Kai

Kai sighs and watches as Sehun paces around his room. "My mom is going to freak out!"

"Stop pacing, you're making me get all antsy," Kai huffs. “And who gives a ?” He opens the window and fishes in his jacket. He pulls out a cigarette. "Get your over here and cool it."

Sehun looks at him and gasps. "I am not smoking here, Jongin! Are you insane?!”

Kai huffs and lights one for himself. "You need a chill pill, bro."

"No, BRO," Sehun snaps. "I shouldn't have let you talk me into this!"

"Whatever, you look good now."

"I looked fine before!"

"Yeah," Kai laughs. "You looked fine as in it looks like you got into a fight with your hairdryer and lost,"

Sehun stops and stomps his foot as if he were a pouting child. It’s actually kind of cute. "I should never have listened to you! You're too damn charming and- and good at talking! You’re going to get me into trouble!”

"Oh yeah, baby," Kai chuckles, exhaling smoke towards him. “I’ll get you into all kinds of trouble if you let me.” When Sehun begins to pace again, Kai leans over and grabs the belt loop of the boy's pants, pulling him close. "Okay, come here you little ," He says and pushes him down on the window sill beside him. He smirks when Sehun continues to glare at him. "You look good. You'll look better when you calm the down.” He smirks as he takes the cigarette from between his lips and offers it to the panicked nerd. Sehun reluctantly takes it and shakes as he takes a long inhale. His exhale is shaky and stressed.

"I can't go to these every time I feel stressed," Sehun whispers.

Kai shrugs and leans back. "Why not?"

"Um...it's bad for you?"

Kai pulls another cigarette out and lights it for himself. "So is cutting."

Sehun looks away. "I-I...I don't cut."

Kai laughs dryly and shakes his head. "Whatever you say, I don't really give a anyway."

"Then why force me to change my hair?"

"Hey, I didn't force you to do anything,” he shrugs. “You sat in that chair while your precious hair got snipped.”

"Well, why di-"

"Look," Kai interrupts. "The only reason I took you my friend was because I’m sick and damn tired for seeing you kiss your mom's . , that damn hurts your dad and you're still worried she's going to be mad- that, man." Kai and Sehun look over at the door when there's a loud angry knock at it. Sehun curses loudly, hastily putting his cigarette in Kai's can as well. He grabs Kai’s cigarette as well from his mouth and forces it in as well. He hurries over to his dresser and grabs a spray bottle, stinking up the room with lavender to cover the scent of tobacco.

"Sehun?!"

"Uhh, hold on!" Sehun shouts, going to his closet to grab something. The door opens and Sehun’s mother’s storms in.

"Sehun, why did you lock the door-" She stares at her son. "What did you do?"

Sehun looks around and shallows, glancing over at Kai. "I..."

"What did you do to your hair?!"

"I got it cut..."

She huffs and puts her hands on her hips. "By a barbarian?"

Watch it, .

She turns her head to Kai and stares at him. "I told you I didn't want him here."

Too bad.

"He has to be here, I'm helping him with his grades..."

"Oh, are you?" Sehun's mother points to her phone. "I got a call from your teacher, telling me you never showed up for class after lunch. How can you get straight As if ditch?!"

"Mom, I already have straight As…”

"Who'd you ditch with?" She points to Kai. "This delinquent?" Close enough. "What about your damn grades, Sehun?!"

Sehun stares at the floor, hugging himself as he tears up. Kai notices him biting his lip but not of fear; of anger. Come on. Lay it on her, kid. Kai watches the two of them carefully. "I'm s-sorry..."

"What am I going to tell your father?!" She shouts. "Sorry, our son's a failure?!"

Sehun sniffs and looks at the floor. Kai looks at him, everything absent but fear and sorrow. Something he remembers seeing vividly in Taemin’s eyes, years ago.

"Stop it!" Taemin cries, trying to protect his face from each hit. Kai paces as he listens to his friend scream "Dad, I'm sorry!"

"You'll never see that ing piece of ! I won't have any faggots in my house!" Kai cries as tries to cover the ears with his hands.

"I'll...I’ll break up with him! I-I'm sorry, please!" The crack of skin contacting skin echoed off the walls. Over, and over, and over. Kai clenches his fists, rage boiling up inside. All Kai sees is red and only red, crimson. He sniffs and grabs the bat beside Taemin's bed. He slams the door open, his eyes dead set on the man above his friend. Taemin screams when Kai swings at his father. He falls against the wall, his head making a horrible crack every time the bat connected with his dad. Screams fill the room, blood covers wood. Taemin covers his ears and sobs loudly.

"What if I don't care about my grades?" Sehun says softly.

"What?"!

Kai looks into Sehun's eyes and nods, trying to urge him to fight back; trying to give him the confidence to say something. Sehun takes a deep breath and looks up at his mother, clenching his fists. "I said, I don't care about my damn grades!

Rage boils through Kai's body again as he watches his mother raise her hand and whip it hard across Sehun's cheek. He falls hard to the floor and stares up at her, his eyes wide as his hand slowly touch his red cheek. He isn’t thinking when he rushes over and shoves Sehun’s mother by her shoulders. He back connects hard against the door as she gasps with surprise. “Back off!” Kai hisses. He glares at her, trying to control the sudden rush on anger that overwhelming anger through him. An anger he never seems to be able to get rid of. He slowly backs up, standing in front of Sehun as if to shield him from anything else.

Kai looks down when Sehun grabs onto his hand tightly and desperately. He sobs hard and shakes his head. At the sight of Sehun breaking down, he can feel himself calming downsuddenly calm. He stares up at Kai with something he recognizes as both fear, anguish, and most of all, pain. Slowing gripping his tight on Sehun’s hand, he angrily looks up at Sehun’s mother. She stands up straight and gives him a venomous stare before turning on her heel and walking out into the hall.

"He needs to leave! Now!” Kai watches her walk down the stairs, bringing her phone to her ear. "You need to do something about your son."

Kai lets go of Sehun to run to the doorway. “Tell my dad to go himself, !” Kai spits and she looks back at him in surprise. “And if you EVER touch Sehun again,” he slowly shakes his head.” You'll be ing my dad in hell!" He sneers before returning to the room and slamming the door behind him. He pants heavily, looking back down at Sehun. He swallows hard and starts to pace. People that are supposed to protect their children but they do this instead. Instead of compassion, they give them reasons to cut and to be scared of everything. Like Sehun and Taemin. The boy flinches when Kai slams his fist into the wall. “!”

"Jongin..." Sehun cries. Kai can feel himself soften at the sound of his weak, scared voice.

Kai sniffs before he turns and gently grabs onto Sehun's arm, pulling him up. He opens Sehun's closet door and pulls out a coat and a pair of boots. "Put those on," Kai commands as he pulls his own shoes and coat on.

"But my mo-" Sehun becomes quiet when Kai shoots him a deadly glare. Once fully dressed, Kai grabs Sehun's wrist and pulls him down the stairs.

"Sehun, where are you going?" Sehun's mother calls out. "Sehun?!" Her voice grows angrier when they ignore her. They hurry down the hall and to the front door. "You are not leaving with that damn boy, Sehun! You will not leave with him!" Kai slams the front door and keeps walking, even when his mother comes out and yells after them. He grips onto Sehun’s hand instead, pulling him away from his house and his so-called mother.

Kai stares at the setting sun as he sits down on a park bench; the same one from when he was with Taemin. "I'm going to...get in a lot of trouble when I get back." Sehun joins Kai on the bench and sighs. It took him forever to stop crying. During, Kai doesn’t remember thinking and wanting him to shut up. He just wants him to not have a reason to cry in the first place. "Jongin...why did you do that?"

"She pisses me off," Kai mumbles.

"Why?"

Kai tries to swallow down the lump in his throat. He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "Forget it, you don’t care.”

Sehun is silent for a few moments. "I might…”

"What, you care for me now?" Kai looks at Sehun in disbelief. "Is that it?"

“What if I do? Would that change anything?”

Kai looks back at the sky, not feeling angry anymore. He’s just sad and calm. He understands having a toxic family; growing up in a ty environment. His dad is a ty drunk and his mom was sad all the time. But he doesn’t get why Sehun needs to deal with any of these things. He's rich, lives in a good place. Kai thought Sehun had good parents. A nice environment, one that he can healthily and safely grow. Not this. "Why do you cut?"

"What..,?"

Kai takes a deep breath. "Cutting, why'd do it?"

"I don’t-"

"Oh, shut up," Kai stands up and huffs. "Just shut up, okay?" He goes to the swing set and sits down. Sehun silently joins him after a few moments. "God, you remind me of Taemin."

Sehun begins to swing gently. “How so?”

"He uh," Kai sighs. "He used to do what you do."

"He...used to cut himself?"

Kai nods slowly. "I got so mad at him, you know. I was pissed."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did he cut?"

Kai shrugs and wraps his arm around the chains that connect to the seat of the swing. "He was in a pretty dark place for a while...his dad’s homophobic and .” He pauses to think for a second. “Thanks to that, Jonghyun and him had to date in secret.” Kai kicks at the dirt. "One day, Jonghyun made a mistake by leaving roses in Taemin's room, with a sweet note. Of course, he signed his name,” He explains. "His mother cleaned his room and found them. She told his father and that night, he got pissed off. I was staying the night and...pretended to be asleep when his father came in, dragged him straight out of bed." Kai looks down at his feet. "I heard Taemin's dad...beating him and I just..." He sighs. "I got so ing mad and I couldn’t...ignore it anymore.”

"What...what'd you do?"

"Taemin played baseball, so...he had a bat by his bed. I tried so hard to just...calm myself down but I couldn't think. I just...I grabbed it and went out to where they were. I hit his face in a few times."

"Y-you..." Sehun stutters, "You killed him?!"

"No, " Kai says grimly. "But his face was unrecognizable and needed a lot of surgery. , I think the reason I didn't go to jail was because of Jonghyun's dad, who is a cop.” Sehun looks down at his own feet as well. He looks torn, or just confused. "That was uh," Kai fiddles with his seat. "Right after my mother died of cancer."

Sehun looks over at him, his eyes filling with what seems like empathy.

"Oh, Jongin..."

Kai sniffs and shrugs. "I've always had a bad temper. My mom dying didn’t really help," He says, trying to laugh it off. He feels strange when Sehun reaches over and puts a hand over his. It’s strange and yet comforting all at the same time. The only person who touches him voluntarily is Taemin. So for Sehun to want to be close feels strange but, in a weird way, welcomed.

"I'm so sorry. That's why you…”

"Stood up for you."

"Thank you, it...it meant a lot to me."

Kai looks up and meets Sehun's soft gaze. He takes a long, deep breath;  feeling a lot calmer. "Yeah, well..." He laughs uncomfortably. "Good job standing up to your mom; even though you got hit." He nods. "It was...uh, super cool."

"You think?"

"I don't know, it could've been your cool new haircut."

Sehun's laughter fills the empty park and hits something deep in Kai. He shakes his head and pushes the punk off his swing playfully. "Shut up."

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Protective Kai~