Sehun was stuck.

He had thought of every possible thing Luhan could be weak to, every possible fear or uncertainty the boy could have, but everything he tried was merely brushed off.

It didn't help that Luhan was gaining on him, too, his actions becoming more and more intimate, more and more inappropriate, and Sehun knew it was only a matter of time before he was propositioned again. Before Luhan had got inside his head enough to have his way with him again.

So Sehun was stuck, the last bit of fight beginning to fade inside him as he wondered if he may as well just give in to Luhan anyway.

Luhan, whose hair had faded into a sort of orange-pink, had invited himself over Sehun's house again after school, on the pretence that they were actually going to work on the project. It was a few weeks into the term, and the two had got nothing done.

Not that Sehun expected to get anything done, anyway. He had an aversion to schoolwork, and Luhan seemed more fixed on getting Sehun into bed again than actually moving on with the project.

That day, however, there was an interruption to their usual routine.

Sehun strolled into the cafeteria, as he did every day, to find someone in his seat. This wouldn't usually be weird, aside from the fact that Luhan himself had proclaimed that seat to be Sehun's, as it was directly next to his own.

This guy was tall and lean, his skin dark and his hair darker. He had an angular jaw, and a soft, handsome face- not that he was Sehun's type (Sehun wasn't even sure he had a type, but the point stands). He had an elbow rested on the table, body turned and chatting excitedly to Luhan next to him who looked, for lack of a better description, utterly disinterested.

Shaking off the unwelcome, ridiculous feeling that he was being replaced, Sehun shrugged before making his way over.

As soon as he got near the table, Luhan's head snapped up from where he was glaring into his food, and the look he shot Sehun held something like relief. The boy next to him turned to see what had captured Luhan's attention, and raised an eyebrow at Sehun.

Seun almost felt insulted.

"You're Oh Sehun, right? The 'lone wolf' of your year?" The boy shrugged, fingers making air-quotes and with his tone bordering on sarcastic. As he sat down opposite Luhan, Sehun felt the beginnings of anger spring to life in his gut. "I was just telling Luhan about the School Council."

That's where Sehun had seen him before. This boy was in the year below them, and a member of the ridiculously dysfunctional School Council- which could barely decide on it's own members, let alone any rules for the school.

"In case you haven't heard of me," Sehun wanted to snort at the pompous tone of this kid's voice, "I'm Kim Jongin, Vice President of the School Council."

Blinking, and thoroughly confused as to why this 'Jongin' was approaching Luhan now, Sehun bit back a comment and simply replied with-

"Great."

While this exchange had been taking place, Luhan's gaze turned more and more sour, staring as if the food on his plate had insulted him unforgivingly. Suddenly, as if Sehun had just ceased to exist, Jongin turned back to face Luhan with a "So as I was saying..."

Sehun watched the redheads face as Jongin blathered on about something, noticing an expression there that he'd never seen before. He looked angry and bored, a change from the usual sweet persona he kept up in public. One hand was clutching around his drink, and Sehun watched the knuckles on his hand grow whiter and whiter as Jongin talked.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Sehun then turned his gaze on the boy. Jongin's speech was completely different to how he'd addressed Sehun- almost eager and energetic. His eyes never left Luhan's face, and he kept touching the redhead's arm every now and then.

Sehun felt the anger bubble up into something more, but wasn't sure why.

Some sort of tension seemed to be building, and Sehun was almost afraid of the glass smashing under Luhan's grip, before the pressure suddenly snapped. Jongin's hand had strayed onto Luhan's leg, and the red-haired boy jumped up.

His chair scraped back against the floor, tipping over from the force, and Sehun looked up, shocked, to find Luhan's gaze on him. Gulping as the boy shot him the look he was getting used to, the heated one that meant 'follow me, or else', Sehun watched Luhan storm out of the cafeteria.

He was about to obey and follow him, when he heard Jongin speak.

"You're no good for him."

Spluttering, he spun back to face the kid.

"Excuse me?!"

Jongin waved his hand in the air, "Luhan doesn't need friends like you. You're just dragging him down."

Sehun almost lost his . He wanted to shout how he never asked to be Luhan's friend in the first place, and how he wasn't even sure that's what their relationship was defined as. He wanted to shout that Luhan, albeit unpredictable, would never, ever fall to Jongin's level, and would never be friends with him. He wanted to scream that Jongin was wrong-

But he caught himself as he realised he had no idea why he wanted to defend Luhan.

Jongin's expression was so cocky, so conniving, so self-assured, that Sehun simply grunted in disgust before standing up and following the redhead out of the hall.

He considered his options- he could stay there and give Jongin a piece of his mind, but get nowhere. Or, he could follow Luhan, obliging with whatever he wanted just to spite the little .

Sehun was so furious that the second option seemed infinitely better than the first, and he smirked to himself as he made his way to the roof, where he knew the boy would be.

He may not be good enough for Luhan, but at least he got his attention. At that moment, Sehun considered that a win against Jongin.

---

He didn't get far until he spotted Luhan ahead of him in the hallway, but he wasn't alone.

The boy had his hands clasped in front of him, in typical 'cute' Luhan style, and seemed to be talking with two very tall people. As he advanced closer, Sehun made one out to be Kris, but the other, a lean, dark blonde-haired boy who was mere centimetres shorter than the stoic giant, remained a mystery.

Sehun walked up to place himself just behind Luhan, not entirely sure what he was supposed to do in this sort of situation, and studied the guy further.

Unlike Jongin, Sehun was pretty sure he had no idea who this person was. He had dark circles around his eyes, a smirk curling at his catlike lips. Sehun briefly realised that he looked rather akin to a panda, but his thought process was interrupted by Luhan curling an arm around him, suddenly beside Sehun when just seconds before he had been in front.

"This is my friend Sehun!" Luhan's voice was high and soft, sounding innocently delighted as he introduced him. Sehun simply rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, watching as the new guy raised an eyebrow.

Seriously. That had to stop being everyone's first reaction to him. It was starting to grate against his nerves.

But when the person hesitated before saying, "It's nice to meet you.", Sehun realised that this guy wasn't like Jongin. He wasn't an unnecessarily pompous dickhead. He was just at a new school, meeting new people for the first time. Having a small boy who looked remarkably feminine immediately start introducing you to people must be sort of overwhelming, and so Sehun felt sorry for the guy.

He twinned his reply with a warm smile, "It's nice to meet you, too."

"This is Tao, he's just transferred here from a school out of town. He's Chinese like Kris and I, isn't that great Sehunnie?" Luhan enthused, beaming up at Sehun, and the boy felt the familiar twinges of something in his stomach. He was yet to figure out just what it was.

He forced another smile to his face, ignoring Luhan's ridiculous pet-name. "That's cool, Luhan."

Sehun felt the redhead curl his hand around his wrist and tried not to wince, hoping that Tao wouldn’t think too much of Luhan clinging to Sehun. He didn’t need the new boy jumping to conclusions, not today.

Tao visibly relaxed, his expression softening from one of clear anxiety to a small, relieved smile. Noticing this, Sehun smiled to himself, happy that he was able to help the boy’s nerves.

Kris stepped forward suddenly, hand reaching to rest on Tao’s upper arm, and Sehun watched the tall blonde warily. Kris was enough to scare anyone away, and Sehun had a feeling he was going to like this new guy. He didn’t need Kris’ intimidating, cocky personality costing him a potential friend.

But, to Sehun’s surprise, Tao turned to smile brightly up at Kris, and, to Sehun’s even further surprise, Kris’ lips curled into a smile in return. An actual, proper, fully-formed smile, that tugged his upper lip up to nearly expose his gum, and looked, in a way.... sweet.

“I better keep showing you around.” Kris’ voice was lighter, still not happy but happier than Sehun had ever heard it, and he had to stop his mouth from falling open. What was going on?

Tao nodded firmly, and Kris turned to Luhan. “I’ll see you later, Luhan.”

Luhan beamed, saying goodbye to his friend, and Kris didn’t even care to acknowledge Sehun before he turned around and lead Tao down the hall.

Rolling his eyes because 'Kris will always be Kris’, Sehun wondered, for a moment, what sort of change Tao had inspired in the tall boy. Sehun classed himself as one of the few people truly, blissfully oblivious to other people’s feelings, but even he could see that there was something up.

Half-consciously letting Luhan tug him down the corridor, Sehun smirked to himself as he wondered if this could be the transformation of grumpy, face Kris, into an actual pleasant human being.

--