~Tao~

It took him an hour to even change his clothes, and even then, he was rushing, every time he moved it stung. He barely got around to actually feeding Suri, and then Suri wanted to him to pick her up like the baby she was. He couldn't even do that.

It hurt to do anything, even the most basic things. When he had finally taken that chocolate stained shirt off and gotten something on, he was wearing a thin white sweater, a blue light cardigan and black jeans. It was a little cold today with the rain and everything, and he wanted to cover up any bruises that might show, and he had quite a few.

And then there was that stupid car. Last night he'd parked it over by the meeting place, but obviously, he'd pretty much abandoned it and stumbled into an alley. It was a rental, he couldn't just leave it there. If something had scratched the paint the rental place would just about kill him, one didn't just mess up a Bugatti without being charged through the roof. And damn, he'd hate to mess up such a nice car.

After he fixed his hair into something not sticking out all over, he took care of the dog, who had managed to rip a gigantic hole in a pillow, and all the stuffing was scattered across the floor. Tao scolded her, but ended up smiling when Suri licked his face. Tao asked her to quit it, then he ended up giggling, begging the little white fluffy dog to stop.

When she finally did, she just rolled over onto her back, giving him the cutest puppy-dog eyes for him to scratch her belly.

"No, Suri." He said, still recovering from how her tongue had tickled on his cheek. "I've got to go, I'll play with you later, okay?" He wasn't sure why he was talking to her, she was just a dog, it wasn't like she could understand. But she was the only one he could actually be himself around, he hated to say it.

He fixed everything else in the house that Suri had knocked over or got her fur all over, then took the keys to the Bugatti, locked up the house, and started the walk over to the warehouse where the meeting had been. Every other step hurt like someone was punching him in the gut. He'd really gotten himself beat up last night. He needed to train more.

It was kind of far, but he walked as briskly as possible. Lots of girls looked at him, whispering to whoever they were walking with once they did. He could imagine what they were saying, just something to the tune of, 'He's so hot/cute/gorgeous/good-looking.' That's what it usually was, 'Mini' had probably thought that too.

That was probably what all the staring was about.

When girls thought that--and he knew they did--it was hard not to blush, he knew he was somewhat...attractive, but it wasn't nearly as big of a deal to him. 

He wondered if they'd still think that if they didn't think he was loaded. Girls liked money, they liked getting presents, they liked good appearances. They wouldn't like him the way he used to be.

Tao shook the thought from his head when he saw the warehouse, the Bugatti parked outside, covered in rain droplets and a few leaves that had blown and stuck to the windshield. He brushed the foliage off, making sure the car was absolutely free of anything of that sort and checking for scratches.

It was amazingly scratch-free. He sighed in relief and climbed into the car. He had to go pick up Haneul, then Baekhyun and Sehun, he invited Kris to tag along, but he'd said parties weren't his style. And then after picking them up, they had to go get some raw eggs. They were just going to absolutely trash the party. Tao felt bad, but then he wanted to do it, even if it was the meanest thing he'd ever done.

~~~

"I've got it, I've got it..." Baekhyun mumbled in the back seat, mouth open, applying eyeliner.

Tao frowned, glancing back at him through the rear-view mirror. Baekhyun normally wore eyeliner, but it was weird to see him applying it, in the car, trying to keep a steady hand even though the road wasn't all that smooth. Tao wasn't sure why he hadn't bothered to put it on before, he had plenty of time, plenty of warning.

"If you needed another minute..." Sehun started, saying what everyone else was thinking.

"I've got it, geez." He pouted, still concentrating on applying the eyeliner. "I'm a freaking master at eyeliner, you know that!"

Haneul was sitting in the front with Tao, looking back at the judging look Sehun was giving Baekhyun with a big smile on her face.

Tao was paying attention, but hardly. They usually bickered like this, Haneul usually watched it like a TV show. Normally Tao would have wondered what was so special about two guys arguing, but now all he could think about was what he was about to do.

They'd gotten the raw eggs and everything, driving over to the party. He kept getting the feeling what he was about to do was very wrong, that he should have never suggested it. This would hurt someone, he was sure, and he remembered being bullied for not having anything, he remembered it clearly.

But Mini's just a ridiculous girl in glasses.

"TAO!" Haneul snapped.

He shook his head, he hadn't realized he hadn't been listening for so long. "What? What?"

"Isn't this the house?" She said, pointing out the window.

Tao pulled over and stopped the car in order to see it better. It was a bright yellow house, not big, but not small, a standard suburban house albeit the weird glow that came from the windows and the people sitting on the adjoining garage roof. He checked the address on the paper with the address on the door. "Yeah, this is it."

He shut off the engine as Haneul leaped out of the car, not even waiting for him at all. Sehun got out with her, while Baekhyun spent another second on his eyeliner.

Since Haneul and Sehun were out of earshot, Baekhyun asked, "So you wanna tell me what happened last night?"

"I won." Tao replied, leaving it at that. Baekhyun knew about the fighting, but that was all he knew about it, he just thought it was a hobby or something, he had no idea that his future rode on these fights, that every single fight helped keep the lie going. And what little Baekhyun knew, was all he would ever know.

Tao got out, and Baekhyun followed suit, finally done with the eyeliner. Tao watched as Baekhyun skipped up to Haneul, grinning, "I look pretty good, right?"

He watched as Haneul rolled her eyes and nodded before turning to him. "Tao, you coming?"

He nodded, walking along with them up to the house, Sehun hiding a carton of eggs behind his back. He wished the walk up to the door took longer, which each step, he thought of how he shouldn't be doing this, of how it felt like all these angry bees had invaded his throat and stomach, but the walk was short, before he could regret anything, they were already at the door, and Sehun politely knocked.

Out of place considering what we're going to do.

When the door opened, he wasn't too shocked to see Min-hee, it was the big huge purple bow on her head that surprised him, and then a pink casual dress with polka dots all over. Then her knees. He wasn't sure why, but he just stared at her bare knees.

"You came!" She said, sounding a little surprised. Then she looked from Sehun, to Baekhyun, then finally landing on Haneul. "And you brought friends!" She said, even more surprised.

Haneul gave Tao a questioning look, probably not liking that some other girl had been the one to invite him, but then must have remembered that they were here to crash the party and gave Min-hee a smile.

"Yeah, hope you don't mind!" Baekhyun said, grinning.

"Ah...Um...No..." Min-hee said, probably taken aback from the fact that Baekhyun was wearing makeup. Then she opened the door wider and stood aside. "Come in, come in..."

Inside, there was lights strung up all around the house, streamers draped across the ceiling, the music loud and deafening. Tao and the rest made their way over to the snack table, pushing through people, because Sehun insisted that they eat first thing, and Tao couldn't argue, he hadn't eaten in a while.

When they got to the snack table, Haneul poured herself a glass of punch while Baekhyun just about attacked the cake. Sehun was the only reasonable one, handing Tao a small bag of chips before getting some himself.

Tao looked around at all the people at this party. He was surprised. He'd thought for sure this would be one of those things where there was hardly anyone and it would be awkward, but it seemed Mini and her geeky glasses and awkward personality had quite a few friends.

"So, how should we kick this off?" Haneul asked, seemingly already bored.

"We could always just start with the eggs." Tao suggested absently. He found himself trying to find Min-hee, just to see where she was, what she was doing, who she was hanging out with.

Why the hell did he care?

Haneul pouted in the corner of his vision. "I've got the perfect idea." Then she took a cupcake and handed it to Baekhyun, who was confused for a moment, before Haneul whispered in his ear.

This caught Tao's attention, and as he was about to ask, Haneul pointed out into the crowd of people. Tao tried to follow where her finger was pointing, but couldn't tell with all the people moving.

"Sehun, you come with me." Haneul said.

Sehun rolled his eyes and set the bag of chips down on the table before following her.

"Come on, Tao-Tao." Baekhyun said, still holding the cupcake.

Why everyone was leaving him out of the loop, he had no idea. But he followed Baekhyun anyway as he skillfully went through the crowd, heading to a specific destination, Tao couldn't imagine what, it wasn't like they knew the house that well.

Then Baekhyun stopped, mischievously putting a finger to his lips and grinning at him before tapping a girl on the shoulder.

Not just any girl. Mini's shoulder.

When she turned around, Baekhyun smiled big, then took the cupcake and rubbed it all over the front of her dress, the chocolate all over the dress in no time. "Surprise!" Baekhyun said, still smiling big.

Tao's eyes widened, this was familiar. Sh*t! Haneul had seen that ice cream thing, she must have, this was too perfect, too ironic, too much like revenge.

He looked from Baekhyun, to Min-hee. She was in absolute shock, but after a moment, he saw her lip shaking. She was going to cry.

He shouldn't have been, but Tao was infuriated.

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A/N: Yaaaaay~ Baekkie~ Sehuuuuuun~ <3 I'm going to try to incorporate all the EXO members somehow, but that's 11 other guys besides Tao, (OT12 :P) Who do you think will appear next, hmm?

Vote+Comment if you like it so far by the way, because it's hard to tell if you're silent ;P