With the bell signaling that lunch had started, a curious-looking boy pulled out a pen and paper. Inside his bag was a pink envelope with a heart sticker on it. Yes, he was planning on giving a love letter to someone. As he started racking his brain around what to write, he overhears a girl in his class asking a boy out to eat.
(Yes, that's it! I should invite him to lunch tomorrow then tell him how I feel!) He thought to herself as a smug expression formed on his face.
As he had begun writing, he could feel people gossiping about him. He would say it was gossiping but really, it was more like they were talking about him out loud. Really though, it was to be expected because of how he looked. The way you could describe him was that he was extremely girly. He had blue hair that reached up to his neck which he tied into two little pigtails with black, butterfly-shaped ribbons. He wore a black long sleeve under his white sweater vest with a diamond pattern and wore a short, frilly, black skirt. He also wore shorts underneath. He had bright, blue eyes which matched well with his hair. To say that he looked extremely feminine would be an understatement as he's been mistaken for a girl on multiple occasions, but he took these as compliments.
"Ew, is he gonna confess to someone? Is it gonna be a dude?" Was just one of the many voices he could hear in the crowd.
He cursed everybody in that room and even cursed himself for being born like this. He always wondered would it be better for everybody if he just acted like a boy. But no matter how much he thought about it, it didn't change the fact that he what he was.
Not wanting to handle any more of the stress that was building up, he left the classroom in a pretty dramatic fashion: by closing the door with an audibly loud sound. He could hear audible gasps in the hallways as he did. He tried to appear apologetic but deep down he knew that these people also judged him.
He just wanted some peace and quiet so he decided to go outside. Maybe find an empty wall somewhere and cry for a bit. Whatever! He just wanted some time for himself. Walking past the park-like area in the middle of the school, he found himself an empty spot. The spot was right next to a shed, probably a small warehouse where they kept things like the volleyball net.
Sitting down, he remembered that he had forgotten the letter. He was pretty angry earlier so he just put it right into his bag without even thinking.
He sat near the shed's door for what felt like days with his face buried in his knees. Why did he always have to be bullied? Just because he was different? The few people that showed him kindness, did they just do it cause they were pitying him? He didn't know the answer to his third question but he wished that wasn't the case. They were very few people he treasured and he didn't want to lose any of them.
"Eh? Akira, is that you?" a familiar voice called out to him.
The boy had tanned skin. He had brown eyes and gray hair which was slicked backwards, his sideburns were also pretty long. He was wearing an unbuttoned, white-collar shirt underneath the school's jersey jacket which was blue with a few white stripes.
"Oh, Jun...I'm sorry," he apologized as he rubbed the trickling tears on his face.
Jun then extended his hand to him, gesturing him to stand up, which he took. Jun took a few minutes just standing beside him, not really doing anything in particular. Honestly, Akira felt calmer just by him being there. He was the boy he wanted to confess to, after all. Most people would probably be freaking out when in the presence of their crush but to Akira, these were the moments where he could just step back and relax.
After a few minutes of calming silence, Jun spoke up, "Hey, Akira. You wanna skip the next class and just hang out for a bit?"
Taken aback by the sudden suggestion, he replied, "Eh?! Aren't you, like, training?"
"Yeah!" he replied with an extremely genuine smile that Akira couldn't help but love, "But...the other members aren't there right now. Probably because of Valentine's," he replied, scratching the back of his head. It was subtle but he noticed that Jun's voice became a bit sadder when he mentioned the last part.
The two were going to skip class so the two of them could hang out in the field, presumably to run. Jun was part of the track and field club so he had access to the field. Although they thought this, 10 minutes had already gone by and only Jun was running; Akira had sat down on the bleachers and just happily observed him, all while his face was smiling from ear to ear.
After finishing another lap, Jun sat beside him. Noticing Jun's state, he started frantically searching in his pockets.
"Here you go, Jun!" he said, pulling out a handkerchief from his pockets.
Jun was a bit surprised by the sudden gesture. Running might have been his hobby but it still drained him quite a fair bit, and just being able to wipe the sweat off his face was a very fulfilling experience, or so he said. Jun then closed his eyes and steadied his face.
"Eh?"
"Wipe it off for me," Jun replied.
His face immediately lit up, not that Jun could notice that with his eyes closed. With an unsteady hand, he began wiping off the sweat on Jun's face all the while making an extremely embarrassed face. After a few seconds, he pulled away, which Jun assumed meant that he finished. With a loud yawn, Jun stretched out his arms and laid on his back on the bleachers which were covered up with an overhead roof as to let the sun hit them too harshly.
"Hey, Akira. You're a dude, right?" Jun abruptly asked after lying down.
Akira's expression went from embarrassment to a mix of worry and fear. He didn't know how to respond, would he accept him? Would he find it weird? He really didn't know. But he did know one thing. And that is that there was no running from this conversation. He would either have to say it now or lie to the boy he loved so dearly.
"I..." his voice was audibly shaking, "I..."
He wanted to get the words out but every time he got close, it felt like it would get stuck in his throat. He just wanted to be done with it all, he just wanted to confess but his fear of losing one of the few things that made him happy struck him with too much fear. He wanted him to know the truth so why couldn't he just spit it out? Every time he's done this, it would just push people away so of course, he was scared.
He then broke down. His train of thought became empty and simply kept repeating the lines "I'm sorry" "I'm sorry" "I'm sorry". His expression now was just something that couldn't be described except for "given up" which was what he did. He didn't know what else to do so he gave up.
His head hung low, his hands clutching his head, and his mouth just constantly repeating the words "I'm sorry".
But when he thought he had lost it all, a glimmer of warmth appeared. In his head, it looked like his knight in shining armor, his savior, his Jun.
Without even realizing it at first, Jun had wrapped his arms around him. The only reason he even noticed was because of the extremely tight grip.
"It's okay, Akira," Jun quietly stated.
"Eh...?" Was the only reply he could muster before he started crying his heart out.