Chanyeol has managed to keep himself out of Kris' reach for the most of that morning. He thinks he's safe for the remaining of that day, until Kris suddenly stands up from his seat and makes Chanyeol flinch out of his thoughts; his stepbrother's voice seeping into his ears so calmly that it stings. Chanyeol hisses under his breath when he hears his name and there goes the teacher asking him to accompany Kris who is 'still unfamiliar of the school compound'.

The class goes back to its stagnant silence other than the occasional squeak of marker pen on board, unlike the storm raging inside Chanyeol as he makes his way following an indifferent Kris.

The storm clears pretty quickly; Chanyeol actually thinks Kris isn't going to do anything to him - he has even risked requesting to stay outside the bathroom while Kris does whatever he does inside.

He's jinxed it, Chanyeol concludes.

He's just staring at nothing when suddenly he's had his back colliding with a hard wall, and there he has a mop of hair in the crook of his neck, lips nipping at the skin there. Chanyeol grits his teeth as he tries to push Kris away. He's shaking, he notices, and he doesn't want Kris to see him waver like that, so he gathers his strength and pushes Kris hard that the latter tumbles back. He spits a curse at his stepbrother but the latter only smirks at him and approaches him again.

There's a skip in the beats of his heart and his throat constricts, unable to even choke out words when Kris closes in, so close that their foreheads touch and Kris' lips hover over his.

He's trapped.

The strong arms either side of his head slides to cup his cheeks, and that is when Kris meets his eyes and Chanyeol finds himself unable to look away. He's seen the look in Kris' eyes the previous night. There's that playful glint accompanying his usual smirk, but somehow he sees fire in them.

The bathroom door opens and Chanyeol shakes his head and tries to break away from Kris again. Kris' hold is stronger this time; Chanyeol flinches when Kris tilts his head so his lips graze his cheeks. Chanyeol's hands that are Kris' shirt freezes and he furrows his eyebrows, managing to think why Kris is doing this despite knowing someone has just walked into them and that he should be pushing Kris away with all his might.

He hears the door close and the hold on his body loosens until there's nothing but cold air. Chanyeol bows his head, despising to even look up to the devil of a stepbrother when the said devil lifts his chin with a finger and makes him look up. Chanyeol slaps his hand away and turns to leave when Kris pulls him back by his wrist and places a chaste kiss upon the same cheek. Chanyeol mentally curses himself for noticing this detail. Kris smirks at him and waves his hand as if motioning Chanyeol to lead their way back to their classroom.

Chanyeol has his fists clenched along the way and he mentally screams when he hears Kris' chuckle from behind him.

-

He desperately glances back and forth from the clock on the wall in front of him to the book on his desk, looking but not seeing the contents of the page as he hears words go into his right ear and leave from his left. His hands grip either sides of his desk in anticipation as the seconds tick closer. When it does his toes curl inside his shoes and he chews on his bottom lip as he awaits for the marker pen to click close, for it to clink on its metal holder, for the teacher to instruct the class president to salute and for our salutes to chorus, before finally rushing out of the room - the book on his desk being the only item he hasn't shoved into his bag while the teacher isn't looking.

He dashes to his usual table for lunch, his eyes immediately searching for Baekhyun. He needs the latter; his sole presence is able to calm him. But as he stands at his usual corner Baekhyun isn't there so he sits there and assures himself that maybe Baekhyun hasn't left his class. But as minutes pass and most of his lunch mates appear, there is still no sign of Baekhyun and he starts feeling anxious. He goes searching for his friend at the line that starts to lengthen with more students being released from class, from the front to the very end, but the is still no Baekhyun.

He ducks his head in apparrent disappointment and makes his way back to his table.

"Looking for Baekhyun?" Jongin says in his ear and Chanyeol only nods his head and looks up with a pout.

"Ne," he answers sadly and turns to Jongin who has a spoon in his mouth. "Do you know where he is?"

Jongin nods and takes the spoon out and points it over Jongdae's head. "In the bathroom with-"

Jongin doesn't get to finish his sentence when Chanyeol dashes away.

"You're welcome," Jongin blinks and goes back to his food.

-

Chanyeol pants Baekhyun's name when he barges into the bathroom. He stops in his steps when he sees Baekhyun and the profile of a familiar boy. The boy turns his head a little to see who's came in - Chanyeol finds out it's Sehun - but Baekhyun hisses and forces him to face front again and he leans closer to dab a cotton bud to the corner of Sehun's mouth.

Chanyeol walks up beside Baekhyun to see what was wrong himself when he finds his eyes widening at the cuts and bruises colouring his seat mate's face. He brings his hands up to touch Sehun's face, making sure he's being gentle, missing the way Baekhyun's hand has halted the moment their hands graze. The halt has ended so quickly that neither Sehun nor Chanyeol has noticed, but Baekhyun himself. He retracts his hand immediately, busying himself with fumbling with the ointment he's holding and the cotton bud that keeps falling from his fingers.

Chanyeol's voice stands out, Baekhyun muses, taking in the way the sound reverberates in his ears and tingles his being and it makes his head hurt. He's lost it, Baekhyun inwardly sneers to himself when Chanyeol takes the cotton bud that has been in Baekhyun's motionless hand for god knows how long.

"Are you okay, Baek?" Baekhyun slaps Chanyeol's hand when the latter tries to touch his face- his shoulder- his arm- Baekhyun doesn't know; he just doesn't want Chanyeol touching him. "Baekhyun-ah, what's wrong?" Now Chanyeol is fully panicked. Baekhyun wants to apologise and take back what he just did - he's being childish, he's aware of it - but his body doesn't listen to him. Instead he adds fuel to the fire.

"Move, I'm trying to fix Sehun," he takes the bud from Chanyeol, albeit too harshly, and forces himself to focus solely on Sehun and not to his trembling hands or Chanyeol's existence.

Sehun isn't blind to not notice the tension between his two friends; heck, even a blind person can sense it!

"Yah, what's wrong with you two?" Baekhyun intentionally presses on a bruise and Sehun hisses, glaring at him a little before continuing, "This 'fixing' session is taking too long because you two keep eating on each other's brains- Ouch!"

Sehun almost yells if it isn't for his stinging cuts, and Baekhyun furiously throwing the used buds into the bin and shoving a tube of bb cream into his unready hands. Baekhyun storms off after that, leaving Sehun inarticulate. When Sehun turns to Chanyeol to question what is wrong Chanyeol also bolts after Baekhyun.

Chanyeol manages to catch Baekhyun's form at a turn, but when he makes the same turn Baekhyun is no longer in his vision. The hallways are almost empty as most of the students are in the cafeteria. But even when he runs and searches in the emptiness he doesn't find Baekhyun.

He finds Kris instead.

-

That night Baekhyun doesn't come to his study hall like he usually does. Baekhyun isn't there when Chanyeol goes to his study hall.

That night Chanyeol walks home accompanied, only that it's not with Baekhyun.