"How about we do this again, but just us two."

♥♠♥

“So, where were you last night?”  Baekhyun asked as he leaned against the side of Kyungsoo’s locker.

“I was at work.” Kyungsoo said rather innocently as he grabbed a few books for his next classes.

“Don’t give me that.  I waited outside your house for two hours and you never came home. Ha Yi wasn’t even home.’  Baekhyun was clearly upset with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“You waited in front of my house?”

“Yes!  And I decided not to text you because I knew it’d be pointless and I wanted to surprise you after your first day back from work.”

“I’m sorry Baek, I ended up sleeping over Jongin’s house.”

“What?!  You’d seriously sleepover his house but not mine?  After how long you got to know him you’d willingly sleep over his house?  Kyungsoo, what the ?”

“Geez, calm down Baekhyun. I got out of work at midnight so his dad offered me a ride to his house and sleepover instead of getting home later.”

“You’re even on a comfortable basis with his dad?!” Baekhyun started to fume. “You’re unbelievable.” Baekhyun turned around and walked away to their homeroom.

Kyungsoo watched the back figure of Baekhyun leave, not really knowing why he was so angry all of the sudden.

But after the last couple of weeks of spending most of his time with Jongin, Kyungsoo seemed to realize how little he spent with Baekhyun.  But it really wasn’t his fault, he had to spend time with Jongin, especially if he wanted to get money from work.

Kyungsoo sighed, already knowing that his dramatic best friend would give him the silent treatment for a couple days and hopefully that would be all it is.

“So.” A hand slammed Kyungsoo’s locker door shut.  “Staying out late and doing -ish stuff I hear, huh?”  Kyungsoo cringed, knowing all too well who was tormenting him first thing in the morning.

“I wasn’t , around I wa—”

“Yeah, uh huh. Okay. I mean, no use lying.  Everyone in school practically knows you can’t afford to stay here, so you have to the chairman off to let you stay.”

Kyungsoo’s cheeks turned red at such a vulgar thing, and he was ready to throw a punch in the kid’s face. He’d just about had enough of his constant verbal and physical abuse for the last month. 

“Back off Kris, and mind your own business.”  Kyungsoo tried to sound angry, but he knew his voice came out just an octave too high and a little shaky. He hated to admit it, but Kris really did scare him; especially when Chanyeol told him stories about Kris’s anger.

“What? Did I hit a sensitive spot? ‘Cause I’m right?  in’ .” Before Kris could reach out and grab Kyungsoo by the collar, an arm pushed Kris up against the lockers and held him tight against them.

“Kyungsoo go to class.” Chanyeol said as he struggled around to press his forearm into Kris’s larynx.

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo gasped, ready to pull him away. Kris’s face was red and his legs were live and kicking, Kyungsoo knew the bomb was going explode any second now.

“Just go to class Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol said in a strained voice as he shoved Kris into the locker even harder.

Kyungsoo took the smart route and ran for the closest room with an authoritative adult.  Students had gathered around the struggling boys that were on the floor by the time a teacher broke up the mess.

Kyungsoo sat in his class knowing full well where Chanyeol was. Detention. He hadn’t shown up to class all day and probably wouldn’t be for the next couple of days. The guilt was already seeping in. 

It was during break when Tao and Baekhyun found their way next to Kyungsoo’s desk.

“Where’s Chanyeol?”  Baekhyun asked rather curious as he sat on top of Chanyeol’s desk.

“I think he’s in detention.” Kyungsoo leaned back in his chair.

“What he do?”  Tao asked as he sat in Chanyeol’s seat.

“He got into a fight with Kris…”  Kyungsoo trailed, knowing full well why the fight even started.

“How do you even know these things before I do?”  Baekhyun crossed his arms again and stared the boy down.

“I was there when it happened.”  Kyungsoo mumbled.

“Really?!  What happened?!”  Baekhyun leaned in to keep the conversation on the quiet side.

“I-..  Kr-Kris was bothering me again.  And Chanyeol kind of pushed him up against the locker…”

“That was bothering you again?!”

“What is ‘’?”  Tao asked causing both males to whip their head in his direction. 

Kyungsoo looked up at Baekhyun and shook his head to not tell him.

“When..  You’re older, we’ll let you know.”

“I’m sixteen.. Just like you.”

“You’re sixteen?” Kyungsoo questioned with a stunned expression.

“Mhm.”

“Why are you in our grade then?”  Baekhyun questioned back.

“I am very smart.”

“Ah.”  The boys chimed in unison. “Well we’re seventeen.” Baekhyun finished.

“Did you see Kris’s face?  He had a black and blue!”  Two girls gossiped amongst each other as they spoke quietly next to the three curious boys.

“Looks like Kris got it bad.” Baek whispered to Tao and Kyungsoo. “But what did Kris do to drive Chanyeol to violence like that?  He’s usually a gentle giant… Kris didn’t touch you in anyway did he?” Baekhyun asked getting suddenly very concerned with the topic.

“No, no!  It wasn’t that… Kris started calling me a after you left because I think he heard our conversation. And just before Kris was about to grab my collar, Chanyeol came in and chocked Kris with his arm.”

“Wow.. Chanyeol’s so cool.”  Tao said with a slight clap of his hands.

“But what did Kris say exactly?  The most Chanyeol would ever do is push him away from you.  Not choke him.”  Baekhyun was thinking really hard about this, genuinely worried about the justice on Chanyeol’s end.

“I don’t know.  He said something about me the chairman off to stay in school and… Oh… Wow…”  Kyungsoo paused as the clock works began to tick together.

“What?”  Tao and Baekhyun chimed.

“I know why he reacted so violently.”

“Well? Are you gonna tell us?” Baek pressed

“Chanyeol is really against certain vulgar words.  And Kris called me something that I really didn’t appreciate.”

“Alright, I’m getting old over here.  Please prevent my from drying out.”

“He called me a .”

Baekhyun’s face fell, especially at the sight of Kyungsoo’s own face turning an extra shade of white.

“He said what?”

“No! He didn’t say that.  I just heard wrong!” Kyungsoo quickly tried to cover his words up knowing all too well how angry Baekhyun would get over the vulgar language.

“Kyungsoo, don’t you dare try to cover his sorry . He’s going to pay. Whether he likes it or not.” Baekhyun stood to his feet and balled his hands into fists.

“Baek!  Please don’t!” Kyungsoo shot up from his seat and grabbed hold of Baekhyun’s wrist.

“Don’t stop me Kyungsoo, I’m sick of that pushing you around.” Baekhyun ripped his wrist away and started for the door.

“Baek!”  Kyungsoo grabbed his arm this time and yanked harshly to turn the boy around.

“Baek, you need to think this through. What are you gonna do? Hm? Do you even know where Kris is? Are you gonna throw punches at him too? Is that really gonna solve anything? And do you really think he’ll listen to you if you try talking to him?”  Kyungsoo’s grip was firm on Baek’s arm.

Baekhyun slowly started to relax, after a few seconds of allowing Kyungsoo’s words to simmer in his mind.

“See? Now come sit back down. And let me handle this. I’ll talk to Kris. I need to stand up for myself. You know I can. I’m the toughest guy out there.”  Kyungsoo beat his fist against his chest and smiled triumphantly as he pulled Baek back to Chanyeol’s desk.

Baekhyun smiled a little Kyungsoo’s rashness and threw his arms around his neck. 

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, ya know.”  Baekhyun smiled and ruffle Kyungsoo’s hair.

♥♠♥

“Okay, so since Chanyeol’s gonna be suspended for a couple days, let’s all go out and buy him something.” Baekhyun said proudly as he walked up to Jongin and Kyungsoo by their lockers.

“What happened to Chanyeol?”  Jongin asked as he turned to Kyungsoo for the answers.

“He got in a fight with Kris.” Sehun said as he approached the group of males.

“Oh god, what happened now?”  Jongin turned to Kyungsoo.

“He got into a fight protecting Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun chimed in.

“Was Kris bullying you again?!”  Jongin nearly fainted from exasperation.

“Thanks guys.” Kyungsoo said rather sarcastically. “Y-Yeah.”  He mumbled as he put a couple books away in his locker.

“That —”

“It’s okay, Jongin.  It really is. That’s why we should go and get Chanyeol something. To make him feel better.”

Jongin grimaced but reluctantly agreed with him. 

“Okay, so we should go head over to the outlet stores by the bubble tea café and find something there. Now we can all either pool in money to get something expensive or individually buy him something.”

“I think we should all pool something in to buy him something.” Sehun spoke out.

“I think that’s a good idea.”  Kyungsoo agreed and so did the others with a nod of the head.

“Do we have to pick up Ha Yi first?”  Jongin asked.

“No, she’s going over a friend’s house to do a small project with.” Kyungsoo closed his locker and slung his book bag over his shoulder.

“Alright, then let’s go!”  Baekhyun pointed his index finger forward and took the lead.

“I just have to be in work at five, though.”  Kyungsoo spoke up amongst the moving group of boys.  

Baekhyun groaned and lulled his head to the side to properly show Kyungsoo his apathetic emotions.  Kyungsoo shrugged and found his pace alongside Tao and Jongin as Sehun took pace next to Baekhyun.

“Are you okay though?” Jongin asked after a few moments of walking toward the entrance.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, it’s not like he doesn’t do this often thou—” Kyungsoo crashed into Baekhyun’s back before realizing everyone stopped. “What the hell Baek—” Kyungsoo poked his head to the side and found the lone still figure of Kris standing in the middle of the hallway; staring each one of them down with his hands in his pockets.

“It’s him.” Baek muttered. “Hey! !”

Kris’s eye brows raised with an offended sort of attitude about him. 

“Yeah, you. Where’s Chanyeol?” Baekhyun stood proud in his stance.

“He left already.” Kris’s deep voice shook each of them to the bone as they walked on their way. 

“Baek!”  Kyungsoo yelled in a whisper to prevent him from walking any further.

Baekhyun ignored Kyungsoo’s pleas and kept on forward to exit the building through Kris. Baekhyun’s shoulder bumped into Kris’s as he passed by, leaving Kris do nothing at the action. 

Kyungsoo followed behind Baekhyun with a wary eye on Kris. All the while, Kris staring him down with an expression unreadable to him. 

Everyone passed by with ease, not being interrupted by Kris or anyone of his goons that might be lurking around. All the while staring at the black eye and raised cheek bone from the previous fight.

Kyungsoo let out a deep breath once everyone was out of the building; not even realizing that he built up so much tension in his body.

“Phew.. That was a close one.” Sehun pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead.

“Oh shut up, you’re not even a part of this friend circle.”

“No, but I am friends with Jongin. Therefore I am friends with you. But are you really gonna ignore our lab class last year Baek? Come on, wasn’t that special to you?”

“ you, I ended up doing all the work.”

“Exactly. You did my work. That’s special on its own.”

“Go choke on a .”

“This is gonna be a long day.” Kyungsoo sighed.

“I still don’t know what ‘’ is.” Tao popped up and Kyungsoo looked at him with sorrowful eyes. 

“It’s this thing.”  Sehun grabbed at his crotch and wiggled it up and down.

“Oh…”  Tao’s cheeks flushed and he quickly looked away. 

“Psh, he has no ..” Jongin mumbled.

“Oh kaaay! That’s enough about . Shall we move on ladies?” Kyungsoo pushed Baekhyun by the shoulders to keep him moving.

“Aw, but it was just getting to the good part!”

For the two hours that the boys had with each other it went by rather fast and eventful.  The time they spent with each other was agonizing and full of what Baek would call “”.  But the banter between everyone was greatly appreciated when trying to find the correct present for Chanyeol.

One too many times did a or come in to mind, making sure that Tao was very unaware of what those words meant.  But it took a good long while before everyone was content on what to get Chanyeol. It was a hair clip that was found by Baekhyun’s keen eye in the mess of a makeshift anime store. The hair clip was in the shape of a phoenix and decorated in a couple orange and yellow rhinestones and although feminine, something about it screamed Chanyeol. Baek thought it was a good idea to clip the kid’s hair back. Sehun thought it matched his hair. Tao just thought it was pretty. Jongin thought it match the kid’s love for folklore kind of stuff like it.  And Kyungsoo thought it symbolic of Chanyeol; in the way he saved him. Chanyeol’s fiery personality would come out and it reminded him a lot of the phoenix’s persona.

“So, are you happy with this choice?” Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo as everyone sat at the round table in the bubble tea café.

“Yeah, I think he’ll like it.” Kyungsoo stared down at the box that held the clip as he sipped on his strawberry bubble tea.

“Geez Hun, calm down. He’s not gonna come in if he hasn’t already.” Jongin spat at Sehun who was tensely looking out the window every two seconds.

“Who? Lu?” Kyungsoo looked up to Sehun and Jongin who’s seats were on the opposite sides of the table.

“Yup.” Jongin answered for Sehun.

“I actually haven’t seen him in two weeks. I hope he’s okay.”

“Why? Would there be something wrong?” Sehun spoke in a small voice.

“Well, you know his temper? He hasn’t exactly had a good many dealings since he’s been in Korea and he’s kinda infamous amongst mobsters.” Sehun’s face emptied of all emotion to pale white.

“But… Why?”  Sehun barely managed through a whisper.

“Because it’s Luhan.  He’s always trying to prove something that doesn’t exist.”

“What does that even mean!?” Baekhyun exclaimed. “He’s always saying that, and he doesn’t even know what that means.”

“It’s Luhan, though.”

“True.”

Sehun looked down into his lap and folded his hands, losing his appetite for the time being. 

“Well speak of the devil, there he is.” Baek popped his head when he noticed a confident figure walking by the window.

“No way, what timing.” Jongin turned around to get a look at him, and sure enough a beautiful male dressed in khaki’s and blonde long curls was on his way into the café.

“What time is it?” Kyungsoo asked curious as to why Luhan would start work at the café so late. 

“Four forty-five.” Jongin answered.

“What?!” Kyungsoo shot up from his booth seat and began gathering the box and trash.

“Oh that’s right you have work.” Jongin muttered as he stood up to help Kyungsoo out.

“Do?” A familiar voice called out. “Do Kyungsoo! Ah!” The male squeaked when entering and flung his arms around Kyungsoo’s neck. “I missed my little baby.”

“Oh shut it, Lu.  Look I’m seriously late, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, let’s meet up soon. I miss you. And I was fired from two jobs since I last saw you so I’ll have more time.”

“’Kay.” Kyungsoo wiggled out of Luhan’s grip and rushed to get his jacket on.

 Luhan stared with his jaw agape as Kyungsoo did so.

“Bye guys. I’ll give this to Chanyeol as soon as possible.”  Kyungsoo waved the box at them as he ran for the door.

“Hey! Let me go with you!” Baekhyun called out after him to say he’d much rather join Kyungsoo in visiting Chanyeol. “Close your mouth, flies will get in.”  Baekhyun snapped at Luhan.

“Did he just say ‘kay?” 

“Uh, I believe so, yes.” 

“Why are you so mean to me?” Luhan rolled his eyes at Baekhyun. “He never agrees with me.  He always turns me down.”

“We’ll lesbi honest here,” Baekhyun looked Luhan up and down. “You’re not exactly around Kyungsoo enough to see when these changes have been happening.”

“I’m around enough, you .” Luhan snickered as he took in the survey of people at the table.

“Oh, it’s you. Never thought I’d see your sorry again.” Luhan grimaced at Sehun, making the boy jump when their eye sight came in contact.

“Heh heheh…”  Sehun laughed awkwardly as he tried to avoid eye contact with the male.

Jongin rolled his eyes and turned over to Luhan with a bright smile.

“Dude put that away, you’ll blind someone holy crap.” Luhan interrupted Jongin just before he was about to talk.

Jongin’s smile fell as he turned over to Sehun.

“Why the hell is Kyungsoo friends with so many s? Besides Chanyeol?” Jongin questioned, entirely baffled by his choice of friends.

“Well you see. Kyungsoo is utterly adorable and Luhan and him have been friends since who knows how long, they’ve connected in a life of hard working jobs. While Kyungsoo was just a bag of adorableness that I couldn’t resist.” Baekhyun said with a rather smug air to him. “And let’s be honest, no matter how tough, or how sad, or how mean Kyungsoo is, he’s the most adorable thing ever.” 

“If anything we’ve all kind of rubbed off on each other and became mean through each other. And I wouldn’t necessarily call it mean, more of super sarcastic.” Luhan spoke to Jongin this time.

“Well.. Alright then.”

“Lu! Get your over here.  I want to go home.” A female worker called out from over the counter.

“Coming dear.”  Luhan called back in a voice just an octave higher than normal.

“Why do you cross-dress anyways?” Jongin asked genuinely curious.

“Because this place only hires girl. Rather ist if you ask me, and the pay is great. But my boss knows I’m a guy, and gets away with a few good laughs when she sees guys make passes at me.” 

“Well what do you know? Another ed up part of the industry.” Jongin face palmed and shook his head.

“Okay girls, well I have to get to work. Lemme know if you want anything.” Luhan looked at Sehun for a second before going to work and snickered when he found the boy sitting there still refusing to make eye contact.

“Pathetic.”  He muttered with pursed lips.

♥♠♥

That evening Kyungsoo found himself in a lot better shape at work than the night before when he nearly burned the place down.  He was almost back to his old self, which meant he left work exhausted. It was about nine when Kyungsoo left work and went to pick up Ha Yi from her friend’s house. He apologized accordingly for having her stay so long in which the parents hadn’t minded at all. They enjoyed having Ha Yi over very much.

The December air was getting chilly so Kyungsoo always made sure to bring his and Ha Yi’s special scarf whenever he knew he would have to go out with her. And once they were wrapped in their scarf and in a tight hand lock, nothing would separate the two.

“So, what’s this project on?” Kyungsoo asked as the two walked along the side walk of the street.

“It’s for our English teacher. She made us write a poem about something special in our lives and asked us to partner up with two other people and put our poems together to make a song. I partnered up with Yerin and Jimin and we’ve been working on a song all this time.” A smiled grew two sizes bigger on Kyungsoo’s face listening to Ha Yi’s story.

“And what did you write in this poem?”

“It’s a secret!”  Ha Yi skipped in her step and shut her lips tight in a smile.

“Hey! That’s not fair! I’m your big brother, I deserve to know!” Kyungsoo played along with her antics.

“Noo!” Ha Yi skipped and swung their entwined hands. 

“Fine! Hmph.” Kyungsoo faked a pout and pretended to be serious hurt.

“Don’t be upset, we’re gonna present the song’s to our class. And our teacher made it so that family members can come and watch the performances. I wanted you and Jonginnie to come see it.”

“Really?  You want the two of us to go and see it?” Kyungsoo was genuinely surprised that Ha Yi would want to show off the fact her brother was the only family member that she could rely on. 

“Yup! Mrs. Emerson actually suggested that I ask you to come. But you have to sign a permission slip to go to school during then. And I think it’d be great if you and Jonginnie signed it.”

Kyungsoo giggled, “Well alright. I’ll ask him if he’ll come and would be willing to skip class with me.”

“Yay!”

The two walked in a comfortable silence and enjoyed their moment together.  Taking notice to the sights around and taking in the smells of nearby vendors.

“Hey, did you eat?” Kyungsoo asked as they passed a couple rice cake stands.

“Yeah, did you?”

“Yup. But I could actually go for a snack right now.” Kyungsoo leaned on Ha Yi a bit with a slight smug smile on face.

“Okay! What kind?” Ha Yi’s face lit up.  She knew exactly what a snack meant when Kyungsoo said it like that.

“How about…  Injeolmi!”  Kyungsoo said with delight as they walked up to a stand.

“Yes, please!”

Ha Yi watched with delight as Kyungsoo ordered them a pack of injeolmi to eat on the way home.  The two giggled their way home, making a mess of the soy bean powder purposely on their faces and clothes to pass the time. It made the walking distance much more bearable but neither could complain when they were granted the ability to be with each other.

When the two got home, they were shocked to see the front door wide open and lights on in the house. The neighboring house looked to be in a frantic mess running in and out of the house, while Kyungsoo’s home looked as if it had just been ransacked.

“Ha Yi, I want you to stay here. If something happens I want you to run and call the police as soon as you’re far enough.” Kyungsoo began unwrapping their scarf and spoke firmly to her.

“Kyungsoo don’t leave me alone.” Ha Yi was old enough to know that someone was in her house, or recently robbed them. She was scared to be alone, and it didn’t make her feel any better to think that something could happen to Kyungsoo.

“I’m going to make sure the house is okay. But I need you to be strong.” Kyungsoo took out his phone and wallet and handed them over to Ha Yi.

“As soon as you see something’s wrong or if I tell you to run, I want you to run as fast as you can. Otherwise stay here and hide.” Kyungsoo pushed Ha Yi to the fence post and made her duck her head down.

“Kyungsoo…”  Ha Yi’s eyes began to turn red, she was scared and not entirely sure she was ready to lose him.

“It’s going to be okay. I promise.” Kyungsoo smiled with worried laced in his eyes, but he took off through the path that led to the front door.

Kyungsoo grabbed a broom stick that stood next to the trashcans in front of his house.  He slowly approached the front door, making sure to be cautious of whatever might be lurking.

Kyungsoo stepped slowly into the walk way and took notice to everything that was pushed all over the side.  Shoes and socks were scatter everywhere and left a trail into the living room. 

He could hear the faint sound of something falling to the ground coming from the direction of the kitchen, however, he hid behind the small corner that ended the hall to the living room before continuing.  When he peaked out the corner he couldn’t see anything much of the kitchen. Though the living room was a complete disaster and every drawer unturned, he was determined to take down whoever might have done this.

Kyungsoo finally stepped into the living room and quietly evaded any broken pieces of glass and anything else that could potentially cause a lot of noise. 

As soon as he was about to step into the kitchen he prepared himself for whatever might come next, now sure that someone was in the kitchen.  Kyungsoo counted to three and flung out around the corner, holding the broom in a position ready to strike.

However, he stopped when he realized that the figure was sitting on the floor and holding a spoon in hand.

“Mom?”

The woman looked up and Kyungsoo put his arms down.

“Kyungsoo! Oh thank heavens, there you are!” The woman’s face was red with tears and bruised with hits. “I thought they’d taken you again.” The woman sobbed.

“Who? What happened here?” Kyungsoo stepped closer to his mother and took in the mess of the kitchen. The refrigerator was open and torn apart. Milk trailed the ground, plates littered the floor. Canned foods laid on the ground near messes of other broken objects.

“The men who took you when you were younger.. They found me.”