The doorbell rings just as Kyungsoo slips his arms into the blue blazer and lets it rest on his narrow shoulders. His delicate hands slip the golden buttons through the holes in the jacket, flattens out any wrinkles by the fabric, and he heads downstairs once the doorbell rings. Im nervous..

Before Kyungsoo reaches the bottom of the stairs he hears laughter and takes a moment to mentally prepare himself for the official start of his first day. Then the boy trudges down the last couple of stairs until he can see the front door.

"Kyungie!" And here it begins.

●●●

Kyungsoo’s trying to get the two clingy elders to walk faster, he doesn’t want to be late but at every little thing they see, they stop.

“Kyungie, look! Doesn’t that bottle look pretty when the sun shines on it?”

“And that’s where I first learned to look both ways when I cross the street. Oh look, Soo!”

There’s definitely something suspicious about it, but Kyungsoo’s too kind to tell Luhan that he doesn’t know who the soccer player Cristiano is, so he doesn’t know if that rock looks like him, he just needs to get to school.

To pass the time, big eyes roam over the scenery. When he spots a familiar convenience store about half a block away, his skin flushes from thinking of the odd boy from yesterday that works there.

Xiumin eyes turn to Kyungsoo at just the right time to notice the look the younger gives to the small shop. A switch goes off when he recognizes it to be the same place his friend works at- if you can call standing around doing nothing work, that it. This should be interesting.. He chuckles softly.

“Mm? What’s so funny Hyung?” Kyungsoo asks and turns to him with a curious gaze.

“Aww Soo! You just called me Hyung! Are you starting to fall in love with me already?”

“N-No!” Kyungsoo regrets ever asking.

●●●

The trio split apart once Luhan and Minseok drop Kyungsoo off at the main office and leave with a regretful goodbye. Promises of lunch together were thrown around hastily once the warning bell goes off. The small boy is left by himself and steps inside of the office once things start to clear up- mainly the hallways, there’s so many people he can barely open the door.

“E-Excuse me, Miss?” Kyungsoo softly calls out to the lady at the front desk. He nervously inches his way up to stand in front of her and gives a heartwarming smile. She sees him and she swoons.

Once things finally calm down after seeing the short, big eyed cutie, they give him the information for his advisory- which is where everyone else went for their schedules apparently-, classes and locker. Leaving with a polite goodbye after the bell for first hour rings, Kyungsoo walks down the wide halls and ignores the fact that he’s late, seeking his first room. 320, 321, 322.. 323!

You can do this Kyungsoo, they’re just people. Nothing like Luhan and Xiumin Hyung!

The pep talk seems to calm down his nerves enough for him to open the door up to his assigned first hour- History.

One small step for man, one giant leap for- I think I’m going to be sick.

Eyes.

So many eyes.

I don’t think I can do this…

Kyungsoo swears this is the loudest silence he’s ever heard as his new History teacher checks over his schedule. He feels the intrigued stares dig holes into his back as their interests have suddenly been prodded with a stick- or more specifically a short boy with big eyes and a button nose.

Trying to ignore their stares, Kyungsoo takes a look at his teacher. The man has dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, his hair is unkempt and his clothes are wrinkled. In short, it looks like he just got out of bed.

The teacher, Mr. Cho, clears his throat and the sudden silence is broken, scaring the kids to sit up straight.

“We have a new student joining our school. Apparently his old one didn’t care much for punctuality, did they,” The teacher pauses to get his name from the schedule, “Do Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo winces slightly at the remark and bows apologetically to his teacher who just waves him off in return.

“Sit anywhere. Make any disruptions and I’ll kick you out. That goes for everyone.” Kyungsoo takes this as his cue to sit down. He chooses a seat close to the front.

“You picked your seats, I won’t change them.” Mr. Cho takes a second to eye the doe-eyed boy as he sits down. His voice is raised slightly as he addresses the whole class. “I don’t care if you don’t do your work, I’m not the one who’ll be taking the tests.” He grabs a yard stick and slaps the desk of a boy dozing off who then jumps and looks up to the teacher in fear. “If you get more than five questions wrong on your tests or assignments, you fail. Everything is either pass or fail in this class. Your grade by the end of the semester will be determined by how many passes and how many fails you get. Don’t complain I’m not doing percentages; do I look like a math teacher? Go grab a textbook and read chapter one through three for next week. Expect a test.” As he finishes up his speech, Mr. Cho takes a seat at his desk, rests his head on the top of it, only to pass out.

The room suddenly bursts into chatter again, people get out from their seats and go to talk with their friends while others follow Mr. Cho’s example and take a nap. Kyungsoo can just blink as his mouth opens and closes, questions running through his head but never leaving his mouth. It doesn’t stop until a shadow casts itself over his desk and the stranger snatches his backpack.

“H-Hey!” Kyungsoo calls out in surprise and irritation. Didn’t his Umma teach him not to take other people’s belongings!?

Kyungsoo notices that he just yelled and his head whips to the direction of the scary History teacher, he’s praying that the beast didn’t wake up. A sigh of relief is exhaled and then he focuses his attention back on his stolen property.

He takes a confident step towards the thief but once Kyungsoo sees him with all his friends, his steps become more uneasy. It takes a moment to gather his courage but once he does, Kyungsoo taps on the boys shoulder and asks for his bag back.

“What bag?” The guy throws Kyungsoo’s bag to one of his friends. “I don’t have your bag, he does.” Not wanting to cause any trouble, Kyungsoo goes over to the next guy who now holds his things only for him to throw it to another boy. Soon enough it becomes a game of pickle in the middle except Kyungsoo’s getting more frustrated and flustered with each throw. The rest of the class watch until a few of the contents from the bag fly out, one being a picture of Hyunsik and him.

The precious memento is snatched by teasing hands and when another boy tries to grab it, it rips in two. The room falls silent as the sound tears through the ruckus in the room. Doe eyes water and a small body shakes while trying not to cry. Kyungsoo’s best friend gave him that photo when they said goodbye and now, it was ruined.

Two strangers see the boy in tears and instantly push their way through the crowd of people. Kyungsoo can’t see who the boys are that pick up his things and snatch the two pieces of the picture away from the bullies since he’s trying to keep himself from breaking down. His plan fails once one of his saviors hands him the new version of the picture.

Kyungsoo sobs at the ironic twist to the polaroid. The tear goes straight down the middle, in between the two friends like his precious picture now symbolizes his friendship since he’s had to move to this new place.

Soon the class goes rowdy as Kyungsoo keeps crying, holding the accident with shaky hands. His other classmates yell at the boys while some girls hit their heads and smack their backs with angry hands.

“Look what you did to him!”

“This isn’t middle school anymore, you don’t tease people you like, idiots!”

“He’s so cute when he cries…”

“Noona’s here for you, Cutie!”

The attention turns to Kyungsoo and compliments and coos are sent his way until he feels an arm wrap around his shoulders and another at his waist. The boy blinks away the drops of salty water pooling at his eyes and looks to see who it is.

Oh… Is there something in the water here?

The stranger on his left has dark skin and black silky hair. His body’s lean and he’s taller than Kyungsoo- who isn’t these days? The boy runs a padded thumb across the expanse of Kyungsoo’s cheek, clearing away the tear streaks on other’s face. All Kyungsoo can do is look to him in awe, this boy was beautiful.

“Are you okay?” The accented Korean breaks away Kyungsoo’s googly eyed stare from the boy on his left as he turns to the voice coming from his right. He swoons over a second charmer and notices the arm around his waist belongs to this one. Kyungsoo feels the muscles against his back and along with the guy’s jet black hair, his sharp eyes with dark circles and the cute accent- Kyungsoo doesn’t know whether to cry again or dig a hole and live there until he can rid himself of this embarrassing situation.

 “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” The voice doesn’t come from Kyungsoo’s mouth, it’s too deep and harsh.

Mr. Cho strolls over to the circle of people and walks straight up to Kyungsoo who ducks his head down, still fearful of the teacher.

“Congratulations. No one’s ever been able to wake me up on the first day, you must be a special case.” His words make Kyungsoo look up to him and the teacher notices the puffy red eyes then looks to the broken picture. Mr. Cho swiftly turns around and picks up Kyungsoo’s backpack then tosses it to the boy on Kyungsoo’s left. “You two, take Do Kyungsoo to his locker. Let this be a lesson to you, Do. I don’t allow backpacks in my class.” He moves back to the front of the room and sits on his desktop, crossing one leg over the other. “Take your seats, no talking until class ends.”

●●●

Laughter echoes throughout the empty hallways as the three boys make their way to a certain shortie’s locker. The lean body with dark skin is known as Jongin- who prefers to call his skin y bronze. He won’t let Kyungsoo carry his own backpack and when they arrive at the metal box that will store away all the small boy’s books, Tao unlocks his locker for him after glancing at the schedule in his hands.

Kyungsoo fishes out a small magnet from his backpack and sticks the fixed- thanks to Tao who grabbed a couple of pieces of tape on their way out- picture onto the inside of his locker door.

“He’s not your boyfriend is he?” Jongin asks bluntly with a bit of hope. Tao whacks him upside the head for being so nosy- though he’d like to know too. Their hearts burn with jealousy as Kyungsoo blushes but calm just as quickly as it started as he shakes his head.

“No, Hyunsik’s my best friend!”

“Good. Then you can be mine.”

“Pfft- with all the crying you do?”

“Shut up at least I can shower by myself!”

“You’re right I can’t shower by myself. Hyung,” Tao turns his attention to Kyungsoo and smirks. “Why don’t you join me?”

Kyungsoo turns beet red. Please, Mrs. Kim, rescue me again!

●●●

Puppy dog eyes and dreamy sighs are strapped to Cupid’s arrow and are being aimed at Do Kyungsoo. Said boy just ignores the stares and whimpers from the miserable Jongin. He was just upset that they weren’t lab partners together and completely ignored his own even though it was a free day for you to get to know who you were assigned with.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at Jongin’s poor attempts to switch partners and watches the gym class outside from the windows. The screeching of a chair being pulled back wakes Kyungsoo up from his trance and he turns to greet his partner. His face pales and he has to do a double, triple even quadruple take at the guy sitting next to him. The giant looks just as surprised as Kyungsoo but soon his stunned face- or stunning face- breaks into a huge and less attractive grin- to all but Kyungsoo, that is.

“Hey there, Bambi! Didn’t I say we’d meet again soon?”

All Kyungsoo can do is pray.

●●●

Once the bell rings signalling the ending of second hour, the first person in the halls is Kyungsoo. He shivers at the thought of his Chemistry class and internally cries. That giant elf made him sit on his lap the whole time! It wasn’t until the end of class that Jongin jumped up from his seat and yanked him out of Chanyeol’s grasp. How embarrassing, and Jongin was practically spitting fire!

“Kyungie!”

Kyungsoo doesn’t have to turn his head to know the sudden weight on his back is Luhan.

“I almost didn’t see you, you’re so tiny!” Luhan pinches his cheek and laughs while Kyungsoo just internally eye twitches.

“I’m not tiny!” Suddenly he’s thrown against the wall in a corner covered by lockers. Kyungsoo looks up once he feels a hand brush against his crotch and his face flushes red in bewilderment. Is nobody seeing this!?

“Why don’t I check to make sure you’re not lying to me, Baby.” Luhan smirks and leans in, he nibbles on Kyungsoo’s ear while moving his hand to the boy’s pants. He starts to move his lips lower until his name is called out and he curses, pulling away to glare at his friend. Stupid Suho, always ruining everything.

As Luhan’s distracted, Kyungsoo flings himself off the wall and starts to speed walk away from the bipolar devil.

“Kyungie, wait!” Luhan bounces over towards him and turns him around while giving a cute pout, an air of innocence surrounding him once more. “Where are you going when you haven’t even given me a goodbye kiss?”

“I’m going to my next class before I’m late again, Hyung. A-And I’m not giving you a ki-kiss!”

Kyungsoo watches his knight in shining armour walk over to them and he asks who Luhan’s friend is while giving Luhan’s Kyungie a sickly and wicked smile- courtesy of Luhan’s imagination.

Luhan just ignores him though and puckers his lips, waiting for his Kyungie to give him a kiss.

“Hyung, please let me go. I have to get to my English class!”

“English? With who?” Luhan snatches away the boys schedule and checks the sheet. A grin forms on his face as he takes his lovely Kyung in his arms. “Kim Heechul? Well what do you know. We’re in the same class, Kyungie.”

“Oh, I have him too!”

“God dammit Suho! Every single time!”

●●●

During English, Kyungsoo was able to meet Luhan’s friends in that class. Though the only one he liked was Suho. He seemed to be the only normal one, except his jokes were so lame that Kyungsoo could cry. His other friend was named Kris and all he did was stare at him and his aura was as intimidating as his eyebrows. Kyungsoo would try scoot closer to Suho whenever he looked up to acknowledge Kris- only to notice that the giant’s gaze never left him- but Kyungsoo gave up soon enough since whenever he did it Luhan would yell at Suho. Something about ‘Every Goddamn time’. After a while the boy just decided to ignore the three and focus on class. It was just a review so it wasn’t that important but Kyungsoo found it helpful to brush up on the words he’d forgotten over the summer.

Study Hall was next and Kyungsoo had Tao and his friend, Sehun there with him. Sehun was actually in their first hour but had to go to the nurses office to make sure she had the medicine his doctor sent to the school. Kyungsoo was grateful that he could make normal friends in one class- he ignored Tao’s shower remark from earlier- and laughed along with them during free time. Sehun’s lisp paired but with all the hugs and cute expressions instantly made Kyungsoo find the boy adorable- until Tao pulled Kyungsoo away and Sehun glared at him, calling him an idiot and telling him not to touch his property. Then the bell sounded, they told him they had lunch and whisked the poor boy away to the cafeteria.

That’s where they’re headed now and when they walk up to a giant group of tables all pushed together, Kyungsoo pales.

There are new faces that he doesn’t recognize, a face he thought he could avoid- the eyeliner boy looks surprised then smirks approvingly- and all the people that have harassed him so far.

“Kyungsoo Hyung. What are you doing with those two.”

“I bought you a lunch, Kyungsoo!”

“God dammit Suho! Every Goddamn time!”

“Bambi, come sit on my lap so I can feed you!”

“Yeol, what the hell did I say before? Do I have to teach you another lesson?!”

A whack is heard and Chanyeol rubs his head and sulks.

“Baek I thought you were my best friend! Why do you keep hitting me!?”

The table erupts into a chaos as the boys who’ve met Kyungsoo start yelling at each other. All except Suho who’s just trying to calm everyone down while Luhan just gets more angry at him. As the noise gets louder Tao and Sehun turn and are about to leave with their prize until-

“Yah! Oh Thehun get back here with Kyungsoo Hyung!”

“Shut up you idiot! He belongs to me!”

Soon enough Tao joins along in the ruckus- only because he feels left out- and Kyungsoo cowers in fear as Kris just sits there and stares at him.

Hyunsik Hyung, please, let me live with you!

Howdy Middle Earth!

Just wanted to welcome the new readers and to apologize for not uploading in a couple of days. I've had back to back school projects and I couldn't continue typing up the chapter. I hope you like it! I wanted to upload it as soon as I finished so it's unedited.. whoops! If there are any mistakes, you can tell me! I tried reviewing it as I wrote but there's a possibility that I didn't get some things fixed. Thank you for reading! I'll get the next part up soon! PS: The other chapters were not fixed or updated. If you're finished reading this one right now and wonder what that was about, I just fixed the font size and stuff on the other ones. -K