one

non-canon!au

Minhyuk walked out into the kitchen from a shower, stopping in his tracks as he set his gaze upon a girl his age, half asleep with her hands cradling a mug of what he assumed was coffee. Clearing his throat, he stepped forward, noticing her lack of response.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he began, lightly patting her head before ruffling her hair fondly. "Don't you have your classes?"

"Cancelled," she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes with a hand. "I got to sleep for an hour longer." Her tone brightened at that.

"That's good!" He exclaimed, brushing dark red bangs off her doe-like eyes. "Too bad I have a packed schedule, or we could have spent the day together."

His girlfriend waved at him dismissively, the other hand lifting the pale yellow porcelain mug to her lips, and Minhyuk watched, somewhat amused, as she took a sip before sighing in contentment.

"Don't worry about me, I'll just watch some anime," she commented, and the boy took a step back with a gasp, clutching at his chest, his face twisting in mock hurt as his eyes widened.

"You'd choose anime over me? Your boyfriend?"

"Any day," was her nonchalant, flippant remark as she continued to drink her morning beverage.

She smiled mischievously; she could hear him grumble under his breath as he stomped to his room.

A quarter of an hour later, he exited his room, dressed up for college, halting once again as he now saw her sitting on the couch in the living room with her back to him, cradling her laptop. He huffed out loudly, pointedly ignoring her as with a pout as he walked straight towards the front door, opening it to head out. But not before hearing her voice call out to him.

"Love you!"

His gaze fell to his shoes, and he sighed before reluctantly replying.

".... Love you too."

The usual smile was back on his face.

It was late afternoon when he came back from his classes and his job at the local café. The door was unlocked, and he wondered if she had even left home the entire day.

He was in the process of taking off his shoes when he heard it.

A sniff.

Followed by a loud sob that sounded like the person was trying to conceal it.

He tiptoed inside, into the living room, only to find his girlfriend in the same position as he had left her in in the morning. Carefully, he peeked over the back of the couch, catching sight of a box of tissues, as well as half a dozen crumpled ones. A tissue was held tightly in her hand as she stared at the laptop's screen. Mouth agape, he rushed over to her side, eyes as wide as they could be when he saw tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh my god, what's wrong? Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Are you feeling sick?" He bombarded her with question after question as he sat next to her. She glanced at him, taking a few seconds to set the laptop aside before launching herself on him. He stumbled backwards slightly as she held onto his shirt with both hands while sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh, Minhyuk..." she managed between sobs, "he d-died..."

"What?! Who? Who died, baby girl?"

She merely pointed to the laptop. Minhyuk was now more confused than ever.

After a while, when the girl had finally calmed down, she separated herself from him, looking up at him as he held her in his arms.

"There was this dog in the anime, and he... he died..." she muttered, loud enough for him to hear, and he heaved a sigh, shoulders slumping in relief.

"Oh honey," he said, voice soft as he brought his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks to wipe the tears away with his thumbs. Putting a hand to the back of her head, he gently pulled her towards himself, hugging her. He knew how sensitive she could be sometimes. He could hear her start crying once again, and he lowered his head until his lips reached her ear, whispering words like 'it's okay', 'don't cry', and 'it's just an anime' to console her.

He knew she would probably yell at him later for that last one.

Word count: 713

I finished watching the anime School-Live! (Gakkou Gurashi) today, and I can still feel the tears at the back of my eyes. The last two episodes were such tearjerkers. Terribly sorry for spoilers, for those who haven't watched it!

Decided to keep the OC anonymous. Hope you liked it!