Requested by @SUGArocks
changed the request a bit, oops
-------
"Yikes, it's her again."
Dami gulped. No matter what she did, she never managed to fit in. She was too awkward, not good enough... it made her want to screech.
She stood awkwardly in front of the class, waiting for everybody to quiet down. The paper for her presentation was in her shaking hands. She had practiced her whole speech many times before, but now she had forgotten everything. Her mouth was a desert that hadn't gotten rain in several months. Oh, this was not going to go well.
"Okay, you can start whenever you're ready."
She nodded. She turned her presentation slides on. Looking at the PowerPoint now made her get embarrassed. It didn't even look that good. Whatever. Dami turned her attention back to her paper. Her voice shook like a leaf as she read.
People had told her previously that she had no expression in her voice, that she always spoke in a monotone. Dami did try to be more expressive. She tried hard even now. But all that happened was that her already wobbly voice got even wobblier. She carried on. Reading. Sending a few panicked glances upward so she could get marks for "eye contact".
She heard someone sigh. She was boring.
"Um... so... my personal opinion about this issue is that politicians should stop making empty promises that they have no intention of keeping..."
She wished she had an eloquent way of speaking, but she didn't. Dami started talking faster. If she got done with the presentation quicker, she would stop boring people.
It seemed like an eternity, but her presentation finally ended. Dami silently thanked the heavens that she hadn't done anything majorly embarrassing.
"That was very well done Dami, but was it just me or did several people have trouble hearing?"
More than half the class raised their hands. Dami's face turned red. A few people laughed. They tried to hide it, which made her feel even worse.
"It's okay Dami, don't worry about it. You tried your best." The professor flashed her a thumbs-up. Dami stumbled off to her spot. Her hands were shaking. She had tried her best. Clearly, seeing her try her best was funny for some people.
Ah well, at least it was over. Hopefully nobody would make any comments to her face about how awful it was.
------
"Man, I don't get it. What are you so scared about?"
She froze up. She never knew how to answer when someone asked her questions. This Hoseok guy and his friends always found a way to make fun of her. What was she supposed to say anyway? They were only asking so they could have a source of amusement.
"I..." she mumbled. She looked at the floor in front of her, so she wasn't looking straight down, but wasn't meeting the person's eyes either. "I..."
"Ah, look, she's stuttering again!"
Dami's face turned red again. Her clothes weren't so thick, but she swore that she had never felt this hot before in her life. Why did people always have to make fun of her? Almost as if the gods wanted her to suffer more, she started to tear up. She wasn't much of a crier, but just at this instant...
She put her head down and started running. There were yells of "Oh, she's crying! What did you do?" and "Oops sorry, I didn't know girls cried that easily!" behind her. Dami wanted to run and hide. She ran past several rooms, and down many hallways. She didn't know where the heck she was after a while. Her next class wasn't for a while anyway. Only one more class and then she could head home.
She made up her mind right there, she was going to skip tomorrow's class. There was no way that she was going to be able to face anybody. The embarrassment ran deep. The tears kept dripping down her face. Dami, as usual, had made a mess of herself.
She sat down on a bench and set her binder down. She didn't have any classes in this part of the campus, so everybody that walked by was unfamiliar. She got a few curious glances, but nobody said anything. Dami got busy looking at her phone.
Many times, memories of her awful presentation came to mind. She blocked them out. If she didn't think about it, she wouldn't get hurt. Nobody would bother her about it.
She sat there for nearly half an hour, tapping uselessly on her phone. She had work that she could've been doing, but she didn't have the energy to start.
"Hey."
Dami nearly jumped out of her skin. A guy had come to stand in front of her, his bag thrown over his shoulder. She had never seen him before.
"Can I sit here? The other places are full."
Dami nodded, wordlessly moving her bag so he could sit down.
"Are you okay? You look like you've been crying."
"Oh no, no, it's fine," she said quickly. She didn't meet his eyes. "I'm fine, really."
"If you say so."
He sat down next to her. Dami avoided the urge to check him out and instead concentrated on her phone. He was probably going to find her awkward if she looked at him.
"What's your name? I haven't seen you around here," he continued. His voice was low. Somehow, he sounded bored but interested at the same time.
"Dami."
"Ah." He turned towards her, reaching an awkward hand out. "I'm Yoongi, Min Yoongi."
Dami sucked in her breath. She accepted his hand and let herself meet his eyes. Oof, yikes. He was good-looking. Dami smiled slightly.
"I'm usually in the other side of the building," she said. "I just... yeah."
"Oh I see, I see."
It was so awkward. Dami looked down at her lap and nodded. Yoongi turned to face straight again. He took out his laptop.
"I'm sorry, I don't have social skills," Dami blurted out. "Sorry."
"Oh no, don't worry," Yoongi said quickly. He smiled at her. "I'm very awkward too. Don't know, I'm having a good day so that's why I'm talking a lot."
"Ah." Dami nodded. She relaxed slightly. Yoongi seemed nice. Who knows, maybe they could even become friends... kind of crazy, someone actually wanting to be her friend. Ah well, she could dream.
-------
Slowly, slowly, her dreams came true. Though their next few meetings were still awkward, Dami started to enjoy Yoongi's companionship. He was quiet and unassuming, and never made her feel like she was lame. He did ask a lot of questions though, some of which she didn't know how to answer.
They had none of their classes together, but the breaks and spares that they had, they spent together. Most people didn't talk to Yoongi either. It was like two loners came together and just matched. Slowly, Dami came to appreciate her time at college a whole lot more. People still made fun of her, her presentations still sucked, but hey, someone could make her laugh during spare.
That's what mattered. She knew in her heart that Yoongi went through the exact same thing she did, and that's brought them closer.
Things were still hard, but they were much easier to face when someone was by your side. Dami was glad that it was Yoongi.
-------
When it was a bad day, it's almost as if everything turned out bad. Yoongi had said that they should go to the library together, but Dami really wasn't up to it. Her entire day had gone badly.
It started in the morning. A steady rain had been falling and walking through it was miserable. She walked into the lecture late and wet. She was sure that somebody saw her and laughed. That socially-awkward kid who got wet in the rain, how funny. Let's all point and laugh.
Most of her math questions were wrong. That's what she got for doing everything last minute. She listened along as the professor listed all the right answers. One by one, she crossed all of her work out, and wrote "REDO" in big block letters.
But she had promised Yoongi that she would go to the library with him. She didn't want to leave him hanging, that would be rude.
He said that he would pick her up after her last lecture ended. Dami would have to wait.
------
Hoseok didn't miss his chance. He strode up to her right after it ended. Dami was packing her soaked papers into her bag. Thankfully her laptop hadn't been soaked.
"Why you so wet?"
"Rain," she said simply.
"You had to walk?" He laughed. He glanced back at one of his friends and they started laughing too. Dami knew who it was by their loud squeaky laughter. Seokjin.
"Yeah," she mumbled. Internally, she felt like melting. All of them had circled around her desk, preventing her from leaving. Her face got hot again. Oh no.
Hoseok snatched one of the papers out of her hands - her math worksheet.
"You got everything wrong, oh man." He shook his head. "You can't talk, you can't do math... what are you good at, huh?"
Dami tried to grab it back, but Hoseok held it out of her reach. Just her luck that she wasn't that tall.
"Relax," Hoseok said, a small smile on his face. It didn't match the sneer on his voice. "I'll give it back to you in a moment. Let me look at it first!"
Dami kept reaching. She looked stupid, she knew. She was stupid. She didn't see Seokjin's hand reach out to push her. She only felt it. Dami tumbled over, landed on the edge of a step on her knees. Tears burned her eyes again. Everyone else had left the lecture hall. It was just her, Hoseok, Seokjin, and two others.
Hoseok laughed, seeing her fall.
"Oh, you're so clumsy too! You can't walk either?"
"Fuck you," she managed to mutter.
"What the hell did you say?"
Dami wanted to take her chance and snap at him, but she didn't get the chance. Yoongi walked into the hall, a surprised look on his face.
"I was waiting out there, I thought you weren't..." His eyes narrowed, seeing Hoseok. "What are you...?"
"Who are you?" Hoseok asked innocently.
Yoongi came forward, his eyes still narrowed. His trademark bag was slung over his shoulder.
"Leave her alone," he said. "Why do you keep bothering her anyway?"
"Who are you?" Seokjin asked, echoing Hoseok's voice. He smiled at Yoongi.
Yoongi pushed through them. Hoseok yelped and grabbed onto his shirt. Yoongi didn't react, only gathered up Dami's folder and papers. Dami grabbed it from him.
"Who are you, her boyfriend? Her knight in shining armour?" Hoseok asked. "Get lost, you little twerp." He pushed Yoongi aside, him losing his balance and falling backwards. Dami managed to grab her bag in the mayhem. Hoseok still had her math worksheet but she figured that she could just print another one out. One of Hoseok's friends tried to stick her foot out to stop her, but she somehow got to Yoongi, helped him up, and together, they bolted out of there. It was ridiculous. Both of them didn't say a word to each other, only huffed and puffed until they got to the building's exit.
"Who are they?" Yoongi asked. He grabbed onto Dami's hand and met her eyes. "Does this happen every day?"
"No." Dami shook her head. "Hoseok and Seokjin. I don't know the other three."
Yoongi nodded. He took an umbrella out of his bag and opened it up.
"Here."
He put it above both of their heads and together, they stepped out into the rain. Dami's leg was still hurting, but she didn't complain. The rain seemed more tame now.
"Hoseok, huh?" Yoongi muttered. "I feel like I've heard his name before."
"It's a common name."
"True."
Yoongi giggled, Dami joining in.
The library was a fifteen-minute walk away. It passed by much quicker than Dami had thought it would take.
-----
It was strange, but Hoseok and his friends didn't bother her after that day. Sure, they still made fun of her behind her back, but they never came up to her ever again. Dami wanted to think that it was because they were intimidated by her swearing. Or by Yoongi's scary bag.
Whatever the case, it was a welcome relief. She could finally let her guard down in class. She could finally let herself enjoy things without being so worried.
Seriously, she was so grateful to Yoongi. He said that he was grateful to her too. They had each other.
-------
dami from dreamcatcher~
2112 words