The Unlikely Helper (Septiplier Oneshot)

The Unlikely Helper

My eyes flickered open slowly as I regained consciessness. Groaning, I tried to sit up before collapsing back to the ground. My head was throbbing and I could feel my eye swelling. As I laid on my back on the cold tile floor, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on anything other than the horrific pain surging through my body.

"Hey, are you awake?" I heard a voice ask.

I tried again to lift myself up, but yet again my back slammed into the hard floor. I heard footsteps rush towards me until I finally felt a pair of arms lifting me up.

"Please don't hurt me anymore, " I whimpered softly.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the person said calmly.

My entire body trembled as the mystery person sat me up against the lockers. I looked up to see none other than Mark Fischbach helping me. His bright red hair was falling perfectly around his face and he had a pair of sunglasses covering his warm chocolate eyes.

"Mark?" I asked in complete shock.

"What's wrong, baby?" he responded.

I could feel my entire face turn red as he muttered the word 'baby.' Mark was infamous around school for being the intimidating punk kid who was never seen without his signature leather jacket. He would skip class and smoke and do all of the rebellious things I was too scared to do.

"W-why are you helping me?" I asked timidly.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Becuse you're like, cool, and I'm...not," I cringed internally at how cliche I sounded.

"Jack," he sighed, "don't listen to those jerks. I think you're very cool."

I raised an eyebrow incredulously. Me? Cool? This had to be some kind of practical joke; there's no way a guy like Mark would think I'm cool.

" Yeah right, " I whispered.

"I really do. Sure, you're awkward and shy and not very popular. You're unathletic and skinny and shorter than average. You wear those dorky outfits with your khaki shorts and white shirts and ties-"

"I get it. I'm a total nerd, " I sighed.

Suddenly, Mark leaned in towards me. His face was only a few inches away from mine. The feeling of his warm breath against my face sent shivers down my spine. I tried to avert my gaze to the floor, but Mark took his hand and gently lifted my chin up, forcing me to look at him. He used his other hand to remove his sunglasses so that we were staring into each other's eyes.

"I happen to think nerds are cute," he whispered in his deep voice.

"I-I..."

"There's no need to be scared of me, baby."

My eyes went wide as he leaned forward and pressed his lips onto mine. I could taste a slight hint of peppermint as well as the flavor of cherry chapstick. His soft lips felt almost magical against mine. Before I could react, though, he pulled away.

"Wow," I muttered in amazement.

"What?"

"I... I've never kissed someone before," I could feel my cheeks heating up in slight embarrassment.

"Wow, you really are a nerd, " Mark teased.

"Ha ha," I smiled while rolling my eyes.

"Did you like it?"

"It was nice," I nodded slightly.

"I would do it again, but your eye looks like it's getting worse. We need to get some ice on it."

"Yeah, it still hurts."

Mark wrapped his arms around me, lifting me up and helping me onto my feet. Taking a deep breath, I tried to take a step forward. The attempt was unsuccessful and I kneeled forward in pain. Mark noticed and put his arm around my shoulder, offering support. I managed to limp out of the room with his help and down the hallway to the nurse's office.

"Again?" The nurse frowned when she saw me walk in.

I simply nodded in response. She went to the back of her room and pulled an ice pack out of the freezer before handing it to me.

"Try to be more careful, " she sighed as we walked back into the hallway.

Mark led us to a bench nearby. I sat down and he kneeled in front of me, taking the ice pack out of my hand.

"Here, let me," he gently pressed the ice against my black eye.

I winced when the cold ice first touched my face, but slowly relaxed as I got accustomed to the numbing feeling. I noticed, however, that there were fresh bruises on Mark's knuckles.

"Yeah, they're pretty roughed up," he must have noticed me staring.

"How did you get those?"

"Let's just say those bullies didn't get away with knocking you out," he gave a sly smirk.

"You beat them up?!"

"Knocked the crap out of them."

"Jesus," I said in astonishment.

"Jack, how often do they bother you? Why did that nurse say 'again'?" his tone got serious.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does. How often do they mess with you?"

"They... they bully me a lot," I admitted meekly.

"Why don't you stand up for yourself?"

"They'll just beat me up or tease me more than they already do."

"Not if you're confident in yourself when you do it."

"Well you're looking at the most insecure boy you've ever met."

"Well," he slowly wrapped his hand around mine, " I guess we'll have to work on that."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I questioned as I looked at our interlocked fingers.

"Because I like you. I have for a while now."

My face turned a light shade of pink, both from the skin to skin contact and the confession from Mark.

"I...I like you too."

"I know."

"How did you know?!"

"The staring and blushing really gave it away," he joked.

Before I could roll my eyes he removed his hand from mine and reached behind my back, delicately pulling me forward. My breath hitched as he leaned in and our faces rested centimeters apart from each other. Mark slowly inched forward before he planted a kiss on my lips again, being careful to avoid the ice pack above him.

I closed my eyes and tried kissing back this time. I had no idea what I was doing, but it felt right as our lips connected. We stayed like that for several seconds until we had to pull back and gasp for air.

"So, would you like to accompy me on a date tomorrow, Jack?" He asked as he caught his breath.

"I'd love to," I grinned as he pulled me back in another kiss.