Flowers and ink

Seventeen

Jisung's phone rang and he could hear the ringer even from his kitchen, he raced to it, snatching it up and swiping without even looking at the ID.

"Is it Minho? Is he alright?" He forced out, he was practically sick with worry at this point, Minho had been missing for a full day and apparently it was statistically unlikely he would be found after the first 24 hours had passed.

"They found him jisung, he's on his way to a hospital right now, I can pick you up on the way," Changbin said and jisung vaguely registered the sound of Felix talking in the background.

He raced to get dressed and then to his door as he waited outside, not wanting to waste any time on his way to check on his soulmate.

The moment the car stopped enough for him to climb in, he was in, and no words were exchanged as Changbin started the drive to the hospital.

When they got there, Changbin talked to the hospital staff and they said that only one person could visit him at the moment, something about visiting hours being restricted for some reason or another, jisung didn't care.

Changbin and Felix glanced between each other for a moment before nodding.

"Jisung you should go first," Changbin said and jisung gave them a questioningly hesitant look for a moment before caving and following the nurse, eager to see Minho and check with his own eyes that he was alright.

When he walked in, Minho looked surprised to see him, jisung approached and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Are you alright?" He asked, knowing the answer was no, but hoping for some description of what had happened.

"I'm... no I'm not, physically I'm mostly okay though, no broken bones, just some bruises and cuts," Minho said quietly, sounding as though he couldn't bring himself to speak at normal volume.

"Minho," jisung started, his hand reaching out for the one of Minho's that was resting in his lap, "I'm so sorry this happened to you, I was so worried, I'm so glad you're alright."

Minho looked at him wide eyed.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes really, I told you Minho, I want to respect your decision but I'm still always going to be your soulmate," jisung assured.

"My decision... I-" jisung cut him off.

"I know, or I think I do, but not right now, that's for later, for now, you're okay and that's all that matters," jisung said and Minho nodded.

"Can I hug you?" Jisung asked and once again, Minho replied with a silent nod, his eyes closing as he was enveloped by Jisung's embrace.

When jisung pulled away, tears were streaking down Minho's cheeks, tears he had managed to hold in the entire time he was with Hayden, but not anymore.

He broke down, his hands flew up to cover his face but jisung pushed them down, pulling Minho back into his embrace.

"I- we- he-" Minho scanned through a hundred different sentences he wanted to say but couldn't sort any of them out.

"Shhh, don't worry, just let yourself try to relax, I know it's hard, but it'll be okay," jisung told him gently and Minho nodded, taking a few deep breaths and meeting Jisung's intense gaze.

"Thank you for coming and for worrying about me," Minho spoke carefully.

"Of course, I'm sure I would've done it even if you didn't want me too, what can I say, I'm a worrier, it's what I do," jisung said and Minho cracked a half hearted smile.

Jisung watched as his smile faded back into his tired expression and stood.

"You should try to get some sleep, I'm sure Changbin and Felix will want to talk to you first, but make sure you sleep tonight, we can come back tomorrow," he said and Minho started to nod as the door opened and Changbin finally came in, letting jisung leave before he entered.

Jisung sat in the hallway with Felix and recounted what had been said between him and Minho, including the part where he was pretty sure Minho had changed his mind on the whole no soulmates thing.

Felix pulled him into a tight hug.

"Treat him well Jisung, you know he's been through a lot, I have no doubt he'll treat you right, but I'll still mess with him anyway," Felix smiled.

"Oh why thank you dad, maybe save that for when he didn't just get found from being kidnapped though," jisung said and Felix playfully slapped him.

"Of course I will dummy," he laughed and jisung turned to look through the window, he saw Changbin standing next to the bed, on the opposite side of where jisung had sat, and Minho looked up at him, though he didn't appear very inclined to speak.

Felix went in next and spoke to him, they exchanged a hug before Felix walked back out and said he was asking for jisung again, and so jisung walked back into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed again.

"Okay Minho, you've talked to everyone, so now you need to sleep," jisung said and Minho nodded.

"I- I know, I just wanted to see you," Minho stammered.

Jisung slid his hand forward, lacing their hands together on the bed, leaving it there as Minho closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

Jisung didn't remove his hand until Minho's hand gone limp around his and then he carefully removed his and walked out of the room, finding Changbin and Felix still waiting for him in the hallway.

"What did he want?" Felix asked.

"He just wanted to see me, he's asleep now," jisung said and they all acknowledged they would have to go home for the night, even though jisung distinctly opposed the idea of leaving Minho here alone.

Changbin and Felix drove him home and he resolved to ask seungmin to run the shop for him the next day so that he could go and stay with Minho, and if he had to stay another night, jisung would too.

The next morning, seungmin was more than happy to take control of the business for a day and jisung was nothing but confident in his abilities to run things so he left for the hospital, hoping to get in as soon as visiting hours started.

They let him in to Minho's room and one of the nurses gave him permission to stay the night on account of him being the patient's soulmate and so jisung went in, seeing Minho still asleep on the bed, his hand still open in the position it had been holding Jisung's the previous evening.

Jisung sat down and slid his hand back into Minho's, and Minho's grip tightened subconsciously around it before falling back into his peaceful slumber.