Huang Zitao was a force to be reckoned with, tall, smoldering dark-eyes and talented to boot. He commanded attention everywhere he went and unfortunately for Kyungsoo he had managed to capture the attention of the popular boy just minutes into his exchange at Kyungsoo’s school. Kyungsoo, being the social reject he was, so eager for a cure to his loneliness had allowed Tao in without really thinking of the consequences.

 Negative thoughts attacked him for the first time of his stay in feather floor, maybe if Tao had never struck up that conversation with him, he wouldn’t be here staring at white walls dejectedly as a worried Luhan tried to figure out why his new friend had shut-down suddenly. If Tao hadn’t given him a second look, Kyungsoo would be at home, he would be sitting on his tattered couch in his small apartment wondering what he did so wrong in life to deserve the beatings and slurs he received on a daily basis. He would be broken, but at least he wouldn’t be dead. He wouldn’t have been so tempted to hang himself if he hadn’t met Tao, he would have probably kept on cutting, his eyes flickered to Luhan wondering if he would have eventually cut too deep and bleed to death like the other did.

Luhan gave him a questioning look, one that asked if he wanted to talk about it. Kyungsoo shook his head, now that he had remembered he couldn’t stop. His chest ached at the sudden image of a cat-like grin and whispered murmu- lies telling Kyungsoo of how beautiful he was, how he would protect his ‘precious’ boy, his ‘ge’. Kyungsoo curled up on the ground, clutching his knees against his chest as he buried his head, eyes smarting with tears.

‘I heard you were gay,’ Kyungsoo didn’t lift his head from the book he was reading, he knew the left side of his face was decorated with bruises from an earlier beating that day. He wasn’t going to parade it around for the amusement of his bullies or the new kid, how had he found out so quickly anyway? The boy had only been there for a few hours. Kyungsoo chewed on his bottom lip waiting for the boy to continue with a malicious insult, something able to cut him deep and keep him up for a good part of the night in tears. His heart jumped maybe the boy would hit him, there wasn’t anyone around, Kyungsoo had found an empty room tucked in an abandoned corner of the school on purpose. He shut his book keeping an eye on the new student as he tucked it into his bag with shaking hands,

‘Hey, are you-‘ Kyungsoo recoiled from the hand that had reached for his, he saw the new boy’s eyes widen at the protective gesture.

‘I’m sorry, I won’t touch you,’ he apologized looking genuinely sorry, it made Kyungsoo pause his plan to flee. Maybe the boy didn’t understand what he said to Kyungsoo, he was Chinese after all, he probably came to Kyungsoo to ask what the word meant. That was the only reason Kyungsoo wasn’t curled up in a protective ball on the floor while this kid beat the crap out of him. He grabbed his bag strap as he stood up,

‘Listen, you shouldn’t be here or people might misunderstand and think you’re trying to befriend me or something. You probably don’t know what gay means-‘

‘I know what it means,’ the boy cut in breezily, ‘you like boys,’

Kyungsoo froze,

‘Lucky for me I heard you weren’t dating anyone, which means I have a chance right?’

Kyungsoo dropped his bag, was he really hearing right? He felt the new kid’s stare on him,

‘Don’t I?’ he sounded confused now which Kyungsoo thought he deserved since his own head was crowded with questions. Kyungsoo bent down retrieving his bag before darting out of the classroom eager to escape from the other boy, as expected the hallway was deserted. He sped up as he heard footsteps behind him and the new kid yelling at him to stop. He did not because he was asked but because his ribs were starting to hurt, they still hadn’t healed from last week’s beating. Kyungsoo was spun around, his eyes widened as he came face to face with the new student who wasn’t even out of breath.

“Why did you run? I-“ he trailed off, eyes narrowing when he saw Kyungsoo’s left cheek. Kyungsoo tried to squirm out of the other’s hold, but it tightened and he was yanked forward. He shut his eyes on instinct as the other raised his free hand, they flew open at the gentle caress against his bruise. The new student looked crestfallen as he trailed a finger against the pinks and purples littered along Kyungsoo’s cheek and jaw. The looked morphed into something dangerous as Kyungsoo flinched at the sudden touch on tender flesh. He looked livid,

‘Who did this to you?’ he hissed, tears sprang to Kyungsoo’s eyes.

‘Do Kyungsoo!’ he continued surprising Kyungsoo further by knowing his name, ‘who did this to you?’ he demanded. Kyungsoo shut his watery eyes willing the tears away,

‘The world did, the world did this to me,’ he croaked because it was true, the world did this to him. His parents had thrown him out with a measly 1000000 won thrown in his tear streaked face, his best friend had him exposing him to everyone during an assembly and his downfall from grace just kept on continuing. It had taken him three months for him to find a place he could stay which allowed minors and was within his part-time jobs' paycheck. It had taken him another month to convince his principle to allow him to stay in school despite all the time and classes he missed. When he finally began to think everything was going to be okay, the bullying started.

The new student’s eyes softened at Kyungsoo’s confession he released Kyungsoo’s hand and took a step forward closing the gap between them. He wrapped his arms around the shorter boy enveloping him in a hug, Kyungsoo tensed.

‘I’ll protect you,’ was whispered into Kyungsoo’s ear, ‘I’ll protect you against this world,’ the boy was shaking, ‘Huang Zitao will protect you, I’ll fight for you,’

Tao didn’t lie, nobody dared to lay a hand on Kyungsoo after that day. Heads were kept down when the two walked side by side in the hallway, Tao’s arm draped possessively around Kyungsoo’s small shoulders. Mouths were kept shut when the two ate in the cafeteria, Tao begging a blushing Kyungsoo to feed him. For a while, Kyungsoo truly believed he had a chance at reclaiming the happiness he had lost. He believe he could be happy, be happy with Tao.

A//N: Hey guys, you don't know how sorry I am for not updating this!!! I know how I want this story to go but the words sometimes just dont seem to flow as easy as the other stories I write, so it takes a while for me to actually type it out XP that being said thank you all for suscribing, reading and commenting even though I don't update this as much as I would like to :( but hey summers coming up so i'll probably be a writing machine then!! Anyways thanks for reading I just love writing Kyungsoo with Tao especially after seeing their interactions in the first box DVD. hehehehe so cute ^.^