Jinwoo and Mino have both been in the same class for three years now. They are bestfriends so it's rare to ever see one of them and not have the other right at his hip.

 

Mino, the younger of the two, is generally adored by his classmates. With the fighting spirit of sugar and the raw energy of any eight year old, Mino is good at sports and is unsurprisingly always the first to get picked during gym class. 

 

Meanwhile, nine year old Jinwoo is shy and is known to be a bit slower than everyone else, something that he's grown to be very embarrassed about. It doesn't help his self-confidence that the "cooler kids" in his grade pick on him for it and Mino being oblivious to this bullying, only makes matters worse. What Jinwoo suffers through, Mino only sees as everyone else's way of joking around with the smaller boy.

 

It's a sunny Thursday and gym class is being held outside for the day. The children are having fun playing baseball on the field, teammates cheering loudly for each other as the ball flies and rolls everywhere. Sitting alone and far away on a bench in the dugout is Jinwoo. He's staring down at his shoes with his head hung low. He got picked on again.

 

 

"Do you hear that?" shouted one classmate, "too slow to even understand simple wordplay!!" Jinwoo's classmates pointed fingers and laughed loudly.  

 

Jinwoo frowned, not understanding what was so funny about his question. He was honestly confused and just wanted to know what "stealing bases" meant, but why is everyone laughing at him? 

 

 

Jinwoo sighs loudly, just now realizing how dumb he must have sounded earlier. He mentally scolds himself for being so slow and vulnerable. 

 

"Jinwoo hyung!" Mino runs towards him, looking sweaty after running around with the other kids so much. "Don't you wanna play with us?" Mino breathlessly asks as he plops down next to the smaller boy and beams at him with his signature goofy smile. An automatic smile finds itself on Jinwoo's face as a result. No matter how sad Jinwoo is, his bestfriend's smile is just so contagious that you can't help but share in his happiness. It's like he's some robot alien that radiates only warmth and joy. 

 

Jinwoo consciously tugs at the sleeves of his dark blue sweater. The weather is getting warmer but he loves wearing his winter clothes too much to stop wearing them (even if it means feeling a bit warm from the excess layers sometimes). "Not really in the mood to play today," he mumbles back at his best friend.

 

Mino hates it when Jinwoo is sad. When it's just the two of them, Jinwoo is always so cheerful and bubbly. Mino loves seeing his bestfriend laugh and enjoy himself but as soon as they're in school, his smile disappears and it puzzles Mino.

 

"Why not? Are you sad?" he puts his arm around Jinwoo and levels his face with his. Even while they were both sitting, his hyung is still significantly smaller.

 

Jinwoo glances at his best friend and then out at the field full of children playing baseball. He looks down at his hands again and shrugs.

 

"Jinwoo...” Mino knits his eyebrows together in concern. Jinwoo is clearly upset and he hates it.

 

"It's fine, I'll be okay," Jinwoo replies. He closes his eyes and smiles with closed lips to reassure Mino. But Mino wasn't going to give up that easily, he knew Jinwoo better than that.

 

"You don't have to pretend around me, Jinwoo. We're best friends, you can tell me anything,” Mino tightens his arms around Jinwoo, turning his draped arm into more of an awkwardly positioned side hug now.

 

Jinwoo settles in Mino’s arms and sighs. He looks back down and stays silent for quite a while before finally deciding on what words to use to explain how he felt.

 

"Well...I just...I wish that I could be like the cool kids you hang out with, Mino. They all seem to fit in and so do you but I'm always feeling left out. I get teased for not being as smart as everyone else and it makes me really sad… I know I'm not smart, but they can be really mean, Mino,” he pauses as tears silently start rolling down his cheeks, "I just wish I could be like the cool kids, they have it so much easier…"

 

If seeing Jinwoo frown didn't already make Mino sad, seeing him cry practically breaks his heart. "Jinwoo… don't cry… please… don't cry...” he turns in his seat to face Jinwoo and uses his own sleeves to wipe the boy's tears, “please don't cry, Jinwoo. Seeing you sad makes me even more sad."

 

Jinwoo simply shakes his head. “Don't be sad for me. It's my fault I'm slow. That's why they all make fun of me and never want to be friends with me."

 

"But Jinwoo, they're only playing around with you… They don't really mean it." New tears keep rolling down Jinwoo’s reddened cheeks and each time, Mino would use his sleeve to wipe them away for him.

 

With those words, Jinwoo turns to look at him. Mino notices his eyes that are already red and puffy from crying and his cheeks that are tinted pink in frustration. He looks so devastated that Mino wanted to look away but didn't want to break his gaze at the same time. "And how would you know that? Have you asked them that? Have they ever said they were only kidding, Mino? Because whenever they say mean things, it doesn't sound like the kind of things you would say when playing around with someone," there is a hint of anger in Jinwoo's voice and that hurts Mino. But he couldn't blame him. The other kids have said some exceptionally unnecessary things to the deer-eyed boy, but Mino always thought they were just joking. In retrospect, Mino now sees that the things they said weren't funny at all.

 

Mino finally breaks their eye contact and looks down at his own hands. He feels guilty for not having realized sooner. He begins to twiddle his thumbs and pick at his fingernails. He’s speechless. His bestest friend in the whole world was being treated like an outcast and he never defended him. Not even once. 

 

"Well… no… but… I just assumed they didn't mean it… I wanted to believe they weren't really that mean. I'm sorry, Jinwoo,” Mino looks at his hyung, but his vision starts to cloud from the tears of pure apology and regret that are now pooling in his eyes "I’m such a bad best friend. I never noticed how much they were hurting you, hyung. I'm really really sorry"

 

Jinwoo's anger fades away completely at the sight of Mino's tears and he looks down at his lap. Mino has always been a bit ignorant when it came to certain things so he couldn't blame him if he didn't fully realize the intensity of the whole thing. He looks back up at Mino, whose eyes are still b with tears as he keeps playing with his fingernails. "Mino, you aren't a horrible best friend, it's okay. Really. None of this is your fault, I promise."

 

“But,” Mino is sniffling between his words, trying to prevent his tears from falling. "I'm supposed to defend you. That's my job..."

 

Jinwoo puts his hand over Mino's hands to make him stop and look up at him, which he does. "It’s okay, Mino. Really" Jinwoo's voice is sincere and Mino sees that there are no more tears in his best friend’s eyes. Mino always had that sort of effect on him. Even if all they did was sit together, he could make Jinwoo stop feeling sad in a matter of minutes, which is something no one else could ever do.

 

Mino smiles and wipes his eyes secretly, pretending that he didn’t almost cry. "Jinwoo, it doesn't matter what they say, you know that? To me, you're the coolest kid at this school. You always speak your mind and have a lot to say about everything, even if it's something that no one else would have the guts to say. You're also really nice. You take care of me like an older brother would without acting like you're better than me. And you can run really really fast! I think that's really cool. I think you're really cool, Jinwoo."

 

Jinwoo stares at Mino with wide, glistening eyes. This is the first time Mino ever said anything like that to him. They rarely ever speak to each other like that, although deep down they both knew they felt the same way.

 

Mino continues to smile at him, finding it a bit amusing that the younger boy looked so shocked by his declaration. "I mean it, Jinwoo. You're the coolest person I know," he reaches over to hug him, making Jinwoo smile from ear to ear.

 

"Mino...?" he asked with a voice so small and shy, Mino almost didn't hear it over the sounds of the children playing on the field.

 

He gently breaks the hug and tilts his head at Jinwoo in curiosity, “yeah, Jinwoo?"

 

Jinwoo looks down at his hands, cheeks turning pink again hinting at how shy he really felt about what he's about to ask. "Do you...Do you really mean that...? That I'm the coolest person you know...?" he slowly lifts his head back up to look Mino in the eye. Jinwoo's eyes sparkles with innocence at that moment. Mino had always thought Jinwoo resembled a deer but at this moment, it almost feels like he really is one.

 

"I… Of course I do! Why would I not? You know I would never lie to you, Jinwoo. You're my best friend. My parents told me that you aren't allowed to lie to the people you care about."

 

Jinwoo's face lights up with one of the brightest and most stunning smiles Mino had ever seen on Jinwoo. He’s ecstatic that his best friend is finally feeling much better. Seeing him smile so big and sincerely has Mino smiling just as wide. He always wanted to see Jinwoo this happy. It makes him happy, too.

 

Jinwoo reaches over and gives Mino a giant hug. "Thanks, Mino. You're the best bestfriend anyone could ever have."