Torn // exo x reader

26; A Real Shame

She leans back against someone's shoulder, too tired to walk any longer, moving to one of the dinner benches in the cafeteria.

She examines the walls, riddled with dirt and maybe some blood and things she doesn't want to know any more about.

She almost falls asleep, until she hears the telltale whine of a child far off, and then a lot of things she forgot, she remembers.

The people downstairs.

"J-Joonmyun! Jungsoo!"

They come scrambling over, tripping over themselves and multiple other people to get to her.

"What's wrong?" "Where does it hurt?"

She shakes her head quickly. 

"T-The people, they-they're all, oh god," She starts to her feet, moving as fast as she can towards where her brain remembers the doors to the cells being, but when she gets there, there's nothing.

"T-Taemin!" She screams, whipping around to the boy laid on one of their makeshift medical tables, ripping away whoever was examining him.

"Down-Donstairs, where?" 

People are asking her what's downstairs, and why she needs to be there or are telling her to sit down, but she doesn't listen.

He looks at her quizzically, like he doesn't know what she's talking about.

"The basement? All that's down there are boxes."

She doesn't care that he's trying to fool her.

"Where do I go to get there?"  She demands, people around her flinching.

"D-Down the hall and to the right, then down that hall and to the left."

She moves as quickly as she can, Yixing and Tao flanking her sides and helping her walk, struggling to keep up.

When she gets there she pushes them away to rip the door open, and she looks down into the abyss of the basement expecting to see women and children bustling about, cell doors ripped open, but true to what Taemin said, it's just boxes.

She almost falls, but Tao catches her, pulling her to the floor above the stairs, and she just stares into the basement.

"T-They were right there," Someone rubs her back, but she ignores them.

Jinyoung, Jaebum, were they all just lies?

Was it a dream?

Who was the kid crying she just heard? 

She just shakes her head.

She was dreaming.

She gets up and looks sheepishly at all the people she almost ran over trying to get over here, and belatedly feels her side ache. 

She apologizes under her breath, moving to somewhere she hopes less people will be thinking she's crazy at, but then she hears Chanyeol laugh and follow her.

"If you're here to call me insane you'll have to get in line, Chanyeol."

He just sits beside her, and laughs again quietly.

"I think you're doing a good enough job of that yourself."

He wasn't wrong.

"Hey, hey, listen," he looks at her, "it's okay Y/N, nobody is laughing at you."

He says that as Sehun decides to ask what the hell her problem is and laugh, and her cheeks are on fire.

"Talk to me when I don't look like boo boo the fool, Chanyeol."

She stands, and walks out of the cafeteria. Minho, Kibum and Jonghyun have disappeared somewhere, and she may as well look for them and hope she can redeem herself to all of the people here.

She knows she can't go alone, but she wouldn't dare ask Chanyeol to chaperone her, so she walks to Yixing, who had been sitting and staring off into space, so she asks him to come with her.

After a few seconds of hesitation at her telling him he can't tell anyone, she wraps a bandaged hand around his and drags him through the hallways, until he catches up.

Even with his pace matching hers, he doesn't let go of her hand.

She huffs in disbelief as she realizes, it feels kind of nice.

She says nothing on the subject, but just huffs harder until Yixing laughs.

"You love Chanyeol, don't you."

She stops in her tracks, almost skidding to a halt. 

"W-What are you talking about?"

Yixing ignores her question, and just muses as he talks almost to himself.

"I knew since way back at the house, but every time I talked about it Minseok-hyung scolded me, I wonder why?"

"S-Shut up!" She can feel how red her face is, but decides to ignore and hope differently. 

They walk around a bit longer, and only manage to find Kibum, who went to look for more bandages for Taemin.

"Why do you guys help him?" She asks when they're alone, Yixing have headed back a while ago, after much persuasion.

"What are we going to do? Defy him and end up like Taemin? It's in our best interest to do what he says. For example, if he asked me to attack you right now, I would have to, Y/N."

She opens her mouth to say something, but as soon as she steps away, she's with two other people.

"You won't lay a hand on her if you want to keep said appendage."

It's Baekhyun and Chanyeol, leaning against the wall.

She's happy to see them, even if it's just them here to save her.

Again.

Kibum grabs her, holding a claw to her neck, and she wishes she would have asked Yixing to stay instead of convincing him to go.

"Put her down. Now." 

It's Minseok.

She really needs to stop putting herself in these predicaments.

"Baekhyun, Chanyeol, as much as I adore having you around, I have a score to settle one on one with Kibum."

They look hesitant, but Minseok doesn't beg, nor budge.

He stares at Kibum, eyes dangerous and fists clenched.

She's never seen him look this threatening.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol walk away without another word, snickering among themselves about how Minseok really loves her.

Despite the situation, she blushes.

"Now that it's just us, I'll have to teach you about touching something that belongs to someone else."