“Just stay still for a moment. It’ll hurt a bit, but I promise it would be quick.”

Kyungsoo dips the white ball of cotton into the basin to let it soak in the sterile water then presses the cotton softly against the cut on the corner of Jongin’s lip, cleaning it from blood. Jongin hisses at the sting and his hands flies up to his cut only to have it slapped away by Kyungsoo’s left hand.

“Don’t,” Kyungsoo murmurs, dipping another ball of fresh cotton into the basin. “Don’t touch it, your hand is dirty.”

They are at the school’s rooftop, sitting crossed-legged and face-to-face with each other, Kyungsoo tending to Jongin’s wound he had earned previously this morning from the school gangsters. They both missed the first period and most likely the second one also, but with Jongin’s current condition, it’s impossible to go back to their classes. So instead, they both sneaked into the rooftop (thankfully the door is not locked by the old janitor), with Kyungsoo holding the first aid kit box he had borrowed for a bit from the school’s nurse.

Jongin refused to go to the school’s clinic room, so with the best pleading face Kyungsoo could make, he asked the young pretty nurse if he could borrow the first aid kit box for a little while. She had looked a bit hesitant, but handed the box in the end. So here they are now, with Jongin cursing and squirming at the antiseptics and soaked cottons and Kyungsoo telling him to shut the up.

They hear the third bell ring for the third period of the day and that is when Jongin looks up at Kyungsoo worriedly.

“Don’t you think you should return to your home class? The teacher would probably be looking for you by now…” Jongin asks and winces when the bandage graze his cut before it covers the corner of his lips in a weird angle.

“Oh hush. I’m so smart and diligent that I never miss a single lesson before, I don’t think the teacher would mind if I skip a couple of periods today,” Kyungsoo exclaims proudly (jokingly), laughing a little and earning a judging stare from Jongin.

“What about you? Aren’t you worried that your friends might look for you?” Kyungsoo asks back. Jongin chuckles and tilts his head to the left so Kyungsoo can tend to the bruise on his jaw too.

“Please, like I have any friends anyway. Nobody will go looking for me even if I disappear for a whole week…”

Somehow, the sentence sounds bitter and the air around them suddenly turns awkward and tense. Kyungsoo lets out a weak oh in response because he doesn’t really know how to reply to that. They lapse into silence and it’s suddenly so difficult for Kyungsoo to find a new topic.

But it’s true though, Kyungsoo has never seen Kim Jongin with anyone else before at school. He rarely sees him around school grounds, but when Kyungsoo does, he’s either alone or snoozing away at lunch hours on his desk in his home class with his arms folded on top of the other across his table and his head resting against the desk.

Kyungsoo is suddenly curious why Kim Jongin never had any friends or why all the students always look down upon him. But he figures that asking those questions would invade his personal space and would come out a little bit rude, so he settles with something a little similar, but (hopefully) not too nosey enough to make Jongin uncomfortable.

“Why do you keep to yourself?” Kyungsoo asks quietly, eyes focusing one of the cuts, trying not to sound too eager. Jongin looks up bemusedly, but didn’t show any signs that he was angry or upset. Instead, he chuckles and let his arms prop his body weight behind him as he leans back, smiling lazily at Kyungsoo.

“Why do suddenly ask that?” Jongin tilts his lips into a half smirk. Kyungsoo feels the urge to punch his face at how good looking he is, but then mentally slaps himself immediately at the mere thought.

“I-Is it wrong to ask?” Kyungsoo finds himself stammering, and his voice came out squeakier than he had intended. Jongin laughs openly, hiding his mouth behind the back of his hand as his eyes crinkles into half moons. Kyungsoo thinks Jongin looks really beautiful right now. Oops. There goes his mind again. Another mental slap for you Do Kyungsoo. Well done.

“Are you that nervous around me?” Jongin asks when his laughter had died down, still coughing a little. Kyungsoo’s eyes widen and he throws a wet cotton ball to Jongin’s face in which the younger yelps when it almost hits one of his cuts.

“What are you talking about? Stop teasing me…” Kyungsoo mumbles as he tries hard to hide the blush across his cheeks by ducking his head.

“I’m not trying to tease you,” Jongin whispers and smiles softer this time, different to the smirk he had on before. Kyungsoo’s heart leaps to his throat and he curses inside his head. Oh god, stop ing smile already.

“The reason why I keep to myself is because I’m bad, Kyungsoo. I’m bad and I’m a failure and that’s the only thing the world needs to know.”

Jongin gazes up at the blue, blue expanse of sky ahead and something inside Kyungsoo churns when the other boy’s eyes conveys a feeling that looks much like he’s depressed. Jongin is just lonely, Kyungsoo concludes.

“Don’t ever say that you’re failure, Jongin-ah. I know you’re better than that – you know you’re better than that,” Kyungsoo tilts his head down and hopes that Jongin doesn’t notice the slight waver in his voice. “You’re just lonely, Jongin-ah. And you don’t know who or where to lean on…”

When the sunlight begins to pierce his pupils, Jongin closes his eyes and Kyungsoo could see there’s a little bit of tear pooling in the corner of Jongin’s lids because of the sun’s brightness that stings his eyes.

Except maybe it’s not because of the brightness, but Jongin is really crying.

Because now he's starting to press the heels of his palms to his eyes to prevent more tears to pass his lower lids and his cheeks turn pink from trying to hold back his tears.

“Yeah… maybe I’m just lonely…” Jongin agrees, whispers carried by the wind. Kyungsoo leans closer and sits beside the younger, knees brushing against Jongin’s.

“It’s okay to cry Jongin-ah, you don’t need to hold it all in. No one’s here to judge you when you are just trying to be your true self. Why are you holding back?” Kyungsoo Jongin’s hair absentmindedly, and promptly jerks his hand back when he catches himself.

“Because I’m not allowed to appear vulnerable and weak in front of them – in front of the world. And if i do, even just a little bit, I would crack and be a mere nobody no one wants to have anything to do with."

Kyungsoo frowns and settles a comforting hand on Jongin’s shoulder. “Who the hell said that to you? You’re wrong, Jongin and you deserve more than this.”

Jongin scoffs, “That’s because you don’t know what I've been through, princess Kyungsoo.”

Despite the humor in the sentence, it didn’t come out funny to both of them since they both know that Kyungsoo would never understand how Jongin feels from the big difference in how they are treated in the society. Everybody loves Kyungsoo whilst the world is oblivious to Jongin’s existence.

Kyungsoo can see Jongin’s face now after he had finally removed his hands from his face. His eyes are red and a little swollen from holding back the tears as he stares blankly at the older boy.

“Then can I at least help you? Be with you when you need some company?” Kyungsoo asks sincerely and stares back at Jongin’s eyes. He doesn’t know why, but how broken and lost Jongin looks makes him want to mend him. To glue all the broken pieces back together.

Jongin is silent for a moment but heaves out a long sigh as he presses his legs to his chest, ignoring the pain on his left abdomen when his stomach bends a little to the front.

“Why are you so ing nice to me? We’ve only talked properly for only like… a day?”

Kyungsoo smiles and tucks his knees to his chest also. “Because you look just like a lost child, so broken and pityful,” Kyungsoo laughs, earning a glare from the other boy.

After a few silent minutes pass, Jongin shifts nervously, before clearing his throat. “Can we like…um… eat lunch here…tomorrow?” Jongin ask hopefully, silently wishing that Kyungsoo would agree.

“Of course,” Kyungsoo smiles softly at him, resting his chin on top of his knees.

Jongin feels like a heavy weight has being lifted off his shoulders at the feeling of being found. He breaks into a small smile unconsciously, thinking that he might just like this bubbly Kyungsoo guy.

--*--

The girl that sits beside Jongin whispers to her friend beside her when she notices the wounds on Jongin’s features. A disgusted look is etched on her plastic face as she bad-mouths him to her friend and Jongin rolls his eyes and opts to stare out the window.

“Did you see all those bruises in his face?”

Jongin hears her whisper under the teacher’s explanation of the human’s cells.

“He must have gotten into another fight, how embarrassing.”

A much more whinier voice says – probably her friend’s. Jongin stares down at the sport field from the window (since his class is in the second floor) where one of the third year class had just began their P.E lesson.

“No wonder he’s always sent to the headmaster’s room.”

The class formed a line of boys and girls and Jongin can easily spot Kyungsoo in the middle of the boy’s line.

“He will only be an embarrassment to our school don’t you think?”

Jongin watches as Kyungsoo is chosen as the soccer captain by his classmates.

“I thought so too. He’s just a failure anyway. Nobody likes him.”

He smiles when Kyungsoo yelps cutely when his side is being poked by one of his classmates.

“I wonder if his parents ever taught him basic manners hahaha.”

Jongin laughs along with Kyungsoo’s classmate when Kyungsoo tries to get a pay back to his friend that poked him.

“He should just get out of our school already.”

Kyungsoo runs along to chase his friend but then accidently looks up to the second floor where Jongin’s classroom is when his friend points to a plane flying ahead.

“Yes, he should. He only causes trouble in here.”

Kyungsoo catches Jongin at his desk beside the window. Jongin sends him his lazy smile in which Kyungsoo replies with a small wave from the field.

“Oh no, Shhh Mr. Park is looking our way.”

Jongin’s heart seems to stop momentarily, then beat again at one hundred kilometers per hour when Kyungsoo sends him a bright, endearing smile.

A/N: Sorry not sorry, it's 3 am here and I'm reeeaaallly sleepy and I haven't re-check it for spellings and grammar errors so excuse me if I made some major mistakes (-_____________________________-)