Shinae tossed and turned all night. She found herself struggling to find peaceful sleep when every time she closed her eyes she saw a giant foot hovering over her. Her heart pounded out of her chest and she found herself coated in sweat each time she was jerked awake by the all-too-realistic nightmares. She even recalled moments where she found herself getting too close to Baekhyun’s food and things ending horribly. 

But every time she woke up and jerked out of those horrifying images she would look over to his desk and he was still hovering there, his eyes focused on the sheets of paper laid out before him. It was like he was frozen in time, she had no clue how late it was each time she awoke but figured it had to be at least 3 in the morning at the earliest. She found herself struggling to find peace when he was constantly awake. Her thoughts couldn’t settle until he was fast asleep and not a threat anymore to her.

She knew logically that he wasn’t flat-out cruel. He had definitely hurt her in the past, but they even made rules stating that they were to trust each other essentially. That if she needed something, she needed to tell him because in her state she couldn’t do it herself. 

But she couldn’t lie. She was terrified of him. 

She blinked and looked at the window that hung over his bed and watched as the faint morning light highlighted random features of him. The rest of him bathed in shadows. She watched the way his chest rose and fell, the way his warm breath gusted out and brushed her features ever so gently. 

She had no clue when he finally decided to turn in, but she doubted he got much rest. Her eyes continued to roam his resting features. He curled up on his side, lips parted slightly, a bit of drool spilled over onto his pillow. She saw the slight twitches of his closed eyes, the long lashes resting upon his cheeks, fluttering here and there. He was harmless in this state, completely vulnerable, but she couldn’t control the way her stomach clenched so tightly that it hurt. 

But then she remembered the day before when she was left alone on the kitchen table and all she wanted was for him to come out and save her before his roommates found her. She felt so conflicted, but beyond nervous, the nightmares that kept her up stoking that terror further. The sound of the blaring alarm caused her hands to shoot up and struggle to muffle the sound.

 She watched as Baekhyun’s puffy eyes blinked blearily before he sat up and stretched. It was like watching a mountain come to life as it worked out the kinks from years of laying dormant and lifeless. He reached out, one hand rubbing at his eyes, the other grabbing at his phone, which laid on the bed. He quickly turned the alarm off and Shinae’s hands dropped. 

She watched as he stood up fully stretching once more. She cringed a bit realizing that on the nightstand she barely came up to the middle of his thighs. He looked massive from here. He turned away and walked over to the closet and once again began to rifle through his neatly organized and pressed uniforms and grabbed one at random. 

He then walked over to the desk and began grabbing all his papers, folders, and books and quickly shoved them into his bag before zipping it up and slinging it over his shoulder. He turned to look at her. His gaze made her feel smaller than she already was. “Want anything to eat?”

She blushed the second her stomach growled out, answering the question for her. He didn’t smirk or even smile a little at the obvious answer. Just nodded, grunted, and walked out of the room with all of his stuff. 

Her eyes once again wandered back to his desk and she couldn't stop the thoughts from creeping back in…did he normally stay up almost all night studying and working? She knew that she was usually up late into the night working and studying, but that was because of her job. She didn’t have nearly as much time as everyone else to do schoolwork. But that wasn’t the case with Baekhyun. He had all the time in the world and he still was up so late.

She groaned. 

Why am I thinking about this so much? Who cares? She mentally scolded herself. She did not care that he was up so late. It was clear he cared about his grades, hence why he was always top of their class. She just had no clue how much time he spent on his studies, and last night was a little sneak peek that shocked her. 

She felt him approaching before she saw him. The nightstand shook a little and then the door creaked as it opened and he walked in, carrying a little paper towel. He approached the nightstand, once again his shadow completely engulfing her. She shrank back as he set the little paper towel down next to her makeshift bed and slowly unraveled it. Her eyes widened at the broken up small pieces of bacon and a small bit of scrambled eggs. salivated and her stomach growled once more. It smelled so good. 

She quickly pushed herself out of her bed and tumbled onto the paper towel, forgetting that Baekhyun was standing right there. Her fingers greedily grabbed at the crispy, greasy surface of the bacon and she lifted it up, taking a bite. The flavors that coated her tongue were ic, she had forgotten what bacon tasted like-it had been years. 

Baekhyun watched her, eyebrows raised, before he left the room once more. She savored every bite and almost felt embarrassed at how happy it was making her. But Baekhyun wasn’t there to watch so she dove into each piece and enjoyed every second of it. By the time he returned, most of the bacon pieces were gone and part of the egg crumb was gone too. 

He was dressed perfectly, his uniform completely up to code. His brown hair was styled, the strands seeming to be intentionally placed. He always looked immaculate upon entering their classes together, like he had a professional stylist setting him up every day before classes. She was almost shocked to find out he did it himself. She had always assumed he was spoiled rotten. She could recall when they were kids,  how he acted like a brat on occasion. His parents were loaded and almost always gave him exactly what he wanted. It wasn’t until Chanyeol said they were roommates that she realized Baekhyun no longer was sitting pretty with a silver spoon in his mouth. 

But then again, how did they pay rent without a job? She rolled her eyes. Of course, they probably gave their pretty baby a damn allowance.

Baekhyun looked at her again. “Do you want to be down the whole day or up?”

She jumped, caught off guard by the low rumble of his voice, “Uh…” her cheeks flushed, “Down please.”

He stepped over and laid his hand out flat before her. She didn’t dare look up at him, her cheeks still pink from his forward question. She laid her hands out flat upon his palm before she climbed slowly onto it and settled. She could feel his blood pump, his pulse pound beneath her, and the heat that radiated off of him was almost too much. She was sitting on his damn hand. The thought alone set her on edge, her spine shooting up straight. He moved slowly, her stomach dropped and her body swayed at the altitude change. He slowly started to lower her to the ground. Her heart shot into and she felt almost sick with the movement.

How was she supposed to get used to this? 

Next thing she knew he had his hand pressed into the soft fibers of the carpet and she quickly grabbed ahold of her bearings and scrambled away from him. She couldn’t bring herself to look up as his hand pulled away, and he returned to his full height. She felt like she was in the shadow of a living skyscraper. He cleared his throat and stepped away. The ground rumbled beneath her with the movement and she turned to watch him walk away. His large shoes crushed the carpet fibers beneath them with each shaking step.

“Uh…I’ll see you later.” She looked up to catch his dark brown eyes looking at her, his cheeks tinted a faint pink, before he shut the door behind him and left for the day. 

she had to pee. 
+++

Baekhyun tapped his pencil incessantly against his desk. Watching as the first student to present their partner project stood before their homeroom, her eyes were glossy with nervous tears. Her manicured fingers kept twiddling, and it was clear she was shaking. Her voice trembled as she pointed at the poster board next to her and droned on in a very poorly put-together speech about her partner. It was the fourth day of classes, and this student expected to shove together a good final project in that amount of time.

Baekhyun felt his stomach flip, his own anxiety increasing steadily as the girl stumbled over her words. He wouldn’t be able to complete this project. Shinae was not in class again, and he couldn’t work on the project with her supposedly gone and absent from classes. He didn’t even know what she had told Luhan or Yixing, he didn’t know the reason she was “absent”. How was he supposed to complete a project where his partner was missing? 

His fingers shot up, his teeth biting into the tips of his finely filed nails. His teeth chattered against the hard surface. He was going to lose points. His position as head of the class could drop. How was he supposed to get scholarships if his grades slipped? He needed to figure out a way to get this project complete with or without Shinae. 

He also couldn’t help but to look at the student's shabbily put-together poster and skim childhood photos of her partner and wonder if that was his key to getting to Shinae’s house. His mind fought against the anxiety slowly growing in his chest. He wanted to figure out why Shinae didn’t want to go home and would rather stay with him. But he also needed an excuse to get childhood photos of her for the project.

He didn’t have a good way to get around his partner's absence, but he needed to at least get his end of the project done even if she couldn’t. The second the bell rang to signal the end of the class, Baekhyun shot up. His chair screeched against the floor but the sound went unnoticed by everyone as they all fumbled with their own bags, and struggled to get out of the class as fast as possible. 

Baekhyun’s eyes landed on Mr. Kim and he quickly made his way towards him. “Hey uh, Mr.Kim.”

The you