A/n: My first chapter isn't overflowing with excitement because its the introduction but I promise it will be a great story :)

It was the third day of school and Kyungsoo was already tired of everything. This time last year he was just starting high school and things seemed a bit… brighter. It was all new and exciting. But it didn’t take long for the excitement to wear off. High school wasn’t that different from middle school really. Subjects he didn’t like with people he didn’t like and teachers who praised him even though he couldn’t care less about them either. The biggest change was that he went from one friend to two, and that wasn’t all that amazing either. He and Sehun, who were in the same year and had been friends from their previous school, had met Joonmyun, a boy a year older than them, early last year. Like them he was an outsider, and they all just sort of stuck together after that.

Now they were sitting in the cafeteria of their all-guy school together, not talking, watching as the rowdiest group of guys came in and sat at the middle table where no one else dared to sit. It was their table. They were the boys everyone feared and wanted to be. There were seven of them, all tall – except the one boy, Baekhyun, who was only there because of his not-so-secret boyfriend Chanyeol – and handsome. The leader of their pack was the oldest one, Kris, and arguably the most handsome – he certainly thought so anyways. He was all muscles and golden tanned skin and dirty blond hair. Beside him was Tao who was dark haired and darker-skinned but equally as gorgeous, with very mysterious eyes. There was also Jongdae, Yixing, and a boy in Kyungsoo’s year named Jongin who everyone said was even more attractive than Kris (although Kris wouldn’t agree). Jongin was the youngest in the group but he seemed to be second in ranks of leadership. He exuded a fierceness that made him seem older than he was.

Kyungsoo stared at the boys who overflowed with masculinity and found himself comparing him to them. Unlike them he was short with narrow shoulders and feminine features, his eyes huge and the rest of him petit. He wasn’t appealing to anyone. It annoyed him that people cared more about appearance than intelligence – while he was getting the best marks in class, everyone else was giving all their love and attention to those other pretty boys. No matter how hard he tried, people wouldn’t appreciate him. (Not that he cared for their appreciation anyway but still.)

“Hey guys!” A voice interrupted Kyungsoo’s pessimistic thoughts and he automatically moved over as two boys sat down at their table beside him. They wore baggy t-shirts and shorts and were covered in sweat. Luhan and Minseok – the best soccer players in the school who sometimes would sit with the three outcasts during their last ten minutes of lunch period after soccer practice. Their hands were twined together under the table, Kyungsoo could see.

They weren’t exactly dating, but they may as well have been. Everyone knew – and if they didn’t they could easily guess – that Luhan was in love with Minseok, except of course Minseok himself who refused to believe that Luhan would ever be interested in him no matter how many times he was told otherwise. Luhan himself had never confessed to him though, so they were just caught in some best-friends-who-secretly-love-each-other situation. But they seemed happy and Kyungsoo didn’t really care either way.

“Hey Luhan,” Sehun said cheerfully, ignoring Minseok. Poor Sehun. He had a huge crush on Luhan and didn’t stand a chance with him. But he sure liked to get his hopes up. “How was practice?”

“Awesome! Baozi scored a goal from halfway across the field!” Luhan praised, releasing Minseok’s hand so he could wrap his arm around his shoulder. Minseok smiled humbly and continued to eat his lunch. Kyungsoo could tell Sehun was trying not to roll his eyes, and smiled.

It was pathetic to see the silly maknae’s envy over practically nothing. He hated Luhan’s nicknames for Minseok – Baozi and Xiumin, his Chinese name (since Luhan himself was Chinese). Sometimes he would teach them Chinese words (which was one of the few times Kyungsoo actually paid attention because he loved learning languages), but only Minseok could hold a conversation pretty well in Chinese with Luhan (which of course Sehun hated).

“You seem a bit out of it today Soo,” Joonmyun said quietly after a while. Kyungsoo shrugged without looking at him.

“I know that Luhan’s feeding Minseok and Sehun is sulking over it,” he told him indifferently.

“Seems like you’re just staring at those guys,” Joonmyun pointed out, nodding towards the popular group. Rolling his eyes, Kyungsoo stood up and packed his lunchbox in his backpack.

“It’s picture day today. I’m sure you two don’t want your photos done looking the way you do,” he noted to Luhan and Minseok. “Lunch is almost over.” With that he left, going to his locker and stuffing his bag in it. He looked around to see if anyone was there, but the hall was empty and he quickly changed into a dressier shirt before pulling on a hoodie. His mother always made him dress up for picture day, and she would also comb and gel his hair (although he would always muss it up again as soon as he got on the bus). He didn’t feel like being laughed at again this year.

He was just closing his locker door, books in hand, when a wave of kids passed through the halls. They all went to their own lockers and ignored him, but when he tried to join the flow of the crowd he immediately bumped into someone. Actually, they sort of tripped over each other’s feet. Regrettably that person happened to be Byun Baekhyun, who caught his balance on Chanyeol, who immediately looked for the culprit that attacked his Baekhyun and caught sight of Kyungsoo.

“What the hell are you doing?” Chanyeol snapped. “Watch out!”

“Sorry,” Kyungsoo muttered sarcastically. He made his way to his math class, sitting in the back corner and doodling in the margins of his paper as the warning bell rang and students piled in. Annoyingly he had both Jongin and Tao in his class – with no Sehun – and they decided to sit a few seats in front of him. As Tao walked by he accidentally knocked Kyungsoo’s binder flying off his desk, likely payback for him having tripped Baekhyun in the hall. His binder landed under the desk in front of him but it fell open and his sketchbook tumbled out of it, sliding three seats away. Before Kyungsoo could even get up Jongin was reaching for it, laughing.

“What’s this, your diary?” he mocked, opening the book. Kyungsoo jumped up.

“Give that back!” he yelled, diving for it but Jongin held it out of his reach and ran away, getting a few desks between them before returning to the book. “Don’t look at it, it’s mine!” Tao laughed and blocked him from being able to go after Jongin. Kyungsoo’s fingers curled as he watched Jongin go through his sketchbook – which he considered just as private as a diary and he didn’t want people, particularly these people, looking at – and then quickly ripped out one of the pages. The other students all laughed as Kyungsoo’s eyes grew even wider and then Jongin threw the book to Kyungsoo. It landed on the desk in front of him and he scooped it up, keeping his eyes on the page in Jongin’s hand. Jongin folded it carefully and slipped it in his pocket. But the teacher entered the room then and no more could be said on the subject.

Kyungsoo took his seat, flipping to the place where the page had been removed. He ran his fingers over the edge that remained, feeling his eyes start to water. Jongin had taken the drawing he’d just finished last night – that he’d worked hard on for days and had been so proud of. It had been a very realistic drawing of a wolf – it looked just like a black and white photo. And now his masterpiece was gone.

When the second bell rang, their class was the first called down for pictures. Everyone filed out, Kyungsoo wiping his eyes and hurrying to get to the door before Jongin. He and Tao were the last ones to reach the door and Kyungsoo jumped in front of them, blocking their path. He glared up at Jongin.

“Give it back,” Kyungsoo hissed.

“Is this kid serious?” Jongin laughed, and Tao snickered. “Get out of the way.”

“Give me my drawing back.” Jongin simply shoved him back out of their way and waltzed past him. Kyungsoo stood there, the wind knocked out of him for a moment, and watched as they went. He slowly followed after them, feeling anger bubble up inside him. Usually he wasn’t the type to bother with people but he wanted to get back at Jongin for being such a jerk. But of course there was nothing he could do.

Sighing, he hurried along to the photography room where everyone was lined up and, somehow, Tao and Jongin had made their way to the front. When their pictures had been taken they went to the back of the room, talking not-so-quietly about Kyungsoo. The line moved too slowly, and Kyungsoo was forced to endure their taunting. As their pictures were taken the rest of the class would return to the classroom, but Tao and Jongin stayed until the very end. When Kyungsoo slipped behind the curtain they were laughing again.

“Is he really wearing that?” Tao wondered mockingly. But where they couldn’t see him Kyungsoo took off his hoodie and dropped it on the floor. The photographer told him how to stand, and then told him to smile. There was a flash, and he tried not to blink. Then Kyungsoo had to face another angle and was again reminded to smile. He didn’t really try but the photographer didn’t seem to care much, letting him go. Kyungsoo grabbed his sweater and threw it over himself, stepping out from the curtained area. Jongin smirked when he saw him. They followed him back to class, making fun of him and his inability to smile, his heartbrokenness over his lost drawing and whatever else they could insult him with. He tried to ignore them, focusing on his breathing to keep himself calm so he wouldn’t turn around and hit them.

After school that day Kyungsoo returned to his locker to see Sehun already there, waiting for him. He was practically bouncing with excitement although Kyungsoo had no idea why.

“Hyung, hyung, hyung!” he called when he spotted the shorter boy approaching. “Hyung!”

“What?” Kyungsoo grumbled.

“Joonmyun said there’s a party tomorrow – you know, like a first week of school party or whatever – and it’s an open invite! Are you gonna go?”

Sehun said this very quickly and Kyungsoo hadn’t even opened his locker yet. He twirled the dial until the lock sprung free before answering. “Of course not.”

“Oh.” Sehun seemed temporarily put out but Kyungsoo couldn’t possibly see how he was surprised by this; when had he ever been the type of guy to go to parties? “Well, I’m gonna go ask Luhan if he’ll go with me. Will you wait? I’ll just be a minute.” Kyungsoo was going to say no, he didn’t want to bother waiting for Sehun, but just then he saw Tao and Jongin and the rest of the group walking by so he nodded. He didn’t want to wait for the bus alone when they were around. Sehun cheered and hurried off. Kyungsoo was just closing his locker door when the boy returned, red-faced but looking ecstatic.

“He said yes!” On the bus ride home Sehun told Kyungsoo all about it, how Luhan had been looking for someone to go with and how Minseok wouldn’t be there because he was busy or something, and then going on and on about whether there would be alcohol and if he should try to kiss Luhan or not. Kyungsoo mostly just tuned him out. He didn’t care about parties and he didn’t really care about Luhan or if Sehun kissed him or slept with him or married him for that matter. Kyungsoo was looking forward to the weekend when he’d be able to sleep in and then read, or draw something else that Jongin couldn’t steal.

“

The next morning Sehun was still talking about the party, and Kyungsoo was still not listening. At lunch they didn’t see Luhan, who had soccer practice, but Minseok came in earlier than usual to eat his lunch with them since he would be getting picked up at the end of the period. He was very quiet, only talking occasionally to Joonmyun. Sehun of course had to boast about how he was going to the party with Luhan, which Minseok at least pretended to ignore.

“Are you going to go, Kyungsoo?” Minseok asked him, cutting Sehun off. Kyungsoo just shook his head. “Me either. Lu and I went the past two years. It’s fun, but there will be lots more.”

“Those two are always at the parties,” Joonmyun put in. “Or hosting them.”

“That’s not true! We only hosted the one, and there were a couple times when we’d just stay in together. Like when they had the parties last year four weekends in a row. We went to the first one; that was it.”

Kyungsoo got tired of the bragging contest going on between him and Sehun and left early again. With nowhere to really go, he just sat in front of his locker and read a book. But he was tired; he hadn’t been able to turn his mind off when he’d gone to bed last night and he’d lain awake for hours just awaiting sleep to come, until eventually he started drawing in hopes of tiring his mind. Instead he’d felt determined to stay up and finish the drawing, leaving him with only a couple hours until school would start. Now he was fighting to keep his eyes open, but he must have dozed off because he was suddenly aware of his neck feeling sore and his glasses having slumped to the end of his nose. He took them off, closing his book, when he noticed a piece of paper between the pages. It was just a scrap of paper but there was something written on it. He pulled it out and read it.

“I saw your drawings when Jongin was looking at your sketch book. They were good.”

It was a strange message at best. A compliment he supposed. He crumpled up the note and shoved it in his pocket, planning on recycling it later. Who even did things like that? Wrote people notes and slipped them in their books while they had fallen asleep in the hallway. Why couldn’t he have just said it to Kyungsoo’s face?

Whoever it was they didn’t confront him at all again for the rest of the day, and Kyungsoo had forgotten about it by the time he got home. He spent his weekend doing homework – and then for some reason reading his science textbook. He didn’t even realize how off-topic he’d gotten until he was a hundred pages in, and then he decided to spend his Saturday afternoon reading the entire thing. By the time he went to bed that night his eyes were exhausted and his brain was overflowing with knowledge.

The next day he went for a walk, a practice he would sometimes do before drawing because it opened his creative mind. But today he told himself he would avoid books, pencils, everything. Just have a day to relax. So he walked for a while and then he went home and called Joonmyun. They didn’t talk much but Joonmyun was pleased just the same because Kyungsoo never called anyone. Lastly, he prepared dinner for his family, who were overjoyed and ate enthusiastically. It was a pointless day, but it felt good to have not learned anything for once and just lived his own life.

With Monday came school and a Sehun who rambled on about his night with Luhan. They had an amazing night; they drank, they danced, and the boldly intoxicated Sehun did indeed kiss Luhan and it was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. Kyungsoo supposed he was happy for his friend, who seemed to be over the moon even now. But when their lunch period rolled around and Luhan wasn’t there Sehun seemed disappointed, as if he’d expected Luhan would suddenly lose interest in soccer and want to spend all his time with the boy he’d kissed once. Maybe because he was drunk, maybe in the heat of the moment, but it seemed unlikely to Kyungsoo that Luhan actually liked Sehun.

However the boy eventually appeared, without his Baozi – who was off showering apparently – and asked if Sehun (and, as an afterthought, Kyungsoo and Joonmyun) would come watch their game tomorrow. It was as if he’d asked Sehun on a date, which Sehun seemed to take it as. Then they left together and Kyungsoo didn’t know where they were going. He couldn’t help but wonder if Luhan was leading Sehun on, intentionally or otherwise. He brought it up to Joonmyun but the older didn’t know what to say.

“You think Luhan doesn’t like him?”

“I think he’s in love with Minseok, unless he’s that quick to sway his affections,” Kyungsoo said coolly. “One kiss and what? Minseok goes out the window? As long as we’ve known them it’s been obvious Luhan’s only ever had eyes for Minseok.”

“Maybe we were wrong about that,” Joonmyun suggested. “I mean… maybe they are just good friends.”

Kyungsoo didn’t believe it and he didn’t think Joonmyun did either. But he didn’t argue it. Shortly after Minseok came in, hair still damp from his shower, his spirits seeming dampened as well.

“Where’s Luhan?” he asked them as he sat down.

“Went off somewhere with Sehun,” Kyungsoo shrugged. Minseok, who was about to take a bite from his apple, instead dropped it. He didn’t eat after that.

“Oh,” he mumbled. Nothing more was said until someone came up to their table. It was one of Jongin’s friends – Jongdae. Completely ignoring the other two, he asked Minseok if he wanted to sit at their table. He looked too sad over here. (Unlike Kyungsoo, Minseok and Luhan were acceptable because they played soccer and were the best at it.) So Jongdae encouraged him to join them and talk to him about why he was upset. Minseok said a goodbye to them and Kyungsoo ignored him as he left to sit with the other guys. Kyungsoo could see him start talking sadly to Jongdae with Yixing listening in but everyone else ignoring him, and eventually Jongdae’s arm went around the smaller boy.

Kyungsoo put his head in his hands. “Kids are so dramatic,” he sighed, despite Minseok being older than him. He had no empathy for teenagers even if he did understand to an extent the psychology behind their behavior. He had on more than one occasion considered the possibility that there was something wrong with him but he always dismissed it. He didn’t mind being messed up if it meant he avoided all the drama. (That didn’t mean he wasn’t surrounded by it though.)

“Leave him alone,” Joonmyun told him. “There’s nothing wrong with being comforted.”

During the game the next day though, Kyungsoo noticed many things. Sehun had dragged him to games before and he could see a complete shift in the dynamics of their home team – all centering around an icy tension between Minseok and Luhan. If he didn’t already know it was true Kyungsoo likely would have inferred that they’d gotten in a fight. Sehun had gone on about it that morning – how Luhan had come to him in tears because of the devastating fight with his best friend who was upset and jealous. Luhan thought it was stupid, that it was just because Minseok was jealous that he was spending time with the guy he liked instead of his best friend. That Luhan had been interested in Minseok for years and hadn’t been given a second thought until he finally gave his attention to someone else and Minseok missed that attention. So stupidly oblivious, the pair of them. But now Minseok had gone and found someone else to shine him in the spotlight – Jongdae – so what did he have to complain about?

Anyways, according to Sehun’s long-winded tale it was just a lot of screaming and crying and almost-confessions of love (although they hadn’t caught onto that and Kyungsoo was pretty sure Sehun hadn’t either). So now they weren’t speaking and Sehun sat cheering for Luhan while Jongdae cheered for Minseok. And at the end of the game, during the last few seconds when it was tied and Luhan scored the winning goal, Sehun ran to him and they kissed right there in the middle of the field where everyone, especially Minseok, could see. Then Minseok was lost in the crowd as they erupted and the team was holding up Luhan, but Kyungsoo could’ve sworn he saw the boy in the blue jersey running off the field and Jongdae seemed to see it too because he went running right after him.

It was very interesting and all but Kyungsoo of course was entirely bored and so he began to leave, when Joonmyun grabbed his hand.

“Aren’t you gonna congratulate Luhan – and Minseok?”

“No.”

He was gone before Joonmyun could badger him anymore. Annoyingly, he felt someone following after him and he was going to turn and tell the older off when he realized that it was very much not Joonmyun following him.

“Don’t feel like celebrating?” The voice was cold and not unfamiliar. It had yelled at him just last week. Chanyeol.

“Not particularly,” Kyungsoo answered, equally frigid, not looking back at them. Because it was all of them minus Jongdae, and that was all the reason not to look back.

“Why don’t you join us then?” Chanyeol said. Kyungsoo knew it was a mocking question, not to be taken seriously.

“Tempting,” Kyungsoo pondered, venomously sarcastic. “If I didn’t have values and standards, I might just take you up on that.”

They were catching up to him and their patience seemed to be wearing. “Excuse me? What did you say?”

Kyungsoo knew he didn’t have to say anything else. He’d already dug this hole deep enough and he wasn’t getting out now. Maybe they’ll beat me up, maybe they won’t do anything now and will play a psychological torture game so when I least expect it, they’ll attack.

But no, they really weren’t that patient. He felt his arm being grabbed painfully hard and he was spun around, wincing as he stared up at Kris, the owner of the last voice that had spoken to him. Kyungsoo felt all that much tinier standing right beside the huge boy. Most people would be terrified, but what was the worst he could do? Hit him a few times, maybe even knock him out. That wasn’t scary.

“Have some respect for your elders,” Kris spat. That’s ironic.

“Tell that to your boyfriends,” Kyungsoo hissed back, glaring over Kris’ shoulder at Tao and Jongin beside him. He felt his arm twisted but did his best not to show a reaction.

“You think you’re something special?”

“No,” Kyungsoo replied honestly. “But you do, and that’s why you think I should be quivering at your feet. You’re no better than I am, but I’ll let you live in your little fantasy world where you’re the king. One day reality will hit you and well… they can be the ones to put your pieces back together.”

It was very brave of him to say all this with Kris’ grip on him growing tighter and tighter. Kyungsoo wouldn’t deny the pain of it but the absolute pleasure of shutting the boy down was entirely worth it. It was only after he finished speaking that he realized he was making himself a target that would never be left alone as long as he was at this school. Even when Kris left, the rest of them would still be around to torture him. Oops.

He expected the blow from Kris but he still gasped at the scalding, white-hot pain that shot down his spine at the impact of Kris’ fist. There was no way his nose hadn’t just been broken but the pain was so immense he couldn’t even think about it. His vision went to white and then faded to black, and then it was the grey of the parking lot pavement and the red of the blood on his hands as he held his nose. Agony screamed through his nerves, telling his brain of the damage done to his nose, and generally his entire face as well as his knees from where he’d fallen to the ground. His eyes watered and tears mixed with the blood, and distantly over the ringing in his ears he heard laughter.

Forcing himself up and past the dizziness after the group was gone Kyungsoo dragged himself along the wall of the school half-blindly, the world spinning nauseatingly, until he found an entrance and made his way through the halls to the nearest bathroom. He got to the sink and started washing his hands, gazing at himself in the mirror. His nose didn’t look crooked, but it was bleeding a lot and he needed to try and stop that. His shirt was already stained red so he ripped it off and held it up to his nose before almost screaming as he caught the reflection of someone in the mirror.

“Minseok, what the hell?!”

Minseok was curled up in the corner of the bathroom, eyes puffy and red, leaning on the shoulder of Kim Jongdae. They had seen him but he had definitely not noticed them. Apparently they had been stunned by his appearance initially but then, snapping out of it, Minseok jumped up and hurried over to Kyungsoo, asking him if he was okay, what had happened, did he need anything.

“I’m fin – ow!” Kyungsoo was cut off as Minseok threw his arms around Kyungsoo and hit his arm, making him bump his nose painfully. His eyesight went white around the edges.

“I’m sorry!” he said hurriedly. “I just – what happened to you? Where’s Joonmyun and – well, where is everyone?”

“I left on my own,” Kyungsoo explained, slightly irritated. “Then your dear Jongdae’s friend Kris decided my face looked good to punch.”

“He wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t deserve it,” Jongdae put in. Kyungsoo just glared and Minseok gasped, turning to face Jongdae and rebut him. “What? It’s true. Kris doesn’t just hit people for the fun of it.”

Kyungsoo could’ve argued that. “No, you’re right. I put him in his place, told him he’s not as great as he thinks he is. He didn’t like that.”

“That’s not a good reason at all!” Minseok cried, and Kyungsoo almost laughed. Really? “Oh Kyungsoo!” He hugged him tighter. “Are you okay? Here, let me call Joonmyun!”

“No, no, that’s not necessary.” But it was too late. Minseok had pulled away from him and had his phone out, dialing Joonmyun’s number. He answered after four rings.

“Kyungsoo’s been hurt, he needs you,” Minseok explained, telling him where they were. I don’t need him, damn it. “Bring Sehun along too.”

“No, don’t bring Sehun for God’s sake!” But Minseok had hung up and was grabbing a paper towel to wipe some of the blood off Kyungsoo’s face.

“Don’t touch me!” Kyungsoo said, more angrily than he’d intended as he flinched at the pain.

Everything happened in a flurry after that; Jongdae’s departure and the awkwardness between him and Minseok; Sehun bursting in the door just a moment later followed by Joonmyun and Luhan; and of course Sehun’s endless chatter and tears ensued. He hugged Kyungsoo tightly and rinsed his shirt for him and started cleaning up the blood and asking questions and questions. Minseok didn’t look at Luhan nor vice versa, but there was tension there. And when it came clear as to who had done this to Kyungsoo, Sehun glared Minseok’s way.

“Come on, let’s take you home,” Sehun said, pulling him away from Minseok. “And get you a new shirt.”

“You can wear mine,” Luhan told Kyungsoo. No doubt Kyungsoo pulled a face at the idea of Luhan’s sweaty soccer shirt being even near him because he quickly added, “Not this one, my other shirt I was wearing earlier. And I can drive you home if you’d like.”

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo muttered, grateful but tired of all the attention. Luhan ran to get his shirt from the change room and Sehun took Kyungsoo to Luhan’s car, while Joonmyun stayed behind to talk to Minseok. Kyungsoo was secretly glad, because Sehun and Luhan had been so cold to the older and he was surely upset about it.

But then Kyungsoo was wearing Luhan’s shirt in the back seat of Luhan’s car with Luhan’s boyfriend sitting and crooning over him. And he got home and Sehun explained to Kyungsoo’s mom what had happened, and Luhan told him not to worry about the shirt, to just bring it back tomorrow. Then they left but Kyungsoo had to put up with his annoying mom, and it was all just too much for Kyungsoo so he went to his room and laid in his bed for the rest of the afternoon until his mom brought him supper and then he slept for the rest of the night.

A/n: I'd like to promote on behalf of AFF. They're raising money for a mobile app for the site, which I think would be really great. They're nearly over halfway there, and if just about 1500 more people donate $5 each, we'll have an app! Also, donating to the app gives you karma points and Gold Status! ($5 = 1250KP+3 months Gold Status) You can donate to the fundraiser here!

Update (April 2017): AFF has an app now!