“No please don’t tell anyone!” Eunhyuk begged, “we’ve done so well up until now can’t you just see it in your hearts to-” he was interrupted by the hysterical laughter coming from the group of boys that had just walked in on them.

“Can’t you just see it in your hearts!” one of said boys mocked in an over exaggerated Eunhyuk impression.

“Give us one good reason why we wouldn’t tell anyone,” another said, exiting the building to go and spread the news.

“Because why would you want to be a ty person?! Is that all you can strive for in life?” Donghae demanded angrily.

“This is school...what do you think we’re going to do? Keep this a secret like little girls would?” one spat humorously.  

“Please don’t,” Eunhyuk cried, tears escaping his eyes rapidly.

“He’s crying!” a boy laughed. Donghae, who had only just realised this, put his arm around his lover.

“Wow...they really are together then,” the same boy from before smirked.

“Come on,” Donghae soothed, trying to remove Eunhyuk from the room.

“Where are you going?” a different boy asked. Donghae said nothing and led Eunhyuk out, rubbing his back as they left and shut the door behind them.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Donghae pulled Eunhyuk into a tight hug.

“We’ll never live this down, the rest of our school life is going to be hell,” Eunhyuk cried.

“And we’ll get through it, together, like Ryeowook and Kyuhyun have done for so long- even though they’re not together now-” Donghae comforted, a tear slipping down his own face.

“But we’ve done so well to hide it up until now, and suddenly, our school lives are ruined, you realise we’re going to be bullied to suicide?” Eunhyuk cried harder.

“No! We’d never, stop thinking about that, it’s going to be okay,” Donghae smiled slightly.

“Then why are you crying?” Eunhyuk pointed out. Donghae quickly wiped away the few tears that had dared to fall.

“Lets go and talk to Zhou Mi, okay?” he said. Eunhyuk nodded and followed his boyfriend into the main building, keeping a look out for the tallest boy in the crowd, who would obviously be Zhou Mi. He was convenient to find in the hallways because of his height, so if you ever needed him, he could be spotted within minutes.

“Found him,” Eunhyuk pointed out.

“That was fast,” Donghae commented. “Hardly surprising though.”

“Hi guys…” Zhou Mi said sympathetically once I noticed the couple.

“You’ve heard?” Eunhyuk asked, the pain obvious in his voice.

“Everyone has,” Zhou Mi replied sadly, pulling both boys into a hug. The two tried to not look at the students walking past them giving them dirty looks and just hugged Zhou Mi.

“It’s going to be okay,” Zhou Mi soothed, one arm round Donghae and one arm round Eunhyuk, rubbing both of their backs.

“No it’s not,” Eunhyuk said, pulling away.

“It will, it’ll be hard yes, but you’ll be fine, I’m here for you,” Zhou Mi smiled down at the crying boy.

“So am I,” Ryeowook appeared out of nowhere. All three turned heads towards the small boy standing there. The pair pulled away from Zhou Mi and smiled sadly at Ryeowook.

“As someone who has been bullied for being in an outed gay relationship for a long time, I know how to deal with it. I’ll help you, both of you to deal with this. I’ll help you with how to respond to the bullies, how to ignore them, how to stand up to them, how to stay strong, how to keep your emotions in. You’re going to be okay,” he confirmed. Eunhyuk and Donghae smiled at him gratefully, while Zhou Mi smiled at him proudly, arms folded, just watching the scene play out.

“Thank you,” Donghae said, the genuineness evident in his voice.

“Yeah, thank you, Wook, we’re here for you too, I know you’re still hurting because of Kyuhyun,” Eunhyuk joined in. Donghae nodded. Ryeowook ducked his head at the mention of Kyuhyun.

“Thanks,” he muttered, but in a grateful tone.
_____________________________________________________________________

Later on

Ryeowook stalked the school corridors slowly, looking out for who he wanted to talk to. It was time. He needed to do something, he must have calmed down and come round by now, right?

“There he is,” Ryeowook murmured to himself, gingerly walking over to the boy retrieving books from his locker.

“Kyu…” he started nervously. Kyuhyun turned around sharply, startling Ryeowook.

“What is it?” he snapped.

“We need to talk…” Ryeowook trailed off.

“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m not in a good place at the moment, I can’t be a good boyfriend to you I’m not in the right mind. You obviously prefer Zhou Mi a lot more. He’s kind, sensitive, and takes good care of you. He’s everything I’m not. At least at the moment anyway. You’re better off with him,” Kyuhyun said seriously.

“Please…” was all Ryeowook could whisper in between tears. A glint of sadness flashed in Kyuhyun’s eyes at his only true lover crying for his love right in front of him.

“I’m sorry...I’m not the right person for you,” Kyuhyun finished, turning around and leaving Ryeowook- with great difficulty- and descending down the corridors. Ryeowook jogged in the other direction, feeling a sense of literally ‘running away from his problems’.

“Mimi,” he cried, running to the tall boy who he knew would be coming out of class.

“Wookie, what is it?” Zhou Mi asked worriedly, putting an arm round the broken boy and whisking him off to the library, sitting him down on a sofa.

“Wookie?” he asked again.

“I’m not supposed to be like this, I’m supposed to be the strong one, why do I always find myself like this?” Ryeowook asked exasperatedly, wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve.

“There’s nothing wrong with crying,” Zhou Mi pointed out. “We all need to let it out don’t we?”

“I guess, but I have so many people I need to stay strong for, well I don’t have Kyuhyun anymore...I tried talking to him,” he said, suddenly remembering why he was upset.

“Why?” Zhou Mi asked, “what did he say?”

“He said he’s not right for me, that he can’t be a good boyfriend and-” he stopped due to the fact that he started crying more from talking about it. Zhou Mi rubbed his back. “Why am I like this? I have to stay strong. I can’t show weakness to the bullies, because that’s what they want. I can’t show weakness to my parents, because they don’t know I’m gay and they’d be worried and they’d ask what’s wrong, and-” Ryeowook rambled, only just taking a short breath before continuing. “And I can’t show weakness to my friends, because what kind of example would I be setting? And I can’t show weakness to my teachers because they expect so much of me and I can’t show-” he was stopped by Zhou Mi’s lips crashing into his own, beginning a passionate kiss. “Should I pull away?” Ryeowook asked over and over in his head.