CERISIER

ONE

"Where do you think you're going, squirt?"

Baekhyun could only sigh in annoyance, attempting to push past the much larger and much taller junior that was currently holding him hostage in the boy's outdated and smelly locker room.

Gym was not Baekhyun's strong point on any level. Dodge ball, Baekhyun had calculated quite early on in his high school career, was his gym teacher's favorite activity to host. It was the tiny senior's, on the other hand's, least favorite. There were countless times during his years at this shit show of a school that he had gotten pummeled with balls because he was the smallest and easiest target, seeing as he didn't even bother trying to dodge the rubber bullets, essentially the whole point of the game.

"Move over, asshole," Baekhyun hissed, his head tilted back to meet the younger's intimidating stare. He had dusty pink hair, straightened to perfection over his forehead and an upturned nose, along with a pair of eyes that seemed to look right through you. Baekhyun had dealt with assholes before, but this is his first time being teased by some dickhead that was actually younger than him, him in his last year of high school and all.

The shorter attempted to push past the rude boy when he was abruptly shoved back by said rude boy, and that was when Baekhyun had had it. He power-kicked the male in the shin and made sure to nail his knee extra hard into his crotch, effectively causing him to double over in pain, allowing a very pleased Baekhyun access to the exit.

But that wasn't the last of that wretched junior. No, one mustn't forget that he was still in Baekhyun's gym class. And it was dodge ball day.

"Freshmen and seniors on the west side, juniors and sophomores on the east!" the teacher ordered like a drill sergeant commanding his army.

Baekhyun went to his assigned side of the gym, pressing his petite frame against the padded western wall. He could spot the troublemaker junior from across the room, he could make out his scowling expression and tight fists. Suddenly, Baekhyun didn't feel so proud of himself anymore.

The game began and most of the seniors were at the front line, throwing multicolored rubber balls like their dignity depended on it while most of the freshmen huddled in corner, with the exception of one senior using the younger students as human shields against the relentless eastern side.

Eventually, all of the freshies were knocked out of the game and most of the not so enthusiastic sophomores had gotten themselves out, and there left the seniors versus the juniors. Baekhyun was certainly in the red.

Then, suddenly, he was no longer in a shitty gym, Baekhyun was in a battlefield. His hands were covered in the blood of his comrades, his olive coat and sweatshirt that had become oversized long ago and scuffed jeans were transformed into camouflaged armor and across the miles of desert sat his enemy. In that moment, in that single moment of defenselessness, he had made a careless mistake and he was in the open. The enemy had weapons clutched in their muddy fingers, Baekhyun had no such thing. The next thing he knew, a bullet was shot from 10 yards east and he was hit.

The bully of a junior hurled a half-deflated ball right towards the cowering senior and it nailed him in the side of the head, properly knocking him out cold on the waxy floor. Of course, he wasn't out of the game since the ball had hit his head, but he was definitely out of consciousness.

The next thing Baekhyun saw was thankfully not his enemy spitting in his face with blood running a river on his body but an off-white ceiling and the next thing he felt was not pain so unimaginable, no normal person could relate, but a firm, plasticky bed underneath him and a warm, moistened towel put over his slightly sore forehead. He was dazed and felt as if he had just gotten off of a rollercoaster; his headache seemed as if it would be the death of him. The closed off section of the room smelled like musty corners and bleach.

Regardless of how he felt, the teen sat up and tiptoed to the exposed sliver between two curtains, peeking out into the other room. Turned out, he was settled in the nurses office and according to the clock hung on the wall, he had settled for quite a while.

"You can come out, I don't bite," a muffled voice called out from the room Baekhyun was currently peeking into. He shrugged and made his way out from behind the panels of polyester, meeting the eyes of a boy that was in his grade but he had never bothered talking to, said boy was seated at a table positioned in the middle of the room, a stack of tissues beside him, one of them pressed to his nose.

"Have a seat, man." He threw his used tissue into the garbage can, immediately grabbing another to shove against his face. The trash can was filled to the brim with the ruby stained papers.

Baekhyun did as the bleeding boy said, plopping down onto one of the metal foldable chairs owned by the school, crossing his legs and making himself comfortable. "Where's the nurse?" he asked once a short period of uncomfortable silence had passed.

"Mr. Park'll be back soon, he had to go to the office for something," the stranger responded in a nasally voice with a wave of his hand that wasn't pinching his leaking nose. "What happened to you anyway?"

Should he really share such an embarrassing explanation? Probably not. "I lost at dodge ball," Baekhyun mumbled simply, the last images he had of the gym and the junior attempting to give him brain damage rewinding in his mind. "How'd I end up here exactly?" the one that was not profusely bleeding from his nostrils inquired, continuing their little game of 20 questions.

"I dunno really, Mr. Park just marched into here holding some sleeping guy, you, like a baby while I was bleeding out in a trash can," he chuckled, leaning over the mentioned trash can once again to throw away his tarnished piece of cotton, noticing that his nose was no longer dripping crimson and that he was free from his bloody prison.

Baekhyun felt a shudder go through him, a visible cringe at the image of some middle aged man with only half the head of hair he used to have laying his hands on him when he was so vulnerable. Attempting to get his thoughts off that note, the healed patient let a question of a separate topic escape his tongue. "What's your name again?"

"Kim Minseok."

Excitement and surprise laid itself over Baekhyun's features. "I've heard of you before, you're the guy who crashed homecoming that one year!" he exclaimed before he could stop himself, finally putting a face to the infamous name that had wandered the school years ago.

"The one and only."