He was outside the campus close to the small community center not so far away from his dorm, that was the address on the note he took few days ago from the billboard.

Yeah, he came to volunteer realizing he got nothing to lose, the worst that can happened is that he'll meet people who are the same as he and maybe even get some friends. That didn’t sound so bad.

The community center was quiet, most of the rooms were closed except from one, in that room he saw young man with a big beautiful smile, he was leaning against the desk and talked softly. He wasn’t a super model kind of a beauty but he had presence in the room and it was impressive even attractive.

Taemin got closer and watched him, their eyes linked and the man smiled at him as he got up from his desk, apologizing to his little crowd in the room he got out and got closer to Taemin.

"Hi…"

"Hi…" Taemin said with a small voice "I'm sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt you…"

"It's ok" that warm smile again "how can I help you?"

Taemin let out the note from his pocket "I saw that you need some… volunteers"

"oh, yes! You came to the right place, I'm Jinki…nice to meet you" he said and reached his hand for a shake.

Taemin took it and small smile crossed his face "I'm Taemin…"

"Are you from around?"

"I'm studying here…at the campus down the street"

"Really? I've graduated there two years ago" he looked proud "How old are you? You don’t seem to be old enough for college" Jinki chuckled

"I'm 19"

"Oh…a freshman"

"Yes. I saw this note at the campus so…I came"

"Great, we need people around here. I'm the manager of this community center by the way. We do a lot of activities around here- from supporting groups to privet lessons. I need to go back I'm having a class right now but on the counter over there you can leave your details and I'll call you later when I'll finish in here"

Taemin nod and Jinki smiled at him as he walked back to the room.

He left his full name and phone number where Jinki had been told him and got out.

Jinki glanced at the young boy who was standing at the counter, he looked so unsure of himself, so…confused.

Something in his heart twitched, he wanted to teach that boy how to love himself.   

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Taemin was in the middle of a shift at the coffee shop when Jinki called him, he used this phone call for an excuse for a little break.

After a short talk Jinki asked him to come for a small meeting he's having tomorrow afternoon "…I want you to come and listen, one of my volunteers is lecturing"

"I have a class…"

"So come after that" 

It's seems like he didn’t wanted to hear no for an answer, so Taemin agreed.

he hang up and got back to his shift.   

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After his class Taemin ran to the community center, he walked in the middle of the lecture quietly and took a sit at the far end of the room.

Jinki who was sitting at the front with the young woman who lectured saw him, he waved and smiled at him. That warm smile.

The woman talked and brought tears into his eyes, she wasn’t telling any sad stories, she just said his feelings out loud.

The loneliness, the frustration, the feeling of being different. He wanted to run away from there, it was hard to hear your thoughts so loud and clear but his body didn’t listen to him- wanting to stay and find out if he'll ever get any cure for his aching heart.  

After the lecture was over the young woman bowed and thanked everyone

"If you need anything feel free to ask me or Onew oppa…that's why we here"

Onew?! Taemin frowned, wasn’t his name was Jinki?

The woman and Jinki shook the hands of the people who were at the room, they even hugged some of them, showing a lot of support and love.

When Jinki got closer to him Taemin bit his lip and looked embarrassed.  

"I'm glad you made it"

"Why didn’t you told me what the lecture was about?" he asked in small voice

"I thought you needed to hear some supporting words. If I would have told you, you probably wouldn’t come, right?"

Taemin nod and Jinki could see that his eyes were teary, he got closer and wrapped his arms around the boy's slim body, holding him tight "it's ok to be who you are" he said softly into his ear.

Taemin's eyes bulged to the sudden touch but soon enough the warm feeling wrapped his body, tears left his eyes and he arched his arms around Jinki, afraid to let go of him, for once he felt...right.

When Jinki let go of him he faced his warm smile once again and wiped his tears with embarrassment "I'm sorry" he mumbled and tried to smile

Jinki put a hand on his shoulder "no need to…"

"Onew oppa…" the woman who lectured got closer "I have to go…I'll see you next week" she hugged him and kissed his cheek before she got out and Jinki turned back to look at him

"Onew?"

Chuckling he nod "yeah, everybody call me Onew, if you like it more than Jinki you can use it too"

"I like the name Jinki…"

They smiled at each other before Taemin said goodbye and went back to the dorms.

TBC