Chanyeol came to school the next day, dressed in his pajamas and his messy tousled hair was even messier than usual. He had intense dark eye circles and he looked like a zombie. He trudged into the classroom and everyone gasped at him. It was the first time seeing one of the most popular guys in the school looking so… well, unpopular.

Sehun and Luhan walked over, and the latter crossed his arms. “Chanyeol, you have five seconds to explain why the hell are you dressed like this or I’ll personally drag you back to the apartment to change.”

Chanyeol ignored him and plopped down on his seat. Sehun took the kinder approach and sat down next to him. “Chanyeol, what’s wrong?” Chanyeol groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Hehasagirlfriend.” He mumbled out. Sehun and Luhan stared at him, uncomprehending. “What?” Chanyeol looked up and shouted, “HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND!” Everyone turned to stare at them and Luhan gasped at Chanyeol, “But he’s clearly gay! He was checking out my in the hallway, and everyone who checks out my is gay.”

“Well, you’re wrong. He told me last night.” Chanyeol buried his face in his hands again. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Baekhyun told him. Who is his girlfriend? Is he really in love with her? Is he homophobic? How would he react if he knew I have a huge crush on him? His brain felt like it was going to explode with so many questions. He groaned again and ran a hand through his messy hair. Luhan cringed visibly and said, “Chanyeol, follow me.” He grabbed Chanyeol’s hand and pulled him out of the classroom.

Chanyeol struggled slightly, “Yah, what are you doing?” Luhan ignored him, and with a surprising bout of superhuman strength, he managed to drag the tall lanky giant all the way to his locker. Luhan opened it and flung an outfit to Chanyeol. “Here, I always keep a change of clothes in my locker if I ever encounter a wardrobe crisis.” He eyed Chanyeol’s penguin pajamas. “And this is definitely a level 10 crisis.” Chanyeol ignored the slight. He crossed his arms, “I don’t want to change.” Luhan growled, “You will change, and that’s that!”

Ten minutes later, and after much struggling and whining, Chanyeol was finally appropriately dressed in a black body-fitting shirt and jeans. Luhan managed to produce a comb from his locker of wonders and also somehow managed to flatten Chanyeol’s wild hair with it. He got some concealer and concealed Chanyeol’s dark eye circles.

Chanyeol looked much more presentable now, but his heart was still feeling as moody as when he was in those penguin print pajamas. He skulked back to class, ignoring everyone’s surprised glances and slumped back in his seat. When class ended, he dashed out of the room and headed to the hallway. He rushed to his locker and stuffed his books in. He wanted to get out of the school as soon as possible, to avoid bumping into Baekhyun.

“Chanyeol!”

, too late.

He turned around slowly and saw Baekhyun smiling at him, holding hands with a pretty girl. Chanyeol felt his insides flare with jealousy and he struggled to not hiss like a cat at the girl. Baekhyun beamed at him, oblivious to what was going on. “Chanyeol, this is my girlfriend, Choi Sulli.”

Chanyeol struggled not to narrow his eyes at her. “…. Hello.”

Sulli smiled prettily at him, oblivious to his jealousy. “Hi, I’m Sulli!” Baekhyun smiled tenderly at her and said, “So, Chanyeol, are you free this weekend? Do you want to hang out?” Chanyeol peered desperately around the hallway, trying to find an excuse to get out of it. He didn’t want his feelings for Baekhyun to escalate, to get out of control. He needed to avoid Baekhyun as much as possible.

Just then, he looked at Baekhyun and said sheepishly, “… I have a date.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened with surprise. “With who?”  Chanyeol squirmed and randomly pointed at a girl passing by. “Her!” Disappointment flickered slightly in Baekhyun’s eyes as he nodded, “Okay then. Do you want to double date? I’m going out with Sulli this weekend.”

Chanyeol fought the urge to shake his fists at Sulli. “Uh… sure!” Baekhyun smiled, “Alright then. Meet you at 7pm?” Chanyeol nodded curtly as Baekhyun pulled Sulli away. He let out a huge sigh and chased after the girl he pointed at earlier.

He failed to notice Baekhyun turning back to look at him, disappointment still riveting in his eyes.