1242 words, unbetaed.

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It was 2 o'clock when Jinki ran to reach his next class. He furrowed his eyebrows, praying in his mind that his professor would be late -again. However, no matter how he tried to be careful, luck lady must not like him because in the next second, he collided with someone when he did a sharp turn.

"What the- watch your steps klutz!"

See, on his second year in this school, he encountered few bullies –mostly the 3rd graders who didn't really have much left to do in class. It wasn't really bad that Jinki had to report them but still, the words they threw to him, they hurt.

Jinki quietly shrink to himself, mouth opening and closing in an attempt to say something. It was too soft the others couldn't hear it. They formed a circle around jinki and leaned close to him, demanding Jinki to repeat their words harshly.

"S.. ss.. sorry.."

"-Louder nerd!"

"-Please speak human language"

And so on, and so on.

Jinki swallowed his breath as he heard their laugh. Even if he convinced himself that he was used to this, he wasn't. He even had tears in his eyes that threatened to spill.

"Wow, for a group of old people, you all seem to be so childish"

They all moved their head to the voice, Jinki too, and flinched when he knew who 'saved' him. The Almighty Kim Kibum from his year. This was not Kibum saving him but him falling into another bully.

Kim Kibum, or rather be called Key was a new student in his year. This month was his second month here but he already saved a place in the jock's group. Jinki tried hard to avoid Kibum and his gang because he knew if they noticed him, he would become their target of mocking.

"Ooh, we knew about you.. you're the second year new student. So this is your target, eh?"

"Target? Oh! He's in Minho's group? Let's leave the nerd then, let them have fun!"

Jinki heard the seniors talking among themselves and gulped. He was considering to run across the corridor and just went to the damn class already but he knew better. He wasn't going to let himself look stupid than he already was now. He glanced at Kibum who still fixed a glare toward them and thought that Kibum was seriously really handsome.

..what the hell, Jinki.

His thought however, was cut short when one of his seniors shoved him towards Kibum. With snorts and smirks and a few 'have fun's, they left him alone.

Or no, with Kibum.

Jinki kept his head low. He heard steps coming closer to him so he held his breath, trying to embrace himself for anything Kibum might done to him. He was surprised, then, when he heard Kibum talked.

"Are you okay? Your face is red!"

Jinki contemplated for a second. He knew better to answer than be silent and make Kibum upset.

"I-I'm fine.. just.. uh.. I-"

Jinki thought he was having a panic attack. When Kibum touch his arm and back, he flinched, squeezing his shirt more with his already white knuckles.

"Hey.. that's okay, they're not gonna hurt you, okay? Look at me, please?"

He didn't realize he was crying until Kibum softly touched his damp cheeks. More tears fell and Kibum looked terrified. Jinki tried hard to wipe the tears, afraid that he will make it worse with his crying but Kibum stopped him by holding his hand.

"Hey, look at me? Just breath, please?"

Jinki did what he's told- taking one, two deep breaths and feeling himself became calmer. Tears no longer falling from his eyes so he could see Kibum's face better now. And he was right. Kibum was really, really handsome.

"Let me take you to the infirmary?"

And a gentleman to boost.

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After that meeting, everything seemed different for Jinki. Third graders no longer randomly approaching and bullying him. But, Jinki was still wondering what happened to him. He just still felt so sad, maybe because of his relationship with Kibum now.

Kibum began to notice and smile at him. When they had classes together, Kibum mostly took a chair next to Jinki when he didn't have his jock friends with him. Kibum once came to him during lunch when he saw Jinki eating alone in the corner. Jinki was so surprised back then and noticed that everyone was looking at them so he quietly stood and left his tray uneaten. Kibum seemed to take the clue because the next day he saw Jinki eating alone, he just softly smiled at him.

But there were no words changed between them. And it confused Jinki a lot.

The second time Kibum talked to him was during a class they had together. Jinki was up next for his presentation and he couldn't stop fidgeting in his chairs beside Kibum. So Kibum just grabbed his hand and silently whispering 'just breath' under his breath and Jinki found himself was calming down once more.

Maybe Kibum just had that magical effect in him.

Jinki noticed that Kibum is rarely speaking to people other than his group. He was mostly listening to the people he wasn't close with but can be extremely blunt with his words when he was annoyed. He laughed loudly too. Jinki wanted to be like him. Jinki wanted to be with him.

One day, a random message appeared on his phone. He was eating lunch alone at his usual place. Can I sit with you? It read. Jinki never snapped his head so fast until his neck hurt. He found Kibum softly waved at him while holding his phone. Jinki just nodded his agreement and made place for him.

“.. if you pitied me, j-just.. you don’t have to”

“what? Slowly Jinki, I don’t know what are you talking about”

“I… you.. should sit with your friends.”

“why?”

“I-I’m.. boring..”

Kibum looked perplexed, he shook his head, “no, Jinki, who told you that? I truly enjoy my time being with you” he said. Kibum looked at his quivering lips and patted his hand.

“Please let me be your friend”

They became friends after that. Kibum put a lot of efforts in being Jinki’s friend, he admitted that. But it was fun. Jinki was less a stuttering freaks once he opened up to someone. Of course he had his weird moments too, rambling about some science fiction movies he made Kibum watch (which Kibum slept on, of course). Kibum was being his authentic self that he never knew he could be. But yeah. Love blossomed and at that faithful day, after another binge watching of nerd movies, Kibum told Jinki that he might want to be more than friend- it’s okay if Jinki didn’t want to and they can still be friends and such. Jinki was just standing next to him with a big smile on. “Of course”, he said, “I don’t even have reasons to dislike you”. They kissed just like that, under the flickering gleam of lamp street lights.

Jinki was still stuttering though, but Kibum knew that he just wanted someone to hold his hand, to tell him that everything was right and assure him that no one was going to hurt him. And Kibum did just like that.

Now, whenever jinki was having his stuttering moments again, Kibum was there beside him, holding his hand and quietly whispering 'Baby.. breathe'.