By the time morning rolled around Tao was a nervous-wreck. Granted, he shouldn't care what Kris and his friends thought of him because he was only doing it because Baekhyun had asked him to, but he seriously felt like he wanted to just crawl into a hole and never come out. 

Sadly, his mother had different plans for him. 

Zhou Mi had woken him up bright and early and practically dragged him downstairs for breakfast. After all, a growing boy needs to eat. 

"Zitao, you haven't even touched your food." Kyuhyun frowned at his son, putting down his phone to sip his coffee. 

"Because I'm not hungry, papa." Came the teenager's reply as he continued to stir his cereal around with a spoon. How could they honestly expect him to eat, when he had to force himself into his leather pants this morning because he was trying to fit in with a group of boys who probably were just going to realize his plan and ridicule him for the rest of the school year.

"At least have a few bites." Zhou Mi mused, watching his son play with his food as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

Zitao pouted like an angry child and spooned three spoonfuls of cereal in his mouth. Chewing angrily, and swallowing before standing up."I ate a few bites, can I leave now?" He frowned, placing his bowl in the sink.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes at his son and put his cup down on the table. "If you must." 

"I'm going to school then, bye mama, bye papa." Zitao said as he left the kitchen with his bag slung over his shoulder, ready to walk out of the house.

"What's gotten into him, Quixian?" Zhou Mi sighed, holding his own coffee in his hands as he walked over towards his husband.

"He's a teenager Mi." Kyuhyun replied flatly, his attention turning towards their son as he walked out the front door, shutting it with more force than necessary. 

"He's not supposed to be a teenager, he's supposed to be my little baby!"

Kyuhyun just sighed and moved to envelope Zhou Mi in a hug. Honestly, all this high school drama was going to drive him insane; and he wasn't even the one attending school. 

---

"Peach, you're finally here!" Chen grinned, waving his hand as the raven haired boy awkwardly walked up to them, shuffling his backpack in front of him.

"And you're wearing leather, way to take one for the team!" Baekhyun sang, chuckling not quite noticing the younger boy's awkward stance. 

"He doesn't look to happy about it though." Xiumin chuckled quirking a brow at the youngest.

"I wish I'd just found my leather jacket. I feel in this pants." Zitao whined stomping his foot.

"Your boots are leather.." Chen replied matter-of-factly, causing Zitao to stare at him blankly. 

"W-what?"

"You probably could've just worn your boots and some normal jeans. Your boots are leather." Chen explained, stifling laughter as the sixteen year old stood baffled by the information. 

"Aww, come on!" Zitao whined throwing his backpack on the floor. 

"Come on Tao, Chen's just playing the pants are fine." Baekhyun sighed taking a look at the whining teenager. "On second thought, I'd pull down the sweater more." He added pulling on the hem Zitao's oversized sweater.

"You should probably get out of here though." Xiumin commented as he looked around the school's hallway as it began filling up.

"Why? Are you guys embarrassed to be seen with me already?" Zitao pouted, it hurt being unwanted.

"Oh, no, no! Nothing like that." Xiumin chuckled reaching over to pat his back. "It's just, you can't be seen with us, Baek's plan will be ruined."

"That's right!" Chen nodded, understanding what the eldest was saying. 

"Alright then, shoo Tao, get out of here." Baekhyun laughed, ushering the youngest away from them.

"But guys~"

"Quit whining and go!" Chen sighed, lightly pushing the boy.

"Fine!" Zitao huffed, picking up his bag. 

"We love you, Peach~" Chen smiled, waving as Zitao stormed away, stomping his feet and mumbling to himself the entire way.

Now had he been paying attention to where he was going and not cursing Baekhyun for convincing him to do this, maybe he wouldn't have slammed his head into the flat surface that was blocking the door. And maybe if he hadn't been so angry about slamming his head, he would have shut his mouth and realized he'd slammed into a person, not an object.

"Whoa, are you alright?" 

Zitao froze, momentarily halting his attempt to stand without ripping his leather pants. He knew that voice, the voice that had invaded his dreams last night. He silently prayed that he'd been hearing things before looking up and making eye contact with the object of his affection.

"Oh! Damn, Taozi, is that you?" 

Sadly, fate was not on his side. That's right, he'd managed to slam himself right into Park Chanyeol, what a cruel world he lived in.  

"..yes." He mumbled softly, eyes glued to the pavement he was currently seated on. 

"I'm sorry, man!" Chanyeol replied, flustered that he'd knocked over the younger boy. "Here lemme help you up." He added, smile on his face as he extended his hand for Zitao to grab onto.

Zitao continued to look down, to hide his now blushing cheeks as he placed his hand in Chanyeol's and felt the other male swiftly pull him to his feet. 

"Thanks." He continued to avoid Chanyeol's gaze, beginning to dust himself off. 

Chanyeol's silence was mind numbing, making Zitao raise his gaze, only to find the older playfully smirking.

"Those pants look great on you." He grinned and walked away, looking over his shoulder as he left see Zitao standing there with his mouth gaping like a fish out of water.

"Why are you just standing there?" 

Zitao whipped his head around to see the deer-eyed blonde staring at him, head tilted like a confused puppy.

"Oh, uh.. I don't know." He shrugged, placing his hands on his cheeks to hide his blush. 

Luhan, not believing the younger boy began to look in the direction he'd been dreamily staring off into. 

"Oh my god, you like Jongin, don't you?" He smirked, pinching the raven-haired boy's side, making him yelp.

Zitao narrowed his eyes and looking off in that direction, he had absolutely no clue who Luhan could possibly be talking about.

"Uhh, Jong-who?"

"Not Jongwho, Jongin!" 

"No, I wasn't saying that was his name.. I was asking who." 

"If you really like him I could have XingXing introduce him to you, they have dance together." Luhan giggled almost maniacally.

"Uh, no no, I'm fine." Zitao shook his head, squeezing his hands into the pockets of his tight, leather pants.

"Are you sure, you look absolutely fab! He'll love it!" Luhan grinned pinching Tao's leather clad bottom.

Zitao had to stop himself from drop kicking Luhan, because no one, absolutely no one (maybe Park Chanyeol), pinched his . So he simply slapped away the invasive hand. Turning to stare at Luhan. The doe-eyed boy made his black studded leather jacket look almost innocent and angelic. It was mind boggling.

"I'm positive I don't want to meet, Jongin." Zitao reaffirmed, with a curt nod.

"Who wants to meet Jongin?"

Zitao internally groaned as he turned to face the owner of the soft calm voice.

"Oh my god, Xing, Tao has like a huge crush on Jongin. You should totally talk to him for him." Luhan grinned.

Yixing took a moment to process the information before turning to face Zitao.

"You like Kai?" He questioned, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"No, I don't like Kai, or Jongin or anyone else."

"Kai is Jongin."

"Well I don't like him."

"Your denial is adorable." Luhan chirped as he draped an arm over Yixing's shoulder. Both boys smiling at Zitao.

"I'm not in denial. I just honestly don't like him." Zitao frowned, ready to just walk away and end the whole charade.

"Well if you don't like him, then who were you looking at?" Luhan sighed, eager to hear the juicy information.

"This guy in my calculus class." Zitao sighed, thinking fondly of Chanyeol.

"Ooh, a senior. Hot." Yixing nodded, trying to contribute to the conversation.

Luhan flashed Yixing a disapproving glance before turning his attention back to Zitao.

"Well who is it, tell us. I'm sure we can help you make the senior hottie yours. After all you're new, you're mysterious. He probably already wants you." Luhan chuckled, excited to play match-maker.

Zitao blushed softly, and finally replied, "His name is Park Chanyeol."

Both Yixing and Luhan's faces dropped as the words left Zitao's lips.

"No, no, no, no, no. Just no!" Yixing gasped shaking his head.

"What's wrong with him?" 

"Chanyeol is Kris's ex-boyfriend. Kris was devastated when Chanyeol broke up with him last fall." Luhan explained, being overly dramatic.

"I thought Kris broke up with him for Jung Soryong?" Yixing responded cocking a brow at his older friend.

"Okay, irregardless, he is his ex-boyfriend. And ex-boyfriends are just off-limits to friends. It's like.. Bro code." Luhan explained crossing his arms over his chest. Yixing nodded in agreement, leaning heavily on Luhan.

"Tao, it's like.. You wouldn't buy a new pair of kicks without asking your bros if they looked nice first, right?" Yixing smiled.

"Uhh.. I wouldn't?"

"Exactly. You might think you love someone." Luhan added, looking over his shoulder and sighing dreamily at Oh Sehun, "but you could be wrong."

Yixing patted Luhan's back sympathetically. 

"Come on Tao, let's go meet Kris in the parking lot."