To say Jongin was not in a good mood was probably the understatement of the century. Sure, he was never sunshine and flowers, but he didn’t remember the last time he felt this downright pissed.

People passing by caught the anger radiating off him, as one by one they began to walk around him. Jongin usually would’ve moved out of the way, seeing he was probably making traffic the way he refused to move from the middle of street, but he couldn’t care less at the moment.

All that mattered to Jongin at the moment was the fact that Do Kyungsoo, who had promised to meet him today to watch a movie he had wanted to watch for the past month, was 45 minutes late.

Kyungsoo was late.

Jongin was impatient by nature. He hated when people stalled for absolutely no reason and had no tolerance for anything of that sort. This was primarily the reason why Jongin began to talk to Kyungsoo in the first place; Kyungsoo’s shyness was ticking him off by the past minute.

However, once Jongin got to know Kyungsoo, he realized that the latter was actually a very punctual person. Kyungsoo became more talkative, so Jongin had to no longer keep himself from strangling the other while he attempted to talk. Kyungsoo came to their meetings in time, always prepared and happy to go, and it was exactly the way Jongin liked it.

So why, Jongin wondered, was he forced to wait in the middle of the street for the last 45 minutes for someone as punctual as Do Kyungsoo? If Jongin wasn’t so close to Kyungsoo, then he would’ve left the moment he realized Kyungsoo was going to be late. But he waited, and his patience was quickly running out.

Running his hands through his hair and sighing in frustration, Jongin flipped open his phone to check the time again. 46 minutes and 15 seconds. And still no messages from Kyungsoo.

Jongin shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned around to leave when he heard a loud shout from behind.

“Jongin-ah!”

Jongin’s face hardened and his hands coiled into hard fists. Prepared to show Kyungsoo exactly how furious he was, Jongin turned around and pointed his glare at the smaller male.

The sight in front of him was shocking. Jongin’s eyes immediately widened and he had to stop himself from falling forwards.

“Ky-kyungsoo?”

Jongin gaped as his eyes slowly scanned his friend. Kyungsoo was the exact definition of chaos; his hair was ruffled and pointing in all directions, his clothes were extremely loose, as if they had been violently pulled on, and the side of his shoes were ripped.

On top of that, Jongin could swear he saw bits of purple bruises under the light cream Kyungsoo had put on.

Kyungsoo’s eyes turned into two crescent moons as he reached out and playfully tugged on Jongin’s arms.

“Are you mad? Sorry I was late. Something came out and I couldn’t get out of it. I swear I’ll make it u-”

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin interrupted. Kyungsoo’s eyes immediately turned into the usual oval when he heard Jongin’s serious tone. His hands let go of Jongin’s arms, but they hovered in the air, unsure of where to go.

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin repeated, his eyes staring at Kyungsoo’s stature, “Do you see yourself?”

Kyungsoo’s face hardened and he quickly brushed his hair down, his eyes wavering as they stared at the ground.

“I-I was in a hurry when I realized how late I was. I’m a mess, aren’t I?”

Jongin’s jaws hardened and his hands grabbed Kyungsoo’s shoulders, startling him.

“You look terrible,” Jongin snapped, “And I want to know exactly why my best friend looks like he just got beat up.”

“Jongin it’s nothi-”

“Cut the crap, Kyungsoo, because I’m not buying it. You have bruises on your face and your clothes are all ruined and I swear if I find out why I’m go-”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes tightly as he pulled Jongin closer and nestled in his arms. Jongin stood still, shocked by his actions, when he felt Kyungsoo trembling in his arms.

“Please, please Jongin,” Kyungsoo whispered, “I don’t want to fight. I was just clumsy. You need to believe me. Please.”

Jongin’s opened his mouth to retort, but Kyungsoo’s shaking figure stopped him. He sighed and decided that he would bring it up next time. He tightly s his arms around Kyungsoo’s thin waist and pulled him closer.

►♦►

Luhan dragged his body into the school building, aware of the fact that he was probably the only student there. There was still a good hour or two before most of the students came piling in, and Luhan had to ask himself for the tenth time that morning why he was awake at this hour.

Grabbing whatever he might need for class from his locker, including a small pillow and a soundproof earplug, he walked to his homeroom class. Mr. Cho had talked to him a few days ago about coming early to school, saying something about an emergency, and although Luhan was extremely determined to bail out, Baekhyun had reminded him that Mr. Cho was responsible for the homeroom grade he needed to gr