The Painting

Thirty One:

When Minho awoke the next morning, he expected to still be wrapped in his boyfriends embrace, not to be awoken by the sound of his sobbing downstairs. He hurriedly goes downstairs to see Chan holding the shaking boy and Felix crying on the couch.

"Ji, I need you to try to breathe for me, okay?" Chan says, creating soothing patterns on the boy's back. Minho approaches, running his hands through the younger's hair. Once Jisung is calm enough, he explains what Felix told him.

"What does she mean, Sungie?" Minho asks. Jisung sniffles.

"My mother left everything to me. As I knew she would... my grandmother is furious. After I declined to go with her, she told me that she would leave me alone if I handed over most of the money and the property. I told her no."

"Oh, baby..."

"And now... she... she says she's going to take your parents to court for custody of me.... since I'm not 19 yet... and... and for my money and stuff."

"No. I will not let that happen. Absolutely not." Minho says firmly.

"Please don't let her take me... she's... she's just as bad.... please... I can't... I don't want to." Jisung starts sobbing again, now in hysterics in his boyfriend's arms.

"Baby, please breathe. There's no way my parents or I will let that happen. We will testify against this. Is anyone else aware of what your grandmother's like? I can't vouch for that..."

"... I can." Felix says, sadly. "I've witnessed it." Minho nods, mentally noting to do something about it after he finds out how to calm down the boy in his arms.

At this point, Jisung is full on panicking, the soothing words and motions on his back no longer working. In his head, all he can do is think of ways to be less of a burden to the boy he loves and his family. On the outside, all he can do is sob and shake, unknowingly spiraling into a panic attack. He can't let her do this. He won't let her do this. None of this would have happened if-

"Sungie, baby. Look at me, love." His thoughts are cut off by Minho's voice, and he focuses on the boy's face. Minho starts breathing exaggeratedly in order to try to get Jisung to copy him. Eventually, he does, and as his breathing regulates, he just cries softly into Minho's shoulder.

"Can we hug you, hun?" Felix asks from behind him, making sure the boy won't freak out from being touched. Jisung nods from his spot in his boyfriend's arms and immediately feels the warmth of Chan and Felix. They sit like that until the cries soften down to sniffles and the boy is out of tears. By that point, the rest of the boy's have woken up, Seungmin immediately rushing to Jisung's side. Once all of his friends are there, Minho leaves the room to make a few calls, leaving Chan to take his place for Jisung to lay his head on.

"It'll be okay, Ji." Says Hyunjin with a smile. "We will all fight that old bat for you, okay?" He hugs the younger gently, not wanting to upset the smaller.

"Thanks hyung." He sniffles, hugging back. "I love you guys."

Once everyone is calm, the group finished breakfast and head off to school. As Jisung walks with Minho to their art class that day, he sees the senior who broke his glasses during the beginning of the year.

"Told you he was a worthless fag. He got Lee Minho to pity him enough to pretend to love him." He hears the boy spit at him. Thankfully, Minho doesn't hear, as he's texting Hyunjin back about their rap project. Jisung's heart sinks, grabbing Minho's hand tighter. The older boy looks at him with a smile and Jisung returns it weakly.

Once they get to class, Jisung excuses himself to the bathroom, locking himself in the first stall. He buries his head in his hands, trying to block out the thoughts of self harm. Maybe they're right, maybe he's just burdening Minho and Minho feels too bad for him. Eventually, when he can't stop his tears, he pulls out a blade that's stored in his bag and carelessly drags it across his wrist, too caught in his head to think about hiding it. He continues this until his wrists are covered and he's shaking. Eventually, the bathroom door opens.

"Baby? Are you in here? You've been gone for a long time." He hears his boyfriend ask, the door closing again as Minho comes to the first door upon hearing stifled cries. "Baby... let me in, love." He says gently, worried about the younger with how much has been going on.

"N-no." Jisung chokes out, panicking.

"Love, what's wrong?" He presses again. He is met with silence as Jisung just cries. Finally, Minho sits down, resolving to be there, even if Jisung doesn't want to talk. The bathroom smells metallic and Minho can hear drips every so often. That's when, out of his periferal, he notices a shiny object on the floor next to his boyfriend, covered in blood. Minho panicks. "Shit- Ji!"

Jisung cries harder, backing up to hide against the wall, hiding his arms in his sleeves. Minho decides to climb under the door, breaking down at the sight of his boyfriend.

"Baby... please tell me you didn't." Jisung's cries answer his question and he pulls the younger into a hug, kissing his head. "No, sweetheart. I thought you said you'd come to me baby..."

"I... i.. am so sorry... hyungie." He cries, as Minho holds him.

"Tell hyungie what happened, love." Minho tries. So Jisung tells him, and as he does, Minho gets visibly pissed. Jisung whines at the cold eyes of his boyfriend, who immediately softens. "Sorry, baby. Let me see how bad and we can get you cleaned up." He coaxes. Jisung obliges, regretting it when he sees Minho is crying.

"Why are you crying? Please don't cry, love. Oh God it was so stupid of me... I'm sorry... it won't happen again."

"I- its not that... I just.. I want you to trust me. I love you. So fucking much... and I know you don't believe me... at least not fully... but-"

"No! Minho... it was a relapse... in judgement as well... I took somebody's harsh words to heart and I should know better than to listen to that prick. God, you've shown me the stars in a short time and I know you love me. I don't doubt you for one second. And I trust you with my life... it's just, it's been a day and I wasn't in the right headspace... it was just a relapse. I'm so sorry." Jisung kisses his boyfriend's tears away, connecting their foreheads.

"You promise that you love me?" Minho whispers softly.

"I promise. I would do anything to give you the world."

"And I would do anything to make you want to live."