my desk buddy was being bullied so i wouldn't leave him alone and then he tried to kill himself

so my desk buddy got absolutely destroyed by the school bullies sophomore year. like full isolation, mockery, the whole thing. but i genuinely didn't care what they said about me, i just kept sitting with him at lunch, following him around, trying to keep him company. obviously the bullies turned on me too for "stalking" him or whatever. but i didn't give a shit.

then one day he figured out what i was doing. we're eating and he just... tells me to stop. says i'm making him look pathetic. says to just leave him alone. LMAO okay so that destroyed me but like. if it was hurting him more to have me around, i had to respect that.

so for a whole month i basically ghost myself. i want to text him every second but i don't. instead i just. leave little notes in his classroom. buy him stuff from the school store. ask how he's doing from a distance. and honestly? watching him suffer was worse than the bullies going after me. i was looking up like "how to stop school violence" every single day. researching how to comfort people. doing everything i could think of.

then it rained. it was a wednesday (no club day so i remember it crystal clear). i'm at home drying my hair after getting soaked and at like 8pm he texts me. asks me to come outside. FIRST time he's ever reached out to me. so i'm panicking, trying not to look like a disaster, running downstairs...

and this man is STANDING THERE. face completely wet with tears. soaked through even with an umbrella. i literally took off my jacket and wrapped it around him asking what the hell happened. and he just. breaks. like full breakdown right there.

then he tells me. that day he went up to the school roof. he was going to jump. he was actually going to do it. but right before he jumped... my face popped into his head. not his parents. not his brother. me.

and something just clicked for him i guess. he was like "from that moment you became the reason i want to live. i know this is embarrassing but i'm ashamed of myself and i want to try being happy with you." and he asked me out while SOBBING.

we both cried so hard LMAOOO. honestly that was the most beautiful confession i've ever gotten. the best moment of my entire life