SEQUEL TO HOLD ME
"it's only human."
those are words that stick in the minds of eight boys who have found themselves closer than ever because of a year spent at the same college.
minsung, seungin, changhyunlix... and chan :')
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The silence in the house that evening was not only unusual, it was unbearable. Tense. Disconcerting. It bled over into the next morning. Minho never knew he could miss the noise so much.
Not a single one of those eight boys was relaxed or cheerful as they packed up their stuff that morning. Quietly, they headed out of the beach house, having left it as empty and almost as spotless as it was when they came, and filed out, one by one, down the stairs to the gravel driveway.
It was clear as day that half of them were avoiding each other. Changbin and Jisung stood at the front, and Hyunjin and Minho hung towards the back. Felix stood in the middle, sticking close to Chan, eyes to his feet while they kicked around pebbles.
Yeah, not how anyone wanted the end of their vacation to go.
Tensions were high and no one looked particularly happy, so no one noticed if Jisung looked somewhat ready to burst into tears. No one other than Minho, that is. And what was Minho going to do about it?
Minho got into the passenger seat of Seungmin's car, just to make it easy for Jisung to avoid him again— barely having spared a glance toward Jisung as he headed towards Changbin's car like he had on Friday.
...Well, maybe that was a lie. Maybe he was constantly glancing over there, which is why he noticed Chan following after Jisung, speaking to him as he stood beside the opened car door (which he kept open with one hand resting on it). He watched Chan's gestures grow increasingly large and powerful as they conversed— which is why he noticed that Chan was growing exasperated even before they all heard him raise his voice.
"Were you even listening to me?!" Those were the first clear words that Minho caught, due to their volume.
Even from his angle, Minho caught a glimpse of Jisung's defensive posture behind the car door; the hands he'd raised to shield himself... from Chan.
"Woah, Ji, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to yell..." With his movements suddenly turning careful and gentle, as if all the frustration had instantly left his body, Chan softly placed a hand on Jisung's elbow. "Are you okay?"
That attracted Felix's eyes, and he was now cautiously, concernedly observing the two of them as he took a few steps in their direction, wondering if this conversation was one that shouldn't be intruded on or not.
"No!" Jisung shouted, loud, his voice piercing the unnaturally stiff morning air.
It was at this moment that Minho realized he was about to witness a breakdown.
His body had somehow ended up entirely turned toward the pair of them; he'd gone from taking tiny glances to full-on staring. But he hurried to face forward again, focusing his eyes on his hands in his lap. Panic struck through his chest. Even without looking, he could feel the incident coming on— the pull of tension in the air— like a storm brewing, as Jisung inhaled so sharply he could hear it easily from where he sat. Trouble coming.
