‘Time isn’t always of the essence, slow down and create your own destiny’

He felt it, the eyes of everyone following him as he walked down the hall. Each one was scrutinizing and judging him but he tried to act like he wasn't phased, as if the cruel words they whispered didn't twist their way around him and squeezed like a vice. 

"Ew. Look, it's the gay boy who tried to seduce Minho".

"I hope he doesn't confess to me, that would be gross".

"I heard he stripped at a gay club and caught some sort of disease".

Chanyeol wore a smile despite the sadness that swirled around inside him and slowly made his way to where Baekhyun's locker was. The taller wanted to see his best friend's face and sweet smile to feel some sort of reassurance because the feelings that were clinging onto him were all too familiar and negative. He knew it would've been best if he had taken a few days to collect himself from the humiliation he received the day prior but Chanyeol also knew that if he had done that he wouldn't want to come back and that would worry Baekhyun, something the taller never wanted to do.

Chanyeol trudged down a number of hallways and turned at each corner until he saw Baekhyun by his locker. An instant relief and happiness overcame him as he took in the small form of the male he knew better than himself. Chanyeol was just about to lift his hand in greeting when he was suddenly pulled back roughly by the neck of his shirt and out of view of the smaller.

Chanyeol felt hands fist the front of his shirt, lifting him up and pushing him hard into the lockers lining the wall. The taller looked into a hard set face; he was being held tightly by a very built male who sported a buzz cut, Chanyeol didn't know who he was and was confused and scared all at once.

"You're the gay er who's trying to steal everyone's man?" a feminine voice sounded to his right. 

The girl was pretty but her face was turned up into a sneer as she addressed Chanyeol, his heart beat pulsated quickly. "What's going on?" Chanyeol questioned shakily, the brute male didn't let him go, only slammed his head against the lockers and Chanyeol yelped in pain.

"Sis, do you want me to beat him up now?" the male questioned, his frown not leaving Chanyeol's face, who stared at them wide eyed.

"Yes, teach him a lesson for trying to steal Minho from me" the girl stated with a threatening smirk and Chanyeol didn't have anytime to react before a strong fist came down against his face, earning a deep groan from the giants lips. His face hurt agonizingly because the punch made contact in the same spot Minho had clocked him yesterday, still sore. The guy got in another strong hit but this time in Chanyeol's stomach who keeled over at the impact, his mouth open as the air left his lungs and tears stung his eyes.

The built male finally let go and the taller dropped to his knees. "Why" he coughed and gasped for air, "why are you doing this? I didn't do anything" he said. 

Students looked on as they passed by but ultimately turned a blind eye, not wanting to get involved and upon seeing who was receiving the punishment; not caring. "As if I would believe that, you fags are all the same. Wanting to get into any guys pants that will take you" the girl insulted. 

Chanyeol peered up at them with water accumulating in his tear ducts, ready to spill. He clutched his stomach trying to get air to pass through his lungs, steadily. The girl turned to the buff guy and scoffed, "Let's go brother. He's not worth it" she then turned to Chanyeol, "you like being on your knees in front of a man, don't you?" she laughed out her disgust. 

The two of them leave and Chanyeol stayed there for a bit, hearing the shrill school bell ring while those around him hurried off to class, not one person coming over to ask if he was okay. Why was this happening? What had he done that was so wrong? Chanyeol didn't understand it at all but he wanted it to stop. 

"Chanyeol!?" at the sudden sound of his name he looked over to see Baekhyun's shocked face staring at him.

He wasn't smiling but he was there and at the moment that was all the taller needed; already feeling the loneliness leave his body. He took a deep breath and got to his feet while he worked a smile against his lips before turning toward his best friend. Chanyeol took in his neat appearance, he looked cute in an oversized sweater, blue jeans and wired, circular glasses that were obviously just for accessory.

"Hi Baekkie" the male stated, happy that his breathing was back to normal. 

"Why were you on the floor?" Chanyeol saw the puzzled look in the small males eyes. "I just dropped something, you know me; always misplacing stuff" he made his voice light and playful. 

"Come on" Chanyeol took Baekhyun's hand and pulled him along down the hall, unaware of how the smaller males face was heating up and butterflies attacked his stomach. "I'll walk you to class". 

Of course Baekhyun had been surprised that Chanyeol came to school and wasn't at home drowning in snotty tissues and tears like he's come to predict but Baekhyun was glad that his friend decided not to let it get to him although it would've been completely understandable; what Minho did was just humiliating and mean and the smaller wished he could do anything to go back and make sure that none of that happened to his best friend, unfortunately he couldn't; it happened and all Baekhyun could do was be there for him. 

But as the days went by it didn't seem like Chanyeol wanted to talk about it at all, in fact it seemed like he's avoiding it; the fact that he was outed to the whole school and made fun of. Anytime Baekhyun walked the halls he would his name on the students tongues and it would provoke anger within him, Baekhyun would actively glare at them or tell them to shut up but Chanyeol did nothing as if he couldn't hear them at all.

Chanyeol would pop up at Baekhyun's locker everyday, smiling and telling jokes or informing him of his many new interests. Baekhyun always listened intently and smiled at the way Chanyeol’s  face brightened up when talking about things he liked. Sehun had went and sought out Minho but like he's told Baekhyun many times when he himself would want to get back at those who hurt the taller, Chanyeol told him to leave it alone. 

Yet during that time Baekhyun just didn't notice that Chanyeol had gotten good at putting up a facade because when they weren't around Chanyeol was constantly bullied. From the jocks and other popular seniors to Minho's drama followers, everyday the taller would be harassed.

Some beat on him so much that he would have to avoid his friends occasionally or wear his caps low on his face as not to show the bruises. Others just pushed him around; one time shoving him into a trash can when he was walking to class, another time dragging him to the washroom to dunk his head in toilet water and to those who didn't have the guts to attack him, just taunted and berated him with words that cut so deep it was like they were leaving scars on his skin that he could only feel and not see. 

"Your parents must of killed themselves to have a son like you".

"Why don't you follow them and kill yourself, too ".

"Disgusting retard".

"How much is your service, you ".

It got to the point where Chanyeol had to hide himself away in a janitor's closet or empty classroom if he saw any of the people who were known to frequently harass him, only to sob and cry in the dim and quiet spaces. It was getting harder to hold onto his smile, so much so that it was kind of painful; the question of 'why' was always plaguing his mind.

What did he do? Why did no one like him? Why can't it stop? The taller spoke nothing of it to his friends who he didn’t want to worry, they had their own lives and the taller would hate himself for getting them involved. But he could tell Baekhyun was starting to wonder about him with the way his eyes kept searching his face whenever they were together but Chanyeol only smiled and cracked a joke to lighten things up.

But it was inevitable to keep dark secrets like these to yourself, they always found a way to come to the surface. 

"Chanyeol, has something been going on with you?" Baekhyun asked as they sat together in study hall slaving over homework. 

"What do you mean?" he questioned, not looking up from his scattered sheets. 

Baekhyun's  lips puckered up as he watched his friend look at the papers in front of him. He flipped a few pages of a calculus textbook and looked back to the questions. Baekhyun has known this boy for so long, they confided in each other about anything they were struggling with and the older knew the male wore his feelings on his sleeve like an open book but the smaller felt like he was keeping things from him, that he's been lying.

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows and silently tapped the back of his pencil against his lips. The smaller males eyes wandered to the action and felt an urge blossom in him that happens way to frequently for it to be normal; the tall male pressed the eraser tip into his bottom lip thoughtfully and Baekhyun's mind drifted from his drilling just moments ago to take in the soft pink feature. His heart jumped in his chest at the thought of those plump lips pressing against his. 

Chanyeol looked up then and Baekhyun quickly averted his gaze, looking down to his science work. "What's wrong, why are you so quiet?" the taller asked. 

Baekhyun swallowed around the lump in his throat. "It's just that you look out of it sometimes and some days when the guys and I come to get you after class to go home together, someone tells us how you’ve already," he informed. 

"It's nothing. Just busy sometimes; homework and things" Chanyeol said shortly before looking at the watch on his wrist then back at Baekhyun. "Sorry I have to go, Mr. Lee wants me to help him set up the instruments in the music room" he said brushing of his best friends inquiries whilst packing up. 

Baekhyun watched feeling unsatisfied at his friends answer, he felt like the male wasn't telling him something, scratch that; he knew Chanyeol wasn't telling him something. "Okay" the smaller pouted "just leave me here to slave away" Baekhyun said dramatically. 

Chanyeol grinned, all his teeth showing and his eyes crinkling. Baekhyun loved that, the gesture never failed to make his heart skip a beat and have a tingling feeling erupt in his tummy. For as long as Chanyeol was in his life, even if he never found out his deep feelings for him, Baekhyun wanted the male to continue to smile at him like that because Chanyeol being endlessly happy was something of an energy source for Baekhyun, something that kept him going and he hoped it was the same for the taller as well. 

Chanyeol reached out and ruffled Baekhyun's hair until his bangs were askew all over his face. The smaller smacked Chanyeol's hand away and fixed his hair giving Chanyeol a glare that held no real hostility or anger.

The other just gleamed and laughed, "don't worry, Baekkie, you'll survive". Chanyeol left after that and Baekhyun reluctantly went back to his stupid science assignment about things he had no clue about. 

Baekhyun had only stayed another hour before he got fed up and packed his things up to leave. He checked his phone that he had neglected the entire time but only found a message from Sehun that was just of a stupid meme he somehow found funny, Baekhyun rolled his eyes and pocketed the device, making his way out of the library. His mind drifted back to Chanyeol and the fact that he was obviously hiding something from him, but what? Chanyeol has never kept anything from Baekhyun and neither the other way around, so what could be making the taller keep his lips on lock?

Baekhyun sighed while he walked down the hall hoping it wasn't anything serious or he would worry wholeheartedly. As he walked along he said 'hello' to a few people he knew, passing by a washroom down a deserted hallway something drifted into his ears and he stopped abruptly, taking in the sounds coming from inside.

Listening closer it was like someone was shouting in plea, to Baekhyun it sounded as if whoever was inside could be in trouble. He looked at the door to the males bathroom and without another thought Baekhyun entered but the smaller was surely not ready for what he saw when he rounded the corner into the open space where the stalls lined the back to his right and in front of him on the furthest wall was a row of urinals, to his left was the sink and big wall mirror; that's where his eyes were looking, opened with shock. 

There was Chanyeol atop the counter harbouring the sinks, his back pressed to the mirror with two people pinning him to it while he struggled against them, tears coming out of his eyes. There was a group of guys standing around him; one was attacking his best friend, ripping and cutting at his shirt with a pair of scissors and another trying to take of his jeans. Baekhyun couldn't believe his eyes; seeing Chanyeol try hard to get out of their grip and using his feet to kick them away. 

"No please! Stop!" Chanyeol cried. 

"Why? Don't you want to get for us? Isn't this what you do at your strip club? Think of this as a private service" the male who was determinedly destroying Chanyeol's shirt said, Baekhyun recognized him as Jongin; captain of the dance club. Every girl found him hot and attractive, some had pathetic crushes on him that will never come to fruition with such a massive playboy. 

"What the do you think your doing!?" Baekhyun growled angrily. Everyone in the room turned towards him, Chanyeol's distressed tear stricken face only made the male angrier. How dare they do this to his friend?! How dare they touch him like that with heir filty hands!? Baekhyun curled his own fingers into fists as he walked over before pushing at the two males who were pressing Chanyeol into the mirror, hard, so that they'd let go of Chanyeol. 

Baekhyun pulled the taller down towards him, his sad but relieved eyes looking at the smaller. "Who the do you think you are to touch him like that!?" Baekhyun blurted, turning to Jongin who just stared at him as if he were a mere fly. 

"What? We were just having fun with the schools new gay toy" Jongin stated without a hint of emotion, Baekhyun heard Chanyeol in a breath. 

"You have no right to do this to him! Don't ever touch him or come near him again, I'll personally pound you 6 feet under" Baekhyun glared threateningly. He was so furious but he was mostly mad at these guys in front of him for touching the person he loved so callously.

Jongin smirked. "Is the your boyfriend? Are you guys balls deep in each others asses?" the male laughed and so did the others who were standing beside him. 

Baekhyun was taken off guard as he stared incredulously at the male, "What?" was all he could muster. "Tell me, how does it feel to gag on each others ?" the smirk Jongin was giving was just pure mockery.

Baekhyun frowned deeply, the people at this school were all disgusting and cared about nothing but themselves. Baekhyun said nothing to the dance club captain and gripped Chanyeol's hand tighter not even in the right state of mind to enjoy the warmth of it enveloping his.

Baekhyun pulled Chanyeol out the bathroom before taking off the sweater he was wearing and tossing it to the younger so he could cover up since his shirt was in bad condition. Baekhyun then regained his grip on the tall males arm and led them down the hall, all the while still mad; he was even mad at Chanyeol who didn't tell him he was experiencing things like that. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Baekhyun asked in a tight voice, still pulling the male behind him. "Why didn't say something?" he continued until they reached his locker where he stopped and turned to fully address the taller. 

Chanyeol didn't answer just looked towards the ground. "How long?" he tried and Chanyeol's mouth twisted down and after a while trailed his big eyes onto Baekhyun who still wore a frown; Chanyeol didn't like that he made the male wear a face like this. He was a nuisance even to his best friend.

"Since the day after the confession" the taller said. 

Baekhyun's nose flared as the anger kept on simmering in his chest, he threw down Chanyeol's hand that he was unknowingly still holding, "Chanyeol! For that long and you said nothing!?".

Baekhyun didn't know why he couldn't calm down, clearly Chanyeol was still distressed he should be comforting him after what just happened but anger fueled him. At this point he knew it wasn't because of his friend but because of himself; he had let all this bypass him even though he knew something was wrong, he's been feeling like as of late all he did was let Chanyeol down. He didn't even tell him that he was in trouble, did he think he didn't care? 

"You should've told me! I could've....I would've..." Baekhyun trailed off, suddenly feeling more upset than angry. He didn't know what he could or would have done, yell and shout? What would that do? Those harassing Chanyeol wouldn't care that he was angry; fight them? Even if he said that to Jongin he knew better than anybody that he wouldn't stand a chance, is this why Chanyeol didn't tell him? Because he knew he could do nothing? The smaller sighed before turning and walking away leaving a troubled Chanyeol standing there, alone.

After that, Chanyeol really didn't come to school for at least a week or two. In all that time Baekhyun was beating himself up over what happened, how could he do that to Chanyeol? How could he just leave him hanging after what he saw him go through in the washroom? All he did was get angry and walk away, what kind of friend was he? A ty one for sure.

As the days passed Sehun, Kyungsoo and Jongdae had all become worried as well; Baekhyun took the initiative and explained to them what he had witnessed and what had most likely been going on. The smaller felt awful thinking about how Chanyeol was probably upset with him for walking off as he did and It's possible the taller didn't want to speak to him ever again because this was not something they did, they comforted each other and talked about it.

"I'll go check on him after school" Baekhyun said when they were on their lunch break and the others nodded. The smaller sighed, obviously having no appetite to eat the garbage they gave out in the cafeteria. The only reason why he hadn't already been over all this time was the prospect of Chanyeol telling him to go away.

"Do you think he's okay? You know Chanyeol, he's very influential" Kyungsoo stated, poking at his sandwich. "This could've been very traumatizing for him even if he tries to convince us and himself otherwise". 

" Minho and every one in this hole" Jongdae cursed "how do you just use someone's uality against them and bully him relentlessly and then go about your day as if were rainbows and unicorns?" he argued.

"When you go to see him, tell Chanyeol I said to not to let these imbeciles get to him" Sehun, sighing. "I have to go, my math teacher is hounding me to take his tutoring lessons" the taller got up and grabbed his tray before turning and leaving. They watched the retreating back of Sehun before they too packed up and exited. 
 

Baekhyun once again found himself staring out the window of his class  instead of paying attention to the lesson. He felt out of it, not seeing Chanyeol's bright smiling face while he was telling some lame joke or talking about any random thing, had him feeling down.  He wondered what he should bring the male to put his mind at ease; ice cream? Cake? Baekhyun sighed, he just hoped Chanyeol was alright.