anything in sight. (Thankfully, there was no dirty gum in sight.) 

"Auww, look at him." Luhan squealed. "He's so cute. He looks like a tiny penguin stomping the ground when they are hungry!"

"Did you just seriously said Kyungsoo looks like a penguin?" Joonmyeon questioned with a judging look. "More like an angry killer bear!"

"Say what you want, but he's still my tiny little penguin forever." Luhan said dismissively as he stared at Kyungsoo fondly. 

"That tiny penguin could possibly kill you if he finds out what you've been calling him." Joonmyeon whispered, careful to not let Kyungsoo heard them as he threw a quick glance at the said male warily.

"Well, we can always get Jongin before that happened. That way he will get killed first as we escape to somewhere far away. Preferably Scotland or Ireland." Luhan suggested.

Joonmyeon furrowed his brows. "Why Scotland and Ireland out of all places?"

"Well, I've always wanted to know how it feels to wear a skirt." Luhan shrugged.

"You do know you can do that even here, right?"

"Yeah, but people will look at me weird."

"Won't they do the same in those countries as well?" Joonmyeon rolled his eyes. "It's not like they wear it everyday there. Besides, it's called kilt and it's not exactly the same skirt as the one you saw here."

"It's still the same to me."

"Trust me, if you put a wig on your head and walk around the school in a skirt, nobody will even bat an eye."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Joonmyeon scoffed. "Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror? Nobody ever told you that you look like a girl? Pretty sure Sehun doesn't call you Barbie solely because he thinks you look like a plastic doll."

"Hold on a sec—THAT FLAT- THOUGHT THAT I LOOK LIKE A FREAKING PLASTIC DOLL?" Luhan scowled with smoke practically coming out of his ears. 

"No , Sherlock." Kyungsoo muttered, having heard them because of Luhan's loud voice. Thankfully, he didn't hear the earlier conversation.

"I thought you knew." Joonmyeon mused.

"Are you kidding me?" Luhan gritted his teeth. "If I knew, he would had been buried ten feet under by now."

"Shouldn't it be six feet?"

"No, that little piece of obviously doesn't deserve such luxury."

"Wow, I didn't know being dead is a luxury." Joonmyeon mused to himself. 

"It is if you know the way, bunny."

Joonmyeon nearly jumped out of his skin when someone suddenly whispered into his ear. Clutching his heart as if his life depended on it, he turned around swiftly to locate the owner of the voice.

"What is that even supposed to mean—WAIT, WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?" He shrieked loudly when he came face to face with Yixing. 

"Bonjour." Yixing said while waving towards them. 

"You're not French, idiot." Kyungsoo retorted.

"Eh, you don't know that." Yixing wagged his finger around disapprovingly as if he was warning naughty children. "One of my ancestors could very well be a French man or a nice French lady with blonde hair and all. But, since they are long dead, there's no way to tell so you shouldn't assume things." 

"If you're seriously taking ancestors into account, I could very well be a Dutch then." Kyungsoo deadpanned.

"Nahh, you're too short for that." 

"Say that again—"

"Okay, what are you doing here?" Joonmyeon interrupted before Kyungsoo could strangle Yixing with his sock to death. 

"Looking for you of course!" Yixing answered cheerfully, unaware of Kyungsoo's murderous glare. 

Joonmyeon frowned. "Why?"

"What do you mean why? I told you we have work to do! You know, those work." Yixing winked while indiscreetly trying to gesture ​towards Luhan and Kyungsoo. 

"Did he just winked with both eyes?" Luhan pondered out loud. 

"I never said I'm good at it." Yixing muttered, clearly sulking from his tone. 

"This is not just not good." Luhan whispered conspiratorially. "He's mad horrible at it."

"I can hear that." 

Luhan shrugged with absolutely no sign of regret nor guilt written across his face.

"And, I clearly told you that we do not have work to do." Joonmyeon replied exasperatedly. "Especially not together with only the two of us."

"Oh, come on." Luhan chirped. "You guys look cute together."

"We do not." Yixing and Joonmyeon replied in unison.

"See? Cute." Luhan said while shooting a look full of meaning towards Kyungsoo as if the latter knew what exactly he was talking about. (For the record, he doesn't.)

"I have no idea what are you guys doing here, but I'm out." Kyungsoo grumbled before making a move to leave. "I have to get back home quickly and find some beans and a huge sack."

"Later, lovebirds." Luhan waved to the said couple before skipping away to trail after Kyungsoo. "What are you going to do with all of those things anyway?" Luhan could be heard asking Kyungsoo.

"Make a punch bag with Jongin's stupid face on it." Kyungsoo could be heard answering, albeit begrudgingly. (And that, my friends, is why exactly you won't want to mess with a Do Kyungsoo.)

"Seriously, Yixing?" was Joonmyeon's first word to the other. "You just have to go ahead and embarrass me in front of my friends. Now, I will never hear the end of it from Luhan."

Yixing waved dismissively. "That's not important. We have work to do so let's go."

"How many times must I tell you that we do not—" Joonmyeon's word was cut off abruptly as Yixing began pulling him to the nearest bus stop. Without giving him a chance to process the whole situation, Yixing practically threw him into the bus once it arrived. Since it was peak time, the bus was filled to the brim with people who had just gotten off work and was heading back home. Both of them had to squeeze through the crowd in order to fit in.

"I hate you, Zhang Yixing." Joonmyeon could be heard chanting under his breath especially when he suddenly came close to someone who smelled like they haven't take a shower in years. "Oh God, I'm dying."

"Hey, beautiful." A voice suddenly crept from his left side.

"Dying here." Joonmyeon snapped without looking. He wasn't exactly paying attention to his surrounding as he practically glued himself to the pole, holding onto it as if his life depended on it. He wasn't even aware that Yixing was nowhere to be seen since the other had been pushed around by the other passengers. "Oh God, if I survive this, I'm so going to kill that—" Joonmyeon's words came into an abrupt halt when someone suddenly stood dangerously close to him. There was little to none space available between them as the stranger attempted to attach himself to his back. Joonmyeon's eyes widened to the size of a saucepan when the stranger's hand began creeping up his thigh. 

"What the —" Joonmyeon attempted to turn around, only to get manhandle by the stranger. The latter's strong hands had a firm grip on both of his arms, preventing him from turning and running away as well. A shudder ran down his spine when the stranger began inching his face closer to his neck. He could felt the other's warm breath lingering on his skin before he began nuzzling his nose against the back of Joonmyeon's head.

"Umm.. you smell so nice." The stranger purred in his ear. If Joonmyeon was paying enough attention earlier, he would've known that it was the very same voice that had tried to talk to him before.

Holy crap, this is not seriously happening to me, screamed Suho in the back of his mind. He became completely still in his spot, caught off-guard by the unexpected event. Only his panicked eyes that kept on darting all around described just how horrified he is in the inside.

"Help.." Joonmyeon's tiny whisper that was barely audible escaped from his lips. He had absolutely no idea how in the hell he was going to escape from the sick stranger. He never faced this kind of situation before and school obviously prepared him nothing for this kind of situation. Everybody around him wasn't much of a help since they were either asleep or simply wasn't paying much attention as they focused more on their phones instead. He wondered where in the hell Yixing was and surely the latter saw what was happening to him at the moment. Did the little seriously chose to unsee it on purpose for the sake of torturing him or something? If the answer is yes, Joonmyeon swore that he was going to pay for this...

"What do you think you're doing right now?" Joonmyeon was never more relieved to hear Yixing's voice. Right away, the firm grip disappeared and the crowd suddenly dispersed to make way for the male student who appeared out of nowhere. 

"Yixing, oh thank goodness—"

"Sir, I think you must've been quite mistaken. This shorty right here is not a girl." Joonmyeon's relieved look instantly vanished into thin air, staring at Yixing with an unamused glare. "He's clearly a boy and why would you start feeling him up anyway when he's not even that cute?" Yixing looked genuinely concerned as if he was more concerned about the well-being of the harrasser instead.

Since all of the other passengers had started paying attention to them, the harrasser noticeably became agitated as he lowered the cap he was wearing. Without saying anything, he quickly pressed the stop button and practically jumped out of the bus when it came into a halt. Yixing blinked and shrugged before approaching Joonmyeon.

"You alright there?" 

Joonmyeon huffed. "No."

"Is it so? Why? Did it hurts anywhere? Did he already managed to poke you from behind or something?" Yixing turned Joonmyeon all around, trying to figure out the reason why the other was not feeling good. "Shall we go to the hospital? Pretty sure they have some sort of tests to prove if you've been ually harrassed—"

"Oh, shut up." Joonmyeon snapped before opting to exit the bus as it stopped at the next stop. 

"Hey! What's wrong?" Yixing hurriedly exited the bus as well, nearly getting flattened by the door that was just about to close. "We're not even at the right stop yet!"

"I don't give a damn, you stupid broccoli." Joonmyeon muttered under his breath as he sped up his steps. Unfortunately for him, Yixing is a well-trained dancer and the guy had more stamina than a horse. He easily managed to catch up to Joonmyeon before grabbing his arm. 

"Look, I get it that you are upset."

"No , Sherlock."

"Well, that's why I suggested for us to go to the hospital so we can do the tests and report the guy to the police—"

"It's not that, you dumb oaf." Joonmyeon said through his gritted teeth. "He didn't even manage to do anything else than sniffing my hair."

"Huh?" Yixing instantly became very confused.

"I was mad because you freaking said that I'm not cute! Well, guess what? I think you are not that cute either! In fact, you look like.. like a sheep!" Joonmyeon huffed loudly while crossing his arms.

It took a few seconds for Yixing to process the words. He blinked and blinked again, trying to comprehend the situation.

"You are mad because I said you're not.. cute?" Yixing repeated, not trusting his own ears.

"Yeah."

"That's it?" Yixing asked again.

"Yes."

Yixing blinked a few more times. 

"You do know that you're not making any sense right now, right?" 

"No."

"You do know it's a totally weird reason to get mad, right?"

"No."

Yixing exhaled. "And here I thought you're the normal one." He mumbled under his breath. He glanced at the other, who had a deep frown etched on his face as he stood there with his arms folded across his chest and his feet tapping impatiently against the pavement. "Alright, what do you want me to do then?"

Joonmyeon stopped tapping his feet at once. He blinked once, twice. He wasn't exactly expecting that response to be honest. Actually, he wasn't expecting anything at all. He was just so overhelmed by his great annoyance towards the other that he lost his sight on why exactly he was acting this way. Despite his usual tactless self, Yixing quickly noticed this.

"See? Even you don't know what you want." Yixing tsked before abruptly pinching Joonmyeon's cheeks. "Alright then, you are cute. So damn cute that I could just eat you right now. You are the cutest person on earth and maybe even Mars as well if there are really aliens living there. Happy? I even said you're cuter than an alien."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Joonmyeon deadpanned.

"It is to me." Yixing shrugged before shoving his hands in his pocket. "Anyway, are you still up for the job? " 

"How many times do I have to say that we do not—"

"Yeah, you know what. Maybe not today." Yixing cut him off. "Let's go get some ice-cream instead. Your treat."

"Get your own ice-cream!"

"I like mint."

"I didn't ask."

"We'll get chocolate for you."

"I don't even like chocolate?"

"Yepp, chocolate. No need to look so happy."

"I'm not!"