Broken Melodies (NCT)

Yuta

There were many lions in the pride, but one stood out to him: the very first they ever rescued, Louis

He had raised him ever since he was a cub, which allowed him to forge a very strong bond with the animal. It was a lot easier than interacting with humans, or himself, for the matter.

Guilt. It ate its way through his heart, leaving a hollow crater that couldn't be filled. The lions neither knew nor judged, allowing him to have a much healthier relationship with them than with most humans. Outside his immediate friend group, he had no one. His colleagues were terrified of him, his old friends distant, family disgusted by his very presence. 

His train of thought was interrupted by a soft nudge at his side, the gaze of his favorite lion staring back at him. Leon was getting old, with it arthritis that prevented him from moving much. He stroked the bright fur, once again lost in thought. To be honest, he really didn't have a reason to pick on those kids; he was only angry with life in general and needed something to vent it on.

"Yuta!" someone yelled. Looking up, he could see his new friend, Chenle, waving from the edge of the enclosure with two others, one looking quite ecstatic and the other embarrassed. Yuta quickly walked to the enclosure entrance and opened it, allowing the three in. The lions, used to them by now, only stirred in the slightest.

"What do you want?" he asked, settling back in his usual spot next to Leon, watching the over-excited boy progressively tease his friend, who was very short by the way, the kid eventually snapping and chasing him around the space, tackling him to the ground. Yuta was certain he would get hit one day. 

"You know Lucas, right?" Chenle asked. "He's going to the Olympics, so I want to invite you to a dinner party" he went on to explain, where to meet, what time, and to forward the invite to Johnny. It amused Yuta slightly: he had only known Chenle for around a year, but he was already in the heir's good side to get invited to the party? "I went to see him an hour ago, but some guy stopped me, really aggressively, mind you, and told me to 'fuck off'. He was shaped like a deer, sort of tall, too gentle looking to be that harsh." Chenle shrugged. 

"Chenle, can we leave? This is boring." the shortest of the trio, the one who seemed to be the target of the teasing, complained. "We need to get back to school, and I need to beat up Hyuck in the back of the school. What are we even doing here?" 

"Wait a moment, Renjun," Chenle said. "I'm talking to a friend."

"Then why did you even drag us here?"

"You're emotional support, hyung," Hyuck said playfully. "We need to get your nerdy ass away from books before you before you become one with them. What do you see in reading, anyway? You always read the same books." 

"You're obsessed with League of Legends, you wont get the appeal of reading," Renjun spit at him. "If you would actually start to read more than a page, you would like them too." 

"Bold of you to assume he can even read." Chenle murmured, earning a punch from Hyuck. 

"Whatever." Renjun sighed, flipping through a text on his phone next to Yuta. 

"We're literally in a lion enclosure, get off your phone!" Hyuck said, leaning forwards to snatch the device from his hand. He took off, Renjun in pursuit, yelling "Lee Haechan, give me back my phone!" 

Chenle looked awkward. "Sorry" 

"Don't pretend to be mature, we all know you're even more childish than them." Yuta had seen first-hand how difficult the heir could be. Shockingly immature at 19, he was a pure menace for anybody in his vicinity, with his mysterious shenanigans and high dolphin laugh.