It was Monday morning as you walked towards the entrance gates of the school hugging your school bag tightly at your chest, the events of Friday were still stuck in your head and you were scared to see the girls again, you took a deep breath as you entered the main door and as you had guessed all eyes were on you, whispering was heard from every corner as you passed the other students with your head down facing the floor, your heartbeat was rising the more you heard the others talk about you, you reached your classroom and took a seat on your table, everyone looked at you as well and you let your hair fall down into your face to hide your expression, your face was heated as the stress made your heart jump higher, you tried to control your breathing as you blended out the voices around you, suddenly your doing was interrupted as a soft voice greeted you

"Good morning" you shook your head to the side and met up with a pair of blue orbs that were familiar, it was Noctis

"G-Good morning.." you greeted back, he gave you a small smile and held out his hand

"I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself properly last time, I hope you can forgive me, I'm Noctis Lucis Caelum, what is your name?" you looked at his hand and then back at his face, you slowly took his hand and touched his soft skin

"M-My name is Shiro Kirihara, nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you to, I hope it is alright if I sit here?" you nodded still not realizing what just happened

"S-Sure.. it's all yours" he nodded closing his eyes

The teacher entered the classroom and rustled that made everyone walk back to their seats, you were still looking at Noctis with surprised eyes, he actually just spoke to you in front of everyone... well speaking of everyone... all eyes were on you and Noctis, you felt your heartbeat rise again as you looked at everyone, your eyes wandered over to Noctis who was sitting right next to you on the double table, he was amazingly calm about the fact that you and him were stared at by everyone, he noticed that your eyes were still on him and he turned his head to look at you

"Is something wrong?" he whispered, your eyes grew bigger and you shook your head

"N-No it's nothing.." you looked away and down on your notebook as the class started.

The last period for the day was over and you packed your stuff ready to leave the classroom, Noctis finished his talk with the class teacher and watched you leaving, he then overheard some students still talking about you and he formed a fist with his palms, he ran over to his seat and grabbed his bag, he catch up to you and saw how you walked, your body was stiff and your head was lowered, he could tell that you felt uncomfortable, the voices of the other students were still around you, Noctis walked up from behind and suddenly he placed his hand into yours holding it tight, you startled up from his touch and looked at him

"N-Noctis? W-What are you doing?" you asked confused and totally forgot that he was a prince.. his expression was steady and he carefully pulled you along with him

"Don't worry about it, come with me" he lead you outside and got off the school ground, he was still holding your hand tightly as he walked with you over the giant bridge that separated the school from the town, you could not control your eyes as they took a peak at your hands, his skin was so soft and warm...

He finally stopped and let go of your hand slowly

"Are you alright?" he asked out of the blue, you looked up to him and nodded

"Y-Yes.. thank you.. I'm sorry if I caused you trouble.. it was not my intention" he shook his head and gave you a weak smile

"Why would you cause me trouble?" you looked down

"B-Because you took my hand in front of everyone.. now they probably think..." he cut you off

"I don't care what the others think, if they have a problem with me then fine, let them have" you admired his positive thinking and you suddenly smiled back weakly

"T-Thank you for helping me.. I really appreciate your kindness but you don't have to protect me.." then he suddenly flicked 2 of his fingers on your forehead and you let out a small gasp

"Ouch... w-what was that for?" you asked shyly as you placed both your hands on your head

"I don't know, I just felt like doing it" he replied, you looked at him confused like a little puppy

"Anyway.. like I said you don't have to protect me from the others.. it's not like they going to let me alone only because I have you around.." his fingers flicked your forehead again

"Ouch! S-Stop that" he started laughing

"What's so funny?" you asked curious

"You are funny, who said I wanted to protect you? I only did what I wanted to do just like flicking your forehead just now" your eyes grew bigger

"If you think that I do this because I pity you or something then you are wrong... just because I am the prince it does not mean that I have to protect everyone... I simply did it because I think you are a nice person... and I want to get to know you better... I hope that we could become friends.. only if you want to of course" his words made your heart speed up, since you came here you never made any friends because all the people were looking down at you for not being rich enough to sit with them, he was the first person who did not care about your status in the society, he was only interested in you, a tear escaped your eyes, once he noticed he started apologizing

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to make you cry! " he waved around with his hands, you smiled and whipped away your tears

"O-Of course I want to become friends with you, thank you so much for asking it means so much to me, no one ever asked me before if I want to be their friend" his body eased up and he held his hand out again

"Well if that's so then I guess I should introduce myself again, Hi my name is Noctis Lucis Caelum but my friends call me Noct" you took his hand and shook it

"Hi, my name is Shiro Kirihara but my friends can call me Shiro since I have no nickname" he started chuckling a little

"Ok then Shiro, Nickname: Shiro, nice to meet you and to be your first friend in this town"

"Nice to meet you to Noctis Nickname: Noct, thank you for being my friend".

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