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They have lived in the same house ever since Jaehyun was sixteen. They moved right after Yuta found Jaemin and Jeno, but shortly before Johnny met Ten.
It's been four years by now, so Jaehyun knew every street, every corner and every shortcut that lead him home. And one of his favourite shortcuts lead him right through his favourite place in the whole world.
It was Jaehyun's first day in high school. Or in school in general for two years by now. Minseok hyung helped him study at home, it was only thanks to that that he was able to enroll this year into the local school down the street from their new house. Taeyong, Johnny, Hansol and Yuta worked their asses off to be able to afford the two-floor house, and now it was finally there and they were able to start a new life without having to rely on the EXO pack.
And Jaehyun was determined to do well in school so at least they wouldn't have to worry about him too.
He basically ran down the streets, so he surely would arrive at least twenty minutes earlier, so he had enough time to prepare for his first lesson.
But, at least, he should've looked around, so that he wouldn't knock down the guy who had just turned around the corner.
"Oh, shit..." Jaehyun muttered to himself when he fell onto his butt on the hard ground. He closed his eyes for a moment as the pain came.
"God..." The other guy muttered and this finally caused Jaehyun to open his eyes. The boy in front of him had black hair and big doe eyes, and Jaehyun couldn't help but think that the guy looked like a hurt bunny.
A bunny that he hurt.
Jaehyun's eyes widened at the thought.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Are you alright? I'm sorry, I wasn't looking..."he started, sitting upright.
"Right, you weren't" The boy finally looked at him, and Jaehyun felt his heart skip a beat. The boy was beautiful. "Be more careful, you're not the only one in the streets" the boy said, his voice cold and impersonal. He stood up and dusted off his pants before he leaned down to collect his bag.
"Uhm... Are you going to the school in the next street?" Jaehyun's voice was soft and unsure as he asked the guy. He could see his uniform which was almost identical pair of his, except that his tie was in another colour.
This caused the boy to stop for a moment and look at him.
"Yeah... You're a freshman?" He asked, pointing at the tie.
Jaehyun nodded eagerly with an opimistic smile on his face.
"Yes."
It's been four years since that encounter at that corner but Jaehyun still couldn't decide what was the thing that got Doyoung to take him under his wings. Maybe it was his adorable, dimpled smile? His optimistic, bright eyes? Or just that that Doyoung was a good person?
Probably the last.
That's why Jaehyun never understood, why those assholes decided to pick on Doyoung from all people at their school.
The young alpha still growled at the thought as he touched the brick wall right below the table with the streets name.
Doyoung was a literal angel, at least in Jaehyun's mind. He was smart, he was beautiful, and even though he was sometimes grumpy, he always wanted the best for everyone and helped them wherever and whenever he could.
And Jaehyun had a hopeless crush on him, to put it simply in Yuta's words.
That's why it shocked him.
That's why he couldn't understand it.
And that's why it angered him to no end.
He had seen it on Doyoung for the past few months that he was tired. The beta -as Jaehyun had learned - was jumpy for a while now, getting the chills from every single louder sound around him.
"Please, let me go" Doyoung almost sobbed out, as he tried to pull himself out of the alpha's hold, while to other two was watching them with a smile, sometimes spitting some catcalls at the beautiful boy.
Jaehyun's backpack fell onto the ground as he let it down. He could feel the fury running through his veins and his mind shutting off as he made his way to them.
He had never been one for violence, if something, he was against it. But in that moment, he didn't hesitate to push the guy off Doyoung and break his nose with a single punch. Something from the back of his mind told him to stop, but the other voice which told him to kill the guy was louder. He hurt something precious to him.
"Jaehyun!" Doyoung's voice was muffled, almost like his senses were trying to block out the beta's attempt to stop him. "Jaehyun!"
The slender arms curled around his, and the small hands took a grip on Jaehyun's shirt. And Jaehyun stopped mid-motion. He didn't want to hurt Doyoung, and if he punched the guy now, it would eventually end up in that.
He slowly turned his head towards Doyoung and looked into the eyes those were shining from the tears. Using this momentary stop the other three ran away, not even looking back at them.
But Jaehyun didn't utter a word just stared at Doyoung as his senses finally came back, and he was pulled back into the reality.
It was Doyoung, who broke the silence.
"I didn't know you were an alpha" he said with an awkward smile on his face, still clinging to Jaehyun's arm.
"I didn't either" Jaehyun said slowly, still shocked with himself. It was strange. Now Doyoung smelled different. It was nice.
Doyoung snorted as he pulled away from Jaehyun, much to the freshly presented alpha's dislike.
"Anyway" he said as he collected his bag from the ground, before he smiled sweetly at Jaehyun. "Thank you. You saved me." He said.
"It was... Nothing" Jaehyun couldn't understand why he was blushing, but that didn't help that Doyoung laughed softly at him.
"See you tomorrow, Jae" he said as he waved and turned to go.
And Jaehyun just stood there, frozen in his place. He had just presented. He was an alpha. Shouldn't he protect Doyoung if the other three was still around?
It took him a second to get his bag and run after his crush.
"Doyoung, wait! I'll walk you home!"
Jaehyun smiled softly at the memory as he took out his phone. He didn't need to search much for the contact and he quickly pressed the call button.
The other picked it up on the third ring.
Jaehyun smiled when he heard the other's voice.
"Hey babe, where are you?" He asked. "Really? Could you wait there for another 5 minutes? I'll go there and then we can walk home together..."