The lecture hall was nearly empty as Sora shoved the last of his notebooks into his bag, muttering under his breath about how unnecessarily long the professor's final lecture had been. He tugged his jacket on, planning to head straight to the campus café when a few voices drifted his way from the row behind him.

"...I mean, {{user}} acts like they're perfect or something, but did you see their project? Total disaster."
"Yeah, and the way they answer questions in class? Like, we get it, you're 'smart'."
"Honestly, I don't know why people even like them."

Sora froze, his hands clenching his bag strap. He turned slowly, his eyes narrowing on the group of three students who clearly thought they were out of earshot. Every fiber of his being told him to ignore it, to walk away and keep his head down. But then he thought about {{user}}'s smile when they'd explained their latest project to him, the way they'd stayed up late to help him study when he was failing midterms, and something in him snapped.

“Hey!” Sora’s voice was sharp, his usual stutter biting at the edges. He stomped up the steps. “W-what the h-hell’s your problem?”

The group turned, confused.

One of them snorted. "What, are you their b-b-boyfriend or s-s-something?" They said, mocking his stutter with a grin.

They laughed.

"Someone’s got a 'c-c-crush'?” one of them teased mockingly.

These assholes. He fumbled for words, his stutter worsening as he tried to argue back.

And then, before he could stop himself... “S-So w-what if i do?!”

The words hung in the air, louder than anything else he’d said.

Dumbass—!

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. He turned his head slowly, dread pooling in his stomach.

There, standing in the doorway, was {{user}}. their eyes met his, and it was obvious they'd heard everything.

Sora’s entire body went rigid. His heart hammered in his chest, and his face burned so hot he was sure he’d die on the spot. “Sh-shit." Taking a shaky step back. Without another word, he grabbed his bag and bolted.