Luhan

                Blink.

                Am I dead?  I struggled to turn my head, but I was stopped by the searing pain in my throat and chest.  I coughed, but it only burned more.

                Blink.

                I took a shallow breath and lifted up a trembling hand.  Blood.

                Blink.

                There were cool hands beneath my head and torso, and I shut my eyes as I floated in the air.  So this is the end, this is death.  I felt the warm blood trickle down my temple and stick to my hair, and then I fell into blackness.

                Kris shakes my shoulder and grumbles at me to stop thrashing in my sleep while he’s trying to study.  I wish I could.

                Sehun’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he talks with some girl in the courtyard, and I my suddenly dry lips when it moves violently with his laughter.  He’s just so scrumptious.

                “Hey, kid,” rings a menacing voice beside my ear.  “Come over to play with us for a sec, wouldja?”

                Before I can look up and shake my head uselessly, they drag me off the bench and into the corner.  The first punch knocks the wind out of me, my breath wheezing as I clutch my stomach.  I hear a dark chuckle.  “Tired already?  Well since this is of no use to you anyway…”  The next comes at my mouth, and before I have the time to recover, my legs are kicked from beneath me, my back landing smack dab on the grass.  I can’t breathe.

                “I thought,” I hear a low, firm voice say, “I told you to .  Off.”  I look up and I definitely can’t breathe now.

                “What’s this kid to you anyway, Sehunnie?”

                Sehun decks him square in the nose without hesitation.  He holds his face tenderly and gives Sehun a death glare before stalking off, the others scattering behind him.

                Again comes the hand, this masterpiece of a hand, but he doesn’t wait for me to take it this time and instead pulls me up against him.  In, out.  In, out.

                “I think you need to go to the nurse’s office, little guy,” he murmurs as he looks me over, placing his other hand against the edge of my lip.  He takes his fingers away and I see the light patch of crimson that comes with it.  Catch me.

                “He’ll be just fine.  Judging from his medical records, he’s been through much worse,” a woman says in the distance.  “He just had a small reaction to seeing the blood, that’s all.”

                “Oh, that’s a relief.  Thanks, I’ll take it from here.”

                I hear the pad of the nurse’s footsteps disappearing and I strain to open my eyes.

                “Hey,” he whispers.  “You gave me quite a scare back there.”

                “Sorry,” I mouth.  He smiles enchantingly, making my stomach churn, and I fear that I might just faint again.

                “Let’s get you home, shall we?”  Sehun helps me stand up, and I lean on him when the pangs in my abdomen start up.  His arm is warm around my shoulder, and I can catch just the faintest bit of his sweet aftershave.  I must be dreaming.

                Stepping into my dorm room, I glance around slowly.  Kris isn’t here, and I have a gorgeous boy all to myself.  It almost seems worth it to have gotten beaten up again.  Sehun pretty much carries me against his side to my bed and tucks me under the covers as if I were a little boy.  When will I be able to breathe again?

                “So… I’m Sehun,” he introduces himself, taking my hand into his and shaking it softly.  “I think we’ve met before.”

                I bring my head up and down once to acknowledge him.  Grabbing the pen and notepad on my nightstand, I write out my name neatly, careful to get the Korean characters right.  He squints a little at my writing and looks back at me.

                “You’re not Korean, are you?”

                I shake my head.

                “And I presume you can’t speak?”

                A little hesitantly this time, I shake my head once more.

                “You know what I think, Luhan?”

                I stare at him blankly, trying not to get lost in those gentle brown eyes.

                “I think that makes you pretty ing cool.”