The tension in the air is impalpable yet it’s long fingers slither around their necks and squeeze until all air is lost. Chanyeol’s choking, ‘His everything.’ is shoved down his throat and his hard stare places itself onto Kyungsoo. What am I?

The pink blush on Kyungsoo’s cheeks don’t sooth Chanyeol but the way Kyungsoo’s little fist connects with the Hyunsik’s arm at least eases his mind slightly.

“Be nice.” Kyungsoo chastises and smiles brightly, “This is Chanyeol, one of my new friends.” The little ball of fluff doesn’t pick up on the jealous glares and quiet snarls coming from the pair but the silence is making him nervous. “M-Me and Chanyeol have some homework to do b-but afterwards we can hangout!”

“No need. I can help you, Soo.” Hyunsik pulls the small boy closer in an attempt to sooth himself but it soon stops when the latter shakes his head.

“You’re as bad at Chemistry as I am. It won’t take long.”

“Looks like we should start then, Kyungsoo. Mind waiting outside, Byunsuk? We wouldn’t want any distractions.” A strained smile is pulled across Chanyeol’s face and he tilts his head slightly to the side, trying to mask the glare his eyes are shooting at the intruder. Just as Hyunsik is about to retort and fix the mispronunciation with his name, Kyungsoo interrupts them.

“You guys are acting weird. Why don’t you take a nap upstairs,” Kyungsoo smiles at his friend and turns to Chanyeol. “You don’t mind working in the living room right? My mom’s at work anyways.”

Chanyeol gives a slight shrug and walks up the front steps, sneakily taking Kyungsoo’s hand in the process. The “Third Wheel”, as Chanyeol so delicately labels, huffs and follows closely behind into the house. They all take off their shoes and Chanyeol smiles at the coziness of the place. Surprise takes him; Kyungsoo’s only been here for a few weeks yet from the comfort of their abode it feels like he’s been here all his life.

“Make yourself at home, Hyung.”

●●●

The soft pitter patter of feet are heard climbing up the stairs and the owner slowly turns the knob to the first door on the left. In the crack made from opening the door, a single big eye can be seen and scans the area. The only life form it finds is the one lying on the blue bedspread, an arm hanging over the edge almost taunting the monsters underneath- such a brave soul. The door is gently pushed open and is quickly stopped when the usual creaking sound can be heard. The peeping owner finally slips into the room and crouches down next to the sleeping figure. He takes a moment to watch the way the person’s back rises and falls with each breath but he remembers the mission that was assigned to him. Taking a deep breath, since such a procedure can only be done once and with a delicate finesse that only he has, a roar pierces the silence.

“HYUNSIK WAKE UP!”

The stealthy figure jumps onto the other’s back and doesn’t stop bouncing around until he hears a groan from the other. Mission accomplished.

“Why can’t you wake me up in a nice way? With a smile or a pat on the back,” Or a kiss- what wishful thinking.

“I’ve already tried that before but you don’t get up so I have to take drastic measures. I had to find some way to wake up the beast.” Kyungsoo teases and stands up from the bed, pulling Hyunsik along with him. “Come on, aren’t you hungry?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just glad that friend of yours is gone.” He stretches but stops to eye the other who slowly slinks out of the room. “He’s gone...isn’t he, Soo?”

“Meet you downstairs!”

“Soo!”

A groan sounds in the room and he trudges out and down the stairs with a heavy heart. This trip wasn’t going according to plan. He was supposed to show up at Kyungsoo’s school to pick him up, they’d go out to grab a snack where he’d confess his feelings to his best friend, they’d go back to Kyungsoo’s house and tell his mom they’re dating, have dinner together as a celebration, watch movies in each other’s arms and fall asleep together on the couch. He should’ve known it was all going to go downhill when he forgot his favorite sweater on the subway.

To make tonight even better, he can hear deep rumbles of laughter once he enters the dining room. A mop of auburn hair is bouncing wildly as Mrs. Do and Kyungsoo laugh along to some petty joke.

“Hyunsik!” Mrs. Do is the first to notice him and she soon gives him a squeeze. He smiles and returns the hug. “You must be hungry. Take a seat, Kyungsoo made dinner tonight.”

Hyunsik’s heart swells as he sees the famous dish of his friend sitting in the middle of the table. What turns him sour is the fact that ever since grade school, he’s always sat on Kyungsoo’s left side. He begrudgingly takes the seat on his right instead, facing the idiot with the lopsided grin.

A readied plate is placed in front of him by delicate hands while a smile silently tells him to enjoy the meal. What a silly request. No matter what Kyungsoo makes, he’ll always enjoy it. Didn’t he know that?

●●●

"Thanks for the help, Hyung. I don't think I could've gotten anywhere without you." Kyungsoo smiles gratefully at the giant standing outside his front door and with a goodbye, moves to go back inside. Before the door can even move an inch, his wrist is taken and he's pulled into the arms of his elvish friend.

"But Bambi, don't I get a goodbye kiss?" A husky voice questions while one of the taller’s hands gently tilt up Kyungsoo's chin. Chanyeol marvels at the site of the small boy's blooming cheeks and slowly leans down, eyes closing to be able to properly savor the cherry red lips.

“Kyungsoo!”

All too quickly the squishy boy is pulled from Chanyeol’s arms and with no time to react, he’s standing empty handed in front of his lovely Soo’s home. The giant’s face flames as bright as his red hair, teeth grinding together like sandpaper.

“Byunsuk.”

“IT’S HYUNSIK!”

The correction is muffled by the door and even with the giant’s larger-than-life ears, he still doesn’t hear a thing too upset that his fairytale kiss with his princess was ruined.

‘“So, you mind telling me what that was about.” Hyunsik’s voice is firm and commanding, his hands curl into fists at the thought of that idiot- even if he’s a “Chemistry genius” as his Soo likes to claim. The thought of ogre lips touching Kyungsoo’s own is broken at the sounds of the stairs creaking. “Kyungsoo!”

“I’m going to take a shower!” Kyungsoo calls out as his little legs work on overdrive up the stairs. He slams the door shut before his friend can stop him and thanks Pororo for not getting caught. Not that he doesn’t want to tell his dear best friend about the comments, the stolen kisses and, oh god, all the groping. But,

They’re the only other friends that I have…

It’s not that they’re bad guys either. Sure, they like to touch his tush and say some things that not everyone would say on a normal day- or any day- but they take care of him, like Baekhyun Hyung today, and help him whenever they can. Kyungsoo hates to admit that sometimes he feels these 11 erts can act more helpful than his own best friend.

It’s not like Hyunsik ever offered to help me with homework before..

Kyungsoo swats away the bad thought and apologizes a million and one times inside of his head. Hyunsik has problems of his own and he really doesn’t need to take care of him. It’s just refreshing to not be the one that someone’s hanging onto. He wants to be strong for his family and even for his friends but meeting the boys has made him feel, well, not so alone anymore. Before if Hyunsik couldn’t hang out, there’d be no one else to do things with. When Hyunsik had to go to his dad’s, Kyungsoo would just wait for him.

Now though there’s always someone to do things with. He doesn’t remember ever having this many friends. Sure there are people who say hello to him everyday or give him small gifts- it’s always something delicious too like chocolates or cookies- but it’s not the same.

Kyungsoo sighs softly as he slips out of his uniform only stopping when a small piece of paper falls from his pocket. He reaches his hand down and picks up the slip.

‘Hyung call me when I can come over and try you’re cooking~! ^^’ is scribbled messily along with a phone number. It brings one of the many incidents of the day to the front of Kyungsoo’s mind.

Kyungsoo approached the overly rowdy boys at their ‘spot’ in the Cafeteria with his own lunchbox instead of the lunch mush like everyone else. He found it silly as to why the boys didn’t just bring a home lunch since each day they made it apparent to complain. When he reached the table though and took the last available seat, everyone suddenly turned silent. Alas, the small boy didn’t notice as his stomach had been growling since 2nd period.

He could blame only himself though since he decided that sleeping for five more minutes would only make him have to hurry a bit more than usual. That is until it turned into ten, then fifteen minutes. Poor Kyungsoo didn’t even have time to stuff something into his mouth since all of the banging on his front door. Courtesy of Luhan and Xiumin (and their need to see their baby first thing in the morning).

Kyungsoo kept all his attention to his lunch box as the smell of his delicious cooking wafted throughout the table. He closed his eyes and said a small thank you before picking up a piece of meat. It reached the very tip of his lips until he finally looked up (how could he not with all that whimpering?). On his left was a begging Tao and his right was Chen. Their eyes as big as they could make them, almost rivaling his own.

“U-Um.. would you guys like to try- Hey!” The small boy stared at his fast disappearing lunch. The eldest members of their group along with Tao practically inhaled everything before anyone else had a chance to even think about it. They even held it at their own side of the table almost as if they had a telepathic contest to see who could stuff as much of Kyungsoo’s lunch in their mouths.

Groans of delight filled the lunch room and soon the lunch box was set down, completely empty. Kyungsoo whimpered at the heart breaking compliment. His eyes watered and his nose sniffled in misery. Once again the table stood still as if one breath could trigger the small boy to cry.

That is until an angry lisp broke the silence.

“You guys ! I didn’t even get to try any of it!” Sehun clung onto his Hyung and rubbed his cheek against the other’s. “Don’t you have anymore?” He pouted as Kyungsoo shook his head, kicked the panda looking culprit from his seat, (“Hey I was sitting there!”) and brought over his lunch tray. “Here Hyung. We can share my lunch.”

The rest of the hour consisted of a certain tall blonde feeding his small and squishy boyfriend hyung.

“I don’t understand why you guys complain so much, this lunch isn’t even bad!”

“But it’s nothing like you’re lunch.”

“O-Oh..”

It also consisting of a certain tall blonde’s small and squishy hyung to end up on the floor with 10 boys on top of him in a giant bear hug/dog pile.

Sometime after that incident Sehun slipped a small note into Kyungsoo’s pants pocket. The only reason the small of the two knew who it was from was because of the younger’s love for using emoticon when he wrote. All of his math notes were sprawled with drawings of little faces.

Kyungsoo can’t help but smile from the fond little memory. He found the note inside his pocket when he changed back into his uniform after gym class. Getting startled from the knocking on the door and giving a quick reply back to his friend (“Y-Yeah, I’m okay!”), Kyungsoo hops into the shower to wash away the days hard work.

Chemistry was no joke.

●●●

Hyunsik wakes up in an unfamiliar bed but snuggled up in familiar sheets. The thoughts of his sweet Soo resurface as they said stayed up the night before catching up. It was almost perfect but Kyungsoo believed that since he’s grown up now, Hyunsik doesn’t need to hold him and protect him from the monsters. Of course Hyunsik only made that up to cuddle with his Soo. Looks like I have to think of something else.. Maybe protect him from his awful Grandma.

Boy did that lady love to smother Kyungsoo. After a moment with her the poor boy would be covered in red lipstick and a pocket full of butterscotch candy. Though it was worth it for Kyungsoo if it made his grandma so happy- plus he found a new love for butterscotch.

The only thing snapping the boy from his thoughts of grandma’s and the owner of a cute button nose, was that said owner wasn’t in bed anymore. Hyunsik crawls out of the blankets and makes his way downstairs. Almost nearing the end, he smells the familiar scent of pancake’s- Kyungsoo loves to make them every Saturday morning.

A loud noise from the kitchen is what hurries him along but he stops at the sight of a chubby cheeked boy sitting at the table.

“Who are you?”

“Soo Baby’s Boyfriend.”

Just then a tall blonde barbie doll makes himself known, walking out of the kitchen with a pout.

“Hey! We agreed to share him!”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t your boyfriend. I just said I was his.”

“So then.. Kyungie! Am I boyfriend #1?”

The blonde devil hops into the kitchen where he hears a familiar squeal.

“L-Luhan hyung! Don’t.. Don’t touch there!”

Hyunsik turns back to the steam bun as he hears him hum.

“You can be… Kyungsoo’s..”

“I’m his best friend.”

“Yeah.” The boy smirks and stuffs more food into his mouth as he nods. “Yeah, his best friend.” He starts to laugh and Hyunsik takes that as his queue to check the kitchen for his Soo.

“Kyung- What are you doing?!”

The blonde pulls away enough to look at Hyunsik, looking very unimpressed.

“We’re playing the pocky game with a pancake. Duh.”

“Get away from him!”

Internally Kyungsoo cries in embarrassment.

Externally... he still cries from embarrassment.

“Look at what you did, Hongspit!”

“It’s- oh nevermind!”

●●●

The rest of the day Hyunsik couldn’t shake the two devils in disguise. He learned that they were older than him, so he had to respect their wishes. But boy he never felt like knocking someone out so bad. Even Chanyeol was better than these two.

●●●

“Kyungie lets play a game!”

“There’s twister here, Hannie!”

“Okay, good! Everytime you spin, you have to take off a piece of your clothes. Kyungie, spin for us!”

“Soo Baby, let’s watch a movie together.”

“Oh, yeah. Lion King!”

“Soo, everytime a lion comes on screen you have to give us a kiss!”

“Kyungie feed this to me. No, no. not with your hands, cutie. With your mouth.”

“Soo, Baby can’t I have a kiss on the cheek? Aww look how red you are, I’m telling you I didn’t mean to turn my head but I knew you wanted me as much as I want you.”

●●●

Hyunsik was upset the whole day that he couldn’t spend with his friend. On top of everything that he’s been feeling for him, he’s really missed him since the move.

“I guess there’s always tomorrow.” He mutters.

“Kyungie, you’re coming with us to the mall tomorrow right? The rest of the guys are meeting us there!”

Now it’s Hyunsik’s turn to cry.