Kim Ryeowook awkwardly shuffled through the school corridors, trying to weave in and out of the masses of people trying to get to their lessons. Being quite short, this was always a challenge. The fact that certain people would push him out of the way just because they didn’t like him also made it harder. Yet despite the snarky remarks and the constant slurs directed his way, Ryeowook kept on a brave face at all times.

He couldn’t show weakness to the bullies, because that was exactly what they wanted.

He couldn’t show weakness to his boyfriend, Kyuhyun, because he always counted on him.

He couldn’t show weakness to his friends, as they looked up to him as being the strong one, the one that could help and advise them – what kind of role model, what kind of friend would he be if he were to show how clearly devastated he was?

He couldn’t show weakness to his teachers, they always had expectations way too high, and who was he to disappoint them.

He couldn’t show weakness to his parents, who didn’t even know he’s gay.

He couldn’t disappoint anyone, he didn’t want to be a let down. Nobody was ever to know that despite the brave façade he was putting on, on the inside he was breaking apart, one piece at a time…

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Ryeowook sauntered into his designated classroom, prepared for the peace and quiet of the early morning hour, before the rest of the student body strode in and the voices, oh those hated voices, filled the silence with their mindless chatter.

“Oh...Kyu!” he exclaimed, noticing the tall boy sitting at their desk by the window. Kyuhyun looked up from the papers sprawled before

him, his glasses on and pen in hand, a smile gracing his plush lips upon seeing the smaller man.

Ryeowook bounced over to his lover, halting next to him. He bent over, hands behind his back, and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Kyuhyun closed his eyes and exhaled sweetly.

“Why are you here so early, Kyu?” Wook asked, pulling out a chair, as he peered inquisitively at his work.

“This essay is to be handed in today, but I couldn’t focus at home,” he muttered, eyes glued to the paper.

“Oh…” Ryeowook nodded sympathetically. He knew of Kyu’s situation at home and often refrained from asking any questions, as the boy disliked talking about it. He twiddled his thumbs awkwardly while Kyuhyun vigorously scribbled more and more words, filling the lined pages with his elegant handwriting, racing against the clock to finish the poetry analysis before any of the other students barged

into the sunlit classroom.

“Hey, slow down, you’ve still got 20 minutes before class begins,” Ryeowook gently touched Kyuhyun’s arm. “It’s about the quality

of what you write, not the quantity…” Kyu chuckled, the speed of the fountain pen gliding over the pages decreasing and his shoulders relaxing. Ryeowook sat there, a comfortable silence taking over the room, as Kyu jotted down the last few words of the essay and slammed his pen onto the table.

“Finished!” he declared. Ryeowook chuckled at the delight in his boyfriend’s words.

“See, we’ve still got 10 minutes left as well! Do you want to me to read it and give you my thoughts?” he offered. Kyuhyun shrugged, handing the paper to his lover. Ryeowook took the paper and his eyes glided over it,

drinking in every word. “Kyu, this is amazing!” he smiled.

“Thank you, that means a lot coming from you,” Kyuhyun said sincerely.

“Why?” Ryeowook giggled. Kyu just shrugged, closing his eyes, leaning his heavy head on Wook’s shoulder. Ryeowook understood the little gesture and gently ran his fingers through the boy’s hair. Kyuhyun’s eyelids felt heavy under the feathery touches.

“She was drinking again last night,” he murmured, his voice sleepy.

“Your mum?” Wook continued his exploration, his fingers now tracing small patterns onto the younger one’s cheek.

“Mhmm…why is that, Wookie? Why does she keep doing that?” he asked sleepily

“I don’t know Kyu…I really don’t know,” Ryeowook turned his head, placing a small kiss onto his lover’s temple, as if to calm him, make him believe everything was okay, when in reality nothing ever was.

“Ewww, gay!” The room was suddenly filled with voices, the footsteps of 30 other students echoing through the high ceilings. The boys quickly pulled away from each other, looking down awkwardly. Ryeowook just smiled and shrugged it off the way he always did, giving an encouraging nudge to Kyuhyun who was clearly devastated.

“Just ignore them, Kyu...we’re better than them,” he whispered softly underneath the loud comments flying around the room, putting his hand on Kyuhyun’s.

“Gayboys!” a student shouted, “Can’t keep your hands off each other can you?” Kyuhyun pulled away sharply from Ryeowook’s grasp, huffing and folding his arms, looking down at his desk. Ryeowook frowned, looking around the room, noting the two boys in the last row who seemed impartial to the situation, other than throwing the humiliated couple worried looks.

“I feel so bad for them…” Donghae whispered to Eunhyuk, who nodded silently in response, glancing at the two boys who were acting as if the words flew past them without leaving any trace. The two of them entwined their hands under the table, making sure they couldn’t be seen by anyone. Not that they ever got caught by anyone.

“Should we...should we do something?” Eunhyuk asked, his voice still a low murmur. Donghae shook his head no.

“We can’t...We’ll end up being the of everyone’s jokes if we stood up to them. They’re not as stupid as they seem,

Hyukkie,” Eunhyuk nodded in agreement, “plus, they’re gonna stop soon,” though

it sounded like even he didn’t really believe his own words.

“Hey…” Ryeowook whispered to the upset boy. Steam was practically rising out of Kyu’s ears; however he simply ignored his lover and let his gaze slide outside the window, over the school grounds, where tardy students were sprinting to get to

their classes on time. Ryeowook sighed softly, chewing on his bottom lip, trying to figure out what to do. “Kyu, do you

want me to sit somewhere else so they’ll shut up?” he offered. Kyuhyun shook his head.

“It’s fine, Wookie, I’m sorry. It’s just getting harder and harder to ignore the comments

with each passing day,” he apologized.

“I know,” Ryeowook smiled sadly, “I understand,” And for once, he was completely honest. The teacher strode into the classroom, dumping her papers on her desk.

“Good morning everyone, I hope you had a nice weekend that was only slightly ruined by the poetry

analysis that was to be handed in this wonderful day,” she asked the class. A collective groan rang throughout the classroom, “Not surprising…” she commented.

“Kyuhyun,” she turned towards the boy, “you write nice essays, have you done the work?” as he opened his mouth to speak, a

student behind him quickly interjected.

“Probably not, Miss, he was too busy with his gay buddy here.” The rest of the class didn’t even get time to react to the supposedly humorous comment, before Kyuhyun had kicked his chair out of the way, turning around, and pulling up the student by his shirt collar.

“What did you just say?” he asked, face close to the now scared bully.

“Kyu, don’t, he’s not worth it,” Ryeowook stood up, gently pulling on Kyuhyun’s sleeve. The teacher strode over angrily.

“Language!” she shouted, pointing at the bully, “Go to the headmaster’s office right now! And you,” she pointed at Kyuhyun, “go to

the common room and calm yourself down before even considering coming back to class.” Kyuhyun just stared at her for a second before releasing the bully, who scrambled to the door, and following suite, heading in the opposite direction towards the common room. Ryeowook, still in the classroom looked left and right conflictingly, deciding whether to stay or follow Kyuhyun.

“You’re staying here,” the teacher stated, catching onto his thoughts.

“But he needs me, Miss,” Ryeowook begged.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said simply. As the boy still didn’t budge, she raised her eyebrows, an invitation to sit back down with an underlying threat, unsaid but clear, hung heavy in the air. Ryeowook stared for a second before hurrying through the door, slamming it shut behind him. “Kim Ryeowook, I’m warning you! I’ll put you in detention for skipping class!” she shouted after him.

“Okay,” he shouted back, running down the halls to catch up with his lover. “Kyu!” he called. “Kyuhyun, wait up!” he slowed down as the older boy caught up, his breath short. Kyuhyun didn’t even look at him, but continued walking towards the common room. Ryeowook grabbed his arm.

“Why are you following me?” Kyuhyun snapped. “Do you think being seen together after that is a good idea? Following me is just making it worse, what are you doing? Why can’t you just let me live my life…” he pulled away from Ryeowook’s grasp, then suddenly realised what he was doing. “No…I’m sorry,” he murmured, “Please don’t be mad at me,” his voice was a frantic whisper by now, “I am so sorry Wookie…I don’t mean to…”

“Shut up, Kyu,” Ryeowook said quietly,  “I understand.” Kyuhyun however wasn’t convinced, the panic still clear in his eyes.

“I am so sorry Wook. I don’t know what came over me…” the younger’s eyes were filling up with tears, as he stared down at his boyfriend.

“You’re not him. Just remember this,” Ryeowook breathed, his brown eyes filled with warmth.

“Can we talk later, Wookie? I… I need to think now…” and with those words, Kyuhyun turned around and headed off to the common room, leaving Ryeowook to stare after him in the middle of the corridor.

A/N: Did you enjoy the first chapter? I'd like to mention that this was co-written (well...I say co-written, I mean, I wrote it and sent it to her to tweak) by my awesome (internet) friend mrsh221. She's an amazing writer and better than English than me, and I'm a native English speaker and she's not. You wouldn't believe the improvements from my original chapter. It follows the same path but her tweaks have made the craziest difference believe me. She'll be doing this for all chapters so I thought I'd just do a longish credit to her now but I will remind you at the end of each chapter breifly that this isn't just me alone producing this amazing work. (Amazing once she's edited, of course;D)