stockholm syndrome | minsung

chapter six

stretching out his body, jisung groaned at the familiar pain exploding in his back. sleeping on the ground was, still, not helping him with his previous back injuries.

not only that; the window seemed to have broken, causing the room to get close to freezing during the night. shivering, jisung curled up in one of the corners of the room, wanting to just fall back asleep. all of his body ached, and it was not even because of the floor.

the floor couldn't explain the stuffy throat he had.

oh god. he was sick.

with another shiver - a violent one - jisung allowed a quiet cry to escape his mouth. he was cold, hungry and tired. but he couldn't do anything about any of the things.

all he could do was huddle up with a spare shirt over his body, hoping for some warmth.

and the warmth came.

it took an hour. though it could also have been twenty minutes; his sense of time worsened with his deteriorating health. it was like a punch from nowhere, that he had received this cold.

but when minho stepped into the room, everything just felt a little bit better. it was a little bit warmer. the sun shone a little bit brighter. jisung felt a little more awake. his hunger wasn't as eminent.

he was going batshit crazy.

but he liked minho.

the thought was enough to almost drive jisung into complete madness; he did not actively despise his captor. instead, he wanted to be close to him.

"you look sick." minho commented. though his words displayed none of it, his eyes glistened with worry.

"i think i am," jisung replied, the stuffiness in his voice awfully noticeable. "i'm sorry."

"that's okay. come upstairs, i have extra blankets and stuff. you can nap on the couch." minho said. the other nodded as hastily as his cold allowed him to.

with a lopsided smile slowly growing on his face, minho got ahold of jisung's arm in a tight grip. then, he began dragging the latter up the stairs.

in the earlier days, jisung would have been worried. but now, he found himself trusting the man in front of him. he wanted to get to know his captor better.

hell, minho could barely count as a captor anymore. he provided food, shelter, warmth and things to do. what else could jisung ask for?

upon entering in the living room, jisung could not help himself from running to the couch. immediately sinking down into the soft cushions, he let out a loud sigh of content.

"this is the stuff of dreams." he commented, blissfully ignoring the stains and holes in the couch. a quiet chuckle could be heard from minho.

"i'm glad you like it."

jisung laid down on the couch, resting his head on the fluffy pillows. it was like everything he had imagined and more.

"wait here, i'll grab a blanket. do not go anywhere, or you know what will happen." minho spoke, gesturing towards the pocketknife in the pocket of his jeans.

tilting his head after nodding, jisung observed the other's clothes as he walked away. those loose fitting jeans really matched minho's vibe.

oh, how he wanted to know more about minho.

while he waited, jisung took a closer look around the room. it seemed as if the walls could crumble down any second. along them were different photographs, mainly of minho alongside people who jisung assumed were family members.

they did look strikingly similar.

jisung stifled a laughter when he found a picture of minho as a child. the latter had food all over his face, but was still smiling widely, showing off the gaps in between his teeth from the ones he had lost. a warm feeling spread throughout jisung's body once more.

he was going batshit crazy.

but he didn't mind.

"what are you doing?" minho's voice was not exactly cold, but it sounded much like he was not pleased with what he found.

"i'm just looking at the pictures. you were very cute as a baby." jisung smiled calmly. i'm return, minho's stern face smoothed out, with the corners of his mouth turning up as well.

"thank you." was the mumbled reply. if jisung was not wrong, he could have sworn that minho was blushing.

the two met eyes.

and this time, jisung was practically melting in the soft gaze.

at this point, he couldn't care less if he was insane or not. he had always been an action first think later kind of guy.

and so it had remained.

which is exactly why he began leaning in.