3
Sehun narrows his eyes on instinct. Jongin is all but skipping across the school yard, ogling at Sehun with the most shit-eating grin ever comfortably wedged on his face. He trails to a halt by Sehun’s side, burying his hands in his jean pockets and almost lurching over with some kind of suppressed giggle. Sehun’s eyes narrow even further.
“What’s up with you?”
Immediately Jongin’s eyes widen with indignation, and he wears an expression of utter innocence. “What? Me? What? Why?”
Sehun glares at him. “You know you can’t lie to save your fucking life.”
“But I haven’t done anything!” Jongin asserts, blinking rapidly and struggling to keep the smug grin from creeping back up on his lips.
Sehun scrutinizes him for another couple of seconds, before rolling his eyes and turning around to walk up to the school entrance. For all it’s worth, Jongin might as well have found some new girl to crush on or just managed to squeeze in a quick wank before breakfast and Sehun could, for once, give him the benefit of the doubt and not immediately run to Suho like some miffed kindergartener.
Jongin receives great attention from his bandaged shoulder, which he milks till the very last drop. Already popular for his good looks and easy-going ways, girls now literally crowd around him, fawning and pitying, asking what savages has injured his handsome face and if they can bring him something tomake his convalescence more sufferable. The grin on Jongin’s lips only grows wider before he clutches his shoulder with a dramatic wince at the slightest touch and softly reprimands the blushing culprit, announcing to nobody in particular that he didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning but that something from the vending machines would sit just right with him. Sehun rolls his eyes and pushes past a couple of whispering sophomores to head for his classroom; as long as Jongin tactfully avoids the subject of who inflicted his injuries, Sehun might as well let him bask in the patronage.
As expected the buzz drains out during the day and by the next morning there’s only one timorous freshman creeping up to hand Jongin a can of soda before blushing furiously and scurrying off towards her clique of friends, but Jongin’s still grinning like he ate not only the most delicious canary but downed the whole cage as well, mirrors and bells included. Sehun feels a certain uneasiness growing in his chest, and when parting with Jongin after classes he decides to swing by Tao’s on his way home, to see if he has heard anything.
He’s just turning a corner a rough block away from Tao’s apartment when hearing a somewhat familiar laughter from the other street, followed by smooth, fluid chattering in Chinese. Immediately Sehun freezes in his spot, feeling ice-cold dread spreading in his stomach and the next moment four guys appear, coming face to face with Sehun who’s suddenly feeling peculiarly small in the middle of the sidewalk.
Kris’ eyes narrow, recognition already dawning on his face, and he nudges the arm of Lay at his side. Luhan and a fourth boy that Sehun hasn’t seen before come around from behind them, effectively covering the whole width of the pavement, the faces of them all rapidly darkening.
It takes one, two seconds, before Sehun turns on his heel and dashes down the street.
He manages a good hundred meters before Kris catches up with him, grabbing him by the collar and hurling him into the brick wall. He can only let out a vague groan before he’s yet again grabbed, dragged a bit down the street and thrown into a dark alley, falling face-first into the tarmac. If he at the moment had been coherent enough to form words into sentences, he might have noted that this is where he dies, but his brain only manages a distant Jongin… or Tao? before he’s pulled off the ground by the arm and roughly pressed into the wall behind.
“Hello.” Kris says, leaning close into Sehun’s face. He calmly studies a scratch on his chin where it acquainted itself with the asphalt, smacking his lips and bringing up a finger to flick at it, earning a flinch in response, before pulling back. “You’re a real insufferable bunch of brats, you know.”
Sehun dares a glance, but not a comment. Kris’ eyes are snugly narrowed, looking down at Sehun from the heights of his stature.
“A pain in my sexy, Chinese ass.”
Despite himself, Sehun’s gaze flicks downwards, just for a second, but long enough for Kris to detect it and throw his head back in a hoarse laughter.
“That’s right! You should appreciate it.” He leans closer again, grabbing Sehun’s chin and forcing him to look him in the eyes. “You should fucking kiss it, you little faggot.”
Something sinks in Sehun’s chest, dead heavy and ice cold. Shit. Shit shit shit shit.
“And you can tell your little friends the same thing. Especially Dumb and Dumber.”
The sinking thing in Sehun’s chest rises again; dissolving swiftly as a searing rush of anger flushes through him instead. Those fucking thick-headed… Further he doesn’t come before he receives a hard blow to the cheek that has the back of his head bouncing off the brick wall.
“Tell them that the next time I see them, I’ll have them kiss my ass so well they’ll never get the taste oftangerines out of their mouths.”
Kris pulls back and raises his fist again, and Sehun closes his eyes and shrinks back against the wall. The punch has his head spinning and he limply slumps down on the ground, bracing himself for more;kicks and pain and hospitals. Snarled phrases fly over his head and a pair of worn sneakers come into his vision, but they’re followed not by blows to his ribs but by rustling of clothes and zippers.
Before he can even see it coming, warm fluid rains down over him, and he squeezes his eyes shut and brings up his arms in a poor attempt to cover his face. Someone cackles and directs a pungent jet to snugly coat the back of his left ear, another merrily splashing over his hands. Then it’s over, and he only receives a half-hearted toe to the small of his back before the excited chatter disappears behind the corner and steadily fades out down the street.
-
Tao watches him carefully through the doorframe, eyes narrowing as a strong whiff of ammonia reaches him by the help of a soft gush of wind. After the better part of a minute Sehun sighs heavily, chest deflating.
“May I borrow your shower.”
Tao blinks, head making a vague movement forward before he steps aside, and Sehun kicks his shoes off at the terrace before moving inside. Tao silently digs out and hands him a plastic bag and Sehun wrings off his jacket and shirt to jam inside before Tao comes back with a towel and a pair of sweatpants, not even bothering to hide a lopsided little smile as his eyes flit over Sehun’s naked chest. Sehun glares at him, suppressing the urge to let him know that it’s really not the time, and heads for the bathroom.
When he reemerges a rough half hour later, skin scrubbed red and raw and hair washed three-or-four times, Tao’s sitting on the floor in front of the sofa and rubbing at a bunch of wooden sticks with a wet rag. He sends Sehun a minorly amused glance before getting to his feet and heading up to the sink to wash his hands and then disappearing into the bedroom, soon coming back with a black t-shirt and the green first-aid kit. The shirt smells of detergent and, faintly, Tao, Sehun notes as he pulls it over his head and takes a seat next to the other on the floor.
“Do you know what they did?” He asks as Tao soaks up a tuft of cotton and starts dabbing at his chin. “Jongin and Chanyeol?”
There is a tug at Tao’s lips. “They burned a Chinese flag outside our hideout.” He says simply.
Sehun gapes. “They what?”
“And made some clever citrus-related jokes before running away.” Tao looks down and busies himself with the cotton, but Sehun still sees the small smile on his face.
“I.” Sehun says. “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. Kris got his revenge, didn’t he?”
Sehun feels his face darken at the recollection. “This is getting way out of hand.”
Tao meets his gaze just briefly, seemingly fighting to keep his features schooled as he moves on to the nick at Sehun’s temple.
“Right.” Sehun adds poisonously. “As long as I can walk out of there on my own, right?”
Tao only shrugs vaguely and tugs at Sehun’s wrist to clean the scratches on his palms. “An eye for an eye.” He says. “It will go on until someone’s mature enough to not get back.” He sends Sehun a searching, almost challenging glance and frankly; it pisses Sehun off.
“What would they think of this?” he says instead, motioning vaguely between them with his free hand.
Tao shrugs again. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
“Oh really? So you don’t care? I know you’re loyal to them.”
Tao smacks his lips. “We go far back.” He says shortly, before raising a brow at Sehun. “What about you? What would yours think?”
Sehun takes a moment to think it over, before realizing just why he has never done that before. “W-what’s that?” he barks out instead, nodding towards the wooden sticks. Tao casts him an amused glance, dabbing a few last times at Sehun’s hand and casually drawing his fingernails over the palm before pulling away and getting to his feet.
“I can show you.” He says, collecting the cotton balls and leaving shortly to throw them away. “If you promise not to use my techniques on any of my members.” He grabs a stick and gives it a short wipe with a clean rag before throwing it on the floor next to a small bottle of yellow oil and stepping out to the center of the room.
He weighs the rod in his hand for a moment before starting to spin it around, first slow but swiftly picking up the pace until it’s just a blur around his deft fingers. He twists around and twirls it in one hand, around his body; in two, over his head, and cracks it into the air a few times with a disturbing, whipping noise before ending in a lithe pose with the stick aligned with his outstretched arms. Sehun only gapes.
“I… don’t think I could use that on your members even if I wanted to.”
Tao smiles faintly. “With practice.” He says before diving down towards Sehun with the rod raised between his hands. Sehun barely has time to flinch before the wood hits him across the chest and he falls back to the floor with Tao creeping on top. He peers down at him with a little grin that has something tingling in Sehun’s stomach before leaning down to kiss him.
It’s a bit harsher than usual; more invasive, more teeth, almost as if he’s spiteful or trying to prove a point. The rod is continuously pressed hard into Sehun’s chest, but he doesn’t even bother telling Tao it hurts; just humors whatever came over him. Soon he begins to pull away, landing a peck or two right beside the scratch on Sehun’s chin before removing the stick and getting off, and Sehun slowly gets back up into sitting position, feeling somewhat as if he was just run over by a truck. (A hot, nimble, great-kissing-skills-possessing truck.)
“Practice?” Tao inquires, reaching him one end of the stick.
“Actually… I really should go kick Jongin’s ass. …Uh, but hey, thanks for the shower.” He hurries to add. “And the clothes.”
There is a tug at the corner of Tao’s mouth. “Yeah, I want them back.” He says. “Some day.”
Something flutters in Sehun’s stomach and he forces himself to not lean in for a quick peck on the other’s lips before getting to his feet. “And you really have to teach me that twirling-thing. Some day.”
-
“You what?!”
One of the perks of having a very passionate leader is that he will often do your screaming for you. Sehun only has to stand at Suho’s side, glaring down at Jongin and Chanyeol who are sunken down in the couch and occasionally add a helpful scoff or sharp comment to Suho’s more or less eloquent rantings.
“You burned—? Are you out of your fucking minds? Things are infected enough already, and you really had to go poke the bear with the nationality-card?”
“It was Chanyeol’s idea!” Jongin croaks, immediately earning a harsh jab to the ribs.
“And you listened to him!?” Suho roars. “I cannot possibly— I just can’t understand what is wrong with your heads. What were you thinking? No, tell me; what were you thinking?”
The two exchange a look before Jongin heaves a big sigh. “I guess… we didn’t want to get physical, right? With… my injury and all that. So we thought we’d try an emotional attack.”
“Wow.” Suho sneers. “That’s deep for someone of your intelligence. And the consequences? Did you ever think about those? Did you ever consider the fact that they, I don’t know – might get pissed off?”
“Look…” Chanyeol mumbles, shooting Sehun a brief glance. “We didn’t know they’d take it out on Sehun-ah, okay?”
“No, but they were obviously gonna take it out on some of us.” Suho snarls. “Too bad it didn’t turn out to be you two. Too bad Sehun has to take the blow for your stupidity.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” Sehun cuts in, cocking his head towards the plastic bag sitting in a corner by the door. “They’ll have plenty of fun washing my clothes.”
“Hah!” Suho cackles. “That’s right, you can start with that, and…”
“Come to think of it…” Jongin interrupts him suddenly. He earns a pointed glare from their leader but doesn’t even notice; his eyes are trained on Sehun with a contemplative frown. “Where did you shower?”
Sehun blinks. “Uh.” he says, brain working furiously.
“Yeah!” Chanyeol assists, giddy not only at the change of subject. “And where did you get the clean clothes?”
“Uh.” Sehun says again. “Th-These are my gym-clothes!” he manages, voice coming out way too high-pitched for his liking.
Jongin eyes him up and down. “But we didn’t have PE today.”
“I…” Sehun squeaks. “I went home!”
Jongin quirks a brow. “Then why are you getting so flustered?”
Sehun blinks, suddenly becoming blaringly aware of the temperature of his own face as a terribly wide, confused grin is quickly creeping up Jongin’s, but before any of them can open their mouths Suho takes a step forward.
“You two.” He snarls darkly, looming over Chanyeol and Jongin who sink further down into the cushions. “Don’t you dare try to change the subject. I’m not done with you, and you can only pray that Kris and his fellows are. If this turns out to affect the rest of us as well, I will personally—…”
Sehun drowns out Suho’s continued orations and sinks down in a chair. He’s suddenly feeling strangely exhausted.
-
Sehun’s on his back on Tao’s floor when his cellphone rings. Tao, who’s comfortable nestled between Sehun’s legs and currently in the process of blowing him off, quirks a brow when he reaches for the device in his pocket.
“H—Hello?”
“Where the actual fuck are you?” Jongin’s voice is rushed and urgent, but not anxious.
“Uh.” Sehun says. “Home?”
“Don’t you think we checked there first?”
“I’m…” Sehun trails, shooting a look down. Getting sucked off by the enemy? How about no.
“You can’t believe what those bastards did.” Jongin rants on. “They broke into the basement and sprayed Hanja all over the walls!” He makes a vague, growling noise from the back of his throat. “You have to get down to the harbor, pronto. Suho’s decided we’re gonna settle this once and for all.”
Sehun gasps (for all the wrong reasons). “You mean…?”
“We’re gonna give those oranges a beating they’ll never forget!”
Tao sends Sehun a questioning glance over the plane of his naked stomach, never once faltering in his ministrations. Sehun clutches the phone in his hand.
“But…”
“Yeah, we need you. Can you get here within half an hour?”
"I." Sehun stutters. He desperately tries to think of something to say but Tao’s suckling on his head like it's some kind of fucking popsicle and Sehun’s brain has momentarily forgotten what words are. At the same time, it's strangely quiet on the other end.
"...Seriously, what are you doing?" Jongin exclaims suddenly. "You with some girl?"
"Uh." Sehun says. Not quite.
"For fucks sake, Sehun, 's not the time. Get down here now."
The next moment Jongin hangs up, with a rough second to spare missing Sehun's strangled moan as he comes. Tao shoots him another glance as he licks his lips and gets to his feet.
"So, it's time now?"
"What?"
"Better get dressed." Tao says, a hint of a smirk crossing his face. "We should get going."
Sehun swallows and hurries to button his pants. "We’re going down there?"
Tao only nods. "We’re gonna give them a little show." He pauses shortly, the corner of his mouth actually tugging up this time. "I need you to look out for me. In case one of your friends brought some kind of toy."
Sehun can only stare at him. Not until Tao’s eyes narrow, almost challenging, does he hurry to nod. "If. If you look out for me too."
Tao’s face twitches into a grimace, and he leaves for the hallway. "Don’t be such a sap."
-
The sun’s setting over the harbor, rosy light filtering through the bars of a distant winch and casting erratic rays over tarmac wharfs and brick warehouses. Sehun’s well aware he’s deep within enemy territory, and it’s already getting to his nerves. He’s creeped up against a wall to peek around a corner when a hand clamps down on his shoulder and he just barely manages to suppress a panic-stricken yelp before whipping around to come face to face with Jongin.
“This way.” Jongin hisses, eyes shining with his familiar mix of excitement and guard.
Sehun’s pulled down a street to the next block, and into a dark alley. Suho and Chanyeol are peeking around a corner at the opposite end, Baekhyun’s on his haunches on the ground, frantically gnawing on his fingertips, and Kyungsoo’s at his side with wide eyes and a helpful hand at his shoulder. Two other guys are leaned against the wall, one tall and muscular, the other smaller and with long brown hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.
“You remember Taemin and Minho-hyung, don’t you?” Jongin asks and jabs a thumb in the general direction of the two, and Sehun casts them a second look before nodding and smiling tightly. The next moment Suho descends on him, clamping both hands over his shoulders and glaring sharply into his eyes.
“What on earth took you so long?!” he growls. “We were just about to start without you; they already managed to call up a few guys of their own!”
“But Tao isn’t here yet.” Jongin adds to Sehun, his breathing gaining speed by the minute.
“Actually…” Chanyeol trails by the corner. “I think he just arrived.”
“What?” Suho snaps, crossing the alley in two long steps and tugging Chanyeol out of the way.
“That’s him, isn’t it?”
“Fuck…” Suho snarls, soon whipping back to Sehun with a wild glare. “It’s all your fault! We should never have waited for you!”
Sehun opens his mouth, but closes it again when Jongin shakes his head.
“Come on, Sehun-ah.” He mumbles and grabs Sehun’s shoulders, kneading them briefly and giving them a good shake. “Warm up a bit. We’ll have no use of you if you’re all stiff.”
“You’re one to talk. How’s your collarbone?”
Jongin grimaces and starts rubbing at his own shoulder instead. “It doesn’t hurt. I should be fine.”
“It was supposed to take two months to heal!”
“But—“ Jongin sputters. “I can’t miss out on this! You need me!”
“How many are they?” Sehun asks him, feeling decidedly apprehensive.
“Just six or seven.” Jongin shrugs. “I guess eight, now that Tao arrived.”
“…So we’re about even.” Sehun notes, shooting Minho and Taemin a glance. “A.k.a pretty toast.”
Jongin rolls his eyes. “They’re not that big. What we lack in meat, we have to make up for in spirit, right?”
“Spirit?!” Baekhyun squawks, leaving his nails for a moment to glare up at Jongin. “Spirit?! We’re sotoast.”
Jongin opens his mouth to brush him off with some light-hearted comment, but Sehun swiftly grabs him by the shoulders and looks into his eyes. “Seriously, Jong.” He says solemnly. “What are we doing here? Say we manage to set a few blows, receive some, and then what? Even if we do have a chance, what would we do with it?”
“What do you mean?” Jongin frowns. “We’re here to show them they can’t fuck with us. We’re here to beat them up!”
“And then what?” Sehun presses. “We’re just gonna beat them to pulp? Leave them bloody and half-dead on the street? Is that what we want?”
Jongin shrugs vaguely, eyeing him like he has no idea what he’s getting at, and Sehun scowls and pushes him away. He takes a deep breath and sinks down at Baekhyun’s side, receiving a brief glance from the corner of his eye. “You-eh…” he trails, not really knowing how to put it. “You go for one of the small guys, okay?”
“You think I’m stupid?” Baekhyun scoffs, but his voice is weak and without fervor. “You think I’m gonna go right for Kris, or something?”
“No…” Sehun shakes his head. “No, I just.” He swallows and shoots a look at Kyungsoo, but doesn’t get any assistance. “If you do. If you do come across Kris, go for his legs.”
Baekhyun frowns. “Why?”
“Just. Just do it. I think they’re his weakness.”
“…If.” Baekhyun says, sniffing and wiping his wet finger against the fabric of his pants. “If I come across Lay, then?”
Sehun thinks it over for a moment. “Go for his balls.” He says, wearing a cheeky grin. “Balls are always good.” Baekhyun releases a snort, but his finger soon finds his mouth again, and Kyungsoo still won’t take his eyes off Sehun.
“And Tao?” he says lowly, somewhat taking Sehun by surprise. “What about Tao?”
“I.” Sehun says. “I’ll… take care of Tao.”
“Are you stupid?” Suho snarls, having eavesdropped. “Alone?”
“Yeah.” Sehun insists. “I fought him before, remember? I have an advantage there.”
Suho just stares at him. “I believe it when I see it.” he says, but doesn’t object. After a contemplative pause he fixes Chanyeol with his gaze, and then cocks his head down towards Sehun. Chanyeol frowns, something dark coming over his face, but after another cock of Suho’s head he sighs and digs in his jean pocket, pulling out something small that he tosses into Sehun’s lap with a scowl.
Sehun barely manages to catch the object, and blinks when realizing that he’s been assigned a small Swiss army knife. He thumbs the smooth red shell for a moment before the implication dawns on him, and his gaze darts up to Suho’s face.
“Just a precaution.” Suho says shortly, and turns around towards the corner again. Chanyeol, however, lingers looming over them, glaring down at Baekhyun in a way that Sehun doesn’t like one bit.
“You’re not gonna bail on us again, are you?” he snarls lazily, and Baekhyun’s head immediately shoots up to look at him. “If you do, don’t bother coming back to the basement.”
“Chanyeol, what the fuck!?” Sehun snaps, noting with dread how a good deal of moist comes to Baekhyun’s eyes. “That’s not your decision to make!”
“But—“ Chanyeol stutters, clearly taken aback. “He always chickens out! He always—“ He falls silent as Baekhyun suddenly gets to his feet, sending him an obstinate glare.
“I won’t.” he growls. “You just worry about yourself instead, like you always do.” He pushes past Chanyeol and comes up next to Suho, straightening his back and sniffing vaguely. “Are we doing this or not?”
Suho blinks at him before heaving a deep sigh and shrugging. “Yeah, there’s no point to drag it out any longer. Let’s go.”
Authors note: Oiling up his wushu stick? IDEK. and why does everything sound like an innuendo these days
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