The very next day, Taemin found himself outside the school gates, trying to find his courage to finally enter them – because he knew who would be waiting somewhere on the other side, and he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t forgive him, even though he brought a present for his school mate and hyung, Luhan.

He took a deep breath, before he tried to hide himself in the crowd of other students, who just arrived. He looked around him, biting his lips a bit as he felt a pair of eyes on him, and their eyes soon met, making Taemin’s heart sink slightly in fear. He was so scared, that he would say something wrong, something that might make everything even worse than it already was – he wasn’t good at apologizing, mostly because he would always stutter so much, that people wouldn’t understand a single word.

“L… Luhan hyung,” Taemin carefully said, turning away from the crowd as he walked near to his schoolmate. Luhan was carrying his bag over the shoulder, looking slightly down towards the ground, but finally looking up at Taemin as he came close to him. The elder’s eyes showed clear signs of sadness and doubt. Taemin understood why.

He had treated his hyung so badly the day before, while Luhan just saved him from being beaten up.

“Oh… Annyeong, Taemin-ah…” Luhan mumbled, forcing himself to look at his younger friend, even though it was hard, and his eyes was flickering a bit.

Taemin swallowed.

“I-I’m truly sorry for yesterday, hyung…” he said carefully, stopping right in front of Luhan, biting his lower lip a bit, “I behaved like a brat.”

Luhan raised his eyes and looked at his schoolmate, doing nothing but agreeing to Taemin’s words, “Yes, you did.”

“I’m so sorry, hyung… Please, forgive me,” Taemin said, stuttering a bit, feeling his legs tremble slightly as he bowed deeply for his hyung, begging to gain his forgiveness, while he clenched around the shopping bag that he was carrying in his hand.

“I… I protected you from those guys… And your way of thanking me is by running from me?” Luhan asked, not feeling a bit touched by Taemin’s words, at all. He was pretty tough, and Taemin could see it now. Luhan was actually only sweet and cute towards those people he liked – all other people… He hated, even those people he didn’t know.

He was cold towards all of them – right now, Taemin too.

“I was scared! I’m so sorry, hyung…” Taemin looked up at his hyung again, sending him pleading, almost teary, eyes, “Please… I’m sorry. It just shocked me! I’ve never thought that you would be a Wolf.” Taemin just made Luhan roll his eyes a bit at him, sighing.

“You’re only apologizing because I’m a Wolf-…”

“That’s not true!” Taemin interrupted, standing again, looking at Luhan with wide, yet slightly angry, eyes, “I’ve been your friend even before I knew you were a Wolf, haven’t I? Even though we haven’t known each other for long?”

Luhan didn’t say anything to his younger friend. He just stood there and looked at him, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for Taemin to continue his speech for Luhan’s forgiveness.

“I didn’t know who you were in the cafeteria, I just knew that you seemed lost and confused, like me,” Taemin sighed and stepped a single step away, “People were walking away from you, not talking to you… Ignoring you… Like they do to me.” Taemin turned his eyes and looked at his hyung away, whose eyes weren’t cold or mean anymore. His glare was soft, understanding and a bit sad.

“… Why are you so alone?” he suddenly asked as he finally opened his mouth again, not feeling completely sure – even though he had a single theory.

“Because I’m a ,” Taemin said immediately and looked away with a heavy sigh, “I thought you already knew. Everyone is talking about me behind my back, calling med or .” He heard his own voice almost growl, taking a deep, yet shaky, breath. Luhan’s eyes turned softer, feeling slightly hurt on Taemin’s behalf. So he took a small step towards his dongsaeng, and couldn’t help but pull him into a warm, comforting hug, which made Taemin’s eyes go wide.

The few students left in the schoolyard looked at them with weird glares, but Taemin and Luhan didn’t care about their thoughts and opinions about them.

“It’s okay, Taemin-ah,” Luhan said quietly and let go of his dongsaeng again, looking into his doe-eyes with his own, “But please don’t be scared of Wolves, we wont hurt people we like, people who are our friends.”

Taemin looked at his hyung and gave a small nod, taking a deep breath before he finally reached down in his shopping bag, finding his present for his hyung, “I-I brought you something as an apology present,” he said with a small smile. Luhan just looked at him like a doe caught in the light of a car’s headlights.

“A present?” he asked, making Taemin nod as he finally showed him his small present.

“It’s the thing I cherish the most in the whole world,” he said with a big smile, “Banana milk!”

Luhan facepalmed mentally, but then couldn’t really help but laugh a bit at his friend as he accepted his gift, “Thank you, saeng,” he laughed softly.

Taemin couldn’t help but smile either, now everything was going to be okay again, right? He forgave him, and now they could finally be friends again.

“However… I think we’re late for class,” Luhan mumbled, making Taemin gasp a bit as he looked around them, realizing that the schoolyard was completely empty – just the two of them were left behind.

“.”

“Yep… Wanna skip school?” Luhan asked with a smirk as he turned around on his heels, walking towards the closed school gates with Taemin right after him – following him like a duckling.

“Skip school? Won’t we get in trouble?” Taemin asked with a small pout, “If we’re seen anywhere while wearing our school uniforms, I mean…”

Luhan shrugged as he grabbed the school gate, starting to climb over it, “I know where we can go… Somewhere people won’t call our school and tell on us,” he said with a smile as he finally reached the top of the gate, looking down on his dongsaeng, “You coming?”

“Y-Yeah…” Taemin stuttered, feeling nervous, as he had never really skipped school for a whole day. He was truly scared that he might get in trouble with his parents. Anyway, he still started to climb the school gate, climbing up towards Luhan, waiting for him.

“Hurry, Tae! The guard is coming,” Luhan whispered, looking over at the school guard, who was walking around the schoolyard, looking for students who haven’t gotten to class yet.

And he was headed towards them.

“,” Taemin gasped and started climbing faster. The gate was about three meters tall, and it was pretty hard climbing it, since there weren’t many things to grip onto.

“Yah!! What are you two doing?!” Taemin heard the man behind them yell as he rushed towards them. Luhan growled quietly and jumped down on the other side of the gate, looking up at Taemin who was barely at the top, his face showing nothing but pure fear and fright. His breath was quickening up, the adrenalin rushing through him as he thought of all the things his parents would do to him, if he got caught.

They would ground him.

Maybe even pick him up from school as well as bring him to school every day! Meaning that he couldn’t see Kai on his way home.

“Tae! Jump!” Luhan yelled at his friend as the school guard had started crawling up the school gate as well – yes, it did look kinda funny. A half-fat man breathing heavily as he tried his best to catch Taemin before it was too late.

“O-Okay,” Taemin said as he took a deep breath, and jumped down, landing on the ground next to Luhan, his hyung quickly grabbing his hand and pulling him along as he started walking – Taemin barely got to catch his breath from the short fall.

“Stop!! Right there!” The guard yelled far behind them, however he didn’t make the two boys stop – they just continued against the darker streets, that Taemin always had to walk to get home.

Taemin was about to understand, where they were heading, so he slowed a bit down as they got far enough away from the school for the guard to find them again. Luhan stopped a bit up and looked at his friend with a confused stare.

“Tae? What’s wrong?” he asked, a bit worried if he did something wrong.

“W-Where are we headed?” he asked, just to be sure that it wasn’t the place he thought – a part of him hoped that it was, while another part of him hoped that it wasn’t. He could even feel a slight hint of a shiver running down his back just by thinking of it.

“Oh, sorry… I just hoped that we could find shelter at the Wolf hangout place?” Luhan suggested, and Taemin looked at him with big eyes, feeling his cheeks grow hot by the fact that he finally – ing finally – got the chance to actually get close to Kai and his friends.

“B-But… Won’t the gang members be there?” Taemin asked carefully, biting his lower lip softly, looking a bit down to hide his red cheeks. He made Luhan smile a bit with his cuteness.

“Taeminnie, don’t be scared… They are kind because you’re my friend! I even told them about how you gave me a seat in the cafeteria when we met!” Luhan smiled and took Taemin’s hand again, looking at him with begging eyes, “Please meet them! I want you to!”

Taemin took a deep breath, sighing a bit.

“Okay… I’ll meet them, just for you then,” he said with a small smile, making Luhan smiles back at him.

“Come with me then,” he hummed as they walked past some pretty broken fences, finding the way inside the hangout – it was like a backyard, empty and grey, but with crates, a few chairs, and blankets. Taemin could remember what it looked like.

And smelled like... Spruce.

“Kai will be there too,” Luhan hummed, making Taemin look at him with wide eyes at Luhan made a small grin, winking at his friend who he left speechless and confused.

He knew?

Luhan ing knew about his crush on Kai?

Taemin could see it in Luhan’s doe-like eyes that he knew about it. The way he said Kai’s name.

He didn’t get the time to protest, as Luhan got him dragged into the backyard, where about fifteen people were hanging out – exactly eleven guys and four girls, including the girl who always looked at Taemin with cold eyes.

Of course, the sudden appearance of a non-member, made all the gang members go silent, as they turned their stares towards Luhan and Taemin. They were having a pretty loud and funny conversation just before they got there – they could be heard on the street.

Taemin was completely quiet as he made his eyes wander over them, looking at how they cozily were sitting on crates and chairs, having a nice talk, playing some card games maybe, and a few of them had something that looked like a cigarette, but even Taemin knew exactly what it was from the smell.

Joints.

Well, they were a gang, and joints were pretty normal for them to smoke.

But the thing that hurt him the ing most, was the fact that Kai… His biggest crush in the world… Was sitting with a small, almost gone, joint in his mouth, making smoke rings as he exhaled. His indeed very dark, cold and yet extremely y eyes, were resting on Taemin’s face, making him feel completely hot all of a sudden.

Actually, all of the gang members were staring at him, like a pack of wolves, hungry and wild, with cold stares, as if they were ready to kill.

… I’m gonna die now.