HALLUCINATIONS - JisungxNCT

6 seconds

"Jisung, be honest with me, is there a hallucination in this room right now?"

Jungwoo asks gently. Just by looking into his eyes Jisung knows that he can't lie. He looks to the side, where he sees some sort of green monster by Johnny's feet and then at Jaehyun, the one who just disappeared and reappeared. He feels tears spilling over his eye, as he didn't want to admit anything but now he is saying everything to everyone. He hiccups and Jungwoo calmly wipes his tears while the rest look worried. Jungwoo's calmness calms him down too.

"Y-yeah"

Jungwoo nods seriously.

"Can you describe it to me? Hyung is right here so nothing can hurt you"

Jisung trembles. But he does what he is told.

"There's two. The first one is g-green, a little short and round. It's near Johnny Hyung. The other one is Jaehyun, he just disappeared but now he's back. I get the s-second one a lot..."

Jungwoo nods again. He strokes the younger members hair comfortingly. Jisung closes his eyes and just relaxes, let's himself feel his exhaustion and fear. With the other member close to him, and with everyone aware of the monsters they suddenly seem less scary. The monsters can't hurt him, nothing has ever hurt him when his Hyungs have been around. Jungwoo would never lie to him anyways. Slowly he starts to feel a bit better, and when he opens his eyes again the hallucinations are gone. Jungwoo smiles at him proudly.

"See? They aren't there anymore are they? If you are just honest we can help you. At night you can always sleep with one of us, in the practice rooms we can always make you feel more safe and happy with whatever you need. Us caring for you is not a burden on our side, it's a natural responsibility. Just be honest and everything will get so much better, okay?"

Jisung nods, even managing to smile a little. Jungwoo has a way with words. He suddenly feels much better, much more light hearted. He is still exhausted and he knows that he will feel fear in the future, but he feels braver about it. Suddenly Doyoung is back next to him and Jungwoo, Jisung focuses his attention on his other Hyung.

"Jisungie? When the DREAM members come, I want you to be honest with them okay? From now on you need to tell them, or us, whoever you are with, when you see a hallucination and when you feel tired or scared. The management is giving you two days off but then you'll have to come back, so to make sure that you'll recover with this short time you need to be honest and take all the support you can from DREAM, Alright?"

Jisung breathes in and out. It will be hard to be honest, he is too prideful and worried. But for Doyoung, he will try. Where are Dream anyway?

"Okay Hyung. Where are they now anyway?"

Johnny perks up from the corner of the room, with amusement.

"Probably rioting. They had to practice even if you were still in a coma, Mark texted me an hour ago complaining about how Jaemin is refusing to dance out of protest and Jeno follows him like a loyal puppy, the rest of the members followed in suit"

Jisung smiles. He feels oddly comforted by the fact that they care about him so much, as if he didn't know that already.

"I always knew I was the mature one of dream-"

The 127 members respectfully hold their laughs.

"I should probably call them though, and feed the flames"

Evilly Jisung reaches for his phone that was laying on his bedside table, and the 127 Hyungs watch with amusement as he calls Mark through FaceTime. Leaning his head against the pillow, Jisung doesn't even bother to wipe his tears, adding onto the pitiful image. Mark answers after one ring, evidence of the fact that they definitely were not practicing like they were supposed to. His voice rings through the room as the older members keep silent.

"Jisung?!"

He hears people shuffling and pushing each other in the background right after Mark mentions his name with a surprised tone. Jisung sniffles and wipes his tears.

"Hi Hyung, I miss you"

He says, and the 127 members feel shocked at how natural that sounds despite the fact that he has never said that before. They can't imagine how DREAM would feel, as their precious tsundere maknae is suddenly acting so cute and childlike. Before Mark can answer, Jaemin has snatched the phone and pressed his face against the camera.

"Jisung? Baby? That's it I'm coming right over there, don't worry I'll call a taxi and run past the manager it will only take a few minutes-"

Jisung holds his laughs, and Taeyong facepalms. He can hear the manager say something on the other side with a tired voice, and Mark chasing after Jaemin in the need of his phone back.

"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE!"

———

There is a man with a green hat, standing by the door of the practice rooms.

Jisung finds himself here again, three weeks after he got out of the hospital.

Laying on the practice room floor, panting, mind drifting off to all these bad thoughts. How he's not good enough, how he needs to improve.

He had been doing so good recently, that's why they allowed him to stay behind for an hour or two. But now, Jisung realizes that change takes time.

He stands in front of the door.

He almost missed him. That man reminds him of his Hyungs, reminds him of Jaemin and of Jungwoo's words that day. That man looks like him, his features are clearer now. Honestly he is getting enough sleep now, but sometimes overworking brings it back.

The hallucinations.

He ends up falling asleep right then and there, too tired to get up and care about anything. Frantic knocking wakes him up, but only slightly, many hours later. He has no idea how many hours, but outside it seems more quiet than before. Nighttime. The practice room door opens, Jisung doesn't bother to open his eyes though. Stays still. Breathes through his nose. Feels calm, but tired.

"Jisung?!"

And for some reason, it's Jaemin again. Jaemin and Mark, standing right above him. They seem to calm down after he opens his eyes to show that he is in fact, still alive. But worry still shines in their eyes. Jisung smiles slightly but closes his eyes again.

"Jisung what are you doing here? Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

Jisung pouts, tired and mind foggy.

"What if you start hallucinating again? Don't overwork yourself too much! You know how bad that is for you!"

Jisung chuckles but it fades off because he is falling in and out of sleep. He can't even see who is talking anymore. How late is it?

"I did hallucinate again, that's why I'm sleeping, so let me sleep"

He hears mumbling and sighing but at that point he doesn't really care. Someone lifts him up on their back. The gentle rocking of their bodies together as they walk puts a small smile over his face. He can hear them converse quietly. If he was more awake, he'd feel bad for making them come all the way to the company just to fetch him, and he'd feel bad for being such a brat and making them carry him. But thankfully he's not fully awake. He'll give an apology tomorrow, a half arsed one.

"I don't know why you always work so hard Jisung"

The youngest member listens as much as he can.

"You always master everything after the first try, it's like you were born for the industry"

And maybe that's all he needed to hear.

The man in the green hat waves his goodbyes.

---