He didn’t belong here.

He didn’t deserve the rough handling and harsh words.

He shouldn’t be wearing the bright orange jumpsuit.

He shouldn’t have been pushed into a dingy, cold cell of Seoul’s most infamous prison, reserved for those that did the most dastardly things or had the worst mental problems.

He was a good kid.

He never backed away from promises, he honored his commitments, turned his homework on time, helped old people across the street.

Do Kyungsoo was a completely decent human being.

Which is why he had a perfectly good reason for killing Kim Jongin.

He was innocent, even though the knife with Jongin’s blood was in his tightly clenched hand.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t innocent, and maybe he didn’t have a good reason, and maybe he didn’t have a reason at all.

Kyungsoo didn’t belong here.

At least, that’s what he told himself and all of his cell mates.

Xiumin nodded. “I thought that too, at first.”

Chanyeol chuckled, his laugh gritty and hoarse. “He sure did.”

Xiumin blushed and gently pushed Chanyeol’s shoulder.

Chanyeol glared at Xiumin, his demeanor changing in an instant.

“Don’t ing touch me.”

Xiumin froze and began to shake, his body quivering as he convulsed.

When he straightened back up, Xiumin’s eyes had changed, as well as his slightly high pitched voice.

“Who do you think you’re scaring, Park Chanyeol?”

His voice had deepened and was weary sounding, as if he was much older than he was.

Chanyeol’s trademark smile split across his face again.

“Nobody, I just wanted to introduce Kyunggie to Minseok.”

Kyungsoo wrinkled his nose in disgust at his newly given nickname and in confusion.

“Who’s Minseok?”

The smaller man (who Kyungsoo could have sworn was Xiumin) raised his hand.

“I’m Minseok. Nice to meet you, Do Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow.

“No, your name is Xiumin. You just told me a couple minutes ago, after I was shoved into this cell.”

Minseok chuckled.

“No, Xiumin told you that. Xiumin told you that his name was Xiumin. Now I am telling you that I am Minseok.”

Kyungsoo stared at Minseok in blatant confusion and fear.

Minseok laughed again.

“Don’t worry. Chanyeol couldn’t grasp it at first either, though I did think that you would be much more smarter than him...”

He trailed off, looking at Chanyeol with a look akin to loving irritation on his face.

“Oh yes, it took him a while.”

Chanyeol smiled proudly.

“Yeah, and I know the difference between you two the best.”

Kyungsoo scratched his head.

“Which is?”

Chanyeol quickly rattled off the differenced with a practiced air around him.

“Xiumin is naïve and cute, Minseok is scary, but still kind of cute when he’s not being scary, Xiumin was dating someone, Minseok is-“

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow.

“Wait, Xiumin was dating someone? Who?”

Chanyeol nodded.

“Was. It doesn’t matter who he is. Minseok got rid of him because he wasn’t any good for our little Xiuminnie.”

Kyungsoo made a note in his mind, reminding him to never piss off Minseok and that Chanyeol was possibly insane.

“Anyway, Minseok is dating Kris, and Minseok’s voice is lower. That’s about it.”

Minseok laid back, reclining on his metal bunk.

“Chanyeol, tell him why you’re doing time.”

Chanyeol’s grin widened even further.

“I set fire to different places. Actually, I prefer the term beautified. The pretty red and orange sparks dancing through the air, snapping and popping. The best part about it is when you can hear the fire roaring, accompanied with the screams and the windows shattering. It’s so peaceful.” Chanyeol finished dreamily.

"You're crazy." Kyungsoo whispered.

Chanyeol looked directly into Kyungsoo's eyes, his bleary eyes unusually sharp and focused.

He cocked his head to the side.

"And you aren't?"