Sanctuary | Chanbaek (2)

Nine

School wasn't as bad as Baekhyun thought it would be. He left everyone alone and everyone left him alone. Although, sometimes he would hear people whisper about him.

Isn't that Baekbeom's brother?

I heard he never came back to school because he lived in an orphanage.

Baekhyun never realized how popular he was, but it wasn't in a good way.

He usually managed to get by in gym, he wouldn't change in front of the other boys, he'd go in a bathroom stall so he couldn't be seen. He was left alone until about the middle of the school year when some of the older boys opened his bathroom stall and dragged him out when he was still in his underwear.

"No wonder he's so self-conscious, he's covered in weird scars."

"And he's so skinny. His rib cage isn't straight, look at how it sticks out a little more on the left."

"Look at his pretty little hickies. Who would ever have their standards this low?" One of the older boys snickered. He touched Baekhyun's scar, Baekhyun never spoke at school, but he really hated his scar being touched by anyone who wasn't Chanyeol.

"Stop touching me."

"Wow, he can talk!"

"This is from the car accident, right?" The older boy dug his fingers into Baekhyun's scar. It hurt really bad.

Another boy poked at the scars on Baekhyun's thighs, "These ones are because you're a psycho, right?"

Tears stung the corners of Baekhyun's eyes as all of the boys laughed at him.

"What should we do to him? Should we rough him up a bit?"

"He's crippled, he'd probably die if you hit him too hard."

"C'mon just one swirly?"

"Yeah!" They dragged him back into the bathroom stall, "Since you like it in here so much!" When they stuck his face into the toilet, he was afraid he couldn't hold his breath for long enough, but eventually, they let him free and left him to cough his lung up on the bathroom floor. Baekhyun made sure they were gone before digging his phone out of his pants pocket and trying to call DJ.

He decided to call DJ instead of Chanyeol because Chanyeol loved school, and Baekhyun wouldn't want to interrupt something he loved with one of his dumb problems.

DJ picked up, luckily, "Aren't you in school, what's up?"

Baekhyun sniffled, "Please come and get me."

"What's wrong?"

"I will tell you in the car, please, come get me."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes," Baekhyun put his uniform back on and darted out of the locker room. DJ was already at the front office by the time he was out, "Why is your hair all wet?"

"I told you I'd explain everything to you in the car, so let's just go," He tugged on DJ's arm.

"Okay, now what happened?" DJ asked once they were in the car.

"In gym I usually change in the bathroom because I don't want people to ask about to scar on my chest, but some boys dragged me out today and they touched me and made fun of me because my rib cage is weird and I'm skinny and covered in scars, then they gave me this thing called a "swirly"."

"Damnit, Baekhyun. Why didn't you fight back?"

"There was four of them, I figured it was probably best that I didn't make myself look like an even bigger fool. I did tell them not to touch me, but that only got them to make fun of me more," Baekhyun sighed, "It's not like I can even do that much without running out of breath."

In a lot of ways, Baekhyun wished he was like normal kids. He wished he could run instead of "taking it easy" in gym He wished he could play soccer with all the cool kids too. He wished he wasn't shaped slightly wrong. Mostly, he wished he didn't have an anxious twitch and cry for no reason.

"Okay, well, how about you go home and rest. I have to go back to work."

"Thanks, DJ."

"You can play video games in my room if you want, but make sure you get your homework done."

"Okay," When Baekhyun was inside, he showered first. He really hated being touched by anyone who wasn't Chanyeol. He didn't mind DJ touching him either, but if anyone else touched him it made him feel dirty. Once he was out of the shower he tried to do his homework, but he didn't know how. He wasn't doing very good in any of his classes. Chanyeol was smart though, so he could help when he got home. He went into DJ's room to play video games for a while until he heard the door open, "Channie! Channie! Channie!" Baekhyun ran out of the room but was embarrassed to see that Chanyeol wasn't alone. What the hell was this?!

"Hi, Baekhyun," Baekhyun decided he probably shouldn't say anything else, "This is Taemin from school, we are going to work on a project. Taemin, this is Baekhyun."

Don't get mad. Don't get mad.

Baekhyun clenched and his fists. It was just for school, it was fine, he didn't have to to get mad. He let out a deep breath and unclenched his fists, "This is just a one-time thing, right?"

"Don't be rude. You'll help us, right, Baekhyun?"

"What are you making?"

"A history poster, we need to print some stuff," Baekhyun ended up making the poster for them. He just typed out what they told him to and printed it. He was happy when Taemin went home.

"I had a terrible day, Chan."

"Why? Because I brought a friend over?" Chanyeol's tone was a little harsher then he intended.

"No, I don't care," Baekhyun lied, "Some kids at school dragged me out of the bathroom stall when I was in my underwear and the poked me and made fun of me then put my face in the toilet."

"Is that why you were so excited to see me?"

"Yeah I've really wanted to see you since it happened," Baekhyun leaned his head on Chanyeol's chest.

"I'm exhausted, Baek," Chanyeol pried the smaller boy off of him, "I'm going to bed early."

"Can I come?"

"I'm really tired, goodnight," Chanyeol navigated his way up the stairs. Baekhyun was going to cry but decided to hold it in the best he could. Chanyeol needed space sometimes too, but it was at the worst possible moment. He needed Chanyeol to tell him he thought his scar was cool and that he thought his slightly crooked rib cage was still beautiful. He played video games, it was a good distraction. He fell asleep in DJ's bed with the TV still on and the controller in his hand.