“Hey, Baekhyun,” A deep voice chuckles as Baekhyun regains his senses from the collision. He would recognize that voice anywhere, and looking up only proved his guess.

“Ugh,” he groans as he picks up one of his dropped books, making it a point to roll his eyes and push past Chanyeol.

Baekhyun normally isn’t so rude at all, but the frustration and irritation of the day had made him cranky and on edge. He stomps down the hallway, vaguely aware of a trailing Chanyeol. He’s too angry at the unexpected appearance of Chanyeol, though maybe he should’ve expected it. The giant has been waiting for him after school for a few days of the week.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Baekhyun hears Chanyeol’s voice, and it’s laced with concern.

It takes nearly all of Baekhyun’s will to ignore Chanyeol and not sock him in the face.

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asks again in his sickeningly deep voice, and the worry makes Baekhyun want to shudder.

“Go away!” Baekhyun finally snaps, turning around sharply to wrench Chanyeol’s hand off his shoulder. He really doesn’t know why he’s so mad, or what he’s even mad at, but all he knows is that he’s severely irritated, and the only person around is Chanyeol, so he guesses that’s who he’s going to take it out on.

“You’re always bothering me when I make it so obvious that I don’t want to talk!” Baekhyun huffs, crossing his arms across his chest, “Don’t you understand that I DON’T want you around?” Baekhyun’s screaming now, and when he’s done, it’s completely silent.

The lack of noise gives him a moment to think, and he realizes how much that venting helped relieve his stress. But, after he realizes how good he feels, he then feels like seeing the expression on Chanyeol’s face.

Baekhyun first sees Chanyeol’s expression fall flat from the smile he once wore. A blankness then followed. And then, finally, he sees the bright sparkle in the other’s eyes dim as Chanyeol puts on an obviously fake smile.

“Oh, haha,” Chanyeol stammers, his voice unbelievably forced and strained as he awkwardly reaches up to scratch the back of his head, “Sorry about that, then. I didn’t realize I was being such a nuisance.”

Chanyeol sounds both apologetic and sour, and the discomfort on his face only makes Baekhyun’s guilt pang harder at his conscience.

“I guess I’ll go then,” Chanyeol murmurs, and he seems reluctant to go. “I promise I won’t bother you again, Baekhyun-ssi.” And then the giant finally turns away, walking at a brisk pace.

Baekhyun’s guilt only grows after seeing Chanyeol’s hesitation, and the formal way the other said his name, but Baekhyun’s stubbornness causes himself to also hesitate, and he’s left standing there with his mouth partially open.

He winces, scrunching his nose as he recollects himself, turning in the opposite direction to head home.

And then he sighs, shaking his head. He figures that they’ll be good again tomorrow because they always fight, though he’s never gotten a reaction like this from Chanyeol before. But, Chanyeol’s amazingly forgiving and sweet, so he’ll definitely be forgiven, and things will back to normal tomorrow, right?

***

Kyungsoo found himself pinking just from a single look at Jongin, or a simple wink from him.

Though he’d never admit it out loud, because he’s much too shy, Kyungsoo found himself falling further and further for Jongin.

And so, during school the next day, he couldn’t help but smile at lunch seeing Jongin waiting at the lunch table. But, there was something off with the mood.

“Hey, where’s Chanyeol?” Kyungsoo asks as he sits, raising a slight eyebrow at Baekhyun, who sat with his gaze locked on the table.

“No idea,” Jongin mutters as he slides an arm around Kyungsoo’s torso, an action that he’d been doing more often just to see the pretty pink blush on Kyungsoo’s waist.

“That’s weird,” Sehun interjects, finally managing to rip his attention away from Luhan, who was sitting so close that he was practically on the other’s lap, “I saw Chanyeol earlier. And I know for a fact he wasn’t busy at lunch today…”

The fact that the bright and smiley giant was missing also made Luhan pout a bit, because something just felt extremely, extremely wrong.

“Do you know, Baekhyun?”

As if he hadn’t been feeling guilty enough already, the last question struck at Baekhyun’s heart even further.

“Nope,” he lies through his teeth, unable to meet the gazes of any of his friends. But he just can’t own up the truth that it was definitely he who drove away the sun of their group of close knit friends, “I’m sure he just forgot to tell us he was busy. I’m sure Chanyeol has a good reason,” Baekhyun replies with a half hearted smile, finally looking up.

Kyungsoo frowns, because he can definitely tell something is off with his best friend. But before he can do anything about it, his attention is fully drawn away by a few of Jongin’s roaming fingers.

“Stop!” he squeals, grabbing onto one of his hands.

Baekhyun watches as his friends once again are distracted by their soon-to-be significant others, because really, how long is it going to take for them to date already. They’re practically going out already with their actions, why not make it official?

But his mind is more worried by the fact that Chanyeol’s not here, and that Chanyeol’s not busy annoying him, and that Chanyeol’s voice isn’t filling his ears.

He bites his lower lip in worry as he continues to look around the cafeteria, hoping to catch sight of his favorite giant, though he wouldn’t ever admit that out loud.

‘Maybe he’ll be back tomorrow,’ Baekhyun thinks, though he’s really trying to convince himself more than making a comment.

***

It’s afterschool when Kyungsoo seeks Jongin again, and he smiles seeing the other waiting for him at the school gate. Even though he’s been doing it for a few days in a row now, it never fails to make Kyungsoo want to smile.

They wordlessly fall into step as they walk together in the direction of Kyungsoo’s home.

“So,” Jongin begins the conversation, though in all honesty the both of them would’ve been content with walking in silence, “Are you busy later tonight?”

First, Kyungsoo wonders why Jongin is even asking, though he has a hunch. And secondly, Kyungsoo has to stop himself from blurting an immediate ‘no’, though his answer does come all too quickly.

“Nope, I don’t. Why?” he hums, and he blushes feeling Jongin’s hand brush against his own as they’re walking. And then he feels Jongin’s fingers deliberately curling around his palm, and his heart rate quickens.

“How about a date, tonight?” Jongin asks, chuckling softly at the adorable blush and reactions he receives from Kyungsoo.

“T-tonight?” Kyungsoo stammers in surprise, because it’s kind of an abrupt date, not that he would say no anyways.

Jongin nods before humming in thought, “Or, how about now?”

“O-okay, but where are we going?” Kyungsoo asks, only now realizing that they aren’t headed towards his house at all.

“It’s a surprise, don’t worry about it, Soo,” Jongin replies, enjoying all the little physical replies he receives from Kyungsoo with just a little squeeze of his hand, or the usage of a special nickname.

“You’ll love it, okay? I’m one hundred percent sure that you’ll love it,” he chuckles, and then Kyungsoo blushes and nods, because, Jongin will never cease to make him happy.